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Tony Walker

Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University

The Australian Financial Review: International Editor (2010-2016), Washington correspondent (2004-2010), Political Editor (2000-2004), Financial Times: Middle East correspondent (1984-1993), Beijing bureau chief (1993-1998), North American correspondent 1998-2000. Publications include Arafat: The Biography (Virgin Books 2004) and The Thomson Five: A golfing legend's greatest triumphs (Melbourne University Press 2016). Graduate Australian National University BA.(1968) Dual Walkley award winner for commentary (2003 and 2007). Paul Lyneham Award Excellence Press Gallery journalism (2003).

Malcolm Fraser's political manifesto would make good reading for the Morrison government

Aug 28, 2018 12:57 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

Malcolm Fraser died on March 20, 2015, just a little more than three years ago. One can only speculate what he would have made of a three-year Malcolm Turnbull interregnum, but it is a fair assumption he would have been...

Memo Scott Morrison: don't chase the 'base'

Aug 25, 2018 07:50 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

John Howard was fond of referring to the Liberal Party as a broad church. This included its conservative base. But what has eluded those seeking to define this amorphous group of electors is exactly what is meant by...

Why the world should be worried about the rise of strongman politics

Jul 24, 2018 16:25 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

Back in 2016, The Financial Times Gideon Rachman advanced the view in a commentary for The Economist that the strongman style of leadership was gravitating from east to west, and growing stronger. Across the world from...

Government needs to slow down on changes to spying and foreign interference laws

Jun 08, 2018 05:32 am UTC| Insights & Views Law

Whats the rush? If you believe Commonwealth Attorney-General Christian Porter, unless two pieces of security legislation are in place in the remaining two weeks of parliament before the winter recess, the country will be...

As it launches another missile, we must realise there are no easy options for dealing with North Korea

Aug 29, 2017 14:22 pm UTC| Insights & Views

Heres the script accompanied by a lot of bombast, signifying not much. North Korea launches another missile its 18th for the year and 80th since Kim Jong-un assumed power in 2011. This time it travels over Japan...

Trump changes his mind on Afghanistan, but will upping the ante win the war?

Aug 22, 2017 14:55 pm UTC| Insights & Views

President Donald Trump has upped the ante in Americas longest-running war, but it is not clear whether an all-guns-blazing strategy will bring the long-running conflict any nearer to a conclusion. In a clear departure...

Global Geopolitics Series

After Islamic State falls, we should expect aftershocks

Jun 30, 2017 17:47 pm UTC| Insights & Views

US-backed forces in Iraq and in Syria are in the process of rooting Islamic State (IS) fighters out of their strongholds in northern Iraq and eastern Syria. In the case of Mosul in Iraq, the removal of diehard IS...

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Economy

The US is one of the least trade-oriented countries in the world – despite laying the groundwork for today’s globalized system

Given the spate of news about international trade lately, Americans might be surprised to learn that the U.S. isnt very dependent on it. Indeed, looking at trade as a percentage of gross domestic product a metric...

Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night. The quickest way to find out what...

Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility

Ivan Vladislavić is Johannesburgs literary linkman. He tells us, in the first pages of his new book, The Near North, that before cities were lit, first by gaslight and later electricity, people of means paid torchbearers...

Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget

With Jim Chalmerss third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief beyond the tax cuts although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this weeks consumer price...

Inflation is slowly falling, while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain today’s CPI

Australias inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and its now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. The annual rate peaked at 7.8% in the December quarter of 2022 and is now just 3.6%, in...

Politics

US Urges China, Russia to Reject AI Control in Nuclear Arms, Align with Global Norms

Paul Dean, a senior U.S. arms control official, emphasized the critical need for China and Russia to join the U.S. in declaring that humans will always decide on the deployment of nuclear weapons, not artificial...

South Africa’s youth are a generation lost under democracy – study

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently painted a rosy picture in which the countrys youth democracys children had enormous opportunities for advancement, all thanks to successive post-apartheid governments led...

Sadiq Khan on track for third term as London mayor – but nearly half of Londoners dissatisfied with performance

Polls have consistently shown that the incumbent mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, appears to be on track to win a third term in office at the upcoming mayoral elections on May 2. One poll we commissioned as part of our...

Biden administration tells employers to stop shackling workers with ‘noncompete agreements’

Most American workers are hired at will: Employers owe their employees nothing in the relationship except earned wages, and employees are at liberty to quit at their option. As the rule is generally stated, either party...

Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board

To say that the Labour party is flying high in the polls is something of an understatement. But despite its consistent lead against the Tories, the opposition finds itself in a rather odd position: on the cusp of power but...

Science

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars

While we go about our daily lives on Earth, a nuclear-powered robot the size of a small car is trundling around Mars looking for fossils. Unlike its predecessor Curiosity, Nasas Perseverance rover is explicitly intended to...

The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth – and governments are on the hook

A piece of space junk recently crashed through the roof and floor of a mans home in Florida. Nasa later confirmed that the object had come from unwanted hardware released from the international space station. The 700g,...

Peter Higgs was one of the greats of particle physics. He transformed what we know about the building blocks of the universe

Peter Higgs, who gave his name to the subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson, has died aged 94. He was always a modest man, especially when considering that he was one of the greats of particle physics the area of...

Technology

Samsung Chief Lee Jae-yong Wraps Up Europe Visit, Includes Vatican and Zeiss

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong returned to Seoul this Friday after a crucial ten-day European trip, where he met with Pope Francis and explored potential business collaborations. The Korea Herald reported...

Bitcoin Thrives: Whales Accumulate Over 47K BTC Amidst Price Rally

Bitcoin experiences a transformative moment as large-scale investors, known as whales, acquire over 47,000 BTC, valued at $2.9 billion, amidst a price retreat. This strategic move marks a pivotal shift in sentiment,...

Kraken Pro Boosts Shiba Inu with New Margin Trading Option

Kraken Pros announcement of Shiba Inus (SHIB) inclusion in its margin trading pairs signifies a significant milestone for the meme-inspired cryptocurrency. This move underscores SHIBs growing prominence within the crypto...

Hong Kong Firm Dominates BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF, Surges to Top Holder

In a significant development for the cryptocurrency market, Hong Kong-based Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd has secured its position as the largest holder in the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), according to recent...

Nintendo's Next-Gen: Switch 2 Could Hit 240FPS, Leaks Suggest

Leaked by data miner OatmealDome, Nintendos updated NintendoWare Bezel Engine reportedly supports frame rates potentially as high as 240FPS, a massive leap from the current 60FPS limit on the Nintendo Switch. The...