What we learned: Thursday 4 September
It’s time to wind down our live news coverage for the day. Here’s what has been keeping us busy on the last sitting day of parliament:
A bill to strip basic legal protections from the noncitizens it plans to deport to Nauru and retrospectively validate visa decisions made before the high court’s NZYQ ruling has passed the Senate. But just who is within the NZYQ cohort? And are they all violent criminals, as some politicians have claimed? Read our fact-check here. The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said the bill was “Trump-style” and “sends a devastating message” to migrant and refugee communities across Australia.
The high court will not hear an appeal by Australia’s most decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, ending a seven-year challenge of news reports that labelled him a war criminal.
Former Victorian premier Dan Andrews responded to widespread criticism over his high-profile attendance at yesterday’s massive military parade in Beijing.
The commonwealth has agreed to pay $475m in additional compensation to robodebt victims in the largest class action settlement in Australian history. The former Labor minister and University of Canberra vice-chancellor, Bill Shorten, said the robodebt class action settlement “closes a dark and shameful chapter in Australian public administration”.
The leader of the opposition, Sussan Ley, rejected claims from Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price that federal Labor was promoting migration by specific ethnic groups, including Indians, to grow its electoral support. Julian Hill, meanwhile, called Nampijinpa Price’s comments “bonkers”.
Thank you all, as ever, for joining us. We’ll be back bright and early with more breaking news.
Updated
Nampijinpa Price’s comments on immigration ‘bonkers’: Labor MP
Julian Hill says Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s ABC interview yesterday, in which she suggested Labor’s immigration policies garnered left-leaning Indian Australian voters – comments she later walked back – was “bonkers”.
The Labor MP told Afternoon Briefing a short time ago:
It was absolutely bonkers. It was incoherent. It was all over the shop.
There were literally racist tropes being spread, suggesting that all people of a particular race vote one way, as if they’re Daleks with one brain cell. That is racist. It’s offensive.
I’ll tell you the data: Australians of Indian heritage are more likely to be employed than your average Aussie. They work two jobs. They work hard, they contribute, just like generations of migrants before, and many of them were born here, as were their parents and their grandparents.
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Robodebt settlement a ‘meaningful’ outcome, Shorten says
Bill Shorten, the former NDIS minister, says today’s historic robodebt settlement is “meaningful”.
Speaking with the ABC a short time ago, he said:
I’m not going to pretend that it’s the best outcome. The best outcome is that the law was never broken by the previous government. But as the second best outcome, it is meaningful. I’m not going to pretend everyone is happy. I’m not going to pretend that it captures all the pain and suffering, but it is meaningful.
On a different subject, he said those who marched with neo-Nazis on Sunday had “already lost the argument”.
When you’re marching with Nazis … you’ve already lost the argument.
I don’t like Nazis full stop … and if they’re marching alongside you, then [your message] is going nowhere fast.
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Liberal party MPs’ criticism of Dan Andrews continues
The former Victorian premier may have attempted to explain away his controversial attendance at yesterday’s Beijing military parade – see below post – but the criticism continues to roll in.
Speaking on the ABC just now, Senator Dave Sharma said “we need to draw a distinction between Dan Andrews visiting China and then Dan Andrews … attending a military parade in China”:
I’ve got no problems with Dan Andrews making a visit to China. I’ve got no problems with commercial engagement with China. But I think, as Bob Carr himself recognised – and decided not to attend - attending this sort of military parade, which was a show of might, which was clearly … intended to send a strong message to the western alliance system in countries like Australia, which was attended by a whole group of leaders from countries who are basically committed to overturning the order that we seek to preserve: That sends a very bad signal if you’re a former Australian leader of any calibre.
Senator Jane Hume meanwhile told Afternoon Briefing the photo-op was “not a good idea. It’s not a good look. You’re standing beside dictators and despots. This is not great for Australia’s reputation to be standing with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.
Why would you consider doing it? I think it’s an extraordinarily appalling lack of judgment on Dan Andrews’ behalf. And you know, quite frankly, I cannot understand why the prime minister hasn’t condemned him.
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Dan Andrews: ‘A constructive relationship with China is in Australia’s national interest’
Former Victorian premier Dan Andrews has responded to widespread criticism over his high-profile attendance at yesterday’s massive military parade in Beijing.
In a statement, he said:
I was invited to Beijing for the 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in World War II. I’ve said for years that a constructive relationship with China – our largest trading partner – is in Australia’s national interest and hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs depend on it. That hasn’t changed.
It was a chance to meet and engage with regional leaders – like former New Zealand Prime Ministers John Key and Helen Clark, Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and of course Chinese President Xi. We also shared in an official photograph.
And just so there’s no confusion – I have condemned Putin and his illegal war in Ukraine from day one. That’s why he banned me from Russia last year.
Further, my support for Israel and Australia’s Jewish community has been outspoken and unwavering, and I unequivocally condemn Iran for its attacks on Australia, Israel and elsewhere around the world.
Read more here:
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Jacqui Lambie tells neo-Nazi protesters ‘You probably need to have a good look at yourself in the mirror’
Jacqui Lambie says social media is influencing a “lot of vulnerable Australians” and needs to be “reined in” after recent anti-immigration rallies.
Speaking on the ABC just now, the senator said:
If you want to go and support neo-Nazis, then that is absolutely shocking, and you probably need to have a good look at yourself in the mirror and probably get off social media and stop reading the misinformation and disinformation.
She said “social media companies need to be reined in. They need to be regulated. And nobody seems to have the courage up here to do that.”
She continued:
I think that right now, there is a lot of vulnerable Australians out there. The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer, and that that makes them all vulnerable … and they are looking for something to belong to.
High court scuttles Ben Roberts-Smith's final appeal bid
The High Court will not hear an appeal by Australia’s most decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, ending a seven-year challenge of news reports that labelled him a war criminal.
The former special forces soldier had appealed his 2023 Federal Court loss after he sued Nine Newspapers for defamation over reports claiming he was complicit in the murder of four unarmed civilians in Afghanistan, AAP reports.
Roberts-Smith disputed Justice Anthony Besanko’s findings that the allegations were substantially true, arguing that was not backed up by sufficient evidence for such serious claims.
On Thursday, Australia’s highest court refused the former soldier’s application to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal ruling.
It came on the same day the recipient of Australia’s highest two military honours - the Victoria Cross and Medal for Gallantry - was ordered to pay a lump sum of Nine’s legal costs for the unsuccessful Federal Court appeal.
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Rip Curl owner flags store closures
The owner of major brands including Kathmandu and Rip Curl will close 21 stores as part of an overhaul of the business amid weak sales and a depressed share price.
KMD Brands told shareholders today the changes were part of a $25m “cost reset program”, referring to cost cuts. The company, which has a global network of stores, did not disclose the location of the outlets it intends to close.
Shares in the listed company are down more than 50% over the past year amid a challenging time for many retailers facing strong competition from online retailers.
The KMD chairman, David Kirk, said:
We believe KMD Brands is materially undervalued by the market.
Over the last 18 months we have deliberately made significant executive team changes to enhance the core capabilities of the group.
KMD owns and licences hundreds of stores around the world, selling its well-known surf and hiking products. It also owns footwear brand Oboz.
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Bill Shorten: Robodebt settlement closes ‘dark and shameful chapter’
The former Labor minister and University of Canberra vice-chancellor, Bill Shorten, says the robodebt class action settlement “closes a dark and shameful chapter in Australian public administration”.
In a statement, Shorten said the outcome was “historic”. He continued:
While no court process can erase the pain inflicted, it does offer long-overdue recognition for the hundreds of thousands of Australians who were unfairly targeted, harmed and demonised.
Along with Gordon Legal when we started the class action in 2019, I said that Robodebt was unlawful, unjust, and unconscionable … Today’s outcome shows that those warnings were right – and that governments must never again put expedience ahead of justice.
Governments of all persuasions must commit to never again outsourcing morality to machines or allowing administrative convenience to override human rights.
He said the University of Canberra was home to many students, staff, and alumni whose lives were touched by the policy.
I want them to know that their experiences matter, that they have been heard, and that institutions must learn from these mistakes … Accountability is not optional – it is the cornerstone of trust in government.
Read more here:
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Asylum Seeker Resource Centre criticises ‘Trump-style’ deportation laws
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre says the government’s Nauru bill is “Trump-style” and “sends a devastating message” to migrant and refugee communities across Australia.
In a statement, the organisation said the bill removed the most basic legal safeguard - the right to fairness - from deportation decisions and validated “flawed decisions of the past”.
In a statement, Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO of the ASRC said:
This bill is a racist attack on migrants that drags us back to the darkest days of the White Australia policy. In a week when neo-Nazis are marching in our streets, the Albanese government and the Coalition have revived a racist agenda we thought had been consigned to history. The recent election told us that Australians have rejected this kind of race-baiting and dog whistling, and the decision to revive this kind of politics is an enormous betrayal of our multicultural communities.
