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ESSENTIALS
— Jim Chalmers confirms multibillion budget hole
— Firefighters break from Labor to boost One Nation in Victoria
— Governor-general wants more media literacy to combat incivility
DRIVING THE DAY
PHP NEEDS A FIX. WEBSITES NEED A PLAN.
A California research team using OpenAI has discovered a vulnerability in PHP, a protocol that covers 70% of the world’s websites. Patches exist — but it still has the potential to disrupt websites as they are applied.
Andrew Charlton, assistant minister for science, technology and the digital economy, told News24 on Thursday “because of that vulnerability, it’s prudent we take precautions with government websites and they will be back up and running once that vulnerability is cleared. … This is a situation that will, however, affect many Australians.”
Charlton told POLITICO “we’re providing advice to Australian companies and working to address vulnerabilities in the public sector.”
Home Affairs told us “some” Australian government agencies took their websites or some of their functions down on Oct. 21 to apply the patch — Services Australia and Finance were among those. The Australian Signals Directorate also had to apply the “required remediation” to its websites.
The government’s content management system — GovCMS — wasn’t affected, Infrastructure told us, while the Tax Office also wasn’t affected by any vulnerabilities.
As of 6:00 p.m. Thursday, ASD wasn’t aware of any successful exploitation in Australia.
Home Affairs said government agencies had moved swiftly to respond to the vulnerability, and that does seem to be the case. So far, this looks to be a reminder that the threat environment has changed online just as it has in the real world.
Yes, but: The CEO of Cloudflare, an internet services company that is widely used by websites to block cyberattacks, said in a post on X that it’s seen “millions” of “attempts to exploit” the flaw.
What’s next: There’s always more to do on cybersecurity. The review prompted by the OpenAI breach is likely to find more vulnerabilities in government networks, but how much of that is released — and when — is still up in the air.
THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW
New Window WHAT KEEPS JIM CHALMERS UP AT NIGHT
The treasurer spoke to Amanda Copp for the latest POLITICO “Canberra Playbook Podcast,” telling her: “The pressures on people right now are very substantial and obviously that keeps me awake at night.”
Listen to the podcast. | Read the full transcript.
“DEFINITELY BILLIONS” — CHALMERS ESTIMATED BOND YIELD BUDGET HOLE
Chalmers confirmed rising bond yields will blow a multibillion-dollar hole in the budget, as the cost of servicing government debt spikes around the world.
He said higher borrowing rates will cost Australia “definitely billions. How many billions remains to be seen.”
One third-party estimate puts the cost at $6 billion over 4 years. “It’s one of the big pressures on the budget,” Chalmers said.
MEET OUR NEW CHIEF ECONOMIC DIPLOMAT
This month the treasurer has been to Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok, plugging Australia as a financial safe harbor, meeting investors and fellow finance ministers at APEC, IMF, World Bank and G20 meetings. His takeaway: “In lots of ways we’re hostage to decisions taken in D.C. or Tehran or in Eastern Europe,” but “Australia is increasingly seen as a really reliable place in a world full of risk.”
The overseas sales roadshow is part of a broader shift in the treasurer’s job description, which Chalmers said is increasingly about “economic diplomacy. There’s a much bigger focus on the international part of the job than there might have been a few decades ago.”
CHALMERS ACCUSES OPPOSITION PARTIES OF WANTING HIGHER INFLATION FOR POLITICAL GAIN
He didn’t name Tim Wilson and Barnaby Joyce directly but, speaking about his political opponents, the message was clear: “They desperately want confidence to be low. They desperately want inflation to be high.”
“Their goal here is to turn their talking down the economy and all of their endless negativity into a self fulfilling prophecy,” Chalmers said. “They would prefer the pressures on people to be worse, not better, because they see that really as the only path back to office.”
Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson rejected the charge, telling Playbook that Chalmers is living in “fantasy land” and that “he needs to be reminded of the old rule of finger-pointing. One finger might be pointing externally, but three fingers are pointing back at you: Your active inflation agenda, your higher interest rates and higher prices at the supermarket.”
The treasurer picked his predecessor Josh Frydenberg as a colleague he got along with.
Chalmers pines for the Hawke-Keating era: “People used to take a very dim view of those who went out of their way to talk down the Australian economy,” he said. (Aside from, er, that Banana Republic segue of Keating’s in 1986.)
Chalmers refused to be drawn on his mistakes: “I’m reluctant to kind of go through four and a half years and give you a sense of what I think we’ve done perfectly and where we could have done better. But I do acknowledge that from time to time you can explain things better, you can consult more,” he said.
