Australia 'unsettled' before the British: Abbott
GARETH HUTCHENS 9:53am Tony Abbott says Australia owes its existence to foreign investment because Australia was 'unsettled or, um, scarcely-settled' before the British arrived.
Latest political news
Transfer at sea 'clear rights breach'
The United Nations has expressed ''profound concern'' over reports that Australia was poised to hand Sri Lankan asylum seekers back to the country's navy on Thursday after only the briefest refugee assessment.
Morrison looks to bypass court's visa ruling
MICHAEL GORDON 7:08pm A bold move by the Abbott government to circumvent a decision of the High Court and the will of the Senate appears certain to trigger another High Court challenge.
CBA boss backs neutering of consumer laws
LISA COX 9:27am Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev has said he supports new government regulations that wind back consumer protection laws for financial advice.
Call for Turnbull exit 'vulture fund'
HEATH ASTON Malcolm Turnbull, Australia's second-richest parliamentarian, has invested in a ''vulture fund'' based in the tax haven Cayman Islands.
PM faces hurdle on building watchdog
JAMES MASSOLA Tony Abbott's plan to restore the building industry watchdog, a key plank of the government's workplace reform policy, faces an uncertain path through the new Senate.
Houses, dollar to fall warns Reserve Bank
![Glenn Stevens: “People should not assume that [house] prices always rise. They don’t; sometimes they fall.”](http://web.archive.org./web/20140704004614im_/http://images.smh.com.au/2014/07/03/5564768/1404358168003.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Clancy Yeates and Peter Martin 12:43am The Reserve Bank has warned home owners that "people should not assume that prices always rise" when deciding to buy property.
Labor takes aim at top bureaucrat's critique
MARK KENNY Friction over the federal budget continues before next week's sitting of the new Senate.
Andrews shies from cutting minimum wage
JANE LEE 6:00pm Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has all but ruled out cutting the minimum wage, likening the unpopularity of such a move to introducing WorkChoices.
'Terribly sad' for another loss in Afghanistan
DAVID WROE Lance Corporal Todd John Chidgey was the 41st Australian soldier to die in Afghanistan, a country where Australia has officially ended its combat operations.
Napthine happy to campaign with PM
Josh Gordon and Steve Lillebuen 9:31pm Denis Napthine says he is happy to campaign with Tony Abbott ahead of the November 29 election, despite warnings the prime minister’s unpopularity in Victoria could be cruelling his chances.
PM 'paraded' daughters: Lambie
CBA bows to pressure on compensation
Dead soldier on sixth tour of Afghanistan
Abetz to push senators on building watchdog
Final NBN inquiry report not due till next poll
Uni, health changes 'a crime, absurd'
Abbott wrong on renewable energy
Greens in turmoil on fuel tax backflip
Albrechtsen scores influential post
PM supports Japan'smilitary expansion
Win in first battle over plain packaging
Innes fires parting shots at Abbott government
Fears grow over support for Islamic state
Praise for service of veteran commando
Australian jihadist on his way to Syria or Iraq
Australian soldier dies in Kabul
Albrechtsen frontrunner for top post
Urgent need for tax reform: Treasury boss
Senator missed CBA victims' evidence
Australia and India to strengthen military ties
Gore told to avoid Palmer circus
Mentally ill should be 'properly tested': Kennett
Detention centre staff to give evidence
Muir hires ex-pollie to help with legislation
ANZ report cites mining boom tax failure
Error 'costly to carbon trade consensus'
Backing for more time for sex abuse inquiry
NBN Co in $200 million bill dispute with Telstra
Injured Manus asylum seeker to sue
Tamil asylum seekers may be forced back
Comment & Analysis
Banks must do more to regain trust
JOHN COLLETT 12:01am Commonwealth Bank boss Ian Narev's mea culpa on Thursday in response to the damning findings of a Senate committee investigation into financial advice may mark a turning point.
CBA's report card: Must do better
MALCOLM MAIDEN 11:59pm CBA’s gesture 'too little, too late' and, in any event, not the ‘‘overarching review’’ required.
New Senate's fault lines run deep
GARY HUMPHRIES 9:28pm Opinion Move over, idiosyncratic state parliaments! Pack your bags, quirky territory legislatures!
Silence on boats a disgrace
Julian Burnside Has the Australian public given up caring about the fate of other human beings?
Society forces us to be leaners
Graeme Innes I have never accepted the concept of "lifters" and "leaners", a Ming dynasty phrase which has lately gained currency.
