Australia politics live: question time clashes over Foodbank and energy prices after Chalmers and Hawke forced to withdraw ‘liar’ comments

4.59am GMT

Greens say they will oppose EPBC in lower house this week
The Greens will vote against the government’s EPBC environmental laws in the lower house this week.
As reported yesterday, the party does not believe the legislation goes far enough to protect forests and address climate change, leaning too much towards mining and industry interests, but hasn’t ruled out amendments in the Senate.
Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, confirmed this afternoon the party “cannot support this package and will be voting for it in the House of Representatives”:

These laws have been criticised by every major environment and climate group, but welcomed by the likes of BHP, Chevron and the BCA. This shows exactly who the laws are written for.
It is now up to the Prime Minister to decide if he wants to again let mining and logging lobbyists and their political representatives like Roger Cook run the show, or if he wants to protect nature, forests and our climate.

The Greens have one member in the federal lower house: MP for the Queensland seat of Ryan, Elizabeth Watson-Brown.

4.56am GMT

Hello, I’ll now be with you until this evening.

4.52am GMT

Thank you all for following along on the blog with me today.
I’ll leave you with the lovely Jordyn Beazley, and will see you here bright and early tomorrow morning for the final sitting day of the fortnight.

4.45am GMT

Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time

The opposition started out attacking the government on cost of living again, and we got very similar questions and very similar answers to what we’ve been hearing all week.
Alex Hawke, Jim Chalmers and Tony Burke traded barbs over calling MPs “liars” in the chamber.
Nicolette Boele asked Chalmers about tax incentives for food donation charities – there was no clear answer on whether the government would introduce them.
The opposition then cited data from Foodbank to attack the government, which saw a prompt return serve from the PM who questioned their tactics committee and said the Coalition had stripped funding from the charity.
Anthony Albanese was asked twice about a Labor backbencher’s media appearance, telling the public energy bills will dip 20% (on the second try we got an actual answer from him on where the figure had come from).

Hang in there folks – one more sitting day to go!

Updated at 4.57am GMT

4.34am GMT

Alex Antic hits back at Ley after criticism of conservatives’ remarks on stillbirth leave bill
In the Senate, ahead of question time, conservative Alex Antic hit out at Sussan Ley over her comments to ABC AM this morning, in which she said that remarks linking “late-term abortions” to a bill to protect leave pay for parents of stillborn children were “insensitive”.
Antic used his 90-second statement to defend his colleagues, Andrew Hastie, Barnaby Joyce, Henry Pike and Tony Pasin.
The South Australian senator had moved an amendment to the bill in the Senate, which was defeated. Antic directly called out Ley:

How can it be insensitive to raise the issue of a clear loophole in a federally mandated scheme in a parliament which votes on the scheme? That is their right, and my right, and that is the very purpose of debate in this parliament.

Updated at 4.53am GMT

4.26am GMT

WA premier gives qualified support to federal environment law reforms
The Western Australian premier, Roger Cook, has given his conditional support for the Albanese government’s revised nature laws as he backs Murray Watt’s aim to pass them before Christmas.
Cook campaigned against federal Labor’s first attempt to reform the EPBC Act, joining forces with the state’s powerful mining lobby to pressure Anthony Albanese to sink the so-called Nature Positive Plan ahead of the May election.
The WA premier – who was preparing for his own state election at the time of that campaign – has adopted a far more conciliatory approach with the latest iteration.
In Canberra as part of a separate parochial fight to protect the state’s lucrative GST deal, Cook indicated he shared the mining industry’s concerns with a proposed new definition of “unacceptable impact” on the environment that, if met, would result in a project being immediately refused.
But Cook said he was confident the issue could be “overcome”, suggesting he believed Watt was open to revising the definition.
The premier said the WA government “had a little way to go before we’re in a position to endorse every aspect of [the bill]” but was adamant the bill should pass – and quickly.

We need the Greens and the Liberals to basically get on board. We can do this. We can produce legislation which both encourages industry and protects the environment, and I think it’s now is the time for the parliament to act.

Updated at 4.36am GMT

4.17am GMT

Question time ends
After a final dixer to the infrastructure minister, Catherine King, question time is over for another day.
Just one to go for the fortnight!

Updated at 4.18am GMT

4.16am GMT

Independent Dai Le asks about bulk-billing changes for mental health consultations
Back to the crossbench: Dai Le, who represents the western Sydney seat of Fowler, asks the government about concerns by GPs that the latest changes to Medicare bulk-billing, cutting Medicare items 2712 and 2713 – which are items for mental health consultations – “removes the flexibility to provide longer meaningful consultations for complex mental health cases.”
The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) has said that it’s also very concerned about these changes.
From 1 November, “key MBS mental health items will be scrapped, including item 2712 to review a mental health plan, and item 2713 for a mental health consultation longer than 20 minutes. Generic time-based items will be used for this care instead,” they said.
The health minister, Mark Butler, says “as far as I can tell” every GP practice in Fowler will be bulk-billing under the new funding changes. Le stands up on a point of order, to call on the minister to directly address the mental health items.
Milton Dick says it’s too early to say whether Butler is being relevant and tells him to continue. Butler says:

The College of GPs, increasingly they say the number-one issue that GPs are consulted about, about 70% of GPs report the number-one issue they consult about is mental health … the affordability of access to GPs is more important for mental health support than probably any other condition we can think of. I am surprised, frankly, that the member would minimise the impact of the record investment rolled out on Saturday for the access and affordability of mental health support and GPs. That was one of the overriding priorities when we designed the system that we rolled out on Saturday.

