What we learned, 24 August 2025
With that we’re wrapping up the blog. Before we go, here are the major stories from Sunday:
Federal treasurer Jim Chalmers says the government is not looking to make super changes and is now focused on implementing its election commitments;
Nationals leader David Littleproud says that the Coalition will not suffer electorally if it continues to hold on to its nuclear policy;
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has reiterated his support for Ukraine on the anniversary of the country’s independence from the Soviet Union;
Laws creating a public sex offender registry will be introduced to parliament next week and are expected to pass by the end of the year;
Massive crowds have been reported at rallies in support of Palestine and Gaza across major Australian capital cities.
We’ll pick things up again tomorrow.
Updated
Regional towns also rally in protest at Israel’s actions in Gaza
Pro-Palestine rallies in Australia’s capital cities have drawn crowds of thousands however dozens of regional hubs and smaller towns have also hosted their own events today, some for the first time.
The Pine Gap military intelligence base, the Tathra Beach Country Club oval, the echo point lookout in Katoomba and the Shepparton Art Museum were among sites crowds gathered to call for a ceasefire and an end to military ties with Israel.
In the regional Victoria city of Shepparton, which has a significant Afghan Hazara community, hundreds of adults and children walked the streets of the CBD holding signs and chanting “Free Palestine” and “Freedom for Gaza”.
In Tathra on the New South Wales South Coast, organisers with Palestine Action Bega Valley estimated about 500 people gathered despite the rain, marching across the marched over the Mogareeka Bridge armed with a banner reading “Bega Valley for Palestine”.
“It’s not Sydney Harbour Bridge but the feelings of anger and frustration are the same,” one resident wrote on X.
Updated
Estimate of 100,000 at Melbourne rally
Rally organisers at Victoria’s state parliament house say they estimate at least 100,000 people marching today, “if not more”.
“Seeing crowds like this gives us hope” a spokesperson tells the crowd, vowing to keep marching until Australia imposes sanctions, expels Israeli diplomats and prosecutes Australians who have served in the IDF in its bombardment of Gaza.
Large crowds have also gathered outside the major east coast capital cities with thousands of people joining a protest March in Canberra, large crowds turning out in Hobart and a gathering reported in east Gippsland, Victoria.
Thousands of people also gathered in Perth where former ABC Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeil and Greens MLC was among the list of speakers.
Updated
Larissa Waters says federal government will ‘feel the pressure’ after Sunday’s rallies
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, says the federal government will “feel the pressure” after today’s pro-Palestinian rallies, with organisers hailing a record turnout in Brisbane as actions take place at about 40 locations nationwide.
Speaking from the Brisbane rally, Waters said she was “so proud” of the turnout on Sunday.
There are so many people here calling for peace, calling for sanctions on Israel just like we have on Russia and calling for an end to the two-way arms trade. Australians are horrified that we are selling weapons components to the Israeli government. It’s got to stop.
I think after the Sydney march, just a couple of weeks ago, which saw the government change position, I’m really hopeful that with the amazing turnout today across the country, the government will feel the pressure.
Updated
Tens of thousands at pro-Palestine rally in Melbourne
Official estimate are yet to be released, but the pro-Palestine rally at State Library Victoria appears to have drawn tens of thousands to Melbourne’s CBD in what the organisers say is the 97th consecutive rally in the southern capital.
There are so many people it is difficult to hear the speakers and crowds have been so large that people were still leaving the State Library as the head of the march reached Flinders Street.
Protesters cheered as people waved Palestinian flags from building windows and balconies, chanted slogans including “Occupation no more” and “Sanction Israel now”.
Signs also call on the Albanese government to impose sanctions on Israel and end military ties with Israel.
Updated
Some scenes now from Sydney’s pro-Palestine march.
Updated
Max Chandler-Mather urges crowd at Palestine rally never to vote for major political parties again
Former Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, who lost his Brisbane seat at the last federal election, has told people at a pro-Palestine rally that the first thing they can do to help end genocide in Gaza is to never vote for Australia’s main political parties again.
Earlier, organiser Remah Naji – who also ran unsuccessfully for the Greens in the seat of Moreton at the last election – drew a direct line between the federal Labor government and the “livestreamed genocide” being committed by the Israeli government in Gaza.
Chandler-Mather said “rallies alone are not going to fix this”.
So I have a simple action for everyone here to take as you go home after this incredible, momentous rally for peace: number one, I’ll start really simple and easy, never vote for Labor or the Liberal party again.
Chandler-Mather then told Labor members that “the best thing you can do is tear up your membership”.
