What’s next for Newcastle when the coal runs out? A conference last week urged an innovation drive to kickstart a new business boom for the region.

The gas industry has taken a problem of its own making to spin its drilling activities. And the federal government seems to have taken the bait, writes Australian Institute economist Matt Grudnoff.

The polls pointed to a landslide to the Liberals in Sydney, but Labor managed to retain its base. How did they do it, and how did the polls get it so wrong? Crikey intern Angelo Risso reports.

Crikey asks the sharpest political commentators which leader got the best of the campaigning day yesterday, plus we track where the leaders are and what cash promises they’ve made …

Labor campaigners have been caught red-handed ripping down Liberal Party posters in Western Sydney. Party HQ has sacked the staffer and volunteer from the campaign.

New South Wales has consistently produced conventional results since the era of six-seat half-Senate elections began in 1990. Will things change this time?

The candidates for the must-win Sydney seat of Lindsay lined up at a debate last night — and one had, well, sex appeal. Our reporter was at Emu Plains to judge Fiona Scott vs David Bradbury.

Barnaby Joyce can talk through anything. Even spruiking hopeless candidates. Even for a party that may no longer have a constituency. Our man on the trail went to Maitland to meet a new local hero.

Blacktown is a city without a centre, an important voice in the federal election that is actually many. Crikey’s writer-at-large ventured west into the sprawl, where it still feels like the 1970s.

Labor’s $450 million outside school hours childcare announcement is aimed very clearly at Sydney voters.

Eden-Monaro may lose its status as the nation’s bellwether seat this time around. Which, as freelance journalist James Rose discovered walking around Queanbeyan, wouldn’t trouble the locals.

There’s a stench around Labor — in NSW at least — as ICAC hands down its findings on the Obeid affair. Criminal charges have been recommended against the men who ran the state like a private club.

Electorates Dunkley and Macquarie are among the most marginal in the country. William Bowe profiles them in this week’s Seat of the Week.

Craig Thomson’s laywer is suing the NSW ALP for tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. But Sussex Street says it’s an ambit claim and will fight it in court. Crikey has the statement of claim.

Journalist and author Jonathan Englert says Australia should think twice before making James Packer’s new casino the face of Australia.

The market loves the deal to give James Packer’s Crown a new casino licence in Sydney. But NSW taxpayers aren’t on as safe a bet as they think they are.

Why is a South African national accused of accruing billions of rand through a Ponzi scheme living in the Queensland suburb of Runaway Bay? South African-Australian journalist Larry Schlesinger examines the case.

Poor assessment of risk, and motorists’ loathing of tolls, has long made infrastructure funding problematic. The NSW government is trying for a new approach.

Jeanette Newman, the wife of Tony Abbott’s business tsar, is involved in organising a rally against wind farms in NSW.

The NSW government plans to trial deterring young people from train stations by playing a high-frequency sound adults can’t hear. It’s treating youth as second-class citizens, writes Charles Richardson.

Is a crack forming in the glass ceiling of professional sporting codes? The Bulldogs’ appointment of the first female to run a footy team is a step in the right direction, writes Crikey publishing director Marina Go.

Some photographs from warzones have been censored from a NSW-government funded festival, a move which has prompted some photographers to withdraw from the event. Crikey intern Shaun Ewart reports.

James Packer courted rival casino group Echo Entertainment and ousted its chairman only to sell out yesterday and bet the house on his planned Barangaroo casino development.

There is a broad consensus in the medical community that immunisation is safe, effective and healthy — although not all parents agree. Monash University Law School associate professor Dr Paula Gerber says making childcare conditional upon being vaccinated violates a child’s human rights.

Three years ago, the outer western Sydney seat of Fowler was Labor’s third safest in the country. Now there are fears the ALP may lose it, writes William Bowe.

It looks like the ACT will pass same-sex marriage laws, and the feds will try to knock them down in the High Court. ANU constitutional law lecturer Ryan Goss looks at the legal aspects of the looming stoush.

