Former CEO suing ANZ over cancelled bonuses ‘accepts need for accountability’
Shayne Elliott, ANZ’s former long-serving chief executive, has issued a statement on his decision to take the bank to court for cancelling his bonuses.
As we reported earlier, Elliott said he expected the terms of his contract to be honoured. He served as chief executive from January 2016 until July this year.
The bank in September agreed to pay $240m in penalties to settle four investigations into widespread misconduct at ANZ. ANZ’s board of directors then stripped Elliott of anticipated bonuses worth $13.5m to “reflect accountability” as the former CEO and for the “financial and reputational impacts”, according to the company’s annual report.
In his statement, Elliott said:
The Bank and I had a clear, unambiguous agreement about the terms of my departure. ... I accept the need for accountability, which is why I voluntarily proposed to the Board that I would forgo my incentives in 2024.
He said he had no alternative but to commence proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales seeking a declaration that the bank has breached its contract with him.
Port operators are profiting from apparent market failure, says watchdog
Australia’s port operators are generating huge profits due to apparent market failures, the competition watchdog has found.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission urged governments to consider intervening after finding dock companies have become increasingly profitable by charging land transport operators more.
Those price increases appear inconsistent with what would happen in a competitive market, according to a new ACCC report today.
Stevedores have collected $3.19bn in terminal access charges to transport operators since 2017-18 while investing just $1.25bn on aggregate, the report read.
Stevedoring profits have risen for five years in a row, from less than $458m to more than $808m from 2019-20 to 2024-25, the ACCC found (measured by real earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation).
Terminals have not been operating at full capacity, which the ACCC said should have placed downward pressure on prices and short run profits. The watchdog repeated its call from last year for the government to scrutinise the industry.
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Coalmine expansion would breach climate targets, NSW commission finds
A scathing coal sector audit has been dismissed by industry as environmentalists argue it shows mining destroys any chance of a safe climate future, AAP reports.
Extending or expanding coalmines would be inconsistent with legislated climate targets, due to on-site emissions, the independent NSW Net Zero Commission found on Friday. Not all mines were using existing technology to reduce emissions, it noted.
Meanwhile, a separate and independent report showed six mines delivered less than 10% of NSW’s annual coal output but accounted for 50% of coal industry emissions – and 6% of the entire state’s greenhouse gas budget.
Australia has the third-largest reserves of coal in the world and is the globe’s second-largest exporter, with more international coal passing through Newcastle than any other single port worldwide.
The NSW Minerals Council argued jobs would be lost if coalmines were not extended or expanded. The Nature Conservation Council chief executive, Jacqui Mumford, said the report was “incontrovertible” and showed targets would not be met while coal projects were approved.
The Net Zero Commission has repeatedly stated NSW is not on track to meet legislated targets for both 2030 and 2035.
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Listen now: A political year in review – Australian Politics podcast
Political editor Tom McIlroy speaks with Melissa Clarke from ABC RN Breakfast and Michael Read from the Australian Financial Review, for the final episode of The Guardian’s Australian Politics podcast in 2025.
The press gallery colleagues discuss the prime minister’s performance and his seemingly mild ambition for bold reform, and assess the government’s diplomatic balancing act of maintaining relations with the US president, Donald Trump.
They also share their political predictions for 2026 – including the future of Sussan Ley’s leadership, the ministers they will be watching closely and the policies that will resonate the most with voters
Listen here:
Federal health funding offer wasn’t what states agreed to, says Victorian premier
Allan is asked about the federal government’s offer of $20bn in extra spending for public hospitals, which has been rejected by the states at a meeting of health ministers earlier today.
She says:
We do not accept the current offer from the federal government, and it’s not accepted because it’s not consistent with the agreement that was struck in December of 2023 on both health and disability investment.
Allan says the state has “invested heavily” in hospital infrastructure and health workers and it’s only fair the federal government does the same:
Patients need the care that they’re looking for closer to home – and that takes investment. We’ve made significant additional investment. Year after year we’ve grown the health workforce ...
From Victoria’s perspective, we do need to see additional investment from the federal government, because it comes [after] a time where the previous federal Liberal government starved our health and hospital system of funding. They didn’t deliver the hospital funding that was needed and but also too dropped the ball massively on their area of responsibility in primary care.
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West Gate Tunnel to face challenges as Victorians ‘reimagine their way around’
More on the West Gate Tunnel opening: Melissa Horne, the minister for roads, says it is the “largest-whole scale change” to Victoria’s road network:
It is more complex than when the CityLink project was opened. It is more complex than when the East Link was opened, because what we’re seeing here is we’re seeing 70km of new traffic lanes, we’re seeing the expansion of the Westgate Freeway from eight lanes to 12 lanes.
