News and politics recap: Pauline Hanson bans ABC, The Guardian as Victorian candidates revealed

Joe Hockey is on board with secret plans to create a Pilbara iron ore cartel to combat China’s intensifying market squeeze and believes Jim Chalmers should have more veto powers over critical minerals deals.

Mr Hockey, a former Federal treasurer and current whisperer to Donald Trump, also warned that the Iran War has “a long way to go” given the US President “doesn’t mind” Strait of Hormuz chaos.

After opening the 2026 Diggers & Dealers conference, Mr Hockey weighed in on closed-door plans being concocted in Canberra, revealed by The West Australian last week, to give WA’s iron ore giants special dispensation from antitrust laws so they can negotiate prices as a bloc.

The Albanese Government’s covert move is in response to the formation of the China Minerals Resources Group — a Beijing-owned centralised buying agent acting for many of the country’s steel mills — which is increasingly putting pressure on WA’s iron ore miners to lower their prices, jeopardising Australia’s most lucrative export income stream.

Fortescue last week said CRMG was acting against fair market practice.

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers is vowing that Australian house prices will continue to grow but at a slower pace despite home values plunging at the steepest pace in almost four years, sparking negative equity concerns.

Across Australia, house and unit values in July dived by 0.7 per cent, marking the biggest monthly drop since December 2022 during the Reserve Bank’s last aggressive rate rise cycle, new Cotality data showed.

National dwelling values have been falling for four straight months, and a sustained downturn could see the steepest fall since 2019, when the banking regulator cracked down on interest-only loans.

“Well, the Budget assumptions were that over the course of the next couple of years we will see prices continue to grow, but a bit more modestly than they have been,” Dr Chalmers told ABC Radio National on Monday.

“And obviously this is only the first couple of months of that two-year period. But we also need to maintain a sense of perspective in other ways as well.

“Housing is a long-term investment, and we continue to expect over the course of the coming years that prices will continue to rise, but more modestly than before.”

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Pauline Hanson has barred reporters at some media outlets from attending the announcement of One Nation’s Victorian election candidates.

Speaking in Melbourne on Monday, the One Nation leader unveiled seven candidates and one incumbent set to contest November’s Victorian election.

However, journalists from the ABC and The Guardian were refused entry to the event.

Reporters who were allowed inside questioned Senator Hanson over the decision to exclude other outlets.

“I’m sorry that democracy doesn’t happen on the ABC at all. And I’m sick of it, it’s not fair and just in their reporting,” she said.

“So if you want to criticise and have a go at me not putting the truth across, you’re not giving me the truth of democracy either.

“And so therefore, no, I’m not going to have them.”

Environment Minister Murray Wattsaid the mass mortality event recorded in South Australia was “very sad news”.

“This is the beginning of what is likely to be a long, difficult journey, in terms of the impacts on wildlife,” he said.

“The overseas experience has shown that we can’t stop the spread of H5 bird flu among birds or among mammals... and that will mean more mass mortality events.”

He said an additional $24 million had been released across the states, territories, and Commonwealth, in addition to the $113 million already invested from the Albanese government.

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins has confirmed Australia’s first “mass mortality” of birds as the deadly H5 virus spreads around the country.

“I can now confirm we have 74 confirmed cases of the H5 bird flu in Australia, 10 in Western Australia, 54 in South Australia, two in New South Wales, seven in Victoria, and one in Queensland,” she told reporters in Canberra.

“I can also say that CSIRO laboratory testing has now confirmed that the H5 bird flu samples that were taken from a larger group of sick and dead birds at Borden Rocks off Cape Jaffa in South Australia have come back positive.

“Whilst this is the first confirmed case of a mass mortality, and obviously a very concerning development, it is not unexpected, and is certainly what we have seen overseas with this type of incursion of the H5.”

The Defence department is being accused of being trying to shift blame to “human error” from an Army pilot for the deaths of four soldiers in a Taipan helicopter crash off Queensland three years ago.

A senate inquiry will on Monday again examine the handling of the fatal accident involving an MRH-90 helicopter which came down in poor weather over water during a 2023 military exercise in the Whitsundays.

Captain Danniel Lyon and co-pilot Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent were killed along with Warrant Officer Class Two Joseph Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs in an incident which prompted the Army to retire its Taipan helicopter fleet early.

