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ESSENTIALS

• One Nation is framing our next big debates (echoes of Trump)
• The major parties are chalking up legislative wins (echoes of Biden)
• Sen. James Paterson swings big in our Playbook Interview
• Can Canberra find an Australian way on AI and data centers?

DRIVING THE DAY

One Nation is setting the terms for the next round of polarizing debates, as the major parties close in on major legislative achievements: gambling ad reform and NDIS cost reform.

Consider this: Pauline Hanson’s dig at Labor’s rigid superannuation access rules, and a claim that Labor plans to raid super funds, has created endless on-air and coffee line chat — and a wedge into housing policy debates. Razor-sharp communications are getting the sort of cut-through Tim Wilson has been dreaming of on those two issues.

Barnaby Joyce then used a Radio National interview Tuesday to cast all government politicians as liars and used his assertion as proof that voters will be fleeced in new ways by Labor.

Joyce was already dominating the attention of non-Canberrans at that point by promising to cut cigarette packet prices from $46 to $21. That tees up a debate on the massive unintended consequences of government tobacco policy: a huge illegal market.

To sideline the Coalition, Labor made One Nation the focus of its House Question Time on Monday, and then Tyron Whitten teamed up with the Coalition in Senate Question Time to pile onto Labor’s handling of veterans.

Whether it was Labor and Liberal squeezed on the airwaves, the Coalition squeezed in the chamber, or the Nationals just forgotten about: One Nation has been hogging the attention and and deciding what comes next.

LABOR’S PR DISASTER: With gambling and NDIS legislation now agreed, that opens the way for more Coalition and One Nation attacks on Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh.

Taylor’s tactics team is this morning focusing on how to press that advantage against Labor.

Keogh’s vulnerability here: After Keogh initially argued he didn’t have time to meet visiting veterans angry that Labor’s new price cap on health support ($5,000 annually) discriminated against those with long travel distances for care, he did meet them. But former pilot Tim Nelson said of the eventual meeting: “He walked into the room, refused to shake our hand, sat down with his arms crossed and rolled his eyes.” Keogh rejected that characterization.

THREE CHEERS: Anthony Albanese has a trio of problems off his plate, after his first leader-to-leader negotiations with Angus Taylor. NDIS has passed the Senate, and contentious gambling reforms and news media bargaining updates will pass the Senate by tonight with support from the Coalition. Press Gallery veteran Michelle Grattan has you covered.

GOOD ENOUGH: Liberal MP Simon Kennedy pushed his party to go further on restricting gambling ads but is satisfied with the dealmaking. “Is it perfect? No. Is it far better than what the PM wanted three weeks ago? Yes,” he told Playbook.

Kennedy said the Coalition and Greens forcing a Senate inquiry, which heard gambling companies were offering cocaine and sex workers as inducements, was key. “The PM capitulated to the gambling lobby, but misread the room and had to capitulate to the Australian public,” Kennedy said.

LESS TO GIVE: Labor didn’t have to bend as much for a win on its NDIS reforms, fast-tracking a fix to its budget’s so-called widow’s tax — which it was going to do anyway. “It took me a millisecond to say: ‘Yup, we’re up for that’,” the PM said. Big win for Jenny McAllister.

WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING ON IMMIGRATION? The Cabinet is silent. The Minister’s office only wants to give off-record non-answers. And it wasn’t raised in Labor caucus, according to our sources in the room.

What if? A figure from One Nation or the Coalition self-destructs on immigration because Labor is leaving them the space to do it this week? It worked last week: Sen. Andrew Bragg blew up his colleagues at the Press Club, and we all would have paid much less attention if Tony Burke had just given his own Press Club speech on the topic, as planned.

BY THE NUMBERS

AUSTRALIA’S ILLEGAL TOBACCO MARKET 

Pauline Hanson wants cheaper legal cigarettes to stamp out black market trade, and she upped the ante this week, moving from a 50 percent excise cut to a 75 percent cut.

PUFF SITUATION: More than 50 percent of nicotine consumed in Australia is now illegal, and the black market is burning a $3.3 billion hole in tax revenue every year. Everyone (except Labor) agrees we’re in our own Prohibition-era. As Barnaby put it to ABC: “If you keep on putting up the price of cigarettes, you’re gonna get more mafia.”

The illegal market is now so entrenched, a simple price cut might not nudge people back to legal safety. After all, no one’s come for them so far.

Fiddling while your primary vote burns: While One Nation throws out new numbers at the drop of a press release, the Coalition is doing a monthslong policy review. A separate Senate inquiry will hand down its report on Aug. 28.

I said it first: The Coalition’s point person on tobacco, Mary Aldred, told Playbook it’s her idea. “I’ll always welcome new support for my long-term calls on sharp cuts.”

THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW

JAMES PATERSON — SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENSE

Do you feel Senate Estimates is working institutionally?

So many officials either came ill-prepared to answer questions [in July] — which I find very hard to believe — or would deliberately try not to answer questions. I have zero tolerance for that.

If they continually obstruct the Senate’s scrutiny function, then it will become a very unpleasant, uncomfortable environment for everyone.

Pat Conroy says AUKUS is on track and that Britain is scaling up. The House of Commons is worried. Which assessments do you trust? 

We should be optimistic and positive, but realistic. What I don’t want to see is fatalism. These are solvable problems. We’ve got time to get this right: as long as we are honest and realistic about it now.

The U.K. is designing and then building its own AUKUS-class subs before we build ours, so the risk in the project is front-loaded onto them.

They have a very powerful incentive to get this right because it’s their own national security. The prime minister has appointed John Healey — the former defense secretary — as the chancellor. That shows to me that they’re putting defense and national security at the heart of their economic agenda.

What contingencies do we need to be thinking about?

Two windows of capability gaps: Between the Collins-class submarines and the Virginia-class submarines in the early 2030s; between Virginias and SSN AUKUS [in the early 2040s].

For the first capability gap we really need to investigate alternatives. I put the B-21 stealth bomber on the agenda for examination.

We also don’t know what capabilities drones will have in 15 years. 

That’s right. It’s rapidly evolving, even in the course of weeks and months.

If you became defense minister, is there anything you’d want to subject to an independent review? Anything now?

The new statutory defense committee which has been established; I think the core business of that community should be review of delivery of AUKUS.

Where do you see the most promise in Australia’s defense industries? 

[AUKUS] Pillar 2 is a military technology free trade agreement. It is supposed to get rid of, if not all, then at least most of the barriers to intellectual property, capital and humans moving between the three AUKUS nations. If Australia and the United States and the U.K. can’t work together in a single spot on this, then no other group of countries in the world can.

The government is working to be the Pacific’s partner of choice. Do you have any red lines or limits? 

[Solomon Islands] Prime Minister Wale, in his [push for a] Pacific-wide multilateral agreement on security and policing, I think if that window of opportunity opens, we must seize it.

