Andrew Leigh backs cancellation of Israeli MP’s visa
The assistant minister for competition, Andrew Leigh, has defended the government’s decision to deny entry to a far-right Israeli politician who described Gazan children as “enemies” and called for Israel’s total control of the West Bank.
As Sarah Basford Canales reports, Simcha Rothman, a member of the Knesset for the far-right party Religious Zionism, was scheduled to appear at two public events in Sydney and Melbourne in August and two private events billed as a “solidarity tour”.
Leigh did not comment on the specifics of the decision to deny him a visa but said the government would not allow people to “sow discord in Australia”.
Here’s what he told the ABC a few moments ago:
Social cohesion is important and the home affairs minister [Tony Burke] has said he makes no apology for taking a hard line on intolerance and sowing division.
We want to make sure those coming to Australia are doing so to contribute to the public conversation in a positive way and we don’t want to see that conversation become nasty and more divisive than it is already.
Key events
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has criticised the conduct of some people who marched over the Sydney harbour bridge calling for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
On the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program, Bragg was asked for a response to the federal government’s decision to deny entry a far-right Israeli politician who has described Palestinian children in Gaza as “enemies”.
Bragg did not comment on the case as he had not been briefed on it, but raised concerns about the conduct of some protesters who held images of the Ayatollah and chating “from the river to the sea” while marching over the bridge.
I think the idea that you can propose the erasure of Israel, and that be seen as something that no-one even takes as a serious affront shows that we are in a very bad spot with some of these debates
New South Wales police said initial estimates put the crowd at 90,000. A spokesperson for rally organisers, the Palestine Action Group, said police had informed them 100,000 people were in attendance – but the group estimated the figure was closer to 300,000.
There were no arrests or reports of anti-social behavious on the day.
Joe Aston, a former columnist with the Australian Financial Review who wrote a book on Qantas, says the union that brought a legal case against the airline should be congratulated.
As we told you earlier, Qantas has been fined a record $90m for illegally firing 1,820 baggage handlers and other ground staff in 2020, taking the cost of its controversial outsourcing decision to more than $200m.
Aston said no one believed the Transport Workers Union, which launched legal action, had a chance of victory at the time.
Here’s what he told the ABC:
I think that the Transport Workers Union should be lauded, frankly. They took on this risk entirely on their own shoulders. I can tell you, when they launched this case, it looked like a hopeless case. Nobody thought that they would win. Nobody thought that it would be so spectacular, that’s for sure.
Andrew Leigh backs cancellation of Israeli MP’s visa
The assistant minister for competition, Andrew Leigh, has defended the government’s decision to deny entry to a far-right Israeli politician who described Gazan children as “enemies” and called for Israel’s total control of the West Bank.
As Sarah Basford Canales reports, Simcha Rothman, a member of the Knesset for the far-right party Religious Zionism, was scheduled to appear at two public events in Sydney and Melbourne in August and two private events billed as a “solidarity tour”.
Leigh did not comment on the specifics of the decision to deny him a visa but said the government would not allow people to “sow discord in Australia”.
Here’s what he told the ABC a few moments ago:
Social cohesion is important and the home affairs minister [Tony Burke] has said he makes no apology for taking a hard line on intolerance and sowing division.
We want to make sure those coming to Australia are doing so to contribute to the public conversation in a positive way and we don’t want to see that conversation become nasty and more divisive than it is already.
Shadow treasurer attending productivity roundtable ‘in good faith’
The shadow minister for productivity, Andrew Bragg, says the Coalition will attend this week’s economic roundtable in good faith.
The shadow treasurer, Ted O’Brien, will attend the three-day summit at Parliament House.
Bragg says the Coalition is open to suggestions about cutting regulation and that the summit would help inform the Liberal policy platform.
Ted is going to the roundtable in good faith.
We are the alternative government and we need to develop our own policies over the course of this term.
This is an opportunity for us to have some inputs into our own process, but also look to find common ground where we can help the Australian people have a better economy.
Productivity roundtable chance to ‘set us up for the future’, AI Group chief says
Business lobby groups are framing this week’s productivity roundtable as a “legacy moment for Australia”.
The summit will run from Tuesday to Thursday in Parliament House, with a focus on productivity, resilience and budget sustainability. But with the government already having ruled out large changes to tax, spending or contentious settings like negative gearing, some critics in the Coalition and media have said the summit risks devolving into a talkfest without the chance of meaningful outcomes.
But Innes Willox, the AI Group’s chief executive, believes it could be a transformational moment for the economy and workers:
We have a real chance here to get things right, to set us up for the future, a future which is better for all of us at a time of massive change across the economy.
We’re seeing huge changes occur around technology, around our move towards a net zero economy and our complete decarbonisation of the economy that we need at the moment, all of these things are making change imperative.
What got us to this point and what brought success to our economy in the past is no guarantee of doing so in the future.
