Doctors warn of 'co-payment by stealth'
Julia Medew 4:45 AM 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
Australia steps up patrols in defiance of Beijing
![Australian, Singaporean and Malaysian navy ships during exercises in the South China Sea.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/7/f/j/7/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gloc2e.119ydf.png/1450210280954.jpg)
David Wroe and Philip Wen 9:04 PM 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
![Treasurer Scott Morrison has unveiled the latest mid-year budget update.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/d/b/s/t/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glnl4k.119ydf.png/1450210280954.jpg)
Mark Kenny and James Massola 8:04 PM 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
![Health Minister Sussan Ley.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/o/i/o/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glo77u.119ydf.png/1450210280954.jpg)
Mark Kenny 10:45 PM 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.
Immigration detention costs blow out by $1b
![The detention centre on Nauru.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/5/a/v/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glnydh.119ydf.png/1450210280954.jpg)
Nicole Hasham 7:52 PM The Turnbull government will spend an extra $1 billion on Australia's immigration detention system to cover the costs of charter flights, accommodating asylum seekers and funding the governments of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Welfare crackdown raises concerns
![Cassandra Goldie](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/t/3/9/k/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glntf6.119ydf.png/1450210280954.jpg)
Judith Ireland 7:50 PM It's one of the headline savings measures in the mid-year budget update, tipped to generate more than $2 billion. But it has some experts wondering if the money will materialise.
'Stitch up': Tony Abbott pens rare letter
![Tony Abbott's letter to the editor in <i>The Australian</i> newspaper.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/n/q/k/2/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glnqxj.119ydf.png/1450210280954.jpg)
Fergus Hunter 12:17 AM The letter to the editor could have easily been overlooked. Except for the recognisable name and location of the author.
Turnbull was aghast at Darwin Port sale
![Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/m/7/g/l/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glntby.119ydf.png/1450210280954.jpg)
Heath Aston 7:54 PM Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull asked for a review of foreign acquisition law a week before the controversial deal was announced.
Australia's largest coal mine coming to Qld
![Environmentalists have lost a legal challenge to halt plans to build Australia's biggest coal mine. Illustration: Michael Mucci](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/2/r/e/a/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glnv73.119ydf.png/1450210280954.jpg)
Lisa Cox 12:09 AM Environmentalists have lost a legal challenge to halt plans to build Australia's biggest coal mine.
Macfarlane could quit politics
![Liberal MP Ian Macfarlane is considering his future following the LNP's rejection of his defection to the Nationals.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/f/d/1/y/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glnjtk.119ydf.png/1450210280954.jpg)
Lisa Cox 7:53 PM Failed Liberal defector Ian Macfarlane has hinted he could quit politics after his attempt to switch to the National party room was rejected.
Disgraced former MP takes $458k hit
![Disgraced former Labor MP Craig Thomson.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/d/m/2/k/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glnkrb.119ydf.png/1450210280954.jpg)
Beau Donelly 10:23 AM Disgraced former federal MP Craig Thomson has been ordered to pay more than $458,000 for misusing funds during his time as head of the scandal-plagued Health Services Union.
Comment & Analysis
Turnbull's dilemma: how to get states on board
![Peter Reith.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/3/1/i/z/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glmt93.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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
![Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Treasurer Scott Morrison have decided against an immediate ban in borrowing from SMSFs for investment in property, despite views from eminent economist Saul Eslake that it could lead to something similar to the US subprime crisis.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/d/f/d/d/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glml8d.11d82q.png/1450139876864.jpg)
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](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/z/a/8/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gln9gt.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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
![<p>](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/6/e/s/i/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glmai2.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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 dinkus](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/2/t/m/o/s/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glm14u.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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
![Illustration: Matt Davidson.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/m/7/7/8/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glkzip.11d82q.png/1450089252435.jpg)
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 dinkus](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/l/0/c/w/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gllgb1.11d82q.png/1450090214652.jpg)
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](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/z/a/8/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gll9ql.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
Michael Gordon The history of political defections in Australia is replete with unhappy endings.
Tax avenger in hunt for millions spirited away
![Peter Hartcher dinkus](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/p/b/c/9/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glldq4.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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 dinkus](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/z/q/o/3/t/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glk1jw.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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 dinkus Dinkus](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/2/t/m/m/w/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glkiyu.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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 dinkus](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/y/f/y/k/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gljt74.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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
![<i></i>](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/1/0/j/r/e/5/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gljxdb.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
Dan Tehan Terrorists who remain unreformed by a jail term should be subject to indefinite detention.
Arch conservatives offer nothing but guff
![Waleed Aly dinkus. Dinkus](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/2/t/x/j/n/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gljz1i.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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
![Aboriginal art and culture draws from the land, for Aboriginality and the land are essential to each other and are inseparable.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/z/4/w/5/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glj8f4.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
Paul Keating Our identity cannot be separated from that of Aboriginal Australia.
Let Muslim progressives speak for themselves
![Tony Abbott](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/b/0/y/v/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glj0d9.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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
![The square kilometre array site in Western Australia. Australia and New Zealand bid to host the SKA in Murchison Shire in WA. It will be the biggest and most advanced radio telescope ever constructed, consistsing of 3000 dishes.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/i/6/s/c/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gli4fe.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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 dinkus](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/z/q/y/b/x/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glgmjj.11d82q.png/1450203465421.jpg)
Peter Martin Retirees’ cost of living is not as outrageously high as the industry would have us believe.
PM switches to forward-looking formula
![The Turnbull government on Monday launched reforms to make it easier to bounce back from a business failure.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/h/7/d/e/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glho2h.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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.](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/3/1/i/z/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glh4cq.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
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
![<p><p/>](/web/20151215230422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/q/n/q/n/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glghcj.11d82q.png/1450082588807.jpg)
Amanda Vanstone You do not make less-wealthy people richer by making the rich less wealthy.