This week we see more evidence of the Prime Minister preparing for an election early in 2025. We have already seen the volume of legislation passed in the last sitting week, and this week we’ve seen a key centrepiece of Labor’s re-election plan, childcare reforms. I was expecting this announcement to be saved for January when the campaign […]

Today was the start of the first full sitting week of Queensland’s new Parliament, and it marked an abrupt halt to the niceties of the official opening week. Premier David Crisafulli dropped a stunning political bombshell immediately after Question Time, introducing sudden changes to the Standing Orders – Parliament’s operating rules – to block any […]

We’re underway! After what felt like a very long campaign, the 58th Parliament of Queensland and the Crisafulli LNP Government have been sworn in. We finished November with the first sitting of the new parliament and the introduction of the LNP’s Safer Community Laws. The Premier is determined to have these laws passed by Christmas. […]

Queensland’s new Parliament met for the first time this week, one month since the October 26 election and almost 10 years to the day (November 27, 2014) since the last time the Liberal National Party sat on the Treasury benches.  It’s a vastly different LNP team from that final sitting day in 2014.  It’s smaller for starters […]

After spending three days in Canberra this week, I believe we just saw the last sitting of the 47th Parliament and we all need to prepare for an election in early 2025. The Manager of Government Business in the Senate, the Hon Katy Gallagher, said that the Government was prepared to “sit through the night” […]

The 2024 US Presidential election was the first ‘podcast election’. The way and means in which politicians communicate their message has evolved throughout time. New technology, devices, and changes in human behaviour all alter the way political candidates interact with the public. 150 years ago, newspapers allowed candidates to spread their message beyond the location […]

There will be many explanations provided for why Labor lost the Queensland election, including the difficulties in securing a fourth consecutive term in government and a perception that the issues of law and order and hospital ramping remain unresolved, to name just a few. I suspect it’s a combination of all of the above. As […]

It was former New York Governor, Mario Cuomo, another son of Italian immigrants, writing in the New Republic magazine in 1985 who coined the phrase, “You campaign in poetry, you govern in prose”. The Italian American understood something often overlooked by many political leaders: the clear and necessary distinction between campaigning and governing. It’s all […]

While many politicians will be quick to say a state election result has no implications for a federal poll, rest assured that behind the scenes, there are very active discussions about what Saturday’s result means for next year’s contest. Both sides walk away with reasons to be encouraged, which speaks to a larger question – […]