Wells rejects Elon Musk’s X’s concerns about under 16s social media ban
The communications minister, Anika Wells, has rejected questions raised by Elon Musk’s X platform on whether the under 16s social media ban could violate the human rights of children.
Guardian Australia reported yesterday X had called for a delay in the ban, due to commence on 10 December, arguing it had “serious concerns” about the lawfulness of what it described as a “punitive” policy.
Wells was asked about the news on Nine’s Today Show program, and said she was in New York meeting with tech companies and answering questions about the ban. She dismissed the concerns raised by X:
I think these are pioneering, innovating, some of the richest companies in the world. They transact a lot of business and they make a lot of revenue off Australians here on our shore, and I think it’s reasonable to ask them to use some of that tech and some of that revenue to look after our kids online.
She argued that the ban does not violate human rights covenants Australia has signed up to regarding children.
There are a number of international covenants that we are upholding by protecting the rights and wellbeing of children when there is so much evidence in now about particularly the mental harms that are afflicted to children by being exposed to social media too young – too young being before the age of 16.
Wells said she does not have a meeting lined up with Musk: “but my door is open”.
Key events
Nicolette Boele says she will continue to serve with ‘integrity, care and dedication’
Independent Nicolette Boele just released a statement after Liberal Gisele Kapterian ended her court challenge over the seat of Bradfield.
Boele said:
Being part of this process has given me an even greater appreciation for the safeguards we have in place, and the value of every single vote. While we watch checks and balances erode in other countries, our electoral and judicial processes are something we can genuinely celebrate here at home.
Bradfield is a special community – our welcoming neighbourhoods, natural beauty, and vibrant multiculturalism make it a place I’m proud to call home.
I will continue to serve the people of Bradfield and ensure your voice is heard and respected in Canberra.
Boele added while she has had a busy start, there was still “much work to do”:
I look forward to getting it done.
Patrick Commins
Electricity generation costs would be up to 50% higher if Australia stuck with coal and gas only
The cost of generating electricity would be up to 50% higher today if Australia had relied solely on coal and gas instead of pursuing renewables, according to new analysis.
Right-leaning politicians and climate deniers have seized on the 30% increase in electricity bills since 2021 to call for new coal-fired power plants to replace renewable projects, claiming it would bring down energy bills.
To interrogate these claims, Paul Simshauser and Joel Gilmore from Griffith University’s Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research, modelled a counterfactual scenario where resource-rich Queensland had ignored the global push towards net zero and climate science, and instead pursued an electricity grid based on fossil fuels from 2005 – when coal and gas were “unambiguously the lowest cost technologies”.
But the pair concluded that soaring commodity prices, escalating costs associated with building new power plants, and major advances in clean energy technology means that coal can no longer claim to be the cheap energy source it once was.
Read more:
Wells rejects Elon Musk’s X’s concerns about under 16s social media ban
The communications minister, Anika Wells, has rejected questions raised by Elon Musk’s X platform on whether the under 16s social media ban could violate the human rights of children.
Guardian Australia reported yesterday X had called for a delay in the ban, due to commence on 10 December, arguing it had “serious concerns” about the lawfulness of what it described as a “punitive” policy.
Wells was asked about the news on Nine’s Today Show program, and said she was in New York meeting with tech companies and answering questions about the ban. She dismissed the concerns raised by X:
I think these are pioneering, innovating, some of the richest companies in the world. They transact a lot of business and they make a lot of revenue off Australians here on our shore, and I think it’s reasonable to ask them to use some of that tech and some of that revenue to look after our kids online.
She argued that the ban does not violate human rights covenants Australia has signed up to regarding children.
There are a number of international covenants that we are upholding by protecting the rights and wellbeing of children when there is so much evidence in now about particularly the mental harms that are afflicted to children by being exposed to social media too young – too young being before the age of 16.
Wells said she does not have a meeting lined up with Musk: “but my door is open”.
Caitlin Cassidy
‘Urgent’ need to address lagging school performance of boys and bullying behaviour, shadow education minister says
The shadow education minister, Senator Jonno Duniam, says Australia needs to “urgently” address poor outcomes of boys in school and their “much higher tendency” toward bullying.
Addressing the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney on Thursday, Duniam said “bizarrely”, tackling the lagging performance of boys was a “controversial topic” but was “glaringly obvious” in data.
For a long time, there’s been way too little policy attention paid to the underperformance of boys … relative to girls in Australian schooling. And I think that’s something we need to change urgently. That is a massive cohort in our education system … and we need to deal with it.
Duniam pointed to boys’ lower year 12 completion rates, lower participation in universities, lower performance in Naplan and “much higher tendency toward bullying and classroom disruption”.
