Wednesday 6 May 2026
SMH · Paul Sakkal
Tony Abbott in frame for top Liberal Party job
Abbott’s potential ascension to a top role in the Liberal Party would place him in his highest-profile political position since he led the nation.
Michael West Media · AAP
Islamic State-linked families to return to Australia
A group of 13 people with links to the terrorist group Islamic State have confirmed plans to travel to Australia after years in a Syrian refugee camp.
Tuesday 5 May 2026
SMH · Matthew Knott
Takaichi flies in, Canberra flies blind
Japan's first woman prime minister visited Australia and Canberra produced a handshake, a press release, and not much else.
SMH · Shane Wright, Millie Muroi
RBA hikes a third time, blames Iran, promises relief sometime after the next excuse
The Reserve Bank lifts rates again and tells Australians the Middle East has made them poorer — relief is officially six months and one war away.
SMH · Brittany Busch, Paul Sakkal, Caitlin Fitzsimmons
EV tax breaks to be slashed from April next year
A major tax exemption for electric vehicles will eventually be replaced with a 25 per cent tax discount as Labor eyes savings in next week’s budget.
Monday 4 May 2026
SMH · Rob Harris, Paul Sakkal
One Nation Frets Their Candidate Might Be... One Nation
Senior One Nation figures fear Farrer byelection candidate David Farley won't survive within the party if elected — which raises the question of what, exactly, they thought they were preselecting.
news.com.au
Chalmers Returns Your Wallet, Expects a Tip
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is reportedly preparing tax cuts for the May 12 federal budget, framed as a cash boost for workers.
ABC News · Joshua Boscaini and Courtney Gould
Albanese and Takaichi swap drum skins and musk melons — and the keys to the critical minerals cupboard
Albanese and Takaichi sign critical minerals, energy and defence agreements, with Canberra heralding 'deep friendship' while Tokyo quietly locks in another long-dated supply line.
SMH · James Massola
Can Albanese hold his nerve when the angry Boomers come for him?
Labor is expected to make some of its most ambitious tax changes in the federal budget. Baby Boomers will be among the big losers – and it’s a calculated gamble that most voters won’t care.
SMH · Matthew Knott
Japan tests weapons in Australia as Wong reaffirms AUKUS — the buffet approach to alliances
Tokyo gets to fire its more advanced kit on Australian soil under a deepening 'quasi-ally' arrangement, while Wong simultaneously insists AUKUS remains the bedrock.
news.com.au
Alleged child killer's last moments before arrest
A vigilante mob attacked the man accused of killing a five-year-old girl in Alice Springs, leaving a scene of compounding tragedy.
news.com.au
Chalmers signals tax tweaks — again
The Treasurer has hinted, once more, that the upcoming budget will include changes to key taxes.
Sunday 3 May 2026
SMH · Charlotte Mortlock
I dumped the Libs and the left-right drudgery. Voters simply ask: What will make us better?
Australians don’t care about ideology. They want solutions that will work. I have a plan.
news.com.au
Nine ways to look broke enough for the pension
A financial expert lists nine legal techniques to shuffle assets and boost age pension entitlements — turning the means test into a planning exercise.
news.com.au
Extraordinary scenes inside Sydney court
A tragic fatal stabbing between two eighteen-year-old footy mates has culminated in an extraordinary act inside a packed Sydney courtroom.
Guardian Australia · Petra Stock
Canavan swags it in Farrer while the Coalition outsources its preferences to Hanson
Allan needles the Liberals over their One Nation dependence in Victoria as Canavan defends preferencing Hanson above an independent in the Farrer by-election.
SBS News
Trump to review Iran's new proposal, warns of renewed US strike
US President said he "can't imagine that" Iran's latest proposal "would be acceptable".
Saturday 2 May 2026
Michael West Media · Michael West
Don't Say the G Word: Pauline's Jet, Albo's Gas Cave, and the Inquiry That Won't Name the Tenant
Hanson takes a plane from Rinehart, Albanese rolls over for the gas cartel, and a royal commission can't bring itself to say the word everyone's thinking. The owners are different but the lease arrangement is the same.
SMH · Jacqueline Maley
We love to blame the Boomers. But intergenerational warfare may be a distraction
There’s another element in this particular conflict – one the budget won’t affect.
SMH · Rob Harris
The front line was a church hall in Cabramatta the whole time
Universities have let Southeast Asian language enrolments collapse while migrant-run weekend schools carry the load — and Labor's now calling that a strategic pivot.
SMH · Mike Foley, Nick Toscano
Bowser relief comes with a use-by date
Petrol prices have eased briefly, but global oil markets will push them back up in the coming weeks.
Guardian Australia · Australian Associated Press
One Nation talks up Nepean as Liberals stroll through their own backyard
A Mornington Peninsula byelection being framed as a state-election bellwether, with One Nation claiming it's close in a seat the Liberals have held forever.
Sky News Australia
Palaszczuk's partner Reza Adib charged with three counts of rape
Reza Adib, partner of former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, has been charged with three counts of rape following a police raid on a Burleigh Heads unit.
Sky News Australia
Stefanovic fielding offers while Nine sharpens the axe — the talent eats first
Karl Stefanovic is being courted by a rival as his podcast numbers climb and Nine signals fresh job cuts across the network.
Sky News Australia
Sky reads Camilla's handbag like a State Department cable
Sky News Australia turns a royal goodbye to the Trumps into front-page diplomacy, because the actual diplomacy is too boring to cover.
Friday 1 May 2026
SMH · Peter Hartcher
How power from the people carbon-dates the opposition
Energy demand is up and prices are down. How does that work? And why is the Coalition still not on board?
SMH · James Massola
Albanese 'absolutely' wants a third term, having done absolutely with the second
Anthony Albanese marks a rough first year of his second term by declaring he wants a third, framing absorption of public anger as the substance of the role.
Guardian Australia · Presented by Tom McIlroy. Produced by Daniel Semo. The executive producer is Allison Chan
Palaszczuk joins the ex-premier memoir circuit
Former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk reflects on resilience, personal loss and watching the Crisafulli government reverse her renewable energy policies.
SMH · Rob Harris
Rinehart bankrolls Hanson and the press act surprised
Gina Rinehart's plane gift to One Nation is treated as a scandal, but cultivating political influence has been the family business since Lang Hancock was running the Pilbara.
Michael West Media · Rex Patrick
Albanese discovers FOI is dear when you've got something worth hiding
The Albanese Government claims the Freedom of Information system costs too much, but Rex Patrick argues it's the secrecy that's bleeding the public.
SBS News
Khamenei junior signals 'new management' of Strait of Hormuz
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has flagged 'legal rules and new management' of the Strait of Hormuz, framing tighter Iranian control as a regional benefit. The strait carries roughly forty per cent of seaborne crude.
Thursday 30 April 2026
Michael West Media · Stephanie Tran and Kim Wingerei
The Bondi massacre interim report is out. Don't mention the G word
The Royal Commission's interim report lands with recommendations in hand and 'social cohesion' deferred to a later instalment — the chapter where the actual question gets postponed.
