![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790652256_601_Tom_McIlroy.png\")
Tom McIlroy<\/p>\nTom McIlroy<\/p>\n
Shoebridge does not rule Greens leadership nomination \u2018in or out\u2019 ahead of party vote<\/p>\n
The Greens are expected to select a new leader as soon as tomorrow, with party members set to attend a two-day retreat in Sydney starting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Leader Larissa Waters shocked colleagues on Monday by announcing her resignation, due to a chronic kidney condition. The retreat was already scheduled and is now likely to include negotiations over the leadership and other party positions.<\/p>\n
The party\u2019s defence spokesperson, David Shoebridge, is considered a possible frontrunner, along with Sarah Hanson-Young and the deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqui.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not here to rule anything in or anything out in terms of leadership,\u201d Shoebridge said. \u201cThat will be a matter \u2026 that the party room makes a decision on.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Faruqui said the NSW senator was considering her options.<\/p>\n
All positions within the party room will be spilled, and negotiations to avoid a leadership ballot could be considered.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.11 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n When does daylight saving start again in Australia?<\/p>\n In one word: Sunday.<\/p>\n Daylight saving returns on the first Sunday of October every year and ends on the first Sunday in April.<\/p>\n In 2026, daylight saving time will recommence on Sunday 4 October at 2am Australian eastern standard time (AEST).<\/p>\n Clocks will move forward one hour to 3am, giving an extra hour of afternoon daylight.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.17 EDT<\/p>\n Shoebridge does not rule Greens leadership nomination \u2018in or out\u2019 ahead of party vote<\/p>\n The Greens are expected to select a new leader as soon as tomorrow, with party members set to attend a two-day retreat in Sydney starting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Leader Larissa Waters shocked colleagues on Monday by announcing her resignation, due to a chronic kidney condition. The retreat was already scheduled and is now likely to include negotiations over the leadership and other party positions.<\/p>\n The party\u2019s defence spokesperson, David Shoebridge, is considered a possible frontrunner, along with Sarah Hanson-Young and the deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqui.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not here to rule anything in or anything out in terms of leadership,\u201d Shoebridge said. \u201cThat will be a matter \u2026 that the party room makes a decision on.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Faruqui said the NSW senator was considering her options.<\/p>\n All positions within the party room will be spilled, and negotiations to avoid a leadership ballot could be considered.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.11 EDT<\/p>\n Have a question about politics? Ask our Canberra team anything!<\/p>\n It\u2019s already been a busy week in politics.<\/p>\n The RBA is set to raise the cash rate today, with many analysts tipping a further rate rise later in the year.<\/p>\n OpenAI has apologised for a rogue AI agent that breached Medicare.<\/p>\n And the Greens leader, Larissa Waters, has announced she will step down due to ill health prompting questions about who will be the next leader of the party.<\/p>\n Do you have a question about how this will affect the political landscape?<\/p>\n Send us a question and political editor Tom McIlroy may answer it in our brand new newsletter, Politics, really.<\/p>\n Email your question to Politicsreally@theguardian.com<\/a>, and don\u2019t forget to sign up for the newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n Illustration: Guardian DesignShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.19 EDT<\/p>\n First home buyer numbers recover to May levels, broker reports<\/p>\n First home buyer applications have recovered to their May levels as house prices slide around the country, brokers\u2019 group Loan Market has reported.<\/p>\n Applications for first home loans in the second week of September were back at highs not seen since the May budget, the company said. Applications had dropped off in June and July, then started picking up in August.<\/p>\n The recovery will likely be short-lived, with applications slumping each time the Reserve Bank lifts interest rates. Another rate increase is expected this afternoon.<\/p>\n Applications to refinance existing home loans have surged to hit their highest level since March, Loan Market said. That means even more people have looked for a better deal on the mortgage this month than they did in the same period in May.<\/p>\n Property investor applications, meanwhile, are still running lower than they were before the budget, which tweaked their tax breaks. Some landlords will likely be better off under the reforms<\/a> but investors have been scared off by the market slowdown.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.14 EDT<\/p>\n Albanese wishes Larissa Waters well as Greens leader steps down over ill health<\/p>\n Anthony Albanese says he has wished outgoing Greens leader Larissa Waters well after she announced she would step down to manage pre-existing kidney disease that has \u201cdeclined significantly\u201d.<\/p>\n Albanese said he had spoken with Waters and wished her \u201call the very best for the health issues that she\u2019s dealing with\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markWhen I spoke to her, you know, she was going off to see further health checks today. And I wish her well.<\/p>\n This is a job, and a leadership position for a minor party means a lot of travel and a lot of pressure \u2026 she wasn\u2019t in a position to be able to do that job going forward. But she intends to stay in the Senate.