Climate 200 donated more than $10m to candidates in 2025 election
Krishani Dhanji
Climate 200 was a repeat big spender in the 2025 election campaign making $10,857,934 in donations to candidates – according to AEC disclosures released this morning. The group received $9,458,559 in donations.
The disclosure threshold for the 2025 federal election was $16,900.
Monique Ryan received the highest amount in donations, of $1,905,102, and spent $1,874,118 on her campaign.
Meanwhile, fellow incumbent independent MP Allegra Spender was the biggest spender (aptly enough) of the teals, splashing $1,900,722 on her campaign, while receiving $1,743,971 in disclosed donations.
Other independents Sophie Scamps and Kate Chaney weren’t too far behind, receiving donations of $1,729,956 and $1,484,647 respectively. Warringah independent Zali Steggall, meanwhile, received $789,736 in declared donations and spent $726,737 on her campaign.
Notably, they all spent less than their 2022 campaigns, where Spender spent more than $2.124m on her campaign and Ryan spent $2.122m on hers.
Monique Ryan and Kate Chaney. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 18.52 EDT
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Krishani Dhanji
Continuing our dive into the AEC election disclosures
The biggest spender of the Climate200-backed candidates was Caz Heise, who ran for the seat of Cowper on the NSW north coast.
Heise, who ran for a second time in the 2025 election against Nationals MP Pat Conaghan, received $2,141,655 and spent $1,994,969 on her campaign.
Caz Heise. Photograph: Supplied
Meanwhile Alex Dyson, who ran in the regional Victorian seat of Wannon for the third time, received even more in donations – $2,186,936 – but his declared electoral expenditure was far less at $1,086,054.
Neither won their seats.
Also unsuccessful was Zoe Daniel – the nail biter that prompted a partial recount (requested by Daniel’s team) – resulted in the return of Liberal Tim Wilson to the inner Melbourne seat of Goldstein.
Daniel received $1,834,832 in declare donations and spent $1,795,594.
ShareClimate 200 donated more than $10m to candidates in 2025 electionKrishani Dhanji
Climate 200 was a repeat big spender in the 2025 election campaign making $10,857,934 in donations to candidates – according to AEC disclosures released this morning. The group received $9,458,559 in donations.
The disclosure threshold for the 2025 federal election was $16,900.
Monique Ryan received the highest amount in donations, of $1,905,102, and spent $1,874,118 on her campaign.
Meanwhile, fellow incumbent independent MP Allegra Spender was the biggest spender (aptly enough) of the teals, splashing $1,900,722 on her campaign, while receiving $1,743,971 in disclosed donations.
Other independents Sophie Scamps and Kate Chaney weren’t too far behind, receiving donations of $1,729,956 and $1,484,647 respectively. Warringah independent Zali Steggall, meanwhile, received $789,736 in declared donations and spent $726,737 on her campaign.
Notably, they all spent less than their 2022 campaigns, where Spender spent more than $2.124m on her campaign and Ryan spent $2.122m on hers.
Monique Ryan and Kate Chaney. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 18.52 EDT
Chalmers says Ley’s tax pledges show opposition has ‘no idea’
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, just released a statement amid reports the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, will promise tax cuts to low and middle-income Australians in an economic speech later today.
Chalmers said the Coalition has “no costings, no details and no idea”, adding:
When we legislated two more tax cuts for every taxpayer, the Liberals and Nationals voted against them and promised to repeal them.
If they won the election and had their way, income taxes would be going up, not down.
They’re promising more spending and smaller deficits, Australians deserve to know how they’re going to do it.
The treasurer said Labor was the “only party delivering tax cuts for every taxpayer including more tax cuts next year and the year after”.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Photograph: Darren England/AAPShare
Updated at 18.35 EDT
Sarah Basford Canales
First ministerial forum with PNG today since new defence alliance
Australia will today host the first ministerial forum with Papua New Guinea since the countries announced a defence alliance earlier this month.
The 31st Australia-PNG ministerial forum in Canberra will outline the next steps for the Pukpuk alliance, Australia’s first new alliance since the Anzus agreement was signed in 1951.
The forum is expected to create a joint taskforce to oversee a new recruitment pathway allowing PNG citizens to join Australian defence forces with a first meeting expected before the end of the year.
The countries’ ministers will also discuss upgrading facilities at a training depot near Port Moresby, which will support up to 200 additional trainees. A potential battalion barracks in PNG’s Hela province will also be discussed.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said:
Today, we take our first steps on the stewardship of our alliance and nurture our full breadth of interests to shape a peaceful, stable and prosperous Blue Pacific.
Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 18.25 EDT
Melissa Davey
Record flu season as vaccination rates plateau or trend down in some age groups
A record flu season which has seen more than 410,000 lab-confirmed cases so far in 2025 has led to the Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) to call on governments to help boost vaccination rates.
The case numbers have already outstripped the previous all-time high of 365,000, recorded last year.
Flu vaccination rates have plateaued or are trending down in some age groups. Only 25.7% of children aged six months to five years were vaccinated in 2025, the lowest since 2021. Rates for patients over the age of 65 have also slipped, with the 60.5% rate the lowest since 2020.
Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia have committed to introducing free childhood intranasal vaccinations ahead of the 2026 flu season. The RACGP president, Dr Michael Wright, said the college wants other states and territories to do the same:
The vaccination rate for young children, who are at increased risk of contracting a severe flu infection, has fallen to just one in four and they’re also coming down with influenza more often than any other patient group.
Updated at 18.04 EDT
Josh Butler
Kevin Rudd touts Aukus pact before Albanese’s meeting with Trump
Australian ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, has been working overtime to talk up the Aukus pact to the American government recently. Hosting a defence industry reception focused on Aukus at the Australian embassy in Washington DC, conveniently just days before Anthony Albanese arrives in town, Rudd is spruiking the military pact as Australia awaits the outcome of a Pentagon review.
As Albanese arrived on American soil on Monday (Australian time), Rudd posted on X another glowing endorsement of Aukus and its industrial benefits for the United States, saying “Aukus works because our industries do”.
Kevin Rudd and Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Lukas Coch/EPA
“Aussie and American firms are working together to build the capabilities that keep our region secure,” the caption reads.
Posting video of his speech to the Aukus event at the embassy, he thanked members of the defence industry sphere for taking “the idea of Aukus and turning it into a concrete set of engineering and technology innovation enterprises”.
Yesterday, Rudd posted online that Aukus was “creating new jobs and building new businesses across our three countries” – Australia, the US and United Kingdom.
Updated at 17.58 EDT
Officials investigating suspected space debris that landed in remote WA mine site
Authorities are assessing suspected space junk found at a mine site in Western Australia.
Official said a multi-agency response is under way after mine site personnel found a burning object on a remote access road about 30km east of the town of Newman. Early assessments indicate the object is made of carbon fibre and may be a pressure vessel or rocket tank consistent with aerospace components.
The object has been ruled out as being from a commercial aircraft.
WA Police said the object remains under investigation, but it has the characteristics of known space re-entry debris.
The debris, found on a remote mine site. Photograph: Western Australia Police ForceInitial assessments indicate the item was made of carbon fibre and may be a pressure vessel or rocket tank, consistent with aerospace components. Photograph: Western Australia Police ForceShare
Updated at 17.28 EDT
Joyce says he has spoken to Pauline Hanson but ‘nothing is locked in’ with One Nation
Joyce spoke to Sunrise earlier this morning, saying while he had briefly spoken to Pauline Hanson on the phone amid the speculation about his future plans, “nothing is locked in”. He said this morning:
Let’s just take it down a step, I have not joined One Nation. I have not actually at this point in time resigned from the Nationals.
Joyce said he also spoke to Hanson while the pair were in Canberra about a month and a half ago, but said there was “nothing unusual there”.
Joyce said he wouldn’t be “salami sliced” into talking about his plans when he hadn’t yet made them, adding he only rang Hanson out of “politeness” as it was the “decent thing to do” as everyone was talking about them.
Updated at 17.23 EDT
Sussan Ley to say low and middle-income Australians will get tax cuts in a future Coalition government
Low and middle-income Australians will be given tax cuts under a future Coalition government, AAP reports.
In a major economic speech in Sydney on Monday, the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, will point to personal income tax cuts as the centrepiece of the policy offerings she will take to voters. She will say future tax cuts will be focused on areas where financial burdens are being felt the hardest.
Ley will tell the Centre for Independent Studies:
We’ll start where the pressure is greatest: low- and middle-income earners who are feeling the squeeze from higher prices and rising living costs. This is not a passing policy preference.
It is more than just a commitment to lower taxes.
However, the scale of any potential tax cuts is yet to be determined, and firm details will only be announced closer to the next federal election.
