Euro Weeks
From 40m ago Sydney Sweeney ad for US gambling company ‘pretty disgusting’, Steggall says Independent MP and former Winter Olympian Zali Steggall has joined the chorus of criticism against an ad for a US sports wagering company featuring actor Sydney Sweeney . It’s not the first time Sweeney has courted controversy for her appearance in an ad . Yesterday athletes – particularly female athletes – in Australia and around the world condemned the ad, which features her semi-naked and repeating the word “sport” a bunch.
Steggall tells News24 she thought the ad was pretty disgusting, and rejected assertions from host, Laura Jayes , that it’s “ironic” that Sweeney, a woman, is copping all the flak for it. double quotation mark I thought it was pretty disgusting. I mean, clearly Sydney Sweeney hasn’t done a real day of hard work in sport in her life, I would argue. And at the end of the day, she’s pushing that old trope to lure men into gambling ... it brings women’s sport back to the sexualisation and the objectification, rather than celebrating women who are strong, fierce, brave, powerful, and do amazing things in the sporting arena.
Keep in mind, my understanding is she’s a shareholder and has a proprietary interest in the gambling advertising company that she’s promoting. So not only is she putting her body cheaply on the line, but she is also ultimately luring men into losing vast amounts of money through gambling advertising. Steggall says women have been battling for decades to get more equality in media attention, respect, and pay conditions in sport, so “every time women’s sport is objectivised and trivialised in this way, it is really frustrating”.
Key events 40m ago Sydney Sweeney ad for US gambling company ‘pretty disgusting’, Steggall says 1h ago Queensland to ban ‘activists’ and ‘green groups’ from objecting to mining projects 1h ago Queensland to introduce new crackdown on parole 3h ago ‘Up to the Coalition’ to team up with Labor on immigration, Chris Bowen says 3h ago Campuses would shut down under One Nation plan, university peak body warns 4h ago Hanson should apologise for ‘deeply hurtful’ comments, says McCarthy 4h ago Malinauskas still optimistic about steel making in South Australia 5h ago O’Neil defends transport minister’s top-tier Qantas membership 5h ago Barnaby Joyce says One Nation will pursue immigration policy ‘no matter the cost’ 5h ago Andrew Hastie says Pauline Hanson hasn’t ‘had the courage’ to front media 5h ago Chris Bowen downplays reintroduction of fuel excise relief amid renewed surge in oil prices 5h ago Albanese speaks with King Charles 5h ago Welcome Sarah Basford Canales Taylor says One Nation’s comment fail ‘basic test on decency’ Angus Taylor has praised his colleagues, including Andrew Hastie , for holding One Nation to account in recent weeks, saying that the Pauline Hanson -led party’s comments “do not meet the basic test on decency”. In a party room briefing this morning, Taylor mentioned clashes with One Nation by Hastie, Garth Hamilton and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price in response to controversial comments double quotation mark The test will always be decency, and One Nation’s comments do not meet the basic test on decency. The deputy opposition leader, Jane Hume , delivered a similar message to colleagues, saying a commentary claiming there are no good Muslims, disparaging veterans, attacking people’s families and circumstances, and attacking Indigenous Australians is “unacceptable”.
Hume also appears to have floated a catchy slogan for her Victorian party counterparts. The senator questioned how One Nation could “run a campaign to fire a liar, and then ask Victorians to hire a liar”, referring to the party’s state leader, Warren Pickering . Victorian Labor struggling to turn election tide under new premier, new polling shows Support for Victoria’s Labor government securing a fourth term remains stuck at one in four voters, according to the latest Resolve Political Monitor conducted last week and published by Nine Newspapers on Tuesday.
With Victorians headed to the polls in November, Labor and the Coalition have been duking it out in recent weeks over potholes, road and train upgrades, a secret public transport levy, crime and free dental clinics. Labor’s primary vote was steady at 25%, the Coalition’s pushed up one point to 27% and One Nation remained at 23%. With state net debt forecast to hit almost $200bn by 2030, Victorians (72%) more commonly expressed worry about debt levels than residents in other states such as NSW (67%) and Queensland (63%).
Almost half of respondents preferred to pause Suburban Rail Loop East rather than keep tunnelling, while 35% backed Labor’s $230m free dental care plan compared with 43% who reckoned it was not worth the cost and should not proceed. The poll showed primary support for the Greens was 12%, while independents scooped up 8%. The Victorian Coalition needs to hold all of its current lower house seats and win at least 16 more to govern alone. – AAP Victorian premier Ben Carroll.
Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP Tom McIlroy Albanese to head to US to launch’s Australia’s bid for UN security council seat Anthony Albanese is headed to the US this week, and has told Labor MPs he will launch Australia’s bid for a seat on the United Nations security council in New York. The prime minister departs Australia on Friday and will take part in the annual UN general assembly, and receive a global citizen award from the Atlantic Council. Other honorees in the awards include Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb , the chief executive of Formula One, Stefano Domenicali, and Cynthia Erivo , the Wicked star and Academy Award-nominated actor.
