Australia news live: footprint found yesterday unrelated to search for missing four-year-old, SA police say

Pro-Palestine supporters gather in Melbourne for evening vigil

Pro-Palestinian activists have gathered in Melbourne to honour Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza on the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas terror attack.

The vigil, held at MPavilion in the Queen Victoria Gardens in the city, begun at 5pm.

Organisers have planned a procession through the city, with a second vigil expected to be held outside state parliament house later this evening.

Anthony Albanese said protests held on 7 October would undermine support for the Palestinian cause in Australia.

The Melbourne organisers, the Free Palestine Coalition Group, requested attendees to respect grieving families and the silence of the procession.

Whistleblower calls icare a ‘basket case because of how it is run’

McCann told Mookhey that the threshold was too high, and limiting compensation to psychological injuries caused by violence, criminal conduct or certain disasters in a workplace was unfair:

[It] goes against what you and the Labor Party proposed before coming into power

Icare is a basket case because of the way it is run, not because of injuries people sustain.

McCann said his message was ignored by Mookhey, but after more messages, Mookhey replied: “I’m sorry to hear that you’re feeling this way. Please call Lifeline if you have any problems.”

McCann said he had come to give evidence because of his own experience with the icare system and his concern about the Minns Labor government’s bill to restrict compensation for psychological injury. The government has said the reforms are essential to keep the workers compensation scheme afloat.

The bill is being examined by a parliamentary committee and is expected to return to parliament late this year.

NSW state insurer whistleblower reveals shock at government’s planned overhaul of scheme

A whistleblower who worked at icare has revealed details of his leaking to then NSW shadow treasurer, Daniel Mookhey and his shock at how, as treasurer, Mookhey plans to overhaul the NSW workers compensation to make it more difficult for people with psychological injuries to claim compensation.

Giving evidence to a parliamentary inquiry Chris McCann, an icare employee now on workers compensation, said he had contact with Mookhey “on an almost daily basis during 2020” while Mookhey was running a public campaign against icare and then premier Dominic Perrottet.

In 2025 he saw Mookhey on television proposing to lift the whole person impairment to 31% and he reached out by text. He wrote:

The purpose of this message is to raise my personal concerns about the changes to psychological injuries. What is being proposed is unfair and unjust and goes against what you told me about protecting people like me who are prepared to stand up and say something in the workplace, despite being bullied and harassed. If you change the law, it will be the cause of people suiciding.

My whole personal impairment injury is due to being bullied, victimised and targeted in icare, and I attempted suicide. It destroyed my career, and I have never been the same since my WPI was assessed at 24% reduced by 10% but my life has completely changed, and it has impacted me so much I can’t walk out the door.

• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14

Coalition frontbencher says government should pressure Hamas to agree to Gaza peace plan

Speaking to the ABC, the shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, says he would like to see “Hamas come to the table” and agree to the US peace plan for Gaza.

He says the Albanese government should use the “capital its built” with Palestinian actors by recognising a Palestinian state to “put pressure on Hamas to come to the table” and agree to the plan.

Cremorne Synagogue suspect released

A man who was arrested after allegedly making a threatening gesture outside Sydney’s Cremorne Synagogue on Tuesday morning has since been released, police say.

The 23-year-old was allegedly seen pointing what was believed to be a firearm from a moving truck towards the place of worship, police said.

After being arrested and taken to Chatswood police station, he was released pending further inquiries, police said. No charges were laid.

The driver, a 21-year-old man, was also arrested and later released without charge.

Assistant foreign minister says staff working ‘around the clock’ to ensure Australians on Gaza flotilla are returned from Israel

Thistlethwaite is asked about seven Australian detained by Israel while on board a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza.

He says Australian consular staff in Israel are working “around the clock” to ensure the seven Australians detained by Israel are treated with dignity and returned home.

Asked about the treatment of the detainees, he says Australia has called on Israel to abide by international law:

We’ve certainly made our views known to the Israeli government through the consular staff in the Middle East that these people should be treated in accordance with international law, but most importantly, we want to see them returned to Australia as quickly as possible.

Matt Thistlethwaite says government is working on antisemitism envoy’s recommendations alongside Islamophobia envoy’s reports

Asked about why the federal government hasn’t agreed to all the recommendations in the antisemitism envoy report, Thistlethwaite says the government is working on it alongside the Islamophobia envoy report published last month.

You don’t single out a law to apply to one group, you want it to apply to all Australians. We want to strengthen the law for all Australians so that they can live peacefully.

Thistlethwaite says he can’t specify a timeline but stressed the government is working through the envoy’s recommendations.

Labor MP says pro-Hamas graffiti is “disgusting”

Assistant minister for foreign affairs, Matt Thistlethwaite, is speaking to the ABC. He says pro-Hamas graffiti seen in Melbourne this morning is “disgusting” and “completely unacceptable”:

What I don’t get is that people who are advocating for that, I don’t think it does their service or their cause any good. I think it just turns the average Australian off the case for which they are trying to advocate

Experts says yellow crazy ant eradication hinges on federal funding

Experts are calling for federal funding to match Queensland’s commitment towards eradicating the spread of highly invasive yellow crazy ants.

