What we learned; Monday 28 July
And that’s a wrap for today’s live news coverage. Here’s what’s been keeping us busy on this, the first day of the second week of the 48th parliament:
Independent MP Sophie Scamps asked the prime minister when Australia would recognise Palestine as a state. Anthony Albanese said that the recognition of a Palestinian state might come before the “finalisation of the peace process”.
Scamps later told the ABC her office had been “inundated” with letters about what is happening in Gaza and that people are “distressed, distraught, horrified” by news coverage of its civilian population.
Tensions between Labor and the Greens over how to respond to Gaza continued into a second sitting week over in Senate question time. Greens senator David Shoebridge asked the government’s upper house leader and foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, when the government will sanction Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet. Here’s the TLDR version of our question time coverage.
Chris Minns responded to plans for the weekly pro-Palestine protest to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, saying the government can’t support a protest of this scale with one week’s notice.
Former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr welcomed Anthony Albanese and the government’s stronger statements on Gaza, but says Australia needs to go further, and should recognise a Palestinian state.
Independent MP Kate Chaney introduced a bill to stop AI technology that trains or facilitates the production of child sexual abuse material.
Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said Labor will “do whatever we have to” to make sure Australian children are safe, as the government considers the parameters of a social media ban for under 16s.
Victorian upper house MP Georgie Purcell announced she is expecting a baby girl in early 2026 with her partner, federal Labor MP Josh Burns.
Thank you for joining us, as ever. We’ll be back with more political coverage, live from Canberra, early tomorrow morning.
Updated
Senate votes down Pauline Hanson push to scrap net zero by 2050 policy
The Senate has overwhelmingly voted down a push by One Nation senator Pauline Hanson to scrap Australia’s net zero by 2050 emissions policy.
The urgency motion put by Hanson this evening urged the Senate to dump net zero and prioritise “cheap and reliable energy”. One Nation senators were joined by Coalition senators, Matt Canavan and Alex Antic, and United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet, making up seven in favour.
Labor, the remainder of the Coalition, the crossbench and the Greens all voted against Hanson’s motion with 39 noes.
Liberal senator Paul Scarr said the party’s review process was still underway and therefore the policy on net zero was still not settled.
He said:
The Coalition will not be diverted or distracted from that policy review process. That policy review process provides an opportunity for every single Coalition senator and every single Coalition MP to have their say, and for their say to be considered, to be considered as part of that policy review process as the Coalition settles its suite of policies to take to the next election.
Updated
Queensland MP uses maiden speech to call for action against domestic violence
One of the lower house’s tallest members, former National Basketball League player, Matt Smith, gave his maiden speech to parliament this afternoon.
While much of the speech was lighthearted, it took a few sombre turns – Smith pointed out his electorate in Queensland’s far north, Leichhardt, represents 10% of all domestic violence calls out in the state.
He said:
We have had enough tragedy. I was deeply affected by a murder-suicide that rocked our region. I attend many rallies calling for an end to domestic and family violence and gendered violence, events like reclaim the night.
Too often, I’m one of the only male voices in the room.
Men of Australia, I challenge you to step up on this issue … Violence begets violence, and intergenerational trauma is a real thing for children witnessing domestic and family violence. The prism through which they see the world is darkened. Sons are taught to be perpetrators, and our daughters are taught to accept it. As men, we have to call out this behaviour, protect those we love and help other men to break the cycle and deal with the mental health issues that exacerbate violence.
Smith also spoke of his own mental health challenges after he left playing professional basketball as well as experiencing a stroke, from which he has recovered.
I lost five years of my life [after leaving professional basketball] wildly oscillating between a fight or flight response and numb blankness. I looked at every possible option to make it stop. In the end, salvation came from three things, professional help, a renewed focus on my physical fitness and a return to the sport.
I found the strength I needed to get out of depression in asking others for help, not drowning in my own ego and weird perceptions of masculinity. Professional sport asks you to be an invulnerable, unbeatable hero, and the people will love you for it, and you will love you for it. But when it’s all over and the crowds go away, it can be hard for Superman to only be Clark Kent.
Updated
Watchdog says WebJet’s actions ‘a serious breach’
In the statement the ACCC published this afternoon, the regulator’s chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said:
We took this case because we considered that Webjet used misleading pricing by excluding or not adequately disclosing compulsory fees in its ads.
Seeking to lure in customers with prices that don’t tell the whole story is a serious breach of the Australian Consumer Law.Retailers must ensure their advertised prices are accurate. They should clearly disclose additional fees and charges.
The ACCC said the additional fees comprised the “Webjet servicing fee” and “booking price guarantee” fee which ranged from $34.90 to $54.90 per booking and represented 36% of the company’s total revenue in the period from 1 November 2018 to 13 November 2023.
While Webjet’s website, app and most emails contained information about the additional fees, some users had to scroll to the fine print near the bottom of the screen to see them, the ACCC said.
In its social media posts, Webjet didn’t disclose the additional fees at all, the regulator said.
The ACCC said Webjet cooperated with it, admitted liability and agreed to make joint submissions to the federal court about orders, including the $9m penalty.
Webjet has been contacted for comment.
Updated
Webjet ordered to pay $9m in penalties for misleading customers with ads for cheap air fares
After a federal court case brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the company admitted that between 2018 and 2023 it made false or misleading statements when it advertised air fares on its website, in promotional emails and social media posts that excluded compulsory fees.
Webjet also admitted that between 2019 and 2024 it provided false or misleading booking confirmations to 118 customers for flight bookings which had not actually been confirmed.
Webjet later asked for additional payments, of up to $2,120, from customers complete the booking. The company has refunded these consumers, according to an ACCC statement about the case published this afternoon.
The consumer watchdog began investigating after a customer complained about an air fare advertised as “from $18”, which cost almost three times that price after Webjet added its compulsory fees.
Updated
Land clearing up by 40% in New South Wales
New data from the New South Wales government reveals land-clearing has increased by 40% prompting calls for the Minns government to overhaul the state’s native vegetation laws.
The statewide data, published Monday afternoon, shows 66,498ha of native vegetation was cleared for agriculture, infrastructure and forestry in 2023, “equivalent to bull-dozing Sydney’s Royal national park four times over”, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW said.
The total cleared was up 40% on the previous year, when 47,388ha was bulldozed.
The rate of increase was even higher for woody vegetation, with 21,137ha cleared in 2022 and 32,847 ha in 2023 - up by 55%.
Jacqui Mumford, the chief executive of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, said:
The jump in land clearing across NSW by 40% during Labor’s first year of governing is a major red flag. The government needs to get moving on its election commitment to ‘end runaway land clearing’.
The former Coalition government relaxed the state’s native vegetation laws in 2017.
