Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said the government intends to keep to its promise of getting debt below $250 billion by the end of the 2012/13 financial year.
Business hiring intentions are subdued due to conflicting economic messages and uncertainty over the outcome of the upcoming federal election, a survey says.
The final make-up of the state parliament will not be known for days, as counting continues in five knife-edge seats and Premier Colin Barnett ponders the composition of his new cabinet.
Labor faces an absolute massacre in the September federal election if it doesn't respond to voter dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, a former state Labor MP says.
Australian firms are unlikely to get any relief from the relentless strength of the local dollar any time soon, particularly if overseas central banks keep pursuing policies that deflate their own
Premier Colin Barnett may say tomorrow's state election will go down to the wire, but bookies don't agree, paying out early for an expected Liberal win.
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.
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.
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.
As if the polls, the carbon tax, the mining tax, the lack of a budget surplus and Kevin Rudd weren't enough for Julia Gillard, the prime minister looks set to be handed another problem this weekend
Workers' output has increased over the past decade but wages have not risen proportionally because of corporate greed, Australia's peak union body says.
