There’s a simple solution to homelessness, advocates say. You need a house, and you need support

The scene described is viewed across the dining room of the Melbourne Club – a men-only private members’ club on Collins Street. At the table are former prime minister Tony Abbott; his former chief of staff, Peta Credlin; and her husband, former Liberal Party federal director Brian Loughnane.

Their return, according to the Liberal source watching from across the room, is the fulfilment of a plan that began the day Sussan Ley replaced Peter Dutton as Liberal leader following last year’s disastrous federal election defeat. It is about power, policy influence and a purging of moderates.

“This started the minute that Ley took over from Dutton as federal leader,” the source said. “And Abbott is now federal president, Loughnane is now president of the Victorian division, and Peta has her nightly show on Sky and her weekly newspaper columns, which she uses to promote everything those two are doing, as well as absolutely savage anyone who dares cross her, Tony or Brian.

“The missing bit in that is that they also got Angus in as federal leader,” the source says, referring to Angus Taylor.

“He was their candidate, and his policy agenda is their policy agenda. Every single bit of it. It’s their party again. The real worry is that this time they have enough power, and enough muscle, and enough desire, to actually drive the moderates out of the party altogether.”

Credlin’s media commentary, the source says, is clear evidence of the trio’s hard-right agenda.

“Peta doesn’t hide it. The people I would call traditional Liberals are to her just Labor-lite lefty ‘moderates’ – she always puts the word moderate in inverted commas to exaggerate our weirdness – who need to be drummed out of the party. It’s crazy stuff.”

Away from the cameras, the method is more personal.

Another long-time observer of Victorian Liberal machinations says Credlin has been using her new membership of the Alexandra Club, the women-only club diagonally across Collins Street from the Melbourne Club, referred to by its own members as the “snake pit”, to “charm, cajole and coerce” anyone she thinks might stray from her ideological line.

“Peta can be as charming as she can be fierce,” the observer tells The Saturday Paper this week. “So when someone steps out of line, or maybe needs some encouragement to take a position on one of her causes, she’s not afraid to set up a meeting and prosecute her case as forcefully and as passionately as she did when she was running Abbott’s office. And that’s what she is doing.”

In the same week that former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg called for the Liberals to return to the political centre in his memoir, A Grateful Son, igniting speculation about a comeback, moderates fear that caving in to One Nation’s policy agenda will permanently alienate metropolitan middle-class voters.

That unease is sharpened by how the current leadership came about.

Under Dutton, who in 2025 led the party to its worst election defeat, Abbott was kept at arm’s length, with one New South Wales moderate telling The Saturday Paper that Dutton had repeatedly rebuffed Abbott’s efforts to run for a federal seat at that election. Sussan Ley, by the same account, regarded Abbott as the last person she wanted out front.

Angus Taylor was a different proposition.

According to the same NSW moderate, Abbott’s decision to involve himself in the push to replace Ley with Taylor in February this year was driven in large part by an obsession with stopping the NSW moderates.

A central motive, the Liberal source says, was a fear that Ley would unpick the federal takeover of the NSW Liberal Party, which was at the time subject to federal intervention and being administered by a committee that included two Victorian Liberals – former Howard government minister Richard Alston and former Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale – who are both aligned with the party’s hard-right.

That takeover followed an urgent review of the NSW division by Brian Loughnane after the division had bungled the nomination of more than 140 candidates for the 2024 local government elections.

“Brian is one of the nicest, most gentle people in Liberal Party politics. And he is an extremely capable administrator and a very effective and disciplined campaign manager,” says the NSW moderate.

“But what all that masks is his quite determined ideological bent, as well as his ability to deliver that ideological agenda. What that all adds up to is that Brian comes across as a neutral player, who just wants to help the party win – and he is that most of the time!

“But what he also wants is for his side of the party to win, and that’s not my side of the party, and that’s how we ended up with two hard-right Victorians running our division and doing everything they could to shut the moderates out. It was appalling, and behind all of it was Abbott and Credlin and Brian.”

The consequences are now visible in policy, says one serving federal Liberal MP.

