Headlines: Albo accused of corruption, Sam Wood in court + Pornhub's back

Sacha Barbour Gatt (0:08)

Hello, welcome to The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt with you. Immigration is the hottest fight in Australian politics at the moment, and the Coalition reckons it's got the answers. It's proposing historic cuts and says Labor has lost control of migration in a way that's threatening our way of life.

Jane Hume (0:25)

Well, Chris, they haven't met their own target any single year since they came to government, not one.

Chris Spyrou (0:30)

500,000 is down to around 300,000 now, so that's 200,000 less.

Jane Hume (0:34)

It actually took its foot off the brakes and let those 500,000 people in. I mean, there were actual loopholes that were allowed to be exploited.

Chris Spyrou (0:42)

But if we're looking at a graph overall, there's a downward trend, correct?

Jane Hume (0:46)

Well, in the net overseas migration number, certainly. But if we've got to stage where one in 10 people in Australia are on temporary visas, that people are being allowed to stay, that number has blown out by about a million in the last four years.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (1:00)

Chris's chat with the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Senator Jane Hume, will be published in a separate episode this morning. That's in your feed now. But first, stick around with us for the headlines. It's Thursday, the 8th of October.

Chris Spyrou (1:15)

Morning, Sacha, and listening back to that grab, I didn't realize the tone, the tone sounds a lot more intense than what I thought.

Jane Hume (1:20)

Coming down. No, you did a great job.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (1:22)

It was a great chat.

Chris Spyrou (1:23)

All right. We'll start with politics this morning. And Anthony Albanese is facing increasing scrutiny over a $6 million grant given to a golf club in his electorate. A reminder, it was revealed last month that the PM had an honorary membership to the Marrickville cause and pledged the cash during the 2025 election campaign.

Albanese defended the revelations.

Anthony Albanese (1:44)

In 2012, I've been advised that I got honorary membership. Some I made a decision. I don't have a card.

I don't go to the club.

Chris Spyrou (1:55)

But now, at a Senate inquiry into an invitation-only grant scheme used to fund projects promised by Labour in the lead up to last year's election, a constitutional law expert has accused Albanese of grey corruption.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (2:07)

Yeah, Professor Anne Toomey, who is a University of Sydney Professor Emerita, has made a submission to the probe, calling the scheme a farce and claiming the government has exercised its powers to favour private interests or political interests over the national interest. She's gone as far as to call the grant a misuse of public money, ridiculing claims by the Prime Minister that he was being a good local member by helping fix stormwater issues on the course, which would send raw sewage spilling over the greens during storms.

Anthony Albanese (2:37)

The ABC were told information they chose not to publish appropriately. When it rains and there's flooding, raw sewage goes into the Cooks River. That's what it's for, for fixing that.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (2:50)

But Toomey in her submission has revealed there was no reference to this issue made in the original announcement in 2025, rather only fixes to irrigate the golf course.

Chris Spyrou (3:00)

It follows a bruising couple of weeks for Albanese whose government is facing increasing pressure for the cost of living following the RBA's decision to increase the official cash rate and his refusal to front cameras at the pre-cop summit currently happening in Fiji. While a crucial labour policy looks doomed to fail in parliament with the Greens and coalition reportedly planning to team up to block it.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (3:22)

Yeah, so the controversial bill proposes to scrap the private health insurance bonus for over 65s. Now, labour said this is going to save the budget $3 billion, but new modelling reveals most of the older Australians that would be hit by this change take home less than $37,000 a year. So something the coalition and the Greens are currently in talks with to block from going through. So it does feel like Anthony Albanese is facing some pretty tough public opinion on him at the moment. And I don't think this report about the golf club is going to help.

Chris Spyrou (3:55)

Around one in six Aussie cafes are now charging more for a cup of coffee since the Reserve Bank banned card surcharges at the beginning of the month. A reminder, these surcharges are the small fees some businesses added when you paid by card, usually up to one and a half percent to cover the processing fees imposed on them by banks and card providers every time a customer tapped or swiped. The RBA promised that the ban would save Aussies $1.6 billion a year, but business groups warned the cost would just end up in menu prices instead.