Category Archives: Angus Taylor

The return of the prodigal son? Why speculation is rising over Josh Frydenberg’s future

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The spectre of a leadership alternative is hardly helpful for Angus Taylor. But would Frydenberg do a better job?

A reasonable query for Liberals at this point is: if Josh Frydenberg is the answer, what is the question?

There was a whiff of weariness in some corners of parliament this week, as the former treasurer and deputy Liberal leader happily stoked another round of “Josh for Canberra” speculation. With more rumoured comebacks than Oasis, Frydenberg’s latest foray into the national political arena saw him bouncing around TV, radio and podcast interviews to promote his new book, and pointedly refuse to rule out trying to rejoin the parliament.

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A Trump impersonator and opera singers: CPAC was a spectacle, but the right still can’t agree how to take down Labor

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Preferences proved the sticking point at the conference as conservatives face the prospect of a third successive election defeat

Many mainstream Australians would feel as if they’d been dropped in a foreign country at the Conservative Political Action Conference, lost amid oblique references to transgender swimmers, blue hair, women’s bathrooms, jokes about falling off stages and Matt Canavan in hi-vis and speed dealer sunnies.

It’s an interesting spectacle. At this year’s conference in Brisbane, rightwing campaigner Monica Smit was deep in conversation with a Donald Trump impersonator, opera singers belted out the national anthem (the first verse, twice, for unknown reasons), senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and her folk singer husband sang the anthem again, and Karl Stefanovic jokingly thanking CPAC for “rudely interrupting my unemployment”.

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Hanson seems more and more like the de facto opposition leader. At CPAC, Angus Taylor warmed the seat for her

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Cooperation between One Nation and the Liberals ‘up to Angus Taylor’, Pauline Hanson says at conservative conference. How would that work?

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference billed itself as a chance for the leaders of the three main conservative parties – Liberals, Nationals and One Nation – to make their pitch and compete for rightwing voters.

The reception they received in Brisbane on Saturday suggests Pauline Hanson is effectively the preferred opposition leader, with Angus Taylor relegated to leading a minor party.

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Guardian Essential poll: Coalition’s primary vote sinks to lowest ever as majority support hardline immigration ideas

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More than half of Australians want to see the country’s migrant intake lowered while One Nation’s primary vote climbs to 25%

The Coalition has failed to capitalise on growing criticism of Labor, with the opposition stuck at its lowest-ever primary vote in the Guardian Essential poll.

The poll also shows more than half of all Australians want immigration cut and have voiced support for hardline enforcement, such as forced deportation.

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Australia news live: Anthony Albanese says OpenAI agent hacked Medicare

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Follow the day’s news live

Anthony Albanese has revealed an artificial intelligence agent developed by OpenAI hacked Medicare in June.

The prime minister made the comments at the UN summit in New York.

This incident occurred in June this year and involved an Open AI agent gaining unauthorised access into the public-facing Medicare statistics reporting service portal, which is administered by Services Australia.

The AI agent accessed both public and non-public files.

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Australia news live: Chalmers says ‘monetised misogyny’ online fuelling DV; Greens say triple-zero run for ‘profits of corporations’

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Follow the day’s news live

Jim Chalmers was also asked earlier if the government would support a national royal commission into violence against women and children. He said the government had chosen to increase resourcing for child and family violence and domestic violence, adding to the ABC:

We’re trying to deal with the sources of all of this violence, whether it be more security in the housing system, whether it be the monetised misogyny that we see online – there are a whole range of factors feeding in here.

We do acknowledge that all of this violence is obviously entirely unacceptable. It’s horrific in every way. That’s why we’ve increased the resources and that’s why we all need to do better to do everything we can to make a difference here.

