Key events
What we learned, Wednesday 18 February
Luca Ittimani
Thanks for staying with us today. We’ll leave our breaking news blog there. Here were Wednesday’s top stories:
Antisemitism royal commission to hold first public hearing in February
Krishani Dhanji
The royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion will hold its first public hearing on 24 February, but no evidence will be given or testimony heard.
The royal commissioner, Virginia Bell, will provide a short opening statement where she will explain how she will approach the terms of reference. Senior counsel assisting Richard Lancaster will also make a short opening statement.
Bell said:
I acknowledge the importance of addressing antisemitism within the Australian community. I plan to conduct the inquiry as expeditiously as possible so that I can deliver a report containing my findings and recommendations not later than the first anniversary of the antisemitic terrorist attack that took place at Bondi Beach.
The government reluctantly agreed to set up the commonwealth royal commission in January, after facing sustained public pressure after the Bondi terror attack.
The commission will provide an interim report by 30 April, and a final report by 14 December.
Shadow treasurer says public sector pay rises leave economy ‘out of kilter’
Tim Wilson has said the strong pace of public sector wage growth shows the economy is “out of kilter”.
Wilson is making some of his first media appearances as shadow treasurer after being appointed to the role by Angus Taylor yesterday. He has taken aim at the government over wages data today showing public sector wages rose 4% while private sector wages rose 3.4%, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Wilson told the ABC:
Those that are getting a pay rise are those who are working for the public sector, and it’s been paid for by those who create wealth in the private sector. That’s why our economy is out of kilter now. …
You’re getting better wages if you’re on collective agreements. They sit in one of two areas, in the public sector specifically, or the areas where people are being paid wages that have been financed by the taxpayer.
Wilson said the government needed to encourage people to start their own businesses instead of earning taxpayer-funded wages, if it wanted to improve productivity. He said:
We should empower people to want to be their own CEOs, not simply allow people to survive on the safety of a salary.
Labor’s war of words with former RBA governor
The former governor of the Reserve Bank, Philip Lowe, is under fire from Labor after he said government spending was forcing up interest rates.
The Australian Financial Review today published Lowe’s comments, saying the economy would “remain weak” if the government was not “more ambitious”. Lowe was quoted as saying the government wanted to keep spending money and offering handouts, which under current circumstances would drive up interest rates.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said he was “not interested” in arguing with Lowe and noted he had not criticised Lowe’s tenure at the RBA, when asked about the comments.
Chalmers then suggested his refusal to extend Lowe’s term as RBA governor had motivated the criticism. Chalmers told reporters:
Obviously, I think it’s a matter of public record, Phil Lowe would have liked to have been reappointed by the government. After he wasn’t reappointed by the government, he’s become a fairly persistent critic of the Labor government in the pages of the Financial Review and elsewhere. I think, to some extent, that’s just human nature.
The prime minister also reportedly dismissed Lowe’s comments, while Labor backbencher Ed Husic said RBA governors “rarely” admitted their own failures, with the exception of Lowe’s successor, Michele Bullock. He told the ABC:
One thing about Reserve Bank governors is their willingness to point out stuff, never admit they’re wrong themselves.
Adeshola Ore
X loses appeal over court battle about Islamophobic tweets
Social media company X has lost an appeal in a long-running legal fight over whether it should be held responsible for Islamophobic tweets by an American white supremacist due to the harm caused to local Muslims.
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Qcat) ruled in 2024 that state authorities had jurisdiction in the matter. But X then lodged an appeal, raising constitutional arguments and claiming they had not been properly served.
Last Thursday, Qcat dismissed X’s appeal, meaning the matter will be heard by the tribunal.
Qcat will determine whether the material in a complaint lodged by the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network (AMAN) in 2022 constitutes religious vilification under Queensland law.
AMAN had argued that as a publisher the company is responsible for content posted by an accounted cited in the manifesto of the extremist who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011. X argued it was a foreign entity and had no responsibility for tweets under Queensland legislation – an argument commonly used by US tech companies facing court challenges in Australia.
In a statement, AMAN said:
For too long, global tech platforms have operated with impunity, claiming they are beyond the reach of Australian laws designed to protect our communities from vilification and harm.
