Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
Senator the Hon Anne Ruston
Shadow Minister For Health and Aged Care
Shadow Minister for Sport
Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Senator for South Australia
MEDIA RELEASE
8 December 2025
Estimates Hearings held Monday 1 December to Thursday 4 December 2025
FROM CANBERRA TO NEW YORK: ALBANESE GOVERNMENT’S EXTRAVAGANCE AND ARROGANCE
The final week of Senate Estimates hearings has exposed the Albanese Government as completely out of touch with the economic realities facing hard working Australians.
While the Albanese Government’s poor decisions mean Australians are struggling to get ahead, their Ministers think it is acceptable to spend tens of thousands of dollars on travel.
The New York extravagance of Minister Anika Wells was laid bare by the Opposition during estimates.
Leader of Opposition in the Senate, Senator Michaelia Cash said: “The true colours of this Government were on full display once again at estimates. The Albanese Government has been exposed as a government that thinks it is fine for a Minister to spend over $94,000 on air fares for three-day trip to New York.”
“The Albanese Government’s arrogance in the wake of these revelations has been breathtaking’’ Senator Cash said.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Anne Ruston said the revelations highlighted a broader pattern of behaviour, where the Albanese Government refuses to be accountable for its wasteful spending and wrong priorities.
“While Minister Wells was taking taxpayers for a ride with her travel expenses, the Albanese Government has been caught short-changing older Australians because it failed to provide sufficient funding for home care packages,” Senator Ruston said.
“The secrecy of the Albanese Government was also on full display at estimates, with requests for information denied, continued obfuscations on providing critical data, and simple budgetary questions left unanswered.
“This is a government that is allergic to accountability and addicted to secrecy.”
$190,000 to wake up in that city that doesn’t sleep
Minister for Communications Anika Wells spent more than $190,000 for a three-day trip in September to the UN while the Optus Triple Zero crisis was still in full swing back home. Taxpayers footed the bill for the lavish PR trip which included $94,827 for flights, $18,064 for accommodation, $4,045 for ground travel and more than $70,000 for a lavish function. The minister’s principal engagement was to deliver a six and a half minute speech at an event of the UN General Assembly promoting the social media age ban which equates to $28,759 per minute.
Labor gifts Greens’ $1.6 million gold-plated party room
The Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) confirmed the total renovation cost to build a single room – the Greens’ party room – in Parliament House was over $1.6 million. DPS confirmed the total costs associated with the construction of the Greens’ party room were $289,714 in 2025-26; $886,521 in 2024-25; and $452,762 in 2023-24, for a grand total of $1,628,997. Construction of the Greens’ new party room has occurred despite the Greens holding just 11 representatives, down from 15 before the 2025 election. The Albanese Labor government should explain why they thought this renovation represented good value for money, and what the Greens have promised in return for their exorbitant party room.
CLIP: https://youtu.be/xCoyz3S3x4U
Penny Wong runs cover for “Part-time” Minister
Penny Wong has been caught out running cover for Chris Bowen, refusing to guarantee whether or not the Climate Change Minister will actually turn up to Parliament to do the job the Australian people elected him to do. The Albanese Government’s arrogance was once again on display, as questions were knocked back by Senator Wong as to why Minister Bowen is prioritising his international role as COP31 President over his accountability to the Parliament and the Australian people. When asked if the Prime Minister expects his Minister to show up to answer questions in Parliament, Senator Wong simply refused to provide a straight answer.
No clarity on legal compliance in the Higgins matters
Officials could not say whether above-threshold counsel rates had been authorised in matters involving Senator Reynolds and Ms Brown, nor could they provide a clear assurance that model litigant obligations were being met where one party has limited resources. Key questions on approval processes, criteria for exceeding the $5,000 daily rate, and aggregated authorisation data were taken on notice. The refusal to provide straightforward confirmation raises serious concerns about whether the Government has complied with mandatory Legal Services Directions in high-profile, high-cost litigation.
