Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown predicted to retain Brisbane seat

The Greens are predicted to retain one seat in the House of Representatives, with analysts telling SBS News Elizabeth Watson-Brown will hold her seat in Ryan. The Brisbane electorate had been a battle between Watson-Brown and Liberal National Maggie Forrest, but is predicted to go to the Greens, according to polling group Redbridge. Watson-Brown was first elected to parliament in 2022. She is a long-term resident of Brisbane's inner west suburb of St Lucia and ran an architectural practice for 21 years before entering politics. This is a developing story and this article will be updated.

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SBS Australia

44 minutes ago

• SBS Australia

Midday News Bulletin 22 June 2025

Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts . TRANSCRIPT The US bombs nuclear sites in Iran 16 billion passwords exposed in a series of data breaches in the NRL, the Storm beat the Rabbitohs by one point Donald Trump says the United States has completed what he calls a "very successful attack" on nuclear sites in Iran. Earlier, US media outlets reported B-2 bomber aircraft had been moved from the US mainland to the Pacific island of Guam. In a statement on social media, Mr Trump says all US planes are safely on their way home after completing a mission to attack three nuclear sites in Iran, including a full payload of bombs at the primary site of Fordow. He ended the message, saying: "now is the time for peace". Meanwhile, Nationals Party leader David Littleproud says the US's actions show the conflict is escalating - and he urged Australians to seek safety. Speaking before the confirmation of US targeting Iran's nuclear sites, Mr Littleproud says the reports of the deployment of multiple B2 bomber aircraft shows the increasing danger. He told Channel Nine, Australians in the region should heed the warnings. "What we need to understand is that this is now a significant escalation in what's happening in the Middle East. This is a serious situation and Australians need to understand they are in harm's way and they need to cooperate with the government if they want to get out of there. And we would encourage them to get out there as quickly as they can." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being uninterested in peace and acting like the authoritarian ruler of Iran, calling him Ayatollah Putin. His comments came after Mr Putin said that in his view, the whole of Ukraine was ours - warning that advancing Russian forces could take the Ukrainian city of Sumy. Mr Zelenskyy says Ukrainian troops are holding back the Russian army in the region. And he says the comments from Mr Putin at St Petersburg Economic Forum, which ended on Friday ((local time)), make clear his intentions. "Russia wants to wage war. Even brandishing some threats. This means the pressure the world is applying isn't hurting them enough yet, or they are trying very hard to keep up appearances. Well, the Russian economy is already crumbling. We will support this process even more. Ayatollah Putin can look at his friends in Iran to see where such regimes end up, and how far into decay they drive their countries." Australian workers can look forward to more money in retirement, under an increase to the superannuation guarantee that would add tens of thousands of dollars to the average super account. From July 1, employers' minimum required contribution to employees' superannuation accounts will rise from 11.5 per cent to 12 per cent. It's the latest and last in a series of incremental increases from nine per cent over more than a decade since they were legislated by the Rudd-Gillard Labor government in 2012. The Association of Superannuation Funds Australia, says the latest increase would see a 30-year-old on an annual salary of $60,000-a-year accrue an extra $20,000 in super by retirement. It would add about $300 each year to the superannuation of a worker on a $60,000 salary, or $500 for someone on annual salary of $100,000. Researchers say that 16 billion login credentials have been exposed, giving cybercriminals unprecedented access to accounts consumers use each day. The researchers at cybersecurity outlet Cybernews have discovered 30 exposed datasets that each contain a vast amount of login records covering a range of popular platforms - including Google, Facebook and Apple. The team says the data set covers multiple data breaches and most certainly includes duplicates in the data, making it impossible to know just how many people have been exposed. Cybersecurity expert David Taxer told CBS affiliate, K-H-O-U television station in Houston, it is one of the largest data breaches ever seen. "What they're really looking for is hey, does this guy work for so and so company? Does he have access? Is this password the same? Can we get onto his PC? It is not completely verified (the size of the data set). It does look like it is a concerted effort." Experts are urging users to change passwords frequently - and to add multi-factor authentication to their accounts. In the NRL, the Rabbitohs came up one-point short against the Storm in Sydney. The Storm moved to extra time, sealing victory with a 25-24 win - moving into third spot on the ladder. Latrell Mitchell had done his utmost to help South Sydney upset their visitors, including kicking to Tyrone Munro for the try that levelled the scores with only four minutes to play. Storm coach Craig Bellamy says it was a close game. "You have got to give Souths a lot of credit for coming back. It would have been easy to say: this is going to be too hard tonight. But they just kept hanging in there. And with 10 minutes to go - it looked like they were going to win the game. So, I think we were really fortunate to get out of it at the end. Yeah, there are some things we'll need to do this week to be a bit better next week. Just in those moments when it really matters, I think that it was what we struggled with tonight."

