Australia news live: Dan Andrews confirms Wednesday caucus meeting will decide new Victoria leader as deputy premier puts hand up

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United Australia’s ‘X’ how-to-vote referendum case goes to the federal court

The Australian Electoral Commission could have days to change its how-to-vote material for the voice referendum as an appeal over how votes marked with an “X” or a cross are counted comes before the federal court.

United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet and the party’s chairman, mining magnate Clive Palmer, have gone to the federal court seeking to have ballot papers marked with a cross counted as a vote against the proposed alteration to the constitution. Last week, their case against the AEC was dismissed.

On Tuesday, Babet and Palmer appealed the decision, with the matter briefly coming before the federal court. A full court hearing in front of a panel of three judges has been scheduled for 9 October.

Representing the AEC, barrister Brendan Lim asked for the court to deliver its judgment by the 11th, three days before the referendum will be held. Lim mentioned “practical issues” the commission would face if the appeal was successful.

The AEC has already distributed advice telling people to make their vote count by writing in English either “yes” or “no” in the box on the ballot paper.

– AAP

Updated at 03.12 EDT

Archer: yes polls dropping but people ‘really not engaged at all with the question’ yet

Liberal MP Bridget Archer, who supports the yes voice campaign, tells ABC’s Afternoon briefing that although the polls are showing support for the yes side dropping, it’s still hard to tell how it will go because a lot of people aren’t engaged on it yet.

She said:

Obviously we have polling that shows that support across the country for the voice has been falling, but here on the ground there is some positivity as well. And I think there are still quite a lot of people surprisingly who are really not engaged at all with the question and [are] really just starting to realise that they will have to go out [in] a couple of weeks and vote on something.

Archer says whether or not the yes or no side gets up, there will be work to do.

If it is a yes, there is a whole range of processes that will be set in place for the legislation to actually establish the voice and the model and I would hope that of course people would participate in that. In fact … literally our jobs as parliamentarians is to engage with that process.

So I certainly would be encouraging that, but likewise, I would be encouraging that if the referendum answer is no, that there is a lot of work still to be done. I think that we can’t turn our back on the situation we have and we still need to turn our minds then to: how do we address the issues that we all agree exist in terms of disadvantage for our First Nations people?

Updated at 03.05 EDT

Airline representatives to appear before Qatar Airways decision inquiry

Qantas and Qatar Airways representatives will appear before a Senate inquiry hearing on Wednesday as the committee examines the Albanese government’s decision to reject the Qatari carrier’s request to almost double its flights into Australia.

Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairs Allan Fels and Rod Sims are also scheduled to give evidence to the committee on Wednesday.

It is not yet clear which individuals from Qantas or Qatar Airways will appear. Committee members had previously hoped the Qantas CEO, Vanessa Hudson, and board chair, Richard Goyder, would appear. Former CEO Alan Joyce had been asked to appear, but his legal representatives told the committee he will be overseas and unavailable to appear either in person or online.

Wednesday’s Canberra hearing of the senate select committee on bilateral air service agreements – set up to examine the rejection of Qatar Airways’ request – was set to be the final time the committee would hear evidence before reporting its findings on 9 October.

However on Tuesday afternoon, as the committee visits Brisbane, it announced an additional fifth hearing day has been added to its agenda. The fifth day will take place on Thursday, also in Canberra, with the program yet to be determined.

Updated at 02.53 EDT

More reactions to Dan Andrews resignation

Federal Labor MP Luke Gosling says on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing he is sure outgoing Victorian premier Dan Andrews would be happy to have his say before a Covid inquiry, and people should “go easy on the witch-hunt.”

I think all those Victorians out there, whether you like Daniel Andrews or not, he is a bloke who cracked on and got things done and I think you will be more than prepared to have his say so we get all those lessons learned.

Liberal senator Anne Ruston says Andrews’ reign went on too long.

It gives a great opportunity with him gone that we can reset the political platform in Victoria and give Victorians a real choice.

We have seen over recent times and pretty devastating decisions by the Victorian government, nothing was more devastating than Melbourne being the most [locked down] city in the entire pandemic.

It’s time to start again and hopefully Victoria will reap the rewards of the benefit of Dan Andrews no longer being the premier of Victoria, because his lack of transparency and lack of accountability for his decisions has been a hallmark of his government.

