Politics news

• Labor’s tough new migration rules target backpackers, foreign students and overstayers

  17-09-2026 10:39 via smh.com.au
  
  Tony Burke will try to stem bleeding to One Nation by balancing economic needs with a crackdown on those who “seek to rort or defraud the system”.
  
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• NSW Liberals pledge to scrap gun buyback amid election countdown

  19-09-2026 05:03 via abc.net.au
  
  The New South Wales Liberals have pledged to freeze the state's buyback of guns and scrap ownership limits for farmers, if elected next year.
  
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• Pride in flag, Western culture, and soldiers in schools: Coalition unveils education plan

  19-09-2026 03:58 via smh.com.au
  
  Opposition education spokesman Julian Leeser said Indigenous history and cultural studies must be pared back as test results fall.
  
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• The real Hanson shock: She’s Labor’s enemy ... with benefits

  18-09-2026 21:00 via smh.com.au
  
  Under pressure from One Nation, Labor is working hard, but missing one crucial element.
  
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• The real Hanson shock: She’s Labor’s enemy... with benefits

  18-09-2026 21:00 via smh.com.au
  
  Under pressure from One Nation, Labor is working hard, but missing one crucial element.
  
  Read more

• ‘One of the great Australian achievements’: Howard praises immigration

  18-09-2026 21:00 via smh.com.au
  
  The former prime minister said everybody, irrespective of their ethnic background, should feel they are a part of Australia.
  
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• One Nation rails against Bowen. He’s now ready to turn Hanson’s patriotism against her

  18-09-2026 21:00 via smh.com.au
  
  Labor hardheads believe Pauline Hanson’s recent controversies have altered the dynamic and created space for a more strident line on One Nation.
  
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• Labor's migration target comes with a political catch

  18-09-2026 21:00 via abc.net.au
  
  While Labor may want the argument to be about how migration is managed, in fixing on a target it has given greater legitimacy to the numbers contest.
  
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• Fixing our migration system requires economic realism, not political dog-whistling

  18-09-2026 21:00 via smh.com.au
  
  Restoring integrity to a system in which Australia’s guest worker economy has ballooned is necessary but should not involve political scapegoating.
  
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• This ode to the arts made Led Zeppelin cry. Now it's the centre of a Trump saga

  18-09-2026 20:30 via abc.net.au
  
  For more than 55 years, the Kennedy Center beckoned the best of culture to its Washington DC home. Now Donald Trump talks of closure and demolition. 
  
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• A Kennedy Center homage moved Led Zepplin. Now it's the stage for political drama

  18-09-2026 20:30 via abc.net.au
  
  For more than 55 years, the Kennedy Center beckoned the best of culture to its Washington DC home. Now Donald Trump talks of closure and demolition.
  
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• A Kennedy Center homage moved Led Zeppelin. Now it's the stage for political drama

  18-09-2026 20:30 via abc.net.au
  
  For more than 55 years, the Kennedy Center beckoned the best of culture to its Washington DC home. Now Donald Trump talks of closure and demolition. 
  
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• Minister dodges migration modelling question eight times amid farmers’ fury

  18-09-2026 04:21 via smh.com.au
  
  Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth said on Friday she was “not really able to comment” on what would happen to agricultural wages if there were fewer fruit pickers.
  
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• AI companies would need to report 'rogue' incidents under proposed laws

  18-09-2026 04:13 via abc.net.au
  
  AI companies could be legally required to report rogue incidents such as the hacking of another company, under a proposal from the Albanese government as part of its plans for new safety, environmental and industrial rules for the technology.
  
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• What six failed predictions taught Australia about its future

  18-09-2026 03:45 via smh.com.au
  
  The seventh long-term look into the nation’s financial future is about to be released. Like the past six, it won’t be right – but that’s not a problem.
  
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• ‘You can’t put everything on immigration’: The suburbs at breaking point

  18-09-2026 03:30 via smh.com.au
  
  In suburbs groaning under pressure, it’s not just One Nation’s stance on immigration that appeals to voters.
  
