What we learned: Sunday 2 November
And that’s where we’ll leave you this afternoon. Here’s a summary of what learned today:
Anthony Albanese has said he’d like to see “more cooperation” between China and the US on AI, but felt that the meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping in Korea this week was “an important step forward”.
The Nationals have unanimously decided to scrap net zero commitments after a party room meeting this morning.
Nationals leader David Littleproud said he informed Liberal leader Sussan Ley of the details of the policy position the Nationals were considering days ago and she was “fully cognisant” of the proposal.
Nine people attending a school fair were injured by giant hailstones in a supercell thunderstorm in Queensland yesterday and a woman attending a wedding in Biloela was hospitalised after giant hailstones, rain and destructive winds pummelled parts of Australia’s east on Saturday afternoon.
The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, defended his current overhaul of environmental laws, including the powers of the minister to still approve projects going ahead on grounds of national interest – even if they are deemed too damaging to the environment.
The Liberals are “not ruling anything out” when it comes to their revised energy policy – including abandonment of the Paris agreement – shadow minister for the environment, Angie Bell, has said.
All passengers who were onboard the luxury Coral Adventurer cruise have been disembarked and flown home after the 60-day journey was cancelled after less than a week after the death of passenger Suzanne Rees, aged 80.
Thanks so much for your company this afternoon. Politics Live will be back bright and early tomorrow morning. Until then, look after yourselves.
Updated
2,500 homes still without power in Queensland after weekend’s storms
About 2,500 homes remained without power in Queensland this afternoon as the state attempts to recover after wild storms on Saturday.
Representatives for the State Emergency Service told media earlier today that it received about 226 calls in a 24-hour period with 102 requests for assistance. About 90 calls were from the Toowoomba region in the path of the supercell storm activity.
The storm brought power lines down in some parts of Queensland, and hailstones reported to be as large as 7cm.
Updated
Acoss says Nationals’ net zero abandonment will harm people in regional Australia
More reaction here to the Nationals’ decision to formally abandon the party’s commitment to net zero, with the Australian Council for Social Service (Acoss) saying the decision will harm people and communities already experiencing disadvantage.
Acoss chief executive Cassandra Goldie said:
This decision shows a reckless disregard for the climate crisis and the people already suffering its effects.
People and communities experiencing disadvantage, including those in regional and rural Australia, are bearing the brunt of more frequent and severe heatwaves, storms, floods and fires.
The community sector sees first-hand the enormous impact climate change is having on people’s mental and physical health, as well as their housing security.
Removing support for net zero will expose the people doing toughest to even greater harm.
We need all political parties to clearly support decisive action on climate change to reduce harm, safeguard communities and create a fairer, more resilient Australia.
Updated
Victoria experiences ambulance delays as long weekend and heat stretches resources
Warm weather and a public holiday long weekend have led to an influx of patients seeking emergency help, resulting in an alert being activated for Victoria’s ambulance service, AAP reports.
Ambulance Victoria activated a code orange alert on Saturday night for the Melbourne and Geelong areas following a significant increase in demand for services – about 5% to 10% cent higher than expected.
The chief executive, Jordan Emery, said:
In part, that’s been driven by the spring carnival festivities and the warmer weather, with more Victorians out and about enjoying the warm weather.
Alcohol consumption and related harms increased due to the spring carnival festivities, while elderly people and those with pre-existing medical conditions were more vulnerable to the heat, Emery said.
Yesterday we saw an increase in fainting-type episodes, more than we would ordinarily expect, and the heat, dehydration and alcohol consumption are all drivers behind some of that increased activity.
The code orange, which signalled a surge in demand, was formally stood down on Sunday morning, but Emery said the alert didn’t continue throughout the night:
It was particularly accentuated between 11pm and midnight last night, but we maintained the code orange through until 8am because it’s a very significant process, and we try and minimise disruption to our people overnight by only standing down the code orange in the morning.