Albo’s coming up roses: “Some days we speak multiple times a day,” Chalmers said.
BUSINESS INVESTMENT UP, BONDS LESS ROSY
Chalmers is in Sydney today addressing the Citi A50 Australian Economic Forum, the big jamboree for Australia’s AU$4.8 trillion super sector, attended by chief executives and Australia’s consul-general in New York, Heather Ridout.
In advance excerpts of his speech, Chalmers gives a little preview of the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (due December) which he says will show “higher interest rates and higher inflation are likely to mean softer growth and slightly higher unemployment.”
On the plus side: The outlook right now includes “a very substantial upgrade for business investment,” Chalmers says. “Business investment this year could more than double compared to the Budget forecast in May, up from 2.5% to over 5%. Last year’s outlook was also revised up from 4% to 7.4%. That’s an extra $11.7 billion last year alone.”
Sounds like the investment boom from the energy transition and data centers. Chalmers summarizes his recent trips to Japan, Bangkok for the IMF/World Bank and G20 Finance Ministers meetings, and Hong Kong for the APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting.
“The major focus was on oil prices and energy security, bond yields and borrowing costs, and capital flows,” he said. “I heard the same message over and over: In a world of ratcheting risk, Australia is more and more reliable.”
STATE OF THE NATION
HAINES OFFICE TO REOPEN NEXT WEEK
Staff for the stricken MP Helen Haines, who remains in a critical condition in the hospital after having both legs amputated, are working to reopen her Wangaratta office.
“It is important to us to keep doing our jobs — for Helen and for the people of Indi. That looks a little different right now,” Haines’ chief of staff Kaz Rourke said in a statement. “Helen is adored by her team. She is a remarkable leader, a truly wonderful boss and someone we all care about deeply.”
Staff were present during the attack: Most of Haines’ staff were in the nearby office when she was attacked on Monday afternoon, and some were involved in providing her care immediately afterwards.
“This has been deeply traumatic for the team. We are receiving a great deal of support and my priority right now is making sure Helen’s staff are as okay as they can be,” Rourke said. “I’m so very proud of them and know Helen would be too.”
PM SHIFTS ON “DIRT SHEET”: The prime minister insisted a so-called “dirt sheet” on Haines was simply a list of funding requests Haines pushed for in her electorate. “[It] shows that people of integrity stand up for their electorate,” Anthony Albanese told the ABC yesterday. “No personal criticism of Helen.”
Yes, but: At the time, Labor sources were describing Haines’ criticism of the Marrickville Golf Club funds as hypocritical. Back then, one senior Labor source told Playbook: “If our opponents, independent or otherwise, want to rip money away from community organizations while at the same time advocating for millions of dollars for ski resorts, pony clubs and water slides, then that’s a matter for them.”
What they’re saying: David Pocock told The Australian that “trying to explain this away rather than acknowledging what happened, taking responsibility and apologising is not good enough.”
What we’re saying: News24 is over-egging the situation with its description of the file as “gutter tactics.” But it wasn’t sent out as a love letter to Haines. It was sent as a tactic to deflect heat from the Marrickville Golf Club funding drama, and the government should be honest about that.
KPMG IN CONTRACT BAN EXTENSION — AND ASIC’S SIGHTS
The Australian government has extended a ban on awarding contracts to KPMG until March, after an independent review found the professional services firm still needed to prove it had meaningfully reformed after allegations it misused confidential client information to bid for work.
The extension will be a significant financial hit to the firm, which earned AU$207.1 million, or 9.5% of its total revenue, from Commonwealth work in the 2025-26 financial year.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission Chair Sarah Court told the Walkley ING Business Lunch on Thursday the regulator has “multiple lines of inquiry in relation to the KPMG allegations.”
Court said ASIC will seek more powers to crack down on the big four audit firms through changes to the law after a consultation being conducted by Treasury, warning of a “gaping regulatory hole in relation to audit firms.”
Read Miriam Webber and Paul Karp’s story on changes coming for the audit sector.
WHO’S NEXT ON THE MENU FOR ASIC
In a speech at the lunch and Q&A with the ABC’s Jacob Greber, Court also nominated two other key priorities for the regulator: private credit and artificial intelligence.
On private credit, Court said “as the sector grows, failures of governance or transparency have the potential to affect an increasing number of investors. … It’s fair to say we are now seeing signs of some stress in some parts of that sector.” Quite an understatement given the travails of the Bathla Group!
Problems in the sector include “weaknesses in governance, transparency, valuation practices and conflict management in some parts of the market,” she said.
