Australian news and politics live: Burke hits back after Netanyahu accuses Australia of appeasing Hamas

Sussan Ley says it’s clear the relationship between Australia and Israel has deteriorated after a “regrettable” series of events.

She points out it’s a long relationship, dating back to Australia backing the creation of the state of Israel in 1947.

“Along the way, there have been disagreements and there have been a robust conversations. That is normal. But what we are seeing now is something different. We are seeing a relationship that has deteriorated,” she said.

Ms Ley says she hasn’t seen the reported letter from Benjamin Netanyahu to Anthony Albanese criticising Australia’s position to recognise Palestine.

She says whoever the Australian prime minister is, they should be respected, but Mr Albanese “needs to explain how he is going to get this relationship that he has so badly mismanaged back on track”.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is visiting a home construction site in Anthony Albanese’s electorate in Sydney this morning.

“I’m here with the builders. The Treasurer is behind closed doors in Canberra with his bureaucrats,” she declares (yesterday she was at an earth-moving business and said she was there ‘with the boots while the PM was in Canberra with the suits’).

The Wednesday agenda for discussion has turned to red tape, housing and environmental approvals.

Ms Ley says she’s open to backing a freeze in the national construction code where it is unhelpful.

The Coalition took a policy to the election to freeze the construction code for a decade, but the proposal expected to come out of the roundtable isn’t expected to be as long or as blunt as that.

“This government must do much more than just pause the national construction code in order to get housing supply back on track in this country,” Ms Ley said.

Better living standards for Australians are the “holy grail” for everyone attending the economic roundtable, Jim Chalmers has declared at the opening of the second day of talks.

The Treasurer said he was pleased with the constructive engagement around the Cabinet table on Tuesday, having counted about 100 contributions from those present, and urged them to build on the momentum.

“We need to keep front of mind what all of this is about – it is about creating more opportunities for more people in every part of our country, lifting living standards by making our economy more productive,” he said.

“That is the holy grail for us, and that’s the focus of today. But not just today, all of the work that happens after here as well.”

The discussions on Wednesday will focus on red tape, environmental approvals, housing, the federation, and AI.

Disgraced former Labor MP Eddie Obeid has walked free from jail on parole after he was found guilty misconduct while in public office.

Obeid was pictured being escorted from jail under a white umbrella on Wednesday morning, after almost four years behind bars.

He will spend the remainder of his seven-year sentence in the community under supervision.

Obeid was once considered a major powerbroker with in the NSW Labor Party, but was expelled in 2013.

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The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has called for restraint amid an escalating diplomatic row between Australia and Israel, warning that a tit-for-tat approach could damage decades of cooperation.

Tensions have flared after the Albanese government cancelled the visa of Israeli MP Simcha Rothman, prompting the Netanyahu government to revoke visas for Australian diplomats in the Palestinian territories.

The Council’s co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin urged both governments not to jeopardise hard‑won ties across trade, security and science.

“Allies with extensive economic, scientific and cultural ties should not be engaging in a diplomatic tit-for-tat that erodes the goodwill and cooperation built up over decades,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said.

“Calm heads need to take control of the situation otherwise there will be a risk to some $2 billion dollars in bilateral trade, extensive investment in Australian start-ups, vital security cooperation and the Israeli-made medicine and medical technology that we all rely on.

“There are real-life consequences here and we want to see the countries work through any issues before things get out of hand.”

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Mr Netanyahu escalated tensions after Australia cancelled the visa of far‑right Israeli MP Simcha Rothman, branding Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “weak” and retaliating by stripping visas from Australian diplomats in the West Bank.

“It’s a lashing out,” Mr Burke told ABC Radio National.

“Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry.”

He said Mr Albanese had shown strength by personally calling the Israeli leader before announcing Australia would support Palestinian statehood at the UN, hearing him out, and then standing firm on the decision.

The war of words comes as Mr Netanyahu sent letters to world leaders, including Mr Albanese, warning that recognising Palestine amounted to “appeasement” and risked emboldening Hamas.

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie says Benjamin Netanyahu’s scathing assessment of Anthony Albanese being “a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews” is something the Prime Minister has himself to blame for.

Senator McKenzie dealt Mr Albanese a brutally direct assessment of the escalating situation on Tuesday, saying the hit was in part due to the Albanese Government cancelling an Israeli politician’s visa for Australia, and the lack of urgency is keeping the Jewish Australians safe.

“He (Mr Albanese) has been slow to act on the abuse of Australians who are Jewish. He has been slow to act on the advice from his own anti-Semitic envoy, who handed her recommendations to him a while ago. I’m looking forward to seeing that,” Senator McKenzie told Sunrise.

“His decision to recognise a Palestinian state without the hostages being returned, without the terror group surrendering, rewards terrorists and makes our world less safe. Polling out this week shows that over 70 per cent of Australians don’t agree with his decision.

“We need to make sure that our country remembers that Israel has been a very good friend to Australia … so I think it’s a really disappointing turn of affairs and the responsibility for it lays at the Prime Minister’s feet.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met with leaders overnight at the Coalition of the Willing.

It comes after US President Donald Trump metwith European Leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an effort to stop the Russian-Ukraine confllict.

”Australia continues to stand with Ukraine. Tonight, I took part in another meeting of the Coalition of the Willing hosted by Keir Starmer, alongside President Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz, Giorgia Meloni, and other democratic leaders,” he said on X.

“Australia welcomes ongoing efforts towards achieving a just and enduring peace, including yesterday’s discussions in Washington.”

US President Donald Trump says he hopes Russian President Vladimir Putin will move forward on ending the war in Ukraine but concedes that the Kremlin leader may not want to make a deal at all, adding this would create a “rough situation” for Mr Putin.

In an interview with Fox News, Mr Trump said he expected that Mr Putin’s course of action would become clear in the next couple of weeks.

Mr Trump also again ruled out US boots on the ground in Ukraine and gave no specifics about the security guarantees he has previously said his country could offer Ukraine under any post-war settlement.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem (reaching a peace deal), to be honest with you. I think Putin is tired of it. I think they’re all tired of it but you never know,” Mr Trump said.

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Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is blaming Anthony Albanese for what she called a collapse in relations with Isarel, after Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the Prime Minister.

Israel’s Foreign Minister released a statement saying the Australian government is fuelling anti-semitism.

The fallout began after the Federal Government revoked the visa of Israeli MP Simcha Rothman, prompting Israel to retaliate by cancelling visas for Australian officials to the Palestinian Authority.

“Regardless of which party is in power, the Prime Minister of Australia deserves respect. But respect is a two-way street,” Ms Ley said.

“Anthony Albanese has mismanaged international relationships to the point where he now finds himself at the centre of a troubling diplomatic incident.

“This is a direct consequence of bad decisions he and his government have taken that do not advance Australia’s interests.

“It is up to Anthony Albanese to explain how he is going to repair this relationship which is now in tatters as a result of his failures of leadership.”