As it happened: Last-minute legislation on final sitting week agenda; Deputy PM’s chief of staff sues over workplace bullying complaint

And that’s where we’ll leave our live coverage today.

If you’re reading us on the commute home, or just catching up, here’s what made headlines today:

• Foreign Minister Penny Wong has given her strongest suggestion that the federal government would comply with the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying its decisions “will be informed by international law, not by politics”.
• Israeli police say security forces were responding to a “civilian under attack” and had “rocks and slabs” thrown at them when an Australian student was allegedly shot at in her West Bank apartment.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that the Australian Federal Police have offered to assist Laotian authorities investigate the deaths of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles following their deaths from methanol poisoning.
• Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says it is “outrageous” that supermarkets are charging more for fruits and vegetables which are not packaged, and has suggested a state crackdown is on the horizon.
• During question time, the opposition sought to whack the government over future climate targets.
• A man has been arrested at Sydney Airport over an anti-Israel vandalism spree.
• In Melbourne, flights were delayed due to foggy conditions.
• In sport, Emma McKeon, the most decorated Australian athlete in Olympic history, has announced her formal retirement from competitive swimming.
• And overseas, the governor of Bali’s Kerobokan prison has heard nothing from his government about the proposed release of the remaining Bali Nine drug smugglers.

Returning to Canberra, where independent senator Lidia Thorpe has told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that her push for a Senate review into racism was not solely motivated by her recent censure for interrupting an event featuring King Charles.

Thorpe is co-sponsoring the motion with former Greens colleague Mehreen Faruqi. The pair want the Senate’s procedure committee to investigate racism and sexism in federal parliament.

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe and Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi at a press conference at Parliament House on Monday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“That’s been lots of motivators,” Thorpe said. “[It’s about] my workplace and wanting it to be safe for future generations. The censure was just a process they felt they needed to go through because they were upset I told the King off for the genocide that his family are guilty of.”

Asked what would happen if the review isn’t established – and whether she has a “breaking point” for dealing with racism – Thorpe said she had no intention of quitting parliament.

“I wouldn’t let the racists have that much fun without me for the next 3½ years. I’m happy here to stand up against misogyny and racism. And there’s no breaking point. It’s just who I am.”

In Victoria, the state opposition will not commit to scrapping a controversial transmission line if elected in 2026, despite strongly opposing the project.

Earlier today, opposition energy spokesman David Davis said a decision on whether to scrap the project was entirely dependent on what stage it was at should the Coalition win government.

The KerangLink is a major transmission line project which plans to provide a new connection between Victoria and NSW.

“The problem we have is the government is steaming along with it. We opposed the bill that gave the government many of the powers to pass through the costs, and we were defeated,” Davis said.

“What happens if we get to government in December 2026 ... if it’s built, it’s very hard to remove.”

Davis added the Coalition put forward a planning scheme amendment to block additional planning powers.

“The truth is, is that we’ve opposed it, we’ve said that it’s the wrong project. We know it’s running late, and we know it’s running over budget, but we don’t know what stage it will be in two years’ time.”

Liberal MP Tony Pasin says he has apologised to Infrastructure Minister Catherine King after one of his staffers filmed an interaction between them without her knowledge.

Earlier, at the end of question time, Speaker Milton Dick said while he appreciated King’s concerns that the filming posed a significant interference to her ministerial work, he did “not see evidence that the action … amounts to, or was intended or likely to amount to, an improper interference” or a breach of parliamentary privilege.

Liberal MP Tony Pasin. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

However, Dick said the incident raised serious concerns about breaches of the media rules applying to everyone in Parliament House. Dick said:

I take this opportunity to remind all members that filming interactions in the private areas of Parliament House without appropriate approvals and express permission of those captioning images are a breach of the media rules from the Parliament House.

I consider it to be the responsibility of members to ensure that their staff follow these rules further.”

Pasin rejected King’s allegations that he had downloaded the footage onto a laptop, and said the footage was promptly deleted, but said he had now re-familiarised himself with the rules for media related activities and brought those rules to the attention of all his staff.

King said she accepted Pasin’s apology, but questioned his explanation that the footage was unknowingly filmed by his staffer.

“If that’s how he’d like to explain it, that is a matter for him,” she said.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has given her strongest suggestion that the federal government would comply with the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying its decisions “will be informed by international law, not by politics”.

Wong said she would not “speculate on hypotheticals” about whether Australian authorities would arrest Netanyahu if he travelled to Australia.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Other nations such as Canada, the United Kingdom and France have indicated they would arrest Netanyahu if he travelled to their countries, in line with the protocols of being a member of the court.

