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politics
Essays & reportage
John Howard’s masterful blunder
Graeme Dobell
29 May 2025
He achieved his goal, but Australia’s alliance-led march to Iraq lacked a vital ingredient
National affairs
Labor’s Trump card goes missing
Peter Brent
27 May 2025
A key factor in Labor’s election win was forgotten once the postmortems began
National affairs
David Littleproud’s own goal
Karen Middleton
23 May 2025
The week the Nationals’ leader overplayed his hand
National affairs
1943’s message to the Liberal Party
Zachary Gorman
23 May 2025
The case for sticking with the suspension of the Coalition
National affairs
Sussan Ley and the Liberal right: a short history
Karen Middleton
16 May 2025
Will the party swing behind its new leader?
National affairs
The battle for Melbourne
Peter Mares
15 May 2025
An inquiry into planning reform in Victoria’s upper house cuts to the heart of Australia’s housing debates
National affairs
Memo to the Coalition: be grateful for what you’ve got
Stephen Wilks
13 May 2025
Time for the Libs and Nats to take a breather from the Coalition? History suggests otherwise
National affairs
“This is our mandate”
Karen Middleton
9 May 2025
Despite a remarkable win, caution will remain the watchword of the Albanese prime ministership
National affairs
Eating an elephant
Dean Ashenden
9 May 2025
What could an incoming education minister do about schools?
National affairs
Tackling the AUKUS zombie
Hamish McDonald
7 May 2025
A big election win gives Labor a chance to rethink this Morrison-era scheme
National affairs
Right winner, wrong margin
Murray Goot
5 May 2025
The pollsters tipped the win but not its size. So why did they toe the same line?
National affairs
Notes on a landslide
Peter Brent
5 May 2025
The signs were there but the size of the swings still came as a shock
National affairs
Are the Liberals in danger of becoming the Kodak of Australian politics?
Frank Bongiorno
4 May 2025
The party is taking a long time to understand its plight
National affairs
Day of reckoning
Peter Brent
3 May 2025
With the final polls published, what do we and don’t we know?
National affairs
How Peter Dutton misread the electorate
Karen Middleton
2 May 2025
A misconceived election strategy’s long history
National affairs
Against the flow
Peter Brent
1 May 2025
Beware of claims that supporters of small right-wing parties will overwhelmingly preference the Coalition
Books & arts
Meeting the moment
Gary Werskey
29 April 2025
A sociologist’s dissection of hyperglobalisation and its legacies
National affairs
Uncertain allies
Graeme Dobell
28 April 2025
What history tells Australia about the US alliance
National affairs
The incumbency factor
Karen Middleton
25 April 2025
Retirements by longstanding MPs are adding to the election campaign’s complexity as it heads into its final week
National affairs
Who do you trust?
Peter Brent
24 April 2025
Early voting, preference dealing, overinterpreted polls and an underwhelming debate: notes from another week of campaigning
National affairs
Could Labor win big?
Murray Goot
22 April 2025
Some polls are suggesting it will — but what distinguishes those polls from the ones that aren’t?
International
Mark Carney’s slipstream campaign
Jonathan Malloy
21 April 2025
Canada’s Liberals enter the final week of the election campaign with plenty of help from south of the border
National affairs
Sowing doubt in Dutton’s Dickson
Karen Middleton
18 April 2025
Targeting the opposition leader’s seat serves more than one purpose for Labor
Books & arts
All in the family
Tim Rowse
14 April 2025
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has built a political philosophy on her family’s efforts to reconcile the past and the future
Essays & reportage
Which are the polls to watch?
Murray Goot
14 April 2025
Does the national two-party vote tell us whether Labor will finish with the most MPs, or will it come down to 150 seat-by-seat swings?
National affairs
A small target has suddenly got bigger
Karen Middleton
11 April 2025
Attacking the government might have given the Coalition some easy wins over the past three years, but does it add up to an election strategy?
National affairs
Be careful what he wishes for
Peter Mares
11 April 2025
Slashing migration is much harder than it sounds
International
Two countries, two fiscal crises
Michael Gill
11 April 2025
Xi Jinping and Donald Trump are responding to a similar problem in dramatically different ways
Essays & reportage
Nuclear Australia: an on-again, off-again history
Jessica Urwin
11 April 2025
Is Peter Dutton’s energy plan going the way of a succession of nuclear pushes?
Books & arts
Shored against our ruins
Gordon Peake
10 April 2025
Robert Kaplan’s latest book is characteristically thoughtful and necessarily bleak
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