Albanese and Wong urge all parties to respect terms of first phase of Gaza peace plan
The government has welcomed the signing off of the first phase of the Gaza peace plan, and says it urges “all parties to respect the terms of the plan”.
In a statement, the prime minister and the foreign minister thanked the US president, Donald Trump, and said the government has consistently called for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and the unimpeded flow of aid to Gaza.
After more than two years of conflict, hostages held and a devastating loss of civilian life, this is a much needed step towards peace.
Australia strongly supports the plan’s commitment to denying Hamas any role in the future governance of Gaza.
There is a very long road to recovery in Gaza, securing long term peace and building the Palestinian state.
The government also acknowledged the “important role” of Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye.
The opposition has also welcomed the development.
You can read more of details here:
Key events
Luca Ittimani
Housing fund faces ‘significant’ challenges, Treasury secretary says
Jenny Wilkinson, the federal Treasury secretary, says the Haff has struggled with construction costs and faced delays delivering homes.
Wilkinson declined to say how many homes Housing Australia has built, in response to a question from the Coalition’s housing spokesperson, Andrew Bragg, at Senate estimates.
She said delivering homes had been made “more challenging” in part due to soaring construction costs in the last five years, when asked about ABC reporting that the fund was facing delays and spending more than $1m per home in some cases, well above average.
I don’t think that anyone is denying that this is a significant challenge to meet the government’s commitment around increasing the stock of social and affordable housing, which is what the objective of the Haff is. It always takes time to make agreements, agree contracts with entities like community housing providers, to deliver these houses.
Wilkinson defended the agency’s record of delivery, saying it had a “big agenda” that had sometimes been held up by delays in the parliament to passing legislation:
Some of the challenges in relation to some of the programs reflect when the legislation was actually passed … There are other projects that have been effectively run and take-up has been relatively strong.
Two key housing commitments languished in the parliament for months in the Albanese government’s first term amid negotiations between Labor and the Greens: the Housing Australia future fund and Help to Buy shared equity scheme.
Luca Ittimani
Treasury investigated housing agency, secretary confirms
The Treasury secretary has confirmed her department investigated the Albanese government’s housing agency.
The government’s Housing Australia agency was revamped and had new executives and board members appointed in mid-2023 to deliver programs including the flagship Housing Australia Future Fund (Haff).
Jenny Wilkinson, who was this year appointed to run Treasury, said the review was triggered a few months after that, in late 2023, and was undertaken in 2024. She told Senate estimates:
I was made aware of that review though only very recently … Obviously I wasn’t involved in that review at all.
The review was focused on organisational challenges including alleged behaviour by senior staff, the Age reported today.
Albanese and Wong urge all parties to respect terms of first phase of Gaza peace plan
The government has welcomed the signing off of the first phase of the Gaza peace plan, and says it urges “all parties to respect the terms of the plan”.
In a statement, the prime minister and the foreign minister thanked the US president, Donald Trump, and said the government has consistently called for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and the unimpeded flow of aid to Gaza.
After more than two years of conflict, hostages held and a devastating loss of civilian life, this is a much needed step towards peace.
Australia strongly supports the plan’s commitment to denying Hamas any role in the future governance of Gaza.
There is a very long road to recovery in Gaza, securing long term peace and building the Palestinian state.
The government also acknowledged the “important role” of Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye.
The opposition has also welcomed the development.
You can read more of details here:
Gaza agreement ‘a joyous moment’, Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s Alex Ryvchin says
Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, spoke to Sky News a little earlier about the news Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement over the first phase of the Gaza peace plan.
He said he was “elated” to hear the news about the agreement and imminent release of the hostages:
This is a joyous moment. It’s something the Jewish community has been praying for and hoping for.
Ryvchin said the remaining 20 living hostages could begin a process of healing once released.
He was also asked about the Palestine Action Group losing its bid in the NSW court of appeal this morning to march to the Sydney Opera House on the weekend.