Guardian Australia · Ben Doherty, Josh Butler and Nino Bucci
Bondi royal commission: community warned of 'high' threat, NSW Police didn't finish the paperwork
Interim report into the Bondi attack finds NSW Police failed to complete a comprehensive risk assessment for the Chanukah by the Sea festival, despite the Jewish community flagging a high threat.
Wednesday 29 April 2026
SMH · Abby Sewell
Citizenship as a Suggestion: Canberra Leaves the Kids in the Camp
Syrian officials say Australian women and children linked to IS families had flights to Damascus but were blocked from boarding after Canberra refused to facilitate their return.
Michael West Media · AAP
Meta raises spending forecast to $US145b in AI push
Meta has revised its capital expenditure outlook, lifting the projected full-year range to $US125 billion to $US145 billion from a previous estimate of $US115b.
ABC News · Tom Crowley
Home Affairs sheds hundreds — the empire built on border panic discovers a budget
Home Affairs is cutting hundreds of jobs to fit within its budget, with the secretary leaning on natural attrition before harder cuts by year's end.
SMH · Shane Wright
Everyone's getting mugged by inflation – and you've got one man to blame
Shane Wright argues Trump's war with Iran is the sole reason Australian inflation is climbing instead of falling, leaving the Reserve Bank cornered.
Michael West Media · AAP
Inflation jumps to three-year high as fuel costs bite
CPI surged to a three-year high on the back of Middle East-driven fuel prices, dragging the ASX lower and confirming what every motorist worked out at the bowser weeks ago.
Guardian Australia · Sarah Martin
Pauline Hanson boasts about 'sexy' new private plane and $2m donations from Gina Rinehart associates
Hanson unveiled a new Cirrus G7 and $2m in donations from Rinehart associates with a video featuring novelty cheques and a swing at the Guardian.
Tuesday 28 April 2026
SMH · Matthew Knott, Brittany Busch
Coalition orders the bombers, the subs, and a Plan B — pick a posture, mate
Opposition defence spokesman James Paterson wants Australia to consider long-range bombers while hedging on the AUKUS submarine deal he calls 'enormous risks'.
Guardian Australia · Josh Butler and Tom McIlroy
Tech giants face new levy to pay for Australian news as Meta calls position 'simply wrong'
Albanese government floats a 2.25% levy on tech giants' Australian revenue to fund local journalism. Meta and Google object, predictably.
Michael West Media · AAP
Port Arthur, thirty years on — the one decision Canberra got right
Survivors mark thirty years since Port Arthur, and the gun laws Howard pushed through against his own base remain the rare permanent policy this country managed to hold the line on.
SMH · Nick Newling
Albanese discovers the IS brides question has the same answer every government gives: not yet
The PM denies a change of heart on repatriating the four women and their children as both major parties tack harder on immigration.
Michael West Media · AAP
Washington's long wait ends with a Virginia consolation prize
After fifteen months of vacancy, Trump has named a former Virginia congressman as ambassador to Canberra — a posting that reveals Australia's exact rank on the American foreign policy ladder.
Monday 27 April 2026
SBS News
Taylor condemns the booing, then asks if the ceremony should happen anyway
Angus Taylor condemned Anzac Day hecklers while questioning the frequency of Welcome to Country ceremonies, with Barnaby Joyce and 3AW's Tom Elliott piling on.
Guardian Australia · Josh Butler
Labor senator's Anzac tribute set to explicit rap — chair of law enforcement committee couldn't enforce her own playlist
Senator Helen Polley posted an Anzac Day video with a US rapper's explicit track playing over wreath-laying footage, then deleted it. She chairs parliament's law enforcement committee.
SMH · Matthew Knott
France 'open' to selling Australia submarines if AUKUS collapses
Four years after the $90 billion contract cancellation triggered the worst diplomatic rupture in modern Franco-Australian history, Paris has signalled it would consider reviving submarine talks if AUKUS unravels.
news.com.au
Thirteen million empty bedrooms and a pamphlet to fix it
A new plan aims to free up Australia's 13 million empty bedrooms as the housing shortage deepens, mostly by encouraging Boomers to downsize.
SMH · Paul Sakkal, Mostafa Rachwani
Wong warns ISIS families they could be arrested on arrival in Australia
News that a group of four women and nine children have arrived in Damascus and hope to fly to Australia within days has added urgency to the question of how the group should be dealt with.
SMH · Natassia Chrysanthos, Broede Carmody
‘Am I disabled enough?’ The question autistic participants are asking after NDIS overhaul
The NDIS has 760,000 participants, more than 300,000 of whom have autism. Those people and their families are the most anxious after Labor announced an overhaul of the scheme.
Sunday 26 April 2026
news.com.au
Wong takes the begging bowl to Asia
The Foreign Minister tours China, Japan and Korea to shore up fuel supplies as the Iran ceasefire holds and reserves remain below benchmark.
SMH · Paul Sakkal, Rob Harris, Jackson Graham
Taylor finds his next wedge before the bugle stops echoing
The Liberal leader said Welcome to Country ceremonies had lost their value, the day after booing was heard at Anzac Day services.
SMH · Natassia Chrysanthos, Brittany Busch
Taylor backs NDIS overhaul — bipartisan agreement arrives once the bill's too big to fight over
Opposition leader Angus Taylor signals support for Labor's NDIS overhaul as SA Premier Peter Malinauskas commends the federal government's 'political courage' on reform.
SMH · James Massola
Albanese breaks the piggy bank — on the people least able to break him back
Labor finally moves on the $50 billion NDIS, picking the cohort with the least political muscle to absorb the hit.
SMH · Shaun Carney
The know-it-alls pouring scorn on Labor have easy answers. They deserve more scepticism
The Albanese government will soon deliver the most highly anticipated budget in its four years in office. But economic experts probably aren’t going to like it.
Saturday 25 April 2026
Sky News Australia
The streaming platforms giveth, and at 3am they quietly taketh away
An Aussie's complaint about disappearing streaming content has landed on the central swindle of the subscription era — you're not buying anything, you're renting the memory of access.
Sky News Australia
Leaders shocked the cenotaph they've branded for two decades got treated like a stage
Boos and heckles at dawn services drew condemnation from the political class — the same class that's spent twenty years using Anzac Day as a backdrop.
Sky News Australia
Afghan refugee in ADF gives dawn service speech the political class spent twenty years arguing against
The first Afghan refugee in the Australian Defence Force delivered the Anzac dawn service address, settling more about Australian identity in one speech than two decades of political debate managed.
Guardian Australia · Kelly Burke
Bernardi repays $40,000 for Rinehart flights — 'worth every cent' of someone else's money
One Nation's Cory Bernardi reimbursed Gina Rinehart's company for private flights taken during the SA election, after new state laws barred political gifts from individuals or businesses.
SBS News
Australian women and children attempt repatriation from Syrian detention camp
A group of Australian women and children have left a Syrian refugee camp in a renewed attempt to return home.
SMH · Brittany Busch
Australian IS brides make new bid for freedom from Syria
Four women and nine children are reportedly trying to return home after a failed attempt in February.
Michael West Media · Rex Patrick
Port of Darwin: a broken promise about a broken promise
FOI documents reveal the bipartisan election pledge to return the Port of Darwin to Australian hands is going the way of every other bipartisan election pledge.