“They’re not afraid of One Nation’s agenda – they actually want the Liberal Party to be advocating these positions, too, and that’s what we’re seeing on things like migration and energy. Next thing you know we’ll be announcing the abolition of the Family Court, or that we’re going to outlaw no-fault divorce.”

Even Abbott’s strengths may not be enough. His discipline and doggedness still count, the NSW moderate says, but the world “has just moved on”. If a decade ago an opposition leader could simply punch at Labor’s narrative, the source believes that today’s Liberal Party leader should be able to offer voters an alternative narrative that is built on prosperity and opportunity.

The NSW moderate sees a paradox in the trio’s approach to One Nation, too.

While Abbott has warned the Liberals against becoming “One Nation-lite”, the moderate argues that by abandoning net zero and pandering to One Nation on issues such as migration, the Liberals are doing exactly that.

“Abbott is the one who has asked the question of why voters would vote for the fake version – by which he means us – when you can have the real thing and vote for One Nation. But under him and Taylor, that’s exactly what we are doing. So I’m not sure what the logic is there,” the NSW moderate says.

“To be fair to Tony, he has calmed down a bit since he took over as federal president, and you can see that he is trying to pull himself back a lot more and try to focus on fixing the party administration, which is exactly the job of a federal president.”

With Victorian state Liberal leader Jess Wilson on track to fend off One Nation and win a parliament majority in her own right in the Victorian state election next month, there are, however, concerns that Loughnane – and by association Abbott and Credlin – will be able to take a significant share of the credit.

“The key to why the Liberal Party is about to win a majority in Victoria is because they were finally able to deal with Moira Deeming,” says a senior Liberal Party source.

Deeming, an upper house MP from Melbourne’s west, became a cause célèbre on the party’s right after a 2023 anti-trans rally that was also attended by a group of neo-Nazis, prompting then Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto to push for her expulsion from the parliamentary party.

Egged on by Abbott and Credlin, Deeming sued Pesutto, claiming he had defamed her, and won $300,000 in damages plus legal costs. The episode cost Pesutto his leadership and Deeming was welcomed back into the party.

Ahead of a preselection vote in March, Abbott, Credlin and Wilson all endorsed Deeming. Credlin had earlier shared text messages with Deeming on how to influence a partyroom vote and promising her a soft interview on her show. “We will work [the interview up] question by question,” Credlin wrote. “We need you to survive this. You will lead the party one day.”

In June, Deeming dropped another bombshell: she made an allegation against another former state Liberal leader, Matthew Guy, claiming he grabbed her violently and put her in a headlock at a gala dinner the previous month.

Those allegations collapsed when CCTV footage of the incident could not substantiate the claims. When Jess Wilson referred the matter to the party’s state executive, Deeming was disendorsed as a candidate. She has subsequently resigned from the Liberal Party and joined Family First.

“What’s missing from that narrative is that it was Abbott and Credlin who created Deeming,” a senior Liberal source says.

“She was such a menace because she was acting with the protection of Abbott and Credlin,” says another Victorian Liberal. “Abbott and Credlin dropped her very quickly, but they have also sort of gotten away with it, and now if Wilson wins, and wins comfortably, my fear is that it will be them who claim the credit.”

As the saga of Abbott, Credlin and Loughnane continues to play out, many Liberal MPs in Canberra this week were directing their ire not at them but at Josh Frydenberg and what is being referred to as “the festival of Josh” that has surrounded the release of his memoir.

In the book’s final chapter, Frydenberg argues the Coalition must restore its primary vote to “the high 30s or low 40s” by returning to the political centre. He also advocates for lifting the GST.

“Endless coverage in The Australian, separate book launches in Sydney and Melbourne that has generated hype and more hype about party direction and raising the GST, and basically just undermining the job we’re trying to do up here, which is get rid of this Labor government,” was how one Liberal shadow minister characterised the week.

“Angus has, over the past month or so, started to show results. We’re releasing policy, we’re getting traction attacking the government, and we were looking ahead at a great week in parliament. But then what happened? Josh. And as usual, it’s all about fucking Josh. It was an incredible lifeline for Labor. It saved them.”

