Live: Bridget McKenzie leaves door open to Liberal, National, One Nation coalition

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park tells Afternoon Briefing he is frustrated with the Albanese government over the issue of people being stuck in hospital beds waiting for a spot in aged care or an NDIS placement.

Earlier, Nationals leader Matt Canavan said his party is not seeking a coalition with One Nation.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is very worried about the latest strikes in the Middle East and the human and economic impact it will have on the global economy.

Look back at the day's coverage below.

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Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 5:08pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 5:08pm

That's all for today!

By Courtney Gould

Thanks for sticking with us. We'll be back tomorrow for another day on the federal politics live blog.

You can look back at today's developments below, or download the ABC News app and subscribe to our range of news alerts for the latest updates.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 5:03pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 5:03pm

Commonwealth 'plucked tobacco goose too hard': Sharma

By Courtney Gould

Liberal senator Dave Sharma thinks NSW Health Minister Ryan Park is right to raise the issue of the tobacco excise and its link to the illicit market.

"We've got the Commonwealth basically losing all its revenue because they've tried to pluck the goose too hard," he tells Afternoon Briefing.

"Now we sort of have the worst of all worlds. Now, the Commonwealth is not raising any revenue. Smoking rates are not declining and we're encouraging ... a criminal industry, a criminal enterprise because I think the tax settings are wrong."

Labor's Josh Burns says there is a serious conversation to be had here but he's not sure if lowering the levy will be the quick fix others say it will be.

"I think Dave's point to some extent is true.  However, it dismisses and minimises the fact that we also have an illegal tobacco market that has boomed and been able to get grip in Australia," he says.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:52pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:52pm

Health authorities crack down on unregulated peptides

By Stephanie Dalzell

Australia’s medicines regulator has launched a crackdown on unregulated peptides, saying an increase in advertising, imports and supply of the unlawful drugs is posing a risk to consumer safety.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has moved to include unapproved peptides in its priority focus areas, alongside products like weight loss medications, vapes and sunscreens.

There has been an explosion in popularity of unregulated injectable peptides in Australia, driven by social media users promoting their supposed benefits for health and beauty.

The move signals a “scaling up” in the TGA’s response to unregulated peptides on the back of influencers spruiking the products online, increased imports and supply, and emerging safety concerns.

The regulator warned responses to the importation, supply, manufacturing, or advertising of unlawful peptides might include product seizures, infringement notices and even civil or criminal penalties where appropriate.

The Australian Medical Association's public health committee chair Michael Bonning said it was the “strongest action the TGA has taken on peptides”.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:45pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:45pm

Australia 'sleepwalking' into AI: Pocock

By Courtney Gould

Independent senator David Pocock has been out and about this week calling for Australians to get greater benefits from data centres.

"I think we are sleepwalking into this, as a country," he tells Afternoon Briefing.

"The plan for that, what AI means for the very fabric of our society when it comes to data centres, which are clearly going to fuel that that future.

"There’s some real unanswered questions in terms of the government’s statement of expectations. Just expecting companies to do something doesn’t cut it, and my bigger concern is once these things are built, how do we actually benefit?

"These are all companies that have a track record of minimising their tax to an extraordinary degree."

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:39pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:39pm

Tobacco excise should be slashed to near parity to illicit product: NSW

By Courtney Gould

Switching gears to illicit tobacco. NSW has placed the blame for the booming black market on the increases to the tobacco excise.

Ryan Park, the state's health minister, says he wants the excise to be lowered.

"We're increasing our inspections, we're increasing our closures, we're increasing our enforcement personnel. What we need assistance with is to make sure that the price gap between the legal product and the illegal product isn't so great that law abiding citizens who are dealing with tough financial situations ... are not forced to make that decision," he tells Afternoon Briefing.

He says the illegal product is currently anywhere between three or four times cheaper.

"Now that's a phenomenal discount in terms essentially what is the same product," he says.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:31pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:31pm

'I can't wait anymore': NSW frustrated with Albanese government action on bed block

By Courtney Gould

Almost 1,300 people in New South Wales are stuck in hospital beds waiting for a spot in aged care or an NDIS placement.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park tells Afternoon Briefing the state is now having to go it alone to tackle the issue by expanding aged care outreach services and strengthening in-the-home services.

