What we learned today, Thursday 25 June
We’re wrapping up today’s blog. Thanks for joining us. Here’s a reminder of today’s top stories:
-
Labor’s tax package passed the federal parliament, with the government agreeing to further concessions to stop people being penalised in the event of a divorce or death;
-
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has revealed the woman held in a Syrian detention camp who was issued a temporary exclusion order, barring her from entering Australia, has applied for and been granted a return permit;
-
The country’s top spy chief, Mike Burgess, says he is really concerned about the level some nation states like Iran could go to cause harm against Australians;
-
The unemployment rate has eased to 4.4% in May, from 4.5%, in a sign that the previous month’s jump in the jobless rate was not the start of a more rapid deterioration in the labour market;
-
Liberal frontbencher James Paterson has called One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s “monoculture” vision “deeply weird” as he defended Angus Taylor’s response;
-
After months of speculation, Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender have this morning officially announced the new Community Strong Australia party;
-
Karl Stefanovic won’t appear on his scheduled Friday afternoon radio show with Eddie McGuire after widespread criticism of his podcast interview with UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson;
-
Right-wing lobby group Advance and the Plymouth Brethren Christian church will be forced to attend public hearings into the 2025 federal election if they decline to come forward voluntarily, a parliamentary committee says
We’ll be back with more live news tomorrow morning.
Updated
Queensland deputy premier won’t say if riverfront land sold for new development
Queensland’s deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, won’t say if publicly owned riverfront land has been sold off for a new private development.
The site is home to a glassworks operated by Visy, less than a half-hour walk from the Brisbane CBD.
The state bought the 7.1 hectare site for $165m in 2022, under a plan by the then Labor government to use it as a broadcasting centre for the Olympics. That plan was shelved after the 2024 election of an LNP government, which wanted the site for a new residential development of about 4,000 apartments.
Bleijie announced on Thursday that Lendlease had won the tender for the site, but wouldn’t say if the land had been handed over, kept or sold. He said the land ownership was “commercial in confidence”.
“Does it matter?” he said, in response to journalists’ questions.
Bleijie said the area would be “a new South Bank”.
Cleared for the 1988 World Expo, the land was to be sold off for private development, but was instead kept in public hands after a campaign calling for it to become public parkland.
Updated
Paterson says Taylor ‘right to put Australian values at the heart’ of position on multiculturalism
Paterson was also asked about his colleague Angus Taylor’s response when asked about his position on multiculturalism this week.
The opposition leader attempted to clarify comments on multiculturalism after his five non-answers on Tuesday, which left colleagues dumbfounded and questioning the opposition leader’s approach to One Nation.
Paterson said:
I know Angus’ views on this, I’ve talked to him about this, I know where he stands and he is right to put Australian values at the heart of this.
Paterson rebuffed the suggestion that Taylor’s response had hurt his leadership.
Updated
Liberal frontbencher calls Hanson’s ‘monoculture’ vision ‘deeply weird’
Opposition frontbencher James Paterson says One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s vision for a “monocultural” Australia is “deeply weird”. He said:
For decades, if not centuries, Australians have spoken other languages at home.
I think this push to impose a government-down mandated monoculture is deeply weird.
Updated
The opposition’s defence spokesperson, James Paterson, spoke to the ABC earlier.
He was asked about the Australian woman linked to the Islamic State group given authorisation to return to Australia, after the federal government was advised it could no longer enforce a criminal exclusion order.
The Victorian Liberal senator accused the federal government of “always having an excuse” about “why they can’t protect Australians from this cohort of high-risk people.”
Patterson said the federal opposition would work with the government if keeping the woman out of Australia required legal changes:
If the government thinks there’s deficiencies in the law, they should talk to us about that.
We’ve been willing to act in the national interest to put Australia’s national security interest first…. and to remedy court findings when they occur, so we have that same offer remains on the table.
Updated
Daniels says ‘good reasons’ to form new party
Daniel said there were “good reasons” Steggall and Spender were creating a new political party in the current political landscape, particularly with the rise of One Nation:
The question is whether you can take the best of the community independence movement and inject that authenticity into a form of [a] party or a form of [an] alliance.
Updated
Zoe Daniel ‘on the fence’ over joining new centrist party
Former teal independent Zoe Daniel says she is “on the fence” about joining a new political party aimed at the political centre.
Speaking to ABC, Daniel was asked about her former colleagues – independent MPs Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender – launching a new political party called Community Strong Australia. The stated aim is providing a centrist alternative for voters amid the rise of One Nation and turmoil inside the Coalition.
Asked if she would join the party Daniel said she was “completely on the fence at this point”.
I’ve been involved in all of the discussions so I’m very aware of structure and how it came together and what its pillars are, and they’re very aligned to my principles, but there are risks, and I do want to talk to my community about it.
Daniel said she also needed to decide if she would run at the next federal election.
Updated
Butler says Labor will keep campaigning for tax reform and NDIS changes
The federal health minister, Mark Butler, was speaking to the ABC earlier after the government’s budget bill passed parliament. Butler acknowledged the federal government would need to continue spruiking its tax reform:
Of course, we’re going to campaign on making sure young Australians … [are] getting the opportunity to own around [their] own home, like previous generations of Australia.
Asked if the government was open to making amendments to its proposed NDIS overhaul, Butler said:
We’ve demonstrated over the last 24 hours a willingness to do things at the edges, but the basic direction… I outlined several weeks ago at the [National] Press Club, I’m very confident, is the right thing for the NDIS.
Updated
Independent Kate Chaney says no ‘immediate benefit’ to her community from joining Community Strong Australia
Independent MP Kate Chaney says she opted not to join a new political party aimed at the political centre because she didn’t see any “immediate benefit” for her community.
Appearing on Sky News, Chaney was asked about her fellow teal independent MPs Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender launching a a new political party called Community Strong Australia, with the stated aim of providing a centrist alternative for voters amid the rise of One Nation and turmoil inside the Coalition.
Chaney said:
I still think that I can deliver a lot of value to my community as an independent and I’ll continue to do that and I couldn’t see any immediate benefit for my community or progressing the agenda to form to be part of a political party.
She added that she wouldn’t rule out joining a party in the future:
It’s true that the electoral reform package that the major parties pushed through will make it harder for independents to be elected… but at the moment it just doesn’t seem like a priority for me. I want to focus on the policy issues rather than thinking about political parties.
Updated
Thank you all so much for joining me on the blog this sitting week – it’s been an eventful one, to say the least!
There’s plenty more news to come this afternoon, and I’ll leave you in the very capable hands of Adeshola Ore.
Updated
Tl;dr: here’s what happened in question time
-
The Coalition tried to pin down the government on exactly when it knew about the impacts the CGT legislation would have on widows and divorcees. The housing minister avoided providing a timeline, and gave increasingly short answers.
-
Angus Taylor also accused the government of rolling out a welcome mat for a woman linked to Isis. The PM accused Taylor of using language that spy boss Mike Burgess had warned against.
-
The prime minister refused a call by the Greens to back a plebiscite for a 25% tax on gas exports.
-
The prime minister was also challenged on forcing social media companies to allow users to opt out of algorithms – we didn’t get a straight answer on whether the government would take that action.
