On the surface it was another political ''gotcha'' - Tony Abbott uses morning radio to lambast Julia Gillard for ''swanning'' around New York ''talking to Africans'' about her bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council when she should be in Jakarta talking border security with the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Mitt Romney solves the problem of aircraft windows...

so there I will quote from Ms Albrechtsen...:

Fact number 1: During the past 2000 years, sea levels have fluctuated with 5 peaks reaching 0.6m to 1.2m above present sea level. Fact number 2: From 1790 to 1970 sea levels were about 20cm higher than today. Fact number 3: In the 1970s, the sea level fell by about 20cm to its present level. Fact number 4: Sea levels have remained constant for the past 30 years “implying that there are no traces of any alarming ongoing sea level rise”. Fact number 5 (and I am paraphrasing here): The notion presented by the President of the Maldives that his country will be flooded is bunkum.

A major reassessment of 18 years of satellite observations has provided a new, more detailed view of sea-level change around the world.

Australian politics reached a new point last week when the handbag hit squad and the reverse handbag hit squad slugged it out in 30 frenetic minutes before parliamentary question time. If you missed the encounter - and it was easy to miss given everything hurtles through the national affairs universe with the force of water from a fire hose - let's recap.

What is the greater danger to society? Is it the penises of some priests or the placards of some protesters?

Australian government officials were deeply involved in a $150 million shipbuilding deal between defence contractor Tenix and the Philippines that federal police are investigating for alleged bribery, declassified diplomatic cables reveal.

From the ABC religious unit...

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The truth can finally be told: Gina Rinehart is a double agent, presenting a parody of a billionaire in order to advance her socialist aims. We all know about the overbearing father and his florid third marriage. What daughter would not detest all he stood for?

Day after day, week after week, month after month, Tony Abbott's opening words in parliamentary question time were almost always the same. It was almost invariably a question to put Julia Gillard on the spot on the carbon tax.