Federal police are raiding the offices of Bill Shorten's old union, the Australian Workers Union, over donations made to activist group GetUp! a decade ago.

The Productivity Commission has thrown a spanner in the Turnbull government's attempts to settle Australia's intractable climate wars.

Automatic dispensaries would replace pharmacies, low-value health care procedures would be defunded and people with real-world skills would be made teachers under a series of bold proposals put forward by the Productivity Commission.

Memo suggested police operations were compromised by the need to protect Malcolm Turnbull's Point Piper mansion.

Turnbull government plans to claw back hundreds of millions through a crackdown on couriers and cleaners has come under criticism from some tax experts who say draft laws are inadequate in fighting the problem.

The most prominent federal politician facing the judgment of the High Court, Barnaby Joyce, appeared less jaunty about his immediate future.

As word came that the High Court would decide on Friday the future political careers of seven federal parliamentarians, Senator Nick Xenophon was airily preparing for a fast getaway to his home state of South Australia.

Politicians will face tougher scrutiny when accused of dodgy travel claims under a new system that will scrap the "Minchin Protocol".

Senior Nationals MPs are increasingly nervous the High Court will rule against Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and order him to fight a byelection when it finally rules on the status of the so-called "citizenship seven" on Friday.

The Turnbull government continues to face questions about the NBN as it sells a new economic agenda.

Australia will give urban warfare and counter-terrorism training to the Philippines within days to help in the fight against terror groups.

Former soldier Jesse Bird had $5.20 left in his bank account the final time he pleaded with staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs for financial help.

The federal bureau charged with running the same-sex marriage survey will have its staff slashed by 17 per cent next year, as Australia's chief statistician warns it does not have the resources to undertake all the activities that its customers demand.

Three out of four eligible Australians have so far voted in the same-sex marriage survey.

Rubble to fill 4000 Olympic swimming pools will be excavated from of the Snowy Mountains to build the Turnbull government's pumped hydro expansion – and authorities so far don't know where to put it.

The man at the centre of a controversy gripping Australia's wool industry has admitted he should not have secretly watched an anonymous focus group behind a one-way mirror, or told an ABC journalist to "f--- off" when he was later asked for a comment on the issue.

"Ice-cold". "Small man, big ego". "Thugster in training". The former PM holds nothing back in the blistering first part of his autobiography.

"I'm not sure what you're inferring," Andrew Colvin told Eric Abetz, declaring himself uncomfortable at the line of questioning.

Protecting the National Broadband Network from private sector competition would be a "disastrous" move that would inflict higher internet costs on households, according to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims.

One of Bill Shorten's closest advisers has quit over a blackface costume controversy.

Up to $300 billion in government spending will come under scrutiny as state and territory leaders consider a "refresh" of the Closing the Gap strategy to reduce Indigenous disadvantage in Australia.

Gay couples will enjoy free venue hire in the City of Sydney once same-sex marriage is legalised, in a provocative move that will outrage conservatives.

The Senate has passed only $24 billion of the government's $50 billion program of company tax cuts.

An image and health-obsessed Australia has provided a jobs boon for fitness instructors and beauty therapists.

Sydney is running a ''population deficit'' with the rest of the country, new census figures show.

The manual was lost by a company involved in security upgrades at Parliament House.

An image and health obsessed Australia has provided a jobs boon for fitness instructors and beauty therapists.

The Australian government will pay up to $250 million a year in services even after the regional processing centre closes next week.

Politicians and bureacrats are in the spotlight as they face Parliament's powerful estimates' committees.