The ACT wants to legalise gay marriage but there’s a bevvy of legal challenges the bill could face. David Donaldson lists the obstacles … and finds the big problem could be divorce, not marriage.

Labor lost its grip on the electorate covering the south of the national capital amid the wreckage of the Whitlam and Keating governments, but few people suggest it will go that way again this year, writes William Bowe.

The idea that there are “federal implications” of state elections doesn’t hold up under examination. But that doesn’t mean the Gillard government will hold on in this year’s federal election.

Local ACT Liberal leader Zed Seselja has launched a raid on the seat of sitting Senator Gary Humphries, pitching conservative against moderate and annoying some at the federal level.

Despite unfavourable redistributions and a statewide swing in 2010, Bill Hayden’s old seat has returned to safe Labor hands since the famous interruption of Pauline Hanson. It is William Bowe’s seat of the week.

The recent ACT election saw an unexpected swing towards women, though the overall number of women in the Legislative Assembly is declining, writes Glen Fuller.

Ahead of the ACT election, The Canberra Times called it as an easy Labor victory based on its “exclusive poll”. The poll was way out. So what went wrong?

Andrew Wilkie’s move to introduce a whistleblowing bill prompted some action from a government hitherto content to ignore the issue — but legislative action may fall off the “to do” list again.

Election results in Sydney, Melbourne and the ACT point to moderately good news for Labor — and the Greens will take some comfort from their inner-city results. Is the anti-incumbency vibe waning?

The ACT has voted and political types are biting their nails as counting continues — but a Labor-Green government is the most likely outcome, due to fractious relations between Greens and Liberals.

Leaving national implications aside, the major parties can both take heart from the gains made at the expense of the Greens in Saturday’s ACT election.

Student journalists Jacqui Garrity and Jelisa Apps, after gobbling down a couple of snags, analyse the ACT election result and the state of negotiations between the three parties.

A national-first prison needle exchange proposed for the ACT has sparked debate ahead of the territory’s election on Saturday. Reporter Ben Westcott examines the proposal.

Student journalists Jacqui Garrity and Jelisa Apps examine active transport policies in the lead up to the ACT election.

It may seem like a case of déjà vu, but ACT voters can be forgiven for thinking they have heard it all before when it comes to bringing light rail to Canberra, reports student journalist Alexandria Caughey Hutt.

The one and only public opinion poll of the Australian Capital Territory election campaign finds Labor headed for a comfortable-to-landslide victory, with three of the Greens’ four seats hanging in the balance, reports William Bowe.

Students and staff at the University of Canberra are divided over the actions of a Catholic doctor at the university medical centre who refuses to prescribe contraception and suggested a gay student have a hormone test.

Debate over how best to alter stamp duty in the ACT has been a major part of both the ACT Liberal and ACT Labor party campaigns, as student journalist Russell Ayres reports.

ACT Liberal policy to introduce free garden waste bins has concerned some locally-owned Canberra waste processing plants. Student journalist Molly Baxter investigates the impact.

Is Canberra more than roundabouts and brothels? With the ACT election looming on October 20, journalism students at the University of Canberra bring us the inside story on the poll.

Barry O’Farrell and the Capital Airport Group believe High Speed Rail will allow Sydney’s second airport to be located 250 km away in Canberra. Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce, reckons the idea is outrageous.

The common ground between Canberra Airport’s ambition to become Sydney’s 2nd Airport, and wish of the NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell to support it, is a future high speed rail link between both cities, writes Ben Sandilands.

Amid a backdrop of deep cuts to the public service by conservative governments elsewhere, the looming Australian Capital Territory election gives Labor a strong chance of ending a two-year run of successive state and territory election defeats.

The notoriously turbulent Northern Territory government has unceremoniously dumped another minister — but this one has friends in high places.

Is Warren Mundine in favour of military intervention in the NT?

