Sussan Ley formally resigns from parliament
Josh Butler
Former opposition leader Sussan Ley has now formally resigned from parliament, with a byelection in her seat of Farrer to be held in coming months.
Ley, who signalled her intent to quit parliament after losing the Liberal leadership to Angus Taylor earlier this month, said she had today written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives to advise of her immediate resignation from parliament. In a gracious statement this morning, Ley said she will not return to parliament to give a final speech: “I am confident that my efforts and achievements over 25 years will speak for themselves”.
Naturally, I am sad to no longer represent my electorate of Farrer. I love the wide western plains of New South Wales, the country towns along the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers and the thriving cities of Albury and Griffith; communities that it has been my enormous privilege to serve for almost 25 years.
Her formal resignation is the trigger for a byelection to be called, with the timing of such a poll to be decided by speaker Milton Dick. His office has been contacted for comment.
Ley said she assumed the Liberal leadership“ with gratitude and humility” after the Coalition’s worst election defeat, thanking colleagues for the opportunity and saying her achievement of being the first woman to lead the Liberals was “a milestone for all women to be proud of”.
I hope I have paved the way for the next woman to be elected to, and succeed in, both these roles.
Key events
A man is trapped inside a crane that has tipped over and struck a power pole in east Brisbane.
Police are on scene of the incident in Hemmant, after being called at about 8.25am to reports a crane had tipped over and struck a power pole. In a statement they said:
The male driver of the crane remains trapped and emergency services are working to extract him from the vehicle.
Guardian Australia understands the man’s condition could be serious but he has yet to be formally assessed as the scene needs to be made safe so paramedics can do so.
Josh Butler
Monique Ryan wants gambling harm classified as a public health issue
Independent MP Monique Ryan will introduce a private member’s bill to federal parliament next week, seeking to have gambling classified as a public health issue.
In a proposed amendment to the Centre for Disease Control Act, Ryan’s bill would seek to broaden the definition of public health matters to include the impacts of gambling harm, such as financial distress, mental health and impacts on families.
Coming as the NRL and AFL kick off their new football seasons, Ryan’s bill will be supported by members of the cross bench who have been agitating for further reforms to wagering laws, including around advertising of gambling products. It is unclear if the bill will receive wider support in parliament.
“Experts have repeatedly documented the health impacts of problem gambling, but no Australian jurisdiction gives its health authorities responsibility for managing these issues,” Ryan said.
Classifying gambling as a ‘public health matter’ under the remit of the Australian Centre for Disease Control will kick off national action on a health emergency that demands the Albanese government’s full attention.
Ryan said classifying gambling harm as a public health issue would lead to better national action, including data collection and strategies to address the issue.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
AEC proposes major changes for Tasmanian’s federal seats
More than a quarter of Tasmanian voters would be shifted to a new federal seat under a proposed redrawing of the state’s electoral boundaries.
The Australian Electoral Commission released the redrawn maps for public consultation on Friday, proposing changes in four of the state’s five federal seats.
The electoral commissioner, Jeff Pope, said about 27% of Tasmanians would change electorates with the vast majority coming from adjustments to the seats of Clark, Franklin and Lyons.
The seat of Bass in the state’s north would also be drawn while the electorate of Braddon, which covers the north-west and west coast, would remain unchanged.
Pope said:
All proposed changes are driven by the need to balance current and projected enrolment across electorates but also to have electorates that reflect connected communities of interest and natural boundaries wherever possible.
Feedback on the proposed redistribution is open until 27 March.
The commission is also seeking feedback on a potential renaming of the seat of Franklin, which was named after Sir John Franklin, the lieutenant-governor of Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen’s Land) from 1837-1843.
Tasmania swung behind Anthony Albanese’s team at the 2025 election, with Labor picking up Bass and Braddon and retaining Franklin and Lyons.
The independent MP, Andrew Wilkie, comfortably held Clark.
Jordyn Beazley
Police have new system to flag neo-Nazi groups’ use of form one system
NSW police minister Yasmin Catley said the police have implemented a new system that would better flag any potential neo-Nazi rallies if they seek authorisation from police.
Last November, the police came under fire after a neo-Nazi group gained police authorisation via the form one process to hold a rally outside NSW parliament.
The NSW police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said that while police had allowed the protest, neither he nor the NSW premier knew it was taking place, and blamed a breakdown in communication.
Catley told budget estimates a short time ago:
They’re implementing a new system when it comes to form ones, and it would have been picked up on the way through when they lodge it in the first place.
Josh Taylor
Afterpay owner to cut 40% of its workforce, citing AI tool benefits
Afterpay owner, Block, is cutting 40% of its global workforce, from 10,000 to under 6,000, co-founder Jack Dorsey, has announced, amid AI “fundamentally” changing the company.