Government maintains secrecy over ISIS brides
Foreign Minister Penny Wong refused to reveal if more ISIS brides are returning to Australia from Syria. Both the Minister and DFAT officials refused to be drawn on whether they were aware of other groups of women who may be on their way back to Australia at the moment. Their responses followed revelations that Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke had a secret meeting with advocacy group Save the Children at which a senior public servant was asked to leave the meeting. The Albanese Government has consistently used secrecy and obfuscation to keep Australians in the dark on the ISIS brides matter.
Still no clarity on Afghan Embassy
Foreign Minister Penny Wong was unable to provide clarity on the future of Afghanistan’s diplomatic representation in Australia. She confirmed the government was working through the issue surrounding the position of Ambassador Wahidullah Waissi and the ongoing operations of the Afghan Embassy in Canberra. But she could provide no clarity to Afghan Australians on what would happen or when any decisions would be made.
Labor’s spending pushing interest rates higher
The Reserve Bank confirmed that Labor’s spending spree and rising deficits are putting upward pressure on interest rates and agreed that government spending has accounted for around half of all GDP growth in recent years. RBA governor Michele Bullock accepted that a higher neutral rate requires a higher cash rate to stabilise inflation. Bullock’s evidence was equally direct on inflation. Asked what happens when government spending increases, she said, “we expect inflation would be higher.” Labor’s choices have made inflation more persistent and interest rates higher than they need to be. Australian households are carrying the cost of a government that has lost control of the budget.
CLIP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK4x_UcQdq0
Secret 5% cut exposed after “Yes Minister” denial
The Acting Prime Minister has secretly directed all ministers to identify their “lowest priority 5%’’ of spending to be cut. Despite Minister Katy Gallagher’s office initially claiming no such documents existed to avoid producing the documents for the Senate, Department of Finance officials were ultimately compelled to admit that a letter from the Acting PM did exist, exposing the government’s attempt to bury its secret cuts across the public service, the documents of which are still kept under wraps by the Minister.
ANAO slams Treasury’s $2.3 billion spending breach
The Albanese Government’s economic and transparency record is once again in tatters, as the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) confirmed that it was alerted Treasury made a staggering $2.3 billion in unlawful payments. Despite attempts by the Labor government to downplay this significant error as a “technical” issue, ANAO said that “a breach is a breach” and confirmed the payments violated Section 83 of the Constitution. In what can only be a fundamental failure of financial controls, the revelation that the department responsible for the economy cannot even follow basic constitutional spending rules proves that this government has completely lost its grip on basic governance and proper financial management.
CLIP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-MnvrGi-1E\
“Sticky” questions for APSC Commissioner
The integrity of government record-keeping has been called into question after the Australian Public Service Commissioner acknowledged public servants routinely provide formal briefs accompanied by handwritten sticky notes with frank advice that are personally handed to Ministers and are then discarded to circumvent Freedom of Information laws. Dr Gordon de Brouwer quickly backtracked when challenged on the legality of this practice.
Clip: https://youtube.com/shorts/pjdFdcxufQ0?feature=share
Treasury Secretary sets economic record straight
Treasury Secretary Jenny Wilkinson comments in estimates called into question the Treasurer’s central economic narrative, as questioning from Senator Paterson showed that the government’s claims of “banking revenue” to improve the budget rely on shaky inferences rather than hard facts. While Jim Chalmers routinely boasts that Labor’s decisions alone have repaired the budget bottom line, the Secretary made clear that isolating the impact of government policy from broader economic trends is “very difficult” to do accurately.
Labor’s immigration failures
Labor has abandoned multiyear planning of immigration and has no measures to introduce medium or long term planning. How can we plan housing supply, government services and infrastructure with no medium term or long term planning across all three levels of government? In setting immigration settings, the Department of Home Affairs has not been directly engaging with the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council with respect to housing supply issues.
$13.2 million blown on travel, consultants and COP
Estimates hearings have uncovered extraordinary waste and mismanagement across the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). Officials confirmed $6.8 million was spent on travel in just three months, including an average of $14,000 per person for business-class flights, on top of $6.4 million in new consultancy contracts. Compounding the waste, this Labor government refuses to reveal the true cost of the Australian COP30 delegation, claiming they don’t know the actual expenditure. Furthermore, officials admitted they have no idea of the additional resources or time commitments required for the Part-time Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen’s new UN role as COP31 President of Negotiations.
