Key events
Josh Butler
Minister: US politicians are ‘evangelical’ about Aukus
The defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, claims American politicians are “evangelical” about the future of Aukus, even as the Labor government sweats on confirmation from an official review that the Trump administration will forge ahead with the pact.
Conroy and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, are in Washington DC this week, days before the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, flys to the US capital to meet Donald Trump next week.
High on the PM’s agenda for discussions will be critical minerals, defence spending, tariffs and the Aukus agreement. Australia is confident the American review of Aukus – signed by former president Joe Biden – willapprove of the nuclear submarine agreement, and some news outlets have reported the review will tick it off, but the Pentagon told Guardian Australia yesterday that the review was still going on.
At a DC press conference today, Conroy said:
I’ve been met with huge positivity around Aukus in my engagements. At a congressional level, I was meeting with senior leaders in Congress who were evangelical about the importance of Aukus, who expressed real confidence that it would continue, and I also met with real positivity in my engagement at the Pentagon on the same issue.
However, he said the Australian government wasn’t preempting the American decision, and he said he was “giving them space to conduct a review, just like we conducted a review, and the UK did”.
Conroy said he had briefed US navy leadership about Aukus, claiming there was “a real spirit of commitment to seeing Aukus through.
Congress is a co‑equal branch of the government, it’s very confident about Aukus continuing, and was really keen to talk about taking the next steps in it, and what are the next pieces of legislation to improve the licence free environment even further.
NSW on alert amid risk of severe storms across the state
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning residents in NSW to prepare for severe weather this afternoon as a stormis expected to develop over northern and central parts of the state.
The agency said there was a risk of severe storms in the east and north of the state, including Wollongong, Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle. The NSW SES urged people to be prepared for extreme weather.
A widespread storm outbreak is expected to develop over central and northern New South Wales this afternoon.
There is a risk of severe storms across the east and north of the state, including Wollongong, Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle.
Details: https://t.co/4W35o8i7wJ pic.twitter.com/5BuHU2IhdU
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) October 16, 2025
Krishani Dhanji
Departments don’t have to process FoI requests from AI bots, committee hears
Bringing you back to the committee hearing into the government’s FoI bill, Greens senator David Shoebridge is pointing out that under the current legislation, departments don’t actually have to process an FoI request if they believe it’s from an AI bot (under section 11 of the act).
The home affairs department says it’s “aware” of that.
Earlier in the inquiry, the home affairs department said that it doesn’t have evidence of FoI requests being made by AI bots, but claimed the system was “vulnerable” to them. Here’s a bit of the latest exchange:
Shoebridge: AI bots have no right to get access to information, that if you can identify a request has come from an AI bot you simply don’t have to process it because the freedom of information act only gives a right to information to people, to persons, AI bots have no such right, you’re aware of that, aren’t you?
Brooke Hartigan, home affairs: The validity request at the moment is quite simple, it doesn’t require too much information from requester, so the advantage of the bill in requiring identity … if we can institute some more requirements in the submission of a request this will help us identify where things have come from.
Shoebridge also asked the department whether it had explicitly provided advice to the attorney generals department (when consulting on the bill) that requests from bots do not have to be processed. Carmen Saunders, Assistant Secretary of Privacy, FoI and Records Management at home affairs, said:
Not explicitly but everybody that is currently processing FoIs under the FoI act, we are aware you don’t have to provide information if it’s not to a human.
Five people taken to hospital in Queensland after chemical leaks at Australia Post offices
Five people have been taken to hospital in northern Queensland after chemical contamination at two Australia Post offices.
A spokesperson for the Queensland fire department said it responded at about 6.30am to reports of a chemical leak at a post office on Morris Street in the Townsville suburb of West End, and also at a post office in the town of Charters Towers.
They said a pest control substance had leaked from a parcel on to other parcels at the post office, with traces then transported on a truck to the second location. Scientific investigation crews are on site at both locations, which are being ventilated.
A spokesperson for Queensland ambulance said five crews had attended across the two sites.
One person was taken to Townsville university hospital from the West End location for further monitoring, while four people with “mild symptoms” were taken to Charters Towers local medical services in stable conditions.
Krishani Dhanji
No evidence of AI or bot-generated FoI requests but system vulnerable, says home affairs department
At the senate inquiry into the government’s controversial freedom of information bill this morning, we’ve heard from the home affairs department that it doesn’t currently have evidence of any requests being generated by artificial intelligence or “bots”.
The government, in introducing the reforms, said departments had been inundated with FoI requests – some that are “vexatious” or others that were generated anonymously including via AI or bots.
Home affairs representative Brooke Hartigan told the inquiry the system can’t actually tell if a request that’s come in has been created by AI, but that the system is “vulnerable” to the technology.
She also revealed the department has about 7,500 requests on hand.
Unfortunately, I can’t give you a statistic on how many might have been generated by AI or bot, it’s just not something our system detects. I can tell you we have about 7,500 requests on hand.
We don’t necessarily have evidence of it actually occurring to the department. What we’re aware of is the FoI system itself could be vulnerable to requests made by bots or generated by AI.
