Conroy says Labor unconcerned by PNG-China discussions
Pat Conroy, the minister for Pacific affairs, has tried to tamp down any suggestions the failure to sign a defence treaty with Papua New Guinea is a backward step for Australia’s strategic plans in the region.
His comments largely mirrored those of the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, about the treaty.
Conroy told the ABC:
We have been open and transparent. We hit a logistical delay. The cabinet of PNG was scheduled to consider the treaty on Monday. Unfortunately most of their ministers had left Port Moresby to go to their home provinces to celebrate Independence Day and that meant they did not have a quorum to consider the treaty.
So this is a process delay rather than anything else and we had both prime ministers standing up today saying the words are agreed and first alliance in over 70 years will be soon signed and coming into force, which will bring the people of PNG and Australia closer with a shared security future.
Today is a good day for Australia’s security and a good day for the Pacific.
Conroy added that he was “not at all” concerned that the PNG defence minister would be meeting with defence officials in China who could undermine the agreement.
We go through our process of briefing countries close to us about agreements like this, so I think it is an entirely sensible course of action for Defence Minister Joseph to brief other countries about why PNG is entering into this treaty.
Key events
Measles alert in NSW
NSW Health is advising people to be alert for signs of measles after being notified of a confirmed case who was infectious while visiting several locations in Northern NSW and Sydney, including flights from Perth to Sydney and Sydney to Gold Coast.
The person recently returned from Western Australia, where there is an active outbreak of measles.
Passengers and crew on board the flights or people who attended the following locations should watch for the development of symptoms. These locations do not pose an ongoing risk:
Friday 12 September 2025
Virgin Australia flight VA572 from Perth to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport;
Sydney Kingsford Smith airport (T2) from 6:30 – 7:00am;
Virgin Australia flight VA505 from Sydney Domestic airport (T2) to Gold Coast;
Gold Coast airport main terminal baggage and arrival area, 8:30 to 9:20am;
Monday 15 September 2025
Tweed Valley Hospital Emergency Department, 9:30am to 11am.
Caitlin Cassidy
Subject cuts at UTS a ‘disgrace’, Greens say
The Greens have called a proposal by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to cut 30% of its subjects an “absolute disgrace” amid a renewed push for university governance to be overhauled.
The deputy leader and spokesperson for higher education, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said the university’s decision to close the School of Education and International Studies and School of Public Health would be “disastrous” for staff, students and the community.
This decision flies in the face of all that universities should stand for – public institutions for public good. Overhauling university governance is absolutely urgent. Staff and students deserve to be key decision-makers at their universities, not overpaid executives or corporate appointees.
The vice-chancellor of UTS, Prof Andrew Parfitt, said the university was focused on achieving a “sustainable future” where it could “continue to deliver research outcomes for the communities that benefit from our work” and its commitment to public education was “paramount”.
An ongoing Senate inquiry into university governance is due to hand down its interim report on Friday.
Defence spending ‘like other areas of government’, finance minister says
Katy Gallagher, the finance minister, was speaking shortly after the shadow finance minister, James Paterson, elaborated on plans to raise the defence spending to 3% of GDP. She told the ABC:
I think we approach defence like other areas of government. Where there is a capability needed, and the prime minister has been clear on this, where a capability is required to keep Australians safe, we will fund that and that is what we have done with all decisions.
But there has to be discipline across the board. No area of government gets a get-out-of-jail-free card. We have to make sure the rules are applied consistently across the government and apply to defence. That does not mean that budget will not increase.
I expect it will, we are living in uncertain times, the demands on defence are very high and continuing to grow, why it is in one of those top programs that is growing faster than other areas of government.
Finance minister says opposition economic plan shows it’s the ‘same old Liberal party’
Katy Gallagher, the finance minister, said the speech given by the Coalition leader, Sussan Ley, on Wednesday that outlined her economic agenda showed a reliance on policies taken to the last election.
Gallagher told the ABC:
I looked at her speech and what it said to me is it is the same old Liberal party, similar themes to what they took to the election, punching down on people relying on public services, having free range in areas they want to prioritise, talk about savings. I guess the thing for me is if you had not learned the lessons of the last election, that is a concern.
We have fiscal guardrails, we have done a lot of cleaning up of the budget, getting rid of waste and rorts we inherited, paying down debt, getting the bottom line in better shape and the reason we do that is so we can deal with some of the big challenges we are seeing across our economy.
