Australia

Dan Jervis-Bardy and Nicola Smith

‘We need it’: Chalmers hits back at nest egg controversy

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has hit back at accusations that a planned overhaul of the $230 billion Future Fund will compromise the body’s independence or force it to underwrite pet government projects.

Social media age limit laws unveiled in Parliament

Laws to ban under-16s from social media have been introduced to Parliament with the Government promising they will keep teens off TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, Instagram and X at a minimum.

6 hours ago

Labor has been accused of botching the onshore asylum process.

exclusive

Nicola Smith

Labor accused of losing grip on asylum process

The Coalition has accused Labor of mishandling high numbers of onshore asylum claims in a further sign it intends to put immigration front and centre of its election campaign.

21 hours ago

Jim Chalmers is running out of road. And help isn’t coming

JACKSON HEWETT: As much as Treasurer Jim Chalmers tried to put a positive spin on things in his ministerial statement on the economy, the trend doesn’t look good.

‘We’re ready’: Rudd breaks silence after Trump election win

Kevin Rudd has broken his silence after President-elect Donald Trump won the US election, declaring Australia is ‘ready’ to deal with another four years of a Trump administration.

updated

Dan Jervis-Bardy and Katina Curtis

Budget surplus days over as iron ore, jobs bite

Tumbling iron ore prices and a softening labour market has hit Federal coffers, leaving Treasurer Jim Chalmers with a ‘sliver’ of the revenue windfalls that have propped up his Budget bottom line.

Read more (4 min) →

The average total remuneration gender pay gap has dropped 0.6 percentage points to 21.8 per cent. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)

Business

Poppy Johnston

Pay gap narrows but womenCEOs still left behind men by $150K

Naming and shaming company gender pay gaps appears to be working, with a flurry of employers commissioning probes into the issue and taking action.

Members of the honor guard carry the coffin of a Ukrainian soldier who was killed during fighting with Russian forces

Nicola Smith

Marles: Reopening embassy in Ukraine a ‘work-in-progress’

Defence Minister refuses to commit to reopening Australia’s embassy in Ukraine despite cross-party calls to strengthen ties with Kyiv as it marked the grim 1,000-day milestone since Russia’s invasion.

‘It’s an outrage’: Hong Kong detainees plea to Penny Wong

Foreign Minister Penny Wong is being urged to secure the freedom of Australian democracy activist Gordon Ng in the same way the Government successfully lobbied for the release of journalist Cheng Lei.