{"id":199326,"date":"2025-12-23T06:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T06:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/199326\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T06:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T06:17:07","slug":"afternoon-update-labor-pushes-back-on-politicisation-of-bondi-attack-mps-travel-perks-wound-back-and-a-pink-platypus-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/199326\/","title":{"rendered":"Afternoon Update: Labor pushes back on politicisation of Bondi attack; MPs\u2019 travel perks wound back; and a pink platypus | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good afternoon. Anthony Albanese has stood firm<\/a> on the decision not to set up a federal royal commission into the Bondi beach terror attack, calling for national unity and criticising the politicisation of the incident<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The energy minister, Chris Bowen, had earlier accused Sussan Ley of \u201cdisgusting\u201d conduct<\/a>, saying she was \u201cnot the arbiter of grief\u201d after her broadside yesterday on the foreign minister, Penny Wong. The opposition leader, for her part, made \u201cno apology for my passion\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Minns government\u2019s new laws to ban protests for up to three months<\/a> after a terror incident will face a constitutional challenge<\/a> by three groups who regularly organise protests in Sydney. The NSW premier is \u201cconfident\u201d<\/a> the laws will withstand any challenge. The constitutional expert Anne Twomey writes<\/a> that anti-protest laws rushed through parliament \u201coften have an unhappy ending in the courts\u201d.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the ABC has defended two of its best-known journalists, Laura Tingle and Sarah Ferguson<\/a>, over their coverage of the Bondi attack.<\/p>\n

Top newsIn video\"'Unusual'‘Unusual’ pink platypus spotted in Gippsland, Australia – video<\/p>\n

Victorian fisher Cody Stylianou thought he\u2019d seen a huge trout. But, skimming just below the surface, and moving differently than a fish would, was a pink platypus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What they said \u2026Journalist and TV presenter of Media Watch, Linton Besser. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try and be as fair as we can to everyone because the person who\u2019s tipping you into a story this week might be the subject of your story next week.\u201d \u2013 Linton Besser.<\/p>\n

The new host of Media Watch has spoken to Amanda Meade<\/a> about the ups and downs of his first year in the coveted role.<\/p>\n

Full StoryHow does Gina Rinehart, like her father before her, use wealth and power to influence politics? Illustration: Sam Kerr\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Gina: Like father, like daughter \u2013 episode 2<\/a><\/p>\n

Gina Rinehart\u2019s first major foray into the political spotlight was successfully lobbying against Labor\u2019s mining super profit tax during the early 2010s. But what did she learn from Lang Hancock<\/a>, who campaigned to overturn the iron ore export embargo in the 1950s, setting the foundation for their family fortune?<\/p>\n

Listen to the episode here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before bed readJonathan Seidler\u2019s hanukiah on 15 December. Photograph: Jonathan Seidler<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bondi attack has desecrated our most joyful festival. My anger burns white hot,\u201d Jonathan Seidler writes<\/a>. Although he is desperate to return to normality, Seidler is also \u201cclinging to this twilight zone of grieving. To experience any semblance of joy seems unfathomably traitorous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daily word game Photograph: The Guardian<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s starter word is: LOUD. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up<\/p>\n

If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here<\/a>, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter<\/a>. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good afternoon. Anthony Albanese has stood firm on the decision not to set up a federal royal commission…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-199326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}