Nick Feik

"This is succession planning. It's about laying down memories in Australia against the time the Queen dies. The first tour is the one that matters – the tour with the young couple and the baby, the gloss not worn off their marriage and …

"In a move that marks the first time Australian uranium would be sold to the Middle East, Trade Minister Andrew Robb is fast-tracking a nuclear cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE)... a country with a secretive, unelected government …

"The letter by a Save the Children Australia worker to the charity’s Nauru contractors expresses 'extremely alarming' allegations of 'mistreatment and inappropriate behaviour' directed at asylum seekers by guards employed by …

"Repairing the budget will require more use of means testing and co-payments, Treasurer Joe Hockey has warned, in a speech also renewing his criticism of 'corporate welfare'. Hockey appealed to people not to judge his May 13 budget on what …

Joe Hockey continued his pre-budget softening-up exercise with his speech at an event for the conservative magazine Spectator Australia yesterday. It went largely as expected. Australia's finances are unsustainable, he said, and the …

Today's announcement by the federal government that it is prepared to go ahead with the biggest single defence purchase in the country's history comes surely as a surprise to those who took seriously Joe Hockey's dire warnings from opposition …

Billionaire Senator Clive Palmer has announced that the Palmer United Party's four senators will vote against the government's Direct Action climate policy. In typically cavalier fashion, he's now indicating that they will vote down Direct …

"Let's move the arguments about cities away from the technocratic, away from thinking about tax systems, supply incentives, planning restrictions, NIMBYs and developers. Let's start with what ought to be common ground: universal housing, …

"It was supposed to be his big day. For Prime Minister Tony Abbott, it doesn’t get much closer to Christmas than this: an infrastructure announcement joyfully rounded off with a royal visit. A regally red-letter day. But then it got torpedoed …

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The fallout from yesterday’s resignation of New South Wales premier Barry O’Farrell must settle on the issue of lobbying in Australian politics. Tony Abbott’s extraordinary defence yesterday of O’Farrell’s character – …

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in New South Wales has claimed its biggest scalp yet. NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell this morning announced his resignation, effective next week, after he was caught out having apparently lied about …

Bill Shorten appears set to join the long list of ALP leaders who have embarked on party reform programs. His set-piece speech was due to be delivered just before his mother unexpectedly passed away last week. What we already know is that he had planned …

The belt tightening is underway. It will be made official next month, if the annual pre-budget speculation is anything to go by. Of all the signalled cuts, those to the ABC and to the aged pension have attracted the most attention to date. Joe Hockey …