Emissions off track: no credible plan for net zero
Australia’s emissions trajectory is nowhere near what is required to hit the Government’s targets. After three years, national emissions have fallen by a paltry 3.1 million tonnes. Officials conceded that future progress relies on hypothetical coal station closures rather than the reality of delays in the renewables transition. Crucially, they finally acknowledged that the 2035 target was never tested against global under-performance. Despite this, the Government refuses to admit it is off track, even though the Department confirmed no sector-by-sector modelling exists, emissions are expected to remain “relatively flat,” and there is no realistic modelling for electric vehicle uptake, which is a supposed centrepiece of its strategy.
Regional Australia ignored in net zero planning
Major risks to regional Australia were laid bare. The Government confirmed it has no estimate of the land required for the 107 million tonnes of reforestation assumed in Treasury’s modelling, leaving farmers and regional communities completely in the dark about the massive future land-use pressures.
AEC confirms illegal take down of political signage
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has confirmed that local councils taking down political signage during the 2025 federal election under their own by-laws likely did so in direct conflict with federal law. The exchange addressed the growing trend of local councils imposing strict bans or narrow timeframes on the display of election signage (corflutes) on property, impeding the democratic process and putting non-incumbent candidates at a disadvantage who rely on corflutes to build name recognition. The AEC’s admission confirms that federal constitutional protections for political communication should always outweigh local government attempts to restrict corflutes and signs, reinforcing that local councils cannot override candidates’ communication rights to engage with voters during an election period.
CLIP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc61K4G2nnA
PM’s hospital funding broken promise confirmed
The Albanese Government has officially walked away from its commitment to lift hospital funding. On 3 December 2023, Anthony Albanese made a clear commitment to increase the Commonwealth’s hospital funding contribution to “at least 42.5 per cent before 2030.” But under questioning in Senate Estimates, the Secretary of the Health Department Blair Comley attempted to backtrack and rewrite history, stating: “We can repeat this as many times as you want, but the Prime Minister did not categorically say it would reach 42.5 per cent.” According to the Secretary, the Prime Minister did not promise to lift hospital funding and his commitment was “subject to caps”.
Shocking home care broken promise
The Albanese Government has broken its promise by short-changing older Australians on the delivery of new home care packages. Department officials revealed that 93 per cent of the Support at Home packages released this financial year have been “interim packages”, providing only 60 per cent of the care an older Australian has been assessed as needing. The Department also confirmed that when an older person eventually transitions to a full package after a period of up to 17 weeks, their care funding is not backdated, meaning they permanently lose weeks’ worth of support.
Aged care crisis continues
New data provided by the Health and Aged Care Department revealed that more than 220,000 older Australians are still waiting for aged care – either on the home care wait list or awaiting an assessment. This shows the ongoing consequences of Labor’s decision to purposely withhold care from older Australians and demonstrates how its aged care crisis is far from over.
Impact of aged care crisis on hospitals not tracked
The Health and Aged Care Department revealed that it does not track or collect the data on the number of older Australians who are stuck in hospital because they cannot access the aged care they need. This exposes a fundamental failure in the Government’s ability to understand, let alone manage, the growing crisis across our aged care and hospital systems. It comes at a time when every single state and territory leader has called out the Prime Minister for escalating levels of bed block in their hospitals as a result of the Albanese Government’s aged care crisis.
Triple Zero Custodian just a phone on a bedside
The Department of Communications admitted the Triple Zero Custodian role is just a phone number telcos can call 24/7 but the department employee may be asleep. Despite spruiking the role as operational 24/7/365, departmental officials admitted no one was paid to stay up overnight and monitor emails or take calls which notify them of outages to the lifesaving Triple Zero network – they just have to have their phone next to their bed and hope they don’t sleep through it.
