This Month
- Opinion
- Donald Trump
Who can best manage Trump – Albanese or Dutton?
Instead of caution and guile from Canberra, we have the absurd posturing of the prime minister and opposition leader on who is best fitted to influence the mad king.
- James Curran
November 2024
National Gallery handed $15m in biggest-ever donation
Kerry Stokes’ $15 million donation is about one-quarter of what the Canberra institution needs to raise for a new sculpture garden.
- Michael Bailey
Where did all the Jeffrey Smart paintings go?
Over the past decade, on average, 15 of the artist’s oils have sold each year, but only three have sold in 2024.
- Elizabeth Fortescue
October 2024
- Opinion
- Royal family
Welcome Charles, King of Great Britain alone
There is a way to achieve a republic by stealth. And one that Charles III might well understand.
- Dennis Altman
A giant of Australian journalism, George Negus dies at 82
The father, partner and renowned journalist interviewed Thatcher, Gaddafi, Gorbachev and many more in a career spanning 50 years.
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
- Opinion
- Royal family
Charles III will find republicans who missed their best chance
The vibrant republican sentiment of the 1980s has been replaced by a dour, downbeat guilt-ridden version in the 2020s.
- John Roskam
September 2024
‘Beautiful chaos’: Iconic Melbourne power diner owner calls time
Simon Hartley has hosted every prime minister since Gough Whitlam at his CBD restaurant Becco. But on Friday, he held the last supper.
- Gus McCubbing
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Why has a long-term understanding with Asia eluded us?
Even as Australia has become more multicultural, the best we can manage is a pragmatic relationship punctuated with fits of enthusiasm.
- James Curran
July 2024
Vale Terry Ingram, and a life observing in the Saleroom
Saleroom’s founding columnist spent 44 years reporting stories the industry wanted to keep quiet, including the art sale story of the century on Blue Poles.
- Elizabeth Fortescue
How Fatima Payman is defying political traditions
In the era of identity politics, are rules requiring Labor MPs to bind behind collective decisions out of step with the views of younger voters?
- Andrew Tillett
June 2024
Big name Indigenous artists bring the love to Redfern
A high-end auction brings Indigenous art to the people, while Menzies hopes Kirk Douglas can be their hero.
- Elizabeth Fortescue
March 2024
Iron ore price, cooler job market to weigh on budget: Chalmers
The federal government’s revenue expectations will be downgraded significantly in the May budget due to falling commodity prices and a softening jobs market, the treasurer says.
- Phillip Coorey
When the minister met the ‘mischievous’: What Wong said to Curran
Foreign Minister Penny Wong parried with James Curran at The Australian Financial Review Business Summit this week. This is an edited transcript of that discussion.
- Analysis
- ASEAN
Sense of urgency as Australia finds its true international identity
There is a meaning to be extracted from the ASEAN summit for Australia’s international identity.
- James Curran
January 2024
- Analysis
- Australia Day
Australia Day has always been controversial
It’s nothing new for the national holiday to be plagued by debates over its meaning and significance. Indeed, that’s become part and parcel of the day itself.
- Updated
- James Curran
Harder, faster: Kim Williams takes lessons from News Corp to ABC
Pushing deep, structural change at News Corp put Kim Williams offside with editors early on in his short tenure there. How will he lead as ABC chairman?
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
- Opinion
- Culture wars
Existential panic at the ivory tower
The Claudine Gay fiasco at Harvard has triggered a US debate about the purpose of higher education that Australia seems determined not to have.
- John Roskam
December 2023
- Analysis
- International affairs
Albanese reaches for Keating’s Asian mantle
In a speech that canvassed all the issues on his foreign policy plate, there was one section that stood out.
- James Curran
The first Australian writer to make politics and sex sing
Frank Moorhouse was one of Australia’s most adventurous and productive authors. A new biography explains his rise.
- Andrew Clark
When ‘peacenik’ Whitlam met hardline Kissinger
Henry Kissinger was at the very centre of a diplomatic crisis with Australia in the 1970s – one that nearly ended the alliance.
- James Curran