Australia news LIVE: Trump says US would ‘take over’ Gaza; $1.7 billion in new Medicare funding announced​on February 5, 2025 at 4:24 am

The nation’s largest cybersecurity firm has welcomed a move by the federal government to ban Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek, but says critical infrastructure operators should now be ordered to follow suit.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on Tuesday imposed the ban on DeepSeek, following warnings from cybersecurity company CyberCX that the app sends data back to the Chinese government.

CyberCX co-founder Alastair MacGibbon, Australia’s former national cybersecurity adviser, welcomed the ban but said it needs to now be extended to critical infrastructure like ports and electricity providers.

“This isn’t the first time we have had this conversation and it won’t be the last. Chinese EVs, security cameras, TikTok, and now DeepSeek show that we are playing whack-a-mole with new technology products and services from high-risk nations,” he told this masthead.

“Any smart device or software that requires an ongoing connection with the manufacturer in an authoritarian state like China raises difficult questions for western policymakers. These technologies are invasive in their data collection practices and can be weaponised against Australians by nations that might seek to do us harm.

“We need to move the debate forward in Australia towards a high-risk foreign vendor framework for critical infrastructure, democratic institutions and government.”

Read more about the DeepSeek ban on government devices here.

We’ve just seen a remarkable press conference from President Donald Trump, who pledged to take over Gaza in a “long-term occupation” aimed at rebuilding the region that has been devastated by the 15-month-long bombing campaign that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said the US would move 1.5 million Gazans out, and dismantle unexploded bombs and other weapons before rebuilding the land and inviting “people of the world” to settle there.

You can read our full report of the developments here, and watch the press conference here:

After outlining his plan for the US to raze and rebuild the “demolition zone” that is the Gaza Strip, the natural question for Trump was, who will live in Gaza and will Palestinians be able to return?

Trump’s reply was that he envisioned “the world’s people” living in Gaza.

“I think the entire world, representatives from all over the world at the same time … Palestinians, also, will live there. Many people will live there,” the president said.

“They’ve tried the other and they’ve tried it for decades and decades and decades. It’s not going to work. It didn’t work. It will never work.”

Trump gave more details on his vision for the “Riviera of the Middle East”, which he said would be “done world-class”.

“This could be something that could be so magnificent,” he said.

“More importantly than that is the people that have been absolutely destroyed that live there now can live in peace in a much better situation.”

Donald Trump says he has spoken to other Middle East leaders about the US taking over Gaza and “they love the idea”.

He did not name the leaders but he predicted a “tremendous outflowing of support” for his idea.

He said a US occupation would have nothing to do with a two-state solution or otherwise.

“This is not for Israel. This is for everybody in the Middle East,” Trump said.

“It just doesn’t work the other way. You just can’t keep doing the same mistake over and over again, you have to learn from history.

“Gaza is a hellhole right now. It was before the bombing started, quite frankly.”

Benjamin Netanyahu says one of Israel’s key goals is to ensure Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again.

“President Trump is taking it to a much higher level. He sees a different future for that piece of land,” he said.

“He has a different idea and I think it’s worth paying attention to this. We’re talking about it.

“I think it’s something that could change history and it’s worthwhile really pursuing this idea.”

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are asked whether the creation of a Palestinian state will be necessary to create and sustain a peace accord between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Netanyahu didn’t answer directly but was bullish on the prospect of normalising relations with Riyadh.

“I think peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not only feasible, I think it’s going to happen,” he said.

“You can’t prejudge and preguess how we’ll achieve it but I’m committing to achieving it. We’ll give it a good try and I think we’ll succeed.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised US President Donald Trump and ran through a list of achievements from Trump’s first term, including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.

“You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House. That’s why the people of Israel have such enormous respect for you,” Netanyahu said.

Now he is noting Trump’s actions in the past two weeks; his involvement in the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, delivering munitions withheld from Israel, ending sanctions against Israeli citizens and withdrawing from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

“All this in two weeks? Can you imagine where we’ll be in four years?” Netanyahu said.

US President Donald Trump is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. They are holding a press conference following a bilateral meeting that comes a little over two weeks since a ceasefire began taking effect between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Trump says the US-Israel alliance was “tested more than any time in history” during the preceding administration of Joe Biden. But the links between the two countries were “unbreakable”, he said.

The president went on to repeat his suggestion that up to 1.8 million Palestinians be permanently resettled out of war-torn Gaza into neighbouring Arab nations.

He said the US would “take over” the Gaza Strip afterwards, dismantling unexploded bombs, levelling out the rubble and doing “something different” with the land.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it,” Trump said.

The Queensland floods this month were mainly driven by human-caused climate change, which intensified the meteorological conditions that led to the event, a study has found.

This masthead has reported that the flooding rains – 1 to 1.5 metres of rain in three days at several places along the North Queensland coastline – were most likely linked to a marine heatwave in the Coral Sea.

The rapid attribution study by the ClimaMeter team found the meteorological conditions that led to the heavy rain are up to 20 per cent wetter along the Queensland coast, up to 20 per cent windier offshore, and 1.5 degrees warmer than in the past.

The study, which analyses changes in weather patterns from 1979 to 2023, concludes that the extreme precipitation leading to the flooding is mostly attributable to human-induced climate change, with natural climate variability playing a minor role.

ClimaMeter’s analysis, based on Copernicus ERA5 data, indicates significant anomalies in the region’s surface pressure, wind speed, and temperature patterns, with observed conditions in the present being much wetter, windier, and warmer than in previous decades.

ClimaMeter is a project funded by the European Union and the French National Centre for Scientific Research. The methodology used is available here.

Hate-speech laws set to pass the parliament will be a key point of debate this sitting week, as the Coalition and the government consider supporting amendments put forward by independent MP Allegra Spender that would extend the change to outlawing the promotion of hate against marginalised groups.

Asked by ABC’s RN Breakfast if she backs the amendment, Liberal senator Jane Hume said she “support[s] the idea of anything that would curtail and curb the disturbing rise of antisemitism that we’ve seen in Australia in the last 15 to 18 months”.

Hume said the “weak leadership” of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had allowed antisemitism to increase unchecked, before accusing him of being insincere.

“He is courting the votes of inner-city seats, or those seats that have high Muslim populations, but at the same time saying a different thing to Jewish communities, and Jewish communities are rightly angry, and they should be,” Hume said, before espousing the Coalition’s proposal for mandatory sentencing for terrorist offences and the display of hate symbols.

The Coalition previously pushed for section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act – which outlaws public acts that offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate people on the basis of their race, colour or national or ethnic origin – to be scrapped entirely.

It now wants to beef up the laws.

Asked about this change, Hume said the former stance had been about the wording of section 18c, and that the new approach had been necessitated by the “specific rise in antisemitism”.

“That’s something that we need to deal with in the strongest possible way,” she said.