It's time to move past sexism talk, MPs say

Chris Johnson Government ministers have urged all MPs to get back to discussing policy instead of the name-calling that has dominated parliamentary debate in recent months.

Milne targets miners, rich in tax campaign

Chris Johnson Greens leader Christine Milne wants mining companies and rich people to pay more tax.

Chris Johnson

PM back to Pacific Solution

Chris Johnson Prime Minister Julia Gillard has all but adopted John Howard's ''Pacific Solution'' to asylum seekers, agreeing to urgently reopen offshore processing centres at Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus...

Soldiers await orders as asylum debate limps along

Chris Johnson Australian soldiers could be on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island as early as Friday preparing for asylum seeker detention centres to be re-opened within a month.

Asylum seeker bill 'doomed'

Chris Johnson The federal opposition is poised to scuttle the passage of asylum seeker legislation through the Senate today despite warnings from Prime Minister Julia Gillard that to do so would be a ''denial of...

Gillard SOS over asylum bill stalemate

Chris Johnson The man who exposed the lie behind the Howard government's children overboard affair has been charged with doing what federal politicians have refused to do - find a solution to the asylum seeker...

Abbott to reject advice of panel

Chris Johnson Opposition Leader Tony Abbott insists he doesn't need a panel of experts to tell him what asylum seeker policy he should adopt.

People smuggling top priority at Aust-Indon talks

Chris Johnson What to do about people smuggling is the highest priority for talks between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Abbott's 'sham' is exposed, PM says

Chris Johnson Opposition Leader Tony Abbott stars in a pantomime scripted to say no to all action against people smugglers, according to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who insists the Coalition's asylum seeker...

Govt will fight court challenges

Chris Johnson The government is determined to fight any High Court challenge Australia's billionaire miners may launch against the nation's new mining tax.

Back to basics for new Greens

Chris Johnson The Australian Greens will refocus their attention on the environment and ramp up pressure on the government under the new leadership regime installed to address worrying polling results for the...

Abbott accuses PM of cover-up over embattled backbencher

Chris Johnson Opposition Leader Tony Abbott insists it is unconscionable for embattled Labor MP Craig Thomson to refuse to co-operate with police over investigations into alleged union corruption, adding that...

Troops to withdraw slowly, PM promises

Chris Johnson Australia's troops in Afghanistan will return home slowly, and most will stay deployed for another 18 months.

Besieged Gillard asserts her leadership

Chris Johnson Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has declared the government to be ''at war with itself'' amid talk of a renewed push to return Kevin Rudd to the Labor leadership.