News live: PM says Hanson should not ‘talk Australia down’ overseas; private schools cry poor in new ad campaign

Luca Ittimani

Corporate cop wins record $۸۳۰m for government coffers

The corporate regulator won $۸۳۰m in civil penalties from courts over the last year, more than it did in the prior six years combined.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has reported its enforcement figures for ۲۰۲۵-۲۶ and found courts had demanded companies pay a record total in civil penalties. That included the biggest penalty ever awarded in an ASIC case, a $۳۰۰m penalty against collapsed foreign exchange broker Union Standard in June.

From ۲۰۱۹-۲۰ to ۲۰۲۴-۲۵, ASIC won an average of just $۱۳۷m of civil penalties against companies.

ASIC said its action would lead to $۶۴۳.۵m worth of remediation, refunds, and payments to tens of thousands of customers and investors. Penalties will also prop up the federal budget.

The regulator also issued $۱۲m worth of infringement notices, double the amount from ۲۰۲۴-۲۵. ASIC’s chair, Sarah Court, said:

“Our enforcement work is focused on misconduct that causes real harm and we are delivering results, forcing change, strengthening accountability, and returning money to consumers and investors.”

Tom McIlroy

Seven’s Spotlight on Pauline Hanson an awkward affair

Maybe the most telling moment in Channel ۷’s special Spotlight episode on Pauline Hanson last night came right at the end.

After an hour of watching the One Nation leader revive her greatest hits – including divisive comments about Muslim Australians, attacks on multiculturalism, and her claims to be sticking it to “the establishment” – she told reporter Liam Bartlett that he wasn’t getting an exclusive.

The show must have spent tens of thousands following Hanson to Britain, where she met with former Neighbours star Holly Valance, far right activist Tommy Robinson and Reform MP Robert Jenrick, but in the final segment Bartlett conceded he had never expected exclusive news from Hanson, and instead anticipated only “a robust conversation”.

The program included awkward moments for the Queensland senator too. Crowd sizes for her speech at the CPAC conference in London were slim, and she and Nationals defector Barnaby Joyce had to defend previous comments attacking one another. A street tour of Robinson’s hometown, Luton, nearly devolved into a fight with a local resident. He also denied ever trying to come to Australia, despite previously having visa applications refused because of his criminal record.

Voters considering One Nation learned little that was new, except perhaps a newfound appreciation by Hanson for so-called mass deportation policies. Asked about Reform UK’s policy to remove hundreds of thousands of people from Britain, Hanson said she favoured a similar policy for people living in Australia illegally.

“I love it,” she said, before promising to plan implementation of the policy with bureaucrats if One Nation wins government.

Despite controversy about Hanson’s tour, and her visit to Italy with donor Gina Rinehart, Monday’s Newspoll shows One Nation with a primary vote of ۳۰%, equal with Labor and ahead of the Coalition on ۱۹%.

Private schools pitch for more government money

Krishani Dhanji

Independent Schools Australia, the peak body for private schools, is launching a campaign today to increase government funding, targeting key Labor and Teal seats across the country.

The body will rollout out digital advertising, billboards as well as posters on buses in inner-city federal seats including the Labor held Brisbane and Griffith in Queensland, Melbourne, as well key teal seats including Mackellar and Wentworth in Sydney, and Curtin in Perth. It will also target Goldstein, won by Liberal Tim Wilson who was previously ousted by the Teals.

The slogan? “Parents are choosing, families are contributing, and policy needs to reflect that reality.”

The campaign comes ahead of Labor’s national conference this week, with the group arguing that as more parents choose private schools and make other sacrifices to pay for it, the government should pitch in more.

But according to Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (Acara) data from ۲۰۲۳, ۹۸% of private schools were funded above the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) recommended by Gonski and more than ۹۸% of public schools were funded below it.

ISA chief executive, Graham Catt, says:

Independent school families have been stereotyped for too long. They are parents and taxpayers making careful decisions about their children’s education, often under real financial pressure.

They deserve to be seen, they deserve to be heard, and they deserve policy settings that recognise the choices they are already making.

Tom McIlroy

Albanese helps launch major air combat exercise

Anthony Albanese has announced the official opening of Exercise Pitch Black ۲۰۲۶, Australia’s premier international air combat exercise, happening in Darwin.

Over the next three weeks, ۱۰۰ aircraft and about ۲,۵۰۰ personnel from the Royal Australian Air Force and ۲۰ countries overseas will take part in training activities and exercises in the skies over Australia’s north.

The biennial exercise is designed to strengthen cooperation using high-end training from RAAF Bases Darwin and Tindal in the Northern Territory, and RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland.

Aircraft from the United States, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, India, Singapore, Germany, France and Spain as well as embedded personnel from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, Brunei, Malaysia, Finland and Sweden will all take part.

Albanese said:

Australia is strongest when we work closely with our partners.

Exercise Pitch Black strengthens those partnerships and demonstrates Australia’s commitment to working closely across our region to support peace, stability and security.

Hanson ‘talking Australia down’ on right-wing tour: Albanese

Tom McIlroy

Anthony Albanese says Pauline Hanson should not be talking the country down as she appears at a string of conservative political events and holidays with billionaire benefactor Gina Rinehart in Europe.

The One Nation leader attended the CPAC conference in London at the weekend, after recording a podcast with far-right activist Tommy Robinson. Albanese was asked about her tour during a visit to Tiwi Island on Sunday.

He said:

When I have the opportunity to represent Australia overseas, I talk Australia up.

I don’t talk Australia down. I go as someone who’s proud to represent our nation and proud to talk about what we are as a nation. There’s nowhere you’d rather be than Australia, and I think that it is up to our representatives, no matter where they stand in the parliament, when they’re overseas, to talk Australia up, not talk Australia down.

We have we have created in this country an extraordinary nation, and it is something that the world is envious of because of what we’ve created here, and that is why, in my view, it is the responsibility of people when they travel overseas to talk Australia up and to be proud of who we are and what we have created as a nation.

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to the first live news blog for this brand new week. I’m Stephanie Convery and I’ll be with you until early afternoon today.

First up, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says Pauline Hanson should not be talking the country down as she appears at a string of conservative political events and holidays with billionaire benefactor Gina Rinehart in Europe. The PM’s comments also come as an awkward interview with the One Nation leader airs on Seven.

Longtime broadcaster Derryn Hinch will be farewelled at a state funeral in Melbourne this afternoon. The so-called “Human Headline” died earlier this month, aged ۸۲.

All that and much more to come.