Category Archives: Australian politics

Labor left red-faced on international student cap as Coalition sides with Greens and independents

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Education minister Jason Clare says ‘never in my life’ did he expect to see opposition and Greens take same stand on immigration

The Albanese government has been left red-faced after the Coalition made a last-minute backflip over plans to cap international student numbers from next year.

The education minister, Jason Clare, has accused Peter Dutton of being a “fraud” on tough immigration policies after the opposition sided with the Greens and independents on changes to limit new enrolments from overseas students to 270,000 in 2025.

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Greens drop climate trigger demand in attempt to restart Nature Positive talks with Labor

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Minor party’s offer, which includes ban on native-forest logging, represents its second concession on stalled legislation in less than a week

The Greens have dropped their demand for a climate trigger to be incorporated in the government’s stalled Nature Positive legislation, indicating they are now prepared to pass the bills in return for a Australia-wide ban on native-forest logging alone.

The party has previously refused to support Labor’s legislation, insisting that both a climate trigger and forest-logging ban must be included.

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Australian businesses selling essential goods and services to be forced to accept cash payments

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Treasury confirms cheques will stay in circulation until 2029 but then cease to be accepted as legal tender

Businesses selling essential goods and services such as groceries, medicines and fuel will be forced to accept cash from their customers unless granted a special exemption, under a government mandate to take effect from 1 January 2026.

In a move designed to taper the phase-out of cash and ensure those who rely on it can still use it for the near future, the federal government will require certain businesses to take cash payments. But others, including many small businesses, will be exempt from the measure.

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Labor and Liberals will get double their public funding if ‘biased’ electoral rules are passed, Climate 200 says

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ALP denies reforms rushed into parliament are designed to target Simon Holmes à Court and Clive Palmer

Australia’s two major political parties will more than double their public funding at the 2028 federal election to reap a combined $140m under the government’s proposed changes to electoral laws, according to the organisation which funded successful teal independent candidates at the 2022 election.

Climate 200 has calculated the likely increase in the amount the Labor and Liberal parties could claim in public funding at the 2028 election, after the proposed new system is slated to take effect.

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Chris Bowen makes last-minute diplomatic stop in Turkey as Australia ramps up bid to host Cop31

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Climate change minister’s effort to convince Ankara to drop out underlines push for ‘Pacific Cop’

The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, made a whistle-stop visit to Turkey on Friday night in an attempt to reach a deal for Australia to host tens of thousands of people at a major UN climate summit in 2026.

Bowen visited the Turkish capital, Ankara, on the way to the Cop29 climate conference in the Azerbaijan capital, Baku. The two countries are vying to host Cop31, and the Albanese government hopes Turkey will exit the race in time for an announcement before next week.

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Coles and Woolworths face class actions over claims misleading promotions deceived customers – as it happened

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Watt says issue of reconciliation not closed in Australia despite voice referendum

Wrapping up the interview, Murray Watt was also asked about the haka performed in New Zealand parliament yesterday over a controversial bill that proposes to radically alter the way New Zealand’s treaty between Māori and the crown is interpreted.

I think there are many Australians who care very deeply about the rights of our First Peoples. Of course, Australians had their say on the voice to parliament in the recent referendum but I don’t think that means the issue of reconciliation is closed in Australia. That is something that our government remains committed to working on with our First Peoples and I think a lot of Australians support that as well.

I probably won’t comment on what’s happening in New Zealand because it’s their own affairs, but it shows these issues still really matter to people.

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Clive Palmer-scale political donations to be blocked under new electoral spending caps

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Candidates to receive $5 per vote from public funding, while parties and independents will receive $30,000 per MP and $15,000 per senator each

Donation and electoral spending caps could pass parliament as early as this fortnight, with Labor confident the Coalition will help it block campaigns of the size run by Clive Palmer at the national level and teal independents at the local level.

But the bill, to be introduced next week, could spark outrage from independents, emerging and minor parties, with plans to increase public funding of elections from $3.35 a vote to $5.

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Police make arrest and seize water pistol after incident outside NSW parliament – as it happened

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Could Donald Trump really fire Kevin Rudd?

The former prime minister’s criticism of Donald Trump has drawn the ire of those in the president elect’s inner circle, and prompted renewed debate about whether the incoming administration could seek retribution.

I’d be very much opposed to that.

You’ve got the world’s richest man, and you’ve given him this position of incredible influence in the American government. I think jobs for mates is a very bad idea. I don’t think that politicians should be putting their friends, their dear friends into positions of great influence in this country.

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Detained while we decide: Australian government fights for power to detain protection visa applicants

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Two non-citizens want landmark NZYQ decision extended to people who remain in detention while their visa applications are processed

Australia’s constitution allows the government to detain non-citizens while their protection visa applications are processed, even if they will be released after a decision either way.

That is what the commonwealth will argue in two challenges before the high court on Thursday, urging it to reject the cases that seek to extend the landmark NZYQ decision on indefinite detention to a new cohort of people in immigration detention.

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News live: Birmingham says Australia could learn lessons from ‘disrupter’ Trump in making government more efficient

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The treasurer, Jim Chalmers will today announce funding of $900m for states and territories through a new national productivity fund to boost competition and productivity across the economy.

Launching the plan in a speech to the Australian Business Economists in Sydney, Chalmers is hoping the plan will will incentivise states to achieve productivity gains through pro-competitive policies such as streamlining commercial planning and zoning, and removing barriers to the uptake of modern construction methods.

In March this year, on behalf of the Council on Federal Financial Relations, I asked the Productivity Commission to model the potential impacts of a revitalised NCP.

