Australia news live: ‘We get the message,’ Plibersek says, after poll shows One Nation support surpassing Labor

Labor gets the ‘message’ after One Nation poll, Plibersek says

Labor insists it’s implementing “big changes” as voters appear to abandon the major parties, with new polling showing Pauline Hanson’s One Nation continuing its surge in popularity, AAP reports.

The latest Newspoll recorded a four-point rise in One Nation’s primary vote to 31%, while Labor dipped one point to 30% and the Coalition fell two points to 18%.

“We see those polls and we get the message, which is we need big changes in this country, and that’s exactly what Labor is delivering,” Tanya Plibersek, the social services minister, told Sunrise this morning. She went on:

We agree this country needs to be changed, so that it’s fairer, so people get paid more, taxed less, they get the health and education services that they deserve.

Pauline Hanson’s been around politics for three decades and she still has got a list of complaints and no real policies for change.

Plibersek and Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Key events

Tom McIlroy

Coalition won’t run ‘small-target’ strategy

Facing a wipeout at the hands of Pauline Hanson and One Nation, the Coalition will present a full suite of policies to try to win back support before the next election, according to a veteran strategist.

Queensland Liberal National party senator James McGrath says the opposition won’t offer a small-target approach ahead of the 2028 poll, insisting well-developed policies addressing the government’s shortcomings and the challenges facing Australia is how to win back support.

He told Sky:

Part of being in opposition is ensuring that you have those solutions.

So it is highlighting the failures of this Labor government, of which there are many, and then it is ensuring that we’ve got those policy responses, those substantive policy responses as a party of government.

There is a big difference between being a party of government, which the Coalition are, and being a smaller party, which is very easy to try and govern by bumper stickers.

Liberal National party senator James McGrath. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Jordyn Beazley

Hello, I’ll now be taking you through the rest of our live news coverage for today.

Nick Visser

That’s all from me. Jordyn Beazley will take things from here. Take care.

An old quarry atop extinct volcano has been transformed into Sydney’s newest bushland park

Sydney has an epic new natural wonderland at the site of an old quarry abandoned since 2003.

The first stage of Hornsby Park opened in March. The main attraction is, of course, the quarry itself. A remnant of its working history remains in the form of an old crusher plant, fenced off from would-be climbers. Then there’s a new red metal viewing platform that’s stunning – even in a city famous for its vistas.

The new Hornsby Park. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

Jutting out 14 metres above the ground below, the 42-metre-long platform draws in visitors who can then look down to the turquoise water filling the lower level of the quarry.

Read more here if you’re a Sydneysider looking for an adventure:

Pilot survives after small plane crashes at airport near Melbourne

A small plane crashed on the runway at Moorabbin airport near Melbourne this morning, but the pilot was able to escape the wreckage.

Fire Rescue Victoria said in a statement officials responded to an incident on the runway at around 11.15am after a triple zero call. Firefighters arrived on scene minutes later to find a single engine aircraft had landed without the nose gear coming down.

The pilot was able to self-evacuate and was placed in the care of ambulance teams before being transported to the hospital.

The incident was deemed under control less than an hour later.

Victorian opposition leader criticises billboard targeting Jacinta Allan

Benita Kolovos

The Victorian opposition leader, Jess Wilson, has also joined the chorus of politicians criticising the billboards showing the premier, Jacinta Allan, and the phrase “ditch the witch”.

Speaking to reporters in Kew East this morning, she said:

It’s inappropriate, and that sort of language, that sort of discourse, should never be used in politics. We shouldn’t see this happening on our streets.

Natasha May

Strong earthquake strikes southern Philippines; tsunami warnings issued

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook part of the southern Philippines early on Monday, sparking tsunami warnings on some regional coasts, collapsing some houses and killing at least one person.

“Many buildings were affected, but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues,” Master Sergeant Robert Dagon of the General Santos City police told Agence France-Presse.

