What we learned; Tuesday 3 February
That’s where we’ll leave things for today. Have a nice evening. Here were our top stories:
The Reserve Bank hiked rates for the first time in more than two years, and signalled there could be more to come, with mortgage holders to bear the brunt of dealing with a sharp and unexpected jump in inflation. The cash rate target has lifted from 3.6% to 3.85%.
As it coincided with a federal parliamentary sitting day, the RBA’s decision was the source of much debate in question time. The opposition sought to blame Labor, saying overspending was behind the rate hike, while the government said the rise was expected due to higher than expected inflation.
Elsewhere in politics, Sussan Ley extended an offer to the Nationals to reunite with the Coalition – with conditions. Ley’s proposal would force the three National senators who defied the shadow cabinet to oppose Labor’s hate speech laws to sit on the backbench for six months.
The Palestine Action Group announced it planned to march against the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog’s, visit to Sydney next week, despite the New South Wales police commissioner extending a restriction on protests.
In other Sydney news, the city’s Mardi Gras party, which attracts thousands of revellers after the city’s famous annual parade, was cancelled due to cost pressures.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) says it has charged a Melbourne airport worker who allegedly performed a Nazi salute directed towards a group of Jewish school-aged children in one of the terminals on Monday.
And the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, announced a plan to allow GPs to diagnose and prescribe medication for ADHD.
Updated
Melbourne passengers warned of delays with some services through new Metro Tunnel affected
Some services running through the new Melbourne Metro Tunnel have been rerouted, on only the tunnel’s second day of operating at full capacity, due to a power fault further up the line.
The Victorian transport department issued a statement just after 6pm, saying buses are replacing trains on the Cranbourne/Pakenham and Sunbury lines between West Footscray and Caulfield stations due to a problem with overhead wires near Armadale.
This suspension is impacting some services running through the Metro Tunnel, the statement said.
Cranbourne/Pakenham passengers are advised to change at State Library or Town Hall to the City Loop and use Frankston Line services to Caulfield.
Those on Sunbury services are advised to switch to a Werribee or Williamstown line service at West Footscray station.
While trains will continue to run between Caulfield and Cranbourne/Pakenham, and Sunbury and West Footscray, delays are likely.
V/Line services on Traralgon and Bairnsdale services are also affected.
Updated
Melbourne man charged over allegedly giving Nazi salute to Jewish schoolchildren at Melbourne Airport, AFP says.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) says it has charged a Melbourne Airport worker who allegedly performed a Nazi salute directed towards a group of Jewish school-aged children in one of the terminals yesterday.
In a statement this afternoon, the AFP said the 23-year-old man, from Greenvale in Melbourne’s north, had been summonsed to appear before court on 3 March.
The AFP said it would allege the man left the terminal shortly after the incident and the matter was reported to the federal police.
The AFP said its members reviewed CCTV footage and interviewed witnesses to identify the alleged offender, and attended a Greenvale home yesterday where they arrested the man.
The alleged offender was identified as an airport employee who held an Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC), the AFP said.
The man is due to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court charged with one count of public display of prohibited Nazi symbols or giving Nazi salute, in breach of commonwealth criminal laws.
The AFP has said the offence carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and is subject to mandatory minimum sentencing provisions.
The man was charged by the AFP’s National Security Investigations (NSI) team, which it said was set up in September last year to “target groups and individuals causing high levels of harm to Australia’s social cohesion, including the targeting of the Jewish community”.
Updated
Sydney pro-Palestine rally organisers vow to proceed despite extension of ban
Sticking with New South Wales news, the Palestine Action Group (PAG) has vowed to rally on Friday evening against the Israeli president’s contentious visit to Australia.
Isaac Herzog is due to begin his four-day Australian tour shortly, after an invitation from the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to visit Jewish communities after the Bondi massacre.
Herzog’s arrival was expected to be met with planned protests nationwide from pro-Palestinian groups demonstrating against the civilian death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza.
Earlier today, the NSW police commissioner extended a restriction on protests for a fourth time, saying Herzog’s visit was a “factor” in that decision.
The restriction effectively bans protesters being able to march in designated areas without the risk of being arrested because they could be charged with offences such as blocking traffic.
Nevertheless, the organisers of the Sydney have said they will proceed without the protection that taking part in an authorised protest would give participants.
In a statement this afternoon, the PAG said:
In Sydney we will be rallying at Sydney town hall from 5.30pm on Monday 9 February.
It is completely legal to attend this mass, peaceful gathering in opposition to an ongoing genocide.
We call on police to facilitate this peaceful protest and our planned march to NSW Parliament.
Updated
NSW opposition questions ‘reactionary’ post-Bondi protest laws it supported
The NSW opposition has questioned if controversial laws restricting protests rushed through parliament with Liberal support following the Bondi massacre responded to to the root causes of the attack.
The opposition has today proposed its own reforms, including a crackdown on online grooming by extremists and legislating the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, following the Minns government’s post-Bondi crackdown on guns, protests and hate speech in December. The Nationals voted against the bill because of changes to gun control but said they supported changes to protest laws.
At a press conference this afternoon, the shadow attorney general, Damien Tudehope, said the government’s changes had failed to address “what was it that motivated someone on a Sunday morning to get up and decide to go to Bondi and start shooting people at a Jewish celebration”.
Asked if that means he thinks pro-Palestine protests weren’t a root cause of the antisemitism and radicalisation that led to the attack, Tudehope says the alleged gunmen “weren’t motivated by protests”:
I certainly think that addressing protests is a reactionary approach to what has occurred. But the manner in which protests have built and the manner in which people have developed ideas over a long period of time need addressing.
Asked if she shares Tudehope’s view about the motivations of the alleged Bondi gunmen, the opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, said:
I don’t know what motivated them. Honestly, I couldn’t get into their heads.
Sydney’s Mardi Gras party cancelled due to cost pressures, new CEO says
Sydney’s Mardi Gras party, which attracts thousands of revellers after the city’s famous annual parade, has been cancelled.
The event was due to take place on the evening of the 28 February and was billed as one of the festival’s highlights, historically drawing crowds of about 10,000 people.
In an update posted on the festival’s website a short time ago, the Mardi Gras chief executive, Jesse Matheson, said the event had been “paused” because of growing costs and the loss of this year’s headline act.
Last year, I was appointed CEO and tasked with renewing and reimagining the festival following two years of significant financial loss. A major contributor to that loss has been the Mardi Gras PARTY, which has run at a deficit every year since 2020.
He described the party as the festival’s “biggest challenge” and said the Mardi Gras PARTY was an approximately $2m event that had become more expensive to deliver.
He said:
After reviewing the Mardi Gras PARTY’s financial performance, capacity constraints, community feedback, and changing demographics of attendees, it became clear that the event in its traditional format was no longer fit for purpose or aligned with our future vision to be a celebration event for our entire LGBTIQA+ community.
The move had been compounded by the loss of its headline act over the Christmas break, he said, adding:
Instead, we will focus on supporting the incredible community-led events taking place across the city on Parade night.
This has been heartbreaking – but I believe it is the right decision for our community and for the future of Mardi Gras … For those disappointed, from the bottom of my heart, please accept my heartfelt apology.
Updated
Liberal frontbencher says party needs to focus on winning back city voters
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has acknowledged there is “fragmentation” on the “right” of politics, after weeks of infighting between his party and the Nationals.
Bragg has been interviewed on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, after opposition leader Sussan Ley said the three National senators who defied the shadow cabinet to oppose Labor’s hate speech laws would be forced to sit on the backbench for six months under her offer to reunite the Coalition.
Bragg suggested the working arrangement between the Liberals and Nationals could look different in the future, as he said his party needed to focus on winning back city voters.
He said:
There is fragmentation in the right, we have to be honest about that.
We need to be prepared to work differently. The fact is that the Liberal party now holds less than 10 of the 90 urban seats.
We are a highly urbanised population in Australia. Most people live in urban seats. If we are extinct in the city, we are extinct. We need to be very clear eyed that that is our mission- to win back the trust of the people who live in largely cities.
Bragg also tried to pin today’s cash rate increase on the Labor government’s fiscal policy, something the opposition has been trying to do all day.
The Reserve Bank attributed its decision to “private demand growing more quickly than expected” and did not pinpoint government spending as a factor.
Updated
More firearms testing in Victorian high country as Freeman search continues
Police will again test firearms in an area of the Victorian high country where they are searching for fugitive Dezi Freeman.
Freeman allegedly shot dead two police officers and wounded a third in Porepunkah on 26 August.
In a statement, police confirmed detectives would conduct firearms testing within the Mount Buffalo national park search area for about an hour on Tuesday afternoon.
Similar firearms testing conducted in November helped inform police ahead of the major five-day search for Freeman that started on Monday.
A single gunshot was reported to police about two hours after Freeman fled into the bush at the rear of his property. Police believe it may have been the sound of Freeman killing himself.
The first two days of the search have been completed with no trace of Freeman being publicly reported by police. Police do not believe that he is alive, if he remains in the area, saying that the search of Mount Buffalo is for his body.
But they are also considering two other scenarios: that Freeman has fled the region and is being harboured elsewhere, or that he has fled the area unassisted.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14.
Hi, I’ll be with you on the blog for the rest of the day. The RBA governor, Michelle Bullock, is still taking questions from journalists in Sydney.
While it won’t be much comfort to mortgage holders, she’s said that while today’s cash rate hike has “come across quite negatively”, Australia is “actually in a really good position”.
And, as usual, Bullock has been reluctant to offer forward guidance on the potential for future rate hikes.
She’s said she can’t confirm whether the central bank is going to hike the cash rate - which guides interest rates set by banks - again next month.
