Sussan Ley also acknowledged the Olympians, but made note of the political circumstances at the time, and also gives credit to the athletes who did support the boycott and placed their personal glory second:

The decision made by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser to support the U.S.-led boycott was the right one and history has judged it so. We would not send athletes to an Olympics in Moscow today and the Australian government was right to support a boycott then.

That decision, correct as it was, takes nothing away from the Australians who did compete. They should not be personally attacked, they should never have been personally attacked. I repeat to you in the gallery today, you made Australia proud.

For every athlete who went to the Moscow games, there were other athletes who did not. One of our greatest sprinters, a 3-time medalist is not to compete stating it was one of the hardest decisions of their life.

I remember being so inspired by her. She is a hero. I also remember and acknowledge Tracy Wickham, who had broken multiple world records and was a favourite to win in Moscow, like 70 others she did not go.

For decades later the Cold War has ended but the memory of that time reminds us of the importance of standing up on the world stage for our values even in the cost is heavy. It is an enormous source of national pride that we will host the Brisbane Olympics in 2032. I know Team Australia will take inspiration from all those who competed as well as those whose did not. All those athletes in 1980 demonstrate their strength whether they went to Moscow or not. I say to those in the gallery today, every single athlete who competes for our country on the national stage is loved, admired, cherished, supported, celebrated. We look forward with pride and anticipation to the next chapter of Australia’s own big story.

Ahead of question time, there is recognition of the 1980 Australian olympians who broke the boycott call and attended the Moscow games.

They are being recognised in the parliament today and have filled the gallery as special guests. Australia did not join the 40 or so countries that did officially boycotted the games (which came after Russia invaded Afghanistan) but left it to the athletes themselves to make the decision. 121 athletes went to the games (out of about 204) and those who went faced massive public backlash for breaking the boycott.

Anthony Albanese:

On behalf of the Government and on behalf of the Government and on behalf of the people of Australia it is a privilege to welcome the members of the 1980 Australian Olympic team joining us here today in Parliament House.

Today is a parliament we honour your contribution to our nations of the big history. We recognise your participation but importantly as well we recognise your pain. And we extend that recognition to all those who cannot be with us today. To qualify for an Olympic Games demands exceptional talent and so much more. It requires character, courage and commitment.

Years of hard work, single-minded dedication and sacrifice. Athletes and their loved ones for countless hours into the pursuit at the Olympic dream.

The combination of that effort being selected to represent the greatest nation on earth, Australia. On the biggest sporting stage in the world, should be a moment of fierce and absolute pride. When you were chosen to wear the green and gold you should draw strength from knowing that the whole nation is with you. And on your return you should be welcomed home. And celebrated for the inspiration you have brought to the next generation of Australian athletes.

Yet 45 years ago, the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan cast a dark shadow over what should have been your shining moment. As nations around the world grappled with the boycott, Australia’s athletes, some still only teenagers were placed in an credit difficult position. 121 Australians chose to compete under the Olympic flag.

Others chose to join the boycott. Some who had one selection never even had the chance to choose because their sport made the decision for them. Those who went and those who withdrew were both subject to all manner vile abuse, death threats. Lisa Forrest was just 16 when she was made captain of the women swim team will stop she wrote of how a family kept a whistle next to the home phone to blast the constant crank callers.

And Chris who competed in the marathon at both Montreal and Moscow recalls back in 1976 a marching band had played Waltzing Matilda to farewell the athletes.

In 1980 the last question he was asked by a journalist at the airport was “Do you feel you are being traitors to Australia?” It’s a wonder many still bear the skies and trauma. It only makes the efforts of the team at those games all the more extraordinary.

We are now in the downhill slide to question time…..and if the last two weeks are any indication it is going to be lammmmmmeeeeeeee.

So take your time now to get your jolly’s.

As you would have expected, Jim Chalmers’ release on inflation is long – but he is keen to make the point that both headline and underlying inflation have fallen to their lowest level in almost four years.

You may note that ‘almost four years’ includes the last year of the Morrison government. That’s the point.

Chalmers:

Monthly headline inflation is just below the band at 1.9 per cent and at its lowest since early 2021. This is welcome and encouraging news.
It’s an outstanding result which confirms we are sustainably in the band with substantially lower inflation.

