Jacinta Allan loses majority caucus support after meeting of state Labor factions
Speculation has been mounting overnight that Victoria’s Labor premier Jacinta Allan will face a leadership challenge this week, just four months from an election. Factional conveners from Labor’s left and right met on Sunday night to discuss whether Allan still had the support of a majority of the caucus, and it is understood the group agreed she did not.
The pathway to a leadership challenge remains unclear because Allan’s most likely opponent, deputy premier Ben Carroll, has indicated to colleagues he would only run if the position was vacant.
Paterson also sought to hose down the possibility of a Liberal coalition with One Nation, after Liberal senator Andrew Bragg appeared to be leaving the door open to it, in some roundabout comments on the Today Show.
“I think Angus Taylor’s made the position of the Liberal Party very clear. My assessment is it’s widely supported by colleagues. We have one coalition partner already, which is the National Party, our traditional coalition partner, and we are not in the market for any other coalition partners…”
“I’d be surprised if Andrew Bragg is advocating for a coalition with One Nation. That’s not my understanding of his views. I think he made a sensible point that we’ll work out our preferences in the normal time, in the normal way, closer to the election.”
The 12.5% tariff imposed on Australia by the US government is “unjustified” and should be reconsidered, shadow defence minister James Paterson has said. The tariffs were imposed after a US trade investigation into forced labour and international supply chains.
Speaking to ABC RN, Paterson said:
“It’s unjustified. Australia is not a haven of slave labour-produced goods and it’s inconsistent with the spirit and the letter, in my view, of our free trade agreement and the partnership that we have with the United States, which is very deep and very sincere and very important. And I’d really hope that the administration reconsiders applying tariffs like these to countries like Australia.”
Paterson, who has recently been in the US and met with Pentagon officials, said the US sentiment towards Australia on Aukus, however, was “very positive”:
“[The US has] had their very well-publicised review about AUKUS and they’ve made an active decision to proceed with AUKUS. And so the focus is now delivering… Everybody acknowledges there is more work to be done on increasing those submarine production rates to make them where we all want them to be.”
Culture of debate ‘not valued as it should be’ within Labor, Husic says
Labor’s Ed Husic has said there was “an extraordinary amount of energy expended” at Labor’s national conference last week on stopping his motion to recognise Israel’s campaign in Gaza as a genocide, rather than allowing it to be debated.
Husic told ABC’s RN this morning:
“I am concerned … the climate that exists in the party at the moment about having a different view is one that’s not valued as it should be. We bring perspectives from constituencies we represent on issues we feel strongly about, and that you want to be able to have those voices represented, particularly at the floor of conference.”
He said there’s a large constituency that want this issue to be “ventilated and importantly, responded to”.
“There’s a lot of support. I have to say, I’ve been really grateful for the support that I’ve received from rank-and-file members, from our supporters, from people in the public who believe it’s right to be able to have – you may not agree with the issue but believe it’s important to speak about. But a lot of party members feel strongly on this issue about what’s happened in Gaza, what’s happening in the West Bank, and they do want the government to be part of a process to stand up to that.”
“I’ve been forward about the ideas that I believe strongly in, and on this issue in particular, that when Israel undertook a campaign in Gaza during our last term of government in the Rudd Gillard years, my son had just been born and I saw a father in Gaza taking a two-year-old out of rubble. And I rang the Israeli ambassador at that point and said, where do you think this ends? Like, my view is there’s got to be space for both Israelis and Palestinians.
It’s something I’ve spoken about for ages. It’s something I’ve spoken about as a minister. And while I don’t necessarily ascribe my faith to all the things that I do in public life, on this, as Australia’s first minister of Muslim faith, and where I express views early on, and where I come from a Bosnian Muslim background, where we have witnessed genocide – that took 10 years to establish as a genocide. Like, I am going to have views about it. And I think it’s only fair that I be able to express them.”
Barnaby Joyce suggests One Nation could accept some refugees while barring other migrants
It’s also well worth watching this video of Australia’s community affairs reporter Adeshola Ore’s interview with Barnaby Joyce about Armidale’s refugee resettlement program and One Nation’s policy positions on immigration.
One Nation’s policy is that immigrants who do not speak English should “under no circumstances … be able to settle in Australia”.
However, Joyce told there could be an exemption for refugees under a One Nation government because they are a different cohort than “general immigration”.
Nine years ago, as deputy prime minister and Nationals MP for New England, Barnaby Joyce was instrumental in supporting a resident-backed campaign for Armidale to be a site for resettling refugees, spruiking its benefits for .
Last December, the area’s federal MP, Barnaby Joyce, defected from the Nationals to One Nation, saying he was with the rightwing party.
On a national level, One Nation is pushing a vision of a alongside an anti-immigration agenda. But in the electorate of the party’s most high-profile recruit, a different story is playing out.
Key figure in Icac NSW Liberal inquiry will not appear
A key figure at the centre of an anti-corruption inquiry involving the Liberal party has moved to the UK and is not expected to give evidence during eight weeks of public hearings.
