Jane Norman

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had planned to call the election on Sunday for an April 12 poll, but is delaying the announcement due to Cyclone Alfred's expected landfall on Saturday. 

The prime minister and opposition leader will be keeping an eye on Western Australia's election results for swings that could offer clues for the fate of the federal poll. 

The opposition leader has blamed "dirt sheets" from the prime minister's office for media reports raising questions about bank shares he bought during the global financial crisis and detailing his property transactions.

The ABC has so far spent $1.1 million defending an unlawful termination case brought by former employee Antoinette Lattouf, which was labelled "messy" and "badly handled" during a parliamentary hearing.

Ahead of the next federal election, a sophisticated grassroots campaign is again looking to shake up the two-party system and break the major parties' decades-long stranglehold on blue-ribbon seats. This time, some community independents will have the added assistance of a brand new fundraising vehicle.

More than 18,000 level crossings in Australia have little more than a stop sign to warn drivers to look out for freight trains hurtling towards them in the dark. A family-driven campaign is calling for a mandatory lighting solution, but the rail industry is fiercely resisting. 

Dick Smith's campaign group Nuclear for Australia has paid for the American influencer to visit.

Amid a fierce political debate over energy policy, the Labor-led nuclear inquiry was seen as a tactic to discredit the Coalition's policy and stir up opposition in the regional communities where it wants to build reactors. But after weeks of public hearings, the Opposition is making the most of the opportunity to spruik its plans. 

The latest independent scorecard shows that Australia is falling behind in its bid to meet the government's legislated 2030 target.

Two Coalition MPs are breaking a longstanding bipartisan approach in tobacco policy, calling on the federal government to lower the tax on cigarettes, which critics argue is driving prices too high and fuelling a lucrative and dangerous black market.