The Crisafulli government on Tuesday pledged an additional $6m as part of ongoing 10-year funding program to eradicate yellow crazy ants from the wet tropics region.

Jack Gough, the chief executive of the Invasive Species Council, said a long-term commitment from both state and federal governments was essential to “finish the job and ensure we can eradicate yellow crazy ants once and for all”. He said a delay in federal funding could impact eradication progress in north Queensland.

The ants were recently detected in Townsville’s port, with the council warning maritime trade represented a major biosecurity weak spot.

Gough said:

Yellow crazy ants are among the world’s worst invasive species – they spray formic acid, blind and kill native animals and can collapse entire ecosystems. The Queensland program is one of the largest eradication efforts ever attempted globally, and it deserves full national backing.

If yellow crazy ants are allowed to spread, the damage will far outweigh the cost of eradication.

That’s it for me today, thanks for following along on the blog! A big shoutout to my colleague Tom McIlroy who baked a delicious cake which got us through the day.

I’ll leave you with the wonderful Adeshola Ore for the rest of the afternoon.

Productivity chair warns that economic expert commentary can ‘stifle’ reform

Circling back to the warning that media’s “narrow” definitions could obstruct economic reforms from the Productivity Commission (PC) chair, Danielle Wood:

Wood, a former chair of the Grattan Institute thinktank, also called out experts who used their “privilege” in media commentary to spread division and stifle change:

Experts shape [debates’] credibility … [but] sometimes experts don’t use this privilege as constructively as they could.

Proposed reforms are unlikely to align 100% with an expert’s view of first-best. When they fixate on the 10% difference, instead of acknowledging the 90% of shared ground, the public hears division, not consensus. That can stifle fragile reform methods.

Wood cited one academic, who she declined to name, who called to abolish the PC after it proposed a company tax system differing from that academic’s preferred change.

The PC has released a string of reform proposals in recent months, including to overhaul company taxes, share school lesson plans, allow AI data mining and cut green energy subsidies, along with other proposals that received less media coverage.

The PC chair today encouraged reporters to dedicate more time to those less-covered proposals while noting coverage of the higher-profile reforms as controversial risked eroding public support for change.

Wood also acknowledged the PC’s communication also hindered public engagement, estimating about half the population would not be able to understand (comparing favourably to the UK central bank, which has estimated its publications are inaccessible to 90% of UK residents).

‘Find a way to make implementation issues sexy’, productivity boss tells media

The boss of the government’s Productivity Commission has warned “narrow” media coverage of economic reform was risking momentum for change.

Danielle Wood, who chairs the organisation investigating ways to make the economy more efficient on behalf of the Albanese government, said reform had grown more difficult in recent decades. She told reporters:

Many journalists hold too narrow a definition of what good economic reform looks like. The ‘80s and ‘90s remain for me the historical benchmark … [but] today’s governments must climb higher for their fruit.

Wood acknowledged care sector and services reforms “might be less exciting than a juicy tax package” but warned reporters that bored coverage risked killing momentum:

If we don’t recognise these as reforms, we won’t give governments credit where it is due and they’re less likely to take these challenges … [and] we miss the chance to hold governments to account.

That is my challenge to you: to recognise meaningful reform [and] find a way to make implementation issues sexy. Without your attention, I fear that new reforms may not reach the finish line.

Without needed reforms, Australia’s productivity would suffer, worsening wage growth, housing and health outcomes, Wood said. At a lunch announcing the Walkley award nominees earlier today, she said:

All of the things that go to having a good and prosperous life, we make out of reach for our kids.

Wells says she was told on Friday afternoon by her office about triple-zero outage

The shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, is back and asks Anika Wells to clarify when she was personally advised about the triple-zero outage in September.

The outage occurred on 18 September, and Wells told us in an earlier answer that she found out on the afternoon of 19 September. Wells gives us another short answer:

I thank the shadow minister for her question. The triple-zero outage from Optus occurred on 18 September, the Thursday. I was made aware by my office Friday afternoon, late Friday afternoon that there had been more than 600 calls impacted and three deaths.

Chalmers answers wide-ranging Bob Katter question on bananas, gas and Glencore copper mine

Bob Katter is up next from the crossbench and asks a long question with several mentions to the price of bananas, but it essentially boils down to whether the government will introduce a gas reserve policy (it’s a question he’s asked the government a few times in recent months).

Treasurer Jim Chalmers takes the call and starts on the bananas. He says the government will not compromise “on biosecurity when it comes to banana imports”.

He remains pretty vague on the question of a domestic gas reserve on the east coast:

When it comes to the gas market, I note that the resources minister and the energy minister are working very closely with the cabinet on the various processes we have underway when it comes to the future of gas policy in our country.

Katter’s question also goes to Glencore’s Mount Isa copper operations, which Katter has been pushing the government to intervene in – that is, to keep the mine going.

Chalmers acknowledges the jobs and industry capability that would go if the copper smelter closed, and says the industry minister, Tim Ayres, has been working with the Queensland government to help find a solution.

Wells confirms her office was not notified of Optus outage until afternoon of Friday 19 September

The shadow minister for regional communications, Anne Webster, is up and lobs another question to Anika Wells.