We’ve got elevated roads, we’ve got new roads, we’ve got direct access to the port for those trucks and we’ve got the Wurundjeri way extension, which has given us our first city bypass in decades.
Horne also warned the opening is “not going to be without its challenges” as people get used to the new road network. She says:
When you reconfigure a road network like this, it is challenging for people to then be able to reimagine their way around the road network [and] to understand where the new roads will take them and how they’re going to get there.
She urged drivers to make use of the free weekend travel in January.
Victoria’s transport infrastructure minister, Gabrielle Williams, has used the opportunity to have a crack at the Liberals, who she says didn’t support the West Gate Tunnel nor the Metro Tunnel, which also opened last month. She says:
Without this Labor government, these projects would simply not exist and we would be heading backwards. That’s what Jess Wilson and the Liberals promise. They promise you that they will look through the rear-view mirror.
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Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel to open on Sunday
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference to announce the West Gate Tunnel will open in Melbourne on Sunday.
The $10.2bn project, consisting of 6.8km of tunnels and 9.2km of elevated roads, will provide a new river crossing and act as an alternative to the West Gate Bridge.
She says:
This is a big moment for the future of our great city and state, because it’s going to transform the way people move around our city and state.
It’s going to mean that people can get to where they want to go sooner, they can get there safer … safer as well for local residents in this area too [as] it means getting trucks off local roads.
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Snap analysis: do Tomago and other bailout businesses have a future?
The PM has told Tomago Aluminium’s workers that they can enjoy Christmas knowing their jobs are safe.
“We have your backs,” he said.
So we know a deal will be done. Whether it will be a good one for taxpayers and the nation more broadly is much less clear.
The details are vague, but it looks like the federal and maybe NSW governments will pay for subsidised green power through the Snowy Hydro. Tomago will invest at least $1bn in its smelter.
Two issues are at the heart of a string of industrial bailouts this year.
We are in the middle of a difficult transition away from dirty power – essentially once-cheap coal – to renewables.
There’s a case for the government to help energy-intensive businesses bridge the gap from an old energy system to a clean new one. If we don’t, we risk losing that industrial capacity, perhaps forever.
Which raises the second issue: do these business have a future on the other side of the green transition? Will they be profitable industries of the future? Or are we just throwing good money after bad?
Let’s hope that the PM is thinking as hard about the second issue as the first.
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Tomago Aluminium to invest $1bn as part of deal to secure future
Tomago Aluminium will invest “at least” $1bn in its smelter as part of a mooted deal with the federal and NSW governments, reported earlier, to secure the facility’s future.
Anthony Albanese today told Tomago’s workers “we have your back”, and in a joint statement he said the plant “has a proud place in Australia’s history – and we will ensure it has a central place in Australia’s future”.
“Over the coming months, Tomago Aluminium will work with the federal and NSW governments on a long-term renewable energy solution to support the smelter’s viability when its current energy contract expires in 2028,” the statement said.
The agreement looks likely to include delivery of taxpayer-subsidised power from Snowy Hydro, which could also be involved in developing additional renewable power infrastructure for the Tomago plant.
“The partnership aims to deliver a long-term, fixed-price power purchasing agreement for the smelter, along with concessional finance arrangements to accelerate renewable energy generation and storage developments in NSW,” the statement said, going on:
As part of a successful agreement Tomago Aluminium will contribute at least $1 billion in capital and major maintenance investment over the next decade, which includes identifying further decarbonisation opportunities for the smelter.
Former ANZ boss sues bank over $13.5m in cancelled bonuses
ANZ says it will “vigorously” defend a court claim lodged by its former chief executive Shayne Elliott to retrieve millions of dollars in cancelled bonuses.
The Australian reported today that the former long-serving CEO had lodged the claim against his old employer late on Thursday in the Supreme Court of NSW.
In a statement to the Australian, Elliott said he had a “clear, unambiguous agreement” about the terms of his departure in May.
He said: “As you would expect, having entered into a contract, my expectation is that those terms would be honoured.”
Elliott was contacted for comment.
The ANZ chair, Paul O’Sullivan, said in a statement today: “The board has been considered and very deliberate in its assessment of remuneration outcomes.”
We are confident in our position and we will defend this matter vigorously.
That’s all from me. Luca Ittimani will be back soon to bring the blog home. Happy Friday.
