Australia news LIVE: Federal seat of North Sydney abolished; Defence Minister strips medals from ADF officers

A serving Queensland police officer has died in a motorcycle crash while participating in a memorial ride for fallen colleagues.

The 58-year-old was participating in the Wall to Wall Ride of Remembrance on the Gwydir Highway, about 20 kilometres east of Glen Innes in northern NSW, when he lost control while trying to overtake another rider. The ride left Brisbane yesterday.

The Queensland police officers were on their way to Armidale when the officer lost control.

The motorcycle went down an embankment and crashed. The officer died at the scene.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles shared his condolences on social media.

“Devastated to hear an off duty Queensland police officer has died during the Wall to Wall memorial ride near Glen Innes,” he said.

“My deepest condolences to family, friends and all members of the Qld Police Service.”

The circumstances of the crash are under investigation.

The Tax Office has signalled it will continue to chase a record $100 billion in unpaid tax, revealing huge amounts of outstanding employee entitlements such as superannuation and withheld tax on wages.

The nation’s tax commissioner, Rob Heferen, this morning said the agency would be “firmer and faster” dealing with unpaid tax, which would then flow back to the broader community.

Bankruptcy experts have noted a lift in both corporate and personal insolvencies over the past year as business operators find themselves unable to pay their debts.

Heferen said collectable tax debt had now reached $50 billion while overall debt had reached more than $100 billion. In 2023-24, the ATO collected about $600 billion in tax.

“It’s the largest it’s ever been, and it’s money that could be benefiting all Australians,” he told the Tax Institute summit in Sydney today.

“This debt is not disputed, most of it has been self-reported, and it’s largely made up of amounts that have been withheld from employees’ wages and collected from consumers as GST – but not passed on to government.

“Even more worryingly, it includes some employee entitlements, such as superannuation.”

Heferen said the Tax Office was seeking to ensure tax was paid in line with the law and to ensure all businesses faced a level playing field.

“Paying tax isn’t optional, and it’s our responsibility to ensure a level playing field,” he said.

“This is critical for supporting other creditors and businesses who are doing the right thing and paying on time, and who themselves can often be left out of pocket by businesses who aren’t taking steps to manage their financial situation.

“You can expect that we will be firmer and faster in dealing with unpaid GST, (pay-as-you-go-withheld) and super.”

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie, who is an Afghan veteran, has spoken with his voice breaking of the problems in the chain of command that allowed wrongdoing in Afghanistan.

“Our soldiers must tell the truth, and those in leadership must seek it out. If both our soldiers and our leaders had done so we might not be in this place today. But here we are, and it has been a tough reckoning.”

“My one point of disagreement with the Brereton report is on how far it reaches up the chain in assigning responsibility. I believe that our troops were let down by a lack of moral courage that went up the chain of command all the way to Canberra, including in this house [of parliament].

“I want to be clear, those who are alleged to have shed innocent blood are alone responsible for that. I do not say this to absolve or condemn anyone, but those in the chain of command who saw the post-mission slide decks with the kill counts and pictures of dead individuals had an obligation to ask questions from Tarrant to Kabul to Kandahar to Dubai, to Canberra.”

Sticking with Richard Marles in parliament today, the defence minister has said Australia will compensate the victims of wrongdoing by the country’s military personnel in Afghanistan.

“The government will establish the Afghanistan inquiry compensation scheme and regulation under which compensation claims may be managed,” Marles said.

That stems from the Brereton report into war crimes during the long war.

“This will always be a matter of national shame,” Marles said, referring to the report’s findings.

In closing his remarks on the Brereton report, Marles paid tribute to the vast majority of Australians serving in the defence force.

“The nation owes a debt of gratitude to those who have worn and will wear our nation’s uniform. For the more than 103,000 Australians who have made the ultimate sacrifice in that service.

“Their names are rightly inscribed on the role which has accorded our country’s greatest honour. That we have held ourselves accountable in this moment allows Australia to continue to cherish this service, past and future.