Agriculture was again the biggest driver of clearing in 2023, contributing 51,201 hectares - 77% of all the clearing. More than half of the overall clearing was “unallocated”, meaning the clearing did not require an approval under the state’s laws, or the environment department could not find a record of approval, or the clearing was unlawful.
Nathanielle Pelle from the Australian Conservation Foundation said:
What that means in real terms is more homes for native wildlife were knocked down in this 12-month period than the previous year, pushing species like koalas, quolls, greater gliders and gang gang cockatoos closer to extinction.
Updated
Greens deputy leader unapologetic over senate protest
Mehreen Faruqi says “it is time” for the prime minister to recognise the state of Palestine – and that she will not be apologising for last week protesting during the governor-general’s speech at the opening of parliament.
In an Afternoon Briefing episode dominated by the question of Gaza, the Greens deputy leader told the program she wears the “sanction and the punishment” handed to her by Labor after her protest as a “badge of honour”.
“I will not be apologising and will be using every single opportunity and tool available for me to raise the genocide in Gaza, to bring attention to the forced and deliberate starvation of children who are basically dying of starvation in Gaza,” she told the ABC.
The Labor party hates it that in a couple of minutes I brought more attention to the genocide that Israel is committing in Gaza than they have done in two years.
My office has been flooded by phone calls, messages saying they agreed with me and they had been calling Senator Wong and the prime minister’s office to again raise the issue with them and it is this pressure that is finally making the prime minister using some stronger words, but these words are not enough. These words are not going to feed starving children.
Read more here:
Updated
Sophie Scamps says ‘now is the time’ to recognise state of Palestine
The independent Mackellar MP says her office has been “inundated” with letters about what is happening in Gaza and that people are “distressed, distraught, horrified” by news coverage of its civilian population.
“People really want to see Australia act to end what is happening in Gaza. What we are seeing on our television screens absolutely shames us all and I think we can say words are not enough. We need to take further steps,” the independent MP told the ABC a short time ago.
She says she “hears” the prime minister’s concerns, voiced earlier in question time about the recognition of a Palestinian state – but that “now” is the time to do so.
The demilitarisation of Hamas and release of hostages are important to recognising the Palestinian state, but I hear the prime minister – it is, of course, a very difficult question when to recognise Palestine as a state but I do feel that now is the time. I mean, how much horror can be inflicted upon the people of Palestine before we actually take one of these steps?
We need to start doing things differently because what is happening now is utterly horrific … We need more than words, we need actions and one of those steps to get action and peace is if we start that peace process by recognising Palestine has a right to self-determination.
Updated
‘Evidence pretty overwhelming’ of shortage of food in Gaza, Dave Sharma says
Dave Sharma says the “evidence is pretty overwhelming” that people in Gaza are suffering from a shortage of food – but does not go as far as using the word “starvation” to describe what the enclave’s population faces.
The Liberal senator and former ambassador to Israel told the ABC a short time ago:
I don’t believe Israel has stopped food from being delivered - or at least my understanding is that has not been the policy intent, but undoubtedly the level of humanitarian hardship in Gaza has skyrocketed over the last few months and I believe the reports we are hearing of hunger, food insecurity, malnutrition are credible and we need to be acting in response.
“I think the evidence is pretty overwhelming that there’s a high … there’s malnutrition, there’s shortages of food,” he said.
The question of who was to blame for the suffering was open to discussion, he said, but the civilian population of Gaza should not “be held hostage, so to speak, because of those discussions”.
I’m pleased that Israel has taken steps in the last 24 hours to withdraw military operations from some areas and to allow and assist food drops by air by neighbouring countries as well. I think that shows you that they recognise that this is a problem.
Updated
‘I cannot see how we cannot be helping’, Australian MSF worker says of Gaza
An Australian Médecins Sans Frontières worker has described Gaza’s “emaciated” population.
Claire Manera, an emergency coordinator for MSF, told the ABC doctors in Gaza sometimes received warnings from the Israeli authorities about areas they were to bomb but at other times the team “received no warnings at all”.
Manera, speaking from Perth, said alongside that danger it was “horrifying” to see people in the streets and in the hospital “absolutely emaciated”.
I would also be seeing babies and their parents standing by without being able to do anything to help them. This was on top of the third degree burns they [were] experiencing from having bombs dropped on their homes, so just innocent people and so many of them children in agony.
She will return to Gaza in coming months, she said.
“It is a huge risk, but the Palestinian staff are incredibly brave themselves. I feel like I cannot turn my back on them now and the world should not either,” she told Afternoon Briefing.
I know that they get up every single day to try and do their best to do their jobs and to work for MSF and help each other, so I cannot see how we cannot be helping them either. They are innocent and defenceless.
Updated
Albanese in parliament on Israel-Gaza
Here’s video of the prime minister calling on Israel to “comply immediately with its obligations under international law”.
Speaking on the recognition of a Palestinian state, Anthony Albanese said in question time a little earlier the decision must advance the “realisation of that objective”.
“It must be more than a gesture,” he said.
Updated
Health minister Mark Butler rejects Cleanbill report’s estimates on GPs’ bulk-billing
Continuing on the subject of GP clinics bulk billing, the health minister, Mark Butler, has rejected Cleanbill’s figures.
In its report, Cleanbill acknowledges it can only provide “an insight into the likely outcome of the bulk billing incentive expansion” in the context of what is “an extremely complex policy change, taking place in the context of other complex policy changes at all levels of government.”
The report noted other factors that could affect a clinic’s decision such as circumstances where an increase in patient numbers resulting from switching to a fully bulk billed model would make receiving a lesser payment for each consultation economically viable, as well as the effect of state-based incentives (like the NSW Bulk Billing Support Initiative) further improving the economic viability of moving to a fully bulk billed model.
Butler called Cleanbill’s analysis “fundamentally flawed and should not be reported as accurate”, also pointing to the company’s terms of use where it states “Cleanbill does not make any representations, warranties or claims that the material contained on this website is reliable, accurate, complete or suitable.”
Cleanbill collects its information, according to its founder, James Gillespie, by compiling a list of general practices nationally, which it calls to ensure it is an operating GP clinic, ask if it bulk bills adult patients and, if not, what out-of-pocket fees it charges. Data managers then check that information against what is stated on clinics’ websites and repeat calls until they can ensure consistent information.
Butler said:
Our policy is modelled by the department and based on actual Medicare data. We know this investment will work, because it has already worked for the patients the incentive already applies to: pensioners, concession cardholders, and families with kids. When they went to the GP last year, more than 9 out of 10 GP visits were bulk billed for them.
You can read more about the difference in how the government and Cleanbill measure bulk billing in this article.
