What we learned today, Tuesday 9 September
Thanks for staying with us today. We’ll leave our live news coverage there for the evening. Here were today’s top stories:
Anthony Albanese and a slew of other politicians said Jacinta Nampijinpa Price should apologise for her remarks about Indian migrants.
Albanese and the prime minister of Vanuatu met in Port Vila but are yet to reach a deal on the landmark Nakamal treaty.
Thousands of Australians in the US on a special visa may have to return home to extend their stay after a new Trump administration directive.
Australia Post will resume postal sending to the US by Thursday 25 September after suspending some services last month.
Mercury Psillakis’s family mourned the “loving, devoted and ridiculously fun” surfer after he was killed in a shark attack on Saturday.
The NSW government will not remove shark nets over the coming summer after Psillakis’s death at Long Reef near Dee Why in Sydney on Saturday.
The Victorian opposition leader was ejected from question time and suspended from the chamber for “disregarding the authority” of the speaker.
Major bank ANZ announced it will make about 3,500 employees redundant over the next year.
We’ll be back tomorrow, keeping you across the country’s breaking news.
Updated
Snap analysis: Koala wars return for Coalition in NSW
The koala wars are alive and well in NSW, it seems, and again look set to cause serious marital strife for the Nationals and Liberals.
The Minns Labor government set the ball rolling on Tuesday afternoon by moving a public interest debate, patting itself on the back for finally declaring the 176,000 hectare Great Koala national park, an election promise made in 2019 and again in 2023.
The Nats then tried to amend the motion calling on the government to shrink the park to 37,000 hectares and protect timber worker jobs.
In an unusual move, the Liberals just did not show for the vote on the Nationals’ amendment, which failed 11-51, or for the motion itself.
The Liberals’ no-show has left the Nationals furious. The Nationals firebrand Wes Fang posted on X:
The gutless NSW Liberal party members didn’t turn up to the Lower house to vote in support [of] the NSW Nationals on #Forestry&#Timber jobs.
More fallout is expected.
In 2020, the Nationals, then led by the feisty John Barilaro, briefly left the Coalition after a dispute over clearing of koala habitat on private land, which the environmentally-conscious former planning minister Rob Stokes had sought to protect using the planning laws.
The split only lasted a few days, but was politically costly. Both Barilaro and Stokes have now left politics.
With the opposition leader, Mark Speakman, under pressure over his “cut-through”, the politics of koalas may be his undoing as well.
Or it could be the hunting bill, or support for net zero. The Coalition is not happy.
Updated
Australian and Vanuatu PMs say landmark deal can still be reached
Anthony Albanese and his Vanuatu counterpart, Jotham Napat, insist that the Nakamal deal can still be finalised after further negotiations.
Speaking at an evening reception overlooking a lagoon, Napat said he was encouraged with the momentum to conclude the signing of the Nakamal agreement after further dialogue. Napat told the audience:
The decision to pause momentarily reflects our mutual commitment, understanding and collective wisdom to ensuring that the agreement is not only ambitious in scope, but also deeply attuned to the aspirations of our peoples and assurance of its longevity.
The Nakamal agreement, when sealed, will serve as a cornerstone of our bilateral architecture.
Albanese said he wanted to further elevate the bilateral relationship by committing to new actions that delivered practical and people-focused outcomes:
As the prime minister [Napat] has said so eloquently, a change that’s about transformation, not transaction.
The reception was attended by local politicians, members of Australia’s defence and diplomatic corps, and people connected to Australia’s aid program in Vanuatu.
After the speeches, Albanese and Napat drank a shell of local kava alongside members of Vanuatu’s cabinet.
Updated
Australian on boat carrying aid to Gaza ‘terrified’ by apparent drone strike
An Australian volunteer on board a boat carrying aid to Gaza has told AAP he feared for his life after a drone strike on the vessel.
Gold Coast-based Yusuf Omar, the founder of an online media company and a former CNN journalist, described the survival of the six passengers and crew on the Portuguese-flagged ship on Tuesday as miraculous. He spoke to AAP from Tunis hours after the explosion:
I felt the heat of a massive ball of flames. I was sleeping on the top deck as it hit … I was shocked and terrified for my life.
The Global Sumud Flotilla said the main and storage decks were damaged by fire from the strike, which Tunisian authorities deny took place.
The flotilla is part of an international effort to deliver air to Gaza through civilian boats with several high-profile celebrities joining the initiative including the environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
Omar documented the charred aftermath of the strike showing burnt lifejackets and sooty walls, broadcasting it to his tens of thousands of social media followers. Australia’s department of foreign affairs was contacted for comment.
An investigation into the drone attack was under way, the flotilla said.
Tunisia’s National Guard spokesperson has said reports of a drone attack on the flotilla “have no basis in truth” and claimed an initial inspection indicated the explosion initiated inside the vessel. A video uploaded to the flotilla’s social media appears to show the moment its boat was struck from above.
Updated
Big banks warn card surcharge plan could hit credit card holders
Australia’s big banks have warned a key part of the federal government’s ban on card surcharges could undermine credit card programs.
The Reserve Bank in July announced it hoped to eradicate the surcharges shoppers face when using their debit and credit cards. It also proposed to force payment service providers, including the major banks, to cut the fees they charge businesses to take card payments.
The RBA estimated the lower cap on those “interchange” fees would benefit nine in 10 businesses but push combined costs of $25m on to payment service providers.
The Australian Banking Association has today said it supported the surcharge ban but warned a cap on interchange fees would hurt customers and businesses. Simon Birmingham, the ABA’s chief executive and a former Coalition government minister, said:
There is a risk that driving [those fees] down further would put further pressure on household budgets through higher card fees, shorter interest-free periods and diminished rewards.
The ABA made its submission on behalf of the big four banks – Commonwealth, ANZ, Westpac, NAB – and 15 others. Macquarie Bank was the only ABA member to break from the proposal, instead suggesting interchange fees should be cut to support businesses but surcharges may need to stay for credit cards.
Consumers, meanwhile, are struggling to avoid the seemingly ubiquitous surcharges. Kat George explains why in this article:
Updated
Thousands of Australians on US special visa may have to return home for extension
Australians living in the US on certain visas may have trouble extending their stay after the Trump administration issued new rules for visa holders.
A state department directive issued on Saturday said visa applicants “must be able to demonstrate residence in the country where they are applying, if their place of application is based on their residency”.
The E-3 visa is only available to Australians with specialised occupations, which can be renewed indefinitely and allow holders’ spouses to work in the US. A maximum of 10,500 are issued each year.
The directive appears to indicate applicants for visas like the E-3 can only be interviewed at the US embassy or consulates in their country of residence, which would mean E-3-holding Australians would have to travel back to Australia for applications to be renewed.
Australians had previously been able to catch a shorter flight to a country near to the US and apply at that local embassy instead.
Nearly 1,500 Australians received E-3 Visas in the first five months of 2025, US government data shows.
Updated
Aboriginal advocate ‘elated’ at prospect of Victorian treaty
As we reported earlier, the Victorian government today introduced a bill to pursue a treaty between the state and Indigenous peoples.
Tom Calma, the former co-chair of the committee that designed the voice to parliament, said he felt “elated” at the prospect of the treaty. He told the ABC:
As a population group, Aboriginal people, we’ll be able to work very closely with government … It’s not only formalising consultations, which is critically important, but it’s about a shifting of power, and that power is enabling Aboriginal people to be able to have a significant say in the directions that policy should take.
Calma said he hoped other jurisdictions would follow Victoria’s example and “come on board and see that this is not a threat”.
