Paul Sakkal
Paul Sakkal is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.
- Updated
- Middle East at war
Slammed by Trump in the morning, Albanese dials into call with Macron, Starmer on reopening the strait
Forty nations will join the call to discuss how to ensure freedom of navigation as US President Donald Trump rails that his allies – including Australia – have let him down.
- Paul Sakkal and Michael Koziol
Latest
- Exclusive
- Middle East at war
Bigger fuel reserves, EV trucks on Labor’s agenda after ‘major shock’ prompts rethink
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said in an exclusive podcast interview with this masthead that the energy crisis was “more complicated and nuanced than drill, baby, drill”.
- Paul Sakkal and Mike Foley
- Exclusive
- Federal budget
PM flags major changes on NDIS and investor tax breaks
On his return flight from Singapore, Anthony Albanese made some of his strongest comments yet about the disability scheme and gave a metric for the success of his trip.
- Paul Sakkal and James Massola
In times of need, Canberra usually phones the US. Albanese instead called Beijing
After weeks of criticism suggesting he had been slow to respond to the fuel shock, Anthony Albanese charged into Asia.
- Paul Sakkal
- Analysis
- Middle East at war
Diplomacy provides quick relief for PM’s political headache – but not the underlying condition
Much of the fuel crisis is out of Anthony Albanese’s control but he is making up ground after ministers were slow off the mark when the Iran war broke out.
- Paul Sakkal
- Updated
- Middle East at war
Singapore all but guarantees fuel supply as Albanese hails trip a ‘win-win’
The deal between the two nations did not include a guarantee that Australia would be at the front of the queue if Singapore’s refineries kept reducing output.
- Paul Sakkal
- Exclusive
- Immigration
It should be harder to become an Australian citizen: Canavan
The new Nationals leader said he copped a backlash from Pauline Hanson’s supporters when he described as divisive the One Nation leader’s brand of race politics.
- Paul Sakkal
Albanese says fuel stocks looking good almost to June as he jets to Singapore
Fuel stocks are strong, the prime minister says, but a “fragile peace” in the Middle East has added urgency to his dash to secure supply from Asia’s oil superpower.
- Paul Sakkal
- Exclusive
- Gambling
‘Dodgy lotteries’ facing ban as Albanese moves to shut down new betting front
After teal MPs assailed the government for failing to put a blanket ban on wagering advertising, Anika Wells dismissed the group of independents as irrelevant.
- Paul Sakkal
Australia needs more than a reset, it needs an ‘economic revolution’: Canavan
Nationals leader Matt Canavan will use a major speech to call for permanent tariffs to protect domestic manufacturers, dismissing the suggestion that his protectionist stance put him at odds with Angus Taylor.
- Paul Sakkal