8m agoMon 1 Sep 2025 at 12:42am

A second try

That motion from Cash on Senate estimates just failed, 26 votes to 33.

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie is now up on her feet, moving an almost identical motion but this time about the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

I’ll check back in on this one when the vote takes place.

30m agoMon 1 Sep 2025 at 12:21am

Coalition, Labor clash over timing of Senate estimates

It’s a day ending in y, so it’s probably no surprise there’s a bit of drama in the Senate.

Senate President Sue Lines was trying to get through the morning’s admin and had to tell Shadow Foreign Minister Michaelia Cash and Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to slow their horses as they both jumped up to move a motion.

Cash got the call first and is trying to add an additional day of Senate estimates, dedicated to cross-portfolio Indigenous matters.

Michaelia Cash in the chamber. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

The standalone estimates day is usually a pretty standard inclusion in any scheduled hearings. But when the government moved to establish an extra week of hearings, it didn’t include the day usually set aside for cross portfolio Indigenous matters.

Cash is accusing the government of not wanting to face scrutiny.

“That is a sign of contempt, pure and simple, nothing more and nothing less,” she says.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says the government won’t be supporting the motion and doesn’t agree with the characterisation.

“We’ve provided an additional four days … so a full additional week, there will be more estimates days this term this year because of the decisions the Senate took last week,” she says.

She says the Coalition is welcome to question the government and departments about its progress on Closing the Gap on any given day of estimates.

39m agoMon 1 Sep 2025 at 12:12am

Call for government to remove barriers to fast treatment for rare cancers

Just days after his daughter Jasmine died of a rare cancer at the age of 22, Celestino Carosella discovered his own was terminal.

As he navigates the grief of losing a child while facing his own mortality, Celestino, 59, is now also spending thousands of dollars a month for immunotherapy medicine to extend his life and improve the quality of his remaining time.

A new report by Rare Cancers Australia — due to be officially launched at parliament today — paints a picture of a system that has failed to deliver “fast and fair” access to treatment for people with rare and less common cancers like Celestino.

If having cancer itself is not challenging enough, it argues there is a “cancer lottery” in Australia, where survival and experience vary based on factors like where a person lives, their age, how much money they have, and whether their cancer is easily detectable or well understood.

The national survey of nearly 2,500 people impacted by cancer states people with rare and less common cancers “feel this inequity deeply”, facing lengthy delays in diagnoses, fewer treatment options and less support.

Among the report’s recommendations is a call for the federal government to urgently remove barriers to fast and fair treatment by expanding access to medicines already subsidised for common cancers  to other cancers, when supported by evidence.

Health Minister Mark Butler told the ABC the government was working through the findings of the Health Technology Assessment review which made a raft of recommendations to streamline processes so that people could access medicines earlier, and would work with Rare Cancers Australia to support its important efforts.

Continue reading our story at the link below.

54m agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 11:57pm

The bells are ringing

The Sun is shining and the bells are ringing. That, my friends, is the sign of a fresh parliamentary week beginning.

What can we expect today in the chamber? Labor’s allowing debate, again, on Barnaby Joyce’s push to repeal net zero. Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the Senate later today to see if the unlikely alliance of the Coalition, Greens and David Pocock can be successful in pushing for the release of tens of thousands of extra home care packages for elderly Australians.

1h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 11:50pm

Get on your bike(ABC News: Matt Roberts)

What screams parliament’s back more than a group of MPs taking a quick bike ride around the building?

Independent Sophie Scamps was joined by fellow crossbenchers Monique Ryan, Kate Chaney and Nicolette Boele as they put on a helmet and went on a short joy ride.

So, how is this linked to parliament? Great question. Scamps will hit the chamber this morning with her private members’ bill that she says will deliver overdue reforms to make e-bikes safer.

“E-bikes have revolutionised the way we move around. They are an important part of the shift to cleaner, more active transport, but the technology has raced ahead of safety legislation. We now often see e-bikes that are more motorbike than bicycle being ridden at high speeds on footpaths and roads,” she said.

“I am very worried we are going to see more tragedies involving pedestrians and riders of these powerful e-bikes unless we act urgently to introduce clear national safety standards.”

1h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 11:00pm

Analysis: The response to Katter’s outburst will test parliament this week

Bob Katter is an icon of the parliament, so idiosyncratic and “colourful” that even the most progressive MPs have spent a career laughing off his bizarre interventions.

Katter has successfully insulted many groups in the past, but he has typically escaped any genuinely forceful criticism.

So, when Katter, who is the federal Member for Kennedy, threatened to punch a journalist on Thursday after being asked a question about his Lebanese heritage, the response sounded like more of the same.

Katter continues to enjoy a special status. Sure, his threat to the journalist drew criticism from senior MPs across the political spectrum, even the prime minister, who says his colourful character is no justification for violent behaviour.

