Australia news live: Andrew Hastie accuses Pauline Hanson of being ‘Maga first’

Labor criticism of ‘ditch the witch’ billboards ploy to protect Allan government, Canavan says

The Nationals leader Matt Canavan hasn’t condoned the “ditch the witch” campaign against the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, saying he wouldn’t be “advertising in this particular way”.

But Canavan claims the chorus of Labor figures lining up to criticise the billboards – including Anthony Albanese and Julia Gillard – are doing so to protect Allan’s “failing government”.

Asked on Monday about the billboards, Canavan told reporters:

I wouldn’t be advertising in this particular way … However, I don’t think the attacks we’ve seen from the Labor party are disinterested. I think they’re just trying to protect what is a failing government down there. What would be better is if we had governments that do what they promised to do.”

The comments differentiate the Nationals from their major political rival, One Nation, whose leader Pauline Hanson told Allan via Sky News to “suck it up, sweetheart”.

UAP support for One Nation depends on their policies, Clive Palmer says

Australian billionaire Clive Palmer has said he hasn’t had any official talks with One Nation about supporting the party and that his support depends on their policies.

Palmer, who is the chair of the United Australia party (UAP), appeared on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing a short time ago.

Asked if the UAP, which has one senator in parliament, would preference One Nation over the Liberal party at the next election, he said “depends what their policies are”.

He said:

The Liberal party doesn’t have any policies. You really can’t make a judgment about them, and you know it’s very, very disappointing, really.

The Liberal party brand, as I said, is a dead brand.

He also called “Barnaby Joyce’s housing policy” for One Nation a “disaster”.

Palmer was asked about Pauline Hanson being described by Liberal MP Andrew Hastie as “Maga first” and if it was true.

Palmer responded:

I think the most important thing is to be for Australia and for Australians, and I think Pauline Hanson has shown that she is for Australians, and she does believe in good policies for our country.

I don’t know why people want to bring overseas debates into the Australian domestic context.

Liberal shadow minister Andrew Hastie has accused One Nation’s Pauline Hanson of being “Maga first”, intensifying the standoff between the two conservative parties.

Hastie also urged Australia to be “frank” with the United States, saying President Donald Trump’s operation had not gone to plan.

In comments first made to the Nine newspapers, Hastie was critical of Hanson for not speaking more strongly against the effects of the US war on Iran, and how repercussions were being felt by Australians. Speaking to a Nine newspapers podcast, Hanson suggested America’s war on Iran would be a success “if we can get the strait of Hormuz open, and we get the oil supply”.

Hastie criticised the One Nation leader’s stance.

He said:

Our first loyalty must be to the Australian people. Not to international institutions, not to ideology like Maga – but to the Australian people, first and foremost.

The United States is a close ally but we should always be frank with our friends, and speak up for the national interest. The truth is that President Trump’s war in Iran hasn’t gone to plan. That’s not controversial to say that.

Citing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, Hastie added:

Pauline Hanson’s problem is that she is Maga first, even when the Australian people suffer the economic consequences.

Hanson has attended events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort with Gina Rinehart, and famously popped champagne in 2016 after Trump’s first election win, saying at the time: “I can see in Donald Trump a lot of me and what I stand for in Australia.”

Greenpeace Australia Pacific urges Chris Bowen to halt new fossil fuel projects

Greenpeace Australia Pacific has urged Chris Bowen to lead by example and halt new fossil fuel projects in Australia as he leads negotiations at a major climate conference this week.

The federal climate and energy minister is in Germany this week leading negotiations at a climate conference where he has said he will progress action on energy security, clean energy and climate change.

Dr Simon Bradshaw, the COP31 lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific and who is in Bonn for the conference, said:

Amid a global energy crisis, accelerating climate disasters and a looming super El Niño, the urgency to accelerate climate action and break free from fossil fuel dependence has never been clearer.

Minister Bowen has been telling Australia and the world that we are in a global ‘fossil fuel crisis’, and that unhooking from fossil fuels is fundamental both to tackling the climate crisis and to ensuring secure and affordable energy. It’s time to match that message with a clear vision and agenda for COP31 – one that has the transition away from fossil fuels at its heart.

Bradshaw said Australia has the opportunity and responsibility to build on the momentum of COP30 in Belém and should lead by example at home by immediately halting new fossil fuel projects.

Bowen said in a statement about the conference yesterday:

We are living through the biggest energy shock in history and the world agrees that clean energy and electrification is the future for a more sovereign and secure energy system.

Australia is leading – one in three households have rooftop solar and more than 420,000 batteries have been installed in homes, taking advantage of our clean and cheap power sources that can’t be interrupted by conflicts overseas. We want to bring this experience to the world stage.

Coalition won’t run ‘small-target’ strategy

Facing a wipeout at the hands of Pauline Hanson and One Nation, the Coalition will present a full suite of policies to try to win back support before the next election, according to a veteran strategist.

