Katharine Murphy

All set for the media tango, politicians versus proprietors

Katharine Murphy All politics is local, goes the maxim. It's a quaint notion in our globalised world, and yet it's still substantially true. Here's a case study to illustrate the point.

Hamish McDonald

Feathers fly as the point man weighs in

Hamish McDonald Papua New Guinea has seen plenty of political wild men - like the late prime minister Bill Skate with his Albanian-Australian political adviser and connections to Port Moresby's raskol gangs.

Friend or foe?

Every night, as the evening call to prayer ends its slow passage across the dusty Afghan army training centre on the outskirts of Kabul, hundreds of Afghan army recruits tread a weary path from the...

Peter Hartcher

Prima donnas and the PMs

Peter Hartcher Labor cabinets have tolerated the behaviour of egotistic and temperamental leaders in the past. Why not now?

Virginia Trioli

Reith rewrites history to hide the shame of children overboard lie

Virginia Trioli Enough, Peter Reith. It has been infuriating hearing the former defence minister repeat all this week that the Children Overboard scandal was just 'a minor incident, long finished', just 'a small...

Michelle Grattan

Battle of boats outcome still in balance

Michelle Grattan Will the Pacific solution mark II work? The short answer is, it's too soon to judge.

Phillip Coorey

Gillard's power play

Phillip Coorey Julia Gillard is entering a critical phase for both her leadership and her government. Clearly she has decided to go on the front foot.

Comments 149

Michelle Grattan

Gloves on as PM gears up for battle

Michelle Grattan Julia Gillard likes to box. A trainer goes to The Lodge twice a week, holding up the pads while the Prime Minister slugs away.

Katharine Murphy

Dear pollies, rise above the cheap slogans

Katharine Murphy It's bitterly cold in Canberra; one of those winters so bleak you worry spring will never come.

Comments 265

Experts float a blueprint for asylum compromise

Michelle Grattan Despite Angus Houston's claims that politics played no part in his panel's thinking, its package is crafted cleverly enough to given maximum push towards forcing a compromise.

Tony Wright

Houston delivers 'hard-headed' and 'realistic' counsel

Tony Wright A storm at sea, the Taliban and Peter Reith? Mere aggravations compared with stepping into the asylum stand-off apparently.

Kate Shaw

The Ministry of Silly Plans

Kate Shaw Once again, a government is selling itself, and the people, short with a bad plan.

Comments 16

Peter Hartcher

Any China conversation better than none at all

Peter Hartcher The last time the US sent its defence secretary to Australia, he planned to host a cocktail party for local luminaries in Melbourne as part of his program.

Comments 45

Gerard Henderson

Boats will keep coming until someone waves the red flag

Gerard Henderson It's not often that a government loses control over key areas of domestic or international policy. Yet it happens occasionally. Whitlam Labor lost control of economy policy around the middle of 1974.

Comments 303

Ross Gittins

Fat cats that got cream in super tax deal are breaking the bank

Ross Gittins One thing that gets me going is comfortably-off people who feel sorry for themselves: those who complain how hard it is to get by on $150,000 a year, or retired people who profess to be...

Ross Gittins

These well-off retirees' claims are a bit rich

Ross Gittins Tax concessions on super take a huge toll on the federal budget.

Comments 232

David Dixon

On the right to silence, all the rhetoric is deafening

David Dixon Premier Barry O'Farrell's announcement of plans to restrict the right to silence in NSW has ignited a debate.

Why did we go to war in Iraq?

Ramesh Thakur Taking a country to war is the single most solemn international responsibility of any government. It requires our soldiers to kill complete strangers solely on the authority of the government.

Susan Metcalfe

Labor resurrects the dark history of the Pacific Solution

Susan Metcalfe Nauru and PNG should be used as temporary circuit breakers only.