What we learned, Monday 8 December
We’ll leave our live news coverage there for today. Here were Monday’s top stories:
Pauline Hanson said she was excited for a “new breed” of One Nation politicians after Barnaby Joyce confirmed he would join the minor party.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, announced the federal government’s energy rebates will not be extended into the new year.
The firefighter killed while battling a New South Wales blaze has been identified as a 59-year-old man.
There were more than a dozen missed opportunities to detect offences from notorious Queensland paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith, a report found.
South Australian Liberals confirmed Ashton Hurn as their new leader, 103 days out from the state election.
The federal government’s National Reconstruction Fund will lend $45m to Arnott’s to help Tim Tams go global.
NSW joined South Australia in the high court fight against a court challenge to the federal social media ban.
A pedestrian has died after a car crashed into a Melbourne medical centre.
And Australians had nearly $18.3bn in outstanding personal credit card debts in October, its second-highest level since October 2021.
Nick Visser will be back tomorrow morning to do it all again.
Updated
‘Respect’ frustrates Reynolds’s pursuit of Higgins’s cash
A former senator’s act of ‘respect’ towards Brittany Higgins might have backfired, with a bankruptcy case aimed at discovering where the former staffer’s $2.4m compensation payout went delayed further, AAP reports.
Linda Reynolds, the ex-Liberal senator, launched bankruptcy proceedings against Higgins in October to recoup costs awarded after successfully suing her over social media posts, some of which were found to be defamatory.
Federal court judge Michael Feutrill on Monday reserved his decision over Reynolds’s creditors petition to formally bankrupt Higgins after the ex-senator unusually served the documents to her lawyer and not her personally.
Reynolds’s lawyer, Martin Bennett, told reporters outside the court in Perth:
All we were trying to do was facilitate service in a manner respecting mental health and fragility and that’s proving more difficult than just blindly rushing in oblivious to the effect.
Bennett said Higgins had instructed her lawyer to accept the documents, was not fighting the proceedings and he was confident the court would accept the application.
Updated
Joyce’s departure could help Coalition win city seats: Bragg
The Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg has predicted Barnaby Joyce’s move to One Nation will help the party win back seats in Sydney.
Bragg, a NSW senator, said he wished Joyce well but didn’t agree with his politics and believed Liberal candidates would be buoyed by his departure from the Coalition. He told the ABC:
I like him, personally, but I think in terms of our job in Sydney, of in winning back metropolitan seats, it will probably be easier. … I think there are parts of Sydney, and I imagine other cities like Melbourne, where he wasn’t the most popular person.
Updated
Coalition calls for cuts to housing 5% deposit scheme access
The Coalition’s housing spokesperson, Andrew Bragg, has called for limits on access to the government’s 5% deposit scheme for first home buyers.
We reported earlier Bragg’s speech today, where he suggested every back yard could be allowed to host a new home or granny flat.
Bragg also committed to support in “some form” government targets for supply, such as the aim of 1.2m new home builds over the five years to 2029. While the Liberal party is this week expected to release its migration policy, Bragg told the ABC new construction was the priority in housing:
You cannot solve the housing crisis by cutting migration. You can improve it and we ought to look at whether we should reduce migration to help the demand side. But this is not a silver bullet.
But Bragg condemned policies encouraging more demand for housing, such as the government’s October removal of income caps on the scheme that makes it cheaper for Australians to buy their first home with a 5% deposit. He told the ABC:
We would look to pare that back and means-test it, because we think that lower income earners and potentially, middle-income earners should be the focus for taxpayer funded support. We don’t believe that higher income earners should be able to access a taxpayer funded guarantee scheme. That is ridiculous. No wonder the budget is buggered in Australia.
Updated
Leigh says travel expense changes could deter women from politics
Andrew Leigh, a Labor minister, has said the job of minister is “tough on families” and new limits on taxpayer-funded family trips could deter women from politics.
Anika Wells, the sports minister, last week came under scrutiny for her own trips to France, Adelaide and New York. She has now been found to have spent thousands in ministerial family travel expenses for trips to three AFL grand finals, the Thredbo ski resort and the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix.
Leigh, the assistant minister for productivity, said that as a Canberra MP, he hasn’t used the spending entitlements for years, but others would need to. He told the ABC:
I had the fortune of being able to drive home to my three wonderful kids and wife at the end of the day, but many of my colleagues don’t, and this is a job that is pretty tough on families …
If people want to change the system, well, be aware that making it less family friendly is going to affect who goes into politics and will probably mean fewer talented women choose politics.
Updated
Joyce left Nationals because he didn’t ‘sit where he wants to sit’, Kevin Hogan says
Kevin Hogan, the deputy Nationals leader, has said Barnaby Joyce’s departure was especially disappointing given his former role as party leader, comparing him to another former leader turned backbencher, Michael McCormack.
