Nation
SALARY SHOCK
Shorten speechwriter on a two-year $620k contract
More than $620,000 of taxpayer dollars has been set side for a speechwriter to NDIS Minister Bill Shorten, after Services Australia was unable to find an existing worker to fill the role.
SENATE ESTIMATES
Wong silent on role for Hamas
Penny Wong has refused to say whether the government’s decision to back Palestinian membership of the UN was approved by the federal cabinet.
EXCLUSIVE
Teals taking advice from activist group
Teal MPs are taking advice on legislation from the Environmental Defenders Office, ramping up calls to pull taxpayer funding from the green ‘lawfare’ group.
TRAGIC END
Natasha Ryan’s family grieves all over again
She hated being called ‘The Girl in the Cupboard’, a moniker assigned to her in 2003 after the then missing 18-year-old reappeared after 4½ years in the middle of her own murder trial.
EXCLUSIVE
Sam Murphy’s accused murderer enlists top lawyer
One of the nation’s top legal minds, who previously represented George Pell, will run Patrick Stephenson’s defence.
MELBOURNE COURTS
‘Finish this’: Why missing campers burned
Sitting in a police interview room, former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn said he felt he needed to “finish this”, months after two campers vanished, a jury has heard.
Inquirer
COMMENTARY
Logic leaves ‘The Science’ of climate in the dust
To the zealots, the questioning of renewables policy has become evidence of the crime of climate change denial itself.
Inquirer
The risk: one country, two cultures
The Middle East war has exposed the sheer depth of shattered values in Australia.
Inquirer
The great dividing rage
In our increasingly polarised society, opponents become enemies to be defeated. Not only are their views regarded as unworthy but they are also deemed unworthy.
Politics
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COMPLAINT
Corruption chief’s ICAC referral over $20k offer
The move comes after it was revealed Michael Riches offered his wife $20,000 to stop her complaint against him reaching court.
EXCLUSIVE
Number of days since Andrew Giles’ last blunder: 0
Andrew Giles admits he was wrong to say detainees were monitored by drones, as it emerged NZ diplomats were constantly approaching Home Affairs officials to influence Direction 99.
COMMENTARY
When Giles’s lips move, he is liable to make a mistake
And after making a mistake you can be assured the next time the Immigration Minister’s lips move he will blame someone for his blunder.
PRIVACY ACT
Kids swamped by betting, booze ads
Children as young as eight are being targeted by gambling, alcohol and unhealthy food advertisements, with one teenage reportedly coming across 14 alcohol ads in two hours, a new report finds.
More Nation
Politics
Kooyong ambition put on the shelf
Josh Frydenberg has shelved ambitions to return to Canberra via his old seat of Kooyong.
Nation
Ex-pilot took campers’ cash: court
Former Jetstar captain Greg Lynn told police he took ‘cash’ from the wallets of Russell Hill and Carol Clay, a jury has heard.
Nation
Corruption chief’s ICAC referral over $20k offer
The move comes after it was revealed Michael Riches offered his wife $20,000 to stop her complaint against him reaching court.
Politics
Number of days since Andrew Giles’ last blunder: 0
Andrew Giles admits he was wrong to say detainees were monitored by drones, as it emerged NZ diplomats were constantly approaching Home Affairs officials to influence Direction 99.
Nation
Rules cloud over ALP homes goal
The Coalition claims Labor will struggle to complete a single new affordable house in its first term, with only a handful of builders able to participate under safety rules.
Politics
When Giles’s lips move, he is liable to make a mistake
And after making a mistake you can be assured the next time the Immigration Minister’s lips move he will blame someone for his blunder.
Nation
Legacy of an adventurer with charm and an eye for the telling shot
A photograph of Australian soldiers in Vietnam has been brought to light for The Australian’s anniversary, decades after first publication. And there’s more to the story in the man behind the lens.
World
‘Narcissistic gaslighter’: Turnbull offers guide how to deal with Trump 2.0
Malcolm Turnbull has blasted Donald Trump in an essay for the prestigious Foreign Affairs magazine, urging world leaders to stand up to Donald Trump should he be re-elected.
Nation
The 1960s in pictures
The Australian trawled its archives to find the most arresting images from six decades of journalism. These pictures, from war in Vietnam to Bart Cummings with a Melbourne Cup winner, all appeared in our pages.
Politics
Kids swamped by betting, booze ads
Children as young as eight are being targeted by gambling, alcohol and unhealthy food advertisements, with one teenage reportedly coming across 14 alcohol ads in two hours, a new report finds.
Politics
Bowen: election a ‘referendum on nuclear’
Energy Minister Chris Bowen has undermined claims by Peter Dutton that all G20 nations except Australia have backed small modular reactor technology.
Politics
Madness rules in Albanese method
Calls for Andrew Giles’ dismissal as Immigration Minister grow by the day. How can a minister continue to administer a department where trust has been clearly shattered?
Podcasts
Cops overlooked a key witness for 16 years
Police failed to interview one of the last known people to see Bronwyn Winfield alive until 2009 - more than a decade after her disappearance.
Nation
Rules cloud over ALP homes goal
Coalition claims Labor will struggle to complete a single new affordable house in its first term of office with only a handful of builders eligible to participate under safety rules.
Nation
Anti-racism ambassador told to step aside
The Australian Human Rights Commission has asked one of its race ambassadors to ‘step back’ from duties while it investigates a racial discrimination complaint against her.
Higher Education
Jewish groups appalled by ‘abhorrent’ UQ deal
Jewish groups are incensed at the University of Queensland’s agreement with pro-Palestine protesters and are threatening to restart Camp Shalom, a counter-protest encampment.
Politics
Burke’s department forks out $540k
Tony Burke’s department has been forced to spend more than $540,000 to rectify underpayments to more than 201 staff, with the Coalition demanding an apology from the minister.
Politics
Company tax cut ‘will shift pain to others’
Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy has warned that cutting the company tax rate risks pushing the country into an ‘unsustainable fiscal position’ if it isn’t offset by higher taxes elsewhere.
Nation
Violent abuse from Palestine backers
Many of those targeted were elderly or disabled people or parents with prams, who were forced to walk through the pro-Palestine protest after using the only Parliament Station exit with an elevator.
Nation
ICAC chief’s wife offered $20,000 to settle DVO
Lawyers for the NT’s anti-corruption chief Michael Riches made the offer, saying the matter would end the senior law enforcement official’s career if it were to come in front of a judge.
Legal Affairs
Push for ‘bad character’ rape trial evidence
Prosecutors in rape trials should be allowed to admit evidence that proves the defendant is a heavy drinker or uses illicit drugs, one of Australia’s largest sexual assault support groups says.
Politics
Balancing act on minimum wage as low paid get 3.75pc
Labor and unions welcome pay rises but employers warn extra costs would ‘inevitably’ be passed on to consumers.
Nation
Frydenberg settles Kooyong question for now … but not forever
Josh Frydenberg’s declaration he won’t run for Kooyong at the next election is confirmation of the obvious. His best eventual path back to parliament may well even be outside his old seat, even if it has merged with large parts of the soon-to-be-old electorate of Higgins.
Commentary
Pragmatic FWC splits the difference
The Fair Work Commission decision will help alleviate cost-of-living pressures on struggling households while ensuring businesses don’t face unsustainable extra costs.
Canberra Bureau chief
