Australia news live: Liberal frontbencher backs Hastie on immigration; Mark Latham threatens legal action after police escort him from Randwick racecourse

<p>Melissa McIntosh said MPs of the calibre of Hastie, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Jane Hume should be on the Coalition frontbench. Follow today’s news live</p><ul><li><p>Get our <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl">breaking news email</a>, <a href="https://app.adjust.com/w4u7jx3">free app</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl">daily news podcast</a></p></li></ul><p><strong>James Paterson says Hastie move to backbench part of Liberals’ ‘debate and contest about ideas’</strong></p><p>The sooner the Liberal party can sort out its differences the better but it may take a while after <strong>Andrew</strong> <strong>Hastie</strong>’s departure to the back bench, according to one of the rogue MP’s closest colleagues.</p><p>But we do have to make sure we go through our processes. We have to make sure we have those debates.</p><p>One of the reflections we’ve all had about the last parliamentary term is that there wasn’t enough debate and contest about ideas, that we need to robustly contest policy before we settle on it.</p><p>On the back bench, I’ll continue to advocate for things I believe in.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/oct/05/australia-news-live-hecs-student-debt-mark-butler-albanese-labor-melbourne-metro-nsw-qld-sussan-ley-andrew-hastie-coalition-ntwnfb">Continue reading...</a>