Australian news and politics live: Pauline Hanson vows to bar ISIS brides for Australian monoculture

A teen accused of plotting nail bomb attacks against then-opposition leader Peter Dutton and a Labour Day march has been found not guilty of preparing a terrorist act.

The jury returned its verdict on Thursday after two days of deliberation.

The teen, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, stood trial in Brisbane Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to one count of carrying out acts in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act.

The family of the teen, now aged 17, gasped and cried when the verdict was read out.

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A state Liberal MP is under police investigation following an assault allegation from a parliamentary colleague.

The incident involved two current Victorian Liberal MPs, a man and a woman, according to newspaper reports.

Victoria Police confirmed officers are investigating an alleged assault at an event in Sunshine West on May 23.

The allegation comes five months out from the state election, where the party is attempting to turf out a three-term Labor government but also faces a surging One Nation.

It has been rocked by a series of scandals, including former deputy leader Sam Groth leaving his Mornington Peninsula seat of Nepean.

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The two Sydney Teal MPs who have formed a new Community Strong Australia party deny the move is designed to improve their ability to fundraise.

Independents Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender have launched the new party saying it will allow voters to have new option away from major parties and One Nation.

Asked if the move was in response to new electoral laws that limit fundraising for independents, Ms Spender denied it was.

“No, it isn’t. Actually, I think this is an opportunity to make a real difference,” she told reporters.

Shadow defence minister James Paterson described Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s excuses for being unable to block a barred ISIS bride’s return to Australia as a “rather tortured explanation”.

“It was a rather tortured explanation from the Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke, about why this wasn’t his fault,” Senator Paterson told Sky News.

“There was nothing he could do. But the bottom line is the Albanese Labor government has issued a return permit to a member of ISIS, an affiliate of ISIS, to return to our country who was previously blocked from returning to our country.

“This is a government which has failed at every turn when it comes to the management of these so-called ISIS brides, really just ISIS members, who left our country to join an abhorrent terrorist organisation that viciously persecuted, murdered, raped and tortured people.”

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Jonno Duniam said it was ironic that the permit was “being sorted out” on the same night ASIO boss Mike Burgess told this annual threat assessment address that the terror threat level underestimated the true danger Australians face.

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Independent MPs Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender have announced today they are forming the Community Strong Party, in part, to set up the structure to financially support new community candidates to challenge major party incumbents once the new electoral funding laws start in January.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended the laws he passed in conjunction with the Coalition ahead of the last election to cap donations and spending.

“I think it’s rather a bit strange that that seems to be the motivation for people who are independents to form a political party,” he said.

He went on to say he thought they’d got the balance right in improving transparency and limiting the amount of money in the system.

And he joked that he feared for newspapers once Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party was capped in how much it could spend, citing the ubiquitous yellow and black ads that have appeared in most major mastheads.

“I don’t quite see the point, but that is living evidence that some people have just too much money. It’s those Clive Palmer ads that achieve, precisely – I don’t think he got anyone elected at all last time round, but those double-page spreads, I don’t know if anyone actually reads them,” he said.

Australia’s world-first social media ban is showing little sign of success, with young people continuing to access platforms with ease.

Research published on Thursday suggests modest change since the ban came into effect among adolescents, with 85 per cent of those under 16 still using restricted platforms.

Among them is Winnie Walton, who continues to use TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Roblox to watch videos, chat with friends and play games.

The year 7 student says the restrictions haven’t affected her whatsoever.

“Well the restrictions didn’t do anything,” the 12-year-old told AAP.

“On the day that (the ban) was meant to happen, nothing happened.

“None of my friends got affected either, so it didn’t really work that well.”

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Teal independents Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender have unveiled a new political party designed to take the community independent movement nationwide, in a move that could intensify pressure on Labor and the Coalition ahead of the next federal election.

The pair announced the formation of Community Strong Australia on Thursday, saying the party would support community-backed candidates in both the House of Representatives and Senate while promoting integrity, climate action, economic prosperity and evidence-based policymaking.

The move marks a significant evolution for the Teal movement, which has built its success on candidates campaigning as community independents rather than members of a political party.

An application has already been lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission to register Community Strong Australia, with official registration expected by October.

The party said registration would allow it to endorse Senate candidates and expand the community-led model into more electorates across Australia.

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The Prime Minister told the CEDA economic conference that Australia’s mindset for too long had been that it was “smart and rational and efficient to offshore manufacturing, to cut skills and TAFE, close refineries, narrow our industrial base, and privatise national assets … that someone else, somewhere else, would be able to sell us what we needed cheaper than we could make it ourselves.”

He returned to this point when asked about the role of start-ups and AI in the future economy, saying that while Australia had always been good at innovation, the country hadn’t historically been good at commercialising its inventions.

“There’s not a solar panel in the world that does not have IP produced at … UNSW and ANU. But what we did, as I said in the speech, we thought there was someone else somewhere else will do it for us, and that’s okay,” he said.

“Well, it’s bullsh.t. We’ve got to stop it. We’ve got to make things here. We should have been a mass manufacturer of solar panels here in Australia. We’re not.”

He flagged that he will give a major speech next month outlining the Government’s approach to AI.

“The debate can’t be, is AI good or bad, a simple thing, and should we stop it, because it’s happening,” he said.

“You can’t stop it. You’ve got to shape it, or else it will shape us.”

An Australian based in Iran and a former resident living in Iraq have been identified as the masterminds of anti-Semitic fire-bombings in Sydney and Melbourne, with ASIO also revealing multiple foreign regimes are conducting campaigns of “coerced repatriations”.

In a wide-ranging speech in Canberra, ASIO Director General Mike Burgess has detailed how his organisation foiled a foreign spy posing as a consultant from stealing AUKUS secrets by paying an official with a security clearance to provide reports on the project.

Delivering his annual threat assessment, delayed by several months because of December’s deadly Bondi terror attack, the ASIO boss began by acknowledging “the pain and grief of the families, friends and community of those killed and injured”.

He also counter-terrorism resourcing had increased when ASIO raised the threat level in 2024, and “continued to grow in the months before Bondi”, but cautioned he was limited in what he could say given the current Royal Commission and court case.

During his speech Mr Burgess revealed further details of ASIO’s investigations into arson attacks against Jewish buildings in Australia, and their connections to the Iranian regime.

“ASIO identified direct links between Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp – the IRGC – and two individuals who were living offshore but maintained strong ties to Australia,” Mr Burgess said.

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Anthony Albanese has taken a jab at broadcaster Karl Stefanovic – who is reportedly leaving the Nine Network amid fallout from his podcast interview with British far-right activist Tommy Robinson – while discussing how social media is polarising people.

The Prime Minister was reflecting on comments made by ASIO boss Mike Burgess at his annual threat assessment last night, saying that social media was eroding the social compact in Australia.

“I worry about polarisation. The algorithms push people to more and more extremes,” he said at the CEDA State of the Nation conference.

“I don’t want to get into a debate about Nine at the moment, but you know, look at what’s happening. You go down that road and you get further and further out on the edges of what is the mainstream political debate in this country, and you know, I think that that can have an impact.”

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