There are nearly 180,000 digital platform workers
There were 178,500 people who said they had found work through digital platforms such as Uber and Airtasker in the previous 12 months, new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveal.
The data was based on a monthly survey conducted through 2024-25, and the estimated number of gig workers was down 11% from the previous financial year, the ABS said.
People who undertook digital platform work were more likely to be male (71% of the total), younger (57% were aged 15-34 years) and born overseas (63%).
The most common type of work by far was delivering food and driving people.
Most gig workers are earning money on the side: four in 10 said that digital platform work was their main job, according to the ABS.
About one in six reported feeling unsafe while doing digital platform work in the past four weeks.
Brittany Higgins declared bankrupt
Brittany Higgins has been declared bankrupt after she was successfully sued for defamation by former defence minister Linda Reynolds.
The bankruptcy was declared on Friday morning in a federal court hearing in Western Australia after a hearing brought on by Reynolds, Higgins’ former boss, to recoup the legal costs incurred by Reynolds’ team during defamation proceedings.
Justice Michael Feutrill ordered that Higgins’ estate be sequestrated in bankruptcy, backdated to 8 October.
Read more here:
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Victorian court awards $54,000 damages to climate protester who police ‘unlawfully’ hit with capsicum spray
Climate protesters have won a class action against Victoria police over the use of capsicum spray during an anti-mining demonstration in Melbourne.
The first class action against Victoria police in relation to alleged excessive use of oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray was heard in the state’s supreme court earlier this year, and a decision was handed down on Friday.
The case before Justice Claire Harris was led by protester Jordan Brown, who was twice hit with OC spray while protesting outside the international mining and resources conference (IMARC) in October 2019.
Harris found on Friday that Brown had been subject to an unlawful battery by police, and awarded him $54,000 in damages.
“The batteries caused both physical injury to the plaintiff and were a material contributor to the plaintiff’s psychological injury,” Harris said.
Harris’s full reasons for judgment are yet to be published, and she is yet to rule on costs.
Measles alert for Sydney
NSW Health just issued a measles alert for multiple locations across Sydney after a confirmed case travelled around the city while infectious earlier this month.
Officials said people who attended the following locations should be on alert for symptoms:
Sydney Metro and T4 train lines, Macquarie University Station to Edgecliff Station via Martin Place Station at various dates and times between Wednesday 3 and Saturday 8 December.
Gran Torino restaurant in Double Bay at various dates and times between 3 December and 6 December.
Macquarie Centre Food Court between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on 5 December and 6 December.
A full list is available here.
The case recently returned from south-east Asia, where there are ongoing outbreaks of measles in several countries, including Indonesia.
NSW Health notes the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe and effective, and is free for children at 12 and 18 months of age.
It is also free in NSW for anyone born after 1965 who hasn’t already had two doses.
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Rowland refers own travel expenses claim to watchdog
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, has confirmed she has referred a travel expenses claim to the watchdog for review.
On Friday, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, let slip that two MPs had asked the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority to audit their claims, including the communications minister, Anika Wells.
Rowland has faced scrutiny this week over $21,685 for flights and travel allowance for a 2023 family trip to Perth.
A spokesperson for Rowland confirmed to Guardian Australia she was the second MP to ask for their expenses claims to be looked at.
“The attorney-general has referred a trip from 2023 to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority for advice,” they said in a statement.
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Man who killed Molly Ticehurst to face sentencing in June
Molly Ticehurst’s killer will finally be forced to face her family in person when he is sentenced for her murder more than two years after he broke into her bedroom and stabbed her, AAP reports.
Daniel Billings, 30, was arraigned in the NSW supreme court in Sydney on Friday and confirmed his plea of guilty over Ticehurst’s 2024 murder.
The judge set a two-day sentence hearing to be held in Orange, central western NSW, on 1 June 2026. He will be required to appear in person.
Ticehurst, a 28-year-old childcare educator, was found dead in her home at Forbes, in the state’s central west, in the early hours of 22 April 2024.
Billings stabbed her 15 times in an attack that lasted less than a minute, after repeatedly threatening to kill her in the weeks and months before.
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States remain open to further negotiations, Nicholls says
The Queensland health minister said:
I think I can emphasise that the states remain at the bargaining table. We do want to negotiate and we’re very happy to talk to the commonwealth about what each state needs and what a reasonable contribution rate looks like. It would require funding at a far higher rate each year to get there than is currently being put on the table.
The prime minister, I think, can see and understand where we’re coming from. We’ve made the case very clearly. Minister Butler understands and sees the predicament that the state is in.
It is up to the commonwealth to come back with a sensible and realistic offer.
