What we learned today, Wednesday 12 August
That’s where we’ll leave our live news coverage for the day.
Before we go, let’s recap the day’s top headlines:
-
The One Nation deputy leader, Barnaby Joyce, has called his party “one of the gayest in Australia”.
-
The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg, has stood by his proposal to lower net migration to 180,000 a year in a wide-ranging speech in which he lamented not stopping the Morrison government’s “madness” – even as colleagues side-stepped supporting the target figure publicly.
-
The Commonwealth Bank has reported a bumper $10.9bn full-year cash profit, up 7%, in its full-year financial results.
-
The Victorian parliament has voted to abolish group voting tickets (GVTs) to elect its upper house.
-
Australia has joined the US and dozens of other nations, including the UK, France, Germany and the Philippines, in calling on all relevant countries to provide advanced notice of ballistic missile launches.
-
Melon-gate continues, with the Coalition demanding an AFP investigation while the Japanese ambassador downplayed the prime minister’s comments on a comedy podcast.
-
Victoria will begin vaccinating about 5,000 little penguins at Phillip Island and St Kilda from next week to protect them against the deadly H5 bird flu, in what is believed to be the world’s largest vaccination program involving wild birds.
-
The teals have brought some of the best merch we’ve seen in parliament, as they try to pressure the government and opposition to go harder on gambling advertising.
-
The prosecution’s case against Naveed Akram for his alleged role as a gunman in the Bondi terror attack now includes 12 additional electronic devices and a report on an explosive device.
Thanks for sticking around, we’ll see you tomorrow!
Updated
SafeWork SA investigates death of 26-year-old man at Adelaide Hills worksite
SafeWork South Australia says it is investigating the death of a 26-year-old man at a worksite at Charleston in the Adelaide Hills.
Police say the man’s body was found at the worksite this morning.
The workplace safety regulator says its inspectors attended the site and are continuing to investigate what led to the man’s death.
Updated
EPBC assessment of giant cuttlefish sought after ‘unprecedented decline’
The Great Southern Reef Foundation – together with leading cephalopod scientists Prof Bronwyn Gillanders and Associate Prof Zoe Doubleday – has written to the environment minister, Murray Watt, requesting he urgently consider a unique population of giant Australian cuttlefish for protection under national environment laws, after an “unprecedented decline”.
The population of giant Australian cuttlefish in South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf “forms the only known mass breeding aggregation of any cuttlefish species anywhere on earth”, the letter said.
This year, the animals largely failed to arrive at their established breeding grounds near Whyalla. An independent July survey recorded only 44 adults and about 440 eggs over 8 hours underwater across the breeding coast, pointing to an unprecedented decline.
While these observations are not directly comparable with the government’s population estimates, the official estimate was 63,374 cuttlefish in 2025 and 81,420 in 2024. The long-term average from 1998 to 2019 was approximately 110,000.
The marine scientists have requested “the shortest practicable assessment timeframe” and support for “immediate research and contingency planning while the assessment proceeds”.
Read more about the cuttlefish here:
Updated
Clare O’Neil condemns Andrew Bragg’s 'crazed' National Press Club speech
The federal housing minister, Clare O’Neil, has criticised shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg’s National Press Club address, saying the speech was “unhinged”.
The speech from Andrew Bragg today was a crazed, almost manic ideological fever dream that ranged from repeated references to communism and the Morrison government’s madness to calling superannuation state-sponsored corruption. It was genuinely unhinged.
A key point of Bragg’s speech suggested reducing the National Construction Code from more than 2,000 pages to 80. O’Neil said she agreed that the housing construction code was “too complex” but added that rewriting it would require a “diligent reform process” involving the sector.
The idea that we will go to an 80-page construction code, what Andrew Bragg is saying, to be clear to Australians, is that we should scrap housing standards.
There is no one serious in this debate who is saying the answer to our housing problems is to scrap housing standards. At the end of the day, Australian consumers pay for that. If we create homes that don’t have heating and cooling, Australians have to pay for that through higher energy prices.
Updated
‘We are one of the gayest parties in Australia’: Barnaby Joyce condemns candidate’s homophobic comments
The One Nation deputy leader, Barnaby Joyce, has criticised a series of homophobic statements made by the party’s WA candidate, Parminder Singh, including the claim that homosexuality is a “mental illness”.
Singh, who was on One Nation WA’s upper house ticket at the 2025 election, made the comments during an interview posted to social media by Perth comedian and content creator Jasky Singh.
Speaking to ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Joyce called the comments offensive, adding that One Nation is “one of the gayest parties in Australia”.
He obviously doesn’t know One Nation because we have, surprisingly, quite a large proportion of gay people. They are all the same: they don’t want to be glorified or vilified; they just want people to accept them. They go on and do a very good job and, to be quite frank, a comment like that is highly offensive in my view.
One Nation’s South Australian MP James Virgo is gay.
Joyce has not confirmed whether Singh will be disendorsed.
Updated
Ask Guardian’s political team a question
Do you have a question you’d like to ask Guardian Australia’s team of political reporters in Canberra this week?
The Australian Politics podcast is recording an “Ask me anything” episode with Tom McIlroy, Krishani Dhanji, Josh Butler and Sarah Basford-Canales. We’d love readers to send through questions for us, so please email us at australianpolitics@theguardian.com.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Updated
Lidia Thorpe on Victorian government bill that scraps open air rights
Senator Lidia Thorpe has accused the Victorian Labor government of using its historic treaty with First Nations people as a “photo opportunity”, as it pushes ahead with a controversial bill that would scrap the requirement to give prisoners at least one hour of open air daily.
Gellung Warl, Victoria’s First Peoples’ representative body, has for the first time exercised its powers under the Statewide Treaty Act to call on the government to withdraw the corrections amendment bill 2026, which is expected to pass this week.
The bill would give authorities the ability to deny prisoners their daily hour of outdoor time “subject to operational considerations” – a move the Victorian government itself has acknowledged is incompatible with the state’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities and partly incompatible with its treaty with First Nations People.
In a statement to Guardian Australia, Thorpe said the new premier, Ben Carroll, should show he’s committed to a real partnership with First Peoples by withdrawing the bill. She said:
Labor celebrated Treaty, took their selfies and filled their socials with how historic it was. But Treaty means nothing if the Government ignores First Peoples when they exercise the powers that Treaty gives them.
We saw the same bad faith when they signed Treaty and announced their cruel “adult crime, adult time” laws in the same week, despite knowing the disproportionate harm this would cause to our children. They also admitted those laws are incompatible with the Victorian Human Rights Charter.
