Littleproud said:
There’s no other position. Our party room has made it clear that we cannot be part of a shadow ministry under Sussan Ley.
When asked what that means, he said “we sit by ourselves”:
We will sit and we will undertake what we have done and I think we’ve got a pretty good record.
And we made it very clear that there would be a consequence, that if Sussan accepted those resignations, then that consequence [would be that] the Coalition would be untenable.
Updated at 16.48 EST
Key events
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Turnbull praises Carney speech at Davos: ‘We’ve got to deal with the world as it is’
Turnbull also praised Canadian prime minister Mark Carney after the latter’s speech at Davos, where he warned the world was undergoing a geopolitical “rupture”.
The former Australia prime minister said he believed the speech was “one of the most important” made in the current time:
Certainly the most important speech since Trump became president for the second time.
Turnbull said the world needed to recognised that things had changed in America, advising Anthony Albanese to pay close attention to Carney’s remarks. He said:
We’re dealing with a very different America. And I think a lot of people in government, perhaps all of us, have a sort of a cognitive dissonance problem here. On the one half of our brain is recognising the reality. The other half is saying, no, no, things are going to go back to normal, everything’s okay. …
Well, I’m afraid. It isn’t. And even if it does go back, hopefully it does, but we cannot rely on that. And again, quoting Carney, you know, ‘nostalgia is not a strategy, hope is not a strategy.’ We’ve got to deal with the world as it is.
I’ve given the biggest, biggest plug for a Canadian prime minister’s speech ever given on Australian radio, and I think everyone should read it, particularly Albo. He should watch it twice.
Updated at 18.31 EST
Malcolm Turnbull says Coalition remnants look like a ‘smouldering wreckage’
The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the turmoil in the Coalition was “just making them more unelectable than they were before”.
He spoke to ABC Radio Melbourne this morning, questioning how Sussan Ley and the opposition could expect to lead the country “if you’re divided internally”:
The bottom line is this: the Liberal party, to form government, needs to have the National party because it needs to have those regional seats.
It also needs to win back seats in the city, which had been thought to be their biggest problem, but now they’ve lost the National party.
Turnbull was asked who as at fault for the split, but he said “it takes two to tango”:
I think there’s mismanagement on both sides, but the better way to handle it would have been for the two leaders to sit down and say, okay, our party rooms have got different perspectives. We want to be able to maintain faith with our own bases. …
But I think when they survey the scene, it looks like just a smouldering wreckage, doesn’t it?
Malcolm Turnbull. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/AAPShare
Updated at 18.28 EST
Prue Leith to leave Great British Bake Off
In a moment of lightness/sadness that transcends international boundaries, there’s big news from The Great British Bake Off: judge Prue Leith is leaving.
She wrote on social media about her decision:
Bake Off has been a fabulous part of my life for the last nine years, I have genuinely loved it and I’m sure I’ll miss working with my fellow judge Paul, Alison and Noel…
But now feels like the right time to step back (I’m 86 for goodness sake!), there’s so much I’d like to do – not least spend summers enjoying my garden. Whoever joins the team, I’m sure they’ll love it as much as I have. I feel very lucky to have been part of it.
Read more about her decision and legacy on the popular program here:
Prue Leith. Photograph: Ben Perry/ShutterstockShare
Jewish group says country should ‘contemplate how we got here’
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said today is a chance for the country to “come together in support of 15 devastated families and thousands more dealing with physical and mental trauma that won’t soon heal”.
Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the body, said the national day of mourning should be a moment to reflect and attempt to try “contributing more, giving more and loving more”:
It is also incumbent on us to contemplate how we got here. How we as a nation allowed a poison to flourish in our beautiful country. How hateful mobs and sinister clerics used our landmarks and our streets to summon others to do violence. How our institutions became inhospitable to Jewish Australians. How synagogues and businesses burned. And how 15 of our fellow Australians died for the crime of being Jewish.
We know that the overwhelming majority of Australians are good, kind, fair-minded and loving people. Many thousands have conveyed their sorrow and solidarity and it meant so much to us. Now let this be the day we turn our pain and grief into a revolution of goodness, of mitzvot (good deeds big and small) that unites our country and drives out the evil. They want it darker but we’ll bring the light.
Luca Ittimani
Perth house prices pass $1m, Domain data shows
Perth house prices have surpassed $1m for the first time and Melbourne’s have hit a new record for the first time in four years, Domain’s median measure shows.
House prices across the capitals picked up 3.9% over the last three months of December, new analysis today found, with Perth surging 9.9% to become the sixth city in the $1m club. Perth also became the sixth city with median unit prices over $600,000.
Melbourne’s median house price reached a record $1.11m as all cities but Canberra rose to new records.
