Australian Politics - Fairfax

If you wanted a window into the peculiar chemistry of Coalition politics, this marriage of convenience between liberal free marketeers and nostalgic agrarian socialists, here it was.

Next week is a big week for Treasurer Scott Morrison, delivering his first federal budget on Tuesday night. How much do you know about the man?

BREAKING: An Iranian refugee at Nauru who set himself on fire in despair over his life on the island has died.

Getting lost in the minutiae of negative gearing policy fails to address the well-founded anxiety which underlies it – that housing has become unaffordable for all but the wealthy or the lucky, writes Jacqueline Maley.

Facebook users are furious about the latest deliveries of White and Yellow Pages. But the company that prints them says they'll be around for at least another 10 years.
What do you think? Should they be scrapped?

He wears his heart on his sleeve, as Randy Newman might say. Our tough-talking Prime Minister - buster of unions, lover of negative gearing, occasional shooter - is, by his own admission, a cry baby.

Who needs tax cuts? Australians say they are happy to pay more if services are improved.

"The Abbott era has been and I think my role is to be occasionally, perhaps, an elder statesman," says Tony Abbott.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will scrap what he calls blank cheques for state and local government infrastructure projects and announce a ramp-up of debt to fund major schemes.

Malcolm Turnbull was in Tasmania on Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre and revealed another side of himself when drawn on the debate over gun laws.

Sound familiar? "They will not come to Australia, I want to be very, very clear about that," said the prime minister about a group of asylum seekers.

The Greens would block new thermal coal mines and coal seam gas fields, as well as taxing coal exports, under a policy that would channel funds into restoring health to the Great Barrier Reef.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said a refugee who set himself on fire would be flown to Australian on Wednesday night. It didn't happen.

KPMG has criticised the failed "political rhetoric" over the dole, saying the inadequate Newstart allowance distorts the system, is psychologically damaging and is a disincentive to switching jobs.

He once supported an emissions trading scheme to combat climate change. Now Malcolm Turnbull is singing from a very different song sheet.

A damaging split has opened in federal Labor over asylum seeker policy, with three MPs in the party's Left faction breaking ranks and calling for the 900 asylum seekers on Manus Island to be brought to Australia. Exclusive by James Massola

Peter Dutton has insisted PNG's decision to close the detention centre on Manus "hasn't taken us by surprise".

Moir on Peter Dutton and the Manus asylum seeker decision

Cartoon of the day: Dyson on Australia's $50b sub deal
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/cartoons

Arthur Sinodinos was called to attend a Senate inquiry to answer questions about controversial fundraising methods, but Sinodinos has decided he isn't going.