Category: Australian News

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Anti-Corruption Commission has launched a formal inquiry into the NACC’s performance of its functions, examining how effectively Australia’s key anti-corruption body is operating. This follows significant community concern that the NACC is failing to deliver on community expectations and has been mired in scandals about conflict of interest management. 

Submissions from the public and stakeholders are open until 29 May 2026, with the Committee due to report by 26 October 2026. The inquiry page is here.

Senator Shoebridge, Greens Justice Spokesperson and member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the NACC David Shoebridge: 

“Australians have been watching the NACC operate in the shadows for years and with this inquiry it’s time to drag this body into the light.”

“NACC has no public hearings, no regular updates and zero cooperation with whistleblowers and complainants. That is a recipe for destroying public trust, not fighting corruption. 

“As one of the many people who have lodged complaints with the NACC I know how people feel when they report serious corruption concerns and are met with total silence for months ticking over to years. 

“I hope that with this inquiry the public can get a voice to tell us directly their thoughts on the processes and functions of the NACC and how to fix it. For too long this entire conversation has been captured by the Labor and Liberal parties who are so conflicted. 

“What I repeatedly hear from the public is that they think the NACC is a joke, a hamstrung and secret tribunal that is fundamentally failing to root out federal corruption. 

“This inquiry has been called while the Inspector is undertaking a separate and independent investigation into concerns about the NACC Commissioner’s actual or perceived conflicts of interest. To respect that independence it is right that this inquiry does not cover that same ground.

“The test of this inquiry is simple: will it produce a pathway to a NACC that the public can actually see doing its job? To do that it will have to give a pathway for serious reform so that whistleblowers are respected, the cloak of secrecy is pulled back and people can see how corruption is being tackled,” Senator Shoebridge said.

After months of delay and failure of the Government to act on a Digital Duty of Care, the Greens will introduce new laws to keep all users safe online. The “Fix our Feeds” bill will be introduced into the Senate next week. 

Greens spokesperson for communications, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young: 

“This verdict confirms what we’ve known for years: social media platforms are deliberately designed to keep people hooked, just like cigarettes or pokie machines. 

“These multi-billion dollar companies are making massive profits off a product that is deliberately designed to be addictive, even when it’s harmful. 

“Big tech is the new big tobacco – an industry that makes its profits off selling addictive, toxic and harmful products.

“Despite promising 18 months ago to implement a Digital Duty of Care – a law that requires social media companies not to cause harm to their users – the Government has done nothing and is still sitting on its hands.

“Toxic algorithms flood our social media feeds day after day. It’s time to give Australians the power to control what we see in our feeds. Every user should have the freedom to choose what type of content they want to see and to opt out of toxic algorithms. 

“Right now, big tech giants are allowed to set their own rules. There is no requirement forcing these companies to make their platforms safe to use, even when they know they are doing harm.  

“A Digital Duty of Care would force big tech giants to prevent harm before it happens – not just apologise after the damage is done.

“The Greens will introduce new laws that will help keep everyone safe online because the Government has refused to act.  

“The Greens Fix our Feeds Bill will allow users to opt in or out of predatory algorithms, giving them a safer online experience. 

“Social media apps shouldn’t be able to rig their algorithms to force dangerous content on users for the sake of making mega profits.”

Minns Labor attacks Aboriginal land claims by stealth through Crown lands bill
The Minns Labor Government has introduced the Crown Land Management Amendment (Statutory Review) Bill 2026 and then tabled the statutory review report two days later, in a highly flawed process that appears designed to avoid proper scrutiny of major changes affecting Aboriginal land claims inside what is being presented as routine legislative reform.

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council has publicly warned that the bill would hollow out Aboriginal land rights, and a statewide conference of Local Aboriginal Land Councils is descending on NSW Parliament this morning to oppose it.

Greens MP, spokesperson for the environment and Solicitor Sue Higginson said:

“This bill has sparked major opposition because people can see exactly what it is, an attempt to make serious changes to Crown lands law, including changes that impact Aboriginal land claims, through a process designed to avoid proper scrutiny,”

“The High Court made it clear that the State cannot defeat an Aboriginal land claim by pointing to a lease on paper where the land was not actually being used when the claim was made. This bill is designed to get around that decision by letting the Minister retrospectively change the use of Crown land after the fact, to defeat a claim that was valid when it was lodged. This is an injustice in the making and an attempt to avoid the return of crown lands subject to Aboriginal land claims,”