-
And three MPs left the chamber today, two officially got the boot (including one within the first minute), and one left before Milton Dick could formally make him.
Updated
Question time ends
After a final dixer to education minister, Jason Clare, the PM calls time on QT for the week.
Before we get out of the chamber, I’ll leave you with this sledge from Clare to the opposition:
You’ve got the Liberal party, you’ve got the National party and you’ve got One Nation all competing against each other to see who can be the most extreme.
Whether it is on education or multiculturalism or anything else. They’re like the Neapolitan ice-cream of Australian politics, Mr Speaker. The problem is they all want to be vanilla!
Updated
Allegra Spender asks if Labor will force social media companies to allow users to opt out of algorithms
Allegra Spender, now of the Community Strong party, asks the prime minister if the government will force social media companies to allow users to opt out of algorithms as part of its digital duty-of-care legislation. She says “social media algorithms feed extremism and polarisation”.
Anthony Albanese says the government needs to do more to protect people and children from harm online.
He says the government will continue to consult on its digital duty-of-care legislation to figure out how best to do that.
We know that, as the member has said, algorithms drive people towards more and more extreme positions, so they start off in a mainstream position, talking about ethnicity, perhaps, or faith, and they end up over a period of time receiving in their inbox, not just children, adults as well, of course, can be impacted by this with Nazi-level propaganda, with calls for violence.
We’ve increased the funding for the eSafety Commissioner by four times. We’ve introduced fines of $49.5m to be available for breaches of the social media ban aimed at young people, but clearly we are going to need to do more, and that’s what the digital duty-of-care is about.
Updated
O’Neil dodges question on CGT legislation
Liberal MP Leon Rebello wants some clarification on exactly when the government knew about issues that the CGT legislation would have on spouses affected by divorce or death.
He asks the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, if she knew before or after the budget was handed down.
O’Neil’s response is even shorter this time, but she won’t say exactly when she was made aware of the issue.
We are aware of the issues that the member is raising. We are working through them in the usual way. This will be resolved in a future piece of legislation. I look forward to engaging with the member when it comes forward.
Updated
Australia Post ‘running licensees out of business’, Andrew Wilkie says
The Independent MP from Tasmania Andrew Wilkie says he’s spoken to many post office licensees “and it’s clear that Australia Post is running them out of business as it morphs into a parcel delivery service”.
He asks the communications minister, Anika Wells, if the government will stop that from happening.
Wells says under government rules there must be a minimum of 4,000 post offices around the country.
But she adds:
Australia Post is working with its licensees to modernise the arrangements that govern those commercial relationships. The licensing model is decades old … You only need to look at the mobile phones in your pockets to understand why. There is a dramatic decline in the letter business, there is a dramatic decline in the retail foot traffic, all that must be considered.
Updated
Opposition questions Labor on CGT changes and effect after divorce or death
When did the government first realise its legislation would “impose a new death tax on widows, divorcees and victims of domestic violence?”, asks Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie.
Clare O’Neil gives her shortest answer yet, and says vaguely the government “has been aware for some time”.
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, told the Senate earlier today the government would change its legislation to protect partners affected by divorce or death from CGT changes in its subsequent tax legislation.
O’Neil says:
I think the government’s made clear in several statements that this is an issue that we’ve been aware of for some time, and the treasurer has spoken about the government’s deliberations.
Updated
‘Listen to the people’: Greens push for plebiscite on gas export tax
Over to the crossbench, Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown asks the prime minister if he’ll “listen to the people” and hold a national plebiscite for a 25% gas export tax.
It feels like it’s been a minute since the debate was catching fire in parliament.
Anthony Albanese says he disputes suggestions from the public campaign for the tax that gas companies aren’t paying levies already.
He then talks about Australia being a “reliable partner” in the region, linking gas exports (and not taxing them) to receiving petrol from our neighbouring countries when the world has been facing a shortage during the crisis in the Middle East.
Albanese says:
Some of the campaign [suggests] somehow gas companies or other companies in the resources sector do not pay tax and that there is no company tax, there is no resources tax, the PRRT does not exist, and will not grow in the future. It also ignores … the work that we’ve done on the gas reservation of 20% of exports, which is very important in Western Australia.
Updated
Asked about CGT backdown, Chalmers says opposition trying to distract from vote against tax cuts
“How many more humiliating backdowns will it take for the treasurer to admit his budget is a failure?,” asks Nationals MP Alison Penfold, who says the treasurer yesterday defended the inclusion of the “widow tax” in the legislation because the rule was consistent with the current CGT settings.
Jim Chalmers starts with a bit of an odd rebuke, saying “I’ll tell you what’s humiliating, Mr Speaker. The shadow treasurer’s inability to ask me a question himself”.
Chalmers says that the government took “particular care” in its response yesterday because it was still considering amendments that were being put forward in the Senate.
I think everybody here, and everybody watching at home and in the galleries as well, knows what’s really happening here. They are trying to distract from the fact that when the bills come back down from the Senate, that they will vote against tax cuts for workers.
And that’s what they’re trying to obscure, they’re desperately hoping that nobody notices that the three rightwing parties and their divisive anti-worker agenda will see them vote against tax cuts once again.
The opposition says that the question was about a “humiliating backflip” and Milton Dick agrees the treasurer should talk about the policy, not the opposition.
Chalmers ends his answer calling the legislation a “win” for first home buyers.
Updated
O’Neil promises changes to ‘widow tax’
Liberal MP Mary Aldred is next and asks if the government will confirm thousands of women including widows, divorcees and victims of family violence will be disproportionately affected by the government’s tax changes. It’s been dubbed a “widow tax”.
Clare O’Neil returns to the despatch box and answers that the government has promised to make more changes to the legislation so those groups aren’t unduly affected.
I think she’d be aware that the minister for finance has clarified the government’s pathway on this in the Senate earlier today.
We intend to address the arrangements for jointly owned assets in circumstances like inheritance and divorce in subsequent legislation.
Updated
Clare O’Neil defends tax changes as number of MPs out of the chamber rises to three
During the previous dixer, Nationals MP Jamie Chaffey gets warned by Milton Dick for interjecting too much. Then, before he can be formally ejected, he walks himself out.
Just a couple of minutes later, Nationals frontbencher Darren Chester is booted for also being too loud.
The current tally is one Labor and two Nationals MPs out of the chamber.
Anyway, back to questions – shadow treasurer Tim Wilson asks housing minister Clare O’Neil how many home owners “will become poorer because of Labor’s deliberate correction in house prices”. He says O’Neil yesterday said prices could drop 20%, which O’Neil labels “characteristically dishonest”.
I’d say to those opposite, if you can’t win a political debate without misrepresenting the position of the people that you’re arguing with, then you don’t have a very good argument. That’s just a hot tip.
She then spends the rest of her answer defending the government’s policy.
Those opposite may think that a 400% increase in house prices is a sustainable and good thing for the country, but let me be clear with you, the result of that is that home ownership rates for the young people of this country are falling through the floor.
As she speaks, the Senate has just passed the tax reforms.
Updated
Steggall questions Labor on truth in political advertising
When will the government legislate truth in political advertising, asks Zali Steggall, who has her own bill before parliament.
