Leaders sound budget alert as deadline set for tax reform
Gareth Hutchens, Matt Wade, Mark Kenny 3:27 AM Australia's federal and state leaders have issued a stark warning of growing budget pressures across all levels of government amid calls for the federal government to dramatically reset voter expectations about the health of Australia's public finances.
Latest political news
'No captain's pick' on sex discrimination role
Judith Ireland 5:08 PM The Turnbull government will use a selection panel to pick a new sex discrimination commissioner, in a move that follows concerns the high profile position would be filled by a "captain's pick".
Shorten contacts police over driving offence
Fergus Hunter 10:58 AM Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has reported himself to police for using his mobile phone while driving, an offence that attracts a $443 fine and the loss of four demerit points.
Plan for terrorists: reform or stay locked up
David Wroe and Mark Kenny Convicted terrorists would be treated like paedophiles and kept behind bars even after their sentences have expired, under a proposal to be considered by federal and state governments.
GST rise still on the table after top talks
Mark Kenny, James Massola, Matt Wade Tax reform that could result in the states regaining a dedicated share of income tax for the first time since the 1940s appears possible after federal and state treasurers meet.
Bishop offer puts staffer's wife in the picture
Heath Aston A potential new candidate to succeed Bronwyn Bishop in Mackellar has emerged amid rising factional angst at the former Speaker's determination to resist retirement and contest another election.
Abbott is a 'very unusual man': Shorten
Lisa Cox Tony Abbott is a "very unusual man" who is presenting a poor image of Australia overseas, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says.
Germany is looking to Australia's success
Latika Bourke Germany is a global powerhouse but it wants to follow Australia's lead on one of the most politically sensitive issues Chancellor Merkel is facing to date.
COAG to weigh preschool funding shake-up
Judith Ireland The government is considering funding preschools like it funds schools, with different amounts for private and public organisations, under a model to be discussed by COAG.
View country through Aboriginal eyes: Keating
Michael Gordon Twenty-three years after he confronted Australians with the truth of Indigenous dispossession, Paul Keating has delivered another profound message on reconciliation.
Magnate calls on Turnbull to intervene
Lisa Cox Billionaire miner Gautam Adani has asked the Prime Minister to prohibit court-sanctioned environmental reviews of major developments such as a $15 billion coal project in Queensland.
Comment & Analysis
Politics, climate, Islam, and the credibility gap
Mark Kenny For politicians, the daily quest to convey conviction is hardly aided by their tendency to shift ground when it suits without even acknowledging they've done so.
Keep unrepentant terrorists behind bars
Dan Tehan Terrorists who remain unreformed by a jail term should be subject to indefinite detention.
Arch conservatives offer nothing but guff
Waleed Aly Abbott and Trump are not intelligently discussing Islam, they’re just demonstrating that their brand of politics is fast collapsing.
Interpreting Australia through Aboriginal eyes
Paul Keating Our identity cannot be separated from that of Aboriginal Australia.
Let Muslim progressives speak for themselves
Reem Sweid Muslims do not need a Western cultural supremacist like Tony Abbott to tell them what Islam needs.
New innovators don't need huge tax breaks
Nicholas Reece The PM's innovation statement is a good start, but it falls well short of being the game changer that the Australian economy needs.
Don't fall for the super industry's scare tactics
Peter Martin Retirees’ cost of living is not as outrageously high as the industry would have us believe.
PM switches to forward-looking formula
Mark Kenny In a rapidly changing world, only the fleet of foot can prosper. That is Malcolm Turnbull's message.
Barnaby Joyce should be worried
Peter Reith Ian Macfarlane's party switch has been billed as a coup for the Nationals, but it's hard to see how it will help them or the Coalition.
Our tax system is heading for trouble
Amanda Vanstone You do not make less-wealthy people richer by making the rich less wealthy.
Treatment is better than imprisonment
Tim Dick Another music festival, another drug death, making two at different Stereosonic events within a week.
Our flag should signify unity, not prejudice
Susie Latham We need to unite against terrorists who want to divide us, but what about the right-wing extremists who want to do the same thing?
Objectivity can be subjective
Paul Malone I would argue that every journalist - indeed everyone - comes at the news from his or her own subjective position.
Where to now for an unseated PM?
Peter Hartcher The government may have moved on, but Tony Abbott is still adjusting to his new reality and coming to grips with life beyond the prime ministership.
Super-rich get to keep their tax secrets
Heath Aston The tax booby trap left behind by Labor's former assistant treasurer David Bradbury was designed to blow up in the face of the Coalition in 2015.
