4m agoTue 3 Feb 2026 at 12:28am
Pauline Hanson denies she accepted flights, transfers from Gina Rinehart’s company
One National Leader Pauline Hanson has denied she accepted flights or transfers from Gina Rinehart’s company Hancock Prospecting to attend an event in October last year.
The One Nation leader held a press conference in Adelaide to announce that former Liberal senator Cory Bernardi will lead the minor party’s upper house ticket at the next state election in March.
Hanson was quizzed on whether Hancock Prospecting provided her with flights or transfers to or from the opening of Nicholas Hancock House in Victoria on October 19.
The Queensland senator denied she accepted flights or transfers from Rinehart’s company to attend.
“If you are going to try and say that I’m being funded by Gina Rinehart, the answer is no,” Hanson says.
But pressed again on whether she received flights or transfers, Hanson says she can’t remember.
Asked if she has failed to declare any flights or transfers gifted by Rinehart, Hanson says “no”.
39m agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 11:53pm
Butler says ‘range of new measures’ coming to stem NDIS spending growth
The health minister has been asked about how the federal government will reduce the NDIS growth rate to 6 to 8 per cent.
Mark Butler says the government has reduced the growth rate from 22 per cent, but says more needs to be done to get to 8 per cent.
“We’re still engaged in implementing a range of new measures to get to that 8 per cent growth,” Butler says.
And that’s where we’ll leave the health minister’s press conference!
41m agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 11:51pmLey offers to reunite the Coalition but only if three Nats remain benched
Sussan Ley has offered to reunite the Coalition this week but only if the three senators who crossed the floor remain on the backbench for six months.
The opposition leader’s offer would also require the Nationals to reaffirm cabinet solidarity and agree that neither partyroom can overturn any decision agreed to by the shadow cabinet.
It’s understood that the conditions around cabinet solidarity and Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell, and Susan McDonald remaining on the bench for six months are non-negotiable.
47m agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 11:45pm
Minister looking at reintroducing kids’ health check
(ABC News: Callum Flinn)
Health Minister Mark Butler says the federal government is looking at whether to reintroduce the healthy kids check.
The check allowed parents to access a Medicare funded to assess their child’s physical and emotional development but was scrapped in 2014.
The health minister says the Commonwealth hasn’t made a decision and is speaking with the states and territories about it.
“We’re looking at it earlier in a child’s life. So maybe in their first 18 months to two years, parents will be getting that support and assessment, often through state run child and family health services,” Butler says.
56m agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 11:36pm
Supports in schools expected to be ‘big part’ of negotiations with states, Butler says
The health minister has been asked whether negotiations with states and territories on Thriving Kids will include details of changes to how supports are delivered in schools.
Mark Butler says the negotiations will include discussions about supports in schools and that schools are an “important settings”.
He says it will be a “big part” of negotiations with the states.
The health minister says he thinks it was important to wrap together disability reform and hospital funding deals.
“It was really important, I think, for us to bundle together the the disability reform and hospital funding deals. I think states recognised that as well,” Butler says.
“I think there’s going to be a broader benefit to us having bundled those things together,” he says.
1h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 11:26pm
Butler says Thriving Kids doesn’t mean more responsibility on parents
(ABC News: Callum Flinn)
Will parents have to shoulder more responsibilities under the Thriving Kids program?
Health Minister Mark Butler says all services that are included in the NDIS were previously state services.
Butler says the Commonwealth wants to make sure parents have the confidence and capabilities to support their children.
“Obviously there will be a point at which many parents and children will need additional targeted supports from trained workers, some of them qualified allied health professionals,” Butler says.
“That is very much contemplated by the program and will be able to be delivered through it and want to make sure that that’s as easy to access as possible as well,” he says.
Thriving Kids Advisory Group co-chair Professor Frank Oberklaid says he thinks it will make life less stressful for parents.
1h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 11:21pm
All quiet on the Liberal front
It doesn’t look like there will be a spill today. Sources inside the Liberal partyroom say it’s all quiet on that front.
We’re also being told Alex Antic, the Liberal senator who is being speculated to make a move to One Nation, isn’t in the partyroom today.
