source : the age
Welcome to our rolling live coverage of all the latest news and developments around Australia and the world this Tuesday, September 15.
Here is what’s making news today.
- The Coalition has accused Labor of rorting an invite-only $20 million fund to install CCTV networks across electorates that were held or targeted by the government before the 2025 federal election.
- A Resolve Political Monitor survey of 1800 voters found nearly half believe the current level of permanent migration remains too high, with a majority believing the government is handling immigration in “an unplanned and unmanaged way”.
- As the war in Iran approaches its seven month, fuel suppliers are warning motorists could face another petrol and diesel shock after a vital Middle Eastern pipeline was forced offline. The worsening situation has some local industry executives thinking the government may have to cut the fuel excise for the second time.
- The blockbuster evidence of Sydney developer Jean Nassif, who dialled in via video link to give evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption yesterday lived up to the billing, writes Kate McClymont. Within minutes of swearing to tell the truth, Nassif was making wild allegations against his political nemesis, former police minister David Elliott, whom he claimed was “a racist person … a corrupt politician”.
- The luxury Bahamas wedding celebrations of Donald Trump’s eldest son and Bettina Anderson were partially bankrolled by an ally of Vladimir Putin. But Anderson has taken to Instagram to insist there was nothing wrong with the “extraordinarily generous wedding gift”.
Liberal frontbencher Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she is “sick of talking about race in our country” after Pauline Hanson’s remarks about Indigenous Australians.
Price, who acknowledged she had defended the Queensland senator over her time in politics, rubbished Hanson’s claim that the remarks had been taken out of context, saying her “tone and inflection” in the podcast were indicative of her intent.
“When you say ‘the most primitive race on earth’, you are speaking about a race of people. And I don’t care what excuses are being made,” Price told 2GB’s Ben Fordham this morning.
“She did absolutely demonstrate willful ignorance because there’s a hell of a lot more to Australia’s first people than simply what her remarks suggest.”
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says One Nation’s migration plan would be “utterly detrimental” to the Australian economy but has avoided answering when Labor will belatedly announce its own policy.
Regional areas would be devastated under One Nation’s plan to slash temporary migrant visas by 750,000, Marles said, claiming regional doctors, nurses, universities and farm workers would go under the policy.
“People need to be really clear about the kind of policies that One Nation is talking about that would be utterly detrimental to the Australian economy, and particularly in regional Australia,” he said.
However, Marles declined to say when Labor would release its own migration policy more than a month after the government stopped Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke from announcing an updated plan.
“We have seen our plan at the budget,” Marles said.
“When we came to government, immigration was too high. We brought it down by 40 per cent relative to its peak. We want to bring it down further, and taking it down to 245,000 represents that.”
US President Donald Trump said that he would be a sufficient guardrail against rogue artificial intelligence, claiming that any efforts to limit the technology was part of a “SICK conspiracy.”
Trump was pushing back against calls by tech leaders such as Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk to have greater government oversight of AI. Many tech leaders generally say their goal is to develop the technology in ways that promote safety, address legal liability, feed economic growth, advance science and preserve national security.
The president maintained that his presence in the Oval Office should assuage any fears about AI, which has become a source of controversy after a series of hacks in recent months that showed AI agents could be working to deceive humans.
“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump posted on social media.
One Nation’s treasury spokesman Barnaby Joyce has dismissed concerns that his party’s plans to cut migration by 750,000 over three years could trigger a recession, saying Australians are tired of economists.
“The issue of what it is going to cost, I think, is contentious, but I have no concern about following the will of the Australian people,” Joyce told an audience on ABC’s National Forum.
“I think the Australian people are sort of tired of the fact that you have to go to an economist to come up with public policy, to go to the Parliamentary Budget Office, and, to be quite frank, I have been around this game for a while and I have never seen a forward estimates in any budgetary paper be even close to the mark.”
He said there was mounting anger about experts determining policy instead of elected representatives.
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil says Pauline Hanson is denigrating the values that make Australia great, condemning her remarks about Indigenous Australians as “ugly, divisive, politics”.
Hanson was taking Australia down the “road of Americanising our politics”, which O’Neil described as “awful”, saying the nation’s myriad problems wouldn’t be solved by “punching down”.
“You know Pauline Hanson and One Nation say that they stand up for Australia being great, but they’re denigrating the things that are brilliant about our country,” O’Neil said on Nine’s Today show this morning.
“We should celebrate what’s brilliant about Australia, and we shouldn’t resort to this kind of like ugly, divisive politics. If Pauline Hanson wants to take us down the road of Americanising our politics, so people in a family who disagree on political issues can’t speak to each other any longer, like this is the pathway to do it.”
Criticism of Hanson continued today after her appearance on a little-known podcast last September resurfaced yesterday. On it, she attacks Indigenous Australians as the “the most primitive race on Earth.”
The leaders of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland signed a pact overnight that threatens to lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom.
The first ministers of the three semiautonomous regions of the UK told Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his government to prepare for constitutional change and that their future lies with the European Union.
“For people watching across these islands – for people watching around the world – there could be no clearer sign that Westminster’s time is coming to an end,” they said in a memorandum of understanding, referring to the parliament.
The announcement came about 48 hours after US President Donald Trump waded into the waters of the politically contentious issue when he said he would “love to see” a reunified Ireland during a trip to visit his golf course hosting the Irish Open.
Anthony Albanese has spoken with King Charles in a call overnight.
In a post on X, Albanese said the 77-year-old King’s “affection for the Australian people remains strong”.
“A privilege to speak with His Majesty King Charles III this evening. His affection for the Australian people remains strong. I extended Australia’s best wishes to His Majesty and the Royal Family,” the post on the prime minister’s official account said.
Welcome to our rolling live coverage of all the latest news and developments around Australia and the world this Tuesday, September 15.
Here is what’s making news today.
- The Coalition has accused Labor of rorting an invite-only $20 million fund to install CCTV networks across electorates that were held or targeted by the government before the 2025 federal election.
- A Resolve Political Monitor survey of 1800 voters found nearly half believe the current level of permanent migration remains too high, with a majority believing the government is handling immigration in “an unplanned and unmanaged way”.
- As the war in Iran approaches its seven month, fuel suppliers are warning motorists could face another petrol and diesel shock after a vital Middle Eastern pipeline was forced offline. The worsening situation has some local industry executives thinking the government may have to cut the fuel excise for the second time.
- The blockbuster evidence of Sydney developer Jean Nassif, who dialled in via video link to give evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption yesterday lived up to the billing, writes Kate McClymont. Within minutes of swearing to tell the truth, Nassif was making wild allegations against his political nemesis, former police minister David Elliott, whom he claimed was “a racist person … a corrupt politician”.
- The luxury Bahamas wedding celebrations of Donald Trump’s eldest son and Bettina Anderson were partially bankrolled by an ally of Vladimir Putin. But Anderson has taken to Instagram to insist there was nothing wrong with the “extraordinarily generous wedding gift”.