Luca Ittimani
More from Ampol’s annual report, released today
Australia’s big-brand petrol retailer is doubling down on service stations and hedging its bets on direct petrol production, even as tobacco sales crumble.
The company overall saw profits slide to $180m after tax excluding one-offs, with declining oil prices and sales dragging underlying earnings at its fuel refining and trading business down from $225m to $118m.
Oil markets have been up and down in 2025 thanks to conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine. That “unpredictable geopolitical backdrop” ate into fuel market earnings and left convenience stores accounting for nearly half of all underlying earnings, at $182m.
The company last week bid $1.1bn for the EG Australia service station network, with plans to roll out even more Foodary snack shops. Matt Halliday, the chief executive, said that would strengthen the business by shifting it towards “more predictable, retail driven sources and reducing exposure to … refining and trading”.
Service stations have their own trouble, though, with Ampol’s convenience sales slipping in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, from $527m to $491m.
Tobacco sales fell almost a third over the year to June, and now make up less than a fifth of Ampol’s convenience store sales. Smokers are swapping to cheaper black market products, hitting businesses across the country (and the federal budget).
But Ampol’s stores are now earning a 40% pre-tax profit margin, up from 37% in 2024 and less than 30% in 2020 – in part because consumers traded up to higher-margin tobacco products, even as they cut total spend. Matt Halliday, the chief executive, said:
We’ve continued to successfully outrun the industry’s decline in tobacco.
Sarah Basford Canales
Far-right Israeli politician denied entry into Australia
A far-right Israeli politician, who has described Gazan children as “enemies” and called for Israel’s total control of the West Bank, has been denied entry into Australia ahead of an upcoming “solidarity tour”.
Simcha Rothman, a member of the Knesset for the far-right party Religious Zionism, was scheduled to appear at two public events in Sydney and Melbourne in August and two private events billed as a “solidarity tour”.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed on Monday Rothman’s visa application had been rejected and he would not be able to apply for one for three years. Guardian Australia first put questions to his office on Friday morning.
Burke’s statement said:
Our government takes a hard line on people who seek to come to our country and spread division. If you are coming to Australia to spread a message of hate and division, we don’t want you here. Under our government, Australia will be a country where everyone can be safe, and feel safe.
Read more:
NSW SES warns of wet weather that may cause flash flooding and riverine rises
Nick Visser
The NSW State Emergency Service issued new warnings for residents in the northern part of the state to prepare for hazardous conditions linked to a forecast full of rain in the coming days.
Officials said the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting rainfall across the central and northern coast from Wednesday, with moderate to heavy rainfall totals of 40-90mm likely in 24-hour periods, with isolated falls exceeding 120mm possible. The state’s north-west could see smaller but still significant rain events.
All that water could lead to minor to moderate flooding for coastal catchments, with an initial flood watch declared for Orara, Bellinger, Nambucca, Macleay, Hastings, Peel and Namoi rivers.
NSW SES assistant commissioner Colin Malone said:
We know that catchments in northern NSW are saturated from recent weather events and will respond quickly to this rainfall.
It’s important that everyone understands their own flood risk and has an emergency plan in place. That means knowing where you will go and what you will do if flooding affects you and your family.
Queensland police to ask court to halt pro-Palestine protest in Brisbane
Andrew Messenger
Queensland police will go to court in an effort to halt a planned pro-Palestine march over Brisbane’s Story Bridge.
A spokesperson for the Queensland police service confirmed that mediation had taken place on Monday morning, “however, an agreement could not be met”:
Under provisions of the Peaceful Assembly Act, police will lodge documentation with Brisbane magistrates court for a decision to be made with respect to the notice of intention to hold a public assembly.
Justice for Palestine spokesperson Magan-djin Remah Naji said the group is expecting at least 7,000 people to march over the bridge on Sunday.
Our march is still authorised and is protected under the Peaceful Assembly Act and also Human Rights Act. And if the police want to challenge this, the onus is on them to take us to court.
Naji said they already have a lawyer briefed to defend their right to protest:
We’re very much willing to defend our fundamental right to peaceful assembly. If they want to go down this path, we’re ready.
That’s all for me. Henry Belot will guide you through the rest of the day’s news. Take care.
Michelle O’Byrne to be Australia’s next gender equality ambassador
Former Tasmanian Labor MP Michelle O’Byrne will be Australia’s next gender equality ambassador after years of advocacy to advance women’s rights, AAP reports.
O’Byrne served as the federal member for Bass from 1998 to 2004 and then as the state member for Bass in the Tasmanian parliament from 2006 to 2025.
The ambassador for gender equality aims to drive Australia’s efforts to end gender-based violence, promote economic equality and inclusive trade, support women’s participation in climate and humanitarian action, and champion women’s leadership across the Indo-Pacific.
Benita Kolovos
Icac chief commissioner appears before Victoria parliamentary inquiry
The chief commissioner of the New South Wales anti-corruption watchdog, John Hatzistergos, says if Gladys Berejiklian and Daryl Maguire’s secret relationship had occurred in Victoria, his counterparts in the state would not have had the power to investigate it.