ACMA fails to advise of public safety issue on phones
The Government’s telecommunications regulator, ACMA was advised 71 Samsung mobile handsets were incompatible with the Triple Zero network in October but they did not advise the Government to run a public awareness campaign because they “thought the telcos were best placed to communicate directly with their customers on the issues and help those customers transition to a new mobile phone”. Australians have been completely unaware of the significant safety risk this posed and tragically in early November a man in Sydney passed away when the Samsung handset failed to connect to Triple Zero.
Secret housing modelling
Labor’s promise to build 1.2 million new homes is a dead duck. The Treasury Secretary couldn’t explain why Labor hasn’t released the modelling on the 5% deposit scheme’s price impacts. Labor uncapped and removed means-testing in April, only deciding in July to model consequences. Treasury’s work suggested a 0.6 percent rise over six years, yet prices jumped 1.2% in October alone, the scheme’s first month. Acknowledging there are a number of factors affecting house prices, nevertheless the government’s 5% deposit scheme is having a role in driving up already unaffordable house prices. Despite the PM citing a 0.5% figure that is now disproven, the modelling remains hidden. The Secretary confirmed it was given to the Government on paper but could not explain why it wasn’t released under FOI, only saying she would “try” to provide it.
RBA confirms housing nightmare
The RBA Governor delivered a blunt assessment of Labor’s housing failures at Estimates. The Governor said policies that add demand in a supply-strapped market inevitably push prices up, agreeing the 5% scheme drove a 1.2% jump in first-home prices in October. The Governor also confirmed that removing the income cap lets wealthy buyers use a taxpayer subsidy meant for young Australians. Most damning was her acknowledgement that Labor’s 1.2 million homes target is a fantasy, saying the numbers so far show “we’re not going to get there.” The Governor backed APRA’s tougher lending rules as a necessary brake on Labor’s riskier settings. Labor never meets its housing targets, and its reckless policies keep making the crisis worse.
Housing Australia still beset with failures
Housing Australia is a hellhole of waste and dysfunction, but their board just don’t care and neither does the government. Despite the existence of a secret $24,000 report into huge governance issues, multiple ongoing workers compensation claims and widespread anonymous allegations of bullying, Housing Australia told the Senate that there are no cultural issues behind the 25% staff turnover within the past 12 months.
https://youtu.be/ztEZjvAmCKU; https://youtu.be/raAcDAHbhME
Government not serious about cutting red tape
Over 100 days since its August Economic Reform Roundtable, the government is sitting on more than 400 ideas it asked for from regulators on how to reduce the regulatory burden and support productivity. In Senate Estimates, the Finance Minister would not say which of these more than 400 ideas were good. The Finance Minister also admitted that the government does not have a target to cut red tape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVuPhqkFAcM
Final cut for Australia’s native forestry sector
Australia’s native forestry sector appears to have been cut down deep in the paperwork after Climate Change Authority boss, Brad Archer, told Senate Estimates that a 99% reduction in native forest harvesting was required to achieve the Government’s 2035 targets. Mr Archer also told the Senate Estimates hearing that “a 50 per cent reduction in secondary forest conversion,” and a “100 per cent reduction in primary forest conversion,” was required to meet the targets.
Officials duck for cover over NEMA corruption claims
Officials from the National Emergency Management Agency have refused to confirm whether any allegations of corruption from within the agency have been referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission despite a recent staff survey finding 3% of those surveyed had observed corrupt conduct. None of the allegations were reported through the agency’s internal channels. NEMA officials who claimed that key indicators had improved when it came to bullying and harassment, brushing aside the fact 15% of staff had been bullied or harassed in the past survey period, with two-thirds of these going unreported.
Jobs for mates: The Glenn Thompson saga continues
Close personal friend and former union colleague of Minister Tim Ayres, Mr Glenn Thompson has been caught out making political social media posts while sitting on the National Reconstruction Fund Board. It was also revealed that Mr Thompson has attended only 70 per cent of NRF Board meetings – the lowest of any full-time Board member. As was revealed at the last round of Estimates, Mr Thompson was appointed to the NRF Board without any formal due diligence checks in a process the Auditor-General slammed and was described by DSIR Secretary Megan Quinn as a “misstep.”
