What we learned; Friday 30 May
We will wrap up the live blog here for the evening. Here’s what made the news:
The health minister, Mark Butler, has warned a new Covid variant is spreading around Australia and urged people to get a Covid vaccine booster.
The make-up of the Senate has been finalised for the next three years, with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation now having a total of four Senate spots after Warwick Stacey secured the final spot in the NSW Senate race.
The AEC is investigating reports of a high level of informal ballots at a polling place in the town of Missabotti, NSW. The ABC reports that of the 111 people who filled out ballots, 50 were declared informal and rejected from the official tally.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has farewelled her late mother with a touching eulogy at a funeral in her home town of Albury.
Up to eight people, believed to be Chinese nationals seeking asylum, have reportedly been intercepted by border officials in a remote part of the Northern Territory.
The federal budget deficit is already running $4.8bn better than expected in the financial year to April, according to the Department of Finance’s latest monthly statements.
Enjoy your evening.
Updated
Farmers given temporary reprieve from Victorian emergency services levy
Farmers will be temporarily spared from paying a hiked emergency services levy as drought support is expanded statewide in Victoria, AAP reports.
An extra $37.7m has been earmarked for drought relief in Victoria as paddocks and dams run dry after low autumn rainfall.
A Victorian drought relief package, which includes $5000 grants, will be made available across the state after previously being limited to 24 local government areas.
Its expansion means all farmers will not pay the increased rate for the expanded emergency services levy in the 2025-26 financial year.
Their rate will remain at the same level as 2024-25 and automatically applied to notices for primary production properties.
The expansion of drought support was based on Bureau of Meteorology and Agriculture Victoria advice that the worse case for May rainfall had been realised, the premier, Jacinta Allan, said.
“All of Victoria is being now recognised as being affected by drought,” she told reporters in Fiskville on Friday.
Under the original changes to the levy from 1 July, the average annual bill was expected to rise $678 for primary producers and $63 for residential homeowners.
Spooked by the backlash, the Allan government lowered the rate for farmers and introduced rebates for CFA and SES volunteers and life members.
The expanded levy was meant raise an extra $2.1bn over the next three years to cover more emergency service agencies in the face of more frequent and intense natural disasters.
The treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, said the recent tweaks would leave the budget $73m worse off but she remained confident of delivering an operating surplus of $600m in 2025-26.
Updated
Parents warned of overdose from over-the-counter medicines
Parents grabbing over-the-counter medicine to help their children is causing a startling number of hospital visits, researchers say.
AAP reports almost 100 children and teenagers are being taken to emergency departments every day after taking over-the-counter medicines such as paracetamol and antidepressants.
At least half of these visits are preventable due to being accidental or intentional overdoses or adult-only medication, University of South Australia researchers said.
The Royal Children’s Hospital emergency medicine director says intentional overdoses can be particularly concerning.
“[Paracetamol] is one of the scary medications where early on, there may be very minimal symptoms,” Dr Stuart Lewena told AAP.
It’s only going to be when the paracetamol is starting to cause damage to the liver [when] we’ll start to see symptoms of nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
In the case of accidental ingestions, he said parents and carers can be “flustered, anxious, worried about the error they’ve made”, delaying treatment.
Lewena said hospitals are stretched and urged parents to keep medication out of children’s reach.
Parents should particularly keep an eye on prescription medications as one tablet can cause harm to children.
Kids are incredibly resourceful at getting to things that they know they’re not meant to get to.
It’s worthwhile having a discussion with your pharmacist or doctor to know … ‘how risky is this in my household?’
In February, the federal government changed the number of paracetamol tablets per pack from 20 to 16 in general stores and 50 in pharmacy medicine packs.
Updated
Queensland government say nurses union hasn’t made pay counteroffer
Queensland’s state government says the nurses union has not put forward a counteroffer after rejecting a pay offer this week.
Secretary Sarah Beaman announced earlier today that the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union is “likely” to start industrial action next week.
Stage one is likely to consist of things like wearing campaign shirts and badges. It is the first strike action by the union in 23 years.
A spokesperson for the health minister, Tim Nicholls, said the government would “continue to negotiate in good faith with the union”.
It’s disappointing that the union has rejected two offers that fulfil the government’s election commitment to deliver national-leading wages and conditions for our nurses and midwives.
We will continue to negotiate in good faith with the union.
To date, a counteroffer has not been put forward by the union.
Updated
Liberals ‘lost sight of’ culture of constructive debate and openness to being challenged: Archer
Bridget Archer said a culture of being able to talk frankly and disagree with colleagues in the party may have diminished in the last term as a result of the turnover of Liberal leaders during the last Coalition government, and the sense of a need for discipline.
I think … we lost sight of the fact that we need to have these disagreements, we need to have constructive debates, we need to be open to being challenged and criticised and to challenge and criticise other views.
Archer said the Liberal party also needs to examine how it speaks to electorates across the country and the diversity of people it seeks to represent.
She said the Liberal party put too much emphasis on the no vote in the voice referendum as a signal on how people might vote in the federal election.
Archer said she wouldn’t rule out a future in politics but “not at the moment”.
Updated
Former Liberal MP Bridget Archer says party needs ‘to get back to what it means to be Liberals’
The former Liberal MP Bridget Archer, who lost her seat in the federal election earlier this month, has said the Liberal party needs to reassert its own brand, and while the Coalition is important, the Liberals and Nationals need to be two distinct parties.
She told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:
I think that that’s been lost somewhere along the way, possibly with that formal alliance of the LNP in Queensland. Whereas here in Tasmania, for example, where I am, there really hasn’t been able to be a Nationals presence established. We still have, I think, a very strong Liberal brand here and I think that’s been something I have been saying for a long time, that we need to get back to what it means to be Liberals. Not going one way or the other, but actually just getting back to our sort of core values which, yes, probably and we have been most electorally successful has been in the centre.
