Category Archives: Australian politics

From Doge to Smoge, Peter Dutton’s Coalition is an eerie echo of Trump (and Musk’s) America

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Dutton’s cabinet reshuffle added the shadow minister of government efficiency role to Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s position – but it sounds a bit familiar

On 22 January, Gina Rinehart said: “If we are sensible, we should set up a Doge [Department of Government Efficiency] immediately, reduce government waste, gov­ernment tape and regulations.”

Mere days later, on 25 January, Peter Dutton appointed Jacinta Nampijinpa Price as the shadow minister for government efficiency (Smoge?), describing her new job as to cut “wasteful spending”.

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Where can Labor turn for ideas on how to win the Australian election? How about Mexico?

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The ALP could follow the Mexican example where an incumbent won an election in a cost-of-living crisis by combining radical policies with symbolic measures

Last year, as an anti-incumbent wave swept the globe, Mexico’s ruling leftwing Morena party recorded a landslide victory.

Those who study Latin American politics say the result offers lessons for Australia’s Labor government in its quest to buck the global trend and retain power at this year’s general election.

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‘They did not come to destroy’: Sussan Ley praises First Fleet and likens it to Elon Musk’s Mars mission

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It’s the latest example of the Coalition appearing to echo or praise US president Donald Trump’s new administration

Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley has compared the arrival of the First Fleet to Elon Musk’s SpaceX seeking to reach Mars, in an Australia Day address.

Her comments come a day after opposition leader Peter Dutton announced a newly created role of shadow minister for government efficiency – replicating Musk’s idea of a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

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Second man charged over attempted arson of Sydney synagogue – as it happened

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The anti-fracking group Lock the Gate Alliance has launched a legal challenge to a Northern Territory government decision to approve another gas exploration project in the Beetaloo basin.

The case in the territory’s civil and administrative tribunal is challenging the merits of the government’s approval of the environment management plan for Empire Energy’s “Larrimah” exploration project.

Our robust regulation of the onshore petroleum industry is informed by the best available science. As the project is before the NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, it would be premature to make any further comment on the matter.

For too long, vice-chancellors and senior executives have escaped any real accountability for some of the terrible decisions that have damaged our public universities. An inquiry would be a golden opportunity to get to the bottom of what’s allowing the wage theft epidemic, rampant casualisation and a raft of other serious problems to flourish in our sector.

This is the path to lasting reform that will ensure staff can deliver the world-class teaching and research our students and community deserve.

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Albanese accuses Dutton of ‘not having the guts’ to face media in first major election year speech

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PM labels opposition leader ‘weak’ for failing to make a single national press club address since 2022

Anthony Albanese has branded Peter Dutton “weak” for skipping appearances in front of the national media in Canberra, accusing the opposition leader of “not having the guts” to face tough questions as the prime minister sought to flip the script on his opponent after enduring months of character attacks.

Albanese, in his first major speech of the 2025 election year at the National Press Club, portrayed himself as a “tough” leader for making difficult decisions such as breaking an election promise in order to recast the stage-three tax cuts – despite negative media coverage – and defending his first-term achievements.

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Rudd and Keating statues decapitated in mass vandalism attack on 20 prime ministers’ busts

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Early investigations point towards four people and a white ute spotted around Ballarat Botanical Gardens on Thursday morning

Vandals have cut off the heads of the statues of Kevin Rudd and Paul Keating in Ballarat, and damaged 18 others.

A total of 20 busts on Prime Ministers Avenue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens in Victoria were attacked between 2am and 5am on Thursday. The avenue features busts of Australia’s first 29 prime ministers.

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Albanese plans cash boost for apprentice tradies amid doubts over Labor housing target

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PM to promise $10,000 payments to keep young people in construction as cost of living blamed for a shortfall in builders

Apprentice tradies stand to get an extra $10,000 from a re-elected Labor government as Anthony Albanese tries to encourage more young people into construction to help build the 1.2m homes he promised by 2030.

