☕️ The Coalition breaks up (again)

Going through a break-up? Opposition leader Sussan Ley understands. As the leader of the Coalition (from the Liberal Party side of the marriage), she’s now endured two break-ups in the space of eight months with the Nationals, led by David Littleproud.

“What were the alarm bells?” you ask. Oh, just the actual fire alarm that went off mid break-up during Parliament House yesterday.

Nothing like breaking up with someone and then the intern burning the toast.

The quote: “I am deeply and profoundly sorry that we could not protect your loved ones from this evil.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese apologising to Australia’s Jewish community in a speech yesterday, which was a National Day of Mourning. Albanese and other leaders gathered at the Sydney Opera House to commemorate the victims of the Bondi terrorist attack.

The stat: 60. The number of people killed in a fire in a shopping centre in southern Pakistan this week.

The big question:

Yesterday’s results: 55% of you said you go to the movies a few times a year [1,574 votes].

Reporting with AAP.

Poco Vino has cracked the code with perfectly portioned 187ml bottles that fit in your bag, stack in your esky, and pour exactly one glass.

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Protests calling for the end of the Iranian regime have entered their 25th day.

A state-imposed internet blackout has been ongoing for two weeks.

One human rights agency has confirmed the deaths of 4,500 protesters since demonstrations began in December. A further 9,000 are also under investigation.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders have traded threats over the unrest.

Here’s what you need to know.

On Wednesday (local time), Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported it had confirmed 4,902 deaths since 28 December, including 4,622 protesters.

HRANA is also investigating a further 9,387 deaths, along with 7,389 serious injuries.

The organisation reports 26,541 people have been arrested, and 181 people have been forced to confess to crimes on Iranian state media.

On Tuesday, multiple media outlets reported Iranian state television was hacked, showing footage of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last Shah of Iran.

Pahlavi describes himself as an “advocate for a secular [non-religious], democratic Iran”.

Pahlavi has encouraged protesters since the unrest started. This week, he shared a video to social media saying: “We are closer than ever to ending this regime.”

On the ground, Iran largely remains in an internet blackout.

Since demonstrations began, Trump has pledged U.S. support to protesters, telling them “help is on its way” on 13 January (local time).

Iran shut its airspace for five hours last week, possibly in response to U.S. threats.

Also last week, Iranian authorities appeared to threaten to assassinate Trump. In an interview on Wednesday with conservative outlet NewsNation, Trump addressed the threat, saying that if “anything happens,” the U.S. will “wipe them off the face of this earth.”

Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded to Trump’s threats in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

Araghchi said: “Our powerful armed forces have no qualms about firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack.”

He added: “Iran will always choose peace over war.”

Addressing Trump, Araghchi said the U.S. had tried and failed to threaten Iran with “every conceivable hostile act,” including sanctions, “cyber assaults” and “fann[ing] a major terrorist operation”.

Reporting by Emily Donohoe.

🎧 On today’s TDA podcast, Lucy and Emma explain everything you need to know about the Coalition’s latest breakup.

💶 In today’s TDA Sport newsletter, we’ll serve up a preview of the weekend to come at the Australian Open, as things heat up in the third round. You can sign up to TDA Sport here - we’ll send that one out at lunchtime.

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For the second time in eight months, the Federal Liberal National Coalition has split up.

On Thursday morning, Nationals leader David Littleproud said: “We cannot be part of a Shadow Ministry under [Liberal leader] Sussan Ley... We will move on and we will get on with the job”.

Littleproud and Ley’s accounts of the dispute that led to the split differ, but it is clear it centres on the Government’s hate speech bill.

Here’s what we know.

The Coalition is a formal, long-standing alliance between the Liberal and National parties.

A Cabinet is a small group of senior ministers who have responsibility over certain areas of government.

The Opposition has a Shadow Cabinet, with shadow ministers for each government portfolio, led by Sussan Ley.

Members of the Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet are bound by ‘solidarity’: they must not publicly disagree with party decisions.

Following the Bondi terrorist attack in December, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recalled Parliament to debate changes to hate speech and gun laws.