“The Government introduced the bill first and only tabled the statutory review report two days later. That is a highly flawed process in any circumstance, but it is especially unacceptable where the bill affects the already narrow and hard-fought framework for Aboriginal land rights,”

“The NSW Aboriginal Land Council is unequivocal in their opposition, and today a statewide conference of Land Councils has come to Parliament to make that opposition visible. When First Nations communities across NSW are forced to mobilise like this, the Government should understand it has lost any claim to having handled this issue in good faith,”

“ The Law Society of NSW has come out this morning clearly opposed to the Government attempting such a radical and unfair reform by stealth. When both the peak legal body and the peak Aboriginal land rights body are raising alarm, the Government cannot pretend this is ordinary or non-controversial reform,”

“If Labor wants to make major changes to Aboriginal land claims, it should do so openly, directly, and in consultation with the people whose rights are affected. It should not hide behind the language of a statutory review while trying to push through changes that many people in the Parliament, and I suspect many people in the Labor caucus, do not yet fully understand,”

“The Greens will scrutinise every provision of this bill and oppose any measure that weakens Aboriginal land rights, narrows access to land justice, or shifts more power back into the hands of the State over land that was never ceded,” Ms Higginson said.

“New inflation data shows Australia has been left vulnerable and exposed because the Treasurer’s active inflation agenda has been left to persist even before the inflation consequences of the global crisis,” said Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson, today.

Mr Wilson’s comments follow the release of the ABS’ February inflation data.

In February, prior to the start of the Iran conflict, inflation was running hotter here than in every major advanced economy.

At 3.7 per cent, inflation here is greater than France 0.9 per cent, Japan 1.3 per cent, Italy 1.5 per cent, Canada 1.8 per cent, Germany 1.9 per cent, United States 2.4 per cent, and the United Kingdom 3.0 per cent.

“Australians have lost confidence in Labor’s management of the economy and the Treasurer’s excuses as his active inflation agenda squeezes household budgets and new data confirms plummeting consumer confidence and skyrocketing inflation expectations.

“The most persistent inflation is homegrown – risen from 4.9 to 5.0 per cent – and fuelled by the Treasurer’s active inflation agenda that is pouring debt petrol on the inflation fire.”

Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson said the latest CPI data confirms inflation remains a persistent challenge and combined with record low consumer confidence data, showed Labor was taking the country further behind.

“Australians are being hit from both sides. Their confidence is falling while their cost of living keeps rising,” Mr Wilson said.

“Under Labor, we are heading for a lost decade of productivity, leaving every Australian around $35,000 worse off.

“This reflects what families already know—their pay packets are not going as far, and the pressure is not easing.

“Instead of easing pressure, government spending is adding to inflation risks at a time when Australians need relief.”

“Australians are already paying the price through higher mortgages, groceries and energy bills. They need a government focused on restoring stability, not adding to uncertainty.”

Mr Wilson said Australia needs a renewed focus on economic discipline.

“That means getting spending under control, restoring respect for taxpayers, and backing policies that lift productivity so hard work pays off again,” he said.

“Australians deserve an economy where they can get ahead, not one where they feel like they’re falling behind.

“We know under the Albanese government there’s plenty of fuel for inflation, just not for farmers and families. Only the Coalition will protect Australians’ way of life and restore their standard of living,” Mr Wilson said.

Environment Minister Joshua Burgoyne’s Buffel Grass Weed Management Plan allows the continued planting and spread of declared weed buffel grass on pastoral leases, in direct contradiction to strong community feedback.

Buffel grass is a highly invasive species causing significant ecological, cultural and economic harm across vast areas of Central Australia. It was declared a weed by the NT Government in 2024.

The government’s own consultation summary revealed that 75% of submissions to the Draft Buffel Grass Weed Management Plan expressed strong concern about the carve out that would allow pastoralists to continue to spread and cultivate buffel on pastoral leases.

Despite this, the final plan retains sweeping exemptions for the pastoral industry, with only minimal changes from the draft.

This decision demonstrates the capture of the CLP government by the pastoral industry and shows that Josh Burgoyne is prioritising the cattle lobby’s priorities over environmental protection, public health, cultural heritage, tourism, and community safety.

Jonathan Parry, Convenor of the NT Greens:

“The plan is a disaster for the environment, culture, and the long-term economy of Central Australia. It’s frankly unthinkable that the CLP could allow pastoralists to buy and spread buffel seed.”

“The Minister said he wants to find the right balance – well, this is not the right balance.”

