Phillip Coorey on Budget - National Times

Phillip Coorey

Phillip Coorey joined the Sydney Morning Herald in 2005 and is the paper's Chief Political Correspondent, based in Canberra. Previously he was the Political Editor for Adelaide's The Advertiser. He has been in the Canberrra Press Gallery since 1998, except for 2003 and 2004 when he was the New York correspondent for News Ltd.

Phillip Coorey

Absent Hockey will be front and centre if Abbott falters

Phillip Coorey There was a brief period of unrest in the Coalition last week when MPs were wondering why the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, was not among the speakers at an economic summit in Melbourne.

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Phillip Coorey

As the Coalition knows, there is a long history of costing opposition policies

Phillip Coorey The opposition and some sections of the media are in high dudgeon because information has been released. However, it's not the first time a government has costed opposition policies.

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Phillip Coorey

Softly, softly, a slide into the red comes into view

Phillip Coorey Revelations today that not a single cent of mining tax was paid in the first three months of this financial year indicate the $1.1 billion surplus forecast on Monday may be gone already.

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Phillip Coorey

Rudd camp stirs the surplus soup

Phillip Coorey Some weeks ago, Kevin Rudd accepted an invitation to join Bob Hawke and Bob Carr at Darling Harbour yesterday to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic ties between China and Australia.

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Phillip Coorey

Slowdown a rich lode for politicians

Phillip Coorey Last week, when the Reserve Bank cut interest rates and downgraded its forecast for the economy, Tony Abbott became the latest politician to declare the mining boom over.

Phillip Coorey

Security Council bid long overdue

Phillip Coorey When Julia Gillard touches down in New York this morning, she will be on a mission from Rudd. It was on a Saturday afternoon, 4 1/2 years ago, during his first major overseas odyssey as prime...

Phillip Coorey

Rudd's special status makes every move suspect

Phillip Coorey According to Kevin Rudd's numbers men, the former prime minister is about 10 votes shy of Julia Gillard.

Phillip Coorey

States give Abbott a nasty headache

Phillip Coorey In one week, the NSW and Queensland governments effectively neutered two of Tony Abbott's attack lines against the Gillard government - school funding and the mining tax.

Phillip Coorey

Abrasive Newman gives Labor a lift

Phillip Coorey Fancy an elected leader likening people's jobs to dog poo. Boil it down and that's what the Queensland Premier, Campbell Newman, did last Thursday during a rowdy debate over his plans to take the axe...

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Phillip Coorey

Emissions trading easier to sell when it goes global

Phillip Coorey PUTTING a floor price on carbon pollution when the carbon tax morphed into an emissions trading scheme in 2015 was always a silly idea.

Phillip Coorey

Audacious spending plans aimed at drawing out opposition

Phillip Coorey A signature difference between government and opposition is that the former must account publicly for its promised spending every six months.

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Phillip Coorey

PM fixes stalemate but funding battle will be Abbott's

Phillip Coorey Julia Gillard is taking a week off and, in the process, doing her bit for Queensland's struggling tourism sector.

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Phillip Coorey

PM returns to disorder in the House and trouble over Rinehart deal

Phillip Coorey When Julia Gillard arrived home from Chicago on Wednesday morning and saw Anthony Albanese, she made an immediate observation: ''You look tired.''

Phillip Coorey

For Labor, largesse may be last chance

Phillip Coorey Kevin Rudd looked a little lost last week when wandering the Senate corridors looking for Bob Brown.

The ghost of issues past still haunts Gillard, two years on

Phillip Coorey When Julia Gillard knocked off Kevin Rudd two years ago yesterday, Labor was floundering principally because of three intractable policy issues - the mining tax, carbon pricing and asylum seekers.

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Phillip Coorey

D-day for the government as carbon pricing put to the test

Phillip Coorey In those mad days in February as Kevin Rudd geared up to challenge Julia Gillard for the leadership, Rudd, in an appeal to Labor MPs fearing July 1, promised to take the edge off the carbon tax.

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Phillip Coorey

Messy mining tax deal sealed in the early hours

Phillip Coorey Unsurprisingly, the government was able to find $100 million last night to soothe the concerns of the Greens and usher the mining tax through the House of Representatives at 2.42am.

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