“More than 26,000 Australians served in the war in Afghanistan… They undertook their service with professionalism, with honour and with integrity. And they should be proud of their contribution, and we are proud of them.

“We acknowledge the 41 Australians who died on operations in Afghanistan, and today and every day, we hold their families in our hearts. We acknowledge those wounded by their service over the course of Australia’s longest war and those who have felt its aftermath.

“The government also recognises the heavy impact of the Brereton report on our service personnel veterans and their families.”

Richard Marles has stripped medals from a small number of Australian Defence Force officers involved in the Afghan war, fulfilling two recommendations from the Brereton report into misconduct in the war, including unlawful killings.

“My decisions on this matter are consistent with the findings and recommendations of the Brereton report,” the defence minister said in Parliament on Thursday.

“In accordance with obligations owed to the individuals involved, including under the Privacy Act, I am prohibited from disclosing the details and outcomes.”

Marles pays tribute to the “sacred service” of the vast majority of Australian defence personnel and commends those who told the truth about what happened in Afghanistan.

“These people whose names are not heralded, have changed our country for the better. Today, we honour them.”

Labor and the Coalition are a step closer to an outcome in parliament on aged care changes that could overhaul the funding arrangements so that wealthier retirees are asked to pay more for their care.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been holding out on a government reform plan in the wake of a scathing royal commission into the sector, but there have been signs of progress in the talks on Thursday morning.

Dutton held talks with shadow cabinet ministers to consider the Coalition position and called a party room meeting for 10.30am on Thursday to consult Liberal and Nationals MPs on the policy.

The government is proposing to increase public funding for aged care places and pay for more home care packages for older Australians who want to stay in their own homes, but it is also putting forward plans that expect some aged care residents to pay more for services like food and cleaning.

The draft changes are not expected to ask aged care residents to pay for clinical care, given that this is funded by the taxpayer.

The government has not released its plans to the public because it has tried to negotiate an agreement with the Coalition before revealing the final package, but the Coalition has been reluctant to sign a letter to commit its support in writing.

One amendment, reported by this masthead, has already been agreed to drop the idea of imposing criminal sanctions on the directors of residential aged care companies. Other changes may depend on the next phase of negotiations and a likely Senate inquiry into the package if it is put to parliament.

Defence Minister Richard Marles is speaking in parliament to address the findings of the Brereton report into Australian war crimes in the long conflict in Afghanistan.

“The inquiry’s work was thorough, forensic and remarkable,” Marles said.

“At the outset, I want to place on record the government stands for the extraordinary work of Major General Brereton and his team.

“He has provided the nation with the opportunity to do all that we can to make right a terrible wrong.

“The report concluded there was credible information of unlawful conduct, the most disturbing of which was the identification of 23 incidents involving 25 Australian Special Forces personnel. These incidents related to the alleged unlawful killing of 39 people.”

Australia’s military has reformed itself in the wake of the damning findings of the Brereton report, Marles says.

The report made more than 140 recommendations on how to improve how Australia’s armed forces operate, all of which Defence accepted.

“Since 2020, Defence has addressed the recommendations and implemented a comprehensive plan at a systemic, organisational and cultural level,” Marles said in Parliament on Thursday.

“This has occurred across the tenure of both Labor and Coalition governments, the implementation of the Brereton report has essentially been bi-partisan, and today I acknowledge the efforts of the former Coalition government, for its part in giving effect to the Brereton report.”

The Queensland government has passed new anti-vape legislation, making the state the toughest jurisdiction in the country, as health data revealed rates of young people vaping had doubled over five years.

Smoking rates in Queensland have decreased since the 1990s, but the habit has been replaced by vaping, particularly in young adults and teenagers. More than one-third of young people aged 12 to 17 had vaped in 2023, which increased to 45 per cent among people aged 18 to 29.

The legislation gives authorities increased powers to close offending businesses for up to six months – a penalty no other state had introduced.

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