As it happened: Parliament returns amid economic woes; Veteran suicide report delivered

Thousands of nurses across NSW will defy a court order and walk off the job for 12 hours tomorrow, bringing the state’s public health system to a standstill.

The Industrial Relations Commission today ordered the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association to call off tomorrow’s planned strike, where they will demand a single-year pay rise of 15 per cent.

General Secretary Shaye Candish said the strike will go ahead and accused the state government of forcing the industrial court to do the government’s work.

“Nurses and midwives do not take industrial action lightly,” she said. “They strive to provide compassionate, high quality care to our patients every day, but the NSW government’s refusal to value us and put a decent offer on the table has left us with no choice.”

The Minns government is offering public sector workers a 10.5 per cent pay rise over the next three years. Candish said the government had not budged on its offer in 10 meetings with the union.

Health Minister Ryan Park said NSW Health had already begun contacting people across the state whose planned surgeries would need to be postponed due to the strike.

“There is no doubt such action will impact on our public health system, from longer waits in emergency rooms to cancelled non-emergency surgeries,” he said. “The IRC has made orders to cease the strike action immediately. Unions fought for this independent industrial court and commission and we hope the Association complies with its orders.”

Emergency departments and critical life-preserving services will be maintained during the strike, and Park urged anyone needing emergency care not to avoid going to hospital.

In state news, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says her government will put age limits on social media users, following the move of South Australian Premier Peter Malinsauskas, who proposed new laws in his state to ban those aged under 14 from popular apps like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Using a video posted on Facebook to announce her plans, Allan said as a mother, she worried about the safety of her kids online, and had heard these concerns from other parents and children too.

“Social media can be a great thing – look, I’m using it right now – but it’s just not a place for kids before they are ready. It harms their development, and it hurts their focus,” she said.

The premier said parents were struggling to regulate their children’s social media use at home.

“It’s like a social media tsunami they feel they can’t stop. So it’s time to give parents the power to push back – not against kids, but against the tech giants.”

Allan said did not provide any specifics on how the government planned to enforce age limits or what any new legislation would look like. But, she added: “These rules won’t target parents or kids, but they’ll target the tech giants because they’re the ones we need to hold to account.”

The premier said teachers, parents and children would be consulted about what online content should be allowed.

The Victorian government wants a nationally consistent approach to age limits and backs South Australia’s proposal to ban those aged under 14 as a starting point.

“This won’t solve everything, but it’s the right place to start,” Allan said.

Defence Minister Richard Marles says the government supports “the thrust” of the final recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, but wouldn’t commit to specifics until the lengthy report was fully assessed.

Speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing this hour, Marles refrained from providing a response to each of the 122 recommendations “given that the report has literally just been handed down” but said the government would do so “in a timely, short manner”.

“We very much support the thrust of the royal commission. We believe that the work that it’s done is profoundly important and that the report itself is profoundly important,” Marles said.

“[We’re] still in the process […] of going through the specifics of the recommendations. We do understand the direction in which the royal commission has gone, and we will support the thrust of the recommendations that are made.

“We want to take the time, obviously, to go through each of [the recommendations]. But in taking that time, I also want to make this point: We will respond to this shortly. And in a very timely manner. We understand how important it is to that there is clarity provided in terms of the government’s response, and we will make that happen.”

Without going into the specific recommendations, Marles said transparency and supporting military personnel transitioning into civilian life were important issues for the government.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will tell a mining industry dinner tonight that the sector is “front and centre” of the Labor government’s plans to reach net zero emissions.

According to a copy of his speech released this afternoon before the event, the prime minister will spruik the government’s $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia scheme to subsidise green technologies and the critical minerals needed for them.

“The global imperative to cut emissions is Australia’s opportunity to grow our economy – and diversify it. That’s what I mean when I talk about a future made in Australia,” Albanese will say.

The prime minister will add that making government “a catalyst for new investment in critical minerals at every stage” would help the nation build new industrial centres powered by clean energy.

But sector leaders say red and green tape must be cut and, with energy demand expected to double by 2050, all technologies – including nuclear – will be required to meet future energy needs. The Minerals Council of Australia has released a plan to support the resource-intensive future, saying there will be no downstream processing or moving up the value chain if barriers to investment continue.

Recently, lithium mines have been mothballed with prices at three-year lows and nickel operations have been suspended amid a market glut for the battery mineral, costing thousands of jobs.

