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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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Foreign affairsNation

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 03: Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks during the Labor PartyÃ¢â¬â¢s election night event on May 03, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secured a second term as Australians backed his Labor government amid persistent cost-of-living pressures and global uncertainty. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

‘Recognising Palestine will only embolden Hamas’

Two security experts say recognising a Palestinian state while Hamas remains entrenched in Gaza will only embolden the terror group.

Rhiannon Down

‘NO REWARD’Politics

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - May 21, 2025: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the National Press Club in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

PM hints at hard line on staffing

Anthony Albanese says it is not reasonable that Liberals and the Nationals MPs should be given the ‘reward’ of more advisers after the collapse of the Coalition.

Rhiannon Down and Sarah Ison

EXCLUSIVEPolitics

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos FEBRUARY 7, 2023: Sussan Ley with David Littleproud during Question Time in the House of Representatives in Parliament House in Canberra.Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Liberals and Nationals on poll, policy crash path

Sussan Ley and David Littleproud are on a collision course over divestiture and energy policy, three-cornered election contests that would benefit teal independents and Senate ballot fights that threaten the future of senior National Bridget McKenzie.

Geoff Chambers and Rhiannon Down

exclusiveNation

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - May 20, 2025: Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers holds a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Chalmers concedes rebates ‘must end’

Jim Chalmers has been forced to concede Labor’s $6.8bn energy rebates will have to come to a hard end, as economists push for the funds to be directed towards reducing the deficit and welfare.

Rhiannon Down

Politics NowPolitics

Nationals Leader David Littleproud, Nationals Deputy Leader Kevin Hogan and Nationals Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie leave after speaking to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

Coalition split after Ley told Littleproud key policy demands weren’t guaranteed

Sussan Ley confirmed in writing to David Littleproud that she could not guarantee that the Nationals’ four key policy demands would be Coalition policy in the current term of parliament, triggering the major split in conservative parties.

Geoff Chambers, Simon Benson and Rhiannon Down

EXCLUSIVEPolitics

Inclusion committee calls for ditch energy rebates and fund renewables for disadvantaged households.

Energy bill rebates must end: Albanese’s welfare experts

Members of Anthony Albanese’s welfare working group are pushing Labor to end its $6.8bn power bill rebates and funnel taxpayer money into solar panels and renewable batteries for poorer Australians.

Rhiannon Down and Matthew Cranston

net zeroPolitics

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - MAY 12, 2025: Leader of The Nationals, David Littleproud, Kevin Hogan and Bridget McKenzie hold a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Littleproud flags lifting nuclear energy ban

Nationals leader David Littleproud says the net zero emissions by 2050 target will be unreachable without nuclear power, signalling the Coalition could abandon its plan to build government-owned reactors.

Rhiannon Down

politics nowNation

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 25: U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House October 25, 2023 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Albanese will participate in a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, a joint press conference and a state dinner. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Albanese’s sorrow for ‘friend’ Joe Biden, Marles flags EU/AUS

Anthony Albanese says he was saddened to hear his ‘friend’, former US president Joe Biden has prostate cancer, sending the family his well wishes in a brief statement, Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles says Australia has a ‘growing strategic relationship with Europe’, welcoming its importance in a ‘defence context’.

Lydia Lynch, Thomas Henry, Rhiannon Down, Damon Johnston and Lily McCaffrey

WAR IN UKRAINEWorld

A new photograph of Melbourne man Oscar Jenkins has been released by the Lugansk People’s Republic Prosecutor’s Office.

Zelensky and PM to discuss Jenkins

Anthony Albanese is expected to raise the fate of Oscar Jenkins when he meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration mass.

Rhiannon Down

EXCLUSIVENation

DAILY TELEGRAPH 22ND MAY 2024Pictured is Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah about to speak at a pro Palestine protest at Macquarie University in Sydney.Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah is a former lawyer, author and prominent Palestine advocate and future fellow at Macquarie University Department of Sociology.Picture: Richard Dobson

Anti-Israel academic holds online Palestine lessons for kids

Randa Abdel-Fattah is offering ‘introductory lessons’ on Palestine aimed at school students and teachers, prompting Coalition calls for the controversial scholar to be kept out of classrooms.

Rhiannon Down

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