Australian politics live: Greens deputy Mehreen Faruqi not able to represent the Senate as part of delegations

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has declined to clarify the Liberal Party’s position on the net zero emissions target as growing support within the Nationals calls for abandoning the 2050 goal.

Speaking on Nine’s, Ms Ley said the party’s stance would be shaped by an energy working group led by opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan.

She emphasised that any policy would seek to reduce emissions in a “transparent” way, while maintaining a “reliable, stable” and broad domestic energy grid, allowing Australia to “play its part” in global efforts.

Ley did not provide a timeline for when a formal policy might be announced, saying her priority was holding the Labor government accountable in the new parliamentary term.

Meanwhile, climate policy tensions continue to strain the Coalition, with an increasing number of Nationals MPs backing calls to scrap the net zero target. Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack has joined the push, telling The Australian he supports Barnaby Joyce’s private member’s bill aimed at repealing the emissions goal.

Former Nationals leaders Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack have jointly expressed strong criticism of party leader David Littleproud.

Mr Joyce acknowledged that his relationship with Littleproud has deteriorated and confirmed he has been advocating for Mr McCormack, his past rival. Neither Mr Joyce nor Mr McCormack was appointed to the Nationals’ frontbench following the recent election.

In an interview with ​The Australian​, Mr Joyce described Littleproud’s remarks about generational change as “unfortunate,” adding, “You can’t come back from that. That’s pretty terminal. That’s not a demotion, that it is: ‘get out of here’. Without a shadow of a doubt.”

Mr McCormack weighed in on Littleproud’s decision to briefly split the Coalition, calling it “madness.” He also reiterated a line famously used by Scott Morrison before challenging Malcolm Turnbull: “He’s the leader, and I’m ambitious for him.”

Indonesia will drop tariffs to zero on more than 99 per cent of its trade with the United States and will also eliminate all non-tariff barriers for American goods in a deal that cuts threatened US tariffs on Indonesian products to 19 per cent from an initial 32 per cent.

A senior Trump administration official said Indonesia will immediately drop its plans to levy tariffs on internet data flows and will support renewal of a longstanding World Trade Organization moratorium on e-commerce duties, the official told reporters on a conference call held a week after the deal was first announced on July 15.

Indonesia also will remove recently enacted pre-shipment inspection and verifications of US exports, which have posed problems for US agricultural exports and contributed to a growing U.S. farm trade deficit, the official said.

In a win for US automakers, the official said that Indonesia has agreed to accept US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for vehicles exported from the United States to the growing country of 280 million people.

Indonesia also has agreed to remove export restrictions on critical minerals and remove local content requirements products using these commodities shipped to the US.

- via Reuters

Students and graduates will soon see a reduction in their HECS debts and save hundreds of dollars a year.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare will introduce legislation to slash student debt by 20 per cent and increase the income that graduates need to earn before minimum repayments kick in.

It’s the first bill that the Albanese government will put before parliament at the start of its second term.

People earning between $60,000 and $180,000 will save hundreds of dollars each year under the changes.

Someone on $70,000 will save the most, $1300 a year, on minimum repayments due to an increase to the thresholds at which the debts must be paid back.

The US Justice Department has asked lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell if she would be willing to speak with prosecutors, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche says he expects to meet with her in the coming days.

The decision to request a meeting with Maxwell comes as Attorney General Pam Bondi has faced mounting pressure from US President Donald Trump’s supporters to release additional materials related to Epstein, who died in a jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

US President Donald Trump has now weighed in, after being asked about it in the Oval Office he said: “I don’t know about it, but I think it’s something that would be, sounds appropriate.”

​Read more.​

The Federal Government is introducing legislation today to strip funding from childcare centres that fail to meet safety standards.

This move comes as Parliament resumes sitting and aims to fast-track child protection reforms amid growing concerns about the security of CCTV plans in centres nationwide.

It follows allegations that a 26-year-old Melbourne childcare worker has been charged with over 70 offenses, including sexual abuse.

“The work on this is being undertaken every day since these allegations emerged,” Housing minister Clare O’Neil told Sunrise on Wednesday morning.

“The working with children checks are of course a part of this and the Attorneys-General across the country are working together in a way that’s actually really unusual for the states and the Commonwealth to make sure that we fast-track this. So that meeting next month will be to finalise some of that work.

“I’ve got a daughter who’s in childcare at the moment. I’m desperately about, this not just as a politician but as a parent. I’m really pleased to see the Education Minister bringing forward some legislation today that is going to have incredibly harsh repercussions for childcare centres that do not properly protect our children.”