Foreign affairs & national security correspondent: The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age. Got a ticket to ride. Please send tips/ideas to Matthew.Knott
@smh
.com.au
Some rather terrifying, but also miraculous, personal news. Over the weekend I fell off a friend’s rooftop in New York. I thought I was walking to the other side of the roof but instead dropped into a narrow gap between two buildings. I fell five storeys...
The idea of Alexander Downer - a conservative who championed Australia's involvement in the Iraq War - as some kind of left-wing spy remains as ridiculous as ever
I have been right about Downer from the beginning. A wannabe spy and Clinton errand boy who is about to get exposed on the world stage. Great reporting, NYTs! Mifsud is next.
Journalists want to tell other people’s stories but sometimes life gets in the way. In June I fell off a five-storey apartment building and survived. Thanks to
@GoodWeekendMag
for letting me put the experience into words
My family have set a challenge: absolutely no mention of the c word (COVID) on Christmas Day. Anyone who fails has to pour drinks for the next hour which is no minor task in this family.
My dad flew from Australia to the US to take care of me for a few weeks after my fall which is really lovely. But he did surreptitiously record me singing Tina Arena’s Sorrento Moon in the shower at full blast to send to family members which I think counts as parental abuse.
Australian officials try to intervene after officials from the Chinese embassy try to block journalist Cheng Lei from being filmed at a signing ceremony at Parliament House
I have had elbow & wrist surgery and my back is beaten up but it looks like everything can be healed with time & physical therapy. It could have been so much worse, and I’m grateful to be alive. I really appreciate all the help & support from many people - especiallly
@_Tors
Im in hospital and hoping to return home to DC in a few days. Really looking forward to getting back to reporting & writing for the
@smh
and
@theage
as soon as I can.
Went to get my haircut, and at the end the hairdresser leaned in and whispered: "For years I've been waiting for an Australian to come so I can ask something... There's the reference I hear all the time and don't understand it. What does 'a dingo took my baby' mean?"
Even though
@CaseyBriggs
may be his favorite Australian journalist and he’d never read Twitter, shout out to my dad who’s just finished two weeks in hotel quarantine in Sydney after coming over the US to cook, clean and generally look after me following my ‘incident’
If you’re in the mood for a 4000-word piece on what it’s like to fall off a five-storey New York apartment building and survive, have I got the story for you. If you get a chance, please check out
@GoodWeekendMag
in the
@smh
and
@theage
tomorrow. Excited to have it out there.
Is this the first time a sitting politician anywhere has published an academic paper in a serious journal going to the heart of an important live policy debate?
In new published research, I test the argument that when companies pay less tax, they create more jobs. The data show the opposite. Lower effective tax rate → fewer jobs created. Full research paper:
#ausecon
Full of noble new year intentions, I took my keep cup to my local Washington DC cafe. And watched in horror as the barista poured a coffee into a paper cup, transferred it to the keep cup and then threw the paper one away.
Today I asked former prime minister Paul Keating at the
#npc
about China's treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, where the United Nations has identified serious human rights violations including family separation, arbitrary arrests and detention, rape and torture 1/2
The flip side of Australian pride in “punching above our weight” on the global stage is embarrassment at being a worldwide joke. That’s where we’re at today after the Djokovic ruling.
Thrilled and very grateful for the chance to cover the US election and beyond for the best mastheads in the country: the
@smh
and
@theage
. As soppy as it sounds, it really is a dream come true. And I'm delighted for the talented
@BevanShields
and
@ErykBagshaw
on their postings
Letter from Australia's ambassador to DC Joe Hockey in May offering support for Trump's probe shows President wasn't pressuring Australia to do anything. He was pushing on a wide open door.
Very excited to be back living in Sydney and working as national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age focussing on race, culture and identity. If there's something you'd like me to explore in this space, please hit me up by DM/ email
This level of (scientifically sound) clarity about the remarkable benefits of the vaccines & their ability to transform life in the age of COVID still seems all too rare in Australia.
He said he would not defend China on the Uyghurs but then said the issue was in dispute, compared it to Indigenous deaths in custody and instead spoke about the Modi government in India. 2/2
In a historic victory, the voters of Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District have chosen to send Everytown-endorsed candidate, Sharice Davids, to Washington! 🎉
#ElectionNight
@sharicedavids
Wow: CNN has decided not to air Donald Trump's coronavirus briefing today. Has a panel of political/medical journos instead. MSNBC is airing as normal as is Fox News.
