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16 Sep 2026, 07:33 GMT Tom McIlroy Political editor

Home affairs minister Tony Burke will detail long-awaited changes as support for One Nation surges amid immigration debate Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast Foreign students will face tough restrictions on the ability to bring family members into Australia, as the federal government shifts sections of the country’s immigration system away from demand-driven settings. Long-awaited changes will be revealed by the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, on Thursday, and are expected to include efforts to stop visa overstays and limit lengthy appeals processes for applicants. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s Politics, really newsletter here Continue reading...

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15 Sep 2026, 08:04 GMT Achol Arok and Krishani Dhanji

Today’s blog is closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas , says there is optimism that steel making will continue in his state, after the closure of a major blast furnace at Whyalla was announced yesterday. Speaking to ABC News Breakfast from Whyalla and donned in some hi-vis, Malinauskas says there was disappointment, heartbreak, but also a sense of inevitability when the announcement was made. [Whyalla] has the capacity to be a viable operation but it hasn’t been recapitalised. The blast furnace is over 60 years old. It was first built in 1965 and blast furnaces of this age not to be realigned on a frequent basis. This hasn’t been done in 20 years. The fact it’s still going is a miracle. We need to have the plant recapitalised and that’s exactly the plan we have in conjunction with the federal government … if we lose this capacity behind me, this country doesn’t have structural steel-making capacity and we can’t afford that. If Pauline Hanson wants to take us down the road of Americanising our politics, so people in a family who disagree on political issues can’t speak to each other any longer, this is the pathway to do it … We’ve got lots of challenges facing Australia, but we’re not going to solve them by punching down on things that are brilliant about our country. So I think it’s rotten. I think it’s awful. I think it’s ugly. I just don’t agree with those comments. But I actually do agree with Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price when she says that there are serious issues that do need to be discussed. And these comments shouldn’t be a distraction from them. I mean, why aren’t we closing the gap? Continue reading...

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14 Sep 2026, 08:16 GMT Tom McIlroy Political editor

Universities Australia says party can’t take skills and jobs out of the country and ‘pretend there will be no consequences’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast One Nation’s latest immigration policy would “smash the Australian economy” and force hospitals and aged care facilities to close, Labor has warned, while the university sector has urged against a “race to the bottom” on cutting overseas arrivals. One Nation said on Monday it would cut the number of temporary migrants in Australia by more than 750,000 over three years, targeting international students and family members of skilled migrants. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s Politics, really newsletter here Continue reading...

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