As it happened: Israeli embassy claims Gaza’s starvation crisis is false, Labor introduces cheaper medication bill; European Union reach 15 per cent trade deal with Trump;

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

Take a look back at today’s biggest stories:

• The Australian government is indicating it intends to recognise Palestinian statehood but is yet to nominate when it will do so. It comes as other parliamentarians call on the government to recognise the State of Palestine. The opposition says Hamas is to blame for the disruption of humanitarian aid.
• Israel’s embassy in Australia has declared there is no starvation in Gaza despite calls by world leaders for more aid to be allowed into the ravaged strip and reports of surging malnutrition levels among Palestinian civilians. It claimed images of starving Gazans were false.
• Maverick Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has introduced a private member’s bill to remove Australia’s 2050 net zero emissions target. He says the decision is not an attempt to undermine the party’s leadership. Opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan says the Coalition won’t be deterred by Joyce’s push to abandon net zero.
• The Albanese government will introduce legislation to cap the price of medication under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme at $25 in the second sitting week of parliament. Labor hopes to pass its student debt reduction and childcare reforms bills this week, with the Coalition indicating support for the measures.

• An Aboriginal woman’s newborn was taken from her, she was denied parole and then a doctor prescribed her a high dose of synthetic opiates leading to her death. Heather Calgaret’s death in custody was preventable and her health in prison had deteriorated from the moment her baby was removed from her at birth, a coroner found today.

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rebuffed overtures by South Korea’s new liberal government, saying on Monday that its “blind trust” in the country’s alliance with the US and hostility towards North Korea make it no different from its conservative predecessor.

Kim Yo Jong’s comments imply that North Korea – now preoccupied with its expanding co-operation with Russia – sees no need to resume diplomacy with South Korea and the US anytime soon.

“We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither a reason to meet nor an issue to be discussed,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media.

It’s North Korea’s first official statement on the government of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, which took office in early June with a promise to improve badly frayed ties with North Korea.

North Korea has shunned talks with South Korea and the US since Kim Jong Un’s high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with US President Donald Trump fell apart in 2019 due to wrangling over international sanctions.

AP

Heavy rain intensified around Beijing and nearby provinces on Monday, with four people killed in a landslide in northern Hebei and eight people missing, as authorities warned of intensifying conditions and heightened disaster risks in the coming days.

Authorities relocated more than 4400 people as colossal rain continued to pound the suburban area of Miyun in Beijing, causing flash floods and landslides, impacting many villages, state broadcaster China Central Television reported.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers talk to villagers on a road damaged by floodwaters in Miyun District Credit: AP

Electricity cuts are also affecting more than 10,000 people, in the area, the outlet reported.

Northern China has seen record precipitation in recent years, exposing densely populated cities, including Beijing, to flood risks. Some scientists link the increased rainfall in China’s usually arid north to global warming.

China’s Central Meteorological Observatory said that heavy rainfall would continue to drench northern China over the next three days. Beijing issued its highest level flood alert on Monday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Reuters

Former Liberal MP and NSW treasurer Matt Kean says politicians should be focused on creating productive climate change policy, as the Coalition battles internal disputes over its net zero policy.

“Political stunts are no substitute for real policy and the real policy work here is how we protect our planet while growing our economy,” said Kean, now the chief of the Climate Change Authority.

Matt Kean speaks at a Smart Energy Council event in Sydney today. Credit: Jessica Hromas

“It was a Liberal government that led the way in putting forward climate policies that were in the state’s interest, were in the interest of creating jobs, driving investment and growing our economy.

“And that’s exactly what the Liberal Party, that’s what all political parties, should be focused on.”

Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi has lashed the government over its decision to censure her in the Senate, after she held a silent protest during the governor-general’s address at the opening of Parliament.

Faruqi’s sign read: “Gaza is starving. Words won’t feed them. Sanction Israel”.

Senator Mehreen Faruqi holds a sign up as Governor-General Samantha Mostyn addresses both houses.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Labor MPs, including the prime minister, broadly criticised Faruqi for breaking Senate protocols and labelled the protest as “disrespectful” to the governor-general.

