What we learned: Wednesday, 29 October
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. Thanks for reading along; Krishani Dhanji will be back first thing tomorrow to wrap up the sitting week.
Until then, here are the major developments from today:
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has blamed the end of state energy subsidies for the rise in quarterly inflation. The data, released today, shows inflation jumped 3.2% in the year to September, compared to a rise of 2.1% in the year to the June quarter.
Young girls are being “hunted” and “stalked” by sadistic “crimefluencers” who are mostly young men, the new federal police chief has warned.
Queensland’s education minister has said the 140 high school students across the state who spent their final weeks in high school preparing for an exam on the wrong Caesar will not be asked for what they have not prepared.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has launched a new legal challenge against the federal environment minister, Murray Watt, over his approval of Woodside’s North West Shelf extension, one of the world’s biggest liquified natural gas projects.
Convicted rapist Gareth Ward was due to be sentenced a short time ago, with media gathering inside the courtroom for the 2pm judgment and his two victims reportedly joining via video link.
The shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, says the opposition leader had a “strong point to make” when taking aim at Anthony Albanese over wearing a Joy Division T-shirt.
And Anthony Albanese has touched down in Seoul, South Korea for the APEC summit.
Updated
Queensland treasurer says credit rating downgrade ‘inevitable’ and lays blame on Labor predecessor
The Queensland treasurer, David Janetzki, has told parliament a downgrade of the state’s credit rating is “inevitable” due to poor budgetary performance.
Earlier this month, the rating agency S&P Global affirmed a negative outlook for Queensland’s state government, forecasting that the state would owe a debt to revenue ratio of 150% by 2028, up from 100% in 2023, due to a historically large infrastructure investment partly as a result of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Janetzki blamed his predecessor Cameron Dick for a $5.38bn deficit, but said the budget had since improved and the state would now run a deficit of just $4.43bn:
Those opposite [the Labor opposition] squandered revenue rivers of gold with community safety, health and housing outcomes going backwards on their watch.
Mr. Speaker, Labor’s fiscal vandalism has made a credit rating downgrade highly likely, even inevitable. Their debt, deficit and deception legacy will take time to fix this term and the next.
Updated
Ley had ‘strong point to make’ on Albanese’s T-shirt choices, shadow communications minister says
The shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, says the opposition leader had a “strong point to make” when taking aim at Anthony Albanese over wearing a Joy Division T-shirt.
Members of the Coalition distanced themselves from Sussan Ley’s comments, including Bridget McKenzie, when asked about them on Sunrise this morning.
But McIntosh said the history of the name, which relates to a wing of a Nazi concentration camp where women were forced into sexual slavery, was “really deep for people”.
It’s very disturbing. So, she has a really strong point to make. She didn’t like it. She can say that … It’s her right to stand up.
Pointed to the fact it was about judgment, and spending time on a person’s fashion choices rather than issues like the coast of living crisis, McIntosh said Ley could “multitask”.
I’m quite comfortable with her making her statement.
Updated
Brisbane man jailed for preparing to travel to Syria to help overthrow the al-Assad government
A 35-year-old Brisbane man has been sentenced to six years in prison for preparing to travel to Syria to “engage in hostile activities”, the AFP says.
A multi-pronged investigation by the Queensland joint counter-terrorism team with the AFP, Queensland Police Services and Asio found that between mid-2016 and February 2017, the man undertook a range of activities as part of planning to enter Syria and help fight to overthrow the government led by Bashar al-Assad.
The AFP says he researched flights from Brisbane to Türkiye, where he planned to illegally cross the Turkish border into Syria. After search warrants in 2018, a USB was seized which contained electronic books on guerrilla warfare, guides for manufacturing explosives and several issues of a magazine produced by al-Qaida.
The man was charged with three counts of making preparations for incursions into foreign countries for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities. He entered a guilty plea last year.
On Tuesday, he was sentenced yesterday by the Queensland supreme court to serve a minimum non-parole period of four years and six months.
Updated
More than 50 people charged for alleged ‘serious and organised crime’ in South Australia
SA police have arrested and charged 55 people allegedly involved in “serious and organised crime” as part of a coordinated operation across Adelaide and regional parts of the state.
Some 23 properties were raided in Operation Ironside from 5am, with search warrants executed. Six people were also arrested at correctional services facilities and taken to the city watchhouse.
The 55 people are facing 813 criminal charges, including money laundering, drug trafficking and drug manufacturing, and are expected to appear in Adelaide magistrates court today.
Police also restrained more than $25.8m in assets – including 23 properties, 70 cars and bank accounts holding $588,000.
Operation Ironside is a joint initiative between the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and state law enforcement agencies that used intelligence gathered from encrypted ANOM devices – a technology created by the FBI to infilitrate criminal syndicates.
The deputy commissioner of police, Linda Williams, said since the commencement of Operation Ironside in 2021, 109 individuals had been arrested for their alleged involvement in serious criminal offending and $40m worth of assets was restrained.
Updated
Husic says there will be a ‘lot of people’ concerned with the actions of the Netanyahu government after Israeli strikes on Gaza
Husic was also asked about strikes launched by Israel on Gaza after the Netanyahu government accused Hamas of breaching the terms of the ceasefire.
Asked if he was concerned about the developments, Husic, who has been vocal in his concerns for the human suffering in Gaza, replied: “of course”.
It was always going to be that the Trump administration would have the maximum leverage on the Netanyahu government to bring them to the table, in tandem with all the work the Gulf states were doing.
That 20-point peace plan, I’m sure people can pick it apart, but the biggest thing it gave us was an element not present for two years, which was hope. We want that to continue … What we want to see is peace.
Husic added that Australians wanted to see that “kids are not targeted any more and they have the life they should deserve, and all Palestinians are freed from fear, along with Israelis, as a result of what Hamas did”.
We need this peace plan to work, big time it needs to work. But in terms of some of the actions of the Netanyahu government, I think there will be a lot of people concerned about it. The sooner it ceases and the sooner we get progress on the peace plan, the better for so many people.
Updated
Ed Husic warns proposed environmental powers could be detrimentally used by future ministers
The former energy minister Ed Husic, who was dumped from cabinet in May, has told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing he holds concerns over parts of the ministerial powers outlined in Labor’s proposed environment law changes.
The Albanese government plans to introduce its planned changes to the national law – the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act – to parliament later this week.
Husic praised work the environment minister, Murray Watt, had done, but warned an element of the bill, which allowed the minister of the day to approve a project even if it had unacceptable environmental impact, could be detrimentally used by future governments:
We have a Coalition fight at the moment which includes members of that coalition that doubt the role of human-induced climate change and we’re going to give them the power to override environmental laws in what is called the national interest for them to make decisions. That’s a really consequential power to put [in].
Husic said he had raised his views through caucus and would support Labor’s decision. But he added it was something that “needs contemplation” and if a future Coalition minister had less regard for environmental incomes, then it was a “matter of concern”.
Husic vowed after he was moved to the backbench that he would be “constructive” but added that he would speak out on “important” issues when no longer constrained by cabinet solidarity.
Updated
‘Farewell old friend’: Irishman killed in mine disaster
Tributes have flowed from across the globe after an Irish expat was identified as one of two people killed in an underground mine explosion.
The outback town of Cobar has been left reeling after the early morning disaster on Tuesday, which experts say appeared to be an avoidable tragedy.
A woman in her 20s and a man in his 60s were killed, while a second woman in her 20s was flown to hospital with hearing damage and shock.
The man has been identified as Irish national Ambrose “Ambie” McMullen, who lived in Cobar and has been remembered as “well-known” in his home town of Cootehill.
Ciaran Mullooly, an Irish member of the European Parliament, remembered working with McMullen in the 1980s in a post on Facebook:
Ambie was a treasured colleague … (he) was a lovely man, great fun and craic and we enjoyed many’s (sic) the night out. RIP Ambie, farewell old friend.
