Category Archives: Australian politics

Social services department warned Tanya Plibersek she faces uphill battle amid ‘political polarisation’

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Brief obtained under freedom of information laws shows new minister told of ‘increased risk of entrenched disadvantage’ in Australia

Tanya Plibersek has an uphill battle to justify and prioritise Australia’s multibillion-dollar social services system, her department has warned, against a backdrop of “rising geopolitical tensions and political polarisation”.

The Department of Social Services, which is responsible for a quarter of federal government spending, delivered the warning to the new social services minister about the flow-on effects of global uncertainty in a brief dated 13 May and obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws.

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Pentagon wants to make Aukus work but some stakeholders have ‘serious concerns’, senior US defence official says

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Defence official says major increase in Australian defence spending is ‘quite warranted’

Some US military stakeholders have “very serious concerns” about the Aukus arrangement but the Pentagon wants “to make this thing work”, a senior American defence official says. While they say a review of the nuclear submarine pact is being undertaken in good faith, it will not be completed within 30 days, as initially anticipated.

Still, Washington is sticking to its request for Australia to give “a clear sense” of how it would respond militarily, including with the Aukus submarines, to future conflicts. While Anthony Albanese declares the Australian government wants to see “peace in and security in our region”, the senior official says the US wants Australia to step up more.

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Antisemitism envoy denies involvement in major donation by husband’s company to rightwing group Advance

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Records show company co-directed by Jillian Segal’s husband donated $50,000 in 2024 to lobby group which campaigned against Albanese and pro-Palestine protests

Australia’s antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, says she had no involvement in a major donation from her husband’s company to the controversial conservative campaign group Advance, which has strongly railed against overseas immigration, pro-Palestine protests and the Labor government.

Guardian Australia first reported in February that Henroth Investments Pty Ltd had donated $50,000 to Advance in 2023-24, according to Australian Electoral Commission annual donation disclosure figures. One of that company’s directors, according to corporate records, is John Roth – Segal’s husband.

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‘Gross over-reach’: Labor group urges Albanese to reject key parts of antisemitism envoy plan

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Exclusive: Labor Friends of Palestine concerned by Jillian Segal’s recommendation government adopt IHRA’s contested definition of antisemitism

A “groundswell” of Labor rank-and-file members are urging the government to reject key recommendations from the federal antisemitism envoy, according to an internal lobby group, urging a focus on anti-racism education rather than more contentious ideas such as stripping funding from universities and arts bodies.

Labor Friends of Palestine, an internal campaign group of members and politicians, said it was concerned about anti-Jewish hatred, but would be troubled about wider adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s contested definition of antisemitism, as recommended by Jillian Segal in a wide-ranging plan last week.

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Australia news live: PM says his government ‘support the status quo’ for Taiwan – as it happened

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‘A balanced region where no one is dominated and no one dominates’

China needs to be “more transparent” about military and nuclear buildups in the region, Conroy says, and this has been a message communicated “publicly and privately” with China.

That is our position. Sovereignty will always be prioritised and that will continue to be our position.

I’m not going to foreshadow everything that the prime minister will or won’t say but the conversation with his counterparts will cover economic security and human rights issues. We’ve been clear about that, but we are being very clear that we want a balanced region where no one is dominated and no one dominates.

In my portfolio of the Pacific, we’re seeing China seeking to secure a military base in the region and we’re working hard to be the primary security partner of choice for the region because we don’t think that’s a particularly optimal thing for Australia.

This is about Australia having good international relationships with everyone in the world. The Australian people expect us to invest strongly in our diplomatic capability as well as our military capability. China is our largest trading partner. Twenty-five per cent of our exports go to China.

We’ve worked hard to stabilise the relationship and unblock $20bn worth of trade. That’s hundreds of thousands of jobs that we’ve helped protect so Prime Minister Albanese’s trip is about promoting jobs, promoting trade but also managing differences.

