Australia politics live: Haines renews push to scrap ‘antidemocratic’ changes to FoI laws; Wong talks to Turkey on Cop impasse

11.18pm GMT Jess Collins apologises for embarrassing mistake Incredible scenes in the Senate this morning, as the NSW Liberal senator Jess Collins corrects the record about some comments she made regarding party elder statesman Richard Alston earlier in the week. Speaking about a private senator’s bill, Collins told the Senate on Wednesday that the Coalition had a proud history of contributing to Australia’s superannuation system, “starting with the significant contributions of the late Senator Richard Alston in the 1990s”. If anybody had the privilege of listening to the condolence speeches to the late Senator Richard Alston just a few months ago, we heard about the significant, very significant contributions that he and the coalition made to ensuring that this superannuation, as I said before, worked for all Australians. The only problem is, Alston is very much alive and kicking. Alston had been part of a special committee in charge of managing the NSW Liberal party branch but was dumped in June, along with former Victorian party official Alan Stockdale. Collins had made a personal explanation to the Senate in the past few minutes. She called Alston a “good friend” and clarified to the chamber that the late senator she was talking about was in fact John Watson. I can confirm that former Senator Richard Alston, AO, is A-OK, having spoken to him immediately after my speech to apologise for my mistake. I thank former Senator Richard Alston for his good grace and his humour for encouraging me by saying that ‘If that’s the worst mistake you made from parliament, you’ll be doing OK’. Collins apologised to anyone who might have been taken by surprise by her comments. Updated at 11.22pm GMT 11.14pm GMT Government blocks amendments to FoI bill The house is bounding through amendments from crossbench MPs to the government’s controversial freedom of information bill. So far amendments from Helen Haines and Sophie Scamps have been voted down by the government – though supported by the Coalition. They’re currently voting on amendments from Kate Chaney. There’s no debate on any of the amendments – the government successfully blocked debate with a suspension of standing orders earlier. The government could ram this legislation through the house this morning, but in the Senate, where Labor doesn’t have a majority, things will get a fair bit stickier. Updated at 11.17pm GMT 11.08pm GMT Microsoft apologises for AI confusion, offers refunds Almost three million Australians will be offered refunds after a tech giant apologised for the way it charged customers to access its artificial intelligence tools, AAP reports. Microsoft Australia emailed the offer to software subscribers on Thursday and admitted the pricing structure and plans lacked clarity and fell short of its standards. The apology comes 10 days after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched legal action against Microsoft Australia and its parent company in the federal court, claiming it had misled consumers about the price of their subscriptions and the availability of cheaper plans without AI tools. The US firm could face multimillion-dollar penalties if the court finds in the commission’s favour. Microsoft Australia began sending messages to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers on Thursday morning, outlining available plans and apologising for a lack of clarity about them. Updated at 11.16pm GMT 11.05pm GMT NAB profits slip as business debts go bad National Australia Bank has warned its loans have continued to get riskier, after reporting rising bad debts have eaten into its profits. The big bank copped bad debt costs of $833m for the year, more than $100m higher than the previous year. Loan quality had kept deteriorating but at a slowing pace as inflation and interest rates eased over 2025, according to NAB’s annual report, out today. Andrew Irvine, NAB’s chief executive, said the hit came from a handful of bigger businesses falling behind, which he downplayed as “quite common”. Personal loans to Australian households also made up some of the loss, while mortgage and credit card arrears eased after the first Reserve Bank interest rate cut in February. The bank’s cash earnings went backwards to $7.09bn but Irvine argued it had “good momentum” on underlying profits, excluding tax and the $833m credit impairment charge. Loans to business grew at the fastest rate since early 2022, he told reporters. Fossil fuel producers did not contribute much there, with analysis by environmental advocacy group Market Forces finding NAB has slashed exposure to oil and gas producers by $700m in the last two years. Irvine also said NAB had the right work-from-home settings, after the Finance Sector Union warned banks to properly consider