Organisers’ initial estimate is that at least 25,000 are gathered for a rally they have described as “historic”.
Updated
Record crowd at Brisbane pro-Palestine rally, say organisers
Pro-Palestine rally organisers say they have assembled a historic crowd in Brisbane – which they say was swelled by authorities banning their attempt to cross the Story Bridge.
Remah Naji has told those gathered in a CBD park that the head count is ongoing.
[But] I think it’s safe to say: this is the biggest pro-Palestine rally that this city has ever seen.
“We are making history!” yelled someone from the crowd.
Demonstrators have filled Queens Gardens and are spilling into surrounding streets.
Naji said the decision by police and the courts to block the planned Story Bridge route helped gain the visibility organisers sought to rally numbers.
“Those institutions walked right into our trap!” she said.
Updated
Some images from the pro-Palestine rally currently under way in Melbourne on Sunday.
Updated
Massive crowds gather at pro-Palestine rallies across Australia
With rallies in support of Palestine under way across Australian capital cities, social media is reporting massive crowds. In Melbourne, the mobile phone network is reportedly struggling under the demand from the crowd.
Guardian Australia no longer embeds social media posts from platforms such as X, meaning we have to wait for images to come in but in the meantime, we will bring you the latest as it happens.
Updated
Pro-Palestine protesters gathering in Brisbane
Ferries are at capacity and city streets in Brisbane are swelling as thousands of pro Palestine demonstrators gather in Brisbane’s CBD as part of a nationwide rally demanding Australia take a stronger stand against Israel over its nearly two-year siege of the Gaza Strip.
Organisers had sought to march over the city’s Story Bridge – but that plan was rejected by Queensland police in a decision upheld by the courts.
The court approved a new route on Friday that will instead see demonstrators march across the Victoria Bridge, a bus and pedestrian crossing between the city centre and South Bank, ending up in West End’s Musgrave Park – a route police referred to in court as “tried and tested”.
The march is set to begin at about 2pm with speeches being held in the Queen’s Gardens from 1pm where a large crowd has already gathered as is chanting: “Free, free Palestine”.
Updated
NSW Health trying to ‘gag’ frontline workers from posting online, union warns
The doctors’ union is warning a New South Wales Health social media policy being drafted will gag frontline health workers speaking up publicly for patient care in Australia, as the government agency insists it is an update to an existing policy.
According to the “final draft” document, social media subject to the rules includes “internal communication tools” such as Microsoft Teams, and instant messaging software applications including WhatsApp, as well as social media networking sites and forums for discussion.
NSW Health’s social media guidelines, published on their website, includes an FAQ which states “there is no such thing as ‘private’ social media … remember that any content you believe to be confidential can be copied or recorded and posted by someone else”.
The final draft document states “staff should report any concerns about their own use of social media or that of a colleague, to their manager”.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Natasha May:
Trains to arrive five decades late in 10,000 home boost
Eight minutes from the centre of Australia’s most expensive housing market, the first new train station in over a decade is hoped to support 10,000 new homes.
Australia’s oldest suburban rail network is on track for its first new station in more than a decade in a bid to boost construction of 10,000 homes in the nation’s most expensive property market.
The construction of Woollahra station - on Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs line - didn’t happen when the route was built in the 1970s due to community opposition.
But the NSW government wants trains to stop there in order to support 10,000 new homes and rebalance housing construction, which has predominantly occurred in the city’s west in recent years, to areas with existing infrastructure.
For more on this story read the full report:
Queensland gets new public sex offender registry
Queensland will create a new child sexual abuse offender register with laws expected to be introduced to parliament this week.
Known as “Daniel’s Law”, named for 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe who was abducted in 2003 and murdered, the register will establish a three tier system for publicly reporting information.
These include a website that will publish the photograph and details of offenders who have failed to comply with their reporting obligations and whose whereabouts are unknown, a searchable database will be created to identifies certain offenders within specific areas, and a process will be establish for parents to apply to police to find out whether someone having unsupervised contact with their child is a reportable offender.
Safeguards will be put in place to prevent the misuse of information, with the scheme to be administered by the Queensland Police Service, which is already responsible for monitoring reportable offenders.
The register fulfils an election promise of premier David Crisafulli who said on Sunday that it will “[arm] parents with information to make decisions for the safety of their children.”
Monsters cannot be allowed to lurk in the darkness, Daniel’s Law will help protect children who can’t protect themselves.
Everything we do is about driving down the number of victims of crime and this will help prevent innocent children falling prey to predators.
