Quarterly Essays: Sharp Aussie Politics

Quarterly Essays: Sharp Aussie Politics

Quarterly Essay has published over 90 long-form analyses of Australian politics, policy, and culture since 2001 — 20,000-word deep-dives written by journalists, academics, and public intellectuals who actually understand Canberra. The series dissects Morrison's pandemic bungling, Albanese's pragmatic centrism, Ardern's governance playbook, and the corrosive contempt eating Australian democracy from the inside. Each essay runs roughly 80 pages and lands quarterly, hence the name.
  • Quarterly Essay launched in 2001 under founding editor Peter Craven and has published 88+ issues As of August 2026.
  • Katharine Murphy wrote two Quarterly Essays on federal leadership: QE79 on Scott Morrison's pandemic politics (2020) and QE88 on Anthony Albanese's first year in office (2022).
  • Laura Tingle's QE80, The High Road, compared Australia's political culture unfavourably to Jacinda Ardern's New Zealand government in 2020.
  • Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens co-authored QE87, Uncivil Wars, diagnosing contempt as the structural failure in contemporary democracies.
  • David Kilcullen, a former special adviser to General David Petraeus, wrote QE58 on the Islamic State's 2014–15 blitzkrieg across Iraq and Syria.
  • Peter Hartcher's QE76, Red Flag, mapped China's influence operations in Australian politics and universities.

Lone Wolf: Albanese and the New Politics — Katharine Murphy

Murphy watches Albanese govern from the centre — pragmatic, cautious, boring — and asks whether that's Labor's survival instinct or a failure of imagination. QE88 landed in late 2022, six months after Albanese won the election nobody saw coming. Murphy tracks his shift from factional warrior to stage-managed prime minister, the bloke who learned to smile at cameras after decades of looking like he'd rather be in a policy bunker. She argues he's rebuilt Labor's electoral coalition by saying less, promising less, and never, ever mentioning redistribution. It's sharp on the Voice referendum strategy and dead-eyed about the climate policy tap-dancing. Explore our current copy of Lone Wolf. Browse more Politics & Current Affairs books at Patina.

The High Road: What Australia Can Learn From New Zealand — Laura Tingle

Tingle spent QE80 explaining why Jacinda Ardern ran circles around Morrison, and it's not just that she's nicer — it's structural competence. Published in 2020 mid-pandemic, this essay compares Australia's chaotic federalism (nine governments shouting over each other) to New Zealand's unitary efficiency. Tingle argues Ardern's comms weren't magic, they were institutional: a public service that functions, a Parliament that doesn't treat Question Time as blood sport, a political culture that hasn't mistaken cynicism for sophistication. It's polite savagery aimed squarely at Canberra's dysfunction. As of August 2026, Patina's Politics & Current Affairs collection includes rotating copies of Tingle's essays alongside Murphy and Hartcher. Explore our current copy of The High Road. Browse more Politics & Current Affairs books at Patina.

Uncivil Wars: How Contempt Is Corroding Democracy — Waleed Aly & Scott Stephens

Aly and Stephens diagnose contempt — not anger, not polarisation, but mutual disgust — as the thing actually breaking democracies in 2022. QE87 is philosophy-adjacent but grounded in Australian examples: Morrison's smirking dismissals, the Voice debate's bad faith, the assumption that your opponent is either stupid or evil. The authors argue contempt short-circuits deliberation because you can't negotiate with someone you've already written off as subhuman. It's less "why can't we all get along" and more "here's why the system structurally rewards performative sneering." Heavier than most Quarterly Essays, but it lands. Explore our current copy of Uncivil Wars. Browse more Politics & Current Affairs books at Patina.

Blood Year: Terror and the Islamic State — David Kilcullen

Kilcullen wrote QE58 in 2015 to explain how the West accidentally midwifed ISIS by misunderstanding literally everything about Iraq, Syria, and counterinsurgency. This one's counterterrorism autopsy from someone who was actually in the room during the Iraq surge. Kilcullen argues the 2011 troop withdrawal, Syria's civil war, and Maliki's sectarian purges created the vacuum ISIS filled with propaganda and Toyota HiLuxes. He's blunt about Western policy failures, the "Assad or ISIS" false binary, and why bombing campaigns without ground partners don't work. It's not Australia-focused but it's the clearest 80-page explainer on the 2014–15 caliphate nightmare. Explore our current copy of Blood Year. Browse more Politics & Current Affairs books at Patina.

