Latest political news
Duncan puts human face on budget battle
Michael Koziol, Daniel Cherny 12:11 AM The post-budget back-and-forth between government and opposition can easily seem vague, with both sides trading soundbites about "growth" and "fairness" that probably leave most voters unmoved.
Australian companies, rich-listers in Panama Papers
Nassim Khadem and Sarah Danckert 10:20 PM Australia's most well-known companies, rich listers and Project Wickenby targets are named in the Panama Papers for their use of offshore companies and trusts.
Indigenous referendum back on track
Michael Gordon 6:25 PM Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians is back on track for 2017, after the Referendum Council mapped out a plan to give all Australians a voice in shaping the question in coming months.
Parties plea for cash
Nicole Hasham 4:15 PM Labor and its red-shirted volunteers need your help in this federal election campaign, and even a measly $5 would suffice.
Government has until Sunday to arrange refugee's abortion after abandoning appeal
Bianca Hall 4:09 PM The Australian government will not challenge a court ruling that it has a duty of care for an African refugee raped on Nauru, and pregnant as a result of her rape, and a responsibility to provide her with a safe and legal abortion.
Public service boss 'threatened with' knife through the heart
Noel Towell 3:47 PM APS dispute reaches new level of bitterness as workers accused of threatening boss with knife through the heart
'You're the engine room of the economy'
Heath Aston 2:56 PM They are in Malcolm's Turnbull's words the "engine room of the economy".
Abbott hits campaign trail for backbencher
James Massola 1:00 PM He cut a solitary figure on day one of the federal election campaign, but Tony Abbott will soon jet to sunny Queensland to campaign with fellow backbencher George Christensen.
Typo disguised 100 public service job losses
Noel Towell 10:22 AM DHS to lose 918 jobs, 100 more than reported in the budget.
Abuse survivors make redress plea
Jane Lee 10:10 AM Research reveals that Royal Commission's preferred redress scheme model would cost federal government about $250 million over four years.
Centrelink: we messed up on youth payment
Noel Towell Centrelink's top boss concedes internal mistakes led to the massive Youth Allowance debacle.
Bowen warns AAA credit rating at risk
James Massola, Peter Martin National Australia Bank tells clients Australia's triple-A credit rating is at risk as Labor prepares to make preserving the rating a key plank of its election policy.
Marshall reappointment kept 'under wraps'
Peter Hannam The CSIRO may be in the midst of another wrenching series of job cuts but it seems the Turnbull government is keen on one job remaining secure.
Poorly-received budget gets PM off to a shaky start
Peter Martin The Turnbull government's pre-election budget is one of the least popular in decades, being beaten only by the first Abbott-Hockey budget in 2014.
Beautiful one day, volatile the next
Heath Aston, Matthew Knott It's known as the Sunshine State but, in politics, Queensland is definitely the swing state.
PM avoids eye-watering dangers on day one
Heath Aston Malcolm Turnbull's media minders will plot a course through a supermarket right down to which aisle the Prime Minister will walk down. It rarely involves the fresh fruit and veg section.
Drugs, guns and tax: inside the Panama Papers
Nassim Khadem The biggest-ever release of more than 200,000 secret offshore entities part of the Panama Papers investigation will be unveiled on Tuesday.
PM's poll gamble: jobs v services
Mark Kenny Nothing dampens the collective mood like the cold snap that swept into Canberra on Sunday.
Turnbull pulls the trigger for winter showdown
Mark Kenny With a wafer-thin lead of 51-49 in the latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll - or 50-50 if voter preferences are taken into account - the result cannot be predicted.
CSIRO cuts to hit Antarctic research
Peter Hannam CSIRO plans to close its ice lab and cease key Antarctic science activities, moves that scientists warn will damage Australia's international partnerships and run counter to a new $2 billion-plus government plan for the region.
Turnbull calls it - July 2 federal election
James Massola Malcolm Turnbull has fired the starting gun on a 55-day election campaign, placing jobs, growth and economic management at the heart of his re-election pitch.
The eight big issues of the election
They're the issues that could make or break Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten.
Liberals and Labor launch first election ads
Tom McIlroy As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull calls the federal election on Sunday, both sides of politics have launched their first advertisements of the campaign.
Malcolm's $300,000 lunch cost more than $500,000
Adam Gartrell Remember Malcolm Turnbull's taxpayer-funded $300,000 lunch in China? Turns out it really cost more than $500,000.
West Australian women stare down a push to have them dropped to the bottom of the Liberal Senate ticket
Latika Bourke The two female West Australian Senators, Cabinet Minister Michaelia Cash and Linda Reynolds, have stared down a rogue push to have them dropped to the bottom of the Liberal party's Senate ticket.
Turnbull government cut dole despite business pleas
Adam Morton It is not every day business leaders and welfare groups line up to give the government the same message, but before the budget they were in lock-step on a key point – that the dole should be increased.
Turnbull government considers plan to gag AFP to prevent Bali Nine repeat
Adam Gartrell Federal police would be forbidden from sharing information about drug crimes if it could result in the death penalty under major changes being considered by the Turnbull government.
Second interest rate cut on the cards
Peter Martin, Mark Kenny There could be another interest rate as soon as next month, throwing a wildcard into the election campaign.
End pollie pensions, 90,000 petitioners demand
Adam Gartrell More than 80,000 people have signed an online petition demanding an end to generous post-Parliament perks for politicians.
The home brand election
Michael Gordon Malcolm Turnbull has given Bill Shorten another leg-up by calling the election this weekend.
Comment
Scott no heart, Scott no apology
One of the world's most heartless immigration ministers – now the federal treasurer – refuses to apologise when he's wrong.
Shorten starts with one clear advantage
Malcolm Turnbull's pitch for election rests on the question he did not pose in his 2000-word pitch to the voters after calling the July 2 double dissolution election: who do you trust?
Shorten quicker than Turnbull in early running
Elections require difference, real or claimed, so that's where all the attention will be over the next eight weeks. That, and personality.
Abbott's subs blunder a disaster
The decision on which country to award a submarine contract is not something to be sorted out between mates.
Turnbull is 'zombie Tony Abbott', but Shorten is no better
Don't die waiting for a serious debate during the campaign.
Senators face fight over long and short terms
Whenever Parliament looks at electoral matters, ideology and principle frequently trumped by self-interest.
Bill Shorten's budget reply banks big savings
Your personally curated news with six things you need to know before you get going.
Lights, camera, action. Behold, Canberra as a secret city, and a star
Canberra does autumn like few other places in Australia. Trees flame, avenues turn golden, the air is brittle.
Donald Trump is the Republican nominee after last man standing John Kasich bows out
Your personally curated news with six things you need to know before you get going.
Morrison delivers passable first budget but fails to tackle the deficit
Your personally curated news with six things you need to know before you get going.
Nauru tragedies are a failure of policy and politics
The day a young Iranian husband died after setting himself alight on Nauru last week, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton released not one but two media statements accusing Labor of being weak on border protection.
Google Tax looms on budget day
Your personally curated news with six things you need to know before you get going.
It's all about fairness, nothing else matters
For all its enormous complexities and competing demands, Scott Morrison's first, and potentially only, federal budget will sink or swim on one question alone. And it's a question that has little to do with the dismal science nor even with the reams of graphs, tables, and explanations accompanying the economic blueprint.
High-flying NBN execs pass up on virtual meetings
For all the cost-saving potential of the internet, it seems there's nothing quite like being there.
Make the most of budget. It's something to treasure
Most of us reporting the federal budget get little sleep the night after. We are busy "unwinding".
Federal Election 2016: FULL COVERAGE
