Category Archives: Australian politics

Call for action to address gambling harm as report finds Australians lose average of $1,600 a year

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Grattan Institute says losses in Australia are double those in the US, and poker machines are more common in Australian suburbs than ATMs

Australians lose almost twice as much from gambling as people in the US, and poker machines – the biggest single source of losses – are more common in the nation’s suburbs than public toilets, ATMs and post boxes, a new report has found.

The Grattan Institute report – A better bet: How Australia should prevent gambling harm – concludes that to limit the damage from gambling, the government needs to not only ban gambling ads but introduce a mandatory pre-commitment loss limit for online gambling and poker machines.

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Census questions on trans and gender diverse people ‘critical’ and not too complex, health institutes tell Labor

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Health bodies say the questions are needed to fill gaps in much-needed research

Leading health experts have criticised the federal government for suggesting proposed LGBTQI+ questions should be excluded from the census because they were “too complex” – arguing similar questions are already used elsewhere.

Versions of the proposed questions have been answered by 85,000 Australians in existing health surveys administered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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Linda Reynolds v Brittany Higgins defamation trial to hear final arguments

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The five-week trial is scheduled to conclude after Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett delivers his last remarks

Western Australia’s supreme court is on Wednesday due to hear the last arguments in the defamation trial brought by the Liberal senator Linda Reynolds against Brittany Higgins, before the judge begins his deliberations.

The five-week trial, which began at the start of August, is scheduled to conclude after Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, delivers his final remarks.

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Australia news live: Murray Watt ‘concerned’ at Iran reaction to ambassador’s social media posts; children removed from AI image database

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IRNA said the foreign ministry summoned the Australian ambassador Ian McConville to Tehran, and condemned the publication of photos on social media. Follow today’s news live

Tehan responds to Asio boss’s accusation his comments on Palestinians have been ‘distorted’

Dan Tehan was also asked about comments from Asio boss Mike Burgess, who used an interview with the ABC’s 7.30 program on Tuesday to hit back at people who had “distorted” what he had previously said about the security vetting process for Palestinians seeking to come to Australia.

I won’t talk about what Mike Burgess may or may not be talking about when he says that. As you know, we had the prime minister also leave an important sentence out of what Mike Burgess said in the parliament, which basically distorted what Mike Burgess was saying. But I’ll leave that up to Mike Burgess, because our issue has never been with [him]. Our issue is with the prime minister …

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Rob Stokes declines role on committee to run NSW Liberals after being named by federal executive

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Former NSW minister Stokes had not been told about committee, its composition or terms of reference ahead of the public announcement, source says

The federal Liberal executive did not tell former New South Wales planning minister Rob Stokes that he would be named as part of a three-person committee it wanted to run the state division for almost a year.

The senior party figure refused the position after the federal team demanded the state executive appoint a temporary committee of three to run the troubled division which failed to nominate candidates for some NSW councils.

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‘A symbol of our nation’: waratah among 20 more species added to Australia’s threatened wildlife list

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The fresh listings bring the total number of endangered plants, animals and ecosystems to almost 2,250

Twenty more plants and animals, including a type of waratah, have been added to Australia’s list of threatened wildlife, bringing the total number of endangered species and ecosystems to almost 2,250.

The fresh listings come as the government faces a battle to pass legislation for a new national environment watchdog in the Senate, while Labor has also been under pressure from the Greens and Coalition about delays to a broader package of reforms to the country’s environment laws.

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Sky News’ Peta Credlin helped draft Brittany Higgins’ 2021 media statement, court told

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Lawyer for Linda Reynolds tells defamation trial Credlin was told ‘completely rework wherever you see fit’

The Sky News columnist and former chief of staff to Tony Abbott Peta Credlin helped draft Brittany Higgins’ statement given to media in 2021, after her rape allegations were made public, a court has been told.

In closing arguments to Western Australia’s supreme court, where Linda Reynolds is suing Higgins for defamation, Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett on Tuesday said Higgins had a “visceral hatred” towards her former employer and exaggerated how long she had to wait for counselling support following her rape allegations to “suit” her narrative.

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Australia news live: tens of thousands still without power in Victoria; poll shows growing support for drug injecting rooms

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Storms in three states is expected to ease today. Follow all the news headlines live

Crews are continuing to restore power to Victorians after strong winds damaged powerlines and left thousands without power.

According to AusNet, there are still 37,500 without power, and according to Citipower and Powercor, there are 17,484 customers still affected.

We have restored power to over 43,063 customers as crews continue repairing the power network that was extensively damaged during last night’s wild weather.

Crews are responding to more than 380 individual faults, replacing power poles, reconnecting fallen powerlines and repairing other electrical infrastructure damaged by trees, branches and other debris.

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Rise in Palestinian applications for onshore protection visas as pressure grows on Albanese government

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More than 300 Palestinians applied for onshore protection visas over June and July, home affairs department figures show

The number of Palestinians applying onshore for protection has continued to grow, increasing pressure on the Albanese government over its decision to require them to come to Australia on visitor visas first.

According to home affairs department statistics, the number of Palestinians applying for onshore protection visas increased from 119 in May to 157 in June and 176 in July.

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Australia news live: parts of Victoria told to plan for up to 72 hours without power; two Tasmanian emergency workers injured during floods response

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Weather situation overnight in Victoria has led to about 1,900 calls to the SES for assistance. Follow today’s news live

Delays predicted at Melbourne airport amid strike action

Melburnians catching a flight this morning may want to give themselves extra time as severe delays are predicted, with security screeners striking between 6am and 8.30am at the domestic airport.

