Federal politics live: Government announces new powers to crack down on crypto ATMs

Liberal senator Dave Sharma has used a speech overnight to caution against pursuing “toxic” populist policies.

In a speech to the Sydney Institute, the shadow assistant minister for competition, charities and treasury outlined an economic vision for the party focused on growing the national economy, largely by lifting restrictions on the private sector.

“Stagnant economies provide the breeding ground for populism, with its identification of villains and simplistic solutions,” a transcript of his speech said.

“If Australia’s economy remains stagnant, we too will fall victim to populism, to this toxic form of politics.”

Some of Sharma’s colleagues, including Andrew Hastie, have been accused of pushing for populist economic and immigration policies, like restarting local car manufacturing.

A speech by senior conservative James Paterson on Tuesday was also seen as taking a swipe at that ambition as he warned against the “political destruction” the movement has achieved in the UK. 

Paterson spent yesterday denying the speech was aimed at anyone inside the political Liberal Party.

The Albanese government has re-established the Royal Australian Air Force’s historic Number 12 Squadron at RAAF Base Edinburgh in South Australia, in a move that expands Australia’s maritime surveillance capability.

The announcement coincides with the arrival of the nation’s 13th P-8A Poseidon aircraft, part of a fleet underpinning Australia’s anti-submarine warfare, maritime strike and reconnaissance operations. A 14th and final Poseidon is scheduled to arrive in 2026.

Operating alongside the existing 11 Squadron, the revived 12 Squadron will conduct long-range patrols, providing what Defence describes as a “persistent watch” in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific environment.

Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Stephen Chappell said the unit’s return marked both a symbolic and operational milestone.

“Number 12 Squadron has played a proud role in the history of our Air Force and the defence of our nation, a role it will continue from today,” he said.

Continue reading this exclusive report at the link below. 

Pauline Hanson has foreshadowed there could be more defections from the Liberal/National parties to join the One Nation Ranks.

Long-time Nationals Tamworth branch chairman Steven Coxhead joined her party earlier this week. Speaking with ABC Radio National Breakfast this morning, Hanson flagged a “high profile former Liberal Party president” would be making the switch soon too.

“That hasn’t been announced as yet. So there are people who are coming across to One Nation because they see that there’s no future with the Liberal National party,” she said.

But she said she’s not in talks with any federal parliamentarians.

“These people have to make up their own minds,” she said.

Support for the conservative party has increased since the last election. Hanson says voters aren’t supporting the Liberal Party because they are “fed up” with their policies and “lack of action”.

“That’s what politics is all about … putting out the policies that are in line with the people’s thinking, what they want for the country and for future generations of the nation,’ Hanson said.

“I think conservatives … like James Paterson or Michaelia Cash or [Andrew] Hastie or [Jacinta] Nampijinpa Price, I think they’re facing a losing battle in so many areas with the moderates and progressives sort of taking over the Liberal Party.

“So I think they will struggle.”

The chair of the Productivity Commission says there’s a need to continue conversations about tax reform to boost Australia’s economy.

On Monday the Treasurer Jim Chalmers backed down on two of the most controversial elements of the government’s planned changes to superannuation tax.

Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood said the Commission had not done any work on that particular proposal, but that it did show how challenging reform can be.

Asked if the government needed to be more ambitious in tax reform,  Wood said there were already proposals in the pipeline.

“Tax is not the only lever when it comes to productivity, a lot of those big pieces around approvals, around streamlining regulation are really critically important as well and it’s great to see some of those things progress,” Wood told ABC Radio National Breakfast.

“But tax is part of the mix and I think there is scope for the government to push further on tax reform.”

Pat Conroy, the minister for defence industry, has spent the past couple of days in the United States ahead of the prime minister’s meeting with US President Donald Trump next week.

The Labor frontbencher told ABC Radio National Breakfast he wasn’t seeking assurances about the future of AUKUS during his meetings in Washington.

“We’re giving space to the Trump administration to do their review, just like we conducted our review, as did the Starmer government,” he said.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm for AUKUS in the United States, particularly at a congressional level, and every congressional leader I’ve met with has been very strong in support for AUKUS, and as a co-equal branch of the government, I think that’s very encouraging.”

Asked if there was a possibility of Anthony Albanese returning home without an assurance on AUKUS, Conroy said the meeting between the two leaders was “much bigger” than the submarine pact.

“So I wouldn’t see it purely through AUKUS. I’m sure it may come up in conversation, but I think it would be a mistake to just sort of simplify the relationship to AUKUS by itself.”

Newly-appointed Shadow Attorney-General Andrew Wallace was put under the microscope this morning as the Coalition continues to call for more to be done amid an uptick of crime in Victoria. 

Wallace travelled to Melbourne alongside Opposition Leader Sussan Ley on Wednesday, where they held a child safety roundtable and visited programs dealing with at-risk youth and reoffenders.

But Wallace, who was appointed to the role just on Monday, was unable to outline how the federal Coalition would respond if they were in charge when asked repeatedly asked on ABC Radio National Breakfast. 

“Where you have people who are victims of crime and they are Australians and where we see faults and flaws that are as significant as what we’re seeing in Victoria, it’s important that we call them out,” he said.

Asked if the opposition has a policy on youth crime right now, Wallace pointed to a push to introduce mandatory minimum sentencing for child exploitation offences.

