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Australia is one of the first countries to pursue a free trade agreement with the Pacific Alliance.

Australia faces a "small but non-zero" chance of a recession in the next two years according to the BusinessDay expert forecasting panel.

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Bill Shorten is ready for the Turnbull government to implode and has moved Labor to an election footing.

Business groups have welcomed the return of chief executives to the skilled occupations list.

Tony Abbott and Lee Rhiannon say they're protecting the ideological purity of their respective parties. But are they the ideal rebel messengers?

Five years ago, Greens leader Bob Brown proudly declared he led "the most cohesive and happy party room" in federal Parliament. Locked in a power-sharing deal with Julia Gillard, the Greens were giddy after helping to pass the carbon and mining taxes into law.

At least 325 serving and former Australian Defence Force personnel committed suicide between 2001 and 2015, a major new report has found, shedding light on factors that could make certain veterans especially vulnerable to mental illness.

Australia's cyber intelligence agency will be given the power to launch offensive operations to shut down foreign criminal networks, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced.

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells reprimanded Mr Abbott after he released an alternative election manifesto.

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One of the Turnbull government MPs pushing for the introduction of same-sex marriage will launch a new Liberal Party gay pride group that is by a top adviser to minister Christopher Pyne.

The Turnbull government is prepared to significantly water down its plan to increase university fees and slash the HECS repayment threshold in a bid to pass higher education savings through Parliament.

Australia's best-known Catholic politician, Tony Abbott, has defended the character of his long-standing friend, Cardinal George Pell.

Prime Minister and Cabinet public servants finally agree to new workplace deal.

Australia's neighbourhood faces a "substantially" increased threat from Islamic State with the current battle against militants in the southern Philippines serving as a sharp wake-up call, head of the US Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris has warned.

A fresh round of Coalition infighting has broken out, with Defence Minister Marise Payne sharply rebuking Tony Abbott for suggesting Australia should consider buying nuclear-powered submarines.

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Sufferers of a rare blood cell cancer will get cheap access to a new drug after an unprecedented move by the Turnbull government.

Greens senator Lee Rhiannon and her hardline supporters in NSW will resist a federal push to reform the party's rules, setting the stage for more bitter infighting in the divided party.

Australia should fundamentally rethink its submarine program and consider buying nuclear-powered boats, Tony Abbott says, to better arm the Royal Australian Navy at a time when regional rivals such as China and Russia are expanding their fleets.

Factional warfare in the Victorian Liberal Party has reignited after a senior official was accused of being involved in a Catholic schools campaign against the Turnbull government's Gonski 2.0 education funding reforms.

March of public service casualisation reversed. In one department at least.

A court case taking on Buckingham Palace could soon reveal the final, still unknown details about the 1975 dismissal.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has insisted that the decision to suspend rogue NSW senator Lee Rhiannon from party room debates is not a penalty, but an attempt to improve "a consensus-based decision-making process" within the party.

Government minister Christopher Pyne has apologised for his "unhelpful and damaging" same-sex marriage speech

Reversal of the Fair Work Commission's decision to reduce Sunday penalty rates in industries including the hospitality and retail sectors could lead to industrial "chaos" and reduce wages to a political "plaything" experts warn.

Former prime minister, John Howard, has described Australia's leadership of the so-called RAMSI mission to stabilise the Solomon Islands, which come to an end this week after 14 years, as one of Australia's and his government's greatest foreign policy achievements.

Senator Lee Rhiannon has been suspended from taking part in any contentious decisions in the Greens' party room until her NSW wing reforms.

Another public service agency lays down its arms.

The university sector has attacked the government for pushing through the biggest set of school funding reforms in a generation while slashing funding to their institutions and hiking student fees.

Attorney-General George Brandis has cleared the decks of the troublesome Administrative Appeals Tribunal, making more than 60 appointments including several people with Liberal Party links.