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This was published 7 months ago

Australia news as it happened: Albanese to accelerate 5 per cent deposit scheme for first home buyers; Lambie criticises ‘rude’ Trump administration

Patrick Hatch and Daniel Lo Surdo
Updated ,first published

Key Posts

V/Line train loses two carriages near Seymour
‘Robbed of hope’: Mushroom killer’s husband speaks of grief
Today’s headlines
Joyce’s net zero bill called a ‘clown show’
Deposit scheme ‘not addressing’ key issues: Littleproud
Australia on track for 2030 climate goal
Albanese swipes at Joyce’s net zero push
Minns showing ‘mettle’ on housing: O’Neil
Australia will be ‘strong advocate’ for Palestine
Housing firmly on Labor’s agenda

What we covered today

By Patrick Hatch

Thanks for joining us today. Here’s what we covered:

  • The expanded 5 per cent deposit scheme for first home buyers will begin in October rather than January under a decision that Anthony Albanese said would make an “enormous difference” for Australians seeking a foothold in the property market.
  • Australia is on track to achieve its 2030 emissions-reduction goal, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has declared. National greenhouse emissions fell by 1.4 per cent in the year to March 2025, steering Australia towards the 43 per cent reduction by 2030 pledged under the Paris Agreement.
  • The House of Representatives debated Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce’s futile legislation to remove the net-zero emissions target, which independent MP Zali Steggall labelled a “clown show”.
  • Greater assurances for the AUKUS security deal will be sought when Defence Minister Richard Marles meets with American counterpart Pete Hegseth in the US this week.
  • The estranged husband of mushroom killer Erin Patterson has provided a moving victim impact statement reflecting on the murder of his parents and aunt.
  • Australian sunscreen brand Naked Sundays has pulled one of its products from shelves months after a controversial SPF test, conducted by consumer watchdog Choice, sparked industry-wide scrutiny over sun protection claims.
  • Victoria’s regional rail operator V/Line is investigating how two carriages became separated from the front of a train near Seymour this morning.

Have a great evening, we’ll be back with more live news coverage tomorrow.

Dan Murphy’s, BWS boost security after rise in organised theft

By Jessica Yun

Liquor merchants Dan Murphy’s and BWS have increased spending on security and equipment, including body-worn cameras and augmented-reality technology, following bouts of organised theft that has become an industry-wide issue.

Endeavour Group interim chief executive Kate Beattie said the network had seen an increase in incidences that threaten worker safety.

Liquor merchants Dan Murphy’s and BWS says they are grappling with organised theft. Louie Douvis

“We’re doing things like leveraging virtual-reality technology to train our team to respond well to threatening situations, and that’s … to not escalate a situation and make sure they keep themselves safe,” Beattie said.

“Where we’re enabling some of our team to trial things like body-worn cameras so that they track their movement around the store and make sure they … minimise their manual handling risks.

Second Australian sunscreen pulled from shelves after controversial SPF test

By Bronte Gossling

Australian sunscreen brand Naked Sundays has quietly pulled one of its products from shelves months after a controversial SPF test, conducted by consumer watchdog Choice, sparked industry-wide scrutiny over sun protection claims.

In a statement shared on its website on Monday, Naked Sundays said it has “temporarily paused” the sale of its Collagen Glow Mineral sunscreen, which claims to be SPF50+, while the brand awaits “new, complete independent SPF results, and subsequent guidance from the TGA on their investigation into SPF testing”.

A Choice test released in June found 16 of 20 popular sunscreen products in Australia failed to meet the SPF levels on their labels.Getty Images

Preliminary SPF results from a “new independent lab” for the Collagen Glow Mineral sunscreen produced by Naked Sundays’ United States manufacturer supported the SPF50+ rating, it said.

Naked Sundays said it intends to sell that version of the product on the Australian market, pending further test results.

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Albanese bats away ‘flippant’ Palestine question

By Brittany Busch

Manager of opposition business Alex Hawke has asked the prime minister whether the decision to recognise a Palestinian state has jeopardised a meeting with US President Donald Trump – yet to happen since Albanese was re-elected in May.

