What we learned, Friday 6 February
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today. As always, thanks for reading. I hope you have a lovely weekend, wherever you are.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was in Jakarta, where he signed a new defence pact with Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto. Albanese described the treaty as “very significant”.
In political news back home, the Liberals and Nationals were yet to reach an agreement on a potential reconciliation. The Nationals MP Darren Chester said he was holding out hope the Coalition could reunite despite expectations the Liberals would reject the country party’s new peace deal.
Australia’s submarine agency insisted the Aukus agreement was progressing “at pace and on schedule”, even as sceptics of the $368bn deal argued the chances of the US ever selling promised Virginia-class submarines to Australia are increasingly remote.
In New South Wales, police launched an investigation after officers shot dead a man accused of stabbing a woman after he invaded a home on the mid north coast armed with a chainsaw and knife.
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said it was “crazy” that the Newcastle writers’ festival would feature Palestinian author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, after its lineup was announced this morning.
Missing four-year-old Gus Lamont’s grandmothers released a statement through their lawyers, claiming they were “devastated” police had declared his disappearance a major crime.
Tony Mokbel – one of the key figures in Melbourne’s years-long gangland war – was set to walk free after prosecutors said they would drop a planned retrial on drug trafficking charges.
And Australian shares plunged, erasing $64bn in market value after all sectors fell due to growing investor unease.
Updated
PM calls new treaty with Indonesia ‘very significant’
Anthony Albanese says he wants Australia to assist Indonesia in developing defence training infrastructure in the south-east Asian nation.
The prime minister spoke to reporters in Jakarta a short time ago, after the signing of a new security treaty with Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto.
Albanese said:
We want to see more integration, more positive engagement with regard to Australian assistance in infrastructure here.
That is to be discussed between the relevant defence heads as we go forward, but it’s something where Australia, of course, has significant expertise in a range of areas.
Albanese said the treaty was “very significant” and that:
We are determined for Australian ideas, Australian products and Australian businesses to help Indonesia’s growth.
We want to build prosperity here, but we also want to create new jobs and opportunities at home. The work this week has done just that.
Updated
Senior Liberal says party could succeed without Nationals
Back on federal politics, a senior Liberal frontbencher and key ally of Sussan Ley says the party is capable of succeeding as the sole opposition party if talks with the Nationals to reunite the Coalition collapse.
The shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, said as long as negotiations between the opposition leader and the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, continued, there remained hope of a reunion.
But in a pointed remark, the leading moderate said the Liberals could succeed without their former coalition partner.
She told ABC Afternoon Briefing:
If we have to go our own separate way, I just want to assure everybody … the Liberal party has got a huge amount of talent, and we could go our own separate way.
But the preferred course of action, I think, for all of us, would be, we would be able to resolve this so we can stay in the Coalition.
Updated
Nationals MP says party made ‘constructive’ offer to reunite with Liberals
The Nationals MP Darren Chester is holding out hope the Coalition can reunite despite expectations the Liberals will reject the country party’s new peace deal.
Appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Chester – who strongly supports reforming the Coalition – said the Nationals had put forward a “constructive” offer to break the impasse.
The Gippsland MP confirmed that under the Nationals’ offer, the party would take “collective responsibility” for the decision of three senators to cross the floor on Labor’s hate speech bill, rather than accept Sussan Ley’s demands for a six-month suspension for the trio.
Sources briefed on the offer said the Nationals were proposing that all former frontbenchers serve suspensions until the end of February and that the parties remain apart during that time.
The Nationals’ proposal would essentially delay the Monday deadline that Ley has set for announcing a Liberal-only frontbench, which would cement the Coalition split.
Chester said:
The Liberal Party also needs to recognise that this was a decision made by the entire National Party room, so we won’t be singling out our three senators for some sort of suspension.
Our view is there is a collective responsibility here. If they are forced into some sort of period away from shadow ministerial roles, then that responsibility will be borne by all of our ministers in the House of Representatives as well.
As we reported earlier, the Liberals are poised to reject the offer because it does not directly punish the senators for breaching shadow cabinet solidarity.
An “optimistic” Chester said there was a “reasonable” prospect of a breakthrough over the weekend, but admitted it was up to Ley and the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, to resolve.
Updated
$64bn wiped from Australian Stock Exchange as shares in all sectors plunge
Australian shares plunged today, erasing $64bn in market value after all sectors fell due to growing investor unease.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed at 8,708.8 points, down more than 2% and representing a new 20-day low.
It was the worst single trading day since Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs were revealed last April.
The Australian market followed the lead of Wall Street, which suffered a major sell down overnight, led by plunging technology stocks and huge volatility among companies invested in precious metals.
Australia’s technology and materials sectors, which include miners, were down sharply today. There was nowhere to hide with all 11 sectors on the ASX closing in the red.
The Australian market is now broadly flat for 2026.
While the potential for an AI bubble bursting and signs of global inflation reigniting did spark waves of volatility in 2025, many investors used the sell-offs to top up their holdings.
Traders will now weigh up whether the sell-down represents another bout of short-term volatility, or something more serious.
The ASX will also be informed by the results of the current earnings season, which runs until the end of the month, amid enduring concerns about rising inflation in Australia.
The price of bitcoin has now halved since October, exacerbating broader stock market jitters.
Updated
Queensland man charged with possessing extremist material, AFP says
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) say they have charged a 25-year-old Queensland man with possessing violent extremist material and that he has appeared in court today.
The AFP said its National Security Investigations team charged the man, from Morayfield, north of Brisbane, yesterday, following an investigation.
