Australia news live: Air safety body says Chinese warship live fire exercise discovered by nearby Virgin pilot; Ten to pay $1.1m to cover Lisa Wilkinson legal costs

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Allan holding press conference on new townhouse code

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference to announce the new townhouse code (see earlier post), which she says will make approving new home buildings up to three storeys tall quicker.

Speaking in Brunswick, she has also announced the government will be reviewing the 606-page Planning and Environment Act, which she says has been criticised as complex, inconsistent and old-fashioned.

Our current planning system can be a bit of a Snakes and Ladders game ... which is why we’re also announcing today that we are rewriting the Planning Act. A decades old act [that dates] back to the 70s and 80s.

That’s a long time ago in terms of understanding what Melbourne and Victoria needs today – a set of planning tools that says yes to the building of more homes, getting approvals through processes more quickly, having great quality products, like we’re seeing here with the townhouse code that we’re releasing today that provides those options for more young people, for more workers, for more families to have the opportunity that previous generations have had.

Man charged over alleged Nazi display at war memorial

A man who allegedly displayed a Nazi swastika drawn on his chest while standing beside a war memorial has been arrested and charged.

AAP reports that police were called to the memorial in north-west Sydney where officers found a 31-year-old man allegedly displaying the swastika. He was arrested and charged with knowingly displaying by public act a Nazi symbol without excuse.

Offenders can face up to one year in jail or an $11,000 fine or both under the Crimes Amendment (Prohibition on Display of Nazi Symbols) Act passed three years ago in NSW.

Since December, a synagogue has been firebombed, multiple cars have been torched, and vehicles and buildings in areas with large Jewish communities have been vandalised and graffitied.

Last week, the Minns government passed a tough package of laws aimed at curbing racially motivated crimes, including one measure that bans exhibiting Nazi symbols near a synagogue.

The man was granted strict conditional bail and is set to appear in court in March.

Kathy Shand quits as Sydney Writers’ Festival chair

Kathy Shand has quit as chair of the Sydney Writers’ Festival board just weeks before its 2025 program is due to be announced.

Yesterday, the festival board announced Shand’s departure after 12 years in the role. She was replaced by Robert Watkins.

In a statement the board thanked Shand’s “signification contribution” to the festival “helping to shape its direction and strengthen its position as one of Australia’s leading literary and cultural events”.

It praised her “leadership, generosity, and dedication to championing writers”.

In a separate statement, the festival said it “proudly champions freedom of expression, freedom of speech and respectful debate” and said the 2025 festival program would demonstrably reflect its commitment to “presenting a plurality of voices [and] a diversity of thought”.

They said it would include “both Jewish and Palestinian writers and thought leaders”.

The festival takes place in the second half of May and the program is due for release on 13 March.

Captain Cook’s cottage and statue damaged in Melbourne

Victoria police are investigating after Captain Cook’s cottage and statue were damaged in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens this morning.

Police believe the cottage was spray painted around 2am, and was defaced with “various anti-Cook comments.”

Police also said the Captain Cook statue has been damaged in an apparent attempt to remove the head.

Detectives have secured nearby CCTV and are asking anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.

Air safety body says Chinese warship live fire exercise discovered by nearby Virgin pilot

Air Services Australia faced questions at Senate estimates overnight on how they found out about two Chinese live-fire exercises in the seas between Australia and New Zealand last week – which caused commercial flights to be diverted in the skies above.

CEO Rob Sharp said he was first made aware of the Chinese warship’s live fire exercise after a Virgin pilot overheard a broadcast from the Chinese fleet while flying near it, and called it in.

It was in fact a Virgin Australia aircraft that advised one of our air traffic controllers that a foreign warship was broadcasting, that they were conducting live firing 300 nautical miles east off our coast. So that’s how we first found out about the issue.

He said that within two minutes, air traffic control commenced a hazard alert for all flights in the area. Peter Curran, the deputy CEO, said Defence was also contacted shortly afterwards.

At that stage, we didn’t know whether it was a potential hoax or real.

