What we learned, Monday 2 February
This is where we’ll leave the blog for today. These were the day’s top stories:
Victoria police revealed they “strongly believe” Dezi Freeman won’t be found alive as they began a fresh search of the area where a gunshot was heard shortly after the fugitive’s fatal confrontation with two officers.
The federal Nationals leader, David Littleproud, was set for face-to-face talks with Sussan Ley about reuniting with the Liberals after surviving a leadership challenge.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) released its 2024-25 annual financial disclosure return information, which revealed the source of more than $138m in donations to Australian political parties remains unknown.
New South Wales police announced they would examine the alleged domestic violence history of the Lake Cargelligo triple murder suspect, Julian Ingram, as part of a critical incident investigation into how officers handled his alleged offending.
The Victorian opposition leader, Jess Wilson, pulled out of an event headlined by Barnaby Joyce after the state premier accused her of “cosying up” to One Nation.
A 22-year-old Australian snowboarder died in a ski lift accident in Japan.
Broadcaster James Valentine announced he would retire from the ABC after almost 40 years, due to cancer, ending 25 years of hosting Sydney’s Afternoons program on ABC Radio.
And overseas, the 68th Grammy awards took place in Los Angeles. Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar took home major awards during a night in which musicians hit back at president Donald Trump’s ICE occupation. Tame Impala, one of several Australian acts up for awards, took home a Grammy for the best dance/electronic recording.
Updated
Police watchdog passes on recommendations to commissioner of the force
Here’s some more on that Lecc report about serious misconduct by two police officers in a regional town.
In a statement announcing the report had been tabled, the watchdog’s chief commissioner, Peter Johnson SC, said:
Working as a police officer in a regional or rural area has been likened to living in a fishbowl, with officers more likely to have to respond to calls relating to family and friends.
The actions of the officers considered in this report undermine the good reputation of the NSW police force and are contrary to the NSW police force code of conduct and ethics by showing that police are willing to overlook known or suspected criminal acts of friends.
These issues have extra significance as the NSW police force’s “Be a Cop in your Home Town” program is actively encouraging people to join the NSW police and then live and work in their own regional or rural community.
The Lecc has recommended to the police commissioner that the issues discussed in Operation Maddington be used as a case study in officer training.
NSW police watchdog hands down report identifying serious misconduct by two regional officers
The New South Wales police watchdog has recommended further training after identifying serious misconduct by two officers in a regional town after they developed a close relationship with a local hospitality owner.
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc) tabled a report in state parliament today based on the findings from an investigation it called Operation Maddington.
The Lecc said its report highlighted the challenges for police officers stationed in regional or rural areas, in particular the risk of police giving favourable and improper treatment to community members who are friends or close associates.
The commission found that the two police officers who became close with local hospitality business owner shared confidential police information with them and ignored infractions of the Liquor Act 2007.
On two occasions, the business owner sent CCTV footage of intimate acts by accommodation guests to his police officer friends, but no police action was taken, the Lecc found.
The commission found one of the police officers became aware that the business owner had potentially sexually exploited a young female employee and that the friendship improperly influenced the advice the officer gave the young woman’s parents, which effectively discouraged them from making a formal police complaint.
The other police officer counselled the business owner on how to import prohibited firearms into Australia, which is potentially a criminal offence, the Lecc said. The Lecc said it would refer this officer’s conduct to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
The commission said both officers have disengaged from the NSW police force but it would have recommended their dismissal had they still been serving.
Research sector ‘at breaking point’ and needs reversal of funding decline, AAS says
The 2026–27 federal budget risks lasting damage to the nation’s economy, security and living standards if it does not mark a turning point in research and development investment, according to a pre-budget submission by the Australian Academy of Science.
The AAS has previously estimated that, in dollar terms, government investment in R&D is $1.8bn less than the OECD average.
AAS president Prof Chennupati Jagadish said science and technology were not luxury investments in a time of technological, geopolitical and environmental disruption. He said:
Long-term business underinvestment in R&D, plummeting competitive grant funding and mounting resourcing pressures for research agencies are not isolated issues.
They are clear signs of a system at breaking point. Reversing more than 10 years of decline will take multiple budgets. But it must start with this one.
The academy also warned that Australia was falling behind global competitors without urgent investment in the supercomputing that underpins AI, quantum technology development and climate modelling.
Jagadish said:
Australia’s supercomputing capacity is ageing, oversubscribed and nearing end of life, with no plan for replacement. Australia’s sovereign computing capability is at risk.
Updated
Police say Lake Cargelligo suspect believed to have entered property south of Mount Hope about a week ago
Staying with the investigation into Julian Ingram for a moment.
Police said in a press conference a little earlier that they believe he may have been to a rural property about 3km south of Mount Hope on Kidman Way on the evening between Saturday 24 January and Sunday 25.
