In the 2022 federal election, two demographics were key to the final outcome: women and young people. With another election fast approaching, will they swing the result again? To answer this question, I turned to the Australian Election Study (AES) data spanning the period from 1987 to 2022, to investigate how different demographics have […]
Anthony Albanese
The Albanese government on Sunday pledged $8.5 billion for Medicare, declaring this would enable all Australians to have access to bulk billing by 2030. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the policy at a rally in Tasmania, where the Labor seat of Lyons and the Liberal seat of Bass are in […]
Much has been written about the longstanding failings of the Australian media in its reportage of Indigenous affairs. The most recent example is the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. Research shows journalists were unable to articulate to voters what they were voting for. It also shows journalists failed to counter misinformation and were ill-equipped […]
The federal government’s proposed legislation on misinformation and disinformation has passed the House of Representatives, but faces a rocky time in the Senate. Opponents have dubbed it the MAD Bill, and it has certainly made some of them mad. Ironically, there is a great deal of misinformation circulating about the bill itself. […]
Rebel Senator Fatima Payman has escalated her confrontation with the Labor Party by claiming “some members” are trying to intimidate her into quitting the Senate. The government is uncertain whether the Greens will exploit the situation with another pro-Palestinian motion to have Payman – suspended from caucus but not expelled […]
Julian Assange told Anthony Albanese he had “saved his life” in his first phone conversation after his chartered plane’s wheels touched down at Canberra’s RAAF base soon after 7:30pm on Wednesday. The prime minister, who has never met Assange, told a news conference at Parliament House immediately afterwards that Assange […]
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said he and Chinese Premier Li Qiang discussed improving military-to-military communications to avoid future incidents involving their armed forces in their wide-ranging meeting on Monday. This follows an encounter last year in which Australian Navy divers were targeted with sonar and one this year when […]
A national Newspoll, conducted June 3–7 from a sample of 1,232, had Labor and the Coalition tied at 50–50, a two-point gain for the Coalition since the post-budget Newspoll, three weeks ago. This is Labor’s worst position in Newspoll since last November, following the fallout from the defeat of the Voice referendum. […]
Last week’s budget was Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ third and – for practical purposes – final for the current parliamentary term. Even if the 2025 election is delayed long enough to give Labor another budget, that speech would represent more of an election manifesto than any deliverable legislation. We are therefore […]
The Albanese government will introduce legislation to ban deepfake pornography and provide more funding for the eSafety Commission to pilot age-assurance technologies. The contribution of internet sites to gender-based violence was one major issue at Wednesday’s special national cabinet meeting on the issue of violence against women. After the meeting […]