Politics

Australia's privacy framework is due for a meaningful overhaul. The Albanese Government released an exposure draft of the Privacy Amendment (Personal Data Protection) Bill 2026 on 31 August, targeting risks that have outpaced the existing Privacy Act 1988, specifically artificial intelligence and

One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen won the Secret Harbour by-election on Saturday with 14,924 two-candidate-preferred votes to Labor's Georgia Tree's 11,242, a margin of 3,682 votes and a 57 to 43 per cent split, delivering the party its first seat in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly.

Australia's humanitarian program is set at 20,000 places for 2026-27, up from the 13,750 ceiling the Coalition held in 2020-21. The opposition has signalled that the number of annual humanitarian places could fall again under its policy, without naming a figure.

Australia holds roughly 37 days of diesel cover. The government has opened consultation on spending 3.2 billion dollars to stockpile a billion litres of diesel and jet fuel by 2030.

Health and Disability Minister Mark Butler has signalled that a parliamentary deal with the Coalition on the most significant overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme since its founding is within reach.

When Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visited Australia in May 2026, she presented Anthony Albanese with a Shizuoka Crown melon cultivated under the strict "One Tree, One Fruit" greenhouse method, in which each vine yields a single high-grade fruit.

The Federal Court has ruled X cannot sit under two online safety regimes at once, exposing a structural flaw in how the regulator chose to police the platform.

There is a particular kind of political announcement that arrives dressed as generosity but is, on closer inspection, a confession. The joint federal and New South Wales commitment of A$2.5 billion to underwrite power costs at Tomago Aluminium is that kind of announcement.