According to another federal Liberal MP, Taylor managed to put together the best week of his leadership despite Frydenberg.

“Taylor did two things that impressed me,” the MP says. “First he dismissed Frydenberg’s so-called manifesto, and second, he didn’t allow himself to get distracted by it. A lot us thought it would dominate our internal conversations, but it didn’t. We grumbled, but we didn’t descend into hand-wringing, and I credit Angus for that. I have no knowledge of it, but I wonder if he also put the brakes on Credlin and Abbott firing back at Josh, too.”

One senior Victorian Liberal sympathetic to the former treasurer says Frydenberg is merely responding to the steady stream of party figures and donors who have been telling him that “someone’s got to rescue this ship”, because the federal team “don’t seem able to rescue themselves”.

The latest published opinion polls explain the anxiety, showing the Coalition on between 20 and 23 per cent, well below the roughly 32 per cent primary vote that saw Peter Dutton deliver their worst federal election result.

“Everyone likes Angus. Everyone likes Sussan Ley,” the Liberal says. “But they’re all thinking, these guys are on 20 per cent. They’re going nowhere.”

Taylor’s team, the Victorian Liberal argues, has no answer.

“These people don’t seem to have any new ideas,” the source says, adding that the one idea they did have, on indexing the income tax brackets to keep pace with inflation, “they’ve buried”.

The cure, the Victorian Liberal says, is to change the subject from Hanson’s favourite topics to subjects the Liberals know better, such as the economy.

“If all you do all day long is talk about immigration and all the Hanson stuff, there’s actually more to life than that,” the MP says.

As for anyone in the parliamentary party briefing against Frydenberg, the Victorian Liberal has little patience.

“Listen, people up in Canberra, you’re on 20 per cent. So, you shouldn’t be backgrounding against anybody at all. If you’re on 40 per cent, feel free to background against Josh Frydenberg. But given that you’re on 20, please keep quiet.”

Another senior Liberal also dismissed concerns that the release of Frydenberg’s book was destabilising.

“Josh Frydenberg is expressing very real concern about the long-term future of the party. This is not a sort of short-term set of considerations. I don’t think he’s trying to put himself up as a figure in opposition to Angus, or for that matter, to Tony, or for that matter, to Andrew Hastie. Potentially, I think he is basically saying, ‘This is what I believe, and this is what I care about.’ ”

"It's good when the dingoes eat cats, because they are killing our precious animals, like the Greater Bilby and desert mouse," Ms Hunter said.

...

A single feral cat roaming in the desert kills more than 700 small animals per year, according to WA's Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

Thousands pack Wentworth Park for the final time before the stadium is demolished and returned to parkland

The Currie Lab, within the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, is one of few laboratories worldwide to study ghost sharks. Much of the natural history of these mysterious marine creatures – also known as elephant sharks or fish – is unknown to science. To have their eggs on hand is a rare privilege.

For years everyone has been dancing around Trump’s unpredictability, his bullying and his threats. It’s past time to reassert our values

For years, Anthony Albanese's ability to maintain discipline within Labor has been one of his greatest political strengths.

His MPs have largely kept their complaints private, accepted decisions made by a small group of senior figures and trusted the prime minister’s judgement.

But political loyalty is easier to maintain when a government is winning, and the patience of some Labor MPs is beginning to wear thin.

AustralianSuper - the largest super fund in the country - recently decided to increase fees when the rest of the industry is trending the other way (HostPlus, ART and many others)

With 270 staff soaking it up in AustralianSuper offices in London and New York, it is shameful that all of its active options consistently underperform the index over all meaningful time periods

AustralianSuper also deliberately cripple their only indexed offering by forcing 30% defensive assets and no pure international indexed equity option. This is at least in part to disguise the fact that all of their active options would underperform a market cap weighted global equities index

In FY2025 AustralianSuper spent $30 million on promotion, marketing and sponsorship. They have repeatedly refused to itemise this expenditure, citing commercial interests