We acknowledge the many years of advocacy from Bruce and Denise Morcombe, who have turned unimaginable tragedy into a legacy of better protection for Queensland children.
The proposal for the register has been controversial. The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties has previously opposed publicly identifying offenders as their names are often concealed to protect their victims.
Given that the overwhelming majority of sex offenders are known to or related to their victims the first people likely to be harmed by the publication of the names of sex offenders are the victims who may well be identified.
The second consequence of the fact that most victims know the offender is that these laws by focusing attention on stranger danger could create a false sense of security which may actually expose children to risk.
Research from the US has also suggested that sex offender registers do not lead to reductions in recidivism, is likely to increase the risk of vigilante violence and creates an incentive for offenders go into hiding and work together.
Updated
Shadow treasurer claims credit for government not changing national construction code
The Coalition has accused the government of adopting its policy with the decision to pause changes to the national construction code.
Shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien spoke to Sky News on Sunday after an appearance by Clare O’Neil where he accused the government of copy the Coalition’s homework.
The only concrete step that comes out of the roundtable is Coalition policy.
It would have saved a lot of time, a lot of effort, if you know, they just put a post on social media saying, ‘thanks, Coalition, good idea’.
On questions about the Coalition’s performance at the last election, O’Brien said the party had got it wrong on tax but said he expected the government to lift taxes this term.
If you just keep on spending, you’ve got to get the money from somewhere.
When you can’t control your spending, you’re just going to increase debt and increase taxes. That’s pretty clear.
– with AAP
Updated
Housing minister say Australia’s building code is too complex
Australia’s 2,000-page building code is “unusable” for many builders, Clare O’Neil says.
O’Neil spoke to Sky News on Sunday morning before the federal treasurer Jim Chalmers, appeared on ABC Insiders as part of a broad push to spruik the government’s deregulatory agenda.
She said the government’s pauses on changes to the code means “there really won’t be meaningful changes to the code for a seven-year period, so this is where we’re giving our builders a bit of room to breathe.”
The biggest issue we’ve got in the code at the moment is just sheer complexity. This is a code which has ballooned out to more than 2,000 pages.
It’s really about streamlining, about simplifying and making sure that we provide builders the very best opportunity to build more homes more quickly.
O’Neil said this would help accelerate the push for the government’s housing target of 1.2m new homes by the end of the decade.
We desperately need more homes for Australians in our country, and this is the way to get it.
These are big, meaningful steps forward on housing that have come as a direct result of the roundtable conversation.
For more on this story, read the Guardian’s previous reporting:
– with AAP
Updated
Slava Ukraini! PM shows support to Ukraine on independent day
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has used the return of smuggled artefacts and the anniversary of Ukraine’s Independent to reiterate Australia’s support for the country in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion.
In a statement posted to social media on Sunday, the prime minister expressed admiration for its people’s “extraordinary courage” and said the country stood by all those in Australia with Ukrainian heritage.
All Australians share the hope and expectation of the Ukrainian people that victory and justice will prevail
May the spirit of Independence Day sustain our belief in a future of just and enduring peace.
Slava Ukraini!
Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union on 24 August 1991.
- AAP
Updated
Australia returns smuggled Ukrainian artefacts
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has praised the courage of Ukraine’s people on the 34th anniversary of its independence, as archaeological items are returned.
Australia has returned two illegally exported archaeological objects to Ukraine as it renews support for the war-torn nation amid peace talks.
Arts minister Tony Burke formally handed back the items to Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko at a concert in Sydney to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day.
The items are an iron arrowhead dating from the 12th or 13th century and a pendant from the third millennium BCE that was likely a traditional adornment in the ancient Yamnaya culture.
They were illegally trafficked to Australia in late 2023 and intercepted and seized upon arrival in Sydney.
Burke said:
Returning these items reflects Australia’s ongoing commitment to combating illicit trafficking of cultural heritage in all countries, particularly those suffering the hardships of war.
These objects are part of the history and heritage of the people of Ukraine, which must be preserved for future generations.
– AAP
Updated
UK’s Nigel Farage campaigning on harsh refugee policies with ‘mass deportations’
Far-right UK politician Nigel Farage is campaigning to emulate Australia’s refugee policy ahead of the next election with calls for “mass deportations” of migrants.
In an interview with The Times of London reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, Farage said that asylum seekers intercepted while crossing the English Channel would be forced to return home. Those who refused would be redirected to Ascension Island “as a backstop” he said.
