NSW One Nation rejects attempt to force it to cost state policies
NSW One Nation has pushed back against an attempt to have the party cost its state election promises, saying it would instead use access to the NSW parliamentary budget office (PBO) to cost the government’s net zero objectives.
As we reported this morning, the Minns government will seek to amend legislation to give One Nation access to the PBO, in a bid to challenge the populist party to cost its election promises. Labor says it’s clear March’s 2027 election will see three parties competing to form government.
Current legislation only contemplates a Labor v Coalition contest. Minor parties like the Greens and independents can use the PBO to cost up to two policies a year.
In a statement this afternoon, NSW One Nation leader and candidate for Cessnock, Mike Newman, said:
Our only request will be what is the total cost of Net Zero to the NSW Budget? Unless the PBO can provide a comprehensive response then One Nation will not be lectured.
The legislation is expected to pass this week with Coalition support. The act obliges major parties to cost their policies, but there is no actual penalty if they refuse to do so. The Greens have indicated they will not support the amendment.
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What we learned, Monday 12 October
That’s all for the politics live blog today, thanks so much for joining us. Here are the headlines:
The Australian government should block the “barbaric” broadcast or live stream of a US military execution, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says. She found a somewhat unlikely ally in Barnaby Joyce who said the execution was like “Roman amphitheatre” and should not be watched. The government was a lot less forthcoming on whether the stream should be banned.
Small business minister Anne Aly was in the question time spotlight today, pressed by the opposition on how and when she found out the ATO would ban credit card payments (she says she found out with the rest of the public).
Australian engineer Robert Pether has been allowed to leave Iraq after being detained for more than four years in a Baghdad jail cell that his family feared would kill him.
David Chau will replace the retiring Alan Kohler as the ABC’s finance presenter on its 7pm news bulletins, the national broadcaster has announced.
The NSW government will seek to amend legislation to give One Nation access to the independent Parliamentary Budget Office in a bid to challenge the populist party to cost their promises.
The peak body for the oil and gas industry was the only stakeholder the New South Wales government met with before a decision to reopen gas exploration approvals for the first time in more than a decade, documents released under freedom of information laws suggest.
I’ll see you back here bright and early tomorrow.
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Question time ends
After a final dixer to resources minister, Madeleine King, the PM calls time on QT for the day.
On indulgence he gives Milton Dick a shout out for his election to become the “global speaker”, the leader of the International Parliamentary Union.
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Aly says she found out about ATO move when the rest of the public did
Nationals MP Kevin Hogan again probes small business minister Anne Aly to declare when she found out about the ATO’s decision to ban credit card payments.
Hogan says the treasurer said that he’d heard from the ATO not the Reserve Bank about the ban “in the lead up to the decision”, so why didn’t Aly also know in advance?
Anne Aly says again that she found out with the rest of the public:
I’ll repeat my answer from last time, but I’ll add a bit of clarity to it. The RBA announced their plan to ban surcharges on March 31 this year, stating that surcharges will be banned from October 1. On October 1, the ATO announced their decision that they would not be accepting credit cards. That’s when I found out.
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Antisemitism royal commission announces extra hearing to be closed to public
Breaking into question time with a little breaking news. The royal commission into antisemitism has announced it will hold an additional hearing this month, which will be closed to the public, to focus on security and intelligence issues.
The royal commission in August said it was holding its final hearings that month, ahead of handing down its final report in December.
But on Monday, the royal commission said in a statement that it would hold “additional hearing” in October - with no date announced - “to take additional evidence related to Hearing Block 2.”
That part of the investigation was specifically around “the circumstances surrounding the attack at Bondi on 14 December 2025”, including the terrorism threat level; the conduct of security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies; what was known about the shooters and what was done with that information; and the security arrangements for the Chanukah by the Sea event.
The royal commission said in its statement:
Due to the sensitivity of the evidence, this hearing will be classified and therefore closed to the public to avoid prejudice to national security and the ongoing criminal proceedings relating to the attack.
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‘Not on my bingo card’, PM says as Katter ponders North Queensland state
Like the prime minister, this one wasn’t on my bingo card for today (or ever), Bob Katter asks the government for a report on the viability of a North Queensland state.
He says the north’s resources are being held by a government 3,000km away and the money squandered by “on a two–week athletic meet called the Olympics”.
