Category Archives: Australian politics

AFP investigates banner stunt during Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club speech

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Activist group GetUp claims responsibility for incident, saying ‘we thought the occasion deserved some honesty’

The Australian federal police is investigating a protest incident during Pauline Hanson’s speech at the National Press Club after political activist group GetUp claimed responsibility for the stunt.

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, the National Press Club said it had referred the incident to police after concluding none of its own staff were involved.

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NSW lifts drone ban over Sydney beach after shark attack – as it happened

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The Senate will deliver its report from the NDIS inquiry on Tuesday. Butler doesn’t directly answer a question about whether or not he is willing to make any significant changes to the legislation the government has put forward.

He says:

Look, the direction of travel I think is an important one for us to follow through. This largely reflects reviews and insights that we’ve gathered over the last three years since the independent review was done of the NDIS in 2023 and endorsed by all governments at national Cabinet later that year.

I’m utterly convinced this is the right plan for the NDIS… I’m not saying there won’t be any change. We heard ideas from the crossbench in the debate in the House of Representatives. I’ve very much heard that people want greater reassurance about what won’t change because of the reforms we’re putting in place.

We have to constrain that growth. Without reforms it would grow to $20 billion by the end of the decade and that’s simply not a sustainable position.

It’s also allowed us, as I said, to protect the core supports people rely upon for that safety that was part of your introduction.

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Angus Taylor using NDIS cuts as ‘pawn in bigger chess game’, Mark Butler warns

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Opposition and Greens could team up to extend inquiry into changes but health minister ‘utterly convinced’ federal government’s plan is right

Mark Butler has doubled down on his plans to pass contentious NDIS changes as early as this month, warning the opposition against using the bill as a “pawn in a bigger chess game” as they consider a potential deal with the Greens.

The Coalition and the Greens have criticised Labor’s truncated timeline to pass NDIS, negative gearing and capital gains changes, and have signalled they could team up against the government in the Senate to extend inquiries into the bills.

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Liberal frontbencher Jonno Duniam to quit politics, says leadership spill ‘started to really wear on me’

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Tasmanian senator says he feels he is ‘letting down the team’ but needs to prioritise family

Liberal frontbencher Jonno Duniam will quit politics before the end of the year, in another major blow to the struggling Coalition as it experiences its lowest levels of popularity in decades.

The Tasmanian senator, who was elected to parliament in 2016 and is seen as one of the Liberals’ best talents, said it was an “extremely difficult decision to make” but one he had been considering for “quite some time” to spend more time with family.

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NDIS changes ‘retrogressive’ and out of step with review, MPs say

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Report by Labor-led joint human rights committee says cuts to the $50bn scheme could limit support for those in need

Sweeping changes to the NDIS appear “retrogressive” and lack alignment with a landmark independent review to improve the $50bn-a-year scheme, a Labor-led committee has found.

The 57-page scrutiny report from the joint human rights committee, released on Friday, examined the proposed changes under the Albanese government ahead of a separate report due next week by a Senate inquiry. The Labor-chaired committee questioned the human rights implications of winding back access for more than 200,000 participants in the coming years, which could leave many without sufficient disability support.

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One Nation’s ‘incredibly sloppy’ financial reports reveal more than $1m in missing or worthless assets

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Exclusive: Financial returns, obtained by the Guardian, are ‘very poor and unprofessional’ and call into question party’s fitness to govern, expert says

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Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party reported more than $1m in missing and worthless assets in more than six years of filed financial reports, Guardian Australia can reveal.

The financial returns lodged by One Nation with the Office of Fair Trading in Queensland from 2016 to 2022 have been criticised by a leading expert in financial accounting as “sloppy and unprofessional”.

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NSW prosecutors launch proceedings against Labor officials accused of disguising donations to Chris Minns

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Labor MP Ernest Wong and restaurateur Jonathan Yee are facing court over allegedly circumventing election funding laws

New South Wales prosecutors have launched proceedings against two state Labor officials after they allegedly disguised donations to Chris Minns during his election campaign almost a decade ago.

