Senate
Phillip Coorey
Messy mining tax deal sealed in the early hours
Phillip Coorey Unsurprisingly, the government was able to find $100 million last night to soothe the concerns of the Greens and usher the mining tax through the House of Representatives at 2.42am.
Peter Hartcher
Abbott's positively negative
Peter Hartcher Tony Abbott addressed Julia Gillard directly across the dispatch box on Thursday and delivered the punchline to his censure motion against the Prime Minister: "The Australian public do not believe...
Katherine Murphy
A peek at the best and worst of Gillard
Katherine Murphy When I first arrived in the parliamentary press gallery as a cub reporter in 1996, my then bureau chief gave me a tip.
Joanna Howe
Quest should be for easier resolution of unfair dismissal cases, not repeal of law
Joanna Howe Tony Abbott and Eric Abetz relate to unfair dismissal law like most people relate to the in-laws.
Michelle Grattan
The view from the back
Michelle Grattan Gillard's marginal-seat members fear for their political lives.
Mark Metherell
Hot issues will test the mettle of Labor's new health minister
Mark Metherell Tanya Plibersek speaks softly but with a sharp tongue. This week she enters her first parliamentary week as Health Minister facing a clutch of tough-talking assignments.
Peter Hartcher
Regrets for Coalition as Labor buys an extra life
Peter Hartcher HARRY JENKINS has given the Gillard government new life and liberty, but only by making a startlingly large personal sacrifice.
Wounded Abbott may need to revisit strategy
Lenore Taylor LABOR'S Speaker surprise is another sign that Tony Abbott's strategy to bludgeon the minority government into an election is falling just short.
The best entitlement of all - for a man who knows the system
Tony Wright He is considered by political watchers to be tricky as a ferret and slick as a weasel - except when he needed to make a quick getaway from a Parliament House lavatory some years ago.
Michelle Grattan
Now for the consequences of big reform
Michelle Grattan Julia Gillard has ''landed'', as they say in Labor circles, the most significant reform this government has made.
Peter Hartcher
For a few dollars more
Peter Hartcher When Julia Gillard challenged Tony Abbott to engage in a serious debate about the economy, the Opposition Leader revelled in the invitation.
Amanda Vanstone
PM's unchecked privilege should be challenged
Amanda Vanstone REMEMBER that terrible line run by the monarchists during the 1999 republic referendum? Which one, I hear you ask - there were so many. Well, the worst one, namely: ''You can't trust the politicians.
Phillip Coorey
Means test may not be such a bitter pill this time around
Phillip Coorey When dozens of private hospital staff gathered outside Rob Oakeshott's Port Macquarie electorate office on Saturday to urge him to reject means testing of health insurance, they risked provoking the...
Forensic examination
Labor wants an inquiry after ACT Liberal Leader Zed Seselja was repeatedly warned about failing to account for the attendance of his taxpayer-funded staff.
Tony Wright
Daylight robery as grand new Speaker sinks the slipper
Tony Wright The Honourable Peter Slipper seemed awfully keen to impress as he swept to the majesty of his new throne as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Phillip Coorey
Bets off for Abbott after a Rudd change
Phillip Coorey As opposition leader between 1998 and 2001, Kim Beazley was the last person to lead federal Labor for a full term.
Video implicates Sattler
New video footage appears to prove that Unions ACT secretary Kim Sattler may have helped spark the Aboriginal tent embassy protest at Canberra's Lobby Restaurant which marred Australia Day.
Katharine Murphy
The ghost of Howard hovers over Gillard's marriage vow
Katharine Murphy Odd perhaps to note this, given all the eulogising that Labor conferences deliver about Curtin, Chifley, Whitlam and the rest, but an interloper ghost hovers over this weekend's federal ALP...
The sketch
Welcome to the House of fun with all the muck that's fit to rake
Tony Wright All you need to know about the state of affairs in Canberra is that question time was interrupted yesterday by a debate about the difference between ''muck'' and ''muckraking''.
Michelle Grattan
PM wins votes but not voters
Michelle Grattan Julia Gillard receives little credit for getting major legislation through a difficult Parliament.