1h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 11:21pm
Health minister says suspected double murder suicide in Perth is an ‘awful tragedy’
The health minister has been asked about a suspected double murder suicide in Mosman Park in Perth.
Brothers Otis, 14, and Leon, 16, who lived with disabilities, were found dead at their family home in the Perth suburb of Mosman Park on Friday morning.
Their parents Jarrod Clune, 50, and Maiwenna Goasdoue, 49, were also found dead.
A disability advocate has called for greater support for families with high-needs children.
Asked if the incident will trigger any reforms in the NDIS system, Mark Butler says it was an “awful tragedy”.
But he says he doesn’t want to say anything that will impact the investigation.
“It’s an awful tragedy at so many different levels, but particularly, the loss of two children’s lives who obviously did not choose to die, is an unspeakable tragedy,” Butler says.
1h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 11:15pm
Oberklaid says new model of care moves away from diagnosis to support
Thriving Kids Advisory Group co-chair Professor Frank Oberklaid says the model of care aims to provide children with support early, rather than requiring a diagnosis.
He says paediatricians who worked on the new model of care moved away from looking at “what’s wrong with a children” to working with their differences.
“Many children just need a bit of support over 6 or 12 months in order to thrive, and their parents need support,” Oberklaid says.
“In the thriving kids’ approach, we took a local settings approach where the children go, in order to be supported.”
1h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 11:11pm
Health minister outlines four pillars of Thriving Kids model of care
Health Minister Mark Butler says the advisory group’s report suggests four pillars for the model of care.
They include:
- Awareness and early identification of children with developmental issues
- Provide information, advice and information for parents for children with developmental delays
- Build the skills of parents, teachers and other supports
- Provide support for children who need it
“This will be a program targeted, just to be clear, to children who have developmental delay and or autism with low to moderate rates that was the cohort identified all that time ago by the national cabinet,” Butler says.
The health minister says the Commonwealth is aiming to wrap up negotiations with the states and territories on the program by February 20.
1h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 11:05pm
Mark Butler announces release of Thriving Kids Advisory Group report
Health Minister Mark Butler has stepped up to announce the release of the Thriving Kids Advisory Group report which provides guidance on the program’s national model.
The program, announced by the health minister last year, is designed to divert children with mild to moderate developmental delays and autism away from the NDIS.
Thriving Kids was meant to get up and running on July 1, but it has been pushed back to October after states requested more time.
The health minister says the program was announced after an “alarming number of young children” were enrolled into the NDIS.
He says the Thriving Kids Advisory Group has now developed a model of care.
“I want to thank all of the members of that advisory group for their terrific work over a relatively short period of time,” Butler says.
1h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 11:00pm
Thorpe to move motion to condemn alleged Perth bomb attack
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe is pursuing a motion in the Senate condemning the alleged bomb attack on an Invasion Day rally in Perth.
A 31-year-old man has been charged after allegedly throwing a homemade bomb into the crowd on January 26, but it did not detonate.
The incident, which WA police say could have been a “mass casualty event”, is now being investigated as a “potential terrorist attack”.
Thorpe says the government response has been “frustrating”.
“If other politicians had come out hard and condemned what happened, particularly the prime minister, there would be no need for a motion,” she said.
“But because everyone’s been silent, and the media has been silent, and this has been downplayed the way it is, I have to force the hand and put in a motion”.
She says there’s a double standard when addressing racism in this country that needs to be called out.
“Islamophobia has risen, the attacks on Jewish people have risen, but so have the attacks on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in this country,” she said.
“We have a problem with racism, and we need to address it holistically, so that all communities feel safe”.
Thorpe’s motion condemning the attack is set to have the government’s support in the Senate.
2h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 10:31pm
Financial watchdog ASIC gets new chair
Sarah Court and Jim Chalmers. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)
Sarah Court will become the first woman to lead the financial regulator ASIC. Ms Court has been the deputy and will replace outgoing chair Joe Longo.
The regulator oversees banks and other financial institutions. Late last year, it announced it would seek $240 million in penalties from ANZ for “widespread misconduct”. But the agency has sometimes come under criticism for failing to take enough misconduct cases to court, including from Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg.
