Politics

Jessica Rudd’s first novel was about an Australian prime minister bought down by his female deputy. It was written just months before her father Kevin was rolled by Julia Gillard. There some people who believe that everything happens for a reason and Jessica Rudd is one of them. How could it be otherwise? Quite by […]

There were many men in the running to be one of Australia’s Men of the Moment, as judged by the Women’s Weekly: Malcolm Turnbull, with his leather jacket bad-boy look; Tony Abbott, the ironman; Rob Oakeshott, the rugged country lad. But the Weekly likes to be at the cutting edge, so we did a straw […]

The history of Pakistan's powerful Bhutto family is written in blood, with murder, assassination and mysterious death commonplace. A young member of this cursed clan, Fatima, born to privilege but now in constant peril, tells the shocking inside story to William Langley.

Many politicians argue that they have God on their side, but these days former NSW minister Reba Meagher actually does, writes Jordan Baker. Politicians can struggle to reinvent themselves after a career in the public eye — their reputations have taken a battering and their main qualifications are arguing across a dispatch box and giving […]

*Imagine never being allowed to hold your new grandchild, or being prevented from saying goodbye to your dying husband. Bo Zaw Gyi meets Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, where she’s finally been freed from house arrest.** To the world she is a freedom fighter, a woman brave enough to stand up to the Burmese […]

On the nightly news, she is cool and composed. Yet as Bryce Corbett discovers, you only have to put our new PM in stilettos and delve a little into her personal life to find the woman behind the politician. Julia Gillard is running late. The Royal Australian Air Force jet that will be flying her […]

Barack and Michelle Obama’s marriage is under new scrutiny, amid allegations linking him with a younger woman, reports Matthew Denby. The presidential marriage was rocked by a cheating scandal last week, according to claims published in a US magazine. A devastated Michelle Obama is reportedly distressed by the allegations her husband Barack spent the night […]

Liberal leader Tony Abbott is a self-confessed attention seeker, who polarises women’s opinions. It’s a trait that has got him into hot water, yet he is surrounded by women who are fiercely loyal and admire him. Helen McCabe reports. Tony Abbott slides into the back of a government car at Townsville airport. “Sorry,” he says, […]

Missing out on the top spot in the Liberal party to Tony Abbott this week, Joe Hockey had been touted as a future Liberal leader and even PM. Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has a demanding job, but, as he tells us, nothing compares to being a father. Ignatius Theodore Babbage-Hockey. When Joe Hockey and wife […]

Thérèse Rein is a different kind of PM’s spouse, with her own successful business and identity, but her roles as mother and supportive wife are what she treasures most, writes Michael Sheather. First ladies of the world Thérèse Rein is clearly a very different prime ministerial wife. Never before has the country’s leader been partnered […]