It’s a much more tame description of the events. Katter back in 2024 described the Paris Olympics opening ceremony as “an ‘orgiastic pagan ritual’ denigrating Christianity”.
Anthony Albanese jokes:
A question that, I’ve got to say, was not on my bingo card. The idea of a breakup of the states – including the great state of Queensland – would perhaps see a Premier Katter in Far North Queensland, which might or might not be a good thing. It would weaken the Queensland State of Origin team somewhat, given the magnificent players who’ve come from places like Cloncurry and Mount Isa.
Slightly more seriously he says it’s important for the north of the state to get its “fair share”, but defends the Olympics and says it’ll be good economically for the whole state.
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Aly in the spotlight and Liberal MP booted
The opposition isn’t relenting on its attack on small business minister Anne Aly, with shadow treasurer Tim Wilson now asking her to confirm whether the Reserve Bank made the decision to ban credit card payments to the Australian Taxation Office.
It’s a quick question and a quick answer.
I think it’s pretty clear, from the statements that were made by the RBA – the RBA made the decision to ban surcharges, and the ATO responded.
From the Coalition backbench, Ben Small shouts “You don’t even understand …”
Milton Dick says he’s “had a good go” at interrupting today and he gets booted before he can finish.
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Coalition pushes for who knew what and when on ATO credit card ban
Angie Bell is back, ditches the preamble and tries the more direct approach, asking the small business minister, Anne Aly: “When was the minister first informed of the credit–card ban, and by whom?”
Aly seems to avoid the question at first, saying that Labor understands what small businesses are going through with rising pries, but then gets to the point.
On the matter of the credit card surcharge or the ban to the credit card surcharge, it was a decision that was made by the RBA. I became aware of it – as did everyone else – when the RBA made that decision and made it public.
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Coalition gets personal against small business minister
Liberal frontbencher Angie Bell asks the small business minister when and how she was first informed of the credit card ban for small businesses by the Australian Tax Office. She quotes a Labor MP from a story in Nine newspapers last week that the minister “knows nothing about small business”.
Small business minister, Anne Aly, spends the first half of her answer talking about her travels around Australia to talk to small businesses.
The Coalition isn’t happy with the answer – she’s not saying when she found out about the ban and who told her. Leader of the House, Tony Burke, says the quote from an unnamed MP is a “political sledge – effectively allows a much broader answer”. Milton Dick tells the opposition that they asked a political question so they’ll get a political answer but directs Aly to be relevant.
There’s some more back and forth, with some sledging across the despatch box, and Dick warns the House to show some respect and decorum.
Aly continues:
Anyone with even a cursory understanding of numbers will understand that the number of businesses opening, compared to the number of businesses that are closing, demonstrates ...
She’s trying to say that the total number of small businesses has gone up but she runs out of time on the answer.
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Coalition getting lessons from Liz Truss ‘of all people’, Albanese says
Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson is up next and puts forward a quote from an unnamed “aspiring backbencher” that no one in cabinet has any small business experience, asking the prime minister when he will scrap Labor’s credit card surcharge ban.
(The government was keen on the change, but it’s worth noting the decision itself came from the Reserve Bank).
Anthony Albanese says he gives Wilson some “points for courage” given Josh Frydenberg is out there openly campaigning for an increase to the GST.
[Frydenberg] most remarkably, actually saying that they spent too much and wasted money during the Covid crisis. If only Mr Frydenberg was in a position to have some influence during that time ...! But perhaps the spending was the result of the other bloke who was also the treasurer, Scott Morrison.
The opposition tries to raise a point of order on relevance, but Milton Dick says the question was pretty “political”, ie you ask a broad question you get a broad answer.
Albanese then takes a dig at the Coalition and the members who attended the CPAC conference over the weekend:
At CPAC, they weren’t talking there about policies of small business, Mr Speaker … They weren’t talking about policies of big business. They were getting lessons, of all people, from the only person in the western world who makes Tony Abbott’s period as PM look long, which is Liz Truss, who lasted 45 days.
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Question time starts on small business
The opposition has small business in its sights today, with Angus Taylor accusing Labor of “waging war” against the sector. He says they’ve been slugged with rising power bills, increased tax and the ban on credit card surcharging.
Anthony Albanese takes the question and runs through a list of pro-small business measures the government has taken.
He says there are 265,000 more small businesses than there were in 2022 when Labor came to office.
