Katharine Murphy
Katharine Murphy is national affairs correspondent at The Age. She has been reporting on federal politics for more than a decade, starting at The Australian Financial Review, where she was Canberra chief of staff from 2001 to 2004, and moving to The Australian as a specialist writer from 2004 to 2006. She joined The Age in 2006. In 2008, she won the Paul Lyneham Award for Excellence in Press Gallery Journalism.
The media must embrace reform to survive
Katharine Murphy Should we be surprised when it comes to media reform that most of the protagonists are working an angle?
Let's hear more from Pyne on 'chalk and talk' teaching
Katharine Murphy Universities join the miners in using ads to gain influence.
Free-for-all on foreigners as leaders chase votes
Katharine Murphy So that's where we are. We need to ''stop foreign workers being put at the front of the queue''. We need ''behavioural protocols'' for ''illegals'' so we all know whether undesirables are lurking...
No coup against Baillieu, says Abbott
Katharine Murphy There has been no shadowy coup against former Victorian premier Ted Baillieu - simply an ''orderly transition to a new premier'', Tony Abbott says.
Analysis
It's now or never for government on media reforms
Katharine Murphy Given how late the Gillard government has left its run on media reform, Conroy has little option now other than to crash or crash through.
Commando Conroy's roll of the dice
Katharine Murphy Next week or not at all, says the Communications Minister Stephen Conroy of his media reform package.
Malcolm Turnbull and the goblet of fire
Katharine Murphy Having been invited to express some humanity, Turnbull thought he might bin the standard dot-point formulations about what it's like to lose the party leadership, and tell the truth.
Katharine Murphy
Abbott puts aside pugilism to set a new moral course
Katharine Murphy He's claiming a leadership role on recognition of indigenous Australians.
Katharine Murphy
Katter's populism dogs both parties
Katharine Murphy What does a new dam in far north Queensland have to do with a traffic snarl in western Sydney? Nothing at all, actually, despite some heroic connect-the-dots efforts by Labor ministers last week.
Katharine Murphy
Labor's policy land grab may pull Abbott into war of ideas
Katharine Murphy Ideas are on the way back. This is a bold call given post-truth politics is meant to have triumphed and I've been deeply pessimistic for most of this year.
Katharine Murphy
Don't blink, but from a toxic mire the idea is on the march
Katharine Murphy In an election year, our leaders must connect with us on a deeper level.
Katharine Murphy
Team Abbott should chart a new course
Katharine Murphy As we head to an election, we deserve more than negativity.
Katharine Murphy
Is Gillard hitting her stride?
Katharine Murphy Things seem to be getting harder for Tony Abbott - but it's still too soon to be betting on an early election.
Katharine Murphy
Handbags at 10 paces
Katharine Murphy Australian politics reached a new point last week when the handbag hit squad and the reverse handbag hit squad slugged it out in 30 frenetic minutes before parliamentary question time.
Katharine Murphy
Tony Abbott's women problem
Katharine Murphy He may have not think he has a women problem, but some seem to have a problem with him.
Katharine Murphy
The trouble with Barnaby and the LNP
Katharine Murphy Journalist David Marr, in the new Quarterly Essay hitting shops today, recalls the minister in the Howard government who liked to improvise on his feet and think off-script.
Katharine Murphy
Swords come at Gillard from all sides
Katharine Murphy 'FRIENDS, the fight is on, it's the fight of our lives, let's get out there and win it,'' Prime Minister Julia Gillard declared in Queensland yesterday, back at work after the death of her father.
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.
Katharine Murphy
Will Joyce have Abbott dancing to the bush populist's tune?
Katharine Murphy The foreign investment decision revealed a delicate juggling act.
Katharine Murphy
Labor's plan is on song and on the money
Katharine Murphy The Gillard government's strategy to claw back lost political ground is not exactly innovative. In fact, its core is older than time.