She says her legislation would “require AI content watermarking, establish an ethical political advertising code an independent political advertising standards board to regulate complaints and introduce penalties for misleading and deceptive political content”.
Anthony Albanese says the issue of truth in political advertising is “very real” but doesn’t promise legislation is coming soon.
The issue of use of artificial intelligence is something that should be of concern across the parliament. The images, which people can see in videos, for example, that have been published recently, showing various members of parliament and ministers when it isn’t actually them.
I convened a meeting of half a dozen ministers just this week across portfolios looking at the challenges that it represents. It represents a real opportunity for growth, and you can’t stop these technologies from emerging, which is why we need to make sure that we shape them rather than allow them to shape us.
The PM has some personal experience of this – with AI generated images him used recently on social media to protest the government’s CGT legislation.
Updated
Taylor says public perception is intelligence agencies have ‘dropped the ball’ on screening of migrants
Before question time, Angus Taylor told a conference in Canberra the public believes Australia’s security and intelligence agencies “dropped the ball” on screening of migrants, a reference to last year’s Bondi terror attack.
“There is a very strong sense, and I think it was particularly exacerbated, obviously, by what happened with Bondi in December last year, there’s a sense that the screening for this – given that one of those people is not a citizen – the screening for this is not happening, and that the intelligence and security agencies have dropped the ball on this,” he told the Committee for Economic Development of Australia conference at Parliament House.
The truth is the perception is that they have dropped the ball, and I think this has got to be fixed.
Updated
Taylor asks why Labor is ‘rolling out welcome mat’ for Isis-linked women
Angus Taylor is back and changes tack to the return of the Isis-linked woman to Australia.
Taylor asks why the government is “rolling out the welcome mat” for the cohort, at the same time the the director general of Asio has declared Islamic State and Al-Qaeda and their affiliates are growing their capability to conduct and inspire attacks.
Anthony Albanese calls Taylor the “self described newly elected member of parliament”, a jibe at the opposition leader’s comments to the CEDA event earlier and tries to make a point about his use of language.
Taylor directs Dan Tehan to stand up and make a point of order, who says that the PM should use correct titles to address members.
Milton Dick says he couldn’t agree more.
That’s a good cue to remind everyone that language matters, so no matter what descriptors are being used. Great, we’re going to keep everyone just to their titles. Fantastic.
The PM then starts reading from Mike Burgess’s address right now, and then the opposition makes another point of order, saying the PM isn’t answering the question about laying out the “welcome mat” for the Isis-linked women.
Albanese then continues:
The leader of the opposition couldn’t have more effectively outlined what the problem that the director general of Asio was identifying, because the idea that anyone in this parliament is not totally opposed to Isis and terrorism is something that has no place in this parliament, and what the leader of the opposition knows is that one of the things that defines our country and distinguishes us from authoritarian regimes is the rule of law.
Updated
Karl Stefanovic won't appear on radio show with Eddie McGuire tomorrow
Jumping out of QT for a moment … Karl Stefanovic won’t appear on his scheduled Friday afternoon radio show with Eddie McGuire after widespread criticism of his podcast interview with UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
Nine Entertainment is expected to sever ties with Stefanovic but is yet to make public the details of the separation.
ARN Media recently signed Stefanovic and McGuire for national program The Long Weekend on Gold FM, but decided to ask him not to record the show from the UK. Sources told Guardian Australia he was unlikely to return because the threat of an advertiser boycott over anger with Stefanovic was too high.
ARN has only just settled a legal case with Kyle Sandilands, who was similarly targeted by online activism which hit Kiis FM advertising revenue hard.
Earlier in the week a spokesperson for ARN distanced the company from Stefanovic’s podcast and choice of guests.
His external media activities, including his podcast, are undertaken in a personal capacity and are entirely separate from the network, which we have no control over.
They do not represent ARN’s views, editorial standards or programming.
Updated
Question time begins and Labor's Mark Dreyfus gets immediate boot
We’re about 60 seconds in and, after Angus Taylor’s first question, the former attorney general Mark Dreyfus gets the boot from the speaker. He slowly collects his papers, which leads Milton Dick to tell him to get out faster.
Taylor asks the prime minister why does the “leader of the dishonest Labor government want to pull up the ladder on hard-working Australians?”
The PM says the bells are ringing (due to divisions in the Senate for the tax legislation), but he says they’re ringing for the opposition:
We understand that Australians are under financial pressure, which is why we’re not just identifying issues, we’re actually doing something about it. And in the Senate right now, there are bells ringing, the bell is tolling for all those opposite, because those opposite are voting in the Senate, all three rightwing parties, against tax cuts for every Australian.
The tax changes also include the $250 tax cut that the government announced in the budget.
Updated
Coalition’s move to delay tax vote fails
The Greens have teamed up with the government to block the Coalition’s attempt to delay a vote on the capital gains tax and negative gearing changes.
The opposition were pushing for debate to be extended.
It means question time in the Senate will be delayed – until after all the amendments and the bill are voted on.
Despite a couple of amendments being withdrawn (including David Pocock removing his amendment dealing with the widow tax after the government said it would fix the issue in future legislation), there are still more than a dozen amendments, which will take some time to get through!
Once the bill passes the Senate, it will have to go back to the House to be passed in its amended form.
Updated
Coalition moves to suspend vote on tax changes in the Senate
The Senate had voted earlier this week to guillotine debate on the tax changes to 1:30pm today, which would bring on a vote of the bills.
It’s not 1:30pm and debate on the bills have been cut short and the Coalition isn’t happy about it.
Shadow finance minister, Claire Chandler, moves to suspend standing orders to keep interrogating the legislation and the 20 or so amendments from the opposition and crossbench that have been listed for a vote.
Chandler tells the chamber:
We are a chamber of scrutiny, and this is where scrutiny actually happens. But what we are seeing today is the exact opposite of that process. As I said, this bill has been rushed from the start. It has the hallmarks of legislation that has been written in haste, and when legislation is written in haste, it demands deeper scrutiny, it does not demand less.
Now the government doesn’t have the numbers in the Senate and the Greens have promised them a pathway (but the minor party have also complained heavily about how “unambitious” the reforms are), so we’ll see how this vote shakes out.
Updated
Angus Taylor says he’s ‘relatively new’ to politics
Angus Taylor says he’s relatively new in the job, particularly compared with his political rivals, Anthony Albanese and Pauline Hanson.
He says both were first elected in 1996, which is mostly true – Albanese certainly was – but Hanson was in federal parliament from 1996 to 1998, and then only re-entered in 2016. She did spend some time in Queensland state politics in between.
So is Taylor a newbie?
He was elected in September 2013 – nearly 13 years ago – you be the decider.
He told the Committee for Economic Development of Australia event at Parliament House today:
I’m relatively new as a politician. I only came in 2013, my two big rivals in the parliament came in in 1996, the same year. So I’m relatively new to this, and my whole career before that was in the private sector.
Updated
Queensland Labor leader announces plan for crime stats authority ‘free from political spin’
Queensland Labor leader Steven Miles has used his budget-in-reply speech to announce a plan for an independent authority for crime statistics.
But the opposition leader struggled to get through the hour-long speech, which is normally heard in near silence by parliamentary convention. Government MPs deliberately interrupted 20 times with points of order and repeated interjections.