Jana Favero, deputy CEO of the ASRC, said the government “should be ashamed”:
The threat of deportation is now real for thousands of people. People who have Australian citizen family members, including children. This would cause permanent family separation. They should be ashamed.
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Thank you for guiding us through QT and beyond, Caitlin Cassidy. I’ll be with you for the remainder of the day’s breaking news – let’s get going.
Question time winds up
There is a dixer on strengthening Medicare, and then question time concludes for the day, before a dig from the prime minister.
Mr Speaker, having had questions from this side about cost of living, wages, economic growth, Aukus, social cohesion, robodebt, social security and Medicare, I ask that further questions be placed on notice and I suggest to those opposite that they go touch grass during the break and get in touch with what Australians are concerned about.
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Le questions net zero and Joyce interrupts
A question from the independent member for Fowler, Dai Le, is interrupted by Barnaby Joyce who is accused of making an unparliamentary remark.
Le quizzes Labor over its promise that energy bills would go down, and whether it “isn’t true that your government’s approach to net zero is leaving almost zero dollars in the pockets of families and small businesses and how exactly will the household battery rebate help them?”
The minister for climate change and energy, Chris Bowen, begins to answer, saying it is a “lie” that the cheaper home batteries policy hasn’t been of benefit to her electorate.
Le objects on a question of “relevance and I think professionalism as well”.
These are question to the prime minister … please address the question.
The independent member for Curtin, Kate Chaney, raises a point of order over “the member for New England is breaching standing order 90 by … the things he was saying which I don’t want to repeat in front of the children upstairs here”.
The speaker, Milton Dick, said he didn’t hear due to the noise but warns Joyce over standing orders and asks Bowen to remain directly relevant.
Updated
There is yet another question on Daniel Andrews
This one is from manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke, on whether Andrews has complied with the requirements of the foreign influence register scheme.
This time the question is addressed to Michelle Rowland.
If only Andrews were in the room! But as we know, he is elsewhere.
Her answer is “exactly as the prime minister said”.
Every person is required to comply with the law as it stands.
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Rowland says record robodebt compensation settlement ‘reflects the harm caused’ by policies of former government
The next dixer again goes to the attorney general on robodebt.
Earlier today, lawyer Peter Gordon said the fact the settlement was reached was an indication that the federal government “knew that the result in court was going to be even worse than the massive amount that they’ve paid out today”.
Michelle Rowland says the royal commission findings were “damning”, that robodebt was “cruel, neither fair or legal and a costly fail of administration in both human and economic terms”.
The robodebt scheme destroyed lives. The Albanese government has been left to clean up this shameful mess left by those opposite and that’s exactly what we’re doing.
We have made significant progress in implementing the recommendations of the robodebt royal commission and today the government has agreed to settle the matter which would see the commonwealth pay $475m in compensation. This would be the largest class-action settlement in Australian history, the size of which reflects the harm caused to vulnerable Australians by the policies of the former government.
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Attorney general says independent bill to criminalise child sexual abuse AI tools will be given due consideration
The independent member for Curtin, Kate Chaney, asks the attorney general whether Labor will support her bill to criminalise AI tools designed to create child sexual abuse material.
Frontline police are being overwhelmed by the increasing scale and depravity of child sexual abuse driven by AI tools … The government has a crackdown [on] nude apps which is a part[ial solution]. We need action.
Michelle Rowland says some of the technology is “of great concern” and is particularly harmful for young people. She says Chaney’s bill will be given “due consideration” by the government.
This is precisely the reason why this government, in the last term, brought forward the statutory review of the online safety act by a year … we have announced that we will take steps in relation to these apps which have no place …
When we consider criminal sanctions, they of course require careful consideration and discussion between states and territories, and I can confirm to the member that this has been openly discussed at the first meeting of the standing Council of Attorneys General which met only a couple of weeks ago.
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Coalition continues pressure over Andrews
The prime minister is again questioned on former premier Daniel Andrews’ ties to the Chinese Communist Party – this time by the member for Herbert, Phillip Thompson.
There is dispute over the framing of the question, which initially asked whether Anthony Albanese was aware Andrews hadn’t disclosed his engagement on the foreign influence transparency scheme register if he would “immediately write to his close personal friend and former flatmate seeking his immediate compliance with the register”.
Thompson removes his reference to Andrews being a “close personal friend” and “former flatmate” of the PM.
Albanese says “everyone should comply with the law”.
It’s as simple as that. Everyone should comply with the law … This is a rather bizarre question that they’re going down.
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Aly says Labor stands with Indian Australians ‘as we always have’
The minister for small business and multicultural affairs, Anne Aly, uses a dixer on social cohesion to indirectly call out Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price for her comments on Wednesday – which she has since walked back – that federal Labor was promoting migration by specific ethnic groups, including Indians, to grow its electoral support.
As long as we treat people with gritted-teeth tolerance instead of mutual respect, our social cohesion will remain fragile.
Over this week I have spoken to members of our Indian diaspora, and they’ve told me that they did not feel safe and they did not feel secure after the rallies that we saw on Sunday. And they’ve also told me that comments by some political leaders have exacerbated their fear and shattered their sense of security.
I want to say to Indian Australians, this is our message. You do not have to justify your belonging in this country … We stand with you as we always have.
When the immigration of Lebanese Australians was described as a mistake, that was wrong. When the African Australian community were unfairly stereotyped, that was wrong. When the Chinese Australian community were accused of being spies, that was wrong. And the scapegoating of Indian communities designed to undermine their sense of safety and belonging is wrong.
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Bowen declares ‘we will have regard to the science’ in setting 2035 emissions reduction goal
The independent member for Bradfield Nicolette Boele asks a question of the climate change and energy minister. Action on climate change was a large part of Boele’s campaign to narrowly unseat the Coalition from Bradfield.
We need an emissions reduction goal [to] go high says the science, that’s your role. Will the government have ambition [and] take a 75% position or side with the sellers of coal?
Chris Bowen says the Climate Change Act requires the government to receive the advice of the Climate Change Authority before setting a target, which he will take into account for Australia’s 2035 goal.
It’s a matter of law. The law also requires the Climate Change Authority to have regard to the best available scientific knowledge … I must take account of that advice in setting the targets. And I am also able to take into account other factors such as the economic impact and the social impact of the target we set …
We will have regard to the science as we’re required to under the law and frankly as we are required to morally.
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Webster claims PM’s ‘BS’ is the reason he was ‘chased out of Ballarat by a convoy of tractors’
The Nationals member for Mallee, Dr Anne Webster, raises issue with a claim in the house yesterday that the prime minister was the first in 40 years to visit Horsham in her electorate.
Given former prime minister Tony Abbott visited Horsham to announce $1m to open an oncology unit in 2015, wasn’t your answer just more BS? Prime minister, isn’t your BS the real reason you were chased out of Ballarat by a convoy of tractors?
Anthony Albanese begins with: “They’re on the big picture today”:
Indeed, Tony Abbott was elected in 2013 but he didn’t make it to a two year anniversary.
Abbott visited Horsham in March of 2015, six months before being removed as PM.
Albanese goes on to quote from Webster’s first speech in the parliament, which included:
Mallee is perfectly positioned for renewables but the capacity of our existing grid infrastructure is making some promising options unviable. I look forward to working further to improve connectivity to the grid in the Mallee.
Liberal member for Goldstein, Tim Wilson, is meanwhile called out for constantly calling “time” on the PM’s answers.
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PM asserts ‘Isis brides’ report yesterday was wrong as Coalition continues attacks
The Nationals member for Page, Kevin Hogan, continues in the line of questioning on Isis brides.
The New South Wales police have publicly confirmed they are working with the commonwealth on the return of Isis brides to Australia. Prime minister, are you calling the New South Wales police deputy commissioner, David Hudson, a liar?
Anthony Albanese says that is an “outrageous suggestion”.
I have respect for our police officers. The questions that were asked yesterday went to whether the Australian government was giving support to this cohort.
I confirmed that the Australian government is not providing assistance to this cohort. Syria is an increasingly unstable region … But the Australian government is not providing assistance to this cohort. The report yesterday was wrong. I declared it to be wrong. And long may the opposition continue to get their questions from Sky After Dark.
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Nationals member Pat Conaghan ejected
The Nationals member for Cowper, Pat Conaghan, is asked to leave the chamber during a dixer on aged care.
The speaker, Milton Dick, describes his behaviour as “unacceptable”.
You’re going to leave the chamber under 94(a). Look, we are just going to listen to the minister. All that noise is not helpful to anyone.
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PM rejects ‘contradiction’ in his answer on ‘Isis brides’
Sussan Ley again takes the stand. She begins by referring the prime minister to his answer in question time yesterday when he “rejected reports that Isis brides were coming to Australia”.
She continues with “last night it was revealed on Sky News” before Labor MPs descend into laughter.