Emery said there had been no reports of any harm related to the alert being activated, only that people have had to wait longer for an ambulance. A portion of those patients could have accessed healthcare through Victoria’s virtual emergency department, their general practitioner, an urgent care centre or a pharmacy, he added.
Ambulance Victoria periodically activates the alert, including during winter when respiratory illness and influenza cause increased demand on ambulance services. There is a system-wide structure in place to help free up ambulances, supported by triage teams and other health options, including virtual help services.
Updated
Nationals’ dropping of net zero ‘profoundly out of touch’, says Zali Steggall
Independent MP Zali Steggall has said the Nationals decision to scrap net zero shows it is “profoundly out of touch with a modern resilient economy and captured by fossil fuel interests.”
In a statement this afternoon in response to the Nationals’ post-party room announcement, the Warringah MP said:
Climate science is unequivocal: the world must rapidly reduce carbon emissions to have any hope of averting the worst consequences of climate change.
Delaying action will cost lives and livelihoods and devastate communities, especially regional communities on the frontline of increasing drought, bushfire and flood risks and reduced agricultural yield.
The Nationals are turning their backs on the communities they claim to represent.
Regional Australia is on the frontline of climate disasters. In recent years, electorates in rural and regional Australia, including those held by the Nationals, have received the lion’s share of funding under the federal government’s disaster recovery arrangements.
While the Nationals’ decision to walk away from net-zero is disappointing, it won’t stop the climate action that is already transforming Australia and the world. The clean energy transition will continue because industries, investors and the vast majority of Australians know where the future lies.
Updated
Nationals’ decision to ditch net zero ‘spells disaster’ for party, Hanson-Young says
The Nationals’ decision to abandon net zero “spells disaster for them” and their ambition to be in government, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has said.
Hanson-Young has been speaking to media in response to the Nationals’ unanimous party room decision earlier today to scrap their commitment to net zero by 2050. She said Australians “simply won’t be copping such a ridiculous policy from a party that thinks it should be in government”.
Hanson-Young continued:
This abandoning of net zero abandons taxpayers. It abandons future generations. It abandons investments. It abandons Australia’s role as a serious player in our region and our Pacific neighbours are going to be furious that they hear that this type of ridiculous snake oil of a policy is being promoted by the National party and indeed the Coalition.
The question I have for the Labor party now is how on earth can you work with such a ridiculous, out-of -touch party like the Coalition in order to pass your environment laws over the next few weeks, or indeed into next year?
And this is a party that clearly doesn’t care about the future of this country. The climate, our environment or our safety and security. The National party’s idiocy has ramifications that if it was taken on board, would put Australians lives at risk. It would put Australia’s economy at risk. It puts Australia’s safety and security in our region and around the world at risk.
The National party are living in a fantasy world where they think they can in any way be taken seriously. And this is abandoning not just net zero but any serious prospect of ever making it back to government.
Updated
Nationals yet to determine whether they’d drop out of Paris agreement on climate change
The Nationals haven’t determined that they are opposed to Australia being party to the Paris agreement, the international treaty on climate change, David Littleproud has said:
In terms of Paris, we haven’t said we [should] remove ourselves from Paris. It’s a way for us to be able to benchmark … we’re not in government and we would work through that [if we were].
Updated
Sussan Ley ‘fully cognisant of what we were considering’, Littleproud says of dropping net zero
David Littleproud said he informed Sussan Ley days ago of the details of the policy position the Nationals were considering – including research that had been commissioned months ago to support it – but would not divulge details of their conversation after the party room decision had been made today, only to say Ley was “fully cognisant of what we were considering”.
Updated
Littleproud asked whether Nationals willing to split from Coalition over net zero
Asked if the Nationals were willing to split from the Coalition again if the Liberal party decides on taking a different position to them, Littleproud says that’s a discussion for after the Liberal party has completed its own processes.