He also pointed to his strong relationship with the education minister, and the “constructive approach” he would take in his new role.
It’s important to have the two major parties of Australian politics working together … And I intend to … take advantage of that golden opportunity we have now – a shadow minister who wants the right outcomes for our country … and Jason Clare, who is open to working with us and has accepted the invitation to work where we can.
Shimmering sculpture of a golden head lands in Sydney
A massive golden sculpture by British artist Thomas J Price has been unveiled outside the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, AAP reports.
A highly detailed, reflective bronze head measuring three metres high by four metres wide, the artwork, Ancient Feelings (2025), has been installed on the museum’s Tallawoladah Lawn, facing Sydney harbour.
The head is that of a fictional black woman with both its material and scale suggesting power and high standing – challenging the notion that only wealthy, powerful people deserve commemoration. Price said:
It’s a beautiful object, and so hopefully that will entice people to look at it a little bit longer, and start to go down these paths of questioning what it is, who it is, and why it’s there.
Globally speaking, there’s a huge lack of representation and inclusion and acknowledgment – acknowledgment perhaps more than anything, because I’m pretty sure Black women know what they’re doing for the world.
University of Wollongong found to have underpaid staff $6.6m
Caitlin Cassidy
The University of Wollongong has become the eighth university to sign an enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) after underpaying thousands of staff more than $6m.
The university self-reported to the FWO in 2023 after receiving queries from staff. Approximately 5,340 current and former employees – mostly casual – were underpaid $6.6m between 2014 and 2024, the Ombudsman found, largely as a result of the university underpaying penalty rates and failing to pay staff for a minimum engagement period.
Back payments to individual employees ranged up to $36,000, including superannuation and interest.
The FWO found the failures were due to the university’s “poor governance processes” and “fundamental payroll system errors”.
Under the enforceable undertaking, the university must also make a contrition payment of $130,000 and implement a broad range of measures to ensure compliance with workplace laws.
Kapterian glad she had the chance to ‘review the play’ and be satisfied the ‘right call was made’
Kapterian said she is grateful the electoral system “anticipates and supports the need for further scrutiny through a statutory right”. She went on:
This is particularly so given the often difficult and subjective nature of ballot interpretation. In other words, after asking the on-field decision to go to the video umpire, we have had the opportunity to review the play and can now be satisfied the right call was made overall.
The Liberal candidate said the country needed a “strong, cohesive and modern Liberal party that speaks to the concerns of Australians”.
I believe the Liberal party’s future success depends on a policy agenda that seeks to aspirational Australians. I’m disappointed to miss out on contributing from inside the party room, but I will continue to play my part.
Liberal Gisele Kapterian concedes Bradfield, 145 days later
The Liberal candidate for Bradfield, Gisele Kapterian, has conceded the race more than four months – 145 days – after the federal election, after a final review of ballot papers showed her behind independent Nicolette Boele.
Kapterian said she was “satisfied” that overall “the correct outcome has been declared” and said she would no longer press a petition for a final review by the court of disputed returns.
Kapterian wrote on social media:
We have taken the decision to no longer press the petition for a final review by the Court of Disputed Returns. I wish Ms Boele all the best in the role and I thank the people of Bradfield for this incredible opportunity to have spoken with so many of you to hear your ideas, your stories, and what matters most to you. Come say hi if you see me around.
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Bruce Lehrmann’s rape case is delayed
Andrew Messenger
Bruce Lehrmann’s rape case has been delayed, after a pre-trial hearing set for Friday in Toowoomba was put off to next month.
Lehrmann is accused of raping a woman twice on the morning of 10 October 2021, in Toowoomba.
Judge Dennis Lynch delisted the Friday hearing on Wednesday. The matter is now listed for a mention on 27 October, in Ipswitch.
Lehrmann’s lawyer has indicated he intends to plead not guilty. He was charged in 2023.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian police minister says officers working ‘harder than ever before to hold offenders to account’
The Victorian police minister, Anthony Carbines, just held a press conference on Victoria’s increased crime rate. He says police conducted a record 77,500 arrests in the 2024/25 financial year – showing they were “working harder than ever before to hold offenders to account.”
Carbines went one:
One victim of crime is one victim too many. There are too many victims at this time. There is a crime level that is unacceptable to Victoria police, to the government, and to me as minister to police.
But he says the state’s “tougher” bail laws were starting to show in the figures.
We’ve seen that already coming through these statistics in relation to the growth in remand. Those who’ve lost their bail privileges [is] up 26% for young people, up 46% for adults compared to this time last year. That’s because community safety has been put as somewhat priority from bail decisions, because remand as a last resort has been removed and revoked for young offenders, we will see at the end of this month a new high harm bail test in effect for six serious offences that include aggravated burglary, carjacking, among others.
