More than a day after Angus Taylor unveiled the first plank of the Coalition’s long-awaited migration policy and many media interviews later, there’s still little clarity about what it would change in practice. The policy’s top line is a plan to take the pre-existing Australian Values Statement and enshrine it in the Migration Act as a basis for deportation. The …

The agency that runs the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has defended hiring nearly 2,000 new employees last year despite major changes being rolled out to rein in the program’s cost. The NDIA grew its workforce by 1,925 new positions in 2025, accounting for nearly 70 per cent of all new hires to the Commonwealth public service last year. Data …

Hanwright — the beginning of the saga Old school chums Lang Hancock and Peter Wright formed a business partnership in the 1930s centred on prospecting, which according to legend was sealed by a handshake. Peter Wright and Lang Hancock in the 1960s. (ABC News) Mr Wright was the reserved accountant, Mr Hancock the brash prospector and pastoralist, and together they would …

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says the Liberals must find votes in the centre rather than “chasing One Nation down that right wing populist burrow”. Mr Turnbull has lamented his old party’s shift to the right since he left politics, saying it has stopped talking policy and become preoccupied with culture wars. He said on Friday the bid to stop …

US President Donald Trump has singled out Australia while accusing a string of allies of failing to help secure the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing conflict with Iran. “Australia was not great. I was a little surprised by Australia,” the US president told a lengthy cabinet meeting in Washington. The criticism, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has brushed off, came …

The Trump administration has offered a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran as the US military prepares to call up at least 1,000 more troops to supplement the 50,000 already in the Middle East. According to a person briefed on the proposal, the plan was submitted to Iran by intermediaries from Pakistan, who have offered to host renewed negotiations between Washington …

Fuel companies will soon face bigger fines for ripping off motorists,  as senior government figures distance themselves from secret advice suggesting a $40 cap at the petrol pump to combat shortages. Legislation doubling fines for false and misleading conduct and cartel behaviour to a maximum of $100 million has been introduced into parliament. While the bill applies across all areas …

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been booed and heckled at Australia’s biggest mosque on one of the most important dates on the Islamic calendar, with police removing one protester. Thousands of people lined the streets surrounding Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west on Friday morning as they took part in morning prayers ahead of Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Albanese was invited to …

The government has alluded to a “national crisis” and emergency fuel reserves have been released following major international shocks to the global fuel supply from the war in the Middle East. Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen announced this week that the government will be temporarily lowering fuel quality standards for 60 days to allow higher-sulphur fuel to be sold. They …

The Reserve Bank has increased interest rates by 0.25 percentage points. The new cash rate is 4.1 per cent, up from 3.85 per cent. The RBA has now lifted rates twice in two months (once in February, and again in March). Today’s rate hike was highly anticipated. Early last week, RBA deputy governor Andrew Hauser said high inflation was “toxic” …