Federal Politics

Entire ATO website down

Andrew Leigh made fun of the error on Twitter.

The Tax Office ruled out a census-style "denial of service" attack as the reason for the loss of its entire website, saying the massive failure was due to hardware problems "not being caused by any external factors".

Tony Abbott reflects on his reading habits

Former prime minister Tony Abbott's end of year advice for Malcolm Turnbull.

Tony Abbott has more time on his hands these days and he is using it to rediscover a passion for reading and, in particular, for thrillers. He will not, however, be wasting any more time on E.L. James' erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey, which he "didn't think was a great book at all".

We won't follow Trump lead on Taiwan, free trade, says PM

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in his Prime Ministerial suite at Parliament House in Canberra.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has signalled Australia is prepared to go its own way on foreign policy and will refuse to follow US president-elect Donald Trump's strategic direction on Taiwan or free trade.