Category Archives: Australian politics

Pauline Hanson’s domestic violence comments were no stumble

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The One Nation leader has allied herself with men’s rights activists for years, consistently suggesting women routinely make false allegations of violence

For a decade, Pauline Hanson has been beating the same drum.

Her comments this week – suggesting domestic violence was a “two-way street” and questioning why women did not simply leave abusive relationships – have caused significant concern and been labelled “dangerous” by experts and other commentators.

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Donald Trump hits Australian exports to US with new higher trade tariff over claims of ‘forced labour’

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Australia’s trade minister, Don Farrell, says tariff regime is unjustified and inconsistent with free trade agreement with US

Donald Trump has hit Australian exports with new trade tariffs, claiming the country is not doing enough to combat forced labour, but the Albanese government has demanded he remove them immediately.

The United States announced on Friday morning (AEST) that many Australian exports now attract a new 12.5% tariff as part of a broader regime affecting dozens of countries. However the Albanese government says Australia’s three largest export categories – including beef and gold – will avoid the tariff hit.

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Adelaide airport pulls ads from conservation groups but keeps gas and mining ads during ALP conference

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Digital billboards from environmental groups, targeting Labor MPs attending national conference, cancelled with airport stating they are ‘too political’

Conservation groups have questioned why their advertisements targeting Labor politicians were pulled by Adelaide airport for breaking rules on political advertising while others promoting gas and mining kept running.

Labor politicians including the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, have been arriving through the airport for this week’s ALP national conference from Thursday to Saturday.

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Australia news live: Jim Chalmers says he has ‘other priorities’ than a gas tax; Anthony Albanese calls to congratulate Andy Burnham

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Treasurer points to other reforms after Labor members call for ‘fairer return’ from natural resources. Follow today’s news live

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories before your regular blogger takes the reins.

Jim Chalmers has claimed rightwing political parties will “prey on” voter insecurities about a worsening economy while championing “anti-worker” policies. It comes as markets are now expecting another rate hike by the end of the year. He also continues to push back at rank and file Labor members’ calls for a new tax on gas exports, saying the government had “other priorities” for reform. More coming up.

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Pauline Hanson blames ‘fake news’ media for her bad press. But serious leaders have to own their actions

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In a fortnight of rolling blunders, the One Nation leader digs deep into the Trump playbook of blame-shifting

There’s apparently only one thing to blame for Pauline Hanson’s string of bad headlines in recent weeks, from her decision to pal around with the far-right convicted criminal Tommy Robinson to her description of domestic violence on Wednesday as a “two-way street”.

According to the One Nation leader, it’s of course not Hanson herself who is to blame.

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Pauline Hanson says domestic violence prevents police from dealing with ‘real crime’ in unearthed interview

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One Nation leader labels family violence leave ‘ridiculous’ and decries ‘woke’ support of women’s rights in November podcast

Pauline Hanson has described paid leave for those experiencing family and domestic violence as “ridiculous”, and suggested the issue is taking police away from “real crime”, calling for the family law system to be “wound back”.

In an unearthed interview, the One Nation leader said the advancements of women’s rights in the family law system over the decades had become “broken” because they favoured women and were now “suppressing the males all the time”.

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Australia news live: Brisbane fog causes flight delays; Labor faces seven major challenges, Chalmers says

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Treasurer says ‘parties of the sensible centre and the centre-left parties’ face ‘serious economic challenges’. Follow live

Self-reported domestic violence incidents declining in NSW but deaths and hospitalisations fail to fall

New data shows self-reported domestic violence incidents in New South Wales have declined, but the number of women and children murdered or hospitalised in domestic and family violence incidents over the past eight years has not significantly budged.

The decline in self-reported violence is significant because it reflects underlying levels of violence in the community, not just what is reported to police. It suggests that, despite rising reports of domestic violence to police, domestic violence in the community is not increasing and may be trending down.

There’s a strong perception that violence against women is rising, which is understandable given increases in police-recorded incidents, heightened media attention and greater public awareness.