We need to remember that for Australia’s national interest to succeed we have to succeed in blocking the PRC from establishing military or policing arrangements every time they try. For the PRC’s national interest to succeed, they only have to succeed once.

Read the full interview with Paterson here.

CANBERRA MEETS WORLD

AI, THE AUSTRALIAN WAY

Canberra doesn’t want to be your AI landlord, Ryan Heath writes in a piece also featured today in POLITICO Forecast.

Instead, it’s trying to pull off a feat that’s eluding national and local governments around the world: Attract AI investment, but on its own terms.

That includes investors paying their own way on energy, training the locals, providing compute access and not hogging all the very precious water.

To avoid the nasty data center debate unfolding in the United States, the vibe is: move quickly while resisting the idea that speed should settle every question.

Ahead of 2027 legislation this middle road has an overarching goal: protect household electricity prices, and bring Australia into more of the AI supply chain.

The hope is that social license buys more time to deal with the labor market disruptions that AI use accelerates.

Nicolette Boele’s research among 750 constituents found “over 80 per cent were not confident the government will effectively regulate data centers.” The biggest concerns: water and energy impacts.

South Australia’s Labor premier, Peter Malinauskas, is alert to the danger: that’s why he announced a Royal Commission into the impacts of AI, Aug. 11.

Andrew Charlton, Albo’s AI whisperer, wants more than data centers, and is taking lessons from Australia’s mining boom missed opportunities.

The TL;DR: Unlike in mining, we don’t own a choke point. And if we just supply the land, power and buildings while foreign firms retain ownership of the intellectual property, models and customer relationships, much of the value will flow offshore.

As Charlton put it in an ANU speech Aug. 18: “Unless we take timely action, Australia is on course to be a large and permanent importer of intelligence.”

TOKYO-CANBERRA DEAL: Japan is set to test hypersonic missiles and other advanced weapons on Australian soil as both nations push to increase military cooperation, amid China competitive threat, reported Andrew Greene.

QUESTION TIME

RED CARD: Incensed by the gambling deal, Greens Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young lost her questions in QT. Hanson-Young asked Penny Wong what her late colleague Peta Murphy would say about the deal — Murphy chaired an inquiry calling for a total gambling ad ban.

Clippable content: Hanson-Young’s question violated Senate rules, but with politics now dominated by viral moments, she got what she came for.

QUESTION WITHOUT NOTICE: The Hanson-Young incident brings into focus an important question: What should QT be for?

Hanson-Young asked a pertinent question, and was penalized for it. That sits in a world where fake questions that we euphemistically call Dorothy Dixers are allowed. Ministers routinely get away with dodging reasonable questions, and others think it’s OK to deliver outbursts designed with the intention of getting kicked out.

That’s a form of QT which isn’t going to survive contact with an angry public that’s already telling politicians the two-party system is over.

Does QT need reform to avoid being written out of the national conversation?

Send us your thoughts: WhatsApp on 0494 380 487 or email canberraplaybook@politico.com.

Welcome to Day 2 of Canberra Playbook

ESSENTIALS

• Party room meetings will progress the debate on gambling reform, while Taylor awaits a response on his NDIS ultimatum to the PM.
• Pat Conroy calls bullshit on AUKUS myths.
• The secessionist movement Canberra forgot to pay attention to.

DRIVING THE DAY

LETTERS AND LEVERAGE: Labor and the Coalition are poised to reach a deal on gambling reforms today after Communications Minister Anika Wells introduced an opt-out register for online advertising, the ABC reports. A list of amendments will be put to the full caucus and party room meetings this morning for final approval.

Listening and preempting: “The government has listened carefully to the evidence presented during the recent Senate inquiry,” Wells said, ahead of the committee actually dropping its report. Technically the Labor-strong committee recommended the reforms pass, but pages of extra comments from the Greens and independent Sen. David Pocock expressed dissent, while the Coalition called for amendments.

“The government’s reforms respond to these concerns by introducing new restrictions on inducement-based marketing and establishing the Wagering Advertising Opt-out Register, which will provide Australians with a ‘one-stop shop’ to opt out of seeing wagering advertising on online platforms,” Wells said.

OK, JANE AUSTEN: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor aren’t just holding talks, they’re now exchanging letters. Taylor has written to Albanese to say the Coalition won’t support the government’s NDIS amendments until slated tax concessions for widows and divorcees are passed, The Australian reported.

Given the “widow tax” amendment is open for public consultation until Aug. 21, no deal there means no NDIS deal this week. As we went to bed, the Treasurer wasn’t committing to a deal on the “widow tax.”

Potential loser: Jenny McAllister, who had high hopes that the NDIS legislation would pass this week.

A message from Amazon:

Thousands of businesses in Australia sell on Amazon. Like Freshwater Farm, a family-run business on the NSW Mid-North Coast. After buying the farm, Allan Hutcherson and his family revived its native plants and turned the oils and honey into premium body care. Already well known in Australia, they wanted to make a splash overseas — and Amazon helped them reach customers in the US, where repeat customers have nearly doubled. Learn more about how businesses in Australia grow on Amazon.

THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW

PAT CONROY, MINISTER FOR DEFENSE INDUSTRIES AND PACIFIC ISLAND AFFAIRS

Finn McHugh interviewed Conroy in his Canberra ministerial office.

Explain the Pacific’s importance to national security for the average Australian.

We are in a permanent state of contest with other countries in the region.

What’s the deeper point of rugby league diplomacy?

This is the first time in the history of the world a country’s used sporting diplomacy to this level. It’s essential in building people-to-people connections. It interlinks our countries at fundamental levels. I call it “PM Marape’s Nelson Mandela vision.” Marape sees this as one of the ways to uniting a very diverse country of 800 languages spoken across 1,000 tribes.

We’re using every lever of statecraft to be the partner of choice.

We’ve now got a league fan in Number 10. Is that a point of leverage? And is Andy Burnham coming to the World Cup in October?

Well, I hope so. I have no idea. The northern English Rugby League heritage is incredibly powerful. So it’s a great opportunity. One of my greatest rugby league heroes is Adrian Morley.

Barrow-in-Furness, where Britain builds its nuclear subs is facing an uphill battle just on ballistic submarines, let alone the new attack class.

I think declarations of the death or struggles of the U.K. sovereign industry have been completely overblown. They’ve got challenges but now they’re scaling up massively. I was in Barrow in February 2023: they had 8,000 people in a shipyard. Now it’s 16,000.

Do you expect the path on AUKUS to change at all under Burnham?

No, it’s survived changes of government in all three countries. John Healey is a great friend of Australia, and having him as Chancellor is a great boon for us.

Do you think the public understands that there might be multiple paths to what are our ultimate AUKUS goals?

This is the most complex industrial undertaking this country’s ever attempted, and that’s going to be challenging. [In the U.K.] their plan is probably to have their first two AUKUS submarines come off the production lines before we get our first. So a lot of risk is being borne by them.

