Australian election 2025 live: Greens call for lower retirement age
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I'm Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it'll be Rafqa Touma to take you through the day.
The Greens are out of the blocks first today with another of their policy announcements, this time a policy that would lower the retirement age to 65, and boost the age pension to above the poverty line. Adam Bandt says Australia is a wealthy country and people should not suffer poverty in their old age. More coming up.
As thoughts turn to actually voting – and some have already done so – we have a guide to the minority parties on your ballot paper – the ones you might want to back and the ones you might not want to see in the Senate. More coming up.
In the week when the Coalition launched its policies to tackle domestic violence, our reporters have asked every police jurisdiction how it assesses risk in family violence offenders to get a better understanding of how the system should work. More coming up. Share
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The Herald Scotland
6 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
John Swinney criticises Fringe venue over Kate Forbes row
Management emailed all of the venue's Fringe companies to 'apologise unreservedly' for the 'understandable upset' caused by the Deputy First Minister being in the building. A 'designated relax space' was made available for artists, and Summerhall said it would be 'writing robust, proactive inclusion and well-being policies that prevent this from happening again.' Speaking to journalists about the row after an event hosted by think-tank Enlighten and Charlotte Street Partners, Mr Swinney said: 'I think there is no reason why Kate Forbes shouldn't be able to speak at any venue in Scotland.' Further probed on the actions of Summerhall, Mr Swinney, who also appeared on Unspun Live at the Fringe, added: "I don't think that's appropriate.' READ MORE: Swinney rules out SNP cabinet reshuffle before 2026 election Since the fallout, Summerhall's chief executive Sam Gough has said: "No one is banned from appearing... We have not banned anyone.' Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry has also criticised Summerhall, the venue that hosted The Herald's Unspun Live Fringe show featuring Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes. Ms Cherry, who attended the event, described the situation as 'shocking' and said it was symptomatic of a wider problem at the festival: 'It is also shocking that a venue in this city has effectively said that the deputy first minister of the country is not welcome there…and that staff are so coddled that they need to have a safe room provided for them when Kate did come to speak.' Speaking at Matt Forde's Political Party show, Ms Cherry also singled out recent controversies, including the National Library of Scotland's decision to remove a collection of essays by gender-critical women from an exhibition. Asked by Forde whether free speech is under threat in Scotland, Ms Cherry said: 'I think there are…threats to freedom of speech in Scotland and, regrettably, they have come not wholly from my political party. The Greens are certainly enthusiastically on board, the Lib Dems as well, and some people in the Labour party.' She placed part of the blame on former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, adding that the current First Minister 'does not have the courage to speak against it.' Ms Cherry criticised Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar as 'missing in action' on issues of free speech, while praising Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay as 'pretty good' on the topic. She described Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton as 'absolutely appalling' and said the Greens were 'unspeakable.' 'There is a real problem in our politics in Scotland that has seeped into our public life,' she said. Ms Cherry condemned the National Library of Scotland for censoring a book written by feminists, lesbians, and sex abuse survivors who opposed what she called Sturgeon's 'identity politics.' She accused the librarian and board chairman of bowing to pressure from a small staff group representing an LGBT network, saying: 'I think that's shocking.' Discussing the broader threat to free speech, Ms Cherry concluded: 'There is a real problem here that we are seeing at the festival.'
The Independent
6 hours ago
- The Independent
Australian PM Anthony Albanese channels his inner Gen Z: ‘Delulu with no solulu'
Resurfaced footage shows Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese channelling his inner Gen Z by using a popular slang word that has just been added to the Cambridge Dictionary in parliament. Appearing on the Happy Hour with Lucy and Nikki Podcast in March 2025, Mr Albanese was dared by the hosts to use the phrase 'delulu' in parliament, which he followed through with soon after. He told the speaker that the Coalition were 'delulu with no solulu' when discussing his rivals' energy and economic plan, which resulted in a mix of laughs and cheers from the chamber. On Monday (18 August), 'delulu', a play on the word delusion, was added to the Cambridge Dictionary, as part of a massive update which has seen approximately 6,000 new words added.
