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National news as it happened: Marles says sale of historical defence properties will raise $2 billion; Spain looks to follow Australia in banning social media for under 16s

Emily Kaine and Isabel McMillan
Updated ,first published

Key Posts

What we covered today
Andrew Hastie pictured with copy of The Art of War
Watch live: House of Representatives question time
Muslim bodies, Palestinian advocacy groups urge PM to rescind Herzog invitation
Palmer says he could bankroll Nationals in event of permanent Coalition split
Joyce distances himself from staffer following widely condemned video stunt
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor moves out of Royal Lodge, BBC reports
Marles says sale of defence properties will cut costs
Spain looks to follow Australia in banning social media for under-16s
‘The politics of grievance does not advance our country’: Hill

What we covered today

By Isabel McMillan

Thanks for reading the national news blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage. We will be back tomorrow with the latest news.

To conclude, here’s a look back at some of the day’s major stories:

  • In question time, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the opposition was peddling rubbish by blaming persistent inflation on government spending.
  • At the same time, Liberal leadership aspirant Andrew Hastie was spotted with a copy of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War on his desk on the backbench.
  • Liberal backbencher Cameron Caldwell asked the prime minister to reassure a struggling constituent there would be no more interest rate rises this year.
  • A rebel literary festival created in direct response to the cancellation of Adelaide Writers’ Week will feature the two women at the centre of the major event’s implosion.
  • Labor MP Ed Husic said he is “very uncomfortable” with the impending visit of Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog, and that the International Court of Justice had expressed concerns about Herzog’s rhetoric about the war in Gaza.
  • Former Liberal minister Christopher Pyne said Opposition Leader Sussan Ley had been doing a “perfectly good job” as leader, and called on MPs to stop airing their grievances in the media.
  • One Nation leader Pauline Hanson met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today to seek more staff for her four senators, a meeting room for the party and funding for an undisclosed Queensland infrastructure project.

Thanks again for joining us. This is Isabel McMillan signing off.

Hanson meets PM to discuss staffing, Queensland infrastructure project

By Nick Newling

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today to push for more staffing for her senators, a meeting room for the party, and funding for an undisclosed Queensland infrastructure project.

Speaking to journalists at Parliament House, Hanson said the 15-minute meeting was “very good” and that her “request is going to be looked at” by Albanese.

One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson.Alex Ellinghausen

Hanson said she had not requested extra pay for any of her senators or for herself as party leader during the meeting, which she said was attended by only herself and the prime minister.

She also spoke about her relationship with Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, saying it was built on moral support.

“I listen to her as much as I would a farmer, or someone in business, or someone just on the streets of my country wants to come up and have a talk to me and raises issues with me, and I’ll talk to them. No different,” Hanson said.

One rate rise not enough to tame inflation as home buyers are well ahead on mortgages

By Shane Wright

A single interest rate increase may not be enough for the Reserve Bank to bring inflation under control given an overwhelming majority of mortgage holders are ahead on their loan and not facing an immediate increase to their repayments.

As Treasurer Jim Chalmers continued to reject suggestions that government spending was responsible for the Reserve’s decision to take the cash rate to 3.85 per cent, economists cautioned that the psychological impact of the move may weigh more heavily on households than its direct financial effect.

Jim Chalmers says government spending is not the factor behind higher interest rates.Dominic Lorrimer

The quarter percentage point increase, which every major lender will pass on to their customers within the next few weeks, will add about $100 a month to the repayments on a $600,000 mortgage.

But all lenders have reported that when the Reserve Bank cut interest rates last year, borrowers did not reduce their repayments. With so few people forced to curb their spending by a single rate rise, the RBA is left with the prospect of one or two more increases to have a real impact on the more than 4 million home borrowers.

Read more from senior economics correspondent Shane Wright here.

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‘Arbitrary deadline’: McKenzie questions whether Nationals will march to Ley’s timeline

By Nick Newling

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has remained quiet on the continuing negotiations between Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud about reuniting the Coalition, but said Ley’s demand to have the issue resolved before Sunday was an “arbitrary deadline”.

“I know there are confidential discussions going on between the two leaders. I don’t think it’s helpful for me to be sitting here commentating on that. I think there’s been too much commentary, particularly from MPs on all sides about this issue,” McKenzie said.

“These conversations are best held behind closed doors, in a confidential manner, not leaked to the press, not having a running commentary going so that two leaders can actually settle a position,” she told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.

Senator Bridget McKenzie.Alex Ellinghausen

The second Coalition split since the May election came after McKenzie and her fellow National frontbench senators Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald voted against the Liberal Party on hate speech legislation. The three resigned from the frontbench over a breach of cabinet solidarity, and the entire National frontbench followed suit.

