Australia news LIVE: Israeli president arrives in Sydney as court challenge looms; Coalition unites again

Liberal senator Jane Hume has offered a stunning rebuke of her party’s direction and leadership in the face of shocking polling, saying “something’s got to give” before her party falls into electoral oblivion.

“The party room wants to support a strong leader, and we have wanted to support a strong leader from day one. This cannot be blamed on anyone else. It has to come back to the leadership that we are facing today. Now, whether it’s Sussan Ley or whether it’s David Littleproud, they are the leaders of our two great parties, and they have to reflect on themselves and on [their] leadership,” Hume told journalists at Parliament House in Canberra.

Her comments come after The Australian’s most recent Newspoll found the Coalition sitting at a record low primary vote of 18 per cent amid agitation from opposition defence spokesperson Angus Taylor for a spill against Ley’s leadership. Hume has been mooted as a potential deputy on Taylor’s leadership ticket.

“You know what I’m really tired of? Gallows humour. Because that’s all we’ve got left right now. That’s all we’ve got left. At some point, we need to put a foot forward and say, ‘How are we going to get ourselves out of this crisis, rather than just sitting in the black hole and complaining about it?’,” Hume said.

“I don’t know what it is, I don’t know what the solution is, and I don’t know who the solution is, but what I do know is that more of the same simply isn’t good enough. Unless we can step up and demonstrate who it is that we’re fighting for, what it is that we’re fighting for, and why we’re doing it, well, why would Australians listen to us? Why would they listen to us?

“My colleagues are saying that they are embarrassed. That’s the word that they’re using to me – that they’re embarrassed when they go home to their electorates. They’re embarrassed when they have to face their constituents because this isn’t who the Liberal Party is. It isn’t who the National Party is either. We have to do something different, and we have to do it soon because we are running out of time.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has arrived in Australia after landing at Sydney Airport this morning.

It marks the start of his visit, which will include stops in Canberra and Melbourne.

Herzog and his wife, Michal, were welcomed to Australia by Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon and his wife, Tal, as they stepped off their plane moments ago.

Deputy Liberal Leader Ted O’Brien has said “who knows” if a leadership spill will occur, as he seeks to return attention to holding the government to account after the Coalition reunified following its 17-day split on Sunday.

“Who knows whether or not there will be a challenge,” O’Brien told 2GB Sydney radio on Monday morning.

“Just last week I was fielding a lot of questions publicly about whether there would be a challenge, I can’t foretell the future, but I do believe that this week now we have the Coalition back, there has to be a focus on getting back to business, and that means talking about the Australian people, fighting for the Australian people, sticking to the issues, not talking about ourselves.”

It comes as allies of Liberal leadership hopeful Angus Taylor weigh a move against Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, as dire poll numbers continue to heap pressure on Ley.

A senior aide to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has resigned amid an uproar at the choice of Peter Mandelson as the nation’s ambassador to the US despite the former minister’s known friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In the latest move to rock the British government, Morgan McSweeney quit as the prime minister’s chief of staff and took the blame for advising his boss to appoint Mandelson to the prestigious post.

But the decision did not stop some Labour backbenchers from calling for Starmer to be replaced, highlighting the crisis of confidence in the leader and the turmoil within the governing party.

Read more from Europe correspondent David Crowe here.

The governing party of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has secured a more than two-thirds majority in Japan’s parliamentary election, Japanese media reports, citing preliminary results.

Takaichi, in a televised interview with public television network NHK, said that after the sweeping victory she was now ready to pursue policies that would represent a significant shift to the right for Japan.

NHK, citing results of vote counts, said Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, had alone secured 316 seats by early Monday, comfortably surpassing a 261-seat absolute majority in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament.

That marks a record since the party’s foundation in 1955 and surpasses the previous record of 300 seats won in 1986 by late prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.

Read more here.

AP

Good morning and welcome to our national news live blog for Monday, February 9. My name is Daniel Lo Surdo, and I’ll be helming our coverage this morning. Here’s what is making news today.

• Israeli President Isaac Herzog is expected to arrive in Sydney this morning, as demonstrators launch an urgent Supreme Court challenge against the “extraordinary” police powers invoked by the NSW government on Saturday. The challenge has been brought by the Palestine Action Group, which has argued that the government acted outside its legal powers in making the major event declaration for Herzog’s visit. The powers, which allow police to close off designated areas and to order people to leave an area, are typically used to manage crowds at sporting events.
• Liberal leadership hopeful Angus Taylor has backed the reunion of the Coalition on Sunday after a 17-day split, while his allies weigh a move against Opposition Leader Sussan Ley as early as this week. The Coalition reunited after Nationals leader David Littleproud agreed to a six-week suspension for the rebel Nationals who crossed the floor over hate crime laws introduced after the Bondi terror attack. Ley initially proposed a six-month suspension.
• Overseas, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is poised for a landslide election victory after securing more than a two-thirds majority in the nation’s parliamentary poll. In a televised address on Japanese TV, Takaichi said the result would embolden her pursuit of policies representing a shift to the right for Japan, while also seeking support from the opposition. Her Liberal Democratic Party is expected to secure 316 seats in the 465-member lower house, besting the 300-seat party record won in 1986.
• A senior aide to the UK prime minister has resigned amid an uproar against Peter Mandelson’s appointment as the nation’s ambassador to the US, despite the former minister’s known friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Morgan McSweeney quit as Starmer’s chief of staff as he shouldered the blame for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson to the post in December 2024. It continues the crisis of confidence facing Starmer, as some Labour Party backbenchers continue to call for his resignation.