For this Labor government, Treaty is a photo opportunity. For our people, it is about peace, justice and a genuine change in the relationship.
Premier Allan took a bad faith approach to Treaty. The new Premier has an opportunity to reset that and show that he is committed to real partnership with First Peoples. That should mean withdrawing this bill and stopping the harm it will cause to our people, at least until he has worked through it with Gellung Warl in good faith.
More here:
Updated
Icac hears evidence Liberal upper house MP helped Reformers wanting to avoid inquiry
The NSW Icac has heard evidence that NSW upper house Liberal frontbencher Chris Rath helped members of the Reformers who wanted to avoid summons to appear before a parliamentary inquiry in 2023 that preceded Icac’s probe.
Jeremy Greenwood has been read a message he sent to Jean-Claude Perrottet, in which he wrote: “We need to know when the summons is being issued. Can Chris find out?” He says he assumes this refers to Rath and admits he was asking Jean-Claude Perrottet to find out details from a sitting member of parliament to avoid service of summons.
He says Rath later sent him a photo a committee paper with his old address that said process servers had attempted to service him a summons there. He is read a message from Jean-Claude Perrottet advising of a committee meeting on serving summons. “Rath will tell us result after,” Jean-Claude Perrottet wrote.
The opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, has declined to make a decision about Rath’s future on her frontbench until after Icac’s hearings conclude. Rath has been referred to the parliamentary privileges committee over the incident.
In a statement after a Sydney Morning Herald report about the assistance he had provided to members of the Reformers, Rath, who later recused himself from the inquiry committee, said he was “apologetic” for the incident: He said:
This inquiry commenced in the highly politically charged context of an election campaign, and at the time I didn’t comprehend the gravity of the allegations … I am not under investigation by Icac, nor have I been called as a witness to the inquiry or asked to provide any evidence.
Updated
Melbourne Royal Show poultry competition cancelled due to H5 bird flu
Organisers for the Melbourne Royal Show have cancelled the poultry competition this year, as a precautionary step given uncertainty about the spread of H5 bird flu.
The show’s executive general manager, Hannah von Bibra, said:
Following consultation with Agriculture Victoria and the Chief Veterinary Officer team, Melbourne Royal is taking this precautionary step to protect the health and wellbeing of the Victorian poultry community.
Whilst there are currently no detections of H5N1 in Australian poultry, the situation is not predictable and, as such, we want to give our community as much certainty as possible.
The Melbourne Royal Show is planned for 24 September to 4 October.
The decision followed an announcement last week that the Royal Adelaide Show, scheduled for September, would cancel all of its bird shows and exhibits.
Icac hears witness used security guard to evade 'invalid' parliamentary summons and paid for Reformer’s Fiji trip
Returning to the Icac’s Operation Rosny, questions have returned to a NSW parliamentary inquiry into allegations of branch stacking that preceded Icac’s probe.
Witness Jeremy Greenwood has admitted he evaded a summons to appear before the inquiry in 2023, saying he believed the summons was “invalid”. He says he used a private security guard who was stationed outside his home for two or three days, after speaking to Sharangan Maheswaran, also named in Icac’s allegations, then a lawyer to fugitive property developer Jean Nassif.
Icac is investigating the allegation whether between 2020 and 2023 Nassif made prohibited donations to Liberal figures including Greenwood in exchange for outcomes he had sought for developer Toplace. Greenwood, who initially said he had requested Toplace pay for the security guard, said that Maheswaran had offered the security guard’s services.
Greenwood has also admitted to paying for Reformer Jean-Claude Perrottet to travel to Fiji during the inquiry to avoid appearing, giving him his credit card details to pay for his flight. He also provided him with three separate loans totalling $25,000 invoiced through his lobbying firm JPG Advisory. He says he suggested to Maheswaran “You know your boss is the cause of this, so you can cover it”.
Counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer SC, asks:
By your boss, you meant Jean Nassif could pick up the tab for what you were paying for the premier’s brother, John Claude Perrottet, to stay in Fiji to avoid summons to appear at a parliamentary inquiry?
Greenwood accepts this, saying Jean-Claude Perrottet had not yet paid for the cost of the trip. He says he cannot recall if the cost of the trip was passed on to Toplace “but I suggested [it] to Sharangan at the time”.
Updated
Thanks for following along on the blog today! I’ll leave you with Achol Arok and see you here bright and early tomorrow.
Updated
Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
-
The Coalition gave us a mixed bag of questions today, including three on melon-gate, and others on health insurance premiums and tax reforms, but it was again a somewhat lowkey affair – no big drama and no cutting zingers.
-
The prime minister repeatedly refused to apologise over melon-gate and batted off questions over whether his office or department leaked a memo on the issue from the Japanese government.
-
The health minister, Mark Butler, accused the opposition of parroting modelling by the insurance lobby over a question on how many Australians would be affected by Labor cutting premium rebates for over 65s.
-
Milton Dick made a few of us laugh by saying he owns up to his mistakes, after giving the crossbench a question prematurely.
-
And Anthony Albanese said there’s been no influence over the Labor’s gambling policy by the industry, after independent Andrew Wilkie wrote to the anti-corruption watchdog claiming the government “improperly influenced” by wagering lobby.
Updated
Japanese embassy downplays Albanese melon comments
Japan’s ambassador to Australia has downplayed Anthony Albanese’s comments about melons and Sanae Takaichi, saying the Australian government had reassured them that the prime minister “did not make the comments in the way that has been reported”.
While the Coalition is continuing to raise outrage over Albanese’s comments to the Bush Deep podcast, the Japanese government appears to be uninterested in making a diplomatic incident out of the ill-timed comments.
“We are aware of the reporting in the media. We have been informed by the Australian side that Prime Minister Albanese did not make the comments in the way that has been reported,” said a statement from the Japanese ambassador, Kazuhiro Suzuki.
The statement went on to say that Albanese’s hosting of Takaichi in Australia in May was “held in a very relaxed atmosphere, and we believe it helped build a personal trust relationship between the two leaders”.
The melon comments have been canvassed regularly by some media outlets since the podcast first aired in July. But it resurfaced as a political issue after The Australian ran a comment piece on Monday from the former Japanese ambassador Shingo Yamagami, who left his post in 2023, who claimed Albanese had insulted Takaichi.
Updated
And with a final dixer to skills minister Andrew Giles, the PM calls time on QT for another day – just one to go.
