Students strike for Palestine – as it happened

NSW opposition ‘ready to have Gareth Ward expelled’, Liberal leader says

The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, has responded to Gareth Ward losing his bid to seek an injunction to stop his parliamentary colleagues expelling him from the New South Wales parliament.

Speakman said:

The opposition is ready to have Gareth Ward expelled from parliament forthwith.

Palestinian statehood ‘a blessing to the region’ and recognition should not be used as a threat, former PM says

Ehud Olmert did not go as far as saying Gaza was in a state of starvation but said there was “certainly a danger of starvation if humanitarian supplies will not be provided adequately and comprehensively and effectively”.

Speaking with the ABC, the former Israeli prime minister said:

But the way I look at it is very simple, Israel is the power there. Israeli army controls Gaza. So it’s incumbent upon the state of Israel to make sure that the humanitarian supplies are provided adequately, comprehensively, without interference, in an effective manner, and if it’s not done, this is the responsibility of the Israeli government. There is no question about it.

It is inconceivable, unacceptable and unforgivable if it is not done.

He also said the idea of the establishment of a Palestinian state being a “punishment” to Israel was flawed.

I believe that a solution that will involve the creation of a Palestinian state is a blessing to the region. Is a blessing to us and to the Palestinians, because it may end the historic conflict between us and them.

So why do I need to hear from the prime minister of Australia what I think is a great blessing for the future of the Middle East, that it comes within the framework of a punishment and a threat to the Israeli government, that if you will not behave [yourself], then we will recognise it? I think it’s put in the wrong context.

Former Israel PM says most Israelis not in favour of Netanyahu government’s Gaza stance

Ehud Olmert says Israel is in crisis – and that the majority of its population does not accept its government’s policy on Gaza.

The former Israeli prime minister spoke with the ABC a short time ago. He said he hoped “Israel is not a pariah state”:

Israel is in a crisis, and the policy of the government is unacceptable to, I believe, the majority of Israelis. It’s not expressed yet in the policy of the government, because the government still enjoys the majority of the last elections, but it will definitely be expressed when the next elections will take place, hopefully soon.

So this is one thing I think needs to be emphasised: the majority of Israelis are not in favour of what the prime minister is doing, and we think that the present idea of conquering all of Gaza is something which is not going to do any good, not to the Israeli hostages, and not to the prospect of ending the war, and definitely not of refraining from killing unnecessarily … Palestinians, which will become victims almost inevitably, of this military operation.

Search continues for missing light plane and occupants off Tasmania

The search for a light plane and its two occupants, who have been missing since Saturday afternoon, will continue on Friday.

Tasmania police’s Insp Craig Fox said PolAir would be deployed for sweeps along the northern Tasmanian coastline, based on Australian Maritime Safety Authority drift data, police said in a statement. Police vessel Cape Wickham will also be deployed for search duties.

This afternoon, Fox said:

On Thursday, the police helicopter conducted sweeps of the Furneaux Island group including Flinders Island, Cape Barren Island and Chappell Island, plus other smaller islands.

Unfortunately, there was no sight of the plane or any other factors, such as debris, which may indicate its potential location.

Gregory Vaughan, 72, and his partner, Kim Worner, 66, from Deloraine, took off in a green two-seater Bristell S-LSA from George Town airport about 12.45pm on Saturday. They did not arrive at their destination in central NSW as scheduled, and family members raised the alarm on Saturday evening, police said.

Police said there is no evidence to suggest the circumstances of the missing plane are suspicious.

Anyone with information that could assist the search is urged to contact Tasmania police.

Higginson: Folbigg compensation amount an ‘absolute slap in the face’

Sue Higginson, Greens MP and spokesperson for justice, has labelled the $2m ex gratia payment to Kathleen Folbigg, who spent 20 years in prison after being convicted of killing her children, before being pardoned in 2023, “an absolute slap in the face and a failure of the New South Wales premier to uphold the principles of fairness and justice in NSW”.

She said a more appropriate compensation figure would have been 10 times the amount Folbigg has been offered by the state government.

She said:

Wrongful conviction is probably one of the most heinous things that the state can perpetrate on a person. The state of NSW did this to Kathleen Folbigg, a woman who had lost her own children. It’s hard to reconcile a greater crime against a woman, and that’s what happened here in this state.

