Pro-Palestine group offers to delay Harbour Bridge rally by a week after premier says it’s too soon for government to support
Jordyn Beazley
The NSW premier has responded to plans for the weekly pro-Palestine protest to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, saying the government can’t support a protest of this scale with one week’s notice.
Chris Minns said in a statement:
The bridge is one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure in our city –used every day by thousands of people. Unplanned disruption risks not only significant inconvenience but real public safety concerns.
We cannot allow Sydney to descend into chaos.
NSW police are in discussions with organisers about other routes they can take and are working to ensure community safety is upheld.
Josh Lees, a spokesperson for the Palestine Action Group which is organising the rally, said if the government needs more notice in order to support the rally, then the group could organise the march a week later. Lees said:
The horrific suffering in Gaza is urgent and unprecedented, demanding an unprecedented response from the international community. That is why we have called for an urgent March for Humanity, to save Gaza, across the Sydney Harbour Bridge this Sunday.
In 2023, the Harbour Bridge was closed for several hours to shoot a scene for a Ryan Gosling film. It is regularly closed at short notice for maintenance or emergencies. It was closed for the historic 2000 march for reconciliation and the 2023 World Pride march. It can be temporarily closed to help stop a genocide.
If the premier says we need more time to plan such an event, then would he agree to support the March for Humanity a week later?
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Updated at 03.49 BST
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Barnaby Joyce introduces net zero repeal bill
As we brought you earlier, Barnaby Joyce introduced legislation into the House this morning to repeal net zero.
It’s a private member’s bill and there’s no chance it would ever get up (given there isn’t consensus within the Coalition party room to abandon the policy) but it’s certainly stirring up a bit of controversy.
Here’s a video of Joyce introducing that bill:
Barnaby Joyce introduces net zero repeal bill – videoShare
Updated at 04.03 BST
Nicolette Boele on government obstacles to climate action
Returning to Nicolette Boele’s maiden speech, the new Bradfield MP says she will work to get the parliament to act on climate change.
After years working in the private sector to grow and increase investment in renewable energy, Boele says she was met with barriers from the government, which is why she decided to enter parliament:
I came to understand the potential for business to do good, but my efforts to shift the dial to speed up the progress of climate action through business met obstacle after obstacle. But not from business, not from customers and not from NGOs, from government.
Government protecting special interest from a grand ideological war that has set Australia behind decade after long infuriating decade.
At the end of her speech she receives a big applause and cheers from the House, from the other teal independents, but also from Labor’s ranks. She’s congratulated by several frontbenchers including Tony Burke and Catherine King.
Independent member for Bradfield Nicolette Boele is applauded after making her first speech in the House of Representatives at Parliament House. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 03.54 BST
Pro-Palestine group offers to delay Harbour Bridge rally by a week after premier says it’s too soon for government to support
Jordyn Beazley
The NSW premier has responded to plans for the weekly pro-Palestine protest to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, saying the government can’t support a protest of this scale with one week’s notice.
Chris Minns said in a statement:
The bridge is one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure in our city –used every day by thousands of people. Unplanned disruption risks not only significant inconvenience but real public safety concerns.
We cannot allow Sydney to descend into chaos.
NSW police are in discussions with organisers about other routes they can take and are working to ensure community safety is upheld.
Josh Lees, a spokesperson for the Palestine Action Group which is organising the rally, said if the government needs more notice in order to support the rally, then the group could organise the march a week later. Lees said:
The horrific suffering in Gaza is urgent and unprecedented, demanding an unprecedented response from the international community. That is why we have called for an urgent March for Humanity, to save Gaza, across the Sydney Harbour Bridge this Sunday.
In 2023, the Harbour Bridge was closed for several hours to shoot a scene for a Ryan Gosling film. It is regularly closed at short notice for maintenance or emergencies. It was closed for the historic 2000 march for reconciliation and the 2023 World Pride march. It can be temporarily closed to help stop a genocide.
If the premier says we need more time to plan such an event, then would he agree to support the March for Humanity a week later?
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Updated at 03.49 BST
Sarah Basford Canales
Greens leader says Australia is ‘behind the pack’ on Palestinian recognition
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, has criticised the Albanese government for being “behind the pack” on recognising Palestinian statehood after the prime minister poured cold water on the idea following France’s announcement last week.
At a press conference this morning, Waters was asked to respond to Anthony Albanese’s comments yesterday, which raised fears premature recognition of Palestine could entrench Hamas in Gaza.