Under Labor, inflation is falling, unemployment is low, real wages and living standards are growing again, more than 1.1 million jobs have been created, debt is down, the economy is growing and interest rates are falling.

New numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show headline inflation was 2.1 per cent through the year to the June quarter 2025, down from 2.4 per cent through the year to the March quarter 2025.

It means headline inflation has now been in the band for a full year.

This is a powerful demonstration of the progress we have made together.

Greens leader Larissa Waters is calling on the government to actually listen to climate scientists when setting the 2035 emissions reduction target:

With the government planning their 2035 climate targets, it’s vital that they listen to climate scientists, people in regional communities and our Pacific Island neighbours; and not take us backwards on climate.

Climate Targets aren’t just figures on a page. They’re life or death events for people in our region and people in regional communities and all Australians who are suffering from natural disasters that are turbo charged by the climate crisis.

We know the Government is thinking about what the targets should be for our country to do our bit globally to tackle the climate crisis and global warming. But thankfully, there’s been plenty of thinking already done, and the answer is quite clear.  

The government just needs to listen to scientists, listen to bushfire survivors, listen to our Pacific neighbors, the unions and businesses who are all saying the same thing – Australia  must settle on strong science based 2035 targets – and that means net zero. 

The first act of Labor after being re-elected was a tick off on Woodside’s massive North West shelf gas project out to 2070. That is inconsistent with strong climate action, and just like Pacifica leaders, the bushfire survivors, and scientists, the Greens say we need strong science based targets that tackle climate pollution and keep us all safe.

Australia has done too little for too long – and now science based targets that keep warming below 2 degrees requires a monumental effort of reaching net zero in the next ten years, not by 2050.

We can see that states and territories are doing some good work already in this space, and if you put all of their contributions together, that would already see us reduce emissions by 71%, so regardless of what the Business Council or the Nationals say, anything less than that is going backwards. And a safe climate is a mandate on which this Government was elected. They said to the voters before the election, and what Australians want is strong climate action to keep us safe, to keep nature safe, and to keep our Pacific neighbors safe.

It can be done and the economic modelling even shows that if the federal Government invests well and soon, a net zero climate target can even be a driver of economic growth, bringing with it cheaper, cleaner energy, new industries, lifelines for regional communities, more Australian manufacturing – as well as less suffering for Australia and our Pacific neighbours and fewer species sent to extinction.”

Anthony Albanese has downplayed the extension of the US review of its multi-billion dollar nuclear submarine deal with its long-term ally.

The Pentagon announced a review of the AUKUS security pact in June, which was originally slated to take 30 days.

It has sparked alarm Australia might not be sold the promised submarines, as US shipyards fall behind on production.

But the US has now flagged the review will take longer and is now expected to finish between September and November.

Asked if the delay was concerning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese replied: “No, it’s not surprising that would be the case”.

“We expect that those things take longer than just 30 days,” he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.

Under the $368 billion agreement, Australia has been promised at least three Virginia-class submarines from the US in the early 2030s, before a new fleet of vessels is built for delivery from the 2040s.

“Its purpose will be to provide the president and his senior leadership team with a fact-based, rigorous assessment of the initiative,” the statement reads.

US under secretary of defence Elbridge Colby – a sceptic of the submarine deal under AUKUS – is leading the review.

A US statement said the review would be an empirical and “clear-eyed assessment” of the security pact’s alignment with US President Donald Trump’s “America First” objective.

“As part of this process, the department looks forward to continuing regular engagements on this matter with other parts of the US government, the US Congress, our allies Australia and the United Kingdom, and other key stakeholders,” it reads.

Defence analysts have flagged a likely outcome of the US review will be a request for more money from Australia to support its submarine industrial base.

Australia has since made its second $800 million payment to the US to help boost production of submarines, according to the Nine newspapers.

The hidden unemployed Every month we get the official labour market statistics that now show unemployment is 4.3% (June 2025) having risen from a seasonally adjusted 3.4% before the RBA started increasing interest rates. To be defined as unemployed you have to

· Be 15 years and over, and

· Have actively looked for full-time or part-time work in the last 4 weeks, and

· Were available for work.