What’s the biggest common misconception in the reporting of AUKUS?

That somehow this is selling out our sovereignty. That’s absolute bullshit. We retain full sovereignty.

I’m a descendant of Irish Catholics and recently you said, “They had a very different culture to our English Protestant jailers.” What do we need to remember about our history?

Go back to the indigenous pre-European settlement, there were hundreds of tribes, hundreds of different cultures. The Irish convicts were the original boat people. It is what it is, and we’ve never been a monoculture.

Read the full interview here.

REQUIRED READING

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham engaged with messages from somebody impersonating one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers, Sam Blewett reports from London.

CANBERRA MEETS WORLD

CANBERRA VS. NORFOLK ISLAND

Australia has an independence problem on its own Pacific island, but you’d never know it from the nonchalance of everyone representing the Islanders in Canberra.

While the government won plaudits for its deft Pacific diplomacy, it can’t figure out how to manage less than 2,000 voters on Norfolk Island, writes Finn McHugh.

Secessionists held an independent referendum Jan. 1, have set up a rival authority, and they’re taking their claim to the United Nations. The Infrastructure department says the Jan. 1 vote has “no basis in law.” The island’s administrator, Fiona McKergow, doesn’t want to talk to POLITICO, and not even the member of Parliament representing Norfolk Island is getting involved.

Kristy McBain, the minister responsible, recently announced she hopes to “restore local democracy” through the imminent creation of the Norfolk Island Transition Assembly.

CAN DAVID SMITH COUNT? OR WILL DAVID POCOCK DO IT FOR HIM? Smith holds the ruling Labor Party’s most marginal seat — Bean, which includes Norfolk Island, by just 700 votes. Norfolk Island has double that number of voters.

Smith told Playbook he’s steering clear of the independence debate, but independent Sen. David Pocock — who backed Smith’s 2025 rival Jessie Price and would love nothing more than to supplant ACT Labor — visits the island annually, and is on-record to POLITICO providing a sympathetic ear to the disaffected.

SPLIT SCREEN — SMITH AGITATES FOR MORE DEMOCRACY IN CANBERRA: Smith might be dampening down democracy demands on Norfolk Island, but he’s found time to develop reform ideas for the ACT. Smith wrote an op-ed for The Canberra Times, published Monday, reminding citizens that “being well served by an institution must never stop us asking whether it could serve us better.”

What he said: ACT concentrating state and local governance in one Assembly exhibits patterns that “should concern anyone who values strong local democracy.”

What Canberra heard: Oh no, not more politicians!

What Norfolk Island heard: More democracy is good for Canberra, but not for Norfolk Island.

FUN NORFOLK FACTS: Norfolk Island’s independent streak runs deep. Roughly a third of Norfolk Islanders are descendants from mutineers on the HMAS Bounty — the tale that spawned four Hollywood films starring giants Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson.

You couldn’t make it up: One of Nigel Farage’s MPs, Andrew Rosindell, has offered to negotiate with Canberra on the islanders’ behalf, if called upon.

DON’T MENTION THE MELONS! Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles will host his Japanese counterpart, Japan’s Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro at Parliament House over lunch. There’s a press conference: two questions total.

Useful reading: Can Australia, Japan and the U.S. integrate their missile defense systems as our region gets more dangerous? The United States Studies Centre explains why they should.

STATE OF THE NATION

MILTON DICK, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE

There’s too much attention on Anthony Albanese’s sprawling power base and not enough on Speaker Milton Dick’s cunning moves.

Dick — easily the most popular figure in the building in Playbook’s assessment — has ambitions far beyond running one chamber in one Parliament.

There is a factory line of democracy enthusiasts coming in and out of the Speaker’s Courtyard on any given day that Parliament sits, and he’s reinvigorating Parliamentary friendship groups covering dozens of countries.

This week he’s teamed up with The Y to launch a National Youth Parliament and is also branching out into merch.

The Parliament Gift Shop now stocks a range of onesie suits training Australia’s babies to aspire to one day be Speaker of the House or President of the Senate — the result of a joint lobbying effort with Senate President Sue Lines. At this rate we wouldn’t be surprised to learn if he has a reality TV deal in the works.

ON THE DL: Dick is discreetly running (not discreetly enough!) to become President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which is based in Switzerland. He won’t have to do any of the dirty work, like getting a tan sitting beside Lake Geneva or skiing in Davos at weekends — that’s for the full-time Secretary-General. If he wins, he’ll be more of a soothing therapist for the elite group of people tasked with keeping MPs in line, including the speakers of notable parliaments such as Afghanistan, Russia, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.

Milton has a Nobel ring: Every parliamentary speaker gets a vote in the election — so hopefully our new Pacific allies will run up the numbers for Milton, and give him a shot at a Nobel: Nine IPU leaders have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

EX-FILES: Former Speaker Tony Smith will oversee National Youth Parliament Question Time.

Y NOW: Dick was bubbling with excitement when Playbook spoke to him Monday on his way to introduce Governor General Sam Mostyn to the students. “My vision is to bring in people who are less engaged. Kids in boater hats and ties are already engaged,” he said, unfussed at whether that might ruffle debate team feathers.

The Youth Parliament has 150 school student representatives, one for each federal electorate. While the national project is Dick’s brainchild, every state has one. Labor Sen. Charlotte Walker is, at just 22, a very recent alum of the South Australian edition.

A message from Amazon:

QUESTION TIME

CANBERRA GOES FULL SCHOOLYARD

Question Time in the House started promisingly Monday, as MPs around the chamber lauded National Youth Parliament members watching proceedings. Dan Tehan, Manager of Opposition Business, went as far as to praise the “quite extraordinary” organization and cooperation the young visitors had sparked across the building. He suggested that if any MP were to be thrown out of the Chamber for bad behavior, capable and willing substitutes were waiting in the gallery.

Almost like magic, Tehan (Xavier College) set about getting expelled. One could say there were 147 willing members of the playground punch-on.

Exasperated House School Principal Milton Dick was left constantly interrupting proceedings, “Resume your seat!” … “Show some respect in this house” … “That is in direct defiance of what I just ordered!” … “That language is beneath the dignity of this house!”

After Tehan urged Chris Bowen (St. Johns Park High School) to “cut the crap,” Head Prefect Zali Steggall (Queenswood School for Girls) urged Principal Dick to expel Tehan for setting a bad example to other students.

Given one last chance, Tehan returned to the dispatch box to reframe the question: “Will the minister just cut the fecal matter.” He was, finally, ejected.

Playbook noticed Nicolette Boele (Killara High) squeezing into the Opposition benches — camouflaged in head-to-toe blue — to pass notes to Alison Penfold (St. Clare’s High, Taree). Do either of you want to fess up to what was being discussed at length?

