What we learned, Sunday 19 October
We will shut the live blog here for Sunday. Thanks for tuning in. This is what made the news:
Anthony Albanese flies to Washington DC today to meet President Donald Trump on Monday (which will be very early Tuesday morning, Australian time).
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, called for Barnaby Joyce to remain with the party after the maverick MP announced his intention to quit.
Asked about the hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza approved for visas in Australia and whether the ceasefire changes anything, the home affairs minister Tony Burke said he’s not sure all of those approved for visas are still alive.
The shadow home affairs minister, Jonathon Duniam, said Australia needs to help Palestinians fleeing to Australia from Gaza “get back to their country where they belong”.
Burke announced there will be a national disruption group targeting illegal tobacco.
Guests at a luxury resort in far north Queensland snapped a visitor swimming in their pool – a juvenile crocodile making itself right at home.
Police used pepper spray on protesters at multiple sites in Melbourne’s CBD as anti-immigration demonstrations and anti-fascist counter-protests moved through the city this afternoon.
One man was arrested, police said, after two officers were injured during the protests when projectiles were thrown by counter-protesters in Melbourne.
Tasmania police said the search for missing bushwalker Daryl Fong has continued through the weekend, despite challenging weather.
Until tomorrow, enjoy your evening.
Updated
Two police injured in Melbourne protests
Victoria police say a small group of counter-protesters in Melbourne CBD threw projectiles at police, causing two officers to be injured and needing transportation to hospital.
Police say that projectiles began to be thrown by counter-protesters on Swanston Street at about 12.30pm. The projectiles included rocks, glass bottles and fruit.
A female sergeant is suspected of sustaining a broken hand, while a male senior constable sustained a non-life-threatening laceration to his lower leg.
Police say other officers were struck by projectiles with such force that it cracked their protective shields.
Victoria police confirmed that its public order response team deployed flash-bang devices and pepper spray during the incident, which Guardian Australia reported earlier.
One man has been arrested following the incident.
Commander Wayne Cheeseman, North West Metro region said:
We make no apologies for officers having to use force to separate and safely disperse crowds during protests where police have been presented with an extremely volatile and violent environment.
Police do not attend protests with the aim of using force, but it is always in response to the actions of protestors whether it be violence between different groups, or towards officers.
We want our CBD to be a place where families can safely come for the day that businesses can operate on weekends without hassle. This type of behaviour impacts the broader Melbourne and Victorian community, and we are sick of it.
Officers working at protests have reported being threatened, hit with objects such as bottles and rocks, and being grabbed, pushed or held.
Updated
Queensland health authorities investigating after five people consumed rat poison
Queensland Health is investigating how five people may have ingested rat poison after they were hospitalised last week.
The five individuals from a similar geographic area presented to hospital last week with symptoms consistent with brodifacoum poison, according to Queensland Health.
Brodifacoum is the active ingredient in rat poison. It functions by inhibiting vitamin K, which is essential for blood to clot, and it can cause bleeding-related complications in humans.
The five affected people are “well and receiving treatment,” chief health officer Dr Catherine McDougall said.
Investigations are under way to determine the origin of the suspected poisoning but no source has been identified yet.
McDougall said there was “nothing for the community to be alarmed about at this time”:
Clinicians have been asked to monitor for presentations with similar symptoms.
This is routine when patterns in patient presentations are identified, so there is nothing for the community to be alarmed about at this time.
Queensland Health will notify the community if there is a risk to public health.
I encourage anyone with concerns about their health to see their doctor, present to the emergency department or contact 13 43 25.
Updated
Three Western Australian locations record hottest October day
Three places in Western Australia recorded their hottest October day on record yesterday, as a heatwave makes its way across the country towards the east coast.
On Saturday, the following new record-high temperatures for October were recorded, according to the Bureau of Meteorology:
• 44.3C at Telfer, WA
• 43.6C at Warburton, WA
• 42.7C at Red Rocks Point, WA
Temperatures were expected to rise up to 15C above average across inland parts of Australia this weekend, before the hot weather sweeps into parts of Queensland and NSW early next week.
