Category Archives: Australian politics

Albanese accuses China of ‘dangerous, unsafe and unprofessional’ behaviour in naval ship altercation

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Prime minister declines to confirm if he raised incident in his face-to-face meeting with Xi Jinping

Anthony Albanese has accused a Chinese naval ship of “dangerous, unsafe and unprofessional” behaviour after an altercation with an Australian vessel left one person injured.

But the prime minister has declined to confirm whether he raised the issue face-to-face with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the Apec summit last week, only saying that the government had complained through “all the forums that are available”.

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Australia news live: ‘hunger for justice’ has swept the world, Assange’s father tells Melbourne pro-Palestine rally

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Organisers of Sydney pro-Palestine rallies say they have been attended by 30,000 people, as thousands gather in cities around the country. Follow today’s news updates live

Julian Assange’s father to address pro-Palestinian rally in Melbourne

A pro-Palestine rally will be addressed by the father of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, with organisers confident a large crowd is set to attend.

The Australian public are disgusted at the Albanese government’s refusal to call for ceasefire.

We’ve had people come who have never before been to a rally and the following week they return with their relatives and friends.

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‘Absolutely absurd’: lawyers criticise opposition proposal to re-detain immigration cases

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James Paterson refuses to back Peter Dutton’s plan to send people back to immigration detention but pushes alternative method of jailing them

The federal opposition’s home affairs spokesperson, James Paterson, has refused to back Peter Dutton’s suggestion the government could simply re-detain 93 people released from indefinite immigration detention after a landmark high court ruling.

But the Liberal frontbencher’s alternative proposal – to use terrorist-style preventative or continuing detention orders – has been lashed as “absurd” by leading lawyer Greg Barns SC who claimed there was no evidence any of the released detainees were at high risk of reoffending.

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Mulgrave byelection: Labor retains Daniel Andrews’ seat despite swing against Victorian government

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Dandenong mayor Eden Foster leading 54-46 on a two-party preferred basis after Saturday’s byelection

Victorian Labor has retained Daniel Andrews’ seat of Mulgrave despite a significant swing against the government in the former premier’s seat.

The Dandenong mayor, Eden Foster, was leading with more than 40% of the primary vote in Saturday’s byelection, which was down more than 10 percentage points from Andrews’ showing at last year’s state poll.

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‘Draconian’ conditions come into effect for 93 foreigners released after being illegally detained by Australia

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Labor says ‘significant number’ of released detainees were convicted of serious criminal offences as experts express concern over rushed bill

All 93 foreigners identified by Australia’s home affairs department as being affected by a recent high court judgment that found they were being illegally detained have now been released.

The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, confirmed on Saturday the 93 people had been released and that all of them would be forced to comply with strict visa restrictions, including wearing electronic monitoring devices.

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Australian naval divers injured after being subjected to Chinese warship’s sonar pulses

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Acting prime minister criticises Chinese ship’s ‘unsafe and unprofessional conduct’ after Australian sailors had requested it stay clear

Australian naval divers have been injured after an “unsafe and unprofessional” run-in with a Chinese warship.

The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, on Saturday said the Australian government had expressed “serious concerns” to Chinese officials after the HMAS Toowoomba encountered a People’s Liberation Army-Navy destroyer on Tuesday.

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Labor’s emergency laws after immigration detention ruling may amount to ‘extrajudicial’ punishment

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Legal experts say constitutional challenges to new laws are likely as Labor braces for possible compensation claims following high court decision

A legal challenge to emergency legislation responding to the high court’s decision on indefinite detention is likely, with advocates warning the Albanese government the changes may be unconstitutional.

Alison Battisson, the director of Human Rights For All, and David Manne, the executive director of Refugee Legal, have both warned the changes may amount to “extrajudicial” punishment.

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Australia news live: school strike for climate protests draw huge crowds in Melbourne and Sydney; Albanese says Apec leaders ‘very interested’ in Tuvalu deal

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‘A ceasefire is where we need to get to,’ Zoe Daniel says

Asked by RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas if she supports calls for a ceasefire, Zoe Daniel says:

If you call for a ceasefire, you’re letting down the Jewish community, if you don’t you’re allowing death and destruction to happen in Gaza.

At the end of the day, if I say to you right now, yes, I support ceasefire, that will make zero difference to what is happening in in Gaza.

I’m a former foreign correspondent. I know the logistics of this, of course, a ceasefire is where we need to get to, but you have a terrorist organisation in the middle of this. If there’s just a ceasefire, and there’s no capacity there to try to dismantle Hamas, does that allow Hamas to regroup? What does that actually lead to? That said, I’ve said to you before, very clearly, and I still stick to the position that the Israeli government has to adhere to international law and the rules of war, and I think, in some ways, has not been.

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Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin faces Senate grilling as Singtel denies it was to blame for outage

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Optus claimed on its parent company’s Singtel Internet Exchange was responsible, but Singtel says its upgrade was not the cause

The Optus chief executive, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, faces a grilling at a Senate hearing on Friday over the telco’s handling of last week’s 14-hour nationwide outage as both Optus and its parent company Singtel dispute who was to blame.

Bayer Rosmarin will be facing the Senate committee, chaired by the Greens communications spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, over two hours on Friday morning in the inquiry launched shortly after the Optus outage last week.

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Albanese government to consider further whistleblower protections amid calls for ‘robust’ dedicated authority

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Federal attorney general releases new consultation paper as the government moves toward releasing a second stage of public interest disclosure reforms

The federal government will consider whether whistleblowers should be protected for gathering evidence before disclosing possible wrongdoing, amid criticisms existing laws are not doing enough.

The need for a standalone whistleblower protection authority, and a financial reward system for those coming forward, are also issues up for consideration shortly before Christmas.

