‘Never, ever’: Tim Wilson walks back comments on potential One Nation rightwing alliance

11 May 2026 at 04:17

Liberal frontbencher says he has ‘no interest’ in forming a coalition with Pauline Hanson’s party – a day after suggesting he might be open to it

The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, has said he would “never, ever, ever” support a coalition government with One Nation, walking back previous comments that left the door open to such an arrangement.

Urging the Liberals to “get on with” setting out what they stand for, Wilson joined other senior party figures in rejecting any partnership with the rightwing populist party.

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‘We’re coming after those other seats’: Pauline Hanson jubilant as One Nation wins Farrer byelection

By: Tom McIlroy and Sarah Basford Canales

9 May 2026 at 11:17

David Farley wins One Nation’s first lower house seat after Coalition vote collapses and Angus Taylor says Liberals will take ‘hard lessons’ from result

Pauline Hanson says One Nation is coming after Coalition and Labor seats around Australia, declaring her supporters want to “take the country back” after winning an emphatic victory in Saturday’s Farrer byelection.

The rightwing populist party won its first ever lower house seat at an election, with candidate David Farley easily seeing off the independent Michelle Milthorpe, amid a collapsing Coalition vote in the seat previously held by the former opposition leader Sussan Ley.

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Communications minister Anika Wells repays $10,000 in incorrect travel expenses

By: Tom McIlroy Political editor

8 May 2026 at 03:33

Anthony Albanese rejects calls for her to resign over the breaches, saying she had done the right thing and had also apologised

The communications minister, Anika Wells, has repaid more than $10,000 for incorrect travel claims, identified amid controversy about her use of taxpayer-funded entitlements.

In a statement released on Friday, Wells said an audit by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority identified four mistakes in her claims dating back to Labor’s 2022 election victory, worth a combined $8,092.89.

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Almost $4bn more for Victoria’s contentious Suburban Rail Loop to be included in federal budget

By: Tom McIlroy and Benita Kolovos

7 May 2026 at 12:30

Additional funding for the costly 90km public transport project promised before state’s November election

The federal budget will include another $3.8bn for the Suburban Rail Loop, Melbourne’s controversial and costly 90km public transport project.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will announce the additional funding alongside the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, on Friday before the 12 May budget and as early campaigning for the state election heats up.

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‘We just want our children to be safe’: two Australian states prepare to resettle children from Syrian detention camp

By: Nino Bucci and Tom McIlroy

7 May 2026 at 00:09

Four women and nine children expected to return to Australia on Thursday with all apart from a mother and her child expected to go to Victoria

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Authorities in two Australian states are preparing to resettle children returning from squalid detention camps and life under Islamic State rule, as at least some of their mothers face possible criminal charges.

Four women and nine children are expected to return to Australia on Thursday, with all of them apart from a mother and her child bound for Melbourne.

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Charges flagged as women and children from IS-linked families set to fly from Syria to Australia

By: Tom McIlroy and Nino Bucci

6 May 2026 at 06:14

Home affairs minister Tony Burke says government continues to refuse to help the group of 13

Some of the Australian women linked to Islamic State fighters may face arrest and possible criminal charges on their return from Syria this week, with the government and federal police promising a hardline response when the group touches down.

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed that the government was aware that four Australian women and nine of their children had begun the journey home, after more than a decade of planning by a joint Asio and Australian federal police counter-terrorism taskforce.

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Philip Morris uses secret Senate hearing to warn that illegal tobacco in Australia could wipe out legal trade by 2030

By: Tom McIlroy and Nino Bucci

5 May 2026 at 15:00

Exclusive: Company pushes for lower excise and claims threats warrant secrecy, while critics say it has ‘no interest in public health or safety’

The tobacco giant Philip Morris told a secret Senate hearing that soaring trade in illegal cigarettes would wipe out legal products in Australia as soon as 2030, claiming executives’ identities should be kept secret because of threats from organised crime.

Labor criticised Coalition MPs for allowing the company to give evidence to an inquiry on illegal tobacco in a closed-door session in Canberra on Monday, ending more than 15 years of precedent under a World Health Organization (WHO) agreement.

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Australia eyes security pact with Fiji as pushback from Beijing undermines agreement with Vanuatu

By: Tom McIlroy Political editor

5 May 2026 at 05:34

Foreign minister Penny Wong visits Fiji this week to progress the security and economic agreement

Australia looks close to signing a landmark security and economic agreement with Fiji as part of the Albanese government’s efforts to contain China’s growing influence across the Pacific.

But pushback from Beijing has undermined a separate pact with Vanuatu’s government, resulting in a scaling back of a deal aimed at locking in Australia as the country’s primary security partner.

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Coalition accused of secretly giving big tobacco lobbyists private platform in parliament

By: Tom McIlroy Political editor

4 May 2026 at 08:42

Exclusive: A Senate committee considering the illegal tobacco trade in Australia hears closed-session evidence from cigarette manufacturers

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Anti-smoking campaigners have accused the Coalition of secretly giving tobacco giants access to a parliamentary inquiry, a move they say undermines more than 15 years of precedent to protect public health.

On Monday, representatives from tobacco company Philip Morris appeared before a Senate committee considering the illegal tobacco trade in Australia.

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Queensland rejects key Bondi report recommendation as Albanese’s gun buyback flounders

By: Tom McIlroy · Josh Butler and Penry Buckley

30 April 2026 at 15:00

State’s police minister says buyback ‘doesn’t focus on keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists and criminals’, leaving NSW only clear supporter of plan

Queensland has rejected key recommendations from the Bondi royal commission’s interim report, insisting plans for a national gun buyback will not keep weapons “out of the hands of terrorists and criminals”.

The report, handed down by commissioner Virginia Bell on Thursday, raised doubts about whether efforts to establish a national gun register after the 2022 police killings at Wieambilla in Queensland had been “unduly leisurely”. Bell recommended the federal government and the states speed up a jointly funded weapons buyback scheme.

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Google, Meta and TikTok face new levy to pay for Australian news as Albanese reveals media plan

By: Josh Butler and Tom McIlroy

28 April 2026 at 02:06

Labor’s draft news bargaining incentive scheme includes 2.25% levy on local revenues of digital giants

Anthony Albanese has urged Google, Meta and TikTok to make deals with Australian media outlets to avoid a dedicated 2.25% levy on local revenues, warning digital giants should not be able to exploit the work of journalists to boost profits.

Releasing an exposure draft for the government’s news bargaining incentive (NBI) scheme on Tuesday, the prime minister said platforms could avoid the levy by signing new deals with publishers to pay for news content, and even greater offsets for making deals with smaller publishers. The government expects the plan will raise up to $250m annually for Australian journalism.