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
Team players get top jobs but mavericks make a difference
Phillip Coorey About three years ago, Barnaby Joyce had a half-hearted crack at replacing Warren Truss as the leader of the Nationals.
Phillip Coorey
Both sides respect Beazley, even if he's telling home truths
Phillip Coorey Tony Abbott was not kind to Kim Beazley when they were both in Parliament. ''Sanctimonious windbag'' and ''great big bellowing cow'' were two of the more memorable insults that Abbott, then a Howard...
Phillip Coorey
Bets off for Abbott after a Rudd change
Phillip Coorey As opposition leader between 1998 and 2001, Kim Beazley was the last person to lead federal Labor for a full term.
Phillip Coorey
If Rudd is not the messiah, then it's just a very desperate ploy
Phillip Coorey The Labor MP Darren Cheeseman was downcast on Thursday as he walked the corridor to his Parliament House office.
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
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
Howard's book simply circles the wagons around his own legacy
Phillip Coorey Nothing is ever certain in politics, but in late 2007 it was a near certainty - and had been for some time - that John Howard's Coalition government was going to lose.
Phillip Coorey
Voters get a taste for miner miracles
Phillip Coorey A week is no longer a long time in politics, it is an eternity. With the rapid advent of new media - the internet, twitter, 24-hour television news and so forth - the news cycle has accelerated and...
Phillip Coorey
Faction too much fiction for Gillard
Phillip Coorey Several factors contributed to Kevin Rudd's downfall and chief among them was his decision to sideline the factions and designate himself the sole authority.
Phillip Coorey
Rudd may be the blip in selling mining tax
Phillip Coorey The government's penchant for acronyms has reached the stage where even the opposition is struggling to keep up.
Phillip Coorey
Managing Joyce hard task for either side
Phillip Coorey The finance portfolio has been maligned and overhyped in recent decades. The Coalition started it in 1996 by labelling the $10 billion budget deficit inherited from Labor as the ''Beazley black...
Phillip Coorey
Another job for a Tory, but Costello will have to help Labor look good
Phillip Coorey At the conclusion of the weekly cabinet meeting a fortnight ago, a minister, mostly in jest - but not entirely - dismissively slid a file along the table after a quick perusal.
Phillip Coorey
Unconvincing acts on asylum seekers
Phillip Coorey One of the stranger moments of the US presidential election campaign in 2004 came when the Democrat candidate, John Kerry, shot a goose.
Phillip Coorey
Costello's sharp tongue may never taste the milk of human kindness
Phillip Coorey When Labor stalwarts speak of the debt the party owes Kim Beazley, you need look no further than the state of the federal Liberal Party to understand why.
