Anthony Albanese has said Senator Fatima Payman should hand back her seat to Labor and contest the next election along with other candidates from her new party.

In an interview with the Financial Review, the prime minister responded to reports Payman was planning to announce her new party this week – and said she should use this as an opportunity to test her own popularity:

Senator Payman should test democratic support for her actions by contesting the next election herself under the banner of her new political party.

As Paul Karp reports, Payman quit Labor in July to sit on the crossbench after crossing the floor to vote for a Greens motion in the Senate to recognise Palestine.

Payman has discouraged Muslim Australians from creating a religious political party, arguing a new movement would need a “broader base” to succeed. You can read more below:

Australian government ‘makes no apology’ after Iran summons ambassador

Daniel Hurst

The Australian government says it “makes no apology” for its comments about Iran, after the Australian ambassador in Tehran was summoned to a meeting with the Iranian foreign ministry.

The Australian ambassador to Iran, Ian McConville, was reportedly summoned to a meeting over the weekend in which the Iranian foreign ministry protested what it labelled as Australia’s “biased stance”, including over Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.

Iran has said this missile attack was in response to the deaths of the Hezbollah secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, in southern Beirut and the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.

The Australian government has previously said it called the Iranian ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, in to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra on Friday to protest his “utterly unacceptable” tweets in support of Hezbollah.

This afternoon, a spokesperson for Dfat responded to the summoning of McConville with the following statement:

Australia makes no apology for the views it has expressed about Iran’s actions or the actions of its ambassador to Australia.

The Australian government condemned Iran’s reckless missile strikes on Israel. They were a dangerous escalation and increased the risks of a wider regional war.

The Australian government continues to call on all parties to exercise restraint and de-escalate.

The destructive cycle of violence in the region must stop.

Cait Kelly

Final hearings in no-grounds evictions trial in Western Australia

In final hearings today, the WA supreme court will hear cases launched against the Western Australian government by two public housing tenants, whose lawyers argue the Department of Communities’ use of no-grounds evictions and fixed-term public housing tenancies is unlawful because it denies procedural fairness and is legally unreasonable.

In a joint hearing last month, the WA supreme court heard a case reserved to it by a Perth magistrate on questions of law involving the attempted “no-grounds” eviction of a WA public housing tenant and simultaneously heard a second judicial review case for a WA family facing eviction at the end of a fixed-term public housing tenancy.

After hearing last month from the tenants’ lawyers and from lawyers for the WA Department of Communities, Justice Howard adjourned the matter to this morning to complete submissions and reply, noting that this case is “important to a lot of people, it’s an important case, and it’s going to take some consideration”.

More on this to come.

Jordyn Beazley

‘Let this day be a day of mourning and commemoration to the Jewish people,’ says Alex Ryvchin

Alex Ryvchin from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry held a press conference a little earlier today from Sydney’s eastern suburbs to mark the 7 October anniversary.

Ryvchin was joined at the press conference by a number of community members who held posters of the hostages who remain captured or have died during the war. Ryvchin said:

The fact that over 100 people remain in captivity, it’s a national tragedy for the Jewish people. And the fact that a year has passed and so much has occurred for us as a community, so much has happened in our own personal lives, and all the while, these people are languishing in hell, second by second, minute by minute, and frankly, nothing is being done for them.

Ryvchin, after being asked if he thinks Israel’s campaign in Gaza, has gone “too far”, said, “It’s incumbent on Israeli’s to do what they can to destroy Hamas military capacity.” He said he agreed with the Israeli ambassador’s statement that the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon was a “battle for the free world”.

Many of the questions at the press conference focused on Ryvchin’s thoughts about the Palestine and Lebanon rally held on Sunday, and on the candlelight vigil planned for this evening.

Ryvchin said the council does not oppose the right for Australians to assemble and express political views, but asked people to “leave this one day alone” and “to let this day be a day of mourning and commemoration to the Jewish people”.

The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting thunderstorms in north-west, central and south-east parts of Queensland today.

It said severe storms are possible in the south-east, with damaging wind gusts, large hail and heavy rainfall.

Ahead of the vigils and solemn ceremonies set to be held across Australia today, the NSW police has reissued its message for attendees not to display the Hezbollah flag.

