On Thursday morning, a woman whose name will mean nothing to you stepped over the threshold of Parliament House for the first time. Her arrival occasioned very little interest, aside from the slight challenge posed to Parliament's rigorous security guidelines by the fact that she carried no identification, and signed her admission form with an "X".
The federal parliament is the most important in Australia. It's also more open to corruption than any State parliament.
The plot was hatched under their noses, but they didn't see it coming. Not the ministers, who left the Parliament in blissful ignorance. Not the MPs, who did the same, or the party whips whose task is to instil discipline. And not the Prime Minister or his chief tactician, Christopher Pyne.
Sam Dastyari is probably the best "retail" politician on the federal Labor side. But he's still a net liability to the party.
Aboriginals are yet again asking to be empowered. Requesting government, ever so politely, to be given the power to shape their lives. It should not be a big ask, but it is.
Across the span of human history and the seismic shifts of eons of global politics, a year may seem inconsequential. But awaiting the passing of eras, administrations or generations to judge our international policy lets our foreign policy makers off the hook.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has floated his preference for new community consultation processes for major public projects like the proposed Manuka precinct redevelopment. Rather than consulting the local community, Mr Barr appears to be proposing some sort of quota system based on a 'demographically representative sample'.
Twenty years ago manual workers held one in three jobs. Twenty years from now it will be just one in five.
The Global Fund has achieved transformational change in health around the world but more money is needed.
We all need to play our part to keep Canberra as the world's most liveable city.
I've already mentioned Bert Ferres in this column a couple of times, but this part bears repeating.
The good news from this poll for Daniel Andrews is that Labor is still ahead – but only just.
Daisy Pearce is the best woman AFL footballer in Australia. I've seen her play. As I told the audience at a Melbourne Football Club function last week, she's braver than I ever was on the football field, she reads the game better (the crucial gift) and she's more skillful.
This has to be the most ludicrously silly week of parliament ever – and things have barely begun!
Last week the internet turned twenty-five. In that short time it has gone from novelty to necessity. But is it a good thing?
When the Red Army invaded gymnast went into hiding in the forests where she maintained her fitness by lifting bags of coal and swinging from tree branches
We feel for the family of Elijah Doughty. We are shocked by the violence on the streets of Kalgoorlie. We are angered by the reports of ongoing petty and serious crime – and the aggressive social media response to them.
Rural cooking facilities resulted in visiting British diplomats eating lemon meringue tainted with kerosene
I think most of us would agree that mocking someone for their suffering and attendant misery is a cruel and abhorrent thing to do. Un-Australian even, given we like to think we are the kind of country that extends a hand to those who are down on their luck or who have suffered misfortune of any kind.
I liked the idea of women walking through the average door with heads held high, of being content with not fitting in today's ideal of aesthetic beauty.
Joe Sutter, Antony Copley, Harry Fujiwara, Charles "Champagne Charlie" Cantan
If you break the law in a foreign country, pleading ignorance is no excuse and you could face tough penalties and long prison sentences if you are prosecuted.
A nominal GDP target for central banks isn't without merit, but a monetary fix won't be a cure‑all for our economic problems.
No Man's Room is an exploratory, immersive, adventure-game for video-game-fanatics who have spent too many hours sitting inside a dark, fusty room.
When Robert Menzies lost power in 1941 after having headed an ineffective federal government for two years, no one gave him a chance of again being prime minister. Yet in 1949 Menzies was not only re-elected, but remained in power for 18 years – a record term.
William Knox, the first member for Kooyong, was a man of big moustache and loud opinion.
Should party machines be able to replace serving leaders given our overtly presidential election campaigning?
Sharon Dane explains why most LGBTI people do not want a plebiscite on marriage equality.
Some time in the future – and I don't know when – I will withdraw from the world.
After the collapse of communism and the holding of mostly free and fair elections in nearly all the Eastern Bloc countries, US policy makers made a historic mistake.