William Kenneth (Bill) Fisher, AO, QC, was president of the Industrial Commission of NSW from 1981 until 1998. As the commission's second longest-serving president, he was a leading figure in the transformation of the industrial relations system during the era of the Accord and the initial decade of enterprise bargaining.

VICTORIA'S Director of Public Prosecutions has suggested a maximum prison term of up to 26 years for a young man whose week-long "rampage" of armed robberies and serious assaults left a "trail of destruction" across parts of Melbourne's eastern suburbs.

In the late 1970s Julia Gillard, the daughter of Welsh immigrants, arrived at the University of Adelaide, already highly politically committed, active and savvy. She advanced rapidly in the sandpit of student politics, becoming president of the local student body before moving to Melbourne and leadership of the national student..read more

Nick Xenophon made himself a folk hero in South Australia, but now he steps up to the big league. Phillip Hudson and Phillip Coorey report.

Compo reform and the heat on Della