Lenore Taylor on Canberra - National Times

Lenore Taylor

Lenore Taylor is chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald. She is a Walkley Award winner, a winner of the Paul Lyneham Award for excellence in press gallery journalism and a former foreign correspondent, based in London. She co-authored a book, "Shitstorm" on the Rudd government's response to the global economic crisis. She has covered federal politics for more than 20 years.

Lenore Taylor

It may not be Watergate but more explanation is needed

Lenore Taylor Within about 16 hours of James Ashby lodging his sexual harassment claim against Peter Slipper in April, Tony Abbott was dead certain of its implications for the Speaker and also for the government.

Lenore Taylor

It's all well to boast but tall stories don't fit hard facts

Lenore Taylor For most people this is the season of menu planning and internet shopping, but in Canberra it's the season to road test themes for the 2013 election year.

Lenore Taylor

Airport debacle stuck in eternal holding pattern

Lenore Taylor Next time you hear a politician banging on about productivity consider this. And scoff.

Scandal drags Labor through the mud, again and again

Lenore Taylor When left-wing activist singer Billy Bragg started singing "There's Power in a Union" at his Canberra concert on Tuesday night, a good portion of his audience stared uncomfortably at their feet.

Lenore Taylor

Grizzling goes on over the baby bombshell

Lenore Taylor A brief detour through recent Coalition history reveals that Labor's campaign to paint Tony Abbott as a ''sexist'', 1950s-style Leave it to Beaver conservative was an undercurrent even in the...

Lenore Taylor

PM's speech did stir hearts, but remember the context

Lenore Taylor Most women watching Julia Gillard's speech to Parliament last Tuesday would have felt that silent cheer.

Lenore Taylor

Pugilistic Labor tries to land a blow as Abbott skips away

Lenore Taylor While everyone's been busy debating whether Tony Abbott's alleged pugilism is real or a fit-up by Labor ladies wielding handbags, it's been easy to overlook the fact that the next election campaign...

Lenore Taylor

Fact is Abbott must be watchful of Jones's distorted views

Lenore Taylor It's not really surprising Tony Abbott has rejected Labor's demand that he boycott Alan Jones's radio show on the grounds that ''I am not going to ignore an audience of half a million people in...

Lenore Taylor

Abbott may rue failure to tune out Jones

Lenore Taylor The mutual admiration pact with broadcaster Alan Jones could backfire on the Opposition Leader. He should take into account a few things beyond the tasteless comments about the Prime Minister's...

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Let's trawl the science, not public opinion

Lenore Taylor If it turns out that AFMA was right and supertrawlers pose no extra threat, good government would dictate that they should be allowed to operate.

Lenore Taylor

Political tweeters may troll too close to home

Lenore Taylor Suddenly, politicians of all persuasions have begun worrying that we need to ''do something'' about ''trolls'' and the misuse of social media.

Lenore Taylor

Lack of carnage Abbott's inconvenient fiscal truth

Lenore Taylor Perhaps Tony Abbott needs to send out a search party or post a reward because, bafflingly, his carbon tax wrecking ball appears to have gone missing.

Lenore Taylor

The pain behind plan by Abbott's Mr Fix-It

Lenore Taylor The Gillard government believes its last, best hope of survival will come when Tony Abbott finally reveals how and where he will cut spending.

Lenore Taylor

Long, bitter stand-off casts shameful shadow

Lenore Taylor In a little over a week when politicians return to Canberra it will be time to face a decision they have been squibbing for almost a year.

Lenore Taylor

Toughened times in the United States of Tony

Lenore Taylor In the discontinued television series United States of Tara, Toni Collette played a woman who displayed different personalities when under stress.

Lenore Taylor

Airport chaos imminent but the cockpit's vacant

Lenore Taylor The failure to build a second Sydney airport is a decades-long story of political myopia and cowardice from both major parties.

Unspeakable dilemma for a stumbling Labor

Lenore Taylor A farmer in western NSW told me last week he was a Nationals voter and his daughter ''used to'' vote Labor. ''I don't know what she's going to do now,'' he said. I asked him what he meant.

Lenore Taylor

Policy the first casualty in pollies' phoney war

Lenore Taylor Tony Abbott's budget reply was entirely rhetorical - when Julia Gillard told the Coalition leader he should leave the north shore and get out into the real world he thundered she was deliberately and...