Its final report landed this month and the benefits on offer are substantial, if not staggering. The PC found a revitalised NCP could boost GDP by up to $45bn a year and reduce prices by 1.45 percentage points. That GDP boost represents about $5,000 per household, per year.

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Senior Trump adviser suggests Rudd’s time as US ambassador could be up with hourglass gif

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Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott defend suitability of former PM after Dan Scavino social media post, despite Rudd’s past criticism of president-elect

A senior adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump has fuelled speculation about the future of Australia’s ambassador to Washington, former prime minister Kevin Rudd, by reposting Rudd’s congratulatory statement to Trump on social media with a gif of an hourglass.

The provocative time-is-running-out post by former Trump deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino reignited suggestions that the incoming president may prefer another Australian representative in Washington when he takes office in January.

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Man charged with murder after woman’s body found in Penrith hotel – as it happened

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Meteorologists are forecasting that thunderstorms will develop over large swathes of the country every day this week, and likely into next.

Ben Domensino from Weatherzone has outlined the forecast as follows:

Early in the week, showers and thunderstorms will target central, eastern, southern and southeastern Australia on Monday and Tuesday. Severe thunderstorms are likely in parts of NSW and [Queensland] on both days and are also possible in other states.

Storms will become more focussed on a broad arc stretching across Australia’s eastern and northern states and down into the WA interior through the middle of the week. Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra will all be at risk of severe thunderstorm activity on Wednesday.

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Australia news live: Antic claims misinformation bill is bid to stop young Australians being ‘red pilled’ on social media

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Matt Keogh on Aukus, second Trump presidency

Matt Keogh was also questioned on what he thinks the challenges will be for the Australian government amid a second Trump presidency?

We understand regardless of who is in charge of the White House or what is happening across the globe, what matters to Australians is being able to make ends meet themselves.

We expect that to continue even under a Trump Presidency.

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Australia ‘not immune from trade tensions’, Chalmers says of incoming Trump presidency

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Treasurer says he spoke about tariffs to a ‘key member’ of Republican’s economic team before the US election

Australia’s economy will not be immune from escalating trade tensions, Jim Chalmers has warned, as the Albanese government prepares itself for an incoming Donald Trump administration.

In a speech to be delivered on Monday , the treasurer will outline the risks of an “uncertain world characterised by economic vulnerability and volatility” but will say the Australian government is “well-placed and well-prepared”.

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Former Labor senator to be Australia’s first anti-slavery commissioner

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With an estimated 41,000 people living in modern slavery in Australia, Chris Evans’ role to address exploitative practices such as forced marriage and deceptive recruiting

The former Labor minister Chris Evans will be Australia’s first anti-slavery commissioner, with the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, announcing that the longtime senator will take up a five-year term in December.

Evans served as immigration and workplace relations minister under the Rudd and Gillard governments, and is a former chief executive of anti-slavery group Walk Free’s faith-based arm Global Freedom Network.

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Australian parliament still unsafe, Mark Butler says, after rape and stalking among 30 serious allegations reported to HR body

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New support service managed 339 cases of workplace wrongdoing in its first nine months, report shows

The health minister, Mark Butler, says Parliament House is still “an unsafe place to work” after figures revealed there were at least 30 instances of serious wrongdoing – including sexual assault and sexual harassment – reported to its new HR body in the past year.

The “deeply concerning” figures published in the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service’s first annual report, reported by Nine newspapers on Sunday, show it managed 339 cases between 1 October 2023 and 30 June 2024.

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Labor’s plan to re-impose ankle bracelet and curfew regime ‘very likely’ to face legal challenge, advocates say

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Measure alongside bill to facilitate removal of non-citizens criticised as heavy-handed proposals ‘that interfere with fundamental rights’

Legal challenges against the Albanese government’s plans to re-impose ankle bracelets and curfews on non-citizens released from indefinite immigration detention are “very likely” as the home affairs minister tries to contain the fallout from a scathing high court ruling.

Tony Burke introduced a bill on Thursday to facilitate the removal of non-citizens from Australia, including paying third countries to accept people released from immigration detention, which would pave the way for cancellation of their bridging visas and possible re-detention.

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Sydney homes flooded after water pipeline bursts – as it happened

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Racism, colonialism ‘driving Indigenous self-harm’

Australia’s dark colonial past and ongoing racism are driving self-harm in Indigenous communities, according to a respected Aboriginal psychologist.

That whole process has left communities suffering from intergenerational trauma, disadvantage and ongoing racism, as well as the exclusion from the benefits of society and a lack of acknowledgment and respect for their different cultural values.

We still want clinical approaches but we want to see culture at the centre of that.

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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No consequences likely after Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie failed to disclose flight upgrades

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Independent David Pocock calls for disclosure reform while Liberal James Paterson says many politicians don’t update the log fast enough

Labor is unlikely to pursue formal Senate action against the Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie for not disclosing 16 flight upgrades over her time in parliament, despite parliamentary rules on travel requiring disclosures within 35 days.

The independent senator David Pocock said it highlighted the need for reforming parliamentary transparency rules.

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Optus fined $12m after thousands could not call triple zero during 2023 outage

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Australian Communications and Media Authority says telco did not check welfare of 369 people who tried to make a call while lines were down

Optus has paid a $12m fine over its mobile network outage last year that resulted in more than 2,000 people being unable to make triple zero calls.

One year ago on Friday, a routine software upgrade to Optus’s mobile network brought down the service for 14 hours across the country for the company’s 10 million customers.

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