Updated
Third time unlucky, Coalition try again on melon-gate
Ted O’Brien has tried once again, and failed, to corner the prime minister and call on him to apologise over melon-gate.
He asks if Albanese will “follow the example of someone else in this House, who has made it very clear, when he made a mistake, he owns up to it” (see below!)
Anthony Albanese once again doesn’t want a bar of it and instead spruiks the relationship between Australia and Japan, saying the two countries have “never been more strategically aligned than we are today”.
Updated
‘When I make mistakes I own up to them’: Milton Dick
Milton Dick has brought (half) the House down after prematurely giving Sophie Scamps the call, and then offering a cheeky joke in admitting his mistake.
Angus Taylor gives him a big nod and a chuckle as Dick says, “I will admit I made the mistake there. And, when I make mistakes I own up to them.”
It gets a big laugh from the Coalition benches.
But because Scamps has already asked her question – about whether the government will implement a sugar tax – Mark Butler answers it.
Butler says the short answer is that there are “no plans” to tax sugary products like they have in the UK.
There’s different views about a tax in the community, there’s overwhelming support for better front of packet labelling. We introduced that scheme back when I was the assistant minister for health, well over a decade and a half ago, on a voluntary basis. With an expectation that uptake by industry would have reached about 70% by this year. It’s about half of that. So the assistant minister for health, working with her colleagues, has indicated that front of pack labelling that tells parents exactly what is in the food they’re putting in the trolley will be made mandatory.
Updated
Albanese says no influence from industry over gambling policy
The independent MP Andrew Wilkie has alleged that “individuals in the Federal Government” had been “improperly influenced by individuals in the private sector” in formulating the gambling legislation, and written to the National Anti-Corruption Commission with his claims.
He asks the prime minister: “Do you agree this constitutes corruption? Do you understand how the donations have compromised your government and its judgment?”
The leader of the House, Tony Burke, takes issue with the question and the Speaker, Milton Dick, rules that he’ll rule out the reflection at the end.
Anthony Albanese says there’s no suggestion of wrongdoing in Wilkie’s letter to the Nacc, and that he doesn’t believe there has been any undue influence on his policy.
He then punts some of the responsibility of dealing with gambling harm over to the states.
I don’t suggest members on any side of this debate have been influenced. Other than by how do we deal with an issue that is complex, it isn’t simple, overwhelmingly, as the member full well knows, and was experienced in the last parliament. The major issue of addiction and problem gambling is poker machines, which are not dealt with by this jurisdiction but are dealt with by state and territory governments.
On political donations, he says they’re a matter for the party organisation and won’t say any more on that.
While he goes over his three-minute time limit, Dan Tehan starts coughing loudly.
Updated
Butler accuses opposition of parroting insurance industry modelling
The decision to reduce private health insurance rebates for over 65s was “difficult” but will pay for more aged care services, says the health minister, Mark Butler, in response to a question from Nationals frontbencher Anne Webster.
Webster says modelling shows older Australians will face a 21% surge in insurance premiums and out of pocket costs increasing by over $800 a year for an individual – which Butler says has been copied and pasted from the industry.
Butler stands by the Treasury modelling that the policy change will mean about 44,000 older Australians will ditch their private health insurance – or about 0.5% of total membership.
The shadow minister parrots modelling from the health insurers. We remember when the insurance industry said that 1.6 million people will leave private health insurance when we means tested the premium under the last government. And indeed, insurance membership went up.
Updated
Dai Le asks for national cabinet meeting to address rent hikes
Independent MP Dai Le says renters in her electorate are facing rent hikes as the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax take effect, and asks if the government will convene a national cabinet meeting and put renters on the agenda.
Anthony Albanese says that, under the budget changes, anyone who currently negatively gears their property will still be able to do so.
I note also that in area an that is growing such as the member for Fowler’s, there will still be negatively geared properties available for new builds.
He then says that everyone in Le’s electorate is benefiting from the top-up tax cuts that came into effect on 1 July and (because it’s politics) takes a stab at the opposition for saying that they wouldn’t support those cuts before the last election.
Updated
Coalition stomped on the immigration accelerator, Albanese says
Nationals MP Alison Penfold is up next and turns the focus to migration, asking how many more migrants will arrive in Australia before Labor builds enough homes for everyone.
Anthony Albanese says the government has drastically reduced the migration intake post-Covid, and quotes former immigration department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi, who said that the Coalition previously “stomped on the accelerator” in order to increase the numbers.
He then quotes the Grattan Institute’s Brendan Coates saying, “the Coalition is wrong to suggest that record migration is the result of policy decisions by the Albanese government”.
By 2031, Australia’s population is expected to be 754,000 smaller than what the former Coalition government was forecasting prior to the pandemic.
Updated
Chalmers tested on backbencher’s email, Labor MP booted
Liberal frontbencher Angie Bell asks the PM next about reports in The Australian newspaper last week that his MP Claire Clutterham wrote to a constituent that she had “difficulty coming to terms” with negative gearing and capital gains tax changes being spread across asset classes other than housing.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, takes the question and says it’s not unusual for local members to “relay to ministers issues which are raised by their constituents” and calls Clutterham an “outstanding local member”.
Before he can continue, Milton Dick makes Chalmers pause because there’s too much noise and, as he’s telling everyone to pipe down, kicks out Labor MP Rob McEwan for ignoring the warning.
Chalmers continues:
The member for Sturt [Clutterham] and every single member of this government has seen in the housing market a distortion which needs to be addressed because, for too long now, the way that our housing market has interacted with our tax system is locking out too many people, particularly young people, from the great Australian dream of owning their own home.
Updated
‘Take it up with Mr Pape’, Albanese says
Changing tack, the Nationals frontbencher Kevin Hogan quotes the prime minister, from yesterday’s question time, who said Australians using generous negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts were benefiting from “taxpayer-funded landlord welfare”.
Anthony Albanese says that, in fact, he wasn’t calling the tax incentives landlord welfare but was quoting the Barefoot Investor, Scott Pape, in an article in the Herald Sun.
The member is either deliberately or accidently misleading the House with that question. Because, yesterday, as he will know, from Hansard, I was quoting Scott Pape, the Barefoot Investor, in the Herald Sun. If the member wants to attack the Herald Sun for its coverage of housing issues, then that is a matter for him.
If you have a problem, I suggest take it up with Mr Pape.
