Politics live updates: Albanese, Chalmers blame Middle East war, private sector for inflation spike

Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have indicated Taiwan’s request for a new diplomatic office in Perth has been rejected following concerns raised by China.

Earlier this year The Nightly revealed the Taiwanese Government, which does not have formal diplomatic ties with Australia, had submitted a proposal to DFAT to establish a new trade office in Western Australia.

During a senate estimates hearing, DFAT’s First Assistant Secretary for East Asia Michael Growder declined to confirm whether a formal application had been made to the department.

“Australia would consider any requests of this nature if they were made in accordance with our national interest,” he said in response to questions from Liberal Senator Jess Collins.

“Under Australia’s One China policy, we have a strong and productive, unofficial relationship with Taiwan, and it’s appropriate for Australia to advance this unofficial engagement through the Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices already in Australia.”

Pressed further on whether a new office proposal for Perth had been submitted and was not going to be accepted, Mr Growder refused to confirm details.

“All I would say, Senator, again, is that we would consider any requests of this nature if they were made in accordance with our national interest.”

The Nightly has confirmed representatives from the Chinese embassy in Canberra have lobbied both DFAT and Western Australia’s Premier Roger Cook to reject the Taiwanese proposal.

Anthony Albanese’s assistant minister Patrick Gorman has been the latest Labor MP to come to the Prime Minister’s defence over a $6 million grant for a golf club in his seat.

Questions began to mount over the Marrickville Golf Club grant last month when it was revealed the PM was an honorary member at the club.

When the link first emerged in an ABC report the PM claimed he had no knowledge that he held membership and he also claimed that the big price tag was for wider sewerage works.

But after continued pressure Mr Albanese used Question Time on Tuesday to admit that the grant wouldn’t actually cover the sewerage project, claiming the NSW government had stepped in to pay for that.

It has opened the floor to questions about where the sewerage claim first emerged from with his Labor frontbencher Catherine King who oversaw the grants scheme questioned whether the initial briefs she signed off on for the project mentioned sewerage issues.

According to her department in a Senate estimates hearing this week the initial scope of the work did not reference it.

During an interview with News24, Mr Gorman defended his boss and rejected a characterisation that his initial excuse for the $6 million price tag was incorrect.

“I don’t accept that characterisation. The Prime Minister added additional information in Question Time yesterday,” Mr Gorman said. “He outlined all of the circumstances, including the fact that the New South Wales Government had funded the sewerage works that the Prime Minister referred to.

“He tabled this document, which I am happy to hand to you and you can put on the News24 Twitter feed.

“It is a golf course that is about 84 years old. So, the same age as Chuck Norris.

“It hasn’t held up as well as Chuck Norris has but it’s an old golf course.

“It needed some investment. It had been a priority for the local council for a period of time. We are a government that partners with local government.”

Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers have repeatedly blamed the Middle East conflict and private sector growth as the primary factors for Australia’s higher inflation and not government spending.

During Question Time on Wednesday, the Prime Minister conceded the challenges facing the economy were serious, but insisted the government was helping the Reserve Bank fight inflation by delivering “budgets grounded in responsible management”.

“These are tough economic times around the world and they’re far from over. We’ve a plan to get through it and the government that I lead will continue to do everything we can to shield Australians from the worst of the impact,” Mr Albanese told the House.

The Treasurer also pointed to surging fuel prices as the main driver of higher inflation, arguing government spending was not to blame for the cost-of-living increases over the past year.

“We’re managing the budget and the economy in the most responsible way that we can,” Dr Chalmers told Parliament.

“You can see in these figures the very substantial impact on oil prices from the war in the Middle East. The single biggest driver of higher headline inflation was higher fuel prices.”

The Coalition have been blocked in their bid to table a string of documents highlighting the lack of evidence to Anthony Albanese’s claims a $6 million golf club grant in his seat was for sewage work.

The Prime Minister was forced to deliver a reluctant U-turn in Question Time on Tuesday after continued heat over the project at Marrickville Golf Club.

After weeks claiming the massive price tage would help with serious sewage issues at the club, the PM then revealed the NSW government would now fund those works. It means the $6 million will go towards the club’s improvements.

Coalition frontbenchers had sought to table documents showing it had only been a new defence after being caught out and that all along the PM hadn’t mentioned anything about the sewage works in previous communications.

“I’ve said that part of the original commitment of the upgrade of Marrickville Golf Club was going to fix the long-running sewage issue,” the PM said on QT on Wednesday.

