Tony Abbott
Shaun Carney
Gillard looking all the poorer for throwing money at voters
Shaun Carney The public's gratitude for cash it believes it already owns is fleeting.
Martin McKenzie-Murray
Politics Oz style: toxic, ludicrous, scrappy - and boring
Martin McKenzie-Murray YOUNG reporters must consider Canberra exciting. A marred and endlessly contested leadership coloured by interminable scandals, deliciously heightened by the perilous calculus of the House.
Michael Gordon
Time to stop finger-pointing and start being constructive
Michael Gordon It's time Tony Abbott made it possible for Julia Gillard to implement policies to prevent asylum-seeker tragedies.
Mike Carlton
Last tango for critics of gay marriage
Mike Carlton One hundred years ago, prelates and parsons and other assorted killjoys were up in arms against a frightful evil sweeping the Western world.
Peter Hartcher
Fair is foul, and foul is fair
Peter Hartcher Exactly two years after she walked into Kevin Rudd's office to demand the prime ministership from him, Julia Gillard is like Lady Macbeth walking the battlements trying to wipe the king's blood from...
Nick Dyrenfurth
Why the moralising left is losing the refugee debate
Nick Dyrenfurth World Refugee Week began last Saturday. Protesters chanted slogans and waved banners. Since then we have witnessed a plethora of commentators and politicians, usually of a progressive or liberal...
Michael Bachelard
Decency all at sea as another boatload sinks
Michael Bachelard Did politics play a part in the latest asylum seeker tragedy, asks Michael Bachelard.
Michelle Grattan
Asylum seekers hurt by politicking
Michelle Grattan Amid political angst after the latest boat tragedy, we must face up to one reality, which is hard to accept.
Misha Schubert
If the political hyperbole doesn't get them, the reality check will
Misha Schubert Politicians who exaggerate might find the joke's on them, writes Misha Schubert.
Katharine Murphy
Obscure objectivity of desire
Katharine Murphy Talk of the looming death of newspapers blurs the issue. What's really under threat in the shift from print to digital is a commercially sustainable 'objective' model for news.
Jacqueline Maley
All smiles, but PM declines anniversary waltz with Abbott
Jacqueline Maley ON A second anniversary, a gift of cotton is traditional. But when it's the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, organising the celebrations, a suspension of standing orders will do just as well.
Tony Wright
MPs' day of grieving: for asylum seekers lost and a Labor marriage gone cold
Tony Wright It was as awkward as an anniversary dinner for a marriage gone cold; everyone attempting desperate pleasantries until Uncle Ernie swerves two swigs over his limit and decides it's time to be frank.
Tim Colebatch
Two new taxes are on the way, but we shouldn't complain
Tim Colebatch Australia will remain one of the lowest-taxed countries in the Western world.
Clive Kessler
Asylum deal could be solution to many Malaysian shortcomings
Clive Kessler And now another hundred souls lost. Another hundred souls on all our consciences.
Gerard Henderson
Power of the press a lot less muscular than some imagine
Gerard Henderson There is delusion. And then there is self-delusion. When both forces come together, what follows is an absence of reality. This is evident in much of the debate about the future of the print media.
Nicholas Stuart
Non-voters likely to join the swing against Labor
Nicholas Stuart There's still some argument about whether Mark Latham won the last election. Appearing on 60 Minutes just before the poll, he advocated informal ballots.
Jacqueline Maley
A tale of rats, spats and chooks for Coalition's top dog
Jacqueline Maley IN HIS campaign against the carbon tax, the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, has named butchers, fishmongers, cabinet makers and smelters as its victims.
Ross Gittins
Carbon tax won't hurt much but we don't want to know
Ross Gittins When psychologists study those sects that predict the end of the world on a certain day, they find the leaders rarely willing to admit they were wrong and their true believers rarely willing to admit...
Michael Gordon
Sound-bite diplomacy no solution to asylum seeker quandary
Michael Gordon There is a simple way to end the impasse on asylum seeker policy, but Tony Abbott and his immigration spokesman refuse to embrace it. Why?
Ross Gittins
Shift minds on a tax? Unlikely
Ross Gittins People who feel carbon tax is terrible will continue to think this way, whatever the reality.