Ascension Island currently hosts British and American air force bases near the equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. He did not say how many people it would have to accommodate as part of the program.
Farage, a lead campaigner in the successful push for Britain to leave the European Union has previously spoken to former prime minister Tony Abbott and appears to be taking a leaf out of the Coalition’s book.
You will not be staying in this country if you pay a trafficker to cross the English Channel.
Farage told The Times that “we can’t be responsible for everything that happens in the whole of the world” and, in response to a question about whether those who are returned are killed or torture, said “I can’t be responsible for despotic regimes all over the world. But I can be responsible for the safety of women and girls on our streets”.
Reform currently only has three MPs in the House of Commons but is considered an insurgent threat to a struggling Labor party and a broken Conservative party. Former Conservative leader Rishi Sunak previously proposed redirecting asylum seekers to Rwanda – another policy that echoed the Australian immigration system.
Updated
Nationals leader says Coalition will take market-based nuclear power policy to election
David Littleproud continues to insist the Coalition is not setting itself up for another election defeat by maintaining its support for nuclear power.
Speaking to 2GB on Sunday, Littleproud said the Coalition would take a different approach than it did at the last election by lifting the moratorium on nuclear power generation in Australia and “let the market do it”.
This in contrast to the Coalition’s approach at the last election, which was to create a state-owned company to drive the development of nuclear power – a common approach to nuclear energy development owing to the massive financial risks and long-term time horizons involved.
Littleproud claimed that renewable energy was driving bills up, and that it was not the “cheapest form of energy’.
I just say to your city viewers, regional Australia is bearing the brunt of this. I’m seeing towns and I’m actually seeing families being torn up by these renewable projects that are tearing up their productivity, your food security and actually the native environment. And it’s all without premise.
Earlier this week, the party passed non-binding motion calling on the Coalition leadership to abandon support for policies to reach net zero by 2050.
Updated
AI ‘will change everything’ says Chalmers
Chalmers says the government is all-in on the artificial intelligence boom saying the technology will “change everything” and that it is the government’s role to manage the introduction of the technology to “maximise the benefits and minimise the risks”.
Artificial intelligence was absolutely central to our discussions because it will be absolutely gamechanging in our economy and our society into the future.
On the NDIS and hospital funding, Chalmers says “four years ago, spending on the NDIS was absolutely out of control.” Where it was once growing at 22%, the government is working to get this rate down to 8%.
Getting it to 8% will be a good effort but not good enough, as minister Mark Butler has pointed out, so we will continue to work with the states on providing the support that people need and deserve, particularly in this instance, when it comes to Thriving Kids.
One of the questions the government is working through, he says, is whether the government will link hospital funding to their coordination with the NDIS.
Well, that’s the ongoing discussions that we’ve been having, whether it’s treasurers, health ministers, NDIS ministers, leaders, have been having this discussion since the deal was struck.
What’s the best way to implement. Two deals, not one. They are closely related. There are billions and billions of dollars tied up in them and so we’ve been trying to progress both of those deals at once for good reason because there are swings and roundabouts for both of us.
And that’s a wrap.
Updated
Treasurer says government working on road user charge for EV drivers
Chalmers says the government is now working through ways to ensure that the introduction of any road user charges does not “double tax” motorists who already pay fuel excise by driving international combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
We’re not trying to work out ways to double tax internal combustion engines. We are trying to make sure that people who drive EVs, increasing numbers of people who drive electric vehicles are making a contribution to the upkeep of the roads that they use.
It is fundamentally about making the system a bit fairer. We will take the time to get it right. The states are putting together an options paper for us to consider at our meeting before long, actually, 5th September, and so we will go through that.
Chalmers says the “main point” of the recent roundtable was whether the scheme would begin with heavy electric vehicles like electric trucks, and what “sequence” will follow thereafter.
Australia’s transport emissions have been persistently high with the latest data suggesting they have risen. Electric vehicles, as clean cars, are a key part to responding to climate change.
Updated
Roundtable was ‘about informing tax policies for the next three budgets’
Asked how ambitious the government will be on tax reform, Chalmers reiterates the government is committed to implementing what it took to the election and that it has time to consider its options.
The roundtable was never about finalising tax policies, it was about informing tax policies for the next three budgets and beyond and that is the approach I take to it.
At the end of the day, as I’ve said, in lots of different ways over the course of the last week or so, fundamentally this is a decision for cabinet ministers to take in the usual way, and on the usual timing
For what it’s worth, what the government is saying here is important as these decisions shape how much money there will be for social security, new hospitals, aged care and childcare – the last of which was a signature policy for the government at the election with a promise to provide free childcare.
