The reverberations of the spectacularly failed Voice referendum are continuing to hit the Albanese government, leaving it in a politically weaker position to convince Australians they are the better option to handle the cost-of-living crisis squeezing them. Ministers are anxiously awaiting the Reserve Bank board’s decision on Tuesday under new governor Michele Bullock on whether it will raise interest rates …

When the prime minister flies out of the country, it’s standard protocol for there to be an acting PM. In most cases, it’s the deputy prime minister who fills in. That person is Defence Minister Richard Marles, or “the DPM” as staff call him. Getting to sit in the big chair clearly offers a point of pride. This week, with Anthony …

At a White House briefing early this week, Joe Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, was asked whether there’d been any thought of postponing Anthony Albanese’s state visit because of the Middle East conflict. No, she said, highlighting the importance of alliances and reassuring that the president could handle more than one thing at a time. From Albanese’s vantage point it’s …

After an election, combatants normally have a cooling off period to reflect, digest, and adjust before parliament resumes. This dust-settling process, while counting is finalised and writs are returned, can last weeks, sometimes even months, before everyone files back to Canberra to face off again. Not so with a referendum. Parliament resumes this morning, with the scars from Saturday night’s …

Palestinians in besieged Gaza crowded into hospitals and schools on Monday, seeking shelter and running low on food and water. More than a million people have fled their homes ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion aimed at destroying Hamas after its fighters rampaged through southern Israel. As the enclave’s food, water and medicine supplies dwindled, all eyes were on …

For Indigenous Australians who supported an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, the comprehensive loss of the 2023 referendum — its defeat in every state as well as nationally — is so much more than just a political loss. As the Uluru Statement from the Heart said, it was an invitation to the rest of us for a better future: a coherent …

Egypt has called for humanitarian relief to be provided to Palestinian civilians inside the Gaza Strip and says it is directing international aid flights to Al Arish airport near its border with the enclave. The Rafah crossing between Sinai and Gaza remained open, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, adding that Egypt had asked Israel to avoid targeting the Palestinian …

When Anthony Albanese is pondering the all-but-inevitable emphatic loss of this weekend’s referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, he might look to one of those things only prime ministers can do. Calling an early election would have a lot more upside than any contrary thought. It would change the political conversation with a loud-hailer. It would completely catch Peter …

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has denounced “horrific” displays of anti-Semitism in Sydney as an escalating crisis in the Middle East leads to warnings of further tensions in Australia. Demonstrators chanted “f— the Jews”, and burned an Israeli flag at the forecourt of the Opera House on Monday night, as its sails were illuminated in blue and white in what was intended as …

As Israel’s military sent phone messages telling Palestinians to leave some areas of Gaza after Saturday’s deadly Hamas raid, Mohammad Brais did not know where to seek safety from an assault that residents expect to be the worst they have ever faced. “Where should we go? Where should we go?” the 55-year-old father asked. He had fled his home near a possible …