A crowded caucus, an unruly upper house and a coalition with a confidence problem: welcome to the 48th parliament.

Tuesday will mark the official opening of the new parliament, with pomp and ceremony to take place before MPs get down to business.

Anthony Albanese’s second term as prime minister will see him wield an even larger parliamentary majority, with Labor holding 94 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.

Opposition counterpart Sussan Ley will preside over just 43 lower house MPs after an election wipeout for the coalition.

Labor will likely have an easier time implementing its agenda but political lecturer at the Australian National University Jill Sheppard said the expanded government benches would also bring challenges.

“The pitfall for the government is less so hubris because they still have to negotiate with a pretty boisterous Senate,” she told AAP.

“The bigger issue for Labor is wrangling the 94 members of their caucus, and that’s going to be a real challenge.

“It may be a blessing to have a relatively clean slate after the election but it’s also a curse that everyone will want to have a say in what direction they go.”

MPs and senators will be sworn in at Tuesday’s opening before the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate president are elected.

Legislation set for the first week of parliament includes a 20 per cent reduction in HECS debt for university students, penalty rate protections and increased safety measures at childcare centres.

The coalition is still reviewing many of the policies it took to the election, but the opposition has flagged it is likely to support the student debt reduction measures, along with childcare protection laws.

Ms Ley told parliamentary colleagues on Monday she was prepared to take the fight to the government during the upcoming term.

“That’s what people expect,” she said.

“They want a parliament that understands their lives, what their lives are like, and a government that gets out of the way.

“Our policies are up for review, but our values are not.”

The coalition’s issues were unlikely to go away, Dr Sheppard said.

But there could also be an upside for Ms Ley.

“Even before the election, the Liberals had a confidence problem,” Dr Sheppard said.

“Their frontbench was not very deep, there are individuals who have been promoted above their ability and that’s a huge problem and it’s not something you can fix in a term. 

“(The smaller numbers) are maybe not a bad thing for Sussan Ley in trying to consolidate her leadership.”

Australia’s political leaders have come together in a moving ceremony at the Australian War Memorial ahead of the resumption of parliamentary hostilities.

The new parliament begins on Tuesday, after the prime minister secured a second term in power following his dominant victory at the May election.

Following tradition, members of the government and the opposition attended a Last Post ceremony in the nation’s capital on the eve of the first day of parliament.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Sussan Ley stood next to each other on Monday afternoon as they paid their respects.

The prime minister said the tradition served as a reminder of the cost of war.

Labor is returning after a landslide win that handed the party 94 of the 150 House of Representatives seats.

The opposition is pledging to “come out swinging” despite a crushing loss and uncertainty over its policy platform.

Despite months of poor polling leading up to the campaign, the unexpected scale of the win means the government is the first in almost 60 years not to lose a seat at a federal election.

The prime minister took an agenda to voters that promised further action on cost-of-living pressures after high inflation became the defining issue of his first term.

Addressing the Labor caucus on Monday at Parliament House in Canberra, Mr Albanese called for discipline.

“If we maintain that sense of discipline, sense of purpose, clear idea about why we are here … there is no reason why every single one of you can’t just be returned to the next parliament, but can’t be added to as well,” he said.

The prime minister said the government “must work hard to repay the faith that has been shown in us”.

Mr Albanese laid out Labor’s agenda for the first week of parliament, including introducing legislation to slash HECS debts by 20 per cent and increase safety measures for childcare centres.

As politicians arrived in Canberra, the prime minister braved a winter morning to walk from The Lodge to parliament before official proceedings, arriving alongside his son Nathan.

Ms Ley addressed her joint party room for the first time since the coalition’s election disaster, which cut its numbers to 43 seats.

“Our policies are up for review, but our values are not,” she said.

During the meeting, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce spoke about his opposition to a net-zero emissions target as he proposes to move a private member’s bill to scrap a 2050 goal.

Energy and climate policy remain powder kegs for the coalition as it enters the new term, with the Liberals and Nationals yet to arrive on a position on key issues such as an election pledge to build Commonwealth-backed nuclear power plants.

