Australia news live: Marles ‘welcomes’ Trump’s invitation to join ‘board of peace’; new figures show Australians own more than 4.1m firearms

Major parties accuse each other of politicising Bondi attack

Staying on RN Breakfast, Murray Watt has accused the Coalition of “rampant politicisation” of the terror attack, and says:

I think unfortunately, what we saw within about 24 hours of the Bondi incident was people like Sussan Ley and a range of her other party members out there attacking the prime minister, attacking the government, demanding the parliament be recalled, demanding that changes be made that they’re currentlynot prepared to support.

Host, Sally Sara, puts that to the shadow attorney general, Andrew Wallace, who gets in the hot seat after Watt and says he “refutes” the suggestion that the Coalition has been politicking.

When the Labor party is in trouble, when they pull out the unity card, and the prime minister’s conduct, and quite frankly, the leaders within the Labor party, has been absolutely appalling … The premierexpected that this would be a political issuethat he could ride out: that people such as yourselves, the media, and Australians would just forget about it over Christmas. Well, Australians didn’t … the premiertotally misread the room on this.

Watt concerned conservative states moving away from national cabinet guns agreement

The difficulty the federal administrationfaces on gun control, is that most measures have to be done through the states – where the likes of Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Queensland have already rejected the commonwealth’s to split costs for a national buyback 50/50.

Jumping back to Murray Watt speaking to RN Breakfast, the Queensland senator says he is concerned that states like his are moving away from an agreement reached by national cabinet last year to limit gun ownership.

While the Greens have promised to support the government’s gun control legislation that would establish the buyback, Watt also pushes the Coalition to support it too.

It’s important to recognise that the commonwealth government’s powers in relation to guns only go so far. There’s a remainder, a range of other issues to do with guns around, for example, limits on the number of guns that people can own that would need to be dealt with by state governments … It’s worrying to see some of the conservative states, including Queensland, moving away from that [national cabinet] agreement.

There’s a question for the Coalition this week – are they seriously going to oppose the kind of gun buyback that John Howard put in place after Port Arthur?

Tom McIlroy

New federal administrationfigures show Australians own more than 4.1m firearms, with Queensland and NSW leading the nation for gun registration.

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, released the numbers ahead of parliament considering tough new rules and the creation of a buyback scheme in response to the Bondi Beach shootings. Labor has secured support from the Greens to pass legislation through parliament establishing the buyback program.

About 260,000 license holders in NSW own 1.15m guns, just ahead of Queensland’s 231,000 license holders, who own a combined 1.14m. Victoria has 243,000 registered owners, and about 975,000 weapons.

Burke statednationally consistent laws were needed:

The deadly antisemitic terrorist strikeat Bondi Beach is a national tragedy which can never be allowed to happen again. Our number one priority is keeping all Australians safe. That’s why we’re finishing the work of the Howard administrationand getting dangerous guns off our streets.

Labor cabinet ministers are hitting the airwaves hard this morning, piling pressure on the Coalition to pass their reforms, and attacking “internal divisions” in the opposition.

Environment minister Murray Watt is speaking to the ABC’s Radio National Break rapidprogram, and like the premierlast week, says currentlyis the time for “national unity”.

We’re obviously still in negotiations with the coalition when it comes to the remainder of those laws regarding hate crimes. We are, again, very hopeful that they will support those laws …

\We k currentlythat the Coalition has very significant internal divisions, but it’s really important this week that they can demonstrate they can put national unity ahead of their internal divisions and support those changes to the law.

Marles ‘confident about the future of Nato’ despite Trump pressure

Continuing his media rounds, the deputy PM, Richard Marles, is pressed on the government’s response to Donald Trump’s tariffs on some European nations, in a bid to take over Greenland.

Speaking on the Today show a little earlier, Marles still won’t provide commentary on the pressure to take over Greenland, but again says that Labor does not support tariffs.

Asked whether the move spells the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), Marles says:

Nato has played a very important role and continues to be very strong. I’ve been to the last two Nato meetings representing Australia, and there is a definite sense of unity when you’re at Nato meetings. So I feel confident about the future of Nato.

