Australia news LIVE: Joyce says One Nation has discussed supply with senior Liberals ahead of next election; US slams Albanese’s algorithm reforms, says they will lead to censorship

Updated September 23, 2026 — 10:25am,first published September 23, 2026 — 6:45am

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of national news this Wednesday, September 23. Here’s what’s making news today.

• One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said last night his party has had “discussions with very senior Liberals” about a potential deal guaranteeing confidence and supply to form government after the next election. He was asked on News24 if he felt One Nation could form government given the polling numbers, or whether it would need to be a coalition with the Liberals and Nationals.
• Opposition spokesman for housing Andrew Bragg slated a proposal to let home buyers put up their retirement savings as collateral to access a home loan, an idea Angus Taylor was quick to say was not Coalition policy. Debate over superannuation remains a key theme of political discussion after One Nation announced earlier this month it would allow renters and mortgage holders access to a quarter of their future superannuation contributions over the next three years.
• The US government has raised serious concerns about Australia’s proposed Digital Duty of Care laws and argued the Albanese government’s attempt to tackle social media harm is likely to result in censorship and disproportionately impact American companies.
• And US President Donald Trump told world leaders at the United Nations that he was weighing whether to “annihilate” Iran to end the war, but predicted the two countries would reach a peace deal after the US midterm elections in November.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met with Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi following weeks of controversy over a podcast appearance in which he appeared to make jokes about the leader’s breasts.

Albanese posed for a picture alongside the smiling Japanese prime minister which was posted to Instagram this morning. Journalists travelling with Albanese were not informed of the meeting, suggesting it was an informal interaction.

On Sunday Albanese was asked whether he would use a potential run-in at the United Nations General Assembly this week to apologise for his comments. In response Albanese said: “We have a good relationship, and it will be very positive, the engagement I have with the prime minister”.

The Japanese ambassador to Australia last month made a rare intervention quashing the ongoing saga, saying a meeting between the leaders in May was “held in a very relaxed atmosphere”.

On July 3, Albanese appeared on Nikki Osborne’s podcast, during which the prime minister mentioned the crown melons – a rare delicacy and status symbol in Japan – given to him by Takaichi as an official gift from her trip in May. Osborne made a joke to Albanese about Takaichi smuggling in crown melons under her shirt “like Pamela Anderson”. Albanese then gestured with both hands as he told Osborne the gift had been “a couple of melons”.

Karl Stefanovic has spoken to his followers for the first time in almost four weeks, posting a rant about petrol prices as his dispute with his podcast partner works its way through the courts.

Stefanovic said he was “back in the country” and “ready to rumble” after a European holiday amid the fight to eject his business partner Keshnee Ibrahim from their shared venture, which owns The Karl Stefanovic Show.

The post showing him walking down a dark street was made to his personal account in the early hours of this morning. An independent expert is in the process of determining a fair value for Stefanovic to buy Ibrahim’s 45 per cent stake.

The former Nine presenter claimed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s US-trip “rabbiting on about some AI framework” was really a distraction to the issue of soaring fuel prices.

“There’s a petrol station without its prices. You know what that means? Diesel three bucks a litre,” Stefanovic said, showing a petrol station that was closed.

“Do not lay down. It’s time to stand up folks. Rumble, in the jungle.”

Flights into Sydney Airport have been delayed for hours while others were cancelled altogether as fog lingers over the city.

Dozens of Qantas flights were impacted between 6am and 9am, 55 in total including 30 regional QantasLink flights.

A company spokesperson said cancellations, diversions and delays were all weather related.

A number of Virgin flights were also cancelled, while others faced significant delays.

One Virgin flight from the Gold Coast was delayed more than an hour and a half, while another from Brisbane took off close to 2½ hours later than scheduled.

Sydney is forecast to reach a top of 22 degrees today with showers expected during the day.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has angrily denied claims he had a formal meeting with neo-Nazis in Canberra, saying he did not know who the men were when they approached him.

Joyce appeared on 2GB and News24 this morning to say he had been contacted by a reporter from Crikey. In an email sent to Joyce and seen by this masthead, the reporter asked whether the MP would provide any comment about the meeting.

The MP was adamant that it was not a formal meeting, and said the report was “a lie”. Here’s what he told 2GB earlier:

“People are always coming up because I’m in politics. People always come up. They want selfies. They chat, and then there was a group that came up, and it became apparent to me after a while that I was feeling awkward with them. I didn’t know who they were. There was something about Anglo-Saxon immigration and Pauline Hanson. They didn’t like her, and I just sort of, like, brought the conversation to an end.