Updated
Independent asks government to commit $200m for critical bird species
Over to the crossbench, independent MP Nicolette Boele asks the agriculture minister, Julie Collins, if the government will commit to spending $200m over two years to build the resilience of critical bird species, which conservation scientists have called for in the face of a growing bird flu threat.
Collins says the government has spent $113m on preparation for and response to the bird flu while the government has a separate program worth $99m for saving native species by improving the habitat of threatened species.
She then pivots to the state and territory governments vaccinating native species against bird flu and says Victoria will begin their vaccination program with penguins on Phillip Island.
Updated
Albanese says Coalition asking police to investigate leak is a ‘stunt’
The shadow foreign affairs minister, Ted O’Brien gets a go next and continues the line of questioning on melon-gate, asking if the prime minister can assure the House that neither his office nor his department leaked official correspondence from the Japanese government to the media.
The opposition has asked the Australian federal police to investigate the leak, which Anthony Albanese calls a “stunt”.
Albanese once again says that the government takes the relationship with Japan seriously (“really?” shouts someone from the opposition benches).
He says:
The AFP is completely independent of the government and they’ll undertake their work, and I’m confident about that.
Updated
Taylor asks PM if he will 'man up' and apologise over melon comments as question time begins
It’s question time!
Angus Taylor has gone straight to melon-gate, asking if Anthony Albanese will “man up” and finally apologise for his comments about the gift he received from the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.
Albanese speaks quietly as he ignores the call for an apology and says the relationship between Australia and Japan has never been more strategically aligned.
My office and my team have spent four years carefully rebuilding our relationships in the region.
He sits down, effectively ending his answer as the manager of opposition business, Dan Tehan, gets up and tries to make a point of order.
Updated
Pacific nations call for transparency over ballistic missile testing
Pacific Island nations have raised alarm over recent ballistic missile testing in the region and called for greater transparency and reassurance.
The foreign affairs ministers of the Pacific Islands forum (PIF) spoke on Friday, before a joint statement issued by 40 countries including Australia, calling for advanced notice of any missile testing.
In a statement the Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the two statements showed the broad consensus for transparency around testing.
These statements show the broad regional and international consensus – including from PIF foreign ministers – about the need for transparency, reassurance and respect for the sovereignty of Pacific countries. That message should be taken seriously.
Australia will continue to work constructively with international partners to shape a peaceful, stable, prosperous region.
Updated
Where has Bragg’s migration target come from?
Andrew Bragg says net overseas migration should be dropped to 180,000 a year over the next four years, but so far no one else in his party has backed that number.
So, he’s asked whether he’s freelancing on the number or it’s actual Liberal policy.
Bragg says it’s not on the official platform, but he wants the debate to move forwards.
We haven’t finalised our complete policy suite as you know. But I thought it was important to move the debate on towards – where the numbers are probably going to hit. That’s the range.
And we backing that up with more to say later. But I think that it is important that we keep the debate moving.
Bragg says the drop in the NOM would come from fewer international students, working holiday visas (eg backpackers) and unskilled workers.
Updated
Andrew Bragg: ‘What’s the point of being in politics if you’re not having any fights?’
Bragg is taking the fight to multinational companies, saying he’s willing to make them pay more tax.
He says the income tax system should be flatter, which would be paid for by lower government spending and tapping tech companies for more cash.
How will he do that? He says the government could lower the company allowance for intellectual property.
I’m not a Communist but [how] can you have companies generate so many billions in revenue and transfer the whole thing to Singapore and Ireland?
It’s an accounting trick effectively. You lower the allowance they can make for intellectual property and make a rule that X amount of your revenue has to be subject to tax here or you reduce their allowance on intellectual property. There’s a number of ways to do tax law to ensure you get more money out of these people.
Bragg says at the end of the day Australia is stronger than Netflix or Facebook and can dictate the terms.
What’s the point of being in politics if you’re not having any fights? I’m always sceptical of someone who doesn’t want to fight anyone. The whole point is to try and get a better system.
Thirty-odd billion dollars and only a handful of tax – I just think it’s not a fair and equitable arrangement.
Updated
Bragg pushes for a drastically lower top tax bracket
Andrew Bragg’s really going out on a limb here, spruiking ideas that go way further than his party’s policy platform.
He says the top tax bracket – which currently sits at 47% – should be reduced to have a three in front of it.
Top tax brackets are too high and should have a three in front of them, just as they are for small businesses.
We need to get to a flatter tax system for all people and all businesses, otherwise we can forget about getting the next Afterpay or Canva here in Australia.
Moving to his promise to cut the national construction code, he says:
The house won’t be gold-plated but it won’t fall down.
Somehow it feels like the minimum standard of a new house shouldn’t just be … not falling down.
Updated
‘I wish I’d done more to stop the madness’: Bragg addresses press club
The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg, says it’s fair enough that people want to send a message that the major parties haven’t been good enough, and that it’s a hard ask to get them to vote for a party that’s “buggered” it up.
Before he gets to the policy, Bragg offers a few pretty frank observations of politics and the governing of both major parties.
He likens the Labor party’s national conference (which saw no substantial debate on the floor) to North Korea and accuses the government of contributing “to our malaise by not being prepared to develop enough alternative policy and to wear political risk”.
Australian politics is now fragmented. I understand that people are over the two-party system and it’s a tough ask to say to Australians ‘we buggered it up but please vote for us again’. I do understand how hard that is. As someone who was a backbencher in the [Scott] Morrison government, I wish I’d done more to stop the madness.
The madness started when Canberra gave up on the budget. We consume today’s debt, which is tomorrow’s taxes.
So what does Bragg believe the Coalition should focus on instead? He calls for his party to occupy the “radical centre”.
We do need more and I call this the economic revolution. It’s a call to the renewal of liberalism. We need to be the radical centre.
Small businesses, salary earners and ambitious families and individuals should be our focus.
Updated
Prosecution’s case against the alleged Bondi terror attacker expands
The prosecution’s case against Naveed Akram for his alleged role as a gunman in the Bondi terror attack now includes 12 additional electronic devices and a report on an explosive device.
Commonwealth prosecutor Danielle New outlined what is included in the case to the Downing Centre local court on Wednesday before seeking a two months extension to serve the brief of evidence.
New said the case now included statements from protected witnesses, and:
An additional 12 electronic devices [and] an improvised explosive device testing report are due and need to be reviewed.
New told the court this would be included in the brief alongside “significant data” extracted from seven other electronic devices, extensive medical records, and 800 witness statements.