The Commonwealth government has a history of intervening in indigenous affairs without local consultation. ANU professor Jon Altman asks: do the Stronger Futures laws contravene human rights?

Congressional hearings in Washington have revealed the US military is openly canvassing hosting controversial unmanned aircraft in the region — including at Australian bases.

If Armando Iannucci and his team of writers for The Thick of It run out of material, they can take a squiz at transcripts from this year’s Estimates Committee hearings of the NT Legislative Assembly. Bob Gosford scours the records for comedy gold.

This week’s 2013 NAIDOC celebrations focus on the role of the Yirrkala bark petitions. Bob Gosford examines the equally significant history and importance of the Yirrkala Church Panels, also created in 1963.

The 1963 Yirrkala Bark Petitions had a huge impact on Aboriginal land rights. Bob Gosford reflects on how they came to be — and the role an old typewriter had in changing the course of Australian history.

Kevin Rudd has intervened into the rotten branches of the NSW Labor Party, promising to spread reform nation-wide. He’s in a better position to do it than Julia Gillard.

In a new marketing campaign, the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation claim four out of five indigenous kids in remote communities can’t read. It’s an incorrect statistic and its wrong of them to pretend otherwise, writes Greg Dickson.

Incensed by a speech Northern Territory MP Bess Price made earlier this month about the political left’s approach to Aboriginal issues, self-described black feminist Celeste Liddle fires back.

The NT government’s abolition of the Banned Drinkers Register has divided opinion in Central Australia. Swinburne Institute for Social Research research fellow Eleanor Hogan reports for Inside Story.

The NT government’s proposed initiative to mandatorily detain “problem drinkers” is discriminatory and risks causer wider harm. Win Yee Tan and Melanie Johnson explain why.

The NT government’s $100 million plan to detain citizens who have not committed crimes but are regularly liquored-up in public is the latest alcohol initiative that won’t work — and more than likely exacerbate the problem.

Adam Giles abolished the NT’s indigenous affairs portfolio and vowed to put Aboriginal people to work. But that’s easier said than done, writes ANU Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research’s Jon Altman.

Police operations like Thumper in Katherine and other towns of the Top End do not stand unsupported. Thumping is now big business, writes Bob Gosford.

Adam Giles has to restore credibility to the troubled CLP government, which last week he described as “divided” and “in crisis” under former Chief Minister Terry Mills, writes Bob Gosford.

Tony Abbott says that under a Coalition Government parents would face on-the-spot fines for “failingâ€� to send their kids to school. But it won’t work, writes a criminal justice system insider.

It took a little longer than originally planned but Adam Giles has taken power in the NT. So how did Australia’s first Aboriginal political leader make it to the top? It wasn’t easy, writes Bob Gosford.

If Labor continues its current trajectory, the party is doomed. Now is the time for serious decisions, writes disgruntled NT Labor Shadow Minister Kon Vatskalis.

Yesterday the slow moving train wreck that is the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party government drove itself over a cliff, writes Bob Gosford.

The NT government wants a mortgage-led development strategy for Aboriginal homelands. But can individualism and the free markets exist alongside Aboriginal kinship and land rights? ANU’s Jon Altman explains.

What exactly is the Northern Territory’s troubled recycling legislation, and what does it have to do with the price of a can of Coke? Lawyer Sarah Burnside explains.

John Elferink will go to the backbench. Lia Finnochario will get a ministry. Kezia Purick will be back in the fold. And the Northern Territory might get a new leader by lunchtime. The Northern Myth blogs the latest.

Local Darwin broadcaster and former Country Party Minister Darryl Manzie has read out a scathing letter he received from a very disaffected CLP member. Bob Gosford has the transcript.

The academic background to last year’s Boyer Lectures was funded by global miners Rio Tinto and Woodside. But the audience was none the wiser. Should she and the ABC have disclosed?

The downgrade of Western Australia’s credit rating illustrates how governments can’t merely talk about fiscal discipline, they need to show it. Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane report.