The investigation began in May 2024 when Australian Border Force (ABF) officers in New South Wales intercepted an air cargo consignment addressed to the man that allegedly contained Nazi flags, the ABF and AFP said in a joint statement issued this afternoon.
After the interception, the AFP attended the man’s home and provided him with a factsheet relating to the illegal public display of Nazi symbols, the agencies said.
In September 2025, the man arrived at Brisbane international airport, where ABF officers flagged him for a baggage and digital device examination, officials said.
They said the ABF identified allegedly violent extremist material on the man’s mobile phone and referred the matter to the AFP for further investigation.
The AFP examined the allegedly violent extremist material and seized the phone, the agencies said.
The AFP alleges further violent extremist material located on the phone, including edited first-person videos of international mass shootings and other files containing serious violence.
He was arrested after the AFP executed a search warrant in Morayfield, after which he was charged with one count of possessing or controlling violent extremist material obtained or accessed using a carriage service in breach of the commonwealth criminal law.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment, officials said.
The AFP detective acting Supt, Tim Murphy, said federal police would not tolerate behaviour that undermined Australia’s social cohesion and that:
There is no place in Australian society for violent or extremist content – anyone engaging in this type of material will be investigated, located and brought before the court.
The ABF Supt, John Ikin, said the agency also had “zero tolerance” for anyone who engages in or supports any kind of violent extremism, and that:
We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners and use all powers available to us in order to detect and prosecute those involved in this activity.
Updated
NSW premier says Newcastle writers’ festival ‘crazy’ to invite Randa Abdel-Fattah
Chris Minns says it is “crazy” that the Newcastle writers’ festival will feature Palestinian author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah.
The literary festival is scheduled for March, and its lineup was announced this morning.
Speaking with the media today, the New South Wales premier said Adbel-Fattah’s inclusion was divisive.
I don’t know why these organisations do it. It’s a real head scratcher for me. I think they’re crazy to invite that author when you think about how divisive it is and how difficult it would be for the organisation as a result of the notoriety.
“It’s not as if this author’s Harper Lee or Salman Rushdie. I find it difficult to understand,” Minns said, before admitting he had not heard of Abdel-Fattah before the controversy over the Adelaide event.
He continued:
My understanding is the organisers will not withdraw the invitation. And, from the perspective of the NSW government, I want to make it clear, I think they’re crazy to invite the author, but in some sense, you end up dragging even more notoriety and more publicity well over and beyond the literary achievements of the particular author.
Abdel-Fattah responded with a post on Instagram that outlined her multi-award-winning literary achievements, including 11 novels and books published and translated in 20 countries.
Her nonfiction book, Coming of Age in the War on Terror, was shortlisted for the 2022 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.
She wrote:
Today NSW Premier Chris Minns had a lot to say about my literary credentials and character. I’m sure he was too busy getting the red carpet out for Israel criminals Herzog and Doran Almog to do his homework so I’ve put together a little sample so he’s better informed and, dare I hope, better read.
She was cut from Adelaide Writers’ Week last month after pressure from the South Australian government, leading to a mass boycott of writers and the eventual cancellation of the festival.
Her invitation to speak was withdrawn by the festival’s board after controversy and complaints over her past statements, including a social media post claiming Zionists had “no claim to cultural safety” and a Facebook profile image of a paraglider with a Palestinian flag parachute, which was posted the day after the 7 October attack on Israel.
She recently told the Full Story podcast that the “cultural safety” statement had been taken out of context and that the paraglider image was “an iconic symbol of freedom” for Palestinians under siege.
Updated
Man charged with abusing hundreds of children to remain behind bars until next court appearance
A man charged with abusing hundreds of children around the world using social media and gaming sites will remain behind bars, AAP reports.
Ethan Mitch Burns-Dederer, 27, from Maryborough, north of Brisbane, faces almost 600 offences against children aged five to 15.
Burns-Dederer hid behind false identities online to groom and coerce children in Australia and overseas, police allege.
The accused has been in custody since his arrest in February 2025, and the matter was mentioned in the Brisbane magistrates court today.
Burns-Dederer did not appear in court, where his case was adjourned to July for further mention before an expected committal hearing.
Police this week revealed the vast haul of charges after an exhaustive year-long investigation to identify alleged victims from among 23,000 photographs and videos.
More than 360 victims have been identified, including more than 200 across Australia.
Burns-Dederer’s charges included 244 counts of producing child abuse material for use through a carriage service and 163 counts of using a carriage service to procure persons under 16 years of age.
He also faces a further 87 counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child using a carriage service.
Updated
Hi, I hope you’re having a nice Friday. I’ll take you through the rest of the news this afternoon.
That’s all from me! Catie McLeod will guide you through the arvo’s news and into the weekend. Take care.
Albanese signs security pact with Indonesia in Jakarta
Anthony Albanese is speaking in Jakarta after signing a treaty with Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto.
The prime minister said the document recognised “that the best way to secure peace and stability in our region is by acting together”, adding:
This signals that Australia’s and Indonesia’s relationship is stronger than it’s ever been. The fact we are signing this treaty today is testament to president Prabowo’s strong leadership and his personal commitment to promoting security in our region, and indeed around the world.
Updated
ABC Ombudsman says Tony Armstrong special did not violate editorial standards
The ABC Ombudsman found Tony Armstrong’s one-off special, which took aim at colonialism and racism against Indigenous Australians, did not breach the broadcaster’s editorial standards.