Littleproud said:
There’s a structured process, one in which the Liberal party has respected the sovereignty of our party room. We’ve got to our position before the Liberal party has settled theirs. So we’ll respect the Liberal party and the processes that they’re going to undertake. When that’s determined, then we’ll have those discussions after that.
Updated
‘Net zero is not the only way to reduce emissions and to address climate change,’ says Littleproud
David Littleproud says he expects that the “old arguments that we’re climate deniers and we’ve been left behind” will be trotted out in response to the Nationals’ announcement today, but that it “doesn’t advance the intellectual debate in this country at all”.
Littleproud says:
We’re up for this conversation to say to [Australians] that net zero is not the only way to reduce emissions and to address climate change. I challenge the prime minister to have that conversation without the puerile arguments […].
Littleproud then throws to deputy leader Kevin Hogan, who describes it as “an exciting day” but claims the party is “not walking away from emission reductions”:
I think Australians now have a choice. As David said, we have come up with a well-documented plan here that we think is cheaper, better and fairer. Now why do I say that we are not walking away from emission reductions? We are committed to emission reductions. That was both mentioned at our meeting yesterday, our federal council meeting, but also in our party room today.
There are there is a commitment to lower emissions. However, what we also want is we want Australian households, Australian businesses to have energy bills that they can afford.
Updated
‘Regional Australia is being torn apart’ by energy policy, Littleproud says
Nationals leader David Littleproud claims “regional Australia is being torn apart” by the government’s energy policy, and that there is “a better, cheaper, fairer way” to reduce emissions than net zero.
In justifying the Nationals’ policy change away from net zero, Littleproud said:
What we want to do is be responsible, be better in terms of the policy of getting practical measures on the ground to address climate change and our environment, empowering local communities to have a stronger, more resilient environment around adaptation. We’ve been focused solely on mitigation. And when you’re only a bit over 1% of total global emissions, you can hardly mitigate the world’s emissions. We should be looking and putting more into adaptation, empowering landholders to be able to have those environmental outcomes.
We need to prioritise cheaper energy and that is where we’ve made it very clear, very clear, around using technology, not just having an all-renewables approach.
Updated
Nationals scrapping net zero policy after party room meeting
The Nationals have unanimously decided to scrap net zero commitments after a party room meeting this morning.
Nationals leader David Littleproud is speaking to media now:
I’m proud to say that our party room has got to unanimous position of scrapping net zero commitments by 2050.
He goes on:
A little while ago we informed the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, of the National party’s decision to scrap net zero by 2050 and to set a policy platform predicated on principles about a better, cheaper, fairer way to reduce our emissions and to have an energy policy that will actually work for Australians.
Updated
Passengers flown home after Coral Adventurer cruise cancelled a week after passenger's death on Lizard Island
All passengers who were onboard the luxury Coral Adventurer cruise have been disembarked and flown home after the 60-day journey was cancelled after less than a week after the death of passenger Suzanne Rees, aged 80.
Rees was left on the Great Barrier Reef’s Lizard Island and wasn’t found until the next day.
On 25 October, the luxury cruise ship arrived on Lizard Island as part of a circumnavigation of Australia. Rees had to pull out of a planned hike to the island’s Cook’s Look summit.
The Coral Adventurer left Lizard Island at 3.40pm. It was five hours before authorities were alerted that she was missing, and a land and sea search-and-rescue operation was launched. Rees was found dead the next day.
The vessel stayed near Thursday Island from Wednesday until Saturday while it disembarked passengers. As of Sunday, all had disembarked and been flown home.
Coral Expeditions was expected to return to Cairns early this week, where the cruise ship was based. As of Sunday afternoon, it was tracking just south of Haggerston Island, near the Great Barrier Reef marine park off far north Queensland.
A spokesperson for Queensland police said the death, which would be investigated by the coroner, was “non-suspicious”.
Updated
Dfat trying to find out whether Australians affected by a mass stabbing attack on UK train
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is working to determine whether any Australians were affected by a mass stabbing attack on a London-bound train in the UK overnight.