When emergency services arrived shortly after the explosion, they were told McMullen was already dead. The two women were brought to the surface but one of them died soon after.
Police confirmed on Wednesday that McMullen’s body had been recovered from below ground. He was remembered by locals in Ireland for his love of Gaelic football, along with a friendly personality.
-AAP.
Continued from previous post:
The threat of compulsory acquisition drew an immediate rebuke from Lock the Gate Alliance. Its national coordinator, Carmel Flint, said:
It’s very disappointing to see Premier Chris Minns take the side of gas giant Santos against local farmers and Gomeroi Traditional owners who merely seek to protect land, water, and culture from dangerous gasfields and associated pipelines.
Santos is the primary cause of Australia’s gas price hike because it has been siphoning our domestic gas and sending it to overseas markets for the past ten years. Rewarding this company with more gasfields is contrary to the national interest and will do nothing to reduce energy prices.
Minns linked the need for more power and compulsory acquisition to saving the Tomago aluminium smelter, which this week spoke to its workforce saying that its future was uncertain beyond 2028 when its current electricity contracts are due to expire.
He said NSW remained committed to renewables:
Now I want to make it clear, of course, we support renewable energy, but the truth of the matter is, gas is part of the future as well. And when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining, we need to be able to turn on other sources of energy to keep industry going.
The truth is, there is no future for domestic manufacturing without the continued presence of gas, particularly on the east coast. There is no renewable energy transition if we don’t have the gas there to back it up.
Updated
NSW premier floats compulsory land acquisitions and says he will do ‘whatever it takes’ to make controversial Santos gas pipeline happen
Farmers whose land will be traversed by a proposed pipeline carrying gas from Santos’s controversial Narrabri gas field face compulsory acquisition of the corridor by the NSW government.
More than 100 impacted properties owners in the Hunter Valley alone are opposed to its construction. About 66% of landholders along the entire HGP route have so far not agreed to host the pipeline on their land.
But the NSW premier, Chris Minns, said he would do whatever it takes to make the project happen and that he considered more gas essential for NSW industry. He told the Australian Workers Union Conference on Wednesday:
Since coming into office, we’ve made every approval that’s been in front of us in relation to the Narrabri project. I can tell you today that we want landholders to work with Santos and the owners of the fields to come to an agreement that works for both parties.
But if that doesn’t happen, we will be considering compulsory acquisition of the pipeline easement around the field to ensure that the project gets going and that we can get energy into the manufacturing base of the Hunter for New South Wales.
The premier urged Santos to give final investment signoff to the controversial Narrabri project while also urging the commonwealth to establish an east coast gas reserve:
What we need now is for Santos to, quite simply, commit to Narrabri and make an investment decision. And we need the commonwealth government to finally pull the eastern states together to establish the east coast gas reserve so Australian gas is used to support Australian industry, first at Australian prices.
The gas reserve is well overdue. It’s a no brainer. It needs to happen.
Updated
Sentencing of convicted rapist Gareth Ward delayed to Friday after 11th-hour bid
Convicted rapist Gareth Ward was due to be sentenced a short time ago, with media gathering inside the courtroom for the 2pm judgment and his two victims reportedly joining via video link.
But the sentencing was delayed to 10am Friday after Ward’s lawyers made an 11th-hour bid for his sentence to reflect the sentencing practices at the time of his offending, which was in 2013 and 2015.
Judge Kara Shead on Wednesday in the Parramatta district court said that Ward’s lawyers had denied that 21B of the Sentencing Act – which requires sentencing to be in line with the current practices – applied in this instance.
His lawyers and the crown will now make submissions on why 21B should or shouldn’t apply.
“It should have been considered before today,” Shead said.
“No doubt the victims are experiencing a great amount of frustration.”
Ward, 44, was found guilty in July of sexually abusing two young men in 2013 and 2015. He is appealing against the convictions, which include three counts of indecent assault and one of sexual intercourse without consent. He has been remanded in custody since July in Cessnock prions.
Ward resigned as a New South Wales MP last month, just hours before he was to be kicked out of parliament.
In 2021, Ward left the Liberal party and moved to the crossbench after identifying himself as the state MP under investigation by the child abuse and sex crimes squad.
Updated
Lidia Thorpe blames ‘fake outrage’ for furore over ‘burn down the parliament’ comment
Senator Lidia Thorpe says she will not apologise for her claim to a pro-Palestinian rally in Melbourne that she would “burn down” Parliament House, accusing critics of “fake outrage” and “treating a metaphor like a national emergency”, and right-wing media outlets of twisting her words.
In a speech to the Senate late last night, Thorpe said it was a “joke” that she was criticised and investigated by federal police over the remarks two weeks ago. Thorpe claimed her mention of fire was a reference to renewal and reform:
Fire has deep spiritual significance for First Peoples. It clears, it renews, it makes way for something new. That is what I was speaking about, not arson, but challenging colonial systems that continue to harm people.
I will not be quiet. I will tell the truth. And the truth is that this parliament is in desperate need of renewal. Parliamentarians sit idly by while our people are dying, passing laws that harm us. They sit idly by while people in Palestine face genocide. This parliament has the power to change, but those in this place choose not to... It needs to be rebuilt from the ground up if anything is ever going to change.
Thorpe went on:
That’s what my words were about. And yet here we are treating a metaphor like a national emergency. What a joke. The problem isn’t my words. It’s the colonial systems that still refuse to change, and all these politicians with their hot takes, their fake outrage. I won’t apologise and I won’t be dragged down.
Thorpe went on to criticise “the rightwing media” which she said twisted her words for commercial reasons.
They love to lecture me about seeking headlines, but they’re the ones writing the headlines. They peddle slop to drive outrage, clicks and sell papers. These hollowed-out, irrelevant news outlets are bleeding audiences, profits and influence.
They’ll do anything to grab attention. And what better way than another Lidia Thorpe scandal … and the AFP investigating a metaphor. What a waste of public money and everyone’s time.
Updated
Woolworths values rises by $650m despite weak supermarket sales
Woolworths has reached its highest market value in over a month despite reporting disappointing supermarket sales, as investors hope it has stopped losing customers to Coles.
The company’s capitalisation has risen by $650m to near $33.6bn after publishing updated sales data this morning, while Coles has slumped over $400m down to $30.6bn.
Today’s report showed Woolworths’ supermarket sales picked up less than $300m in July-September from the year prior, below analyst expectations of at least $340m. Michael Toner, an RBC analyst, said Woolworths’ bigger sales and smaller mark-ups were not translating to faster food sales growth.
Woolworths said pet and baby product sales have weakened and tobacco sales have more than halved compared to 2024, while a glut of berries and avocados weighed on fruit and vegetable revenue.
But Amanda Bardwell, Woolworths’ chief executive, struck a hopeful tone, saying customer satisfaction was picking up and sales had strengthened in October, suggesting an end-of-year improvement. She said in a statement:
While [sales were] below our aspirations and there remains more to do, we are cautiously optimistic about our key trading quarter and we have strong plans in place for our customers for the festive season.
Bardwell’s optimism will be tested tomorrow when Coles is expected to report supermarket sales growth of more than $400m, as it continues to swipe customers from its competitor. Read why Woolworths has struggled here:
Updated
Thank you all for following along on the blog with me today!
I’ll leave you with the fabulous Caitlin Cassidy for the rest of the afternoon, and will see you here bright and early tomorrow for the final sitting day of the week.
Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
The opposition tried to get the treasurer to take responsibility for the jump in inflation and put pressure on government spending. But Jim Chalmers largely stuck to his lines – that inflation is half what it was in early 2022 and the jump is in part due to state energy rebates ending.
Liberal MP Tim Wilson was ejected from QT, while Angus Taylor was warned early on in the piece that he’d quickly used up his “nine lives” and would be booted if he kept heckling.