Archer said comments that the Coalition should pull out of net zero do not land well with her:
What we shouldn’t lose sight of is not whether we have a commitment to net zero or not, it’s what we do to achieve that emissions reduction that is so important and necessary. So, we can spend a lot of time arguing about the ideology of these things or we can just get on and develop a serious plan to actually deal with the problem.
Updated
Marles says ASPI report recommending more defence spending not ‘deep in analysis’
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has described an Australian Strategic Policy Institute report on defence spending as “not a report which is particularly intellectually satisfying or, at the end of the day, ultimately deep in analysis”.
There has been a war of words exchanged between the Albanese government and the thinktank since it concluded that the level of defence spending in this year’s federal budget would make Australia less secure.
Marles told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:
What we saw, in my view with the ASPI report is not a report which is particularly intellectually satisfying or at the end of the day ultimately deep in analysis …. It is the easiest thing in the world to go out there and say that you should spend more – in fact, we are; we are spending significantly more.
There [are] references to the impact of inflation; well, the impact of inflation is built into what we spend and what we are spending is way beyond inflation, but at the end of the day you only have to look at what we inherited from the former Coalition government which was $42bn worth of unfunded projects.
He said the Albanese government is fixing up “the mess” and moving forward with a very clear, strategic direction on defence.
He said ASPI should be held accountable for its conclusions, and analysis needed to be “deep and thoughtful” and “objective”.
Updated
Port of Darwin ownership did not come up in discussions with Hegseth: Marles
Richard Marles said getting the Port of Darwin back in Australian hands did not come up in his discussions with Hegseth. When asked about aid cuts made by the Trump administration, Marles said he wouldn’t go into the extent of what was spoken about in the discussion.
He said development assistance is one means to provide stability and security in our region, but it isn’t the only means. He said the previous Trump administration made a significant contribution to supporting Pacific Island countries.
So I think the importance of those countries is well understood and again, we see ourselves very much as partners with the United States and how we can move forward in that.
Updated
US raised prospect of Labor boosting defence spending: Richard Marles
Marles said Hegseth did raise the issue of defence spending, but Marles said he “wouldn’t put a number on it”, when asked whether the US wanted Australia to raise defence spending to 3% of GDP, as the US has asked of its allies.
Marles said Australia is raising defence spending. He said the Australian government was open to discussion about more defence spending.
We have done a lot already. But we are absolutely up for having this conversation and we want to calibrate our defence spending to meet the strategic moment that we all face. I said this lots of times. In a rational world, defence spending is a function of strategic threat. There is definitely strategic threat in the world today and we are rational people.
Updated
Marles says Aukus moving forward and meeting timelines after meeting with US counterpart Pete Hegseth
The defence minister, Richard Marles, says he has a sense of optimism about the Australia-US relationship after meeting his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, at the Shangri Dialogue in Singapore earlier today.
Marles told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:
We talked about the shared challenge we had in terms of providing security and stability within the Indo-Pacific, how we can work more closely together to do that and obviously we work very closely together right now, and to try and make our contribution to an Indo-Pacific which is underpinned by the values that Australia and the United States shares which is democracy and the rule of law, but it is a really good meeting, it built on the meeting that we had in February of this year in Washington DC, and it certainly leaves me with a sense of optimism about how we can very much work together to take this agenda forward.
He said they talked about the development of Aukus as critical to the collective security of the Indo-Pacific.
He said Aukus is moving forward and meeting its timelines.
It is a great opportunity for both of our countries and there are a whole lot of challenges in this, obviously, and we are certainly far from sanguine about meeting all of those challenges but fundamentally, Aukus is happening and we talked about how we need to maintain the momentum of that.
Updated
Federal budget deficit running better than expected, data shows
The federal budget deficit is already running $4.8bn better than expected in the financial year to April, according to the Department of Finance’s latest monthly statements.
To be clear: the nation’s finances are still in the red, just not as deeply as anticipated a couple of months ago.
The March 25 budget forecast an underlying cash deficit of $24bn in the first 10 months of 2024-25.
But the departmental figures show the actual deficit for the period came in at $19.2bn.
The rapid improvement was powered by corporate taxes coming in $3.2bn better than anticipated, the statements show.
High commodity prices may explain the larger than anticipated tax take on profits: the iron ore price is still sky high, trading at about $US96 a tonne, despite the global jitters caused by Trump’s tariffs.
The March budget predicted last financial year’s surplus of $15.8bn would flip to a $27.6bn deficit in 2024-25 – the start of a string of deficits.
“The budgetary bad news is arriving more slowly than Treasury and Finance forecast,” the independent economist, Chris Richardson, said.
Updated
Victorian Liberal deputy rejects claims of taxpayer-funded car rort
A tennis ace turned Liberal hot shot is staring down calls to quit, rejecting allegations of a drunken, taxpayer-funded car rort, AAP reports.
Victorian Liberal deputy Sam Groth used then-opposition upper house leader Georgie Crozier’s chauffeur-driven vehicle to take him and his wife home from the Australian Open in January 2024.
The trip from Melbourne Park to Rye on the Mornington Peninsula is about 100km.
The former tennis player had earlier hosted a political fundraiser with Nationals MP Jade Benham.
Groth and Benham, along with their respective spouses, then entered a party zone inside the tennis precinct, the Herald Sun reports.
The former Davis Cup representative was accused of getting “smashed” and misleading Crozier by telling her he wanted to borrow the car for a work event.
He was shadow minister for tourism, sport and events at the time and elected the party’s deputy leader in December after John Pesutto lost the leadership to Brad Battin.
In a statement on Friday, Groth confirmed he attended the event in both an official and personal capacity.