Judge Hugh Donnelly approved the extension for the brief of evidence, noting it was a “significant matter” and was moving “steadily”. It’s now expected to be served on 28 October.
Akram, 24, and his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, allegedly killed 15 people after opening fire at a Hanukah festival at Bondi beach on 14 December.
Akram, who survived a shootout with police, was charged in December with 78 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist act that investigators allege may have been “inspired by Isis”. Sajid Akram was shot and killed by police at the scene.
Akram is yet to enter a plea on the charges.
Updated
‘It could say he bought a flamingo off me’: Icac witness says ‘no issue’ with invoices from ‘best mate’
Returning to the NSW Icac’s Operation Rosny, the questioning of witness Jeremy Greenwood has focused on Catholic Schools NSW, alleged to have made illegal donations to conservative factional group the Reformers.
In 2021, the schools governing body moved from making payments to Beckington, a lobbying company controlled by Greenwood and Reformer Christian Ellis, to JPG Advisory, a registered lobbying firm controlled by Greenwood.
The inquiry has heard that Greenwood agreed to pay Reformer Jean-Claude Perrottet, who he described as his “best mate”, half of a monthly retainer from Catholic Schools NSW if he was able to secure the contract with the chief executive, Dallas McInerney.
Greenwood admitted that, after the contract was secured, Jean-Claude did no consulting work for Catholic Schools NSW. Asked if Jean-Claude had sent “fake invoices” to suggest he’d done work, including under the guise of consultancy, Greenwood says he would have “no issue” with this.
It could say he bought a flamingo off me. It was just an internal document only for me. It’s how I process it out that matters.
Counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer SC, asked if he would “claim tax on an invoice that said he bought a flamingo?”
Greenwood apologised for using the phrase. He said he did not know if he claimed the invoices as a business expense but defended any invoices as reflecting a “commission arrangement”.
Updated
Stripping out energy efficiency standards will ‘deepen inequality’ says Acoss
The Australian Council of Social Service is “deeply concerned” with the Coalition’s proposal to make energy efficiency optional in building.
The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg, announced the opposition would cut the 2,000-page national construction code down to just 80 pages, making essential structural, fire safety and health requirements compulsory but all other features optional.
The Acoss chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, says cutting energy efficiency in homes would leave renters with high power bills.
She said energy performance and accessibility are,“fundamental to health, safety and wellbeing”.
Homes that are freezing in winter, dangerously hot in summer, or inaccessible to older people and people with disability are simply not safe. Making energy performance optional would lock people into higher power bills for decades. Strong building standards reduce energy costs and protect people on low incomes from energy hardship.
Stripping out energy efficiency and accessibility standards would shift costs on to households, deepen inequality and leave future generations with homes that are expensive to run and difficult to live in.
Updated
‘You need to be respectful’: Icac witness reprimanded
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption has continued its investigation into allegations of corruption in the state’s Liberal party today.
The questioning of witness Jeremy Greenwood, who is named in two of Icac’s allegations, has focused on payments made to his company JPG Advisory, including by schools governing body Catholic Schools NSW. As with previous hearings, the commission has heard evidence from emails and text messages exchanged between those named in allegations.
At one point this morning, Greenwood, who is giving his third day of evidence, said to someone in the hearing room: “You’ve been through my emails. Don’t give me that look.”
It is not clear if the comments were directed at counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer SC, who has had several tense exchanges with Greenwood, or someone else. The presiding commissioner, Fabian Gleeson SC, intervened:
Sorry, Mr Greenwood. Sorry, just everyone pause. Mr Greenwood, you need to be respectful in the way in which you behave, you need to listen to counsel’s questions. You do not direct comments to other people sitting in this room. Do you understand what is expected of you as a witness?
Greenwood: Apologies, commissioner, but I also don’t like having faces pulled at me.
Gleeson: Mr Greenwood, can you answer the question? Listen to the question and answer it. Do you understand what is expected of you in terms of respectful conduct and decorum in this room?
Greenwood: Yes, commissioner.
Gleeson: Because I don’t want to have to explain it to you again. You understand?
Updated
Union echos calls for pay increase for Commonwealth Bank empoyees after CEO’s pay packet increases to more than $9m
The Finance Sector Union (FSU) has reiterated calls for a 5% pay increase for Commonwealth Bank employees after the bank’s full-year financial results revealed that chief executive Matt Comyn’s salary had increased by $2m from the previous year.
The FSU has been negotiating pay deals since early this year, asking for a 5% pay increase for most of the bank’s 37,000 employees, along with better job security and working conditions.
The union says the $9m pay packet, now 150 times that of the average CBA employee, “bolsters the union’s case” for a “new and overdue Enterprise Agreement”.
The FSU national secretary, Julia Angrisano, said “the only decent thing left for CBA to do is accept the FSU’s request”. She said:
The CBA’s remaining Australian workforce is demoralised, struggling to make ends meet and anxious about the future.
CBA ought to be ashamed that some of its full-time employees have to take second jobs. I think most Australians will be appalled to know that finance professionals tasked with looking after their money barely earn more than someone on the minimum wage.
Updated
‘Sportsdebt’: independents' creative push to crack down on gambling ads
The teals have brought some of the best merch I’ve seen in parliament, as they try to pressure the government and opposition to go harder on gambling advertising.
Sporting T-shirts with “debt365”, “sportsdebt” and “ladsbroke”, they have held a doorstop at Parliament House. It’s not the first time we’ve seen the tees – but there’s more of them today with some of their staffers and volunteers also roaming around the building wearing the merch.
The independents have many amendments for the gambling bill but it’s unlikely most – if any – will be supported by the government.
Updated
Wilkie contacts Nacc over gambling bill, claiming government ‘improperly influenced’ by wagering lobby
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has alleged that “individuals in the Federal Government” had been “improperly influenced by individuals in the private sector” in formulating the gambling legislation, writing to the National Anti-Corruption Commission with his claims.
We’ve contacted the office of the communications minister, Anika Wells, for response.
Wilkie, the Tasmanian crossbencher, claimed he had “referred” the issue to the Nacc. The anti-corruption body is, of course, independent and chooses which issues it will investigate and, while any person can write to the body, there is no obligation to investigate.
In his letter, shared with media today, Wilkie said he was not making “any allegation against any specific individual”. But he claimed he was writing to “express my concern that individuals in the Federal Government, when formulating gambling reform policy, have been improperly influenced by individuals in the private sector, most obviously but not exclusively through donations, gifts, hospitality and personal relationships.”