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Gambling reform advocates dismayed as Albanese government defers action on national regulator

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Tim Costello says ‘I never thought I would see in my lifetime John Howard to the left of Anthony Albanese on an issue’

Gambling reform advocates have blasted the Albanese government for ruling out a national gambling regulator and pushing ahead with a partial TV ad ban only.

The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, said on Sunday that the recommendation for a national regulator “would involve states and territories handing over their powers to the commonwealth”, confirming that “at this point, that is not in the discussions”.

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Linda Reynolds failed to offer a ‘basic human response’ after Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations, court told

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Higgins’ lawyer also tells defamation trial Reynolds was an unreliable witness and harassed Higgins by leaking documents

Linda Reynolds’ engaged in a “campaign of harassment” against her former staffer, Brittany Higgins, and had a “dogged focus” on the “wrong target”, a court has heard.

And Reynolds failed to offer a “basic human response” by following up with Higgins about her welfare after a meeting they had about her rape allegation, Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young SC, said.

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‘Less money for health and education’: Albanese slams Coalition threat to cut GST unless states build housing

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The opposition is yet to announce a policy that would create more housing supply, while the Greens put Airbnb in their sights

The Greens and the Coalition are opening up new fronts in the battle over housing policy, as the government continues to struggle to get its agenda through the Senate.

The shadow assistant spokesperson for home ownership, Andrew Bragg, opened the door for a future Coalition government to withhold funding to states and local governments unless house building was accelerated.

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Dutton’s nuclear reactor in Collie would have a 10th of the output of renewables, Chris Bowen says – as it happened

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The energy minister has been taking every opportunity to undermine the Coalition’s ‘plan’ on nuclear energy. This blog is now closed

Bragg defends NSW Liberal chief’s position after council elections debacle

Finally, Bragg has also defended Liberal party’s NSW president, Don Harwin, staying in his role after the “catastrophic failure” of the division to nominate candidates for local government elections.

I’m more interested in looking at the core competency of the division rather than getting into personality debates.

I don’t see any case for Don to go. I think he’s done a good job as president. I don’t think that having an election for president now inside the New South Wales division would be in the interests of the party, and at the end of the day, people love talking about these things, but the core competencies are on display – you’ve got candidates in the field and you’re raising money.

It’s been my view for a long time that gender identity and sexual orientation are reasonable questions to ask in a modern society. I think the fact the PM has tied himself in knots on this issue shows a great weakness in his own leadership.

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Questions on gender and sex variations ‘too complex’ for census, social services minister Amanda Rishworth says

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It’s the third explanation government ministers have given since last Sunday, while Coalition senator Andrew Bragg says questions are ‘reasonable’

The social services minister has offered up the latest explanation for why proposed questions on gender and sex variations were dumped from the next census, claiming they were too complicated.

In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, Amanda Rishworth gave a new reason for why new questions had been ditched from the census planning, saying the government had been shown “questions that were very complex in the census”.

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Closing arguments expected to be heard on Monday in Reynolds v Higgins defamation trial

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Linda Reynolds has argued that social media posts by former staffer contained mistruths that damaged her reputation – which Brittany Higgins denies

Closing arguments in a defamation case brought against Brittany Higgins by her former boss the Liberal senator Linda Reynolds are expected to be heard on Monday.

Reynolds is suing Higgins over social media posts made after the former political staffer alleged she had been raped by her colleague Bruce Lehrmann in the then defence minister’s office in Parliament House.

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Albanese says ABS, not government, will determine scope of census question on sexuality

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Prime minister defends government’s backflip on census and says single question on sexuality will not limit scope of data

Anthony Albanese says the nature and scope of question on sexuality in the next census will be a matter for the Australian Bureau of Statistics, not the government.

After a week in which his government was heavily criticised for excluding proposed new questions on sexual orientation and gender identity, the prime minister reneged and said the 2026 census would include “one question about sexuality, sexual preference”.

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Builders and the Fair Work Commission are delaying CFMEU members’ pay deals, union leader says

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Electrical Trades Union secretary says it’s ‘appalling’ that agreements struck before the CFMEU was placed into administration ‘aren’t getting through’ the FWC

Blue-collar unions have taken aim at builders and the Fair Work Commission for delays approving pay deals struck before allegations of criminal misconduct and bikie links resulted in the construction union being placed into administration.

Troy Gray, the Electrical Trades Union Victorian secretary, said it was “appalling” that administrators have removed three union-appointed directors from the board of industry super fund Cbus and that enterprise agreements “aren’t getting through” the FWC.

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Labor will have itself to blame if it loses western Sydney over Gaza issue, says Muslim Vote convener

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Wesam Charkawi says Albanese’s party has ‘created this movement through their decisions’ as pro-Palestine communities feel Labor has failed them

A new Muslim political movement backing independent candidates says Labor will have itself to blame if Peter Dutton wins the next election, and that people should not assume the candidates they support will preference Labor.

Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, one of the conveners behind the Muslim Vote movement, said the group would be aiming to support “at least five candidates” in New South Wales and Victoria.

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Australia news live: BoM predicts warm spring as Sydney faces high fire danger and four states warned of high winds

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Windy weekend in prospect as BoM forecasts warmer-than-usual spring. Follow the day’s news live

Good morning and welcome to the end-of-week news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight stories to get you up to speed before hosting duties switch to Emily Wind.

Mano Yogalingam was 23 years old and had “his whole life in front of him”. But the stresses and strains of living with the prospect of being deported back to Sri Lanka pushed him over the edge and he took his own life this week. Our top story this morning hears from refugee advocates who say the death of the Tamil asylum seeker has exposed the failings of the fast-track immigration system. “All of these people have been failed by the system. It’s a total cobweb of cruelty,” one said.

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