During the visit, Albanese will stop at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino in California to talk about technology and government regulation. Albanese is expected to catch up with a series of world leaders, including the US president, Donald Trump , and the UK prime minister, Andy Burnham . Australia is running for one of the two non-permanent seats on the UN security council for the 2029–2030 term.
The election is due to take place in June 2028. Anthony Albanese addresses the UN general assembly in September last year. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters Sydney Sweeney ad for US gambling company ‘pretty disgusting’, Steggall says Independent MP and former Winter Olympian Zali Steggall has joined the chorus of criticism against an ad for a US sports wagering company featuring actor Sydney Sweeney .
It’s not the first time Sweeney has courted controversy for her appearance in an ad . Yesterday athletes – particularly female athletes – in Australia and around the world condemned the ad, which features her semi-naked and repeating the word “sport” a bunch. Steggall tells News24 she thought the ad was pretty disgusting, and rejected assertions from host, Laura Jayes , that it’s “ironic” that Sweeney, a woman, is copping all the flak for it. double quotation mark I thought it was pretty disgusting.
I mean, clearly Sydney Sweeney hasn’t done a real day of hard work in sport in her life, I would argue. And at the end of the day, she’s pushing that old trope to lure men into gambling ... it brings women’s sport back to the sexualisation and the objectification, rather than celebrating women who are strong, fierce, brave, powerful, and do amazing things in the sporting arena. Keep in mind, my understanding is she’s a shareholder and has a proprietary interest in the gambling advertising company that she’s promoting.
So not only is she putting her body cheaply on the line, but she is also ultimately luring men into losing vast amounts of money through gambling advertising. Steggall says women have been battling for decades to get more equality in media attention, respect, and pay conditions in sport, so “every time women’s sport is objectivised and trivialised in this way, it is really frustrating”. ‘Wilful ignorance’: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price criticises Hanson comments Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has accused Pauline Hanson of “wilful ignorance” after the One Nation leader labelled Indigenous Australians “the most primitive race on earth,” AAP reports.
The prominent Indigenous conservative rebuked Hanson’s comments, saying making Australia better was about working together rather than tearing people down on the basis of race. “When you say ‘the most primitive race on earth,’ you are speaking about a race of people,” Price told 2GB radio on Tuesday. double quotation mark I don’t care what excuses are being made. She did absolutely demonstrate wilful ignorance because there’s a hell of a lot more to Australia’s First People than simply what her remarks suggest.
The One Nation leader made the comments during an interview with the Jamie J podcast in 2025, when she criticised the study of Indigenous history and culture in schools. Earlier this morning, the minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, said it was notable that she, Price, Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle and independent senator Lidia Thorpe had all spoken out against these comments. Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Queensland to ban ‘activists’ and ‘green groups’ from objecting to mining projects Andrew Messenger “Activists” and “green groups” will be banned from objecting to Queensland mining projects, under new legislation to be introduced into parliament today. Queensland’s minister for natural resources, Dale Last , announced the move this morning. He said it will amend the objection process so that “activists, often based thousands of kilometres away in green groups, many funded by foreign overseas entities,” will no longer be eligible to have a say under the act.
Last told Queensland parliament: double quotation mark We made a commitment that we would streamline approvals, restore confidence, and provide certainty – certainty for proponents, communities, local landholders, businesses, and workers. It’s about getting to a yes or a no faster, and we’re doing just that. The bill will also put a stop to vexatious claims and remove regulatory duplication between mining and environmental legislation, he said. double quotation mark You only need to look at the debacle of the long-running legal battle that the New Ackland coalmine expansion experienced to understand that this process has to change.
The bill has yet to be tabled. The LNP cancelled a review of the system by the Queensland Law Reform Commission last year. It has also cracked down on the planning approvals system for windfarms .
Queensland minister for natural resources and mines, Dale Last. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP Ask us anything! Do you have a question you’d like to ask political editor Tom McIlroy this week?
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Cait Kelly National framework for defining affordable housing supported by advocates Advocacy group National Shelter has welcomed a move to establish a nationally consistent definition of “affordable housing”, but says a definition won’t solve the housing crisis. On Monday, the member for Bradfield, Nicolette Boele , introduced a bill that would tie the definition of affordable housing to what households actually earn, and attach it to commonwealth housing programs and funding agreements. CEO of National Shelter, Jackson Hills, said the organisation supported the bill: double quotation mark For too long, affordable housing has been defined differently across programs, jurisdictions, and policy settings.
Establishing a consistent framework would strengthen policy development, improve transparency and support more effective measurement of housing outcomes over time. While a nationally recognised definition is an important foundation, definitions alone will not solve the housing crisis. Affordable rental housing delivered at scale can reduce pressure on overstretched social housing waiting lists by providing viable housing options for low- and moderate-income households.
Over the next two decades, Australia must move beyond definitions and accelerate the policies, programs and investments needed to grow Affordable Rental Housing at scale across the country. Queensland to introduce new crackdown on parole Andrew Messenger Queensland’s state government has flagged a new crackdown in the state’s parole system. The legislation is set to be introduced into state parliament today by the minister for corrective services, Laura Gerber .