The speaker, Milton Dick calls for order:
I’m not sure why there was such a reaction … We can’t have a situation where we can’t ... (INTERJECTIONS) Who was that? Order. (INTERJECTIONS) The member... (INTERJECTIONS)The member... (INTERJECTIONS) The member for Riverina, we’re going to reset. The member for Riverina is warned. We are going to reset. There’s not going to be commentary when someone’s asking a question.
Ley continues with her question:
Sharri Markson revealed on Sky News that Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson had confirmed New South Wales police were ‘working through that issue with the Commonwealth’ and that New South Wales police will meet with the AFP next week in relation to this matter. Can the prime minister explain this contradiction?
He replies:
There is no contradiction between … my answer yesterday was absolutely correct.
Updated
The federal member for Leichhardt, Matt Smith, also known as possibly the tallest man in parliament, asks an extremely vague dixer on how the government is “delivering for Australian workers”.
The minister for employment and workplace relations, Amanda Rishworth, says the federal government went to the election “with a commitment to penalty and overtime rates and we are delivering”.
Since we delivered these protections to penalty and overtime rates, I have met with many, many workers who say they can sleep more soundly at night because they know their penalty rates are protected … Our government has delivered reform that is have boosted wages, closed the gender pay gap and are creating more jobs. We are now seeing real wages grow with real wages growing for seven consecutive quarters …
As a government we will continue to focus on delivering for Australians and working Australians because that’s what Labor governments do.
Attorney general highlights intended whistleblower protection reforms
As we mentioned in the blog earlier, the independent member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, planned to quiz the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, on whistleblower reforms after the sentencing of Richard Boyle last week.
Rowland notes the court did not record a conviction against Boyle and imposed a 12 month good behaviour bond.
The decision to prosecute Mr Boyle is a matter for the independent commonwealth director of public prosecutions. But what I can say … is that the Albanese government is committed to delivering strong, effective and accessible protections for public sector whistleblowers through reform of the public interest disclosure act 2013.
That’s why yesterday we announced a public consultation process on exposure draft legislation will commence next week on a second stage of reforms to the Public Interest Disclosure Act … The government’s reforms will be designed to clarify and strengthen protections for whistleblowers, simplify public interest disclosures and strengthen the oversight of the system.
In addition the government proposes to establish a new whistleblower ombudsman … which would be the most significant addition to the federal integrity landscape since the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
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PM takes dixer on ‘building Australia’s future’
The next dixer goes to the member for Canberra, Alicia Payne, who asks about Labor’s commitment to “build Australia’s future”.
The prime minister says “every day” since Labor was re-elected has been “about delivery” and lists a laundry list of items that have been legislated.
We will continue over coming months to make sure that we tick off those commitments one by one, and it will be certainly a year of delivery is our focus, as we go forward.
Anthony Albanese also wishes Payne all the best as she goes on parental leave in the coming days.
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Ley and Albanese trade jabs on Andrews’ presence at Chinese parade
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, returns to her line of questioning on Daniel Andrews.
This month the prime minister expelled the Iranian ambassador, an action the Coalition has strongly supported but what message does it send when the prime minister of this country doesn’t have the spine to condemn his former flatmate, Daniel Andrews, for posing in photos with the Iranian president, a leader whose regime has actively orchestrated attacks on Australian soil?
To the delight of nobody, Anthony Albanese returns to his “delulu with no solulu” line:
Well, they are delulu, Mr Speaker, if they are going to come here over an [matter] in which there was bipartisan support for the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador for at least 12 hours … before there was criticism of the government’s action.
My government have taken decisive action. I am not responsible for what every Australian citizen does. What I’m responsible for ... is what our government does.
My position is very, very clear. Which is we did not send any government representative because it would not have been appropriate … But the idea that what you do on an issue such as opposition of the Iranian regime is look for difference where there is none actually undermines Australia’s position in … international politics.
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Home affairs minister pays tribute to AFP commissioner ahead of retirement
The first dixer comes from member for Richmond, Justine Elliot, on how the federal government is honouring police bravery.
The minister for home affairs, Tony Burke, notes that 29 September marks National Police Remembrance Day, “an important day where we pay tribute to the courageous officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty”.
The unspeakable violence committed against officers in Tasmania and Victoria, Constable Keith Anthony Smith, detective leading constable Phillip Thompson and senior constable Vadim De Waart as well as the detective who’s still recovering from serious injury has shaken us as a nation.
He acknowledges that the federal police commissioner, Reece Kershaw, is in attendance in the gallery.
By the time Parliament resumes after today, the AFP commissioner will be Chrissy Barrett, so this is our last chance to be able to acknowledge as a Parliament the extraordinary work of Reece Kershaw.
He retires on 4 October, to spend time with his family … Today as a parliament, Commissioner Kershaw we honour you. The parliament acknowledges that Australians are safer because of your leadership and we thank you for your service.
The prime minister chimes in, wishing Kershaw “happy fishing”.
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PM will ‘never meet’ with Vladimir Putin
Anthony Albanese, in response to Ley’s question, says Labor has had a “very different approach from the approach of the former government”.
He expresses his “unequivocal opposition” to Vladimir Putin and his “outrageous authoritarian regime”, adding he will join a coalition of the willing this evening to discuss democracy, freedom and human rights in Russia.
During the election campaign this became a source of difference two the two political parties.
We on this side have always been unequivocal about standing with the people of Ukraine, and I am pleased that the Coalition appear to the credit of the new leadership, appear to be backing the participation in the coalition of the willing this time.
In this country we stand for human rights and liberty. We continue to do so in all of its forms. Yesterday we introduced new sanctions against Russia as well as the position we’ve had over a period of time with North Korea.
I haven’t, and never will, meet Vladimir Putin. I haven’t and never will meet the leader of North Korea as well, and we will give every support to people fighting for democracy right around the world. That’s my government’s approach.
Updated
Question time begins
Question Time is under way, beginning with a question from the leader of the opposition, Sussan Ley on the former Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews’ attendance at a CCP military parade this week:
Prime minister, today I once again unequivocally express the coalition’s utter condemnation of former premier Dan Andrews attendance at the CCP military parade, where he stood with dictators, despots and war criminals like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. Will the Prime Minister show the necessary leadership to join with us and so many other Labor leaders in this condemnation?
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Greens welcome compensation for robodebt victims but continue pressure on outstanding recommendations
The Greens have welcomed the announcement of $475m in compensation to robodebt victims while urging the federal government to implement remaining recommendations from the royal commission.
A Commonwealth ombudsman’s report, handed down last month, found more than 1,000 welfare recipients had their welfare payments unlawfully cancelled by the automated system over two years.
Last week, the Greens and crossbenchers introduced a bill that would force the government to implement the outstanding recommendations from the robodebt royal commission, including a six year limit on debt recovery.
The Greens spokesperson for social services, Senator Penny Allman-Payne, said:
It’s good news that robodebt victims will be getting more compensation, but it sure would be cheaper and easier for everyone if the government would stop ignoring the law and punching down on poor people.
The last time the Greens asked in estimates, neither the minister nor the department could confirm the current welfare compliance system is lawful. Millions of payments are suspended every year under this potentially unlawful system, with little process or oversight.
The Greens have a bill in parliament right now. Labor could implement the outstanding Robodebt recommendations, including the six year limit on debt recoveries, and to stop the rampant suspension of welfare payments which takes life-saving funds out of the hands of over a hundred thousand people each month. History will repeat itself until they do.
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Asylum Seeker Centre says government should be ‘ashamed’ at passing of Nauru bill
The Centre’s CEO, Elijah Buol, said the passage of the bill was “more than bad legislation, it’s a moral failure and a deliberate step away from justice and towards fear-based politics”:
It removes basic legal protections from migrants, refugees, and people seeking asylum, allowing deportations without notice, without the chance to respond and without fairness.
This legislation risks entrenching the perception that certain groups are permanently conditional in their belonging, subject to different rules, and denied the same access to justice. Such a move erodes trust in institutions not only among affected individuals, but across multicultural communities who see these laws as part of a pattern of exclusion.
The government should feel ashamed of betraying their promise of a humane and compassionate approach to refugees. But what’s evident from the process to pass this bill is that they already do.
Secret deals, no consultation, and rushed legislation all point to the fact they know this is wrong, but have chosen to do it anyway.
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Bill to deport noncitizens to Nauru passes Senate
A bill to strip basic legal protections from the noncitizens it plans to deport to Nauru and retrospectively validate visa decisions made before the high court’s NZYQ ruling has passed the Senate.
Shortly before it was passed with Coalition support, Greens and crossbench senators spoke against the changes, labelling it “racist” and “rushed”.
The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi accused Labor of creating a bill that would make US president Donald Trump “proud”:
You praise migrants for what they bring to this country. You eat our food, you enjoy our festivals, but then you stitch up dirty deals with the Coalition to demonise us.