The ombudsman’s office received 96 complaints about the broadcast of the program, Always Was Tonight, on 21 January. The shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, was among those who wrote a letter of complaint to the ABC about the satirical news program.
The ombudsman said:
Broadly, the complaints raised concerns about bias and offence suggesting the content was ‘anti-white’, ‘racist’, and ‘divisive’. More specifically, complainants suggested that the segment ‘Don’t Ruin The BBQ’ contained inaccurate claims about the introduction of smallpox into Aboriginal communities in the 1700’s.
But it found that the program was explicitly framed as satire from an Indigenous perspective, “and did not purport to present a balanced or comprehensive examination of contested issues”.
Comedy and satire must be afforded significant latitude to express ideas that challenge and critique the status quo.
Predominantly, concerns related to audience members taking offence and perceiving the program to be in poor taste. Taste is a subjective judgement and the ABC’s editorial standards should always be applied in ways that do not unduly constrain journalistic enquiry or, as in this case, satire as a form of artistic expression.
Updated
Ex-partner allegedly murdered by nextdoor neighbours, police say
A man and woman have been charged with what police describe as the domestic violence-related stabbing murder of their neighbour, who had allegedly recently broken up with one of the accused, AAP reports.
Anne-Marie Streek, 40, and Stephen Henry Evans, 44, were arrested on Thursday and charged with the murder of a 48-year-old woman in Goulburn in the NSW Southern Tablelands.
Police believe the 48-year-old was killed on 30 December 2025, but her body wasn’t discovered until early on 3 January. Officers conducting a welfare check forced entry to the property before finding her dead with multiple stab wounds.
Officials alleged Streek had been in a multi-year relationship with the dead woman until May 2025, when Streek began a live-in relationship with Evans, who lived next door.
Updated
Five-day search for fugitive Dezi Freeman ends without a trace
An exhaustive search in the Victorian high country has ended without police finding any trace of fugitive Dezi Freeman.
Police suspect Freeman died only hours after he allegedly killed two officers and fled into bushland near Porepunkah in August.
There has been no proof of life recorded for Freeman since he fled from police, near the Mount Buffalo national park, about 15 minutes after he allegedly shot dead two officers – detective senior constable Neal Thompson and senior constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart.
Less than two hours after Freeman fled, police said a single gunshot was heard coming from nearby bushland – a report that was later corroborated by investigators. That sound may have been Freeman shooting himself, police believe.
That report led to police congregating in the region again on Monday morning as they undertook what senior officers said would be the largest Victorian manhunt in history.
But police confirmed early on Friday afternoon that the search had concluded, and no further updates were planned.
Updated
All bushfire-affected arterial roads reopened in Victoria
All state-managed roads affected by the January bushfires in Victoria are now reopened, officials said earlier today.
Work to reopen local roads managed by councils is ongoing, but crews have been travelling across the state’s arterial road network to ensure they are safe to use. Those efforts have included removing debris, replacing guideposts and repainting road markings.
Victoria’s Department of Transport said some speeds on those roads were reduced due to remaining damage, but that they would revert as infrastructure repairs were finished.
The works were funded as part of a $81.8m package to repair the transport network after the fires.
Updated
Gus Lamont’s ‘devastated’ grandmothers engage lawyers
Lawyers have confirmed they are acting for the two grandmothers of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont.
Gus went missing from his family’s sheep station in September last year and was initially thought to have wandered off. After months of intensive searching, South Australian Police (SAPol) declared his disappearance a major crime on Thursday, and said that the suspect was someone who lived at the station.
Gus’s mother, younger brother and two grandmothers live at Oak Park Station, and his father lives elsewhere. Police ruled out the parents as suspects.
Andrew Ey is acting for Gus’s grandmother Josie Murray, and Casey Isaacs is acting for his other grandmother, Shannon Murray.
The lawyers said in a joint statement that their clients “will not be participating in any interviews nor commenting any further save and except that they wish to release a brief comment”, which was:
We are absolutely devastated by the media release of SAPol Major Crime. The family has cooperated fully with the investigation and want nothing more than to find Gus and reunite him with his mum and dad.
Updated
Angus Taylor concedes he’s been ‘having conversations’ with colleagues about Liberal party’s future
Liberal frontbencher Angus Taylor has insisted he has no plans to roll his leader despite holding ambitions to serve in the party’s top job, AAP reports.
MPs and senators widely expect Taylor to challenge the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, for the role in the coming weeks, but disagree over whether he has the numbers to win a spill.
Pressed on whether Ley would still be leader at the end of next week, Taylor said a coup was not in the works, but conceded he’d been “having conversations” with his colleagues about the party’s future.
“There is no plan,” he told Sydney radio station 2GB.
If I had a plan to remove Sussan as leader or put my hand up for the leadership, I would be telling Sussan Ley about that first; I wouldn’t be saying anything about it on this radio station.
Many Liberal insiders privately concede a challenge from Taylor is inevitable, and expect him to push for a spill as soon as next week.
Updated
Coalition reunion in jeopardy
The Liberals are poised to reject the Nationals’ latest offer to reunite the Coalition, increasing the chances of a longer-term split between the two parties.
Four Liberal sources briefed on the offer said the Nationals had refused to accept Sussan Ley’s demand that the three frontbenchers who crossed the floor on Labor’s hate speech laws serve a six-month suspension on the backbench.
Instead, the Nationals are proposing that all their former frontbenchers serve suspensions until the end of February, and that the parties remain apart during that time, the sources said.
The Nationals’ proposal would essentially delay the Monday deadline that Ley has set for announcing a Liberal-only frontbench, which would cement the Coalition split.