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Australia rebuffs calls to commit to joining hypothetical US-China conflict

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Anthony Albanese says he doesn’t support unilateral action in Taiwan amid reports Washington seeking guarantees about how Canberra would respond in event of Indo-Pacific conflict

Australia will refuse any US request to join a “hypothetical” conflict with China over Taiwan and won’t make any advance commitment, the defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, has said, amid reports Washington is seeking such promises in discussions over the Aukus submarines.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, also pushed back on such a request, alluding to America’s own position of so-called “strategic ambiguity” on whether the US would militarily respond in a conflict over Taiwan. He said Australia wanted to see “peace and security” in the region.

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Drew Hutton helped found the Australian Greens. So why has the troubled party booted him from its ranks?

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The former life member says his support of those voicing ‘trans-critical’ views is a matter of free speech – but others say it’s a question of what values the party supports

Drew Hutton had assumed he would live out his life a card-carrying Green. The 78-year-old retiree turned up to local branch meetings, staked party corflutes into the lawn of his home on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and handed out how-to-vote cards long after stepping down from active duty in the party.

Given Hutton had been awarded life membership and his friend – and the Green’s first national leader – Bob Brown had lauded him a “towering figure in Australian environmental and social politics” who, “more than anybody” (including Brown himself) was “responsible for the formation of the Australian Greens”, it must have seemed a safe bet.

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Barnaby Joyce vows to wind back ‘lunatic crusade’ of net zero with private member’s bill

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Coalition’s decades-long brawl over climate change and energy policy laid bare as former deputy prime minister sends out clarion call on Facebook

Barnaby Joyce has vowed to wind back the “lunatic crusade” of net zero by 2050 in a private member’s bill once parliament resumes later this month.

The former deputy prime minister and Nationals backbencher’s clarion call on Friday afternoon laid bare the Coalition’s decades-long brawl over climate change and energy policy.

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Australia news live: Bob Brown takes out ad praising woman injured in pro-Palestine protest; AMA welcomes new medicinal cannabis guidelines

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The political leader of the central Tibetan administration – Tibet’s government in exile – is visiting Australia this week.

It comes as Anthony Albanese heads to China this weekend.

It is not enough to have freedom only in a few countries in this world. Freedom is necessary for every human being in this world.

When prime minister Albanese’s visiting there, I would urge him to also say that he would like to visit Tibet.

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Eight countries back Australia’s push to add WA rock art to World Heritage list hours before crunch meeting

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Committee due to make decision on inscription of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape overnight

The Australian government has secured the backing of at least eight members of the 21-country World Heritage committee as it lobbies to quell concerns about the impacts of industrial emissions on Indigenous rock art at Murujuga and have the Western Australia site inscribed on the World Heritage list.

The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, has been in Paris for the meeting since Wednesday, alongside a delegation from the WA state government and the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, which has led the nomination.

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Segal says stripping universities of funding a ‘last resort’ – as it happened

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Australia’s biggest peanut supplier set to shut down

The corporate owners of Australia’s biggest peanut processor will scale down the century-old business in the coming 18 months before shutting it down for good.

There isn’t detail, and it’s unclear whether those tariffs will ever actually be applied.

We do know that the contributions from the pharmaceutical industry in the US to that investigation has been to urge the US government to focus their levers on non-friendly countries and not apply tariffs or punitive levers to allies such as Australia.

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Universities and artists face funding threat under antisemitism plan being considered by Australian government

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Antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal also urges Labor government to bolster education and seek new powers to deport visitors

Universities and artists would have funding withheld if they fail to act against antisemitism, AI tools would be banned from sharing Jewish hatred, and the government would have new grounds to deport visitors under a wide-ranging plan put forward by Australia’s antisemitism envoy.

The federal Labor government has not committed to the plan in full, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, saying he would consider the recommendations of his handpicked envoy, Jillian Segal, which also propose her office would “monitor” media coverage and bolster education in schools and workplaces.

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Labor to move quickly on special envoy’s plan to combat antisemitism

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Jillian Segal to present recommendations urging government to take stronger action against abuse toward Jewish Australians

The federal government will move quickly to adopt new recommendations from the special envoy to combat antisemitism, with a suite of measures expected to include education and online safety in response to the arson attack at a Melbourne synagogue.

Jillian Segal is expected to appear alongside Anthony Albanese at an event on Thursday to present recommendations urging the government to take stronger action against abuse toward Jewish Australians.

