Amir never had a birth certificate, or a passport, or anything else that provided proof of who he was until he received his P-plate driver's licence after being released from immigration detention on a bridging visa while his claim for refugee status was assessed.

A Liberal MP has warned the racism and ignorance embodied by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson could have tragic consequences for Australia, calling on his fellow politicians to explicitly reject her views.

Donald Trump is not the problem - the problem is that people believe he's the solution.

Australia could soon have its first female Defence Department boss, meaning women would dominate the senior reaches of the defence and foreign affairs portfolios as never before.

Labor's deputy senate leader Stephen Conroy appears headed for the corporate world after taking his entire party by surprise, including Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Acting Leader Tanya Plibersek, with a low-key, late-night resignation just two weeks into his six-year term.

Islamic community wants to share fish and chips, discuss views.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has acknowledged the need for compromise and negotiation if policies like the same-sex marriage plebiscite are to make it through the Parliament.

Julian Leeser is a federalism freak, young fogey, Gilbert& Sullivan tragic and policy nerd who dates his ambition to enter Parliament to about his 10th birthday, for which he asked his parents for a copy of the Australian constitution.

The Turnbull government will introduce a tax treaty between Australia and Israel to improve business relations between the two countries and ramp up Australia's innovation push. 

Australia's record-high five Indigenous MPs have vowed to work together across party lines, laying down a shared vision of a united Australia after a week coloured by division.

Federal Labor could be denied a crucial Senate vote because of a bitter tit-for-tat stoush dogging Victoria's Parliament.

Outspoken Liberal-National MP George Christensen has taken aim  at Queensland's state Labor Government for "legalising 50-year-old men being able to sleep with 16-year-old boys", after it became the last Australian jurisdiction to standardised the age of consent.

The whiff of political intrigue has rarely been distant from senator Stephen Conroy.

Labor frontbencher Stephen Conroy has dropped a bombshell by resigning from the Senate just months after the July 2 election.

Labor shadow minister Stephen Conroy quietly resigned late on Thursday night with a speech tabled to the Senate.

Former prime minister John Howard has some advice for a prime minister with a one-seat majority.

Treasurer Scott Morrison has unveiled a compromise deal on superannuation changes that dumps one of the most controversial elements of the "ironclad" policy and saves an extra $180 million.

Plan would shift hundreds of defence personnel to other states but free up large tracts of land for development.

Australia has one of the flattest pay structures for school teachers of the world's advanced economies, offering little monetary reward for high-performing or highly experienced teachers.

"If Australia is being swamped by anything it's family violence. That's the real threat."

Minister for Women Michaelia Cash said she "can't" understand why people would be upset at her response to Pauline Hanson, after she hugged the new senator following her maiden speech.

Turnbull government ministers have cautiously criticised Pauline Hanson's incendiary first speech, including its attacks of Islam, while maintaining the One Nation senator and her supporters must be respected.

• COMMENT

If you were hoping the superannuation proposals the government took to the election would provide certainty around super for years to come, you will be disappointed.

• COMMENT

History is beckoning: Cross the floor to bring on a parliamentary vote on marriage equality and achieve something your grandchildren will be proud off.

There's a soundtrack to tragedy. For Julian Leeser, it was the sound of his mother's footsteps coming down the hall.

• ANALYSIS

In 1996 Pauline Hanson made her entry to parliament felt with an incendiary speech which declared Aboriginal Australians were given unfair advantages compared to non-Indigenous Australians - or "mainstream Australians" as she called them - and famously declared the country was being "swamped by Asians."

Pauline Hanson returned to Parliament railing against another minority group, twenty years after first being elected to Parliament. Here is the full transcript of her second maiden speech.

In her first speech to parliament in 1996, Pauline Hanson famously claimed Australia was being "swamped by Asians." Here is the full transcript.

Julian Leeser hopes to spark a wider conversation by sharing details of his father's suicide in Parliament. Here is the full transcript of his speech.