Michelle Grattan on Afghanistan - National Times

Michelle Grattan

Michelle Grattan is the political editor of The Age. In 2008, she shared the Melbourne Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award with Laurie Oakes. She edited the books 'Reconciliation' and 'Australian Prime Ministers' (2000), and wrote 'Back on the Wool Track' (2004).

Michelle Grattan

Gillard, Abbott out of sync with public on Afghanistan

Michelle Grattan The gulf between the political leaders and public opinion on Australia's presence in Afghanistan was dramatically highlighted yesterday.

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Michelle Grattan

Coalition's charge ahead on Afghanistan ends in abject retreat

Michelle Grattan The opposition's policy flip-flops are worrying on an issue as vital as war.

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Michelle Grattan

Bowen policy to deter boats laden with risks

Michelle Grattan Chris Bowen was guest speaker at the federal parliamentary press gallery dinner last night. He had been asked to address the function when it was set for early in the year, but it had to be deferred.

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Michelle Grattan

PM, Abbott on a steep foreign learning curve

Michelle Grattan Gillard is a quick study in foreign affairs, but Abbott has a way to go.

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Michelle Grattan

Rudd's dream but Abbott's reality?

Michelle Grattan What ironies there are in Australia's ascension to a temporary seat on the United Nations Security Council!

Afghanistan

Piggybacking out of an ''unwinnable war''

Michelle Grattan Australia's timetable for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan has one central driver - the progressive drawdown of most American troops.

Michelle Grattan

Gillard on back foot on timing

Michelle Grattan The Afghanistan announcement was a case study in this government's communications problems.

Michelle Grattan

Fighting words from Gillard, but more trouble in store

Michelle Grattan With her back to the wall, Julia Gillard's speech to her Labor base was her most impressive performance for a long while.

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Michelle Grattan

Latest intrigues are Oscar material

Michelle Grattan To have one scandal is bad for a government. To have two running simultaneously looks just too careless.

Michelle Grattan

Ugly debate brews

Michelle Grattan Debate on asylum seekers threatens to turn very dark, and it's a test for the nation and its leaders to prevent it.

Michelle Grattan

Labor's big guns squirm in the WikiLeaks glare

Michelle Grattan The saga is proving painful for the government, and the Americans are being blamed.

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Michelle Grattan

Surprising stability in Canberra no guarantee of lasting calm

Michelle Grattan The hung parliament's enterprising crossbenchers keep both sides on high alert.

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Michelle Grattan

After swotting up, a competent lawyer takes her first steps on the world stage

Michelle Grattan Gillard's globetrotting smacks of a diplomat in training as she takes help from a master.

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Michelle Grattan

Speaking with the enemy

Michelle Grattan A hung parliament allows a debate between opposing views - it's talking to the Taliban that remains thorny.

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Michelle Grattan

Gillard and Abbott keep tongues twisted with foolish talk

Michelle Grattan The leaders' trips abroad will be remembered for the blunders each made.

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Michelle Grattan

Foreign soils forgotten in home-grown argy-bargy

Michelle Grattan "But you said . . . You never meant it!"

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Michelle Grattan

We stay in this 'unwinnable' war only because of our alliance with the US

Michelle Grattan WITH the deaths of two young soldiers last week, Australia has now lost more than a dozen troops in Afghanistan, all but one since 2007. Contrast this with Iraq, where we had no deaths in combat.

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