Waters responded:
I think that’s nonsense, and what is clear is that 2 million people are starving, and that the Australian government needs to do everything it can to put the pressure on the Netanyahu government, including sanction that government, to ensure that the borders can be opened and aid [can] flow. Now, it’s in the Labor party platform to recognise the state of Palestine. So whether the prime minister wants to do that or not, well, clearly that’s something that they’ve said they want to do and should do …
Australia is not leading the way here and in fact we are behind the pack. And I think Australians want to know that our government is doing everything it can to help in this situation.
The Greens senator David Shoebridge said self determination for Palestinian and Israeli people should be the Australian government’s “absolute focus” to end the violence.
“This is not the moment to have an abstract discussion about statehood. This is a moment to say, practically, what is everything Australia can do now to end the genocide, and that’s where we’d like the prime minister’s attention.”
Greens senators Mehreen Faruqi, Larissa Waters and David Shoebridge at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, 28 July, 2025. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 03.39 BST
Ed Husic says Australia has ‘strong opportunity’ to recognise Palestinian state
Ed Husic, a Labor backbencher and Muslim MP, says there’s a “strong opportunity” for Australia to recognise a Palestinian state.
Husic tells Sky News that “things have changed” over the last 20 months, since the 7 October attacks, and that “what we’ve seen every month seems to be more horrific than the last.”
The French have been able to make that decision [to recognise a Palestinian state] without necessarily saying these conditions need to be met before we do this. They’re saying recognise and do these things, which include the demilitarisation of the Hamas.
I believe this is a strong opportunity for us … we should be making that case and saying we are prepared to recognise [Palestine] now.
One of the conditions French president Emmanuel Macron has placed, says Husic, is that all hostages held by Hamas must be released immediately.
Asked about the criticism from the opposition that the government hasn’t placed enough responsibility of the conflict on Hamas, Husic calls it “tosh”.
The prime minister, the foreign minister, members across government have repeatedly said what [happened] on 7 October was completely horrendous, brutal. They should be held to account for that. The hostages should be released.
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Updated at 03.36 BST
Bradfield independent Nicolette Boele makes first speech in parliament
Nicolette Boele, who sensationally beat Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian by just 26 votes in the seat of Bradfield, is giving her maiden speech to parliament, and says Australia is moving towards a decentralised and more people-centred rather than party-centred democracy.
She says there’s “widespread conviction” that politicians are “incapable of dealing with systemic long-standing issues” such as regulating online media platforms, climate change, gambling and housing affordability.
Boele says that unlike previous reform to gun laws, or the introduction of medicare, the parliament isn’t ambitious enough.
Today the parliament does not make these courageous decisions, instead difficult decisions are delayed until the failure to act ushers in disastrous consequences, at which point a royal commission is called for, a referendum sought or a plebiscite scheduled. Or important decisions are made in the dark, strategically so as to achieve little media attention, or sneakily where action on one thing is mischaracterised as action on another.
Having been led by five male Liberal MPs for more than 70 years, Boele says her electorate, like the broader Australian community, is evolving and “so must our parliament evolve”.
Kapterian has lodged a petition with the high court to overturn the result, raising doubts about more than 150 ballots.
Independent member for Bradfield Nicolette Boele makes her first speech in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, 28 July, 2025. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 03.23 BST
Josh Nicholas
Young Australians have much higher student debt than generations before them, data shows
The government is about to cut student debt by 20% across the board – so how much debt do young Australians have, and how much has it changed?
Labor’s student debt relief bill is likely to pass with bipartisan support and will slash the Hecs/Help debt for about 3 million graduates by an average of $5,500, according to the government.
Data from the tax office shows that the average Hecs/Help debt held by younger Australians increased by a third between 2009 and 2024, even with inflation taken into account. This coincides with a consistent increase in the time it will take to pay off the debt – now almost a decade.
Read more:
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Penny Wong shares photos aboard the UK’s largest naval vessel
Foreign minister Penny Wong just shared photos aboard the HMS Prince of Wales, the UK’s largest naval vessel, which has been in Australian waters as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre, the largest exercise conducted in the Australia. Wong wrote on X:
Australia and the UK are working together to ensure a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific …
Talisman Sabre 2025 is Australia’s largest and most sophisticated bilateral military exercise, bringing together over 40,000 personnel from 19 nations. Our capability and coordination highlights the strength of our defence partnerships and our work to keep Australians safe.
