What we learned, Friday 5 July 2024
With that, we’ll end our live coverage of the day’s news.
Here’s a summary of the main news developments:
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have congratulated the UK Labour leader, Keir Starmer, on becoming Britain’s new prime minister.
The Australian federal police are investigating whether “diversionary tactics” were used to distract police as four people allegedly trespassed onto Parliament House’s roof to protest the war in Gaza.
Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja has accused Peter Dutton of “fuelling Islamophobia”, while Labor MP Ed Husic also criticised the opposition leader, over his comments about “Muslim candidates from western Sydney”.
A Canberra back yard has become the latest site hit by a strain of bird flu. Read this explainer on why the avian influenza outbreak has left egg shoppers and farmers shell-shocked.
Thanks for reading. Have a pleasant evening.
Updated
Plibersek approves 54-turbine Muswellbrook wind farm project
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has approved a 54-turbine wind farm to be built 10km east of Muswellbrook in the Hunter region of New South Wales.
She said the approval of the 347 megawatt Bowmans Creek Wind farm, a project from South Korean-owned Ark Energy, came with “strict conditions” to protect threatened regent honeyeaters, swift parrots and koalas. She said:
We want to unlock Australia’s potential to be a world leader in renewable energy. I’ve now ticked off 55 renewable energy projects which will power over 3 million homes.”
Updated
Preschool educators say low wages leading to staffing ‘crisis’
Preschool educators demanding a pay rise have spoken out about a sector-wide “crisis” as colleagues leave in droves.
“We’re finding it hard to recruit and retain staff,” teacher Jodie Cox told AAP. “That impacts on the quality of care for children.”
Teachers in the Independent Education Union’s NSW branch gathered outside the Fair Work Commission’s Sydney office on Friday morning.
The union has applied to the commission to lift pay by 25% at more than 100 preschools across the state.
Low wages across the sector have led to a shortage of teachers, fellow teacher Lisa James told AAP. “They’re having to cap numbers because they can’t accept more children because they don’t have the staff,” she said.
Some preschools can only afford to open two days a week. The pay rate makes the sector unattractive to graduates with education degrees equally qualified for higher-paying jobs in primary schools.
Updated
Albanese government rejects call to ban WeChat from government devices, force TikTok breakup
The Australian government has quietly rejected a parliamentary committee’s call to ban WeChat from government devices, and a call for Australia to follow the US in forcing TikTok’s local operations to divest from the China-based parent company.
In a government response dropped on Friday to recommendations of an inquiry examining foreign influence on social media – which we covered earlier this year – the government rejected a suggestion to ban the Chinese communications app WeChat from government devices as it had with TikTok, instead “noting” the recommendation and saying the government “continues to assess technologies that may pose a risk and will take further action if required”.
The government also noted a recommendation that should the US force ByteDance to divest its stake in TikTok (as is currently underway) then the Australian government should also consider whether TikTok Australia should be separated from ByteDance.
The government said a decision by the US government is a matter for the US government, and risk assessments continue to take place in consultation with international counterparts.
The committee also recommended large social media platforms be required to have transparency over state-affiliated media, number of takedowns, government directions over content, and a public library of advertisements. The government indicated this would be addressed in the long-awaited misinformation and disinformation bill, currently under revision from its draft and yet to be entered in parliament.
Updated
Dutton says ‘Australia can learn’ from new UK PM’s nuclear stance
Peter Dutton has congratulated Keir Starmer on being elected as British prime minister, and claimed Australia can learn from his policy on nuclear power.
Dutton released a statement on Friday afternoon stating “our bilateral relationship is a strong partnership untarnished by the passing of time, undiminished by distance, and unsullied by changes in government”.
Dutton said:
In these precarious times, there is no more important endeavour for our two nations than injecting speed and resolve into our defence objectives and partnership under the AUKUS agreement.
I take this opportunity to commend Sir Keir Starmer and the UK Labour Party for their goals to make Britain ‘a clean energy superpower’ and to achieve ‘energy independence’.
The new British Government’s plan includes building new nuclear power stations and small modular reactors to help the UK ‘achieve energy security and clean power while securing thousands of good, skilled jobs.’ There is much Australia can learn from the British experience.”
Dutton also thanked the British Conservative Party for its “unwavering commitment” to the bilateral relationship over its more than 14 years of government.
Updated
Council may face prosecution as Gold Coast sewage spill revealed to be worse than first thought
Already described as Queensland’s biggest sewage spill, an independent report now reveals the Gold Coast leak was worse than first reported.
A number of factors led to a burst sewage pipe spilling about 450 megalitres of effluent into the Albert River, south of Brisbane, the report said.
The figure is 100 megalitres more than what was first reported when the state government launched its own investigation into the leak. About five megalitres a day spilled from the Gold Coast city council sewerage system into the river from 11 January to 8 April.
Corrosion caused the pipe leak, while the Gold Coast council’s reliance on the public and another local government to detect spills contributed to why it took so long to identify, the report said.
“The extent of the spill was confirmed on April 12 with a total calculated spill volume of approximately 450 ML,” the independent report commissioned by the Gold Coast council said.
The council may face prosecution after the state government announced it would also investigate the “catastrophic failure” back in April. “We haven’t seen a spill of this magnitude in Queensland to my knowledge,” the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation said at the time.
The state government probe is ongoing.
Local prawn farms had been forced to stop their operations while the leak was contained and anyone who caught seafood in the river was urged not to consume it. More than a month after the spill was first reported, the Gold Coast council reopened the river for commercial and recreational fishing.
– AAP
Updated
Many thanks for joining me on the blog, Elias Visontay will be here to take you through the rest of our rolling coverage. Take care, and enjoy your weekend.
Ed Husic hits back at Dutton over 'Muslim candidates from Western Sydney' comments
Cabinet minister Ed Husic has also taken a swipe at Peter Dutton’s claims about “Muslim candidates from western Sydney” at the next election, pointing out there are already “two of us who serve as ministers”.
One of those, of course, is Husic himself, the minister for industry and science. The other is Anne Aly, the minister for early childhood and youth.
“Um, Pete? Newsflash. There’s not only been a Muslim candidate from western Sydney for more than a decade now, there’s also two of us who serve as minister …” Husic wrote in a post on Instagram.
Maybe try showing some leadership and bring people together rather than tear them apart … it’s been done before.
