My colleague Luca Ittimani has more on Qantas and its Project Sunrise, which will eventually see direct flights from Sydney to London.
Long story short: it’s been delayed again.
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Press gallery journalists object to One Nation threats to ban reporters
The federal parliamentary press gallery committee issued a statement strongly objecting to threats made by One Nation yesterday to ban journalists.
The committee, which represents journalists who work in Parliament House in Canberra, said it “always welcomes the opportunity for professional and respectful engagement with politicians, candidates and political parties”.
The Guardian Australia journalist Sarah Martin was subjected to a personal and unfounded attack by the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, yesterday at the National Press Club.
The committee said the ability to scrutinise and question politicians is one of the fundamental functions of journalists:
Against this backdrop, the Gallery Committee strongly objects to threats made by One Nation – or by any political party – to ban certain journalists and organisations from doing their jobs as important observers and interpreters of federal politics.
Journalists have an essential role to play in a free and open democracy, and such restrictions would undermine and ultimately weaken Australia’s political system.
Earlier, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance issued a statement in support of Martin.
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Chalmers flags CGT carve-outs for ‘special case’ entrepreneurs
Jim Chalmers says businesses with zero or very low startup costs are “special cases” that deserve “different treatment” under the proposed changes to the capital gains tax.
Entrepreneurs have complained long and loud that a founder who started a successful business built with nothing but hard work would be harshly treated under an inflation-linked CGT discount model.
Chalmers says a paper to be released today will “set out our preferred position”, and the government will be seeking feedback in coming weeks.
“We do consider there to be a special case for businesses with low or no startup costs, and that necessitates this different treatment in the tax system,” he says.
Chalmers says details around excluding testamentary trusts from the proposed 30% minimum tax would be in a separate consultation paper, and this possible amendment will not be part of the “first tranche” of legislation before the Senate.
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Labor ministers dismiss Victorian opposition’s vote of no confidence
Victorian Labor ministers have dismissed the opposition’s plan to move a motion of no confidence in the premier, Jacinta Allan, when parliament resumes in July, given it is bound to fail.
As we previously reported, under the state constitution, the opposition can move a single motion of no confidence in the premier once every four-year term. If the motion is successful, it could lead to the dissolution of parliament, but Labor’s commanding majority means this will not occur.
The Labor minister Steve Dimopoulos said the vote was a “ridiculous stunt”. He told reporters outside parliament this morning:
They know this isn’t going to get done. The numbers aren’t there for [it to succeed]. You know that this is just the Liberal party is trying to distract the Victorian community from their $40bn worth of cuts over the next four years. That’s what they’re trying to distract from by making it all about us.
Another minister, Anthony Carbines, said:
You get one opportunity a term to pull that lever. I suppose they’ve got limited time in which to do that. It’s just a matter for them, we’re just focused on getting things done.
He added: “Past performance is a history of future performance with regard to no-confidence motion.” (The last one, against the then premier Daniel Andrews during the grips of the pandemic, failed.)
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Angus Taylor says Coalition wants a ‘values-based immigration policy’
Asked about Pauline Hanson’s speech at the National Press Club yesterday, Angus Taylor says he has no problem with people speaking other languages but everyone “should learn English”.
If she wants to judge people based on the colour of their skin or their race, One Nation needs to explain that. They need to explain that.
But our position on this is clear. Now, migration in this country has been too high, the standards have been too low, and that must change.
But what we favour is a values-based immigration policy where people who come to this country adopt our core values. And that is regardless of race or religion or where they come from – we expect them to adopt those core values.
That’s our position. That’s very clear.
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Angus Taylor says he will fight CGT changes ‘all the way’
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, is speaking in Sydney.
He says he will fight the government’s changes to CGT “all the way”.
He says:
These taxes are a loss for hard-working small businesses. But he’s sending a new signal to this, which is don’t grow your business. Don’t grow your business.
I mean, that’s exactly the kind of signal you’d expect from this prime minister and this treasurer who have never worked in businesses, they don’t understand them.
