As it happened: Leaders clash in first question time; Trump’s new submarine chief a critic of Australia

Thank you for reading our national news blog, which is now closed for today.

It will return from 7am tomorrow morning. Here’s a look at today’s biggest stories:

• The Albanese government has introduced its student debt reduction and childcare reform legislation as the 48th parliament gets to business after a day of first speeches and ceremonial pomp. The passage of the childcare reform bill is expected to be expedited behind support from the Coalition, which has also appeared receptive to the student debt legislation despite opposing the measure on the campaign trail.
• The Senate has passed a disciplinary motion rebuking Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi for holding up a sign about the war in Gaza during the governor-general’s speech at the opening of parliament on Tuesday. Faruqi and the Greens criticised the motion while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese approved of the sanction, labelling Faruqi’s protest disrespectful to the governor-general.
• The Nationals are moving closer to abandoning its 2050 net zero emissions target after former party leader Michael McCormack publicly declared his support for Barnaby Joyce’s push to ditch the target. Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters that achieving the goal was impossible and was “tearing families apart” in the regions, with the party awaiting a review from pro-fossil fuel member Matt Canavan before arriving at an official stance.
• The first question time of the 48th parliament saw Labor and the opposition exchanging blows with hot topics including housing affordability, climate change policy and superannuation tax reform.
• Australia has quietly paid the United States another $800 million towards the AUKUS submarine deal, taking the total to $1.6 billion, despite the Trump administration placing the agreement under a review.
• Tributes flowed for Ozzy Osbourne, the Black Sabbath lead singer who died just weeks after his farewell show aged 76. Osbourne’s death was announced in a statement issued by his family, who said that he was “surrounded by love” at the time of his passing.

The Australian sharemarket has extended its gains as the major banks snapped their losing run and miners continued to soar.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Wednesday gained 60 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 8,737.2, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 59.9 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 9,001.4.

Materials were the strongest of 10 of the 11 ASX sectors in the green, with iron miners moving higher for the third session this week, bolstered by reforms to China’s steel industry.

BHP gained 0.8 per cent to $41.85, Rio Tinto climbed 1.0 per cent to $119.47 and Fortescue rose 2.3 per cent to $18.21.

Iluka Resources rose more than 3 per cent after achieving the full-year production guidance for zircon by June 30.

Major banks rebounded after a shaky start to the week, with the CBA turning its biggest one-day drop since early April into a 0.51 per cent rise, to $173.30.

Westpac moved 1.4 per cent higher to $33.11, ANZ climbed 2.5 per cent to $30.57, while NAB finished almost flat at $37.20.

AAP

It took barely a minute before the first caterwauling broke out. It was a half-hearted effort, however, barely worthy of the name.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was responding to the first question from newly minted Opposition Leader Sussan Ley about the housing crisis and broken promises.

Labor MPs (red) in the House of Representatives now stretch across the aisle, while the Coalition (blue) is a hugely reduced opposition.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Albanese was trying a bit of a jibe, pointing out the previous Coalition government didn’t have a housing minister for half its time and had shown “complete contempt for public housing”.

Cue the inevitable dull roar from the opposition that signalled question time was back in business for the first time since the May election.

The emphasis, however, was on dull. And roar? An exaggeration.

It’s tough, clearly, to summon up a proper holler when you’re so outgunned and dispirited that the mere word “opposition” is an embellishment of the situation.

Those of us who perch in the press gallery peering down at the nation’s elected representatives – like crows on a fence eyeing off a dead sheep, as Kim Beazley once graphically described it – haven’t seen a lower house remotely like this in a generation.

Read the full political sketch here.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his government’s payment of a second $800 million AUKUS instalment to the US, despite the Pentagon reviewing the pact.

This masthead confirmed the second payment was made in the second quarter of this year, as per the agreed schedule. By the end of 2025, Canberra will have paid $US2 billion ($3 billion) to the American shipbuilding industry to boost submarine production.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with then-US president Joe Biden in San Diego in March 2023 for the joint AUKUS announcement.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“There is a schedule of payments to be made, we have an agreement with the United States as well as with the United Kingdom,” Albanese told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.

Asked if he had any clarity on how the US review of AUKUS was progressing, Albanese responded simply: “We have an agreement, it’s a treaty-level agreement.”

