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
War on the bad guys takes a malign turn
Phillip Coorey Standing in the cockpit of the C-130 Hercules as it began its rapid descent to the Tarin Kowt airstrip, the Chief of Defence Force, Angus Houston, was keen to make an observation.
Phillip Coorey
Cold war begins in depths of winter
Phillip Coorey There has only been one other August federal election since federation and, like this poll, it was held on August 21. It was 1943.
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
Boycott threats are just hot air
Phillip Coorey One morning during the 2010 election campaign, a federal minister awoke to hear Alan Jones's latest sermon on why listeners should not vote Labor.
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
Back into the fray, armed with an agenda to turn tables
Phillip Coorey EDUCATION, industrial relations, disability services and power prices - all Labor issues, and all have the potential to create conflict with the states and the federal opposition.
Phillip Coorey
Gillard comes out fighting and begins to see blue sky ahead
Phillip Coorey It may feel like ages but tomorrow week marks just two years since the federal election which left Australia with a hung parliament.
Phillip Coorey
Green dilemma has Labor in a spin
Phillip Coorey The whole political establishment will be watching this Saturday's byelection for the state seat of Melbourne.
Phillip Coorey
Liberals can walk policy tightrope while Labor circus is in town
Phillip Coorey As a follower of Irish politics, the Liberal Party's federal director, Brian Loughnane, is a fan of the acronym GUBU.
Phillip Coorey
Gillard has faith in poll resurrection
Phillip Coorey Julia Gillard is not one to bemoan her lot publicly, nor is she prone to reacting to the potshots her detractors take at her personal life.
Phillip Coorey
Gillard's grace under pressure may not be enough
Phillip Coorey Gillard's strength and toughness has got her this far and those who once thought she would be the kind to tap the mat should she realise she could not lead Labor to victory, are rethinking.
Phillip Coorey
Proof will be in the paying when mining tax kicks in
Phillip Coorey In the days leading up to last week's budget, the minerals giants grew nervous. Already cranky at having to pay the carbon tax and the mining tax from July 1, they were uneasy at speculation that...
Phillip Coorey
Spare those organising security from more work
Phillip Coorey THE squabble between Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard over Afghanistan misses a key point. It would have been a lot easier on the military had they travelled to Afghanistan together.
Phillip Coorey
There was little love between PM from Queensland and president from Texas
Phillip Coorey Kevin Rudd, as prime minister, never had a great relationship with George Bush. Rudd came to power as Bush was in the presidential exit lounge and things started to deteriorate almost from the first...
Phillip Coorey
Labor needs another messy battle like a hole in the head
Phillip Coorey AT FIRST blush, it is difficult to think of a powerful interest group not at war with this government.
Phillip Coorey
New-look carbon fix makes Abbott a man of steel
Phillip Coorey The night before he became Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott virtually pleaded with Joe Hockey to take the job. ''Joe, we're offering you the leadership of the Liberal Party on a plate,'' he said.
Phillip Coorey
Gillard on the go is being undersold
Phillip Coorey Julia Gillard will spend about 55 hours in the air and 18 on the ground just to attend the NATO summit in Lisbon. She arrives home this morning from a week overseas and heads off again on Thursday.
Phillip Coorey
Gillard is not for turning on IR
Phillip Coorey Tony Abbott has a new line that maintains his theme that Labor is a puppet of the Greens. ''Labor is in government but the Greens are in power,'' the Opposition Leader said on the eve of today's...
Phillip Coorey
Abbott the cyborg assassin will not give up on his hell-bent mission
Phillip Coorey Just after Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor decided to back Labor, a relieved minister observed that, throughout the election campaign, Tony Abbott had reminded him of the Terminator, the...
Phillip Coorey
Keys to Lodge lie in NSW or Queensland
Phillip Coorey This election, like its immediate predecessors, will be won and lost in NSW and Queensland.
