Steggall warns against ‘totalitarian crackdown’ against protest being replicated in Australia
Independent MP Zali Steggall says while she respects the court ruling against pro-Palestinian protesters who had planned a demonstration outside the Sydney Opera House on the weekend, there must not be a crackdown on the right to protest and free speech.
Speaking to Sky News a little earlier, Steggall said we’ve seen a “totalitarian crackdown” in the United States, which should not be replicated in Australia.
I would urge that everyone has to abide by the law, and if the police needs to enforce the law, that is their role, and it’s appropriate. But I think we need to be mindful that laws against protesters have really been toughed of late, often against climate change protesters, and we have to be very careful that the right to free speech, that the right to protest, is not being curtailed when it’s topics that some or others don’t like. We’re seeing a dangerous rise of that in the US.
It’s a dangerous slide when you start … breaking down on that right to protest and free speech.
The NSW court of appeal on Thursday ruled that anyone marching on the Opera House on Sunday could be held in contempt of court, as it sided with police against the Palestine Action Group due to “extreme” safety concerns.
Key events
Josh Taylor
Open web domain used by alleged Qantas hackers seized
With just hours before the hacker group Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters claim they will post the Salesforce customer data of Qantas and almost 40 other companies online, the US federal bureau of investigation has seized the open web domain used by the hackers.
A notice now appears on the site from US and French authorities saying the site has been seized.
Tech site 404Media is reporting that the dark web domain used by the hackers remains online.
The deadline is set for 3pm AEDT this afternoon.
Qantas has an injunction preventing people from accessing, using or publishing any customer data from the hack. Salesforce – the company that received the threat as it was hosting the data of the companies – has said it will not negotiate or pay any extortion demand.
Jonathan Barrett
Bullock says housing policy ‘not my bailiwick’
At Senate estimates, there was an interesting exchange between the RBA governor, Michele Bullock, and Greens senator Nick McKim over housing unaffordability.
Bullock has consistently called for more supply to ease housing pressures, but declined to comment on how other government initiatives or policies might affect prices.
While the impact of supply shortages is widely acknowledged as a major contributor to unaffordability, the Howard-era decision to halve the rate of capital gains tax has made dwellings even more attractive to investors at the expense of owner-occupiers. Investors have also taken full advantage of negative gearing.
McKim asked Bullock why she wouldn’t address policies like the CGT discount while “being very happy to talk about supply”. Bullock said:
There’s a plethora of policies, and I have not done analysis of looking at those various policies to decide whether or not different policies would have different impacts and what you should do with them holistically. That’s not my bailiwick.
The RBA regularly refers to its dual mandate of setting monetary policy to achieve both price stability and full employment for not commenting on specific government policies. But the RBA does consider financial stability implications for any potential problems in the housing market.
Jonathan Barrett
Bullock tells Senate estimates inflation is ‘sticky’
The Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, has described services inflation as “sticky”, amid signs households costs are trending up, at Senate estimates this morning.
Services inflation refers to important household items including rents, insurance, education and medical costs. Bullock said:
I’d have to say that in Australia, like many other countries, services inflation does remain a little sticky.
It is higher. It’s been offset by slightly lower goods inflation, but services inflation is still up around 3%, and in some countries, it’s a bit higher than that.
Last month, the RBA’s monetary policy board held the cash rate steady at 3.6%, dashing hopes of mortgage holders that the central bank would deliver further interest rate relief.
Analysts were alarmed in September after monthly inflation figures showed price growth jumped back to 3% in the year to August, the very top of the central bank’s target range, moderating hopes of further rate cuts.
Bullock said she expects the unemployment rate to “drift a little bit higher” for the remainder of the year, even as the labour market remains in a “pretty good place”.
Any persistent increase in inflation and unemployment could prove tricky for the RBA, given the central bank would typically raise rates to combat inflation and cut rates to address rising unemployment.
We have pictures of the Australians on the Global Sumud Flotilla who have arrived back in Sydney this morning after being detained by Israeli forces.
Juliet Lamont, who spoke to media this morning, has vowed to return to Gaza. Lamont says she was beaten, groped and verbally abused by Israeli prison guards while detained.
Steggall warns against ‘totalitarian crackdown’ against protest being replicated in Australia
Independent MP Zali Steggall says while she respects the court ruling against pro-Palestinian protesters who had planned a demonstration outside the Sydney Opera House on the weekend, there must not be a crackdown on the right to protest and free speech.