Updated
New report predicts only 740 GP practices will switch to universal bulk-billing despite Medicare changes
It won’t make economic sense for two in three GP clinics to be fully bulk-billing even with the government’s upcoming Medicare changes, a new report from Healthcare directory Cleanbill shows.
When the government announced its record $8.5bn investment in Medicare to expand the bulk-billing incentive beyond children and concession patients in February, GPs immediately warned not all practices would take up the offer when the changes came into effect in November.
The government said its modelling showed nine out of 10 GP visits would be bulk-billed by 2030, which would boost the number of fully bulk-billed practices to around 4,800 nationally. However, Cleanbill’s new report predicts only 740 GP practices will switch to universal bulk-billing.
Based on the number of GP clinics Cleanbill lists in its database, its analysts have compared a clinic’s current standard consultation fees to the relevant value of the new total Medicare reimbursement a clinic would be entitled to if it bulk-billed all patients, taking into account how the payment scales based on how remote the clinic is.
Out of the 6,212 GP clinics across the country in its database, Cleanbill says 1,341 were fully bulk-billing at July 2025. With the government’s investment it will make economic sense for another 740 clinics to switch to fully bulk-billing, bringing the total number nationally to 2,081, according to the report.
While they estimate the change will see over 200 clinics making the switch in NSW and Victoria respectively, for the ACT they estimate it would only be a single clinic making the change - raising the number of fully bulk billing GP clinics from four to five in the ACT.
The economic effect of the bulk billing incentive expansion would need to be between 20% and 30% higher for the promised 4,800 clinics to become fully bulk billing as a result of the change, the report found.
You can read more about the situation GPs are facing here:
Updated
Thank you, Krishani Dhanji. I’m Daisy Dumas – let’s get straight on with the remainder of the afternoon’s news.
Thanks for joining me on the live blog today, I’ll leave you in the very capable hands of Daisy Dumas.
I’ll see you bright and early in the morning!
Tl;dr what did we learn in question time today?
The Coalition didn’t have a strong theme today on their questions to the government – there were a couple on tariffs, on tax and on bulk-billing rates.
QT started a bit slow, there wasn’t a whole lot of energy amongst the government or opposition in the first half, but it started getting a little rowdier towards the end.
The government used its dixers to tout its policies from cost of living to Hecs discounts to its PBS legislation – and managed to get the Coldplay couple into Hansard too.
Tim Wilson called Albanese “this guy” during his question, which did not go down well with Speaker Milton Dick, but there were no ejections from either side of the chamber in question time today.
Updated
Question time ends
Following a final dixer on the government’s future made in Australia policy, question time ends for the day.
Updated
Labor questioned on funding for Great Southern Reef amid algal bloom in SA
Rebekha Sharkie gets the next crossbench question, and asks whether the government will increase funding for the monitoring of Great Southern Reef, as the algal bloom affects South Australia.
Tony Burke (representing the environment minister, Murray Watt, who’s in the Senate chamber), says while most people know the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland or the Ningaloo reef in Western Australia, the Great Southern Reef isn’t as well known.
He says there’s been $14m committed to South Australia to deal with the algal bloom and there’s other money to support the reef.
There is significant research and conservation projects which do touch on the Great Southern Reef. The projects … they’re not limited to it but a whole lot of their work is within the Great Southern Reef.
Updated
Tim Wilson on the CFMEU
Tim Wilson can’t even get through his first question without being sat down.
The shadow minister for small business starts with: “My question is to the prime minister, or this guy,” he says gesturing to Albanese. Politics nerds will know you never refer to an MP as anything other than the “member for …” or “minister”.
So Milton Dick’s not a fan of Wilson’s “this guy” and says there should be more respect in the chamber, while one Liberal MP tries to say “he’s a new member!” (but of course Wilson returns to parliament after losing his seat in 2022).
His actual question goes to the CFMEU:
Will the CFMEU’s plan to unionise the New South Wales residential housing sector increase prices or decrease prices?
The PM puts the blame on the opposition:
Those opposite presided over 10 years of growth in the power of John Setka in the CFMEU construction branch. Three weeks after I became leader of the Labor party, in 2019, I kicked John Setka out of the Labor party.
Updated
Labor and Greens in Senate spar over Gaza response
Tensions between Labor and the Greens over how to respond to Gaza are continuing into a second sitting week over in Senate question time.
Greens senator David Shoebridge asked the government’s upper house leader and foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, when the government will sanction Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet.
Wong began:
The catastrophic situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world’s worst fears, and we know that Australians and people around the world are distressed and angry about what is occurring, including the ongoing violence and the deaths of so many innocent civilians, and this is unacceptable. As the prime minister said ... it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered, which is the decision that Israel made in March. I would add to that, it is also a breach of decent humanity. It is a breach of decent humanity.
Shoebridge asked Wong a follow-up question about what steps the Australian government has taken to ensure the Pine Gap facility isn’t being used to assist the Israeli military.
Wong responds:
I understand that the Greens are desperate to try and gain domestic political traction from this conflict, and so desperate that they would ... make the assertions that are being made, which are not responsible and are inaccurate. Senator Shoebridge, I think we all understand some of the political tactics, including by the opposition, in relation to this conflict. I think most Australians are appalled by what they see, but also recognise that they don’t want the conflict reproduced here by people making inaccurate statements like the one you just made.
Updated
Albanese says recognising state of Palestine ‘must be more than a gesture’
When will Australia recognise Palestine as a state?
That question comes from independent MP Sophie Scamps, after the prime minister issued some of his strongest language on Israel over the weekend, but said it wasn’t yet time to recognise a Palestinian state.
Albanese says, as Penny Wong did last year, that the recognition of a Palestinian state might come before the “finalisation of the peace process”.
Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children seeking access to water and food, cannot be defended, nor can it be ignored. We have called upon Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law. We have also unequivocally condemned Hamas and said it can play no role whatsoever in the future state of Palestine and hostages must be released immediately …
The timing of a decision to recognise the state of Palestine will be determined by whether that decision advances the realisation of that objective. It must be more than a gesture. It must be something that’s a part of a moving forward. Australia will make that decision as a sovereign state. We obviously are in discussions with other countries as well going forward.
Updated
Clare defends cut to student debt
Remember the tax-free lunch policy debacle?
Months after we heard, in QT after QT about the Coalition’s tax free lunch plan, Jason Clare has brought it back.
In a dixer on Hecs, Clare says:
Mr Speaker, they’re [the Coalition] still attacking the policy to cut student debt by 20% today. A new MP in the chamber this morning called it grossly unfair. And he said: “There is no such thing as a free lunch”…
(New MP Ben Small shouts from the benches “there’s not!”) Clare continues:
We’ve heard that before. That was actually your policy.
