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Rhiannon Down is a political reporter in The Australian’s Canberra bureau. She began her career at the paper in the Sydney bureau, where she covered mostly courts and crime, after joining the newspaper as a cadet.

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Security SPENDINGDefence

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 4TH, 2025: Minister for Defence Industry and Pacific Island Affairs Pat Conroy speaking at the 2025 ASPI Defence Conference in Canberra on June 4th, 2025. Picture: Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)

ALP ‘open’ to boosting defence budget

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy has moved to bolster Australia’s defence credentials ahead of Anthony Albanese’s first meeting with Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Canada.

Rhiannon Down

CoalitionPolitics

CANBERRA, Australia - NewsWire Photos - August 20, 2024: Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Senator Jonathon Duniam and Senator Susan McDonald hold a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

‘Ideology has no place in school’

Jonathon Duniam will push for a review of the national curriculum and the removal of ideology from the classroom.

Rhiannon Down

politics nowNation

‘Chalmers has shut the door’ on super tax talks: O’Brien

Ted O’Brien says ‘there is not one component of their tax plan that we like’ after the Treasurer said outbursts from backbenchers cast doubt on whether the Coalition is serious in its offer to negotiate on Labor’s super tax.

Jack Quail, Kyle Rode, Rhiannon Down and Sarah Ison

HIGHER EDUCATIONNation

New opposition education spokesman Jonathon Duniam has signalled a softening of the Coalition’s push to slash international student numbers. Pictures: NewsWire

Coalition softens election stance on foreign student caps

New opposition education spokesman Jonathon Duniam has signalled a softening of the Coalition’s push to cut international student numbers, branding the election policy a ‘blunt instrument’.

Rhiannon Down

politics nowPolitics

Greens leader blasts Dorinda Cox’s bombshell Labor defection

Larissa Waters questions how the senator’s values will align with Labor, while revealing she had been given just one hour’s notice of the move.

Sarah Ison, Rhiannon Down and Greg Brown

‘respectful’ debatePolitics

CANBERRA, Australia - NewsWire Photos - September 20, 2024: Shadow Minister for Education, Sarah Henderson and Senator Paul Scarr hold a press conference to discuss the senate inquiry into the Coalition's bill to establish a Commission of Inquiry into Antisemitism at Australian Universities at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Coalition ‘still supports cutting back migrant intake’

Newly appointed opposition immigration spokesman Paul Scarr has backed the Coalition’s election policy to cut the migration intake as ‘considered and measured’.

Rhiannon Down

POLITICAL COMEBACKNation

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. Picture: supplied

Fourth senator for One Nation

One Nation has secured a fourth Senate seat, putting its representation in the upper house on par with the Nationals.

Rhiannon Down

‘Passion for helping’Politics

ALBURY, AUSTRALIA- NewsWire Photos- MAY 30, 2025. Michaelia Cash is the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and former Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, Senator Anne Ruston and Barnaby Joyce attend the funeral of Opposition leader Sussan Ley's mother, Angela Braybrooks. Picture: Simon Dallinger/ NewsWire

Touching eulogy on female strength by a newly minted leader to her doting mum

Michael McCormack and Barnaby Joyce have joined Liberal figures in supporting Sussan Ley at the funeral of her late mother, whom she lauded for helping lead the way for strong women.

Geoff Chambers and Rhiannon Down

Politics NowNation

Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party leader Pauline Hanson. Picture: supplied

One Nation picks up fourth senate seat; Truth, treaty still on ALP’s agenda: Dodson

One Nation has won the sixth senate seat in NSW, propelling Warwick Stacey to the upper house and bringing its senate total to four; Indigenous leader Pat Dodson says he’s ‘encouraged’ by Labor signals on the Uluru Statement.

Rhiannon Down

ELECTION 2025Politics

One Nation senate candidate for WA Tyron Whitten with party leader Pauline Hanson. Source: Pauline Hanson's Please Explain Facebook page

One Nation secures Senate seat

One Nation has secured the sixth Senate spot in Western Australia through the ‘dark power’ of preferences, as Pauline Hanson’s conservative party bucks the national trend.

Rhiannon Down

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/rhiannon-down/page/2