The Philippines office of civil defense warned people to avoid entering damaged homes or other infrastructure due to the threat of aftershocks.

Video verified by the Guardian shows the collapse of the upper floor of a Jollibee restaurant, a popular fast food chain, as well as the outer concrete walls of a commercial complex giving way in General Santos City, near the epicentre of the quake.

PM condemns ‘ditch the witch’ billboards targeting Victorian premier Jacinta Allan

Benita Kolovos

Earlier this morning, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was asked about the truck billboards showing the Victoria premier, Jacinta Allan, and the phrase “ditch the witch”.

It comes about 15 years after then opposition leader Tony Abbott spoke at an anti-carbon tax rally with person holding a poster featuring the phrase “ditch the witch” visible behind him in reference to then prime minister Julia Gillard.

Albanese told reporters in Canberra two things worried him about the billboards:

What worries me is the misogyny that’s involved there. The sexist campaign targeting the Victorian premier is totally unacceptable and has no place in public life. We want to encourage women to enter public life and it should be a contest of ideas, not personal attacks.

But it comes in [the] context as well, as I’ve stood in this courtyard so many times and said, ‘Turn the temperature down’ … Some of the personal ways in which mainstream media as well has characterised people in public life has just got to stop. You can have a disagreement with people’s policy position by all means. You don’t have to denigrate people in such a personal way. It has got to stop

He said young girls shouldn’t have to see the premier depicted as a witch:

Just like the denigration that Julia Gillard suffered from as prime minister … it is just not on.

Jordyn Beazley

Two arrested after separate incidents in Perth airport

Two passengers were charged over separate incidents at Perth airport on the same night in May.

Body scanning equipment at the airport showed one 47-year-old man had allegedly taped two small bags containing cannabis and methamphetamine to his chest and two glass pipes on 20 May.

He was charged with one count of possessing illicit drugs and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia.

Another man, in a separate incident on the same night, was charged by federal police with one count of disorderly behaviour in public after he allegedly boarded the flight heavily intoxicated, and was then removed from the flight by airline staff.

The 52-year-old man was accused of harassing a crew member and refusing a direction by police to leave the airport. Both are facing court in Perth today.

AFP detective acting superintendent Peter Brindal said:

It is not acceptable to behave poorly or carry illicit substances at any airport in Australia, and the AFP will intervene to protect members of the public and workers to ensure they feel safe.

Jack Larkin

Reece Walsh recalled by Queensland for crucial State of Origin Game 2

Queensland’s coach, Billy Slater, has recalled Reece Walsh to the Maroons squad for next week’s crucial State of Origin Game 2, but it remains to be seen exactly what role the Broncos star will play in Melbourne.

Walsh, who was overlooked by selectors for Game 1 in Sydney, was brought back into the fold as Queensland’s 18th man on Monday, but whether he will play off the extended bench or in what position will be decided by Slater over the course of a 10-day camp.

“We think it’s the best thing for the footy team [if he is] on the bench there,” Slater said. “We know what Reece is capable of … I have a great relationship with Reece, and he’s built a really good game, and if needed, he’ll perform.”

Slater kept the door open to Walsh playing in the halves off the bench. Read more here:

Reece Walsh. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

Third fatal shark attack in a month sparks warnings

An expert has warned that spear fishing is putting divers right where sharks hunt after three people engaging in the high-risk sport have died in just under a month.

The most recent victim, 35‑year‑old diver Daniel Turpin, died on Saturday after being bitten by a suspected 4.5‑metre shark while spearfishing with his family off Michaelmas Island near Albany.

Turpin’s death followed the killing of 38‑year‑old Perth father Steven Mattaboni off Rottnest Island on 16 May, and 39‑year‑old Queensland spearfisher Michael Jensz at Kennedy Shoal south of Cairns on 24 May.

Both WA attacks are believed to have involved great white sharks, while Jensz was thought to have been taken by a bull shark.