The independent Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe said: “It is bills like these that normalise racism and white supremacy in the highest places of power in the colony.”
The ACT senator David Pocock pointed out the major parties both labelled the cohort “violent” but were willing to send them to a tiny Pacific nation for an expected $2.5bn over a three-decade period.
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John Howard and Alexander Downer 'appalled' at decision to recognise Palestinian statehood
Former prime minister John Howard and former foreign minister Alexander Downer have issued a joint statement saying they are “appalled” by the Albanese government’s decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.
They accused the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, of undermining the enduring trust between Australia and Israel.
Albanese plans to recognise Palestine as a state at this month’s United Nation’s general assembly in New York.
The question of recognising Palestine as a sovereign state is not a matter of empty symbolism. It strikes at the heart of whether international law is to be respected or discarded whenever political expediency is deemed more convenient.
Some argue that recognition would “advance” the peace process. In reality, it entrenches division. It teaches the Palestinian leadership that peace is unnecessary for statehood and it signals to Israel that international institutions cannot be relied upon to uphold agreements or protect its security concerns. Far from building confidence between the parties, premature recognition would only deepen mistrust.
The pair say the federal government has damaged Labor’s standing on leadership in the Middle East.
We all want to see peace in the Middle East: a lasting two-state solution that guarantees Israel’s security and offers dignity and self-determination to the Palestinians. But such a peace cannot be imposed from abroad, nor achieved by unilateral recognition. It must be built painstakingly by the parties themselves, through negotiation, compromise, and responsibility. And it must be grounded in the framework of international law, not a bypass of it.
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President Trump being ‘played’ by Putin, former PM says
The former prime minister Tony Abbott has penned his inaugural blog post on the popular platform Substack titled: The World is Even More Dangerous than You Think.
The musings are focused on Donald Trump’s presidency which he describes as “even more transactional and unpredictable than the first”.
Like most conservatives, I was elated when Donald Trump returned to the US presidency. I thought he’d been a pretty good president the first time round, at least until the pandemic struck … In fact, Trump 2.0 has been Trump unleashed. I still think it’s better to have Donald Trump than Kamala Harris as “leader of the free world”; but, if anything, this Trump presidency is even more transactional and unpredictable than the first.
Abbott said Trump seemed “genuinely fascinated by dictators who can murder their opponents, invade their enemies, and stay in office forever”, representing a split from “usual courtesies” about shared values and historical ties.
The post-war global order has endured largely because of the assumption that America would fight for its allies and vice versa. What’s so currently unsettling is that this can no longer be taken for granted.
Perhaps, at some point, President Trump will work out that he’s being “played” by Putin; and that he’s needlessly alienating those normally bound to America through common values and interests. But rather than assume the best, the more the world’s democracies can do for themselves, individually and collectively, without relying on American leadership or even help, the better for all of us.
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Planned Sydney Harbour Bridge march linked to anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists
As we reported yesterday, NSW police are considering an application by a group for a march across Sydney’s Harbour Bridge.
The group, which has come together under the name “Australia Unites Against Government Corruption”, have lodged a form 1 notifying police about a planned public assembly on Saturday 13 September.
As the ABC has reported, the group includes My Place Australia – whose mission statement invites members to “celebrate our sovereignty” – and MMAMV, whose Facebook page calls for access to “unvaccinated breastmilk”. Both groups have campaigned against vaccine mandates.
The ABC has reported organisers plan to march via Milsons Point across the Harbour Bridge to Hyde Park, and are expecting 10,000 people to attend.
A spokesperson for MMAMV told Guardian Australia the march had been planned for some time but would now also be a “stand” against neo-Nazis attending an anti-immigration rally in Melbourne on Sunday.
A spokesperson for another group involved in the protest, The People’s Revolution, said they were also calling for “robust discussion around migration reform”.
In a statement, NSW police has said it is aware of “planned assembly in Sydney on Saturday 13 September 2025”.
Officers from North West Metropolitan Region have received a Form 1 and are consulting relevant stakeholders.
If police accept the application, protesters can be protected from being charged for offences like blocking traffic. If police reject it, the protest is not considered illegal, but protesters do not have the same protections.
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Wilkie to press government on whistleblower protections after Boyle case
The independent member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, will use today’s question time to press the attorney general on Australia’s whistleblower protections.
As the minutes tick down to showtime, Wilkie has distributed a copy of his question, which will raise the case of whistleblower Richard Boyle, who was last week spared jail after exposing unethical debt collection practices at the Australian Taxation Office.
Judge Liesl Kudelka sentenced Boyle, 49, in the South Australian district court on Thursday, seven years after the former debt collection officer went public with allegations that led to reforms within the ATO.
In a plea deal with prosecutors, the Adelaide man admitted four criminal charges, reduced from the original 66 laid after he appeared on the ABC’s Four Corners program. Wilkie will ask:
Attorney general, last week ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle was sentenced after facing a lengthy prosecution for blowing the whistle on egregious wrongdoing in the ATO.
His case was of course yet another demonstration that our whistleblower protections are deeply inadequate.
Minister, exactly when will the government table the necessary amendments to the Public Interest Disclosure Act, and the Corporations Act, so the whistleblowers aren’t the ones being punished?
You can read about the issue here:
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Fact check: are all members of the NZYQ cohort criminals who have reoffended since being released from immigration detention?
The Senate is debating a home affairs bill to strip natural justice from noncitizens within the NZYQ cohort in an effort to expedite their deportation to Nauru.
But just who is within the NZYQ cohort? And are they all violent criminals, as some politicians have claimed?
Well, according to the home affairs department’s evidence in March 2025, around nine of the 300 or so person group have been previously charged with a low-level crime, or have no criminal history at all.
Officials said 13 within the group had a murder or attempted murder conviction, 95 had a criminal history of sex-based offending, and for assault and violent offending, kidnapping and armed robbery, the total was 133.
Other criminal histories within the cohort include:
Domestic violence and stalking: 19
People smuggling: 7
Serious drug offending: 24
But remember, these are convictions that have been served already.
In March, the department also said around a third of the group had been charged with a breach of visa conditions or migration laws since being released from indefinite detention as a result of the high court’s ruling in November 2023.
As a result of the concern for community safety, some of the released cohort were placed under strict monitoring conditions, including ankle bracelets and curfews. More than two-thirds of the group were not subject to curfews or electronic monitoring as of February.
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Long road ahead for defence suicide inquiry reforms
A mountain of work is needed to deliver more than 100 recommendations from a damning veteran suicide royal commission, the government concedes.
Nine recommendations have been fully implemented and a further 110 are under way, the veterans’ affairs minister, Matt Keogh, told parliament on Thursday.
The limited progress comes almost a year after the inquiry’s final report was handed down, but the minister said a suite of reforms would ensure members of the defence force, veterans and their families received the care they needed:
We will continue to do what’s right to take action on the royal commission as quickly as we can. It’s the least we can do.
Labor provided its response in December, accepting the overwhelming majority of the 122 recommendations. A defence and veterans’ service commission will be operational by the end of September as the government recruits a commissioner to head the body.
Measures that will allow defence force personnel convicted of sexual crimes to be booted from the military would be in place by the end of 2025, Keogh said.
The opposition veterans’ affairs spokesperson, Darren Chester, accused Keogh of “putting lipstick on a pig”:
It was extraordinary that the minister came in here and endeavoured to pretend this is a good reform when it actually disenfranchises our veterans and their families.
The opposition was given less than a day’s notice about Keogh’s progress report, which Chester claimed had been worked on for weeks.
-AAP.
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Greens push for five-year restriction on RBA members moving into corporate sector
Green Nick McKim is pushing legislative amendments that would impose a five-year restriction on outgoing Reserve Bank of Australia board members taking corporate directorships.
Like former government ministers, McKim says exiting RBA board members and governors should be subject to rules limiting their private sector work for a set period, describing the restrictions as “a cooling-off period”.
The Reserve Bank should serve the public interest, not the interests of big corporations. Our amendment would shut the revolving door between RBA board members and the banks and corporations.
For too long, former governors and board members have walked straight into cushy jobs with major banks and ASX-listed companies, fuelling public distrust.
McKim is seeking support for the plan in the Senate.
We’re pushing for a five-year cooling-off period and new conflict of interest rules to make sure board members can’t cash in on their time at the RBA.
These reforms are about protecting the integrity of the RBA and restoring public confidence that decisions are made in the interests of people, not profit.
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Greens back student calls for university divestment from weapons manufacturers
Deputy Greens leader and higher education spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has called on universities to “end dirty partnerships” with weapons companies after thousands of students voted for divestment in a referendum on Palestine.
More than 5,000 students voted in the first National Union of Students (NUS) referendum in the union’s four-decade history, passing two motions to censure the Australian government for its “complicity in the genocide in Gaza”, and demanding universities cut ties with weapons manufacturers.