People talk about insolvencies – according to Asic data, insolvencies under this government, as a proportion of all companies, has averaged 0.32%. The rate under the Howard government was 0.5%. Average monthly new company registrations are higher under this government than any government on record.
Taylor shakes his head as Albanese says that.
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Albanese and Taylor mark anniversary of 7 October attack
Before questions begin, Albanese and Taylor also mark the third anniversary of the 7 October attack in Israel.
Albanese says:
For so many, no day since has been easy. But anniversaries fall with their own terrible weight. And for many others, what compounds the pain is the approach of the first anniversary of the antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi beach. These few years have been hard beyond measure, but Australia stands with the Jewish community here and across the world. We stand against antisemitism and racism in all its forms because it goes against who we are.
Taylor says:
The fight against antisemitism is a fight for the truth – a fight that continues on our soil too. And the fight for the truth is about acknowledging and combating all forms of antisemitism – especially Islamist extremism.
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Albanese marks 25 years since start of Australia’s mission in Afghanistan
Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor have marked the 25th anniversary of the beginning of Operation Slipper, when Australia joined the US’s war in Afghanistan.
There were more than 35,000 Australian men and women who served in Afghanistan.
Albanese and Taylor attended a commemoration of the anniversary at the Australian War Memorial on Sunday.
He tells the House:
We honour the families – those who have felt both the pride and weight that comes when a loved one puts on the uniform, and those who have lived with the grief that is the pain of love wrapped around an absence that can never be filled. As we look to Afghanistan, we are reminded again of what Australians in war have faced, and the difference they have made in humanity’s truest spirit. What Australians in Afghanistan embodied is something we must never lose.
Taylor pays tribute to the men and women who served and the families of the 47 Australians who died.
Many still bear the wounds of their service, seen and unseen. We owe them a debt that can never be repaid. That our nation will never forget, and we will always honour what they achieved.
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Digital duty of care bill ‘a dog’s breakfast’, Liberal Sarah Henderson says
The Coalition is still calling for Labor’s digital duty of care bill to be scrapped completely, despite a concession from the government to remove ministerial discretionary powers.
The shadow communications minister is emphatic that the bill is still “a blank check for political censorship”. Labor says the legislation won’t have any impact on political discussion or criticism of the government.
Speaking to News24, Sarah Henderson says:
This is two years in the making, and the digital duty of care is a dog’s breakfast. It’s not just the ministerial powers, which, of course, the minister gave herself, in the exposure draft, unfettered powers to prohibit any category of online harm, but there’s dangerously vague definitions of online harm …
This is an attack on free speech … This doesn’t improve the bill whatsoever. The bill is fatally flawed and it must be scrapped.
The Greens are playing ball and are sitting at the negotiation table with the government but they want stronger powers to hold tech platforms to account, including the ability for an individual to sue a platform if they are harmed online. They also want fines to calculated as a share of global revenue.
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Australian Robert Pether released from Iraq after five years in detention
Australian citizen Robert Pether has been released from Iraq after five years in detention.
The 51-year-old engineer travelled to Baghdad in April 2021 to assist in resolving a contractual dispute between his employer, CME Consulting, and the Central Bank of Iraq.
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, released a statement welcoming the release, and said she spoke with him shortly before his departure from Baghdad.
She said:
Mr Pether had been imprisoned in Iraq for more than four years and was later subject to travel restrictions that prevented him from leaving the country.
Today’s outcome follows many years of persistent advocacy by the Australian Government, including at the highest levels of government, and sustained consular assistance to Mr Pether and his family.
I thank the Australian officials whose tireless work helped achieve this outcome, as well as the Irish authorities for their close cooperation throughout this process. I wish Mr Pether and his family all the very best as they reunite.
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Swifties take on Parliament House – in pics
OK, it’s not who you think, there are no fans of the global superstar flocking to parliament today, but rather the lesser known swifties (who I have dubbed so today) fighting for the government to decrease logging in Tasmania to protect the endangered swift parrot.
Conservationists and crossbenchers are trying to stop national environmental approval powers being handed to Tasmania.
They also want breeding and foraging habitat to be protected, and for the government to expand and formally recognise Swift Parrot Important Breeding Areas (SPIBAs) as “irreplaceable” critical habitat.
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Greens want Australians to be able to sue tech platforms over online harm
The Greens have welcomed Labor’s announcement that it will take out ministerial discretion from the digital duty of care bill, but they want more powers to hold tech platforms to account.