requests for flexibility in the wake of last month’s Fair Work Commission ruling against Westpac. Updated at 11.13pm GMT 11.01pm GMT Freedom of information bill debated It’s all happening in the house this morning – the freedom of information bill, which was punted by the government to the smaller federation chamber, has come back to the house for debate. Independent MP Helen Haines had put forward amendments to the bill in the Federation chamber which could not be resolved there and have now come back to the house for debate. Haines is moving two amendments – which boil down to scrapping the cabinet secrecy expansions and scrapping the fees. Haines says: In a bill full of antidemocratic reforms that will worsen transparency and accountability, these amendments are particularly important because they go to the question of cabinet exemption expansion. It’s already incredibly difficult under the current FoI Act to access documents that have gone anywhere near the cabinet room. The first amendment is voted down. Then, leader of the house, Tony Burke, tries to gag any further debate on the bill, by moving a suspension of standing orders, saying the debate has already been had in the Federation chamber. The opposition are voting with the crossbench to allow debate on the bill to continue (but as we know, they don’t have the numbers). Updated at 11.09pm GMT 10.58pm GMT Disability ministers granted extra time to discuss proposed changes to NDIS State and territory disability ministers have called off their threat to boycott a meeting with the federal government this Friday on the NDIS after being granted extra time to discuss the proposed sweeping changes that will see kids with mild to moderate developmental delays taken off the $50bn scheme from 2027.Guardian Australia understands ministers will now be given a total of 60 minutes collectively to discuss the proposal and raise any issues after previously being capped at two minutes each. Last Friday, ministers wrote to the federal disability minister, Mark Butler, and NDIS minister, Jenny McAllister, warning they would not attend unless they could each contribute at least 10 minutes to the discussion. It’s expected the discussions will be dominated by the federal government’s announcement in August to establish a $2bn program from mid-2026 designed to reduce the number of kids entering the NDIS, with states and territories previously saying they were blind-sided by the commitment. The latest annual report for the National Disability Insurance Agency shows the delay in establishing foundational supports, like the Thriving Kids initiative, has increased the scheme’s projected costs by $7.7bn in the four years to 2029. Updated at 11.09pm GMT 10.43pm GMT Coroner to deliver findings into death of German backpacker Simone Strobel The NSW coroner will deliver her findings today into the death of German backpacker Simone Strobel. The 25-year-old schoolteacher’s body was found concealed under palm fronds at a sports ground six days after she was last seen at a Lismore caravan park in February 2005. A 2007 inquest heard she had had been suffocated with a pillow or plastic bag. Last year, the cold case’s lead investigator told a fresh inquest he believed Strobel was probably killed by her boyfriend, Tobias Moran, who had travelled with her from Germany. Moran, who now lives in Western Australia, was charged with murder in 2022, but prosecutors chose not to proceed and the charges were withdrawn. Moran, who was always maintained his innocence, was paid $190,000 in compensation. We’ll bring you the findings later today. Related: German backpacker was probably killed by her boyfriend, NSW inquest hears Updated at 10.47pm GMT 10.27pm GMT Community and Public Sector Union criticise employment services as ‘a complete failure’ The CPSU has said Australia’s employment services system are “a complete failure”, after Guardian Australia reported earlier this week only 11.7% of jobseekers secured long-term work last year, while billions of taxpayer dollars were funnelled into private providers. The current employment services system is projected to cost taxpayers $8.2bn over the next four years, and is dominated by only a handful of providers owned by multinational companies. The CPSU said providers have been caught engaging in unethical behaviour while taking taxpayers’ dollars. Melissa Donnelly, CPSU national secretary, said: Privatisation has turned employment services into a tick-a-box profit-driven industry that rewards providers for keeping people in a cycle of unemployment, and these numbers are proof of that. An 11.7% success rate isn’t success at all – it’s failure. Failure to support jobseekers, failure to meet workforce demands, and failure to provide value for money. Australians deserve better than a system that punishes jobseekers while lining the pockets of multinational corporations. It’s time to end this failed experiment and bring back the CES. Updated at 10.32pm GMT 10.26pm GMT More on bid to host Cop31 Climate watchers in Canberra have noted that Turkey’s vice-president, Cevdet Yilmaz, is headed to Belem, Brazil this week for the annual Cop climate summit. Australia and Turkey are competing to host next year’s Cop31 event, and the race is coming down to the wire. The fact that Yilmaz, and not Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is headed to Belem could be significant. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is not headed to the event. Australia will be represented by the assistant minister for climate change and energy, Josh Wilson, and later by the climate minister, Chris Bowen. Australia has majority support to host the conference, but UN rules require consensus among member states. As long as both Australia and Turkey remain in the race, neither side can be declared the winner. That risks the hosting rights defaulting to Bonn, in Germany. Updated at 10.30pm GMT 10.24pm GMT Bill introduced to require streaming services to spend more on Australian content Staying in the House where the CDC bill just passed, arts minister Tony Burke is introducing a bill to legislate a requirement on streaming services to have guaranteed Australian content. The bill would force services with at least 1 million Australian subscribers to spend at least 10% of their total expenditure for Australia or 7.5% of their revenue on new local drama, children’s, documentary, arts and educational programs. We should never underestimate how important it is for Australians to see ourselves on screen, it helps us to better understand ourselves and our neighbours and allows the world to see Australian stories … they are our greatest cultural asset. [Australian stories] reflect and define who we are as a nation and make us recognisable on the international stage. Australian stories help make sense of our past, define ourselves in the present and promote our people, our creativity and our country to the world. The content quotas was a promise by Labor ahead of the 2022 election, but progress seemingly stalled over uncertainties about how it could be quarantined from Australia’s free trade agreement with the US. Burke says this legislation is “consistent with Australia’s international trade obligations”. Updated at 10.29pm GMT 10.13pm GMT Australia continues last-ditch bid to host Cop31 in 2026 Australia is still pushing to win hosting rights for the Cop climate summit next year, with the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and others continuing to make last-ditch diplomatic efforts to secure the bid. The federal government wants to host a “Pacific” climate summit, but the hosting rights are determined by consensus, not a formal vote, and Turkey also remains keen to host the conference. Australia and Turkey have been discussing how to manage that, and whether hosting rights could even be partially shared. Related: Cop out? Anthony Albanese wants to host the next global climate summit – so why isn’t he attending this one? It’s understood Wong this week again contacted her Turkish ministerial counterpart, Hakan Fidan, to try and break the impasse. In a speech to an international development conference last night, Wong said the Australian government “will continue to make our case to host the Conference of the Parties next year, in partnership with the Pacific”. We recognise that the threat of the climate crisis – to livelihoods, security and prosperity – is most urgent for Pacific island countries. As I have made very clear to my Turkish counterpart, and as Minister Bowen has made clear to his counterpart, and indeed as the prime minister has made clear to President Erdoğan: we remain committed to delivering a Cop that will elevate Pacific voices and put a global spotlight on the urgent impacts of climate change in our region. Updated at 10.16pm GMT 10.12pm GMT Government to pass Centre for Disease Control legislation After passing through the Senate with amendments yesterday afternoon, the governments bill to legislate an AustralianCentre for Disease Control is back in the house to pass parliament. Anthony Albanese is speaking on the bill this morning, and says he called for the establishment of an independent ACDC after Covid. We must not forget one of the factors that saw Australia even more vulnerable to Covid and its impacts was [that] we hadn’t had a [pandemic] drill since Exercise Sustain under the Rudd government. Albanese said the new CDC will be an independent statutory agency with a director general and will be in place on 1 January next year. On a lighter note (with a dig at Sussan Ley) he says: You couldn’t ask for a more Australian acronym than ACDC Mr Speaker, though if this ACDC were to have a theme song, and I know raising contemporary music is dangerous in this house, it would have to