‘I’m completely confident’, Ley says
Sabra Lane asks Sussan Ley how confident she is that she’ll still be leader when parliament rises for the year.
Rumours are running wild around parliament house, with senior conservatives pushing for net zero to be dumped, and senior moderates putting pressure on Ley to keep climate targets. And let’s not forget Andrew Hastie quit the frontbench last month (saying it wasn’t to make a leadership challenge, but it is a step in any future attempt).
Ley seems unfazed by the commentary:
I’m completely confident and I have a smile on my face as I answer this because I know that the media and commentary does get a little bit excited from time to time.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, reacts during question time. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare
Updated at 15.37 EST
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‘More room for movement’ ahead of social media ban
The government has announced two new platforms being added to the social media ban for under 16s including Reddit and Kick.
But there are other platforms, like Roblox, which has previously sparked concerns over children on the platform accessing inappropriate content – that have not been included in the ban.
On ABC News Breakfast, communications minister Anika Wells says the legislation is not “set and forget” and more platforms could be added to the ban ahead of the start date.
With respect to the list, I know, for example, Twitch is still currently being assessed by the Safety Commissioner, so there will still be room for movement as we move into 10 December.
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Ley says commentary linking stillborn bill to late-term abortions ‘insensitive’
You might remember last week when conservatives including Andrew Hastie, Barnaby Joyce, Henry Pike and Tony Pasin argued in the federation chamber that Priya’s bill – which gives parents who have experienced stillbirth, entitlement to their parental leave payments – could be used by women who have had a late term abortion.
Medical experts have been highly critical of the arguments, and accused the MPs of “playing politics”.
Ley won’t comment on the MPs directly, but says the bill – which passed with bipartisan support – was “really important” and that women who have lost a baby through tragic events should be supported.
Losing a baby is one of the most difficult things that can ever happen to a mother and to a family. And as a mother and a grandmother, this is very personal. Any commentary about this bill applying in other contexts is insensitive.
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Updated at 15.44 EST
‘I’m completely confident’, Ley says
Sabra Lane asks Sussan Ley how confident she is that she’ll still be leader when parliament rises for the year.
Rumours are running wild around parliament house, with senior conservatives pushing for net zero to be dumped, and senior moderates putting pressure on Ley to keep climate targets. And let’s not forget Andrew Hastie quit the frontbench last month (saying it wasn’t to make a leadership challenge, but it is a step in any future attempt).
Ley seems unfazed by the commentary:
I’m completely confident and I have a smile on my face as I answer this because I know that the media and commentary does get a little bit excited from time to time.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, reacts during question time. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare
Updated at 15.37 EST
Sussan Ley says Liberals will reach a position on net zero ‘soon’
Sussan Ley, under pressure from within her own party, and the Nationals, says the Liberals will reach a position on net zero “soon”.
Speaking to ABC AM, Ley says she’s not “commenting on the commentary”. Host Sabra Lane points to Tim Wilson’s language yesterday that the Liberal party is “not the National party lite”, and Andrew Bragg’s comments that Australia can’t be a “pariah state” and drop out of the Paris agreement.
You’re asking me to comment on commentary with respect. And as leader, I said there wouldn’t be any captains’ calls and I’d listen to my team, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.
Asked if she personally believes in net zero by 2050, Ley says she’s “always said we cannot have net zero at any cost”.
Leader of the opposition, Sussan Ley. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPAShare
Updated at 15.25 EST
Housing minister says 5% home deposit scheme not contributing to property price growth
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, is defending the government’s 5% home deposit scheme, and has said it’s not contributing to the latest rise in house prices.
Sparring with Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie this morning, O’Neil says house price growth has been a problem for 40 years and “we ultimately have to build more homes quickly”.
I’ll release some numbers soon which show the government’s changes to the 5% deposit program are not the primary driver of what’s going on in home building … I think it’s not accurate to blame this on a policy that started four weeks ago.