But she says the central bank’s board is determined to bring inflation into its target range of 2-3%.
The overall measure of inflation recorded by the government - the Consumer Price Index (CPI) - rose 3.8% in the 12 months to December 2025, up from a 3.4% rise in the 12 months to November 2025.
Bullock hasn’t ruled out back-to-back rate hikes and says the board is “determined” to bring inflation back into the target band. However, she says:
This is not a science, it’s a bit of an art, really, and there’s so many things that can push you off course.
Could we do a lot of rate rises and bring inflation back down very quickly? Possibly, I don’t know. But it might have big implications for the unemployment rate and the economy.
And the bottom line - the strategy really hasn’t changed here. We are still trying to bring inflation down and keep employment as strong as we can, as close to sustainable full employment as we can.
Updated
Thanks for joining me on what has been a very busy day on the blog!
There’s plenty more to come, and I’ll leave you with the lovely Catie McLeod for the rest of the afternoon. See you back here bright and early tomorrow.
Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
Well that was a LONG question time, with questions split between the Liberals and the rest of the crossbench, who received more questions (although almost all of the extra questions went to the Nationals anyway).
Despite all the hullabaloo around seating, the opposition benches are still looking very similar to the way they did before the split.
The Liberals and Nationals, were at least on a unity ticket in focusing all their questions to the government on inflation and interest rates, and tried to push Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese to apologise for the rate rise.
Labor were clearly trying their best to practice some zingers on the Coalition split – here were a couple of them.
Liberal MP Tim Wilson and Nationals MP Alison Penfold were both booted out of the chamber.
Independent MP Zali Steggall asked the government if it would implement a royal commission into femicide and family violence. Social services minister Tanya Plibersek said that experts and frontline workers have said another inquiry does not need to be done.
RBA chief addresses media
The governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Michele Bullock, says she empathises with mortgage holders but defended today’s decision to lift the cash rate.
Bullock has been taking questions from journalists in Sydney after the central bank hiked interest rates for the first time in over two years.
The RBA monetary policy board announced on Tuesday at the end of its two-day meeting that the cash rate target would lift to 3.85%, from 3.6%.
The decision means mortgage holders will bear the brunt of dealing with an unexpected jump in inflation that occured in the second half of 2025.
Asked about the effect on mortgage holders facing higher repayments, Bullock said:
I understand they’re disappointed. I do understand that for mortgage holders, this isn’t a great outcome
Having said that, and I have just said this in the past - what’s also not great for them or for anyone else is if inflation remains elevated because every time they go to the shop, every time they go to buy their groceries, every time they go to get personal services, medical, if inflation is high, that’s going to keep going up.
I empathise with them, but I think when we were looking back at what was going on last year ... the issues were all about the downside risks, particularly the world economy.
Some of these things have just not come to pass.
Bullock said consumer demand had risen in response to last year’s rate cuts more quickly than the RBA board had anticipated.
Updated
After a final dixer to Anthony Albanese, question time is over for the day.
Bowen says wholesale energy prices are dropping
You might note that question time is going long, well we’re still going ...
Nationals MP, Sam Birrell asks when Australians will get their $275 reduction to their energy bills that was promised by Labor back in 2022. The promise is long gone, and Labor has had to admit so (many times before).
Climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, races through his answer and says wholesale energy prices are falling:
Every single Australian saw wholesale prices fall by 44% in the last quarter of last year. We have more work to do to make sure that flows through.
O’Brien pushes Chalmers to rule out further rate rises
Ted O’Brien takes to the dispatch box next and asks the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, whether he’ll guarantee that there will be no more interest rate rises this year.
Chalmers says O’Brien should know by now that the Reserve Bank makes its own decisions.
He’s also at pains to repeat that the RBA statement does not mention government spending.
They want to pretend the government sets interest rates. Well, that is obviously dishonest, of course, but we do work as hard as we can to get on top of inflation … because we do understand that people are under pressure
Independent MP Nicolette Boele has a question
She wants to know when will the government implement the Human Rights Commission’s anti-racism framework
The framework was commissioned by the government and handed to Labor in November 2024.
Anthony Albanese doesn’t answer the actual question on whether the government will implement the framework, but says antisemitism requires “constant vigilance”.
We do need to deal with a comprehensive response not just to antisemitism, but to building social cohesion as well. I think the attack that we saw in Perth [at the Invasion Day rally] is an example of something that the authorities are dealing with.
This doesn’t answer the question. Boele stands up to make a point of order on relevance, but the PM’s time to answer is up.
Updated
Chalmers says Ley targeting treasury secretary over RBA rate hike ‘reflects a level of desperation’
‘Level of desperation’ in Liberals, says Chalmers
The Liberals are solely focused on the interest rates today, with the rate hike a bitter pill to swallow for most households (and a big challenge for the government)
Sussan Ley is back at the dispatch box and asks what it says that the “Prime Minister’s hand-picked Secretary of the Treasury, Jenny Wilkinson” also voted on the RBA board to lift rates.
Jim Chalmers is wholly unimpressed at Ley’s decision to bring Wilkinson into question time.
I think it reflects a level of desperation on behalf of the Leader of the Opposition that she would go after a wonderful public servant in the way she just has ... I think it is entirely inappropriate - entirely inappropriate - for those opposite to try to drag in to this one of the finest public servants that this country has ever seen.
He then points out that there are now four women heading four of the major economic institutions in Australia, having just announced Sarah Court as the ASIC chair.
Updated
Alison Penfold is the second MP to be booted out of the chamber
During a dixer to health minister, Mark Butler, who is asked about Labor’s Medicare urgent care clinics, Nationals MP and member for Lyne, Alison Penfold, keeps interrupting asking when there will be a clinic for Taree in her NSW electorate.
Unfortunately for her she shouts it out one too many times for Milton Dick, who sends her packing for the afternoon.
Updated
Being the opposition still comes with plenty of perks
These include increased staff and resources.
So independent MP, Andrew Wilkie, says now that the crossbench has 28 members, the exact same number of Liberal MPs, why shouldn’t the crossbench also get those perks?
Anthony Albanese says he’ll “wait and see what happens” with the opposition:
I used to get admonished sometimes by the speaker by using the term “no-lition.” I meant it as a joke. But they regarded it as a mission statement. A mission statement, those opposite, as they go through. They’re fighting each other with the same sort of energy that they used to reserve for fighting our cost-of-living measures.
Updated
Greens MP asks PM about a billionaire wealth tax
Back to the crossbench, Greens MP Elizabeth Watson Brown asks whether the government will implement a billionaire wealth tax. She says Australia’s billionaires increased their wealth by almost $30m a day in the last year, according to a new Oxfam report.
Anthony Albanese says wealth inequality is a problem but instead of answering the question about implementing a billionaire wealth tax, the PM says the government has passed tax cuts for the lowest tax rates will help Australians who are earning lower salaries.
Our focus was on lowering the marginal tax rate, to lower it down so we targeted in to people who really needed it. The other thing we have done is to make sure we have provided the government support for measures like the back to back rental assistance for the first time increases for more than 1m households.
Updated
‘His mate just asked the same question’ Chalmers takes another stab at O’Brien
Back to the opposition, shadow treasurer, and shadow assistant treasurer, Ted O’Brien asks Jim Chalmers again if he will take responsibility for the 13th interest rate rise under the Labor government.
Chalmers tries to deflect the question:
One of the problems with them not talking to each other over there is his mate just asked the same question.
Over much protest, Milton Dick tries to tell everyone to “cool it” (good luck Mr Speaker, I say).
Chalmers continues:
I thank the Shadow Treasurer, who is also now I’m told the shadow Assistant Treasurer. They found the only bloke over there who could work with him, Mr Speaker, and they’re still not convinced there won’t be leaking of private conversations.
(That one even gets a laugh from O’Brien). Chalmers says O’Brien should talk to his colleague Kevin Hogan, and they should both read the RBA’s statement.
[The Coalition] never delivered a surplus, didn’t show spending restraint, took to the election of policy for higher income taxes, bigger deficits and more debt of all of the People that I would take a lecture from on responsible economic management, not one of the three far right parties over there would be on the list.
Updated
‘They make the Beckhams look like a happy family’, government takes aim at Coalition
The government’s clearly spent time practicing some lines to whip out on the Coalition split in QT – here are a couple of the better zingers.
From transport and infrastructure minister Catherine King, talking about Rex airline:
Whether you’re travelling from Moruya to Sydney, Coober Pedy to Adelaide or from the Opposition benches maybe to the crossbench, REX will continue to get you there.
And from education minister, Jason Clare, who used another pop culture reference (and perhaps with a little more global appeal than MAFS.)
Mr Speaker, they make the Beckhams look like a happy family. They’re like a couple who bought a non-refundable holiday and then broke up and now they’ve just got to sit there and suffer through it.
Make of all that what you will.
Deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan takes the next question (again from the crossbench), and says economists including Shane Oliver have said government spending “is adding to inflationary pressures”.
Jim Chalmers brings his own list of economists to prove his point, that government spending isn’t adding to inflationary pressures.
He points again to the fact that government spending wasn’t mentioned in the Reserve Bank’s statement:
I encourage him [Hogan] to read the Reserve Bank statement today. Because what that makes clear is that the pressure on inflation is coming from private demand and I know that is terribly embarrassing for the member who wrote this question before the statement came out, but the statement has made it really clear where the pressure is coming [from].
Tim Wilson is booted out of the chamber under 94a
We’re staying on rates, as Sussan Ley makes her way back to the dispatch box.
She says that the government had promised the economy had “turned the corner on inflation”, so will the prime minister accept responsibility for the latest rate rise?