Lidia Thorpe, the independent senator, said the state could still do better but congratulated the state’s First Peoples Assembly and Treaty Authority on today’s milestone in the treaty proposal:
It is better than what we have got … There is a lot of work to do but anything that holds government to account I think is a step in the right direction.
The Victorian senator singled out child removal, deaths in custody and land rights as three areas where state government intervention was harming Indigenous peoples and said she hoped new reforms would make the government accountable:
I know this is just one step towards something and I am hoping that is something that does become greater and we do get justice in the future.
Updated
Brittany Higgins ordered to pay 80% of Linda Reynolds’ legal costs
Brittany Higgins has been ordered to pay 80% of her former boss Linda Reynolds’ legal costs from their high-profile defamation fight.
Last month, the Western Australian supreme court judge Paul Tottle ruled the former defence minister’s reputation was damaged by a 2022 social media post from Higgins’ partner, David Sharaz, which Higgins responded to, and an Instagram story published by Higgins in July 2023.
The judgment marked the latest chapter in a long legal battle stemming from Higgins’ decision to go public with allegations she was raped in a ministerial suite in Parliament House by a former colleague, Bruce Lehrmann.
On Tuesday, the judge ruled Higgins should pay the majority of Reynolds’ legal costs. The total amount is not known but is expected to be in the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Last week, Reynolds, who retired from federal parliament earlier this year, was awarded $315,000 in damages plus $26,000 in interest from the defamation case.
The judgment revealed Reynolds offered to settle the case in July last year, if Higgins agreed to a $200,000 payment for Reynolds’ legal fees.
The verdict also came more than a year after a federal court judge ruled against Lehrmann in his defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for airing Higgins’ sexual assault allegations against him.
Lehrmann denied the rape allegations and pleaded not guilty at his criminal trial in the Australian Capital Territory supreme court, which was aborted. Prosecutors did not seek a retrial due to concerns about Higgins’ mental health.
Updated
Lidia Thorpe says Price ‘out on her own’ over immigration comments
The independent senator Lidia Thorpe has joined calls for Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to apologise for comments suggesting the federal government was giving Indian people preferential treatment in immigration programs.
Thorpe said the Indian community should be valued and welcomed in Australia and Price’s behaviour should not be condoned. She told the ABC:
We need to stop demonising black and brown people in this country, it is a big problem. Racism is a big problem in this country and we need to get rid of it. We need to stamp that out and I think the senator needs to apologise first and foremost.
I am not sure who Senator Price is representing but I can guarantee you now she is not representing Aboriginal people in this country, and if she is not representing the Liberal party or Labor party then she is obviously out on her own.
Updated
NSW government will not remove shark nets this summer
The NSW government has confirmed it will not remove shark nets over the coming summer after a surfer was fatally mauled by a large shark at Long Reef near Dee Why in Sydney on Saturday.
The state government had planned to trial a rollback of nets across three councils, including the Northern Beaches council that covers Dee Why. On Sunday, the premier, Chris Minns, said the trial had been put on hold until a report into the attack was produced by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
A short time ago, the agriculture minister, Tara Moriarty, told Guardian Australia the pause would last until at least the end of summer:
The government has said today that we’re not going to be removing nets as part of a trial this summer.
In light of the tragedy that has occurred at Dee Why on the weekend, we need to be sensible about what the community would accept at this time.
We need to allow time for the department and our government scientists to collect information on what happened and then provide a report to government that will inform future considerations for the shark management program.
Updated
Clare on Victorian treaty: ‘I want our children to be taught the truth’
The federal education minister has said Victoria’s inclusion of truth-telling in its school curriculum should be watched by the rest of the country.
The Victorian government today introduced a bill to parliament formalising the treaty with traditional owners, which includes a commitment to reshape the school curriculum to include truth-telling from prep to year 10 and a formal apology to First Peoples in parliament.
Asked if he would like to see other states advance truth-telling, Labor’s Jason Clare said:
I want our children to be taught the truth. I think all states and territories will have a look at what Victoria is doing, I would not make any announcement about the curriculum on the television but I expect [Victoria to] share what Victoria is doing with other states.
Sally Sitou, the Sydney Labor MP, added her in-principle support, speaking to the ABC:
Anything we can do to make sure all Australians have a better understanding of Indigenous communities, of their history and cultures and traditions, but also the challenges, is something that I would support.
I would like to see all Australians get a better understanding of Indigenous Australians. If that is the education system, fantastic.
Updated
Liberal and Labor MPs agree Price’s comments were wrong
Two federal politicians from across the political divide have agreed Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s comments about Indian immigration were wrong, though the Liberal representative for the seat of Casey declined to join calls for an apology.
Aaron Violi, the Liberal MP, declined to “provide commentary or offer public advice” to his party room colleague but said:
I agree they were wrong and a mistake and she should have walked them back as she did very quickly after they were made.
It’s a reminder to us all to be careful with our words and they can carry impact and have power and we always have to be aware of that.
Labor’s Sally Sitou, the MP for the Sydney seat of Reid, added to calls by Anthony Albanese and other Labor politicians for a public apology from Price:
I think an apology would say to the Indian Australian community that we respect their role in our society, that we understand that they are contributing so much to our community and that they should not be dismissed as being here only for the vote, which is totally incorrect.
Updated
Calls grow for Price to apologise for immigration comments
Labor’s education minister, Jason Clare, and a former Liberal MP have added to calls for Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to apologise for comments suggesting the Albanese government was supporting Indian immigration for political reasons.
Clare said it was “obvious” Price should apologise and cheered on the Coalition shadow minister, Julian Leeser, for offering his own apology on behalf of the party. Clare told the ABC:
Can I give a shout out to Julian Leeser, the senior member of the Coalition who I hold in high regard for the comments that he made … She should have apologised immediately and still should apologise now.
The former Liberal MP Jason Falinski also weighed in, telling the ABC:
Just because she should be allowed to say something does not mean you should say them.
This is away from what we stand for as a political movement. It is what Liberals throughout the ages have always stood against so I’m not entirely sure what Jacinta was trying to communicate when she said that. But I think how it has been interpreted by many people is actually diametrically opposed to the very reason our party was formed.
Falinksi said he saw parallels between Price’s comments and the former Liberal leader John Howard’s comments opposing Asian immigration in the 1980s, adding:
Smart people learn from their mistakes, really smart people learn from the mistakes of other people.
Updated
Education minister says super-commission can boost high school completions
Jason Clare has said his proposed merger of four education agencies into one new super-body could help more students finish high school by coordinating school policy decisions.
The federal education minister told the ABC he would coordinate with counterparts in the states and territories on the best way of bringing four national schools authorities together. Clare said:
What I am proposing here is that we bring them all under the one roof to improve coordination but something that is bigger potentially than the sum of its parts – an organisation that can support all states to make sure that we hit those targets and turn around that decline in the number of kids finishing high school.
Updated
Victorian opposition leader hits back after suspension
The Victorian opposition leader, Brad Battin, has released a statement accusing the government of suspending him from parliament because he asked “repeated questions about the state’s crime crisis”.
It reads:
Jacinta Allan has no answers when it comes to the crime crisis, so she is shutting down the questions.
Labor is trying to deflect attention from their failures to protect Victorians, but people can see through the political spin. Victorians just want to feel safe in their homes and they just want a government that will act on crime.
In the chamber, the speaker made it clear she had suspended Battin for repeatedly disrespecting her authority. This included by making interjections when she was on her feet.
Updated
NSW government will respond to drug summit recommendations by end of this year
The NSW government says it will respond to the recommendations of last year’s drug summit, including a suggested legal defence for drivers who use medicinal cannabis, by the end of this year.
In parliament earlier, the Sydney independent MP, Alex Greenwich, asked if the government was planning to introduce a defence for prescribed medicinal cannabis users who return a positive roadside test for the cannabinoid THC while driving unimpaired.