The message – which was broadcast on LED screens at a pro-Palestine rally in Sydney yesterday – reads:

The Hezbollah flag, symbols and portraits of Hassan Nasrallah should not be displayed at the public assembly as this may amount to a criminal offence.

For more, you can read this explainer from Tory Shepherd below:

Daniel Hurst

Australian ambassador in Iran summoned over country’s ‘biased stance’, reports indicate

We are chasing a response from the Australian government to reports that Iran summoned the Australian ambassador in Tehran over the weekend.

Reuters cites the Iranian news agency Tasnim as reporting that the Australian ambassador, Ian McConville, was summoned to a meeting for the Iranian foreign ministry to protest what it labelled as Australia’s “biased stance”, including on Iran’s response to Israel.

The Israeli military is planning for a “significant and serious” response to Iran for last week’s large-scale ballistic missile attack on Israel.

On Friday Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, defended what he described as the “legal and legitimate” ballistic missile attack on Israel. Iran has said the action was in response to the deaths of the Hezbollah secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, in southern Beirut and the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

The Australian government has previously said that the Iranian ambassador to Australia was called in to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Friday to protest his “utterly unacceptable” tweets in support of Hezbollah.

We have asked Dfat for a response to the subsequent call-in of the Australian ambassador in Tehran. We will bring you comments as soon as we receive them.

Adeshola Ore

‘Don’t protest’: Jacinta Allan on pro-Palestine procession planned for today

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has reiterated calls for pro-Palestine activists not to hold a procession for Gaza on the one-year anniversary of the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel.

Speaking to reporters, Allan says the anniversary is a “not a day to add to grief and trauma.

Today is very much a day of profound grief and trauma and deep, deep sadness for Melbourne and Victoria’s Jewish community. They are grieving and they have been grieving for a full year now.

Activist group, Free Palestine Coalition Naarm, is due to hold a vigil and silence procession for the lives lost in Gaza tonight. Asked about the event, Allan says “don’t protest”:

Consider that pain and grief. Consider what today means. Just show some respect.

Jonathan Barrett

Shares in lithium company surge amid Rio Tinto interest

Shares in Arcadium Lithium shot up 50% in early trading today after Rio Tinto confirmed it had made a non-binding approach to buy the dual-listed miner.

A successful acquisition would transform Rio Tinto into one of the world’s biggest lithium suppliers ahead of an anticipated surge in demand for lithium-ion batteries, used to power electric vehicles.

The approach comes at a time of deeply depressed lithium prices, caused by an oversupply.

Rio Tinto said in a statement to the ASX today that its approach was “non-binding and there is no certainty that any transaction will be agreed to or will proceed”.

Arcadium has lithium operations around the world, and is dual-listed in Australia and the US.

Its ASX-listed shares surged as high as $6.29 on Monday morning, after trading most of last week at around the $4.20 mark.

Shares in other ASX-listed lithium companies, including IGO and Liontown Resources, were also up strongly early on Monday as investors interpreted the Rio Tinto approach as a positive sign for the wider sector.

Qantas has provided an update on assisted departure flights from Cyprus, where Australians and their families have been staying in temporary accommodation after leaving Lebanon before their connecting flights back to Australia.

Qantas said its 787 Dreamliner left Sydney for Cyprus this morning, the first of two assisted departure flights bringing Australians home.

In addition to the flight and cabin crew, Qantas said a dedicated team will be on board – including “ground personnel, medical personnel, engineers and a specialised toolkit and parts in case they are required to help dispatch the aircraft in Larnaca”.

Flight ASY1258 is expected to depart Larnaca on Monday evening, with up to 220 passengers on board, arriving back to Sydney on Tuesday evening.

Qantas will then fly passengers to their nearest home domestic airport that the airline operates to, at no cost … The total distance of the flight is around 15,890 km, slightly exceeding the distance of our Perth-London service, which is the longest on our network.

Qantas said the Australian Red Cross will be at Sydney airport to provide psychological first aid and referral support for those returning.

The second flight, ASY1270, is expected to depart Larnaca on Wednesday evening and arrive back in Australia on Thursday evening.