Dan Tehan says Liberals ‘not entertaining’ idea of coalition with One Nation
Senior opposition figure Dan Tehan is talking to the ABC’s Insiders program.
After some sustained questioning, he has said the Liberals are “not entertaining” the idea of being in a coalition with One Nation – the rightwing party currently ahead of the Liberals in the polls. He said:
double quotation markIt’s a no – we are Coalition Liberal party-National party. It is not even being talked about.
Updated at 19.29 EDT
Key events
Pro-Palestine protest and walkout during PM’s NSW Labor conference speech
A speech by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to the NSW Labor conference has been marked by silent pro-Palestine protests, but otherwise passed without incident.
Yesterday, as the NSW premier, Chris Minns, entered the main chamber of Sydney’s town hall to give his address, two men unfurled a Palestinian flag from one of the balconies. They were quickly removed by NSW police.
Today, two protesters stood up and draped a flag which read “Stop Arming Genocide. Free Palestine” and a keffiyeh over a balcony near the stage as the prime minister walked up to make his speech.
Unlike yesterday, they were not removed by police. After discussion with security, they sat down, but the flag remained draped over the balcony for tue duration of the speech.
Later during the speech, which we previewed earlier, a woman stood up in the delegates level of the conference. Draped in a Palestinian flag, she walked out of the conference hall.
There is unlikely to be potentially embarrassing discussion for the federal government on Palestine and the Aukus agreement at today’s conference, after the “Australia and the World” committee report was placed last on the agenda, despite the issues appearing frequently among motions submitted to the conference.
Earlier, Labor left delegates briefly hijacked the conference to try to force debate on motions to repeal anti-protest laws, second last on today’s agenda, which critics say has been done to silence debate. A motion to bring forward discussion was rejected by the right faction-controlled conference.
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Josh Butler
Wong announces new diplomatic postings for Australia
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has announced a raft of new diplomatic appointments, including ambassadors to Australian posts in Mexico City, Nauru and Bangkok.
In a statement, Wong revealed the new diplomatic postings including:
Glenn Morrison as Australia’s next ambassador to Croatia
Keara Shaw as Australia’s next high commissioner to Ghana
Sanchi Davis as Australia’s next consul general in Makassar, Indonesia
Amanda Riethmuller as Australia’s next ambassador to Kuwait
Crispin Conroy AM as Australia’s next ambassador to Mexico
Lisa White as Australia’s next high commissioner to Nauru
Pablo Kang as Australia’s next ambassador to Thailand
Jeremy Green as Australia’s next ambassador for Apec
Wong said:
double quotation markAustralia’s diplomatic network enables us to promote our interests in peace, security, trade, investment and other areas of cooperation.
Australia takes the world as it is and seeks to shape it for the better – these diplomatic appointments will deepen Australia’s connections abroad and increase our ability to influence where it matters.
Updated at 21.48 EDT
Exclusion zones in place after suspected space debris found near Townsville
The Australian Space Agency has confirmed that “suspected space debris” thought to contain hazardous chemicals has been located north of Townsville.
Queensland police said four objects were located on Friday and Saturday in the Forrest beach area and 50-metre exclusion zones had been enforced around each object.
The objects were thought to contain hazardous chemicals, the police said, but there was “no danger to the local community and police are not investigating the incident.”
The Queensland fire department had rendered the objects safe, a police statement said.
A spokesperson for the Australian Space Agency, which is working with police and the National Emergency Management Agency, confirmed the objects were thought to be space debris.
Seven News has reported that a local fish and chip shop was already looking to promote the incident, selling a “space junk snack box.”
Updated at 21.29 EDT
Two charged after imitation pistol allegedly pointed at synagogue
Two men have been charged after police in NSW alleged an imitation pistol had been pointed at a Sydney synagogue.
Police said they were called to the Double Bay place of worship on Saturday lunchtime after reports occupants of a car were allegedly seen pointing a firearm in the building’s direction.
During a search of an SUV police allege they located and seized an imitation pistol. Two men were arrested.
A 22-year-old man was charged with allegedly possessing and using an offensive weapon and an intimidation offence. A 25-year-old was charged for allegedly possessing an unauthorised pistol.
National committee recommends ‘heightened flock biosecurity’ as sixth bird-flu case confirmed
Poultry operations that keep free-range birds will be allowed to bring their birds indoors, authorities have said, as Australia confirms its sixth case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu.
The acting Australian chief vet, Dr Sam Hamilton, said the Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases had met to discuss “appropriate response activities.” He said:
double quotation markCCEAD discussed practical precautionary measures, given the suspect detections in new locations in NSW and WA and endorsed an approach at this time involving heightened flock biosecurity.
This includes options for states and territories to utilise non-mandatory measures including advising commercial poultry producers to house free-range birds where practical while maintaining animal welfare.
Hamilton stressed there had been no detections in poultry, agricultural systems or in wild birds.
Australia has six confirmed cases – including the first for NSW confirmed last night – and a seventh bird found in WA is undergoing testing.
All have been migratory seabirds that had likely come from the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic.
Updated at 20.59 EDT
UN advisers on Great Barrier Reef say government’s climate targets are falling short
United Nations advisers have expressed “utmost concern” about the future of the Great Barrier Reef and said the government’s climate targets fall short of being aligned to 1.5C of global heating.
Unesco and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has issued recommendations to the 21-country World Heritage committee which will meet in South Korea later this month.
The reef has been hit by multiple coral bleaching events in recent years, while problems remain with pollution and nutrients from the land running into the reef. The Unesco advice says:
double quotation markWhilst the resilience of the Reef remains evident, its capacity to tolerate and recover from such events is increasingly compromised, and this is of utmost concern.