Liberal MP Simon Kennedy says his party will not be formalising a coalition with One Nation after Barnaby Joyce said last night that One Nation had been in conversation with members of the Liberal Party about securing a deal guaranteeing confidence and supply to form government at the next election.

“We won’t be formalising a coalition with One Nation,” Kennedy told News24.

“What I will be doing is working with anyone to get rid of this Labor government. I think it’s the worst government in my lifetime, we’ve had living standards flat for the last four years … Australians are being crushed by this government.”

Appearing alongside Kennedy on a regular panel was Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs Julian Hill, who said the MP’s words were essentially a concession that the Coalition needed One Nation to succeed at the next election.

“Simon’s words there were a very long way of saying yes. Fundamentally, at the next election, the Liberals need One Nation, and One Nation needs the Liberals,” Hill said.

The prime minister will this morning (Australia time) attend a reception hosted by US President Donald Trump, hours after the Republican leader addressed the UN General Assembly threatening to “annihilate” Iran and rejecting attempts to regulate AI.

“We listened [to the speech] and we participate respectfully, and I look forward to immediately after this, in a few minutes, going to the reception held by President Trump. I look forward to engaging with him there,” Albanese told a New York press conference.

“We have put forward a strong position, Australia. I’m proud of what we have done on social media, and the fact that the European Union have now announced a major reform as well, joining the more than 20 countries who’ve taken action,” Albanese said in reference to the under-16s social media ban.

“There’s a recognition that new technology can bring enormous benefits. And artificial intelligence can boost our economy. It can boost productivity. It can advance healthcare in ways that were unimaginable a while ago with breakthroughs. There are a range of advantages, but we need to make sure that humans are in control.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has doubled down on his government’s plan to legislate a digital duty of care after the US government raised serious concerns about the policy, arguing the attempt to tackle social media harm was likely to result in censorship and would disproportionately hit American companies.

“I’ll always stand up for Australia’s national interests, and the digital duty of care is something that we’ve foreshadowed for some period of time. It’s not about giving government control; it’s about giving people back control over what they receive on their devices, which is why it is framed in that way,” Albanese told a New York press conference this morning.

The US is particularly concerned by “potential mandates that would allow regulators to impose rigid, one-size-fits-all platform design requirements – such as forced chronological feeds or opt-in recommendation systems”.

It requested the Albanese government “withdraw any plans to mandate that platforms algorithmically suppress content based on ambiguous government-defined safety criteria”.

You can read more about the US’ response here.

Swans coach Dean Cox says he expects the club’s five suspended players – Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon – to make their long-awaited return to the club’s Moore Park headquarters today.

The five players were stood down by the club, following a late-night incident at the Pullman Hotel in Melbourne after the club’s round 24 win against Essendon.

The incident is still the subject of an ongoing police investigation.

The Swans were eliminated from the 2026 competition last week by Fremantle, who play the Brisbane Lions in the grand final this weekend. The suspended players are expected to address the wider playing group before they all go on break.

Cox confirmed to Channel Nine reporters this morning that the five players were also expected to have exit meetings with the club before the 2026 season officially comes to an end.

New York: Rugby league diplomacy took centre stage as Anthony Albanese and Andy Burnham held their first official meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with the two leaders haggling over an unlikely sporting alliance.

The prime minister declared Burnham was now a South Sydney Rabbitohs fan, only for his UK counterpart to reveal there was a catch — the Australian PM had to become a fan of British Super League Leigh Leopards in return.

Burnham said he had already proclaimed his allegiance to the Rabbitohs in front of Australian journalists, but insisted the deal came with the Leopards condition, alongside his existing support for Premier League club Everton.

Albanese was not rushing to sign up, warning that his friendship with former Rabbitohs star Sam Burgess, now head coach of the Warrington Wolves, might make the arrangement “problematic”.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s claims of having secured peace in Gaza, saying not a single humanitarian corridor had been reopened in the enclave despite the proclaimed peace.

In his final address to the United Nations General Assembly before leaving office next year, Macron said the world was witnessing a spectacle that should shame everyone, rebuking Trump’s portrayal of his Gaza peace plan as a diplomatic triumph.

He spoke hours after Trump had, from the same rostrum, hailed his Gaza peace plan as a diplomatic triumph.

“A year ago, here in this very hall, about a dozen states had recognised Palestine. I hear the cynicism of some people: ‘Recognition is just a piece of paper, look at the reality’,” Macron said, banging his fist on the podium in his last speech at the assembly before stepping down in May.