I was at the event to meet various stakeholders and attend meetings before being part of a fundraising initiative.
The accusations around intoxication are wrong.
Groth argued it was all officially disclosed and he had “nothing to hide”, but the travel allowance entry on his register of interest does not specifically mention the fundraiser.
Battin firmly stood by his deputy when asked if he should resign.
Victoria’s ministerial code of conduct says public resources must not be used for “improper personal or private advantage or benefit for themselves or any other person”, or for political party purposes.
Updated
Queensland nurses ‘likely’ to start industrial action next week
Queensland nurses and midwives are “likely” to start industrial action next week, after rejecting a revised pay offer from the state government today.
Nurses union secretary Sarah Beaman said stage one of industrial action would include things like wearing campaign shirts and badges.
The union’s 55,000 members operate in public health facilities such as hospitals and Queensland Health clinics statewide.
“We are preparing to commence protected industrial action as early as next week,” Beaman said.
More than 96% of those who voted said yes to taking protected industrial action to protect patients and their colleagues.
Protected industrial action will likely begin in Queensland health facilities statewide next week. I would like to remind Queensland that patients and aged care resident safety remains paramount during protected industrial action which has been approved by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.
Union members rejected a state government pay offer and voted to take industrial action this week. The state government updated its offer, but the union said it remains “subpar” and would reduce rights and conditions.
“The government threatened us with the removal of eight weeks’ backpay if we didn’t accept this substandard offer by close of business today. However, we continue to stand strong for a fair agreement and the backpay the government owes us,” Beaman said.
The nurses union hasn’t walked off the job since 2002. It will give three days’ notice of any industrial action.
Updated
The week of media news is here with Amanda Meade’s Weekly Beast.
Hanson welcomes One Nation’s best ever election results
Pauline Hanson has welcomed her party’s best ever election result, with a fourth senator confirmed elected today.
The newly elected Warwick Stacey in NSW and Tyron Whitten in Western Australia join Hanson and the re-elected Malcolm Roberts in Queensland, taking the One Nation contingent to four in the Senate. That equals the party’s best result in the 2016 double-dissolution election.
Hanson:
Our national vote increased significantly across Australia at this election thanks to a strong campaign with great candidates, common sense policies and dedicated volunteers.
There is no more dedicated servant of Queensland than Malcolm Roberts and he’s seen off challengers from all sides to be re-elected yet again. I’m also delighted that Tyron Whitten and Warwick Stacey will be joining us on the Senate crossbench. They both have much to offer their respective states and they are great additions to our team.
This team will continue the work we have always done in parliament on behalf of the Australian people: hold this toxic Labor government to account; raise the important issues; embody the strong conservative values that built this nation; defend our democracy, rights and freedoms; and put our country and its people first.
In his first comments since being elected, Whitten said:
I’m looking forward to representing the people of WA and standing for the values that make this country great.
Updated
That’s all for me today, I’ll leave you with Josh Taylor who will guide you through the rest of today’s news. Take care.
Flood warnings for parts of South Australia
The BoM has issued flood warnings for parts of South Australia, saying river levels remain elevated as flood waters from the Warburton River reach parts of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.
Floodwaters may cut roads and access tracks, and in particular river crossings, impacting travel in the region.
The SA SES added flooding is likely to remain in the area for a few months, and warned those in the area to take care as the water recedes as roads may have been damaged.
You can read more here:
Updated
Australian deaths are down so far this year, ABS says
Australia saw 4.6% fewer deaths in the first two months of 2025 than during the first two months of last year, according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The ABS recorded 27,536 deaths in January and February 2025. The leading causes were cancer (8,065 deaths); dementia (2,649 deaths); respiratory diseases (2,148 deaths); and ischaemic heart disease (1,838 deaths).
There were 128 deaths due to Covid-19 in February that were certified by a doctor, a sharp, nearly 53% fall from February 2024.
Earlier today the health minister, Mark Butler, urged Australians to stay up-to-date with Covid boosters amid the spread of a new variant.
Read more about that strain here:
ABF reportedly intercepts up to eight people believed to be Chinese nationals seeking asylum
The ABC is reporting that up to eight people, believed to be Chinese nationals seeking asylum, have been intercepted by border officials in a remote part of the Northern Territory.
The eight are understood to have arrived on the NT coast by boat. Six were reportedly discovered by local workers on Tuesday, near the remote Indigenous township of Maningrida, about 500 kilometres east of Darwin. Another two men were found the next day by Indigenous rangers.
The group has reportedly been taken into custody by the Australian Border Force. The Guardian put questions to the Australian Border Force about the reported interceptions. The ABF responded:
The Australian Border Force does not comment on or confirm operational matters.
A number of groups of foreign nationals arriving by boat to Australia were detected across northern Australia last year.
Updated
Update: CommBank says services restored after banking issues
CommBank says it has fixed the issue that prevented some customers from transferring funds between their accounts or to other people earlier today. The bank said in a statement:
We have fixed an issue affecting some transfers from CommBank accounts. Customers can now make transfers between accounts and pay using PayID or BSB and account number in NetBank and the CommBank app.
Payments using cards and ATMs were not affected. We are sorry for the inconvenience and thank customers for their patience.
Updated
Wildlife smuggler handed nine-month jail sentence over live tortoises and turtles
A man was sentenced to nine months in prison after pleading guilty to illegally importing live tortoises and turtles into Australia.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Daff) said the Australian Border Force discovered a package sent from the Philippines in March 2023 that was emitting a smell. X-rays revealed it contained reptiles and spiders, and a DAFF later discovered three snakes, six iguanas, three soft shell turtles and three tarantulas inside. Many were dead.
