Updated at\u00a021.42 EDT<\/p>\n
Key events<\/p>\n
Domestic violence report should \u2018shame governments into action\u2019, says Steggall<\/p>\n
Independent MP Zali Steggall says the latest report by the domestic, family and sexual violence commissioner shows \u201can abject failure to keep women and children safe\u201d.<\/p>\n
Steggall says data is unavailable for around 68% of the measures in the national plan\u2019s outcomes framework, meaning, \u201cwe can\u2019t manage what we don\u2019t measure – and we can\u2019t hold governments fully accountable when the data is missing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steggall calls for increased powers for the commission to monitor government performance and compel information, launch an urgent national education plan, establish a national domestic violence offender register and establish a royal commission.<\/p>\n
double quotation markShockingly, around 80 per cent of police call-outs are related to domestic and family violence \u2026 Women and children don\u2019t need more condolences and promises. They need action, accountability and a genuine national commitment to ending this crisis.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Pork barrelling by design\u2019: crossbenchers push for grants process overhaul<\/p>\n Crossbench MPs are calling for an overhaul to strengthen the commonwealth grants system after it was revealed the government used most of a $560m invite-only fund to support infrastructure projects in safe, marginal or target Labor seats.<\/p>\n The MPs want mandatory and enforceable standards for grants administration, transparency over funding decisions and a non-government chaired parliamentary committee to ensure compliance of grants under commonwealth rules.<\/p>\n Helen Haines, who was a key campaigner for the national anti-corruption commission, will put forward a bill to implement those measures. She said in a statment:<\/p>\n double quotation markSports rorts was pork barrelling by deception, this is pork barrelling by design \u2026 My private member\u2019s legislation would serve as a safeguard and won\u2019t stop governments investing in local infrastructure. It would make sure funding is allocated fairly, transparently and in the public interest.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.56 EDT<\/p>\n \u2018We owe them action\u2019: Plibersek on the latest domestic, family and sexual violence report<\/p>\n Tanya Plibersek says there is a \u201clong road ahead\u201d to end violence against women and children, following the release of a damning report.<\/p>\n Reports of sexual violence were at their highest level ever in 2024, and dropped less than 1% nationally last year, according to the latest Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission annual report. Reports of sexual violence have increased by 64% over the last fifteen years.<\/p>\n The government is currently developing the second national plan to end violence against women and children, but the report shows the first phase has barely made a dent.<\/p>\n Plibersek, the social services minister, is making a statement to the House of Representatives on the yearly report, and it\u2019s sober listening:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe dozens of women and children killed this year; rising rates of sexual violence among young people; and the online harm that\u2019s rapidly spilling into the real world are painful reminders of the long road ahead \u2026<\/p>\n So, to Australians listening across the country today, my message is clear: you have more power than you think. Please use it. Take a disclosure seriously. Show your children that love never requires control. Model respect at every opportunity. Teach the boys in your life the value of empathy and that women and girls\u2019 boundaries aren\u2019t obstacles to overcome.<\/p>\n These feel like small acts. But taken together, they can make a radical difference. We have changed this country before. Now is the time to move together to change it again. We owe the women and children who have had their lives stolen by this violence more than our horror. We owe them action.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.56 EDT<\/p>\n High court trial for neo-Nazi group White Australia continues <\/p>\n It\u2019s day two at the high court for a neo-Nazi group\u2019s challenge against laws banning them from starting a political party before the next federal election.<\/p>\n Yesterday we heard from the lawyers for the White Australia Party (WAP), formerly known as the National Socialist Network, who argued their listing as a prohibited hate group should be ruled invalid.<\/p>\n This morning, the commonwealth\u2019s lawyer, Brendan Lim, is up.