Australia news live: recognising Palestinian statehood a ‘political fig leaf’ without sanctions on Israel, head of Palestine Advocacy Network says

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Assistant science minister heads off to US to chase AI investment

While artificial intelligence is going gangbusters globally, assistant minister for science and technology, Andrew Charlton is heading to the US to get a slice of the action, and will meet with executives from tech companies including OpenAI, Google, Nvidia this week.

The aim, he said in a statement, is to get investment for data centres and AI into Australia:

Australia is the natural home for data centre and technology investments in our region because of competitive advantages in political stability, renewable energy, land availability, strong university sector and world-class talent.

We also have local Australian businesses who are leading the world in taking advantage of new technologies.

The Australian government is currently grappling with how to approach AI into the future - to secure productivity gains while protecting the public and vulnerable industries.

Trump can’t be taken seriously on Gaza, Lambie says

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said US president Donald Trump cannot be taken seriously, after the Coalition said the move to recognise Palestinian statehood puts Australia at odds with the US.

Lambie told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing the recognition was symbolism, and she didn’t know how it will help starving children in Gaza. She said it was time to let the UN and journalists into Gaza.

She said Israel’s actions were “getting close to genocide”.

On the Coalition’s criticisms of the decision as putting Australia at odds with the US, Lambie recalled Trump’s property development plan for Gaza and said:

If you want to take that bloke seriously, then be my guest … but you can’t.

Former officer who fatally tasered 95-year-old drops bid to get job back

A former police officer who fatally tasered a 95-year-old aged-care resident while on duty has dropped his bid to be reinstated to the force, AAP reports.

Then-senior constable Kristian White fired his Taser at 95-year-old Clare Nowland after being called to a nursing home in Cooma in southern NSW in May 2023.

White, 35, was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury last year and in March was given a two-year good behaviour bond and ordered to complete community service.

White was initially suspended from his job with pay for about 18 months but was notified after the initial guilty verdict in November 2024 that he would be suspended without pay.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb said later in December she had removed White from the force because she had no confidence in his ability to continue his duties. That prompted him to take action at the Industrial Relations Commission against NSW Police.

But on Monday he dropped his legal challenge, with the supreme court saying the matter was closed.

Husic says increasing sanctions on Israel should be considered

Former minister and Labor backbencher, Ed Husic, said if the Netanyahu government is not prepared to respond to international pressure over Gaza then Australia should consider sanctions to put on more pressure.

He told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that the Israeli government has “drained so much goodwill through the way it has conducted its operations in Gaza” and Australia should be prepared to increase the sanctions if there is no response to Australia’s criticisms.

I do not have anything concrete in front of me but you can just see the way that things are moving, where countries are absolutely horrified with what has been announced by the Netanyahu government in the last 48 hours….Even Israelis are out in the streets saying the biggest priorities is to get the hostages out… and we do not need to see a further deterioration of what is happening and that is absolutely what we will see if the Netanyahu government does what it says it will.

Australia should impose similar sanctions on Israel as on Russia, Shoebridge says

Greens senator David Shoebridge said the move to recognise Palestinian statehood is long overdue, but something that fails to meet the moment without a comprehensive sanctions regime.

Shoebridge told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that it is not an action that will stop the bombing and killing in Gaza. He said a similar sanctions regime to what was put on Russia over the Ukraine invasion was needed.

He also reiterated calls for Australia to cease supplying F-35 parts to Israel, stating it would ground the F-35 fleet over time.

Anne Aly says decision to recognise Palestinian statehood left her feeling ‘emotional’

Federal minister for multicultural affairs, Anne Aly, said recognising Palestinian statehood will have an impact “because I believe it has come at a time in which it will have the most impact”.

She told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing there needed to be a circuit-breaker.

I think in terms of the kinds of conditions put around it, the way in which we now have those assurances from the Palestinian Authority … recognition is not tokenistic … recognition is actually a pathway to a two-state solution and a pathway, we hope, to lasting peace in the region.

Aly said the argument from the opposition that it puts Australia at odds with the US holds no weight, because Australia is a sovereign nation, and is not acting alone in recognising Palestine.

