Australia news
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Turnbull introduces data retention, Shorten rethinks security laws – politics liveAfter helping to pass the first national security laws, the opposition leader has had second thoughts, asking for a review of the laws. Follow the day’s developments live ... -
Metadata retention bill will require data to be stored for two yearsMalcolm Turnbull introduces legislation to the House of Representative, saying it is ‘critical’ to security agencies’ operations -
Victorian government facing defeat after only one term, poll suggestsIpsos poll shows Labor comfortably ahead of the Coalition just one month from the state election
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From the bush to the city: Indigenous governance awards finalists 2014 – in picturesFrom the bush to the city, eight finalists are waiting to see which group will take out the 2014 Indigenous governance award -
Reality television to dominate Australian screens in 2015Expect more cooking and renovation shows. Amanda Meade reports on what we’ll be watching – like it or not
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Victoria Cross soldier Cameron Baird's parents meet Queen
Baird was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery after he was killed during a special forces mission in Afghanistan
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Suite scandal: why Bach's wife cannot take credit for his cello masterworkA film detailing an Australian music professor’s theory that Bach’s second wife Anna Magdalena composed one of his most famous works is causing a classical stir. Renowned cellist Steven Isserlis debunks the claim
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Coalition may not meet 25-hour pledge for Indigenous work for the doleCritics say the government will struggle to find enough activities in remote areas to meet target and warn against people on work for the dole doing jobs that would normally be paid
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Palmer backs down on ETS, delivers Direct Action to Abbott – as it happenedEnvironment minister Greg Hunt announces deal with Clive Palmer to pass Liberal climate change grants scheme Direct Action without an emissions trading scheme. As it happened.
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Abbot Point: study on dumping of spoil in wetlands not required, Hunt saysEnvironmental assessment will instead use paperwork from previous plan to dump spoil in Great Barrier Reef marine park
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Australians fighting for Isis tracked in Iraq under fresh security proposalsNew counter-terrorism bill builds on foreign fighters bill that passed the Senate on Wednesday and legislation increasing intelligence-gathering powers
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Where do our fish really come from? SBS show promises to lift the lid on the seafood industry – video
An SBS series promises to reveal the unsustainable fishing practices prevalent in the seafood industry
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Epilepsy researchers win PM's science prize for discovering genetic linksNeurologists win $300,000 award for work that has led to better diagnosis and treatments for condition that affects 50 million people worldwide
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Tasmania’s anti-protest law slammed by former supreme court justiceLegislative council is told that protection from protesters bill is ‘one of the worst-drafted pieces of legislation I’ve seen’
Australian politics
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Direct Action: Coalition secures $2.5bn plan amid fears over emissions targetControversial policy will pass through Senate after Hunt agrees to ‘investigate emission trading schemes’
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Coalition may not meet 25-hour pledge for Indigenous work for the doleCritics say the government will struggle to find enough activities in remote areas to meet target and warn against people on work for the dole doing jobs that would normally be paid
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Palmer backs down on ETS, delivers Direct Action to Abbott – as it happenedEnvironment minister Greg Hunt announces deal with Clive Palmer to pass Liberal climate change grants scheme Direct Action without an emissions trading scheme. As it happened.
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Australians fighting for Isis tracked in Iraq under fresh security proposalsNew counter-terrorism bill builds on foreign fighters bill that passed the Senate on Wednesday and legislation increasing intelligence-gathering powers
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Epilepsy researchers win PM's science prize for discovering genetic linksNeurologists win $300,000 award for work that has led to better diagnosis and treatments for condition that affects 50 million people worldwide
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Hockey uses 'explosion' over red tape on pizza trip to justify regulation cutsTreasurer says council regulations prevented him pushing two tables together, hence the need to act on $250bn regulatory drag on economy
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Turnbull introduces data retention, Shorten rethinks security laws – politics liveAfter helping to pass the first national security laws, the opposition leader has had second thoughts, asking for a review of the laws. Follow the day’s developments live ...