David Littleproud today claimed Joyce moved to One Nation because he was focused on leading a party. Appearing on the ABC, his deputy didn’t directly answer when asked whether Littleproud was trying to warn that Joyce wanted Pauline Hanson’s job.
Hogan instead compared Joyce to Michael McCormack, who “still sits solidly in the room”:
Barnaby at least was transparent. When he gave his address in parliament on the last day of sitting, he said that he was leaving because he doesn’t sit where he wants to sit. He used to be the leader, he used to be the deputy prime minister. …
He does not want to sit on the backbench and looked for a new party which is disappointing, given the Michael McCormack example.
Updated
Hanson excited for ‘new breed’ of One Nation politicians
Pauline Hanson says she is excited to have Barnaby Joyce in One Nation but has downplayed his role in the minor party’s growing political base.
Polls have shown the share of voters who would put One Nation first on their ballot has tripled in the months since May’s federal election, even before speculation around Joyce’s move arose.
Hanson told the ABC Joyce was a respected figure and a “big plus” for the party but not the central part of her plan for One Nation, adding she had no plans to poach more politicians from the Coalition.
The party aimed to attract more community-based candidates, she said:
It’s not about who is bringing in the ex-members of parliament across. I want to have grassroots Australians that want to come on board, join the branches, get the communities on side and stand for politics themselves. I want this new breed of Australians that have the fight in them – not just about a job, it’s representing their communities.
One Nation has launched about 70 branches since it adopted a branch system in August, Hanson said.
We’re doing extremely well. … In Huonville in Tasmania on Saturday, that’s a staunch Greens area, we had 70 people turn up there to a branch opening … We had over 100 at that branch launch in Yeppoon. So it is the Australian people that are fed up with the major political parties.
Updated
Hanson says Joyce won’t be One Nation deputy leader
Pauline Hanson has said Barnaby Joyce could take on a spokesperson portfolio but there’s no plan for him to become her deputy as leader of One Nation.
Hanson also said Joyce had told her in early 2024 he felt unhappy in the National party. Speaking to the ABC, she said:
I had a talk with Barnaby. He was not happy where he was in the National party and he said that it was quite obvious that they don’t want him there. So he stuck loyal to them and he stood with them, but since this last election … he just said: ‘they don’t want me’.
The Queensland senator said she hadn’t offered Joyce any incentives to join or discussed creating a position of deputy for Joyce to take, but added she would consider giving the former deputy prime minister a dedicated policy focus.
Joyce’s main contention with the Coalition had been its commitment to net zero emissions, Hanson said.
Barnaby was really annoyed with the National party with this net zero and they wouldn’t get out of the Paris agreement, same the Liberal party. He doesn’t see a future for this country … He thought One Nation has been the only party that actually stood our ground from the very beginning, to get rid of net zero.
Updated
Credit card debt holding at four-year high
Australians had nearly $18.3bn in outstanding personal credit card debts in October, after interest-accruing balances surged the prior month.
The national total rose almost $1bn over the preceding 12 months, hitting its second-highest level since October 2021, according to new data from the Reserve Bank.
A fall in credit card spending during the month saw total interest-accruing debt slip behind the $18.4bn recorded in September.
Debit card transactions picked up, though, as consumers continued to spend their higher real incomes. Card spending totalled $84.5bn for the month – more than $500m higher than in September and $4.2bn higher than October 2024, according to Canstar analysis.
Canstar spokesperson Laine Gordon said the rise in debt was a worrying sign:
It’s concerning to see credit card debt climbing back to levels we haven’t seen since July 2021 – a clear sign more households are leaning on plastic to get by.
Updated
Planned burn near Tasmania bushfire under investigation
Firefighters are investigating a registered burn near the bushfire that destroyed 19 homes near Dolphin Sands, Tasmania.
The former 700-hectare blaze near the Freycinet national park on the state’s east coast was contained after overnight rain, allowing the Tasmania fire service to investigate its cause.
Locals had planned to light a fire outside to burn off vegetation days before the fire broke out on Thursday, Matthew Lowe, the TFS deputy chief officer, said.
The TFS had heard unverified suggestions there had been other burns on Thursday but was investigating only that preceding burn, which had been registered through the state’s permit system, Lowe told reporters.
Permitted burn-offs were an important part of fire prevention, the responsibility for which was shared between communities as well as firefighters, he said.
We encourage all our community members to undertake proactive reduction of fuel on their properties, whether that’s simply cleaning out gutters, keeping grass low, removing clippings, and some of the bigger properties, fuel reduction burns.
That’s a shared responsibility. We’re proactive in our burning for our mitigation burns, but we expect community to pick up some of that responsibility.
Updated
Thanks Nick Visser and good afternoon, I’ll be with you on the blog for the rest of the day.