"I can't wait anymore. Whilst the Commonwealth government has come to the party recently around increasing beds, it is simply not going to be enough," he says.

"And when you're seeing 1,300 beds taken out of your bed base every single morning, that means many, many people in NSW have pressures getting into our emergency departments."

Park called for his federal counterparts to rapidly increase home care packages and adequate NDIS supports in the community.

"We need those other two components to be fast tracked as quickly as we can.

"Otherwise, I'm concerned that not only will the state be forced to do what we're now doing, spending tens of millions of dollars every single year on essentially doing the Commonwealth's job."

On the NDIS inquiry, Park said he didn't think it needed to be rushed.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:22pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:22pm

Preference swap with One Nation not a new thing, McIntosh says

By Courtney Gould

So, who would Melissa McIntosh prefer to have as prime minister: Pauline Hanson or Anthony Albanese?

"I don't want either of them as prime minister. I want Angus Taylor to be our next prime minister ... I'm not interested in either of those two leaders," she says.

The Liberal frontbencher says the pair deserves respect because they are the leaders of their respective parties, but that doesn't mean they are the right choice for Australia.

On the idea of One Nation swapping preferences with the Coalition, McIntosh doesn't think this is a big deal as she's done it in her seat of Lindsay for "pretty much every election that I've been involved with".

"I don't think at the last election they held up their end of the bargain but if that's going to happen, they will have to be negotiated correctly, and it'll have to be done, I imagine, on a seat by seat basis where it's appropriate," she says.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:17pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 4:17pm

'Not one person has said the NDIS changes are a good thing': McIntosh

By Courtney Gould

Shadow NDIS Minister Melissa McIntosh is up first on Afternoon Briefing today.

An inquiry into the government's proposed changes to the NDIS continued today. The Coalition has said it is prepared to vote to extend the inquiry if the Greens were to vote for a longer hearing into Labor's tax changes.

McIntosh is asked if she would be okay with a year-long delay to the passage of the changes, and accept the savings from the changes would be almost $17b less over the forward estimates.

The Liberal frontbencher says it's not a case of forcing the government to start from scratch.

"Not one person has come forward, not one organization has come forward and said that the NDIS legislation as it stands is a good thing," she says.

"Perhaps we need to be looking at amendments for certain aspects of the legislation. It doesn't mean that we have to rip the whole thing up and start again, but it also doesn't mean that we have to accept every part of it."

Asked if she is concerned about the introduction of automated decision-making in the NDIS, McIntosh says this is the way the world is going — AI with human oversight.

"So as long as there is scrutiny on the system, I think that's just the way of the world," she says.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 3:52pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 3:52pm

High Court decision on NZYQ could lead to tens of millions of dollars worth of immigration claims

By Elizabeth Byrne

There are warnings a High Court ruling allowing a man to sue for false imprisonment over his indefinite immigration detention will lead to more claims running into the tens of millions of dollars.

Safwat Abdel-Hady was placed in immigration detention in 2017 after a criminal conviction.

He argues he was falsely imprisoned when he was kept in indefinite immigration detention, even after the government admitted that from mid-2022 he could not be removed from Australia for health reasons.

Abdel-Hady, who is Austrian, suffers a condition which carries a high risk of thrombosis which prevents him from flying.

Today's case only applied to the date from which the government conceded he could not travel, from July 2022 until the High Court ruling in November 2023, and that indefinite immigration detention is illegal where there is no real prospect of removal from Australia becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future.

Key Event

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 2:56pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 2:56pm

NDIS cuts could create domestic violence risks: disability advocates

By Evan Young

Disability advocates say women and girls will be at risk of greater harm, including domestic violence, if a bill paving the way for dramatic changes to the NDIS goes ahead unchanged.

A Senate inquiry into the draft legislation is underway and yesterday heard concerns about the amount of extra responsibility that could fall onto parents.

This morning, Sophie Cusworth, CEO of Women with Disability Australia, spoke about the proposal to cut spending on social and community supports (which covers things such as hiring support workers to take participants to appointments, the supermarket or outings) by 50 per cent:

"Imagine a woman whose social and community participation support is the only regular contact she has outside home. It helps her to attend appointments, access community and be seen by people who know when something is wrong," she said.

