In Barnabyland, the bumpkin calls the shots
The Nationals aren't thriving despite the fact that Barnaby Joyce looks like a bumpkin, but because he looks like a bumpkin.
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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.
Labor loses a leader who outlasted many
In the time that Australia has had four prime ministers, the Labor Party's organisation has had just one leader.
How a Chinese businessman is buying Hollywood
On Friday, China's richest man bought part-ownership of Sony Pictures, one of the Big Six movie studios that dominate Hollywood. He's the same man who last year bought Hoyts with its 450 screens in Australia.
Australia is on the cusp of a dangerous crisis
The Western world this week crossed a threshold into a new intolerance. Australia, which has been spared the worst of the economic and social disarray of the US and Europe in the last decade, nonetheless seems to have crossed the ugly threshold too.
Julie Bishop's next assignment: the education of Donald Trump
Julie Bishop is ready for her next assignment – the education of Donald Trump.
The Chinese territorial claim we should really be worried about
A war would be disastrous for all; but with such underlying animosity dating back centuries, it could well prove popular in both countries.
The Sam Dastyari affair confirms what many voters think
The Sam Dastyari affair was for most a confirmation of how the political system works.
The Chinese interests power struggle is about sovereignty
The Asia-Pacific "shared destiny" is, of course, to be written in Beijing.
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.
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.
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