Showdown looms over carbon tax as Shorten takes reins
MARK KENNY A victorious Bill Shorten promises positive agenda, but will not wave through the repeal of the carbon tax
Latest political news
Hedging bets on foreign investment limits
DAN HARRISON Treasurer Joe Hockey may dump the Coalition's pledge to increase scrutiny of foreign investment in farmland to strike a free trade agreement with China.
Cormann met US standoff players
Madeleine Heffernan Finance Minister Mathias Cormann met libertarian groups that are now playing a major role in the US government shutdown.
Push to restore alpine cattle
JOSH GORDON Both the Victorian and Abbott governments are refusing to rule out another scientific trial of cattle grazing in national parks.
KGB 'recruited' two politicians as agents
Philip Dorling A KGB officer ran two Australian federal MPs as Soviet agents in the 1970s, says ASIO report.
Cyclists Party plans state Senate bids
El Nino to 'take greater toll'
'Blowtorch' threat against road-link builders
Debt an early issue for parliament: Joe Hockey
Palmer wants to refund carbon tax payers
Hit and run on crime prevention likely
Cliver Palmer a tough opponent: associates
Wedding woes for Lib MPs
UN slams boat returns as possible breach
Police close in on people smuggling kingpin
Mandatory sentencing for smugglers upheld
NSW Labor MP in $460 taxi ride
Abbott moving quickly on tax changes
Media curbs persist in West Papua
NBN rollout was too ambitious: Conroy
Comment & Analysis
Labor must free itself from faction chiefs
Clare O'Neil Opinion The members need more say, backroom heavies less.
To frack or not to frack
MICHAEL WEST When you take a risk, you have to be prepared for the consequences, as well as the rewards.
God can't fix US's pear-shaped politics
PAUL SHEEHAN The permanent dysfunction in Washington is a symptom, not a cause, of something much deeper afflicting the US.
Lobbyist trio says the field is far from even
KIRSTY NEEDHAM Opinion It has been open season on lobbyists in NSW, and already one minister has declared they shall not darken his door.
Gillard's fatal flaw: she couldn't do vaudeville
Barry Donovan The consoling words of Paul Keating to Julia Gillard - 'Luv, we all get taken out in a box!'
Contrition is the new Coalition condition
MARK KENNY Apologies have become almost de rigueur for new Australian prime ministers.
Tony Abbott is 'a bludger'
MIKE CARLTON We know that you expect us to be as frugal and prudent with your money, which we hold on trust from you, as you would be with your own hard-earned savings.
Blind to our social reality
MARTIN FLANAGAN You don't have to support the annexation of West Papua to support human rights.
Rich people couldn't care less
JULIA BAIRD Congratulations, Australia! We are now the richest people on the planet. Officially loaded. According to the Credit Suisse 2013 Global Wealth Report, our median wealth - $233,504 - is the highest .
Special features
Tale of 'Showbag Bill'
Tony Wright Bill Shorten has made no shortage of enemies on his rise to the Labor leadership.
Mum's the word for constitutional crises
Tony Wright It is surely a relief to Bill Shorten that, when speaking to Governor-General Quentin Bryce, subjects are not required to address her as ''ma'am''.
Caucus trumps rank-and-file
Bill Shorten has won the ALP leadership, despite the rank-and-file members overwhelmingly backing his opponent Anthony Albanese. Mark Kenny analysis.
Miners pinch company tax-cut kitty
Ross Gittins Let me make a fearless prediction: big business will get no cut in the rate of company tax in Abbott's first term, and probably not in a second.
Happy as a pig in perks
Tom Allard Tony Abbott, defiantly facing down the first major political challenge of his prime ministership, may regret his decision to compete in the 2011 Port Macquarie Ironman.
Revealed: Politicians' gifts, trips and tickets
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have built a searchable database showing every Federal politician's financial interests.
Cartoon Gallery
Home of the best cartoons by our resident artists from the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.
The human tide
INTERACTIVE: Track nearly 70,000 asylum seekers who have tried to reach Australia since 1990 and the more than 1500 who have died along the way.
