As you drive to the city from Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport, the giant billboards on the overpasses leave little doubt about who is the star attraction of this year’s Australian Open. If you have come from overseas and are keen to taste the local “delicacy”, you might find the contents of supermarket shelves confusing: Vegemite has been rebranded as Bartymite. You …

Deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie is facing calls to resign amid revelations a Federal Government pre-election cash splash was biased towards seats the Coalition wanted to win. A scathing audit report found a disproportionate number of grants were funnelled towards seats then-sports minister Senator McKenzie’s office had earmarked as “marginal” and “targeted” before last year’s federal election. The Coledale Waves …

Firefighters say they are becoming more traumatised on the frontline of the bushfire crisis knowing they could have saved more lives and homes had they been properly resourced. In a letter to the Morrison government, emergency chiefs claim some fire preparation works were being performed by crews two-thirds of the size than usual. The six emergency union chiefs who signed …

The resource giants who built the mining boom since 2000 earned $53.8 billion in revenues in the 2017-18 year without paying any tax, according to the Australian Taxation Office’s latest figures. Overall, one-third of companies with revenues over $100 million, or 710 firms, didn’t pay any tax at all. The 1504 companies that did pay tax sent $52.3 billion to the …

Rain falling across NSW is offering some relief for fire crews battling blazes, but there are concerns the wet weather could cause landslides, flash flooding and contaminate water. Cool, wet conditions are good news for firefighters who have been battling hundreds of blazes across the state since September. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) predicted between 30 and 80 millimetres of rain would …

Less than four days after announcing his split from the Royal family, The Australian Republican Movement has announced Prince Harry as its new spokesperson. The 35 year old made a surprise visit down under as part of his new 2 year contract. “To be honest, the Royal family is a load of bollocks,” Prince Harry told thousands of fans welcoming …

A visibly agitated Rafael Nadal has delivered a backhander to ATP Cup organisers, complaining about scheduling after he suffered a rare singles defeat and Spain just scraped through to play Australia in the semi-finals of the men’s team event. The world number one was not at his best on Friday — and into the early hours of Saturday, losing in …

Police have arrested two people who allegedly twice broke into a fire-damaged business on the NSW south coast to steal electrical goods. Electrical items were seized on Friday afternoon after two homes were raided following reports of looting during the bushfire crisis in the region, NSW Police said. A 38-year-old man was arrested in Tilba Tilba and a 31-year-old woman …

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has reportedly pleaded in a letter for President Donald Trump to revise US travel warnings for Australia. The US State Department last week put out a new warning of Americans to consider postponing their travel to Australia with disastrous bushfires ravaging the country. But the Courier-Mail reports that the premier has passionately pleaded with the US leader to …

Local officials in South Australia state said “extremely large” herds have been encroaching on rural communities — threatening scarce food and drinking water, damaging infrastructure, and creating a dangerous hazard for drivers. Snipers took to helicopters in Australia on Wednesday to begin a mass cull of up to 10,000 camels as drought drives big herds of the feral animals to …