be Highway to Hell. When it comes to a vote, there’s just a couple of Coalition members in the chamber, who force a division despite the government’s overwhelming majority (“Good on ya,” one government member says). As everyone else is filing in, Albanese can be heard joking, “What are the hidden messages in ACDC?” Updated at 10.20pm GMT 10.00pm GMT Watt prepares for ‘intense negotiations’ on environment bill over coming fortnight Murray Watt has an uphill battle in getting the Coalition or the Greens over the line on his environment protection bills – but has been all smiles and positivity so far. Speaking in the corridor a little earlier this morning, Watt said he’s open to amendments from either side and acknowledges that no one is going to get 100% of what they want. But what, in his view, are the Coalition and the Greens seeking in their negotiations with him? The Coalition are struggling to come to a position on this because of their internal dysfunction at the moment, but it is becoming clearer that they do seek changes to some of the issues that business groups have been raising, whether that be around the definition of unacceptable impact, the role of the EPA. And equally, the Greens are seeking changes relating to climate change relating to forestry activities, so we’ll give some thought to all of those options. You know, we’ve still got two weeks to go before we come back here and I know there’ll be some intense negotiations between now and then. Updated at 10.03pm GMT 9.53pm GMT Victorian police chief forced to defend use of helicopters as wife’s flight revealedVictoria’s police commissioner has been forced to defend his use of a taxpayer-funded helicopter after details emerged of another undeclared flight, AAP reports. Mike Bush has denied allegations he and his wife misled taxpayers about the extent of his use of the police aircraft. The controversy comes just weeks after he apologised for using the police helicopter to travel from Melbourne to Hobart for a meeting with his national and trans-Tasman counterparts. It has since emerged that Bush’s wife joined a 10-minute flight over Melbourne on 28 June. The commissioner also took another undisclosed flight on 29 July. Bush said he had only been on the helicopter once for non-operational travel, a decision that triggered his previous apology. He said the July flight was deemed necessary to understand the unique technology of the state’s air-wing fleet. In a statement Bush said: This day was organised with this in mind and provided me with a deeper knowledge of how our elite units work to keep Victoria safe. To be clear, this flight was not for non-operational travel – it was to gain a very real understanding of how the Air Wing operates in the air which simply cannot be achieved from ground level. Updated at 10.01pm GMT 9.45pm GMT Record wait times for mental health patients The latest Public Hospital Report Card: Mental Health Edition from the Australian Medical Association (AMA) describes how exit block, a shortage of inpatient mental health unit beds, a lack of investment in community and primary mental healthcare, and a lack of interoperable electronic patient records all result in time-consuming administrative burdens. The AMA president, Dr Danielle McMullen, said: “An increasing number of patients are presenting to health services in acute mental health crisis, requiring urgent intervention and coordinated care.” For many of these patients, a hospital admission is required and the journey through the ED (emergency department) is a daunting and overwhelming experience. Patients are facing long waits in bright, noisy environments that often lead to increased agitation and distress. Sadly, this can lead to either verbal or physical assaults on staff, with violence in public hospitals continuing to rise. She said governments must focus on funding accessible, high-quality mental health supports in the community, and that there is also a pressing need for increased investment in the public hospital system. Updated at 9.52pm GMT 9.41pm GMT Net zero debate ‘chewing up so much energy’, says Bragg Andrew Bragg, one of the Liberal party’s most vocal and staunch advocates to retain a net zero target – at least by the end of the century – hasn’t missed a day of doing media this week. Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast this morning, the Liberal senator continues to push for a quick resolution, and come up with a plan to “reduce emissions but also to protect their jobs and to ensure the industry remains onshore”. Bragg defends the process, and confirms that while senior members of the Liberal party room haven’t yet seen Dan Tehan’s report, the process is “almost finished”. I think it now needs to be brought to a head and resolved, I think, because it is harming our ability to hold the government to account because this is chewing up so much energy. I imagine we’ll see it soon because this will be resolved this parliamentary year, and as you know, we’re running out of runway. Updated at 9.51pm GMT 9.33pm GMT Barnaby Joyce says One Nation vote is ‘climbing up’ Is he staying or is he going, Barnaby Joyce still says he’s keeping his cards “close to his chest” on a possible move to One Nation, but seems to certainly have good things to say about the minor party. On the Today show, he says the One Nation vote is “climbing up”, and that momentum on ditching net zero is building. But he says he’s still with the Nationals, even if he’s still not showing up to the party room meetings. Joyce: I haven’t left. I’m still a member of the National party, have a look at question time. Karl Stefanovic: Is there a chance you won’t leave now? Joyce: I’m going to keep those cards up my sleeve. (For someone keeping his cards up his sleeve, he sure does spend a lot of time in the media.) Asked if he has any regrets over the debate on net zero, Joyce says there are “none whatsoever”. He also doesn’t believe the debate “blows up the Coalition”. I don’t think it blows up Coalition. You can see what with where we went in the last election. It was not good and we had a policy at the last election that supported net zero and we got we got our electoral backside handed to us on a plate. He ends the interview saying he’s got “no problems” with Liberal leader Sussan Ley and wishes her all the best. Updated at 9.40pm GMT 9.13pm GMT Home care waitlists to change ‘quite considerably’, health minister Mark Butler says home care waitlists will change as a result of the extra 20,000 packages that the government was forced to bring online before the aged care changes started on 1 November. On RN Breakfast this morning, the minister for health and ageing is asked what the current waiting times are for a home care package, but he says he doesn’t have the latest data. I haven’t seen data in the last couple of weeks since we got the additional 20,000 packages out that we got in the last eight weeks to the end of October. We’ve got another 20,000 that are going out in the coming eight weeks as well. So we expect that to change the waitlists quite considerably. We’ve been looking at the assessment waitlists, as you would be aware, which are coming down, particularly outside of hospitals. Host, Sally Sara, also pushes Butler on whether the assessments for aged care should be done by private providers – which the royal commission recommended against. Butler says the government “inherited” a largely privatised system, with the states also doing some of the assessment. We inherited a largely private arrangement outside of the hospital system, which, as I said, is largely for people requiring non-residential care. We’ve kept that in place, but we reversed the original decision from the Morrison government to privatise the hospital-based systems. 9.05pm GMT Pauline Hanson speaks at CPAC event at Mar-a-Lago One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has spoken at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) “circle retreat and gala” at Mar-a-Lago today. Hanson confirmed to Sky News that she would be making the speech, and had attended Donald Trump’s Halloween party last week (which her office previously wouldn’t confirm). The Queensland senator was also spotted in pics posted by CPAC sitting at a table next to mining magnate Gina Rinehart (who also attended the Halloween party). The 2025 CPAC Circle Retreat & Gala kicked off with an inspiring evening featuring Sec. Kristi Noem and LA Gov. Jeff Landry, marking a powerful start to a week focused on leadership, freedom, and America’s future. pic.twitter.com/WXfiqkngtR— CPAC (@CPAC) November 5, 2025 In an Instagram post, Hanson wrote: It was refreshing to stand in a room where common sense still matters. Where strong borders, national pride, energy independence, and putting your own people first aren’t dirty words, they’re priorities. In just one year, under President Trump’s leadership, America is turning itself around. Updated at 9.14pm GMT 8.52pm GMT Senate to debate Greens bill on universities divesting from ‘dirty industries’ A Greens bill that would require universities to divest from any partnerships with “dirty industries”, including weapons manufacturers, gambling, fossil fuel and tobacco companies, will be debated in the Senate this morning. It follows a grassroots referendum led by the National Union of Students earlier this year that led to around 5,000 students voting for universities to divest from all partnerships with weapons companies. It follows a report in Guardian Australia yesterday which found the Australian National University bought $138,000 worth of shares in Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer in March, despite an earlier pledge to not invest in controversial arms companies. The Australia Institute’s recent