But where is the same level of enthusiasm that has gone into denouncing other politicians for misdemeanours many would consider less egregious?

If Lidia Thorpe, the Aboriginal senator from Victoria, had threatened a journalist with violence, the condemnations would likely have come in thick and fast and in real time. Perhaps there would have even been a clamour to pass a motion to condemn her.

Continue reading PK’s analysis at the link below.

2h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 10:26pm

‘No excuse’ for social media platforms, says minister

Anika Wells stopped in the corridors after her interview on News Breakfast to take some questions about social media.

She is unfazed by the fact the age assurance trial found very different levels of reliability for different age assurance technologies.

The social media platforms, which will need to decide which technologies to use, are “some of the world’s richest companies”.

“They are at the forefront of AI,” Wells says.

“There is no excuse for social media platforms not to have a combination of age assurance methods in their platforms.”

She also reveals that crucial details of the ban – the requirements the platforms will need to meet – will be published later this month.

Anika Wells stops in the corridor (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

2h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 10:23pm

Can’t let ‘extremes’ get foothold on immigration debate: Scarr(ABC News: Adam Kennedy)

Shadow Immigration Minister Paul Scarr also stopped by ABC’s Radio National Breakfast studio this morning, where he was asked for his response to the weekend’s protests.

“I think when we see neo-Nazis address a crowd of people in some of our major cities, that raises material concerns with respect to social cohesion in our country,” he said.

“We just need to be terribly careful when we’re discussing issues such as immigration that the fringes, the extremes, don’t get a foothold in the debate.”

He says there was “absolutely no doubt” that some members of Middle Australia, concerned about housing and the cost of living, attended the marches on Sunday. Scarr added the tone of the protests were different depending on its location, noting the scenes in Melbourne were “particularly disturbing”.

“This is a very complicated issue. And I think those of us in positions of political authority need to be very careful in terms of how we deal with these issues so that we don’t alienate people of goodwill.”

2h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 10:08pm

‘Nobody changed their minds because they were handed a fact sheet’: AlyMulticutral Affairs Minister Anne Aly. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)

Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly says she’s “under no illusions” that even if the government better communicated its immigration policies, there would still be a section of the community unwilling to change their minds.

“Nobody ever changed their mind because they were handed a fact sheet,” she tells ABC’s Radio National Breakfast. 

“The fact is that this is an emotive issue, right? People are driven by emotion, not by facts. And so regardless of how many facts you put out there … there is a section of the community who will still propagate misinformation and disinformation, and who will still use people’s emotional response … to things like housing, their emotional response to things like infrastructure, their emotional response to things like the cost of living, in order to propagate their agenda.”

Aly also warned against conflating the issues of housing and migration.

“There needs to be a mature conversation around immigration,” she says.

“However, I’m very cautious about conflating the two because I think that when we conflate immigration with all of these other issues, then we feed into the very agenda of the far-right organisations that were part of these marches.”

2h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 9:52pmNeo-Nazis used anti-immigration rallies as a ‘con’ to ‘prey on legitimate concerns’

Anne Aly says neo-Nazis used anti-immigration protests as a “con” to “prey on some legitimate concerns” on housing and the cost-of-living.

Thousands of people took to the streets across the country yesterday to participate in so-called Marches for Australia, saying they’ve had enough of “mass migration”.

The multicultural affairs minister says while the majority of those who attended the rallies weren’t neo-Nazis, the rallies were “clearly racist”.

“Let’s not be coy about this. They weren’t protesting immigration from white Western countries,” she told ABC’s Radio National Breakfast. 

“I would say to those who marched, and who argued that they have those legitimate concerns, that they were organised by Nazis, the very purpose of them was anti-immigration

“One of the points on those call to action that goes through things like housing, goes through things like infrastructure, population control, and some legitimate concerns.

“One of the very clear calls to action that was listed there was anti-Indian immigration, against people coming from India. Now that, to me, is clearly racist when you target a specific ethnicity. That is clearly racism.”

3h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 9:41pm’Ship has sailed’ on net zero: Hume urges Liberals to stand by emissions target

Jane Hume says voters won’t return the Liberal Party back to the government benches unless it embraces net zero.

“For election after election, the voters have told us they want to see a low-emissions future,” she told ABC News Breakfast. 

“So I think that ship has really sailed.

“When we build our policy platform, it’s going to be fundamental that Liberals don’t just work for the voters that put us here now, but for the 33 seats that we need to win in order to form government.”

The Liberal senator was dumped from the frontbench in a post-election reshuffle by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. 

Hume says Liberal members want the party to return to government, and the only way to do that is to “reflect what modern Australia wants”.

She says a commitment to a net zero future would deliver certainty for financers wanting to invest in Australia.

“Net zero is 25 years away. I have
absolutely no doubt that the technology will be there to be able to deliver a zero-emissions future. This is something that we should be embracing,” she says.

