1 week ago
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Albanese tables Liberal election review
The House is going feral as Anthony Albanese answers a dixer about the one year anniversary of the Coalition’s work from home policy.
The Liberal federal executive decided to shelve the review and leave it a secret, but the report is leaking fast.
And now it’s out.
Albanese tables the report, which he’s brought a copy of with him to the chamber (with paragraphs highlighted and all).
It means it’ll be made public shortly.
It’s question time, and we have an almost immediate ejection from the chamber!
Angus Taylor is sticking to questions on the 34 women and children in a Syrian detention camp and asks Anthony Albanese to confirm that none of his staff, ministers, departments or agencies have helped the group.
Albanese accuses the opposition of having an “obsession with the issue”.
If only, Mr Speaker, he [Taylor] was as obsessed when ISIS fighters were coming home.
The government has claimed that several Australian men who went and fought with ISIS returned to Australia under the former Coalition government. Albanese then tries to quote Peter Dutton (they’re also copying and pasting yesterday’s tactics), which gets the manager of opposition business, Dan Tehan, out of his seat with a point of order.
As he gets up, Labor MP Basem Abdo, says “miss you Alex” (as in the former manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke) which gets him quickly booted from the chamber by the Speaker.
Albanese says neither the rights of Australian citizens nor the constitution have changed since the Coalition was in government.
Gender pay gap improvement is ‘incremental’, says shadow minister for women
The shadow minister for women, Melissa McIntosh, says the latest gender gap data shows there has been incremental progress but it’s moving too slowly.
She says broader changes to support women, including childcare (which is a major issue the Coalition has promised policy on), to make it easier for women to take on more senior roles.
McIntosh, one of just three Liberal women on the frontbench in the House of Reps, says the report shows that just 7% of managers work part-time which reinforces “outdated expectations that leadership requires constant availability”.
In a statement, McIntosh wrote:
Too many women are still stepping back from leadership roles, reducing hours or leaving the workforce altogether due to caring responsibilities and inflexible work structures.
That means ensuring childcare is accessible, affordable and flexible and creating genuine pathways for part-time and flexible leadership roles.
Tom McIlroy
‘War parties’ targeted over secretive new defence committee
The Senate is debating legislation that would establish a secretive new committee of federal parliament to scrutinise the Australian defence force, the defence department, veterans’ affairs and other areas of government working on the Aukus nuclear agreement.
Labor and the Coalition look set to support the creation of a new joint House and Senate committee on defence, with a makeup mirroring the powerful parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security.
Its work will be conducted in secret, except when public hearings are authorised by the defence minister.
MPs who are members will be tasked with considering defence strategy, planning and contingencies, capability and examining decisions by the government to commit Australian troops to conflicts.
The Greens oppose the plan, and have accused the Coalition, One Nation and Labor of being Australia’s “war parties”, linking today’s debate to the unfolding military situation in Iran.
Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May says Aukus is an example of “self-delusion and self-denial”.
She said the committee would represent another structure that conducts defence oversight “largely out of public view”.
Accountability cannot simply mean a small group of insiders making decisions behind closed doors.
The bill is expected to pass with votes from the government and the opposition.
Hastie declares international rules-based order is ‘dead’
Coalition frontbencher Andrew Hastie says anyone who believes the rules-based order still exists is living in a “fantasyland”, as the US-Israel war on Iran escalates.
Hastie spoke to reporters a little earlier today and said the international rules-based order is “nice to talk about” but irrelevant when Trump acts as an “apex opportunist”.
I don’t think that exists any more, and anyone who says it does is living in a fantasyland. This is a new world order.
I think the world is governed by power, and I prefer a powerful US re-establishing deterrence, rather than other countries like Russia, you know, using might to advance its national interest.
You can read more from my colleague, Tom McIlroy, here:
Carney touches down in Sydney
The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has touched down in Sydney for a three-day trip to Australia.
He’ll be addressing the federal parliament on Thursday.
He was greeted at the airport by NSW treasurer Daniel Mookhey, federal Labor frontbencher Matt Thistlethwaite, and others.
Events mourning the Ayatollah ‘incredibly disturbing’: O’Neil
Moving on to the conflict in the Middle East, Clare O’Neil is asked about events being organised by a small number of mosques and Islamic centres mourning the death of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
O’Neil says mourning his death is “categorically wrong”:
These are incredibly disturbing reports. What we know is that the Islamic Republic of Iran is probably one of the most repressive regimes in human history.