That’s all from me. Luca Ittimani will take things from here. Enjoy the rest of your Monday.
Cronulla riots 20 years on: have attitudes changed since that hot December day when racial tensions exploded?
Julie Cutbush noticed the chanting first. At home in Cronulla, in Sydney’s south, on 11 December 2005, the then high school teacher could hear shouting in the nearby beachside park.
“So I took a walk,” she says. “I turned the corner at the surf life saving club and I saw this mass of young males.”
It was a hot afternoon and hundreds of young people – mostly men, many bare-chested, some with Australian flags draped over their shoulders – were streaming from the train station across Monro park and into Cronulla park. They ran, carrying eskies full of beer, and as the alcohol flowed the hundreds swelled to thousands and the chants grew louder and more aggressive.
20 years on, some wonder if Australia has still failed to tackle racism, and worry social media is a more powerful tool than text messages and talkback radio that stirred rioters in 2005.
Read more here:
Sydney to host Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur next year for Sydney Super Cup
Sydney will host two of the world’s biggest football teams next year for the Sydney Super Cup.
The NSW government says Chelsea FC and Tottenham Hotspur have both confirmed as the headline clubs for the event, a four-team tournament staged in Sydney with the English Premier League clubs taking on Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers before facing off against each other.
The matches will be held at Accor Stadium and Allianz Stadium, beginning in July.
Steve Kamper, the NSW minister for tourism, said:
Sydney has kicked another goal as Australia’s home of football, with two of the world’s best clubs coming to compete in the Sydney Super Cup 2026.
These four matches will give visiting fans the chance an extended stay in our beautiful harbour city, taking in our iconic natural attractions and vibrant cultural experiences in one of the world’s great sporting destinations.
Updated
Pedestrian dies after car crashes into Melbourne medical centre
A man has died after a car crashed into a medical centre in the Melbourne suburb of Niddrie this morning.
Victoria police said emergency services were called to the area about 9.30am amid reports a car had struck a pedestrian on the footpath before crashing inside the building. The male pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene. A woman inside the medical centre was also struck by the vehicle and airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.
The driver of the car, a 63-year-old man, was taken to the hospital with injuries under a police guard.
No charges have been laid. Police have opened an investigation into the matter.
Updated
Anika Wells claimed more than $8,500 for family travel to Melbourne during AFL grand final weekends over three years
Anika Wells claimed more than $8,500 in family travel expenses to Melbourne during AFL grand final weekends in 2022, 2023 and 2024, when she received free suite tickets to the matches.
The minister for communications and sport has stood by her use of family travel expenses as within the rules, but the Coalition opposition is demanding reforms to expense rules and an inquiry into Wells’ spending by the independent parliamentary expenses authority (IPEA), which tracks and reports politicians’ spending on travel and office expenses.
On Monday, the Nine newspapers reported Wells had used family travel entitlements – available to all MPs to help politicians stay connected with their families – to fly her husband from Brisbane to Melbourne for the Boxing Day cricket test in 2022 and 2024.
It came after revelations Wells had used the entitlement to fly family members to the Thredbo ski resort and the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix, as well as scrutiny of her travel to France for sporting events, to Adelaide for meetings coinciding with a friend’s birthday, and nearly $100,000 in air fares for the minister and two staff to fly to New York City.
Read more here:
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Ed Husic to lead new inquiry into credit card companies
Labor MP Ed Husic will lead a new parliamentary inquiry into how credit card companies and digital wallet providers treat their customers.
The House of Representatives economics committee has announced the new inquiry, promising consumers will have the chance to give their views on fairness, competitiveness and affordability of the products.
Husic announced the inquiry as Christmas spending ramps up. Last year, Australians spent nearly $70bn online, a new record. Year-on-year spending grew by about 12% in 2024.
The inquiry will take into account concerns raised by small business operators, and the way technology could shape the future of payments. It will also consider digital currencies and blockchain technology.
“The way credit card systems work, their costs and other impacts on everyday consumers really matters to Australians confronting cost of living challenges,” Husic said, adding:
After spending up ahead of Christmas, many Aussie consumers will scan a sharp eye over their credit card statements and ask questions about how they’re charged.
Running a small business is hard work. Minimising costs and overheads is a priority for Australia’s small business people who are always looking for payment systems that can offer a better deal and make their lives easier.
The closing date for submissions is 30 January 2026. A final report is expected by April.
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Chalmers: Coalition ‘now so bad not even Barnaby Joyce wants to hang around them’
Chalmers was just asked about Barnaby Joyce’s decision to join One Nation. He said:
The Coalition is now so bad that not even Barnaby Joyce wants to hang around them. And I think that says something about the Coalition.