A severe heatwave warning is in place in Queensland for the north-west district until Tuesday, with maximum temperatures in the high 30s to the mid 40s and overnight minimum temperatures in the low to mid 20s. The heat is expected to gradually build and extend to areas farther south and east, the bureau says.
Updated
TikTok and Meta to front parliamentary inquiry after subpoena threat
Representatives for TikTok and Meta will front a parliamentary inquiry on age assurance and the social media ban on 28 October, after the chair of the committee, Greens senator Sarah Hanson Young, threatened to subpoena them to compel the companies to appear, AAP has reported.
Google appeared before the inquiry last Monday, and Hanson Young made it clear she was unhappy that Meta, TikTok and Snap had not appeared, despite meeting that day with the communications minister Anika Wells and the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, about the under-16s social ban.
The ban is due to come into effect from 10 December.
Hanson-Young confirmed Meta and TikTok’s representatives will face the inquiry when it resumes later this month following her threats to issue a subpoena to compel them to appear.
Inman Grant could not provide further details on what other platforms may be covered under the ban but said a final decision will be revealed in the coming weeks.
She said the list will be “dynamic” and will be subject to review.
The commissioner has warned the popular gaming app Roblox that the ban may apply to it, but said it may be “tricky” to include as the law only allows the government to ban platforms whose “sole or significant purpose” is social interaction.
Updated
Continued from last post ...
Candidates have also nominated without opposition in seats where current MPs have recently announced they won’t run for re-election in 2026.
Former staffer to Natalie Hutchins, Uros Rasic, has nominated after the long-serving minister and MP for Sydenham announced on Thursday she would not run again.
Former Melton councillor Broden Borg has put his hand up to run in Melton after sitting MP Steve McGhie said it was time to “pass the baton and create space for fresh energy and new ideas to the next generation”.
In Pakenham, where MP Emma Vulin announced she would not run again due to her diagnosis of motor neurone disease, union organiser Alessandra Solive has nominated for preselection.
Christopher Buckingham, the chief executive of The Fair Co and former head of the La Trobe Valley Authority, has nominated in Bass, following Jordan Crugnale’s announcement she would not recontest in 2026. Buckingham has also previously run in the overlapping federal seat of McMillan, which was renamed Monash in 2019.
And in South Barwon, McKell Institute executive director and Labor’s candidate for Melbourne in 2022, Rebecca Thistleton, has nominated for preselection after moving to Geelong since that election. It comes after the sitting MP Darren Cheeseman was removed from the Labor caucus by the premier, Jacinta Allan, after allegations of inappropriate behaviour in the workplace towards staff.
Updated
Victorian Labor rank and file to vote in first preselection since 2018
For the first time in years, Victorian Labor’s rank and file members will get to vote in preselections, with multiple candidates nominating in two seats in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
Preselections closed this week for Labor-held lower house seats, with Pamela Anderson, Julie Buxton and Sorina Grasso nominating for Bayswater, after the shock resignation of MP Jackson Taylor.
Anderson – not to be confused with the Baywatch star of the same name – is the chief of Labor women’s advocacy group Emily’s List, Buxton is a local businesswoman and former candidate in the nearby abolished seat of Ferntree Gully while Grasso is a former Knox councillor and ran in Caulfield at the 2018 state election.
In Ringwood, Labor will field a candidate after the current sitting MP Will Fowles quit the party following assault allegations, which he strenuously denies. It is also a three-cornered contest, with Nildhara Gadani, Rachel Halse and Mannie Verma all nominating.
Gadani ran for the party in this year’s federal election in the seat of Goldstein and is an early childhood educator and founder of the Australia India Women Entrepreneurs Forum. Verma is a lawyer and commentator who ran in the 2022 state election in Rowville. Halse is a union organiser and nurse and wife of Dustin Halse, who held the seat for a term.
The two seats are located in Melbourne eastern suburbs, areas that were once considered Liberal territory but Labor picked up in 2018 and held in 2022.
