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Yazan Abu Ful, a two-year-old malnourished child, sits at his family home in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on Wednesday.

PM says starving children in Gaza ‘beyond world’s worst fears’

Anthony Albanese has criticised Israel’s handling of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Penny Wong refused to rule out recognising Palestinian statehood.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.

Ley starts campaign to rebuild bridges with corporate Australia

After Peter Dutton distanced the Liberal Party from big business, Sussan Ley has started to mend relationships and is meeting the nation’s top executives.

UK vows 50-year submarine treaty to back AUKUS despite Trump doubts

Australia and Britain will sign a 50-year show of faith in their plan to share nuclear-powered submarine technology.

Labor admits to being ‘a bit slow’ on SA algal bloom

Cabinet minister Mark Butler concedes Labor will need to do much more to address the environmental disaster decimating South Australia’s marine life.

Glen Le Lievre cartoons for 2025

See all of Glen Le Lievre cartoons for 2025.

Trump ‘smiling’ about US beef exports as Nats step up review demands

Donald Trump has directly claimed credit for Australia lifting the US beef ban, while the Albanese government maintains there is “nothing in the timing”.

Opinion & Analysis

The Albo show: PM back and stronger than ever

Anthony Albanese has entered his second term in office with absolute authority. But there is a danger in being regarded as unassailable.

Phillip Coorey

Political editor

Phillip Coorey

Why the Greens are in real trouble

Warning signs are flashing for a party that has lost many of its older, more affluent supporters and is struggling to attract new backers.

John Black

Election analyst

John Black

Why Australia can’t dodge US tariffs

Despite the Coalition’s attempts to suggest otherwise, Labor cannot offer enough – not even an audience with a king – to appeal to Trump’s notion of fairness.

France to recognise Palestine state. Is Australia about to follow?

The Albanese government has already signalled it could recognise Palestinian statehood, but Emmanuel Macron’s move adds pressure for Australia to act.

Andrew Tillett

Foreign affairs, defence correspondent

Andrew Tillett
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Yesterday

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (centre) has entered his second term in office with his authority and that of his government absolute.

The Albo show: PM back and stronger than ever

Anthony Albanese has entered his second term in office with absolute authority. But there is a danger in being regarded as unassailable.

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek. Australians owe $3 billion in welfare debts

Welfare recipients owe government $3b, Plibersek warned

The Department of Social Services told the minister of the “financial and reputational risk” of a backlog of debt owed to the government.

The Greens are at risk of losing their oldest and newest supporters.

Why the Greens are in real trouble

Warning signs are flashing for a party that has lost many of its older, more affluent supporters and is struggling to attract new backers.

Anthony Albanese said in April Australia would not compromise on biosecurity while Donald Trump demanded access for US beef.

Why Australia can’t dodge US tariffs

Despite the Coalition’s attempts to suggest otherwise, Labor cannot offer enough – not even an audience with a king – to appeal to Trump’s notion of fairness.

French President Emmanuel Macron (left) with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu just weeks after the October 7 terror attacks.

France to recognise Palestine state. Is Australia about to follow?

The Albanese government has already signalled it could recognise Palestinian statehood, but Emmanuel Macron’s move adds pressure for Australia to act.

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Former Australian PM Paul Keating was a major shareholder in Lake Technology, and profits from the sale of his shares are at the core of the alleged tax dispute.

Calls for transparency after Keating’s $1m tax bill waiver

Experts warn that new laws making penalties non-deductible will increase the incentive for taxpayers to privately petition the ATO to cancel their debts.

Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

Gaza ‘beyond world’s worst fears’: Wong

Australian and UK defence and foreign ministers have addressed the media on the new bilateral security treaty and situation in the Middle East. Earlier, Allegra Spender convened a tax summit and Donald Trump hailed the beef trade breakthrough. How the day unfolded.

This Month

Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles will join UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey for talks.

Brits arrive with an aircraft carrier and AUKUS reinforcements

The UK’s foreign and defence secretaries will hold talks with their Australian counterparts in Sydney on Friday.

Former Treasury boss Ken Henry (right) has given Treasurer Jim Chalmers more to chew than ‘bite-sized’ chunks of reform

Tax reform, red tape and faster approvals top business wish list

Business wants tax reform to get its own inquiry so it can focus on more readily achievable productivity measures.

Memo to Nats: You can’t abolish net zero if you can’t form government

Sussan Ley had a process to manage the Coalition’s climate policy. The mad rush by Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack to abandon it undoes all that.

Mark Latham’s portrait, bottom right, will remain in Labor’s caucus room with text added below it.

Blogger’s list of Latham’s ‘Lemmings’ lives on

The plaque under Mark Latham’s portrait in the party caucus room should name the serving ministers who made him Labor leader.

Labor wants to bring the Port of Darwin back under Australian ownership.

Full speed ahead on Darwin Port sale

Industry players and analysts expect the government to push the sale after the Chinese-owned port failed to cause a stir in Beijing.

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins

Trump takes credit for lifting of beef ban, Coalition wants a review

The government said the decision to lift the import ban on US beef was based on science, not politics, but they don’t mind if that’s what the US thinks.

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek

Too many wealthy home owners claiming age pension, Plibersek warned

Affluent retirees are being subsidised by low and middle-income earners while building their nest eggs, the Department of Social Services says.

Anthony Albanese and Sussan Ley in first question time: It’s only to be expected that the Labor Party makes government bigger. Liberals are meant to be different - but in practice they’re not.

Menzies’ message forgotten as Liberals create leaners, not lifters

Correlation is not causation – but sometimes it is. In recent years, as the size of government has grown, Australia’s economic productivity has declined.

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Victorian sawmills have slashed their operating capacity and laid off staff amid weakened demand for timber.

Sawmills struggling, laying off staff due to housing slump

The timber industry was bracing for supply shortages to meet increased demand for housing. Instead, they are now struggling to sell their products.

Melbourne’s tree canopy, a quiet but vital  amenity, faces slow death by a thousand cuts or in this case, a thousand chops.

Saving Melbourne from Labor’s planning regime is not selfish NIMBY-ism

The city is at a crossroads: more homes, yes, but in a way that risks losing what makes Melbourne worth living in.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra on July 24, 2025.

‘Australia is not complicit’ in Israel’s actions: Marles

Defence Minister Richard Marles has defended the government’s transparency on Gaza by insisting it is not providing any weapons to Israel. How the day unfolded.

$110,000 coffee date: CFMEU peace deal revealed as rot spreads north

A peace deal between a gangland associate and a Gold Coast developer has sparked calls for company bosses and gangland figures to join unionists at an inquiry.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland.

Rowland defends corruption watchdog, flags privacy crackdown on AI

The attorney-general has outlined two major areas she wants to focus on as Australia’s first law officer, while strongly backing the under-fire NACC commissioner.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/politics