Plan to criminalise burning of Australian flag about ‘national pride’, says Taylor
Tom McIlroy
As touched on earlier, the opposition wants new laws to make it a criminal offence to burn the Australian flag or damage war memorials.
As the Coalition fights to regain standing against Pauline Hanson and One Nation, the opposition’s legislation would create a federal criminal offence for serious public desecration of the Australian flag, where a person is reckless or where their actions would incite hatred or violence, threaten public order or cause a public disturbance.
It would also create a federal criminal offence for deliberately damaging, defacing, desecrating or destroying war memorials and other significant memorials commemorating Australia’s history.
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, says the plan is about “standing up for the national pride that we should all feel for our great country.”
The assistant foreign minister, Matt Thistlethwaite, says the plan is about politics:
double quotation markI think that there’s a bit of an element of desperation there, trying to chase One Nation.
It’s been tried on several occasions over many, many years. The parliament has generally always rejected it because of the notion of upholding freedom of speech for Australians and that freedom of political expression.
Labor’s Matt Thistlethwaite. Photograph: (a)manda Parkinson/AAPShare
Updated at 21.39 EDT
Key events
Qantas’ New Zealand flight ‘engine issue’
Customers who were on a Qantas plane that was diverted from Sydney to Christchurch yesterday will instead be flown home today.
There were reports of loud noises and flames coming out of one of the plane’s engines after it departed Queenstown. While there was a “suspected engine issue” on flight QF122, both engines were working and there was no emergency landing.
A Qantas spokesperson said the company understood it “would have been a distressing experience for passengers”:
double quotation markOne of our flights to Sydney experienced a suspected engine issue after take-off from Queenstown this afternoon and the aircraft diverted to Christchurch.
Our pilots are highly trained to manage situations like this and the aircraft landed safely.
Updated at 22.33 EDT
Jabs for native birds
Curlews and royal spoonbills are among the native bird species set to be vaccinated against H5 bird flu in South Australia.
The program at Cleland Wildlife park will see up to 100 birds across 30 different species – including threatened species – given two jabs.
The environment minister, Emily Bourke, said it was about giving them “the best chance possible”.
The lethal strain has killed thousands of wild birds, at least 100 penguins, and a dolphin. It has also infected fur seals.
Updated at 22.20 EDT
Tradies qualifications to be fast-tracked
Up to 6,000 tradies will get free qualifications under a $78m federal scheme designed to tackle construction skills shortages.
Workers with at least three years’ experience will have their prior learning recognised, and they will then be given “gap training” to reach their qualification, fast-tracking the process.
The skills and training minister, Andrew Giles, said the program would “back in workers who have the right skills for the job, but need that extra help to get the formal qualification they need”:
double quotation markThis program recognises the expertise they’ve already developed and helps them gain nationally recognised qualifications faster.
For a long time industry and skills stakeholders have called for greater recognition of existing skills and alternative pathways to formal trade qualifications – our government has listened and is taking action.
Updated at 21.50 EDT
Plan to criminalise burning of Australian flag about ‘national pride’, says TaylorTom McIlroy
As touched on earlier, the opposition wants new laws to make it a criminal offence to burn the Australian flag or damage war memorials.
As the Coalition fights to regain standing against Pauline Hanson and One Nation, the opposition’s legislation would create a federal criminal offence for serious public desecration of the Australian flag, where a person is reckless or where their actions would incite hatred or violence, threaten public order or cause a public disturbance.
It would also create a federal criminal offence for deliberately damaging, defacing, desecrating or destroying war memorials and other significant memorials commemorating Australia’s history.
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, says the plan is about “standing up for the national pride that we should all feel for our great country.”
The assistant foreign minister, Matt Thistlethwaite, says the plan is about politics:
double quotation markI think that there’s a bit of an element of desperation there, trying to chase One Nation.
It’s been tried on several occasions over many, many years. The parliament has generally always rejected it because of the notion of upholding freedom of speech for Australians and that freedom of political expression.
Labor’s Matt Thistlethwaite. Photograph: (a)manda Parkinson/AAPShare
Updated at 21.39 EDT
Nepal situation becoming more difficult with time: assistant foreign ministerTom McIlroy
Matt Thistlethwaite, the assistant foreign minister, has told News24 there is no change in the situation of missing Australians in Nepal overnight.
He says 36 Australians still remain unaccounted for as of Sunday morning. He said:
double quotation markWe haven’t got any confirmed deaths yet. We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to relocate and locate as many of those as we possibly can.
Obviously, the longer this goes on, the more difficult that that becomes. But there are glimmers of hope. We managed to locate seven Australians this week.
Damaged houses covered in sludge in the aftermath of flash floods at Devighat in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on 5 September. Photograph: Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images
He said it was positive that two people had been rescued from hydroelectric tunnels in the disaster area in recent days:
double quotation markWe sent 47 Australian personnel to the region to assist with the rescue and recovery, and we’re sending a further seven this week, so we’re doing everything we can to try and locate those Australians that are missing.
There are now 47 Australians deployed to the crisis, including seven disaster victim identification specialists and a psychologist.
More than 5,000 people are still missing and there have been 1,332 confirmed deaths.
Updated at 21.22 EDT
There’s a manhunt underway in Victoria after an alleged axe attack, with three people seriously injured. Andrew Messenger has the details here:
Natasha Stott Despoja to lead inquiry into sexual violence in military
Former Democrats senator Natasha Stott Despoja, who has done a wealth of work with women and domestic violence, will lead an independent inquiry into sexual violence in the military.
