This Month
Calls for power to break up Coles and Woolies split inquiry
The ACCC should get new legal powers to prosecute supermarkets found to be engaging in price gouging, a parliamentary inquiry has recommended.
- Tom McIlroy and Carrie LaFrenz
February
Limit supermarket mark-ups to ease price pressure, government told
New forced divestiture powers targeting supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths should be urgently considered by federal parliament, the outspoken crossbencher says.
- Tom McIlroy and Cindy Yin
October 2023
Qld backs $5b transmission project despite mine closures
Government says there is still a strong need for the 1100 kilometre transmission line from Townsville to Mount Isa despite Glencore closing its copper mines in 2025.
- Mark Ludlow
Kick global miner Glencore out of Mount Isa: Katter
Controversial independent MP Bob Katter has called on the Queensland government to cancel Glencore’s mining leases in Mount Isa and find other owners.
- Updated
- Mark Ludlow
August 2023
Voice voting rules confusion ‘stinks’: Dutton
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will ask the Australian Electoral Commission to change its practice for counting votes in the referendum.
- Tom McIlroy
September 2022
- Opinion
- Cybersecurity
Take away the hackers’ honeypot: ban ransom payments
Cybercriminals attack Australia because it is rich and pays up. If we collectively refused, they would move on.
- Fergus Hanson
July 2022
Truckies sweat on Labor plan to avoid another AdBlue debacle
The government says Australia is tapping non-Chinese markets for supplies of the critical additive, after supplies reached a critical shortage before Christmas.
- Jacob Greber
April 2022
Katter not short of reasons to advocate arming children
His daughter Eliza is married to Robert Nioa, the chairman and chief executive of family firm NIOA, Australia’s largest privately owned supplier of small arms.
- Myriam Robin
‘Chaos and instability’: PM pivots as independents loom
Labor and the Coalition have four weeks to win over more than 800,000 voters each, and a hung parliament is possible as support grows for a new crop of independent candidates.
- Phillip Coorey
March 2022
CopperString customer hits back at APA
Energy users in Mount Isa fed up with paying high power prices from the only supplier, APA, back the controversial project.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
November 2021
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Amid the chaos, Scott Morrison must still think ahead
The mood in the governing Coalition is unusually volatile in the run-up to the election. The best cure would be to have some policy to talk about.
- The AFR View
October 2021
- Opinion
- Glasgow summit
Morrison wants net zero, then fight another climate war against Labor
Scot Morrison has to manage fractious Nationals to deliver the Coalition’s climate change policy, but he is banking on still waging climate wars in the seats he needs.
- Jennifer Hewett
June 2021
Super reforms pass lower house after government dumps ‘veto power’
The government’s decision to drop the ‘veto power’ in the super reform package came after Barnaby Joyce revealed he and others had ‘a real problem’ with it.
- Michael Read
May 2021
Katter goes cold on super reforms as crossbench support wilts
Bob Katter’s declaration follows news on Monday that former Liberal MP Craig Kelly was also unhappy with several aspects of the super package.
- Michael Read
Refineries get $2b handout to stay open
The taxpayer will pay the owners of two remaining oil refineries up to $2.3 billion to stop them closing down and leaving Australia entirely reliant on imported fuel.
- Phillip Coorey
PM ‘listening’ to North Queensland with $10b reinsurance pool
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a $10 billion reinsurance pool will help underwrite 500,000 new policies in cyclone-prone northern Australia.
- Mark Ludlow
April 2021
- Exclusive
- Electricity
Katter’s relative’s firm got $12m, others got $22k
The Industry Department rushed millions to a business, controlled by MP Bob Katter’s brother-in-law, that plans to build a subsidised power line.
- Aaron Patrick and Phillip Coorey
- Opinion
- The AFR View
CopperString must be put to a stringent test
The Queensland power transmission project contains too much temptation for pork-barrelling not to flag it for heavy scrutiny.
- The AFR View
Katter power line would rescue Forrest’s struggling wind-solar farm
Billionaire mining baron Andrew Forrest would be one of the beneficiaries of a $1.7 billion subsidised power line owned by MP Bob Katter’s close relatives.
- Aaron Patrick
- Exclusive
- Electricity
Bob Katter’s big power line a family affair
Liberal and Labor politicians love the maverick MP’s $1.7 billion power project, and don’t seem to care that his brother-in-law would build it.
- Aaron Patrick