The prime minister will make the $626m promise at the National Press Club on Friday, in his first major speech for the year which will set out Labor’s re-election bid.

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Australia news live: Bruce Lehrmann seeks judge-only trial on rape charges; off-duty police officer in hospital after Sydney attack

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Asked about the future of the weekly pro-Palestinian protests across Australia, Malarndirri McCarthy said as long as they are respectful and peaceful, “they are part of our democratic way”.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? I mean, we are a democracy. Whatever the rally or protest is, we enable that. We allow that so long as it’s peaceful and respectful.

Police across every jurisdiction in the country know they have to be prepared. Rally organisers, whoever they may be, also know they need to consult to be able to have access to those streets. Come on, let’s be mindful that these rallies, so long as they are held in a respectful manner, in a peaceful manner, they are part of our democratic way.

I think when I look at the polls, Karl – and I think I’ve talked to you about this over the years, you know, when we went into the 2019 election – every poll said we were going to win. The reality is, you have to work every single day right up – and the only poll that does really count, and I believe that especially after that loss, is the one on election day.

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Housing completions fall behind accord target – as it happened

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Watt defends government response to antisemitism as ‘very strong’

Asked if the federal government has been going enough to combat antisemitism, Murray Watt said it had responded “very strongly here”.

Unfortunately, there are some people in the community who are engaging is disgusting behaviour and the AFP and state police have demonstrated they will be caught and go to jail, which is where they belong.

I [will] leave it to the AFP to confirm some of the details about this, but I think this demonstrates exactly how far our police authorities are going to try to crack down on the shocking behaviour …

[The number of arrests made] sends a really clear message from the whole community that there is no tolerance that this kind of hate, and you will be caught if you do these kind of disgusting attacks.

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Anthony Albanese has pledged action on antisemitism – but Peter Dutton is still setting the agenda | Josh Butler

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The prime minister’s about-face after attack on Sydney childcare centre has left him once again looking like he’s playing catchup

Anthony Albanese has pledged action on antisemitic attacks – but his decision to call a snap national cabinet meeting less than a day after rebuffing that suggestion has left him once again looking like he’s playing catchup.

The prime minister condemned an arson and graffiti attack on a childcare centre in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra this week as a hate crime and “vile, antisemitic violence”. Scheduled to hold a press conference in western Sydney on Tuesday morning, he rerouted to the city’s east instead, visiting the site of the attack and then holding a press conference with the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns.

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Australia news live: second child dies after Tasmania house fire; mental health ward closures begin in NSW after mass resignation of psychiatrists

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The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says it was a “privilege and honour” to be the first Australian foreign minister to “be invited and to attend an inauguration on behalf of our country”.

She spoke with the Today show from Washington DC, where she attended Donald Trump’s inauguration.

My message here in Washington to those I meet is to point out the reality of the economic relationship between Australia and the United States, that there is a surplus in America’s favour. There has been for decades. In fact, it’s about two to one. And of those exports from Australia that come here, about half of them go into the US production.

As we know, the Wall Street Journal is obviously reporting, now [Trump is] going to review the trade situation and then look at what sort of tariff changes need to be made.

We need to make sure that our foreign affairs ministry, our trade minister and our ambassador are deeply engaged in that review process to make sure our national interest is upheld.

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Australia’s pro-Palestine movement shifts focus to pressuring Albanese to cut ties with Israel

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Groups call for Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest and urge Australia to pressure Israel on Palestine just as South Africa was over apartheid

Pro-Palestine protests that have been held every week in Sydney and Melbourne since 7 October 2023 will now switch focus to pressuring the federal government into cutting ties with Israel, organisers have said.

Amal Naser, from the Palestine Action Group (PAG), called the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel a “step forward” for the pro-Palestine movement in Australia, and said the group would now pivot from weekly protests to targeted protests that call for specific policy change in government.

