PM’s meeting with Chinese president confirmed – as it happened

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Andrews rules out deal with the Greens and independents in event of minority government

Dan Andrews was also asked what would happen if Labor finds itself in a minority government situation – will it do a deal with the Greens?

No deal will be offered and no deal will be done.

And independents – no deals with independents?

No deal will be offered and no deal will be done.

So if you’re in a minority situation and you hold more seats than the Liberal party, what happens? You go back to another election?

Well, I think what the best thing to do, and what happens, Michael, is we work hard for the next 13 days, we work hard to put a positive and optimistic plan out there, and we’ll see what the verdict of Victorian voters is. I’m arguing, I’m urging people to vote for a strong, stable majority Labor government, to vote for your local Labor candidate.

The new SEC – government-owned, not private for-profit, but government-owned electricity, so owned by every single Victorian – creates nearly 60,000 jobs – 6,000 of those will be apprentices. It will be 100% renewable electricity. These companies can’t be relied upon to replace themselves. They’ll just put another profit machine in place. We need to make sure that we’re looking after pensioners, we’re looking after families and, indeed, businesses. And without electricity, there is no economy, so we have to replace them. And we choose to replace them with a public option – a government-owned option. An option that’s owned by every single Victorian.

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Albanese and Biden discuss climate action and Aukus pact ahead of G20 summit

In a 40-minute meeting, the prime minister also invited the US president to address federal parliament next year during meeting of the Quad

Anthony Albanese has compared notes with the US president ahead of Joe Biden’s landmark meeting with Xi Jinping on Monday at the G20, and discussed Aukus and climate cooperation in a warm catch-up spanning 40 minutes.

Australia’s prime minister met Biden on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit on Sunday in Phnom Penh. That catch-up followed Albanese speaking on Saturday night with the Chinese premier Li Keqiang – which is the first leader-level contact between Australia and China in three years.

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Albanese meets Chinese premier Li Keqiang at summit – as it happened

Victorian opposition vows to restrict gas produced in the state from being exported in a bid to reduce household bills; Anthony Albanese speaks to Chinese premier Li Keqiang at East Asia Summit gala dinner. This blog is now closed

Two historic military planes collided and crashed to the ground Saturday during a Dallas airshow, federal officials said, sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky.

Officials didn’t immediately make clear how many people were on board the aircraft or if anyone on the ground was hurt. Nonetheless, an ABC News producer – citing reporting from a colleague – said on Twitter that at least six people, all crew members, were feared dead after the crash.

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Albanese meeting with Chinese premier heralds potential thaw in diplomatic freeze

Meeting with Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, is first between leaders of Australia and China since 2019

Anthony Albanese has met the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, at a gala dinner in Cambodia, opening the first leader-to-leader dialogue between the two countries since 2019.

The Australian prime minister’s office confirmed on Sunday the two leaders had a brief exchange after arriving at the dinner in Phnom Penh. The last conversation between the leaders of the two countries occurred when Scott Morrison and Li met in 2019.

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Anthony Albanese signals to China that Australia is open for dialogue without ‘preconditions’

Australian prime minister says it ‘would be positive’ if he and Xi Jinping met at Asean summit

Anthony Albanese has sent a clear public signal to the Chinese leadership that Australia is open for dialogue during international summits over the coming days, saying he is prepared to meet his counterpart without “preconditions” .

With the US president, Joe Biden, set to meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, at the G20 summit in Bali on Monday, Australia’s prime minister told reporters at the Asean-Australia summit in Cambodia on Saturday a conversation was “not locked in at this point” and he was awaiting “finalisation of any meeting”.

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Albanese meets Ukraine foreign minister, who says it will be a ‘joint success’ when Russia defeated

Australian prime minister commits to 30 more Bushmasters as Dmytro Kuleba asks for help with energy needs

Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has declared his country will prevail in the war with Russia, and he has told the Australian prime minister “when victory comes, it will be our joint success”.

Having landed in Phnom Penh on Friday night, Anthony Albanese opened his summit season program in Cambodia on Saturday with a meeting with Kuleba on the sidelines of the Asean-Australia summit.

