Australia news live: Brisbane school closed ‘with immediate effect’ amid play sand health warnings; ASX falls sharply after Wall Street sell-off

12.59am GMT Public schools in Victoria and NSW remain open after asbestos risk No public schools in New South Wales or Victoria have been closed as a result of a product recall of coloured sand products by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) for potentially containing asbestos. Fifteen schools and seven preschools in Canberra fully shut their doors on Friday after discovering the product on campuses, while a further five were partially closed while remediation and investigations took place. Around 10am this morning, Mancel College, a special school in Brisbane, also confirmed it would be closed for the day. A spokesperson for the NSW department of education said no public schools had been closed after the recall but as a precaution, a safety alert had been sent to all NSW public schools to “immediately and safely remove these sand products if they have them”. The health, safety, and wellbeing of students, staff, and the school community is the department’s highest priority. A spokesperson for Victoria’s department of education said advice from the department of health and the ACCC was that “the health risk from use of these products is low”. As such, there is no indication of a need to close schools or early childhood services at this time. We are working swiftly to identify any schools and early childhood services that may be using the recalled products and will then support them to follow the remediation advice from relevant authorities. 12.44am GMT What gifts has Albanese received lately? Anthony Albanese declared receiving a desk set and stationery as a gift from Donald Trump, alongside a number of other items from world leaders, as well as free tickets to Oasis. The prime minister’s latest update to his register of parliamentary interests included a painting from the prime minister of Singapore; from the president of the United Arab Emirates, a number of gifts including “boxes of honey and dried dates”, an “Artisanal Emirati Spherical Box”, and a jewellery box; and from Trump, a “Desk Set with Stationery”. The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet told Guardian Australia last month that Trump gifted the prime minister, via protocol, a White House desk set with stationery – but provided no more details. During his trip to Washington in October, Albanese indicated in a press conference that he didn’t know what Trump had given him yet, claiming: “I’ll probably get whatever has come to us in about three years and six months after it goes through all the security things and PM&C, all of that”. His disclosure of the gift came three weeks after the Trump visit. The disclosed gifts were all surrendered to government departments and not personally taken by Albanese himself, according to the register. Trump’s desk has been “displayed in Commonwealth/Parliamentary Office”, the disclosure states, while the ornamental boxes from the UAE have been donated and displayed in Australia’s embassy in Abu Dhabi. Albanese also declared receiving a “Friendship bracelet from Florence”, a student who visited his office recently to talk about the under 16s social media ban. The PM additionally declared receiving tickets to Oasis’ Sydney concert from Venues NSW, after he was spotted in a corporate box at the stadium show alongside other VIPs. 12.29am GMT Bus driver behind deadly Hunter Valley crash loses appeal to reduce jail term The driver responsible for one of Australia’s deadliest bus crashes lost his bid to reduce his jail sentence over a horrific mass fatality crash, AAP reports. Brett Andrew Button, 60, was handed a decades-long sentence for causing a crash that killed 10 mostly young wedding guests and injured another 25 in June 2023. He was driving too fast and under the influence of the opioid painkiller Tramadol before his bus tipped at a roundabout in Greta in the NSW Hunter Valley. Button appealed the length of his 32-year sentence, with his lawyer arguing some of the 35 criminal charges he pleaded guilty to had been double-counted. The NSW court of criminal appeal dismissed his appeal on Friday, leaving in place the full term and 24-year non-parole period. Button’s lawyer had argued the sentence was disproportionate to the crime. Updated at 12.36am GMT 12.18am GMT ASX falls sharply after Wall Street sell-off Australian shares opened sharply lower this morning, after Wall Street sold off technology stocks overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell more than 1.5% in early trading to 8,620 points, and is now down about 4% from its record highs hit last month, representing about $140bn in market losses. There was no obvious trigger for the steep sell off in the US overnight aside from lingering concerns the hot run by stocks tied to the AI boom may have gone too far. The tech-heavy US Nasdaq closed down 2.3%. US traders are also no longer confident the Federal Reserve will deliver an anticipated cut in December amid rising inflation concerns; the same dynamic that has