Tim Wilson says super for housing was ‘too timid’
The shadow treasurer has signalled his support for super for housing policies and opposition to capital gains tax reform.
Tim Wilson said the Liberal party was “too timid” when proposing to let people use their superannuation to buy a home at the 2022 and 2025 elections. He denied such policies would inflate house prices.
He also said he opposed isolated changes to taxes on housing. When asked whether he opposed changing the capital gains tax discount, which the government is said to be considering, he said:
Absolutely, until there’s a compelling case about how adding more taxes is somehow going to improve.
Wilson said he instead supported tax reform that made it easier to start businesses:
I think tax reform should be focused on how we incentivise the type of behaviour that we want to grow the economy, … [and] to broaden the constituency of Australians who fundamentally believe their best interests are aligned with starting up a small business, a family business, or becoming self-employed.
Liberal says Hanson not ‘fit to lead’ but won’t rule out One Nation deals
Tim Wilson, the Liberals’ new shadow treasurer, has said Pauline Hanson is unfit to lead a political party, after the One Nation leader made false claims about Muslims which have been described as offensive.
Wilson told the ABC:
[I] never believed she is fit to lead a political party. What she said is clearly designed to draw attention to herself and, you know, that’s politics. It’s been her way for a very long period of time. So, I don’t see any fundamental change. I think she’s becoming desperate and revealing her true personality and character.
He declined to say the Liberals should rule out preference deals with One Nation at elections, when asked. He instead said:
The challenge we have is a lot of political parties on the fringes like the Greens, One Nation, even some of the teals.
Liberal claims government helping Syrian camp detainees return to Australia
A Liberal shadow minister has claimed the government is working to repatriate women and children detained in a Syrian camp, despite repeated government denials.
The home affairs minister today issued a two-year ban on entering Australia, called a temporary exclusion order, on one of the members of a group of 34 detained Australians, who are the wives, widows and children of ISIS members.
Jonno Duniam, the opposition’s home affairs spokeperson, said issuing just one order raised “more questions than answers”. He said in a statement:
How can only one member of this group be deemed a risk and the rest somehow okay?
The reality is that the minister and the government have been heavily involved in assisting third parties to repatriate these [people] to Australia, so much so that the chief organiser of the campaign group ‘Friends of Burke’ Dr Jamal Rifi, is himself reportedly in the Middle East assisting with the passage of these [detainees] back to Australia.
The opposition has grave concerns that the minister is not acting in the interests of our nation and its security, and is instead supporting these efforts to bring [the group] back to Australia.
Government ministers have repeatedly denied Australia is working to repatriate the Australian women and children in Syrian detention camp. The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has denied coordinating with Jamal Rifi. The Guardian has sought contact from Rifi.
RSL told bulldozed Australian war graves in Gaza will be repaired
Christopher Knaus
The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) says it has been given assurances that Australian graves in the Gaza war cemetery will be repaired.
The Guardian revealed earlier this month that the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) had bulldozed a section of the cemetery where Australian soldiers from WWI and WWII were buried. The damage has prompted outrage from families of the dead, who have been left in the dark about the fate of their relatives’ remains.
RSL Australia issued a statement on Wednesday saying it held deep concerns about the “significant damage” to the cemetery.
The RSL Australia national president, Peter Tinley, said his organisation had been assured the graves would be repaired as soon as it was safe to do so.
The Office of Australian War Graves shares our concerns at the damage to the cemetery and the Australian war graves and is committed to ensuring the restoration of all affected graves as soon as feasible.
Unfortunately, the conflict is not yet fully resolved, with ongoing actions, and this makes it extremely difficult to actively monitor the status of the war graves and the cemetery as a whole.
Josh Butler
Home affairs minister denies speaking to doctor about group in Syria
Tony Burke said that he was not aware of the movements of Dr Jamal Rifi, a Sydney doctor who it has been claimed in media reports is assisting the group.
Burke said he had “no information other than what I’ve seen in the media about whether Dr Jamal Rifi is in Australia or overseas. He has not discussed any plans with me, nor would he have any reason to.”
The Guardian has made attempts to contact Rifi.
