Australian politics live: Labor says people with child support debts to be banned from leaving Australia; Burke to reveal new immigration rules

Key events

‘Pretty troubling’: Plibersek concerned over alleged behaviour from Brethren church during election

Tanya Plibersek alleges she saw first-hand members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian church physically intimidating her colleagues during the election campaign.

Two of the most senior members of the church have been compelled to appear before the electoral matters committee. Hundreds of the church’s members volunteered for Liberal members and candidates around the country in 2025.

The church also denied reports it had secretly paid far-right individuals to disrupt the Labor campaign, during the church’s last appearance at the committee.

Plibersek tells RN Breakfast:

I was on polling booths with my colleagues like Sally Sitou. I was out there in Reid with her in those last weeks of the campaign, standing there for hours at a time. She would be surrounded by men a foot taller than her, stopping her physically talking to or giving information to voters.

I would think secretly paying known rightwing figures to disrupt events and pretend that they are just disgruntled citizens having their say is certainly immoral, if it’s not illegal.

And physically intimidating Sally Sitou, who’s a head shorter than me, with big blokes standing around her, physically stopping her talking to voters, I think that’s pretty troubling and it’s certainly not what we want in our democracy.

People with child support debts to be banned from leaving Australia

Tanya Plibersek says the new child support legislation (which my colleague Tom McIlroy brought you a moment ago) will enforce travel bans of child support dodgers – meaning they won’t be able to fly overseas.

Plibersek says there is more than $2bn of unpaid child support in Australia.

She says the system can be used as an “insidious form of domestic violence where you can continue to harass or intimidate your ex”.

We got 200 cases where the debt is more than $150,000, we got one case where the debt is more than $2m.

The next piece of legislation we introduce will actually have transport or travel bans on people who have, outstanding child support debts of more than $10,000, will be automatically stopped from leaving the country and that is a strong incentive for people to pay.

We also investing more in resources from the tax office to go after people who haven’t been lodging tax returns. We know that one of the ways that minimise their child support or avoid paying is by saying I’ve had no income or have had much less income than they’ve actually had.

‘You don’t know that at all’: Plibersek rejects cabinet division over migration

Tanya Plibersek doesn’t want to say much about migration this morning, other than the broad-brush statement that migration is essential to Australia and the government has already brought net migration down significantly from Covid peaks.

The social services minister also doesn’t want to talk about whether there was any internal cabinet division over Tony Burke’s proposed migration changes.

There’s been plenty of reporting out there in recent weeks over division in the cabinet being part of the reason why it’s taken so long for the policy to be announced – it was initially due to be revealed at the Press Club more than a month ago.

Plibersek tells ABC News Breakfast: don’t believe everything you hear.

You don’t know that at all. That has been reported and you can’t always believe what you read in the newspapers.

I don’t talk about what happened in cabinet but I can say to you that it is a very constructive discussion that focused on the real issues here. Which is making sure that our immigration system is fit for purpose, that it meets the needs of our country, and that – and by the way, that we continue to celebrate the contributions that migrants to this country make today and have made for many, many years.

Asked again whether she’s saying there were no disagreements, Plibersek replies, “I’m not speaking about what happens in Cabinet, I never do.”

Good morning

Krishani Dhanji here with you for the final sitting day of the fortnight. Thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.

And the sitting fortnight is going out with a bang today with the Labor’s long awaited plan finally being unveiled at the press club today.

We have a fair sense of where some of that will land – including a restriction on international students bringing their family with them, and cracking down on “visa-hopping” – and we’ll bring that speech to you live from 12:30pm.

No doubt the Coalition will want the government to go harder and cut more, the Greens will want more compassion and fewer cuts, and everyone’s going to be comparing the plan with One Nation’s.

It’s going to be a big one – let’s get stuck in.

Albanese government to improve safety in child support system

Tanya Plibersek and Katy Gallagher have announced plans to close gaps that have allowed family and domestic violence perpetrators to continue causing harm through the child support system.

The new laws will scrap legal requirements that mean any information provided by one parent be shared with the other parent, stopping situations where sharing that information could put children or a parent at risk.

Families will also be supported to recover more unpaid child support debts when they move into official arrangements, and new rules will be created to remove the harm that can arise from family tax benefit debts caused by child support payers against their former partners.

In a joint statement, the social services minister and the finance minister said:

There is almost $2 billion of unpaid child support in this country.

There are almost 100,000 parents and carers in the child support system who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing family and domestic violence. Australian children deserve better.

This is the first stage of the most significant reforms to child support in decades, helping create a system that is safer, simpler and more effective for Australian families.

Australia breaks into top 10 global gender gap rankings

Australia has broken into the top 10 of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, ranking eighth out of 148 countries – its highest ranking ever.

The 2026 report marks a significant climb for Australia, moving up 35 places from 43rd since the Albanese government took office.

The government credits this historic high to improved political representation (including a majority-female cabinet), expanded paid parental leave, wage increases in female-dominated sectors and new investments in women’s health.

Anthony Albanese said in a statement that the ranking “slipped to an all-time low of 50th under the previous Coalition government” and acknowledged that the work must continue:

The job is not done and we will continue to focus our efforts on lifting wages, ending gender-based violence, increasing female representation in workplaces, investing in women’s health and more.

The minister for women, Katy Gallagher, said the record ranking was “not by accident”, also recognising areas for improvement:

We know there is more work to do across our priorities of ending violence against women, valuing care, improving women’s economic empowerment, improving women’s health outcomes and strengthening women’s leadership and representation – this is just one measure that shows Australia is moving in the right direction.

student visa changes expected

students will see some of the biggest changes in the reform of immigration settings.

Last year Australia issued more than 337,000 international student visas, of which about 45,000 went to dependents or family members of the primary applicant. The vast majority of students will now be expected to be required to come alone.

Burke gave a preview in parliament yesterday.

We do need to get net overseas migration down.

We need to make sure that we deal with the numbers overall, and do so in a sensible, a targeted way that provides the easiest pathway through the Australian economy.

Burke’s speech kicks off at 12.30pm today.

Long-anticipated immigration changes drop today

Foreign students will face tough restrictions on the ability to bring family members into Australia under big changes to the country’s immigration system.

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, will reveal the changes today at the Press Club, after plans for a speech more than a month ago were derailed.

Burke’s plan is designed to bring down net overseas migration (Nom) while doing the least damage to the economy.

His speech is titled: “The work of managing the migration program: Who arrives, who stays, who leaves”.

The plan will shift some rules for visa categories away from demand-driven settings, introduced during the Howard government, allowing more control on the numbers of people coming into, and departing, the country.

Labor plans to use legislation to gain more control over arrival numbers but could rely on regulation and directives to departmental officials if it cannot find agreement in parliament.

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.

Foreign students will face tough restrictions on the ability to bring family members into Australia under big changes to the country’s immigration system to be announced at the Press Club this lunchtime by Tony Burke. More details coming up.