So, what was all that about?
Michael Gordon Nine months after it was delivered, a bold blueprint for Indigenous empowerment co-written by Noel Pearson is still awaiting a formal government response.
Seven bad habits Parliament should kick
Judith Ireland As Parliament rises for the long summer break, there are some habits it should leave back in 2015.
Great game not a spectator sport
Michael Fullilove Since the Paris attacks, Malcolm Turnbull has been pulled onto the global stage. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq, the exodus of refugees to Europe, terrorism, the future of the liberal international order – these have been the issues on the minds of leaders.
Malcolm in the muddle
Michael Gordon Turnbull's almost messianic status in the electorate will only last if voters continue to see him as a cut above the desultory politics of the past eight years.
Top mandarin warns: our luck has run out
Jessica Irvine Complacent, ill-prepared and in denial: Australia's next top mandarin didn't hold back in a recent paper on the challenges facing the Australian economy.
PM's Abbott problem simply won't go away
Mark Kenny Tony Abbott is causing waves and Turnbull will have to work out whether to ignore him, embrace him, or perhaps even induce him to leave.
Special features
Death, taxes and an expanding security state
This COAG meeting has been a broad consultation, Malcolm style – politics as the art of the positive.
Malcolm is an Abbott in Turnbull's clothing
There is largesse being extended to Malcolm Turnbull that would never have been granted to Tony Abbott.
Shorten: "I never give up. I don't and I won't"
Deborah Snow Bill Shorten might be at record lows in the opinion polls but he is determined to fight it out, town hall meeting by town hall meeting.
Finding the 'thing': Photographing Malcolm, Tony, Bill and Julia
Every politician has their 'thing' that makes them familiar.
Jobs growth is nothing like the 71,375 touted
Peter Martin No one can accuse Employment Minister Michaelia Cash of failing to take advantage of an opportunity.
Why a rise in GST may now be off the table
Peter Martin So out of favour is the idea of increasing the GST that by the time the government releases its tax options paper in the new year a 15 per cent GST might not even be on it.
Family parted by war to be reunited after Australians pitch in
When Arop Majok's village was raided, it kicked off a 21-year ordeal that, thanks to the generosity of Australians, may soon end.
Tony Abbott is turning into Kevin Rudd
Judith Ireland On paper, Abbott could not be further from Rudd. And yet Abbott is displaying so many Rudd-like attributes it is eerie.
How the PM found $1.1b for his innovation plan
The Turnbull government's innovation package was launched on Monday with all the trappings of a budget - in a media lock-up accompanied a blizzard of fact sheets and costings. And, like any budget, some creative accounting.
Raising GST to 15% is far harder than it seems
The agenda paper prepared for Thursday's treasurers meeting ought to come with a big red stamp that reads "danger".
Mr Hockey goes to Washington
Mark Kenny Ever noticed how the loudest advocates of free enterprise and the private sector, are also the most reluctant to leave the public sector? How those politicians who lecture us daily on the evils of bloated government, seem to suckle most determindely on the public teat?
How Pyne swotted for the big spend-up
Matthew Knott The Innovation Minister is learning how central he is to the Prime Minister's vision for government.
Turnbull banks on a forward-looking formula
Mark Kenny Standing still means going backwards. Movement. Agility. Innovation. In a rapidly changing world, only the fleet of foot can prosper. That is Malcolm Turnbull's message.
CSIRO comes in from cold with funding boost
Judith Ireland When CSIRO officials looked at the budget papers in the May of 2014, they could see that winter was coming.
Where to now for a newly unseated PM?
The government may have moved on, but Tony Abbott is still adjusting to his new reality and coming to grips with life beyond the prime ministership.
Tax disclosure exemptions for richest preserved in 11th-hour deal
Heath Aston The tax booby trap left behind by Labor's former assistant treasurer David Bradbury was designed to blow up in the face of the Coalition in 2015.
Three stunned ministers, two Depp's dogs and one wild party
There was nastiness and conniving but also some genuinely touching moments. We look back on the most memorable events of this year.
So, what was all that about?
Michael Gordon Nine months after it was delivered, a bold blueprint for Indigenous empowerment co-written by Noel Pearson is still awaiting a formal government response.
Were you paying attention this week?
It was a packed and messy week in as Parliament wrapped up for the year. Were you paying attention?
PM's Abbott problem simply won't go away
Mark Kenny Tony Abbott is causing waves and Turnbull will have to work out whether to ignore him, embrace him, or perhaps even induce him to leave.