Ms Ley has batted away questions on the policy area, insisting the coalition is waiting for a post-election review to be completed first.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said the coalition was humble and prepared for a tough path back to forming government.

“But we can do one of two things: we can sit in the corner in the fetal position and give up, or we can come out swinging,” he said.

“And I can tell you what we will do is come out swinging.”

The federal government has thrown its support behind a state battling a massive, toxic algal bloom that has devastated the marine environment, but says the crisis cannot officially be declared a natural disaster.

The bloom of the microalgae species karenia mikimotoi was identified off South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula in March, and grew to more than 4400 sq km, close to the size of Kangaroo Island.

It has been breaking up in recent weeks, spreading north into Spencer Gulf, south into the Coorong wetlands and along Adelaide’s beaches in Gulf St Vincent into the Port River, killing tens of thousands of marine animals.

Environment Minister Murray Watt said the bloom and its impacts were “incredibly disturbing”, as he announced a $14 million federal funding package for the SA government.

The money is likely to be used to pay for the clean-up of dead marine life from SA’s beaches, support impacted businesses, bolster community awareness about the bloom and invest in science and research to better understand the incident.

“There’s no doubting whatsoever that this is a very serious environmental event facing South Australia,” Mr Watt told reporters on Monday.

“We are in uncharted waters here.”

Asked if the bloom and its impact should be declared a natural disaster, Mr Watt said it was not possible under the existing definition despite calls from scientists, the Greens and SA’s Labor premier.

A natural disaster declaration would trigger special federal assistance measures to support individuals, businesses and communities in their recovery.

“We have managed outside the usual natural disaster framework to marshal the type of resources that South Australia has asked for,” Mr Watt said.

“One of the difficulties has been understanding exactly what its impacts are and what sort of response is required.

“We won’t solve this overnight and we are, to some extent, relying on weather conditions to help disperse the algal bloom.”

The algal bloom is naturally occurring, but the state’s environment department has listed potential contributing factors including a marine heatwave that started in 2024, when sea temperatures were about 2.5C warmer than usual, combined with calm conditions.

Another was the 2022/23 River Murray flood that washed extra nutrients into the sea followed by an unprecedented cold-water upwelling in the summer of 2023/24 that brought nutrient-rich water to the surface.

Marine ecologist Dominic McAfee said the mortality in most heavily impacted areas was “extremely confronting”. 

“It seems like almost everything has died,” Dr McAfee, from the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute, told AAP.

“We don’t know how long it’s going to go on, and so the impacts we’re seeing now could just be the start of something more prolonged.”

Dr McAfee said it was hoped winter winds and swells would “disperse and nullify” the algae bloom, but it hadn’t happened.

“It seems to be more resilient than anticipated … it’s still at high fatal concentrations for a lot of marine life, and we’re still seeing marine life wash up,” he said.

“And there’s a chance that it will continue for many more months.”

Authorities previously said the algae had killed tens of thousands of marine animals from almost 450 species.

Dr McAfee said it was the “tip of the iceberg” because the project monitoring the deaths only recorded species washed ashore, and it would not have accounted for smaller vertebrates and less well-known species.

“There are little bits of resilience as well … so it’s understanding how those resilient pockets of the ecosystem persist through the bloom,” he said.

A former judge who gave confidential material from an inquiry into Bruce Lehrmann’s criminal prosecution to the media claiming to be “transparent” was in fact corrupt, a court has been told.

Walter Sofronoff KC has asked the Federal Court to throw out a March finding by the ACT Integrity Commission that the former judge engaged in serious corrupt conduct.

The commission’s probe stemmed from Mr Sofronoff’s leaks of confidential witness statements and the probe’s final report to a journalist.

But the watchdog’s adverse finding was a “serious offence against the administration of justice”, Mr Sofronoff’s barrister Adam Pomerenke KC said during a hearing on Monday.

Mr Sofronoff was not corrupt, malicious or dishonest, the barrister told Justice Wendy Abraham.