Updated at 4.24am GMT

4.07am GMT

Albanese asked again about MP’s claim electricity prices will drop
The opposition have another go of trying to get Anthony Albanese to confirm whether energy prices will drop by 20% as Luke Gosling said in an interview on Sky News, this time asked by Nationals MP Anne Webster.
This time Albanese doesn’t take us down a long tangent, but whips his phone out and quotes from the Climate Change Authority’s advice to the government on the 2035 targets:

Expert analysis by the Australian energy market commission predicts residential electricity prices will fall by 13%, about 5c per kilowatt hour. Average household energy costs will fall by about 20%, around $1,000 a year over the next decade under a coordinated renewables rollout. That is the direct quote.

Dan Tehan stands up to make a point of order, but Milton Dick doesn’t even hear it and tells him to sit down. Albanese says Gosling was quoting that CCA report.

Updated at 4.13am GMT

4.06am GMT

Katter asks agriculture minister about invasive weeds
Speaking of journeys, Bob Katter gets the next crossbench question, but he’s very serious today.
He asks the agriculture minister, Julie Collins, about what the government is doing about the prickly acacia and buffel grass, which he says the cattle industry is being overrun by.
Collins says the government will work with the states and territories.

Any future decisions on weed priorities including decisions on this one would be made collaboratively by all state and territory governments along with the commonwealth because as the member would be aware and territories are responsible for the management of pests … in their jurisdictions.

Updated at 4.10am GMT

3.55am GMT

Albanese answers question about energy bills … kind of
Staying on energy, Liberal MP Simon Kennedy asks the PM if the member for Solomon, Luke Gosling’s “promise” on Sky News yesterday that there will be a 20% decrease in energy bills, is Labor policy.
Albanese goes on a real tangent in his answer – it’s quite the journey (and doesn’t really answer the question).
He starts by saying that no non-Coalition members go on Sky News (cue some chuckles) and then tries to quote previous work by Kennedy on net zero while he worked at McKinsey (which Albanese also did yesterday). Before he can get to those comments there’s a point of order, which is quickly shut down by Milton Dick.
Albanese then praises Sky News host Kieran Gilbert (who hosted the panel that Gosling and Kennedy were on), then talks about Gilbert coming to Apec, and then just talks about Apec.
Albanese then circles back to Kennedy’s net zero work at McKinsey, and says it’s the “hunger games” in the Coalition party room (a journey right?!)

I recommend to the member for Cook, if I can give him some advice, back in the former member for Cook [Scott Morrison]’s policy of net zero by 2050.

Updated at 3.58am GMT

3.44am GMT

Bowen defends solar sharer program
Michael McCormack throws a question next to Chris Bowen on the government’s solar sharer program. He cites energy analyst Saul Kavonic, who describes the program as a “thought bubble”.
Bowen says McCormack “could have found a better expert”, as Kavonic has made several videos critical of Bowen and supporting an independent candidate in the minister’s seat of McMahon. “That’s how impartial he is,” Bowen says.
Bowen cites a bunch of other expert groups like Tim Buckley, the CEO of Clean Energy Finance who called the program “excellent”.

Updated at 4.24am GMT

3.35am GMT
Albanese attacks Coalition over food bank funding

The shadow attorney general, Andrew Wallace, stands up next and also asks about data released by Foodbank, which found nearly 200,000 Queensland families went an entire day without eating in the past year.
Anthony Albanese says it’s “somewhat perplexing” that the opposition is asking about a report by Foodbank, when the former Coalition government cut their funding.

How in tactics committee when someone came up with the question of let’s ask about Foodbank, [someone] did not go: ‘Actually, what might be a little uncomfortable is the fact we ripped out $20m per year out of funding for Foodbank.’

Sussan Ley tries to make a point of order as Albanese keeps slamming the opposition, but she’s shut down by Milton Dick.

Updated at 4.12am GMT

3.29am GMT

Chalmers asked about tax incentives for food bank donations
Over to the crossbench, the member for Bradfield, Nicolette Boele, asks the treasurer if he will legislate a national food donation tax incentive proposed by Foodbank that would “make it cheaper for food producers to donate excess food to those in need, reduce food waste and save taxpayer dollars”.
Jim Chalmers, who always takes an opportunity to have a dig at the Coalition, congratulates Boele for her “comprehensive victory” over the Liberal party in Bradfield.
Chalmers gives Foodbank a shoutout but doesn’t commit to a tax incentive. He says similar ideas have been previously canvassed and considered, including by a Senate inquiry.

We also know there is more than one way to help wonderful organisations doing the right thing by people in our local communities.
This government is providing additional $20m each year to help food and emergency relief organisations.

Updated at 3.34am GMT

3.21am GMT
Can you call an MP a 'liar' in parliament?

You might laugh at me posing this question, but the issue in front of the speaker at the moment is a complaint from the opposition that Jim Chalmers was unparliamentary in calling the shadow treasurer a liar.
Cue a rather long back and forth …
At one point the manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke, points to the PM and says “if lying is in order, this is a liar”.
Tony Burke argues back and says that comment was unparliamentary. Milton Dick says that Chalmers didn’t actually direct his comments about “lies” to one person, and asks both Chalmers and Hawke to withdraw their comments.

I will … remind everyone that word is fraught with danger. Please don’t use it.

Updated at 3.39am GMT

3.13am GMT

Chalmers accuses opposition of telling ‘egregious lies’ about government spending
Next up the shadow treasurer, Ted O’Brien, asks the prime minister if he will take responsibility for Jim Chalmers’ “spending spree”.
Chalmers gets up to answer the question (which was directed to the PM). “Clearly not” says O’Brien, who then gets a warning by the Speaker, Milton Dick, for continuing to interrupt after asking the question.
Chalmers starts with a dig, and says, “I’m pleased that the member for Fairfax has taken a brief break from undermining his own leader.”
He then accuses the opposition of making “egregious lies” about government spending.

Government spending was not mentioned by the Reserve Bank governor yesterday, it wasn’t mentioned in the board statement. And the only mention – the only mention in the detailed forecast which were released which were [to] downgrade their assumptions about government spending going forward. From time to time, reluctantly, it is on us to point out the egregious lies being told by those opposite about our economy.

