The CPRS debate has resulted in an unholy alliance between Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull, says Peter Hartcher. Both are fighting for the same outcome against a common enemy: Coalition conservatives.
Liberal Party 
Libs push for secret CPRS ballot
At least 29 of the Liberal’s 57 backbenchers want to hold a secret partyroom ballot on the CPRS this week in order to resolve the party’s deep rifts over the issue once and for all.
Climate deal delayed: just whose side is Macfarlane on?
A CPRS deal between Ian Macfarlane and Penny Wong has been put off until tomorrow, and an impatient Coalition is not happy — especially when they discovered it was their own man who asked for the delay. Is Macfarlane getting too close to the Government? asks Michelle Grattan.
Maiden: “Fruit Loop” Minchin and the Coalition’s climate sceptics
Nick Minchin and the rest of the Coalition’s climate-sceptic cabal didn’t just open up to the ABC’s 4 Corners to stick it to Rudd: they genuinely believe climate change is a left-wing conspiracy, writes Samantha Maiden.
Climate change: the Coalition’s new Hansonism
There’s a number of similarities between Howard-era Hansonism and climate denialism, but the biggest similarity is that both mean big trouble for the Coalition.
Vanstone’s mob connections
Why did former Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone grant a Visa to an alleged member of the Italian mafia? Perhaps it has something to do with the tens of thousands of dollars his supporters have donated to the Liberal Party…
Grattan: Is this the end of the Coalition?
The Coalition is straining to stay together, as the Nationals — lead symbolically by Barnaby Joyce — try to forge their own identity separate to the Libs. But the Coalition would be better off staying together to fight Rudd, writes Michelle Grattan.
Antony Green: Can the Greens make a dent in Higgins?
On paper, the Federal seat of Higgins might not look as safe for the Liberals as it once did — but don’t expect to see Clive Hamilton make much of an impact there for the Greens, says Antony Green. History and the polls are against him.
Rundle: Libs try to put on a humane, human face; fail
The Liberal Party has now cottoned on to the fact that Australians don’t like seeing asylum seekers brutsalised on their watch, and has tried to make it a campaigning point. But it’s like Martians trying to work out how the humans think, says Guy Rundle.
Not clean, not dirty … Turnbull masters inactivity
This Opposition is good at neither the high road nor the low road politics. The scandal over Malcolm Turnbull’s office proposing tactics for getting media attention just demonstrates this further.
Do the Coalition shuffle!
Whatever happened to the Coalition reshuffle? Remember that? But reshuffles create losers and Malcolm Turnbull, who is one major brain explosion away from losing the leadership, has enough enemies as things stand.
Throwing Australian liberalism a lifeline
Liberalism in Australia stagnated under the Howard government, becoming a defender of the status-quo with a stance indistinguishable from conservatism, says Andrew Carr. Embracing a modern liberal revival could help the Libs reach the ever-elusive Gen-Y demographic.
leaked Turnbull digs dirt for headlines
The Oz has its hands on a leaked email from Malcolm Turnbull’s office, urging press secretaries to attack “fat cat public servants not caring about taxpayers, pollies with snouts in the trough, special interest groups getting undeserved handouts” to garner more attention in the press.
The real Battlelines: putting the small ‘l’ back in Liberals
Liberal Senator George Brandis has let fly at his party, saying that for John Howard, the Libs were more conservative than liberal. Glenn Milne reports on the battle of ideas plaguing the Liberal Party.
The story the Daily Tele didn’t want you to read
Two years ago, The Daily Telegraph published four stories about former Liberal candidate for the seat of Cook, Michael Towke, which he says defamed him and destroyed his political career. The Tele tried to buy his silence. They failed.
No happy endings for Coalition after Minchin’s stance on Telstra
Nick Minchin may succeed in delaying Stephen Conroy’s Telstra break-up Bill. But he is painting the Coalition into a corner on Telstra and it’s not going to end well.
Singing from Howard’s hymn book no help to Libs
Opposition parties that have been in government for a long time often take just as long to realise that they are no longer in government and to start behaving accordingly, writes Dr Aron Paul.
Dutton chows down some humble pie
Lib frontbencher Peter Dutton has returned, tail between his legs, to announce he will stand again for his Brisbane seat of Dickson, just weeks after missing out for preselection in a safer seat.
Possum: Coalition’s “economic legacy” in tatters
A new Essential Report has found the public have a favourable view of the Rudd government’s economic management, and they’re dismissing every single economic angle the Opposition has been raising as an attack for the past six months.
The CPRS: what the Liberals want
So Malcolm Turnbull has convinced the Coalition to push amendments on the Government’s CPRS. But what is it that the Liberals want?
The Coalition ride the conveyor belt to electoral slaughter
The idea of the Coalition losing 20 seats next year has now become part of the political furniture, says Bernard Keane. And unfortunately for them, next year is, historically, their best chance at getting back in power for some time.
graph pr0n The grey vote
The ‘Depression Era’ vote is the most electorally significant demographic for the Coalition, says Possum Comitatus. Without it, Howard would have lost in 1998, lost in 2001 and it would have been line ball in 2004. But when they die off, where will the votes come from?