The ICAC will start its Operation Rosny hearings on Monday. The first witness will be hotelier Michael O’Hara, followed later in the week by former Liberal staffer Dylan Whitelaw and consultant Robert Assaf.
O’Hara and Assaf are among 10 individuals ICAC has said it is investigating. Whitelaw is not named in the ICAC allegations.
Christian Ellis, a former registered lobbyist and Liberal powerbroker who once received a glowing endorsement from the federal opposition leader, Angus Taylor, is named in two ICAC allegations but is not expected to appear.
A 2023 parliamentary inquiry preceded ICAC’s current examination of “possible offences under the Electoral Funding Act”. Since that parliamentary inquiry, Ellis has moved to the UK, Australia can reveal.
Morning folks, Stephanie Convery with you here to bring you all the live news today. Thanks so much to my colleagues for kicking us off this morning.
Commonwealth Games swimming record for Australian sprint ace
Cam McEvoy has dominated the 50m freestyle final in Glasgow, breaking the Commonwealth Games record, AAP reports.
McEvoy, who broke the world record in March, was the only finalist to crack 21 seconds as he led home an Australian medal sweep.
The 32-year-old dad clocked 20.97 seconds to beat Flynn Southam’s 21.44, while Jamie Jack took bronze in 21.47.
It is McEvoy’s first individual Commonwealth Games gold medal.
about Australia’s overnight medals scoop here:
Two more bird flu cases confirmed in South Australia
Two local birds in South Australia, greater crested terns found in Robe and Semaphore, have been confirmed positive for the H5N1 virus by CSIRO.
This takes the total of H5 confirmed or presumed positive detections to 20 nationally, Australia’s acting chief veterinary officer, Dr Sam Hamilton, said in a Sunday statement.
“All of these have been individual wild seabirds found in coastal locations.
There remains no evidence of any mass mortality events and there are no detections in poultry or in our agricultural production system.
The risk to human health remains low.”
NSW planning minister calls for bill to allow commercial activity around new pool
The planning and public services minister, Paul Scully, said the Callan park upgrades represented a “new era”.
“The new tidal baths and return of 1.6 hectares, or the equivalent of 4,000 large picnic blankets of green open space, to the community will mean more people can enjoy this great parkland,” he said on Monday.
Scully argued Callan park would be further improved by the Parklands bill, which passed the state’s lower house in May and was now before the Legislative Council. Legislation currently prevents any commercial activity in Callan park.
“For the park to be able to host your new favourite café and reach its full potential, we need the … bill to pass parliament,” Scully said.
When opened, the Callan park baths will be the latest of Sydney’s new or re-animated public swimming spots. Marrinawi Cove at Barangaroo was dubbed Sydney’s first city beach in 50 years when it opened in 2023.
Bayview park on the Parramatta River reopened for swimming in 2022 after being closed for more than five decades. The river also boasts Chiswick baths and Cabarita beach, while “Pondi” – Penrith beach – was opened in Castlereagh in 2024.
New Sydney Harbour pool to open this summer
Sydney’s latest harbour swimming pool, on the banks of Callan Park in Lilyfield, will open for swimmers this summer, the state government says, with construction now under way.
The new tidal baths on the Iron Cove foreshore, along the popular Bay Run and close to sports fields like Leichhardt Oval and King George Park, is expected to attract thousands to the southern banks of the Parramatta River.
Demolition work has also started on nine unsafe buildings in Callan park “which were neglected for so long that they have become not only an eyesore but a safety hazard”, the Minns government said on Monday.
“The removal of these long cordoned off buildings will unlock central parts of Callan Park, delivering the equivalent of two football fields of green space back to free community use,” the government said in a statement.
The baths will include a shark net, a fixed jetty, a pontoon, and an accessible pathway and ramp into the water.
Construction of the new tidal baths was expected to take six months, meaning it should open for summer 2026. The building demolition in Callan park was also expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Good morning
Stephanie Convery will be with you soon to take you through today’s news as it unfolds.
At 2pm AEST today, most phones in the country will blare an emergency siren as part of of the new AusAlert warning system. People who may have secret “safe phones”, kept hidden for personal safety reasons, have been advised to for up to 24 hours after the test and drivers have been warned not to touch their phones during the alert.
The Royal Commission on Anti-semitism and Social Cohesion continues in Sydney.
And Ed Husic is up on ABC Radio soon to talk about fallout from the national Labor conference.
Key Facts
- Factional conveners from Labor’s left and right met on Sunday night and are understood to have agreed Jacinta Allan no longer has majority caucus support.
- James Paterson said the US-imposed 12.5% tariff on Australia was “unjustified” and should be reconsidered, while describing Aukus sentiment in Washington as “very positive”.
- Ed Husic criticised the party’s handling of debate over his Gaza motion at Labor’s national conference.
- Cam McEvoy won the 50m freestyle in Glasgow in 20.97 seconds, breaking the Commonwealth Games record.
- Two greater crested terns in South Australia tested positive for H5N1, taking national H5 detections to 20.