She said it was “a bit emotional” for her as the sole Muslim member of the cabinet when this decision was made, after former frontbencher Ed Husic was left out of the ministry following the election.

I also don’t want us to take our eye off the fact that there is a really dire humanitarian situation in Gaza as well … Someone once said Palestinian people live between hope and despair, this is giving them hope. But let’s not forget in Gaza they are still living in despair, and we still need to do everything we can to ensure aid get into Gaza, that it is distributed into Gaza, and that the starvation and the killing stops.

Palestine recognition a ‘political fig leaf’ without sanctions on Israel, Apan says

The president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, has held a press conference in Melbourne to comment on the federal government’s decision to recognise the state of Palestine at the 80th session of the United Nations general assembly in September.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, made the commitment at a press conference this afternoon, joining the United Kingdom, Canada and France.

But Mashni said recognition was being used as a “political fig leaf” by the government and would no nothing to stop the “ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has been live streamed for the entire world for two years”. He went on:

Recognition is completely meaningless while Australia continues to trade, to supply arms, to have diplomatic relations and to diplomatically protect and encourage other states to normalise relations with the very state that is committing these atrocities. Palestinian rights are not to be gifted by western states. They are not dependent on negotiation with or behaviour or approval of their colonial oppressors. Nor are they the crumbs to be thrown to Palestinians by Western states in lieu of taking the real action they are legally bound to take.

Mashni said there are several more urgent actions the government must take, including ceasing “any two way military trade” with Israel, noting that even if “Australia’s only sending door handles, stop sending door handles. It’s really that simple”. He says Australia must also impose country-level sanctions on Israel and extend existing sanctions on two Israeli ministers to all members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet.

Asked whether he opposed a two-state solution, Mashni responded:

What I want today is for Palestinians not to be slaughtered. What I want as an Australian is our government not to be complicit in that slaughter ... What happens after that will be upon the Palestinian people when they have their agency to determine their self determination. It’s not my job, or Anthony Albanese’s to determine how Palestinians might seek this opportunity.

When asked whether Hamas had a role in Palestine’s self-determined future, he said it was not up to “other nations to decide”. He said it was up to Palestinians to decide “at the end of the process”.

Australian media union condemns killing of media workers in Gaza

The union representing journalists, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), has condemned the killing of media workers in Gaza, after the deaths of five Al Jazeera staff in an Israeli air strike over the weekend.

The Israel Defense Forces have admitted the strike was a deliberate assassination, claiming reporter Anas al-Sharif had “served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organisation and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF forces”.

Al Jazeera rejected that claim and said the attack was “a desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza”.

The MEAA said the targeting of journalists is “a blatant attack on press freedom, and it is also a war crime.”

It must stop.

The ban preventing the world’s media from accessing the region and providing unfettered coverage of the worsening humanitarian crisis must stop.

Israel, which does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza and which has targeted local reporters, has killed 237 journalists since the war started on 7 October 2023, according to Gaza’s government media office. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 186 journalists have been killed in the Gaza conflict. Israel denies deliberately targeting journalists.

ECAJ says Palestinian state recognition a solution that ‘has no relationship to the problem’

In a press conference responding to the announcement the Australian government would move to recognise a Palestinian state, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin said the Jewish community in Australia was not surprised by the decision but was still disappointed.

He said:

The government has departed from decades of bipartisan consensus which has envisaged Palestinian statehood and recognition as part of a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states. Australia is now committed to recognising a state with no agreed borders, no single government in effective control of its territory, and no capacity to live in peace with its neighbours.

He said it would “invigorate the most extreme elements of the anti-Israel movement in this country and they will seek to escalate their activities and harm our social harmony further”.

Ryvchin said the recognition is being framed as a punitive measure against Israel over Gaza, but “the solution has no relationship to the problem”.

He said:

We want to see the war in Gaza end, we want to see unlimited aid flow to the people who need it. We want to see Hamas disarmed and defeated, and the hostages come home. But no one who supports recognition of a Palestinian state has so far made the argument compellingly as to how recognition will achieve these aims.