On AI, Court said it could improve efficiency but “without adequate governance we are concerned it may expose consumers and markets to new forms of harm. … Firms remain fully accountable for meeting their obligations, regardless of the technology they use.”
“We’re going to look closely at how the banks are deploying AI in customer-facing services, and decision making that affects customers … and the potential for AI to facilitate market manipulation including through deep fakes and misinformation.”
SPOTTED: The Sydney Morning Herald’s Kate McClymont; the ABC’s Michael Janda and Angus Grigg; the Australian Financial Review’s Kylar Loussikian, Julia Feder, Anne Hyland, Edmund Tadros, Angira Bharadwaj and Mark Di Stefano; The Australian’s Matt Cranston; the AICD’s Narelle Hooper; commentator Janine Perrett; SBS’s Ricardo Gonçalves; and Guardian Australia’s Marni Cordell.
NOMINATED: In addition to last week’s Walkley finalists, nominees for the business Walkley category were announced on Thursday. These were: Ninefax’s Nick McKenzie, Cameron Houston, Garry McNab, for “The fall of a security giant"; ABC’s Daniel Mercer, Neil Chenoweth, Alex Lim, and Kit Mochan, for “Shell Game: How Australian gas giants use Singapore to reduce taxes"; and the Australian Financial Review’s Edmund Tadros and Hannah Wootton for their KPMG audit leak stories.
GOVERNOR-GENERAL SAYS ELEVATE MEDIA LITERACY TO COMBAT INCIVILITY
Fresh from her turn as supporter-in-chief at Haines’ side at Alfred Hospital on Wednesday afternoon, Governor-General Sam Mostyn was back at Admiralty House on Thursday for interviews with ABC, SBS and … Squiz Kids.
Of all the media outlets at her disposal, why a kids’ podcast? Bryce Corbett, director of Newshounds by “Squiz Kids,” tells Playbook that Mostyn has been a longtime supporter of kids media literacy education — because of how it can help arrest the decline in civility in Australian politics.
In this episode of Squiz Kids she talk about the Haines’ graciousness, and why she would love to see other states follow the lead of SA Premier Peter Malinauskas, who committed $2.6 million to roll out Newshounds to every school in his state.
Why does it matter to Canberra? There’s no federal funding for the program, though Anika Wells, Jim Chalmers, Jason Clare and Michelle Rowland are among ministers who’ve taken part in Newshounds activities in local schools.
Corbett said: “The social media ban for under-16s, the Digital Duty of Care legislation and the mooted National Media Literacy strategy are all excellent initiatives. But they need to be underpinned with a nationwide education effort,” starting now. “As well-intentioned as we are at Squiz Media: we can’t keep doing it for free!”
BY THE NUMBERS
AU$581,000: The amount Save the Children had raised by late Thursday evening (since Wednesday evening), when Phil Haines urged Australians to donate to the charity in his wife’s honor. The sum has been rapidly expanding.
16%: The number of Australians who say encouraging or using violence is “definitely” or “probably” justified in political discourse, according to a 2024 McKinnon survey on polarization.
33%: The number of Gen Z Australians who agree with that statement, compared to just 3% of baby boomers.
PARTY ROOM
FIREFIGHTERS UNION BOOSTS ONE NATION IN ‘PUT LABOR LAST’ CAMPAIGN
The United Firefighters Union is urging Victorian voters to put the Labor government led by Ben Carroll last at the Nov. 28 poll, in a major boost for both its right-wing rivals, the Coalition opposition and One Nation.
UFU Victorian Branch Secretary Peter Marshall told POLITICO the campaign will involve a “significant” advertising spend of hundreds of thousands of Australian dollars and firefighters handing out material at polling booths on election day. The union will also consider disaffiliation from Vic Labor.
In a statement released on Thursday, the UFU said it is not yet endorsing any specific alternative party but “will say more once those parties have announced their own policies.” Marshall said the union had approached all parties, and of the responses it received, “One Nation’s is the most detailed and profound.”
Marshall suggested this is likely to mean support for One Nation, challenging Labor in its regional city seats and outer suburban Melbourne seats, and the left-wing Greens. Read the full story.
ANGUS TAYLOR SHORT CIRCUITS ON AI
HOW WILL THE LIBERALS PROTECT FROM AI-DRIVEN JOB LOSSES?: “Having a strong economy,” Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said yesterday.
OK, but anything more specific?: “A strong economy is the way.”
Is that it?: “We need to ensure that Australians have access to the good work they want. … The answer to this — it’s a strong economy.”
CANBERRA MEETS WORLD
FINLAND’S DEFENSE MINISTER DOWN UNDER
MIDDLE POWERS UNITE: Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen is in town warning Western values are “going backwards if we don’t now step up.”