Local members will get to vote in the preselections – their first since before the 2018 election – after voting rights were stripped for three years after a branch-stacking scandal in 2020. At the May federal election, Labor’s national executive handled preselections at the request of the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.
Updated
Victoria police use pepper spray on protesters in Melbourne
Police have used pepper spray on protesters at multiple sites in Melbourne’s CBD as anti-immigration demonstrations and anti-fascist counter-protests moved through the city this afternoon.
Livestream and recorded footage of the protests, seen by the Guardian, show counter-protesters being pepper sprayed by police near parliament, while loud bangs were audible, followed by scattering demonstrators.
Early estimates suggest between 300 and 500 people attended the anti-immigration March for Australia, with a similar-sized counter protest.
Victoria police has been approached for a response.
Updated
1,600 Dodo email accounts accessed, telco says, with 34 unauthorised sim swaps
Vocus-owned internet provider Dodo says it detected suspicious activity on email accounts for Dodo customers on Friday night, which led to 34 unauthorised sim swaps.
The company said it detected the activity on Friday and temporarily suspended email services for Dodo and iPrimus customers – which was restored on Sunday.
The investigation found 1,600 Dodo email accounts were accessed leading to the swapped sims. The company is working to reverse the sim swaps.
Dodo customers will need to call 1300 038 224 to restore complete access to their email account by setting a new password.
Vocus said it was monitoring the situation and had notified the relevant authorities.
Updated
Protests under way across Australia
A series of anti-immigration protests and counter protests are taking place across the capital cities in Australia.
In Melbourne, Victoria police were seen keeping the anti-immigration protesters separated from the counter protesters around Flinders Street station.
Updated
Waist-deep snow and weather challenging Mount Field Field search for missing hiker
Tasmania police say the search for missing bushwalker Daryl Fong has continued through the weekend, despite challenging weather.
The 30-year-old was on a day hike in the Mount Field area, and hasn’t had contact with anyone since 5 October.
Fong has not been seen or heard from since then, and the personal located beacon he is believed to have been carrying has not been activated.
Search and rescue operations including the use of a helicopter have been ongoing, but efforts on Sunday are being hampered by dangerous weather conditions, including waist-deep snow, police say.
Updated
Crocodile spotted in Port Douglas hotel pool
Guests at a luxury resort in far north Queensland have snapped a visitor swimming in their pool – a juvenile crocodile making itself right at home.
Two TikTok users posted footage of the crocodile in the lagoon-style pool at the Sheraton Mirage in Port Douglas on Saturday afternoon. Guardian Australia has confirmed the incident occurred, though staff were unable to comment.
“I don’t want to alarm anyone, but there is a crocodile in the Sheraton pool,” Lisa Keller says in her TikTok video.
In a second video, she showed people continuing to sunbathe on lounge chairs around the pool with the caption “not a single person cares”.
Another user shared footage of the crocodile along with the popular “sit back and relax” audio, often used on TikTok to poke fun at peaceful travel moments interrupted by annoying tourists. But this time, it was the crocodile causing the disturbance.
“just a croc casually having a dip in the Grand Mirage Port Douglas pool,” user @jasssyyl posted.
Another user replied that it was not the first time a crocodile made an appearance at the hotel, with another spotted on the golf course. Earlier this year, a large saltwater crocodile was also spotted on the 10th hole fairway of the Palmer Sea Reef golf course, about 3km away from the Sheraton hotel. Room rates at the five-star hotel range from about $400 to $1,900 a night.
Updated
Tasmanians urged to stay indoors as damaging winds batter state
Severe weather in Tasmania has prompted the state’s police to urge the public to stay indoors, and especially off the water and away from remote areas.
Severe weather warnings for damaging winds were issued on Sunday morning for most of the state, including Hobart. Damaging north-westerly wind gusts of about 100km/h were possible around the city with heavier winds expected in elevated terrain and in exposed far-southern Tasmania today, the Bureau of Meteorology warned.
Wind gusts of 154km/h were recorded this morning on Maatsuyker Island, off Tasmania’s south coast, at 8.46am and a 139km/h wind gust was recorded at Scotts Peak at 8.44 am.