Queensland Liberal National party senator James McGrath says the opposition won’t offer a small-target approach ahead of the 2028 poll, insisting well-developed policies addressing the government’s shortcomings and the challenges facing Australia is how to win back support.

Asked how the party would win back support, he told Sky:

Part of being in opposition is ensuring that you have those solutions.

So it is highlighting the failures of this Labor government, of which there are many, and then it is ensuring that we’ve got those policy responses, those substantive policy responses as a party of government.

There is a big difference between being a party of government, which the Coalition are, and being a smaller party, which is very easy to try and govern by bumper stickers.

He added: “I am saying that we need, and I think everybody in the Coalition, I think Angus [Taylor] and Jane [Hume] and Matt [Canavan] have said, that there’s not going to be a small target strategy over the next 18 months.”

Hello, I’ll now be taking you through the rest of our live news coverage for today.

That’s all from me. Jordyn Beazley will take things from here. Take care.

An old quarry atop extinct volcano has been transformed into Sydney’s newest bushland park

Sydney has an epic new natural wonderland at the site of an old quarry abandoned since 2003.

The first stage of Hornsby Park opened in March. The main attraction is, of course, the quarry itself. A remnant of its working history remains in the form of an old crusher plant, fenced off from would-be climbers. Then there’s a new red metal viewing platform that’s stunning – even in a city famous for its vistas.

Jutting out 14 metres above the ground below, the 42-metre-long platform draws in visitors who can then look down to the turquoise water filling the lower level of the quarry.

Read more here if you’re a Sydneysider looking for an adventure:

Pilot survives after small plane crashes at airport near Melbourne

A small plane crashed on the runway at Moorabbin airport near Melbourne this morning, but the pilot was able to escape the wreckage.

Fire Rescue Victoria said in a statement officials responded to an incident on the runway at around 11.15am after a triple zero call. Firefighters arrived on scene minutes later to find a single engine aircraft had landed without the nose gear coming down.

The pilot was able to self-evacuate and was placed in the care of ambulance teams before being transported to the hospital.

The incident was deemed under control less than an hour later.

The Victorian opposition leader, Jess Wilson, has also joined the chorus of politicians criticising the billboards showing the premier, Jacinta Allan, and the phrase “ditch the witch”.

Speaking to reporters in Kew East this morning, she said:

It’s inappropriate, and that sort of language, that sort of discourse, should never be used in politics. We shouldn’t see this happening on our streets.

Strong earthquake strikes southern Philippines; tsunami warnings issued

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook part of the southern Philippines early on Monday, sparking tsunami warnings on some regional coasts, collapsing some houses and killing at least one person.

“Many buildings were affected, but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues,” Master Sergeant Robert Dagon of the General Santos City police told Agence France-Presse.

The Philippines office of civil defense warned people to avoid entering damaged homes or other infrastructure due to the threat of aftershocks.

Video verified by the Guardian shows the collapse of the upper floor of a Jollibee restaurant, a popular fast food chain, as well as the outer concrete walls of a commercial complex giving way in General Santos City, near the epicentre of the quake.

Read more here:

Earlier this morning, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was asked about the truck billboards showing the Victoria premier, Jacinta Allan, and the phrase “ditch the witch”.

It comes about 15 years after then opposition leader Tony Abbott spoke at an anti-carbon tax rally with person holding a poster featuring the phrase “ditch the witch” visible behind him in reference to then prime minister Julia Gillard.

Albanese told reporters in Canberra two things worried him about the billboards:

What worries me is the misogyny that’s involved there. The sexist campaign targeting the Victorian premier is totally unacceptable and has no place in public life. We want to encourage women to enter public life and it should be a contest of ideas, not personal attacks.

But it comes in [the] context as well, as I’ve stood in this courtyard so many times and said, ‘Turn the temperature down’ … Some of the personal ways in which mainstream media as well has characterised people in public life has just got to stop. You can have a disagreement with people’s policy position by all means. You don’t have to denigrate people in such a personal way. It has got to stop

He said young girls shouldn’t have to see the premier depicted as a witch:

Just like the denigration that Julia Gillard suffered from as prime minister … it is just not on.

Two arrested after separate incidents in Perth airport

Two passengers were charged over separate incidents at Perth airport on the same night in May.

Body scanning equipment at the airport showed one 47-year-old man had allegedly taped two small bags containing cannabis and methamphetamine to his chest and two glass pipes on 20 May.

He was charged with one count of possessing illicit drugs and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia.

Another man, in a separate incident on the same night, was charged by federal police with one count of disorderly behaviour in public after he allegedly boarded the flight heavily intoxicated, and was then removed from the flight by airline staff.

The 52-year-old man was accused of harassing a crew member and refusing a direction by police to leave the airport. Both are facing court in Perth today.

AFP detective acting superintendent Peter Brindal said:

It is not acceptable to behave poorly or carry illicit substances at any airport in Australia, and the AFP will intervene to protect members of the public and workers to ensure they feel safe.