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Queensland health minister calls negotiations with federal government ‘incredibly frustrating’
Nicholls adds the ongoing back-and-forth with the federal government is “incredibly frustrating for us as ministers”. He went on:
This has been a journey that we’ve been on – I’ve been in the role for a year, others have been here for a little bit longer – and we’ve been trying to get a landing on the national health and reform agreement ever since I’ve been in the role. …
Short-term planning doesn’t allow us to engage clinicians. It doesn’t allow us to invest in proper care, so it’s very frustrating for all of us to have to be coming back time and time again saying – this offer is not acceptable.
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State and territory health ministers won’t accept PM’s $20bn health deal
State and territory health ministers are speaking after a meeting with the federal health minister, Mark Butler, after Anthony Albanese’s insistence that they accept a deal for more than $20bn in extra spending for public hospitals.
Tim Nicholls, Queensland’s health minister, said the state and territory leaders had rejected those terms. He said:
The offer that we received overnight on Wednesday does not meet that requirement. And all states and territories – I think that I can speak for all of my colleagues here, have rejected that offer. It does not meet the needs of Australians.
And that’s why it’s really important that today, we were able to relay that message in the firmest terms possible to minister Butler so he can take it back to the prime minister.
Nicholls said he hoped the federal government would step forward with a new, “realistic offer” that provided the care “that Australians and from our perspective, Queenslanders, are going to need over the coming years”.
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Workers’ comp laws will drag unwell NSW employees back to work, advocates warn
Reformed workers’ compensation laws in New South Wales could force vulnerable workers off support when they are still too sick to return to their jobs, advocacy organisation Australians for Mental Health (AMH) has warned.
Under the deal between Labor and the Coalition, people who suffer psychological injuries at work that render them “permanently impaired” to the level of 25% or less will only get two years’ support, plus an additional year to transition back to work. That threshold will be lifted to 28%.
AMH’s executive director, Chris Gambian, said the reforms would force nurses, teachers and paramedics suffering from severe mental health to go back to work before they had fully recovered.
This deal punches down on people whose workplaces made them ill.
[It] will ultimately see people with serious depression, PTSD and trauma forced to return to work before they have capacity to do so.
Gambian urged the government to focus reform efforts on making workplaces safe and reducing harm to employees.
The Australian Association of Psychologists vice-president, Katrina Norris, has previously warned raising the threshold of “permanent impairment” to 31% could exclude nearly all workers from making a legitimate mental health claim for lifetime care.
Read about the deal here:
Albanese was asked if government intervention to protect industry was “fair” to the taxpayer. He replied:
I tell you what’s not fair to the taxpayer in our national interest is to not have manufacturing in this country. This is an investment that produces a return …
If Australia doesn’t produce aluminium, then the knock-on effect in other industries is significant because aluminium is increasingly a vital product.
We make no apologies for the fact that we put front and centre to the Australian people our Future Made in Australia agenda.
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Albanese confirms government support for Tomago aluminium smelter
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has been speaking in Tomago, NSW, after announcing a deal to keep the country’s biggest aluminium smelter there open past 2028.
There has been a board meeting here that’s considered the proposals that were going forward, and what that will look like is Tomago agreeing to have more investment here in their capability, at the same time as we provide security of a guarantee of energy price going forward as well.
That’s the fundamentals, we’ll be working those issues through over coming weeks and months, including with New South Wales.
The industry minister, Tim Ayres, explained further:
The fundamental premise of this is a long-term power-purchasing agreement that delivers security at the right price for Tomago so they are internationally competitive.
This is Australia’s youngest aluminium plant. This is a good facility, this agreement will underwrite the development of new-generation wind, solar storage projects and transmission, accelerate that in NSW and mean that we are underwriting lower-cost electricity not just for here but building the electricity grid and lowering costs for households and business at the same time.
Economics editor Patrick Commins has written recently on the issue of taxpayer funding of smelters such as Tomago:
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Attorney general Michelle Rowland asks watchdog to audit her expenses
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, has asked the independent watchdog for politicians’ travel expenses to audit her recent claims.
Rowland joins the communications minister, Anika Wells, in asking for a review.
The Australian Financial Review reported this week that Rowland billed taxpayers $21,685 for flights and travel allowance for a 2023 family trip to Perth.
The trip fell during the NSW school holidays.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, let slip the referral on Friday, after days of controversy over MPs use of the family reunion travel rules.
Rowland’s referral was not known publicly previously. The government will consider possible changes to the rules once the audits are complete.
