Silence echoes across Canberra as the Coalition clams up
BIANCA HALL Controlled quiet is the new code in the capital.
Latest political news
Palmer to launch WA Senate challenge
BIANCA HALL 7:36pm West Australian voters are poised to go back to the polls, with mining magnate Clive Palmer confirming he will launch a challenge to the Senate recount with the High Court.
Rudd should stay, says ALP overseer
CAMERON ATFIELD The man tasked with performing a post-mortem on the Labor Party's failed federal election campaign has backed former prime minister Kevin Rudd to remain in Parliament.
Abbott pays surprise visit to gas campaigner
JONATHAN SWAN Debbie Orr was sceptical Tony Abbott would live up to his promise to visit within six weeks of becoming prime minister and listen to her complaints about coal seam gas making her children sick.
Spying could damage regional trust
CHRIS JOHNSON Australia's reputation as a friendly and trusted leader in the region will be dented if it is proved it is using its embassies to spy on neighbouring countries.
NSW unions challenge rules on donations
Palmer has 28 days to declare interests
Labor offers ultimatum over carbon tax
Minister under pressure as visa numbers fall
Disappointed Huawei breaks its NBN silence
Government 'beating people smugglers'
GG to highlight human rights
Ambassador summoned by Indonesia
Ministers see no future for Holden
Young MP tells Palmer to grow up
Listening post revealed on Cocos Islands
Comment & Analysis
Labor can't stop airing its dirty laundry
BIANCA HALL Opinion The most confusing thing about Labor strategist Bruce Hawker's new book, The Rudd Rebellion (to be released on Monday by Melbourne University Press), is why on earth he thought it would be a good idea to publish it now.
The shame that is Abbott's foreign aid policy
MARK BAKER It is striking that Tony Abbott has spent much of the time during his first weeks in the job immersed in the turbulent waters of international affairs.
Palmer not a such a loner in his new house
JUDITH IRELAND For how long now has Clive Palmer been our resident jokester-at-large?
Comment
Spies of the future ought to go low-tech
TONY WRIGHT A while ago now, when there was still a Cold War, the world wide web hadn't yet been invented, no one had a mobile phone in their pocket, I was sent off to trek around the USSR.
Tony Abbott dinner: Oh, to be a fly on the wall
MIKE CARLTON The Club Tony Newsletter: At last! After six dark years of socialist chaos, finally we got to party with Tony where he so rightly belongs: at Kirribilli House, on the verdant shores of Sydney Harbour.
Abbott and his inner Hulk
PETER HARTCHER Opinion Whether Labor lost or the Coalition won isn't semantics, the consensus version of the poll result will shape future decisions.
Action man runs government at a dawdle
JACQUELINE MALEY Opinion Is Tony Abbott - the runner, the marathon man - actually Australia's slowest prime minister? He is certainly not rushing back to Parliament.
Back to grassroots
Quentin Bryce Across all nations and all sectors, women share, in every sense, a lack of recognition of their equal worth and their equal capacity to contribute to a just, peaceful and prosperous society.
The 21st century is Australia's for the taking
Rupert Murdoch Australia should not be angst-ridden over its place in the world. Australia should seize its place in the world.
Labor hurting, but not all was lost
MARK KENNY Opinion The ALP's campaign director did a remarkable job of keeping the party alive.
One for the pin, not a sword
JACK WATERFORD Opinion The Prime Minister's style is best countered by polite, respectful questions, not attempts to outdo his bluster
Special features
Careful, he can hear you
Nick O'Malley All week long as outrage over America's vast international surveillance operation flared around the globe, the White House cooed blandishments about the strength of its relationships.
The business of being Clive
Rory Callinan Sleepy Tweedale Street in the middle-class suburb of Graceville in Brisbane's west hardly seems the type of place that would attract a billionaire investor.
Everyone's dirty little secrets exposed
Damien Murphy Somewhere between the cyber espionage that outed the US as Big Brother Inc and the phone-hacking scandal that sank Rupert Murdoch's British form of journalism, the real news of the world may be Spies 'R' Us.
Future is bleak for auto industry
Comment The future of the Australian car industry is largely in the hands of governments - and the car makers know it.
In truth, the spying game is a necessary evil
Paul Monk However unpalatable, eavesdropping on our neighbours is vital for our own protection in a world of confusion and mistrust. There's just no way around it.
Equality more than just a matter of language
Waleed Aly Symbolism is important when it comes to the divisive issue of same-sex marriage.
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.