Chinese fuming at Morrison decision to block Kidman sale
Michael Koziol The Turnbull government has again rejected the sale of Australia's largest private land holding to a Chinese business interests, declaring the proposed deal was not in the national interest.
Latest political news
Unions back crackdown on tax breaks for rich
Mark Kenny Tax breaks used by the wealthy are exacerbating deficits and eroding essential services, while making life harder for ordinary households, according to the ACTU.
Aid worker abducted in Afghanistan: charity
David Wroe, Latika Bourke and Kim Arlington An Australian female aid worker has been kidnapped at gunpoint by armed men in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan.
Coalition shakes up vocational education
Eryk Bagshaw Brokers who recruit students who are unlikely to be able to complete vocational courses will soon find themselves out of a job.
Australia sent refugees to PNG for abortions
Bianca Hall Australia has sent at least two refugee women for pregnancy terminations at Pacific International Hospital in Port Moresby, despite the procedure being illegal, a court has heard.
Nauru refugee who set himself alight dies
Nicole Hasham An Iranian refugee at Nauru who set himself on fire over despair at his life on the island has died.
Morrison knocks back major Chinese bid
Michael Koziol Treasurer Scott Morrison has again knocked back the sale of Australia's largest private land holding to Chinese interests, concluding it was not in the national interest.
Sinodinos could face range of punishments
Sean Nicholls A Senate inquiry has outlined possible actions after Cabinet Secretary refuses to front inquiry.
Nuclear waste dump site revealed
Michael Koziol Australia's first nuclear waste dump will be located in a remote part of South Australia, on land partly owned by a former Liberal senator.
'Not happy, Jan': Phone book outrage
Fergus Hunter The company that prints the directories is digging in, insisting they're going nowhere despite the rise of Google.
Nurofen maker fined $1.7m for 'misleading'
Jane Lee The company that sells Nurofen has been fined more than $1 million for misleading consumers about its specific pain products.
Comment & Analysis
Behold Prime Minister Malcolm Abbott
Michael Gordon Malcolm Turnbull has no answer to the asylum seeker situation beyond inflicting more harm.
The return of climate scare campaigns
Peter Hartcher The Prime Minister has exhumed Tony Abbott's scare campaign against Labor's carbon tax, launching into electoral battle with the reflex action of ''oppose''.
Negative gearing put before good childcare
Anne Summers A forward-looking government would axe negative gearing and invest in an educated and socially skilled population.
Why PM needs to dial down the 'mansplaining'
Jacqueline Maley The PM was busy in the '90s, running his own investment banking firm. He probably didn't have time to read the bestseller, Men Are From Mars Women Are From Venus.
Labor can't deny its role in Manus tragedy
Waleed Aly 'Stopping the boats' was a bipartisan policy and both sides of politics are responsible for its monstrous outcomes.
Crossbench cull won't help PM's Senate woes
Mark Kenny Poor polling is making the decision to defer the election until July look increasingly questionable.
Manus refugees must be sent to Australia
Madeline Gleeson Australia now has a choice. An optimistic person might expect freedom for the 900 men on Manus Island, but it's more complicated than that.
What's $50 billion between besties?
Daniel Flitton For all the serious and weighty talk of national security, there must surely be a better way for Australia to decide on a dozen submarines.
Umpire calls time on negative gearing
Ross Gittins Many voters have strong views for or against negative gearing. But when rival politicians fall to arguing about their policies, most of us find we don't know enough to decide who's right.
Libs must find ticker for real workplace reform
Peter Reith If ever there was a political opportunity to start the rebalance of Australia's labour market, then this is it.
Spin can't hide harm of negative gearing
John Daley By refusing to change the tax laws, the government is missing out on $5 billion a year.
Lessons for Malcolm and Bill
Michael Gordon Malcolm Turnbull remains the favourite to win on July 2. But ...
Turnbull faces a tougher race than predicted
Mark Kenny One of the key advantages of incumbency, first dibs on announcing the election date and then framing the terms of the contest, has been squandered.
The new threat to our social compact
Jessica Irvine In less than five months, Australia will bid farewell to its Reserve Bank governor for the past decade, Glenn Stevens.
Morrison needs a reality check on tax
Peter Martin The government's theme for selling the budget reads like a Seinfeld script.
Opaque campaign finance rules fail every test
Maxine McKew Politicians on the election trail need to come clean about where their campaign funds come from.
