Category Archives: Australian politics

Chinese navy destroyer and helicopter shadowed Australian warship during high-profile standoff, documents show

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Exclusive: Australian helicopter was outside Chinese territorial waters when forced to manoeuvre to avoid fighter jet flares in ‘unsafe’ operation

An Australian helicopter was flying south-east of China’s Shandong peninsula but outside its territorial waters when a Chinese fighter aircraft released flares in its path, new documents show.

Guardian Australia can reveal that Australia’s HMAS Hobart warship was also being shadowed by a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) navy destroyer and another Chinese helicopter at the time of the 4 May standoff.

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Greens and academics criticise appointment of antisemitism envoy – as it happened

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Flights have been cancelled or delayed out of Brisbane airport this morning as thick smoke blankets the city.

According to the Brisbane airport website, nine domestic flights and two international flights have been cancelled. On social media, the airport wrote that widespread fog across Brisbane was “slowing movements on ground and limiting visibility.”

Flights are still departing but there are delays due to the reduced visibility.

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Former defence chief’s report into Zomi Frankcom killing handed to Albanese government

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Humanitarian worker was among seven killed in drone strikes carried out by the Israeli Defense Force in Gaza on 1 April

The Australian government has received a highly anticipated report from former defence force chief Mark Binskin on the killing of Australian humanitarian worker Zomi Frankcom and her colleagues in Israeli military drone strikes in Gaza.

Guardian Australia understands the government has received the report regarding the 1 April incident and is now working with Binskin to “action” his recommendations.

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Australia news live: Albanese announces special envoy to combat antisemitism, says Jewish students ‘worried’ to wear school uniform

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Meanwhile, attorney general to outline updated legislation to crackdown on money laundering. Follow the day’s news live

The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, said that when it comes to the Alice Springs curfew, politics needs to be left out of it.

Speaking with ABC RN, Burney said:

This issues in Alice Springs have been a long time in the making … [The issues] will only be addressed over a long-term funding commitment, which we’ve made from the federal government.

We certainly are concerned that this is going to continue to increase and potentially overwhelm the hospital systems.

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Australia news live: Albanese calls Starmer to congratulate UK’s new PM on ‘emphatic victory’; de Minaur celebrates ‘lucky’ Wimbledon ride

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Mehreen Faruqi to appear on Insiders

Deputy Greens leader Mehreen Faruqi will be speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers this morning.

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Fatima Payman’s exit reveals ‘chasm’ between Labor and traditional base over Palestine, party insiders say

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Exclusive: Senator’s resignation disappointing to ‘thousands of rank-and-file ALP and union members and Labor supporters’

Labor’s Friends of Palestine group has warned of “a chasm” between the Albanese government and “huge swathes of the party’s traditional base” as it described Fatima Payman’s resignation as a symptom of a bigger problem.

A day after the first-term senator quit Labor, to remain in the upper house as an independent, pro-Palestine campaigners complained that Payman had been placed “in an untenable position” by the federal leadership team.

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Abolished cashless debit card still divides, two years after Labor ordered its demise

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Some users reported ‘poor decision making’ and financial coercion while others experienced positive outcomes such as reduced discrimination

The majority of past cashless debit card users have said the ending of the program was a positive step that reduced stigmatisation and discrimination but some reported it led to “poor decision making” and financial coercion once the controversial scheme was abolished, a review has found.

The review by the University of Adelaide found reports of alcohol use and gambling had increased in most of the areas where the card was formerly used. But it noted “no causal statements can be issued” about whether the card’s abolition was to blame, saying other factors, like local trends and the cost-of-living crisis, could be at play.

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Dutton says ‘Australia can learn’ from new British PM’s nuclear stance – as it happened

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‘Pretty clear’ Fatima Payman has been planning to join crossbench for a ‘long period’, minister says

The finance minister and manager of the government in the Senate, Katy Gallagher, is speaking with ABC RN after Fatima Payman’s resignation yesterday.

It’s difficult to go into, you know, when the decision was made – only Senator Payman knows that – but we do know, now that it’s been done, it’s a matter of fact that there had been obviously discussions about her role as an independent senator and for some time.

I think the way these decisions have been made by Senator Payman make it pretty clear that she has been thinking about this for a long period of time, and it was executed this week …

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Cricketer Usman Khawaja accuses Peter Dutton of ‘fuelling Islamophobia’ over Muslim candidates comments

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Australian cricket star labels opposition leader’s remarks an ‘absolute disgrace’ as newly formed Muslim Vote group sparks debate

Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja has accused Peter Dutton of “fuelling Islamophobia”, after the opposition leader said he was concerned about a future minority Labor government relying on crossbench support including “Muslim candidates from western Sydney”.

Dutton’s comments also prompted criticism from industry and science minister Ed Husic. “There’s not only been a Muslim candidate from western Sydney for more than a decade now, there’s also two of us who serve as ministers,” Husic said, refering to himself and early childhood minister Anne Aly.

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‘False phone calls’ diverted police from Gaza war protest at Parliament House, AFP chief alleges

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Australian federal police commissioner says force is investigating whether ‘diversionary tactics’ were used while activists allegedly trespassed on roof

The Australian federal police are investigating whether “diversionary tactics” were used to distract police as four people allegedly trespassed onto Parliament House’s roof to protest the war in Gaza.

On Thursday, the AFP’s commissioner, Reece Kershaw, told a Senate estimates hearing the protest was “premeditated” and he considered the diversionary tactics, which allegedly distracted police to other incidents inside and away from Parliament House, a “criminal act”.

