Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has wrapped up his quick trip to Timor-Leste.

The PM signed an agreement with Timor-Leste’s prime minister and delivered an address to the nation’s parliament yesterday.

The agreement signed with Timor-Leste included a commitment from Canberra to establish an infrastructure fund for the country once the future of the Greater Sunrise gas field is resolved.

Albanese will be stepping up for a press conference soon. We’ll bring you that here live as soon as it happens.

Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly has released a statement following her interview on ABC Radio National Breakfast today.

Earlier, the minister declined to endorse Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia in February.

In a statement, Aly says she understands the significance of Herzog’s visit to Australia to the Jewish community.

“I understand the significance of the visit by President Herzog for the Australian Jewish community as we continue to honour the innocent victims of the anti semitic terrorist attack in Bondi,” Aly says.

“Our country needs to come together in unity and I welcome anything that assists that process,” she says.

Malarndirri McCarthy says First Nations elders have met with the WA police commissioner and have been briefed about what took place at the Invasion Day rally on Monday.

The Indigenous Australians minister says she has spoken with the WA government, the WA Indigenous affairs minister and families who attended the rally.

She says she wants a full a thorough briefing before parliament returns next week.

“They were very pleased to be a part of that briefing. The WA Police is working closely with them to keep them informed,” McCarthy says.

“There are a lot of facts that perhaps cannot be revealed at this point in time, but I will certainly be pursuing it in Parliament next week,” she says.

Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy has spoken to ABC News about an incident at an Invasion Day protest in Perth.

WA Police allege a 31-year-old man threw a device containing screws and ball bearings surrounded by an explosive liquid into the crowd of about 2,500 people in the heart of Perth’s CBD.

McCarthy says protests should be able to occur peacefully, and that First Nations people should be able to feel safe protesting.

She says the incident was “really serious” and that the government is treating it as such.

“I’m pleased to see the WA Police are put out a press release that this is being investigated as a potential terrorist act,” McCarthy says.

“There is a legal process under way and it is important that that legal process does takes place, and as I said, I’m very pleased the WA Police, the AFP and ASIO have now included that they are looking at this as a potential terrorist act,” she says.

Conservative Liberal powerbrokers have met in Melbourne in an attempt to resolve the leadership crisis engulfing the federal party room.

Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor gathered with several senior colleagues at a private residence early on Thursday ahead of the funeral of former Liberal MP Katie Allen.

It was the first time the future leadership aspirants had been face-to-face since last week’s Coalition split fuelled speculation Opposition Leader Sussan Ley would face an imminent challenge for her position.

Also in attendance were Liberals James Paterson, Matt O’Sullivan and Jonno Duniam.

One Liberal source familiar with the meeting said their focus was resolving the leadership tensions in the party’s interest.

Earlier on Thursday, Paterson told the ABC any senior Liberals who wanted Ley to be challenged should first resign their position.

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie says the country party is “incredibly united” after Flynn MP Colin Boyce called for a leadership spill.

Boyce says David Littleproud’s position as Nationals leader is untenable after the second Coalition breakup in less than 12 months.

Speaking to Sky News, McKenzie says the spill has come as a “complete surprise” and will fail when it comes to a vote next week.

The Nationals senator says she’s not worried Boyce will use the spill as an opportunity to defect to One Nation. 

“I think Colin is a man of his word, so if he says he’s not defecting I believe him. The fact is, our party room is one of the most democratic party rooms in parliament. Everyone has their say, everyone’s an equal, and we come to collective decisions,” McKenzie says.

Independent MP Sophie Scamps has raised concerns about Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s planned visit to Australia in February.

The Mackellar MP says Herzog’s visit to Australia “risks igniting further division” in Australia at a time when the country needs social cohesion.

Last year, a UN Human Rights Council special commission of inquiry into the war in Gaza found Israel was committing genocide, and that comments made by Herzog following the Hamas October 7 attack were evidence of genocidal intent.

His comments are included in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, which is before the International Court of Justice.

In a statement, Scamps says the invite to Herzog risks “deeply dividing the Australian community”.

“In the aftermath of the Bondi attack, this visit risks heightening tensions and deepening divisions, at a time when the government’s priority should be fostering social cohesion, security and safety for Jewish Australians and for all communities,” Scamps says.

“As a supporter of the rules-based world order, human rights and international law, Australia should not ignore the concerns raised by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry and Amnesty International regarding President Herzog’s conduct and rescind this invitation,” she says.

