Category Archives: Anthony Albanese

Australia news live: Murray Watt ‘concerned’ at Iran reaction to ambassador’s social media posts; children removed from AI image database

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IRNA said the foreign ministry summoned the Australian ambassador Ian McConville to Tehran, and condemned the publication of photos on social media. Follow today’s news live

Tehan responds to Asio boss’s accusation his comments on Palestinians have been ‘distorted’

Dan Tehan was also asked about comments from Asio boss Mike Burgess, who used an interview with the ABC’s 7.30 program on Tuesday to hit back at people who had “distorted” what he had previously said about the security vetting process for Palestinians seeking to come to Australia.

I won’t talk about what Mike Burgess may or may not be talking about when he says that. As you know, we had the prime minister also leave an important sentence out of what Mike Burgess said in the parliament, which basically distorted what Mike Burgess was saying. But I’ll leave that up to Mike Burgess, because our issue has never been with [him]. Our issue is with the prime minister …

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Australia news live: tens of thousands still without power in Victoria; poll shows growing support for drug injecting rooms

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Storms in three states is expected to ease today. Follow all the news headlines live

Crews are continuing to restore power to Victorians after strong winds damaged powerlines and left thousands without power.

According to AusNet, there are still 37,500 without power, and according to Citipower and Powercor, there are 17,484 customers still affected.

We have restored power to over 43,063 customers as crews continue repairing the power network that was extensively damaged during last night’s wild weather.

Crews are responding to more than 380 individual faults, replacing power poles, reconnecting fallen powerlines and repairing other electrical infrastructure damaged by trees, branches and other debris.

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Rise in Palestinian applications for onshore protection visas as pressure grows on Albanese government

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More than 300 Palestinians applied for onshore protection visas over June and July, home affairs department figures show

The number of Palestinians applying onshore for protection has continued to grow, increasing pressure on the Albanese government over its decision to require them to come to Australia on visitor visas first.

According to home affairs department statistics, the number of Palestinians applying for onshore protection visas increased from 119 in May to 157 in June and 176 in July.

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Australia news live: parts of Victoria told to plan for up to 72 hours without power; two Tasmanian emergency workers injured during floods response

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Weather situation overnight in Victoria has led to about 1,900 calls to the SES for assistance. Follow today’s news live

Delays predicted at Melbourne airport amid strike action

Melburnians catching a flight this morning may want to give themselves extra time as severe delays are predicted, with security screeners striking between 6am and 8.30am at the domestic airport.

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Gambling reform advocates dismayed as Albanese government defers action on national regulator

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Tim Costello says ‘I never thought I would see in my lifetime John Howard to the left of Anthony Albanese on an issue’

Gambling reform advocates have blasted the Albanese government for ruling out a national gambling regulator and pushing ahead with a partial TV ad ban only.

The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, said on Sunday that the recommendation for a national regulator “would involve states and territories handing over their powers to the commonwealth”, confirming that “at this point, that is not in the discussions”.

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Dutton’s nuclear reactor in Collie would have a 10th of the output of renewables, Chris Bowen says – as it happened

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The energy minister has been taking every opportunity to undermine the Coalition’s ‘plan’ on nuclear energy. This blog is now closed

Bragg defends NSW Liberal chief’s position after council elections debacle

Finally, Bragg has also defended Liberal party’s NSW president, Don Harwin, staying in his role after the “catastrophic failure” of the division to nominate candidates for local government elections.

I’m more interested in looking at the core competency of the division rather than getting into personality debates.

I don’t see any case for Don to go. I think he’s done a good job as president. I don’t think that having an election for president now inside the New South Wales division would be in the interests of the party, and at the end of the day, people love talking about these things, but the core competencies are on display – you’ve got candidates in the field and you’re raising money.

It’s been my view for a long time that gender identity and sexual orientation are reasonable questions to ask in a modern society. I think the fact the PM has tied himself in knots on this issue shows a great weakness in his own leadership.

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Questions on gender and sex variations ‘too complex’ for census, social services minister Amanda Rishworth says

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It’s the third explanation government ministers have given since last Sunday, while Coalition senator Andrew Bragg says questions are ‘reasonable’

The social services minister has offered up the latest explanation for why proposed questions on gender and sex variations were dumped from the next census, claiming they were too complicated.

In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, Amanda Rishworth gave a new reason for why new questions had been ditched from the census planning, saying the government had been shown “questions that were very complex in the census”.

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Albanese says ABS, not government, will determine scope of census question on sexuality

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Prime minister defends government’s backflip on census and says single question on sexuality will not limit scope of data

Anthony Albanese says the nature and scope of question on sexuality in the next census will be a matter for the Australian Bureau of Statistics, not the government.