HUMBLED BRAGG: Over in the Senate, Liberal Sen. Andrew Bragg (Notre Dame College) had a terrible day. Dogged by rumors he’d been given a wedgie by the Shadow Cabinet bullies behind the toilet block after his recent Press Club field trip, Bragg then got detention for a rude comment before class began. “Don’t talk back to me!” Senate School Principal Sue Lines snapped. At least he was on time …

Late mark: Sen. David Shoebridge (James Ruse Agricultural High School) missed his question slot, forcing Green house captain Larissa Waters (Kelvin Grove State High School) to beg Mrs. Lines for a reprieve.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT BEING NOTICED: When the Opposition isn’t busy getting thrown out of QT, it’s almost like the government is pushing them out by other means.

In the House yesterday, Tony Burke (St. Patrick’s College, Strathfield) was nicer to One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce (Riverview) than Labor MPs were to any other member asking a question.

Labor also focused their fake (Dorothy Dixer) questions around the themes where they see One Nation as being vulnerable, such as superannuation and paid parental leave. Given the government just chooses not to answer the substance of most Opposition questions, it must be a lonely 75 minutes each sitting day for them.

EMBASSY ROW

AWARDED: The hand of Pierre-André Imbert, recently France’s ambassador to Canberra, and from this month Emmanuel Macron’s chief of staff, is detected in a new round of promotions and appointments to the Ordre du Mérite agricole, which is conspicuously heavy with Australian names.

Queensland’s Romain Bapst is now a Chevalier Mérite Agricole (French Knight).

Peter Gilmore is an Officer, and Knighthoods were awarded to Emmanuelle Bekkers, Shannon Bennett, Geraud Fabre, Gordes Frobenius, Alexandre Rougeot, Kirsten Tibballs, and Clement Demarais.

IN TOWN: John Spellar, the U.K.’s Trade Envoy to Australia.

ONLY IN AUSTRALIA

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE DFAT TOILETS: Playbook spoke to 19 diplomats and contractors, and the results are not pretty. For your own sake, we’re not printing all we’ve been told, and without a pass to the highly secure R.G. Casey Building it’s impossible to verify each report.

But it’s clear that something’s up when the feedback falls into categories such as “truly disgusting,” “lack of personal responsibility” and “I actually hold it in until I get home rather than use them.”

We hear that the bathrooms are in better shape in DFAT’s Civic outpost. But all this begs the question: If the government can’t maintain toilets at a prestige location on a lease that costs more than $20 million a year, and if the people in that building can’t be trusted with toilet brushes and paper: what else on the world stage do we need to worry about them handling?

Do you know more? WhatsApp us on 0494 380 487 or email canberraplaybook@politico.com

DEAR DOROTHY

Should I tell on an MP if I see them letting their friend tailgate into the Parliament gym on the weekend?

AFTER HOURS

PLAYBOOK READER FEEDBACK

Thank you for your messages about our exclusive story on how Paul Keating has been trying to sway Albo to soften his line on China. Our favorite reply:

Memo to Keating: “Australian power can only ever be about working with other powers to leverage our own. The problem with Keating is that he just wants to delete U.S. and replace with China. Sucking up to a new superpower is not the solution when our interests are clearly not aligned.”

We also noted frustration at how the Productivity Commission report on dividing GST Funds is being handled. The top reply:

Memo to Roger Cook and Anthony Albanese: “Why are we not being smarter on the W.A. deal? There is a deal to be done. We know we need to electrify mining to become self-reliant, instead of being dependent on diesel. So why not help them future proof the mines with clean energy, with a tax credit, in exchange for more of the GST money being split with other states? All this can be done without bringing a gas tax into it!”

SPEAKING OF THE WA DEAL: He might sit in a swanky Parisien office, but OECD chair Mathias Cormann still has one eye on Canberra. The former finance minister called into ABC radio to defend his “very important” sweetheart GST deal for his home state.

How convenient: Asked about multiculturalism and One Nation’s rise, Cormann suddenly lost his courage for commentary: “I’m now in a non-partisan job … I’m just not going to get into that sort of party political commentary.”

REQUIRED READING

YOUR NACC NEEDS YOU: In the midst of its identity crisis, the National Anti-Corruption Commission is begging federal public sector staff to share anonymous feedback on corruption risks in order to inform its education and prevention work. (That’s a much bigger chunk of the work of the NACC and many integrity bodies than often recognized.)

Submissions are open until Sept. 25 and public servants have already received an email with the survey link: Check your inbox!

NACCKERED: NACC has received 222 referrals this financial year, has launched 19 preliminary investigations and has another 33 full-blown investigations underway.

Nepotism and stationary fiends: Top corruption concerns captured in the last report included nepotism, fraud and undisclosed conflicts, but also a whopping 50,000 respondents pointing to petty crime within their organization, including theft, vandalism and intimidation.

Playbook takes corruption seriously. If you know someone who’s stolen a pen or notebook recently, or if you want to provide us with your concerns, let us know on WhatsApp 0494 380 487 or canberraplaybook@politico.com.

LOCAL CANBERRA

COMMUNITY CORNER

This is your place to share tips about life and drama in Canberra.

WhatsApp 0494 380 487 or email canberraplaybook@politico.com

SPARE A THOUGHT: Jason Koutsoukis, beloved press gallery veteran, Saturday Paper special correspondent, and husband of Berlin Playbook editor Ulrike Putz, has suffered two lost teeth and a broken hand after being attacked by a magpie while riding an e-scooter into Parliament. You should see the other guy.

CITIZEN OF THE YEAR goes to Josh Martin, a 7NEWS press gallery reporter who tackled a man attacking shoppers in Dickson Woolies. The supermarket chain says the man had been responsible for nine earlier incidents at the supermarket. The modest Martin said his effort “probably wasn’t your standard rugby league tackle. It was more just to bring the guy down and not injure him.”

EX-FILES: Tickets are still available to watch Alastair Campbell, former spin doctor for Tony Blair, in-conversation at The Canberra Theatre on Nov. 23.

There are 10 tickets left if you want to join former PM Kevin Rudd at the annual Australian Institute of International Affairs ACT branch dinner on Sept. 9.

MOVES, APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTIONS

MEET THE ANTI-JULIE BISHOP, READY FOR CLEAN UP ON AISLE ANU: ICYMI, Gordon de Brouwer is the new Chancellor at the ANU. De Brouwer, who’s an alumnus of the university, has just finished up a gig as Australian Public Service Commissioner where he spent two years cleaning up after the unlawful robodebt scheme. He’s now been brought in to mop up at Australia’s national uni, which was at pains to point out in its announcement materials what a good, integrity-minded guy he was. Doyenne of Australian higher education journalism Julie Hare writes that he is the “polar opposite” of outgoing chancellor Bishop. Let’s see if Playbook readers can boost his 78 Instagram followers.

Chris Gatenby has been sworn in as a Tasmanian Senator, replacing retiring Sen. Wendy Askew. Gatenby was previously a senior adviser to Jeremy Rockliff.