This has resulted in policy so clearly at odds with research, public opinion and the public interest, that the implementation of such policy could be characterised, in my opinion, as serious corruption in the Commonwealth public sector.
Wilkie attached a newspaper article noting large sums of donations which Labor had received from betting agencies.
Wilkie wrote that while governments “have the right to accept donations, be lobbied and make their own policy decisions”, he claimed “individuals in the Government are acting so egregiously in response to individuals in the private sector that all reasonable limits on government behaviour have been exceeded.”
“If this doesn’t ‘cross the line’, then I dread to think what would,” he said.
Updated
‘It is unconscionable’: Haines savages Labor’s gambling bill
Jumping back to the House of Representatives, independent MP Helen Haines is having a huge crack at the government’s gambling legislation and says partial bans don’t work and in some cases can even increase the number of gambling ads broadcast.
She tells the House the evidence “couldn’t be clearer” for far stronger action on gambling advertising and that the current legislation “falls so far short of what we know is needed”.
She says she will put several amendments forward including one that bans gambling ads during all G-rated programs. She also wants gambling companies to be forced to collect and publicly report on harm indicators, including aggregate customer losses, self-exclusion requests and complaints.
It is unconscionable the bill also does not establish a gambling regulator despite the Murphy report identifying a glaring need for a national regulatory framework, overseen by a dedicated body with the sole objective of reducing harm.
So often in this place, we’re dealing with problems that don’t have an obvious solution. This is not one of those times. The evidence couldn’t be clearer. Everyone in Australia, except the gambling companies, and apparently this government knows what needs to be done.
She says since the bill was introduced she has received hundreds of emails from her constituents disappointed and outraged that the government won’t commit to a full ban.
Updated
Victoria to vaccinate thousands of little penguins against H5 bird flu
Victoria will begin vaccinating about 5,000 little penguins at Phillip Island and St Kilda from next week to protect them against the deadly H5 bird flu, in what is believed to be the world’s largest vaccination program involving wild birds.
While vaccinating wild birds against the disease was challenging, the fact that the penguins returned home every night to Phillip Island and St Kilda made it possible to deliver the two doses necessary over a two-week period.
Victoria’s environment minister, Jaclyn Symes, said:
We can’t stop H5 bird flu circulating in wild birds, but we can take practical steps to protect vulnerable species like our little penguins from its impacts.
We know how people love little penguins, we know how iconic they are to Victoria.
Catherine Basterfield, the chief executive of Phillip Island Nature Parks, said trials had already been undertaken, which showed no adverse effect in the birds. “It is a world first, to propose to vaccinate wildlife in this scale,” she said.
The vaccines were being supplied by the federal agriculture department, and would cover only a proportion of the penguin population of about 40,000 birds. Doses have arrived at Phillip Island and are ready to be administered from early next week, pending final regulatory approvals. The birds would be microchipped at the same time.
James Todd, the state’s chief biodiversity officer, said vaccines weren’t a “silver bullet”, and wouldn’t be suitable for many of the hundreds of species at risk from the virus.
The announcement followed the detection of a positive H5 bird flu case on a rocky part of Phillip Island. However there have not been any cases found in little penguins.
Updated
We’re in for a long(ish) night as the house debates the gambling bill
The government has brought on debate on its gambling bill, allowing the House to sit late until around 10pm tonight to allow everyone to have their say.
While Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor hash out a deal on the bill, we’re in a bit of a holding pattern so debate will essentially go on as long members have something to say and that deal is done.
Labor MP Shayne Neumann who was a member of the committee led by the late Peta Murphy who handed down the landmark “You win some, you lose more” report, says he still supports the all of the inquiry’s recommendations.
This committee has made 31 recommendations that apply a public health lens to online gambling to reduce harm across the whole of the Australian population. I was a member of that committee. I support the 31 recommendations, and don’t resile for one minute from those recommendations.
While Labor’s legislation doesn’t touch a lot of the recommendations made in the report – including banning inducements and creating a national regulator, Neumann still supports it, saying the reforms are about “reducing gambling harm and making sure our children grow to love sport for the game, not seeing gambling as an essential part of it”.
Updated
‘I’ve set the agenda’: Pauline Hanson claims credit for migration policy
Pauline Hanson says the two major parties are following her footsteps on migration policy because “they realise that I’m right in what I’m saying”.
She tells News24 she’s set the agenda on the issue – ahead of shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg, today announcing that the Coalition will set the net overseas migration number to 180,000 a year over the forward estimates.
At the moment, the permanent migration level is set to 185,000 while the net overseas migration in the last financial year was estimated to be 295,000. Net overseas migration is the total number of people coming into the country minus those going out – which can make it harder to predict and control than the permanent migration level.
Hanson says:
They [Labor] brought in 1.5 million people in their term of being in government, and they intend to bring in another 1 million people over the next four years. We can’t cope with this. The people are saying it, and that’s why now I’ve set the agenda.
Both the political parties, Labor and Liberal, are pulling back their numbers because they realise that I’m right in what I’m saying.
I’m bringing in 130,000 a year, net migration in the country.
While she says her policy is 130,000 NOM, her website states that One Nation “cap visas at 130,000 per year to ease pressure on housing, wages, and infrastructure” which sounds little different.
Updated
Ted O’Brien apologises to Japan over melon-gate, despite Japan calling issue “sensationalised”
Going back to Ted O’Brien and James Paterson demanding an AFP investigation into melon-gate, it’s interesting to note that the Coalition has taken it upon itself to express “deep regret” to Japan over Anthony Albanese’s comments – despite the very diplomatic cable at the centre of their calls for a police investigation, showing Japan’s government did not want to make a major issue out of the podcast comments.
O’Brien and Paterson, no less than the shadow ministers for foreign affairs and defence, today have demanded the AFP investigate the apparent leaking of a diplomatic cable to The Australian newspaper, suggesting police check whether the prime minister’s office was involved.
O’Brien said he met the Japanese ambassador last night, and “expressed my deep regret of the prime minister’s actions”. He said he had “no authority to speak on behalf of the government or prime minister, but if I did have such authority, I would have apologised … but I did make that expression to the ambassador”.
Of course, the diplomatic cable at the centre of the Coalition’s concerns today indicates Japan wasn’t that offended in the first place. As reported by The Australian, the cable claimed there had been “sensationalised reporting in the Australian media”, that Tokyo believed there was no “ill intention” in Albanese’s actions, and they would take “no action” in hopes that it would “allow the Australian media to move on”.