Hatzistergos made the comparison at a hearing of a Victorian parliamentary inquiry looking at the adequacy of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac) framework.
He said NSW’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) – has a broader definition of “corrupt conduct” than Victoria. This allows it to investigate substantial breaches of the codes of conduct that govern ministers and MPs, as well as allegations of disciplinary offences and criminal offences.
Hatzistergos said:
Your [Victoria’s] offences are very limited to bribery and some of the other public offences, common law offences, so it’s a much more restrictive remit than we have in our legislation … In the Operation Keppel case involving former premier Gladys Berejiklian and the former MP for Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire, those circumstances arguably would not have fallen within the remit of Ibac, but the conduct itself was quite serious.
Operation Keppel was set up to examine the conduct of Maguire between 2012 and 2018. It was widened to include Berejiklian after she revealed she was in a “close personal relationship” with Maguire.
It found Berejiklian “engaged in serious corrupt conduct” by not declaring a conflict of interest between her personal life and her public duties. She also breached public trust in the awarding of funding to two projects Maguire had lobbied for in his electorate.
Tasmanian Greens will not back no-confidence motion in premier Jeremy Rockliff
Rosalie Woodruff, the leader of the Tasmanian Greens, said the party would not back a motion of no-confidence in the state’s Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff.
Woodruff just spoke to reporters as both Rockliff and the Labor leader, Dean Winter, have vied for crossbenchers to form government when the Tasmanian parliament opens tomorrow. Woodruff said while the Greens do not have confidence in the Liberal government, they had failed to reach a deal with Labor, which had promised to see the motion moved tomorrow. She said:
It is with great disappointment and frustration that the Greens have come to a united decision that we do not have confidence in Dean Winter’s Labor being the next government for Tasmania. And to be very clear, neither do we have confidence in the Liberal government.
So, if Dean Winter does move the motion that he’s foreshadowed in parliament tomorrow – a motion of no-confidence in the Liberal government and a motion of confidence in himself – then the Greens will be voting against that motion.
Officials investigating after small plane crashes on Sydney’s Mona Vale golf course
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is urging witnesses to come forward with any video after a small aircraft crash-landed on Mona Vale golf course in Sydney’s northern beaches yesterday.
Officials said the small plane left Camden airport and was conducting a training flight with a pilot and instructor on board. The plane reportedly experienced engine power loss before it crashed dramatically on the grounds of the course.
Video footage shows the plane skidding along the grass near the green of one hole, as passersby run to assist. AAP reported that the pair on board sustained only minor injuries.
ATSB will investigate the incident, including conducting interviews with the pilots.
Luca Ittimani
Petrol purchases ease as budget buyers desert Ampol
Australian motorists bought less petrol in the first half of 2025 and moved away from major retailer Ampol as they looked for bottom-priced fuels.
The country’s largest service station network, with nearly 1,700 stores, sold less fuel in the first half of 2025 than in the same period a year prior – a 4.6% fall, even bigger than the industry decline of 3%.
Ampol’s service station petrol sales fell from 1.82bn litres to 1.74bn litres, taking fuel revenues from more than $2.3bn to $2bn, according to its mid-year report released this morning.
The company said Cyclone Alfred and back-to-back public holidays in April cut traffic flows and petrol demand.
Customers cut back on premium fuels at half the rate they did on low-grade petrol, though, cushioning the blow for the retailer’s bottom line but suggesting budget-conscious motorists are looking elsewhere for their 91 unleaded.
Ampol’s CEO, Matt Halliday, told investors he hoped to regain price-focused customers with the self-serve U-Go brand, which launched its first 34 sites this year, and with the EG Australia brand, which Ampol announced last week it would buy for $1.1bn.
The company is also chasing the electric vehicle market by putting in some on-the-go charging stations, with 180 bays now installed across 69 sites in Australia, though Halliday said they would keep an eye on slowing energy grid development and bumpy EV sales.
Qantas accepts landmark $90m fine and says it ‘holds us accountable’
Qantas just responded to the $90m fine it received this morning for illegally firing 1,820 baggage handlers and other ground staff in 2020. The country’s largest airline said it accepted the decision, adding the judgment “holds us accountable for our actions that caused real harm to our employees”.
Vanessa Hudson, the airline’s CEO, said in a statement:
We sincerely apologise to each and every one of the 1,820 ground handling employees and to their families who suffered as a result.
The decision to outsource five years ago, particularly during such an uncertain time, caused genuine hardship for many of our former team and their families. The impact was felt not only by those who lost their jobs, but by our entire workforce.
Qantas said the $90m penalty would be paid in accordance with the orders of the court.
Read more here:
We have some photos of the shark-bitten surfboard we reported on earlier from NSW’s Cabarita beach:
And with a foot for scale:
