Riding the red dragon express an insult to all voters
The federal parliament is the most important in Australia. It's also more open to corruption than any State parliament.
-
Peter Hartcher
Peter Hartcher is the political editor and international editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a Gold Walkley award winner, a former foreign correspondent in Tokyo and Washington, and a visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. His latest book is The Sweet Spot: How Australia Made its Own Luck and Could Now Throw it All Away. His 2005 book, Bubble Man: Alan Greenspan and the Missing Seven Trillion Dollars, foresaw the collapse of the US housing market and the economic slump that followed.
The cost of petrol is higher than you think
By buying Saudi oil, we in the West have funded the fomenting of the fundamentalist movement that now assaults our security and our civilisation.
Attention class: let the games begin in the Senate
There's been quite a bit of publicity over the induction process for the new politicians who'll take their sets in parliament when it resumes next week – "senators' school", for instance.
China's outrage on Ausgrid is all theatre
Beijing will bluster but will accept Scott Morrison's decision to block two Chinese firms from buying a controlling stake in Sydney's electricity network
China the regional bully punishes defiance in Asia-Pacific
North Korea is a deeply troubling rogue state, but we already knew that. The new and disturbing source of regional bullying is a much bigger and more serious power - China.
Directionless Turnbull needs to take back control
Malcolm Turnbull had only just been sworn in as the newly re-elected Prime Minister when Robert Menzies offered him a piece of advice.
How the US will win the war with IS
The US turned out to be good at toppling regimes but not so good at building stable new ones. The jihadis have the same problem. Both sides will keep trying. Which will be the ultimate victor?
Malcolm Turnbull is in fear of his own party
The only winners from Malcolm Turnbull's Rudd decision are the bitter haters in the Liberal Party.
Why cabinet should back Rudd for top UN job
Can a Liberal-National Coalition bring itself to nominate a former Labor prime minister?
Pauline Hanson isn't a threat. She brings an opportunity
There's an easy way for Malcolm Turnbull to deal with the problems Pauline Hanson represents: he needs to look back at how John Howard responded the first time around.
Search pagination