Unis need funding reform, not more cuts
Michael Spence Whatever happens on budget night, a 20 per cent cut to universities must come off the agenda.
Banks haven't shown contrition for bad apples
Ross Gittins Corporate bad behaviour is not on. We must bring the banks to heel, and a royal commission is a fine way to do that.
Turnbull needs big win or it will be same again
Alan Stokes Assuming Labor falls short, simply getting back into power won't be enough for the Prime Minister to consign the Abbott era to history.
PM will fight poll as just another politician
Peter Hartcher Malcolm Turnbull will now get the election he wanted, but without the sort of advantage he'd hoped for.
History keeps repeating in politics
Peter Reith Many MPs and media commentators have little grasp of Australia’s political past. That’s a pity because knowing the past can explain today.
Special features
Meet Scott Morrison
The mementos that populate Scott Morrison's desk and the personal connection he has with them.
Scott Morrison reads the politics on Chinese land grab
Mark Kenny If you wanted a window into the peculiar chemistry of Coalition politics, this marriage of convenience between liberal free marketeers and nostalgic agrarian socialists, this was it.
Risk and reward: the submarine deal
The standing joke about French submarines used to be that they were as noisy as Britain's 19th century Great Western Railway.
Balance the books and win the election
Can Scott Morrison's budget simultaneously define a government, repair the bottom line and appeal to voters?
The Productivity Commission's hands were tied on copyright
Buried within this week's landmark Productivity Commission report on copyright and patents is seething resentment at the way Australia has negotiated trade agreements.
There's less to PM's cities plan than meets the eye, for now
Yes, it's a good idea to leverage the balance sheet of the Commonwealth to build the roads and other facilities that will make cities work. But as to mechanics, that'll be the subject of a summit.
Asian anger over subs and ships deals
Chris Johnson That the Japanese are not at all pleased over losing the $50 billion contract for Australia's new submarine fleet is a given.
Sound familiar? The 2013 campaign redux
Stephanie Peatling Voters could be forgiven for experiencing political deja vu thanks to the return of immigration and climate change as key election issues.
Time for new direction on asylum seekers
When Malcolm Turnbull confessed on Wednesday that he could not produce a "definitive roadmap", he may have delivered the understatement of his prime ministership.
Verdict on Manus Island: Punitive and now illegal
Michael Gordon The PNG Supreme Court has given Malcolm Turnbull cover to do the right thing and, not a moment too soon, end the inhumanity of indefinite detention of vulnerable and damaged people.
Dear Shinzo, the Frogs know nothing about subs. Love, Tones
Tony Abbott has written to his friend, Japanese Prime Minister Shinto Abe, commiserating at Japan's failure to make the cut in the $50 billion bid to build submarines in Australia.
Votes for boats: Subs decision avoids a political meltdown in SA
Mark Kenny Luckily, South Australia does not grow balsa trees, or we might just have committed $50 billion to submarines that won't submerge. Instead, they'll be built from high-quality non-buoyant Australian steel.
Clive, Australia's political prisoner?
Tony Wright We're not sure which gulag Clive Palmer has been condemned to inhabit, nor how he might be confined - let alone what catering arrangements have been made.
Coalition MPs in need of climate refresher courses
Stephanie Peatling The international scientific community might have accepted the reality of climate change, but it is a different matter in the Coalition.
Best submarine at the best price
Analysis Two things stand out about Tuesday's announcement that France will help Australia build the new fleet of submarines.
Turnbull out on a limb over negative gearing
Peter Martin You've heard the one about the one-year-old who's buying a house.
PM rips up his script on tax reform debate
Malcolm Turnbull had only been an MP for a matter of months when he turned his mind to a fairer, broader tax system.
Sophie Mirabella: pork barrelling on its way to Indi
If Sophie Mirabella is "the most honest politician in Australia" - as Crikey called her on Friday - then the widespread malaise with Australian politics is well founded. We're all rooned.
How PM's doorstop drew attention to the housing crisis
Matt Wade A system that encourages young families to buy property, but not live in it, is not working efficiently.
How the Senate ferals will survive a double dissolution
Tony Abbott called them "feral" and Malcolm Turnbull reckons they're a "disgrace" and an "embarrassment".
Through the looking glass: Turnbull shrinks as Shorten grows
Curious and curiouser: with a July 2 election all but certain, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has begun to grow into the job, while Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been brought down to size.