The royal commission into defence and veteran suicide found there was a “systemic issue” in the Australian defence force and recommended such an inquiry.
Stott Despoja tells the ABC the issue was both systemic and underreported, possibly by more than 60%. She said the inquiry would likely report by the end of next year.
She said:
double quotation markI’ll make sure that we do this in a way that is trauma informed, victim-centric, and people will have the wellbeing and the legal supports that they need.
But I do acknowledge some people have told and retold their stories, and I do not underestimate the level of trauma involved in that.
So I’m very conscious of making sure that victim-survivors are at the heart and the core of this inquiry and that they’re treated with the dignity and the respect that they deserve.
Natasha Stott Despoja will lead the inquiry into military sexual violence. Photograph: Defence and Veterans’ Service CommissionShare
Updated at 20.55 EDT
Tom McIlroy
Coalition supports compulsory superannuation: Taylor
Angus Taylor has been asked about Pauline Hanson’s calls for people facing tough financial pressures to be able to access their retirement savings.
Hanson argued earlier this month that in a cost-of-living crisis, it’s not right to force people to save for the future when they can’t make ends meet today.
Taylor has told News24 the Coalition supports the superannuation guarantee rate of 12% and notes there are already rules allowing people in financial distress to access some of their savings.
He said the Coalition had an “an open mind” on revisiting its policy to allow first homebuyers to access more of their retirement savings for a home deposit. That policy was put to voters at the 2025 election and is being considered again by the Coalition ahead of the next poll. Taylor said:
double quotation markThe important point I would make at this point is that we need to cap immigration based on housing supply, get more houses built, slash the red tape in the construction industry.
Updated at 20.47 EDT
Tom McIlroy
Taylor unconcerned about tobacco donations to Nationals
Angus Taylor has told News24 the decision by the Nationals to take political donations from tobacco companies is a decision for the party.
The Nationals are the only major party in Australia to still accept tobacco money. The Liberals stopped accepting tobacco donations in 2013, when Tony Abbott was opposition leader.
Labor stopped taking tobacco donations in 2004.
In 2024-25, the Nationals received $225,500 from two large manufacturers. British American Tobacco donated $55,000 to the Nationals in 2022-23 for the first time in more than a decade. A year later, it sent the party $88,000.
Taylor said he wouldn’t discuss donations to the junior Coalition partner:
double quotation markThat’s a matter for the National party. I’m not going to get into that,” he said.
We’ve made this decision. What this is about is doing what’s right for Australia and Australians.
Updated at 20.35 EDT
Excise cut plan won’t see smoking rates rise: TaylorTom McIlroy
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, says the Coalition’s plan for an 80% cut to tobacco excise won’t cause an increase in smoking rates, telling News 24 the new policy idea will undermine the business model of organised crime.
Asked if cheaper cigarettes will see more people take up smoking, Taylor said “the horse has already bolted on this”:
double quotation markThe price is already around $15 or less for most smokers, and anyone can choose to buy that. You can walk into shops all over the country and and pay $10 or $15 to buy a pack of cigarettes now.
You’ve got to recognise the reality here. This is funding organised crime.
It will disrupt the business model. It will take the profits and the customers away from organised crime in this country.
Updated at 21.06 EDT
Hold the tech bros accountable, Daniel says
Here is former Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel’s take on social media: she says a “digital duty of care must hold the tech bros accountable for the safety of the spaces that they have created”:
double quotation mark[Legislation] could also include misinformation and disinformation. This would risk the usual culture war debate about free speech, while we blithely accept the changes to our culture and society that are being freely imposed by Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and others.
What we should be worried about is the sovereignty of the information landscape and the fact that we’re being controlled by the systems – not the other way around.
Updated at 20.09 EDT
Hefty fines for social media companies under government plan
The onus will be on social media companies to identify and mitigate risks on their platforms under the government’s proposed legislation, Insiders host David Speers says, and that legislation will be unveiled this week.
He says it will cover illegal content including illegal pornography being made available to adults, and for kids there would be “around half a dozen additional areas of psychosocial harm and that includes content around body image and bullying”.
He says:
double quotation markThe companies would face hefty fines of more than $100m if they fail to restrict this content and as for algorithms – regular pop-up messages would be required, asking if users want to stick with the algorithm or only see people they’re following and see what they’re posting. The user would have the choice.
Researchers and the eSafety commissioner would also be empowered to police the social media platforms by using what are called ‘sock puppets’ posing as children to monitor what is being fed to kids online.
You can read the background to this legislation here:
Updated at 20.00 EDT
Opposition will have a ‘humdinger’ immigration policy, Duniam says
Insiders host David Speers asks Duniam about the opposition’s proposal to criminalise flag burning. Duniam says it’s a “good idea” and talks about American patriotism. He says the move would help with the immigration debate:
double quotation markOne of the problems we have is ‘who are we?’, ‘who are we inviting you to be part of?’
If we stood up for who we are and were proud as a nation, we could get onboard and deal with issues that flow out of immigration.
Duniam is leaving parliament at the end of the year and says his legacy will include a “humdinger” immigration policy and his work on artificial intelligence. Asked for his advice to his party, he says they have to keep an eye on their foundational values and give people a good reason to vote for them by coming up with policies that capture the imagination:
double quotation markDon’t act like a government in exile. We are the opposition and we have a hell of a fight to get back to government.
Updated at 20.18 EDT