Australia news live: Price hits back at ‘bitter’ Hughes after Liberal ex-senator claims conservative women exploited ‘by the boys’

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says Hollie Hughes ‘clearly bitter’ after ex-senator quits party

A war of words has erupted between current and former Liberal members after an ex-senator quit the party in disgust at the behaviour of some MPs, AAP reports.

Hollie Hughes, who lost her Senate seat at the last federal election, resigned from the Liberals on Tuesday, accusing some of her former colleagues of undermining opposition leader Sussan Ley.

“There are some people who are completely inept, who are lazy, who are not across the details,” she told 2GB radio. “It is an absolute rabble.”

Hughes also accused the conservative faction of using women to do the undermining, singling out Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Sarah Henderson.

(They) are being used, quite frankly, by the boys who want to challenge but don’t have the gumption to go out and say anything themselves.

Hollie Hughes. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Price fired back at the remarks, also on 2GB:

It’s pretty disappointing to hear that sort of commentary from a woman … it’s just a ridiculous notion.

She’s clearly bitter, and that’s her issue to deal with herself.

The former shadow minister was dumped from her senate spot in the lead-up to the 2025 election in a factional deal which she says was orchestrated by potential leadership contender Angus Taylor. Hughes rejected suggestions her comments were a reaction to losing her senate spot.

Updated at 00.54 CET

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Penry Buckley

Questions remain over how new NSW laws would have affected neo-Nazi rally

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says new laws targeting neo-Nazis would have made a “big difference” as questions remain over what impact they would have had on this month’s rally on the steps of parliament.

The government is seeking to expand a ban Nazi symbols so that those who chant Nazi slogans could be fined or imprisoned, following this month’s rally by members of White Australia, also known as the National Socialist Network.

The changes are being introduced to parliament today but will not have a chance to pass this year as the government will seek to refer them to a lower house committee for oversight.

Chris Minns. Photograph: Bianca De Marchi/AAP

Asked what effect the changes would have had on this month’s rally, Minns says they will give police the ability to make arrests whether a protest is authorised or not. He said the new bill “as it is written” would give NSW police the discretion to decide what constitutes a Nazi slogan or chant.

The organisers of this month’s rally put in a form 1 application for a protest, which was approved by police. Asked if the laws would capture the banner used at the rally and included in the application, which called for the abolition of the “Jewish Lobby”, Minns says:

Yeah it would, but the police are also looking at the circumstances related to that rally and I can’t go into detail on that.

ShareAmanda Meade

How to watch John Laws’ state funeral today from 1pm

As well as the official livestream from St Andrew’s Cathedral, Channel Seven and Nine Radio will provide live coverage.

Hosted by Michael McLaren and John Stanley, beginning at 1pm AEDT, the coverage will be carried by 25 of Nine’s stations across the country, which syndicated the John Laws Morning Show for decades.

John Laws, seen in 2003. Photograph: Tess Peni/Shutterstock

Nine Radio’s managing director, Tom Malone, said:

John Laws was a giant of Australian radio and we’re proud to be honouring John, and providing his millions of listeners right across the country with the opportunity to be part of the farewell.

Seven News will also broadcast the event from 1pm to 3pm on Seven in Sydney and Melbourne and 7plus nationally.

Updated at 02.37 CET

Patrick Commins

ANZ CEO says job cuts ‘not something I am proud of’

ANZ’s CEO, Nuno Matos, says the bank’s move to slash 3,500 jobs is “not something I am proud” of, but says it is in the “best interests of our customers”.

Matos, earlier this morning, offered an “unreserved apology” on behalf of the bank for the mistreatment of thousands of vulnerable customers and lying to the government over a massive bond deal.

The chair of the house of representatives economics committee, Ed Husic, asked whether it was fair that thousands of people faced losing their jobs in the wake of the record $240m fine while executives had only lost their bonuses.

Matos pointed out that four of the nine top executives had left the bank since he had arrived six months ago, but conceded the point.

“I need to say the obvious: letting go of approximately 3,500 people and impacting them and their families is not something I am proud [of], is not something I would like to do, not something a human being likes to do.

“It is very, very tough.”

Matos said the mass redundancies were “absolutely unrelated to the other topic (the scandals) except in one element that is crucial to us”.

“The company needs to work in a simpler manner. The company was and still is too complex. It’s in the best interests of our customers to have a bank that focuses on one simple thing: doing banking.”

When Matos revealed the redundancies in September, he insisted the decision was “not about profits”.

