Australia news LIVE: Labor’s Digital Duty of Care to be introduced to parliament this week, but Greens will demand changes; Frydenberg says Liberals ‘need to do better’

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of national news for Monday, October 12. Here’s what is making headlines today.

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s preferred prime minister rating rose by three percentage points to 32 per cent and Labor’s primary vote is up one point, this month’s Resolve Political Monitor found. Voter support for One Nation also fell from its high point in June, with the party’s primary vote down by 2 percentage points in the past month.
• Labor’s Digital Duty of Care laws will be introduced to parliament this week, and will require platforms such as Meta and X to screen out harmful content for under-18s including pornography, content that promotes eating disorders, and sites promoting hostility to women.
• The Greens are proposing changes to the bill that would see individuals able to sue big tech companies for compensation if they believed they were harmed online.
• During an interview with 60 Minutes last night, former treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the Liberal Party faced an “existential threat”, and that leader Angus Taylor needed to “do better”. The remarks come amid renewed speculation Frydenberg could be making a return to politics. Senior Coalition figures, including Taylor, have said they would welcome him back.
• And Pope Leo will be undergoing surgery this week to remove a small growth on his lung in the first health scare of the 71-year-old’s tenure. The Vatican did not say whether the nodule is believed to be malignant.

Cairo: Saudi authorities say King Fahd International Airport in Dammam has been attacked, with few details.

Saudi civil aviation said on Sunday evening (Saudi time) that efforts were underway to assess damage at the airport about 400 kilometres east of the capital, Riyadh. Dammam is on the Persian Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar.

Earlier on Sunday, a projectile struck a passenger terminal at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh – a day after a missile hit the same terminal and killed at least 12 people, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said. The Houthis claimed responsibility for those attacks and others.

Saturday’s missile attack was the deadliest in a Gulf Arab nation since the Iran war began, with another 300 people wounded, some critically. The airport was closed on Sunday.

Office-based Qantas engineers are expected to go on a two-hour strike at the Mascot, NSW head office in a dispute over pay.

Engineers at Qantas, represented by Professionals Australia, are expected to conduct a two-hour strike from 10am-12pm AEST and a planned protest at Qantas’ headquarters.

Professionals Australia voted to stop work without an improved wage offer from Qantas. They will also begin bans on performing work on Qantas’ long-haul 787 Dreamliner and A380 aircraft.

“The B787 and A380 are currently the aircraft that Qantas operates for their long-haul flights to destinations such as London and New York,” said.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of national news for Monday, October 12. Here’s what is making headlines today.

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s preferred prime minister rating rose by three percentage points to 32 per cent and Labor’s primary vote is up one point, this month’s Resolve Political Monitor found. Voter support for One Nation also fell from its high point in June, with the party’s primary vote down by 2 percentage points in the past month.
• Labor’s Digital Duty of Care laws will be introduced to parliament this week, and will require platforms such as Meta and X to screen out harmful content for under-18s including pornography, content that promotes eating disorders, and sites promoting hostility to women.
• The Greens are proposing changes to the bill that would see individuals able to sue big tech companies for compensation if they believed they were harmed online.
• During an interview with 60 Minutes last night, former treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the Liberal Party faced an “existential threat”, and that leader Angus Taylor needed to “do better”. The remarks come amid renewed speculation Frydenberg could be making a return to politics. Senior Coalition figures, including Taylor, have said they would welcome him back.
• And Pope Leo will be undergoing surgery this week to remove a small growth on his lung in the first health scare of the 71-year-old’s tenure. The Vatican did not say whether the nodule is believed to be malignant.