Michelle Grattan
Michelle Grattan is the political editor of The Age. In 2008, she shared the Melbourne Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award with Laurie Oakes. She edited the books 'Reconciliation' and 'Australian Prime Ministers' (2000), and wrote 'Back on the Wool Track' (2004).
Michelle Grattan
PM battens down the hatches for seven months in a leaky caucus
Michelle Grattan One thing sure to ''leak'' is a prime ministerial lecture to the troops about leaking. So you have to wonder why Julia Gillard would have left herself so open at her first caucus of the year.
Michelle Grattan
Well executed? Or executed well?
Michelle Grattan Julia Gillard has made one hell of a call. But will it help her - or Tony Abbott?
Michelle Grattan
Belief in victory hard for party at war with itself
Michelle Grattan As Labor MPs gather in Canberra for the new parliamentary year, with the election date set and the ministry reshuffled, they are unsettled and uncertain.
Michelle Grattan
Labor's long and winding road to reform
Michelle Grattan Labor Senator John Faulkner can always get public attention when he talks about party reform. But as he'd be the first to admit, it's quite another matter to get something meaningful done.
Michelle Grattan
Wrapped in polls, Gillard defies the 'killing season'
Michelle Grattan This will be a bruising parliamentary week, the last of an extraordinary and draining year that has strained voters' tolerance of politicians to the max.
Michelle Grattan
Gillard stonewalls opponents
Michelle Grattan It looks like being a happier Christmas for the Prime Minister than either Rudd or Abbott might have expected.
Michelle Grattan
Positive poll results give Gillard breathing space
Michelle Grattan Politics looked sweet to Julia Gillard when she woke up today to face the penultimate week of the full Parliament.
Michelle Grattan
Rudd messing with Gillard's head
Michelle Grattan KEVIN RUDD tweeted on Friday: ''Addressed about 900 students at Cannon Hill Anglican College on resilience.'' He mentioned a Paralympian. But one's mind immediately leapt to the man himself.
Michelle Grattan
Canberra's tale of two characters
Michelle Grattan Suddenly, political attention is concentrated on Tony Abbott's distant past and Kevin Rudd's immediate future.
Storied PM damned if she does, damned if she doesn't
Michelle Grattan It was a bitter-sweet morning for Julia Gillard. A further rise in Labor's primary vote in today's Newspoll gave her leadership further protection.
Relief for Gillard but Labor still facing rout
Michelle Grattan When a 33 per cent primary vote is a cheer-up number for a PM, you know we are in unusual times. But for Julia Gillard that figure in today's Newspoll must be a big relief.
Michelle Grattan
Gloves on as PM gears up for battle
Michelle Grattan Julia Gillard likes to box. A trainer goes to The Lodge twice a week, holding up the pads while the Prime Minister slugs away.
Michelle Grattan
It's only right, says voice from left
Michelle Grattan Melissa Parke's low-key style is very different from more familiar, high-profile left operators.
Michelle Grattan
Union heavyweights play a tricky game in the leadership battle
Michelle Grattan There are no signs the instability plaguing Labor will let up, writes Michelle Grattan.
Michelle Grattan
Crack of the whip adds fuel to fire
Michelle Grattan Julia Gillard knows she can't rely on her whip, Joel Fitzgibbon, in her battle to stay leader.
Bad blood runs cold for Labor
Michelle Grattan Gillard's future is once more uncertain, against ever worsening chaos. For the Labor party, the terrifying thing is that there seems no quick or ready way through the impasse.
Michelle Grattan
The tricky business of rights and risk
Michelle Grattan Refugee lawyer David Manne is on the legal hunt again.
Michelle Grattan
Another day, another crisis ... or two
Michelle Grattan The Prime Minister has a set of new crises that will make for a tense and testing week.
Michelle Grattan
Semantics cannot hide rift in cabinet
Michelle Grattan PM and her ministers attempted to reconcile conflicting accounts of foreign worker deal.
The Year of Living Dangerously
Michelle Grattan The allegation that News Ltd was actively involved in the intrigue against Speaker Peter Slipper is not just giving Labor ammunition against its bete noire media company but feeding into the debate...