British police said 10 people have been taken to hospitals, nine of them with life-threatening injuries, and two people have been arrested after the attack near the town of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, England.
A spokesperson for Dfat said in a statement:
The Australian Government is closely monitoring developments following a mass stabbing on a train in Huntingdon, UK. Our thoughts are with those injured and their loved ones.
Australian officials are urgently making enquiries with local authorities to determine whether any Australians have been affected. We stand ready to provide consular assistance.
Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 (if calling from overseas).
Updated
Ballarat Grammar board issues unreserved apology to its community after regulator imposes conditions on its boarding school
The board of Ballarat Grammar has issued an apology to its community after the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) banned the prestigious school from accepting new boarding students until it could prove it complied with child safety standards.
On Friday evening, VRQA’s CEO, Stefanie Veal, announced the regulator had imposed six interim conditions on the school’s boarding premises registration while it continued a review.
She said the conditions included that until the review was complete, “Ballarat Grammar is prohibited from enrolling or accepting any new students at its school boarding premises”.
As part of the conditions, Ballarat Grammar must notify the VRQA of any incident or complaint relating to child safety within 24 hours.
Ballarat Grammar has previously announced changes to its school leadership team and stronger boarding supervision after media reports in the ABC and Nine Newspapers alleged a hazing culture was operating at the school’s boarding houses by older schoolmates, prompting investigations by police and regulatory agencies.
In a statement on Sunday, the board said it accepted the “seriousness of the findings and the impact on students, families and the wider school community”.
We recognise that the events this year have not met our school community’s expectations, we unreservedly apologise ... The school will continue to undergo a period of transformation as we take sustained action to demonstrate that the School has addressed the VRQA’s findings and, most importantly, that students and families can continue to have full confidence in our commitment to safety, wellbeing, and care.
Updated
Chinese premier could visit Uluru next year, Albanese says
The prime minister says he’s “optimistic” about the future of global trade as he prepares for China’s premier to visit Australia next year, AAP reports.
As he wrapped up his visit to the Apec summit in South Korea, Anthony Albanese said China’s Li Qiang could travel to Uluru on his next trip to Australia.
Albanese said he encouraged his counterpart to do so when the pair met in Malaysia on Monday, arguing the visit could bring tourism benefits for the region.
He told Sky News on Sunday:
I think that would be a very good thing to showcase Central Australia to what is, after all, well over a billion people.
Li last visited Australia in mid-2024, which was widely seen as a warming of the relationship between Canberra and Beijing.
While Albanese met with a number of world leaders on the sidelines of Apec, the summit was overshadowed by major talks between the American and Chinese presidents in the South Korean port city of Busan.
The US and China have agreed to wind back some trade restrictions after Trump slapped tariffs on goods linked to production of the drug fentanyl, and Xi clamped down on the sale of crucial rare earth metals to the west. Both barriers will now be eased.
Albanese also indicated he had written to the Turkish prime minister as Australia tries to negotiate hosting rights for the UN climate conference in 2026. Turkey has lodged a rival bid for the Cop event and is refusing to budge.
Updated
Queensland premier says state cleaning up after weekend’s storms
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, has sought to reassure Queenslanders that the state is prepared for cleanup efforts after this weekend’s storms brought giant hail, downed trees, blocked roads and damaged buildings.
Since Saturday morning Queensland SES had received 277 requests for help, the vast majority of those for leaking and damaged roofs, with some of the most affected by the storms included Somerset, Brisbane and Ipswich, AAP reports.
Crisafulli said emergency crews had been busy overnight helping Queenslanders affected by the storms. One of the 120 attendees at a wedding at Biloela needed to be hospitalised after the wild weather.
Crisafulli said it had been a tough week with crop netting, irrigation equipment and some fruit and vegetables in Bundaberg also significantly affected by storms on Friday.
He said:
I want Queenslanders to know we’re prepared for this … I think that’s what makes the state so resilient, the ability to be able to deal with what Mother Nature throws at us.
