The NT government’s abolition of the Banned Drinkers Register has divided opinion in Central Australia, writes Eleanor Hogan
09 May 13 Comments (0)Tricks of the trade
Rome’s greatest orator has a message for the current generation of political leaders, says Brett Evans
18 Apr 13 Comments (2)Margaret Thatcher and the moral neutrality of art
The soundtracks of other people’s lives can be unsettling, writes Andrew Ford
10 Apr 13 Comments (1)Margaret Thatcher, between myth and politics
A sympathetic film portrayal of Britain’s most divisive modern prime minister fits a broader mood of reappraisal of her years in power, says David Hayes
09 Apr 13 Comments (3)The privatisation of political life
When politicians start invading their own privacy, it’s not surprising that the media follow their lead, writes James Panichi
20 Mar 13 Comments (1)Is the enemy of my friend always my enemy?
Do all Labor voters prefer the Greens to the Liberals? Do National Party voters opt for the Liberals if their own party isn’t running? What little evidence we have suggests the answer isn’t straightforward, writes Paul Rodan
07 Mar 13 Comments (1)The captain’s pick
Julia Gillard’s press club speech gave an insight into how Labor sees itself governing an anxious country in uncertain times, writes Frank Bongiorno
05 Feb 13 Comments (1)The electoral calculus of campaign oxygen
For more than a quarter of a century, short election campaigns have been the norm, writes Norman Abjorensen. Julia Gillard’s announcement recalls longer, and sometimes riskier, campaigns
31 Jan 13 Comments (0)The right kind of middle class?
In 1962 Peter Coleman assembled a group of writers to fill a gap in the way intellectuals had viewed Australia, writes Frank Bongiorno
16 Dec 12 Comments (1)From a drowning to a celebration
In this edited version of a recent Dunstan Foundation lecture, Dennis Altman looks at forty years of gay liberation and the work still to be done
11 Dec 12 Comments (0)It was time: Mick Young’s triumph, forty years on
Not only was the 1972 election a watershed for Labor, it also created the modern political campaign, writes Stephen Mills
29 Nov 12 Comments (1)Australia’s unlucky parliaments
If it’s true that a country gets the politicians it deserves, then Australia is in a bad way, writes Norman Abjorensen
07 Nov 12 Comments (4)A certain curiosity
Two key figures in the postwar development of the Labor Party never met, writes Norman Abjorensen
28 Oct 12 Comments (0)Notes from a low-key governor-generalship
Are the intriguing revelations from the notebooks of Paul Hasluck part of a larger trove, asks Paul Rodan
17 Oct 12 Comments (0)A flawed giant
A sympathetic biography of Gough Whitlam also recognises its subject’s faults, writes Frank Bongiorno
08 Oct 12 Comments (0)Father and sons
The political and the personal illuminate each other in James Button’s fine account of a year in Canberra, writes Brett Evans
02 Oct 12 Comments (0)Tony Abbott and the challenge of a Green-controlled Senate
It looks likely that the Greens will still hold the balance of power in the Senate after the next election. Norman Abjorensen looks at the numbers and asks: how would Tony Abbott deal with them?
04 Sep 12 Comments (1)
Wicked problems and good intentions
The federal government has taken the risky punt that bad policies can achieve good results, argues Savitri Taylor in this analysis of the report of the expert panel on asylum seekers and the government’s initial legislation
20 Aug 12 Comments (1)The worldly art of Richard Torbay
This independent MP rose from thirty-year-old Armidale councillor to NSW parliamentary speaker. Now he plans to take on Tony Windsor for the Nationals. Frank Bongiorno looks at a politician who won’t stand still
14 Aug 12 Comments (0)