The opposition has slammed the government’s proposed production tax breaks for hydrogen and critical minerals as “corporate welfare” and “billions for billionaires”. But Albanese says, “that tough talk tends to drop off as they get closer to workplaces, mines, processing plants and ports”.

With opinion polls on a knife-edge, as Albanese and his travelling cabinet woo the sector, he insists the government is “clear about where we stand – whichever part of the country we are in, we are proud to be investing in jobs in the regions.”

“We know tax credits built on rewarding success, in areas crucial to our comparative advantage and economic resilience, serve the national interest,” he says. “This is about attracting private capital, not replacing it.”

AAP with Lachlan Abbott

ACTU secretary Sally McManus has returned fire at critics of her handling of CFMEU misconduct allegations, backing the construction union being put into administration and saying those who bear responsibility “now want to blame everyone else”.

Last week, the Australian union movement began to fracture further as the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union voted to split from the ACTU to protest it not supporting embattled CFMEU, which has been suspended from Australia’s peak union body.

The CFMEU’s ouster was prompted by a joint investigation by The Age, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes. The Building Bad series detailed allegations of corruption, intimidation and criminal infiltration involving the construction union and building sites across the country.

In a video posted on the ACTU’s social media this afternoon, McManus spoke directly to Australian union members and argued the merits of the peak body’s response.

“I want to make this really clear: none of this is union business,” she said, detailing allegations against CFMEU leaders without naming them.

“None of this is about being a militant or a strong union. It is not unionism. There is no place in our movement for crooks or violence – no place. These behaviours threaten our movement and the good work unions do.”

McManus said the ACTU had asked the CFMEU to act, but said those in leadership positions with allegations against them refused to do so. She said the union refused to voluntarily enter administration, as other unions had in the past, to rid itself of corruption, so the government had to act.

“The period of administration is about one thing: ridding the union of criminal elements, intimidation and violence, so it can return to a democratic control as soon as possible as a strong union,” McManus said.

“Union democracy is paramount. But there can be no democracy where people are afraid to speak up because of violence and intimidation.”

She said administrators of the CFMEU would still represent members strongly, adding the rank-and-file were not to blame and deserved a “strong, clean union”.

“Unfortunately, some of the individuals who do bear responsibility, and could have, at many points, acted to avoid what has occurred, now want to blame everyone else.”

Defence Minister Richard Marles has tabled the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide’s final report in federal parliament.

Shortly before 3.30pm today, the deputy prime minister rose to his feet in the House of Representatives to speak on the lengthy report, which includes 122 recommendations across seven volumes and thousands of pages of findings now publicly available.

“The government is committed to responding to this report shortly,” Marles said moments ago.

“We will do so soon in a manner which is timely. And we will do so with complete thoroughness because those who wear our nation’s uniform deserve nothing less.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the government merely “paused” the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ planned changes to the census that added questions about sexual orientation and gender identity so it could “get it right” after talking to more people.

On Sunday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed the government had reserved course a second time after a backlash followed their August 25 announcement that it had cancelled the bureau’s plans to trial new questions that would identify sexually diverse, transgender and intersex Australians.

Albanese wanted to avoid a culture war at a time Labor was pitching to voters on the cost of living, and senior ministers backed him in public by saying that questions about sexuality or gender in the next census would lead to a divisive debate.

But by the end of that week, an internal Labor revolt provoked six MPs to speak out against the decision. The call had also infuriated equality advocates.

Albanese then reversed his stance and said there would be one new question on sexual orientation. However, he came under fire for splitting the community by refusing to count transgender Australians.

Yesterday, Chalmers said the government had again changed its position and would include questions on gender. “We have listened to the community,” he said.

This afternoon in question time, Greens MP Stephen Bates asked prime minister why the government made the initial decision to scrap the questions.

“The ABS came to the government with potential changes it planned to trial, including changes it had not recommended for the 2026 census,” Albanese said.

“We paused that process to get it right. And that’s precisely what we have done. The government’s position follows further engagement with the community and additional discussions with the ABS.

“We ensured, for example, the only people aged over the age of consent will be asked questions on the new topic. And that people can choose not to answer. Now, regulations to add this new topic will be finalised before the end of the year.

“This is how you get a commonsense solution: by working with people, in the order to achieve the objective that we have set.”

With Natassia Chrysanthos