Guardian Australia · Dan Jervis-Bardy, Sarah Basford Canales
NDIS architect admits he wouldn't have built it knowing what it'd become
The first head of the NDIS agency says neither side of politics would have signed off on the scheme had they known its eventual size, as Labor launches its biggest intervention yet.
Friday 24 April 2026
SMH · Peter Hartcher
Boomer redemption arc meets the budget papers
Hartcher frames Albanese's looming budget as a generational reckoning with wealthy Boomers. The bar for 'political courage' has collapsed to whatever clears a press gallery column.
SMH · Mike Foley, Nick Toscano
‘Changing ground rules’: Fury over bill change that could burst the battery boom
Governments spent billions of dollars to encourage home owners to buy batteries, but advocates say a change from the energy market rule-maker will cut uptake.
SMH · Brittany Busch
The NDIS gets a bouncer: 160,000 people about to fail the door check
Canberra's announced six criteria to tip 160,000 people off the NDIS. A scheme built as a right is being rewritten as a queue.
news.com.au
Roberts-Smith confirmed for Anzac Day
Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith is set to join Anzac Day events amid ongoing legal proceedings.
SMH · Brittany Busch
'Sitting ducks': Hastie says overreliance on US has weakened Australia
Andrew Hastie uses an ANZAC-themed speech to warn that overreliance on the US has left Australia exposed, calling for a rebuilt industrial and defence base.
Thursday 23 April 2026
SMH · The Herald's View
NDIS reboot: the stocktake after the shoplifters left
Canberra spent a decade watching the NDIS get looted and is now calling the clean-up reform.
Guardian Australia · Presented by Tom McIlroy. Produced by Daniel Semo. Executive producer Allison Chan
Butler's 'necessary' NDIS cuts: 160,000 off the scheme, submarines on the way
The government announces the biggest NDIS reforms since inception, cutting at least 160,000 participants over four years while lifting defence spending — Butler calls it 'necessary'.
SMH · Matthew Knott
The threat briefing moves to orbit, the cheque book stays in Canberra
A US military leader warns that China is racing ahead in space weaponry, framing the orbital domain as the next theatre of great-power rivalry.
Guardian Australia · Josh Butler and Tom McIlroy
Butler concedes Australians 'uneasy' as NDIS trimmed days after $53bn defence splurge
The health minister has defended cuts that will remove 160,000 participants from the NDIS by 2030, acknowledging public disquiet days after the government announced $53bn in fresh defence spending.
Sky News Australia
Liberals trade preferences with One Nation in Farrer — and wonder who's swallowing whom
The Coalition has cut a preference deal with One Nation ahead of the Farrer by-election, a short-term tactic with a long-term smell about it.
Wednesday 22 April 2026
Guardian Australia
Butler's NDIS maths: 160,000 people become a budget line
Mark Butler announces eligibility changes that will cut at least 160,000 people from the NDIS by 2030, bringing scheme costs to $55bn rather than $70bn.
The Conversation · Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
NDIS slashed and health insurance subsidy for over-65s scrapped in Butler's pre-budget package
Health Minister Mark Butler unveils major NDIS cuts and scraps the higher private health insurance rebate for over-65s ahead of next month's federal budget.
Michael West Media · AAP
Ampol's margins fatten on Hormuz anxiety
Ampol, supplier of roughly ten per cent of Australia's fuel, has booked a sharp lift in refining margins off the back of the Middle East conflict.
SMH · Brittany Busch
Butler's NDIS 'reforms' — bundled with aged care like a pub meal
Health Minister Mark Butler announced long-awaited NDIS reforms alongside aged care fixes in a pre-budget National Press Club speech, tackling the scheme's $50 billion cost trajectory.
SMH · Shane Wright
CGT reform won't fix housing — it'll just rearrange the deckchairs
Rolling back Howard's 1999 capital gains discount might nudge landlord behaviour, but it won't solve a housing crisis built over 30 years of planning, migration and construction failures.
Guardian Australia · Presented by Reged Ahmad with Yumna Kassab. Series producer Karishma Luthria
Who gets to be Australian — the question we drag out every election
Guardian podcast with Yumna Kassab interrogates Angus Taylor's hardline immigration announcement and what it says about Australia's self-image.
Tuesday 21 April 2026
The Conversation · Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Canberra discovers showering is not a premium feature
From October, home care recipients will no longer be charged for help with showering, dressing and continence support — a reform that raises the question of why they ever were.
ABC News · Courtney Gould and Nicole Asher
'Star Wars is happening': $7b spend on counter-drone technology
Canberra commits $7 billion to laser and counter-drone systems, with the government itself invoking the Reagan-era 'Star Wars' branding.
SMH · James Massola
Canavan tells One Nation to pipe down as the preference carousel spins again
Matt Canavan has brushed off One Nation's complaints about Coalition preference flows in the Farrer byelection, exposing the usual minor-party pantomime.
news.com.au
Teacher’s fury over wild gas tax revelation
This is the moment a fed-up economics teacher questioned why the Australian government collects more tax from beer drinkers than it does from gas exporters.
Guardian Australia · Guardian Staff
A schoolteacher with a phone does what Treasury wouldn't
Konrad Benjamin of Punters Politics fronted a Senate inquiry on gas export tax, where the Australia Institute noted Japan collects more tax on Australian gas than Australia does.
SMH · Shane Wright
A trillion in the hole and the interest bill about to eat the wards
Australia's national debt hits $1 trillion in Chalmers' fifth budget, with interest payments set to exceed hospital spending within two years.
SMH · Peter Hartcher
Hartcher wants Taylor to douse a fire the Liberals have been tending for twenty years
Peter Hartcher frets about Angus Taylor failing to contain populism, as if the Liberals haven't been cultivating it since Tampa.
Monday 20 April 2026
SMH · Matthew Knott
Australians discover Trump unreliable, approximately a decade late
Polling shows Australians have cooled on Trump as the Iran conflict grinds on, with respondents split on joining a peacekeeping naval mission.
SMH · Waleed Aly
Taylor's immigration policy: the bit he won't say out loud
Angus Taylor's 'subversive intent' framing borrows the Farage-Trump-Hanson playbook to target Muslim migrants without naming them.
SMH · Shane Wright
Chalmers hedges the budget before it's written
The Treasurer says next month's budget depends on how the Iran war plays out — a warning that doubles as pre-emptive cover for numbers that haven't landed yet.
Michael West Media · Rex Patrick
AUKUS: the cradle's costed, the grave's a mystery
Defence is meant to deliver full lifecycle costings before procurement. On AUKUS nuclear waste, the numbers and the dump sites are both missing.
Crikey · Anton Nilsson
Farrer, productivity, and a celebrity trial walk into a Crikey bulletin
Crikey bundles a by-election, a productivity debate and a Rebel Wilson court date while Chalmers flags tax changes via the oldest trick in the Treasury playbook — the signal.
Sunday 19 April 2026
SMH · Shane Wright
One Nation dips a point and the press calls it a turning tide
One Nation slips slightly in the polls while still sitting at twenty-four per cent, and the commentariat mistakes a pause for a retreat.
Michael West Media · AAP
Roberts-Smith vows to clear name the Federal Court already looked at
Ben Roberts-Smith has broken his silence since being charged with war crimes, pledging to fight on despite the Federal Court's earlier findings against him in his defamation case.
