Politics live updates: Coffee cart row as Coalition attacks Labor’s COP spending, rejects hypocrisy claims

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says he has received briefings Australia’s Cyber Security Coordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness, and Microsoft about a massive IT outage, which he says authorities do not believe to be a cyber attack.

Microsoft has been hit with a widespread global outage as users face disruptions across its online services including Outlook, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive and Copilot.

“They believe that they’re dealing in some ways similar to what we saw with respect to CrowdStrike, where there is an update that has that has gone awry,” Mr Burke told reporters in Sydney.

“One of the things that we had with CrowdStrike was we then had a whole lot of downstream impacts where it was affected the capability of a whole range of other products quite separate from that”.

NAB chief executive Andrew Irvine says AI will have the biggest effect on society since the industrial revolution.

The head of Australia’s biggest business lender, however, denied artificial intelligence was behind last month’s move to retrench 2500 staff or 6 per cent of its global workforce by mid-2027.

“While NAB’s recent workforce changes were not driven by AI, we must acknowledge the reality that artificial intellligence will ultimately have implications for the future workforce in banking and any other industry,” he told the House of Representatives economics committee.

“This will include adapting to rapid technological change such as artificial intelligence which will be as consequential to how we all live and work as any previous industrial revolution.

“When used responsibly, AI improves customer and colleague experiences, increases productivity and helps colleagues spend me time serving customers.”

He began his evidence to MPs noting the Reserve Bank’s five rate hikes this year were hurting borrowers as businesses absorbed higher wholesale costs.

“Many of our customers are managing but many are finding it tougher,” Mr Irvine said.

“Families are watching household budgets closely while businesses are absorbing higher input costs.”

Victorian Premier Ben Carroll is at risk of losing his own seat at the State election, as the Coalition extends its primary vote lead over Labor with just over two weeks to go until polling day.

A new poll out on Friday shows Opposition Leader Jess Wilson is on track to lead the Liberal-Nationals coalition to a win at the November 28 election.

The second Lighthouse election tracking poll conducted by News Corp Australia’s Growth Intelligence Centre shows Labor’s primary vote has fallen one point to 21 per cent, while the Coalition has risen one to 32 per cent, the Herald Sun reported.

One Nation’s primary vote was stable at 23 per cent, as was the Greens at 14 per cent and ‘others’ sitting at 10 per cent.

The net favourability ratings of both Mr Carroll and Ms Wilson have improved as the campaign continues, but Ms Wilson is significantly more popular, sitting at +17 while Mr Carroll trails on -19.

Meanwhile, bookmaker Sportsbet has shortened the odds of Mr Carroll retaining his seat of Niddrie in Melbourne’s northwest, pushing him out to paying $2.80 against the $1.45 for the Liberals.

The poll comes as the Coalition and One Nation on Monday resolved to preference each other ahead of Labor on how-to-vote cards in key seats across the state, a move which could mean deeper losses for Mr Carroll.

The Coalition would benefit from One Nation preferences in battles against Labor, while Pauline Hanson’s party could take over Labor in seats where the Coalition doesn’t finish in the top two in the voting count.

with NCA Newswire

The chief executives of NAB and Commonwealth Bank are appearing before a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra on the day variable interest rates rise.

National Australia Bank CEO Andrew Irvine has begun giving evidence at Parliament House as the head of Australia’s biggest business lender.

His Commonwealth Bank counterpart Matt Comyn is taking questions on Friday afternoon.

The second day of the House of Representatives economics committee into the big four banks is being held on a Friday the 13th as Australia’s biggest lenders pass on the Reserve Bank’s latest 25 basis point increase.

ANZ chief executive Nuno Matos and his Westpac counterpart Anthony Miller appeared on Thursday.

A political debate has broken out over the Albanese government’s spending at COP31, with the Coalition criticising a $32,000 expenditure on a coffee cart and the cost of sending 192 officials to the event.

During a heated clash, Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume described the coffee cart spending as “excessive” and “performative” amid ongoing cost-of-living pressures and rising energy bills.