Canberra’s house prices are still more expensive than Melbourne’s, near a median $1.14m, but the capital’s unit prices went backwards in the December quarter, from nearly $620,000 to less than $612,000.
Housing demand surged amid 2025’s interest rate cuts and lower-priced homes had an extra boost from the government’s 5% deposit first-home scheme. Lower-priced cities and markets are seeing an especially strong boost, according to Domain’s chief of research and economics, Dr Nicola Powell.
“We’re seeing buyers gravitate towards units in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in search of relative value, while smaller capitals like Perth and Adelaide are leading the charge on house price growth,” she said.
Updated at 17.40 EST
Ley says focus of today must be on Jewish Australians
Sussan Ley released her own statement on the day of mourning. She said:
Today the focus must be on Jewish Australians, indeed all Australians, as we mourn the victims of the Bondi terrorist attack.
This is a national day of mourning and my responsibility as leader of the opposition and leader of the Liberal party is to Australians in mourning.
I have grieved with the Bondi Chabad community and stood with them in their synagogues, their homes and at many funerals. I will again stand with them tonight at the Opera House, as we make clear that ‘Light Will Win’.
Updated at 17.23 EST
Minute of silence to come at 7.01pm
Albanese said a minute of silence tonight at 7.01pm is “an opportunity to just take that minute to really think about what’s happened and to pay respects and I invite all Australians to participate in observing that minute of silence”.
He is also asking for people to show an act of remembrance and have a candle on a window sill or a doorstep.
Updated at 17.09 EST
Albanese addresses nation on national day of mourning
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking in Canberra about today’s national day of mourning.
He said of the Bondi attack:
It was a tragic attack not just on Jewish Australians, but on the Australian way of life. … for this to happen on the first night of Hanukkah, a celebration of the victory of light over darkness …
For darkness to descend on that is, indeed, something that is a stain on our nation.
Albanese said today is about remembering the victims of the attack.
It’s an opportunity for us as a nation to wrap our arms around the Jewish community because people were targeted because they were Jewish-Australians. Every Jewish-Australian felt that very deeply that evening, and ever since as well. Today, we share their grief. A grief with no ending, only a beginning.
Updated at 17.09 EST
Jonathan Barrett
ASX to open higher after Trump calls off tariffs
The Australian share market is set to lift this morning after Donald Trump dropped a tariff threat against European allies amid his pressure campaign to gain control of Greenland.
Futures pricing indicates the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 will rise above 8830 points, or 0.6%, when markets open later this morning, erasing most of the recent losses caused by the tariff threat.
ANZ said in a market note this morning that Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos was received positively by markets.
“While the more conciliatory tone of the speech helped to assuage market concerns regarding tail risk scenarios, it’s likely geopolitical developments will remain front and centre for markets and volatility will remain elevated over the coming days,” ANZ said.
Tail risk refers to the chance of the market experiencing an extreme move.
The Australian dollar is trading strongly against its US counterpart, buying US67.6 cents, representing levels last seen in 2024. It has benefitted from investors selling out of the greenback over concerns about US political and economic policies.
Updated at 17.00 EST
Littleproud: too late to reinstate Nationals shadow frontbenchers
Littleproud says he spoke to Ley this morning and made it very clear, adding he gave her a chance yesterday to avoid this outcome.
I rang her about 30 minutes ago and told her that the party room’s decision was final. That unless those three were reinstated immediately, then she forced the Coalition into an untenable position. …
It’s too late now. These three will not be reinstated. So, the reality is that we will move on.
Updated at 17.00 EST
Littleproud: ‘We cannot be part of a shadow ministry under Sussan Ley’
Littleproud said:
There’s no other position. Our party room has made it clear that we cannot be part of a shadow ministry under Sussan Ley.
When asked what that means, he said “we sit by ourselves”:
We will sit and we will undertake what we have done and I think we’ve got a pretty good record.
And we made it very clear that there would be a consequence, that if Sussan accepted those resignations, then that consequence [would be that] the Coalition would be untenable.
Updated at 16.48 EST
Littleproud says Nationals acted in good faith and Ley was ‘aware of the consequences’
Littleproud said the Nationals continually acted in good faith with the Coalition, but said Sussan Ley had disrespected the party and was “aware of the consequences”.
We acted in good faith to get to this position. But we could not be forced into voting for a position. The National party is our own sovereign party. Sussan Ley cannot force us to vote one way or another.
And when we have not breached any process, any procedure in the Coalition, we’ve been respectful, for then to get to a position where three of our senators who were in shadow cabinet spots are being asked to resign. …
I cannot stand by and have three courageous senators who put their jobs on the line for no reason that has any veracity whatsoever, to be disrespected. …
This process wasn’t all Sussan Ley’s fault. Anthony Albanese put her in this process. But it has been mismanaged by Sussan Ley … She was aware of the consequences if she did that, the National party were being forced into an untenable position, and she still made that decision. This is not what we wanted.
