As it happened: Albanese to conclude China visit in Chengdu; Trump dumps MAGA supporters over Epstein fallout

Thank you for reading our national news blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage. We’ll be back tomorrow with more live coverage.

Here’s a look at today’s biggest stories:

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in the western Chinese city of Chengdu today, after touring the Great Wall of China on Wednesday. Albanese is expected to attend a medical technology industry lunch and tour the factory of Australian hearing implant company Cochlear, as he concludes a six-day visit to the Asian superpower that has included meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.
• Albanese knocked back criticism from Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, who said the prime minister’s six-day China visit failed to address substantial issues that undermine Australian national security.
• Senior NSW Labor women have called state MP Mark Latham a “pig” who would be sacked in any other workplace, after allegations he took photos of female colleagues while in the upper house and claims his office was used to film “sordid” sexual trysts.
• National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds has welcomed the strong statement from the government regarding allegations of sexual abuse at Melbourne childcare centres, as revelations about the work history of alleged paedophile Joshua Brown continue to emerge.
• At least 20 Palestinians were killed at a food distribution centre run by an Israeli-backed American organisation in the Gaza Strip, mostly from being trampled, the group said. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation accused the Hamas militant group of fomenting unrest at the food distribution centre, causing the stampede, but witnesses said GHF guards threw stun grenades and used pepper spray on people pressing to get into the site before it opened, causing a panic at the fenced-in entrance.
• The Reserve Bank has been given a warning about the state of the economy, with the jobless rate climbing to its highest level since the end of the COVID pandemic. The Australian Bureau of Statistics this morning reported unemployment lifted by 0.2 percentage points to 4.3 per cent in June. It is the highest unemployment rate since November 2021.

• Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner has called for a comprehensive national approach to combat racism following the release of the report by the special envoy to combat antisemitism. Giridharan Sivaraman has arranged to meet special envoy Jillian Segal to discuss concerns over the level of detail in her report.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was taken on a private tour of the Chengdu factory of biotech company Cochlear on Thursday.

“Chengdu is home to inspiring examples of world-leading Australian and Chinese co-operation in science, technology, research and education,” Albanese said in a speech at the Australia-China Health and Medtech Luncheon on Thursday.

Albanese and fiancee Jodie Haydon during a tour of the Cochlear factory in Chengdu. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The prime minister pointed to the Cochlear factory as an example of successful foreign investment in China. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Scientists working in the Cochlear factory, Chengdu. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Developing green steel is important to decarbonising the high-emitting industry and could provide economic benefits to Australia, says Resources Minister Madeline King.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared the creation of a green-steel industry of vital interest to both Australia and China at an industry roundtable during his trip to the Asian superpower.

His comments were echoed by King, speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, who said it should be pursued and could be a game-changer for the industry.

“If we can decarbonise the steelmaking process, that of course is good for the environment, because steel forms the basis of our cities and towns and all the things we like,” King said.

“China ... if it can decarbonise green steel, we want to be part of that because we are already part of China’s steelmaking industry.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been in China this week meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

But there’s a lot happening behind these carefully stage-managed moments. As one commentator put it: “The tightrope along which [Australia’s] been walking between the US and China just got pulled tighter at both ends.”

International and political editor Peter Hartcher explains how Albanese is balancing his desire to ink more trade deals with President Xi, while facing pressure from the United States to fight against China.

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said Anthony Albanese has wasted time visiting China when the priority should be strengthening diplomatic ties with US President Donald Trump.

“What the PM should have done instead, quite clearly, is make sure we’ve got a relationship with the United States,” Joyce told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“This is the fourth meeting the prime minister has had with President Xi, and we haven’t had one with the US. We are democracy and the US is a democracy and China is a totalitarian regime.

“Be really, really careful when talking to a communist crocodile,” the outspoken Nationals MP said, who also acknowledged the trade benefits with China.

Labor MP Jerome Laxale defended Albanese’s trip as beneficial for Australian businesses who would reap the rewards of renewed exports to China, such as the seafood industry.

“I much prefer our approach to foreign international relationships to the former [Coalition] government, mate,” Laxale said.

Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner has called for a comprehensive national approach to combat racism following the release of the report by the special envoy to combat antisemitism.

Giridharan Sivaraman said he had requested to meet special envoy Jillian Segal to discuss concerns over the level of detail in her report.

“There are some really important considerations about the balancing of rights that needs to take place,” he said on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.

Race Discrimination commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Sivaraman said a national antiracism taskforce was needed to help address racism more broadly.

“A specific type of racism isn’t necessarily helpful. Firstly, I’m leading a historic study into racism ... and I don’t want someone to think that they cannot come forward and speak about the experience because they are prevented from doing so by definition that is put in place before we have been engaged with them,” he said.

“The second important thing to remember is that the Human Rights Commission has jurisdiction under the Race Discrimination Act and that act doesn’t define specific types of racism, it has broad protections, and you wouldn’t have a specific type of definition for a different type of racism because you need to judge every complaint based on its context.”

Sivaraman noted Australia’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, was due to deliver a report to the Australian government next month with recommendations to address an increase in Islamophobia.

Protecting children from abuse is a matter of national responsibility, after revelations of alleged child abuse in Melbourne childcare centres, said Labor MP Jerome Laxale.

Joshua Brown, a 26-year-old from Point Cook in Melbourne’s south-west is accused of abusing eight children while working at childcare centres and is facing 70 charges.

Labor MP Jerome Laxale. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Laxale, the member for Bennelong, said improving childcare safety was of utmost importance.

“It is a national responsibility, every jurisdiction has a responsibility to ensure that this sector continues to have its social licence,” he said on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.

He said the federal government would become more empowered to protect children in centres after it introduces reforms to parliament next week.

“Our lever is funding, the Commonwealth provides the funding for the majority of the sector and workers. We don’t have the power to withhold funding and we need to change that, we will do that next week in parliament … so we can ensure safety standards are upheld,” said Laxale.

Despite a positive visit to China, Anthony Albanese still faces risks engaging with China, said executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Justin Bassi.

Diplomatic grievances shared between the countries, like Taiwanese independence and Australia’s policy to force the sale of the port of Darwin, make dealing with China very challenging, Bassi said.

Executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Justin Bassi. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“We have never faced a situation where our largest trading partner is also our key strategic adversary,” Bassi told ABC Afternoon Briefing.

“Prime Minister’s visit, [was] very positive ... trade and increasing economic relationships are all very, very positive, but there are risks around engagement.

“I think here the risks are threefold. I think there is a risk that we are used for propaganda purposes. There is a risk that … trade becomes an over-dependency, and the third risk is that we provide a perception, both to China and to our own public, that short-term economics are outweighing long-term security.”

National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds has welcomed the strong statement from the government regarding allegations of sexual abuse at Melbourne childcare centres, as revelations about the work history of alleged paedophile Joshua Brown continue to emerge.

Brown, a 26-year-old from Point Cook in Melbourne’s south-west is accused of abusing eight children while working at childcare centres and is facing 70 charges.

National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds.Credit: Ben Symons

Hollonds said the allegations showed how deep the problem ran.

“This is extremely worrying, and as we are getting this drip feed of more information daily on this horrendous case, it really highlights how unsafe this environment has been, that someone unsuitable and dangerous for children is able to move from place to place,” Hollonds told the ABC.

“The good thing is the ministers are now making very strong statements and commitments to fix these holes in the child safeguarding systems that should be underlying early childhood education. But as [Education] Minister [Jason] Clare himself admitted, this has been way too slow.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked about falling rates of Australian foreign investment in China every year since 2019.

“I want to see more direct investment here. It’s something that I’ve raised,” Albanese said.

The prime minister will now tour the Chengdu factory of biotech company Cochlear.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

He pinned the falling rates of investment on the former Morrison government’s considerably more hawkish approach to the China-Australia relationship.

“I think you’ve identified in part by singling out the year in which it began to decline, 2019, and that obviously had an impact,” Albanese said.

“Both COVID … had an impact on global economic investment, but also there were the specific issues during that term of the Morrison government.”