Byelection
Liberals hold Scott Morrison’s old seat of Cook
The safe Liberal margin in the electorate of Cook and lack of a Labor candidate meant Simon Kennedy claimed almost 63 per cent of the primary vote in Saturday’s byelection.
- by Rachel Clun and Andrew Taylor
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Opinion
Political leadership
Dutton and Ley have created a foolproof what-not-to-do election guide
Thanks to their behaviour in the lead-up to and aftermath of the Dunkley byelection, the leader and deputy Liberal leaders risk being cast as the toxic twins of federal politics.
- by Niki Savva
Private school gets green light for bush campus
The Land and Environment Court has backed Frensham girls school plans to build a “bush campus” in an area linked to wombats, koalas and platypus.
- by Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
Former McKinsey consultant to succeed Scott Morrison in Cook
Simon Kennedy, who was backed by Tony Abbott, beat local mayor Carmelo Pesce by 158 to 90 votes in the final round of voting.
- by Paul Sakkal
Opinion
For subscribers
How low can they go? Byelection exposed our cheap and tinny politics
The focus of both major parties for the Dunkley byelection was fairly trivial. Let’s hope they can do better for the looming federal election.
- by Sean Kelly
Exclusive
Sydney councils
Mayor defends voting record ahead of Cook preselection
Sutherland Shire Mayor Carmelo Pesce voted to sell land to a developer with whom he had declared a conflict of interest five months earlier.
- by Ben Cubby and Paul Sakkal
Opinion
Analysis
Morrison might not have held a hose, but Dutton doesn’t hold a policy
If the Dunkley byelection was a protest against Labor, the protesters failed to show up.
- by Peter Hartcher
Analysis
Political leadership
Dutton will claim a moral victory. The true moral of the story is different
The Liberal Party is claiming a moral win in the Dunkley byelection – but moral victories don’t deliver government.
- by James Massola
Dunkley byelection LIVE updates: Labor retains Victorian seat of Dunkley, despite swing to Liberals
The final votes are being cast in what’s billed as a crucial litmus test for the government and opposition.
- by Olivia Ireland
Labor vows to keep cost-of-living focus after swing to Liberals in Dunkley
Voters delivered a warning to the prime minister on the cost of living – and a rebuff to Peter Dutton and his goal of winning the suburban electorates needed to retake government.
- by Lisa Visentin and Annika Smethurst
Analysis
For subscribers
The one word that sums up the Dunkley byelection result
The swing against the government showed Peter Dutton tapped into a real frustration with Labor over the cost of living, but nothing like the force that some of his allies predicted.
- by David Crowe