Greenwich, who himself has a legal prescription, said it helped him manage anxiety and insomnia, but that THC could be detected “for days if not weeks after it no longer impacts driving”.
The NSW minister for roads, Jenny Aitchison, said the government would respond to the recommendation, and others made at the drug summit, later this year.
Look, we understand the difficulty that is faced by some people who can’t drive because they use medicinally prescribed cannabis.
It is important though that we balance support for people who are benefiting from this … and community road safety.
The drug summit held two days of forums in regional NSW in October and two days in Sydney in December last year.
Updated
Cautious welcome for DV rental reforms
The NSW government’s proposed improvements to the rental rights of survivors of domestic violence have been cautiously welcomed by the crossbench, who say they will watch legislation closely to see if changes are weakened like other recent reforms.
The NSW Greens housing spokesperson, Jenny Leong, says the reforms, which make it easier for survivors to leave rentals shared with alleged perpetrators, are “long overdue”, adding it is “crucial that we get them right” for the “many people trapped in unsafe households”:
Given the premier’s very recent history of undermining his own government’s landmark rental reforms to appease landlords, the Greens will be looking very closely at not only this legislation but also how the reforms are rolled out and applied.
Leong says the Minns government’s changes to legislation ending no-grounds evictions in NSW have created a “loophole” which means all renters continue to live under housing insecurity.
Changes to laws which prevent evictions without a valid reason in NSW came into effect in May. Renovations can be a valid reason for an eviction.
Under an amendment which came into effect in June, landlords now longer need to provide a quotation for renovations, only a written statement to tenants explaining why repairs are significant and why the property must be vacated for them to be carried out.
Updated
Greens leader says renewables industry should be ‘angry’ at Business Council climate report
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, has been in front of Queensland’s renewable energy industry this morning giving a speech to a Smart Energy Council summit in Brisbane.
The Albanese government is expected to set its 2035 climate target this month, with previous advice from the Climate Change Authority suggesting a range of between 65% and 75%.
The authority is yet to deliver its updated advice, which it must do before the cabinet discusses the target. Waters said:
Coal and gas exports are the ceiling on Australia’s climate ambition and they are the only winners of a climate target with a 6 in front of it. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Last week the Business Council of Australia delivered a report on the risks of high targets which, while it didn’t nominate a target, was seen by climate advocates as a warning to the government not to be ambitious. Waters told the summit:
And I hope you are as angry as I am that the BCA is claiming to represent Australian businesses like yours.
When the fact is that a higher target is better for the economy – and benefits every business and household in the country – except for coal and gas companies.
Updated
Education minister made ‘deliberate decision’ to address other equity measures before tackling job-ready graduates scheme
The education minister says he made a “deliberate decision” to defer reforms to the controversial Morrison-era job-ready graduates scheme (JRG) until later in Labor’s tenure after facing mounting pressure to address the burgeoning cost of arts degrees.
Responding to a question about when JRG would be tackled at the Curtin University equity symposium today, Jason Clare said it was an “obvious question to ask” because people knew the scheme “has failed”.
Last month, Labor MPs told Guardian Australia reforming the scheme should be a priority early in Labor’s second term. Clare noted possible reforms to JRG were outlined in the Universities Accord, handed down last February, but other measures to alleviate student debt were prioritised.
There’s more work that needs to be done. I don’t use that as an excuse, but I’ve been honest enough to say that fixing this is going to require a significant investment by the government.
Clare said to be “very frank”, there were “choices to make” when he presented his case to the government about what to act on first in the accord, with implemented reforms including paid practical payments and needs-based funding equating to $6.5bn over the next decade.
If you were to do JRG and reverse the changes to humanities, but not increase the cost of teaching or nursing, you’re talking about something like an extra billion dollars a year in assistance.
I made the deliberate decision to start there because I thought, that’s where well I would have the biggest impact on shifting the dial in some of these equity numbers.
Updated
Extraordinary scenes in Victorian parliament question time as opposition leader suspended
The Victorian opposition leader, Brad Battin, has been ejected from question time and suspended from the chamber for the rest of the sitting day for “disregarding the authority” of the speaker, Maree Edwards.
Battin, who was grilling the premier on crime at the time, was initially told by Edwards to leave the chamber for an hour, as she would “not tolerate this kind of disrespect to the chair”.
But this grew to 90 minutes as he continued to make interjections at her, before she eventually “named him” for disregarding her authority. The government then moved to suspend him for the rest of the sitting day, with the motion carrying 54 votes to 25.
Battin then left the chamber with almost all Coalition MPs, with the exception of the manager of opposition business, Evelyn MP Bridget Vallence, and former Nationals leader, Peter Walsh. The Greens used the opportunity to grill the government on community housing.
Battin will be holding a press conference any minute now, which makes for unfortunate timing given the government plans to introduce its historic treaty legislation to the chamber.
This is the first time I’ve seen an opposition leader suspended from the chamber in my time covering Victorian parliament.
Updated
David Pocock urges ANU council to ‘get on with it’ and change leadership
The independent senator for the ACT, David Pocock, has urged the Australian National University’s council to “get on with it” and change its leadership as pressure mounts over the future of the vice-chancellor Prof Genevieve Bell’s position.
Speaking to ABC Radio Canberra on Tuesday, Pocock said he had spoken to staff, students, professors and deans about the situation, and there was a “huge amount of dissatisfaction” in the leadership.
I think we’re hopefully nearing the point where we do see some change in leadership at the top. I would urge the council to get on with it now. Based on what I hear, the current leadership simply doesn’t have the trust or any faith that they can be turned around.
Five of six deans at ANU expressed their lack of confidence in Bell to ANU’s chancellor, Julie Bishop, during meetings last Tuesday, sources have confirmed. It comes after backlash over the university’s ongoing restructure and related job cuts.
A spokesperson for ANU said they were not commenting on “speculation” in media reports that suggested Bell’s departure was imminent.
Updated
Thanks to Nick Visser for steering the blog today. I’ll be with you for the rest of Tuesday’s breaking news.
That’s all from me, thanks for sticking with us today. You’re safe in the hands of Luca Ittimani for the rest of the afternoon. Take care.
Environment minister shows frustration with Woodside North West Shelf decision delay
More from the federal environment minister, Murray Watt, who finished up earlier at the Smart Energy Council’s one-day clean energy summit in Brisbane.
In May, the minister told Woodside that he was minded to approve its massive North West Shelf gas project extension, but gave the company a nominal 10 days to agree conditions related to emissions that could damage the now World Heritage-listed Murujuga rock art.
Asked by the Guardian what had happened to that decision, he said that “ever since” making the announcement in May, his department had been working with Woodside “to make sure the conditions will protect the rock art, but also are workable from an operational point of view”:
This has taken a little bit more time than I would have liked. I expect we will be finalising that pretty soon.
Updated
Australian Education Union says new commission must address teaching ‘crisis’
The Australian Education Union (AEU) has welcomed the proposal by the education minister, Jason Clare, for a new Teaching and Learning Commission as an opportunity to strengthen the teaching profession.
But its federal president, Correna Haythorpe, says any proposal to bring together the functions of Acara, AITSL, Aero and Education Services Australia must come with genuine consultation with teachers.
The reality for teachers on the ground is that they are facing a recruitment and retention crisis, escalating workloads and increased complexity of student needs. The question we have is whether the national education architecture is fit for todays’ teaching and learning needs.
Haythorpe said the proposal aligned with the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession, released in February last year, which recommended governments establish a national commission to tackle teacher shortages.