We asked O’Brien about this, but he rejected there was any discrepancy in those two issues.
“I won’t be commenting on how Tokyo interprets this entire saga,” O’Brien said at a press conference.
He then stared down the barrel of the camera to speak directly to “anyone who is watching, whether it be the Japanese Australian community here locally, or whether it be anybody visiting from Japan”, saying “Australia takes our relationship with your country very seriously.”
Updated
Taylor tries to suspend standing orders over melon-gate
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, has turned up the heat in the lower house this morning, immediately moving to suspend standing orders to get the prime minister to apologise over melon-gate.
Because the government has the numbers, it won’t go anywhere, but it’s a move to keep the whole debacle ticking along.
Taylor says an apology would show Albanese, “who is known for his hubris, can be capable of humility”.
This prime minister has stuffed up. He has made an egregious error. He had earlier posted on social media and I quote, No matter who you support in politics, it is completely unacceptable to demean, objectify, belittle, or offend women. Oh, really? Nice words.
If this is the standard, the prime minister sets for others, it’s the standard he should also hold himself to. I call on the prime minister to pick up the phone and apologise to the Japanese prime minister.
Updated
Australia signs statement with US, UK and others on ballistic missile testing
Australia has joined the US and dozens of other nations including the UK, France, Germany and the Philippines, in calling on all relevant countries to provide advanced notice of ballistic missile launches.
Why does this matter? The joint statement of 40 nations follows a series of launches in the Pacific, including a ballistic missile test by North Korea, and a nuclear-capable missile test by China last month.
Only a few Pacific nations were signatory to the statement, including Palau and the Marshall Islands.
The statement says countries should provide 24 hours notice before the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and space launch vehicles.
Conducting nuclear-capable ballistic missile tests without sufficient advance notice and detail is dangerous and disrupts the peace and security of relevant nations in proximity to these tests.
It increases the risk of miscalculation, undermines global stability and security, and is incompatible with the responsibilities that come with possessing long-range missile capabilities.
Updated
Group voting tickets abolished in Victoria
Victorian parliament has voted to abolish group voting tickets (GVTs) to elect its upper house.
The state was the only remaining jurisdiction with the system, in which voters can only choose one party above the line on the ballot paper, with their preferences then allocated by the party if it’s knocked out during counting.
GVTs have been criticised by experts including Antony Green because they allowed backroom deals between parties to flourish, enabling some candidates to get elected with only a minuscule number of primary votes.
The electoral amendment (miscellaneous matters) bill 2026, which passed the upper house 33 votes to 4, will replace GVTs with a new above-the-line voting system that requires voters to number at least five groups in order of preference. Those preferences will then flow to candidates in the order they appear below the line for each party or group.
The MPs who did not support the bill were: Shooters Fishers and Farmers MP Jeff Bourman, Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell, Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne and Libertarian David Limbrick. These minor-party MPs will be most affected by the change and face the prospect of losing their seats at the November election as a result.
Updated
Opposition defends decision to refer melon-gate leak to AFP
The opposition has batted off questions that its request for the Australian federal police to investigate the leak of a diplomatic message from the Japanese government after melon-gate is political.
The shadow defence minister, James Paterson, tells a press conference at parliament that if the prime minister had just quickly apologised, “everyone would have quickly moved on from this story”.
We’re still talking about this a month later because the prime minister has stubbornly refused to admit that he got it wrong, and now he’s trying to cover his tracks.
It was bad enough to make disrespectful comments about the Japanese prime minister. It is worse, that now the government appears to be leaking confidential correspondence from the government of Japan to the media to try and exonerate the prime minister and downplay the seriousness of what he has done.
Paterson says there are plenty of examples of Labor referring leaks to the AFP – including the text messages sent between French president Emmanuel Macron and former prime minister Scott Morrison.
In Senate estimates, senator Katy Gallagher pursued the government about whether or not there had been an AFP referral into that apparent leaking of those messages. So Labor can’t have it both ways. It’s either always wrong for confidential communications from our allies to find their way into the media, or it’s wrong only when their political opponents do it, not they do it.
Updated
CBA says investor mortgage applications down 28%
More from the Commonwealth Bank results.
The bank said that home loan applications had fallen 15% since May, when the government announced changes to negative gearing and the treatment of capital gains.
The bulk of that decrease has come from investors, with applications down 28%, compared to a 9% fall from owner occupiers.
Labor’s tax changes were largely designed to make property less attractive to investors to the benefit of owner occupiers.
Home prices and lending activity was already slowing at the time of the May budget, given mortgage rates were rising in response to a series of interest rate hikes.
CBA said application volumes had “stabilised in recent weeks”.
Most economists believe the chronic undersupply of homes will eventually push prices higher once interest rates ease and the tax changes are priced in.
Updated
Education minister says funding agreement with Victoria ‘very close’
The education minister, Jason Clare, says a funding deal with Victoria to get public schools funded to Gonski levels over the next decade is “very close”.
While the commonwealth was able to negotiate with every other state and territory to get a deal to increase funding to 100% of the school resource standard, Victoria currently only pays 70% and the federal government 20%.
Under the better and fairer schools agreement, the commonwealth will lift its share to 75% over the decade if Victoria also lifts its funding by the last 5%.
Last year a 12-month interim agreement was struck but Victorian kids are still facing a critical funding shortfall.
Clare told ABC News Breakfast this morning that he believes the full agreement will be reached:
We’re very close, mate. I know [Victorian premier] Ben Carroll gets this, and I’m optimistic that we’ll get this across the line. He understands how important it is that teachers are paid well, that they do the best or do the most important job in the country, but how important it is that we fix the funding of our schools – we’ve struck agreements now, 10-year agreements, with every state and territory across the country except Victoria. We’re very close to landing that deal.
Updated
Does ‘putting a jumper on’ work in Australia’s notoriously energy-inefficient homes?
Tim Wilson says you can simply throw on a jumper if you’re feeling a bit cold in winter, instead of spending thousands on fixing the energy efficiency rating of a home – but Australian homes are pretty notorious for being really energy inefficient.
They’re either too hot in summer or too cold in winter – and often times it’s both.
In fact, the average Australian home built before 2003 averages just 1.8 stars out of 10 under the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme.
Any many Australian homes are closer to tents than insulated eco-buildings:
With the cold also sometimes comes mould, with some Australian rental homes colder and more damp than is considered safe by the World Health Organization.
Updated
‘Some people call it putting a jumper on’: Tim Wilson suggests housing energy efficiency standards could be optional
Should energy efficiency standards in housing be optional? The opposition is considering it.