Updated at 3.19am GMT

3.05am GMT
It’s question time

We’re getting straight into it today. Sussan Ley starts and asks if – following a rates hold yesterday – the prime minister will take responsibility for the millions of Australian households that are struggling to afford food.
Followers of the blog will be pretty familiar with the talking points by now – Anthony Albanese says that inflation is half of “what we inherited”, real wages are up and interest rates have dropped three times. Cheaper medicines and cheaper childcare measures also get a mention.

We understand that people are under pressure. They would have been under more pressure had they not got an income tax cut that was opposed by those opposite … They would have been under more pressure if inflation still had a six in front of it which is what we inherited. They would have been under more pressure if the more than 1m jobs that have been created on our watch had not have occurred.

Updated at 3.23am GMT

2.53am GMT
McCormack chides Coalition colleagues for not giving Ley ‘clear air’ as leader

Everyone’s blabbing to everyone, is a bit of the vibe in the Coalition this week, and Nationals MP Michael McCormack is telling his colleagues to stop backgrounding to journos.
The very public fight over net zero, which has stretched to question marks over Sussan Ley’s leadership has been difficult and damaging to the party.
McCormack had a bit of a go at his fellow MPs on Sky News a little earlier:

Backgrounding journalists and calling your parliamentary Coalition colleagues ‘parasites’ – I’m sorry, I can’t wear that.

On Ley’s leadership, McCormack said Ley hasn’t been given “clear air”. You might remember Liberal MP Andrew Hastie said when he quit the frontbench he was doing so to give Ley some clear air.

She hasn’t had any clear air in the five or six months she’s been leader, she’s the first female leader of the Liberal party in 81 years and the first female opposition leader ever. She needs to be given clear air, given a chance.

Updated at 3.01am GMT

2.32am GMT

Abortion remarks ‘unedifying’ and ‘unnecessary distraction’, Hume says
Earlier on Sky News today Jane Hume also weighed in on the four Liberal MPs who tied legislation to protect paid leave for the parents of a stillborn baby to late-term abortions.
Hume said she respects other views but, “let’s not use important legislation as a vehicle for personal crusades.”

I think that there was a bit of horror from many of the women in our party … this is a very serious and deeply personal issue.
I thought it was an unnecessary distraction and perhaps a bit of an error of judgment. I respect their views, they’re not my views, and I don’t think it was a particularly edifying moment for us.

Hume wouldn’t be drawn on whether the comments would impact Andrew Hastie’s leadership ambitions.

Updated at 2.53am GMT

2.26am GMT
Bill to establish centre for disease control passes Senate

The government has passed its bill to establish a centre for disease control through the Senate with amendments from the Greens.
The Greens secured an amendment to ensure the annual report includes the impact of the climate crisis on Australians’ health and an update preparedness for future pandemics. The CDC’s advisory committee will also include a First Nations person and disabled person with health expertise.
The CDC was a post-pandemic election promise by Labor, which will now go back to the house for a final tick.

Updated at 2.32am GMT

2.19am GMT
Government spending on public health has fallen nearly 30%, new data shows

Data published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) today reveals that that total government expenditure on public health has fallen.
Total expenditure on public health activities was estimated to be $5.4bn in 2023–24, or about $200 per person. In real terms, this represented a 29.5% or $2.3bn decrease from 2022–23.
Between 2013-14 and 2018-19, government spending on public health grew at an average annual rate of 2.5%. This was followed by an increase of 25.8% in 2019-20, before accelerating significantly during the early pandemic. Since 2022-23, however, public health spending has been on a downward trend.
Public health focuses on prevention, promotion and protection rather than on treatment. Only about 2% of health funding in Australia goes to prevention.
Economic and health experts said the government must to dramatically increase public health spending on prevention, in a peer-reviewed commentary published today in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
This would boost the economy, reduce healthcare and treatment costs and improve Australians’ wellbeing, the paper said.
Nearly 60% of Australians live with chronic disease, one-third of which is preventable.
Lead author of the paper, Associate Prof Jaithri Ananthapavan said:
As well as direct healthcare costs, these diseases cost the economy because people with chronic illness have more days off from work, have reduced productivity while at work and also leave the workforce prematurely.

Updated at 2.31am GMT

2.12am GMT
Melissa McIntosh downplays colleagues’ concerns linking stillbirth leave to late-term abortions

Shadow minister Melissa McIntosh has downplayed concerns raised by conservative Coalition colleagues about the potential for women to seek late-term abortions in order to access paid parental leave, saying “I’ve never heard of a woman doing that”.
McIntosh, the shadow minister for women, was asked about comments from Andrew Hastie, Barnaby Joyce and others during the debate on Priya’s Law, which would guarantee paid parental leave for mothers who lose their baby.
Numerous conservative Coalition MPs and senators had raised concerns about the law’s interaction with abortions, with Tony Pasin saying he was concerned the bill would “treat an intentionally late-term aborted child in the same way as it would a natural stillbirth or a baby who dies shortly after birth”.

Related: Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie rebuked for ‘playing politics’ on abortion in debate on stillbirth leave

Earlier today, opposition leader Sussan Ley called commentary linking stillborn bill to late-term abortions “insensitive”; Jane Hume called it “unedifying”, adding “I think that there was a bit of horror from many of the women in our party”.
McIntosh defended the right of MPs to raise concerns about conscience issues, though welcomed the passage of Priya’s Law.

I think about the families, and we’ve all got friends and families who’ve lost children so late, and I can imagine how much it stirs emotional turmoil in people.
So that was their decision. And I hope we can move on from that. And I hope that bill that did go through does help some of those Australian families that are going through so much.

Pressed on the issue raised by Hastie, Joyce and others, McIntosh added: “I’ve never heard of a woman doing that. I don’t know, you as reporters, have you ever come across a story where a woman has done that?”

