Category Archives: Labor party

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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Australia news live: Gallagher says she expects Pocock to trump her in ACT Senate race; more ball-shaped ‘debris’ on Sydney beach

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Detectives investigating four separate incidents of children being approached by drivers in white vans in Melbourne

Victoria police detectives are investigating four separate incidents in Melbourne in the last month of children being approached by drivers in white vans.

People like Mr Rogan prey on people’s vulnerabilities: they prey on fear, they prey on anxiety, they prey on all of the elements that contribute to uncertainty in society.

They entrepreneur fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as being a normal part of social narrative – I personally find it deeply repulsive.

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Labor declines to review three coal proposals for potential climate impact – as it happened

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More on the new Malaysia-based maritime institute:

The government is contributing $1.78m over four years to support the institute, which will train regional government officials on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, broader maritime law and ocean governance, awareness of maritime domains and environmental protection.

We don’t want to see any unilateral changes to the status quo across the Taiwan straits, and our focus is on doing everything we can in terms of exercising our international voice around promoting stability and peace in and around the Taiwan straits, in and around Taiwan.

Rules and norms are vital for our shared maritime region and the countries of our region make an ongoing contribution to maintaining and promoting them.

The institute will deliver training to officials from across the region on complex maritime legal and policy topics. It will nurture leaders and help further our collective contribution to a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

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Australia splits with US to back UN resolution demanding end to Israel occupation of Palestinian territories

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Vote marks a change to the nation’s official stance held for more than two decades

Australia has split with the US and voted with 156 other countries at the UN to demand the end of Israel’s “unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible”.

The vote marks Australia’s return to the position for the first time in more than two decades.

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Confidence in federal Labor at Morrison 2022 election loss levels, poll shows

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ANU study finds Albanese ‘significantly’ more favourable as PM than Dutton and more women undecided on voting intention than men

Just 38% of Australian voters have confidence in the federal government, a level approaching the lows before Scott Morrison was voted out of office in May 2022.

That is one of the key results of an Australian National University study, which nevertheless found the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had “significantly higher” favourability than Peter Dutton leading into the 2025 election.

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Australia news live: Allan defends Victoria after it’s named worst state for business; Burke to meet Indonesian minister over Bali Nine

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The Victorian premier has defended the state’s business credentials saying there’s key data missing from the Business Council of Australia’s report. Follow today’s news headlines live

Weather check shows mixed conditions forecast across Australian cities

It’s a mixed, if warm, bag in capital cities today, with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting storms in Melbourne, sunny skies in Brisbane and Adelaide and showers across all other major cities.

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Guardian Essential poll: election warning signs for Labor as voters flunk government on housing costs and wages

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But survey finds strong support for under-16s social media ban, despite concerns about how to enforce it

Voters have given the Albanese government an F on containing housing costs and surprisingly little credit for increasing wages in two troubling signs for Labor heading into a cost-of-living election.

Those are the results of the latest Guardian Essential poll of 1,123 voters, which found strong support for social media regulation, including two-thirds in favour of the under-16 age ban.

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No deal between Woolworths and warehouse workers – as it happened

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Man dies after balcony fall during police operation

A man is dead after falling from a balcony during negotiations in a Queensland police operation.

I’m proud to announce today that I’m going to join the Libertarian party.

I believe in small government. I believe in the entrepreneurial ability of Australians. Get government out of the way, get government out of their hands. That’s what the Libertarian party stands for. Unfortunately, the Liberal party that I used to be a member of appears to have abandoned all those values.

I was there working on a contract basis for a small period of time. But look, I think the future in this country as a conservative party, to the right of the Liberal party, is with the libertarian.

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Anthony Albanese insists environment laws still on agenda despite killing deal with Greens

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PM overruled negotiations between environment minister and the Greens after speaking with WA premier last week

Anthony Albanese insists Labor’s plans to establish a national environmental watchdog are still on the table after he quashed a deal with the Greens in parliament’s final sitting week.

Last-minute negotiations between the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, and the Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, were overruled by the prime minister on Tuesday after he spoke with the Western Australian premier, Roger Cook.

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Senator calls social media ban a ‘sham’ – as it happened

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Canavan says under-16 social media ban has caused new generation to become passionate about democracy

Nationals senator Matt Canavan was loudly outspoken against the under-16 social media ban bill and voted against it – but as we know, the bill ultimately passed.

It has been great seeing people learn how the parliament works. And with that in mind, note that the social media bill is not yet law. Tomorrow morning it heads back to the House of Representatives because there were amendments passed in the Senate tonight. It then has to go to the governor general. But both these steps are almost certain to happen.

Thanks again for all of your help and support. We got some amendments on digital ID so it was not for nothing and the fight continues.

As it currently stands, underlying inflation is still too high to be considering lowering the cash rate target in the near term.

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Tanya Plibersek deal on nature laws was overruled by Anthony Albanese

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Exclusive: Environment minister agreed detail with Greens but the PM intervened after lobbying from WA premier and miners

Tanya Plibersek struck a deal in writing with both the Greens and independent senator David Pocock on supporting her Nature Positive legislation before Anthony Albanese vetoed it hours later in a private meeting with Adam Bandt and Sarah Hanson-Young.

Guardian Australia understands that Plibersek notified Albanese on Tuesday of what had been agreed before writing to her negotiating partners setting out the detail.

