Australian politics

While the Liberals will emerge from the New South Wales state election feeling less despondent about their federal prospects in May than they felt before Saturday night, imagining a containment line in Scott Morrison’s home state – the…

For the major parties there are some sobering messages that go well beyond the borders of New South Wales. Gladys Berejiklian and the Coalition may have been returned for a third term but their margin has been whittled away, not by…

After a messy and confusing election night, the New South Wales state election has produced a result close to the status quo, with very few seats changing hands. It is not yet clear if the Liberal/National government will retain their…

Political staffer James Stevens has been chosen as the Liberal candidate replacing retiring cabinet minister Christopher Pyne in the South Australian federal seat of Sturt. Earlier this month Pyne, 51, announced his retirement from…

5.59am GMT05:59 It’s election day in New South Wales! Knife-edge, cliff-hanger, nail bitter; every conceivable cliche for an election that’s too close to call has been trotted out during this campaign, so chances are it’s…

Human rights advocate Tim Soutphommasane wants Australians to be vigilant, with nativism and nationalist populism on the march. He expresses his warning in stark terms. “I don’t think the race politics we are seeing at the moment can be…

The Morrison government will boost funding for the corporate and banking watchdogs by $550m over the forward estimates when it hands down a pre-election budget likely to include tax cuts and infrastructure spending, as well as a surplus…

Voters in New South Wales go to the polls on Saturday facing the likelihood of a minority state government. Dominated in its final stages by the Coalition government’s controversial stadium spend and racially charged remarks made by the…

“Why are you there?,” I muttered under my breath while watching Scott Morrison settle in a chair next to Waleed Aly on Thursday night, fronting up for one of the more compelling political interviews on television in recent times. From…

Labor has called on the government to endorse a national apology to Australians born without limbs and life-long disabilities as a result of the thalidomide scandal, one of the world’s worst pharmaceutical failures. A parliamentary…

Mining and resources companies have been given an extraordinary level of access to the highest rungs of the New South Wales government in the past four years, securing roughly 188 meetings with ministers in 235 weeks. An analysis of…

The auditor-general’s office will look into a federal funding program after the Liberal candidate Georgina Downer presented a giant novelty cheque emblazoned with her name and image to a local sports club which had won a commonwealth…

Labor has replaced its candidate in the federal Victorian seat of Higgins with a high-profile barrister in a move that shows the Liberal stronghold could be at risk of falling for the first time. The incumbent MP for the affluent inner…

New polling suggests a rise in the number of voters who believe Australia’s gun laws need tightening in the wake of the Christchurch terrorist attack. New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced sweeping and immediate…

The effectiveness of the federal government’s new rules for skilled worker migrants, designed to encourage people to settle in the regions, has been questioned by a former senior immigration bureaucrat. Abul Rizvi, the former deputy…

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has dodged the question of whether Pauline Hanson is racist, saying the right thing to do after Christchurch is to “reach out to the Muslim community and give them a big hug”. Morrison said he did not…

The federal ALP president, Wayne Swan, has warned the resentments and anger caused by unemployment, poverty and widening inequality are dangerous for liberal democracies, including Australia, and the “worry for us is the aftershocks of…

Labor has pledged $60m for financial services that divert vulnerable borrowers from high-interest payday lenders. The policy picks up on the recommendation of a Senate inquiry to expand no interest loans schemes to prevent low-income…

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has admitted a discussion took place in shadow cabinet in 2010 about community fears about Muslims, but said his contribution was intended to “lower the fears about Islam and not elevate them”. In a…

On Tango Avenue, a quiet street in the hills between Dee Why’s main drag and the coast, Australia’s former prime minister and current advocate for beachside toilets has been door-knocking – and he has discovered something wonderful.…