I know that Andrew Hastie is a man of faith, so that’s their position, but that bill did go through, and I hope it does bring some comfort to families that would be very traumatised.

Updated at 2.37am GMT

1.50am GMT

Liberal senator says ‘no challenge on’ against Sussan Ley as net zero emissions debate continues
Jonno Duniam has backed his leader as the public and private debate over the Liberal party’s energy policy and future leadership prospects continue.
Speaking to Sky News, the conservative senator says it’s been a “difficult time” for the party.

There is no challenge on, and Sussan Ley has, I think, led this debate very well … Sussan has been very constructive and conciliatory about this, and managed to enable us to have our say in a robust way.

On the net zero issue, Duniam says there will be an “element” of the National’s policy to tie emissions reduction in Australia to OECD nations.
Asked about whether the party should keep a commitment to net zero by the end of the century, Duniam says:
I think that what has happened in this debate is there’s been a lot of wrapping ourselves up in or tying ourselves up in knots about a particular element of this.

They talk about doing what our neighbours do, or at least the OECD equivalents do, in terms of emissions reductions. There will be an element of that in our policy, how it’s framed up. I’ll allow Dan Tehan, when this process is concluded, along with Sussan Ley, to speak about [it].

Updated at 2.06am GMT

1.38am GMT

Greens to lead Senate inquiry into capital gains tax discount
The Greens will lead a Senate select committee inquiry into the capital gains tax discount, after a successful motion by senator Nick McKim on Tuesday.
The investor tax break, introduced in 1999, delivers a 50% tax discount on the capital gains made from selling an asset which had been held for longer than 12 months.
The CGT, in conjunction with negative gearing rules, has been blamed for fuelling rampant speculation on housing which has contributed to soaring home prices and today’s affordability crisis.
Like a similar inquiry into the stage 3 tax cuts before they were remodelled, the Greens inquiry will also highlight the inequity of tax rules that disproportionately benefits wealthier Australians.
Parliamentary Budget Office analysis commissioned by the progressive party shows that 65% of the forgone revenue from the CGT discount in 2024-25 went to the top 5% of earners.
In comparison, 36% of the benefits from the original stage 3 tax cuts – which were judged to be too favourable to the rich – would have gone to the top 5% of earners.
The committee is due to report back on 17 March.

Updated at 1.41am GMT

1.26am GMT
Teals to vote against Labor’s nature laws

The teal independents will oppose Labor’s rewrite of environment protection laws when the bill is put to a vote in the lower house in coming days.
Zali Steggall, Sophie Scamps, Kate Chaney, Nicolette Boele, Monique Ryan and Allegra Spender confirmed they could not support the almost 1,500-page bill without major amendments to better protect nature.
Chaney, the MP for Curtin, told reporters in Parliament House:

My community really wants to see reform in this area. We need to do better at protecting nature and also making processes work faster for business. But when it comes to this package, the process sucks and the substance is questionable.

Chaney and the fellow crossbenchers have drafted a raft of amendments, including to redesign the proposed “offsets” fund, prevent the minister from using a new “national interest” exemption to approve fossil fuel projects and insert climate as an object of the act.
The bill includes a requirement for high polluting projects to disclose their emissions as part of the application process but does include not a “climate trigger” that could block their approval.
Boele said the climate crisis was “turbocharging Australia’s extinction crisis”.

How can we expect to help the glossy black cockatoos, our wonderful tall forests, or even our wonderful and diverse reefs, if we’re not dealing with the threats that they face?

Scamps – who will move an amendment to remove an exemption for native forest logging – said the laws were riddled with “enormous loopholes”.

We’ve got one set of environment laws to protect our nature, and they have utterly failed us for the last 25 years, we now have 19 ecosystems on the brink of collapse, but the changes that the government has proposed do not guarantee that our nature will be better protected.

Updated at 1.40am GMT

1.02am GMT

Sydney peace prize ‘disappointed’ Wong declined meeting with laureate
The Sydney peace prize has said it’s “disappointed” foreign minister Penny Wong would not meet with former UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, the prize laureate who addressed the National Press Club on Tuesday.
Pillay was the first non-white judge in South Africa’s high court, served as a judge of the international criminal court, and is a former chair of the UN’s Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Territory of Palestine and Israel.
Director of the Sydney peace prize, Melanie Morrison, told Guardian Australia they had reached out to Wong’s office in August to arrange a meeting. They said that after several follow ups, Wong’s office said the minister was unavailable. Morrison said:

As a matter of course, given the calibre of this years’ laureate, it’s disappointing the meeting was declined by the foreign minister’s office.

Instead, Pillay met with the assistant foreign minister, Matt Thistlethwaite, the government confirmed, with an adviser from Wong’s office present.
Morrison said Pillay also had a meeting with the department of foreign affairs and the ambassador for gender equality on Monday.

Updated at 1.24am GMT

12.54am GMT

Opposition accuses Labor of ‘rushing’ nature legislation
Liberal MP Julian Leeser is now responding to the prime minister on the nature laws. He said:

This bill doesn’t make small changes or amendments. It’s almost 1,500 pages of legislation and explanatory materials that reaches into every corner of the economy that builds, digs, grows and manufactures.

He accused the government of rushing the bill, saying “the Senate has already had to step in and refer it to an inquiry”. He continued:

This matters because rushing this legislation will have real consequences for Australians.
Minister Plibersek attempted to make these reforms in the last parliament, they were withdrawn under internal pressure. Labor promised an Environment Protection Agency at two elections, and four years on, it hasn’t delivered what it promised.

