Australia

The election has been called and the countdown is on. Here are the 20 seats across the country that will be crucial in deciding who will be our next Prime Minister.

On Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an election following a well-worn path of his predecessors in going to the voters. These are the fascinating traditions playing out today.

AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw warned politicians to think carefully about their plans during the campaign as he shared ‘sobering information’ about what they collectively had been facing.

It took a news story for the Sydney mum to realise that she was paying 200 times as much as a fellow cancer sufferer for exactly the same medication.

The Prime Minister is expected to call the Federal election on Friday as Labor and the Coalition clash over tax cuts and fuel subsidies in a last-ditch bid to woo voters. 

NICOLA SMITH: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton must land one of the most pivotal speeches of his political career tonight

The Coalition has pledged it will repeal Labor’s $5-a-week tax cuts, saying it needs the money to fund its alternative offering of halving the fuel excise for a year.

Retiring Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has used her final speech in parliament to draw a line in the sand over support for Ukraine, warning of a ‘axis of dictatorship’.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is facing renewed calls to dump Australia’s 2050 carbon neutral target by one of his Coalition backbenchers as part of an election promise.

Business groups have lashed the Federal Budget, saying there is little indication of a private sector revival and next to nothing to stimulate one.

Australia's Federal Budget has locked in a decade of deficits, with structural reforms needed to reduce the tax burden on young income earners.

EDITORIAL: It is an insult to our intelligence that the Federal Government cobbled together this half-hearted Budget because the Prime Minister delayed calling the election.

ANDREW CARSWELL: The Coalition’s recent policy stumbles and missteps, brain farts and ill-discipline that have combined to take the wind out of the Coalition’s sails is, well, highly advantageous.

LATIKA M BOURKE: Chalmers’ failure to hike national security spend in line with US expectations shows Labor doesn’t want a national security election. That’s a boost for Dutton.

Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers want to use the Budget to polish their economic credentials ahead of the election and showcase the progress Labor has made throughout its whole term in power.