As it happened: House votes to condemn antisemitism; Treasurer accused of politicising public service to attack Coalition​on February 4, 2025 at 7:01 am

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to say what date he was first advised of the caravan filled with explosives in outer Sydney, warning the opposition against politicising the issue.

The Coalition have been demanding more detail on when Albanese was notified of the potential caravan explosives attack which he has continuously refused, citing national security concerns.

“The first priority is, of course, keeping the public safe,” Albanese said in response to a question from Coalition spokesman for NDIS Michael Sukkar.

“The second and related principle is that we engage with the Australian Federal Police and the national intelligence agencies [and] we don’t go out there and brief about national security committee meetings.”

Albanese was critical of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for creating a “hyper-partisan brawling over national security”.

“This isn’t some game and it should not be about politics,” Albanese said.

As Matildas striker Sam Kerr fights to clear her name in court, interim Australia coach Tom Sermanni says he expects the team’s captain to be back playing next month.

Kerr, 31, is in court in the UK this week facing a charge of racially aggravated abuse of a police officer following a night out in London in 2023.

Footage played in court on Monday showed the Matildas star labelling a police officer “stupid and white”.

Kerr denies the charge.

The striker is still recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury and wasn’t included in a Matildas squad named by Sermanni for SheBelieves Cup fixtures in the US later this month.

Sermanni, however, is confident the 128-cap international will be ready to play as soon as March.

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers has poked fun at shadow treasurer Angus Taylor for doubling down on the opposition’s policy that would allow small businesses to claim a tax deduction for business lunches.

Last night, Chalmers released modelling from the Treasury that the Coalition’s promise could cost $10 billion a year in the federal budget, as Taylor refused to release the party’s costings.

Taylor asked: “Treasurer, unlike small businesses, big businesses like Coles and Woolworths and Qantas can cater in-house their corporate boardrooms and do so as a tax deduction. How much does this cost the budget?”

Chalmers rose with a grin on his face.

“Mr Speaker, I was sitting here hoping they’d double down on this policy. It turns out that they have, and I couldn’t be happier about that,” he said.

“First of all, only the Liberal and National parties could see taxpayers and workers funding between $1.6 billion and $10 billion to shout their bosses lunch as an issue of fairness.

“The second point I would make is this, Mr Speaker. The nerve of these characters, on a day when they have been sprung not releasing the cost of their own policy, jumping up and asking about the costing on a policy which has been longstanding.

“I know that they are terribly embarrassed today because they couldn’t hand in their homework. They either didn’t know or wouldn’t say how much their policy costs. We have done their homework for them. The policy that they’re trying to inflict on the Australian people would have workers shout lunches for their bosses and would smash [up to] a $10 billion hole … in the budget as a consequence.”

The first question of the year from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton centred on the cost-of-living crisis, as he asked when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would admit people “can’t afford another three years of this weak Albanese Labor government”.

Albanese rose to criticise the Coalition for its handling of the economy when it was in government.

“When we came to office, real incomes were going backwards, inflation was going up, rising with a six in front of it, and indeed we had people’s living standards going backwards, and we had deficits of $78 billion that we inherited in the March 2022 budget,” he said.

“Those opposite didn’t worry about inflation at a time when you had [it] rising, rising, rising. Interest rates had begun to rise.

“I’ll make this point as well: if they had their way, there wouldn’t be cheaper medicines, if they had their way, it wouldn’t be cheaper childcare, if they had their way, there wouldn’t have been any rebates on energy bills.”

The first question time of the year has begun, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to those suffering through the Queensland floods, in particular to the family of a woman who died near Ingham on Sunday.

“I received a briefing at the national headquarters here in Canberra yesterday morning, and one of the things about this country is when you have a briefing and there’s flooding and massive torrential rain in the north, but extraordinary heatwaves in southern Australia, you do realise the extent of danger … and the fact that we could have more than one type of natural disaster at once really places a strain,” he said.

“Rising floodwaters are inflicting devastation on homes and communities, thousands have had to evacuate, and I want to assure the House that in this challenging time, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder [with] the Queensland government and with every Queenslander. Military helicopters have been deployed. We have now three helicopters at the disposal of the Commonwealth.”

Albanese also paid tribute to those suffering from the Victorian and South Australia bushfires, saying one helicopter had been deployed to each state.

“We have indicated that we, of course, will provide whatever assistance is requested and already some of the emergency payments have kicked in,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also paid tribute to those suffering through extreme weather.

“So our thoughts and prayers are with everybody in North Queensland … there’s a lot of work ahead to help rebuild that part of the world and we stand ready to provide that support to them,” he said.

Discussions are under way between teal MP Allegra Spender and members of the major parties on her proposed amendment to a government bill to tackle hate speech.

This masthead reported on how a new bid by Spender to stamp out hate speech would impose criminal penalties on people who promote hatred based on race, religion, gender or other factors, in a crossbench move challenging Labor and the Coalition to toughen the law.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Spender welcomed the House of Representatives condemning antisemitism but said the next step was to implement actions.

“It’s also important that we back up the words of these houses with also actions, and this is why [amendments have been put forward] in relation to the hate crime legislation that is in front of the House this week,” Spender said.

“We are a country that values our cohesion, values our diversity, but words matters in terms of what it leads to in the future.

“When we consider how to stop antisemitism [and] frankly how to stop different types of hate within our community, we need to consider how words are being used to drive some of this.”