Category Archives: Australian politics

Hanson alleging Fatima Payman in breach of section 44 ends with Thorpe giving Senate the finger

Posted on by

Hanson alleges Payman, who was born in Afghanistan, has not shown evidence she has revoked that citizenship

An extraordinary row has erupted in the Senate as Pauline Hanson attempted to have Fatima Payman investigated for an alleged section 44 citizenship issue, with Lidia Thorpe throwing papers at the One Nation leader and flipping her middle finger as she stormed out of the chamber.

The Senate president, Sue Lines said, she had advised the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service of the incident between Hanson and Thorpe this morning, saying she was “incredibly disappointed” in the behaviour which she described as “physically threatening”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Banks and bookmakers tricked by ‘sophisticated’ gambling syndicate may have breached anti-money laundering laws

Posted on by

Exclusive: Documents seen by Guardian Australia show syndicate placed bets with Sportsbet while using another person’s name

Banks and bookmakers that were hoodwinked by a gambling syndicate that created multiple accounts in other people’s names to hide their true identities may have breached their anti-money laundering obligations.

Guardian Australia has confirmed a gambling syndicate paid $1,000 to desperate men for their ID documents, which were used to create multiple bank and betting accounts in their names. Cash was deposited into these bank accounts and gambled with at least nine bookmakers.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Senate crossbenchers side with Coalition to oppose Greens motion to dump anti-abortion bill – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

The independent MP Zoe Daniel was on ABC News Breakfast earlier to discuss her alternative to the under-16 social media ban, which she introduced as a private member’s bill yesterday.

Daniel said her bill would implement an overarching statutory duty of care on social media companies “that goes to safety by design – but that in and of itself is not enough”.

What you need to make that work is the companies to assess the risks, mitigate the risks, be transparent about how they’re doing that.

The bill builds in penalties so if the companies do not comply, they could be fined up to 10% of global revenue. Also, their onshore executives could be held accountable for that … and the bill also has a provision to enable users to have control over the algorithm, as exists overseas, particularly in the EU …

[There are] obviously privacy concerns, and given the government’s had to pull their misinformation [and] disinformation – or their censoring the Australian public – bill from the Senate this week, we want to make sure we get strong, robust laws that don’t damage the [right to] privacy and make compulsory Australians having to have digital IDs.

Continue reading...

Musk argues social media bill may not be lawful – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Does the delay on gambling ad restrictions have anything to do with the demands of lobbyists?

Clare O’Neil said it wasn’t about lobbying, but “about making sure that we get this right”.

And the minister has pointed to previous attempts to scale back gambling advertising that have actually resulted in more gambling advertising. This is a delicate area, and we’ve got to get the balance right, and that’s what the minister is seeking to do.

These complicated matters, they just are. You know, if this was a really simple problem to fix, then it would have been fixed a long time ago.

I would say our government deserves credit for stepping up and saying we’re going to take action on this, and the minister [Michelle Rowland] is doing what is appropriate, which is diligently working through what the proposals will look like.

The minister is working with people, experts, stakeholders, others who will be affected by this legislation, and the government has said will come forward with … proposals early next year.

Continue reading...

Thorpe and Faruqi to ask Senate to investigate alleged racism and sexism in parliament

Posted on by

Exclusive: Two senators sponsor motion calling for a review of rules covering discriminatory language and behaviour

Lidia Thorpe and Mehreen Faruqi will ask the Senate’s procedure committee to investigate racism and sexism in federal parliament, raising concerns about “white privilege” and how women of colour are treated in politics.

The two senators, former colleagues in the Greens before Thorpe quit the party for the crossbench, have co-sponsored a Senate motion calling for investigation into whether the chamber’s rules should be updated to “eliminate language, behaviour, decision-making, and practices that are sexist, racist or otherwise exclusionary and discriminatory”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Labor dumps misinformation bill after Senate unites against it

Posted on by

Communications minister Michelle Rowland will also not unveil any gambling ad ban legislation in the last sitting week of the year

The Albanese government has dumped its controversial mis- and disinformation bill, conceding there is “no pathway” to getting the proposal passed through the Senate.

