John Howard ended up selling the controversial property barely a year after he officially opened it.

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet backed the idea; the Treasury didn't.

Labor has doubled down on its opposition to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a day after the Turnbull government broke with the Obama administration over a controversial UN resolution.

• EXCLUSIVE

Faysal Ishak Ahmed carried a deep secret and a burning fear during his years in detention on Manus Island, long before he became the fourth asylum seeker to die after seeking protection in Australia and being sent to Papua New Guinea.

Former prime minister tells folk festival the community must "make a bloody noise" to effect action on climate change, rather than leaving it in the hands of politicians.

Complaints to the Australian Taxation Office have increased by more than 40 per cent in three years, amid thousands of job losses and serious IT system failures.

Liberal senator Cory Bernardi has taken aim at ally Tony Abbott over his censure of "rebellious" colleagues looking to "do a Trump" in Australia, accusing his former leader of "talking up division" and backing "the horse named self-interest".

Australia has broken ranks with the United States and New Zealand over Israel, indicating that it would most likely have opposed the UN Security Council resolution condemning its settlements on Palestinian land.

The federal government spent a record amount on digital advertising in Australia last financial year, second only to television advertising.

Labor has joined calls for Centrelink's automated welfare debt recovery processes to be halted, amid reports low-income Australians are wrongly receiving letters of demand for thousands of dollars in possible over payments.

• EXCLUSIVE

Friends and allies of opposition leader Bill Shorten will face court on criminal charges after an alleged politically motivated vandalism spree on the morning of the federal election

Faysal Ishak Ahmed was told there was no bed for him at Manus Island detention centre's medical clinic just five days before he died after collapsing, hitting his head and suffering a seizure.

Former prime minister Bob Hawke believes he has the recipe to fix the nation – think big, get better candidates, abolish state governments 

Australia's spending on foreign aid is at its lowest level in eight years, with planned increases by 2020 still below commitments from the Rudd and Gillard governments more than a decade earlier.

A long-term critic of the Rudd-Swan GFC stimulus package was paid more than $16,000 to deliver a paper which found it was counterproductive.

The government has accused Labor of running a scare campaign about pension changes.

Taxpayers have paid nearly $3.5 million in two years for a controversial program which gives Australia's major political parties cash for overseas study tours, networking and training events.

Australian voters could soon use pens to vote at federal elections, as part of a plan to replace traditional ballot box pencils.

Three weeks after putting in his Medicare claim and hearing nothing, and with more medical expenses on the way, Barry picked up the phone and called the helpline.

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

For the first time more Australians support decriminalising the use of marijuana than those who back retaining its classification as an illicit drug, a survey conducted over three decades has found.

It's the one thing Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten can wholeheartedly agree on.

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.

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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".