It was Shorten who marshalled the numbers for Gillard, working two mobile phones from a Canberra restaurant on the night of the ALP leadership spill. And Shorten still retains the power to do it all over again.

Craig Thomson isn't the only one with tough questions to answer about how thousands of dollars of union funds came to be spent on prostitutes – so too does his mentor, Health Services Union supremo and Labor right factional boss Michael Williamson.

The Labor Party is suffering at the hands of unelected factional bosses and union leaders. Paul Barry explains how the party ended up in such a mess, and what must now change.

He seemingly came out of nowhere, but Bob Katter's gay half-brother Carl, backed by lobby group GetUp!, has well and truly shifted the blowtorch back on to his older sibling in the fiery same-sex marriage debate.

Marathon running investment banker Jeremy Balkin is set to challenge former Howard chief-of-staff, Arthur Sinodinos, for Helen Coonan's Senate seat, says the Australian Financial Review. But don't expect him to win the race.

Round up your mates, load up the truck and gain control of your favourite political party with Paul Barry's branch-stacking guide.

The peak organisation representing the Australian trucking industry has slammed the Convoy of No Confidence protest, which arrived in Canberra this morning, as naïve and damaging to the industry.

Prominent business leaders have weighed into the asylum seeker debate for the first time by calling for an end to mandatory detention and greater political leadership on the issue.

Today's allegation that Labor MP Craig Thomson made calls to escort agencies while working as a union boss is just the latest development in a long-running scandal that could bring the Gillard Government undone.

Liberal Party grandee Michael Kroger has joined former party Treasurer Michael Yabsley in calling for a complete ban on political donations from business and developers.