John Faulkner
Public servants baulk at FOI changes
Stephanie Peatling The public service is revolting against reforms brought in by the federal government to make it easier and cheaper for people to use freedom-of-information laws.
Call to end spies' FOI exemption
Philip Dorling Australia's spies could be subject to increased public scrutiny if a top-level review accepts the advice of the Australian government's freedom-of-information watchdog.
The best quotes of 2012
From Gina Rinehart to The Wiggles, some of the more memorable quotes from notable Australians this past year.
Labor stalwart lashes party powerbrokers
Chris Johnson Labor Party stalwart John Faulkner has delivered a withering indictment of elements inside his own party, saying some members of the ALP lack principles and morals.
It's time … to go back to Blacktown and a historic moment
Helen Pitt ''MEN and women of Australia,'' Gough Whitlam began famously 40 years ago on November 13, 1972 in his campaign policy launch at the Blacktown Civic Centre.
Inside the Rudd hit
Maxine McKew It was one of the most brutal coups in Australian political history and Julia Gillard was at its heart.
Senate told Parliament trespasser 'had no particular direction'
Peter Martin The intruder who came within inches of Prime Minister Julia Gillard during a press conference at Parliament House in August dropped into the offices of the Speaker Peter Slipper and Deputy Prime...
Police chiefs eager to harness technological advances
Bianca Hall AUSTRALIA's police commissioners want to help draft laws that would allow them to access the public's telecommunications data for up to two years.
Philip Dorling
Defence feared leak fallout
Philip Dorling Senior Defence officials feared WikiLeaks' exposé of secret United States military reports would undermine public support for the Australian Defence Force in Afghanistan, according to newly...
Faulkner takes shot over billiard table affair
Philip Dorling Labor senator John Faulkner has savaged the conduct of some senior public servants over maladministration at Parliament House, calling it ''the worst and most disgraceful behaviour I have ever seen...
Defence ready to muscle up
It takes the skills of a diplomat as well as those of a soldier to head the Australian Defence Force.
Submarines no longer all at sea
Hamish Mcdonald, Deborah Snow Green weed covering its black sides, rust streaks on its hatches and fittings, HMAS Collins is in from a rough winter ocean patrol at the Stirling naval base, near Perth.
Stephen Johnson
Preferential mistreatment
Stephen Johnson NSW LABOR delegates have voted to deny the Greens automatic preferences during elections but Left faction stalwarts Anthony Albanese and John Faulkner have slammed the debate.
The naughty list: MPs named and shamed for failure to verify expenses
Jacqueline Maley THE Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, the Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, and former prime ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating are among those who have claimed parliamentary expenses but not verified...
Labor soul-searching uncovers election complacency
Phillip Coorey THE Labor movement, from the federal government down, rested on its laurels after saving the nation from the global financial crisis and thought it had the next election in the bag.
Who would have thought it? Fraser to deliver the Whitlam oration
David Humphries AS MALCOLM FRASER sees it, he and Gough Whitlam are old enough that "if we disagree, we disagree". Sure, they didn't always see eye to eye (even though their heights allowed it) but no observer from...
Tit-for-tat draws plea for Rudd and Gillard to cool it
Phillip Coorey FRUSTRATED Labor MPs and ministers are urging Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd to bury the hatchet for the sake of the government.
ALP post-mortem damns Rudd
Phillip Coorey A SECRET Labor Party report has criticised the government led by Kevin Rudd as lacking purpose and being driven by spin and implies that the former prime minister or his supporters were behind the...
All's fair in love but now for the war in the House
Stephanie Peatling MICHELLE LANCEY waved a photo of her two sons at a wedding. Why should she have only one photo of a son getting married, she asked her fellow delegates at the Labor Party national conference...
Labor backs gay marriage
Phillip Coorey The Labor Party has voted resoundingly to change its policy to one of supporting gay marriage.
