Tony Walker is a vice chancellor's fellow at La Trobe University in Australia. He is a columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a dual Walkley Award winner for commentary, and recipient of the Paul Lyneham Award for Excellence in Press Gallery Journalism. He is a former foreign correspondent for Fairfax and the Financial Times in China, the Middle East and North America. Publications include Arafat:The Biography and The Peter Thomson Five.