Who goes to Canberra? The seats that hang in the balance
JONATHAN SWAN 4:15pm The election is over but candidates in eight seats are still waiting on results from the Australian Electoral Commission, with, one imagines, well-chewed fingernails, four days after Tony Abbott was declared Prime Minister-elect.
Latest political news
Liberal Party 'hid ethnic candidates'
![Fowler candidate Andrew Nguyen has had his election corflutes defaced.](http://web.archive.org./web/20130911114641im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2013/09/11/4738770/dn-fowler-thumb-20130911163711948518-90x60.jpg)
HEATH ASTON 5:11pm A Liberal candidate who suffered a humiliating loss to Labor says ethnic candidates in western Sydney were treated as "second-class citizens" by the Liberal Party campaign hierarchy.
Xenophon reveals Senate-vote plan
![Canberra: Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Senator Nick Xenophon hold a joint doorstop at Parliament House today Thursday 31 May 2012.
Photo by Penny Bradfield.](http://web.archive.org./web/20130911114641im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2013/09/11/4738241/dn-xenophon-thumb-20130911141446546678-90x60.jpg)
DAN HARRISON 2:11pm Independent Senator Nick Xenophon will introduce legislation to overhaul the Senate electoral system.
Two-way race possibility for party leadership
![Anthony Albanese.](http://web.archive.org./web/20130911114641im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2013/09/10/4736377/AM-TH-TWOWAY-20130910212944318854-90x60.jpg)
Mark Kenny, Heath Aston Bill Shorten will seek the Labor leadership when the ALP caucus meets in Canberra on Friday in a possible clash with Anthony Albanese.
Let Coalition hang on 'bad' climate policy
![Labor backbencher Nick Champion](http://web.archive.org./web/20130911114641im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2013/09/11/4736841/ac-champion-thumb-20130911074938327727-90x60.jpg)
JUDITH IRELAND 1:28pm Federal Labor should allow the Abbott government to scrap the carbon tax and implement other ''bad policies'' it has in order to expose them as disasters, Labor MP Nick Champion says.
Ex-Lib contender for New York post
![Senator Nick Minchin](http://web.archive.org./web/20130911114641im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2013/09/11/4736909/ac-minchin-thumb-20130911081657482212-90x60.jpg)
Howard-era finance minister Nick Minchin has emerged as a contender to take over as consul-general in New York after Steve Bracks was dumped from the role.
Pro-NBN petition most popular
Family of 'Prisoner X' receive $1.2m compensation
Bishops slam foreign aid cuts
Abbott win sparks surge in confidence
Relationship with the US will remain strong: Bleich
Journalists on asylum boat ignored warnings
No ticks for these how-to-vote cards
Gillard takes up honorary role at alma mater
Abbott expected to visit Indonesia
Ex-Telstra chief tipped for NBN
ASIO reviews its call on four refugees
Doubt hangs over Nauru riot trials
Let's ditch the paper ballots: Turnbull
Record dud vote tally
Xenophon backs reform of Senate
Diaz gaffe casts doubt on father's mayoral hopes
Turnbull may appoint Switkowski to lead NBN Co
Comment & Analysis
Now for giving women the best career rebirth
![Melissa Grah-McIntosh](http://web.archive.org./web/20130911114641im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2013/09/10/4735906/Melissa-Grah-McIntosh_dinkus-90x60.jpg)
Melissa Grah-McIntosh We're not doing enough to help women on maternity leave reboot their careers.
NBN faces sweeping changes
![Adele Ferguson dinkus.](http://web.archive.org./web/20130911114641im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2011/05/31/2398691/Adele_Ferguson-90x60.jpg)
ADELE FERGUSON The biggest certainty facing the NBN is that it will undergo a complete metamorphosis.
Bishop opts for payback politics
![Julie Bishop.](http://web.archive.org./web/20130911114641im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2012/11/28/3842184/julie-bishop-th-90x60.jpg)
DANIEL FLITTON So much for governing for all. The Coalition hasn't even been sworn in but has opted for what appears vendetta politics.
Analysis
Bringing a barnyard of crossbenchers to heel
![tim-colebatch-dinkus](http://web.archive.org./web/20130911114641im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2011/05/10/2355042/tim-colebatch-dinkus-90x60.jpg)
TIM COLEBATCH Opinion Abbott will have to master the art of compromise because the government does not have a mandate to bully its policies through the senate.
Women's vote still in play
![Marilyn Lake](http://web.archive.org./web/20130911114641im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2012/09/06/3615329/Marilyn-Lake-opinion-90x60.jpg)
Marilyn Lake Right to the end, Kevin Rudd refused to give credit for the former PM's achievements.
Credit where it's due for our economy
![peter-martin-dinkus](http://web.archive.org./web/20130911114641im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2011/05/31/2398907/peter-martin-dinkus-90x60.jpg)
PETER MARTIN To hear the leaders talk you would think Labor and the Coalition were miles apart.
Special features
1000 missing votes a blow for Mirabella
The Australian Electoral Commission has discovered a missing bundle of 1003 votes for Indi candidate Cathy McGowan at a pre-polling centre in the north-east Victorian town of Wangaratta.
Gittins: Who's better at running the economy?
Many are pleased the Liberals are back in power. It makes a sort of sense that the party of the bosses is better at running things than the party of the workers.
How to reform Senate voting in one easy step
Bob Brown The scandalous preferential voting system for the upper house must be changed.
Shorten may inherit opposition curse
Tim Colebatch If Bill Shorten takes on the job as opposition leader, a powerful hoodoo stands in his path to The Lodge.
Gillard to take up role at Adeleide alma mater
Julia Gillard has a new job as an honorary visiting professor at her alma mater, the University of Adelaide.
Let's ditch the paper voting method: Turnbull
Judith Ireland The man likely to be the new communications minister has suggested Australia should consider a switch to electronic voting at federal elections in order to cut down on informal and fraudulent voting.