Speaking to Sky News a little earlier, Steggall said we’ve seen a “totalitarian crackdown” in the United States, which should not be replicated in Australia.
I would urge that everyone has to abide by the law, and if the police needs to enforce the law, that is their role, and it’s appropriate. But I think we need to be mindful that laws against protesters have really been toughed of late, often against climate change protesters, and we have to be very careful that the right to free speech, that the right to protest, is not being curtailed when it’s topics that some or others don’t like. We’re seeing a dangerous rise of that in the US.
It’s a dangerous slide when you start … breaking down on that right to protest and free speech.
The NSW court of appeal on Thursday ruled that anyone marching on the Opera House on Sunday could be held in contempt of court, as it sided with police against the Palestine Action Group due to “extreme” safety concerns.
Nick Visser
Mehreen Faruqi calls on Albanese to speak up after Australians’ detainment on Gaza flotilla
The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said the treatment of the trio, and four other Australians arrested by Israel, should compel the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the foreign minister, Penny Wong, to speak out against Israel.
We were all really worried sick of how the Israeli military would treat them, and we were right to be worried sick.
The treatment of these Australians by Israel shows us that minister Wong’s strategy of trying to appease genocidal bullies is completely failing. Shamefully, Prime Minister Albanese and Minister Wong remain silent as these courageous humanitarians were on vessels trying to break an illegal siege …
I hope they can speak up now …
Faruqi said she believed humanitarian work would continue until the war had ended.
I have no doubt that people will continue to take to the streets, continue tot take to the oceans, until we have long-term peace and liberation.
Nick Visser
Three Australians detained by Israel on humanitarian flotilla arrive back in Sydney
More than a hundred people, many bearing Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs, gathered at Sydney International Airport this morning to welcome home three Australians detained by Israel after being arrested onboard a humanitarian flotilla attempting to provide aid to Gaza.
Abubakir Rafiq, Juliet Lamont and Hamish Paterson were greeted by supporters just after 7.30am. Rafiq said:
In international waters, we were kidnapped and abducted by Israel. This is a crime under international law. While we were held hostage we were abused, we were tortured, we were kicked, punched, spat at, we were refused access to medication …
The Australian government knew that this was a possibility for us, yet they continue to maintain their relationship with a genocidal state and continue to enable the apartheid and occupation.
Lamont said the group would return to the waters surrounding Gaza, in an even larger flotilla, until the war had ended.
The eyes of the world were on the 500 of us, and that was happening to us. Imagine what is happening to the 11,000 Palestinians in jail and nobody is watching them …
We are going back, and we’re going to take 150 boats this time. We will break the illegal siege on Gaza, we will deliver humanitarian aid, and we will show Palestinians solidarity and love.
Government’s FOI bill ‘destroying trust’: independent MP
Returning to Nicolette Boele’s interview on ABC RN Breakfast, she’s asked about the government’s controversial proposed changes to the freedom of information laws.
Legal experts have already raised concerns parts of the amendments could be “ripe” for constitutional challenge.
It’s an issue the crossbench are ropable over – two MPs, Allegra Spender and Helen Haines both pushed the government on cabinet secrecy during question time yesterday.
Neither the Coalition nor Greens have said they’ll green light the amendments. Boele says:
All of the changes that are being put forward are working against Australians who want trust in federal politics, they want trust in these institutions and what the government’s proposing with these amended changes are basically, [the] opposite to that. It’s destroying the trust. And instead of having this culture of secrecy, people want to know what the government’s decisions are in their name.
Stop the clickbait, Pope warns
Australian media representatives are among those to hear directly from the Pope, who championed press freedom and specifically the role of invaluable newswire agencies, while denouncing clickbait content, the invaluable newswire agency AAP reports.
At the Vatican on Thursday, Pope Leo XIV held a private audience with members of MINDS International, an alliance of global newswires.
“Current events call for particular discernment and responsibility, and it is clear that the media has a crucial role in forming consciences and helping critical thinking,” the Pontiff told the gathering, which included AAP’s board chair, Jonty Low, CEO, Emma Cowdroy and editor, Andrew Drummond.
In the first six months of his papacy, Pope Leo has been a proactive supporter of journalism as “a public good that we all should protect”:
One form of active citizenship is to value and support … agencies that demonstrate seriousness and true freedom in their work.
This is invaluable and must be an antidote to the proliferation of ‘junk’ information.
He also spoke out against the spread of clickbait.