David Turvey, Australian Tertiary Education Commission CEO, has been promoted to SES Band 3, Veterans’ Affairs.

Debbie Arnold has been promoted to SES Band 2, First Assistant Secretary, Ministerial, Engagement & Communications.

BIRTHDAYS

Independent Sen. Lidia Thorpe, Global Strategic Communications Council’s Tim Nuthall turns 50, POLITICO’s Hanne Cokelaere, The AFR’s business reporter Zoe Samios, and senior writer Myriam Robin.

It takes a village. Playbook is brought to you by a global team, today including editor Joe Schatz and producer Rachel Confetti, with thanks to Paul Karp and to Milton Dick for supplying us with so much content. If the Real Housewives ever build a Canberra franchise: we want you on it.

A message from Amazon:

Thousands of businesses in Australia sell on Amazon — helping turn local products into global brands. On the sun-drenched NSW Mid-North Coast, Allan Hutcherson runs Freshwater Farm, a family business that makes body and hair-care products.

After buying the farm, the family revived its native plants and used the oils and honey to craft premium body care, including their signature Lemon Myrtle range. They were already well known in Australia, but wanted to make a splash overseas. Amazon helped them reach more customers in the US, where repeat customers have nearly doubled. And it stays a family affair: Allan, his wife, their kids and their grandkids all get their hands dirty on the farm.

CANBERRA — Australia’s social media restrictions came into effect in December 2025, triggering a domino effect across the globe as countries in Europe and Asia debated or adopted similar rules. Together these legal reforms form the biggest regulatory and cultural overhaul faced by tech platforms since the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation came into effect in 2018.

Here’s how things are playing out in Australia — and some of the biggest questions surrounding the restrictions’ implementation.

What is the political background to the Australian law?

Australia’s then-Opposition Leader Peter Dutton pledged in June 2024 to raise the social media access age to 16 within 100 days of becoming prime minister.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, pressured to match the commitment, adopted the policy in November 2024 and rushed a bill through Parliament later that month.

This happened against a backdrop of advocacy by parts of the media, public figures and parents whose children had suffered or died by suicide after social media bullying.

The Senate committee tasked with examining the legislation received roughly 15,000 submissions.

The Greens and most crossbench members of parliament and senators opposed the bill, calling for more time and scrutiny.

What problems did the law attempt to tackle?

Public debate around the law focused on addictive platform design and the risks of those design choices leading to negative mental health effects on developing minds.

The government framed the law as a response to problematic or compulsive platform use, cyber bullying, harmful content, unwanted adult contact and mental health risks.

While extensive research supports concern about adolescent vulnerability, it does not establish that an age ban alone will reduce mental health problems.

Why is the focus on banning accounts for under-16s?

The Australian government says that being logged into an account increases the likelihood that children will be exposed to “negative, upsetting or manipulative content.”

It considers the legislation to be a “delay” rather than a “ban” on accessing social media, stressing that it gives young people the time and space to develop skills such as digital literacy, impulse control and resilience before being inundated with challenging content online.

What the law does:

It makes clear that under-16s are not able to give consent to share their data via a platform’s terms of service, and designates social media platforms as age-restricted services.

This makes it illegal for prescribed platforms to offer accounts to Australians aged under 16 and requires them to take reasonable steps to prevent Australian children under 16 from holding accounts.

The law places legal responsibility on platforms, not children or parents, and it currently applies to Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube.

They can use a range of age assurance methods, such as analyzing users’ biological or behavioral features, using information other than date of birth to infer an individual’s age.

What the law doesn’t do:

Subject children, their parents or carers to penalties.

Ban under 16s from accessing public content on social media platforms.

Cover every online service. Messaging, education, health, professional networking and many gaming services are excluded.

Enforce a single type of age assurance. Instead platforms are expected to demonstrate to the Australian regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, that they’ve taken reasonable steps to prevent children from opening accounts. While the platform may rely on government-issued identification, they’re not allowed to force Australians to use these.

Make it an offense for a child to use a VPN or attempt to access a platform.

Popular services such as Discord, Messenger, WhatsApp, Roblox, Steam and Google Classroom were among services eSafety identified as outside the restrictions. The classification can change, as the purpose of a platform evolves.

What impact was the law expected to have?

Albanese has said he wants to keep young Australians safe, reduce screen time, and encourage better educational outcomes, behaviour and social interaction. The government has not set explicit targets for reducing screen time, account ownership or mental health symptoms.

Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner whose term ends in 2027, said meaningful effects may take years and could ultimately be generational.

eSafety launched a study of the impacts in 2025 in partnership with Stanford University’s Social Media Lab and 11 academic advisers. It will follow more than 4,000 children and families for over two years and publish the results online.

Where did the Australian government cut corners?

Social media platforms criticized the Australian government for rushing to pass the legislation in 2024, before its regulator had completed a trial into the age assurance technologies that would underpin it.

What are the initial impacts?

There is a clear decline in account ownership among under-16s, but also substantial continued access. In an early parent survey, 31 percent said their child still had at least one social media account after implementation, compared with 49 percent before it.

In the months after the ban, at least 4.7 million accounts were removed, deactivated or restricted.

TIME reported that data from the parental control company Qustodio showed that after the age minimum went into effect, Snapchat monthly usage dropped roughly 40 percent among 13- to 15-year-olds, while YouTube usage dropped just 3 percent. YouTube does not require a user to have an account, so many YouTube users access content without an account.

After an early compliance report found a “substantial proportion” of children still held social media accounts, the Australian government sought to increase penalties for noncompliance and introduce stronger powers for the eSafety Commissioner.

Amendments to the legislation are being considered at the time of publication.

Has the law affected VPN uptake?

A University of Newcastle study of 408 teenagers aged between 12 and 16 found that VPNs were rarely relied upon to circumvent age verification.

The study found participants were most often being asked to self-declare their age as a means of verification.

Are other governments following suit?

Yes, but approaches have varied. Jurisdictions that have taken steps to restrict social media access include Brazil, Indonesia, Canada, Malaysia, the UAE, France, Spain, the U.K. and the EU.

What do parents say about the impacts?

In a YouGov survey of just over 1,000 Australian adults, conducted from Jan. 12-14, 2026, parents polled reported some early positive feedback.

This included 38 percent of them finding their children to be more present and engaged during interactions, with the same proportion noticing their relationships had improved.

However, some parents also reported negative impacts, including 25 percent noticing reduced social connection, creativity, or peer support online.

Media reporting has also captured this range of views.

What’s the quiet bit officials aren’t saying out loud?

Keeping teenagers off social media, when they have already been exposed to such platforms from a young age, is an uphill battle. The biggest beneficiaries of the policy are likely to be younger children, who have the chance to develop different habits.

What are the risks of kids handing over sensitive data to tech companies?

