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
No smoking gun but loaded words have already damaged Gillard
Phillip Coorey The gulf between the circumstantial case and anything actually linking Julia Gillard to knowingly having done something illegal as a lawyer 19 years ago is a cause of frustration among the Prime...
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.
Phillip Coorey
Nothing new, just more sounding off
Phillip Coorey THE capacity for selfish and destructive behaviour within the Labor Party never ceases to amaze.
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...
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.
Phillip Coorey
Gillard's power play
Phillip Coorey Julia Gillard is entering a critical phase for both her leadership and her government. Clearly she has decided to go on the front foot.
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
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.
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.
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
Means test may not be such a bitter pill this time around
Phillip Coorey When dozens of private hospital staff gathered outside Rob Oakeshott's Port Macquarie electorate office on Saturday to urge him to reject means testing of health insurance, they risked provoking the...
Phillip Coorey
Labor hegemony may be dead but it's not all bad for Gillard
Phillip Coorey This Friday, the Labor government will find itself outnumbered for the first time in 4½ years in office.