Sussan Ley. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 17.15 EDT
Michael McCormack says Nationals want Joyce to stay
Nationals MP Michael McCormack said the answer was “absolutely” yes, when asked if the party would prefer Joyce to stay. McCormack told RN Breakfast:
Barnaby’s been a force of nature for regional Australia and he’s done a lot of good things …
I appreciate he’s announced his retirement from the seat of New England at the next election. And he goes, obviously, from that position with a lot of respect. And I also obviously, as I texted him last night, I earnestly and honestly hope he remains with the Nationals until indeed his retirement from public life.
Michael McCormack. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
McCormack went on to say he doesn’t believe One Nation represents the views of regional Australia.
I appreciate Pauline Hanson has been there for a long, long time, and she’s done a lot of things that have given her endurance a healthy tick along. But I’ve got to say, the Nationals have been there for more than 100 years. We’ve turned up, we’ve absolutely made sure that regional Australia has been looked after in the halls of power in Canberra.
Read more here:
Updated at 17.00 EDT
Barnaby Joyce says ‘obviously’ relationship with David Littleproud ‘less than spectacular’
Barnaby Joyce said his decision to quit the Nationals came amid a relationship with party leader David Littleproud that was obviously “less than spectacular”, saying it was “healthier for all if it’s not working for you to get out”.
Joyce spoke to RN Breakfast this morning:
Obviously the relationship with David was less than spectacular. I mean, I think if we say anything else, it’s not being truthful. …
I wish people all the best. I just, I’m not going to leave sort of bitter and twisted and angry. I just, you know, honestly, I wish people all the very best. That’s what I actually do. Like most things, you feel a lot better when you’re not angry. So I’m not angry now because I’ve said I’m getting out.
Barnaby Joyce (left) and David Littleproud. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
Joyce said he would not comment on speculation he would join One Nation, but said the party had done a “good job” on some issues, including its stance on net zero.
Let’s just pull the horse on this one up straight away. No decisions have been made, and that’s where we are right now.
Updated at 16.53 EDT
Sarah Basford Canales
Draft of new laws on supermarket price gouging to come today
The federal government will today release a draft of proposed new laws to crack down on supermarkets price gouging promised during the federal election campaign.
In March this year, the prime minister said supermarkets would be liable for “heavy fines” if found to be charging excessive prices for products with the consumer watchdog, the ACCC, tasked with finding the best model to determine what constitutes price gouging.
Photograph: Darren England/AAP
The ACCC earlier this year found major supermarket chains had increased their profit margins through the costs of household profits. The watchdog described Australia’s biggest chains – Coles, Woolworths and Aldi – as among the most profitable supermarket businesses in the world.
The draft bill will be open for submissions until 3 November.
Read more:
Updated at 16.46 EDT
Albanese en route to Washington DC after brief refuelling stop in HawaiiJosh Butler
After a brief refuelling stop before sunrise in Honolulu, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, continues on to Washington DC for his meeting with the US president, Donald Trump.
The two men will have their first formal bilateral meeting, after a few phone calls and a brief encounter in New York City last month. The meeting is expected to occur in the very early hours of Tuesday morning, Australian time.
Albanese stepped on to his official plane on Sunday, right after arriving back from an overseas holiday. We will look forward to hearing from the PM after we land in Washington DC later today.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
Albanese is accompanied on this trip by the resources minister, Madeleine King, and industry minister, Tim Ayres – underscoring the likelihood that critical minerals will be a key point of discussion for the Trump-Albanese meeting, alongside issues around Aukus, defence and trade.
Albanese said in a written statement before departure he was looking forward “to a positive and constructive meeting with President Trump at the White House”.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, is acting as prime minister until Tuesday night, then the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will act as PM from Tuesday night until Albanese’s return later in the week.
Updated at 17.16 EDT
Good morning
And welcome to Monday. The sky is falling! Nick Visser here to guide you through the morning’s news. Here’s what’s on deck.
Suspected space debris was discovered near a mine site in Western Australia this weekend after workers found a burning object near a remote access road. Early assessments indicate it was made of carbon fibre and may be some kind of pressure vessel or rocket tank.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had a brief stop in Honolulu, Hawaii, a few hours ago before continuing on his way to Washington DC for his meeting with the US president, Donald Trump. Their first formal meeting will be very early tomorrow morning Australian time.
The federal government is set to release a draft of proposed laws to crack down on supermarket price gouging. The prime minister said earlier this year companies could be liable for “heavy fines” if found to be charging excessive prices.
Stick with us.