Australia politics live: outgoing Nacc boss says sorry for robodebt inquiry delays; new US ambassador starts in Washington | Australia news
Outgoing Nacc boss says ‘sorry’ for robodebt inquiry delays
Tom McIlroy
Paul Brereton, the outgoing boss of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) has defended his controversial tenure but hit back at suggestions he contributed to the major suffering of robodebt victims.
Facing Senate estimates for the last time before he leaves the role in July, Brereton said he was wrong to be involved in consideration of referrals related to the illegal welfare debt scheme, which was the subject of a landmark royal commission.
But he hit back at Greens senator David Shoebridge, who asked if he would apologise to the victims of robodebt and the families of people who died after being issued debt notices.
In October 2024, the Nacc inspector found Brereton had engaged in misconduct when he involved himself in proceedings that rejected further investigation into senior public servants involved in robodebt, including the then human services department secretary Kathryn Campbell, who was an army reserve colleague of Brereton’s.
He defended his actions.
double quotation mark My involvement, such as it was in the preliminary stages of the initial robotic consideration, was entirely in good faith, in the interests of the then infant commission in providing guidance, how a very complex issue might be addressed without suggesting the outcome of that issue.As I have said earlier, with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been better if I was not involved in that at all. And, of course, I am sorry for the delay that that has caused.
However, to suggest that that is the main cause of the appalling tragedy that the robodebt victims have suffered, is, I suggest, gilding the lily on your part.
Key events
Estimates sessions ‘like drawing teeth’: Shoebridge
Shoebridge says there’s an even more fundamental problem at the heart of the Nacc – a lack of transparent hiring processes.
The crossbench – led by Helen Haines, a key architect of the body – have been calling for a proper merit based process for the anti-corruption body.
The Greens senator told RN Breakfast that the hiring of Brereton should not have been from “inside the Canberra club”.
double quotation mark It’s the fact that Labor chose to appoint somebody from inside the Canberra Club and didn’t put in place and ensure that the checks and balances were there so that public confidence was maintained. And, you know, and still last night, Commissioner Brereton. even after all, we know that he thinks he still has the full confidence of the Labor government and the Labor Attorney General.
Shoebridge is scathing of Brereton’s answers to estimates last night, and said he “refuses to accept even the most basic propositions,” and that after the session ended, there were further revelations that a second investigation was underway on Brereton’s conduct.
Shoebridge says:
double quotation mark It’s in my experience, and it’s with many federal bureaucrats, it’s like drawing teeth. The idea that it would be a frank exchange, an open, transparent process, which is what it should be-I mean, that’s almost a dream. Like, what we get is we get defensive non-answers, and Commissioner Brereton was exhibit A in that.
Brereton had an ‘inability to accept his own role in his downfall’, Shoebridge says
Greens senator David Shoebridge was front and centre last night interrogating the outgoing National Anti-Corruption Commissioner Paul Brereton at Senate estimates, and has some choice words for the conduct of the public servant.
For a catch up on what went down last night – take a look here.
Shoebridge tells the ABC’s RN Breakfast there has been a huge amount of frustration from the Australian public around the handling of robodebt by the Nacc and the subsequent fallout.
He also says Brereton “absolutely should have recused himself from defence matters”.
double quotation mark This is a man who left office in the way he came into office with a huge amount of hubris and an inability to accept his own role in, I think, his downfall and in his resignation three years into a five-year term.But more fundamentally, his role in setting the tone for the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which, if you were to go out and ask people across the country, you know, do they support it? I think most people would say it has utterly failed to meet the moment.
Government funds 2026 Rugby League World Cup
The prime minister has the fun job of spruiking something a lot lighter this morning – he’s talking to commercial radio stations about the government’s support for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.
The government is putting $12.4m towards the planning, logistics and delivery of the event, which will have women’s, men’s and wheelchair tournaments.
Games will begin in Sydney in October – but will also be played in a couple of neighbouring countries. There will be 26 teams from 16 nations playing across five weeks.
Anthony Albanese told Triple M Sydney this morning:
double quotation mark There’s going to be games in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Townsville, and of course the great city of Newcastle as well, alongside games in PNG and New Zealand, so it will extend the rugby league season even further. And we’re investing to provide some support for those teams for the NRL, so it will be a great way to continue to back this great game after the NRL season ends.
‘Is this just a cost shifting exercise’ McIntosh asks on NDIS
The Coalition has agreed to support the seismic NDIS legislation through the House, but pushed for a rapid Senate inquiry to consider the changes.
The shadow minister for the NDIS, Melissa McIntosh, told the ABC’s RN Breakfast this morning she fought hard for the inquiry, to probe some of the issues and questions still unanswered over the details of the legislation.
She said she’s hearing some participants already facing cuts to their plans, well before the legislation has been passed and the changes are scheduled to take effect.