Updated
Centrelink threatening payment suspensions at rate of five a minute, new analysis suggests
Centrelink has been issuing payment suspension notices to jobseekers and those on disability support pensions at a rate of more than five a minute, new analysis suggests, amid concerns over the legality of the troubled system.
In total, government data collated by the Antipoverty Centre shows there were 2,683,605 suspension actions between June 2024 and July 2025.
They have taken place under Centrelink’s mutual obligations regime, which is meant to ensure recipients are actively looking and preparing for work. If they do not fulfil activities – such as completing job applications or attending meetings with job providers – their payments can be suspended.
According to the Antipoverty Centre, the data shows this is still frequently occurring, despite new rules offering a five-day grace period for people to contact their job provider before their payments are blocked. However, the majority of suspensions are lifted before a person’s income is impacted.
Read the full exclusive story here:
Updated
Little Creatures recall batch of Hazy Lager beers
The producers of popular beer brand Little Creatures have issued a recall of a batch of its 375ml cans of Hazy Lager after it was found to be too strong and the cans potentially explosive due to over-fermentation.
In a product recall notice published by Food Standards Australia on Saturday, Lion - Beer, Spirits & Wine Pty Ltd said the affected batch was marked with the best-before date of 10/11/2025.
The problem was secondary fermentation, the notice said, adding:
Products affected may contain excess alcohol and carbonation, which can lead to over-pressurisation of the can. This may cause the can to burst, potentially resulting in injury.
Consumers were advised that they should not open or drink the product but rather dispose of it safely, and any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice.
The affected cans had been available for sale in Dan Murphy’s and BWS in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, IGA and Independent liquor retailers in NSW, and Coles in WA.
Updated
Albanese takes swipe at Sussan Ley while answering question about ‘Australian character’
Earlier we brought you some comments from Anthony Albanese in Korea after meeting with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the Apec summit. Taking questions from the media, the prime minister was asked about Trump as “a character”, and what they had in common.
Albanese responded:
We have got on very well in the phone conversations that we’ve had as well. I deal with people on an equal basis. I think Australians are like that. And I bring the Australian character to my prime ministership.
When asked what constituted the Australian character, the PM allowed himself a little snark, in reference to the recent Sussan Ley-led kerfuffle around him wearing a Joy Division T-shirt when he got off a flight from the US:
I think we’re all a bit different, but we’re all pretty relaxed, and we’re all straight-talking. We’re less formal than some cultures. That’s the truth. Some of us even wear T-shirts when we get off planes.
Updated
Liberals ‘not ruling out’ abandoning Paris agreement, Angie Bell says
The Liberals are “not ruling anything out” when it comes to their revised energy policy – including abandonment of the Paris agreement – shadow minister for the environment, Angie Bell, has said.
Speaking on the Sky News program, Sunday Agenda, Bell was at pains to note that the party was going through a long-term project to rethink their energy policy, including net zero, and were “not quite at the end of that process” yet.
Bell said:
On Friday, we had another meeting of the backbench and I was present at that meeting, and we all agreed that energy prices need to come down and that we need to do our part in global emissions. Now I don’t want to get ahead of that in respect for my colleagues. Dan Tehan is running that show [leading the review] and so I will leave that announcement of our policy to Dan and Sussan [Ley].
The process of reviewing the policy had been estimated to take between six and nine months, Bell said:
I think we’re around about month six. And so, I’m sure that in the coming weeks or months we will see what our position is. But we’re not in a hurry on this. This is a target for 2050, Andrew. We need to go through our proper processes to make sure that we’re right on this because, clearly, the Labor government is failing when it comes to energy prices.
Asked if the Coalition might resolve to abandon the Paris agreement, Bell said:
I’m not ruling anything out at this point … Again, that is part of our policy we will work through, in this process that we’re undertaking at the moment.