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Updated at 02.13 BST
Jordyn Beazley
Weekly Sydney pro-Palestine protest to march across the Harbour Bridge
The weekly pro-Palestine rally is planning to march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge this Sunday and to the US consulate, veering from its usual course through the CBD.
In a post to social media, the rally’s organisers, the Palestine Action Group, said:
At least 127 people, including 85 children, have so far died from starvation in Gaza, along with over a thousand who have been shot and killed while queueing for aid in recent weeks.
This is a genocide. Even if, under global pressure, Israel temporarily allows some food into Gaza, it will not mean the end of Israel’s goal of ethnically cleansing the strip, called by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu “the Trump Plan”.
This extraordinary situation has led the Palestine Action Group to call for a March for Humanity over the Sydney Harbour Bridge next Sunday, 3 August, to save Gaza.
The group has submitted what is known as a “form one” to police but it is yet to be accepted.
The form is a notification to hold a public assembly that, if accepted by police, would protect attendees from being potentially charged under anti-protest laws.
The group called on the police and the government to facilitate the march. They wrote:
In 2023 the Harbour Bridge was closed for a special march to mark World Pride, which PM Anthony Albanese participated in. That same year saw the Bridge closed for several hours to shoot a scene for a Ryan Gosling film. It can certainly be closed to stop a genocide.
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Private members’ bills to tackle AI deepfakes and child abuse content to be put forward today
There are a few private members’ bills being introduced into the house this morning.
Following Joyce’s repeal net zero bill, independent MP Kate Chaney is introducing her bill to stop AI technology that trains or facilitates the production of child sexual abuse material.
You can read a bit more about that bill here.
Following Chaney, fellow independent Zali Steggall is introducing a truth in political advertising bill that will tackle “misleading or deceptive political advertising, including the growing risks posed by AI content and deepfakes.”
The government introduced its own legislation on misinformation and disinformation in political advertising near the end of the last term, but didn’t bring forward a vote on it.
Independent senator David Pocock and independent MPs Zali Steggall and Kate Chaney (L-R) will introduce private members’ bills into the upper and lower houses today. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Steggall is introducing a bill that is the same as the government’s, but is also calling on Labor to reintroduce its own bill. Over in the Senate, David Pocock will give notice to introduce the same bill in the upper house.
Steggall says:
We know there is a huge problem, the question is, is there a political will to fix it?
There is no doubt there is a consensus for this. We know deepfake videos are incredibly damaging and they spread like wildfire, unless guard rails are put in place, we are going to see a continual erosion of trust in politics and the outcomes of elections.
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Updated at 01.45 BST
Barnaby Joyce introduces net zero repeal bill to parliament
Parliament has begun sitting for the week, and Barnaby Joyce is introducing his net zero bill to the House of Representatives.
Joyce says:
Net zero is going to have absolutely no effect on the climate whatsoever.
He says China, India, the US, parts of south-east Asia and Africa aren’t abiding by the policy, and says it’s making households in Australia poorer.
Sitting on the benches around Joyce are WA Liberal Ben Small and Nationals MPs Michael McCormack, David Batt, Llew O’Brien, Colin Boyce and Jamie Chaffey.
Barnaby Joyce presents his Repeal Net Zero Bill 2025 in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 02.44 BST
Palestinian aid worker enters day 6 of hunger strike outside Parliament House
Nahed Elrays, a Palestinian writer and development manager at Unrwa in the US has been outside Parliament House in Canberra, participating in a hunger strike and calling for an arms embargo on Israel.
Elrays began the strike six days ago, restricted to just water and vitamins. He now says he’s following the diet of his relatives and friends in Gaza, only eating one piece of flatbread, or small rice bowl, 3 tablespoons of legumes, and saltwater. He says under the solidarity fast he won’t consume more than 400 calories a day.
On social media he writes, “the only words Australians will accept are ‘arms embargo’ – and we want to hear them now”.
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Updated at 01.00 BST
‘We may get to the same position’: Nationals leader on Joyce’s anti-net zero bill
David Littleproud says he “respects” Barnaby Joyce’s decision not to wait for the Coalition’s review of net zero policy by introducing his anti-net zero bill.
Asked whether Joyce is undermining the review process, Littleproud tells Sky News it’s a “determination for Barnaby”, and doesn’t believe it makes the policy process more difficult.
Barnaby didn’t want to wait, I respect that. He didn’t want to wait for the rest of the party room. But we may get to the same position, I don’t want to pre-empt it.
So what about the future of the Coalition if the Nationals decide to scrap net zero and the Liberals want to keep the policy? Moderate Liberals have voiced concerns that abandoning net zero would destroy the Liberals’ credibility with mainstream voters.
