As it happened: Labor deliver consecutive budget surpluses; Hezbollah protesters face visa scrutiny

Thanks for reading the national news blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage.

To conclude, here’s a look back at the day’s major stories:

• A sharp fall in tax revenue from workers and businesses over the past four months has exposed an emerging economic fault line ahead of the coming federal election, despite the government producing one of the largest budget surpluses on record today.

• Federal police are investigating whether some protesters broke new anti-terror laws yesterday by displaying Hezbollah flags and photos of slain terror chief Hassan Nasrallah.

• Miners pushed the Australian sharemarket to a record high on Monday as iron ore prices climbed after China announced a slew of stimulus measures last week.

• In NSW, a woman allegedly run down by her husband has been remembered as “the best mum”.

• In Victoria, the Federal Court heard today that Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s staff ranked Victorian Liberals in a colour-coded spreadsheet on how they would likely vote on the motion to expel Moira Deeming.

• In Queensland, Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli campaigned today as the state election looms.

• In Western Australia, Premier Roger Cook has leapt to the defence of a veteran Perth TV reporter involved in a tussle on the weekend with the head of beleaguered Perth building company Nicheliving.

• In business news, Australia’s coal and natural gas shippers are bracing for a significant hit to their revenue in the next two years as sliding demand and prices for fossil fuel exports threaten to wipe out nearly $30 billion of combined earnings.

• In world news, an Israeli strike has hit an upper floor of an apartment building in the Kola district of Beirut, making it the first Israeli strike within Lebanese capital’s limits in the escalating hostilities.

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The Albanese government is expected to announce tonight that a British-born scholar will be Australia’s new Islamophobia envoy.

Aftab Malik, who has been working with the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet since 2016, will take on the role. His past work has focused on countering far-right extremism and Islamophobia.

The federal government has been searching for a community leader to appoint to the job for months.

In July, eminent lawyer and businesswoman Jillian Segal was announced as Australia’s first special envoy on antisemitism.

Dozens of stores across the nation will shut and hundreds of jobs will be lost after embattled budget retailer Mosaic Brands announced it would be shutting down the Rockmans, Autograph, Crossroads, W.Lane and BeMe brands.

Mosaic chief executive Erica Berchtold said the move was part of a broader effort to simplify the retailer’s portfolio and focus on other brands it operates, including the Katies, Noni B, Rivers and Millers.

Mosaic Brands owns Rivers, Katies, Rockmans and Noni B.

“Mosaic will wind down five brands which have become marginal and non-core, allowing us to focus on five core growth brands,” Berchtold said in a statement to the ASX.

“Each of those core brands will have a clearly differentiated market proposition, target customer, price point and product range.”

Mosaic Brands is attempting to stave off financial collapse and is trying to convince global suppliers to accept new terms where they are paid as little as a third of what they’re owed.

There are hundreds of stores spanning those brands across the country. Rockmans alone has 118 stores, according to its website. Each of the stores and their websites would be shut down.

Mosaic Brands did not specify how many employees would be impacted by the brand closures and has been contacted for comment.

At least 11 factories in Bangladesh are owed $US8.62 million ($12.3 million), with the real figure likely closer to $15 million, this masthead has heard. Another supplier described Mosaic as a “predator” on Bangladeshi garment companies.

Mosaic Brands has cycled in and out of profitability in recent years and was caught on the back foot during the pandemic lockdowns and was forced to rapidly improve its ecommerce offering. Cash flow has also been constrained by lower spending by consumers affected by cost of living pressures.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan has cautioned against jailing people for displaying Hezbollah symbols at pro-Palestine protests on Sunday, a sharp contrast to Coalition leader Peter Dutton saying he thought it was “completely unacceptable that the government wouldn’t be arresting people already”.

Appearing on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program shortly before 5pm, Canavan was asked what he thought should happen if someone showed public support or sympathy for Hezbollah at yesterday’s rallies.

Senator Matthew Canavan. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

In response, he said:

Well, look, I’m happy for the police to look at this and see whether any laws are broken. But, look, I’m a little bit reticent to start jailing people – arresting people – for just displaying a sign.

Obviously there’s certainly symbols – like swastikas – that we ban, but where do you end here?