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Fatima Payman’s decision to quit Labor party will ‘empower opponents on far right’, Wayne Swan says

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Government MPs express disappointment over WA senator’s decision as Greens and crossbench praise move

Fatima Payman says she is “grieving” after deciding to quit Labor to sit as an independent, a move the party’s president, Wayne Swan, claims will “empower Labor’s opponents on the far right”.

Payman said on Thursday she felt she had no choice but to quit Labor after her advocacy for the Australian government to recognise a Palestinian state. She claimed voters were “frustrated” at Labor’s position on the war in Gaza, and that she was displaying “Labor values” in the positions she had taken.

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Senator says PM’s office planted seed about crossing floor – as it happened

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Josh Burns says Labor motion to recognise Palestine as part of the peace process is ‘the bare minimum’

Josh Burns finished with:

This motion before the House is the bare minimum. It says that we support the recognition of a Palestinian state as part of a peace process. That peace process is something that I hold onto and that I have held onto my entire life.

That peace process says that we are all people, above all, and that there has to be a way through this. There has to be a way through this conflict. I wish that we could pull a lever here in Australia and it would all end today, but we have seen time and time again that that is not the case.

There are so many intractable parts of this conflict. I have a degree in this conflict, and I still don’t quite know how to fix it.

I know that there are players who are desperate to end the peace process and to try and disturb any efforts towards peace. I know that trees take years and years and years to grow and can be cut down in a second, and that is what the Middle East has demonstrated over and over again.

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Pro-Palestine protesters scale roof of Australia’s Parliament House to unfurl banners criticising war in Gaza

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Call for investigation into security breach after parliament partly locked down as activists reveal banner declaring ‘war crimes … enabled here’

Some areas of Australia’s federal parliament were locked down as pro-Palestine protesters climbed on to the roof of the building in Canberra and unfurled a banner declaring “war crimes … enabled here”.

Thursday’s protest focused on the war in Gaza appeared to be coordinated with other actions highlighting the climate crisis and Indigenous rights.

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Australia to strike new funding deal with Papua New Guinea to manage transferred asylum seekers

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Exclusive: Government regulations reveal Australia will provide ‘further capability support and funding’ to PNG but dollar figure is confidential

The Albanese government will strike a new funding deal with Papua New Guinea (PNG) to support asylum seekers after the country threatened to send them back to Australia unless a fresh agreement was signed.

In December 2021 the Morrison government struck a secret deal for about 75 refugees and asylum seekers to stay in Port Moresby after the regional processing centre at Manus Island was closed.

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Labor branch in Albanese’s electorate passes motion supporting Fatima Payman

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Members in Leichhardt ‘express solidarity’ with the rebel senator and say they share her ‘strong support’ for Palestine

A Labor branch in Anthony Albanese’s own electorate has passed a motion expressing support for the dissident senator Fatima Payman, even as expectations grow she is poised to quit the party.

Labor’s Leichhardt branch – which is within the prime minister’s Sydney electorate of Grayndler – passed the supportive motion at a scheduled meeting on Wednesday night.

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Asic should be split in two after ‘comprehensively’ failing as regulator, parliamentary inquiry finds

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Scathing report says commission’s investigations and decisions are ‘opaque’ and it responded to criticism by managing its own reputation

Australia’s corporate watchdog should be split into two after “comprehensively” failing its role as a regulator, including focusing more on managing its reputation than enforcement action, a parliamentary committee inquiry has found.

The economics committee’s report, released Wednesday, delivers a scathing overview of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (Asic) role in ensuring allegations of corporate misconduct are investigated and punished.

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Australian universities clash over proposed international student cap

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Regional and smaller universities say they should be exempt from limits on overseas enrolments and elite capital city institutions should be targeted

Australia’s universities have descended into infighting over a proposed international student cap, with some bodies claiming the government is protecting elite institutions.

The draft bill, announced in May, would allow the education minister to limit the enrolment of overseas students by provider, course or location. To enrol more students, institutions would be required to establish additional purpose-built student accommodation.

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Former dissenting Labor MP backs Fatima Payman and says party needs to reconsider rules

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Last time a Labor MP voted against the party position was 2005 when Tasmanian MP Harry Quick opposed anti-terrorism legislation

The last federal Labor MP to vote against his party has urged Fatima Payman to “stick to her guns” as the senator faces intense pressure to toe the line on Palestinian statehood or leave Labor.

Federal Labor MPs and senators on Tuesday unanimously endorsed Payman’s indefinite suspension from the party’s parliamentary caucus after the 29-year-old said she would cross the floor again if faced with a similar Senate motion to last week’s vote.

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Older Australians pressured into paying unfair robotax debts will not be compensated, government says

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Finance minister Katy Gallagher says people who felt intimidated into paying back ATO debts so old they are impossible to verify will not get their money back

Older Australians who felt pressured into paying decades-old debts as part of the troubled “robotax” campaign have hit out at a government decision to deny refunds after describing the tax grab as coercive.

The federal government has disclosed it intends to amend laws that will allow the Australian Taxation Office to keep debts put on hold before 2017 on ice indefinitely, rather than extract them from future tax refunds, as was planned.

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A third of land set aside for restoration in worse state than before, Australian offset audit finds

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Federal review sparks fresh warnings that biodiversity scheme is increasing risk of animals going extinct

A review of some of the areas chosen for nature restoration as part of Australia’s biodiversity offset system has found a third are in worse condition than before, prompting fresh warnings that the scheme is increasing the risk of animals going extinct.

In one instance, the majority of a site that should have provided grey-headed flying fox and koala habitat was found to be “cleared paddock with negligible foraging value”.

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