ABC News

5 hours ago

• ABC News

Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin says party infighting is over as focus shifts to 2026 election

Victorian opposition leader Brad Battin has conceded some Liberal Party MPs have focused more on internal rivalries than voters, but has said his team will be unified heading into the election in 2026. Mr Battin described the party's decision to provide former leader John Pesutto a $1.55 million loan to avoid bankruptcy, a policy he supported, as a "line in the sand" that signalled a renewed focus on winning government. The long-running fight between Mr Pesutto and fellow Liberal MP Moira Deeming, who successfully sued her former leader for defamation, has divided the party. It became a proxy battle in a broader ideological struggle for control of the party. In an interview with the ABC, Mr Battin said he was speaking to every MP individually following the decision to provide Mr Pesutto a financial lifeline, stressing the need for unity. "You've been elected as a local member of parliament. You've got the self-discipline to get there. You just need now to put that into team unity." Asked whether MPs who failed to be team players would face consequences, Mr Battin said voters would ultimately decide. "The consequences are, you lose the election. It's a pretty simple consequence." The Coalition has not won a Victorian election since 2010 and has been crippled by infighting. A common criticism is that too many MPs are focused more on getting to parliament rather than winning government. "I think there's always an element of that, because it's been publicly perceived as that,'' Mr Battin said. The Berwick MP said it was incumbent on MPs to reflect on why they were elected. "What things did you want to see change in the state? And can you do it from opposition? If the answer is yes … then you're probably in the wrong job." Mr Battin challenged Mr Pesutto's leadership six months ago after his supporters undermined Mr Pesutto's position, but Mr Battin reiterated throughout the interview that his team was now united. He hinted that the frontbench team could change but would not say if Mr Pesutto or Ms Deeming would be included in a revamped shadow cabinet. Ms Deeming had proposed an alternative to the party loaning Mr Pesutto money, including delaying his court order debt if her preselection was guaranteed. Mr Battin declined to comment on that or complaints to the state's anti-corruption watchdog, citing legal advice not to speak publicly on the matter. While expressing confidence in the team he would take to the election, Mr Battin said some MPs would need to reflect on their future. "People have to make decisions about time served in parliament, if they want to stay or not,'' he said. The Coalition must add 16 seats at next year's November election to win office. The task is big, but after three terms of Labor, there is a genuine chance for the Liberals, Mr Battin believed. "We've got one chance coming up in about 16 months. It's our opportunity to ensure we prove to Victorians we're ready." He said the party would now focus on policy, with internal disputes hopefully behind him. Mr Battin admitted the long-running conflict between Mr Pesutto and Ms Deeming took a toll on him, including sleepless nights. "It takes a physical and mental challenge on you … but it's resolved my drive. I know what I need to do to win at the next election." He doesn't regret how he handled the matter, stressing that it was a dispute between two individuals. Some MPs criticised Mr Battin for a lack of leadership in failing to resolve the crisis sooner, while others were angered by his decision to support the loan to Mr Pesutto, highlighting the party's ongoing divisions. "I know what I need to do to win at the next election. I need to get the right policy settings, have the right processes with my team, ensure we're a united front, and send a message to Victoria that we're ready to govern."