SMH · Matthew Knott
Australia's plea to Iran and US as Strait of Hormuz closes again
Iran moves to close the Strait of Hormuz over a US blockade, and Canberra's response is to politely ask both superpowers to knock it off.
Michael West Media · AAP
Markets pray Trump can talk Tehran out of closing the world's busiest oil tap
With economic data thin on the ground, traders are pinning hopes on a fragile Iran ceasefire and the Strait of Hormuz staying open.
Saturday 18 April 2026
SMH · Mike Foley
Cheaper petrol by Anzac Day — brought to you by the Strait of Hormuz
Canberra is eyeing military contributions to a Hormuz shipping mission while spruiking cheaper petrol by Anzac Day if Iran honours its pledge.
SMH · Mike Foley
Free RSV vaccines for over-75s as grandkids do the spreading
Canberra extends the free RSV vaccine program to Australians over 75, citing transmission from grandchildren as the driver.
Sky News Australia
Ben Roberts-Smith offered to turn himself in before dramatic airport arrest, court hears
Ben Roberts-Smith offered to turn himself in before dramatic airport arrest, court hears
Sky News Australia
Britain's favourite royal revealed — and Sky still thinks we care
A British popularity poll about the royal family gets top billing on an Australian news site, thirty years after the Republic question stopped being a question anyone was seriously asking.
Sky News Australia
Sky News discovers Prince Harry is annoying, films the discovery for posterity
Sky News devotes column inches to Prince Harry irritating people — a problem the masthead has solved by writing about it daily.
Guardian Australia · Graham Readfearn
Oil drops 10% overnight — your bowser will get the memo next week, maybe
Global oil prices fell sharply after Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz during a US-Israel ceasefire, but Australian fuel prices may take a week to reflect the drop.
Michael West Media · AAP
Iran Opens the Strait, Trump Keeps the Lock
Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz fully reopened to commercial shipping, but the US says its blockade on Iranian ports stays. The standoff leaves global oil supply hostage to a bilateral grudge match.
Michael West Media · AAP
Tankers sprint for the Strait before anyone changes their mind
Oil tankers rushed toward the Strait of Hormuz within hours of Iran declaring it open to shipping, as world leaders offered cautious responses to the reopening of the world's most critical oil chokepoint.
Friday 17 April 2026
Sky News Australia
Last Refinery Standing Catches Fire, Country Discovers What Energy Dependence Looks Like
Victoria faces fuel price spikes after explosions and fire at the Viva Energy refinery in Geelong — one of Australia's last remaining oil refineries.
Michael West Media · AAP
MP dies, fuel crisis gets a stage — nobody gets a refinery
A Queensland by-election has been called for the seat of Stafford after the sudden death of independent MP Jimmy Sullivan, with fuel policy emerging as the early political battleground.
SMH · Mike Foley, Nick Toscano
Competition Breaks Out at the Bowser; Nation Stunned
Independent fuel retailers are slashing prices, forcing major chains like Coles and Woolworths-linked servos to consider matching the cuts and passing savings to motorists.
Guardian Australia · Josh Butler and Catie McLeod
Trump Sends the Bill for a Dinner We Never Ordered
Trump again accuses Australia of failing to help in the Middle East, claiming 'we asked them to be there.' Defence Minister Marles says no specific request was ever made.
Michael West Media · AAP
One Fire, Two Refineries, Zero Backup Plan
A major fire at one of Australia's only two remaining fuel refineries has knocked out 40 per cent of petrol production, with the PM cutting short his Malaysia trip to respond.
The Conversation · David Lee, Associate Professor of History, UNSW Sydney
From rationing to ad campaigns: Australia's fuel policy arc bends toward the polite
Australia has rationed fuel during wartime and the Suez crisis. Now the government is running ads asking people to voluntarily drive less, which is a different kind of national effort.
Thursday 16 April 2026
SBS News
Eight refineries to two, and now one's on fire
One of Australia's two remaining oil refineries caught fire overnight in Geelong, reigniting concerns about fuel security after decades of refinery closures reduced the nation's capacity from eight to two.
SMH · Shane Wright, Natassia Chrysanthos
Keating Comes Off the Long Run to Belt Taylor Through the Covers
Paul Keating has launched a blistering attack on Angus Taylor and the Coalition's migration policy, calling it cowardly and racist — a throwback to the politics the Liberal Party once claimed to have outgrown.
Michael West Media · AAP
One Refinery Burns, the Other Carries a Nation — and Nobody Built a Third
A fire at one of Australia's two remaining oil refineries has renewed concerns about fuel import dependency, after decades of refinery closures reduced domestic capacity to a bare minimum.
Guardian Australia · Benita Kolovos and Nino Bucci
Half of Victoria's fuel supply and the last shred of energy sovereignty go up in flames at Corio
An explosive fire at the Viva Energy refinery in Geelong — one of only two oil refineries left in Australia — has halted petrol production, raising fuel supply fears across Victoria and nationally.
SMH · Shane Wright
The Job Market Looks Fine If You Stop Counting the People Who've Left It
Australia's unemployment held at 4.1% with a jump in full-time jobs, but the participation rate fell as fewer people looked for work. Economist Saul Eslake warns a rate rise could tip the economy into recession.
Michael West Media · AAP
Twelve signatures, zero divisions: Australia co-signs another letter to the war
A dozen finance ministers, Australia's included, have issued a joint statement urging the US, Israel and Iran to uphold a ceasefire as global economic instability deepens.
Wednesday 15 April 2026
Michael West Media · AAP
Record peacetime spend: arming for a war the spreadsheet promised
Australia commits an additional $53 billion in defence spending over the next decade under a renewed ADF strategy, marking the largest peacetime military investment in the nation's history.
Michael West Media · AAP
Windsors Return to Soak Up Culture They Spent Two Centuries Displacing
Harry and Meghan reunite in Melbourne on day two of their Australian tour, with plans to engage with Indigenous culture and communities.
Michael West Media · AAP
Jobs data to reveal what the bowser already told you
March unemployment figures expected to show early economic fallout from the Middle East conflict, with analysts watching for signs of labour market softening amid rising fuel costs and supply disruptions.
SMH · Matthew Knott
Marles announces decade-long plan for threat that arrived yesterday
Defence Minister Richard Marles will release a 10-year defence spending plan amid warnings Australia is dangerously unprepared for modern warfare threats already at its doorstep.
AFR · William Ton
Victoria Police confirm investigation into Katy Perry assault claims
Victoria Police sexual offences detectives are investigating claims of a historical assault in Melbourne in 2010 involving Katy Perry.
SMH · Mike Foley
Australia Reinvents the Barter Economy to Feed Itself
Albanese is leveraging food exports to Brunei to secure fuel and fertiliser imports, as up to half of Australia's grain growers face skipping the planting season due to soaring input costs.
Crikey · Charlie Lewis
The Battler's Bombardier: Hanson's Private Jet Problem
Pauline Hanson's repeated rides on Gina Rinehart's private jet attract little scrutiny, marking how normalised billionaire-politician cosiness has become in Australian politics.