I do support people expressing their views as long as it’s peacefully. And really, the test about whether you defend the right of someone’s free speech is to defend those rights of the people you disagree with, right? I certainly don’t agree with these protesters. I especially don’t agree with any kind of elevation of a listed terrorist organisation.

But what would clamping down actually signify or deliver? I think it would make the situation worse. The best thing is to ostracise these people, to isolate them as extremists and radicals.

And especically for members of parliament, not to associate with them. We see the Greens political party run shoulder-to-shoulder sometimes with these extreme groups. They should condemn them and set them apart from the broad brush of Australian society that find these views objectionable.

Appearing on the same program, Labor MP Josh Wilson echoed Canavan’s comments.

“It’s reasonable to have laws in place that really seek to clamp down on the most divisive kinds of behaviour – behaviour that effectively becomes an incitement to violence. I think that there is an extreme version of that kind of behaviour that you do want law enforcement to be able to look at,” Wilson said.

Member for Fremantle Josh Wilson in February.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“But, fundamentally, I’m on the same page as Matt. We are a democratic society where people ought to be able to express their views, even some views that we don’t necessarily agree with.

“But my position, in having enormous respect for those who are part of the cause of peace and non-violence, is if you’re activist in that cause, your conduct should be in accordance with those values.”

In radio interview this morning, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton argued those who attended rallies on the weekend and supported Hezbollah should face criminal charges or deportation. In response to the protests, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has said he would “consider refusing and cancelling visas for anyone who seeks to incite discord in Australia”.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says Opposition Leader Peter Dutton stoked division today when he called for visas to be cancelled after some protesters displayed images of Hezbollah’s slain leader at demonstrations on Sunday.

In response to the protests, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has also said he would “consider refusing and cancelling visas for anyone who seeks to incite discord in Australia” and condemned “any indication of support for a terrorist organisation”.

Minister for Finance Katy Gallagher.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing shortly after 4pm, Gallagher said, “it’s no surprise we’ve seen Peter Dutton out again today, stoking [division] with calls around visa status”.

“He’s all about stoking division and raising tensions and I guess, from our point of view, we want to calm tensions down,” Gallagher said.

ABC host Greg Jennett put to Gallagher that the home affairs minister could eventually be considering the visa status of anyone found to have broken the law at the protests, given it has been a federal offence since January to display the symbol of a listed terrorist organisation in public.

In response, Gallagher said:

We have very strong and rigorous processes that allow that to occur, should that be required. And I would have thought the leader of the opposition – in the leadership role he has – would have faith in those processes, as opposed to, you know, essentially having a crack at everybody who attended protests and threatening them.

We have these systems for a reason. I think political leadership comes when you’re actually trying to bring communities together in the country, not divide them and not to incite further tension.

In radio interview on Monday morning, Dutton argued those who attended rallies on the weekend and supported Hezbollah should face criminal charges or deportation, comparing displays of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah to supporting Adolf Hitler or Osama bin Laden.

Several Sydney mosques are holding memorial services for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut.

At least three mosques have advertised memorial services for Nasrallah, who led the powerful terrorist group from 1992 until his death at the weekend.

Hezbollah is officially listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia and other countries.

The Masjid Arrahman mosque in Kingsgrove, the Husaineyat Sayeda Zaynab mosque in Banksia and the Al Zahra mosque in Arncliffe are each holding services across several days. Some services were held on Sunday night after news of Nasrallah’s death broke and will continue on Monday and Tuesday night.

“Three days of mourning (majalis azaa) will be held at Al Zahra Mosque for the soul of the leader of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the souls of the righteous martyrs who departed with him and all those who have been innocently slain as a result of the zionist aggression in Lebanon and Palestine,” a post on the Al Zahra mosque’s Facebook page said.

News of the services comes after some attendees at pro-Palestine rallies in Sydney and Melbourne on Sunday flew Hezbollah flags and held up portraits of Nasrallah.

A NSW Police spokeswoman said CCTV footage from Sunday’s rally was being reviewed along with other information “as part of investigations to determine if charges will be laid”.

Victoria Police confirmed it had referred reports of alleged crimes to the Australian Federal Police, paving the way for federal investigations into whether hate speech and terror laws had been broken.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said pro-Hezbollah gatherings in Sydney were “deeply disturbing”.