Updated at 1.05am GMT

12.47am GMT

Staying with Albanese for a moment, who is speaking now about the nature laws in the lower house.
He said a littler earlier:

This bill is about driving better, clearer and speedier decision making, making it easier to get an answer from government sooner, a quicker yes or a quicker no. Providing that certainty is the key to encourage investment in our economy. And every bit as important as encouraging investment in our economy is ensuring there’s a better system of protections for Australia’s precious and unique natural environment.

He later said:

They can talk about the problem, or they can vote for the solution. That is the choice that will be before the senate.
I say this to the opposition and to the Greens political party. This is good for jobs, good for industry, but it’s also good for the environment.

Updated at 12.55am GMT

12.37am GMT
Current environment laws ‘are broken’, Albanese tells parliament

Anthony Albanese is speaking in the lower house now about the proposed nature laws.
The prime minister said:

Australia doesn’t have to choose between a strong economy or a healthy environment. We don’t have to choose between creating jobs and cutting emissions. We can do both. Indeed, we must do both, because each one depends on the other.
The current laws are broken. They were written by the Howard government for a very different Australia, and they haven’t just become obsolete. They’ve become an obstacle. They’re not working for the environment and they’re not delivering for business. They are a barrier to jobs and investment across our nation, and in many cases, they overlap or duplicate state and local government processes.

Updated at 12.47am GMT

12.28am GMT

Here’s a video of federal communications minister, Anika Wells, talking about the under-16s social media ban a short time ago.

12.06am GMT

Could Roblox be added to the social media ban for under 16s?
Jumping back to that press conference with Anika Wells and eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant, while Roblox has not yet been added to the list of banned platforms, Inman Grant said it’s “on the line”.
As we brought to you earlier, the eSafety commissioner said the list of platforms is “dynamic” while Wells said this morning the legislation isn’t “set and forget”.
Inman Grant also brought up a few elements of the Roblox platform that are of concern to her.

[The list] will always change and we’ve told companies, so for instance Roblox, as was just mentioned, some of these companies when we did the assessment were very much, what I would say, on the line. So we had to put our minds to what is the sole and significant purpose – online gaming, right? But there’s chat functionality in the US, they’ve launched a program called Moments, which is very much like stories, which is online social interaction.
We will be watching as well and if they start rolling out features that look more like they’re becoming a social media company than an online gaming company, then we will seek to capture them.

Updated at 12.10am GMT

11.55pm GMT

Cook defends WA’s GST take
WA, which has declared itself as having the strongest economy in the nation, also gets a phenomenally generous take of the GST carve-up between states and territories.
Economists such as Saul Eslake have been advocating to change the Morrison-era deal that put a floor under WA’s GST take and will give the state an extra $60bn in tax revenue over the next decade.
Roger Cook tells ABC RN Breakfast that while his state only represents 11% of the nation, it contributes 45% of the nation’s exports, and is the “biggest contributor to the nation’s GDP.”

Prior to the actual deal that was done to preserve our 75% floor of the GST share, we saw Western Australia’s contribution to the other states reach almost 90%. That is, we just retained 11% of our GST. Now in WA we utilise that revenue to ensure that we can develop the economic infrastructure, create the sort of frameworks and the regulation for the industry which ultimately pays significant resources to the commonwealth and other states through company tax and other measures.

Host Sally Sara pushes back, saying Eslake argues that private industry provides a lot of that infrastructure, but Cook says the state government provides the roads, water and port infrastructure.

Updated at 12.06am GMT

11.46pm GMT

WA premier says Coalition ‘failing the big moral challenge of our time’
Western Australian premier Roger Cook is in town this week as the government tries to gain support for its environment protection reforms (that political followers will know the WA government was not a fan of last time around).
It’s part of the reason why Murray Watt made WA his first visit as a newly sworn in environment minister to get the state on side.
Cook spoke to ABC RN Breakfast a little earlier this morning and said he “commend[s]”Watt’s work.

I believe we can do this. We have obviously met with environmental groups and with our big resource companies and other members of our industry in Western Australia all the time. They’re encouraged by the progress that’s been made. Obviously, there’s still elements of the legislation that they want to see addressed, but I think there’s a great sense of consensus and collaboration at the moment to see if we can find that space, which creates the balance, the balance between encouraging industry but also protecting the environment.

Asked to weigh in on the other big issue of the week – net zero – Cook says the Coalition are “failing the big moral challenge of our time”, and would be “very concerned” if the Libs go down the same path as the Nats on scrapping net zero altogether.

They’re quite frankly just starting to retreat to the extremes of the political spectrum. They need to come back to the centre … And I think we should all get round the joint and global consensus position of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

Updated at 12.04am GMT

11.18pm GMT

FoI bill returns to house for debate after government ‘sees the light’, says Coalition
After the opposition kicked up a stink yesterday on the government’s attempt to move the controversial freedom of information bill to the smaller federation chamber, the government has brought back the debate to the house.
Talk about a procedure-heavy day today!
The chief opposition whip, Aaron Violi, who yesterday tried to table a list of 16 opposition speakers who were going to miss out on being able to debate the bill in the house, is the first to speak today (his tabling request was rejected FYI).

It’s nice that this bill has returned to the house today, the manager of business [Tony Burke] saw this light.

Independent MP Zali Steggall, who has been a staunch critic of the bill, is also speaking on it.

This bill was drafted without consultation, introduced without transparency, and designed in a way that rewards secrecy. At a time when public trust in government is already low, this legislation seeks to make it harder for Australians to access information and easier for government to hide it. This is not reform, this is regression.

Updated at 11.23pm GMT

11.04pm GMT
Labor and Coalition join forces to block Pocock’s attempt to force early release of secret report

The government and Coalition (though many of them abstained) voted against David Pocock’s amendment to the motion to force the government to provide the government board appointments report by 24 November.
Labor and the Coalition then voted together on the government’s motion that the extra-long question time end and the matter of the report be considered “satisfactorily complied with” by providing a private briefing to the finance and public administration committee and hand over the report.
That motion was voted on with an amendment by the opposition that the report be handed over by 31 December.
So there will be a normal time question time in the Senate again today – but if the government doesn’t hand in that report by New Year’s Eve, we could see those extra questions added back in the new year.

