Australia has just gone through a lackluster election, where a change of government took place. Tony Abbott will be Australia’s next prime minister. However this change in government appeared to lack the euphoria of past elections that delivered new governments like ’72, ’75, ’83, ’96, and ’07. Many fear that an Abbott government will bring Australian public policy... 

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says if the Labor Party is reelected, he will hold a referendum on the recognition of the country’s Aborigines in the constitution. On Wednesday, during the 50th anniversary of the indigenous land rights movement, Rudd said the recognition of the Aboriginal people as Australia’s first inhabitants was a key priority. “I therefore, as prime minister, want... 

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been defeated by former Premier Kevin Rudd in a Labor Party leadership vote. Former Prime Minister Rudd won the vote of the Labor caucus 57 to 45, reports on Wednesday said. The prime minister is expected to resign on Thursday, before Rudd is sworn in. Gillard said a leadership vote for the Labor Party would be held... 

Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard meets members of the Australian Army 1st Mentoring Task Force during her visit to Multinational Base Tarin Kowt in southern Afghanistan October 2, 2010. The Australian armed forces are “illegally” holding several Afghan nationals at a secret prison in the troubled southern Oruzgan Province. Afghan officials say the prison is located at the... 

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard addresses a press conference in Canberra on March 21, 2013. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has managed to hold onto her position as the leader of the country’s Labor Party. The 51-year-old Gillard remained the party leader after a vote on Thursday, as MP Kevin Rudd failed to garner enough party support to replace her. “This is a difficult day... 

Flood wreaked havoc on the state of Queensland, Australia, in January 2011. Thousands of people in eastern Australia have been cut off from their homes by floodwaters, following thunderstorms and tornados that wreaked havoc to the region. Flooding, caused by heavy rain and stiff winds, continues in Australia. The State Emergency Service (SES) said Sunday that around 20,000 people had been cut off across... 

A heat wave that has already caused devastating fires on the Island state of Tasmania, with 100 people still missing, has now moved to mainland Australia and is reaping havoc in New South Wales, as the heat wave looks to smash records. ­In some areas temperatures have shot up by as much as 20C in three hours and combined with 50 mph winds have created disastrous fire conditions. Right across Australia... 

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has come under heavy pressure from Jewish and pro-Israeli groups after announcing that Canberra would abstain from a vote for the upgrading of the status of Palestine at the UN. Australia’s Jewish groups have demanded a meeting with the premier to express their anger over her decision and to urge her to vote against the bid which would upgrade Palestine’s... 

Rescuers at the scene of a refugee boat accident near Australia’s Christmas Island. A boat carrying 130 asylum-seekers has capsized near Australia’s Christmas Island in a second such incident this week. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority announced earlier that two merchant vessels had been dispatched to the scene on a rescue operation. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said at least... 

Australia will become the first major economy in the developed world to record a surplus since the start of the global financial crisis. Julia Gillard, the prime minister, has pinned her political future on a “Robin Hood” budget which includes sweeping handouts worth more than £3 billion to reverse her dwindling public support. Relying on extra revenues from mining companies, the Government... 

US Marines Corps About 200 United States Marines have arrived in Australia for a six-month deployment in the Northern Territory, as part of plans to expand the US military presence in the Asia-Pacific. According to a US Marine Corps spokesman, the first of 2,500 Marines, who entered the northern Australian city of Darwin late Tuesday, are expected to engage in exercises with the Australian Defense... 

Australia’s ruling Labor party is reeling from a devastating loss in a state election in Queensland, increasing the pressure of Julia Gillard, the prime minister. The extent of the loss – which left Labor with just seven seats, down from 51 – surprised Ms Gillard, who pledged to listen to the message from the state’s electorate. The outgoing premier, Anna Bligh, who was the first woman... 

Australians build up a levee to prevent flood waters in the New South Wales town of Charleville on February 4, 2012. Nearly 9,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes in Australia’s flood-stricken south, where the military has joined emergency services to evacuate the residents. Days of heavy rain have caused flooding across three Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria... 

A day after Australia’s ruling Labor reversed its policy of not selling uranium to India, China on Monday gave a guarded response to the move, saying all countries are entitled to peaceful use of nuclear energy. “China always believes countries are entitled to peaceful use of nuclear energy and at the same time they should fulfill the international obligations of nuclear non-proliferation,”... 

Obama meets with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and announces a permanent military presence in Australia beginning next summer. Communist Party paper attacks Obama’s plan to deploy up to 2,500 troops and boost air force co-operation with Canberra. China has reacted angrily to remarks by Barack Obama signalling a significant shift in US policy vis-a-vis Asia. The US president has pledged...