Kate Chaney says ‘the time may well be right’ for Israel sanctions
Independent MP Kate Chaney says recognition of a Palestinian state will happen in “good time” but now could be the right time for sanctions against Israel.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast a bit earlier, Chaney said the immediate priority is to stop children from starving, and getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.
She adds, Hamas should have “no role” in establishing a Palestinian state.
I think the immediate priority is stopping children from starving and making sure they’re not being shot when people are trying to access food. So my focus really is on how we get the humanitarian aid organisations in there, doing what they do best, and making sure that starvation is not being used as a tool of war. Recognition will happen in good time …
Given it looks very likely that Israel is breaching international law, and it’s really important that Australia plays its part in upholding international law, and the time may well be right for sanctions at this point.
Key events
Barnaby Joyce is outside parliament speaking on his bill to reverse net zero by 2050.
With him are Nationals MPs Matt Canavan, Michael McCormack and Colin Boyce – all of whom have publicly called to end the policy.
Also with Joyce is Liberal MP Garth Hamilton, a conservative backbencher from Queensland who’s becoming increasingly outspoken.
Joyce says it’s “billionaires” who are benefiting from programs like the capacity investment scheme, designed to boost major renewable energy projects.
Coalition should consider amendment to cap Hecs indexation, Jane Hume says
Former Liberal frontbencher Jane Hume says an idea from her colleague Sarah Henderson to cap Hecs indexation at 3% has “merit” and should be considered by the party room.
Hume and Henderson were both booted from the frontbench after the 3 May election.
The Coalition has said Labor’s Hecs bill, to cut 20% of debts and increase the income threshold to begin paying the debt back, will pass through parliament.
Henderson announced her amendment, to cap indexation, in the Australian newspaper this morning.
Asked on Sky News whether the policy should have been canvassed first internally, rather than aired to the media, Hume said it shouldn’t be a “surprise” that backbenchers bring policy like this forward.
What Sarah’s proposing is that, essentially, if governments can’t control inflation, well, students shouldn’t have to pay the price that there is a cap on what it is that they should have to pay. I think that’s something that has merit and should be considered. So I look forward to Sarah taking that to our party room for further discussion.
Dan Tehan, in a separate interview on Sky, said Ley has set up internal processes to include backbenchers in policy creation.
When [anyone’s] got their policy ideas, they should be able to bring them forward, and that’s what that’s what we’re seeing. Then we’ve got to have the internal debate. We resolve our way forward, and then in unity, we put that case to the Australian public.
Kate Chaney says ‘the time may well be right’ for Israel sanctions
Independent MP Kate Chaney says recognition of a Palestinian state will happen in “good time” but now could be the right time for sanctions against Israel.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast a bit earlier, Chaney said the immediate priority is to stop children from starving, and getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.
She adds, Hamas should have “no role” in establishing a Palestinian state.
I think the immediate priority is stopping children from starving and making sure they’re not being shot when people are trying to access food. So my focus really is on how we get the humanitarian aid organisations in there, doing what they do best, and making sure that starvation is not being used as a tool of war. Recognition will happen in good time …
Given it looks very likely that Israel is breaching international law, and it’s really important that Australia plays its part in upholding international law, and the time may well be right for sanctions at this point.
Taiwan won’t join Exercise Talisman Sabre, says Labor MP
Jumping back to Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek on Sunrise this morning, on a panel with Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, Plibersek says the government isn’t considering allowing Taiwan to join a major military exercise.
Exercise Talisman Sabre is the largest exercise conducted in Australia, coordinated between Australia and the US with 19 nations involved, and about 40,000 personnel.
Taiwan has made a request to join the exercise, but Plibersek says it’s not being considered.
Australia really values our unofficial relationship with Taiwan. We have got a lot of exchange on trade and investment and on regional security and stability. We think the best way to maintain security and stability in region is for no unilateral changes for the status of relations between China and Taiwan. And we’re not currently considering involvement of Taiwan in exercise Talisman Sabre.
Joyce agrees Taiwan shouldn’t be included in the exercise, and says “I think you could be courting danger if you bring in Taiwan.”
Dan Tehan claims Hamas responsible for IDF soldiers shooting Palestinians at Gaza food checkpoints
Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan says Hamas has been taking aid coming into Gaza, telling ABC RN Breakfast, that Hamas is the “sole responsible actor” for the situation in the region.