<\/p>\n Albanese said that, despite their political differences, he wished Waters \u201call the very best on a personal level\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markI obviously have differences with the Greens political party, but this is a human issue. I can also have compassion and I have a good relationship with Larissa \u2026<\/p>\n I thank her for the constructive engagement that I\u2019ve had with her. I work with people across the parliament. We have to do that in order to secure any legislation through our Senate. We haven\u2019t always agreed and we won\u2019t always agree going forward. But I wish her all the very best.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.12 EDT<\/p>\n Albanese says OpenAI talks after the Medicare hack were \u2018very constructive\u2019<\/p>\n The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking in Adelaide.<\/p>\n He was just asked about any future cut to the fuel excise, but said the government would resist any measure that could increase inflation.<\/p>\n Albanese was also asked again about OpenAI, echoing his remarks yesterday that he spoke to the company\u2019s Sam Altman and had a \u201cconstructive discussion\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markOpenAI have been very constructive and open in engaging in that process. And I welcome that. \u2026 [AI] can provide revolutionary breakthroughs in health and research and science and innovation. But there are risks. And we\u2019ve seen those risks exposed.<\/p>\n So we need to work this through. We see this as an opportunity, but we want to seize the benefit while mitigating the risks.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.23 EDT<\/p>\n OpenAI promises new safeguards to reassure people \u2018AI is being developed safely\u2019<\/p>\n OpenAI said it has enacted multiple safeguards amid a slate of concerning incidents, including the Medicare website and the Hugging Face breaches.<\/p>\n The AI giant said it has new controls to block live internet access in research environments and pointed to its decision to pause training and evaluation involving tool use for its \u201cmost capable models\u201d.<\/p>\n OpenAi said it would only resume training the models \u201cwhen we are confident that we have additional safeguards in place, which we are working on now\u201d.<\/p>\n The company continued:<\/p>\n double quotation markPeople want to know AI is being developed safely, and that starts with what companies like ours do ourselves. \u2026 In Australia, we are committing resources and expertise to support affected agencies and help defenders put these principles into practice.<\/p>\n OpenAI said it would provide dedicated support for affected agencies in Australia, funding and support to strengthen Australian cyber defences and the establishment of an Australian taskforce to develop \u201cpractical policy recommendations\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markAustralia\u2019s governments, industries, and citizens are and have been invaluable partners to OpenAI. We do not take this for granted, and we intend to make this right.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.06 EDT<\/p>\n OpenAI executive flying in from US for committee hearing on artificial intelligence<\/p>\n OpenAI\u2019s chief strategy officer will fly to Australia from the US next week to appear before a joint select committee on artificial intelligence, just days after the prime minister confirmed one of its models hacked a Medicare website.<\/p>\n Jason Kwon will appear before the committee in Sydney on 6 October.<\/p>\n OpenAI said it was \u201csorry and working to do better in the future\u201d in a lengthy blog post<\/a> about the incident, writing:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe are setting out what we know, what we have changed, and what we will do to rebuild trust with the Australian people. This is a new kind of cyber incident which represents an emerging global challenge.<\/p>\n One of the ways we intend to take accountability for the situation is to be intentional in working with Australia to help develop practical approaches to how AI developers and governments identify, disclose, and respond to AI cyber behaviour, whether malicious or unintentional.<\/p>\n OpenAI\u2019s booth at the Dreamforce 2026 technology summit in California. Photograph: Carlos Barr\u00eda\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.12 EDT<\/p>\n OpenAI scraps release of model expected to appear in ChatGPT over safety concerns <\/p>\n OpenAI is scrapping the release of GPT-6.1 Astra, a next-generation \u2060AI model planned for an October debut, over safety concerns raised by researchers \u2060during internal testing, the \u2060Wall \u200bStreet Journal reported on Monday.<\/p>\n Reuters said the model, expected to appear in ChatGPT and \u2060Codex, was designed to handle more complex tasks without human assistance, the report said.<\/p>\n Earlier this \u2060month, Dario Amodei, the Anthropic CEO, called for the industry \u200bto slow the development \u200cof frontier \u200cAI models to allow safety measures to keep pace, a \u200cview endorsed by Sam Altman, the OpenAI CEO, and Elon Musk, the SpaceX CEO.<\/p>\n OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.00 EDT<\/p>\n 18-year-old arrested in NSW on charges of using drone in alleged plot to murder man<\/p>\n NSW police have charged a drone operator over an alleged plot to murder a man in Sydney\u2019s south west.<\/p>\n Officials said the man, 18, was arrested in Silverwater on Monday. Police will allege in court he was operating a drone to conduct surveillance as part of an alleged conspiracy to murder a man.<\/p>\n He has since been charged with conspiracy and agreement to murder a person, participation in a criminal group contributing to criminal activity and other charges linked to the drone.<\/p>\n He was remanded in custody and will appear before court today.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Massive great white shark spotted near whale carcass at popular Perth beach<\/p>\n Multiple sharks, including a five-metre great white, have been spotted swimming near a large, smelly whale carcass that washed ashore at a popular Western Australia beach, drawing hundreds of onlookers<\/a>. Surf lifesavers found the dead animal at Perth\u2019s City beach at about 7.30am on Monday and raised the alarm. Local authorities closed the beach for several kilometres in each direction of the carcass, which appeared to be about six metres long.