The definition includes people who were waiting to start a job within 4 weeks. Nevertheless the definition is fairly strict and it is not that easy to become an official unemployment statistic. Once a year the ABS also publishes the data that tells us about the unofficial unemployment. These are the people who do not satisfy the ABS questions about unemployment but may well meet the pub-test for being unemployed. The latest figures relate to the month of February 2025 and are summarised in Table 1 which examines the people who wanted to work but were not classified as unemployed.

Most of those who looked for work were classified as unemployed. Perhaps those who were not so classified could not begin immediately. Those who had a job to go to within 4 week are classified as unemployed but not those with a longer wait. But if you did not look for work you were automatically excluded from the unemployment figures.

Among those who did not look for work there were a number of reasons, including discouraged jobseekers, those attending classes, those with ill-health, injury or disability and, finally those with care responsibilities, children or other family. Women predominantly fall into the last category.

The large number of hidden unemployed explain why it is that the majority of people who start work each month come not from the ranks of the officially measured unemployed but from outside the workforce, the hidden unemployed. But what it

means also is that instead of the 4.0% official unemployment figure in February,1 the figure would be more like 10.3% if we included all of the hidden unemployment. The difference helps also in suggesting that the Australian labour market is nowhere near as tight as is suggested by the Reserve Bank in its regular monetary policy decisions.

In light of the inflation figures showing that the official CPI is now 2.1% and underlying inflation is at 2.7% and the monthly measure has inflation at just 1.9% – which is actually below the RBA’s target – I suspect the new Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien might wish to take back this little suggestion he put in a question to Jim Chalmers on Monday when he said:

“Mr TED O’BRIEN (Fairfax—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:30): My question goes to the Treasurer. Under Labor there have been 12 interest rate increases, inflation remains too high….

Oops. The Treasurer, might be noting that today should he be in the mood to be a tad mischievous.

The Greens have also responded to the prime minister’s press conference this morning. From their statement:

The Prime Minister today dismissed calls for sanctions and material action to stop the genocide in Gaza as “slogans”. This is deeply insulting to the millions of Australians calling for the Prime Minister to move from mere words to clear action to pressure Israel to end the bombing and killing of Palestinians and let aid flow into Gaza. 

The statement signed by Australia on July 21, 2025, made it very clear that “we are prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire.” Israel rejected this statement in less than 24 hours, yet the Government has taken no steps. As the Prime Minister himself stated, his empty slogans, without action, will not feed starving children in Gaza. 

The Prime Minister’s position that we cannot put sanctions on Israel because, unlike Russia, it is a democracy, is a bizarre argument. It has no basis in international law that is concerned with the actions of governments, not their electoral system, and it gives Israel full license to continue what they are doing in Gaza. 

The precedent for action in response to an illegal war is clear. When a country illegally occupies another and commits war crimes, then comprehensive sanctions are needed. Australia responded clearly to Russia with a comprehensive sanctions regime, this can and must be replicated with Israel. 

Oh look – Michaelia Cash has more thoughts on how Australia should handle whether it recognises a Palestinian state or not.

The same Michaelia Cash who said she would proudly invite Benjamin Netanyahu to Australia, despite him being wanted for arrest by the ICC. Yup. That one.

From her statement:

The Coalition has serious concerns about the Albanese Government’s willingness to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state outside of a proper two-state process.

The Albanese Government has signalled its support for a state of Palestine as a step towards a two-state solution rather than at the end of the peace negotiation process.

The question of recognising Palestinian statehood should come at the end of the peace negotiation process not at the start or during it.                                      

The Coalition has been consistently clear that there can be no recognition of a Palestinian state with Hamas still in control of Gaza, and Hamas can have no role in governing a Palestinian state.

We want a peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinians, and a viable, peaceful Palestinian state. This can only come through negotiations.

The Albanese Government should explain to Australians why it is canvassing recognition of a Palestinian state while there are still hostages in tunnels under Gaza.

This is a moment for international leaders to be applying maximum pressure on the listed terrorist organisation Hamas to immediately and unconditionally release all remaining hostages and disarm.

Australia should not reward Hamas with a pathway to statehood while they remain in control of Gaza and continue to hold Israeli hostages.