Police said:
Members of the public who witness any suspicious activity or have concerns for their safety are encouraged to call Triple Zero (000).
Updated
Police handling of Lake Cargelligo triple murder suspect’s alleged offending to be investigated
The alleged domestic violence history of the Lake Cargelligo triple murder suspect, Julian Ingram, will be examined as part of a critical incident investigation into how officers handled his alleged offending.
New South Wales police announced on Monday that police have declared a critical incident investigation “to ensure all actions and investigations of the NSW police adhered to the legislation, policy and guidelines” while investigating his alleged murders. Police said this critical incident investigation will include any domestic violence history.
Ingram, also known as Julian Pierpoint, is suspected of shooting dead his pregnant former partner, her new boyfriend, and her aunt on 22 January in Lake Cargelligo, about 450km west of Sydney. He was later seen leaving the town in a white single cab Ford Ranger.
Police said:
The investigation will be led by a critical incident team from state crime command’s homicide squad and will be subject of an independent review by the professional standards command and oversight by the law enforcement conduct commission.
Updated
Claire Mooney announced as new triple j music director
Claire Mooney has been appointed triple j’s new music director after the radio station conducted its first ever open job search for the role.
Announcing Mooney’s appointment today, the radio station said she first joined triple j in 2017 as the Australian music producer at Unearthed, the station’s platform for new local music. Since then, the station said Mooney had worked across the triple j music team as group music programmer and producer, before stepping into the assistant music director role in 2021.
In 2025, she was appointed the music director of Unearthed.
In a statement, Mooney said:
What a privilege it is to step into this new era of triple j as our first female music director.
I feel so honoured and excited to continue the legacy that’s been built by my mentors. We are so lucky to have a station like triple j exist in this country: one that authentically celebrates music, art and culture, and reflects and soundtracks the lives of young people around the country.
I’d like to think there is no place more obsessed with Australian music, and I can’t wait to help shape, support and champion the next generation of artists, alongside our passionate, hard-working triple j team and every listener who comes along for the ride.
In the same statement, Nick Findlay, Mooney’s predecessor – now the station’s manager of music programming – added:
Claire lives and breathes new music and has an incredible passion for breaking Australian talent, which we saw time and time again in her recent role as music director during her tenure at Unearthed.
As triple j’s new music director, she will lead the music that soundtracks the lives of young people in Australia well into the future.
Updated
Alleged armed robbers at large after stick-up at city hotel
Police say two men are on the run after allegedly robbing a hotel with a screwdriver disguised as a gun and fleeing with a safe.
The men allegedly threatened staff at Novotel Sydney Darling Square in the city’s CBD at about 5.40am on Monday, before detaining them in a back office, AAP reports.
The alleged robbers picked up a portable safe and escaped in a beige Volvo that police said had been stolen from Petersham on January 23.
“We remind people that this was a violent incident early in the morning and we would encourage people not to approach the vehicle,” said Gary Coffey, a NSW police chief inspector:
This was particularly terrifying for the staff involved. Fortunately, we don’t see this type of armed robbery occurring very often in the city at all.
Neither of the two staff members was injured, but they had believed the men were armed with a firearm and were shaken.
The alleged robbers are likely to be disappointed by their haul as the safe had no money or jewels - only documents and other material associated with the hotel, Insp Coffey said.
Updated
Hi, I’m taking over the blog and will be with you for the rest of the day.
Grace Tame abuser unlikely to face cybercrime trial
The former teacher who abused former Australian of the Year Grace Tame when she was a student will likely be declared unfit to face trial on harassment charges.
Nicolaas Ockert Bester, a former teacher at Hobart private schools, was found guilty of sexually abusing Tame - later named Australian of the Year - when she was his student in 2011.
He was also convicted over child exploitation material in 2016 and in 2022 was accused of three counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.
The former teacher allegedly made public posts on social media about and directed at Tame in April, July and August of 2022.
Bester’s deteriorating health, delays to health assessments and the slow-moving court system has delayed the matter for over three years.
On Monday, the frail 73-year-old returned to Hobart magistrates court, arriving and leaving with the help of a walking frame.
Both his lawyers and prosecutors agreed there was insufficient evidence to show Bester was fit to stand trial, and that his health was unlikely to improve.
La Trobe University professor Simon Crowe, enlisted to provide assessments of the abuser’s condition, told the court he was previously a “high-functioning individual”.
However, he had suffered at least three strokes, a number of falls, a brain clot and other issues in recent months.
“Mr Bester has vascular dementia in my view as a consequence of the cumulative effect of the ... strokes as well as the falls,” Prof Crowe told the court under questioning from prosecutor Ruth Champion.
“The likelihood that he could ever come back from this very profound set of brain-impacting events is very, very low indeed.”
Bester’s lawyer Todd Kovacic told the court his client was “not really following” proceedings.