For more on the ructions in the Coalition over energy policy and net zero, take a look at this analysis from Guardian Australia’s Canberra bureau on Friday:
Updated
Giant hail and weather chaos leaves nine injured in Queensland
Nine people attending a school fair were injured by giant hailstones in a supercell thunderstorm in Queensland yesterday, AAP reports.
Giant hailstones, some measuring as big as 9cm, and heavy rain smashed south-east Queensland on Saturday afternoon.
Paramedics assessed nine people, all with hail-related injuries, at the 150th Anniversary of Esk State School, about an hour from Brisbane, on Saturday afternoon.
One woman was taken to Ipswich hospital with neck and head injuries, a man in his 20s was taken to Gatton hospital with minor burns, and two women – one in her 20s and another in her 30s – were taken to hospitals privately, also with minor injuries.
Updated
On the bulk-billing announcement this morning, Guardian Australia’s health reporter Natasha May spoke to GPs and practices, who don’t all accept the government’s claims that the scheme will help as much as they say it will.
Prior to the election, GPs were already warning that not everyone would make changes to bulk billing if the incentives were too low:
This feature, from April, paints a picture of why the outcomes of the funding aren’t as obvious as the government would like them to appear:
If you’d like a little refresher on the politics of the overhaul of federal environmental laws, Guardian Australia’s climate and environment editor Adam Morton had this analysis last week:
He writes:
There are some things we know. The proposed changes to the EPBC Act do not deal with its fundamental problem: despite its name, the law does not prioritise protecting the environment. Its principle role is to allow projects – including fossil fuel developments – to go ahead, with some conditions attached to limit environmental damage.
That approach has failed, partly because the environment minister of the day has a remarkable amount of discretion to approve what they see fit. Ministers have routinely approved offsets that do not compensate for the nature that has been lost. Conditions have not been enforced. The cumulative impacts of multiple developments have not been considered.
… Added up, it means major surgery will be needed to address the systemic problems set out in the last major state of the environment report. The risk is that the overhaul ends up as tinkering rather than transformation.
Updated
Giving Canavan and Joyce responsibility for climate policy ‘like handing Dracula the keys to the blood bank’, Watt says
Giving Matthew Canavan and “the ghost of Barnaby Joyce” responsibility for climate and energy policy “is like handing Dracula the keys to the blood bank,” the environment minister, Murray Watt, has said.
Commenting on ABC TV’s Insiders on the expectation that the Nationals will formally drop their commitment to a net zero target by 2050 today, Watt said it seemed like “the tail wagging the dog in the Coalition”.
He continued:
We’ve got the National party which didn’t even rate 4% of the vote in the last federal election dictating terms to the Liberal party who claim to be the majority party in a Coalition. It’s a repeat of what we saw with nuclear, where the National party went out first, dragged the Liberal party into supporting nuclear only to be resoundingly rejected by the Australian people at the last election.
I mean, the idea that you would hand over climate and energy policy to the likes of Matthew Canavan and the ghost of Barnaby Joyce is like handing Dracula the keys to the blood bank. Half the National party don’t believe in climate change, the other half just want to wish it away. What they are doing in dragging the Liberal party to this position is getting in the way of the incredible economic opportunity that transitioning to net zero provides.
So it’s a real test for the Liberal party about whether they’re going to continue being dictated to by a junior partner in their coalition who doesn’t believe in climate change or whether they’re going to get with the rest of the world and take the economic opportunities that transition involves.
Updated
Watt says Labor doesn’t have a policy to end native forest logging
Asked if he wanted native forest logging to continue (it’s not banned in the legislation, despite the significant negative environmental impact that it has), Watt dodges the question by saying the party doesn’t have a specific policy of ending native forest logging.
He continued:
What we have said, though, is that we will follow the recommendation from Graeme Samuel to apply national environmental standards to the regional forestry agreements that are used for native forestry, so what that means in practice is that native forestry would need to meet higher environmental standards than are currently required under the legislation. That’s a big step forward in terms of the environmental management of native forestry. But it doesn’t go as far as what the Greens party is seeking in being an all-out ban.