Labor won’t say how many industry facilities at risk
In a tortuous back and forth between Senator Hume and Minister Tim Ayres, the Minister refused to confirm how many industry facilities are at risk of closure or entering a period of reduced operations.
Future of Tomago: Chris Minns vs Tim Ayres
While Tomago workers in the Hunter anxiously await news about their future, Minister Tim Ayres has refused to even concede that the NSW Government has made a request for assistance to their federal Labor counterparts. Last month at a press conference, Chris Minns was practically begging Ayres to use federal funds to save the facility. In a further exchange, Ayres refused to comment on reports that the government was considering tapping Snowy Hydro to supply cheap energy to Tomago.
Ayres crab-walking away from Liberty Bell Bay
Minister Tim Ayres has refused point-blank to even acknowledge that the Tasmanian Government has approached him on multiple occasions with proposals to support the struggling smelter. Minister Ayres also refused to comment on the findings of a rapid assessment process, launched by the government in July 2025, into the financial viability of the facility. Approximately 260 jobs hang in the balance at Liberty Bell Bay.
Technology jobs target survives … for now
In another tortuous exchange, Senator Hume managed to extract from Minister Ayres confirmation that, yes, Labor’s election commitment to create 1.2 million technology-related jobs by 2030 remains government policy. The only problem? The Department’s latest Annual Report shows Labor won’t even crack 1 million by 2030. What was Tim Ayres’ response? He noted the commitment was made under his predecessor, dumped Minister Ed Husic.
Victorian CFMEU boss quits forum role after scrutiny
Department officials revealed that Victorian CFMEU boss Zach Smith quietly resigned as a key adviser to Minister Rishworth following sustained pressure and weeks of unanswered questions, raising fresh concerns about potential kickbacks, cover-ups and the Albanese Government’s reluctance to act. Testimony confirmed Mr Smith stepped down from the National Construction Industry Forum only after public scrutiny intensified, mirroring his earlier resignation from Labor’s National Executive. Senator Maria Kovacic highlighted the Minister’s failure to remove Mr Smith herself while pursuing a commissioned report into violence and misconduct at the Victorian branch of the CFMEU which has not been made public.
Arts body clocks up 100 overseas trips
The Coalition revealed that Creative Australia, has clocked up more than 100 overseas trips since it was established – at a cost of $636,126 to taxpayers. Officials confirmed a three-day UNESCO Mondiacult conference in Barcelona where Creative Australia’s CEO flew business class and stayed at the Leonardo Royal Hotel Barcelona Forum at a cost of $17,939 – almost $6,000 per day – as well as a four-day arts and culture summit in Korea where three staff were sent business class at a total cost of $26,651. With 119 full-time staff and 101 international trips in just over two years, the agency is almost at the point where every full-time staff member could have had an overseas junket.
Teacher shortage puts pressure on education system
It was confirmed the pressure on Australia’s teacher workforce is not easing but set to intensify. Supply and demand projections revealed that a system already buckling under a teacher shortage will require almost 7000 additional teachers just to keep pace with enrolment growth. In other words, even before replacing those leaving the profession, Australia is thousands of teachers short of what is needed to staff its classrooms.
Childcare building fund lacks direction
In childcare, officials confirmed that although one billion dollars in grant funding has been set aside for Labor’s Building Early Education Fund, there are no guidelines on grants, no targets, no clarity on the number of centres that will eventually be built, no set timelines for doing so, and no targets for the reduction in childcare deserts. It is yet to be decided whether officials will sign off on grant funding, or whether it will be the Minister that signs of personally. Officials declined to commit to transparently publishing departmental advice about where centres should be established under the fund.
COP30 blowout
Senator McKenzie revealed the Agriculture Department spent a whopping $69,500 to send just two public servants to COP30 in Brazil, only for them to sell our farmers out on methane gas reporting.