He said while there is a right to protest “no right is unlimited”:
These protesters, both through what they say and do at these protests but also the frequency, the intention, to deliberately take over national landmarks and insinuate themselves into our streets and public places, the fact that it’s happening week and week at the public expense.
Finally a line has been drawn. We’re very pleased with it and we’re pleased for our fellow Australians. They’ll be able to access the Opera House on that day.
Josh Taylor
More than 10,000 antisemitic posts from X users in Australia in 11 months, anti-hate group says
The Center for Countering Digital Hate has found nearly 10,000 antisemitic posts from X users that have their location set to Australia between February 2024 and January 2025, as part of a report that says antisemitism is thriving on Elon Musk‘s platform.
The analysis, made with the assistance of OpenAI’s GPT-4o, found antisemitic conspiracy theories were normalised on the platform, with X not taking action on posts that violated its own policies.
Globally, the centre found 679,000 posts violating X’s antisemitism policies, with 193m views in the 11 months the report covers. Only 1% of the posts had a community note.
In analysis provided exclusively for Guardian Australia on Australian users, there were 9,293 posts that were viewed at least 1.8m times and received 39,258 likes.
The majority of the Australian posts (61%) contained conspiracy theories about Jewish power, satanic tropes and holocaust denial, the centre told Guardian Australia.
The analysis found 29% contained anti-Jewish character attacks, dehumanising rhetoric and violent speech.
In July, Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, cited X as a platform she believed was combatting antisemitism on its platform using AI.
The office of the special envoy did not respond to requests for comment.
X was approached for comment.
Joe Hinchliffe
Australian Gaza flotilla activist vows to return despite ‘humiliations’ in detention
Juliet Lamont was freezing in the back of a prison van that had been driving through the desert for hours – no idea where she was going, listening to the roar of military aircraft – when she saw the sign.
The van windows were blacked out and she was afraid she would be struck if she looked around but, craning her head and peering through a crack, she could read it. Some of the blue and white signs were in Hebrew, others Arabic. This one was in English. Later, as soon as she had access to a pen, the Australian documentary maker would scribble it down, as best as she could recall, upon a serviette.
“The eternal state never forgets and will pursue its enemies till the end”.
Those were the words fluttering upon a banner in the Negev desert that Lamont read as she entered Ketziot prison in Israel.
Lamont, an Australian activist on the Gaza-bound flotilla intercepted by Israel, says she was beaten, groped and verbally abused by Israeli prison guards
Read more about Gamont’s experience in detention here:
Nick Evershed
What’s the state of play in bird of the year 2025?
Here’s a bit of a positive palate cleanser!
The Tawny frogmouth has emerged as an early favourite as we enter day four of the bird of the year contest.
As of the close of voting last night, the muppet-like frogmouth had increased its lead over Baudin’s black cockatoo, surging ahead by 1,372 votes:
Baudin’s black cockatoo has been the runner-up in all three rounds so far, likely benefiting from a strong environmentalist vote – a trend we have seen in previous polls, with the Black-throated finch, under threat from the expansion of the Adani Carmichael coalmine, winning in 2019, and the critically endangered Swift parrot winning in 2023.
However, the presence of two cockatoos in the top ten may result in a split vote for cockatoo enthusiasts, and hand victory to the Tawny frogmouth – which came second in both 2019 and 2023.
The frogmouth is also benefiting from a strong social media campaign and an endorsement from no less than the federal environment minister, Murray Watt.
So far in the competition people have cast over 100,000 votes.
Liberals say ‘now is not the time for protest’ as deal marks ‘hopeful first step’ towards peace
Further to that last post, Liberal leader Sussan Ley and shadow foreign minister Michaelia Cash say agreement over the first phase of the Gaza peace plan should “inspire hope” in Australia and across the globe.
In a statement, they say the Coalition has stood by the US and Israel throughout the conflict.
Today marks a hopeful first step toward the release of hostages held for over two years, the end of this war, and the beginning of enduring peace.
