The Best Political Writing From 2023

We’ve loved sharing our favourite articles, unhinged Twitter threads and analysis Tik Toks in our Weekend Recommendations every Sunday – it's become a beloved series for both you and us. With so much valuable content shared throughout the year, we want to give each recommendation its well-deserved spotlight.

If you’re looking for some great reading material over the slow summer weeks, scroll down for the link to all the Political writing we recommended in 2023. Feel like something different? Why not try our fave pieces on:

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Best Politics Writing in 2023

Jacinda and the media: a very complicated relationship on The Spinoff
"A huge contributor to what has made Ardern’s five years as prime minister feel much longer was the sheer volume of public communication she had to do in that time... The total length of time the average New Zealander has spent watching her speak must surely be orders of magnitude longer than any prior prime minister."

Shermon Burgess becomes the latest far-right figure to convert to Islam on Crikey
"The intersection of homophobia, transphobia and misogyny between former adversaries has led to an unlikely allyship between the far-right and conservative Muslims, particularly with young men."

It's Not About Hypocrisy on Defector
This piece sums up exactly how I feel about that viral clip of Jon Stewart and the pro-gun guy: it's redundant. "Pointing out so-called right-wing hypocrisy might make the Jon Stewart-watching crowd feel superior to their political foes, but it does nothing to actually build a movement capable of overcoming them. In fact, it does worse than nothing; its smugness serves to flatter the sensibilities of its liberal viewers while obscuring the way political power is built and used in this country."

How News Corp captured the Liberal Party on The Saturday Paper
The best analysis I've read about the situation, full stop. Basically, it's not that the Liberals are the brain and News Corp is the mouth... it's the other way around: News Corp brain, Liberals mouth. Or as this piece more eloquently puts it: "News Corp is one of the biggest contributors to the Liberals’ existential crisis – it has undermined the party’s purpose as a political organisation."

Two twitter threads on the Chanel Contos funding controversy
When it was revealed that $8million in funding given to Chanel Contos' 'Teach Us Consent' was done so improperly, Nina Funnell made this informative thread about young activists making expensive mistakes (click to read) and Sharna Bremner had some notes on why we shouldn't demand advocacy to be done cheaply (click to read).

WA police raid journalists on The Saturday Paper
“As police went through my office and my notebooks, which contain confidential material relating to a range of sensitive sources and stories on which I have recently worked, a piece I had written for this newspaper about a crackdown on Woodside protesters and ‘pre-emptive policing’ was going to print. At almost the same time, police to the north of Perth were harassing a young reporter, Eliza Kloser, who works for the Indigenous community outlet Ngaarda Media.”

‘The Lucky Country’ Let Me Down: Australia’s Broken Disability Support System on Refinery29
“There’s an implied link between medicine and disability. The assumption is that if you’re disabled enough to need support, you’ll have an expert team of medical professionals at your disposal to verify this. But people fall through the cracks of our healthcare system every day, unable to find specialists who understand what’s happening to their body. They’re left to drown.”

Exclusive: UN set to sanction Australia over human rights abuses on The Saturday Paper
“More than five [after signing on to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT)] Australia has failed across the board at implementing its obligations under the agreement, which is aimed at preventing human rights abuses in places of detention. Australia is expected to become the first OECD nation to be placed on a non-compliance list.”

If economists want more unemployment, will they volunteer to join the dole queue? on ABC
Brutally honest, plain-speaking analysis that few other economic/financial commentators are brave enough to say: “From their way of thinking it's the only option we have. This is just how the system works, and it's the best system we've devised. But will any of them be volunteering to be unemployed first? Will they volunteer their children? It's unlikely. Unemployment is for other people.”

There Is No Housing Crisis on The Walrus
This piece focuses on Canada, but it applies to Australia’s housing landscape too. In a nutshell: this isn’t a ‘crisis’, it’s the system working exactly how it was designed to – for the benefit of some, not all.

Don’t believe everything you see and hear about Israel and Palestine on Vox
This article outlines the SIFT method of assessing potential misinformation on social media, developed by digital literacy expert Mike Caulfield – a four-step process that will require you to “open up a bunch of tabs”. 

Murphy’s law: will Peta’s colleagues gamble on her brave legacy? on Sydney Morning Herald
David Crowe’s tribute to Labor MP Peta Murphy, who died age 50 and was the driving force behind the proposal to ban gambling advertising. "Australians probably think of their politicians as people who talk too much and never listen... But sometimes the best contribution a politician can make is to give others a voice. And that is what Peta Murphy did in a career in parliament that was cut too short."