September 2024
Top bureaucrat breached code of conduct 12 times during robo-debt
A review has found 12 public servants, including department secretary Kathryn Campbell, breached the public service code of conduct 97 times during the notorious debt recovery scheme.
- Tom Burton
April 2024
Agents orange: inside parliament’s battle of the hall passes
Crossbenchers are the focus of everyone with a stake in contentious legislation. No wonder David Pocock has had enough.
- Updated
- Myriam Robin
March 2024
Dutton to keep reshuffle to a minimum
Almost a year since Stuart Robert quit the parliament, Peter Dutton will fill his shadow cabinet vacancy.
- Phillip Coorey
November 2023
Tax Office scraps robo-debt style push on repayments
Officials conceded they caused unnecessary distress in pursuing historical debts from tens of thousands of taxpayers.
- Tom McIlroy
September 2023
Parliamentary committee refers Stuart Robert to the NACC
A parliamentary committee has asked the agency to take over investigating government contract decisions made by former Liberal cabinet minister Stuart Robert.
- Tom McIlroy
August 2023
Junked business registry overhaul blew out by $2.3b
Moves to consolidate and modernise records for millions of companies and sole traders were on track for a fivefold cost blow out and a five-year delay.
- Updated
- Tom McIlroy
- Exclusive
- University
‘No political plaything’: Labor to end research grant veto
Changes to the Australian Research Council will ensure government ministers cannot veto grants at whim.
- Julie Hare
July 2023
Labor to scrap Coalition’s $200m ‘welfare calculator’
Stopping development of the $200 million entitlement engine project comes in the wake of the bruising robo-debt royal commission report.
- Tom McIlroy and Andrew Tillett
Former Deloitte partner says removed Defence docs were ‘drafts’
A former Deloitte partner says Defence-related documents he removed from the firm were drafts that were not “confidential or classified”. The firm says they were bound by client confidentiality.
- Edmund Tadros
- Opinion
- Political leadership
Fadden win gives Dutton much-needed leadership vindication
Peter Dutton will take the byelection win to try to persuade the public and his colleagues that the Liberals are on the right track with him as leader after all.
- Jennifer Hewett
Morale boost for Dutton as Libs win Fadden
Peter Dutton and the Coalition have secured a solid victory in the byelection for the Gold Coast seat of Fadden, providing a sorely-needed morale boost.
- Phillip Coorey
Byelection a cost of living test for Labor
Cost of living issues are biting even in the mostly wealthy federal seat of Fadden, ahead of Saturday’s by-election. The LNP wants voters to blame the Albanese government.
- Mark Ludlow
- Opinion
- Canberra Observed
The Voice risks becoming a lightning rod for broader discontent
The conundrum for Anthony Albanese is that the more he talks about the Voice, the crankier a large demographic of voters becomes. At the same time, it is not in his political interest for it to fail. Far from it.
- Phillip Coorey
Byelection is about Albo, not robo-debt: Dutton
Royal commission findings against Scott Morrison and Stuart Robert will be trumped by cost of living pain, the Opposition Leader says.
- Tom McIlroy
- Opinion
- Robo-debt royal commission
My stepmother was a robo-debt victim, and I missed it
I didn’t realise until too late that my stepmother’s private anguish and embarrassment reflected a costly public policy failure called robo-debt.
- Jennifer Hewett
Robo-debt report cold comfort for victim wrongly charged $65k
Rosemary Gay’s life was turned upside down when she received a letter in late 2016 that said she owed $65,000 to be paid within 28 days.
- Updated
- Gus McCubbing
What the robo-debt report said about key players
Scott Morrison and a series of former Coalition government ministers came in for strong criticism in the royal commission’s final report. Here’s what the commissioner said, and her key recommendations.
- Tom McIlroy and Tom Burton
Former ministers and officials brace for robo-debt judgment day
Ex-ministers and senior officials involved with the failed robo-debt scheme face a raft of possible adverse findings when the royal commission reports on Friday.
- Tom Burton and Tom McIlroy
- Opinion
- Canberra Observed
Canberra readies for its robo-debt day of reckoning
Friday’s royal commission report is expected to be an unvarnished take-down of big government at its worst.
- Tom Burton
Palaszczuk vows to fight 2024 election despite damning poll
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has dismissed an AFR/Freshwater Strategy poll showing voters are getting sick of her long-term government.
- Mark Ludlow and Tom McIlroy