‘Enough is enough’: moderate Liberals call for Taylor to make his position known
More Liberals have come out telling Angus Taylor and his allies to stand up and call the leadership spill publicly.
Moderate senator, Maria Kovacic, who is a staunch Sussan Ley supporter, told reporters today:
Enough is enough of the ongoing chatter on leadership. If you want to call a spill, put your name to it and call it.
Kovacic and fellow moderate, Tim Wilson, did a doorstop earlier around reports from Nine that the CFMEU administrator directed Geoffrey Watson SC to remove findings from his report that Victoria’s Labor government turned a blind eye to CFMEU connections to organised crime.
But, of course, most of the questions were about whether Taylor would – or should – resign from the frontbench today. Wilson avoided the question at all costs, while Kovacic gave the brief answer above, right at the end of the doorstop.
The pair have called on the workplace relations minister, Amanda Rishworth, to sack the government-appointed administrator, Mark Irving. Kovacic said:
She must now call for the resignation of the administrator. To seek not just to redact a few lines or a few sections of the report, but chapters of the report is extraordinary.
Key events
We’re getting some more photos from Government House for Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit.
He’s receiving a ceremonial welcome. So far we’ve spotted House Speaker Milton Dick, opposition leader Sussan Ley secretary of the department of prime minister and cabinet, Stephen Kennedy, and governor general, Sam Mostyn.
Herzog arrived from Sydney with the prime minister.
Israeli president to meet with governor general at Government House
Isaac Herzog will soon have lunch with the governor general, prime minister, and leader of the opposition today at Government House.
The details are being tightly held, so we don’t know if anyone else will be there.
Security is also, unsurprisingly, very tight.
Our friends at AAP have just snapped a pic of a sniper at Government House ahead of the arrival.
‘Enough is enough’: moderate Liberals call for Taylor to make his position known
More Liberals have come out telling Angus Taylor and his allies to stand up and call the leadership spill publicly.
Moderate senator, Maria Kovacic, who is a staunch Sussan Ley supporter, told reporters today:
Enough is enough of the ongoing chatter on leadership. If you want to call a spill, put your name to it and call it.
Kovacic and fellow moderate, Tim Wilson, did a doorstop earlier around reports from Nine that the CFMEU administrator directed Geoffrey Watson SC to remove findings from his report that Victoria’s Labor government turned a blind eye to CFMEU connections to organised crime.
But, of course, most of the questions were about whether Taylor would – or should – resign from the frontbench today. Wilson avoided the question at all costs, while Kovacic gave the brief answer above, right at the end of the doorstop.
The pair have called on the workplace relations minister, Amanda Rishworth, to sack the government-appointed administrator, Mark Irving. Kovacic said:
She must now call for the resignation of the administrator. To seek not just to redact a few lines or a few sections of the report, but chapters of the report is extraordinary.
Benita Kolovos
How rezoning of Melbourne inner suburbs will work
Each zone has proposed inner and outer catchments. In the inner catchments – within a five-minute walk from the station – a height limit of four storeys, or six storeys on larger blocks of more than 1,000 sq metres, is proposed. In the outer – up to a 10-minute walk from the station – there is a proposed limit of three storeys, or four on larger blocks.
Sonya Kilkenny said heritage and landscape overlays will stay in place and each map was subject to consultation with the local community. She said the reforms – opposed by the Coalition and some community groups – were part of the government’s plan to give more Victorians “real housing choice”. She said:
While we’re focused on giving more young Victorians the opportunity to have a home of their own, the Liberals are blocking them from being built. They oppose more homes near transport, jobs and services.
The final 13 maps will be released after a press conference this morning.
Melbourne inner suburbs rezoning plan could see apartment towers of up to 20 storeys
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian government is proposing apartment towers of up to 20 storeys across some of Melbourne’s wealthiest inner suburbs as part of its plan to significantly increase housing supply.
The planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, on Wednesday will release draft maps showing proposed heights and boundaries of 10 more of the government’s 50 activity centres.
Under the plan, first announced in October 2024, the state government will seize planning controls for the designated areas – located near train and tram stops – from local councils to allow greater density, increased building heights, faster approval processes and fewer avenues for appeal, in an effort to significantly increase housing supply.
