Australian news and politics live: Sussan Ley says marathon net zero meeting went ‘really well’

Australian PM Anthony Albanese and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto have vowed to strengthen their defence relationship through “a new era” treaty.

Speaking on Sydney’s Garden Island on Wednesday for the Indonesian President’s one-day State visit to Australia, the pair discussed the friendship between the neighbouring nations.

“The governments of Australia and Indonesia have just substantively concluded negotiations on a new bilateral treaty on our common security,” Mr Albanese said, labelling it as a “watershed moment”.

“It signals a new era in the Australia-Indonesia relationship. The treaty is predominantly based on the landmark security agreement signed by the Keating and Suharto governments 30 years ago.”

Anthony Albanese has committed to strengthen defence and economic ties with Indonesia as he warmly welcomed President Prabowo Subianto to Australia on Wednesday.

The President’s official visit to Australia marks his first Down Under since being sworn in as leader as October 2024,

The pair were all smiles as they shook hands outside Kirribilli House on Wednesday after Mr Prabowo touched down in Sydney on Tuesday evening for a lightning trip.

After a one-on-one leaders meeting, Mr Prabowo travelled the short distance to Admiralty House to meet with Governor-General Sam Mostyn for a ceremonial welcome and state lunch.

Among dignitaries who greeted Mr Prabowo’s travelling party was Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Nationals MP Michael McCormack.

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Liberal MPs and senators have clocked up three hours in their party room meeting, and word is they’re only roughly halfway through contributions.

The first hour was spent being briefed on research, as flagged earlier, then they started working their way through anyone who wanted to speak, in alphabetical order.

The mood has been described as calm, with everyone getting their say.

It’s understood that MPs heard from party director Andrew Hirst that the majority of the public sees “net zero” as a proxy for climate action.

He also laid out arguments that research showed could help to sway soft voters, such as on power prices, according to sources inside the room.

The Liberal Party’s federal director Andrew Hirst is briefing the party room meeting this afternoon on the political and electoral implications of the decision MPs are trying to make on climate and energy policy.

Earlier today, moderate Jane Hume said that “Australians are telling us, every single poll is telling us that a credible climate policy is represented by an objective to reach a net zero emissions future”.

She believed that was neither unreasonable nor impossible.

Liberals will also get a briefing on work done by the party’s think tank the Menzies Research Centre.

The Nationals had input from their equivalent, the Page Research Centre, to draw up their policy.

Also an update from the earlier post regarding media access: press freedom has prevailed and reporters are being allowed in the space near the party room.

The Japanese ambassador has declined to detail what reservations his country may have over a takeover bid for West Australian-based shipbuilder Austal by South Korean defence company Hanwha.

Austal is expected to eventually build the advanced Japanese Mogami frigate for the Royal Australian Navy at the Henderson shipyard south of Perth.

Hanwha is seeking to increase its ownership of Austal to almost 20 per cent, but must first get approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).

“I think Australia has FIRB to conduct all the foreign investment issues based on your national security, national interest, Japanese ambassador Suzuki Kazuhiro told the national press club.

“And this - the frigate, the project, Mogami frigate is a joint project between Japan and Australia, and both of the national interests are closely involved. So, I’m sure that Australia government will handle these issues properly.”

Asked whether Japan had expressed any views during the foreign investment review process, the ambassador responded: “I don’t think that has happened yet, yes. But I will trust Australia.”

The Liberals’ party room meeting on net zero has now begun in Canberra.

In a show of force, at least a dozen conservative MPs – including Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor, side by side – walked into the room en masse with broad smiles on their faces.

Leader Sussan Ley arrived at the room accompanied only by Tasmanian senator Richard Colbeck.

Her deputy, Ted O’Brien, arrived alone.

For previous party gatherings, Ms Ley has been surrounded by supporters such as Melissa Price and Melissa McIntosh.

Liberal sources believe the position to dump net zero is all but agreed and the party will land on a position close but not identical to that decided by the Nationals a fortnight ago, which would see Australia continue to cut emissions but at about half the rate as needed under Labor’s targets.

There is also a stoush brewing over media access to the parliamentary corridors to watch for MPs entering and exiting the meeting.

Typically, reporters and cameras are allowed to stand in a corralled area near the party room, such as during the Liberal meeting where MPs elected Ms Ley their leader after the election. However, the Opposition Leader’s office is trying to restrict access to cameras only today.

The Veterans’ Affairs Minister says it “probably” wasn’t appropriate for the departing RSL boss to use a Remembrance Day address to attack the Government’s record on defence spending.

At the Australian War Memorial on Tuesday, retired Major General Greg Melick warned Australia was becoming complacent about the threat of conflict and called for better preparedness.

Speaking following a Remembrance Day event in London, Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh defended the Albanese Government’s record on military spending.

“It’s actually probably not the thing that we should be focusing on on a day like Remembrance Day,” he told reporters.

“We’ve done the work in terms of the Defence Strategic Review, and announcing the National Defence Strategy, and making sure that there are regular updates to our investment programming capability, making sure that we are delivering on a clear strategy for defence”.

“And I encourage everyone, including the former president of the National RSL, to make sure that they’re across all of those documents and what the Government is actually doing.”

The High Court has ruled that the Australian Government did legally take back an embassy site in Canberra from the Russians, but that the Commonwealth must pay compensation for the land.

A special law was rushed through in 2023 to cancel the lease on the block of land a stone’s throw from Parliament House, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arguing it was necessary on national security grounds.

Russia had already had almost 15 years to build a new embassy on the land.

However, little more existed than a fence and a shed, in which a diplomat camped out in a stand-off that lasted several days after the lease was cancelled.

The High Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that the law allowing for the land to be taken back into Australian control was valid and allowed for the property to be compulsorily acquired.

It also ruled that the Commonwealth was liable to pay a “reasonable amount of compensation” to Russia for the land.

Australia’s domestic spy boss has delivered a fresh warning about “Chinese hackers” seeking to gain access to critical infrastructure assets, including telecommunications networks.

In a speech to an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) forum, ASIO Director General Mike Burgess said the country now faces a threat of “high impact sabotage”.

“I have previously said we’re getting closer to the threshold for high-impact sabotage,” Mr Burgess told the ASIC conference in Melbourne on Wednesday.

“Well, I regret to inform you – we’re there now.”

“ASIO is aware of one nation state – no prizes for guessing which one – conducting multiple attempts to scan and penetrate critical infrastructure in Australia and other Five Eyes countries, targeting water, transport, telecommunications, and energy networks”.

The ASIO boss referenced the activities of two Beijing-controlled hacking units known as Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon, which he said were “working for the Chinese government and their military”.

Liberal MP Tim Wilson, shadow minister for small business, says net zero discussions in the party room will be a “great day”, saying the Party has a choice to choose hope or be “Nationals-lite”.

“Today is going to be a great day,” he wrote on X.

“Liberals face a choice: We can be Nationals-lite & outsource our emissions policy to globalists. Or we can lead, choose hope, a sovereign target, build energy, reindustrialise Australia & back small business!

“Welcome to Liberal country.”