Multiple Liberal sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Nationals’ proposal was not being treated as a serious offer and was likely to be rejected unless revised.
One Liberal interpreted the Nationals’ offer as an attempt to make the Liberals appear responsible for blowing up the Coalition.
If the talks collapse, Ley is expected to bring forward the deadline for announcing her Liberal-only frontbench.
Updated
Australian banks passed interest rate hikes on to mortgage holders – so why haven’t they done so for savings accounts?
Shortly after the Reserve Bank lifted the official cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point, major lenders announced mortgage interest rates would rise by the same amount.
Yet the interest rates that can grow their customer’s savings accounts are still “under review” – or the increases are being applied selectively – days after Tuesday’s announcement.
There’s an obvious reason the banks don’t want to give all savers an automatic rate lift: the less paid to customers, the better their balance sheet looks.
But they do need to entice customers because such deposit accounts finance bank operations, including mortgages.
The problem for consumers is that savings products have become so complex that it’s often unclear whether they are getting a good deal.
Read more here:
Updated
Man shot dead by NSW police after woman stabbed on mid-north coast
New South Wales police have launched an investigation after officers shot dead a man accused of stabbing a woman on the mid north coast this morning.
Officers from the Manning Great Lakes police district were called to a property on Heath Avenue, Tuncurry, just before 6.40am, after reports of a home invasion by a man armed with a chainsaw and knife.
On their way to the location, the officers were told that a woman had been stabbed by the man who left the location in a white 4WD, police said.
The officers found a 28-year-old woman at the house with serious wounds. She was treated by paramedics before being flown to the John Hunter hospital in a serious but stable condition.
The officers pursued the 4WD after seeing it on Stewart Parade in Tuncurry.
The 4WD drove through a sports ground before the vehicle crashed on the Forster Bridge a short time later, police said.
Officers attended the bridge where they found the crashed 4WD and were told the man had carjacked another vehicle.
Police said the man rammed a police vehicle with the other vehicle, with one of the officers sustaining minor injuries.
The officers pursued the man again until Idlewood Drive in Rainbow Flat, where the man allegedly drove on to a property and entered a home, still armed with a knife, before attempting to steal another vehicle.
Police said the man, still armed, came out of the house moments later and confronted the officers, who had arrived at the scene.
The officers deployed a Taser in an effort to detain the man; however, he allegedly ran to a neighbouring property.
Police said a Taser was deployed “multiple times” before the armed man ran towards an officer, who then shot him.
The officers treated the man at the scene before the arrival of NSW Ambulance paramedics, but he died there.
The man had not yet been formally identified as of midday today, but police said they believed he was 41 years old.
Police have begun a critical incident investigation, which occurs when an incident involving a NSW police officer results in the death or serious injury of a person.
Police said a critical incident team from the state crime command’s homicide squad would lead the investigation.
The probe will be reviewed by the police’s professional standards command and overseen by the force’s watchdog, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
Updated
‘All legal options’ on table as lawyers fight convictions of Indonesian children jailed in Australia as adults
Lawyers seek to overturn convictions of Indonesian children wrongly jailed as adult people smugglers
Lawyers representing Indonesian children who were wrongly imprisoned as adult people smugglers say they are now exploring “all legal options” to have a string of convictions overturned.
Guardian Australia revealed this morning that the federal attorney-general, Michelle Rowland, had intervened to help two Indonesian boys, Anto and Samsul Bahar, achieve justice. The pair were among hundreds who were detained by Australian authorities and wrongly presumed to be adults on the basis of a deeply flawed wrist X-ray age assessment technique that has since been completely discredited.
The use of the technique sent boys as young as 13 to adult, maximum-security prisons in Australia, when they should have been sent home to their families in Indonesia.
Many, including Anto and Samsul, have since been left in a legal quagmire, unable to have their convictions overturned despite widespread acceptance that the wrist X-rays caused miscarriages of justice. The boys required intervention by the attorney-general to pave the way for them to appeal.
Anto and Samsul have been pleading with successive attorneys-general for six years. Their lawyer, Sam Tierney, said he had more clients still seeking justice.
There remain a number of other Indonesian children who wish to seek to correct their Australian criminal convictions. We are considering all legal options including options that will achieve a more timely and efficient review of those convictions.
Updated
RBA governor says inflation is ‘not a disaster at the moment’ days after rate hike
Staying with the RBA’s governor, Michele Bullock, at the parliamentary committee.
This week’s Reserve Bank cash rate hike represents a rapid reversal that has some people wondering whether the central bank made a mistake by not ensuring inflation was under control before cutting it last year.
Is this evidence of a “policy error”?
Bullock said during questioning by the committee this morning that the shortest rate cutting cycle in recent history (three cuts between February and August) actually “points to the fact that we have managed to get the economy into a reasonably good place”.
She said:
I think it reflects the fact that we’ve been trying very hard to bring the economy down on a soft landing.
It would have been very easy to bring the economy to its knees. That would have been very easy to just increase interest rates a long way.
We tried not to do that. The labour market is in a good position.
Inflation is higher than it should be, but it’s still not really high. We want it to come down below three and towards 2.5 (per cent) but it’s not a disaster at the moment.
Reassuring words from the governor.
Updated
RBA governor denies she and treasurer ‘running in opposite directions’
Back to the RBA’s governor, Michele Bullock, who is answering questions before a parliamentary committee hearing this morning …
Liberal MP Aaron Violi is having another go at trying to understand why very high government spending as a share of the economy isn’t part of the inflation problem.
