Finn McHugh
Political correspondent
Finn McHugh joined Capital Brief after four years in Federal Parliament reporting for News Corp, The Canberra Times and SBS News. He also previously interned at The Kuwait Times.
Contact Finn via email.
Political party factions are meant to manage leadership disputes. But with Sussan Ley on the ropes, the party looks frail and impotent.
Don Farrell has departed for Europe, but a major free trade deal with the EU remains in the balance.
Long-running Liberal leadership tensions are set to come to a head this week.
Anthony Albanese has often favoured cautious pragmatism over bold action. But if he won’t take a leap with 94 seats behind him, when will he?
An EU trade deal appears within reach, but talks are still stuck on agriculture, with farmers urging the government to hold firm on market access.
Reports from Europe claim the EU's chief is jetting to Australia to ink a free trade deal, but Canberra insists the deal is not done.
Even if the Coalition reunifies, who will believe it has truly settled its differences and can hold together for the long haul?
Liberal MPs speaking to Capital Brief said they wanted the leadership issue off the table before Tuesday’s anticipated interest rate rise.
As Donald Trump upends global alliances, the EU’s renewed push for a trade deal hints at fresh opportunities for Australia’s middle power diplomacy.
Polling pain, factional feuds and Nationals unrest are pushing Sussan Ley and the Liberals toward another round of leadership turmoil.
Brussels has approached Canberra to revive trade talks, in the latest sign of how Donald Trump’s erratic international approach is forcing middle-powers to hedge their bets.
Liberal MPs view a leadership challenge as inevitable. Finding the right time is another matter.
An exclusive Capital Brief/DemosAU poll highlighting One Nation's ongoing surge in popularity has sparked a bitter clash over whether the minor party can translate those numbers into seats in Parliament
A new Capital Brief/DemosAU poll delivers fresh, dire news for Sussan Ley — and a stark illustration of the fracturing of Australia's conservative vote.
The latest Capital Brief/Demos AU poll finds Pauline Hanson leading Sussan Ley as preferred prime minister, cementing One Nation’s rise past the fractured Coalition.
After a week of Coalition chaos, Labor is sharpening its attack lines as a resurgent One Nation recasts itself as the adult in the room.
Leadership pressure, ideological ruptures and a second Nationals exit have plunged the Coalition into its deepest crisis in decades.
The Coalition’s dramatic split has devolved into finger pointing on a national day of mourning for the Bondi terror attack.
Nationals leader David Littleproud has launched a full-frontal assault on Sussan Ley, in a move that could have consequences for both their leaderships.
Sussan Ley accepted the resignations of three Nationals frontbenchers following their rebellion on hate speech laws, as doubts grow about her grip on Coalition leadership.
The Liberals and Nationals have split over a key vote. Now they could be facing another, more significant rupture.
Sussan Ley’s push for a strong legislative response to the Bondi terror attack is colliding with the Coalition's deep instincts on free speech.
Parliament united to mourn the Bondi victims in the first of two sitting days, but signs of Tuesday's bruising political fight were already showing.
After weeks of demanding swift action following the Bondi terror attack, Sussan Ley now faces the political and legal pitfalls of her own timeline.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation may be surging in the polls, but it still faces many of the same structural and personality hurdles that have long held it back.
After fresh polling put One Nation level with the Coalition, its leader has told Capital Brief the Liberal Party has been "taken over by moderates" and criticised two of its would-be leaders.
The Trump administration's Greenland ambitions may be fuelled by its drive for AI supremacy as much as by the lure of rare earth riches and Arctic influence.
A new poll, conducted exclusively for Capital Brief, puts One Nation level with the Coalition, squeezing Sussan Ley as she plans an immigration stance that won’t lose the centre or the right.