Magistrate Andrew McKee deferred the matter to February 24, which he said would be “formalising what I think we all know is going to occur”.
While his condition means he is unlikely to have to enter pleas or face trial, the matter is still listed to proceed with a further directions hearing listed for April 8.
If the charges are proved beyond reasonable doubt, the magistrate could still impose punishments, such as restraining orders.
Bester was released from prison in 2013 after serving one year and nine months for grooming and abusing Tame, then 15, while a teacher at St Michael’s Collegiate school.
Bester, who previously managed The Hutchins School boarding house, also studied for a PhD at the University of Tasmania after his jail term.
- Australian Associated Press
Lack of local transmission of measles in Australia only due to ‘luck’, expert says
NSW Health are warning there is an increased risk of measles as people continue to return from overseas holidays where there are ongoing outbreaks.
There have been 14 confirmed cases in the state since 1 December.
Prof Catherine Bennett, the chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, says “it’s down to luck now that we aren’t seeing more local transmission.”
Like in the US where a measles outbreak occurred in Texas, Australia has seen a drop in childhood vaccination rates and an expansion of networks in our population less likely to get vaccinated, Bennett says.
If someone in one of these communities were to become infected with the most infectious virus we know, she says the disease could “move into a community quite quickly”.
“Having pockets or networks in the community where people aren’t vaccinated, that’s the real risk,” Bennett said. She continued:
The chances are increasing all the time [the virus] will find that part of the community where people aren’t vaccinated.
Bennett highlights Australia is watching other countries losing their measles elimination status, as the UK did only days ago.
Updated
James Valentine to retire from the ABC
Broadcaster and saxophonist James Valentine has told ABC listeners he won’t be returning to host his afternoon program because of his ongoing battle with cancer.
The host of Sydney’s Afternoons for 25 years, Valentine had surgery in 2024 before returning to the airwaves and then leaving again in June after he was diagnosed with omentum cancer, which affects a layer of tissue over the stomach and intestines.
“I won’t be coming back this year to the microphone and the Afternoons program” Valentine said today. “It’s time for me to retire”.
This decision has been hard for me to make but I need to focus on getting better and being with family and friends and making sure I’m giving my health my best shot.
On Friday producer Jen Fleming and Valentine, 64, will present a retrospective of Afternoons.
Valentine spent his early 20s in rock band Models before joining the ABC to host cartoons on ABC TV’s The Afternoon Show. He went on to work across several ABC television programs before moving into radio at 666 ABC Radio Canberra and subsequently the Mornings program in Sydney.
Updated
Alleged vandal behind Pam the Bird pleads not guilty to more than 200 offences
The alleged graffiti vandal behind Pam the Bird has pleaded not guilty to more than 200 offences and will fight the charges at trial, AAP reports.
Jack Gibson-Burrell, 22, faced Melbourne magistrates court in person on Monday, wearing red Crocs, when a magistrate decided to send his case to the county court for trial.
He has been charged with 209 offences, including more than a dozen of reckless conduct endangering life or serious injury, criminal damage, theft and aggravated burglary.
Gibson-Burrell is accused of causing about $700,000 in damage, including to heritage-listed Victorian landmarks where he allegedly sprayed the Pam the Bird tag.
This includes allegations he trespassed into Melbourne’s Flinders Street station in July 2024 and abseiled up its famous clock tower in order to paint the bird on it.
Updated
Thank you, Nick Visser. Let’s get going with the remainder of the afternoon’s breaking news.
That’s all from me, thanks for sticking with us so far. Daisy Dumas will take things from here before handing to Catie McLeod later this arvo.
Updated
How Carlos Alcaraz celebrated his Australian Open triumph
At only 22, Carlos Alcaraz said it was a “dream come true” to become the youngest man to complete the career grand slam, a record formerly held by Don Budge since 1938, 87 years ago.
He beat Novak Djokovic in four sets on Sunday night in the men’s singles final. There was little fanfare after the match, with Alcaraz saying gaming with his brother and friends was “more than enough” to celebrate the win.
Nationals leader David Littleproud survives
Colin Boyce’s push to topple David Littleproud as Nationals leader has failed.
The Nationals whip, Michelle Landry, confirmed Boyce’s motion to spill the leadership at a party room meeting on Monday was unsuccessful.
Updated
GetUp accuses Advance of hypocrisy after ‘grassroots’ group shown to have accepted almost $900,000 from Gina Rinehart
Political campaign group GetUp has accused Advance of hypocrisy after new electoral donations data showed mining magnate Gina Rinehart was a major backer.
Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting donated almost $900,000 to Advance last financial year, despite Advance claiming to fight “activists and elites”.
GetUp’s Paul Ferris said Advance was “a handful of donors with disproportionate wealth and power attempting to influence our elections.”
All of this from a group that claims to be ‘grassroots’, while clearly taking the vast majority of its funds from millionaires and billionaires.