The Government originally pitched one bill covering both topics but split it to ensure both elements passed.

Labor has a majority in the House of Representatives, but needs support from either the Opposition or the Greens to pass its bills in the Senate. The Greens supported the gun reform bill, while the Liberals supported the hate speech bill.

The Nationals diverged from the Liberals on the hate speech bill.

In internal meetings, they raised concerns about a new national framework that will allow the Government to formally list “prohibited hate groups,” similar to how terrorist organisations are listed.

Ley said on Wednesday that before the bill was presented to Parliament, the Coalition had worked with the Government to “narrow the scope” to “deal with... antisemitism and tackle radical Islamist extremism”.

In the House of Representatives, one Nationals MP (former leader Michael McCormack) voted in favour of the bill, while the rest of the party abstained.

In the Senate, the Nationals proposed a series of amendments to the hate speech bill.

When these amendments failed, all four Nationals Senators voted against the bill, including Shadow Ministers Bridget McKenzie, Susan McDonald, and Ross Cadell.

The Nationals Senators who voted against the bill went against the Coalition’s agreed Shadow Cabinet ‘solidarity’.

During the last Coalition split in May 2025, Ley said the Nationals had pushed to scrap solidarity in order to speak freely. McKenzie told the ABC this was not true.

When they reunited, both Nationals and Liberals agreed to cabinet solidarity. Ley’s Cabinet was made up of both Liberals and Nationals.

On Wednesday afternoon, McKenzie, McDonald, and Cadell submitted their resignations from the Shadow Cabinet, which Ley accepted.

In a statement, Ley said: “Shadow Cabinet solidarity is not optional. It is the foundation of serious opposition and credible government.”

Following Ley’s comments, the Nationals met and decided they would all leave the Shadow Cabinet.

Ley released a statement on Wednesday night, saying: “No permanent changes will be made to the Shadow Ministry at this time, giving the National Party time to reconsider these offers of resignation.”

Then, on Thursday morning, Littleproud held a press conference to announce the Nationals were walking away from the Coalition for the second time in eight months.

Littleproud said his party raised concerns to Shadow Cabinet about the creation of a list of hate organisations, suggesting it could have “unintended consequences that limit the rights and freedom of speech of everyday Australians and the Jewish community”.

The Nationals developed amendments over Monday and Tuesday, and Littleproud claims Ley told him to raise the amendments, and “consider voting a different way,” if they failed.

When they failed in the Senate, the Nationals voted against the bill “as the will of the National Party party room”.

Littleproud largely blamed the Government for the situation, calling it a rushed process, despite Coalition calls for Parliament to be recalled before Christmas.

Neither Ley nor Albanese has made a formal comment on the Nationals’ departure, only making statements about the National Day of Mourning for the victims of the Bondi attack.

Littleproud left the door open for a possible reunion, but said the Nationals ”cannot be part of a Shadow Ministry under Sussan Ley.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reports a challenge to Ley’s leadership is on the cards, but may not occur until next month when Parliament formally returns for the year.

Reporting by Lucy Tassell.

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The promotion comes after the 22-year-old French driver won the F1 Academy all-female racing championship in 2025. As development driver, Pin will join Mercedes’ roster of drivers, “working across simulator development and activities both at the factory and trackside, including attending several Grands Prix.” Pin is the only female F1 development driver signed this year, and joins a list of only a few appointed to the role in the sport’s history. Managing Director of F1 Academy Susie Wolff was the last woman to take part in a Formula 1 race weekend, back in 2014.

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

Astronaut Suni Williams has announced her retirement from NASA after 27 years.

Williams is known for being stranded above earth for nine months with her colleague Barry Wilmore. Their journey was initially planned to last eight days, but the pair were stuck when their craft faced technical difficulties.

She returned home in March 2025 after SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, offered to help bring them home.

Reflecting on her career, Williams said: “Anyone who knows me knows that space is my absolute favourite place to be… It’s been an incredible honour”.

Reporting by Annabel Whitehouse.