The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, insisted misinformation and disinformation remained a grave concern for democracy, national security and online safety, but said the government would not proceed with the proposal. It is the second time Labor has pulled the bill, after an initial version also failed to gain support and raised concerns about freedom of speech online.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Meta is ‘reckless’ in ‘need-to-know situations’, Canada warns Australia as it braces for early bushfire season

Posted on by

Heritage minister says Facebook made ‘room for misinformation’ after turning news off in 2023 as Australia mulls actions that could lead to Meta doing the same

Twelve months on from Canada’s worst-ever wildfire season unfolding during a news blackout on Facebook, the nation has warned Australia about Meta’s “reckless” behaviour during “need-to-know situations”.

An early start to Australia’s bushfire season is looming for swaths of the country, with large parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory, the south-west of Victoria and south-east corner of South Australia facing higher risk, according to an official assessment in September.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Greens and some independents are biggest winners from Labor’s proposed donation cap, data shows

Posted on by

Labor and Coalition would have missed out on $4.1m and $4.7m in donations after public funding boost, while the Greens would have been $2.9m better off

The Greens and independent MPs who ran low-cost campaigns have emerged as the biggest winners from Labor’s proposed donation cap and increased public funding of elections, data shows.

According to a Guardian Australia analysis of 2021-22 data, the Greens would have lost just $2.7m in donations if Labor’s proposed $20,000 cap had been law at the time, a sum more than made up for by a $5.6m increase in public funding. In net terms, the Greens would have been $2.9m better off.

Continue reading...

Greens say leaked pokies reform report ‘a huge concern’ – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Heatwave conditions are building over parts of Victoria and New South Wales today.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, much of Victoria will experience heatwave conditions, with maximum temperatures in the mid to high 30s.

Continue reading...

David Crisafulli promised to set serious KPIs for his ministers. Are they worth the paper they’re printed on?

Posted on by

Queensland’s new premier vowed to sack cabinet members who didn’t meet public targets. A month in, accountability questions are being raised

David Crisafulli staked his government’s success – and his own future – on meeting targets.

During last month’s election he vowed to resign if crime figures didn’t decline and to sack ministers who couldn’t deliver on key performance indicators (KPIs) set for each portfolio.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

More than 80,000 at risk of deportation from Australia under Labor bill likened to UK’s failed Rwanda plan

Posted on by

Bill gives authority to federal government to pay third countries to accept unlawful non-citizens on a removal pathway

More than 80,000 people are susceptible to deportation from Australia to third countries paid to take them under Labor’s new bill which has been likened to the UK’s failed Rwanda deportation plan.

At a Senate inquiry hearing on Thursday, home affairs department officials confirmed that the migration amendment bill could affect far more people than those released from immigration detention by the high court but insisted it did not expand the cohort of those eligible for removal.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

An estimated 75,400 people with no valid visa in the Australian community.

4,452 people on bridging visa E, so they can make “acceptable arrangements to depart Australia”.

986 people in immigration detention.

193 in community detention.

246 on bridging visa R, released as a result of the high court’s NZYQ ruling that indefinite detention is unlawful.

A further 96 people on BVRs that predated that decision.

Continue reading...

Attempt to prevent NSW climate protest overturned – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

New South Wales MPs condemned for ‘part-time’ parliamentary year

Scores of NSW MPs will earn the equivalent of more than $10,000 per sitting week in 2025 after a bid to increase the year’s 16-week calendar was rejected, AAP reports.

To do this, government MPs have to turn up to parliament and discuss matters. Voters won’t be happy that government MPs would prefer to hide in their electorate offices rather than turning up to parliament, where they face scrutiny.

Continue reading...

Australia hoped hosting a Cop climate summit was a done deal. But one nation still stands in the way

Posted on by

Despite a diplomatic push from Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese, Turkey won’t back down on its bid to host Cop31

Australia’s plan to host a major UN climate summit in 2026 has hit a Turkish roadblock. It is unclear how long it will last.

The Albanese government had expected that its bid to co-host the Cop31 summit in partnership with Pacific island nations – a Labor promise since before it won power in 2022 – would be agreed by now, as the UN climate talks in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku approach their final stages.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Labor bill could lead to lengthy detention of migrants before deportation to countries paid to take them, committee warns

Posted on by

Bipartisan human rights committee says there could be a ‘significant intervening period’ before non-citizens are accepted by other countries

The human rights committee has warned the Albanese government’s migration bill could result in lengthy spells in detention before non-citizens are deported to countries paid to take them.

