Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has seized on a comment by the Treasurer that people could soon live until they are 150, describing it as Joe Hockey's "Sarah Palin" moment.

Mr Hockey made the comments earlier today while arguing the case for budget cuts and to explain why Australians should pay more for their health care.

How many insults does the European Union expect Russia to bear without consequences? Ethnic cleansing of Russian people by the Brussels-backed Kiev regime, a refugee crisis on Russia’s borders, economic sanctions based on groundless accusations hurting Russian society – and now this – the neo-Nazi cabal that seized power in Ukraine with CIA backing last year has repeatedly been found guilty of siphoning off Russia’s natural gas exports to the EU.

It’s been 18 months since Tony Abbott lost his job as Leader of the Opposition & that’s surely time enough for him to have worked-out what he should be doing as Prime Minister: playing head of government, leading the party that holds the majority of seats in the House of Representatives & acting as chief adviser to the Governor-General.

Anthony Albanese has attacked the Coalition’s record on climate change following new data showing 2014 was the hottest year on record.

The Labor frontbencher says Tony Abbott can no longer ignore the evidence on climate change.

The numbers are in. The year 2014 – after shattering temperature records that had stood for hundreds of years across virtually all of Europe, and roasting parts of South America, China and Russia – was the hottest on record, with global temperatures 1.24F (0.69C) higher than the 20th-century average, US government scientists said on Friday.

A recent report by the United States Congressional Research Service details hundreds of overseas military deployments spanning more than two centuries. The scope of and justification for the deployments vary wildly, from conflicts with pirates and bandits to formal declarations of war against an array of sovereign nations.

Tony Abbott faced a backbench revolt on his plan to slash the Medicare rebate for short doctors' visits with former cabinet minister Mal Brough prepared to go public and denounce the idea, prompting the Prime Minister's backdown.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, who is in the middle of an election campaign, also wanted the issue killed, fearing a repeat of the Victorian election where federal issues dragged down the vote and the state Coalition government was dumped after one term. 

“Australians need to engage in a national conversation about how inequality is impacting on our lives, our culture, our economy and our society. We need to make clear to our political representatives what kind of society we want for our children and grandchildren. Politicians will not act while the community accepts growing inequality passively.”

The Extremely Dark and Unexamined Underside of the Charlie Hebdo Affair

Few people ask me (actually no-one does) if cartooning is a vocation or a job... Good question I answer myself... Yes and no.. Who cares, except those who get shot. There are many types of cartoons  — from the gentle Sunday strips for kiddies to those published for adults only — such as Martin Van Maële's porn-toons in the early 1900s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_van_Maële)

Charlie Hebdo has made a defiant return with a new issue that sold out across France in record time, as Al-Qaeda posted a video claiming last week's deadly attack on its cartoonists.

The satirical weekly once again featured what the artists said was the Prophet Muhammad on its cover, but with a tear in his eye, holding a "Je Suis Charlie" sign under the headline "All is forgiven".

Don Argus is the former Chairman of BHP Billiton and before that was CEO of the National Australia Bank.