“What I can say to the chamber is that Australia will act consistently with our obligations under international law, and our approach will be informed by international law, not by politics,” Wong told the Senate.

The Coalition has attacked Labor for not taking a similar approach to the issue as US President Joe Biden, who said the court’s move was “outrageous”.

“Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence, none, between Israel and Hamas,” Biden said.

Wong said she had said many times that there was no equivalence between Hamas, a listed terror organisation in Australia, and the democratically elected government of Israel.

In response to questions from Coalition frontbencher Michaelia Cash, Wong said: “We actually believe that adherence to international law is a matter of principle, and it is in Australia’s interests.

“What I would say to you is that I have made clear many times in this place that all parties to the conflict must comply with international law, and I again say we respect the independence of the International Criminal Court and its important role in upholding international law,” Wong said.

Wong said that, unlike Australia, the US was not a party to the Rome Statute, which gave effect to the ICC and was ratified by the Howard government in 2002.

Israeli police say security forces were responding to a “civilian under attack” and had “rocks and slabs” thrown at them when an Australian student was allegedly shot at in her West Bank apartment.

On Saturday, this masthead reported the 20-year-old Australian woman – Ranem Abu-Izneid – could lose vision in one eye because she was hit with metal shrapnel after a bullet was allegedly shot by Israeli forces into her shared student accommodation on November 15, according to her parents and her university.

Ranem Abu-Izneid is embraced by her mother, Rana, at Melbourne Airport on Sunday.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Abu-Izneid, who was born in Jordan and whose family is Palestinian, was studying dentistry at al-Quds University in Abu Dis town in the Palestinian territories near Jerusalem, which is in a non-combat zone.

She arrived back in Melbourne on Sunday.

Details of the alleged incident were provided to this masthead in statements from her family members, based on a witness account from her flatmate, and confirmed by a dean at her university.

On Monday afternoon, Australian time, the Israel Police spokesperson’s unit released a short statement in response to questions about the incident:

In an effort to assist a civilian under attack, security forces entered the area of Abu Dis. During their rescue efforts, violent individuals threw rocks and slabs from rooftops, creating a significant risk to the personnel involved. In response to the escalating danger, the forces took necessary defensive action, to neutralize the immediate threat to their safety.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the government is continuing to work with Laotian authorities on investigations into the deaths of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles following their deaths from methanol poisoning.

Asked by independent MP Zoe Daniel whether the government had updates for the grieving community in her electorate, and what the government was doing to bring the bodies of the two women home, Albanese said officials were working closely with the families to return them. Albanese said:

The foreign minister has been in direct contact with her counterpart. Minister [Penny] Wong has underscored our expectation the investigations are thorough and transparent. Officials are working closely with local authorities, including offering assistance in relation to the investigation that is under way – including, I can confirm, an offer of assistance from the Australian Federal Police.”

Albanese once again extended his condolences to the Jones and Bowles families.

There has been a flood of grief in your local community where both young women are so widely admired and well liked.

They were best friends and the best days of their lives should have been ahead of them. I know all Australians think of their families at this moment. [This] is every parent’s worst nightmare. There is no crueller arithmetic than adding up the years not lived, the potential not fulfilled, the dreams not lived or that might have been.”

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen says the government has not committed to spending any taxpayer money on agreements arising from a major United Nations climate change conference.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen at the COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.Credit: AP

Asked by Liberal MP Ted O’Brien how much taxpayer money had been committed by the government to spend on agreements arising from COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month, Bowen said: “Zero.”

Bowen went on to say:

Last week, the government was requested by other governments to enter into certain agreements and arrangements that we did agree to. The member for Fairfax implies there was a cost, there was zero cost.”

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says it is “outrageous” that supermarkets are charging more for fruits and vegetables which are not packaged.

Asked by independent MP Monique Ryan how the government was holding supermarket chains accountable “for fuelling Australia’s plastic pollution”, Plibersek said supermarkets had walked away from their recycling responsibilities and that the government was working with state and territory governments on packaging regulations, including reducing unnecessary packaging.

“It really is quite outrageous that the supermarkets are actually making it more expensive for families to do the right thing when they are doing their shopping,” Plibersek said. “Bananas come in their own packaging, oranges in their own packaging. They do not need to be wrapped in plastic as well.”

Speaker Milton Dick has admonished Paul Fletcher, the manager of opposition business, for raising a point of order without proper reason.

Here’s what Dick had to say:

This behaviour has been creeping in more and more. We cannot have a situation where, ‘I don’t like the answer so I’ll just jump up and say something’. That is never the way question time has been run. It will not run that way now. I like to give everyone a fair go, and people are entitled to take a point of order, but [the manager] is just taking the mickey.”