The Coalition has said in recent days that the delay in humanitarian aid entering Gaza is “unacceptable”, and put the blame on Hamas.
Tehan says the delays in humanitarian aid has been to ensure the aid doesn’t go to Hamas.
The Israelis were providing aid up until that point, but it was all going to Hamas. It was that aid was not being distributed to the Palestinian people. So the Israelis said, why are we providing aid when Hamas is just weaponising that aid.
(A leaked US assessment seen by Reuters found no evidence Hamas was looting humanitarian supplies at scale.)
Host Sally Sara asks Tehan about the shooting of civilians at aid stations that are run by Israel, not Hamas. Tehan says:
It boils down to, what are the actual facts on the ground? How did they lose their lives? What was, what was the impact? What was the involvement of Hamas in those incidents? Once again, while Hamas is there as an internationally listed terrorist organisation, we’re sadly going to see these types of outcomes.
Sara pushes back, saying that Israel has admitted its forces fired in some of those incidents. Tehan replies:
Israel have admitted that, but they’ve also admitted the reasons for that was because they were worried and concerned about the involvement of Hamas in those incidents. And obviously the best solution would be if we can rid Gaza of Hamas.
Albanese says he picked five entries in Australian Hottest 100
Anthony Albanese says five of his 10 votes for the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian songs made it into the countdown, but says he should have put the winner, INXS’s Never Tear Us Apart, on his list.
Joining Triple J Breakfast, the PM (or DJ Albo as he’s also been known), who has been a long follower of Australian music, reminisces on the gigs of his early 20s and 30s at iconic Sydney pubs.
But the live music scene has changed drastically in the decades since, and we’ve seen the number of live music festivals diminish across the country.
Albanese touts the government’s Revive Live policy to help turn this around, and the election promise to extend it:
Anything that we can do which to promote Australian art across the board, is something that I know [arts minister] Tony Burke is really passionate about.
Asked at the end of the interview whether he’ll front up to Triple J’s current affairs program, Hack, which he hasn’t been on for a year, he says he’s “always happy to have a chat” and has been “pretty accountable” to the media and to the ABC.
Australia ‘ready to move’ on recognising Palestinian state, Bob Carr says
Former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr has welcomed Anthony Albanese and the government’s stronger statements on Gaza, but says Australia needs to go further, and should recognise a Palestinian state.
Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast, Carr said the international community could work with Palestine now to establish it as a state and ensure it is not militarised, and said it was “unfortunate” Australia was waiting for the UK to move first, rather than following the France’s initiative.
This is the first time in the eyes of the world that a modern country has used mass starvation against the civilian population as a weapon of war.
We will insist that the Palestinian state that comes into being will be one that opts to be a non-militarised state, that is not to have armed forces, that is a serious security guarantee that can be delivered in negotiations, and the Palestinians have already offered to put on the table.
Carr describes the horrific scenes the world has seen in recent days, of babies “with their vertebrae showing through their starved skin”, and says Israel’s military “controls all the levers”.
The point is that the IDF controls all the levers. It controls food access, and it’s opted to use its power, even, on occasions, to shoot the people who are distributing the food.
Carr spoke out on Friday to urge the government to impose sanctions on the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu:
Government won’t be ‘bullied’ by YouTube on social media ban, Plibersek says
Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek says Labor will “do whatever we have to” to make sure Australian children are safe, as the government considers the parameters of a social media ban for under 16s.
Google has threatened legal action if YouTube is included in the social media ban.
It’s currently not included, but the eSafety commissioner has advised the government to include it.
Plibersek told Sunrise this morning the government will do what’s in the “best interests” of children.
A lot of kids, they’re really genuinely harmed by what they’re being exposed to on social media …
We’re not going to be bullied out of taking action by any social media giant.
Kate Chaney to introduce bill banning AI child abuse apps
Independent MP Kate Chaney will introduce a bill today to stop AI technology that trains or facilitates the production of child sexual abuse material.
The bill would make it an offence to download technology for creating child abuse material and an offence to collect, scrape or distribute data with the intention to train or create technology for creating child abuse.
Chaney is on ABC News Breakfast and says while its important to regulate AI more broadly (as the government has said it’s looking at), she believes the parliament should also respond to specific gaps where they emerge.
We absolutely do need to take an holistic approach to regulating AI, but we also need to be able to nimbly respond to risks as they emerge. And this is a clear gap in our criminal code …
Currently, possession of these images is illegal, but it’s not illegal to possess these particular types of AI tools that are designed for the sole purpose of creating child sexual abuse material. So, it means that perpetrators can generate the material using images of real children, delete the images, and then recreate them whenever they want and avoid detection.
Chaney says she’s met with the attorney general’s office but the challenge is that there are a lot of “reports and consultations” being done while the technology rapidly evolves.
PBS ‘not a bargaining chip’ amid US tariff tensions, assistant minister says
The government has said the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is “not a bargaining chip” as it introduced legislation to fulfil its election promise of making PBS prescription medicines cheaper.
Last week the government announced some regulations would be lifted to allow more beef from the US to be imported to Australia, something the Trump administration had been publicly calling for.
Labor said biosecurity laws wouldn’t be weakened in the process, and said there was no coincidence in the timing of the ten year review with the US administration’s calls.
The US pharmaceutical lobby has been calling for the Trump administration to also slap tariffs on the PBS.
The assistant minister for mental health, Emma McBride, told ABC News Breakfast this morning the government’s position that the PBS isn’t on the negotiating table hasn’t changed.
The PBS is not up for negotiation, it is not a bargaining chip. Labor introduced the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to make sure that essential medicines were available to all Australians.
Josh Butler
Labor to introduce cheaper PBS medicine legislation to parliament this week
The government will progress another of its election commitments this week, introducing legislation into parliament for cheaper medicines on the PBS.
Fulfilling a key campaign pledge, the new legislation will mean prescription on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme will be capped at $25 from January.
The government has spruiked this as a key cost-of-living measure, building on a similar measure introduced in 2023. The change will mean a 20% cut in the maximum cost of medications on the PBS, which Labor says will save $200m per year.
Anthony Albanese said:
The size of your bank balance shouldn’t determine the quality of your healthcare. My Government will continue to deliver cost of living relief for all Australians.
The health minister, Mark Butler, added:
Cheaper medicines are good for the hip pocket and good for your health.
For general patients medicines haven’t been this cheap since 2004.
MPs Georgie Purcell and Josh Burns announce pregnancy
Benita Kolovos
Victorian upper house MP Georgie Purcell has announced she is expecting a baby girl in early 2026 with her partner, federal Labor MP Josh Burns.
Purcell, an MLC for the Animal Justice party representing the northern Victorian region, made the announcement on social media on Sunday night and said she will still be contesting the 2026 state election. She wrote:
I’ll be working right up until the end of the parliamentary year, and I’ll return to sitting weeks as usual in February, with every intention to campaign and contest the 2026 election. I am more committed to animals, people and the planet than ever before, and this is just one more path I am choosing. And I am ready to call out any suggestion otherwise. Not just for me, but for everybody else who may face conscious or unconscious bias when choosing to have a career and a family.
She also shared that due to her autoimmune condition, she is considered a high-risk pregnancy and will require weekly hospital visits.
Purcell said while “two members from two different parliaments having a baby is a bit unique, and there is bound to be interest in it” they have requested respect and privacy. She wrote:
While we are indeed in public life, pregnancy is an incredibly personal experience, so I ask that we’re granted respect and privacy just like anybody else (but I do look forward to sharing the parts with you that we are willing to share).
Burns also posted on social media:
Georgie and I are so excited to share with you that we’re expecting a baby girl in the very first few days of 2026. Our little baby already has the most excited and loving big sister in Tia. And she’ll have a home full of animals, love, and fun.
Next year, my team and I will keep working hard for the community we love, but I also plan on being a present and involved dad every step of the way.
The couple made their official public debut at Canberra’s 2024 Midwinter Ball. You can read more about them in this profile on Purcell from January:
Good morning
Krishani Dhanji here with you, and we are locked in for another busy sitting week here in Canberra.
Independent MP Kate Chaney will introduce a new bill today targeting AI tools that create or facilitate the production of child sexual abuse material.
It’s not too often you get really happy news around parliament, but Victorian MP Georgie Purcell and federal Labor MP Josh Burns are expecting a baby together. Purcell shared the news on her social media – we’ll have more details on that shortly.
And the government’s childcare bill will continue its passage through parliament this week. Guardian Australia has new data showing the depth of reports of abuse in childcare centres – you can read that report here.