Category Archives: Australian politics

Australia politics live: Dutton attacks Albanese for including calls for ceasefire and de-escalation in motion reflecting on 7 October

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So what’s that ARC research project on islands actually about, anyway?

A blog watcher has taken the trouble to look up the research project that has Liberal MP James Stevens all hot and bothered, Archipelagic Connections in Australian and Pacific Literature:

Australia is often defined as an isolated island-continent, ‘girt by sea’. This project aims to challenge this protectionist myth by analysing literary and historical connections between different geographical sites that have been represented as enclosed in Australian history.

It expects to offer new interpretations of interconnected narratives of Aboriginal Australian, South Sea Islander and migrant enclosure in Australian literature.

The project also contributes to national strategic initiatives into the ‘truth telling’ on Australia’s past relations to Aboriginal Australians and the study of environmental change in islands and archipelagos.

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More than half of Australians approve of Albanese government’s response to Israel-Gaza war, poll finds

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Of 1,139 people surveyed in the Guardian Essential poll, younger voters more likely to say Australia’s response is too supportive of Israel

About 56% of Australians are satisfied with the federal government’s response to the Israel-Gaza war, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

As federal politicians paused to mark the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks and the Israeli military response, the poll showed a five-point jump in satisfaction with the Labor government’s stance since the question was last asked in August.

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Australian politicians mark 7 October anniversary – as it happened

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904 Australians and their immediate family members have now left Lebanon on assisted-departure flights – in addition to those who left on partner and commercial flights.

407 Australians left on 5 October, and 448 on 6 October.

Why so silent, Mark? This, I have been asked a lot. I have thought about it a lot too. I have said little in public about the Hamas-Israel war because I am not the foreign affairs minister. I am Australia’s first law officer. A minister, not a commentator. Just because I’m not talking doesn’t mean I don’t understand.

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Division among Australian politicians easy to see and hear on 7 October anniversary

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Labor condemns Hamas and acknowledges ‘devastating’ loss of civilian lives. Coalition offers emphatic support of Israel and chides calls for a ceasefire

The divisions within Australian politics over the Israel-Gaza war were on full display on Monday as senior leaders marked the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks.

The Labor government reaffirmed its unequivocal condemnation of the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

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Australia news live: NSW police minister says pro-Palestine protests must remain peaceful or ‘you can expect to be arrested’

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A pro-Palestine rally will take place in Hyde Park from 1pm today, after NSW police previously attempted to stop it from happening in federal court. Follow the day’s news live

Australians arrive in Cyprus after being evacuated from Lebanon

Some images are coming through of Australian citizens, residents and their families arriving at Larnaca airport in Cyprus after being evacuated from Beirut yesterday.

This is a tragedy that has been playing out in the Middle East. It is obviously difficult. It is obviously complex.

That is a patent lie, and it’s an intentional lie, and it’s a lie intended to create division within Australian politics and from there, within Australian society.

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Dutton ‘intentionally lying’ about Australia’s stance on Middle East crisis, Marles says

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Opposition leader’s claim Labor is ‘at odds with our allies’ an attempt to sow division, deputy prime minister says

The federal government has hit back at Peter Dutton’s claims that Australia is at odds with its allies over the conflict in the Middle East, characterising this as “an intentional lie” that aims to fuel division.

With more Australians expected to fly out of Lebanon on Sunday as Israel steps up strikes in southern Beirut, the government said it was “deeply anxious” about the “extraordinary loss of innocent life in Gaza” and the prospect of the conflict spreading.

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Visas for Palestinians taking average of four months, data shows, not 24 hours as Coalition claimed

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Exclusive: Guardian Australia found Coalition politicians cited the 24-hour figure in interviews on at least 12 occasions in August

It was one of the most potent talking points during the Coalition’s campaign against “rushed” visas to Palestinians fleeing Gaza.

“It is not appropriate to give 3,000 tourist visas to people leaving a war zone controlled by a terrorist organisation in an average of 24 hours,” the Liberal senator James Paterson told Sky News on 20 August.

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‘It’s doing social harm’: Albanese asks states and territories to work together on a social media ban for kids

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PM is seeking input on the impacts of phone bans in schools and ideas to maintain the social connection of kids

Anthony Albanese has written to the nation’s first ministers asking for their support in implementing a nationwide minimum age for social media.

After South Australia’s Labor government announced it would be moving forward with plans to ban children under 14 from accessing social media, Albanese announced the federal government would introduce legislation addressing the same concerns by the end of the year.

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Australia news live: PM introduces Tu Le as Labor challenger for western Sydney seat of Fowler

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A joint police statement warns “there will be no tolerance for illegal behaviour or violence on any day of the year” in the lead-up to protests planned for the 7 October anniversary.

The statement comes from NSW police, Northern Territory police, the Queensland police service, South Australia police, Victoria police, Western Australia police, Tasmania police and Australian federal police.

Police respect the right to peacefully protest and assemble in Australia, however, there will be no tolerance for illegal behaviour or violence on any day of the year.

In Australia, there are offences that prohibit behaviour that incites or advocates violence or hatred based on race and religion, including the display of prohibited symbols in public under these circumstances.

The commission can confirm it carried out operational activity today at Parliament House. This was in relation to an ongoing investigation.

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Adam Bandt defends Greens response to bullying allegations against WA senator

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Party follows the recommendations of independent Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, leader says

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has said the party takes the issue of bullying “very seriously” and follows the recommendations of the independent parliament workplace support service after allegations were made in recent media reports against a West Australian senator.

Bandt defended his party’s approach on Thursday afternoon after bullying allegations against Dorinda Cox were published by Nine newspapers.