Anthony Albanese takes the question, and says the government has acknowledged that Australians “are doing it tough,” but then digs in at the Coalition for objecting to the government’s tax cuts.
They opposed it [the tax cut] at the time, remember? Before they even saw what it was. They said they were against it and they’d reverse it.
Liberal MP Dan Tehan makes a point of order to get Albanese to stay on point, but while Milton Dick responds, fellow Liberal Tim Wilson interjects, which the Speaker will not tolerate – and tells him to leave.
Updated
‘I can’t hear you back there’ says Chalmers to Littleproud
Nationals leader David Littleproud (now from the crossbench) asks the next question – again on the rate increase – asking when Jim Chalmers will “apologise to all mortgage holders in Australia”.
Chalmers wastes no time taking a jab at Littleproud:
I thank the leader of one of the three far-right parties in this country for his question.
Littleproud shouts back in response, but Chalmers says, “I can’t hear you back there!”
Chalmers continues:
The only thing that they’ve been able to agree on in the course of recent months is they all desperately wanted interest rates to go up today. They all desperately wanted interest rates to go up today. It’s the only thing that they can agree on right now, Mr Speaker. So they should spare us their confected outrage. They left us [with] much higher inflation.
Updated
Opposition benches jeer Jim Chalmers as treasurer says RBA rate hike was ‘widely expected’
Immediately responding to the RBA’s decision today via a dixer (a question asked by a government backbencher), Jim Chalmers says the rate hike was “as expected” – which receives a few jeers from the opposition benches.
The treasurer says the announcement will be “difficult news for millions of Australians with a mortgage.”
While today’s decision was widely expected, obviously that doesn’t make it any easier. We know that many Australians are doing it tough, which is why we continue to roll out responsible cost-of-living relief, including a further tax cut this year and another one next year, both of them opposed by those opposite.
I want to make it really clear to the House and to people watching from home, Mr Speaker, that the statement released by the independent Reserve Bank explaining the decision that they’ve taken today does not mention government spending at all.
Why the mention of government spending? The opposition have been blaming the growing inflation with growing government spending which Chalmers has been trying to brush off.
Updated
The opposition is staying on inflation, and the incoming interest rate decision, and shadow treasurer, Ted O’Brien asks Jim Chalmers if he will take responsibility for “high inflation, rising interest rates, plummeting consumer confidence and falling real wages.”
Chalmers says he takes responsibility “for all aspects of my job”.
He proceeds to also pin the criticism on the Coalition:
I think what makes it especially galling to get this question from those opposite, Mr Speaker, is because they left us with inflation north of 6% and absolutely galloping.
Reserve Bank lifts rates to 3.85%
The Reserve Bank has hiked rates for the first time in over two years, with mortgage holders to bear the brunt of dealing with an unexpected jump in inflation through the second half of 2025.
The RBA monetary policy board at the end of its two-day meeting announced the cash rate target would lift to 3.85%, from 3.6%.
The widely anticipated decision marks the end of the shortest rate-cutting cycle in the RBA’s modern history, after three reductions in the cash rate target in February, May and August of last year.
The quarter of a percentage point increase will increase the interest cost on a $600,000 home loan by $90 a month, bringing the monthly repayment to $3782, according to Canstar.
Some experts leading into the decision warned that a rate hike would be an overreaction to the recent uptick in inflation, and that it risked derailing an economic recovery.
The RBA’s governor, Michele Bullock, will have a chance to explain the decision - and whether there are more to come – at her regular press conference at 3:30pm.
Updated
As promised, the second question goes to the crossbench
It’s Warringah MP Zali Steggall who calls on the government to implement a royal commission into femicide and domestic violence.
The social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, says there doesn’t need to be another royal commission to “tell us what’s happening with the deaths of women in Australia.”
Frontline workers have been very clear that they don’t want another report, they want the implementation of the work that we’re doing right now. Last year, the domestic and family and sexual violence commissioner’s report to parliament pointed out we had 1,000 recommendations from at least eight major royal commissions and reviews.
Plibersek says the government needs to get on with the work of implementing those recommendations.
She says the government has put $4bn into 122 commonwealth-led recommendations of 583 initiatives happening around the country.
We agree with you - the member for Warringah and the members for Kooyong and Mackellar about the urgency of this and I say every member of the parliament agrees with the urgency but we don’t need more reports. We need to focus on the actions that will make a difference.
Sussan Ley makes a remark on indulgence to back in the work on domestic violence, but then takes a stab at the government over its promise to fund 500 frontline family violence workers in the last parliament. Milton Dick is very unimpressed with Ley using the statement to criticise the government, saying it’s “disrespectful” of the Speaker and disrespectful to the House.
Updated
Sussan Ley starts the (now limited) questions for the opposition
With the Reserve Bank due to announce its decision on the cash rate in about 20 minutes, Ley says the average mortgage holder who “is already paying around $21,000 more each year in interest under Labor” is anxiously waiting for that RBA announcement.
Someone yells “time” from the Labor benches, as Ley goes over her allotted 30 seconds for a question, which the opposition protests.
The PM gets snarky quickly and says:
I do encourage my people to not yell out “time.” There’s enough behind you doing that at the moment.
He then runs through a list of cost of living measures Labor has implemented like free Tafe.
He then tries on the age-old compare and contrast to what the inflation rate was when Anthony Albanese was first elected almost four years ago.
Updated
Liberal-only frontbench after Coalition split
The new-look Liberal-only opposition is now in the parliament for question time, with a smaller frontbench and the Nationals relegated back and to the side from the main action.
Angus Taylor, who is said to be angling for a leadership challenge, is seated in his normal seat right behind Ley, over her left shoulder.
David Littleproud, normally sitting right behind Ley on the frontbench, is now a seat back and off to the side, seated next to deputy Kevin Hogan. Formerly sprinkled through the opposition benches alongside Liberals, the Nationals are now segregated to their own benches, occupying the block of seats next to the Liberals – who are sitting in a tight clump right behind Ley, with no seats spare.
As the Nats took their new seats, further back from the action, MP Darren Chester looked up at the press gallery and made the shape of binoculars with his hands, as if struggling to see so far up into the chamber.
“Testing, testing”, he called, miming into his microphone.
Updated
It’s Question Time!
Before the questions begin, the prime minister honours the former Labor senator, Nick Bolkus.
Bolkus was elected to federal parliament in 1980, and was the first Greek Australian to serve as a cabinet minister. He retired in 2005.
Anthony Albanese says:
We remember his warmth, his intellect and considerable energy. His devotion his country to the Australian Labor Party and of the people of South Australia … Fittingly for the first Greek Australian to serve in Cabinet, he cherished democracy, he believed in politics as a vocation.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, says Bolkus was a strong advocate for multiculturalism and refugee resettlement while he was immigration minister.
Nick Bolkus spoke up for Australia. He was a stalwart Labor member who believed in his party’s principles and policies. He served his state, his party, and country according to his convictions.
Updated
Thorpe and McCarthy condemn alleged attempted bombing
Jumping back to Lidia Thorpe’s motion this morning, she and minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, both stood up to condemn the actions of a 31-year-old man who allegedly threw a fragment bomb into a 2500 strong crowd at Perth’s Invasion Day rally on 26 January.
In the federal senate chamber on Tuesday, a motion introduced by Thorpe was passed, and called on the federal government to condemn the man’s actions.
In her speech, Thorpe said the “trauma deepened” in the wake of the event, because the incident was met with “silence” from politicians and media.
Let us be absolutely clear, this should be treated as an act of terror.
Decisions were made in newsrooms, in ministerial offices, in the daily rhythms of power about whether this was urgent, whether it mattered, whether our lives mattered.
There was no emergency press conference from the prime minister, no proactive statement of condemnation, no solidarity offered to First Peoples left reeling from this attempted attack of mass violence.
McCarthy said:
What we saw in Perth last Monday, was an attempted bombing of a peaceful First Nations rally, led by First Nations Australians and their allies.
This was an attack on the social cohesion of the Australian community. It was an attack on all Australians.
When our social cohesion is attacked, all of us in this chamber, the government, the opposition, the crossbench, must apply consistent focus and condemnation.
Updated
Protest restrictions for parts of Sydney extended to cover Isaac Herzog’s visit
The NSW police commissioner has extended a restriction on protests for a fourth time, saying the visit by the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, was a “factor” in that decision.
On Tuesday, Mal Lanyon said the restriction – which effectively bans protesters being able to march in designated areas without the risk of being arrested – would be extended for another 14 days. He said the designated area would remain unchanged from when it was narrowed a fortnight ago ahead of the annual Invasion Day rally.
Lanyon said:
We’re still less than two months from what is the worst terrorist incident in New South Wales history today, I have considered that there remains a significant risk to community safety by public assemblies, and I have extended that declaration for a further 14 days.
Lanyon said Herzog’s visit was “certainly a factor” in the decision to extend the restriction:
I know that there is significant animosity about President Herzog’s visit … I need to balance up the level of animosity about his visit with the need for community safety, and that’s what we’ve done.
Geopolitical issues are important, and we respect the rights for free speech, but that cannot come before the safety of the community in New South Wales, my role and the role of New South Wales Police is to keep the New South Wales community safe.
Police were given the controversial power to restrict protests in designated areas for up to 90 days after a terror attack last year after the Minns government rushed laws through parliament in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.
The law will face a constitutional challenge before the court of appeal on 26 February. The challenge was brought by Blak Caucus, the Palestine Action Group (PAG) and Jews Against the Occupation ’48.
