Wild weather, including Cyclone Alfred and floods in NSW and Queensland, significantly slowed retail trade and household spending
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Six months of natural disasters in 2025 have cost the economy $2.2bn, largely in slower retail and household spending, according to new federal Treasury analysis.
Wild weather has repeatedly battered the Australian east coast this year.
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Continue reading...Prime minister also reaffirms policy on Taiwan while hitting back at Donald Trump’s doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminium imports
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Anthony Albanese has responded to the United States’ calls for a huge rise in defence spending amid fears about China, while hitting back at Donald Trump’s move to double tariffs on steel and aluminium.
On Saturday US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, urged US allies in the region, including Australia, to “share the burden” and lift defence spending to 5% of GDP, warning that “Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”.
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Continue reading...Don Farrell says US president’s latest tariffs announcement ‘an act of economic self-harm’ and he will continue to advocate for their removal
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Australia’s trade minister, Don Farrell, has described Donald Trump’s trade tariffs as “unjustified and not the act of a friend”, after the US president announced he would double import duties on steel and aluminium to 50%.
Trump told a steelworkers rally in Pittsburgh that raising the tariff would “even further secure the steel industry in the United States. Nobody is going to get around that”.
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Continue reading...Final Senate result confirms pathway for Labor to pass legislation with either Coalition or Greens support alone, or majority of diverse crossbench
Full federal election results: live Australian Senate seat count
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One Nation has gained an unexpected Senate seat in New South Wales, taking Pauline Hanson’s party to four members in the upper house – equalling its best-ever result in a federal election.
Warwick Stacey, a former member of the British army, has snagged the sixth Senate seat in NSW and will join fellow new senator Tyron Whitten who was yesterday elected in Western Australia.
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Continue reading...Nationals backbencher says we ‘weren’t told everything that went on between Sussan Ley’ and David Littleproud. Follow today’s news live
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McCormack says he expects Nationals to revisit net zero position eventually
McCormack expects the Nationals to revisit net zero by 2050:
I think we need to have a very serious discussion about that. When I go to places such as Crookwell, and others, where they have got huge wind towers, they have done their heft lift as far as making sure they put these massive turbines up, the solar … that are popping up all over, taking up arable country, farmland, you know.
I think regional Australia has done its fair share and we need to revisit that, given the fact the world, indeed America and other countries and other political parties in other nations, have really revisited this net zero. I think the Nationals will do the same.
Look, you never say never. I’m not going to draw a line through my name because that would be silly, but, look, it’s up to the party room. It’s the gift of the party room. I have always accepted that.
I had the great honour of leading the party for three and a bit years and being the deputy prime minister at the same time. [A] truly great honour. One that I’ll cherish. But if it comes to pass that the party decides that I’m the one to lead them again in the future so be it.
Continue reading...Former Labor senator also says child removals are a way to ‘eradicate a people from the landscape’
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Former Labor senator Patrick Dodson has condemned the country’s Aboriginal youth incarceration rates and child removals as an ongoing genocide against First Peoples and an “embarrassing sore” on the nation.
“It’s an assault on the Aboriginal people. I don’t say that lightly [but] if you want to eradicate a people from the landscape, you start taking them away, you start destroying the landscape of their cultural heritage, you attack their children or remove their children,” Dodson said.
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Continue reading...Forty-year extension of North West Shelf gas project granted by environment minister Murray Watt will result in huge greenhouse gas emissions, putting the already degraded Indigenous rock art at risk
We don’t know all the evidence that the new environment minister, Murray Watt, had before him when he decided to approve a 40-year life extension to one of Australia’s biggest fossil fuel developments so that it could run until 2070.
But we do know this. The decision largely turned on whether the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas (LNG) development on the Pilbara’s Burrup Hub can coexist for decades into the future with an incredible collection of ancient Murujuga rock art, some of it nearly 50,000 years old and unlike anything else on the planet.
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Continue reading...Liberal leader begins contacting MPs to inform them of their roles in her new frontbench. Follow today’s news live
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Nationals frontbencher Bridget McKenzie has insisted her party never made free votes for cabinet members a condition of returning to Coalition with the Liberals, as the two parties draw closer to a deal.
McKenzie also took a shot at Liberal MPs who were giving her and her colleagues free advice. She told Channel Seven’s Sunrise:
There are many Liberal MPs who want to give us gratuitous advice about how to run our party room. I’m happy to give them membership forms if they’d like to join it. But a coalition works best when everybody respects the independence of both parties.
That wasn’t put to the room.
Continue reading...Senator makes complaint about colleague’s behaviour at function, which she alleges was sexual and racial in nature
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Senator Fatima Payman has reported a male parliamentary colleague to the parliament’s workplace complaints service, after claiming she was subjected to inappropriate comments at a function.
The ABC’s Triple J Hack program reported on Wednesday that Payman, the former Labor senator who now sits as an independent, had made a complaint about a senior colleague who “had had too many drinks” and made comments such as “let’s get some wine into you and see you dance on the table”.
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Continue reading...BoM says heavy rainfall will extend south through NSW today with some areas set to receive up to 160mm. Follow Australia news and NSW floods live updates today.
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Darren Chester says focus on Coalition split ‘frustrating’
Nationals MP Darren Chester says “there are bigger issues” than the makeup of the coalition.
It’s been frustrating to be talking about ourselves at a time when, you know, much of the mid coast, the central coast and north coast of New South Wales is facing devastating floods including loss of life. And in close to home in Victoria central and western Victoria and northern Victoria right through South Australia there’s a devastating drought.
We need to resolve our issues as quickly as we can, because there are bigger issues facing rural and regional Australians than the make-up of the coalition. We need to make sure we get back being a strong and incredible opposition as quickly as possible and I’m hoping that these negotiations can consider – can continue now in a positive and constructive way.
