Federal politics live: Government announces new powers to crack down on crypto ATMs

Newly-appointed Shadow Attorney-General Andrew Wallace was put under the microscope this morning as the Coalition continues to call for more to be done amid an uptick of crime in Victoria. 

Wallace travelled to Melbourne alongside Opposition Leader Sussan Ley on Wednesday, where the held a child safety roundtable and visited programs dealing with at-risk youth and reoffenders.

But Wallace, who was appointed to the role just on Monday, was unable to outline how the federal Coalition would respond if they were in charge when asked repeatedly asked on ABC Radio National Breakfast. 

“Where you have people who are victims of crime and they are Australians and where we see faults and flaws that are as significant as what we’re seeing in Victoria, it’s important that we call them out,” he said.

Asked if the opposition has a policy on youth crime right now, Wallace pointed to a push to introduce mandatory minimum sentencing for child exploitation offences.

Pressed again on the Coalition’s policy, Wallace said criminal law was in “predominantly the purview of the states and territories” and the opposition would “develop laws in the lead up too the next election”.

 “We’re not the government in Victoria. The government of Victoria has the predominate responsibility.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has declined to say whether she supports net zero as she insisted she wouldn’t put a deadline on the party’s policy review process.

The Coalition is currently reviewing its energy policy, including its commitment to lower emissions to net zero by 2050. Ley said she wanted that process, run by shadow minister Dan Tehan, to be “done well”.

“I won’t give you dates and I won’t forecast the landing point on that policy,” she said.

Asked if she supported net zero by 2050 and whether she could lead a party that wasn’t committed to the target, Ley responded: 

“I talked about our energy policy. I tell you what I don’t support, the 2035 targets the government recently released.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley stopped by ABC News Breakfast this morning, where she reiterated her concern about crime rates in Victoria.

Ley found herself in a war of words with state premier, Jacinta Allan, on Wednesday after she seized on statistics that showed criminal offenses in Victoria have spiked 15.7 per cent in the year to mid-2025.

She questioned whether Allan had asked for federal assistance and suggested Melbourne was now the “crime capital” of Australia.

“There is always an opportunity for premiers to ask prime ministers for help. We offered support, particularly with early intervention and youth programs, to address the while of the crisis.

“The premier, I don’t know if she’s asked Anthony Albanese for help. I know we’ve got a Labor government in Victoria, a Labor government in Canberra, and a crime crisis on the streets of Melbourne.

“We can’t accept that this is good enough. The state opposition leader Brad Battin has a $100 million community safety package on the table. I think the premier and the prime minister need to treat this matter with urgency.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan has rejected suggestion he’s behind a call for seven disenfranchised Liberals to switch sides and hand his party the balance of power within the Coalition.

The idea was credited to the backbencher in a report in The Australian this morning. The Liberals hold 28 seats in the lower house to the Nationals 15. If seven MPs switched sides, the Nationals would hold 22 seats to the Liberals 21.

“I’m not actively pursuing it, so it’s a matter for those Liberals,” he told Sky News.

“But I can do maths as well as anybody else. Those numbers check out. If seven Liberals came to the National Party, the National Party would be His Majesty’s opposition.

“I’ve said since the election that it would make sense for the Nationals Party to take on a bigger share of the load of winning back government.”

Canavan said he’d love to have more people join the Nationals but he was “not making any direct overtures”.

“That’s a matter for them,” he said.

A day after a senior Liberal called on the party to shelve talks of a split a report has shed shed some light on the disaffected chatter taking place within the Coalition.

A report in The Australia suggested Liberals frustrated by climate and energy policy are aware it would only take seven MPs to switch allegiances to the Nationals to give the junior partner the balance of power within the Coalition.

It comes as other MPs raise the possibility of merging the two parties into one federal body, as happened in the Queensland division in 2008, or the formation of a new party altogether.

But senior Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie doesn’t think that would be a good idea.

“Look it’s true, seven is the magic number. I could be, I could be the opposition leader. But it’s not fantasy football,” she told Nine.

McKenzie said she understood that after the election drubbing the Liberals experienced in May, it was only natural some were wanting to “redefine the Menzion legacy for modern Australia”.

“I think the idea that there’s a federal LNP on the way isn’t the answer,” she said.

That being said, the senator said she’d welcome anyone who shared the Nationals views into the fold “with open arms” but she wanted the Liberals to be successful.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke will also unpack the risks cryptocurrency ATMs pose, in his National Press Club speech later today.

If you have no idea what they are, basically, they’re ATMs that enable people to convert cash into cryptocurrency. But they’re being used for scams and fraud, too.

Burke said there are “significant money laundering, terrorism financing and serious crime risks associated with crypto ATMs” and the number of them are quickly rising.

“Australia has the highest number of CATMs in the region, and the third highest in the world,” he said.

So, financial crimes agency AUSTRAC will get new powers to target and restrict crypto ATMs, but the government is yet to reveal much more detail than that.

Cracking down on criminals who use the bank accounts of international students to launder money, is set to be a key feature of a speech by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke in Canberra today.

At the National Press Club, he’s expected to unveil greater powers for banks to check if international students are still living in Australia by giving them ongoing access to someone’s visa information.

Why? Because the government’s warning criminals are renting and buying legitimate bank accounts from international students and other visa holders as an avenue for money laundering.

Essentially, criminals pay students to use their account for transferring stolen money, making them money mules, sometimes unknowingly.

“It’s about equipping banks with the right information to help them manage risk and prevent their accounts falling into the hands of criminals,” Burke said in a statement ahead of the speech.

It’s a problem that’s becoming more common, prompting federal police earlier this year to warn students about the practice that is sometimes advertised as a “side hustle job.”

“Most of the targets are financially vulnerable, looking for part-time or casual employment, speak English as a second language, and have limited knowledge of Australian laws,” the AFP said in March.

Welcome to our federal politics live blog! I’m Courtney Gould and I’ll be guiding you through the morning.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke will use a speech at the National Press Club today to unveil greater powers to crackdown on crypto ATMs used for money laundering.

The sun is up and so am I, so grab a coffee and let’s just dive straight into the day.

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