Of the latest maps, Caulfield station – a major interchange for the south-eastern suburbs connecting the Frankston, Cranbourne/Pakenham lines – will have the highest proposed density of up to 20 storeys on Station Road and Dandenong Road. Nearby Malvern station is proposed to reach up to 16 storeys.
Also along the Frankston line, Armadale could reach 10 storeys and Glenhuntly 12. On the Sandringham line, Prahran and South Yarra could reach 12 storeys and Windsor 12.
Mitcham on the Belgrave-Lilydale line will see up to 12 storeys, while Noble Park and Springvale on the Cranbourne-Pakenham line, 12 and 16, respectively.
Kelly Burke
ABC under fire over Tony Armstrong’s one-off satirical show
The ABC also came under fire in estimates on Tuesday from Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, over the screening of a Tony Armstrong hosted one-off satirical show, Always Was Tonight, in the lead up to Australia Day.
“In the context of race relations … where our country is so divided, how does this program actually help in terms of race relations in our country,” Price asked, going on to object to Armstrong’s reference to genocide, and a range of “anti-white” quotes appearing on a ticker throughout the 30 minute special. Price asked:
Who made the editorial decision to allow this program to air that clearly intended to demonise British settlement and peddle falsehoods?
Marks said the program had been the subject of some complaints.
The program has been through a review by the ombudsman, who found that the program did not breach editorial standards.
The Greens last month came out in support of the program, amid criticism from the Coalition and some conservative commentators, describing it as the ABC at its cutting-edge best.
“If we cannot make fun of ourselves and make fun of the exposure of racism through humour, then we really have lost the plot,” the Green’s communications spokesperson, senator Sarah Hanson-Young, said at the time.
Kelly Burke
ABC accused of failing in its duty of impartiality over Adelaide writers’ festival boycott
Liberal senator Sarah Henderson accused the ABC of failing in its duty of impartiality by appearing to support the decision by four ABC journalists to join the boycott of the Adelaide writers’ festival.
Grilling ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, and editorial director, Gavin Fang, at Senate estimates late on Tuesday, Henderson singled out the actions of Laura Tingle, John Lyons, Sarah Ferguson and Louise Milligan. Henderson said:
I put to you that their actions in withdrawing from the festival constituted a boycott, in support of Randa Abdel-Fattah.
Abdel-Fattah’s removal from the 2026 event sparked a mass boycott. The festival subsequently apologised to her and pledged to invite her to next year’s festival. Henderson said:
When it comes to ABC journalists, you can’t allow your journalists to run their own political activism, because it reflects on the ABC.
Fang and Marks strongly disputed Henderson’s allegations. Fang said:
That somebody not commenting, or somebody making a comment on social media where they’ve said they are withdrawing, indicates that they have taken a position supporting the comments of Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, I just simply do not think that that inference is accurate.
Addressing Ferguson’s social media post announcing her decision to withdraw from the festival, Marks said the 7.30 host was protesting the politicisation of the event, not in any way signalling her support for Abdel-Fattah.
Surely, principles of freedom of speech, political interference, and creative debate, these are principles that journalists are entitled to stand up for.
Graham Readfearn
Environment group opens court case against Murray Watt over Tasmanian fish farming approval
Environment group NWTAS for Clean Oceans opens a case in the federal court today as they try to force the environment minister, Murray Watt, to reverse a decision to allow ongoing industrial fish farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour.
Watt approved an expansion of fish farming in the harbour in August last year, which the group claims should have been blocked due to threats to the endangered Maugean skate.
The harbour is the species’ last known habitat and the group says fish farming is the skate’s key threat.
The environment group will argue Watt “erred in his decision” and wants the court to force Watt to reconsider the original decision.
Mother of teen alleging her son was assaulted by police at Sydney rally says she plans to press charges
The mother of a 16-year-old who alleges her son was assaulted by police at Monday’s rally at Sydney’s Town Hall plans to press charges.