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Why are OpenAI and Anthropic cheering on regulation in Australia? The answer has global reach

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The companies hope to follow in the footsteps of SpaceX, which raised $86bn and soared to a $2.1tn valuation after it listed on public markets in June

Top US AI developers Anthropic and OpenAI cheered when Australia announced it would set new AI rules.

Big tech celebrating limits on their Silicon Valley VC-funded free-for-all might seem counterintuitive but there’s a much broader play than just what happens in one relatively small market.

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Australia to warn China it won’t be bullied by ‘provocative‘ actions as it builds military and nuclear arsenal

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Foreign minister Penny Wong will deliver speech criticising China’s recent launch of a nuclear-capable submarine-launched missile

Penny Wong will warn China that Australia and other neighbouring nations will not be bullied by its “provocative” actions, after its involvement in another “destabilising and dangerous” incident this week.

The foreign affairs minister – who will deliver the address on Thursday in the Philippines, where the 59th Asean foreign minister’s meeting is being held – will also caution world leaders against placing a toll on the strait of Hormuz after both Iran and the US threatened to do amid the protracted conflict.

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People with secret ‘safe phones’ advised to turn off devices during national test of AusAlert emergency warning

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Ten-second ‘siren’ to blare on most phones on Monday as part of national test despite reservations from some states

An unsilenceable siren will blare out of most phones in Australia on Monday afternoon for 10 seconds, with the federal government confirming a national test of the new AusAlert emergency alert system will go ahead, despite reservations from some state governments.

Domestic violence campaigners and the National Emergency Management Agency have also repeated advice that people who may have secret “safe phones”, kept hidden for personal safety reasons, may want to turn off their devices for up to 24 hours after the test scheduled for 2pm (AEST) on Monday.

iPhones 11 and up running iOS 26.4 or later;

Apple Watch SE2, SE3, Series 6 and up running watchOS 26.4 or later;

Android devices running Android 12 or later.

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Australia news live: Barnaby Joyce dogged by Tommy Robinson questions – and by a dog – in spiky ABC interview

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One Nation MP grilled in 7.30 interview about Pauline Hanson’s podcast interview by far-right activist. Follow today’s news live

Anthony Albanese has congratulated the new UK Prime Minister Anthony Burnham after the latter took over the job yesterday. The Australian PM posted a note to X, emphasising the strategic allyship:

Congratulations Prime Minister Burnham on your appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Australia and the United Kingdom are longstanding friends, allies and partners, united by shared values and deep ties between our peoples.

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Australia spent more than $9m for each asylum seeker held on Nauru last year – so why can’t they afford to buy food?

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Many of the more than 100 people awaiting processing on the tiny Pacific island are skipping meals to make ends meet, a new survey has found

Most refugees and asylum seekers held in Nauru’s detention centres say they cannot afford to buy enough food or access clean drinking water, despite the Australian government spending the equivalent of more than $9m per person last financial year.

The group of more than 100 people have been sent indefinitely to the tiny Pacific island while they wait for their asylum claims to be processed. Many of the cohort say they are skipping meals to make ends meet, according to a new survey by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) advocacy group.

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Australia news live: Derryn Hinch mourned at state funeral; Mark Dreyfus tells antisemitism inquiry of ‘deeply wounding’ attack

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The use of AI in automated decision-making by government departments and agencies will be subject to tough rules under a new national plan, expected to extend to consumer protections, workplace safety and privacy.

As the Albanese government grapples with the rapid growth in the use of artificial intelligence and a boom in datacentre construction, senior ministers have begun work to draw up new rules to ensure safety is built into AI processes inside government, prioritising fairness, accuracy and transparency.

I know who Pauline is, Mum is, and I know that’s not what her intention was in any way. I do think snippets of it was misinterpreted. Under no way, shape, or form did she say she wished the White Australia policy hadn’t have been changed. She does not support it and she does not want it back. So I do believe it’s been taken out of context.