The End of Certainty: Scott Morrison and Pandemic Politics — Katharine Murphy

Murphy's QE79 watches Morrison flail through 2020 — the PM who mistook performance for leadership and couldn't hide behind slogans when the virus arrived. Published in September 2020, this essay catches Morrison at the peak of "we're all in this together" rhetoric and minimum policy follow-through. Murphy dissects the JobKeeper eligibility gaps, the National Cabinet turf wars, the Hawaii holiday hangover that never quite washed off. She's fair about the vaccine procurement (which worked) and withering about the aged care catastrophe (which didn't). The title nods to Paul Kelly's 1992 book on Hawke/Keating, and the parallel is intentional: certainty died with the neoliberal consensus, and Morrison governed the wreckage. Explore our current copy of The End of Certainty. Browse more Politics & Current Affairs books at Patina.

Red Flag: Waking Up to China's Challenge — Peter Hartcher

Hartcher's QE76 maps China's influence operations in Australian universities, media, and Parliament — less spy thriller, more institutional capture. Published in 2019 before the relationship fully cratered, this essay tracks the Confucius Institutes, the political donations, the self-censorship on campuses. Hartcher argues Australia sleepwalked into economic dependence without building resilience, and Beijing exploited that asymmetry. He's hawkish but not hysterical — the essay distinguishes between the CCP and Chinese-Australians, and it predicted the trade coercion (wine, barley, coal) that arrived in 2020. It's the best 20,000-word primer on why Canberra started saying "strategic competition" instead of "engagement." Explore our current copy of Red Flag. Browse more Politics & Current Affairs books at Patina. These six essays capture Australian politics at its sharpest — Morrison's pandemic failures, Albanese's cautious pragmatism, the contempt corroding public debate, and the geopolitical reckonings we're still processing. Quarterly Essay doesn't do hot takes; it does long-form reckoning. Shop all Politics & Current Affairs books at Patina Paperbacks →

Where can I buy secondhand Quarterly Essay editions in Sydney?

Patina Paperbacks stocks rotating preloved copies of Quarterly Essays across its 13,000+ title catalogue, shipping Australia-wide from Sydney. Our Politics & Current Affairs collection includes Murphy, Tingle, Hartcher, and other heavy-hitters. The physical copies often carry foxing or creased spines — these are working texts, not coffee-table showpieces.

What's the difference between a Quarterly Essay and a Griffith Review?

Quarterly Essay publishes single-author, 20,000-word arguments four times a year; Griffith Review is a multi-author journal themed around broader cultural topics (also quarterly). QE is sharper and more polemical — one writer, one thesis, three months to argue it. Griffith is essayistic and eclectic. Both are Australian institutions; pick QE for focused political analysis, Griffith for literary range.

Are Quarterly Essays worth reading if I'm not a politics nerd?

Honestly, yes, if you care about how Australia actually works. They're written for engaged citizens, not Canberra insiders — Murphy, Tingle, and Aly translate policy into lived consequences. You don't need a Poli Sci degree to follow the arguments. The essays are dense (80 pages, no filler) but never academic. Think long-form journalism with footnotes.

Which Quarterly Essay best explains Scott Morrison's prime ministership?

Katharine Murphy's QE79, The End of Certainty, is the definitive real-time autopsy of Morrison's pandemic leadership. Published in September 2020, it catches him mid-flail — the slogans, the empathy consultants, the structural inability to govern beyond announcements. Pair it with her QE88 on Albanese for the full Morrison-to-Albo handover arc.

Does Patina stock older Quarterly Essay back issues from the 2000s?

Our catalogue rotates based on estate sales and trade-ins, so early QE issues (2001–2010) appear less frequently than recent titles. If you're chasing a specific back issue, check our site regularly — preloved stock turns over weekly. We don't offer reservations or custom sourcing, but the hunt is half the fun.

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