Annabel Crabb

Australia

Chief Online Political Writer at ABC News (Australia)

ABC political writer and commentator, though views expressed here are mine, not ABC's. New book WELL HELLO out Sept 28, see link

Articles

Coalition's climate splits echo Labor's dragging divisions over refugee policy

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Annabel Crabb

The fast-paced drama of recrimination, estrangement and reconciliation between the National Party and the Liberal Party over the last fortnight has generated two phenomena. First: a serious degree of brand confusion with the 2025 series of Farmer Wants A Wife. (A series recap: David has told Sussan he can't be with someone who won't let him keep his collection of fantasy nuclear reactors.
Liberals and Nationals consciously uncouple after long and fruitful marriage

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Annabel Crabb

For 102 years now (apart from a brief and steamy affair with Joh Bjelke-Petersen in 1987) the country-based National Party has been married to the urbanite Liberal Party. They've done big things together. At times, they've quietly loathed each other, for sure. They've fought about the usual things. Money. Infrastructure. Who does what around the House. Whether it's a big deal for one of the kids to be gay.
Liberals and Nationals consciously uncouple after long and fruitful marriage

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Annabel Crabb

10 hours agoMandatory sentencing reinstated for some DVO breaches in NT after bill passes parliamentPerpetrators who threaten or cause harm while breaching a domestic violence order (DVO) will receive a mandatory minimum sentence, under new laws …Back to the ’90s at Woolies, it’s not coke, and X schools CanavanWoolworths reckons families spend $150 on their weekly shop. We want to know what they're eating. Plus, *is* it cocaine?
The campaign was derided as dull, but the election aftermath kicks like a shirty mule

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Annabel Crabb

The aftermath of the 2025 federal election has very decidedly been a split-screen sort of affair, so it was appropriate that yesterday's swearing-in of the Albanese ministry at Yarralumla was scheduled for exactly the same time as the Liberal Party's swearing-at. Sorry, leadership vote.
Australia's political conclave theatrics feel blokey, but the future is female

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Annabel Crabb

The conclave is over. Habemus Papam! Overnight, the Catholic Church has made a decision that is at once historic (first American Pope) and high risk (creating from scratch an American leader who will be more famous than Donald Trump). For the 133 cardinals, it's time to go home. But in Australia, the conclaves continue. Not just for the Liberal Party, but among the National Party and the Greens too.
The Coalition and Clive Palmer didn't win their own election culture war

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Annabel Crabb

It's three years since an emotional Anthony Albanese surprised everyone — including his then minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, who was in the crowd at the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL — by announcing that his first item of business as prime minister would be to implement, in full, the Uluru Statement from the Heart. True to his word, Albanese took the Voice to a referendum vote a year-and-a-half later. Even though it did not have bipartisan support.
Peter Dutton's platform infuriated women - and it likely lost him the election

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Annabel Crabb

In an election that turned out to be a cracker-box of explosive developments, one of the most ironic — surely — is the degree of work-life balance suddenly opening up to a large number of middle-aged Liberal men.
Tiny debacles are mounting for Dutton, but there’s a wild card in this scenario

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Annabel Crabb

The weird thing about election campaigns is the way they sometimes take on a life of their own. One thing goes wrong, and that thing exacerbates an existing weakness, and in rushing to fix that, you create another problem and before you know it, you're sitting down to the full English breakfast at the Clusterf**k Café. Once you're in this phase, even tiny debacles assume a sort of grim, superstitious significance, usually because they are symptoms of a much deeper problem.
Coalition cosies up to One Nation with preferences in ceasefire after 30-year war

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Annabel Crabb

The first three weeks of this federal election campaign were comprehensively drowned out by tariff policy bombshells lobbed by one of the world's most famous men. Now, it appears the last two weeks will be obscured by the funeral and succession of the only other man on Earth more famous than the first. And — for good measure — the funeral will be attended by both. It's very hard to focus on Australian politics when the world keeps getting tipped off its axis like this.
Ute Man is the Coalition's favourite political figurine but he's a fraught mascot

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Annabel Crabb

This election is a life or death matter for one of Australian politics' most enduring and powerful identities: Ute Man. Of all the potent political icons invoked by vote-hungry politicians, none in the last decade has enjoyed quite the sway of Ute Man, our homo electus, the target audience for every politician ever to engage inhi-vis cosplay as polling day approached.

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Annabel Crabb @annabelcrabb

25 May 25

TONIGHT: I'm not quite sure how and when she managed this, but @patskarvelas has put together what looks to be an unmissable @4corners ep about the civil war inside the Liberal Party @abcnews https://t.co/glBKYOoiTX

Annabel Crabb @annabelcrabb

23 Apr 25

My new column: Coalition ties the knot with One Nation, in a quiet registry affair https://t.co/e8GLtjp2XQ

Annabel Crabb @annabelcrabb

15 Apr 25

New column: "Ute Man" has been a potent identity figure for nearly a decade, but he's basically two car salesmen and a tax accountant in a Driza-Bone https://t.co/BDaDb1tUY4

Annabel Crabb

Articles

Coalition's climate splits echo Labor's dragging divisions over refugee policy

Liberals and Nationals consciously uncouple after long and fruitful marriage

Liberals and Nationals consciously uncouple after long and fruitful marriage

The campaign was derided as dull, but the election aftermath kicks like a shirty mule

Australia's political conclave theatrics feel blokey, but the future is female

The Coalition and Clive Palmer didn't win their own election culture war

Peter Dutton's platform infuriated women - and it likely lost him the election

Tiny debacles are mounting for Dutton, but there’s a wild card in this scenario

Coalition cosies up to One Nation with preferences in ceasefire after 30-year war

Ute Man is the Coalition's favourite political figurine but he's a fraught mascot

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