McDonald’s opening blocked by inner Sydney council
Luca Ittimani
The City of Sydney has rejected an application to open a new McDonald’s in the city’s inner west after community outrage.
Residents had campaigned against a proposal from McDonald’s for a $1.7m redevelopment of a real estate agency and clothing shop into a 24-hour fast food restaurant on King Street, the bustling main drag of Newtown, which has not had a McDonald’s since the 1990s.
Photograph: kokkai/Getty Images/iStockphoto
About 1,500 people made submissions objecting to the development. Sydney resident Liam Coffey, who campaigned for the refusal online and at the planning meeting, posted on social media:
This is one small step for Newtown, one big step for the world and using our voice. More to come.
Resident submissions noted a McDonald’s was already open less than 2km away while the strip already was home to fast food chains, including a KFC that opened earlier this year and chicken restaurants Clem’s and Ogalo, which are close to the proposed site.
The council’s planning council rejected the proposal to applause from the gallery at a meeting on Wednesday evening. Representatives of McDonald’s or the developers did not attend.
The planning committee’s report also warned of increased “littering, attraction of vermin and odour” as well as street and footpath congestion, noting NSW police had advised it expected increased reports due to the traffic issues and antisocial behaviour attracted by 24-hour fast-food outlets.
Similar concerns saw the council reject a separate McDonald’s proposed for nearby Redfern in May. McDonald’s was also forced to withdraw its proposal to put a new restaurant in Crows Nest in the city’s north in August, amid community concerns including about “unacceptable” odours.
Josh Butler
Labor’s McBain on Jane Hume: regional Australians aren’t ‘slow-talking drongos’
Labor’s Kristy McBain, based in the regional electorate of Eden-Monaro, has put out a press release slamming Hume’s comments.
She says:
Senator’s Hume’s attempt at humour clearly shows who the Liberal Party of today is – out of touch, arrogant, and completely focused on themselves. It’s one thing to have a crack at their Coalition partner, it’s another to insult the entirety of regional Australia.
People in Geraldton, Geelong and George Town don’t need smarmy lectures from arrogant Liberals who think once you step out of an inner-Melbourne laneway we are all slow-talking drongos.
McBain invited Hume to her electorate, where she offered to “shout her an excellent chai latte from my local cafe Infuse in Tura Beach, a macchiato from 4 Seeds in Queanbeyan or a croissant from Honorbread in Bermagui”.
Jane Hume says she is ‘too fond of good coffee’ to join Nationals
Josh Butler
Liberal senator Jane Hume joked she would “have to speak a lot slower” if she joined the Nationals, saying she was “too fond of good coffee and free markets” to join the regional party.
The tongue-in-cheek comments have been criticised by Labor’s regional development minister Kristy McBain, who accused the Melbourne-based politician of insulting regional Australia – calling her opponent “smarmy” and “arrogant”.
The former minister, who is now on the Liberal backbench, was on Sunrise this morning when asked about Nationals leader David Littleproud’s comments that he’d welcome any Liberals who wanted to switch parties.
This comes amid simmering tension between the Coalition partners, including Jacinta Price’s switch from the Nationals to the Liberals so she could run for the Liberal deputy leadership, which didn’t end up happening.
Asked if she would take up Littleproud’s offer, Hume grinned and deadpanned:
Well look, I do look very fetching in an Akubra, Nat, I’ll tell you that much. And I’d have to speak a lot slower and talk about the regions more often down in cocky’s corner. But, look, no. To be honest, I am too fond of good coffee and free markets to join the National Party.
Pocock calls on Labor to ‘fix Australia’s broken nature laws’ amid reports of rushed changes
Independent federal senator David Pocock has called on the Albanese government to “fix Australia’s broken nature laws” amid reports it plans to rush through the most significant changes to the national environmental protection regime since 1999.
In a post on X, the ACT senator shared an analysis by Guardian Australia political reporter Dan Jervis-Bardy on the government’s plans to make changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act).
Jervis-Bardy reports that the federal environment minister, Murray Watt, wants to pass a big re-write of the commonwealth nature laws this year, encouraging miners to lobby the Coalition to work with Labor to help rush it through parliament in the final three sitting weeks.
Pocock says:
Labor has a chance to fix Australia’s broken nature laws
Concerning that they’re working with Coalition to stitch up a bad deal & ram it through parliament without scrutiny
Govt should strengthen these laws to protect the places and species we love
Watt will brief state and territory environment ministers today about the changes, which aim to finally act on recommendations from Graeme Samuel’s review of the EPBC Act after Anthony Albanese controversially shelved the previous iteration before the May election.
Titmus: ‘It has been nice to just be home at five o’clock’
Titmus goes on to say she has been enjoying the “little moments” since stepping back from the sport.
It has been nice to just be home at five o’clock and in the kitchen and cooking dinner and having a glass of wine with my family. All these normal things that an athlete gunning for Olympic gold does not get to do.
If you’re looking for a great read on the swimmer’s retirement, look no further than this analysis by Kieran Pender.
“For a swimmer who has always been distinctly individual, always followed her own path, the decision should perhaps come as no surprise,” he writes.
