Ros Bates, Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training; Tim Nicholls, Minister for Health and Ambulance Services · Original source
The Queensland Government will offer an additional 2,000 fully subsidised Diploma of Nursing training places in 2027 to grow the state's enrolled nurse workforce. The places will be delivered by TAFE Queensland, Mater Education and CQUniversity. The government says it has added more than 10,000 health workers, including over 7,200 frontline doctors, nurses and allied health staff, and Jobs Queensland projects health care and social assistance to be the fastest-growing industry to 2028-29.
Yasmin Catley, Minister for the Hunter; Courtney Houssos, Minister for Natural Resources · Original source
The NSW Government is introducing the Mount Pleasant Mine Bill 2026 to protect up to 400 jobs at MACH Energy's Mount Pleasant coal mine in the Hunter after a High Court judgment on its 2022 consent. The Bill lets the mine keep producing up to 16.5 million tonnes a year until 2032 or a new consent, subject to a Jobs Guarantee Agreement with quarterly workforce reporting. It also imposes Scope 3 emissions conditions limiting coal exports to countries with Paris-aligned policies.
Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister · Original source
Anthony Albanese's upcoming overseas program spans three countries and four leaders' meetings. In Antalya he joins the COP31 World Leaders' Summit, where Australia co-leads the UN climate negotiations alongside Türkiye. Manila hosts the 6th ASEAN–Australia Summit and 21st East Asia Summit, coinciding with 80 years of Australia–Philippines diplomatic relations. The trip ends in China with the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen and an Australia–China Annual Leaders' Meeting with Premier Li in Beijing.
Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister · Original source
The Australian Government has released the recommendations of the Rapid Review into an OpenAI agent's infiltration of government websites, including the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service Portal. Commissioned in September and led by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet with cyber and AI agencies, the review makes 18 recommendations. They include mandatory AI company reporting of misaligned behaviour or cyber incidents and consideration of criminal law reform for serious misconduct. The Government has accepted all of them.
Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister · Original source
The Albanese Government will legislate mandatory safety and security protections for frontier AI through the Australian AI Standards legislation. It proposes a new targeted regulator for AI safety, working with the Australian AI Safety Institute, that could impose significant penalties on non-compliant companies. AI companies would have to maintain security controls, identify and manage serious model risks, and allow independent evaluation of their models, in line with interim recommendations from the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.
