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Just four days into the job, it was clear Michelle Guthrie was in for a bumpy start as managing director of the ABC.

Malcolm Turnbull faces pressure from state and territory leaders for an effective national energy policy on Friday, with South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill raising the prospect of climate change costing the Prime Minister his job for a second time. 

'Barnaby's feathering his own nest.'

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The Turnbull government is sitting on advice that an emissions intensity scheme would make electricity bills cheaper.

The Labor Party has given Australia's authors, booksellers and publishers an early Christmas present, revealing it will oppose any attempt to remove restrictions on parallel imports of books.

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Kristina Photios has quit the Liberal Party after 12 years to speak out against a "vocal minority" of conservatives.

Front-line services offering programs to tackle homelessness will be given a funding reprieve by the Turnbull government.

Treasurer Scott Morrison says Australia is not headed for recession, hitting out at alarmist language after the end to five continuous years of economic growth.

Anger is growing in the United States congress over Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's "secret" deal with the Obama administration.

Tax Office workers prepare to vote in the wake of third Defence no-vote.

• COMMENT

The irony of the hysterical attack by some MPs is that by ensuring the scheme isn't on the table they are likely to further aggravate the problems they describe in doomsday language.

Amid comparisons to Jesus, an interruption from a former dentist turned paint bombing court-denier and allegations the constitution has been "hidden in a drawer since 1975", One Nation Senator Rod Culleton battled for his political life on Wednesday.

Treasurer Scott Morrison has branded the dramatic end to five continuous years of economic growth "not just a reminder, not just a wake-up call, but a demand to support economic policies that drive investment and jobs".

The man who came up with the scheme at the centre of a humiliating government backdown on climate change policy says has  rejection means the government will have be responsible for higher electricity prices and reduced energy reliability.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says the world is reacting with resentment to the "manacles of political correctness" in events such as Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.

Former senator Stephen Conroy will head up a new gambling industry lobby group.

Senior US Republicans have set the Obama administration a deadline of December 13 to make public information about its refugee resettlement deal with the Turnbull government, in the latest threat to the plan ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration.

Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo has rejected assertions that the Trans-Pacific Partnership has collapsed, saying the incoming Trump administration needed more time to consider the pros and cons of the giant regional trade deal.

Last week Josh Frydenberg was having a giggle in his Canberra office with Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has described Queensland's 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030 as "bonkers mad".

Heading into the fight for his political career One Nation Senator Rod Culleton said he believes he holds his party's policies 'higher' than leader Pauline Hanson, as the rift between the pair threatens to overshadow his High Court battle.

The Australian public won't be consulted on the plan to boost security perimeters around much of Parliament House, with Parliament's presiding officers citing national security concerns.

Family violence and homelessness advocates are asking politicians to put politics aside when it comes to funding programs.

A Senate inquiry is examining Attorney-General George Brandis' handling of the Bell Group liquidation fallout.

Any prospect of an emissions trading scheme or carbon tax under the Coalition has been killed, buried and cremated - again. But in a torturous press conference at Sydney's fish markets, Mr Turnbull was under pressure to explain how the Coalition let the carbon genie back out of the policy bottle at all.

The man who came up with the scheme at the centre of a humiliating backdown by Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg says its rejection shows the government lacks spine, and will be responsible for higher electricity prices and reduced energy reliability.

Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians will not be a roadblock to a treaty, but a step toward a final settlement and the closing the disadvantage gap, Bill Shorten has said.

Natasha Stott Despoja says her three years as Australian Ambassador for Women and Girls have been confronting at time, showing her the best and worst of humanity

As the Coalition backs away from a pledge to consider a climate change policy that the energy industry says it needs, a new study is projecting a rapidly growing mass electricity generator for Australia in the decades ahead: the public.