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First Tuvalu climate migrants arrive in Australia
The first climate migrants to leave the remote Pacific island nation of Tuvalu have arrived in Australia, hoping to preserve links to their sinking island home, Reuters reports.
More than one-third of Tuvalu’s 11,000 population applied for a climate visa to migrate to Australia, under a deal struck between the two countries two years ago. The intake is capped at 280 visas annually to prevent a brain drain in the small island nation.
Among the islanders selected in the initial intake of climate migrants is Tuvalu’s first female forklift driver, a dentist, and a pastor focused on preserving their spiritual life thousands of kilometres from home, Australian government officials said.
Tuvalu, one of the countries at greatest risk from climate change because of rising sea levels, is a group of low-lying atolls scattered across the Pacific between Australia and Hawaii.
Manipua Puafolau, from Tuvalu’s main island of Funafuti, arrived in Australia a fortnight ago. A trainee pastor with the most prominent church in Tuvalu, he plans to live in the small town of Naracoorte in the state of South Australia, where several hundred Pacific Islanders work in seasonal agriculture and meat-processing jobs.
In a video released by Australia’s foreign affairs department, Puafolau said:
For the people moving to Australia, it is not only for their physical and economic wellbeing, but also calls for spiritual guidance.
Read more about the program here:
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Forced bankruptcies on the rise
Private schools and car loan lenders are increasingly taking customers to court to force them into bankruptcy amid a nationwide surge in the mechanism’s use, new analysis from Financial Counselling Australia shows.
In the year to June, organisations filed 2,024 creditors’ petitions to the federal court, where the applicant asks the court to make bankrupt a person or business who owes them at least $10,000, have surged. Two in five applications successfully forced the debtor into bankruptcy.
Education providers accounted for 45 applications in the year, 13 of which were made by Sirius College, three by Overnewton Anglican Community College and two by Wesley College Melbourne – each Victorian private schools.
The finance arms of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota and Volkswagen accounted for 24 of the applications in the four years to June.
The Australian Tax Office accounted for 13% of all cases in the year to June. Residential strata companies and non-bank business lenders accounted for 12% each, surging from the previous year.
Debt collectors and big banks rarely use the tool, FCA found. Filings have fallen from the 8,000 annually recorded in 2019-20, after the threshold for applications was lifted from $5,000 in debts to $20,000 temporarily before settling at $10,000.
However, success rates have risen, meaning the petitions are sending nearly as many people bankrupt as they were before the threshold rose, prompting FCA to call for it to be raised back to $20,000.
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Two teens charged after alleged detonation of aerosol can in Sydney CBD
Two teen boys have been charged after an aerosol can was allegedly detonated in the Sydney CBD.
NSW police said officers responded to reports of an alleged explosion on George Street in the CBD about 7.30pm. On arrival, police were told the detonation was followed by a large fireball.
There were no reports of injury or property damage.
Police later arrested two boys, aged 17 and 14, who were then charged with possession, supply or making explosives for an unlawful purpose. They were refused bail and appeared in children’s court on Thursday.
The older boy will remain in custody until 19 January, while the younger was granted conditional bail and will appear in court next week.
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Coalition offers government support to reform expenses rules
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has offered bipartisan support for reforming expense entitlements for politicians, following days of reporting around MPs claiming travel for themselves and their partners to attend events including sporting grand final matches and concerts.
The PM has been under pressure to take a fresh look at the rules, and the government this morning signalled that they could consider changes to travel entitlement rules if they’re recommended by the independent watchdog.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Ley says she has sent a letter to Anthony Albanese offering bipartisan support to go through the current arrangements:
I can sit down with the prime minister anytime and go through measures that he would like to propose to implement to restore that public trust in the system that delivers these entitlements to parliamentarians.
Ley says what Anika Wells has done is “scandalous” and questioned whether Wells should stand aside while her expenses are investigated. The Liberal leader also calls for Wells to be investigated for any breaches to the separate Ministerial Code of Conduct, telling Sky:
If he [Albanese] can’t stand there and tell the Australian people that this minister has not breached the code of conduct, then she should resign, stand aside. He should stand there and tell the Australian people clearly: no, she hasn’t breached my code.
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Chalmers clears way for Korean firm to increase stake in Austal
Jim Chalmers has cleared the way for a Korean defence firm, Hanwha, to up its stake in Australia’s only major shipbuilder, the WA-based Austal.
Austal holds major federal defence contracts, including billions of dollars worth with the US navy, and Hanwha’s investment proposal had been subject to a lengthy nine-month review by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
The treasurer this morning issued a statement that he had agreed to FIRB’s “clear recommendation” to not stand in the way of the Korean firm increasing its share of Austal from 9.9% to 19.9% – but “subject to strict conditions”.