A two-year investigation later uncovered creatures at other locations linked to an illegal exotic trafficking gang, including hog nose snakes, eco-skeleton spiders and an African hedgehog, among others. Justine Saunders, the deputy secretary of biosecurity, operations and compliance at the Daff, said officials remained “united in their commitment to eradicate the illicit wildlife trade”, adding:
Daff has more than a thousand biosecurity officers working at our borders and in mailrooms every day who are trained to pick up anomalies in the system.
The illegal wildlife trade is the world’s fourth largest illicit transnational trade, after arms, drugs and human trafficking.
Updated
Sussan Ley’s touching tribute to her late mother
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has farewelled her late mother with a touching eulogy at a funeral in her home town of Albury. Angela Braybrooks died just days after Ley was elected the first female leader of the federal Liberal party.
Born in England in 1931, Angela Weston first travelled to Australia as a young nurse before returning to the UK, where she met her future husband, Edgar Braybrook.
She would soon move to be with him in Nigeria, where Edgar was serving as a colonial police officer. Ley was born in Nigeria in 1961. In the eulogy, Ley said:
As a child, I saw my mother as a devoted wife, but I also saw the determination with which she wanted to carve out something that was just hers.
Ley reminisced about Braybrooks’ passion for the stars and bird watching – the latter a topic of conversation during her daughter’s time as environment minister.
The now-Liberal leader spoke of how her mother was a “lifeline” while she raised three small children on a farm and how she was supported after deciding to attend university aged 30.
She said:
As I sat quietly last weekend, in a precious window of time, going through my mother’s papers, letters and photographs, I felt a deep sense of gratitude for the things she taught me: patience, persistence and self reliance, how to lift your eyes and without fear, take on the world.
I think of my own grandmother, stoic in the face of so much wartime and personal hardship, insisting that Angela, her only child, leave England for a chance at a better life.
And I think of my inquisitive five-year-old granddaughter and the unbroken chain of strength and love that connects three generations of women.
Updated
Customers vent frustration on social media after issues with CommBank accounts
Several peeved CommBank customers took to social media after experiencing issues transferring money from their accounts, as we reported earlier.
So over @CommBank, I've lost track of how many times this has happened over the years. This time I'm changing banks, not being able to access my own money when I need to pick my car up from the mechanics is infuriating. I'm out in the cold with a baby ffs. They were having… pic.twitter.com/aWaGfBoSqa
— Bec Freedom (@BecFreedom) May 30, 2025
I’ve lost track of how many times this has happened over the years. This time I’m changing banks, not being able to access my own money when I need to pick my car up from the mechanics is infuriating.
Exactly, that's the problem I'm having. My brother has an expensive doctor's appointment today and the money for it is in my Netbank Saver, along with my money. There'll be no compensation for this either.
— Delliath (@LunaticMonkey23) May 30, 2025
My brother has an expensive doctor’s appointment today and the money for it is in my Netbank Saver, along with my money. There’ll be no compensation for this either.
In a short statement, CommBank said the company was seeing “only some customers impacted by the issue”.
We are working urgently to fix this issue and we thank customers for their patience and apologise for the inconvenience.
NSW MP decries anti-Chinese violence in Sydney
Chinese Australian MP Jason Yat-Sen Li spoke in NSW parliament this week after a violent attack on a couple in Sydney.
Li argued “racism doesn’t need to be proven in court to be real in people’s lives” and said lawmakers should tackle root causes of youth crime: “Poverty, disengagement and trauma to young people and their families”.
Watch his speech below:
And read more from the Guardian’s Bertin Huynh here:
Fourth man charged over alleged looting in flood-hit Taree
NSW police have charged a man on allegations he was in possession of stolen items on the flood-hit mid-north coast.
Police said they stopped a cyclist during their rounds in Taree yesterday and searched his bags. The search allegedly revealed several items suspected of being stolen, including a credit card, jewellery and watches.
The man, 37, was arrested and charged with six counts of goods in personal custody suspected being stolen, the possession of housebreaking implements and another charge linked to a bicycle helmet.
Three others have been charged with similar allegations this week linked to the flooding. Those allegations remain before the courts.
Updated
Australian retail trade falls slightly as Trump tariffs rattle customers
Spooked consumers slashed retail spending after Donald Trump’s tariffs sent a shudder through markets, AAP reports.
Turnover fell 0.1% in April after rising 0.3% the month prior, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported on Friday. The downturn ends a three-month streak of modest growth to start 2025.
On an annual basis, sales rose 3.8%, down from the 4.3% rise over the 12 months to March.
Consumer confidence took a beating last month, after Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff dump on 2 April rattled financial markets and ripped billions from superannuation balances.
Updated
CommBank reports issue with transfers from some bank accounts
CommBank says it is working to fix an issue affecting customers’ transfers. The bank says some users “may be unable to make transfers between your accounts or pay someone using PayID or BSB and account number in NetBank and the CommBank app.”
You can still make payments using your card, and use ATMs.
The Guardian has reached out to CommBank for comment.
Updated
More updates from the Erin Patterson trial
Erin Patterson called Gail Patterson the “best mother-in-law anyone could ever ask for” 14 months before she allegedly murdered her, a court has heard.
Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, in regional Victoria, on 29 July 2023. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Patterson’s defence lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, continued cross-examining Det Leading Sen Const Stephen Eppingstall, the officer in charge of the investigation, this morning.
During the questioning, Mandy showed the court messages between Patterson and her in-laws, Don and Gail. One exchange between Patterson and Gail from May 2022 was shown to the jury.
Gail wrote to Patterson: “Happy Mother’s Day Erin. May God bless you. Love Don and Gail.”
Part of Patterson’s reply said: “Happy Mother’s Day to the best mother-in-law anyone could ever ask for!”
The trial will resume on Monday from 10.30am.
