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View the digital edition of this week’s FREE Australian Times newspaper, available every Tuesday across London.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | He’s easily the most popular Australian politician on Twitter, but a close look at Kevin Rudd’s followers shows not all are genuine.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he wasn’t told he couldn’t use notes in the leaders’ debate although Tony Abbott says they weren’t worth reading.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | As the 2013 election looms we take an in-depth look at the two leaders going head to head, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | The prime minister and opposition leader have had a dead-heat in the first leaders’ debate of the election campaign.

Lilly Brown has completed a Masters of Philosophy in Politics from Cambridge University, becoming the first indigenous Australian to graduate from Cambridge.

Tony Abbott should confirm a coalition conscience vote on same-sex marriage or risk inner-city seats, gay rights group Australian Marriage Equality (AME) says, as Kevin Rudd commits to introducing same-sex marriage legislation.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | The Opposition have called on the Rudd government to withdraw advertisements regarding reforms to their asylum seeker policy, which were paid for with public funds.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will face off on Sunday night in the first debate of the federal election campaign.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie is making a political comeback, running for Labor in the Brisbane seat of Forde in the federal election.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is being thin-skinned and needs to accept media outlets won't always back him or Labor, the opposition says.

A how-to guide for Australians living in London and the UK on how to enrol, register as an overseas voter or take your name off the election roll. Information on how to vote in the UK for the 2013 Australian federal election, in person at Australia House or by postal...

The father of missing British-Australian man Gary Tweddle has returned to the UK as the search for his son in the Blue Mountains approaches a month.

Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has claimed that having a beer with embattled MP Craig Thomson was "no big deal", with senior political figures accusing him of bad judgement.

Papua New Guinea wasn't seeking economic gain when it agreed to open a processing centre for asylum seekers trying to get into Australia, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says.

POSTCARDS FROM AUSTRALIA | This week in Haylee's adventures around Australia, driving from top to tail, she stops in at a little slice of paradise - Pebbly Beach, NSW.

Three of the major banks have said they'll cut interest rates after the Reserve Bank of Australia dropped the official cash rate by 25 basis points to a new low of 2.5 per cent.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | Footage of federal Liberal candidate for the NSW swing seat of Greenway Jaymes Diaz bumbling his way through a Network Ten interview during his campaign trail has gone viral across the internet.

The Queensland parliament’s ethics chief MP Peter Dowling has apologised for sexting his mistress and has stood aside from his role, pending an investigation.

Australian entertainer Rolf Harris has been rearrested and bailed again by UK police following further allegations of historical sex abuse.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | The major parties have urged Australians in the UK to make their vote count in the 7 September federal election, with overseas voters likely to play a key role in deciding tightly contested seats.

View the digital edition of this week’s FREE Australian Times newspaper, available every Tuesday across London.

INTERVIEW | Australian Sex Party founder Fiona Patten talks to Australian Times about civil liberties, censorship and the conservative nature of Australian politics

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | With the announcement of the 7 September election, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott have made a first pitch to voters.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | With the Australian federal election announced for 7 September 2013, we look at the major parties position on key issues for voters.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | Voters should back the Liberal National candidate if they don’t want to see another hung parliament, coalition Leader Tony Abbott says.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has launched an appeal to Muslim voters in western Sydney, claiming that he is a "sworn enemy" of those that attempt to divide the nation on the basis of race or culture.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Rupert Murdoch has made his anti-Labor stance clear and his News Corp papers are free to say what they will.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | Labor and the coalition are finally in a real election campaign, having spent the past weeks honing their messages for the hustings, writes Paul Osborne AAP Senior Political Writer.

Embattled entertainer Rolf Harris has made a rare public appearance at Hampshire's Wickham Festival on the eve of answering bail again over historical sex abuse allegations.

Former AFL superstar Ben Cousins has reportedly been assaulted in a Perth park by a suspected motorcycle gang member.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 13 | Australians will go to the polls on 7 September, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced.

Balancing the books: The Australian government announced it will return the budget to a “modest” surplus by 2016 with the help of new taxes and cuts to foreign aid.

Fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has claimed “the law is winning” after being granted a year’s asylum by Russia, accompanied by WikiLeaks legal adviser Sarah Harrison.

A Singapore-based mining company will be forced to pay $150,000 after being convicted of the damage and desecration of an Aboriginal sacred site. It is the first such conviction in Australian history.

The third solider to die following a SAS selection test in mid-Wales region of Brecon Beacons has been named as Corporal James Dunsby, a reservist who served with the Australian Army.

A new federal tobacco excise is set to hit Australian smokers’ hip-pockets to the tune of $1 per cigarette by 2016.

DIANA MOUSINA, CommBank Economist, reveals the findings of a Commonwealth Bank study into the spending habits of Australians on health and fitness.

Less than a week since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced his PNG solution the first asylum seekers have arrived on Manus Island for processing.

The Australian government is expected to announce a levy on the banks on Friday to insure them against a financial crisis, but there are fears that the cost will be passed on to consumers.

A prominent former US diplomat has criticised Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's plan to relocate asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea, and has referred to the Australian defence budget as "paltry".

Corruption findings by the ICAC against two former NSW Labor ministers, Eddie Obeid and Ian MacDonald, have been a gift to the pre-election campaign of Tony Abbott.

WA Coroner Alastair Hope says all 102 lives lost in the Siev 358 asylum seeker boat tragedy could have been saved if authorities had responded sooner.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called in a team of election campaign heavyweights from the US to lead a social media onslaught against the Coalition. The team includes British social media expert Matthew McGregor, labelled Obama's 'digital attack dog' during the 2012 US campaign.

Vodafone Australia has announced plans to cap their global roaming fees for customers travelling to the US, UK and New Zealand to $5 per day.

Former Labor MP Eddie Obeid, his son Moses, and former mines minister Ian Macdonald could face criminal charges after the ICAC found they acted corruptly.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has described Bradley Manning as “the most important journalistic source that the world has ever seen”.

The Nauru “tent city” solution proposed by the Coalition has been blighted by claims that the visit to the island by Shadow Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and a News Corp journalist were sponsored by a private company who may profit from the policy.

OPINION | Following calls in Australia by the Royal Australasia College of Physicians for smacking of kids to be made illegal, POPPY DAMON argues in defence of anti-physical punishment laws.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has rejected calls from Australian medical experts to make the smacking of children illegal.