Court’s background is in litigation (which I suppose you would call an instance of nominative determinism), and in a statement, Jim Chalmers notes her legacy as deputy has been to bolster enforcement, delivering “some of [ASIC’s] strongest enforcement results on record”.
Chalmers boasts of his record “usher[ing] in a wave of female leadership across Australia’s top economic institutions”, following the appointments of Danielle Wood to the Productivity Commission, Jenny Wilkinson to Treasury and Michele Bullock to the RBA, as well as Gina Cass-Gottlieb to the ACCC under the Coalition.
2h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 10:24pm
Where will everyone sit in the chamber today?
Has parliament released a new seating plan considering the coalition split?
– Rory
Hey Rory,
The official seating plan hasn’t been updated yet but we know they won’t be sitting with the Liberals on the frontbench.
The Nationals will need to squeeze in with the rest of the crossbench. As soon as I get my hot little hands on an updated seating chart, I’ll share it here.
2h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 10:14pm
What’s on your bingo card?
Morning Courtney! Does your bingo card have “leadership spill” today?
– J….
Morning J!
My spidey senses are not anticipating it today. But hey, it wouldn’t be the first time this place has surprised me.
2h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 10:09pm
Constructive is the word of the moment
Sussan Ley was also asked to provide an update on peace talks between herself and David Littleproud.
It’s probably no surprise she repeated the buzzword of the moment: “constructive”.
But she won’t say she’s willing to accept the Nationals demand for the three senators to be reinstated to the frontbench.
“We agreed to keep talking, because we are both parties on the non-Labor side of politics, and we both have a lot in common when it comes to the people we represent and the way we know we have to hold this Labor government to account,” Ley said.
2h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 9:57pmLey ‘very confident’ she’ll still be leader in May
Of course, just because Sussan Ley wanted to talk about the economy that doesn’t mean she escaped questions about the Liberal leadership.
Ley brushed off questions about last week’s not-so-covert meeting between Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor and other conservative powerbrokers over who should run for the leadership.
Hastie has since backed out of the race while Taylor has not explicitly declared his intentions.
Ley said “every single one of y team is focused on the mission I have outlined”.
“We are talking about Australians and how important it is for them that we come to Canberra to fight for what they believe in what they need and what they deserve, and most importantly, what they’re not getting from this Albanese Labor government.”
Ley also said she was “very confident” she would still be leader in May and be able to deliver a “strong budget in reply speech”.
2h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 9:52pm
Liberals turns focus to economy ahead of interest rate decision
Meanwhile, all Opposition Leader Sussan Ley wants to talk about is the cost of living.
After spending the past couple of weeks focused on themselves, the Liberal leader clearly wants to turn the tables back on the government ahead of what’s expected to be a lift in the cash rate later today.
“We heard from the prime minister that the interest rate rises of the past were all in the past and that we were coming to clearer times, better times, and times that would back Australians. But that is not the case,” she said.
Ted O’Brien, Ley’s deputy and the shadow treasurer, accused the government of spending beyond its means.
2h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 9:45pm
PM’s jab at Coalition infighting
Anthony Albanese stopped for a quick chat with reporters this morning. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)
Anthony Albanese was quick to flip a question on interest rates into a jab at the Liberals and Nationals’ infighting.
“We’ve been very focused on helping people and making a difference,” the prime minister told reporters on his way out of the church.
“What has been extraordinary over recent weeks, as we’ve seen, is the Coalition are fighting each other with the same energy they used to reserve for fighting at cost-of-living measures.
“What we will continue to do is focus on the needs of Australians.”
2h agoMon 2 Feb 2026 at 9:37pm
Young people give Albanese ‘hope’ for Australia
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese briefly spoke to reporters on his way out of the St Paul’s Anglican Church this morning.
Albanese described the service, which is a traditional part of the start of the parliamentary year, as “beautiful” but the real highlight was the “absolutely delightful” junior choir.
“Whenever I’m with young people, where it’s from an early learning situation of childcare or in a primary school in particular, what you see is hope for Australia,” he said.
“That diversity that we have in this country, the fact that prejudice is something that quite clearly is learnt. Because kids just see other kids. They don’t see religion. They don’t see difference. They don’t see race.
“What they see is other children and just get on.
“I think that’s the lesson I take from engaging with young people.”