Analysis
Political leadership
Payman v Albanese and the personal v the collective: Is Labor stuck in 1902?
The personal view of a young Muslim senator faces off with the oldest requirement of would-be ALP politicians, a written contract to observe the collective.
- by Tony Wright
Latest
Perspective
World politics
Riding chill streets, listening for the lessons of Zen on a motorcycle
The first rule of riding a motorcycle is look where you want to go. Could it be a metaphor for life?
- by Tony Wright
Perspective
Missing campers trial
The jury reaches verdicts, plural. Gregory Lynn is a murderer, singular
Four years of investigation into a ghastly mystery, five weeks of trial and almost seven days of jury deliberations brought us to an ear-popping climax.
- by Tony Wright
The rich used to send it their sewage, now this suburb is an oasis of creatives
Once a place where the poorest endured toxic run-off from Melbourne’s wealthy, Collingwood is reaching for an affluent, sustainable future. It’s not all smooth going.
- by Tony Wright
Perspective
Indigenous
Aunty Fay Carter learned life’s truths from her Nanny in a tin hut
For decades, Fay Carter campaigned for social justice for Aboriginal people. Her work was grounded by her experience living with her grandmother and 19 other children in a shack beside the Goulburn River.
- by Tony Wright
Perspective
Courts
A dreamlike quality to the evidence of a nightmare
The trial of Gregory Lynn for the alleged murder of an elderly pair of campers wends to its end, with Lynn giving his own version of events from the witness box.
- by Tony Wright
Perspective
World War II
Secret planning, treacherous training and the clouds of gliders launched against the Nazis
Gippsland-born Frank Bladin became Air Vice-Marshal of the RAAF. Eighty years ago, he played a crucial role in the D-Day airborne landings on Normandy, France.
- by Tony Wright
Police found a phone in the mud. Now they hope for a breakthrough in the Samantha Murphy search
The first physical clue to the missing Ballarat mother’s fate has emerged. Police are investigating whether it contains data that might give them answers.
- by Tony Wright
Tony Wright’s Column
Olympics
A rude awakening in the city of light
The French, as everyone knows, do things differently. Including, it would seem, their security alerts for the Paris Olympics.
- by Tony Wright
Perspective
World War II
The Yachties, cruelly overlooked but now not forgotten
Few of us know that hundreds of Australians fought and suffered in the British Royal Navy in World War II, only to be largely left out of their nation’s war history – until now.
- by Tony Wright
Sketch
Mushroom case
‘Content to wait’: Erin Patterson philosophical about time stretching in custody
Accused of one of the most high-profile murder cases in Victoria, Patterson sits content as justice moves glacially around her.
- by Tony Wright