They can claim to represent regular Australians all they want – but the data shows their true backers are the billionaires. This isn’t grassroots politics. It’s fake, billionaire-funded astroturfing.
Advance executive director Matthew Sheahan said in a statement that the organisation received 52,898 contributions from 15,758 individual donors in 2024-25, claiming 92% of all donations were $150 or less.
Updated
Nationals meet to debate Littleproud’s leadership and the future of the Coalition
Nationals MPs have filed into a meeting in Canberra to debate David Littleproud’s leadership and the future of the Coalition.
As we reported earlier, MPs are scheduled to debate two motions: backbencher Colin Boyce’s attempt to spill the leadership so he can challenge Littleproud for the top job, and Darren Chester’s push to urgently restart talks with the Liberals to reform Coalition.
Boyce’s spill motion is widely predicted to fail – the Flynn MP has admitted as much himself.
Guardian Australian understands there is some support for Chester’s motion – including from former leader Michael McCormack.
We’ll have the outcome of both votes as soon as we hear word from the party room.
Updated
Bragg says no need to rush Coalition reunion
Many senior Liberals are speaking of their desire to see the Nationals rejoin the Coalition, but shadow minister Andrew Bragg says there is no need to rush to reunite.
In a press conference, Bragg said the opposition had a “massive challenge” to win back seats in cities and urban areas, and that the Liberals should be “clear-eyed about the challenge”.
“We’ve tried to make it work with the Nats, we’ve tried valiantly over the course of the last six to eight months, and sometimes things don’t work out. We hope that they will in future, but we’re not desperate. And if we go to the election as the Liberal party, then so be it,” he said, adding:
We’re not going to cycle through some desperate phase of saying, ‘please come back’. I mean, that’s not going to happen. That will not be productive, and it would show that we’re not focused on what our goal is, to win back seats – not exclusively, but largely, in urban Australia where most people live.
So I think we should be honest about what we can control and what we can’t control. We’ve tried to make it work. It hasn’t been all that productive so far in this parliament. And so if we go to the next election as the Liberal party, and they go as the National party, then that’s okay.
Updated
Grass trees set aflame after South Australia bushfire
An uncontrolled bushfire in South Australia set dozens of grass trees aflame last night as 175 firefighters worked in steep and challenging terrain to try and contain the blaze.
Willunga Country Fire Service said the Deep Creek bushfire quickly scorched a large area, requiring a coordinated firefighting effort from multiple agencies and crews both on the ground and in the air.
Dramatic images show a field of grass trees engulfed in flames as dozens of firetrucks attempted to stop the spread of the fire.
The area is currently subject to a watch and act bushfire warning, urging some in the area to leave now amid potential threats to safety.
Wildlife rescue reminds drivers to stop and check after koala’s miraculous survival
A wildlife rescue in South Australia reminded drivers this weekend to stop and check if you hit an animal, after the incredible story of Axle the koala, who survived a recent run-in with a car.
Southern Koala and Echidna Rescue said the koala is “incredibly lucky to be alive” after being hit with such force that he was “thrown through the grille of a car … and yet, somehow he has come away with only minor injuries”.
Our amazing volunteer rescuers responded just before midnight and carefully worked to free Axle from the car. He was vet-checked today and, aside from a scrape and what we imagine is a very sore head, this brave boy is remarkably okay.
The photos below so the koala trapped inside the vehicle before his rescue.
Huge thank you to the driver who stopped, checked, and called our 24-hour hotline. One phone call truly made all the difference.
Big tobacco gives big to the Nationals
The National party received a combined total of $225,500 from big tobacco companies through a combination of donations and “other receipts” (which includes membership fees, corporate sponsorship, grants, contracts etc) in the 2024-25 financial year.
The Australian Electoral Commission’s annual financial disclosure return information from political parties was published today, and it shows that one month before the federal election, tobacco company Philip Morris Ltd (PMI) increased its donation direct to the Nationals from the previous year significantly, up from $100,000 to $137,500.
The donation also followed PMI’s federal pre-budget submission where the tobacco company called for a Productivity Commission “root-and-branch review into Australia’s tobacco and illicit nicotine market” and for “an immediate freeze in tobacco excise rates”.
Meanwhile, British American Tobacco’s contributions to the Nationals via “other receipts” were $88,000, and was disclosed by Laneway Assets, the body that collects membership fees for the Nationals.
Allan says risks of ‘Liberal National One Nation circus’ are too great
Jacinta Allan also had a crack at the Liberal’s disunity, saying it was proof the party “only have one setting: cut”.
The premier went on:
It’s in their bones. They even cut their leaders: six in seven years. And to avoid the next cut, their current leader is spending this weekend [cozying] up with One Nation.