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Hanson fails to declare another flight from billionaire Gina Rinehart’s company
One Nation senator, Pauline Hanson, has failed to declare another flight received from billionaire Gina Rinehart’s company, travelling on her private jet between Melbourne and Sydney last October.
Guardian Australia can reveal that Hanson was given the flight after an event at a private agricultural college in Geelong last year, which she had attended for the official opening of a new building partly funded by Rinehart.
Hanson has failed to declare the flight in line with parliamentary rules for senators’ interests, which requires that a declaration is made of any sponsored travel or hospitality received where the value of the sponsorship or hospitality exceeds $300.
Asked at a press conference in Adelaide on Tuesday whether she had received any flights or transfers from Hancock Prospecting to or from the 19 October event, Hanson initially said: “No … if you are going to try to say that I am being funded by Gina Rinehart, the answer is no.”
Asked again if she received any flights or transfers to or from the event, Hanson replied “I can’t remember.”
You can read the full story here:
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Allan apologises in Bondi terror attack condolence motion
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has apologised for failing to prevent the rise of antisemitism in the lead up to the Bondi terror attack.
Allan moved a condolence motion in memory of the 15 people who were killed when two gunmen, allegedly inspired by Islamic State, targeted a Hanukah event on 14 December at Sydney’s Bondi beach.
It is the first time the Victorian parliament is sitting since the terror attack occurred. She said:
It is our responsibility, as leaders and as governments, to prevent attacks like this. Whether they happen in Bondi or in Ripponlea. And the truth is that governments let you down. Your fears were real. Your warnings were clear and we failed. I want you to know how sorry I am. And I want you to know that I share your anger and your resolve.
Allan said her government stood with Jewish Victorians and would defend their right to gather and practice their faith without fear:
We will defend your right to live openly and proudly in our state and we will confront antisemitism wherever it appears.
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Cory Bernardi and Pauline Hanson met with Australian flags and cheers
Some more on that press conference with One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, and newly recruited lead Legislative Council candidate, former senator Cory Bernardi.
A gang of supporters welcomed them in Adelaide with Australian flags, shouts of “prime minister”, and “Aussie Aussie Aussie” and “Trump”. (The media did not get such a warm reception, it’s fair to say).
Hanson spoke about the cost of living and rightwing issues that have been debunked, such as mass migration and parental alienation syndrome. She also pointed out the parlous state of the South Australian Liberal party, saying there was no opposition in the state or the country.
Bernardi was pressed on his previous party-hopping (from the Liberal party to the Australian Conservatives to being an independent) and said there was “no doubt” that he would stay as a member of One Nation.
Asked if he was talking to other Liberals about defecting, he said he was “always looking to recruit”, while when Hanson was asked whether she had spoken to backbencher Alex Antic she said “no” before saying she wasn’t ruling anything out.
She also shot down rumours that anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe was a potential candidate by appearing at first not to know who she was then saying she wasn’t on her list.
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‘Sussan has the numbers’, says Ley ally
Team Sussan Ley has been trying to radiate confidence in her leadership, with the leader herself this morning saying she will be in the hot seat to deliver the opposition’s budget in reply speech in May.
There is a lot of rumour swirling around parliament on when Team Angus Taylor will make their move and call a spill – after last week, his contender in the right faction, Andrew Hastie, announced he was bowing out.
Let me take you back to 13 May 2025 for a moment, when Ley beat Taylor in the leadership ballot after Peter Dutton lost his seat in the election. She claimed victory 29 votes to 25. Three of those votes came from two senators who have now retired and one moderate Liberal candidate (Gisele Kapterian) who didn’t win her Sydney seat after a recount. So the numbers are tight.
Speaking to Sky News, Andrew Wallace – a member of the Ley team – says he’s also confident in her position, but suggests that there aren’t plans already under way to roll her. That’s despite insiders telling us that Taylor is getting ready to make a move. Wallace says:
Sussan Ley has the support of the party room, I do not believe there is an active move against her … I believe Sussan has the numbers.
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‘Immoral’: Greens push for Isaac Herzog’s invitation to Australia to be revoked
Following Lidia Thorpe’s motion on the alleged attempted bombing at the Invasion Day rally in Perth, and call to condemn racism against First Nations people, the Greens senator David Shoebridge tries to suspend standing orders to move a motion to push the government to rescind the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog’s invitation to Australia.
Anthony Albanese has defended the decision to invite Herzog, despite much protest, including from rank-and-file Labor members.
Shoebridge says:
What the hell is Labor doing inviting someone like that to Australia … Next week this government is going to be providing the red carpet for a man who incited genocide.
History will judge this moment, it will judge whether we stood on the right side, or whether we chose pandering to the US and its ally Israel over justice … this invitation is immoral, it’s wrong and it’s time we said so.
The shadow foreign minister, Michaelia Cash, says the opposition won’t support that motion.
Another day, another stunt in the lives of the Australian Greens at the expense of being able to actually move on legislation that does need to be debated in this place.
Australia’s relationship with Israel should not be used as a prop, as it is being, for parliamentary theatrics.
The government also won’t support the motion.
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A motion condemning the alleged attempted bombing attack of an Invasion Day rally in Perth on 26 January has passed in the federal senate chamber on Tuesday.
The motion, introduced by independent senator Lidia Thorpe, noted that the federal government had a “duty to equally protect all people” in Australia from “racism, discrimination, hate speech and the threat of racially motivated violence”.
Here’s the full motion:
Condemns the attempted bombing on 26 January in Boorloo (Perth) that targeted First Peoples and their supporters;
Notes that the Western Australia Joint Counter Terrorism Team, consisting of the Western Australia Police Force, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, is investigating the incident as a potential terrorist act;
Acknowledges the serious harm this has caused and expresses its solidarity with all those impacted by this event;
Notes that for many First Nations people, 26 January is a day of mourning and that an attack on this day, at an Invasion Day rally, represents a serious escalation of racial violence against First Peoples;
Notes that an attack against First Nations people is an attack against all Australians;
Condemns all acts of violence and racism against First Peoples, and stands in solidarity with First Peoples against racism and hate directed at them;
Affirms that this Parliament’s recent condemnation of racially motivated hatred unambiguously includes racism directed at First Peoples;
Acknowledges that First Peoples in Australia continue to face entrenched racism, racially-motivated hate and threats of violence, and that any instance of this is unacceptable and must be addressed;
Calls for governments to continue to take urgent action to address racism, discrimination, hate speech and violence against First Peoples;
Parts of the motion were opposed by the Liberal party and Nationals, around calls for the parliament to officially recognise 26 January as Invasion Day and Day of Mourning, and for the federal government to take urgent action “address racism, discrimination, hate speech and violence against First Peoples”.
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‘Get it together’: Barnaby Joyce enters the Coalition chat
Of all the MPs telling the Coalition to get back together, would you expect former Nationals leader turned One Nation member Barnaby Joyce to?
Well, he did so while debating on the government’s motion to change the allocation of question time questions in the House.
To much laughter and some disbelief, he says:
It is probably not the best thing for the Australian people, it’s a little bit of an indictment, and I ask the Coalition, just get it together … and get us back to a normal day.
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Liberals accuse Labor of trying to dodge scrutiny with move to reduce opposition questions in parliament
Liberal chief whip, Aaron Violi, stands up next, and says “there is a lot of hubris in the House”.
He also accuses the government of trying to dodge scrutiny and transparency, and says question time needs to be a time for the opposition to be able to hold the government to account.
Violi accuses the Labor caucus of not being able to stand up to its leaders, and points to the lack of action on gambling reform.
It is crucial that the opposition be able to hold this bad government to account, because there is no one within that caucus that will hold the government to account … gambling reform, let’s talk about the Murphy report, the member for Bennelong is prepared to put a few statements out there publicly about the importance of gambling reform …
The member for Macarthur has said that if it went to a conscience vote, the Murphy report and gambling reform would pass this House, that’s the words of the member for Macarthur, do you need better evidence and proof of why you need an opposition with the ability to hold the government to account?
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Government will not yet change makeup of committees based on Coalition split, Burke says
Back in the house, Tony Burke says the government won’t yet move to change the makeup of committees based on the Coalition’s split.
Committees have a set number of government, opposition and crossbench members in them. The powerful security and intelligence committee has no crossbenchers in it, so if the Coalition remains split, Nationals senator Susan McDonald would face being booted out of it.
In response, manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke, moves amendments to Burke’s motion, and calls Burke’s words “unedifying” – which gets some boos from Labor.
Hawke says that the Nationals are not part of the crossbench, and pushes for the opposition to have at least eight questions in question time.
It’s purely a government trick to define them [the Nationals] as crossbenchers it’s purely a government decision to say that the Nationals aren’t sitting as their own party room.
Hawke says that the government is trying to reduce transparency, and points to the “friendless” FoI bill that Labor was trying to get through parliament late last year.
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Littleproud says Nationals will ‘consider’ Ley’s offer
David Littleproud has confirmed he’s received a written offer from the Liberal party. You can read about that offer here:
The Nationals leader has just released a statement saying that his party will take its time to consider the details of the offer.
The Nationals are united in our endeavours to reset the Coalition, but we won’t be providing updates on any negotiations through the media.
The negotiations are ongoing and we will always be constructive and act in good faith.
Littleproud says it’s important that the party takes the time to “get the settings right”.
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‘We now have the cross, the very cross and the apoplectic’: Burke
The bells are ringing!
Parliament is SO back, and over in the Senate this afternoon, Lidia Thorpe will be pushing forward her motion on the alleged attempted bombing in Perth on 26 January at the Invasion Day rally.
Over in the house, Tony Burke is moving a motion to give the crossbench more questions, and take some away from the Liberal party opposition while the Coalition is still split.
