Federal and state governments have resolved their standoff on public hospital funding. The deal struck at National Cabinet on Friday includes a A$25 billion boost to hospital funding, and state government commitments on disability services for children. But while public hospitals will get more money, there's no clear plan to manage surging costs and rising demand.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate leaders were scrambling on Friday to save a bipartisan spending deal and prevent a partial government shutdown this weekend as some Republicans pushed back on a rare deal between President Donald Trump and Democrats.
Is governing harder in the 2020s than in earlier decades? The instinctive, and popular, answer would be "of course it is". While that's also a correct answer, we should insert some qualifications. Making the right or best decisions, especially in times of actual or looming crisis, has always been difficult.
On Wednesday, the federal government announced plans to reform how medications are dispensed and tracked, aiming to reduce unsafe use, stockpiling and "doctor shopping". This will include two stages. First, the government will require all online and telehealth prescribers to upload information about a patient's prescribed medications to their My Health Record.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Journalist Don Lemon and three other people were arrested Friday in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church and increased tensions between residents and federal officials.
The Liberal manoeuvrings for an assault on Sussan Ley's leadership don't lack transparency. As members of the Liberal Party gathered in Melbourne on Thursday to attend the memorial service for former colleague Katie Allen, leadership aspirants Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor met to discuss their rival ambition.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – The most successful player ever in men’s tennis felt disrespected, and had to pause before summarizing the offending question out loud just to process it again. Novak Djokovic was fielding questions about his pending semifinal with defending champion Jannik Sinner when he returned serve on one that he didn’t like.
NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks closed lower on Wall Street while gold and silver prices plunged as investors tried to gauge what President Donald Trump's new nominee to lead the Federal Reserve will mean for interest rates going forward. The S&P 500 dropped 0.4%. The Dow fell 0.4%, and the Nasdaq sank 0.9%. Gold's price dropped 11%, and silver sank more than 30%.
Australia's inflation rate has jumped higher than expected, increasing pressure on the central bank to lift interest rates when it meets next week. New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.8 per cent in the 12 months to December 2025, up from 3.4 per cent in the year to November.
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