Updated
Watt admits nothing in nature laws to prevent fossil fuel projects
Watt admitted there’s nothing in the proposed legislation to stop a coal or a gas project going ahead:
Not in its own right. We haven’t taken the approach of saying that particular projects are altogether banned. Every project will be assessed on its merits whether it be a coal and gas project, whether it be a housing and renewable project, they have all got to demonstrate they’re not having a significant impact on one of the nine matters of national environmental significance under the act.
The legislation wouldn’t alter “whether a project can or can’t go ahead” but rather determines a criteria to be used to decide if a project should go ahead, he said.
Watt continued:
If a coal or gas development was seeking approval, then it would need to meet the national environmental standards. It would need to avoid and minimise its environmental impacts and offset them to achieve a net gain. So they would be improvements compared to the criteria that apply to a project at the moment. If it was considered to have an unacceptable impact on the environment then it would get knocked back as would a housing development or a renewable project.
We’re not trying to sort of put in particular criteria for particular sectors. What we’re trying to do is put in a balanced package for all sorts of projects, for all industries, that deliver environmental and business gains.
Updated
Murray Watt defends overhaul of environmental laws
The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, has been defending his current overhaul of environmental laws, including the powers of the minister to still approve projects going ahead on grounds of national interest – even if they are deemed too damaging to the environment.
Watt has been speaking to ABC TV’s Insiders program this morning. He claimed the new laws would provide more clarity than the current legislation on what would be an unacceptable impact on the environment. He said:
Under the current legislation, a minister can knock back a project if it’s going to be clearly unacceptable, but there’s no definition of what that means in the current legislation.
What we’re seeking to do through these reforms is actually provide a definition of what would be considered an unacceptable impact on the environment and would therefore would get a no. The sort of things we’re talking about in that definition are, for example, if something was going to seriously impair or have irreplaceable damage to a particular environmental matter, and some of the examples I have given have been if, perish the thought, if someone wanted to mine Uluru, build on the Great Barrier Reef, or drive a species to extinction. I think most Australians would say that kind of project wouldn’t proceed.
Updated
Just to clarify on that earlier Medicare post: the announcement relates to Labor’s $8.5bn election promise to increase bulk billing coming into effect. It was not a new announcement or new funds.
Australia needs a national definition of hate crime, experts say
Hate crimes have long been debated in Australia, but the war in Gaza and the rise in reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia have thrust the laws designed to punish these crimes into the political spotlight.
The Australian federal police commissioner, Krissy Barrett, has gone as far as saying new national hate crime laws may need to be strengthened.
So how many of these crimes have resulted in police charges across Australia? And how differently is a report of a hate crime treated in each jurisdiction?
In the wake of governments passing new laws – along with concerns about the accuracy of data about antisemitic incidents reported by New South Wales police and some states taking new approaches to the issue – Guardian Australia set out to explore hate crime.
The picture that emerged was complex.
Read the full story from me and my colleague Adeshola Ore:
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Health minister says bulk-billing expansion will benefit ‘every electorate in the country’
A new $8.5bn injection of funds into Medicare will mean “every electorate in the country will now have GP practices that bulk bill every patient,” the health minister, Mark Butler has said.
The new funding announcement from the federal government will expand bulk-billing incentives for GPs, which is an additional payment on Medicare benefits that is paid to the GP and the practice to encourage them to bulk bill patients.
The incentive has previously only been available for bulk-billing children under 16 and concession card holders. The expansion of the scheme will mean GPs and practices will receive the incentive payment for every patient they bulk bill.
The government claims this will result in an additional 18m bulk-billed GP visits annually, and that nine out of 10 GP visits will be bulk billed by 2030.
Butler said in a statement this morning:
I want every Australian to know they only need their Medicare card, not their credit card, to receive the health care they need.
Every electorate in the country will now have GP practices that bulk bill every patient.
