32m agoMon 10 Nov 2025 at 1:05amLiberal MP says net zero has become ‘loaded’
(ABC News: Liam Patrick)
Liberal MP Simon Kennedy says the Coalition is against the government’s plan to reach net zero by 2050 but not against the policy of net zero itself.
The Liberal party room will be meeting on Wednesday to thrash out a climate and energy policy.
Kennedy says there is broad support in his party room about the need to reduce emissions but also keep energy prices low.
“I was in a meeting last Friday in Canberra with 37 Liberal Party MPs. Every single MP in that room said the Coalition is committed to addressing climate change by reducing emissions and the second thing they were committed to was to bring down energy prices,” Kennedy says.
So does the term net zero sit comfortably with him? Kennedy says different Australians associate net zero differently.
“This term has become loaded and different people are trying to use it for different reasons,” Kennedy says.
“We’re committed to climate change, we’re committed to lowering energy prices,” he says.
55m agoMon 10 Nov 2025 at 12:42am
Environment reforms a ‘missed opportunity’ but Greens still open to deal
The government has made it clear that they want their environment reforms passed by Christmas.
But it’s not yet clear if a deal will be struck with either the Greens or the Coalition.
Greens leader Larissa Waters says her door is open but the legislation as drafted is a “missed opportunity”.
“These laws are written for the big miners and the big loggers and the government,” she said.
“They are woeful. And what a missed opportunity for a government with a big majority to actually do something good that people voted for.
“The chance is still there, and we remain optimists. But at the moment we are sick of big business and the miners and the loggers running the show.”
1h agoMon 10 Nov 2025 at 12:27am
Joyce ‘struggling for relevance’: Waters
Greens leader Larissa Waters is in Darwin today where she’s taken a bit of a whack at Barnaby Joyce.
As my blog co-captain Josh Boscaini reported earlier, the Nationals backbencher labelled renewable energy a “total swindle”.
Waters said he was “struggling for relevance”.
“[He] doesn’t know which party he is even going to belong to. I will take his comments on renewable energy with an entire bag of salt,” she said.
Asked about the internal Liberal spat on the net zero emissions target, Waters said they “look like clowns” and voters were “laughing at them”.
“Australians can see what’s happening. We can see the bushfires. We can see the floods. We can see the droughts. We can see the heatwaves. People know that the climate is real and it’s being turbocharged by all of the coal and gas approvals that the federal and state and territory governments just keeping on dishing out.”
1h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 11:49pm
Liberal decision on net zero unlikely to resolve bitter internal divide
The bitter divide between Liberal moderates and conservatives over climate policy is likely to persist regardless of the outcome of a series of meetings this week, with senior figures from both sides warning the showdown will further erode Sussan Ley’s authority.
Members of the party room will spend most of their time debating the use of the words “net zero” when they convene on Wednesday to hash out a position, given there is now broad agreement on more substantive questions.
Read the full story from political reporter Tom Crowley in the link below.
2h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 11:23pm
PM offers state funeral for Graham Richardson
Still on his rounds of the commercial radio stations this morning, Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to two “giants of Australia,” broadcaster John Laws and Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson, on Sydney’s 2SM.
Both men died at the weekend.
“For them to pass, two giants of Australia, really over the weekend is a tragic loss but they both had very good lives, well lived,” the prime minister said.
He says he has offered a state funeral to the Richardson family, which his widow, Amanda, is considering.
He said Richardson had been determined to see his son finish school.
“And D’Arcy did that — finished his HSC at the end of last week, so Graham passed away in the early hours of the morning surrounded by his friends and family.”
2h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 11:10pmJane Hume says there’s energy and climate policy consensus within Liberal Party
(ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Liberal senator Jane Hume says there is consensus in the Liberal party room about how to go forward with energy and climate policy.
Speaking to Sky News, Hume says Australia needs more gas in the energy system, needs to lift a moratorium on nuclear energy and build the “technologies of the future”.
“There is an awful lot of consensus in the room that we have an obligation to meet our international obligations, the treaties that we have signed up to, to reduce emissions, but we have to make sure we build our energy grid for the future,” Hume says.
Asked about calls from some conservative Liberals to drop net zero, Hume says even the Nationals believe in the need to maintain international obligations.
But pressed about how both moderate and conservative parts of the Liberal Party can reconcile a position on net zero, Hume says “politics is about persuasion”.
“The only way we are going to dismantle Labor’s ideological approach to energy policy, that’s pushed up prices … is by returning to government by coalition government,” she says.
That means we need to demonstrate commitment to reducing emissions … but we also need to reduce energy prices as well.”
So would Hume leave the Liberals if it dropped net zero?
The Liberal senator says she believes it’s best to have the fight inside the party room.
3h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 10:37pm
Communications minister keen to see results from Schott review into Triple Zero outage
The communications minister has been asked what her response is to the grilling of Optus chief executive Stephen Rue at that Senate inquiry.
The telecommunications company waited almost a day before it told the public about the Triple Zero outage that caused three deaths.
Anika Wells says she didn’t hear all of Rue’s evidence because it was a sitting day and she is a “busy cabinet minister”.
