Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is confident “positive” talks between Australian and Chinese ministers on removing trade sanctions will lead to progress. Trade Minister Don Farrell recently returned from Beijing where he held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao on a possible end to restrictions on billions of dollars of Australian export products such as barley, wine and lobster. While …

Sydney is on the way up, with the New South Wales Premier calling for an end to the urban sprawl and a shift to more medium and high-rise housing. In the face of rising anti-development sentiment in the inner suburbs, Premier Chris Minns says the city of 5.2 million people must rebalance where it builds new homes. That means more …

Kyle Sandilands encouraged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to propose to his girlfriend Jodie Haydon as he delivered his wedding speech on Saturday. Mr Albanese has been dating financial services professional Ms Haydon since early 2020, following the end of his marriage to Carmel Tebbutt in 2019. As he spoke of his own love story with wife Tegan Kynaston, the radio presenter congratulated two of his friends who got engaged just days earlier. He …

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been branded ‘the baby whisperer’ by his girlfriend Jodie Haydon after he shared a bellylaugh with Kyle Sandilands’ son Otto. Beaming from ear to ear Mr Albanese held Mr Sandilands and Tegan Kynaston’s first child after the ceremony, with baby Otto appearing to love every bit of it. Ms Haydon called her PM partner ‘the baby whisperer’ which sparked Ms Kynaston …

The Federal Opposition has slammed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for his plan to DJ at Kyle Sandilands’ wedding this weekend. During a press conference on Friday, Mr Albanese confirmed that he will attend Sandilands’ nuptials to Tegan Kynaston on Saturday, alongside the likes of Today Show host Karl Stefanovic and wife Jasmin, Kings Cross nightclub identity John Ibrahim, singer Guy Sebastian and NSW Premier Chris …

Australia’s weather is influenced by many climate drivers. El Niño and La Niña have perhaps the strongest influence on year-to-year climate variability in Australia. They are a part of a natural cycle known as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and are associated with a sustained period (many months) of warming (El Niño) or cooling (La Niña) in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. The ENSO …

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has put housing and health on the agenda as he prepares to host a national cabinet meeting with a difference. State and territory leaders will join Mr Albanese for a dinner in Queensland on Thursday night, ahead of Friday’s meeting. It will mark the first national cabinet where every mainland state’s first minister is a Labor …

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has broken her silence after a video emerged of her engaged in some spirited, early-morning badinage with patrons outside a Melbourne gentleman’s club. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese questioned Ms Thorpe’s mental wellbeing after an incident in which she delivered a serve to a group of men standing outside Maxine’s, an adult entertainment venue in Melbourne’s Brunswick. …

Wages for temporary skilled migrants in Australia will be raised by about $16,000 from July 1, and thousands will be eligible for permanent residency by the end of the year. Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil announced the major policy reforms in her National Press Club address on Thursday as part of her overhaul of the  migration system. “These two changes …

The National Defence Statement 2023 is nothing if not predictable, going all the way with the USA, quickly rubber stamping the nuclear-powered submarines in particular, and AUKUS in general. The review’s outcome was set before it started by the politics of Labor signing up in a matter of hours to carry Scott Morrison’s Anglophone burden. Paul Keating’s charge remains unanswered …