She asks Wells to confirm whether she or her office were notified of the triple-zero outage on 18 September before the afternoon of 19 September.

It’s a short answer:

Yes, I can confirm we were not notified of the catastrophic outage until late afternoon of Friday 19 September.

Wells says industry has agreed to implement disaster or outage roaming for mobile phones

Anika Wells is facing questions from the crossbench too. The independent MP Helen Haines asks about a recommendation from the Bean review about providing temporary roaming during natural disasters and outages. She asks whether the government will give the telcos a deadline to implement disaster roaming.

Wells says that work is under way and the government agreed to the recommendation in the report for temporary disaster roaming:

The industry had identified some feasibility issues. It’s drafting a memorandum of understanding to support this development, and let me be clear, it is my expectation that industry will make that work.

Wells adds the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) was in the meeting with the telcos today, and will do a “simulation drill in a couple of weeks to stress-test where this system is not currently working for people, particularly in places like regional Australia”.

Wells calls on opposition to back new bill that requires immediate information sharing by telcos

It’s question number five for Anika Wells, who is asked by Nationals MP Alison Penfold how many triple zero outages have occurred since Wells became communications minister.

Wells tells the opposition to read the Bean review, which she says shows Australian telcos were not previously required to report outages. She says the opposition should back the new bill:

Until our government acted, Australian telcos were not required to report outages at all. None at all … [the bill] will mean telcos must immediately share information relating to outages with relevant emergency service organisations such as police, fire and ambulance.

Wells calls accusation that Labor sat on triple-zero legislation recommendations a ‘complete fabrication’

Melissa McIntosh is back at the podium, and asks Wells: “why did people have to die before you instructed your department to accelerate the implementation of triple-zero guardian legislation, as recommended by an independent review to your government over 18 months ago?”

Wells says its a “complete fabrication” to say the government has sat on this report.

The only thing that could have stopped Optus from having this outage was Optus themselves. They are responsible for their failure and they are held to account for their failure.

Wells says after the report was released in March 2024, the government set up a committee to look at how the custodian should work, which she says handed down its report to the department in November 2024, who then made recommendations to the government in March.

Upon accepting the recommendation, that work began immediately and work began on the legislation that we are introducing now.

During a dixer for the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, the deputy leader of the Nationals, Kevin Hogan, is booted from the chamber under 94a.

Speaker Milton Dick warns:

I just said there is far too much noise. There are consequences for actions.

Butler outlines medical training plans in response to question from Andrew Gee

Over to the crossbench, Andrew Gee asks the health minister why more commonwealth places for doctors aren’t made available for regional universities, like Charles Sturt university in his electorate. Gee says there are only 37 places available each year.

The health minister, Mark Butler, says there’s currently a tender out for 100 supported places for medical schools which Charles Sturt can apply for.

We have asked in the tender, as I understand it, for universities to indicate a particular focus on general practice because although we want to see doctors more broadly come into the system, we are prioritising an increase in general practice above all things else

Butler says there has been limited growth in medical school training places, “often because of a pretty determined opposition from the medical community itself, including the AMA over the years.” James Cook University in Darwin, he says, will soon have its own medical school for the first time.

Ley questions if Wells has spoken to families of those who died during triple zero outage

Sussan Ley puts a second question to Anika Wells, asking how many deaths were due to the Optus outage and whether Wells has called the families of those that died and apologised for “the Albanese government’s inaction”.

Wells says there were four deaths, three announced by the Optus CEO and a fourth announced by WA’s premier, Roger Cook, the next day.

What happened in September was not good enough, and legislating a triple zero custodian will drive real change, but for us here, there is no silver bullet when it comes to corporate failures.

So, have I spoken with the families? I have spoken with Optus, the company who has failed Australians and these families here.

There are some murmurs from the Coalition – a few say, “so you haven’t spoken to the families”.

Wells continues:

Frankly, I am disappointed that the leader of the opposition seeks to let Optus off the hook and try to say that other people should apologise for the failures of a private company in Optus …

Mr Speaker, this is a tragic circumstance. There are family whose have lost the ones they love and that hardens my resolve. Optus is accountable and as the minister, I will hold them to account. The independent regulator has an investigation on foot.

Hastie on the sidelines

Andrew Hastie is sitting on the backbench today, next to conservative South Australian MP Tony Pasin (who has also publicly and privately criticised net zero targets).

Hastie quit the frontbench on Friday.

Sussan Ley hasn’t chosen a replacement for him yet, so the shadow frontbench is a bit roomier for now.

Ley and Wells exchange criticism over triple zero failures and social media laws

On to the questions.

Ley puts the pressure on the communications minister, Anika Wells, on the triple-zero outage. She asks why Wells still calls herself a “new” minister and whether she regrets prioritising a trip to the US (where she spoke about the government’s social media ban).

Wells says everyone can agree the triple zero outages were “completely unacceptable”.

Optus’ repeated failure have made one thing very clear: The triple zero system needs reform [and] that exactly what our government is delivering. Today we have announced six key points that we are prioritising to make triple zero the most resilient and the most safe system that it can be.