He’s having plenty of fun while he does it.
When the member for New England moved to the crossbench, it had not occurred to us that the entire National party was going to move to the crossbench with him, and while he’s not their leader they appear to be his followers.
We now have the cross, the very cross and the apoplectic.
He then needles the opposition a bit harder, speaking about possible defections from the opposition to One Nation:
I see members of the crossbench nodding, but you might not want the ones you get. I’d be careful what you wish for. When we talked about the growth of the crossbench last time, you never expected this one was going to happen.
The Liberals aren’t particularly impressed with the commentary. Their benches are looking fairly bare, but we’ll get a proper sense of the changes when the chamber is full for question time.
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Victorian opposition supports ADHD diagnosis changes
The Victorian opposition’s health spokesperson, Georgie Crozier, has welcomed the government’s decision to allow GPs to diagnose and prescribe medication for ADHD. She says she’s been calling for the change for some time:
It is an issue that needed addressing, so I’m pleased it is, but the government is falling short of other jurisdictions in relation to what they are doing.
She said the government needed to ensure the first 150 GPs to be trained were located across the state, particularly in the regions “where there is a very significant shortfall of an ability to get in to see psychiatrists”. Crozier says:
We know those waitlists are months and years, and the government needs to do more in addressing those shortfalls right across the state.
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Google rolls out age assurance for under-18s across services, including app store
Google has said Australian users identified as being under 18 will have their accounts restricted from this week, after an expansion of the age assurance rollout from the US last year to Australia, Singapore and Brazil this week.
In a blog post on Monday, Google said:
These measures are designed to recognise users who are either over or under 18, so that we can provide age-appropriate experiences for those under 18. This is just one part of our broader commitment to keeping Australians safe online.
Under the changes announced last year, Google is using AI to determine the ages of user accounts by looking at the types of information a user searches for or videos they’ve watched on YouTube.
If the age is incorrectly estimated as being under 18, the user can correct the age via facial age estimation or uploading ID.
Google is already estimating ages of Australian users on YouTube under the social media ban for under 16s based on age of the Google account and other signals, but this will expand the age checking, and for accounts under 18, users will have personalised advertising disabled, and Google Play will not allow minors access to adult apps.
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Greens push for government to rescind Herzog invitation
The Greens will move a motion in the Senate calling on the government to rescind its invitation for the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, to visit. The party will move a suspension of standing orders, asking that Herzog’s invitation be revoked.
It is unlikely the motion will be supported by the Labor or Liberal parties. But the Greens say they’re moving the motion in response to concerns raised by members of the public and protest groups regarding social cohesion, and a United Nations commission of inquiry’s conclusion in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
That commission, which does not speak on behalf of the UN, stated Herzog, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and then defence minister Yoav Gallant “incited the commission of genocide”.
Herzog and the Israeli government have strongly rejected the report. Israel’s foreign ministry has previously rejected the report, calling it “distorted and false” and claiming it “relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods”.
Herzog was invited to visit in the wake of the Bondi terror shooting which left 15 people dead at a Hanukah festival.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has previously defended his decision to invite Herzog, and said he looks forward to welcoming him to Australia.
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Chris Minns urged to abandon further restrictions on protests
Nine organisations have written to the NSW premier Chris Minns urging against further restrictions on protests, saying confining protests to specific areas of the CBD is “untenable”.
Last week Guardian Australia revealed that Minns is understood to be considering changes to the form 1 system and land use policies to curtail protests in the Sydney CBD. Two ideas on the table are designating the Domain a protest site under land use rules, and giving the NSW police discretion to refuse form 1 applications for protests after a certain number of applications.
The letter, sent to Minns on Tuesday and organised by the Australia Democracy Network, rejected the potential plan, arguing it could conflict with Australia’s obligations under international law.
Among the organisations who signed on to the letter were Amnesty International, the Human Rights Law Centre, Redfern Legal Centre and the Aboriginal Legal Centre.
The letter said the UN human rights committee has clearly stated that “as a general rule, there can be no blanket ban on all assemblies … in all public places except one specific location within a city”.
Restrictions on protest must … be sufficiently precise, necessary and proportionate to be in line with the freedom of political communication in the constitution. Limiting all protests in specific areas of the city is unlikely to meet this test.
The group also pointed out that part of the obligation of states under international law is “to ensure that protest notification procedures are necessary, proportionate and justifiable, and do not function as a system of authorising protests.” The letter also urged the Minns government to not criminalise the chant “globalise the intifada”.
We recognise the deep hurt and fear across the community in the wake of the horrific antisemitic terror attack at Bondi. While preventing further community harm is a necessary objective for the government, limiting protests is not the answer to meet the challenges of this moment.
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Independent senator moves to dump Labor’s controversial FoI bill
The Labor government’s unpopular changes to freedom-of-information laws could be rejected by the Senate today, with the crossbench – and potentially the Liberals – to support discharging the bill from the upper-house agenda.
The FoI bill, which would add higher charges to applications for information and make it harder for those applications to succeed, passed the House of Reps last year and is expected to return to the Senate before too long.
But former Labor senator turned independent Fatima Payman is moving a motion today to have the bill discharged. Payman noted in a statement “the committee inquiry into the Bill received 70 submissions and the only two submissions of support came from Government organisations”.
“The bill in its current form will raise revenue but lower accountability,” Payman told Guardian Australia.
It’s already so hard to get information from the government, are we seriously saying this is good for our democracy if we’re making it harder for people to get access to information?
Payman’s motion is expected to be backed by other crossbenchers such as David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie, as well as the Greens. The Liberal party is also discussing whether to support Payman’s motion. Speaking to the Australian Politics podcast last week, the shadow attorney general, Andrew Wallace, called the FoI bill “friendless” and “a dog” of a bill but conceded “never say never” when asked if the Coalition could back it.
We’ll bring you more when the motion comes up for debate this afternoon.
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Ley proposes the three National senators who crossed the floor stay on backbench for six months
The three National senators who defied the shadow cabinet to oppose Labor’s hate speech laws would be forced to sit on the backbench for six months under Sussan Ley’s offer to the Nationals to reunite the Coalition.
Ley briefed Liberal MPs on the terms of a potential peace deal with the Nationals after talks with David Littleproud on Monday night.
The opposition leader did not face a snap leadership spill at Tuesday’s meeting as conservative rival Angus Taylor bides his time before mounting a challenge.
Ley and Littleproud met on Monday night but could not reach an agreement on reforming the Coalition after last month’s split, meaning the two parties will sit separately when parliament resumes later on Tuesday.
Guardian Australia has confirmed that under Ley’s offer to Littleproud the three senators would not be able to rejoin the shadow cabinet for six months.
The suspension expires in July 2026.
The Nationals would be able to choose which of their MPs replaced the suspended trio in the shadow cabinet.
Under the deal, both parties would adhere to shadow cabinet solidarity and neither party would have the ability to overturn a decision made by shadow cabinet.
The Liberals also want to regain the assistant Treasury portfolio, which was handed to the Nationals after the 2025 federal election.
The skills portfolio could be offered in exchange.
The Nationals party room is meeting on Tuesday morning to consider the offer.
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‘You’re on notice’: says Hanson to Labor
Pauline Hanson is doing a press conference from Adelaide, fresh off her announcement that Cory Bernadi (the former Liberal senator) will be joining her ranks, running for the South Australian Senate in the upcoming March state election.
Half of Bernadi’s head is currently off the screen due to the height difference between him and Hanson.
Hanson says housing, mass migration (a claim which has been debunked by the ABS), and the cost of living are driving voters to One Nation.
I’m warning Labor now, you’re on notice. We are coming for your seats, and we are actually going to represent the people of this state to give them hope.
Bernadi takes the mic (and now has his whole head in shot), and calls Hanson one of the “most resilient and prescient political figures of our time”.
You can read more about Bernadi joining One Nation here:
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Victorian treasurer says state government can support people if interest rates rise
The Victorian treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, says she’s closely watching the Reserve Bank board’s decision on interest rates expected later today.
As my colleague Patrick Commins reported yesterday, financial markets and most economists expect the RBA will lift its cash rate target from 3.6% to 3.85%, marking the shortest and shallowest rate rise cycle in memory after inflation roared back in the second half of last year.
Symes says she doesn’t want to provide commentary on the RBA but stood ready to support Victorians should rates increase:
We’ll wait and see what the decision is today. As I said, the state government, we have levers. We have the ability to support people through cost-of-living measures, and that’s something that we will be looking at, and I’m sure will be a feature of the budget.
She says the budget could also be affected by interest rate increases.
That’s something that we have to factor in and you’ll see that in the deliberations of the budget if that goes forward, not only will we respond to interest rate increases, but also looking for future impact.
Victoria’s mid-year budget update, released in December, showed the 2025-26 operating surplus was $710m, compared with the $600m forecast in May 2025. The state’s debt was also forecast to marginally improve across the forward estimates – to $192bn by 2028-29 (a $2bn improvement on May’s budget).
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NSW premier says to expect protest restrictions for Israeli president visit
Leaving the federal parliament for a moment, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, says he expects protest restrictions to be in place for a visit by Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, next week, as NSW police meet today to decide whether to extend a declaration effectively banning marches through Sydney’s CBD, potentially impacting planned pro-Palestine rallies.
Last month police narrowed the area covered, allowing Invasion Day rallies to go ahead, although it could be re-extended to cover a wider area for Herzog’s visit between 8 and 12 February. The Palestine Action Group has planned a rally as part of a “national day of protest” on Monday at Sydney’s Town Hall, which is currently covered by the declaration, although it is not yet known if the group plans to march.