Greens leader, David Shoebridge, who took the mantle at the end of last month, said he wants Australians to be able to sue tech platforms if they’re subject to serious harm.
He told ABC TV a little earlier:
One of the key things is making sure Australians, if they are subject to serious harm as a result of one of these platforms, that they actually have a remedy, they can sue them.
Having rights without remedies doesn’t really answer the call that we are hearing from across the country. You know, we can’t just rely upon inevitably not sufficiently funded bureaucracy to come and protect Australians. If we are going to have a national digital duty of care, it should come with rights and remedies for Australians across the country.
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Joyce says no one should watch US firing squad execution: ‘Roman amphitheatre stuff’
It seems like Barnaby Joyce and the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young have found themselves on a unity ticket over the live stream of a firing squad execution in the US.
Joyce told News24 a little earlier today that no one, particularly children, should watch that stream.
He says the death penalty in the US is “a discussion for the American people to have”.
This is Roman amphitheatre stuff. No, I don’t I don’t agree with that … we don’t have the death penalty in Australia, and I certainly don’t want any children, or anybody to be honest, to witness another human being, being shot by a firing squad.
Hanson-Young said earlier today that the stream should be banned in Australia and tech platforms punished if they show it.
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Equality Australia backs Spender’s sex discrimination bill
Allegra Spender has introduced a bill to protect students and teachers in religious schools, stopping lawful discrimination based on sexuality or marital status.
Under the Sex Discrimination Act, a religious school can expel or fire a student or teacher on the ground of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status or pregnancy based on their religious believes and where the institution acts in good faith.
The government had committed to legislating a religious discrimination act to protect people of faith, and concurrently amend the Sex Discrimination Act to protect those vulnerable groups in religious schools.
Equality Australia has backed Spender’s bill, urging the government to work with the crossbench and Greens to pass it. The group’s chief executive, Anna Brown, said:
A gay student should not have to hide who they are to have a shot at leadership or live in fear of being expelled, and no woman should ever risk losing her job because she falls pregnant outside marriage.
These are basic questions of fairness, and it is unacceptable that in Australia today people are still left without protections against this kind of discrimination.
Behind these legal carveouts are real people facing real consequences. We’re talking about people’s education, their livelihoods and their futures.
The government is unlikely to support it, even though it has considered other powers to protect people of faith from discrimination, because it’s politically tricky ground.
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Jordan’s King Abdullah to meet Albanese in Canberra
Jordan’s King Abdullah will be visiting Australia for two days from tomorrow, meeting with Anthony Albanese to discuss defence, security and trade cooperation.
The two nations celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations last year. The king’s last visit was in 2016.
So what do Australia and Jordan cooperate on, you might ask.
The prime minister says the countries work together on regional security, humanitarian efforts, countering terrorism and violent extremism, growing trade and strengthening cooperation on resources, energy, and the environment.
In a statement, Albanese said:
I’m looking forward to continuing the warm and productive relationship between our countries, particularly at a time where there are so many global challenges.
In a time of increasing uncertainty around the world, ongoing defence and security cooperation between Australia and Jordan is essential, as regional security partners.
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Doctors back push for independent watchdog for private health system
Federal crossbenchers and peak medical bodies are calling for an independent authority to oversee the private healthcare sector, warning that declining policy value is driving patients away and straining public hospitals.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie will introduce a motion in federal parliament today, seconded by Dr Monique Ryan MP, calling for a new “Private Health System Authority”.
The proposed regulator would sit in the health portfolio to oversee contracts between insurers, hospitals and doctors, monitor sector finances and ensure insurer practices protect patient choice.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Australian Society of Ophthalmologists (ASO) backed the proposal.
The AMA president, Dr Michael Bonning, said an independent umpire is needed to fix outdated policy settings and remove government from its “conflicted role of regulator and policymaker”.
The ASO president, Dr Peter Sumich, said the sector currently follows “the law of the jungle”, accusing insurer lobbies of opposing oversight to push toward American-style models.
The only group voicing opposition is the private health insurer lobby, because they have plans for vertical integration and US-style managed care.
Australians who pay for private health insurance deserve confidence that the system is fair, transparent and working in their interests.
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David Chau replaces retiring Alan Kohler as ABC 7pm news finance presenter
David Chau will replace the retiring Alan Kohler as the ABC’s finance presenter on its 7pm news bulletins, the national broadcaster has announced.
