Australia News: Marles Denies Weapons Sales to Israel
Marles says ‘we are not making weapons for Israel’ after Helen Haines raises transparency concerns
The independent MP Helen Haines gets the first crossbench question, and asks about the deterioration of transparency under the Labor government. You can read more on that story here:
Haines asks:
There is lack of transparency around Australian manufacturer weapons, weapons parts, and trade with Israel. This makes it difficult to understand whether Australia is complicit in breaches of international humanitarian law in Palestine. Minister, can you guarantee Australia is not complicit in war crimes in Gaza?
The deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marlessays he can “absolutely guarantee” the government is not complicit in “the way in which you describe” and says Australia is not making weapons and supplying them to Israel.
We are not making weapons for Israel. It is as clear as that. We have not been doing so since the conflict began on October seven but we’re not doing it for years prior to that.
I want to make the point that to put that misinformation into the public domain does not help one single person in Gaza. It just does not. What it does do is raise tensions in this country which is deeply destabilising for Australia’s social cohesion.
Key events
Back to the House, in a dixer about wages, treasurer Jim Chalmers has revealed the 2024-25 budget deficit will be lower than expected.
In the pre-election budget, the 2024-25 deficit was forecast as $27.9bn. Chalmers says:
I informed the House that the 24-25 deficit is now expected to be in the low double digits. That is less than half what we expected at budget time and it is around one quarter of what we inherited from those opposite.
Sarah Basford Canales
Wong accuses Greens of ‘hypocrisy’ in Senate over standing orders as minor party questions Aukus price
Senate question time is usually a battle between the major parties, but this week has given us a showdown between Labor and the Greens.
It kicks off when Greens senator David Shoebridge asks:
What justification can the government provide as to why we’re giving [US president] Donald Trump $1.6bn for [Aukus] nuclear submarines we may never get, with no strings?
Penny Wong appears to be in a similar mood as yesterday because she criticises the Greens for holding an unsurprising view on Australia’s alliance with the US. The Greens interject as Wong responds, so the foreign affairs minister twists the knife a bit more.
I think that the hypocrisy of the Greens is clearly on display, that they believe the standing orders should be used to protect them, but not anybody else, nor any other standard in the chamber.
There’s a bit more back-and-forth and Wong explains the Aukus pact is in Australia’s interests “in an era that is increasingly complex and contested” when asked whether Albanese’s Australia had shared values with Trump’s America.
The interjections continue as Senate president Sue Lines tries to bring the chamber under control.
Shoebridge’s colleague, Peter Whish-Wilsonchimes in to make another point of order: “It’s obviously easier to uphold standing orders than it is international law in relation to Gaza.”
Marles says ‘we are not making weapons for Israel’ after Helen Haines raises transparency concerns
The independent MP Helen Haines gets the first crossbench question, and asks about the deterioration of transparency under the Labor government. You can read more on that story here:
Haines asks:
There is lack of transparency around Australian manufacturer weapons, weapons parts, and trade with Israel. This makes it difficult to understand whether Australia is complicit in breaches of international humanitarian law in Palestine. Minister, can you guarantee Australia is not complicit in war crimes in Gaza?
The deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marlessays he can “absolutely guarantee” the government is not complicit in “the way in which you describe” and says Australia is not making weapons and supplying them to Israel.
We are not making weapons for Israel. It is as clear as that. We have not been doing so since the conflict began on October seven but we’re not doing it for years prior to that.
I want to make the point that to put that misinformation into the public domain does not help one single person in Gaza. It just does not. What it does do is raise tensions in this country which is deeply destabilising for Australia’s social cohesion.
Anthony Albanese gets the next dixer on protecting wages (again, this relates to the penalty rates legislation introduced today).
He says Australians want to “keep more of what they earn” which almost all government MPs say with him.
Everyone knows the line at this point: it was one heavily used during the last term and the election.
Albanese defends tariff result with US in response to question about meetings with Trump
SUSAN LAW is up for the second opposition question, and again goes to the fact that Albanese hasn’t had a meeting with Donald Trump.
Ley says Albanese has spent “more time making excuses for unacceptable live firing exercises of Australia’s coast than he has spent in person with the US President”.
To that, Albanese looks up to the press gallery benches with a confused expression.
He says:
Members of this parliament have a choice … of whether they will back Australia or seek to undermine Australia.
The Coalition tries to interject, which speaker Milton Dick is absolutely not having today.
He says it’s “a serious question and the prime minister is answering it”.
Albanese continues:
The question [the Coalition] might like to ask themselves is which country has a better arrangement than 10%, which country, because the answer to that – the answer to that is none.
Rishworth takes dixer on penalty rates legislation
The first dixer is from the new Labor member for Leichhardt, Matt Smithto Amanda Rishworththe employment minister, about legislation to protect penalty rates.
No surprise that this is the first dixer, given the legislation was introduced to the house earlier this morning.