"For women with disability, community participation is a safeguard. Under the bill, this category of support is reduced without regard to her circumstances and her isolation grows. She is forced to rely on informal supports that are unsafe. The risk of violence increases and becomes easier to hide because she is isolated."

The Department of Health, Disability and Aging is scheduled to front the inquiry tomorrow.

The government's changes to the NDIS are designed to make it more sustainable following concerns it has been growing faster than Medicare, contains structural deficiencies, and is being exploited by criminals.

Read the full piece here:

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 2:18pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 2:18pm

Pauline Hanson weighs in on competing fundraising effort with Labor

By Joshua Boscaini

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says a fundraising effort launched by her party is aimed at removing Labor from government.

Hanson's right-wing party has launched a fundraising effort targeting Labor, which it says (at the time of writing) has raised about $490,000.

It's in response to a fundraising campaign launched by Labor aimed at One Nation, which the PM says has been "pretty successful".

"Small businesses are going under. There's no incentive to work and more. Where's the incentive for the young ones? Where's their ability to possibly own their own home one day? This government has just driven this country into the ground," Hanson told Perth's 6PR.

Asked about increasing housing supply in WA, Hanson says more young people should be directed to apprenticeships after school to help build homes.

She says those who don't take them up should go to boot camps.

"If not, you're doing it in some sort of military training. I'd like to see them in sort of boot camps and instead of these kids on our streets causing problems or have no hope for the future."

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 1:41pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 1:41pm

Albanese pays tribute to Neale Daniher at state funeral in Melbourne

By Joshua Boscaini

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has delivered a tribute at the state funeral of former Australian of the Year Neale Daniher in Melbourne.

The former AFL footballer and motor neurone disease (MND) campaigner died in May at the age of 65.

He was diagnosed with MND in 2013 and dedicated his later years to raising awareness of the disease and fundraising for research.

The prime minister says Daniher was a hero who confronted adversity and committed his life to finding a cure for MND.

"In doing so, he gave new hope to thousands of Australians living their own struggle against Motor Neurone Disease," Albanese says.

"He inspired all of us with his courage and determination, his humour and his invincible optimism.

"He was truly one of the most positive people I have ever had the honour of meeting, yet not even he imagined that a cure would be discovered in time to save his own life.

"Finding a cure was always about saving the lives of others."

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 1:28pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 1:28pm

Leigh grilled over concerns about impact of tax changes on charities

By Courtney Gould

Andrew Leigh is asked how his vision for Australia to consider giving more to local charities and organisations fits with the proposed tax changes.

The government's budget included a 30 per cent tax on discretionary trusts. He's asked if there would be a carve out and whether Treasury considered the impact of these tax changes on donations.

Leigh says charitable trusts are already exempt but there have been issues raised about discretionary trusts and distributions to non-profit entities.

"We've engaged with the sector. We've had a range of constructive conversations around that," he says.

On modelling, Leigh says the government modelled a "whole range of things".

"I'm not at liberty to release my modelling at the press club today," he said.

Pushed on whether the government was considering exemptions, Leigh repeated he was engaging with the sector.

"We have a goal to double philanthropy by 2030. We're on track towards that goal ... the charity sector has a strong friend in the Albanese government, so we're very keen to continue to engage with the sector," he says.

That sounds like a 'watch this space' to me.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 1:00pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 1:00pm

Leigh wants more bequests to local organisations

By Courtney Gould

Andrew Leigh is now sharing his vision for the coming decade, in which more Australians leave behind money or assets for a local foundation or charity when they die.

"Imagine an Australia in which every major town and region has a trusted vehicle for local generosity. An organisation to which a family can give to honour someone’s memory," he says.

"A place where a small business can back the town that backed it. A place where a bequest can keep working in the community that shaped the donor’s life."

He says currently only 1 per cent of bequests go to for-purpose organisations. That's compared to 4 per cent in the US and UK.

"A very large river of wealth is flowing across generations. Only a thin stream reaches the community sector," he says.

He argues for this to occur Australians need to feel more comfortable talking about death, wills and legacy.

"A good bequest strategy meets each barrier: make will-writing easier, make the giving option visible, make the wording clear and durable.

"The trust part belongs to all of us. People leave bequests to institutions they trust. Trust grows from sound governance, clean accounts, clear purpose and visible impact."