Fossil-Fuelled Universities report found that 26 of Australia’s 37 public universities take money from fossil fuel companies, including Woodside, AGL and Santos, but the true extent of industry partnerships remains opaque. The Greens deputy leader and higher education spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said “having these links to dirty industries betrays … the mission of academia”. The rules are so lax that we don’t even know the full extent of these dirty partnerships, which is deeply concerning given the governance issues rife in the sector. Updated at 9.02pm GMT 8.51pm GMT James Paterson denies Nationals setting Coalition’s policy agenda Having a very similar discussion to Jane Hume is James Paterson who is talking to Sky News. Paterson says he would have liked the issue to have been sorted out by now, so the party could “focus our fire” on the government. He also denies the Nationals are leading the Liberals on Coalition policy. The National party are their own independent, sovereign political party, and they went through their own process to determine their position on net zero. The Liberal party will go and is going through our own process too, and you and your viewers will not have long to wait before we’re able to answer questions about exactly where we stand on those issues. On another issue, on yesterday’s verbal brawl in question time between Jim Chalmers and Alex Hawke, Paterson responds to reports that “performance” did filter their way over to the lower house. I thought the most interesting and telling thing was the way in which Jim Chalmers lashed out. He’s normally a very cool customer, but for him to lash out in such an extraordinary way yesterday shows how much pressure he’s under. Updated at 8.57pm GMT 8.43pm GMT Jane Hume plays down divisions in the Liberal party The Liberal party is in damage control, trying to hold itself together as it forms a position on energy and net zero. On ABC News Breakfast this morning, Jane Hume, a moderate and former frontbencher, says the party isn’t as divided as the public might think. There’s “so much more that we agree on than we disagree on”, she says, and denies her party is being held ransom by the Nationals – who came out with their anti-net zero stance over the weekend. The Nationals have a position and the Liberal party will develop its position and we’ll announce it soon. The most important thing soon is that as a coalition, we then come up with a joint policy we can take to the next election … We need to make sure we protect our natural environment and by that I also mean our regional and rural communities who at the moment are being blanketed with renewable energy projects. On whether she believes Sussan Ley will be the leader come Christmas, Hume says Absolutely. Sussan is the leader and leading debate. We want to take the time and get it right. Updated at 9.19pm GMT 8.33pm GMT Waiting time for 'complex' home care package assessment is falling, minister says The federal aged care minister, Sam Rae, has said the median assessment time for home care packages has reduced in the past quarter down to 23 days. He told ABC’s 7.30 program last night that the assessment process has “historically been very complex” but since the single-assessment system was brought in at the end of last year, it has matured and the benefits are seen in the reduction of median assessment time has gone from 31 days in the last quarter to 23 days now. He said: But, of course, I want to see older people and the people that love them being able to access an assessment and care system that is agile and able to respond to their needs. So we’ll keep working to make sure that that assessment system is part of a broader ecosystem is that is responsive to the needs of older people in our community. He admitted the median doesn’t represent the experience for everyone and there would be “variability” in the wait times. The priority system, he said, has low wait times for those who have the most acute needs – sometimes less than a day. On new aged care reforms that would introduce a means-tested copayment for home care packages, Rae said it was about ensuring a sustainable system with an ageing population. He said the federal government will continue to pay for all of clinical care for in-home recipients. 