Coalition drifts on substantive policy issues as latest poll delivers worst result in recent history
Before parliament has even returned for its first sitting week, the Coalition's primary vote has fallen to 29 per cent — its lowest level recorded by Newspoll in four decades.
In contrast, the final pre-election poll conducted in May 2025 had the Coalition's support at 34 per cent, suggesting a five-point slide in just under three months.
The dramatic slide has exposed the challenge facing Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, who has yet to secure a coherent platform or clear public backing.
The Coalition has not confirmed where it stands on net zero or gender quotas, and has walked away from its nuclear promise and pledge to cut international student numbers.
Despite embarking on a national 'listening' tour since taking over the leadership, Ms Ley received just 35 per cent approval, but 42 per cent disapproval.
She trails Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as preferred prime minister 52-32, even though he has a disapproval rating of 47 per cent and net approval of zero per cent.
Nearly a quarter of voters remain undecided about Ms Ley, underlining her limited impact as the party has still failed to achieve any substantive policy positions.
The Coalition has not settled its position on several high-profile issues — including net zero emissions, gender quotas, or any substantive economic or social policies.
Liberal senator Jane Hume acknowledged the gravity of the polling slump but sought to downplay its significance on Monday.
'This is a poll that I think that starts every parliamentary term. It's actually not that unusual for a new opposition to be well behind in the polls,' she told Sky News.
Others within the Coalition took a harder line as Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce described the poll result as 'brutal'.
'I think the Coalition's role… is you have to find issues which are binary, which you are fully for, and the Labor Party is fully against,' Mr Joyce said on Channel 7's Sunrise.
'That's why issues such as net-zero, I say: find a point of division. You don't believe in net zero, they do believe in net zero.'
However, Nationals leader David Littleproud said the party had not come to a position, and was still reviewing its commitment to net zero.
'We've undertaken a review… After the election, I made it very clear that we will start an internal process… and that work has commenced,' Mr Littleproud said.
The issue has divided the joint partyroom, with high-profile figures, including Liberal senator Alex Antic and Nationals senator Matt Canavan, pushing to abandon net zero.
Meanwhile, Liberal senator Jane Hume and Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie have argued in favour of the climate target.
Labor figures have been quick to capitalise on the disarray, with Mr Albanese saying the opposition has 'some issues they need to sort out'.
'I think they should sort themselves out before they start going back to where they've been for the last three years, frankly,' Mr Albanese said on Thursday.
'Never having anything positive to contribute, always being critical, seeking to look for distinction, when what they should be doing is just supporting Australia's national interest.'
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek argued that voters were tired of the kind of 'fighting politics' advocated for by Mr Joyce.
'I'm a bit alarmed that Barnaby thinks that the lesson from the last election was that they weren't negative and combative enough,' she said on Monday.
Meanwhile, shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien attempted to rally behind the Tasmanian election, where the Liberals have been projected to form minority government.
He argued the result proved the Liberal Party 'is not on its knees' and described the outcome as a 'message of inspiration'.
'We know that we're in the opposition party room, but we also know that we are an incredibly strong and talented team,' Ms Ley told the joint party room on Monday.
'Our job is to represent the millions of Australians who voted for us, but also the millions who maybe didn't, but still expect us to be the strongest, best opposition that we can.
'If the Prime Minister and his team bring forward constructive policies that are in the national interest, then we'll support them, and we'll work with them.
'But if they don't do that, if they bring forward legislation that is not in the national interest and it is not in the interests of Australians then we will fight them.'