Updated at 11.36pm GMT

10.56pm GMT

eSafety commissioners working with Silicon Valley to combat workarounds to avoid age-verification detection
Wells has been upfront that this isn’t a catch-all, impenetrable wall that will end all access for under-16s to social media.
But Inman Grant says they are working with the platforms to combat potential workarounds such as VPNs and the use of AI to avoid age-verification detection.
The eSafety commissioner says she has gone to Silicon Valley and spoken to all the platforms and they’ve given her some reassurances.

We have extensive requirements we place back on the platforms themselves to prevent circumvention so location-based circumvention in terms of the use of VPNs.
We know generative AI, a mask or graphics from platforms can be used to spoof AI or age-verification systems and we’ve given them very specific specifications as to how we think they should tackle and they’ve given us comfort that this is something that they can do and what they will do in these cases.

Updated at 11.01pm GMT

10.40pm GMT
eSafety boss says Roblox must do more to protect children from predators despite escaping under-16s ban

The communications minister, Anika Wells, and eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, are talking to reporters in Parliament House this morning, following the addition of Reddit and Kick to the social media ban for under 16s.
But what about a platform such as Roblox, Inman Grant is asked, which has had serious concerns raised against it, including by the AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett who said platforms like it are being used by “sadistic men” to target young girls.

Inman Grant says eSafety deals with “sadistic sextortion and financial sexual extortion on a daily basis”, and that the list of banned platforms is fluid.

It’s of great concern to us. We’ve got codes and standards and we’ve used this in our negotiations with Roblox so based on that negotiation by the end of this year, Roblox will roll out age-assurance technologies here. Their primary user base are five-to-13-year-olds but it’s a commingled platform. They know there are adults. So we asked them to take other specific steps including not allowing adults to contact children without specific parental consent and putting on privacy at the highest default.
This is a dynamic list and … it will always change.

Updated at 12.24am GMT

10.26pm GMT

The long Senate question time looks to be over (for now)
The government is trying to end the extra question time questions in the Senate, and while it claims the government board appointments report is still before cabinet (so can’t be released yet), the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, says she’ll give the finance and public administration committee a briefing on the report “in camera” (ie in private).
The motion states that the Senate resolves the order for the production of a document into the jobs for mates report “has been satisfactorily complied with” and end those extra questions. Gallagher says:

I am hopeful that this offer of a briefing finds that interim step before we are in a position to release that document once cabinet has finished considering it we would expect that to be … before the end of this year.

The shadow home affairs minister, Jonno Duniam, moves an amendment to Gallagher’s motion, which – if the government does not satisfactorily keep its promise of the briefing and providing that report by 31 December 2025 – would resume the extra questions and makes public service minister attend Senate every sitting morning to explain the failure to comply.

We want that document tabled and in order to ensure it is provided as the government has promised it would.

The Greens are not happy and are basically calling it a stitch-up between the major parties.
The senator who started it all, David Pocock tries to amend the hand-in date for that report to the Monday of the final sitting week, 24 November, to stop the government “burying it” and releasing it on Christmas Eve, and says he has serious concerns about the motion, and the amendment.

There’s a growing number of people concerned about what is promised by major parties in opposition and what is deliverd in government, and I think transparency is one of the issues that cuts to the core of it. Today’s motion, I think, is a concern.

Updated at 10.35pm GMT

9.47pm GMT

Ted O’Brien is trying to make ‘Jimflation’ happen
Liberal deputy leader and shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien has been prosecuting Labor’s spending and accusing federal treasurer Jim Chalmers of going on a “spending spree” with the budget.
On Sky News earlier this morning, he said again that spending is leading to the higher inflation rate seen last week, which was followed by the Reserve Bank’s decision yesterday to keep interest rates on hold.
O’Brien’s also been trying to call it the “Jimflation” effect.

We’ve heard from the [RBA] governor yesterday, and she made it very clear that if you look even into next year, a headline inflation will peak around 3.7% now what’s the RBA aiming for? What do they want, 2.5%, it’s going to peak at 3.7% next year. This is the problem, it’s all about inflation, it’s all about Jim Chalmers, it’s all about the Jimflation effect.

O’Brien says the government needs to introduce quantifiable fiscal rules to limit budget spending and reduce reliance on personal income tax.
Word in the corridor has it the O’Brien team has even created “Jimflation” stickers.

Updated at 10.02pm GMT

9.29pm GMT

Paterson says debate on stillborn bill should be ‘measured’ and ‘respectful’
Jumping back to James Paterson’s interview on RN Breakfast, the senator was also asked about the comments by conservative Liberal MPs linking a bill to enforce parental leave payments for parents of a stillborn baby with late-term abortions.
Paterson, who is a conservative, says his party supported the bill and while Andrew Hastie and others “raised questions” about the bill, they didn’t vote against it or move amendments.
He says people should be allowed to raise questions, but debate should conducted in a way that is “measured, that is calm, that is respectful, that understands the sensitivities that exist.”

Conscience issues relating to life and death are some of the most difficult issues that parliaments have to deal with. I think we want to live in a country where people can respectfully raise questions like that …
If you read Andrew Hastie’s speech, I think it is a measured, calm, and respectful speech. He asks a question about a potential unintended consequence of the bill, but he does so in a way that’s mindful of the genuine and heartfelt feelings that many people have.

Updated at 9.49pm GMT

9.17pm GMT

Liberals to decide on net zero and climate position in next fortnight
Sussan Ley says she will convene the Liberal party in the next fortnight to finally decide on a net zero and climate position, after weeks of uncertainty over their position and pressure from the Nationals and right-wing Liberals to dump the 2050 target.
Speaking on Channel Seven’s Sunrise this morning, Ley said:

The Liberal party room will meet sooner rather than later, certainly before Parliament resumes after this week and we will come to a position.