Australians want to see more concrete action against Israel from the government and not just joining other countries in signing critical letters, said Labor MP Ed Husic.

On Tuesday Labor delivered its strongest criticism of Israel’s conduct in its war in Gaza by signing a joint letter calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and condemning Israel over the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians seeking aid.

Labor MP Ed Husic in parliament earlier this year. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Today Husic, a former minister who was Australia’s first Muslim MP, told the ABC that Australians wanted the government to go further.

“What is happening now is people are seeing what is occurring right now, the level of starvation and the human impact and toll on innocent people, and they will want to see concrete action,” said Husic.

Husic also said more sanctions should be placed on Israeli politicians. Currently, only two far-right Israeli ministers are sanctioned.

“I believe the decision-makers responsible for the conduct of the operations that have seen nearly 60,000 people killed, innocent civilians, those people should be held to account,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed a Senate disciplinary motion against Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi for holding up a sign protesting against the war in Gaza during Governor-General Samantha Mostyn’s opening address to parliament on Tuesday.

Accusing Faruqi of disrespecting Mostyn, he told the ABC: “There is a place for demonstrations and it’s not the floor of the Senate.”

Greens leader Larissa Waters called the motion a disgrace, telling the Senate: “The very idea we’re discussing disciplining Senator Faruqi for holding up a piece of paper raising attention to the plight of those starving in Gaza whilst completely ignoring the fact that One Nation senators turning their backs on the Welcome to Country only proves how out of touch with ordinary people this place is.”

Childcare centres that egregiously fail to meet minimum standards will still have a month’s grace period to resolve their problems before the government steps in to strip them of taxpayer funding, under new laws proposed by the Albanese government.

The rules were introduced to federal parliament this morning following sexual abuse allegations levelled against Victorian childcare worker Joshua Brown, claims of children being mistreated in NSW, and earlier incidents in Queensland.

Education Minister Jason Clare has admitted the government had failed to act fast enough on the issue and introduced the bill to: let the government shut centres down; put conditions on their operations; or strip their funding, as one of Labor’s first actions in parliament after its re-election.

“I want centres to get to those standards,” Clare said. “We don’t want to have to shut centres down.”

But he said parents deserved to know if conditions had been imposed on a centre so they could decide where to send their children. Without government approval, centres will be denied access to the federal childcare subsidy, which covers about 70 per cent of their costs on average.

Read the full story here.

Australia has quietly paid the United States another $800 million towards the AUKUS submarine deal, taking the total to $1.6 billion, despite the Trump administration placing the agreement under a review.

This masthead confirmed the second payment was made in the second quarter of this year, as per the agreed schedule. By the end of 2025, Canberra will have paid $US2 billion ($3 billion), to the American shipbuilding industry to boost submarine production.

A Defence Department spokesperson said Australia had been clear since March 2023 that it would make a “proportionate contribution” to the American industrial base under the AUKUS agreement.

The government was unfazed by the Pentagon’s review of the AUKUS agreement and said it was natural that a new US administration would want to examine the progress of key initiatives.

“All three countries are continuing to progress the AUKUS pathway at pace, ensuring it meets national and trilateral objectives,” the Defence spokesperson said.

Read the full story here.

The Senate has passed a disciplinary motion rebuking Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi for holding up a sign about the war in Gaza during the governor-general’s speech at the opening of parliament on Tuesday.

The disciplinary motion, introduced by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, passed with 50 votes in favour and 11 against.

Greens deputy Mehreen Faruqi with the sign she displayed during the governor-general’s address on Tuesday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

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

Farqui criticised the motion, telling her Senate colleagues: “You are all on the wrong side of history. Instead of sanctioning me, maybe you should think about sanctioning Israel.”

Senate President Sue Lines said: “The actions by Senator Faruqi using a political sign as a prop, knowing this to be breach of the standing orders, drew the governor-general and the chief justice and the deputy justice into political debate which is highly inappropriate.”

Resources Minister Madeleine King has told National Party leader David Littleproud to “watch out” as two of his party rivals join forces against him.

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce is trying to garner support for a private members’ bill to get rid of the party’s net-zero commitment, while another former Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, lent his support today.

King said Joyce and McCormack had joined forces to knock off Littleproud. “I do feel sorry for him ... watch out member for Maranoa,” King said.

Resources Minister Madeleine King in May this year. Credit: Ross Swanborough