The group is part of a constitutional challenge to legislation rushed through parliament following the Bondi attack that gives the police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, the power to prevent the authorisation of public assemblies for up to 90 days following a terrorist attack, meaning protesters are not legally protected for offences such as blocking traffic or pedestrians.
The decision must be given final approval by the police minister, but Lanyon and the premier have insisted the process is independent from government influence. Today Minns says he had “a lot of meetings” with Lanyon in relation to Herzog’s visit, but denies he has sought to influence the decision.
There’s a need to protect both the president as an invited guest to Australia and also regular Australians as they go about their jobs and their lives in Sydney next week. And we want to make sure that we’re balancing those protections in the next seven days. It’s not going to be straightforward, but you can expect restrictions to be a place, I would assume …
I’ll let [NSW police] make the determination, but I just think that a reasonable person could look at the circumstances and say, we just can’t have a riot in Sydney, you’re gonna have a lot of people that are mourning a horrible terrorist event on 14 December.
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Mark Butler says WA murder-suicide was the “most awful tragedy”
The health minister has been asked about a suspected double murder-suicide in Mosman Park in Perth.
Brothers Otis, 14, and Leon, 16, who lived with disabilities, were found dead at their home on Friday morning. Reports say police confirmed both boys had “significant health challenges”. Their parents were also found dead.
Butler says the deaths were a “most awful tragedy”.
It’s an awful tragedy at so many different levels, but particularly the loss of two children’s lives who obviously did not choose to die, is an unspeakable tragedy. Now, I know there’s been a bit of commentary over in Western Australia about the NDIS packages that these children were on. I want to be really clear. First of all, I don’t want to say anything that would impact the police investigation. I want to give people confidence that the NDIA, the agency, is cooperating fully with the police to the extent that they have any useful inputs to the police investigation.
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How many children will use the Thriving Kids program?
We don’t get an exact number, Butler says it will be roughly the number of children under age nine with low to moderate needs but there will be some parts of the community who currently don’t have access to supports that now will.
Until 1 January, 2028 when Thriving Kids is fully operational, NDIS is still open for those children … we also think that there’s probably unmet need in the community, particularly given how expensive it can be to receive a diagnosis, we have a sense we’re not able to quantify this precisely. We have a sense that there are parts of the community, particularly some of the poorer parts of our community, that don’t have the money it takes to go to a paediatrician to get a formal diagnosis.
Of its $2bn commitment, the federal government will be giving $1.4bn directly to the states and territories for delivery and will spend the rest on monitoring and evaluating the program.
Butler also says the program won’t increase the burden on parents in accessing support for their children.
NDIS ‘did not work for kids’: Frank Oberklaid
Alongside Butler is Frank Oberklaid, co-chair on the Advisory Group, who says the fact that a child will not need a formal diagnosis to receive support is critical.
He doesn’t mince his words on the ongoing issues on the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The professional community working with children and families, and particularly paediatricians, I’m a paediatrician, were really very pleased that finally issues in the NDIS [are] starting to be addressed. The minister said it was drifting – it wasn’t drifting, it was a broken system. It did not work for kids.
Rather than making a diagnosis, paediatric practice is about what does this child and this family need over the next six to 12 months. What sort of supports do they need to make a difference, not what is the diagnosis.
[Under the current system] it defaulted to children needing to have a diagnosis to get any sort of supports. And paediatricians were getting requests from teachers … with the words “please confirm a diagnosis of autism so this child can get services”. So it totally distorted clinical practice.
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Government details plan to move low-needs children off NDIS
The government has released the Thriving Kids Advisory Group report, which has proposed a model of care for the program which will aim to move children with low to moderate support needs across from the ballooning NDIS.
After agreement at national cabinet, the government has promised to commit $2bn with the states and territories to also commit $2bn. The program will be aimed at children under the age of nine with developmental delay and/or autism, with low to moderate support needs.
The advisory group’s proposed model will have key principles which will aim to identify children with developmental delay as early as possible, connect children and families with supports, offer evidence based supports that are child and family centred, deliver supports across “everyday settings”, ensure supports are empowering and acknowledge that children’s needs can change over time.
The health minister, Mark Butler, is speaking to reporters in parliament:
The thing people have complained most about the operation of the NDIS for this cohort is the time it takes to get a diagnosis, the need for a formal diagnosis, which can take years to access and cost thousands of dollars before parents are given any support for their children. This will be easy to access. It won’t require a formal diagnosis and those supports, importantly, will be child and family centred, they will be available where children and their parents live and learn and play.
Butler says the commonwealth will negotiate bilateral agreements with the states and territories and will aim to see the money flow to them from 20 February.
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Immunotherapy is a ‘wild ride’, retiring Greens MP says
Victorian Greens MP Tim Read, who last week has announced will retire from politics at the November election after being diagnosed with metastatic cancer, has told reporters his immunotherapy is a “wild ride”.
He says:
I’m actually feeling much better. Immunotherapy is a wild ride. It seems to be working … I’ve got widespread cancer but I’ve got about half what I had. So I’m actually feeling increasingly hopeful. I will be missing lots of parliament for appointments and things like that but I’m really optimistic and hoping that I’ll get to the end of the year.
Read ended his doorstop by telling reporters “I’m not dead yet”.
His seat of Brunswick is a safe Greens street – held on a 13.5% margin over Labor.
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David Littleproud says there will be ‘no unilateral decisions’ on Coalition
Going back to the church service this morning, the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, was giving little away on negotiations to reunite the Coalition.
He remained coy on talks with Sussan Ley, saying there would be “no unilateral decisions”, and he’d keep talking to his team, but was standing by the Nationals’ original decision to vote against the hate speech laws which led to the Coalition splitting.
“We couldn’t stand by and be sacked for voting against hate speech laws that would take away freedom of speech for Australians,” he said.
The National party did what they believed was the right thing to do.
Asked if the Coalition would be back together this week, Littleproud said he would not “pre-empt” discussions with Ley but said talks had been “constructive” already.
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We’ve heard the church bells this morning, but we’re still waiting for those chamber bells to ring – which will happen at midday today.
The late start is normal for a Tuesday and allows all the party rooms to meet to give each other a gee up and discuss what party positions they’ll be taking over the week (which they’re doing right now).
But in the meantime, we have some more pictures from the ecumenical service in Canberra this morning.
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Victorian premier accuses Jess Wilson of standing ‘with One Nation and Barnaby Joyce’
The premier, Jacinta Allan, has responded to the opposition leader, Jess Wilson, pulling out of an event headlined by One Nation recruit Barnaby Joyce.
As we reported yesterday, Wilson’s office confirmed she would no longer be speaking at the Across Victoria Alliance conference in Horsham on 9 February due to an “unavoidable scheduling conflict”.
Wilson had been under pressure from Allan to withdraw from the event after Joyce’s appearance was announced in January, weeks after he defected from the Nationals to join One Nation. His speech on Sunday will push back against the state government’s removal of third-party objection rights for renewable energy projects and expanded powers for VicGrid to access private land without consent.
Allan says:
The Liberal leader has made it clear that it’s a scheduling conflict. Clearly, she still wants to go to the misinformation convention, if time allowed her to. This is the instinct of the Liberal leader and the Liberal party – not look at what needs to be done to get more renewable energy on board. First instinct is to rush to the extremes, to stand with One Nation and Barnaby Joyce at this misinformation convention, it tells Victorians everything you need to know about this Liberal leader and this Liberal outfit. You cannot take them seriously and they’re being pushed further and further to the extremes.
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Victorian government to announce plan to allow GPs to diagnose ADHD and prescribe medication
As we flagged earlier this morning, the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference at parliament this morning to announce a plan to allow GPs to diagnose and prescribe medication for ADHD.
She says the announcement forms part of her determination to find “new ways to support families”.
It follows a speech to Labor MPs yesterday, in which Allan tested out a new pre-election slogan around “new solutions” to the pressures of modern family life.
The premier told reporters this morning:
This will save families time and money – and, in today’s world, time and money is precious for families, particularly when the cost-of-living pressures that are really real. We’re always looking at ways to support families.
She is joined by Aadhil Aziz, the co-deputy chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, who welcomes the move. As does Simon Stafrace from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists:
We know that there is such a thing as over-diagnosis, there are risks associated with medication, but we also believe that’s not a reason to withhold services and so we have to find the right balance. That’s what we’re trying to do here. This is a correction that needs to take place and we believe that in working together and collaborating, both at the training level but also at the service delivery level, ensuring patients get access to specialist care when they need it.
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Reunification the ‘objective’ of talks between Liberals and Nationals: Wilson
Liberal MP Tim Wilson says the objective of talks between the two ex-Coalition parties is to reunite because they and the Australian public want “to make sure that we are fighting for them, not each other”.
Wilson tells Sky News the two parties should be focused on inflation and bringing government debt down. Does he want that focus to be “under the umbrella of a Coalition” asks host Peter Stefanovic? Wilson says:
Well, I’m going to be doing it regardless of whether a Liberal party or part of a Coalition.
It’s not a ringing endorsement for a reunification of the Coalition. Wilson earlier told RN Breakfast that, if there was to be a reformed Coalition, the Nationals would have to obey shadow cabinet solidarity.
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Australia’s Stem sector ‘under unsustainable strain’, peak body warns
Australia’s Stem sector is facing a severe funding crisis and is “under unsustainable strain”, a peak body has warned the federal government in a pre-budget submission. It comes amid new survey data suggesting one in three scientists are planning to leave the sector entirely.
New analysis conducted by Science and Technology Australia, which represents more than 235,000 scientists and technologists, and Professionals Australia, has found that 47% of Stem professionals are considering leaving their current roles, amid workforce instability and low grant funding success rates.