If the Coalition is not reunited by Sunday, Ley has said she will appoint a permanent shadow cabinet of all Liberal MPs. On the timeline, McKenzie said: “That’s the Liberal leader’s arbitrary deadline. That’s hers to set. She has her right to do that. And then the question is whether we feel the need to march to that deadline as well. So the door is open. We’re doing our best, and the two leaders are having constructive meetings.”

‘I’m not comfortable with his presence’: Husic speaks out against Israeli president’s visit

By Nick Newling

Labor MP Ed Husic has said he is “very uncomfortable” with the impending visit of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, saying the International Court of Justice had expressed concerns about the figure’s rhetoric about the war in Gaza and that the visit would likely damage social cohesion.

Asked whether he supported Herzog’s visit, Husic said: “To be completely frank, I’m very uncomfortable with it. I find it hard to reconcile the images I’ve seen of him signing bombs that were then dropped on Palestinian homes.”

Labor MP Ed Husic.Alex Ellinghausen

“The fact that the ICJ has called out some of his statements indicating collective responsibility of Palestinians, some of those where he has said, and I quote, ‘it’s an entire nation out there that is responsible’. He says ‘it is not true, this rhetoric about civilians who are not aware and not involved’.

‘It’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime’,” Husic told ABC television this afternoon.

Coalition needs to come together – and actually be together: Liberal MP

By Isabel McMillan

Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh said the Coalition needs to come together “and actually be together”.

“I think timing will be important. You can’t rush it because if you get back together, we need it to stick like any good relationship,” she said.

Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh.Alex Ellinghausen

“The relationship does need work. You can’t put your head in the sand about that one, and the people of Australia are seeing that relationship needs work. Everyone has their opinion on things, but I will stand by mine when I’m out with my people. They like us as a coalition. They support our position on things like net zero, and they were positions we took as a coalition, so they are the reasons why I want us to be a coalition.”

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Palestinian-Australian writer to headline ‘Not Writers’ Week’ after event’s implosion

By Kerrie O'Brien

A rebel literary festival created in direct response to the cancellation of Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) will feature the two women at the centre of the major event’s implosion.

At the one-off new festival, cheekily titled Constellations: Not Writers’ Week, Palestinian-Australian writer Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah – whose removal from AWW sparked the events that last month led to its cancellation – will speak with former AWW director Louise Adler, who resigned after writers withdrew from the line-up.

Several writers from the original AWW line-up are on the bill, including former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, writer and academic Professor Clare Wright, former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown and Miles Franklin Award winner Melissa Lucashenko.

Nobel Prize winning author J.M. Coetzee will also read his work in a poetry event at Constellations, which will be held in various locations across Adelaide from February 28 to March 5 – when AWW was scheduled to be staged.

In January, the Adelaide Festival board made a statement uninviting Abdel-Fattah from Adelaide Writers’ Week, a move which set off a boycott of the event by 180 writers, led Adler to resign, and to the 2026 event being cancelled.

Read the full story here. 

‘The dog that hasn’t barked’: Marles sledges opposition counterpart

By Brittany Busch

The Liberal and National parties have found a brief moment of unity in question time after Defence Minister Richard Marles sledged his opposition counterpart, Angus Taylor, as “the dog over here that hasn’t barked”.

Marles launched the attack after being asked for the first time about the government’s sale of defence properties we reported earlier today – and it came from independent MP Andrew Wilkie rather than the opposition.

Several Liberal and National MPs leapt to their feet to protest, and Speaker Milton Dick chastised Marles.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard MarlesGetty Images

“I withdraw,” Marles said.

House of Representatives in division

By Nick Newling

The House of Representatives has held a division after manager of opposition business Alex Hawke moved that Leader of the House Tony Burke no longer be heard.

Burke was responding to a question from the Labor backbenchers about why sessional orders had been changed to give the crossbench more questions – a thinly veiled attempt to attack the Coalition over its split.

Burke repeatedly sledged the opposition and National Party, as he recounted how Barnaby Joyce had defected, and then the Nationals had moved to the crossbench.

The move will fail as Labor has a majority in the House, and most of the crossbench is voting with them. A large number of Liberal and National MPs left the house when the vote was called.

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Albanese asked to reassure Australians feeling rate hike pain

By Brittany Busch

Liberal backbencher Cameron Caldwell has asked the prime minister to reassure a struggling constituent that there would be no more interest rate rises this year.

“I am always sympathetic, and good to hear from constituents in whatever electorate,” Albanese said.

Prime Minister Anthony AlbaneseDominic Lorrimer

“We understand, as a government, that many people are under financial pressure which is why… I hope that you inform him that you would have had, had you been [in government] – although you might have been in bits, if you were over here – you would have had a higher deficit and more pressure on the budget than what has occurred. Because you stood for election as part of a team that would have had high deficits and also would have had not only no tax cuts – you would have had tax increases.”

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