June 20, 2013 Aspiring Liberal National Party MP Mal Brough repeatedly rang and emailed a female voter who sent him a critical email following the "Menugate" affair.

June 20, 2013 The Coalition looks likely to push ahead with $2.3 billion in cuts to university funding and student support, after opposition MPs sided with the government in a vote on the measures.

June 20, 2013 Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has lectured Prime Minister Julia Gillard on what ''true love for this country'' means, labelling her crackdown on skilled foreign workers as ''false patriotism''.

June 20, 2013 Claims of serious abuse at the Australian Defence Force Academy and HMAS Leeuwin naval base are "more widespread and persistent" than previously reported, a high-level inquiry has found.

June 20, 2013 Democratic Labor Party senator John Madigan wants to outlaw gay marriage by enshrining in the constitution that marriage is between ''one man and one woman . . . to the exclusion of all others''.

June 20, 2013 A Senate committee has called for an immediate government investigation into claims of rorting in million-dollar taxpayer handouts to Tasmanian native forest logging contractors.

June 20, 2013 The Greens' international same-sex marriage bill faces the Senate on Thursday, with debate and a vote due on recognising the marriages of gay and lesbian Australians who wed overseas.

June 20, 2013 Julia Gillard is planning a trip to Indonesia in two weeks to discuss with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ways to stem the rising flow of asylum seekers coming by boat before the September election.

June 20, 2013 Black tie was the order of the house at Wednesday night's annual Mid Winter Ball on Wednesday night – Canberra's night of nights.

June 20, 2013 The federal government is scrambling to avoid an embarrassing defeat on its much-vaunted crackdown on the foreign skilled worker scheme.