But she says the information shared at the inquiry was already public.
Wells says she is most interested to see the results of the Kerry Schott review into the outage.
“The more comprehensive timeline is helpful for people to understand what’s happening. But there are also two other reviews underway,” Wells says.
3h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 10:29pm
Minister says she hasn’t formally been asked to attend Senate inquiry into Triple Zero outage
Anika Wells has been asked if she’s been requested to appear before a Senate inquiry into the Optus Triple Zero (000) outage.
Optus bosses faced a grilling at the Senate inquiry into the outage that has been linked to several deaths.
The communications minister says she’s been asked by senators through the media, but not directly.
“I had not been formally asked to appear. I had just been asked through television to appear,” Wells says.
She has defended her availability to ask questions to the topic.
“The Senate is no place for House ministers,” she says.
“I’ve been asked more than 75 questions about what happened in office between the questions at Question Time in the House of Representatives and at the many, many press conferences I have done on this since it happened.”
3h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 10:17pm
Roblox will be monitored after social media ban takes effect, says minister
Communications Minister Anika Wells is speaking at a press conference in Canberra about the social media ban for under 16s coming into force on December 10.
She says the government’s social media ban education site has had 200,000 visits — about 20 times the usual weekly traffic.
Asked if platforms such as Roblox will be included in the ban, Wells says the eSafety commissioner has assessed it as being a gaming platform.
However, if the eSafety commission determines that people are flocking to the platform, Wells says it can be included in the ban.
“She assessed that users would not be there for the social media features. If that was to change or if we were to detect that people were swarming there and there was more harm being created and absolutely roadblocks would be in the sights of the commission,” Wells says.
3h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 9:53pm
‘You can’t please everyone,’ shadow minister says of upcoming Liberal meeting on net zero
(ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Shadow Communications Minister Melissa McIntosh was just up on Sky News, and she’s feeling positive about the upcoming meeting on the Liberal’s net zero position.
“It’s going to be a big love-in, it’s going to be great,” she joked.
McIntosh says that no matter what position her party arrives at, some members will be upset.
“That’s the thing, you can’t please everyone. I know some people talk about the seats that we have to win, but they’re also seats that we must retain, and they’re seats like mine,” she says.
On the under-16s social media ban, she echoed concerns she aired last week, saying she was worried it wouldn’t work and questioned how it would be enforced.
3h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 9:43pmSarah Henderson’s comments on Ley’s leadership ‘undisciplined’: Kovacic
Maria Kovacic says the Liberals and Nationals can have different policies on energy and climate and remain a coalition.
She says the Coalition is in opposition, not in government, and has two and a half years before the next election.
Speaking to ABC Radio National Breakfast, the shadow assistant minister says the Liberals can’t get it wrong at this week’s meeting about net zero.
“If we get these policies wrong, if we get the way we are articulating this to Australians wrong, then our ability to regain their trust will be further damaged,” Kovacic says.
“Australians do not trust us to lead them. We need to show them that we have made the changes that they expect in terms of our focus areas.”
Kovacic says Liberal senator Sarah Henderson’s comments declaring Sussan Ley was losing support in the party room are “unhelpful”.
She says she is disappointed with the comments and thinks they are unnecessary.
“I think it’s completely unhelpful and, to be frank, somewhat undisciplined,” she says.
4h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 9:31pm
Liberal senator backs colleague’s assessment on future of net zero
(ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Shadow Assistant Minister for Women Maria Kovacic has backed her Liberal colleague’s assessment that it would be “extremely unlikely” for her party to drop its commitment to net zero.
Shadow Innovation Minister Andrew Bragg told ABC’s Insiders yesterday that the Liberal Party was not a “fringe party” and that it would be “absolutely ridiculous” to drop net zero.
The Liberals will be gathering on Wednesday to thrash out a position on net zero.
Speaking to ABC Radio National Breakfast, Kovacic says she agrees with Bragg’s assessment and that Australians want action on climate change.
“I think that he’s articulated it well. What I focus on is the fact that Australians do want practical action on climate. The challenge is they don’t want the higher bills that they’re seeing now,” Kovacic says.
Asked if she would leave the Liberal Party if it drops its commitment to net zero and the Paris Agreement, Kovacic says she won’t speculate.
She says the “heavy lifting” on climate and energy policy should have been done following the 2022 federal election when the party got its “first clear message”.
4h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 9:19pm
Trump’s remarks about US ambassador Rudd ‘absolutely fine’, says Albanese
The PM has popped up on KIIS FM with Kyle and Jackie O where the topic of his Joy Division t-shirt is the first topic of discussion.
They’ve replayed comments from Australian actor Russell Crowe who backed Albanese for wearing the t-shirt on a podcast with Joe Rogan.
Anthony Albanese says Crowe’s comments were “generous” and says he sent the actor a text message thanking him.
Asked if he had any other celebrities in his phone’s contact book, Albanese says: “There are a few people in my bag, you know”.
Moving on to his meeting with US President Donald Trump, the PM said he had “really positive” conversations with the president.
He says the suggestion that Australia should be “subservient” to the United States is “nonsense”.