Allan is referring to the Across Victoria Alliance conference in Horsham, which One Nation’s recruit, Barnaby Joyce, will also be speaking at. She described the event as a “misinformation convention”:
Mark my words: The Liberal National One Nation circus will push her further away from families and further towards the extremes. Liberals are too busy fighting each other to fight for Victorians. They have no solutions – just cuts. That’s their risk.
And this is my question: Who do you trust to invest in the things that really matter to your family: A Labor government, with a record of investment, that fights for change? Or a Liberal government, with a record of cuts, that fights itself? New solutions – or no solutions. Change – or cuts.
Updated
Allan tells Labor caucus party must deliver ‘new solutions’
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has tried out a new – yet very familiar – slogan in her first speech to the Labor caucus this year ahead of the November state election.
Victorian Labor MPs gathered to hear from the premier this morning after their annual caucus retreat was cancelled last week due to a national cabinet meeting to finalise a $25bn landmark health and hospital agreement.
In the speech, Allan told MPs the role of a Labor government was to deliver “new solutions” to the “challenges that families are facing” – including rising cost of living, navigating the health system and finding an affordable home in an area they want to live in.
She also touched on community safety, saying it was the “right decision” to introduce “adult time for violent crime” laws, allowing children who commit serious violent offences to be dealt with by the county court, where they face much longer sentences than the three-year maximum in children’s court.
Allan used “new solutions” seven times in the short speech.
It’s strikingly similar to the “Real solutions for all Victorians” slogan Matthew Guy and the Coalition used at the 2022 election.
Victoria police 'believe strongly' Dezi Freeman is dead
Victoria police say they “believe strongly” that Dezi Freeman has died and his body is in the Mount Buffalo area.
Adam Tilley, a detective inspector with a taskforce focused on finding the man, has been speaking to reporters in north-east Victoria after the police force launched a new five-day search of the area for Freeman or his remains.
Freeman, also known as Desmond Filby, fled into the bush in August after a fatal confrontation with two police officers at a property in Porepunkah, about 300km north-east of Melbourne. Tilley said today police had found “no proof of life” in their search for Freeman and that:
We are comfortable that we don’t believe he is here alive, however we are keeping an open mind.
We do believe strongly that he is in this area deceased.
Police have said more than 100 officers and volunteers will join a targeted five-day search of Mount Buffalo national park based on “intelligence derived from information police obtained in relation to a gunshot heard a short time after the fatal incident at Freeman’s Rayner Track property” in August.
Tilley said police were exploring “three scenarios”: Freeman is dead in the Mount Buffalo area “either by self-harm or misadventure”, that he has been able to escape the area and is being harboured by a person or people, or that he is on the run unassisted and he just has not been located.
Tilley confirmed cadaver dogs were involved in the search, which he said was expected to take place over 1.3 square kms of terrain – about the size of 52 MCG ovals.
Updated
Nationals MPs to meet this afternoon to debate future of the Coalition
The Nationals are set to debate whether to urgently reform the Coalition at a party room meeting in which David Littleproud’s leadership will be put to the test.
The country party’s MPs are scheduled to meet at 2pm in Canberra ahead of federal parliament’s return on Tuesday.
As announced last week, the Nationals MP, Colin Boyce, will move a motion to spill the leadership after claiming Littleproud was leading the party towards electoral disaster with the decision to blow up the Coalition.
The spill motion is doomed to fail with even Boyce conceding Littleproud’s position is safe.
Ahead of the meeting, a senior Nationals MP, Darren Chester, said he planned to move a separate motion calling on the party’s leadership to immediately work to reunite the Coalition for the remainder of this term of parliament.
Chester said:
Today I will be moving a motion in the Nationals party room which calls on our leadership to move urgently and restore the Coalition because the things that unite us are bigger than the things that divide us.
My motion is: that this meeting of the Nationals parliamentary party authorises the elected leadership team to negotiate in good faith with the Liberal party elected leadership team as a matter of urgency, with a view towards re-establishing a Coalition for the duration of the 48th federal parliament.
In moving the motion, let me be clear, I will support current leader David Littleproud in the leadership ballot and remain committed to working with whomever my friends and colleagues in the Liberal party choose as their leader. That’s their choice and I will respect their decision.
Updated
Nationals spill push doomed to fail, but will go ahead
Queensland MP Colin Boyce will attempt to trigger a spill motion against the Nationals leader at 2pm on Monday as politicians return to parliament, AAP reports.
However, he was realistic about his chances of unseating the incumbent.
“David Littleproud will remain the leader and he will be comprehensively voted in,” Boyce told ABC radio this morning.
Boyce, however, said he was moving forward because:
I’m hoping to achieve a change of leadership in the National party and the Liberal party, and then I hope that we can form a Coalition agreement, wipe the slate clean, get rid of the egos and personalities, start afresh.
The backbencher said he believes the Nationals are committing “political suicide” by trying to go it alone without the Liberal party’s support.