An Emirates aircraft was also in contact with the warships, Curran said, which advised they were conducting live firing. Throughout Friday a total of 49 aircraft were diverted, Curran said – some of which were in the air when Air Services was first made aware of the firing.

Many of them were flights afterwards, subsequently flight planned to simply re-route around the airspace.

Air Services had only just stopped diverting flights after the Chinese fleet sailed further south away from flight paths, Curran said.

Fogo waste collection to be mandatory in NSW

Collection of food organics and garden organics (Fogo) waste will be mandatory in NSW after legislation passed the state parliament.

The laws will make collection of Fogo waste compulsory for households statewide by July 2030, and in stages from July 2026 for businesses and institutions.

Landfills are due to reach capacity in the greater Sydney region by 2030 and an estimated one third of household red bin capacity is taken up by food waste. Fogo recycling aims to divert this waste from landfill into compost.

The NSW environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said NSW had “ignored the crisis for landfill capacity for too long” and that it “cannot kick this can down the road any longer”.

The new Fogo laws mean NSW is leading the nation in combating food waste, becoming the first to mandate this recycling revolution across the state.

Fogo bins will be rolled out at premises such as supermarkets, pubs, cafes, universities, schools, hotels and hospitals. Large supermarkets will also be required to report on the amounts and types of surplus food donated to charities such as OzHarvest, Second Bite and Foodbank.

The Minns government will direct $81m to a “Fogo fund” which will largely go to councils for infrastructure including bins, kitchen caddies and liners, contamination audits, community education programs and staffing.

Forecast for two tropical cyclone’s currently lying well off Australia’s coast

Let’s take a look at the two tropical cyclones, which are both currently well off the coast of Australia.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is currently tracking through the Coral Sea off the north Queensland coast.

The Bureau of Meteorology said that from later today, it is forecast to move southwards. Beyond Thursday, there is a small chance it may move towards the Queensland coast at the weekend.

Meanwhile, Tropical Cyclone Bianca is currently a category three system, well to the west of Exmouth in Western Australia and moving south-west.

It is forecast to weaken today, and decrease below tropical cyclone strength tomorrow. It is expected to remain well away from the Western Australian coast and does not pose a direct threat to any mainland or island communities.

Victorian government announces 'townhouse code' to 'rapidly' approve new home buildings

The Victorian government has introduced a “townhouse code” which it says will “rapidly approve” new home buildings up to three storeys tall, as long as they suit the needs of residents and the surrounding community.

The government said the code would turbocharge the approval of more duplexes, townhouses and low-rise apartments for workers and young people – with “no costly delays, no VCAT limbo, and no sluggish bureaucracy”.

The code sets standards for good development, which includes:

Neighbourhood character rules like six metre setbacks at the front, and setbacks at the side and rear.

Tree canopy and open space requirements, including protecting trees that are a certain size.

A mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in projects of a certain size, to support families.

Protection for neighbours from overlooking and overshadowing.

Enough sunlight, storage, room size, ventilation and private open space for residents.

Buildings that are sustainable and energy efficient.

A planning permit application will have to include all the evidence it meets the code. Councils will assess if it meets the code, and if met, no more assessments would be required and the project fast-tracked. If the code is not met, then a normal planning process will then apply.

What to expect from Senate estimates today

Senate estimates will be back underway today, and AAP has flagged a little of what we can expect:

Creative Australia bosses, including the chief executive, Adrian Collette, will front an estimates hearing and it’s expected they’ll be questioned about the selection body’s shock decision to ditch the Venice Biennale team.

Lebanon-born artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino had been chosen for the 2026 Biennale, until early works of art by Sabsabi were raised in parliamentary question time on 13 February.

Creative Australia called a snap board meeting following question time and by 9.30pm that night it had rescinded its invitation to Sabsabi and Dagostino. Immediately after question time, arts minister Tony Burke called Collette to discuss the selection, but Burke denies any political interference.

Meanwhile, an estimates hearing will probe the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as former Nine Entertainment chief executive Hugh Marks prepares to commence a five-year term as ABC managing director in March.