Wells says Ley should apologise to the families who have had children die by suicide due to social media.

Our bipartisan new laws to delay access to social media are one of the most important things that our nation has ever done. And they have the potential to change the world, and that is why these laws were being discussed at the United Nations, and that is why I was at the United Nations.

The member would know, if they had met with the bereaved families who have been lobbying for these laws for many years – people like Rob Evans, who was carrying his daughter Liv’s ashes in an urn when he came to this place and begged us to act.

Singaporean PM to visit Australia this week

Anthony Albanese is preparing to welcome his Singaporean counterpart, Lawrence Wong, as part of an official visit to Australia this week.

It will be Wong’s first official visit to Australia since he became prime minister last year, and coincides with 60 years of diplomatic relations between Australia and Singapore.

Wong will visit Parliament House on Wednesday for the 10th Australia-Singapore annual leaders’ meeting. The two leaders are expected to discuss cooperation under the Australia-Singapore comprehensive strategic partnership.

While in Canberra, Wong will visit the governor general, Sam Mostyn, and opposition leader, Sussan Ley. In Sydney, he will meet the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, senior business leaders, and have a dialogue at the Lowy Institute.

“Australia’s prosperity and economic future are linked with south-east Asia,” Albanese said.

Deepening our relationship with Singapore means more jobs, more trade, and improved security for Australians.

Singapore is a vital partner and close friend to Australia and we’re united by our commitment to an open, stable and prosperous region.

Wong will lay a wreath at the Australian War Memorial, and is also due to visit New Zealand as part of his trip.

Triple zero custodian can ask Acma to compel telcos to provide information about outages

The government’s triple zero bill will legislate the triple zero custodian and allow it to request the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) to compel telecommunications companies to provide more information in the event of a triple zero outage.

The custodian was a recommendation of a review commissioned by the government after the last Optus outage in 2023. That review was released in April 2024.

The shadow communications spokesperson, Melissa McIntosh, was critical of the governments timing, and says action should have been taken far sooner.

She’s also been calling for an independent investigation into the latest Optus outage. She told reporters in Canberra:

The Bean review made the recommendations. Yet here we are, and there’s been four deaths. There is nothing more serious than protecting Australians … Optus has failed Australians, their customers; and the government has failed in implementing the recommendations.

There are three weeks left of the year where both houses will be sitting.

Watt rules out including climate trigger in environment reforms

After several minutes of questioning from both Coalition and Greens senators, the environment minister, Murray Watt, has told Senate estimates he can rule out a climate trigger forming part of reforms to Australia’s environmental laws.

Conservation groups have long called for such a trigger to address a gap in Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act that means the laws fail to consider the climate impacts of projects. The government has resisted this, pointing to the safeguard mechanism as the policy through which a project’s emissions are dealt with.

In response to questions from Coalition senator Jonno Duniam, Watt reiterated the government’s position that it was “leaning more towards what (EPBC review chair) Graeme Samuel recommended when it comes to the emissions of projects”.

Watt said this would entail developers disclosing the projected scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions for their project and an abatement plan.

In further questions, Duniam asked Watt if he could explicitly rule out a climate trigger forming part of the reforms. Watt said:

I’m happy to rule it out.

Triple zero custodian bill introduced to parliament

First up on the legislative agenda in parliament today, is a bill to enshrine the function of the triple zero custodian.

The communications minister, Anika Wells, has introduced the legislation, and is meeting today with the bosses of Optus, TPG and Telstra.

To the House, she said “If a telco fails Australians like Optus did they will face significant consequences. There is no excuse.”

You can see here the Optus CEO, Stephen Rue, snapped as he arrived at parliament a little earlier.

Full set of environmental standards not likely to be included in legislation put to parliament this year

A full set of proposed national environmental standards, considered the key plank of forthcoming nature law reforms, is unlikely to be put to parliament in initial legislation due to be introduced by the Albanese government later this year.

The environment minister, Murray Watt, told a Senate estimates hearing the bill is likely to include a power for the minister to create national standards – but not the standards themselves, which will come later.

National environmental standards focused on delivering environmental outcomes were the key recommendation of a 2020 review of Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act that found successive governments had failed to protect Australia’s unique ecosystems and species.

Watt told the hearing he expected drafts for two of the highest priority standards – one for matters of national environmental significance including threatened species and world heritage areas, and the other for biodiversity offsets – would be made available for consultation when the bill is introduced. He said it could then take several months to finalise those standards:

My intention is to present two of those standards, draft standards. They will require extensive consultation before they’re made. So that may be several months later that the standards are actually finalised.

But as I say, that’s the way it was always intended was that you amend the bill, give the minister of the day the power to make the standards, the standards come second, will come next.

Israeli ambassador says recognising Palestinian state ‘won’t change anything on the ground’

Maimon was also asked about Australia, the UK and Canada recognising a Palestinian state.

He says it “will not change anything on the ground”:

Declaration will not create a Palestinian state. A declaration will not bring about a release of our hostages.

Israel’s ambassador to Australia says he will ‘never be able to overcome’ memory of October 7 attacks

Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, spoke to Sky News a little earlier on the second anniversary of the 7 October massacre by Hamas.