The shadow veterans affairs minister, Darren Chester, pushed Matt Keogh on the government’s defence honours bill, which the minister accused the Coalition of trying to stoke anxiety over. Liberal MP Phillip Thompson was also booted during this exchange.
Chalmers gave assurance to independent MP Monique Ryan that the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) would not be abolished, after a report by the department.
Updated
Prime minister lands in South Korea
Anthony Albanese has touched down in Seoul, South Korea for the APEC summit.
Making a few comments to journalists on the runway (no questions) he says Australia does 75% of its trade with APEC nations, so it is a important series of meetings and events.
Albanese says he will also visit a cemetery where some of the Australian soldiers who died fighting in the Korean war have been laid to rest.
Some 281 Australians are laid to rest here, and an opportunity to pay tribute and my respect to them but also pay my respects to the 17,000 Australian men and women who fought here for freedom on the Korean peninsula as part of the United Nations forces defending democracy and freedom.
Updated
Jump in inflation pours cold water on interest rate cut hopes
Today’s jump in inflation may not have just delayed the next interest rate cut, but may have ruled out another cut altogether, according to the CBA.
The bank’s head of Australian economics, Belinda Allen, said it would take a substantial lift in unemployment or moderating inflation “to bring the RBA back to the easing table”.
Allen clearly doesn’t see either of these things happening anytime soon, predicting the Reserve Bank will remain on hold for the foreseeable future as they keep an eagle eye out for any sign inflation is reaccelerating.
Elsewhere, experts were downplaying the prospect of a cut this year after data showed consumer price growth jumped to 3.2% in the year to September, from 2.1% in June.
More worrying for the central bank was that underlying annual inflation, which removed the impact of big price moves like a 23% spike in electricity costs, lifted for the first time in nearly three years, to 3%.
Jonathan Kearns, the chief economist at Challenger, said “the current outlook suggests rates could remain unchanged until the middle of next year”.
Westpac’s Luci Ellis had pencilled in a rate cut next week, but said a rate cut would now be delayed until February at the earliest.
Updated
Question time ends
We get a final dixer on medicare (with references to Labor’s favourite “all you need is your medicare card …” line), and question time is over for the day! One more to go this week.
Updated
Liberal MP ejected amid battle over defence honours changes
The shadow veterans’ affairs minister Darren Chester presses Matt Keogh again on the defence honours bill. He asks whether the veterans’ affairs minister can name a single veteran who supports the bill.
(Before Chester even finishes the question, Liberal MP Phillip Thompson gets booted out of the chamber under 94a).
Keogh says he’s engaged with many ex-service organisations in developing the legislation.
I’m not going to go into chapter and verse of every individual conversation I have just to satisfy your ego.
There’s a bit of back and forth over Keogh’s use of “your” – because chamber rules and etiquette require members to refer to others by their title or electorate. Keogh then ends his answer.
I’ve had lengthy engagement in respect of this bill that will make sure that we have a tribunal that is modern, that is able to look after the concerns of our veterans, and to make sure that the tribunal is able to consider relevant evidence that is easily available to it.
Updated
Liberals love Peta Credlin while Labor cares about credibility, Bowen says
Chris Bowen loves a good jibe in question time, and takes the opportunity in a dixer to skewer the opposition over what he says is their love of Sky After Dark.
The government are also milking the uncertainty around Barnaby Joyce’s future and his discussions with One Nation.
Bowen says:
We’re about storing renewable power after dark. They’re about appeasing Sky After Dark. We’re about building policies to build the nation. They’re about building policies to beat One Nation. We’re about expert reports. They’re about The Bolt Report. We care about credibility. They care about [Peta] Credlin.
Updated
Chalmers commits to not abolishing Medical Research Future Fund
The independent Monique Ryan – a former paediatric neurologist – has been asking the government questions over the MRFF.
Previous QT questions have been around the low level of spending from the fund when it’s amassed quite a sum (which the health minister, Mark Butler, has said is being increased and looked at currently).
Today she asks the treasurer to confirm that the fund won’t be abolished after the release of a report by the department which she says was gathering opinions on options for the MRFF – including to shut it down.
Chalmers says immediately: “I can give that commitment. We won’t be abolishing the fund”:
These research funds are really important. We believe in them the important role that health and medical research plays in own community, in our economy and, most particularly, when it comes to the health of Australians and the position that we take following that review will reflect that.
Updated
Keogh says opposition ‘stoking fear and anxiety’ over defence honours recongition time limit
Moving far away from economic matters, the shadow veterans affairs minister, Darren Chester, asks the government about its defence honours bill that would set a time limit on which acts by a member of the defence force can be considered for higher recognition.
That would be limited to 20 years, meaning retrospective honours could not be considered for action that occurred before the year 2000. Chester says the NSW RSL has given evidence to the Senate inquiry into the bill and called it “disgraceful”.
The veterans’ affairs minister, Matt Keogh, says the opposition has been stoking fear and anxiety among veterans in their prosecution of this bill:
What I’ve encountered as a minister for veterans’ affairs is concerns … by the defence honours and awards tribunal about the difficulty that it has confronted over many years, over different chairpersons of that tribunal, of dealing with long historical cases in front of it and making sure that it is able to remain relevant in the work that it does to ensure that our veterans and our serving personnel can have decisions made by defence properly reviewed.
Updated
Clare talks up university study hubs to help fix geographical education gaps
Back to the crossbench: the independent MP Dai Le asks the education minister about a Western Sydney University campus in Fairfield. She asks what courses will be delivered at that campus, and whether there are any plans to cut funding from it.
Jason Clare, who represents a Western Sydney seat himself, says the hubs will allow students to study “almost any degree”:
… when that hub expands in a couple of weeks’ time, it will mean that you’ll be able to study for almost any degree at almost any university across the country. It’s one of about 69 university study hubs that are either established now or will be established over the next few months across the country.
Clare adds that while more students are studying at university, areas like Western Sydney still lag behind – and flags there will be more reforms next year to help fix that gap.
Updated
Conroy says possible smelter closure highlights need for more renewable energy in grid
Nationals MP Alison Penfold gets the next question, and asks the minister representing the industry minister about the possible closure of the Tomago aluminium smelter.
If you need a quick recap – have a read here.
Penfold frames the question around high energy prices, which Rio Tinto (the smelter’s owner) says is a considerable issue.
Pat Conroy says the government is “fighting very hard to support manufacturers”, and, like Chris Bowen yesterday, says the problem is that there needs to be more renewable energy – not less – in the energy grid.
We’re intent on speeding up the rollout of the cheapest form of new power, which is renewable energy – backed up by peaking gas. Backed up by batteries. Backed up by pumped hydro. And I’ll note the statements from Tomago’s owner, Rio Tinto, that it was the lack of availability of renewable energy that was driving some of their decisions.
Updated
Chalmers returns fire after shadow treasurer accuses Labor of ‘spending spree’
Ted O’Brien gets another go at the dispatch box, and asks if Jim Chalmers will “stop Labor’s spending spree” when “government spending is running four times faster than the economy”.
Chalmers says the question is timed “impeccably”, after rating agency Fitch just reaffirmed Australia’s AAA credit rating.
Then, because this is politics and we’re in question time, Chalmers takes a stab at the opposition again.
I think the most important thing for those watching at home to understand about the shadow treasurer’s answer is, when he talks about the difference in spending in recent years, one of the things that he’s most critical of is the fact that we have seen very substantial index of government payments, including the age pension. If the shadow treasurer thinks that indexing the age pension is wasteful spending, then he should say so.
Updated
Ted O’Brien targets treasurer over rise in inflation
The heat is still on Jim Chalmers over the higher than expected inflation numbers today.
The shadow treasurer, Ted O’Brien, asks if Chalmers will take responsibility for the higher figures (because he likes taking credit when the numbers fall).
“I share the credit” says Chalmers, and pokes fun at O’Brien’s “rare” appearance at the dispatch box.