Kohler, a veteran finance journalist, announced his retirement last month after 31 years at the ABC. He will present his final finance segment on Wednesday night’s 7pm bulletins, the ABC said in a statement on Monday.
Chau, who joined the ABC as a digital producer in 2017, will replace him. Chau began presenting finance reports on the ABC’s News Channel in 2019, and on Monday said he was “honoured for this opportunity to continue Alan Kohler’s legacy – the man is indisputably a national treasure”.
Read the full story here:
Related: ABC appoints David Chau to replace veteran finance reporter Alan Kohler
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Taylor defends his CV after Hanson calls him ‘smarmy management consultant’
My colleague Josh Butler asks Taylor about Pauline Hanson’s comments to CPAC disparaging the Liberal leader’s pre-political life as a management consultant. A “smarmy” one she called him.
Taylor says he makes “no bones” of his CV prior to joining the federal parliament in 2013.
I am proud that I am not a career politician. I make no bones about the fact that before politics, I turned around industries, I turned around businesses. I worked on our family farming business, that’s what I did before politics, and I’m a relatively relative latecomer to politics. But that gives me the experience to turn around our country.
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Taylor rejects Frydenberg’s GST pitch but welcomes political resurrection
Speaking to reporters at a local cafe in Canberra this morning, Angus Taylor has batted away Josh Frydenberg’s suggestion that GST should be raised, but said he’d welcome the former Liberal treasurer back to the party if he decided to recontest at the next election.
It’s pretty similar stuff to what he told Insiders yesterday.
Taylor tells reporters:
I welcome every Liberal who cares about the future of our nation, and I know Josh does, to put shoulder to the wheel in the coming months to get rid of a rotten Labor government and make the change that Australia needs happen.
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Leeser pushes bill for universities to adopt IHRA definition of antisemitism
Julian Leeser says universities have been arguing over the definition of antisemitism rather than acting on it, urging the government to support a bill that would make the institutions adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition.
The government has said it has adopted the working IHRA definition of antisemitism. But there are others who are concerned the definition conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
Leeser tells the House the bill is a “circuit breaker”, asking how the country can fight antisemitism “if we do not even agree what the word means”. The bill would also require universities to prevent, combat and respond to antisemitism.
You [universities] have been told, unequivocally, by both sides of politics to clean up your act. To stop the antisemitism. And what has been the response? You have been arguing over the definition of the word! You can’t make this stuff up.
We now have the ridiculous situation where conduct that is antisemitic at one campus on one side of Sydney is acceptable on another campus on the other side of Sydney.
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Liberals MPs asked to weigh in on Josh Frydenberg comeback speculation
Well we’re doing the thing Josh Frydenberg absolutely wants us to do, which is asking every Coalition politician whether they would welcome back the former treasurer to federal politics.
Frydenberg told 60 Minutes yesterday he wasn’t closing the door on the desire to one day be prime minister, and that the Liberal party was facing an existential threat and needed to change.
Liberal senator for NSW Dave Sharma was asked this on News24 morning:
Josh is … a friend, he’s a talented and competent politician and he’s been a great member of the Liberal party. And whatever way he wants to involve himself in the Liberal party’s affairs in the future, I would welcome that.
Angus is our leader and Josh is not in the contest, so I’m backing Angus.
Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan told reporters on his way into parliament that he would welcome Monique Ryan (the independent who won the seat from Frydenberg in 2022) being ousted from the electorate, adding “So absolutely, bring it on.”
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One Nation to preference Liberals above Labor at Victoria’s November election
Former Liberal turned Victorian deputy leader of One Nation, Colleen Harkin, has told ABC Radio Melbourne that the party will preference the Liberals above Labor at the November state election.
She also said One Nation has a “list” of items for negotiation in exchange for confidence and supply should the Liberals find themselves without a majority in the lower house.
Harkin, who is running for One Nation in the upper house’s south-eastern metropolitan region, said the party would “100%” preference the Liberals above Labor:
We will work with anybody to remove Labor. Anybody so that of course means working with Liberals.
Asked what it would take for the Liberal party to get One Nation’s support in a minority government, she said:
If it comes to that, we will have a list of negotiating tools that we will need to walk through in order to give confidence and supply … Some of the things on there that shouldn’t be surprising.
Harkin gave the example of no longer running the curriculum past Indigenous advisers.