<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.25 EDT<\/p>\n UNSW researchers trained AI models to act \u2018drunk\u2019, then spill things they shouldn\u2019t<\/p>\n Researchers at the University of New South Wales say large language models (LLMs) can be manipulated to imitate drunken behaviour \u2026 and possibly leak confidential information or answer questions they\u2019re not supposed to.<\/p>\n UNSW researchers said AI models trained or prompted to mimic drunken speech became more vulnerable to privacy breaches than their \u201csober\u201d counterparts.<\/p>\n The researchers asked a model to role-play as a drunk person, or used a dataset of drunk texts to \u201cfine-tune\u201d the LLM to complete sentences like a drunk person would say them.<\/p>\n A third strategy involved rewarding a model for using language that resembled a drunk text.<\/p>\n The plan wasn\u2019t tested on every LLM available, but UNSW selected a representative sample including OpenAI\u2019s GPT-4 and GPT-3.5.<\/p>\n The researchers said the \u201cdrunk\u201d models were consistently easier to manipulate.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do observe that particularly with deception and disinformation, most of the language models got jailbroken,\u201d Aditya Joshi, a researcher at UNSW, said in a statement:<\/p>\n double quotation markIt does give out secrets \u2013 across the board for all three methods, it is vulnerable.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.55 EDT<\/p>\n Greens to meet next week to choose new leader after Larissa Waters steps down<\/p>\n In case you missed the news last night, the Greens leader, Larissa Waters, has announced she will step down due to ill health.<\/p>\n A party room meeting next week will be held to choose her successor, with the deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, and high-profile senators Sarah Hanson-Young, David Shoebridge and Nick McKim all possibilities to contest the leadership ballot.<\/p>\n Larissa Waters. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Waters said she had been managing a pre-existing kidney disease, but her health had \u201cdeclined significantly over the course of recent months\u201d. Her prognosis for recovery is positive, but she said the pressure of leadership was detracting from her focus on her health.<\/p>\n She said:<\/p>\n double quotation markI\u2019m really sad that illness means my time as leader has been cut short, but our movement needs a leader in good health to lead us to success at the next election.<\/p>\n Passing the torch on to the next leader of the party will put them in the best position to take the Greens to the next election, fighting for people, not the corporate interests that run Labor, Liberals and One Nation.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.26 EDT<\/p>\n A timeline of One Nation\u2019s instability: more than half MPs departed party, data shows<\/p>\n More than half of the One Nation MPs elected to state or federal parliaments have left the party before the end of their term, with 28 of the 51 people elected under Pauline Hanson\u2019s banner either resigning midterm or being expelled.<\/p>\n One Nation, which won 6% of the national vote at the 2025 federal election, is now polling above 30% in some surveys, potentially enough to make the party the official federal opposition or even in a position of minority government.<\/p>\n But Guardian Australia analysis of the party\u2019s colourful candidate history shows the party has a history of chaos and instability.<\/p>\n Take a look:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.37 EDT<\/p>\n Bogong moths back at Parliament House A small number of bogong moths have arrived at Parliament House in Canberra, the first sightings amid an apparent resurgence of the endangered native insect.<\/p>\n Swarms of bogongs have been reported across NSW, part of the annual migration when huge numbers of the insects travel to cool caves in the Australian Alps to escape the summer heat.<\/p>\n The moths were a common sight in Canberra for decades, with particularly large numbers congregating at Parliament House. The lights around the building, including the huge Australian flag, attracted the moths. But in recent years numbers have dramatically dropped.<\/p>\n The moth has been listed as endangered<\/a> by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature since 2021, but is not listed<\/a> as a threatened species under federal conservation laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n Guardian Australia saw a few bogongs in the Senate wing on Monday.<\/p>\n A bogong moth is seen inside Parliament House in 2013. They used to be a common sight in Canberra. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/AAPShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.58 EDT<\/p>\n Dfat providing assistance to family of Melbourne hiker missing in Peru<\/p>\n The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) is providing consular assistance to the family of Jordan Yap, a Melbourne man who remains missing after setting out for a difficult trek in Peru.<\/p>\n Dfat said it couldn\u2019t provide further comment owing to privacy obligations.<\/p>\n A GoFundMe page set up by Yap\u2019s family and friends said the man, 30, was meant to return from the 10-day hike on 23 September, but he never checked back into his hostel in Lima.<\/p>\n They have been paying private rescue teams to search for him and are arranging for more crews to head to the area \u201cto cover as much territory as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe expect to have these units actively searching in the next few days,\u201d they wrote on the page. \u201cThank you again for standing with Jordan. Your support means more than we can say.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Ima](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Ima_Caldwell.png\")
Ima Caldwell<\/p>\nTom McIlroy<\/p>\n![\"Luca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790652257_408_Luca_Ittimani.png\")
Luca Ittimani<\/p>\n![\"Achol](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790652258_847_Achol_Arok,_L.png\")
Achol Arok<\/p>\n![\"Massive](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790652258_172_563.jpg\")
Massive great white shark spotted near whale carcass at popular Perth beach \u2013 videoShare<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790652259_735_Nick_Evershed,_L.png\")
Nick Evershed<\/p>\nTom McIlroy<\/p>\n