Israeli president Isaac Herzog arrives in Sydney
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has arrived in Sydney for a four-day trip to Australia to speak to survivors of the Bondi terror attack and their families.
Herzog touched down this morning with his wife, Michal Herzog, according to the Israeli embassy. Israel’s ambassador Amir Maimon met Herzog at the airport.
The assistant minister to the prime minister, Patrick Gorman, was also there to receive Herzog at Sydney airport.
Welcome to Australia, President Isaac Herzog! ????
Ambassador Amir Maimon and his wife, Tal received President Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog as they arrived in Sydney this morning. pic.twitter.com/RJUxDHYzJF
— Israel in Australia (@IsraelinOZ) February 8, 2026
A court hearing this morning will determine whether planned marches against the visit can go ahead at Sydney Town Hall and if they contravene the New South Wales government’s public assembly declaration.
Key events
Newspoll an ‘existential crisis’ for the Liberal party, Hume
Jane Hume has not minced her words this morning, and after telling Sky News this morning the Coalition needed a “reset”, she spoke to reporters in the press gallery and called this morning’s Newspoll an “existential crisis”.
The former frontbencher said there wouldn’t be a single Liberal elected to the House of Representatives if the polls continued.
Hume dances around the question of whether the reset means a leadership change in both parties, she says that’s a decision for both party rooms, “not just me”.
We’re talking about a leadership contest between Sussan Ley and Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor. None of them will have seats after the next election, if these polls continue, so something’s got to give.
I’m not casting aspersions on any one particular leader or leadership aspirant, but at some stage, we need to do something very, very different, because this is so much worse than it was just in May last year, when we had our worst election defeat in history … We are now at irrelevance.
‘We didn’t do it out of spite’ says Littleproud on split
After 17 days in the wilderness, the Nationals have returned to the Coalition.
David Littleproud has had to explain his change in tune on his previous comments that his party would not serve under Ley’s leadership.
Speaking to the Today Show earlier he said the “only assurance” he wanted was that the three sacked shadow ministers – Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald wouldn’t remain on the backbench.
Under the negotiated deal, the three will spend six weeks iced out instead of six months and then get their positions back (along with the additional pay and staff allocations).
Littleproud said:
We didn’t do this out of spite. It was out of principle.
The only assurance that the National party wanted was that those three ministers that were sacked for voting against it, we were all going to be sacked had we all been given the chance, and process that would never let this happen again, that’s the comfort that we needed and that’s what we were able to achieve.
Liberal party in ‘chaos’, Plibersek says
We haven’t heard a whole lot from the government this morning, while the Coalition drama continues to play out on our screens and airwaves.
Earlier this morning, the Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek says it’s “no wonder” the public say they won’t vote for the Coalition when they’re in chaos.
On a Sunrise panel with Barnaby Joyce, she blames the former Nationals MP in part for kicking the whole saga off.
I don’t really think they’ve given Sussan Ley a fair chance. You know that Angus Taylor was snapping at her heels at the time of their party election at the very beginning. He’s never really let up.
Barnaby started it by leaving, and they’ve kept it going with the sort of chaos and speculation about leadership. And no wonder people say they’re not going to vote Liberal or National while they’re all fighting each other instead of focusing on the Australian people. But to cause the chaos and then use the chaos as an excuse to knock off their first woman leader, I mean, I think people will say that for what it is. It’s pretty shallow and pretty cynical.
Joyce says he wondered how Plibersek was going to “stitch me into that” but says the polling is also “diabolical” for Labor who recorded a primary vote of 33%. Labor reached a post election high of 37% primary in late September.
‘Yes it is’: Ley says her job is safe
Sussan Ley is being pressed hard this morning on whether she’ll still be leader by the end of this week – she says she will, and is not expecting a spill.
Speaking to Sky News, Ley again tries to skirt around questions on when Angus Taylor will make a move, and square the focus back onto interest rates and the economy.
But a couple of quick yes/no questions gets some answers.
Pete Stefanovic: “Is your job safe?”
Ley: “Yes, it is.”
Stefanovic: “Are you expecting a spill?”
Ley: “No.”
She also warned her colleagues to stop airing their dirty laundry and venting frustrations publicly.
In any political party there is different views and characterisation about direction and the proper place to have that discussion is inside the party room. In public, we must present a credible alternative to the Australian people.
Petra Stock
More than 660,000 women accessed cheaper contraceptives and other medicines listed on the PBS
More than 660,000 women have accessed cheaper contraceptives, menopausal hormone therapies and endometriosis treatments, since they were listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Twelve months after the federal government’s $792.9m women’s health package, more than 2 million scripts have been filled, collectively saving women more than $73m, according to government statistics.
From January 2026, Medicare card holders would access further savings with the reduction in maximum out-of-pocket costs for PBS prescription medicines from $31.60 to $25.
Minister for Finance and Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher said:
Women asked the government to take their health seriously, and we’ve delivered. In just the first year, hundreds of thousands of women have saved money on essential medicines, more are getting dedicated menopause care through Medicare, and access to long-acting contraception is easier and more affordable.