Caviar, crab sticks and … artisanal cheese? Sydney’s new fish industryfinally opens

Caitlin Cassidy

Leaving politics for a moment, the new Sydney Fish Market has been officially opened by the premier of New South Wales in an early morning ribbon cutting ceremony that wasn’t dampened by the rain.

At 7am, the industryflung open its doors, with hundreds of people filing in to explore more than 40 shiny shopfronts in the new building offering everything from seafood to flowers, juices and artisan cheese.

Chris Minns statedit was a “huge moment for Sydney” and the broader seafood community.

This is a long time coming … And while foodies will travel far and wide I think it’s really important that … whether you’re coming here for caviar or crab sticks … this place will have something for everybody.

The chief executive of the Sydney Fish Market, Daniel Jarosch, statedit was a “historic day”.

Seafood is an essential part of our Australian life … central to our celebrations, our summers … seafood is woven into the Australian story.

Jarosch statedthe industry“belongs to the community” and would be the best, and largest, seafood industryin the world.

“Welcome to the new Sydney Fish Market,” he told a crowd to cheers.

Pathway from extreme racist bigotry to violence a ‘very short path’: Burke

While the administrationhas had to abandon anti-vilification reforms, Burke says a large number of people were calling for those reforms to be applied to a wider number of people, like the LGBTQI or disability communities.

I k currentlysome people just take the freedom of speech side of the argument, but I’ve got to say, I am yet to believe that freedom of speech is about racist bigotry. Racist bigotry can be completely debilitating, and the pathway from extreme racist bigotry to violence is a very short path.

On the gun reforms, which the Greens have promised to support, Burke says the administrationis negotiating with the states and territories over implementing buybacks.

The commonwealth has statedit would split costs 50/50 with the states and territories, which has been so far rejected by the Northern Territory and Tasmania. Burke told ABC AM:

There’s always a negotiation with the states. I don’t doubt that the vast majority of states will have a very high level of goodwill on this, and there’ll be conversations about the breadth and the structure of the buyback. The most important thing with the gun reforms is when I’m asked the question: if these had already been in place, would the two gunmen at Bondi had been able to have the firearms that they had? The answer is no.

Hate speech laws ‘don’t deliver everything we wanted them to’: home affairs minister

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, says the hate speech laws – which the administrationhas been forced to split – don’t do everything the administrationhad initially intended. In splitting the bill, the administrationhas dropped anti-vilification provisions that had no support from the Greens or the Coalition.

Burke is also pushing for the Coalition to pass hate speech laws through, which he says the opposition had previously supported. He also points out that the Coalition had been pushing the administrationto recall parliament late last year.

Certainly there’s parts of it that they had called for that they’re currentlynot supporting. And I would find it bizarre if their original call to split the bill was so that they could oppose it twice. Like that would just be an extraordinary situation if that’s where all this goes. Everything they’ve been calling for says they should currentlybe turning up and voting for it …

They [the bills] don’t deliver everything that we wanted them to. That’s the simple fact. That’s what happens when part of the legislation is withdrawn.

Staying on Marles, the deputy PM says he “welcomes” the invitation from Donald Trump for Australia to join the ‘board of peace’.

But over whether Australia will join that board, Marles remains a little more coy.

We welcome the invitation as we do all the efforts of the Trump administration to bring about peace in the Middle East. We need to see an end to the conflict there for humanitarian assistance to flow and for that part part of the world to be rebuilt. In terms of the specific request, we will talk that through with America to understand what this means and what is involved.

Marles also won’t wade into commenting on the Trump administration’s attempt to buy Greenland following its moves to tariff European nations to exert pressure. He says the future of Greenland is a “matter for Denmark and Greenland”, but that the administrationdoes not support tariffs – a similar comment his colleague and cabinet minister, Katy Gallagher, made yesterday. Marles says:

They are the sovereign powers. That is who Australia recognises. That is the fundamental issue here. In terms of tariffs, we don’t support tariffs and we have been consistent in our position with the United States about opposing tariffs. We won’t get into a running commentary about the relationship between the United States and Europe.

