Peter Hartcher

Peter Hartcher is the political editor and international editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a Gold Walkley award winner, a former foreign correspondent in Tokyo and Washington, and a visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. His latest book is To the Bitter End, on the fall of the Howard Government and the rise of Kevin Rudd.

Hockey takes a stand, muzzling the loose cannons

Peter Hartcher Joe Hockey is making a commendable effort to be a serious figure in Australian politics. The pink fairy tutu he wore on TV didn't help.

Tony, this is the mother of irresponsible policymaking

Peter Hartcher Let's start with the good points about Tony Abbott's policy on maternity leave, because there are only two and it won't take long to cover them.

Indonesia defied doomsayers to become a surprise success story

Peter Hartcher Many countries are going badly. Indonesia was always going to be one. Or so we thought. It's turned out to be one of the surprise success stories.

A core Liberal philosophy betrayed

Peter Hartcher The Liberal Party has spent 66 years developing its brand as the party of enterprise and low taxes. It took Tony Abbott just 98 days to inflict serious damage to the brand.

Yudhoyono calls for change

Peter Hartcher Indonesia's President has broken out of the polite ceremonials of a state visit to Australia to tell us bluntly the central problem with the relationship.

PM scrubs up for his toughest operation

Peter Hartcher Kevin Rudd has opened his re-election campaign by painting a vision of a shining hospital on a hill.

An alliance with fresh legs for new times

Peter Hartcher The remark by the US ambassador to Australia that his kids are brushing up on their Wii skills is a marker of the rejuvenation of the alliance.

Labor hopes for political tsunami of health support

Peter Hartcher Kevin Rudd deserves some praise, surely, for his boldness in seizing the reform task that everyone knows is necessary but no one else dares touch? Or does he?

Resurrecting Greece - Athens taps Canberra's brains trust

Peter Hartcher If gasping Greece, drowning in debt, gets the lifesaving fiscal oxygen that Germany and France are now discussing, governments and investors around the world will breathe a sigh of relief.

Outdated political thuggery embarrasses Malaysia

Peter Hartcher Dumb autocrats use the army, goon squads and guns to repress the opposition. Smart autocrats use the law courts to do it. Indonesia's Soeharto was a dumb autocrat.

Betrayed PM should not be taken for granted by Israel

Peter Hartcher When officials told Kevin Rudd on Wednesday afternoon that three suspected Mossad assassins had travelled on forged Australian passports, he was shocked.

Putting a ceiling on the scandal

Peter Hartcher Imagine for a moment that you're the environment minister in the federal government. One day, Kevin Rudd tells you he's going to give you $2.

Common ground for Rudd and Obama: the opponents are surging

Peter Hartcher The opposition says that the leader is all talk and no action. It takes an aggressive stance of confronting him on just about everything, giving him nothing.

Reassuring Rudd artfully morphs into Howard Lite

Peter Hartcher Kevin Rudd offered himself at the last election to be a good deal like John Howard, but without the nasty bits. It worked.

Britain looks at conservatism with a bit of kindly nanny

Peter Hartcher Tony Blair championed a new way of thinking about politics. Rejecting the old polarising choices of left and right, he offered a post-ideological ''third way''.

For tough reforms, Rudd must crash through or crash

Peter Hartcher Now that an angry adolescent insurgency has taken control of the Coalition, does it mean that Kevin Rudd has to give up any hope of getting his signature reform: his climate change policy? More...

Abbott can fight but he needs a solid corner man

Peter Hartcher It was occasionally funny, but it was mainly excruciating. It was Barnaby Joyce's first appearance at the National Press Club as a responsible grown-up, as one of the people who would run the country...

Kim's bold Korea move backfires

Peter Hartcher It was a startling piece of news that designer jeans labelled "Made in North Korea" were going on sale in a trendy Swedish department store on December 1 last year.

Leader needs to be careful that the fig leaf doesn't blow away

Peter Hartcher Tony Abbott got a lot of media attention for wearing red budgie smugglers, but yesterday he changed into something even scantier. A fig leaf.