Updated
Question to health minister on the cost of seeing a GP
The next question comes from Melissa McIntosh, who asks whether it’s not just your Medicare card that you need to see a GP but your credit card too.
You might remember the PM brought a Medicare card to pretty much every single event he had during the election campaign.
Health minister Mark Butler says the government has been turning the falling bulk-billing rates around, and questions why then the opposition immediately matched the government’s pre-election commitment of $8bn towards bulk-billing.
The manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke, tries to make a point of order, and Milton Dick tells Butler to stay on track and stop talking about opposition policy.
He doesn’t really listen, and says:
What this has done is cleared up whether the support they gave to our policy was some road to Damascus conversion by Peter Dutton and by the now leader of the opposition who’d caused this problem in the first place or whether it was a cynical political device. This question clears that up forever.
Updated
Chris Bowen gets Coldplay kiss cam into Hansard
In a dixer on the government’s energy policy, Chris Bowen takes the opportunity to get the Coldplay couple into Hansard.
Appointing Senator [Matt] Canavan to review net zero is like putting Coldplay in control of kiss cam. It doesn’t necessarily lead to a happy marriage.
Whether that means the memes about that couple are now dead … I’ll leave that up to you.
Updated
David Littleproud queries decision to lift some restrictions on US beef imports
Nationals leader David Littleproud asks the next opposition question to agriculture minister Julie Collins.
The Nationals have called for an independent review into the decision by the agriculture department to lift some restrictions on US beef imports.
Littleproud asks:
[Were] the inspector general of biosecurity’s recommendations that import risk assessments should include the oversight of a scientific advisory panel implemented in the decision to overturn US beef import bans? If not, why not?
Collins says there was a risk based assessment done by the department, and the decision was made “on a scientific basis”.
She also warns the opposition “not to be undermining Australia’s biosecurity”.
The opposition erupts over that, and Milton Dick again tells the opposition benches to “cool it”.
Updated
Treasurer takes question on 4.2% unemployment rate
Back to the opposition, shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien asks the treasurer why unemployment has spiked to its highest level in three years.
Jim Chalmers says unemployment is on average lower than under any other government in the last 50 years.
The unemployment rate for June was 4.2%. Chalmers says:
This is precisely why the people in front of the member for Fairfax are more excited about his promotion than the people behind him. Because he bowls up these absolute dollies. He’s doing his best to make the former shadow treasurer look good.
O’Brien’s not happy with Chalmers’ answer, and interjects … 14 times according to Milton Dick, who tells him “cool it”.
Chalmers ends the answer saying that the government has made progress but isn’t pretending that the work is done.
Updated
Monique Ryan asks if Labor will reverse the Coalition’s Job Ready Graduates scheme
The first question from the crossbench goes to Monique Ryan, who asks whether the government, having introduced legislation to cut Hecs debts, will now also reverse the job ready graduates scheme.
Before he gets into the substantive answer, education minister Jason Clare takes a few swipes at the Liberals.
Can I thank the member for Kooyong for her question. Probably the best member for Kooyong the parliament has ever had.
(A reminder here, the seat used to be held by former treasurer Josh Frydenberg).
That gets a wild round of applause by a group in the public gallery.
Clare continues:
20% is a big cut. It’s not as big as 33%, that’s how much the Australian people cut the number of Liberal MPs in the chamber at the election.
To the substance of the question, Clare says the universities accord report makes recommendations on the job ready graduates scheme, which he says the government is working through.
We’ll keep working through the recommendations in the universities accord report and take advice from the tertiary education commission as well.
Updated
Sussan Ley asks PM if Labor will rule out tax rises
Ah, the old rule-in-rule-out game – it’s one the government has tried to shut down.
Sussan Ley asks the government whether it will rule out raising taxes.
To recap: the question stems from a Treasury department freedom of information response provided to the ABC which accidentally contained a small amount of information that was supposed to be redacted. In it were sub headings suggesting the government would need to raise taxes and curb spending to make the budget more sustainable.
Albanese doesn’t play the rule-out game, and talks about the tax cut top-ups the government legislated at the end of last term.
Ley tries to make a point of order that the PM isn’t being relevant to her question, but Milton Dick says that because of her preamble (which mentioned the Treasury advice) the PM has some leeway.
Albanese ends his answer with an extra swipe to Barnaby Joyce’s private member’s bill to repeal net zero.
Updated
Mark Butler is asked about PBS scripts
The first dixer goes to Mark Butler, as the government moves to legislate its election promise of lowering the price of scripts under the PBS.
So no surprises that that’s where the dixers are starting today.
Butler says 5 million patients will benefit from the change that will see the maximum co-payment for PBS scripts for general patients lowered to $25.
Updated
Question time begins
Sussan Ley kicks off question time and asks about tariffs.
Ley says yesterday trade minister Don Farrell seemed to “invent” a conversation between the PM and Donald Trump about beef – so, she asks, how can the government be trusted to lower tariffs from the US if the trade minister “confuses” a public statement by Trump with a private phone call?
Anthony Albanese takes the call, and says that phone call with Donald Trump in May resulted in Trump calling the PM “very good” and “a friend”.
He then rattles off some familiar lines about tariffs being “economic self-harm” for the US and that the government will continue to push for zero tariffs.
Americans are still importing goods from the global community. They’re just paying more for them, which is why I argued that tariffs are an act of economic self-harm and which is why Australia hasn’t reciprocated with tariffs.
Updated
Tributes to late Pope Francis
Opposition leader Sussan Ley also speaks on the death of Pope Francis.
She says Pope Francis was a “beacon of humility, compassion and unwavering faith.”
Described by some as a pope of the streets, his life was devoted to serving others, offering hope to the marginalised.
I’m not a Catholic but I found inspiration in the way Pope Francis lived out his faith with humility, strength and compassion.
Updated
Condolence motions in parliament
It’s nearly question time, but before we get into the cross party needling, the parliament will make some condolence motions.
The prime minister speaks first, marking the passing earlier this year of Pope Francis, on 21 April.
Anthony Albanese says Pope Francis lived a life of “service, compassion and leadership”.
In the spirit of his namesake, he shaped his papacy as a force to champion to poor, as a force of hope and as a light to guide us through the dark. Like St Francis, the late pope sought to fashion a gentler, kinder and more loving world.
The speaker, Milton Dick, also marked the deaths of Dr Charles Race Thorson Mathews, a former Labor MP, and Dr Alan Eggleston, a former Liberal senator for WA.
Updated
Ed Husic: ‘The time for Australia to recognise the state of Palestine is right now’
Ed Husic has penned an op-ed for Guardian Australia today, calling for the country to recognise the state of Palestine.
