• 1 hr ago

The national president of the RSL is facing calls to step aside in the wake of revelations he received a share of nearly $1 million in payments despite being a volunteer.

• EXCLUSIVE

Senior Coalition figures worry that anger in regional areas at the dogs ban is weighing on the poll-challenged Turnbull government.

The federal Minister for Northern Australia has described statehood for north Queensland as an inevitability, even if it could take some time.

"There's been a sense that while money may buy some us influence and ingratiate us, but it also may make us look tainted."

Nine Australian men detained in Malaysia after stripping down to their flag-bearing budgie smugglers at the Grand Prix won't be bailed out by their government back home, the Foreign Minister has warned.

An angry commuter has unleashed her transport woes on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at a Sydney train station.

• ANALYSIS

By now the dance is clear. The bank chief opens with broad sweeping mea culpas and promises to do better. Then things change.

ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott has been challenged to justify his million-dollar pay packet, which was unaffected despite falling profits and lower customer satisfaction at the bank.

New documents show Mr Turnbull spent nearly $200,000 on official functions in his first six months as prime minister, hosting Christmas parties, Australia Day receptions and parties for overseas dignitaries and sporting teams.

Decision marks a turnaround for one of the country's most generous banks, which has given more than $500,000 in the past three years.

• EXCLUSIVE

Tony Abbott has told right-wing allies in Britain that he believes he has a reasonable chance of becoming prime minister again, Fairfax Media has learned.

A three-tiered system of loan limits will be introduced, with loans capped at $5000, $10,000 and $15,000 depending on the cost of teaching the course.

The Australian Federal Police has dropped its investigation into the copying of former speaker Peter Slipper's official diary.

• EXCLUSIVE

The national RSL president and three NSW colleagues received a share in nearly $1 million in "consulting fees" paid by an arm of the veterans organisation.

Former Liberal Party federal director Brian Loughnane has been recruited by the Commonwealth Bank as an adviser.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has invested in Wall Street tech funds that hold shares in Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft - companies heavily criticised for their agility in shifting profits to low tax jurisdictions.

A staffer for Turnbull government frontbencher Christopher Pyne is among the nine Australians jailed in Malaysia after stripping at a Formula One race.

"Unlike most, I'm not sulking because Britons failed to take my advice".

At eight-years-old, Rose Cox's path through her childhood and into adult life took a sharp turn.

• EXCLUSIVE

Voters are unconvinced by Malcolm Turnbull's move to drag bank executives before a parliamentary committee beginning this week, suggesting many regard it as an attempt to forestall a full royal commission, according to a new survey of community attitudes.

• EXCLUSIVE

"Things will be said which will hurt people. Many of them are already vulnerable. There's definitely risk involved."

Tax Office denies it wants a fast-track-to-the-sack for workplace slackers.

Sometimes, it's the things that go unsaid that say everything.

Australia will honour a multi-million dollar pay-off promised to Papua New Guinea to settle unwanted refugees - despite PNG moving to shut down the Manus Island detention camp.

It was more than a century in the making, so it was probably fitting the first train to depart Kippa-Ring Station on the new Redcliffe Peninsula Rail Line was 20 minutes late.

Labor has not given up its fight for a royal commission into the nation's banking sector, as the Big Four prepare to face the first of what Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised will be an annual accounting of their actions.

The storm – both real and political – continues to rage over South Australia, with Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg admitting initial inquiries had found renewable energy was not to blame for the statewide blackout, while refusing to back down from attacks on "aggressive" state Labor renewable energy targets.

When an employer reported David Evers to Centrelink, saying he had failed to show up for work, his welfare payments were swiftly cut.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has said "all trust has broken down" between the United States and Russia over Syria.