Category Archives: Australian politics

Peter Dutton and home affairs department cleared of wrongdoing in case involving Melbourne terrorist

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No potential breaches found by independent inquiry into former Coalition government’s handling of Abdul Nacer Benbrika case

Peter Dutton and the home affairs department have been cleared of wrongdoing over what a judge described as “a serious interference with the administration of justice” in a court case involving Melbourne terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika.

But the independent review clearing Dutton and his former department will not be released publicly, Guardian Australia has confirmed.

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Australia tried to influence other countries and Unesco to keep Great Barrier Reef off in-danger list

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Exclusive: Documents seen by Guardian Australia show a sustained strategy approved by environment minister Tanya Plibersek

The Australian government carried out an international lobbying campaign to keep the Great Barrier Reef off a list of world heritage sites in danger, including dispatching politicians and officials to Unesco’s Paris headquarters and asking diplomats to gather intelligence on countries that could influence the decision.

The campaign is revealed in documents released to the Greens after a parliamentary request and show how Australia sought to influence Unesco and members of the 21-country world heritage committee in the lead up to a crunch meeting in July last year.

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Australia news live: youth vaping rates plummet after law reform; police alert 5000 Australians targeted by overseas romance scam

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The federal health minister cited data showing vape use among young Australians has significantly reduced meaning new laws are working. Follow today’s news live

Cyclone threat looms in northern Australia as drenched region braces for yet more rain

North Queensland is on cyclone watch with three tropical lows given a chance of developing in the coming days, bringing heavy rain that has flooded roads and homes.

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Inflation data isn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Labor – as Biden and Democrats will attest

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While a pre-election rate cut is widely seen as positive for incumbent governments, it doesn’t necessarily represent a path to victory in itself

The Reserve Bank of Australia is designed to be independent of government, but that does not mean its decisions do not have political consequences.

After Wednesday’s better-than-expected inflation reading, there is now broad consensus among economists that the RBA will cut interest rates next month.

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Australia news live: Angus Taylor says cost-of-living pain ‘far from over’ despite inflation falling to three-year low

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Labor adds homelessness focus to disability strategy

Australians with disabilities experiencing homelessness will be prioritised as the government commits to disability reforms, months after a scathing royal commission into the sector, AAP reports.

For the first time, they also include a number of national actions that all governments will work on together, with the disability community, to ensure people with disability right across Australia experience the benefits.

Some students, especially those in our cities, can see a career in agriculture as something that’s only for those who live in the regions or for those whose family own land that can be used to operate an agribusiness.

AgConnections aims to break down these misconceptions and build on the diversity of the industry, by highlighting and encouraging women and Indigenous Australians wanting to pursue a career in agriculture.

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Third arrest after alleged assault on police officers in Sydney – as it happened

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AFP warns parents over rise in AI-generated child abuse material

There has been an increase in the use of AI-generated child abuse material in the past year, including students creating material like deepfakes to harass or embarrass classmates, the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation has said.

Children and young people are curious by nature, however, anything that depicts the abuse of someone under the age of 18 – whether that’s videos, images, drawings or stories – is child abuse material, irrespective of whether it is ‘real’ or not.

The AFP encourages all parents and guardians to have open and honest conversations with their child on this topic, particularly as AI technology continues to become increasingly accessible and integrated into platforms and products.

As a society, I think that it demonstrates the need for us to place a high value collectively on a civil political discourse, rather than an extreme one.

I wasn’t surprised to learn that of the 16 arrests, only one person was from South Australia and the rest were scattered from all over the country and for whatever reason, decided to convene in Adelaide.

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Open (your wallet) wide: Australians pay more for dental care than most OECD countries

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Australia ranks well when it comes to total dental care expenditure. But a closer look at the numbers reveals that trips to the dentist are a luxury many people can’t afford

Australia spent $11.1bn on dental care in 2021–2022, ranking it sixth out of 31 OECD countries for per capita expenditure.

At first glance, that statistic seems pretty good. Dig deeper? Not so much.

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Peter Dutton’s boilerplate campaign video is most interesting for what it omits

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The shots of sharing cuppas with constituents and laughing with his kids skates over the details of his ‘small family business’

Election season officially begins when the prime minister drives in the back of C1 to visit the governor general – but its unofficial commencement is when leaders start releasing soft-focus profile videos with their log cabin story, surrounded by family and backed by twinkling music.

For an opposition leader especially, whose contributions can often be overshadowed by the prime minister whose job they covet, the productions – often short yet packed with meaning – are a vital chance to re-introduce or repackage themselves to a public who might not know much about them.

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How Australia’s ‘unfair’ dental system – and the way $1.3bn is spent – is driving inequality and leaving millions of people behind

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Half of all government spending on dental care goes to private insurance rebates – meaning those without often skip treatment until things get worse

Patients bear the brunt of dentist fees. But of the $1.3bn the federal government spends on the nation’s teeth, more than half goes to subsidising the uptake of private health insurance.

The inequality of Australia’s dental care system can be seen in the numbers, says Peter Breadon, the health program director at the Grattan Institute.

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Australia news live: PM ridicules Sussan Ley’s ‘Mars’ analogy and calls out Grace Tame’s ‘disrespectful’ T-shirt

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Albanese calls Ley’s comparison of First Fleet to SpaceX ‘very strange’. Follow today’s news live

For people with disability, the end of 2024 was a rollercoaster.

New legislation for the National Disability Insurance Scheme started coming into effect in October, with new lists of what can and cannot be funded, changes to early intervention requirements and more, already altering the way 646,000 people receive support from the $35bn program.

I’m just so appalled by it. I can’t believe someone should be so heartless that they could do this.

It’s also about, I guess, community standards. Look, it’s a big city. There’s some bad people that live in it. I am appalled by this. I just can’t believe someone would be so heartless to do it in such a special part of the city. We deliberately put the police memorial in the middle of Sydney in the Domain. It’s not parked away in the back lots somewhere, because it needs to be said that if someone loses their life serving the people of NSW, they won’t be forgotten.

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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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