Australian news and politics live: China, not Australia gained more out of Albo’s trip: Opposition

Billionaire Clive Palmer has “sincerely apologised” after his political parties were hacked, exposing bank details and identity records of thousands of supporters.

The United Australia Party and Trumpet of Patriots, both funded by Mr Palmer, noticed unauthorised access to their servers, resulting in the “exfiltration” of data records on June 23.

“We were the subject of a ransomware cyber-attack,” the parties said in a statement.

Personal information such as email addresses, phone numbers, identity records, banking details, employment history, documents provided under confidentiality arrangements and “the like” have been exposed.

“We do not know comprehensively what information of yours was on the server but you should assume that any information you have provided would have been stored on the server,” the parties said.

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers had played down concerns about the rising unemployment rate.

“This is unwelcome but it’s also unsurprising,” he said on ABC Radio.

“We’ve been saying for some time, including in our own budget forecast, that we expect a modest tick up in the unemployment rate,” he said.

“It remains the case that over the last three years, the labour market in Australia has been a real source of strength at an uncertain time in the world.”

Mr Chalmers is currently in South Africa for a G20 meeting of finance ministers.

Tanya Plibersek has confrimed talks are underway to strip former Labor leader Mark Latham’s picture from the wall of the Labor caucus room.

“Thankfully Mark Latham hasn’t been a member of the years,” she said on ABC Breakfast.

“I know that there’s discussions going on right now whether it’s appropriate to have that photo in the caucus room.

“Mark Latham, you know, in any other workplace, he would have been sacked already.

“It’s only the people of New South Wales that can effectively sack Mark Latham.”

Mark Butler rejected Senator Hume’s claims about the Prime Minister’s trip being a ‘waste’, saying the Coalition hadn’t learnt form its “addiction to negativity over the last three years”.

“The Prime Minister was (in China) securing and seeking to expand those relationships, to build our prosperity in our jobs in areas like medtech, medical technology.

“The work he did with Cochlear yesterday, opportunity into China. Apples, tourism, steel imports. This is about jobs and country.”

Coalition Senator Jane Hume has dismissed Anthony Albanese’s tour of China as more photo opportunity than diplomatic success.

“Between walks on the Great Wall and cuddles with pandas there seemed to be more on the Prime Minister’s Instagram than the country’s national interest,” she said on Sunrise.

“Let’s face it, at the end of this trip are we safer? No, in fact when the live firing in civilian air space was brought up it was made pretty clear to the minister the Chinese military continue to do whatever it is they want to do.

“Are we richer from this trip? Well, that remains to be seen. It appears, on the surface, that there were more concessions in trade from Australia’s perspective than China’s.

“I think China might have done better out of this trip than Australia did.”

She said the trip had offered great opportunity but it had been wasted.

The Labor government will today annnounce a 25 per cent increase in funding for emergency food relief and counselling.

The move that is expected to assist around half a million Australians every year.

“It means things like food vouchers or meals, clothing, bedding, also help like support for gambling addiction or financial when people get into debt and get into trouble,” social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said.

“This emergency relief will be provided at a time really when Australians need that help the most. They’ll be able to walk into around 300 organisations around Australia and get that help when they need it.”

Anthony Albanese is heading back to Australia today after his six-day trip to China where he received a rock star welcome.

The PM has described the trip as “very successful” and “constructive” in terms of “advancing national interests”.

He said the trip had created more understanding of where the two nations stood.

While raised national security concerns with the Chinese government, Mr Albanese also leaned into soft diplomacy as a tactic to strengthen regional peace and security, stressing the importance of “people to people” ties and building trust between leaders as an effective way to boost security.

His soft diplomacy drive, however, has been divisive back home.

He has faced mounting criticism, with the Opposition slamming it as an “indulgent” trip that neglected Australia’s relations with the US at a perilous time.

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Tanya Plibersek said the behaviour of Mark Latham would have been enough to get him sacked in any other workplace.

The embattled independent NSW upper house MP has admitted sending x-rated texts from the floor of parliament and taking covert pictures of female MPs and making disaparaging comments about their looks them in private text exchanges.

The disturbing acts came to light days after his former partner Nathalie Matthews applied for an AVO against Mr Latham, alleging violent and degrading behaviour.

“(The behaviour) is probably consistent with what we’ve seen from Mark Latham over the last few decades,” social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said on the Today show.

“He’s the guy who said that men hitting women are doing it because they need a kind of stress release. He’s the guy that picked on high school students when they made a social media post on International Women’s Day.

“He just really doesn’t get it. And he hasn’t for many decades.

“In any other workplace this behaviour would be completely unacceptable. Of course, it’s unacceptable in the State parliament. Of course it is. People, taxpayers are paying his wages to represent them, not make videos his office.”