They’re sending a new signal – don’t grow. Don’t grow.
If you don’t grow the business, you don’t grow the country, you don’t grow incomes, you don’t grow employment, you don’t grow hope, you don’t grow opportunity, you don’t grow aspiration.
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Millions of small businesses to get ‘generous’ capital gains tax concessions
Jim Chalmers says the government’s proposed amendments to its tax legislation means 2.7m small businesses will now be eligible for capital gains tax concessions, which covers 98% of all active businesses in the country.
“There are four existing concessions for businesses in the CGT system. We’re leaving all four in place, but we’re making one of them substantially broader and significantly more generous at the same time,” the treasurer said.
The government plans to pass its tax bill in the next sitting of parliament, which starts next week.
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Vodafone issue resolved, with services coming back online
Vodafone said the issue affecting connectivity on its network this morning has been isolated and resolved, and services are being progressively restored.
The company had this to say:
The disruption was caused by an outage at one of our network hubs at around 8am. Most services have now been restored, however some may continue to experience intermittent issues as devices reconnect.
Customers who could not access the Vodafone network should have been able to access Triple Zero by connecting to other available mobile networks during this time.
We apologise for the inconvenience and recommend customers restart their devices to help restore connections.
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Albanese says SBS and ABC play ‘vital roles in our democracy’
The prime minister was asked briefly about his support for SBS and the ABC after Pauline Hanson said she would axe or dramatically roll back the public broadcasters.
SBS plays a really important role … They play a really important role. And I think that the idea that you just exclude media and abolish SBS is what they’re talking about … I would hope that all media organisations come out and oppose that.
Because they’re vital roles in our democracy.
Read more here:
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Albanese says GetUp stunt at Pauline Hanson speech was ‘counterproductive’
The prime minister was asked about the banner unfurled during Pauline Hanson’s address at the press club in Canberra yesterday. He said:
I think in general, sometimes actions can be counterproductive, and I think that was as well.
He was asked about the rise in support for One Nation, saying Labor would continue to advocate for “what we regard as the national interest”, something he said he didn’t believe Hanson spoke about yesterday in her speech:
I’m not someone who goes to a media conference and says, ‘I won’t answer questions from some groups’. … What I’m concerned about is what do we need to do, as government, to set Australia up for the future.
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Labor promises exemptions for small businesses, startups and some trusts after backlash against CGT reforms
Anthony Albanese has lifted the threshold for small businesses to get an exemption from CGT to $10m, five times the previous level as the government responds to criticism about its tax reforms.
Ahead of a consultation paper to be released later this morning, the prime minster said “we’re also proposing to introduce a new innovative business tax concession for start-ups”, addressing another concern that entrepreneurs could be treated too punitively under the proposed change from a flat 50% CGT discount to an inflation-linked model.
“Genuine” testamentary discretionary trusts – used to manage estates and wills – would also get an exemption from the proposed 30% minimum tax, Albanese said.
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Jim Chalmers announces ‘generous’ CGT concessions for small businesses
Our reporters are digging through the changes, but the treasurer said they will include “generous” concessions for the 2.7m active small businesses in Australia.
Jim Chalmers says the tax reforms are “all about making it easier for people to own their first homes”, but he understands that there will “never” be a unanimous view about economic reform.
It’s unusual for big ambitious tax reform like this to involve a lot of consultation … It’s always contested, it’s always contentious. But it will be worth it.
We are delivering real change here. And it means that the details that that we have outlined today will provide a bit more clarity and confidence to investors, more support for small businesses also increase those incentives for innovation.
Updated
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, are detailing the carve-outs to the budget changes to the capital gains tax discount. We’ll bring you more shortly.
Media union condemns Pauline Hanson attack on Guardian journalist Sarah Martin
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance has issued a statement in support of Guardian Australia journalist Sarah Martin who was subjected to a personal and unfounded attack by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson yesterday.
MEAA condemns the continuing treatment of journalist Sarah Martin by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. Journalists must be able to do their job without fear of intimidation, exclusion, or personal attack. The public’s right to know depends on it. This is a moment for us to stand together and hold the line on press freedom.
