Labor ‘open to ways’ to improve international student cap bill

The education minister, Jason Clare, says the federal government will “consider” recommendations made in a committee report into the proposed international student caps and is “open to looking at ways that improve the legislation”.

The report, tabled yesterday evening, recommended the bill be passed with significant amendments, including removing the ability to set course-level enrolment limits.

Clare said the government would continue to welcome international students in a way that was “sustainable and reinforces quality”:

The government is implementing a managed system for the international education sector, which strengthens integrity and makes it more sustainable. Setting limits is also a fairer way to manage this important sector. It shouldn’t just be the big metro unis that benefit from international students, but our regional universities too.

The government will consider the committee’s recommendations and is open to looking at ways that improve the legislation.

Student arrested at pro-Palestine protest charged with assaulting police

A student who was arrested at Western Sydney University during a pro-Palestine protest on campus on Wednesday has been charged with assaulting police.

The 20-year-old was also charged with resisting police arrest. He was one of two Western Sydney University (WSU) students arrested at the protest, with another 23-year-old also charged with resisting police arrest and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Legal Observers NSW said the protest, which was attended by 50 people, marched around campus and then entered the Chancellors building and declared they would occupy the space. Two to three police officers usually attend the campus protests, Legal Observers said, but after the students entered the building more police arrived.

In footage of the protest distributed by the social media page WSU 4 Palestine Collective, police are seen attempting to remove a banner from protesters while they resist, amid cries of “it’s a banner, it’s not a weapon”. In another video, five police are seen arresting one of the students.

Police said that the protesters allegedly assaulted two security guards and two officers alleged they were injured but did not require treatment.

A number of students, according to student statements collected by Legal Observers NSW, said they saw one of the students who was arrested pushed against a wall by multiple police. The other was carried out by police by his legs and arms.

Both students were granted bail, with the student who was charged with assaulting police required to report to a police station daily, according to Legal Observers NSW. Under the bail conditions, both students are only allowed to attend WSU for the purpose of going to class or studying.

Both students will appear before Burwood local court on 4 November.

Greens say merger laws ‘missed the chance’ for forced divesture powers

The Greens’ Nick McKim says his party is yet to come to a position on Jim Chalmers’ new merger laws, but he is disappointed the legislation is missing the chance to include divesture powers:

Labor has missed the chance to take the bold action needed: create the power to break up duopolies and oligopolies through forced divestiture.

Big corporations already hold too much power, and simply trying to prevent them from getting bigger won’t fix the problem. What we need is to create competition by breaking up corporations when they misuse their market power.

McKim says regulators and the courts need the power to be able to “force the divestiture of corporations that have monopolised industries, including supermarkets, airlines and energy companies”.

Without these powers, we’ll continue to see price gouging, rising costs of living, and Australians paying the price for unchecked corporate greed.

One expert says social media age regulation would be ‘amazing’ for changing norms

Dr Jean Twenge says delaying when a young person has access to social media is needed, and government regulation would be “amazing”. She is speaking at the NSW and SA social media summit:

We also just have to work on changing the norm. This has to be group solutions. This is why regulation at the governmental level is would be so amazing.

If it were suddenly, ‘hey nobody 15 or under can have social media,’ it would be a complete gamechanger, because if it was really well regulated, then that argument goes away.

Labor’s wishlist for the House committee on nuclear energy

The government is seeking to establish a relatively rare House select committee into nuclear energy to investigate details around “deployment of small modular reactors in Australia” – the type of power the Coalition wants to build around the nation with its relatively detail-sparse plan.

Labor wants to set up the committee, which they want to “specifically inquire into and report on the consideration of nuclear power generation, including deployment of small modular reactors, in Australia” – including issues around timeframes, waste management and storage, water use, state and local government policy frameworks, risk management for natural disasters and the impact on energy prices.

We expect the government will use the committee to try and interrogate the issues around the Coalition’s plan (ie poke holes in it), as well as speak to local communities that have been earmarked for a plant about whether they actually want it or not.

The government has been regularly pointing out that we still don’t know many major details about Peter Dutton’s alternative energy plan, including how much it would cost to build seven nuclear facilities and how much it would affect energy generation or costs.

The House is currently voting on the exact details and terms of reference of the committee, but considering the government has a majority there, we expect it’ll go exactly as they want it. We’ll bring you more when the final result comes in.