In an alert this morning, Tasmania police urged the public to “reconsider any non-essential outdoor activities, especially those involving watercraft or remote areas.”
The statement continued:
These sorts of weather conditions impact our ability to conduct search and rescue response, with high winds preventing helicopter operations.
Please reconsider any high-risk activities, including boating or hiking, and make choices that prioritise your safety and the safety of others.
Stay informed, stay safe, and help emergency services by making responsible choices.
While the winds may ease off this evening, they are expected to redevelop around mid-morning on Monday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Updated
Palestinian visas should not be cancelled as Gaza ‘infrastructure isn’t there’, Duniam says
Following from the previous post:
Some politicians on the right, such as Pauline Hanson, have suggested Palestinian visas should be cancelled amid the ceasefire and peace negotiations under way to end the fighting and rebuild the territory, which has been decimated by Israeli forces.
Asked whether visas should be cancelled, the shadow home affairs minister, Jonathon Duniam, told Sky News “not abruptly”.
You only have to go on Google Earth and see the destruction in the Gaza Strip. People’s houses are no longer there, the infrastructure isn’t there.
Updated
Australia needs to help Palestinians fleeing Gaza to ‘get back to their country’, shadow home affairs minister says
Jonathon Duniam says Australia needs to help Palestinians fleeing to Australia from Gaza “get back to their country where they belong”.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, told the National Press Club last week there were around 600-700 Palestinians with Australian visas yet to arrive in the country, with Burke noting his department was not sure, in some cases, whether they were still alive.
Burke noted the double standard in regards to security checks applied to Palestinians coming to Australia, saying they were the “most heavily scrutinised people” in the world.
Duniam told Sky News Australia needed to consider how Palestinians could be returned to Gaza after a peace deal was finalised.
[Palestinians are] no longer fleeing war – yes there is destruction, they may not have access to food and clean water, but over time they will. So do these people need to come straight away? And indeed for those who are already here – the 1,900 or thereabouts, nearly 2,000 – we need to look at that and help them get back to their country where they belong, where their families are, and look to assist them in doing so as well over the course of time.
Updated
Evicted and dying of cancer Tammie spent her final months desperately house hunting in Brisbane
A month before she died of cancer, Tammie Thrower was evicted and thrust into homelessness.
The mother of three had battled stage four bowel cancer since 2023, undergoing round after round of chemotherapy. But in January of this year it spread to her brain.
Six months later she was kicked out of her home in Manly in Brisbane’s south. She spent her last months house-hunting in vain.
Though shocking, her story is common. Homeless outreach service, Micah Projects, has records of 21 people who died of diagnosed terminal illnesses while homeless in 2025 in Brisbane alone.
Read more:
Updated
Time to ‘draw a line’ under Coalition grieving on election loss, Duniam says
Jonathan Duniam says it’s time for the opposition to “strap our boots up” and get on with the job after a messy few months of internal bickering since the federal election.
In the five months since Labor’s historic win, the Coalition has undergone a series of shadow ministry reshuffles and internal spats over energy and immigration policy.
Earlier this morning, the shadow home affairs minister told Sky News the fallout of an election loss is “never pretty”, but the opposition needed to focus on scrutinising the government.
Duniam, who took on the shadow home affairs portfolio last week after Andrew Hastie quit the opposition frontbench, said:
Well look, it’s never pretty after an election loss. I think the tone of some of the contributions that you referenced there have pointed to the need to draw a line under that part of the grieving process. I myself am focused on this portfolio and something I’ve said often is a government is only as good as its opposition, and it’s time for us now to strap our boots up and just get on with the job of holding this government to account.
Duniam said he would take a “methodical approach” to determining the appropriate immigration settings in his new portfolio.
Updated
What it’s like to be on the frontline of a cyber-attack
Tim Brown will remember 12 December 2020 for ever.
It was the day the software company SolarWinds was notified it had been hacked by Russia.
Brown, the chief information security officer at SolarWinds, immediately understood the implications: any of the company’s more than 300,000 global clients could be affected too.
