9:04 AM AEST | Under attack for not doing enough to take pressure off interest rates, Treasurer Wayne Swan claimed yesterday that inflicting more pain in the budget would have stopped the economy in its tracks.

9:03 AM AEST |  The selling of the Labor Government's first budget is being done in waves, in a far more collegiate ministerial effort than the previous Coalition regime practised.

8:58 AM AEST | The worldwide hunt for terrorists is requiring ASIO to spread its wings and look increasingly overseas.