Man charged with dangerous driving after fatal Yarrawonga collision
A 26-year-old Tatura man has been charged with dangerous driving causing death after a fatal collision in Yarrawonga in Victoria last month.
Victoria police said it will be alleged two people were involved in an alteration on Hargrave Court before a woman attempted to intervene on the evening of 25 April.
Police say they will allege a man got into a car a short time later and collided with the woman as the car left the scene.
The man was arrested in Shepparton on 26 April and charged with a breach of a court order and threats to kill, before the additional charge was made on Friday.
The man was bailed to appear in Shepparton magistrates court on 5 June.
Updated
More on new One Nation senator Warwick Stacey
Back in April, Stacey told us he was confident One Nation would win big at the election, claiming what would resonate with Australians would be his stance on the cost of living, housing, immigration, infrastructure failures and “all the crises we have”:
We are going to win anyway. I think the state of the nation, and the sentiment and temper of the people, are looking at a change.
Stacey used to be a Liberal party member but left in anger at Malcolm Turnbull’s 2015 coup against Tony Abbott:
I’d left the Liberal party in high dudgeon, after Turnbull did his defenestration of Tony Abbott, and just thought that the utter disloyalty and the narcissism and the selfishness of Turnbull was something that I found appalling.
Stacey briefly joined the Seniors United party, running against Barnaby Joyce at a 2017 byelection, which he said was “just kind of a frolic”. He won 324 votes then. At this election, he won a combined 301,242 votes under the One Nation banner and in his own name.
Updated
New One Nation senator for NSW: ‘I complain and I’m standing up’
If you’re wondering who the new One Nation senator for New South Wales is, we interviewed him a month ago at the state’s ballot draw.
Warwick Stacey, today confirmed as the newest senator for NSW, may not have handed his party the balance of power but in April said he hoped to stand up to the Labor government:
If we [can] ... we’re going to choke any divisive and destructive legislation that Albanese might try to put through.
One Nation, we’re here to perform the impossible – it’s not the impossible, we’re going to do it – which is to turn Australia around.
He said Australians had to make their voices heard if they wanted to overcome the last “18 years of leadership crisis”:
The people have been fed a steady diet of failure of leadership ...
Australia needs people to stand up, not to complain. If you complain, stand up. And I complain and I’m standing up. I love the challenge.
Updated
Activists mourn marine life killed by SA’s toxic algal bloom
Activists dressed in black have staged a symbolic funeral for sea creatures killed by South Australia’s devastating algal bloom outside the state’s environment department.
More than 30 mourners silently displayed images of dead marine life, alongside placards reading “Our ocean kin are dying for climate truth”, surrounded by candles and incense. Activist Dylan Drakos said:
Our oceans and sea life are not simply dying – they are being killed by continued fossil fuel expansion, climate negligence, and government inaction. We’re here today because our grief must become the catalyst for urgent change.
More than 200 marine species, including deepwater sharks, leafy sea dragons and octopuses, have been killed by the toxic bloom, which started in March driven by an ongoing marine heatwave and calm conditions.
Protesters called for state and federal governments to release all environmental data relating to the toxic bloom and marine heatwave, to stop fossil fuel expansion and restore marine habitats.
AFR rich list shows massive leap in country’s largest fortunes
This morning, the AFR rich list was released. While many of us are trying to manage paying high rents or mortgages during a cost-of-living crisis, the story at the top end is a lot different.
The country’s 200 largest fortunes have collectively leapt 6.9% in the past year to $667.8bn.
While Gina Rinehart has kept the top spot for the sixth year in a row, her net worth has lost 6%, but still sits at a staggering $38.11b. She was followed by developer Harry Triguboff, whose net worth increased by 12% to $29.65b and Anthony Pratt & Family, owners of Visy, whose net wealth increased 11% to $25.84b.
The Oxfam Australia acting chief executive, Chrisanta Muli, said the list showed a “deep and growing divide”.
While everyday Australians face a rising cost of living, skyrocketing rents and stagnant wages, the wealth of the richest continues to grow, largely untaxed.
This concentration of wealth is the result of government policy choices that favour the few at the expense of the majority. A tax on the richest 1% of Australians could raise billions of dollars to fund the services and support communities urgently need, both in Australia and in lower-income countries.
To end poverty, we must address extreme wealth. The Rich List should be a wake-up call – it’s time to build a fairer Australia where wealth works for everyone – not just the richest few.
Updated
Victorian government approves gas import terminal near Melbourne, won’t ‘undermine’ net zero target
Victoria’s planning minister has approved a gas import terminal in Corio Bay, 75km south west of Melbourne under the state’s Environment Effects Act.
The Viva Energy terminal proposes to import up to 160 petajoules of liquefied natural gas – about 88% of Victoria’s 2024 gas consumption – from other states in order to meet local demand.
In her assessment, the state planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, said the project did “not undermine the state’s net zero emissions target for 2045” and environmental impacts on Corio Bay and the Ramsar-listed Port Phillip Bay and Bellarine Peninsula Wetland could be managed. She said:
We are striking the right balance between development and environmental responsibility.
The terminal has been proposed as an interim measure – to meet projected shortfalls from 2029 as Bass Strait gas fields approached their end of life, while Victoria moved away from fossil gas.
The Victorian Greens leader, Ellen Sandell, condemned the decision, calling the project dangerous, polluting and unnecessary. She said combined with the federal government’s proposed approval of the North West Shelf extension it showed “Labor simply does not give a stuff about climate change”.
Before it can go ahead, the proposed import terminal still requires approval under federal environmental laws, and other technical and heritage consents.
Updated
AEC investigating why nearly half of votes at NSW polling place declared informal
The AEC has confirmed it is investigating reports of a high level of informal ballots at a polling place in the town of Missabotti, NSW. The ABC reports of the 111 people who filled out ballots, 50 were declared informal and rejected from the official tally.