Home affairs minister ‘diligently working through the issues’, Ayres says
Tim Ayres also responded to the news the government has issued a two-year ban on coming to Australia to one person among the group of 34 Australian women and children in a Syrian detention camp.
The Labor minister’s colleague, Tony Burke, announced the temporary exclusion order had been issued today.
Ayres suggested the government had been considering taking that action yesterday, saying it was “not the case the government wasn’t entertaining it” when asked. He told the ABC:
The home affairs minister is discharging his responsibilities in a careful way, that’s legally robust, and he’s responding to the security advice. And thus far, I have seen the statement that you’re referring to, thus far one such order has been made. Tony will be diligently working through the issues with the security advice, and making sure he makes decisions in the national interest and of course that are defendable …
The prime minister has been very clear: we have no truck with these people.
Industry minister wants wages to keep growing at same rate
Tim Ayres, the industry minister, has said the government wants to see wage growth keep steady, after data today confirmed price rises have overtaken wages.
Wages rose by 3.4% in 2025, as forecast, but economists have warned that pace is too high and could force the RBA to raise interest rates again. Ayres told the ABC he was happy with the rate of wage growth:
If wage growth was lower, it would be a worse outcome. And of course, we want to see wages continue to grow at around the rate that they are. We’re seeing that is delivering real benefits for Australian workers.
The last three months of 2025 saw real wages go backward, having risen for the previous eight quarters. Ayres said government policy was helping drive wage growth:
That’s been as a result of deliberate government policy, including lifting up the wages of female-dominated sectors of the economy.
Wage growth still too high for RBA, economists say
Economists say wages are growing steadily at a rate too high for the Reserve Bank’s liking.
Wages have fallen behind inflation for the first time since 2023, with price growth at 3.8% over 2025 while wages grew just 3.4%, new data today has shown.
ANZ economists expect wage growth to slow to 3% over 2026, which would see real wages fall further.
But even that level of growth would be too high, according to AMP economist Diana Mousina. The RBA wants prices rising at just 2.5%, but wages are rising faster than that, implying businesses will in turn hike prices at a higher rate. Mousina said:
For wages growth to become more sustainable to the 2-3% RBA inflation target we need to see more jobs record wage rises of 2-3%.
A growing share of jobs are getting pay bumps of less than 3%, but most jobs are getting more than 3% pay rises, according to the Australian Bureau of statistics wage data released today:
If wages don’t slow to that level, the RBA would come under pressure to hike interest rates again, according to UBS economists.
Josh Taylor
eSafety responds to court ruling on social media warnings
More on the federal court dismissing an eSafety commission appeal:
An eSafety spokesperson acknowledged the decision of the court, and said it was considering the ruling:
Platforms often have material that may breach their terms of service drawn to their attention informally by a range of parties, rather than by formal statutory notifications, and it reduces regulatory burden on service providers compared to formal processes.
Guardian Australia understands since the ART ruling, eSafety has adjusted the language on these notices to state they’re not required to take action, and they’re not statutory notices.
The Online Safety Act review recommended legislative clarity on informal requests, noting that these requests often lead to quicker resolutions for people who may be in severe distress.
On appeal, last year the ART found that the informal notice had constituted a formal decision that the ART could review.
eSafety loses appeal over informal warning it sent to X over tweet about queer club
Josh Taylor
The full federal court has dismissed an appeal by the eSafety commissioner against an earlier ruling that an informal notice about an allegedly bullying tweet from a user about a queer club at a school constituted a formal notice to X.
The user had posted on X and Instagram about a person who ran a queer club for primary school students, which eSafety described as a student-led initiative. The person featured in the user’s post complained to eSafety that it was cyber abuse under the Online Safety Act.
eSafety judged that it was not, but sent an informal notice to X stating it may violate X’s policies on harassment.
X geoblocked the post to prevent Australian users from seeing it. The user then launched an appeal in the Administrative Review Tribunal, leading to X lifting the geoblock. On appeal, last year the ART found that the informal notice had constituted a formal decision that the ART could review.
eSafety appealed to the full federal court, and on Wednesday, the court dismissed the appeal. The full court stated that X “saw this as a legal direction to remove content” and was therefore an exercise of eSafety’s power, despite it being an informal notice.