She’s also concerned about whether the states will pick up their responsibilities for providing foundation supports – a key program which will support participants who aren’t eligible for the NDIS with more moderate needs.
double quotation mark How do you build a foundation from nothing, which is where it is at in the state regards right now? And then the question Mark [Butler], as well, is this just a cost-shifting-shifting exercise? Are we just moving the budget, the NDIS budget, onto the health budget? … But if it’s a cost-shifting exercise, at the end of the day, Australian taxpayers still have to pay for it.
Property tax changes will have a ‘modest affordability effect’ on house prices, O’Neil says
Continuing her media rounds across the press gallery, Clare O’Neil tells the ABC’s News Breakfast that the tax changes will have a “modest” impact on affordability.
The housing minister acknowledges that the changes are “difficult” for some people, but that “they’ll mean about 75,000 rental households become first home owning households.”
Treasury modelling in the budget estimates that the changes will slow house price growth by 2% over two years, compared to the current tax settings.
O’Neil says:
double quotation mark What it says is that this will have a modest affordability effect on house prices in Australia.But at the end of the day, the thing that is driving house prices is actually not our tax sets, it’s a fundamental mismatch between how many homes we’re building and how many homes we need.
On supply, building more homes is the best thing to put downward pressure on house prices. At the moment, that project is being hit from all sides. You’re got the conflict in the Middle East, which is driving up construction costs, you’ve also got big surge in interest rates as well.
Outgoing Nacc boss says ‘sorry’ for robodebt inquiry delays
Tom McIlroy
Paul Brereton, the outgoing boss of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) has defended his controversial tenure but hit back at suggestions he contributed to the major suffering of robodebt victims.
Facing Senate estimates for the last time before he leaves the role in July, Brereton said he was wrong to be involved in consideration of referrals related to the illegal welfare debt scheme, which was the subject of a landmark royal commission.
But he hit back at Greens senator David Shoebridge, who asked if he would apologise to the victims of robodebt and the families of people who died after being issued debt notices.
In October 2024, the Nacc inspector found Brereton had engaged in misconduct when he involved himself in proceedings that rejected further investigation into senior public servants involved in robodebt, including the then human services department secretary Kathryn Campbell, who was an army reserve colleague of Brereton’s.
He defended his actions.
double quotation mark My involvement, such as it was in the preliminary stages of the initial robotic consideration, was entirely in good faith, in the interests of the then infant commission in providing guidance, how a very complex issue might be addressed without suggesting the outcome of that issue.As I have said earlier, with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been better if I was not involved in that at all. And, of course, I am sorry for the delay that that has caused.
However, to suggest that that is the main cause of the appalling tragedy that the robodebt victims have suffered, is, I suggest, gilding the lily on your part.
Syrian children should be treated ‘sensitively and gently’, Ryan says
Independent MP Monique Ryan says the women and children returning from a Syrian camp should be treated gently, after they arrived in Australia last night.
There were some chaotic scenes and scuffles with media at Melbourne airport after they left the al-Roj detention camp in Syrian last week.
Ryan told the Today Show that the last thing these vulnerable children need is to deal with “an aggressive media”.
double quotation mark We’re talking about kids who have grown up in a camp in Syria who haven’t been exposed to Australia at all, and I would suggest that we should treat them sensitively and gently upon their arrival. And remember that there’s vulnerable kids and that the last thing they need to be subjected to on their arrival is an aggressive media.
Ryan also defended the actions of the government, saying Labor was “watching the situation closely and monitoring it”.
Moriarty begins as US ambassador in Washington
Amid all the global unrest, and diplomatic eyes trained on Iran and the United States, Australia’s former defence secretary Greg Moriaty has begun his term as Australian ambassador in Washington.
The former public servant was tapped on the shoulder earlier this year after former prime minister Kevin Rudd announced he would be stepping down.
Moriarty posted a pic on social media this morning, after meeting with US president Donald Trump on Thursday.
‘Are we safer with them here?’: minister grilled on return of Syrian women and children
Housing minister Clare O’Neil is being grilled on the security arrangements surrounding the women and children who returned from a Syrian detention camp to Australia last night.
Joining the Today show, she’s asked point blank, is Australia safer with the group here – she’s asked several times but O’Neil won’t give a yes or no answer.
The frontbencher tries to remind host, Sarah Abo, that this isn’t the first time women and children from the camp have returned – others returned during the Morrison era, including a group of orphans from the camp who were repatriated by the then government.
O’Neil says:
double quotation mark We are working with national security agencies on this. This is a difficult issue and a long running issue for the country. We are lucky to have some of the best national security agencies in the world supporting us here in Australia, and they will be monitoring this situation extremely closely.And we do trust them to support the country to be safe.
She’s asked why the group weren’t questioned by authorities at the airport, and whether they will attend de-radicalisation programs, but O’Neil defers to the home affairs minister.
‘Tough but necessary’ housing measures, O’Neil says
It’s a long road for the government trying to sell its ambitious budget, and housing minister Clare O’Neil has acknowledged that not everyone will be happy about the tax changes.