Regional speed limits
The Government was so determined to slash speed limits on rural and regional roads, that instead of scrapping their consultation on the matter, they extended it!
Electric vehicle security concerns
The Department has confirmed it doesn’t actually know what’s inside the software updates being pushed into foreign-made EVs. They have no idea what’s being installed on our cars. Labor is leaving the door open for other nations to spy on us, via your car.
Diesel fuel tax credits
The Albanese Government refused to commit to retaining the diesel fuel tax credit for Australia’s farmers, truckies and miners.
Abandoning our truckies
The Albanese Government is introducing ‘fit for work’ laws which will see older truck drivers forced to undertake medical checks.
Maritime strategic fleet
Albo’s Armada (the Strategic Maritime Fleet) has been marooned. There is zero evidence of progress on one of the PM’s key 2022 election promises
NT’s largest land councils fall short
The NIAA admitted it is falling well short of its commitments to close the gap. Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Kerrynne Liddle, highlighted major underspends, including $269 million in Jobs, Land and Economy and $146 million in Safety and Wellbeing. The agency confirmed only 52% of priority reform milestones have been met, that the Indigenous Procurement Policy largely benefits Canberra organisations, and that over $100 million in IAS funding is uncoded or not aligned to Closing the Gap. Senator Liddle said the Albanese Government remains focused on symbolism over substance and urged the NIAA to deliver real, measurable outcomes for vulnerable Australians.
NIAA fails to finalise agreements with leaders
The NIAA has fallen well short of its goal to finalise Local Partnership Agreements with Empowered Communities regions, with its Annual Report showing only 20% refreshed by 30 June 2025 against a 100% target. At Estimates, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Kerrynne Liddle, questioned why the agency responsible for improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians cannot meet its own benchmarks. She warned it is troubling that organisations expected to take on more responsibility cannot complete basic steps, raising doubts about their role in service delivery. Senator Liddle called on Minister McCarthy to explain how Empowered Communities will coexist with new bodies and avoid costly duplication.
Closing the Gap failures exposed
The NIAA admitted it is falling well short of its Closing the Gap commitments. Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Kerrynne Liddle highlighted major underspends, including $269 million in Jobs, Land and Economy and $146 million in Safety and Wellbeing. The agency confirmed only 52% of priority reform milestones have been met, that the Indigenous Procurement Policy mainly benefits Canberra organisations, and that more than $100 million in IAS funding is uncoded or not aligned to Closing the Gap.
Security clearance failure revealed
Senior officials from the Department of Parliamentary Services revealed they allowed a third-party contractor administrator-level access to the internal APH IT system without first checking their security clearance status. The admission followed Secretary Jaala Hinchcliffe’s assurances at her last Estimates appearance that DPS had confirmed the contractor held the required Negative Vetting 1 clearance prior to granting access. DPS told the committee the contractor’s employer had provided false information to the Department about his security clearance status and admitted they conducted no additional security checks.
Secrecy and cover-up: Labor blocking disclosure
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) culture of secrecy has deepened. The Secretary has admitted they used an erroneous justification to block the release of the incoming ministerial brief to the Senate, yet the department continues to withhold critical information from the incoming briefing from the Senate, in contravention with basic transparency requirements. The question remains: What is the Albanese Government desperately trying to hide?
Agency chaos: billions in blowouts, failure to regulate
Failures are piling up across every agency. The Clean Energy Regulator has no record of Santos reporting a major 2020 methane leak at Darwin LNG and has no power to compel the company to repair the leaking tank before new gas is stored there. Simultaneously, Snowy Hydro confirmed Snowy 2.0 has blown past its revised $12 billion budget, with no final cost estimate until mid-2026. The project’s financial chaos is underlined by new worker pay rises of up to 20% with no clarity on the project’s true labour cost. To cap off the day, the Bureau of Meteorology CEO conceded its $96 million website “didn’t get it right,” confirming one of the most expensive website failures in public administration history.
