GetUp has notched many political victories since launching in 2005. Now, independents and conservatives are trying to replicate its approach to grassroots political participation.
In the research’s February round, many participants hadn’t heard of Steggall. By last week – unsurprisingly given the rash of publicity – everybody had, although some knew little detail about her.
We’ve been here before. In fact we’ve been going round in circles on climate policy for decades, while the temperature (of the debate, as well as the planet) climbs ever higher.
According to qualitative research in the seat this week, Steggall is yet to embed herself in the mind of those voters who are potentially willing to turn against Abbott.
Tony Abbott and Zali Steggall on Warringah votes
CC BY31.4 MB(download)
The Sydney electorate of Warringah will be one of the most fascinating battlegrounds in the May election, with a high profile independent Zali Stegall challenging former prime minister Tony Abbott.
Just as with Kevin07, formerly Coalition-friendly independents gave life-long centre-right voters a way to break ranks without feeling like they were being disloyal. Zali Steggall is doing the same.
The latest release from the National Archives reveals how the Howard government managed a budget deficit, and presents a striking contrast with the Abbott government’s framing of the 2013 budget.
Tensions between the government and the university sector ran high in 2018, with the government cutting funding to student places and research and a big push back from universities.
The proposals Abbott has pushed as envoy - more police in Indigenous communities and learning in English - demonstrates his ignorance and unsuitability for the job.
With John Howard in 2004-7 the last prime minister to serve a full term, it may seem Australia has sunk into a long rein of political instability. But that is not necessarily the case.
For years Turnbull had to endure the sniping of Abbott, the man he brought down. Now Turnbull is the sniper at the window, though Morrison didn’t cause his fall (unless you buy the conspiracy
theory).
Policymaking is no longer based solely on what a party stands for. Now, it also matters how a decision is going to play in the opinion polls – and that’s a problem for our political system.
The storm over a nine-year-old refusing to stand for the national anthem is an indication of how ugly, and misguided, some aspects of national debate have become.
While there is no evidence that Abbott and Joyce have accepted a salary for their special envoy roles, an offer of payment, if there was one, could cause them problems.
Australians have never liked sitting PMs being deposed by their own parties - but the outrage over Malcolm Turnbull’s destruction is the greatest in modern history.
New prime minister Scott Morrison now faces the huge task of reuniting the party and devising policy positions that can satisfy the liberals and conservatives within.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has abandoned the emissions-reduction component of his signature energy policy, in the latest chapter of a brutal decade-long saga for Australian climate policy.