SBS Australia

6 hours ago

• SBS Australia

'Projects are falling away': Donald Trump's $400m blow to Australia's global moves

President Donald Trump's administration made heavy cuts to the United States Agency for International Development earlier this year. Source: AAP, ABACA, Press Association / Ken Cedeno The Trump administration's cuts to foreign aid have resulted in a $400 million blow to Australian projects, according to a peak body for humanitarian agencies, forcing organisations to abandon critical work and leaving vulnerable communities without essential support. At the start of this year, the international peacebuilding group Conciliation Resources (CR) was starting a five-year project in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. However, Ciaran O'Toole, director of CR's Southeast Asia and the Pacific department, said it was halted due to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) cuts, which followed US President Donald Trump's 90-day funding pause in January . "We work primarily in communities, building or enhancing the capacities to be able to prevent violent conflict," O'Toole said. But "it was quite quickly stopped", she said, as part of USAID pulling out. The program's goal was to prevent violence in an area where conflict is increasing. Last year, 49 people were killed in the Highlands region in what was considered a major escalation in tribal fighting. "It's not just reacting to when violence occurs. It's not just crisis management. It is about trying to resolve what are the underlying causes of these conflicts," O'Toole said. "It is what not happens, right? It's the headlines that don't exist." But the plan to station mediators in PNG's Hela province to assist communities in finding non-violent ways to address grievances came to an abrupt halt due to the funding pause earlier this year. Only 14 per cent of programs have had their funding reinstated since then. CR was forced to let some staff go and reduce the hours of others. "It is the communities that are affected by violence, and in particular, the women that suffer abuse, the people that are affected directly by violence who struggle to see a light at the end of the tunnel," O'Toole said. "I would feel more for them." The program is one of more than 120 projects by Australian aid agencies impacted by the cuts, according to a report by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID). ACFID found that at least 124 programs run by Australian organisations were affected by the US funding cuts, worth at least $400 million, and 20 in-country offices for Australian-based aid organisations were closed as a result. Jessica Mackenzie, ACFID policy and advocacy chief, said: "Just one agency had to let go of 200 local staff." "They would have been single-income families, so you can imagine the flow-on effects." ACFID believes the actual impact of the cuts to be greater than indicated by a survey, where less than half of its members responded. Australian-run programs in the Indo-Pacific region were hardest hit, with $113 million worth of funding lost in the Pacific, closely followed by $111 million in Southeast Asia. But the impact for Australian agencies extends throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The report found a specific program assisting 765,000 people in Yemen was discontinued. "It was providing life-saving medicine. It was providing life-saving food, and it was providing malnutrition help for 26,000 children under the age of five," Mackenzie said. In Nepal, a program supporting over 300 girls in attending school was also axed, according to the report. "That means that they're more exposed to modern slavery, to human trafficking, to forced child marriage," Mackenzie said. "The flow-on effects of these projects and their ability to break the cycle of poverty are really quite compounding." It is still unclear whether programs co-funded by both the Australian and US governments will proceed. "When that US funding was stripped back, that whole project now comes into question," Mackenzie said. "What I'm hearing, it's very hard to say at this early stage, but a lot of these projects are falling away now." The council found child-related programs, including those covering education, health, nutrition, and anti-child trafficking, were also significantly affected. The US government undertook a review during the initial 90-day pause to ensure only programs fully aligning with the president's foreign policy were funded by USAID. While aid organisations say they have been given little clarity by the administration as to why programs were cut, there is a belief that those focused on climate change and gender did not meet the administration's expectations. "I don't think there was much thinking gone into it, to be quite honest," O'Toole said. "Anything that had the word gender in it. Anything, possibly, even with the words peace building, was eliminated, we believe, pretty quickly. "There's a lot of talk around peace from the administration. A desire to sign peace agreements to Nobel Prizes, but at the end of the day, peace starts in communities. It starts with people. It starts on the ground." Labor reallocated $119 million of foreign aid from global health and education programs to the Indo-Pacific region in its pre-election budget in response to the USAID pause, but did not announce any additional spending. After the election, Labor committed $10 million of additional aid to Gaza. ACFID is calling for aid spending to be increased from 0.65 per cent to 1 per cent of the federal budget to help fill the gap left by the US cuts. "Between 2005 and 2015, it was at 1 per cent," Mackenzie said. "This isn't a really big change." Since coming into power, Labor has increased its diplomatic and humanitarian efforts in the Pacific, with concerns about China's influence in the region driving increased investment and aid programs. Mackenzie said the government should prioritise funding health, education, and nutrition programs over initiatives with "geostrategic imperatives". World Donald Trump US Government Share this with family and friends