Australia says privacy was a central consideration in the implementation of its restrictions, with platforms still required to comply with the Privacy Act.

That legislation restricts how information is collected, used and disclosed.

Is there any evidence of deeper culture change occurring?

A spokesperson for eSafety said its early findings suggest a shift in expectations around social media use.

“Some children are less likely than before the commencement of the social media minimum age restrictions to believe that most children their age use social media, or that children without social media accounts are missing out,” eSafety said.

“Some parents also report less perceived pressure to allow social media use simply because other families do.”

Is anything being done to help teens keep access to important information they were getting on platforms?

Australia’s regulator points children to support networks if they’re feeling isolated, but ultimately its stance is that children under 16 can still access the internet generally.

“Young people can continue to access publicly available social media content that does not require an account, including searching for and viewing information where platforms permit logged-out access,” the spokesperson said.

“Many standalone messaging, gaming, education and health services are also not currently covered by the social media age restrictions.”

POLITICO is now live in Australia — welcome to our community!

Our flagship Playbook franchise drives the conversation with urgent, in-depth reporting across the United States, London, Brussels, Berlin, Paris and Ottawa — and we’re thrilled now to be launching in Canberra.

Consider Playbook your guide to the day ahead in Canberra — a neutral place to gather for every decision-maker with a stake in Canberra, and those who aspire to become one.

We don’t take sides, we won’t waste your time, and we’ll spotlight the best journalism, whoever produces it.

Timing is everything. Over the next month we’ll be marking five years of AUKUS, 25 years since the 9/11 attacks and 75 years of the ANZUS Treaty: all reminders of the global and endlessly connected era we live in.

Today the first ever National Youth Parliament kicks off under the auspices of Speaker Milton Dick — a full circle moment for Playbook’s Ryan Heath, who first arrived at Parliament House in 1999 as a member of John Howard’s National Youth Roundtable (along with Andrew Charlton and ex-minister Kelly O’Dwyer).

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ESSENTIALS

• Parliament is moving on from Melongate to grown-up negotiations on disability support, gambling ads and tech regulation
• Read Paul Keating’s China text messages to Albo in a POLITICO exclusive
• Learn how the new U.S. Ambassador “speaks Trump”
• Burnham’s a Bunny! Two PMs discuss their shared passion for Rugby League
• A Labor migration insider urges hard cap on arrivals in our Playbook Interview

DRIVING THE DAY

TODAY’S VIBE: Constructive.

We’ll see legislative action only from Tuesday afternoon. Today in Parliament, the parties are heads down finalizing positions on disability support, gambling ad reforms and reining in big tech.

Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor are keeping up parallel bilateral negotiations. Labor’s still figuring out how hard to clamp down on migration numbers — more on that in our Playbook Interview.

BETWEEN THE LINES: The Opposition’s tightrope is proving it can get legislation done through cooperation with Labor — something One Nation can’t do — while seeming tough on the prime minister.

NDIS TEA LEAVES: Jenny McAllister — the Minister for National Disability Insurance known for choosing every word with precision — is “hopeful” legislation will pass this week, and called the Coalition’s negotiation approach “extremely constructive” on Insiders.

The political danger for Labor is that failure to reform could mean the public views NDIS numbers the way they view migration numbers: out-of-control. McAllister calls 10 percent spending growth per year “unsustainable,” and wants savings of around $5,000 per year per beneficiary. She rejected the idea of an independent NDIS Inspector-General.

GAMBLING BENCH PRESS: Major party backbenchers and crossbench MPs are both pushing for a gambling ad bill with teeth. Don’t rule out more Teal stunts.

MIGRATION NUMBERS GAME: Everyone wants to cut migration, no one agrees on how.

It’s on today’s Cabinet agenda and if there’s a deal, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke could be back to the National Press Club as soon as Thursday to deliver his postponed speech. Whatever happens, he won’t be going rogue: “[For] what happens when you don’t do your policy work collegiately, I give you Senator Andrew Bragg as Exhibit A,” Burke said yesterday.

Reminder: Pauline Hanson wants net migration capped at 130,000. Bragg is angling for 180,000. Net migration was 301,000 in 2025.

EXCLUSIVE — KEATING COACHED ALBO ON XI HANDLING AT KIRRIBILLI

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese increasingly turned to Paul Keating for advice on managing Australia’s relationships with China and the U.S. after his 2025 reelection.

In Keating’s telling, the PM wanted a counterpoint to departmental briefings and Washington’s pressure on Australia to increase defense spending.

Keating’s answer was to do several hours of Xi Jinping meeting prep with the PM at Kirribilli House and pass him talking points to keep in his pocket.

Albanese was warned he was “sitting between two sharks,” Keating told his biographer James Curran, whose book “Grand Ambition: Paul Keating’s Global Vision for Australia,” is out Sept. 1.

KEATING CAN’T QUIT KIRRIBILLI: Albo asked him at Kirribilli how he should deploy the memo. “You fold it up a few times and pop it into your left breast pocket, so that you have access to it when you need,” Keating said.

POLITICO reached out to the PM for his side of the story. “We don’t discuss private conversations,” said a spokesperson.

Keating urged Albanese to move beyond “stabilization” and pursue deeper “engagement” with China and wanted Albanese to say Australia would not “automatically dovetail in with the U.S. in the event of a war over Taiwan.”

Ahead of Albanese’s October 2025 meeting with President Donald Trump, Keating texted the PM a blunt warning that Australia should not host nuclear-armed U.S. military assets, given perceived American disloyalty during China’s 2020 trade coercion: “America actually sold us out.”

Read more about Keating’s advice in this excerpt from Curran’s new book.

THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW

Henry Sherrell has been visiting ministers and pushing them to ink a harder migration deal in Cabinet this morning. The former Ministerial immigration adviser, now expert member of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration, wants a hard cap on migrants at 1 percent of the population per year: 280,000.

If the government rejects your central proposal, what’s a credible compromise? 

The government is clearly doing a lot of work to hit their forecasts. We need a long-term plan, as well as a target for next year as no single change will fix our visa system.

Which of the six levers in your proposal is the government engaging with?

Points-test reform was flagged in the Budget. That wouldn’t have happened without a lot of effort behind the scenes.

Which lever would produce the clearest reduction in migration while creating the least economic damage?

International vocational education fees line the pockets of a few businesses. A new rule requiring 50 percent domestic students at education providers would reduce the number of people in Australia on a temporary visa by about 100,000 over the next few years. Sydney University flirted with more international students than domestic students recently, undermining its social responsibility to Australians. 

In your years advising Ministers, what did the department understand about the system that Labor struggles to confront? 

Ministers understand the public much better than bureaucrats, which pushes them towards trying to fix things quickly. Too often, the bureaucracy is deeply risk averse and unwilling to try or suggest new ideas.

Which workers and industries could feel benefits first from your plan? 