STA’s submission says commonwealth funding for Stem research has flatlined in real terms in recent years and it calls for “immediate funding stabilisation through CPI-indexed increases to research grant programs and agencies”. The STA president, Jas Chambers, said:
Stem research must stop being viewed as a cost to the public purse and instead as an investment in Australia’s future economic security and resilience. Every dollar invested in R&D returns $3-5 to the economy.
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Ley and Littleproud ‘agree to keep talking’
As she speaks to the media outside the church, Ley is asked for the latest on the Coalition split.
Like everyone else, Ley says her talk with Littleproud last night was “constructive”, but she won’t say whether she will accept the National’s demand to reinstate the three senators who crossed the floor to the frontbench.
We had constructive conversations with the National party last night and I want to make the point that they were friendly. They were constructive. We agreed to keep talking because we are both parties on the non-Labor side of politics and we both have a lot in common.
While the Coalition talks continue, Ley is still facing a potential leadership challenge from Angus Taylor in coming weeks. Ley says she is confident she will remain leader until the budget.
Very confident of delivering a strong budget in reply speech in May. Lots of work between now and May, because we have a big agenda to prosecute.
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PM and Ley trade criticisms after church service
Well that didn’t last long … almost as soon as the pollies left church, the politicking has quickly begun.
As the PM left, he described the service as “beautiful” and said a real highlight was the “absolutely delightful” junior choir.
Whenever I’m with young people, where it’s from an early learning situation of childcare, or in a primary school in particular, what you see is hope for Australia.
But then he quickly took a jab at the Liberals and Nationals, accusing them of continuing “to focus on each other”.
Meanwhile, Sussan Ley is trying hard this morning to not do that, and is focusing her attention on the economy, blaming the government and Jim Chalmers for rising inflation.
The Albanese government is a government that failed to keep Australians safe over summer and has failed on the economy because we heard from the prime minister that the interest rate rises of the past were all in the past … But that is not the case. Unfortunately, right now, Australians are struggling even more with the cost of living crisis. This is Labor’s cost of living crisis.
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In pictures: politicians attend parliamentary church service
Before the politicians get ready for some parliamentary sparring, they attend a church service in Canberra together on the first scheduled sitting day of the year.
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Lidia Thorpe to move motion condemning alleged Invasion Day bombing attempt
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe will introduce a motion into the Senate to condemn the alleged attempted bombing of an Invasion Day rally in Perth last month.
Thorpe tells RN Breakfast there have been “double standards” in the response to the alleged attempt, and that her motion will try to “achieve some solidarity” in the parliament and recognise some of the trauma caused.
Thorpe says the response from the government has been “very poor” and accuses the prime minister of not coming out “on his own” to condemn the act.
To have a homemade fragmentation bomb packed with screws and ball bearings [allegedly] thrown into a crowd of families and the nation falls silent, I think, is an absolute double standard and disrespectful to all of those families that are still traumatised and reeling in the hurt that this one lone man [allegedly] created for many people.
It also highlights racism and hate directed at First Peoples in this country, that it’s real and that it’s rising. I’ve never seen it so bad in my 52 years. So we’re under attack all the time. It seems to be normalised.
It wasn’t until the prime minister was asked at a press conference about this act of violence that he responded. He did not come out on his own to condemn the violence. And it’s all kind of been watered down compared to, as I said earlier, other acts of violence.
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While the Coalition’s (sorry, ex-coalition’s) infighting has been something of a gift to Labor and the prime minister, the government is still under pressure to deliver a legislative agenda. That, and cost of living relief.
There are 10 key challenges the government needs to address before the next election in 2028 – which might feel like a while away but, as they say, time flies.
My excellent colleague Tom McIlroy breaks down those 10 challenges here:
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ASX to rebound despite cash rate jitters
Australian shares are set to rally when markets open today after fears of a global equity sell-off eased on Wall Street overnight.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is expected to open up about 1% to the 8,870 mark, according to futures pricing, recovering losses suffered on Monday.
Global stock markets have endured a volatile period marked by a sharp correction in precious metal prices, halting their strong run. Part of the recent volatility is linked to investors assessing how Donald Trump’s new nominee to chair the Federal Reserve might affect markets.
The US equity benchmark index, the S&P 500, was up more than 0.5% overnight.
Australian shares have been weighed down by expectations of an interest rate rise, which would increase borrowing costs for households and businesses.
Traders are pricing in more than a 70% chance of a rate increase today, according to the ASX’s rate indicator which tracks the pricing of cash rate contracts.
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Teachers in NSW could be more easily sacked under hate speech changes
Teachers in NSW could be more easily sacked if they engage in hate speech under changes to school codes of conduct, the state government says.
The Minns government has moved to amend codes of conduct to explicitly prohibit hate speech in all school sectors, covering more than 3,000 government, independent and Catholic schools, effective from today. The change affects all school staff members, including principals.
The government says the changes will align with hate speech legislation passed by the state and commonwealth governments, although it is unclear what the threshold would be for a teacher to be dismissed.
The premier, Chris Minns, has told 2GB the changes respond to cases where the government has “felt it has been unable to take action” after teachers have been accused of hate speech.
If you participate in hate speech, even if it’s not on the school grounds, then you’re not the kind of person that we want shaping young minds.
As NSW parliament resumes today, the focus is expected to be on the response to the Bondi massacre. The NSW opposition is moving legislation for universities and government agencies to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
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GPs to diagnose ADHD and prescribe drugs for children and adults in Victoria
GPs in Victoria will soon be able to diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and prescribe drugs for children and adults, in a move that brings the state into line with New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, will this morning announce a $750,000 plan to equip an initial 150 GPs with training to be able to diagnose, treat and prescribe medication for ADHD by September.
The GPs will also consider non-medication care options - such as lifestyle changes, behavioural therapy and education to manage symptoms - where possible, in line with best practice ADHD treatment models.
Currently, most people seeking a diagnosis, management and ongoing prescription medication for ADHD must see a specialist - often a paediatrician for children or a psychiatrist for adults. The government said this can leave many people facing high out-of-pocket costs and wait times of up to six to 12 months.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners have been advocating for the change and estimate up to163,000 Victorian children and 320,00 adults may be living with ADHD.
Allan said:
Labor is making health care work better for busy families by making ADHD care easier and cheaper to access. No child or family should be left behind because the system is too complex, too hard or too expensive.
Liberals want ‘shadow cabinet solidarity’, Tim Wilson says
Following Nationals MP Darren Chester on RN Breakfast is the Liberal MP Tim Wilson, who says the Nationals must obey shadow cabinet solidarity if they are to return to the Coalition.
A very quick recap here – shadow cabinet solidarity comes with a set of rules for the frontbench which means that a shadow cabinet minister cannot cross the floor against a position made by the party, which is what the three Nationals senators did.
Wilson is asked if he’s “angry” at what the senators did. He says:
I’m disappointed, of course, and I think that’s a universal view … The one thing I would stress is there’s a very strong view from shadow cabinet and Liberal party MPs that we need to have shadow cabinet solidarity. That when we decide something as a shadow cabinet, that it’s honoured.
Asked if he’s confident that Sussan Ley will remain leader at the end of the week (with a showdown against conservative MP Angus Taylor looming), Wilson says, “I’m confident of that.”
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Littleproud says Nationals will be ‘adults’ as they consider possible return to coalition
David Littleproud has been slowly tempering his language around a possible return to the Coalition, after he first said that his party would not serve under Sussan Ley.
Speaking to the Today show this morning, he says he and his party will be “adults” and consider whether there is a pathway to return.
No, I said we couldn’t work with Sussan unless our three [senators] were reinstated.
We’re going to be adults, we’re going to be considered and deliberations as a room, and we’ll hopefully get to a juncture where we can get back.
Littleproud is also not a fan of the comparison between the Liberals and Nationals fight to the reality TV show Married at First Sight (MAFS), which the prime minister made yesterday. The Nationals leader says:
Anthony Albanese can make those jibes. The reality is this is serious business. We didn’t do it lightly. Our party room [took a] principled position.
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What’s the latest in the Coalition split?
So we know that Sussan Ley and David Littleproud met last night, which everyone has called “constructive” but didn’t lead to a “breakthrough”.
The Nationals want the three frontbenchers who handed their resignations to Ley for crossing the floor on the hate speech bill – Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald – to be reinstated to the frontbench, despite them breaking cabinet solidarity.
The Liberals aren’t so keen on that.
Speaking to RN Breakfast, Nationals senator Darren Chester, who is pushing for the two parties to reunite, says it wouldn’t be “realistic” for the Liberal party to dictate who the Nationals pick for the frontbench if they were able to come back together.
Because we’re now not in coalition, so we’re two separate parties. If, in fact, the parties can reunite, it wouldn’t be realistic for the leader of the National party to say to the Liberal party you can’t have certain characters in your team. So it probably won’t be realistic for the Liberal party to say anything about the National party’s team.
But Chester also says it wasn’t necessary for the Coalition to split in the first place,
I thought there were stages along the process where things escalated, where I would have liked to have seen things de-escalate.
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Labor announces cheaper loans for electric vehicles
The government has announced cheaper loans for some Hyundai and Kia EVs this morning, to incentivise the vehicles and help drive down emissions (pun intended).
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has committed $60m to partner with the two vehicle brands that would give eligible customers between 0.5% and 1% on their finance rate. The government says it could save an EV user with a $70,000 loan, $1900 in interest costs over five years.
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said eligible cars include fully electric vehicles under the luxury car tax threshold:
Transport is one of our biggest sources of emissions, and electric vehicles are a key way we cut pollution while saving people money.