It got it wrong, and it was on Chris Minns and Michael Daly, as the NSW premier and the NSW attorney general, to right this wrong. And they have failed.

Higginson said that ex gratia payments “are referred to as payments of grace in good faith. This offer is disgraceful and it’s been made in bad faith.”

She said a more appropriate compensation figure would have been something in the order of $23m to $26m, based on the fact that Lindy Chamberlain received a payment of $1.3m for having served three years in prison.

Higginson said it was within Minns’ power to correct the wrong and urged him to meet with Folbigg and address the issue.

She also called for an inquiry into the ex gratia payment system, saying there was a lack of transparency about how decisions were reached on the dollar amount people received:

We know that people can make an application for an ex gratia payment, and then things go into a kind of a Tardis, a closed door, a back room. It’s time to open this system. There needs to be more accountability, more realism, some more economic rationalism in this system, because what we’ve seen today is a perverse outcome.

Chaney says proposal for GST review is about ‘tough conversations’

Kate Chaney says her proposal to review GST is about having “tough conversations” and not simply talking about tax cuts.

The independent MP has just told ABC that as a “big part of our tax picture”, GST needs to be reviewed. “We’ve had no tax reform really in 20 years. And it’s a good tax. It’s efficient, it’s transparent, it’s simple,” she said.

She said her plan meant “people who consume more, and who spend more, end up paying more tax” and ensured lower income earners were not penalised:

We need leaders who are actually going to have the tough conversations, not only talk about tax cuts.

At the moment, talking about any changes to the GST is just taboo. And we’re never going to have serious reform if we can’t even start the conversation.

SA Greens urge premier to protect public servants’ right to work from home for

South Australian Greens are urging the premier, Peter Malinauskas, to join them in legislating working from home protections for public sector workers.

The Greens’ plan to introduce a private member’s bill would set guardrails to protect the right to work from home for one day a week for SA workers whose role can reasonably and practically be performed remotely, the Greens said in a statement.

On Monday, Malinauskas told ABC Radio he did not support protecting work from home rights in law, despite the Victorian Labor government announcing plans to legislate a two-day WFH entitlement, they said.

Robert Simms, SA Greens leader said:

Workers are being stretched, and the Greens’ work from home bill will help them. This will mean more money in the pockets of workers and more time for your life, family and friends – while costing employers nothing.

I urge the premier to embrace this opportunity to work with the Greens and avoid the perception that the Labor government is out of touch with modern workplaces. If the government fails to act, I have no doubt this will become a key issue for the next state election.

Chalmers caught criticising News Corp in hot mic moment

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the Productivity Commission boss, Danielle Wood, have been recorded criticising the Australian newspaper during an event at Parliament House.

The pair were preparing for a meeting of the treasurer’s investor roundtable on Wednesday when they were recorded discussing coverage of the upcoming productivity summit in the News Corp masthead.

Neither appeared aware there were live microphones around them.

Footage picked up by one of the news cameras given access to the start of the event showed Chalmers said the newspaper had “basically done a headline of the opposite of what I’d said”.

Wood responded: “They’re getting so many things factually wrong.”

Chalmers then said: “Deliberately so.”

The government is continuing to roll out a series of pre-roundtable meetings ahead of the main talks in Canberra starting on 19 August.

Chalmers, Wood and News Corp have been contacted for comment.

Opposition attorney-general spokesperson says tech platforms cannot steal the work of Australian artists without paying

Federal coalition frontbencher Julian Leeser has called for Australian artists to be financially protected from a potential loosening of AI regulation.

It comes after the Productivity Commission used an interim report to warn against the overregulation of AI. The commission is examining whether technology firms should be exempt from copyright rules that stop companies mining text and data to train AI models.

Leeser, the opposition’s attorney-general spokesperson, said Australian artists and creatives should not be sold out to AI:

If tech companies profit from the work of Australian artists and creatives, they should pay fair compensation, just like any other person.

In the real world, we wouldn’t let someone use an artist’s work for commercial purposes without paying for it. The virtual world should be no different.

Thank you, Nick Visser. I’m Daisy Dumas and I’ll be with you for the remainder of this Thursday’s live news coverage. Let’s get going.

That’s all for me, thanks for sticking with us today. The talented Daisy Dumas will be your shepherd through this afternoon’s news.

Students converge on NSW Labor party offices in Sydney

Students have converged on the New South Wales Labor party offices in Sydney’s Sussex Street after several hundred gathered at the Town Hall this afternoon to call for an end to suffering in Gaza.

The students are chanting “Penny Wong you will see, Palestine will be free” and “Chris Minns you will see, Palestine will be free”.

The deputy Greens leader and higher education spokesperson, Mehreen Faruqi, was among those in attendance at the Town Hall. She told students on social media they had her “full permission” to skip class to attend the rally.

Police in NSW said no arrests had been made as a result of the strike.

Meanwhile, students in Melbourne have begun their walk-off at the city’s State Library after gathering at several university campuses, including the University of Melbourne.

Update: there are, in fact, some under-40s on the economic roundtable this month

We reported earlier that the Intergenerational Fairness Coalition was demanding at least two under-40s at Jim Chalmers’ reform roundtable later this month.

Turns out their wishes have already been granted.

Guardian Australia asked around and there are at least two participants in their 30s: Cassandra Winzar, the chief economist at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia; and Joseph Mitchell, an assistant secretary at the ACTU.

Victorian losses on pokies jump to record high

Victorians lost $3.14bn on poker machines in the 2024-25 financial year, a $115m jump from the previous reporting period and a record high.

The Alliance for Gambling Reform said the spike in gambling losses on the pokies also came in a year when venues had changed operating hours that should have, in fact, led to a drop in losses. Uniform venue closing hours were in effect for all but two months of the last financial year.

Martin Thomas, the CEO of the alliance, said:

The new figures are appalling and represent devastating social harm across the state, not just financial loss, but in health and mental health conditions, marriage breakup, it exacerbates domestic violence and can lead to severe depression and suicide.

This harm is actually becoming more acute as the figures show the number of people playing poker machines in Victoria has halved in the last 15 years. So there are fewer people who are being impacted.

The alliance notes that in 2008, 21.5% of Victorians were gambling on poker machines. In 2023, that number dropped to just 10.7%.

Dozens more countries face higher taxes on exports to US as new Trump tariffs come into effect

Dozens of countries face higher taxes on their exports to the US now that Donald Trump’s latest wave of country-specific tariffs have come into force.

The sweeping “reciprocal” levies announced by the White House a week ago – just before a previous 1 August deadline was due to elapse – were in place as of a minute past midnight Washington time on Thursday.

Just before midnight, Trump claimed on social media that billions of dollars would start flowing into the US as a result of the tariffs. He wrote:

The only thing that can stop America’s greatness would be a radical left court that wants to see our country fail.

Read more here:

Penny Wong complained to China about intimidation of exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners

Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong directly complained about the targeted intimidation of exiled pro-democracy campaigners from Hong Kong to her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, during a bilateral meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

The July meeting was the first face-to-face discussion between the pair since two Hong Kong activists wanted for alleged national security crimes were subjected to anonymous letters offering Australian neighbours $203,000 to inform on them.

The letters are now being investigated by the countering foreign interference taskforce, which is led by Australia’s federal police and the domestic intelligence agency.

Government sources confirmed Wong privately reiterated her public criticism of the targeting of Adelaide-based Ted Hui and Melbourne-based Kevin Yam. Her office previously described their treatment as “reprehensible” and a threat to “our national sovereignty”.

Read more here:

Tasmania premier says state has spoken after snap election and he expects ‘common sense’ to prevail

Jeremy Rockliff, who was returned as Tasmania’s premier yesterday, at least until the state’s parliament returns on 19 August, said he is not expecting to lose a no-confidence motion threatened by opposition leader Dean Winter.

Rockliff spoke to the press after announcing his new cabinet in Launceston this afternoon, saying:

I am expecting to go to parliament and for common sense to prevail. The people have spoken. …

What the election said and the people of Tasmania clearly demonstrated is that they are sick and tired of the political games. Mr Winter continues to play political games … What I’m about is ensuring that I can learn from the previous parliament and engage with the crossbench for the benefit of Tasmanians.

Rockliff was adamant that there will not be another election.

Twelve judges resigned from Queensland writers award after intervention over Gaza tweets

12 judges resigned from the panels governing a Queensland writers award after First Nations writer Karen Wyld was stripped of a fellowship over tweets about the war in Gaza.

State Library of Queensland chief, Vicki McDonald, revealed about a third of its 34 black&write! writing fellowship judges had resigned after it was directed to withdraw the win by the minister in May.

Arts minister John-Paul Langbroek said he “took action to uphold the integrity of publicly funded cultural institutions”. He said:

I made it very clear that any perception that taxpayer funded awards are being granted to individuals who express views that justified terrorism undermines public confidence in our institutions and the broader cultural center sector.

I will not rule out taking similar action in the future, if it is deemed necessary. If they choose not to be judges again, we will find other judges.

Estimates also heard that the Queensland Performing Arts Centre board had recommended naming its new $184m theatre after an Indigenous Queenslander, particularly Indigenous poet and activist Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Instead the state government put the decision to a public vote, with five options: Glasshouse theatre, Lantern theatre, Watershed theatre and Russell Street theatre, or suggest an alternative. It is to be called the Glasshouse theatre.

Academic who had Palestinian flag removed from University of Sydney office applies to fly it again

An academic who had a Palestinian flag removed from outside his office by the University of Sydney for breaching its new flag policy has applied for approval to fly the flag “for as long as Israel continues its genocide of the Palestinians”.

Dr David Brophy, a senior lecturer in modern Chinese history, had been advised by the university its display breached the policy’s clause 2.8(1), which states that unapproved flags can be displayed in such areas on a temporary basis only.

In a response to the university’s statement, Brophy said he had written to the vice-chancellor and the “Brand Team” for approval “to fly the same flag, from the same place, for as long as Israel continues its genocide of the Palestinians. I hope they’ll let me do it”. He said:

It was always intended as a temporary gesture, until such time as Israel ends its genocide and withdraws from the Gaza Strip.

Brophy said he was “glad” for one part of the university’s statement, which confirmed “we expect Palestinian flags to continue to feature on our campus”.

“That’s something we can agree on,” Brophy said.

Since Brophy’s flag was removed, three more Palestinian flags have appeared hanging from university buildings. A spokesperson for the University of Sydney said it would “assess any flags on campus in line with the flag policy”.

• This post has been updated to include the university’s response.

Conviction for a ‘serious sex offence’ should be grounds for expulsion from parliament, Ron Hoenig’s lawyers argue

Returning to the urgent hearing before the court of appeal right now after convicted rapist MP Gareth Ward sought an injunction to stop his parliamentary colleagues expelling him from the New South Wales parliament.

The lawyer acting for the leader of the Legislative Assembly has disputed the Kiama MP’s assertion that his conviction alone is not “unworthy conduct”, and therefore parliament does not have grounds to undertake a vote on whether to expel him.

Craig Lenehan, who is acting for Labor MP Ron Hoenig, argued:

It’s obviously open to a legislative body to form a view that a member convicted by a jury of a serious sex offence should be expelled.

He said the motion to expel Ward is not “some sort of illicit punitive purpose”, as argued by Ward’s lawyer, Peter King. Lenehan said:

Nothing in the evidence suggests any such thing.

Greens’ Nick McKim: ‘the best idea the teals can come up with is to make food more expensive?’

It’s not often that we see members of the crossbench take shots at each other, when they more often team up to push the government on various matters. McKim added:

If we want to make people’s lives better we should make big corporations pay their fair share of tax and use the revenue to provide genuine cost of living relief. Since the pandemic the cost of essentials has skyrocketed, and the best idea the teals can come up with is to make food more expensive?

McKim went on to claim “the teals want to hike up taxes on baby formula and electricity.”

If we are serious about easing cost of living pressures we should be making big corporations and the super wealthy pay their fair share of tax. One in three of the biggest corporations pays no tax at all. The ultra-wealthy stash billions in trusts and tax shelters.

Greens blast Kate Chaney’s GST idea as ‘lazy’

It’s a crossbench clash as the Greens accuse independent Kate Chaney of a “lazy idea” to raise the GST.

Greens economic spokesperson Nick McKim shared a media statement titled “Teals’ GST plan shows warped priorities”. Referring to Chaney as a “teal” several times, in a rather critical takedown of her plan, McKim decried her idea, which he claimed would “jack up the GST and apply it to fresh food and utilities”. Instead the Greens are pushing their own plan to raise taxes on wealthy Australians and big businesses. McKim said:

Kate Chaney’s plan to raise the GST to 15% and apply it to fresh food and utilities is a lazy idea.

Under-40s and the economic roundtable

In hyping his talkfest back in June, Chalmers said “the decisions we make in the 2020s will determine the sort of living standards and intergenerational justice that we have in the decades to come”.

And younger Australians have plenty to worry about.

Unaffordable homes, soaring student debt programs, the burden of higher taxes to pay for an ageing population and fears that AI will crush their careers – all threaten to leave the current generation with lower living standards than their parents.

Then there’s the more existential threat from climate change.

But, as Jane Body from the Intergenerational Fairness Coalition notes, the reform roundtable agenda also doesn’t find space for a specific session on intergenerational issues.

• This post was updated on 7 August 2025. An earlier version incorrectly stated that there were no participants in the roundtable under 40 and said Jane Body called for at least two under-40 representatives to be added to the list of conference attendees. Please see our update here.

Qantas has devalued its frequent flyer points. What should you do now?

Qantas was back in the spotlight this week with news that affected members of its frequent flyer program.

The airline has made significant changes to its loyalty program, effectively devaluing its frequent flyer points.

Qantas has announced changes to its loyalty program. But will they benefit frequent flyers – and are members better off spending their points on shopping instead of flights?

My colleague, Catie McLeod, explains:

Trump administration threatens to deport Iranian man to Australia

Labor has cast doubt on the possibility of the Trump administration transferring an Iranian-born man from US immigration detention to Australia, saying it has no knowledge of the case.

The US government is threatening to deport Reza Zavvar, a 52-year-old recruiter from Maryland, to either Australia or Romania.

Zavvar is being held in detention, despite holding a US immigration green card, due to a historical conviction for marijuana possession which dates back to the 1990s.

Zavvar cannot be sent back to Iran due to risk of persecution there, and his lawyer Ava Benach says he has been told he could be sent to a third country.

The Trump administration has taken a hard line on deporting non-citizens from the US, often to countries in South America. The deportation policy has seen people arrested without warning by federal officials around the US, and has sparked a series of legal challenges.

Search for missing plane enters sixth day along Tasmania’s coast

Tasmania Police are continuing the search for a small plane that went missing on Saturday after leaving the state’s George Town airport. Two people – identified as Gregory Vaughan, 72, and his partner, Kim Worner, 66 – were on board, along with their dog, travelling to regional NSW.

A police helicopter will search the coastline along northern Tasmania today after early searches found no sign of the light sport plane. No boats have been able to join the hunt since Tuesday due to challenging weather conditions and no new search areas have been identified.

The matter is now part of an active investigation, officials said. Police said previously there has been no contact with the couple, or their plane, since it left the George Town airport near Tasmania’s north coast.

Parts of central NSW still under evacuation orders as flood waters move downstream

Some residents in the towns of Gunnedah and Narrabri remain under flood evacuation orders after last weekend’s heavy rain.

The NSW SES notes 20 emergency warnings are active in parts of NSW, including 16 “evacuate now” alerts. About 2,200 volunteers have responded to more than 2,600 incidents since the latest weather event began, with 40 flood rescues so far. Officials said on social media those threats remain for those along the Namoi River at Wee Waa:

The Namoi River at Wee Waa is continuing to rise and the flood risk in the town is increasing today and NSW SES has prepositioned crews and assets in the affected areas in preparation.

SES officials urge residents in potentially impacted areas to stay up-to-date with the HazardWatch app.

Some electric cars fall short of claimed range by up to 23%

A government-funded program to test the true performance of vehicles has found the driving range of five popular electric cars is between 5% and 23% lower than results from laboratory testing.

The Australian Automobile Association tested vehicles from Tesla, BYD, Kia and Smart – the first EVs to be put through its four-year, federally funded Real World Testing Program to give consumers more accurate information on vehicle performance.

The extended range variant of the BYD Atto3 had the largest discrepancy, according to the AAA, with a real-world range of 369km, 23% lower than the 480km achieved in laboratory testing. The Smart #3 had the lowest, with only a 5% difference.

The Tesla Model 3 had a real-world range 14% lower than the lab test. Tesla’s Model Y and the Kia EV6 both had a real world range 8% lower.

Read more here:

National Union of Students calls for student referendum on Palestine

The National Union of Students is endorsing a national student referendum on Palestine, and will poll students on whether to pass motions censuring the Australian government and their universities amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

The union said mass meetings of students will take place at campuses across the country from 20 to 28 August, where those gathered will debate two motions. One includes students censuring the Australian government for its “complicity in the genocide in Gaza”, including a demand to end all weapons sales to Israel. The other calls on Australian universities to end their partnerships with weapons companies.

James McVicar, the education officer for the union, said in a statement:

In the face of our own government’s complicity in the crime of genocide, students are standing up and demanding to be counted. The National Student Referendum on Palestine will be a chance for students across the country to vote no confidence in our government and demand an end to weapons companies on our campuses.

Peak welfare body calls for property tax breaks to be rolled back before productivity roundtable

The Australian Council of Social Services (Acoss) says the government should roll back tax breaks for property investors, the latest major body to do so ahead of the treasurer’s productivity roundtable later this month.

Acoss, the nation’s peak welfare body, says the capital gains tax should be halved and negative gearing should be limited. There should also be a commonwealth royalty payment for offshore gas, the group says, adding revenue generated by those changes should be invested in social housing. Cassandra Goldie, the chief executive of Acoss, told the ABC:

We are very clear we would phase out the very generous 50% tax discount and get it down to 25%. So there’d be some tax reward for property investment, but nowhere near as generous.

On Sunday, the head of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, also called for changes to the capital gains tax and negative gearing. She said at the time bold reforms were needed to help younger people, saying it was time for the country to “bite the bullet” on the ABC.

One signatory says Gaza letter represents ‘strong, shared frustration’ at furrowed brows over action

Peter Rodgers, a former ambassador to Israel, said the letter represents a call to action after a long period of “worried looks”. He told RN Breakfast this morning:

I think there’s a strong, shared frustration, and indeed anger, at all the furrowed brows and the expressions of deep concern, growing concern, etc. etc, and very little action. And so I think that’s what this letter represents.

It is time for action, not just worried looks.

Rodgers said arguments the recognition of a Palestinian state would embolden Hamas were “nonsensical”, saying not doing so actually rewarded Israel’s campaign:

It rewards the government of Benjamin Netanyahu for its campaign of genocidal violence in Gaza, for its campaign of ethnic cleansing and apartheid in the West Bank. And so it’s a nonsensical argument. The problem here is, certainly on the Palestinian side, there are some very nasty people. On the Israeli side, there are also nasty people …

I think we need to be very careful of pointing the finger in one direction and forgetting what’s going on the other side.

Treasurer says Australia can be ‘big player’ in future of data centres

Chalmers was also asked about the former CEO of Atlassian, who recently said he wants to see Australia host massive data centres and see a change in the copyright law to allow exemptions for data mining for AI companies.

Chalmers said the data centres were “a major opportunity” for Australia, adding:

As it turns out, I’ve spent a few hours this afternoon with $3tn of Australian capital, the biggest investors in Australia, super and other institutional investors, we’ve been grappling with this question: how does Australia make the most of this opportunity when it comes to data centres and AI infrastructure more broadly?

We have got a big chance, we’ll be mad not to grab it. We need to get the energy piece right, the zoning approvals piece right, the skills piece right as well. We can be a big player in data centres.

Chalmers says he will err on the side of workers when it comes to AI

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, appeared on 7.30 last night, where he was talking about how AI will be a key topic at the government’s productivity roundtable in a few weeks.

He was asked if he would support the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ call for workers to be able to veto AI in their workplace. He said he would err on the side of workers:

We need to be realistic about it. And certainly, I agree that workers need to be part of the conversation when it comes to rolling out a technology that has this game-changing potential.

And where there’s very real potential risks in the labour market. I would always err on the side of workers having a say in how their work is done.