Qantas staff brace for more job cuts

Alana Rosenbaum 7:39am Qantas is set to reveal a major restructure today, with heavy job losses expected in the airline's maintenance sector after a turbulent year.

Abbott vows to scrap health rebate means test

Michelle Grattan and Mark Metherell Opposition Leader promises Coalition would scrap government's means test on health insurance rebate ''as soon as we can''.

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Australia reaps bond windfall

Tim Colebatch A surge of global demand for Australian government bonds has saved the federal government from issuing at least $10 billion in debt, cutting more than $500 million a year from its future interest bills.

Automatic enrolment up for vote

PHILLIP COOREY ABOUT 1.6 million people who are eligible to vote but have not enrolled may soon find themselves signed up after the government introduced a bill yesterday to allow automatic enrolment.

Bank on billion-dollar roll says it welcomes scrutiny

Peter Martin, Eric Johnston CONSUMER confidence has lifted. The Westpac Melbourne Institute survey finds twice as many families believe it is a good time to buy a major household item as believe it's bad. But the survey was conducted last week, before Friday's decisions by Westpac and ANZ to raise mortgage rates.

Bogus call centres fleece retirees in sophisticated scams

Dan Oakes Organised crime gangs are targeting retirees with increasingly sophisticated scams that may have cost thousands of elderly Australians more than $100 million.

Coalition would scrap health rebate means test, eventually

Phillip Coorey, Mark Metherell The Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, says the the Coalition will abolish the means test on the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate if elected - but it may not be for several years.

Fair Work orders independent review of its own inquiries into health union

Richard Willingham FAIR WORK AUSTRALIA has conceded that investigations into the Health Services Union are taking ''an unreasonably long time'' and has ordered an independent review of its inquiries to be undertaken by KPMG.

ING takes a $30m hit in accountancy fraud case

Paul Bibby THE multinational insurance and finance company ING suffered a $30 million net loss from the massive fraud committed by its senior accountant, Rajina Subramaniam, court documents reveal.

Nation on track to meet indigenous targets - PM

Dan Harrison THE nation is making progress in reducing infant mortality and improving educational achievement for Aboriginal children, but must redouble efforts to close the gap in life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, the Prime Minister told Parliament yesterday.

Red tape delayed search for missing refugee boat

Natalie O'Brien AN ASYLUM-SEEKER boat that is believed to have sunk, drowning 105 Hazaras on board, was left floundering and ''taking on water'' for almost four hours before Australian authorities activated a rescue mission.

Senator fires up at marines

Dylan Welch HOSTING thousands of US marines near Darwin could mean a rise in sexual assaults and drug use as well as a boost to the black economy, a Greens Senator has claimed during a fiery parliamentary hearing.

Rudd plays it cool as pressure mounts on PM

Michelle Grattan Kevin Rudd says claims PM used polling against him were questions for 'other people'.

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Don't dump PM, union bosses tell feuding factions

PHILLIP COOREY SENIOR union figures are urging Gillard government MPs contemplating changing leaders to consider the political disaster that NSW Labor became.

Senator sparks furore with US marine claims

Dylan Welch Hosting thousands of US marines near Darwin could see a rise in sexual assaults and drug use as well as a boost to the black economy, a Greens senator has claimed during a fiery parliamentary hearing.

Scientist denies he is mouthpiece of US climate-sceptic think tank

Ben Cubby A PROMINENT Australian scientist has rejected as offensive any suggestion he is doing the bidding of a US climate-sceptic think tank that is paying him a monthly fee.

Scientist accepts 'cash for climate'

Ben Cubby Australian scientist rejects claim that he does the bidding of a US climate sceptic think tank that pays him.

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WA accounts for 1 in 4 shark deaths

Perth One out of four people killed by sharks across the world in 2011 were attacked in West Australian waters, latest figures show.

Dirty devils found in Tasmanian garage

4:35pm A Tasmanian woman got the shock of her life early today when she found two Tasmanian devils mating in her garage.