Labor using AI bot claims to block transparency
Despite confirming it has no evidence to back its claims, Labor is accusing AI Bots of generating large scale FOI requests to justify tightening of FOI laws. It has applied the same approach to legitimate Coalition attempts to scrutinise Labor, with Senator Ayers telling Senator Dean Smith it was “trying to put sand in the gears of decent government” and noting “this opposition has taken an industrial approach to both orders for the production of documents and freedom of information applications. Some of those applications appear to be mechanically generated, that is, not generated by a normal human”. Senator Ayers could not provide evidence of this when challenged by Senator Smith and the Attorney-General’s Department also confirmed there was no evidence to support Labor’s AI bot claims.
DCCEEW blows $2.4m on staff travel in three months
While Australian’s suffer through Labor’s failing energy and emissions policies, environment departmental officials ran up $2.4 million in international travel bills between July and September 2025 alone. $1.2 million of the spend was on flights and the remainer accommodation. Under questioning from Senator Dean Smith, officials confirmed 81 departmental staff took 91 trips between July and September, with the DCCEEW Secretary conceded the numbers “seemed quite high for a Commonwealth department”.
Labor has no idea what Bowen’s new role will cost
Labor has put part-time Energy and Emissions Reduction minister Chris Bowen up for a role without knowing what it will cost Australians. When asked by Senator Dean Smith, DCCEEW Secretary Kaiser said the costs associated with supporting Chris Bowen’s new President of Negotiations position have not been determined. Senator Ayers, who represented Bowen at the hearing, said costs would be assessed “over time”, noting “It’s very early”. Senator Smith reminded Labor it was actually late, with Bowen active in the role from the end of COP30 this week. Officials were also unable to say conclusively how much time Bowen will spend outside Australia in the role in neglect of his urgent duties at home.
CDPP under-resourced as cases surge
Evidence revealed substantial strain on the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, with cybercrime and child-exploitation cases increasing in volume and complexity faster than staffing and digital capability can keep up. Officials highlighted growing pressure on specialist teams and significant demands on outdated digital systems. The indications are that the current level of resourcing is no longer adequate to meet national enforcement expectations, exposing a major gap in Labor’s approach to criminal justice and public safety.
ATO evidence-tampering scandal still unresolved
Discussion of the R v Clarke (No 9) ruling revealed that no clear accountability outcome has been delivered after the Supreme Court found an ATO officer had lied and tampered with evidence. Officials could not explain whether disciplinary action had been taken or why Commonwealth counsel changed part-way through the matter. The absence of a transparent response to judicial findings of misconduct highlights ongoing integrity failures across Commonwealth agencies and inadequate oversight from the Government.
Copyright and privacy reforms lacking
Officials conceded major gaps in the Government’s copyright and privacy reform agenda, including missing economic modelling, unresolved consultation issues and unclear enforcement arrangements. Critical details on how the reforms would operate, who would bear compliance burdens and how new exceptions would be policed remain undefined. These findings reinforce concerns that the reforms are being pushed ahead without a robust evidence base or practical implementation plan.
Slow, unclear delivery on urgent safeguards
ASIO, IGIS and the Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism were unable to produce clear timelines for the implementation of key safeguards the Government has described as urgent. Several oversight and protection mechanisms remain only partially built, with no indication of when full capability will be in place or how risks are being managed in the interim. The evidence revealed a pattern of slow, opaque progress on fundamental national security and social cohesion responsibilities.
Administrative justice system overwhelmed
The new Administrative Review Tribunal is already facing more than 112,000 matters, with median delays exceeding a year and significant member shortages. The Federal Circuit and Family Court confirmed ongoing bottlenecks in family matters, including child-safety related workloads and gaps in regional circuit support. Despite abolishing the AAT promising a simpler, faster system, the evidence shows the ART is struggling to meet its statutory duty to deliver quick and just review of government decisions.
ART overwhelmed by workload
The Administrative Review Tribunal has been overwhelmed with an explosion of applications to review student visa rejections and onshore protection claims. The ART does not have the members to keep up with the workload. They are overwhelmed. At the same time the number of people in Australia on bridging visas has blown out to over 400,000. This is not sustainable.