Updated at 02.47 EDT

Yes23 campaign director on Mundine: Uluru statement from the heart a declaration of ‘aspiration and hope’

Yes23 campaign director, Dean Parkin, is on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing to respond to No campaigner Warren Mundine’s Press Club speech on the voice to Parliament.

He says Mundine’s claim that the Uluru statement from the heart is a declaration of war is “quite incomprehensible”, and suggests Mundine has not read the statement.

The statement was one of aspiration and hope and unifying the country and bring it together and doing something practical for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through our voice to Parliament which is what the referendum is all about.

On the claim from Mundine that there is no door in Canberra that is not wide open to Indigenous Australians, Parkin says Mundine is in “a very privileged position” with a parliamentary pass into the halls of power, but says that isn’t available to many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

He adds that there is no one single body to represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people directly chosen by them.

Updated at 02.40 EDT

Victorian Greens thank Dan Andrews on ‘big steps forward’ despite ‘ideological differences’

The Victorian Greens have thanked Daniel Andrews for his service as premier.

Samantha Ratnam, leader of the Victorian Greens, says the party look forward to working with the state’s new premier to tackle the big issues facing the state:

These include climate change and the dangerous summer conditions we are about to head into, the housing crisis that is driving record levels of homelessness, and the cost-of-living pressures bearing down on people.

While we have had ideological differences at times, there have been some big steps forward for Victoria that we have been glad to support and work together on.

Updated at 02.39 EDT

Victorian deputy premier, Jacinta Allan, has confirmed she will nominate to replace Daniel Andrews as Labor and state leader.

Andrews on Tuesday announced his resignation as Victorian premier after almost nine years leading the state. He will officially step down from politics at 5pm on Wednesday. The state’s Labor caucus will meet on Wednesday afternoon to elect a new leader.

Allan, who has been widely expected to succeed Andrews, confirmed on Twitter she would run for premier.

Updated at 04.21 EDT

Simon Birmingham warns of China’s influence in the region

The shadow foreign minister told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that the Albanese government is being “mugged by reality of the circumstances” with China’s relationship with countries in our region.

Now, we are a situation where Timor-Leste, one of our nearest neighbours, is signing the agreement with China, we are equally seeing further advances in the relationship between Solomon and China and sadly the Solomon Islands parameter start not attending the White House summit being held in the last couple of days. Other challenges with security agreements with Papua New Guinea or Vanuatu demonstrating the challenges are very real.

He says Labor engaged in “hyperpartisan politics” on this issue prior to the election, and he won’t seek to do the same now.

Updated at 02.24 EDT

Simon Birmingham looks to 2026 Victorian election

Liberal senator on ABC Afternoon Briefing wishes outgoing Victorian premier Dan Andrews well in leaving, but says he is leaving “at a time where this year in particular it seems as if things have been going from bad to worse for the Victorian government.”

While there may be a change of leader, the person who replaces Dan Andrews will have been there as the deck mounted, the problems mounted, the Commonwealth Games were put on and cancelled and all those challenges that have been mounting up and I would expect that the problems that is increasingly facing will present a very sharp contrast in choice for Victorians when they get around to the next election, regardless of who may be leading the party.

Updated at 02.25 EDT

Bill Shorten on Daniel Andrews’ legacy

The government services minister tells ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that outgoing Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is a “tough leader for tough times”.

He says Andrews’ two biggest legacies are his leadership through the Covid pandemic, and his work on infrastructure in the state – most notably the level crossing removals.

Asked whether the Covid legacy was good or bad – whether all the closures were worth it, Shorten says he will leave it up to individual Victorians to decide, but Andrews took decisions to help the hospital system cope with a one in 100 year pandemic.

He said of Andrews and former WA premier Mark McGowan:

The premiers stepped up in a way which I don’t think could have been foreseen in the past few decades of Australian state and federal politics.

Asked how he would measure Victoria as being the most progressive state, he lists the royal commission into mental health, as well as rebuilding schools and hospitals.

On the beers: Bill Shorten, Daniel Andrews and Steve Bracks pay tribute to former Australian PM Bob Hawke at the John Curtin Hotel in Melbourne, in 2019. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated at 02.19 EDT