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Australia news live: Chalmers ‘urgently seeking more detail’ after Trump flags 200% pharmaceutical tariffs; head-on collision on Sydney Harbour Bridge

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Treasurer says Trump’s tariff threats on foreign pharmaceuticals and copper ‘very concerning developments’. Follow the latest news live

Chalmers says millions of people were hoping for interest rate relief yesterday

Jim Chalmers says “there were millions of people who were hoping for more rate relief yesterday and didn’t get it”.

As per letters sent to various countries yesterday, in addition to letters that will be sent today, tomorrow, and for the next short period of time, TARIFFS WILL START BEING PAID ON AUGUST 1, 2025. There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change. In other words, all money will be due and payable starting AUGUST 1, 2025 - No extensions will be granted. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

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Australian doctors call for clampdown on social media influencers allegedly glamourising poker machines

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Doctors’ warning comes after report reveals the social cost of gambling in Victoria had doubled to $14bn

The peak body for Australian doctors has urged politicians and social media companies to restrict “shocking” content of influencers allegedly glamourising poker machines on social media, in what it called an incredibly new phenomenon.

The warning comes after a report commissioned by the Victorian government found the social cost of gambling in the state had doubled – from $7bn in 2014-15 to $14bn in 2022-23 – despite fewer people gambling.

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Celebrity chef Peter Russell-Clarke dies aged 89 – as it happened

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Here’s how Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel will transform the city and commuting

For nearly a decade, deep beneath Melbourne, tunnel boring machines and construction crews have been quietly reshaping the city with the creation of the Metro Tunnel.

I think every Liberal seat in the country is a marginal seat, right now. But my feelings around quotas and the talk in the media oversimplifies the issue, which is around the culture in the Liberal Party and how women are treated in the Liberal Party …

I had two attempts to take me out as a sitting member of parliament by blokes, very aggressively. So, until the culture is addressed, we could have all the quotas in the world, but it will be a revolving door of women.”

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Australia news live: man shot dead by police in siege in Victorian town; boy dies after e-bike crash in Sydney

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Victoria police say they attempted to engage with armed man before ‘siege of several hours’. Follow the latest updates live

Smoke coming from Sydney tram causes to be suspended on Randwick line

Light rail services on the Randwick line have stopped due to smoke coming from the roof of a tram.

The man managed to get back into his car and drive a short distance before being overcome by his injuries.

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News live: Wong says Trump ‘keen’ for meeting with Albanese; Creative Australia apologises to Venice Biennale artists

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Power continues to be restored in NSW

About 5,800 customers remained without power at 7am Thursday, according to network operators Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy and Essential Energy.

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Man in critical condition with lyssavirus after bat bite – as it happened

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NSW wild weather: ‘Conditions can become dangerous quickly’

Wild weather has brought down trees, damaged properties and flooded roads on the NSW coast, NSW SES says.

These incidents are a timely reminder that roads are slippery, and conditions can become dangerous quickly.

Please, never drive, walk or play in flood waters. If you do come across a flooded road, turn around and find an alternative route.

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Australia news live: some Central Coast residents told ‘evacuate now’ amid coastal erosion threat; children’s commissioner says child safety ‘not a priority in this country’

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NSW braces for damaging winds and heavy rain from coastal low. Follow the latest updates live

Gas market review will ‘drive efficiencies in the system’, King says

The resources minister, Madeleine King, says a review into gas market regulations will drive efficiencies into the system.

Our existing policy has made sure that that gas is available. So that’s that combination of existing policies brings in that extra 600 petajoules. So indeed, that work is already happening.

What we’re trying to do and will endeavour to do, and the industry is very supportive of, is to make that more coherent, and how we can make sure we learn from the whole system, reduce duplication in some of the regulation, some of the reporting factors, simply how we can make it work better for consumers, for industrial users, and for the Gas industry itself. And that drives efficiencies in the system, which we expect will help with pricing.

We were honest with the public from day one: the toll situation would get worse before it got better. That’s the reality of the infrastructure pipeline locked in by our predecessors.

And now, the most recent NSW Budget reflects that – with toll revenue projected to rise from $180m to $283m in the 2028–29 financial year.

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