Asylum seeker bottleneck continues
There are over 100,000 onshore applicants for asylum who have had their application refused by the Department of Home Affairs. Approximately 47,000 are in the Administrative Review Tribunal and 15,000 in the courts. The vast majority will be unsuccessful. There are 27,000 who are unlawful non-citizens and have exhausted all appeal rights but are still in the country. Another 11 000 have bridging visas and are on the departure pathway. The system is not keeping up.
Government transparency on water dries up
The need to reinstate the cross-portfolio water day as part of Estimates is clear after the topic was again shelved during this week’s program of hearings, despite a recent report finding an additional $1.3 billion in taxpayer funds was required to meet the Government’s target to return 450 gigalitres of water to the Murray-Darling Basin. The findings came as part of the third review of the Water for the Environment Special Account (WESA), which also found that of the $331 million allocated to the Sustainable Communities Program (SCP) no funds had reached the community as at the end of September. “Water Day” as it was affectionately known provided an important opportunity to probe and understand complex issues within the water sector. Earlier this year, Labor and The Greens voted to abolish the day, instead having the subject absorbed into the already hectic ‘Environment and Communications’ hearings program.
WA’s infrastructure funding falls off a cliff
Figures revealed through questions asked by Senator O’Sullivan confirm the government hasn’t just delayed projects; it’s presiding over a collapse in funding. According to the answers given by Treasury, Commonwealth infrastructure payments to WA have been slashed from $4.299 billion in 2024-25 to just A$688 million by 2028-29, a plunge of around 84%. While Treasury noted the reduction was not related to any offsetting of WAs GST deal there is no other sufficient explanation in the reduction of infrastructure funding other than the WA Labor government has not put forward a compelling infrastructure pipeline other than Metronet. There is no plan, no allocated funding and no broader vision for major projects.
AUKUS is coming, but Canberra is still pointing fingers
With the first AUKUS rotation due in early 2027, Infrastructure and Defence are still pointing fingers over who’s responsible for assessing the feasibility of the Garden Island Highway extension in Rockingham, as well as upgrades to the Rockingham Road–Russell Road intersection next to the Henderson Defence Precinct. Officials admitted to Senator O’Sullivan they “still have to work out how the precinct is going to interlink”, despite the government announcing $2 million in funding for feasibility studies a year ago, studies that were supposed to take just ten months. With barely 12 months to go before the AUKUS rotation, and now a sharply reduced funding pipeline, it’s hard to see how even basic planning will be done in time, let alone construction.
Delays, secrecy and a stalled pipeline
Many long-standing road projects across WA, initiated under the previous government, remain stalled by both state and federal Labor. Senator O’Sullivan highlighted that the Kwinana Freeway widening project, announced conveniently during the March state election, bears all the hallmarks of pork-barreling. Despite public acknowledgment by the WA Deputy Premier that a funding letter exists, correspondence between the federal and state governments was withheld under the guise of “intrinsic sensitivity about state–Commonwealth negotiations.” This secrecy raises serious questions about whether taxpayer dollars are being used for political gain instead of funding genuine infrastructure priorities.
Biosecurity threat growing
Senator O’Sullivan used Estimates to press the government on the worsening Polyphagous Shot-Hole Borer outbreak, and the answers confirmed what local governments and industry have been saying for years. WA has been left to deal with a national biosecurity threat on its own. Despite all 30 Perth councils now under quarantine and experts warning the pest could decimate urban canopy, softwood plantations and native forests, officials admitted there is still no effective chemical treatment and early eradication windows have long closed. The Government failed to match the urgency of the outbreak with leadership, funding, or a coordinated national effort.
Real claims data in Veterans’ Affairs exposed
Despite Minister Keogh repeatedly claiming the claims backlog has been “cleared,” officials have now confirmed that his rhetoric refers only to the number of claims at a single point in time. The latest data shows more than 20,000 claims still sitting in the backlog. This aligns with what veterans have been telling us for months, many are still waiting more than a year for their claims to be processed, despite the Albanese Government’s ongoing assertions that the backlog has been resolved.
ENDS
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