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From ‘elation’ to ‘terrible news’ in 10 minutes: how the confusion over missing bushwalker Lily Hooper unfolded

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The 18-year-old’s body was found in Nattai national park on Thursday – but initial police messages indicated she was alive

Police have blamed dense bushland and radio confusion for wrongly reporting to 18-year-old Lily Hooper’s parents, the New South Wales premier and the media that the missing bushwalker had been found alive.

Hooper had last been seen on 12 August after leaving home for a hike in the rugged bushland of Nattai national park, 90km south-west of Sydney. She was reported missing that night, triggering a multi-agency search involving nearly 1,000 people, including hundreds of volunteers.

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Guardian Essential poll: Angus Taylor’s approval rating crashes and One Nation support plateaus

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Survey also shows Australians rounding on the government over its handling of inflation and the cost of living crisis

One Nation’s primary vote has plateaued and Angus Taylor’s approval rating has crashed, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

But it is not all smooth sailing for Labor with Australians rubbishing the government’s handling of the inflation and cost of living crisis.

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Angus Taylor has inadvertently taken centre stage in an Icac hearing – and the fallout could be profound

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If the opposition leader was funding one side of a vicious factional war, it would be hard for many in the party to stomach

Independent Commission against Corruption inquiries have an uncanny tendency to sprawl in unexpected directions.

Just ask former New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, who was caught on tape with her secret boyfriend, former NSW MP Daryl Maguire, during an investigation into his dealings with developers. Or former premier Barry O’Farrell, who was tripped up over a bottle of Penfolds Grange during an inquiry into state water contracts.

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Australia news live: Jim Chalmers says he has ‘other priorities’ than a gas tax; Anthony Albanese calls to congratulate Andy Burnham

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Treasurer points to other reforms after Labor members call for ‘fairer return’ from natural resources. Follow today’s news live

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories before your regular blogger takes the reins.

Jim Chalmers has claimed rightwing political parties will “prey on” voter insecurities about a worsening economy while championing “anti-worker” policies. It comes as markets are now expecting another rate hike by the end of the year. He also continues to push back at rank and file Labor members’ calls for a new tax on gas exports, saying the government had “other priorities” for reform. More coming up.

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Australia news live: Barnaby Joyce dogged by Tommy Robinson questions – and by a dog – in spiky ABC interview

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One Nation MP grilled in 7.30 interview about Pauline Hanson’s podcast interview by far-right activist. Follow today’s news live

Anthony Albanese has congratulated the new UK Prime Minister Anthony Burnham after the latter took over the job yesterday. The Australian PM posted a note to X, emphasising the strategic allyship:

Congratulations Prime Minister Burnham on your appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Australia and the United Kingdom are longstanding friends, allies and partners, united by shared values and deep ties between our peoples.

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Australia news live: Derryn Hinch mourned at state funeral; Mark Dreyfus tells antisemitism inquiry of ‘deeply wounding’ attack

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The use of AI in automated decision-making by government departments and agencies will be subject to tough rules under a new national plan, expected to extend to consumer protections, workplace safety and privacy.

As the Albanese government grapples with the rapid growth in the use of artificial intelligence and a boom in datacentre construction, senior ministers have begun work to draw up new rules to ensure safety is built into AI processes inside government, prioritising fairness, accuracy and transparency.

I know who Pauline is, Mum is, and I know that’s not what her intention was in any way. I do think snippets of it was misinterpreted. Under no way, shape, or form did she say she wished the White Australia policy hadn’t have been changed. She does not support it and she does not want it back. So I do believe it’s been taken out of context.

We know that media grabbed their snippets and their grabs, and it’s all about clickbait, and then Labor’s obviously jumped on it, and so are the Liberals, right? That’s how they try to better themselves, by picking out a little slogan when she was talking about the history of immigration and the change that has occurred.

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Australia news live: Barnaby Joyce defends Pauline Hanson’s meeting with Tommy Robinson; police make arrest after man dies in Sydney house fire

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One Nation MP says the media should be prepared to interview far-right activist. Follow today’s news live

Michelle Rowland says mandatory minimum standards for datacentres don’t apply to existing developments

The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, told ABC News that mandatory minimum standards for datacentres would apply to new developments, not existing ones.

