Annabel Crabb
Annabel Crabb is an ABC writer and presenter who has covered Australian politics for nearly 25 years as a news reporter and columnist.
She is the creator and presenter of Ms Represented, presenter and writer for the ABC-wide Australia Talks project, and co-host of the initial and 2021 return series of Tomorrow Tonight, with Charlie Pickering. She has written and presented the documentary series on life inside parliament, The House, With Annabel Crabb. She created the political interview series Kitchen Cabinet, which she has presented for seven seasons on ABC TV, and for which she received two Logie nominations in 2013 including the Graham Kennedy Award For Most Outstanding New Talent and Most Popular New Female Talent.
Annabel is also host of the ABC Australian history and food series, Back In Time For Dinner, Further Back In Time For Dinner and Back In Time For The Corner Shop. She is a regular face on ABC TV's election night and Budget broadcasts and has a long history of appearances on ABC's Insiders program, including a stint as acting host in 2019. She has won a Walkley Award for feature writing, with her Quarterly Essay entitled Stop At Nothing: The Life And Adventures of Malcolm Turnbull.
She is a regular commentator across the ABC's radio network. With friend and ABC colleague Leigh Sales, Annabel hosts the podcast Chat 10 Looks 3, an independent podcast in which the pair discusses books, film, culture, and cooking. Their first book together, Well Hello, was published in September 2021.
Latest by Annabel Crabb
Analysis
analysis:'My word is my bond' and other one liners that seemed like a good idea at the time
The prime minister, obviously, is now wagering that people won't mind him breaking a promise if it lands them some extra cash in their pockets, write Annabel Crabb and Brett Worthington.
We relived the thrills and spills of the Turnbull years in Nemesis — with political analysis from Annabel Crabb
The ABC's political docuseries Nemesis is back. We unpack the biggest moments from episode 2, with political analysis from Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:No one was expecting the parliamentary year to end like this
For the Albanese government, the 12 days of its second Christmas in office were definitely not meant to look like this, write Annabel Crabb and Brett Worthington.
Analysis
analysis:High Court happenings, a Home Affairs take down, and a rare nice moment: Unpacking this week in parliament
Home Affairs boss Mike Pezzullo was shown the door this week, as the policy scramble triggered by the High Court's indefinite detention ruling continues, write Annabel Crabb and Brett Worthington.
Analysis
analysis:Political players appear to be at war with their former selves
The political week started with brisk assurances from the government of quiet competence, but went to custard quickly with the news that several sexual offenders had been released from immigration detention, writes Annabel Crabb and Brett Worthington.
Analysis
analysis:It's been an eventful week in politics and for some reason it all comes back to ... Adelaide?
Week three of the referendum campaign and the PM found an excuse to return to Adelaide, where he announced a non-royal commission of inquiry into the handling of COVID. Many questions spring to mind, write Annabel Crabb and Brett Worthington.
Analysis
analysis:There's a foul, rising tide of racism in the Voice debate ahead of the referendum
Bunburying is the art of concocting a noble-sounding alibi to provide cover for an undisclosed and less-noble objective. Why is this relevant today? Because senior First Nations academic Marcia Langton has been at the centre of a comprehensive Bunburying. Here's what transpired, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:At some point, love for Qantas died. What was the final straw?
This week delivered a brutal lesson in how a political perception problem can suddenly become a spectacular, fridge-melting conflagration, write Annabel Crabb and Brett Worthington.
Analysis
analysis:The referendum is a Yes/No vote on 92 words. All other disputes should be shut out
As the campaign for the Voice referendum begins, it's worth having a look at why this referendum question has become so hopelessly ensnarled in undergrowth. And perhaps doing a spot of weeding, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:As Malcolm Turnbull took to the train station, the temperature of the Voice debate reached new levels
As spring 2023 arrives and the referendum campaign begins, it's a far more treacherous landscape for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese than he imagined on election night, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:It's a classic tale of meritorious women overshadowed by second-rate blokes
The women of the World Cup displayed nothing but merit. Extraordinary feats of skill. Flawless sportsmanship. Good behaviour on and off the pitch. They generated millions of new eyeballs for the beautiful game. And yet, they were overshadowed again and again by second-rate blokes, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:It was a tricky week in parliament for Anthony Albanese. Then Kevin Rudd made a comeback
This parliamentary week involved a pitched battle over how many pages are in the Uluru Statement and a bold Coalition stand against cheaper drugs. But no one could stay grumpy when Kevin Rudd's official portrait was unveiled, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:When the inflation bubble visited the Canberra bubble
The Reserve Bank Governor may have triggered a flurry of passive-aggressive share house notes and crushed the dreams of shadow treasurer Angus Taylor in a single Senate Estimates appearance, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:The breathtaking PwC tax scandal stokes simmering outrage as the Voice clears its throat
When Senate Estimates this week turned its basilisk stare upon the trembling, corpulent form of PwC Australia, there was a definite "fistfight in the chess club" energy, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:It was all going to script. Then the opposition leader reached for the Dutton Button
The stately architecture of budget week follows a similar path each time, but this year it had the Dutton Button added in, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:Budgets are about choices and Jim Chalmers's are obvious: Truck Man out, poorest Australians in
High-vis has been replaced, as a budgetary favourite, with people who for some time have been a bit low-vis — aged care workers, single parents and renters, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:Climate legislation actually gets passed and Mark Latham goes to earth — all in the week of politics
I don't want to alarm anyone unduly, but it does seem that the Australian parliament has actually just passed a piece of climate legislation, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:The Voice let loose, a twin distraction and what are Nazis doing here: A week inside Australian politics
Anthony Albanese — his voice unsteady — has announced the final negotiated wording of the referendum question upon which Australians will vote this year. And it's a roll of the dice, writes Annabel Crabb.
Was it cancer? How a 50th birthday mammogram made me smarter about my boobs
In the past fortnight, I've learned some interesting things about my breasts. And unaccustomed as I am to featuring this body part in my written work, I was so foolishly surprised by some of them that I thought it worth sharing, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:A Reserve Bank blow and a PM pelted with petals: It's been a weird, scrabbly week in Canberra
It's been a weird, scrabbly week in the nation's capital, in which the government's election commitments to ease hip-pocket pressures on ordinary Australians diverge from its responsibility to keep the economy alive, writes Annabel Crabb.
A wizard of writing rites of passage, Frank Moorhouse's curiosity was his great gift
Over his unique career as a novelist, essayist and tender custodian of this nation's unmentionables drawer, Frank Moorhouse was drawn ineluctably to things that others avoided, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:How climate campaigners changed tactics to win the election
This was the election at which Australians quietly but unmistakably allied themselves with action on climate change. And the story of how it all came to pass serves as a valuable lesson in modern campaigning, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:Women and climate change shaped election voting patterns but there's a blistering third factor at play — rage
The election has made clear that the Australian voting public is engaged, alert, and has its BS detector dialled up to 11, writes Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:The final warning for Morrison fell on deaf ears. Now women have voted him out
Scott Morrison can't say he wasn't warned that women were angry. But will the next Liberal leader heed the lessons Morrison ignored, asks Annabel Crabb.
Analysis
analysis:With the rarest Pokemon finally spotted in the wild, this is how the campaign ends
It's six weeks old now, this campaign. And after 42 days of two men doing their best to seem exactly the right combination of sincere, articulate empathetic and yet commanding, apparently a full third of Australians still isn't very keen on either of them, writes Annabel Crabb.