I know that authorities are watching very closely here to make sure that no Australian laws have been broken.
Earlier this morning, the shadow defence minister, James Paterson, said those mourning the death could be in breach of the new hate and antisemitism laws.
O’Neil says she’ll leave it to authorities to determine if the events breach the law, but again emphasises that no one should be mourning they Ayatollah’s death.
O’Neil says she has read Liberals’ election review and calls on party to release it
Turns out the Liberal election review that has been shelved by the party has been leaked so badly even a Labor cabinet minister has it.
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, says she spent an hour reading it this morning (though one would think she might have bigger fish to fry), and says the party should release it publicly.
Speaking to reporters in the press gallery, O’Neil said:
Jane Hume and Angus Taylor tell us that they want us to believe that the Liberal party is willing and open to change. You cannot have change without honesty and transparency.
It is not fair that shadow ministers have not had the capacity to read this report, and I have. They deserve to understand what went so terribly wrong for the Liberals in their 2025 election, so that they can actually get along and fix what is so broken about their political party.
Lisa Cox
NSW government approves coalmine extension
The New South Wales government has approved a six-year extension to a thermal coalmine in the state’s Hunter region.
Dartbrook mine, 130km west of Newcastle, received the green light on Monday to continue its underground coal operations until 2033.
The mine has faced controversy after it went into administration last year.
The decision to allow the mine to operate for a further six years is also likely to face scrutiny from climate groups after a report by the state’s net zero commission last year found continued extensions or expansions of coal mining in NSW were not compatible with the state’s legislated emissions reduction targets.
Georgina Woods, head of research and investigations at the Lock the Gate Alliance, said:
It defies logic that the NSW government has approved this coalmine expansion despite its own NSW net zero commission finding that the state will not meet its emissions targets if coalmines continue to be expanded and extended.
This is the first coalmine expansion that NSW has approved since that landmark report, but we fear that it won’t be the last, with 18 other coalmine projects in the state planning pipeline.
Burke trashes Coalition bill, calls it ‘one of the shoddiest pieces of legislation’ introduced in parliament
Tony Burke, the shadow home affairs minister and leader of the house, is trashing the Coalition’s bill that would make it illegal for individuals or groups to help the women and children in Syrian detention camps return to Australia.
Burke says “I really hope for this own sake the leader of the opposition hasn’t read what he’s tried to introduce”.
He says the description of the people “doesn’t necessarily capture the cohort that has been publicly debated”.
He takes a further swipe, saying under the Coalition’s watch, multiple Australians who went to Syria to fight with Islamic State returned to Australia. He says this bill would criminalise anyone working at an airport who facilitated that return.
This would criminalise the pilots of the commercial plane that flew them back. This would criminalise the baggage handlers. The main group that was wanting people to leave these camps have been our American allies.
[This is] one of the shoddiest pieces of legislation that anyone has tried to introduce to the parliament … if anyone wondered what a silver foot in your mouth looks like, it looks like the legislation that the leader of the opposition is trying to introduce to the parliament right now.
The opposition, safe to say, are fighting back against Burke’s insults – and Milton Dick tells everyone to calm down a little. (They don’t.)
Taylor tries to introduce bill to stop women and children in Syrian detention camps returning to Australia
Angus Taylor is moving to suspend standing orders in the House this morning (ie pause the current schedule) so he can introduce a bill called “keep Australians safe”. The government is unlikely to support the motion, which means it’s unlikely the bill will be introduced and debated on today.
The bill is to “close a loophole”, Taylor says, to prevent the 34 women and children in a Syrian detention camp from returning to Australia.
Taylor says the bill would make it an offence for a an individual to assist the entry of an individual into Australia if they have been in a terror hotspot, has committed terror related offences, or has been linked to a terror group.
The opposition leader – who’s been going hard on the issue, and keeping it the focus at yesterday’s question time – says the government must “shut the door to returning ISIS sympathisers”. Yesterday, Taylor accused children in those camps, many who have been born in the detention camps or lived most of their lives there, of being “ISIS sympathisers”.
Taylor says: “We want the government to take back control of who comes into our country.”
These people chose to abandon Australia, they chose to travel to terrorist hotspots, they chose to support one of the world’s most evil and barbaric death cults. They chose to steep their children in a monstrous ideology. They don’t deserve compassion, they deserve condemnation.