More from the social media summit

Dr Jean Twenge, a professor of Psychology at San Diego state university, is addressing the social media summit.

She links data showing increasing levels of loneliness, depression and self harm in young people to the introduction and increased presence of social media in young people’s lives:

You know what happened at the end of 2012 [when] this happened? That was the first time that most people in Western democracies owned a smartphone.

We see social media and smartphones increasing at the same time as these serious mental health issues around the world.

Twenge points to less sleep, less in-person interaction, cyberbullying, social comparisons, sexual exploitation, fear of missing out and body image issues as negative consequences of young people’s use of social media.

Voluntary agreement entered into after United Airlines breaches biosecurity measures

The Department of Agriculture has had to enact the Pistol and Boo protocol. From its statement:

An international airline has entered an enforceable undertaking with the Australian government after it failed to declare two dogs’ arrival to the country, breaching Australian biosecurity measures.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, which has regulatory powers for Australia’s biosecurity as part of the Biosecurity Act 2015, found United Airlines had breached its reporting requirements twice, once in Brisbane in March 2024 and in Sydney December 2022, for failing to report a dog’s arrival by plane to Australia.

The dogs were assessed and managed by the department’s veterinary officers to ensure they met biosecurity requirements, including quarantine.

The US-based airline also failed to meet prescribed disinsection measures, which include procedures to control or kill the insect vectors of human diseases and agricultural pests or other insects and did not provide biosecurity officers with information when requested, both in August 2023.

The airline has “voluntarily agreed to meet a number of requirements over the next 15 months and will be monitored by the department. These include revising their internal processes, systems, and training”.

SA premier compares social media regulation to drugs and smoking

SA’s premier, Peter Malinauskas, is now addressing the opening ceremony of the NSW and SA government’s social media summit. He likens regulation of social media for young people to regulation of alcohol and drugs:

Governments, particularly in liberal democracies, have always sought to act and lead to try and protect young people from outside forces that otherwise would deny them that optimism and that infectious youthfulness.

We’ve regulated access to a whole range of products and services, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes.

We do so in the knowledge that legislation is a blunt tool. It can arm not just young people, but also parents, society writ large, with the tools that can allow us to implement a clearer path, a more positive definition of what healthy relationships can look like.

Parliamentary bullrush over nuclear committee

The shadow energy minister, Ted O’Brien, is trying to set up a select parliamentary committee to look into nuclear energy based on the Coalition’s proposal – not the government’s proposal – with a fight going on in the House of Representatives over how many members from each chamber and what party should be on it.

This is because a government/independent-heavy committee would probably come to very different conclusions than an opposition-heavy committee. So it’s a game of parliamentary committee bullrush.

But in making his very impassioned speech to the parliament (nothing gets O’Brien worked up like nuclear) he has also revealed that he’d survive undercover in the movie Inglourious Basterds – O’Brien is a fan of the “German three”. IYKYK

Patrick Gorman:

There’s something very curious in the paper today. Incredibly curious. Which was a suggestion from the front bench of the Liberal National Party that we should move the date of Parliament because of the Melbourne Cup.

Now, I’m pretty happy to do my job. The people of Perth elected me to do my job. And what we’ve got now, some of Peter Dutton’s most senior shadow ministers are saying we should move Parliament so they can go to the Melbourne Cup.

That’s ridiculous. The people of Australia didn’t elect us to go down and sip champagne in some fancy marquee in Melbourne. They elected us to do our job in Canberra.

And if Mr Dutton and his frontbenchers think that we should change the dates of Parliament so they can go to the Melbourne Cup, well, they should come into Parliament today and move that motion.

I dare them; if they really think that the Australian people with all of the things they expect of the Parliament right now, if they really think the Australian people would have any patience at all for the idea that you would change the dates of Parliament just so a bunch of senior politicians in the Liberal Party and the National Party can go down and put the fascinator on and polish up their shoes in a fancy suit, they’ve got something else coming.

It just shows how seriously out of touch the Liberal Party and the National Party are - that they want to cancel Parliament so they can go to the Melbourne Cup.