Michael West Media · Kim Wingerei
$1.50 a crime: Latitude's loyalty program with the regulator
Latitude Financial broke the law 2.7 million times and copped a $3.98 million fine — working out to $1.50 per breach, a penalty so small it functions as a cost of doing business rather than a deterrent.
Tuesday 14 April 2026
Guardian Australia · Nick Visser
Chalmers Cites IMF Alarm He Could Have Set Himself Three Years Ago
Treasurer warns of global recession risk and prolonged high fuel prices through 2027, citing IMF forecasts while framing the economic pain as an unavoidable consequence of the Middle East conflict.
AFR · William Ton, Holly Hales, Samantha Lock
Nation Debates Whether Visiting Sick Children Is a Hustle
Harry and Meghan visited Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital amid media criticism of their tour as commercial. The children they met were reportedly delighted.
ABC News · Courtney Gould
Forty Nations, No Americans: Australia Joins the Strait of Hormuz Prayer Circle
Australia will attend a 40-nation summit with the UK and France to discuss safeguarding shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — notably without the United States at the table.
Monday 13 April 2026
Guardian Australia · Nick Visser
Taylor Unveils Trump's Immigration Policy With an Australian Flag Draped Over It
Opposition leader Angus Taylor proposes Trump-style social media vetting for immigrants, claiming it protects 'core Australian values.' Labor meanwhile announces $2-5bn in military drone spending.
SMH · James Massola, Natassia Chrysanthos
Taylor Opens His Leadership With the Only Innings the Liberals Know
Opposition leader Angus Taylor will use his first major policy speech to blame 'self-serving migrants' for eroding national culture, reaching for the same immigration lever every Liberal leader has pulled for thirty years.
SMH · Natassia Chrysanthos, James Massola
Both Parties Discover the NDIS Has Providers — After Fifty Billion Dollars
Health Minister Mark Butler will outline Labor's plan to slow NDIS cost growth, with the Coalition signalling support for a crackdown on providers of the $50 billion scheme.
Guardian Australia · Ben Doherty
First Woman to Lead the Army — Thirty Years of Reports Finally Produce a Result
Lt Gen Susan Coyle appointed as first female chief of army, part of broader senior defence changes including navy chief Mark Hammond becoming chief of defence force.
Sunday 12 April 2026
Guardian Australia · Sarah Basford Canales
Wong Describes Collapsed US-Iran Nuclear Talks as 'Disappointing,' Urges Everyone to Try Again
Australia's foreign minister urged the US and Iran to resume negotiations after historic direct talks in Pakistan collapsed following a marathon 21-hour first session, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed.
Saturday 11 April 2026
SMH · Nick Newling
One Nation calls Facebook attack on independent 'par for the course' — and for once, they're right
One Nation's candidate has dismissed a contentious Facebook post attacking independent Michelle Milthorpe ahead of a pivotal byelection, calling it standard political fare.
SBS News
Artemis II astronauts return from the moon while Australia still can't build a train line
NASA's Orion capsule splashed down off California after a ten-day mission around the moon, returning all four Artemis II crew safely to Earth.
Guardian Australia · Ben Smee
Howard Calls Accused War Criminal the 'Modern Personification of the Anzac Tradition'
Ben Roberts-Smith, Victoria Cross recipient, arrested on war crimes charges and remanded in custody. Former PM John Howard responded by calling him the modern personification of the Anzac tradition, deepening the national divide over military mythology and accountability.
Guardian Australia · Josh Butler
Energy Superpower Secures Promise That Its Own Gas Will Keep Coming Back
Singapore's PM has pledged not to cut fuel supplies to Australia amid the Middle East energy crisis, with a new agreement to maintain flows of refined petrol and LNG between the two countries.
Friday 10 April 2026
SMH
PM visits Singapore refinery Australia never bothered to build
Prime Minister travels to Singapore's Jurong Island refinery hub to secure fuel supply agreements, as Australia's lack of domestic refining capacity continues to leave the country dependent on imports.
news.com.au
Friends saw the isolation. The system didn't.
Friends of a man allegedly murdered by his mother told a court he was kept isolated and barred from seeing them, with his mother reportedly saying she did not want a 'vegetable' in her home.
SMH · Mike Foley, Brittany Busch
Bowen Assures Nation the Thing Nobody Was Worried About Is Fine
Energy Minister Chris Bowen says fuel imports remain stable and rationing is not being contemplated, responding to concerns about Australia's fuel supply resilience.
news.com.au
Four Seasons in One Weekend: Australia Gets the Full Sampler
Australia is copping extreme weather from every direction simultaneously — cyclonic winds, heatwave conditions and snow, all in the same week across different states.
news.com.au
Abbott Emerges From Retirement to Recommend Another War
Former PM Tony Abbott has urged Anthony Albanese to contact Donald Trump and offer Australian support in the conflict with Iran.
Thursday 9 April 2026
SMH · Clay Lucas
Six years from 'credible information' to criminal charges, and Hastie calls it sobering
Former SAS captain and Coalition MP Andrew Hastie may testify in the Ben Roberts-Smith murder trial, calling the arrest a 'sobering day' while cautioning against prejudicing proceedings.
ABC News · Tom Lowrey
Defence chief confirms Australia could absolutely do thing nobody has asked it to do
Australia's chief of defence says the ADF could deploy a warship to the Strait of Hormuz if the government requested it, amid rising tensions over Iran and US pressure on allies to contribute to regional security operations.
Michael West Media · AAP
Lehrmann Runs Out of Courts
The High Court has refused Bruce Lehrmann's application for special leave to appeal Justice Lee's finding that Network Ten's report of his rape of Brittany Higgins was substantially true, exhausting his final legal avenue.
Wednesday 8 April 2026
The Conversation · Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Coal Man Discovers Broadband: Canavan's Regional Renaissance Runs on Wi-Fi
New Nationals leader Matt Canavan used his National Press Club address to pitch work-from-home as the engine of regional growth, framing decentralisation and sovereignty as his party's economic agenda.
Guardian Australia · Dan Jervis-Bardy Chief political correspondent
Albanese Calls Civilisational Threat 'Extraordinary', Returns to Regularly Scheduled Silence
The PM welcomed a two-week US-Iran ceasefire over the Strait of Hormuz while offering his strongest Trump criticism to date — the word 'extraordinary' — over threats that 'a whole civilisation will die'.
news.com.au
Markets Bet the House on a Fortnight's Peace
The Australian dollar and share market surged after a potential two-week US-Iran ceasefire eased oil prices, with investors treating a temporary diplomatic pause as settled geopolitics.
AFR · Janek Drevikovsky
The Victoria Cross Holder's Lawyers Read the Room
Ben Roberts-Smith will remain in custody until at least June after his lawyers declined to seek bail following war crime murder charges against the decorated former soldier.
SMH · Jacqueline Maley
The Algorithm Wants Your Son
Jacqueline Maley reviews a documentary on the manosphere and finds a generation of young men being radicalised by influencers selling grievance as identity.
Tuesday 7 April 2026
Michael West Media · AAP
Canavan Discovers the 1950s and Calls It a Revolution
New Nationals leader Matt Canavan will pitch an 'economic revolution' of dams, housing and population growth at the National Press Club, attacking net zero and migration orthodoxy in a bid to distinguish the junior Coalition partner.