In February, Faruqi introduced a bill that would require universities to disclose and divest from any partnerships with “dirty industries”, including weapons manufacturers, gambling, fossil fuel and tobacco companies.
Faruqi said “for the first time in decades, thousands of students have spoken with one voice, demanding that their universities stop profiting from war, militarism and the machinery of genocide”.
University leadership cannot ignore this. Students have given their universities a clear, democratic instruction: end the dirty partnerships with the weapons companies profiting from Israel’s genocide in Gaza. History will not be kind to those who ignored this moment — university vice-chancellors must cut the bloody ties now or forever wear the shame.
‘We don’t want them in this country’, Sussan Ley says of deal to send foreign-born former detainees to Nauru
Circling back to Ley, she was also asked about findings at a parliamentary inquiry that a proposed resettlement deal with Nauru could cost $2.5bn over three decades.
The group of noncitizens set to be banished for 30 years face a potentially hostile reception because they have been described as “violent” and “appalling” by the Australian government.
The forcible transfer of the so-called NZYQ group – and potentially thousands more under legislation currently before parliament – to the tiny island is being quietly resented by Nauruans.
Ley said it was a “massive expenditure by the government to fix up a mess of their own making”.
They committed crimes, they were locked up, they were let out, they committed more crimes, so we don’t want them in the country. But we really do want Labor to get this right because their first duty is to keep Australians safe.
The minister should step up and use his own preventive detention regime that we helped him pass. We’ve had to help the government fix up these laws a few times. We stand ready to do the same thing, and of course, we need to interrogate what this spender actually achieves.
You can listen to more on the deal here:
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Lead applicant says she hopes robodebt class action outcome sends message to government
One of the lead applicants in the robodebt scheme, nurse Felicity Button, takes the microphone.
She says she hopes today sends a message to the government that “it doesn’t matter how vulnerable a population is, and it doesn’t matter where you come from or what your circumstances are, there is no room in Australia for unethical and illegal conduct”.
For me today, it is the first step forward to rebuild that trust with the government … We didn’t need to march the streets, and we didn’t need to inflict violence on anybody. Even though what happened to us was unfair, unjust, cruel, torturous and inhumane, we didn’t retaliate in kind. We used the legal system for what it’s there for.
And justice prevailed, and for the first time, I think in my whole life, I can say that there was a bit of fairness – not just justice in our system. Often you can’t leave those two terms together when it comes to the law. But today felt fair.
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Gordon is asked whether the fact the federal government was not going to fight this in court tells you.
He says “they knew that the result in court was going to be even worse than the massive amount that they’ve paid out today”.
Pointed to the royal commission’s scathing report which said robodebt had led to suicides, he says:
Whilst in legal terms and in other terms, this is a spectacular result, for some, there are wounds that will never heal and we can never do justice to those people, and the system can’t.
But what we do hope and feel is that people today feel that their voices have been heard. That there’s been some serious vindication … some kind of compensation for the pain, the suffering, the distress, the consequential economic loss … to punish the government for what it’s done.
The court approval process for the settlement will take six months to roll out.
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‘For some, there are wounds that will never heal’: Peter Gordon
Gordon says more than 450,000 Australians have or will benefit from this settlement.
It is, of course, far and away the largest class action settlement in Australia’s history … And while it is satisfying for lawyers to achieve a local result of $2.4bn, it is, frankly, infuriating to know that our own commonwealth government caused so much suffering to its own people, and that it arose out of wilful misconduct.
We at Gordon Legal are deeply grateful to our clients who kept faith in us, and that the class action system found a way. We hope that most will feel at least some sense of vindication in today’s announcement. We understand that for some, there are wounds that will never heal.
He pays tribute to politicians including Bill Shorten who “took courageous stands” and journalists who “asked relentless questions of those in power”.
And finally, as the senior partner and founder of Gordon Legal, I want to acknowledge the extraordinary work of the lawyers seated behind me and led, of course, by my partner, Andrew Greg … in the 47 years of my legal career, theirs is the finest work, and the most extraordinary work ethic that I’ve ever seen.
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Lawyer Peter Gordon outlines history of robodebt saga and class actions
Peter Gordon goes over the history of the robodebt saga, starting with the final report of the robodebt royal commission handed down in July 2023, almost two years after Gordon Legal had settled the first class action for $112m.
He says that was almost a decade after the “evil automated robodebt system began to inflict its damage on ordinary Australians”.
The royal commission report demonstrated an extraordinary diaspora of dishonesty, bad faith and misconduct at high levels of the Australian government. The biggest revelation was that most of the damning evidence was never handed over in the original class action which Gordon Legal began in 2019.
We were outraged to learn this in 2023 in July, and we wrote to the prime minister, suggesting that his government work with us to revisit the question of robodebt victims’ rights. Clearly, if those damning documents had been handed over, we would never have settled the first class action on those terms.
When we received no satisfactory response from the government in 2023 to our request, we issued fresh legal proceedings to appeal the previous robodebt settlement.
Gordon says the new case first went to court in October last year, with a full hearing due to be heard by the full court of the federal court on 28 July.
The week before that hearing and arising from mediation talks, which had been ordered by the federal court, the commonwealth government has today agreed to pay victims a further $548,500,000.
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Australia a nation ‘ruled by laws and not by kings’, robodebt lawyer says
In Melbourne, Peter Gordon of Gordon Legal who ran the class action for the victims of robodebt is addressing the media after the commonwealth agreed to pay $475m in additional compensation, in the largest class action settlement in Australian history.
He said today was a day of “vindication and validation for hundreds of thousands of Australians afflicted by the robodebt scandal”.
Today, they know that their voices have been heard. Today is a day of warning not to attack the people who elected them or who they were hired to protect.
Today is also one more vindication of the principle that Australia remains a nation ruled by laws and not by kings. Laws which even hold the government accountable. Long may that be the Australian way.
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Opposition leader distances herself from Nampijinpa Price’s immigration claim
The leader of the opposition, Sussan Ley, has rejected claims from Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price that federal Labor was promoting migration by specific ethnic groups, including Indians, to grow its electoral support.
Singling out Indians coming to Australia, the outspoken Northern Territory senator said sections of the community were concerned at “the core number, or the type of migrants that are coming in”.
I think Labor like to be able to ensure that they’re going to allow those in that would ultimately support their policies, their views, and vote for them as well.
Speaking on Sky News earlier, Ley was asked about Price’s claims that migrants were being “brought in from India to boost the Labor vote”.
She said Price had corrected her comments and Australia’s migration policy was “non-discriminatory”.
Every day that I’m opposition leader, I’m fighting for every single Australian, no matter where you came from. And our Australian Indian community is amazing, you contribute as Australian Indians so much to our country. We know how hard you work, your family values, and the contribution you make across this country. And as opposition leader, I value that incredibly.
It doesn’t matter how you vote, we’re here for everyone because we know that the values of the Liberal party; aspiration, hard work, reward for effort and building this community in this country are something that will resonate in a serious, credible, compelling agenda.
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Perhaps it is inevitable that the two most persistent evils in human societies – racism and misogyny – can be at times difficult to define and pin down.
It’s like the elephant in the archetypal parable about the blind men who each touch one part of the beast and assume they know its nature.
One touches the tail, and conceives a snake-like creature. Another the flank, and thinks of pillows and comfort. Another the tusk, and perceives danger.
Read the Margaret Simons’s take on media coverage of the anti-immigration protests here:
Pocock’s register of lobbyist interests to go live next month
Earlier, we brought you the news that independent senator David Pocock is pursuing Labor and the Coalition over lobbyists’ access to Parliament House and the inadequacies of existing transparency measures like the national register for people trying to influence decision-makers.
He has set up a voluntary register to publish information about lobbyists with access-all-areas passes in Canberra and has written to MPs asking them to voluntarily disclose who they sponsor under rules put in place by the Department of Parliamentary Services.
Currently the rules do not require lobbyists employed directly by business or other organisations to join the register administered by the Attorney-General’s Department.
Pocock, the Greens and other crossbench MPs want improvements to the rules in this term, but Labor and the Coalition have given little indication they’d support greater transparency.
Pocock’s new register will go live next month at www.passregister.com.au.
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Labor should be ‘technologically agnostic’ in renewable energy rollout, Coalition moderate says
Coalition moderate Andrew Bragg has told the Senate Labor is bungling the renewable energy rollout, and putting at risk community support for net zero policies.
Bragg’s comments are a significant intervention as the opposition grapples with an intense internal debate about future support for net zero, led in part by Nationals figures including Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan.
Bragg said Labor was bringing an aggressive approach to net zero and renewable take up and should instead be “technologically agnostic”. He said capital markets had made up their mind on renewables but Labor needed to do more to build community consent.
Renewable energy is very good and very desirable, and in many cases it can be very inexpensive, but when you are managing a transition from a largely coal fired power based energy system to a fundamentally different system - and bearing in mind the impact that energy has on the overall economy - you must be very careful and very prudent.
