No pain no gain: PM talks budget options

Michael Gordon Julia Gillard's warning underscores reality that selling this pre-election budget will be even harder than framing it.

Bounce in the polls too much to expect

Michael Gordon Comeback the one thing Wayne Swan will not be expecting from his sixth budget.

Industrial lite on the hill

Michael Gordon Tony Abbott has produced a minimalist industrial relations policy with a bold objective - to eliminate what he considers the biggest threat to a Coalition victory in September.

Hard slog for PM to get Labor back into the game

Michael Gordon It is a measure of Labor's predicament that the good news for the government in the latest Age/Nielsen poll is that Julia Gillard's - and the party's - standing did not take another hit after yet...

A clean start for the PM, but is the election already lost?

Michael Gordon Simon Crean has removed the threat of Kevin Rudd and gave Julia Gillard's prime ministership a fresh start.

Michael Gordon

Worlds apart, but the pain's the same when the axe falls

Michael Gordon Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott agree on something. There are no parallels between the political assassination of Kevin Rudd in 2010 and Ted Baillieu's decision to fall on his sword this week.

Michael Gordon

Rudd's long cold shower heats up as leadership stress grows

Michael Gordon What's Kevin up to? It's the perennial question for those Labor MPs who voted for Julia Gillard in last year's leadership ballot, and for her advisers, but now it's being asked by some of Rudd's own...

Michael Gordon

High-fives around PM reveal faulty grasp of Labor's reality

Michael Gordon Julia Gillard's inner sanctum hasn't had much to smile about lately, but on Tuesday her advisers were giving each other high-fives in the Prime Minister's office.

Michael Gordon

Time for a new script after a year of tears and smears

Michael Gordon As morality tales go, they don't get much better, or shabbier, than the saga of how Peter Slipper came to, and was removed from, the most prestigious office in the national Parliament.

Michael Gordon

Disability: we've got the sense, now for the dollars

Michael Gordon When Jenny Macklin stepped up to the podium at the National Press Club last month to talk up the country's first national disability insurance scheme, an elephant lurked ominously at the back of the...

Michael Gordon

PM wobbly but Abbott not much steadier

Michael Gordon Has Julia Gillard's comeback stalled and is Tony Abbott capable of raising his own standing from the basement?

Michael Gordon

Last bout for year to make or break leaders

Michael Gordon Has Julia Gillard's comeback stalled and is Tony Abbott capable of lifting his own standing?

Michael Gordon

Is this the beginning of a Gillard revival?

Michael Gordon Julia Gillard isn't big on admitting to personal failings. Truth is, she is at her best when her back's against the wall and she's conceding absolutely nothing.

Gillard's still in the basement

Michael Gordon The bad news for PM is that this is the fourth poll with a net approval rating of minus 24.

Michael Gordon

Numbers buy Gillard momentary breathing space

Michael Gordon Don't panic yet. That is the message of today's Age/Nielsen poll to Labor MPs grappling with the decision of if - and when - to switch leaders (again).