Category Archives: Labor party

Australian government criticised over ‘disgraceful’ $400m deal to deport foreign-born former detainees to Nauru

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An agreement relating to the NZYQ cohort, who previously faced indefinite immigration detention, was signed by home affairs minister Tony Burke on Friday

Human rights lawyers, refugee advocates and the Greens have accused the Albanese government of striking a “discriminatory, disgraceful and dangerous” deal to deport hundreds of foreign-born former detainees at a cost of almost half a billion dollars.

On Friday Australia and Nauru signed a memorandum of understanding allowing the government to deport about 280 members of the NZYQ cohort, a group of noncitizens living in the Australian community whose visas were cancelled on character grounds.

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Labor accused of trying to ‘sneak through’ law change to strip non-citizens of fair process

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Greens’ David Shoebridge calls amendment ‘one of the nastiest, meanest attacks’ on multicultural Australia

Refugee and human rights groups will launch a campaign demanding the federal government scrap a controversial migration amendment to explicitly remove procedural fairness in deportation decisions for foreign-born criminals, a proposal which advocates say is causing alarm among migrants.

The Senate on Thursday rejected a Greens push for an inquiry into the legislation, which the senator David Shoebridge slammed as “one of the nastiest, meanest attacks” on multicultural Australia.

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Murray Watt advised by own department to declare protection order over ‘significant Aboriginal area’ in WA

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Exclusive: Environment department document states that Burrup peninsula site near Woodside gas plant ‘under threat of injury or desecration’

The environment minister, Murray Watt, has been advised by his department to declare a protection order over part of the Burrup peninsula in Western Australia due to its significance as an Aboriginal site, a government affidavit filed in the federal court shows.

A Murujuga traditional custodian, Raelene Cooper, applied in 2022 to protect the area’s cultural heritage from nearby industrial activities, including Woodside’s planned extension of its North West Shelf processing plant.

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Josh Willie named new Tasmanian Labor leader after party officially concedes election defeat

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Leadership spill comes day after Dean Winter bid to form government via no-confidence motion in parliament fell flat

Tasmanian Labor has replaced Dean Winter as parliamentary leader, with Josh Willie elected unopposed to serve as the state’s new opposition leader.

The party, which has been in opposition for 11 years, met for more than seven hours on Wednesday before announcing Willie’s appointment.

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Sea of people march across Sydney Harbour Bridge calling for an end to killing in Gaza

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NSW police estimate 90,000 walked despite force and premier opposing rally, while Palestine Action Group claims up to 300,000 peacefully protested

At least 100,000 pro-Palestine marchers, including Julian Assange, the former foreign minister Bob Carr and the government MP Ed Husic, have marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge in the rain to protest against Israel’s conduct in Gaza and to speak out about the children starving there.

The world-famous landmark was closed to traffic at 11.30am on Sunday, with protesters gathering in Lang Park in the city centre before enduring heavy rain as they walked across the bridge.

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Victorians could soon have the right to work from home two days a week under Australian-first laws

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Premier Jacinta Allan to announce proposal that if legislated would make Victoria the first state to enshrine in law the right to work remotely

Victorians could soon have a legal right to work from home two days a week, under proposed Australian-first laws to be introduced to parliament by the state Labor government in 2026.

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, will use Labor’s state conference on Saturday to announce the proposal, which, if passed by parliament, would make the state the first in the country to legislate the right to work remotely.

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Victorians could soon have the right to work from home two days a week under Australian-first laws

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Premier Jacinta Allan to announce proposal that if legislated would make Victoria the first state to enshrine in law the right to work remotely

Victorians could soon have a legal right to work from home two days a week, under proposed Australian-first laws to be introduced to parliament by the state Labor government in 2026.

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, will use Labor’s state conference on Saturday to announce the proposal, which, if passed by parliament, would make the state the first in the country to legislate the right to work remotely.

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Decision delayed for pro-Palestine protest on Sydney Harbour Bridge as police warn of possible crowd crush

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Group’s lawyers say demonstration ‘cannot be stopped’ as Christian-led group protesting antisemitism plans rally for same day

Pro-Palestine protesters will have to wait until Saturday to find out if they can legally march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge this weekend, but organisers are vowing to go ahead regardless of the court decision.

However, the court heard the protest organisers are willing to postpone the march if police agree to work with them.

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On issues from Aukus to recognising Palestine, Victorian Labor’s base is determined to be heard

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At the party’s state conference this weekend, members and unions will have their say. The question then becomes whether governments – federal and state – will listen

Scrap Aukus. Recognise Palestine. Save public housing. Overhaul childcare. On paper, the urgency resolutions up for debate at Victorian Labor’s state conference this weekend lay out a roadmap for progressive, nation-shaping reform.

But how much sway do grassroots members and unions really have on the increasingly cautious federal and state Labor governments?

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One in three students fail to meet Naplan benchmarks as disadvantaged fall behind

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Results found four in 10 students performed below expectations in grammar and punctuation, indicating they struggled to recognise verbs and pronouns in sentences

One in three students have failed to meet Naplan benchmarks, this year’s test results have showed, as thousands of disadvantaged students continue to fall through the cracks.

This year’s tests were taken in March by 1.3 million students across years 3, 5, 7 and 9 to measure literacy and numeracy proficiency, with results released on Wednesday by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (Acara).