Husic, the member for the western Sydney seat of Chifley, was responding to Dutton’s comments yesterday about defecting Labor senator Fatima Payman.
Dutton claimed Labor would fall into minority government in the next term of Parliament, and would govern with an alliance that “will include the Greens, it’ll include the Green-Teals, it’ll include Muslim candidates from Western Sydney, it will be a disaster.”
“If you think the Albanese Government is bad now, wait for it to be a minority government with the Greens, the Green-Teals and Muslim independents,” Dutton claimed.
Updated
Albanese congratulates new UK Labour prime minister
Anthony Albanese has congratulated the new UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, in a post to X. Albanese wrote:
Congratulations to my friend and new UK Prime Minister [Keir Starmer] on his resounding election victory – I look forward to working constructively with the incoming [UK Labour] Government.
Congratulations to my friend and new UK Prime Minister @Keir_Starmer on his resounding election victory - I look forward to working constructively with the incoming @UKLabour Government
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 5, 2024
Updated
NSW preschool teachers call for pay rise up to 25%
Preschool teachers are demanding more money to attract and retain staff amid subsidies aimed at boosting enrolment, AAP reports.
The Independent Education Union has applied to the Fair Work Commission to lift pay by up to 25% for staff at more than 100 community-based NSW preschools.
Staff shortages in education were even worse in the early learning sector, the preschool teacher Janene Rox told reporters outside the commission today.
Paediatric doctors are not paid any less because they are supporting the youngest in our community, so why is it different for our teachers?
Early-career schoolteachers annually earn almost $15,000 more than colleagues in preschools, while experienced teachers can earn almost $32,000 more, the union’s secretary, Carol Matthews, said.
Lifting wages in the highly feminised preschool sector could also narrow the gender pay gap, while assisting parents juggling carer responsibilities, she said.
The education and early learning minister, Prue Car, said the NSW government was not directly involved in negotiations, but supported the process and would monitor the union’s application.
Updated
Climate group behind Parliament House protest to hold weekend rally
Rising Tide, the group behind the climate protest at Parliament House yesterday, says it will be holding a people’s climate assembly in Sydney tomorrow afternoon.
In a statement, the group says the former Socceroo and human rights activist Craig Foster will speak at the assembly in Surry Hills, urging the federal government to “show a red card” to fossil fuel companies.
The group has also flagged that on Sunday a group of kayaks are set to paddle across Sydney Harbour and deliver a message to the PM at Kirribilli House – a scroll with “thousands” of signatures of people pledging “resistance to end coal exports from Newcastle by 2030”.
The Newcastle law student and Splash organiser Zach Schofield says:
If the government won’t take on the fossil fuel industry, we will … The People’s Climate Assembly is a great way for all of us to come together and realise we’re not alone, there are many of us who feel the same way and are prepared to take action for a better future.
Updated
Person rescued from long drop toilet in regional Victoria
Every Australian child’s worst nightmare has come true for one person, who was rescued after becoming stuck in a long drop toilet in regional Victoria.
The Country Fire Authority assisted Ambulance Victoria with the incident at about 2.13am today, after reports a person was stuck in a drop toilet on McSweens Road in Indigo Valley.
Crews worked to “remove structure around the person” and safely extricate them, before handing them over to paramedics.
The incident wrapped up just before 3am, a CFA spokesperson said.
Updated
Second case of bird flu in ACT detected in back yard chickens
A Canberra back yard has become the latest site hit by a strain of bird flu, reports AAP.
ACT authorities on Friday confirmed a group of chickens kept at the home had tested positive to the virus, the territory’s second site to be affected.
The home is in a quarantine area set up after an egg facility in Canberra’s north detected the virus last week. Along with the two sites in the ACT, eight farms in Victoria and two in NSW have been forced to close to stop the bird flu spreading.
The ACT environment minister, Rebecca Vassarotti, praised the home’s residents for preventing further spread of the virus to the broader bird population.
Vassarotti said:
While disappointing to have a second case, it is not unexpected. Like jurisdictions across the country this is unfortunately the reality of such a highly transmittable virus.
Avian influenza is very easily transmitted by moving sick birds from property to property, as well as from contaminated boots, equipment and vehicles if proper biosecurity measures aren’t in place.
More than 1 million chickens and ducks have been culled due to the outbreaks.
The spread of bird flu has prompted major supermarkets in NSW, Victoria and the ACT to introduce limits of two cartons of eggs per customer. Fast-food chain McDonald’s has also been forced to shorten its breakfast hours due to egg supply issues.
You can read Guardian Australia’s explainer on the egg shortage here:
Updated
Community festivals could help rescue live music scene, inquiry hears
Funding community music festivals with a proven track record would help rescue Australia’s live music scene, an inquiry has been told.
“Every musician in Australia starts from a grassroots level,” even John Butler and Daniel Champagne, the Cobargo folk festival director, Zena Armstrong, told the parliamentary hearing in Canberra.
It is examining Australia’s live music industry as it contends with soaring costs, last-minute ticket sales and extreme weather events.
Queensland’s Caloundra music festival recently became the latest in a string of cancellations that includes big events such as Splendour in the Grass, Groovin the Moo and Falls festival.
The Cobargo folk festival, which is held in the NSW town in February, attracts about 7,000 people, but competes in a crowded market.
“We can’t compete against the fly-in fly-out festivals,” Armstrong explained. “They take our volunteers, they take our audiences, they take our dollars, and we love them, but it’s challenge for us.”
Organisers of some of Australia’s longest-running music events, including Tamworth country music festival and Port Fairy folk festival are also fronting the hearing on Friday.
– AAP
Updated
BoM warns damaging wind gusts expected in Flinders Ranges tomorrow
The Bureau of Meteorology says damaging wind gusts are expected to develop from early tomorrow morning around the Flinders Ranges in South Australia.
Peak gusts of about 90km/h are likely to develop over parts of the ranges and its immediate western slopes from early Saturday morning, the BoM says.
Damaging wind gusts are forecast to ease below warning thresholds by Saturday afternoon.
Locations which may be affected include Hawker, Melrose, Parachilna and Quorn.