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Medibank hack: Clare O’Neil says new cybercrime operation will hunt down ‘Russian thugs’

Officials drawn from AFP and the Australian Signals Directorate to form ‘joint standing operation’ against cybercriminal syndicates

Australia has awoken from a cyber “slumber” and will “day in, day out hunt down the scumbags” who have stolen the health data of nearly 10 million Australians, home affairs minister Clare O’Neil has said.

After the Russian embassy complained it had not been informed the Australian government would publicly accuse Russian cybercriminals of being behind a hack on private health insurer Medibank, O’Neil did not resile from publicly blaming Russians for the hack.

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PM appoints new special envoy to south-east Asia – as it happened

PM gives address at Asean summit in Cambodia underscoring Australia’s commitment to partners and to regional values

Infectious diseases specialist Dr Noor Bari says the situation unfolding with the Majestic Princess is serious for more reasons than many believe.

She says that despite cruise line companies upgrading their HEPA/UVC air intake systems, a critical number of cases on board can quickly overwhelm the limited facilities on board.

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Jacqui Lambie’s instinct is to blow the IR debate up while David Pocock is all ears – that’s why he is the kingmaker

Lambie has been quick to judge the workplace bill as a union power-grab but Pocock is accumulating ideas around his proposal to split the legislation

When David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie found their way into the Senate’s balance of power, Labor’s chances of passing bills brightened.

Both have a reputation as pragmatists, but when it comes to navigating its complex industrial relations legislation through the Senate by winning one of their swing votes, the government is not spoiled for choice.

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BoM rebranding aimed to overcome ‘negative associations related to the acronym’, internal documents reveal

In late 2021, the Bureau of Meteorology was telling staff ‘the point of this change is to build trust’ and public trust could ‘save millions of lives’

The Bureau of Meteorology told staff it wanted to avoid the BoM nickname due to “negative associations related to the acronym”, newly released documents about the agency’s aborted rebranding reveal.

That explanation was dropped from a later version of an internal style guide, however, with that document stating the bureau was simply focused on “reclaiming our name”.

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Covid cases surge nationally as ‘fourth wave’ hits – as it happened

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Albanese on Xi Jinping: ‘we will no doubt be at the same meetings’

Will Anthony Albanese meet with China’s president Xi Jinping in the coming week? He’s staying mum.

What I want to see with the relationship with China is cooperation where we can, but we of course will maintain our Australian values where we must. So dialogue is always good, a meeting is not locked in at this point in time. But we will no doubt be at the same meetings. The East Asia summit, the G20, and Apec is going to be a busy time in international diplomacy.

Now this act is just disgusting, targeting women who have had a pregnancy termination is about as cowardly as you can get.

I just want to say to those women this morning, we hear you, we are with you, and we love you. If you need help, please reach out and we are absolutely determined to target the criminals who have done this disgusting act.

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Australia’s consumer watchdog calls for new laws to stop scams and rein in anti-competitive behaviour online

ACCC report says digital platforms expose users and businesses to ‘harms’ as it pushes for overhaul

Australia’s competition regulator has run out of patience with digital platforms such as Google and Facebook and has recommended new laws to clamp down on scams, address consumer complaints and rein in anti-competitive behaviour.

Releasing its fifth progress report on digital platforms since it began an inquiry in 2017, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has called for industry-specific legislation, saying it has identified “widespread, entrenched and systematic” consumer and competition “harms”.

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Speculation grows Anthony Albanese will meet Chinese leader during hectic summit season

Prime minister to see Britain’s Rishi Sunak and leaders of Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand and is likely to catch up with Joe Biden

Speculation is mounting that Anthony Albanese will meet either the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, or the president, Xi Jinping, during the hectic November summit season, which kicks off in Cambodia this weekend.

Australia’s prime minister leaves on Friday for the East Asia and Australia-Asean summits in Phnom Penh before travelling to the G20 in Bali and completing his trip at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Bangkok towards the end of next week.

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Australia news live: Medibank hacker demands ‘US$1 per customer’ ransom; ‘rotten egg gas’ problem in navy patrol boats

Defence officials say there is an issue with hydrogen sulphide in the vessels’ waste systems. Follow the day’s news live

Coalition’s staff cap has fuelled lack of payment integrity, Shorten says

Bill Shorten goes on to criticise the NDIS staff cap implemented by the Coalition government:

When there were 180,000 participants in the scheme, the staff numbers were around 3,500 to 4,000. And the government of the day said, ‘OK, no more staff.’

Now the scheme has half a million people-plus, and what’s happened is that we’ve brought in contractors or labour hire or partners in the community and the scheme hasn’t been well, in my opinion, supervised and well loved.

I don’t blame someone for seeking to get support for the child. What does make me wonder is the state school systems providing the support for kids with developmental and learning delays? Are they doing enough or not? How can you force their hand to do it so that these people aren’t going on the NDIS?

Originally, when the NDIS was created, it was to be a 50/50 split, at the moment the federal government is paying 64% to 66% of the scheme and states are paying in the mid 30s.

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Inquiry consensus to pave way for Labor’s anti-corruption body

Integrity bill likely to be legislated before end of 2022 despite crossbench and Coalition disagreements on some issues

The national anti-corruption commission inquiry will recommend parliament pass the government’s bill, paving the way for Labor’s model for the integrity body to be legislated in the final parliamentary sitting fortnight of 2022.

The joint select committee will report consensus on Thursday, underscoring support across the political spectrum for the integrity body, despite crossbench and Coalition attempts to amend Labor’s model.

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Indigenous voice referendum should be sooner rather than later, Uluru statement co-chairs say

Pat Anderson and Prof Megan Davis urge Labor to not waste momentum and call on the media to ‘rise to this occasion’

The Uluru Statement from the Heart co-chair Pat Anderson has urged the federal government to not waste “momentum” for the Indigenous voice to parliament, calling for a referendum on the constitutional change sooner rather than later.

Anderson said the national vote could occur in October 2023, the most recently proposed of many mooted dates, as she called for the nation’s media to “rise to this occasion” in reporting on Indigenous constitutional recognition.

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Australia pays to maintain trouble-plagued Taipan helicopters no longer being used by navy

Officials defend cost, saying it will ensure parts have resale value once government decides whether to dump the fleet entirely

The Australian government is paying to maintain seven trouble-plagued Taipan helicopters in a Brisbane warehouse after the navy ceased using them.

Officials have defended the cost of this work, saying it would ensure the parts still have resale value once the government decides whether to dump the fleet entirely.

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Coalition complains of ‘witch-hunt’ during question time – as it happened

Federal government paying contractor $900,000 for review of naval shipbuilding

The federal government is paying a contractor $900,000 to carry out a new review of naval shipbuilding issues with the findings due by January.

Australia has the expertise and capability. What we don’t have yet is the scale to deliver the graduates and skills in the quantities required …

I’m here to tell you today is that whatever submarine design ends up being chosen, we won’t be able to build and operate it locally unless we address the fundamental issue of Australia’s workforce capability gap.

Nuclear science should clearly be the first cab off the rank for this program, but this approach will also be necessary across the broader advanced capabilities of Aukus including in cyber and computing, engineering, space and quantum physics.

An Aukus pathways program, jointly developed with Defence, could feature a portfolio of tailored degree programs providing a pathway for students to gain qualifications in an Aukus-related field and then progress to a position in Defence working on Aukus programs.

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‘Not fit for purpose’: government looks to amend ‘antiquated’ referendum laws ahead of voice vote

Linda Burney says government will propose changes to modernise the century-old act before the end of the year

A leading constitutional expert says Australia’s century-old laws around referendums are “not fit for purpose”, suggesting the government could look to amend rules around donations, funding disclosures and social media advertising before the voice to parliament vote.

Linda Burney, the minister for Indigenous Australians, said the government would propose changes to “modernise” the Referendum Act before the end of the year, and promised a civics campaign and more information about the voice campaign in early 2023.

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US warns Australia against joining treaty banning nuclear weapons

US embassy in Canberra says treaty ‘would not allow for US extended deterrence relationships’

The United States has warned Australia against joining a landmark treaty banning nuclear weapons, saying the agreement could hamper defence arrangements between the US and its allies.

But New Zealand said it was “pleased to observe a positive shift” in Australia’s position in a United Nations vote and “would, of course, welcome any new ratifications as an important step to achieving a nuclear weapon-free world”.

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