Speaking on the ABC, Faruqi said the government needed to take stronger action against Israel, as Gazans starve to death.

“This government is more concerned about rules than it is about 2 million people being starved,” she said.

Australia should immediately recognise the State of Palestine before more “horror” is inflicted to Gazans says independent MP Sophie Scamps.

“People really want to see Australia act to end what is happening in Gaza. What we are seeing on our television screens absolutely shames us all and I think we can say words are not enough. We need to take further steps,” Scamps told the ABC.

Independent member Sophie Scamps is calling on the government to recognise Palestine.Credit: James Brickwood.

“There have been minor sanctions, but we need to do more to send a strong message… and the path to that is the two-state solution and part of that peace process is, of course, recognising Palestine does have a right to self-determination.

“Now is the time. How much horror can be inflicted upon the people of Palestine before we actually take one of these steps?”

Hamas is to blame for the starvation of Gazans by disrupting the provision of humanitarian aid, says Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.

“I find the images very distressing and the stories of aid not reaching the people who need it … incredibly distressing,” Ley said on Sky News.

“But let’s not forget who started this war, Hamas, who is interrupting that flow of aid to the people who desperately need it, their own people … and who could end this tomorrow by releasing the hostages.”

Asked if the Israeli government was at fault at all, she instead returned to blaming Hamas.

“If you’ve got terrorists on the ground who are making it so difficult for their own people to receive this aid what does that say about Hamas running the Gaza Strip.”

Asked if she agreed with Israel’s embassy in Australia that there is no starvation in Gaza and that photos of starving Palestinians were false, Ley did not reply directly.

“It’s clearly a very complicated situation on the ground,” she said.

“I’m not going to comment on individual images except to say that I am distressed by the images that I have seen.”

The Federal Court has ordered Webjet to pay $9 million for misleading consumers about flight prices and bookings, in a case brought by Australia’s competition and consumer watchdog.

Webjet admitted it breached consumer law in statements made in its app, marketing emails and social media about the minimum price of airfares, which omitted compulsory fees.

The posts, between November 2018 and November 2023, included “flights from $x” but excluded Webjet’s fees, which were up to $54.90 per booking.

The company also admitted to providing false or misleading booking confirmations to 118 consumers between 2019 and 2024, for flight bookings which had not actually been confirmed.

“We took this case because we considered that Webjet used misleading pricing by excluding or not adequately disclosing compulsory fees in its ads,” Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a statement.

“Seeking to lure in customers with prices that don’t tell the whole story is a serious breach of the Australian Consumer Law.”

She added that Webjet had co-operated with the watchdog, had admitted liability and agreed to make joint submissions to the court about orders, including the $9 million penalty.

Webjet was contacted for comment.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has refused to speculate on whether the Coalition will dump its net zero policy, after pushback against renewables grows in the opposition’s party room.

“Everything is on the table and I want to make that clear,” Ley said in an interview on Sky News.

Sussan Ley in question time today. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“We have to work through this policy process, and I’m not foreshadowing what the outcome will be.”

Ley said that some Coalition MPs had passionate, well held views on climate change policy but said, when the time came, “I’ll make the decision on this.

“The renewables only mantra that this government has been preaching for three years doesn’t work,” she added.

Independent MP Kate Chaney has raised concern over how the government will manage to restrict access to YouTube for children aged 16 years and under.

YouTube was initially granted a carve-out to the social media ban for under-16s but the government is reconsidering its position after the eSafety Commissioner released advice that the video platform was probably exposing children to material harmful to their mental health.

“I don’t know how they’re going to do this,” Chaney said but added that there was harmful content on the video platform.

Google, the owner of YouTube, has threatened to sue the government if it is included in the ban. Chaney said this should not deter the government from making the right decision.

“I think the government should be basing its decision based on what’s harmful on children … I don’t think we should be making policy based on threats from YouTube.”