Violi asks:
So governor, if the RBA is trying to cool the economy by taking money out of the pockets of mortgage holders and all Australians, but the government is simultaneously heating the economy through high levels of public spending, aren’t you and the treasurer essentially running in opposite directions?
Bullock says she “wouldn’t characterise it like that”:
I’d characterise it as the government and the parliament are making decisions about what they want to spend their money on, and monetary policy takes those things as given and it manages the cycle appropriate to them.
That’s the way I describe it.
Updated
Liberals considering Nationals’ counteroffer that could reunite the Coalition
The Liberals are weighing up a counteroffer from the Nationals to reunite the Coalition, as the clock ticks down on party leader Sussan Ley’s deadline to cement the split.
Guardian Australia has confirmed the Liberals have received the Nationals’ proposal this morning and are considering it.
Ley and the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, met several times this week but were unable to broker a peace deal as both sides refused to concede on their red lines.
The main sticking point has been the fate of the three Nationals frontbenchers who crossed the floor to oppose Labor’s hate speech laws, triggering a chain of events that split the Coalition for the second time in eight months.
Ley has insisted that senators Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald must serve out a six-month suspension on the backbench for breaching shadow cabinet solidarity.
But the Nationals believe the trio should not face punishment at all.
The Australian reported the Nationals were only prepared to countenance the suspension if they applied to all of their frontbenchers, adopting the same “one-in, all-in” approach that prompted the mass walkout from the shadow ministry after the hate speech vote.
Ley has set Monday as the deadline to reunite the Coalition before she pushes ahead with an all-Liberal shadow ministry, which would cement the split.
As we reported earlier this week, the opposition leader is prepared to bring forward that deadline if the peace talks collapse.
Updated
Police say 500 officers will be deployed at Sydney protest against Isaac Herzog's visit
NSW police have held a press conference after the Palestine Action Group asked for officials to alter a restriction on protests before the Israeli president’s visit, as reported earlier in the blog.
A police official said the group hoped to march from Sydney’s town hall to the NSW parliament, but that the streets were in a “declared area” and would not be approved.
The NSW police acting assistant commissioner, Paul Dunstan, said:
It’s our intent to work closely with the Palestinian Action Group as there’s an opportunity for them to conduct lawful public assembly in an area outside the declared area.
Dunstan said the group recently held a protest in nearby Hyde Park, and that area would be available again.
Once again, we offer that space to the Palestinian Action Group, so they can participate in lawful, peaceful protest. … I reach out to the Palestinian action group organisers and ask them to come to table and work with us.
He warned that if too many people gathered in the “declared area” officers could have “no choice” but to issue move-on directions and arrest those that do not comply.
He said there would be 3,000 police shifts during Isaac Herzog’s visit, and more than 500 officers to police the march around town hall.
Palestine Action Group estimates 5,000 people will attend their march.
Updated
Sale of defence properties ‘not necessarily to create more housing’, says O’Neil
The federal housing minister, Clare O’Neil, says the planned sale of more than 60 defence properties is “not necessarily to create more housing”, but that the controversial plans may help towards national targets.
O’Neil told the Sydney Summit that housing development must focus on density, saying “too many councils, well-located, [in] affluent parts of the city are blocking sensible increases”.
She said fewer than 20% of new dwellings in Sydney between 2016 and 2021 were built within 10km of the CBD.
“Urban sprawl is the quiet driver of inequality in Australia today, when cities grow only outward and not upward, the cost falls on the families and communities that have the least capacity to manage them,” O’Neil said.
O’Neil also addressed the planned sale of defence properties, including Sydney’s Victoria Barracks:
This is 67 sites, many of them iconic and incredibly important sites in big cities around Australia that will be divested by defence. The intention of that policy is not necessarily to create more housing.
It’s to make sure that defence is able to be sustainable and look after defending the nation, but it would be negligent for the commonwealth government and state governments we work with to not look seriously at the capacity for these sites to help us with our national housing challenge.
Updated
RBA’s Bullock won’t be drawn on high government spending
Liberal MP, Simon Kennedy, tried earlier to get the Reserve Bank governor to say that the high level of government spending had contributed to high inflation and caused Tuesday’s rate hike.
It was a big Liberal line of attack in question time this week, and Kennedy is very keen to get Michele Bullock to contradict Jim Chalmer’s comments in parliament this week, where he said that the RBA never mentioned government spending as a reason for the hike.
Essentially, Bullock’s position is that the RBA looks at total demand – public and private – when making its assessments about the economy and the inflation outlook.
When she was able to get a word in between Kennedy’s interruptions, Bullock tried to explain what had changed the inflation outlook, and it’s not coming from rising government expenditure. She said:
Public demand has declined as a share of the contribution to the growth in spending, in growth in GDP. That is a fact. That’s the way we forecast.
She still wouldn’t be drawn on whether high government spending as a share of the economy was part of the problem, saying they took the federal budget as given.
Is she being evasive, or is this what happens when politicians ask political questions of central bankers?
Open to interpretation, but probably a bit of both.
Updated
ASX plunges after ‘pure carnage’ on Wall Street
Australian shares opened sharply lower this morning, erasing well over $40bn in value from the market after “pure carnage” took hold of Wall Street overnight.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was trading below 8,750 points shortly after the market opened, down more than 1.5%.
Analysts at trading platform IG said investors were questioning their commitment to the pillars that had underpinned markets over the past six months, including artificial intelligence, crypto and precious metals.