In it he says:
So many nations have lost patience and are unable to stay silent or inert, as the Netanyahu government continually demonstrates its refusal to conduct its pursuit of Hamas in a way that respects the life of innocent civilians, something demanded by international humanitarian law.
Our prime minister’s strong statement this week and his recognition over the weekend that “Quite clearly it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered, which was a decision that Israel made in March”, paves the way for further action.
This is the moment for our nation to take a similar stand.
You can read the full piece here:
Updated
Liberal senator proposes Help student debt inflation guarantee
Sarah Henderson is proposing an amendment to Labor’s student debt discount bill with a Higher Education Loan Program – or Help – loan inflation guarantee.
The Liberal Victorian senator said people who take out a Help loan “must not pay the price for Labor’s failure to control inflation” and “should not be blindsided by high indexation driven by high inflation”.
In a statement, the senator said:
That is why I am proposing that Help indexation should be the lesser of the consumer price index or 3 per cent, delivering some three million Australians immediate cost of living relief and much needed certainty.
In contrast to Labor’s one-off 20 per cent discount which applies to current debtors only, capping Help loans to 3 per cent, the upper band of the RBA’s inflation target, would be an ongoing measure delivering equity and certainty to all students into the future.
She said student loans increased by 3.2 per cent on 1 June and that the Coalition “needs to present credible policy alternatives to win back the trust and faith of Australians”.
“It is disappointing a Help loan inflation guarantee was left on the cutting room floor in the lead-up to the last election”, she said.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce introduces net zero repeal bill
As we brought you earlier, Barnaby Joyce introduced legislation into the House this morning to repeal net zero.
It’s a private member’s bill and there’s no chance it would ever get up (given there isn’t consensus within the Coalition party room to abandon the policy) but it’s certainly stirring up a bit of controversy.
Here’s a video of Joyce introducing that bill:
Updated
Nicolette Boele on government obstacles to climate action
Returning to Nicolette Boele’s maiden speech, the new Bradfield MP says she will work to get the parliament to act on climate change.
After years working in the private sector to grow and increase investment in renewable energy, Boele says she was met with barriers from the government, which is why she decided to enter parliament:
I came to understand the potential for business to do good, but my efforts to shift the dial to speed up the progress of climate action through business met obstacle after obstacle. But not from business, not from customers and not from NGOs, from government.
Government protecting special interest from a grand ideological war that has set Australia behind decade after long infuriating decade.
At the end of her speech she receives a big applause and cheers from the House, from the other teal independents, but also from Labor’s ranks. She’s congratulated by several frontbenchers including Tony Burke and Catherine King.
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Pro-Palestine group offers to delay Harbour Bridge rally by a week after premier says it’s too soon for government to support
The NSW premier has responded to plans for the weekly pro-Palestine protest to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, saying the government can’t support a protest of this scale with one week’s notice.
Chris Minns said in a statement:
The bridge is one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure in our city –used every day by thousands of people. Unplanned disruption risks not only significant inconvenience but real public safety concerns.
We cannot allow Sydney to descend into chaos.
NSW police are in discussions with organisers about other routes they can take and are working to ensure community safety is upheld.
Josh Lees, a spokesperson for the Palestine Action Group which is organising the rally, said if the government needs more notice in order to support the rally, then the group could organise the march a week later. Lees said:
The horrific suffering in Gaza is urgent and unprecedented, demanding an unprecedented response from the international community. That is why we have called for an urgent March for Humanity, to save Gaza, across the Sydney Harbour Bridge this Sunday.
In 2023, the Harbour Bridge was closed for several hours to shoot a scene for a Ryan Gosling film. It is regularly closed at short notice for maintenance or emergencies. It was closed for the historic 2000 march for reconciliation and the 2023 World Pride march. It can be temporarily closed to help stop a genocide.
If the premier says we need more time to plan such an event, then would he agree to support the March for Humanity a week later?
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Greens leader says Australia is ‘behind the pack’ on Palestinian recognition
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, has criticised the Albanese government for being “behind the pack” on recognising Palestinian statehood after the prime minister poured cold water on the idea following France’s announcement last week.
At a press conference this morning, Waters was asked to respond to Anthony Albanese’s comments yesterday, which raised fears premature recognition of Palestine could entrench Hamas in Gaza.
Waters responded:
I think that’s nonsense, and what is clear is that 2 million people are starving, and that the Australian government needs to do everything it can to put the pressure on the Netanyahu government, including sanction that government, to ensure that the borders can be opened and aid [can] flow. Now, it’s in the Labor party platform to recognise the state of Palestine. So whether the prime minister wants to do that or not, well, clearly that’s something that they’ve said they want to do and should do …
Australia is not leading the way here and in fact we are behind the pack. And I think Australians want to know that our government is doing everything it can to help in this situation.
The Greens senator David Shoebridge said self determination for Palestinian and Israeli people should be the Australian government’s “absolute focus” to end the violence.
“This is not the moment to have an abstract discussion about statehood. This is a moment to say, practically, what is everything Australia can do now to end the genocide, and that’s where we’d like the prime minister’s attention.”
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Ed Husic says Australia has ‘strong opportunity’ to recognise Palestinian state
Ed Husic, a Labor backbencher and Muslim MP, says there’s a “strong opportunity” for Australia to recognise a Palestinian state.
Husic tells Sky News that “things have changed” over the last 20 months, since the 7 October attacks, and that “what we’ve seen every month seems to be more horrific than the last.”
The French have been able to make that decision [to recognise a Palestinian state] without necessarily saying these conditions need to be met before we do this. They’re saying recognise and do these things, which include the demilitarisation of the Hamas.
I believe this is a strong opportunity for us … we should be making that case and saying we are prepared to recognise [Palestine] now.
One of the conditions French president Emmanuel Macron has placed, says Husic, is that all hostages held by Hamas must be released immediately.
Asked about the criticism from the opposition that the government hasn’t placed enough responsibility of the conflict on Hamas, Husic calls it “tosh”.
The prime minister, the foreign minister, members across government have repeatedly said what [happened] on 7 October was completely horrendous, brutal. They should be held to account for that. The hostages should be released.
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Bradfield independent Nicolette Boele makes first speech in parliament
Nicolette Boele, who sensationally beat Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian by just 26 votes in the seat of Bradfield, is giving her maiden speech to parliament, and says Australia is moving towards a decentralised and more people-centred rather than party-centred democracy.
She says there’s “widespread conviction” that politicians are “incapable of dealing with systemic long-standing issues” such as regulating online media platforms, climate change, gambling and housing affordability.