McKenzie says the deposit scheme will mean “first time buyers are saddled with more debt”, and also throws some blame to immigration levels (while the Liberals have tried to somewhat tone down their language around immigration – they’re still drawing a link between immigration rates and increasing house prices).
Housing minister Clare O’Neil (centre). Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare
Updated at 15.44 EST
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
It’s going to be another busy sitting day, so let’s get straight into it!
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Asio chief speaks about China
Mike Burgess also made some more off-the-cuff remarks about China in his appearance at the Lowy.
Asked about a reported visit to Beijing in 2023 (Burgess would not confirm or deny the trip), Burgess said he spoke regularly with intelligence agencies from hostile countries. Asio has relationships with more than 351 civilian and military intelligence agencies in 124 countries, he said.
He said of China:
I did not mention China … but how do you know I wasn’t talking about things China did in my remarks?
We all spy on each other. But we don’t conduct wholesale intellectual property theft, we don’t interfere in political systems, and we don’t undertake high-harm activity.
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Updated at 15.03 EST
Asio chief warns ‘at least’ three countries willing to kill on Australian soil
Ben Doherty
The Asio chief, Mike Burgess, gave a speech at the Lowy Institute last night in which he warned that there were “at least” three countries whose governments were prepared to carry out political assassinations in Australia.
We have the full story here, but Burgess elaborated on his remarks in conversation with Lowy Institute director Michael Fullilove after he had made the speech.
The Asio chief agreed his warning carried an “alarming message” but added that Australians needed to be told. He said:
I think it’s incredibly important Australians understand we now live in a world where that is possible… Australia is a long way from everywhere, but not from the threat.
Questioned on his remarks that there were “at least three countries … willing and capable” of conducting assassinations, Burgess said:
The countries I didn’t mention by name, know who I’m talking about … by mentioning them publicly, I’m also putting them on notice that we know some of them are prepared to do this. And we will do our damndest to stop them before it happens.
Asio head Mike Burgess delivers the 2025 Lowy lecture at Sydney Town Hall on Tuesday. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAPShare
Updated at 15.05 EST
Albanese government ‘addicted to secrecy’ after Nauru deportations, Greens senator says
Sarah Basford Canales
The Greens senator, David Shoebridge, has accused the Albanese government of being “addicted to secrecy” after Guardian Australia learned of at least two other men being quietly deported to Nauru last week.
One of the men was a Sudanese national who sources said was detained within Yongah Hill immigration centre, near Perth, while the other was chartered from another centre within the country.
When the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, was asked about the deportation yesterday, he said: “If people have had their visas cancelled, we expect them to leave.”
Shoebridge, who is the minor party’s immigration spokesperson, said the government had put up a “wall of secrecy” over the deportations.
Forcibly removing people to a country they have never been to, with no connection to, with no oversight and in complete secrecy is not how any democracy should be behaving …
A government that thinks it is okay to do this is one that has lost its moral compass.
While the Albanese government has put up a wall of secrecy, we are relying on breadcrumbs of information that fall from the Nauru government and civil society.
$2bn in public wealth is being poured into this cruel policy, and minister Burke seems hellbent on making sure no one can question him or get the most basic information on what’s occurring.
Reports that one of the people sent to Nauru is from Sudan is especially frightening, when we know the Nauruan president has said the end goal is to send people back to the countries they have fled.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the best overnight stories before Krishani Dhanji takes the controls.
Asio chief Mike Burgess gave a speech at the Lowy Institute in Sydney last night in which he said there were “at least” three countries whose governments were prepared to carry out assassinations on Australian soil. Asked whether it was too alarming, Burgess said that it was “incredibly important” for Australians to understand the dangers the country faced.
The Greens have accused the Albanese government of being “addicted to secrecy” after Guardian Australia learned that at least two more men were deported to Nauru last week without any public statement. Greens senator David Shoebridge said forcibly removing people from Australia under complete secrecy is not how a democracy should behave.
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