Martin’s reporting has exposed, among other things, Hanson’s repeated failure to declare gifts and the unravelling of One Nation’s network of local branches.
In response to a question from the senior correspondent at the National Press Club, Hanson said:
I’ve never seen a person that’s such a trashy journalist, and what you put out all the time, you’ve got this obsession with constantly trying to pull down myself, my party, or Mrs [Gina] Rinehart.
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Some Vodafone customers facing network issues this morning
Vodafone says this morning some of its customers are facing “intermittent issues” with their mobile service.
The company says:
Our technical teams are working to restore services as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience this is causing customers.
Vodafone users, if you can read this, we’ll bring you updates when we have them.
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Lang Park set for upgrade, but no major capacity increase or roof before Olympics
Brisbane’s Lang Park will get new LED video screens, but not thousands of new seats or a roof before the 2032 Olympics.
In a statement released just before last night’s Origin game, the Queensland government announced what it said was the stadium’s largest upgrade since its 2003 redevelopment.
“We’re adding new video screens, more capacity, new bars and entertainment zones, so whether you’re here for Origin, the Rugby World Cup, major concerts, you’ll have an unforgettable experience for years to come,” the Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, said.
The state government has come under pressure to substantially upgrade the stadium’s capacity from its current 52,500.
Crisafulli said last year that he was a “unity ticket” with Brisbane Broncos captain Adam Reynolds, who called for an upgrade after winning the 2025 NRL premiership. The club has 60,000 members, the largest in the NRL.
NRL commissioner and former premier Peter Beattie pitched an upgrade to a 65,000-seat, roofed venue last year.
Instead, the planned upgrade will mean the removal of two screens at either end of the ground, making room for about 1,000 additional patrons, some of them safe standing.
The acting sports minister, Andrew Powell, ruled out a larger capacity upgrade on ABC Brisbane on Thursday morning before the Olympics games, and said there were no plans for a roof “at this stage”.
The stadium will host the third Origin match on 8 July, which has already sold out, and hosted a sold-out Magic Round in May. It will also host football and rugby sevens at the 2032 Olympics.
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NSW to get $126m injection to fight digital organised crime
NSW police and the NSW Crime Commission will get a $126.2m injection in the upcoming 2026-27 state budget to combat digitally enabled organised crime.
Scheduled to make the announcement today, the premier, Chris Minns, and police and counter-terrorism minister Yasmin Catley said the funding package would address a shifting threat environment where syndicates use encrypted devices and the dark web to run “click to order” criminal networks.
A total of $108.8m will go to NSW police for a major technology upgrade, including digital infrastructure, mobile police devices, and forensics analytics. It will also fund an expansion of BluLink, which allows the public to stream live video to responding officers, and Evidence.com, a digital evidence management system for serious crime investigations.
Another $17.4m will go to the NSW Crime Commission to disrupt organised crime networks and confiscate illegal and unexplained wealth.
Minns said police require next-generation tools to match the sophisticated technology used by syndicates, citing data that showed a decade ago, a seized mobile phone held up to 64 GB of data, compared with today’s equivalent device holding up to 2TB of data, a 60-fold increase in information police are required to analyse and then store for 99 years.
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Jackie ‘O’ Henderson case against Kiis FM in federal court today
The federal court has listed a case management hearing for both Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson this morning although Sandilands’ legal claim has been formally discontinued.
Sandilands settled his dispute with ARN Media for a $12m cash payout yesterday.
Justice Angus Stewart will preside over the case management of Henderson’s $82m claim against ARN Media and the media company’s counterclaim.
Sandilands and his co-host on Kiis FM’s Breakfast Show took separate legal action against ARN after the company terminated their 10-year contracts a year in. Henderson’s suit has not yet been settled.
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Virginia Trioli to leave the ABC after 27 years
Virginia Trioli will leave the ABC after 27 years at the national broadcaster, she announced this morning.