Shadow Immigration Minister Paul Scarr has backed Sussan Ley as opposition leader amid speculation over the Liberal leadership.

Speaking to Sky News, Scarr says the Liberals have an obligation to focus on issues like cost of living, not internal party politics.

“I think she [Sussan Ley] has had to navigate extremely difficult circumstances coming out of the last election,” Scarr says.

“She’s doing everything she said she was going to do and that includes consulting the backbench, holding the Labor government to account, so Sussan has my support,” he says.

He says to be successful at an election in his home state of Queensland, the non-Labor side of politics has to be united.

Scarr says he hopes the Coalition comes together “as soon as possible”.

Sussan Ley has paid tribute to former Liberal MP Katie Allen, who is being remembered at a memorial service in Melbourne today.

Liberals are gathering in Melbourne to remember the former doctor, professor and Higgins MP who died of a rare form of cancer at the age of 59.

In a statement, the opposition leader says Allen believed deeply in service, led by example and worked tirelessly.

“As a woman in public life, Katie led by example. She showed that strength and kindness were not opposites, that leadership could be both principled and humane, and that conviction need not veer towards cruelty,” Ley says.

“She encouraged women to back themselves, to speak up, to support each other, and to believe that their voices mattered. Many young women saw in Katie not just a role model, but a pathway.

“Katie Allen left behind more than a record of service. She left behind a standard.”

Nationals MP Colin Boyce has continued his media rounds this morning, this time on ABC News Breakfast.

The Queensland MP says his spill motion aims to re-establish a Coalition deal with the Liberals.

He says a Coalition is the best way forward for conservative politics in Australia.

Boyce says Littleproud has overseen the “blowing up” of the Coalition agreement twice, and that his position is untenable.

“If the National Party continues on this road to go it alone to the next election, there is some serious political ramifications that will occur, both in Victoria and New South Wales,” Boyce says.

“The Liberal Party are in a position where they don’t want to do deals with David Littleproud for fear of him doing it again. I offer an alternative. It is that simple,” he says.

He says he has no intention of leaving the National Party “at this point in time”.

Boyce says both the Liberals and Nationals need a change in leadership.

Anne Aly has declined to endorse Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australian in February.

The multicultural affairs minister says an invitation to Mr Herzog was extended after the Bondi attacks as protocol.

“President Herzog was invited in the aftermath of the Bondi attacks, as is protocol and as is something that is usually done. An invitation is extended where there is an attack where foreign individuals have been the targets,” Aly says.

But pressed again on whether she welcomes his visit to Australia, Aly repeated her earlier point.

“I think, you know, as I said, he was invited to commemorate and to remember the victims of the Bondi terror attack,” she says.

Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly says a former prime minister’s proposal to call for greater intervention in Islamic preaching and education is “irresponsible”.

Scott Morrison used a speech in Israel to propose strengthening oversight of Islamic teaching by introducing a national register for Islamic preachers and a recognised accreditation system for imams.

Speaking to ABC Radio National Breakfast, Aly says Morrison’s proposal draws on historical stereotypes and that continually puts the blame and responsibility on Muslim communities.

“The Muslim community leadership was among the first to come out and condemn the acts of the terrorists in Bondi last year,” Aly says.

“And yet this consistent seeking to blame the entire community, an entire faith community for the actions of two radicalised individuals to take advantage of something like the Bondi attacks to sow seeds of discourse is absolutely abhorrent and should be rejected.”

Deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan has defended David Littleproud’s leadership, saying he has acted with the support of the party room.

Last week, the National frontbenchers broke with official Coalition policy and voted against Labor’s hate laws in the Senate.

Speaking to ABC Radio National Breakfast, Hogan says Littleproud hasn’t “run off and done anything” without the support of colleagues.

“David Littleproud has never run off and done anything unless he has had the complete support of the Nationals party room. So because of that, that changes the whole perception of us with David and what he’s doing,” Hogan says.

He says both the decision to oppose the hate bill and split from the Coalition had the support of the party room.

The deputy leader says the Liberal and National parties’ primary opponent is Labor.

So if Colin Boyce isn’t canvassing support from National Party colleagues, is he helping someone else replace David Littleproud?

The Nationals MP says he’s not aware of anybody else intending to run for the party leadership.

“I will move this motion and it’s up to my colleagues to decide whether they think that they’re a better proposition for the leader of the National Party,” Boyce says.

Boyce says defecting to One Nation is “not an option” simply because it will be difficult for him to win a lower house seat under the minor party’s banner.