Meanwhile, the government is reviewing its current EV tax incentive policy, which exempts EV drivers from paying fringe benefits tax, through a novated lease under certain conditions. The fringe benefits tax break can save EV users tens of thousands of dollars over several years but costs the budget billions – leading the productivity commission to recommend scrapping it.
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Liberals need ‘divine intervention’ as MPs attend church service
Liberal politicians have joked they need “divine intervention” at a church service before parliament resumes today.
Federal parliamentarians are attending the ecumenical service, before sitting begins later. Media doorstopped most of the MPs on their way in, with reporters asking what they were praying for, whether they needed “forgiveness”, and whether they prayed for a Coalition reunion.
Liberal MP and shadow minister Scott Buchholz, pointing at the church, joked: “that’s where we need divine intervention”.
Other Coalition MPs laughed and shrugged off similar questions when asked. Nationals MP Anne Webster, asked if she’d pray for the Coalition reuniting, said “absolutely”.
Liberal MP and shadow minister Andrew Wallace, asked about leadership issues, said: “Sussan Ley has the support of the party room, and she absolutely has my support.”
Journalists also fired questions at Ley on her way in but she replied “can’t be late for church”.
We’ll expect to hear from Ley and Anthony Albanese on their way out of the church later.
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Jim Chalmers defends government spending
As Jim Chalmers continues his walk down the press gallery in Parliament House, he’s still being needled with questions over the rise in inflation in the Australian economy and the possibility of a rate hike today.
He acknowledges that the inflation data last month was higher than the government would have liked but not “that much higher than we expected”.
Chalmers – as he said before – tells ABC RN Breakfast government spending is not the problem here, it’s things like holiday spending and the ending of temporary rebates.
We know that inflation’s higher than we would like. People are under more pressure than anybody wants. And that’s why the responsibility that we have … is to continue to manage the budget in a responsible way, continue to roll out this cost of living relief.
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A Reserve Bank rate hike today may be bad news for the roughly 3.3 million mortgaged households, but what about the ranks of would-be homeowners?
Could a hike maybe cool the red hot property market, and even benefit first-time buyers?
The signs are not great. Despite growing predictions of higher borrowing costs in the works, national home prices forged ahead, lifting by 0.8% in January and faster than December’s 0.6% rise.
Dwelling values are up 9.4% over the past year.
While higher borrowing costs are hardly a spur for higher property prices, recent history shows they aren’t necessarily much of a handbrake, either.
Still, CBA economists point to some “crosswinds” for the property market that probably mean prices will grow more slowly than in 2025. They say:
Persistently low supply, high investor activity, federal government support for first home buyers and a broader improvement in the economy are pushing prices higher.
However, affordability constraints, normalising population growth and the prospect of an RBA rate hike … remain headwinds.
The explosion in investor interest does not bode well for an improvement in affordability in 2026, whether we get a rate hike or not.
Total lending to landlords jumped by 1% in January – the fastest pace in over 18 years, according to Westpac.
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Experts predict Reserve Bank rate rise
It’s Reserve Bank decision day and most experts and investors are betting on a rate hike at 2.30pm – the first since November 2023.
That would take the central bank’s official cash rate target to 3.85%, from 3.6%, with the increase eventually flowing through to mortgage rates.
An uncomfortably and unexpectedly high inflation rate in the December quarter is the key factor that would drive the RBA’s monetary policy board to reverse course after delivering a paltry three rate cuts in 2025.
The board needs to be confident that inflation is heading back towards the midpoint of its 2-3% target band within a reasonable timeframe.
The RBA will also release a new set of economic forecasts at the same time as the announcement, in a three-monthly document known as the Statement on Monetary Policy.
In the statement accompanying the decision, we’ll find out how many of the nine-member board voted for a hike, and how many for a hold.
Then the RBA’s governor, Michele Bullock, will step up to face the press pack at 3.30pm to expand on the decision.
If the board does hike, the most obvious question will be: are we going to get another one?
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Liberals to get fewer questions in question time after split with Nationals
With the Coalition parties still split, the Liberals will get fewer questions in parliament’s question time today. We’re told that with the diminished Liberals sitting on their own and the Nationals now on the crossbench, the official opposition and the crossbenchers will get the same number of questions – likely five each.
The opposition would normally get more questions than the crossbench.
The Labor minister and leader of the house, Tony Burke, poked fun at the issue as the question time arrangement was confirmed by the government:
It had never occurred to me that, when Barnaby Joyce went to the crossbench, that the entire National party would move to the crossbench with him.
The crossbench is now as big as the opposition, so the arrangements for question time will be changed to reflect that.
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‘Three divisive parties of the far right in Australia’: Chalmers
Jumping back to Chalmers speaking to ABC News Breakfast, he’s asked about the growing support of One Nation.
The treasurer says the right isn’t necessarily growing but is “splintering” with One Nation taking votes directly from the Coalition.
It says that we now have three divisive parties of the far right in Australia, and we’ve got one mainstream government which is focused on the things which really matter to people … I think it says that the right of politics is splintering.
Last week’s Essential poll numbers for the Guardian found that 23% of respondents who voted for the Coalition in 2025 now intend to support One Nation.
But it also found that 8% of one-time Labor voters have switched to Hanson.
Nationals deputy says there’s ‘will on both sides’ to end Liberal-National feud
There’s “will on both sides” for the Liberals and the Nationals to end their impasse, according to the deputy Nationals leader, Kevin Hogan.
Speaking on ABC’s 7.30 program last night, Hogan described the evening’s meeting between Sussan Ley and David Littleproud as “a really good, civil, cooperative and friendly chat” but that the possibility of the reinstatement of a trio of Nationals frontbenchers had not been agreed upon.
The Coalition split occurred after Ley accepted the resignation of three Nationals who crossed the floor on Labor’s hate speech laws, prompting all of the country party’s frontbenchers to quit in solidarity.
The Nationals want the three senators – Bridget McKenzie, Susan McDonald and Ross Cadell – reinstated in their positions as a condition of reuniting with the Liberals.
Hogan, who described himself as a “strong coalitionist”, said that the demand was “obviously a really important thing we have to nut out and have a resolution on” but “wasn’t agreed tonight”. He added:
We want to resolve this. We think a good government is a good Coalition government.
When asked whether the Coalition could be together by Tuesday’s question time, Hogan said that timeframe was “probably unlikely”.
He continued:
No one went to Canberra two weeks ago believing the Coalition was going to blow up that week … but we went down paths and I think there were misunderstandings on both sides and we’ve had that frank conversation tonight too, which I think was really healthy.
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Government spending not to blame for inflation rise, treasurer says
Jim Chalmers is probably not feeling his absolute best with the prospect of the Reserve Bank potentially increasing interest rates today, which will affect millions of households.
While (unsurprisingly) the federal treasurer says he won’t comment on what the RBA will do today, he says the government is still focused on reducing the cost of living.
Chalmers has been facing some criticisms over government spending contributing to inflation but he tells ABC News Breakfast there are other causes that are sending prices up.
The tick up that we saw in the most recent data was not about government spending. It was about holiday spending, the withdrawal the energy rebates. It was about some persistent pressures in housing. Some of that pressure was temporary. Some of it more persistent than anyone would like.
Now, when it comes to government spending, really, the main story of the economy last year was public demand took a big step back. It was around, I think, less than a third of what it was the year before, and private demand really gathered pace.
The federal government’s energy rebates ended on 31 December, while other state rebates ended several months ago.
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Ley expected to avoid snap challenge at Tuesday meeting
Sussan Ley is expected to avoid a snap challenge from rival Angus Taylor when Liberal MPs meet face-to-face for the first time since the Coalition split plunged the opposition leader’s position into jeopardy.
After Ley held talks with the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, on Monday night in the first step towards a potential reunion, Liberal MPs will meet at 9am for their usual party room meeting at the start of two weeks of sittings in Canberra.
The meeting is expected to be highly charged after almost a fortnight of intense speculation about Ley’s leadership following the split with the Nationals over Labor’s hate speech laws.
Liberal MPs believe it is only a matter of time before Taylor challenges Ley, after Andrew Hastie’s decision to rule himself out left the shadow defence minister as the only right faction contender.
Liberal MPs across the factions do not expect a motion to spill the leadership will be moved at the meeting, although many concede the situation is highly unpredictable.
Ley and her allies are desperate to shift the spotlight from the Coalition’s internal chaos to the performance of the Albanese government, especially with the Reserve Bank widely tipped to lift interest rates on Tuesday.
Multiple sources said there would likely be only one or two voters separating Ley and Taylor if a vote was held today.
Taylor is bound to support Ley as a member of the shadow cabinet, meaning he would need to quit the frontbench in order to move – or even support – a spill motion.
Senior rightwingers Jonathon Duniam and James Paterson, who were present at secret leadership talks between Hastie and Taylor in Melbourne last week, also remain in the shadow cabinet.
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Good morning
Krishani Dhanji here with you for the first official sitting week of the year – honestly it feels like the politics has just not stopped over summer.
There’s a few big things happening today, including the Reserve Bank’s interest rate decision, and we’ll see the Liberals and Nationals operating as separate entities in parliament for the first time as well. The two parties will also hold their own meetings this morning, where Sussan Ley is expected to avoid a leadership challenge (more on that in a moment).
The government is announcing discounted loans for some Hyundai and Kia electric vehicles to incentivise the EV market.
And the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has been punted the media rounds for the government today (and will no doubt say that he won’t forecast what the RBA will do) but there will be plenty of talking heads throughout the day.
I’ve got my coffee, I hope you’ve got one too, let’s get started.
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