Coalition's jobs pledge queried
DAVID WROE The Abbott government came up with its pledge to create 1 million jobs in five years solely on the employment growth rate achieved under the former Howard government, a Coalition insider says.
Latest political news
Government seeks mobile black spot help
Lucy Battersby 4:58pm Rural residents and holidaymakers visiting Australian regional towns and remote areas can now help the government identify which areas need better mobile coverage.
Bernardi calls for new debate on abortion
DAN HARRISON 11:39am Prime Minister Tony Abbott distances himself from controversial senator after Cory Bernardi rails against "non-traditional" families and calls for more flexible industrial relations laws.
Regulator urges Abbott to act on privatisation
Patrick Durkin 8:29am ACCC urges Prime Minister Tony Abbott to sell assets such as Australia Post and Medibank Private and push for the privatisation of state-owned energy companies.
Shorten decries PM's priorities
JACQUELINE MALEY Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will launch his political year with a cost-of-living attack on the government.
Byelection date set in Rudd's former seat
DAVID WROE 3:35pm The by-election for ex-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's former federal seat will be held on February 8.
Whaling activists find Japanese fleet
ANDREW DARBY 1:28pm Activists from Sea Shepherd Australia have found the Japanese whaling fleet and disrupted the hunt, renewing the Antarctic conflict.
Warning as Middle East conflict widens
DAVID WROE The Abbott government has expressed ''deep concern'' and experts have warned of a lengthy sectarian conflict across the Middle East after fighters linked to al-Qaeda seized the city of Fallujah.
Business chiefs slam GrainCorp takeover blow
Jessica Gardner Business leaders say the Abbott government put Australia's reputation for investment at risk.
'Cover-up' of violent PNG police-army clash
Natalie O'Brien The Australian-run detention centre on Manus Island was gripped with chaos and confusion during a violent clash between the notorious PNG police mobile squad hired to secure the centre and the PNG army, internal Immigration Department documents show.
Bishop wants Aussies in trouble to pay for help
Georgie Stone, Robert Upe Thousands of Australians finding themselves in trouble overseas are facing the prospect of new charges for government help.
Medicare 'unsustainable without overhaul'
DAN HARRISON Health Minister Peter Dutton has flagged an overhaul of Medicare, warning soaring costs will make the system ''unmanageable'' without change.
Record sparks hot debate on Abbott's policy
Peter Hannam and David Wroe Australia smashed its previous annual heat record in 2013, sparking renewed political debate about climate change.
Row over government buying cheap imports
ROSS PEAKE Paper and clothing manufacturers are complaining bitterly about the flood of cheap imports and calling for the Abbott government to have the political courage to ''buy Australian'' even as it slashes the budget.
Greenpeace activist may have to pay the bill
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says she may ask Greenpeace activist Colin Russell to foot the bill for the government assistance.
Drop in asylum seeker boat numbers
DAVID WROE The Abbott government is claiming victory on border protection, with boat arrivals in the three months to December the lowest in five years.
Film buff's starring role on ASIO spy cam
RICK FENELEY A young David Stratton visits the Soviet embassy in Canberra, blissfully unaware that Australia's spy service is watching and snapping a photo.
Superannuation tapped to pay for surgery
LUCY CARROLL Cost-of-living pressures forced more than 10,000 Australians to raid their superannuation last year, with many paying for medical treatments including radical weight-loss surgery.
Record heat shows need for carbon tax: Labor
A sweltering 2013, Australia's hottest year on record, has been seized on by Labor and the Greens to accuse Prime Minister Tony Abbott of ignoring the science and listening to the "tinfoil hat brigade".
Surge in charities prompts donations warning
JAMES ROBERTSON Australians registered more than 2000 tax-exempt charities last year, growth that some philanthropists warn is becoming counterproductive.
Australia to deport NZ burglar
Liam Hyslop A 24-year-old New Zealander who has lived in Australia since he was nine is to be deported because he has a history of violence.
Tony Abbott: Jury out on me as PM
LNP candidate Bill Glasson backs $6 GP fee
Assange's dad to start legal action against PM
Detainee rape claims on Christmas Island
Capital city house prices grew by 10% in 2013
Funding blow for Jewish centre
Zimbabwe embassy hits back at ambassador
Broadband speeds a mixed bag, study finds
Abbott set to fall short on jobs pledge
Comment & Analysis
Aged care drug abuse that points to scandal
AMANDA VANSTONE Only a savvy relative stood between Auntie Wilma and a GP's dire regime of pills.