The speech took an additional 17 minutes than the hour scheduled. At times Miles looked exasperated.
Manager of opposition business Mick de Brenni also accused government MPs of deliberately walking past TV cameras filming the address, interrupting their view.
Miles accused the government - elected in 2024 on a law and order platform - of “blatant misuse of police data for political benefit”.
Labor will establish an independent Community Safety Statistics Bureau, accountable to the parliament.
Modelled off the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, the independent office will facilitate the management and publication of crime statistics for Queenslanders – free from political spin ...
It will enshrine the goal posts in legislation so that leaders can be held accountable ... it’s simple – police statistics without the politics.
Miles finished by accusing the government of wrapping the state in “Trump-style” propaganda, publicly funded billboards and TV advertising promoting its own election slogans.
Queenslanders deserve better than that, better than a premier who broke his vows to Queensland, better than a premier who is all spin, slogans and suppression.
Updated
Support at Home program not achieving its intended goals, estimates hears
The outgoing inspector general for aged care, Natalie Siegel-Brown, has said during her last Senate inquiry hearing that aged care Support at Home reforms are fast-tracking people’s entry into aged care.
Instead of being supported to age with dignity in their own home, delayed access to that very support is perversely, inevitably promoting older people’s decline and likely fast-tracking their entry into hospital and residential aged care at the expense of their human rights and at the expense of the economy.
She said her office predicted many unintended consequences in its 2025 progress report on recommendations of the aged care royal commission, but “we simply did not foresee them on the scale we are now witnessing”.
Siegel-Brown was speaking on Wednesday evening at a community affairs committee inquiry into the Support and Home program, which replaced the Home Care Packages Program and Short-Term Restorative Care Programme in November.
The reforms included introducing a controversial algorithm to determine the financial support at home needs for elderly Australians, which could not be overridden by a human. Many people reported to Guardian Australia and to politicians that people were being left with inadequate support after algorithm decisions.
It eventually led to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing quietly introducing a workaround to allow aged care assessors to reopen and amend completed assessments after they have been reviewed by a delegate. Siegel Brown said:
It’s unclear to me whether this change is sufficient to address concerns regarding the lack of human override across commonwealth systems... Aged care is now the outlier in aged care. It’s a system where clinical judgment informs the data entry, but not the decision.
Updated
Labor promises reform on CGT changes in the event of divorce or death
Over in the Senate, debate is continuing over Labor’s changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing, which have the support of the Greens.
But the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, has just announced the government will include further concessions to stop people being penalised in the event of a divorce or death.
Branded the “widow tax” – concerns were raised that, for example, if a couple owned a property that was being negatively geared and one partner died, that transfer would reset the ownership of the property and it could no longer be negatively geared.
David Pocock had put forward an amendment to make those changes. The government won’t support it, but Gallagher says the issues will now be looked at in subsequent legislation.
We were aware of the issues, some of the issues that Senator Pocock is raising around grandfathering and shared ownership.
And we were working through them in the usual way, and we intend to address these, the arrangements for jointly owned assets in circumstances like inheritance or divorce in subsequent legislation.
Updated
Several Sydney eastern beaches remain closed following shark sightings
Beaches in Sydney’s eastern suburbs have been closed for a third consecutive day following shark sightings.
The closures on Thursday morning followed a shark sighting alert around 6.45am at Bondi.
Drone footage posted to social media by the online platform Dronesharkapp identified a great white shark at the beach.
Other beaches in the Waverley council area, including Tamarama and Bronte, will remain closed as lifeguards continue surveillance.
Australians should speak ‘one language’, Hanson says
Pauline Hanson, after declaring Australia should be a “monocultural” state, can’t seem to quite figure out what it actually means.
Her messaging has somewhat chopped and changed over the past week, at one point saying Australia could be more like Japan, and then another day saying in the same breath that the Socceroos are an example of monoculturalism and she wants to see the return of Australia characters like Paul Hogan and Norman Gunston.
Today, she’s said that monoculture means everyone should speak English.
Hanson’s bought out posters on trucks and is parading them out the front of parliament, donned with the message “stop Labor, fire the liar” with a “donate now” tag and a QR code. She tells reporters:
Tony Abbott and other leaders around the world have said multiculturalism doesn’t work.
Go and research that, understand what’s happening. We are one nation, we are, and it should be one language.
Updated
House price downturn won’t hit Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide: Domain
Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide house prices will continue to rise over the coming year, escaping a broader downturn, property business Domain predicts.
Domain’s financial year 2027 report, out today, has forecast the median price of Perth houses will pick up about 7% or over $85,000 over the year starting July. Perth units are expected to rise by 9% or $65,000.
Brisbane house prices are expected to surge 5% and units 7%, while Adelaide is forecast to record price growth of 6% across houses and units. The pace of price growth is expected to be slower than it has been in the last year due to higher interest rates.
Prices in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra are forecast to fall, with houses down 5% in Sydney and 6% in Melbourne.
Domain’s chief economist, Dr Nicola Powell, said the divergence was driven by the Reserve Bank. Powell said:
Higher interest rates are weighing heavily on Sydney and Melbourne while more affordable segments and mid-tier cities are continuing to hold up.
Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide prices are being supported by population growth and tight rental markets, according to the report. Domain did not predict a strong investor backlash to the government’s tax reforms but noted that it would drag on prices if it eventuated.
Updated
Queensland deputy premier demands apology after opposition leader’s accusation of racism
Jarrod Bleijie, the deputy premier of Queensland, has demanded an apology from the state’s opposition leader over an allegation of racism in an ABC radio interview.
ABC journalist Ellen Fanning said Bleijie explained the state’s rumoured secret agenda to purge Indigenous representation, known as “Project Invisibility”, as being justified by the voice referendum vote.
“I think that’s the deputy premier saying the quiet part out loud,” the Labor opposition leader, Steven Miles, responded.
Fanning asked Miles if Bleijie was saying “those racist words out loud”.
Miles responded: “that’s how it reads to me”.
Bleijie told parliament on Thursday that he hadn’t been recorded in Hansard saying anything like the comment.
He said:
I note that Ms Fenning has offered an apology to me about this interview that she claims she had been misinformed. With her apology. I call and ask, will the leader of the opposition show leadership and do the same?
Updated
Unemployment eases to 4.4% in May
The unemployment rate has eased to 4.4% in May, from 4.5%, in a sign that the previous month’s jump in the jobless rate was not the start of a more rapid deterioration in the labour market.
With the Reserve Bank still primed to hike rates if needed over coming months, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed employment lifted by 40,300 people in May, including an extra 5,200 full-time jobs and 35,200 in part-time employment.
The underemployment rate, which includes people with jobs but who are trying to get more work, lifted to 5.9%, from 5.8%.
Economists had predicted the jobless rate would drop back after a surprise jump in April pushed it to its highest level since late 2021 – although still below the more than 5% rates that were typical before the Covid-19 pandemic
Updated
ACCC launches legal action against debt collector
The consumer watchdog has announced court action against a major Australian debt collector, alleging it unlawfully pursued hundreds of thousands of Australians for debts in a manner that “had the potential to cause extreme emotional and financial stress”.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACC) is taking federal court action against two related companies, debt collector ARMA Group and legal practice Force Legal, both owned by Credit Clear.
