Australia news LIVE: Coalition parties inch closer to reuniting; PM speaks from disaster zone; Calwell and Bradfield races tighten further

The Age

23-05-2025

Key posts
2.21pm Ley gets partyroom green light to strike deal with Nats
2.01pm Calwell count tightens as independent leaps ahead of Liberals
1.19pm The story so far
12.46pm Watch: Anthony Albanese and Chris Minns speak from disaster zone
12.14pm Boele's wafer-thin lead in Bradfield narrows further to just five votes
11.34am More Jetstar flights disrupted by GPS glitches
10.32am Trump's ban on foreign students at Harvard 'distressing' for Australians: Rudd
9.48am More rate cuts could be on the horizon: NAB CEO
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2.21pm
Ley gets partyroom green light to strike deal with Nats
By Paul Sakkal
Returning to one of the week's biggest stories now:
The Liberal and National parties are inching closer to reforming the Coalition after Liberal MPs authorised leader Sussan Ley to get a deal done with counterpart David Littleproud.
Liberals held their second online party room meeting in as many days, after Littleproud announced on Tuesday he wanted to exit the Coalition.
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Some Liberals on the hook-up pushed for more detailed examination of Littleproud's demands on lifting the moratorium on nuclear power and creating new powers to force divestment of anticompetitive supermarkets.
The party reached a consensus to agree to the policy demands at a principle level, while reserving its rights to negotiate on some details.
Crucially, MPs decided to give Ley the power to continue her talks with Littleproud in the hope of striking a deal and forming a joint shadow cabinet by the time parliament sits on July 22.
Much of the speculation about policy differences centred on the policies of nuclear power and forced supermarket breakups.
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But the items that Liberals determined needed further consideration related to Littleproud's two lower-profile demands.
On the $20 billion regional fund, Liberals want to ensure the money is used in regional Liberal seats as well as Nationals seats (senior Liberals Angus Taylor, Dan Tehan and Ley herself are among those with seats outside capital cities).
And on the universal mobile service pledge, Liberals worry the policy demand goes further than the party's election commitment.
Ley has received criticism in some quarters of the Liberal Party for failing to convene a party room meeting earlier in the week to assess the Nationals' demands.
2.01pm
Calwell count tightens as independent leaps ahead of Liberals
By Adam Carey
The race for the last undeclared seat in Victoria has tightened, with Labor still in doubt of retaining the once super-safe seat of Calwell in Melbourne's outer north.
Carly Moore, a three-time Calwell mayor who quit the ALP to run as an independent, has catapulted into second place as counting progresses in what the Australian Electoral Commission called the most complicated count in its history.
Moore currently trails Labor's candidate Basem Abdo with 45.8 per cent of votes, compared to Abdo's 54.2 per cent after preferences.
Moore needs to secure 64.4 per cent of preferences from Liberal and Greens votes in Calwell as those parties' candidates are eliminated from the count in coming days.
In his blog The Tally Room, psephologist Ben Raue said 'Moore's chances of winning now look very good'.
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Moore told this masthead that she believed the result would come down to the wire in a complex contest in which multiple independents polled well, and their preferences sprayed around.
Moore campaigned on a platform of grievance about perceived Labor neglect of the economically disadvantaged and ethnically diverse electorate.
She preferenced Abdo last on her how-to-vote card.
'All the things that we were saying during the campaign are true, that this community feels like we're being taken advantage of,' she said. 'We've been treated like a safe seat because we've been a safe seat'.
Moore said Labor, which previously held Calwell with a 12.4 per cent margin, would have to devote more resources to the seat in future elections, no matter who wins this time.
'This should be Labor heartland. I hope that they see this as a bit of a wake-up call to make sure they're listening to what the community is telling them, because I don't think they have been'.
Abdo was contacted for comment.
Labor has not lost a single seat in the 2025 election. But it suffered a primary vote swing of 14.3 per cent in Calwell.
1.39pm
Australia must prepare for Hollywood-style cyberattack: Cybersecurity sheriff
By Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson
Australia has yet to suffer a critical, Hollywood-style cybersecurity incident, according to the nation's top online cop, but our defences are being tested and criminals grow in number.
The rate of cyberattacks against Australian businesses may also be higher than statistics indicate, she warned as small businesses continue bearing the brunt of financial losses.
