Writer

Alex Mitchell
Alex Mitchell is a former State Political Editor of Sydney’s Sun-Herald and a regular Friday contributor to John Menadue’s Pearls & Irritations. His latest book is Murder in Melbourne – The Untold Story of Palestinian exchange student Aiia Maasarwe.
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NSW Labor should be streets ahead of the Libs
Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s Coalition government is regarded by voters as being among the worst in living memory. So why isn’t Jodi McKay’s Parliamentary Labor Party in front by miles? Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL: Mark Latham goes all nuclear – again!
Mark Latham, former Federal Labor leader who now sits in the State Legislative Council as head of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation in NSW, is running a one-man campaign to end the ban on uranium mining which came into force in 1986. Is he flogging a dead horse? Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL: Defending TAFE is a winner for NSW Labor
Created by the Whitlam Government, TAFE tuition was free, offered trade and technical training to a generation of young men and women and upgraded education and career opportunity to all those who wanted it. Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL: NSW Parliament is a politicians’ tuck shop
All Liberal and National MPs in the NSW Parliament get a prize. Their basic salary is topped up by appointing them as junior ministers, assistant ministers, parliamentary secretaries or committee chairpersons. Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL: Move to expel Richo from NSW Labor
Graham Richardson, aka “Richo” or “Cardinal Richlieu”, has infuriated his comrades in Sussex Street with anti-Labor broadsides prompting moves to expel him. Is this a good idea? Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL: Ex-NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell quits for India
When Barry O’Farrell became NSW Liberal Party leader in 2017 his mission was to turn the Liberals into “the natural party of government”. Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL: How NSW is becoming a corporate autocracy
Since winning the State Election almost one year ago, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has remodelled herself as the “listening” premier who wants to “reconnect” her Coalition Government with voters. Is it working? Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL. NSW Liberals torn apart by factional Game of Thrones
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and her Coalition partners are fond of declaring that they are free of factions. But factionalism is alive and well. Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL. Unrepresentative Tory swill choosing the next British Prime Minister
All registered members of the British Conservative Party are currently voting to elect a new leader to replace Prime Minister Theresa May. Hailed as an exercise in party democracy, it’s more like a chook raffle. Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL. Does this ring a Bell? (Justinian 21 March 2019)
The backstory of Justice Andrew (Taco) Bell’s role in helping Schmo Morrison grab the seat of Cook … Wheels within wheels … Memories of the Cook preselection rort … The PM’s Muslim baiting goes back to the beginnings of time … Career paths on the up-and-up … Alex Mitchell comments Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL. Gladys clings on in NSW
Liberals and Nationals will vote in all kinds of weather and in all circumstances. They will show up in coaches, hire cars and even wheelchairs. Some dress up in their Sunday best as if they are going to the races. Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL. A deeply divided NSW is heading for a deadlocked State Election
With NSW voters facing a State Election on Saturday, March 23, politicians are nervously asking each other, “How are we going?” Meanwhile, journalists on the campaign trail are equally nervous, asking colleagues: “Who do you think will win?” Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL. Before “ScoMo”, Scott Morrison was our No 1 pin-up bogeyman
In 2014 I was asked to write a profile of “the Left’s pin-up boy” and its “chief bogeyman”. Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL. The Great Drought: Panic or Policy?
Desperate farmers in rural communities across Australia are being led into a cruel dystopia where reality is being smothered by false hopes. Continue reading »
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Alex Mitchell, reporting from Hobart. The Tasmanian Chainsaw Massacre.
On the eve of any election it is the practice of tabloid editors to reach into battered folders containing tried and trusted headlines capable of exciting readers on polling day – PHOTO FINISH or TOO CLOSE TO CALL or sometimes IT’S A CLIFFHANGER. With Tasmanians going to the polls this Saturday none of the above Continue reading »