Assuming the deal goes ahead, those conditions include limits to Hanwha’s access to sensitive information, and “stringent criteria” around board nominees.
“This decision and associated conditions will protect our sovereign interests in this capability and ensure the company can continue to grow, invest, and deliver continuous shipbuilding in Western Australia,” Chalmers said in a statement.
The ASX-listed Austal had previously rejected a takeover bid from Hanwha.
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More on Reddit’s high court challenge over the social media ban
Our technology reporter Josh Taylor has a detailed piece on Reddit’s challenge to the social media ban for under-16s.
If you want to know more, take a look here:
Green group says Beetaloo basin fracking project will put ‘everything we love about the Territory at risk’
Back to the announcement that Beetaloo Energy had reached final sign-off for a major fracking project in the Northern Territory …
The group Environment Centre NT says the move will put “everything we love about the Territory at risk”. Senior climate campaigner Bree Ahrens said in a statement:
This is just the beginning of a fracking rush that puts our water supplies and everything we love about the Territory at risk.
Territorians are being gaslit. This has nothing to do with keeping the lights on and everything to do with helping fracking companies boost their bottom line.
The Finocchiaro Government has gutted environmental regulation and stripped back the fracking code of practice – we can’t trust them to protect the NT from the risks of fracking.
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Weight-loss drugs being considered for inclusion on PBS, Butler says
World-leading weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic could soon become cheaper in Australia as the federal government considers subsidies for the medications, AAP reports.
The health minister, Mark Butler, has indicated the drugs could be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme as soon as next year, paving the way for a significant reduction in price. He told Radio National earlier:
That is being considered, really.
Governments across the world are trying to work out how we tap into the benefits of this drug, but do it in an equitable way as well.
Novo Nordisk, the company which manufactures Wegovy, has lodged a bid for its product to be listed on the scheme so it can be available to more Australians.
In response the government has asked for advice from an expert panel on whether so-called GLP-1 drugs, which include Ozempic and Wegovy, should be subsidised for people who need them.
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Reddit seeks high court challenge for social media ban
Reddit is seeking to challenge the under-16s social media ban in the high court, filing its case on Friday morning, two days after implementing age restrictions on its website.
The company said in a post on Friday that while Reddit agrees with protecting people under 16 “this law has the unfortunate effect of forcing intrusive and potentially insecure verification processes on adults as well as minors, isolating teens from the ability to engage in age-appropriate community experiences (including political discussions), and creating an illogical patchwork of which platforms are included and which aren’t”. It added:
As the Australian Human Rights Commission put it, ‘There are less restrictive alternatives available that could achieve the aim of protecting children and young people from online harms, but without having such a significant negative impact on other human rights’.
Lastly, this law is applied to Reddit inaccurately, since we’re a forum primarily for adults and we don’t have the traditional social media features the government has taken issue with.
Reddit is challenging the law on the grounds it infringes on the implied freedom of political communication. It said it was not seeking to challenge the law to avoid compliance and has implemented age assurance measures since Wednesday. The company said the vast majority of Redditors are adults and advertising isn’t targeted to children under 18. The Apple app store age rating for Reddit is 17+.
Despite the best intentions, this law is missing the mark on actually protecting young people online. So, while we will comply with this law, we have a responsibility to share our perspective and see that it is reviewed by the courts.
The case sought is separate to the similar legal challenge on freedom of speech grounds filed by NSW Libertarian MP John Ruddick’s Digital Freedom Project group.
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Social media ban sparks praise from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
While Australia’s social media ban has divided children and parents at home, high-profile international figures have come out in support of the new restrictions, AAP reports.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle say the ban is an “urgent intervention” that will help shield children from “unsafe and addictive platforms”, but argue it’s only a band-aid fix and does not tackle underlying issues with social media.
“This bold, decisive action to protect children at a critical moment in their development sends a strong signal that a child’s mind is not a commodity to be exploited,” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said in a statement on their foundation’s website. The pair added:
The ban is an effective measure to stop imminent harm, but ultimately only works as a band-aid that does not address tech’s broken design and exploitative business incentives.
Mark Butler signals Labor could consider changes to travel entitlement rules
Labor has signalled they could consider changes to travel entitlement rules for federal politicians, if they’re recommended by the independent watchdog.
The communications minister, Anika Wells, has referred her travel expense claims for review by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA), which oversees claims made by MPs and staff.