<\/p>\n Lim told the high court bench the group only changed its organisation to a political party in an attempt to protect themselves from the anti-hate group laws brought in following the Bondi terror attack.<\/p>\n The group\u2019s lawyer, Peter King, told the court yesterday that they might be \u201cawful but lawful\u201d and should not be excluded from free political communication. Lim responded this morning to that claim:<\/p>\n double quotation mark[White Australia is] more than awful, more than invective – it is violent.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.16 EDT<\/p>\n ANZ chief economist says house price fall \u2018had to happen\u2019<\/p>\n ANZ\u2019s chief economist has said a decline in Australia\u2019s booming house prices \u201chad to happen\u201d and this year\u2019s downturn is still tiny in context.<\/p>\n Richard Yetsenga yesterday told the Australian Financial Review\u2019s property summit he expected prices to fall further in the wake of what he called \u201cthe most consequential property tax changes since 1999\u201d. Prices are down 3.6% nationwide since March, according to Cotality.<\/p>\n Yetsenga said:<\/p>\n double quotation markProperty prices in Australia have risen 6.5% a year for the last 30 years. We\u2019re down about half of one year\u2019s gains. \u2026 and up 1,000% in the last 30 years. I mean, the change we\u2019ve seen is marginal in the context of the increase that we\u2019ve had. And I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s not disruptive and it\u2019s not painful \u2026 but I think also a little bit of context is important.<\/p>\n Yetsenga also rejected suggestions falling prices would lead to recession, noting that less than 1% of mortgage holders are behind on repayments. He said:<\/p>\n double quotation markThere are some broader forces going on here. We are probably going through quite a substantial change in the housing market, and one that probably needed to happen, and we\u2019ve done it before.<\/p>\n Residential properties are seen in Bulimba (bottom) and Hamilton (top) in Brisbane. Photograph: Darren England\/AAPShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.24 EDT<\/p>\n PM pays tribute to Blanche d\u2019Alpuget: \u2018Australia has lost a true one-off\u2019:<\/p>\n In a statement the prime mnister, Anthony Albanese, has remembered Blanche d\u2019Alpuget:<\/p>\n double quotation markWith the passing of Blanche d\u2019Alpuget overnight, Australia has lost a true one-off.<\/p>\n As a writer, she was at home in fiction as she was in non-fiction, working in each realm with a keen eye for every telling detail that opened up the humanity of her subject to her readers.<\/p>\n Blanche\u2019s novels were compelling works of verve and originality, and her biographies comprehensive and definitive \u2013 most famously those she wrote of Bob Hawke, who became her great love and ultimately her husband.<\/p>\n Our hearts right now [are] with her family and all who loved her.<\/p>\n Blanche D\u2019Alpuget, seated next to Anthony Albanese\u2019s wife Jodie Haydon, watching the prime minister speak at the Woodford Folk Festival in Woodford in 2022. Photograph: Jono Searle\/AAPShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.31 EDT<\/p>\n Blanche d\u2019Alpuget, widow to Bob Hawke, dies aged 82<\/p>\n Blanche d\u2019Alpuget, the writer and widow of former prime minister Bob Hawke, has died at the age of 82.<\/p>\n D\u2019Alpuget was an acclaimed writer, whose work includes the highly regarded biography of Hawke which won the New South Wales Premier\u2019s Award.<\/p>\n She was born in Sydney, lived in England, France, Indonesia and Malaysia and is survived by her son Louis Pratt from her first marriage and three Hawke step-children.<\/p>\n The ABC reports D\u2019Alpuget asked her family to share her final message.<\/p>\n double quotation markOur highest calling and greatest achievement is love, the rule of life. Love one another.<\/p>\n Blanche d’Alpuget at the state memorial service for Clean Up Australia founder Ian Kiernan in 2018. Photograph: AAPShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.26 EDT<\/p>\n Digital duty of care won\u2019t stop \u2018your right to be wrong on the internet\u2019: Wells<\/p>\n Anika Wells says Australians who believe the moon landing is fake will still get to read all about it and it won\u2019t be banned under the digital duty of care bill.<\/p>\n The Coalition<\/a> accused Labor of using the bill to censor free speech and stop criticism of the government.<\/p>\n The communications minister Anika Wells says people are free to believe the moon landing was fake. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/AAP<\/p>\n Wells says that\u2019s not true, and that political misinformation also won\u2019t be banned from platforms.