Australian news and politics live: Peter Dutton heckled by climate activists, two people forcibly removed

The Malaysian government has reopened the case to find the remains of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 flight off WA’s coast.

It has approved a request by marine biotics company Ocean Infinity to conduct a final search, agreeing to the terms and conditions which include a “no find, no fee” principle.

Minister for Transport Loke Siew Fook said the government was “committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of MH370 passengers”.

If the wreckage is found, the exploration firm would receive $A110m.

The missing aircraft is believed to have crashed in 2014. It was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and carrying 239 people, including 227 passengers, six of which were Australian citizens plus one New Zealand resident who was based in Perth.

A new 15,000km stretch of the Southern Indian Ocean is expected to be searched in the latest effort.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia would continue to engage with the Malaysian government on the issue.

“We have been part of the engagement on the search for MH370 for a very long time,” she told Sky on Thursday.

“We’ll continue to engage as Malaysia requires.

“Obviously, this is a tragedy and it’s a tragedy that so many families still can carry with them. And so we continue to look for justice and resolution for those who lost their loved ones on that flight.”

Australia’s poulation has grown by 484,000 people, pushing the total population to 27,309,396, fresh figures from the Australian Bureau of Statisitcs show.

The 1.8 per cent population rise in the year to September, 2024 was largely driven by net overseas migration - 379,800 compared to a 104,200 natural increase (births minus deaths).

Despite the rise, the net overseas migration figure was actually significantly reduced on the previous year with 31.7 per cent fewer people.

Western Australia again recorded the fastest population growth in the country, adding 72,600 people, an increase of 2.5 per cent.

Victoria, 2.1 per cent, Queensland, 2 per cent, were not far behind.

Tasmania saw the least growth over the 12-month period, with a 0.3 per cent rise in population.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s Lowy Institute address demonstrated the Liberal leader is “a man lost in our region”.

In a major speech this morning, Mr Dutton laid out the Coalition’s foreign and defence policy priorities should he become Australia’s next prime minister.

Mr Dutton vowed to mend relations with the United States, Israel and China if elected, while slamming Anthony Albanese for his “weak” international record.

“What we know about Peter Dutton is, he’s lost in our region,” Ms Wong hit back, while speaking on Sky News on Thursday.

“We know that he made fun of the Pacific. He was part of the government which withdrew from the Pacific leaving a vacuum for others to fill.

“We’ve seen him, both in opposition and also in government, beating the drums of war. This is a man lost in our region.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has renewed calls for hostages to be released in the Gaza-Israel conflict, urging a return to peace in the region.

“Look, we want to see a ceasefire, we want to see a resolution, we want to see humanitarian support be able to be provided, and we want to see the hostages released,” Mr Albanese told ABC Mebourne radio on Thursday.

Mr Albanese expressed hope the recent ceasefire could be restored, after it collapsed earlier this week amid a flare-up of violence between Israel and Palestinian militants.

When asked, Mr Albanese said he didn’t think the end of the ceasefire had been “inevitable”.

“No, I don’t and I wanted to see the ceasefire continue. I want to see hostages released. And I want to see an end to the tragic loss of life we’re continuing to see,” he said.

The coroner has released CCTV of a killer looking at hammers in a hardware store then rehearsing his brutal act two days before he murdered his ex-girlfriend.

Hockey coach Paul Thijssen hit water polo coach Lilie James in the head with a hammer at least 25 times inside St Andrew’s Cathedral School in Sydney on October 25, 2023.

The video, released on Thursday, shows Thijssen looking at hammers in a Mitre 10 store, then continues to show CCTV footage of Thijssen in a hallway outside a bathroom, rehearsing his movements two days before he killed Ms James.

The CCTV footage at a Mitre 10 store was recorded on October 10, 2023. The CCTV footage of Thijssen walking in a corridor and checking a bathroom, rehearsing his murder of Ms James was recorded on the day of her death.