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Anti-corruption officers raid Parliament House but remain tight-lipped on target of ‘ongoing investigation’

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Exclusive: Nacc says ‘operational activity’ does not involve any current or former member of parliament

Officers from the National Anti-Corruption Commission have conducted a raid at Parliament House as part of an ongoing operation that does not involve any current or former member of parliament.

Late on Thursday, the Nacc confirmed in a statement to Guardian Australia that its officers had been at the parliament during the day.

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Rally organisers and police reach agreement – as it happened

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The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, is speaking with ABC RN from New Zealand where he is meeting with regional counterparts.

Asked about the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, and whether “ceasefire negotiations in Gaza are now dead”, Marles said the “continued violence in the Middle East is obviously giving rise to enormous threat to civilian life”.

I think the international community is desperate to see an end to this violence, and certainly that’s how we’re exercising our international voice.

Israel has a right to defend itself. Every country has a right to defend itself, and to do so in a proportionate way. That said, we are calling for a ceasefire, along with the United States, along with other members of the international community.

The continued violence in the Middle East is giving rise to … unacceptable numbers of civilian lives lost, and the ongoing violence is a threat to civilian life. And we, along with international community, urge an end to this.

We have [been protesting for] 51 weeks in a row, [and it’s been] absolutely peaceful. Millions of Australians have come out, it’s not provocative at all.

What’s provocative is the fact that our government isn’t listening to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of Australians, who have signed petitions, called their MPs, have done everything they’re supposed to do within this democratic framework to say ‘enough’ …

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Canberra Liberal apologises for writing book that paints rosy colonisation picture and skips frontier wars

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One exercise in History of Australia, a student workbook and teaching manual, asks pupils to discuss how Aboriginal people were ‘blessed’ by the British coming

Peter Cain, the ACT’s shadow attorney general, has apologised “wholeheartedly” for a 2002 workbook he wrote which does not mention the frontier wars and paints a rosy picture of how Christian settlers helped First Nations peoples.

In History of Australia, a student workbook and teacher’s manual published by Light Educational Ministries, Cain wrote that when the British arrived, “some were afraid of the Aboriginals; some treated them badly”.

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Greens reveal plan for 1,000 new health clinics with free medical and dental care across Australia

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Adam Bandt to announce $54bn policy for at least six clinics in every electorate paid for by ‘Robin Hood’ tax reform

The Greens want to open 1,000 new health clinics nationwide with free medical and dental care, in a $54bn policy the minor party says it would push in the event of a hung parliament.

The party’s leader, Adam Bandt, will announce the commitment on Thursday in the seat of Perth – one of the Greens’ major targets at the next election.

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Australia news live: Miles promises state-owned power company for Queensland; NSW police arrest woman following Sydney protest rally

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Children’s commissioner to address National Press Club today on youth justice

The children’s commissioner, Anne Hollonds, is due to address the National Press Club today on a new report calling for an overhaul of Australia’s approach to child justice.

That kind of slogan really is trying to show that ‘we’re really tough up here, we’re going to be tough on crime’. And what our report shows is that that approach, that traditional approach in this country, hasn’t worked and and that basically it’s evident that we’ve misunderstood the nature of the problem we’re trying to solve. We know that toughening up the justice system doesn’t actually prevent crime by children.

The idea that the states and territories could fix this on their own has been misguided, we need to work together on it.

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Labor’s 11th-hour decision on LGBTQ+ census questions prompted weekend scramble, documents reveal

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Australian Bureau of Statistics officers cancelled media briefings and social media promotion after Albanese government’s last-minute decision

The Albanese government’s last-minute rejection of proposed questions on sexuality and gender diversity in the upcoming 2026 census sent bureaucrats into a weekend scramble, new documents show.

In the late hours of Friday 23 August and Saturday 24 August, officials at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) agreed to cancel a scheduled media briefing on Monday 26 August and the rollout of its “large-scale” test census to 50,000 households from Tuesday 27 August as a result of the 11th-hour decision.

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Australia financially assisting some citizens to leave Lebanon as Israel launches ground incursion

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It is thought there are 15,000 Australians in Lebanon, and plans for an emergency evacuation have been in place for months

The federal government is understood to be financially assisting some Australians in Lebanon to leave the country as part of an escalated bid to expatriate citizens as Israel begins a ground incursion.

Guardian Australia understands Beirut-Rafic Hariri international airport – the only operational commercial airport in Lebanon – remains open and both Australian passport and visa holders were being assisted on to flights by diplomatic staff. An estimated 15,000 Australians are in Lebanon.

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Burke accuses Dutton of trying to ‘throw kerosene’ on public debate over Middle East

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Home affairs minister says he will cancel visas of people waving Hezbollah flags at rallies as experts point to nuanced community perspectives on group

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has accused Peter Dutton of seeking to “raise the temperature” of public debate over conflict in the Middle East, after protests on the weekend included some people holding the Hezbollah flag.

The opposition leader on Monday suggested parliament should be recalled to enact new anti-terror laws that would cover such actions, if it was not already illegal.

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Assange says he is free because he ‘pled guilty to journalism’ – as it happened

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National weather forecasts

Sticking with the weather, here’s a look at the forecasts across Australia’s capital cities today:

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Gambling companies gifted hospitality to 19 Australian politicians for major sports events

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Alliance for Gambling Reform labels gifts an ‘undemocratic opportunity for lobbying’ but MPs defend hospitality as within rules and properly disclosed

Gambling reform campaigners have accused wagering companies of “showering” federal politicians with hospitality as the government considers advertising restrictions, with new data showing betting groups have given numerous free tickets to MPs.

New analysis from the Alliance for Gambling Reform, informed by a new database collecting all federal politicians’ updates to their parliamentary register of interests, shows at least 19 have accepted hospitality from wagering companies to attend major events including the Melbourne Cup, Australian Open, AFL matches and cricket games.

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