8.33pm GMT Sanctions placed on cybercriminals funding North Korea weaponry The government has placed financial sanctions and travel bans on cybercriminals supporting and funding North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction. In a statement this morning, foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the sanctions have been placed on four entities and one individual. “The scale of North Korea’s involvement in malicious cyber-enabled activities, including cryptocurrency theft, fraudulent IT work and espionage is deeply concerning,” the statement said. A report by the Multilateral Sanction Monitoring Team found North Korean cyber actors stole at least $1.9bn in cryptocurrency from companies around the world in 2024. It also found North Korean officials used cryptocurrencies to sell and transfer military equipment. Wong said the government is taking the action with the United States. In a separate statement on Tuesday, the United States announced sanctions on two entities and eight individuals allegedly involved in supporting North Korean money laundering. Updated at 8.51pm GMT 8.19pm GMT Watt optimistic environment protection bill will pass parliament this year Murray Watt still believes the government’s environment protection bills can be passed through the parliament this year (with just five whole joint sitting days left – including today). Does that mean anything has changed? Not exactly. Watt tells ABC News Breakfast he’s negotiating with the Coalition and the Greens, and tries to take a jab at the Greens who will be voting against the bill in the house today alongside Barnaby Joyce. There will be a Senate committee with three days of hearings looking at the bill, ahead of that last sitting week starting on 24 November. Watt says: I have had further discussions with both the Coalition and the Greens this week, and I expect that will continue over the next fortnight … [It’s] a bit hard for the Coalition at the moment. They’re very divided over net zero and I think that is getting in the way of their ability to really focus on these laws … it’s an opportunity for the Greens over the next fortnight to put aside to sort of blocking and spoiling games that they get up. Watt says what the parties are saying to him behind closed doors is “a little bit more moderate than the rhetoric they carry on in the media”, and he urges them to lock in and do a deal. Updated at 8.27pm GMT 8.13pm GMT Be better than a ‘year two classroom’ says Pocock on question time Independent David Pocock, who has seen plenty of drama himself in the Senate (catch up here), weighs into to yesterday’s drama where there were some accusations of “liar” thrown around the house chamber. On a panel on the Today show this morning, Pocock says the behaviour in question time is often “disgraceful”. He also makes the point that we don’t often learn much from the questions and answers either. Question time I think is disgraceful a lot of the time, it’s question time not answer time, you ask questions, you don’t get too many answers a lot of the time … you’re having to sit listening to people yelling at each other and you don’t learn much. So pretty disappointing. And you’d hope that politicians could hold themselves to a little bit of a higher standard than, you know, a year two or three classroom. Labor frontbencher, Amanda Rishworth, who joined Pocock on the panel, called it “a rowdy day in politics”, and agreed her six-year-old has “probably behaved better”. When passions are high, question time can get a bit rowdy … but of course we can all do better. Updated at 8.19pm GMT 8.09pm GMT Good morning, Krishani Dhanji with you here, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started. It’s the last sitting day of the fortnight, and there’s just one more full week of joint sittings to go (starting Monday 24 November) before parliament closes shop for the year. The biggest item still on the agenda for the government is the Environment Protection Act, which saw plenty of debate in the house yesterday, and should be pushed through that chamber today (but a reminder there’s still no pathway for the government to get it through the Senate). For the Liberals, it’s of course getting to a position on energy and net zero. Time is ticking. We’ll likely see some more reaction today to that spat in parliament yesterday during house question time, when the two major parties traded barbs and called each other liars (yikes!) Stick with us, it’s going to be a busy day. Updated at 8.14pm GMT 7.58pm GMT NSW Nationals leader says nothing ‘off the table’ on energy policy In a bid to head off a potential rebellion among his members, the NSW Nationals leader, Dugald Saunders, said this week he wouldn’t be “taking anything off the table” when it comes to the state’s energy policy. One option is to change the commitment to something more vauge, such as achieving the target sometime in the second half of the century while aggressively pursuing nuclear energy, which is not part of the 2020 roadmap. The likely abandonment of the commitment will be a further blow to beleaguered Liberal leader, Mark Speakman, who is a firm supporter of the 2020 Energy roadmap. The roadmap was devised by former energy minister and close colleague, Matt Kean, now the head of the Climate Change Authority. The Minns Labor government has continued implementing the roadmap, though critics in the Nationals say it has done so without regard for the impacts on rural