In FY2025 the top eighteen staff at AustralianSuper were paid a total of $20 million = averaging $1.1 million dollars per person

Choose a fund that puts your interests first

You can’t control performance but you can control asset allocation, fees and your own investment behaviour

Generally, a low-cost passive indexed diversified mix of domestic and international shares beats higher-cost actively managed options over time

SUPER FUND COMPARISON by u/SwaankyKoala

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sR0CyX8GswPiktOrfqRloNMY-fBlzFUL/htmlview

The definitive reference

So school kids in France aren’t happy about their schooling conditions so they hit the streets in protest with a lot of the country supporting them. With all of the stuff that is happening in Australia, rising costs of living, fuel pricing, excess taxing, being ripped off by major companies, banks rorting us and everything else, why do we lie down and accept it? Are we as a nation soft and just used to being shafted? Or do we just accept that we are royally screwed?

my favourite is jessie in the skate bowl with the rat

Be it Mozzarella or Bega.

Chicken or Beef.

Plain or Chicken salt.

Fresh or Frozen

Now and forever all Parmis are equal! Buuuut some are more equal than others.

I've written a review of Tom Griffiths' book The Art of Time Travel. In it, he examines numerous Australian authors who have written about history, both fiction and non-fiction, and explores the many historiographical tensions that emerged in the discipline during the post-war era. It is a great book about Australia and how history, and the ways in which it is interpreted, fundamentally underpin our identity.

Is this dual take common? The only party supporting these simultaneously is Sustainable Australia which is a tiny party...

A 500-year-old Buddha statue that was found buried by a roadside in Australia has been returned to China, leaving an ongoing mystery about how it arrived in the country.

The 15cm (six-inch) bronze figurine was formally handed over to Chinese consular representatives during a ceremony in the coastal town of Denham in Shark Bay on Tuesday, the public broadcaster ABC reported.

It will be taken to China for further evaluation to establish its history before being displayed at a museum in Beijing.

Discoverers Leon Deschamps and Shayne Thomson unearthed the statue in 2018 while testing metal detecting equipment in the area.

Since then, they have said it should be returned to China as a gesture of goodwill.

Simon Wu, president of the Australia China Friendship Society Western Australia, described the return as extraordinarily generous.

“Today is an example of how we can bring cultures, countries and people together through a small object. It is showing respect and goodwill,” Wu told the repatriation ceremony.

The figurine – believed to be the oldest Chinese artefact ever found in Australia – was used in ceremonies celebrating the Buddha’s birthday. During the ritual, worshippers would pour water over the statue’s shoulders while chanting sutras to encourage good deeds and compassionate thoughts.

Asian art specialist Lee Young authenticated the statue as a genuine piece from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), but how it ended up in Australia remains a mystery.

Some media reports have claimed that it may have been carried on the treasure ships of the celebrated 15th century seafarer Zheng He – but there is no evidence that he ever reached Australia.

A more plausible theory is that the statue arrived with Chinese pearlers and fishermen in the 19th century.

Shark Bay became the birthplace of Western Australia’s pearling industry, which relied heavily on Malay, Chinese and Indigenous Australian labourers.

According to Western Australian Museum records, an 1886 census showed that more than 200 people were working in the local pearling industry, including 60 Europeans, 102 Chinese and 68 Malays.

That year, 68 pearling vessels were operating in the area, seven of which were Chinese-owned. However, the industry declined in subsequent years and the local authorities imposed a series of restrictions on Chinese immigration.

The ABC reported that the Buddha would be returned to China along with some of Shark Bay’s distinctive red earth and a golden pearl shell.

In 2023, Australia returned a batch of valuable cultural relics to China, including items seized by customs, as well as pieces donated by the National Gallery of Australia and a private citizen.

Authorities have seized a disintegrating 2000-tonne ship near Sydney Harbour’s busiest navigational zone amid fears it could wreak major environmental and economic damage if left to decay.

But the move has sparked outrage among the members of the Sea Heritage Foundation, a charitable organisation which owns the MV Cape Don. They vowed to fight the decision and counter “blatant untruths” that the ship is at risk of sinking.

