Mark Kenny

Mark Kenny is Fairfax Media's chief political correspondent. A director of the National Press Club, he regularly appears on the ABC's Insiders, Sky News Agenda, and Ten's Meet the Press. He has reported from Canberra under three prime ministers and several opposition leaders.

Carbon price tax cut out of Labor budget

Mark Kenny Tax cuts to compensate for carbon price, slated for 2015, have been deferred indefinitely.

Gillard's fine reforms slip between the gap

Mark Kenny The PM's policy record holds up well. It's her political skills that let her down, badly.

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PM will be judged as skilled at policy, but inept at politics

Mark Kenny In just his first 30 days in office, an impatient Gough Whitlam signed off on a vast array of reforms.

Another sweetener ditched as budget sours

Mark Kenny The federal government has confirmed tax cuts slated for 2015 to compensate for the carbon price have been deferred indefinitely, amid signs its political strategy is in disarray in the lead-up to...

Earnings leeway to keep dole cost down

Mark Kenny Jobseekers would be allowed to earn more from casual, or part-time work, before losing Newstart benefits under budget changes designed to help lift them out of poverty without increasing the dole.

Green light for the NDIS as Abbott comes to the party

Mark Kenny, Dan Harrison Tony Abbott has abandoned his principled opposition to new taxes to clear the way for a historic parliamentary approval of a national disability insurance scheme, funded by a special 0.

Both sides vow to pass funding bill

Mark Kenny, Dan Harrison Tony Abbott abandons his principled opposition to new taxes to clear the way for NDIS.

PM throws down gauntlet over scheme funding

Mark Kenny, Richard Willingham Julia Gillard has issued a high-stakes ultimatum to Tony Abbott to immediately back a special levy to finance a disability insurance scheme, or see the issue mired in campaigning up to the election.

Triple-F for Labor in convincing voters of budget credibility

Mark Kenny The federal government's political skills are again being exposed as slipshod amid a messy prelude to a pre-election budget.

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Cynical game played at the expense of the disabled

Mark Kenny Around 2 million Australians desperate to see disability insurance become a reality are now caught in a political game of chicken with neither side of politics prepared to unconditionally back...

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Gillard and Abbott dare each other

Mark Kenny Julia Gillard issues high-stakes ultimatum to Tony Abbott to immediately back special levy to finance a disability insurance scheme or see the issue mired in political campaigning.

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Labor locks in a new levy

Mark Kenny Labor's $14 billion national disability insurance scheme will be funded in part by a special Medicare-style levy set at 0.

Labor to lock in levy rise

Mark Kenny Labor's $14 billion national disability insurance scheme will be funded in part by a special Medicare-style levy set at 0.

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Embrace the pain

Mark Kenny Julia Gillard has opened the way for a range of policy reversals, including tax increases, as her government struggles to contain a ballooning budget deficit, and to dampen expectations of a return...

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Loss blows $12b hole in budget

Mark Kenny Collapsing revenue from lower company profits has blown a $12 billion hole in the federal budget this financial year, Prime Minister Julia Gillard will reveal on Monday.

$12b hole delivers bad news for Labor

Mark Kenny Collapsing revenue from lower company profits has blown a huge hole in the federal budget.

Swan concedes guilt over poll dive

Mark Kenny Wayne Swan has confessed to 'pulling the wrong rein' from time to time conceding some economic decisions are to blame for the Government's poll dive.

Candidates and hopefuls line up for the game of thrones

Mark Kenny, Jacqueline Maley The tomato-coloured letter, which arrived by post ahead of the April 9 ballot, was typically unsigned. But where its authors remained in the shadows, their claims were anything but backward.