Full circle: Melbourne’s beleaguered Star ferris wheel to turn again

After lying dormant for almost four years, the beleaguered Melbourne Star Observation Wheel is expected to turn once more, although one of its new owners admits he’s nervous given “it’s failed so many times before”.

On Monday, it was announced that MB Star Properties Pty Ltd, the owner of the 120-metre structure that went into liquidation in 2021, will be restructured under an $11m takeover.

Under the deal, a new partnership will take control of the wheel, made up of Melbourne-based Skyline Attractions, the operator of several smaller wheels including at the nearby Melbourne Convention Centre; US-based Ray Cammack Shows, which operates wheels at major events including Coachella and the Los Angeles County Fair; and RoBu Group, which bought the wheel in early 2021.

Read more here:

Australian shares defy expectations of a flat start to the week

Australia’s share market has defied expectations of a flat start to the week to spike a new intraday peak, as hopes grow for a potential interest rate cut, AAP reports.

The top-200 briefly hit 8,852.3, topping last week’s intraday record of 8,848.8, amid high expectations of a Reserve Bank rate cut on Tuesday. The S&P/ASX200 rose 0.33% as the broader All Ordinaries gained 0.34%.

Seven of 11 local sectors were trading higher by lunchtime, with materials showing continued strength, up 1.5%, as iron ore prices rose to four-month highs, lifting large cap miners BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue each more than 1% higher.

The Australian dollar is buying 65.20 US cents, trading roughly flat against the greenback, from 65.20 US cents on Friday at 5pm.

Netanyahu government ‘extinguishing the prospect of a two-state solution,’ Albanese and Wong say

Further to the criticism of the Israeli government in their press conference, Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong have released a statement levelling even stronger criticisms of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

In a written statement confirming moves to recognise a Palestinian state, Albanese and Wong claimed Netanyahu’s government was “extinguishing the prospect of a two-state solution” with its actions in threatening to further occupy Gaza and expand West Bank settlements.

They wrote:

Australia is further compelled by the Netanyahu Government’s disregard of the international community’s calls, and its failure to comply with its legal and ethical obligations in Gaza. Israel is required to protect civilians and ensure the provision of food and medical supplies. Permanent forced displacement of civilians is illegal.

Palestinian children deserve a future that looks nothing like their reality today.

Albanese and Wong said the recognition move was predicated on commitments received from the Palestinian Authority, and that the government would “work with the international community to hold the Palestinian Authority to its commitments”.

The commitments by the Palestinian Authority are strengthened by the Arab League’s unprecedented demand for the terrorist organisation Hamas to end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons.

Together these factors mean that this is the best opportunity Australia may ever have to support moderate voices for peace in the region, to undermine extremism and to further isolate Hamas. This is the movement to which Australia and so many countries are seeking to add momentum.

Israeli ambassador says recognition by Australia ‘undermines Israel’s security’

Israel’s embassy in Australia claims the Labor government’s moves to recognise a Palestinian state “undermines Israel’s security” and “elevates the position of Hamas”.

A statement from ambassador, Amir Maimon, posted on X, reads:

By recognising a Palestinian state while Hamas continues to kill, kidnap and reject peace, Australia undermines Israel’s security, derails hostage negotiations and hands a victory to those who oppose coexistence

Asked about such concerns at his earlier press conference, Anthony Albanese said Australia backed a two-state solution, while Hamas does not. Albanese repeated Australia’s “abhorrence” to the terror group, and said it can have no role in a future Palestinian state. He said Palestinian recognition could be done in a way “that isolates Hamas, disarms it and drives it out of the region once and for all”, and elevates more moderate voices.

In his statement, Maimon said: “This will not change the reality on the ground.”

Rewarding those who use terror as a political tool sends the dangerous message that violence brings political gains.

Coalition has ‘serious concerns’ over recognition of Palestinian state

Sussan Ley and the Coalition opposition say they have “serious concerns about the Albanese government’s decision to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state outside of a proper peace and two-state process”.