She spoke to ABC News Breakfast, saying it “feels right” to leave now to pursue her own creative projects. She said:
This job is holding a morning audience in your hands, every morning letting them know whether their world is safe or not and keeping that connection going, and it’s gold.
I’m proud of that body of work and I’m really happy to leave now because, after spending the last few years with, you know, distinctive great Australian creatives, I’ve come to realise I’m a bit of a creative type myself. So I’m off to do my own work.
I’ve been working on a number of little projects in my spare time. That’s become a clarion call now, about, well, if you’re not going to do it now, Trioli, when are you going to do it? And so that’s what I’m heading off to do.
She said that would include writing and “at least another couple of books”.
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Choosing electricity energy plan to be made 'as easy as buying a pint of milk'
Australia’s energy market rule maker wants to simplify electricity pricing, so that it’s more like buying milk at the supermarket - with one simple shelf price, rather than itemised bills for the cow, the carton and the cost of transport.
In the final recommendations of its two-year review into electricity pricing, the Australian Energy Market Commission advocated for straightforward energy plans that are easier for customers to understand and compare.
AEMC chair Anna Collyer said:
Electricity pricing has become too complex, too hard to compare, and too often unfair. You shouldn’t need to be an energy expert to get a fair deal, and long-standing customers should not pay more than someone who just walked in the door.
Victorian opposition plans to hit premier with no-confidence motion
The Victorian opposition leader, Jess Wilson, will give notice to parliament today that she plans to move a motion of no confidence in the premier, Jacinta Allan, when parliament resumes after the winter break.
Under the state constitution, the opposition can move a single motion of no confidence in the premier each four-year term. The last time this occurred was in October 2020, against then-premier, Daniel Andrews, during the grips of the pandemic.
If the motion is successful, it could lead to the dissolution of the parliament. But given Labor’s commanding majority, this will not occur. Instead, with just months remaining until the November state election, it will give Wilson and her team the floor of the chamber for an entire sitting day, allowing them to outline their case for change.
Wilson’s statement indicates the likely themes of her speech, which she will likely deliver on 28 July. She said:
Victoria needs a fresh start and that begins with changing the government and changing the premier. It’s time for a new government with the right priorities and a clear plan to deliver for Victorians. My Liberal and Nationals team has a plan to ease cost-of-living pressures, grow our economy, end the crime crisis and restore hope and prosperity to Victoria.
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Datacentres in Australia consuming more than four times Melbourne’s drinking water annually
Datacentres in Australia currently consume about 5.5 gigalitres of water annually, according to an industry-commissioned report – that’s more than four times Melbourne’s drinking water. In the case of AWS, the company used 207m litres in Sydney and 158m litres in Melbourne last year.
Rourke said Melbourne datacentres owned by AWS did not require water for cooling for 96% of the year, mainly relying on outside air to cool its servers. However, during the hotter summer months, water was used in evaporative cooling systems to remove heat from servers.
Cameron Fitzgerald, the managing director of Greater Western Water, said recycled water was a growing opportunity. “As Melton grows, we have more water available, because we treat more sewage.”
Cameron Steele, a spokesperson for the Concerned Waterways Alliance, a network of Victorian community and environment groups, said more transparency from the industry was needed. “Datacentres are going into already highly stressed systems”, with the condition of waterways across Victoria in decline.
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Amazon datacentre first in Victoria to use recycled water for cooling
Amazon Web Services said one of its datacentres in western Melbourne will be the first in Victoria to use recycled water for cooling.
Treated water from the Melton sewage plant would be supplied directly to the AWS datacentre via a pipeline, with construction commencing next year.
Matt O’Rourke, the head of infrastructure and energy at AWS Australia and New Zealand, said this would help preserve millions of litres of drinking water annually for local communities.
Connecting a datacentre to recycled water from day one of operations is a significant first for Victoria, and AWS in Australia.
Globally the company has 26 datacentres connected to recycled water, he said.
The announcement follows the federal government’s national expectations for the industry, requiring that datacentres use non-potable water “where possible”, and report transparently on water use and efficiency.