An AEC spokesperson said the commission was investigating reports that staff at the polling place, in NSW’s Cowper electorate, may have provided incorrect instructions to voters. The spokesperson said in a statement:
If the reports from Cowper are accurate and our staff were providing incorrect instructions, this is disappointing. As we begin planning for the probable 2028 federal election, the AEC will seek to improve our education around providing voting instructions for polling place staff.
The AEC said it undertook a “significant” range of communication to voters in the lead-up to the election and that ballot papers had formality instructions on them. The body will study informal ballot papers from the 2025 election but called informality a “complex phenomenon” that can also be linked to external factors.
The AEC spokesperson stressed that the results in Cowper would not have changed with those 50 votes, as Nationals MP Pat Conaghan won by a margin of nearly 5,400 votes over independent Caz Heise.
While any issues around formality are concerning, it is important to be clear that the reported 50 informal votes at a single polling place would not affect the election result in Cowper, which has a margin of 5,397 votes.
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Community anger builds over Woodside gas extension, with new protest planned today
Community anger is continuing to simmer after the life span of a mammoth gas project was extended for decades, AAP reports. Woodside’s North West Shelf project – which hosts Australia’s biggest gas export plant – has been given the green light by the federal government to keep operating until 2070.
Campaign group Disrupt Burrup Hub will on Friday gather outside the WA district court, arguing the decision to extend the project’s life showed the government “cannot be trusted with protecting First Nations culture or our climate”.
The protest will double as a support rally for three people who targeted Woodside’s 2023 annual general meeting with stench gas and flares in what the group has previously said was an attempt to get the building evacuated.
Gerard Mazza, Jesse Noakes and Tahlia Stolarski have pleaded guilty to creating a false belief in their protest. They will face the district court for sentencing on Friday.
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One Nation wins another Senate seat after NSW results declared
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has won another seat in parliament after Warwick Stacey secured the final spot in the NSW Senate race.
One Nation will now have four seats in the upper house – double the previous term – with Stacey and West Australian businessman Tyron Whitten joining Hanson and fellow incumbent Malcolm Roberts.
Labor’s Tony Sheldon and Tim Ayres were elected along with Liberals Andrew Bragg and Jessica Collins.
The Greens deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, won the fifth spot.
The winners, in order of their election, are:
SHELDON, Tony – Labor
BRAGG, Andrew – Liberal
AYRES, Tim – Labor
COLLINS, Jessica – Liberal
FARUQI, Mehreen – The Greens
STACEY, Warwick – Pauline Hanson’s One Nation
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The NSW floods have dumped a year’s worth of landfill on some towns. Where does it all go?
More on the floods and ongoing clean-up efforts. Some towns have been bogged down by mounds of destroyed couches, fridges and mattresses.
By the time the cleanup is done, some councils expect the amount sent to landfill due to flooding will match the entire volume of waste that is usually sent there for an entire year. Paul De Szell, the liveable communities director for MidCoast council, says that poses a problem:
If you put a year of landfill in one month, the system doesn’t function.
De Szell said while clean-up can take months, getting damaged property out of homes and away from people is essential to protect public health.
[The waste] is wet, it starts to smell. There’s all sorts of bacteria that exists in that flood waste so it’s very important to get that waste off the ground as soon as possible.
The Guardian’s Kate Lyons has more, with pictures from Blake Sharp-Wiggins:
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King Charles sends message of support after NSW floods
King Charles has written to express his sympathy and support for those recovering from the record flooding on NSW’s mid-north coast. In a statement, he thanked emergency workers and volunteers, saying:
We can only say that our thoughts are very much with all those who have been affected so badly, especially the family and friends of the five people who tragically lost their lives. We send our special prayers, and the deepest possible sympathy, to all who mourn them.
As the immediate emergency passes, I am only too aware that communities are confronting dreadful, soul-destroying damage to homes, properties and infrastructure, and the loss of precious livelihoods and livestock. As many hundreds of families have been displaced from their homes, I am deeply conscious that the impact of the crisis will endure for many months.
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What you should know about NB.1.8.1, the new Covid variant
More than five years since Covid was initially declared a pandemic, we’re still experiencing regular waves of infections.
It is more difficult to track the occurrence of the virus nowadays, as fewer people are testing and reporting infections. But available data suggests in late May 2025 case numbers in Australia were ticking upwards.
Even if neutralising antibody levels are modestly reduced against NB.1.8.1, the WHO has noted current Covid vaccines should still protect against severe disease with this variant.
Read more here:
Woman charged after allegedly stabbing four people in eastern Victoria
Police have charged a 24-year-old woman after four people were allegedly stabbed in Bairnsdale, Victoria, on Thursday night.
Investigators say they were told a woman was behaving erratically at a supermarket in the city just before 10pm last night. Police allege the woman approached a staff member, stabbed him in the stomach and left the store.
She then allegedly had an altercation with a man at in nearby fast-food restaurant car park, assaulted a man at a hotel and stabbed a man at the Bairnsdale train station. All four people were taken to hospital, with the supermarket worker still in serious condition. The other three were treated for minor injuries and released.
Police arrested the woman at the station and have since charged her with intentionally causing injury and recklessly causing injury.
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Queensland tourism minister ‘confident’ Great Barrier Reef won’t be listed by Unesco as in-danger
Andrew Powell, Queensland’s tourism minister, says he is confident that Unesco, the UN world heritage body, won’t list the Great Barrier Reef as in-danger. Unesco has been threatening for years that the mammoth natural wonder could be designated as such if Australia doesn’t take greater efforts to address climate change and a series of mass coral bleachings.