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Sydney Morning Herald
3 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Labor staffers could help change the nation. But there's a reason they're leaving
When old friends spot former Labor staffer Dean Sherr around Parliament House these days, they tend to say the same thing. 'In Canberra, people always say to me 'you look really relaxed',' Sherr says. Sherr left government last term, but in the months since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secured a generational election victory and a sweeping mandate to change Australia, scores of senior Labor staff have followed him out of their jobs. Faced with a choice between helping to run the nation for three more years in a building that demands gruelling work hours, or a more stable life with less travel and vastly better pay, Labor lifers and recent recruits alike have decided to get out. 'It's a very difficult lifestyle for anyone to maintain,' says Sherr, who was a media adviser for Albanese and now works at boutique business consulting firm Orizontas. 'It's an amazing opportunity, but you make a lot of sacrifices and there's no doubt that it wears you out pretty quickly.' In past years, Coalition staff have done the same thing, capitalising on their ties to former colleagues still in government. The opposition's smaller ranks after the most recent election mean many staff have involuntarily lost their jobs too. But the recent departures from government show the flow to the private sector is bipartisan. When Katharine Murphy, a press gallery veteran and long-term political editor of the Guardian Australia joined Albanese's office as a press secretary last year, it appeared to be a coup for the prime minister's team. But in June, Murphy – who was well-liked by her former colleagues in the media – left her post with the government. Albanese also lost another high-profile recruit from the press gallery, former Channel Ten reporter Stela Todorovic. Other departures from the prime minister's office include advancer Prue Mercer, strategic communications director Katie Connolly, senior advisers Phoebe Drake and Lachlan McKenzie and media adviser Irene Oh. All up, more than 10 people left Albanese's team of around 50. Despite recent departures, the prime minister's office said a majority of staff across the government were female. The departures haven't been limited to the prime minister's office either. Penny Wong lost her long-term chief of staff Thomas Mooney – rumoured to have ambitions of a political career in South Australia – and media boss Caitlin Raper. Health Minister Mark Butler's chief of staff Nick Martin is gone. Brigid Delaney, a popular former Guardian columnist and co-creator of the hit Netflix series Wellmania, who has worked as a speechwriter for Labor frontbenchers Katy Gallagher and Tanya Plibersek, left to focus on her own media career. Plibersek's chief of staff Dan Doran has moved on, as has Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth's deputy chief of staff Lanai Scarr, a one-time political editor for the West Australian. 'This job is brutal,' said one former staffer, echoing numerous others who sometimes used more colourful language. One former senior staffer working in the corporate sector said that while working in politics, she would often pull 75- to 100-hour weeks. Life in the private sector is a comparative breeze. Those hours are consistent with working under both Labor and Coalition MPs. The 2021 Jenkins review into parliament's workplace culture found stressed and overworked employees were a risk factor for inappropriate behaviour and creating a toxic work environment. There have been several high-profile workplace cases in the years since, but the Albanese government has created an independent Parliamentary Workplace Support Service to assist staff and a parliamentary standards commission to confront bad behaviour by MPs. The former staffers mentioned in this piece either declined to comment or did not respond to a request for comment, but in either case there is no suggestion they were exposed to a toxic work culture. The long hours are often a product of ministers and staffers trying to manage the demands of politics, the media, and policy reform at the same time. Ryan Liddell, a former chief of staff to ex-Labor leader Bill Shorten, says the pressure to be constantly plugged in makes living a regular life challenging. 'As a staffer you normalise things like spending Christmas lunch on the phone to the boss while your family hands you beers,' says Liddell now running his own government relations firm Principle Advisory. 'You basically lose track of the weekends. On Sunday, you might wake up at 6.30am instead of 5.30am.' Little wonder then, that after an election period, people are taking stock of their lives, deciding they want to see their families, or go on holidays and figuring out an escape route. Quitting after the election also makes financial sense. Under the law for parliamentary staff, those who leave their jobs during an eight-week window after the election can walk away with a severance package five times what they'd otherwise get. It is 'life-changing' money, one former Labor staffer says. And life outside politics can be even more lucrative. Loading While some staffers are seeking to become members of parliament, many former aides instead find jobs in government relations, lobbying or public relations that often pay better than what the Commonwealth pays MPs, let alone staffers. A ministerial chief of staff in federal politics will generally earn around $250,000 a year, for example, with senior advisers taking home around $170,000. A government relations professional at a major corporation can earn over $320,000, several sources said on condition of anonymity to discuss their pay. In some sectors, that will also come with a range