Australia news as it happened: Economic roundtable begins; Zelensky to meet Putin after Trump talks; Tasmanian government survives no-confidence motion; Australia to probe $1b Chinese company deal with Nauru

Australia is working to confirm whether Nauru has breached a security treaty following a $1 billion announcement with a Chinese company.

Nauru must receive Australia’s sign-off on any partnership, arrangement or engagement with a third nation when it comes to security, including critical infrastructure such as banking and telecommunications.

Under the treaty, signed in December 2024, Australia would prop up Nauru’s banking sector, provide $100 million in budget support and $40 million for policing in exchange for an effective veto right over other security agreements.

Pacific Minister Pat Conroy said the Australian government was working with Nauru to determine whether a development deal with the China Rural Revitalisation and Development Corporation, signed on August 5, activated treaty obligations.

“That is a really important treaty for us, that helps position us as a security partner of choice with Nauru,” =Conroy said in Brisbane on Tuesday.

The first part of the three-phase deal with the Chinese corporation covers renewable energy, the phosphate industry, marine fisheries and sea infrastructure. Conroy said Australia wasn’t opposed to development and economic assistance from other nations in the Pacific.

“We think other countries should be doing their fair share and investing in the Pacific. That’s a good thing for the region,” he said. “What we’ve been very clear about is that every country in the world should respect the views of the Pacific Islands Forum, the leaders’ consensus, which is that security should be provided by countries within the PIF.”

Conroy has stated China should play no security role in the Pacific.

AAP

As had been expected, the Tasmanian Labor opposition’s attempt to unseat Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s Liberal minority government and install themselves in his place has failed.

A motion proposing to do each of these things has been defeated in parliament this hour, gaining only 10 of the 34 votes cast. Members of the crossbench voted against Labor.

Labor tabled the motion on the opening day of the new Tasmanian parliament on Tuesday.

That parliament formed after the fourth election in seven years in Tasmania, and the new parliament has a very similar make-up to the previous one, with 14 Liberals and 10 Labor MPs.

The turbulence in Tasmanian politics has been watched closely by the mainland, as the island state’s government is on the hook for much of the cost of a new $945 million stadium in Hobart. Without that stadium, a Tasmania-based AFL team may not enter the league as planned in 2028.

Both major parties have pledged their support for the stadium, but minor parties whose votes are needed to pass bills are critical of it.

Victoria’s opposition leader has stood by his decision to hold a press conference near the body of a man stabbed to death in Melbourne today.

Brad Battin appeared on ABC Radio Melbourne, several hours after his press conference criticising the state government’s handling of crime in Victoria. He said he staged the press conference in Dandenong after hearing about the fatal stabbing of the 39-year-old man on radio while driving to state parliament.

“His family’s not yet notified, and you’ve essentially stood there and made a political point. Was that the time and the place?” asked host Ali Moore.

“This is highlighting the fact we’ve got an out-of-control crime system here in Victoria. We are continuously seeing people being stabbed, whether it’s in the street, in their workplaces or in their homes. We have to start highlighting the fact this government is concentrating on the wrong things,” Battin replied.

Battin said he had not tried to contact the family of the dead man, as police had not made non-relatives aware of their names.

Asked if he would do this again, Battin said “I’ve done in the past, we’re continuing to get to this stage now that crime is happening so often in so many places across Victoria, that I think it’s just almost becoming normalised. If this is to make sure the message is it’s not normal … we need to start acting.”

Victorian government frontbencher Colin Brooks called Battin’s conduct “appalling” earlier today.

It may have once boasted one of the most heartwarming advertisement ever to grace our TV screens reminding us that Qantas meant coming home, but in the last few years, the airline has weathered multiple scandals, and allegations of ripping customers off.

And then came Monday morning, when the national airline was slapped with a whopping $90 million dollar fine for unfairly sacking staff.

Today’s episode of The Morning Edition features our aviation reporter Chris Zappone.

Victims of family, domestic and sexual violence will have access to a 24-hour crisis phone line under a state government’s response to royal commission findings.

