Election Interpreter 2013
Is attack really the best form of defence when it comes to defence policy?
Oddly for a party that is presumably proud of its record in government, the Australian Labor Party seems to be eschewing a formal defence policy statement at this election…
Why Labor is the best choice on foreign, aid and trade policy at this election
Senator Bob Carr is the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Earlier in the campaign, The Interpreter carried a piece from Shadow Foreign Minister Julie Bishop making the Coalition's…
For Rudd Mk 2, foreign policy an afterthought
Nicholas Stuart is a Canberra Times columnist and author of Kevin Rudd: An Unauthorised Political Biography, What Goes Up: Behind the 2007 Election and Rudd's Way: November 2007…
Bob Carr, a tribal Labor/Democrat man
Andrew West is an ABC Radio National presenter, a former Sydney Morning Herald journalist, and author of Bob Carr: A Self-Made Man.
In part 1 of this essay, I said that Bob Carr…
Change of government means change of diplomats
Daniel Flitton is senior correspondent for The Age covering foreign affairs and politics.
Bags packed, removalists ready, Victoria's ex-premier Steve Bracks is making a final…
Election enters its OK Corral phase
At a different time, Tony Abbott's cowboys-and-Indians reductionism of the Syria crisis ('It's not goodies versus baddies, it's baddies versus baddies') might have played right…
Coalition defence policy avoids tough spending and strategy calls
The most important line in the Coalition's defence policy document, released this morning, comes on p.4: 'the bottom line is that our military forces should always be at least as…
What the Lowy Institute Poll says about our political parties
In case anyone needed reminding, 2013 is an election year and the 2013 Lowy Institute Poll included an election-related question, asking Australian adults which of the two major…
Bob Carr, from base to apex
Andrew West is an ABC Radio National presenter, a former Sydney Morning Herald journalist, and author of Bob Carr: A Self-Made Man.
In less than a week, Bob Carr is scheduled to…
Mike Kelly gets his history backward
It sounds as if neither party landed a knockout blow at the debate held in Canberra yesterday between Shadow Defence Minister Senator David Johnston and Minister for Defence…