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Victorian Labor party members to push for ‘immediate’ federal recognition of a Palestinian state

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Exclusive: Labor Friends of Palestine to move three ‘urgency resolutions’ at weekend conference, but PM maintains no immediate plans for the move

Victorian Labor members will use this weekend’s state conference to demand the federal government “immediately” recognise a Palestinian state and impose sanctions on Israel – in what will be their strongest push to date on the issue.

It comes after Anthony Albanese on Sunday described civilian deaths in Gaza as “indefensible” but reiterated he had no immediate plans to recognise a Palestinian state and insisted further steps were needed to reach a two-state solution.

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Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students

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Open letter urges Labor to reverse JRG scheme, introduced by Coalition in 2021, as cost of humanities degrees reaches more than $50,000

Tim Winton knows what it’s like to be the first in a family to go to university – “what a breakthrough that is, the kind of opportunities it provides”.

It was at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, studying arts, that he wrote his first novel, An Open Swimmer, launching a four-decade writing career.

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YouTube makes last-ditch attempt to lobby government against inclusion in under-16s social media ban

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Google to host major event featuring popular YouTubers inside Parliament House as PM downplays tech giant’s legal threat

YouTube is making a last-ditch effort to persuade the government not to include it in the under-16s social media ban, objecting to what it says is an “abrupt policy reversal” and arguing the video service is not a social media platform.

Google, YouTube’s owner, will host a major event featuring popular YouTubers inside Parliament House this week, as a final decision looms on which tech platforms will be off-limits for children.

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Albanese government to lift ban on working with PwC Australia as police investigation continues

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Exclusive: Finance minister to consider feedback from senators before making decision final

The finance department has found consultancy firm PwC Australia is an ethically sound company and recommended the end of a long-term ban on it working with the government, despite an ongoing police investigation into the company.

But the firm, which sold its entire government consulting business for just $1 at the height of a scandal over the misuse of confidential Treasury information, will not be able to tender for government work until at least 2028 due to a non-compete clause with its spin-off, Scyne Advisory.

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Labor and Greens unite to condemn One Nation senators for snubbing acknowledgment of country

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Indigenous affairs minister Malarndirri McCarthy says stunt by Pauline Hanson’s party was ‘incredibly childish’ and disrespectful

Labor and the Greens have united to condemn One Nation senators for turning their back on parliament’s acknowledgement of country statements, describing them as “incredibly childish” and “hurtful” stunts.

One Nation’s leader, Pauline Hanson, stood in the chamber as the Indigenous affairs minister, Malarndirri McCarthy, government Senate leader, Penny Wong, and Greens leader, Larissa Waters, all made statements criticising the rightwing minor party’s “deliberate acts of disrespect”.

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Labor puts childcare centres on notice after abuse scandal with ‘one strike’ threat to funding

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Legislation will give education department powers to cancel the childcare subsidy if standards fall – and publicise its decision

The prime minister says federal funding and potential cancellation of payments will be used as a threat to “drive the change” for safety in childcare centres, as governments scramble to respond to shocking allegations of abuse in early education centres.

More safety training for childcare workers, CCTV in centres and changes to working with children checks are on the agenda for federal and state authorities. Under new federal legislation revealed on Wednesday, childcare centres could lose federal funding from just one safety breach “strike”.

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Labor MP Ali France thanks late son for his belief in her in first speech to parliament after unseating Peter Dutton

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Melbourne member Sarah Witty, who defeated former Greens leader Adam Bandt, also credits profound impact of family life on her politics

The newly minted Labor MP Ali France, who unexpectedly unseated former opposition leader Peter Dutton in the May election, has detailed her “epic journey” to Canberra in a poignant first speech.

France who battled Dutton over seven years for the seat of Dickson, north of Brisbane, was the first of Labor’s fresh faces to introduce themselves to the 48th parliament on Tuesday.

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Jeremy Rockliff says he expects crossbenchers will allow Liberals to form government – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Controversial MP Mark Latham says he has “broken no law” as he publicly responds to a former partner’s allegations of domestic violence.

The former federal Labor leader and NSW One Nation leader has described recent reports involving former partner Nathalie Matthews as “false, reckless and irresponsible”.

I have broken no law. The police did not involve themselves in the AVO matter.

I have breached no standing orders of the Legislative Council. The NSW parliament has stringent processes about inappropriate behaviour, and in my six years there, I’ve never been notified of a complaint against me.

The Marine Rescue Batemans Bay and Bermagui crews said sea conditions were favourable last night, but it was quite dark with little assistance from the moon, and they had to navigate around numerous whales.

They are searching an area offshore from just north of Narooma to south of Bermagui under the direction of Marine Area Command and will continue to do so until otherwise instructed.

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Early tallies in Tasmania election point to Liberal gains

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Support appears to grow for incumbent government in election triggered by no-confidence vote

Early voting counts in Tasmania’s election points to the Liberals being in the box seat to rule, with the incumbent government’s vote rising and Labor’s collapsing.

Saturday’s vote, triggered when the minority Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, lost a no-confidence motion in early June, is the island’s second in 16 months.

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Labor moves to bolster penalty rates and overtime pay protections for millions of workers

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Legislation will prevent award wage penalty rates from being cut in exchange for higher rates of base pay if it will leave workers worse off

Workers who rely on award wages would have their rights to penalty rates and overtime pay protected under one of the first pieces of legislation to be introduced to the new federal parliament.

The changes to the Fair Work Act would effectively ensure workers paid under awards cannot have their penalty rates reduced in return for a higher rate of base pay if it leaves workers worse off.

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