I challenge Peter Dutton, I challenge Dan Tehan to walk into Parliament this morning and move a motion to change the date of Parliament so that they can go to the Melbourne Cup. I think they’ll get a rude shock from the Australian people to see them trying to get out of their job. People in my electorate, people all over Australia, do their job on Melbourne Cup Day. Nurses, police, bus drivers, all have to rock up during the Melbourne Cup. I don’t know why the Liberal Party and the National Party think that they should be able to go, put the fascinator on, polish up their shoes, wear the top hat, and go to the Melbourne Cup.

There were no questions.

Subject line sniping

When an MP’s staff send out transcripts of their boss’s media appearances, they always include a subject line.

Once upon a time, this was literally just a subject line. Then Sussan Ley’s team began sending out subject lines with the “tone” they wanted the transcript read through, so it was a lot of “this weak government’s horrible approach to XX”-style lines.

Ley’s team held the mantle of most imaginative subject lines, but the assistant minister to the prime minister’s team (Patrick Gorman) have really come into their own in recent months. Today’s may be some of their greatest work. Quote:

Subjects: Parliament; Hurricane Milton; The Coalition’s ridiculous plan to cancel Parliament for the Melbourne Cup, so that they can go and sip champagne in some fancy marquee in Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup, with their fascinators and top hats on.

Survey finds cost of living is major barrier to accessing mental health treatment

Wayahead, the mental health association of NSW, conducted a survey on mental health perceptions and experiences across Australia and found that nearly half of the 2,000 respondents identified cost of living as the biggest barrier to receiving treatment. Wayahead’s CEO, Sharon Grocott, said “no one should have to compromise their mental wellbeing due to financial difficulties” and said it was time to make it more accessible.

She said the survey also found people still felt there was a stigma around discussing their mental health:

The survey further revealed that 86% of 25 to 34-year-olds and 60% of 65 to 74-year-olds conceal their mental health challenges due to fears of stigma and judgment from friends and people in the workplace.

This stigma is a particular concern for men, with 40% of male respondents identifying their friends as the primary source of judgment when discussing mental health issues.

James Paterson continues attack lines over Palestinian visa holder

Liberal senator James Paterson has held another doorstop on the back of a Sky News interview (is it even a sitting week if James Paterson isn’t on Sky News at least three times) where he tried to relitigate his issues from yesterday.

The hook for today was Tony Burke did not answer questions yesterday. Unfortunately, we sat through question time and Burke answered five versions of the same question Paterson is raising today.

There were no questions for Paterson at the end of the spiel. Almost like … people already knew the answers?

Butler says subsidised mental health sessions designed primarily for mild-to-moderate needs

One of the criticisms of how mental health is treated in Australia is that for many people, adequate care is too expensive.

Mark Butler is asked about the mental health plan, which gives people access to 10 subsidised sessions of psychological care – but for a lot of people, it’s not enough. There have been numerous calls from experts to have the cap lifted. Butler says:

That number of 10 sessions has been in place for most of the last 20 years, except for a short period during Covid, where it was increased to deal with the impact of Covid.

The reason for that really is that that particular scheme your guest was talking about was focused and designed for people with more mild-to-moderate needs that usually would be able to be resolved or assisted with four to six sessions of psychological therapy, by and large.

What we’ve seen that the sort of client that your guest talks about, maybe with more complex and severe issues like bipolar disorder, [they] were never really intended to be the client group of that scheme. [Those issues are] supposed to be dealt with [with] … more focused support.

We’re rolling out new Medicare mental health centres for people with those more moderate-to-severe needs and also recognising that there really isn’t the stepped model of care that we need in mental health.

Because, frankly, people have a very broad range of mental health needs, from relatively short-term, mild-to-moderate needs because of the impact of a life crisis like a divorce or a bereavement to quite complex and severe needs if they’ve got lifelong disorders like psychosis or bipolar disorder.

At the moment, we don’t really have those different steps to ensure that people are getting the right care for their particular needs, and that’s something we’ve been working with the mental health sector on for the last 12 months.

Butler: mental health is not merely a ‘temporary’ or ‘short-term’ crisis

Does the health minister, Mark Butler, believe there is a mental health “crisis” in Australia? It’s world mental health day, hence the renewed focus.

