Inside the brutal fallout of Sussan Ley dumping FOUR women from her cabinet - and fresh humiliation for the Greens after election disaster: PETER VAN ONSELEN

Ley sharpens her knife in shadow cabinet reshuffle
So far as frontbench reshuffles go, Sussan Ley's decision - as the first female leader of the federal Liberal Party - to dump four women from the shadow cabinet was an interesting one.

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BBC News

3 hours ago

• BBC News

British couple win visa battle after MS deportation fear

A British couple who feared being deported from Australia after one of them was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) say they are "proud" to have been granted permanent Mathers, originally from Cheshire, had previously been told the potential cost of treating her condition for the health services meant a previous application alongside her boyfriend Rob O'Leary had been couple appealed against the decision in 2023 and launched an online petition earlier this year calling for Australia's minister for home affairs to review their recently shared they had been granted a visa after "a nearly four-year-long, emotional road". In their latest post, they said: "We are proud to announce we are Australia's newest Permanent Residents!"They added they were "over the moon" when their MP Allegra Spender told them that Tony Burke, minister for immigration, "personally contacted her to confirm the decision". Ms Mathers and Mr O'Leary, from London, met while backpacking in the country in 2017 and have lived there ever 2020, she was diagnosed with the relapsing-remitting variant of MS, which is a neurological condition with symptoms including muscle stiffness and difficulties in walking and Mathers received treatment in Australia under a reciprocal health agreement with the UK and said her condition had been "well managed" so the couple's requests for permanent residency were rejected in 2023 due to the costs linked to her medical entering Australia must meet certain health requirements, including not having "unduly increasing costs" for the country's publicly-funded healthcare service Medicare. Mr O'Leary said they had offered to pay the medical costs themselves or take out private insurance, adding that "the law is black and white, and the refusal is based on that, it's really hard for us".Their petition, which drew more than 25,000 signatures, called on Australia's minister for home affairs to review their case and look into immigration policies that "unfairly target individuals with well-managed health conditions". Mr O'Leary, who works in the construction trade, and his partner, who is a project manager and DJ, were "not asking for special treatment" but a chance to continue "working hard to contribute to this country in meaningful ways".In their latest post, they thanked supporters and said "there are so many things we've put on hold - just in case we had to leave"."But now, with this door wide open, we feel more focused and excited than ever to build our future in the country we love."Our families are overjoyed and already thinking of planning a trip to celebrate with us." See more Cheshire stories from the BBC and follow BBC North West on X.

Daily Mail​

7 hours ago

• Daily Mail​

Cringeworthy moment Labor brags about building 17 new homes in seven months in a far cry from 1.2million goal

Labor has been slammed for bragging about building 17 new homes in Canberra in seven months - a far cry from its target of 1.2million homes in five years. 'We're here in Canberra visiting some brand spanking new homes, what do you reckon Chris?' Minister for Housing Clare O'Neil said in a TikTok on Friday. In an awkward game of catch, she tossed the phone to Chris Steel, ACT Minister for Planning and Sustainable Development, who then turned the camera on himself. 'Pretty good, 17 class C adaptable homes for new residents,' said a grinning Steel. He then threw the phone to Labor MP David Smith, who added: 'A great example of two Labor governments working together and taking pressure off housing right here in Bean'. 'And the good news is we're just getting started,' O'Neil said after Smith had tossed the phone back to her. 'This is 17 out of 55,000 social and affordable homes that our government is going to deliver to Australians over the coming few years.' The 55,000 social and affordable homes O'Neil mentioned fall under Labor's broader target of building 1.2million homes over five years from mid-2024. The policy known as the National Housing Accord includes $3.5billion in payments to state, territory and local governments to support the delivery of new homes towards the target, and a one-off $2billion payment to help states and territories to increase social housing stock. Aussies were quick to criticise the video, slamming the lacklustre seven-month timeframe for building just 17 houses. '17 homes in seven months... At that rate it will take you 1,886 years to complete the remaining 55,000 homes,' one said. 'You should reach your target by 2080 - what a joke,' said another. 'Do you realise another major building company has just declared bankruptcy?' a third asked. Critics have labelled Labor's housing target unrealistic, if not impossible, amid soaring construction costs and unfettered immigration. Australia had a record level of construction company insolvencies in 2025, a 24 per cent increase over last year's rate. Labor's policy requires 240,000 homes to be delivered every single year for five years - a significant improvement on Australia's record year of construction in 2017, when about 223,000 homes were built. Leith van Onselen, who formerly worked at the Australian Treasury and is the chief economist at MacroBusiness, said the construction sector was struggling. 'As a result, builders are caught between a rock and a hard place whereby they can't deliver stock at a profitable level, and that has created a major handbrake on housing construction,' Mr van Onselen said. 'We're still seeing lots of builders going under, and they're struggling to make a profit at the moment, which just means this housing construction target from the federal government is completely unrealistic. 'It's just too expensive to build housing in Australia at the moment, for a variety of reasons, and that just means that less housing is going to be built at the same time the government has the throttle on immigration.'

The Guardian

8 hours ago

• The Guardian

Australia urged to press US to ‘act responsibly' as threat of nuclear disaster rises amid Israel-Iran conflict

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican) has described the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran as a 'terrifying reminder of how close the world remains to nuclear disaster', arguing Australia should condemn illegal military attacks and ratify the global treaty banning nuclear weapons. Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities violate international law, Ican has alleged, and could cause radioactive contamination with long-term consequences for human health and the environment. 'The prospect of radiation release, the erosion of non-proliferation norms, and the emboldening of nuclear-armed states to act without accountability – this is the deadly logic of nuclear deterrence playing out in real time,' said Gem Romuld, the Australian director of Ican, a Nobel prize-winning anti-nuclear group. 'We need urgent de-escalation and a return to diplomacy. Australia should press its allies, particularly the United States, to act responsibly and stop enabling this cycle of violence.' Israel, the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, is widely believed to be modernising its arsenal. It remains outside the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), but is estimated to have 90 nuclear warheads. Israel has never officially acknowledged that it possesses nuclear weapons. Israel has maintained its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities are lawful and necessary to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and using them in the future. The attacks were 'pre-emptive and precise strikes' against military targets, the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Brig Effie Defrin said. Iran, which had previously proposed a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, is a state party to the NPT but has now threatened to withdraw. The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, insisted Iran's nuclear programme was peaceful and that it sought an end to hostilities: 'Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again – once the aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed.' Globally, the nuclear threat is growing. The decades-long trend of the number of dismantled warheads outstripping the deployment of new warheads – resulting in an overall year-on-year decrease in the global inventory of nuclear weapons – appears set to end: the pace of dismantlement is slowing, while the deployment of new nuclear weapons is accelerating. Figures released this week by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) show that of the 12,241 nuclear warheads globally, 9,614 remain in military stockpiles, and 3,912 are deployed on missiles and aircraft, with 2,100 kept on high operational alert. 'The era of reductions in the number of nuclear weapons in the world, which had lasted since the end of the cold war, is coming to an end,' said Hans M Kristensen, an associate senior fellow with SIPRI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme. 'Instead, we see a clear trend of growing nuclear arsenals, sharpened nuclear rhetoric and the abandonment of arms control agreements.' Since before winning office in 2022, Labor has committed to ratifying the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in government, but it has not yet done so. The government has argued it is 'considering the TPNW systematically and methodically as part of our ambitious agenda to advance nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament'. Globally, 94 countries have signed the ban treaty, and 73 have ratified it. No nuclear weapons states are party to the treaty.