Government

Premier Colin Barnett can breathe easy now - the Community and Public Sector Union says it will hold off on potential industrial action until after the state election.

A call for Health Minister Kim Hames to be sacked over his response to a string of fatalities among patients discharged from Northam Hospital is understandable, the opposition says.

Federal Finance Minister Penny Wong has indicated the government isn't about to launch into a spending spree to garner votes for the September election.

A fall in coal exports and other mining commodities have increased the trade deficit.

The Liberals' election commitments will increase state debt by $1.2 billion, pushing total borrowings to $24. 8 billion in 2015/16, according to Treasury costings released today.

Maligned Treasurer Troy Buswell has moved to quell talk that he's set to succeed Premier Colin Barnett, reiterating he will never lead the Liberals again.

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu has resigned late today at a meeting of Liberal Party MPs and has been succeeded by former parliamentary Liberal leader Dennis Napthine.

Fly-in, fly-out workers should be regarded as Australia's "modern day heroes", Premier Colin Barnett says, akin to the men who built the nation-defining Snowy Mountains irrigation scheme.

Protesters calling for a ban on live animal exports have shouted during an Adelaide forum held by federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

Cost of living pressures including power prices have been largely ignored in the state election campaign, a group representing the non-government community services sector says.

The Australian economy managed what the Reserve Bank of Australia likes to call "about trend" growth in the December quarter, the national accounts showed today.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says he has "personal evidence" Australians are having trouble finding work in the mining and other industries because overseas workers are filling jobs through the 457

 A legal challenge against the federal government's mineral resources rent tax has started in the High Court with lawyers for miner Andrew Forrest arguing the controversial impost breaches the

The Barnett government is facing the prospect of a third bout of industrial action during the state election campaign, with Western Australia's public sector union calling a mass meeting

Corrective services minister Murray Cowper is being investigated for alleged illegal land clearing at a holiday shack community, prompting calls for him to be sacked.

Australia's current account deficit shrank by two per cent to $14.678 billion in the December quarter, thanks to a rise in mining exports.

Australian retailers recorded their strongest January sales growth in six years as increasingly confident consumers headed back to the shops.

Workers' output has increased over the past decade but wages have not risen proportionally because of corporate greed, Australia's peak union body says.

 Australian businesses have shelved plans to hire new staff or make significant investments in the first half of 2013.

Nearly a third of voters believe the federal government's controversial mining tax should be amended to raise more money rather than being dumped altogether, a new survey has found.

Australian junior miners' growth ambitions are being stymied by a lack of federal government support, a new report says.

 Job advertisements rose in February to their highest level since October 2012, a leading employment survey says.

A rise in iron ore and coal exports is expected to have been the major driver of economic growth in an otherwise weak final three months of 2012.

The number of companies that posted a profit during the recently concluded reporting season rose to its highest level in three years.

On the last Sunday before the state election, the Liberals and Labor were making promises to families, seniors, people with disabilities and children.

Western Australia's relationship with Asia is 20 years ahead of the rest of the country, Premier Colin Barnett says.

There are signs of life and glimmers of hope in the market after a reporting season that beat expectations - albeit only slightly - and promised better things to come.

The credibility of Liberal and Labor election promises are both under question, with Troy Buswell admitting the Liberals three major pledges are reliant on being half funded by the Commonwealth, an

Thousands of angry unionists knocked on Premier Colin Barnett's office door to voice their frustration at overseas recruitment yesterday - only to find he was out campaigning thousands of kilometre

Western Australia's Liberal party is promising to chip away at the state's housing crisis by removing outdated restrictions on granny flats.