While the Coalition originally introduced the initiative at the 2021 summit under former energy minister Angus Taylor, Ms Hume argued the economic circumstances were vastly different at the time.

“We didn’t spend $30,000 on a coffee cart during a cost-of-living crisis. We didn’t send almost 200 bureaucrats at a cost of $2 million when we have energy bills going up by 40 per cent,” Ms Hume told Sunrise.

“This is crazy stuff.”

Health Minister Mark Butler jumped to Labor’s defence, saying the expenditures were “necessary” and a coffee cart at the Australian pavilion was an effective way to promote the nation’s offerings on the world stage.

“It’s a necessary expenditure every year. This is the biggest industry trade expo there is in the world. It’s not just a government negotiation,” Mr Butler said.

“Now, governments for a long time have known that one of the best ways to bait the hook, to get people to stop by the Australian pavilion, is the fact we have the best coffee in the world.”

The regions are set to remain a focal point in Victoria’s election campaign, as the opposition leader hits the road ahead of early voting.

Stepping aboard the “Jess Express”, the journey was marked by a handful of jokes and another stunt aimed at Labor, with eye masks handed out bearing the message “wake up Ben”.

As the party’s bus headed down the Hume Highway towards Wodonga, pressure was building in Melbourne for Labor.

Premier Ben Carroll was on Thursday accused of “abandoning” promises made to injured workers.

It marked the latest attack by a union in the past week for the government, with the community and public sector union withdrawing its support after public service cuts.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari hit out at the government following a pre-election budget update from Victoria’s Department of Treasury and Finance, which revealed the government had raided $1.3 billion in payments from WorkSafe.

“This surplus is built by once again ripping money away from injured workers,” Mr Hilakari said.

Back in Wodonga, Ms Wilson gathered at a local pub in the electorate of Benambra, held by retiring Liberal MP Bill Tilley for two decades, to chat with eager voters on Thursday.

The coalition is sitting strong ahead of election day, with its primary vote at 31 per cent, according to the The Australian Financial Review/RedBridge/Accent Research poll published on Wednesday.

Labor’s primary vote sits at 23 per cent, while One Nation remains strong at 22 per cent and the Greens at 15 per cent.

with AAP

Greta Thunberg has slammed Australia’s track record on climate action at COP31 talks in Turkey, saying “even a snail would agree” that the country needs to move faster.

The 23-year-old Swedish environmental and social activist’s appearance alongside speakers from Australia, Nepal, Rwanda and Gaza caused traffic chaos inside the United Nations’ climate summit in Antalya on Thursday, which also heard criticism of Australia’s ongoing mining approvals.

Australia’s Energy Minister Chris Bowen will lead negotiations at the annual event, which has drawn more than 92,000 attendees, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived on Wednesday for the leaders’ summit portion of the event.

Asked whether she agreed with comments about Australia’s slow record on climate action, Ms Thunberg said her opinion was obvious.

“Even a snail would agree with that,” she told the crowd.

“It’s commonsense. It doesn’t get more clear than that.”

with AAP

A new national centre dedicated to detecting and disrupting the threat of online violent extremism and terrorism formally begins operations on Friday after $74 million was allocated for the initiative in the May budget.

The Counter Terrorism Online Centre (CTOC) will assist ASIO and Australian Federal Police to identify, target and disrupt credible threats, and will also provide an early warning system for the nation’s joint counter terrorism teams.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who will officially open the new centre in Sydney on Friday, has warned: “more young Australians are being radicalised online, and it happens very quickly”.

“The CTOC provides – for the first time – a single point of coordination for online threats. A converged threat environment needs a converged response, the CTOC brings together the expertise of the AFP and ASIO to keep Australians safe.”

“The capability we’ve always had to monitor extremists in the meeting room now extends to the chat room,” the Minister said in a statement.

“The CTOC will go where the threat is, regardless of ideology, online location, or actors. Their work will complement efforts of state and territory police to make sure the right action is being taken to identify and disrupt threats.”

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