dimmed hopes for further rate cuts in Australia. Some of Australia’s tech stocks have been heavily sold off in recent days, with shares in location-sharing app Life360 down by almost 30% over the past month. Australia’s biggest listed company, Commonwealth Bank, is down more than 10% over the past five trading sessions. Updated at 12.34am GMT 12.01am GMT Brisbane special school closes over potential asbestos contamination A special school in Brisbane has shut with “immediate effect” after a product recalled by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for potentially containing asbestos was discovered on campus. In a post to Facebook about 10am on Friday, the head of Mancel College, Craig Duncan, said the campus would be closed for the day after reviewing the ACCC’s guidance of the coloured sand, used in sensory play activities. Fifteen schools and three preschools in Canberra fully shut their doors on Friday after discovering the product, while a further five were partially closed while remediation and investigations took place. Duncan said Mancel College had some of the product on-site at its junior and senior school: While the advice is low risk and there are only minor traces, we are acting with an abundance of caution. We are therefore advising parents that with immediate effect we are closing the entire college today. You are requested to make arrangements to collect your child this morning. In the interim, we have followed the published guidelines and quarantined the products. Students currently on site will be kept away from any impacted area until collected by parents. We apologise for this inconvenience, but we will always act in the best interests of the students. Updated at 12.09am GMT 11.53pm GMT Graeme Samuel says native forest logging exemption in environment laws should end Former competition watchdog chair Graeme Samuel, who has appeared before a Senate committee examining proposed environmental law reforms, has criticised the loophole that effectively exempts native forest logging covered by a regional forest agreement from national environment laws. The loophole has been retained in the bills currently before the parliament. Samuel said: I hate the RFA exemption. It shouldn’t be there. Samuel told the committee the exemption should be removed but if the government was to retain it then the agreements “should be governed by a very tough national environmental standard”. Samuel also emphasised the importance of the laws being underpinned by “clear and granular” national environmental standards. The government has so far released two draft standards with more “under development”. Asked about concerns about “vague” elements of the bill or language that appeared to allow too much ministerial discretion in decisions about whether or not developments go ahead, Samuel said that was intended to be “overcome” by national environmental standards. Related: Will Labor’s environment laws actually address Australia’s biodiversity crisis? Five reasons to be concerned 11.42pm GMT Environment law review chair Graeme Samuel says government should remove ‘national interest’ exemption from environment bills The former competition watchdog chief Graeme Samuel has told a senate inquiry the government should axe its proposal to allow the federal environment minister to make decisions in breach of national environment law if it was deemed in the “national interest”. Samuel, who led a 2020 review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, is the first speaker before a senate committee examining legislation to reform the laws. Using language very similar to former Treasury secretary Ken Henry, Samuel said the proposed exemption would encourage a “conga line of lobbyists” to seek favourable decisions from the minister of the day. Samuel said: There’ll be a conga line of lobbyists that will be outside their door saying, Well, look, you just use the national interest exemption. So I would take it out of the legislation and simply say it is now a balancing matter that ought to be taken into account in determining approvals and assessments. In his submission to the committee, Samuel said “national interest” should instead be incorporated as a consideration in the national environment standard for matters of national environmental significance, which covers environmental values such as threatened species and world heritage areas. In that context, “national interest” would be a consideration that was “balanced against other considerations, in particular the protection and restoration of the environment”, the submission says. 11.18pm GMT ACT education minister says risks of asbestos exposure ‘low’, but schools closed for safety of students and staff Yvette Berry, the ACT’s education minister, said testing has started on coloured children’s sand used in schools across the region but stressed that officials have been told the risk of potential asbestos exposure is low. Related: Colourful children’s sand sold by Officeworks recalled amid asbestos fears Fifteen schools are now closed today, with five others facing partial closures. Three preschools are