Coalition says it’s good Hanson and One Nation getting the scrutiny of a party on the rise
Kevin Hogan, the shadow assistant treasurer, says he thinks it’s good Hanson was able to speak at the press club yesterday as One Nation “needs to be put under much more scrutiny” amid surging support.
Hogan spoke to RN Breakfast, saying Hanson deserved the respect and scrutiny to appear before reporters in Canberra. But he blasted the stunt by GetUp, saying it made the One Nation leader look like a “victim” being picked on.
The GetUp stunt completely backfired, it makes them look like [bullies] and makes her look like, you know, a victim in the sense that she’s being picked on. And that never works.
One Nation have tapped into, I think, to some fear and anxieties in the Australian public, and I think we have to acknowledge that. I certainly don’t agree with all the solutions that she puts out there, but look, I think it was healthy that she front up and that she was invited yesterday.
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New One Nation MP details Hanson’s ‘monocultural Australia’ plans
David Farley, the recently elected One Nation MP for Farrer, is praising Hanson’s speech yesterday and detailing what he believes a “monocultural Australia” looks like.
He told RN:
If you’re coming to Australia to have a better life, you become an Australian. That’s what we’re referring to as a monocultured Australia. You’re an Australian first, and your ethnicity or your creed comes second …
The reality is, we’re a Christian Judeo society with a law structure around us, and they’ve come with one clear objective: to have a better life. And that one clear objective should be, if they want to have a better life here, is to live within our culture and live within our laws and rules.
He went on to say Hanson’s address was something Australians “have been looking for for some time”, going on:
It was direct shooting. It hit the targets. It was clear. It was successful. And it addressed a number of the elephants in the room … So the speech hit the target for where Australians are today.
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Environment minister says Hanson stunt not ‘healthy’, but comments ‘entirely appropriate’
Murray Watt, the federal environment minister, said the stunt targeting Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club address yesterday wasn’t the first, but wasn’t “healthy” in that environment. Watt said this morning many politicians had been subject to disruption, including his own address that featured people wearing T-shirts and carrying signs.
Watt, however, said the message on the sign towards the One Nation leader – that Hanson had voted against “a pay rise for workers while I took at $100,000 pay rise for myself” – was “entirely appropriate”. He told RN Breakfast this morning:
I do think that the message on the sign was entirely appropriate to raise the point that Pauline Hansen and One Nation have always voted against laws to lift wages, while of course she’s been happy to take a $100,000 pay rise herself as a party leader. But I do think that there are more appropriate ways to get that message out there than what happened yesterday.
Watt said he was troubled by Hanson’s speech, adding he “lost count” of the number of different groups that she “has in her sights: workers, women, childcare workers, families who use childcare, migrants, the ABC, SBS”.
It’s all very well to get out there and make a speech about who you hate. That’s not going to take the country forward. We need to come together to face the challenges that the country faces and take those opportunities that we have.
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Good morning, it’s Nick Visser here again to take you through the day’s news. A lot on deck, let’s get to it.
Joyce stops short of confirming outright ban on certain migrants
When Joyce was pressed on whether One Nation’s evolving immigration policy included a total ban on migration from all Muslim-majority nations, Joyce stopped short of confirming an outright ban, instead saying Australia should not accept migrants living in “febrile parts of the world”.
On the economy, Joyce backed Hanson’s criticisms of recent childcare wage increases and worker-friendly industrial relations reforms, refocusing the party’s priority towards small business owners.
The greatest driver of our economy is small business. If you arbitrarily say, well, we’re just going to put up wages and somehow magically the small business that’s already struggling … is going to be able to somehow charge $10 for a cup of coffee and everybody will buy it, it won’t.
He said One Nation’s policies would be rolled out closer to the polling date as the party continued its grassroots push to transition from a minor protest group into a party of government.
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Barnaby Joyce defends hardline immigration policy after Pauline Hanson’s address
One Nation’s Treasury spokesperson, Barnaby Joyce, has defended the party’s hardline position on immigration following Pauline Hanson’s wide-ranging National Press Club address yesterday.