Powell told RN Breakfast:
We have to ensure that we can continue to protect our reef and have our tourism operators continue to offer the product that they do. So I’m confident that [we have] got the processes, the practices, the programs, the investment that is required to ensure that we’re doing all we can at the state level to keep the reef off that Unesco list.
Powell said he was a “little bit frustrated” by previous Queensland governments actions on the reef, but said he remains focused on the site as an international draw card.
I’m a father of five. I want my kids to continue to experience the Great Barrier Reef in the same way I have, if not in a better way.
You can read more about the Unesco threats here:
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Pat Dodson says he is encouraged about Labor’s comments on truth-telling
Pat Dodson, a former Labor senator and a commissioner of the 1989 royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, said he was dismayed and saddened after the death of a 24-year-old Indigenous man in police custody in Alice Springs earlier this week.
Dodson, known as “the father of reconciliation”, said he was encouraged that the Albanese government signalled this week it remained open to truth-telling and treaty. He told RN Breakfast:
I’m encouraged that the way to go forward is being proposed. Proposed or that they’re open to that, and obviously it’s got to be committed to, and then they’ve got to set up a process to enact it. But it’s a great thing because we’ve got to start listening to the different stories.
These are unique peoples with a unique culture who are here prior to the colonisation of the nation and we’ve got to start respecting them as such and dealing with them.
Read more here:
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Hume says it’s time to ‘straighten your tiara’ and get to work, as her mother would say
Hume went on to say that, despite her feelings, she would support Ley’s leadership and work to “win back the hearts and minds and votes of Australians”. She told Sunrise:
The most important thing we can all do here now is get behind Sussan Ley, put our shoulders to the wheel. Because there’s a very big task ahead of us.
As my very wise mother would say: ‘Stop your nonsense, chin up, chest out, straighten your tiara and let’s get on with the job.’
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Jane Hume: ‘Of course it hurts’ being demoted to backbench
The Liberal senator Jane Hume said she was hurt after being demoted from the shadow cabinet to the backbench this week under the newly reformed Coalition. “This isn’t the playground. This is the parliament,” she said this morning. Hume spoke to Sunrise:
Of course it hurts. It hurts professionally because I was a hard-working and prolific and high-profile member of the frontbench in the previous opposition. It hurts personally, too, because you know, Sussan and I are friends.
Hume went on to say there was something “liberating” about being on the backbench and being able to “speak without having to stick to the party line”.
That’s certainly going to make for much more interesting Sunrise interviews.
Read more about the new shadow cabinet here:
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Dai Le says Magda Szubanski’s diagnosis reminded her of her own health troubles
MP Dai Le was on Today this morning and spoke about actor and comedian Magda Szubanski, who said yesterday she has been diagnosed with stage four blood cancer. Le, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, said this morning:
I mean, as a breast cancer survivor, when I watched that clip, I remember also when I had to shave my hair off because I knew that my hair would fall off once chemo started.
And it’s so great that she actually, you know, can talk about it because a lot of women just don’t don’t want to go there.
Le said it was one of the most difficult times in her life when she received her own diagnosis. She encouraged people to speak with their doctors early if they had any troubling symptoms.
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Mark Butler reiterates Australia will not bail out Healthscope
The health minister reiterated on RN Breakfast that the government would not bail out Healthscope, the private equity-backed operator of Sydney’s embattled Northern Beaches hospital. The company has maintained its 37 hospitals will remain open as it works through receivership. Butler said:
We’re not going to bail out an overseas private equity who made a play to make a profit. We’re not going to do that, I don’t think there would be many taxpayers who would urge me to do that.
As possible, we can see an orderly transfer and sale of these important assets to a more stable operator.
Read more on the collapse of Healthscope from the Guardian’s Jonathan Barrett and Natasha May here:
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Health minister urges Australians to stay up-to-date with Covid-19 boosters
The health minister, Mark Butler, has said a new Covid-19 variant is spreading around Australia, encouraging Australians to stay up-to-date with their boosters. He told RN Breakfast:
I do encourage, particularly as we head into winter, for people to think about the last time they got a Covid vaccine.
If you are over 75 you should have one if it’s more than six months since you had your last booster. If you’re 65 to 74, if it’s more than 12 months. And for everyone else have a serious think.
You can find full advice here.
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Sussan Ley pays tribute to her mother before funeral service
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has paid tribute to her mother and “inspiration” who died just days after her daughter became the first woman to lead the Liberal party, AAP reports.
Ley was deep in negotiations with the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, to reach a new coalition agreement after the federal election loss, while tending to her dying mother.
Angela Braybrooks’ funeral service will be held at St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Albury, New South Wales, on Friday morning. Ley said in a statement:
Like so many of her generation, she weathered uncertain times with strength and determination.
I have taken inspiration from her every single day of my life and I always will.
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Police find body of missing fisherman on Lake Macquarie
NSW police have found the body of a missing fisherman who never returned from a fishing trip on Lake Macquarie.
Officials said they were called to the area on Thursday afternoon, where they found the 82-year-old man’s boat abandoned during a search near Summerland Point. Police found the man’s body later that evening.
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Hazardous Surf Warning in place for entire NSW coastline this weekend
Surf lifesavers are warning swimmers, boaters and rock fishers to take great care on NSW beaches this weekend. A powerful southerly swell is predicted from Saturday, which has prompted a Hazardous Surf Warning for the entire NSW coastline. Steve Pearce, the chief executive of SLSNSW, said:
What we’re seeing across many of our beaches is really quite dangerous surf conditions that have the potential to cause the public harm if they’re not cautious.
We really want to stress this message to rock fishers in particular as the winter months are when we see a large number of rock fishers visiting our coastline.
There have been 49 coastal drownings in NSW since 1 July 2024.
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Thanks to Martin Farrer for getting the blog rolling today. I’ll be with you throughout the morning with updates on the day’s news.
States rated on vaping scorecard
South Australia and Queensland are leading the nation when it comes to tackling tobacco and vapes, while the Northern Territory and Western Australia are falling behind, according to a scorecard assessing the different jurisdictions.
New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania fall into the middle tier of performance in the scorings released by the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (Acosh) almost a year on from the federal government’s reforms.
The scorecard measured progress across nine key areas including cracking down on illegal sales and enforcing vape laws, protecting children from marketing, ensuring smoke and vape-free public spaces, investment in public education, support for high-risk groups and whether governments are keeping the tobacco industry at arm’s length.
In South Australia, the only state to achieve an A+, there have been more than 500 inspections conducted with closures of retailers who are doing the wrong thing and huge resourcing and investment into government taskforces that are seizing millions of dollars’ worth of illicit cigarettes and vapes, according to Acosh.
In Queensland, which received an A, there has been an introduction of significant penalties as well as large-scale seizures and stronger enforcement.
However, the Acosh chief executive, Laura Hunter, said “if this were an exam result, you’d have to say some states and territories are struggling. The scorecards found:
Tasmania, which received a B, is showing progress by updating state legislation, but their funding commitment to education needs to be lifted.
NSW, which received a C, has seen progress with the introduction of a licensing scheme to control supply but the focus needs to turn to resourcing compliance and enforcing.
The ACT, which also received a C, similarly needs compliance and enforcement to be strengthened.
Victoria, which also received a C, is progressing tobacco control reforms but some details are yet to be released and Acosh expects the new licensing scheme to improve the state’s score next year.
Western Australia, which received a D, has made some progress in regulations introducing the prescription-model for vaping products but is yet to update its tobacco laws, which is hampering compliance and enforcement efforts.
The Northern Territory, which received an F, needs to “urgently prioritise tobacco and vaping reforms and progress legislative changes. They have fallen behind other jurisdictions and need immediate action.”
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Protests against Woodside’s North West Shelf project in WA
Community anger will show itself today after the life span of a mammoth gas project was extended for decades, the Australian Associated Press reports.
Woodside’s North West Shelf project – which hosts Australia’s biggest gas export plant – has been given the green light by the federal government to keep operating until 2070.
The Australian energy giant still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official.
The decision has been met with anger by environmental and Indigenous groups who argue it will trash efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and have a ruinous effect on ancient petroglyphs.
Campaign group Disrupt Burrup Hub will today gather outside the WA district court, arguing the decision to extend the project’s life showed the government “cannot be trusted with protecting First Nations culture or our climate”.
The protest will double as a support rally for three people who targeted Woodside’s 2023 annual general meeting with stench gas and flares in what the group has previously said was an attempt to get the building evacuated.
Gerard Mazza, Jesse Noakes and Tahlia Stolarski have pleaded guilty to creating a false belief in their protest at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre in April 2023.
They will face the district court for sentencing today, having labelled their protest “a successful hoax” when they pleaded guilty to the charges.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his cabinet are set to head to WA next week where they are likely to face further protests.
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Greens say Woodside extension will export profits overseas ‘at the expense of everybody else’s safety’
More from that interview with Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young last night: she noted the expansion of Woodside’s gas project was not about increasing gas supply for Western Australia but rather to export overseas for company profit, “the profits of a big company like Woodside at the expense of everybody else’s safety”.
Hanson-Young said it was a “furphy to suggest we need to create huge carbon bomb” to ensure domestic supply.
There’s plenty of gas that is already being produced in Australia for Australian use … That’s not what the purpose of this is.
This is about exports, big money going overseas and pollution being created offshore at a time when it’s already a stark problem for Australia. We are one of the largest exporters of fossil fuels in the world. That means that we have a huge role in actually reducing pollution globally if we want to. There’s an opportunity for Australia.But rather than taking that opportunity, this government has given the green light to more pollution and more damage.
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Sarah Hanson-Young condemns Labor’s Woodside decision
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has decried the decision by the environment minister, Murray Watt, to approve the extension of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project as NSW residents are battling a natural disaster exacerbated by climate crisis.
Speaking to ABC’s 7.30 on Thursday, Hanson-Young said:
We know that every time a new huge gas field like this project is given the green light, or the pipeline, we know that that intensifies the pollution going into the atmosphere and therefore makes climate change worse. It just beggars belief that this week was the week that the new environment minister decided to make this decision to approve this huge pollution bomb at the same time as residents in NSW are struggling with floods. People have lost their lives, their homes, their livelihoods.
The law was “so poor, so broken” that it would allow approval for a hugely polluting project without considering the amount of pollution the project would generate, Hanson-Young said, imploring the newly re-elected Labor government to be bold in tackling climate change.
It just doesn’t make sense that in 2025 you can give an environmental approval to a project that is environmentally damaging and don’t even consider the climate damage. It just doesn’t make sense.
Look, I am hopeful. This election has provided Labor with a super majority in the house. The Greens in sole balance of power in the Senate. There is an opportunity to get the important bold reforms needed that’s done. But the government has to have the courage to do that and that means staring down the fossil fuel industry and protecting not just nature and wildlife but our children’s future.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best stories of the morning and then it will be Nick Visser to take you towards the weekend.
South Australia and Queensland are leading the nation when it comes to tackling tobacco and vapes, while the Northern Territory and Western Australia are falling behind, according to a scorecard assessing the different jurisdictions. More coming up.
After this week’s decision to extend the life of Woodside’s North West Shelf LNG facility in the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia, local activists will be out in force in Perth today. The campaign group Disrupt Burrup Hub will today gather outside the Western Australian district court against the decision and as three of their number are sentenced for a protest against Woodside. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has decried the decision by the environment minister, Murray Watt, saying it “beggars belief” in the age of climate change. More coming up.
