Category Archives: Anthony Albanese

Australian politics live: Labor confirms aged care deal; AEC abolishes Kylea Tink’s electorate; parliamentary standards bill passes Senate

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Helen Haines condemns ‘stitch up’ over Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission bill

Independent MP Helen Haines is furious at what she calls a “stitch up” between Labor and the Coalition that “weakens the transparency of the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission”.

The bill as currently drafted means serious findings could be made about an MP, but they could face no sanction and the public could never know.

I want to see more transparency around this process.

The government made two last-minute changes to its own legislation that would reinforce the major party duopoly, ensuring no member of the crossbench can be deputy chair of the parliamentary standards oversight committee. What a stitch up!”

We’re going to have the same people on the joint select committee as on the privileges committee, meaning the people who are meant to make sure the whole system is working are the same people who are part of it.

I’m really staggered by this, and it isn’t right.

We’re taking a stand against the unchecked greed that’s fuelling the cost-of-living crisis, and we’re urging the parliament to support this critical reform.

Our bill will put an end to corporate price gouging by making it illegal for corporations with substantial market power to charge excessive prices for goods and services.

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Key gambling harm advocate ‘saddened’ by Albanese’s statements on betting ads

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Tim Costello says the prime minister has ‘mindlessly’ followed gambling industry’s attempts to present him as a prohibitionist

Tim Costello has rejected Anthony Albanese’s suggestion he wants gambling banned and accused the prime minister of “mindlessly” repeating industry attack lines to justify a partial gambling ad ban.

On Thursday Costello, the chief advocate of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said he was “very disappointed” at Albanese. Costello insisted in 30 years of advocacy he has “never been a prohibitionist”.

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Australia politics live: Labor’s hate speech bill will not not criminalise vilification; man who ‘flipped the bird’ in parliament was not signed in by politician

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Dan Tehan outraged over tattered flag after devastating winds

Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan is continuing to moonlight as Australia’s flag hall monitor.

While values are still rising at the national level, albeit at a slowing pace, beneath the headline figure, we’re starting to see some weakness, particularly in Victoria.

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Australia politics live: Littleproud heckled at Canberra farmers protest; Greens senator urges Chalmers to override RBA and cut interest rates

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Peter Dutton and David Littleproud addressed the crowd of hundreds from as far as Western Australia. Follow today’s news live

PM speaks on social media ban for kids

Anthony Albanese is doing the media rounds this morning, speaking on the government’s announcement it will ban children from social media platforms. This came after the South Australian announcement yesterday it would be moving to ban children under 14.

Well, we want to work with the states and territories. What we didn’t want to develop is eight different systems. We know this is a national issue and it’s pretty simple. We want to get kids off their devices and on to the footy fields, on to the netball courts, into the swimming pools.

We want them to have real experiences with real people, and we know that social media is causing social harm, which is why we put funding in the budget to have a trial to make sure that we get it right.

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Social media age limits to go before parliament ahead of next election, Albanese says

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Draft bill requires social media platforms to stop children in the restricted age range from accessing their services

The Albanese government plans to impose a minimum age for teenagers accessing social media and gaming platforms, with legislation to be introduced into parliament before the next election.

The prime minister will announce the nationwide move on Tuesday but will stop short of specifying the age, arguing the government wants to wait for the conclusion of an age-verification trial which begins its final phase this week.

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‘Don’t run away’: Labor urged to collaborate with Greens and crossbenchers on environmental reforms

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Support for government’s environmental legislation offered in exchange for protections that deliver ‘immediate, tangible impacts’

Greens and crossbench senators have told the government not to “hide behind” Peter Dutton and Gina Rinehart and instead work with them on a better deal for the environment.

The Greens environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, and independent senators David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe offered to support legislation to establish a new environment protection authority (EPA) and a separate new agency to manage environmental information, if the government agreed to a series of proposals to strengthen environmental protections.

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Senate committee told foreign student cap would ‘gut’ private education sector – as it happened

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Michele O’Neil said this isn’t about “expecting everyone to have the same opinion all of the time” but continued:

We’re a diverse movement, and people have strong opinions, but it is at its core about who we are and what we stand for. And we don’t walk away when things get tough, we face up to them. And angry individuals lashing out and blaming everyone except themselves doesn’t get us through this.

We need to stay steady on what is in the interest of working people and what’s in the interest of working people is good, clean, strong, effective unions with leaders who see their job as representing workers and their members, not acting in their own self-interest.

No … I think that it’s important that we realise that the union movement – the vast bulk of unions – want to stay part of the united union movement, and have made that really clear.

What I’m saying, Patricia, is we’re talking to all of our unions all of the time … I haven’t had any other unions threaten to quit.

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Albanese to propose ‘substantial funding uplift’ for family violence services at national cabinet

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PM says plan to end family domestic and sexual violence in a generation will require an ‘all-hands-on-deck approach’ but funding questions remain

Anthony Albanese will propose a “substantial package” at national cabinet to fund frontline services for those fleeing family and domestic violence, including accommodation and legal help.

The package responds to recommendations of the rapid review of prevention approaches, which called for a “significant funding uplift” in certain frontline areas.

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Australia news live: severe weather warnings for parts of NSW and Victoria; Tasmania flood warnings downgraded but river rises still possible

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Moving to the 2026 census, Katy Gallagher was asked about comments from some of Australia’s major health institutions who say data on gender diverse Australians will be critical to inform care.

Is that something the government will consider, given that this is the advice from a lot of major health bodies?

It is, as you say, really important and it’s no surprise that health groups are saying that because, you know, it informs future health policy and identifies gaps and responses.

But the PM has already said there will be questions. We need to work with people about what those questions are and we’ll be doing that, but I’m very positive there’ll be a good outcome here.

You can see that from this data. You can see that household consumption, particularly on discretionary spending [which has] really declined substantially. I think that shows that household budgets are smashed and contributing to that, of course, is those 13 interest rate increases.

And the bank’s got a job to do to get inflation down, but we have also got a job to do to explain what we’re seeing in the economy and what we know is happening and that is that households are under huge pressure. So I think, you know, there’s been a lot said about this this week but it really is stating the facts and [that] played out for all to see in the national accounts yesterday.

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Australian government won’t back public views of special envoys on antisemitism and Islamophobia

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Exclusive: Documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal ‘all communications’ will be solely attributed to special envoy

The Australian government is seeking to create some distance from its new special envoys on antisemitism and Islamophobia, suggesting they do not characterise their comments as official government policy.

Documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal the instructions the government has given its new special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, including the need to highlight “diverse Jewish Australian identities”.

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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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