Australia news live: Sussan Ley to be Liberal party’s first female leader after narrowly defeating Angus Taylor
Sussan Ley wins vote for Liberal leadership
Sussan Ley has won the leadership of the Liberal party, defeating Angus Taylor. She will be the first female leader in the position.
More to come.
Key events
And Queenslander MP Ted O’Brien has won the deputy-leader position in the Liberals.
We are just waiting to hear about the deputy vote, which is happening now.
Sussan Ley defeats Angus Taylor for leadership 29 votes to 25
Krishani Dhanji
Sussan Ley has become Australia’s first female opposition leader and the first woman to lead the Liberal party, beating Angus Taylor in the race for the Liberal leadership.
She won against Taylor 29 votes to 25.
Sussan Ley wins vote for Liberal leadership
Sussan Ley has won the leadership of the Liberal party, defeating Angus Taylor. She will be the first female leader in the position.
More to come.
Liberals voting on new leadership
The Liberal party is voting right now for the leadership – we will bring you the news on the new leader as soon as we have it.
Krishani Dhanji
Liberal doorstop shows MPs still making up their minds on next party leader
Liberal MPs and senators have arrived at parliament this morning to vote for their new leader, but not before journalists tried to bounce them at the doors to get them to reveal who they’d vote for.
Backbencher Alex Hawke said many Liberals would still be deciding who to vote for and said he would have a “few more conversations” with colleagues this morning before the vote:
We’ve got two very good choices … I think Angus Taylor of course is a great leader, I think he’s been a great treasurer, he’s got a really good chance, and I also think Sussan Ley has got some really good claims as well as our deputy leader.
I’m going to think about it, I’ve got a few more conversations to have with colleagues, I think you’ll find most people are still mulling over the choice … I think what we’ve lacked in the last few years is a real competitive process.
Dan Tehan, who dealt himself out of the leadership race, wouldn’t say which way he thought the ballot would go, telling journalists to “enjoy our day”.
Conservative MP Garth Hamilton meanwhile said his vote would be going to Angus Taylor, who’s running with Jacinta Price.
Through the lens: more swearing in
The new ministers have started to arrive with their families for the ceremony. Here we have the aged care minister, Sam Rae:
And we’ve got Mark Butler, the health minister, holding his son:
And here is the deputy PM, Richard Marles, coming through the doors of Government House. You can’t quite see in this pic but his son, 29-year-old Sam Marles – a pro MMA fighter – is coming up the rear.
Through the lens: the swearing in
And we’ve got some pics of the swearing-in ceremony this morning.
Here is the PM arriving at Government House:
And here he is being sworn in, with his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, and son, Nathan, watching on:
And we’ve got Penny Wong rocking up in Labor red with her daughter to be sworn in:
Anthony Albanese and his new ministry being sworn in
At Government House, the PM and his new ministry are being sworn in.
The swearing-in ceremony, which started at 9am, is conducted by the governor general Sam Mostyn in Canberra.
The PM took the affirmation as his fiancée, Jodie Haydon, and son, Nathan, watched on.
McKim touts Greens’ power in Senate despite lower house losses
The Greens’ acting leader, Senator Nick McKim, also said:
We faced enormous David v Goliath campaigns by both major parties this election, funded by big corporations and the fossil fuel lobby.
Yet more people than ever before have backed the Greens’ big solutions for the housing, cost of living, and climate crisis – demanding more than the Band-aid solutions offered by Labor and the Liberals.
The Greens worked to keep Dutton out, and he’s been kicked out. And now we’ll be returning with the incredible Elizabeth Watson-Brown in the House of Representatives, and all 11 of our Senators in the Senate.
The Greens are set to be a powerful force in the next parliament, as part of a strong progressive crossbench and holding the balance of power in the Senate, pushing for more action on the climate, housing and the cost of living crises.
Greens’ MP: ‘No excuse now for Labor to resist reform’ in ‘most progressive Senates we’ve ever had’
After the ABC called the seat of Ryan for the Greens and their candidate Elizabeth Watson-Brown, the party has says they will use their balance of power in the Senate to get Labor to take stronger action on climate, housing and cost-of-living crises.
The Greens member for Ryan, Elizabeth Watson-Brown MP:
I want to thank the people of Ryan for again putting their trust in me to be their strong, independent voice in parliament – and for helping to keep Dutton out.
I am deeply honoured to be your MP and will work hard with you for a brighter future for all of us.
This term we have one of the most progressive Senates we’ve ever had, an opportunity for real progressive reform. There is no excuse now for Labor to resist real reform to help people and nature.
The Greens are ready to push Labor to take stronger action on the climate, housing and cost-of-living crises.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria to extend $8,000 sign-on bonus for new prison officers
Allan says they will have enough staff to oversee the extra beds, with more than 640 prison officers and 170 youth justice officers joining the corrections system in the past year.
A $8,000 sign-on bonus announced at the start of the year for new recruits at the Western Plains and Hopkins correctional centre will be extended to all adult prisons as part of the funding announcement, for a further 320 new staff in youth justice and 400 in adult corrections.
And the government will be introducing amendments to the Corrections Act to parliament later this morning to crack down on prisoners who assault and injure custodial staff. The changes make it clear any prisoner convicted of assaulting and injuring a corrections worker will get additional time added on top of their existing sentence.