AFR · Timothy Moore, Natasha Rudra, Josh Hohne
Trump Threatens Four Thousand Years of Civilisation, Calls It a Chat
Trump warns Iran faces civilisational destruction if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed; Iran forms human chains around infrastructure as Pakistan pushes to extend a US deadline and talks continue under existential threat.
Guardian Australia · Dan Jervis-Bardy Chief political correspondent
Hanson Plants Her Flag on a War Crimes Charge Sheet
Pauline Hanson declares she won't abandon Ben Roberts-Smith after his arrest on five counts of war crime murder, while the PM refuses to comment and the Greens insist no one is above the law.
SMH · Peter Hartcher
Thirty Years Asleep at the Wheel and Now They Want Credit for Waking Up
Peter Hartcher argues bipartisan complacency across Liberal and Labor governments has left Australia dangerously exposed to global crises, with leaders now scrambling to address vulnerabilities they spent decades ignoring.
news.com.au
Three Years Non-Parole for a Killing — and the Outrage Industry Warms Up
A murder charge in NSW and a separate NT sentencing controversy have collided, with Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price attacking a three-year non-parole period for a man who fatally stabbed his wife.
Monday 6 April 2026
news.com.au
One Nation Didn't Rise — The Majors Sank
New polling shows One Nation has overtaken Labor on primary votes in Queensland, with the party making significant gains nationally as both major parties haemorrhage support ahead of the federal election.
Sunday 5 April 2026
The Conversation · Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
PM Dusts Off the National Address to Say Not Much at All
Albanese delivers the first prime ministerial national address since 2020, warning of difficult months ahead from trade disruptions while urging Australians to 'do their part' — without specifying what that part might be.
SMH · Licia Heath
Parliament fortified the building and abandoned the women inside it
Women MPs face escalating threats of violence that are driving them from public life, with systemic failures to protect them undermining the democratic talent pool.
news.com.au
Government Fines the Thermometer for the Fever
Petrol stations face $110,000 penalties for suspected price gouging as fuel costs surge during the Middle East conflict, while structural fuel security remains unaddressed.
Saturday 4 April 2026
SMH · Rob Harris
The smartest man in Labor's building is heading for the exit, and nobody's asking for the keys
Barry Jones, 93, takes aim at Albanese's lack of reform courage and a political system that rewards timidity over substance, in what may be his final major interview.
SMH · Peter FitzSimons
The Treasurer Lost 17 Kilos. The Interview Lost More.
Peter FitzSimons interviews Treasurer Jim Chalmers for SMH, covering his weight loss, his nickname for the PM, and his feelings about Liberal MP Tim Wilson — with minimal economic substance.
SMH · The Herald's View
The Editorial Board Wishes You a Brave Easter and a Stiff Upper Lip
SMH's Easter editorial urges Sydneysiders to keep spirits up despite cost-of-living pressures, offering the kind of reassurance that costs nothing and changes less.
news.com.au
Nation's Energy Strategy Reduced to Tyre Pressure Tips
As fuel prices rise, motorists are advised to reduce costs through driving habits rather than any systemic change to Australia's fuel dependency.
news.com.au
Councillor outsources bigotry to a chatbot
A local councillor used AI-generated images to push inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric, drawing accusations of misinformation and inciting violence.
Thursday 2 April 2026
Guardian Australia
Two national addresses, no fuel: Taylor and Albanese trade speeches while the tank runs dry
Opposition leader Angus Taylor used a televised address to criticise the PM's national speech on the Iran-related fuel crisis, accusing Albanese of failing to provide detail or urgency — while offering little concrete policy himself.
SMH
The Drawings Are Still Doing the Journalism
SMH and The Age publish their daily cartoon roundup, continuing to file illustrators' work as their federal political coverage.
SMH · Paul Sakkal
Albanese discovers housing reform now that the polls have done the thinking for him
Albanese confirms Labor will proceed with changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, despite fears the war might prompt a retreat from investor tax reform.
Guardian Australia · Krishani Dhanji
Albanese caps gambling ads at three per hour, calls it historic reform with a straight face
The PM announced gambling advertising restrictions falling well short of all 31 recommendations from Labor's own 2023 report, more than 1,000 days after it was handed down. Ads will be capped rather than banned, with opt-out mechanisms for online platforms.
SMH · Brittany Busch
Albanese Drops a Billion at the Press Club While the World Burns
The PM uses a National Press Club address to announce a $1 billion industry support package and frame an 'ambitious' budget, against the backdrop of Iran tensions and surging petrol prices.
Wednesday 1 April 2026
The Conversation · Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Hastie discovers the protection racket has terms and conditions
Shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie publicly criticised Trump's attacks on US allies over the Iran conflict, revealing growing Coalition unease with Washington's transactional approach to its partnerships.
Guardian Australia · Tom McIlroy Political editor
PM offers business loans to treat symptoms of a fuel crisis decades in the making
Anthony Albanese will announce interest-free loans for businesses hit by fuel shortages while acknowledging Australia was already vulnerable before the Iran-driven energy crisis, promising the May budget will address structural weaknesses.
Guardian Australia · Sarah Basford Canales and Dan Jervis-Bardy
PM Uses Wartime Address Format to Ask Nation to Catch the Bus
Anthony Albanese delivers a rare prerecorded address urging Australians to use public transport and conserve fuel as Middle East disruptions threaten months of economic shocks, while promising to shore up international supplies and boost local production.
SMH · Shane Wright, James Hall, Daniella White
Eight cents and a prayer: Canberra's fuel fix held hostage by Queensland
The federal government pressured states to cut fuel costs by an additional 8 cents per litre, but Queensland is blocking the plan, leaving the national strategy in limbo.
ABC News · Holly Tregenza
PM asks nation to save fuel after fifty years of not saving itself
Anthony Albanese will address the nation on TV tonight urging Australians to conserve fuel amid the Iran crisis, asking citizens to 'play their part' for industries that most need supply.
Guardian Australia · Patrick Commins and Josh Butler
Chalmers dusts off Covid playbook as fuel crisis exposes three decades of strategic neglect
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has unveiled Covid-era business support measures as soaring fuel prices bite, with PM Albanese set to address the nation on the economic fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran.
Tuesday 31 March 2026
Guardian Australia · Krishani Dhanji
Chalmers offers tax bandaids for fuel crisis while parliament discovers collective laryngitis on Trump
Treasurer Jim Chalmers announces tax relief and support for businesses affected by Australia's fuel supply crisis, while government and opposition MPs uniformly refuse to comment on Trump's latest rebuke to allies.
SMH · Paul Sakkal
Bollards and bodyguards: the price of a political class that stopped listening
At least 10 people charged with violent threats against MPs since September, prompting new security measures as politically motivated intimidation escalates across Australia.
SMH · Paul Sakkal
Forty more seats, zero more purpose
Labor and the Coalition united behind a push to add roughly 40 MPs to parliament, with critics arguing both parties are motivated by self-interest rather than improved representation.
Michael West Media · AAP
Canberra Expresses Concern at People Who've Made Clear They Don't Care
Israel's ambassador to Australia has declined to apologise for peacekeeper deaths and defended his country's actions in Lebanon, while the Albanese government calls for an investigation it has no mechanism to enforce.