It has been the regional communities that have largely paid the price here.
Bragg said better consultation was needed on transmission infrastructure and developments like offshore wind.
I think for the government to pursue this policy at any cost and trample over regional communities and not give them a proper say... I think that then imperils the whole question of community support for getting to net zero, which is a very important objective for our economy.
Thousands of university students vote in grassroots referendum on Palestine
More than 5,000 students have voted in the first National Union of Students (NUS) referendum on Palestine, expressing overwhelming support for an end to weapons companies on campus.
The referendum took place at around 20 university campuses across Australia, calling on students to vote on two motions, including censuring the Australian government for its “complicity in the genocide” and for all Australian universities to cease partnerships with weapons companies.
The NUS education officer, James McVicar, said on every campus the two motions were passed almost unanimously.
He said it was the largest nationwide student vote in decades and the first ever called by the NUS in its four-decade history:
Students in Australia have come together to demand an end to the genocide and an end to Australia’s institutional complicity. They have given their national union a mandate to fight for sanctions on Israel and an end to our universities’ complicity in militarism and war.
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Authorities launch crackdown on Sydney business employing migrant workers
The Fair Work Ombudsman and Australian Border Force (ABF) officers from the Department of Home Affairs are targeting around 40 Sydney businesses employing migrant workers this week as part of surprise compliance inspections.
The areas being targeted include Blacktown, Cabramatta, Chatswood, the Hills District, Hurstville and Parramatta, with most businesses operating in fast food, restaurants and cafes as well as hair, beauty and health services.
Fair Work Inspectors are checking time and wage records, including pay slips, to ensure that vulnerable migrant workers are being paid their correct wages and entitlements.
The ombudsman, Anna Booth, said the inspections were part of a continuing national program of audits to check compliance from approved sponsors of temporary migrant workers:
Workplace breaches that involve migrant workers can be particularly serious as these workers can be vulnerable to exploitation. We find they are often unaware of their workplace rights or unwilling to speak up if something seems wrong.
The ABF’s commander of field operations and sponsor monitoring, John Taylor, said migrant workers play a “key part in the economy” and there was “no place in Australia for employers who exploit them”. Criminal penalties under the migration laws include up to two years’ jail and a fine of up to $118,800.
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Government to pay additional $475m in compensation to robodebt victims
The commonwealth has agreed to pay $475m in additional compensation to robodebt victims in the largest class action settlement in Australian history.
The federal government announced on Thursday it had agreed to settle Knox v The Commonwealth, an appeal from the original robodebt class action settlement in Prygodicz v The Commonwealth.
The total deal amounts to $548.5m, with up to $60m set aside to administer the settlement scheme and up to $13.5 to cover the applicants’ reasonable legal costs.
The compensation, which still requires federal court approval, would be in addition to the amount paid following the original robodebt class action settlement in 2020.
In a statement, the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said:
Today’s settlement demonstrates the Albanese Labor government’s ongoing commitment to addressing the harms caused to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Australians by the former Liberal government’s disastrous robodebt scheme.
the royal commission described robodebt as a ‘crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal’. It found that ‘people were traumatised on the off chance they might owe money’ and that robodebt was ‘a costly failure of public administration, in both human and economic terms’.
Settling this claim is the just and fair thing to do.
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Bullock says there ‘may not be many interest rate declines left to come’ after latest household spending numbers
Michele Bullock, the Reserve Bank governor, says “there may not be many interest rate declines left to come” if the strong household consumption revealed in yesterday’s national accounts continues.
Bullock, in a Q&A session following a speech in Perth yesterday evening, said the bank had been expecting a lift in household spending as “real disposable incomes have been rising for about a year now”.
Wealth is rising because housing prices are rising, and normally, under those circumstances, you would expect to see consumption starting to rise … and that’s welcome.
What it means for the future of interest rates, I don’t know at this stage, but all I would say is that, if anything, probably it’s (consumption) a little stronger than we thought it would be.
So that’s good, but it does mean that it’s possible that if it keeps going, then there may not be many interest rate declines left to come, but it all depends.
Financial markets are also repricing the chance of future rate moves.
Last week, traders were fully factoring in a rate cut by November, and now see only an 80% chance of a move that month, according to ANZ analysis.
And while borrowers should still have another cut by December, financial markets are no longer sure of a follow-up cut in early 2026.
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No reports of Australians killed or seriously injured in Lisbon funicular crash: Dfat
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is making “urgent enquiries” after at least 15 people were killed when a funicular railway in Lisbon derailed and crashed on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Dfat said they were not aware of any Australians who had been killed or seriously injured, but the department was providing consular assistance to one individual.
The Australian government offers its deepest sympathies to those affected.
Authorities said some foreign nationals were among the dead but would not identify the victims or disclose their nationalities. At least 18 people, including a child, were injured, five of them seriously, emergency services said.
“It’s a tragic day for our city … Lisbon is in mourning, it is a tragic, tragic incident,” Carlos Moedas, the mayor of the Portuguese capital, told reporters.
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Ben Roberts-Smith must pay portion of legal fees of publishers after failed defamation suit, court rules
Ben Roberts-Smith will have to pay lump sum costs to the publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and the Canberra Times, to cover some of their legal fees, over his failed attempt to sue the newspapers for defamation, a court ruled on Thursday.
The federal court in Sydney determined it was appropriate that Roberts-Smith pay a lump sum of costs to the newspaper publishers and gave the two parties 14 days to decide on an appropriate figure.
Justice Nye Perram ruled that the former SAS soldier should not have to pay costs on an indemnity basis, as requested by the publishers, which allows for a higher payment of costs and is ordered by the court for reasons including if parties have brought a hopeless case, behaved unreasonably or improperly in the proceedings or committed an abuse of process.
The defamation suit was brought by Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient and one of Australia’s most decorated soldiers, in 2018. He lost that case, with Justice Anthony Besanko finding in 2023 that Roberts-Smith had, on the balance of probabilities, committed war crimes while deployed in Afghanistan.
Roberts appealed the decision, but lost that appeal in May, with three justices of the federal court agreeing he was not defamed by Nine newspapers and journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters through reports which claimed he had committed war crimes
In a summary of the judgment, the appeal justices wrote that they were “unanimously of the opinion that the evidence was sufficiently cogent to support the findings that the appellant murdered four Afghan men”.
The legal costs of the marathon legal battle are believed to exceed $35m. Roberts-Smith, 46, was awarded Australia’s highest military honour, the Victoria Cross, in 2011, for single-handedly taking out machine-gun posts to protect pinned-down colleagues in Afghanistan. He has always denied the allegations against him.
He has received support from wealthy backers, including Kerry Stokes, the chairman of Seven West Media, who agreed to pay the costs of Roberts-Smith’s failed defamation action.
Gina Rinehart – the mining magnate and Australia’s richest person, who criticised a “relentless attack” on Roberts-Smith – has donated to the SAS Resources Fund, designed to support the legal cost of defending actions against current and former SAS soldiers, but declined to say whether she personally funded Roberts-Smith’s legal costs.
• This update was amended 4 September 2025. An earlier version stated the SAS Resources Fund supports the legal costs of soldiers. To clarify, the fund supports the legal cost of defending actions against soldiers.
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Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price describes anti-immigration march as a ‘demonstration of unity’
Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has described the March for Australia rallies over the weekend attended by confirmed neo-Nazis as “a pro-Australia march” attended by “quiet Australians” and a “demonstration of unity”.
In a doorstop this morning, Price said Australia had “come under attack” from the left after she was forced to remove an Australian flag in the Senate on Wednesday.
I implore others around the country to take up wearing the Australian flag. I think it’s a wonderful thing to do. I think we need to teach our children to be proud to call themselves Australian.
Asked if protests over the weekend had stoked division, she said they “weren’t necessarily protests” but were a “pro-Australia march”.
For so long, Australians who are proud to call themselves Australian have been under attack – particularly by the left – and have been told that we are a racist country. And this has been brewing for some time … What happened was, the quiet Australians came out and decided to be loud. That’s what that was about. To say no, no, no, let’s be proud of who we are.
I saw some beautiful footage of members of the migrant community standing with white Australians … and singing our national anthem together happily, joyfully and so proud in doing so. That to me was a demonstration of unity.
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AI and deepfakes top most concerning trends for parents, anti-bullying review finds
A federal government review into bullying in schools has received more than 1,700 submissions, its co-chair has revealed. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Jo Robinson said the submissions had spoken to the “complexity of bullying and its nature”, which was amplified by “broader societal pressures”.
They don’t just occur in the school playground anymore – they can follow you home and they can be hard to escape from.
Probably the most concerning trend for parents, young people and teachers would be the evolving space of technology: AI, deepfakes. There’s a real challenge in trying to stay ahead of what’s required in order to be able to respond effectively to it …
Some of the other things that we’ve heard is a really strong support for national leadership and guidance around this issue. The work that we’re doing will lead to some recommendations around what a national standard could look like for bullying across the country.