In a written submission to the inquiry Sue Lyon, the stepmother of Danniel Lyon, claims: “there appears to have been a determination from the outset to attribute responsibility for this accident to Danniel through a finding of human error”.

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The Coalition has left the door open to another preference deal with One Nation after the minor party topped the latest RedBridge poll on primary vote.

The survey put One Nation on 31 per cent, ahead of Labor on 29 per cent, while the Coalition rose four points to 22 per cent. One a two-party-preferred basis, the Coalition led Labor 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

Tanya Plibersek defended the government’s record, saying Labor remained focused on delivering cost-of-living relief.

“We’ve got one tax cut this year, there’s another one coming next year,” Ms Plibersek said.

“We back higher wages, we’re investing in our health system, in hospitals, making it easier to see a GP bulk-bill cheaper medicines.

“We’re making sure that people can afford a home of their own, helping first home buyers into the housing market. We’re 100 per cent focused on what makes a difference to people’s lives.”

Nationals leader Matt Canavan said the poll results reflected growing dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the economy, as voters reassesed their support across the political spectrum.

“Out of this government, we’ve had the biggest reduction in living standards in the developed world since COVID. So people are very frustrated and they’re looking again at all political parties, including ourselves,” he said.

Asked whether the Coalition would strike a preference deal with One Nation, Mr Canavan ruled out the prospect of a formal coalition arrangementt, saying the parties would be competing against each other in key seats.

But he did say the Coalition had exchanged preferences with One Nation at the past four elections and did not rule out a similar arrangement in the future.

Fugitive developer Jean Nassif was rumoured to be donating money to the Liberal Party in contravention of NSW electoral laws, an anti-corruption hearing has been told.

Robert Assaf, who was part of lobbying group Beckington, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s Operation Rosny hearing on Monday his Right faction of the Liberal Party was aware of Mr Nassif making illicit political donations.

“Some people in the Right, not necessarily in our little group, were expressing concerns, making jokes and insinuations around Toplace and those sorts of things,” he said.

Mr Assaf told the inquiry, on his third day of evidence, that Christian Ellis, who ran Beckington, had told him he was sorting out a water issue for Mr Nassif’s firm Toplace and not soliciting Liberal Party donations.

“To be precise, he was lobbying on behalf of him for some sort of water issue for a development of his,” he said.

“He was reassuring me that it was not dodgy development money.”

Mr Assaf has fallen out with Mr Ellis, who the inquiry heard had used funds from Beckington’s client Catholic Schools NSW to finance the Reformers, a right-wing group within the Liberal Party that organised conservative stacks to Liberal Party branches.

“My concerns that I had around Mr Ellis, I found that I couldn’t get a straight answer out of him many times about certain things,” Mr Assaf said.

“He would say one thing to me and then I would just find out it might not have been fully true.”

National house prices have fallen for a fourth consecutive month, with Darwin being the only capital to rise in the median cost.

The national median dwelling price fell 0.3 per cent in July, the latest PropTrack Home Price Index shows, while annual price growth still runs at 3.9 per cent.

In Sydney, the median price fell 0.6 per cent for the month to $1.563m.

Adelaide and Hobart fell 0.5 per cent, Melbourne dipped 0.4 per cent, Brisbane fell 0.3 per cent, while Perth lost 0.2 per cent.

Doing the breakfast TV rounds Monday, federal frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said the falling prices meant it was the best time in her lifetime to be a first-home buyer.

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Victorian Premier Ben Carroll says his decision to shrink the state ministry to 20 ministers, including the Premier, is designed to save taxpayers’ money ahead of the November election.

The move has reportedly angered members of Labor’s Left fraction after Mr Carroll promoted MP Tim Richardson to cabinet, blocking the elevation of two additional MPs.

“I said last week that I would treat every single dollar with respect,” Mr Carroll said on Monday.

“It doesn’t pass the pub test to be getting multiple ministers signed in 12 weeks before a campaign begins.

“So we’re reducing the size of the ministry as a simple measure, but a demonstration of my commitment to taxpayers’ dollars. Every dollar should be spent wisely, considerately and where it delivers the best value for money.”

Mr Carroll is expected to announce ministerial portfolios on Tuesday, before the new cabinet is sworn in and holds its first meeting.