Rather, he genuinely believed he was acting in the public interest by sending documents such as witness statements to the media.

“Even if Mr Sofronoff was wrong in his view, the fact remains that he genuinely and honestly held it,” Mr Pomerenke said. 

“At worst it could be characterised as an erroneous attempt to ensure accuracy and transparency in the public discourse.”

The ACT Integrity Commission backed its findings.

Its barrister Scott Robertson SC said Mr Sofronoff had “threatened public confidence” in the integrity of the government and public administration through his conduct.

The ex-judge had breached his non-disclosure obligations by leaking the material, Justice Abraham was told.

Mr Sofronoff chaired a board of inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system after Lehrmann’s controversy-plagued prosecution.

Former Liberal staffer Lehrmann was accused of raping then-colleague Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.

A criminal trial in 2022 was abandoned without a verdict because of juror misconduct.

Lehrmann lost a defamation lawsuit he brought over media reporting of Ms Higgins’ allegations but has appealed a judge’s finding the rape claim was true on the balance of probabilities.

The Sofronoff-led inquiry found the ACT’s top prosecutor, Shane Drumgold, had lost objectivity over the Lehrmann case and knowingly lied about a note of his meeting with broadcaster Lisa Wilkinson.

Mr Drumgold resigned and launched a legal challenge to the findings in the ACT Supreme Court.

It found the majority of the inquiry’s findings were not legally unreasonable, but it struck down an adverse finding about how Mr Drumgold cross-examined then-Liberal senator Linda Reynolds during Lehrmann’s trial.

The ACT Integrity Commission in March also found the majority of the inquiry’s findings were not legally unreasonable.

But it found Mr Sofronoff’s behaviour during the inquiry gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias and he might have been influenced by the publicly expressed views of journalist Janet Albrechtsen.

Mr Sofronoff repeatedly messaged the News Corp columnist and provided her an advance copy of his probe’s final report.

Mr Pomerenke told the Federal Court on Monday the ACT corruption body had admitted it made an error finding Mr Sofronoff might have engaged in contempt.

The claimed contempt stemmed from leaks to the media despite directions made to parties during the inquiry to suppress certain documents.

But the notion the head of an inquiry could be in contempt of himself was “absurd and irrational”, Mr Pomerenke said.

This concession was enough to toss the findings against his client, he told the court.

Any individual error could not be “disentangled” from the final finding Mr Sofronoff engaged in serious corrupt conduct, the barrister said.

Mr Robertson disagreed, saying the “ultimate finding” of serious corrupt conduct still stood despite the admission.

Even before reaching the conclusion Mr Sofronoff had engaged in corruption, the commission found he lacked probity and undermined public confidence, he said.

The conduct was such that if Mr Drumgold learned of if before the report was handed down, he could have applied for the ex-judge to be removed as chair of the corruption inquiry, Mr Robertson argued.

The hearing continues.

Anthony Albanese urges Labor to maintain its discipline as the prime minister eyes a strengthened majority for a coveted third term in power.

But the opposition pledges to “come out swinging” despite a crushing election loss and uncertainty over its policy platform.

The 48th parliament begins on Tuesday following the Albanese government’s victory at the May 3 election.

Labor returns to Parliament House with its ranks boosted by a landslide victory that handed the party 94 of the 150 House of Representatives seats.

Despite months of poor polling ahead of the campaign, the unexpected scale of the win means the government is the first in almost 60 years not to lose a single seat at a federal election.

The prime minister took an agenda to voters promising further action on cost-of-living pressures after high inflation became one of the defining topics of his first term.

Addressing the Labor caucus on Monday afternoon at Parliament House in Canberra, Mr Albanese called for the maintenance of discipline.

“It also is a product of the collective will of this group, the discipline, the sense of purpose that was there in the government in our first term, one which we must maintain,” he said.

“If we maintain that sense of discipline, sense of purpose, clear idea about why we are here … there is no reason why every single one of you can’t just be returned to the next parliament, but can’t be added to as well.”

