**A more sustainable Australia* As the 2013 election campaign continues, we’ve asked academics to look at some of the long-term issues affecting Australia – the issues that will shape our future.* Our…
Pass the mic Kevin, it’s time for our special Sydney podcast.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Welcome to the third of The Conversation’s Election 2013 podcasts. Each week The Conversation will be sitting down with Australia’s top political minds to discuss all things election as we gear up for…
Liberal candidate Andrew Nikolic looks likely to claim the Tasmanian seat of Bass from sitting Labor MP Geoff Lyons.
AAP/Alan Porritt
If the early polls were accurate, Bass was already lost for Labor’s Geoff Lyons, the sitting member, but recent gaffes by Lyons will probably make that certain. Lyons has been left with egg on his face…
Controversial preference deals and high-level resignations may seriously damage the election chances of Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks Party.
AAP/Joe Castro
With just over two weeks to go in the campaign, Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks Party has experienced some unsettling events that suggest it may be unravelling. Assange’s Victorian Senate running mate Leslie…
Caring is part of everyday life; it taps into our vulnerabilities and allows us to turn possibilities into material outcomes.
Image from shutterstock.com
Welcome to the The Conversation’s Election 2013 State of the Nation essays. These articles by leading experts in their field provide an in-depth look at the key policy challenges affecting Australia as…
Labor MP Bernie Ripoll is expected to be returned in the Queensland seat of Oxley in September unless a seismic shift against the ALP in the state.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The fate of the federal Queensland seat of Oxley in the 2013 election will provide some clues to the Labor Party’s long term future. If Labor loses Oxley, it is in serious trouble. The seat includes traditional…
Our threatened species, like this young Leadbeater’s Possum, need some attention.
Flickr/Greens MPs
The Coalition will instate a Commissioner for Threatened Species should it form government, according to shadow environment minister Greg Hunt. The minister says that, while management plans for threatened…
Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott have faced off in a second debate - this time, a ‘people’s forum’ in front of 100 undecided voters.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott have met in a “town hall” style leaders’ debate at the Broncos Leagues Club in Brisbane. Abbott and Rudd took questions from an audience of 100 undecided voters on issues from…
Why don’t we have universal access to early childhood education?
Flickr/Phyllis Buchanan
**A more sustainable Australia* As the 2013 election campaign continues, we’ve asked academics to look at some of the long-term issues affecting Australia – the issues that will shape our future.* Looking…
Deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese will likely hold off a push from the Greens to claim his inner city Sydney seat of Grayndler.
AAP/Paul Miller
The ALP is set to retain deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese’s seat of Grayndler following the Liberal Party’s decision to preference Labor over the Greens in the 2013 election. While the Greens made…
Will the real Kevin Rudd please stand up?
AAP/Lukas Coch
There are two Kevin Rudds. One is the energetic ideas man, the promising new face of the Australian Labor Party who might just be the party’s saviour. “I’m Kevin, I’m from Queensland and I’m here to help…
Tony Abbott hopes his paid parental leave policy will lead to a baby boom. Is he right?
AAP/David Crosling
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has said he hopes the recently announced Coalition paid parental leave (PPL) scheme will lead to a baby boom. Such hopes are consistent with his earlier expression of support…
China recognises environmental protection is good for the economy, and has gone all out to fund it.
Dainis Matisons
A very different approach is emerging between Australia and China’s treatment of jobs and industries providing goods and services for environmental protection. In Australia, major investors are reported…
Retiring Labor MP Simon Crean has survived factional feuding and demographic changes in his seat Hotham.
AAP/David Crosling
In the shadow of Monash University’s Clayton campus landmark Menzies Building to its north and with the affluent bayside Melbourne suburbs to its south and west lie the flat lands of the federal seat of…
Neither party should lose sight of Indigenous issues ahead of the federal election.
AAP
With the federal election in our sights, we are reminded of the long journey ahead in addressing past wrongs and present challenges for Australia’s Indigenous peoples. Historically, the similarities outweigh…
Where are Australia’s politicians leading us?
Paleontour/Flickr
A more sustainable Australia. As we hit the half-way mark of the 2013 election campaign, we asked academics to look at some of the long-term issues affecting Australia - the issues that will shape our…
Now that the local government referendum has been scrapped, what is the issue’s future?
AAP/Sophie Marr
Local government has once again been crowded out of the limelight as the big boys fight for control of the Australian political sandpit. The referendum to give constitutional recognition to local government…
The act of kissing a baby is a key plank of what campaign strategists and commentators consider to be ‘retail politics’.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Shaking hands. Kissing babies. Throwing snags on the barbie, or wandering through a suburban shopping centre. These are the familiar scenes of “retail politics”, a campaign style in which candidates sell…
WA Nationals MP Tony Crook is not running for re-election in September. Who will succeed in the ‘friendly’ battle for O'Connor?
AAP/Penny Bradfield
The Western Australian seat of O’Connor provides a fascinating battle between the Liberal and National parties that reflects a struggle to win the hearts and minds – and votes – of regional Western Australians…
What do the various responses to Tony Abbott’s ‘sex appeal’ comment say about the role of gender in politics?
AAP/Alan Porritt
Since opposition leader Tony Abbott’s self-described “daggy dad” comments about Liberal candidate Fiona Scott’s sex appeal, gender issues have re-emerged in Australian politics. Labor frontbenchers claim…