We can deal with the pressures in aged care, in Medicare and play a useful and constructive role in the transition to net zero, the biggest economic transition we have seen for decades.
Andrew Messenger
Queensland Museum partnership with Shell ‘illegal’, according to advice tabled in parliament
A Greens MP tabled legal advice in parliament today suggesting that a Queensland Museum partnership with fossil fuel company Shell is illegal.
The museum’s Future Makers program aims to encourage students to take part in Stem-related subjects. It is run in partnership with the company, which operates coal seam gas mining projects in Queensland.
According to legal advice by the state’s Environmental Defenders Office – tabled in parliament on Wednesday – the arrangement may put the museum in contravention of the legislation which established it. Under the Queensland Museum Act 1970, the institution must show leadership “in the preservation, research and communication of Queensland’s cultural and natural heritage”.
“Our client therefore believes that your partnership with Shell is inconsistent with the objectives of the Queensland Museum as it will put at risk the Queensland’s cultural and natural heritage,” the Environmental Defenders Office managing lawyer, Kirsty Ruddock, wrote.
“We therefore ask that you reconsider the partnership with Shell QRC.”
The arts minister, John-Paul Langbroek, told parliament that he had not been previously aware of the correspondence, which had been sent to his ministerial office.
I think that it’s a long bow between what’s being suggested in terms of what the member has asked in his question, and then asking me, as the minister responsible, to make some policy decision based on a letter that I have not seen.
Defence spending jump would be funded by economic growth, Coalition says
The shadow finance minister, James Paterson, says he does not believe an increase in defence spending would require funding to be stripped from other priorities.
Paterson is speaking after the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, outlined her economic agenda in a speech earlier today.
He told the ABC that economic growth would be relied upon to increase the defence spend to 3% GDP:
We think that is an increase which is necessary for Australia’s national security needs and they are imminent and serious, and we are not going to wait to deliver that increased spending on defence to secure our country to find other savings, but that will require discipline elsewhere in the budget to make sure that we are on a sustainable trajectory, which we are clearly not right now.
Conroy says Labor unconcerned by PNG-China discussions
Pat Conroy, the minister for Pacific affairs, has tried to tamp down any suggestions the failure to sign a defence treaty with Papua New Guinea is a backward step for Australia’s strategic plans in the region.
His comments largely mirrored those of the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, about the treaty.
Conroy told the ABC:
We have been open and transparent. We hit a logistical delay. The cabinet of PNG was scheduled to consider the treaty on Monday. Unfortunately most of their ministers had left Port Moresby to go to their home provinces to celebrate Independence Day and that meant they did not have a quorum to consider the treaty.
So this is a process delay rather than anything else and we had both prime ministers standing up today saying the words are agreed and first alliance in over 70 years will be soon signed and coming into force, which will bring the people of PNG and Australia closer with a shared security future.
Today is a good day for Australia’s security and a good day for the Pacific.
Conroy added that he was “not at all” concerned that the PNG defence minister would be meeting with defence officials in China who could undermine the agreement.
We go through our process of briefing countries close to us about agreements like this, so I think it is an entirely sensible course of action for Defence Minister Joseph to brief other countries about why PNG is entering into this treaty.
Hobart stadium cost blows out by $185m but premier vows he won’t give up
The Tasmanian premier has confirmed the price tag for Hobart’s new stadium has blown out by $185m, while claiming the state’s planning commission also underestimated the social and economic benefits of the development.
Jeremy Rockliff was speaking to reporters after the Tasmanian Planning Commission concluded that the benefits of the stadium at Macquarie Point in Hobart were outweighed by its social, environmental and financial costs. According to AAP, he said:
I am not going to give up on this project.
You cannot put a value on keeping young people in Tasmania and building hope and aspiration.
Petra Stock
North Queensland towns receive up to five times their average rain for September in one week
The wet season in North Queensland usually begins in October, but areas around Cairns have seen “quite incredible rainfall totals” this week, with some recording five times their average monthly rain.
Jonathan How, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said in the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday there had been extensive falls of between 50 and 150mm across the coast between Daintree and Tully, including Cairns.
Significant falls in the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday included:
Topaz, just inland from Innisfail: 379mm
Daintree Village, up the road from Cairns: 279mm
Bairds, just south of the Daintree: 235mm
Cairns racecourse: 96mm
In the week to Wednesday, some places had already received five times their average monthly totals for September, How said.
In the seven days to 9am Wednesday, Topaz had received 569mm (compared to an average of 106mm), Daintree Village 382mm, Innisfail 224mm and Cairns 122mm. September averages usually range between 20 and 100mm, How said.