The prime minister added the government “must work hard to repay the faith that has been shown in us”.

Mr Albanese laid out Labor’s agenda for the first week of parliament starting on Tuesday, including introducing legislation to slash HECS debts by 20 per cent and increase safety measures for childcare centres.

As politicians gathered in Canberra ahead of the new parliament’s first sitting week, the prime minister braved a winter morning to walk from The Lodge to parliament ahead of official proceedings, arriving alongside his son Nathan.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley also addressed her joint party room for the first time since the coalition’s election loss, which cut their numbers to 43 seats.

“On behalf of struggling Australians, we are here for them,” she said, adding the coalition would take the fight to the government.

“Our policies are up for review, but our values are not.”

During the meeting, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce spoke about his opposition to a net-zero emissions target as he proposes to move a private member’s bill to scrap a 2050 goal.

Energy and climate policy remain powder kegs for the coalition as it enters the new term, with the Liberals and Nationals yet to arrive on a position on key issues such as an election pledge to build Commonwealth-backed nuclear power plants.

Ms Ley has batted away questions on the policy area, insisting the coalition is waiting for a post-election review to be completed first.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said the coalition was prepared for a tough path back to forming government.

“We have to be humble for what has happened to us,” he said.

“But we can do one of two things: we can sit in the corner in the fetal position and give up, or we can come out swinging.

“And I can tell you what we will do is come out swinging.”

A former judge’s decision to leak confidential material from an inquiry into Bruce Lehrmann’s criminal prosecution was an attempt at transparency not an act of corruption, his lawyers say.

Walter Sofronoff KC has asked the Federal Court to toss a March finding by the ACT Integrity Commission that the former judge engaged in serious corrupt conduct.

The commission’s probe stemmed from Mr Sofronoff’s leaks to a journalist.

But the watchdog’s adverse finding was a “serious offence against the administration of justice”, Mr Sofronoff’s barrister Adam Pomerenke KC said during a hearing on Monday.

Mr Sofronoff was not corrupt, malicious or dishonest, the barrister told Justice Wendy Abrahams.

Rather, he genuinely believed he was acting in the public interest by sending documents like witness statements to the media.

“Even if Mr Sofronoff was wrong in his view, the fact remains that he genuinely and honestly held it,” Mr Pomerenke said. 

“At worst it could be characterised as an erroneous attempt to ensure accuracy and transparency in the public discourse.”

Mr Sofronoff chaired a board of inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system after Lehrmann’s controversy-plagued prosecution.

The former Liberal staffer was accused of raping then-colleague Brittany Higgins in a ministerial office at Parliament House in 2019.

A 2022 criminal trial was abandoned without a verdict due to juror misconduct.

Lehrmann lost a defamation lawsuit he brought over media reporting of Ms Higgins’ allegations but has appealed a judge’s finding the rape claim was true on the balance of probabilities.

The Sofronoff-led inquiry found the ACT’s top prosecutor, Shane Drumgold, had lost objectivity over the Lehrmann case and knowingly lied about a note of his meeting with broadcaster Lisa Wilkinson.

Mr Drumgold resigned and launched a legal challenge to the findings in the ACT Supreme Court.

It found the majority of the inquiry’s findings were not legally unreasonable, but it struck down an adverse finding about how Mr Drumgold cross-examined then-Liberal senator Linda Reynolds during Lehrmann’s criminal trial.

In March, the ACT Integrity Commission also found the majority of the inquiry’s findings were not legally unreasonable.

But it found Mr Sofronoff’s behaviour during the inquiry gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias and he might have been influenced by the publicly expressed views of journalist Janet Albrechtsen.

Mr Sofronoff repeatedly messaged the News Corp columnist and eventually provided her an advance copy of his probe’s final report.

Mr Pomerenke told the Federal Court on Monday the ACT corruption body had admitted it made an error in finding Mr Sofronoff might have engaged in contempt.

The claimed contempt stemmed out of leaks to the media despite directions made to parties during the inquiry to suppress certain documents.