Guardian Australia · Guardian Staff
Ambassador Can't Recall Investigation Into Killing Australia Already Forgot to Demand Answers For
Israel's ambassador tells the National Press Club he's unaware the investigation into the drone strike killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom has been shelved with no prosecutions, while former defence chief Mark Binskin was denied access to drone audio during his inquiry.
Michael West Media · AAP
The Market Doesn't Defy Tensions — It Just Can't Read the Room
Australian shares crept higher on a tech rally, cheerfully ignoring geopolitical instability in what passes for market confidence.
Monday 30 March 2026
SBS News
The government's fuel excise cut: aspirin chased with scotch
Economists warn that cutting fuel excise could push inflation higher and trigger RBA rate hikes, meaning the cost-of-living relief may cost households more than it saves.
news.com.au
The million-dollar manhunt that caught a corpse
Cop killer Dezi Freeman found dead after seven months on the run, leaving questions over who claims the $1 million reward and whether the massive manhunt delivered anything resembling justice.
SMH
When the Cartoons Are the Editorial Line
SMH and The Age run their daily cartoon roundup, packaging political illustrations as standalone news content — raising the question of what the rest of the pages are for.
Guardian Australia · Josh Butler
Government insists fuel supply is fine — prices disagree by ten percent
Diesel and petrol prices surged 10% and 8% in a week across major cities as the government reassured the public on supply levels and dismissed the Coalition's call to halve fuel excise.
The Conversation · Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
$2.55 billion buys three months of cheaper petrol and another decade of denial
The Albanese government will halve fuel excise for three months, cutting petrol costs by 26.3 cents per litre at a cost of $2.55 billion to the budget.
The Conversation · Terry Goldsworthy, Associate Professor in Criminal Justice and Criminology, Bond University
216 days, one bluff, and a bullet: the Freeman manhunt's messy arithmetic
After 216 days on the run, fugitive Dezi Freeman was shot dead by police — months after they publicly declared they believed he was already dead, in what may have been a deliberate tactical deception.
Sunday 29 March 2026
SMH
The Drawings Are Doing The Heavy Lifting Again
SMH and The Age publish their daily roundup of editorial cartoons interpreting the political news cycle, a recurring feature that increasingly substitutes for written analysis.
SMH · Paul Sakkal, Rob Harris
Abbott Returns to Save Liberals From the Fire He Helped Light
Tony Abbott campaigns in Albury as Pauline Hanson offers the Coalition a preference deal in Farrer, with the Liberals facing potential wipeout in regional NSW.
SMH
The Sunday Papers Run a Gallery Because the Newsroom Ran Out of Ideas
SMH and The Age publish their weekly roundup of political cartoons, packaging illustrated commentary as a standalone content offering.
AFR · Phillip Coorey
The Coalition vote finds its floor — and One Nation's already living there
The Coalition's primary vote has hit a record low while One Nation surges to near-Labor levels, even as Albanese's personal approval continues to slide.
SMH · Courtney Kruk
Queensland's merged right quietly measures Canavan for a smaller coffin
Queensland senator James McGrath, a Liberal moderate, has beaten Nationals leader Matt Canavan for the LNP's No.1 Senate spot at the next federal election — a significant factional shift within the merged party.
Saturday 28 March 2026
SMH · Mike Foley
Three Weeks of Fuel and a Government Credit Card: Australia Goes Shopping
The federal government will subsidise private fuel companies to source emergency supplies globally, tacitly admitting decades of strategic petroleum reserve neglect.
AFR · Ryan Cropp
Nation that refused to stock the pantry now panic-buying at surge prices
The federal government will use taxpayer funds to underwrite purchases of critical imported fuel as Middle East conflict threatens Australia's notoriously thin supply reserves.
Friday 27 March 2026
Michael West Media · AAP
Trump's FBI probes elections the way arsonists investigate fires
The Trump administration's FBI investigation into the 2020 US election has been dismissed as detached from reality, with concerns mounting that similar probes will target the upcoming midterm congressional elections.
SMH · Peter Hartcher
The minefield was always there. Hanson just brought a metal detector.
Peter Hartcher argues rising global resentment will fuel Hanson's protest politics and create serious problems for Labor, but the deeper question is why major parties left the grievance unattended for so long.
Michael West Media · AAP
Cyclone shuts Australia's biggest LNG plants as global gas supply tightens
Cyclone Narelle has knocked two major Western Australian LNG facilities offline, compounding global natural gas supply disruptions already worsened by the Iran conflict.
AFR · The AFR View
The budget hawks discover sovereignty requires a budget
The AFR argues Australia's fuel vulnerability demands fiscal discipline and an end to spending on uncompetitive industries — while offering no coherent account of how sovereignty gets built without public investment.
SMH · Matthew Knott
AUKUS: The Subscription Service Where Australia Pays Full Price and Waits in the Queue
Retired Rear Admiral warns AUKUS submarine program is a 'wasteful folly' headed for failure, urging Australia to abandon the plan before costs spiral further.
SMH · Mike Foley, Paul Sakkal, Brittany Busch, Shane Wright
Both Sides of the Bowser: One Wants to Subsidise Dependency, the Other Wants to Study It
Albanese rejects the Coalition's call to cut fuel excise ahead of national cabinet, citing COVID-era lessons about consultation — while neither side addresses Australia's structural fuel vulnerability.
Thursday 26 March 2026
Michael West Media · AAP
The alliance of the selectively deaf
Trump singles out Australia for insufficient Middle East support. Albanese's government says no formal request was made — a diplomatic standoff built on deliberate miscommunication.
SMH · James Massola
The gallery wants a hero. The country needs a fuel reserve.
Albanese faces pressure over the fuel crisis, with commentators framing it as a leadership-defining moment — though the structural vulnerability predates his government by decades.
SMH · Shane Wright
Healthiest Patient in the Ward: Australia's Growth Comes With a Temperature
The OECD projects Australia among the world's fastest-growing economies this year, but persistent inflation threatens to keep the Reserve Bank from cutting rates, tempering the good news.
ABC News
National cabinet called twice in a fortnight because once wasn't enough
Albanese convenes a second emergency national cabinet as the Iran war's disruption to fuel supply chains forces states into crisis coordination mode, with the AFR reporting the government has resolved to be more transparent about the severity of the situation.
SMH · Nick Newling
Labor splits the difference and calls it a wage policy
The Albanese government has submitted a real-wage increase to the Fair Work Commission for millions of workers, positioning itself between the ACTU's larger claim and employer resistance.
Michael West Media · AAP
Government discovers wages and prices are connected, promises to think about it
The Albanese government says it wants to balance wage rises for low-paid workers against inflation pressures, a framing that treats decades of structural wage stagnation as a scheduling problem.
Wednesday 25 March 2026
Crikey · Anton Nilsson
Parliament to investigate whether its anti-corruption body is allergic to sunlight
A parliamentary inquiry will examine long-standing complaints that the National Anti-Corruption Commission has avoided public hearings, raising questions about whether the watchdog was designed to bark quietly.
