menu_open
Annika Smethurst

Annika Smethurst

The Daily Telegraph

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

How Liberal mistakes are driving the Greens and Nationals’ succession plans

The departure of Daniel Andrews and a rare reprieve from leadership chatter granted to John Pesutto has done little to quell broader leadership...

18.04.2024 10

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Blame game hides truth of asbestos contamination saga

The most remarkable aspect of asbestos-contaminated mulch being discovered at Melbourne playgrounds is that it took just one parent to identify a...

12.04.2024 9

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Victorian voters ready for the Coalition to climb back from the wilderness

After weeks of instability and a growing number of legal fights, Opposition Leader John Pesutto has been thrown a political lifeline. Research by...

28.03.2024 9

The Age

Annika Smethurst

What’s the price of fear? In Victorian politics, $600 million from our pockets

If you needed an insight into how the state government operates, you could do worse than read the auditor-general’s report into the axing of the...

21.03.2024 30

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Pesutto on shaky ground as MPs threaten to defect to Nationals

The recent departure of two of the opposition leader’s top advisors – chief of staff Rodrigo Pintos-Lopez and communications director Nick...

14.03.2024 6

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Why a byelection win for Labor could prove to be Albanese’s poisoned chalice

There are few events sadder than an election night party where the candidate has lost. The moment the swing is on, the sausage rolls seem colder, the...

29.02.2024 7

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Budget is Allan’s chance to carve a vision for the state

The catastrophic storm that swept over the state last week and left almost half a million Victorians in the dark has kicked off a much-needed debate...

22.02.2024 10

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Labor’s long-term gain is set to be Allan’s short-term headache

If you ever needed a clear sign that the Andrewsian era – that is, the period during which Dan reigned over us all – has ended, you needn’t look...

08.02.2024 9

The Age

Annika Smethurst

No, no, no: Pesutto was meant to be the great moderate. Where’s the evidence?

It’s long been accepted in the Liberal Party that sometimes you have to give a bit of “red meat to the base”. Be it advocating for mandatory...

01.02.2024 5

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Treaty backflip triggers pain for Pesutto as Deeming case looms

Two weeks before Australians voted in the Voice referendum, Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh gave his word to a senior member of the Allan...

25.01.2024 8

The Age

Annika Smethurst

The reason Jacinta Allan could upend Victoria’s opposition to pill testing

For a politician who hails from Labor’s Socialist Left faction, Jacinta Allan has never really been a champion for social reforms. Supportive, yes....

18.01.2024 5

The Age

Annika Smethurst

This is why Victorians can’t have nice things: state wish list reveals painful outlook

I’ll let you in on a little secret. Victoria’s newest premier, Jacinta Allan, is a Swiftie. That is, a Taylor Swift mega-fan. It was Allan’s...

11.01.2024 10

The Age

Annika Smethurst

The ‘cursed’ Melbourne seat set to challenge Albanese and Dutton

The Melbourne suburb of Frankston – the centre of an upcoming political battle for the federal seat of Dunkley – has a strange curse over the...

04.01.2024 10

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Has John Pesutto mastered the thankless art of opposition?

A mere 72 hours before John Pesutto was due to mark 12 months as opposition leader, exiled Liberal Moira Deeming followed through on her threat and...

14.12.2023 10

The Age

Annika Smethurst

For Victorian Labor, reports of dodgy behaviour are of no concern

Victoria’s public service is infected by a culture of fear that stops many bureaucrats from giving frank and fearless advice to the state...

07.12.2023 8

The Age

Annika Smethurst

NDIS funding is one battle Victoria can’t afford to lose

What do you get when you have two governments with soaring debt bills and no one wants to pay for anything? Buck-passing, cost shifting and blame. ...

30.11.2023 4

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Don’t mention the war? Jacinta Allan doesn’t have a choice

If Jacinta Allan was asked to predict her first 100 days in office before becoming leader, it is unlikely she would have forecast that she’d be...

23.11.2023 9

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Can Labor outdo Victoria’s byelection curse in Andrews’ old seat?

The sight of Victorian Cabinet ministers, spotted in the wild doorknocking in Mulgrave ahead of Saturday's byelection, triggered a wave of excitement...

16.11.2023 10

The Age

Annika Smethurst

The Suburban Rail Loop offers Allan a rare political opportunity few leaders get

One of the best gifts Prime Minister Anthony Albanese could give Jacinta Allan this Christmas would be an excuse for her to press pause on the...

09.11.2023 4

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Jacinta Allan has every right to call a cartoon sexist, but that doesn’t mean it is

Joan Kirner loved political cartoons. The Kirner fridge, as she wrote in The Age in 2004 was heaving with editorial drawings that sat alongside...

26.10.2023 8

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Heartlands in crisis: Allan and Pesutto face fallout over voter disconnect

For the most part, state MPs steered clear of the Voice to parliament debate, and none more so than those whose positions were at odds with the people...

19.10.2023 6

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Who knew what when: The mystery of Jacinta Allan and the Commonwealth Games

Tremendous progress. That was the description Jacinta Allan reached for when she was asked to provide an update on the government’s delivery of the...

12.10.2023 5

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Pesutto puts Guy back in starting line-up as Allan tinkers with midfield

To borrow some footy terminology (for those of us mourning the end of the perfect AFL season), Jacinta Allan was always going to make some changes to...

05.10.2023 8

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Jacinta Allan could prove to be the lifeline the Liberals have been waiting for

Was Daniel Andrews worth a quarter of a million votes for Labor? That’s the calculation which will determine whether the government – under newly...

28.09.2023 7

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Allan promises a new style of leadership. Easier said than done

Hidden among the pledges of unity and service from newly installed Premier Jacinta Allan was a subtle promise to change the style of leadership we...

27.09.2023 7

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Can Daniel Andrews’ housing policy solve Victoria’s growing property crisis?

Hang around parliaments long enough, and you soon realise there is no shortage of policy problems. Every day it’s a different coloured ribbon and...

14.09.2023 9

The Age

Annika Smethurst

Emerging cracks prove not even Daniel Andrews is immune to the third-term curse

Almost a decade ago, when former New Zealand prime minister John Key won a third term in office, he knew his government’s days were numbered....

07.09.2023 7

The Age

Annika Smethurst

069a708e66eceb0baf0a89c9a9949588