While the federal government and parliament set the rules for travel spending through legislation and regulation, the IPEA publishes data and sometimes requires politicians to repay or adjust their claims.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said all week it is appropriate that expense claims are handled at arm’s length from the government but has so far not called for a review of the rules or any changes to the provisions, including generous family reunion travel allowances.
But on Friday, the health minister, Mark Butler, signalled the possibility of broader changes stemming from the Wells controversy and wider scrutiny of spending.
He told Channel Seven that the government might receive broader recommendations for changes from IPEA.
“I think the important thing now is that particularly Anika Wells’ claims have been referred to the independent parliamentary authority,” Butler said, adding:
That’s obviously an opportunity for them to have a look at those claims but also to provide any broader advice and recommendations about these rules.
I think these rules are important, these jobs place enormous pressure on our families, particularly on our partners who do so much of family work while we’re away for as much as 150 or 200 days a year, but they’ve got to be reasonable and they’ve got to be used in a sensible way.
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‘The whole thing disgusts me’: Australians ditch US travel as new rules require social media to be declared
Australians are abandoning travel to the US, and boycotting World Cup matches there next year, as the Trump administration flags new rules that will soon require visitors to hand over their social media history when applying to enter the country.
In a notice published on Tuesday, the US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) said tourists to the US from 42 countries including Australia would have to reveal all of their social media activity over the past five years under the new rules, which are up for a 60-day review before coming into effect. It would be a part of the application for a visa waiver under the ESTA application process.
The rules were drawn up in response to an executive order made by Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration in January which purported to “protect” the US from visitors, instructing that visas should be denied to anyone with “hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles”.
Australian tourists have described the US mandate to sweep social media posts, as well as collect comprehensive “high-value data” on family members such as phone numbers, dates of birth and residencies, as “horrifying” and “draconian”.
Read more here:
State Library of Victoria scraps controversial restructure plan after public outcry
The State Library of Victoria has canned a controversial restructure proposal, saying it had “created unintended concerns” after public outrage.
Many of Australia’s most prominent writers, researchers and artists and thousands of members of the public had expressed alarm over the proposal, which would have cut jobs – including more than halving the number of public-facing reference librarians – and refocused the 171-year-old institution on tourist-oriented digital experiences that staff had described as “digital vanity projects”.
In a statement issued this morning, SLV management said:
After careful consideration of feedback received during the consultation period, the Library has decided to withdraw the Reorganisation Proposal, so that we can refine our approach and ensure it best supports our community, our staff and our long-term vision.
Any revised proposal will be informed by what we have heard throughout this consultation. Our focus will remain on strengthening services, modernising operations and ensuring the Library continues to thrive as a leading home for history, arts, culture and knowledge for the next generation.
The turn-about comes after more than 220 writers, scholars and researchers – including Nick Cave, Helen Garner, Pulitzer, Booker and Nobel prize for literature winners – signed an open letter to the library’s board and executive expressing alarm about the proposal and calling for more public accountability, alongside a CPSU Victoria petition that had collected more than 4,600 signatures, and a separate public petition that had nearly 10,000 signatories as of Friday morning.
The reversal also comes just one day before a planned rally in support of State Library staff and against the proposed changes.
State Library management said in the statement that its “commitment to the people of this state has never been stronger”.
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Officials investigating after Victoria police memorial vandalised overnight
Victoria police are investigating the vandalism of the Victoria Police Memorial in Melbourne this morning.
Officials said they believed unknown offenders used red paint to vandalise the memorial sometime overnight. Phrases such as “good cop, dead cop” and “shame” were spray-painted on the memorial, as well as the acronym “ACAB”.
The police are urging anyone with information to come forward.
Local council will attend to remove the graffiti.
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NSW SES urges commuters to beware of waterlogged roads and flash flooding
The NSW State Emergency Service is warning commuters to use extra caution this morning amid heavy rainfall, urging caution around flooded roads.
The agency said the BoM is advising flash flooding remains a risk for parts of metropolitan Sydney, the Central Coast, the Hunter and central tablelands.
Nicole Hogan, the NSW SES assistant commissioner, said the heavy rain could overwhelm drainage systems and cause water over roads:
If you don’t need to be on the roads during heavy rainfall, we ask the community to delay their travel until the storm passes.
If you do come across flash flooding, the best thing to do is turn around and find another way – it’s not worth putting your life or your loved ones at risk. It doesn’t take much for vehicles to become stuck in water or washed away as you don’t know what damage has been done to the road surfaces.
Weather conditions are expected to ease later today but many areas in the state may face more thunderstorms over the weekend.
