News and politics live updates: One Nation reveals candidates for State election, takes aim at ‘toxic’ Labor

Fugitive developer Jean Nassif was rumoured to be donating money to the Liberal Party in contravention of NSW electoral laws, an anti-corruption hearing has been told.

Robert Assaf, who was part of lobbying group Beckington, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s Operation Rosny hearing on Monday his Right faction of the Liberal Party was aware of Mr Nassif making illicit political donations.

“Some people in the Right, not necessarily in our little group, were expressing concerns, making jokes and insinuations around Toplace and those sorts of things,” he said.

Mr Assaf told the inquiry, on his third day of evidence, that Christian Ellis, who ran Beckington, had told him he was sorting out a water issue for Mr Nassif’s firm Toplace and not soliciting Liberal Party donations.

“To be precise, he was lobbying on behalf of him for some sort of water issue for a development of his,” he said.

“He was reassuring me that it was not dodgy development money.”

Mr Assaf has fallen out with Mr Ellis, who the inquiry heard had used funds from Beckington’s client Catholic Schools NSW to finance the Reformers, a right-wing group within the Liberal Party that organised conservative stacks to Liberal Party branches.

“My concerns that I had around Mr Ellis, I found that I couldn’t get a straight answer out of him many times about certain things,” Mr Assaf said.

“He would say one thing to me and then I would just find out it might not have been fully true.”

National house prices have fallen for a fourth consecutive month, with Darwin being the only capital to rise in the median cost.

The national median dwelling price fell 0.3 per cent in July, the latest PropTrack Home Price Index shows, while annual price growth still runs at 3.9 per cent.

In Sydney, the median price fell 0.6 per cent for the month to $1.563m.

Adelaide and Hobart fell 0.5 per cent, Melbourne dipped 0.4 per cent, Brisbane fell 0.3 per cent, while Perth lost 0.2 per cent.

Doing the breakfast TV rounds Monday, federal frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said the falling prices meant it was the best time in her lifetime to be a first-home buyer.

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Victorian Premier Ben Carroll says his decision to shrink the state ministry to 20 ministers, including the Premier, is designed to save taxpayers’ money ahead of the November election.

The move has reportedly angered members of Labor’s Left fraction after Mr Carroll promoted MP Tim Richardson to cabinet, blocking the elevation of two additional MPs.

“I said last week that I would treat every single dollar with respect,” Mr Carroll said on Monday.

“It doesn’t pass the pub test to be getting multiple ministers signed in 12 weeks before a campaign begins.

“So we’re reducing the size of the ministry as a simple measure, but a demonstration of my commitment to taxpayers’ dollars. Every dollar should be spent wisely, considerately and where it delivers the best value for money.”

Mr Carroll is expected to announce ministerial portfolios on Tuesday, before the new cabinet is sworn in and holds its first meeting.

Donald Trump has announced talks with Iran will resume on Monday after he said he called off a “massive attack” on the nation.

“Obviously, they don’t want to be attacked. They knew the extent of the attack because they saw it forming,” Mr Trump told reporters on Sunday aboard Air Force One.

“Now what we’re doing is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation.

“It begins tomorrow afternoon.”

Mr Trump did not provide further details of the venue of the talks or the participants.

It comes after the US President said he had abandoned plans to launch an attack on Iran after claiming Tehran requested a last-minute deal that could see the Strait of Hormuz reopened and its nuclear ambitions brought to an end.

Iran has since rejected Mr Trump’s claim, with state-affiliated media describing the allegations as “nothing but a new lie”.

Australians are being warned to brace for higher fuel costs as the Federal Government’s temporary fuel excise relief comes to an end, with the Coalition claiming motorists will soon “feel the pain” at the bowser.

The Government’s temporary fuel excise relief officially expired on Sunday night, meaning motorists are expected to begin paying higher prices at service stations as the full excise returns.

Fuel taxes were reduced by 32c a litre from the start of April in response to soaring oil prices due to the conflict in Iran.

The discount was wound back to 16c from the start of July, before ending altogether after Sunday.

While the latest price increases could take time to filter through to bowsers, petrol costs have already risen by an average of more than 40c a litre since the end of June.

Diesel prices have soared by more than 60c a litre in most capital cities over the same period, which has coincided with breakdowns in a ceasefire between Iran and the US.

Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume on Sunday said the expiry of the relief would add to cost-of-living pressures already weighing on households, accusing the Albanese Government of failing to tackle the underlying drivers of inflation.

“The pain would have been lessened if we were a more resilient economy, and the government had done its fair share of the heavy lifting to get inflation down,” she said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission asking for increased scrutiny of fuel prices to ensure they weren’t being artificially inflated at the expense of motorists.