Updated
Mercury Psillakis's family mourn ‘loving, devoted and ridiculously fun’ surfer killed in shark attack
The family of Mercury Psillakis, the man killed in a shark attack in Sydney’s Dee Why on Saturday, have described him as a “loving, devoted and ridiculously fun husband, father, son, brother and loyal friend”.
Psillakis’ wife, Maria, daughter, Freedom, and their family wrote:
This is a statement that is so hard to write, as there are no words that can describe the amazing, humourous and beautiful man he is – everyone felt it … Merc is deeply loved by everyone who knows him.
Merc was impossible not to love – his energy was extraordinary and magnetic, his spirit full of fun and he created joy and happiness in every interaction he touched.
They went on to say that he was an avid surfer who was in the water every day, calling the ocean “one of his greatest passions”.
He was aware of the risks of the ocean and while he loved surfing, he was always vigilant about keeping himself safe. Unfortunately, this was a tragic and unavoidable accident.
Merc is and will always be a hero, a loving and devoted husband, father and family man who could bring humour to every situation. We are devastated by this loss, but will forever carry his spirit, energy and joy in our hearts.
Updated
The Good Guys to pay $13.5m penalty over store credit promotion
Homewares retailer The Good Guys has been ordered to pay $13.5m in penalties for misleading promotions and leaving 20,000 consumers without store credit they were entitled to.
The consumer watchdog alleged the business ran 116 promotions from 2019 to 2023 where it promised store credit of at least $10 and as much as $1,000 if consumers spent a minimum amount, used a specific payment method or bought a specific brand or product.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said, in most cases, the credit expired in 10 days or would only be transferred if the customer opted in to marketing texts and emails in most cases. It added The Good Guys did not provide approximately 21,500 consumers with store credit within the promised timeframe.
ACCC chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said:
We took this court action because we were concerned that The Good Guys had failed to adequately disclose some really key conditions attached to these store credit promotions.
The federal court ordered the retailer to pay $13.5m in penalties and provide store credit with a longer expiry period to some consumers affected by the promotions’ expiry not being adequately disclosed.
Updated
Coalition colleagues call on Nampijinpa Price to apologise
The shadow industry minister, Alex Hawke, and several of Price’s former Nationals colleagues – including Barnaby Joyce and Bridget McKenzie – have called on Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to apologise.
McKenzie said:
I think when you’re a leader and a community leader, as those of us that are in senior ministry positions in parliament are, if you’ve offended somebody and you didn’t mean to, the appropriate responsible thing to do is to apologise.
The shadow attorney-general, Julian Leeser, posted a video to Facebook on Monday night of a speech to a Hindi School in his local electorate, in which he “unreservedly” apologised for Price’s remarks.
Albanese also weighed in on Tuesday.
The comments are not true that the Senator made and of course she should apologise for the hurt that has been caused and her own colleagues are saying that. But even more importantly, leaders in the community are asking for that as well.
Updated
Ley stops short of calling for Price apology
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, stopped short of calling on Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to apologise to Indian Australians despite calls from a growing number of Coalition MPs and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, for her to say sorry.
Asked directly whether Price should apologise for the harm caused by her comments suggesting the Albanese government’s immigration program was favouring the Indian community to win votes, Ley sidestepped the question.
I know that the senator [Price] is listening to the Indian community and hearing their words directly in many instances, and I think that’s important, because where feelings are hurt, there needs to be a two-way dialogue, and there needs to be an understanding.
Price has walked back the comments she made last Wednesday but is refusing to directly apologise for them, causing frustration among some colleagues who believe it is prolonging the politically damaging saga.
Updated
PM says he is ‘confident’ Nakamal agreement can be reached
Albanese just said he remains confident the agreement will be signed soon, telling reporters in Vanuatu:
Both sides will go through our processes but we’re very confident that the agreement can be reached, and I’m reassured by the discussion that I have had with the prime minister.
I’m very confident that it will be able to be signed soon. It’s important that processes be respected.
Updated
Albanese greeted by counterpart in Vanuatu
Anthony Albanese was greeted earlier today by his Vanuatu counterpart, the prime minister, Jotham Napat, as the two leaders prepared to hold talks over the Nakamal agreement. The pair shook hands and posed for photos outside Napat’s office.
In remarks for the media, Napat said Albanese’s visit was a reflection of the strong relationship between the two countries. Albanese said the relationship encapsulated the Pacific family.
We think the Pacific family need to look after each other, to look after our economic interests, and I thank the contribution of Ni-Vanuatu to the workforce in Australia as well, which is a benefit to both of our countries.
I know the Nakamal agreement that we will talk about is important for our relationship going forward.
Albanese had hoped to sign the agreement while in Vanuatu but domestic politics is getting in the way.
The ABC reported on Tuesday a Vanuatu government source said there was “concern” within the coalition government around clauses in the agreement that could limit engagement with other countries, particularly on infrastructure agreements.
China has funded large projects across the Pacific and is understood to have pressed ministers not to sign on to the agreement with Australia.
Updated
NSW premier will not seek to outlaw protests at Bondi beach
Returning to the NSW premier, Chris Minns was also asked earlier about Sunday’s brawl between protest groups at Bondi beach, which is being investigated by police. He said there was “no room for violence on Sydney streets”.
People come to Australia because, yeah, you’ve got the right to freedom of speech and protest, but we are largely free of political violence. That’s not the case in other countries and places around the world … We have to rule a very bright and wide line that this kind of behaviour is not tolerable in NSW, and police and the government will do their bit. You’ve got a right to protest. You don’t have a right to assault someone because of your beliefs.
Minns has ruled out passing laws to prevent protest at Bondi, citing the current high court challenge to anti-protest laws rushed through parliament earlier this year, including those which allow police to move on protests outside places of worship.
Does that mean we’re not going to do anything? No, we’ve pursued changes to the law in relation to landmarks, religious institutions, racial vilification. We’ve been widely criticised for it, but I’m just explaining the challenges or the restrictions that the government has. It’s not as straightforward as passing a bill this afternoon and saying that’s the end of protests on Bondi beach. It’s almost certain to be knocked over by the high court in record time.
Updated
Environment minister ‘still consulting’ on climate’s role in law reforms
The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, spoke at a clean energy summit in Brisbane this morning.
As we reported earlier, the minister has revealed that under reforms to the country’s keystone environmental laws, he wants to create areas that are designated as “no go zones” for developments, including renewable energy projects.
But after his speech, the Guardian asked Watt if the reforms would include any allowance for greenhouse gas emissions from projects before they are approved. He said:
This is one of the areas we are still consulting on with stakeholders – there are a range of views and we haven’t ruled anything in or out.
We are leaning more towards a recommendation Graeme Samuel made in his [review of the EPBC Act] where proponents should be required to disclose their emissions and have a plan in place on how they are going to abate those emissions.
BHP settles Fundao Dam class action for $110m
Mining giant BHP has said it will pay $110m to settle an Australian shareholder class action related to the deadly 2015 Fundao tailings dam collapse, Reuters reports.
The class action was filed in the federal court of Australia in 2018 on behalf of the shareholders who had acquired BHP shares prior to the Fundao Dam failure. The dam collapse at an iron ore mine owned by Samarco near the city of Mariana in south-eastern Brazil had killed 19 people. The disaster also left hundreds of people homeless, flooded forests and polluted the Doce River.
Samarco is a joint venture between BHP’s Brazilian unit and miner Vale. In 2024, a Brazilian federal court ruled that Vale, BHP and Samarco were not criminally liable for the dam collapse.
BHP, the world’s largest listed miner, said it expects to recover most of the settlement amount from its insurers.
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Education minister to reform ‘entire system’ by merging four agencies
The education minister, Jason Clare, will will merge four education agencies into one new super body in a bid to streamline new reforms to schooling, including the implementation of explicit teaching and phonics.