The education minister, Jason Clare, said recommendations from the review would be presented to he and his counterparts when they next meet in Queensland in mid-October.
That’s when I’m hopeful … ministers will agree to those recommendations. And then we’ll have to set out the plan for how we implement them.
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New expert committee to guide NDIS overhauls revealed
The Albanese government has revealed a new expert committee to advise on major overhauls to the NDIS, announcing NSW disability council deputy chair, Jill Duncan, as its head.
Jenny McAllister, the NDIS minister, made the announcement overnight as a committee to determine the “best-practice, evidence-based supports that deliver results”.
The committee will assess the independent advice provided to them on the suitability of NDIS supports for funding, including therapies and assistive technologies.
Public consultation will start later this year and the Albanese government will commit $45.5m to the committee over the next four years.
The full committee includes:
Associate Prof Jill Duncan OAM (Chair)
Prof Angus Buchanan
Melanie Eagle
Matthew Formston AM
Prof Tammy Hoffman OAM
Dr Robyn Mildon
Andrew Moffat
Mary Sayers
Clare Gibellini
McAllister said:
The committee is about making sure that every dollar invested in the NDIS is well spent on quality, evidence-based supports that make the lives of people with a disability better.
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David Pocock to make a voluntary lobbying register public
The independent senator for the ACT, David Pocock, will renew calls for reform to the political influence of lobbying today.
Fronting the media alongside other crossbench parliamentarians this morning, Pocock will announce a voluntary register for politicians to publish information about lobbyists with privileged access-all-areas passes to Parliament House.
Pocock is proposing to maintain the voluntary register on a central, publicly accessible website.
He said lobbying had a “legitimate role to play” in the political system but it needed to be transparent and well regulated.
People with sponsored passes enjoy enormous privilege and access to our most senior decision makers. It is not unreasonable for the Australians those parliamentarians have been elected to represent to know who enjoys that access, and who gave it to them, and I hope my parliamentary colleagues will participate.
Last year’s Senate inquiry into lobbying highlighted just how broken our current system is and also demonstrated that many lobbyists also support a stronger one.
The register will be made public next month.
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Attack on Indigenous Camp Sovereignty ‘reprehensible’: Malarndirri McCarthy
Australia’s minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, says her phone “went crazy” on Sunday night after the attack.
Speaking to the Today show earlier, she said the attack on Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne was “absolutely appalling”.
That attack that occurred was reprehensible, it was absolutely appalling. First Nations people were looking after, and are looking after the sacred bones of ancestors at that particular site. It is a sacred ground and it was reprehensible what took place there.
My phone just went crazy on Sunday night, this week my office has been inundated by Australians who are fearful of what they saw, who are angry.
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Carr says he pulled out of Chinese military parade invite after ‘nature’ of event became clear
Former foreign minister Bob Carr says he pulled out of attending yesterday’s Chinese military parade after he learned about the “nature” of the event.
Carr and Daniel Andrews were scheduled to attend the event, Andrews did – and was filmed shaking hands with Chinese president Xi Jinping and in a group photograph with president Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un.
Carr tells ABC RN Breakfast he was invited by the consul general of China in April to attend the commemorations and “didn’t hesitate for a moment” in accepting.
The consul general back in April might have mentioned in passing that there’s going to be a parade, but the nature of the parade didn’t become clear. When it did, I let the Chinese ambassador know that I would not be attending it.
I’m not interested in a Soviet-era-style military parade, although China has them, I understand, every five years. I came here to talk to Chinese scholars, Chinese diplomats, and to meet, it was very important, to meet the big concentration of Australian friends and like-minded [people] from south-east Asia.
Asked if Andrews had “poor judgement” attending the event, Carr says he’s “not going to be drawn into criticising a colleague”.
I can talk for myself, and that is I didn’t see any value in watching a display of hardware.
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Shadow attorney general distances himself from Price’s comments on immigration
The shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, says it is appropriate Australia maintains a non-discriminatory immigration policy, distancing himself from comments by Liberal Jacinta Nampijinpa Price on Wednesday.
She walked back inflammatory claims she made on ABC TV that federal Labor was promoting migration by specific ethnic groups, including Indians, to grow its electoral support.
Singling out Indians coming to Australia, the outspoken Northern Territory senator said sections of the community were concerned at “the core number, or the type of migrants that are coming in”.
I think Labor like to be able to ensure that they’re going to allow those in that would ultimately support their policies, their views, and vote for them as well.
This is Labor. Basically, it’s power at any cost. And we see that occur all over the place in terms of the way they conduct themselves.
Speaking on RN this morning, Leeser said Price had “walked back the comments.
We believe in a race-blind migration policy. It has been our policy for 40 years or more.
Leeser spoke about the outsized contribution of the Indian community in his electorate of Berowra in Sydney.
They are involved in every imaginable community activity in my electorate, from PNCs to sporting clubs. They’re involved in every level of society, from CEOs of top companies to people employed as cleaners in buildings and so on.
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Ley repeats PM’s lines that anti-immigration demonstrations had people with ‘goodwill’
Migration is the other big issue that’s dominated parliament this week, after the anti-immigration protests over the weekend, and the government released its latest immigration numbers, with the permanent intake to remain at 185,000 for this financial year.
Sussan Ley says the government needs to explain how those migrant numbers will be balanced with having enough housing and infrastructure.
The government, however, does have to address issues such as bringing a million migrants into Australia in their first two years without a plan to house them…
It’s government policy that is failing here, not migrants themselves that are failing.
Ley, like the PM, says there were people with “goodwill” at Sunday’s protests, but that they were “hijacked” by extremists.
Asked about the attack on Sunday on an Aboriginal gathering site in Melbourne, Ley says it was “absolutely hideous” and “sickening”.
Labor MP Ed Husic was far more critical of those who attended the protests, when speaking to ABC TV yesterday, and said, “Those rallies were whipped up by far-right extremists and neo-Nazis. A lot of people were warned about that.”
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Coalition contests ‘bipartisan’ framing on aged care package releases
While the government has tried to frame the aged care deal as a “bipartisanship” agreement, the opposition and crossbench have said it was their pressure that got Labor to move.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, popped up on ABC News Breakfast a little earlier and said it was not a deal but a “defeat” for Labor – it’s the same line that she said yesterday. She also promised to continue pushing the government on the delivery of those home care packages.
The opposition had piled pressure on the aged care minister, Sam Rae, this week, directing every single question to him at question time on Monday and Tuesday. This morning, Ley says it’s a win for elderly Australians.
Most importantly, for elderly Australians, they are going to start to get more help. Because if you’re 97 years old and you’re worried and unsafe and living at home, but only barely managing, to be told that it is OK to wait several months, if not over a year for your package is not good enough.
To be told that it is okay to wait several months, if not over a year for your package is not good enough, so we’re going to continue with this issue. We’re going to continue to push and make sure that the government does what it promises.
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Rae avoids answering question on ‘factional priorities’
Around 2,700 home care packages are being rolled out each week, says Rae, but won’t clarify how many of those are new packages and how many are from vacancies.
In question time this week, the opposition said no new packages had been released. Rae says:
Some of them have been new packages and then some of them have been ones that have come about because people have been moving into residential aged care or as we’ve discussed in the parliament, sadly, some people have passed away that have been receiving care as well. So there’s a mix of packages, but on average, we’ve been rolling out 2,700 packages a week.
Sally Sara then sticks the knife in and asks Rae:
How do you feel about your position in the ministry knowing that people with far more experience than you have been demoted to make way for factional priorities?
Rae is in the Victorian right faction, led by the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles. He was one of a handful of new entrants into the ministry which saw Ed Husic and the former attorney general Mark Dreyfus booted out.
Rae says he’s “very proud” to serve in the ministry.
This is a fantastic government. It’s one that I’m very proud to be a part of. We are very fortunate in that we have a huge rank of swelling talent and I’m really pleased to get to serve in the position that I do get to serve.
Updated
Aged care legislation heads to House of Representatives for final vote
After passing the Senate yesterday – with a deal struck between the government and Coalition to immediately release 20,000 home care packages – the aged care legislation will go back to the House of Representatives for a final vote today.
The government set to lose a vote in the Senate, with the Coalition, Greens and crossbench teaming up to force Labor’s hand to release more packages
The aged care minister, Sam Rae, is on RN Breakfast this morning and is being asked why it took Labor’s hand being forced to release these packages – why didn’t they just agree to release the packages sooner?
Rae won’t interact with the question (and Sally Sara asks it several times) and won’t say why it took the government so long to move.
He concedes the government didn’t need parliamentary approval to roll out extra packages but says Labor has been trying to achieve the reforms with bipartisanship.
We needed to reach a bipartisan agreement about how this was going to be done. That was a key principle that we have pursued all the way through. As of yesterday, we have reached a bipartisan agreement about how that rollout occurs.