On Tuesday, the NSW Electoral Commission revealed the director of public prosecution had begun proceedings against former Labor MP Ernest Wong and restaurateur Jonathan Yee. The commission commenced an investigation in 2019 into a “potential scheme to circumvent” election funding laws during the campaign to elect Minns for the seat of Kogarah.

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PM backs upping the volume at Sydney Opera House – ‘I’m a member of the fun faction’ – as it happened

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Australian borrowing personal loans in record amounts

Australians are borrowing record amounts in personal loans as a long-term buildup in living costs wipes out savings buffers.

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Australian housing was already cooling before the budget – but how cold it gets depends on two key factors

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Most economists believe the chronic undersupply of homes will eventually push prices higher once interest rates ease and the tax changes are priced in

The government’s property tax changes have become one of the defining political issues of Labor’s second term, drawing fierce criticism from opponents who argue they represent an “assault on aspiration” that will destroy home values.

In the three weeks after the negative gearing and capital gains tax changes were revealed in the 12 May budget, housing data has begun to show how they may affect Australia’s property market. Here’s what the data shows, and what could happen next.

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One Nation, six farcical explanations and no clearer understanding of its housing policy

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Hanson’s party is leading in the polls, but it has a long way to go before being recognised as a serious political outfit

When sent out to do a cleanup job, it usually helps to not make the mess even worse.

It took One Nation six separate attempts over nearly 24 hours to clarify the basic details of their policy on foreign ownership of housing. Between Thursday night and Friday afternoon, the story turned from bizarre to farcical, with attempts to clarify the policy just making the situation murkier as Australians watched:

a Barnaby Joyce interview;

a quick do-over on Sky News on Thursday;

a Pauline Hanson social media update on Friday morning;

a Sean Bell interview, again on Sky, on Friday;

and then a 2GB spot;

before a written press release from Bell on Friday afternoon

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Nauru issues rare statement after whistleblower alleges violent threats against Australia’s non-citizens

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Nauran government says its citizens are ‘friendly’ after MP spoke of serious threats allegedly made against former Australian detainees

The Nauruan government has issued a rare statement insisting it is a “friendly” and “welcoming” country after a whistleblower alleged “serious threats of physical violence” were made against a group of non-citizens removed there by the Albanese government.

The unexpected defence, sent shortly after midday Thursday, was mounted hours after independent MP Andrew Wilkie used his three-minute constituency statement to read claims from an anonymous whistleblower familiar with the arrangements of the secretive $2.5bn deal between Australia and Nauru.

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Labor’s NDIS overhaul faces delay as Coalition and Greens consider teaming up to slow bill’s passage

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Government hopes to rush NDIS and tax changes through parliament but opposition and crossbench push for more scrutiny

The Greens want Labor to halt its plans to rush NDIS cuts through the Senate later this month, urging a longer inquiry process as the government seeks the minor party’s support for its contentious tax and housing changes.

It opens the possibility of the Greens and Coalition teaming up in parliament to support extending separate Senate inquiries into both the changes to the national disability insurance scheme and tax proposals, thereby delaying Labor’s hopes of passing those bills before the end of June.

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Federal government paid $3.8m in personal protection for then CFMEU administrator

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Senate committee also hears Murray Watt needed personal security after sending the union into administration

The federal government has paid millions of dollars in personal protection for the administrators of the CFMEU, and had to organise security for minister Murray Watt after he introduced the legislation that placed the union into administration, it has been revealed.

Under questioning from Liberal senator Jane Hume in the Senate committee on education and employment legislation, it was revealed that the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) has paid millions of dollars to keep the administrators safe.

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Linda Reynolds repays nearly $9,000 after partner billed taxpayers to visit son in Melbourne

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Former Liberal senator initially labelled ruling by parliamentary expenses authority ‘patently ridiculous’, saying visits were necessary

Former Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has paid back nearly $8,800 in parliamentary expenses after her partner claimed family reunion allowances to visit his son in Melbourne while en route to meet her in Canberra.

