Tony Abbott is reportedly planning a comeback and hopes t Abbott, deposed as PM by Malcolm Turnbull in September 2015, has hung around in parliament and resisted expectations he would resign after losing a ballot for the Liberal Party leadership. Reports have emerged of a “resistance movement” of MPs loyal to Abbott and working toward his return — most famously, ...

Former Sydney Roosters prop Martin Kennedy’s NRL career is in tatters after he was suspended for two years and nine months for breaching the league’s anti-doping policy. A statement released by the NRL said Kennedy was found guilty of the following violations of the anti-doping policy: Australian Sports Anti-doping Authority (ASADA) CEO Ben McDevitt described the actions of Kennedy during the 2012 off-season as “disturbing” from ...

Education Minister Simon Birmingham says Labor’s education policy will blow the opposition’s costings “black hole” out to $48 billion, as the Greens offered congratulated Labor for reaffirming their support for needs-based funding. Labor plans to target tax-avoiding multinationals to help fund its ten-year $37.3 billion education policy. Bill Shorten today pledged to fully fund the six years of the Gonski ...

Two men arrested by Australian anti-terror police in Sydney have been charged with plotting attacks on targets including a navy base, according to New South Wales Police. The men were apprehended Wednesday during dawn raids on their homes by officers from the Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT), as part of their ongoing anti-terror campaign known as “Operation Appleby.” A 24-year-old ...

Refugees, who were formerly assessed as deserving of Australia’s protection, now fear they will be subjected to another assessment by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. The federal government is preparing to reassess their claims as it clears a backlog of 30,000 cases.   Some refugees have recently received letters from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) asking ...

The emergency warning for an out of control bushfire burning in Perth’s southeast has been downgraded to a “watch and act” as fire crews continue to battle bushfires in the area. Although fires have been reduced there is still a possible threat to lives and homes in Wattle Grove, Orange Grove, Forrestfield and Kenwick in the Shire of Kalamunda, and ...

Police in Sydney have arrested a 15-year-old and a 20-year-old in a counter-terror operation. They have been charged with “conspiracy to conduct an act in preparation for a terrorist act”, Federal Police said. The arrests are linked to a plot outlined in material seized last year as part of Operation Appleby. That operation, in September 2014, was sparked by intelligence ...

A Melbourne siege has come to a dramatic end after multiple gunshots were heard just and police officers stormed inside the home. A man armed with a knife had been keeping police at bay at a property on Dandenong Road East at Frankston since about 5:30pm on Monday, with four people inside. The siege ended Tuesday morning when police entered the ...

Australian star Maggie Kirkpatrick, star of TV drama Prisoner, has been cleared of sexually abusing a girl. In August, a Melbourne court had ruled she had abused the 14-year-girl at her Melbourne home in 1984. She was given community service, placed on a sex offenders’ register and ordered to undergo a rehabilitation assessment. Ms Kirkpatrick, 74, had consistently denied the charges ...

Christmas Island locals say they are becoming increasingly concerned about the island’s detention centre, which now also houses foreign criminals awaiting deportation, and the lack of accountability from the federal government. For many years, the residents of Christmas Island have been caught up in Australia’s attempts to manage the flow of asylum seekers. But for the past few years, they ...