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Matt Canavan elected new federal National Party leader | Midday News Bulletin 11 March 2026

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Source: SBS News

Matt Canavan elected new leader of the National Party... two more members of Iranian women's football team request asylum in Australia... and Liverpool loses to Galatasaray in the Champions League


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TRANSCRIPT

New National Party Leader Matt Canavan is calling for an increase in Australian manufacturing, and the birth rate.

The 45-year-old senator from Queensland has been elected the new leader of the party after the resignation of David Littleproud, beating out the party's senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, and former deputy party leader, Kevin Hogan, in a three-way party room ballot.

Mr Canavan says, under the present federal government, Australia is losing the things that have made it great.

But he says there is nothing wrong with Australia that can't be fixed by what is right with Australia.

"All we need to do is revive our great nation is to have more Australia. We need to have more Australian farming, more Australian manufacturing, more Australian jobs, we need to have more Australian everything. We need to manifest a hyper-Australia here. We need to go hyper-Australia for our country. We need more Australian babies. We need more Australian humour, more Australian jokes, we need more Australian barbecues....sometimes...often fueled by fossil fuels. We need more Australian everything."

Victorian M-P Darren Chester will be Mr Canavan's deputy.

Mr Canavan was previously Minister for Northern Australia and Minister for Resources in the Turnbull and Morrison governments.

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Two more members of the Iranian women's football team have sought asylum in Australia.

The remaining team members have boarded a plane departing Sydney Airport for Kuala Lumpur last night.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says a sixth footballer and a support staff member requested asylum last night.

They join five footballers who accepted the offer of a humanitarian visa on Tuesday.

Mr Burke says the situation has been handled with care.

"All the players remaining - and most of the support people - were taken into interview rooms - without any minders present. Simply themselves. In that situation, what we made sure of was there was no rushing. Everything was about ensuring the dignity for those individuals. The one pressure that we couldn't take away was the context of what might have been said to them beforehand. What pressures they might have felt - whether it be on other family members."

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Refugee advocates have expressed concerns about a bill introduced by the federal government that proposes temporarily banning some people from coming to Australia.

The draft laws would amend the Migration Act, giving the Home Affairs Minister powers to prevent individuals on certain classes of temporary visas from entering Australia, for up to six months.

Clare Sharp, the head of Immigration at the Department of Home Affairs, has told a parliamentary inquiry, the federal government feels the draft laws are needed are very specific reasons.

"Each visa holder who is coming into Australia on a temporary visa must satisfy us that they are coming for a genuinely temporary purpose. We do have the ability to review that when they're offshore on an individual basis, if we come to the view that the visa conditions are not going to be satisfied, we can cancel the visa. However, we would need to do that currently - on the current law - one by one. And it is very resource intensive. It's not possible for us to do that in a practical sense for a large group of people at the same time."

Refugee advocates have called on the government to withdraw the bill, saying they are concerned the ban could be used to stop people fleeing conflict from reaching safety, particularly Iranian and Lebanese Australians and their extended families, many of whom may hold tourist visas to travel for family events.

The co-CEO of the Refugee Council of Australia, Paul Power, says the proposed law seriously undermines Australia's commitment to the principles of the Refugee Convention.

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Foreign Minister Penny Wong says that over 3,000 Australians have returned from the Middle East, with more flights currently en route.

She says with airports closed in Kuwait and Bahrain, Australian officials are working with partner countries on bus transportation to Riyadh enabling passengers to continue their journey on commercial flights.

Senator Wong says the ability to provide consular assistance remains limited, and commercial flights still remain the best way out of the region.

"If you are in the region, and you are able to secure a seat, we strongly suggest you take that seat. We are concerned that this conflict will intensify. I am speaking primarily to those who are resident in the region. I am advised by the airlines and the airports that a great deal of the backlog of people in transit from Australia - or to Australia - have been cleared."

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An investigation into the so-called Robodebt Scheme has found that two people engaged in "serious corrupt conduct".

The investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission cleared four other people - including former Prime Minister Scott Morrison - of corrupt conduct.

Former Home Affairs General Manager Mark Withnell was found to have intentionally misled Social Services officers in a 2015 cabinet submission.

Former Social Services Deputy Secretary Serena Wilson was also found to have engaged in serious corrupt conduct by intentionally misleading the Commonwealth Ombudsman during an investigation in 2017.

Robodebt was an unlawful automated debt assessment scheme, that led the government to issue more than 500,000 incorrect debt notices to welfare recipients.

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The High Court has ruled in favour of a Sydney fashion designer in a trademark dispute against US pop star Katy Perry.

In a majority decision, the High Court found the designer’s trademark on clothing - registered in 2008 - was not likely to harm the singer's reputation or cause confusion; and ultimately was not in breach of the trademark laws.

Singer Katy Perry adopted her stage name in 2001, but was born Kathryn Elizabeth Hudson.

Sydney designer Katie Perry was born with that name, but later changed her name to other names, including Katie Taylor.

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In football, Liverpool coach Arne Slot says he's still upbeat, despite his side's defeat in the first leg of its European Champions League Round of 16 clash with Turkish side Galatasaray.

A diving header in the seventh minute from Galatasaray's Mario Lemina provided the only goal of the game in Istanabul, giving the Turkish side a one-nil advantage to take to Liverpool for the second leg next week.

But Slot says his side was unlucky - and probably won't be that unlucky again.

"The good thing is the next game is not played here but it's played at Anfield and our fans can create a similar atmosphere. And I don't think it's possible that if I look at the last two games that so many things can go against us as happened in the last two games."

In Wednesday morning's other Round of 16 first leg games... Bayern Munich demolished Atalanta, six goals to one... Atletico Madrid beat Tottenham, five goals to two... and Barcelona played out a one-all draw with Newcastle.


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