Communication must be freed from the misguided thinking that corrupts it, from unfair competition and the degrading practice of so-called clickbait.
We’re still talking about superannuation tax concessions?
We can’t seem to stop hearing about the government’s plan to increase tax on superannuation balances over $3m … yes that’s right, we’re still talking about it.
The government brought up this legislation about two years ago, and when first proposed it was supposed to be in effect from 1 July 2025, which (checks calendar) has now passed.
It turns out the prime minister’s office has been recently taking more of an interest in the bill and receiving briefings, said Diane Brown, the deputy secretary of the revenue division.
There have been some conversations with the prime minister’s office … It’s probably not unusual for that to occur from time to time.
Weighing in, independent MP Nicolette Boele tells ABC RN Breakfast she’s concerned that the government just “has an idea and runs with it” instead of having a whole-scale reform conversation about taxation which is what her colleague and fellow independent, Allegra Spender has been pushing for, and what Boele believes her community wants:
This is too often what happens when you get a government that has such a large majority that they don’t take people along on key policy issues.
People have been planning for decades for how they save for retirement and structure those investments. So any changes that are made to super need to be considered and provide people looking to retire with plenty of warning.
Former US envoy predicts Israel will agree to ceasefire deal
Israel’s security cabinet will likely agree to the Gaza ceasefire deal when they meet today, says a former US Middle East envoy for humanitarian issues.
David Satterfield, the former envoy and former US ambassador to Turkey, tells ABC RN Breakfast he believes the circumstances created by president Trump, and the Arab League have made the first phase a “deal they cannot say no to”.
I don’t think there are high risks to this first phase. The ceasefire, the release of the living hostages, the rapid identification and turnover of those bodies that can be found, and the introduction of humanitarian assistance, coupled with that, first of all steps, the Israeli withdrawal to the agreed initial line. I think that will happen. The problematic and hard to negotiate issues are what follows. This phase one is, if you will, the opening of the door.
But the toughest point of the plan will be the disarmament of Hamas and its removal of power, which Satterfield are “absolutely linked”.
An armed Hamas is a Hamas which will retain the ability to assert, albeit clandestinely, effective governance. Disarmament must be in parallel to the process of shifting Hamas out of that effective governance role. And so the question that has to be raised here is what pressures can be brought to bear upon Hamas in order to affect that goal.
Josh Burns says he hopes ceasefire deal will help everyone ‘take a deep breath’
Labor MP Josh Burns, who’s just won the McKinnon Prize for political leadership alongside Liberal MP Julian Leeser for their roles in fighting antisemitism, says the deal brings “cautious optimism”.
Burns tells ABC News Breakfast today is about the families having their loved ones return home and about the Palestinians who have “been living in tents and who have been displaced from their homes”.
On what this means for Australia and whether the deal will help lower the temperature of debate, Burns says he hopes everyone can “take a big breath”.
What I think really matters is how we talk about difficult things and how we see the humanity in one another, and I really hope that some of the dehumanising and some of the attacking we have seen across society can take – everyone can take a big breath and we can all look at each other and see more humanity.
Burns, who is Jewish, says it’s important for people on all sides to acknowledge the pain and suffering across all communities.
‘Hard not to be excited’ about Gaza plan: Mark Butler
On Sunrise this morning the health minister, Mark Butler, and Liberal senator Jane Hume are both positive on the progress of the Gaza deal, but acknowledge it’s still “early days”. You can read more on the latest of the peace deal on our live blog here.
Butler says its hard not to be excited that perhaps the “worst of this awful conflict is behind us:
The prospect of hostages returning to their families in Israel, Defence Forces starting to withdraw from Gaza, humanitarian aid flowing again to civilians there, is very hard not to be excited that we are finally on the road to peace.
We don’t underestimate the possibility that things can fall off the rails, which is why we do urge all parties to stick to the letter of President Trump’s 20-point plan.
While there’s been a split between the two major parties over their stance on the region – the government has recognised Palestinian statehood while the Coalition has said it would revoke that – there is bipartisanship support of this deal.
Hume reflects on the 48 Israelis who remain in hostage – 20 who are still believed to be alive, who under the deal will be returned from early next week. She says “this is a really good start”.
On whether Donald Trump will get his coveted Nobel peace prize, Butler says he doesn’t think the Australian government gets a vote and at the end of the day “it’s not about prizes it’s about peace”, while Hume says that if the deal succeeds, “you name me who else” deserves the prize.
