Answer the question

If top bureaucrats don’t enjoy being criticised and mocked on social media for giving evasive answers during parliamentary hearings they could always just answer the questions being asked.

Beyond the fringe

A growing sense of cultural and economic grievance is driving support for right wing and authoritarian parties across the West.

Why Howard’s battlers now fight for One Nation

White working class anger over unchecked immigration has sent support for One Nation skyrocketing in recent months, threatening Labor as well as the Liberals across the country in previously safe seats and changing the nation’s political agenda.

Recollections of a bleeding heart

Don Watson’s “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” remains a cutting-edge example of political biography though Paul Keating never forgave his former speechwriter for pulling back the curtain on his political career.

A bad case of the blues

Paul Kelly’s new book The Twilight of Exceptionalism charts the most turbulent era of Liberal and conservative politics since Sir Robert Menzies formed the Liberal Party, tracing the crisis besetting the Coalition and how Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison struggled to govern and finally survive.

Mama, we’re all political now

Young people have become ‘fluid citizens’ who eschew formal institutions but retain the energy and drive to transform what people believe, fear, reject and demand

Change or die

The Liberal party basked in power for many years but it’s lack of internal reform left it out of touch with voters and it now faces existential crisis with its appeal in both the cities and rural regions under threat from the teals and One Nation.

One Nation loomed large over Labor’s conference

One Nation’s surge in the polls has come at the expense of Labor as well as the Coalition, and the threat posed by Pauline Hanson has cast a long shadow over Labor’s party conference in Adelaide.

Ending the tobacco wars

High tobacco taxes helped reduce smoking for decades but now incentivise a massive black market trade with all the gang violence that implies, so is it time to reduce those taxes and relax restrictions on vapes?

Taylor’s twin dilemma

After ousting Sussan Ley as Liberal Leader, Angus Taylor has struggled to restore Liberal fortunes in the face of a rampant One Nation and the feeling that the Liberals’ time has passed.

Free Florence!

The Liberal Party increasingly resembles a cumbersome machine called Florence which got itself stuck in a tunnel in the new Snowy 2.0 hydro scheme.

Weak prospects for Community Strong?

Former independent MPs Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender have announced the formation of their new political party, Community Strong Australia, so what are its prospects for success?