Chalmers then says, “I take responsibility …”, which I’m sure gets O’Brien a bit excited, but doesn’t give O’Brien the answer he probably wants.
I take responsibility for working through the challenges as they present themselves in our economy. I take responsibility for the fact that this cabinet and this government has cleaned up much of the mess that those opposite left us in the budget.
Updated
Tim Wilson ejected from question time
Milton Dick is just absolutely not having disorderly conduct today.
Liberal frontbencher Tim Wilson, who was warned at the very beginning of QT to keep it “q”, has been booted for heckling while a Labor MP was asking a Dixer.
Dick doesn’t love excessive heckling during an answer but draws the line for heckling during a question (which has claimed several scalps already this week).
I’ll keep you posted for any other section 94a bootings.
Updated
Minister defends aged care changes
The aged care minister, Sam Rae, who’s managed to avoid the dispatch box recently – after a very hectic week when the government was forced to free up 20,000 home care packages – is asked about the aged care changes that come into effect on 1 November.
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie asks Rae about a pensioner in her electorate who will no longer be able to afford home care because he will now have to pay $21.87 out of pocket for each hour of cleaning, gardening, and meal preparation.
Rae says there are protections in place in the legislation to ensure people already in the aged care system are not left worse off.
The no-worse-off principle applies so anyone who was in the system before 12 September 2024 will have their contributions grandfathered. Older people having difficulty paying their co-contributions will be able to apply for very substantial hardship assistance through Services Australia and a lifetime contribution cap will apply for everybody.
Updated
Sometimes it’s what happens between questions that is more interesting than the questions and answers themselves.
After interjecting during Jim Chalmers’ answer nine times, the Speaker, Milton Dick, warns Angus Taylor (who did get a name check from the treasurer) to stop heckling.
The member for Hume interjected nine times during that answer … The member for Hume will not be interjecting given he’s used all his lives up. He won’t be interjecting for the remainder of question time. If he does, he won’t be here.
The sass is ramping up today! We’ll see if it results in any ejections from the chamber.
Updated
Coalition attacks Labor over living standards
“Why is it, when Labor fails, Australians always foot the bill?” – That’s the wording the Coalition has workshopped today.
Sussan Ley says Jim Chalmers went on a “victory lap” after last month’s inflation figures but today’s numbers show Australians are “suffering through the largest decline in living standards in the developed world”.
Chalmers never misses an opportunity to point to the Coalition’s decision at the last election not to support Labor’s so-called top up tax cuts, and today is no different.
If the opposition leader really cared about cost-of-living pressures, she wouldn’t have just gone to an election promising to increase taxes on every single taxpaying Australian worker.
Again Chalmers points to the end of the state energy rebates as a key factor in the increase in inflation – but also admits there’s more the feds can do.
We’ve made it very clear that that progress often isn’t in a straight line, as we’ve seen around the world. We know that there’s more work to do.
Updated
Question time begins
It’s question time!
We’re starting on the higher than expected inflation figures today and the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, accuses Labor of “economic vandalism” as food costs increase by 15%, insurance increases by 20% and electricity costs increase by almost 40% over the last year.
The acting PM, Richard Marles (Anthony Albanese is now in South Korea for the Apec meeting), defends the figures and, like Jim Chalmers, says the numbers are still about half what the inflation rate was when Labor came into power.
Marles acknowledges that “Australian households are still under pressure and we understand that the work is never done”.
But let’s be absolutely clear. At the last election, those opposite went to the election promising higher taxes, bigger deficit and bigger debt. And that’s not us saying it – that’s the PBO. Heaven knows what Robert Menzies would make of this lot.
Along with all the heckling comes a warning from Milton Dick, who says “I’ve got good hearing today”.
Updated
Latex giant Ansell bullish despite Trump’s tariff moves
Personal protective equipment giant Ansell is confident it can ride out a tariff storm, labour rights concerns in Malaysia and a US investigation into medical imports, AAP reports.
The Melbourne-headquartered business staged its annual general meeting on Wednesday, with the chairman, Nigel Garrard, reflecting on a “successful” year for the international company.
Ansell makes latex gloves and other PPE in nine countries, including Asian nations whacked with above-baseline tariffs by Donald Trump’s administration.
Key production hubs Malaysia (19%) and Sri Lanka (20%) carry the biggest exposure for Ansell, with a smaller footprint in China (30%). Given Ansell makes almost half of its $US2bn ($A3.1bn) in annual sales in the United States, the tariffs are naturally a concern.
Garrard said its teams had “responded to the higher tariffs through price increases, while also reducing our sourcing exposure to China where imports are tariffed at a comparatively higher rate”.
Ansell is bullish on its place in the market, given most of its competitors also source from Asia and the “economics of shifting production to the US remain difficult” according to its annual report.
Updated
AFP commissioner says she is ‘confident’ AFP has capacity to investigate alleged war crimes in Gaza
Our very own Sarah Basford-Canales asked Barrett about a new independent inquiry that found the Israeli government and military were committing genocide in Gaza.
One of its commissioners, former human rights commissioner Chris Sidoti, repeatedly said that Australia has an obligation to look into anyone who is returning from the conflict over the last two years. And I just wonder if the AFP has launched any investigations or taskforces into this matter … and do you feel confident that the AFP has the expertise to be able to investigate alleged war crimes?
Barrett said the AFP had a dedicated team which investigated war crimes within its special investigations command:
I am confident that we have the tools and we do have the capability where we receive reports of crime, or where we identify that there’s a need to investigate, we absolutely do and we will.
Pressed on whether and investigations or taskforces had been launched into the conflict, she said she would have to confirm the answer.
Updated
AFP commissioner announces consultative board on social cohesion
As we mentioned earlier, the AFP commissioner, Krissy Barrett, is at the National Press Club today and is currently taking questions.
Barrett became the first woman to lead the body since its inception in the 1950s earlier this month and announced an AFP social cohesion consultative board during her speech, whilst also detailing how the force would protect Australians from decentralised online crime networks in Australia and offshore.
She told the room:
These crimes are now spilling into the real world and they have real-world consequences. While these networks do not have a centralised hierarchy or a single ideology, they are prolific and are attracted to violent extremism, nihilism, sadism, Nazism and Satanism. They are crimefluencers and are motivated by anarchy and hurting others, with most of their victims preteen or teenage girls.
I’m looking for solutions that find common ground by using trusted community voices to take a leadership position that prevents crime and protects people who do not traditionally trust police.
Updated
Jim Chalmers says end of state energy subsidies to blame for rise in inflation
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has blamed the end of state energy subsidies for the rise in quarterly inflation.
The data, released today, shows inflation jumped 3.2% in the year to September, compared to a rise of 2.1% in the year to the June quarter.
In a statement, Chalmers said the inflation rate is still far lower than it was when Labor came into government in 2022.
While monthly headline inflation did tick up to 3.5%, the annual trimmed mean measure was in the band for the 10th consecutive month at 2.8%.
The progress we’ve made on inflation has given the Reserve Bank confidence to cut rates three times this year. The global economy is volatile and uncertain and that impacts inflation in economies around the world.
Updated
Application for AVO against Mark Latham ‘likely to settle’
An application for an apprehended violence order brought against controversial MP Mark Latham by his ex-partner is “very much likely to settle”, a court has been told.
Nathalie May Matthews, 38, applied for a private AVO against the one-time federal Labor opposition leader after accusing him of years of manipulation and sustained abuse.
Latham, who now sits as an independent in the NSW upper house, denied the allegations and has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
After three months of negotiations, Matthews’ lawyer said the parties were nearing an agreement.
“[We are] very much likely to settle and resolve the matters in their entirety,” Daniel Wakim told Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Wednesday.
He withdrew an application for an interim AVO, which, if granted, would have lasted until the matter returned to court for a three-day hearing in May 2026.