.@BOM_SA have issued a Severe Weather Warning ⚠️ for DAMAGING WINDS 🌬️ For the Flinders, Mid North & NE Pastoral districts. Issued 10:23am 5 July 2024
— SA SES (@SA_SES) July 5, 2024
☎️ For emergency storm or flood assistance, call 132 500https://t.co/BuU3rJXFbk pic.twitter.com/pcVP965RjB
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Government plans expansion of marine park for Heard and McDonald Islands
The Australian government plans to substantially expand a Southern Ocean marine park that includes the remote subantarctic Heard and McDonald Islands, adding more than 300,000 sq km to the protected area.
Heard and McDonald Islands are 1,700km north of Antarctica, world heritage listed and home to penguins, seals, whales and albatross.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, says the proposal to quadruple the size of the marine park would increase Australia’s marine protected areas to more than half the country’s ocean territory. She says it would help protect endangered seabirds and seals but still allow “the continuation of the sustainable fishing industry”.
This is a unique and extraordinary part of our planet, we have to do everything we can to protect it.
Conservation groups have welcomed the expansion, but say the plan does not go far enough.
The national oceans manager for Pew Charitable Trusts, Fiona Maxwell, says:
The plan does not adequately protect key conservation features, such as undersea canyons, seamounts and the Williams Ridge, which have important seafloor habitats and support feeding grounds for wildlife such as Antarctic fur seals, elephant seals, penguins, albatross and fish.
Public consultation on the expansion is open until 5 September.
Updated
‘Grubby politics’: Pocock calls out Payman ‘smear’
The independent senator David Pocock has called out the politicking around Senator Fatima Payman’s citizenship after she quit the Labor party, AAP reports.
“Senior Labor figures” quoted in The Australian raised concerns about Payman’s Afghan citizenship. She declared her citizenship before the election and was supported by Labor as a candidate, and has declared she made representations to renounce but could not go further because of the Taliban government.
Pocock, who himself had to deal with dual citizenship issues before running, told AAP:
Raising questions about her eligibility under section 44 by people from the same party who took responsibility for ensuring the eligibility of her candidacy and now are too cowardly to put their name to the allegations is such grubby politics.
I hope people will see this backgrounding and smear campaign for what it is.
Updated
Tyrrell urges Labor to reform ‘broken’ employment provider system
The independent senator for Tasmania Tammy Tyrrell has weighed in on the government’s response to the review into employment providers, which was released yesterday.
(We had more details earlier in the blog here.)
Tyrrell says:
The committee report on employment services last year had 75 recommendations. The government’s response is 23 pages long. There’s a lot of words and not a lot of substance.
I worked in employment services for 15 years. You were made to see people as dollar figures instead of human beings. The system is broken. We need to put people back at the heart of employment services.
The committee recommended that Labor immediately fund a pilot program of Tassie’s Regional Jobs Hub program. It’s doing amazing things connecting jobseekers with businesses in their local communities. All Minister Burke has to do is sign the money over and he’s failed to do that. If Labor is committed to reforming this broken system, they need to fund this Tassie program immediately.
Updated
Young people feel robbed of their youth, new report finds
Young people feel like they are missing out on being young, according to a new report from the Monash Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice.
According to data collected for the 2022 Australian Youth Barometer, 45% of Australians aged 18-24 often feel like they are missing out on being young because of cost-of-living pressures and balancing work with study.
Young people identified challenges around four key areas – finances, work, education and long-term planning. Some key findings of the report included:
69% of young people who often worried about having enough to eat often felt that they were missing out on being young.
60% who often experienced financial difficulties often felt that they were missing out on being young.
51% who were unemployed often felt that they were missing out on being young.
55% who felt that it was unlikely they would have children in the future felt that they were missing out on being young.
The report’s co-author Prof Lucas Walsh said the report highlights how young people must be at the centre of this discussion about how they can be better supported:
Young people, locked up during the pandemic, navigating a hostile employment environment and upended studies, have told us they have missed out on being young. They’ve been denied key life-experiences during a critical period of development in their lives.
Updated
Greens condemn ‘despicable’ new restrictions on university protests
The Greens have taken aim at the University of Sydney over new restrictions on campus protests, announced yesterday, which require 72 hours of notice to be provided to management for any planned demonstration and approval to use megaphones and attach banners to university buildings.
Camping is also banned, while breaches could lead to the removal of staff or students from campus. It follows the dissolution of the university’s pro-Palestine encampment, which was the longest running in Australia.
The Greens deputy leader and higher education spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said students and staff should not need permission to exercise their right to protest.
What we are seeing here is a despicable attempt by neoliberal, corporate university management to stifle student activism and shut down political expression.
Staunch campus activism has changed the world. University campuses should always be political spaces where students and staff are encouraged to speak out on issues of social, racial and environmental justice.
In an email to staff, the vice-chancellor of the university, Mark Scott, said it was important to have the “right settings in place to support healthy debate and freedom of expression while providing a safe, welcoming and lively campus for all members of our community”, acknowledging the camp’s presence had “challenged” the campus in many ways.
Updated
Continuing from our last post: The AFP’s deputy commissioner, Krissy Barrett, said the climate protesters had not been arrested but were part of the “ongoing investigations” into incidents at Parliament House on Thursday.
Barrett said the AFP were aware of other protesters in the building beyond those who made it to the roof and who glued themselves to the foyer’s marble columns.
In total, we were aware of up to 30 protesters who were in the vicinity, either inside or outside [on Thursday] who were removed … part of our ongoing investigation will be to talk to others, review footage, those sorts of things, to see if there are other offences that we can charge and prosecute.
Barrett added preliminary inquiries suggest the roof protesters scaled a $125m security fence installed in 2018 to keep protesters and security threats out. Barrett said:
The information we have available to us is that they breached the fence that sits on the grass either side of the house and was able to get over that fence. It did trigger an alarm and therefore, we were obviously aware, but they were up on the roof.
Updated
Parliament House protesters used ‘premeditated’, ‘diversionary tactics’, AFP chief says
It is hard to believe there was a significant protest at Parliament House among all the other political news yesterday.
While the press gallery was focused on the resignation of the Western Australian senator Fatima Payman from the Labor party, the Australian federal police (AFP) were again appearing before senators for a spillover estimates hearing.
Essentially, that happens when senators feel they have a lot more questions and topics than can be slotted into a neat timeslot during the estimates week schedule.
It was particularly useful timing as earlier on Thursday two protests occurred within the building simultaneously. Around 10am, a group of climate protesters glued their hands to marble columns in the building’s foyer.
