Renegade senator Cory Bernardi has promised his new Australian Conservatives party will restore faith in politics, railing against the "out of touch political class" as he quit the Liberal Party, leaving his former colleagues fuming.

Australians living in the US have called on the Turnbull government to demand tolerance and evidence-based policy making from Donald Trump, amid concerns foreign workers could be targeted in visa crackdown.

Labor and the Greens look set to force a Senate inquiry into Centrelink's controversial automated debt recovery systems, an issue that had dogged the federal government for more than two months.

While Bernardi hopes to build a new nation-wide conservative movement recent political history suggests his defection is more likely to end in tears.

The parliamentary perk that gives retired politicians free business-class travel on the taxpayer will be scrapped.

Rich or poor, young or old, one thing that unites Australians seems to be our mutual disillusionment with politicians.

Besieged leaders will use members' funds to finance a costly legal fightback against allegations they allowed financial abuse to occur under their watch.

The Turnbull government has been forced to back down from plans to compel Queensland landholders to sell their properties to make way for expansions to Defence force training bases, following a community backlash in its most marginal electorate.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott is the headline act at a Victorian Liberals fundraising dinner that has been described as a "rallying point" for conservative members in the state.

Lawyers for rejected asylum seekers at Australia's offshore detention centre on Manus Island will this week move to stop their imminent removal from Papua New Guinea, following reports up to 60 were slated for deportation.

Senior Turnbull government ministers have attacked Liberal defector Cory Bernardi over his plans to move to the Senate crossbench, calling his plans a betrayal of voters who supported him at last year's election. 

• EXCLUSIVE

"There's talk about doing it again and I want no part of it," Cory Bernardi told Malcolm Turnbull.

• EXCLUSIVE

Donald Trump's intention in his phone call with Malcolm Turnbull last week was to terminate the refugee resettlement deal with Australia.

Conservative MPs are scrambling to shut the door on a push by Liberal MPs to allow a free vote on same-sex marriage, warning "this is not a fight we should be having now".

Australia's Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel has said US President Donald Trump's move to censor environmental data is 'reminiscent' of former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's control of science in the USSR.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has echoed Donald Trump's praise for Russian president Vladimir Putin, calling him "a strong leader" and entertaining the prospect she could become prime minister of Australia.  

• EXCLUSIVE

Voters in two important safe Liberal seats seem to be odds with the Turnbull government's central economic agenda item for its second term.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the Liberal Party was too broke to pay its federal director for several months in 2015, defending his record breaking $1.75 million donation to boost campaign coffers.

• EXCLUSIVE

Cory Bernardi is set to upend centre-right politics in Australia and announce on Tuesday that he is resigning from the Liberal Party.

• ANALYSIS

It's the two word term du jour - fake news - and Australian politicians are bandying it about with abandon. But does it mean what they think it means?

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has hit back at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Australia, accusing the company of a "bullying culture".

Outspoken Coalition MP says he has no plans to join a new breakaway party but warns things have to change.

• EXCLUSIVE

What do Donald Trump, Nick Xenophon, Pauline Hanson and 83 per cent of Australians have in common?

Malcolm Turnbull has dismissed suggestions Australia will be indebted to US President Donald Trump if he proceeds with the refugee resettlement deal, insisting there is no quid pro quo for future military support.

Executive pay packets at Australia's biggest private health insurers have soared at the same time as consumers have endured a succession of above-inflation annual increases in the price of health cover.

• EXCLUSIVE

Voters in a swathe of Coalition seats believe federal government MPs should be given a free vote on same-sex marriage.

Climate science at the CSIRO is bouncing back one year after executives modelled its demise, securing new revenue streams in the Pacific and China and looking to hire new staff.

• COMMENT

The main trick magicians use is to direct the audience's attention away from the place where they're doing their sleight-of-hand. That's what Malcom Turnbull's up to.

What's in a name?