Maimon, who was in Israel at the time, says he will never forget the atrocity of 7 October:

It’s one thing to see their [hostages] posters all over the world. It’s a totally different thing to visit their home, the home from which they were taken. To see the burnt rooms. To see the blood stains. This is so sad. I don’t believe I will ever be able to overcome the scenes and the tragedy that took place on October 7th.

Victorian premier says pro-Hamas graffiti is ‘hateful’

Jacinta Allan has ended her briefing on Metro Tunnel and is holding a press conference.

Asked about the graffiti in Melbourne this morning that states “glory to Hamas”, she described it as “hateful”. Allan went on:

It has no place, and it’s even more hateful on a day where we stand in support of a Jewish community that is grieving the second anniversary of the single biggest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust.

On any given day this hateful behaviour is wrong, it’s disgraceful. But particularly today, and I say to the Jewish community, we stand with you. We support you and I encourage all Victorians to reach out they know someone from the Jewish community who might be grieving, who might be finding today difficult to reach out to them, because this behaviour does not represent peace.

10,000 government home care packages to be released this week

Half of the government’s extra 20,000 promised home care packages will be released by the end of this week, with the remaining packages on track to be allocated by 1 November.

You might remember the Coalition, Greens and crossbench forced the hand of the government to bring forward the extra home care packages.

The aged care legislation, passed in the last parliament, which had included extra home care packages, was delayed to 1 November this year. The government said the delay was to give industry more time to adjust before the major changes took effect.

But the opposition and crossbench said that delay should not have also resulted in the delay of releasing those home care packages.

In a statement, the aged care minister, Sam Rae, said:

Labor’s delivery of these packages means more older Australians will get the care they need, when they need it, taking pressure off our hospital system and giving so many the world-class care they deserve in the places they love.

Dfat providing consular assistance to seven Australians still detained in Israel

Seven Australians from the 171 activists captured from a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza remain incarcerated in Israel. Some members of the flotilla were released and deported on Monday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) confirmed at about 9:15am AEDT on Tuesday morning – which is 1:15am in Tel Aviv – that it was providing consular assistance to seven Australians detained in Israel, including in-person visits, but that privacy obligations prevented it from further comment.

At least several of those Australians have alleged they are receiving “degrading and humiliating treatment”, including physical violence and requests for needed medication not being met.

Guardian Australia understands that Dfat is aiming to facilitate the deportation of the Australians as a group via Jordan and is hopeful that may be achieved later on Tuesday.

The mother of detained Melbourne-based GP, Bianca Pullman-Webb, said she was feeling “pretty stressed” about her daughter’s continued incarceration in a high-security prison in the Negev desert.

But given Julie Webb-Pullman said she has not been provided the same level of detail as some of other next of kin of the captured Australians, she is deeply concerned her daughter may not be released as soon as her compatriots.

If Bianca isn’t released, I will be extremely concerned.

‘I back the police,’ Minns says about proposed Palestinian protest march on Sydney Opera House

Returning to NSW news for a moment. The state’s premier, Chris Minns, appeared on 2GB with Ben Fordham earlier this morning where he was asked about the proposed plan to march on the Sydney Opera House this Sunday.

As we covered here in the blog a little earlier, the Palestine Action Group is facing court this morning in their fight against the NSW police after their application to hold the protest was knocked back. Minns said:

I back the police here. They’ve made a decision based on community safety. It’s an incredibly narrow peninsula, as everybody knows, that forecourt of the Opera House, and they’ve got a responsibility to keep the public safe.

They’re suggesting to the campaign organisers, can’t you choose another street? Can’t you choose another part of Sydney? We’ll facilitate the march, but stay away from that for a whole range of reasons.”

I’m hoping common sense prevails here. I’m also conscious of the fact that the organisers seem to use the notoriety and attention associated with comments from people like me to drive attendance and say that they’re being well, free speech is being stopped in a place like Sydney, but I back the police here. They’ve made a commonsense decision to keep Sydney safe.

After Fordham confirmed the decision was in the hands of the court, Minns said:

I realise some people would say, just ban protests, just move a bill and knock it off this afternoon. That [would be] subject to a high court challenge quicker than you can look at it, and I want to make sure that we’re not back to square one, where these protests are able to go ahead without any kind of regulation or oversight.

Metro Tunnel soft launch in December, opens fully from 1 February

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is about to hold a briefing for her MPs and journalists to announce the launch of the Metro Tunnel.

According to her media release, it will have a “summer launch” in early December with services every 20 minutes from 10am to 3pm between Westall, on the Cranbourne Pakenham line, and West Footscray, on the Sunbury line.

On weekends, services will run every 20 minutes from 10am to 7pm between Westall and West Footscray, every 40 minutes from East Pakenham and every 60 minutes from Sunbury.

These services are an addition to existing services that will continue as normal through the City Loop.

It will then be fully integrated into the transport network on 1 February. On this date, the entire transport timetable will change and the Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines will travel exclusively through the Metro Tunnel. During peak, the government says trains will run three to four minutes apart.

Frankston services will also return to the City Loop at that time.