Shortly after, while the climate protesters were being dealt with, another group of protesters scaled a security fence to reach a sealed-off roof section of Parliament House’s facade. There, they unfurled banners protesting the Labor government’s approach to the war in Gaza and remained there for some time during the morning.
The AFP commissioner, Reece Kershaw, told the estimates hearing the protesters had used “premeditated”, “diversionary tactics” to the initial response.
We did also have some false phone calls of other protests happening at nearby areas that did not occur. So … not only was there diversionary efforts at Parliament House, but there was on diverting AFP resources to other areas. So this was quite what I would call a criminal act. Hence the four arrests and the charges.
Updated
Victorian minister gives enthusiastic endorsement of new train platform
Victoria’s acting premier, Ben Carroll, and the transport infrastructure minister, Danny Pearson, are holding a press conference to mark trains resuming on the Lilydale line after level crossing removal works.
Speaking from the new platform at Croydon station, which is set to open later this month, Pearson gives it a very, very enthusiastic endorsement. He says:
It’s million dollar views, baby. You’re looking over the Dandenongs, it is just stunning, right? Like seriously, I could see me on a Friday night having a barbecue up here, looking over the views, right? Like it’s just an absolute knockout being delivered by this government … it is epic. It is just so fantastic. It will be a complete game changer for the community … It’s cool. It’s awesome. It’s great.
He goes on to describe the Metro Tunnel, which the government says will open in 2025, as a modern equivalent to the Ancient Roman aqueduct.
Asked by a journo why he is so excited this morning, Pearson says: “It’s just caffeine. Just lots of caffeine in the morning today.”
Updated
Recognition of a Palestinian state is ‘part of the peace process, not an impediment to peace’, Labor veteran says
The former Labor senator for NSW Doug Cameron has called for the recognition of a Palestinian state as “part of the peace process, not an impediment to peace”.
In a post to X, Cameron said:
Why does the parliamentary party refuse to progress the peace process by recognising Palestine? Have not heard a logical reason why the will of the ALP [national conference] and the majority of R&F is ignored. Recognising Palestine is part of the peace process not an impediment to peace!
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Albanese weighs in on UK election results
Changing topics, Anthony Albanese is asked for his thoughts on the results coming out of the UK election – where Keir Starmer looks set to be Britain’s next prime minister, returning Labour to power and bringing an end to 14 years of Conservative rule.
Albanese says he knows Starmer well and has met him “on a number of occasions”. The PM also says he has worked “constructively” with Rishi Sunak and “I wish him well as well”.
We have a strong relationship between our two countries. But in Sir Keir Starmer and [deputy leader] Angela Rayner and so many others who I am so familiar with in the British Labour party, I look forward very much to working with them.
They have similar views to us on a range of issues. I’m sure we will work closely on Aukus – where we worked very closely as well with the former government. I went through in my first six months of being the prime minister of Australia, I met three different British prime ministers [and] had constructive engagement with all of them.
Albanese says he looks forward to Starmer potentially visiting Australia as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, which he expects “will occur and in coming months”.
It’s been a very disciplined, significant campaign by the British Labour party and certainly, without pre-empting – the polls have closed now so I think I can comment – that I congratulate all those who have been successful.
Updated
The prime minister says his Labor caucus is “the most diverse caucus that there has ever been”, after being asked whether the party could attract more young people by allowing conscience votes?
Anthony Albanese responds that “we’re a broad-based party” and says:
My government has more than 50% women. That stands in stark contrast to those opposite who essentially have gone backwards – it is unbelievable that they have gone backwards, and the Queensland LNP seem incapable of selecting a woman …
He notes that two members of his caucus were sworn in on the Koran, and “we have a government led in the Senate by someone called Wong, and in the House of Representatives by someone called Albanese”.
That is what we have. That is what Australia looks like. We are open, our branch membership is open … We have diversity, we’re an open party, we’re an inclusive party across people of gender, faith, ethnicity, sexuality …
Updated
Anthony Albanese also weighs in on pro-Palestine protests outside Labor MPs’ electorate offices:
I find it incomprehensible how anyone in mainstream politics could regard that action as something that is legitimate and should be encouraged … I don’t think prime minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu is thinking, ‘I wonder what’s happening outside an electorate office in Marrickville Road before I make decisions.’
It’s just completely self-indulgent and what is occurring, though, is that people in my electorate who are vulnerable people – people who turn up to electorate offices, need help with health, with social security, with migration, with issues with Centrelink, with the NDIS – and they are currently stopped from doing that and that has been the case for many months.
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Payman ‘at no stage’ raised concerns in caucus about the Middle East: Albanese
Circling back to Anthony Albanese’s press conference. He says Senator Fatima Payman “at no stage” raised concerns with caucus about what is happening in the Middle East “or about anything else”.
Here is his full comment:
There’s 103 people who are members of my caucus who have a common position … One of the things I find disappointing about Senator Payman, is that – and the decision she’s taken, she has a right to take that decision – [but] at no stage, no stage, did Senator Payman stand in the caucus and make any comments about the Middle East or about anything else … No comments in the time in which Senator Payman has had the privilege of serving the Senate as a Labor senator.
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Labor response to employment services review ‘deeply disappointing’, Acoss says
Yesterday afternoon the government put out its official response to last year’s review into employment providers.
The parliamentary review found the system had failed, was expensive and often did not help people get into jobs. It also urged Labor to re-establish a commonwealth job agency and overhaul the mutual obligations regime.
In a response this morning, the Australian Council of Social Service CEO, Dr Cassandra Goldie, said:
The current employment services model is inflicting serious harm while failing to help 900,000 people who are unemployed find work.
While changes outlined in the May budget offered small steps in the right direction, the government has failed to take urgent action to prevent harm or provide a clear plan for badly needed reform. Today’s response is deeply disappointing.
Nearly two-thirds of people affected have had to rely on income support for more than a year – a sign employment services aren’t working.
Acoss will continue to seek firm commitments from the government to end automated payment suspensions, create an independent body to lift standards, invest in a much larger national wage subsidy and work experience scheme and establish a national council made up of people using employment services to advise the minister on reforms.
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Just following on from our last post: Senator Fatima Payman said in an interview this morning that she had “not made the decision to leave the party until yesterday morning and I hold firm to that”.
You can read her full comments earlier in the blog here.