Queensland rolls back drug diversion programs
Queensland will roll back drug diversion programs and pass laws to crack down on antisocial behaviour, with the state’s conservative police minister declaring its cities and towns “under siege”.
The police minister, Dan Purdie, cited efforts in the US where “states are trying to frantically undo disastrous drug policies” as the Liberal party vowed to “restore deterrents and consequences for dangerous drug offending”.
Purdie claimed the previous Labor government’s drug diversion scheme had allowed drug use to “flourish”.
In 2024 more methylamphetamine was consumed than any other year,” he told state parliament. “Cocaine and heroin use is the highest it has ever been.
This must end. We need to send a clear message that taking illicit drugs is not acceptable or safe.
The new laws would limit drug diversion to a single opportunity “for eligible first-time offenders”, introduce on-the-spot fines or criminal charges for repeat offenders and give “police stronger powers and discretion to respond to drug offending”, an LNP statement read. Purdie said:
You can’t be tough on crime if you’re soft on drugs.
Sarah Basford Canales
‘Positive vibe’ reported at Coalition joint party room meeting
The Coalition held a joint party room this morning and it was described as a “really positive vibe”.
Of course, the Liberals and their junior Coalition partner, the s, have had a few rough patches lately but that was all history apparently, according to a party spokesperson.
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, and s leader, David Littleproud, told the troops they needed to rally together going forward. The two both discussed their focus message from opposition – to restore the Australian standard of living and protect Australia’s way of life.
But perhaps most interesting are the things that weren’t discussed.
Sussan Ley, the former leader deposed only a few weeks ago, didn’t rate a mention and neither did the prickly topic of the byelection in Farrer. That contest, expected to happen by May, will see a Liberal and candidate in the field against One Nation and other minor right-leaning parties.
One Nation’s surge in popularity of late was mentioned but only in the context of the Coalition trying to win back voters from all their opponents, including Labor and the teals.
While the joint party room didn’t discuss the damning leaked post-election autopsy, it’s understood it was mentioned in the Liberal party room shortly before. There was reportedly no mention of the need to release now that it’s basically all been leaked anyway, but an apparent consensus that the party needs to learn from some of the points it raised to improve its campaign processes and abilities.
NSW berries meet food safety standards for pesticide residues, government says
The NSW government has said consumers can continue to feel confident enjoying locally grown berries, with laboratory testing confirming the state’s berries meet food safety standards for pesticide residues.
In a statement, NSW Food Authority said:
The NSW Food Authority analysed 25 kilograms of blueberries and raspberries, made up of 100 samples of 250 grams each, purchased from a range of Sydney retail stores in November 2025.
All 100 samples were tested by an independent NATA-accredited laboratory for 218 pesticides, including the prohibited chemical thiometon, which was not detected in any of the berries.
Results from the tested samples were within the allowable limits of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code for pesticide residues in food.
Nick Visser
Almost every scheduled flight from Qatar and the UAE has been cancelled in recent days
Cirium, an aviation analytics company, released data showing almost all flights from Qatar and the UAE were cancelled on 1 and 2 March.
Yesterday, Qatar cancelled 96% of scheduled flights and the UAE cancelled nearly 94%.
Nearby countries also had major cancellations, including Bahrain (100%), Israel (95%), Kuwait (91%), Jordan (76%) and Lebanon (67%).
Saudi Arabia only had 22% of flights cancelled.
Nick Visser
Virgin Australia cancels six Middle East flights and Emirates to resume ‘limited’ routes
Virgin Australia, which partners with Qatar Airways, has cancelled six more flights into and out of Doha, Qatar, today as airspace over the country remains closed. Routes between Doha and Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth are all subject to cancellations, with affected guests contacted directly about their travel options.
Emirates, a major carrier for Australians, said it will resume a “limited number of flights” beginning Tuesday evening. Customers with earlier bookings are being accommodated as a priority.
All flights from Sydney to Dubai are cancelled today, but an evening flight from Melbourne is still scheduled as planned. It’s unclear if it will go ahead, and Guardian Australia has reached out to Emirates for comment. Customers have been told not to head to the airport “unless you have been notified”.
All of Etihad’s commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi remain suspended until 2pm UAE time on Wednesday.
Qantas does not operate any aircraft into Middle Eastern airports. The flag carrier has a number of flight paths to Europe that are reviewed regularly based on safety and weather concerns.
