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Malcolm Fraser

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Reclaiming the centre: Malcolm Fraser thought the Liberal Party lost its way; Allegra Spender captured a blue-ribbon seat; Cathy McGowan showed how Independents could win, Malcolm Turnbull says Liberals have been chasing voters to the right.

The Coalition is in tatters. The race is on to replace it in the centre

To the day he died in 2015, Malcolm Fraser was working on a plan to start a new political party. Now others have taken up the cause.

  • Rob Harris

Latest

A catafalque party guards the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Solider at the Australian War Memorial.

Rare is the state funeral that lifts a nation’s spirit

State funerals are variously celebratory, solemn and even quirky, and sometimes disappointing. But at least once, for a man with no name, such an event soared.

  • Tony Wright
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Not gathering nuggets in May

While getting two-timed in reception.

Forgotten and ignored and, worse, reviled by their own tribe: Liberal leaders Malcolm Turnbull and Malcolm Fraser.

Liberals ignore, despise and knife their leaders – and drive their party over a cliff

Unlike the Labor Party, which mythologises even its pedestrian leaders, the Liberal Party celebrates only Menzies and Howard.

  • George Brandis
The Albanese government steers clear of upsetting those with assets.

There’s one fight Anthony Albanese always tries to avoid picking

Labor’s scars and its determination to become the natural party of government are having a peculiar impact.

  • Sean Kelly
Letch

Numbers to horrify all Libs: Labor can win a parliamentary vote on female MPs alone

There are 43 Coalition MPs and 50 female Labor members sitting opposite them. You do the maths.

  • George Megalogenis
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Paul Keating has revealed he told Gough Whitlam to sack John Kerr, and jail him if he refused.

Keating reveals he told Whitlam to have Kerr sacked or arrested

Former prime minister John Howard urged Liberal leader Sussan Ley to talk to Albanese about introducing four-year parliamentary terms.

  • Shane Wright
The Whitlam sacking transfixed the nation.

‘He’s been sacked!’: How Gough Whitlam’s downfall caused chaos in an HSC class

A legendary northern beaches teacher couldn’t contain his shock.

  • Michael Dodd
Gough Whitlam addresses a Labor rally outside of Parliament House, Canberra, November 1975.

The Dismissal: How ‘the most tumultuous day in Australian political history’ unfolded

Power, principle, politics; all three collided to expose the fragility of our democracy. Watch what led to November 11, 1975, and how it changed the way we operated.

  • Bella Ann Sanchez and Tony Wright
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Whitlam’s revenge?

A rear-ending on the back page.