The watchdog alleges the two companies made misleading representations about 320,000 debt notices sent via email, letter or texts over more than three years.
Individuals were told they owed a debt that must be paid urgently. In fact, the debts were either no longer outstanding or were too old to be legally collected.
The ACCC’s deputy chair, Catriona Lowe, said:
ARMA and Force Legal’s allegedly misleading debt enforcement notices had the potential to cause extreme emotional and financial stress and concern to thousands of people, many of whom were likely experiencing vulnerabilities. We are concerned that the letters and emails which warned consumers of serious and imminent consequences of failing to pay a debt likely led some consumers to make payments they were not legally required to make. We are asking the court to order compensation for these consumers.
A Guardian Australia investigation in 2024 revealed numerous examples of concerning practices across the industry, including the chasing of a 10-year-old boy with autism, false and misleading threats, and underhanded tactics to extend the time limit on collecting debts, according to alleged victims, lawyers and debt collection insiders.
Updated
Teen accused of Dutton terror plot found not guilty
A teen accused of plotting nailbomb attacks against then opposition leader Peter Dutton and a Labor Day march has been found not guilty of preparing a terrorist act, AAP reports.
The jury returned its verdict on Thursday after two days of deliberation.
The teen, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, stood trial in Brisbane supreme court after pleading not guilty to one count of carrying out acts in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act.
The boy was about to turn 16 when he rode his scooter around Brisbane’s suburbs in July 2024 to buy nails, metal pipes and ingredients for explosives, the jury heard.
The teen used his iPhone and laptop to search for “where is Peter Dutton located” as part of an alleged plan to use bombings to oppose the Liberal party’s then policy of building multiple nuclear power stations in Australia.
Updated
NSW budget reply continued
The NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, has also detailed the Coalition’s plan to negotiate a new Western Sydney City deal with the federal government and local councils, which would include a new metro project in south-western Sydney.
Labor has not committed to funding new metro projects beyond those already under construction amid high gross state debt inherited from the former Coalition government.
Sloane, who faces an uphill struggle against the premier, Chris Minns – way ahead in preferred leader polls – ended her speech by saying today’s policies “are just the beginning” of those to come before the election next year:
The Liberals and the Nationals will ease the cost of living pressure on families. We will back business and private enterprise. We will reward people for their hard work and for their effort, we will reduce Labour’s high taxes, and importantly, we will deliver a vision for our state that will return us to number one again.
Updated
NSW budget reply: Labor has missed their ‘one shot’ to improve state
The NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, says the Minns government has missed its opportunity to improve lives in NSW in its first term as she gives her reply to this year’s budget.
The opposition has said it supports the modest cost of living measures in Tuesday’s budget, the final before the March 2027 election, but said the offering lacked a plan for growth after Treasury revised down its December growth forecast from 2.5% to 1% amid the global oil shock and rising interest.
The Coalition’s flagship policy is a significant reduction of payroll taxes for small and medium-sized businesses. Amid the threat posed by One Nation and the controversial renewable rollout in regional areas, they have announced a plan for Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, as well as an “outback” REZ in Broken Hill. They would cancel a transmission line to the New England REZ, walking back support for a project the Coalition green-lit in government.
Sloane opened her speech by quoting Eminem, drawing some eye-rolls from the government benches. She pointed to slow growth, business closures, and delays to housing targets as evidence of Labor’s missed opportunity:
“‘If you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it or would you just let it slip?’ – Eminem.
Labor had their opportunity after 12 long years on the opposition benches, waiting for their moment. What did they do? They let it slip. They lost an opportunity to make a real difference, to have a vision for our state, to build on the transformative work of successive Liberal and National government who built our state and built our economy, who created opportunity, not lost it.
Updated
Temporary exclusion orders a ‘backup mechanism’
Mike Pezzullo, the former home affairs department secretary, says temporary exclusion orders were created as a backup mechanissm during the former Coalition government, when it was trying to establish laws to strip citizenship from a dual citizen convicted of a terrorism offence.
The Albanese government applied a TEO on one woman who was linked to Islamic State being held in a Syrian detention camp to stop her returning to Australia. But Tony Burke this morning revealed she had applied for a return permit, which was granted by authorities.
Pezzullo told Sky News:
Temporary exclusion orders were created some time ago to overcome the difficulties that at the time the Coalition government had with citizenship cessation, where a number of attempts to strip a person’s citizenship had been made [and then were] struck down by the high court.
So temporary exclusion orders are a backup mechanism, if you will.
But he questions how the women who have returned were able to obtain an Australian passport, because they have since been charged with serious crimes.
It strikes me as odd in relation, not necessarily to temper exclusion, but how did they get a passport? Because if they were given a passport, the minister has to be satisfied in relation to the passports act that a person’s not going to pose a risk to the community.
Updated
Advance and Plymouth Brethren Christian church forced to front election inquiry
Right-wing lobby group Advance and the Plymouth Brethren Christian church will be forced to attend public hearings into the 2025 federal election if they decline to come forward voluntarily, a parliamentary committee says.
The joint parliamentary committee into electoral matters said it would issue a summons to compel the groups in a move it acknowledged as “an extraordinary step, but one it believes necessary”.
In a media release this morning, the committee said it had decided yesterday to invite the groups once more to appear before it as part of its review into the 2025 federal election. The committee said both groups had declined to appear at previous hearings in November 2025, and March and May 2026.
The committee said:
Given the volume of submissions the committee has received, and the level of community concern about their involvement in the electoral process, it is not just in the committee’s interest, but Australia’s interest, to understand the involvement of both of these third parties in the 2025 federal election and their influence on the electoral process.
Updated
The bells are ringing and they won’t stop for a while today
We’re going to be hear a lot of bells in the Senate today on the government’s tax changes to CGT and negative gearing.
Right now they’re voting on whether to give the bill a second reading – once they vote, it opens up debate on the legislation itself (and there will be plenty of senators wanting to talk).
The opposition are trying to move an amendment to the vote for the second reading to get the government to support indexing tax brackets to end bracket creep. It’s a policy Angus Taylor announced in his budget reply, and a little wedge so the opposition can say the government supports bracket creep. It’ll get voted down.
Once we’re on to the second reading, there’s at least 20 amendments to the bill itself – ten from David Pocock alone, a couple from the Greens, One Nation, Jacqui Lambie and the opposition.
It’s going to be a long day in the Senate.
Updated
Teal party offering ‘solutions’, Spender and Steggall say
Allegra Spender says she and Zali Steggall see an opportunity to get more communities involved in politics, and choosing local candidates, but promises there won’t be any “in-fighting” in the party.
So far there’s just two members of the Community Strong party, with other teal independents ruling themselves out for now.
The two are holding a press conference in Canberra. Steggall says the party will remain committed to its values, which she told RN Breakfast earlier was sensible economic management, climate action, integrity and equality.
Spender says:
That’s what people have asked me for. They have said we don’t want the infighting, we don’t want the blame game, we want solutions that will make a difference to us, and we want, we see that there is more common ground in Australia than there is division. We don’t want to import culture wars from the US.
