Melissa Clarke

The marine park that includes the subantarctic Heard and McDonald Islands is set for a massive expansion, with the federal government planning to protect an extra 300,000 square kilometres of ocean.

Armaguard's biggest customers will pour up to $50 million into the troubled cash transporter to keep it afloat for the next 12 months.

Armaguard is facing a new investigation by the competition watchdog, as it comes under intense scrutiny over its troubled monopoly on cash transportation around the country.

The ABC's managing director David Anderson has defended high-profile journalist Laura Tingle over comments she made about Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, telling a parliamentary committee though her remarks lacked context, her reporting for the public broadcaster "stands the test of scrutiny".

The federal government is planning to pour billions of dollars into critical minerals in an effort to build up local production of batteries, solar panels and wind turbines.

More than half a billion dollars of federal government funds have been set aside to encourage production of batteries in Australia, but exactly how the scheme will work has not yet been figured out.

It is unclear when the machine will be able to get moving again and if it will impact plans for Snowy 2.0 to begin operations in late 2027.

The federal budget will deliver a $9.3 billion surplus for the current financial year, but the next three will each have higher deficits than the government had expected as recently as December.

The outlook for Australia's economic growth is worsening and inflation forecasts remain uncertain as the federal government battles to simultaneously spur growth and rein in rising costs.

A fresh crisis has hit the beleaguered Snowy 2.0 hydropower project, with part of a tunnel collapsing and boring machine "Florence" once again struggling to progress through difficult geological terrain.

It was a big gamble, both logistically and physically, to commemorate the Battle of Kokoda with a trek and to give a robust display of unity between two countries, but James Marape's words of welcome were the stuff of dreams for the Australian government.

As Anthony Albanese and James Marape continue an unprecedented joint trek up and down the mountains and valleys, they walk with a shared purpose: to acknowledge their history, to embody the friendship of two nations and to promote peace in the region. 

China's top diplomat, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, will have departed Port Moresby's Jacksons International Airport just a day before Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese touches down for an extended visit to walk the Kokoda Track.

Plans for a new national environmental protection body have been revealed, but broader reform of the nation's environmental laws has been deferred indefinitely. 

The CSIRO has rebuked politicians seeking to undermine its research showing nuclear energy would be much more expensive than solar or wind power, after Liberal leader Peter Dutton claimed that research had been "discredited".

The big four banks are poised to intervene in the business of transporting cash because its plummeting use is making it unprofitable for Armaguard to deliver.

After about a year marooned in soft ground, the machine named Florence is on the move again. It's a relief to the trouble-plagued Snowy 2.0 project, but those troubles are not over.

Regardless of whether Australia's economic picture is improving or heading for a crash, it's unlikely voters will have stage 3 tax cuts front of mind come the next general election, writes Melissa Clarke. 

The government will halve the stage 3 tax cuts for the highest earners and use the money to deliver an $804 tax cut across the board.

The Liberal Party's declaration of its position on a Voice to Parliament was messy, complicated, and in many ways reflects the current state of the party itself, Melissa Clarke writes.

The oil and gas industry pushes to be allowed to buy international offsets to meet emissions reduction requirements under the federal government's new climate change policy.

Anthony Albanese will tell the Sydney Energy Forum that Australia is ambitious about helping the world reduce carbon emissions and wants to use its research and engineering capacity to help develop more clean energy technologies.

More than $12 billion of investment in new transmission lines should begin "as urgently as possible" to ensure electricity supply is secure in the coming decade, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sparks a war with crossbench MPs and senators by slashing their parliamentary staff entitlement by three-quarters.

Bureaucrats in Canberra are expecting a shake-up of top jobs, with the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade expected to be replaced due to her role in the robodebt scandal.