The other part is that we’ve had evolving advice from the sector about their ability to actually respond to these increased packages that we’re going to put into the system.
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Ed Husic urges Australia to prevent dual nationals joining foreign military forces in cases of ‘plausible genocide’
Labor MP Ed Husic has urged the government to prevent dual nationals joining a foreign force, in cases where “a body with the weight of the ICJ believes plausible genocide could be occurring in a part of the world where that foreign force is operating.”
Speaking to the House last night, Husic – who has been a strong advocate for Palestine and a vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza – said it was “not unrealistic” to expect that dual nationals in Australia may be called to serve in the Israeli defence force.
It’s understood Husic questioned whether dual Australian-Israeli citizens who were fighting in Gaza for the Israel Defence Forces could be implicated under foreign fighter laws during a party room meeting on Tuesday.
I’d urge our government to send a clear statement surrounding the risks of participating in IDF actions in Gaza.
We don’t need Australians placed in a position where they witness, abet or participate in what will likely be deemed a genocide. I’m also concerned about the impact of trauma on those returning after witnessing what they would have in Gaza.
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Senator continues calls to criminalise burning Australian flag
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is tripling down on her call for the burning of the Australian flag to be criminalised, and has called for Anthony Albanese to only stand in front of the Australian flag.
Yesterday, the Senator was told to remove a flag she’d draped around herself in the chamber while pushing for the criminalisation – a proposal which was voted down by Labor and the Greens.
On Sunrise this morning, Nampijinpa Price says Australians have been “vilified” for taking pride in Australia’s flag.
I think in recent times, a lot of Australians have been vilified and the suggestion is that they’re somehow racist if they take pride in who we are as a country and in our flag that represents us as a country. I find that our prime minister standing in front of three flags divides us.
But she says she “utterly condemns” neo-Nazis who incite hate.
Nampijinpa Price made claims on ABC TV yesterday, that federal Labor was promoting migration by specific ethnic groups, including Indians, to grow its electoral support. She later walked back those comments in a statement.
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Australia to provide $1m of funding to support Afghanistan after deadly quake
The government will provide $1m of funding to support Afghanistan after the country was hit wth a deadly earthquake.
In a statement, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the earthquake has exacerbated the dire humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The money will directed through the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund, led by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Wong also welcomed the UN Central Emergency Response Fund – which Australia is a longstanding donor to – releasing US$5m to support the Afghan people.
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Wong tells widow of Putin critic Alexei Navalny Australia ‘holds Putin personally responsible for his death’
Australia has promised the wife of Russia’s late opposition leader and critic of Vladimir Putin his death will not be forgotten, Australia Associated Press reports.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, met the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and foreign minister, Penny Wong, yesterday at Parliament House.
Navalny, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner, died in 2024 months after being sent to a prison in Siberia.
Wong praised Navalnaya’s courage and determination in calling for democracy in Russia following her husband’s death.
You’ve had to deal with a lot of loss. Alexei was a champion of democracy and human rights and the Australian government holds [Russian president Vladimir] Putin personally responsible for his death
We stand with you when we fight for human rights and democracy.”
Navalnaya is on the board of the International Anti-Corruption Foundation, set up to tell “the truth about Russian criminal power”, and thanked Australia for its support. She told reporters in Canberra during the meeting:
Russia is not Putin. We’ll do everything so that Russia will become a free, normal democratic country.
The Russian activist also held talks with the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, during her visit to Canberra.
Updated
Reactions mixed in eSafety’s consultations with parents regarding under-16s ban
eSafety did not disclose to Guardian Australia the full list of platforms that the ban could apply to prior to the companies determining if their services would likely fall in scope of the ban.
The commissioner also published the results of consultations with children, parents and industry on the coming social media ban. The report on consultation with children suggests mixed views on the incoming ban.
While some said it might encourage young people to socialise with each other and meet in person as well as protect them from exposure to inappropriate content, grooming and bullying, others said it could cut them off from communities and would mean the loss of adults hearing kids’ voices online.
The children surveyed also reported the ban was not being talked about in school so it was likely many would be unaware the changes were coming.
Updated
Platforms told to get ready to kick Australian teens who are under 16 off social media
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has written to a “comprehensive list” of tech companies including Google, Meta, Snap and TikTok to ask that they determine whether their platforms will need to only allow access to people 16 and over from 11 December, and outline the steps they will take now to be ready for when the ban comes into effect.
Inman Grant has told the companies that if they are covered by the ban, they will need to find and deactivate accounts held by Australians under 16. They will be expected to communicate it to those affected, including providing information on how to download their account data and where to seek support.
The companies will also be expected to take reasonable steps to stop children under 16 pre-empting the ban by changing their account such as by changing the date of birth information.
The platforms have also been told that self-declaration of age will not be enough to constitute “reasonable steps” to comply with the ban, suggesting the companies will be required to use some form of age-assurance technology outlined in the report issued this week.
Updated
Two Nationals and a Liberal cross floor to support immigration inquiry proposal
The Nationals shadow ministers Bridget McKenzie and Ross Cadell and the Liberal backbencher Sarah Henderson crossed the floor on a Senate vote about immigration levels last night.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party attempted to establish a parliamentary inquiry into “the impact of high immigration on the Australian economy”.
The Coalition opposed the motion but McKenzie and Cadell, both members of the opposition frontbench, and Henderson, voted with conservative Coalition senators Alex Antic and Matt Canavan in favour of the inquiry.
Liberal frontbencher, Anne Ruston, was heard appealing across the chamber to McKenzie to vote with the rest of the Coalition against the motion.
The motion was ultimately defeated 37 votes to 9.
The vote came in a week when large public rallies about immigration featured speeches by right-wing activists and neo-Nazis.
Updated
Good morning,
Krishani Dhanji here with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
There’s plenty to get to today, so let’s jump straight in!
RBA governor says growth boost could dash hopes for rate cut
Australia’s stronger-than-expected economic growth could dash hopes for further interest rate cuts, Australia Associated Press reports.
The Reserve Bank of Australia governor, Michele Bullock, insisted she does not know “at this stage” what the uplift in economic growth revealed on Wednesday could mean for interest rates.
“But it does mean that it’s possible that if it keeps going, then there may not be many interest rate declines left to come,” she said when asked after giving the 60th Shann memorial lecture at the University of Western Australia last night.
Her speech focused on technological change, including the bank’s increasing use of text analytics models providing a “third lens” to monitoring shifting business conditions.
“But we also overlay our own judgement on top of those things,” she said.“I personally don’t see a world where we place all our faith in a model.”
Traders pared back their rate cut expectations after the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed the surprise jump in the nation’s economic growth rate. Gross domestic product surged from 1.4 to 1.8% on an annual basis in June, above the Reserve Bank’s forecast of 1.6%.
Updated
Bob Carr says he 'would have avoided' Beijing photocall
Bob Carr, the former Labor foreign minister, has defended his attendance at Xi Jinping’s carefully staged gathering of world leaders this week, but said he “would have avoided” the controversial photocall that included Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.
Former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has been heavily criticised for appearing in the lineup with the dictators and alleged war ciminals after a huge military parade in Beijing coinciding with China’s 80th anniversary commemorations of the defeat of Japan in the second world war.
Speaking on ABC’s 7.30, Carr said he was in Beijing for the commemorations rather than the military parade, and while he did not attend the parade he would have avoided the group shot.
I certainly would have avoided them, if there were the remotest possibility [of being photographed with Putin].
When I accepted the invitation to come to the commemoration of China’s enormously historically significant victory over the Japanese aggressor … the idea of the parade grew up separate from that.
I made it clear to the Chinese ambassador that I wasn’t here for the parade. I was here for the terrific meetings I’ve been able to hold with countries that are like-minded, not aggressors and oppressors.
Pressed on whether Daniel Andrews had been “naive” in allowing himself to be photographed with leaders such as Putin and Kim, Carr replied:
Dan Andrews can speak for himself. He is someone who has been battered to death by media hostility in his own state, and gone on to win big majorities … he can defend himself.
Carr said he did not watch the military parade and agreed with former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, who was also at the 80th anniversary commemorations, that “you and I wouldn’t have picked this guest list”.
Carr said his attendance meant he had been able to engage with China, he had met the Japanese prime minister about a possible peace between China and Japan, and had had his first ever meeting with the current Indonesian foreign minister.
Read more here:
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer, bringing you the best breaking news this morning before I hand the news baton to Krishani Dhanji.
Bob Carr, the former Labor foreign affairs minister, has defended his attendance at Xi Jinping’s carefully staged gathering of world leaders this week, but he avoided the controversial photocall with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un in which Daniel Andrews appeared. More coming up.
The Reserve Bank of Australia governor, Michele Bullock, said last night it is possible that the uplift in economic growth revealed on Wednesday could dash hopes for another cut in interest rates. “There may not be many interest rate declines left to come,” she said. More coming up.