Read more:
Updated
Albanese heads to US for Trump meeting
As we have mentioned earlier, Anthony Albanese will fly to Washington DC today to meet President Donald Trump on Monday (which will be very early Tuesday morning, Australian time).
“Australia and the United States are the strongest of allies and closest of friends. Our unique relationship is underpinned by a shared vision for peace and security, close economic connections and deep personal ties between our two nations,” Albanese said in a statement ahead of the trip.
The visit will be an opportunity to deepen these ties, including on trade and investment, defence cooperation and AUKUS, as well as the shared goal of maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
Joining Albanese on the trip will be resources minister, Madeleine King, and industry minister, Tim Ayres – underscoring the likelihood that critical minerals will be a key point of discussion for the Trump-Albanese meeting.
Albanese said he was looking forward “to a positive and constructive meeting with President Trump at the White House.” It’ll be only a quick trip, with Albanese in DC from 19-21 October.
Richard Marles will be acting prime minister from Sunday until Tuesday night, then Penny Wong will act as PM from Tuesday night until Albanese’s return later in the week.
Updated
Verbal spray from Trump to Albanese would not damage US-Australia alliance, Clare says
A potential verbal spray from Donald Trump towards Anthony Albanese during talks at the White House would not mean the alliance between the US and Australia is damaged, the education minister, Jason Clare, says.
AAP reports Clare dismissed suggestions a testy meeting with Trump would be a setback to the relationship with the US.
“I doubt that’s a problem. I think most Australians understand the importance of the relationship between America and Australia,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
We’ve got different views on different things – Medicare, gun laws are good examples of that – but we’ve got more in common than we have that separates us or divides us.
It’s these sorts of values and those sorts of interests that will drive the conversation and the relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Albanese.”
The prime minister will be joined by the resources minister, Madeleine King, and industry and innovation minister, Tim Ayres, for parts of the trip.
A critical minerals deal with the US is likely to be used as leverage to seek lower tariffs on exports.
Clare said any possible critical minerals deal would not mean the relationship with other countries, such as China, would be strained.
“We’re in favour of free and fair trade. China is our biggest trading partner. The US is our greatest and most important ally,” he said.
A big part of our responsibility as a mature government is to work with both nations in Australia’s interest.
Updated
Automated banking systems failing to account for customers’ circumstances, financial watchdog says
Banks are outright ignoring or offering “cookie cutter” responses to a rising number of hardship requests from struggling customers, despite repeated regulatory crackdowns.
Nearly 2,900 customers complained their bank had failed to respond to pleas for assistance in 2024-25, new data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (Afca) showed.
Read more:
Updated
Burke announces national disruption group for illegal tobacco trade
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has announced on ABC’s Insiders program there will be a national disruption group targeting illegal tobacco headed up by the Australian Border Force, with state and territory police, the Australian federal police, Austrac, the home affairs department, the criminal intelligence commission, the department of health, and the illicit tobacco and vape commissioner.
He said:
We’re bringing all of that together in a single disruption group. Because to do this, it’s not only the interception and the good work that border force do intercepting containers at the border and intercepting illegal tobacco at the airport. We also need to look at what happens before it reaches the border, what happens post-border, what happens at the warehouse level, and what happens in terms of the flow of funds for these organisations as well. So, that national disruption group involves, you know, if there’s a cohesion of threats and a convergence of threats, there needs to be a convergence of protection in responding, and that’s what we’re announcing today.
He said it will be a higher level of coordination than is currently happening, with every agency in the group “looking at every stage of this supply chain”.
Updated
NZYQ cohort sent to Nauru will receive 30-year visas, Burke says
On the NZYQ cohort and the deal made by the government to transfer them to Nauru, the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, says it is “roughly correct” that the number of visas issued for the cohort to be sent to Nauru is in the high teens to 20s.
He said those transferred will have work rights in Nauru, and the visas are for 30 years.
Burke said he has inspected the accommodation and health facilities and said the standard is good, and “way beyond what some of the speculation about health standards has been”.
