Politics

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

The Department of Human Services was within its rights to release the personal details of a blogger who criticised Centrelink's debt recovery scheme, the department secretary tells Senate Estimates.

Journalists frequently refer to freedom of information investigations in news stories, but not many people realise anyone can learn to use the legislation successfully.

The Fair Work Commission should implement Sunday penalty rate cuts gradually so it coincides with base wage increases and minimises the impact on workers' take-home pay, the Prime Minister says.

Sugar entities Wilmar and Queensland Sugar Limited will not be forced into arbitration after the LNP fails to pass laws in State Parliament to mandate the move.

Wall Street's blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average surges through 21,000 points for the first time on President Donald Trump's speech to Congress.

Fast-food businesses will no longer be able to bring in foreign workers on 457 visas, in order to make young Australians the priority, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says.

Energy and Water Supply Minister Mark Bailey is referred to Queensland's Crime and Corruption Commission over a private email account that has the Opposition questioning if he acted corruptly.

Labor interrupts Question Time as Opposition Leader Bill Shorten tries to push through a bill to stop the cuts to Sunday penalty rates from coming into effect. Follow live.

Unions and employer groups are at odds over how quickly changes to penalty rates should be introduced as the Commission calls for submissions over how the pay cuts should be implemented.

The Finance Department has paid $4,000 for a recruitment video which has been slammed by marketing experts as "excruciating, cliched and a new low".

A recruitment video the Finance Department spent thousands of dollars to create is panned by marketing experts as "excruciating" and "cliched".

Centrelink's decision to release a welfare recipient's personal information to a journalist is unprecedented and will have a chilling impact on public criticism, lawyers say.

Public servants from the nation's chemical regulator are being forced to work from a local fast food restaurant in northern New South Wales, due to a lack of office space.

Australian universities are setting new targets in a bid to attract thousands more Indigenous students to campuses across the country in the first national agreement of its kind.

The Chief of the Defence Force, Mark Binskin, says Islamic state fighters are using drones and "Mad Max" style car attacks in the battle for Mosul in Iraq. Look back on the day's political developments in our blog.

The Liberal Party is split over whether restrictions on freedom of speech should be watered down, putting pressure on the Prime Minister and Cabinet over which side of the party to favour.

Right now, millions of Australians are feeling some level of job insecurity, and it's hurting, writes David Taylor.

There is a renewed political fight over funding for disadvantaged schools, as the national education union begins a bus tour that will protest what it says are rollbacks to the Gonski funding model.

During a fiery Senate Estimates hearing, Attorney-General George Brandis repeats arguments he is not at odds with his West Australian counterpart over when he was personally involved in litigation to claw back $1 billion from the failed Bell Group of companies.

A parliamentary committee fails to reach a consensus on whether Australia's racial discrimination laws should be changed, instead proposing a "range of pragmatic" options for the Government to consider.

West Australian Liberal MP Ian Goodenough hands down a report on the Racial Discrimination Act.

People living on low incomes in coastal regions of NSW are faring just as badly as city dwellers as they hunt for an affordable roof over their head.

The developer who built the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver and already owns a hotel in Sydney and Melbourne rules out bringing the Trump name to Australia in the immediate future.

Dawson MP George Christensen has resigned as the Nationals chief whip, reasoning he cannot be both a rebel and an enforcer of party discipline.