Updated
Nationals expected to formalise net zero position at party room meeting
The Nationals are holding a special party room meeting this morning, after the party’s federal council yesterday removed support for net zero from their federal platform.
Senators Matt Canavan and Ross Cadell, who were charged with reviewing the Nat’s energy and net zero policy, are expected to put forward their review to the party room this morning for debate.
We’ve been told this morning it could take about two hours, and there’s an expectation from some who will be in the room that there will be a policy position decided today.
A bitter brawl had erupted between the Liberal and National parties – and conservative and moderate factions – about whether to keep the net zero target, prompting speculation the Coalition could split.
The issue has led to Barnaby Joyce leaving the Nationals party room, but party leader David Littleproud confirmed on Saturday that Joyce was still a member of the party and was welcome to return to the party room.
You can catch up on the background to today’s meeting here:
Updated
Albanese praises Apec's opportunities for 'informal dialogue'
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said he’d like to see “more cooperation” between China and the United States on artificial intelligence, but felt that the meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping in Korea this week was “an important step forward”.
The leaders are in Gyeongju for the Apec summit, where Albanese has also met with the new Japanese prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, and the new prime minister of Thailand, Anutin Charnvirakul.
Albanese said he personally had “four or five interactions” with President Xi and “multiple interactions with President Trump as well”, including last week’s informal dinner.
I quite enjoy the informal dialogue as well … the informal dinner, of course, that occurred here with President Trump, that was a couple of hours of informal discussion. That’s how you build relationships. It’s the formal meetings where there are bilats and people take notes and I report to you what is said, and then there is just engagement with people.
On AI, Albanese said Xi and Trump had “agreed to dialogue next year”:
It is in the world’s interest for the world’s two largest economies and powers to engage with each other constructively. What they do has an impact right around the world. We live in an interconnected world. The comment was made by a few people over recent days about the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine had an impact on supermarket shelves in Chile, in Mexico as well as in Australia.
So, we need to encourage cooperation as much as possible across the board. It’s what Australia does, and it’s what we want to see more of. And I think there’s been some positive steps forward this week.
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More rain on horizon after severe storms and giant hail in Queensland and NSW
Millions of people have potentially seen the worst of a weekend of wild weather after giant hailstones, rain and destructive winds pummelled parts of Australia’s east, AAP reports.
Bands of thunderstorms lashed a region stretching from central Queensland down to northern NSW on Saturday, drenching Brisbane and the Sunshine and Gold Coasts as they moved east, with the Bureau of Meteorology issuing alerts well into the night.
There were reports of shattered car windows and damaged homes in some areas as the storms brought hailstones up to 9cm wide and gusts up to 100km/h, while thousands of homes were left without power.
Several people were treated after being hit by hailstones, according the media reports.
In NSW, parts of the Hunter, mid-north coast, and central tablelands on Saturday recorded hailstones as large as 7cm, while Grafton in the northern rivers region received 70mm of rain in half an hour.
Though storms are set to continue today, they are expected to be contained to a smaller area.
“Many places will not see the same risk,” BoM forecaster Angus Hines said. “But that doesn’t mean there’s no risk at all.”
There was a chance severe thunderstorms would continue to plague the sunshine state, but they were expected to affect areas from Brisbane to Bundaberg, Hines said.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to your Sunday live news blog. My name is Stephanie Convery and I’ll be with you for much of today, bringing you all the latest news updates as they happen.
First up, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said he wants to see more cooperation between the United States and China after diplomatic meetings between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping at the Apec summit in South Korea this week. More on those comments in a moment.
Back at home, and the federal health minister, Mark Butler, has announced an $8.5bn investment in Medicare, which expands the bulk-billing incentive payments to GPs, which the government says will make bulk billing available to more patients – up to 18m additional bulk-billed GP visits every year.
And the Nationals have a party room meeting this morning, where they are expected to formalise their net zero position after voting to abandon the commitment yesterday.
Grab a coffee and get settled: there’s all that and more to come very shortly.
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