Clive Palmer kept the media guessing on election night — until he sniffed a win. Freelance journalist James Rose reflects on his night with Clive — who now looms large on the political scene.

Queenslanders love Bob Katter’s big hat and bigger swagger, but his folksy charm is wearing thin in some parts of the Tablelands.

There is a new threat to the Great Barrier Reef in the form of shipping and nearby mining, writes local journalist John Mikkelsen. Will anyone except the Greens talk about it?

With former Queensland premier Peter Beattie announcing his candidacy for the federal seat of Forde, writer Melissa Lucashenko reports from Logan to find out what he’s campaigning for.

Brisbane-based political analyst Dr Mark Bahnisch says Peter Beattie was the original Kevin Rudd — a charismatic Queensland politician who ruled through personality, not politics.

The University of Queensland’s student union was set to turn leftwards for the first time in years, but amid electoral regularities the vote has been declared null and void.

Whatever Peter Beattie’s relationship with Kevin Rudd, his entry to federal politics boosts Labor.

A candidate for the Liberal National Party in Queensland was found guilty of professional misconduct by the state’s chief legal discipline body, Crikey has learned. David Lin says they were “clerical errors”.

Ben Riley, a rising star in the Young Liberals, has been controversially suspended for six months for pinching a pair of RM Williams boots at a party convention. The swift punishment has exposed party tensions.

The report on the Gladstone harbour development is in its final stages but has been delayed. But local journalist John Mikkelsen reports the delay was not politically motivated.

With the return of Kevin Rudd, a number of seats previously considered unwinnable have been deemed up for grabs. William Bowe profiles the Queensland electorates of Forde and Herbert.

Today’s ABS jobs data shows unemployment has risen a little, but Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane argue the data is modestly good news. Queensland is holding us back however.

Brisbane’s inner south again finds itself represented by a Prime Minister after another absorbing week in federal politics. William Bowe homes in on Kevin Rudd’s electorate.

Why is a South African national accused of accruing billions of rand through a Ponzi scheme living in the Queensland suburb of Runaway Bay? South African-Australian journalist Larry Schlesinger examines the case.

The expectation that CDEP participants will engage with market capitalism has failed, writes Professor Jon Altman at ANU’s Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research.

UNESCO has held off putting the Great Barrier Reef on its endangered list — for now. Crikey intern Sasha Petrova finds out why the reef’s in trouble and what the next steps are.

Following the death of a Brisbane cyclist struck down by a cement truck, there are calls for new road rules requiring a minimum safe passing distance when vehicles overtake riders, writes Alan Davies.

Want to know how secret internal polling is conducted and put to use? Possum Comitatus kicks the door down, exposing how a modern politician campaign actually runs.

Possum Comitatus fires up his Pollytics machine to analyse data and breakdowns from the largest political poll ever conducted in Australia, focusing on privatisation and Queensland.

Is there any way to stop a Queensland mine? Queensland-based freelance journalist Amanda Gearing investigates the effectiveness of an environmental impact statement (hint: not much).

UPDATED: The Queensland government had serious concerns over funding Noel Pearson’s Cape York welfare reform trial. Researcher Dr Kristian Lasslett reveals ongoing governance issues did give cause for concern.

Within weeks of floating it, the Queensland government has backed away from its dramatic new vision for an efficient, high-frequency bus network for south-east Queensland. Alan Davies explains why.

Queensland may allow the shipping of uranium over the Great Barrier Reef. Is this a danger to one of Australia’s most treasured natural assets? Crikey intern Tim Fitzpatrick investigates.

Three Coalition premiers are running the east coast states. A Crikey analysis of their economies shows Barry O’Farrell is streets ahead, while Victoria marks time and Queensland is in the doldrums.

A Greens preference deal has snared votes for Sarah Hanson-Young while funneling preferences to conservative former HR Nicholls Society board member Bob Day, who has the effective balance of power.