Boele says that unlike previous reform to gun laws, or the introduction of medicare, the parliament isn’t ambitious enough.
Today the parliament does not make these courageous decisions, instead difficult decisions are delayed until the failure to act ushers in disastrous consequences, at which point a royal commission is called for, a referendum sought or a plebiscite scheduled. Or important decisions are made in the dark, strategically so as to achieve little media attention, or sneakily where action on one thing is mischaracterised as action on another.
Having been led by five male Liberal MPs for more than 70 years, Boele says her electorate, like the broader Australian community, is evolving and “so must our parliament evolve”.
Kapterian has lodged a petition with the high court to overturn the result, raising doubts about more than 150 ballots.
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Young Australians have much higher student debt than generations before them, data shows
The government is about to cut student debt by 20% across the board – so how much debt do young Australians have, and how much has it changed?
Labor’s student debt relief bill is likely to pass with bipartisan support and will slash the Hecs/Help debt for about 3 million graduates by an average of $5,500, according to the government.
Data from the tax office shows that the average Hecs/Help debt held by younger Australians increased by a third between 2009 and 2024, even with inflation taken into account. This coincides with a consistent increase in the time it will take to pay off the debt – now almost a decade.
Read more:
Penny Wong shares photos aboard the UK’s largest naval vessel
Foreign minister Penny Wong just shared photos aboard the HMS Prince of Wales, the UK’s largest naval vessel, which has been in Australian waters as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre, the largest exercise conducted in the Australia. Wong wrote on X:
Australia and the UK are working together to ensure a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific …
Talisman Sabre 2025 is Australia’s largest and most sophisticated bilateral military exercise, bringing together over 40,000 personnel from 19 nations. Our capability and coordination highlights the strength of our defence partnerships and our work to keep Australians safe.
Australia and the UK are working together to ensure a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) July 28, 2025
It was an honour to join @RichardMarlesMP, @davidlammy and @johnhealey_MP to meet the servicemen and women aboard HMS Prince of Wales to participating in Exercise Talisman Sabre. pic.twitter.com/4fJ9l1bRzF
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Weekly Sydney pro-Palestine protest to march across the Harbour Bridge
The weekly pro-Palestine rally is planning to march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge this Sunday and to the US consulate, veering from its usual course through the CBD.
In a post to social media, the rally’s organisers, the Palestine Action Group, said:
At least 127 people, including 85 children, have so far died from starvation in Gaza, along with over a thousand who have been shot and killed while queueing for aid in recent weeks.
This is a genocide. Even if, under global pressure, Israel temporarily allows some food into Gaza, it will not mean the end of Israel’s goal of ethnically cleansing the strip, called by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu “the Trump Plan”.
This extraordinary situation has led the Palestine Action Group to call for a March for Humanity over the Sydney Harbour Bridge next Sunday, 3 August, to save Gaza.
The group has submitted what is known as a “form one” to police but it is yet to be accepted.
The form is a notification to hold a public assembly that, if accepted by police, would protect attendees from being potentially charged under anti-protest laws.
The group called on the police and the government to facilitate the march. They wrote:
In 2023 the Harbour Bridge was closed for a special march to mark World Pride, which PM Anthony Albanese participated in. That same year saw the Bridge closed for several hours to shoot a scene for a Ryan Gosling film. It can certainly be closed to stop a genocide.
Private members’ bills to tackle AI deepfakes and child abuse content to be put forward today
There are a few private members’ bills being introduced into the house this morning.
Following Joyce’s repeal net zero bill, independent MP Kate Chaney is introducing her bill to stop AI technology that trains or facilitates the production of child sexual abuse material.
You can read a bit more about that bill here.
Following Chaney, fellow independent Zali Steggall is introducing a truth in political advertising bill that will tackle “misleading or deceptive political advertising, including the growing risks posed by AI content and deepfakes.”
The government introduced its own legislation on misinformation and disinformation in political advertising near the end of the last term, but didn’t bring forward a vote on it.
Steggall is introducing a bill that is the same as the government’s, but is also calling on Labor to reintroduce its own bill. Over in the Senate, David Pocock will give notice to introduce the same bill in the upper house.
Steggall says:
We know there is a huge problem, the question is, is there a political will to fix it?
There is no doubt there is a consensus for this. We know deepfake videos are incredibly damaging and they spread like wildfire, unless guard rails are put in place, we are going to see a continual erosion of trust in politics and the outcomes of elections.
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Barnaby Joyce introduces net zero repeal bill to parliament
Parliament has begun sitting for the week, and Barnaby Joyce is introducing his net zero bill to the House of Representatives.
Joyce says:
Net zero is going to have absolutely no effect on the climate whatsoever.
He says China, India, the US, parts of south-east Asia and Africa aren’t abiding by the policy, and says it’s making households in Australia poorer.
Sitting on the benches around Joyce are WA Liberal Ben Small and Nationals MPs Michael McCormack, David Batt, Llew O’Brien, Colin Boyce and Jamie Chaffey.
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Palestinian former aid worker enters day 6 of hunger strike outside Parliament House
Nahed Elrayes, a Palestinian writer and former development manager at Unrwa USA has been outside Parliament House in Canberra, participating in a hunger strike and calling for an arms embargo on Israel.
Elrayes began the strike six days ago, restricted to just water and vitamins. He now says he’s following the diet of his relatives and friends in Gaza, only eating one piece of flatbread, or small rice bowl, 3 tablespoons of legumes, and saltwater. He says under the solidarity fast he won’t consume more than 400 calories a day.
On social media he writes, “the only words Australians will accept are ‘arms embargo’ – and we want to hear them now”.
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‘We may get to the same position’: Nationals leader on Joyce’s anti-net zero bill
David Littleproud says he “respects” Barnaby Joyce’s decision not to wait for the Coalition’s review of net zero policy by introducing his anti-net zero bill.
Asked whether Joyce is undermining the review process, Littleproud tells Sky News it’s a “determination for Barnaby”, and doesn’t believe it makes the policy process more difficult.
Barnaby didn’t want to wait, I respect that. He didn’t want to wait for the rest of the party room. But we may get to the same position, I don’t want to pre-empt it.
So what about the future of the Coalition if the Nationals decide to scrap net zero and the Liberals want to keep the policy? Moderate Liberals have voiced concerns that abandoning net zero would destroy the Liberals’ credibility with mainstream voters.
Littleproud says the Nationals’ position can feed into the broader Coalition process on energy.
The political reality is we have to win our seats. We won them all at the last election, but we can’t turn our back on, on what’s been happening in our communities …
If we have an informed policy decision, we can then, as we did with the voice [referendum], be able to say and feed into the process the Liberal party and the Coalition wants to run more broadly.
