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
Holed by carbon tax, good ship Gillard limps towards poll iceberg
Phillip Coorey THE Gillard government resembles a dinghy being dragged along the bottom of the sea. It bounces up and down as it is being pulled along, but ultimately, it is sunk.
Phillip Coorey
Proof will be in the paying when mining tax kicks in
Phillip Coorey In the days leading up to last week's budget, the minerals giants grew nervous. Already cranky at having to pay the carbon tax and the mining tax from July 1, they were uneasy at speculation that...
Phillip Coorey
Greens held cards on mining tax but chose protest over action
Phillip Coorey Later today, if all goes to plan, the Senate will pass the legislation for the minerals resources rent tax, enabling it to start on July 1.
Coalition split over super rise linked to the mining tax
Phillip Coorey THE opposition spokesman for finance, Andrew Robb, has slammed the superannuation increases associated with the mining tax, despite the Coalition's decision to keep them if elected.
Phillip Coorey
Messy mining tax deal sealed in the early hours
Phillip Coorey Unsurprisingly, the government was able to find $100 million last night to soothe the concerns of the Greens and usher the mining tax through the House of Representatives at 2.42am.
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
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
Soaring rates bill will be on Canberrans' minds when they go to the polls
Phillip Coorey To those outside the national capital, the ACT election held every four years is about as compelling as boils.
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.
A plague on both sides of the House
Phillip Coorey In his lecture delivered last night, Malcolm Turnbull does not single out Tony Abbott for criticism.
Phillip Coorey
Gillard on the front foot, lurches to right, but team Rudd not beaten
Phillip Coorey Kevin Rudd's dying words as prime minister were that he would never lurch to the right on asylum seekers, as was demanded of him as a condition of keeping his job.
Abbott having it both ways on BHP
Phillip Coorey The mining tax did not apply to Olympic Dam because it only applies to iron ore and coal. There is a strong but unsubstantiated rumour in the industry that when the minerals giants renegotiated the...
Phillip Coorey
Emissions trading easier to sell when it goes global
Phillip Coorey PUTTING a floor price on carbon pollution when the carbon tax morphed into an emissions trading scheme in 2015 was always a silly idea.
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
As the Coalition knows, there is a long history of costing opposition policies
Phillip Coorey The opposition and some sections of the media are in high dudgeon because information has been released. However, it's not the first time a government has costed opposition policies.
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.
The ghost of issues past still haunts Gillard, two years on
Phillip Coorey When Julia Gillard knocked off Kevin Rudd two years ago yesterday, Labor was floundering principally because of three intractable policy issues - the mining tax, carbon pricing and asylum seekers.
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.
