Malcolm Farr
Malcolm Farr has lived in Canberra for nearly 19 years and is News.com.au’s National Political Editor.
Articles by Malcolm Farr
Canberra didn’t build itself
One of the early atrocities of Canberra’s creation, which began 100 years ago today, was the official obliteration of much…... Read more
Fighting last century’s battles while voters are in the 21st
The Gillard government soon will have to decide if it is going to pick a policy fight with just about…... Read more
Tony’s Liberal bedrock in a wobbly state
The stuffing is coming out of that plush circle of Liberal governments which has allowed Tony Abbott to sit comfortably…... Read more
The subtle art of politicking, western Sydney style
People who were not born in Australia will feature significantly in the lead-up to the September 14 election, and this…... Read more
Why cutting wages is a fool’s way to boost the economy
Working men and women of Australia, take a bow. You have been the engine driving Australia’s efficiency for the past…... Read more
Labor could lose more than an election in Sydney’s west
Labor isn’t just afraid of losing valuable political real estate in western Sydney. It also fears the loss of a…... Read more
‘Frankenstein veggies’? Don’t be afraid of eating GM food
A dangerous fallacy has been encouraged by recent discussion of an Opposition discussion paper on revitalising the north of Australia.…... Read more
This week’s winner for campaign stupidity: Milne
Don’t believe anyone who tells you the election campaign isn’t underway. If they insist that’s the case, they are probably…... Read more
Abbott’s loose economic manifesto
Tony Abbott believes that his election alone - before he made a single decision in the Prime Minister’s office -…... Read more
This week the Opposition simply has to turn up
The Government’s capacity for self harm rolled on today with what amounted to a public and unnecessary wrist slashing by…... Read more
Now we don’t even believe the good news
If Tony Abbott wins on September 14 he will take over an economy performing in stellar fashion, boosted by demand…... Read more
Pollies want to vacuum up your retirement $$$
Retirement savings which were starved during the global recession four years ago are plumping up as the stock market comes…... Read more
The sun rises on another stormy day in politics
A beaming Kevin Rudd and a streamlined Joe Hockey revived their celebrated double act this morning with a renewed gig…... Read more
How Thomson put an end to Mr Abbott’s nice guy act
The decorum of Tony Abbott’s Libs versus The Fibs election strategy revealed today didn’t last long. The Opposition Leader presented…... Read more
This is the start of the world’s longest election campaign
Despite her denial, Julia Gillard has indeed called on the world’s longest election campaign by nominating September 14 as polling…... Read more
Digits make for finger wagging politics
The campaign to get more men to engage in rubber glove love to check out the condition of their prostates…... Read more
Small business is a big deal in the Western “battlegrounds”
Whatever strange detours this coming eight-month election campaign will take we can be confident that all political roads trudged by…... Read more
Ten years on from the fire that changed our capital
Ten years ago on the evening of January 18 I was balancing a hose and a camera on the roof…... Read more
Election 2013: A contest of firmly held convictions
The Crosby Textor Group is Australia’s most successful political consultancy and recently celebrated 10 years of election victories in two…... Read more
Mal Brough and the art of losing gracefully
Back in 2001 Mal Brough demonstrated he does not always feel bound by accepted modes of conduct. He showed he…... Read more
El Senatorio to turn parly into a sanitorium
There was a hush, an excited hush, sweeping across the Senate as the men and women on the floor and…... Read more
A blatant stitch-up fuelled by cynicism and hate
The indulgent and now shattered lifestyle of Peter Slipper has been a political battleground since he accepted the Labor minority…... Read more
Betting the house on a matter of Budget semantics
About a month ago a minister was renewing with vigour the Government’s determination to deliver a 2012-13 Budget surplus. “If…... Read more
The historic bipartisan record of the last week of Parly
This might come as a shock, but last week 11 bills were passed by the House of Representatives and Parliament…... Read more
An ode to Jimi Hendrix on his would-be 70th birthday
Jimi Hendrix would be 70 today were he still around to have birthdays. And I am sure that if he…... Read more
Another defiant performance and no smoking gun
The debate over what Julia Gillard did or should have done 17 years ago is bogged down in the arcane…... Read more
The Opposition will keep this witch hunt trouble bubbling
Tony Abbott likes to spread the idea he is a passive and dispassionate observer of Julia Gillard’s tussle with matters…... Read more
What risks when the outsiders are also insiders?