The Coalition is so divided and so divisive and so bereft of any economic credibility that they’re losing members left, right and centre. And this is what happens when a Coalition major party goes out of its way just to be a pale imitation of One Nation.
Updated
Federal energy rebates will not be extended, Jim Chalmers says
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is speaking in Canberra, where he just announced the federal government’s energy bill rebates will not continue.
Chalmers is speaking to the press ahead of the release of the upcoming mid-year budget update, which he said would include “savings” and “difficult decisions”.
“And one of them is around these energy bill rebates,” he said. “The main game for the budget is obviously May, a big focus there will be to balance these two challenges.”
He added:
There have been three rounds of electricity bill rebates, and there won’t be a fourth. … These electricity bill rebates are an important part of the budget, but not a permanent feature of the budget.
Chalmers said changes to federal tax rates were a better system to permanently help with the cost of living.
Updated
New Zealand man allegedly caught trying to bring $10m of heroin into Australia
A 21-year-old New Zealander has been caught allegedly attempting to bring $10m worth of heroin in floral-patterned bags from Thailand to Australia.
The man flew into Sydney Airport on Sunday and was chosen for a baggage examination by Border Force officers, who searched his two suitcases, according to the Australian Federal Police.
Officers allegedly found 21 floral-patterned, vacuum sealed bags with a combined weight of 21kg, containing a white powdery substance, which testing determined was heroin.
Police said the heroin would have had an estimated street value over $10m and accounted for about 100,000 street-level sales had it reached the Australian community.
AFP officers arrested the man at the airport and he was charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, an offence with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. He was expected to face court today.
Updated
Littleproud says Joyce’s move to One Nation ‘about Barnaby wanting to be leader of a party’
David Littleproud has condemned Barnaby Joyce’s move to One Nation after the Nationals supported him “during his darkest moments,” saying the split was driven by Joyce’s ambitions.
Littleproud has circulated a statement saying Joyce has broken his contract with his constituents and disappointed local Nationals branch members and volunteers. He said:
The Nationals supported Barnaby through many difficult times, including during his darkest moments.
Barnaby has chosen to turn his back on the Nationals and on his electorate and instead join a party of protest, which is never able to achieve anything other than headlines.
Joyce’s move, confirmed by Pauline Hanson this morning, will see him lead One Nation’s Senate ticket in NSW at the next federal election and has sparked speculation he could take over from Hanson as party leader.
Littleproud claimed that prospect motivated Joyce’s split:
I have never had a personal issue or problem with Barnaby Joyce. This issue is about Barnaby wanting to be the leader of a party.
Read more here:
Updated
Gambling and tobacco firms to lose R&D tax incentives
The government has released draft legislation to strip gambling and tobacco firms from research and development tax concessions from July next year.
The government announced the planned change to the R&D incentive scheme at last December’s mid-year budget, after Jim Chalmers said he thought it was “problematic” that poker machine and betting companies were allowed to claim the government tax credits.
The assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino, said in a statement:
These exclusions will ensure taxpayers are not subsidising this kind of research and development that can exacerbate serious health risks, addiction and associated harms.
Tabcorp had an R&D budget of $43.8m in 2022-23, according to the Australian Taxation Office’s latest report on the tax incentive, while pokies businesses Aristocrat Leisure and Ainsworth Game Technology had R&D budget of $19m and $7.9m, respectively.
There would be a carveout for R&D activities related to harm minimisation, Mulino said.
Updated
Health experts on US hepatitis B vaccine reversal: ‘no suggestion of any change to Australian recommendations’
Australian health experts have expressed significant concern after the US reversed the longstanding recommendation that all medically stable newborns who meet a weight threshold receive their first dose of hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth.
Since routine childhood vaccination began in Australia, hepatitis B rates in young people have fallen by a 60%.
Hepatitis Australia and the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine are urging Australians to maintain routine hepatitis B vaccinations for newborns.
“Australia’s hepatitis B vaccination program is safe, effective and has been proven to save lives,” Hepatitis Australia CEO Lucy Clynes said.
The birth dose remains an essential part of protecting babies from a virus that can quietly cause lifelong liver damage and even fatal liver cancer. Parents should know that there is no suggestion of any change to Australian recommendations.
Prof Jane Davies, an infectious diseases expert who chairs Hepatitis Australia’s research and clinical advisory group, said hepatitis B can be passed from mother to child during birth.
Without vaccination, babies who are exposed to the virus have around a 90% chance of developing chronic hepatitis B.
Updated
Three charged across Australia over banned Nazi symbols
The AFP has charged three people across Australia for allegedly displaying or distributing prohibited Nazi symbols.
The federal police charged a 43-year-old UK citizen in Queensland with allegedly displaying Nazi symbols. It came ahead of a separate national blitz that also saw police charge a 21-year-old Queensland man, while a 25-year-old Sydney man was served a court attendance notice.
