![Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during question time at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, March 22 2017. Photo: ...](/web/20170402120342im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/a/9/s/h/image.related.wideLandscape.460x259.gva9ea.png/1491010785559.jpg)
Question Time presents name-calling memories of the 'old days'
Members of the public unfamiliar with parliamentary practice may be surprised to learn that there are limitations on how far a member can go in saying offensive things.
Members of the public unfamiliar with parliamentary practice may be surprised to learn that there are limitations on how far a member can go in saying offensive things.
In a barely noticed respite from last week's hyper-partisan squabbling, Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten actually agreed on a couple of things. It is an enduring curiosity that such moments tend to escape attention.
In the end, the deal to secure Malcolm Turnbull's signature election pledge of enterprise tax cuts, at least for small and medium businesses, was, to use the vernacular, a little "exxy". Big business missed out. A bridge too far. As such the cost to the budget is substantially less - around $20 billion. The X-man of Australian politics, Nick Xenophon has once again proved the master-negotiator, and Turnbull, the great deal-maker and achiever of results. As in all compromises, neither got all they wanted, But both will be happy.
Australia has equalled the Netherlands' record of 103 consecutive quarters of economic growth.
Bliss to be alive, but to be young not very heaven
Right then. The parliamentary consideration of section 18C
The simplest way to solve super's many problems is to make contributions voluntary.
If there were a law against insulting and offending the political class, a lot of my mates and acquaintances would be in strife.
Your personally curated news with six things you need to know before you get going.
The performance of the Senate in the company tax debate has been marked by an overweening self-importance.
Consider this: since Bronwyn Bishop finally left the federal Parliament nine months ago – kicking and screaming after being rolled by her own party – Australian taxpayers have paid her nearly $200,000.
Your personally curated news with six things you need to know before you get going.
Australia needs a bigger, more coherent foreign policy that resonates beyond election cycles.
Since 1970, governments switched leaders 17 times - and lost almost all the following elections.
Your personally curated news with six things you need to know before you get going.
The non-profit industry funds want you to think there's nothing wrong. They are most often the funds new employees are defaulted into and they perform the best, on average far better than their for-profit competitors.
The government says it supports an extradition treaty with Beijing because it will ensure Chinese criminals are sent back to China, where they belong. And it maintains that righteous enthusiasm right up until suddenly, it's gone.And so, another column in the facade of orderly, government, topples to populist whimsy.Cory Bernardi's power as a rookie independent, just got a pretty big kick-along. The government's prestige, not so much.
Your personally curated news with six things you need to know before you get going.
The real cheats are those who don't acknowledge their own power and privilege.
Let ASIO continue its good work. Don't mess about with our security agencies for political gain.
"It reminds me of late Gillard, where it didn't matter what she said, nobody was listening."
Your personally curated news with six things you need to know before you get going.
The PM badly needs clean air and real traction or colleagues will return to discussing their alternative driver options.
There is a growing sense around the halls of power that Malcolm Turnbull is finally starting to get somewhere, writes Mark Kenny.
Politicians normally avoid airing their dirty linen in public but for Australia's longest governing leader, it was actually a laundry incident that nearly brought him undone.
Children are being killed and injured in Mosul but if it's "our" side doing the bombing it's not on TV.
We're told often we have nothing to fear if we have nothing to hide. It's time to apply that to government too.
Jimmy Breslin changed my life.
Politicians' reluctance to discuss 'new' ways to tax makes our unfair system even less fair.
The federal and ACT public services say they have no serious integrity problems. But who's actually looking?
The hurly-burly of the 2016 election campaign, as seen through the eyes of Fairfax reporters and photographers.
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