Coalition still pondering legal challenge over Bradfield defeat
With the count in the seat of Bradfield finalised, where the difference in the result came down to 26 votes, Paterson says he can’t confirm whether the Coalition will seek to challenge the result.
I understand that the New South Wales Liberal party is reviewing our legal options, and I really hope that we can find a way to have Gisele Kapterian in the parliament, because she’s exactly the type of person to make the Liberal party better and the parliament better. She has great insights and professional experience. She’s a person that I hope to be playing a big role in the future of the party. But it is up to the New South Wales division and ultimately, if we decide to make any application in the court of disputed returns to that.
Asked about comments from Kapterian that the 2025 election result showed that “the position on net zero has been put to bed”, Paterson says the party’s position on the issue will be considered as part of the ongoing review.
He also demurred on whether the party could find a byelection in the seat without a stated position on the future of climate change and net zero.
I’m not going to publicly engage on debate about internal policy about that. I have the opportunity to do so through the shadow cabinet process. But if there is a byelection, I would back Gisele because she’s an outstanding candidate and outstanding Liberal and someone who is placed to make a big contribution to the future of our country inside one of the major parties that will ultimately form government in this country.
That’s not something that an independent can do. And if the independents were relatively inconsequential in the last parliament, they’ll be even less relevant in this one.
Key events
Cold front brings rain, chilly conditions to nation’s south-east
Petra Stock
Temperatures may not break out of single figures in some parts of south-east Australia on Sunday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Canberra can expect a top of 9C on Sunday, with maximums of 12C in Melbourne and 13C in Adelaide and Hobart.
The chilly conditions were due to a cold front, dragging air from south of Australia, which was expected to pass through Melbourne on Saturday night before moving into eastern Victoria and New South Wales early on Sunday.
BoM senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said:
Melbourne could see quite a lot of rainfall on Sunday. We could see 20 to 40 millimeters through the metropolitan area with heavy rainfall and also cold and showery conditions extending all the way up into the New South Wales ranges.
Then, a slow moving low developing off NSW would spread showers, gusty winds – and in some places, snow – through southeastern Australia into Monday and Tuesday.
Drought-affected South Australia and south-west Victoria could see rainfall totals of 25 to 50mm, from Saturday into Tuesday, he said.
Sunday temperatures would be warmer in the other capitals, with a maximum of 22C for Perth, 16C in Sydney, 23C in Brisbane and 31C in Darwin.
Scott Morrison sought advice to obstruct Nauru asylum seekers from accessing abortions, documents reveal
Scott Morrison overrode medical advice in the case of an asylum seeker in offshore detention trying to access an abortion, and had previously sought advice that would effectively prevent access to terminations entirely, ministerial advice reveals.
Documents released under freedom of information laws show Morrison, in 2014 as immigration minister, had sought advice to deny the transfer of women to a hospital on the Australian mainland to access termination services before 20 weeks’ gestation.
Abortion is illegal on Nauru, except to save the mother’s life, and carries a prison term of up to 14 years. Termination laws differ across Australian states, but if pregnant women in offshore detention were prohibited from accessing abortion services in Australia until after 20 weeks, it would be far more difficult to access those services at all.
A handwritten note by Morrison, on a document dated June 2014, stated: “I would also like advice on denying transfer pre 20 weeks for pregnant women.” In the same document, Morrison specified that women should only be transferred to Brisbane, not South Australia, the Northern Territory or Victoria for abortion services.
For more, read the full report:
NT police confirm death in custody on day of protest against death of Kumanjayi White
Northern Territory police have confirmed a man has died in custody the same day rallies have been planned in protest over the death of Kumanjayi White in Alice Springs.
Police confirmed they were investigating the death of a man at Royal Darwin hospital in a statement on Saturday night.
The 68-year-old man was arrested by Australia federal police at 1pm on 30 May 2025 when he tried to board a plan out of Darwin. Police allege the man was heavily intoxicated.
He was initially held at Palmerston Watchhouse where a medical assessment concluded he should be moved to Royal Darwin hospital.
Upon arrival, AFP officers noticed the man had lost consciousness. Medical staff were alerted and resuscitation efforts were successful. The man was then transferred to the Intensive Care Unit in a stable condition where he received ongoing treatment.
The man died on Saturday. His cause of death currently unknown with an autopsy yet to be performed.
NT police are investigating and will prepare a report for the coroner.
Josh Butler
US tariffs will ‘impact growth’, trade minister says
Trade minister Don Farrell also said Australia was hopeful of extending existing free trade deals with other countries, to help boost wider trade networks even if the United States kept up its tariff regime.
On Sky this morning, Farrell said his discussions with the US and other countries were about removing existing barriers, but also “ensuring that there is a way that countries don’t increase the amount of protectionism”. He’s recently been meeting with the World Trade Organisation and the OECD.
I took the opportunity last week to talk with my European counterparts. I met the French trade minister, the German trade minister, and of course, the most important one, and that is the European trade minister. We had good discussions.