Carbon pricing: how Labor failed the nation
Philip Chubb The experience of attempts to price carbon raises some fundamental questions about the way Australians are governed.
GP co-payments need to be targeted
Gary Freed Overseas experiences should help us decide on the best course for a healthy outcome.
Silence over changes really speaks volumes
PETER MARTIN Opinion When someone is proud of what they have done they make an announcement. When someone is not, they keep quiet.
Climate scientists try new tack
Jonathan Holmes A group of British academics are hoping to engage with decision-makers to make their environmental message more palatable.
Reserve keeping the balls in the air
MALCOLM MAIDEN The years following the global crisis have been a period of extraordinary support for financial markets.
Health report card reveals excellent grades
ROSS GITTINS One of the main jobs of the federal government’s Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is to produce a report card on the state of Australia’s Health every two years.
Royal commission must go ahead
Analysis Adele Ferguson Opinion As senior executives at the Commonwealth Bank scramble to come up with an adequate response to the Senate committee's excoriating report into its financial planning scandal, the issue has become a political hot potato.
How Abbott made the carbon tax work
PETER MARTIN A combination of hot and cold air is helping to drive changes in our energy use.
PM must tackle big policy challenges
PETER REITH Despite the media’s obsession with Clive Palmer last week, Tony Abbott had a very good week of his own.
Hurting the most vulnerable is cruel
Maree O'Halloran The McClure Report could be an opportunity to plan for a strong, resilient social security and services system.
Brandis ignores own insights on chaplains
GEORGE WILLIAMS Attorney-General George Brandis is doing his best to hose down reactions to the High Court’s finding that federal funding for school chaplains is unconstitutional.
Napthine has lost right to decide Vic's future
David Hayward With its polling in the doldrums, the state government no longer has the moral authority to make billion-dollar infrastructure decisions.
How the financial big boys view SMSFs
MICHAEL PASCOE The very success of the SMSF sector could be setting it up for its biggest battle
Special features
Breaking Politics: Palmer not-so-united?
Liberal Wyatt Roy takes PUP Senator Jacqui Lambie to task as colleague Dio Wang distances himself from her comments about Tony Abbott. Plus Labor's Amanda Rishworth. From 10.30am
No faith in bank's rort inquiry panel
Eryk Bagshaw Victims of the Commonwealth Bank's financial planning scandal are outraged at the bank's response to the Senate inquiry and are demanding a royal commission take place.
Fear still drives Tamils into exile: advocates
Jason Koutsoukis The Sri Lankan civil war which claimed more than 100,000 lives over a quarter of a century officially ended in 2009.
Lambie has arrived
Judith Ireland Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie, who spent ten years in the army, has come a long way since she was first elected in the sixth spot for Tasmania in September.
Backlash over missing asylum seeker boat
"We are breaching our central obligation under the refugee convention" says lawyer Julian Burnside, after two boatloads of asylum seekers were allegedly screened and handed over to the Sri Lankan navy by Australia.
Who are the new Senators?
A who's who of the new Senators taking their seats in the 44th parliament.
Anthony Ackroyd pokes fun at Tony Abbott
The Prime Minister's doppelganger Anthony Ackroyd, puts his own spin on the classic, Side by Side.
Bandt: 'we respect each others positions'
Deputy Greens Leader Adam Bandt says the party room remains united and that media reports of divisions are wrong.
Leyonhjelm: abolish ABC, cut CSIRO
The world according to new Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm, where small government is good government.
New kids play nice at Senate school
Judith Ireland Australia's newest senators face one more hurdle before they officially take their places in the upper house: Senate boot camp.
Young and alone in a strange land
About 400 unaccompanied children are now seeking asylum in Australia. Rachel Kleinman meets one young man struggling to live with an uncertain future.
How the Senate will change from July 1
Interactive The Coalition government will need the support of the Senate to pass its legislation. Who will hold the balance of power when the Senate changes from July 1?
How we share the refugee burden
Interactive More than 85 per cent of refugees are hosted in developing countries. Australia hosts 0.3 per cent of the 11.7 million refugees under the UNHCR's mandate.
Federal budget 2014: Interactive explorer
Explore the major data points of the 2014 federal budget and see how Joe Hockey’s first budget shapes up to his predecessors.
Investigating MPs' expenses
Fairfax Media has conducted an extensive investigation on MPs claiming expense entitlements. Read our coverage here.
Cartoon Gallery
Cartoon Gallery: Home of the best cartoons from our resident artists from the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.