We see an opportunity to do more, to get more communities involved and more communities at the heart of politics, because we think this is the different way that Australians are asking us to represent them, put them first, but work constructively with the experts, with people with real experience in lives outside of politics and the community to come up solutions with their problems.
Updated
Clare introduces legislation to reform university student funding
Australian universities could face a funding overhaul, with the government this morning introducing a bill to established a “managed growth” system which will reform the allocation of student places and funding to universities, and provide needs-based funding for students from regional and rural areas, and low socioeconomic backgrounds.
The education minister, Jason Clare, says the reform is part of the Universities Accord agenda, and the allocation to universities – which will see an overall increase in places – will be overseen by the newly legislated Australian Tertiary Education Commission.
Some universities in Sydney have raised concerns that it will result in places being diverted towards regional universities, and allow less student places in the cities.
But the government argues it will lead to a more equitable system for students of all backgrounds.
This morning, Clare told ABC News Breakfast:
About 50% of young Australians in their 30s today have a university degree. But, it’s not the case everywhere. It’s not the case in Western Sydney, where I grew up. It’s about half that. It’s the same in the regions and it’s even lower in the bush. That’s not because of a lack of talent, talent is everywhere. It’s opportunity that is not. And education can help to change that.
Updated
‘Australia should have these women return to Australia’: Shoebridge
Greens senator David Shoebridge says the countries who defeated Islamic State have been pleading with Australia to take responsibility for the cohort of women and children who have been stuck in a Syrian detention camp.
The government announced this morning the last Australian woman in that camp – who had been subject to a temporary exclusion order – has now been issued a permit by authorities to return.
Shoebridge says that whichever way you slice it or dice it (paraphrased), Australian citizens do have a fundamental right to return to the country.
He tells Sky News:
That’s one of the most fundamental and important rights that Australian citizens have, and I know that there are people who want to take that right away from citizens, people largely in the right of politics.
And the people who defeated [Islamic State] have said to Australia, “You need to be responsible for your own people. It’s not right to not take responsibility for your own people.” And Australia should have these women return to Australia. And they also said that it’s appalling that Australia won’t look after their own children and won’t receive the children back.
Updated
‘Edges of the mainstream’: Albanese says Stefanovic case shows risk of extreme voices
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has alluded to TV presenter Karl Stefanovic’s apparent ouster from Nine, suggesting the Today host went too far to the edges of the mainstream debate.
Nine Entertainment is expected to cut ties with the highly paid host turned podcast presenter after he interviewed and embraced UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, was interviewed for Stefanovic’s podcast in London. A far-right campaigner, anti-immigration and anti-Islam activist in the UK, he co-founded the English Defence League group.
Robinson has convictions for assault, mortgage fraud, using a false passport and contempt of court. An organiser of large public rallies, Robinson was jailed in October 2024 after he ignored a court order not to repeat lies about a Syrian refugee, who had successfully sued him for libel.
Speaking at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event at Parliament House on Thursday, Albanese said he would steer clear of the debate engulfing Nine, but issued a warning to personalities like Stefanovic straying too far from the mainstream.
Look at what’s happened … You go down that road and you go further and further out on the edges of what is mainstream political debate in this country, and you know, I think that can have an impact.
Updated
Coalition questions ‘political stitch-up’ on NDIS inquiry
The Coalition is questioning the future of Labor’s NDIS legislation, with Melissa McIntosh critical that there were “no details” about the deal with the Greens to extend an inquiry.
This week, Labor and the Greens agreed on a deal to pass the government’s tax changes and to extend the inquiry into the NDIS until mid-August. But the NDIS cuts are still almost sure to pass soon after with the support of the Coalition.
McIntosh, the shadow NDIS minister, said she had “long expressed my concerns around this particular piece of legislation, and this highlights the playing of politics when it comes to people’s lives in this place, and this is the thing that people are fed up with”.
“The Greens and Labor have done a deal in the Senate to extend the inquiry into the NDIS legislation, but there’s no details,” she told Sky News.
We don’t know if that means that Australians will get a chance to have their say for an extended period. Right now, it’s only a few hundred submissions from the inquiry initially loaded on to the government’s website when over 4000 people have made a submission. So, no details.
Is this a real inquiry or is this just a bit of a political stitch-up on the NDIS?
I don’t like the way it smells.
McIntosh also complained that the government’s reform “doesn’t address the criminals in the scheme”.
The government is focusing on those people with disabilities, profound disabilities, who are so scared. And they have said to us, to the parliamentarians in this place, that they’re worried people will die. So that’s really serious. And I think the government has got its focus really wrong.
Updated
Wilson ‘not the least bit concerned’ about new teal party
The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, says he’s not at all concerned about the new Community Strong party formed by Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender.
At a doorstop in the press gallery corridor, Wilson has to ask a journalist what the name of the party is and what they actually stand for.
After receiving some answers, he says:
I’m not the least bit concerned about a party I can’t remember the name of, nobody seems to be able to state what they believe in, except for themselves.
Liberal frontbencher James Paterson says that he credits Spender and Steggall for being “open and honest” about what they are, but also dismisses any threat.
I wish them all the best, but if they can’t even convince the teal MPs in parliament to join their party, I think they’re going to really struggle to convince Australians to vote for their party. I mean, when you’ve got people like Monique Ryan and others, Kate Chaney, say that they’ve got no interest in joining the teal party, I think that’s pretty revealing.
Updated
James Paterson ridicules ‘tortured explanation’ over return of Islamic State-linked woman
The shadow defence minister, James Paterson, says the government should have done more to stop an Islamic State-linked woman in a Syrian detention camp from being allowed to return to Australia.
Tony Burke revealed this morning the woman, who was previously subject to a temporary exclusion order, had applied for a return permit and been granted it by authorities. He said:
We received the final advice yesterday that we can no longer have an exclusion condition any longer for her. We’ve checked with our agencies, they are ready. So that permit gets issued.
Paterson called it a “tortured explanation” and accused the government of not pulling every lever it could to stop the woman coming back.
It was a rather tortured explanation from the minister for home affairs, Tony Burke, about why this wasn’t his fault
Some of those [women], upon return to Australia, have been charged with crimes against humanity, including human trafficking. I mean, these are not good people. They are not welcome in our country. And the Albanese government, once again, is not doing everything they can to protect our country by keeping these people out of it.
But Burke pointed out in his interview on AM earlier that 45 men who went to fight for Islamic State had been allowed back into Australia before the Albanese government was even elected.
Updated
Hanson offers Stefanovic a job in her office
Pauline Hanson has offered Karl Stefanovic a job in her political office, with reports the Channel Nine host will leave his role on the Today show after conducting a controversial interview on his personal podcast project with far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
The One Nation leader, speaking to Sky News on Wednesday night, claimed Nine would be “bloody stupid” to let Stefanovic go, claiming he was a ratings winner for the network.
“They’ve gone so far to the left, Channel Nine. They’re making a big mistake,” Hanson told Sky host Andrew Bolt.
Hey guess what Karl? I’m looking for someone in my office. I want some advisers in my office. So Karl, come and apply for a job with me. We’ll have a great time. We’ll put them all on notice and get the country back on track … I’m looking for some good staff, advisers.