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Anthony Albanese weighs in on the timing of Fatima Payman’s announcement she would resign from the Labor party, and says:
I heard a month ago – a month ago – where this was going to go, and if you look at some of the meticulous timing of events, including Senator Payman choosing question time yesterday to make the statements that she did – I just thought the press gallery were, you know, sleeping in after a big night in the press gallery ball when there were so few in the gallery yesterday at 2[pm].
But if you look at that, if you look at the timing – she wasn’t walking past the Insiders studio and … David Speers didn’t yell out, “Hey Fatima come and have a chat.” The budget week statements, the opinion piece that was put in in the lead-up to the crossing of the floor – people can draw their own conclusions, like I have mine, people will draw their own. But people should be upfront about their actions and should be accountable and responsible for them.
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Anthony Albanese continues his response:
It seems to me as well beyond obvious that it’s not in the interest of small and minority groups to isolate themselves, which is what a faith-based party system would do.
I note as well that many people who are refugees in Australia have fled theocracies, have fled regimes that have been based upon so-called religion that has resulted in the oppression of people who do not subscribe to what is often extreme forms. Hamas is an extremist organisation that does nothing to look after Palestinians who don’t fit their view of the world.
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PM says faith-based political parties would 'undermine social cohesion'
A reporter asks Anthony Albanese about the “grassroots” political movement Muslim Vote, which has previously said it would back at least three independent candidates aiming to topple Labor ministers and the government whip in western Sydney at the next federal election.
Albanese responds:
I don’t think and don’t want Australia to go down the road of faith-based political parties because [all] that will do is undermine social cohesion.
Muslim Vote has not indicated it is a political party but a “grassroots movement” working to mobilise volunteers who would support independent candidates.
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Albanese asked about Payman during press conference
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to the media from Queanbeyan.
He is asked about Senator Fatima Payman’s decision to leave the Labor party and says:
I think that people look at Fatima Payman, she’s made a decision. Fatima Payman received around about 1,600 votes in the WA election. The ALP box above the line received 511,000 votes. It’s very clear that Fatima Payman is in the Senate because people in WA wanted to elect a Labor government and that’s why they put a number 1 in the box above the line next to Australian Labor party rather than voted below the line for any individual.
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Dutton says there are questions for Labor over Payman eligibility
Earlier this morning, Peter Dutton hopped on his usual Channel Nine Today show slot with Bill Shorten.
Like every federal politician this morning, he was asked about Senator Fatima Payman’s decision to quit the Labor party yesterday and join the crossbench.
The 29-year-old first-time senator was indefinitely suspended from the Labor caucus this week for threatening to cross the floor again on votes for Palestinian statehood. On Thursday, she announced her resignation with a heavy heart but a clear conscience.
But a story in the Australian this morning has suggested unnamed “senior figures” within Labor are questioning her eligibility as senator due to being born in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Dutton said the parliamentary eligibility crisis of 2017 and 2018 was “pretty red hot” and if the Labor party knew Payman wasn’t “constitutionally valid to sit in the parliament” that would be an outrage.
It’s pretty red hot if there is a constitutional issue, the Labor party knew about it, so they’ve supported a member of parliament knowing that she wasn’t constitutionally valid to sit in the parliament – which I think is an outrage. That’s quite different than somebody who has a Section 44 issue. So there’s that question to answer.
Shorten said the party’s Western Australian branch “would have checked that out”.
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Ley dismisses Khawaja claim that Dutton is ‘fuelling Islamophobia’
The deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has dismissed claims by the Australian cricket player Usman Khawaja that Peter Dutton made Islamophobic remarks yesterday (see previous post).
Ley responded on Channel Seven’s Sunrise this morning:
Now on the matter of Usman Khawaja, he is a good guy and a great cricketer, but he’s wrong on this. I believe Australians don’t want to see religious independents. Our political system has always been secular, and it has welcomed all, and we don’t want any religious independents calling the shots in a minority Labor government, particularly under this weak and distracted prime minister, because this is all that news channels are talking about today, Fatima Payman, her citizenship.
Ley then turned to the issue of Senator Payman, who yesterday quit Labor to sit on the crossbench after finding herself at odds with the party’s inaction on recognising Palestinian statehood.
We’ve got a young woman who is claiming that she has been bullied out of the Labor party by the Labor party, and overnight this issue of her citizenship being raised, perhaps at the direction of the prime minister, yet again another attack on her.
Who is looking after her welfare? I asked the prime minister questions in the parliament this week and he just fobbed them off. I think it’s important as a young vulnerable Muslim woman in this parliament with the claims that she was making.
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Usman Khawaja accuses Dutton of ‘fuelling Islamophobia from the very top’
The Australian cricket player Usman Khawaja has accused the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, of “fuelling Islamophobia from the very top”.
During a press conference yesterday, Dutton predicted that if the Labor party retains government it would be a minority and “will include the Greens, it’ll include green teals, it’ll include Muslim candidates from western Sydney, it will be a disaster”.
Khawaja responded to this in a post to X, and wrote:
As a Muslim who grew up in Western Sydney I find this comment from someone who is running for PM an absolute disgrace. Bigotry at its finest. Fueling Islamophobia from the very top.
Dutton’s office was contacted for a response and directed us to an interview he gave on the Today show earlier this morning. While not directly addressing this incident, Dutton was asked if he has a problem with religion-based parties and said:
I don’t have any problem with a party that has a religious view. My problem is not with somebody of Islamic faith – quite the opposite – not with somebody of Jewish faith. But when you say that your task is to, as a first order of priority, to support a Palestinian cause or a cause outside of Australia, that is a very different scenario. So, I think when that is the main cause, we have all sorts of problems and I just don’t see that in any other party in the country at the moment.
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Education minister ‘presumes’ Payman can continue as senator
The education minister, Jason Clare, says he “presumes” the now independent senator Fatima Payman will continue on as senator after reports emerged that senior Labor figures were questioning whether her Afghan citizenship could force her out.
On Channel Seven’s Sunrise this morning, Clare said he “honestly [didn’t] know the answer to that” and that he presumed she would continue to serve as an independent senator.
Clare continued:
More generally, I’m just really disappointed that this has all happened, because ultimately we all want the same thing; we all want the war to end in Gaza, we want the slaughter and the suffering to end in Gaza, and we want two countries established there, two states, two people who can live side by side in safety and security without what we’re seeing happening right now.