This led to “a session of pure carnage overnight” and a “sell everything” mentality that “raises the odds of a deeper unwind”.
Australia’s share market is susceptible to the global unease, given it takes its lead from Wall Street and is heavily exposed to commodities that have been sold off this week.
Chris Strazzeri, dealing manager at trading platform Moomoo, said the huge volatility in the price of metals, including silver, signalled a major market move.
“The size of the moves points to ongoing unwinding of positions rather than short-term volatility, increasing the risk of further pressure on commodity-exposed assets,” he said.
Updated
Indigenous leader says response to alleged attempted terror attack at Invasion Day rally ‘sluggish’
Indigenous leader and Uluru Dialogue co-chair Pat Anderson says the response to the alleged attempted terror attack at an Invasion Day rally in Perth last month has been “sluggish” and “inert”.
Police yesterday charged a 31-year-old man with terrorism over the alleged attempted bombing. About 2,500 people were at Forrest Place in the city’s CBD for the 26 January protest. WA police have alleged a device thrown into the crowd was designed to explode on impact but failed.
Anderson said in a statement on Friday the incident, and the poor response from elected leaders, is a “stark reminder” of how Aboriginal people are viewed and treated in Australia.
“I know our communities are feeling scared and hurt right now. The message that hurt me most was that of silence. The silence was overwhelming,” she said.
Our people live in a reality knowing that it has never been our government’s priority to keep us safe.
We know this from compulsory segregation or “protection”, stolen generations and child
removals, subjugation and today youth detention and incarceration.What happened in Perth has stirred this history up.
Anderson said Indigenous communities are supporting one another in the wake of the incident.
No act of racism or terrorism can ever take away our belonging to each other and to this
land, our home.
Palestine Action Group asks police to alter protest restrictions before Israeli president's visit
The Palestine Action Group has written to the NSW police urging them to alter a restriction on protests before the Israeli president’s visit, arguing not doing so would increase rather than decrease the “risk of tension between police and protestors”.
The letter, seen by Guardian Australia, was sent to police by the group and Jews Against Occupation on Thursday, ahead of a nationwide protest planned against Isaac Herzog’s visit.
Organisers of the Sydney protest intend to march from the town hall to the NSW parliament, but this falls within a designated zone put in place in the after the Bondi terror attack that prevents the authorisation of protests under the form 1 system. This effectively bans protesters from marching in the streets without risking arrest.
The letter notes that the organisers had submitted their form 1 to hold the protest three days before the police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, made the decision to extend it. They argue that in doing so, the police have “deprived us of the opportunity to take steps to manage the Protest in a way calculated to reduce or avoid any risk to community safety about which you are concerned”.
The letter says:
We do not want protestors – or ourselves – being exposed to risk of arrest or harm. This risk of harm could be easily minimised and avoided were you to accede to the Variation Request.
They estimate that about 5,000 people will attend, and say they cannot alter the route to an area not facing a restriction on protests because the town hall and NSW parliament are “of great significance for political protest”.
The letter also notes the constitutional challenge they have launched against the protest restrictions, which face a hearing by the court of appeal on 26 February.
The letter says:
As you are aware, we have organised dozens of protests over the years, and particularly during Israel’s current genocide in Gaza, over 100 rallies and marches through the Sydney CBD.
As the police have conceded many times, we have a track record of cooperating with the police to ensure the safety of protestors and the community generally and to minimise the risk of arrests and conflict.
It is in no small part due to this cooperation and experience that there have been no significant incidents at any of our protests, including processions from Town Hall. There is no reason to expect that the Protest will be any different.
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Homes NSW investigating acquiring defence assets, including Victoria Barracks, planning minister says
The NSW planning minister, Paul Scully, says the government is “further behind than we would like to be” on its commitment to build 377,000 homes in the state by 2029 under the national housing accords.
Scully used a keynote address at the Committee for Sydney Summit this morning to say the city had become “stifled by layers of red tape that have built up like layers of Sydney sandstone”.
The Minns government’s ability to deliver on housing targets and improve housing affordability is expected to be a major issue at the state election in March next year. Asked in an interview afterwards what progress the state government had made, Scully said: “We’re further behind than we’d like to be at this point”, but added that it had started to turn around.
Scully announced an agreement with three councils to allow for 31,000 homes to be built around St Marys, Croydon, Belmore and Lakemba stations under the transport oriented development (Tod) reforms. He also confirmed Homes NSW was investigating whether it could acquire defence assets, including Victoria Barracks, which the federal government announced controversial plans to sell.
We’ve got to be very, very mindful of the history of that and its importance to veterans, particularly. And I think anything that is done with that has to be approached sympathetically and in consultation with a pretty wide group … I don’t think we should be going in and, you know, bulldozing and replacing it with a huge apartment, but there’s a way that it could work better for Sydney.
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Rate hikes painful but ‘the right thing for the economy’ RBA governor says
Inflation came in “materially higher than anticipated” in the back half of last year, Michele Bullock, the RBA’s governor, told a parliamentary committee this morning as she explained what drove this week’s interest rate hike.
Bullock said:
I recognise the challenges that a cash rate increase brings for Australians with mortgages, but it’s the right thing for the economy as a whole, because we need to ensure inflation is low and stable so that households and businesses can plan, invest and create jobs.
I’ve said it before, but high inflation hurts all Australians.
Bullock said the economy performed better through 2025, not least because the predicted damage from the Trump tariffs never happened – in fact, a boom in AI-related spending buoyed world growth.
More consumer spending and a jump in business investment clashed with an economy struggling to keep up, she said, pushing up prices faster than expected.
