Australian news and politics live: Anthony Albanese hands Victoria’s Labor Government $8.2 billion

Dozens of schoolkids have rallied outside a Western Sydney boys’ school, chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater) amid a furore related to the NSW nurses’ anti-Semitic video.

A support officer at the school, Sheik Wesam Charkawi, was ordered by the NSW Department of Education to work from home after he defended the two nurses in the video in a now-deleted Instagram post.

Today, Granville Boys High School students gathered to protest the decision to force Sheik Wesam to work from home..

Video seen by The Nightly shows the students chanting repeatedly amidst a swirl of Lebanese and Palestinian flags.

​​Katina Curtis’ full report​​ on Peter Dutton’s reaction to the property claims directed at him is now in.

Mr Dutton has accused the ALP of “shopping around dirt sheets” on him:

Peter Dutton has stridently defended his decades of multi-million-dollar property dealings while accusing the Prime Minister of slinging mud.

The Opposition Leader’s real estate history stretches back 35 years to when he bought his first house as a 19-year-old.

A list of purchases and sales published in the Nine newspapers on Wednesday showed that since then he had used a property development company owned with his father, family trusts and personal purchases to buy some $12 million worth of real estate and make sales of about $18 million.

Mr Dutton said the record showed he knew how to make money — while not denying the reported $6 million profit over the years.

Read it in full ​​here​​.

Australia’s health watchdog has received 87 complaints about practitioners making social commentary around Israel and Gaza since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.

The reports to Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) relate to 52 registered health practitioners and their social media commentary.

Regulatory operations executive director Kym Ayscough told Senate Estimates on Wednesday the agency had handled the matters case-by-case and was proactively working to stamp out anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the sector.

“Slightly more than half of those matters alleged anti-Semitism in the comments and slightly less than half of those matters alleged Islamophobia in the comments.”

She said AHPRA updated its social media policies and guidance in February 2024 in the wake of reported cases.

The agency again reminded partitioners of their obligations in a memo on February 21, 2025.

It comes after Health Department earlier conceded it had made an “error” in not raising a warning letter of rising anti-Semitism in the health sector with Health Minister Mark Butler in 2023.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb says more charges will be laid over alleged antisemitic video involving two Sydney nurses.

On Tuesday night, nurse Sarah Abu Lebdeh – who worked at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in Sydney’s southwest – was charged with three “very serious” commonwealth offences.

“Following the advice from the Commonwealth DPP, we received that yesterday, we made contact with her solicitor and they presented to Sutherland Police Station last night where she was arrested and then charged,” Ms Webb said at a press conference in Hobart on Wednesday.

When asked why the 26-year-old nurse’s male colleague Ahmed Rashid Nadir, who also appeared in the video, had not been charged, the top cop said he would be spoken to at a “suitable time”.

“Matters are ongoing and there will be further charges down the track and we will make further announcements about that,” she said.

Police are yet to speak to one of the two Sydney nurses who bragged about killing Israeli hospital patients because he is ‘receiving ongoing medical treatment’.

Investigators are yet to speak to a second nurse involved in the viral video, despite his colleague being charged on Tuesday night with making kill threats while talking to an Israeli influencer online.

On Tuesday night, nurse Sarah Abu Lebdeh – who worked at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in Sydney’s southwest – was charged with three commonwealth offences.

The 26-year-old appeared alongside colleague Ahmed Rashid Nadir in a video chat from the hospital with Israeli social media personality Max Veifer.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb confirmed the male nurse was still under investigation, but police were yet to speak to him.

Nadir was taken to hospital for assessment earlier in February after paramedics were called to his Bankstown home following a “concern for welfare” report.

Mr Albanese has continued splashing cash in Victoria, announcing a $1.2 billion for road upgrades.

The PM said the money is “locked in”, and is ready to be given to the state.

“Victorians want infrastructure. They want rail, and they want roads. They want bus,” Mr Albanese said.

“This is Victoria getting its fair share of infrastructure spending, which is precisely what I promised to do.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised Victorians $7 billion for the Airport Rail Link, bringing the long-discussed project closer to reality than ever before.

“Today as prime minister, I give this very straightforward, concrete commitment to Victorians, our government will partner with the Victorian government to fund and build the railway for Melbourne Airport,” Mr Albanese said at the Herald Sun Future Victoria event.

“I think everyone here would agree that Airport Rail is essential for a great global city like Melbourne.

“I’ll give you the big tip — putting it off hasn’t made it any cheaper or any easier.”

The promise includes $5 billion already given to the state for the project.

An army officer stripped of his security clearance due to ASIO’s concern he is more loyal to Israel than Australia has not been kicked out of the nation’s defence force.

Despite having served in the Australian Defence Force for 19 years, the officer told ASIO he did not view Israel as a foreign government and would share classified information with its military if asked for it.

Under questioning at a Senate Estimates hearing on Wednesday, Chief of Army Lieutenant-General Simon Stuart confirmed the officer still remained in the ADF in the inactive reserve, pending administrative action.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge grilled defence officials on why this was the case.

“What does it take to have somebody removed from the ADF?” he said.

“Ensuring that members of the ADF, their highest loyalty is to Australia. I would have thought is something that you would take as incredibly serious.”

Read the full story.

The Nightly’s Aaron Patrick writes Peter Dutton apologised to a Western Sydney supermarket owner on Wednesday for confusing him with his store manager.

At a press conference at the Pendle Hill Meat Market Mr Dutton described how the 87-year-old Maltese owner, “Joe”, had emigrated to Australia as a 14-year-old and built a thriving business in in Western Sydney. Now “Joe” faces a $40,000 monthly increase in electricity costs, a hike the Liberal Party leader blamed on the Labor government.

The owner’s real name is Charlie Zammit. His store manager is named Joe Gafa

As Mr Dutton walked away from his press conference he overheard The Nightly confirming their real names. He then returned and apologised.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Mr Zammit did not seem phased by the mistake.

“He’s the best,” the grocer said.

The supermarket is in the seat of Parramatta, which Labor MP Andrew Charlton holds by 3.7 per cent. A local lawyer, Katie Mullens, is trying to win the seat for the Liberal Party.

- Aaron Patrick

Treasury Secretary Dr Steven Kennedy has told a senate estimates committee that the increased global instability caused by escalating trade and political tensions could have “profound economic consequences” for the Australian economy.

He worried that the global policy uncertainty “may dampen business investment, which will pose risks to both growth and employment.”

“The prospect of US tariffs on Chinese exports has exacerbated existing concerns about how weak Chinese domestic demand and the ongoing property downturn in China could flow through to an already weak Chinese demand for Australian exports,” Dr Kennedy said.

His testimony comes as Treasurer Jim Chalmers visits his US counterpart Scott Bessent in Washington, attempting to plead Australia’s case for an exemption from Donald Trump’s sweeping set of trade barriers. Dr Kennedy said Australia had successfully navigated tariffs before and must avoid the path of tit-for tat retaliation, warning it would damage the economy.

He said exporters had shown how to respond to trade restrictions on barley, coal, wine, and lobster placed by China, pointing to the diversion of agricultural products to other markets, including becoming the main supplier of barley to Mexico.

He said that as a mid-sized nation, Australia couldn’t afford to “cut ourselves off from the world” by reacting with reciprocal tariffs.

“If Australia were to impose tariffs, we would bear nearly all the cost, given our size and inability to affect the world prices of the goods we import,” Dr Kennedy said.