National Cyber Security Co-ordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness issued the warnings at the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference on the Gold Coast today, while also promising public consultation to inform future online safety policies.
The event has drawn 900 delegates and comes a month after large superannuation firms were targeted in a co-ordinated online attack and less than a year after 12.9 million Australians had private information stolen in the MediSecure hack.
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Despite a growing number of attacks on large Australian organisations including in the healthcare and telecommunications sectors and legal firms, McGuinness told the audience none had damaged the nation's critical infrastructure or had a lasting impact.
'Australia has seen the dark side of significant cyber incidents such as Optus, Medibank, Latitude Financial, Ramsay Health Care… but we are actually yet to see a catastrophic cyber incident with impacts across multiple critical infrastructure sectors,' she said.
'We must continue to evolve and thrive to ensure that those scenes we see in Hollywood [movies] never actually eventuate.'
The Annual Cyber Threat Report released in November found Australian cybercrime reports grew by 12 per cent in 2024 and the cost of attacks to individuals grew by 17 per cent to an average of $30,700.
The Australian Cyber Security Strategy, launched in November 2023, is due to be updated by 2026 to address a broader range of cybersecurity investments, and a public consultation will be launched in the coming months.
1.19pm
The story so far
By Alexander Darling
Good afternoon, Alexander Darling here in the newsroom to take you through until the weekend.
Here's a quick recap of what's happened so far this Friday.
The prime minister and NSW Premier Chris Minns just addressed the media in NSW as the ongoing flood emergency continues (see the presser below, we've got a separate liveblog for this too).
Another Jetstar flight has been cancelled after a fault in its navigation system, suspected to be related to solar flare activity.
The count for the Sydney seat of Bradfield remains a rollercoaster: Teal hopeful Nicolette Boele's lead over Liberal candidate Giselle Kapterian has dipped from 39 to just four votes as postal votes have been counted across this week.
Australia's ambassador to the US said he was working with the US government, after the Trump administration blocked Harvard University from enrolling international students.
Following Tuesday's rate cut by the RBA, the chief executive of NAB said three more could be on the horizon.
And the latest on the Liberal-National break-up saga is that former Nationals leaders Michael McCormack and Barnaby Joyce have worked with Liberal leader Sussan Ley to pressure David Littleproud into reopening Coalition talks. I'll keep you up to date across the afternoon on this one.
12.46pm
Watch: Anthony Albanese and Chris Minns speak from disaster zone
By Angus Dalton
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns have spoken from Maitland, in the state's flood-affected Hunter region. Watch in full below:
Here are some key points:
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Premier Chris Minns has announced the rollout of personal hardship grants to help battered northern NSW residents recover from the flood disaster. He said grants of up to $180 for individuals and $900 for families affected by the floods would be available soon, funded jointly by the state and federal governments.
Minns has also urged flood-affected residents to consult the Hazards Near Me app and the State Emergency Service website even as sunshine begins to peak through clouds up north.
You can keep up to date with all the latest flood information in our dedicated live blog.
At least four people have been killed, and rescue operations are continuing.
12.38pm
Former Nationals leader McCormack says he is 'ambitious' for Littleproud
By Paul Sakkal and Olivia Ireland
Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack, whom David Littleproud was set to dump from his Nationals-only frontbench, said most Australians would have been asking 'what the hell is going on' in the aftermath of the Coalition split.
McCormack stressed that Littleproud's leadership was not under threat, though he also appeared to echo former prime minister Scott Morrison's comments about Malcolm Turnbull before taking leadership of the Liberal Party in 2018.
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'I'm ambitious for him [Littleproud],' McCormack told ABC Canberra this morning.
'He's been messy, he's been really messy, and for people on the outside looking in they just wonder what the hell is going on.'
McCormack, Chester and Barnaby Joyce had talks with Liberal leader Sussan Ley since the split in a bid to revive the Coalition relationship. McCormack and Chester confirmed the discussions.
'Sussan and I are very close, and we speak together very regularly,' McCormack said. 'The Nationals walked away from the Liberals, and Sussan was the newly anointed Liberal leader. It's important that I did talk to her and try and get things patched up.'
12.14pm
Boele's wafer-thin lead in Bradfield narrows further to just five votes
The count for Bradfield has been a rollercoaster ride for Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian and her opponent, teal hopeful Nicolette Boele.