Unhealthy big business spreading great harm
Rob Moodie If our negotiators buckle under the pressure applied by third parties, the price of a new trade agreement will be very high.
'Tis the season for MPs to dump bad news
JONATHAN SWAN Opinion At the end of every year politicians observe a tradition as dear to them as Christmas. While Australians binge on food, drink and sunshine, federal ministers use the cover of the holidays to dump bad news on a presumably uninterested public.
Proposed $6 GP fee would hurt the poorest
GARETH HUTCHENS Would you mind paying a small fee to visit your doctor? There are good economic reasons why the idea is being considered, even if you don't like the sound of it.
Nuclear ruin beckons, if not for good luck
Bruce Anderson The Western world has lost control of the ship and it all started in 1888.
Republic idea lives on - for good reasons
GEOFF GALLOP The British Crown came to Australia in 1788 and has been with us ever since. It personified our links to a tradition that privileged some ideas without destroying others.
Lack of accountability clouds climate debate
John McLean The world's so-called authority on climate change engages in exaggerated science and has become a political tool.
Labor needs to rethink asylum seeker policy
Mike Richards A new year should see Labor take some moral leadership on the treatment of refugees.
One wedding, three stories and fish porn
PAUL SHEEHAN Last Sunday, outside a pretty little church in Hunters Hill - St Peter Chanel, named after the only Catholic martyr in Polynesia - a wedding party and guests assembled. And assembled. And assembled.
Centuries-old dispute haunts Sochi Olympics
James Barry North Caucasians have long railed against Russia's rubbery notions of people and place.
Resolution: to fund an equitable future for all
Sally Young The government is promising a tough budget to balance the books, but there are many tax loopholes it will likely ignore.
The side effects of GP co-payments
Jennifer Doggett We should contribute to our healthcare costs. But this is not the best way.
Be thankful a free press exposes corruption
Jonathan Holmes A Moroccan visit reminded this tourist of how media clamps and baksheesh shackle people.
Sugar: How sweet it is ... and how bad it is
PETER MARTIN Let me guess. You're going to lose weight. Let me guess again. You won't succeed for long. The standard approach, the one that almost always fails, is to treat weight as an exercise in accounting.
Special features
ASIO files: That looks suspicious, doesn't it?
ASIO's secret surveillance films and photos captured many innocent Australians. Now we can see them. Rick Fenely reports.
It's heating up - and not just in the kitchens of bickering MPs
Peter Hannam Rising temperatures are inevitable, say the experts, so brace yourself for more.
Mystery of the unknown sailor of HMAS Sydney
Bridie Smith It is a mystery that has taken decades to unfold. And the final chapters are agonisingly close to being told.
Perfect storm lures Australians to war
Ruth Pollard It is only 1pm but the winter sky is already darkening in the border town of Kilis and the reception room of this small, nondescript hotel is bleak and cold.
Gaffes and power struggles: Federal politics in 2013
There is little doubt that the past year in politics was dominated by two key events - the federal election, and the battle between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard for the Labor leadership.
Brandis' security clean-up leaves out messy questions
Richard Ackland: Loose ends tend to clutter our lives and, supposedly, a new year is a good time to tidy them up or burn them to cinders.
Flat-earth thinking ignores climate facts
David Karoly Maurice Newman must have thought that December 31 was April Fool's Day when he wrote an opinion piece headed "Crowds go cold on climate cost".
Keating almost axed negative gearing
The Hawke government helped sow the seeds of housing unaffordability in major cities when it backed away from abolishing negative gearing on investment properties, Cabinet records released today show.
The struggle for indigenous land rights
Damien Murphy The Hawke Government continued to grapple with the sensitive issue of indigenous land rights.
Crocodile Dundee and 'Joh for Canberra'
Damien Murphy Australia seemed unstoppable in 1986 and 1987 when the Hawke-Keating combo was at its zenith.
Political pics of the year
Three Prime Minister, two leadership ballots and an election campaign for 2013. The best photos from a tumultuous year.
The meltdown: How Labor self-destructed
Together, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard had the support of the nation and the party. Divided, their feud would be the undoing of a government. An investigation by Peter Hartcher.
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.