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Opposition leader Angus Taylor campaigns on credit cards at Canberra cafe
Angus Taylor and Tim Wilson have taken turns sipping from a smoothie at a Canberra cafe as the opposition keeps up the pressure on the Labor government over issues with the change to cars surcharges.
We’re standing by for a Taylor press conference shortly, after he joined his shadow treasurer to meet the owner of a popular Canberra breakfast spot, to discuss issues small business are facing.
Taylor tried his hand at making a smoothie with berries and honey. He confidently said it was quite tasty, an assessment shared by Wilson who took a sip of his own after locating a second straw.
For the record, a small flat white here cost us $4.70, which is reasonable in Canberra prices. No additional surcharge on the transaction.
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Frydenberg’s election recollections ‘do not match with my own’, says Ryan
Monique Ryan says she disagrees with the characterisation of the 2022 election campaign in excerpts of Josh Frydenberg’s book published over the weekend.
The independent beat the former Liberal treasurer in his seat of Kooyong in 2022.
Frydenberg accused the Ryan camp of dialling the personal vitriol “up to 11” during the 2022 election in an extract provided to the Australian.
Ryan rejects the claims, telling the media at a press conference in Parliament House:
I did read Josh Frydenberg’s recollections of the 2022 election … It does not match with my own recollections or the recollections of more than 2,000 people who volunteered with me. We know that we conducted a campaign with equity and in a good spirit.
Josh Frydenberg did not characterise it in that way, and I reject the way that he has portrayed it in the media. And I think it’s important that I do that on behalf of the volunteers who came out with me … We were there. We know how it was.
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Lambie accuses Labor of ‘financial coercion’ over FoI court fight
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie is accusing the government of “financial coercion” over its push to get former senator Rex Patrick to cover the commonwealth’s legal costs over a fight in court for access to freedom of information documents.
Patrick could be on the hook for up to $150,000 to cover the government’s legal costs if he loses a fight to access requested FoI documents on the Aukus agreement. She says that will set a dangerous precedent.
Lambie says the attempt to fight the FoI requests in court follows the government being forced to drop its controversial changes to FoI legislation last year.
Lambie is proposing a bill to force the government to meet a “citizen’s reasonable legal costs if it appeals a citizen’s FoI win to the federal court from either the information commissioner or the administrative review tribunal”. She says:
That bill had no friends! But thanks to civil society groups and the crossbench, the government shelved the legislation in March 2026. But the governments war on our FoI laws has gone on.
Australians know the term ‘coercive control’ – what the federal Labor government is doing is financial coercion.
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The washup from CPAC
There will be plenty of chatter across the corridors of parliament after the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this weekend which featured the leaders of the three main conservative parties – One Nation’s Pauline Hanson, the Liberal’s Angus Taylor and the Nationals’ Matt Canavan.
My colleague Josh Butler spent the weekend there and said the reception at the conference suggested Hanson was the preferred opposition leader.
Wondering what actually happens at one of these things? Take a look at Butler’s analysis below:
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Tim Wilson lukewarm on Josh Frydenberg’s possible return to politics
The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, is pretty lukewarm on a potential Josh Frydenberg return to parliament and hints the former treasurer would have to sit within the pecking order.
Wilson is pretty adamant on RN Breakfast that any political resurrection would be under the Liberals’ current leader Angus Taylor.
He speaks pretty broadly on the question, and says he has “no issue with people putting themselves forward” – it’s not exactly a warm welcome.
I think it’s always good to have candidates who want to step up and run and make sure we pick up seats so that Angus Taylor can be prime minister of this country.
What we need is people who’ve got courage in their hearts and prepared to make the sacrifices necessary for public office. So, I have no issue with people putting themselves forward.
I encourage them to do so so they can be part of a winning team, so we can have an Angus Taylor-led government.
Host Sally Sara asks whether Wilson supports a reported idea from Frydenberg that the GST take should be increased and whether it’s helpful for the Coalition to have ex-pollies making suggestions from the sidelines.
Wilson says taxes should not be increased, but throws Frydenberg a bone:
Well, I believe we want a better country, and that’s through a contest of ideas. But in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, we’re not going to be increasing taxes. In fact, we want to do the complete reverse.
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Mulino dodges question about Greens call to block livestream of US execution
Daniel Mulino doesn’t want to comment when asked whether Labor would support the Greens’ call to block the livestream of a firing squad execution in the US.