After a week in which his government was heavily criticised for excluding proposed new questions on sexual orientation and gender identity, the prime minister reneged and said the 2026 census would include “one question about sexuality, sexual preference”.

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Pacific Islands Forum communique taken down after Chinese envoy calls Taiwan reference ‘unacceptable’

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‘Visibly angry’ Qian Bo demands correction of Taiwan’s ‘development partner’ label despite its use for more than three decades

A summit of Pacific leaders has ended in drama after China’s regional envoy demanded the scrapping of language about Taiwan, with the communique later republished without the offending paragraph.

The Pacific Islands Forum (Pif) summit in Tonga this week brought together Australia, New Zealand and 16 Pacific island countries or territories, only three of which still have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

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Australia news live: BoM predicts warm spring as Sydney faces high fire danger and four states warned of high winds

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Windy weekend in prospect as BoM forecasts warmer-than-usual spring. Follow the day’s news live

Good morning and welcome to the end-of-week news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight stories to get you up to speed before hosting duties switch to Emily Wind.

Mano Yogalingam was 23 years old and had “his whole life in front of him”. But the stresses and strains of living with the prospect of being deported back to Sri Lanka pushed him over the edge and he took his own life this week. Our top story this morning hears from refugee advocates who say the death of the Tamil asylum seeker has exposed the failings of the fast-track immigration system. “All of these people have been failed by the system. It’s a total cobweb of cruelty,” one said.

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Australia news live: Josh Burns breaks ranks to call for gender and sexuality questions in census

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Follow today’s news headlines live

Severe weather warnings are in place across southern parts of the country for strong winds, including Victoria and Tasmania.

Here’s a wrap of the warnings currently in place, according to the Bureau of Meteorology:

Victoria – a strong cold front is expected to reach Victoria later today, clearing to the east tomorrow morning. Locations which may be affected by the wild weather include Portland, Bacchus Marsh, Falls Creek, Mt Hotham, Mt Buller and Omeo.

For the Central, West and South Gippsland and East Gippsland areas, a warning for abnormally high tides is in place.

Tasmania – a strong cold front is also expected to reach Tasmania later today, crossing the state tomorrow morning. The entire state is covered by the severe weather warning.

New South Wales – north-westerly winds are forecast to strengthen later today as a strong cold front approaches from the west. Locations which may be affected include Wollongong, Nowra, Bowral, Batemans Bay, Katoomba and Goulburn.

Meanwhile, fire danger ratings for the greater Sydney and Illawarra have been downgraded to “moderate” today after reaching “high” yesterday.

Western Australia – gusty, showery conditions are expected over parts of the South West Land Division today.

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Australian PM caught on camera joking with senior US official over funding of Pacific policing plan

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Anthony Albanese tells journalists to ‘chill out’ over comments filmed in the wings of Pacific Islands Forum

The Australian prime minister has been caught on camera in Tonga joking with a senior US official about going “halvies” on the cost of a newly announced Pacific policing plan.

The deputy secretary of state, Kurt Campbell, appeared to suggest in the video that the US had been planning to pursue an unspecified security-related proposal but had been encouraged by Australia not to proceed.

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Australia news live: thousands rally in capital cities as CFMEU workers walk off sites; fears of overdose crisis as use of nitazenes grows

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Rallies in support of the CFMEU have kicked off across the nation’s capital cities, from Sydney, Melbourne to Brisbane. Follow the day’s news live

Jim Chalmers accuses Liberals of ‘economic insanity’ on potential housing cuts

Jim Chalmers was asked about the $100bn in cuts the Coalition is set to announce today, mostly from Labor initiatives, if it wins the next election. Would this appeal to the electorate?

What we know from what’s in the newspapers today is that they plan billions of dollars to cuts in housing at a time when we’ve got a very severe housing shortage, and this goes with the absolute economic insanity of the Liberals and Nationals. During an extreme housing shortage, they want to swing the axe on billions of dollars in housing funding.

Also this is $100bn they reckon – let’s see the details. They flagged more than three times that amount when it comes to cuts, so let’s hear them come clean on the other cuts. Let’s hear what it means for Medicare and pensions and for the economy more broadly.

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Albanese government rejects Setka’s claim Labor double-crossed him over CFMEU administration as ‘ridiculous’

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Construction Forestry Maritime Employees Union members to protest administration in capital city rallies on Tuesday

Labor has emphatically rejected claims by former construction union official John Setka that the Albanese government agreed to let him stand down in return for not putting his union into administration.

The workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, said this was a “ridiculous claim” and rejected as “absolutely fanciful” suggestions Labor had double-crossed him by proceeding to put the union into administration over accusations of criminal misconduct and bikie links against the body.