He tells ABC radio Sydney:

Yes, the challenge with the word crisis is it makes it seem like it’s a relatively short-term thing – it’s only recently arrived, and hopefully, if we respond, it will be over quickly. But we’ve seen a steady and pretty substantial rise in mental distress now for 20 years, particularly among young people, but among adults as well.

Yes, we have a huge burden on our community from mental health but it’s not a temporary thing, it’s not short-term. It’s been a feature of our society, societies across the world for many, many years, and frankly, we haven’t done well enough to respond to it.

Chalmers on oil prices

In his press conference explaining the merger law reforms he is about to introduce, Jim Chalmers also asked about the spike in oil prices and what that will mean for consumers.

Our Paul Karp asked whether consumers would be gouged and Chalmers said:

Obviously, we are concerned in at a time when the global oil price is increasing.

We don’t want to see the service stations take Australian motorists for mugs, and we want to make sure that the global price is appropriately reflected in the price that people pay at the bowser.

People are under enough pressure already. We don’t want to see the service stations do the wrong thing by people.

The petrol price has been much lower in the last little while than at most times of the last couple of years ... We have seen the global oil price come down considerably over the course of the last year, but spike in the last week and a half for obvious reasons, and we want to make sure that people are treated in the right way when they fill up their car.

Minns: NSW is looking for ‘extra help’ on public education funding and ‘we can’t settle for anything less’

The Senate will be looking at Jason Clare’s education funding bill but it is not guaranteed to pass, with key crossbenchers unhappy with the government’s offer. As are the states, as Caitlin Cassidy outlined here:

Chris Minns is one of the premiers holding out. He told the ABC a little earlier:

It’s a standoff. Ultimately, the federal government has deeper pockets. We’ve got real needs when it comes to public education in the state.

We currently fund most of public education in New South Wales. We need a bit of extra help from the commonwealth government and when you consider most kids in the state are educated in the public system, we can’t settle for anything less.

So I’m sorry, I know they’re the same political persuasion as us, the same political party, but my obligation is to New South Wales and that’s particularly so for the next generation going through our public education system.

Buckle in for parliament’s last session this month

The last parliament session for this month will start in about 30 minutes.

The lovely people at About the House have you covered for what is going on in the house:

Dreyfus details bill implementing two robodebt royal commission recommendations

The Albanese government is introducing a bill to implement two recommendations of the robodebt royal commission:

• Imposing a statutory duty on agency heads and the public service to assist the ombudsman; and

• Establishing a new offence for withholding reasonable assistance from the ombudsman so they can get records

The bill also enhances the ombudsman’s ability to undertake full, independent and transparent investigations, including modernising information-gathering powers to enable remote access to agency records. The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said:

Legislation introduced today will help protect Australia against any repeat of the former Liberal government’s illegal and immoral robodebt scheme by ensuring commonwealth agencies are subject to stronger and more rigorous scrutiny ...

The royal commission found that some officials and agencies engaged in behaviour designed to mislead the ombudsman and impede their investigation into the robodebt scheme.

The bill will ensure this can never happen again.

Payman: no concerns over anti-Islam group also known as Australia’s Voice

The former Labor senator Fatima Payman announced her own political party, Australia’s Voice, yesterday.

She spoke to ABC News Breakfast this morning about the announcement and was asked whether she had concerns about her new party name being similar to an anti-Islam group known as Australian’s Voice, Payman said:

That doesn’t concern me. We have nothing do with that party. We don’t even know if it’s still active. So when I heard about these rumours yesterday, it was no concern for me because Australia’s Voice is a voice for every Australian out there who is disenfranchised, who is sick and tired of the duopoly that the major parties -–like Coles and Woolies – have had over our political system and our democracy for way too long and we need minor parties and independents to keep them honest and accountable.

More details on today’s social media summit

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, and the SA premier, Peter Malinauskus, are holding a joint summit today to talk about the impacts of social media.

It is quite possibly the most leaders of NSW and South Australia have spoken since 1836 when SA was established as a free settlement after colonisation and took a slice from the NSW colony in the process.

Minns and Malinaukus are united in taking the lead on this issue – Malinaukus commissioned the report which got the federal government heading down an age ban for social media path, and Minns is on board with helping to shape what that will look like.