My officials spent a couple of days after the meeting continuing those talks. And I’m hopeful that those countries around the world who do believe free and fair trade can reach agreement, to extend free trade agreements across the globe, so that irrespective of what the Americans might choose to do, we have a greater diversity of trading partners.
Farrell conceded that Donald Trump’s trade tariffs were “inevitably going to impact growth”, not just on nations subject to those barriers, but on the US itself.
So I think it’s incumbent on Australia, on the rest of the world, to say to the Americans, look, these are exactly the wrong policies to adopt. You should be adopting the opposite policies. You should be opening up, opening up your economies.
What we know is, if you’re an outward-facing trading company in Australia, your profits are going to be higher, but more importantly, the wages of your employees are going to be higher. So we say to the Americans, and we’ll continue to say to the Americans, these are the exact wrong policies to adopt.
Josh Butler
Government still pushing for tariff relief, Farrell says
Trade minister Don Farrell says the government is still pushing for the USA to remove all trade tariffs on Australian goods, but could not confirm whether Anthony Albanese will have a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump this week when the pair visit the G7 meeting in Canada.
In an interview on Sky News, Farrell said he is still telling his American trade counterparts that Australia believes the trading barriers have “no justification”. Farrell, the senator from South Australia, said he’d put that position to the US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, twice in the last week alone.
We want all of the tariffs removed, not just some of them. We want all of them removed. And I made it clear to USTR Greer that we’ll continue to press for the removal of all of those tariffs.
Farrell said it had been “friendly” discussions with Greer, but that he’d come away with the impression from the US trade reps that it would be Trump himself making the final decisions. Albanese will travel to Alberta, Canada this week for the G7 meeting, where it has been speculated that he could meet Trump – either on the sidelines of the G7 meeting, or during a potential stopover in the United States.
Farrell, asked about such a meeting, played coy and wouldn’t say whether such a conversation was locked in. But he said that while Albanese would continue to “push the Australian point of view” in whatever forum, that leader-to-leader meetings weren’t the only part of negotiations.
There’s a range of ways in which we communicate with the United States. Ambassador [Kevin] Rudd, obviously does it. All of our ministers who make contact with their equivalents in the United States make it clear what we want out of the relationship with the United States. And of course, most important, as you say, is the relationship between our prime minister and the president.
Coalition still pondering legal challenge over Bradfield defeat
With the count in the seat of Bradfield finalised, where the difference in the result came down to 26 votes, Paterson says he can’t confirm whether the Coalition will seek to challenge the result.
I understand that the New South Wales Liberal party is reviewing our legal options, and I really hope that we can find a way to have Gisele Kapterian in the parliament, because she’s exactly the type of person to make the Liberal party better and the parliament better. She has great insights and professional experience. She’s a person that I hope to be playing a big role in the future of the party. But it is up to the New South Wales division and ultimately, if we decide to make any application in the court of disputed returns to that.
Asked about comments from Kapterian that the 2025 election result showed that “the position on net zero has been put to bed”, Paterson says the party’s position on the issue will be considered as part of the ongoing review.
He also demurred on whether the party could find a byelection in the seat without a stated position on the future of climate change and net zero.
I’m not going to publicly engage on debate about internal policy about that. I have the opportunity to do so through the shadow cabinet process. But if there is a byelection, I would back Gisele because she’s an outstanding candidate and outstanding Liberal and someone who is placed to make a big contribution to the future of our country inside one of the major parties that will ultimately form government in this country.
That’s not something that an independent can do. And if the independents were relatively inconsequential in the last parliament, they’ll be even less relevant in this one.
Paterson refuses to commit to where the Coalition may land on its previous pledge to cut public service positions at the last elections, saying he won’t pre-empt a review of the party’s policies.
The shadow finance minister, however, did say he believe the Coalition “got the tone of that conversation wrong”.
We want a productive and respectful relationship with the Australian public service. I’ve seen in my previous committee roles, particularly on the intelligence committee, how professional and patriotic and dedicated the public servants are and they deserve to be respected for the role that they do. We of course expect them to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and the Liberal party will always want to spend that money as efficiently as possible but do so in a way that’s constructive.
James Paterson has acknowledged that the government could work around the Coalition on policy issues, such as the proposed changes to the way superannuation is taxed, by doing a deal with the Greens.
He was asked whether the refusal of the Coalition to negotiate with the government on the changes means the government will seek to pass the bill by looking elsewhere.
Well, the truth is, David, because of the extent of the government’s win at the election, if they don’t want to sit down and negotiate with us, they have other pathways available that they didn’t have.
Asked whether the Coalition’s position was reasonable, Paterson add:
Even if the entire crossbench and the Coalition opposes it, they can still pass things with the Greens. Now, the Greens are a more natural ally for the government on something like a tax increase because we’re never going to be party to a tax increase. We’re never going to make that easier for the government. We’re fighting this because we’re opposed to it in principle and proud to do it.
Paterson says that “it’s unusual to have a shadow minister for finance advocating for an increase in in spending in any portfolio” but that experts have been calling for Austral to up is defence spending.
I’m happy to do the hard work in the next two years to put in place good strong fiscal rules to allow us to take to the next election, a strong budget that invests in the things that Australians need, including the critical services that they rely on, but also our national security and defence.
