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Alexandra Smith

Alexandra Smith

WA Today

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The PM has been shown how to respond to antisemitism, but not by Peter Dutton

11.12.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

A year ago it was Minns’ mini-city, but was he backing the wrong horse?

NSW Labor (and plenty of trainspotters) celebrated some highs in 2024, largely thanks to the government having the good fortune of being able to cut...

04.12.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

After a trial that pleased no one, NSW’s biggest gambling loser is clear

To buy itself more time and escape the wrath – and campaigning prowess – of the state’s powerful clubs and pubs ahead of last year’s election,...

03.12.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

He almost became PM, now Latham’s the rank outsider who can’t stop spewing bile

The one-time federal Labor leader Mark Latham – who has a history of defecting to political parties willing to take him – finished the 2024...

28.11.2024 40

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

This shutdown will turn Pearl Jam into traffic jam, and commuters will play the blame game

The one-time Liberal transport minister David Elliott used to boast about his collegial relationship with the all-powerful Rail, Tram and Bus Union....

21.11.2024 30

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Who cares? Voters will if NSW nurses start quitting state of origin

Colette Duff is angry and ready to quit her job. Duff, a registered nurse with 30 years of experience, works in the emergency department of Sutherland...

14.11.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

I loathe private health insurance. Do I have it? Of course

It is easy to begrudge private health insurance. It is even easier to begrudge private health insurers. They are the smaller cousins to the big banks...

30.10.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Damaged Liberals can’t blame Scott Morrison for latest teal trouncing

On Sydney’s insular peninsula, which has always voted blue except for a dalliance with an independent in 2005, the NSW Liberals were not prepared to...

23.10.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Thorpey, a bishop, sex workers and a grieving mum walk into the premier’s office. It’s no joke

For a bill that was left languishing in NSW parliament for more than a year, it moved with incredible pace once an Olympic swimming great, a bishop,...

17.10.2024 40

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Can someone fix the diabolical rental market before I evict my kids?

Like most parents with young kids, I assume mine will live with us forever. Or at least far longer than most of my generation stayed at home. It will...

09.10.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

When life gives you Libertarians, you build a lemonade stand (with or without permission)

The new kid on the conservative block reckons it has the answer to the state’s crippling housing crisis. Approve every development application...

18.09.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

The NSW Liberals have many problems but they are finally fixing one

The looming byelections in Epping, Hornsby and Pittwater are somewhat unusual for the NSW Liberals. Not because two of the seats were left empty by...

12.09.2024 30

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

The PM is sigma, but his social media ban belongs in the skibidi toilet

Of course Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was right when he declared “parents are worried sick” about social media. As a mother of an almost...

11.09.2024 10

WA Today

Alexandra Smith

The PM is sigma, but his social media ban belongs in the skibidi toilet

Of course Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was right when he declared “parents are worried sick” about social media. As a mother of an almost...

11.09.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

The PM is sigma, but his social media ban belongs in the skibidi toilet

Of course Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was right when he declared “parents are worried sick” about social media. As a mother of an almost...

11.09.2024 30

The Age

Alexandra Smith

The PM is sigma, but his social media ban belongs in the skibidi toilet

Of course Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was right when he declared “parents are worried sick” about social media. As a mother of an almost...

11.09.2024 20

Brisbane Times

Alexandra Smith

The Libs had a man with a plan to fix their problems. If only they’d told him

If we needed a further reminder of the Liberals’ woeful ability to carry out basic admin critical to the party’s functions, it was on full display...

04.09.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

I always knew Sydney school parents had lost their minds. Now I have proof

If we ever needed a reminder of the weird world that is Sydney schooling, it was the spectacle of parents hacking the NSW Department of Education’s...

28.08.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

My night out with the transport minister: 12km, three bars, one new metro line

23.08.2024 30

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

How ‘metro mania’ could derail the housing crisis

From little kids waving cardboard signs to trainspotters, long-suffering commuters and people – like me – who simply love being part of history:...

21.08.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Liberals’ spectacular council failure could not have been more disastrous

The catastrophic administrative bungle that has plunged the NSW Liberals into chaos will have long-lasting impacts for a party that needs to regroup...

15.08.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Forget the metro delay, why is my mother of a train trip not getting faster?

Sydney has become accustomed to the eternal wait for trains. Whether it’s the go-slow network every time heavy rain hits the city or missed...

14.08.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Webb has many enemies and they will not stop until they topple her

When a senior public servant is lurching from controversy to controversy, any misstep can explode into a full-blown crisis. NSW Police Commissioner...

08.08.2024 40

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

The crazy WFH experiment is over. Water coolers are the biggest winners

It was a blunt and unexpected message from NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns. Public servants, who make up the biggest workforce in the country, are to...

07.08.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Minns has passed one big political test, now he faces another

NSW Premier Chris Minns may have faced the judgment of voters a little over a year ago but the first-term Labor leader will come up against a far...

