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.
Abbott's own act to blame for the lack of criminal charges
Phillip Coorey TONY ABBOTT'S frustration that the Fair Work Australia investigation into the Health Services Union has not paved the way explicitly for criminal charges in part stems from legislation he introduced...
Phillip Coorey
Big dreams not just the hat talking
Phillip Coorey Last Wednesday, as the government and the opposition were busy tearing out each other's throats over events 20 years ago, Bob Katter provided the relief.
Faulkner's reform calls unlikely to go anywhere fast
Phillip Coorey Until now, Faulkner had been railing against the corrosive effects of factionalism on the ALP's structure and membership.
Phillip Coorey
Soaring rates bill will be on Canberrans' minds when they go to the polls
Phillip Coorey To those outside the national capital, the ACT election held every four years is about as compelling as boils.
Abbott having it both ways on BHP
Phillip Coorey The mining tax did not apply to Olympic Dam because it only applies to iron ore and coal. There is a strong but unsubstantiated rumour in the industry that when the minerals giants renegotiated the...
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
PM to bask in overseas glow as the knives sharpen at home
Phillip Coorey Sunday week, June 24, will mark the second anniversary of Julia Gillard's leadership coup over Kevin Rudd.
Phillip Coorey
Gillard still queen of the jungle
Phillip Coorey Two weeks ago, leaked internal polling showed Labor on track to lose the state seat of Melbourne to the Greens in the byelection held on Saturday.
Phillip Coorey
Gillard showed flawed judgment by appearing on program
Phillip Coorey The question being asked rhetorically around Parliament House this morning was ''why?''. As in, why did Gillard agree to be interviewed for a show which, many in the ALP feared, was always going to...
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
Nasty smell lingers in Skype affair
Phillip Coorey While the military establishment and the opposition are busy jumping ugly on the Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, a few points have been overlooked.
Charges or not, the Thomson nightmare continues for Labor
Phillip Coorey From a political perspective, all that matters in the Craig Thomson saga is whether the MP is eligible to remain in Parliament.
Phillip Coorey
Thomson saga travels slowly in a cul-de-sac
Phillip Coorey What is being overlooked amid all the huff and puff of the Craig Thomson saga is that the investigation by Fair Work Australia was never supposed to be a precursor to the laying of criminal charges.
HSU warned to clean up or clear out
Phillip Coorey FAIR Work Australia will release its findings against Craig Thomson next month, while his old union, the Health Services Union, faces threats of deregistration or being placed in the hands of...
Phillip Coorey
Thomson has no words to lance boil that will ache until election day
Phillip Coorey The question that will be left hanging after Craig Thomson makes his statement to Parliament today is how did the whole saga get this far?
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
Politics looks a little topsy-turvy
Phillip Coorey This political year ends with Labor behaving as though it is in opposition and the Coalition humming along as though it were in government.
Phillip Coorey
Labor on a steady path to same-sex weddings
Phillip Coorey At the hideously-confected affair that masqueraded as the 2009 ALP national conference, one rare area of real contention was gay marriage.
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
Rivers will die of thirst as the arguments get wetter
Phillip Coorey Just over a year ago, Malcolm Turnbull returned from London and a meeting with the Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, to declare he was no longer prepared to lead a party that refused to take...
