Canavan and Joyce attend anti-abortion rally and back controversial bill – as it happened

Canavan backs anti-abortion legislation at rally as Canberra juggles migration, investment and institutional upheaval

Wanderstayfinder.com – The Nationals leader walked into a packed anti-abortion gathering alongside Liberal colleague Sussan Joyce, lending his public weight to a federal bill that medical and legal experts have called unnecessary, hurtful, and misleading. Canavan’s endorsement marks a sharp escalation in the Coalition’s willingness to wade into reproductive-health territory at the national level, even as the party simultaneously scrambles to define its position on one of the most consequential economic levers in the country: migration.

The visa question the Coalition cannot dodge

Just hours after Canavan’s rally appearance, the shadow home affairs minister Jonno Duniam told News24 that working holiday visas remain on the table as the opposition finalises its plan to cap net overseas migration at a figure “well below 200,000” per year. The Tasmanian senator, who is expected to unveil the full immigration package before his retirement in coming months, framed the issue in terms of labour-market targeting rather than blanket cuts.

“They only account for I think it’s something like 18,000 of the overall Nom. So to that extent, yes, [working holidaymakers] need to be considered. We need to be more targeted and work more closely with industry … I think the point I’m making here is that working holidaymakers, the surge in seasonal workforce we have – for both ag, horticulture, and hospitality – is necessary. And if we attack one section of or any visa subclass, then of course we’re going to have weighted outcomes there that are going to cause more issues than we already have.”

The remark lands awkwardly within the Coalition’s own ranks. Last week, Duniam’s Senate colleague Andrew Bragg publicly floated a Nom ceiling of 180,000, arguing the number was needed to avert a housing shortfall in the years ahead. Bragg suggested the target could be met through “modest reductions” across international-student, working-holiday, and certain unskilled-worker visa streams. Canavan swiftly distanced the Nationals from any working-holiday cut, and opposition leader Angus Taylor reportedly counselled Bragg for straying into a policy lane he does not lead.

Yet Duniam’s latest comments signal that the opposition will not pre-emptively exclude any visa category before the analytical work is complete. For the dozens of non-profit groups, multicultural advocacy organisations, and social-service agencies that have formally urged the federal government to abandon plans restricting work rights for temporary migrants, the message is mixed: the door is not yet closed, but the direction of travel remains uncertain.

Rinehart’s SpaceX stake confirmed at 8 million shares

Separately, US share-market filings have confirmed that Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting holds eight million shares in Elon Musk’s SpaceX as of 30 June. Hancock first disclosed the position after the company listed on American exchanges in June but declined at the time to quantify the purchase. The filings now put the stake at US$1.37 billion (A$1.93 billion) at the time of acquisition; by today’s pricing, the holding is worth US$1.12 billion (A$1.57 billion).

The disclosure also reveals that Hancock’s total American portfolio swelled from US$3.3 billion in March to US$5.7 billion over the quarter, with SpaceX constituting its single largest position. The company held or increased its stake in every investment during the period and added shares in defence contractors including Lockheed Martin. When pressed earlier on whether it had sold any SpaceX shares, Hancock issued a statement calling Musk “an exceptional and brilliant person” with a “proven ability to use science for the betterment of mankind.”

Other developments across the political and institutional landscape

The NSW government announced a new framework committing it to assess datacentre proposals within 75 days, provided they satisfy what the state describes as “world-class” energy, water, and environmental standards. The move is aimed at accelerating the pipeline of large-scale computing facilities while attempting to lock in environmental safeguards upfront.

In Canberra’s institutional sphere, Gordon de Brouwer has been named chancellor of Australian National University, stepping into the role vacated by Julie Bishop following months of internal turbulence at the university’s governance level.

The deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume fired back at former treasurer Jim Chalmers, who had claimed the Coalition intended to dismantle the superannuation guarantee. Hume accused Chalmers of fabricating policy positions, a jab that underscores the ongoing tension between the Coalition and its former Labor opponents over retirement-income architecture.

On the household-finance front, National Australia Bank reported a rise in the number of customers classified as struggling, a trend the bank attributed to sustained pressure on Australian household budgets.

In Sydney, the North Sydney Olympic pool reopened after a brief temporary closure that came just one week following the completion of its five-year restoration project. In Melbourne, Victorian public-school teachers accepted the state government’s most recent pay offer, cancelling a statewide strike that had been scheduled for this week and bringing a year of negotiations to a close.

Finally, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie raised a constitutional question about the first and only gun-buyback arrangement negotiated between the Commonwealth and New South Wales in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack, suggesting the deal’s structure may not survive a legal challenge under the Constitution.