Parliament rises at the end of Thursday and will return on 24 November, meaning Ley has indicated a policy position within the next two weeks.
Ley said her party “will come to its own decision in our own party room exactly as I said we would”, and said she is “listening to my colleagues”.
Many Liberal MPs expect the final position to be a dumping or significant watering-down of the Coalition’s current net zero by 2050 commitment - but Ley would also likely face strong questioning and disappointment from moderate MPs, who supported her in the leadership ballot, if she were to cave in to the right-wing of her party.
Asked about whether the Coalition could stay together, Ley said:

Liberal and National parties are stronger together as a Coalition because we both equally want to fight this awful Labor government.

Updated at 9.28pm GMT

9.16pm GMT

Paterson’s ‘very, very strong preference’ is for Coalition to remain
James Paterson, shadow finance minister and a senior member of the Liberals’ leadership group, says the Libs and the Nats should stay together.
Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast a little earlier, Paterson said the party should try to avoid the fate of 1987 when the Coalition last split. But, he says, that’s not to say the Coalition should stick together if under all circumstances.

It’s self-evidently a true statement that if the Liberal party and National party views are completely irreconcilable, then we couldn’t be in Coalition. But it is my very, very strong preference that we remain in Coalition because we cannot form a government without being in Coalition with the National party … When Liberal and National parties do not run in Coalition, the 1987 election is not widely remembered as a great success for either the Liberal or National parties, and we should all be determined to ensure that doesn’t happen again.

Asked about Sussan Ley’s leadership prospects, and her confidence that she’ll remain leader until the end of the year, Paterson says her confidence is warranted and he “strongly supports” her leadership.

Updated at 9.23pm GMT

8.55pm GMT

Police charge twelve people after Sydney defence expo protest
Twelve people have been charged after an allegedly violent confrontation between New South Wales police and protesters outside a state government-sponsored defence conference in Sydney yesterday.
Police officers and protesters were allegedly injured after both claimed they were “set upon” at Palestine Action Group’s demonstration outside the Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition in Darling Harbour, amid criticism that Israel’s largest weapons companies were attending the event.
In a statement, NSW police said they arrested 15 people during the protest, two of whom were later released without charge. A 33-year-old man has also been released without charge, pending further inquiries.
The 12 people charged include:

A 27-year-old man charged with refusing or failing to comply with direction and assaulting a police officer without actual bodily harm. He was refused bail to appear before court today.
A 26-year-old woman charged with four counts of assaulting police. She was refused bail to appear before court today.
A 26-year-old man charged with hindering or resisting a police officer and refusing or failing to comply with direction. He was granted conditional bail to appear before Downing centre local court on 3 December.
A 28-year-old man charged with assaulting a police officer without actual bodily harm. He was granted conditional bail to appear before court on 11 December.
Four people charged with refusing or failing to comply with direction, who were granted conditional bail before hearings in December.
Two men aged 23 and 34, and a 32-year-old woman were charged with hindering police and were granted conditional bail before hearings on 11 November.
A 33-year-old man was charged with using offensive language near a public place. He was granted conditional bail before a hearing on 11 December.

Related: Twelve protesters charged after confrontation with police at Sydney weapons expo

Updated at 9.31pm GMT

8.54pm GMT

Ley digs in on argument that she’s never supported ‘net zero at any cost’
Sussan Ley is continuing her media rounds this morning, speaking to ABC News Breakfast, defending the separate policy processes between the Liberals and Nationals.
The Liberal leader digs in on her argument that she’s never supported “net zero at any cost” when asked whether she’s prepared to dump the target to save her leadership.

There are a lot of different opinions in our party room. I said I wouldn’t make captains calls. I’m doing exactly what I said I would do. And actually, the process has been good. Can I tell you? It’s allowed us to come together, it’s allowed us to talk not just to each other, but to industry and experts.

Host, James Glenday, retorts saying Coalition members have also been talking to journalists about how split the parties are.
Ley says “that’s ok”.

Colleagues are talking about their passionate views on this subject, as they should, and if they talk to journalists, that’s okay, because they’re expressing their passionately held views. Now, journalists can draw the conclusions they want about the things that you’ve described, but it is really important that we do get this right.

Updated at 8.57pm GMT

8.43pm GMT

‘More room for movement’ ahead of social media ban
The government has announced two new platforms being added to the social media ban for under-16s including Reddit and Kick.
But there are other platforms, like Roblox, which has previously sparked concerns over children on the platform accessing inappropriate content – that have not been included in the ban.
On ABC News Breakfast, communications minister Anika Wells says the legislation is not “set and forget” and more platforms could be added to the ban ahead of the start date.

With respect to the list, I know, for example, Twitch is still currently being assessed by the Safety Commissioner, so there will still be room for movement as we move into 10 December.

Updated at 8.47pm GMT

8.34pm GMT
Ley says commentary linking stillborn bill to late-term abortions ‘insensitive’

You might remember last week when conservatives including Andrew Hastie, Barnaby Joyce, Henry Pike and Tony Pasin argued in the federation chamber that Priya’s bill – which gives parents who have experienced stillbirth, entitlement to their parental leave payments – could be used by women who have had a late term abortion.
Medical experts have been highly critical of the arguments, and accused the MPs of “playing politics”.

Related: Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie rebuked for ‘playing politics’ on abortion in debate on stillbirth leave

Ley took a swipe at the MPs and said the bill – which passed with bipartisan support – is “really important” and that women who have lost a baby through tragic events should be supported.

Losing a baby is one of the most difficult things that can ever happen to a mother and to a family. And as a mother and a grandmother, this is very personal. Any commentary about this bill applying in other contexts is insensitive.

