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Anthony Albanese accuses the PM of personal involvement in the sports rorts scheme following the auditor general’s new evidenceAnthony Albanese has accused Scott Morrison of personal involvement in the Coalition’s controversial $100m sports grant program and misleading parliament by claiming that all projects funded were eligible.The Labor leader cited evidence from the Australian National Audit Office on Thursday evening that in fact 43% of...

Parliament sits for the final time this week, with threats to the government’s promised surplus back in the spotlight. All the day’s events, live 12.34am GMT Pauline Hanson is still tweeting about her speech yesterday.Someone really, really, really wants attention today. 12.30am GMT That Lowe is Philip Lowe, the RBA Governor:Lowe says there is very high debt being carried by households and we have...

Former NSW Labor MPs allegedly conspired over mining properties in Bylong Valley, near Mudgee The federal opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, a former New South Wales premier, Morris Iemma, mining figures and public servants are expected to give evidence in the trial of former mining ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald.The former state Labor MPs – with Obeid’s son Moses, 50 – are being tried...

The senate has turned up the heat on the government to release the PM&C report into the sports grants affair. All the day’s events, live 10.22pm GMT Australia’s chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel is delivering today’s National Press Club address.He spoke to Sabra Lane on ABC AM this morning and was asked what impact climate change had on the summer bushfires:Climate change of course...

Indonesian president Joko Widodo addresses parliament, as Nationals rebel elected deputy Speaker. This blog is now closed• Nationals in disarray as rebel MP Llew O’Brien is elected deputy speaker• Two moderate Liberal MPs say government should not back new coal plants• Disability pensioners were increasingly drawn into robodebt while scheme was under scrutiny 7.13am GMT On that note, we are going to, as Murph...

Keith Pitt to take Matt Canavan’s former portfolio of mining, resources and northern Australia, while Darren Chester’s portfolio of veteran affairs will move into the cabinet. All the day’s events, live 11.24pm GMT #BREAKING I understand the water portfolio will be moved out of Cabinet and go to NSW Nationals frontbencher Mark Coulton. He’s currently minister for decentralisation. #auspol @politicsabc @abcnews 11.24pm GMT Scott...

Party tensions come to boil as Richard Di Natale shocks Canberra by standing down as Greens leader. All the day’s news, live 6.55am GMT “With due respect, there will be a spill, and I will be standing. The prime minister talks about the quiet Australians, our job is to represent the near invisible Australians,” Barnaby Joyce says.“... We’ve got to make sure that we...

Opposition leader says it was a mistake to recommit to 2016 policies at last election without reviewing themAnthony Albanese has described the decision to recommit to a 45% emissions reduction target by 2030 as “a mistake” and declared Labor would not take the same franking credits policy to the next election.In comments to Sky News on Sunday, Albanese confirmed Labor had repositioned by dumping...

Newspoll shows eight-point drop in prime minister’s favourability rating after widespread criticism of his handling of the bushfires Scott Morrison has suffered a massive hit to his personal approval rating and been overtaken as preferred prime minister by Anthony Albanese in the first published opinion poll of 2020.The Newspoll, published on Monday, confirms that a horror summer in which Morrison chose to holiday in...

PM concedes a misstep in his defence of minister as Labor continues its attack. All the day’s events, live 11.19pm GMT Honestly, with John Alexander on the pollies team, this is never a fair contest 11.05pm GMT Peter Dutton was on Sydney radio 2GB this morning – he said he can’t comment on Jacqui Lambie’s condition to vote for the repeal. “I think Jacqui...

The banking scandal continues to bleed into federal politics, with the opposition calling for executives to explain themselves to MPs. All the day’s events, live 9.34pm GMT Sarah Martin has an interesting story on the cashless welfare card - it looks like the government may struggle to get what it wants there:A government push to expand the cashless welfare card faces a Senate roadblock,...

Aged-care package ‘falls well short’ of what is required, Labor says; Morrison responds to Chinese spy plot allegations; and Jacqui Lambie ‘not supporting a repeal’ of medevac, Rex Patrick says. All the day’s events, live 6.17am GMT Something to watch out for, tomorrowOur 2019 Mapping #SocialCohesionReport launches tomorrow, 26 November. The report produced in partnership with @MonashUni researchers uses a comprehensive survey to gauge...

Wang ‘William’ Liqiang reportedly gave statement to Asio detailing Chinese operations in AustraliaThe Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, says a Chinese spy who has offered a trove of intelligence information to Australia may have “a legitimate claim for asylum”.On Saturday, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age revealed a Chinese spy who claimed to have been involved in political interference in Hong Kong and Taiwan...

‘Do we simply get gagged?,’ asks Greg Mullins as NSW and Queensland bushfires rage on. All the day’s events, live 12.17am GMT Greg Mullins continued:This is very frustrating for this group of emergency chiefs, because had we spoken back in April, one of the things we would have said was try to get more aircraft on lease from the northern hemisphere, this is going...

The Labor leader wants blue-collar workers to know he knows they exist, isn’t ashamed of them and has them front of mindAnthony Albanese would be better off if he could wave a cheery goodbye and retreat from the political fray until budget time next year, re-emerging after Labor as a collective has finished absorbing the May election loss, written all the books and all...

There is a transcript of his conversation with US attorney, but officials say they do not intend to share it with estimates. All the day’s events, live 3.24am BST Facebook is still grappling with what role it plays in monitoring election misinformation which is being put on its platform.Australia was dragged into that in May. The US is dealing with it once again. Andrew...

Labor rejects Adam Bandt’s amendments, sending bill to Senate. Alleged victims of former principal Malka Leifer lobby parliament for extradition help. All the day’s events, live 2.24am BST It’s nice to see politicians talking about actual rats for a changeBefore people get too excited, @mjrowland68 and I were having a laugh about exciting news that scientists have trained rats to drive tiny cars to...

Just six months on from the election and party tensions are rising as Senate estimates resume and calls ramp up for greater press freedom. All the day’s events, live 12.29am BST For 18/19 the #AAT received an increase in appeals related to #Centrelink debts of 31 %. Related to parenting payemnts appeals increased 30% and a 36% increase in appeals related to #Newstart#Auspol #Estimates...