Gerber said it will expand the type of people who can be covered by the state’s restricted prisoner laws, which permit a person serving a life sentence to be banned from release for a decade. At the moment the parole board can only issue a ban to a person who murders more than one person, or a child. Gerber told parliament they will now apply to all people sentenced to life, an unlimited number of times. double quotation mark Under our laws, the rights of victims and community safety will be the paramount consideration for all parole decisions, as it always should have been.
The parole board must be empowered to deliver decisions in line with community expectations that put victims and the safety of Queenslanders first, and that is exactly what these laws will deliver. The legislation comes on new legislation making it more difficult for some people accused of crimes to get bail. Queensland MP Laura Gerber.
Photograph: Darren England/AAP Australia rises as US plunges in world democracy report The rise of independents and teals and an underage social media ban have helped boost Australia’s ranking in one of the world’s leading democracy indexes, AAP reports . At the same time, the United States’ standing has plummeted, with the Trump-era ransacking of institutions and standards dropping one of democracy’s leading lights to the ranks of also-rans. The annual Global State of Democracy report, released on Tuesday, rates Australia very well across its assessment matrix.
Sweden-based organisation International IDEA charts nations across four main categories – representation, rights, rule of law, and participation – to assess their democratic health. Overall, it’s ugly reading – autocracies and repressive forces appear to be winning. For the 11th straight year, the report finds more countries recorded declines rather than improvements.
The most extensive global decline was in freedom of expression, with drops in a quarter of the 173 surveyed countries. Judicial independence is at a 36-year-low globally, while press freedom and access to justice are at their lowest levels this century. In pics: boy meets the PM after walking 500km for rural paediatric care There are some genuinely inspiring and incredible people that walk through the halls of parliament, and today that’s 12-year-old Dusty Langby with his mum, Sarah , who have just completed a more than 540km walk to Canberra.
They’ve been raising money for charity Little Wings and awareness to deliver paediatric care to bush communities, walking from the town of Warren, north-west of Dubbo in New South Wales to Capital Hill. Little Wings provides free flights and transportation for seriously ill children and their families in regional and remote areas. Dusty, his mum, and nurses Christine Letton and Nichole Callan (who also made the journey by foot) met with Anthony Albanese in his office.
The government has this morning committed more than $1m to the charity. In a statement, Albanese said Dusty’s journey has been “extraordinary”: double quotation mark My government will match every dollar Dusty has raised so his incredible effort can make an even bigger difference. On top of that, my Government will invest another $1 million to keep Little Wings flying and help regional families get their children the care they need.
Dusty has shown that you’re never too young to make a difference and we’re proud to back Little Wings and the work they do. Anthony Albanese meets with Sarah Langby (mum), Dusty Langby and Nichole Callan (nurse) at Parliament House in Canberra. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Dusty Langby, Sarah Langby and registered nurses Nichole Callan and Christine Letton walked more than 500km from Warren in regional north-west NSW.
Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images Cait Kelly People over 40 the largest single age group in share house accommodation Share housing has stopped being a stage people pass through, with people in their early 20s now in the minority, according to research conducted by Homerun, an app that manages share house expenditure. The study of 3,562 Australians living in or hosting a share house revealed that the largest single age group in Australian share accommodation is people aged 40 and over, who make up 44% of respondents. Key findings were: 17% already own a home and let rooms in it, rising to 26% of the over 40s. 35% have shared for five years or more, and 18% for more than 10. 69% did not expect, at 20, to still be share housing at their current age. 31% never expect to own a home.
A further 11% put ownership more than a decade away. 75% say the high cost of housing has extended how long they will keep sharing. Scott Mckeon , founder of Homerun said: double quotation mark Sharehouses are underrepresented and underserviced. Co-living with people you are not related to comes with its own problems, and very little is built for them.
Running a household is work, and it is harder between independent adults. Splitting the finances, agreeing on what clean means, keeping the shared things stocked, and finding someone new when a housemate moves out. Cait Kelly Drug dogs on Oxford Street causing risks for LGBTQ+, advocates say Redfern Legal Centre has condemned repeated raids by NSW police on Oxford Street venues as alleged harassment of the LGBTQ+ community that fails to disrupt drug supply while causing real social harm and health risks.
Over the weekend, police with drug-detection dogs were seen at several venues with people asked to remove clothing and questions about why people were in bathrooms. RLC’s police accountability practice lead, Rian Terrell , said: double quotation mark NSW police’s repeated decisions by NSW Police to deploy drug dogs to target patrons of venues on Oxford Street amount to [alleged] targeted harassment of the LGBTQIA+ community. This is particularly concerning given the police watchdog, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, directed NSW Police to reopen a misconduct investigation into its actions targeting Sydney LGBTQIA+ venues just last month.
That NSW Police chose to raid Oxford Street again, when that investigation has not concluded, raises further concerns about NSW Police lack of accountability. Use of drug dogs, wide scale strip searches and searches do little to disrupt drug supply and deter drug use. The 2024 NSW Drug Summit made several recommendations, including related to the use of drug dogs, many of which have not been accepted or implemented by the NSW Government.
Oxford Street, Sydney, Australia. Photograph: Blake Sharp-WIggins/The Guardian
Source: The Guardian
