For months federal Labor has been bouncing around in its corner, challenging the Coalition to come out and fight on the issue of industrial relations.

The ALP suits crammed into the function room of Lygon Street’s legendary La Notte restaurant last Thursday to celebrate the first meeting of the Victorian party’s new think tank ‘Progressive Network’ were restless.

The weekend's shambles around the announcement of the first Enterprise Migration Agreement (EMA) is a pretty good illustration of the dysfunctional, incompetent state of Australian political policy-making.

Don't look now, but self-described faceless man Paul Howes is having some regrets about his starring role in the disposal of ex-PM Kevin Rudd.

Clive Palmer announces a tilt at federal politics (and new cruise ship plans), Twiggy Forrest has another crack at Wayne Swan and Bill Shorten becomes an internet sensation.

Most power players have oodles of charm and charisma, so it's no wonder they collect some unlikely allies on their way to the top. Here are six power partnerships that cross the ideological and generational divide.

If there's an engine room of political power in Australia, it's cabinet. And like most engine rooms, it's hidden out of sight, its operations little understood by the rest of us.

Diplomats move around the corridors of power in Canberra, rarely seen. But with access to ministers, politicians and senior bureaucrats, they can achieve one of their key mandates: to influence Australian government policy.

Political power in Canberra has become harder than ever to effectively use, so who's got the skills, popularity and support to wield it best? We're currently counting down the Top 10 most powerful and influential people in Canberra. Here, Bernard Keane presents the shortlist.

It's flack against flack as PR legend John Connolly sues Libs polling king Mark Textor over an errant 140 characters.

Those Rudd rumours are here again. And you can bet it's Kevin's mates spreading them. His leadership challenge will come in a matter of weeks, we're told. Maybe just after the ALP is wiped out in Queensland.

John Roskam is the whip smart and media savvy executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs, the loudest – and most right wing – think tank in the country.

Tony Abbott would rather the issue of IR reform just go away, yet it's shaping up as one of the year's biggest political stoushes. So who has kept the flame of workplace flexibility burning bright?

No-one is more despised by Melbourne's property tycoons than Bill Oliver. In Victoria's $25 billion construction game, the stubbled Scotsman can shut down rogue building sites in a flash and, builders say, hold their projects to ransom.

MasterChef judge George Calombaris has launched a spray at the Gillard government's Fair Work Act, claiming that public holiday and weekend penalty rates have the potential to force his new restaurant venture to the wall.

Who are the people shaping Australia's cultural heartland? In January, we start counting down the Top 10 Most Powerful People in Melbourne. Here, Andrew Crook presents the shortlist.

Stephen Conroy is the most powerful Media Maestro in Australia, beating the Sun King, Rupert Murdoch, into second place. And here's why.

Prior to yesterday's cabinet reshuffle Julia Gillard must have been watching The Godfather and taking the advice of mafia boss Michael Corleone: 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'.

Everybody loves a bit of schadenfreude, so here we present seven of the most memorable power fails of 2011. Think names like Thomson, Forrest and Overland.

What Stephen Conroy wants, Stephen Conroy gets. Right now that means we're all paying for the infrastructure needed to create the National Broadband Network, whether we want it or not.