We are still stuck in this weather pattern where we’re still seeing these south-easterly winds push a lot of moisture on to the coast.
We will still see plenty of showers sticking around the region over the next few days. Still can’t rule out the possibility of heavy falls, but things do start to dry out over the weekend.
But these sort of rainfall figures have, not surprisingly, led to some river rises.
Minor flood warnings were in place for the Daintree, Mossman, Mulgrave and Russell rivers.
Jimmy Barnes and other musicians urge ANU to save music school
Caitlin Cassidy
Jimmy Barnes is among around three dozen high-profile musicians who have signed an open letter urging the Australian National University (ANU) to save its School of Music.
Under a draft plan released in July, ANU revealed plans to absorb the six-decade-old institution into the School of Creative and Cultural Practice and axe one-on-one instrumental lessons as part of the university’s restructure to cut $250m in costs.
Students at the music school have been holding continued protests against the flagged cuts, including overnight jam sessions.
Members of the newly formed School of Music Advocacy Roundtable penned the open letter on Wednesday in opposition to the decision. Excerpts of the letter read:
“If the proposed changes to the School of Music and the curriculum proceed, none of the students graduating will be employable as professional musicians.”
Cold Chisel frontman Barnes, You Am I’s Tim Rogers and Genesis Owusu were among the signatories.
An all-staff town hall will be held on Thursday by the interim vice-chancellor, Prof Rebekah Brown, to discuss the future of the university’s restructure.
BHP ‘unAustralian’, Queensland deputy premier says
Queensland’s deputy premier has labelled BHP “unAustralian” and defended the state’s mining royalties scheme after the mining giant blamed it for its decision to mothball a coalmine and cut hundreds of jobs while also reviewing the future of its training academy.
You can read more on that story here:
Luca Ittimani
Tasmanian premier ‘disappointed’ at school closures
Tasmania’s premier has said he is “very disappointed” after staff strikes closed 14 schools across the state on Wednesday.
School cleaners, grounds staff and kitchen assistants left work and rallied outside Parliament House in Hobart today, calling for improved working conditions, after years of rising workloads without an increase in staffing. The stop-work action forced about schools across the state to close their doors.
Amy Brumby, the Tasmania coordinator for the United Workers Union, said in a statement:
Members are rallying today to call for the immediate investment in [more] roles to match the reality of modern school operations and ensure student safety and educational standards can be maintained.
Tasmania’s premier, Jeremy Rockliff, told reporters:
I’m very disappointed at the school closures today. Parents and families are being disrupted and our young people are there to go to school and to learn.
Rockliff rejected responsibility for the closures and said he was confident continued negotiations would resolve the disputes, describing the government’s recent offer of a 3% pay rise to all state employees as “very strong”:
I’m a very big believer in supporting our facility attendants to be rewarded for the work that they do.
The Tasmanian government confirmed there was no indication that further school closures were expected. Negotiations are ongoing.
That’s all from me, Nino Bucci will take it from here. Take care, and enjoy your arvo.
Caitlin Cassidy
UTS’s teacher education program set to close as university reveals plan to slash more than 1,000 subjects
The University of Technology Sydney will close its teacher education program and public health school as part of a sweeping restructure that would remove more than 1,100 subjects to return the institution to surplus.
The proposed cuts, released on Wednesday, are part of the debt-ridden university’s strategy to reduce expenditure by $100m annually.
Under the proposal, the school of professional practice and leadership would be closed as part of a plan to reduce the total number of schools from 24 to 15, and the faculty of law, business school and transdisciplinary school would be combined.
Read more here:
Last squad of NSW RFS deployed in Canada return home after devastating wildfire season
The last contingent of NSW Rural Fire Service personnel arrived back in Australia after a long deployment aiding Canada with its wildfire season.
The agency said the returning personnel were now planning to enjoy “well deserved rest before the official start of bush fire danger period”.
This morning, the final contingent of #RFS personnel arrived home reuniting with their families after a long deployment assisting the Canadians with their wildfire season.
The returning personnel will enjoy well-deserved rest before the official start of bush fire danger period pic.twitter.com/r3fqxHKW9O— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) September 17, 2025
Canada saw one of its worst fire seasons on record, with scientists warning climate change was prolonging and exacerbating the burning. Thousands of fires across the country scorched more than 8.7m hectares of land, with officials warning last month the figures were Canada’s “new reality”.