The advisers said the government needed to improve its climate targets which, they said, “still fall short of being 1.5C-aligned.” Australia needed to go back to the committee in 2028 with a report on progress.
The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, welcomed the recommendations, as did Queensland’s environment minister, Andrew Powell. Watt said:
double quotation markAustralia is doing more than ever to better protect and manage the Outstanding Universal Value of the Reef. Our efforts are making a difference – but we know there is more work to do.
Conservationists said the world was watching Australia’s response, and that water quality and climate targets remained issues the government had to address.
Photograph: AscentXmedia/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 20.43 EDT
Dan Tehan claims new coal plants would ‘drive down emissions’ – but they won’t
Dan Tehan has been asked on the ABC’s Insiders program if a Coalition government would support building now coal-fired power plants.
Responding to questions from host Davis Speers on new coal-fired power, Tehan said:
double quotation markWell, if there is a want from the private sector to invest in that, then there is no reason why we shouldn’t do that, because, David – and let me finish, it’s a very important point – the new technology drives down emissions, compared to the existing.
New coal-fired power plants – so-called ultra super-critical plants – do have lower emissions than plants currently operating in Australia.
But they don’t “drive down emissions” – even when they are compared against old technology.
They would simply slightly lower the rate of rise in emissions, and would continue to pump high rates of CO2 that would stay in the atmosphere for a century or more.
Updated at 20.01 EDT
Dan Tehan says Liberals ‘not entertaining’ idea of coalition with One Nation
Senior opposition figure Dan Tehan is talking to the ABC’s Insiders program.
After some sustained questioning, he has said the Liberals are “not entertaining” the idea of being in a coalition with One Nation – the rightwing party currently ahead of the Liberals in the polls. He said:
double quotation markIt’s a no – we are Coalition Liberal party-National party. It is not even being talked about.
Updated at 19.29 EDT
NSW confirms first H5N1 birdflu case
A giant petrel found on the New South Wales coast at Hawks Nest, north of Newcastle, has been confirmed as the state’s first case of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
The positive test is the sixth confirmed case.
Samples from a seventh bird – another giant petrel found at Mullaloo beach in Western Australia – are also being tested at CSIRO’s labs.
The NSW agriculture minister, Tara Moriarty, confirmed the test and said there was no spread into wild birds or commercial poultry. She said:
double quotation markThe NSW Government has been preparing for a positive result for some time and there is a clear plan in place to support industry and the community.
At this stage the result is limited to a single migratory seabird and has not impacted our poultry sector or domestic wildlife.
She said surveillance of high risk areas using drones and people on the ground had been ramped-up. Poultry producers had been told to heighten biosecurity measures.
A sick southern giant petrel found at Port Elliott in South Australia in June. Photograph: Wildlife Welfare OrgShare
Updated at 19.21 EDT
Penry Buckley
PM defends tax changes as conference motions call for further action
Anthony Albanese will defend the federal government’s negative gearing and capital gains tax changes to delegates at the NSW Labor conference today, as some local branches call for the party to take reforms further.
In his speech this morning, the prime minister is expected to say:
double quotation markIn all the conversations I’ve had and the interviews and press conferences I’ve held, no one has argued that the housing market was working fine the way it was. No one has been able to say that the status quo was fair or reasonable or sustainable for the future.
And once you get to that point, once everyone acknowledges that the system is broken. Then the choice for a party of government is very clear. If you don’t have the ticker, you can kick the can down the road and leave the problem to a future generation. Or you can do the hard thing, the right thing – and fix it. That is the choice we have made.
As The Australian has reported, some local branch motions for further changes, including a call by the Glebe branch to remove grandfathering arrangements for investors on rental properties, have the support of NSW party’s economics committee and are expected to be referred to the federal party.
While Labor leadership has sought to project unity at this year’s conference ahead of the state election next year, there may still be flash points between left and right delegates today.
A committee report on Australia’s role in the world, which discusses the Middle East and endorses the Aukus agreement, will not be debated today, Labor sources confirmed yesterday. But Labor left faction members were still negotiating for motions for the state government to repeal protest laws to be debated this afternoon.
ShareAlbanese to criticise rightwing ‘axis of grievance’ at NSW Labor conferencePenry Buckley
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will use a speech at the second day of NSW’s Labor conference to attack what he says is a rightwing “axis of grievance” forming between the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation.
One Nation loomed over the first day of the 2026 NSW Labor conference, with the premier, Chris Minns, warning the party needs to “climb Everest” to stay in power amid the rising threat posed by Pauline Hanson’s party at next year’s state election.
In response to a federal Liberal frontbencher’s comment this week that her party might need a “rebrand” to win back voters, Albanese is expected to tell Labor delegates this morning:
double quotation markThe problem is not their [the Liberals] brand – it is their product. It is not their sales pitch – it is their policies. It is not what they call themselves – it is who they are. It is the race to the bottom that all three rightwing parties are caught up in. They are the axis of grievance. Each trying to be more anti-fairness, more anti-worker, more anti-aspiration.
This is why, for all the shifts in the landscape over the years, the fundamental contrast in Australian politics remains the same. Our opponents only ever define themselves by who and what they are against. We are defined by what we are for. By our enduring Australian values of fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all. And by what we do to give those values life and weight and meaning for all Australians.
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Graham Readfearn
Good morning all and thanks for being with us. Graham Readfearn here.
First up, we will have news in a few minutes that NSW has recorded its first confirmed case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu in a giant petrel found north of Newcastle at Hawks Nest.
We also have the second day of the annual NSW Labor party conference.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will use a speech today to describe a right-wing “axis of grievance” forming between the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation.
Yesterday the NSW Premier Chris Minns said the party needed to “climb Everest” to stay in power.