– AAP
Updated
The AFP commissioner, Krissy Barrett, is at the press club today, announcing efforts to crackdown on sadistic online exploitation and “crimefluencers”.
As we brought you a little earlier, Barrett is warning of the rise of online crime networks of young boys and men who are targeting vulnerable teen and preteen girls.
You can read more from my colleague Sarah Basford Canales (who’s at the press club right now):
Updated
What’s been driving higher inflation this last quarter?
As we have reported, annual inflation has jumped to 3.2% in September, from just 2.1% in June.
The ABS said the main contributor to the sharp rise – which was higher than the consensus forecast among economists – was a 24% year-on-year rise in electricity prices.
This was “primarily related to households in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania having higher out-of-pocket costs” than during the same period in 2024, the ABS said.
Petrol prices fell but there was plenty of evidence that the cost of living is continuing to bite.
Grocery items were 3.1% higher in the year to September, including a 15% rise in coffee, tea and cocoa prices thanks to issues with overseas suppliers of coffee beans.
Rents were up 3.8% in the year but that’s at least on an improving trend – this time last year they were climbing at an annual pace of 6.7%.
Homeowners were stung with a 6.3% jump in property rates in the three months to September – the biggest quarterly increase in more than a decade – as councils reset their rates.
Updated
Tim Wilson says ‘nobody apart from the Canberra press gallery’ has brought up PM’s Joy Division T-shirt
Liberal MP Tim Wilson is the latest to not exactly give a full-throated endorsement of Sussan Ley’s criticisms of Anthony Albanese’s Joy Division T-shirt, saying he hadn’t received any community complaints about it.
Wilson and senator Maria Kovacic gave a press conference on questions around the CFMEU construction union and revelations in media reporting about alleged misbehaviour. Wilson and Kovacic have been calling on the industrial relations minister, Amanda Rishworth, to take stronger action, criticising Labor’s actions on the issues.
But Wilson was asked about Ley’s comments after a string of Coalition MPs who did not strongly back her in.
“I’m not in the business of engaging in these conversations. We’re focused on the CFMEU specifically,” Wilson said, adding those issues were “far more distressing to me”.
Asked if he had received any concerns directly - with his Goldstein electorate having a large Jewish community – Wilson replied: “I’m afraid nobody apart from the Canberra press gallery, that I have seen.”
I haven’t got a chance to read all my emails – I’ve been focused on issues within the parliament – have raised this issue with me.
Wilson declined to say whether he would join Ley’s calls for Albanese to apologise, then ended the press conference.
Updated
Elizabeth Lee and Peter Cain ‘suspended indefinitely’ from Canberra Liberals party room
Former ACT Liberals leader – turned backbencher – Elizabeth Lee and backbencher Peter Cain have been indefinitely suspended after crossing the floor on Tuesday, the ABC is reporting.
Lee reportedly confirmed the suspension at a press conference in Canberra this morning.
Peter and I have been suspended indefinitely – until further notice … I still stand by my position that I exercised my right as a Liberal party backbencher.
The two backbenchers crossed the floor over a move to reduce the number of sitting weeks in the parliamentary calendar from 13 weeks to 12 next year.
According to Liberal party policy, Liberal backbenchers are allowed to cross the floor (as we’ve seen many of them do in federal parliament), though ministers and shadow ministers are not.
Lee said it was “imperative” for an opposition to take every opportunity to hold the government to account.
We have a long history of allowing backbenchers to vote differently – to cross the floor.
For Peter and I to make a call, to exercise our right as Liberal party backbenchers, to cross the floor on that issue and be suspended indefinitely, for that, is unacceptable.
Updated
Queensland education minister ‘very unhappy’ about botched history exam preparation
Queensland’s education minister has said the 140 high school students across the state who spent their final weeks in high school preparing for an exam on the wrong Caesar will not be asked for what they have not prepared.
But John-Paul Langbroek could not say what their final exam, worth 25% of their course mark and due to be sat this afternoon, would look like.
“The exam that they are doing ... is something we’ll be resolving into the future,” Langbroek said in response to a question from the press.
But I can’t see how anyone would be expected to do an exam, having had two days’ preparation.
The minister said that the 75% of the course mark for which the students had already been tested would be “scaled up” to make sure they were not disadvantaged and that it was his “presumption” that if someone had perfect marks to date: “I’d suspect they’d get as close to 100.”
Langbroek said he wanted affected students to know “it was not the end of the world” but that he was “very unhappy” about the stress they had been put through.
For all of us as parents, or students who have been through situations like this, it would be extremely traumatic and I want to reassure those students and their parents and their teachers affected that we will be making every investigation into how this happened.
The schools affected are both state and private and range from Cairns to Brisbane. They are: Brisbane State High School, Flagstone Community College, Meridan State College, Redcliffe State High School, Yeronga State High School, St Teresa’s Catholic College, West Moreton Anglican College, James Nash State High School and Kuranda District State College.
Updated
Inflation jumps to 3.2% in year to September
Inflation has jumped to 3.2% in the year to September, from 2.1% in June, as waning government subsidies feed through to higher household power bills.
Any lingering chance of a rate cut next Tuesday was squashed after the new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures also confirmed a troubling rise in underlying inflation.
The Reserve Bank’s preferred trimmed mean measure – which removes the impact of large, temporary price moves – climbed by 1% in the three months to September and far ahead of the RBA’s predicted rate of 0.6%.
That left inflation on this trimmed mean measure at 3% in the year, against 2.7% in June.
Read more here:
Updated
Greens call for end of shark nets
The Greens have called upon the environment and water minister, Murray Watt, to remove an exemption in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act that allows state-controlled shark cull programs after the death of a humpback whale calf that became entangled in a shark net near Wollongong yesterday.
The whale was entangled in the Coledale Beach shark net, which was installed under the New South Wales government’s Shark Meshing Bather Protection Program.
The Greens’ spokesperson for healthy oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, questioned what further proof governments needed that “shark nets do not work”.
It’s time to end the world’s longest marine cull and stop this barbaric government-sanctioned animal cruelty.
The Greens again call on federal environment minister Watt to reject the Queensland government’s plans to expand its shark cull program, and to remove the EPBC exemption to all state-controlled shark cull programs that threaten federally protected marine wildlife.
Updated
Queensland history exams blunder grows
Queensland’s education minister, John-Paul Langbroek, says the department has now determined that students at nine schools across the state have been taught the wrong topic for their end of year history exams.
Langbroek has ordered an urgent investigation after students were meant to study Julius Caesar, but were instead taught about his nephew Augustus. He says they will be given special consideration during marking, according to the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority.
During a news conference this morning, the minister said the 140 affected students from schools from the far north to the south-east of the state would not be required to sit today’s exam.
He said the students impacted have already completed 75% of their assessments for this subject and their overall grade will now be scaled to make sure no one is disadvantaged by this unacceptable error.
“I have directed the director general of the Department of Education to urgently investigate how the QCAA communicates with schools to implement syllabus changes,” Langbroek said.
He said the department did not know at this stage what had caused the error.
Updated
Greens welcome audit of housing Australia future fund, saying it has failed to deliver
The Greens have also welcomed an audit of the governments $10bn housing Australia future fund (HAFF), saying it’s failed to deliver on its promise of more social and affordable housing.
The fund is supposed to build 40,000 social and affordable homes by mid 2029.
The Greens senator Barbara Pocock says the HAFF is “too complex and too slow”.
Australians deserve to know why Treasury designed such a convoluted scheme that even developers say they can’t make money off. Hundreds of millions have been allocated but it appears very little of it has been spent on building homes. That’s unacceptable in the middle of a housing crisis.
This is a billion-dollar fund with little to show for it. The HAFF is a slow, clumsy and cost-ineffective way to fund housing and it’s opening the door for private developers to profit while people can’t find a home.