Updated
‘GST and desserts have a long and chequered history,’ says Chalmers
The government is not at the point where it is considering how to simplify the tax system but is open to looking at potential proposals.
The treasurer was asked about complexity in the GST system – specifically how the system treats like products differently. For example, Tiramisu is GST-free, cheesecake is not. Yoghurt is GST-free, but frozen yoghurt is not.
Chalmers acknowledged this was a contentious area.
The question around GST and desserts have a long and chequered history in the politics of our country.
More seriously, the government was open to conversations about how to simplify but hadn’t yet “got into that detail” but flagged there was “a role for technology” for making things easier for small business, a “real time tax” initiative.
If we can make it easier for small businesses in particular to do the right thing in the tax system, that is good for everyone, so I’ve got a really open mind to try to progress that agenda.
Updated
Treasurer says ‘no plans’ to change tax-free treatment of super for retirees
Retirees still deserve “concessional treatment” on the superannuation despite pressure on the government to shake up the tax system to for the benefit of future generations, federal treasurer Jim Chalmers says.
Speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers on Sunday, Chalmers is responding to questions about what the government plans to do after the recent roundtable, saying the feedback from business will inform what the government does going forward.
He is asked whether the tax-free treatment of superannuation for retirees is “still justified”, and repeatedly says the government has no plans to change this.
Chalmers says the government’s guiding principle is a defense of the fair go for future generations.
We need to ensure collectively as Australians that the fair go is the defining part of our future and not just the defining part of our past. That is the principle at stake here.
But he also says that despite pressure on the government to shake up Australia’s tax system, the government is focused on delivering the proposals it took to the last election.
Updated
‘Dam has burst’: Palestine support swells before march
Australians in more than 40 cities are set to march for Palestine, in what organisers say would be one of the largest mobilisations in Australian history.
Hundreds of thousands of Australians are expected to march in a nationwide groundswell of support for the Palestinian cause, days after famine was declared in Gaza for the first time.
Marchers, backed by more than 250 community organisations, unions and prominent public figures will turn up at rallies in more than 40 cities on Sunday to demand sanctions and an end to Australia’s arms trade with Israel.
Palestine Action Group’s Sydney spokesman Josh Lees said organisers are anticipating up to half a million people to turn out, up from the estimated 300,000 that attended the Sydney Harbor Bridge march in early August, which they say was a reflection of the huge outpouring of support for Palestinians.
That bridge march has generated so much momentum around the country.
The dam has burst in terms of support for Palestine and opposition to this genocide.
The action comes days after the United Nations confirmed famine in parts of the Gaza Strip for the first time, as Israel prepares for a military takeover of the entire city.
Speakers slated to address crowds include high-profile activist Grace Tame and journalist Antoinette Lattouf.
Israel has rejected its actions in Gaza amount to genocide, a claim that has also been brought against it before the International Court of Justice, and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the famine declaration an “outright lie”.
- AAP
Albanese government cuts red tape in bid to boost home building
The Albanese government has promised to cut red tape and fast-track environmental approvals for new homes in an effort to address Australia’s housing crisis.
On Saturday, the government announced plans to pause further residential changes to the National Construction Code and to streamline the assessment of more than 26,000 homes under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The announcement follows the economic reform roundtable this week, at which housing was a focus. According to the government, there was broad consensus that “commonsense changes could reduce the regulatory burden for builders and boost housing supply”.
“For too many builders in Australia, it takes longer to get approval for a home than it does to build one,” the government said in a statement.
The government said it would work with states and territories to pause further changes to the National Construction Code. It would then consult on ways to streamline the code, including the use of artificial intelligence to help tradies, small business and households in using the three-volume, 2000-page code.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Petra Stock:
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers will speak to ABC Insiders host David Speers this morning.
Federal minister for housing Clare O’Neil spoke to Sky News this morning to spruik the government’s proposal to fast track housing approvals and Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien.
We will bring you the latest as it develops.
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
Protests in support of Palestine and Gaza are expected across the country on Sunday as part of a national day of action to protest Israel’s attacks on the beleaguered enclave. The protests will include a march across the Victoria Bridge in Brisbane after a court order found a proposal to cross Story Bridge was unsafe.
The Albanese government has pledged to “cut red tape” and fast-track environmental approvals for new homes to speed up construction by freezing building regulations until 2029. The government says it will help speed up the process of building 26,000 new homes under environmental laws.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
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