Australia and the United States will increase the rotational presence of U.S. Marines in northern Australia from less than 250 at present to around 1,150 from 2014, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced Friday. "Progressing to this larger six month rotation will provide the Australian Defense Force with increased opportunities for combined training and deepening interoperability," a government statement said.

Mud-slinging is nothing new in politics, but a no-holds-barred election campaign in Australia has sunk standards to depths seldom seen before. After a week of headlines filled with sexual innuendo and squalid attacks, The Australian Financial Review harrumphed: "We deserve better than this." Voters are used to colourful language Down Under, where a high tolerance for intolerance abounds. After all, former Labor Party leader Mark Latham publicly called then prime minister John Howard an "arselicker" of the US president.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Wednesday accused the opposition of a pattern of misogynist behaviour, branding a menu for a party fundraiser "grossly sexist and offensive" after it featured a quail dish named after her that offered "small breasts" and "huge thighs". The menu was used at a dinner in March for Mal Brough, a former government minister under prime minister John Howard and now an opposition candidate for the September national elections. Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey was the guest of honour.

A high-profile Australian political candidate apologised Wednesday for a menu at one of his fundraisers featuring a quail dish named after Prime Minister Julia Gillard which had "small breasts" and "huge thighs". Former government minister Mal Brough, now an opposition Liberal National Party candidate at national elections in September, said it was devised by a non-party member who thought it would be "humourous". Brough told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he had not seen nor approved the menu and was "deeply apologetic".