Updated
Most mortgaged homeowners won’t see repayments increase if the RBA hikes interest rates this week
A large majority of the 3.3 million mortgaged homeowners will not see their repayments increase should the Reserve Bank hike rates on Tuesday.
Financial markets and most economists expect the RBA will lift its cash rate target from 3.6% to 3.85%, marking the shortest and shallowest rate rise cycle in memory after inflation roared back in the second half of last year.
The central bank cut rates three times last year, but for most customers of three of the four major banks, lower variable rates did not automatically translate to lower home loan repayments.
National Australia Bank reports that eight in 10 of its variable mortgage borrowers did not reduce their payments through last year’s three rate cuts, and at the Commonwealth Bank the share was between 85% and 90%.
ANZ has not reported how many of its customers contacted the bank to lower their repayments after each cut.
Westpac is the only big bank to automatically adjust a borrower’s direct debit after a rate cut, if they have asked to pay the minimum.
Read more:
Albanese prepared to get back to work as ‘other side’ continues ‘bizarre behaviour’
The prime minister said:
We’re very focused on the national interest as we bring parliament back. We will continue to look for how we can make sure that we have sustainability in our systems, that we provide responsible economic management, that we continue to deliver for people in lifting up their quality of life.
That is our focus each and every day.
He said the government would get “back to work” while the “other side engaged in their bizarre behaviour”.
Albanese addresses Labor party room
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is addressing the Labor party room in Canberra before parliament officially resumes tomorrow.
He is talking about the effort to tighten gun laws and pass hate speech legislation after the Bondi attack, changes to Medicare to lower drug prices, the ongoing opening of new urgent care clinics, an expansion of subsidised childcare and other reforms.
“In January, of course, we got a lot done,” Albanese said.
Updated
AEC releases numbers on big money political donations
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting donated nearly $900,000 to rightwing campaign group Advance in the last financial year, in the lead-up to the 2025 election.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) released its 2024-25 annual financial disclosure return information on Monday, revealing the biggest donors and spenders in federal politics. Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy was again the biggest donor, kicking in more than $53m to political ventures backed by the mining magnate – $302,9012 to his United Australia party, and $52.9m to the Trumpet of Patriots which Palmer bankrolled. Neither party had any members elected at the May 2025 election.
Pro-climate funding vehicle Climate 200 declared receiving $9.5m in donations and distributing $10.9m to candidates it supported, including federal politicians Sophie Scamps, Allegra Spender, Monique Ryan and Kate Chaney. Some of its bigger donations came from Atlassian founders Scott Farquhar ($500,000) and Mike Cannon-Brookes ($300,000).
Advance, the rightwing campaign group which has lobbied Coalition MPs to dump net zero and run campaigns to “stop mass immigration”, declared receiving $13.5m and spending $12.4m in 2024-25. Its two biggest donations came from Hancock Prospecting, of which Rinehart – Australia’s richest person – is executive chair.
Hancock gave two donations, of $500,000 and $395,000, to Advance in October 2024 and February 2025 respectively.
Updated
Australia’s Tame Impala wins Grammy
Tame Impala, one of several Australian acts up for awards tonight, have taken home a Grammy for the best dance/electronic recording.
The nod comes for the track End of Summer.
Other local acts in the running tonight include punk darlings Amyl and the Sniffers and alt dance group Rüfüs Du Sol.
Keep an eye out for the Guardian’s Grammys liveblog, coming soon.
Updated
Snapchat disabled more than 415,000 Australian accounts in social media ban
Snapchat locked or disabled the accounts of more than 415,000 users in Australia identified as being under 16 as part of its compliance with the social media ban.
The company said it continues to lock more accounts daily, but said there are “significant gaps” in the implementation of the ban that could undermine it.
In a blog post on Monday, the company said:
First, there are real technical limitations to accurate and dependable age verification. The Australian government’s own trial, published in 2025, found that available age estimation technology was only accurate to within 2-3 years on average. In practice, this means some young people under 16 may be able to bypass protections, potentially leaving them with reduced safeguards, while others over 16 may incorrectly lose access.
Snap said there were also other apps where users communicate that escaped the ban, meaning teens would turn to alternative, less regulated, messaging apps.
While we don’t yet have data to quantify this shift, it’s a risk that deserves serious consideration as policymakers evaluate whether the law is achieving its intended outcomes.
Snap, like others in the sector, has called for app-store-level age verification. The company has faced criticisms over reports of teens able to easily bypass the facial age assurance technology, and it said it is working constructively with the government to improve the implementation.
The total number of account deactivations since the ban came into effect is 4.7m across the 10 platforms, however it is understood this includes not just accounts identified as being under 16, but includes historical, inactive and duplicate accounts for YouTube in particular.
Updated
Could Cory Bernardi be the next One Nation recruit?