communities. Depending on what the outcome is, the issue could spark a leadership challenge from Paul Toole, the leader before Saunders and who represents the more conservative wing of the party. It could also fracture the Coalition agreement. Saunders has tried to work with his Coalition partners, despite increasing friction over feral horses in the Kosciuszko national park, the Great Koala national park, controls on poker machines and more recently windfarms and energy policy. But energy policy is a central issue and the Nationals abandonment of net zero will put enormous strains on the Coalition. Some Liberals fear that walking away from net zero would leave the NSW Liberals facing the same kind of wipeout in heartland seats from teal independents. The alternative of splitting from the Nationals is also being discussed, but that could leave the Liberals with no clear path back to government for a decade. Updated at 8.12pm GMT 7.51pm GMT NSW Nationals likely to abandon net zero commitment The NSW Nationals are likely to formally abandon a commitment to net zero, when the party meets next Tuesday, after the federal party’s similar moves this week. The move will create further turmoil for the NSW Coalition, which is already dealing with a leadership crisis and flagging poll numbers as it suffers from the brand damage inflicted by the federal infighting. Sources said the Nationals’ party room was due to receive a briefing on Monday from the author of the report which underpinned the federal Nationals’ decision to walk away from net zero last week. Senator Ross Cadell is due to brief the party on findings of the Nationals-aligned Page Research Centre. The review, led by Cadell and senator Matt Canavan, concluded “a net zero commitment no longer serves the interests of the Australian people”. “Since Australia committed to its net zero target, electricity and gas prices have increased by around 40 per cent,” the report notes. In June the NSW Nationals grassroots party voted to abandon net zero with a hefty majority, with the mover of the motion arguing that there was no point having targets without a clear path to get there. But the vote was not binding on the parliamentary party. On Tuesday the party will formally consider its position, amid anger among Nationals over the impacts on rural communities. Updated at 8.05pm GMT 7.40pm GMT Finance union warns banks to review WFH policies The Finance Sector Union has warned employers they may be breaching workplace law if they reject flexible work requests without proper consideration, consultation or justification. The FSU correspondence, sent to financial institutions across Australia, follows last month’s Fair Work Commission ruling that allowed Westpac employee, Karlene Chandler, to work from home, overturning an order from the bank to attend a corporate office two days a week. Westpac was found to have breached various procedural requirements in responding to Chandler’s request. The bank also unsuccessfully argued it had reasonable business grounds for refusing her application. The FSU member, who has young children, relied on a section of the Fair Work Act which allows eligible employees with carer responsibilities to make such requests. The FSU national assistant secretary, Nicole McPherson, said: We’ve told every major bank to get their own house in order — fix rejected work-from-home requests, comply with the law, and stop acting like flexibility is a privilege. Westpac broke the law when it ignored its own worker’s rights and we’re putting every other bank on notice that they can’t do the same. Westpac said earlier this week it was reflecting on its response to the decision and would decide on its next steps in the coming weeks. The bank has defended its office policies, describing them as “one of the most flexible work-from-home positions in the marketplace”. Updated at 7.41pm GMT 7.30pm GMT Welcome Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer, bringing you the best of the overnight news and then it will be Krishani Dhanji to wrap an action-packed sitting fortnight. The NSW Nationals appear set to follow the federal party’s example and formally abandon a commitment to net zero when the party meets next Tuesday. Such a move would intensify the crisis in the state party, which is struggling with poor poll ratings under its leader, Dugald Saunders. More in a moment. The aged care minister, Sam Rae, says the time people have to wait for an assessment on home care packages has reduced in the past quarter to 23 days thanks to the government’s reforms of the “historically complex” system. He told the ABC’s 7.30 last night that he wanted an “agile” process but admitted the median would not be everyone’s experience. More details soon. And the bank workers’ union has written to financial institutions warning them to respect requests for flexible working after a landmark ruling on WFH.