Viewed warmly on both sides of politics and in the media, the federal finance minister is playing a vital role for the government.

Norman Abjorensen argues in this article that it would be a mistake not to take Peter Dutton MP seriously.

THE story is told in Canberra that back in 1995, soon after he entered parliament at a by-election, Tony Abbott had lunch with some old friends who were keen to celebrate his arrival on the national stage. Gently brushing aside all the handshaking and backslapping, Abbott was at pains to play down his achievement: a...

A former high-profile lawyer who rose rapidly in politics but was dumped as leader by his own party… Yes, Robert Menzies did bounce back, writes Norman Abjorensen.

GIVEN the predilection of Australian voters to give an incumbent the benefit of the doubt, by far the hardest task in politics is winning government from opposition. With meagre resources and faced by governments that have an entire bureaucracy on call, an opposition leader who comes from behind to take line honours does so in...