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Dating apps complying with new safety code could get ‘blue tick’, ministers say
As my colleague Josh Butler wrote about earlier, the federal government has announced a new industry code to keep users safer online from harassment and abuse.
Dating apps that sign up to the code, which so far have included Bumble and Grindr but not yet Tinder and Hinge, will be required to introduce harm detection systems, target users found to have breached policies, establish a transparent and prominent complaint reporting systems with support resources for users, and publish regular transparency reports about their actions.
This morning the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, and social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, spoke from Parliament House revealing there would also be a new ratings system for users to determine the level of safety features an app might have.
“We are confident that this has given a very clear indication to the sector that the government expects more,” Rowland said.
The communications minister said “some form” of blue tick system may be implemented to show users which dating apps are compliant with the new rules.
Rowland said the code would be up and running in three months and reviewed by the eSafety commissioner in nine months. Rishworth said:
These type of technological companies do rely on a social licence here in Australia and my message to those that haven’t signed up, is always encourage them seriously to think about signing up to this code. I think there is a public mood here in Australia that technological companies do have safety of Australian consumers, and particularly when it comes to violence gets women at the forefront of their mind … they don’t have to do it today. But look at it very seriously.
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Government announces $50m to help unlock energy efficient equipment for small and medium businesses
The Albanese government has announced it will allocate $50m to support discounted loans for farmers, freight companies and other small and medium businesses buying energy efficient equipment.
The investment through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation would go towards discounted finance – worth $250m by the non-bank lender Metro – for EVs, rooftop solar and batteries, a statement said.
Farmers would also be able to access discounted finance for energy efficient farm and building machinery such as tractors, harvesters, earthmovers and cranes.
Climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen said:
Clean technologies like EVs, solar, batteries and electric machinery are a great way for businesses to save on energy bills and decarbonise.
Assistant climate change and energy minister Jenny McAllister said the discounted loans would mean savings on energy bills and the cost of financing:
We want to help small businesses across industries and across the country make every watt count. These lower cost energy performance upgrades mean more control over energy use and emissions, especially in hard-to-abate sectors.
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UK election results
For those wishing to follow all the latest on the UK election results, you can follow our separate live blog below:
Keir Starmer is going to be the next UK prime minister, returning Labour to power and bringing an end to 14 years of Conservative rule. But who is he and what does he stand for? You can listen to more with the Full Story podcast here.
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Payman ‘obviously passed eligibility to be elected’, Malarndirri McCarthy says
Labor senator and minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy has spoken with ABC News Breakfast about Fatima Payman’s decision to quit Labor.
McCarthy said Payman “brings so much to the caucus” and for “those of us who do call her a really close friend, I think that this has been a very sad time”:
But I also know that Senator Payman is very firm in the direction that she would like to go, and I sincerely wish her all the best.
McCarthy was asked about a story in the Australian newspaper that says senior Labor figures are raising Payman’s Afghan citizenship as a risk to her remaining in the Senate because of a potential breach of section 44 of the constitution.
McCarthy responded:
It’s unfortunate that that’s actually on the front page of the newspaper today.
She said it was “really unfortunate that this is a focus” and, when pressed that it had been raised by members of her party, responded:
I’m not sure if it’s just party members – it could be rumours and innuendo. What I will say is this: that the Australian Labor party has a vetting process that is very clear about our eligibility, and Senator Payman obviously passed that in order to be elected.
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‘I’m looking forward to what the next few weeks hold,’ Fatima Payman says
Wrapping up the interview, Fatima Payman flagged what she was looking towards in the future:
I made the decision yesterday morning [to quit the party] so it’s a lot to take in. It’s a lot to plan what my party policy – or if I’m going to establish a party policy – what that’s gonna look like.
This is an evolving space, it’s very exciting. Definitely at 29 making such a huge decision and now really excited to go back home and reunite with my West Australians and ask them how I can best represent them …
In saying that there’s going to be a period of grief, if you’d like to say – leaving my Labor political family isn’t going to be an easy time, but I’m looking forward to what the next few weeks hold.
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Payman told colleagues ‘in confidence’ she was praying for guidance on Gaza motion
Patricia Karvelas asked Fatima Payman to clarify what she meant, when she told Labor colleagues she was praying for guidance on how to vote on the Gaza motion.
At yesterday’s press conference, when asked about this, Payman said she was “offended or insulted [at the idea] that just because I am a visibly Muslim woman I only care about Muslim issues.”
Speaking this morning, Payman said:
When I told them that I would be praying and seeking guidance from God, that was in confidence and I did not expect that they would go around telling people, almost in a condescending, ridiculing why like, “Oh, look at this one. She’s praying to this almighty being.”
It was something serious that I had to spend time reflecting, and everyone has their own ways of coming to a decision. I didn’t fully have an idea of how I decided to – I was on the Senate floor, making that decision. So for my colleagues to, I don’t know, make it seem like it’s very ridiculous that this person has to depend on a high being, like that’s personal to me …
And plus we pray every single morning in the chamber, so to just single me out in a situation like this is poor form.
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‘I’ve received such an overwhelming amount of support’
Host Patricia Karvelas: “If it just said on the last election Senate paper, ‘Fatima Payman: independent’, do you think you would have got elected?”
Fatima Payman: “I can’t speculate what would have happened.”
Karvelas: “It’s pretty unlikely, right?”
Payman: “Yes, but a genocide wasn’t taking place, Patricia.”
She continued:
I’ve received such an overwhelming amount of support over the last few weeks from people in Western Australia who want to see the values of fairness, justice and equality upheld. And that’s made me realise that I need to be that independent voice for Western Australians and young people without boundaries and limitations.
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‘I had not made the decision to leave the party until yesterday morning’
Fatima Payman was asked why she met political strategist Glenn Druery days before officially announcing she would quit the Labor party.
Shesaid she had decided to leave the Labor party only yesterday, because on Wednesday during question time the prime minister flagged that he expected her to make an announcement.
She told ABC Radio:
I’ve met Glenn Druery through the members of the community in Sydney, among many other people that I had met over the last week and a half. When the possibility of crossing the floor was brought to me, I understood what that would mean as the consequence of potentially being expelled and when one has to make a career-changing decision … making sure that I’ve got all my Is dotted and Ts crossed is very important to get all the information to see what all the options are.