Earlier this morning, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said she wrote to the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, and the communications minister, Anika Wells, to stop the live stream, and that the government should slap fines on any tech platform that showed the stream or didn’t take steps block the video later.
Mulino at first dodges the question completely and says very broadly that the government is “forward leaning” on tech safety. Obviously not satisfied with the answer, host Sally Sara tries again. Mulino replies he doesn’t want to comment on “domestic politics of any other country when it comes to matters like this”.
Sara then asks her next guest, the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, the same question. He’s a lot more forthcoming, but says it would be a challenge to block the live stream without it amounting to a “censorship ban on the internet”.
My basic principle is we shouldn’t be promoting that sort of violence. And so my fundamental view is yes, I think it’s enormously problematic to tolerate this type of behaviour. But the challenge is going to be: how do you do that in a way that doesn’t amount to a censorship ban on the internet?
If it’s going to be livestreamed, how are you going to do that without creating the artifice to be able to block content on the internet and create an online portal of censorship? And I don’t, the specifics of that, I’ll have to leave to others.
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Labor not watering down 30% tax on discretionary trusts, says assistant treasurer
The assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino, says Labor is not watering down proposed changes to put a minimum 30% tax on discretionary trusts.
Mulino tells ABC RN Breakfast there have been changes made to the legislation since it was first announced, including carve-outs for discretionary testamentary trusts, but he’s tight-lipped on what else has been adjusted.
We’re not watering this down. This is a very substantial review. This is about fairness in our tax system. It’s about trying to better align the taxes that people pay when they earn income through trusts versus when they earn income from working, from providing their labour.
These are changes that have been called for by experts for decades. If we go back to major reviews in the 1970s and all the way through the Howard government, the Henry review, even the Abbott government’s review, these changes to trust taxation have been called for.
The Coalition are certainly no fans of the legislation and have called for it to be scrapped completely.
Asked about warnings from the opposition that the trust changes could harm small businesses, Mulino doesn’t say much, just that the government “has taken a number of actions when it comes to small business”.
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Josh Frydenberg leaves door open to political comeback
Josh Frydenberg has literally propelled the comeback speculation himself and said he’s not closing the door to another tilt at federal politics and going for the top job, during a publicity blitz ahead of the release of his memoir.
In a lengthy interview with 60 Minutes last night he told Tracy Grimshaw the Liberal party was facing an existential threat and had to change.
Asked whether current Liberal leader, Angus Taylor, would appreciate the feedback that he’s “getting it wrong”, Frydenberg said:
I think he’s getting that from lots of corners. People are saying that the Liberal party needs to do better.
The polls are showing that the Liberal party is at an all-time low. And so, things have to change. Because there’s something existential about the threat that I think the party now faces.
So, Grimshaw asks, does Frydenberg still want to become prime minister?
Look, I certainly haven’t closed the door, but I don’t need to rush to a decision. The next election is 18 months away.
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Monique Ryan ‘not bothered’ by Frydenberg comeback speculation
The release of Josh Frydenberg’s book this week has reheated speculation the former Liberal treasurer could have another go at his former seat of Kooyong in Melbourne.
But Monique Ryan, the independent who won the seat from Frydenberg in 2022, says she’s “not bothered” by all the chatter.
She told Nine earlier this morning Frydenberg seemed more interested in being prime minister than worrying about his electorate:
Josh does have a track record with the Kooyong community. He was the member for that seat for 12 years, and in 2022, our community rejected him because they were so frustrated with his inability to affect any change to government policy on climate change. People were unhappy with his economic management. People were very unhappy with the way that he punched down on Victoria during the Covid years …
He says he wants to be prime minister, but he doesn’t speak much about Kooyong, and that’s the part of the world that I’m most focused on.
Ryan might not be fazed but I’m sure the small (and real) “waiting for Josh Frydenberg” (WFJF) faction of the Liberal party have fingers and toes crossed for a political resurrection.
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More states to sign on to AusAlert system ahead of ‘disaster season’, minister says
Kristy McBain, the emergency management minister, is doing the media rounds, to talk ahead of what could be a brutal and damaging summer season in Australia.
On Monday a total fire ban was declared across both the Greater Sydney and Greater Hunter regions as the temperature was forecast to climb into the 30s.
You might remember a couple of months ago there was a national test of the AusAlert system, where all compatible phones sounded an alarm and displayed a test message.
