Michael Inman

Copy that: hundreds owed for words, art

Michael Inman WHAT do Shane Warne, Penny Wong, Barnaby Joyce, John Burgess, Nick Minchin, George Pell and Rob Oakeshott all have in common?

Defence Minister 'sat on' Skype sex report

David Ellery Defence Minister Stephen Smith has been accused of sitting on a report into the Australian Defence Force Academy's handling of the Skype scandal because it is personally embarrassing.

Minchin to star in doco on climate

Tom Arup Climate change sceptic Nick Minchin will star in a documentary set to appear on the ABC early next year.

Senator used trip to see controversial politicians

Phillip Coorey THE South Australian Liberal senator Cory Bernardi spent three weeks in European cities in April touring suburbs rife with ethnic tension and meeting with politicians who were outspoken on Muslim...

Senior Libs circle wagons around Turnbull after Minchin's public spray

Phillip Coorey SENIOR Liberals have defended Malcolm Turnbull against another attack on him by the conservative member Nick Minchin, saying it was unwarranted and stupid.

Howard's right-hand man to honest broker

Arthur Sinodinos knows a thing or two about managing ''the elephants'', as he calls them. He had a ringside seat during the drawn-out struggles between John Howard and Andrew Peacock in the late...

Betrayed Reith hits at 'lackey' Abbott

Phillip Coorey PETER REITH has scolded Tony Abbott for being too timid to embrace industrial relations reforms, saying the Opposition Leader's ambivalence was a source of growing concern in the business community.

Upper house gets a facelift

Jessica Wright IN A year of extraordinary events, the nation is about to witness yet another significant slice of Australian political history.

Newsmaker Peter Reith

Jacqueline Maley, Phillip Coorey Until recently, Peter Reith's political legacy seemed settled. One of John Howard's most dependable ministers, an architect of workplace reform, a key player in the waterfront dispute and children...

Liberal brawl over federal presidency as Reith closes in

Phillip Coorey THE Liberal Party has overshadowed the first anniversary of Kevin Rudd's ousting with a brawl between former cabinet ministers over the party's federal presidency.

Minchin uses Work Choices bogy to sideline Reith

Phillip Coorey THE Liberal powerbroker Nick Minchin has mounted a Labor-style industrial relations scare campaign in a last-ditch bid to prevent Peter Reith from becoming the Liberal Party's next federal president.

Exit Minchin, unabashed monarchist to the end

Phillip Coorey NICK MINCHIN has drawn the curtain on an 18-year career, citing his greatest achievement as defeating the republic referendum and lamenting his failures to speak out against the Iraq war and to force...

Year of living dangerously

At about 3.30 on the afternoon of June 23, 2010, Kevin Rudd's press secretary, Lachlan Harris, was anxious.

Reith's bid blocked

Phillip Coorey THE cancellation of a Liberal Party federal executive meeting scheduled for this weekend has fuelled claims it was a deliberate act to stymie Peter Reith's bid to become the party's national...

Back on board

Michelle Grattan Peter Reith was one of the Liberals' more controversial politicians and now he wants to be party president.

Stop sniping, Hockey warns, as Coalition faces poll hit

Phillip Coorey THE shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, has told his colleagues to stop squabbling and put the party first as the Coalition braces for a hit in the polls after a week of internal dissent.

Anger poisons Abbott's ranks

Jessica Wright TONY ABBOTT'S treatment of his leadership rival Malcolm Turnbull has backfired so badly that he has enraged frontbenchers and created a bitter split in the Liberal Party's senior ranks.

Split in Liberal ranks widens

Jessica Wright Liberal Party unity is in tatters, with claims that Tony Abbott's relationship with his shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, and rival Malcolm Turnbull is ''poisonous in every way''.

Tension as Abbott calls for discipline

Phillip Coorey TONY ABBOTT has backed the disciplinary action taken against Malcolm Turnbull for missing a vote in Parliament despite the revelation that the Opposition Leader has missed just as many votes himself.

Liberals split by brawling

Phillip Coorey TONY ABBOTT has clashed with his senior colleague Nick Minchin over the Coalition's decision to oppose an excise increase on alternative fuels, saying he will always put pragmatic politics ahead of...