closed, with a list of affected locations being updated throughout the day. Berry just said during a press conference: I understand the news will be upsetting for some families, however WorkSafe have advised the risk of exposure to traces of chrysotile [asbestos] is low. As people will understand, this is an evolving situation and, as things change and maybe new schools are identified that need to be closed or partially closed, that will be added to the information on the education ACT website. Air monitoring testing was conducted in some schools. The results from eight tests have come back this morning and all eight were negative to airborne asbestos fibres. Updated at 11.47pm GMT 11.05pm GMT Former boyfriend of Molly Ticehurst pleads guilty to her murder The former boyfriend of Molly Ticehurst has pleaded guilty to her domestic violence murder and made other admissions, AAP reports. Daniel Billings appeared via audio-video link in Forbes local court, in central western NSW, on Friday morning to enter the plea. The 30-year-old, who is in custody in the supermax wing at Goulburn jail, also admitted three other charges including animal cruelty. Ticehurst, a 28-year-old childcare educator, was found dead in her home at Forbes in the early hours of 22 April 2024. Billings was freed on bail by a local court registrar a fortnight before the murder, despite being charged with several counts of raping Ticehurst and domestic violence offences. The pleas came more than 18 months after Billings was charged with murder, following a mental health assessment and lengthy legal negotiations. Updated at 11.15pm GMT 10.52pm GMT Deadlock on NSW workers’ compensation reforms after 15-hour debate The Minns government has suffered an embarrassing defeat in a late-night vote on its reforms to the workers’ compensation scheme, as a 15-hour overnight debate on changes to the scheme dragged on into this morning. The changes to the scheme, which the government says is costing it billions, would raise the threshold at which workers would receive compensation for psychological injury, or “whole of person impairment” (WPI), from 15% to about 31%. The Coalition has described the changes, which could see hundreds of workers excluded from the scheme, as “nasty”. A compromise put forward by crossbench MPs, which the treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, told a press conference yesterday had the government’s support, would have seen the threshold gradually increase to 29% by 2029. The NSW chief psychiatrist would also have been tasked with developing a new assessment tool for psychological impairment. Instead, the member responsible for introducing the amendments to the upper house, independent Taylor Martin, had a change of heart, saying in a speech on Thursday evening he would not be a “patsy” for the government: If the Labor government really needs to take away workers’ compensation to plug the holes in its budget, it should take that to an election and seek that mandate from the public. I have not heard a single convincing argument today or at any other time about why workers with severe impairment need to be dudded. I do not know how members supporting that can sleep at night. After Martin walked away from the amendment, the upper house was left to vote on the government’s original proposal, which a majority made up of the Coalition, Greens and crossbench members including Martin rejected. The debate on the changes started at 2.30pm yesterday afternoon and finished at about 5.30am this morning, as dozens of amendments were considered. The bill has now been sent back to the lower house for further debate. Updated at 11.03pm GMT 10.39pm GMT Albanese shares some details about wedding plans Albanese revealed wedding plans with his partner, Jodie Haydon, are advancing but it will be a small, private affair rather than one in full view of press packs and the public. The prime minister said there were wedding updates but wouldn’t reveal to ABC Sydney this morning what they were, or when the big day would happen. He said: I think that people will be aware once it has occurred, but it will be a wonderful day, and it’s a day primarily to celebrate and commemorate our love for each other in front of our family and friends. Updated at 10.40pm GMT 10.25pm GMT Albanese says he wants to see ‘orderly migration system’ Albanese was asked about media reports that the Australian Border Force has bought old vessels and sold them to alleged illegal fishers and people-smugglers to return them to their departure points. On ABC Sydney this morning, the prime minister was asked whether this amounted to taxpayer money supporting the illegal operations. Albanese said border force officials undertook what they considered was necessary to keep the borders safe, before turning to a growing worry about community perceptions of immigration levels. Albanese said: As I said prior to my election in 2022, one of the ways that you ensure support for our migration system is by being consistent, is by being certain about protection of our borders, and that’s what we’ve done by keeping ABF in place. If you