We know that media grabbed their snippets and their grabs, and it’s all about clickbait, and then Labor’s obviously jumped on it, and so are the Liberals, right? That’s how they try to better themselves, by picking out a little slogan when she was talking about the history of immigration and the change that has occurred.

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Barnaby Joyce says One Nation doesn’t want return of White Australia policy but backs Pauline Hanson on mass deportations

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Lee Hanson claims her mother’s comments on Tommy Robinson podcast were ‘misinterpreted’

Barnaby Joyce says Pauline Hanson does not support the White Australia policy but he has backed her support for “mass deportations” of those overstaying their visas.

Hanson and her colleagues have spent days clarifying, explaining or walking back headline-grabbing parts of the One Nation leader’s trip to Europe, including a podcast interview with the far-right convicted criminal Tommy Robinson, her attendance at a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show and downtime by a hotel pool in Italy with the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.

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Robodebt whistleblower was told her royal commission evidence ‘could cost you your job’, court hears

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Exclusive: Jeannie-Marie Blake is suing the Australian government over alleged threats, which her department denies making

A key robodebt whistleblower is suing the Australian government, alleging she was threatened before she appeared at a royal commission and was warned that her testimony “could cost you your job”.

Services Australia whistleblower Jeannie-Marie Blake has filed proceedings in the federal court, alleging her department made repeated threats against her before and after her explosive evidence to the robodebt royal commission.

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Australia news live: Barnaby Joyce defends Pauline Hanson’s meeting with Tommy Robinson; police make arrest after man dies in Sydney house fire

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One Nation MP says the media should be prepared to interview far-right activist. Follow today’s news live

Michelle Rowland says mandatory minimum standards for datacentres don’t apply to existing developments

The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, told ABC News that mandatory minimum standards for datacentres would apply to new developments, not existing ones.

The scope and the timing of those is something that I think will be properly determined by national cabinet.

This is an issue that not only state governments but local councils have been dealing with as well.

It goes from being this hunched-over ball of fluff at the top of a tree looking down at you, to suddenly spreading out its limbs and flying over your head like a magical flying carpet, or this weird stingray-UFO thing in the sky.

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Almost 145,000 Australians will lose support for autism under NDIS reforms, documents reveal

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Internal estimates show 144,600 people will be taken off the scheme by 2030, many of them under 18

Almost 145,000 Australians receiving support for autism on the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) are expected to be removed by the end of the decade, internal estimates show, as the federal government moves ahead with plans to narrow the focus of the “diluted” $52bn scheme toward those with significant and complex needs.

From 2028, almost two-thirds of the 241,000 participants set to lose access to the NDIS will be aged 18 or under, health department documents released to Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws show.

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Australia news live: NT police still seek answers over 25 year-old murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio

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Bradley John Murdoch was convicted of 28-year-old’s murder but remains were never found

Northern Territory Police have opened evidence boxes to uncover several previously unseen photographs from the investigation of the murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio and attempted abduction of his girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Tuesday is the 25th anniversary of the infamous outback disappearance.

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Australia to ditch paper arrival cards for incoming travellers

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Digital customs declaration to be phased in at all international airports and seaports after successful Qantas trial

The days of filling out paper arrival cards are to end for millions of travellers arriving in Australia on international flights.

The Albanese government has announced it will roll out digital passenger cards to all Australian international airports and seaports after a “successful” trial on Qantas flights into Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

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How Pauline Hanson courts UK’s far-right – and builds a global brand – with ‘pseudo events’ and publicity stunts

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The One Nation leader is set to be interviewed by Tommy Robinson as part of a media strategy that seems designed to seek scandal – and reach millions

Pauline Hanson’s highly publicised meetings with controversial far-right figures in the UK will drive international eyeballs to her content and continue building the global brand – and that’s by design, far-right experts say.

The One Nation leader is visiting on a “fact-finding mission” with her chief-of-staff, James Ashby, ticking off a number of the country’s most divisive personalities.

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