Former Liberal senator Cory Bernardi’s recent endorsement of One Nation has set off speculation he may be the next recruit for the party, which has hyped an announcement of “some very big names” to their ranks this week.
Bernardi, who quit the Liberals in 2017 to start his own party, the Australian Conservatives, before quitting the Senate in 2020, wrote in a Substack post last week “seeing One Nation’s progress is a great lesson for anyone aspire to make a change in their own life or in the lives of others” and that he was “lending my shoulder to the ON wheel”.
That post was shared by another former Coalition MP, George Christensen, in recent days.
In an email to One Nation supporters last week, the party’s chief of staff, James Ashby, said “in the coming days, we will be revealing some very big names”, which he claimed would “shock the nation”. Nationals turned One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has also teased more possible switches from the Coalition this week.
2GB radio this morning reported “rumours” that Bernardi could run for One Nation in South Australia. Pauline Hanson’s office declined to comment, refusing to confirm or deny when contacted this morning. We’ve also contacted Bernardi for comment.
Updated
Covid-19 cases won’t cause stir at Winter Olympics, Aussie delegation says
Australia’s Winter Olympics preparations will continue with minimal fuss in northern Italy despite two members of staff testing positive for Covid-19, AAP reports.
The individuals, who won’t be competing at the 25th edition of the winters, were symptomatic and tested positive on 28 and 31 January, with measures in place to contain any possible spread of infection.
“The Australian Winter Olympic team has medical protocols in place for any infectious disease or illness and are standard operating procedures for high performance environments which are being followed,” chef de mission and former aerial skier Alisa Camplin said.
Fifty-three men and women will compete in green and gold, the second-largest Australian team ever and largest for 12 years.
Updated
Real estate agents in Australia using apps that leave millions of lease documents at risk, digital researcher says
Australian platforms used by real estate agents to upload documentation for renters and landlords are leaving people’s personal information exposed in hyperlinks accessible online.
An analysis of seven rent platforms provided to Guardian Australia by a researcher, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed millions of leasing documents could be accessed by threat actors.
Real estate agents manage sensitive tenant and landlord data on a daily basis, including lease agreements, identification documents, payslips and personal references. Online platforms enable agents to store these documents in the cloud and make them accessible via hyperlinks.
The researcher found these links can be scanned by web crawlers and cached.
Read more here:
McCormack says One Nation surge fuelled by ‘clickbait publicity’
Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack says One Nation’s polling is picking up because members of the public are “cranky”, but he doubts that polling will transpire into real votes at an election.
Heading over from the ABC into the Sky News studio this morning, McCormack also says he supports David Littleproud, who will face a spill in a party room meeting this afternoon, and urges his party to get back to “core business”. As he told the ABC earlier, “cool heads” should prevail – but doesn’t go into whether that means a change in leader from either side.
On Pauline Hanson’s surge in the polls, the former deputy PM tells Sky that while the One Nation leader has been around federal politics since the 90s, she’s never “built” anything.
She’s [Hanson’s] very effective at that clickbait publicity … I’m not quite sure what it achieves. One Nation is, by and large, a protest movement, and people are, at the moment, they’re dissatisfied, and so when the pollsters ring up, they’ll always tell a pollster that they’re cranky, that yes, ‘I’ll give One Nation a vote’, but whether that transpires into a vote the next general election, I doubt it.
Updated
Home price growth speeds ahead so far in 2026
Growth in Australian home values re-accelerated in January, defying predictions 2026 would be a softer year for the property market and fears of an imminent Reserve Bank rate rise, AAP reports.
The median dwelling price hit a fresh national record of $912,465, data firm Cotality revealed in its monthly home value index on Monday.
Home values grew 0.8% in January, faster than the 0.6% growth recorded in December.
The property market showed signs of slowing in the last couple of months of 2025, which turned out to be a bumper year for price growth on the back of three interest rate cuts.
Growth was highest in the mid-tier markets, with median prices up 2% for the month in Perth, 1.6% in Brisbane and 1.2% in Adelaide. Values rose slightly in Sydney (0.2%) and Melbourne (0.1%).
McCormack says he thinks Littleproud has the numbers to survive any spill motion
Michael McCormack, the former Nationals leader, was asked about a potential spill motion against David Littleproud later today, saying: “That’s democracy.”
McCormack told RN Breakfast he thinks Littleproud has the numbers to maintain his leadership, but the Nationals will have to wait and see what happens, adding:
Anybody’s entitled to put their hands up and we’ll have to see how it plays out. I know that. Colin is a bit unhappy at the moment with how things are going.
McCormack added that he doesn’t know if or how a reunified Coalition will form, but said any chance required “cool heads, diplomacy, discipline and common sense”.
Updated
Andrew Bragg says Liberal party risks looking like a Days of Our Lives episode
Liberal frontbencher and shadow minister for deregulation, Andrew Bragg, says the opposition needs to come up with serious policy alternatives, as speculation grows over when Angus Taylor will attempt to roll leader Sussan Ley.