They also say that now is not the time for protest.
Coalition ‘cautiously optimistic’ on first phase of Gaza plan
Tom McIlroy
The shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, says he is cautiously optimistic at news that the first phase of the Donald Trump-led ceasefire plan for the Middle East is advancing.
Israel and Hamas have agreed to release hostages and prisoners as part of the deal. “It’s obviously good news,” he said at Parliament House:
But today is a day, obviously, where I’m thinking about those people who’ve lost lives and families who’ve lost loved ones in the conflict.
There will be people, if the plan proceeds, who will be reunited with their loved ones, but there will also be people who will mourn because those loved ones have been killed in the Middle East conflict.
The Liberal senator and former ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma tells ABC News he’s “very pleased” at the news and believes it’s an important first step.
I don’t think we can be 100% confident until we actually see the hostage exchange undertaken, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, but I think the parties that are involved in this and especially and I credit here Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye, and the United States, for all the work they’ve been doing – they have a big interest in this succeeding and I think it would be very difficult for either party, but especially Hamas to renege on this agreement now.
Natasha May
Health regulator received 188 complaints against professionals since Gaza war
Back in health estimates, Senator Andrew Bragg is asking officials from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) how many complaints they have had in relation to medical professionals engaging in antisemitism.
Justin Untersteiner, the CEO of Ahpra, responded:
We have no tolerance for discrimination in the health system, whether that be against any form of discrimination in relation to the conflict in Gaza that we’re seeing at the moment, we’ve received 188 notifications since October 2023 that relate to 95 different practitioners.
Of those 95 practitioners, Untersteiner said “about half of those relate to some form of complaint about antisemitism, and about half of those relate to complaints about Islamophobia”.
When we look at the makeup of those matters, many of the complaints, or the notifications as we refer to them, relate to some kind of social media activity. And of those, many of those do relate to a complaint that someone has reposted some kind of news article, for instance, so it could be an ABC article or something like that …. in many of those cases, we wouldn’t see those as a case where we need to take particular action.
Two cases are awaiting a tribunal, which Jamie Orchard, an Aphra general counsel, said relate to social media posts: “They might relate to antisemitism, they might relate to Islamophobia … type posts.”
Senate told Australia has 54 defence export permits for Israel
Australia currently has 54 defence export permits for Israel, defence officials have revealed at Senate estimates this morning.
Deputy secretary of strategy, Hugh Jeffrey said 22 permits with Israel have been granted since 7 October 2023, of which five have expired. The remaining existing permits were issued before the conflict.
The defence minister or their delegate can grant the export permit. Jeffrey clarifies that the granting of a permit “does not equate to an export:
It simply provides an Australian company the ability to make an export should it have a commercial buyer overseas… having a permit… does not equate to the export of a weapon.
Jeffrey says the defence department keeps permits under review, and will reassess “open” permits under contemporaneous criteria.
Defence minister Richard Marles (who has said repeatedly that Australia does not export weapons to Israel) directed defence official to scrutinise the 66 permits that were issued prior to 7 October.
Jeffrey says 37 of those reviewed were deemed needing no further action, while six permits are still being scrutinised by officials. Others have lapsed or amended.
Officials say that means there are 54 permits that are in effect.
Nino Bucci
Judge should not have found Patterson would spend ‘years’ in solitary confinement, DPP argues
The Victorian DPP is appealing Erin Patterson’s sentence because the judge who handed it down erred in finding she was likely to spend “years to come” in solitary confinement.
According to the notice of appeal released by the supreme court on Thursday, the DPP is appealing Patterson’s sentence of life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years, saying it is ‘manifestly inadequate’.
Patterson was sentenced on 8 September over the murders of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of the latter’s husband, Ian Wilkinson. According to the notice:
The sentencing judge erred in finding that there was a ‘substantial chance’ the respondent would be held in ‘solitary confinement for years to come’ when such a finding was not open on the evidence, and that finding infected his assessment of the respondent’s likely future conditions in custody and his decision to fix a non-parole period.
