Tony Abbott's travel rorts reforms labelled 'weak'
BIANCA HALL Politicians will have to declare they have not done the wrong thing.
Latest political news
Government fails to turn back the boat
Michael Bachelard, Natalie O'Brien The Abbott government has blinked in its asylum seeker stand-off with Indonesia, ordering a Customs boat with up to 63 asylum seekers on board to Christmas Island, throwing its boats policy into disarray.
Party members to help pick state Labor leader
CAMERON ATFIELD 11:59pm Preselections for Labor's Queensland parliamentary leader and its Brisbane lord mayoral candidate will be opened to party members in a move set to be approved at the ALP state conference this month.
44th Parliament: The federal MPs to watch
BIANCA HALL As the 44th Parliament sits for the first time on Tuesday, more than a quarter of its members will be newcomers. But who are the ones to watch?
NAPLAN testing disguises illiteracy: Labor MP
BIANCA HALL 11:27am Newly-minted Labor backbencher Alannah MacTiernan has hit out at the NAPLAN testing, saying it masks the true illiteracy rate in Australia.
Indonesian hackers vow payback over spying
Army sacking over Skype sex scandal
Women and young hit as 14,000 jobs go
Violence against women at 'appalling' rate
Abbott raises global ire after ditching tuna deal
Lost votes would 'reverse WA Senate result'
Watchdog warns business on power cheating
Razor taken to CSIRO
Government accused of secrecy on FOI
Brandis to repeal 'Bolt laws'
Bob Brown's influence continues at Greens
Minister faces spy program grilling
Labour market goes backwards
Coalition turns back on UN climate summit
Comment & Analysis
Freedom fighters riding in, but what is at stake?
JACQUELINE MALEY Opinion Freedom Commissioner: what a marvellous job title. A touch Orwellian perhaps, but you could soon get over that.
Abbott plays politics with diplomacy
Tom Allard Once again the Abbott government has needlessly antagonised Indonesia. Attempting to return an asylum seeker boat to Indonesia when the country is furious about allegations of Australian spying was dumb.
Abbott's climate Achilles heel: the weather
TOM ALLARD If El Nino reasserts itself, the weather will get even hotter, and the politics of climate change could swing again dramatically, with hotter days bringing a potent political wildcard.
Spy scandal: everyone's snooping to conquer
John Birmingham I am shocked, shocked I tell you, to discover that our nefarious spy agencies have been spying on some guys.
Grubby politics behind Coalition's climate plan
Jamie Hanson The government says it is drafting new climate laws. But the proposed Emissions Reduction Fund will lead to rorts, waste and more pollution.
New parliamentary session? Give us a break
Judith Ireland Opinion Is there anyone out there looking forward to the return of the 44th Parliament? This year has already seen so much - arguably too much - in the dramedy they call Australian politics these days.
A politician's life: play now, pay later
Wendy Harmer Tony Abbott says we punters are welcome to make suggestions on how to change the system of parliamentary entitlements.
Can the new Parliament be better, please?
Paul Komesaroff We need to move from a political culture dominated by ruthless opportunism to one of reconciliation.
Racism laws show society's strength
TIM SOUTPHOMMASANE We should be emphatically proud of our achievements as a multicultural society.
Violence hasn't stopped, stores must be retold
Quentin Bryce The global ambition may exist to eliminate violence against women, but we know it persists at appalling rates.
Whales and the gnashing of Labor teeth
PETER HARTCHER Opinion If you knew nothing of Australian politics and picked up the new book by Kevin Rudd's campaign director, you'd be forgiven for assuming that the election was between Rudd and Rupert Murdoch.
Cell door slamming on our justice system
GAY ALCORN The government's revolution of Victorian justice has made a bad situation worse.
Getting tough on gangs? Heard it before
RICHARD ACKLAND Yawn, stretch. Here we go again. Barry O'Farrell is getting tough on gangs. Mandatory sentences for gang members caught with a shooter.
Horrors of Anzac aftermath laid bare
Bruce Scates Centenary plans to digitise repatriation files will change the way we think of the Great War.
Case of give a little, take a little more
MALCOLM MAIDEN Treasurer Joe Hockey's tax clean-up announcement is taking more than it gives away.
Hockey keeps and drops Labor's measures
PETER MARTIN Opinion You can learn a lot about someone's priorities by the way they sort out the garbage.
Missing votes a rare event in AEC's history
Lessons need to be learnt, but Australians should still have faith in the system, writes Sally Young.
Murdoch wants his pound of flesh
ELIZABETH KNIGHT Having been the largest single contributor to the election of the Coalition, Rupert Murdoch is looking for his reward.
Trouble in paradise lingers
Matthew Allen and Sinclair Dinnen As a stability mission comes to an end, Solomon Islands still faces a hard future.
Indian cricket a bellwether for Asian Century
MATT WADE It's a year since Julia Gillard's Asian Century white paper focused national attention on future economic opportunities in our region.
Special features
Oceans apart
Indonesia's reaction to spying allegations began simply enough, but soon turned into the possibility of a major diplomatic incident on the high seas, write David Wroe and Michael Bachelard.
Shining a light on the sacrifice of our Diggers
Lawrence Money Like any military operation worth its epaulettes, a ceremonial rehearsal at the Shrine of Remembrance was detailed and thorough.
Rachel Griffiths signs up for acting PM role
Jessica Wright Australian actress Rachel Griffiths has signed on to portray former prime minister Julia Gillard in a full-length television drama.
Off to work: Mallee MP takes to the skies
Darren Gray He is well used to bumping across a dusty paddock in a tractor, but new federal MP Andrew Broad has turned to a new country workhorse to get around.
Liberals pick a fight over history wars again
Tony Taylor Political meddling with the history curriculum is vandalism that undermines democracy.
Australia forecast to develop inland sea
Peter Hannam It seems Charles Sturt, Thomas Mitchell and other early European explorers tramping the scorching deserts of Australia in search of an inland sea were a few thousand years too early.
Winning Senator wants new vote
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says the Electoral Commission should begin the legal process for a new Senate vote in WA after a count botched because 1,375 votes were lost.
Keep GainCorp Australian
New National Party MP Andrew Broad discusses the future of GrainCorp, relations with Indonesia and his first week in parliament with Tim Lester.
New seating plan puts McGowan with Palmer
Clive Palmer and Cathy McGowan may be relative strangers, but they are about to get to know each other really well.
Putting MP expenses to the 'pub test'
Have your say on what's a reasonable expense for politicians to claim.
Govt cool on Howard's climate talk
The PM's parliamentary secretary, Josh Frydenberg, distances himself and the government from former leader John Howard's climate scepticism.
Investigating MPs' expenses
Fairfax Media has conducted an extensive investigation on MPs claiming expense entitlements. Read our coverage here.
Cartoon Gallery
Home of the best cartoons by our resident artists from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.