Tasmanians wake up to 4.1 magnitude earthquake
A 4.1 magnitude earthquake shook parts of Tasmania this morning around 6.30am, according to data from Geoscience Australia.
The quake, centred in the township of Maydena, prompted more than 100 “felt reports” to the agency. One resident of the town of Strathgordon described the event to the ABC as a like a “really loud thunderclap that shakes the house and shakes your internals almost”.
“It carried on for a lot longer than a normal thunderclap”, the resident, Sarah, told ABC Radio Hobart.
Region: Maydena, TAS
Mag: 4.0
UTC: 2025-09-24 20:38:40
Lat: -42.84, Lon: 146.11
Dep: 10km
For more info and updates, or if you felt this earthquake, go to https://t.co/K51uWblHN3— EarthquakesGA (@EarthquakesGA) September 24, 2025
Albanese has finished speaking (and Italian PM, Giorgia Meloni, is up).
For our full report on the speech, Tom McIlroy has you sorted:
Albanese to UN: ‘We must choose to succeed together rather than risk failing alone’
Tom McIlroy
Albanese says it is time to reform the UN, to make the institution stronger around the world. He told the general assembly:
Times change, nations and regions change with them. But the ideals and imperatives that built this place are timeless.
More than ever, we must trust in each other’s humanity. More than ever, we must choose to succeed together rather than risk failing alone. More than ever, we must work to see the promises of this place deliver real progress for the people we serve.
We all have a part to play – and Australia, just as we always have – will always play our part.
Tom McIlroy
Albanese told the UN that Australia has a proud record on the advancement of women’s and girls’ rights.
As one of the world’s oldest democracies – and one of the first where women could vote in elections and stand for parliament, Australia knows societies and economies are stronger when they draw on the talents of all their citizens.
Indeed, it was an Australian, Jessie Street, one of just eight women among the 850 delegates in San Francisco in 1945 who insisted that the UN Charter make specific mention of sexual discrimination.
Because, she said: ‘Where the rules are silent, women are not usually considered.’
That is why Australia proudly works to promote education, economic opportunity and empowerment for women and girls around the world.
Australia will meet its 2030 climate target, Albanese tells UN
Tom McIlroy
Speaking at the UN in New York, Albanese says Australia will meet its 2030 climate targets.
Experts believe the federal government needs to boost investment in wind and solar developments, as well as transmission infrastructure and storage systems, to meet the upcoming climate targets.
Albanese said:
Australia is acting to meet the environmental challenge of climate change while working to seize and share the economic opportunities of renewable energy.
We will meet our 2030 target of 43% emissions reduction on 2005 levels. Last week we set our target for 2035: cutting emissions by 62 to 70%.
Albanese said the government’s target is ambitious, but “importantly it is achievable.”
Tom McIlroy
PM calls for Australia to gain temporary seat on UN security council
Albanese revived Australia’s bid for a temporary seat on the UN security council in 2029-30.
Originally launched by the Turnbull government way back in 2015, the bid would give Australia a vote on the UN’s most powerful body.
The United Nations is much more than an arena for the great powers to veto each other’s ambitions.
This is a platform for middle powers and small nations to voice – and achieve – our aspirations.
Albanese begins major speech at UN general assembly
Tom McIlroy
Anthony Albanese told the UN general assembly that all countries can bring new strength to the organisation’s enduring mission.
We all have a role to play in making sure that the system, which has enabled the rise of new powers, safeguards the rights and aspiration of every nation big and small.
The chamber is about half full for Albanese’s address, which got under way after 8pm, New York time.
For Australia, this means investing in our capabilities and investing in our relationships. Investing in development, in defence and in diplomacy.
To strengthen the security of our region, to support the sovereignty of our neighbours and to contribute to the cause of peace beyond the Indo-Pacific.
Watch live as Anthony Albanese addresses the UN general assembly
Tom McIlroy
Albanese next up at the UN general assembly
Anthony Albanese is about to deliver Australia’s national address to the United Nations general assembly in New York, the last item on the agenda for the first leg of his 11-day overseas trip.
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, along with climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, communications minister Annika Wells and Albanese’s partner Jodie Haydon are all in the general assembly chamber for the speech.
We expect the speech to go for about 15 minutes, but leaders can speak as long as they like in this address. The longest statement on record was by VK Krishna Menon of India. He spoke for almost eight hours in 1957, over three separate sessions.
Albanese heads to London tomorrow, before a quick visit to the United Arab Emirates on the way back to Australia next week.
