Australia news LIVE: Hurricane Melissa makes landfall in Jamaica; Netanyahu orders ‘powerful attacks’ on Gaza as Hamas delays body handover

Staying with the opposition spokesman for housing and homelessness, Bragg also said this morning that the Coalition is still working on finalising a position on net zero, as the opposition grapples with fallout from increasing internal division, including Barnaby Joyce’s decision to sit out of partyroom meetings about net zero earlier this week.

Speaking to ABC’s News Breakfast this morning, Bragg said, “I think we’ll get there on net zero. I know there’s a lot of interest in it. I think ultimately there’s an ability there for the Coalition to do this much better than labor. Labor’s net zero has been a disaster ... I think we could do net zero better than Labor in terms of emissions and cost and environmental protection.”

“I know that Barnaby and other Nats have strong personal feelings, so you’ve just got to work it out.”

Opposition spokesman for housing and homelessness Andrew Bragg has slammed the Albanese government’s Housing Future Fund this morning and has labelled it “a disaster” following revelations that the housing program was going under audit.

“The government has wasted almost $60 billion on housing to build fewer houses than ever before, and so the $10 billion housing Future Fund has had two years of operation. It’s built a handful of houses. It’s been a disaster, and now it’s under audit from the Australian National Audit Office, and that’s because it is wasting taxpayer funds,” Bragg told ABC’s News Breakfast this morning.

Pressed on whether the opposition would put forward a social and affordable housing policy at the next election, he said there would definitely be a policy on homelessness, but that it won’t be the “main game” of its housing portfolio.

Opposition spokesman for housing and homelessness Andrew Bragg. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“Yes, definitely, there’ll be a policy on homelessness. There’ll be a policy on affordable housing and social housing. These are important areas, but it is not probably going to be the main game, because we need to build more houses. In Australia, we have a major housing supply problem. Housing supply has collapsed under this government.

“Under the last government, we were getting about 200,000 houses a year on average. That’s crashed down to 170,000 houses a year on average, despite the government wasting billions of dollars. So you’ve got to build more houses ... Now the Audit Office is going to look at how much taxpayer funds have been wasted. As I say, I’m very concerned,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the army to immediately carry out “powerful strikes” in Gaza, and Hamas responded by saying it would delay handing over the body of a hostage, putting new pressure on the tenuous US-brokered ceasefire.

The order from Netanyahu on Tuesday (Israeli time) follows heightened tensions, as Israel reported Hamas firing on its forces in southern Gaza and after Hamas returned a set of remains that Israel said belonged to a hostage recovered earlier in the war.

Hamas militants carry a white bag believed to contain a body, after retrieving it from a tunnel during a search for the remains of hostages in Hamad City, Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.Credit: AP

Palestinians watch as Egyptian machinery and workers search for the bodies of hostages in Hamad City.Credit: AP

Netanyahu called the return a “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement, which requires Hamas to return all Israeli hostage remains as soon as possible.

In another sign of the fragility of the ceasefire, Israeli troops were shot at in the southern city of Rafah on Tuesday and returned fire, according to an Israeli military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

AP

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has lambasted Opposition Leader Sussan Ley for her attack on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s leadership over his decision to wear a Joy Division band T-shirt five days ago.

Ley made a speech in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon to condemn the T-shirt, accusing him of “displaying the wrong values”.

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Joy Division’s name comes from the phrase used to describe groups of women kept as sexual slaves in concentration camps during World War II, and Ley argued the prime minister’s decision to wear it would exacerbate the pain of Jewish Australians already dealing with rising antisemitism.

O’Neil slammed Ley’s comments this morning on Seven’s Sunrise.

“I’ve seen the Coalition walk down some pretty remarkable dead ends since I’ve been in politics, but I really think this one takes the cake. I’m just so staggered.

“You know, this week, our government is introducing landmark reforms to bulk billing. We’re putting new contraceptives on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. We’re building more homes. We’re working to get energy costs down, and the Coalition is focused on a T-shirt that the prime minister is wearing. That is all you need to know about Australian politics right now, a government focused on the things that matter to Australia, the Coalition off on some weird frolic that makes no sense.”

Appearing alongside O’Neil was Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, who split from Ley on the issue, saying she was more concerned about the government taking “tough action” on antisemitism in Australia.

“Listening to Claire, you’d think that this government was taking tough action on homegrown antisemitism ... Look, there’s a lot to legitimately criticise the prime minister about trillion dollar debt, skyrocketing house prices and job losses in our heavy industrial sector wearing a T-shirt is not one of them ... So yeah, get on with acting on antisemitism,” McKenzie said.

The Matildas are playing their first match against England’s Lionesses since a crushing loss to the side at Sydney’s Accor Stadium during the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

The Matildas had made it through the quarter-final, knocking out an impressive French side after a gruelling match that ended in the longest penalty shootout of men’s or women’s World Cup soccer.

Ellie Carpenter of Australia is challenged by Aggie Beever-Jones of England during the Women’s International Friendly match between England and Australia at Pride Park in Derby, England. Credit: Getty Images

Sam Kerr was named captain of the side this morning.

The match kicked off at 6am at Derby’s Pride Park Stadium, England. Follow along with our live updates.

Hurricane Melissa has made landfall in Jamaica as a category 5 hurricane and has been labelled “the storm of the century” for the country.

It hit the coastline as one of the most powerful landfalls ever observed in the Atlantic, and is the strongest storm to hit the island since records were first kept 174 years ago.

The storm is expected to track directly across the island over the next several hours, unleashing catastrophic 300km/h winds, torrential rain, and a life-threatening storm surge.

It is the first time the island has ever faced a category 5 storm, and it has already claimed seven lives.

To follow along with our rolling coverage on Hurricane Melissa, you can read updates on our dedicated live blog here.

Good morning and welcome to our national news live blog for Wednesday, October 29. My name is Emily Kaine, and I’ll be helming our coverage for the first part of the day. Here’s what is making headlines this morning in Australia and around the world.

• Hurricane Melissa has made landfall in Jamaica as a category 5 hurricane and has been labelled ‘the storm of the century’ for the country. It hit the coastline as one of the most powerful landfalls ever observed in the Atlantic, and is the strongest storm to hit the island since records were first kept 174 years ago. It is the first time the island has ever faced a category 5 storm, and it has already claimed seven lives.

• The Matildas are currently playing their first match against England’s Lionesses since a crushing loss to the side at Sydney’s Accor Stadium during the 2023 Women’s World Cup. The Matildas had made it through the quarter-final, knocking out an impressive French side after a gruelling match that ended in the longest penalty shootout of men’s or women’s World Cup soccer.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the army to immediately carry out “powerful strikes” in Gaza, and Hamas responded by saying it would delay handing over the body of a hostage, putting new pressure on the tenuous US-brokered ceasefire. The order from Netanyahu on Tuesday (local time) follows heightened tensions, as Israel reported Hamas firing on its forces in southern Gaza and after Hamas returned a set of remains that Israel said belonged to a hostage recovered earlier in the war.