In a statement, Ley and the shadow foreign affairs spokesperson, Michaelia Cash, claimed today’s decision “puts Australia at odds with the United States of America, our most important ally, and the most consequential player in the conflict in Gaza”.

Australia’s decision to pledge recognition comes after key allies including the United Kingdom, Canada, France and others made similar commitments, without US backing. Ley and Cash said:

Despite his words today the reality is Anthony Albanese has committed Australia to recognising Palestine while hostages remain in tunnels under Gaza and with Hamas still in control of the population of Gaza. Nothing he has said today changes that fact.

Recognising a Palestinian state prior to a return of the hostages and defeat of Hamas, as the Government has today, risks delivering Hamas one of its strategic objectives of the horrific terrorism of October 7.

As it stands today the decision by the Albanese Government does not appear to make the world a safer place, expedite the end of the conflict, deliver a two-state solution, see the free flow of aid, support the release of hostages or put an end to the terrorist group Hamas.

New Zealand will carefully weigh recognition of Palestinian state

New Zealand’s government is holding off announcing a position on Palestinian statehood, even as Australia moves forward with the step on Monday.

The country’s foreign minister, Winston Peters, said the issue will be carefully weighed ahead of the UN general assembly. Peters said:

The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is rightly at the forefront of the global agenda.

New Zealand, as a long-standing supporter of the two-state solution and Palestinian self-determination, is an active participant in discussions about how to broker a ceasefire and a political settlement to enable Israelis and Palestinians to live peacefully side-by-side.

While we are a long way away from the Middle East, we will continue to ensure our voice is heard.

Peters raised recognition of a state of Palestine in cabinet on Monday, ahead of a formal consideration of the issue next month.

Some of New Zealand’s close partners have opted to recognise a Palestinian state, and some have not.

New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if.

Cabinet will take a formal decision in September over whether New Zealand should recognise a state of Palestine at this juncture – and if so, when and how.

PM spoke with Netanyahu last week in ‘civil’ call

During his press conference, Albanese revealed he had spoken with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, last week.

The timing of the call was not previously made public, despite Albanese having flagged his intention to speak with Netanyahu. The prime minister said:

I have said it publicly and I said it directly to prime minister Netanyahu: the situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world’s worst fears. Far too many innocent lives have been lost.

The PM said the pair had a civil conversation and that the call went longer than many between world leaders. Netanyahu criticised Australia for moving to recognise Palestine on Monday, Australian time. Albanese said:

I was able to say that the arguments that he put to me were very similar to the arguments that he put more than a year ago.

It seems to me very clearly, and I put the argument to him, that we need a political solution – not a military one, because a military response alone has seen the devastation in Gaza.

Greens says recognition an ‘overdue step’

The Greens foreign affairs spokesperson, David Shoebridge, says Australia’s move to recognise a Palestinian state is an “overdue step”.

He has restated calls for additional sanctions on the government of Israel and a ban on arms trade, including parts for the F-35 fighter jet. Shoebridge said:

The Greens have supported, and will continue to support, freedom and statehood for the Palestinian people as part of a just peace for the conflict. Recognition should have happened decades ago.

What Australia has done today is take a tiny step away from a shrinking and discredited minority of states, centred on the US and Israel, to join the overwhelming majority of nations that already recognise Palestine.

Genocide is not a communications problem, an escalating series of statements will not end it. By contrast, ending the two-way arms trade as part of a comprehensive sanctions regime would have a significant impact.

Shadow defence minister says recognition ‘premature’

The opposition says the preconditions for recognising Palestinian statehood “have not been met”, and that recognition would be a reward for Hamas.

Speaking to Sky News after the prime minister’s press conference, shadow defence minister Angus Taylor said Hamas would be “very pleased” if the international community does down the path of recognition.

Taylor said recognition would be “premature”:

I don’t think the government has made the case that those preconditions have been met or are going to be met. There’s no satisfaction that hostages will be released. We’ve got no clarity that Hamas will be excluded from a future government or fully demilitarised …

This is a reward to Hamas for what they started on 7 October … If you start going down this path, I think Hamas will be very pleased with their work, and that’s exactly the opposite of what we want to see.