Police allege the UK citizen used two different handles on X to display the symbols, which violated the law, between October and November. While the first account was allegedly blocked, police claim the man kept posting on a second account.
The man has been charged with three counts of public display of Nazi symbols and one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence. The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years and three years imprisonment, respectively. He faced Caboolture magistrates court on 3 December, with the matter adjourned until 7 January.
The AFP’s national security investigations team has conducted a separate operation to disrupt the importation and sale of prohibited symbols across NSW, Queensland, WA and Victoria.
As part of that operation, police arrested the 21-year-old Queensland man, charging him with two counts of possessing possessing or controlling violent extremist material. He appeared before Brisbane magistrates court on Friday, with the matter adjourned until 16 January. The 25-year-old Sydney man was issued with a court attendance notice for allegedly using a Nazi salute at a public gathering in Sydney.
AFP assistant commissioner Stephen Nutt said:
This week of disruption was as much about ensuring people were not inadvertently committing criminal offences as it was about bolstering our efforts to safeguard social cohesion.
Updated
NSW firefighter died while ‘checking in on colleagues’, RFS commissioner says
The NSW emergency services minister, Jihad Dib, and the NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner, Trent Curtin, have provided more detail about the firefighter’s death, as well as an update on the current risks posed by bushfires in the state.
Dib says there are still 52 fires burning, with nine of those still yet to be contained. More than 500 firefighting personnel are in the field, as well as 160 vehicles.
Curtin says the blaze at Bulahdelah is now 3,500 hectares in size. He says the 59-year-old firefighter died “moving around the fire ground, checking in on colleagues, making sure everyone was safe and making sure everyone had the right information on the fire ground”.
Curtin said high fire danger conditions expected tomorrow would not be as severe as the extreme conditions experienced across the state on the weekend.
About 100 firefighters are still fighting the blaze in Koolewong, where at least 16 homes have been lost. A large, uncontrolled fire burning in Milsons Gully is about 11,000 hectares in size.
“It’s a very, very large fire, and it’s going to take a while for us to be able to bring that fire under control,” says Curtin.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce joins One Nation
Pauline Hanson says Barnaby Joyce has joined One Nation.
In a statement, Hanson says the former Nationals leader will become a One Nation MP in the lower house “until the next federal election, at which he would lead the party’s New South Wales Senate ticket”. He will be One Nation’s sole representative in the lower house.
Joyce reportedly confirmed the move on Tamworth radio, saying: “Pauline made an offer to me to come to One Nation, and I have taken that up.”
In a statement, Hanson said: “I welcome Barnaby Joyce to One Nation.”
I have always been very straightforward about asking Mr Joyce to join our team, and on making it clear this was always his decision. I am pleased he’s chosen One Nation, and I welcome his experience, his advice and his determination to get a fair go for farmers and regional Australia. Mr Joyce strengthens One Nation’s position in parliament just as many Australians are strengthening our position in the polls.
I look forward to working with Mr Joyce and One Nation’s Senate team as we continue to expose and oppose the Albanese Labor government’s agenda.
Updated
Firefighter killed fighting NSW blaze identified as 59-year-old man
The NSW environment minister, Penny Sharpe, has provided more details on the death of a firefighter battling a blaze in Bulahdelah on the mid north coast overnight.
Sharpe says the family of the firefighter, a 59-year-old-man, have now been notified. She says he was a field officer with the National Parks and Wildlife Service who started working for the service in 1996.
It is believed the experienced firefighter and divisional commander suffered a cardiac arrest after being struck by a falling tree. Sharpe says national parks staff performed CPR until ambulance crews arrived, but he could not be saved at the scene and died there.
Sharpe says:
My thoughts are with his family, but my thoughts are also with the National Parks and Wildlife Service. This is a very close and well networked group with someone who has been in service for that long. There are many people who are touched today, as are all of the firefighters who work so closely together between the RFS and National Parks and Wildlife Service.
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Early bushfires a ‘timely reminder’ to update emergency plans, minister says
Kristy McBain, the minister for emergency management, has said the latest spate of bushfires serves as a “timely reminder” to Australians to make sure their emergency plans are up to date.
McBain spoke to ABC News after a firefighter died on a fireground in NSW. About 60 bushfires are still burning across the state. She said:
I think it is again a timely reminder for Australians to make sure they have an emergency plan, make sure it is communicated with family and friends, have an evacuation kit ready, including a wireless and batteries, in case you lose main electricity, and make sure you are aware of where your evacuation places are.
It is really important, I think, that we continue to prepare and heed the advice of emergency services in times of disaster, and this early bushfire onset has absolutely made clear that we need to have those things in place and ready to go.