24.07.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Why NSW Labor will not take the same road on greyhounds as Baird

Amid rising anger at the Coalition government’s snap decision in 2016 to ban greyhound racing, a trusted cabinet colleague urged then-premier Mike...

10.07.2024 50

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Wagga Wagga boo-boo? Perhaps, but Speakman must defang yappy Nats

The barely known upper house NSW Nationals MP Wes Fang likes to boast to colleagues that he is a more effective operator in opposition than in...

03.07.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

The sensible stamp duty thought-bubble buried in a budget reply

As they clumsily tie themselves in knots trying simultaneously to be both YIMBYs and NIMBYs, the NSW Liberals managed to bury a sound housing policy...

26.06.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

With Kean gone, the boy band has split before its greatest hits

For a time after last year’s election loss, former Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet and his treasurer and deputy leader Matt Kean toyed with...

19.06.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

The two areas where Daniel Mookhey has made his mark

With housing and health at its core, NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has delivered a very Labor budget. He had little choice. The most pressing issue...

18.06.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Our experts give their verdicts on the NSW budget

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has delivered his second budget. Six of our experts – Alexandra Smith, Matt Wade, Matt O’Sullivan, Michael Koziol,...

18.06.2024 8

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Why Tay Tay is blaring from the treasurer’s office – and what it means for NSW

You know you’re good when you can even do itWith a broken heartYou know you’re goodAnd I’m goodCause I’m miserable!And no one even knows!Try...

12.06.2024 7

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

A political wrecking ball could destroy urgent housing before it’s even built

Talk about awkward. It was not even 18 months ago that one of the NSW Liberals’ most senior ministers was fighting for his political life. He did...

05.06.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Housing is Sydney’s biggest crisis. Now targets are here, the hard work starts

Premier Chris Minns calls it rebalancing Sydney. Finally, after many months of angst from local councils over the uncertainty of looming building...

29.05.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

The Eraring bill will max out at $450 million. It’ll be much worse if the lights go out

Premier Chris Minns has struck a deal with Origin Energy that is far more palatable than most expected. But it is not without risk. The former Liberal...

23.05.2024 40

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

The politicians who are pro-nuclear, until it’s in their backyard

Over the weekend, voters in the safe Nationals seat of Bathurst were being polled on whether they would be happy with a nuclear reactor in their...

22.05.2024 30

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Albanese’s GST mauling of NSW Labor mates invites blood at federal poll

15.05.2024 70

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Book ban uncovers uncomfortable truths for Labor in Sydney’s west

08.05.2024 50

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

NSW has long trailed Victoria on tackling domestic violence. Can we finally catch up?

NSW Premier Chris Minns outlined precisely why NSW should follow the lead of Victoria and South Australia and hold a royal commission into the...

06.05.2024 30

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

NSW has promised serious action on domestic violence. So, why the wait?

NSW’s specially convened cabinet meeting on Friday, the day after Molly Ticehurst was laid to rest after being allegedly murdered by an ex-partner,...

03.05.2024 30

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Lou’s Place saves women every day – without a cent from Macquarie Street

Sydney’s only daytime women’s refuge has a policy that it will never turn anyone away. For 25 years, Lou’s Place has been a safe haven for the...

01.05.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

In public life, some private failings can be overlooked. But this MP should resign

More than a decade before the grubby antics of the Seven Network were revealed in spectacular fashion through its role in securing the infamous Bruce...

24.04.2024 9

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Corrupt? No. Acceptable behaviour for an MP? Also no

One-time NSW skills minister Tim Crakanthorp was found to have breached the public trust. His only punishment is a seat on the backbench. The...

11.04.2024 7

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Public schools have an image problem, even without funding cuts

Public schools in NSW have an image problem. As a parent of children who attend public schools, I know this all too well. I am often looked at with...

10.04.2024 7

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Minns’ law to lock up kids incites Labor and even makes Libs blush

Rewind almost 30 years, and a politically naive NSW Labor leader wanted to ban teens from wearing their baseball caps backwards. Clearly, Bob Carr...

03.04.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Top cop’s unforced errors put Minns government into damage control

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb desperately needed a reset after a series of unforced errors that have plagued her leadership. Instead, she has...

19.03.2024 8

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

You can’t to do a U-turn on a toll road, but Minns might have to

With a dollar symbol cheekily superimposed onto a photograph of the city’s most iconic tollroad, NSW Labor launched a petition – some may say...

13.03.2024 30

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

The ‘non-negotiable’ Sydney tolling laws Minns won’t back down on

The Minns government will not scrap refunds for motorists who use the M5 motorway in Sydney’s south-west or its new $60-weekly toll cap, despite a...

11.03.2024 10

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Why Minns building ‘up not out’ might not send him down and out

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns waited until he was firmly ensconced in the government wing of Macquarie Street before he dared to really talk...

06.03.2024 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

Should we catch this falling Star? Or is it time for troubled casino to fold?

Before the spectacular fall from grace of Sydney’s Star casino, when its nemesis Crown Resorts was the bad egg in the world of NSW gambling, the...

21.02.2024 30

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith

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