Lambie scolded by ADF chief over hidden camera revelation – as it happened

That’s a wrap on our rolling live coverage for today.

Before we go, let’s look at the day’s top headlines:

That’s a wrap on our political coverage this sitting week, thank you for joining us.

The chief of the defence force, Adm Mark Hammond, confirmed audits of army and air force facilities have cleared women’s bathrooms of hidden cameras, a Senate estimates hearing has heard.

Earlier this month, a navy member was stood down with pay after a video recording device was found inside the women’s bathroom on HMAS Leeuwin while the ship was docked in Cairns.

The independent senator Jacqui Lambie revealed the incident in the upper house.

The navy chief, V Adm Matt Buckley, described it as the “most despicable betrayal of trust”.

Read more:

Australia’s AI Safety Institute was not told of the OpenAI agent attack on a Medicare portal until eight days after OpenAI alerted Services Australia, Senate estimates has heard.

The institute was established late last year and Dr Kate Conroy was appointed general manager in May, charged with monitoring and testing AI for potential risks and harms.

Conroy told Senate estimates that the June OpenAI attack on the Medicare portal was not revealed by Services Australia to the new agency until 19 September, after OpenAI disclosed the breach on 11 September. She said:

So the way that the incident was first understood was primarily through a traditional cybersecurity incident framework. And my understanding is that Services Australia and ASD conducted an investigation of that as a cyber incident at the time.

And so through the course of that, exploration and understanding of the incident, they then reached out to others, including the Australian AI Safety Institute, in order to then better understand the nature of the incident and to draw on our technical expertise.

The Liberal senator Jane Hume asked why the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet was leading the review into the incident rather than the institute, and officials said PM&C was examining how agencies across government might coordinate in the event of future incidents, and the institute was working closely with the department.

Real-life NCIS …

The chief of the defence force has told Senate estimates that a newspaper article alleging that US security agents secretly infiltrated Australian naval bases in order to test their security was “factually incorrect”.

The report – replete with videos of self-styled US secretary of war Pete Hegseth bench-pressing and jumping up and down – claimed the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) deployed undercover agents to secretly infiltrate multiple Australian bases, including HMAS Stirling in Western Australia and HMAS Kuttabul in Sydney, to “test existing physical security measures”.

The report said the agents were able to breach security measures, walk unchallenged into secure areas and take photographs in restricted zones.

The chief of the defence force, Adm Mark Hammond, told estimates:

That report is wrong. It is factually incorrect. What does occur around the world where US naval assets visit foreign ports is a collaborative arrangement between US embassies and host defence organisations to assess and agree security protocols for visiting programs.

And that has always been the case, we have been supporting those ship visit security protocols collaboratively with US authorities for decades.

Estimates heard the security tests were done in conjunction and “full knowledge and concurrence” with Australian authorities. The US agents were accompanied by Australian officials.

“We work in partnership with the US authorities so they can understand the security apparatus in place for their visiting ships,” Hammond said.

Estimates hears 155,000 children to be kicked off NDIS before June 2031

Just jumping back to Senate estimates for a hot second, where it’s just been discussed that 155,000 children will be exited from the NDIS by 30 June 2031, with changes to eligibility starting in 2028.

Under questioning by Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne, assistant secretary NDIS sustainability taskforce Anthea Long said:

Senator, I can give you figures around children, 18 and under, if that’s helpful. And so, in terms of the projected number of participants who would be assumed to exit the scheme under the reforms, it would be 155,000 children by the 30th of June, 2031.

Year on year, she said the cumulative departures would be:

So for 30th June 2028, it is 21,000. For 30th June 2029, 87,000, for 30th June 2030 137,000. And I should say that this is cumulative. So it’s not that many of children each year, it’s cumulative, up and to, up to a total of 155,000 by 30th June 2031.

Australia’s defence force chief has admonished a senator for going public with an investigation into a recording device being planted inside the female bathroom of a naval ship.

The camera was discovered in a cabin aboard the HMAS Leeuwin on 11 October, while the ship was docked in Cairns.

Three days later, the allegation was aired on the floor of the Senate by Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie, who said the video recording device had been found hidden in a women’s shower.

The defence force confirmed the incident hours later.

During Senate estimates hearings on Thursday, chief of the Australian Defence Force Admiral Mark Hammond expressed dismay at how the alleged sexual harassment incident became public.

The investigation was under way before you drew national attention to it …My preference, if you would indulge me, would be to where you become aware of an active investigation, perhaps bring it to my attention first.

Hammond rejected a suggestion from Lambie sexual violence investigations should be taken out of the defence force’s hands:

You will find an ally in me.

80 per cent of the three star (generals) in this room have partners or children serving in the Australian Defence Force – I assure you we are absolutely committed to eradicating sexual violence.

– Australian Associated Press

A woman has died after being injured in a drive-by shooting outside a venue hosting a boxing event in Loganholme, south of Brisbane.

Queensland police said that at about 8.18pm on Saturday a “number of shots” were fired from the front window of a car occupied by two males wearing balaclavas and gloves, hitting a total of four people who were gathered in the passenger drop-off zone outside a pub.

A 19-year-old Jimboomba woman was shot in the neck and head and underwent surgery, but died from her injuries in hospital this morning.