This is a practical change that shows up at the pharmacy counter and in the GP clinic. With $25 PBS scripts now in place, costs are coming down even further in 2026.
Herzog’s visit will ‘lift the spirits of a pained community’, Jewish council says
Other Jewish peak bodies have welcomed the visit by Isaac Herzog, who arrived in Sydney earlier this morning.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said the Jewish community “warmly welcomes” the arrival.
Herzog is due to address community events and visit survivors of the Bondi terror attack. He will also travel to Canberra and Melbourne.
The co-chief executive of the ECAJ Alex Ryvchin said the visit will mean “a great deal” for victim families and survivors.
His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community and we hope will lead to a much-needed recalibration of bilateral relations between two historic allies.
Members of Jewish community take out full-page newspaper ads condemning Herzog visit
Members of Australia’s Jewish community have signed a letter saying Israeli president Isaac Herzog is not welcome in Australia, taking out full page ads in the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald newspapers.
The ads are organised by the Jewish Council of Australia, which has been a vocal critic of the Israeli government.
The letter states:
Welcoming [Herzog] in the aftermath of the Bondi massacre betrays Jewish communities, multicultural Australia and everyone who stands for Palestinian human rights and international law.
We, the undersigned Australian Jews, say Israeli President Herzog does not speak for us and is NOT WELCOME HERE.
The letter has been signed by more than 600 members of the Jewish community.
Josh Butler
Israeli officials outline plan for Isaac Herzog’s visit
Israel’s government press office has shared a little more public information about Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia, as he touched down in Sydney this morning.
In a post on X, Herzog’s spokesperson said their visit would include visiting “Jewish communities across Australia to express solidarity and offer strength to the community in the aftermath of the [Bondi beach] attack”.
President Herzog will also attend and address major communal events together with the leaders of the Australian Jewish community.
A central part of the visit will be dedicated to official meetings with senior Australian leaders, including the Governor-General and the Prime Minister of Australia, as well as with leaders from across the political spectrum. President Herzog will also conduct interviews with the media during the visit.
Herzog will visit Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne on his trip.
Newspoll figures are ‘distorted’, Nationals MP says
Asked about the pretty dire polling in the Australian newspaper this morning, which shows the Coalition primary vote sits at 18%, and within that the Nationals primary vote at just 3%, Kevin Hogan tells RN Breakfast those figures are “distorted”.
Hogan says that because the Nationals don’t run in all 151 seats across Australia they would be voting at zero in some seats, particularly in inner metropolitan areas.
That’s a really distorted figure. And why I say that is that figure comes across 150 electorates from around the country. And as Nationals, we only stand in about 20 to 30 seats. So we don’t run in any city seats. [In] a lot of cities, we wouldn’t poll at all. We’d poll zero in Wentworth. We’d poll zero in Kooyong. We’d poll zero in Perth because we don’t stand candidates there.
On the rise of One Nation, which received a 27% primary vote in the latest Newspoll, Hogan says there’s no comparison between the right-wing party and the Nationals.
One Nation aren’t a regional party. I mean, One Nation are running across every seat across the whole country. So I mean it’s not even comparable in that sense. But you know obviously their figures have gone up very much since post-Bondi, and that has to be noted.
Deputy Nationals leader defends negotiations with Ley to reform Coalition
The Nationals have got themselves into a bit of a knot after reuniting with the Liberals despite David Littleproud last month saying his party would not sit in a Coalition with Sussan Ley as leader.
On 22 January, after announcing the split, Littleproud put out a statement. This was the very first line:
The Nationals’ Party Room has determined that remaining in a Coalition with the Liberal Party under the leadership of Sussan Ley has become untenable and cannot continue.
Littleproud has attempted some revisionist history in the days since, softening his language and trying to deny the split was about Ley’s leadership specifically.
This morning, deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan also tried to answer the about-turn from the Nationals to come back to the negotiating table with Ley.
He told RN Breakfast:
I was with David when he did that presser in Brisbane, and the question before that was around the context that Sussan at the time was saying that our senators who’d crossed the floor on the hate speech laws could not come back and they’d have to, you know, that that was it, they were out. So that was unacceptable to us because it was a party position. So in the context of the fact that Sussan was not going to let our senators come back into their shadow cabinet positions that we couldn’t serve under her.
Ley says she can keep her job after poor polling
Staying in the hotseat, Sussan Ley speaks to ABC News Breakfast where again she faces questions on whether she will be able to hold on to her leadership of the opposition.
Ley tries to avert the question several times, and says she spoke to leadership contender Angus Taylor over the weekend and will speak to him again this morning.
Asked again point blank if she can keep the job when the Coalition’s situation has been described as “disastrous”, she says:
Yes, I can, in answer to your question. Polls are a point in time. And they do reflect the fact that people are frustrated. People are angry. They want us to be a strong opposition. And to be there for them. And I understand that.
Ley says her relationship with Nationals leader David Littleproud is not toxic, and says the negotiations have “strengthened our processes”.
Calm down and have a cup of tea, says McGrath
Like his colleagues, James McGrath tells RN Breakfast that the Coalition needs to focus on the government and land some blows rather than talking about internal divisions.