South Australia’s Labor government will also move to regulate home delivery of alcohol after unveiling the commission’s report on Tuesday.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said the government had already agreed to seven of its 139 recommendations and will formally respond to the remainder by the end of the year.

“It’s important to remember how we got here – tragically, a little over 12 months ago, four women died in the space of just over a week,” Malinauskas said.

“It was a really harsh wake-up call that reminded us all that domestic violence is having an extraordinarily detrimental impact in our community.”

The government has agreed to a standalone ministerial portfolio for domestic, family and sexual violence, will develop a five-year statewide strategy and require department chief executives to develop implementation plans.

On ABC News’ Afternoon Briefing, National Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin said, “South Australia has not invested for quite a while now, has not – invested enough in the service system here and as the commissioner pointed out, South Australia was leading at one point and they have not kept up the level of investment.”

SA Commissioner and former senator Natasha Stott Despoja said lessons had been learnt from Victoria’s royal commission on the same issue, which began in 2015.

Asked what these were, Cronin said, “One of the things that I’ve spoken to people in Victoria about that there were some things that probably were too prescriptive in the way the recommendations were designed, that meant that as the context changed around them, they were unable to adapt.

“So, for example, one of the recommendations about physical – physical infrastructure required to provide services actually didn’t serve them terribly well when COVID hit because it wasn’t as easy to pivot online. Now they’ve done that but the context around us changes, and you need to be able to adapt.”

1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732

AAP

Nurses, engineers and other immigrants who qualified overseas would be able to ply their trade in Australia under a proposal that won support at Tuesday’s economic roundtable in Canberra.

Skills and trade were on the agenda in the first sessions of the three-day summit, with broad backing for Treasurer Jim Chalmers to slash through another tranche of so-called “nuisance tariffs” – tiny charges on imports which add to compliance costs and consumer prices.

Read more here.

Staying with Afternoon Briefing for a moment, and directly following Finance Minister Katy Gallagher was Liberal senator and former Australian ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma.

He was asked whether it was wrong for Israel to cancel the Australian diplomats’ visas in retaliation for Australia cancelling an Israeli MP’s visa.

“I heard your previous guest, Senator Gallagher, and the Albanese government ... have gone and cancelled the visa of a member of parliament of Israel who sits within the government, so how can you say you’re committed to dialogue and diplomacy and open channels when you are preventing any interaction from occurring? I think those two statements are at odds with one another.”

“I don’t agree with our decision, I would prefer it didn’t happen. But I can also, given the new depths in which this relationship has been plumbed under the Albanese government, it doesn’t surprise me that this has happened, I think we have delivered insult after insult to this bilateral relationship.”

“I haven’t heard of Israel rejecting or kicking out any other diplomats of any other foreign countries, I haven’t had it happening to France, the United Kingdom or Canada, it seems to be happening to Australia.”

Sharma did not explicitly say whether the Coalition would have cancelled the Israeli MP’s visa had they been in government.

Returning to a key story of the past 24 hours, which is the government cancelling right-wing Israeli MP Simcha Rothman’s visa to visit Australia at the invitation of a conservative Jewish organisation.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar retaliated by revoking the visas of three Australian diplomats to the Palestinian Authority, and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher was just asked about the tension on ABC News’ Afternoon Briefing.

“The leader of the Liberals, Sussan Ley, says it’s a sad day and that your government bears a responsibility here,” said host Patricia Karvelas. “Your government talks about needing to have open lines with Israel and wanting to have this relationship. But by cancelling a visa of an MP in their Parliament – does it make that harder?

“I think the minister [Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke] has been very clear about the fact that visas will be cancelled if it looks like you’re coming here to stir – or to try to, I guess, disrupt and take away from some of the social cohesion which we know already is under pressure,” Gallagher replied.

“So that is a position we’ve taken across the political spectrum.”

Gallagher said the government regretted action had been taken against its diplomats. “That is obviously a decision of the Israeli government but it’s one that we think is very unfortunate ... even though we might go different and position at times, we will always stand for dialogue and diplomacy particularly in times of conflict.”

Earlier today, the Australian Jewish Association said it was organising for Rothman to address Australia’s Jewish community via Zoom following the cancellation of his visa.

With AAP