Stefanovic has conducted multiple interviews with Hanson, and her other One Nation colleagues, on his podcast. The host, broadcasting from London this week, yesterday published another interview with Barnaby Joyce.
Updated
Taylor dismisses frustration among his MPs over multiculturalism fumble
MPs came out swinging yesterday – from moderate and senior frontbencher Anne Ruston to deputy leader Jane Hume – to completely back multiculturalism in Australia, while others have privately expressed concern that Taylor isn’t doing enough to separate the Coalition from One Nation.
Labor has been exploiting an attack line on Taylor, telling him that he can’t “out One Nation, One Nation”, particularly over migration.
Asked about reports of the frustration, Taylor tries to bat it off.
Well, I think all of us absolutely reject Labor’s version, Labor’s multiculturalism, which is different rules for different people
I’m not going to comment on anonymous backgrounding. I don’t do that. What I focus on is our plan, holding Labor to account and with respect to the issue we were just talking about, you know, a multiculturalism that says you can have different rules for different people – that’s not what Australia is.
Updated
‘I don’t want Australia to look like Japan’: Taylor
Angus Taylor is still being dogged by his sidestepping of five question over whether he supports multiculturalism at a press conference on Tuesday, and has doubled down saying he supports “a version” of it.
Both Taylor and Pauline Hanson, who introduced the monoculture can of worms at her National Press Club address last week, have spend recent days trying to rewrite some of their messaging.
On Tuesday, Hanson said Japan was monocultural and asked why Australia could not be the same (which she somewhat walked back later).
And by Wednesday Hanson even claimed the Socceroos were an example of her version of monoculturalism (a team almost everyone else has celebrated as a great example of Australian multiculturalism).
Taylor told the Today show this morning that Australia shouldn’t look like a monocultural Japan, but still added some qualifiers on supporting multiculturalism.
The version of multiculturalism I believe in for this country is one where we come from across the world. Australians come, have ancestries that go back to all parts of the world, and yet there are real expectations that we have a common set of values, that those who come here contribute to the country.
And that is the version, that is the multiculturalism I believe in. I don’t know what monoculture means. I hear, in the last day or so it’s something like looking like Japan. I don’t want Australia to look like Japan. I want Australia to look like Australia.
Updated
How will the Community Strong Australia party be funded?
Show me the money!
That’s the big question hanging over the group – but Allegra Spender and Zali Steggall say that it will be community backed, and not funded by Climate 200.
Steggall says the money is “going to need to be built from the ground up.”
Asked whether major teal donors Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brooks will back the new party, Steggall initially avoids the question, but after a push by host, Sally Sara, Spender answers “no”.
Steggall does the majority of the speaking in the interview:
It will be for individuals who care about our politics, who will have the capacity to contribute, whether that be big or small, to enable a new choice at the table of our politics.
Updated
‘Australia is at a crossroads politically’: Steggall and Spender launch party
The women behind the new Community Strong Australia party are in the hot seat(s) on RN Breakfast, to launch their new party which they say will be centrist and give all their members a free vote.
Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender also say there won’t be a leader (at least until they build their party to 10 MPs and senators).
Steggall promises the party will be focused on the same “core pillars” that the teals have pushed – sensible economic management, climate action, integrity and equality.
She says:
I think Australia is at a crossroads politically where many people in our communities feel really unheard and feel that the major parties are out of touch, excuse me, but also are worried about the growing level of disunity and anger and some of the very divisive rhetoric that comes out of politicians in this place.
Steggall says the party will be like a sports team (which famously, do have captains/leaders), because “there is no capacity to deliver a performance without everyone pulling their weight and everything doing well. I think we all bring different skills and attributes to the table.”
Updated
‘Be careful how you protest,’ says Burgess
Burgess says the war in the Middle East has “added to the frustrations and anger in society” but the issue is broader.
He tells RN Breakfast society is now “quick to anger” and that the “level of tolerance is not what it used to be”, warning people to be careful in how they protest and cautioning the media against clickbait headlines that drive anger.
Burgess says:
There’s a number of drivers behind this and not one single ideology. And there’s something else that’s gone on in society where we’re quick to anger. We don’t debate. The level of tolerance is not what it used to be.
If people just took the heat out of the debate, by all means protest, but be careful how you protest. For the media, certainly continue to do your job, but be careful how you do your job. For any of us, including myself. Well, you know, the clickbait of media these days, no offence to anyone, but those headlines drive anger. And actually, when you see people get angry, there is a direct correlation in these modern times between anger and language, inflame language, inflame tension, and violence.
Updated
Iran state-sponsored terrorism a ‘pressing and ongoing concern’: Burgess
The Asio director-general, Mike Burgess, tells RN Breakfast he’s concerned about the ongoing threat of state-sponsored terrorism by Iran. Burgess revealed last year that his agency believed Iran was behind at least two antisemitic attacks in Australia.
Burgess says:
That is a pressing and ongoing concern. Earlier this year in Europe, Iran-backed groups conducted attacks in Europe and we’re concerned that those operations will expand into this region, including Australia, and that could result in more arsons and even death of Australians.
Last night he broadly revealed the agency had foiled 31 major terror plots, including one major plot since the Bondi terror attack.
Burgess also defended the agency’s resourcing, after the royal commission into antisemitism revealed the proportion of funding allocated to counter-terrorism significantly declined from 2020 to 2025, despite funding to intelligence agencies increasing overall.
The director-general said:
For Asio, we increased our resources on counter-terrorism when we raised the threat level in August [2024] and we increased in the months before Bondi.
Burgess says he’s still concerned about the threat of antisemitic attacks, but that the threat is broader, and faces all Australians.
Updated
Burgess says Asio ‘ready for the return’ of Isis-linked woman
Mike Burgess says Asio has been involved and is ready for the arrival of the Isis-linked woman, who has been granted a return permit and will be the final woman to leave the Syrian detention camp.
The woman, who was previously handed a temporary exclusion order, later applied for a return permit, which was granted by authorities. The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, revealed the news just moments ago.
Burgess says:
Of course we were involved, and yes, I’m satisfied that my organisation is ready for the return.
Asio is not all-seeing and all-knowing and we don’t want to be, but I can assure your listeners that actually the full use of my organisation’s capability and powers will be used when this individual returns to this country.
Updated
Burgess concerned Australian civilian could be killed at the hands of a foreign government
Mike Burgess says he’s really concerned about the level some nation-states, like Iran, could go to cause harm against Australians.
Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast, the spy boss says the security level is worsening and we could see an Australian killed at the hands of a foreign government.
He says countries doing bad things isn’t new, but it’s not common in Australia.
Targeted killing … that could be a prominent Australian that is killed or everyday Australians just about going about their business. So I am really concerned about the actions of some nation-states, Iran in particular, and the level they will go to. That’s why we describe our security environment as degraded because some nation-states will plumb the depths and go to extreme levels that we would find unacceptable and horrible.
At this point in time with a dynamic, diverse integrated security environment, we are really concerned about this.
Burgess made his annual threat address last night.
Updated
‘It’s a really simple question’: Burke berates Taylor
Finally, Burke is asked to weigh in on Pauline Hanson’s push for a “monocultural” Australia (which she yesterday tried to claim the Socceroos were a good example of), and Angus Taylor’s subsequent struggle to answer whether he supports multiculturalism.
Burke says Australia has “never been monocultural” and said it was odd Taylor couldn’t answer the question.
To talk about multicultural Australia is to just talk about modern Australia, to talk about who we are and who we’ve always been. And I find it really odd. I saw Angus Taylor unable to answer the question. Like it’s a really simple question.
Updated
Government reviewing threat levels, says Burke
Tony Burke says the government is reviewing the structure of the terror threat levels, after the spy boss, Mike Burgess, last night claimed the current system doesn’t adequately describe the circumstances the country faces.
Burke tells ABC AM the current threat level is “probable” and the level up from there is “expected”, but there’s a spectrum within that.
Asked by host Mel Clarke whether the government is considering changing the system to include more gradations or different descriptions of threats, Burke says that’s “part of what we’re considering at the moment”.
What Mike Burgess was making very clear last night is it has continued to increase the intensity of the threat level since we originally did the escalation to probable.
There is a review that’s happening on that … Different countries, particularly our Five Eyes partners, everyone does it a slightly different way and we’re looking at that. The thing that matters is making sure that the Australian people, but also all the law enforcement agencies, get the best possible information. And so in the absence of there being a change in label, last night’s speech served that exact purpose.
Updated
Woman in Syrian detention camp returning to Australia
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has revealed the woman held in a Syrian detention camp who was issued a temporary exclusion order, barring her from entering Australia, has applied for and been granted a return permit.
Burke said the woman will be under “every possible condition” – including monitoring where she lives, works, if she studies, and will be restricted from using any telecommunications device including a mobile phone or pay phone, unless she gives 24 hours notice and provides a reason for use.
Speaking to ABC’s AM program, Burke said she was the last remaining woman who was in the camp:
The temporary exclusion order applies until a permit is issued. And when a permit is requested, a permit lawfully has to be issued.
I’ve been working through with my department, my agencies, Australian federal police and Asio, and with the lawyers to see every possible condition we can put on that permit … But we received the final advice yesterday that we can no longer have an exclusion condition any longer for her.
There will be a very high level of scrutiny and surveillance … that’s the absolute legal limit we’ve been able to go to and our agencies are ready.
Updated
Steggall and Spender launch ‘Community Strong Australia’ party
After months of speculation, Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender have this morning officially announced the new Community Strong Australia party.
Being a party, rather than independents, will mean they get access to extra funding under legislation that was passed by the Labor government last term (which the crossbench were furious about).
They say they’ll support community-backed candidates and representatives “who share a commitment to integrity, climate action, economic prosperity, practical solutions and genuine engagement with the people they represent”.
In a statement, Steggall said:
The community independent movement has shown what’s possible when people unite around shared values and practical solutions. Community Strong Australia is about extending that opportunity to more Australians.
But other teals aren’t yet joining the fray – Nicolette Boele, who was elected last year to the Sydney seat of Bradfield, issued a statement this morning saying: “For now, I am remaining independent”, but called it a “significant day”.
We’ll be hearing more from them this morning.
Updated
Hanson says Farley’s mistaken vote alongside teals ‘a problem’
Pauline Hanson says she hauled new MP David Farley into her office after he voted alongside teals and Greens to wind back fuel tax credits for miners, admitting it was a “problem” and that he had made a mistake.
The One Nation leader tried to explain Farley’s vote as an error because “he’s got no staff in his office” and had suffered from the absence of colleague Barnaby Joyce – who is in London this week, instead of being in parliament.
“I had two discussions with him today … and I was point-blank with him,” Hanson told Sky host Andrew Bolt on Wednesday night.
Look, you say, you shouldn’t be making a mistake. Can I tell you something? It is a bloody robust place in here, and the fact is, he’s got no staff in his office, Barnaby’s not around.
Farley said he mistakenly voted alongside more progressive members on an amendment to wind back fuel tax credits, and that he later unsuccessfully tried to change his vote once he realised his mistake.
Hanson said Farley has “made some previous mistakes and I’m not going to deny that, I will own it”.
But said to David, ‘This is a problem … I’ve worked 30 years to get here to stand up and fight for the Australian people.’ And I said, ‘Your performance in there is going to reflect on me and the One Nation. My members here that we’ve worked so hard to represent the Australian people.’
And he said ‘Pauline I’m orange.’ He said, ‘I agree with all your policies.’ And he said it was a mistake.
Hanson said she would lend Farley staff from her office next week to help out in his office.
Updated
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
The sitting week is ending with a bang, as teal independents Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender announce the formation of a party after months of “will they, won’t they” speculation. More on that shortly.
Australia’s spy boss, Mike Burgess, has claimed an Australian citizen working as a senior intelligence officer for Iran “orchestrated” a firebombing in Bondi, in his annual threat assessment.
And Pauline Hanson has had to explain why her colleague, the new One Nation MP David Farley, voted on with the Greens and teals to wind back fuel tax credits for miners, farmers and others.
It’s going to be another busy day. Let’s get cracking!
Updated
Giving voters ‘a fair crack’ will restore trust in politics: Albanese
Anthony Albanese will address the Committee for Economic Development of Australia summit in Canberra today, insisting Labor’s appetite for tough political reforms will help restore trust in government.
Amid a surge in support for Pauline Hanson and One Nation, Albanese will argue tax reform and measures to address housing shortages around the country is difficult but necessary.
Albanese will say:
The easy political option in that situation is to kick the can down the road. To try and explain away, or work around, a system that isn’t working.
And while that might be the easy choice – it’s not the right one. The privilege of serving in government demands more of you than that.
Albanese will argue it is not enough to acknowledge people’s frustration.
You can’t just nod along while young Australians tell you that the deck is stacked against them. You have to do something to give them a fair crack. That is the choice our government has made.
Updated
Electricity use in Australia is expected to nearly double by 2050, says Aemo
Electricity use in Australia is expected to nearly double by 2050, but the rise of battery storage has led the market operator to scale back the amount of new transmission lines it thinks will be needed to get the energy around the country.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) has released its integrated system plan – a blueprint for the optimal future grid that is updated every two years.
It again found the least-cost system would run on renewable energy supported by energy storage – batteries and pumped hydro – and new transmission lines. Fast-start gas plants would be turned on when needed as backup.
Since the last blueprint in 2024, solar energy and batteries have become cheaper and wind and transmission have become more expensive.
Aemo said under its main “step change” scenario about 6,000km of new transmission would be needed by 2050. But 1,680km of potential transmission listed in 2024 would no longer be required due to investment in generation and storage, and changes in policy.
The plan would cost about $106bn in annualised capital investment, including $6bn on new transmission lines – down from $16bn two years ago.
Aemo’s chief executive, Daniel Westerman, said:
Over the forecast period, Australia’s ageing coal-fired power stations will close … At the same time, consumers are continuing to invest in rooftop solar and home batteries. [That] benefits all consumers by reducing the need for grid-scale investment.
Updated
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
There will be plenty of politics to come but we start with good news: thanks to the recent boom in batteries connected to the national power grid, we’re going to save money on new transmission lines. That’s despite our power use being expected to nearly double in the next decade or so.
Plus: as debate still swirls around Labor’s tax changes, Domain predicts the three cities where house prices will still continue to rise, despite … everything.