Speaking to Sunrise this morning, on a panel with Liberal frontbencher Michaelia Cash, O’Neil says the measures were the right thing to do (a similar line the PM and treasurer have made). She’s asked about new polling in the Australian Financial Review that found capital gains tax changes had a net approval rating of zero (36% of people approved, while 36% of people were against).
O’Neil didn’t seem too worried:
double quotation mark What they show is that lots of people are supportive of what the government is doing. And then some people don’t support what the government’s doing. That is what you’d expect to see in a budget that does some tough but necessary things for the country.In politics, you don’t do the popular thing. You do the right thing.
New polling in Guardian Australia this morning shows just a third of Australians support negative gearing and CGT changes.
Good morning
Krishani Dhanji
Krishani Dhanji here with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
After a dramatic night of Senate estimates (see earlier posts), we have another busy day of public servant grilling and parliamentary sitting.
It’s going to be a busy one so let’s get stuck in!
Nacc boss subject of second complaint investigation
Tom McIlroy
Outgoing National Anti-Corruption Commission boss Paul Brereton is the subject of a second investigation by the organisation’s inspector.
At Senate estimates hearings last night, inspector Gail Furness revealed she had begun a second investigation into Brereton, who is due to retire from the role on 6 July.
“On 14 April 2026 I commenced a complaint investigation into a complaint I had received about the conduct of the commissioner,” Furness said.
“I commenced that investigation after I had received the commissioner’s response to the complaint. On 28 April 2026 I provided the commissioner with a copy of my draft complaint investigation report.
“I’m currently awaiting the commissioner’s submissions in response to my draft complaint investigation report.”
Furness announced in February she would again investigate the watchdog for maladministration over defence-related referrals by Brereton.
The author of the Afghanistan war crimes inquiry, he continued consulting for the inspector-general of the defence force after taking up the Nacc role in 2023 without the federal government’s knowledge.
Furness said the complaint had been made some months earlier and the complaint was not related to the first investigation.
Read more here:
Universities grappling with ‘class size explosion’, new report suggests
Caitlin Cassidy
University class sizes have surged since before the pandemic and student learning is in decline, a new report suggests.
The report, released today by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), surveyed more than 4,000 university staff across the nation.
It found the proportion of tutorials with 30 or more students had more than doubled since 2019, from 12% to 27%. The optimal range is considered to be between 10 and 19, but the report found just 9% of tutorials were meeting that standard.
More than eight in 10 staff surveyed said their ability to support students individually had been compromised, with just 1.7% reporting an improvement in student outcomes since 2019.
The president of the NTEU, Dr Alison Barnes, said “class size explosion is being felt at campuses nationwide”.
double quotation mark The real-life consequences are unmanageable workloads with students ultimately paying the price. Students aren’t getting the attention they need and their education suffers. This could have a dangerous ripple effect that we feel for generations.
Australia typically performs poorly internationally for its faculty to student ratio, with no Australian university scoring in the top 300 according to the QS World University Rankings. Its universities record an average score of 12.5/100 on QS’s “learning experience” indicator, well below the global average of 28.1.
Reacting to the Quad meeting, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that cooperation “should not be directed against any third party”, AFP reports.
“We also do not support exclusive cliques or bloc confrontations,” she told reporters.
The Quad ministers said in a joint statement they were “seriously concerned” about the South China Sea and East China Sea and opposed “destabilising or unilateral actions” – a clear reference to Beijing.
Quad countries announce new surveillance deal
The Quad group of countries – Australia, the United States, India and Japan – have announced a new initiative to build surveillance capabilities and critical minerals cooperation, Agence France Presse reports.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, took part in the meeting in New Delhi, and said the Quad comprised countries “who share strong values – strong, vibrant democracies” and have “many aligned interests”.
The Quad said in a joint statement members would together mobilise US$20bn in government and private money to strengthen critical mineral supply chains, including by identifying projects in the four countries.
They would also work together on two maritime initiatives – one that combines their surveillance capabilities, and another that will provide enhanced real-time information to commercial traffic at sea.
Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the Quad was cooperating on assisting port development in Fiji – a key island nation in the South Pacific, where China has made a concerted push for greater influence.
“We recognise our obligation – our responsibility – to provide real choices, particularly as strategic circumstances in our region are deteriorating,” Wong said.
The Quad in a statement also set a goal of connecting South Pacific islands through undersea cables by the end of the year, integrating them economically to the four democracies rather than China.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
It was a busy night at Senate estimates with the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) inspector announcing that she has launched a second investigation into the outgoing boss Paul Brereton. Gail Furness’s announcement came after Brereton hit back at suggestions he had contributed to the major suffering of robodebt victims. More on that coming up.
In addition, it was revealed at estimates that the Australian federal police and the federal government’s special investigator for war crimes allegations have asked the Nacc to investigate media leaks about the arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith. More details to follow.
Overseas, there’s been a meeting of the Quad countries in New Delhi attended by Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong. They announced a deal for new cooperation on surveillance and a new port for Fiji, in a move to counter China’s influence that Beijing has not taken well. More on this soon.