But in saying that, I had not made the decision to leave the party until yesterday morning and I hold firm to that.
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Payman says Labor should embrace dissenting voices
Senator Fatima Payman said diversity “comes with unique experiences”, and that diversity of thought and views “needs to be accepted”:
Dissenting voices within the ranks need to be heard. If the Labor party wants to continue representing modern-day Australia, they really need to embrace the differences that are going to be voiced within their ranks and perhaps even allow those conscience votes from time to time. Because what Australia is looking like today is very different than what it was 20, 30 years ago.
(Katy Gallagher later responded to this, and you can read that here.)
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Fatima Payman pushed on ‘tone deaf’ comment
Circling back to Fatima Payman’s interview on ABC Radio, when she said she “wholeheartedly” stood by her decision to quit the Labor party yesterday.
Payman was asked about a comment she made during yesterdays’s announcement that she was quitting the party, when she said:
Unlike my colleagues, I know how it feels to be on the receiving end of injustice.
Payman was asked: “Some Labor MPs have said they feel like that was tone deaf, do you accept that?”
She said “everyone’s got their own story, and I appreciate that”, and continued:
In my situation, being a daughter of a refugee, coming from a war-torn country, having seen devastation and experienced it – even if it was second hand through the trauma that my family has gone through, and obviously my dad’s experience, travelling the ocean, in a boat coming to Australia – these are experiences that shape an individual’s perspective growing up and experiences as a young woman trying to adjust into a new society …
Those were experiences that were unique to me and injustices … perhaps one of them being expected to just accept things as they are when I’m experiencing a difference in treatment in a workplace, for example – whereas, you know, an Anglo-Saxon colleague can just get away with something I have to prove myself, I have to work extra hard.
Asked if this happened in the Labor caucus, Payman said:
I would say that it’s happened across my many roles prior to even being in the Labor caucus.
Updated
‘We argue, we agree, and ultimately we land on a position’
Host Patricia Karvelas asks: Fatima Payman told me that if Labor wants to continue as a party to represent modern Australia, you’re going to need to allow MPs to cross the floor in the future. Is that worth considering?
Katy Gallagher:
I disagree with that, and I think the caucus disagrees with that.
I mean, we have our process. So we have caucus committees, we have caucus itself, we have factional meetings where members of the Labor party argue and contest the ideas that are before us …
People bring their diversity and their own experience into those forums. We argue, we agree, and ultimately we land on a position and that is how it works. That is how us as individuals, you know, stick together with a caucus position – it is agitated and argued over and debated in all the way that you would expect politicians to, because not everyone has the same view. But once we’ve landed on that position, that is the position that we stand for in the parliament and vote for.
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‘If it was me, I would not sit in the Senate’
Katy Gallagher says if she herself couldn’t sit in parliament as anything other than a Labor senator, she would leave the parliament:
I think [Fatima Payman] was elected as a Labor senator. The matter of whether or not she sits in the Senate is a matter for her and I’m telling you, if it was me, I would not sit in the Senate.
Q: Would you urge her to quit?
No … She’s made it clear she’s going to stay as an independent. I don’t think there’s anything that comes from her former colleagues telling her to remove yourself from the parliament.
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‘She’s made her decision’
Q: Is the door really still open for Fatima Payman to rejoin Labor? Is that now over?
Katy Gallagher:
Well, I think she’s made her decision, she’s made it clear. She is no longer a Labor senator. She doesn’t want to participate in the Labor party and she is going to remain in the Senate as an independent, so I think that ends the story there, really.
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Government will ‘have to work a little bit harder’ to get legislation through Senate, Gallagher says
Asked if it will be harder for the government to pass legislation now that Fatima Payman is no longer a Labor senator, Katy Gallagher says:
Yes, I think it will. You know, instead of needing 13 votes to get legislation or any matter dealt within the Senate, we will now require 14. So yes, it will make that harder.
Speaking with ABC RN, Gallagher said she was “really sad” Payman had made the decision to leave the party”
I think the caucus was hoping Senator Payman would stay but that hasn’t happened. So we deal with reality in the parliament. The reality is the Senate’s always a difficult chamber. We have to work hard to get anything through and now we’ll just have to work a little bit harder.
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Questions raised over Payman’s citizenship
Katy Gallagher is asked about a story in the Australian newspaper, stating senior Labor figures are raising Fatima Payman’s Afghan citizenship as a risk to her remaining in the Senate because of a potential breach of section 44 of the constitution.
Gallagher says she has “no idea about that”:
I’ve seen the headlines in [the Australian] and I have no understanding about any of those issues … You know, the ALP vetting processes are pretty tight these days, but I have no idea where that stories come from.
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‘Pretty clear’ Fatima Payman has been planning to join crossbench for a ‘long period’, minister says
The finance minister and manager of the government in the Senate, Katy Gallagher, is speaking with ABC RN after Fatima Payman’s resignation yesterday.
Payman also spoke to ABC Radio this morning (we’ll bring you more on this shortly) and said that she decided to leave the Labor party only yesterday, because on Wednesday in question time the prime minister had flagged he expected her to make an announcement.
Gallagher weighed in on this and said:
It’s difficult to go into, you know, when the decision was made – only Senator Payman knows that – but we do know, now that it’s been done, it’s a matter of fact that there had been obviously discussions about her role as an independent senator and for some time.
I think the way these decisions have been made by Senator Payman make it pretty clear that she has been thinking about this for a long period of time, and it was executed this week …
She’s the only one that knows her decision-making process. But I mean, it was pretty widely understood across the parliament that there was going to be a statement made by Senator Payman on Thursday, and that is what transpired …
People will have their own versions of events but it’s pretty clear to me that this has been considered for some time.
Updated
Nuclear policy flicked before LNP state convention
There are 173 items on the discussion list for the annual Queensland LNP conference but nuclear energy is not one of them.
As AAP reports, the three-day event starting in Brisbane today is not due to canvass the major policy which has sparked a divide between some federal and state Liberal and Nationals party members.
Queensland-based federal opposition leader Peter Dutton has unveiled plans to build seven nuclear power plants if the Coalition wins government in 2025. The policy has been backed by Nationals leader David Littleproud, who is due to join Dutton at the LNP conference tomorrow.
Their approach to nuclear is not supported by Queensland’s Liberal National party leader David Crisafulli.
Crisafulli has confirmed nuclear is “not part of our plan”.
