It’s no wonder Malcolm Turnbull has been desperate in parliament’s final fortnight of 2016 to get some legislative wins. Five months after the election, voters are frustrated by what they see as lack of progress from the government and deeply disappointed with Turnbull.

These messages came from focus group discussions conducted last...

Peter Varghese, former head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, now chancellor of the University of Queensland had a simple message for policymakers anxious about the arrival in the White House of a man whose impulses are both crude and opaque.

Wait and...

The backpacker tax deadlock has been broken with a deal between the government and the Greens for a 15% rate that will be lower in effective terms because backpackers will keep extra superannuation.

The agreement was reached after a stand-off between the government, which refused to budge from a proposed 15%, and key crossbenchers, who wanted a 13%...