Daryl McPhee, a shark expert at Bond University, said spearfishers faced different and often higher risks than swimmers or surfers because of how and where they entered the water.

McPhee said:

You have the potential stimulus of fish in the water or fishing activity.

The risk of a bite on a spear fisherman being fatal is higher than on surfers or swimmers.

He said spearfishers were often bitten on the torso or head, with no board or other barrier between them and a large shark, making catastrophic injuries more likely when a serious bite occurred.

He said one of their key food sources, humpback whales, was increasing in number, and other prey such as Australian salmon had also risen, undermining claims sharks were turning to humans because their food had been fished out

Nationally, average shark‑related deaths have risen from about 1.65 fatalities a year between 2002 and 2019 to about four a year since 2020, with four deaths already recorded in 2026.

– AAP

NSW health minister says Richard Scolyer’s legacy is in ‘lives changed and saved’

The New South Wales health minister, Ryan Park, has said Prof Richard Scolyer’s legacy will remain in the lives he “changed and saved”.

Park said in a statement:

I am deeply saddened by the passing of Richard Scolyer AO.

Richard dedicated his life to cancer research becoming one of the world’s leading researchers in melanoma, improving the health outcomes of so many for generations to come.

I am so proud that to say that his work in the NSW health system, including at the Royal Prince Alfred hospital, formed just one chapter in his illustrious career.

His legacy will remain in the lives changed and saved.

My thoughts are with his family, loved ones and colleagues.

We’ve been sharing tributes to Prof Richard Scolyer on the blog this morning. If you’d like to read his open letter, penned before his death, we’ve published it in its entirety below.

Joyce says Labor’s response to polling ‘scratchy’

One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce said this morning Labor’s response to the poll showed it was in trouble, AAP adds.

Joyce told Sunrise this morning the government’s response was “scratchy”, adding:

One Nation is a reflection of the sentiment of the people … (they) are over Labor and they’re over the Coalition.

Joyce said the nation needed to re-evaluate the number of people it “could absorb” amid a debate surrounding immigration as housing supply comes under further strain.

Labor gets the ‘message’ after One Nation poll, Plibersek says

The latest Newspoll recorded a four-point rise in One Nation’s primary vote to 31%, while Labor dipped one point to 30% and the Coalition fell two points to 18%.

We agree this country needs to be changed, so that it’s fairer, so people get paid more, taxed less, they get the health and education services that they deserve.

Pauline Hanson’s been around politics for three decades and she still has got a list of complaints and no real policies for change.

Plibersek and Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Police seek to identify further man in investigation into Chris Baghsarian’s alleged murder

The investigation into the alleged mistaken-identity kidnapping and murder of grandfather Chris Baghsarian has widened as police release an image of a man they are seeking to identify, AAP reports.

The image of the man was released on Monday, almost four months after the 85-year-old was abducted from his home in Sydney’s north in the early hours of 13 February

Four men have been charged and remain before the courts.

On Monday, police called on anyone with information about the man, seen in a hardware store in Leppington at 7.39am on Wednesday, 11 February, to contact Crime Stoppers.

Investigators allege Baghsarian was killed on the night of 14 February at a makeshift stronghold in Dural, about a half-hour drive from where his remains were found.

Allow Facebook content?

This article includes content provided by Facebook. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.

Luca Ittimani

A Sydney flat with a broken shower still costs nearly $1m

Lena and Linly just bought their first home at a $28,000 discount. Not one investor bid against them.

The couple, who asked that their last names not be published, were successful at the first auction they bid at, after six weeks of looking at properties.

The two-bedroom flat in Ashfield in Sydney’s inner west passed in below the $950,000 reserve on Saturday, with the 31-year-olds negotiating a $922,000 final price.

To make it into the market, Linly and Lena needed not just steady incomes but Linly’s parents’ help, the federal 5% deposit scheme and New South Wales’ stamp duty discount. Nor have they ended up in the perfect place.