The DPP argue that the sentence imposed on Patterson is manifestly inadequate, in that:
It was inappropriate for the sentencing judge to fix a non-parole period; or the non-parole period of 33 years is manifestly inadequate.
Patterson has indicated she will appeal her conviction, but her appeal is yet to be filed.
Amanda Meade
Racial discrimination claim against SBS broadcaster from Zionist federation will go to trial
Mary Kostakidis has had a partial win in her bid to challenge a racial discrimination claim against her, but the case brought by the Zionist Federation of Australia will still go to trial.
The former SBS broadcaster asked the federal court to strike out the “embarrassing” racial discrimination claim on the grounds it fails to identify which race, ethnicity or nationality was offended by her social media posts about Israel.
In the South Australian federal court today Justice Stephen McDonald ruled on her interlocutory application and said some of her submissions have force and some raise issues that can appropriately be addressed at trial.
The chief executive of the ZFA, Alon Cassuto, has been ordered to file an amended statement of claim after parts of it were struck out by the court.
Kostakidis has been accused by the ZFA of breaching the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) by sharing two X posts about a speech by the late Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah in January 2024.
Benita Kolovos
Allan says union walkout will have no impact on west gate tunnel project
Jacinta Allan’s press conference at the west gate tunnel (see earlier post here) comes just a day after construction union workers walked off the job. Sources said the workers halted work citing safety concerns, but also walked off other sites due to dispute with its developer John Holland in South Australia.
Allan says the issue was resolved and has no impact on the tunnel opening in December:
The matter was resolved between the contractors and the unions, and it’s had no impact on the delivery of the project.
Asked whether she was concerned about the CFMEU’s influence on whether project the project is opening in December, Allan she isn’t.
This project is going to open before the end of the year, as it’s been committed to by the contractors and Transurban, in line with the agreement that was struck back in 2021 and I know from talking to so many of the workers, regardless of the union that represents [them], that those workers are so goddamn proud of what they’ve built here, and they should be. They should be because they’ve worked through all conditions. They’ve worked day and night to deliver something that is investing in the future of our great city and state.
Natasha May
Shadow health minister accuses Medicare campaign of ‘mirror-imaging’ Labor’s election campaign
Over in health estimates, the shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, is asking questions about what she says “looks awfully like the department was replicating the government’s election campaign” on its website.
Ruston said as the government was going into caretaker mode, the department of health’s website featured a “strengthening Medicare” campaign “which quite coincidentally also happened to be the government’s campaign slogan in relation to their health policy promotion.”
Rachel Balmanno, a deputy secretary, said it was “part of the regular website update process. It would probably be to do with the timing of the [Medicare] 40th anniversary and where we were at in terms of any live campaign activity.” Ruston continued:
This looks to me, very, very like the department was mirror-imaging what the government was doing during an election campaign. Your promotional activity looks exactly the same as the government’s election campaign material, and you changed it at the same time that the government went into election campaign mode.
This looks to me very much like the department has actually been either actively or coerced or asked to make your departmental communications reflect what the government that was doing. Now I’m not saying you did. I’m just saying that that’s what it looks like here.
Balmanno said, “the department ran a campaign that went through all the usual clearance processes … that’s the campaign that was run when the election started, as with all of our campaigns, the campaign material was removed from all channels.”
Ruston has requested that the department provide documentations around the development approval for the campaign.
Coalition fails to introduce child sexual abuse bill … for now
The shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, tried to move a motion to suspend standing orders to introduce its bill for mandatory minimum sentences for child sexual abuse crimes.
The government argues that the bill is already scheduled to be introduced at a separate time. Private members’ bills (of which this is one) are introduced and debated on Mondays in the parliamentary sitting calendar.
A few crossbenchers, including Allegra Spender and Andrew Wilkie, voted with the Coalition to bring on the introduction of the bill.
The next sitting Monday is 27 October.
