James Massola is chief political correspondent in the Canberra bureau. He has worked in the federal press gallery for eight years, including stints for The Australian Financial Review and The Australian before joining the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
A Turnbull government plan to ratify the China-Australia extradition treaty has collapsed, with mounting opposition from the Coalition backbench causing the government to withdraw the treaty from Parliament.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Justice Minister Michael Keenan have moved to quell a backbench revolt over a China-Australia extradition treaty.
The federal government could secure three crucial votes from the Nick Xenophon Team for its company tax cut plan, but only if it adopts a politically contentious emissions intensity scheme for the electricity sector.
More voters back the Turnbull government's $50 billion plan to cut company taxes than oppose it, in findings the Coalition will seize on ahead of a decisive Senate vote this week.
Labor now holds a thumping 10 point lead over the Coalition in the two-party preferred vote.
The Turnbull government has hand-balled responsibility for protecting people facing big pay cuts on Sundays and public holidays to the Fair Work Commission, effectively guaranteeing Labor and the union movement will mount a ferocious industrial relations campaign all the way until the next election.
A China-Australia extradition treaty 10 years in the making looks set to be killed off in the Senate next week with Labor, the Greens and the crossbench expected to team up to stop ratification.
Farmers battling drought are set to be  among the big winners in the 2017 budget, with the Coalition poised to announce a $4.5 billion regional investment corporation in May.
Treasurer Scott Morrison has urged financial regulators to crackdown on investor loans, warning restrictions have "worn off," allowing investors to storm back into the market hurting housing affordability levels and promoting surging household debt.
New study from the University of Adelaide has found that after accounting for house prices, suburbs in Adelaide with shared home ownership schemes have 8 per cent higher levels of home ownership than near identical suburbs in NSW and Victoria
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