Updated
More than a dozen opportunities missed to detect notorious Queensland paedophile’s offending, report finds
There were more than a dozen missed opportunities to detect the offences of paedophile childcare manager Ashley Paul Griffith in Queensland, a new report has found.
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, this morning held a press conference to release the results of an investigation into Griffith’s offences.
Griffith was convicted of 307 charges against 70 children over 20 years in Brisbane and Italy last year. He’s also alleged to have offended in NSW.
The Queensland Family and Child Commission’s child death review board has investigated how Griffith was able to offend for a year.
The report has yet to be released, but at a press conference this morning Crisafulli has said the government would fast-track a reportable conduct scheme.
The attorney general, Deb Frecklington, said there were more than a dozen opportunities to detect his offending.
“This offender could have been stopped and should have been stopped,” she said, blaming the former Labor government for not introducing a reportable conduct scheme. Griffith’s offending was repeatedly reported to the police, but was eventually detected as a result of videos he posted online anonymously.
Updated
SA Liberals confirm Ashton Hurn as new leader
Ashton Hurn has been installed as the new leader of South Australia’s Liberal party, just months before the state’s next election.
The ABC reports Hurn was elected unanimously.
Hurn replaces Vincent Tarzia, who stepped down on Friday, the fourth Liberal leadership change nationally in a month.
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Queensland Museum accused of misleading teachers and children about the cause of climate change
Queensland Museum has been accused of misleading teachers and children about the root cause of the climate crisis through a multimillion-dollar education partnership with one of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies.
Shell’s Queensland Gas Company has been sponsoring the museum’s Future Makers learning program since 2015 and produces teaching materials as well as running free professional development courses for teachers.
But a review of the program’s climate change materials carried out by climate advocacy group Comms Declare claimed they ignore the root cause of the climate crisis: the burning of fossil fuels, including gas.
Belinda Noble, founder of Comms Declare, said: “This is climate obstruction dressed up as education. We wouldn’t let big tobacco sponsor teaching materials – fossil fuel companies shouldn’t shape how kids learn about the climate.”
Read more here:
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Government fund lends $45m to Arnott’s to help Tim Tams go global
The government’s National Reconstruction Fund has lent Arnott’s Group $45m to help support the Australian name to take Tim Tams worldwide.
The money will be used to refinance $1.75bn in debt that comes due in 2026, which is earmarked for “planned future growth capital expenditure”.
Tim Tams are already stocked in all major British supermarkets and are reportedly selling well – Brits have bought more than 5 million packets since the biscuits hit shelves in April 2024.
The NRF has $15bn in taxpayer money to invest in the country’s manufacturing capability, and recently also lent $36m to the country’s biggest meat pie maker, Patties Food Group.
Arnott’s has been around since 1865 and employs 2,500 people across five facilities.
While Arnott’s is an iconic Australian name, the company is owned by American private equity giant KKR, which bought the company from Campbell Soup Company in 2019.
Arnott’s has not been Australian owned since 1997.
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NSW joins high court fight against court challenge to social media ban
The NSW government will fight against a high court challenge arguing Australia’s social media ban is a breach of the constitution, AAP reports.
The case, led by two teenagers and supported by the “Digital Freedom Project” argues banning kids from social media infringes on implied freedom of communication. The ban takes effect on Wednesday – the deadline for social media platforms to restrict Australians aged under 16 from holding accounts.
Chris Minns said his government would join South Australia in intervening in the proceedings after being a leading advocate for stronger protections for children online. The premier said:
I’ve said before, social media is this giant global unregulated experiment on children. These laws put responsibility where it belongs – on the platforms themselves. If they fail to protect young people, there must be consequences.
We will seek to be heard in the high court challenge because the principle at the heart of this reform is simple: when something threatens to harm our kids, we act.
You can read more here from our technology reporter Josh Taylor on how Australia became a testing ground for a social media ban:
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Some images from the bushfire-affected Koolewong area in NSW
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Another legal challenge to Queensland’s ban on puberty blockers
Queensland’s LGBTI Legal Service has filed a second challenge to the state’s controversial ban on puberty blockers, on behalf of a client who was denied treatment in the state system.
The government first banned public health services from prescribing puberty blockers to “new patients” in January.
In October, the supreme court ruled the first ban was unlawful, due to a lack of consultation. The government instituted a second ban within hours of it being overturned.
The young person at the centre of the case was deemed a “new patient” under the first ban in January, and subsequently sought treatment for gender dysphoria as a private patient. Private treatments can be significantly more expensive.
After the first ban was overturned, the young person then sought treatment as a public patient, on the grounds they were not a “new patient” because they had begun gender-affirming care before the second ban was implemented. They claim they were refused treatment.
The court challenge seeks an order that anyone who began gender-affirming care before 28 October – when the second ban was instituted – should not be considered a “new patient”.
