Mark Kenny

Mark Kenny

Mark Kenny has been Political Editor of The Advertiser since 2006 after several years at the ABC having worked in both radio and television. He is a director of the National Press Club, a member of the Federal Press Gallery committee, and a member of the House Howlers - the satirical press gallery choir. He regularly appears as a political commentator on Sky’s Agenda program, Ten’s Meet the Press, Insiders, and numerous radio programs around the country.

Articles by Mark Kenny

Kevin 2.0 could be better. Or it could be even KRuddier.

Kevin 2.0 could be better. Or it could be even KRuddier.

04 Feb 12 As key moments go, it ranked with Gough Whitlam’s dramatic dismissal speech branding Malcolm Fraser “Kerr’s cur’’ or the latter’s…... Read more

Julia Gillard is on the highway to the danger zone

Julia Gillard is on the highway to the danger zone

03 Feb 12 Typically, leadership contests have that nagging chicken-or-egg feel about them. They usually involve a period of intense public speculation with…... Read more

The saying goes, politics is showbusiness for ugly people

The saying goes, politics is showbusiness for ugly people

27 Jan 12 AND, action! A senior cabinet minister generally regarded as among the more effective, uses a major speech on Australia Day-eve…... Read more

2012: Julia Gillard’s year of living precariously

2012: Julia Gillard’s year of living precariously

20 Jan 12 It was a common question over the break: “What’s going to happen in Canberra this coming year - will there…... Read more

Someone’s getting grounded: our pollies’ 2011 report card

Someone’s getting grounded: our pollies’ 2011 report card

23 Dec 11 Let’s get one thing straight up front. Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott probably deserve points merely for surviving this arduous…... Read more

Anyone but Gillard vs. anyone but Rudd

Anyone but Gillard vs. anyone but Rudd

16 Dec 11 When Julia Gillard walked into a press conference on Monday to announce a new ministerial line-up, it was already being…... Read more

She robs Rudd of office, then rubs him from history

She robs Rudd of office, then rubs him from history

09 Dec 11 “She gave us nothing really, no inspiration and no feeling for the party’s mood. She calls Abbott ‘Dr No’ but…... Read more

A mini budget with an eye to a major electoral payoff

A mini budget with an eye to a major electoral payoff

30 Nov 11 Yesterday’s mini-budget tells an economic story but it is primarily a political document. Outwardly designed to position the nation against…... Read more

Arsegate and other Upper House shenanigans

Arsegate and other Upper House shenanigans

26 Nov 11 Australian senators accused of leering at each other’s posteriors? Of failing to show respect? Of not “bowing and scraping” sufficiently…... Read more

Who’d a thunk it? A political year with no spilled blood

Who’d a thunk it? A political year with no spilled blood

25 Nov 11 It is called the killing season in Canberra for a reason - a curiously fractious time of year when weakened…... Read more

Churlish Abbott not ready to play with the big kids

Churlish Abbott not ready to play with the big kids

18 Nov 11 Power, Chairman Mao once observed, grows from the barrel of a gun. For incumbent PM, Julia Gillard, it arrived this…... Read more

The carbon baby is cooing, but wait till the terrible twos

The carbon baby is cooing, but wait till the terrible twos

11 Nov 11 With Julia Gillard’s carbon price finally locked in, several questions in national politics can be pared back to one suggesting…... Read more

Gillard’s carbon victory more toxic than sweet

Gillard’s carbon victory more toxic than sweet

08 Nov 11 Two years after Kevin Rudd’s carbon pollution reduction scheme crashed in Parliament, Julia Gillard is poised to achieve what he…... Read more

Qantas turbulence reveals IR policy vacuum

Qantas turbulence reveals IR policy vacuum

04 Nov 11 Contempt ran deep for the old IR club with its protected unions and compulsory arbitration, spawning the short-lived “new right”,…... Read more

Labor points behind but finally kicking with the wind

Labor points behind but finally kicking with the wind

28 Oct 11 They are reluctant to discuss it but Labor insiders see reasons for hope - however slight. One reason, surprisingly enough,…... Read more

Take-no-prisoners approach could bite Abbott on the…

Take-no-prisoners approach could bite Abbott on the…

21 Oct 11 The conservative radio personality Alan Jones is regarded as the most powerful broadcaster in the country. So his appearance at…... Read more

The carbon comic farce and Gillard’s pound of flesh

The carbon comic farce and Gillard’s pound of flesh

14 Oct 11 You know things have sunk pretty low when forcing an electorally toxic broken promise through Parliament prompts high-fives and kisses…... Read more

