Only a few months ago Bill Shorten would have thought that if he won the election he'd be delivering same-sex marriage and a royal commission into banks early in his government.

Now Malcolm Turnbull is bringing us both — in each case, his hand forced by a (different) group of rebel backbenchers.

Build it and they will come. The New South Wales government thinks this to be true – so much, in fact, that they are spending a minimum of $2.3 billion of public money in achieving their aim.

President Macron has revealed how EU leaders are planning to stop groups of human traffickers in Libya.

RT Network’s press accreditation was pulled Wednesday following the Justice Department’s move to require that RT register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act earlier in November.

After months of pressure from his own side of politics, the Prime Minister has announced a royal commission into the banking sector.

Nationals senator Barry O'Sullivan, who was ready to introduce a bill forcing a banking inquiry, says he is happy the Government listened to its members, but another backbencher says Malcolm Turnbull had to be dragged "kicking and screaming" to the decision.

Nationals MP Andrew Broad has accused Malcolm Turnbull of ignoring conservatives in the same-sex marriage debate, saying there has been "a clear failure of leadership".

The tale of new technologies causing the death of work is the prophecy that keeps on giving.

Beijing: The Chinese government has rebuked Australia for "irresponsible" remarks about Chinese island building in the South China Sea in its Foreign Policy White Paper issued on Thursday. 

The paper says the South China Sea is a fault line, and that Australia is particularly concerned at the "unprecedented pace and scale" of China's activities in the region crucial for shipping.

read more:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/australian-white-paper-irresponsible-says-ch...

My cartoons are “lazy plonkt”.

I have been lucky. Very lucky. I count my weavings and duckings. I don’t believe in “blessings”... Understanding things has been my quest, though I still don’t understand much. One of my very good friend gave me a book. Lucky me. 

“The real impact of the book came from its example. Leonardo [Fibonacci] included a wealth of applications of mathematics to business and trade. These included conversions of money, weight, and content, method of barter, business partnerships, and allocation of profit, alloying of money, investment of money, and simple and compound interest.”

an old tennis joke...

John Alexander, the Liberal candidate for Bennelong in next month's by-election, has apologised after a video surfaced online of him telling crude jokes in the 1990s.