Gillard standing firm but her fate rests with unions

Mark Kenny Julia Gillard remains resolute, determined to lead the government into the election despite voter sentiment portending an electoral bloodbath, and despite a flurry of speculation both inside the...

A promise made in haste is often one to regret

Mark Kenny Tony Abbott must regret promising to force a vote of ''no confidence'' to bring down the government in this, the budget session of parliament.

Comments 309

Labor's poll timing is a time for prayer all round

Mark Kenny Julia Gillard was wise to avoid a clash with those great secular festivals, the AFL and NRL grand finals, when setting the election for September 14.

Gillard could face her own day of atonement

Mark Kenny Business is cutting jobs, and the PM may pay the price.

Comments 253

Double-dealing reveals Abbott's failings

Mark Kenny It would be troubling enough, if Tony Abbott's shilly-shallying on electoral reform had merely killed off hopes of making overdue changes to the nation's electoral laws.

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Taxing matters as GST takes centre stage again

Mark Kenny Hypersensitivity over the GST dates back to Howard and Costello.

GST may be the answer to balancing the books

Mark Kenny Politician after politician has squibbed it, making florid gestures but avoiding serious discussion of the goods and services tax.

Comments 340

PM will be judged as skilled at policy, but inept at politics

Mark Kenny In just his first 30 days in office, an impatient Gough Whitlam signed off on a vast array of reforms.

Gillard's fine reforms slip between the gap

Mark Kenny The PM's policy record holds up well. It's her political skills that let her down, badly.

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Abbott plays smart but timid politics on IR

Mark Kenny Like a man running along the wrong side of the river, Tony Abbott needed to cross the industrial relations bridge at some point on his journey to election 2013, yet his reluctance has been all too...

Comments 128

Labor sets a booby-trap as it heads for the door

Mark Kenny Gillard and Swan have tried to use this budget to make it as hard as possible for Abbott to enjoy a clean run to the election.

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Gillard's deal on Gonski a case of better late than never

Mark Kenny Things are somehow different way out west.

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PM should junk playbook in hunt for silver linings

Mark Kenny Setting the election date eight months in advance represented a calculated risk for Julia Gillard. So far, it has not worked.

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Cynical game played at the expense of the disabled

Mark Kenny Around 2 million Australians desperate to see disability insurance become a reality are now caught in a political game of chicken with neither side of politics prepared to unconditionally back...

Comments 392

Triple-F for Labor in convincing voters of budget credibility

Mark Kenny The federal government's political skills are again being exposed as slipshod amid a messy prelude to a pre-election budget.

Comments 190

Abbott can't lose if Labor fiddles with super rules

Mark Kenny Two distinctly different interests are hoping that the Gillard Labor government proceeds with necessary but unpopular tax changes in the superannuation system.

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Gillard's diplomatic triumphs have come all too late

Mark Kenny The PM didn't relish a foreign affairs role, but she has excelled as a stateswoman.

PM solved Rubik's Cube of diplomacy but won't get credit

Mark Kenny It has been said before that if it weren't for bad luck, Julia Gillard would probably have no luck at all.

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Back from the brink

Mark Kenny Prime Minister Julia Gillard faces an uphill battle rebuilding her party's shattered brand after Labor's crippling leadership crisis ended in farce on Thursday with a party-room spill devoid of a...

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