Addressing a Curtin University equity symposium today, Clare said he had written to state and territory education ministers to consider a new Teaching and Learning Commission at their next meeting in mid-October.
It would bring together the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) and Education Services Australia (ESA). Clare has also written to the body’s chairs and CEOs to inform them.
The commission would maintain the Australian curriculum and deliver Naplan, increase focus on evidence-based teaching methods, including phonics and explicit teaching, advise on teacher retention and professional development.
Clare told the symposium Australia has to reform the “entire education system”. He said it would create:
A new teaching and learning commission that would maintain and protect the critical work that these organisations do now and improve coordination. But in addition to that, help us to implement the reforms and hit the targets we are all committed to.
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Australian home values rose combined $500bn in year to June
The combined value of housing stock in Australia rose more than $500bn in the year to June, surpassing $11.5tn.
New data from the Australian bureau of statistics shows rising short-term momentum in home prices, after combined values rose over $200bn in the June quarter compared to just $30bn in the previous three months.
Average prices rose to almost $1m in Queensland and just under $900m in Western Australia, both record highs by the ABS’ measure, after rising more than 2% over the quarter in both states.
The number of homes in Australia rose by 53,000, approaching 11.4m. New South Wales held a record 3.5m homes, while Victoria was zeroing in on 3m.
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Greater rental protections for DV survivors in NSW
Survivors of domestic violence would have greater powers to leave unsafe homes and protect their privacy under rental reforms being introduced to NSW parliament today, the state government says.
The proposed changes to residential tenancy law will remove the need for victim-survivors to notify an alleged perpetrator of domestic abuse that they have left a shared lease, and will expand the list of people who can declare a renter is experiencing domestic violence so they can break a lease without a penalty.
The reforms would also allow locks to be changed without landlord approval if there is a court order that excludes an alleged perpetrator from living at a rental property, and authorise the NSW civil and administrative tribunal (Ncat) to break up a bond to allow domestic violence survivors to recover their share.
The changes come as the Minns government has been accused of weakening other reforms to renters’ rights, including an end to no-grounds evictions which came into effect in May. The Sydney Morning Herald has reported the premier, Chris Minns, intervened to make it easier for landlords to evict tenants ahead of planned renovations and to prevent pets in their rental properties.
Speaking today, Minns rejected the idea that changes would make it harder for domestic violence survivors with pets to find new accommodation.
We’re not pretending these are perfect changes to the law. We’re not pretending they’re perfect in any sense of the word but we believe that we’ve made major gains and big reforms, not just in relation to domestic violence survivors and victims but also to the general market renting environment in the state.
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Queensland police shoot man after incident in Brisbane suburb
Police in Queensland shot a man after an incident in the Brisbane suburb of Wynnum West this morning.
Officials said police were called to a house about 9.20am amid reports of a fire. When they arrived, police said there was an “interaction” between the man and officers and “as a result he was shot by police”.
Medical assistance was immediately given to the man, who was then taken to an area hospital for treatment. No officers were injured and there is no risk to the public. A crime scene has been established and investigations are ongoing.
No charges have been laid in the matter.
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Ukrainian ambassador advocating for Australian prisoner’s release
Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, says he continues to advocate for the release of Australian Oscar Jenkins, who is being held by Russia.
Jenkins, a 33-year-old former teacher and Australian citizen, travelled to Ukraine and enlisted to fight with the country’s military after Russia’s 2022 invasion. After being captured by Russian forces in December 2024, he was jailed for 13 years on the charge of being a “mercenary”.
Myroshnychenko told Guardian Australia that Jenkins should be returned to Australia.
The embassy of Ukraine in Australia continues to work closely with both the Ukrainian and Australian governments, actively advocating for the safe return of Australian prisoner of war Oscar Jenkins.
His case remains a high priority, and every effort is being made on his behalf to bring him home.
Myroshnychenko said the Ukrainian embassy continues to liaise closely with the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, the peak representative body for the Ukrainian Australian community.
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Albanese confident Vanuatu agreement will be signed
Following from our last post: Anthony Albanese would not be drawn on when the landmark Nakamal agreement would be signed, but said he was confident it would eventually be ratified. He said
I await the good faith discussions that take place today, but we have a good relationship … Vanuatu politics can be very complex.
A previous security agreement struck with Vanuatu in 2022 was never approved by the country’s parliament, amid concerns over a lack of consultation and whether it was consistent with Vanuatu’s philosophy of non-alignment in foreign policy. Albanese told the ABC:
There’s still some work to do, but we’re making good progress and I look forward to progressing that face to face.
Albanese and Napat will hold a joint media conference later this afternoon.
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Albanese lands in capital of Vanuatu
Anthony Albanese has landed in Port Vila, with the fate of a bilateral security and economic agreement he had hoped to sign with his Vanuatu counterpart still uncertain.
Albanese’s first stop will be State House, where he will make a courtesy call to the Vanuatu president, Nikenike Vurobaravu.
He will then hold a bilateral meeting with the Vanuatu prime minister, Jotham Napat. It will be the first time the pair have met in person since Napat came to office in February.
While the two leaders were widely expected to sign the landmark Nakamal agreement, Albanese admitted on Tuesday morning the deal was unlikely to be finalised during his time on the ground in the Pacific nation.
The Nakamal agreement would see Australia pay about $500m to the Pacific nation to fund economic and climate priorities in exchange for bolstering Australia’s role as a security and economic partner. Nakamal is the Bislama word for a traditional meeting place.
Fears over China’s ambitions to gain a security foothold in the Pacific, including the risk of establishing a military presence, have been heightened since Beijing stunned the region in 2022 by striking a security agreement with the Solomon Islands.
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Australian AI firm promises $10m for creators for data used for training
A company billing itself as an “ethics driven” AI venture has launched in Australia, promising $10m set aside for copyright holders whose data is used to train its large-language models.
Sovereign Australia AI has promised users will know how its models are built, what they are trained on and “that they reflect Australian values”.
The Australian-based company, founded by Troy Neilson and Simon Kriss, has ordered 256 of the latest Nvidia Blackwell B200 GPUs that will be used to train the models, housed in Australia at NextDC datacentres.
The company said it will pay a minimum of $10m to source copyrighted materials to train the Ginan and Australis models, which the company said “are designed to reflect the culture, language, and principles of this nation, and to provide an alternative to offshore systems that may embed foreign values and biases.”
They will provide visibility of the data used to train the models, and will open source the Ginan research model for free public use.
Neilson said Sovereign Australia was not trying to compete directly with ChatGPT and other global models directly, because a local model “will serve as viable alternatives that better capture the Australian voice.”
Victorian premier has spent the past week ‘sitting and listening’ with residents
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, was asked earlier today why she hasn’t held a press conference in the past week. Her last press conference, this time last week, was gatecrashed by neo-Nazi, Thomas Sewell.
Since then, there has been the funerals of the two officers killed in Porepunkah and the alleged murder of two teenage boys by a gang armed with machetes.
Allan said:
My focus in the past week has been sitting and listening with many different communities who are experiencing real challenges, some as a result of people who are choosing to use difference as a political weapon to drive division. I’ve spent a lot of time sitting with different multicultural communities, particularly the Indian and the Chinese community, talking with the Islamic and Jewish communities, meeting with the LGBTQIA+ community, and a particular focus for me in the past week has been supporting the Victoria police family, attending two funeral services … [for] two brave Victoria police officers who were murdered for simply going to work and doing their job.