The media release says this two-step launch follows “international best practice”:

The best way to make sure everything runs well is to open the tunnel and run services first, then make the big timetable switch afterwards – not attempt them simultaneously.

It also says it will allow tests of the new infrastructure and technology in real world conditions “so bugs can be ironed out without disrupting the rest of the train network”.

Government secretly assesses which platforms could be covered by under 16s social media ban

The federal communications department has conducted its own assessment of 30 different platforms, gaming apps, dating apps and messaging apps as to whether they might need to block under 16s from their services from 10 December, documents have revealed.

Guardian Australia reported last month the eSafety commissioner had written to several of these platforms including Facebook, Snap, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, and Twitch asking them to conduct self-assessments on if the ban should apply to them.

However, documents published on the communications department’s disclosure log last week reveal public servants have already assessed 30 different platforms including BlueSky, LegoPlay, Mastodon, WeChat, and Discord on whether they are likely to meet the definition of social media under the ban and therefore would have to prevent access for under 16s from December.

The documents, however, are redacted, and the department’s verdict on each platform has been deemed “deliberative” content that was not released under freedom of information laws.

The eSafety commissioner will respond to the self-assessments on whether it agrees or disagrees with the platform’s views on whether they will be included in the ban. The platforms covered will need to then work to remove existing accounts of under 16s by 10 December, and put in place age checks to prevent those users registering new accounts.

Palestine Action Group to call for NSW supreme court to make finding of genocide in Gaza

The Palestine Action Group will this morning face court in their fight against the New South Wales police over a proposed plan to march on the Sydney Opera House this Sunday.

During the hearing the group also plans to call on the NSW supreme court “to make a formal finding that Israel’s onslaught in Gaza amounts to genocide”.

It comes after Justice Desmond Fagan, when hearing the matter for directions on Friday, said he thought the crowd could exceed 100,000 because of “what appears to be the sentiment in the community, and that has developed over two years of sort of real time broadcasting of genocide of too many people”. PAG spokesperson Amal Naser said:

We welcome Justice Fagan’s willingness to call out genocide, reflecting the undeniable reality on the ground.

We refuse to allow police, politicians, or state institutions to erase this truth. Our movement stands on the side of justice and international law. Our lawyers will argue for the supreme court to recognise both: Our right to protest under domestic and international law. That Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

Last Wednesday, the group announced its plan to diverge from the normal route of its near weekly rallies over the past two years, and march from Hyde Park to the Sydney Opera House on 12 October to mark two years since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

But on Friday the NSW police announced it would knock back the group’s application to march to the Opera House, citing safety concerns such as crowd crush over limited exit points from the forecourt.

Two Jewish groups are also attempting to challenge in court the protest and its location. It’s the first time the Executive Council of Jewry and the Jewish Board of Deputies have sought to challenge a pro-Palestine protest.

The court is expected to decide this morning if their challenge will be allowed to be heard or not.

Adding a bit of context to the last post, Anthony Albanese had said before that 8 October 2023 protest that it should not go ahead.

Both he and foreign minister Penny Wong condemned footage appearing to show attenders at the rally chanting anti-Jewish sentiments (a claim police later walked back after independent analysis).

At the time, Albanese said images from the rally were “horrific”, and there were, “slogans which are antisemitic and just appalling, with no place”.

Related: Australia’s leaders condemn ‘abhorrent’ scenes after anti-Jewish chants filmed at Sydney rally

Tim Wilson claims Albanese lost ‘moral authority’ by not ‘standing up’ against pro-Palestine protests

Liberal MP Tim Wilson claims Hamas has “won a propaganda war every step of the way” in response to graffiti found this morning in Melbourne which states “glory to Hamas”.

Wilson told Sky News there are some who still are trying to “sow division”.

There [are] some sections, sadly, of the Australian community who want to sow division, to turn hatred towards, particularly the Jewish community, but to use as a basis to drive broader division within society and to inflame extremism.

Wilson also said he hopes planned protests at the Sydney Opera House over the weekend will not go ahead, and accused the prime minister of having lost “moral authority” for not “standing up” to previous protests.

[Albanese] lost his moral authority when he didn’t stand up against the protests on 8 October 2023 on the steps of the Sydney Opera House …

I hope it doesn’t go ahead, because think about the number of lives that have been lost. Think about the families have been separated. Think about the people who have had their children burned alive by Hamas.

It’s coming up to 9am which means Senate estimates is about to begin.

We have eyes on all the committees, so we’ll bring you the drama as it happens.

Australia will have ‘backside out of its pants’ if productivity growth remains low, Bragg says

The budget will face a $58bn black hole to the year 2028-29 if productivity growth remains low at just 0.5%, says Andrew Bragg, who commissioned the work by the parliamentary budget office.

He says the “productivity failure now means Australia has its backside out of its pants.”

The 2025-26 budget has a longer-term forecast that underlying productivity is assumed to grow at 1.2% per year. While the Reserve Bank has a medium term assumption that productivity growth will return to 0.7% by the end of the forecast period.

Bragg says:

Chalmers is padding his budget with fantasy forecasts. A more realistic 0.5% productivity rate – halfway between the historic average and Labor’s guesswork – shows the budget is in far worse shape.