McBain tells ABC News Breakfast just two states have so far signed on to the system, but more will be going through that process in the coming weeks “before we hit disaster season proper”.
That will get much better protection for communities who are experiencing disaster, as I said. Near real-time message not [reliant] on any one telco provider is a real gamechanger for emergency management.
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Reserve Bank should ban point of sale charges for small business, says Labor minister
Labor frontbencher Kristy McBain says the Reserve Bank should go a step further than its card surcharge ban, and ban charging at the point of sale for small businesses.
The government has copped a bit of flack from the card surcharge ban, which was costing consumers $1.6bn a year, with som small businesses raising the price of their goods in response.
McBain tells Seven’s Sunrise that the government isn’t in charge of these decisions – the Reserve Bank is – but small businesses shouldn’t have to keep paying fees to card networks or banks to accept those card and digital payments.
These banks are making billions of dollars in profits every year and small businesses are already paying account-keeping fees and a range of other fees directly to their banks.
I’d like to see the RBA actually take that next step and say there is no charging for those point of sale machines.
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Big tech, health and education on the parliamentary agenda
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji with you here on our politics blog to cover another busy sitting week.
Time is quickly running out for the government who have a few key pieces of legislation they want to pass with only three joint sitting weeks left in the year and one Senate-only sitting week.
As my colleague Tom McIlroy has brought you this morning, Labor’s digital duty of care bill will be in the spotlight, with the Greens putting themselves at the negotiation table. They want bigger fines – a share of global revenue – for tech platforms that do the wrong thing.
Health and education are also on the legislative agenda: the government’s plan to reduce private health insurance rebates for over-65s isn’t loved (or at all liked, really) by the Coalition or the Greens so they’ll need to find a way around that. But the opposition and Greens are more supportive of a bill to change university funding, which guarantees spots for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, regional, rural and First Nations families (though expect lots of amendments).
Buckle in, it’s going to be a busy week!
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NSW government moves to challenge One Nation to cost promises
The NSW government will seek to amend legislation to give One Nation access to the independent Parliamentary Budget Office in a bid to challenge the populist party to cost their promises.
In a statement, the Minns government said it was clear the March 2027 election would see three parties competing to form government – and the legislation only contemplates a Labor v Coalition contest.
The treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, said he was “looking forward” to seeing One Nation’s ideas.
But right now, voters will only get advice from the independent PBO on the costs of the Coalition and Labor’s policies. They should get that same advice about One Nation’s policies.
One Nation has made no secret of how much they admire American and Argentinian-style wage policies, healthcare policies and cuts to the public service.
No doubt they will want to import these ideas into NSW, but voters deserve to have independent advice about what they mean for them.
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FlyDubai pilot links to Australia ‘disturbing’: opposition
The opposition says reports the FlyDubai pilot involved in a thwarted hijacking was radicalised while studying in Australia are “deeply disturbing”.
At the weekend, the attorney-general of the United Arab Emirates said that pilot Hamad Saif al-Shamsi underwent a “drift towards extremism and terrorism” while studying in Melbourne.
Related: Flydubai co-pilot began radicalisation in Australia, UAE prosecutors say
The shadow home affairs minister, Jonno Duniam, said there could be no place for hate preachers or anyone advocating terror or violence in the country.
That is why the Coalition will tighten visa laws to keep those who preach hatred out of Australia and deport non-citizens who promote violent extremism.
Extremism has no place in Australia. We need to detect it early, confront it wherever it emerges and give our police and security agencies the resources they need to keep Australians safe.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said the man was radicalised online, as extremist groups target young people, particularly men. He said the government wanted to properly screen people at the border and in online settings.
Al-Shamsi received a student visa for study in Australia in 2014. He left in 2017 and his visa was cancelled two years later.
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Greens call for US execution live stream to be blocked
The Greens are pushing for the Albanese government to ensure the live streaming of a firing squad execution in the US is not able to be viewed in Australia.
Last week, the US secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, said the public would be able to watch the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan on 3 December.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has written to the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, and the communications minister, Anika Wells, seeking assurance it won’t be shown in Australia.
Hanson-Young suggested large fines could apply for digital platforms if they showed the stream or did not take steps to block the video at a later date.
Hanson-Young told the ABC:
I think this is incredibly shocking and barbaric, and Australians don’t want this on our screens.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to Monday’s politics coverage.
Krishani Dhanji will be with you shortly.
Let’s begin.
