The Sydney Morning Herald logo

Rex Patrick

Advertisement
Zoe Daniel on the campaign trail earlier this year.

High Court fight over laws said to entrench ‘cosy table for two’

Former independent politicians Zoe Daniel and Rex Patrick are spearheading a challenge to Albanese government donation reforms, which they say entrench the dominance of major parties.

  • Annika Smethurst

Latest

ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle has been spared jail time.

ATO whistleblower escapes jail time and conviction

Former debt collection officer Richard Boyle exposed allegations of aggressive debt collection practices at the government agency seven years ago.

  • Brittany Busch
Cabinet information

The documents the NSW government doesn’t want you to see

It has been likened to a scene from the classic TV comedy-drama The Hollowmen, where documents are wheeled through cabinet to keep them secret.

  • Michaela Whitbourn
Whistleblower David McBride arrives at court in November.

Whistleblower told to expect jail term for leaking of alleged war crime documents

Former military lawyer David McBride’s legal team hoped he would avoid jail because he exposed problems in the national interest. Now they are thinking the worst.

  • David Crowe
Leo Hardiman has resigned as the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Commissioner.

FOI Commissioner quits after less than a year in the job

Less than a year after he became the first FOI Commissioner in seven years, Leo Hardiman has quit, saying he can’t make the changes needed to fix the system.

  • James Massola
The report found a “culture of secrecy” in politics and government.

‘Transparency has been killed by obstruction’ as officials flout FOI rules

A “culture of secrecy” is seeing more freedom of information requests being denied and delayed, a report has found, with impacts on government accountability.

  • David Crowe
Advertisement
Power player: Lachlan Murdoch.

Murdoch’s new bookie shop off and racing

Lachlan Murdoch is racing ahead in the betting game

  • Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing battle in the Senate over his cuts to independents’ staffing.

Independents consider disrupting Senate after PM cuts staff allocation

The government could face an embarrassing loss of control of the Senate next month over cuts to independents’ staff allocations.

  • Dana Daniel
Nick Xenophon in 2018.

Back with the X: Nick Xenophon running for Senate again

Former South Australian senator Nick Xenophon is running for the Senate again, more than four years after he left federal politics.

  • Angus Livingston
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

Frydenberg’s proxy adviser laws shot down in the Senate

Regulations that shielded directors and executives from investor scrutiny have survived just three days before being tossed aside by the Senate, with opponents claiming they were only put in place to protect the government’s largest political donors.

  • Shane Wright, Jennifer Duke and Charlotte Grieve