Australian news and politics live updates: Angus Taylor confirms he’s running for Liberal leadership

As the counting continues in six seats around the nation, hopeful candidates are still sweating on their results in the Federal election.

Lets take a look at the live tallies as they stand right now:

As the cards continue to fall into place within the halls of Parliament House in Canberra, Angus Taylor has now made it official that he will contest the Liberal leadership vote next Tuesday.

Mr Taylor now joins Sussan Ley as the last two standing in the race for the top job within the Coalition.

“Today, I am announcing my candidacy for the leadership of the Liberal Party,” Mr Taylor said in a statement on Friday.

“This is not a decision I’ve taken lightly, but it is one I’ve taken with conviction following discussions with many of my colleagues this week.

“Our party is at a crossroads. After the result on Saturday, we owe it to our members, our supporters, and the millions of Australians who believe in our cause to regroup, rebuild, and get back in the fight.

“We must unify our party, rebuild its foundations and take up the fight to Labor.”

Tim Ayres, Daniel Mulino, Sam Rae and Jess Walsh have been confirmed as the newest Labor cabinet members, following days of fierce internal politicking.

In the first meeting of the expanded Labor caucus, Milton Dick was nominated to be returned as Speaker.

As is protocol, Anthony Albanese has been returned as Labor leader, Richard Marles has been reelected as deputy leader, Penny Wong as leader in the Senate and Don Farrell as deputy Senate leader.

Australian property listings platform Domain has sealed a $3 billion deal with CoStar after the US suitor sweetened its offer to get its hands on the Nine Entertainment-controlled group.

CoStar, which already has a near-17 per cent stake in Domain, has been circling the company since February, when it lobbed an all-cash offer of $4.20 a share.

It returned a month later with an extra 23¢ a share — the $4.43-a-share bid is a 50 per cent premium to its one-month weighted average before the offer was revealed.

Domain said on Friday it had now entered into a binding scheme implementation deed and is urging shareholders to back the deal.

Read the full story here.

There were a couple of moments of levity during Mr Albanese’s remarks when his phone rang, not once but twice.

After hanging up on it the first time he said that too was an important rule - switch phones to silent.

But it rang again towards the end of his speech.

The second time appeared to be a media contact - the Prime Minister wondered aloud why they weren’t watching.

“To the viewers at home, stop ringing!” he jokes.

After the PM’s speech, the new members sign their names in the caucus book - in the order of the date their seat was created.

While Anthony Albanese was addressing the caucus, his office released a statement saying the secretary of his department, Glyn Davis, told him shortly after the election he wouldn’t continue in the role.

Mr Albanese tapped Professor Davis to lead his department quickly after the 2022 election.

He says today Professor Davis was instrumental in restoring the standing of the public service.

“He worked calmly and steadily to reassert the purpose of the public service, and I thank him on behalf of the Government, the Australian Public Service, and the Australian people,” he says in a statement.

Mr Albanese also warns his colleagues, old and new, about the importance of sticking together and remembering what is actually important.

The call for discipline and unity comes after a couple of days of internal ructions as the factions divvied up the ministry roles.

Ed Husic, who has lost his cabinet position after the right ousted two previous ministers in favour of two younger newcomers, is not at the caucus meeting.

“The people who’ve sat in this caucus previously and who sat in the room down there gave me extraordinary support and confidence,” Mr Albanese says.

“I was never looking behind, always looking forward.

“And I repeated the message a number of times in this room of the importance of unity, of not getting ahead of ourselves, of being focused not on ourselves, because I’ve seen that happen too. We know where that ends.”

He urged a “laser-like focus” on the people who voted for Labor but also those who didn’t but needed a socially progressive government in power.

Mr Albanese has turned his caucus address to remarks on what is essentially his stump speech, talking about Labor’s plans and his optimistic vision for Australia’s future.

He mentions the conversations he’s had with world leaders over the past couple of days, including what he describes as a lengthy discussion with King Charles last night.

He reaffirms the first piece of legislation to be introduced when parliament returns will be wiping 20 per cent of student debt.

“Now I think that’s important, not just in itself, but for what it says about our commitment to intergenerational equity,” he says.

“Young people deserve a fair crack.”

Younger generations overwhelmingly backed Labor and turned away from the Coalition at the election and there is recognition within the party that the generational shift in the electorate’s demographics must be acknowledged throughout this next term of government.

Mr Albanese also lauds how representative Labor’s caucus is of the community.

It is on track to have 57 per cent women among its ranks and also contains considerable cultural diversity.

“I see a diverse group of people that are truly representative of our nation, and that’s what our parliament should be, because we seek to represent the entire nation,” he says.

“Political parties need to move with the future, rather than resisting it and resisting it in a way which ends up being you just represent in Australia that is no longer there.”

Anthony Albanese received a lengthy standing ovation when he entered the caucus room for the first meeting of all the Labor MPs in Canberra today.

He noted that Thursday was the 125th anniversary of the first meeting of Labor caucus.

The government party room is at one end of Parliament House, with the Opposition party room at the other end of the corridor.

The parties change their meeting locations depending on whether they are in or out of office.

“For those of you who are new welcome,” Mr Albanese says.

“Your objective should be really clear, which is to continue to earn the right to sit in this room, at this end of this corridor, because this is where decisions are made that actually make a difference to the country.

“You need to be in government to make a difference.”