Speaking at the Road to Schuman Security and Defence Forum in parliament’s theatrette yesterday, Häkkänen declared the post-Cold War era over and asked: “Are we really ready?”
“Russia is an acute security challenge for Europeans. China is the bigger and longer-term challenge for the whole global order,” he said.
Lessons from history: What can the Indo-Pacific learn from Europe’s experience as it weighs the economic benefits of China’s rise against the security threat?
“Russia started to do politics with energy, trade, anything to integrate Europeans to the Russian economy. Europeans thought that we were integrating Russia into a democratic free world. That was the opposite,” Häkkänen said. “Russia used all the energy revenues and income from Europe to build their military power.”
Is this Trump-Zelenskyy break-up for real?: Häkkänen wouldn’t answer that question directly, but said: “We have to keep the U.S. on board.”
SPOTTED: Labor MP David Smith, Finnish Ambassador Arto Haapea, Irish Ambassador Fiona Flood, head of the ANU’s National Security College Rory Medcalf, defense and maritime security expert Jennifer Parker.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
EXCLUSIVE — THIEL BREAKS AWAY: Tech billionaire Peter Thiel does not support the Trump administration’s war in Iran, worries that the next president could be the Antichrist and doesn’t think an “autistic” Israel could be controlling the U.S., as conspiracy theorists claim, because it’s “clueless” according to new private recordings obtained by Calder McHugh.
Catch up: Thiel’s latest comments were part of a closed-door Antichrist lecture series delivered in Nashville between Sept. 28 and Oct. 19. Decoded by POLITICO previously reported exclusively on the first two Thiel lectures.
Thiel’s remarks are a direct break with the Trump administration. Thiel also discussed meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early 2024, after the Oct. 7 attack, where he said he asked the leader about his plans in Gaza. Thiel said Netanyahu told him, “I can’t just Dresdenize it,” referring to the scorched-earth Allied bombing of the German city of Dresden toward the end of World War II.
“I don’t think there is some sort of Israeli conspiracy that controls the U.S. Israel is too autistic, it’s too clueless,” he said to audience laughter.
So who, exactly, is the Antichrist? “I don’t think Trump is the Antichrist,” he said. “I do worry that if we get it wrong, he could be the last katechon” — a theological figure that could be a bulwark against the Antichrist coming to power, delaying their ascent. By that, he means, the Antichrist could be elected in 2028.
Back to regular programming…
AGENDA ASSISTANT
Defence Minister Richard Marles is speaking at an Australian British Chamber of Commerce event about Victoria’s role in the nation’s defense and national security.
Assistant Minister for Mental Health Emma McBride will speak at the Medicines Management 2026 conference in Brisbane.
The Courier-Mail will host its Future Brisbane 2026 event, with Premier David Crisafulli.
LOCAL CANBERRA
CAPITAL FILM FESTIVAL: Wraps up this weekend but tickets are still available.
NARA CANDLE FESTIVAL: See 2,000 illuminated as part of a celebration of Japanese culture at the Nara Peace Park. The opening ceremony is at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday.
WOMEN’S RUGBY: Watch the Wallaroos vs. Scotland this evening at 7:30 p.m. in Bruce.
LIFE ON THE ROAD: The Canberra Caravan Lifestyle Expo begins at Exhibition Park this morning and runs through Sunday afternoon.
100 YEARS OF CANBERRA TIME EXHIBITION: At Canberra Museum and Gallery.
COMMUNITY CORNER
ICYMI: Nationals Sen. Ross Cadell has hired former NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro to help “develop policy and engage in the lead-up to the next election.” News.com.au reported it in June, but Playbook was still surprised to spot the former NSW Nationals leader, building and pest inspector, timber window and door specialist and fleeting NY trade commissioner wandering the halls of Parliament.
THE ABCs OF BRAVERY: Brisbane-based ABC reporter Will Murray swam into floodwater alongside Daniel Hainey to rescue a driver trapped in his sinking car yesterday.
MOVES AND APPOINTMENTS
Paul O’Hagan is now senior political and economic adviser at United States Consulate General in Melbourne.
BIRTHDAYS
TODAY: Former Liberal Assistant Minister David Fawcett.
SATURDAY:
Ex-Files: Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and former Hawke and Keating era minister Neal Blewett
Music-lovers: Channel Ten political reporter Chloe Bouras is off to see Hilary Duff to celebrate, and Drake turns 40.
SUNDAY: WA Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson, Mauritius President Dharam Gokhool, superstar Katy Perry.