Between a rock and the 'new brutality'

Michael Gordon The TV cameras on both sides of the corridor that leads from the Prime Minister's suite to the House of Representatives were the dead give-away.

Got to be a hard bastard

Michael Gordon The TV cameras on both sides of the corridor that leads from the prime minister's suite to the House of Representatives were the dead give-away.

Comments 37

'I won't flinch now'

Michael Gordon A defiant Julia Gillard insists she will not buckle in the face of incessant leadership speculation and bad polls, declaring: ''If I haven't flinched yet, why would I flinch now?''

Hard slog for PM to get Labor back into the game

Michael Gordon It is a measure of Labor's predicament that the good news for the government in the latest Age/Nielsen poll is that Julia Gillard's - and the party's - standing did not take another hit after yet...

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Gillard takes on Abbott in the populist and cynical stakes

Michael Gordon Simon Crean maintains Australia's new cultural policy joins the dots on a range of Labor priorities.

Abbott vows to engage

Michael Gordon Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will vow that 'a new engagement with Aboriginal people' will be a hallmark of an incoming Coalition government from 'day one' if it wins this year's federal election.

NT coup ends with 'spoilt brat' on top

Michael Gordon, Dan Harrison Adam Giles has become the first indigenous Australian to lead a state or territory.

Michael Gordon

Worlds apart, but the pain's the same when the axe falls

Michael Gordon Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott agree on something. There are no parallels between the political assassination of Kevin Rudd in 2010 and Ted Baillieu's decision to fall on his sword this week.

A dose of sympathy from one deposed leader to another

Michael Gordon, Judith Ireland Kevin Rudd, the leader whose prime ministership was terminated after two and a half years, has empathised with the former Victorian premier, Ted Baillieu.

Marginal difference in national sphere

Michael Gordon Ted Baillieu's shock resignation is a morale boost for Labor in Victoria that has few implications for the federal election that Julia Gillard has called for September 14.

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Cakes and carbon tax: Abbott has morning tea at the Hopgoods'

Michael Gordon Rosie Hopgood used to call it 'fast-food Friday': the one night of the week when her family would order fish and chips over the phone from the local take-away, spread them out in front of the telly,...

Abbott wants to win over three Victorian seats

Michael Gordon Call it a sign of confidence. Having declared Sydney's outer-west is now ''the new Liberal heartland'', Tony Abbott is about to hone in on Melbourne's outer-east.

Michael Gordon

The national disgrace that is our asylum-seeker debate

Michael Gordon A month before Julia Gillard's mini-campaign in Sydney's outer west, Tony Abbott took his own mini-campaign to Melbourne's outer east, and reflected with justifiable pride on the diversity of...

For Labor there are no easy choices on leadership

Michael Gordon JULIA GILLARD has the next week to convince the Labor MPs of western Sydney that they should hold their nerve and stay with her when the polls - and their own survival instincts - say they should go...

A real threat?

ASIO says this woman is a threat to security

Michael Gordon It's almost dinner time in a leafy neighbourhood in Sydney's west. A group of small boys is immersed in a game of football. A toddler glides shakily by on the bike he has only just learnt to ride.

Life in review

Michael Gordon The fate on Ranjini and dozens more may lie in a retired judge's hands.

Gillard faces a wild west on and off the streets

Michael Gordon JULIA Gillard has the next week to convince the Labor MPs of western Sydney that they should hold their nerve and stay with her when the polls - and their own survival instincts - say they should go...

The demonisation continues

Michael Gordon The kindest thing that can be said of Scott Morrison's call for a freeze on the release of asylum seekers into the community on bridging visas is that it is a massive overreaction.

Change urged for Hazara refugees

Michael Gordon The Gillard government is urged to reassess the claims for refugee status of scores of asylum seekers from the Hazara ethnic minority in Pakistan.