On Sky News the assistant treasurer, Dan Mulino, was asked about the figures this morning and says Australia has “come off the worst decade in 60 years” when it comes to productivity growth, and backed the 1.2% Treasury forecast.

That’s a Treasury assumption which is based upon long-term productivity averages across the economy and it’s pretty standard practice for Treasury to use assumptions like that in budget papers …

The key thing for me is that the government is now prioritising lifting productivity rates from where we inherited them through a range of policies right across the economy. And that’s what we need to be doing and that’s the focus of our economic policy at the moment.

PNG alliance a ‘very big deal’, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese has made a quick TV appearance to spruik the PNG alliance signed yesterday, calling it a “very big deal”.

What are some of the elements of the agreement?

Albanese tells the Today show it means Australian soldiers will be “increasingly participating in PNG and vice versa”, along with the training of PNG personnel by the Australian defence force.

He’s asked whether the government has “lost” Vanuatu and Solomon Islands (as there was supposed to be a separate agreement signed with Vanuatu last month), but Albanese says “not at all”.

We’re working closely with both of those countries. Vanuatu, we have an agreement that we’re working through, hoping to finalise that. But the PNG deal of course is by far our largest neighbour. It’s by far the largest neighbour in the Pacific. PNG has a population equivalent of every other one of the Pacific island nations. So it is a very significant deal.

Watt says he has made three trips to WA as part of environment law consultation

Western Australia is one of the key players the federal government needs to win over to get the EPBC reforms across the line.

Why? They’ve got a strong mining industry and the premier, Roger Cook, made it clear that he wasn’t a fan of the legislation the commonwealth had put forward during the last term of parliament.

Murray Watt says he’s made three trips to WA since becoming the environment minister, and met with the premier, the mining industry and conservation groups across the state.

I’ve made very clear that dealing with the Western Australian government, along with every other state government, is a priority here, even when we pass these laws. I’m confident that we will.

Of course, these laws had a lot of interest in WA, but I’ve similarly met with people and pretty much every state and territory environment minister around the country.

Environment law reform negotiations ‘down to detail’, Watt says

The government still “aims” to get its environment laws passed this year, says environment minister Murray Watt, who has publicly said reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act will be introduced “this side of Christmas”.

Watt is on ABC RN Breakfast this morning and says he’s been consulting around the clock since he became minister in mid-May.

Time is ticking though, there are only three more weeks left in the year where both houses are sitting.

Everyone can agree that we need laws that deliver stronger environmental protections, quicker approval processes, and more transparency. And I guess what we’re down to now is detail, making sure that we can deliver a bill to the parliament that has very widespread support.

I’ve now met a couple of times with both the shadow environment minister, Angie Bell, and with the Greens environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young. All of those meetings have been, I think, quite positive and constructive. You know, I wouldn’t want to say that we’re about to do a deal with anyone. There’s obviously more work to be done.

If you feel like we’ve been talking about this issue forever, well … Graeme Samuel first wrote his report that the EPBC Act needed serious amending almost five years ago, and the government almost passed legislation in its last term of government, before spiking it at the 11th hour.

Marles says government engaging with Israel over detained flotilla activists

Richard Marles says the government is engaging with Israeli authorities and providing consular assistance to the Australians on the Gaza flotilla who have been detained.

The activists have told Australian officials they have faced “degrading and humiliating” treatment.

Related: Australian Gaza flotilla activists detained by Israel complain of ‘degrading and humiliating’ treatment

Marles says Australian officials are providing the “full suite of consular assistance”.

We’re obviously providing consular assistance to those who have been involved in this and we will continue to do that. I’m not about to go into it in more detail than that.

Marles says 7 October a ‘day of remembrance and commemoration’

The deputy PM, Richard Marles, says 7 October is not a day for demonstration, but a solemn day for the Jewish community.

On whether the government views a planned demonstration at the Sydney Opera House this weekend as “appropriate”, Marles tells ABC News Breakfast it’s a matter for the courts.

Today is not a day for demonstrations. Today is a day for remembrance and commemoration. I mean, obviously, this is a very difficult day for the Jewish community in Australia and it is a very solemn day.

Greens call for a full refund from Deloitte report that used AI

Greens senator Barbara Pocock, who helped lead the charge in a Senate inquiry looking at the integrity of consultancy firms, is pretty livid this morning over Deloitte’s offer of a partial refund for its report written for the department of employment and workplace relations.

You can read the backstory here:

Related: Deloitte to pay money back to Albanese government after using AI in $440,000 report

On ABC RN Breakfast a little earlier, Pocock said Australians will be “choking on their breakfast” hearing about a big -our consultancy firm using AI in a report that had several errors.

Our parliament has given an enormous amount of resources to tracking down poor value for money, and the government committed itself to making sure that it didn’t contract out core work of this type.

Here it has, it’s contracted out core work, and once again, we see proof in the pudding of poor quality work, poor value for money, and the kinds of things that Australians should not be putting up with, and our government should have much higher standards around.

She also takes a stab at Deloitte for quietly re-releasing the work on a Friday, with no apology and “no public accountability”.

