Senate
Paul Daley
Celebs in Senate; now there's a plan
Paul Daley If you want to restore faith in parliament as a public institution, give a few seats to outstanding community members.
Senate can still block supply
Andrew Herscovitch The Rudd and Gillard governments have put issues of constitutional reform at the back of the queue. This is not surprising, given the other challenges they have faced.
Damien Murphy
There's no place like home as Carr sets his sights on Senate
Damien Murphy A HOMECOMING of a sort - the foreign minister-in-waiting, Bob Carr, had Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia, Syria and China on his mind as he strolled into State Parliament to be sworn in...
Peter Costello
Carr appointment takes Senate manipulation to next level
Peter Costello Remember the old days when cabinets were chosen from Parliament?
Coalition must be smarter when it issues preferences
Gerard Henderson Julia Gillard, Wayne Swan and Greg Combet appear to believe Labor will win the election.
Sly support for referendum
John Warhurst Supporters of same-sex marriage would be misguided to encourage a referendum this September.
Half-baked relocation plan to fall flat
Chris Johnson So Tony Abbott wants to relocate hordes of Commonwealth public servants from the nation's capital to the states and regions if they want to keep their jobs.
Ready to jump off a cliff for principles
Barnaby Joyce Life in politics is punctuated with major challenges that throw into question the authenticity of your political mettle.
Even in defeat, Assange's campaign can win
Gay Alcorn The WikiLeaks founder's Senate bid is a long shot, but there is method in his move.
Slick language in the service of poor policy
Jacqueline Maley These people, the online commenter said, should be sent home ''now, today, if not sooner''. Sooner than now? I thought. Isn't that the name of a Smiths song?
Mark Forbes
Former PM does himself no credit with Iraq war figleaf
Mark Forbes Our former prime minister has revisited 'the most controversial foreign policy decision' taken by my government'.
High tide for women ministers
Anne Summers When she announced her new ministry last Monday, Julia Gillard made history. For the first time, women make up one-third of the Australian government.
Media call just a piddling distraction
Paul Sheehan What follows is a quote from a column I wrote about Stephen Conroy, which enraged him.
Forced adoptions apology was PM at her finest
David Wroe, Tony Wright Julia Gillard's speech apologising from the nation to the broken-hearted women whose babies were taken from them at birth, the children who were adopted out before there was the chance of a bond...
Pyne claims Labor MPs want spill
Canberra Opposition frontbencher Christopher Pyne says he's receiving text messages from Labor MPs still agitating for Julia Gillard's removal as prime minister before the election.
PM in snake pit with no antivenom
Paul Sheehan At 6.02 pm last Wednesday I received a text sent from Parliament House in Canberra. It said: ''I'm hearing Labor has been asked to stay in Canberra on Friday.
Who would be in your (political) team of the century?
Michael Gordon The late John Button had his own strategy for coping with the tedium of Parliament during his years as the government leader in the Senate.
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...
Sex trumps torture and corruption
Paul McGeough This is about carnal relations, not global security - got it? We're talking sex, so if you're looking for heavy breathing about ethics and morality, move on, turn the page.
The government cypher
Jack Waterford Bob Hawke thinks political parties should restrict the subjects over which they caucus and hold supporters to a combined view.