Reynolds accepted the ruling of the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) but initially disputed their ruling, saying her partner’s visits to his son – her stepson – were necessary after “high profile (and false) 2021 workplace allegations made against me”, seemingly a reference to her long-running court dispute with former staffer Brittany Higgins.

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Yes Australia’s house prices may fall – but the decades of unchecked property price growth were the true policy failure

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Instead of relying on tax-enhanced speculation, investors must now look at established properties based on actual profitability – leaving space for first home buyers

For decades, Australia’s property market has been defined by relentless price rises, reinforcing the old adage that real estate investment is “as safe as houses”.

There’s now a wrinkle in that wisdom.

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English Green party leader Zack Polanski tells Australian colleagues to ‘connect with anger’ to counter rightwing populism

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Australian Greens should ‘take on’ Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, Polanski tells Victorian conference, just as he took on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK

Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green party of England and Wales, has told his counterparts in Australia that they need to start “connecting with people’s anger” and learn from the “storytelling power” of populist rightwing politics.

Speaking via video link at the Victorian Greens campaign conference on Saturday night, Zack Polanski said the party in Australia needed to start “taking on” Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, just as his own party had taken on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

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Australia to buy only secondhand nuclear subs from US in major Aukus switch – as it happened

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Extra negative gearing limits could hurt market and family budgets, Labor says

Clare O’Neil has rejected calls from the Greens and others to put further limits on negative gearing access, saying the government should not interrupt “immediate arrangements”.

There’s people in the debate who want to see the government go further. I really understand that but I just think we need to step back.

Negative gearing is a very immediate impact on a household and family budget and it’s not something that governments, when they’re making tax changes, should do, to interrupt people’s immediate arrangements.

We need to land this. We’ll do that in the appropriate time given the need … This is not a political timeline. It is a policy timeline … It’s important this gets resolved speedily and that’s what the government is working towards.

I think there’s a range of things that are on the table in those conversations and I won’t speak about them in detail …

The government wants to get the right outcome here and we are not going to be driven by the politics of the moment. It’s really important we reach the right landing point for this and I think I have spoken in previous interviews this week about some of the issues we see.

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New Aukus drone tech to protect critical undersea cables as Marles warns: ‘seabed is a battlefield’

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Minister at Singapore defence summit also reveals Australia to buy only secondhand Aukus submarines from US

The defence minister, Richard Marles, has said the “seabed is a battlefield” in a combative speech urging Beijing to be more transparent about its maritime operations, and taking aim at weak international controls over so-called “shadow-fleet” vessels.

The warning came as the US, UK and Australia announced a new Aukus project to develop new underwater drone technology to protect undersea cables.

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Soft toys, memes and a movie villain: Labor tries to simplify the message but selling a budget isn’t child’s play

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As the budget fight plays out fiercely online, Labor senator Ellie Whiteaker turns to a zebra and a giraffe for help

Selling a complicated federal budget isn’t exactly child’s play, but Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers could do worse than following the example of their colleague’s toy giraffe and zebra to help explain their contentious tax changes.

The budget fight is dominating parliament and Senate estimates, but it’s being fought just as fiercely online. The weapons of choice? Memes, fluffy animals and a questionable reference to a serial killer cannibal.

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Labor to announce easing of jobseeker mutual obligations requirements in major overhaul of employment system

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Employment minister Amanda Rishworth plans to move system from a ‘one size fits all’ employment services model to three streams of support

The Albanese government has flagged a major overhaul of Australia’s employment system, with minister Amanda Rishworth on Wednesday expected to outline plans to ease Centrelink’s much-maligned mutual obligations regime.

Rishworth is expected to tell the National Press Club that mutual obligation requirements were not helping Australians find work in a system that was “ill-equipped” and wasting the time of people who use welfare.

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