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Coalition’s energy priority is gas, says Liberal leading energy review
Dan Tehan says the group reviewing the Coalition’s energy policy had a “very good discussion” at their first meeting last week, and will focus on gas policy.
Tehan was tasked by leader Sussan Ley to review all of the Coalition’s energy policies, to help determine the way forward. On all policies, including net zero, the party is going back to the drawing table.
Asked on Sky News, whether Barnaby Joyce’s bill to end net zero is making his job more difficult, Tehan says:
I’ve always had difficult jobs when it’s come to my role, whether it be in shadow ministry or in ministry. And I love the challenge of those of that job. I look forward to seeing what Barnaby has to say in his bill. Like everyone who’s a member of the coalition, he has a right to express those views.
Tehan was also asked about barbs traded last week between him and Joyce, where Tehan referred to Joyce and McCormack as “steers fighting”. That prompted a swipe from Joyce who said, “The people say they’re from the country, get it right. Steers don’t fight”.
Tehan said jokingly:
I think there might have been some surgical precision to the use of my language, but we had a joke about that. And we’ll, we’ll, we’ll continue to smile about it and and have a laugh.
Joyce says ‘billionaires’ benefiting from net zero policies
Barnaby Joyce is outside parliament speaking on his bill to reverse net zero by 2050.
With him are Nationals MPs Matt Canavan, Michael McCormack and Colin Boyce – all of whom have publicly called to end the policy.
Also with Joyce is Liberal MP Garth Hamilton, a conservative backbencher from Queensland who’s becoming increasingly outspoken.
Joyce says it’s “billionaires” who are benefiting from programs like the capacity investment scheme, designed to boost major renewable energy projects.
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Coalition should consider amendment to cap Hecs indexation, Jane Hume says
Former Liberal frontbencher Jane Hume says an idea from her colleague Sarah Henderson to cap Hecs indexation at 3% has “merit” and should be considered by the party room.
Hume and Henderson were both booted from the frontbench after the 3 May election.
The Coalition has said Labor’s Hecs bill, to cut 20% of debts and increase the income threshold to begin paying the debt back, will pass through parliament.
Henderson announced her amendment, to cap indexation, in the Australian newspaper this morning.
Asked on Sky News whether the policy should have been canvassed first internally, rather than aired to the media, Hume said it shouldn’t be a “surprise” that backbenchers bring policy like this forward.
What Sarah’s proposing is that, essentially, if governments can’t control inflation, well, students shouldn’t have to pay the price that there is a cap on what it is that they should have to pay. I think that’s something that has merit and should be considered. So I look forward to Sarah taking that to our party room for further discussion.
Dan Tehan, in a separate interview on Sky, said Ley has set up internal processes to include backbenchers in policy creation.
When [anyone’s] got their policy ideas, they should be able to bring them forward, and that’s what that’s what we’re seeing. Then we’ve got to have the internal debate. We resolve our way forward, and then in unity, we put that case to the Australian public.
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Kate Chaney says 'the time may well be right' for Israel sanctions
Independent MP Kate Chaney says recognition of a Palestinian state will happen in “good time” but now could be the right time for sanctions against Israel.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast a bit earlier, Chaney said the immediate priority is to stop children from starving, and getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.
She adds, Hamas should have “no role” in establishing a Palestinian state.
I think the immediate priority is stopping children from starving and making sure they’re not being shot when people are trying to access food. So my focus really is on how we get the humanitarian aid organisations in there, doing what they do best, and making sure that starvation is not being used as a tool of war. Recognition will happen in good time …
Given it looks very likely that Israel is breaching international law, and it’s really important that Australia plays its part in upholding international law, and the time may well be right for sanctions at this point.
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Taiwan won’t join Exercise Talisman Sabre, says Labor MP
Jumping back to Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek on Sunrise this morning, on a panel with Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, Plibersek says the government isn’t considering allowing Taiwan to join a major military exercise.
Exercise Talisman Sabre is the largest exercise conducted in Australia, coordinated between Australia and the US with 19 nations involved, and about 40,000 personnel.
Taiwan has made a request to join the exercise, but Plibersek says it’s not being considered.
Australia really values our unofficial relationship with Taiwan. We have got a lot of exchange on trade and investment and on regional security and stability. We think the best way to maintain security and stability in region is for no unilateral changes for the status of relations between China and Taiwan. And we’re not currently considering involvement of Taiwan in exercise Talisman Sabre.
Joyce agrees Taiwan shouldn’t be included in the exercise, and says “I think you could be courting danger if you bring in Taiwan.”
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Dan Tehan claims Hamas responsible for IDF soldiers shooting Palestinians at Gaza food checkpoints
Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan says Hamas has been taking aid coming into Gaza, telling ABC RN Breakfast, that Hamas is the “sole responsible actor” for the situation in the region.
The Coalition has said in recent days that the delay in humanitarian aid entering Gaza is “unacceptable”, and put the blame on Hamas.
Tehan says the delays in humanitarian aid has been to ensure the aid doesn’t go to Hamas.
The Israelis were providing aid up until that point, but it was all going to Hamas. It was that aid was not being distributed to the Palestinian people. So the Israelis said, why are we providing aid when Hamas is just weaponising that aid.
(A leaked US assessment seen by Reuters found no evidence Hamas was looting humanitarian supplies at scale.)
Host Sally Sara asks Tehan about the shooting of civilians at aid stations that are run by Israel, not Hamas. Tehan says:
It boils down to, what are the actual facts on the ground? How did they lose their lives? What was, what was the impact? What was the involvement of Hamas in those incidents? Once again, while Hamas is there as an internationally listed terrorist organisation, we’re sadly going to see these types of outcomes.
Sara pushes back, saying that Israel has admitted its forces fired in some of those incidents. Tehan replies:
Israel have admitted that, but they’ve also admitted the reasons for that was because they were worried and concerned about the involvement of Hamas in those incidents. And obviously the best solution would be if we can rid Gaza of Hamas.
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Albanese says he picked five entries in Australian Hottest 100
Anthony Albanese says five of his 10 votes for the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian songs made it into the countdown, but says he should have put the winner, INXS’s Never Tear Us Apart, on his list.
Joining Triple J Breakfast, the PM (or DJ Albo as he’s also been known), who has been a long follower of Australian music, reminisces on the gigs of his early 20s and 30s at iconic Sydney pubs.
But the live music scene has changed drastically in the decades since, and we’ve seen the number of live music festivals diminish across the country.
Albanese touts the government’s Revive Live policy to help turn this around, and the election promise to extend it:
Anything that we can do which to promote Australian art across the board, is something that I know [arts minister] Tony Burke is really passionate about.