of perks unavailable to political staff: free private health insurance and gym membership, media subscriptions, travel and an entertainment budget to boot. Already, a few of the Albanese government's former staff have landed in high-profile corporate roles. Todorovic, the former Channel 10 journalist, began as local media director for PsiQuantum, the Silicon Valley quantum computing start-up that Labor has committed hundreds of millions to in loans and investment. After 14 years with Plibersek, Doran, her chief of staff, is headed to the Commonwealth Bank as general manager of government affairs. Liz Fitch, who quit as Albanese's press secretary last year, is now head of government affairs for Australia and New Zealand at Microsoft. Loading The ranks of Australia's major corporate players, from the big four banks, to Qantas, mining companies, and the like, are filled with people who have experience working on both sides of politics. Where former Labor staff see opportunities that match their skills, some integrity experts see a red flag. Chair of the Centre for Public Integrity, Anthony Whealy, describes lobbying and the flow of senior government and bureaucratic figures into the industry as a 'very nasty disease' that 'needs a good vaccination'. 'The government is not doing that well because it's falling into the habits that governments so often do, of complacency and then wanting to shut itself off from proper accountability and transparency. That's a worrying trend and I think it'll only get worse,' the former NSW Court of Appeal judge says. Former staffers dispute the notion of a neatly revolving door between politics and the private sector. Some, particularly those whose party has been thrust into opposition, can spend months finding work. 'Some staffers tend to have a bit of exceptionalism and think they'll automatically get a job by virtue of working for the PM,' one anonymous former Labor staffer says. In the end, staffers often stumble into the corporate world because it's the best offer outside of politics. Companies, especially those working in highly regulated environments, value ex-staffers' resilience and knowledge of the politico-media landscape. Loading And after years working in the pressure cooker of politics, staffers tend to be desperate for something lower stakes. 'In politics, if you miss something, or drop the ball, or make a mistake, it could be a scandal, it could be front page news, or get dredged up by the opposition,' says Sherr. Despite the horrendous hours and relentless pressure, everyone spoken to for this story described working in politics as an unforgettable honour, an emotional roller-coaster that can be become borderline addictive. 'You have some pretty amazing highs and some pretty horrific lows,' says Liddell, who left politics after Shorten's gutting 2019 election loss. Sherr says that while the opportunity to work for a Labor government was 'the job of a lifetime'. The accompanying lifestyle he can do without.
The Age
3 hours ago
- The Age
Labor staffers could help change the nation. But there's a reason they're leaving
When old friends spot former Labor staffer Dean Sherr around Parliament House these days, they tend to say the same thing. 'In Canberra, people always say to me 'you look really relaxed',' Sherr says. Sherr left government last term, but in the months since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secured a generational election victory and a sweeping mandate to change Australia, scores of senior Labor staff have followed him out of their jobs. Faced with a choice between helping to run the nation for three more years in a building that demands gruelling work hours, or a more stable life with less travel and vastly better pay, Labor lifers and recent recruits alike have decided to get out. 'It's a very difficult lifestyle for anyone to maintain,' says Sherr, who was a media adviser for Albanese and now works at boutique business consulting firm Orizontas. 'It's an amazing opportunity, but you make a lot of sacrifices and there's no doubt that it wears you out pretty quickly.' In past years, Coalition staff have done the same thing, capitalising on their ties to former colleagues still in government. The opposition's smaller ranks after the most recent election mean many staff have involuntarily lost their jobs too. But the recent departures from government show the flow to the private sector is bipartisan. When Katharine Murphy, a press gallery veteran and long-term political editor of the Guardian Australia joined Albanese's office as a press secretary last year, it appeared to be a coup for the prime minister's team. But in June, Murphy – who was well-liked by her former colleagues in the media – left her post with the government. Albanese also lost another high-profile recruit from the press gallery, former Channel Ten reporter Stela Todorovic. Other departures from the prime minister's office include advancer Prue Mercer, strategic communications director Katie Connolly, senior advisers Phoebe Drake and Lachlan McKenzie and media adviser Irene Oh. All up, more than 10 people left Albanese's team of around 50. Despite recent departures, the prime minister's office said a majority of staff across the government were female. The departures haven't been limited to the prime minister's office either. Penny Wong lost her long-term chief of staff Thomas Mooney – rumoured to have ambitions of a political career in South Australia – and media boss Caitlin Raper. Health Minister Mark Butler's chief of staff Nick Martin is gone. Brigid Delaney, a popular former Guardian columnist and co-creator of the hit Netflix series Wellmania, who has worked as a speechwriter for Labor frontbenchers Katy Gallagher and Tanya Plibersek, left to focus on her own media career. Plibersek's chief of staff Dan Doran has moved on, as has Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth's deputy chief of staff Lanai Scarr, a one-time political editor for the West Australian. 