In a note to staff, which Dorsey also posted on X, he said the decision to cut staff was not because the company was in trouble but because “something has changed”.
“We’re already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company and that’s accelerating rapidly.”
Staff are being offered redundancy payments of 20 weeks plus one week per year of tenure, among other benefits, and can say farewells to fellow staff until the end of Thursday, US-time.
Block announced the cuts days after Australian-based software giant WiseTech announced it would cut 2,000 jobs over two years – about 30% of its workforce – as the company said AI tools had fundamentally changed writing software for ever.
Telstra’s and Accenture’s joint AI venture announced 200 jobs to go earlier this month, and CBA previously announced job cuts due to AI but later backtracked last year.
we’re making @blocks smaller today. here’s my note to the company.
####
today we’re making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company: we’re reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. that means over 4,000 of you are…
— jack (@jack) February 26, 2026
Lisa Cox
Bob Brown says he will apply for top job at new environmental regulator
Veteran environmentalist and former Greens leader Bob Brown says he will apply to be the first chief executive of the Albanese government’s environment protection agency.
Brown, who has devoted his life to stronger protection of Australia’s forests, was a critic of weaknesses in the government’s nature legislation that passed the parliament late last year.
One new commitment arising from those laws is the establishment of a national environmental regulator and the job to lead it has just been advertised.
In a statement this morning, Brown said “I’m it” and the job “is not difficult”. Brown told Guardian Australia that he definitely plans to apply:
I will ensure that proponents, including coalminers, gas frackers, native forest loggers, krill extraction companies and other marauders of the natural environment get the regulatory certainty that has, so far, been missing.
‘Safeguarding Australia’s environmental assets’ will be achieved and what’s left of the nation’s Indigenous and natural heritage will be safe.
No more hollow promises, back-door deals, weasel words and bulldozer-led solutions.
Josh Butler
Farrer byelection to be a tight race, but Ley calls for faith in Liberals
Farrer’s byelection will be a close-run race, with the Coalition facing challenges from independents and One Nation, but Ley said the area “has always been well served by the Liberal Party” and urged her constituents to stick by her party.
The election of a Liberal Member in the Farrer byelection is vital for the betterment and ongoing strength of our region and I know that Angus Taylor can and will ensure the Party continues to enjoy the support, trust and confidence of the people of Farrer.
Australia is best served by Coalition governments and I particularly wish every one of my (now former) colleagues well as they work diligently and determinedly to win government.
Read more about that race here:
Sussan Ley formally resigns from parliament
Josh Butler
Former opposition leader Sussan Ley has now formally resigned from parliament, with a byelection in her seat of Farrer to be held in coming months.
Ley, who signalled her intent to quit parliament after losing the Liberal leadership to Angus Taylor earlier this month, said she had today written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives to advise of her immediate resignation from parliament. In a gracious statement this morning, Ley said she will not return to parliament to give a final speech: “I am confident that my efforts and achievements over 25 years will speak for themselves”.
Naturally, I am sad to no longer represent my electorate of Farrer. I love the wide western plains of New South Wales, the country towns along the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers and the thriving cities of Albury and Griffith; communities that it has been my enormous privilege to serve for almost 25 years.
Her formal resignation is the trigger for a byelection to be called, with the timing of such a poll to be decided by speaker Milton Dick. His office has been contacted for comment.
Ley said she assumed the Liberal leadership“ with gratitude and humility” after the Coalition’s worst election defeat, thanking colleagues for the opportunity and saying her achievement of being the first woman to lead the Liberals was “a milestone for all women to be proud of”.
I hope I have paved the way for the next woman to be elected to, and succeed in, both these roles.
NSW police to be out in force during Sydney’s Mardi Gras celebrations
The police will conduct high-visibility patrols and operations during Saturday’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade in Sydney as hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected to line Oxford Street.
NSW police said the 48th annual event would have more than 150 floats, 9,000 participants and many more revelers. Spectators should expect to see specialist officers, members of the public order and riot squad, mounted police and general duty officers.
“Our priority is ensuring that everyone attending the 48th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade can celebrate safely,” assistant commissioner Stephen Hegarty said.
Police have been working closely with parade organisers and the LGBTIQA+ community to ensure a fun and safe environment for participants, attendees and the community across the event.
With large crowds expected, we encourage people to use public transport, follow directions from authorities and to plan how to get in and out of the city particularly as there will be major road closures.
We want everyone to enjoy the festivities, but we also ask attendees to look out for one another, drink responsibly and know their limit.
Jordyn Beazley
NSW police minister ‘sorry’ praying Muslim men came to Sydney protest
NSW police minister Yasmin Catley said it was unfortunate that the Muslim men who were dragged away while undertaking their sunset prayers at the anti-Herzog rally “went to a march and thought that was going to be peaceful, and it turned out not to be peaceful”.