Kefah Maradweh and her son, Nedal, spoke to ABC Radio Sydney this morning about the violent interaction between protesters and police. Nedal recounted seeing a group of Muslim men praying in the area before they were allegedly grabbed and pushed by officers. He said he was with his sister and her young baby nearby before an officer allegedly pushed her.
I told them she had a baby. As I said that, they just grabbed me by the keffiyeh, my scarf, and just dragged me, pulled me, kicked me on the floor … Knee to my head, knee to my neck, and then yeah, just put me in handcuffs.
Kefah, a nurse from western Sydney, said it was difficult watching video footage of her son’s encounter, saying it was “traumatising” and she couldn’t get the images out of her mind.
To be honest, it was a war zone. When I was looking around me, I did not believe my eyes that I live in Australia at the moment.
She said she planned to press charges:
I will because that was a deliberate attack on my son, and that was an assault on a minor. And that was like an attack on someone who did nothing, just to stand up for humanity in a way.
It’s our right in this country, we are citizens like everyone else. So why we can be treated different?
Patrick Commins
Labor introduces $3m super tax legislation
The government has introduced its modified $3m super tax legislation into parliament this morning, as part of a reform which will also lift the threshold for the low income super tax offset that will boost the savings for more than a million Australians.
Under the new rules, the tax on earnings from balances over $3m will double to 30%, and go up to 40% on earnings from balances over $10m. After much debate, the original proposal was modified to tax only realised (rather than unrealised, or paper) gains, and the threshold will be indexed.
Assuming the changes pass through parliament, the extra $3m super tax will start from the middle of 2026.
As for the low income tax offset, this is a long overdue change that will boost the super balances of workers on low incomes and permanently remove the perverse situation where some Australians were paying more tax on their super than on their normal pay.
Jim Chalmers in a statement said “these changes will make the super system fairer from top to bottom”, adding:
Our reforms are all about helping workers earn more, keep more of what they earn, and retire with more, while also strengthening Australia’s world-class superannuation system.
Sharma backs Ley but will support ‘whoever’ Liberal party elects as leader
Penry Buckley
Senator Dave Sharma says he backs the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, amid a possible spill, but says he will support “whoever has been elected by the Liberal party room to be leader”.
Sharma, who is part of Ley’s moderate faction, has told ABC Sydney that Ley “has my support as leader”, adding he is not involved in speculation or discussions about her future.
Asked if he would support Angus Taylor as Liberal party leader, Sharma says:
I will support whoever has been elected by the Liberal party room to be the leader. I think it’s important that we all make that commitment. Because, you know, whoever has been chosen to be the captain of the time, it’s ultimately a team sport, politics, and if the team is trying to play different games or different strategies on the field, we’re not going to win.
Sharma says he is “very frustrated” with the current state of the Liberal party:
I think we have a lot of problems and national issues, and it is our job as an opposition to highlight those and to put forward alternative ideas … and at the moment, we’re not doing as good a job of that as we should be.
Patrick Commins
More on the rent figures from our economics chief …
Tim Lawless, Cotality’s research director, said “the fact that rental growth is accelerating, even after such a large cumulative increase since 2020, is a real concern”.
It suggests demand for rental accommodation still far exceeds available supply, and that renters are facing an even larger portion of their income just to keep a roof over their heads.
Tenants are on average dedicating a record 33.4% of their pre-tax income on rent, according to Cotality data.
As the dream of home ownership has become increasingly out of reach for many Australians, a larger share of homes are rented.
In the mid-1990s, 25% of households aged between 35 and 49 years were renting, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
By 2019 – and before the post-pandemic squeeze that has intensified the housing crisis – that proportion had blown out to nearly 40%. Lawless said:
Unless wage growth accelerates meaningfully, or we see a step-change in rental supply, the risk is that affordability will deteriorate further for low income households in particular.
There is also evidence that recent measures aimed at helping first-home buyers into the market have instead boosted home prices and made it harder for lower income Australians to buy.
As housing costs have soared over recent decades, Australia has underinvested in social housing.
Only 3.6% of homes are dedicated to social housing, or about half the OECD average.
Fewer than 2% of homes being built now are for social housing, down from 15% in the 1970s, and 22% in the 1950s.