Malinaukus says he wants to listen to parents, telling ABC News Breakfast:

Parents are crying out for a degree of certainty, they’re crying out for government guidance, a lot more rule that people can follow. That doesn’t mean there won’t be challenging but at least provides a starting point for parents. It gives them a tool about how to address this and parents who have gone through all this and all the pain that social media can place upon their children, they’re the ones I think are the most powerful advocates for this reform.

There are a few sticking points with this idea, though. The federal government says it will have legislation on it by the end of the year – but there is still debate over whether parents should be held responsible if their children do find a way to get on social media while underage and if there should be a punishment attached to that. There is talk already of allowing teens and kids who are already on social media to stay on it as an exemption to the laws. And child and mental health advocates say it takes away from the focus on the social media platforms and their responsibility to create safe spaces.

Chalmers details merger law changes

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is holding a bright and early press conference – he’ll be in the blue room (called that because – well, it’s blue and it’s a room) where he will be talking about the upcoming merger legislation.

He’s been calling it the biggest change to mergers law in 50 years (not sure there have been that many changes to start with). In an op-ed published in the AFR, Chalmers describes the changes as:

Firstly, any merger will be looked at if the Australian turnover of the combined businesses is above $200m, and either the business or assets being acquired has Australian turnover above $50m or global transaction value above $250m.

Secondly, the ACCC will look at any merger involving a very large business with Australian turnover more than $500m buying a smaller business or assets with Australian turnover above $10m.

Finally, to target serial acquisitions, all mergers by businesses with combined Australian turnover of more than $200m where the cumulative Australian turnover from acquisitions in the same or substitutable goods or services over a 3-year period is at least $50m will be captured, or $10m if a very large business is involved.

Report into youth justice to be launched today

The national children’s commissioner, Anne Hollonds, will publicly launch her grim report on the reality of Australia’s youth justice system at parliament house in Canberra on Thursday.

As first reported by Guardian Australia in July, the report details disabled children in detention being allegedly kept “in cages” in police watch houses. Hollonds interviewed 150 children in the youth justice system and found that prisons detaining children are where “the most egregious breaches of human rights are occurring in this country”.

The report calls for a ban on solitary confinement practices in child detention facilities and the establishment of a national taskforce for reform of child justice systems.

Guardian Australia previously reported the high rates of children in detention with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and other brain injuries.

The launch will be attended by the chair of Justice Reform Initiative, Robert Tickner, the Law Council of Australia’s president, Greg McIntyre, the Australian Medical Association’s president, Dr Danielle McMullen, and young people with lived experience. McMullen said:

This report is an incredibly sobering read, as it contains many uncomfortable truths about youth justice in Australia – egregious human rights violations, the overincarceration of First Nations children and young people dying in custody.

She called for the report’s recommendations to be implemented – especially raising the age of criminal responsibility in all jurisdictions to 14 years. Read more:

Social media summit being held in Sydney

A groundbreaking social media summit that begins in Sydney today must consider what mental health impacts will flow if kids are banned from platforms, advocates say.

AAP reports that a two-day, jointly hosted summit between the NSW and South Australian governments starts in Sydney today, when discussions are expected to focus on the details of the youth ban rather than whether it will be introduced.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and a host of state leaders – including NSW’s premier, Chris Minns, and SA’s premier, Peter Malinauskas – have backed an age limit but are yet to disclose where the cutoff should be set.

Youth mental health organisation ReachOut warned removing social media would block access to what has become a key support for a younger generation. Read more in our preview:

The summit will shift to Adelaide on Friday.

Robodebt royal commission recommendations to be legislated

Attempts to hide the next robodebt scandal from independent oversight of the public service will be punished by thousands of dollars in fines, the Australian Associated Press reports.

Public servents and agency bosses would be bound to help investigations while those stonewalling access to files could be dragged to court. The changes proposed by the Albanese government are aimed at ensuring commonwealth agencies are subject to stronger and more rigorous scrutiny.

They fulfil two recommendations from the robodebt royal commission.

“The robodebt royal commission made it clear that strong and effective oversight is necessary to safeguard the community in their dealings with government,” the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said. “Trust in government depends on this.”

Under the proposal, an offence would be created for withholding reasonable facilities and assistance from the commonwealth ombudsman. Anyone penalised for breaking this law could be fined more than $3000.

The watchdog would be able to access agency records remotely under enhanced information-gathering powers. The tax ombudsman would also receive the same powers.