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Metadata retention bill will require data to be stored for two yearsMalcolm Turnbull introduces legislation to the House of Representative, saying it is ‘critical’ to security agencies’ operations
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Scientists give Tony Abbott's record a lukewarm receptionAudience at prime minister’s science awards offers ‘desultory applause’ when invited to judge the government
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Bill Shorten has second thoughts on terrorism laws that could mean jail for journalistsOpposition leader writes to Tony Abbott asking the government to review laws, which were passed with Labor support
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Why support the TPP when it will let foreign corporations take our democracies to court?Melissa Parke: If a corporation’s profits or operations will be restricted by a country’s laws or the decisions of its courts, under the TPP it will be able to sue
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Foreign fighter measures approved as Senate passes counter-terrorism billAdvocating terrorism is outlawed and overseas conflict zones are in effect no-go zones after security legislation goes through
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Universities warn of disaster if Senate crossbench fails to pass funding changeCutting funding by 20% without giving institutions a chance to recoup the money would be the worst possible outcome, universities say
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First Dog on the Moon ... a racist carrot goes to Canberra
First Dog: When a carrot tries to enter parliament in a questionable outfit, he finds out the hard way who's allowed to be racist in the nation's capital
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Direct Action climate policy set to pass as Coalition agrees to amendmentsGovernment agrees to Nick Xenophon’s demand for ‘safeguards’ scheme and will investigate Clive Palmer’s dormant emissions trading proposal
Analysis and comment
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Australia divestment war shows investment is now the main climate change battlegroundThe fallout over Australian National University’s decision to divest from fossil fuel companies shows the language of climate risk is now in dollars and returns not degrees centigrade
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Why support the TPP when it will let foreign corporations take our democracies to court?Melissa Parke: If a corporation’s profits or operations will be restricted by a country’s laws or the decisions of its courts, under the TPP it will be able to sue
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First Dog on the Moon ... a racist carrot goes to Canberra
First Dog: When a carrot tries to enter parliament in a questionable outfit, he finds out the hard way who's allowed to be racist in the nation's capital
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After Nova Peris and Barry Spurr, should we all give up on email in the name of privacy?Brigid Delaney: Who has clean hands when it comes to email? Perhaps we should have new rules around email – like switching from chat sessions to the phone, for example
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The UK is now turning its back on migrants dying at sea – have we learned nothing from Australia?Paola Totaro: The end of British support for search and rescue operations in the southern Mediterranean is appalling. Yet again, the British Conservatives have filched policy from their former colony
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His solutions are wrong, but it's a good sign when even Rupert Murdoch is worried about inequalityWarwick Smith: It would be a mistake to dismiss Murdoch’s concerns about inequality as nothing more than self-interest. It’s a victory for advocates of regulated markets
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10 steps to save the Great Barrier ReefJames Woodford: Destruction and regeneration are the reef’s two great constants – the problem is that the reef no longer has the resilience it once had
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Tony Abbott was right then, and is wrong now. The federation is still Australia's biggest political problemMark Fletcher: State parliamentarians on the taxpayer dollar and opponents of federal government programmes will be rejoicing at the prime minister’s backflip on the federation
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'Feminism lite' is letting down the women who need it the mostAntony Loewenstein: I’ve hesitated to write about gender, worried that I’ll be slammed for daring to speak out. But we all benefit from gender equality, and therefore must give feminism some tough love
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Stayin’ Alive by Bee Gees – embracing a very un-Australian anthemFew things in this world make the average white Australian male as uncomfortable as the thought of dancing, writes Jack Kerr
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Victorian election: why a royal commission into domestic violence?Labor’s promise to hold a royal commission might have symbolic value, but we already know many of the solutions
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As the ABC goes digital, it should be funded to stay localQuentin Dempster: If the ABC axes its state current affairs shows in a scramble to find savings, it won’t be staying true to its editorial and charter obligations
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Lad luxe: the fetishisation of the working class in fashion is the height of snobberyJerico Mandybur: Independent fashion publications are making lad style ‘cool’ and in doing so, they’re reducing disadvantage to a trend
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ABC makes another bid at balancing right-left views; New Matilda takes on News Corp, and Walkley nominations newsThe Weekly Beast: ABC commissions second conservative talk show
Video
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Where do our fish really come from? SBS show promises to lift the lid on the seafood industry – video
An SBS series promises to reveal the unsustainable fishing practices prevalent in the seafood industry
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Australia stops immigration from Ebola-hit west African countries – video
Australia says it will stop issuing visas to people coming from countries in west Africa hit by Ebola