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Beetaloo Energy reaches final sign-off for NT fracking project
Beetaloo Energy, a gas company operating in the NT’s Beetaloo basin, said it has reached a final investment decision (a developer’s formal approval to proceed with a specific project) for its Carpentaria fracking project after the Northern Territory government recently signed an agreement to see gas flow from mid-next year.
Earlier this week, the NT deputy chief minister, Gerard Maley, said the project would help “save the territory” and would “literally keep the lights on”.
In a letter to the ASX, Beetaloo Energy, formerly known as Empire Energy, said the investment decision was a “landmark moment” for the company. The managing director, Alex Underwood, said:
This is a landmark moment for Beetaloo Energy, allowing the Company to commence gas sales from EP187 in 2026.
This [final investment decision] follows the incredible efforts of the Beetaloo Energy team whose tireless work is bringing this project to life.
We deeply appreciate the support of our shareholders, financiers, the NT Government, the Traditional Owners of the land on which we operate, and our many supporters across the Northern Territory. They all understand the critical importance of the Beetaloo Basin to drive energy security and economic prosperity for the NT, Australia and the broader region for decades to come.
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Mark Butler hopes additional billions for health deal will help strike agreement by Christmas
The health minister, Mark Butler, said the job of health ministers is to “narrow the points of difference” so the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the chief ministers of states and territories can reach a deal on hospital funding.
Butler is speaking to RN Breakfast this morning after Albanese pressed state and territory leaders to accept more than $20bn in extra spending for public hospitals to end a standoff over health funding.
Butler said:
[It is a] very substantial increase, first of all, on what they would have got under the longstanding existing agreements but also on the latest offer that had been made … So I hope that that’s going to lead the premiers and chief ministers to consider that position very seriously because we do want to strike an agreement before Christmas.
Butler also said states and territories did not make a mistake giving wage rises to healthcare workers.
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Summer heatwave conditions predicted for Great Barrier Reef
The northern stretches of Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef are tracking towards moderate marine heatwave conditions over summer, AAP reports.
While Australia might not experience as severe heatwaves as last summer, the outlook still poses coral bleaching risks for world heritage-listed reef if newly developed long-range forecasts are accurate.
Australia’s oceans clocked their warmest 12 months on record in 2024-25, with above-average sea temperatures hitting Western Australia particularly hard, causing unprecedented coral bleaching and fish kills.
The Great Barrier Reef experienced its sixth mass bleaching event since 2016, with the northern region struck most acutely.
Marine heatwave conditions, characterised by the Bureau of Meteorology as the top 10% of above-average sea surface temperatures, are expected to be most prevalent in the Coral Sea from January to April.
Moderate heatwave conditions are also predicted for patches of south-east Tasmania this summer.
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Good morning, and happy Friday. Nick Visser here to round out the week’s news. Let’s get to it.
South Australia’s corrections officers on strike
South Australia’s legal and prison systems remained in limbo overnight, AAP reports, as staff consider ending a strike that has shut down courts and forced a 96-hour lockdown for prisoners.
Corrections officers are striking over what they say is an inadequate pay offer, a surge in violence in prisons and a crisis in staffing levels caused by low wages.
More than 1,000 corrections officers across the state voted to strike on Monday and on Thursday voted to extend it to 96 hours.
The strike plunged the prison system into a four-day lockdown, with more than 2,000 inmates confined to their cells since 7.30am on Monday.
Union delegates were consulting members late on Thursday and striking staff will reconvene this morning to decide whether to take further action, or reach an agreement with the government.
– with AAP
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Tom Silvagni to face court
Convicted rapist Tom Silvagni will face court today for the first time since a suppression over his identity was lifted.
The 23-year-old son of AFL great Stephen Silvagni and television personality Jo Silvagni was found guilty of two counts of rape on 5 December after a two-week trial in the Victorian county court.
He is due to face a pre-sentence hearing this morning.
There had been a suppression over his identity since he was first charged with rape in June 2024, with his lawyers arguing publication could lead to the deterioration of his mental health.
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You can read more on the context of Mark Butler’s meeting with state health ministers today here:
Butler and Anthony Albanese are pushing for a deal before the end of the year, ending a funding row dating back to December 2023 when states agreed to help address cost blowouts in the National Disability Insurance Scheme in exchange for more money for public hospitals.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Nick Visser will take the controls.
State health ministers will meet their federal counterpart, Mark Butler, today as advocates for elderly Australians say shortages in aged care facilities are putting further pressure on overcrowded hospitals. The federal government is urging them to accept a $20bn boost.
More coming up.