She said she’s also met with the South Sudanese community and her sympathies were with the families of Chol Achiek, 12, and Dau Akueng, 15, who were allegedly murdered in Cobblebank at the weekend. Allan went on:
My deepest sympathy goes to those communities who are grieving the loss, the senseless loss, of two beautiful young boys, Chol and Dau, who were killed in a senseless attack. My focus has been on supporting communities … about how we work together, about how we recognise some of the root causes of what’s causing this pain and this grief and these challenges, and then putting in place the programs and the structures that we’ve addressing those issues.
Doctors say health workers super fund investing in fossil fuels a ‘breach of our duty of care’
A coalition of organisations representing health workers have called for super fund HESTA to end support for companies with new fossil fuel developments, including Woodside and Santos.
Market Forces, Healthy Futures, Doctors for the Environment Australia and the Climate and Health Alliance are urging HESTA – the industry super fund for people working in the health and community services sector – to immediately divest from fossil fuels.
Michelle Isles, the chief executive officer of the Climate and Health Alliance, said its 100 member organisations and health workers served across Australia are under increased stress dealing with the burden of disease from fossil fuel pollution and the climate change impacts it is causing.
Dr Kate Wylie, a GP and executive director of Doctors for the Environment Australia said:
It is pretty hypocritical for a health sector super fund to in any way support the fossil fuel industry.
Coal oil and gas are causing immense harm to the health of our communities and our environment, so it’s a clear breach of our duty of care as doctors to have our super invested in them. HESTA does not invest in tobacco or nuclear weapons, so why invest in fossil fuels?
NSW police investigating after brawl on Bondi Beach during Gaza protest and counterprotest
An ugly brawl between members of rival protest groups at Sydney’s Bondi Beach over Gaza is being investigated by police, AAP reports.
The clash between the pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel supporters broke out on Sunday morning as hundreds of pro-Palestine supporters were gathering on the beach on Father’s Day for a paddle-out in support of the fathers of Gaza.
The event was organised by Jews Against the Occupation, a Jewish-led pro-Palestine group, who called on local board riders to take part in the “peaceful event”. A counter-protest was held at the same time.
Amid concerns about community safety, local police were called in to manage the protests alongside the public order and riot squad.
As investigations continue, police have released images of three men they believe may be able to help with their inquiries.
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NSW Health warns of rise in opioid overdoses linked to drugs thought to be cocaine
NSW Health has issued a public warning to those using drugs thought to be cocaine after an increase in opioid overdoses in Sydney and parts of northern NSW.
Official say 10 people were hospitalised in August with suspected opioid overdoses after using substances they thought were cocaine, three of whom required treatment in intensive care. NSW Health said the figures were a “marked increase” on the numbers normally seen in that period, with only two of the cases believed to be linked.
In cases where blood or urine tests were taken, results showed heroin was present with the cocaine. Dr Darren Roberts, the medical director of the NSW Poisons Information Centre, said:
One of the dangers of illicit drug supply is the contents and strength of the substance you are getting is uncertain and can be inconsistent. An opioid overdose could quickly result from a single line.
Opioids such as heroin can be sold as or found in cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA (ecstasy). You cannot always tell the difference between these drugs by appearance.
Symptoms of opioid use include pin-point pupils, drowsiness, loss of consciousness, slowed breathing/snoring and skin turning blue/grey. The drugs can be life-threatening.
NSW Health also urged those that may be around drugs or at risk of an opioid overdose to carry Naloxone, a life-saving medication that reverse the effects of opioids. It does not require a prescription and is free via many methods.
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Australia’s sovereign wealth fund tops $250bn
Australia’s sovereign wealth fund has cracked $250bn for the first time, after reporting a robust 12.1% return in the most recent financial year.
The Future Fund’s annual return was twice its target and over a decade has delivered 8% per annum, against the target of 6.9%. The Future Fund’s main fund pays for the superannuation liabilities of public servants but it also manages a number of other, smaller pots of money.
That includes the $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund, which grew to $10.9bn as at mid-2025.
Jim Chalmers late last year changed the fund’s investment mandate to force it to “consider Australia’s national priorities”, including boosting housing supply, getting more infrastructure built and supporting the net zero transformation.
Greg Combet, the Future Fund’s chair and a former federal Labor minister appointed to the role in June 2024, in a statement highlighted how the fund had achieved stellar returns while also satisfying its new mandate.
He pointed to investments in a data centre developer and operator, and a 10% stake in electricity transmission operator Transgrid.
Chalmers said “this vindicates our investment mandate because it shows maximising returns is entirely consistent with modernising our economy for the future”.
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Battin thanks O’Brien for serving Victoria and Liberal party
In a statement, opposition leader Brad Battin thanked O’Brien for serving Victoria and the Liberal party “with passion, wisdom, and dedication”.
Battin said:
For almost 20 years he has represented the people of Malvern. And his commitment to his local community never wavered even as he assumed greater roles and responsibilities.
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Former Victorian opposition leader to resign from parliament at 2026 election
Former Victorian opposition leader Michael O’Brien has announced he will resign from parliament at the 2026 state election.
O’Brien, who has also served as treasurer in the Napthine government, was first elected in 2006. He was Liberal leader between late 2018 to mid-2021, when he was toppled by Matthew Guy before the 2022 election.
O’Brien said in a statement:
When I gave my maiden speech back in 2006, my daughter was a toddler and my son was a baby in his mum’s arms. Today, they are university students making their way in the world. It is a measure of how much time has passed and why it is now the right time for me to pass the baton.
He said serving as the member for Malvern has been the “greatest honour of my professional life” but it was a “relentless occupation”:
While I continue to relish the challenge it provides, it is time to provide that challenge to another and for me to pursue new opportunities. It is also an opportunity for the Liberal party to renew; to choose a new candidate to represent the wonderful Malvern community and strongly advocate for Liberal values.
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Australia Post will resume postal sending to US by 25 September
Australia Post will resume postal sending to the US by Thursday 25 September after suspending some services last month amid president Donald Trump’s tariff regime that changed the customs rules for most parcels. Parcels to the US are now subject to duties equivalent to the tariffs imposed on the country they are sent from, which would be the 10% baseline tariff in Australia.
Gifts valued under US$100 are exempt from the tariffs.
Australia Post said it was working with a third-party provider authorised by the US government to allow business customers a solution to “meet the new rules and allow deliveries to the US to resume”. Gary Starr, the company’s executive general manager for parcel, post and e-commerce, said:
Along with more than 190 other postal providers internationally, we’ve been caught in a fast-moving situation not of our making. The real impact has been on our customers who export their goods to the US accessing our cost-efficient postal service, so we’ve been working around the clock to find a solution.
Our priority has always been to have a solution up and running as soon as possible, while keeping our customers updated and informed.
Australia Post said it would lift the block on shipments early if able to do so.
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Lifeblood issues urgent call for 12,500 extra donors in next seven days
A perfect storm of record demand for blood over winter, coupled with cancellations, has left Australia’s stock levels critically low, AAP reports.
Red Cross Lifeblood has issued an urgent call for donors as reserves of most blood types and plasma drop to critical levels. An extra 12,500 donors are needed in the next seven days to ensure Lifeblood can continue to meet patient needs across the country.
Data show that demand for blood reached record levels in June, July and August.
That demand surge coincided with the highest appointment cancellation rates since the Covid-19 pandemic, severely impacting the supply of multiple blood types.
Demand for blood reached record levels over winter, coinciding with the highest appointment cancellation rates since the pandemic, severely impacting the blood supply. We need donors of all blood types, help us find them by sharing this post. https://t.co/kWT0eFNpSu. pic.twitter.com/akEDtoOf5X
— lifebloodau (@lifebloodau) September 8, 2025
Stephen Cornellison, the CEO of Lifeblood, said:
We’re urging anyone who is eligible and feeling healthy and well to book a donation immediately and help restore our blood stocks. Right now, we need donors of all blood types. If you’ve never donated before, now is the time to start.
