When Colin Barnett was elected, George W Bush was President, iPhones had just hit the market and Amy Winehouse was cleaning up at the Grammys.

Plans for a free trade agreement between Australia and the European Union have hit another big delay, which trade minister Steven Ciobo has blamed on the EU.

Electrical contractor Peter Georgiou will replace his brother-in-law Rod Culleton as a West Australian senator.

Coalition MPs want the ban extended to all unions, think tanks, lobby groups and "political actors".

Nasir* waited almost five years for the chance to state his case. Then he had just a single day to nail it.

The RSL's acting national president has admitted the embattled NSW leadership stalled its own investigation into the financial scandals engulfing the state branch of the league.

In his first post-retirement role, former High Court chief justice Robert French will tackle one of the legal system's most intractable problems.

Investors have roared back into the housing market, buying properties that would have otherwise gone to owner-occupiers, and embarrassing the government by taking out more than half of the new money meant for housing.

Federal treasurer Scott Morrison has brushed aside suggestions he is being shunted as the government's chief economic salesman heading into the May budget, following reports of disquiet in government ranks about his performance. 

"Only Australians should have the power to influence Australian politics and elections," said Liberal senator Linda Reynolds.

Federally, attention will focus on Finance Minister and WA powerbroker Mathias Cormann.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has led a series of tributes from federal government ministers after the death of controversial News Corp cartoonist Bill Leak on Friday.

• EXCLUSIVE

The Coalition government is considering the creation of a new affordable housing finance corporation to kick-start tens of millions of dollars in investment in community housing, in one of several major initiatives being examined for the federal budget.

Pauline Hanson acknowledged there was no test for vaccine allergies, as she had claimed on the ABC.

Labor front bencher Kate Ellis is set to quit politics at the next election, after more than a decade in federal parliament.

The Nationals have called for a ban on political donations to exempt any individuals or entities with "a genuine involvement" in Australia and the national interest.

Chinese warships have carried out naval drills in Australia's maritime backyard for the third time in three years in a move that experts say strengthens the case for greater co-operation with Indonesia.

Over the past three years, almost all of the world's reefs have experienced summertime heat stress.

Papua New Guinea has made an extraordinary demand of Australian taxpayers: a surprise request for Canberra to provide a direct annual gift of $550 million.

They are only starting to gain a foothold in the Australian market, but could batteries provide a near overnight solution to the energy woes that have hit South Australia and risk spreading east?

Former prime minister John Howard wasn't rattled despite needing to be "rescued by police" from angry union protesters rallying in Sydney's CBD against cuts to penalty rates.

The sector that has the most to gain from funding changes under the Omnibus bill has slammed the government's bill as unfair. "We just don't believe that it's necessary to predicate investment in early childhood eduction through savings in other areas," the Senate committee hearing into the Omninbus bill has been told.

The widening gap between rich and poor in Australia should be viewed as a new form of "systemic risk" endangering billions of dollars tied up in long term resources projects, the nation's big miners will be told on Friday.

Malcolm Turnbull has called urgent crisis talks with Australia's east coast gas companies after the energy market regulator warned of looming shortages that could lead to widespread blackouts as early as next year.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, seen as the chief government backer of a proposal to create a super-sized homeland security department, has articulated the intelligence-sharing rationale for the United States making a similar change and said Australia must continue to have a modern system that strives for "world's best practice".

University students on youth allowance "would struggle to pay the rent" and "feed themselves" under changes to the federal government's omnibus bill, a senate committee has heard, after being stripped of their income for five weeks between leaving university and finding paid employment.

Declaring that Australia is in the midst of an energy crisis, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said he will call together the chief executives of east coast gas companies to address the threat to their customers.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has admitted she was wrong to suggest parents subject their children to a non-existent test for allergies to vaccinations.

• EXCLUSIVE

Australia's original climate change-focused think-tank and lobby group will shut after it failed to replace the multi-million-dollar bequest it relied on.