“This means that we need to dampen the growth of demand, unless the supply side of the economy can expand a little quicker, and this is where productivity comes in,” she said.
The comments were made as part of Bullock’s opening statement, so we wait to hear some more pointed questions from committee members.
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Capital gains tax discount to cost Australia $250bn over next decade. Who benefits most?
Australia’s capital gains tax discount will cost nearly $250bn over the next decade, more than twice as much as the concession has cost in its entire 25-year history.
As the federal government considers scaling back the 50% discount to help first home buyers, new figures from the Parliamentary Budget Office show the discount has cost the budget $205bn in lost revenue since its introduction in 1999.
But Australia’s soaring property prices and other investor demand will push the total price tag to $247bn over the next 10 years.
Commissioned by the Greens as part of a pressure campaign on Labor to wind back the Howard-era discount, the figures show the top 1% of taxpayers will receive nearly 60% of the benefit this financial year.
Read more here:
Nearly half of Roblox users go through age checks
Gaming platform Roblox says over 45% of its 144m global daily active users have completed an age check on the platform, with 60% of users in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands going through the checks since the platform began implementing age assurance late last year.
The shift to age checks came after a Guardian Australia investigation documented a week of virtual sexual harassment and violence on Roblox experienced by a user with a profile set up as an eight-year-old.
The checks launched in Australia, NZ and the Netherlands in December, and globally in January. Once an age check is done, users are be assigned to one of six age groups – under 9, 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-20 or 21+.
Those who do not go through age checks can still use the platform, but cannot use features such as chat.
Roblox said on Friday its age checks revealed the ages of its user base to be:
Under 13: 35%
Ages 13-17: 38%
Ages 18+: 27%
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News Corp offsets advertising hit with higher prices
News Corp’s global stable of mastheads have suffered a hit to their advertising, with revenue falling $US13m during the last financial quarter, according to earnings released in the US.
The division, which includes the Australian, the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun as well as mastheads in the US and UK, was able to partially offset the weak global advertising conditions by raising subscription and cover prices.
The overall business, however, was once again lifted higher by the strong performance of REA Group, the owner of realestate.com.au.
The Murdoch family-controlled company has a majority stake in REA, which has benefited from continued strength in Australian property listings, and the ability of the portal to charge premium prices due to its market dominance.
News Corp reported US$2.36bn in overall revenue during the December quarter, up 6% from a year earlier, with strong contributions from the digital real estate portal, book publishing units and Dow Jones information unit.
Its Australian chief executive, Robert Thomson, released an upbeat assessment of the potential for more revenue deals with artificial intelligence firms.
He said:
What is the point of acquiring cutting-edge semiconductors if they are being deployed to repurpose gormless, factless, feckless content sets?
We do believe an increasing number of insightful companies understand this content contradiction and will indeed pay a premium for our premium content.
News Corp reported an increase in digital subscriptions for its Australian mastheads, rising from 979,000 to 999,000 over the past year, according to internal figures.
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Tony Mokbel clears final legal hurdle
One of Australia’s most notorious crime figures has had his final drug conviction charge withdrawn after a lengthy court battle, AAP reports.
Tony Mokbel, 60, will walk from Melbourne’s supreme court on Friday a free man after a lengthy battle to overturn his drug convictions in the aftermath of the Lawyer X scandal.
He won his appeal last year, with judges ordering he face a re-trial over alleged offending in 2005, dubbed the Orbital charge and relating to alleged MDMA trafficking.
Mokbel argued his drug convictions were tainted as he was represented by barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo, known as Lawyer X.
A judicial registrar urged prosecutors to progress their case at a directions hearing in December, and decide whether to order a re-trial for the charge or dismiss it all together.
On Friday, prosecutor David Glynn announced the case against him would be discontinued.
Mokbel is expected to walk out of court to awaiting media shortly.
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Rideshare driver in court over allegations of sexual assaulting passenger
A rideshare driver will face court after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman during a short early morning trip, AAP reports.
Police said the woman got into the rideshare vehicle in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Collingwood about 5am on 25 January.
The driver, a 44-year-old man, allegedly sexually assaulted her before dropping her at South Yarra, a short distance away. The woman, who has not been identified, reported the matter at a police station.
Detectives arrested the driver on Thursday and charged him with one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault.
Queensland man charged over alleged threats to federal parliamentarians
A Queensland man has been charged with allegedly threatening multiple federal parliamentarians on social media.
The Australian federal police (AFP) said the man, 39, allegedly posted the threatening messages on the social media site X in December. Officers executed a search warrant at a unit in Woodridge that month, seizing swords, axes and electronic files.
Police will allege in court they found records of the threats on social media on the man’s mobile phone and desktop computer.
He has been charged with one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offense, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail.
He was granted conditional bail and will appear in court later today.
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49ers will face Rams in historic NFL showdown in Melbourne
The first ever regular-season NFL clash to be held in Australia is on its way to the Melbourne Cricket Ground this year, and will feature a historic clash between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, AAP reports.
The NFL announced on Thursday the MCG would host one of nine international games in 2026 across four continents, seven countries and eight stadiums, with Melbourne joining London (three games), Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Munich, Madrid and Paris as hosts.
The NFL said the match, the date and time of which has yet to be announced, would be staged in partnership with the Victorian state government and Visit Victoria.
