Paul Sheehan
Paul Sheehan is a columnist and editorial writer for The Sydney Morning Herald, where he has has been Day Editor and Washington correspondent. He is the author of two number-one best-sellers, 'Girls Like You' and 'Among The Barbarians' and been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times and numerous anthologies.
Nationals in no rush with a welcome mat for Joyce in NSW
Paul Sheehan OK. A federal election in June. Kevin Rudd against Tony Abbott.
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.
Paul Sheehan
Changing captains will not save this side from a proper walloping
Paul Sheehan Julia Gillard should stay where she is. The Labor Party has run out of party tricks. The federal government's perceived unpopularity is a collective effort, an effort that began with Kevin Rudd, who...
Paul Sheehan
Peris must rise above kneecapping
Paul Sheehan For several years the second-most famous Aboriginal woman in Australia, after Cathy Freeman, was Nova Peris-Kneebone and her fame was greatly helped by her delightful name.
Paul Sheehan
Racial hatred bill offers open slather to obnoxious
Paul Sheehan Researching one book required me to sit in courts for months and go out and interview dozens of people.
Paul Sheehan
Muddying waters on way to polls
Paul Sheehan It was no doubt keenly noted in the Prime Minister's office that even though Barack Obama enjoyed a decisive 55 per cent to 45 per cent advantage over Mitt Romney in this year's presidential...
Paul Sheehan
No end in sight in race to trample leaders
Paul Sheehan The Melbourne Cup may be the race that stops the nation but the Blood On the Carpet Leadership Stakes is the race that never ends.
Paul Sheehan
Rich vitriol shrouds budget extravagance
Paul Sheehan I preferred Robotic Julia. Now we have Furious Julia. Is there no middle course for the Prime Minister? Are we now seeing the cumulative strain of the cost of attaining power and maintaining a...
Paul Sheehan
Abbott suffering a Labor Party stoning
Paul Sheehan Tony Abbott is a hack. A dog. An aggressive, carping, bitter, mindless, deceptive, dodgy, mendacious, rancid, negative, nasty, muck-raking, untruthful, obstructionist, opportunistic, sexist,...
Paul Sheehan
Swinging in breeze over the abyss
Paul Sheehan Julia Gillard was rarely to be seen in the byelection campaign for Melbourne, which culminated on Saturday.
Paul Sheehan
The truth on refugees is worse than fiction
Paul Sheehan The viral email about Australia's generosity to refugees may be wrong in its details, but the truth is a story of government gullibility without end.
Paul Sheehan
Magnetic polls draw young star from west
Paul Sheehan It is rare for an Australian politician to hold an audience in laughter for more than a few jokes. The first time I ever saw Christian Porter he had a large and savvy crowd in stitches.
Paul Sheehan
Brit trick is an insult to the system
Paul Sheehan In recent days John McTernan, the director of communications for the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has indulged a taste for insult. Here are some samples of his writings via the medium of Twitter:
Paul Sheehan
Judgment day here for Labor's life of shame
Paul Sheehan In the months leading up to the 2007 federal election that ended the Howard era, the NSW central coast was alive with a political blitzkrieg.
Paul Sheehan
Don't blame Gillard, Labor's nadir has been a team effort
Paul Sheehan Whoa. The political storm engulfing Julia Gillard has become hysterical. When the unelected and unaccountable start baying for her blood, the cure is worse than the disease.
Paul Sheehan
Swan's song of praise to be lost amid all the clucking
Paul Sheehan The sound I'm hearing now is the sound of chickens coming home to roost. They are starting to drown out the sound coming from Wayne's World.
Paul Sheehan
Ruckus puts referendum out of reach
Paul Sheehan At least the Aboriginal tent embassy in Canberra has finally achieved one constructive thing in its 40 years as a moral eyesore: it helped kill off the proposed amendment to enshrine racial...
Paul Sheehan
Woman in the wooden mask remains unable to break from type
Paul Sheehan The recurring mystery of Australian politics is why the first woman Prime Minister in our history, who has shown a quick wit in Parliament, warmth when dealing with the public face-to-face, and...
Paul Sheehan
Far from an outsider or innocent
Paul Sheehan There were six people in the room. Morris Iemma was there with his top advisers to meet Rob Oakeshott and his key staffer. It was 2007; Iemma was premier of NSW, Oakeshott was an independent state MP.
Paul Sheehan
Loose lips on sunken ships expose cultural disharmony
Paul Sheehan When most of the 108 members of the federal Coalition gather tomorrow morning for a joint party meeting in Parliament House, they might ask themselves whether they want to be a collective of...
