Australian politics

As soon as the cornfields cleared, they were waving, hands and flags, in fours and fives, then in lines, small and substantial, with their Make America Great Again caps. The rubberneckers were overwhelmingly white, in shorts and…

The Australian federal police dropped its investigation into whether former Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan’s Facebook account was compromised after she resigned from the Liberal party and did not ask the AFP to pick up the case for…

It was revealed last week that Pauline Hanson will be deputy-chairing a “Men’s Rights” flavoured parliamentary inquiry into the family court system – Hanson not only claimed credit for the development but launched into an…

Australian tech entrepreneur Mike Cannon-Brookes will travel to the United Nations summit on climate change in New York to announce that Atlassian will adopt a target of net zero emissions by no later than 2050. The commitment, offered…

Josh Frydenberg, then the environment minister, knew his ministerial colleague Angus Taylor had a family interest in a farm being investigated for alleged illegal clearing of grasslands when Taylor met with environment department…

Scott Morrison has sidestepped questions about whether he wanted the Hillsong Church pastor Brian Houston to be a guest at Friday night’s glittering black-tie state dinner hosted by Donald Trump, characterising the reports as “gossip”.…

So the budget is back in balance. Do you care? You don’t? Good, you shouldn’t. This week the treasurer announced that the 2018-19 final budget outcome was a deficit of $690m and, because it is less than .01% of GDP, we can call it…

When a Melbourne law firm announced a class action into the Coalition’s controversial robodebt scheme on Tuesday, Francine Wheeler didn’t waste any time. A few hours after Labor’s government services spokesman, Bill Shorten, revealed…

Scott Morrison will use a visit to Nasa on Saturday local time to unveil a $150m investment in Australian businesses and new technology to support the American space agency launch expeditions to the moon and to Mars. The Australian…

Scott Morrison capped-off a frenetic day in Washington, where he was feted and challenged in equal measure, by dining under the stars with Donald Trump in the Rose Garden at the White House, but without a special guest he had wanted at…

The foreign affairs department had no idea Julie Bishop was taking a job with one of Australia’s biggest foreign aid contractors until it was publicly announced, internal documents show. Documents obtained by the Guardian through…

Donald Trump has declared China is a threat to the world “in a sense” and raised the spectre of Australia joining a coalition of military action against Iran as he characterised his ally Scott Morrison, as a “man of titanium”. Following…

I have nothing but admiration for the people who work in the family court system. It’s a place of despair, and I don’t invoke that word lightly. Humans, many of them vulnerable, mired in the stages of grief, litigate the remnants of…

Mark Butler wants to make one thing clear: the shadow minister for climate change and energy is not for turning. It wasn’t a mistake to pursue an ambitious climate policy in the 2019 election and “we are not going to change our position…

Labor has urged the joint standing committee on electoral matters to investigate whether the digital behemoths are having a negative impact on Australian democracy after Facebook refused to take down fake news about the “death tax”…

With the unemployment rate rising from 5.0% at the start of the year to 5.3% in August, and the latest GDP figures showing slow growth and the economy going backwards when accounting for population increase, talk is very quickly turning…

When Canberra’s finest strategic thinkers released a white paper in 2012 about Australia’s place in the Asia-Pacific region, the country’s choices seemed obvious. There was even a suggestion that everything was written in the stars.…

Scott Morrison was set to use his opening speeches in the United States to emphasise the shared values between Australia and America and attempt to land a nuanced message on trade – highlighting the importance of open markets as a…

The home affairs department’s secretary, Mike Pezzullo, has defended his agency’s refusal to disclose how many warrants have been issued against journalists, while revealing he has a small group of trusted journalists he engages with…

The Australian never wastes an opportunity to attack the ABC, so it was no surprise when a gossip column claimed that an unnamed ABC Melbourne radio presenter – subsequently revealed to be Virginia Trioli – is a diva who shouted at…