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Australia news live: winter heat record set in South Australia; NZ suspends import of all Australian tomatoes

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South Australia has notched up its hottest winter day on record. Follow the day’s news live

David Anderson says it was ‘the right time for me’ to resign from ABC

The ABC managing director, David Anderson, is speaking with ABC RN after yesterday’s announcement of his resignation.

And I think the right time for the ABC. It is something I had thought about now for months, and went away on leave, spoke to [ABC chair] Kim [Williams] a lot. Kim tried to get me to change my mind. [I] came back from leave with it, certain in my mind that I was making the right decision.

We’ve got a long lead time for the board to find a new managing director, and I’ve been asked to and I agreed to stay on until that person starts, which could very well be April next year.

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NDIS deal passes both houses – as it happened

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Queensland Labor’s longest-serving state MP to retire

Queensland Labor’s longest-serving state MP has announced he will retire at October’s election.

Curtis Pitt is the last survivor of the “Tarago opposition”, the seven ALP MPs elected at the 2012 wipeout election.

The party won government back in 2015, after just one term.

In a Facebook post on Thursday morning, he announced his retirement after 15 years in politics.

It’s not a decision I’ve come to lightly. I’ve always said that the day I wake up and don’t feel I can give it 100 per cent, then it’s time for me to do something else.

When I think back, all of my kids have been born since I’ve been an MP. Having been a member of parliament for five terms, I know that I’ve missed so many important milestones and occasions.

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Albanese given taxpayer-funded legal help after defamation threat from John Margerison

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Attorney general approves legal assistance ‘in relation to a defamation claim’ made against PM, along with approval for claims against Bill Shorten

The attorney general has approved legal assistance for Anthony Albanese and Bill Shorten in relation to defamation threats by a business associate of the former Liberal minister Stuart Robert.

On 12 August Mark Dreyfus approved assistance “in relation to a defamation claim” made against the prime minister on 23 July and for defamation claims on 23 and 25 July against Shorten, the government services and national disability insurance scheme minister, according to documents tabled to parliament.

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Australia politics live: Coalition to reveal cost of nuclear plan ‘in good time’, Angus Taylor says; misbehaving MPs face fines under new standards commission

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The government will introduce legislation today which includes penalties for MPs and parliament house staff who have been found to have committed wrong doing. Follow the day’s news live

Gambling ads ‘an issue of morality’: Sharkie

As Paul Karp reported yesterday, the independent MP Rebekha Sharkie is one of the MPs pushing for the major parties to be allowed a conscience vote on the forthcoming Labor gambling legislation.

The Murphy report called for a full ban. That’s the expectation of many members of parliament, both the opposition and government said and the crossbench, but many have said to me that they’re wrestling with their conscience on the idea that there would only be a partial ban and many people see this issue closely tied to their faith, an issue of morality.

So it would appear to me and also to Andrew Wilkie that, you know, a straightforward position would be to allow a conscience vote and in my time in the Parliament, we’ve had four conscience votes. I think it would naturally fit for the parameters an issue that sits within their soul.

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Coalition senators split in voting on Ralph Babet motion on abortion – as it happened

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Murray Watt on visas: ‘We are using exactly the same processes as were used by the Coalition’

The opposition has continued its political attacks against visas being given to Palestinians from Gaza (before Israel seized and completely closed the Rafah border in May).

We are using exactly the same processes as were used by the Coalition when they were in power and when Peter Dutton was the minister. Mike Burgess, the director general of Asio, has confirmed that himself.

Peter Dutton was quite prepared to use certain processes when he was the minister. Now we’re in power, he wants to criticise that. He wants to find division, to find reasons for criticism and be negative of the government.

I think this is just a ridiculous example he’s [Adam Bandt] giving, to disguise the fact yesterday the Greens were the only party in the parliament who decided to side with John Setka … rather than taking the side of the Australian people.

We had a vote in the Parliament yesterday, in the Senate, that called on the Greens to say they wouldn’t take political donations from the CFMEU construction division, they refused to vote for that. So I think it’s pretty clear what the motivation here is in voting against this legislation.

We haven’t received a dollar from the CFMEU for a decade, the Coalition received $175,000 in the last two years, Labor has received millions of dollars and what we say is we have not received the money, it is not why we are engaged in the debate.

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Peter Dutton tells Coalition party room he only wants temporary pause on Gaza visas as part of ‘principled stance’

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Some Coalition MPs have indicated privately they would be concerned if opposition leader was advocating to permanently refuse visas to Palestinians

Peter Dutton has assured Coalition MPs he is only calling for a temporary pause in allowing people from Gaza to come to Australia, after some were concerned he wanted a permanent ban.

In his weekly address to the Coalition party room, Dutton insisted the Coalition had taken “a principled stance” in challenging the visa approval process for applicants from Gaza and demanding greater security checks.

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