Paradoxes of politics. Biden - widely agreed to be a lacklustre - has won more votes than any other presidential candidate in US history. Trump - who championed a border wall and birtherism - has won biggest share of non-white vote for a Republican candidate since 1960.
A sobering discovery from my accountant father’s trip to the US:
@CaseyBriggs
is his favorite Australian journalist. “He loves numbers like I do. You could maybe do what he does but it would take a lot of time & effort.”
BREAKING: President Trump tweets that he is "postponing" his upcoming meeting with Danish PM Mette Frederiksen based on her comments "that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland."
The US president has been expected to visit Denmark in early September.
A long, but hopefully worthwhile, piece looking back on my 3.5 years as US Correspondent for The Herald & The Age. I’ll always be grateful I had the opportunity to do this job at such an important, fascinating moment in history
.
@jonathanvswan
has sparked the most detailed discussion of death per capita and deaths as a percentage of coronavirus cases in the US media since the pandemic began
Well well well - will be fascinating to see how Justin Milne (who vowed to be a non-interventionist chairman when he took the job last year) will respond to this cracking story
@michaelkoziol
Crikey yesterday published a series of inaccurate and defamatory comments by Francesca Albanese about my reporting but did not bother to seek a response before publication, as they acknowledge here. This was a breach of basic journalistic standards and the MEAA code of ethics🧵
(1/2) Clarification: An earlier version of this article included less detail regarding Albanese’s claims about Nine’s coverage nor a comment from the reporter, who was not contacted before publication.
She received a half-hour live podcast about Lindy Chamberlain including the strange experience of me mimicking Meryl Streep doing an Australian accent.
Kimberley Kitching was a fascinating, complicated person who was excellent company. She was EXTREMELY sceptical of participating in a Good Weekend profile when I suggested it, but I’m glad she agreed. Never thought she’d be gone so soon. Tragic news
The lunch menu enjoyed by Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Australian ministers in Adelaide today. Note the entree: rock lobster, which is the big remaining trade blockage with China.
Strange fixation on individual behaviour re beaches, pubs etc. Unfortunately people, en masse, do not necessarily do the right thing. This is why taxes are complusory and parking fines exist. It's clear serious social distancing only happens with rules not suggestions.
Last year I went to Canada for a story about refugees and was asked if I knew about the guy who escaped from Manus Island and made it to Toronto. No, I did not. Thanks to Jaivet for letting me tell his remarkable story.
He escaped Australia's offshore detention centre by posing as an interpreter. After teaching himself a new language, altering his appearance and mastering global visa rules - he found freedom in the most unexpected of places
Congrats Farrah, you’ll kill it. As for me, I look forward to making the most of my final three months here. Then excited to write on matters closer to home for the
@smh
and
@theage
& reconnect with Australia. Apparently I’m developing an American accent; time to come home.
Absolutely thrilled to be appointed the new US Correspondent for
@theage
&
@smh
. Can’t wait to get back to America to cover the next presidential election and everything in between. So grateful for this opportunity - it really is a dream come true 🇺🇸🙏❤️
Sad to report the Pulitzer Prize ceremony consists solely of someone reading out the winners' names for 10 minutes. At least at the Walkleys you can expect free booze, a performance by an Australian Idol runner up & an MEAA official racking up lines in the toilet
Yukultji Napangati was one of the last Aboriginal Australians to come into contact with white society. Now she has a solo exhibit in New York - and Jay-Z and Beyonce have snapped up two of her paintings
Bookseller at Book Culture on Manhattan's upper west side says they've sold 80 copies of Wolff book today.
"Got to get it before the president violates the first amendment," says older man in queue. Woman behind: "He does that every day."
Several Palestinians fleeing the war in Gaza who were devastated after their visas were cancelled while en route to Australia have again been granted permission to travel to the country
Getting a little emotional with the US commentators speaking in amazement about 114 days away from home for Ash Barty; realised it’s day 547 for me. Glad Australia has something to celebrate today
#Wimbledon
#AshBarty
Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler - who lost her seat yesterday - has changed her mind and will now not object to the election results following today’s violence.