Updated at 17.16 EST
Littleproud speaks up about Coalition chaos
Nationals leader David Littleproud is speaking now in Brisbane.
He said the Nationals had worked in good faith to try and see hate speech laws passed in parliament, but said the party had “serious reservations” about some elements of the legislation.
He said:
This was a rushed process. We are talking about national security matters with complex legislation, complex legislation that should be scrutinised and understood before we’re forced to vote on it. …
On Sunday I made that clear to Coalition partners that my party room had made a determination on Sunday that we could only support the migration elements of this bill. …
We made every effort to ensure that we could get both bills through. And we weren’t far off. But we just didn’t have that comfort and we ran out of time.
Updated at 16.45 EST
One Nation’s Joyce says he is not ‘hawking for members’ amid Nationals chaos
Barnaby Joyce is also speaking about the Nationals drama this morning, saying the latest break between the party and the Coalition is further evidence of its “chaotic” nature.
Joyce was asked on RN if he had heard from anyone in the Nationals about joining One Nation, as he had, but he demurred before adding:
Am I hawking for members? No, I’m not. …
My relationship with Mr Littleproud became quite dysfunctional. And also, as you’ve seen in the last couple of days, it is chaotic.
The circumstances of this chaos do take people to a position of asking questions.
Joyce said he believes One Nation is currently a “safer set of hands” at the moment, saying the party had clarity, purpose and strength.
Updated at 16.31 EST
Jim Chalmers says Sussan Ley ‘on borrowed time’
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the ongoing turmoil in the Coalition shows the opposition is “collapsing”, adding he believes Sussan Ley is on “borrowed time” after mass resignations from the Nationals.
Chalmers said on RN Breakfast this morning:
The Coalition’s collapsing. I think whatever the Nationals decide shortly, it’s become very clear, the Coalition is a smoking ruin. They put internal politics before public safety this week in what I think was a shameful way, and they’re paying a price for that.
So they’re divided, they’re divisive, they’re dysfunctional, they can’t stand each other, they can’t work together. I think Sussan Ley’s obviously on borrowed time, but to be fair to her, all of the alternatives to Sussan Ley in the Coalition are worse. …
I think any Australian watching the developments in the coalition this week would conclude the Coalition is a three-ring circus.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 16.48 EST
Patrick Commins
OECD says Australia ‘on track’ on emissions reduction targets, but more effort needed
It also said Australia was “broadly on track” to meet its 2030 emissions reduction ambitions, but that “further efforts will be needed to reduce transport emissions, manage a higher share of renewables in transport and tackle agricultural emissions”.
“Australia was for many years an international laggard on climate action and still has among the highest per capita carbon emissions of any country in the world and among the lowest implicit prices of carbon,” the report said.
The report advocated for a “gradual” lift in petrol taxes, which it said were “well below European levels”, which was “contributing to the low take-up of low emission vehicles”.
Photograph: Darren England/AAPShare
Patrick Commins
The Paris-based organisation, sometimes referred to as the “club of rich nations”, is a bastion of economic orthodoxy and is led by Australia’s former finance minister, former Liberal senator Mathias Cormann.
It advocated in the report for replacing state-based property stamp duties with a land tax, raising the target for social housing and increasing public funding.
December’s mid-year budget update confirmed that the nation’s finances remain mired in deficits over the coming decade.
In its report, the OECD urged the Albanese government to do more to put the budget on a more sustainable footing, calling for “expenditure restraint and revenue enhancing tax reforms”.
Among those tax reform measures were a longstanding recommendation to broaden the GST and to consider lifting the rate above 10%, with the proceeds used to reduce Australia’s overreliance on personal income tax.
The OECD estimated that this tax reform would add 1.6% to the size of the economy in a decade’s time.
Updated at 16.07 EST
OECD calls on Australia to raise GST and increase affordable housing amid budget deficit
Patrick Commins
The OECD has called on the government to broaden the GST, do more to reduce greenhouse emissions and adopt ambitious social housing targets as part of its annual economic survey of Australia. Ahead of Jim Chalmers’ fifth federal budget in May, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said Australia’s economy was “now normalising”, after struggling through a lengthy period of weak growth following the pandemic.
Interest rate cuts and a rebound in households’ real disposable incomes would drive average economic growth up to “a little more than 2% over the coming years”, it said in the report:
But longstanding challenges of slower productivity growth, high housing costs and high carbon emissions need to be addressed.
The OECD called out the damage from Australia’s increasingly unaffordable housing market and backed federal and state-level efforts to boost home supply by easing land restrictions and increasing density.
A man browses a smartphone before an auction of a property in Sydney. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 16.07 EST