As it happened: Crossbench rages as electoral reforms pass; Dutton calls for debate on powers to revoke citizenship

Thank you for reading our national news blog. This is where we’ll wrap up today’s coverage, but here’s a look back at the day’s top stories:

• The Australian Defence Force has sounded the alarm about Chinese warships operating close to Australia as it revealed an Australian navy helicopter had been involved in a dangerous encounter with the Chinese military in the South China Sea.
• A quip in parliament has sparked new speculation about a race to the election after Anthony Albanese appeared to suggest a Labor colleague was on his “last day” in Canberra despite official plans for a federal budget on March 25 before Australians go to the polls.
• Teal MP Zali Steggall accused Special Minister of State Don Farrell of shutting crossbenchers out of talks on Australia’s donation reform in a heated exchange in the corridors of Parliament House. It comes after revelations that the government had struck a deal with the Coalition to overhaul Australia’s electoral laws and cap donations, infuriating independents who argue it benefits the major parties.
• The Victorian Labor Party is on the brink of victory in the Werribee byelection despite a savage swing against the Allan government, with further counting today increasing the lead of local school teacher John Lister.
• At least four former ABC employees have died after breathing in asbestos dust while working at the public broadcaster’s former Melbourne studios, while many more are believed to have been exposed to the deadly substance.
• Detectives will forensically examine the full video provided by an Israeli social media personality of his exchange with two Sydney nurses, with his evidence vital in determining possible criminal charges.
• US President Donald Trump intends to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia as part of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine that will begin immediately following a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call between the two leaders.
• Police in Bali are searching for a man believed to be an Australian tourist after a wild brawl outside a beach club on Tuesday night.

We’ll be back tomorrow with all the day’s biggest news. Enjoy your night.

The Souled Out R&B music festival has been cancelled, just over a week before it was scheduled to begin a run of three dates in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

In an Instagram post on Thursday afternoon, the festival organisers said the event did “not reach the level of support needed to remain financially viable”.

Billed as “Australia’s biggest modern R&B festival”, the event was set to feature headliners Don Toliver, Jhene Aiko and Vince Staples, with a host of support acts and DJs.

The festival was set to be held in Melbourne on February 22, Sydney on February 23 and in Brisbane on February 28.

“Like many festivals in Australia we have faced ongoing challenges in the current market,” the promoters wrote.

“After exploring every possible option, we’ve had to make the tough call to cancel this year’s edition ... All ticketholders will receive automatic refunds via Oztix.”

It comes just weeks after major festival Splendour in the Grass was cancelled for the second year in a row and joins a growing number of Australian music festivals to have hit the wall amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

The Australian Defence Force has sounded the alarm about Chinese warships operating close to Australia as it revealed an Australian navy helicopter has been involved in another dangerous encounter with the Chinese military in the South China Sea.

The ADF said on Thursday that three Chinese vessels – a Jiangkai-class frigate, a cruiser and a replenishment vessel – have been observed operating near north-east Australia, including by passing through the Torres Strait.

While the ships are not breaching international law, the ADF was concerned enough to issue a rare statement about the activity, occurring in Australia’s exclusive economic zone.

The Chinese vessels travelled through South-East Asia, before entering Australia’s maritime approaches.

Read the full story here.

A quip in parliament has sparked new speculation about a race to the election after Anthony Albanese appeared to suggest a Labor colleague was on his “last day” in Canberra despite official plans for a federal budget on March 25 before Australians go to the polls.

But the prime minister’s words are being disputed, with some saying he referred to “last days” and that this means there is time for parliament to return before the election.

Albanese made the remark when Graham Perrett, a Labor MP who will retire at the coming election, interjected during question time to heckle the Coalition about its decade in office before Labor won the last election. The Speaker, Milton Dick, ordered Perrett to leave the chamber.

Another Labor backbencher reacted as if Perrett would never return to parliament after almost two decades. “That was his valedictory,” he called out.

Albanese remonstrated with the Speaker and journalists in the press gallery heard his remark. “On his last day!” he seemed to say. Others, however, heard it differently – that Albanese said “final days” instead. Singular or plural? The speculation about the election turned on the grammar.

Parliament rises on Thursday and the Senate is due to return for estimates hearings on February 24, but the House of Representatives is not due to return until budget day on March 25. If Thursday was the last day, the government’s intention is to scrap the budget and go to the election. While the election can be held as late as May 17, the prime minister could decide to hold it on April 5 or April 12.

Pouring additional fuel on the bonfire of election speculation, Tasmanian Labor MP Brian Mitchell, when asking a question in the House, remarked that it was “my last in this place”. After question time finished the retiring Labor MP for Whitlam, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, was congratulated by a number of MPs who went over to shake his hand and thank him for his service in the parliament since 2010.

Albanese even wore his favourite tie, in the green and red colours of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, to question time.

The Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton, treated question time as Labor’s last hurrah. The Coalition MPs challenged Albanese and cabinet ministers about broken promises in the 1000 days of Labor government. Dutton followed question time with a speech about the promise of a Coalition government to “clean up the mess” left by Labor.

When MPs were asked to leave the chamber quietly after Dutton had finished his speech, he agreed. “Quietly but gleefully,” he said. He conveyed full confidence about the election ahead. And so did Albanese.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says a minerals deal between Kyiv and Washington will provide Ukraine with a post-war “security shield”, and President Volodmyr Zelensky says he hopes to reach an agreement within days.

Bessent, the first cabinet-level official on President Donald Trump’s team to visit Kyiv, spoke after Zelensky said he was ready to do a deal to open mineral resources to US investment, as he vies for the US president’s backing in the war against Russia.

Trump, who wants a rapid end to the war but has not made clear if he would continue vital military aid to Kyiv, has said he wants $US500 billion ($796 billion) in rare earth minerals from Ukraine and that Washington’s support needed to be “secured”.

He told Fox News he needed rare minerals – which that are crucial for high-tech products in exchange for American military aid. The idea is said to have come from Ukraine itself, to appeal to Trump’s business-first approach.

Read the full story here.

We will only know if Donald Trump is serious about tariffs if he pushes up the price of his beloved Big Mac.

The president’s threat to slap a 25 per cent tariff on $78 billion worth of steel and aluminium imports – including $1 billion from Australian firms – has unleashed hand-wringing about what this means for the Australian economy.

Focusing on this one sector ignores its relative economic unimportance, but also the threat posed by a widening tariff war and Trump’s seriousness to prosecute such a war.

If Trump turns to beef imports he will have to make a choice between self-interest and his professed beliefs.

Read Shane Wright’s analysis here.

Defence veterans will get faster access to improved welfare and health payments including assistance for funerals or travelling for treatment after the largest overhaul of their entitlements system in 40 years.

The federal parliament on Thursday passed the changes which flowed from a 2019 Productivity Commission inquiry and the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran suicides which found the long-standing and complicated entitlement system was hurting the mental health of veterans.

Former members of the defence forces and their families have had to contend with three separate, and at times conflicting, compensation laws for the past 20 years. The oldest piece of compensation law dates from 1986.

The first recommendation of the royal commission’s interim report, released in August 2022, was to simplify and harmonise compensation and rehabilitation laws because of the impact they were having on veterans.

Read the full story here. 

Victoria’s emergency warnings app is experiencing technical issues as the state swelters through temperatures in the high 30s, and residents are warned to leave their homes.

The State Control Centre said the issues were a timely reminder to never rely on one source of emergency information.

“With record numbers of users using the VicEmergency app, some users are experiencing issues, where the app is not loading on their device,” the State Control Centre said about 1pm.

“In some cases, the issue may be intermittent, and disconnecting from Wi-Fi may help. We are working hard to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

“People are advised to use the VicEmergency website if they experience any issues with the app.”

Melbourne is forecast to reach a top of 37 degrees today, before a cool change sweeps across the state and drops temperatures in the city this evening.

Several bushfires are burning, and total fire bans and extreme fire danger ratings have been declared for the state’s central, north-central and south-west districts.

Watch and act warnings are in place in the state’s south-west, and residents of the small communities of Barongarook and Gerangamete have been warned to “leave now” as a bushfire travels east.

Education Minister Jason Clare has again made fun of the Coalition’s policy to help small businesses pay for lunches, likening it to a turducken.

Taking a Dorothy Dixer question on how the government is building a better and fairer education system, Clare slammed the Coalition for voting against childcare laws as they argued it was unaffordable.

“Here is the kicker, the argument that they use is that we cannot afford it, but apparently we can afford billions of dollars for bosses to have lunch on the taxpayer,” Clare says.

“Mr Speaker, here was the press release from the shadow treasurer on 3 November on the day they said they were opposed to cutting student debt by 20 per cent and I promise you I’m not making this up.

“Their argument for opposing is this, ‘there are no free lunches in economics’.

“It turns out that there is, but only for the bosses ... a bit of taxpayer-funded chicken, stuffed in a duck, stuffed in a turkey, which is a perfect analogy for this policy because I think most Australians will think it is stuffed.”

Police in Bali are searching for a man believed to be an Australian tourist after a wild brawl outside a beach club on Tuesday night.

Four security guards were injured in the fight with a group of shirtless men, local media reported, with one guard suffering “bite wounds” and another taken to hospital with broken teeth and a head injury.

A video of the fight outside Finns beach club in Canggu shows the combatants hitting each other with pieces of wood and throwing punches. At one point, one of the tourists strikes a security guard with what appears to be a bollard.

Bali police are still looking for the three tourists seen in the video, and their nationalities could not be confirmed to this masthead on Wednesday night.

Read the story from our South-East Asia correspondents.