The state convention’s list of resolutions is lengthy but makes no mention of nuclear energy, although Dutton and Littleproud might raise the issue during their addresses to the conference.
Crisafulli will address the event on Sunday.
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Government announces ‘pitch day’ for defence technologies
The Albanese government has announced a $4m “pitch day” to continue “fast-tracking the development and deployment of innovative defence technologies” and invest in a “future made in Australia”.
The pitch day – the first of two to be held annually – will allow selected companies invited to pitch their technology or ideas to a defence panel during the Adstar summit from 17-19 September.
The theme of the first pitch day is “innovative asymmetric advantage”, a statement said, which “refers to disruptive technology that can have a deterrence effect”.
Successful participants will be invited to respond to development contracts valued up to $750,000 each through a competitive process. The total value of contracts on offer is up to $4m.
The minister for the defence industry, Pat Conroy, said:
It’s only fitting we announce the inaugural pitch day, underscoring our commitment to supporting industry and ensuring our ADF personnel are equipped with the capabilities they need.
You can read more about Asca from when it was first announced here.
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Get the Full Story …
The Fatima Payman saga is the subject of today’s newsroom edition of the Full Story podcast.
Bridie Jabour talks to deputy editor Patrick Keneally and head of news Mike Ticher about Labor’s strict rules on party solidarity, and if Payman’s exit means Labor needs to change with the times.
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How Fatima Payman leveraged Gaza anger to poke Labor in the eye
Our political editor, Karen Middleton, looks at how Fatima Payman has used public anger and frustration about Gaza to deliver a stinging rebuke to Labor.
She writes that the 29-year-old rookie senator has run rings round the leadership but many among the latter suspect that there was more planning behind her moves than first appeared:
She’s run rings around her own party and left the Labor leadership firmly of the view that there was more orchestration to the sequence of events than the senator has acknowledged.
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Good morning
And happy Friday – many thanks to Martin for kicking things off. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be with you on our live blog for most of today.
As always, you can get in touch with any thoughts, questions or feedback via X, @emilywindwrites, or you can send me an email: emily.wind@theguardian.com.
Let’s get started.
Dating apps sign up to new industry safety code
Dating apps including Bumble and Tinder have signed up to a new industry code to keep users safer online.
The new code is now in place. We’ll hear more from communications minister Michelle Rowland and social services minister Amanda Rishworth this morning, but their offices have given out some info ahead of time.
The new code will obligate the dating apps to start new systems to detect potential harms, take action against users found to have breached policies, bring on transparent and prominent complaint reporting systems as well as support resources for users, and publish regular transparency reports about their actions.
The apps will also have to improve their cooperation with law enforcement.
The government said the industry had shown “constructive engagement” so far. The code has been developed by companies including Match Group, Bumble, Grindr, Spark Networks, RSVP; and the ParshipMeet Group.
Rowland said:
Online dating is now the most common way to meet a partner in Australia. These services did not develop overnight, and the lack of action over the last decade means that regulation has not kept pace with technology.
The government will be watching industry closely over the coming months as the Code is operationalised, and we look forward to the eSafety Commissioner’s assessment of its effectiveness as we consider any possible next steps.
Rishworth said:
Dating app violence is a form of gender-based violence, and it has to end. We must create communities – both in the physical and virtual world – where everyone is treated equally and with respect.
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‘Students shouldn’t need permission to protest on their own campus’
Continuing from our last post: University of Sydney Students’ Representative Council president Harrison Brennan condemned the new measures “in the strongest possible terms” and said campuses must be places where the democratic right to protest could be exercised:
This is a repulsive, full-scale offensive on the right to protest at the University of Sydney … the Vice-Chancellor has whipped up a policy that will strangle the dissenting voices of students, staff, and the broader community.
This policy will not just affect student activists around the topic of Palestine but will have chilling implications for other campaigns … students shouldn’t need permission to protest on their own campus.
Asked why students were not consulted before the policy was implemented, a university spokesperson said:
The policy was updated to ensure that the right settings were in place for semester two so students and staff can fully participate in all aspects of campus life. The policy is in line with similar policies at other universities.
University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott said the changes had been made to ensure “a safe and welcoming place for all members of our community”:
It upholds our commitment to free speech – while recognising we need to be able to manage our environment for the safety and security of all.
- via AAP
Updated
'Chilling' new Sydney University protest rules
Students feel “strangled” and “chilled” by a new University of Sydney campus policy severely limiting their right to protest, AAP reports.
At least three days’ notice must be given for protests that include the use of booths or stalls, megaphones or amplifiers and affixing banners or posters to campus buildings.
Camping is banned altogether after an encampment protesting Israel’s war in Gaza stood for almost two months before campus staff ordered students to vacate in June.
Students said the changes had been made stealthily given they were not consulted or told the policy had been introduced.
They only became aware of the policy on Wednesday night when Dave Brophy from the National Tertiary Education Union called the measures an “attack” on freedom at the university in a post on social media platform X:
USyd’s new ‘Campus Access Policy’ – adopted without any notice or consultation – is an astonishing attack on political freedom at the university.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our final rolling news blog of the week. I’m Martin Farrer and here are some of the top overnight stories before my colleague Emily Wind takes over.
Fatima Payman’s departure from the Labor party has dominated the week and will continue to rumble on today. There is a feeling in Canberra – and no doubt a few other places – that Payman has run rings around the Labor party, writes our political editor Karen Middleton. After leading Labor’s leadership a merry dance over the past two weeks, she finally quit the party yesterday. Our reporters have unpicked the sequence of events that led to her momentous move, which the party’s president, Wayne Swan, claims will “empower Labor’s opponents on the far right”. More coming up.
Online dating apps have pledged to escalate complaints of imminent safety threats more swiftly to police under a voluntary industry code. The companies behind Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, Grindr, RSVP and eHarmony are among those to adopt the code, developed after the 2023 national roundtable on online dating safety. More on that in a minute.
East coast gas shortfalls could emerge as soon as 2027, a year earlier than was forecast six months ago, unless new sources of supply are made available, the competition watchdog has warned in a report. The bulk of gas produced in Australia is exported. In 2025, for instance, liquefied natural gas producers are forecast to export 1,369 petajoules, or about 71% of output, the ACCC said.
And students are up in arms over new rules from Sydney University that put strict restrictions on student protests. More on that soon.
