Liberal frontbencher calls for party ‘rebrand’, saying it is time to ‘revisit our values’
The Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh says it is time for a party rebrand after it sank further in today’s polls, suggesting her colleagues should revisit their values.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, the shadow NDIS minister said she wasn’t suggesting changing the foundations of the party, but that it “might be time for us to re-look at how we express ourselves externally”.
She said anyone saying everything looks wonderful for the party has their “head in the sand”.
double quotation markI’m putting myself out on a limb a little bit, I think it’s time for the Liberal party to rebrand itself. Some people think that we’re stuck in the past and our policies need to resonate with the Australia of today and the future. So I think it’d be a really good time for us to revisit our values. What we stand for and the way we project ourselves to Australians.
That takes a lot of work inside the party to go back to our roots, and then to look at our messaging and our communications to the Australian public, because you can’t keep getting poll after poll saying that it’s diabolical out there and just ignore it.
Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 21.46 EDT
Key events
Albanese tight-lipped on cost of agreement
The original deal – when the prime minister visited Vanuatu last year – had a price tag of $500m over ten years, but Anthony Albanese won’t say clearly whether that’s changed or if the price has remained the same.
Albanese tells reporters the deal will support the economic development of Vanuatu, support mitigation efforts against climate change and provide support for Pacific nations “to be less vulnerable to shocks such as we’ve seen with the Middle East conflict and the strait of Hormuz because of the reliance upon diesel”.
He says the actual numbers will be revealed later this year when the December budget update is released:
double quotation markWe’ll be transparent, as we are, in these matters. They’ll be available as part of MYEFO [the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook] at the end of this year.
We, of course, are providing support for economic development in Vanuatu. That is in the interest of the people of Vanuatu, but also in Australia’s national interests to have economic development in our region.
Vanuatu PM, Jotham Napat, says Vanuatu has passed legislation to stop any militarisation of critical infrastructure, which is a core part of this agreement, when asked why negotiations on the issue were so drawn out:
double quotation markAs a country, we have passed an act in parliament not to allow any militarisation – to actually be used for our critical infrastructure, and we give very strict attention to all of our critical infrastructure.
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Updated at 22.46 EDT
‘Nothing to hide’ on deal with China says Vanuatu PM
Anthony Albanese is asked to spell out exactly why the agreement states Vanuatu’s critical infrastructure should be free from militarisation and why there should be no foreign military base.
The Australian prime minister doesn’t say China: he keeps his language broad, and says it’s about the sovereignty of Vanuatu.
double quotation markWe respect the right of all nations to make sovereign decisions about their engagement with other countries. But what this does do is to provide certainty for Australia that there will be no foreign military base. That we’ll prioritise policing cooperation with Pacific Island Forum members – something that we’ve asked for across the board – and that there will be any consultation on any third-party engagements in critical infrastructure.
The Vanuatu prime minister, Jotham Napat, is also asked where the Namele agreement between Vanuatu and China is up to. Napat says that agreement is yet to be signed, and his nation is waiting to “get the clearance from Beijing”.
double quotation markSo currently, it’s not yet signed. We will share the agreement. There is nothing to hide. Our government is transparent. And I am so grateful that the prime minister has also given me the clearance to share the Nakamal agreement.
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Updated at 22.41 EDT
Vanuatu Australia treaty based on “mutual respect, trust and understanding”
Anthony Albanese is celebrating an agreement signed with Vanuatu this morning, the Nakamal treaty, which has been ten months in the making.
Critically, the agreement states Vanuatu’s critical infrastructure will remain free from militarisation and the Pacific nation should not be used as a foreign military base.
The underlying reason? Ensuring China does not set up a military base in region. Speaking in Parliament House, Albanese says:
double quotation markThis is the bed rock of the relationship between our two nations, and of this agreement, mutual respect, trust and understanding.
We’ve concluded a balanced agreement that will protect our collective and individual security and our sovereignty. And it will support our interest in a stable, prosperous and secure region that we both call home.
Importantly, this agreement advances the consensus that security is a shared responsibility of the Pacific family – the members of the Pacific Islands Forum – and encapsulates Vanuatu’s decision not to be used as a foreign military base and that Vanuatu’s critical infrastructure remains free from militarisation.
Under Nakamal, Vanuatu has continued to look at Pacific Island Forum members to support its policing needs, including Australia as Vanuatu’s longstanding primary policing partner.