'This job is brutal,' said one former staffer, echoing numerous others who sometimes used more colourful language. One former senior staffer working in the corporate sector said that while working in politics, she would often pull 75- to 100-hour weeks. Life in the private sector is a comparative breeze. Those hours are consistent with working under both Labor and Coalition MPs. The 2021 Jenkins review into parliament's workplace culture found stressed and overworked employees were a risk factor for inappropriate behaviour and creating a toxic work environment. There have been several high-profile workplace cases in the years since, but the Albanese government has created an independent Parliamentary Workplace Support Service to assist staff and a parliamentary standards commission to confront bad behaviour by MPs. The former staffers mentioned in this piece either declined to comment or did not respond to a request for comment, but in either case there is no suggestion they were exposed to a toxic work culture. The long hours are often a product of ministers and staffers trying to manage the demands of politics, the media, and policy reform at the same time. Ryan Liddell, a former chief of staff to ex-Labor leader Bill Shorten, says the pressure to be constantly plugged in makes living a regular life challenging. 'As a staffer you normalise things like spending Christmas lunch on the phone to the boss while your family hands you beers,' says Liddell now running his own government relations firm Principle Advisory. 'You basically lose track of the weekends. On Sunday, you might wake up at 6.30am instead of 5.30am.' Little wonder then, that after an election period, people are taking stock of their lives, deciding they want to see their families, or go on holidays and figuring out an escape route. Quitting after the election also makes financial sense. Under the law for parliamentary staff, those who leave their jobs during an eight-week window after the election can walk away with a severance package five times what they'd otherwise get. It is 'life-changing' money, one former Labor staffer says. And life outside politics can be even more lucrative. Loading While some staffers are seeking to become members of parliament, many former aides instead find jobs in government relations, lobbying or public relations that often pay better than what the Commonwealth pays MPs, let alone staffers. A ministerial chief of staff in federal politics will generally earn around $250,000 a year, for example, with senior advisers taking home around $170,000. A government relations professional at a major corporation can earn over $320,000, several sources said on condition of anonymity to discuss their pay. In some sectors, that will also come with a range of perks unavailable to political staff: free private health insurance and gym membership, media subscriptions, travel and an entertainment budget to boot. Already, a few of the Albanese government's former staff have landed in high-profile corporate roles. Todorovic, the former Channel 10 journalist, began as local media director for PsiQuantum, the Silicon Valley quantum computing start-up that Labor has committed hundreds of millions to in loans and investment. After 14 years with Plibersek, Doran, her chief of staff, is headed to the Commonwealth Bank as general manager of government affairs. Liz Fitch, who quit as Albanese's press secretary last year, is now head of government affairs for Australia and New Zealand at Microsoft. Loading The ranks of Australia's major corporate players, from the big four banks, to Qantas, mining companies, and the like, are filled with people who have experience working on both sides of politics. Where former Labor staff see opportunities that match their skills, some integrity experts see a red flag. Chair of the Centre for Public Integrity, Anthony Whealy, describes lobbying and the flow of senior government and bureaucratic figures into the industry as a 'very nasty disease' that 'needs a good vaccination'. 'The government is not doing that well because it's falling into the habits that governments so often do, of complacency and then wanting to shut itself off from proper accountability and transparency. That's a worrying trend and I think it'll only get worse,' the former NSW Court of Appeal judge says. Former staffers dispute the notion of a neatly revolving door between politics and the private sector. Some, particularly those whose party has been thrust into opposition, can spend months finding work. 'Some staffers tend to have a bit of exceptionalism and think they'll automatically get a job by virtue of working for the PM,' one anonymous former Labor staffer says. In the end, staffers often stumble into the corporate world because it's the best offer outside of politics. Companies, especially those working in highly regulated environments, value ex-staffers' resilience and knowledge of the politico-media landscape. Loading And after years working in the pressure cooker of politics, staffers tend to be desperate for something lower stakes. 'In politics, if you miss something, or drop the ball, or make a mistake, it could be a scandal, it could be front page news, or get dredged up by the opposition,' says Sherr. Despite the horrendous hours and relentless pressure, everyone spoken to for this story described working in politics as an unforgettable honour, an emotional roller-coaster that can be become borderline addictive. 'You have some pretty amazing highs and some pretty horrific lows,' says Liddell, who left politics after Shorten's gutting 2019 election loss. Sherr says that while the opportunity to work for a Labor government was 'the job of a lifetime'. The accompanying lifestyle he can do without.