The mother of the young person said:
The ministerial direction was made with lightning speed but, yet again, was made without input from trans young people and their parents and without consulting anyone with expertise in treating trans young people.
Seven hours wasn’t even long enough for the minister to prepare a direction that was clear and unambiguous, let alone adequately consider all of the issues.
The legal services says it has lodged separate discrimination and human rights cases.
Complaint argues Melbourne CBD designation in breach of human rights charter
The challenge over the Melbourne CBD “designated area” will argue the six-month designation over such a large area is invalid because it is not “necessary” to address the risk of weapons offences and that it is a breach of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, including people’s rights to peaceful assembly and privacy, as well as freedom of expression and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention.
It also argues that police powers in designated areas – requiring people to remove face coverings and ordering them to move on if they refuse – are unconstitutional because they interfere with the protected freedom of political communication, which includes the right to peaceful assembly.
Tarneen Onus Browne says they are bringing the case because they are worried about the impact of the designated area on human rights and safety in the CBD – including during the Invasion Day rally. They said:
These new police powers will supercharge the harassment and targeting of our community on this important day, and deter First Nations people and allies from showing up and exercising their right to protest. Every year we tell people to wear facemasks at Invasion Day to protect all of us from spreadable illnesses like Covid-19, especially disabled people and our Elders. Empowering police to order protesters to remove their facemasks endangers us all.
Zable – whose retired versions of his Greedozer costume are on display in the National Museum of Australia in Canberra and at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney – says it is both performance art and a political statement. Recently, he’s been told to remove it in the CBD:
I go to many protests in the Melbourne CBD, which is the heart of protest in the city. I have already been told to remove my mask in designated areas. I’m worried that police will now have more powers to use more violence against me, as well as other people who wear masks for all sorts of reasons, including vulnerable people.
Updated
Legal challenge to new police powers in Melbourne CBD
Two Victorians have filed a legal and constitutional challenge against a police decision to declare Melbourne’s CBD and its surrounds a “designated area” for six months, allowing for warrantless pat-down searches.
Tarneen Onus Browne and Benny Zable will hold a press conference this morning to announce the challenge, which they want heard by the federal court before an Invasion Day rally planned for 26 January.
Onus Browne is a Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta, Bindal and Meriam community organiser involved in the annual Naarm Invasion Day rally in Melbourne’s CBD, while Zable is an 80-year-old performance artist, who has worn his “Greedozer” costume – complete with a gas mask – to hundreds of environmental and anti-war actions protests.
Their lawyer Sarah Schwartz from the Human Rights Law Centre says:
We’re proud to represent Tarneen and Benny to challenge this decision by the assistant commissioner of Victoria police to hand police extraordinary powers to stop and search anyone in the city for the next six months, for no reason, and order people to leave the designated area if they refuse a request to remove their face mask.
This is about pushing back against ever-expanding police powers in Victoria which make all of us less safe in our own city. The powers provided to Victoria police within designated areas are extraordinary and ripe for abuses of power.
Updated
Albanese and Ley respond to tragic firefighter death
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has issued a statement after the death of a firefighter who was battling a blaze at Bulahdelah on the NSW mid-north coast.
Albanese said:
My heart goes out to the loved ones and colleagues of the firefighter who has tragically lost their life in the Bulahdelah bushfire. All Australians are thinking of you in your time of grief.
This terrible news is a sombre reminder of the dangers that our emergency services personnel face to keep our homes and communities safe – and the extraordinary courage that their job demands. We honour that bravery, every day.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has also responded to the “devastating news” via a post to X.
All Australians are with the firefighter’s family, friends and the team who worked beside him. Our emergency services put themselves in harm’s way to keep Australians safe. Today we mourn this terrible loss.
Nineteen homes lost in Tasmania bushfires and 16 in NSW blazes
There are 60 bushfires burning across NSW this morning and 11 in Tasmania, with many spurred by hot, dry, windy conditions just a few days into summer.
The NSW Rural Fire Service said last night at least 16 homes have been destroyed and nine others damaged during a devastating blaze in Koolewong on the Central Coast north of Sydney.
In Tasmania’s Dolphin Sands, 33 homes have sustained damage in a bushfire, 19 of which have been completely destroyed. Officials have warned that increasing winds and debris pose ongoing safety risks to the area.
Updated
NSW national parks service confirms firefighter killed by tree at Bulahdelah
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) just released a statement after the premier confirmed a firefighter died overnight battling a blaze.
Alex Graham, the deputy secretary of the NPWS, said in a statement:
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service is very saddened to confirm the death of one of our firefighters overnight.
At approximately 11pm Sunday the firefighter was struck by a tree while working on a bushfire at Bulahdelah on the state’s Mid North Coast.
Fellow firefighters provided first aid until NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived at the scene.
