The Latest Breaking News from Stephen Donaghue

Australia has long tried to be two things at once – a trusted friend to Pacific nations in a bid to reduce China’s influence, and a giant exporter of fossil fuels. This diplomatic tightrope has become increasingly hard to walk, as Pacific nations see climate change as an existential threat.

Exclusive: The federal government set out to show it was trying to deport non-citizens, knowing there was a risk a key high court ruling could be overturned. But an insider says it was purely symbolic

Decision overturns 20-year-old precedent and could trigger immediate release of 92 people, with detention of 340 others also in doubt

Australia's solicitor-general has delivered an intervention at the International Court of Justice in support of Ukraine's case against the invasion by Russia.

Australia's Solicitor-General will deliver an intervention at the International Court of Justice in support of Ukraine's case against the invasion by Russia.

We look at the shadow Indigenous Australians minister’s comments on issues including colonisation and the power and composition of the voice to parliament

Now we finally have a date for the Voice to Parliament referendum, it’s a good time to return to the terrific work our academic experts have done to explain the Voice to Parliament – as well as debunking some of the misinformation and disinformation we’ve seen so far.

For much of the past two decades, polarisation and hyper-partisanship have weakened Western democracies, most notably in the United States and Britain. Australia has not escaped, although the consequences here have been nothing as compared with Brexit or the insurrection in Washington on January 6, 2021.

The federal government today released the long-awaited legal advice on the Voice to parliament from Australia’s solicitor-general, Stephen Donaghue.