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Refugees in PNG told they will be evicted next week after Australian-sponsored housing bills not paid

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Australian-funded humanitarian program has not funded housing, food and medical services for over a year, providers say

Refugees and asylum seekers held by Australia in Papua New Guinea for 10 years will be evicted from their accommodation in a week – and have their groceries, medical and security services cut – because the bills for their accommodation, healthcare and food have not been paid for more than a year.

Many of the 64 men have been living without electricity, and some without food, for more than two weeks.

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Labor veteran joins criticism over proposed mandatory sentencing changes after high court decision

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Former senator Kim Carr says Albanese government’s planned bridging visa changes will undermine judicial independence and lead to unjust outcomes

Labor veteran Kim Carr has criticised the government’s “deeply disturbing” decision to sign up to mandatory minimum sentences in a deal to pass bridging visa changes with Coalition support.

The move – announced by the acting prime minister, Richard Marles, on Thursday – contradicts Labor’s national platform, which states that the party “opposes mandatory sentencing” because it “undermines the independence of the judiciary, leads to unjust outcomes and is often discriminatory in practice”.

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Flight delay compensation would stop Australian airlines from acting like a ‘mafia of the skies’, MP says

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Exclusive: Independent MP Monique Ryan ramps up calls for proposed scheme after Sydney airport CEO accuses airlines of ‘slot hoarding’

Australian airlines are acting like a “mafia of the sky” in continuing to strategically cancel flights they never intended to operate, an MP has claimed, arguing for the urgent introduction of compensation laws so carriers are deterred by immediate penalties.

Monique Ryan, the independent member for Kooyong in Melbourne, has ramped up her calls for a mandatory compensation scheme for airline passengers, saying allegations levelled by Sydney airport this week showed such laws were needed as a matter of urgency and could not wait until the government’s aviation white paper, which is due by the middle of next year.

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Labor accused of caving to Dutton to pass ‘draconian’ bill restricting people released from immigration detention

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The Albanese government has agreed to a raft of Coalition amendments, including criminal penalties for breaching restrictions

Labor has been accused of caving to Peter Dutton after it agreed to a slate of Coalition amendments to toughen restrictions on people released from detention so as to pass “draconian” emergency legislation on bridging visas.

The bill, introduced on Thursday by the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, adds conditions, including electronic monitoring and curfews, to bridging visas issued to those who are required to be released due to the high court’s ruling on indefinite detention.

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Singtel rejects Optus claims it caused network outage; gillnet fishing banned in Great Barrier Reef – as it happened

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Labor MPs furious over ‘one political party’ pitting Jewish community against another

Labor MPs are still furious over the motion Peter Dutton moved in question time on Wednesday, where he linked anti-semitism with the release of detainees, including some criminals, after the high court decision which deemed indefinite detention to be unconstitutional.

As a leader of the Jewish community and someone who represents a large Jewish community, I’ve always thought it was extremely important to act in the interests of the community.

And that means working across the political aisle. It means working with people like Allegra Spender, who represents the largest Jewish community in Australia, and of course with my friend Julian Leeser, who I will always stand with members regardless of what political persuasion they have, in order to act in the interests of the Jewish community.

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Australia must stop giving ‘leeway’ to Israel’s continued assault on Gaza, UN expert says

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UN special rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territories points out ‘grave risk’ of genocide and Australia’s responsibility to ‘prevent atrocity crimes’

A United Nations expert has met with a senior member of the Australian government and urged it to stop giving “leeway” to Israel, arguing Australia has a responsibility to “prevent atrocity crimes” including genocide.

Francesca Albanese held talks with the assistant minister for foreign affairs, Tim Watts, on Wednesday and expressed her concern “as strongly as she could” about what she saw as Australia’s inadequate response to the escalating bloodshed in Gaza.

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Politics live: cyber chief takes leave as defence department announces recall over ‘workplace matter’

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And here is the standard of some of the “debate” among senior parliamentarians.

Meanwhile, Australia’s sense of social cohesion is at its lowest recorded ebb.

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Immigration detention: Labor to rush through emergency legislation after high court ruling

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Home affairs minister says it’s ‘garbage’ that legislation could completely reverse high court decision that led to 81 leaving immigration detention

Labor is set to rush through emergency legislation this week to deal with the fallout of the high court’s decision that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.

The move follows demands by the Coalition that parliament “should not rise” until legislation is passed, upping pressure on the government by demanding a response even before the high court gives its full reasons.

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‘We deserve our fair share’: state Labor leaders clash with federal government over infrastructure plan

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Albanese government move to make states pay at least 50% of new infrastructure project bills receives pushback from premiers

State Labor leaders are at odds with the Albanese government over its plan to split the cost of building nationally significant infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the federal minister for infrastructure and transport, Catherine King, announced it would no longer be “the default” for the federal government to pick up the bulk of the tab for new roads, rail and other major projects.

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Australia politics live: students protesting over climate crisis ‘are being the adults’, Adam Bandt says

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Shorten reiterates support for two-state solution

Patricia Karvelas then raises with Bill Shorten what was said on Q+A last night, when Nasser Mashni, the president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, argued that hopes for a two-state solution “ended years ago”.

Oh, no, our policy has been to support a two-state solution.

There was a policy which we developed many, many years ago about respecting the security of Israel and the right of Palestinians to have a say in controlling their own land. I don’t think that’s a radical policy.

I think it’s unexceptional what the foreign minister said. We’re in very close step to the United States and other western nations. We’ve called for humanitarian pause, but we completely recognise that Israel’s dealing with Hamas who don’t want to negotiate, so the idea that we want an enduring peace, as Penny said, of course, is what we want.

We all know we’re a long way off that and Hamas should be prevailed upon by world opinion to hand back the hostages to say that they’re going to stop trying to kill Israelis and destroy Israel.

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