The scope and the timing of those is something that I think will be properly determined by national cabinet.

This is an issue that not only state governments but local councils have been dealing with as well.

It goes from being this hunched-over ball of fluff at the top of a tree looking down at you, to suddenly spreading out its limbs and flying over your head like a magical flying carpet, or this weird stingray-UFO thing in the sky.

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Australia news live: NT police still seek answers over 25 year-old murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio

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Bradley John Murdoch was convicted of 28-year-old’s murder but remains were never found

Northern Territory Police have opened evidence boxes to uncover several previously unseen photographs from the investigation of the murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio and attempted abduction of his girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Tuesday is the 25th anniversary of the infamous outback disappearance.

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Taylor defends Sarah Henderson’s triple-zero calls amid questions about claimed Telstra-outage death in SA

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South Australian police say they’re unaware of death despite claim by Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle

Angus Taylor says his shadow communications minister Sarah Henderson was “doing her job” when she “tested” the triple-zero system by making unnecessary calls to it during Telstra’s nationwide outage.

The opposition leader has also dismissed concerns about Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle’s claim that an elderly person died as a result of the outage, after South Australian police said they were unaware of any such death.

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Guardian Essential poll: voters reject key One Nation policies as support slips

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Survey shows two-point fall in vote amid concern about Pauline Hanson’s links to Gina Rinehart and ability to run country

Australians have emphatically rejected some of One Nation’s key policies, including shutting down SBS and ending multiculturalism, with voters raising concerns about Pauline Hanson’s closeness to the billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart and whether the party has the skills needed to run the country, according to a new poll.

But even as the latest Guardian Essential poll finds voters have major reservations about Hanson and her party, more than half of respondents said they were either definitely or at least considering voting for One Nation at the next election.

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Liberal frontbencher calls for party ‘rebrand’ after drop in polls, prompting ridicule from Labor

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Melissa McIntosh’s comment comes after Angus Taylor’s claim Morrison government ‘breached trust’

Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has said the party might need a “rebrand” to win back voters who continue to desert the opposition, with the Coalition hitting a new historic polling low.

Her comments came after the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, claimed the Morrison government – of which he was a senior minister – had “breached trust” with the electorate during the Covid pandemic by supporting “big government”.

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Parliament has been getting frosty as winter closes in – but Labor may make one more gamble before the break

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As Labor pushes on with reforms, the Coalition must decide whether to join in the parliamentary deal-making

It’s the last week of parliament before the winter break, and not a minute too soon; tensions have been running a little high lately.

The lower house speaker, Milton Dick, has been yeeting MPs mere moments into question time and accused Angus Taylor of “demeaning” the parliament by calling Anthony Albanese a liar; Andrew Hastie claimed One Nation “has declared war on me, so they shall have war”; Labor has been goading the Coalition and its media “cheer squad” for opposing the budget; the Greens hate Labor’s NDIS bill; and people in the Coalition seem to be mad at everyone, including themselves.

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Angus Taylor won’t say if he supports multiculturalism

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Treasurer says Coalition playing ‘footsie with the monoculture language’ after Liberal leader sidesteps questions at press conference

Angus Taylor has repeatedly refused to say whether he supports multiculturalism in Australia, sidestepping five questions at a press conference about his views and claiming “there’s all these vague words running around”.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, accused the opposition leader of “playing footsie” with One Nation and Pauline Hanson’s call for a “monoculture” in Australia, as Labor ministers committed to backing multiculturalism.

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PM backs upping the volume at Sydney Opera House – ‘I’m a member of the fun faction’ – as it happened

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Australian borrowing personal loans in record amounts

Australians are borrowing record amounts in personal loans as a long-term buildup in living costs wipes out savings buffers.

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