Littleproud says the Nationals’ position can feed into the broader Coalition process on energy.
The political reality is we have to win our seats. We won them all at the last election, but we can’t turn our back on, on what’s been happening in our communities …
If we have an informed policy decision, we can then, as we did with the voice [referendum], be able to say and feed into the process the Liberal party and the Coalition wants to run more broadly.
David Littleproud. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare
Updated at 00.44 BST
Coalition’s energy priority is gas, says Liberal leading energy review
Dan Tehan says the group reviewing the Coalition’s energy policy had a “very good discussion” at their first meeting last week, and will focus on gas policy.
Tehan was tasked by leader Sussan Ley to review all of the Coalition’s energy policies, to help determine the way forward. On all policies, including net zero, the party is going back to the drawing table.
Asked on Sky News, whether Barnaby Joyce’s bill to end net zero is making his job more difficult, Tehan says:
I’ve always had difficult jobs when it’s come to my role, whether it be in shadow ministry or in ministry. And I love the challenge of those of that job. I look forward to seeing what Barnaby has to say in his bill. Like everyone who’s a member of the coalition, he has a right to express those views.
Tehan was also asked about barbs traded last week between him and Joyce, where Tehan referred to Joyce and McCormack as “steers fighting”. That prompted a swipe from Joyce who said, “The people say they’re from the country, get it right. Steers don’t fight”.
Tehan said jokingly:
I think there might have been some surgical precision to the use of my language, but we had a joke about that. And we’ll, we’ll, we’ll continue to smile about it and and have a laugh.
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Joyce says ‘billionaires’ benefiting from net zero policies
Barnaby Joyce is outside parliament speaking on his bill to reverse net zero by 2050.
With him are Nationals MPs Matt Canavan, Michael McCormack and Colin Boyce – all of whom have publicly called to end the policy.
Also with Joyce is Liberal MP Garth Hamilton, a conservative backbencher from Queensland who’s becoming increasingly outspoken.
Joyce says it’s “billionaires” who are benefiting from programs like the capacity investment scheme, designed to boost major renewable energy projects.
Coalition MPs (from left) Llew O’Brien, Colin Boyce, Garth Hamilton, Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and Michael McCormack outside Parliament House on Monday morning. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 00.57 BST
Coalition should consider amendment to cap Hecs indexation, Jane Hume says
Former Liberal frontbencher Jane Hume says an idea from her colleague Sarah Henderson to cap Hecs indexation at 3% has “merit” and should be considered by the party room.
Hume and Henderson were both booted from the frontbench after the 3 May election.
The Coalition has said Labor’s Hecs bill, to cut 20% of debts and increase the income threshold to begin paying the debt back, will pass through parliament.
Henderson announced her amendment, to cap indexation, in the Australian newspaper this morning.
Asked on Sky News whether the policy should have been canvassed first internally, rather than aired to the media, Hume said it shouldn’t be a “surprise” that backbenchers bring policy like this forward.
What Sarah’s proposing is that, essentially, if governments can’t control inflation, well, students shouldn’t have to pay the price that there is a cap on what it is that they should have to pay. I think that’s something that has merit and should be considered. So I look forward to Sarah taking that to our party room for further discussion.
Liberal backbenchers Jane Hume (left) and Sarah Henderson. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Dan Tehan, in a separate interview on Sky, said Ley has set up internal processes to include backbenchers in policy creation.
When [anyone’s] got their policy ideas, they should be able to bring them forward, and that’s what that’s what we’re seeing. Then we’ve got to have the internal debate. We resolve our way forward, and then in unity, we put that case to the Australian public.
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Updated at 00.07 BST
Kate Chaney says ‘the time may well be right’ for Israel sanctions
Independent MP Kate Chaney says recognition of a Palestinian state will happen in “good time” but now could be the right time for sanctions against Israel.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast a bit earlier, Chaney said the immediate priority is to stop children from starving, and getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.
She adds, Hamas should have “no role” in establishing a Palestinian state.
I think the immediate priority is stopping children from starving and making sure they’re not being shot when people are trying to access food. So my focus really is on how we get the humanitarian aid organisations in there, doing what they do best, and making sure that starvation is not being used as a tool of war. Recognition will happen in good time …
Given it looks very likely that Israel is breaching international law, and it’s really important that Australia plays its part in upholding international law, and the time may well be right for sanctions at this point.
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Updated at 00.04 BST