The visa system should improve the lives of Australians, not any single interest or sector. A system geared towards high-wage jobs across the economy would do that better than the status quo.

Are migration levels at risk of becoming for Anthony Albanese the noose that border control became for Joe Biden? Why?

No. Australia’s debate is about the pace of migration. Australia has strong control of our border. The U.S. has over 10 million undocumented migrants. We have less than 100,000.

Which migration proposals in Andrew Bragg’s National Press Club speech could the government cherry-pick without accepting the speech’s broader political framing?

He’s right about backpackers. We have destroyed a wonderful cultural exchange visa with visa rules that drive down wages via exploitative work. Ill-defined diplomatic objectives undermine visa policy. Migration and trade agreements should never go together.

Read Sherrell’s 13-page paper for Inflection Points here.

CANBERRA MEETS WORLD

LEAGUE LOVE-IN ZOOMS UP DIPLOMATIC AGENDA

We’ve been seeing the fruits of rugby diplomacy in the Pacific, but did you know that new British PM Andy Burnham served as chair of Britain’s equivalent of the NRL?

Given the PM’s Rabbitohs obsession, and that AUKUS requires London and Canberra to operate at a level of trust that treaties and memorandums can’t manufacture, we’re now in possession of prized political social lubricant.

Burnham’s a bunny! Now a signed-up Rabbitohs fan, the British leader told POLITICO’s Tim Ross that deep love of the sport is “one of the many reasons the friendship between our two countries runs as deep as it does. In the North of England, rugby league is in our blood. It is played and watched week in, week out, rain or shine.”

“I’m happy to barrack for Prime Minister Burnham’s [Leigh] Leopards in return,” Albanese told Playbook. Whether Burnham shares Albanese’s relish for “Mal Meninga’s try at Old Trafford” in 1990, in Burnham’s home town of Manchester, is another question.

The pair talk about rugby league in the way Labor leaders were once able to talk about their own parties: mass movements marked by their sense of tight-knit community.

Reconnecting with League-supporting communities is Burnham’s urgent political mission in the face of Nigel Farage’s surge. Playbook bets Albo’s going to become very familiar with that mission. But where does that leave Rugby Union-playing Angus Taylor?

What we’re watching: If Australia and English make the final, will we see Burnham head Down Under for the Rugby League World Cup Nov. 15?

Read more from Ryan and Tim here.

THE AMBASSADOR WHO CAN SPEAK TRUMP

Once an insurgent Tea Party rabble rouser in Congress, Dave Brat is now a Trump world insider fluent in a niche dialect, writes POLITICO’s Katherine Tully-McManus in Washington.

“He can speak Trump,” James Braid, Trump’s director of legislative affairs told POLITICO. “I think that will really help him facilitate Aussie-United States relations.”

Not obvious from his CV is that Brat is also known for collaborative approaches to negotiations. “This is a serious person,” Braid said.

A longtime economist and academic, Brat is a free trade advocate from Virginia — home of the massive naval base delivering AUKUS submarines — and Virginia’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, told us they share the White House optimism. “He will be very focused on commerce, trade, and economic opportunity,” said Kaine, who as governor relied on Brat’s contributions to a bipartisan economic advisory panel.

Brat is a self-confessed “tennis fanatic” and Albanese confirmed to Playbook he’s “very much looking forward to having a hit of tennis” with the new arrival in town.

EMBASSY ROW

MORE STARS AND STRIPES? “I understand that Mission Australia’s current staffing and facilities are insufficient to meet the demands of our expanding Alliance activities,” Brat said in a written response to U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, during his confirmation proceedings.

Brat’s not the only new American in town. Robert T. Koepcke is now Deputy Chief of Mission and Jonathan A. Habjan is Counselor for Political Affairs.

Colonel Richard Bush joins as Defense Attaché; Colonel Pete Roongsang as Army Attaché; and Colonel Kabir Rao as Chief of MILGROUP, which manages security cooperation, foreign military sales and defense relations with the Australian Armed Forces.

Consul General Colin Crosby is now in place in Melbourne, previously State Department’s Deputy China Coordinator.

Flip and reverse it: The Australian Embassy in D.C. is also hiring.

FLYING: Richard Marles is wrapping up a Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands trip, doing what he loves best: meeting prime ministers, this time James Marape (PNG) and Matthew Wale (Solomons).

ARRIVING: Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, he’ll meet Albanese Wednesday. Thailand is our 11th-ranked trading partner.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi will visit Canberra Tuesday, h/t Andrew Greene.

CELEBRATING: Albo lived out a multicultural Sunday at Sydney’s Ferragosto festival, telling Italian-Australians “I’m very proud to be the first Prime Minister of Australia, out of the 31 that we’ve had, to have a non-Anglo Celtic name.”

Penny Wong warned in a lecture Friday that monoculture would leave Australia ”lonely in a dangerous world.”

PARTY ROOM

NATIONAL PARTY GROUNDHOG DAY: The Nationals held a conference at lobbyist hangout Hotel Realm on Saturday and have tabled a bill to repeal Labor’s gun buyback scheme, which starts Nov. 2 in NSW. (That idea won’t make the House or Senate floor.)

The last time the Nationals dug their heels in over gun reform, in January, the Coalition split and Sussan Ley was toppled as Liberal leader six weeks later. But Liberal MPs Playbook spoke to on Sunday see this Nats move as merely irritating, and Angus Taylor declined to comment.

But it is existential for the Nationals. They’re fighting for survival against their former leader Barnaby Joyce, now with One Nation, and don’t appear to have new ideas ready to outflank the insurgent party.

Next stop, NSW election: The ailing Labor government in Victoria balked at joining the gun buyback scheme, fearful of losing their regional strongholds. That brings everything into a NSW focus, which is just where NSW Premier Chris Minns and Albanese want it: “One Nation has said they’re scrapping all of this … so it is on the ballot,” Albanese said Sunday.

ON OUR RADAR: A civil war inside the environmental movement (h/t Nick O’Malley for the deep dive) is going to hit Parliament this week. Officially, the debate is about a new type of carbon offset for native forests, but the fight is really about identity crisis in multiple parties. One plausible outcome is the Nationals, One Nation and Greens teaming up to sink the offset plan in the Senate. That’s meltdown territory for warring Greens factions.

BY THE NUMBERS

PUBLIC SECTOR GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER

Sen. Jane Hume will be interested in this one. Miriam has uncovered a new public sector work from home impact: A nearly empty new Tax Office HQ. Just seven months into a 15-year lease worth $323 million, the ATO is looking to sub-let part of its glistening new office in Canberra’s parliamentary triangle. Playbook hears the office is deserted, with bureaucrats opting to ditch their expensive ergonomic chairs to work from home instead of trekking to Barton.

Parliamentary triangle? That’s the land that spills out before Parliament House managed by the National Capital Authority. You’ll find many national institutions, government departments and lobby groups there. The area has an irresistible pull for public service leaders wanting to be near to Parliament’s power. Underlings, less so.