“This plan puts pastoral interests over the environment, over connection to country, over health and safety, and over industries like tourism. And, it completely ignores the feedback from the community that overwhelmingly rejected this plan.”

“It is not fair that Indigenous land managers, councils and households are cleaning up the cattle industry’s mess and doing their bit to manage the spread of buffel, while pastoralists continue to spread this weed.”

“If the Territory government doesn’t have the willpower to properly address this matter, we must look for other options. We urge the Federal Government to declare buffel grass a Weed of National Significance so we can get the resourcing and coordination needed to address this crisis.”

Australia will provide an additional $5 million for lifesaving assistance to civilians impacted by the ongoing conflict in Lebanon, with a focus on the most vulnerable, particularly women and children.

The recent escalation in the conflict has led to a significant deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Lebanon.

We are seeing increasing and widespread displacement, with families in desperate need of essential food and medical care. More than one million people have already fled their homes, including over 200,000 children.

Australia’s assistance will be delivered by trusted partners:

• $3 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide emergency food assistance 
• $2 million to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for nutrition assistance, access to water and health services

This latest funding brings Australia’s humanitarian assistance for civilians affected by the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon to over $135 million since October 2023.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong:

“We know this is a distressing time for Australians in Lebanon and for the Australian-Lebanese community here at home thinking of their family members and loved ones.

“We are gravely concerned by the expansion of the conflict into Lebanon, the loss of life and the displacement of more than one million civilians.

“Australia condemns Hizballah for its ongoing strikes on Israel and for dragging Lebanon into conflict.

“Australia calls for all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law and for the protection of civilians and aid workers. A major Israeli ground offensive into Lebanon will only exacerbate the worsening humanitarian situation in the country.”

International Development Minister Anne Aly:

“The escalating conflict in Lebanon is exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation. Australia’s humanitarian support will provide emergency food, water and health assistance for displaced civilians across Lebanon.

“At this time of crisis, Australia is working closely with the international community and our humanitarian partners to support the people of Lebanon through the provision of lifesaving aid.

“Humanitarian personnel must also be protected, consistent with international humanitarian law. Aid workers save lives. Their dedication to improving the lives of others should not cost them their own lives.”

NT Greens today have called for fossil fuel corporations to contribute to the projected $100M cleanup costs of the NT’s ongoing flood crisis.

Addressing negotiations between NT and federal governments over the mounting repair bill, Jonathan Parry from the NT Greens warned that gas production fuels climate disruption, and polluters should pay for their impacts.

“The unfolding compounding weather systems challenging Territorians this month are precisely the chaotic impact experts warn will become more frequent and intense as carbon pollution mounts,” said Mr Parry.

The CLP Finocchiaro government has this week announced the establishment of a $100 million fund for flood recovery, to be funded entirely from the NT budget.

“It’s essential that we invest in climate resistance and disaster repair but ordinary Territorian households and small businesses shouldn’t be footing the bill.” 

“Big gas producers like Inpex and SANTOS are profiting massively from exploitation of resources that literally fuel climate chaos. Territorians know these international fossil fuel companies don’t pay their way, and now we find ourselves with a growing damage bill from climate impacts.”

“That’s why we’re calling on the Finocchiaro CLP government to fund disaster recovery by making the gas industry pay their fair share.”

Last week in the Commonwealth Parliament, the Australian Greens forced a vote in the Senate on a bill to introduce a 25% export tax on gas. But Labor, the Coalition, and One Nation all voted against the measure.

“The Greens are the only party in Australia willing to take on the big fossil fuel giants. Labor, the Coalition and One Nation have shown again and again that they’re more worried about their big corporate donors and the cushy jobs they promise than the interests of everyday Australians.”

“The Greens oppose plans for massive new fossil-fuel industrialisation at Middle Arm, and the expansion of onshore and offshore fracking production.”

“Those already in operation should be made to come to the table and contribute to recovery costs.”

Labor’s so-called crackdown on petrol corporations will do nothing to rein in petrol prices, and won’t stop corporations using the cover of war to price gouge, the Greens say.

“Labor’s proposal won’t stop petrol companies price gouging,” Greens Economic Justice Spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

“It will only increase penalties for lying about why prices are rising, while doing nothing to actually stop prices rising.”

“Australians are being slugged at the bowser, and the Government’s response is simply fiddling at the margins.”

“Corporations are using the war as cover for price rises across the economy, so the government’s response needs to be economy wide.”