Updated
Australian Conservation Foundation launches fresh legal action against Murray Watt
The Australian Conservation Foundation has launched a new legal challenge against the federal environment minister, Murray Watt, over his approval of Woodside’s North West Shelf extension, one of the world’s biggest liquified natural gas projects.
It is the second case the advocacy group has brought against the minister this month, after they commenced federal court proceedings on 13 October in a bid to overturn the approval, which extends the life of the NWS gas processing plant from 2030 to 2070.
In the new challenge, the ACF will argue Watt was not permitted to exclude the climate impacts of the project when deciding whether and how to assess it under Australia’s national environment law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The ACF’s legal counsel Adam Beeson said:
We wouldn’t have to take this route if Australia had strong nature laws to begin with, which made the government’s responsibility to deal with climate pollution crystal clear.
But because our current nature laws are shockingly broken and favour polluting industries over the nature they claim to protect, litigation is necessary to argue that the minister was required to deal with climate pollution.
This case brings home why it’s so important Labor gets on with the task this week of making our national environment law actually work for nature.
The government plans to introduce its proposed changes to the EPBC Act to parliament in the coming days.
Updated
Jewish groups not offended by Albanese’s Joy Division T-shirt
Sussan Ley again finds herself taking an unconventional policy position and not exactly being swamped with support by her own team, with Liberal and National politicians not quite rushing to back up her criticisms of Anthony Albanese’s Joy Division T-shirt.
The opposition leader on Tuesday accused him of a “profound failure of judgment”. She claimed the seminal British punk band was named after “a wing of a Nazi concentration camp where Jewish women were forced into sexual slavery”.
Naturally, numerous Coalition politicians have been asked about the issue today, and there’s been mixed opinions.
Liberal senator Jane Hume, who last week branded Ley’s criticisms of Kevin Rudd as “churlish”, was equivocal on Sky News. She said: “I don’t like to tell people what it is that they should and shouldn’t wear” but added that Albanese should apologise “if people are offended”.
Guardian Australia spoke to several major Jewish community organisations; none chose to back Ley in or complain about Albanese’s sartorial choices. A senior source from one of the most-respected Jewish groups, which has had no problem criticising the Labor government on occasion, was bemused by Ley’s claims.
To recap all the other Coalition commentary this morning, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie told Sunrise:
There’s a lot to legitimately criticise the prime minister about; trillion-dollar debt, skyrocketing house prices, and job losses in our heavy industrial sector. Wearing a T-shirt isn’t one of them. I’m part of the troubled and forgotten X generation that came of age listening and dancing to Joy Division and New Order.”
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg told the ABC that the prime minister should “take great care in whatever he wears. Now, some Jewish Australians have been offended by the wearing of this T-shirt, and I think it’s something that the prime minister should consider very carefully.”
While Nationals senator Matt Canavan told Nine’s Today: “I don’t really care what T-shirt he wears, I do care how he’s doing for the country, and I don’t think a lot of joy is being felt by Australians right now.”
Updated
Labor votes against Pocock’s climate duty of care bill and Liberal senator crosses the floor
Labor have been put into a slightly uncomfortable position in the Senate, on David Pocock’s bill that would insert a duty of care to young people and future children into the Climate Change Act.
The legislation would force decision-makers to consider the risk of future harm to children when considering the approval of facilities that would increase greenhouse gas emissions.
Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan, who has recently started speaking up strongly for climate action and net zero, is supporting the bill, calling it a “noble ambition”, and taking a swipe at his party.
I support the bill and commend senator Pocock for bringing it to the chamber for consideration … It’s very conservative, it’s actually more conservative than a liberal progressive position to care for the environment.
The Coalition initially sided with the crossbench and Greens to force a vote on the bill (initially it was just slated for debate). Labor has been outvoted a few times now in the Senate, where it doesn’t hold a majority.
But on the actual vote, Labor and the Coalition voted against the duty, while McLachlan crossed the floor to vote with the crossbench.
Updated
NT land councils ‘dismayed’ at lack of consultation on environment law reforms
The four land councils that represent traditional owners in the Northern Territory say they are “dismayed” they have not been consulted on proposed reforms to Australia’s environment laws.
The Northern, Central, Tiwi and Anindilyakwa land councils are demanding the environment minister, Murray Watt, include them in discussions on the reforms, which are expected to be tabled in parliament tomorrow.
The Anindilyakwa council represents people in the Groote archipelago in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The four organisations want to see all projects with significant impacts on ground and surface water included in environment assessments, and for projects with major greenhouse gas emissions to be assessed for climate risk – a step Watt has said won’t be included in reforms.
Dr Josie Douglas, of the Central Land Council, said the debate on the reforms had been run “as a closed shop between large environment groups and industry”. She said:
The very survival of our people on country is at stake. We are living the impacts of climate change and water insecurity now, and the forecasts for the north are devastating.
The Northern Land Council chair, Matthew Ryan, said:
Aboriginal people have legal rights and interest in 98% of the land in the NT. We must be part of the conversation.
Updated
‘No connectivity means no net zero,’ says Nationals MP
Net zero is certainly front of mind for those in the Coalition, evidenced by one Nationals MP’s slip-up in the chamber, while seconding a motion to suspend standing orders.
The opposition is trying to suspend standing orders on the Optus triple-zero outage, noting the Coalition and Greens in the Senate last night established an inquiry into the telco outage, and calling on Anika Wells to appear before the committee and “fully cooperate with the inquiry”.
Nationals MP Anne Webster got up to support the suspension, warning about the impact shutdowns have on regional communities, particularly after the telcos shut down the 3G network “under this government’s watch”.
Then she said this.
No connectivity means no net zero – sorry! No triple zero, full stop.
From the Coalition backbench, someone shouted, “It’s on the mind!”
As both the Liberals and Nationals edge closer to a policy position on net zero, it’s on the mind indeed!
Updated
Vicarious liability legislation to be introduced in Victoria
Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, has also confirmed the government will introduce legislation to parliament this year to address the fallout of a recent high court decision that affected child sexual abuse survivors ability to seek justice.
The Bird v DP decision last year ruled that institutions such as churches cannot be held vicariously liable for child abuse committed by individuals who were not employees, narrowing the scope for victim-survivors to seek compensation from institutions.
She told reporters the bill will apply retrospectively. Allan says:
It is very important not just to address this issue that the high court has identified, but to ensure that that period of time that elapses between parliaments addressing the issue and decisions and judgments that may have been made that victim-survivors are supported, which is why it will be retrospective.
She acknowledged the “deep distress” and “retraumatising effect” the decision had on all victim-survivors.
Updated
National auditor general to investigate $10bn housing Australia future fund
Australia’s national auditor general will take the microscope out to investigate the $10bn housing Australia future fund, as it faces criticisms of not delivering homes on schedule.
The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg (who has been heavily critical of the fund since it was introduced), called it one of the “biggest public policy disasters of my lifetime”. On ABC News Breakfast this morning he said:
It’s under audit from the Australian National Audit Office because it is wasting taxpayer funds, it is overpaying for houses, in some cases it’s going to paying more than $1.3m house when the average cost house in Australia $500,000.
Updated
Victorian premier to announce bill to ban use of NDAs to silence victims of sexual harassment
The premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference to announce legislation to curb the use of non-disclosure agreements in sexual harassment matters. She says the laws are Australian first and among the first in the world.
Allan says:
The origin of the use of non disclosure agreements in workplace matters was initially to protect trade secrets - not to cover up workplace sexual harassment. We have seen, over time, though, how it has become an entrenched practice … used to settle and resolve workplace sexual harassment complaints out of court, and that means that often, often the complainant, the victim, is silenced. That it also means that there is the potential for patterns of behaviour, patterns of predatory behaviour, are also covered up because the victim is silenced and the perpetrator has not been exposed through the process.
Read more here:
Updated
Littleproud calls for review of BoM website as deluge of criticism continues
Sometimes with criticism, when it rains it pours, and the Bureau of Meteorology is facing a deluge when it comes to its new website.
