Thank you for following our national news live blog on Monday, August 17.

Here’s what is making headlines today.

• The Albanese government’s gun buyback scheme adopted by NSW Premier Chris Minns yesterday won’t stop the “next Bondi”, the state’s opposition leader has warned, joining the swath of Coalition and One Nation MPs raising alarm about the scheme. Kellie Sloane, who represents Sydney’s eastern suburbs and one of the first to Bondi after the December attack, said the “real enemy” was terror and hate, rather than guns. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has also opposed the measure.
• Australian voters have condemned the Albanese government’s handling of immigration policy, with 54 per cent agreeing the government is running the portfolio in an “unplanned and unmanaged way”, according to the latest Resolve Political Monitor. However, 60 per cent of voters like falling house prices, while concern about the cost of living has fallen to the lowest level since February 2023.
• One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce says he will “absolutely” not attend Mardi Gras, one day after party leader Pauline Hanson doubled down on decades-old comments in which she said she “didn’t like” the LGBTQIA+ event, saying that sexuality should be kept “behind closed doors”. It follows Joyce’s claim that One Nation was “one of the gayest parties in Australia”. He sidestepped a question on whether he supported the Mardi Gras event more generally.
• Ukraine launched hundreds of drones across Russia overnight in an attack that killed at least six people, marking Kyiv’s latest attack in a ramp-up of efforts against Russia this year. Long-range missiles and drones swarmed military industries, energy facilities and retail warehouses across Russia, bringing the war home to the Russian public nearly 4½ years into Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Victoria will avoid a third teachers’ strike after members of the Australian Education Union voted to accept the state government’s offer of a minimum pay increase of 28.3 per cent over four years.

The eleventh-hour deal will make the state’s public school teachers the best paid in the country, raising graduate pay to $96,589 from November next year, up from $79,589.

An experienced teacher’s pay will increase from $118,063 to $151,419 by 2029, including a $15,393 boost this year – taking them ahead of NSW teachers.

The union had originally sought a 35 per cent pay increase over three years, which would have meant graduate teachers started on more than $107,400 by 2028, and experienced teachers would earn more than $159,300 by 2028.

Opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan has been tossed out of question time for insisting on making reference to fecal matter on the floor of parliament.

“Would you just cut the crap and tell Australians how much your capacity investment scheme is costing taxpayers?” he asked of his government counterpart, Chris Bowen.

Labor MPs were particularly outraged by the language, given the 150 students representing the National Youth Parliament visiting the capital and sitting in the gallery.

“That sort of language is beneath the dignity of the House,” Speaker Milton Dick chided.

The government is pursuing its own tactic in question time, with three consecutive questions about superannuation.

Labor is keen for a fight over compulsory super, after Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg declared it a failed policy and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson suggested the rules for withdrawals should be loosened.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Labor had built universal super and would “always defend it”.

“We know that [compulsory super] is at risk because the Liberals, the Nationals, and One Nation all want to decimate universal super. Not only do they want to drag Australians back to the past, they want to damage their future as well.”

The second question went to Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who said Labor’s political opponents “don’t support superannuation because they don’t support working people. It’s that simple”.

“This side of the house is working around the clock to strengthen the superannuation system, which is the envy of the world,” he said.

We’re back to policy debate in question time today, after much of last week was hijacked by the prime minister’s melon gaffe.

The opposition kicked off the debate with a question from frontbencher Aaron Violi, who asked Housing Minister Clare O’Neil how many home owners in her electorate had gone into negative equity.

“House prices have gone up 400 per cent in the last 25 years in our country,” O’Neil said. “Four hundred per cent. At what point are those opposite willing to accept that we have a significant problem with housing in our country?”

Each side of the chamber is trying to capitalise on the National Youth Parliament sitting in the gallery today, arguing that their policies benefit Australia’s youth.

“If we allow this to continue for another generation, then opportunity and aspiration in our country are going to mean something fundamentally different,” O’Neil said.

Speaker Milton Dick chastised O’Neil for not being directly relevant to the question, in a rare rebuke for a government minister.

Ruteng: Rescue teams in eastern Indonesia recovered six more bodies on Sunday, a day after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake, raising the death toll to 53, authorities said, as many of the thousands of displaced people spent the night outdoors fearing aftershocks.

