Labor will set a national electric vehicles target of 50% new car sales by 2030, and 50% for the government fleet by 2025, as well as allowing business to deduct a 20% depreciation for private fleet EVs valued at more than $20,000, as part of its climate change policy to be unveiled on Monday. Bill Shorten will also flag a …

Malcolm Turnbull has called on Scott Morrison to “deal with” Peter Dutton after allegations that the immigration minister met the former Australian resident billionaire Huang Xiangmo after he paid $10,000 to a lobbyist. Turnbull , who introduced foreign interference laws in 2017, said the allegations contained in a Four Corners report regarding a meeting between Dutton and Huang following a …

An Australian member of Islamic State (IS) has begged to come home, describing “rivers of blood” flowing inside the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate and a life of horror and misery. Mahir Absar Alam, who was born in Sydney and went to high school in Loxton in country South Australia, urged Muslims around the world not to believe IS’s propaganda and to …

The Australian government has promised to deliver a surplus of $7.1 billion next year, pay off all debt in a decade, and provide tax cuts and cash handouts to most citizens if it wins the election next month. On Tuesday night, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg delivered his first federal budget, featuring the first surplus in 12 years. But the unveiling of …

Ashleigh Barty has claimed the biggest singles title of her career by defeating Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (1), 6-3 to win her maiden Miami Open singles title. In doing so, Barty consolidated her position as the first Australian woman since 2013 to reach the top 10 in the world rankings. She will rise to ninth when the new rankings are released …

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been forced to deny her party has a women problem, with a Cabinet reshuffle following her election victory seeing the representation of women drop by one. In what the Premier said was a combination of “experience and new blood” from “the city and the bush”, Ms Berejiklian announced a number of new portfolios in her …

An overjoyed Gladys Berejiklian says her re-elected government will “continue to work our guts out” after NSW voters gifted the Coalition a third term in office. Ms Berejiklian is the first woman to be elected premier, and said she was proud the state would vote in a woman and “someone with a long surname”. Her deputy, Dominic Perrottet, said the …

Australia is urgently reviewing travel advice for Turkey weeks before Anzac Day celebrations after President Tayyip Erdogan warned Australians can expect to come home “in caskets” if there is a repeat of the Christchurch massacre. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday he had demanded Turkey remove false claims about Australia and the New Zealand terrorist attacks from its state-sponsored television …

Audit office’s damning review finds home affairs department working in neither a time-efficient nor resource-efficient manner The Department of Home Affairs dropped its target of processing 80% of citizenship applications within 80 days after it got through just 15% last financial year, an efficiency review has found. Of the 15%, nearly all were deemed to be “invalid for processing”, while …

Domestic violence prevention programs will get a $328 million funding boost from the federal government as part of an ongoing national strategy to curb violence toward women. The package includes $82 million for frontline services, $68 million for prevention strategies and $78 million for safe places for family violence victims. “This is about changing attitudes to violence, and helping those …