“Large”: That’s how one insider describes the 33,500 square meter, six-story development by Doma and Kenyon Investments [video here]. It’s feeling especially cavernous these days.

If you know more about the vibe down in Sydney Avenue, write in. If you’re Tax Commissioner Rob Heferen: also write in.

Media team gymnastics: “ATO’s continued move to modern work practices, including a shift to unallocated workspaces and hybrid arrangements, is now enabling us to achieve greater value for money for the Commonwealth by sharing of office space,” ATO said in a statement.

Prime real estate alert: Foreign Affairs and Trade is telling staff they’ll ditch the R.G. Casey Building to take up their spot in the highly secretive (yet highly visible) National Security Office Precinct, now under construction in the triangle. DFAT’s custom-built, so-called “Taj Mahal” could be back on the market in 2031.

If you’ve ever hoped to work across the road from 5,000 spooks, get in line.

STATE OF THE NATION

CANBERRA VS. WESTERN AUSTRALIA VS. EVERYONE

Albo won’t be going anywhere near the Productivity Commission’s new report urging Canberra to rip up W.A.’s 2018 GST deal (which tripled the share of revenue collected in W.A. that is returned to Perth’s coffers).

Why the report is dead on arrival: Australia might have a productivity crisis, but W.A. delivered Albanese his majority government in 2022, and Labor holds 11 of 16 seats in the state. Premier Roger Cook immediately lashed at “east coast clowns” aiming to “prop up other lazy states.”

How do we know? Aside from the risk of Kerry Stokes and Gina Rinehart-affiliated Seven West Media outlets destroying the PM, Albanese will spend six days in W.A. starting Aug. 23 — there’s no way to conduct that fundraising tour if the GST deal is tinkered with.

But expect a blowup at the National Cabinet: Chris Minns compared W.A. to bullying Gulf States and declared “every other state” wants change.

Tell ’em, they’re dreaming: NDIS advocates could think of a lot of good uses for the $6 billion the GST deal hands back to W.A. each year.

CANBERRA VS. BIG TECH

NO LOVE LOST: If you rolled out of Parliament Thursday evening, you missed a packed day of committee business, including the inquiry grilling Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap over proposed government amendments to teen social media restrictions.

Vibe check: “Our approach has been to disagree, but to commit,” said Meta regional director of policy, Mia Garlick, on the company removing more than 750,000 accounts under the law.

Tech platforms have an incentive to stress this, given the proposed amendments would double maximum penalties for noncompliance.

What’s next: More detailed understanding of what is not working, with Liberal Sen. Sarah Henderson and Greens Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young both pursuing this line of inquiry.

Our public service journalism for the week is this myth-busting guide to the Australian social media laws, courtesy of Miriam Webber.

COMMITTEE COUPLE: Rachel Lord, appearing for YouTube, is married to Liberal Sen. Dave Sharma, who was locked up in another committee room dealing with explosive KPMG evidence around allegations the firm gave “misleading, if not directly deceptive” answers to questions asked by its own lawyer, AFR reported.

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“Should I reconsider my membership of an exclusive club, now that I know they welcome the Russian ambassador for lunch, but tell my guests their $300 sneakers are not welcome? Asking for a Ukrainian friend.”

THE TAPESTRY THAT CAME IN FROM THE COLD: How many art curators and handlers does it take to maintain Arthur Boyd‘s Great Hall Tapestry? Fifteen. The mammoth 20 meter by 9 meter work went into a freezer during Parliament’s winter recess, to kill off bugs making a home in the masterpiece. The little corpses were then gently vacuumed out, and after several days of repairs it was rehung.

AFTER HOURS

DID YOU KNOW? Senior political reporter at The Australian Sarah Ison spent her winter recess performing her standup comedy show “Hot Seat” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

COMMUNITY CORNER

This is your place to share tips about life and drama in Canberra. WhatsApp 0494 380 487 or email canberraplaybook@politico.com

PRO TIP: You can BYOB to The Kingo (from the Bottle-O out front, $5 corkage). That’s a $60 saving on bar bottle prices for French champagne and Tasmanian sparkling.

WERE YOU AT OZ COMIC-CON? Terrible timing to start Playbook the day AFTER this event. Send pics please.

CHERRY BLOSSOM WATCH: Early Playbook subscriber Gavan Mackenzie already spotted one in Kingston.

COFFEE TIP: Barrio Collective in Braddon is holding its annual sale of the cups and mugs used to serve its microlot coffee. They’re $45 a pop, if handmade pottery and hipster smugness is your thing.

STARTING TODAY: Parliament House’s annual squash tournament kicks off — lasting six weeks. Catch Playbook’s Ryan Heath in the intermediate division.

MOVES, APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS

Ex-Albo adviser Katie Connolly starts today as Chief Communications Officer at the Clean Energy Council.

Former Albo adviser Tim Christadoulou joins American Chamber of Commerce, as General Manager, Strategic Initiatives and Corporate Affairs.

Wei Tien Sng is moving from Melissa McIntosh MP’s office to Angus Taylor’s team as an advancer.

Canadian Ambassador Julie Sunday returned to Ottawa to join the Privy Council Office.

Catherine Bouris, formerly of POLITICO and Daily Beast, has joined AAP in Sydney.

Moksha Watts is now a board member at Generation Steel, and Paul Myler is now a Board Member at Perth USAsia Centre.

Fiona Ward is now Chief of Staff to Victorian MP Anthony Carbines.

Will Roche has left his role at Canberra Liberals to become Associate at Delta Advisory.

Stephanie Gheller becomes Senior Director, Public Affairs at GRACosway, and Angelica Snowden is now Senior City Reporter at The Age.

ANNIVERSARIES AND BIRTHDAYS

ANU celebrated its 80th birthday Saturday — watch out for an announcement today on who’s replacing former foreign minister Julie Bishop as Chancellor.

Ben Rillo is celebrating 10 years working for Trade Minister Don Farrell.

Happy Birthday for today to Dan Jervis-Bardy, chief political correspondent for Guardian Australia, who’s on paternity leave. Gordon Reid MP (ALP, Robertson) and Madonna celebrated Sunday (hopefully together).

Belated wishes also for Future Fund chair and ex-Treasurer Peter Costello, journalist supreme Laurie Oakes, and Julie-Ann Campbell MP (ALP), who celebrated Friday. Because we can already hear the cries of “what about me!”, a belated clink of the champagne coupe for Christopher Pyne, who turned 59 on Thursday.

CONDOLENCES

Roger Pegrum, former Commonwealth Government Architect; Zhu Rongji, China’s former Premier, who oversaw China’s accession to the WTO in 2001.

It takes a village. Playbook is brought to you by a global team, today including editor Joe Schatz and producers Sophie Blaylock and Emma Cordover, with thanks to Tim Ross, Paul Karp and Emma Dumain.

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