Liberal backbencher Dennis Jensen has attacked the absence of a coherent science policy, and questioned the budget’s plan for a huge medical research fund when cuts are being made to other science areas…
- Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
When Malcolm Turnbull got a “dorothy dixer” from his good backbench friend Russell Broadbent on Tuesday the Communications Minister put on one of his classic rumbustious performances. It was just a sledge…
Clive Palmer and his Palmer United Party are refusing to meet with ministers in a bid to pressure the government to give PUP extra staff to deal with legislation “effectively”. Palmer cancelled a meeting…
The much-awaited Cornall report into the Manus violence in February makes one very obvious recommendation: do whatever’s possible to speed up determinations, resettlement of refugees and removal of those…
New Australian Medical Association president Brian Owler has warned the budget’s $7 co-payment will particularly hit the “working poor”, while the squeeze on states’ hospital funding will affect “frontline…
Well at least Barack Obama will be prepared when he meets Tony Abbott next month. An article about Abbott’s tribulations on The Washington Post homepage is accompanied by a video of the PM blinking – repeatedly…
NATSEM Principal Research Fellow Ben Phillips and University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan discuss the government’s poor handling of the budget blow-back, the beginning of leadership…
How bad has this budget been for the government? You only had to listen Nine’s Today program on Thursday morning to get the answer. “Will you make it to the next election as leader?” Abbott was asked by…
As Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey fight an apparently losing battle to persuade the public of the virtues of the budget, government sources say they expect bad polls to continue for months. It’s rather reminiscent…
Australia has a jobs crisis rather than a welfare crisis, according to the Salvation Army’s Economic and Social Impact Survey of nearly 2500 clients. Current job search and employment service programs…
Given all we’ve been through in relation to political honesty, could we just set a “truth” baseline as we start another round of the GST debate? Tony Abbott is trying to give the impression that the future…
Economist Ross Garnaut has predicted “trench warfare” over development projects, given the influence business now has with government. Delivering the John Freebairn lecture in Melbourne, Garnaut said it…
The budget hits 1.25 million low and middle income families with children on average by about $3000 a year in 2017-18 while it actually benefits upper middle and upper income families through removing…
The budget has driven the government’s vote down and pushed Bill Shorten decisively ahead of Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister, in two polls today. The Nielsen poll in Fairfax Media has the opposition…
The Abbott government does indeed face a budget emergency – how to handle a massive public fallout and a full-scale revolt by the states. The Nielsen poll shows the cost to the government and to Tony Abbott…
Angry first ministers have flatly rejected Tony Abbott’s claim that the budget cuts will not hit states and territories immediately and again demanded he call an urgent meeting of the Council of Australian…
University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker and University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan discuss the difficult politics of the budget for the Abbott government, the push toward…
Despite its agonising birth, Joe Hockey will harbour hopes his first budget has taken him one step closer to his goal of eventually becoming prime minister. Any doubt about the Treasurer’s ambition would…
Opposition leader Bill Shorten has pledged Labor will vote against budget cuts to university funding and student support, declaring that it “will not support a system of higher fees, bigger student debt…
Former prime minister John Howard has said the GST should be broadened and its rate should perhaps be increased. As the government seeks - without admitting it - to put pressure on the states to ask for…
It’s clear the Abbott government wants change to the GST on the agenda but is anxious that others – notably the states – do the dirty work of putting it there. Treasurer Joe Hockey is understood to have…
Our budget coverage continues with interviews firstly with Finance minister Mathias Cormann and then Shadow Finance Minister Tony Burke. Listen to both interviews in this podcast.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has bluntly dismissed howls of outrage from Liberal premiers over the budget’s plan to push future funding responsibility for hospitals and schools on to the states. He has rejected…
The Liberal states of New South Wales and Victoria have sharply criticised the federal budget’s cost shifting on health and education, while the medical lobby has slated its $7 co-payment for visits to…
Professorial Fellow at the University of Canberra, Michelle Grattan discusses 2014-15 Federal Budget with former economics editor of The Age, Tim Colebatch. Listen the podcast here.
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