Liberal leader Ley asks why PM has failed to meet with Trump over Aukus
On to questions, and SUSAN LAW starts, starting with Aukus and why Anthony Albanese has failed to meet with US president Donald Trump when 30 other world leaders have already done so.
Ley says she served as a cabinet minister when the former Liberal government delivered Aukus, which Albanese takes umbrage with, and says it was him that signed the agreement.
Albanese says he’s had three conversations since Trump took office (you might remember the two were supposed to meet in Canada but Trump left the G7 summit early).
On the tariff situation, Albanese says:
Australia has a lower tariff rate or equal to every other country on earth.
Peter Nixon passed away aged 97 and his family are in the chamber as the prime minister, opposition leader, Nationals leader and current Gippsland MP pay tribute.
Anthony Albanese says Nixon described himself as a “simple farmer” but that he quickly gained a reputation as a “tough, genuine and hard-working man who kept his feet on the ground”.
SUSAN LAW said Nixon was “universally respected” during his time in and out of parliament, describing him a “grazier, parliamentarian, minister, community champion, Aussie rules fanatic, [and] was an exemplar of the body politic that laid the foundations that we have inherited”.
David Littleproud said his loss will be felt across regional Australia and said Nixon represented his region with “humility, passion and purpose”.
Before the questions begin, there’s a condolence motion for the former Gippsland MP Peter Nixona former National Country party MP.
He died in May this year.
Get excited folks, it’s almost question time (the second and last one for the first sitting week).
Littleproud says he has not received scientific evidence informing decision to lift US beef ban
David Littleproud says the agriculture department hasn’t been able to provide him the scientific evidence underpinning the decision to lift restrictions on US beef imports.
The Nationals have raised suspicion over the timing of the decision.
The department has been looking at biosecurity settings around US beef imports for 10 years, but the timing of this decision comes soon after the Trump administration criticised Australia for not allowing enough market access for US cattle farmers.
Littleproud says there should be an independent scientific panel review of the department’s decision.
Earlier today I was given a briefing on the changes of protocols with respect to importing US beef. Unfortunately, that has raised more questions than provided answers. It has raised my suspicion about the speed and timing of this decision.
‘People say they’re from the country, get it right’: Joyce responds to Tehan’s ‘steers fighting’ jibe
Barnaby Joyce can’t seem to get enough of the press gallery this week, returning to Sky News earlier today, talking about bulls and steers.
But that wasn’t in the context of the decision to lift restrictions on beef imports from the US.
Yesterday, Liberal MP And Tehan referred to Joyce and Michael McCormack as “two steers fighting in the neighbour’s paddock”.
Joyce replied on air:
The people say they’re from the country, get it right. Steers don’t fight. We castrate them so they don’t, right. Steers have their testicles removed …
Bulls moo. Bulls fight.
And he proceeded to pretend to be a bull (fingers as horns and all).
It was a bit of a dig at Tehan, who is from the country, holds a regional seat and whose father ran a cattle and sheep farm.
All of this stems from an ongoing fight in the nationals partyroom over the future of net zero policy, and the future of David Littleproud’s leadership. Joyce and McCormack have said their push to repeal the climate target isn’t to undermine Littleproud – but that doesn’t stop the speculation.
Attempt to refer PM’s staffing allocation power to committee shot down in Senate
The opposition and crossbench tried to refer the prime minister’s power to determine staffing allocations to a committee a bit earlier in the Senate, but were voted down by the government and Greens.
The prime minister has the power to determine how many advisory staff political parties get, and was criticised by the opposition last month for reducing their staff allocations after the election.
In 2022 the Albanese government was under fire for cutting the number of crossbencher advisers from four to just one.
Faatima him – the Labor turned independent senator – tried to refer the finance committee to investigate whether the PM should keep that power.
Her motion was backed by the opposition and members of the crossbench, but failed 34 votes to 29.
Patrick Commins
End of US beef restrictions likely won’t mean an influx of imports
The ban on American beef imports has been lifted after 22 years, but the political and diplomatic implications of the decision far outweigh the practical.
For one, and as has been noted, the US cattle industry is in no position to start sending their produce down under.
American herds are at a multi-decade low, and farmers are slaughtering fewer animals than they were a year ago. That has led to some beef prices in the US hitting record highs in recent months.
No surprise, then, that American beef exports in the first five months of 2025 are down 5% on the same period last year, and down 10% on the year before that – and 20% lower than in 2022.
“Unless US beef prices decline dramatically, we do not expect any large volumes of beef to be sent to Australia in the short to medium term,” says Dennis driving drivingan analyst at CBA.
To cover the lack of domestic beef supply, American imports year-to-date to July are up 17% on the same seven months in 2024, at 912,000 tonnes.
Imports from Australia are up 35% at 228,000 tonnes, Voznesenski says.
Once the US cattle herd is rebuilt in coming years, exports could increase.
