The opposition frontbencher Bronwyn Bishop has revealed that Tony Abbott would have called another election had he succeeded in negotiating with the independents in 2010 to form minority government.

Ms Bishop's revelation confirms the long-held suspicions of the independents, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, who never trusted Mr Abbott's assurances he would govern for the full term.

Of all the weasel words available to politicians, one phrase appears to be particularly in vogue. The use of ''no plans'' is infecting the political discourse and the disease is especially bad in NSW. The rot began before last year's election, when in late 2010 the Herald ran a front page story revealing that the then opposition roads spokesman Andrew Stoner, who was in line to become deputy premier, favoured time-of-day tolling to reduce congestion.

Counter-terrorism laws have swung too far in favour of police power at the expense of civil liberties and should be repealed, according to legal experts and lawyers contributing to a government review of the legislation.

hey bob, is it safe to assume that you’ll raise the following issues with our ‘special friends’ on the UN Security Council?

Complete with a newly coined, creepy Orwellian euphemism – 'disposition matrix' – the administration institutionalizes the most extremist powers a government can claim.

The special treatment that state Liberals and Labor were giving James Packer's hotel and VIP casino would deliver NSW back to the dark days of the ALP's part 3A planning laws, the Australian Shareholders' Association has warned.

''What about due process?'' the association's chief executive officer, Vas Kolesnikoff', asked yesterday.

Barbara Ramjan, the woman who accused Tony Abbott of intimidating her physically at Sydney University, is suing the Victorian Liberal Party powerbroker, Michael Kroger, and The Australian newspaper, over comments during the recent fallout from the saga.

South-East Asia's top diplomat has rejected as ''counterproductive'' Tony Abbott's policy to tow back asylum seeker boats to Indonesia, warning the plan could jeopardise Australia's ties to the neighbourhood.

A damning dossier assembled from exhaustive research into  the strikes’ targets sets out in heartbreaking detail the deaths of teachers, students and Pakistani policemen. It also describes how bereaved relatives are forced to gather their loved ones’ dismembered body parts in the aftermath of strikes.

from ambit gambit …

Julia Gillard's personal standing among men and women has soared since her attack on Tony Abbott as a sexist but the Coalition would still win an election if it were held now, despite Labor slowly closing the gap.

The emperor has no clothes. In fact, the emperor is butt-naked, disrobed by a cattle farmer from Burrell Creek - a place so small, its distinguishing features include a house, a community hall and a phone box … population not stipulated.

Defence’s Smith has major decisions to make on rape and other abuse, injustice in Defence

from Civil Liberties Australia

A small British company has produced the first "petrol from air" using a revolutionary technology that promises to solve the energy crisis as well as helping to curb global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.