Transport for NSW Maritime seized the vessel from Balls Head at Waverton on Tuesday. They had the assistance of water police, who searched the vessel ensuring no one was on board.

“Expert assessments found the vessel to be in extremely poor condition and posing a risk to Sydney Harbour, the environment and the community,” a Transport for NSW Maritime spokesperson said.

“The seizure marks the beginning of the process to safely remove and dispose of the vessel following years of engagement with its owners.”

The agency first issued the Sea Heritage Foundation with an “unsafe vessel notice” in June last year, a day after receiving questions from the Herald.

An inspection by a naval architect and an independent expert raised significant concerns about the hull, which is rusting and pocked with football-sized holes.

Authorities acted under reforms to the Marine Safety Act strengthening powers to seize and dispose of derelict vessels and recover costs.

It follows a years-long campaign by community group Save Our Sydney Harbour, which has been lobbying authorities to clean up the “graveyard” of derelict vessels leaching toxic chemicals into the harbour.

Convenor Stuart King said the group was impressed and surprised to learn of the Cape Don’s seizure.

“This is a big step forward for us and the harbour,” King said.

Volunteers with the Sea Heritage Foundation have been working to restore the ship, completed in 1963 and formerly used in the service of lighthouses.

Chair CJ Manjarres-Wahlberg said the charity intended to appeal the seizure notice.

“The ship is not at risk of sinking, there’s reports to say that,” he said. “It’s really disappointing. We’re a charity.”

King noted the ship’s disposal was likely to present authorities with a delicate and potentially expensive operation, given it was widely considered too fragile to tow to a scrapyard.

He added that further action was needed to address a string of other derelict vessels, including the former Flanagans Afloat restaurant, which is now considered one of the harbour’s worst eyesores.

Save our Sydney Harbour has been lobbying for a bond to be paid by owners to offset some of the risks posed by their vessels being left in the harbour in a state of disrepair.

“It shouldn’t fall to the taxpayer to deal with these passion projects,” King said.

A family from South Strathfield bought a four-bedroom home on an almost 563 square-metre block in the heritage suburb of Haberfield on Saturday, paying $3.1 million at auction, $200,000 over the reserve.

Four parties registered to bid for 62 O’Connor Street, with three active, as more than 30 people gathered on the street to witness proceedings.

Auctioneer Charlie Powell had barely finished his opening address when the first paddle was raised offering $2.8 million. A second bid of $2.82 million was rejected before the same bidder increased their offer to $2.85 million. Bids continued in increments of $50,000 between the two until it reached $3 million when the second bidder said he was “out”.

A third bidder then entered the fray and a flurry of $10,000 bids - referred to by Powell as a “Pavarotti, a tenner” – ensued. When bidding reached $3.1 million, the first bidder dropped out and the hammer fell.

The property had a guide of $2.9 million, the same as the reserve.

The new owners said they had been looking for a family home for “quite a while” and saw opportunity in current conditions.

“The market has changed a bit, and it has opened up some areas [to buy],” one of them said.

Sales agent for Laing + Simmons Five Dock/Drummoyne, Joseph Rupolo said the underbidders were families from Leichhardt and Annandale, both seeking more space.

“Competitive buyers are still shopping for the right reasons, like a bigger backyard,” he said.

Powell said the result reflected good communication between vendor and agent. But not all agents were as confident in the auction process, he said.

“I was meant to have five auctions today, but two sold prior, one was withdrawn and another was postponed with a price adjustment,” he said.

The vendors are siblings who inherited the property from their parents.

The Federation-era home has four bedrooms, a large formal lounge and dining area, and four original fireplaces. A later addition includes an eat-in kitchen and second living area leading onto a concrete backyard and garage.

The property was one of 576 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week.

In Croydon Park, a woman from Greenacre is the new owner of a two-bedroom semi, paying $150,000 less than the reserve with a single bid.

The woman was the only registered bidder for 16 Brighton Avenue and initially made an offer before the auction began of $1.25 million for the well-presented home, which was guided at $1.35 million.