Just like Medicare, except Australians don’t want it

Just like Medicare, except Australians don’t want it

13 Oct 11 Given the bitterness of political exchange, Julia Gillard may be excused for crowing, for basking in the warm light of…... Read more

Malaysia: The worst possible solution

Malaysia: The worst possible solution

10 Sep 11 Winston Churchill once noted that democracy was the worst form of government, except for all the rest. It may also…... Read more

Labor’s karma not dogma their own worst enema

Labor’s karma not dogma their own worst enema

07 Sep 11 Exquisite for some, bitter for others, the irony or perhaps karma of Labor’s current dilemma cannot have escaped members of…... Read more

Abbott may need to revive dead, buried IR policy

Abbott may need to revive dead, buried IR policy

03 Sep 11 “Dead, buried, cremated,” Tony Abbott decreed theatrically of WorkChoices amid a shaky start to his 2010 election campaign. It turned…... Read more

Malaysia ruling sweet music for some, dirge for others

Malaysia ruling sweet music for some, dirge for others

01 Sep 11 The taut grimace on Chris Bowen’s babyish countenance said it all. This was as tough a task as the widely…... Read more

Craig Thomson, carbon tax and a risky road to nowhere

Craig Thomson, carbon tax and a risky road to nowhere

27 Aug 11 A “CT’” scan of the Gillard Government shows up the problems clearly enough. Two of them actually: the Carbon Tax…... Read more

An island of calm amid global economic meltdown

An island of calm amid global economic meltdown

20 Aug 11 Twenty years ago today, Muscovites awoke to tanks in their streets in a ill-fated coup against the modernising leader, Mikhail…... Read more

Swipe your way to a parliamentary career

Swipe your way to a parliamentary career

13 Aug 11 If Macquarie Bank was capitalism’s “Millionaires Factory,’’ the Labor equivalent, at least in SA, is the powerful Shop Distributive and…... Read more

South Australia in limbo, governed by an also-Rann

South Australia in limbo, governed by an also-Rann

09 Aug 11 South Australia has not so much two premiers now but none. The outgoing Mike Rann has played his assassins off…... Read more

It’s well worth debating the state of public debate

It’s well worth debating the state of public debate

06 Aug 11 It has become fashionable to engage in a debate about the state of public debate of late. This introspection comes…... Read more

Retreat and withdraw: Gillard’s new strategy

Retreat and withdraw: Gillard’s new strategy

30 Jul 11 APRIL 8,1974. My darling Heather, I write to you at a time when I think I’ve never felt worse about…... Read more

Britain can teach us how to keep our House in order

Britain can teach us how to keep our House in order

23 Jul 11 From the parliamentary precinct across Lake Burley Griffin to this correspondent’s home takes six or seven minutes by car -…... Read more

Labor’s dilemma: Plan B is to stick to Plan A

Labor’s dilemma: Plan B is to stick to Plan A

19 Jul 11 Tony Abbott has undermined his own multi-billion dollar climate change policy declaring the bipartisan target of 5 per cent emissions…... Read more

In Abbott we trust, sort of

In Abbott we trust, sort of

16 Jul 11 When John Howard finally called an election in 2004, he had a cunning plan. The ageing PM had trailed for…... Read more

No one’s tuning in to Gillard FM

No one’s tuning in to Gillard FM

13 Jul 11 Labor strategists believe that in normal circumstances, their Prime Minister has both sufficient time and enough fibre to turn things…... Read more

Spoonful of sugar helps carbon medicine go down

Spoonful of sugar helps carbon medicine go down

11 Jul 11 Julia Gillard has attempted the political equivalent of cold fusion - making a big new tax popular. Having backflipped on…... Read more

Carbon tax: A lock up or a stitch up?

Carbon tax: A lock up or a stitch up?

07 Jul 11 If the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, for Canberra reporters this weekend the price of vigilance will mean surrendering…... Read more

Taxation 101: Not everyone can get a tax cut

Taxation 101: Not everyone can get a tax cut

02 Jul 11 When 150 business and union leaders, academics, accountants, bureaucrats and politicians gather this October for the long-awaited tax summit, few…... Read more

Doom! Gloom! Gillard celebrates one year

Doom! Gloom! Gillard celebrates one year

25 Jun 11 It loomed like an end of year exam. Threatening. Dreary. Ominous. And completely necessary in order to proceed into the…... Read more

Will the NBN help Gillard connect with voters?

Will the NBN help Gillard connect with voters?