After the chaos of Kevin Rudd’s election campaign, his right-hand-man Bruce Hawker is set to skip the South Australian election campaign. David Washington of InDaily reports.

When a student complained about being “forced” to appear naked on stage, all hell broke loose. Flinders University academic and theatremaker Julian Meyrick peels back the madness to find the truth.

An atheist church is about to open its second Australian congregation. Crikey intern Bension Siebert got out his Sunday best and headed down to talk to Melbourne’s godless believers.

A South Australian school and the Education Department failed to notify parents that a care worker at the school had sexually abused a child. InDaily editor David Washington asks: who is to blame?

On the northern fringe of Adelaide, Wakefield has a safe-looking double-digit Labor margin — but indications of a strong statewide swing have given the Libs hope, writes William Bowe.

The impressive opening ceremony of the 12th National Rural Health Conference in Adelaide showcased the importance of creativity, community, inclusion and equal opportunities, reports Marge Overs.

They’re 40 metres wide, can stay in the air for 30 hours, and are set to patrol Australia’s borders — with not a pilot in sight. The Triton drones are coming to Adelaide, reports InDaily’s Liam Mannix.

The idea that there are “federal implications” of state elections doesn’t hold up under examination. But that doesn’t mean the Gillard government will hold on in this year’s federal election.

Since leaving the frontbench, SA MP Pat Conlon has been working for Minter Ellison three days a week. His constitutes aren’t stimulating enough, reports Kevin Naughton of InDaily.

The Greens are on track to underperform compared with the 2010 election. In which case, getting your competitor to differentiate you isn’t such a bad strategy.

Labor enjoyed blowout majorities in traditionally marginal Adelaide seats at the 2010 election, but the Liberals are expressing optimism that what went up might be about to come down, writes William Bowe.

Steven Marshall seems to have the numbers to claim the leadership of the South Australian opposition. But Alexander Downer’s bid might not be dead, writes Kevin Naughton of InDaily.

South Australian Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond has finally fallen on her sword. It’s a huge relief to many of her colleagues, writes Kevin Naughton of InDaily.

Jay Weatherill’s new-look South Australian cabinet reveals an election strategy that will have to cover over big cuts. The Premier himself has stepped up to massage the numbers, writes David Washington of InDaily.

Could Alexander Downer rescue the SA Liberal Party and defeat Labor at the 2014 election? The odds are firming — but he would have to either do a Newman, or enter Parliament first. InDaily’s Kevin Naughton investigates.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill will reshuffle his cabinet and possibly give himself the plum role of treasurer. Though it’s hard to see why he’d want it, writes InDaily editor David Washington.

South Australian Treasurer Jack Snelling has taken an axe to the budget, as falling revenues and a failure to meet targets pushes out the deficit. Even government spinners will go, reports Kevin Naughton of InDaily.

As SA Premier Jay Weatherill enters the run up to the 2014 election, he’s dogged by a high-profile inquiry into alleged cover-ups of sexual abuse at an Adelaide school. InDailyeditor David Washington explains.

Research shows that heatwaves are increasing in severity and some say government policy is still woefully inadequate globally, writes Liam Mannix at InDaily.

Last held by Labor in 1949, the southern Adelaide seat of Boothby — William Bowe’s Seat of the Week — has been trending in the party’s direction since the early Howard years.

The Labor Left is furious that Finance Minister Penny Wong has been placed behind Don Farrell on the South Australian ticket. Why was she overlooked in favour of a ‘faceless man’?

Kate Ellis’s electorate of Adelaide is a one-time Labor stronghold which has generally been marginal since the late 1980s, writes William Bowe.

Isobel Redmond relied on her rural colleagues to narrowly retain the SA Liberal leadership as an old party split cast long shadows, writes Kevin Naughton of InDaily.

Liberal leadership turmoil hasn’t saved SA Labor from sinking to its worst position in Newspoll since it came to office a decade ago.