Journalist Antoinette Lattouf’s departure has been a topic at previous estimates hearings, with questions about how much money the ABC was spending on legal fees. The broadcaster’s response in August means it remains unlikely the question will be answered at the hearing today:

To avoid prejudice to the ABC’s position, or unintended interference or influence of the proceedings, questions on the costs of litigation should be deferred until the conclusion of those proceedings.

McKenzie defends Dutton public sector cuts as McKim warns of ‘Donald Trump-style campaign’

Bridget McKenzie also defended Peter Dutton’s move to slash public sector jobs in order to fund the Coalition’s Medicare injection. She argued there had been 36,000 additional public servants in Canberra under Labor.

We also think that there’s been wasteful spending in excess of $100bn of initiatives over the last three years that could be better prioritised. What economists are saying is that Australians are going to have to pay more in taxes to actually pay for the spending of this government, and we believe particularly young people don’t need to be on the hook for this. We need to be making sure a government lives within its means, just like your viewers.

Asked if the Greens would support this, Nick McKim instead accused Dutton and the Liberals of “engaging in a Donald Trump-style campaign.”

We’re really worried about a descent into far-right extremism in Australia led by Peter Dutton, in the same way that we’re seeing it in the US. So we’re not going to back any of that stuff … We want people who are doing it tough to get more support, we want strong climate and we want to see actually things improve for people.

McKenzie and McKim on Labor’s Medicare plan

s senator Bridget McKenzie and Greens senator Nick McKim both spoke with the Today Show earlier on the government’s Medicare announcement last week.

In case you missed it: Labor has promised 18 million extra bulk-billed GP visits a year as part of an $8.5bn investment in Medicare, which Peter Dutton then said the Coalition would match dollar-for-dollar, by cutting thousands of public servant jobs.

McKenzie rejected the notion that the Coalition wouldn’t have done this, if not for Labor making their announcement.

There was an absolute response, because what we can’t have is another Mediscare campaign by a prime minister desperate to drag the Coalition down because he’s got no new ideas.

McKim said the Greens were “absolutely backing it” because “it was our idea”.

We’re stoked that it’s been put in place, and it just goes to show that, you know, Greens pressure works … Ultimately, we’ve got a lot more ideas like this. If you want a few more, how about dental into Medicare?

Ten to pay $1.1m to cover Lisa Wilkinson legal costs

Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson have reached an agreement to cover her legal costs over the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial.

Ten previously agreed to pay Wilkinson the sum of $558,548.30, which is less than a third of the $1.8m in indemnity costs she sought.

But yesterday, the federal court confirmed an agreement between the parties for the network to pay Wilkinson $1,150,000.

It has until 19 March to pay the remaining $591,451.

Good morning

Emily Wind here, signing on for blogging duties – thanks to Martin for kicking things off for us. I’ll be with you on the blog for most of today, guiding you through our rolling updates.

As always, you can read out with any tips, questions or feedback via email: emily.wind@theguardian.com. Let’s go.

CBA boss acknowledges 'challenge' for households

The boss of Australia’s largest retail bank has penned a letter of reassurance to customers amid cost-of-living pressures and a slip in its shares, AAP reports.

Commonwealth Bank chief Matt Comyn said in a letter that hit most patrons’ email inboxes on Monday:

It’s been a challenging time for Australian households and businesses, and we know many customers have been looking forward to lower rates.

For our variable home loan rate customers, the full interest rate reduction will hopefully provide some relief.

CBA shares fell more than 8% last week – a fall mirrored by other major Australian banks – but recovered on Monday, rising 2.97%. Comyn declared in his letter that physical cash was “here to stay”, even if customers’ banking preferences may evolve:

We’ll continue to distribute more than $4bn in cash each month through Australia’s largest branch and ATM network, which will also benefit from $100m in upgrades in 2025.

We have extended our promise to keep all our regional CommBank branches open until at least 31 July 2027 to support communities and jobs in regional Australia.

Greens vow to overhaul job services and abolish mutual obligations

This morning the Greens will launch their policy to overhaul job services by eliminating for-profit providers from the employment services system, restoring the Commonwealth Employment Services, abolishing mutual obligations and hiring more staff to bring call wait times to Centrelink to under five minutes.

