Posted
| UpdatedPrime Minister Tony Abbott publicly backs down from his insistence the Victorian Government build the East West Link road tunnel and instead commits to consider funding another major road project.
Topics: road-transport, transport, rail-transport, federal-government, federal---state-issues, melbourne-3000
Posted
The Federal Government has reversed its position on a statutory authority to oversee Australia's quarantine system. The Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce announced on Thursday that the government will legislate for an independent, statutory Inspector General for Biosecurity, despite saying for months that that wasn't necessary. Labor says it's an embarrassing backdown for the government, that only goes part-way to meeting the Beale Review recommendations. Read more here.
Topics: trade, pests, federal-government, agribusiness, agricultural-crops, agricultural-policy, quarantine, pest-management, parliament-house-2600
Posted
| UpdatedA Senate committee tells the Government to reverse its budget cuts to legal services because they are increasing the danger of domestic violence.
Topics: domestic-violence, community-and-society, government-and-politics, federal-government, australia
Posted
Three Nationals senators cross the floor for a housing affordability motion to send a message to their Coalition counterparts.
Topics: political-parties, government-and-politics, federal-government, parliament, nationals, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedBusinesses that employ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff will be provided with financial sweeteners of up to $10,000 by the Federal Government.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, indigenous-policy, community-and-society, government-and-politics, federal-government, australia
Posted
| UpdatedEnvironment minister Greg Hunt says he has begun talks with the crossbench as renewable talks with Opposition have broken down again.
Topics: environment, federal-government, government-and-politics, australia
Posted
| UpdatedYou'd think that, before we decided as a society to allow our privacy to be serially infringed in this most intimate and comprehensive way, we'd want to be absolutely sure it was necessary.
We didn't get that chance, and our Government and Opposition have let us down in the worst way in their joint unseemly haste to look strong.
This is one of those moments upon which we will look back and wonder, how on earth...
Topics: telecommunications, internet-culture, internet-technology, defence-and-national-security, federal-government
Posted
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is taking 80 foreign diplomats to South Australia on a "showcase" tour including a local produce fair and Penfolds winery.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, foreign-affairs, sa, australia
Posted
A small but dedicated group of protesters brave searing heat in Alice Springs to rally against the closure of Indigenous communities in WA and federal funding cuts to Indigenous services.
Topics: indigenous-policy, aboriginal, federal-government, alice-springs-0870
Posted
| UpdatedFederal Health Minister Sussan Ley says she will raise concerns about legal service funding cuts in her electorate with Attorney-General George Brandis.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, government-and-politics, federal-government, broken-hill-2880, australia
Posted
| UpdatedFarmers and miners have broadly supported changes to the 457 visa program for skilled foreign workers.
Topics: mining-rural, farm-labour, work, federal-government, government-and-politics, melbourne-3000, parliament-house-2600
Posted
| UpdatedPolitical reporter Melissa Clarke discusses the day in politics.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, australia, canberra-2600
Posted
| UpdatedThe Palmer United Party accuses its former office manager, Tess Sanders-Lazarus, of refusing to hand over the keys to the party's Canberra office.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, australia
Posted
| UpdatedIt will be harder for security agencies to access journalists' phone and internet records, under new measures negotiated by Labor and the Government in their wrangling over contentious data retention laws.
Topics: federal-government, government-and-politics, information-and-communication, journalism, australia
Posted
| UpdatedCabinet Minister Mathias Cormann says he has not been involved in any discussions about the possibility of the Government calling a snap double dissolution election.
Topics: abbott-tony, federal-government, government-and-politics, australia
Posted
A Senate inquiry report into the government's proposed Biosecurity Bill has split along party lines over the Inspector General of Biosecurity.
Topics: pests, federal-government, agricultural-crops, agricultural-policy, livestock, pest-management, quarantine, parliament-house-2600
Posted
The decisions made about remote communities are damaging and a breach of inherent rights. On Close the Gap Day we urge the Government to re-engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, community-and-society
Posted
Rather than cutting pensions, the Government should look at where super funds are investing our billions. An overhaul in this area could help both retirees and the budget.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, budget
Posted
| UpdatedDespite some efforts, subsequent Australian politics has always struggled to match the generational drama of the Hawke-Keating reforms.
And that may partly be because their liberation of an open market economy is pretty much a one-time reform, and that job is done.
The next great reform will be of this stagnant polity itself, hopefully delivering politics that frees ideas from the camouflage of endless deflecting rhetoric. But who do we have to lead this change?
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, business-economics-and-finance
Posted
| UpdatedParliament's Human Rights Committee expresses concerns over the Federal Government's data retention bill and recommends it be changed so authorities have to obtain a warrant.
Topics: government-and-politics, information-and-communication, defence-and-national-security, federal-government, australia
Posted
The chairman of the Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council, Warren Mundine, delivers a blunt personal message to Tony Abbott about his comments on remote communities.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, community-and-society, government-and-politics, federal-government, abbott-tony, welfare, australia, wa
Posted
| UpdatedNorfolk Island residents will have to pay income tax and their parliament will be replaced with a local council under a $136 million plan signed off on by Federal Cabinet.
Topics: federal-government, states-and-territories, government-and-politics, norfolk-island, norfolk-island-2899, dubbo-2830, nsw, australia
Posted
| UpdatedThe Federal Government's battles with the Senate have seen the prospect of a double dissolution election discussed among senior ministers.
Topics: abbott-tony, federal-government, government-and-politics, australia
Posted
The Prime Minister's wife talks about her husband, his career and their future in her first sit-down interview with the Australian Women's Weekly magazine.
Topics: federal-government, government-and-politics, human-interest, people, australia
Posted
| UpdatedThere is growing concern in the upper ranks of the federal bureaucracy that the budget process is adrift, with just two months to go before it is delivered.
Topics: budget, government-and-politics, federal-government, abbott-tony, australia