Australia could ask European and American allies to help with a mass diplomatic retaliation against Russia, if Moscow refused to accept responsibility for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, an atrocity which killed 298 innocents, including 38 Australians citizens and residents. The push is likely to poison relations with Russia even further after Moscow’s Ambassador to Australia on Sunday angrily denied ...

SYDNEY — From teenage soap sensation to pop royalty, over Kylie Minogue’s three-decade career she has sold 80 million records, survived breast cancer and become a gay icon whose fanbase spans generations. The pint-sized Aussie superstar celebrates her 50th birthday on Monday, another milestone for the singer who is one of the few celebrities known simply by their first name. ...

Malcolm Turnbull has kick started his Super Saturday by-election blitz with an embarrassing cloud hanging over a likely Coalition candidate. And, another female government MP faces a likely pre-selection challenge from a male. The prime minister was in the Tasmanian seat of Braddon today, supporting the Liberals’ Brett Whiteley. But the favoured candidate for the Longman by-election, Trevor Ruthenberg, still ...

The world’s largest cat-proof fence has been completed in central Australia, creating a 94 square kilometre sanctuary for endangered marsupials. The 44km fence – made of 85,000 pickets, 400km of wire and 130km of netting – surrounds the Newhaven wildlife sanctuary, a former cattle station that has been bought by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. Endangered species such as the bilby, the burrowing bettong ...

Most of the non-residential sites being offloaded by the Department of Defence in its land disposal program are contaminated, a legacy of past environmental failings. Defence has eight unwanted non-residential properties listed for disposal across Australia, including former rifle ranges and armaments factories. Defence has confirmed it is conducting investigations at the majority of the sites to determine the “nature and extent” of contamination. ...

The Turnbull government’s plan to pursue billions of dollars in income tax cuts over the next seven years will radically alter Australia’s progressive income tax system, shifting more than 80% of workers to a flat tax, according to analysis. The analysis shows the major beneficiaries of the government’s plan will be Australia’s highest income earners, with the top 10% of ...

Seven people were found dead with gunshot wounds at a property near the tourist town of Margaret River in Australia’s southwest on Friday in what could be the country’s worst mass shooting in 22 years, police said. The bodies of three adults and four children and two guns were found at a property at the village of Osmington, Western Australia ...

“If you collect rubbish and ship it to China that’s not recycling, that’s just collecting.” Dr Karl Williams, head of the centre for waste and resource management at the University of Central Lancashire, says he’s looked at a lot of rubbish in his career. And though Europe is going through its own crisis at the moment, like Australia, he suspects that the ...

The Turnbull government is shifting itself on to a pre-election footing, declaring that next week’s budget will demonstrate the Coalition’s economic plan is working and also highlight the risks of a change to a Labor government. The treasurer, Scott Morrison, and the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, have emphasised that message before next week’s economic statement, which is expected to deliver ...

Mickey Arthur hopes that Australia’s recent ball-tampering scandal will be “a reality check for world cricket” that makes everybody “sit back and take stock”. Arthur, who was the head coach of Australia between 2011 and 2013 and is now in charge of Pakistan, spoke on Wednesday about his disappointment with the team but also said he felt “really sorry” for the ...