Andrew Bragg says under his 80-page national construction code essential structural, fire safety and health requirements will be compulsory but additional features will be “optional”.
The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, is in the RN Breakfast hot seat after Jim Chalmers and is asked whether that sounds about right to him.
Wilson says there are “risks on all side” in whether you make energy efficiency standards compulsory or not, and that different parts of the country have different climates so there shouldn’t be a “one size fits all approach”.
We have a risk that Australians can’t afford to rent or to buy their own home by the government’s own budget design.
There are some places in the country where you will get cold spells or hot spells for a very small amount of the year, whereas for the rest of the year, it’s not necessary … Some people call it putting a jumper on in winter rather than spending huge amounts of money, tens of thousands of dollars.
Updated
CommBank records bumper $11bn profit
Commonwealth Bank has recorded a bumper $10.9bn full year cash profit, up 7%, after recording strong growth in home and business lending, despite recent weakness in the housing market.
The robust result, for the 12 months to 30 June, was largely locked in before mortgage volumes started to fall in response to a series of interest rate hikes and Labor’s investor tax changes, announced in May.
CBA told shareholders this morning that while the economy had remained resilient, growth was slowing with “higher interest rates and inflation placing uneven pressure on households incomes and economic activity”.
There are signs of distress among some of the bank customers, with arrears among personal loan customers surging. Arrears for home loans and credit cards have also ticked higher in recent months, although they remain at modest levels.
The bank declared a final dividend of $2.70, representing a 10c increase on the last half year dividend.
Updated
Bragg ‘bit late to the party’ on reforming construction code: Chalmers
Jim Chalmers says the government is already acting on simplifying the 2000-page construction code to make it easier to build houses in Australia.
Today the shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg will announce that the Coalition wants to slash that code down to 80-pages, but Chalmers says he’s “late to the party”.
The government has frozen the code for four years, and Chalmers says a revamped code is coming soon:
We’re going to present a final plan to building ministers later this year and that will streamline the code, reduce variations, improve where the provisions are too complicated, make the code relevant in an age of AI.
Don’t judge the housing market over a few months of data, says Chalmers
The government is facing heat over a cooling housing market across Australia, which the treasurer says is due to a range of factors, not just the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax announced in the May budget.
Jim Chalmers is on ABC RN Breakfast this morning welcoming the Reserve Bank’s decision to hold rates yesterday, and says that there have been several housing downturns in recent decades.
You shouldn’t judge the housing market by volatility over a period of a few months.
If you think about house prices in this country in the 2000s, even with that quite remarkable house price growth over that period. If you take the last 10 years or so, we’ve actually seen prices go down at least seven times by our count … The Reserve Bank Governor said yesterday, I’ve said on a number of occasions, the private sector market economists have said as well, what we’re seeing in the housing market is a consequence of a whole range of factors, economic conditions, interest rates, policy changes, not any one factor on their own.
Asked about data from Westpac showing a dropping number of home loan applications, Chalmers takes the same argument, that “you shouldn’t jump to conclusions based on a few months of data”.
Updated
‘The Liberals have absolutely lost the plot’ says O’Neil on melon-gate
The regular Wednesday TV sparring match between the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, and shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, has spent half the morning debating … you guessed it … melon-gate.
O’Neil says the opposition has frankly “lost the plot” by referring the leak of a diplomatic note sent by Japan to the Australian federal police.
The Liberals have absolutely lost the plot here. They are referring this podcast matter to the Australian federal police. My personal view is that the Australian federal police should be allowed to focus on their job, which is keeping Australians safe and fighting crime for Australians.
Cash says it’s totally justified for the police to dedicate their time to investigating that leak to the media, and takes aim at O’Neil for defending the PM:
This has now gone from embarrassing to extraordinary. A sensitive diplomatic cable from one of our closest allies has ended up in the media, and the AFP should investigate that. But I actually think the hypocrisy from the Labor women like Clare – that is an utter disgrace. You have just defended the grubby, dirty comments of our prime minister.
Let this be over soon one way or another.
Updated
Are the Coalition 100% set on cutting net overseas migration to 180,000?
Despite Andrew Bragg’s speech being sent to the media overnight, this morning the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, doesn’t seem to want to lock in the 180,000 net overseas migration target.
Speaking to News24, Wilson was asked a couple of times about the details of Bragg’s announcement but wouldn’t commit to the figure.
He said, “I’ll leave Senator Bragg’s speech in his National Press Club address to Senator Bragg” and stuck to more general statements about migration intake in Australia.
Asked directly whether the Coalition is looking at the 180,000 target, Wilson replies:
I don’t think you should bank that at all. Let’s just wait and see, firstly, what Senate Bragg’s saying in his speech – and we haven’t made an announcement about where we’re going to be going into the next election – but our focus is actually about what we need to do to invest in the long-term growth and success of our country.
Updated
Coalition promises to drastically cut net overseas migration and housing construction code
The Coalition has promised to drop net overseas migration to under 180,000 a year over the forward estimates, including by cutting family and international student visas, as part of a push to open up more housing supply.
The shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg will be up at the national press club and says the opposition will strip the 2000 page national construction code, which he says makes it “illegal to build a cheap safe house”, down to an 80-page “basic Australian standard”.
The current permanent migration level is set to 185,000 while the net overseas migration figure has been trending downwards from post-covid peaks and is anticipated to be 245,000 for 2026–27.
Net overseas migration is the total number of people coming into the country against those going out – which means it can be tricky to have total control over.
Bragg will tell the press club that the government has sat over a shortfall of 130,000 dwellings which can be closed if the NOM drops under 180,000 over four years.
A NOM reduction on this scale is manageable and in line with reductions we have managed in recent history – for example in 2009-2010 when the NOM declined from 300,000 to 175,000 in around 18 months.
This will be achieved through a higher share of skilled migrant workers linked to jobs that meet Australian industry needs. This includes more reductions in other streams like family, international students and other temporary migrants.
Updated
Welcome
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you for another busy sitting day ahead! The negotiations are continuing between the government and the opposition on gambling, NDIS, and news bargaining incentive reforms – all of which Labor will be hoping to pass this fortnight.
And why milk it for one day when you can milk it – or should I say juice it – for two? The prime minister is still facing pressure to apologise over melon-gate which pretty much took over parliament yesterday.
And the opposition is promising to strip back the housing construction code to help builders build quicker – more on that shortly.
Stick with us!