In a combative interview with the ABC’s Sarah Ferguson last night, Joyce backed Hanson’s call for a monocultural Australia, arguing that immigration must be tightly restricted to preserve “Australian culture”.
When Ferguson pointed out that 51% of Australian residents were either overseas-born or had an overseas-born parent, Joyce denied the party was alienating more than half the country.
What we’re saying is Australia has to have the capacity to bring in an Australian culture, a culture with guardrails, a culture that is able to absorb people so that we have harmony, we have peace, and we have a unity of purpose.
If you get a Balkanisation in Australia where there are so many people in so many different corners that they basically live their culture not an Australian culture, then inherently that just does not work out.
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Continuing on from last post …
All major medical organisations, including the Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Ranzcog), the Australian Medical Association, and the College of Midwives, opposed the bill.
The vast majority (more than 90%) of abortions are done in the first trimester.
SA Health data show that in 2023, fewer than 1% (47) occurred after 23 weeks’ gestation.
“Of these 47 terminations, 37 were conducted for the physical or mental health of the mother, and 10 were for fetal anomalies,” SA Health has said.
“In the first 18 months after the legislation was implemented, there were less than five terminations performed after 27 weeks and no terminations after 29 weeks.”
“Any abortion conducted at this stage is due to the life-limiting condition of the fetus and, or, serious threats to the pregnant woman’s health and life. It also requires the approval of two doctors,” Ranzcog said in a statement.
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Anti-abortion bill blocked in South Australia
The first bill to recriminalise abortion in the nation’s history passed South Australia’s upper house last night – but failed in the lower house despite the support of the premier and opposition leader.
Abortion was decriminalised in all states and territories by 2024, but there have been multiple recent attempts to put it back in the Criminal Act.
The latest bill to criminalise late-term abortions passed South Australia’s upper house by one vote last night, with the help of the votes of the three newly elected One Nation MLCs.
MLC Sarah Game introduced the legislation, which was created with anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe, who has been banned from the SA parliament for alleged bullying during debate on previous, similar bills.
Game was elected as a One Nation MP but quit the party to form her own party, Fair Go. On Tuesday night – before introducing the bill yesterday – she announced she was leaving her own party to join Family First.
Initially, the bill banned all abortions from 25 weeks, no matter the threat to maternal health (the only exemption was in the likelihood of maternal death) or the level of foetal abnormalities. An amendment included exemptions for severe foetal abnormalities.
But the bill still failed to pass the lower house last night despite the support of the premier, Peter Malinauskas, and the opposition leader, Ashton Hurn.
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Nonstop Sydney-London flights delayed again
Qantas has set a new date for the launch of its nonstop service between Sydney and London: October 2027.
The first Project Sunrise Sydney to London services, on a specially manufactured A350 plane built by Airbus in France, will cut four hours off the travel time, Qantas said in a media release.
At the same time, it released new photos of the first of the 12 planes it has ordered that have the expanded fuel capacity to make the flight without stopping.
Delivery of the planes has been repeatedly delayed. The project was put into hiatus in 2020 when Covid hit. In 2021, then-CEO Alan Joyce anticipated a 2024 start to commercial flights. In November last year Qantas said the first commercial services would begin in the “first half of 2027”.
The first Project Sunrise Sydney to London tickets will go on sale in February 2027, the airline now says.
Qantas says Project Sunrise will eventually connect Australia’s east coast with other international destinations, with Sydney-New York confirmed as the next service to follow Sydney-London. Launch timing for these services will be announced next year, the airline said.
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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 it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
The first bill to re-criminalise abortion in the nation’s history passed South Australia’s upper house last night – but failed in the lower house despite the support of the premier and opposition leader. More details soon.
Barnaby Joyce has defended One Nation’s hardline position on immigration after Pauline Hanson’s wide-ranging National Press Club address yesterday, with the party’s treasury spokesperson saying that the country “has to have the capacity to bring in an Australian culture”. More coming up.