Based on PBO analysis, the party said its plan would cost approximately $3.6bn over four years. It said the CES would create thousands of public service jobs and would be universally accessible for everyone, including those who are already employed.

Greens spokesperson on social services Penny Allan-Payne said:

The privatised employment service system is costly, ineffective and cruel. It makes it harder for people to look for and find work, while enriching for-profit providers, many of whom have demonstrated a callous indifference to the well-being of the people they’re meant to help.

Mutual obligations are not only cruel, they’re completely dysfunctional. Multiple ongoing technology issues have rendered the system almost inoperable, while information that’s recently come to light raises serious questions about the legality of the whole scheme.

We’d be better off doing away with the system altogether, rather than continuing to throw good money after bad on something that is costly to administer and completely counterproductive.

Pledge to make beaches and parks more accessible

The Labor government has pledged $17.1m to provide more accessible beaches, parks and tourist locations for people with a disability. Social services minister Amanda Rishworth is launching the “Accessible Australia” initiative today in Cairns.

It aims to provide federal funding for infrastructure such as more accessible change room and toilet facilities, all-terrain or beach wheelchairs, and “inclusive” play spaces for people with special needs.

An existing program, Changing Places, will be expanded to help people access parks and beaches, including funding for accessible pathways better suited to wheelchairs, “mobi-matting” suitable for people with wheelchairs or reduced mobility, and playgrounds with facilities like sensory play platforms.

Rishworth’s office suggests the initiative could help attract more visitors to Australia, with the program to be promoted through Austrade. The minister said:

Through Accessible Australia, we are significantly broadening the types of accessible infrastructure and amenities that will be built across Australia, providing access – for the first time for many – to national parks, beaches and play spaces.

The Australian government will also provide funding to state and territory governments to help with the design, development and delivery of Accessible Australia projects.

People with disability have the same rights to be included in our communities, to access the spaces we gather in, and to experience our beautiful natural environment.

Labor outlines plan to expand mobile coverage across Australia

The Labor government is promising a “universal outdoor mobile obligation” if it wins the coming election, pledging what it calls a “world first reform” for universal call and SMS service across virtually all of Australia.

Communications minister Michelle Rowland will launch the policy today. Her office says it will lead to up to 5m sq km of new outdoor mobile coverage across Australia, including more than 37,000km on regional roads. The new universal outdoor mobile obligation will require mobile carriers to provide access to mobile voice and SMS almost everywhere across Australia.

Rowland said:

Whether it’s in national parks, hiking trails or out on the farm, outdoor coverage will be accessible almost anywhere where Australians can see the sky.

The plan would expand triple-zero access, boost voice and SMS coverage in mobile black spots, and improve mobile signals during disasters and power outages. The government says it would seek to introduce legislation this year, with implementation by late 2027, to “expand the universal service framework to incorporate mobile coverage for the first time”. Rowland:

The government will work with stakeholders and industry to get the legislation right, including flexibility where warranted by supply, spectrum and other factors. The Albanese government will also engage with industry and examine incentives and removal of barriers to support public interest objectives and competition outcomes.

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Emily Wind with the main action.

Anthony Albanese says he is confident that the US would defend Australia if it were to come under attack, despite Donald Trump rewriting European security since coming to power. But the prime minister added that Australia needed to look after its own security and would make its own decisions on foreign policy, including on support for Ukraine.

The comments came on a special edition of the ABC’s Q+A last night, in which he took questions from members of the public on foreign affairs, the cost-of-living crisis, housing and social cohesion. Reaction coming up.

On the subject of the economy, the Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn has written to his customers to reassure them amid cost-of-living pressures. He says high borrowing rates have proved a “challenging time for Australian households and businesses” and “we know many customers have been looking forward to lower rates”. More coming up.

The Labor government is promising a “universal outdoor mobile obligation” if it wins the coming election, pledging what it calls a “world first reform” for universal call and SMS service across virtually all of Australia. More coming up as Michelle Rowland, the communications minister, launches the plan today.

And Labor is also promising $17.1m to provide more accessible beaches, parks and tourist locations for people with a disability. More on that in a tick.