Continue reading...MPs pushing behind the scenes for parties to mend the rift acknowledge ‘really messy’ week as regional areas battle floods and drought
Full federal election results: live Australian Senate seat count
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The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused the Nationals of “holding a gun to the Liberal party’s head” over the threat to split the Coalition this week, claiming the rural party been “stupid” in its actions.
The Nationals MP Darren Chester, who was among a band of MPs pushing behind the scenes for the Coalition to mend its rift, acknowledged it was “frustrating” for the opposition to be bickering among themselves as regional and rural areas battled floods and droughts, and urged colleagues to get on with the job.
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Continue reading...Liberals will attend a virtual party room meeting this afternoon after Ley and Littleproud attempt to broker agreement two days after dramatic split. Follow today’s news live
Minns says community ‘no doubt bracing’ for more bad news after flooding death
The NSW premier is “bracing for more tough news” following news of a death in the state’s inundated mid-north coast.
It’s devastating for that man and his family and his friends. [It’s] a tight-knit community on the mid-north coast, and to lose anyone in these natural disasters is obviously horrifying. So I’m very sorry for that man’s passing.
We should be bracing for more tough news over the next 24 hours. We’re very grateful we got enormous amount of expertise, emergency service personnel and thousands of volunteers who are on site, but when you have major natural disasters, obviously, you get terrible news as a result, and that community no doubt will be bracing in the next 24 hours.
I’m sorry about that. That would be incredibly anxious period, waiting that period of time for a rescue.
I can assure the public that we have got a massive emergency service contingent on the Mid North Coast. There’s 2,500 emergency service workers including 2,200 SES volunteers and professionals that are on site. Over 500 vehicles and boasts, 13 helicopters, hundreds of drones, so this is a major operation.
Continue reading...Nationals leader hints there might still be a possibility of joint tickets in 2028 if state officials from the two parties can come to agreement. Follow today’s news live
People trapped by flooding as river rise breaks record
Intense falls and major flooding have hit Australia’s most populous state as a slow-moving system dumps rain, causing a major river to rise to the highest level in almost 100 years.
Continue reading...‘Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change,’ joint statement declares after Israel announces military expansion
Australia has joined 22 other nations in condemning Israel over its decision to allow limited aid into Gaza while announcing a military expansion to “take control” of the besieged strip.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his troops were “making progress” on taking control of Gaza after Israel’s military had earlier declared a central city a combat zone and killed more than 60 people in airstrikes, while a senior minister said Israel’s army would “wipe out” what remains of Palestinian Gaza.
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Liberals question role of advocacy group Advance
We have an exclusive story this morning about the bitter aftermath within the Liberal party after its election defeat with some senior Liberal sources questioning the impact of Advance Australia, the rightwing advocacy that campaigned for the party.
We are absolutely deeply and gravely concerned about the situation in Gaza. For anyone who is watching the images or reading about what is happening there, we have been calling to ensure that aid is getting through and this is something that the Australian government keeps a watching brief on.
I will leave it to the foreign minister to make any further updates, but we … certainly … are seeking support for the people of Gaza and for Israel to allow that support to be provided.
Continue reading...Nicolette Boele declared provisional winner over Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian. Follow today’s news live
Flood watches in place for rivers in Hunter and mid-north coast
Due to the prolonged period of wet weather for New South Wales – with rain expected to fall across the same regions for several days in a row – flood watches are in place for many rivers through the Hunter and the mid-north coast districts, where minor to moderate flooding is anticipated throughout the week, Hines says.
… and we can’t rule out the chance that one or two of them could see major flooding in the coming days.
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Liberals must ‘build from the bottom up’ after election disaster – Ruston
Asked why the Liberals were now reviewing their embrace of the Paris climate agreement under the former government of Scott Morrison, Ruston says the walloping voters handed the party meant “absolutely everything” was up for review.
To be quite frank, we have to build from the bottom up again because that election result was quite disastrous for the Liberal party and we need to be open and honest with ourselves about what we need to take forward so that we are meeting Australia where they are and not talking about where we are.
Clearly we need to be doing something different. I think, you know, keeping an open mind, making sure we’re honest and open with that analysis of what went wrong, and actually come out with a policy proposal and a modern Liberal party, still maintaining all of the values that we hold so dearly.
Oh God, no, no, anything but, please. We have been there before many times over the past 20 years or so and to reopen the climate wars, as you aptly describe them, is like reopening an old wound.
Continue reading...Refusal rate at its highest in a decade, prompting concern among transparency advocates
The Australian government is refusing freedom of information requests at a rate not seen for a decade, data shows, prompting concerns for transparency and accountability.
Data held by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, the watchdog overseeing the FoI system, revealed the proportion of FoI requests being completely refused has shot up to 27% in the December 2024 quarter.
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After a marathon legal battle spanning seven years, disgraced special forces veteran Ben Roberts-Smith will learn this morning whether he has cleared his name of war crime allegations, Australian Associated Press reports.
The Victoria Cross recipient sued Nine newspapers and journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters for defamation over their reports in 2018 which claimed he had committed war crimes.
Continue reading...AEC considers sending staff to airport ‘at late hours’ to collect final postal and overseas votes before midnight deadline
Liberal Tim Wilson has said he is “very relaxed” despite his lead over Zoe Daniel in the Melbourne seat of Goldstein slipping to 206 votes with late postal and overseas ballots from as far away as Nairobi still to be counted.
Candidates in the Sydney seat of Bradfield also face an anxious weekend, with no more counting to take place until Monday. On Friday afternoon, Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian led the independent candidate, Nicolette Boele, by just 43 votes.
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