• EXCLUSIVE

Linda Burney, Labor's human services spokeswoman, has written to the Australian National Audit Office requesting they investigate Centrelink's controversial $4.5 billion debt clawback project amid ongoing concerns it is unfairly targeting people and miscalculating bills.

A New Zealand politician has labelled senator Malcolm Roberts's call for sanctions against New Zealanders in Australia "absolutely nuts", passing it off as using "the politics of hate and division for self promotion".

Australia's defence cooperation with Indonesia spans some of the most controversial issues in domestic and international politics today.

Defence Minister Marise Payne has denied Australia has recruited Indonesian military officers as spies or agents of influence.

An earlier report said cooperation was halted because Indonesia took offence at material used during joint military training with Australia.

Proposed cuts to company tax have come under fire from former federal treasurer Peter Costello for being less effective at boosting the economy than personal tax cuts.

Centrelink's debt recovery letters are leaving many people dumbstruck.

Centrelink's contentious debt recovery system is making some of the targeted people feel suicidal, independent MP Andrew Wilkie has claimed.

Canberra MP furious at 'jobs and growth' mantra.

Relocation packages won't come close to covering the full costs of the move, public servants say.

Mr and Mrs Culleton on Wednesday took aim at everyone from former associates to judges, banks and the media.

As many as 190,000 Australians have received letters from Centrelink questioning their eligibility for some government benefits, as a new automated system matches income and employment data from across government agencies.

Centrelink has faced a storm of criticism over its automated data-matching system, which has hit almost 170,000 people with notices that they owe the agency money.

One Nation has picked a fight with one of Australia's closest allies, calling for tighter immigration controls for those across the ditch, after New Zealand co-sponsored a United Nation's resolution censuring Israel.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has distanced herself from a potential party candidate, after he was involved in a scuffle with rogue West Australian senator Rod Culleton.

Barnaby Joyce has a blunt view on whether former prime minister Tony Abbott is being helpful in speaking out on a range of issues over summer.

Kevin Rudd went around senior US officials in an attempt to secure a meeting with then US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, newly released emails have shown.

The Australian Medical Association has weighed in to the heated politics of Australia's gun laws, saying ownership restrictions should be tightened in 2017 and a real-time national firearms register established. 

WA Senator Rod Culleton has been injured during an altercation outside a Perth court building.

 Three more asylum seekers on Manus Island have been charged with public drunkenness and resisting arrest after an incident on Monday night.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has expanded on his call for the citizenship test to be revamped with a boosted focus on social integration and Australian values rather than being a "trivia" quiz on history and government.

The federal government says Centrelink's controversial new automated debt recovery methods are "working incredibly well" and only attracting a tiny number of complaints.

Taxpayers billed $1 million for five months of "agile coaching".

The Turnbull government may be looking at ways to get more regional and rural Australians into private health cover, but the nation's peak medical body says the priority should be more access to medical services, and more support and infrastructure for bush doctors.

Two of the Coalition's leading conservatives have been named as "special guests" at a $150-per-head dinner being held by anti-Islamic group, the Q Society of Australia.

Manus Island MP Ronny Knight has declared that two asylum seekers who say they were bashed by police and PNG immigration officials on New Year's Eve "deserved what they got".

Low-income Australians receiving housing support and other welfare services have joined summer criticism of Centrelink, as the agency faces sustained questions about its new automated debt recovery processes.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has quickly dismissed a pair of contentious suggestions on Middle East relations from former prime minister Tony Abbott.

Refugee advocates have called on the Turnbull government to urgently address the alleged bashing of two Iranian asylum seekers on Manus Island.