Doctors warn of 'co-payment by stealth'
Julia Medew Many Australians will face a new "co-payment by stealth" for pathology and diagnostic imaging tests because the Turnbull government is slashing its health budget by more than $650 million, doctors say.
Latest political news
Australian Islamic State fighters hits 'plateau'
David Wroe 7:51 PM The number of young Australians seeking to fight with groups such as the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq appears for now to have reached "something of a plateau", the head of ASIO has revealed.
Facial biometric system carries 'low risk'
Jane Lee 6:34 PM The Turnbull government's planned facial biometric matching system carries a "low" risk that people could be placed under daily surveillance, a report says.
PPL compromise to face crossbench test
Judith Ireland 4:59 PM The Coalition's compromise plan to cut paid parental leave entitlements will hinge on crossbench support.
Economists call for lifting of book import ban
Gareth Hutchens 5:41 PM A group of published economists has urged federal Parliament to lift the ban on parallel imports of books.
Workplace, trade union reports set for release
James Massola 4:26 PM The Turnbull government is preparing for the release of two major reports that will help shape its industrial relations agenda heading into an election year.
Former speaker Anna Burke quits politics
Lisa Cox, Richard Willingham 4:04 PM Labor MP and former speaker Anna Burke has announced she is quitting politics at the next election after 17 years in Parliament.
Abbott joins 100 Greens at Sydney pub
Fergus Hunter 4:25 PM Tony Abbott and 100 Greens walk into a bar. Come up with your own punchlines, because this isn't the start of a joke.
Australia steps up patrols in defiance of Beijing
David Wroe and Philip Wen Australia has increased its military surveillance flights over the South China Sea in a signal to Beijing that it intends to continue operating in the regional flashpoint area.
Budget deficit projected to reach $37.4 billion
Mark Kenny and James Massola The federal budget deficit will blow out by another $26.1 billion over four years, according to the mid-year economic update, while growth forecasts have been downgraded.
Big fines aim to stop fraud in aged care
Mark Kenny Canberra will bring in huge new fines to curb a growing trend of incorrect, and deliberately crooked, claims on government funding in the aged care sector by some providers.
Comment & Analysis
Turnbull's dilemma: how to get states on board
Peter Reith Tax reform is vital medicine for the Australian economy, but it takes a lot of time to put together a pill that people will be willing to swallow.
Ugly truth about the budget is what we need
Peter Martin Expect the unvarnished truth in the mid-year update, because there's little point in lying.
Common sense prevails, but only just
Michael Gordon Malcolm Turnbull's authority is in tact and Ian Macfarlane's credibility is in tatters after the former resources minister's bizarre and brazen bid to force his way back into cabinet came a cropper.
Politics of exclusion must be rejected
Tim Dick The choice between the politics of the old and that of the new is not a choice only faced by Australia. It’s faced by the US, by Britain, by any developed country with a significant migrant population – almost all of them.
Treaty would build better foundation
George Williams Australia does not recognise the sovereignty of its first nations by way of a treaty, and the effects have been devastating.
Bishop, Abbott, Trump and politics of delusion
Adam Gartrell Politicians aren't just good at lying to us – they're good at lying to themselves too.
The mad monk and the coming of the raptor
Annabel Crabb The end of the year, when everyone is tired and snippy, is always a bit prone to farce of one kind or another.
Macfarlane defection will end in tears
Michael Gordon  The history of political defections in Australia is replete with unhappy endings.
Tax avenger in hunt for millions spirited away
Peter Hartcher Chris Jordan is on a mission to make multi-national companies pay their fair share of tax and is kicking down doors around the world to make them do it.
Vulnerability is the new strength in politics
Judith Ireland Politicians hate showing weakness. But it's time they realised there's a power that comes with vulnerability.
Tony Abbott's 'dangerous' ideas
Anne Summers We have to hope that no one is listening because many of the former prime minister's ideas could make the world a more dangerous place.
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.
Special features
Morrison thinks we can't handle the full truth, yet
Every year the surplus moves a year further away. It's like driving towards an unreachable horizon.
ABC's preferred new boss 'not afraid of failure'
Matthew Knott At a conference last year, Google executive Michelle Guthrie extolled the virtue of eating your own dog food.
Budget update fails to map out road to surplus
There is nothing in the mid-year budget update to be alarmed about, but nor does it suggest Malcolm Turnbull will do any better than his predecessors at getting the budget back to surplus.
Macfarlane in political wilderness
Mark Kenny As far as political gambles go, this was a big one, and it went seriously wrong.
John Bannon: a quiet giant of politics
Mark Kenny Even now when I'm grinding out the kilometres in Canberra, I often rely on something John Bannon once confided about distance training. He said when your body wants to stop, you can always go a bit further, and you will be glad you made that choice.
Turnbull's tax reform striptease has started
It's time to start ruling out some of the options even if business doesn't like it.
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.