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• Trump’s envoy arrives in Australia after lengthy delay, ‘grumbling’ about pet quarantine

  18-09-2026 03:24 via smh.com.au
  
  The incoming US ambassador landed in Sydney on Friday morning and will begin work in Canberra next week, almost two years after the role became vacant.
  
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• Live: Minister won't say if migration shake-up has undergone economic modelling

  17-09-2026 23:01 via abc.net.au
  
  Amanda Rishworth has sidestepped questions about whether the government has undertaken economic modelling of its migration changes. Follow live.
  
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• Live: ASIO chief says media, politicians should have done more to call out antisemitism

  17-09-2026 23:01 via abc.net.au
  
  Mike Burgess tells a podcast that he, media and politicians should have done more to call out antisemitism following the October 7 attacks. Follow live.
  
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• Live: ASIO boss wouldn't rule out Iran attack on prominent Jewish Australians

  17-09-2026 23:01 via abc.net.au
  
  ASIO director-general Mike Burgess says his agency has alerted certain Jewish leaders to that possibility, but that there is "no immediate threat" currently being investigated. Follow live.
  
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• ASIO boss wouldn't rule out Iran attack on prominent Jewish Australians — as it happened

  17-09-2026 23:01 via abc.net.au
  
  ASIO director-general Mike Burgess says his agency has alerted certain Jewish leaders to that possibility, but that there is "no immediate threat" currently being investigated.
  
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• Low, moderate, critical: ASIO boss sounds alarm on urgent upgrade of Australia’s terror warnings

  17-09-2026 21:00 via smh.com.au
  
  The domestic spy boss said he had warned Jewish leaders that Iran may try to assassinate them, and singled out China as a major risk for hacking.
  
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• ‘Go back abroad’: Phillip Ruddock urges radical fix for international student visa program

  17-09-2026 21:00 via smh.com.au
  
  Australia’s longest serving immigration minister warned that public confidence in the integrity of the immigration system was at risk.
  
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• ‘Go back abroad’: Philip Ruddock urges radical fix for international student visa program

  17-09-2026 21:00 via smh.com.au
  
  Australia’s longest serving immigration minister warned that public confidence in the integrity of the immigration system was at risk.
  
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• Barnaby Joyce is indeed not Jesus Christ. He doesn’t need to be

  17-09-2026 21:00 via smh.com.au
  
  It’s becoming clear that raw political expediency trumps economic wisdom when people feel this angry.
  
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• Minister says detaining visa overstayers will not lead to ICE-style raids

  17-09-2026 20:41 via abc.net.au
  
  Migration experts slap down a Greens claim that the Border Force crackdown on visa overstayers will be akin to ICE raids in the United States, saying it was an uncontroversial procedure that occurred regularly until 2015.
  
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• ICE-style immigration raids won't be used in Australia, minister says

  17-09-2026 20:41 via abc.net.au
  
  Migration experts slap down a Greens claim that the Border Force crackdown on visa overstayers will be akin to ICE raids in the United States, saying it was an uncontroversial procedure that occurred regularly until 2015.
  
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• Border force shuts depots in illicit tobacco crackdown

  17-09-2026 20:27 via smh.com.au
  
  Border Force has ousted two major freight handlers from the import system amid a massive contraband bust, as political pressure mounts over the booming black market for illicit nicotine.
  
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• Australia could follow Canada as EU 'associate member', parliament president says

  17-09-2026 18:13 via abc.net.au
  
  Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has welcomed the prospect of Canada becoming the first "associate member" of the European Union, as the president of the European Parliament has hinted Australia and New Zealand could follow.
  
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• Albanese puts cyber safety at heart of bid for UN Security Council seat

  17-09-2026 14:00 via smh.com.au
  
  The government also confirmed the PM would meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the UN, where they are expected to announce a bilateral security agreement.
  
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