As it happened: Richard White steps down as WiseTech CEO; Lidia Thorpe stands firm as resignation calls escalate

But the announcement did not reveal the cost or potential delivery date for the energy technology.

International Atomic Energy Agency predicted nuclear power plants would take 10 to 15 years to build in Australia, Department of Energy spokeswoman Clare McLaughlin told the inquiry.

“You’re talking about a range between 2035 and 2040 and some of that will depend on the period that you take for community consultation, as well as establishing the regulatory and institutional frameworks that you need to do to implement that policy,” she said.

Australia would need to make changes to deal with “high-level waste” from nuclear power plants, Australian Radioactive Waste Agency policy general manager Mark Weaver said, because the nation had no facilities able to deal with the material.

An underground facility to handle high-level waste had been established in Finland, Weaver said, but it had taken 30 years.

Established in October, the inquiry is expected to probe the financial, technical, legal and environmental implications of switching from renewable to nuclear energy.

Labor MP and chair Dan Repacholi said the inquiry would hold public hearings in the seven regional towns near proposed nuclear sites.

With AAP

Meanwhile, Liberal frontbencher Paul Fletcher said Thorpe’s position in the upper house needs to be challenged.

Also speaking on Afternoon Briefing, Fletcher said that the Senate should consider whether Thorpe bears true allegiance to the crown.

He called Monday’s disruption a “particular juvenile kind of politics”.

“It tends to be the kind of things we see from extreme radical politicians and [Thorpe] even left the Greens because she did not find them radical enough for her,” he said.

“[Thorpe’s] aim was to get maximum attention. Certainly that has succeeded,” Fletcher said.

But Whish-Wilson said he believes the challenges being fronted against Thorpe are taking attention away from important issues facing Indigenous Australians.

“I think it is a deliberate distraction from some in the Senate who want to fight cultural wars,” Whish-Wilson said.

“Let history judge Lidia Thorpe and her comments this week,” he said.

Atkinson said CCTV of the incident showed Marshall lifting his arm in a manner “consistent with a Nazi salute on more than one occasion” and walking in a goose step. The magistrate said Marshall’s actions were “intentional” and rejected his evidence that he was “simply holding his arm up and walking”.

The court heard Marshall told police it was “stupid behaviour” and a “stupid incident”.

The magistrate said Muston had copied Marshall and “later apologised for doing stupid stuff”.

“He may have copied his workmate, but that does not constitute a reasonable excuse,” Atkinson said.

The magistrate also viewed a YouTube clip of comedian Ricky Gervais related to Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust, in which Gervais brushed his hair forward like Hitler’s and made a Nazi salute. Mitchell’s defence of the charge was that he was “mimicking” the Gervais skit he had seen on Netflix, that they were “having a bit of a joke” and he did not realise where they were at the time.

“Mr Mitchell was walking back from his break ... he was not doing a comedy routine,” Atkinson said, adding that “none of the context that Mr Gervais outlined was there”. She said Mitchell “got caught up in the behaviour of the others and did what he did”.

Lawyers for the three men argued they had educated themselves about Jewish people, were not pushing the hateful ideologies of the Nazi Party, and had been “publicly vilified” and “named and shamed”.

The prosecutor said the offending had occurred six days after the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel and outside “a building erected to remember the atrocities committed against the Jewish people”.

“It’s important that all options are on the table right now so we can meaningfully improve access to credit for Australians in a responsible way,” he said today.

From NAB’s experience, first homebuyers were no more risky than other borrowers, Kerr said.

But Commonwealth Bank, the nation’s biggest lender, and Westpac said there was no reason to change the existing restrictions.

“We don’t think the right answer is to put customers into more debt,” Westpac manager Martin Green said.

Based on his bank’s data, first homebuyers were a higher risk, CBA executive Angus Sullivan said.

As a result, the levels of capital available for first home buyers should reflect their underlying risk to protect them from taking on unmanageable debt, he said.

The consequences of easing financial restrictions and allowing more people to go into unmanageable debt could be devastating.

Meanwhile, increasing the availability of commercial “build-to-rent” developments and social housing would make rentals more affordable, the inquiry has been told.

Advocates say build-to-rent offers tenants greater stability, with longer leases and less chance of the dwelling going up for sale or the investor deciding to live in it.

Social housing and build-to-rent are much less prevalent in Australia than comparable countries like the UK.

The Albanese government is trying to introduce tax incentives for the asset class to make it more competitive but has faced a roadblock in parliament, with the Coalition and Greens opposing it in the Senate.

With AAP

The prime minister also said that “developing countries” which need to “provide economic growth and jobs for their people” will be at the forefront of discussions.

Albanese is in the Pacific island nation for CHOGM, which will be presided over by King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Climate change is set to be a major focus of the event, but issues of slavery and colonialism are also on the agenda.

Some leaders are expected to push the UK to formally apologise for slavery, just days after Senator Lidia Thorpe disrupted parliament with calls for a treaty.