THE FIRST-EVER REGULAR SEASON GAME IN AUSTRALIA IS SET! 🇦🇺@49ers vs @RamsNFL at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. pic.twitter.com/Ae2w9ukd6J
— NFL Australia & NZ (@NFLAUNZ) February 5, 2026
It was already known that the two-time Super Bowl winners, the Rams, would be the home team for the Melbourne clash, but the 49ers are also another storied franchise with five world championship triumphs to their name.
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Adani donated $600,000 to Liberal National party before 2024 state election using federal ‘loophole’
Adani donated more than $600,000 to the Liberal National party of Queensland before the 2024 state election, making it the party’s largest single federal donor.
But the donations were not disclosed for a year, with the Greens blaming a loophole in federal electoral funding laws that allowed it to not disclose it in real time.
Queensland law requires “real time disclosure” for state-level donations, typically within seven days, but as little as 24 hours for donations made in the week before election day.
The donations were disclosed through the Australian Electoral Commission on Monday 2 February 2026 – but not through the state-level disclosure system. They represent four of the top five largest donations to the party reported in the 2024-25 federal disclosures, behind only a $200,000 donation by the Morris Family Trust.
Greens state MP Michael Berkman said the party had “exploit[ed] a gaping loophole in our donation laws”.
Read more here:
NSW man charged after Nazi symbols allegedly displayed on bin
A NSW man has been charged after allegedly displaying Nazi symbols in the state’s Hunter region.
NSW police began an investigation on 31 January, following reports Nazi symbols were allegedly displayed on a council issued bin in Cessnock.
Following inquiries, a 44-year-old man was issued a notice to appear at court, for the charge of knowingly displaying by public act a Nazi symbol without excuse.
He is due to face Cessnock local court on 19 March.
Minister says everyone needs to be ‘vigilant’ about social cohesion after alleged bombing attempt in Perth
Malarndirri McCarthy, the minister for Indigenous Australians, said First Nations people have felt “very scared”, “angry” and a “bit confused” after an alleged attempted bombing at an Invasion Day protest in Perth.
Police charged a 31-year-old man with terrorism on Thursday over the alleged attempted bombing, accusing the man of accessing “pro-white” material online and claiming the actions were motivated by “hate and racism”.
McCarthy spoke to RN Breakfast, saying the whole country had work to do when it came to social cohesion, adding the episode could have received “far more attention” from the media and political leaders from other parties. She said:
Each and every one of us need to be vigilant about what we can do. … Every single one of us needs to be vigilant and also report what needs to be reported to authorities.
We are very conscious of the different views in Australia, but that’s what makes Australia a beautiful place. We can have different views, but we should show them respectfully and have those debates respectfully.
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RBA governor to face questions from MPs after latest cash rate rise
The Reserve Bank governor will face renewed questioning over the role the federal government played in driving up inflation and forcing the central bank to lift mortgage rates for the first time in more than two years, AAP reports.
Michele Bullock, her deputy, Andrew Hauser, and other senior central bank officials will report to Parliament House in Canberra on Friday for their regular grilling by a committee of Labor, Liberal and crossbench MPs.
Since the Reserve Bank lifted the benchmark borrowing rate to 3.85% on Tuesday, opposition MPs have bombarded the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, with accusations rising government spending is at fault for the resurgence in inflation.
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Health minister says surge in ebikes a ‘real emergency’
The health minister, Mark Butler, says the spate of dangerous ebike riding is a “real emergency” after a group of riders swarmed the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic.
NSW police are investigating after about 40 people travelled along the bridge’s main deck, where cycling is prohibited, before turning around and riding through the Sydney CBD. No arrests or charges have been laid by police.
Butler spoke to Channel Seven’s Sunrise program this morning, saying:
This is a real emergency … This has got to be the subject of strong action by all governments. It’s one of those problems that really sort of creeped up during Covid and has just exploded.
People are talking to me about it all the time, it’s driving them absolutely to distraction.
He said having different laws in different states surrounding ebikes was a “real menace”, saying it was time to get “sensible” about this stuff.
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Albanese set to sign ‘watershed’ security treaty with Indonesia during visit to Jakarta
Anthony Albanese has flown to Jakarta where he will meet with the Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto, to sign a “watershed” security treaty, AAP reports.
The details of the Australia-Indonesia Treaty on Common Security, announced last November, have remained largely hidden. Penny Wong is joining Albanese and will meet with her Indonesian counterpart, Sugiono, during the visit.
Albanese’s trip will be his fifth as prime minister, and second since his re-election in 2025, opting to make Indonesia the first country he visited after retaining office.
“This treaty is a proud moment in the shared history of Australia and Indonesia,” the prime minister told parliament before his departure on Thursday.
It will ensure that we work together to shape a better future, securing our shared place in the world, so that we can secure the best outcome for those we serve here at home.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Gatra Priyandita said the agreement could be seen as a positive step in the context of the broader bilateral relationship.
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Good morning
Good morning, and happy Friday. Nick Visser here to take you through the day’s news.
Australia will soon sign a “watershed” security pact with Indonesia, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in Jakarta to meet with his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto. Indonesia has long upheld a foreign policy of non-alignment to avoid being entangled in conflicts.
The Reserve Bank governor, Michelle Bullock, and her deputy will report to Parliament House today for their regular grilling from MPs. Bullock will face renewed questions over the role the federal government plays in inflation. The cash rate currently sits at 3.85% after a hike of .25 basis points.
A man was charged after allegedly displaying Nazi symbols in the Hunter region of NSW. Police officials said they began an investigation last month after reports the symbols were allegedly displayed on a council-issued bin in the area.
We’ll bring you developments throughout the day. Stick with us.
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