Asked at the end of the interview whether he’ll front up to Triple J’s current affairs program, Hack, which he hasn’t been on for a year, he says he’s “always happy to have a chat” and has been “pretty accountable” to the media and to the ABC.
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Australia ‘ready to move’ on recognising Palestinian state, Bob Carr says
Former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr has welcomed Anthony Albanese and the government’s stronger statements on Gaza, but says Australia needs to go further, and should recognise a Palestinian state.
Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast, Carr said the international community could work with Palestine now to establish it as a state and ensure it is not militarised, and said it was “unfortunate” Australia was waiting for the UK to move first, rather than following the France’s initiative.
This is the first time in the eyes of the world that a modern country has used mass starvation against the civilian population as a weapon of war.
We will insist that the Palestinian state that comes into being will be one that opts to be a non-militarised state, that is not to have armed forces, that is a serious security guarantee that can be delivered in negotiations, and the Palestinians have already offered to put on the table.
Carr describes the horrific scenes the world has seen in recent days, of babies “with their vertebrae showing through their starved skin”, and says Israel’s military “controls all the levers”.
The point is that the IDF controls all the levers. It controls food access, and it’s opted to use its power, even, on occasions, to shoot the people who are distributing the food.
Carr spoke out on Friday to urge the government to impose sanctions on the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu:
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Government won’t be ‘bullied’ by YouTube on social media ban, Plibersek says
Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek says Labor will “do whatever we have to” to make sure Australian children are safe, as the government considers the parameters of a social media ban for under 16s.
Google has threatened legal action if YouTube is included in the social media ban.
It’s currently not included, but the eSafety commissioner has advised the government to include it.
Plibersek told Sunrise this morning the government will do what’s in the “best interests” of children.
A lot of kids, they’re really genuinely harmed by what they’re being exposed to on social media …
We’re not going to be bullied out of taking action by any social media giant.
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Kate Chaney to introduce bill banning AI child abuse apps
Independent MP Kate Chaney will introduce a bill today to stop AI technology that trains or facilitates the production of child sexual abuse material.
The bill would make it an offence to download technology for creating child abuse material and an offence to collect, scrape or distribute data with the intention to train or create technology for creating child abuse.
Chaney is on ABC News Breakfast and says while its important to regulate AI more broadly (as the government has said it’s looking at), she believes the parliament should also respond to specific gaps where they emerge.
We absolutely do need to take an holistic approach to regulating AI, but we also need to be able to nimbly respond to risks as they emerge. And this is a clear gap in our criminal code …
Currently, possession of these images is illegal, but it’s not illegal to possess these particular types of AI tools that are designed for the sole purpose of creating child sexual abuse material. So, it means that perpetrators can generate the material using images of real children, delete the images, and then recreate them whenever they want and avoid detection.
Chaney says she’s met with the attorney general’s office but the challenge is that there are a lot of “reports and consultations” being done while the technology rapidly evolves.
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PBS ‘not a bargaining chip’ amid US tariff tensions, assistant minister says
The government has said the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is “not a bargaining chip” as it introduced legislation to fulfil its election promise of making PBS prescription medicines cheaper.
Last week the government announced some regulations would be lifted to allow more beef from the US to be imported to Australia, something the Trump administration had been publicly calling for.
Labor said biosecurity laws wouldn’t be weakened in the process, and said there was no coincidence in the timing of the ten year review with the US administration’s calls.
The US pharmaceutical lobby has been calling for the Trump administration to also slap tariffs on the PBS.
The assistant minister for mental health, Emma McBride, told ABC News Breakfast this morning the government’s position that the PBS isn’t on the negotiating table hasn’t changed.
The PBS is not up for negotiation, it is not a bargaining chip. Labor introduced the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to make sure that essential medicines were available to all Australians.
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Labor to introduce cheaper PBS medicine legislation to parliament this week
The government will progress another of its election commitments this week, introducing legislation into parliament for cheaper medicines on the PBS.
Fulfilling a key campaign pledge, the new legislation will mean prescription on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme will be capped at $25 from January.
The government has spruiked this as a key cost-of-living measure, building on a similar measure introduced in 2023. The change will mean a 20% cut in the maximum cost of medications on the PBS, which Labor says will save $200m per year.
Anthony Albanese said:
The size of your bank balance shouldn’t determine the quality of your healthcare. My Government will continue to deliver cost of living relief for all Australians.
The health minister, Mark Butler, added:
Cheaper medicines are good for the hip pocket and good for your health.
For general patients medicines haven’t been this cheap since 2004.
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MPs Georgie Purcell and Josh Burns announce pregnancy
Victorian upper house MP Georgie Purcell has announced she is expecting a baby girl in early 2026 with her partner, federal Labor MP Josh Burns.
Purcell, an MLC for the Animal Justice party representing the northern Victorian region, made the announcement on social media on Sunday night and said she will still be contesting the 2026 state election. She wrote:
I’ll be working right up until the end of the parliamentary year, and I’ll return to sitting weeks as usual in February, with every intention to campaign and contest the 2026 election. I am more committed to animals, people and the planet than ever before, and this is just one more path I am choosing. And I am ready to call out any suggestion otherwise. Not just for me, but for everybody else who may face conscious or unconscious bias when choosing to have a career and a family.
She also shared that due to her autoimmune condition, she is considered a high-risk pregnancy and will require weekly hospital visits.
Purcell said while “two members from two different parliaments having a baby is a bit unique, and there is bound to be interest in it” they have requested respect and privacy. She wrote:
While we are indeed in public life, pregnancy is an incredibly personal experience, so I ask that we’re granted respect and privacy just like anybody else (but I do look forward to sharing the parts with you that we are willing to share).
Burns also posted on social media:
Georgie and I are so excited to share with you that we’re expecting a baby girl in the very first few days of 2026. Our little baby already has the most excited and loving big sister in Tia. And she’ll have a home full of animals, love, and fun.
Next year, my team and I will keep working hard for the community we love, but I also plan on being a present and involved dad every step of the way.
The couple made their official public debut at Canberra’s 2024 Midwinter Ball. You can read more about them in this profile on Purcell from January:
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Good morning
Krishani Dhanji here with you, and we are locked in for another busy sitting week here in Canberra.
Independent MP Kate Chaney will introduce a new bill today targeting AI tools that create or facilitate the production of child sexual abuse material.
It’s not too often you get really happy news around parliament, but Victorian MP Georgie Purcell and federal Labor MP Josh Burns are expecting a baby together. Purcell shared the news on her social media – we’ll have more details on that shortly.
And the government’s childcare bill will continue its passage through parliament this week. Guardian Australia has new data showing the depth of reports of abuse in childcare centres – you can read that report here.