Environment minister Murray Watt has hauled in the BoM’s chief, and admitted the website redo is not meeting users’ expectations.
Now the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, is calling for a review of the whole website, saying locals in his regional Queensland electorate of Maranoa have been unable to get data for their specific property locations, and some have found the website difficult to navigate. In a statement he wrote:
I am hearing from many locals that the new platform no longer allows them to enter GPS coordinates for their specific property locations, restricting searches to towns or postcodes, as a result, families, businesses and farmers are unable to access vital, localised data such as river heights and rainfall information …
Given the critical importance of accurate and accessible weather and water data, especially as we approach the wet season and in the aftermath of the devastating floods experienced in April this year.
Energy minister Chris Bowen was also asked about the issue, and said the website is clearly not to satisfaction.
The Bureau clearly has work to do in that it has lost community confidence in the new website. Minister Watt has made his expectations clear.
Updated
AFP chief warns of 'crimefluencer' networks targeting young girls online
Young girls are being “hunted” and “stalked” by sadistic “crimefluencers” who are mostly young men, the new federal police chief has warned.
Krissy Barrett, the first female AFP chief, is addressing the National Press Club later today and says these groups coerce the young women to carry out acts of self-harm, or acts of violence on their siblings and pets in a “twisted type of gamification”.
Barrett will reveal that of this alarming global phenomenon, three people have been arrested in Australia, and nine have been arrested overseas.
The AFP has also identified 59 alleged offenders as being members of “some of these prolific decentralised online crime networks.” Barrett says those arrested in Australia are between 17 and 20 years old.
These groups have a similar culture to multi-player, online gaming culture, and hunt, stalk and draw-in victims from a range of online platforms.
Typically, these young girls have low self-esteem, mental health disorders, history of self-harm, eating disorders or other attributes that may lead them to seek connection online. This can make them more vulnerable to being targeted directly by these networks.
Updated
Queensland orders urgent investigation into history test blunder: 'Not good enough'
Queensland’s education minister, John-Paul Langbroek, has ordered an urgent investigation after students of at least eight schools were taught the wrong topic for their end of year history exams.
Students were meant to study Julius Caesar, but were instead taught about his nephew Augustus. They will be given special consideration during marking, according to the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority.
In a statement, the minister said he’d made it clear to the authority that the blunder was “not good enough”.
“I have directed the director-general of the department of education to urgently investigate how the QCAA communicates with schools to implement syllabus changes,” Langbroek said.
I have also asked to QCAA to ensure this does not impact on the overall grade of affected students. I have been advised that as students have already completed 75% of their assessments for this subject and their overall grade will now be scaled to make sure no one is disadvantaged by this unacceptable error.
My department will continue to provide support to all students and families.
The Qcaa is also proactively checking all 172 schools to make sure the error didn’t take place elsewhere.
Updated
Social cohesion and democracy a priority for new federal police chief
Disrupting crime that seeks to influence Australia’s social cohesion and democracy will be a priority for the first woman to lead the Australian federal police, AAP reports.
Krissy Barrett will address the National Press Club in Canberra today for the first time as commissioner after taking the reins earlier in October.
Her speech will likely focus on the issue of organised crime targeting the nation’s sovereignty and society.
The rise in youth radicalisation targeting children as young as 13 will be flagged as another major concern for federal police.
Early in her tenure, Barrett will seek to set up a new taskforce that will have access to intelligence from Five Eyes partners, such as the US and the UK, to target hate crimes.
Previously serving as the agency’s deputy commissioner tasked with oversight of national security, she will point to growing strategic competition being exploited by state and non-state actors.
Updated
Will states get more powers to make decisions on fossil fuel projects?
We’re getting a trickle of details on the government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) bill, including that state governments could be given expanded powers to make decisions on fossil fuel developments, which has environment groups seriously concerned.
The government is expected to table the bill on Thursday (where we’ll get to see the whole proposal), but it still doesn’t have the support of either the Coalition or the Greens.
You can have a read of what’s going on, and the latest developments from my colleague Adam Morton here:
Updated
When do failing projects deserve taxpayer-funded support?
It’s not the first time in recent months the government has had to bail out a major manufacturing or infrastructure plant.
Labor and the Queensland government entered into a $600m bail-out package for the Mount Isa Copper Smelter just this month, while the commonwealth and South Australian governments announced a $2.4bn support package for Whyalla and its steelworks in February.
So what’s the threshold for support, asks host Sally Sara.
Chris Bowen says there are three “principles” that are considered.
Tim Ayres has made that clear as the industry minister. He goes to strategic importance, regional importance, and the long-term viability. You know, sometimes a facility can be temporarily facing challenges, but you can see that in the long term, when they get through those challenges, they will be viable. So it’s about those, I think, primarily those three things.
With a similar question, my colleague and economics editor Patrick Commins asks – is 2025 the year of the bailout? You can read his excellent analysis here:
Updated
Labor will continue to ‘engage constructively’ with Rio Tinto over smelter, Labor says
The government isn’t playing a “blame game” with Rio Tinto over the future of the Tomago aluminium smelter, saying they would have liked to have an arrangement in place by now.
Energy minister Chris Bowen is on RN Breakfast this morning and says conversation with the mining giant is still under way, but has acknowledged high energy prices are a big factor as Rio Tinto’s considers the smelter’s viability.
Bowen says Rio’s statement shows there needs to be more renewables, not less, in the energy grid, which he emphasises the government is working towards.
We would have liked an arrangement to have been entered into by now, but that hasn’t been possible. But we’ll continue to engage constructively. I’m not here to engage in blame. [Minister] Pat [Conroy] is right that Tomago does have responsibilities to the community that has supported it for the last 40 years, but we’re not interested in a blame game here.
We fully acknowledge energy prices are a huge issue, 40% of the cost of the operation, they’ve made clear, and to quote them, there’s uncertainty about when renewable projects will be available of the scale we need. So they’re not saying they need less renewables, they’re saying they need more renewables. We agree with that.
Updated
Coalition members give their take on Albanese’s T-shirt
It seems like the Coalition aren’t going quite as hard on Anthony Albanese’s Joy Division T-shirt as leader Sussan Ley did yesterday.
Staying on News Breakfast, Andrew Bragg says Albanese has to be careful as an “ambassador for our nation” and should “take great care in whatever he wears”.
I think it’s a matter for Mr Albanese to consider whether or not he’s wearing appropriate attire. Certainly some people have been offended by the wearing of that shirt.
Nationals senator Matt Canavan was less concerned, and offered a similar message to his colleague Bridget McKenzie a little earlier. He told the Today show:
I don’t really care what T-shirt he wears. I really don't … I do care how he’s doing for the country and I don’t think a lot of joy is being felt by Australians right now.
Updated
Coalition has 'got to keep net zero', Liberal senator says
The Coalition is still in the middle of a fight over the future of its energy policy, with big fractures between members over whether the 2050 net zero target should be kept.
The party is working towards something of a compromise, but there are a few moderates who don’t want that target to change – including shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg.
Optimistically, on ABC News Breakfast this morning, he reckons his party will “get there” on keeping the target.
Look, I think we’ll get there on net zero. I know there’s a lot of interest in it. I think ultimately there’s an ability there for the Coalition to do this much better than Labor. Labor’s net zero [policy] has been a disaster …
I think we could do net zero better than Labor in terms of emissions and cost and environmental protection, but you’ve got to keep net zero.
Host James Glenday asks Bragg about comments by Bridget McKenzie earlier this week that it’s not her job to get Liberals elected.
Somewhat drily, Bragg says that while the Liberal party has to “look after itself” they are still in a Coalition with the Nats.
I know that you probably find it all very interesting to talk about, but we do have a culture of openness in the Liberal party and the National party, and we seem to talk about a lot of things. I mean, frankly, I wonder what the nation will talk about if the Liberal party died, because I think we’d sort of run out of things to discuss.