compare with some of the disruption that’s occurring in other parts of the world – with social division over the issue of migration – I don’t want to see that occur. I want an orderly migration system. Updated at 10.30pm GMT 10.17pm GMT PM says Coalition ‘too busy fighting each other’ to reduce energy prices Anthony Albanese says the Coalition does not have a plan to reduce electricity prices and are “too busy fighting each other” to be taken seriously after the opposition dumped its commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 yesterday. This morning on ABC Sydney radio, the prime minister said the Liberals under the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, capitulated to their junior Coalition partner on energy policy after months of campaigning by Nationals backbenchers, including Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan. Albanese said: Sussan Ley has said that she would be a moderate and that she’d modernise the Liberal party’s agenda after their 2025 result. Instead, she’s chosen to take Australia backwards. They’ve chosen to walk away from jobs for Australians and investment, certainty that the business community have said is so necessary going forward. They’re walking away from climate action. They’re fundamentally dismissive of the science of climate change. Updated at 10.27pm GMT 9.58pm GMT Allan defends youth crime laws, saying state needs to send ‘clear message’ The Victoria premier, Jacinta Allan, spoke to ABC News this morning to defend a slate of youth crime laws, namely the state’s decision to introduce adult crime, adult time legislation. Related: Will Victoria’s new youth crime laws be tough on crime or just a coward punch? Allan said Victoria’s cabinet had resolved to address the issue of youth crime after listening to victims and being told officials were not doing enough. She said: Cabinet has resolved and we are focused on bringing about stronger consequences for this brazen violent offending. We are doing this because, from listening to victims of crime, they told us there are not enough consequences and there needs to be consequences for this brazen violent offending, offending that is causing harm. We need to send a clear message that not only do children who commit these crimes need boundaries in place, they see that there are consequences, which is why putting a range of offences into the adult courts will see jail more stronger and sentences that are longer. Allan rejected calls she resign if crime is not lower at the next election: I want to be really clear: I’m not a quitter and I’m going to continue to fight very, very hard to continue to keep our communities safe. I accept for many people they don’t feel it is safe enough. Updated at 10.03pm GMT 9.48pm GMT Ley says Australia’s immigration intake needs to be reduced and better managed After a big day thrashing out energy and emissions policy on Thursday, the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, delivered the John Howard Lecture in Sydney last night. Before the party’s next difficult debate on immigration policy, Ley set down some guardrails for how things should move forward. She said Australia’s immigration intake needs to be reduced and better managed: I have said it needs to be lower. I have also said the problems we’re facing are not the fault of any migrant or migrant community, they are failings of infrastructure. Those failings should be sheeted home to governments who have not planned, who have not implemented, and who have wasted public funds. She also blamed governments for not building enough schools, roads, hospitals and public transport systems, and promised a “respectful” debate on immigration. [We will] develop a policy that recognises its not just about one overall number, it’s about a variety of strands, whether it be the humanitarian intake, skilled visas, working holiday visas, and how that is mapped to the needs and the aspirations of different parts of the country. Updated at 9.52pm GMT 9.25pm GMT Ley says Liberals care about global warming, but Australia ‘should always act in our national interest’ Sussan Ley wouldn’t say which level of global warming she would be comfortable with when asked by ABC News Breakfast this morning. Ley and her Liberal colleagues said yesterday their policies would keep Australia in the Paris climate deal without setting “long-term” targets. She told the ABC there was still concern about climate change, but not at the expense of lower power prices. I know that we do care about action on global warming and climate change and that’s something I believe in very firmly and I know the next generations do as well. But Australia will always act or should always act in our national interest. Ley said the Liberal party’s decision wasn’t about ruining Australia’s reputation on the global stage, but about “being honest with the Australian people”. We need to step on the gas, it’s as simple as that … I don’t think it’s fair that we look generation Z and millennials in the eye saying ‘you’re going to inherit a lower standard of living than your parents’. That’s not right. A lot of that