For rolling updates on today’s top stories, read the national news blog.
For rolling updates on today’s top stories, read the national news blog.
Question time has kicked off in the House of Representatives.
Watch below:
We will only know if Donald Trump is serious about tariffs if he pushes up the price of his beloved Big Mac.
The president’s threat to slap a 25 per cent tariff on $78 billion worth of steel and aluminium imports – including $1 billion from Australian firms – has unleashed hand-wringing about what this means for the Australian economy.
Focusing on this one sector ignores its relative economic unimportance, but also the threat posed by a widening tariff war and Trump’s seriousness to prosecute such a war.
If Trump turns to beef imports he will have to make a choice between self-interest and his professed beliefs.
Defence veterans will get faster access to improved welfare and health payments including assistance for funerals or travelling for treatment after the largest overhaul of their entitlements system in 40 years.
The federal parliament on Thursday passed the changes which flowed from a 2019 Productivity Commission inquiry and the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran suicides which found the long-standing and complicated entitlement system was hurting the mental health of veterans.
Former members of the defence forces and their families have had to contend with three separate, and at times conflicting, compensation laws for the past 20 years. The oldest piece of compensation law dates from 1986.
The first recommendation of the royal commission’s interim report, released in August 2022, was to simplify and harmonise compensation and rehabilitation laws because of the impact they were having on veterans.
Victoria’s emergency warnings app is experiencing technical issues as the state swelters through temperatures in the high 30s, and residents are warned to leave their homes.
The State Control Centre said the issues were a timely reminder to never rely on one source of emergency information.
“With record numbers of users using the VicEmergency app, some users are experiencing issues, where the app is not loading on their device,” the State Control Centre said about 1pm.
“In some cases, the issue may be intermittent, and disconnecting from Wi-Fi may help. We are working hard to resolve this issue as soon as possible.
“People are advised to use the VicEmergency website if they experience any issues with the app.”
Melbourne is forecast to reach a top of 37 degrees today, before a cool change sweeps across the state and drops temperatures in the city this evening.
Several bushfires are burning, and total fire bans and extreme fire danger ratings have been declared for the state’s central, north-central and south-west districts.
Watch and act warnings are in place in the state’s south-west, and residents of the small communities of Barongarook and Gerangamete have been warned to “leave now” as a bushfire travels east.
Education Minister Jason Clare has again made fun of the Coalition’s policy to help small businesses pay for lunches, likening it to a turducken.
Taking a Dorothy Dixer question on how the government is building a better and fairer education system, Clare slammed the Coalition for voting against childcare laws as they argued it was unaffordable.
“Here is the kicker, the argument that they use is that we cannot afford it, but apparently we can afford billions of dollars for bosses to have lunch on the taxpayer,” Clare says.
“Mr Speaker, here was the press release from the shadow treasurer on 3 November on the day they said they were opposed to cutting student debt by 20 per cent and I promise you I’m not making this up.
“Their argument for opposing is this, ‘there are no free lunches in economics’.
“It turns out that there is, but only for the bosses … a bit of taxpayer-funded chicken, stuffed in a duck, stuffed in a turkey, which is a perfect analogy for this policy because I think most Australians will think it is stuffed.”
Police in Bali are searching for a man believed to be an Australian tourist after a wild brawl outside a beach club on Tuesday night.
Four security guards were injured in the fight with a group of shirtless men, local media reported, with one guard suffering “bite wounds” and another taken to hospital with broken teeth and a head injury.
A video of the fight outside Finns beach club in Canggu shows the combatants hitting each other with pieces of wood and throwing punches. At one point, one of the tourists strikes a security guard with what appears to be a bollard.
Bali police are still looking for the three tourists seen in the video, and their nationalities could not be confirmed to this masthead on Wednesday night.
Liberal MP Julian Leeser has described the Greens as a “racist antisemitic party” as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is quizzed about whether he would put the Greens party last in election preferences.
Leeser says: “The Greens party is a racist antisemitic party. Will the prime minister join with the leader of the Opposition in continuing to put the Greens last at the coming election?”
Greens leader Adam Bandt asks that Leeser’s statement about the Greens be withdrawn, however Speaker of the House Milton Dick declines because it was in reference to a group.
“I just want to remind all members that language is important in this place, and if I can ask members moving forward that you just reflect on that to make sure that everyone is comfortable,” Dick tells the house.
Albanese then gives his answer: “You’re quite right that within this chamber, leaders and ministers cannot be asked about their decisions to be made by political parties.”
“I will just refer to the director-general of ASIO about turning the heat down where possible. We have a responsibility to do that.”
The Victorian Labor Party appears to be close to victory in the Werribee byelection despite a savage swing against the Allan government, with further counting today reportedly increasing the lead of local school teacher John Lister.
According to Labor scrutineers, a further 2230 postal votes were returned and counted by the Victorian Electoral Commission on Thursday.
After the preferences were distributed, 1191 were added to Lister’s column and 1039 added to the election night tally of Liberal candidate Steve Murphy.
This gives Lister a lead of 593 votes, with 1,594 issued postal votes still unreturned.
The VEC and Liberal Party scrutineers did not confirm the latest counting numbers Labor is increasingly confident of holding the seat, which was vacated by the retirement of long-serving Treasurer Tim Pallas.
The Liberal Party is yet to concede. It has not held the seat of Werribee since 1979.
The Victorian Electoral Commission had originally planned to count all returned postal votes on Friday but brought forward counting by a day. Any postal votes returned by 6pm Friday will be included in the final count.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his government’s handling of antisemitism, as he lists previous comments he has regularly made against certain acts.
Taking his first question from Liberal MP Julian Leeser, Albanese is asked: “With antisemitism getting worse, not better, what has our country become under your government?”
Albanese tells the House of Representatives he has been opposed to racism in all its forms his entire life.
“Indeed, on the day or indeed the morning after the terrorist attack on 7 October, I was on Insiders condemning it unequivocally. The next moring on the Today Show, I said this in response to the demonstration that took place that night: ‘there is nothing to celebrate by the murder of innocent civilians going about their day’,” he says.
In reference to the video of NSW Health nurses claiming they would kill Israelis, Albanese says it is abhorrent.
“Antisemitism is a scourge. It is opposed by anyone who is decent. What we saw in the videos yesterday is abhorrent. I have spoken today with Premier Minns,” he says.
Question time has kicked off in the House of Representatives.
Watch below:
Good afternoon and welcome to the national news blog. My name is Sophie Aubrey, here making a cameo appearance from The Age’s City team. I’ll be driving the rest of the afternoon’s coverage until about 6pm.
Question Time will be kicking off in Canberra at 2pm, so stick around for the latest from our federal politics team.
Here’s what is making news today.
- Teal MP Zali Steggall accused Special Minister of State Don Farrell of shutting crossbenchers out of talks on Australia’s donation reform in a heated exchange in the corridors of Parliament House. It comes after revelations that the government had struck a deal with the Coalition to overhaul Australia’s election laws and cap donations, infuriating independents who argue it benefits the major parties.
- At least four former ABC employees have died after breathing in asbestos dust while working at the public broadcaster’s former Melbourne studios, while many more are believed to have been exposed to the deadly substance.
- Detectives will forensically examine the full video provided by an Israeli social media personality, Max Veifer, of his exchange with two Sydney nurses accused of making threats, with his evidence vital in determining possible criminal charges.
- US President Donald Trump intends to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia as part of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine that will begin immediately following a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call between the two leaders.