“… Both Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce, why don’t they run for lower house seats? And I can answer that for you because it’s a lot easier to win a Senate position,” he says.

Nationals MP Colin Boyce, who says he’ll challenge David Littleproud for the leadership, has called into ABC Radio National Breakfast.

Asked why he’s challenging Littleproud, Boyce says the National Party is on the road to “political oblivion” by remaining outside of the Coalition.

But Boyce says he isn’t canvassing support from other party colleagues.

He says he wants to see the Coalition back together.

“It seems to me that under Mr Littleproud’s leadership, to blow the Coalition up twice now since the last federal election, that is not a position that I want to be in,” Boyce says.

“The only way forward is to pick a new leader and go to the Liberal Party and reform the Coalition,” he says.

James Paterson says Sussan Ley continues to enjoy the majority of support in the Liberal party room.

“I can’t predict what all of my colleagues may or may not do, but I can say that in my assessment, Sussan continues to enjoy the support of the majority of the party room,” Paterson says.

Speaking to ABC Radio National Breakfast, the shadow finance minister says he wouldn’t be sitting on the frontbench if he didn’t support the Liberal leader.

He says it would be appropriate to announce shadow ministers in an acting capacity before parliament resumes.

“I also have the view that we should keep the door open to reforming with the National Party in due course,” Paterson says.

“And I note that David Littleproud has not yet appointed any spokesman for those areas as well.”

The shadow minister says he wants the Coalition to come back together.

But he says that would have to be on an “agreed and shared understanding” of shadow cabinet solidarity.

He says Labor remains the party’s key opponent.

Shadow Finance Minister James Paterson says the federal government should reduce public spending to rein in inflation.

Australia’s inflation rate rose to 3.8 per cent in the 12 months to December 2025, which is higher than expected.

Speaking to ABC Radio National Breakfast, Paterson says Treasurer Jim Chalmers needs to take responsibility for rising inflation.

“He took credit for interest rates falling and he’s going to have to take responsibility if they start to rise,” Paterson says.

“Many respected independent economists are calling out the way in which reckless government spending is contributing to it.”

Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien has stepped up to speak on ABC News Breakfast where he’s been questioned about leadership speculation in Liberal Party.

The shadow treasurer says he doesn’t think there will be a leadership spill against Sussan Ley when parliament returns next week.

“I haven’t spoken to any colleague who believes Sussan didn’t make the right calls last week. She demonstrated enormous strength and dignity with a difficult position with the National Party,” O’Brien says.

“Sussan absolutely has my support. She was elected leader. I believe she’s doing a good job and I’ll continue to support her.”

O’Brien says he is disappointed there was a split in the Coalition last week when the Nationals voted against official Coalition policy on the government’s hate laws in the Senate.

He says he believes a reunion between the Liberals and Nationals will happen at “some point” and “at the right time”.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan says he won’t be supporting Colin Boyce’s tilt a the Nationals leadership next week.

Boyce announced on Sky News yesterday that he would spill the leadership when parliament returned next week.

Speaking to Sky News this morning, Canavan says Boyce’s decision to spill the leadership came “out of the blue”.

The Queensland senator says he thinks Boyce is undertaking a “genuine attempt” to rebuild the Coalition.

“It’s not something I’ll support because I’m very proud of the Nationals party and how we stood up for people’s rights last week,” Canavan says.

“We did so in a way which put our own jobs, careers at risk, not myself, but my colleagues.”

Asked how he could support Littleproud if Boyce left the party, Canavan said that was up to the party room to decide.

“The buck stops obviously with a leader, so I hope David can keep everybody together,” he says.

David Littleproud has pushed back on reports he rejected a meeting with Sussan Ley yesterday.

On Wednesday, the opposition leader told shadow ministers she sent a letter to Littleproud seeking a meeting “without any preconditions”, following the Coalition breakup. 

But Ley said Littleproud declined the meeting because a spill motion was pending.

“We will talk to whoever the Nationals elect as their leader, because whether we are in a Coalition or not, it is our responsibility to hold the Albanese government to account,” Ley said in the letter.

In a statement released last night, Littleproud said it would be “inaccurate” to suggest the Nationals rejected a meeting request after a spill motion was called.

He said that once the spill motion was resolved next week, a meeting time would be scheduled.

“It would be inaccurate to suggest that the Nationals rebuffed a meeting request by the Liberal Party to meet within the ensuing 48 hours,” Littleproud said.

“The opposition leader’s office was advised that once the spill motion is determined in our party room meeting, a time will be scheduled,” he said.