The shadow minister for finance also says that he believes it was a strategic mistake for the Coalition to pledge to repeal a tax cut at the last election, saying it’s “in the Liberal party’s DNA to argue for, and advocate for, lower taxes wherever they can be afforded and whenever they are achievable.”
As I’ve said recently, I think that we made a strategic mistake at the last election by opposing a tax cut and taking to the election the repealing of the tax cut. And that’s not a mistake that we’ll repeat.
Paterson also attacked the government over its planned changes for the way superannuation for high income earners is taxed.
Paterson says the Coalition is unclear on government plans for a critical minerals stockpile, but supports “any sensible steps that represent an economic for Australia and an opportunity for us to demonstrate that we are a good alliance partner of the United States”.
Paterson was asked about whether the Coalition would support the government’s plan for a critical minerals stockpile, in the context of an Australia offer to leverage access to these resources in return for the US dropping tariffs against Australia.
Separately, he said the Coalition supported lifting Australian defence spending to 3% of GDP – the “exact profiling of that increase is something that we’ll determine through the policy process and closer to the next election”.
We’ve got three years to outline exactly what we could spend that money on. But there’s plenty of good advice out there in open source that suggests areas of investment.
One is spending to resolve the recruitment and retention crisis facing the ADF. Another is to make sure that we have the munitions stockpile that we would need to survive a conflict, God forbid, if that should break out.
Other things like hardening the northern bases, the air and miss aisle defence, drone defence. Purchasing our own lethal drones. There is no shortage of good thing that we could spend on that increase our ability to defend ourselves and safeguard our sovereignty.
Paterson says PM should have met Trump sooner on possible trade exemptions
Shadow finance minister, James Paterson, says the Coalition expects Anthony Albanese to follow the example of UK prime minister Keir Starmer in negotiating a partial exemption from steel and aluminium tariffs if he meets with US president Donald Trump on the sidelines of an upcoming G7 meeting.
Paterson says the Coalition, however, supports the government’s position that biosecurity standards will not be dropped to accomodate US demands, though the party is not opposed “in principle” to the importation of US beef to Australia.
Paterson added that he thought it would “have been much easier” to negotiate an exemption if the prime minister “had made the effort to go and meet the president earlier than he has now”.
It’s seven months on since the president was elected. And other world leaders like Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have made the trip to the United States and met with the president multiple times in multiple forums. The Australian prime minister has not yet done so.
Shadow finance minister James Paterson will speak to ABC Insiders host David Speers this morning.
Earlier this morning federal trade minister, Senator Don Farrell spoke to Sky News. He was followed by Coalition MP Tim Wilson.
Resources minister Madeleine King will hold a presser in Western Australia this morning.
We will bring you the latest as it develops.
Privatisation shelved as premier fights to stay afloat
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff has intervened to end his government’s push to sell off state assets after a turbulent week in which he lost a no-confidence motion in parliament.
Rockliff has stopped prominent economist Saul Eslake from preparing a report on viable opportunities to sell government-owned businesses to support Tasmania’s troubled finances.
In a post to social media, he promised legislation ensuring that any sales would require a two-thirds majority support in parliament.
Today, I can confirm that there will be no privatisation under a government I lead.
We will also be changing the law so that a government business can only be sold in future if it receives a two-thirds majority in the parliament.
An election could be called on Tuesday.
Despite feuding over the state’s finances, Tasmania’s proposed $715m stadium looms as the biggest issue.
The roofed Macquarie Point proposal is a condition of an AFL licence, with the state government responsible for delivery and cost overruns.
Labor and the Liberals support the stadium but recent polls suggest Tasmanians are not sold.
Firebrand senator Jacqui Lambie, independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie and acclaimed author Richard Flanagan are among well-known Tasmanians who oppose the project.
– AAP
Vigil for Pheobe Bishop following grim bush discovery
A vigil will be held in memory of 17-year-old Pheobe Bishop after the discovery of human remains in rugged national parkland.
The vigil follows police confirmation that they found human remains in “unforgiving” terrain in a national park southwest of Bundaberg.
Floral tributes were laid outside the share house where Bishop lived, with a candlelight vigil at Kolan Community Park between 4pm and 6pm on Sunday. Locals have been asked to wear bright colours and butterflies.
A second candlelight vigil will be held at Buss Park in nearby Bundaberg on Monday from 5pm.
Well-wishers have left tributes on social media sites advertising the events.
Bishop was last seen near Bundaberg airport about 8.30am on 15 May after booking a trip to Western Australia to see her boyfriend.
Police have charged her housemates with her murder.
– with AAP
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
A vigil will be held for a Queensland teenager Pheobe Bishop on Sunday afternoon after police confirmed they had found human remains in a national park. Bishop’s housemates have been charged with her murder after she missed a flight she was expected to board at Bundaberg Airport.
Embattled Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff has intervened to stop a privatisation to sell off state assets after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament earlier this week. The Premier is expected to call an election on Tuesday after facing pressure over his government’s management of state finances.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