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 12:54pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 12:54pm

Additional funding to cut back on 'persistent paperwork problem': Leigh

By Courtney Gould

More than $2m has been set aside to remove what Andrew Leigh says is a "persistent paperwork problem" for charities.

"For too long, mismatches between the corporate regulator’s register and the charities commission’s register have meant information entered in one place has not always flowed neatly to the other," he says.

The funding will be spent on better aligning the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission so charities can spend fewer hours filing duplicate forms.

"Good regulation should protect trust while preserving purpose. The aim is regulation with a backbone, rather than regulation with a clipboard addiction," he says.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 12:45pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 12:45pm

Charitable advocacy belongs in our democracy: Leigh

By Courtney Gould

Andrew Leigh argues that a strong democracy needs institutions such as unions, churches, schools, clubs, and even beer-brewing clubs to stand in the gap between an individual and the state.

"One of the great errors in public debate is to treat charities as subcontractors for government. Many charities do deliver programs, often with public support. Yet their value runs deeper," the assistant minister says.

"Charities can see where official systems are missing people. They can advocate. They can innovate. They can ask uncomfortable questions. A confident democracy lets charities speak."

He says the government wants charitable advocacy to belong in our democracy.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 12:39pm

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 12:39pm

A nation of fewer joiners is a concern: Leigh

By Courtney Gould

Hi friends, I'll be joining Josh Boscaini on the blog for the rest of the day.

I'll be listening into Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh's address to the National Press Club.

His speech is about rebuilding trust and the future of Australia's charities and community life. He begins by talking about social capital.

"When social capital is strong, communities solve problems sooner. Businesses transact with less friction. Governments of different stripes collaborate," he says.

"When social capital weakens, a country becomes lonelier, scratchy, less resilient, and harder to govern. Everything takes more checking or check or guarding, more legal drafting, more suspicion. The national mood gets brittle."

He notes Australia's involvement in organisations, stretching from organised sports to unions have fallen in recent decades.

"That should concern every Australian, a country with fewer volunteers, fewer joiners and less trust is a country with a thinner safety net beneath daily life," he says.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 11:34am

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 11:34am

Nyrstar smelters in Hobart and Port Pirie to receive $105 million in further federal-state government help

By Joshua Boscaini

A further $105 million federal and state funding package has been announced for struggling Nyrstar smelters in Tasmania and South Australia.

Last August, Nyrstar received a $135 million joint funding package from the governments to keep the smelters in Hobart and Port Pirie in operation.

That funding — a $57.5 million contribution from the federal government, $55 million from South Australia, and $22.5 million from Tasmania — expired on May 1 this year.

A joint federal and state announcement on Wednesday morning in Hobart said the new funding would support the continued operations of both smelters through to the end of 2026.

Read the full story from ABC reporter Clancy Balen in the link below.

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 11:03am

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 11:03am

Canavan says Nationals not seeking a coalition with One Nation

By Jack McKay

Nationals leader Matt Canavan has insisted his party is not seeking a coalition with the resurgent One Nation.

But he also declared he was willing to work with anyone who was elected to the parliament to remove Labor from power.

Canavan's comments come after his fellow frontbench colleague Bridget McKenzie would not rule out a coalition with the minor party.

"One Nation have said they don't want a coalition agreement and we're not looking for one either," Canavan said during a visit to Lismore in northern New South Wales.

"I will live by the judgement of the Australian parliament. Whoever is elected to the parliament, I will seek to work with them.

"I will seek to work with them to remove what, in my view, is the worst government since the 1970s."

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 10:37am

Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 10:37am

Albanese won't say if he was informed about fresh US strikes on Iran before attack

By Joshua Boscaini

Anthony Albanese hasn't been drawn on whether he was informed the US would launch fresh strikes on Iran this morning.

The US has launched strikes on Iran in response to the downing of one of its Apache helicopters, US President Donald Trump says.

The prime minister says he won't comment on national security matters, but that he received some briefings this morning.

"We continue to call for a de-escalation of the conflict. It's having an impact here," Albanese says.

The PM then discussed the government's success in securing additional fuel supplies from the region.

He says he spoke with the Chinese ambassador to Australia yesterday, confirming the jet fuel shipments to Australia.

"It's one of the things that we do is engage constructively in the national interest, and that's what we'll continue to do."

He says Labor is the only party in the mainstream of Australian politics.