The corrections minister, Enver Erdogan, says:
Unfortunately that wasn’t always a case in the past, there were different interpretations [by the courts] … we’re making the law crystal-clear. The message is if you assault staff you should be doing additional time … speaking to staff, there’s a feeling if people don’t get additional time there’s no real consequences.
Benita Kolovos
Allan talks up bail laws and says they are already having an impact
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference at the new Western Plains correctional centre in Lara to announce $727m in the latest budget will be spent to ramp up capacity in the state’s prisons.
Allan says the government will need more prison beds to deal with an increased number of alleged offenders being remanded in custody due to her government’s new bail laws.
She says laws – which were widely criticised by legal, human rights and First Nations groups – have already had an impact since they passed in March. Figures provided by the government show there are 465 more people on remand in Victorian prisons this month compared with April last year, an increase of 22%.
Thirty-nine more young people are on remand this month compared with April last year, an increase of 71%.
Allan says:
We’re expanding the capacity of youth justice and adult facilities … recognising community safety comes first and our tough new bail laws are working.
The funding package will allow for the opening of almost 1,000 additional adult prison beds across the state’s prisons and a further 88 beds at youth justice facilities at Cherry Creek and Parkville.
Josh Taylor
Australia records highest number of data breachers after 25% increase since 2023
Australia has recorded the highest number of data breach reports in six years of reporting in 2024, with an increase of 25% in notifications to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner compared to 2023.
According to the latest notifiable data breaches report covering 1 July to 31 December 2024, there were 595 data breaches in the latter half of the year, taking the total number of breaches reported that year to 1,113, up 25% from 893 in 2023.
In the half year, the highest number of reports came from health providers (121) followed by government (100), finance (54), legal and accounting (36), and retail (34).
The report found 69% of the data breaches occurred due to malicious or criminal attack, with phishing – that is, using compromised credentials to access data – being the most common, comprising 34% of breaches. It was followed by ransomware at 24%.
Most reported breaches affected less than 5,000 people each, but two were reported to affect between 500,000 and 1 million people. Most personal information in the breaches was contact information, identity data or financial or health information.
The privacy commissioner, Carly Kind, said:
The trends we are observing suggest the threat of data breaches, especially through the efforts of malicious actors, is unlikely to diminish, and the risks to Australians are only likely to increase.
Businesses and government agencies need to step up privacy and security measures to keep pace.
Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance welcomes appointment of Murray Watt as environment minister
The Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance has welcomed and congratulated Senator Murray Watt on his appointment as the new minister for environment and water while urging him to continue the reform agenda for the Murray-Darling basin begun by his predecessor.
Craig Wilkins, the national director of the Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance, said:
During the next term of government, the future of Australia’s greatest river system will be decided as the current Murray-Darling basin plan comes to an end and a new one is created.
This is a pivotal appointment at a pivotal time.
Decisions made in the next three years will determine whether the river gets a fighting chance to build resilience in the face of worsening climate impacts, or continue to face a cycle of fish kills, blue green algae outbreaks and deterioration in water quality and volume.
Minister [Tanya] Plibersek brought common sense, conviction and practicality to resolving challenges in the basin. We look forward to Minister Watt continuing the strong reform agenda begun under his predecessor.
The Restoring our Rivers Act was a major step towards a healthy basin following years of poor progress, stalled negotiations and undermining of the basin plan.
Victorian government adds $700m in prison funding in next state budget
From AAP: The Victorian government will set $700m aside in next week’s state budget to open more prison beds to get ready for the increased demand after the introduction of tougher bail laws.
Almost 1,000 additional adult prison beds will open across the system and an additional 88 beds will open at youth justice centres at Cherry Creek and Parkville. The announcement also includes amendments to the Corrections Act to crack down on prisoners who assault and injure custodial staff.
In a statement, a state government spokesperson said community safety came first in Victoria and there were consequences for breaking the law:
Our tough new bail laws mean more people charged with serious offenders are going to jail. That’s why we need to open more prison beds now.
We have zero tolerance for prisoners who assault our staff. Our new laws make the consequences clear.
Ryan says she will push for more action on electrification and net zero transition
Asked what real action on climate change looks like, Ryan said the government needs to move more quickly:
Well, they need to move more quickly with the net zero transition and we need to have greater clarity for the regions about how electrification will proceed. Rewiring Australia has been held up, and that’s costing us all.
We need to have greater clarity around how electrification can work in the suburbs and how homes and businesses can be assisted to get off fossil fuels and to electrify in a way that’s quick and effective, which brings down their energy costs quickly but also takes pressure off the grid.
They’re all big-picture issues where government policy will make a big difference, and they are things that I’ll be pushing for in the next three years.
Ryan outlines her focus for the next parliament
Ryan said she will spend the next three years focusing on housing affordability, tax reform and the climate:
So far since the election, what we’ve seen is both the Liberals and the Nationals kind of turn on each other, and they’re obviously engaged in leadership battles this week. They’ve got some significant issues, I think, to deal with, and one of them is the fact that they didn’t take adequate policy to the federal election.
We need an effective opposition in the House of Representatives. That’s extremely important. And we need the government to be held to account on the things that communities like Kooyong care about, which are tax reform, housing affordability, climate, and the cost-of-living crisis, and so that will be my job, to hold the government to account on those things.
