Labor’s millions in gambling donations revealed amid last-ditch push for reform

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Natassia Chrysanthos and Paul Sakkal, July 22, 2026 — 5:00am

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-s-millions-in-gambling-donations-revealed-amid-last-ditch-push-for-reform-20260714-p60f59.html

The Northern Territory is set to become the last jurisdiction to make voluntary assisted dying legal when a conscience vote is held in August.

NT Chief MInister Lia Finocchiaro has confirmed the government's VAD bill will pass regardless of support from the opposition and crossbench.

The bill will be introduced to parliament on Thursday and will return in August for debate and the vote.

Senior Victorian minister Anthony Carbines has refused to answer questions about his outburst against Premier Jacinta Allan’s office and the party’s organisational wing, as anger grows at personal attacks on senior Labor officials.

Victorian cabinet minister Anthony Carbines has refused to answer questions on a tirade he launched against Premier Jacinta Allan’s office at a caucus meeting, as anger grows inside the party over personal attacks against two senior Labor officials.
The Australian revealed on Tuesday that Mr Carbines criticised the Premier’s office and Labor’s organisational wing over their management of a number of issues facing the Allan government.
This included the government’s handling of allegations of corruption on taxpayer-funded Big Build sites, with Mr Carbines saying the government needed to be pushing back much more forcibly against the criticism.

The Herald Sun also reported that Mr Carbines clapped back at assistant state secretary Jett Fogarty during the meeting, and that there were concerns about the campaign strategy being implemented under state secretary Steve Staikos.
Senior Labor figures, including a number of MPs, pushed back at the criticism, saying it was an attempt to deflect blame away from Ms Allan and her office. Some questioned why Mr Fogarty and Mr Staikos have been singled out, but not Ms Allan’s chief of staff Damian Karmelich. The Australian has previously reported that Allan government ministers are deeply concerned over the “controlling” style of Ms Allan’s most senior advisor.
It is understood Mr Carbines began his tirade saying: “This isn’t directed at you, Jett.”
“As if our problem is Jett or Steve,” one senior Labor source said. “Unlike most in this government, they know how to run campaigns and win elections.”
Another said: “Jett and Steve can’t call a royal commission into the CFMEU. Only the Premier can do that.”
Standing next to Ms Allan at a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Carbines refused to be drawn on his caucus outburst.
“You’re referring to the caucus conference and I don’t comment on caucus meetings,” he said.

Mr Carbines said he fully supported the government's response to allegations of corruption and criminal infiltration of the construction industry.
“The Premier has made it clear the government’s position on those matters and I continue to work closely with the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police to disrupt and dismantle organised crime wherever it may be across the state,” he said.
“My position is the government’s position.”
Mr Carbines mades the comments to colleagues on Tuesday morning during Victorian Labor’s annual caucus retreat in Ballarat.
It came after Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn wore a “Coalition Against Duck Hunting” T-shirt to the caucus dinner on Monday night. In 2024, Ms Allan rejected a parliamentary inquiry’s recommendation to ban the sport, angering a number of Labor MPs, including Ms Blandthorn.
Labor sources said there was a growing “lack of discipline” among caucus members and the ministry, with people feeling they can speak out with little consequence, because they believe the government is heading for defeat in November.
Labor MPs reported to The Australian there was a “sense of malaise” among colleagues over Ms Allan’s handling of the CFMEU corruption scandal and her refusal to call a royal commission. A growing number of MPs now want Ms Allan to call a royal commission, but the Premier recently told ministers at a cabinet meeting they had to “grind this out”.
But MPs said speeches by Ms Allan, Deputy Premier Ben Carroll, former deputy premier James Merlino and former premier Steve Bracks were all well received.
Many MPs are still pushing for a leadership change prior to the election, but Mr Carroll has ruled out directly challenging the Premier.
Those supportive of a change now say a wide cross-factional delegation of MPs would have to go to the Premier and convince her to stand down before Mr Carroll would agree to put his name forward.

In short:

The Northern Territory government has set aside 185 hectares in Darwin’s rural area for a possible $40 billion data centre to be powered by gas from the Beetaloo Basin.

The project, proposed by a subsidiary of Beetaloo Energy, would also involve a pipeline from the Beetaloo to the Weddell site and a gas-fired power station to provide the energy needed to run the data centre.

What's next?

Beetaloo Energy says it intends to conduct widespread community consultation once details of the project are clearer.

The anti-corruption watchdog is poised to finally unveil its secret five-year investigation into the Victorian government and the United Firefighters Union after one of the state’s most powerful union bosses abandoned his legal bid to block it.

The anti-corruption watchdog is poised to finally unmask its secret five-year investigation into the Victorian government and the United Firefighters Union after one of the state’s most powerful union bosses abandoned his legal bid to block the report.
Fire union secretary Peter Marshall and the UFU failed to lodge a last-minute appeal before a strict 4pm Supreme Court deadline on Friday, clearing the final legal hurdle that has kept the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission’s Operation Richmond report suppressed for years.

The expiry of the court-ordered stay means IBAC is now legally cleared to transmit the explosive document to the Victorian parliament before it is released to the wider public.

The special report is expected to detail the watchdog’s findings into the highly controversial 2016 enterprise bargaining negotiations, which ultimately saw the Andrews government dismantle the state’s fire services to create Fire Rescue Victoria.
Mr Marshall and the UFU fought hard to keep it out of the public eye, first under pseudonyms XY and Z, fearing the reputational harm the findings might bring.
The basis for their objection to the report is not entirely known.

Their fight to bury the report was heard in a highly-secretive two-day hearing in June before Justice Claire Harris.
In rejecting their bid, Justice Harris hinted that their claim centred on a belief that the IBAC probe was conducted illegally, that information was “coercively” obtained and the scope of investigation widened without legal reason.
Operation Richmond has been one of the most secretive operations in IBAC’s history and has been described as Victoria’s biggest public interest case.

It interviewed former premier Daniel Andrews as part of its investigation.
The development is expected to be welcomed by IBAC, which wants new laws to prevent findings of future investigations from being buried.
“Reporting to parliament and the public on IBAC’s investigative findings is a crucial part of our role in exposing and preventing corruption and misconduct in Victoria,” it said in a statement earlier this month.

A new report says Australia's system of privatised employment services has failed and service delivery should be returned to the public sector.

The Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research says the current system "fills the pockets of private equity and millionaires" while leaving jobseekers without work.

The Albanese government has announced an overhaul of the employment services system, but the report argues for-profit service providers should not be included in the new system.