Essays & reportage
12 March 2020
What are the lessons of overseas Covid-19 responses for Australian policymakers?
National affairs
27 February 2020
The security agency’s first public threat assessment was fine, as far as it went
National affairs
13 February 2020
The latest Closing the Gap report brings cause both for scepticism and for guarded optimism
National affairs
30 January 2020
The National Party minister has become the scapegoat for systemically poor administration
Essays & reportage
18 December 2019
Is the data-rich city taking on a life of its own? And can Hugh Stretton’s Ideas for Australian Cities help us navigate its hazards?
Books & arts
11 November 2019
Books | Has relentless scrutiny changed the bureaucracy forever?
National affairs
4 October 2019
The prime minister’s style has proved effective so far, but does it contain the seeds of its own failure?
Books & arts
4 September 2019
A new book shows how it’s being done better — but the first question is whether the will exists
National affairs
19 June 2019
There are leaks that are properly investigated, and leaks that aren’t
National affairs
24 May 2019
The Coalition won the political battle, but will it fall into the same trap that blighted previous governments?
National affairs
16 May 2019
How do policy successes like plain-packaging laws or tighter gun controls come about?
National affairs
7 May 2019
Cut short by the election, a parliamentary inquiry was beginning to probe the hidden costs of contracting out of government functions
Essays & reportage
18 April 2019
The upsides and downsides of the organisation and its controversial founder
National affairs
11 March 2019
Our “state of exception” combines disturbing practices, cost blowouts and chaotic administration
National affairs
20 February 2019
The creation of the Department of Home Affairs broke the rules of good government. Labor should commit to dismantling it
International
7 February 2019
How the United States has become more divided and out-of-step, in three charts
National affairs
1 January 2019
Cabinet Papers 1996–97 | Having inherited the inquiry into the removal of Indigenous children, the Howard government was able to extend its empathy only so far
National affairs
7 December 2018
Despite five prime ministers in five years and policy paralysis in Canberra, Australians don’t want to do away with democracy. They want to save it
National affairs
16 October 2018
Australia’s innovative preventive health agency was closed down by the Abbott government. How — and in what form — should it be revived?
National affairs
9 October 2018
We now know that at least one highly qualified ABC board candidate was knocked back by the government
National affairs
1 October 2018
The independent panel produced its nominees, but the government had other ideas. Now it’s sitting on the names
National affairs
27 September 2018
Could section 58 of the Constitution awaken in an era of minority government?
Books & arts
13 September 2018
Books | A former Bank of England official offers a warning about unelected decision-makers that Australia might already have heeded
National affairs
22 August 2018
From the archive | A man who seems relaxed about making life-and-death decisions might not be the best person to wield greater power
National affairs
2 July 2018
How much does it cost to stop a freeway?
International
12 March 2018
Even in modern Germany, government maladministration can have tragic effects
National affairs
1 February 2018
A new strategy would start by recognising that the market alone can’t help many jobless Australians find work
International
21 November 2017
Attempts to regulate rating agencies haven’t been notably successful. But perhaps the diagnosis was wrong
Essays & reportage
3 October 2017
The man who first imagined the Australian War Memorial was also active in the creation of another key institution
Essays & reportage
21 September 2017
The veteran press gallery reporter survived a contempt of parliament charge to report on federal politics for half a century. This is an edited version of his farewell speech to…