My record as a political prognosticator isn't too shabby, so here's another prophecy you can take to the bank: Win, lose or hung parliament on May 21, it is likely that, at some stage in the not too distant future, Josh Frydenberg will take over from Morrison as leader of the federal Liberal Party

Younger readers might be at a loss to recognise the names and reputations of Manning Clark and Peter Ryan. But an older demographic might enjoy my take on what was, in the mid-1990s, Ryan’s hugely public attack on the much lauded Clark’s character and work

This is an important book, particularly for those of us […]

Whether it is in the opposition to organised religion, the longing for lost civilisations and magical utopias, or the supposed “secrets to health and wellbeing”, many of the themes in author Rachael Kohn's updated 'Curious Obsessions' have a lively currency today

The letter of unsolicited condolence sent by an obscure Australian schoolteacher to Sidney Webb upon the death of wife Beatrice was, first of all, a slightly disconcerting act of homage. Beyond that, it was an affirmation of Clark's yearning to do something heroic for the Fabian cause, an ambition that coloured all his writing and would never be stilled

The decision to publish 'Portnoy’s Complaint' pitted Penguin against Australia's censors and their crusade against indecency. Patrick Mullins' fascinating new book, 'The Trials of Portnoy', dramatically chronicles how the publisher and a legion of readers, academics, lawyers and journalists not only won but reshaped antipodean culture

Leaving him on the backbench was an unmistakeable signal to the electorate that Morrison, too, thought the ousted PM's time was up. Despite this, Abbott did the Liberal Party further service by drawing so much union and GetUp fire that, while Warringah was lost, the election was won

Summing up the ousted prime minister's early years as a student leader in 'Tony Abbott and the Times of Revolution', author Gerard Charles Wilson paints him as 'considered, analytical and concise without the abuse and ridicule he had to swallow from others'. Where the essential Abbott is concerned, not much has changed in forty years

It's too late to do anything before the coming summer's heat sets in, but if we’re to avoid blackouts, lost jobs and an idling economy becoming the norm, the government will have to build those coal-fired power stations the Coalition was talking about before May's election. Since then, nothing -- and that's a recipe for disaster