Australian news and politics live: PM’s solemn tribute as he lands in South Korea ahead of APEC

The Prime Minister has landed in South Korea ahead of the APEC Summit tomorrow.

One of his first engagements was to honour those Australians who served in the Korean War.

“Over 17,000 ordinary Australians facing the extraordinary,” he posted on X.

“We hold on to their names, we remember their courage and we give our thanks to them all.

“It was an honour to lay a wreath in their memory after arriving in South Korea today. Lest we forget.”

Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan has crossed the floor to vote for crossbencher David Pocock’s climate change bill, pouring fresh fuel on the climate fire engulfing the Coalition.

The South Australian moderate declared before his Coalition colleagues on Wednesday that caring for the environment was a “conservative” position as he rose to support Senator Pocock’s “Duty of Care” Bill, which aims to make it harder to green light fossil fuel projects.

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Leaders on the left and right of politics are becoming exasperated with long-running, expensive and controversial war crimes investigations into Afghan War veterans.

The Coalition’s defence spokesman, Angus Taylor, told The Nightly the $318 million allocated to pursuing former soldiers raises “raises real questions about efficiency, proportionality and basic fairness” given that only person has been charged and no one convicted.

Now middled aged, the veterans are “raising families, contributing to their communities, yet they continue to live under a cloud of suspicion for events two decades old,” Mr Taylor said, yet they face criminal prosecutions that could run into the 2030s.

“That’s unacceptable,” he said. “Justice delayed for decades is justice denied.”

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While taking questions at the National Press Club today, AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett had to take a question “on notice”.

The Australian top cop’s unorthodox response for the press club format was something usually seen in a Senate estimates hearing.

Ms Barrett was asked about Labor’s claim that they’re moving to tighten freedom of information laws due to “AI bots”, “foreign actors” and “criminal gangs” swamping Australia’s FOI system.

When asked if AFP provided advice to the government to inform these claims and if she could provide tangible examples — Ms Barrett couldn’t.

“I’m going to give you a Senate estimate answer, I’m sorry. I’ll have to take that one on notice,” Ms Barrett said.

When asked “So, you’re not aware of any examples?” Ms Barrett responded:

“I’m not aware of any advice or information we may have provided — to the first part of your question — to government. So, I would have to come back to you on that one, I’m sorry.”

It came just moments after Ms Barrett had spoken about her desire to shift the agency to more of a focus on foreign interference, sovereignty, and cybercrime.

The Government’s reforms to the FOI Act announced last month would create new fees and time restraints for applications — making it harder for Australians to assess information.

Changes also aim to expand disclosure exemptions for Anthony Albanese’s Cabinet, allowing him to hide material relating to deliberations.

During a Senate Estimates hearing on October 17, officials from both Home Affairs and Services Australia also claimed they weren’t aware of cases where Australia’s FOI system had been targeted by such cohorts.

America’s highest-ranking diplomat to Australia says the process to send a new US Ambassador to Canberra is underway – but insists President Donald Trump’s delay in announcing a candidate does not reflect badly on the bilateral relationship.

The most recent US Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, left her posting late last year following President Trump’s election win, and since then Chargé d’Affaires Erika Olson has acted in the role.

Last week President Trump told reporters he would soon appoint a new US ambassador to Australia and had at least one candidate in mind.

During a visit to the Henderson shipyard in Western Australia, Ms Olson has also indicated an announcement could soon be made on the next US Ambassador.

“There’s definitely a process underway, and I just want to highlight that no one should think that that means anything about the strength of the relationship,” she said.

Judo Bank’s chief economic advisor, Warren Hogan, said broad-based inflationary pressures would most likely see the Reserve Bank of Australia start raising interest rates in May, which would see the cash rate climb from 3.6 per cent now to 4.75 per cent by 2027 for the first time since November 2011.

“The problem is the economy’s turned a corner and now inflation’s turned a corner and history shows that this stuff is pretty directional,” he told The Nightly.

“My guess is that we’ll be talking about rate hikes when we get back from summer holidays and we’ve got one pencilled in for November next year but it could be as early as May.”

Mr Hogan forecast headline inflation hitting 4 per cent next year, reaching levels last seen in 2023, which would put pressure on Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock to make some unpopular decisions as unemployment also rose from a four-year high of 4.5 per cent now to 5 per cent by 2027.

“This is going to be the biggest test,” he said. “If she provides leadership and is honest with the Australian people, then she’s got more chance of getting this thing under control without creating major problems. There’s no way they can keep inflation in the middle of the target band. They’ll look stupid.”

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Labor’s Jermone Laxale pushed back, telling the MPs opposing that the bill was about fixing a loophole in workplace law identified by grieving parents, and only about that.

“It’s not about anything else. It’s not about a culture war. It’s a bill born from heartbreak and from the hope of Baby Priya’s parents,” he said.

Shadow workplace relations minister Tim Wilson had said on Tuesday night he was proud the Coalition would back the legislation.

Tony Pasin, a South Australian Liberal, says it appeared to be an “unintended consequence” of the bill that it would treat an “intentionally aborted baby” the same way as a stillbirth or a baby who died shortly after birth.

“Paid parental leave… should be available to people who are parents. It should be available to people who wish to be parents, but for the grace of God, have not become parents through that incident or outcome,” he said.

“But it shouldn’t be available, it shouldn’t be available to people who don’t wish to be parents.”

Barnaby Joyce – still a National Party member despite this week removing himself from its party room – called on the minister to clarify the definition of who the changes applied to, saying if it encompassed late-term abortion, “that takes it into a completely different realm”.

“On the extension of it, if that’s where it goes, we have every right not to vote for it,” he said.

A string of conservative MPs have told Parliament they are concerned that legislation aimed at ensuring people who have stillbirths can take their pre-arranged paid parental leave while grieving could support or encourage people to have late-term abortions.

One said that “people who don’t wish to be parents” shouldn’t be allowed to take parental leave.

This comment came despite the Coalition party room deciding on Tuesday to back the legislation.

The discussion around late-term abortions – after about 22 weeks of pregnancy – has become increasingly politically charged despite experts saying it is statistically very rare in Australia.

Barnaby Joyce, Andrew Hastie, Tony Pasin and Henry Pike used speeches in the little-watched Federation Chamber on Wednesday morning to outline their concerns.

Australian home borrowers are set to miss out on a Melbourne Cup day rate cut with inflation surging above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target range.

The consumer price index hit 3.2 per cent in the September quarter, marking the worst annual reading since the June quarter of 2024.

It was also above the RBA’s 2 to 3 per cent target for the first time in more than a year.

Underlying inflation also grew to 3 per cent, with the trimmed mean the RBA’s preferred measure of price pressures.

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