“Servos and suppliers are on notice - the regulator will be watching them like a hawk,” he said, adding that the fuel excise discount had “helped take the sting out of petrol prices at their peak”.

A property price downturn is spreading across the nation as the market records the largest single-month decline in home values in nearly four years.

Australia’s two largest housing markets led a nationwide drop in prices, with Sydney and Melbourne home prices falling by 1.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively in July.

Dips were also recorded in the previously booming state capitals of Brisbane and Adelaide, where prices were down 0.6 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively, according to Cotality’s latest Home Value Index.

Values were down 0.7 per cent nationwide, the largest single-month drop since December 2022, the data released on Monday showed.

“For buyers who remain in the market, lower competition and elevated stock levels (when compared with the start of the year) mean greater choice and more negotiating power,” the property analytics firm said.

But first home buyers might benefit little from the downturn, which has been led by properties at the top end of the market.

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One Nation has revealed the first tranche of candidates for the Victorian election, with the party saying it’s Victorian president, Warren Pickering, will spearhead its campaign ahead of the November poll.

The 43-year-old Gippsland-based army veteran will also lead the party’s Legislative Council ticket for the Eastern Victoria region as One Nation seeks to expand its presence in State parliament.

Announcing Mr Pickering’s appointment, leader Pauline Hanson praised his leadership within the party.

“Warren has done a great job as state president of One Nation in Victoria,” she said.

“I have every confidence he will be an effective leader of the team we’re taking to the Victorian election.”

One Nation also unveiled a slate of upper house candidates, including MP Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, Liberal defector Colleen Harkin, animator and company director Mark Nicholson, lawyer Aaron Sanford, office manager and volunteer Natalie Adams, Geelong councillor Chris Burson and human resources manager Fiona Lopez.

Senator Hanson said additional candidates would be announced in the coming weeks as the party prepares to contest every electorate across the State.

“We’ll be running candidates in every seat at this election,” Ms Hanson said.

“We’ll have a talented team of people intent on restoring Victoria and kicking out the tired and toxic Labor government which has run this state into the ground, getting away with it thanks to a weak Liberal opposition.”

Tech firms will pay a higher levy or strike more deals to avoid the charge under planned tweaks to an initiative to force them to hand over some of their revenue to media companies.

The proposed news bargaining incentive will push companies like Google, Meta and TikTok to strike commercial deals with news organisations to use the publishers’ content on their platforms.

If deals are struck, the companies will pay a smaller share of their Australian advertising revenues to the government than if they refuse to reach agreements.

The levy will apply to tech giants with domestic revenues of $250 million or more, with any funds raised to be redistributed to the media sector.

But after a consultation period on the changes, which Labor hopes to legislate when parliament returns in Spring, elements of the incentive have been tipped further in favour of news publishers.

The maximum levy that tech companies will pay on their revenue has been increased from 2.5 per cent from a previously proposed 2.25 per cent charge, the government revealed on Monday.

“We don’t want to discourage those large tech companies from having a growing footprint in Australia. What we do want though is that part of their business, which is using news, to be fairly compensating the producers of that news,” Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino told ABC radio.

“We’ve made the decision to continue to exclude AI from this decision, and that makes sense given that the government is leaning in on AI more broadly,” Mr Mulino said.

“The Prime Minister’s speech delivered a week and a half ago made very clear that he was going to implement a series of processes to look at things like copyright to make sure that creative producers are protected. So that has its own separate process and it’s appropriate that it’s separate from the NBI.”

with AAP

Iran has rejected Donald Trump’s claim that Tehran asked him to delay further military strikes, with state-affiliated media describing the allegations as false.

Iran’s Mehr news agency on Sunday denied the US President’s claim. Citing military officials, the agency said the allegation was “nothing but a new lie” and that the Iranian armed forced were “on high alert and ready for any eventuality”.

Mr Trump made the comments on Saturday local time, saying the Unites States was “ready to go against the Islamic republic” but that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had requested he postpone new attacks.

He said he had agreed to do so, provided a deal could be reached with Iran.

“This would include the Immediate, Complete and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

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Health Minister Mark Butler is the latest political figure to condemn the ABC over its Race Around the World segment featuring a violently graphic portrayal of mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

Speaking to News24 on Sunday night, Mr Butler described the widely criticised segment as “pretty revolting”, adding that it should never have been broadcast on Australian television.

“It’s pretty revolting and it’s not the sort of thing I think we should see on TV, whether it’s News24, a commercial television station or our public broadcaster, frankly,” Mr Butler told the program.

“I understand the ombudsman within the ABC is investigating it and that’s appropriate at an independent public broadcaster.

“But why do we have to see rubbish like this on our TVs – regardless of who it’s about?

“I have seen coverage of this episode, I understand the person responsible for it has apologised, but, at the end of the day, this sort of material shouldn’t be on our TVs.”

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