3h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 9:33pm

Hume calls for Liberals to back push to host global climate talks

Liberal senator Jane Hume has backed in net zero amid an internal debate over the emissions target.

The backbencher is also urging the opposition to get on board with the government’s bid to host the global climate talks, COP, in Adelaide next year.

Speaking with ABC’s News Breakfast, Hume said it was “low hanging fruit” that her party should get behind.

“Let’s face it … it’s most importantly a giant trade fair. It’s a trade fair that attracts financiers, tech companies, energy companies from right around the world to show off their wares, and it allows innovators in Australia to do the same,” she said.

“That’s really important economically for a country like Australia. Why wouldn’t we want the world’s financiers to
come to Australia?”

Hume says the world has moved on and leaders want a low-emissions future.

“It’s time that the Liberal Party gets behind COP so that we can talk about it in a sensible way, rather than the reckless way that Labor is going about its renewable energy targets, which clearly it’s going to fail to deliver,” she added.

3h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 9:27pm

Pocock concerned by ‘unacceptable’ behaviour at anti-immigration protests

David Pocock says there is place for a sensible debate about immigration but some of the behaviour at yesterday’s rallies across the country were “totally unacceptable”.

“I think this is really damaging when it comes to the message it’s sending to migrants across the country. And some of the slogans and behaviour we saw are totally unacceptable,” he told ABC’s News Breakfast. 

“I think, on the broader point, one of my frustrations has been that there is a real lack of appetite from the
parliament to actually have a debate about this in a sensible way, and then come up with a plan when it comes to migration and population that actually wards off some of the, I guess, feelings of ‘Well, there is no plan.'”

The independent senator said he was concerned by the lack of plan from the government.

3h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 9:22pm

New data on government-funded housing, but still no clarity on HAFF homes

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil tells us this morning that 5,000 new social and affordable homes have been completed using funding allocated by the Albanese government.

But these numbers are notoriously complicated, so a closer look is needed.

First, the 5,000 figure includes both homes that have been built from scratch, and homes that have been bought or renovated and converted into social or affordable housing.

The government says most of them are newly built, but a breakdown is not available.

Second, the 5,000 figure includes housing funded under six different government programs, including the affordable housing bond aggregator, a financing vehicle which received funding under the Albanese government but was set up under the Morrison government.

We don’t have updated figures for the number of homes completed under Labor’s signature Housing Affordability Future Fund.

We know thousands of home have been approved for subsidies under that fund, and that some have been acquired and converted, but we don’t know as yet of any homes built from scratch through the fund.

3h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 9:11pm

Social media ban technically possible, but not straightforward

It is 100 days until the social media ban for under-16s begins, and today we’ve been given the most detailed look yet at a fairly important question: how will this thing actually work?

The government has published the full findings of an “age assurance trial” it commissioned. We learned in June that the trial had found age assurance was possible, but now we can see some more of the asterisks.

It identified several methods that could work, including verification using government documents, parental consent, and facial scanning technology.

But all of these have varying levels of privacy risk, and are at least somewhat error prone. For facial scanning technology there was an error zone of two to three years on either side of 16.

This study was into age assurance generally, and was not a specific evaluation of the social media ban. And the government won’t actually pick a “winning” technology for the ban, leaving the choice up to platforms.

But while the government has seized on the study as evidence its ban can work, it also provides a word of caution on the trickiness of making it work well.

3h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 9:04pmUnlikely alliance forms to pressure Labor on home care packages

An unlikely alliance of the Coalition, the Greens and independent senator David Pocock is pushing for the release of tens of thousands of extra home care packages for elderly Australians.

The government could face its first real challenge in the Senate since its landslide election win since May over aged care.

The Coalition, Greens and Pocock have joined forces to demand 20,000 more home care packages for older Australians.

Shadow Aged Care Minister Anne Ruston says people are dying while they wait.

“It’s an absolute indictment on this government,” she says.

Pocock says the hold up makes no sense for older Australians who can’t afford to wait until November when aged care reforms roll through.

“I think it’s important that these amendments pass so we can actually see 20,000 older Australians getting home care packages before 1 November,” he said.

Aged Care Minister Sam Rae says Labor will consult with senators, but wouldn’t say whether the government would release more home care packages ahead of November.

“We need make sure we get a better level of care for people and that we get more packages out the door. That’s what this reform process is about. And from the 1st of November we’ll be able to get a better level of care to more people than ever before,” he said.

The amendments are expected to be moved today.

4h agoSun 31 Aug 2025 at 8:44pm

👋 Good morning

Hello, and welcome to our federal politics live blog! It’s bright and early on a Monday morning and we’ve got a fresh sitting week ahead of us.

So what’s on the agenda? Well, the government has released the long-awaited report into social media age verification (more on that soon). Elsewhere, there is pressure on Labor to act on home care packages.

I’m Courtney Gould, and I’ll be guiding you through the day on our politics blog.

As always, grab a coffee and settle in.

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