Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie, of the Palmer United Party, has proposed a $34,000 fine and up to 12 months jail time if parents force their children to wear a burqa. Her draft legislation, which details prohibiting full face coverings in public places, was released via a media statement. Senator Lambie’s bill would see “any person […]

Australians have never needed to be more aware of child abuse and it traumatic effects than now, says Dr Cathy Kezelman, president of national support group, Adult Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA). “Childhood trauma directly affects an estimated five million adult Australians”, says Dr Kezelman. “It also affects their family, including their children and their communities. It’s like the […]

Rosie Batty, the mother of murdered 11-year-old Luke Batty, has been named Victorian of the Year.

A former violent extremist, who warned three weeks ago that a terror attack in Canada was inevitable, says this week's killings are likely to inspire more "lone wolf" attacks.

Pakistani teenager and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban, told U.S. President Barack Obama he could "change the world" if he would send books overseas instead of guns.

Athlete Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to a maximum of five years' jail for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year on Valentine's Day.

An enormous number of happy-go-lucky Australians got up this morning and went to work, just as if it were any other day. It’s not just any other day. Today, we say goodbye to a giant. We say goodbye to Gough. Most Australians will know the name, and even very young Australians will know who he […]

When Gough Whitlam was asked how he would meet his maker when that day came, he said: "I shall treat him as an equal." It’s an unsurprising response from a former prime minister whose flagship policies of universal health care and fee-free university education were exhibitions of egalitarianism.

Muslim women wearing the burqa and the niqab will not be forced to sit inside a glass security enclosure when they visit Parliament House, following a decision today to ditch the controversial anti-terrorist security measures that have dominated national debate in recent weeks.

A coroner’s inquest into the death of Victorian schoolboy Luke Batty, who died when he was stabbed by his mentally ill father in the rural town Tyabb in February, is examining ways the 11-year-old’s death might have been prevented. Luke’s father Greg Anderson, who was wanted by police in relation to four separate arrest warrants […]