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
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
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
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
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
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.
Phillip Coorey
Gillard on the go is being undersold
Phillip Coorey Julia Gillard will spend about 55 hours in the air and 18 on the ground just to attend the NATO summit in Lisbon. She arrives home this morning from a week overseas and heads off again on Thursday.
Phillip Coorey
Sales talk begins as election moves into focus
Phillip Coorey With Julia Gillard expected to call the election today, Tony Abbott has tried to define the contest as being about the need to get rid of a bad government full of flawed characters.
Phillip Coorey
How the West was lost: a lack of faith in civilisation
Phillip Coorey There is a growing belief among Australia's most formidable conservative thinkers that the foundations of Western civilisation in this country are being eroded.
Phillip Coorey
No winners in fight over climate change
Phillip Coorey Principle will make a rare appearance in Parliament today when Malcolm Turnbull speaks in favour of the emissions trading scheme legislation that was reintroduced
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.