An AFP spokesman said NSW Police had not referred any crimes for investigation from the weekend’s rally.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has accused the Coalition of “running a protection racket for big tech” after the opposition confirmed it would not support Labor’s proposed laws to fight misinformation.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers alongside Minister for Finance Katy Gallagher during a press conference at Parliament House today.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Earlier today, Coalition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said the federal government’s bill was a bad piece of legislation and gave social media companies “unprecedented powers to decide what is misinformation”. Hume also raised concerns about the bill leading to “two tiers of public opinion” and giving too much power to a minister.

The Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 was introduced to the House of Representatives on September 12. It has since been referred to a Senate committee.

The bill gives federal authorities the power to force tech giants to act on alerts about damaging falsehoods and stop falsehoods spreading before they cause serious harm. But the revised draft retains a controversial feature that allows ministers to ask the Australian Communications and Media Authority to investigate a social media platform, despite Coalition calls for this to be removed because it could allow political leaders to meddle in decisions.

On Sky News this afternoon, Chalmers dismissed Coalition concerns the bill would curb free speech.

“I think they’re running a protection racket for big tech. I think it’s as simple as that,” he said.

“We think misinformation and disinformation is a big threat to people’s safety and to our society and to our economy as well. And we want to hold the big tech platforms to account.

“The steps that we are taking when it comes to misinformation and disinformation are about protecting and cherishing and advancing free speech – not censoring it.”

Zoe Daniel and Allegra Spender have called for the prosecution of demonstrators who waved Hezbollah flags and held up portraits of the group’s slain leader at protests in Sydney and Melbourne yesterday.

Spender, the MP for Wentworth, posted on social media this afternoon that “extremism is a threat to our social cohesion”.

“The right to peaceful protest is an important part of Australian democracy, but not support for a prescribed terrorist organisation,” she said. “Police must investigate and prosecute those who support and promote violence.”

Spender’s statement almost mirrored Daniel’s post this morning. The MP for Goldstein said, “there is no justification for supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation”.

“Those who were seen doing so on the streets of Melbourne at protests yesterday should be investigated and prosecuted,” she said.

Lebanon is now waking up after another night of bombing as Israel escalates its conflict with Hezbollah, whose leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an airstrike at the weekend.

At pro-Palestine rallies in Australia yesterday, some attendees flew Hezbollah flags and held up portraits of Nasrallah, who led the group that Australia has labelled a terrorist organisation.

In response, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said he would “consider refusing and cancelling visas for anyone who seeks to incite discord in Australia” and condemned “any indication of support for a terrorist organisation”.

But today, the Australian Federal Police said they could not arrest someone just for displaying images associated with an extremist group.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has since demanded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recall parliament to pass anti-Hezbollah laws. In a radio interview, he compared those who held portraits of Nasrallah to people glorifying Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden.

Kathmandu: The death toll from floods and landslides in Nepal has reached 193, police say.

A police statement, reported by Associated Press moments ago, said 31 people were still reported missing and 96 had been injured in the Himalayan nation.

Many of the deaths were in the capital, Kathmandu, which received heavy rainfall that flooded much of the southern part of the city over the weekend. At least three buses headed to Kathmandu and stuck in a traffic jam on a highway were buried by a landslide that killed three dozen people.

Weather improved on Sunday and Monday, allowing rescue and recovery work following three days of monsoon rains.

Kathmandu remained cut off as three highways out of the city were blocked by landslides.

The death toll was expected to rise as reports came in from villages across the mountainous country.

AP

A man who kidnapped four-year-old Cleo Smith from her family’s tent at a remote West Australian campsite has failed to have his sentence reduced.

Terence Darrell Kelly attempted to appeal against his 13½-year jail term for snatching the girl at the Blowholes campsite, about 70 kilometres north of Carnarvon, in the early hours of October 16, 2021, as her parents slept.

Terence Kelly kidnapped Cleo Smith from her family’s tent.Credit: Getty/Supplied

Cleo was missing for 18 days before being found by police alone in a room at a property in Carnarvon on November 3.

Her kidnapping by the 37-year-old sparked one of the biggest police searches in WA history and made headlines worldwide.

Read the full story here.