In a report tabled on Wednesday the bipartisan committee, chaired by Labor MP Josh Burns, threw up significant roadblocks to the controversial bill and also queried the move by the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, to reimpose ankle bracelets and curfews on those released from immigration detention.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Dutton’s position on international student caps ‘utterly reckless’, Giles says – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Oxfam reacts to Australia’s Cop29 pledge

Oxfam Australia has welcomed the government’s Cop29 pledge of $50m towards a global loss and damage fund to help the world’s most vulnerable people to repair the damage from climate breakdown.

If climate change losses and damages are not included in the new global climate finance goal, the new fund for responding to loss and damage risks becoming an empty vessel.

The danger is that developed country governments will prioritise meeting the new and ambitious climate finance goal, and will not prioritise a fund that doesn’t count towards it.

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Dutton calls Labor’s international student caps bill ‘a dog’s breakfast’; RBA fuels expectations for February interest rates cut

Posted on by

Follow today’s news headlines live

First investment announced as part of National Reconstruction Fund

The science and industry minister, Ed Husic, was on ABC News Breakfast to discuss the government’s first investment via the National Reconstruction Fund – $40m to a Toowoomba mineral processing factory.

The difference in terms of what the [NRF] does is it provides loans, equity, and guarantees to firms that are [working across] seven priority areas to expand and grow their operations.

Given the sizes of the investments, it does take more time to be able to go through to shape up what the investment will look like, how big it’ll be, over what term, the rate of return – because the other important thing to stress to viewers is – this is not about handing out grants, and certainly not doing it on the basis of political colour-coded spreadsheets as we saw with the last government.

In fact, the social media users were less likely to have a negative attitude towards Jewish and Muslim people, irrespective of where they were on the political spectrum.

Continue reading...

The Australian government will force some shops to accept cash. So who still uses it, and why?

Posted on by

Cash use has declined drastically across all age groups and for all products, but small pockets of resistance to digital-only payments remain

The Australian government has announced it will mandate that businesses selling essential goods and services must accept cash from 2026, and has confirmed that cheques will no longer be accepted as legal tender from 2029.

So how many Australians are still paying with cash?

Continue reading...

Australian authors group give every federal politician five books to encourage nuance in Middle East debate

Posted on by

Exclusive: Group of more than 90 including writers Tim Winton and Charlotte Wood have paid for every federal senator and MP to receive curated package

Some of Australia’s most prominent authors are among a group of more than 90 writers and literary supporters who have paid for every federal parliamentarian to receive a carefully curated package of books on the Middle East to expand their knowledge of the history of the conflict.

Each of the 227 MPs and senators is being given the same five books – nonfiction, fiction and reference works – as part of the campaign to encourage wider reading on the origins of the Middle East conflict among Australia’s political leaders.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Backflip on international student caps ‘baffling’, MP says – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Three million Australians are at risk of homelessness, a 63% increase since 2016, a new report from Homelessness NSW and Impact Economics has revealed.

By looking at household data including income, support and rental stress, the report found in 2022 there were 3.04m Australians now at risk of homelessness, an increase on the 1.87m reported in 2016.

1 in every five days the frontline services could not assist a family with children because they were so stretched.

Individuals without children were turned away 1 in every 2 days.

Unaccompanied young people and children without accommodation were turned away on 1 in 9 days.

I think more broadly, the government under Anthony Albanese has got an excellent record of managing relationships around the world, making genuine progress, whether it’s with China, whether it’s with American friends or others.

I think when it comes to Peter Dutton, I think he has a kind of a reckless arrogance which doesn’t lend itself to foreign policy and maintaining and managing some of these complex relationships.

I think he would be a risk to our economy, and that’s because that reckless arrogance, which has been a defining feature of his time as a politician over a long period of time now … [it] doesn’t lend itself to managing these relationships, which are so important to us.

Continue reading...

Lidia Thorpe defiant after Senate censures her protest against King Charles: ‘I’ll do it again’

Posted on by

Senator rips up paper copy of motion against her and says she was ‘denied my right’ to be present during vote

Lidia Thorpe has ripped up a paper copy of the Senate motion censuring her protest against King Charles, promising “I’ll do it again” and saying she is not concerned about the parliamentary rebuke.

The independent senator was censured by the Labor and Coalition on Monday, as was the United Australia party senator Ralph Babet after he posted a tweet containing several offensive slurs.

Continue reading...