Tag Archives: michelle grattan

Grattan / Morrison government brings back memories of McMahon days

AS the Morrison government thrashes around trying to stave off defeat or just save the furniture, it reminds one historian of the ill-fated McMahon administration. The run up to the Coalition’s 1972 ousting is detailed […]

Grattan / Morrison Government falls further behind

THE Coalition has taken another knock in Newspoll, now trailing Labor 45-55 per cent on a two-party basis. Scott Morrison’s personal ratings have also worsened, in a poll that comes in the wake of his […]

Grattan / Shorten proposes investment bank to help Pacific nations’ development

BILL Shorten is flagging that Labor would set up a government-backed infrastructure investment bank to promote concessional financing for nation-building projects in the Pacific. In a speech to the Lowy Institute on Monday – part […]

Grattan / Morrison eases refugee policy while talking tough

THERE is an interesting and notable point of detail about the “lifetime ban” legislation that remains a sticking point in the argument between the government and Labor over the resettling of offshore refugees in New […]

Grattan / Liberals plan for May election but Morrison might look better in March

WHILE the Coalition took a hit in its two-party vote after the leadership change, the next few Newspolls will tell whether Scott Morrison – who’s started better than many anticipated – restores the government to […]

Grattan / Dutton back in spotlight after split Senate report on au pair affair

ADAM Bandt from the Greens will try to move a no confidence motion against Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton today (September 20) after a Senate inquiry’s majority report said he had misled parliament in the […]

Grattan / Morrison’s challenge with women goes beyond simple numbers

MUTUAL interest is a great bonding agent, so the bromance between 2GB shock jock Ray Hadley and Scott Morrison is on again. Morrison will once more make regular appearances with Hadley, who dumped him unceremoniously […]

Grattan / Dutton accuses Quaedvlieg of “grooming” a young woman

HOME Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has launched an extraordinary fresh personal attack on the former head of the Australian Border Force, Roman Quaedvlieg, accusing him of “grooming” a woman 30 years his junior and of […]

Grattan / Morrison ticks the boxes but can’t hide the dysfunction

SCOTT Morrison is approaching a prime ministership that fell into his lap in the tactical manner you might expect from the NSW Liberal party director he once was. Take this week. First, he seized the […]

Grattan / The high costs of our destructive coup culture

AUSTRALIA’s “coup culture” has become so entrenched that it now holds serious dangers for our democracy. Not that the politicians seem to give a damn. For all the talk of “listening” and being “on your […]

Grattan / Turnbull’s resignation leaves Morrison with a voting test

MALCOLM Turnbull is set to resign from Parliament this week, as the Liberal federal executive prepares to call nominations for his Sydney seat of Wentworth. The former prime minister on Monday night told his federal […]

Grattan / Furious voters deliver their verdict

THE voters have screamed their anger about the Liberals’ self-indulgent bloodletting in the first Newspoll after the coup. Labor’s two-party lead over the Coalition has jumped to 56-44%, a massive change from the 51-49% margin […]

Grattan / Dutton’s giant miscalculation sees Morrison as Prime Minister

SCOTT Morrison is Australia’s new prime minister, beating Peter Dutton by 45-40 votes after a week in which the government imploded and the Liberal party tore itself apart. The third contender, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, […]

Grattan / ‘Significant cautions’ come with Dutton’s eligibility

THE Solicitor-General, Stephen Donoghue, has supported Peter Dutton’s eligibility to sit in the parliament, but with significant cautions. The equivocation in the opinion, coming hours before the noon party meeting, further confuses the bitter fight […]

Grattan / A Dutton win gives the conservatives a stranglehold on the party’s throat

THE Liberals stand at a crossroads. As Malcolm Turnbull flagged on Thursday, this battle is about an attempt to drag the party to the right. Let’s be frank: Turnbull has made a hash of his […]

Grattan / Turnbull holds off Dutton challenge (for now)

MALCOLM Turnbull has defeated Peter Dutton 48-35 after throwing the leadership open in a dramatic surprise move to catch his party enemies off guard. Dutton, the Home Affairs minister, has resigned from the frontbench, which […]

Grattan / Turnbull’s NEG remains in snake-infested territory

MALCOLM Turnbull had a party-room victory but a god-awful week, and it wasn’t because his approval plunged in Monday’s Newspoll. His energy policy is back in the mire, and Tony Abbott is being – as […]

Grattan / Abbott and Turnbull shape up for another round of an old battle

THE Coalition party room today (August 14) is set for a high stakes, quite personal battle between Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull over the National Energy Guarantee, with former and current prime ministers shaping up […]

Grattan / Turnbull tries to turn Husar story into a Shorten narrative

MALCOLM Turnbull is breathing political fire about the Emma Husar affair. But one thing he hasn’t done so far is say there should be a byelection in the Labor MP’s ultra-marginal New South Wales seat […]

Grattan / Emma Husar falls on her sword

LABOR MP Emma Husar has bowed to the inevitable and announced she will not contest next year’s election – although she plans to stay in parliament until then. With a string of extraordinary allegations about […]