This Month
Student caps row; Alan Jones arrested; Markets ‘dangerously bullish’
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
Election donation rules target Palmer and Climate 200
New rules due to come into force in 2026 will cap spending in federal elections and dramatically speed up public disclosure rules.
- Tom McIlroy
Voters furious at housing impasse, O’Neil warns Greens
The Housing Minister says voters will punish an ‘unholy alliance’ between the Coalition and the Greens.
- Tom McIlroy
- Opinion
- Leading Indicators
Inside Canberra’s hidden $180b spending boom
Australia’s budget numbers are increasingly a mirage as billions in spending are labelled as ‘investments’ to improve the fiscal optics.
- Michael Read
Greens plan to cancel student debt unfair to poor, says HECS architect
In what looks like an act of one-upmanship, the Greens will promise to cancel all student debt, not just 20 per cent like Labor. Experts say the idea stinks.
- Julie Hare
- Opinion
- Federal election
PM’s plan to spend Labor’s way out of trouble
Over the weekend we saw the emergence of a plan, or at least the latest plan, to try to shift the government out of its torpor.
- Phillip Coorey
The four seats that matter most out of the Queensland election
Queensland was said to be critical for Labor to avoid minority government but the election crystallised a concerning dip in support. Here are four seats to watch.
- James Hall and Tom McIlroy
PM chases young voters with pledge to wipe $16b from student debt
Every student will have their debt cut by 20 per cent at a cost to the budget of $16 billion, as Labor escalates its pitch to young voters.
- Phillip Coorey
Victorian Greens MP quits party after affair with staffer
Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell says Prahran MP Sam Hibbins has completely lost her trust and is “never welcome back” after admitting he had an affair with a female staffer.
- Gus McCubbing
Hanson racially vilified senator in ‘angry personal attack’: judge
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson racially vilified Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi in a tweet telling her to “piss off back to Pakistan”, the Federal Court has ruled.
- Gus McCubbing
October
Chalmers rules out big spending despite loss
Steven Miles looked like someone trying to spend his way out of trouble, not someone with an economic plan, the federal government believes.
- Phillip Coorey
Gambling lobbying reveals risk to our democracy
Readers’ letters on gambling advertising reform, Australia’s role in the Pacific, nuclear energy and politicians receiving perks from Qantas.
Chandler-Mather declines to own Greens flop in Queensland
Max Chandler-Mather defended combative tactics after the party’s poor state election showing raised doubts about its bid to retain federal seats in Brisbane.
- James Hall
Greens’ power push suffers setback in Brisbane
The Greens had hoped to win six seats in the Queensland election, but instead are in a close race to retain the party’s two seats.
- Tess Bennett
Labor’s loss in Queensland reveals a problem for Albanese
David Crisafulli will become just the third Liberal-National leader to win an election in the state since 1989 after a late surge in pre-poll flowed to his party.
- James Hall
Crisafulli’s Queensland: LNP ends a decade of Labor
David Crisafulli promised to be tough on crime and to reduce state debt after winning government for the Liberal-National Party in Queensland after nearly a decade of Labor rule.
- Updated
- James Hall
‘How not to campaign’: Crisafulli’s bid for major mandate weakens
The polls have tightened in the race to rule Queensland after the heavily favoured Liberal-National opposition was outperformed by the Labor underdogs.
- James Hall
- Opinion
- Federal election
Queensland vote a pivotal moment for Greens
Unlike in the 2022 federal election, the Coalition is preferencing Labor ahead of the Greens for this weekend’s state election.
- John Black
Has Australia reached peak Greens?
After a sobering result in the ACT, the question for the Greens in Queensland will be whether their strident and noisy politics is working - or starting to turn voters away.
- Tom McIlroy
- Opinion
- Federal election
Politically speaking, it’s not so easy being Green any more
Holding Labor to impossible progressive standards without having to be accountable for outcomes is no longer working for the Greens.
- Lidija Ivanovski