Calls for anti-boycott legislation by the Tasmanian forest industry will test the free speech bona fides of Attorney-General George Brandis. Will he take up the challenge?

Jacqui Lambie, a Tasmanian Senate candidate for PUP, looks likely to win a seat and co-hold the balance of power. So who is she?

A day out on the campaign trail in Andrew Wilkie’s seat of Denison shows the power of personal connection — and pork-barrelling. Crikey hits the road with Wilkie and ALP candidate Jane Austin in Hobart.

It’s de rigueur to hate independents in this federal election campaign — but Andrew Wilkie is on track to hold his Tasmanian seat, probably with the help of Liberal preferences. What happens next?

Hobart’s Dark Mofo arts festival, which runs till the Winter Solstice (June 23), is a celebration of the dark through large-scale public art, food and music, as well as “light and noise”.

Tasmania has too many holes in its budget, amplified by shrinking GST revenue and failing government businesses. Tasmania-based economist and accountant John Lawrence looks at the structural problems.

Andrew Wilkie’s snaring of the Hobart seat of Denison was the biggest surprise of the last election. His challenge to keep it during the next one will make for a complicated contest, writes William Bowe.

The PR war over wind turbines on King Island is heating up as professional operatives jump on board. Ben Haslem and John Wells are backing the No TasWind Farm Group to run the project off the island.

They’re declaring peace in the forests of Tasmanian. But the deal passed through Parliament isn’t worth much for the environment without further protection for the remaining reserves.

The Tasmanian forestry industry is out for the count. But it is taking $1 billion in taxpayer dollars with it, writes Tasmania-based freelance writer John Lawrence.

The eastern and outer southern Hobart seat of Franklin has been in the Labor fold for two decades, but the party is said to have grave fears for the seat amid a state-wide collapse in support.

The idea that there are “federal implications” of state elections doesn’t hold up under examination. But that doesn’t mean the Gillard government will hold on in this year’s federal election.

Gunns might have been trading insolvent when it took $23 million from the federal government for its non-existent pulp mill, writes Tasmanian economist and analyst John Lawrence at Tasmanian Times.

Hobart’s wildly contemporary Museum of Old and New Art has become one of the most talked about attractions in the country. In an essay for GriffithREVIEW, founder David Walsh explains why he built MONA in his home town.

Tasmania lags the nation in all important economic and social criteria. In an essay for GriffithREVIEW, Jonathan West says a malaise has descended over the Apple Isle. Its industry is broken and its people fear change.

What’s the timber industry quietly seeking from government behind closed doors? What happens in these discussions will shape the debate for at least a decade, write Andrew Macintosh and Richard Denniss.

Tasmania usually only makes the headlines because of environmentalists wanting to save trees. Now firefighters battling dangerous bushfires in the island state are in spotlight, reports Bruce Montgomery in Hobart.

Most of the trees felled in Tasmania’s forests end up as waste and woodchips. Andrew Macintosh and Richard Denniss crunch the numbers in a new Australia Institute infographic.

A deal to end the Tasmanian forest wars will soon go before state Parliament. Tasmanian-based accountant and former economist John Lawrence crunches the numbers and poses some pertinent questions.

The new deal to bring about peace in Tasmania’s forests is an example of how not to write policy. And Tasmania may be missing out on a massive opportunity, report Andrew Macintosh and Richard Denniss.

A deal has just been struck to end Tasmania’s 40-year war over forests. Tasmanian-based freelance journalist Bruce Montgomery asks if the armistice will hold.

The ABC is right to reduce its cost base and outsource television production in Tasmania, even if no one likes it. It makes the most economic sense.

The war over Tasmania’s forests is painted as jobs vs trees. But how many jobs are there really in the state’s forestry sector? Andrew Macintosh from the ANU and Richard Denniss from The Australia Institute investigate.

