• 27 mins ago

New board member has taken aim at "inner-city smashed avocado eaters" for unfairly targeting coal and the minerals industry.

• 34 mins ago

A suite of changes to Australia's hate speech laws will be proposed but it will be up to the PM whether the government acts.

• EXCLUSIVE

The Turnbull government is launching a major crackdown on dodgy family daycare providers, with new integrity measures designed to save taxpayers up to $250 million.

The federal government won't reveal the cost of a controversial security fence being installed outside Canberra's Parliament House because the price tag could aid a terrorist attack.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has laid the blame for the government's drop in the polls squarely at the feet of Tony Abbott, describing the former leader's "outburst" last week as a calculated and deliberate attack to undermine confidence in the Coalition.

The Turnbull Government proposed company tax cut would cut national income for years before it boosted it and would never be self-funding, a new analysis from the Grattan Institute has found.

Coalition ministers hops their blistering attack on Tony Abbott has finally silenced him ahead of Federal Parliament's return, but the former prime minister's most loyal confidante says he's not going anywhere.

After another hiccup in the bilateral relationship, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and President Joko Widodo have pressed the re-set button.

Cuts to penalty rates will hasten to the "mass casualisation" of Australia's workforce, leading to lead to a decrease in job security, less paid leave and more workplace stress.

Malcolm Turnbull meets with Joko Widodo in Sydney.

All high income Australians would pay the 1 to 1.5 per cent Medicare Levy Surcharge under a budget proposal that would raise a breathtaking $4 billion per year, more than 6 times the net amount saved in the first Turnbull budget.

• ANALYSIS

Malcolm Turnbull needs to find a solution to his Tony Abbott problem as Coalition MPs sweat on the next negative development in this toxic rivalry.

The Turnbull government is "on life support" and the Liberal Party is "bleeding" voters but Tony Abbott is not angling to reclaim the prime ministership, his most loyal confidante claims.

• EXCLUSIVE

Queensland workers in coalition electorates will be among the hardest hit by the changes to Sunday penalty rates, with employees in some of the most marginal seats in the nation also bearing the brunt.

Self-driving cars will be commercially available within five years and could become so advanced that humans are banned from driving, a federal parliamentary inquiry has heard.

Australia wanted the United Nations to play a bigger role in the reconstruction of Iraq after the 2003 invasion but was rebuffed by the Bush administration, a declassified report reveals.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has used his first state visit to Australia to plump for greater connections between businesses in Australia and its northern neighbour.

The NSW council of the RSL has agreed to step aside amid mounting pressure from the rank-and-file as well as the league's national board over the financial scandals plaguing the state leadership.

Parts of the Great Barrier Reef are enduring periods of heat stress worse than during last year's record-breaking coral bleaching event.

Single mother Sharon Eurlings has worked Sunday shifts for more than 20 years to help pay the bills and get care for her children.

It's hard to know how many lives Carly Ryan has saved, how many childhoods she has kept intact.

Powerful government backbencher says only a return to Australian values will stop Coalition voters from drifting to One Nation.

Joko Widodo's ambitious program to develop tourism beyond Bali will be among the issues discussed.

The Immigration Department has begun issuing warning notices to about 12,000 asylum seekers in Australia to apply for refugee status immediately or face deportation.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has conveyed Labor's concern about Israel's construction of settlements in occupied territories to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a meeting he described as "warm and productive".

The last time Malcolm Turnbull spoke with one of the handful of world leaders Australia might consider among its closest friends, the verbal stoush that ensued ended up becoming a global story.

Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has no plans to cut interest rates, and worries that he did he would make an already indebted nation "more fragile".

Labor's proposed method to achieve a 50 per cent renewable energy quota for Australia by 2030 would cost billions more than previously understood, modelling commissioned by the Turnbull government has found.

• SKETCH

Boris Johnson works hard to appear as if he has just got out of bed after a rough night. Enter Australia's Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop.