Australian news and politics live: Albanese responds to claims US wasn’t given ‘heads up’ on Palestine call

The Prime Minister has joined the nation in remembering the sacrifice our ‘Diggers’ made during World War II, and reflected on the 80th anniversary of VP Day at a ceremony in Sydney on Friday.

“Eighty years ago, Australians gathered here to celebrate the war in the Pacific coming to an end,” Anthony Albanese posted on X.

“Today, we reflect on what victory meant - and what it cost.

“We remember the courage of ordinary people facing the extraordinary. Their resilience, mateship and strength of character.

“We think of their happiness and the noise of their celebrations.

“And the silence of those who never came home.

“Lest we forget.”

The departure of a rapist MP will bring Australia’s oldest parliament closer to gender parity at an upcoming vote to replace him.

The major parties in NSW, both claiming underdog status in the upcoming Kiama by-election on September 13, have confirmed women candidates, potentially lifting the state’s proportion of women MPs over 44 per cent.

The Liberals on Friday announced former Shoalhaven City councillor Serena Copley will be the party’s candidate.

“The Liberal Party has a strong record of investing in Kiama, and it’s important when people ask themselves who’s best to represent them, they look at who has backed our local community,” Ms Copley said.

Read the full story here.

Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has significantly increased her bet on US President Donald Trump’s Truth Social social media platform.

The mining billionaire is a long-standing member of the Trump support group and has close ties with the President, celebrating his election night victory with close friends at his Mar-a-lago residence in West Palm Beach.

She has also called for Mr Trump’s policy agenda to be followed in Australia, including setting up a Department of Government Efficiency and following the US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting increased its holdings of Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates Truth Social, by 67 per cent in the June quarter, according to a regulatory filing cited by Bloomberg.

The stake is believed to be worth about $US4.5 million ($6.92m).

Read the full story here.

Michelle Rowland has explained in more detail what has been agreed to in the Standing Council of Attorneys-General in Sydney today.

The Attorney General has clarified that the national system won’t be identical in all jurisdictions but rather state schemes will better communicate with each other.

“When we talk about harmonisation, we are not looking at a scheme to make every single state exactly the same,” she said.

“We are not looking to redo individual state systems. We are looking for consistency.

“From today’s agreement in SCAG is that no State and Territory would be required to lower the concern standards that they have.

“We’re looking at a way in which we can get the most efficient outcome, and that is by individual state schemes talking to one another.

“Each state and territory has its own criminal justice systems. We’re not seeking to replace any of those.”

Federal Attorney General Michelle Rowland said she understands the community’s expectation for the government to act swiftly and acknowledged it has taken too long.

“These are complex areas. But that is no excuse for saying this is too hard,” she said.

“These changes are actually arising from a 2015 recommendation of a Royal Commission.

“2015 is ten years ago. They (impacted children and parents) have been let down by successive governments, at all levels.

“We are here as representatives of the states and territories and Commonwealth to say that we’re here to make that right.

“We now have a moment, as a country, as a federation, to get this done, and I am pleased that my counterparts in states and territories have committed to this important body of work.

“What we are announcing today is real deliverables.”

Federal Attorney General Michelle Rowland says all State and Territories have agreed to harmonise a national working with children check system at a meeting she’s convened in Sydney on Friday.

Holding a press conference after the meeting, Ms Rowland said that all leaders said they wanted to urgently work to fix the lack of coordination.

“All jurisdictions have agreed to deliver ambitious reforms to address systemic gaps,” she said.

“Nefarious individuals have been shopping around the Working With Children Check system and exploiting loopholes.

“We took this urgent reform to SCAG (Standing Council of Attorneys-General) as a priority, initially expecting that this could take up to 12 months as a feasible time frame that the Commonwealth states and territories could agree to for implementation.

“So I’m extremely pleased to accelerate delivery of the reform with states and territories agreeing to work towards implementation by the end of this year.”

Some young men believe women are receiving all the opportunities in a way that is impacting male rights, with Minister for Women Katy Gallagher calling it a “worrying trend”.

But while diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies are being wound back overseas, most notably by the Trump administration in the US, Australian workers are not experiencing the same pushback.

“In Australia, our ethos of everyone having a fair go and treating people equally is really strong - certainly across business, community and government,” Senator Gallagher told the Women in Media national conference on Friday.

“There is a worrying trend emerging ... particularly with young men thinking that women are getting too much and that their rights are going backwards, and there’s too much focus on women.”

Senator Gallagher wants to embed reforms in favour of women and diversity so they cannot be reversed by a change in government.

Read the full story here.

Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley has hit out at Attorney General Michelle Rowland’s suggestion that reforming the Working with Children checks system may take at least 12-months, saying the timeframe “isn’t good enough”.

“The PM has talked a big game on fixing these issues but twelve months to deliver this isn’t good enough,” Ms Ley said on Friday.

“We’ve done our bit in the federal parliament to work with the government to pass new laws but it is now up to the Prime Minister to lead and finish the job.

“The states and territories need to get their act together and accelerate this critically important piece of work to protect our kids.

“We need stronger leadership on this issue, and the states and territories must be forced to act faster.

“Given the crisis we are seeing in our childcare centres, twelve months for the first set of changes is completely unsatisfactory.”

Read the full story here.

Anthony Albanese has weighed in on an unusual Victorian law that bans people from being buried alongside their pets, saying “common sense” should apply.

Speaking on ABC Radio this morning, the Prime Minister, well‑known for his affection for his cavoodle, Toto, who he often calls Australia’s “first dog” and regularly travels with him on the prime ministerial jet, gave a rare personal take on the topic.

“If people feel close to their pets and they want to be buried with them, why would you, why would you stop it?” he said.

“The thing about our pets is they give us unconditional love, and no matter how difficult my day is, when I come in, there is a little furry friend, who is absolutely ecstatic and excited to see me, and it takes about 10 minutes to settle down, and that just lifts you up. So, I think that’s part of the human condition. So, for goodness sake, whatever that law is, should be, a bit of common sense should apply surely.”

Attorney‑General Michelle Rowland has acknowledged Australia’s working with children check system remains “very fragmented” and said reform is overdue, as ministers prepare to meet on the issue today.

The Standing Council of Attorneys‑General will convene with working with children checks at the top of its agenda. A decade ago, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended creating a national centralised database, a reform still not implemented.

Speaking on ABC RN Breakfast this morning, Ms Rowland said the 2016 recommendation has “not happened quickly enough.”

“I acknowledge this has taken too long, but I wish to reassure all Australians that the fact that this is the first meeting of the standing Council of Attorneys‑General in this 48th parliament, this is top of the agenda,” she said.

The renewed push comes amid growing public outrage over recent allegations of widespread abuse in childcare centres in Melbourne and Sydney, which have intensified scrutiny of child protection systems nationwide.