Bragg was asked if Ley is still the right person to lead the party, and seemed to dodge the question, just saying that the Liberals are a “serious party”. He was then asked point blank he if supports Ley. Bragg says “of course”.
He then warned:
People will mark us down if we appear more of a Days of Our Lives episode than a policy offering machine.
Bragg and Ley have this morning announced a “deregulation agenda”, which he says will cut red tape:
We are going to cut a large chunk of that red tape through a new target which means there will few fewer regulations, fewer laws, and it means that bus can get on with creating well and employing people rather than filling Canberra’s forms.
Updated
Dan Tehan says ‘no reason’ good faith negotiations can’t reform Coalition this week
Dan Tehan, the shadow minister for energy, said senior leaders from the Nationals and the Liberal party need to meet in Canberra this week and work through their differences amid a split in the Coalition last month.
Tehan spoke to RN Breakfast a day before lawmakers are set to return for the next parliament.
I think we need to quietly get senior people together and work through how we can get the Coalition back together. And that should be done behind closed doors, and there needs to be a meeting from both sides to say, “let’s put aside what has happened and let’s focus on what we need to do to reform the Coalition”.
There’s no reason, if everyone enters into this in good faith, that we can’t achieve that. And I think that should be an absolute focus this week.
Updated
Who is Colin Boyce?
When the Taroom cattle farmer Colin Boyce was elected to the Queensland parliament in 2017, his strongest opposition came from One Nation.
Three years later, Boyce’s plain-spoken first term as a Liberal National party backbencher – which included crossing the floor on a mining rehabilitation bill and a climate speech that claimed we should “celebrate” global heating – had won over One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
This week Boyce announced a tilt at the Nationals leadership, claiming he was “furious” at the implosion of the Coalition. He said events in Canberra had left the Nationals “the nothing party”.
Read more here:
Updated
David Littleproud may face spill motion today
The fallout from the Coalition’s latest spectacular split will come to a head with a Nationals backbencher moving to skewer David Littleproud’s leadership, AAP reports.
Queensland MP Colin Boyce will attempt to trigger a spill motion against the Nationals leader on Monday as politicians descend on Canberra for the return of federal parliament. Several Nationals members expect the motion will fail to trigger a vote on Littleproud’s leadership as it will need the backing of a colleague in the party room.
Boyce previously said he would put himself forward for the leadership and urge the Coalition to reunite, warning the party faced “going over the political cliff” otherwise.
Speculation has swirled over whether Sussan Ley’s job is also under threat, despite West Australian backbencher Andrew Hastie ruling himself out of contention on Friday. His decision could pave the way for conservative rival Angus Taylor, who has not ruled out vying for the opposition’s top job despite sitting on the frontbench.
Updated
‘Gunshot’ heard shortly after Porepunkah shooting focus of renewed police search for Dezi Freeman
Victoria police said the renewed search for Dezi Freeman is based on intelligence in “relation to a gunshot heard a short time after the fatal incident at Freeman’s Rayner Track property”.
The new search is scheduled to go for five days, and will focus on an area of Mount Buffalo national park near a similar search that took place in December, which encompassed thick bush and heavy terrain. Police said detectives have held a range of firearms tests in the vicinity as part of the inquiries.
There is nothing to indicate that Freeman is being aided by a specific person, but police say that remains a possibility. Adam Tilley, a detective inspector with a taskforce focused on finding the man, said in a statement:
It remains our number one priority to locate Freeman and the extensive and systematic searches conducted over the past five months are testament to this.
The same three possibilities remain open to us – Freeman is either dead, being harboured, or has gotten out from the area and surviving alone. At this time there is no intelligence to move us away from these possibilities or to make any one the more likely scenario, so we have to keep an open mind.
There is no doubt that everyone involved wants an answer and I want to reaffirm that Victoria Police remains committed to doing everything we can to locate Desmond Freeman and get that answer.
Updated
Good morning
Good morning, and welcome to Monday. Nick Visser here to take you through the day’s news. Here’s what’s on deck to start the week:
Victoria police will begin a renewed search for fugitive Dezi Freeman in the Mount Buffalo national park. More than 100 police and volunteers will hunt for the man near an area searched in December, more than five months after two officers were fatally shot at Freeman’s property in Porepunkah. Police said the new five-day search is based on “intelligence derived from information police obtained in relation to a gunshot heard a short time after the fatal incident at Freeman’s Rayner Track property” in August.
A Queensland MP will attempt to trigger a spill motion against Nationals leader David Littleproud today as politicians return to Canberra for the next parliament sitting. Several Nationals members expect the motion will fail to trigger a vote on Littleproud’s leadership as it will need the backing of a colleague in the party room.
Stick with us.