Metro
8 hours ago
- Metro
Man arrested at protest after police misread 'Plasticine Action' T-shirt
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Police mistakenly arrested a protester over terrorism offences because they thought his 'Plasticine Action' T-shirt read 'Palestine Action.' Miles Pickering, 59, says senior officers burst out laughing when they realised the blunder before releasing him without charge. He told Metro that he turned up to a protest in Parliament Square on August 9 over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza wearing the T-shirt. However, when a police officer saw the tee, he arrested the 59-year-old and hauled him to Scotland Yard. This shirt was only a few jumbled letters away from Palestine Action, a group banned under terrorism legislation last month. Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 makes it illegal to wear anything supporting a banned organisation. Instead, the T-shirt was for Plasticine Action, a group of artists who campaign against animation generated by artificial intelligence (AI) Plasticine is a modelling material used to create stop-motion figures, such as the character Morph, who features on Miles' shirt. Miles, from Brighton, told Metro: 'He must have misinterpreted the fact that I was wearing a Plasticine Action T-shirt as me wearing a Palestine Action T-shirt. 'I do not support Palestine Action and was not at the protest to support them. 'But I was definitely there to protest genocide and the government's role, as well as to highlight the plight of animators losing their work in this country.' The protest itself led to 532 arrests on terrorism charges, almost all under section 13 of the Terrorism Act. Miles was also nicked under Section 13 and was taken to two gazebos handling the large queues of arrested people. Protesters cheered Miles and others on, the engineer recalled, saying: ''Well done,' 'You're a hero', 'You're fantastic'.' 'I'm pointing to my T-shirt and going, 'Have a look, Plasticine Action',' Miles said. 'I put my fingers to my lips like, 'shh, don't tell the police'. And everyone's laughing and taking photos. And the crowd can see what's happening.' As he was waiting in line to be booked in, a senior officer asked the arresting officer if Miles could be detained under Section 12, which would bring more serious charges of supporting a proscribed group. Miles said: 'My arresting officer said, 'I can't,' and the senior officer said, 'Why not?' 'And he said, 'Because he hasn't got Palestine Action written on him. He's got Plasticine Action written on him'.' Miles claims that 10 minutes later, two plainclothes police officers approached him and burst out laughing after seeing his shirt. 'They both look at me, and they said, 'Can you just hold your scarf out of the way, please, sir?' So I did that, and they both laughed quite a lot.' Shortly after, Miles was let go. 'The arresting officer says, 'I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is I'm de-arresting you',' Miles added. 'And I said: 'What's the bad news?' He said, 'It's going to be really embarrassing for me'.' Miles' friend, Cara Brenna, 50, who was not present at the rally, said Miles is a 'lovely guy who stands up for what is right'. 'He's just using humour to show how crazy things are,' the creative artist and charity fundraiser told Metro. 'The fact that he was arrested for wearing a T-shirt saying, 'Plasticine Action'? We need to have a look at what is happening and what common sense is.' The Brighton local added: 'The police's job is to protect the people, but is that being done?' After footage of Miles' arrest went viral online, demand for more copies of the shirt has skyrocketed. Profits go to the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians. According to the product pages at the time of writing, 1,745 white and black Plasticine Action T-shirts have been sold. Miles said: 'What do the police do with people who are walking around with Plasticine Action T-shirts? 'And if another 1,000 people are wearing our T-shirt, or even 500, are they really gonna arrest them as well?' Footage over the weekend from another pro-Palestine protest in Glasgow showed a man, also wearing a Plasticine Action tee, being spoken to by officers. The force confirmed that no arrests were made. Palestine Action was banned after members broke into the RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and sprayed red paint into aircraft engines. The group, which does not call for violence against people and often targets sites operated by Israeli weapons manufacturers, argued that their actions were a response to the 'genocide' happening in Gaza. Peter Leary, deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, accused the government of 'wasting public resources' and 'silencing' protesters. 'The disgraceful proscription of Palestine Action comes alongside the use of draconian police powers to impose unprecedented restrictions on marches in solidarity with the Palestinian people,' he told Metro. More Trending The Met Police said in a statement to Metro: 'Shortly after 2pm on Saturday (August 9), officers on duty in Parliament Square arrested a man on suspicion of an offence under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. 'At the time of his arrest, the man was wearing a scarf that partially obscured the slogan on his T-shirt, which officers believed read Palestine Action. 'He was taken to one of the nearby prisoner processing points where, once officers realised the t-shirt actually read Plasticine Action, he was de-arrested and was free to leave. 'His arrest is not included in the figure of 532 arrests as part of the policing operation that day.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page.