Even then, Australia has a history of exporting far more to the US than we import.
As Voznesenski notes, in the 20 years to 2003 (when American beef was banned due to a case of mad cow disease), we imported an average of 23 tonnes of US beef a year.
In contrast, our average annual export volume to the US was 230,000 tonnes.
Josh Butler
‘We’re hitting a “grandkid moment”’: Husic says future generations will question inaction over Gaza
The Labor MP Ed Husic says the federal government should be prepared to “ramp up sanctions” on Israel in response to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Husic joined a press conference in Parliament House today – also attended by former Labor senator Faatima himand crossbenchers David Pocock and Kate Chaney – to condemn the lack of aid and food being allowed into Gaza. Pocock said he would present a petition of 65,000 signatures to the Senate, from Médecins Sans Frontières, calling for the Australian government to do more in seeking a resolution to the crisis.
The Albanese government this week joined an international statement warning “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths”, and expressing horror “that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid. The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.”
Husic, who has spoken consistently on Gaza, said the large number of signatures on the petition showed “people in the public domain do not want to be silent themselves and they do not want the parliament to be silent and they want the government to act”:
If this was happening to us, we’d want people in other parts of the world to have a view and take a stand and stop the suffering …
We’re hitting a ‘grandkid moment’. The ones that follow us are going to ask us all – at this point, confronted with one of the biggest moral, humanitarian [issues]and frankly this is a matter of conscience as well – what we did, to speak up and press for action to stop this?
Husic noted the government’s joining of the global joint statement, and added: “we do need to do more … The government should be prepared to work with others to ramp up sanctions in a coordinated way, absolutely.”
Benita kolovos
Loophole in app used to access Working with Children checks to be fixed within days, Victoria government says
The Victorian government has admitted to a “loophole” within an app used to access working with children checks and says it will be rectified within days.
The Herald Sun on Thursday reported the Service Victoria in-app QR code reader can be tricked and used to gain access to someone’s WWCC. The report said in theory “a predator could quickly gather validation to prove they can work with children”.
But government minister, Mary-Anne Thomassays attempting to impersonate someone else to gain employment was an offence. She told reporters this morning:
In order for a working with children’s check to be processed, that working with children’s check must match with the person’s identity, and any attempt to use another person’s card or to defraud the system in any way, is actually an offence that is punishable by up to two years in jail. But being aware of this loophole, we will fix it, and we’ll do that in coming days.
Thomas added the WWCC system was “outdated” and work was already underway to improve it.
‘Make agriculture great again’: US claims win over beef access
The US administration is claiming the win for the government removing some restrictions on US beef imports into Australia.
Trump has been piling pressure on Australia to drop the restrictions, and open up market access for American farmers.
US secretary of agriculture Brooke L. Rollins issued a statement, titled “Make Agriculture Great Again Trade Wins: President Trump Secures Greater Ag Market Access to Australia for American Beef”.
She said it was “absurd” that the trade barriers had been in place for the last two decades.
American farmers and ranchers produce the safest, healthiest beef in the world. It’s absurd that non-scientific trade barriers prevented our beef from being sold to consumers in Australia for the last 20 years. Gone are the days of putting American farmers on the sidelines.
This is yet another example of the kind of market access the President negotiates to bring America into a new golden age of prosperity, with American agriculture leading the way.
Bridget McKenzie says CSIRO could carry out review into lifting US beef import ban
Bridget McKenzie has suggested the CSIRO could review the science behind the decision to lift restrictions on imports of US beef.
McKenzie told Sky News the timing is “exquisite” (Littleproud said it was “suspicious” earlier this morning), and said it seemed to be a “quick assessment”.
Assessment of the biosecurity settings have been reviewed for the last ten years, and the government has said this morning that Australia’s biosecurity will not be compromised.
If the protocols and the science around that is rigorous enough, of course, we’re going to support that, but we’re not going to damage our $11bn beef export industry to appease the breakdown in a relationship between the Albanese government [and Trump administration]…
I think the timing is exquisite for the Labor party, and that’s why we’d like to see an independent review.
ICJ ruling on fossil fuel-related reparations should be ‘turning point’ for Labor, Greens say
The Greens say an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that nations who fail to curb fossil fuels could be ordered to pay reparation should be a “turning point” for the Labor government on climate action.
The Greens leader, Larissa Waterswrote on X that the ICJ ruling makes clear that “every one of Labor’s new coal or gas approvals risks Australia being legally liable for the climate consequences”. She wrote:
This should be a turning point. Fossil fuel profits cannot override a climate safe future.
Our Pacific neighbours led the way at The Hague demanding climate justice and Australia must now follow their lead. Labor should support the Greens climate trigger bill to stop flagrantly breaching international law and bring our Howard-era environmental laws into this century.
For more background on how this case came to the international court, have a read of this story from my colleague Kate Lyons: