Christmas is a time of respite from a turbulent world increasingly alienated from the transcendental by modern ideologies, consumerism and our electronic media’s ever-present distractions. It offers our own families the repose and joys of the Holy Family. In Bethlehem, the Holy Family was visited by joyous, poor local shepherds and wealthy wisemen from the East, as angels sang, “Glory to God in…

Peter Dutton faces a long, daunting and unlikely task of clawing back power in one term. The lanky Queenslander has settled into the leadership and is biding his time and picking his fights. He is disciplined and, in modern political parlance, he is “on message”, and the man who most covets his job – Josh Frydenberg – is not in the Parliament. Dutton…

Despite an overall swing against Victoria’s incumbent ALP, Daniel Andrews was comfortably returned to government, while the Liberals were routed. Before the election, the ALP held 55 seats (a majority of 14) and the Coalition 27, Greens three, and two were held by independents. Although the upper house remains undecided at the time of writing, the ALP and Coalition lower-house numbers are unlikely…