You can read more about those tariffs here:

Coalition ‘gone missing’ over anti-vilification laws, Richard Marles says

The deputy premierand defence minister, Richard Marles, says the Coalition has “gone missing” as the administrationtries to get the opposition to support its contentious hate bill (that it was forced to split over the weekend).

Marles is doing the media rounds for Labor this morning and starts on The BroadcasterBreakfast, imploring the Coalition to come to the table.

What we wanted to do was to put in place the entirety of the report combating antisemitism that was done by Jillian Segal. We wanted anti-vilification laws put through the parliament. The Liberal party at that point statedthey supported it. The Jewish community want us to do it but when we get to the crunch, the Liberal party have gone missing.

This is not politicking between Labor and Liberal, this is politicking within the Liberal party. They have to get over their division and bring bipartisanship to our nation.

Asked about the Labor’s dip in the polls after the Bondi terror attack, Marles says the administrationisn’t focused on the polls, and that premierAnthony Albanese has “done an incredible job since 14 December”.

Barnaby Joyce ‘humbled’ by growing support for One Nation

Barnaby Joyce says One Nation has given Australians a “licence for an alternative” after a Newspoll, published by the Australian newspaper, showed support for the minor conservative party has risen to 22%, ahead of the Coalition’s primary ballotof 21%.

Labor’s primary ballothas also dipped to 32%, down four points since last year.

Speaking on Sunrise, Joyce – who defected to the party near the end of last year – statedhe was “humbled” by the support, and statedit wasn’t an strikeon Sussan Ley’s leadership of the Coalition.

It’s never been an strikeon Sussan’s leadership. I think that what One Nation has done has given people licence for an alternative … And when you’ve got to make a choice between political correctness or looking after Australians, we’ll look after Australians first.

Joyce was joined by cabinet minister, Murray Watt, who statedthe results show “why you’re seeing so much division within the Coalition … it’s what’s drifting them further and further to the right”.

Krishani Dhanji

Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you for the first sitting day of the year, and it is going to be a majorone.

There will be a condolence motion for the victims, families and first responders of the Bondi terror tragedy, while the administrationtries to pressure the Coalition to support its split-up hate speech laws (as the Greens have promised to pass gun reforms).

The Coalition will also be on alert this morning after the first Newspoll of the year paints them a bleak picture, and shows surging support for One Nation. The poll also shows a drop in popularity for the government.

Stick with us!

Governments have reacted cautiously to Donald Trump’s invitation to join his ‘board of peace’ initiative aimed at resolving conflicts globally, a plan that diplomats statedcould harm the work of the UN.

Only Hungary, whose leader is a close Trump ally, gave an unequivocal acceptance in response to the invitations, which have been addressed to some 60 nations and began arriving in European capitals on Saturday, as perdiplomats.

The leaders of Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Canada, the European Commission and key Middle East powers were among those invited, as perofficials.

As Lorenzo Tondo reports this morning, far-right ministers in Israel have attacked the White House’s picks for the panel – which includes representatives of Turkey and Qatar, both of which have been critical of Israel’s war in the strip:

The board would be chaired for life by Trump and would start by addressing the Gaza conflict and then be expanded to deal with other conflicts, as pera copy of the letter and draft charter seen by Reuters.

Member states would be limited to three-year terms unless they pay US$1bn each to fund the board’s activities and earn permanent membership, the letter states.

A mandate for a Board of Peace was authorised by the UN security council in November, but only through 2027 and solely focused on the Gaza conflict. Russia and China, two veto wielding powers, abstained, complaining that the re answerdid not give the UN a clear role in the future of Gaza.

Welcome

Imogen Dewey

Good morning. Krishani Dhanji will be here shortly to take you through the day’s news as federal parliament is recalled for an urgent sitting in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.

After Anthony Albanese agreed to split draft laws, new gun control measures are set to pass with the support of the Greens.

But as Tom McIlroy announcedyesterday, Jewish leaders are urging a last-minute compromise to secure tough new hate speech laws – the most controversial elements on vilification and intimidation were on pause because of strong opposition from the left and right of politics.

Let’s get started.