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.
The politics of cattiness, drip-feeds and control
Phillip Coorey The ABC's telecast of Kevin Rudd's speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, in which he announced his health reform policy, ended at 1.39pm.
Rudd's humble pie leaves a bad taste
Phillip Coorey Tony Abbott heads to Alice Springs today for four days, two of which will be spent mixing with young indigenous people on remote stations.
Like for like, Coalition has little to gloat about
Phillip Coorey The problem for first-term governments is that they tend to be compared with their predecessor when it was at its peak, not when it was finding its legs during its first years in power.
Managing Joyce hard task for either side
Phillip Coorey The finance portfolio has been maligned and overhyped in recent decades. The Coalition started it in 1996 by labelling the $10 billion budget deficit inherited from Labor as the ''Beazley black...
No winners in fight over climate change
Phillip Coorey Principle will make a rare appearance in Parliament today when Malcolm Turnbull speaks in favour of the emissions trading scheme legislation that was reintroduced
Farmers friend must beware of the risks
Phillip Coorey Last Thursday's issue of the newspaper The Land was a public relations bonanza for Tony Abbott. Under a front-page headline saying ''At your side'' is a photograph of Abbott deep in conversation with...
Cool heads needed now the heat is on
Phillip Coorey The next time the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, is accused of being an environmental sell-out, spare a thought for Greg Hunt.
Libs fear Joyce will overpower Hockey
Phillip Coorey ''This is going to be a disaster,'' said one MP. ''Great retail politician? Sure, but so was Pauline Hanson''.
Celebrity showdown in former PM's sacred seat
Phillip Coorey At the last federal election, it was the battle for Wentworth that gripped Sydney's attention because of the soap opera it became as Malcolm Turnbull fended off the eccentric human rights lawyer...
Libs seek unity in a cool climate
Phillip Coorey When Liberals discuss the key reasons why they lost the 2007 election, a monumental failure to read the public mood on climate change is always mentioned.
Liberals rewrite an inclusive past
Phillip Coorey More than 90 years after splitting from Labor to lead a conservative government, Billy Hughes's status as the ALP's chief rat is to be further cemented.
The greatest game of all: politicians pretending to be sports fans
Phillip Coorey The most shameless - nay, brilliant - example of a politician faking a sporting allegiance must surely belong to Joe Hockey.
Costello's sharp tongue may never taste the milk of human kindness
Phillip Coorey When Labor stalwarts speak of the debt the party owes Kim Beazley, you need look no further than the state of the federal Liberal Party to understand why.
Turnbull tortured by his own party
Phillip Coorey You really have to wonder about the Liberal Party. Only weeks after Peter Costello anoints the Opposition spokesman on health, Peter Dutton, as a future leader, and days after Malcolm Turnbull and...
Smith stays calm amid the storm
Phillip Coorey There is a tale around Parliament - an entirely plausible one - concerning the moment a newly elected Kevin Rudd rang Stephen Smith and asked him to be the foreign minister.
Unconvincing acts on asylum seekers
Phillip Coorey One of the stranger moments of the US presidential election campaign in 2004 came when the Democrat candidate, John Kerry, shot a goose.
Patience becomes a PM on the move
Phillip Coorey Kevin Rudd arrived home early this morning from six days in Afghanistan, India and Singapore. He will be home for less than a fortnight before jetting off to Trinidad and Tobago for the three-day...
Cranky old couple on the brink of a nervous breakdown
Phillip Coorey Such has been the ill-feeling and paranoia between the Nationals and the Liberal Party that, for a brief moment a fortnight ago, the Nationals thought they were about to be thrown out of the...
Labor punished in polls for fumbling on asylum seekers
Phillip Coorey IF the Newspoll results are correct, Labor has a right to feel a little miffed. For Malcolm Turnbull, the poll is an obvious and welcome circuit breaker.
Another job for a Tory, but Costello will have to help Labor look good
Phillip Coorey At the conclusion of the weekly cabinet meeting a fortnight ago, a minister, mostly in jest - but not entirely - dismissively slid a file along the table after a quick perusal.