Michael West Media · AAP
The house always wins: renters bankroll a casino they can't enter
Rising interest rates and cost-of-living pressures are hammering renters, but the deeper problem is a tax and policy architecture that treats housing as an investment vehicle rather than shelter.
SMH
The Cartoonists' Diagnosis: Parliament in Pictures
Daily editorial cartoons interpret the political news cycle, increasingly serving as the sharpest commentary in Australian media.
SMH · Paul Sakkal, Mike Foley
PM convenes national cabinet to agree on how to say 'drive less' in nine jurisdictions
The Albanese government is calling a national cabinet to coordinate state-by-state messaging on fuel conservation as the supply crisis deepens, with emergency measures under discussion.
Crikey · Crystal Andrews
Budget Lock-Up Now Requires an Audition Tape
Treasurer Chalmers and Finance Minister Gallagher are inviting content creators to the 2026 budget lock-up — but only if they submit a content proposal first, raising questions about selective access and press freedom.
SMH · Brittany Busch, Nick Newling
The thermometer is not the cure: Chalmers reads the nation's temperature again
Monthly inflation figures released as Parliament resumes Question Time, with Treasurer Chalmers fronting the economic data ahead of what promises to be a heated House of Representatives session.
Tuesday 24 March 2026
SMH · Brittany Busch
Australia's fuel emergency plan: start with good vibes, escalate to maybe
Australia's liquid fuel emergency response begins with voluntary measures like carpooling before escalating to price caps, but the government won't commit to specific figures, dismissing a seven-year-old hypothetical it never bothered to update.
SMH · Shane Wright
The GST isn't broken — it was bent, on purpose, and the receipt's now due
A deal to placate Western Australian anger over GST distribution has become a $60 billion drain on the federal budget, with NSW and Victoria bearing the cost of a system rigged to buy political peace.
AFR · Ronald Mizen, Phillip Coorey
Chalmers tells business to brace, having built nothing to brace against
The Treasurer warns CEOs not to price in Middle East peace too early, conceding Australia's economic exposure depends entirely on the duration and aftermath of a conflict it has no influence over.
SMH · Matthew Knott
Australia trades cheese names for a continent and calls it a loss
The Albanese government has struck a trade deal opening access to Europe's 450 million consumers, but farmers say compromises on geographical indications for cheese and wine names gave away too much at the negotiating table.
SMH · Matthew Knott
Von der Leyen brings the diagnosis; Australia offers biscuits
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Australia with a stark warning about global instability, sweetened with cultural pleasantries about flat whites and pavlovas — a diplomatic sugar-coating that may say more about the audience than the messenger.
SMH · Brittany Busch, Nick Newling
Brussels Discovers Australia Exists After Eight Years of Not Returning Calls
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visits Canberra to finalise the long-stalled Australia-EU free trade agreement, becoming the first woman to address a joint sitting of parliament.
Monday 23 March 2026
Guardian Australia · Rod Sims
Australia's gas belongs to all of us — so why are we paying retail for our own resources?
Rod Sims argues the Albanese government must go beyond temporary levies and fix Australia's chronic undertaxation of gas producers, who extract public resources while paying some of the lowest effective tax rates in the world.
Michael West Media · AAP
Government reaches for the bandaid as the patient bleeds fuel
Australia fast-tracks support for truck drivers as the Middle East conflict sends fuel prices surging and petrol stations run dry, exposing the country's chronic dependence on imported fuel.
SMH
The Newspaper Publishes Its Own Autopsy, Daily
SMH and The Age run their daily roundup of political cartoons as a standalone news article — a format that says more about the state of political journalism than any of the cartoons inside it.
The Conversation · Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Australians afraid of war — exactly as briefed
Security expert Rory Medcalf discusses survey findings showing a sharp rise in Australians' national security anxiety, with a majority now expecting foreign conflict in the near term.
Michael West Media · Stephanie Tran
The Charity of Silence: Labor's Tax-Deductible Blind Spot
The Albanese government refuses to act against charities funding illegal Israeli settlements, with Senator Faruqi accusing it of subsidising violence through inaction on tax-deductible status.
SMH · Nick Newling
BCA Will Accept Working From Home, But Only If You Feel Bad About It
The Business Council of Australia concedes remote work may be needed to conserve fuel but warns against COVID-scale office shutdowns that could damage small businesses.
SMH · Nick Newling
Parliament Returns to Perform Concern About a Crisis Both Sides Built
The House of Representatives returns for question time with the Albanese government facing opposition pressure over Australia's fuel supply crisis, though neither side has addressed the structural vulnerabilities at the heart of the problem.
Michael West Media · AAP
ABC Staff Walk Off the Job After Being Offered Less Than Inflation and a Robot Understudy
Thousands of ABC staff have voted to strike after rejecting an enterprise bargaining offer featuring a below-inflation pay rise and unresolved concerns about AI replacing editorial work.
SMH · Mike Foley
Australia Stumbles Into Gas Leverage It Never Bothered to Build
Middle East gas shipments to Asia face imminent disruption, giving the Albanese government unexpected leverage over LNG exports to China and Japan — and raising the prospect of price caps or export restrictions on resources Australia never secured for domestic benefit.
SMH · Rob Harris
The Coronation Column: Press Gallery Discovers Federalism After One Big Win
Rob Harris argues SA Premier Malinauskas has become Australia's most formidable politician by reframing populism around inclusive patriotism, following his landslide state election victory.
Sunday 22 March 2026
SMH · Paul Sakkal
Coalition discovers policy might be useful, plans to try some against One Nation
The federal Coalition is planning to attack One Nation's credibility by promoting economic reform and exposing the costs of Hanson's zero-immigration policy, hoping to avoid a South Australia-style wipeout at the federal level.
SMH
The Drawings Have More to Say Than the Drawers of Water
SMH and The Age continue publishing editorial cartoons from Wilcox, Letch, and Golding under federal politics — a quiet admission about where the sharpest analysis now lives.
SMH · Paul Sakkal
Fifty Years of Oil Shock Warnings, and We Built More Motorways
The International Energy Agency has urged countries including Australia to adopt emergency measures — remote work, flight reductions, lower speed limits — to prepare for a potential oil supply disruption, while the Albanese government plays down the threat.
SMH · Rob Harris
The SA Liberals Didn't Lose to One Nation — They Lost to the Void They Created
The South Australian Liberals face potential wipeout at Saturday's state election, with One Nation poised to fill the vacuum — a result that could reshape conservative politics nationally.
Guardian Australia · Tom McIlroy
One Premier, No Opposition, Twenty Percent Grievance
Labor's commanding SA victory and One Nation's surge have reduced the Liberals to parliamentary irrelevance, raising questions about whether effective opposition exists in South Australia at all.
Michael West Media · AAP
Six Tankers Cancelled, Minister Discovers Exciting New Definition of 'Demand'
Six fuel shipments to Australia have been cancelled due to Middle East conflict, but the government insists any shortages reflect demand rather than supply — a distinction increasingly difficult to maintain with three weeks of reserves and no domestic refining capacity to speak of.
SMH · Peter Hartcher
The Crisis-As-Opportunity Cushion Gets Another Embroidering
Peter Hartcher argues fuel price shocks give Albanese a rare opening to pursue structural reform, but the PM's record suggests crisis management will win over transformation.