Goodes aims to kick political footballs
CHRISTINE SAMS Adam Goodes has revealed he is considering a future career in politics.
Latest political news
Howard cabinet ministers who prefer VIP air
Senior figures in the Abbott government previously enjoyed a military escort, write Mark Hawthorne, Paddy Doulman and Jonathan Swan.
Abbott function for conservative media faithful
Anne Tarasov Prime Minister Tony Abbott entertained a who's who of Australian conservative columnists at Kirribilli House on Saturday night.
Federal belt-tightening figures deemed wobbly
Paul Malone and Bianca Hall Many of the official costings the federal government has used to justify its budget-tightening credentials are unreliable.
Politicians immune to salary reforms: Mack
Damien Murphy Australia's major political parties have become like two mafia families seeking control of the public purse for distribution to themselves and their supporters, former independent MP Ted Mack says.
Call for overhaul of state MPs' perks
FARRAH TOMAZIN Victorian Premier Denis Napthine has been advised to set up protocols dealing with the alleged misuse of parliamentary entitlements.
Funding cuts 'worse' without Gonski funds
KIRSTY NEEDHAM The funding cuts to disadvantaged NSW schools would have been worse than the $5.6 million outlined by NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli if the Gillard government had not tipped in $100 million in Gonski cash, a top education bureaucrat says.
MPs caught up in bank spying
Swan took Treasury advice on RBA fund
Stick to the climate science: professor
Palmer candidates 'waiting to be paid back'
Indonesia ready to grant parole to Corby
Local Iranians on hunger strike over killings
Randall justifies claiming for Cairns trip
Pair facing asylum seeker charges
Labor warns Hockey over NDIS cutbacks
Climate change raising fire risk
Two arrested on people smuggling charges
Challenge to same-sex marriage in High Court
Minnows threaten Senate havoc
O'Farrell to speak with Abbott on Defence fires
Activist in bid to replace Carr
Medibank sale process takes first step
Comment & Analysis
Racial tolerance begins in Parliament
JULIA BAIRD Blackface. Will it ever stop? In 2009, Harry Connick jnr was forced to spell out to Daryl Somers - in embarrassingly simple terms - that skits where white people made black people look like buffoons were deeply offensive.
Bless this marriage law
Judith Ireland When the Federal Parliament resumes next month, don't expect it to have the rainbow flag flying. Capital Hill has a history of lagging behind popular opinion on same-sex marriage.
The minister for debasing the language
WARWICK MCFADYEN Let us call a spade a spade shall we, Scott Morrison? Your edict, that asylum seekers must be referred to as "illegal maritime arrivals", is shameless and shameful.
PM must do more than put a finger in the dyke
MARTIN FLANAGAN Those who demand action on climate change are dismissed for being religious in their fervour.
Fighting fire with fire: A lot of hot air?
TONY WRIGHT A few small burnt patches are preferable to the loss of thousands of hectares and properties.
Lecture a call to arms for media women
Neil McMahon For women making their way in the media, self-doubt often shares space with sexism among the obstacles.
Global warming: no country is an island
PETER HANNAM Because Australia's weather is so variable, linking disasters to climate change will be a hard sell.
Labor's future hinges on its faith with workforce
Louise Tarrant As the national secretary of one of Australia's largest Labor-affiliated unions, I am aware that many members would agree with the party's most strident critics - something is fundamentally broken with the ALP.
She'll be apples - with courage and luck
MIKE CARLTON Day and night the big rigs roar through Bilpin on the Bell's Line of Road in the Blue Mountains, rolling west to Lithgow and beyond. The hamlet itself moves gently, to the rhythm of the seasons.
Trader Joe playing the forex tables
MICHAEL PASCOE Here's another thing pointing to the cunning plan behind Joe Hockey's $8.8 billion gift to the Reserve Bank this week: the Reserve board wasn't asking for it, didn't think there was any urgent need for it.
Brave hearts will guide us this summer
Tony Abbott This sunburnt country of ours tests us often. In the last week it has tested us, but we have not been found wanting.
Scales of justice still quite white
RICHARD ACKLAND Step off the train at Parramatta and you could be in a different country. At least that's the way it looks to a white-bread boy from the eastern suburbs.
Carr's cynical departure
PAUL SHEEHAN Bob Carr clearly regards himself as too important to serve in opposition.
Why housing is a challenge for DisabilityCare
Di Winkler More than 6000 Australians aged 18 to 65 live in nursing homes because they have no other options. They are effectively excluded from society and experience deep and persistent disadvantage.
Special features
Hockey has promises to keep in budget battle
Tom Allard Campaign pledges leave the government little room to cut federal spending, leaving the ballooning welfare budget in its sights.
ADF 'warrior ethos' poisons the system
Christopher Knaus 'I just had a f---ing sick idea pop into my head. F--- her and film it,' Deblaquiere wrote in 2011.
For better or worse, MPs say I do ... or I don't
Sean Nicholls Even with the Premier and Opposition Leader on side, the politics of legalising same-sex marriage in NSW is complicated.
Mawson doubts: hero or heel?
Andrew Darby Australia's polar hero, Douglas Mawson, survived an epic Antarctic ordeal after he deliberately starved his surviving companion to death and possibly ate him, a new book suggests.
Wikipedia's verdict: Hunt 'terrible at his job'
Tony Wright Anyone with an internet connection can look up Greg Hunt on Wikipedia.
'I looked up what Wikipedia said'
Environment Minister Greg Hunt admits to using Wikipedia to dispute links drawn between bushfires and climate change.
Gay marriage a political diversion?
Shadow Attorney General Mark Dreyfus QC says the High Court challenge will be decided on a 'narrow technical question'.
Carr's legacy suffered in era of uncertainty
Analysis It's no secret that Bob Carr long yearned to be Australia's foreign minister. The time, when it came, was just 18 - too short to carve out a foreign policy legacy.
Investigating MPs' expenses
Fairfax Media has conducted an extensive investigation on MPs claiming expense entitlements. Read our coverage here.
Cartoon Gallery
Home of the best cartoons by our resident artists from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.