“The Greens pressured Labor into cracking down on supermarket price gouging, but Labor is now sitting back and allowing price gouging without consequence.”

“If price gouging laws are good enough for supermarkets, they should apply across the entire economy.”

“Labor’s piecemeal response means that Australians will pay higher prices than they should right across the economy.”

“The coming inflation spike won’t stop at petrol. We already know that fertiliser costs are going up, which will flow through to farmers and food prices.”

“We need economy-wide anti price gouging laws so corporations can’t use the war as cover to boost profits. The Greens have already drafted a Bill that would do this.”

The Albanese Government has put community safety at risk by granting a visa to a convicted murderer who had been rejected four times under the former Coalition Government, before going on to succeed in the High Court this week and strip away key monitoring safeguards for the dangerous NZYQ cohort.

Within months of the Albanese Government’s election in 2022, this individual was granted a visa despite repeated refusals under the former Coalition Government.

The contrast is stark – where the Coalition acted to keep a dangerous individual out of Australia, Labor overruled those decisions and gave this murderer a visa.

Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration Senator Jonno Duniam said the case exposed a serious failure of judgment by the Albanese Government.

“Labor is handing out visas to murderers who should never have been granted one in the first place – showing a complete disregard for community safety,” Senator Duniam said.

Senator Duniam said this failure sits alongside a pattern of legal incompetence, with the Government losing three major High Court cases – NZYQ (2023), YBFZ (2024) and EGH19 (2026).

“Three times Labor claimed its laws were sound. Three times the High Court has disagreed. Each failure has weakened safeguards and left Australians less safe.”

Reports confirm the individual went on to reoffend after being granted a visa.

“This is exactly what happens when a Government ignores warnings and lowers standards – Australians are put at risk.”

“Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke needs to explain to Australians what safeguards are now in place and assure communities that they are being protected. Because at the moment, we have heard nothing from the Government about what they will do next.”

The Minns Labor Government is proposing wholesale change to the annual GST carve-up that continues to rip off the people of New South Wales.

The urgent need for reform has been highlighted by the Commonwealth Grants Commission’s decision to hand NSW its lowest GST relativity share on record.

Last week’s decision will see NSW, Australia’s largest state, receive $1.4 billion less GST revenue than Victoria, despite having 1.5 million more residents.

The NSW share of the GST pool has now fallen to 82 cents in the dollar in 2026-27, down from 86 cents in 2025-26, and 92.4 cents in 2023-24.

This decreasing rate of relativity is estimated to have cost NSW $8.6 billion over the past four years. That could have funded:

• Around 13,500 more registered nurses in the NSW public hospital system, or
• Around 14,500 more teachers over four years.

The current distribution calculation is complex and opaque. This not only leads to unpredictable variations for state budgets but also produces unreasonable distributions.

The Minns Labor Government is proposing a fairer way forward.

The NSW submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry proposes an equal per capita distribution of GST grants, with top-ups funded by the Australian Government from outside the GST pool.

An equal per capita distribution would remove complexity, result in a higher level of transparency and eliminate any possible drag from the current system on the productive capacity of the Australian economy.

If GST was shared on an equal per capita basis, it’s estimated NSW would receive an additional $3.2 billion next financial year.

If broad consensus cannot be reached on equal per capita distribution, NSW also proposes an alternate model that returns to the pre-2018 equalisation arrangements from 2030-31, with several modifications:

• The introduction of a relativities safety net floor of 0.50 funded by the Australian Government. This is a reduction from the current 0.75 floor. This would ensure there is a fair distribution to all states of any windfall revenue flowing to only one state.
• Early notification of likely distribution changes through the Commonwealth Grants Commission issuing four-year relativity forecasts.

These modifications will address factors that drove the changes to GST in 2018 and will reduce the negative impact of horizontal fiscal equalisation on the productivity of the Australian economy.

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said:

“The current system for carving up the GST is busted. NSW carries the Federation all by itself.

“Some of the richest and wealthiest states aren’t doing their bit to help smaller states and territories like the ACT, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

“Even worse, NSW taxpayers have seen more of their money put to work fixing the budgets of Western Australia and Victoria, than their own.

“The whole of the Federation would be better off if we allocated the GST by population share, with the Federal Government using their balance sheet to prop up the smaller jurisdictions.

“That is what we are arguing for. But we are also presenting a compromise proposal to push for change.

“Change like this won’t be quick. But I’m glad that since we launched this campaign every state and territory, except Western Australia, has slammed this broken system. “