What we learned; Monday 28 July
And that’s a wrap for today’s live news coverage. Here’s what’s been keeping us busy on this, the first day of the second week of the 48th parliament:
Independent MP Sophie Scamps asked the prime minister when Australia would recognise Palestine as a state. Anthony Albanese said that the recognition of a Palestinian state might come before the “finalisation of the peace process”.
Scamps later told the ABC her office had been “inundated” with letters about what is happening in Gaza and that people are “distressed, distraught, horrified” by news coverage of its civilian population.
Tensions between Labor and the Greens over how to respond to Gaza continued into a second sitting week over in Senate question time. Greens senator David Shoebridge asked the government’s upper house leader and foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, when the government will sanction Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet. Here’s the TLDR version of our question time coverage.
Chris Minns responded to plans for the weekly pro-Palestine protest to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, saying the government can’t support a protest of this scale with one week’s notice.
Former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr welcomed Anthony Albanese and the government’s stronger statements on Gaza, but says Australia needs to go further, and should recognise a Palestinian state.
Independent MP Kate Chaney introduced a bill to stop AI technology that trains or facilitates the production of child sexual abuse material.
Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said Labor will “do whatever we have to” to make sure Australian children are safe, as the government considers the parameters of a social media ban for under 16s.
Victorian upper house MP Georgie Purcell announced she is expecting a baby girl in early 2026 with her partner, federal Labor MP Josh Burns.
Thank you for joining us, as ever. We’ll be back with more political coverage, live from Canberra, early tomorrow morning.
Updated
Senate votes down Pauline Hanson push to scrap net zero by 2050 policy
The Senate has overwhelmingly voted down a push by One Nation senator Pauline Hanson to scrap Australia’s net zero by 2050 emissions policy.
The urgency motion put by Hanson this evening urged the Senate to dump net zero and prioritise “cheap and reliable energy”. One Nation senators were joined by Coalition senators, Matt Canavan and Alex Antic, and United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet, making up seven in favour.
Labor, the remainder of the Coalition, the crossbench and the Greens all voted against Hanson’s motion with 39 noes.
Liberal senator Paul Scarr said the party’s review process was still underway and therefore the policy on net zero was still not settled.
He said:
The Coalition will not be diverted or distracted from that policy review process. That policy review process provides an opportunity for every single Coalition senator and every single Coalition MP to have their say, and for their say to be considered, to be considered as part of that policy review process as the Coalition settles its suite of policies to take to the next election.
Updated