But the notion that the head of an inquiry could be in contempt of himself was “absurd and irrational”, Mr Pomerenke said.

This concession was enough to toss the findings against his client, he told the court.

Any individual error could not be “disentangled” from the final finding that the former judge engaged in serious corrupt conduct, the barrister said.

The hearing continues.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed a greater role for the government in childcare as he prepares to push through legislation tightening up the sector following horrifying allegations of child abuse at Melbourne early learning centres.

Universal affordable childcare was identified by the prime minister during the recent federal election as the one reform he’d most want to be remembered for.

But the accusations levelled against Joshua Brown, whose 70 counts of alleged abuse, including child rape, have raised concerns that the rapid expansion of government subsidies into the sector has not been met with a commensurate increase in safety and scrutiny.

“Well, it reinforces why you need a stronger commonwealth role in childcare,” Mr Albanese said when asked by AAP whether the case had changed his views on how his universal childcare ambition should be enacted.

Commentators have criticised the current model of handing subsidies to for-profit providers, arguing the incentive to cut costs and boost margins sacrifices standards and oversight.

When asked whether he envisaged the sector being run more like public schools, Mr Albanese said “we’ll see how that evolves”.

“I think it makes sense to have co-location of childcare centres wherever possible in schools. It is just a practical thing to be done.

“If you’re starting again you would completely have co-location of child care.

“I know as a parent, we had a public school in our street but we had to send our son to a different school that was driving distance – a short drive – but the next nearest school, because they had after school care.

“That’s something that people across the board feel as well – that convenience – and that’s part of the productivity agenda.”

But first, Education Minister Jason Clare will introduce legislation giving his department powers to conduct spot checks and pull funding from childcare centres deemed to be consistently failing safety and quality standards.

It’s one of four priorities Mr Albanese identified for his first sitting fortnight back in parliament since his swingeing election win.

From Tuesday, the government will also push forward legislation cutting student debt by 20 per cent and enshrine penalty rates into law.

The fourth priority, Mr Albanese, said will be seeing Labor’s 24 new members sworn in and ensuring they all participate fully towards the government’s long term goals.

“I’m feeling very energised about parliament coming back and seeing the outcome of the election in real form,” he said.

“What that represents … is it gives the confidence that we were correct last term to prioritise people’s living standards and cost of living, dealing with those pressures, and that we’re correct to continue to prioritise that.

“You need to deliver for people what they need in order to then have the legitimacy to push forward on longer term changes.”

The prime minister was feeling buoyant as he flew back from a successful six-day tour of China, where he balanced tensions over Chinese military build-up and a mutual desire to strengthen economic ties.

Amid coalition criticism that he had failed to deliver enough tangible outcomes, Mr Albanese hit back that they didn’t understand how patiently nurturing the relationship would pay dividends in the long-term.

Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor’s clumsy comments that Australia should be “prepared to act” alongside the US in conflict with China over Taiwan broke with the bipartisan “One China” policy in support of the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, Mr Albanese said.

His eye is on a Labor dynasty to carve out a positive future for Australia in a challenging region.

“One of the things we’re very determined to do is to have long-term Labor government in Australia so that we can implement the long-term changes that Australia needs.

“The world is changing fast and you can either shape that change or it will shape you.”

A behind-the-scenes glimpse at the Reserve Bank’s shock interest rate decision could offer clues into its next ruling.

Borrowers and mortgage holders are still reeling after its board flouted expectations and held the cash rate at 3.85 per cent in July.

But the release of tameeting minutes on Tuesday could shine a light on the reasoning and prepare financial markets for the central bank’s next decision, which will be handed down on August 12.

It was expected to deliver a 25 basis point cut but instead came to a rate hold in a split decision as most board members were awaiting confirmation inflation was heading towards the 2.5 per cent midpoint of its target range.

Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock is also expected to deliver a speech on Thursday that will provide answers for economists and ordinary Australians alike.

