News and politics live updates: Anika Wells says Telstra must ‘face the music’ after nationwide outage

Angus Taylor has accused the Albanese Government of leaving Australians in the dark during the nationwide Telstra outage, claiming ministers failed to communicate in the crucial early hours.

The Opposition Leader said he would have immediately sought answers from Telstra and updated the public, accusing the government of focusing on “political spin” instead of managing the crisis.

While stopping short of backing penalties or compensation before investigations conclude, the Opposition Leader said Telstra needed to explain what went wrong and how it would prevent a repeat.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has ruled out any alliance with One Nation, despite Pauline Hanson’s latest public plea for the Coalition to work together.

Speaking on ABC News Breakfast, Mr Taylor said defeating Labor remained his sole focus but insisted One Nation was “not the solution”.

“This is not our plan,” he said.

“Our plan is to get rid of a rotten Labor government... I want us to be in government in our own right.”

Mr Taylor argued the party’s policies would leave Australia worse off despite Pauline Hanson’s calls for unity.

He continued by saying One Nation would deliver “an extra trillion dollars of spending over 10 years” and described the party as “a one person show”, insisting it could not provide the change Australians were looking for.

Suspected Australian ISIS fighters detained in Iraq will face the “full force of the law” if they return home, Health Minister Mark Butler says, insisting the government will not assist them to come back but warning constitutional limits mean Australian citizens cannot be permanently barred from re-entering the country.

The comments come after reports 13 Australian men suspected of fighting for ISIS could be released from Iraqi prisons.

Speaking on Sunrise on Friday, Mr Butler said Australia’s intelligence and security agencies had been managing the issue of returning foreign fighters for more than a decade and would enforce the country’s toughest national security laws if the men returned.

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SBS has defended its decision not to adopt a controversial but widely used definition of anti-Semitism while revealing it poured more resources into its Hebrew language service after terror attacks in 2023.

The broadcaster’s role was to shine a light on racism, discrimination and prejudice in all its forms, SBS director of news and current affairs Amanda Wicks said, defining anti-Semitism as prejudice or discrimination against Jewish people.

Ms Wicks’ comments were made at the royal commission into anti-Semitism, which is investigating the role of public broadcasters including SBS and the ABC in promoting social cohesion.

Under repeated questioning, Ms Wicks said the broadcaster did not need a concrete definition as it relied on the police, Australia’s legal system and the broader community to determine when an incident was anti-Semitic.

“We are attributing that to someone else. We’re never in a position where something happens and we will need a definition,” she said.

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Penny Wong says China’s recent missile test was “destabilising”, arguing it reinforced the need for Australia to strengthen partnerships across the Indo-Pacific.

The Foreign Minister said Australia wanted the Pacific to remain “an ocean of peace” and described China’s military build-up as the largest seen since World War II. She said closer ties with countries including India, Papua New Guinea and Fiji were aimed at preserving regional peace and stability.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Telstra has “let the Australian community down” following the nationwide outage and must be held accountable as investigations begin.

Speaking on ABC News Breakfast, Senator Wong welcomed news services had been restored but said Australians expected critical infrastructure, particularly triple-0, to remain operational.

She said the government would ensure a full investigation was conducted by the communications regulator, adding the outage was of “deep concern” to both the public and the government.

Senator Wong has declined to comment on a South Australian police investigation examining whether a regional hospital death may have been linked to the Telstra outage.

The Foreign Minister said the investigation should be allowed to run its course before conclusions were drawn, but offered her sympathies to the person’s family and friends.

Pauline Hanson has urged Opposition Leader Angus Taylor to stop attacking One Nation, saying the Coalition should work with her party instead of “denigrating” it.

The response comes after Mr Taylor used a speech in Sydney to accuse One Nation of offering policies that would “send us broke” and deliver an “eternity of pain” if the party ever gained power.

In a video posted from London, Senator Hanson hit back, saying: “I’m very disappointed with this. Angus, I’m not your enemy. We both need to get rid of the Labor, the Greens government, that toxic government that’s done so much damage this country.” She added: “The people of Australia are crying out for change. Listen to the people Angus and work with me. Stop denigrating One Nation and work together.”

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