When provisional counting ended on Monday, Boele was in front by 39 votes.
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But today, Boele's already wafer-thin margin over Kapterian has narrowed further to just four votes, the Australian Electoral Commission says.
The north shore seat was called for Boele on election night by the ABC and Nine, only for Kapterian to forge ahead on the back of postal votes to a winnable position several days later.
As the final votes trickled in, however, the Liberals were caught off guard. While postal votes usually favour the Coalition, a batch of international ballots swung heavily in Boele's favour.
Bradfield has traditionally been considered a safe Liberal seat – retiring MP Paul Fletcher has held the northern Sydney seat since the byelection in 2009.
Preferences are being distributed, and if fewer than 100 votes still separate the candidates, there will be a recount.
12.00pm
ASX edges higher, Rio Tinto slides as CEO heads for exit
The Australian sharemarket has advanced after a choppy session on Wall Street caused by worries coming out of the bond market about the US government's debt.
The ASX 200 rose 26.6 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 8366.8 by 11am AEST on Friday, with five of 11 industry sectors in the green.
Mining giant Rio Tinto was 1.5 per cent lower in early trade after it announced on Thursday night it had started a global search to replace chief executive Jakob Stausholm, who will step down from his position after spending almost five years at the top.
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BHP was 0.4 per cent lower and Fortescue shed 1.6 per cent in early trade.
The big four banks are in positive territory. NAB added 0.6 per cent, Westpac gained 0.5 per cent, while CBA and ANZ both edged up 0.1 per cent.
Energy stocks are the best-performing sector, with Woodside and Santos adding 0.5 per cent in early trade.
Wall Street trading remained choppy throughout most of the day following Wednesday's big slump for the S&P 500. That loss has put the benchmark index on track for its worst week in the past seven.
The S&P 500 slipped 2.60 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, to close at 5842.01. The Dow Jones fell 1.35 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, to 41,859.09. The Nasdaq composite rose 53.09 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 18,925.73.
11.34am
More Jetstar flights disrupted by GPS glitches
By Chris Zappone
A second Jetstar flight has been cancelled after a fault in its navigation system, suspected to be related to solar flare activity.
A Brisbane to Bali flight was scrapped on Thursday after disturbances to its Global Positioning System (GPS) prevented the flight from taking off, Jetstar confirmed.
The disruption follows an earlier cancellation of a flight from Melbourne to Bali on Wednesday, as well as a number of delays, lasting for hours, that affected other flights at the Qantas-owned economy airline.
The GPS fault also caused subsequent delays of Jetstar flights to Bali, Fiji and Hobart from Australia's east coast on Thursday.
The spate of difficulties comes days after the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a warning about solar flare activity in previous days, raising the possibility that electromagnetic interference could affect aviation communication and navigation.
The Jetstar aircraft received a message 'requiring the [GPS] system to be reset before the flight departs', a spokesperson for the airline said, which caused 'a small number of disruptions to flights'.
'Engineers have inspected the aircraft and have determined the multiple aircraft GPS systems continue to operate and transmit signals,' Jetstar said.
No other Qantas-owned aircraft were affected. A spokesperson for Virgin Australia said no similar issues had been reported with its aircraft.
11.10am
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie swats away questions on Littleproud's leadership
By Cindy Yin
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has thrown her support behind leader David Littleproud after swatting away questions on whether he could survive as the party's leader.
It comes after this masthead reported that former Nationals leaders Michael McCormack and Barnaby Joyce – who Littleproud was preparing to dump from his frontbench – had worked with Liberal leader Sussan Ley to pressure Littleproud into reopening Coalition talks.
McKenzie was asked on Sky News this morning if David Littleproud's leadership of the Nationals was at risk as a result of the rifts.
'David Littleproud is our leader, the party room made a collective decision to leave the Coalition.
'We will come back together post the Liberal Party's meeting to discuss whatever comes out of that.'
McKenzie declined to comment on specifics.
'I'm not going to become a gossip columnist about who said what to whom, that's up for others to discuss that,' she said.
'I'm the Senate leader – I'm going to be looking forward, to see what the Liberal Party has to say and where we go from here. Do we stay separate or are we going to renegotiate a Coalition agreement?'