The prime minister criticised Hawke for the “flippant” question about a serious international policy matter.

Manager of opposition business Alex Hawke arriving for question time in July.Alex Ellinghausen

He said “constructive” conversations with Trump had been had, and that Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles was in the US today meeting with counterparts.

“We continue to engage ... in international politics in a way that protects our sovereignty,” Albanese said.

Still no Briggs report, 18 months on

By Brittany Busch

Independent MP Sophie Scamps has asked when the government will release the Briggs report into whether public sector board appointments were being based on merit. The report was finalised 18 months ago.

“Why has the government reneged on their self-declared commitment to transparency?” Scamps asked.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government was committed to transparency and would make the report public “in due course”.

“We’ve improved the public sector board diversity since coming to office,” Chalmers said. “The government has a broad and ambitious public service reform agenda. It is about transparency. It is about making sure that we make the best appointments that we can as a government.”

Three years too long for WA rock art protection call: court

By Nick O'Malley

One of the two court cases that have been standing in the way of a final decision over Woodside’s massive North West Shelf gas project has been adjudicated, three years after the process began.

In 2022, traditional custodian Raelene Cooper applied to the federal environment minister, requesting that further fossil fuel development of Murujuga, also known as the Barrup Peninsula in northern Western Australia, be blocked to protect its cultural heritage.

Woodside’s Karratha gas plant, part of the North West Shelf gas project.Woodside

The region contains one of the world’s most significant rock art sites, which Cooper argued would be damaged by construction and emissions from the proposal to extend Woodside’s gas project from 2030 to 2070.

But three years later, the minister has yet to make ruling, prompting Cooper to call on the Federal Court to instruct the current environment minister, Murray Watt, to make a determination before September 12.

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‘How is this guy still a minister?’: Ley sledges Giles

By Paul Sakkal

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has sledged Skills and Training Minister Andrew Giles in question time, suggesting he was not up to the job.

Giles was moved out of the immigration portfolio during the last term after a period of scrutiny of his role managing the NZYQ High Court case that led to immigration detainees being released. The government had no power to stop the release of detainees, but the opposition blamed Labor for not responding quickly enough.

Giles was delivering an answer just now when Ley chimed in across the dispatch box, saying: “How is this guy still a minister?”

Last term, Ley was Giles’ opposition shadow as skills spokeswoman.

Ley has so far spoken over Labor speakers far less than her predecessor Peter Dutton.

Government quizzed on spending rules

By Brittany Busch

Shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien has asked the government why it won’t introduce fiscal rules to contain government spending.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers turned the question on Coalition economic policy, saying the opposition took policies of higher taxes, a bigger deficit, and more debt to the May election.

Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers during question time today.Alex Ellinghausen

The debate about budget rules was the catalyst for a fiery exchange between the treasurer and his opposition counterpart during the economic roundtable last week, with Chalmers saying the comments from O’Brien were not appropriate because “this isn’t question time”.

Question time clash over housing red tape

By Brittany Busch

Saying with question time now, and Liberal MP Tom Venning said the Labor government had presided over a “historic rise of red tape in the housing sector” and an expansion of the National Construction Code, while Labor MP Tim Watts was ejected from the chamber for interrupting Venning’s question to the prime minister.

Albanese said if the Coalition liked the policy, it should “back in the government” rather than trying to obstruct the changes.

“We on this side of the house are focused on housing… We on this side are fighting for Australians. [The Coalition] are fighting each other.”

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Ley claims credit for Labor housing policy

By Brittany Busch

Labor has realised the merits of Coalition housing policy, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has suggested in the first question time question of the sitting week.

Ley pointed to Labor’s partial adoption of the Coalition’s election pledge to freeze the National Construction Code, and the expansion of a Morrison-era policy for first home buyers to be able to buy a home with a 5 per cent deposit.

The prime minister responded with a list of Labor policy on housing the Coalition has opposed, including the Housing Australia Future Fund, and incentivising foreign investment in housing development in Australia.

“We saw [the Coalition] opposed everything that we put forward [in the past term]. Now they’re opposing, according to themselves, their own policy as well,” he said.

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