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Anthony Albanese convenes national cabinet on antisemitism after Sydney childcare centre set alight

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Prime minister, who has previously resisted calling the meeting, says it will focus on recent wave of attacks and graffiti

National cabinet will meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss antisemitism in Australia, after Anthony Albanese pledged that the latest attack on a Sydney childcare centre “will lead to action”.

The prime minister previously resisted calls for such a meeting, saying on Monday Australians did not just want to see more meetings on antisemitism.

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Smelters will close without green aluminium funding, Albanese warns as Dutton labels $2bn pledge a ‘con job’

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Federal government aims to encourage power-intensive producers to switch to renewables by 2036

Anthony Albanese says smelters will close and cost many jobs without their newly announced aluminium production incentive, which opposition leader Peter Dutton has labelled a “con job”.

The mining industry welcomed $2bn in federal funding to incentivise power-intensive aluminium producers to switch to renewables by 2036, with Rio Tinto calling it a “critical piece in helping future-proof the industry”.

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Australia grants nearly 1,000 humanitarian visas in three months to those fleeing Israel-Hamas conflict

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Figures reveal number of beneficiaries of temporary three-year visa since it was introduced by Labor in October

Almost 1,000 Palestinian and Israeli nationals have been offered temporary humanitarian visas in Australia since last October, new data shows, as the six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza begins.

The humanitarian pathway for those affected by the conflict was introduced in October 2024 for the more than 1,300 Palestinians in Australia on visitor visas but prevents them from applying for permanent protection.

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Services Australia chasing billions in unpaid debt – including some which may have been unlawfully calculated

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Agency pursuing $4.9bn in unpaid debts, including some potentially calculated with controversial method, question to parliament reveals

Services Australia is chasing billions of dollars in decades-old debt, it has been revealed, some of which may have been incorrectly calculated.

Data released under questions on notice shows that, as at the end of October last year, Services Australia was pursuing $4.9bn in unpaid debts from 829,266 customers. The oldest debt dates back to 1979, with thousands from the 1990s.

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Can Australia’s political centre hold off the populist embers being set ablaze by Trump?

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Donald Trump is unlike any politician Australia has ever seen. But could a demagogue in his image emerge?

At midday on Monday in Washington DC, Donald J Trump will finish the oath of office committing to “preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States”. His political resurrection will be complete.

The paradox of his promise to defend the constitution will be starkly apparent.

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Australia news live: relief for Sydney morning commuters as train unions ordered to halt action; man charged over death threats to Jewish group

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First charge by AFP’s Special Operation Avalite established in December. Follow today’s news headlines live

Richard Marles will become the first minister to visit Kiribati in almost two years, AAP reports.

The deputy prime minister and defence minister is travelling to Kiribati for high-level talks with the nation’s re-elected government, which closed its country’s borders in 2024 while national elections were held.

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A Chinese app is rocketing up download charts – but in Australia, the sudden uptake is not just about TikTok

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Experts say the flood of users to RedNote highlights flaws in the Albanese government’s social media ban

As the TikTok ban looms in the United States, users have flocked to RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu, a China-based app that looks similar to Instagram.

But in Australia, where there is no imminent TikTok ban, the app is also rocketing up the app download charts. And it doesn’t just tell us about TikTok – it also exposes issues with Australia’s forthcoming social media age ban.

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Australia news live: delays up to 70 minutes on Sydney trains as industrial action begins; Hume says Coalition would cut ‘bloated bureaucracy’

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‘Passengers should expect delays, service cancellations and large service gaps’ across Sydney today, NSW TrainLink warns. Follow today’s news live

Wong ‘absolutely confident’ government can work with Trump as US president

Moving to another topic, Penny Wong was asked about her invite to Donald Trump’s inauguration in the US, and responded:

Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States, and I’m honoured, on behalf of the country, to have been invited to his inauguration.

This includes humane treatment and the right to a fair trial. So that is their obligation, [and] we will look at the facts when they have been ascertained.

But I want to be clear, all options are on the table. Those options include expelling the ambassador and recalling Australia’s ambassador in Russia … I need, as the foreign minister, to identify and ascertain the facts beforehand.

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