Read the full story

Protesters from climate action group Rising Tide have claimed responsibility for gatecrashing Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s Lowy Institute speech on Thursday.

The group snuck into the Sydney event by pretending to be media representatives before heckling Mr Dutton and holding a banner calling for an end to coal and gas projects.

Security dragged one of the men out of the event but not before he yelled: “Why are you lying to the Australian people about the cost of nuclear”.

In a statement on Thursday afternoon, Rising Tide protesters Zack Schofield and Nigel Cox claimed the attack.

“The Coalition’s scheme to force nuclear into Australia’s energy grid is going to cost $600 billion to the taxpayer, add up to $1,200 to people’s energy bills, and produce 1.6 billion tonnes of climate pollution by 2050,” Mr Schofield said.

“This idea is so colossally dumb that we’re now even seeing Liberal stalwarts campaigning against their own party,” the statement said.

“We cannot afford more distraction and delay with absolute potato policies like nuclear.”

The activist group were also behind the gatecrashing of Treasurer Jim Chalmer’s speech at the Queensland Media Club in Brisbane earlier in the week, where they waved the same blue banner on stage.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has argued that Australia should not send troops to Ukraine because the country’s defence capabilities are “underdone as it is”.

Asked in a Q&A session at the Lowy Institute on Thursday, the Liberal leader criticised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s announcements that Australia would send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.

He argued that European nations should step up and take on the job of policing and managing any Ukraine-Russian ceasefire, doubling down on his objection to sending Aussies to the region.

Mr Dutton suggested that Australia’s resources would be better spent on training, capability acquisition, and supporting Ukraine’s rebuilding efforts, rather than deploying troops.

“The thought that we’re going to send troops from our shores at a time when the Prime Minister says, in our region, it’s the most precarious period since the Second World War - we’re underdone as it is,” he said.

“The billions of dollars, as I point out... are better spent and directed into training and acquisition of capability.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton said a circumnavigation of Australia by a trio of Chinese warships showed a “critical failure” in the country’s defence capabilities.

He said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had a “weak response” to what he believed was a test for Australia.

“It was a show of force,” he said.

“I think what was being tested was our response time, how we would engage, what we would say.

“And I think the Prime Minister, frankly, failed.

“It showed also a critical failure in our response capacities. There were surface assets that were deployed, but again, there’s no urgency to that task.”

Mr Dutton vowed to build a strong relationship with Beijing if elected, and arguing that President Xi Jinping would likely have no respect for a “weak and incompetent Australian Prime Minister”

“I do want to see the trading relationship prosper and expand,” he said.

Mr Dutton has criticised the Albanese government for its treatment of Israel, including changing Australia’s position on recognising West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“Prior to the election, Labor promised that its support for Israel would be no different to that of the Coalitions,” he told the Lowy Institute on Thursday.

“But after coming to power, of course, Labor - unilaterally and without consultation - changed Australia’s position.

He accused the government of adopting adversarial positions towards Israel to shore up Labor’s votes in certain seats.

“The government should have sent a strong and clear message that it stood with our ally,” he said.

“Instead, the government’s response, we began to hear unreasonable calls for immediate restraint.

“Calls for Israel to de-escalate and to pause its military response. Now, these calls persisted, despite hostages remaining in chains, being executed.

“There have been other illogical, ill, tired and inappropriate calls from the Albanese government.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has described US President Donald Trump’s tough-on-tariffs approach as “unjustified” and urged Labor to do more.

“Let me be very clear, we disagree with President Trump’s decision to apply these tariffs, they’re not just unjustified. They benefit neither Australia or the United States,” he said.

“Let me tell you what’s holding back Australia’s national interest, a Prime Minister who is unable to get a phone call with the US president to discuss the tariffs.

“I do believe that if there’s a change of government, I will be able to work with the Trump administration to get better outcomes for Australians.”

He slammed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for not being able to strike an exemption with Trump ahead of the March 12 deadline for their implementation.