Category Archives: Australian politics

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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Australia news live: SpaceX debris disrupts Qantas flights from Sydney to South Africa

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Rowland reacts to number of women preselected by Liberal party to replace retiring MPs

Michelle Rowland was also asked about the fact just one woman has been preselected to replace eight Liberal MPs who are retiring at the next election. Is she disappointed by this?

Clearly, Peter Dutton talks a big game when it comes to these issues, but the reality is borne out by the fact that they continue to overlook women for public office … For my mind, that says everything about Peter Dutton being stuck in the past, just as he’s stuck in the past around the national broadband network, his response to this announcement is to call it a joke, which is an insult to regional communities.

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NBN’s $3bn fibre revamp is great news but don’t Australians now care more about price than higher speeds?

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The demise of NBN’s fibre-to-the-node technology is welcome but making the internet more affordable would have a much bigger impact

The announcement of the demise of NBN’s fibre-to-the-node technology will be welcomed by those who have endured poor speeds and service for the past few years, but making the internet more affordable would have a much bigger impact.

When Tony Windsor sided with Labor in the 2010 election, he put the NBN as one of the key issues, saying famously: do it once, do it right, and do it with fibre.

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Climate activist who graffitied Tanya Plibersek’s office says he stands by his actions

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Environment minister said vandalism and intimidation were ‘completely unacceptable’

A climate activist who graffitied the word “liar” on the federal environment minister’s office has stood by his highly publicised actions, urging the public to stand up for their beliefs.

Zachary “Zack” Edward Jaworowski Schofield took a can of red spray paint to Tanya Plibersek’s Sydney electorate office in December.

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Albanese says Coalition ‘more conservative than they have ever been’ as Dutton labels him ‘weakest’ prime minister

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Prime minister and opposition leader start election bids with early campaigning and funding announcements

Anthony Albanese has launched a stinging attack on Peter Dutton, accusing the opposition leader of a “cold-hearted, mean-spirited” politics that has targeted vulnerable people and skewed the Coalition “more conservative than they’ve ever been”.

As both men started their election bids with early January campaigning, Dutton brushed off the prime minister’s criticisms as “mud” and “lies”. The opposition leader is under pressure to announce some new substantial policies and a long-awaited reshuffle of his shadow ministry, just months out from the election – a fact Albanese highlighted, calling the Coalition’s weekend campaign rally a “damp squib”.

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Butler urges NSW psychiatrists ‘come back to the table’ – as it happened

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Dutton continues rounds on breakfast television

The opposition leader Peter Dutton has been making the rounds this morning, also speaking with the Today Show.

We need to do what is right in our country’s economic interests. We have to have the settings so that people can invest here. And at the moment, when we speak to CEOs and chairs of companies … what they’re doing is moving capital away from Australia into south-east Asia, into Africa, into North America, and we’re missing out on the tax dollars and the jobs here in Australia.

It’s a question of how much money is in the bank and how much can we responsibly give back, because in the end, it’s people’s money. People are working hard for it.

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Falsely labelled ‘organic’ products rife on Australian shelves, shoppers warned

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Organic farmers sound alarm about greenwashing amid push to introduce national domestic standard

Organic farmers and retailers have warned that Australians are being misled by producers who engage in a form of greenwashing by falsely labelling their products “organic”.

Australian consumers may be happy to pay higher prices for meat, cheese, cosmetics and other goods marked “organic” but producers can use the term without meeting any particular standards or being certified.

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‘I felt less human, not human at all’: Australia faces moral crossroads over Nauru

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Who is accountable for what happens in an offshore processing centre? It’s remarkable this is still a question in Australia

Aarash lost his youth to offshore processing. Sixteen when he was sent to Nauru, he says he cannot remember a single birthday in more than a decade.

“When I see younger ones that age, having fun, playing, going to school, it reminds me of everything I lost,” he says. “I felt less human, not human at all.”

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Australia news live: Dreyfus to spend a week in Israel, PM says; SA police shoot man dead during mental health incident

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The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, says “the firing gun has started” for this year’s federal election, which he predicts will be in March or April.

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast just earlier, he said he doesn’t think the government will deliver a budget this year:

I think we’re all ready for it. I think it will be in March, April, I don’t think they’ll do a budget, they don’t want to remind the Australian people with the sea of red ink in the budget. That’s my punt.

This road is of national significance but it’s also one of the most dangerous in our country. And I think it just needs a commitment, and we’re glad to see the government has finally adopted that, one we had, and one the state government can now get on with the job of delivering.

Labor can make up all the nonsense they like. They’re desperate. I mean, this is a government that’s been on the back foot, that got things wrong, that is sending Australians on a pathway to poverty, not a pathway to prosperity. And so they’re in a state of desperation, saying these sorts of things.

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Anthony Albanese announces $7.2bn in funding for Queensland’s Bruce Highway in first major election promise

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Federal government to fund 80% of upgrades with state paying for 20%, despite previously vowing to split infrastructure projects 50-50

In the first major promise of the election year, Anthony Albanese has announced $7.2bn in funding for Queensland’s Bruce Highway.

The federal government will fund 80% of the upgrades, with the state funding 20%.

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Peter Dutton would need to cap partner visas to make his migration cuts, expert warns

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Former immigration official Abul Rizvi believes the current planning level for partner visas is acting as an ‘illegal’ de facto cap

The Coalition’s proposed cuts to Australia’s permanent migration would require Peter Dutton to legislate to allow a cap on partner visas, a migration expert has warned.

Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary of immigration, believes the current planning level for partner visas, introduced by the Coalition and continued by Labor, is acting as an “illegal” de facto cap and would need to be removed.

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