Greens spokesperson for justice Sue Higginson grilled Catley over the protest a short time ago in budget estimates. Asked if she would publicly apologise to the Muslim community, Catley referred to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission’s investigation into alleged police misconduct at the protest:
Well, look, the reality is that … this is all going to come out, obviously, in the LECC inquiry, and I think that we should let it do its work.
I’m terribly sorry that they went to a march and thought that was going to be peaceful, and it turned out not to be peaceful.
Catley blamed the Palestine Action Group for not undertaking a static protest after being asked about the police violence used to disperse protesters.
She also repeatedly said that the group had “defied a court order” in going ahead with the protest. Higginson questioned Catley putting this in her evidence before budget estimates given the court challenge was not against the protest going ahead, but against the government declaring the Israeli president’s visit a major event under the state’s major event legislation, which gave the police expanded move on powers.
Catley said the parameters put around the protest were necessary because of the Bondi terror attack. She said:
We had seen a couple of years, two years in fact, of terrible unrest on our streets, particularly in our eastern suburbs, with our Jewish community. And then in December, when we saw that terrible terrorist attack where 15 people were murdered, our life changed forever here in this this town, in this city, in this state, and indeed in the country, and I think in relation to the parameters put around the protest of particularly after that event, I think that they were absolutely necessary.
Sussan Ley’s career in federal politics could finish today
Tom McIlroy
The former opposition leader Sussan Ley is expected to formally end her career in federal politics as soon as today.
Two weeks after losing the Liberal leadership to Angus Taylor, Ley is expected to resign as the MP for the NSW seat of Farrer on Friday, triggering a byelection ahead of the federal budget.
The Border Mail is reporting Ley will write to the speaker, Milton Dick, today and will not be present in parliament when MPs return to Canberra on Monday.
It will be up to Dick to decide when a byelection in the seat will take place. Ley has been the local member for 25 years.
Independent Michelle Milthorpe has already begun campaigning in the seat, and has already been endorsed by crossbenchers Helen Haines and David Pocock.
State Liberal MP Justin Clancy, independent state MP Helen Dalton and former Albury mayor Kylie King are all reportedly considering a tilt at Farrer.
The byelection will be an early test of Taylor’s leadership, and of One Nation’s surge in recent public opinion polls.
Christopher Knaus
Albanese should demand reparations from Israel, families of Australian soldiers whose graves were bulldozed say
The families of dead Australian soldiers whose graves were bulldozed by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza have called for reparations and urged the Albanese government to hold Israel accountable.
Earlier this month, the Guardian revealed that the IDF had bulldozed parts of the Gaza War Cemetery – the resting place of Australian, British and Canadian soldiers who served in the first and second world wars.
The damage was concentrated in a corner of the cemetery that housed the remains of Australian soldiers.
The revelations caused widespread outrage, including from two families who spoke to Guardian Australia about the shock of learning their relatives’ graves had been bulldozed and that their remains were unaccounted for.
Now a third family has spoken out, saying the Australian government must do more to hold Israel and the IDF accountable.
Read more here:
Coles marks new phase of profitability as half-year revenue climbs to $23.7bn
Jonathan Barrett
Coles has recorded a lift in its half-year revenue to $23.7bn and rapidly expanded its margins across its supermarket business, marking a new phase of profitability.
The result coincides with reigniting inflation, led by rising housing costs including groceries.
Coles’ headline profit fell due to one-off payments of $235m linked to the historical underpayment of staff.
Australia’s second biggest supermarket chain reported a 12.5% jump in underlying profit to $676m for the six-month period, when those payments are excluded from its financials.
After a brief period of subdued profitability, Coles and Woolworths have started expanding their profit margins again, which often indicates there is a growing disparity between the prices paid to suppliers, and prices charged to customers.
The supermarkets tend to defend growing margins by arguing they are running more efficient businesses.
Coles has lifted the margins on its supermarket business from 5.2% to 5.8%, which is significantly above pre-pandemic levels.
Coles is defending a federal court action brought by the consumer regulator over claims it offered “illusory” discounts on hundreds of products.
The judge has reserved his decision.
Nine childcare centres face loss of government funding over safety standards
Nine childcare centres could have their government funding taken away for failing to meet minimum standards, under a crackdown aimed at better protecting young Australians, AAP reports.
Since August, the federal government has issued notices to more than 60 centres which have either broken the law or put children at risk.
Thirty of those are required to show they have fixed the issue by the end of February. The government says it is working with nine centres – the majority of which are daycare providers – that have failed to resolve the issues raised.
The operators could be blocked from receiving the government’s childcare subsidy as a consequence.
Friday also marks the start of mandatory child-safety training for staff in the early learning sector, and a national register of workers. More than 100,000 employees across Australia have already registered for the training, the government said.