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning,
Krishani Dhanji with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started. The House isn’t sitting today but we still have Senate estimates so expect another big day.
We’ll be likely hearing more reaction to the first stage of the Gaza peace deal signed yesterday, and whatever other drama estimates brings up.
Stick with us!
Stephanie Convery
Returning to the interview on 730: in response to the comment from anchor Sarah Ferguson that Trump appeared to believe Israel was becoming isolated in the world, Israel’s deputy foreign minister said:
Look, Israel has been through a tough period of time. OK, we’ve been in many discussions with many of our allies, and many nations that we truly expected to stand beside us during those very difficult times.
Look, Donald Trump is the best friend Israel has ever had. He was able to negotiate, through pressure on Hezbollah, a ceasefire with Lebanon. He was able to negotiate. This is the second ceasefire with Hamas, because of pressure on Hamas. He understands it’s not about the end result. It’s not about the obsession about the Palestinian state, it’s about the process, about building constructive steps towards peace, stability and coexistence.
You can read more about Haskel here:
Deadline looms on hacker threat to post Qantas data
Josh Taylor
Qantas is one of almost 40 companies facing having their data potentially posted on the dark web after a hacker group, Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, reportedly sent a ransom note to Salesforce ordering payment by today.
The Qantas data includes personal and contact information of the companies’ customers and employees, including dates of birth, purchase histories and passport numbers. Qantas previously stated the hackers may have also accessed frequent flyer numbers and membership-tier data, which could include information on which people are given exclusive access to Qantas’s chairman’s lounge.
As is becoming standard practice after ransomware attacks of large organisations in Australia, Qantas obtained an ongoing injunction from the NSW supreme court ensuring protections to prevent the stolen data being accessed, viewed, released, used, transmitted or published by anyone, including third parties.
“We continue to offer a 24/7 support line and specialist identity protection advice to affected customers,” a Qantas spokesperson said.
A Salesforce spokesperson told Guardian Australia earlier this week the company “will not engage, negotiate with, or pay any extortion demand”.
Admiral defends fourfold increase in Aukus consultancy contract
Sarah Basford Canales
The head of the Australian Submarine Agency has defended a consultancy contract that grew from $2.8m to $12.1m over the course of a year, saying it was “value for money”.
In a Senate estimates hearing last night, Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead said the organisational review by the Boston Consulting Group between November 2024 to last month was crucial to ensuring the agency had the right structure after it transitioned from an Aukus taskforce in July 2023.
The initial contract was valued at $2.8m in November 2024. It was extended twice more before it reached its final value of $12.1m, more than four times as much as the original estimate.
Mead said the agency was tasked with “something that has never been undertaken before in this country and is probably one of the most complex engineering tasks in the world”.
I can look you in the eye and tell you that, in my opinion, we got value for money, the agency now looks a lot different … [the Australian] government had given us very specific outcomes to deliver the optimal pathway. The three [Aukus] leaders agreed to that trilaterally. We were always under the scrutiny of government, but [also] by our trilateral partners to deliver in accordance with the schedule.
Israel’s deputy foreign minister takes aim at Australia
Stephanie Convery
Israel’s deputy foreign minister has praised the US president, Donald Trump, as the “best friend Israel has ever had” and taken aim at Australia, as well as other European states, for their recognition of Palestinian statehood last month.
Sharren Haskel said on ABC’s 730 last night that Gaza was “a two-state solution failure that was brought on us, that exploded in our face” and that Australia and European states had “gifted Hamas” with their recognition of Palestine.
Haskell claimed the negotiation deadlock between Israel and Hamas broke for two reasons: “One is the military pressure, and the second one is Trump pressure on Hamas.” She continued:
Unfortunately, during the very sensitive negotiation that we’ve had just a couple of months ago, European countries, including Australia, have gifted Hamas and made it very clear to them that the longer this war will continue, the more they will reward Hamas.
I mean, you have to understand when Hamas praises you, and thank you, that you are on the wrong side of history. And so, they have pushed back and obliterated the chances for the peace negotiation that we’re taking on during that time.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
Israel’s deputy foreign minister has praised Donald Trump as the “best friend Israel has ever had” and taken aim at Australia, as well as other European states, for their recognition of Palestinian statehood last month. Her comments come as Gaza flotilla activists deported by Israel arrive back in Australia this morning.
The head of the Australian Submarine Agency told Senate estimates last night that a consultancy contract grew from $2.8m to $12.1m over the course of a year, but defended it as “value for money”. More details shortly.
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