PM admits some 'ideas boom' policies could fail
Mark Kenny and Peter Martin 8:52 PM Bringing scientific research and business closer together, encouraging risk-taking and elevating science as the central driver of a future knowledge economy are the key elements of the "ideas boom".
- Christopher Pyne's steep learning curve: 12 weeks to spend $1.1b
- Innovation statement: what you need to know about Malcolm Turnbull's plan
- Charging the negative particles: Malcolm Turnbull positions himself as the evangelist of change
- Innovation nation: Turnbull puts money where his mouth has been
- Free to fail in Malcolm Turnbull's new $1.1 billion innovation plan
- Innovation plan: CSIRO comes in from the cold with funding boost
Latest political news
Alcoa's foreign ship linked to bribes
Tony Wright 6:07 PM The captain of the foreign-flagged ship chartered for the aluminium company Alcoa to replace its Australian vessel paid bribes to drug enforcement authorities in Nigeria and a shipping inspector in Argentina early this year, the former captain's documents show.
Japan whale hunt tensions to flare
Daniel Flitton, Andrew Darby 1:30 AM Australia is considering dragging Japan back to the international court in an attempt to halt whaling.
How politics took Twitter by storm
Stephanie Peatling 4:09 PM If you suspect the conversations that seem to dominate on Twitter are not what most people are talking about you would be right.
Turnbull puts money where mouth has been
Mark Kenny 7:27 AM New business ventures will be given exemptions from capital gains tax if sold after being held for more than three years as part of changes to tax arrangements to be unveiled on Monday.
Truss denies betraying Malcolm Turnbull
Lisa Cox 11:20 AM Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss has played down suggestions of a back room plot to transfer dumped Liberal minister Ian Macfarlane to the Nationals.
New budget cuts to fund Turnbull's pet project
Heath Aston 7:48 PM Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's pet project, Monday's $1 billion innovation announcement, will be funded by spending cuts in other areas, to be announced in the mid-year budget update later this month.
Labor's new 'zero tolerance' union policy
Lisa Cox 7:30 AM Bill Shorten will on Monday announce a proposal for significant new powers to crack down on corrupt unions in a bid to reposition Labor in the wake of the trade unions royal commission.
Demetriou to serve on recognition council
Michael Gordon 8:41 AM Former AFL supremo Andrew Demetriou and the plain-speaking Amanda Vanstone are among the 16 members of the council that will drive the push to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution.
The way ahead for progressive GST increase
Gareth Hutchens 7:30 AM In an innovative new policy proposal, the Grattan Institute's John Daley and Danielle Wood say the Turnbull government could raise an extra $7 billion to $11 billion a year from a higher GST while leaving the bottom 20 per cent of income earners better off, on average.
Macfarlane faces hurdles to join Nationals
Lisa Cox 7:27 AM Queensland Liberal National Party president Gary Spence, says Ian Macfarlane will have to convince rank and file members and the party's state executive to approve a party switch.
Comment & Analysis
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.
Global warming: what risks would you accept?
David Karoly We should be committing to greater emission reductions than the Turnbull government has taken to Paris.
Surprisingly messy end to a messy year
Mark Kenny Clive Palmer was absent and Joe Hockey wasn't there at all, while Tory warhorses like Bronwyn Bishop, Tony Abbott, and Kevin Andrews were all languishing on the back bench.
Now is the moment for a new vision
Jacqueline Fetchet I represent the youth who face a climate changed future. I haven't lived a year of my life that hasn't been above average temperatures in Australia.
VET sector: a get-rich scheme for shonks
Michael Bachelard Competition policy is all very well, but beware the pitfalls of privatisation that led to the great unwinding of vocational education.
Turnbull cannot avoid decision on MP's future
Mark Kenny Straight from the frying pan of global warming talks in Paris to the flaming embers of the Peter Slipper controversy, Malcolm Turnbull cannot avoid a hot decision on the ministerial future of one of his key numbers men, Mal Brough.
PM’s colleagues prove to be chink in armour
Nick Dyrenfurth Despite Malcolm Turnbull’s polling honeymoon, his colleagues are proving to be the chink in the armour.
Politicians too weak to take on the Grand Mufti
Julie Szego Australian politicians are ill-equipped for the high-stakes battle of ideas that is needed if we are to tackle radicalisation.
Work is not a curse, it's a blessing
Elizabeth Farrelly "So there it is," Malcolm Turnbull told the Prime Minister's Prize for Science dinner in October. "Don't retire, you'll just get sad. Think of yourself, think of your own health, just keep working, work until you drop, just keep doing it."
News Corp: champion of climate sceptics
Jonathan Holmes Climate change warnings are widely supported by scientists but many Australians are unconvinced, a recent study says.
Special features
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.
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.
Shirtfronted, part five: The cabinet, the coup and the Queen
Peter Hartcher He's all pose and no pluck, they said of Malcolm Turnbull. In the end they did the work for him.
Surprisingly messy end to a messy year
Mark Kenny Clive Palmer was absent and Joe Hockey wasn't there at all, while Tory warhorses like Bronwyn Bishop, Tony Abbott, and Kevin Andrews were all languishing on the back bench.
Politicians too weak to take on the Grand Mufti
Julie Szego Australian politicians are ill-equipped for the high-stakes battle of ideas that is needed if we are to tackle radicalisation.
VET sector: a get-rich scheme for shonks and shysters
Michael Bachelard Competition policy is all very well, but beware the pitfalls of privatisation that led to the great unwinding of vocational education.
Shirtfronted, part four: Flagging support
Peter Hartcher Tony Abbott took to national security with table-thumping zeal, much to the chagrin of agency heads and ministers.
Brough makes the lonely walk to nowhere...yet
The condemned usually have to trudge to the gallows no more than once.
Explainer: Why is Mal Brough in trouble?
It has been a difficult couple of weeks for Special Minister of State Mal Brough. But what has brought the Turnbull government to a point where the future of one of its new ministers is looking increasingly uncertain?
Shirtfronted, part three: Joe's economy
Peter Hartcher Liberal Party luminaries tried to wrench the treasurer's barnacle from Abbott's sinking ship.
The Pulse: The day at Parliament House
It's Wednesday and the Prime Minister has arrived back in Canberra to find a very cranky Liberal Party and a cloud hanging over the head of one of his backers. What happened to the Christmas spirit?
Reading between the lines of Canberra news
Sally Young Journalists may practise self-censorship but is it good for democracy?