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Labor passes migration and social media ban bills after marathon Senate sitting

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More than 30 pieces of legislation pass the upper house amid a flurry of deals with the Coalition and Greens

A late final sitting in the Senate for the year has seen more than 30 bills pass the upper house, including controversial migration laws that allow the government to pay third countries to take non-citizens and ban travellers from specified countries.

Senators sat until almost 11.30pm on Thursday after the Albanese government struck an earlier deal with the Greens and the opposition to pass 31 bills, in addition to a social media ban on under-16s debated from 10pm.

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Australia politics live: Thorpe says her suspension from Senate a ‘colonial action’ and stages pro-Palestine protest from gallery

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Nuclear costings coming ‘in coming weeks and months ahead of election’: Taylor

The shadow treasurer was also asked when the Coalition would release the costings of its nuclear plan.

We will not be announcing it on your program this morning, as much as you might like me to.

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Australia politics live: Hanson fails in bid to refer Payman over citizenship; Thorpe withdraws ‘shut your mouth’ comment to Labor senator

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Labour market steadying as latest monthly CPI result looms

The consensus for much of the year has been the Reserve Bank’s 13-year high interest rates would squeeze demand in the economy, nudge up unemployment and help bring down inflation. And then it could start cutting its cash rate.

And then more recently, we’re actually starting to see [the labour market] tighten.

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First Nations Voice makes history in South Australia: ‘We are determined to prove you wrong’

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Inaugural address from Leeroy Bilney, outlining racist history of Australia and future challenges, greeted with acclaim

The First Nations Voice has delivered its first message to the South Australian parliament: “We are determined to prove you wrong.”

MPs had to squeeze together to make room for all those who turned up to Wednesday’s special joint sitting to hear the Voice’s inaugural address.

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Labor to sit out Prahran byelection as ex-Greens MP Sam Hibbins departs amid controversy

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Exclusive: Victorian Greens confident of retaining inner Melbourne seat as former MP ‘absolutely disputes’ claims by intern

The Victorian Greens are confident they can hold on to the inner-Melbourne seat of Prahran despite new allegations against their former MP, Sam Hibbins, as Labor opts to sit out the byelection.

Guardian Australia understands Labor’s administrative committee will meet on Tuesday evening, where it is expected they will decide not to field a candidate in the byelection, which was triggered by Hibbins’ resignation at the weekend.

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Senate crossbenchers side with Coalition to oppose Greens motion to dump anti-abortion bill – as it happened

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The independent MP Zoe Daniel was on ABC News Breakfast earlier to discuss her alternative to the under-16 social media ban, which she introduced as a private member’s bill yesterday.

Daniel said her bill would implement an overarching statutory duty of care on social media companies “that goes to safety by design – but that in and of itself is not enough”.

What you need to make that work is the companies to assess the risks, mitigate the risks, be transparent about how they’re doing that.

The bill builds in penalties so if the companies do not comply, they could be fined up to 10% of global revenue. Also, their onshore executives could be held accountable for that … and the bill also has a provision to enable users to have control over the algorithm, as exists overseas, particularly in the EU …

[There are] obviously privacy concerns, and given the government’s had to pull their misinformation [and] disinformation – or their censoring the Australian public – bill from the Senate this week, we want to make sure we get strong, robust laws that don’t damage the [right to] privacy and make compulsory Australians having to have digital IDs.

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Musk argues social media bill may not be lawful – as it happened

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Does the delay on gambling ad restrictions have anything to do with the demands of lobbyists?

Clare O’Neil said it wasn’t about lobbying, but “about making sure that we get this right”.

And the minister has pointed to previous attempts to scale back gambling advertising that have actually resulted in more gambling advertising. This is a delicate area, and we’ve got to get the balance right, and that’s what the minister is seeking to do.

These complicated matters, they just are. You know, if this was a really simple problem to fix, then it would have been fixed a long time ago.

I would say our government deserves credit for stepping up and saying we’re going to take action on this, and the minister [Michelle Rowland] is doing what is appropriate, which is diligently working through what the proposals will look like.

The minister is working with people, experts, stakeholders, others who will be affected by this legislation, and the government has said will come forward with … proposals early next year.

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Labor dumps misinformation bill after Senate unites against it

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Communications minister Michelle Rowland will also not unveil any gambling ad ban legislation in the last sitting week of the year

The Albanese government has dumped its controversial mis- and disinformation bill, conceding there is “no pathway” to getting the proposal passed through the Senate.

The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, insisted misinformation and disinformation remained a grave concern for democracy, national security and online safety, but said the government would not proceed with the proposal. It is the second time Labor has pulled the bill, after an initial version also failed to gain support and raised concerns about freedom of speech online.

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Greens and some independents are biggest winners from Labor’s proposed donation cap, data shows

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Labor and Coalition would have missed out on $4.1m and $4.7m in donations after public funding boost, while the Greens would have been $2.9m better off

The Greens and independent MPs who ran low-cost campaigns have emerged as the biggest winners from Labor’s proposed donation cap and increased public funding of elections, data shows.

According to a Guardian Australia analysis of 2021-22 data, the Greens would have lost just $2.7m in donations if Labor’s proposed $20,000 cap had been law at the time, a sum more than made up for by a $5.6m increase in public funding. In net terms, the Greens would have been $2.9m better off.

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