Tasmania’s upper house was evenly split on a gay marriage bill before voting it down last month. Gay marriage campaigner Rodney Croome explains the last-minute legal ambush which changed minds.

Most bank managers will tell you that before they can help you, you should get your mind and your house in order. That’s the challenge facing Tasmania.

A high-ranking secretary at Victoria’s Department of Education has been mentioned in a local government scandal involving the mismanagement of child sexual assault allegations.

The RACV board election stoush is reaching fever pitch.

The battle between Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese for the Labor Leadership is ratcheting up. David Feeney will lead Shorten’s campaign, pitting him against Mark Butler for “Albo”.

Freelance writer Mel Campbell is in Greenstown with Adam Bandt, where everyone is donning ponchos, stockpiling lattes and readying themselves for the culture wars to come.

The battle for Indi has turned white hot as Sophie Mirabella pulls out all stops to hold on to her crumbling fiefdom. New campaign material hides the candidate from view.

Out beyond the Labor strongholds, Liberal MP Dan Tehan is hitting the highways to maintain his healthy margin in the Victorian seat Wannon. Crikey went along for the ride.

Journos in Melbourne are spitting chips after they were told to shift from their spiritual home by Denis Napthine’s mandarins. It seems paranoid Liberal operatives thought they were being spied on.

Labor has accused the Greens in Victorian of ratting on a national preference deal and deliberately running “open” tickets.

Most people are polite at Berwick Station as they’re accosted by Labor candidate Laura Smyth, but she has a huge challenge to hold La Trobe. Crikey spent the day in the outer-Melbourne seat.

There’s a well-oiled machine in a dingy Melbourne office block working overtime to keep Greens MP Adam Bandt in Parliament. But the social shifts in the progressive seat are more helpful.

For the challenger, it takes plenty of shoe leather — and front — to hit the campaign trail in a safe seat. The Citizen’s Michael Roddan tagged along with one such political hopeful.

Clare O’Neil has won endorsement to run for Labor in Hotham, but not before internal party rivals tried to discredit her with dirt-digging into her past.

McDonald’s protesters have been “ringed” by police as their Tecoma occupation continues in the face of mounting pressure to disperse.

Leaked notes from McDonald’s management show the fast food giant is liaising with police to bring in a search and rescue team to end a protest at a controversial Victorian restaurant site.

Electorates Dunkley and Macquarie are among the most marginal in the country. William Bowe profiles them in this week’s Seat of the Week.

The Labor Party’s Left have told the bickering Victorian Right to take a cold shower and come and see them again when they’ve sorted out their differences.

Victorian Labor is at breaking point as the battle for preselection in Simon Crean’s seat of Hotham turns nuclear. Letters and accusations are flying ahead of tonight’s vote.

The Victorian ALP has received five nominations for the number three spot on the party’s Senate ticket vacated by David Feeney.

A group of community protesters are being sued by global food giant McDonald’s for protesting at the Melbourne site where the company want to build a store. Crikey has obtained the full cache of court documents.

Monash councillor and Hotham preselection contender Geoff Lake has emerged smiling from a meeting of the Victorian ALP’s Labor Unity grouping. But a factional fight is still brewing.

Gerard Geer makes sculptures and jewellery out of roadkill, contravening the Wildlife Act. He promises to burn his art, but not before one final exhibition. Crikey intern Bension Siebert reports.

Julia Gillard’s preferred pick to move into her safe Labor seat of Lalor has sailed into a factional fight over her apparent ineligibility and long-standing backroom deals on candidates.

Freelance journalist Stephen Mayne and Crikey senior journalist Andrew Crook find out who’s who at the Labor zoo.

Was the weekend Victoria Police raid on a St Kilda art gallery motivated by wannabe local politicians? Art critic Mark Holsworth examines the issues surrounding the criticisms of artist Paul Yore.

A high-profile mayor has entered Labor’s race for the safe seat of Batman. Senator David Feeney’s prospects of moving to the lower house are now taking blows from both sides.