However, Rich & Oliva sales agent Marco Errichiello convinced her to raise the offer with a formal bid of $1.3 million and the property sold.

“She said that was the maximum she could afford to spend with the current [interest] rate rises,” Errichiello said. “[The vendor] thought it was better to have a sale in these conditions rather than wait.”

The vendor has held it as an investment. Records show it last sold in 2009 for $520,000.

The property had a reserve of $1.45 million. There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.

Errichiello said it was evident there was “enthusiasm” from buyers hoping for a good price in current market conditions.

“If we had guided [this property] a bit lower, we would have had more people,” he said. “It [may be at a point where it’s] an uncomfortable price for vendors, but there are buyers to be had.”

In Woolooware, a family from Dulwich Hill seeking to upsize from an apartment bid against themselves to secure the keys to a three-bedroom townhouse – a week after selling their own home.

The property at 16/73 Denman Avenue had a guide of $1.4 million, which was also the opening bid. The bidders, the single registered party, then bid against themselves, initially going up to $1.42 million.

That was followed by two further bids of $5000 before the home sold under the hammer for $1.43 million. It had a reserve of $1.52 million.

Sales agent for Pulse Property, Liam Farrell, said the family would not have been able to turn the sale around so quickly if it were not for the auction process.

“They only sold [their property] last Saturday and came through [their new home] on Monday,” he said.

“This time last year, we would have had five or six buyers, but today there was only one. If this was private treaty, this buyer would not have turned it around so quickly.”

A 13-year-old Canberra boy has gone missing and his family and police have expressed concern for his welfare.

Dramien was last seen in west Canberra suburb Kaleen at 9pm on Thursday but has not been heard from since.

Police and Dramien's family have asked members of the public to help locate him.

He is believed to also frequent the northern suburb of Taylor.

Dramien is described as Caucasian, with a fair complexion, solid build, blond hair and blue eyes.

Anyone who has seen Dramien or may have information about his whereabouts should contact ACT Policing.

Police have said information can be provided anonymously.

Children who drink just a couple of cans of caffeinated soft drinks a week could be putting their mental health at risk, a study suggests.

Researchers found youngsters consuming as little as 90mg of caffeine a week, roughly the amount in a cup of coffee, were more likely to experience emotional and behavioural difficulties 18 months later.

The study, led by scientists at King’s College London, analysed existing data on more than 9,600 children aged nine to 11.

Researchers examined how often the youngsters consumed caffeinated drinks including tea, coffee and soft drinks, then compared this with reports of their emotional and behavioural health six and 18 months later.

Brain scans also revealed subtle differences in several areas involved in learning, reasoning, memory and problem-solving.

Higher caffeine consumption was linked with smaller surface areas across several brain regions, with differences appearing among children who drank just one caffeinated beverage a week.

Those consuming more caffeine also tended to sleep less, while being more likely to show signs of anxiety and depression.

Professor Divyangana Rakesh, a neuroscientist and the study’s lead author, said: “Caffeine is such a normal part of daily life that it’s easy to forget young people are consuming it too.”

She added: “We found that even fairly low levels of caffeine were linked to small differences in brain structure and later mental health, and lower sleep duration seems to be an important underlying link.

“And yet, it is completely unregulated.”

However, the scientists stressed that the research does not prove caffeine causes mental health problems or changes in the brain.

Jiayi Zheng, the study’s first author, said: “Soft drinks also often go hand in hand with less healthy lifestyle habits and more risk-taking behaviours, so we can’t yet separate the role of caffeine from everything else that comes with them.”

Dr Charalampos Rallis, a genetics expert at Queen Mary University of London, said the brain differences were “very small” and that the association with later mental health was “negligible”.

He said: “The most robust conclusion is consistent with existing evidence: caffeine can reduce sleep in children.”

From April 2027, under-16s will be banned from buying energy drinks containing more than 150mg of caffeine per litre.

But lower-caffeine drinks such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Dr Pepper will not be covered by the proposed restrictions.