is due to the cost of energy. When energy is unaffordable, everything is unaffordable. Updated at 9.41pm GMT 9.08pm GMT Some ACT schools partially closed, with preschools also affected over asbestos warning for play sand The list of schools closed in the ACT also includes partial closures affecting multiple classes and preschool closures. The ACT has released a full list of the impacted schools here. Related: Colourful children’s sand sold by Officeworks recalled amid asbestos fears Updated at 9.19pm GMT 9.05pm GMT Opposition maintains affordability key driver in backing down from net zero targets Dan Tehan, the shadow energy minister, said energy prices were a key driver of the change in policy from the Liberals. He told RN Breakfast the Liberal party was seeking to provide assurances to Australians and business about their energy future, saying their policies would be “technology-neutral” to focus on affordability. What we’ve done is been very clear and said we’re going back to an approach where the market will determine the types of technologies and the pathways. And that is the traditional Liberal approach to addressing these types of issues. And that’s how business gets certainty because it enables the market to dictate. Tehan added: I think people will understand that they don’t want us racing ahead of the rest of the world, costing us manufacturing jobs, costing us industry jobs and putting unrealistic and unreasonable pressure on households because of their electricity bills. Updated at 9.19pm GMT 8.54pm GMT Climate change minister says Coalition’s ‘climate deniers have won’ after Liberals dump net zero targets Chris Bowen, the federal climate change minister, has said “the climate deniers have won” after the Liberal party decided to dump its net zero by 2050 target yesterday. Related: The 48 hours that killed the Liberal party’s net zero promise Bowen spoke to RN Breakfast this morning. He said: What we saw yesterday was a blaming of contradictory, internally inconsistent statements and claims, all an alibi to avoid action on the greatest environmental challenge and economic opportunity of our time. I wish the Liberal party was engaged in better economics and better discussions about the pathway to net zero, but they’ve chosen to declare themselves completely irrelevant to the main issues that are so important for Australia’s future. Bowen said there had been challenges bringing down power prices across the country, but said voters in May had told the Albanese government to “keep going” on that effort. We’ve got a lot more to do in making sure that Australians are in charge of their energy use and needs. Updated at 9.07pm GMT 8.43pm GMT Ten Canberra public schools closed today after ACCC issues warning about asbestos in play sand Yvette Berry, the ACT’s education minister, said 10 public schools will be fully closed today and several others would be partially closed after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued a recall notice earlier this week about children’s sand products that may contain asbestos. Berry wrote on social media that some of the coloured sand products were used in ACT public schools for sensory play and arts and crafts. She said: I understand that this news might be upsetting for families. WorkSafe ACT have advised the risk of exposure to traces of chrysotile is low, however the safety of students, staff and families is our highest priority. The decision to close schools has been made in line with Education Directorate policy and on the advice of WorkSafe on the safe management and remediation process required. Closing the schools will allow testing and remediation efforts to occur “as soon as possible”, and Berry said officials will provide results from the tests “as soon as possible”. You can read more about the recall here: Related: Colourful children’s sand sold by Officeworks recalled amid asbestos fears Updated at 8.55pm GMT 8.21pm GMT Study finds beach safety terms can be difficult to understand for overseas visitors Australia’s beaches continue to pose fatal risks to overseas-born people, with a study suggesting many struggle to understand warnings presented on signs, Australian Associated Press reports. A Monash University study found beach-related terminology and even the colour of warning signs were regularly misinterpreted by international visitors. About a third of Australia’s 357 drowning deaths in 2024/25 were people born overseas. Monash University drowning prevention researcher Masaki Shibata, who is also a surf lifesaver, said instructions such as “swim between the flags” were open to misinterpretation. Other terms such as “shore dump”, “rip current” and “submerged object” also do not always translate well. “To make the terms more universal, first we have to revise English ... shore is location, dump is action, and a lot of people don’t know what is dumping you or what’s being dumped,” he told AAP. “Can we just simply say ‘crushing waves’ instead, for example, and instead of ‘swim between the flags’, can we just say ‘stay between the flags’.” Updated at 8.38pm GMT 8.14pm GMT Good morning, and happy