Liberal Rule avoids the shortcomings of The Howard Years, but has flaws of its own, writes Peter Brent.

As Peter Costello’s fortunes show, politics can be a matter of being in the right place at the right time, writes Peter Brent on our partner website, INSIDE STORY.

SOME COMMENTATORS see the Greens victory in last Saturday’s Fremantle state by-election as an ominous sign for a Labor Party juggling the conflicting demands of its inner urban and outer suburban support bases. This may be so, but several caveats need to be borne in mind. In its candidate selection, Western Australian Labor seemed to...

AFTER THE LABOR GOVERNMENT, the organisation facing the biggest test in the Queensland election was the new conservative hybrid, the Liberal National Party. It had polled well in the lead-up to the election, but in reality the swing it needed - in the vicinity of 8 per cent - was always on the outer margins...

THERE was a time, hard as it might be to imagine, when the Australian Labor Party struck fear into the hearts of the establishment, and it is this very fear that has shaped the Australian political landscape to this day. This year marks the centenary of one of the truly seminal political events - and...