Our thoughts are with the firefighter’s family during this difficult time.
Updated
‘It’s a very, very sad day’
Jihad Dib, the NSW emergency services minister, said the firefighter who died was working with the national parks and wildlife firefighting team on the mid-north coast.
It’s just a reminder of the dangers that firefighters face. And these are people who put themselves in harm’s way to protect community. And this particular person has made the ultimate sacrifice. It’s a very, very sad day for all of us.
Updated
Bragg to say it’s ‘not a good thing’ homes are ‘largely unaffordable’
Andrew Bragg’s housing speech this afternoon will urge the Liberals to seriously consider policies that will seriously address housing affordability for younger people.
Referencing former prime minister John Howard’s quote on rising house prices being a good thing in 2003, Bragg will acknowledge the cost of buying a first home is now “too high” in Australia.
Bragg will say:
It is not a good thing that first homes in this country are largely unaffordable. Try telling a 30 year old who has been working and saving for 10 years that it’s good that house prices continue to rise faster than their salary. Housing cannot be a zero sum game. It cannot be treated wholly as an investment opportunity. Australia is a home owning democracy. If people don’t own homes, our system falls apart.
The shadow housing minister will say the $5bn pledge under former opposition leader, Peter Dutton, to develop greenfield sites was a good start but not nearly enough.
Bragg will address cutting migration as an option in reducing housing demand but that it will not “singularly fix the housing crisis”:
We also have to make sure that migration policies are driving people into the country who can actually build homes. We are short 80,000 tradies. Last year, we only received 4,000 on visas.
More than a dozen homes lost in bushfires on NSW Central Coast
Chris Minns said more than a dozen houses were lost on the Central Coast of NSW, but the situation could have been much worse.
I’m very grateful that people listen to police and firefighters, particularly on the Central Coast, because the situation could have been far, far worse.
We lost more than a dozen houses, but no lives were lost on the Central Coast, and I think that’s because of the hard work and dedication of firefighters, but also the fact that members of the community were prepared, listened to emergency services, and got out when they were told to.
Updated
Firefighter dies in NSW during bushfires
New South Wales premier Chris Minns has said a member of the national parks firefighting team has died on firegrounds in the state.
Minns said a man was likely killed by a tree, “obviously a terrible reminder of how difficult and dangerous this work is and how the people who put their lives on the line to protect lives and property do an incredible job for us in this state”.
“It’s a deeply distressing turn of events, and a sad day for New South Wales this morning,” Minns told ABC News Breakfast.
There are about 700 firefighters across NSW working today to contain the blazes, including nine that remain uncontained.
Minns said it was “quite a foreboding beginning to the beginning of the bushfire season”.
Updated
Report finds many Australians with psychosocial disabilities falling through support gap
More than 130,000 Australians with psychosocial disabilities are slipping through a support gap, receiving neither NDIS or health system care, a new report by the Grattan Institute has found.
The report, released Sunday night, said the NDIS provided nearly $6bn to support about 66,000 people with psychosocial disabilities last year but more than 130,000 received nothing from either the disability insurance scheme or mental health system.
The institute’s disability program director, Sam Bennett, said a new national program should be established outside the NDIS but using existing contributions to fix the gap without adding to the scheme’s funding pressures.
Bennett said:
Rebalancing the system so there are stronger recovery-oriented supports available inside and outside the NDIS would transform the lives of Australians with psychosocial disability and make better use of existing funds.
Liberal party’s future tied to strong housing policy, shadow minister says
The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg, will tie the Liberal’s future to adopting a strong housing policy, sounding the alarm at a centre-right event this afternoon.
Bragg, one of the party’s leading moderates, will use the address at the Centre of Independent Studies event in Sydney to warn that depopulation in former Liberal inner-city strongholds will cost the party even more votes in future elections.
In a broad speech on housing policy ideas – yet to be officially adopted by the opposition – Bragg will suggest upzoning (rezoning areas for taller buildings) and gentle density (increasing density in single-detached neighbourhoods) could increase housing supply and construction productivity in the short-term.
The shadow housing minister will say:
Put simply, we need more buildings. It doesn’t matter what they are. We need to build like mad. We need to think outside the box – every back yard could potentially host a new house or granny flat if the owner wanted it.
Good morning
Good morning, and happy Monday. Nick Visser here to jumpstart the day’s blog. Here’s what’s on deck:
Andrew Bragg, the shadow housing minister, will use a speech later today to tie the future of the Liberal party to a strong housing policy. He will suggest upzoning and gentle density could increase housing supply and construction productivity in an address at the Centre of Independent Studies.
Dozens of homes have been destroyed across New South Wales and Tasmania amid a spate of bushfires, spurred by hot, dry, windy conditions this weekend. 60 fires are still burning across NSW and 11 in Tasmania.
Stick with us.
