The detainees on Manus Island began to fear the worst when Border Force officials began asking if anyone had contact details for a young v.

People trust the ABC more than any other news source and would like to see it given more money and protected from political interference, research shows.

Besieged senator Rod Culleton has been declared bankrupt after a Federal Court hearing in Perth, jeopardising his position in the Senate.

Australians could have their private phone and email records used against them in civil litigation cases, with the federal government considering relaxing data retention laws.

The government has confirmed Australia's greenhouse gas emissions are rising, and projected that it will not get near its 2030 climate target under current policies.

When the soot settled and the melted rubber had set, it wasn't police chatter or tension which greeted the morning, but cicadas.

The head of the Australian Christian Lobby is doubling down on his scepticism of the ACT police declaration that a van explosion outside the conservative group's Canberra headquarters was not politically motivated.

• EXCLUSIVE

Internal tensions within the Greens have boiled over, with members of the hard left of the party grouped around NSW Senator Lee Rhiannon forming their own faction dedicated to the "fight to bring about the end of capitalism".

Liberal party stalwart and former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett does not believe that his party is in a "panic" about One Nation andt has predicted closer alignment with the party in parliament.

A Turnbull government minister has accused the ABC of running "fake news" but failed to produce any evidence of his claims.

ACL boss says the van attack was an attempt to intimidate, but concedes the motivation for the attack is still not clear.

Nationals MP George Christensen reveals he is considering his future amid further speculation Cory Bernardi is preparing to breakaway from the Liberals.

Banning regular unleaded petrol would dramatically improve quality but likely lead to substantial price hikes for motorists.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has overturned a controversial decision by regions minister Fiona Nash to make Mandurah and the Peel region a suburb of Perth, after intense lobbying by Canning MP Andrew Hastie.

Families of passengers who were on board say decision to end the search in the face of game-changing new evidence is "another kick in the guts".

Australia's peak body for architects wants controversial plans to build a new 2.6-metre fence around Parliament House put on hold and reviewed immediately.

The RSL has widened the scope of investigations into alleged financial misconduct that flourished for years in the league's NSW leadership.

Motorists could save up to $519 a year on their petrol bills but the cost of new cars would climb substantially, the government's own modelling suggests.

Stunning results show Australians are in an increasingly dark and distrustful mood about politics and the economy.

• COMMENT

If you're anything like the typical Australian, you probably break the copyright law 80 times a day, according figures included in the Productivity Commission's final report to the government on intellectual property.

The taxman will now disclose small business tax debt information to credit reporting agencies under a new measure announced in the federal government's midyear budget update.

The plane is unlikely to be found in an area of ocean off Australia that has been the subject of a $200 million, two-year search.

Students with disabilities could miss out on hundreds of millions of dollars in extra funding a year because of serious concerns about the reliability of a landmark national audit into the number of school children with special needs.

Crossbench senators say they are not convinced by Treasurer Scott Morrison's call to back his full company tax cut plan, following the release of the mid-year budget update.

The uncontrolled boom in vocational education between 2013 and 2015 saw one college grow from receiving $5300 in government subsidies in one year to $5.5 million the next – a 104,000 per cent increase.

• EXCLUSIVE

Australia's copyright laws would be dramatically simplified, the collecting agency placed on probation, and small copyright owners given a forum in which to take on big corporations under a series of sweeping recommendations to be tabled by the government on Tuesday.

ANU study respondents have delivered a brutal performance review of Bill Shorten but their opinion might say more about themselves than him.

Australia's last four treasurers have predicted a return to surplus 12 times but so far none have delivered.

Nightmare before Christmas for thousands of ATO casuals.