But many economic analysts believe an unanticipated jump in Australia’s unemployment rate will likely force the RBA’s hand at its August meeting.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday revealed the jobless rate had jumped from 4.1 per cent to 4.3 per cent in June, defying market expectations it would hold steady for another month.

These figures were the last set of labour force data before the August decision and though many have noted it still reflects a relatively low unemployment rate, it also signals a softening in the market that the Reserve Bank did not expect until the year’s end.

CreditorWatch’s chief economist Ivan Colhoun said it marked a clear miss that made the July rates ruling appear “overly cautious” and that an August cut was “virtually locked in”.

The increase in unemployment has been attributed to growing global uncertainty, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers pointing to international conflicts and the looming threat of US tariffs.

NAB’s head of Australian economics Gareth Spence has said the RBA will continue to focus on domestic figures to guide its decision and is expecting cuts in August, November and February – eventually taking the cash rate to 3.1 per cent.

“We see the RBA remaining cautious,” he said.

“The uncertain global backdrop sees a risk of faster and deeper cuts, although the domestic data has remained resilient to date.”

But given the initial revelations about the July results, other economists like VanEck’s head of investments Russel Chesler have stressed the importance of upcoming quarterly inflation figures as a “vital data point” that will determine the RBA’s next decision.

The federal government is expecting the jobless rate to rise to the “middle fours” but Dr Chalmers maintains a soft landing is still the expectation.

Wall Street was meanwhile a little subdued to close the week, amid reports President Donald Trump is pushing for steep new tariffs on EU products.

Speculation over a minimum impost of between 15 per cent and 20 per cent in any deal with the European bloc sent US indices lower before a partial recovery on Friday.

The S&P 500 lost 0.57 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 6,296.79, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 10.01 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 20,895.66. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 142.30 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 44,342.19.

Australian share futures plunged 49 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 8,898.

However the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Friday gained 118.2 points, or 1.37 per cent, to 8,757.2, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 116 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 9,006.

The gains were the ASX200’s biggest since a 4.5 per cent rally on April 10 and the first time it has crossed 8,700.

The IT company CEO captured in a widely circulated video showing him embracing an employee at a Coldplay concert has resigned.

Andy Byron resigned from his job as CEO of Cincinnati-based Astronomer Inc, according to a statement posted on LinkedIn and X by the company Saturday.

“Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,” the company said in its post on LinkedIn.

The move comes a day after the company said that Byron had been placed on leave and the board of directors had launched a formal investigation into the jumbotron incident, which went viral.

A company spokesman later confirmed in a statement to AP that it was Byron and Astronomer chief people officer Kristin Cabot in the video.

The short video clip shows Byron and Cabot as captured on the jumbotron at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, during a Coldplay concert on Wednesday.

Lead singer Chris Martin asked the cameras to scan the crowd for his Jumbotron Song, when he sings a few lines about the people the camera lands on.

“Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy,” he joked.

Internet sleuths identified the man as the chief executive officer of a US-based company and the woman as its chief people officer.

Pete DeJoy, Astronomer’s cofounder and chief product officer, has been tapped as interim CEO while the company conducts a search for Byron’s successor.

Most concert venues warn attendees that they can be filmed and it’s common practice especially when bands like to use performances for music videos or concert films.

Once captured, a moment can be shared widely.

“They probably would have got away with it if they hadn’t reacted,” said Alison Taylor, a clinical associate professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business.

And by the time the alleged identities emerged on social media, it hit a classic nerve around “leaders acting like the rules don’t apply to them”, she added.

Japan’s top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, says he will visit Washington for further ministerial-level talks with the United States.

Tokyo hopes to clinch a deal to avert President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent on imports from Japan before an August 1 deadline.

“I intend to keep on seeking actively an agreement that is beneficial to both Japan and the United States, while safeguarding our national interest,” Akazawa told reporters in the western region of Osaka.

Akazawa was visiting Osaka to host a US delegation, led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, that participated in the US National Day event at World Expo 2025.

Akazawa said he did not discuss tariffs with Bessent.