He acknowledges the damage done to their voter base, but says the “past is the past” and the party should try and focus on the future.
On whose fault the split is, McGrath won’t ascribe blame, and asked how long it will take to win back the trust of voters, he says:
I don’t know. If I could predict the future, I would give one of those glass crystal balls a go, they can go to a circus fair and they predict the future and charge people money. Look, what we need to do is everybody just needs to calm down, have a cup of tea or a coffee and just work out that what unites us is more important than what may divide us in terms of any policy differences.
He says the Coalition continuing to whisper about itself is “boring”.
‘I’m not going to sprinkle gold dust on a cow pat’, McGrath says on Newspoll
The Liberal party is on some serious damage control this morning, with that tough Newspoll this morning showing the Coalition primary vote on just 18%.
The shadow special minister for state, James McGrath, a Queensland senator, has some pretty choice words for the situation, but says he’s “not surprised” at just how bad it is.
He tells RN Breakfast:
I’m not going to sprinkle gold dust on a cow pat. The polling is dire. It is horrible. It is terrible. But speaking as a former campaign director, I’m not surprised it’s this bad because we’ve spent three weeks having a very public discussion talking about ourselves.
Of course I’m angry about that. I’ve just spent the weekend going back home. I live out in the Darling Downs and wandering through the shops on Saturday … our people are angry because we’ve been talking about ourselves. And what we’ve got to do, and look, I’m guilty of this crime at the moment. I’m talking about ourselves on Radio National.
Coalition marked down for ‘talking about ourselves’, Ley says
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, says she understands why the public have marked her party down, as it struggles to land significant blows on the government.
Speaking to Seven’s Sunrise program, Ley is asked whether the latest Newspoll has her more concerned about the leadership threat from Angus Taylor. Ley says she’s not looking at the “optics” and will focus on the public.
I’m not concerned about the optics of what people commentate on in this building.
Millions of Australians are frustrated … And when they don’t see a clear united message coming out of Canberra, they mark us down.
[They’ve] looked at the disunity and the back and forwards, and they marked us down because they saw us talking about ourselves. But yesterday we drew a line under that. We we’ve resolved our differences, we’ve strengthened our processes, and we’re squarely focused Australians.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog arrives in Sydney
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has arrived in Sydney for a four-day trip to Australia to speak to survivors of the Bondi terror attack and their families.
Herzog touched down this morning with his wife, Michal Herzog, according to the Israeli embassy. Israel’s ambassador Amir Maimon met Herzog at the airport.
The assistant minister to the prime minister, Patrick Gorman, was also there to receive Herzog at Sydney airport.
Welcome to Australia, President Isaac Herzog! ????
Ambassador Amir Maimon and his wife, Tal received President Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog as they arrived in Sydney this morning. pic.twitter.com/RJUxDHYzJF
— Israel in Australia (@IsraelinOZ) February 8, 2026
A court hearing this morning will determine whether planned marches against the visit can go ahead at Sydney Town Hall and if they contravene the New South Wales government’s public assembly declaration.
Amid bad polling figures, Jane Hume asks: what does the Coalition stand for?
It’s a question former frontbencher Jane Hume is grappling with this morning after the Coalition reformed on Sunday.
The Coalition has been hit with some tough polling numbers on Monday. Hume says the party is a “rabble”.
This morning’s Newspoll shows the Coalition is down to just an 18% primary vote, while One Nation skyrockets to 27%. The breakdown of that is 15% to the Liberal party and just 3% to the Nationals.
Hume tells Sky News this morning that Sussan Ley and David Littleproud are going to need to figure out how to get the opposition out of the “hole” they’re stuck in, and deliver a message that resonates with the public.
My message to my leaders, both Liberal and National, is, please, time to express what it is that we’re fighting for. Time to express who it is that we’re fighting for. Because this Newspoll is so bad that we haven’t even been compared to Labor. They haven’t even bothered to do a two party preferred number.
I do believe that it’s time for the leaders to take a look like good, hard look at themselves, and decide what it is that they’re going to do to get us out of this hole.
Hume says the party needs a “reset”, and host Pete Stefanovic asks Hume whether this means a leadership reset. She says:
I can’t answer that question. What I can only say is that at some point we need to do a reset and say, what is it that we stand for? Who is it that we’re fighting for, and what policies are we presenting? Because the more we talk about ourselves, the less people listen to us.
Good morning
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning. Krishani Dhanji here with you for another sitting week, and there is so. much. going. on.
The Coalition have reunited after a near three week split this time, and will sit together on the opposition benches again. This also means they’ll get back all their extra questions that were given to the crossbench, but not everyone in the Liberal party is happy with the concessions made to the Nationals.
Sussan Ley is doing the media rounds to explain how they’ll remain together and while the Coalition faces some pretty dire polling it’s opening up speculation even further about a potential leadership spill. There will be plenty of reaction to that.
The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, has arrived in Sydney this morning, with a rally to go ahead there. Within Labor’s own ranks Ed Husic said last week he had “deep concerns” about the visit.
Meanwhile the Labor government will continue trudging along after the PM returned from Indonesia on the weekend to sign a defence pact.
Stick with us, it’s going to be a busy one!
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