Updated at 02.18 CET

Caitlin Cassidy

‘A lot of work to do’ to improve culture and leadership in higher education, Jason Clare says

The education minister will introduce legislation next week to formally create the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC), an independent steward for the future of higher education.

Addressing the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA)‘s annual conference on Wednesday morning, Jason Clare said the commission was the “most important” recommendation in the Universities Accord, handed down last year.

Jason Clare. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

It has been operating in an interim capacity since June, tasked with improving equity and fairness in the higher education sector. Clare confirmed in the coming weeks, he would also receive a report from the racism commissioner on racism in universities, compiling a series of recommendations after surveying more than 76,000 students and staff.

The National Student Ombudsman, tasked with resolving student complaints on a broad range of issues including student safety and wellbeing, has already been accessed 2,400 times since its establishment in February, Clare said.

Clare noted there was “a lot of work” to do to improve culture and leadership in higher education.

This is not about attacking universities, this is not about belting universities … this is about making the organisations that you run and work in better. Building trust inside your organisations and building public support for the work that you do.

ShareSarah Basford Canales

Peak university body issues warning over CSIRO research cuts

The head of the peak university body has warned that hundreds of research job cuts announced at CSIRO yesterday will leave Australia behind the rest of the world in research development.

University Australia’s chief executive, Luke Sheehy, said CSIRO’s announcement to shed jobs and narrow its research focus demonstrated “Australia’s research engine is running short of fuel”.

Sheehy continued:

This isn’t just a CSIRO issue – it’s a warning light for the entire research ecosystem.

Australia is being outspent and outpaced by the world, Australia currently invests 1.69% of GDP in R&D – well below the OECD average of 2.7% and far behind innovation leaders like South Korea and Germany who invest over 3%.

If we continue to underinvest, we will lose the talent, infrastructure and breakthroughs that drive jobs, national security and technological strength.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says Hollie Hughes ‘clearly bitter’ after ex-senator quits party

A war of words has erupted between current and former Liberal members after an ex-senator quit the party in disgust at the behaviour of some MPs, AAP reports.

“There are some people who are completely inept, who are lazy, who are not across the details,” she told 2GB radio. “It is an absolute rabble.”

Hughes also accused the conservative faction of using women to do the undermining, singling out Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Sarah Henderson.

(They) are being used, quite frankly, by the boys who want to challenge but don’t have the gumption to go out and say anything themselves.

Hollie Hughes. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Price fired back at the remarks, also on 2GB:

It’s pretty disappointing to hear that sort of commentary from a woman … it’s just a ridiculous notion.

She’s clearly bitter, and that’s her issue to deal with herself.

Updated at 00.54 CET

Patrick Commins

ANZ boss issues ‘unreserved apology’ for failing vulnerable customers

The chief executive of ANZ, Nuno Matos, has offered an “unreserved apology” for what he called “serious and unacceptable” failures by the bank, which included ignoring hundreds of hardship applications and not refunding fees charged to thousands of dead customers.

Speaking at a parliamentary committee hearing this morning, Matos, who was appointed to the top job six months ago, said the bank “must put those we serve at the centre of everything we do”, as he admitted that ANZ “has not always lived up to these expectations”.

The failings of non-financial risk management that led to regulatory actions were serious and unacceptable. Some of them occurred when our customers were at their most vulnerable, facing hardship, bereavement, or relying on us to act with integrity.

The bank fell short of what is expected of us and for that, I offer an unreserved apology.

Nuno Matos during a House of Representatives public hearing on Wednesday. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

In September, ANZ was fined $240m by Asic after the bank admitted to lying about bond trading data in its dealings with the federal government, alongside widespread misconduct in its retail division that affected tens of thousands of customers.

Earlier this month, ANZ revealed it had stripped $32m in bonuses from current and former executives, including the former CEO, Shayne Elliott.

Updated at 01.06 CET

Josh Taylor

Roblox had seen ‘writing on the wall’, Inman Grant adds

Inman Grant said Roblox had seen “the writing on the wall” of having children commingled in the one app with adults.

This negotiation was specific to Roblox and based on the common grooming scenarios that our investigators had seen where offenders tend to use Roblox to connect with children and young people before they potentially move them to another platform where they will continue to groom them.

They might also instruct a child or their avatar to perform sexual acts in games on the platform. And then we’re also seeing children are being coerced into sending explicit images in exchange for gifts like sneakers or Robux, which is the digital currency on the platform.

Read more about reporter Sarah Martin’s week on Roblox here:

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