<\/p>\n double quotation markThey [platforms] need to identify risks on their platforms, and then need to mitigate against those risks on their platforms. This is not about the content. Your right to be wrong on the internet, remains preserved in the digital duty of care.<\/p>\n If you want to believe that the moon landing was fake, i is in no way impacted by the digital duty of care. It\u2019s about basic safety standards online.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.54 EDT<\/p>\n Wells downplays US warning over digital duty of care bill<\/p>\n The communications minister, Anika Wells, has downplayed a statement from the White House warning countries not to engage in fines or \u201cextortion on America\u2019s leading technology sector\u201d and says the statement was \u201cbroad\u201d.<\/p>\n She tells News24 no US representative has been directly in touch with her to issue the same warning.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe White House has issued a statement, a broad statement about their position [and] the digital duty of care that we announced the exposure draft of yesterday, is a piece of work that has been long standing.<\/p>\n In this particular piece of work, I wouldn\u2019t say that I have had that piece of feedback communicated to me \u2026 like the prime minister said, we\u2019re a sovereign nation. We have the right to defend Australian parents and kids and we\u2019ll do that.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.33 EDT<\/p>\n Politicians quizzed by reporters over historical drug use after Warren Pickering admission<\/p>\n Politicians of all stripes are being asked by reporters this morning whether they have ever taken illegal drugs, following an extraordinary press conference<\/a> by One Nation Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, yesterday, in which he admitted to using ecstasy, methamphetamines and marijuana.<\/p>\n The Victorian treasurer, Colin Brooks, said:<\/p>\n double quotation markSo to be honest with you, maybe when I was in the early 20s, I might have smoked marijuana once. That\u2019s probably the extent of it.<\/p>\n Victorian minister Ingrid Stitt pictured alongside the Victorian premier Ben Carroll. Photograph: Jay Kogler\/AAP<\/p>\n The state\u2019s health minister, Ingrid Stitt, said she \u201cdabbled in a bit of marijuana\u201d in her early 20s:<\/p>\n double quotation markDecades and decades ago. Obviously, as the health and mental health minister, it\u2019s important that we take a health-led response to anyone in the community who\u2019s seeking support for drug use. That\u2019s been my focus, and I\u2019m not going to comment on any other individual circumstances. That\u2019s a matter for them.<\/p>\n One Nation\u2019s only currently sitting MP, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, said her drug of choice was \u201csugar\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.34 EDT<\/p>\n Diesel prices highest since April with Canberra at $2.70 a litre Retail diesel prices in Australia\u2019s capital cities are at their highest since April, with Canberra surpassing $2.70 per litre.<\/p>\n With no sign of an end to Donald Trump\u2019s war in Iran, oil prices have trended up since early August and Brent crude oil is now hovering under prices of US$100 per barrel.<\/p>\n The local Singapore benchmark, Tapis crude, soared to about US$120 per barrel yesterday, after hovering around US$100 per barrel for most of August, according to Argus Media.<\/p>\n Vivek Dhar, a Commonwealth Bank analyst, said the Singapore gas\/oil price – Australia\u2019s diesel import benchmark – had hit its highest since 1 May and Asian diesel markets were getting tighter.<\/p>\n With rising import costs for Australian retailers, all the big cities are facing higher pump prices. Canberra is faring the worst but every capital is averaging diesel prices of more than $2.50 per litre, except for Perth at $2.49, according to MotorMouth.<\/p>\n Petrol prices are also on the rise, with unleaded at $2.18 in Canberra – the city\u2019s highest in nearly five months – and $2.16 a litre in Perth. All the capitals are recording average unleaded prices of at least $2.05 per litre.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.46 EDT<\/p>\n![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788922691_922_Sarah_Basford_Canales.png\")
Sarah Basford Canales<\/p>\n![\"Luca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788922691_411_Luca_Ittimani.png\")
Luca Ittimani<\/p>\n![\"Benita](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788922692_939_Benita_Kolovos.png\")
Benita Kolovos<\/p>\nLuca Ittimani<\/p>\nBenita Kolovos<\/p>\n