‘There is nothing worse than politicians focusing on themselves’: Cash

The opposition is trying to stop talking about itself following the dramatic resignation of Andrew Hastie from the frontbench on Friday.

Over on the Today show, senior shadow minister Michaelia Cash said she has “one job”, which is to hold the government to account (and not talk about the internal politics of the Liberal party).

There is nothing worse than politicians focusing on themselves. The Australian people, they actually hate that … the Australian people, they don’t like it when we focus on ourselves.

Cash is on a panel with Labor minister Amanda Rishworth, who describes the turmoil as “a bit Days of our Lives”. But she does agree that “people don’t like parties that are focused on themselves”.

Labor to introduce triple zero ‘custodian’ legislation to parliament this week

Three major telco bosses will be hauled into parliament today for a chat with the communications minister, Anika Wells, following two outages of the Optus mobile network.

The government will also be introducing legislation to enshrine the “triple zero custodian” into law, which provides oversight over the whole triple zero system.

Marles told Sky News a bit earlier that the government was acting on the recommendations of a March 2024 report it had commissioned after a previous Optus network outage two years ago.

We expect the obligations that are given by the telecommunications companies in putting in place the triple zero service that those obligations are met, and that is obviously what we have been talking with Optus about when this has previously been looked at after the previous outage a couple of years ago.

Marles says Vanuatu defence agreement will be signed in ‘not too distant future’

As mentioned, deputy PM and defence minister Richard Marles has been tapped on the shoulder to do the morning media, lauding the “historic” agreement with PNG.

Marles tells Sky News the alliance is “natural” in making Australia the security partner of choice for PNG. When pressed on whether the deal is about countering China, Marles emphasises that the deal is about Australia and PNG.

Albanese was anticipated to sign the alliance agreement during a recent trip to PNG, and had also been expected to sign a separate defence agreement with Vanuatu. On the latter, Marles says he won’t speculate when, but is confident that it will happen.

It doesn’t surprise me that it would take some time in order to do that, but I’m confident in the not too distant future, you will see us being able to sign the agreement that we are planning.

Bill to enable listing of state entities as terror organisations to enter parliament

Foreign state entities, such as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), could soon be listed as terror groups in Australia as the federal government looks to pass a bill tweaking counter-terrorism laws.

The bill, which will first be scrutinised by parliament’s security and intelligence committee, will amend laws to allow foreign state entities to be listed as a terror organisation for engaging directly, or indirectly, on acts on domestic soil.

In August, the Albanese government announced it would expel Tehran’s ambassador to Canberra after “credible intelligence” from the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (Asio) that Iran was behind the attacks against the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne and Lewis’s Continental Kitchen in Bondi in Sydney.

Asio’s head, Mike Burgess, said the attacks had been ordered by the IRGC working through a series of paid intermediaries acting in Australia.

The attorney-general, Michelle Rowland, said the changes will “make it more difficult, more risky, and more costly for malicious foreign actors to seek to cause Australia and our community harm”.

Read more:

Related: What is Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps?

Indonesia ‘will not be offended’ by Australia-PNG treaty, Marape says

Ferguson asked James Marape specifically if it was possible that PNG could make a decision not to be involved in a conflict Australia was engaged in with China.

Marape said:

There’s a high possibility, when it even happens, PNG has a sovereignty in itself. This treaty was constructed within the fullest ambit of respecting sovereignties, in making their own calls.

Likewise Australia, if PNG was engaged in a conflict, we would not expect Australia to drop everything else and run to us. The treaty has provisions where there’ll be consultations that will be engaged. There’s a finality of making calls that rests with respect to defence force commanders.

Ferguson asked Marape on the other side of the equation – is Australia committing to assisting Papua New Guinea in the event of cross-border raids between West Papua and Papua New Guinea?

Marape said “not so much – we have a healthy dialogue with Indonesia.”

He said PNG did not discuss the treaty with Indonesia before he signed. “It’s a matter between PNG and Australia.”

He said Indonesia and other nations will be informed on the finer details of the treaty: “I’m 100% certain Indonesia will not be offended. They clearly understand where our need is. It is also in our shared interest – Indonesia and PNG have 800 kilometres of land borders.”

PNG prime minister dismisses ‘alarmist approach’ to China relations

Marape commended Chinese officials for giving Papua New Guinea “full respect to our sovereign interests” in the process of the treaty. When asked, he said Chinese officials did not make any direct or indirect threats as to the consequences if he signed this treaty with Australia.

ABC 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson asked: “This treaty is different because it commits you to act in the face of a common danger. That’s clearly in Australia’s interest, because PNG provides a useful geographic location as well as all the other benefits. But what does PNG get from Australia’s interests vis-a-vis a heavily militarising China?”

Marape said PNG stands to benefit in its capacity to build their own defence force but emphasised:

The construct of this treaty is a construct in peacetime for peace. This is not a construct to create war. It’s rather a construct to establish peace …

I don’t necessarily see China as [an] enemy. China is a good relationship nation, even with Australia. We, PNG, we trade with China. We do business with China, and so there’s no need for an alarmist approach in this conversation.