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Victorian treaty bill hailed as 'turning point in this nation's history'
Ngarra Murray, the co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, said the move today was historic and reflected decades of work.
Murray said:
Now we stand at the beginning of a new era, the treaty era. We are at a turning point in this nation’s history. Treaty offers us the chance to reshape the story of this country. So today is a historic day. Victoria has been on the journey to treaty for nearly a decade, but treaty is the culmination of many decades of activism and work.
Treaty recognises that Aboriginal people are the experts on our own lives and communities, cultures, and our countries and it’s an opportunity to make sure we can use our local knowledge to come up with and deliver practical solutions at a community level. This is a chance for all Victorians to acknowledge our past, heal and move forward together.
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Allan says push for treaty won’t take anything ‘away from anyone’, but will improve the lives of Aboriginal Victorians
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said for years governments have spent “huge amounts of money” trying to improve outcomes for First Nations people but the gap hasn’t closed.
She says Aboriginal children are 20 times more likely to be placed in out of home care, preterm birthrates for Aboriginal babies are almost double those of non-Aboriginal babies, Aboriginal people are more likely to have cancer and less likely to be employed.
Allan went on:
We’re doing this because it gets better outcomes. We know we need to make change. We know the current practices and systems that have been in place for a very long time just simply aren’t working. There needs to be change and that’s what this treaty agreement and this bill will deliver.
I want to be also clear that none of these changes that are in the bill that we’re introducing to the parliament today or indeed in the treaty agreement itself, none of these changes are about taking anything away from anyone. It’s simply about improving services, improving the lives for Aboriginal Victorians.
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Treaty bill to be introduced into Victorian parliament
Australia’s first formal treaty with traditional owners closer to reality
Australia’s first formal treaty with traditional owners is one step closer to becoming a reality, with the Victorian government introducing a bill to parliament formalising the agreement.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, and the minister for treaty and First Peoples, Natalie Hutchins, are holding a press conference to announce the introduction of the Statewide Treaty Bill into Victoria’s parliament today.
The bill proposes to make the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria – the state’s democratically elected Indigenous body – permanent and expand its responsibilities to include:
Making decisions and rules about specific matters that directly impact First Peoples
Form an independent accountability mechanism as required by the National Agreement to Close the Gap
Be consulted by government departments on laws and policies affecting First Peoples
Lead ongoing truth-telling and healing across Victorian towns and regions, including capturing stories and retaining an archive of this information to support education of the broader public
Make certain statutory appointments for existing designated First Peoples’ seats such as First Peoples appointments to the Heritage Council of Victoria
Lead the Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Fund, Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll and Naidoc week
Develop a First Peoples’ Institute to enhance leadership capability across the sector
Once it passes parliament, the state’s treaty agreement will be signed by both parties.
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Hanson-Young says SA algal bloom shows new criteria for climate disasters needed
The Greens’ environment spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young says the algal bloom in South Australia reflects the need for a new set of criteria for climate disasters as the Senate begins an inquiry into the toxic event.
Hanson-Young spoke to ABC News this morning:
Right where I’m standing, just 50 metres away, we have had dead dolphins washing up, dead stingrays and even penguins. It’s been absolutely distressing for the local community here and it’s obviously a devastation for the environment. This is a climate disaster and one of the things that this inquiry needs to look at is how the federal government is going to respond to these types of catastrophes into the future.
This still hasn’t been declared by the prime minister a national disaster because the government says it doesn’t fit the criteria. Well, we need a new set of criteria for climate disasters like this, because this has happened here, it’s happened in Adelaide, but it could just as well happen on Bondi Beach.
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Teenage girl dies after dog attack in NSW
A 17-year-old girl died in hospital yesterday after she was mauled by a dog at a home in Singleton in New South Wales last week.
The teenager was found with critical injuries to her head, neck and body on Thursday after emergency services were called to the home, police said.
She was treated at the scene, described to police as a friend’s house, and airlifted to a local hospital.
The dog, described as a large animal around 10 years old, lived at the home. Officials later destroyed the dog with the consent of its owners.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
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Victoria constable charged with sexual assault and other charges after internal investigation
A senior constable from Victoria’s specialist department has been charged after an internal investigation, a statement from the force said.
The man has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, course of conduct sexual assault, sexual activity in the presence of a child under 16 and common law assault.
The force said the alleged incidents occurred between June 2023 and November 2024 while the officer was off-duty.
The 34-year-old has been charged on summons and is expected to appear before a magistrates’ court at a later date.
Albanese says Price should ‘of course’ apologise for comments on Indian migrants
Albanese added he believes senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price should apologise for her remarks last week in which she said Labor was bringing Indian migrants into Australia to boost its electoral hopes.
Price has since walked back the remarks, but not explicitly apologised. The prime minister said she should do so to rectify the “hurt that has been caused”, telling RN Breakfast:
People in the Indian community are hurting and it is important to make clear my position, which is that the Indian Australian community has made our nation stronger. They contribute to our economy, our communities. They’re a vital part of modern Australia.
And I just say to the Indian community, you’re valued, you’re welcome here, you make our country stronger by being here. And thank you for everything that you do to make Australia a better place.
The comments are not true that the senator made and of course she should apologise for the hurt that has been caused and her own colleagues are saying that, but even more importantly leaders in the community are asking for that as well.
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Albanese says issues with social cohesion causing him a ‘great deal of distress’
The prime minister spoke about his feelings after the funerals of two police officers killed in Porepunkah, Victoria, saying the incident remained extraordinarily sad for the country. Albanese said issues with social cohesion remained top of mind and said Australia needed to “cherish” what had been built in the country.
He told RN Breakfast:
Quite clearly, the social cohesion issue is something that causes me a great deal of distress. The fact that some people think that the government isn’t legitimate, the so-called sovereign citizens … and the danger which is there has also reminded us that those people who serve us in police forces around Australia take a risk every time they don that uniform to protect their local communities. …
It is a fact that we need to continue to nurture social cohesion in this country, and this isn’t the only threat. We need to cherish what we’ve built in this country overwhelmingly.
ANZ to make 3,500 employees redundant
ANZ has just announced it will make about 3,500 employees redundant over the next year.
The bank said the changes will “simplify the bank, strengthen its focus on its priorities and deliver for its customers”, adding it would also limit engagements with consultants and “other third parties”.
Nuno Matos, the CEO of ANZ, said in a statement:
We know this will be difficult news for some of our staff. While some of these changes have already commenced, we are committed to working through the impacts as quickly and safely as we can, with both care and respect for our teams affected.
The bank estimates the restructuring will cost about $560m before tax. The redundancies are set to finish by September 2026.
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Albanese said security and economic agreement with Vanuatu may not be signed today, but progress is being made
Prime minister Anthony Albanese said he probably won’t sign a security and economic pact with Vanuatu today, but he’s travelling to the island nation in good faith and remains confident the deal will be secured soon.
Albanese told RN Breakfast Australia had a good relationship with Vanuatu’s prime minister, Jotham Napat, but said politics on the island were “complex”:
There’s still some work to do, but we’re making good progress, and I look forward to progressing that face to face, which is why I’m travelling to Vanuatu this morning.
What we’re looking for is to build on the relationship to be able to both benefit from shared prosperity.
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Inman Grant said big tech is not stopping online sharing of child abuse images
Inman Grant said last night none of the big technology companies are doing enough to stop images of “the most heinous abuse to children” from being shared online.
The criticism comes as the commission registers six new industry codes designed to better protect children from “lawful but awful” age-inappropriate content, including the “clear and present” danger posed by AI driven companion chatbots.