Burke indicated those sent to Nauru could not be brought back to Australia for health treatment.
Updated
Unclear whether Palestinians approved for visas are still alive, Burke says
Asked about the hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza approved for visas in Australia and whether the ceasefire changes anything, Tony Burke said he’s not sure all of those approved for visas are still alive.
He says some will choose to stay in Australia, and others may end up with other options they might take up.
And there will be some people who we don’t hear from again. And there’s some on that case list that we haven’t heard from for a very long time. A significant number of them are part of split family groups, where some of the family is, in fact, here in Australia and they’re wanting to join.
You need to remember, our humanitarian program that we run around the world isn’t limited to places where there’s an active war. There is decency that Australia shows to people from around the world … there are Israelis who have been approved for humanitarian visas as well. I’ve got no intention of cancelling those either. We’re a decent country. We are talking about people where all the checks have been made. And some of them won’t choose to come here, some of them won’t be alive any more …
Those who come to Australia will be given a temporary visa, and then it will be up to Burke to decide if they stay.
Updated
Smaller, faster boats being used by people smugglers, Burke says
Asked whether people smugglers are now using smaller boats to attempt to reach Australia, the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, says they are trying to use smaller and faster boats now, but none of the attempts have been successful:
Probably the most significant change in response these days is the majority of people now get sent straight back to their country of origin. So, you used to really only see people going back to Indonesia or off to Nauru for processing. But the majority of cases now are going straight back to country of origin.
We had one very recently where, within 72 hours, we had everybody back to their country of origin. There was one in May, for example, where it was a mixed boatload of people from different countries and we had to, you know, from three different sorts of citizenships that people had come from. It was more complex but we still made sure we returned people directly straight back to the countries of origin.
Burke says he can’t say which countries they’re being returned to, but it is happening fast.
Updated
Australians ‘belittling each other’ in immigration debate ‘a bad place for the country to be’, Burke says
On Barnaby Joyce potentially moving to One Nation, the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, repeats his line earlier this week that “dog-whistle” politics is now “a set of bagpipes coming over the hill”.
And so, you know, we are a multicultural nation and when people sledge multicultural Australia, there are a whole lot of Australian citizens who hear it, feel it deeply, and know that it’s people talking about them. I love this country. Like, I really do. I love modern Australia, modern and multicultural Australia are the same thing. Regardless of whether it’s the Coalition or anywhere in the debate, when as a nation, if we end up in a debate where you’ve got Australians belittling each other at scale, that’s a bad place for the country to be. And it’s the job of parties of government to stand up for modern Australia.
He said he doesn’t want to speculate on Joyce, but he said no one had raised the issue with him.
Updated
Net overseas migration ‘needed to come down’ from post-Covid peak, Burke says
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, says net overseas migration “needed to come down” and it is coming down.
He told ABC’s Insiders program:
In terms of net overseas migration, we’re now 40% below the peak. The key area where the numbers were beyond where it was in the interests of Australia for them to be, was with respect to student visas. So, that was a bit … some of that was overstated because of net overseas migration after the pandemic. You had first-year, second-year, third-year students all arriving on brand new three-year visas. So some of it was just the way things flowed after the pandemic. But it was also true, and remains true, that international education is the only industry that I can think of where you need to find a long-term home for every customer.
He said the net migration level will “continue to soften” and it’s just getting to appropriate levels post-pandemic.
He said the immigration rate will be “tailored to the needs of the nation”, focused on skilled work visas that are demand-driven. He said the numbers of people coming on construction visas had “tripled” in the past few years and amid the debate on infrastructure and housing, if there was a limit to people coming to Australia on those visas it would be “cutting off your nose to spite your face”.
Updated
Nationals leader calls for Joyce to stay in party
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has called for Barnaby Joyce to remain with the party after the maverick MP announced his intention to quit, AAP reports.
Littleproud said Joyce still had a critical role to play within the party and urged him to stay inside the coalition.
“We want him to stay in the National party. I think he has a contribution to make between now and when he retires,” Littleproud told Nine’s Today program on Sunday.