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Bill Shorten's backing for same-sex marriage gets the Roast treatment – video
News that Australia's opposition leader has done something 'progressive' and voiced support for marriage equality has the team from the Roast bringing out the Bill Shorten dancers
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Bill Shorten makes case to stop '$100,000 degrees' in Labor TV ad - video
Labor leader Bill Shorten takes to the TV airwaves to make the case against what he calls 'Mr Abbott's $100,000 degrees'
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First Dog on the Moon remembers his early work – video
First Dog on the Moon shares some of his early, unpublished work with the Guardian Australia multimedia team. There are curious teen pizzas and sea cucumbers with appalling habits, and of course, early renditions of the Dog himself
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Bill Shorten confronted by Canberra academic over renewable energy target - video
A University of Canberra lecturer in sustainable communities has challenged Labor leader Bill Shorten over a potential weakening of the renewable energy target
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Second Isis propaganda clip of Australian teen Abdullah Elmir appears – video
Sydney teenager Abdullah Elmir has appeared in a second propaganda video for the Islamic State, purportedly filmed in Mosul, Iraq
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Christine Milne says Australia must stop dragging its heels on Ebola
The Greens leader, Christine Milne, says the Australian government must respond to the call for help from African countries to tackle Ebola
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Scott Ludlam raps about 'smacking down' data retention laws – video
Greens senator Scott Ludlam has appeared in a rap video taking on the federal government's data retention laws
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WA premier Colin Barnett heckled by deaths in custody protesters – video
Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett has been heckled by protesters during a rally against deaths in custody
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Australian pilots forced to land by Indonesian Air Force – video
Two Australian pilots are being detained in Indonesia for allegedly violating the country's air space
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Tony Abbott responds to Canada shootings, saying 'threat is very real' – video
Speaking in the aftermath of the shootings in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, Australia's prime minister, Tony Abbott, says security at the federal parliament was upgraded six weeks ago
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Australian MPs react to Ottawa shooting - video
Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek says Australians' thoughts are with the Canadian people after a gunman shot and killed a soldier at the Canadian National War Memorial
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World news
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Ebola ‘may have reached turning point’Dr Jeremy Farrar says international community is belatedly taking the actions necessary to stem the tide of the disease
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Besieged town of Kobani gets reinforcements in fight against IsisMore than 200 Iraqi peshmerga and Free Syrian Army soldiers carrying heavy weapons head for the town to join battle
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Far-right rabbi shot and seriously wounded in attack in JerusalemYehuda Glick shot at close range outside meeting of Israeli activists at the city’s Begin Centre
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Russian rocket manufacturer insists it is not to blame for failed Antares launchKuznetsov company says engines used in Antares rocket were ‘functioning normally’ and suggests problem may lie with US modification of them
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US Federal Reserve to end quantitative easing programmeCentral bank’s head, Janet Yellen, confirms cessation of buying bonds in October after injection of £4.5 trillion over five years
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Budapest autumn: hollowing out democracy on the edge of EuropeRightwing prime minister Viktor Orbán is using his huge electoral majority to rewrite the rules, and not just for Hungary
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Ebola: Obama praises health workers as WHO suggests decline in rate of transmission in Liberia - video
US president praises health workers battling Ebola in the worst affected West Africa nations
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Edited spy policy papers released in Libyan rendition caseLawyers representing two Libyan victims of rendition criticise edited way documents are to be released
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Mexican cartel boss vows to fight to the death instead of surrenderingNet may be closing on Knights Templar leader Servando Gómez, alias La Tuta, as he releases rambling online video message
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Little to celebrate as UK troops withdraw from AfghanistanLetters: Security firms, arms dealers, people smugglers and other merchants of war must be regretting the end of a lucrative business enterprise
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Is £1.7bn EU bill part of a cunning plan?Letters: Perhaps our 27 fellow EU members and the commission have become so fed up with Britain’s persistent moaning and general obstructionism that they’d quite like to see the back of us
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Spain’s oldest dictionary under fire for equating ‘gypsy’ with ‘cheat’Roma group calls on Royal Spanish Academy to remove latest definition of the word, saying ‘language has consequences’
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Turkey's new presidential palace unveiled - in picturesPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan has unveiled a new presidential palace on the outskirts of Ankara. The immense project has been built at a reported cost of $350m. The building has been denounced by ecologists as an environmental blight and by the opposition as evidence of Erdogan’s autocratic tendencies. Supporters say the palace is a symbol of what the president touts as his drive towards a ‘new Turkey’
Australia divestment war shows investment is now the main climate change battleground