The PM of Vanuatu, Jotham Napat, and Australian PM, Anthony Albanese, after signing the Nakamal agreement today. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare
Updated at 22.40 EDT
Andrew Messenger
Bleijie says disrupting opposition leader’s budget speech ‘fair game’
Jarrod Bleijie was also asked about the government’s tactics in parliament last week.
The LNP deputy leader deliberately interrupted Labor leader Steven Miles’s budget-in-reply speech on Thursday, making 23 points of order, interjecting by yelling over him and by allegedly standing in front of television cameras to prevent them filming it. The hour-long address took an additional 16 minutes due to interruptions from the LNP.
By convention, both the government’s budget speech and the leader of the opposition’s reply are heard in silence, but it’s not uncommon to hear a handful of interjections, including when the LNP was in opposition. Labor did not make a single point of order during the treasurer’s speech.
Bleijie denied that the interruptions were part of an organised strategy and accused Labor of “gutter politics”, saying the party had “set a new standard, a new threshold, and it’s a low standard”.
double quotation markWith respect, when convention and protocol is broken on our treasurer’s speech, it’s fair game to reply in the same way.
Speaker Pat Weir said on Friday that parliament was becoming a “race to the bottom” of “personal vitriol” “attacking people rather than debating issues, ideas, and policy”.
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Updated at 22.25 EDT
Andrew Messenger
Queensland’s deputy premier calls ‘anti-defence’ Victorian government ‘a bunch of socialists’ who don’t ‘deserve’ army expo
Victoria’s government is “anti-defence” and the state’s economy a “basket case”, according to Queensland’s deputy premier, arguing that the rival state should not host an army expo.
Announcing a state grant to a Brisbane drone manufacturing facility, Jarrod Bleijie made a pitch for the Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition, the country’s largest land defence trade event, to return to the sunshine state.
Western Australia will host this year’s expo in October. The event, which takes place every two years, is contracted to return to Victoria in 2028.
Bleijie said he had met with the organisers who told him they want to honour the agreement with Victoria but added “if the situation changes”, “we want them back”.
double quotation markThey’d obviously contracted to Victoria. Now, I think Victoria’s economy is an absolute basket case, and you’ve got an anti-defence government down there, and they’re a bunch of socialists, I don’t think they deserve it.
The event was last held in Queensland in 2022, to widespread protests.
The deputy premier of Queensland, Jarrod Bleijie, last week. Photograph: AAPShare
Updated at 22.25 EDT
Australia and Vanuatu sign ‘historic’ Nakamal agreement after talks in Canberra
Australia has signed the Nakamal treaty with Vanuatu after another round of talks between the two country’s leaders this morning.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has confirmed he inked the treaty after meeting with Vanuatu’s prime minister, Jotham Napat, in Canberra.
The two countries had gone back and forth on the treaty for some time.
Late last year, the government failed to get Vanuatu over the line on the $500m agreement after the Pacific island nation raised concerns the pact would block other countries from providing infrastructure funding.
Albanese made some brief remarks after signing the treaty, saying it was a “historic day” for the relationship between the two countries.
He thanked Napat for his “warm engagement” and said:
double quotation markThe visits that we have had to each other’s countries, and the engagement between our ministers has been very positive.
And we know that we are all part of the Pacific family. And they are connections that have been built up over many generations.
We are deeply, honoured to be Vanuatu’s primary partner, across all dimensions, across security, across the economy, and across development, and our discussions today and the agreement that we will sign is indeed a historic step forward
The two leaders are expected to hold a joint press conference in Canberra shortly. We’ll bring you more details when we have them.
Vanuatu PM Jotham Napat at Parliament House today. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty ImagesRichard Marles, Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong at the meeting between Australian and Vanuatu leaders today. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare
Updated at 22.04 EDT
Liberal frontbencher calls for party ‘rebrand’, saying it is time to ‘revisit our values’
The Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh says it is time for a party rebrand after it sank further in today’s polls, suggesting her colleagues should revisit their values.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, the shadow NDIS minister said she wasn’t suggesting changing the foundations of the party, but that it “might be time for us to re-look at how we express ourselves externally”.
She said anyone saying everything looks wonderful for the party has their “head in the sand”.
double quotation markI’m putting myself out on a limb a little bit, I think it’s time for the Liberal party to rebrand itself. Some people think that we’re stuck in the past and our policies need to resonate with the Australia of today and the future. So I think it’d be a really good time for us to revisit our values. What we stand for and the way we project ourselves to Australians.
That takes a lot of work inside the party to go back to our roots, and then to look at our messaging and our communications to the Australian public, because you can’t keep getting poll after poll saying that it’s diabolical out there and just ignore it.
Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 21.46 EDT
In pictures: Albanese welcomes Vanuatu PM to parliament
Anthony Albanese and Vanuatu’s prime minister, Jotham Napat are about to sit down for a meeting at Parliament House.
Albanese welcomed Napat just a moment ago, and the two will hold a press conference for the media in around an hour or so.
They’ll be discussing the Nakamal agreement, which has been sitting on the negotiating table for around 10 months.
Vanuatu PM Jotham Napat (right) is greeted by Australian PM Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPThe two leaders will hold a meeting before giving a press conference. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 21.41 EDT
ABC and SBS set to appear at Bondi attack royal commission
Tory Shepherd
Witnesses from the ABC and SBS will be called as witnesses to the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion.
It was unclear until now whether they would be called, but counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC has told the commission that they will. He also said that some submissions to the commission are “highly critical” of the public broadcasters’ coverage of the Middle East conflict.
The commission has had a mixed bag in reactions from social media platforms.
Lancaster said Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and TikTok had engaged “meaningfully”, that there was no response from X or Telegram, a limited response from Reddit and Twitch, and that Gab (a US platform that claims to welcome “all first amendment protected speech”) was “openly hostile”, with a representative saying the platform will “publish what it likes, when it likes”.
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Updated at 21.23 EDT
Coalition’s censure motion fails
The Greens support the government to tank Michaelia Cash’s suspension of standing orders to censure the treasurer.
But wait, there’s more!
Then the deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume tries to suspend standing orders once again to make a statement. She’s trying to give Cash another go at attacking the government.
Hume says:
double quotation markWe need to suspend to ensure that Senator Cash has the appropriate opportunity to censure this government, to censure this government for its contempt of the Senate, for its contempt of the Senate.
The vote on that is taking place now, and it looks like the Greens are once again siding with the government.
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Updated at 20.50 EDT
Michaelia Cash moves to censure treasurer in the Senate over tax bill
Things are heating up quickly in the Senate, with Liberal frontbencher Michaelia Cash moving to suspend standing orders to have a go at the government’s tax bill and what she says is a lack of consultation.
The motion states that the inquiry into the bill “raised serious concerns about the lack of transparency, inadequate information, and limited scrutiny afforded to the Senate”, saying Treasury officials were “unable or unwilling to answer basic questions”, and moves to censure the treasurer and minister representing the treasurer in the Senate.
A censure motion is a symbolic gesture that has no practical consequences but has political significance.
Cash says to the Senate chamber:
double quotation markAustralians you would have thought were entitled to answers. Instead, what did they get? They got confusion, contradiction.
Well, Australia’s now waking up to what those consequences are.
This is a significant motion. It is all about ministerial accountability. Something that this government promised the Australian people, president, both prior to the 2022 election, and the 2025 election, that it would have no issues with. Well, lo and behold, that is why this censure is needed. It is a serious motion.
Liberal senator Michaelia Cash in the Senate chamber. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Penny Wong stands up after Cash and says the motion should not be supported.
double quotation markThe desperate and divided Coalition, desperate and divided, led by a man who knows not what he believes in, a group of people who can’t agree what they believe in, scrabble around desperately for an emotion to distract from the fact that they do not know in what they believe.
The Coalition would need the Greens support to get the motion over the line.
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Updated at 20.45 EDT
‘How long have you been practising that?’ Watt’s rehearsed lines on One Nation
I always wonder how long politicians practise their zingers in the mirror, ready to deliver on TV or during question time. Sometimes you can tell they’ve spent down trying to iron out the timing, and sometimes it just looks natural.
I’ll also add here that ministers are often given talking points that they’re encouraged to use during interviews that come from the top, but sometimes you just know they’ve come up with a line and they can’t wait to use it.
Environment minister Murray Watt was put in the spotlight for just that this morning, after recycling a couple of lines between an interview on ABC News Breakfast and to journalists later in the press gallery corridor.
The line in question:
double quotation markIt’s a little bit like a shopper at the supermarket who reaches out for a product because they like what’s on the label, but then they have a look at what’s in that product and see that it’s actually not very appetising. And I think that’s the problem for One Nation, is that they make a lot of promises about standing up for battlers, but people are now seeing through them and see that actually as tough as life is right now for many Australians, it would be a lot worse under a coalition between One Nation and the Liberal party.
A journalist then pipes up, asking:
double quotation markHow long have you been practising that? That was uncannily similar to your ABC24 interview.
To which Watt concedes:
double quotation markI had a think about it last night.
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Updated at 20.37 EDT