So obviously we all will be talking to Barnaby. We want to make sure that his contribution is a valued one within our party room, as everybody is.
The Nationals leader said Joyce had not tendered his resignation from the party. Littleproud said he was looking to speak to Joyce for contributions on policy.
I’ll be reaching out and having a conversation and making sure he understands that he, along with the rest of us, will play a very important role in shaping the Coalition and helping the Coalition rebuild.
We’ve got to make sure that we’re not just a party of protest, we’re a party that can govern and say to the Australian people, there’s an alternative way to address climate change.
Updated
Nampijinpa Price says she’ll wait and see on speculation Joyce will join One Nation
Fellow Nationals defector and good friend Jacinta Nampijinpa Price insists she will wait and see rather than accept scuttlebutt that Barnaby Joyce is about to throw his lot in with Pauline Hanson, AAP reports.
Price, who also quit the minor Coalition partner to join the Liberals, only to be demoted from cabinet, declined to speculate when asked what Joyce’s likely move would be.
“I’d prefer to wait and see,” she told Sky News.
I’m a good mate of Barnaby’s but I’ll wait and see what’s real and what’s just another attempt to … keep this chatter and division going on with regard to the Coalition.
Updated
Much of the focus of politics today will be around former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce’s decision, communicated to his supporters, that he intends to quit the Nationals, and speculation he will join One Nation.
You can read more about this from my colleagues below:
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John Howard says he’s ‘never met a multicultural person’
Former prime minister John Howard has told fellow former Liberal PM Tony Abbott that he’s “never met a multicultural person” just bicultural people, in an interview where he said the understanding of “assimilation” for migrants in Australia had moved away from a “sensible understanding”.
Howard told Abbott on Abbott’s Sky News documentary:
Now, to assimilate doesn’t mean you forget your mother culture … I’ve never met a multicultural person. I’ve met plenty of bicultural people.
Howard said his 2001 election slogan that “we decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come” was “given near universal support. Because it’s what people believe”.
Howard said Australia could remain an immigrant society by asserting “the centrality of the Australian compact to everyone who comes.”
The former PM also backed retaining Australia Day on 26 January, arguing that if it was changed to federation day of 1 January, it was unlikely Australians would be willing to give up new year’s eve..
Sydney man charged with child abuse material
A Sydney man has been charged over the alleged importation of a child-like sex doll and the production and possession of AI-generated child abuse material on multiple digital devices.
In a statement, the AFP said in mid-August, officers at the mail facility in Sydney identified a consignment for a targeted examination, originating from Asia.
Upon further inspection, officers located a child-like sex doll. The item was seized and as part of initial enquiries, officers executed search warrants in Lalor Park on 8 September 2025, where they spoke to the man, 59.
During the warrant activity, several items were seized, including digital devices and children’s clothing.
Subsequent investigations allegedly uncovered a significant amount of AI-generated child abuse material, along with documentation linked to the importation of a child-like sex doll.
The man was arrested on 16 Octoberand appeared before Blacktown local court on Friday, where he was refused bail. He is expected to appear before the same court on 20 October 2025.
AFP Detective Superintendent Luke Needham:
The message could not be clearer – if you engage in these horrific activities, you will be found, charged and prosecuted.
Updated
Good morning
Good morning and welcome to the live blog for Sunday. I’m Josh Taylor.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is headed to Washington today for the long-awaited meeting with US president, Donald Trump. You can read more about what is expected to come up at that meeting in this piece by my colleague Josh Butler.
AAP reports that thousands of people are expected to rally across Australia at counter-protests against anti-immigration demonstrations in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said:
The far right is organised, violent and on the march. Yet political leaders refuse to grapple with the reality of white supremacy and racism that is threatening and harming First Nations people and people of colour every day.
A collection of unions and community groups has organised the counter-protest.
About 50,000 people reportedly gathered at March for Australia events across the nation in August, gaining significant media attention.
Parallel counter-demonstrations were also held on the same day.
Let’s get into it.
Updated