Updated at 9.13pm GMT

8.29pm GMT
‘I’m completely confident’, Ley says

Sabra Lane asks Sussan Ley how confident she is that she’ll still be leader when parliament rises for the year.
Rumours are running wild around parliament house, with senior conservatives pushing for net zero to be dumped, and senior moderates putting pressure on Ley to keep climate targets. And let’s not forget Andrew Hastie quit the frontbench last month (saying it wasn’t to make a leadership challenge, but it is a step in any future attempt).
Ley seems unfazed by the commentary:

I’m completely confident and I have a smile on my face as I answer this because I know that the media and commentary does get a little bit excited from time to time.

Updated at 8.37pm GMT

8.20pm GMT
Sussan Ley says Liberals will reach a position on net zero 'soon'

Sussan Ley, under pressure from within her own party, and the Nationals, says the Liberals will reach a position on net zero “soon”.
Speaking to ABC AM, Ley says she’s not “commenting on the commentary”. Host Sabra Lane points to Tim Wilson’s language yesterday that the Liberal party is “not the National party lite”, and Andrew Bragg’s comments that Australia can’t be a “pariah state” and drop out of the Paris agreement.

You’re asking me to comment on commentary with respect. And as leader, I said there wouldn’t be any captains’ calls and I’d listen to my team, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Asked if she personally believes in net zero by 2050, Ley says she’s “always said we cannot have net zero at any cost”.

Updated at 8.25pm GMT

8.11pm GMT

Housing minister says 5% home deposit scheme not contributing to property price growth
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, is defending the government’s 5% home deposit scheme, and has said it’s not a main driver of the latest rise in house prices.
Sparring with Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie this morning, O’Neil says house price growth has been a problem for 40 years and “we ultimately have to build more homes quickly”.

I’ll release some numbers soon which show the government’s changes to the 5% deposit program are not the primary driver of what’s going on in home building … I think it’s not accurate to blame this on a policy that started four weeks ago.

McKenzie says the deposit scheme will mean “first time buyers are saddled with more debt”, and also throws some blame to immigration levels (while the Liberals have tried to somewhat tone down their language around immigration – they’re still drawing a link between immigration rates and increasing house prices).

Updated at 8.54pm GMT

8.05pm GMT

Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
It’s going to be another busy sitting day, so let’s get straight into it!

7.55pm GMT

Asio chief speaks about China
Mike Burgess also made some more off-the-cuff remarks about China in his appearance at the Lowy.
Asked about a reported visit to Beijing in 2023 (Burgess would not confirm or deny the trip), Burgess said he spoke regularly with intelligence agencies from hostile countries. Asio has relationships with more than 351 civilian and military intelligence agencies in 124 countries, he said.
He said of China:

I did not mention China … but how do you know I wasn’t talking about things China did in my remarks?
We all spy on each other. But we don’t conduct wholesale intellectual property theft, we don’t interfere in political systems, and we don’t undertake high-harm activity.

Updated at 8.03pm GMT

7.48pm GMT
Asio chief warns 'at least' three countries willing to kill on Australian soil

The Asio chief, Mike Burgess, gave a speech at the Lowy Institute last night in which he warned that there were “at least” three countries whose governments were prepared to carry out political assassinations in Australia.
We have the full story here, but Burgess elaborated on his remarks in conversation with Lowy Institute director Michael Fullilove after he had made the speech.
The Asio chief agreed his warning carried an “alarming message” but added that Australians needed to be told. He said:

I think it’s incredibly important Australians understand we now live in a world where that is possible… Australia is a long way from everywhere, but not from the threat.

Questioned on his remarks that there were “at least three countries … willing and capable” of conducting assassinations, Burgess said:

The countries I didn’t mention by name, know who I’m talking about … by mentioning them publicly, I’m also putting them on notice that we know some of them are prepared to do this. And we will do our damndest to stop them before it happens.

Updated at 8.05pm GMT

7.42pm GMT
Albanese government ‘addicted to secrecy’ after Nauru deportations, Greens senator says

The Greens senator, David Shoebridge, has accused the Albanese government of being “addicted to secrecy” after Guardian Australia learned of at least two other men being quietly deported to Nauru last week.
One of the men was a Sudanese national who sources said was detained within Yongah Hill immigration centre, near Perth, while the other was chartered from another centre within the country.
When the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, was asked about the deportation yesterday, he said: “If people have had their visas cancelled, we expect them to leave.”
Shoebridge, who is the minor party’s immigration spokesperson, said the government had put up a “wall of secrecy” over the deportations.

Forcibly removing people to a country they have never been to, with no connection to, with no oversight and in complete secrecy is not how any democracy should be behaving ...
A government that thinks it is okay to do this is one that has lost its moral compass.
While the Albanese government has put up a wall of secrecy, we are relying on breadcrumbs of information that fall from the Nauru government and civil society.
$2bn in public wealth is being poured into this cruel policy, and minister Burke seems hellbent on making sure no one can question him or get the most basic information on what’s occurring.
Reports that one of the people sent to Nauru is from Sudan is especially frightening, when we know the Nauruan president has said the end goal is to send people back to the countries they have fled.

Related: Albanese government deports two more men to Nauru in secret, infuriating human rights advocates

Updated at 1.00am GMT

7.27pm GMT
Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the best overnight stories before Krishani Dhanji takes the controls.
Asio chief Mike Burgess gave a speech at the Lowy Institute in Sydney last night in which he said there were “at least” three countries whose governments were prepared to carry out assassinations on Australian soil. Asked whether it was too alarming, Burgess said that it was “incredibly important” for Australians to understand the dangers the country faced.
The Greens have accused the Albanese government of being “addicted to secrecy” after Guardian Australia learned that at least two more men were deported to Nauru last week without any public statement. Greens senator David Shoebridge said forcibly removing people from Australia under complete secrecy is not how a democracy should behave.