Rescuers dug through debris looking for anyone buried beneath landslides triggered by the quake across six regencies on Flores, a predominantly Catholic island in the Muslim-majority country. They focused on three regencies that remained inaccessible: hardest-hit Manggarai, East Manggarai and Nagekeo.

More than 900 homes were destroyed and 450 more damaged in East Nusa Tenggara province, forcing about 5000 people into temporary shelters. At least 241 homes were damaged in the Flores region alone, said Abdul Muhari, the National Disaster Management Agency’s chief for disaster prevention.

The quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres shortly before 6am on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said.AP

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The Australian Transport Safety Bureau reclassified the August 9 Sydney Airport incident, where a Jetstar A320 almost collided with a Qatar Airways Boeing 777, from a collision to a “proximity event”.

The A320 was operating as Jetstar Airways flight JQ402, scheduled from Sydney, New South Wales, to Gold Coast, Queensland. The Boeing 777 was under tow from an aircraft tug at the time.

The incident, initially described as a “near collision”, was reclassified as a “taxiing proximity event” by the ATSB on Friday.

A “near collision” is defined as an aircraft colliding with, or nearly colliding with “another aircraft, terrain, person or object on the ground or on water, during taxi manoeuvring”.

The ABC has removed two more investigative programs associated with sacked reporter Mahmood Fazal, including a Four Corners episode about hitmen operating in Sydney, after completing its internal review into the journalist’s work for the national broadcaster.

Acting news director Lee Glendinning told ABC staff on Monday that the broadcaster had removed three more pieces of content, including an episode of flagship investigative radio show Background Briefing and part of a separate Four Corners episode Fazal had co-reported.

The removals are part of a deepening scandal at the ABC, which had trusted Fazal to front some of its most prominent programs, but removed him in May after he appeared on an unauthorised external podcast. That led ABC sources to raise concerns about the authenticity of sources on some of Fazal’s broadcasts, three of which have already been pulled.

Silent Orders, an investigation led by Fazal in 2024 into underworld assassins in Sydney, was one of three pieces of material removed on Monday after the ABC’s review found the use of anonymous interviewees did not meet its editorial standards.

Several Sydney players were involved in an alleged incident in Melbourne on Sunday night.

“The Sydney Swans can confirm several players were involved in an alleged incident in Melbourne last night,” the club said in a statement.

“The Swans have notified the AFL and relevant authorities and cannot provide further comment at this stage.”

The Swans defeated Essendon by 36 points at the MCG on Sunday evening.

Victoria Police confirmed it was “investigating a report of a sexual assault in East Melbourne on August 17”.

Former public service commissioner Dr Gordon de Brouwer will take on the leadership of the Australian National University after embattled chancellor Julie Bishop stepped down in June.

The institution announced the appointment of de Brouwer, a public servant, economist and ANU alumnus, this morning.

In a statement, de Brouwer said he was committed to “helping ANU build confidence in its future, with strong governance, a compelling shared strategy and a culture in which our people can do their best work”.

“The university has an important role to play at a time of profound social, economic, technological and geopolitical change. ANU should continue to be a trusted national institution and a leading voice on the issues that will shape Australia’s future,” he said.

“I look forward to being active and present across the university, listening to our students and staff and working with Council, the Interim Vice-Chancellor and the broader ANU community to ensure the university delivers on its national mission.”

Bishop’s tenure was defined by controversy, including bullying allegations and accusations of financial mismanagement.

US President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” 10 days of joint military exercises with South Korea as they were about to get under way, citing the cost of the drills and Seoul’s refusal to take part in actions against Iran.

Hours before exercises were scheduled to begin, Trump said on his Truth Social site that although it was too late to cancel the drills entirely, he was “not happy” that the US had previously agreed to participate and highlighted his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“These exercises are not only costly ... but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful,” Trump wrote.

The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercises are scheduled to run from August 17 to 27, with about 18,000 South Korean military personnel participating. The drills are expected to include operations to counter drones, disrupt GPS signals and cyberattacks to adapt to North Korea’s evolving capabilities, officials said last week.