Updated
Criticism of Albanese’s Joy Division T-shirt is ‘ridiculous’, O’Neil says
Pollies are still reacting to Sussan Ley’s comments on Anthony Albanese’s clothing choice when getting off a plane last week … if you missed it you can read about it all here.
Naturally, the government is trying to brush the whole thing off.
Sparring on Sunrise this morning, housing minister Clare O’Neil tells Nationals frontbencher Bridget McKenzie that of all the “remarkable dead ends” the Coalition has walked down, “this one takes the cake”.
Communities around the country are trying to focus and talk about the issues that matter to them, not try to make some fake news thing out of a T-shirt the prime minister gets wearing off a plane. It’s ridiculous.
McKenzie’s not so hot on the T-shirt criticism but pulls the government up for not having implemented the recommendations of a report by its special envoy to combat antisemitism released in July.
Look, there’s a lot to legitimately criticise the prime minister about trillion dollar debt, skyrocketing house prices and job losses in our heavy industrial sector wearing a T-shirt is not one of them … So yeah, get on with acting on antisemitism.
Updated
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji with you here, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
We’ve got another busy legislative day ahead of us, so let’s get straight into it!
Victorian MP brings colleagues to tears during assisted dying debate
Meanwhile, Emma Vulin, the MP for Pakenham, brought her colleagues to tears during her contribution to the debate. Speaking through new text-to-speech technology, the Labor MP shared her experience living with motor neurone disease and said she may one day choose to use the state’s VAD laws:
I do not know how my journey with MND will end, but I do know this, the knowledge that I may have voluntary assisted dying as an option gives me strength. It allows me to live with more peace, to focus on the moments that matter, and to spare my loved ones from witnessing my prolonged suffering that serves no purpose.
Several Liberal MPs also spoke in the debate, with some reversing the position they took when Victoria’s VAD laws passed in 2017.
Opposition leader Brad Battin said the deaths of two close friends had led him to rethink his stance and back the amendments. Former leader John Pesutto also confirmed he had changed his view, while newer MPs – Brighton’s James Newbury and Kew’s Jess Wilson – also confirmed their support.
Here’s more about the amendments:
Updated
Victorian parliament's assisted dying debate runs until 2am
Labor MPs are expected to exercise their conscience vote to oppose a bill put forward by their own party to amend the state’s voluntary assisted dying scheme.
The lower house debated the proposed VAD changes well into the early hours of Wednesday morning before adjourning about 2am. It will resume this morning.
With MPs from both Labor and the Coalition granted a conscience vote, the outcome will cut across party lines – as it did during the debate.
The Labor MP for Greenvale, Iwan Walters, who is aligned with the SDA faction, moved an amendment on Tuesday afternoon to prevent the bill from being read a second time to allow for further consultation.
Walters told parliament the bill had “come to this place in haste, without due consideration of the anticipated and unintended consequences and with little robust consultation beyond a select group of advocates.”
He went on:
If enacted, these measures would substantially weaken the safeguards in the 2017 VAD act, with profound consequences for the safety of vulnerable people in our community.
The motion was defeated 66 votes to 17 but Labor MPs Anthony Carbines, Natalie Suleyman, Anthony Cianflone, Kathleen Matthews-Ward, Nathan Lambert and Daniela De Martino supported it.
Updated
WA governor apologises for 1834 massacre
Chris Dawson has apologised to Noongar people for the Pinjarra massacre.
At a Tuesday memorial service south of Perth to mark the 191st anniversary of the Pinjarra massacre, the state’s governor apologised to the Binjareb Noongar people for governor James Stirling’s “dreadful wrongs”.
“I say sorry to the Bindjareb people, who still feel the trauma of the punishment inflicted on their ancestors that day, when so many innocent lives were taken.”
In 1834, Stirling led 25 armed men in the Pinjarra massacre, firing at Bindjareb Noongar men, women and children for an hour. A number of landmarks in WA are named after the man behind the bloody massacre, including the Stirling Ranges.
A push by local Noongar people to rename Perth’s Stirling council was rejected in 2021.
Describing it as a “skirmish”, Stirling’s records say about 15 people were killed that day. Oral histories place the number much higher, but Mr Dawson said it was impossible to know the exact toll.
Dawson said traditional owners had been waiting to hear the truth of the massacre for more than 190 years. He said this action, and the apology, would be a step toward meaningful reconciliation.
“My call to all Western Australians, is that we speak the truth,” he said.
Read more about the massacre here:
Updated
One in 10 Australians couldn’t afford the medical care they needed last year, survey finds
Only one in three people feel confident they could afford necessary care if they became seriously ill, according to new national research released today by the Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF).
The group’s national consumer sentiment survey released today also found that one in 10 Australians couldn’t afford the medical care they needed last year.
The report was based on a survey of 5,000 Australians for their thoughts on the healthcare system across a range of areas in late 2024.
It also found nearly half (49%) of consumers reported at least one occasion during the last 12 months when they hadn’t accessed the healthcare they needed, and just over half (51%) were very confident they could get the care they needed if they were seriously ill.
Dr Elizabeth Deveny, chief executive of the Consumers Health Forum, said:
Consumers have told us that Australian health remains deeply unequal, particularly for young adults, people with chronic diseases and people struggling to make ends meet.
The survey is telling us that people are delaying or skipping care altogether because of cost and other access barriers. In 2025 the community expects that people can get healthcare when and where they need it.
Updated
Environment minister charts path to pass EPBC laws before Christmas
The environment minister, Murray Watt, will introduce Labor’s new nature laws to parliament tomorrow and remains adamant the reforms can pass before Christmas despite resistance from the Coalition and the Greens.
The Albanese government will immediately push for a 25-day parliamentary inquiry into its planned rewrite of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC Act), which would report back just in time for the legislation to clear the Senate before parliament rises on 27 November.
But the government must first strike a deal with either the Coalition or the Greens – neither of whom are prepared to support the bill without major concessions.
Watt challenged the two parties to support the legislation, saying that five years on from Graeme Samuel’s review of the EPBC, it was “well past time to get this done”.
Every day of delay on these reforms is hurting our environment and costing business time and money. The Coalition and the Greens must decide whether or not they will back these important reforms or team up to delay them yet again. Will they put their own political gain ahead of the environment and business, or will they support our important laws.
Updated
Environment minister says BoM website 'not meeting many users' expectations'
The new Bureau of Meteorology website is “not meeting many users’ expectations”, environment minister Murray Watt admits, saying he’d hauled in the BoM’s chief to make some changes.
A refresh of the weather website has many users annoyed, with a large number of complaints about its accessibility and usefulness. Watt said he’d met with the acting chief executive, Peter Stone, “to discuss the public’s concerns with its updated website”.
In a statement, Watt said:
It’s clear that the new BOM website is not meeting many users’ expectations, with a significant range of feedback provided to the Bureau in recent days.
In the meeting, I made clear my expectations that the BOM needed to consider this feedback and, where appropriate, adjust the website’s settings as soon as possible. This includes urgent consideration of improvements to the website’s functionality and useability.
Watt said Stone had taken the feedback on, and said his ministerial office would stay on the case if users remained unhappy.
Australians deserve to have confidence in these important services … I strongly encourage Australians to continue to provide feedback to the BOM, to ensure changes can be made where needed.
Updated
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the morning’s top stories before Krishani Dhanji takes the reins.
The environment minister, Murray Watt, has hauled the boss of the Bureau of Meteorology into his office and told him that its new website is “not meeting many users’ expectations”. Watt said he had asked Peter Stone to consider feedback from the public and make changes to the site.
A new survey shows that only one in three people feel confident that they could afford necessary care if they became seriously ill, and that one in 10 say they could not afford treatment they needed last year. Natasha May has more details in a moment about the new research released today by the Consumers Health Forum of Australia.
More coming up.