If you’re looking for sovereign risk in the resources sector, look no further than Colin Barnett’s threat to shutter the Browse project. Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer report.

The downgrade of Western Australia’s credit rating illustrates how governments can’t merely talk about fiscal discipline, they need to show it. Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane report.

Western Australia provides the most consistent senate results, which is a nice change from Queensland, the other frontier state.

Plans for a gas hub at James Price Point have hit another snag. What’s the big deal about James Price Point anyway? Former native title lawyer and Perth writer Sarah Burnside explains.

A decision by the WikiLeaks Party to direct preferences away from Julian Assange’s strongest political supporter has incensed supporters. They should have known better.

The Western Australian government’s budget and Rio Tinto’s continuing reliance on the Pilbara reflect economic reality rather than political or corporate rhetoric, write Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer.

Thousands of government documents are unsecured and at risk in WA due to a lack of shelf space in the records office. 3rd Degree student journalist Karma Barndon reports.

Yes, WA Labor lost. But the party didn’t lose big, and it’s very difficult to dislodge a first-term government. The result will not be the end of WA Labor, and Mark McGowan will be in a stronger position next time around.

The Western Australian election is all decided, and neither Greens nor Liberals got any benefit from the other’s preferences. Charles Richardson crunches the numbers.

While WA Labor leader Mark McGowan out-campaigned the Premier, Labor suffered a huge swing. Former WA Liberal (and Independent Liberal) senator Noel Crichton-Browne points the finger at federal Labor — and the Nationals.

The idea that there are “federal implications” of state elections doesn’t hold up under examination. But that doesn’t mean the Gillard government will hold on in this year’s federal election.

Colin Barnett’s Liberal government in Western Australia won a decisive majority in the state poll on Saturday, marginalising the Nationals and giving federal Labor headaches.

The hangover for Labor after the Western Australian election is crippling. Crikey’s polling guru examines the wreckage and the key gains for the returned Barnett government.

Ted Baillieu might now be regretting his decision to preference Labor ahead of the Greens. In Western Australia, the Liberals and Greens have come to terms. Denis Napthine should consider doing the same.

WA Labor leader Mark McGowan is personally popular, but that won’t be enough to get his party over the line in tomorrow’s state election. But is a vote for Barnett a vote for Troy Buswell?

WA is in a fit of pique and feeling pretty hard done by, writes former Western Australian Callum Denness. Its politicians want nothing to do with eastern elitism and populist taxes, thank you very much.

A major mining company is going to spoil someone’s pastoral lease without their consent, writes former native title lawyer Sarah Burnside. Only thing is, “someone” is Andrew Forrest.

The election for the WA Legislative Council will be the seventh held since the introduction of the current system of proportional representation. William Bowe surveys the six voting regions.

With the baseball bats out, Mark McGowan faces a hammering at the Western Australian election. The Opposition Leader has done a good job, but federal Labor’s woes will ensure defeat.

The academic background to last year’s Boyer Lectures was funded by global miners Rio Tinto and Woodside. But the audience was none the wiser. Should she and the ABC have disclosed?

The Liberal campaign in WA has been a chaotic mess, with Colin Barnett’s Labor challenger Mark McGowan running well. Think the Liberals will be handily re-elected? Look closer, says former Labor adviser Luke Walladge.

The Greens are on track to underperform compared with the 2010 election. In which case, getting your competitor to differentiate you isn’t such a bad strategy.

The WA election just got more confusing with the release of upper house preference tickets and Labor’s direction of preferences in several key regional seats to the Liberals ahead of the Nationals, writes William Bowe.

It’s just a few weeks until WA heads to the polls. Local boy David Ritter outlines the political — and cultural — landscape of the boom mining state. Five dollar flat white, anyone?

Western Australia’s cultural scene is flourishing. As Perth booms with mining wealth, its international festivals are expanding and the local scene is a melting pot of renewed creativity.