24 Jun 11 Julia Gillard is hoping a breakthrough broadband announcement made on the eve of her first anniversary as Prime Minister will…... Read more

Abbott’s carbon outrage is all part of his cunning plan…

Abbott’s carbon outrage is all part of his cunning plan…

21 Jun 11 Tony Abbott’s proposed people’s vote on the carbon tax is either a shallow stunt, a cunning manoeuvre, or both. The…... Read more

Obama and Gillard defy the theory of voternomics

Obama and Gillard defy the theory of voternomics

18 Jun 11 Just as it sinks in here that an election is two full years away, the political circus that is American…... Read more

Climate Committee is arguing for argument’s sake

Climate Committee is arguing for argument’s sake

07 Jun 11 A spat this morning over the release of Treasury modelling which showed the marginal economic impact of a carbon price…... Read more

A political war of words, and woofs, and meows…

A political war of words, and woofs, and meows…

04 Jun 11 Tony Abbott once said that his written words carried more weight than his off-the-cuff utterances. This week, words of both…... Read more

Each death in Afghanistan is another test of faith

Each death in Afghanistan is another test of faith

01 Jun 11 The deaths of another two Australian diggers in Afghanistan will not weaken the Government’s resolve to stay the course, Prime…... Read more

The next federal election is Abbott’s to lose

The next federal election is Abbott’s to lose

28 May 11 On Tuesday, Tony Abbott implored his troops not to blow it. But some in the Coalition worry that it’s not…... Read more

Turnbull: A ray of light or imploding star?

Turnbull: A ray of light or imploding star?

21 May 11 When Julia Gillard survived the near-death election last year, one proven campaigner offered the rookie PM a piece of advice.…... Read more

Budget 2011: We’re all liberals now

Budget 2011: We’re all liberals now

14 May 11 Irony of ironies. In a time of unprecedented communications control where political statements are workshopped to death, both sides of…... Read more

Budget 2011: It’s all about the jobs, jobs, jobs

Budget 2011: It’s all about the jobs, jobs, jobs

07 May 11 There’s a certain irony that a Government proud of an unemployment rate with a “four in front of it’’ is…... Read more

Labor’s shifting deckchairs while Abbott fiddles

Labor’s shifting deckchairs while Abbott fiddles

30 Apr 11 In a face-off between a simple argument and a complex one, the former usually wins hands down. Over the last…... Read more

The worst-kept secret: This Government’s just no good

The worst-kept secret: This Government’s just no good

23 Apr 11 Hurrying along a Parliament House corridor this week, I was pulled aside by a Canberra insider with strong links to…... Read more

Rogue Rudd has Gillard over a barrel

Rogue Rudd has Gillard over a barrel

09 Apr 11 It was another poor week for the Government, and one in which the Opposition didn’t have to lift a finger.…... Read more

Green slip shows they’re no compulsory third party

Green slip shows they’re no compulsory third party

02 Apr 11 In May this year, the venerable old man of the left, Bob Brown will address the National Press Club. He…... Read more

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

Paul Colgan

@diversionary#wading

Paul Colgan

Tip for young journos. Have a short CV. A page, two max.

Malcolm Farr

@cjjosh Only communications satellites please (Limited field).

Malcolm Farr

@DarrenFerrari @andrewcatsaras And so he should be. He might be the chap humming in the background to the end of the recording.

Recent posts

The latest and greatest

New speaker’s slack clobber, old speaker clobbers slackers

New speaker’s slack clobber, old speaker clobbers slackers

Peter Slipper, draped in black in a manner most young voters will not see outside Hogwarts, has dramatically…

Snappy 60th birthday to our most fun newspaper

Snappy 60th birthday to our most fun newspaper

Life is far from dull in the Northern Territory. Or if it is, we’ll never know. And that’s…

There’s no evidence sex-for-cab-fares is a trend

There’s no evidence sex-for-cab-fares is a trend

Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: City vs country: What would you change your life for?

Dieter Moeckel says:

We made the tree change from Darwin to Wonbah more than 15 years ago. After fencing, a road, and couple of dams our money was gone. Super is enough to live comfortably. We have geese growing old and stringy the only one that made it to the pot committed Kamakazi by flying into a tree; the chooks are… [read more]

From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics

Erick says:

Led Zeppelin are responsible for my all-time favourite mixed metaphor: "There you sit, sit and stare, like a book on a shelf rusting." (Misty Mountain Hop) I laugh every time I hear it. Hmmm, I believe I've decided what to play on the way to work today. [read more]

Gentle jabs to the ribs

No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops

No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops

Well, puck me with a fitchfork. The F-word is apparently an acceptable part of Australian speech. That’s… Read more

151 comments

Newsletter

Read all about it

Sign up to the free daily Punch newsletter