Pressed again on the Coalition’s policy, Wallace said criminal law was in “predominantly the purview of the states and territories” and the opposition would “develop laws in the lead up too the next election”.

 “We’re not the government in Victoria. The government of Victoria has the predominate responsibility.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has declined to say whether she supports net zero as she insisted she wouldn’t put a deadline on the party’s policy review process.

The Coalition is currently reviewing its energy policy, including its commitment to lower emissions to net zero by 2050. Ley said she wanted that process, run by shadow minister Dan Tehan, to be “done well”.

“I won’t give you dates and I won’t forecast the landing point on that policy,” she said.

Asked if she supported net zero by 2050 and whether she could lead a party that wasn’t committed to the target, Ley responded: 

“I talked about our energy policy. I tell you what I don’t support, the 2035 targets the government recently released.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley stopped by ABC News Breakfast this morning, where she reiterated her concern about crime rates in Victoria.

Ley found herself in a war of words with state premier, Jacinta Allan, on Wednesday after she seized on statistics that showed criminal offenses in Victoria had spiked 15.7 per cent in the year to mid-2025.

She questioned whether Allan had asked for federal assistance and suggested Melbourne was now the “crime capital” of Australia.

“There is always an opportunity for premiers to ask prime ministers for help. We offered support, particularly with early intervention and youth programs, to address the while of the crisis.

“The premier, I don’t know if she’s asked Anthony Albanese for help. I know we’ve got a Labor government in Victoria, a Labor government in Canberra, and a crime crisis on the streets of Melbourne.

“We can’t accept that this is good enough. The state opposition leader Brad Battin has a $100 million community safety package on the table. I think the premier and the prime minister need to treat this matter with urgency.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan has rejected suggestion he’s behind a call for seven disenfranchised Liberals to switch sides and hand his party the balance of power within the Coalition.

The idea was credited to the backbencher in a report in The Australian this morning. The Liberals hold 28 seats in the lower house to the Nationals 15. If seven MPs switched sides, the Nationals would hold 22 seats to the Liberals 21.

“I’m not actively pursuing it, so it’s a matter for those Liberals,” he told Sky News.

“But I can do maths as well as anybody else. Those numbers check out. If seven Liberals came to the National Party, the National Party would be His Majesty’s opposition.

“I’ve said since the election that it would make sense for the Nationals Party to take on a bigger share of the load of winning back government.”

Canavan said he’d love to have more people join the Nationals but he was “not making any direct overtures”.

“That’s a matter for them,” he said.

A day after a senior Liberal called on the party to shelve talks of a split a report has shed some light on the disaffected chatter taking place within the Coalition.

A report in The Australian suggested Liberals frustrated by climate and energy policy are aware it would only take seven MPs to switch allegiances to the Nationals to give the junior partner the balance of power within the Coalition.

It comes as other MPs raise the possibility of merging the two parties into one federal body, as happened in the Queensland division in 2008, or the formation of a new party altogether.

But senior Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie doesn’t think that would be a good idea.

“Look it’s true, seven is the magic number … I could be the opposition leader. But it’s not fantasy football,” she told Nine.

McKenzie said she understood that after the election drubbing the Liberals experienced in May, it was only natural some were wanting to “redefine the Menzion legacy for modern Australia”.

“I think the idea that there’s a federal LNP on the way isn’t the answer,” she said.

That being said, the senator said she’d welcome anyone who shared the Nationals views into the fold “with open arms” but she wanted the Liberals to be successful.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke will also unpack the risks cryptocurrency ATMs pose, in his National Press Club speech later today.

If you have no idea what they are, basically, they’re ATMs that enable people to convert cash into cryptocurrency. But they’re being used for scams and fraud, too.

Burke said there are “significant money laundering, terrorism financing and serious crime risks associated with crypto ATMs” and the number of them are quickly rising.

“Australia has the highest number of CATMs in the region, and the third highest in the world,” he said.

So, financial crimes agency AUSTRAC will get new powers to target and restrict crypto ATMs, but the government is yet to reveal much more detail than that.

Cracking down on criminals who use the bank accounts of international students to launder money, is set to be a key feature of a speech by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke in Canberra today.

At the National Press Club, he’s expected to unveil greater powers for banks to check if international students are still living in Australia by giving them ongoing access to someone’s visa information.

Why? Because the government’s warning criminals are renting and buying legitimate bank accounts from international students and other visa holders as an avenue for money laundering.

Essentially, criminals pay students to use their account for transferring stolen money, making them money mules, sometimes unknowingly.

“It’s about equipping banks with the right information to help them manage risk and prevent their accounts falling into the hands of criminals,” Burke said in a statement ahead of the speech.

It’s a problem that’s becoming more common, prompting federal police earlier this year to warn students about the practice that is sometimes advertised as a “side hustle job.”

“Most of the targets are financially vulnerable, looking for part-time or casual employment, speak English as a second language, and have limited knowledge of Australian laws,” the AFP said in March.

Welcome to our federal politics live blog! I’m Courtney Gould and I’ll be guiding you through the morning.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke will use a speech at the National Press Club today to unveil greater powers to crackdown on crypto ATMs used for money laundering.

The sun is up and so am I, so grab a coffee and let’s just dive straight into the day.

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