Detective Ian Galpin, who previously described the woman as an “innocent bystander”, told reporters on Thursday police are searching for the offenders in what is now a homicide investigation.

We will not stop until these people are identified and taken into custody.

A 19-year-old woman in the prime of her life, who was simply going out for a night with friends, has had her life taken from her in the most cowardly way.

There are people out there who know exactly who was involved in this offence, and exactly why this occurred. I’m asking those people to be brave enough to come forward with that information and contact police.”

Galpin said it remains unclear whether the incident was gang-related, and a motive can’t be determined until the alleged suspects are found.

One of the other victims remains in hospital as they recover from surgery while the other two have been released.

Good afternoon! Thanks for sticking around, I’ll take the reins from here.

Thanks for following along this sitting week! My colleague Achol Arok will take you through the rest of the day’s news.

NDIA spent more than $30,000 in three months ‘maintaining plants and flowers’

The NDIA spent $31,960 over three months to March on maintaining plants and flowers in its offices, Senate estimates have heard.

Under questions from Liberal senator Chris Gatenby, chief operating officer, Matthew Swainson, said:

I would observe that we’ve got 149 offices nationally. Some of those are standalone NDIA offices. Some of them are co-located with Services Australia.

We are looking for efficiencies right across our property portfolio and program. As I mentioned earlier, we are deeply committed to managing the agency within the budget envelope that we’ve been provided with.

Asic to review accounts of Woodside, Santos and six other oil and gas companies

Australia’s corporate regulator will audit the accounts of Woodside, Santos and six other oil and gas companies to check they are accounting for the cost of cleaning up offshore infrastructure.

In response to questions from Greens senator Vanessa Bleyer in Senate estimates on Thursday, the Asic commissioner, Kate O’Rourke, confirmed the corporate regulator was reviewing how eight oil and gas companies disclose decommissioning liabilities in their financial statements.

The companies under review are Woodside, Santos, Beach Energy, Amplitude Energy, Horizon Oil, Strike Energy, Cue Energy and Canarvon Energy.

Bleyer said:

“We have attempted to do a … sample of those whom we think are representative of the issues of importance … We hope it’s a valuable and sufficiently wide sample for us to draw conclusions.

After a complaint from the Wilderness Society, Asic named the review of decommissioning as a 2026-27 focus area in May.

Amanda Holly, manager of corporate advocacy and engagement at the Wilderness Society, said:

This intervention didn’t come out of nowhere. It follows years of investigation by the Wilderness Society, two complaints to Asic, and the exposure of serious deficiencies in how the oil and gas sector reports its clean-up liabilities.

There is over $60bn worth of oil and gas infrastructure sitting off Australia’s coastline that has to be cleaned up. Right now, too many companies are lowballing that bill in their accounts, and if they can’t pay when the time comes, it could land on taxpayers.

Two National Disability Insurance Agency senior staff members who have been investigated by Ibac for attempting to conceal almost $260m in Covid-19 grants were paid to ineligible businesses when they worked in the Victorian public service now hold high-level roles at the NDIA, it’s been revealed in Senate estimates.

Speaking about the situation, CEO of the NDIA, Graeme Head, said the officers, who held high-level positions in the NDIA and who cannot be named, are currently not on duty:

I can confirm that two current NDIA employees are the subject of adverse findings by Ibac in its operation.

I want to reassure the committee that as agency head, I am taking all steps available to me to ensure the matters are considered carefully and appropriately, and that work is under way.

Neither officer is on duty in the agency. It’s important that the work be allowed to proceed properly and fairly, in accordance with all applicable legislative and procedural requirements.

• The cost of living and the growing chances of a rate rise loomed large over the chamber, fuelling taunts and jabs from both sides of the political aisle.

• A $6m grant to the Marrickville golf club continued to offer ample opportunity for the opposition to dig into the government.

• The energy minister, Chris Bowen, proudly took accountability for “triggering” the opposition after mentioning renewable energy in the government’s datacentre requirements.

• Today’s ejection count: five.

Education minister, Jason Clare, offers harrowing recollections of a child subject to online bullying, and another who died by suicide after engaging with an AI chatbot.

He makes an impassioned plea for the Coalition to support the government’s digital duty of care bill:

This is not about censorship. It’s not about freedom of speech. It’s about them.

And so I say to my colleagues and friends on the other side of the chamber, please think again about it. It’s not too late.

Biggest driver of inflation is petrol, Chalmers says

Asked by the about interest rate rises, the treasurer says takes another jab:

I find it bizarre, frankly, that those opposite won’t acknowledge what was factually the biggest driver of yesterday’s inflation figures, which was higher petrol prices.

It’s this weird post-truth stuff that they get engaged in, where they see the same ABS data that we see, and the biggest driver of yesterday’s inflation number – which was too high – was fuel.

It’s a triple combo for speaker, Milton Dick.

In one fell swoop he has punted the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, the member for Herbert, Phillip Thompson, and the former Nationals leader David Littleproud.

Tribute to Queensland police officers who lost their lives at Wieambilla

The prime minister and the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, have paid tribute to a number of police officers, including Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, who died while conducting a check at the property in Wieambilla.

The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, agrees:

I’d like to associate the Coalition with the fine words of the prime minister and the minister of home affairs, and pay tribute alongside them to those brave police officers who put themselves in harm’s way, to all our police officers, preventing, detecting, responding to or investigating crime.