West Australian
4 hours ago
- West Australian
Michelle Grattan: Sussan Ley must fill net zero void if Coalition scraps 2050 target
There's no other way of looking at it: Sussan Ley faces a diabolical situation with the debate over whether the Coalition should abandon the 2050 net zero emissions target. The issue is a microcosm of her wider problems. The Nationals, the minor party in the Coalition, are determined to run their own race on most things. The Liberals have become akin to two parties, split between those eyeing urban seats and younger voters, and right-wingers reflecting the party's conservative grassroots. Nobody misses the contrast. The Albanese Government is beset by a host of actual issues around the transition to a clean energy economy. The renewables roll-out is not going as fast as desirable and is meeting with resistance in some communities. Energy costs are high. But such problems are not putting any pressure on Labor's unity. At the same time, the Opposition is fractured over an argument about a target that's a quarter of a century away, when who knows what the technological or political landscape will look like. For the Opposition, the internal debate about net zero is about symbols and signals, rather than substance. The net zero debate exploded within the Opposition this week with Barnaby Joyce's private member's Bill to scrap Australia's commitment to it. The timing, in Parliament's first week, was extraordinarily inconvenient for Ley. But if not now, it would have erupted later. On present indications, the Nationals appear likely to ditch the net zero commitment. David Littleproud, anxious to avoid the issuebecoming a threat to his leadership, is reading the party room and positioning himself to be in the anticipated majority. Asked on Thursday whether he supported net zero, Littleproud told the ABC, 'well, I have real concerns about it, to be candid. What net zero has become is about trying to achieve the impossible, rather than doing what's sensible.' But, he insisted, 'we're not climate deniers'. It is less clear how the debate will pan out in the Liberal Party, once the group under shadow energy minister Dan Tehan produces itsreport on energy and emissions-reduction policy. Liberal sources say the issue is now being driven by the party's grassroots, rather than the parliamentary party. Branches are throwingup motions to get rid of the 2050 target. The WA Liberal State council will debate a motion this weekend to drop the net zero commitment. The Queensland LNP organisation will consider its position next month. A few weeks ago, the South Australian Liberal State council rejected net zero. With a policy review underway, Ley and the parliamentary Liberals have left a vacuum on the issue. Some Liberals warn the parliamentarians risk being run over by the party outside Parliament. Others point out that on policy, the parliamentarians are independent of the organisation, which often comes up with right-wing motions. How should Ley best handle the situation? By filling the vacuum with a position sooner rather than later. That means accelerating the Tehan report. Beyond that, ideally she should be taking leadership on the issue herself. But is she in a strong enough position to do that? One idea being floated would be for the Liberals to retain the net zero target but extend the time frame. This wouldn't stop thecriticism about the shift. Whether the Coalition could stay as one if its two parties had different positions on net zero may be an open question but itcertainly would be messy. On the other side of politics, the Government is rapidly approaching a decision on another key target — the one Australia will put upinternationally for cutting emissions by 2035. Inevitably, this will be contentious. This target must be submitted by September. Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen has yet to receive advice on the target from the Climate Change Authority. The target is expected to be between 65 per cent and 75 per challenge will be to strike a target with sufficient ambition that doesn't alienate business and the regions. Next week the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Simon Stiell, will be in Canberra for talks. His comments will be carefully watched. Last year he told the Sydney Morning Herald, 'the world needs countries like Australia to take climate action and ambition to the next level'. Climate and energy issues will have a place at next month's economic reform roundtable. Bowen is organising two preliminary roundtables — on electricity, with energy user stakeholders, and on climate adaptation. He told The Conversation's podcast that adaptation will 'be an increasing focus of this Government and future governments because, tragically, the world has left it too late to avoid the impacts of climate change'. The Government is waiting, somewhat impatiently, for the decision on whether Australia will be given the nod to host next year's UN climate conference. The COP meeting, which would be in Adelaide in November 2026, is an enormous event to put on, so the decision is becoming urgent. Bowen says Australia already has the numbers over Turkey, the other contender. But 'one of the things about the process to decide COPs, I've learnt, is it's quite opaque and there's no particular timeline and no particular rules to the ballot. 'It's meant to work on a consensus, (a) gentlemanly sort of approach to say whoever loses will withdraw. That's not the way it's panning out. I've had multiple meetings with my Turkish counterpart to try to find a 'win-win' solution. We haven't been able to find that yet.' Stiell's trip includes Turkey as well as Australia. Bowen will hope he may provide some clarity, when they meet, about how the 'opaque' process of assigning the COP meeting is going. Bowen will be emphasising how important the proposed co-hosting COP with the Pacific is to the region, with climate change already an existential issue for many Pacific countries.