Friday. Nick Visser here to get things moving. Let’s dive in. 7.53pm GMT Federal government commits $37m to strengthen criminal history monitoring in early childhood and care The federal government will spend $37m over five years to improve working with children checks (WWWC) in early childhood and care, including monitoring changes to criminal history. The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said the funding boost would go towards establishing the national continuous checking capability (NCCC), first announced earlier this year to provide “continuous, near real-time monitoring of changes to criminal history information for WWCC holders, significantly strengthening safeguards for children and young people”. The NCCC pilot would be ready from the end of 2025, Rowland said, while work continued to close a “loophole” that allowed potential child abusers to work across jurisdictions. Five jurisdictions have so far recognised interstate negative decisions, which means a person rejected for a WWCC in one jurisdiction will be rejected in others, since reforms were agreed to in August, while the remaining three are on track to introduce legislation this year. Rowland said child safety was a “top priority” for the Labor government. That’s why we are progressing a coordinated and ambitious reform agenda to achieve meaningful consistency across jurisdictions for when a person is suitable to hold a WWCC and when they should be excluded. This addresses existing gaps and inconsistencies and will improve protections for children and young people. Read more on the topic here: Related: Can Australia’s new childcare safety policies keep our children safe? The devil is in the details Updated at 8.07pm GMT 7.44pm GMT Tasmanian Greens say government caved to the AFL The Tasmanian Greens leader, Rosalie Woodruff, whose party voted against the stadium, said the government had caved to the AFL for a shiny, vanity project. “We have already more than earned the right to join the league, without the strings of a $1bn stadium attached,” she said. Anti-stadium independent Kristie Johnston said many Tasmanians could not afford the basics, and the state budget was in the same position. “When you are putting the groceries on the credit card … you shouldn’t be buying a boat,” she said. Eric Abetz, the minister for Macquarie Point urban renewal, said that, if the stadium wasn’t built, doors would be shut in the face of aspirational young people. “Confidence will be shattered and our self-esteem as a state will be trashed,” he said. “The message will be: don’t try and do business in Tasmania.” Updated at 8.10pm GMT 7.36pm GMT Tasmania's stadium plan passes first parliamentary hurdle Tasmania’s contentious waterfront stadium – and attendant AFL dream – passed its first parliamentary hurdle last night but a do-or-die debate still awaits, Australian Associated Press reports. Construction of a roofed stadium at Macquarie Point in Hobart is a condition of the Tasmania Devils entering the AFL and AFLW in 2028. The $1.13bn project requires the approval of both houses of state parliament to proceed. An order to build the stadium passed the lower house last night by 25 votes to nine as expected with the support of the governing Liberals and Labor opposition. However, it faces a trickier passage in the upper house early next month when a handful of independent MPs will decide its fate. Jeremy Rockliff, the state premier who signed the deal with the AFL, said the stadium represented an opportunity Tasmania could not afford to lose. “[The team] has been a long-held dream of many, many Tasmanians,” he told parliament. “People will be aghast if we say no to what we’ve fought for ... for decades.” The Labor leader, Josh Willie, said his party would vote for the stadium, even though the Liberals’ management of the project had been “abysmal” and the journey unnecessarily divisive. “We do not trust the government to deliver, but that doesn’t mean Tasmania should miss out on opportunities,” Willie said. Willie, whose party at one point said it would try to renegotiate the stadium deal if elected, said the AFL commission stood ready to pull the pin on the Devils if the venue was not built. The stadium has split the community and drawn political battlelines amid budget debt set to double to $10bn in 2028/29 and criticism the venue is not the right priority. Updated at 8.08pm GMT 7.30pm GMT Welcome Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight stories before Nick Visser takes you further towards the end of the working week. The contentious plan to build a new stadium at Macquarie Point in Hobart passed its first hurdle in the Tasmanian parliament last night as governing Liberal MPs were joined by Labor members to approve the $1.3bn project by 25 votes to nine. A tougher test awaits in the upper house next month. More coming up. The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, has announced $37m of federal funding over the next five years to improve the system of working with children checks in early childhood and care after recent childcare scandals. More details on the way.