“That was to be part of renovations. That isn’t the case (now) because the state government has stepped in and announced funding in September 2025.”

The Treasurer has talked up the benefits of free trade and urged the opposition to pass a new deal with the European Union, when questioned about latest official figures showing inflation rising in Australia.

During Question Time, Labor backbencher Mary Doyle asked Jim Chalmers to explain what Wednesday’s inflation data said about Australia’s economy and the government’s economic agenda including free trade.

In response, Dr Chalmers told the House: “anybody who cares about growing our economy the right way should be supporting the EU free trade agreement”.

“This side of the house is for more trade with our trusted partners around the world in the interests of Australian jobs and the Australian economy. If those opposite supported those things, they’d vote for it too.”

Transport Minister Catherine King has come under fire in Question Time for her defence of Anthony Albanese’s claim over a $6 million grant for a golf club in his seat.

She is just one of several Labor members who have had to defend the Prime Minister for the cash splash on the Marrickville Golf Club after it was revealed the PM’s claims the money would go to sewerage works were false.

Ms King told News24’s Sunday Agenda that the grant was to fix sewage flows, however, her department has told Senate Estimates this week that sewerage works wasn’t listed in the brief she signed off on.

“As I said multiple times during that interview, I would have to check exactly what was being delivered through that grant,” she told the House under pressure in Question Time.

“So, if you actually hadn’t listened to the interview.

“I understand that the Prime Minister addressed this issue in Question Time yesterday.

“But to repeat when this funding commitment was made in April 2025… part of the commitment included sewerage works in September 2025 (but) the New South Wales government stepped in to fund the sewage-related aspects.

“The Inner West Council confirmed that they are currently finalising the design of the entire project, including improvements to the clubhouse, stormwater harvesting, and a new toilet and landscaping.”

She then summed up her response by accusing the Coalition of making commitments under the influence of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

Education Minister Jason Clare has urged Coalition MPs who voted against the Digital Duty of Care laws to “reconsider” their position when it reaches the Senate.

He said digital protections would assist Australia to combat anti-Semitism and pointed to commentary from the nation’s special envoy Jillan Segal - who insisted it was necessary.

“Jillian Segal recently said ‘my hope is that the digital duty of care will make it harder for algorithms to dish up this sort of content to Australians’,” he said.

“There’s no place for anti-Semitism. Or any type of racism or any type of hate in Australia. “

He said the Government was working to review the national curriculum and had set up an anti-Semitism education taskforce to improve education.

The topic will be debated at a meeting of all education ministers next week.

Anthony Albanese has urged the Australian Parliament to help Labor “call time” on big tech as the House of Representatives today passed their Digital Duty of Care bill.

The digital regulation plans to put the onus back on tech platforms but has faced backlash from the Coalition, One Nation and free speech advocates as an attempt at “censorship”.

The bill will now go to the Senate where it is expected to face a Senate inquiry, with a report due on November 20 ahead of the final sitting week before the summer break.

“This is not about government control. It’s about giving Australians control,” he said.

“Australian parents and the Australian people want the Parliament to act on this and this is our opportunity to deliver.”

The Coalition joint party room on Tuesday resolved to oppose the legislation, while the Greens are open to working with Labor on amendments.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has asked the PM if he’ll “acknowledge reality” on government spending as inflation reaches a six-month high of 4.3 per cent.

The Liberal leader questioned Anthony Albanese as Question Time opened in the House on Wednesday, insisting the Labor Government had left Australians under pressure and worse off.

“As Australians brace for a 17th interest rate increase under Labor will the Prime Minister acknowledge reality and admit Labor’s out of control spending is forcing families and small businesses to pay more for everything?” he asked.

The Prime Minister said his Government was helping households in a range of ways, including through measures such as cheaper medicines and their free TAFE initiative.

“We certainly understand that that puts people under pressure and just like in countries right around the world the challenges that we face in our economy are serious,” Mr Albanese said.

“But we know there’s more to do. These are tough economic times right around the world.

“And the Government that I leave will continue to do everything we can.”

CBA has become the third big bank to predict a rate rise on Tuesday.

“We now expect the RBA to hike the cash rate by 25bp to 4.85%. There are no guarantees it will be unanimous given the back to back hikes,” CBA said in a statement after today’s inflation result.

“The key question is whether four hikes this year is enough. Recent RBA communications have been hawkish and suggests the answer is no.”

It follows ANZ and Westpace also predicting a rate rise, with just NAB yet to make a call.