Lobbying for companies has become a post-politics gold mine for an increasing number of former MPs and ministers. People who…... Read more
The last shred of Gillard’s deterrent policy has ripped
Since August 13 the Government has been forced to pack almost all its asylum seeker deterrents into the rickety vessel…... Read more
Asia report not worth the White Paper it’s written on
For the past three weeks much of the cabinet has been doing laps of honour waving the Asian Century white…... Read more
The reports of journalism’s death are greatly exaggerated
Declarations of the death of quality journalism in Australia have been hugely premature, no matter how often front-bar bores and…... Read more
Coffee with my mate Cate (who used to be Malcolm)
Early in the year Lt Col Malcolm McGregor went to a Sydney doctor and ordered him to, “Completely eliminate this…... Read more
The rush to deregulate can have lethal consequences
Deregulation has been given not just a bad name but a lethal reputation in the wake of an inquiry into…... Read more
On the track Tony Abbott’s odds shorten
Tony Abbott spent Saturday at Melbourne’s Flemington race course among about 120,000 punters - 55 per cent of them women,…... Read more
Playing this asylum seeker card doesn’t stack up
Former Liberal MP Petro Georgiou remembers the 2006 attempt by Prime Minister John Howard to excise the mainland from the…... Read more
A Sheikhy time to be entering politics stage left
There is fresh evidence Australians are dividing between Labor and the Liberals and that the shift to the political poles…... Read more
So much hot air in this bank of political tumble dryers
The Australian political debate is on a repeat cycle with a bunch of issues and themes constantly recurring, to the…... Read more
The police rain on Craig Thomson’s PR push
Craig Thomson’s counter offensive strategy was based on attracting public attention to his case this week. To his distress, the…... Read more
The economic crystal ball doesn’t stand a chance
There might be a substantial number of people a bit gobsmacked that a Budget which started only last July 1…... Read more
The company that marched us to our United Nations seat
As Australian diplomats enjoyed their New York back-slapping orgy last Friday, a bunch of men vital to their United Nations…... Read more
Is this woman about to become a Labor hero?
Katy Gallagher, about whom little is known outside the Molonglo tundra of the Australian Capital Territory, is set to become…... Read more
A tow-them-backflip? No, just more angry pollies
Tony Abbott’s apparent timidity over promoting his own asylum seeker policy to the Indonesians might seem pretty irrelevant, but it…... Read more
Counting numbers, damned websites, and statistics
This post is by Malcolm Farr and News Ltd Data Journalist Lisa Cornish. They are websites that people with ambitions…... Read more
To honour terrorism victims, Australia needs a Bali Day
The commemoration of the 10th Bali bombing anniversary was demonstration enough that the occasion should be formally recognised. It should…... Read more
A temple of mutual loathing, and some good blokes too
Labor hard-man Anthony Albanese looked across a seething House of Representatives at Scott Buchholz, a big lump of a Queensland…... Read more
Bringing the Speaker’s chair back down to Earth
The transition in the Speaker’s office from Peter Slipper to Anna Burke was swift, but the distance in style and…... Read more
The Speaker slips away…
Peter Slipper left the Speaker’s office tonight and the Opposition was left with a troubled sense of victory in the…... Read more
Meet the Coalition’s socialists. At least with Weet Bix
The Coalition’s pledge to shrink the size of government and the reach of government regulation has hit a furrow in…... Read more
Even the Opposition reckons the economy will be OK
The MYEFO, the government acronym commonly now being translated as “mini-budget”, could be delivered sooner than later in the year.…... Read more
Rudd’s tell-all political book a work of sheer fiction
Tired of self-serving books about Australian politics in which the author is blameless but the ex-colleagues were closed-minded and unfair?…... Read more
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NSW Nationals and independent Tony Windsor among many saddened by the passing of former state MP Gerry Peacocke. A great character.
Ford Falcon sedan sales 2002: 54,629. Sales in 2012: 14,036. To April 2013: 3194.
Column: Ford was hurt by a high dollar, costly labour, and making things nobody wanted to buy http://t.co/duaZQ0CHQY
RT @theburgerman: Interesting blog post: it's time for news websites to stop "matching" (i.e. rewriting a competitor's story) | http://t.co…
Recent posts
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The Punch is moving house
Good morning Punchers. After four years of excellent fun and great conversation, this is the final post…
Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?
I have had some close calls, one that involved what looked to me like an AK47 pointed my way, followed…
Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”
In a world in which there are still people who subscribe to the vile notion that certain victims of sexual…
Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: Hasbro, go straight to gaol, do not pass go
Tim says:
They should update other things in the game too. Instead of a get out of jail free card, they should have a Dodgy Lawyer card that not only gets you out of jail straight away but also gives you a fat payout in compensation for daring to arrest you in the first place. Instead of getting a hotel when you… [read more]From: A guide to summer festivals especially if you wouldn’t go
Kel says:
If you want a festival for older people or for families alike, get amongst the respectable punters at Bluesfest. A truly amazing festival experience to be had of ALL AGES. And all the young "festivalgoers" usually write themselves off on the first night, only to never hear from them again the rest of… [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
Superman needs saving
Can somebody please save Superman? He seems to be going through a bit of a crisis. Eighteen months ago,… Read more