The PM backed Kevin Rudd as Australia’s ambassador to the US, following Trump’s comments at a press conference with Albanese in Washington.
“It was fine, it was absolutely fine. Again, people looking for a negative at what was a very successful meeting.”
4h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 8:57pmPM says criticism of his Joy Division t-shirt was ‘a load of nonsense’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is doing the rounds on commercial radio this morning, starting with NOVA in Sydney.
The PM apparently went to an Oasis concert in Sydney on the weekend. He was asked if he wore that Joy Division t-shirt which sparked criticism from Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.
“What a load of nonsense that was,” Albanese says.
“It was rather extraordinary. I was going to say, but a few people commented exactly that,” he says.
He’s also paid tribute to Sydney veteran radio broadcaster John Laws, who died over the weekend, as a “legend”.
“He which was such an extraordinary figure in Australians’ lives. My mum never missed him,” Albanese says.
“He had strong views that he would put himself, but it was a genuine conversation. And I don’t think they’ll be another like him.”
Albanese says the social media ban for under 16s, which will come into force in exactly a month now, is “so important”.
He poured cold water on the suggestion that the government was trying to create a digital ID.
“This is about letting kids be kids, but it’s also about empowering parents to have those conversations with the young ones,” he says.
4h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 8:53pm
Analysis: Replacing Sussan Ley as leader isn’t the easy fix the Liberals seek
As the federal Liberal Party embarks on more self-harm over climate change policy this week, the idea seems to have set in among some that tearing down its first ever female leader could be a low-consequence affair.
The party that got smashed in Australian cities only six months ago seems to be on the hunt for a new leader, despite the fact they still haven’t diagnosed why they lost in the first place.
The situation is so bad former Liberal party strategist Tony Barry warned “terrorist cells operating inside the Coalition is not a pathway to electoral success”.
Whatever you make of Sussan Ley’s leadership — her flaws, her own goals, her style — there is alarm in some quarters that the party will dispose of Ley for doing exactly what she said she would do: follow a process to determine contentious policy.
Read the full analysis from Patricia Karvelas in the link below.
5h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 8:37pm
A ‘good thing’ the NACC hasn’t found corruption yet, says Farrell
Special Minister of State Don Farrell says it’s good the National Anti Corruption Commission (NACC) hasn’t made a major finding of corruption yet.
The NACC was introduced by Labor as part of an election promise at the 2022 federal election, and has been in operation for about two years.
But the commission, which has had about 5,000 referrals, hasn’t made any major findings of corruption.
Farrell says that’s a good thing, and shows the the system is working.
“If no charges have been laid, that’s an indication that the system is working. There is no corruption. And I say that’s a good thing,” Farrell says.
The minister has rejected the suggestion that the major political parties are behind the drop in trust in Australia’s political system.
5h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 8:31pm
Special Minister of State Don Farrell defends democracy, political system
Special Minister of State Don Farrell joined the ABC’s AM program, where he was asked about trust in Australia’s political system.
A recent report found that a quarter of Australians think democracy isn’t preferable, and nearly 10 per cent say violence can be justified for a political cause.
The minister says he believes an overwhelming number of Australians believe in democracy.
Farrell says the government is taking steps to increase trust in Australia’s political system by introducing real-time disclosures and transparency in political donations.
“I think a combination of that figure of 76 per cent plus the things that we’re doing before the next election, I think are an indication that we should be reasonably positive about support for democracy in this country,” Farrell says.
5h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 8:21pmBarnaby Joyce labels renewable energy a ‘total swindle’
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek and former deputy prime minister and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce have popped up on Channel Seven this morning.
Asked whether the federal government would extend energy rebates to keep power prices low, Plibersek said it was a matter for the treasurer and has touted Labor’s cost-of-living measures.
She points out that the Coalition has voted against Labor’s cost of living measures, and that the government last week announced the Solar Sharer scheme to help bring down prices for some households.
But Joyce isn’t a fan of the scheme, which would unlock three hours of free power for homes on the default energy market offer.
The Nationals MP, who is a vocal critical of renewable energy, has called renewables a “swindle” and “intermittent power”.
“It is a total swindle, it’s a Band-Aid on an amputated leg in the paddock. What we see is all of the things that Tanya brought up where the taxpayers’ money is given back to taxpayers or non- taxpayers, it is not about a fundamental change,” Joyce says.
“The intermittent power swindle has brought a structural decline and destruction of our power grid.”
But asked if he would support extending government energy rebates, Joyce says he thinks it would be politically unpopular not to support any extension of rebates.
“Let’s see the detail of it,” Joyce says.
5h agoSun 9 Nov 2025 at 8:13pm
Good morning 👋
Happy Monday and welcome to another edition of our federal politics live blog!
I’m Josh Boscaini joining you live from Parliament House in Canberra here and ready to bring you all of today’s federal politics news!
Well, we’re exactly one month away from the government’s social media ban for people under 16.
And net zero is high on the agenda this week, with the Liberals set to meet this Wednesday to thrash out a decision on the policy.
I’m not sure what today could bring, so let’s get straight into it!