Australian news and politics live: Albanese ‘devastated’, Minns blasts protesters after violent clashes

Communication Minister Anika Wells has defended an additional $10 million spent on an awareness campaign for Australia’s social media ban.

The extra cost brings the total taxpayer bill to explain the policy to $20 million, according to evidence by department officials in a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday morning.

Ms Wells conceded that Aussies were still confused after the first round of advertising, so a decision was made in late 2025 to up the budget.

“There have been decisions taken over the second half of the last year in response to feedback on the ground,” Ms Wells claimed.

“People like the Opposition, for example, were saying that not enough Australians were aware of what was coming, that people needed to inform themselves, and one of the ways that we help Australians inform themselves about laws that are going to impact them, is an educational awareness campaign.”

Communication Minister Anika Wells says popular gaming platform Roblox has accepted her invitation to meet after she raised concerns over “graphic and gratuitous content” on the app.

The Labor frontbencher demanded the urgent meeting amid allegations the platform is being infiltrated by predators targeting minors.

Ms Wells told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday that she accepted “lots of parents” would like gaming platforms to be included in the ban, but insisted they needed to be treated differently from social media platforms.

“The social media minimum age is designed specifically to address the predatory, persuasive algorithms, features and functions that kids experience on social media, which is obviously quite different,” she said.

“I accept lots of parents would like us to ban them because they see these kinds of harms, and they’re worried about it. We need to treat that a bit differently.”

During the anti-Herzog protests at Town Hall on Monday, a group of Muslim men, who were praying in the square, were forcibly moved on by police.

The video quickly went viral online, with many questioning the police action.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said that the video does not give full context, while backing the actions of officers.

The Lebanese Muslim Association on Tuesday called for answers.

“We are appalled and outraged by footage from last night showing a group of peaceful worshipers being pushed and treated in a heavy-handed manner by the NSW Police while in a state of peaceful prayers,” a spokesperson said Tuesday.

“The conduct of the NSW Police represents a serious breach of religious sanctity. It is deeply distressing, unacceptable and not reflective of (the) Australia we know.

“The Australian Jewish community is hurting after the terror attacks at Bondi. We hurt with them, and we stand with them in grief and solidarity. At the same time, we are also deeply hurt by the ongoing atrocities and genocide committed against our brothers and sisters in Gaza.

“We demand clear answers from the NSW Government, the NSW Premier Chris Minns and the NSW Police.”

As the Liberal Party sideshow continues in Canberra, Anthony Albanese used a caucus meeting to take another dig at the Opposition’s chaos.

The Prime Minister thanked his caucus colleagues for their “discipline and dignity” over the past couple of weeks.

“Our task is to continue as the adults in government, in contrast to the circus that we see from the Opposition,” he told them, according to a source in the room.

Mr Albanese also mentioned that he would make the Closing the Gap statement on Thursday, “in the wake of the horrific terrorist attack in Perth, an attack motivated obviously by racial hatred”.

The Labor caucus had signed off on Jim Chalmers introducing legislation to reduce the tax concessions on multimillion-dollar superannuation accounts.

The Treasurer announced the policy in the last term, but it got stalled in the Senate.

Last year, he announced a reworking of the policy that will double the tax rate on superannuation balances above $3 million and now also increase a top-up payment for people on low incomes.

Parliament will finally see that legislation this week, according to a senior Government spokesperson, after it was endorsed unanimously by Labor MPs.

Malcolm Turnbull has accused the Liberal Party of focusing on ideology over policies and mocked their infighting.

“If you hear a sort of … soft, purring, rubbing noise in the Parliament, it’s all of the Labor members just rubbing their hands and hugging themselves with glee as they watch the catastrophe on the other side,” he said at a press conference during a visit to Parliament House for a clean energy conference.

He said the Coalition needed to get back to the centre and not fall further into “La, La, Land”, while also suggesting there’s a potential gap in the political market for a centrist party.

“Regrettably, the Liberal Party and the National Party at the moment are no longer, by their own choice, competing in the centre, and the mistake has been to fall into that sort of right-wing media ecosystem.”

Premier Chris Minns said former Australian of the Year Grace Tame’s chanting at the anti-Herzog demonstrations was “distressing”.

“I thought that was a distressing scene,” Mr Minns said on Tuesday.

“You know, I – in the circumstances where six weeks ago we lost 15 members of the Jewish community to a hate crime, a violent terrorist uprising, that’s what the consequences of ‘globalise the intifada’ mean, a violent uprising in Sydney’s streets.

“I can only imagine what those families thought when they saw someone screaming it from the steps of Town Hall, the pain they would have gone through.

“It’s not a distant memory. We’re talking about weeks ago, their family members were mowed down and murdered because they were Jewish.”

Greens NSW MP Abigail Boyd has accused NSW Police of punching her in the head as she attempted to move on from the protests at Town Hall.

Ms Boyd said while NSW Police were attempting to move people on, she told them she was a member of Parliament when she was allegedly “lifted off the ground” then punched in the head and shoulder by two officers.

The protests have sparked division in Sydney following the demonstrations that defied police orders that were in place for public safety.

Despite being told not to hold the event at Town Hall, Palestine Action Group went ahead with the event there.

Now, the group claims that NSW Police gave them nowhere to go, creating a pressure cooker situation.

NSW Police and the NSW Government say if the group followed police direction and held the event at Hyde Park, the situation would have been manageable, likely without incident.

Josh Lees from the Palestine Action Group on Monday claimed 50,000 people turned out in Sydney to protest Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit following the Bondi Beach terror attack.

On Tuesday morning, he claimed the number was 30,000.

NSW Police have said the number was between 6000 - 7000.

On Tuesday, Mr Lees said he attempted to calm and disperse the crowd when police moved in, a version of events heavily disputed by the NSW Premier and NSW Police.

Protest groups have gathered on Tuesday morning to accuse the NSW Government and NSW Police of a “monumental failure” over the actions taken at the anti-Herzog protests.

NSW Police had offered protesters the opportunity to demonstrate at Hyde Park, but instead they demanded the Town Hall.

The decision went all the way to the Supreme Court, and was rejected, but protesters defied Government and police direction and gathered at Sydney’s Town Hall, something police say caused an “impossible” situation.

NSW MP Sue Higginson of the Greens said that NSW Police should have allowed the protesters to march from Town Hall to State Parliament, and no violence or clashes would have occurred.

In the statement, the protest group acknowledged that people wanted to march, despite organisers assuring NSW Police that no one would march.