The commissioner told ABC’s 730 about 100,000 Australians a month have accessed an app that allows users to upload images of other people, including school students, to receive an accurate depiction of what they would look like naked.
Inman Grant said she had not heard a major technology company express regret or shame for their role in enabling the sharing of child exploitation images.
Read more here:
New online codes aim to address dangers of ‘addictive’ AI chatbots, eSafety commissioner says
Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety commissioner, spoke about the commission’s six new industry codes meant to better protect children from “lawful but awful” age-inappropriate content, saying the government was concerned about “addictive” AI chatbots.
Inman Grant told RN Breakfast this morning that the commission had been concerned about the bots for “some time”, pointing to concerns some young children aged 11 or 12 were spending hours a day talking to them. She said:
They use anthropomorphism to mimic real human conversation, and they also use a bit of sycophancy to reinforce all your beliefs and to keep you chatting. And the problem with children who don’t have the cognitive ability to really ascertain what is real and what is not, in terms of a relationship with a human versus a computer program, this has led to some tragic outcomes.
Inman Grant went on to point to troubling cases in the US linked to chatbots, saying Australia needed to take steps to prevent those from happening at home:
We need guardrails and we don’t need a body count or ruined or lost lives like we’ve seen in the US here in Australia.
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Murray Watt to outline new environmental protection laws
The planned rewrite of federal nature protection laws will provide for development “no-go” zones under a new regional planning regime for major projects, the environment minister, Murray Watt, will confirm today.
The minister will use an address to the same Smart Energy Queensland conference that Larissa Waters is speaking at to sketch out the first details of his overhaul of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC), which he plans to introduce to federal parliament before the end of the year.
In the speech, Watt will argue that a shift from project-by-project assessments to a region-wide planning system – with clearly defined “no go” zones for construction – can help speed up projects and better protect nature.
He will say:
Regional planning improves environmental outcomes by better managing threats to nature, identifying areas of high environmental sensitivity that should not be developed and guiding restoration activities in areas that have been degraded.
Regional planning also benefits business by providing better information on local environmental values, to enable informed planning and decision-making, identifying areas where development will simply not be allowed, and areas where individual project assessment and approval would not be required.
This approach – identifying “go” and “no go” zones in various regions upfront – would shift the focus from project-by-project development, to effective planning for our environment and for sustainable development.
Watt last month flagged his support for “no-go” zones in an interview with Guardian Australia after approving the contentious Robbins Island windfarm in Tasmania.
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Good morning, Nick Visser here to take over from Martin Farrer. Let’s get to it.
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New Homes NSW website will make system more accessible and efficient, minister says
The NSW minister for customer service and digital government, Jihad Dib, said:
Homes NSW’s move to nsw.gov.au is part of our government’s commitment to deliver accessible, inclusive, secure and integrated digital services for everyone in NSW, regardless of age, ability, background or circumstance.
Housing and homelessness minister Rose Jackson said:
When we brought housing and homelessness services together under Homes NSW, we committed to making the system more efficient and accessible – this digital transformation is proof of that.
Rather than trawling through multiple different websites, you can now head to the Homes NSW website for everything from emergency housing and maintenance information to design guides for our
project partners.
Homes NSW supports more than 260,000 people in social housing across the state.
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New digital portal for Homes NSW
Finding emergency housing in New South Wales or applying for social or key worker housing will be made easier with the launch of a new digital portal that brings together information and services for clients of Homes NSW.
The new tools are part of a digital transformation project that aims to use technology to help vulnerable groups.
It includes a housing office finder and allocation zone locator to determine where people can apply for social housing, as well as a social housing building projects finder to locate where Homes NSW is delivering new social and affordable housing across NSW.
It also aims to make the process of paying rent, lodging maintenance requests or providing feedback more straightforward through the digital portal.
The site includes an embedded translation tool that can instantly translate pages into more than 70 different languages.
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Greens warn against new taxes on electric vehicles
More on the speech we’re expecting from Greens leader Larissa Waters later today at the Smart Energy Conference in Brisbane.
She will discuss federal Labor’s plans for road user charging rules for electric vehicles, the design of which is being sped up following last month’s economic reform roundtable.
Waters says new taxes on electric vehicles and trucks – as flagged by treasurer Jim Chalmers – would be a backwards step.
“A poorly designed policy that just taxes these emerging technologies would be a disaster for transport emissions,” she will say.
“But based on the treasurer’s words to date, he seems fine to tax EV drivers and electric trucks while companies like BHP continue to enjoy half a billion dollars in completely tax free fuel.
“The Greens want to see tax settings that get petrol cars off the road and see people take up all kinds of electric transport – public transport, e-transport and electric vehicles.”
Updated
Oil and gas giants will be winners if Labor ducks net zero, Waters to say
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, says multinational oil and gas companies will be the biggest winners if the Albanese government squibs it on a new climate emissions reduction target for 2035.
Labor is preparing to release its 2035 emissions reduction target this month, before the prime minister heads to the UN general assembly in New York.
A 2035 target range of about 65% reductions on 2005 levels is expected, lower than environmental groups would be satisfied with.
Waters, in a speech to the Smart Energy Conference in Brisbane later today, will argue that targets are “a zero sum game”.
She will say:
Someone wins and someone loses.
With a low Australian target, international coal and gas corporations win, their profits go up while Australians are the ones who have to pay for it in insurance premium increases, in cleaning up after floods and cyclones and in lost profits for farmers and more expensive food for us.
Who would lose the most with high targets? Gas companies like Woodside - who also happen to be on the board of the [Business Council of Australia].
Business Council modelling released last week suggested that a 2035 target of 60% would require at least $400 billion in new capital investment.
Waters calls that modelling “highly contested” and says the Greens will be following advice from climate scientists.
And the science says to maintain global temperatures below 2 degrees we need to be at net zero by 2035, putting us at the forefront of a swiftly decarbonising world.
Strong economy, clean renewable energy, reduced emissions. Seems pretty straightforward to me.
Updated
Albanese heads to Vanuatu where he could sign new security and economic agreement
Anthony Albanese will arrive in Vanuatu today where he is expected to sign a new $500m deal on security and economic ties.
Named for a traditional meeting place, the “Nakamal” agreement has been under negotiation for months and comes as China works to gain increased power across the Pacific.
Australia is trying to counter that effort, including with funding for data centres and security infrastructure.
Albanese will meet his counterpart, prime minister Jotham Napat, to potentially sign the agreement and is expected to visit the country’s president, Nikenike Vurobaravu.
After the one-day visit to the capital, Port Vila, Albanese will fly to the Solomon Islands for the Pacific Islands Forum.
The regional gathering, the most important for Pacific countries, will take place in Honiara. Australia has joined countries including New Zealand, France, Fiji, Tuvalu and the US in criticising the decision to block “dialogue partner” countries from attending the meeting.
The US and China will be watching the event closely.
After the forum, Albanese heads home, before a busy September of travel, including trips to Papua New Guinea, the US and the UK.
Albanese will mark 50 years of PNG’s independence from Australia, before heading to the UN general assembly in New York and then holding talks with UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, later in the month.
This post was amended on 9 September to clarify that Anthony Albanese will potentially sign the agreement with Vanuatu on this trip
Updated
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.
Anthony Albanese is expected to sign a security and economic agreement with Vanuatu as he arrives in the Pacific island’s capital of Port Vila today. He will meet his counterpart Jotham Napat before they travel to Honiara for the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting.
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, will today warn that multinational oil and gas companies will be the biggest winners if the Albanese government squibs it on a new climate emissions reduction target for 2035.
The planned rewrite of federal nature protection laws will provide for development “no-go” zones under a new regional planning regime for major projects, the environment minister, Murray Watt, will confirm today.
