What we learned, 3 November 2024
With that we’re wrapping up the blog. Before we go, here are the major stories from Sunday:
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has pledged to cut a fifth of all student debt if his government is re-elected.
The prime minister has also announced that his government will make Tafe free across the country as part of a broader push to reform the education sector.
Two men have been charged after a bushfire in Adelaide on Saturday.
Former US ambassador and former treasurer Joe Hockey says the re-election of Trump would be good for Australia.
The Coalition has criticised the Labor government’s pledge on student debt as a “cash splash”.
The Greens have responded to Albanese’s student debt announcement by claiming credit for the policy and asking, why wait?
Unclaimed Myki credit is now sitting at $115m.
We’ll pick things up again tomorrow.
Updated
Auction activity across the country falls
Auction activity has dropped this weekend with 1,983 auctions to be held.
This is a steep fall on the 3,135 held last week and roughly similar to the 2,023 that occurred at the same time last year.
Based on results collected so far, CoreLogic’s summary found that the preliminary clearance rate was 63.4% across the country, which is lower than the 66.8% preliminary rate recorded last week and slightly below the 63.8% actual rate on final numbers.
Across the capital cities:
Sydney: 744 of 1,056 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 65.5%
Melbourne: 378 of 473 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 62.4%
Brisbane: 128 0f 182 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 58.3%
Adelaide: 82 of 173 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 73.8%
Canberra: 58 of 94 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 55.2%
Tasmania: No auctions held.
Perth: Three of 15 auctions held.
Updated
Inflation easing but RBA not expected to lower interest rates
Inflation is easing but the Reserve Bank of Australia is still expected to hold off on interest rate cuts this week.
The central bank has kept the target cash rate on hold at 4.35% for almost a year, a level it believes is high enough to slow the economy, weaken demand for goods and services, and bring down inflation.
Quarterly inflation data released last week will be at the centre of discussions in the two-day meeting.
Australia’s headline inflation eased to 2.8% in the September quarter, its lowest level in more than three years and back within the RBA’s 2-3% target band.
The underlying inflation rate – the trimmed mean watched closely by the central bank – came in at 3.5%.
The result was down from 4% in June, but outside the desired range.
Strong job creation and low unemployment further adds to the case to stay on hold although consumer spending has been weak, in a sign interest rates are weighing on demand.
Both retail sales and household spending data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics point to sluggish spending, even as federal government tax cuts boost incomes.
As well as a post-meeting statement from the board, RBA governor Michele Bullock will take questions from the media after the rates announcement on Tuesday.
Other data on the agenda includes Melbourne Institute’s inflation gauge, and ANZ and Indeed’s job advertisement numbers due on Monday.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release international goods trade balance data on Thursday.
– AAP
Updated
The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, is going the extra mile after helping launch the government’s campaign event in Adelaide.
In a series of posts to X, formerly known as Twitter, the premier says the PM has “always worked hard and he’s never forgotten who he’s worked for”.
The series of posts, which echoes his earlier statements attempting to rally the troops before a federal election, also contains big glossy images of the premier, who is looking at his own 2026 election, sharing the limelight with Albanese.
Today, we were joined by our Prime Minister @AlboMP.
— Peter Malinauskas (@PMalinauskasMP) November 3, 2024
The great thing about our PM is that he’s always worked hard and he's never forgotten who he's working for. pic.twitter.com/9QdERmiJaJ
And when Albo fights, those fights are always for others.
— Peter Malinauskas (@PMalinauskasMP) November 3, 2024
Which is why we’re going to fight for him.
So this country can keep getting things done. pic.twitter.com/Q9fralUaZU
So to our supporters, let’s get out there, speak to as many Australians as possible so @AlboMP and a Federal Labor Government can continue with the job of building Australia’s future. pic.twitter.com/peT10cBPXN
— Peter Malinauskas (@PMalinauskasMP) November 3, 2024
Updated
Police search for three men on Gold Coast continues
Police are searching for three men allegedly involved in a break and enter on Sunday morning which ended with a 25-year-old injured as they sought to defend themselves.
Queensland police say that just before 4am, three men entered a unit in Arundel when a fight broke out between them and the 25-year-old occupant.
After the men fled the scene, the occupant was transported to Gold Coast university hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Detectives from the Gold Coast criminal investigation branch are investing and do not believe the suspects pose a threat to the general community.
Any witnesses or anyone with relevant CCTV vision is urged to contact police.
Updated
Two men charged with animal cruelty after two dogs allegedly shot in NSW
Two men have been charged with animal cruelty offences after two dogs were allegedly shot in western New South Wales on Saturday.
NSW police allege a 41-year-old man became involved in a verbal argument with another at a property in Stannifer.
After the argument the 41-year-old allegedly walked outside with a shotgun and fired several rounds towards two dogs, killing one and injuring the other.
He then allegedly left the scene before police arrived.
A crime scene was established, and investigations commenced.
It is believed the two men are known to each other.
Police later found the man by his vehicle where he was arrested and taken to Inverell police station.
A roadside breath test allegedly returned a positive result.
The 41-year-old man has been charged with common assault (DV), torturing, beating etc and causing death of animal, handling/using firearm under the influence of alcohol/drug, possessing unregistered firearm-prohibited firearm, not keeping firearm safety-prohibited firearm, commit an act of cruelty upon an animal, and driving with middle range PCA.
He has been refused bail and will appear before Parramatta local court on Sunday.
Police also stopped another vehicle seen leaving the property, driven by a 67-year-old man.
After approaching the vehicle, the officers allegedly found a firearm.
The man was arrested and taken to Inverell police station and charged with possessing unregistered firearm-not pistol/prohibited firearm.
He was granted conditional bail to appear before Inverell local court in January.
Updated
Electric heavy-duty trucks rolling out
More Australian businesses are adopting electric heavy-duty trucks but the industry still risks missing its emissions reduction target, experts warn.
Supermarket giant Coles and recycling firm CD Dodd are the latest companies to add electric prime movers to their transport fleets in Victoria and Western Australia, under changes announced last week, AAP reports.
Another 150 heavy-duty zero-emission trucks are expected to follow in 2025, according to Volvo, despite restrictions in some states and inconsistent laws in others.
The updates come weeks after the transition to electric vehicles inquiry heard calls for the federal government to provide greater support for the use and purchase of electric trucks, including charging infrastructure and financial incentives.
Coles is adding a battery-powered prime mover to its Victorian delivery fleet in partnership with Linfox, and the COO, Matt Swindells, said the addition would save 25,000 litres of fuel each year.
Mining metal recycling firm CD Dodd also announced plans to deploy a heavy-duty electric truck in its operations, with the Volvo FM electric truck able to transport 50 tonnes of freight for up to 300km a charge.
The investments show transport companies are keen to embrace fuel-saving technology, adding to the 65 heavy and medium-sized electric trucks already on Australian roads, the Volvo Group president, Martin Merrick, said.
Local companies had placed another 150 orders for large electric trucks to arrive in 2025, he said, but the figure could be larger if state, territory and federal governments worked to provide consistent rules for their use.
Governments in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT have changed front axle weight restrictions to allow electric trucks, although the rules vary.
Updated
Disturbed, not surprised: Chris Bowen on climate crisis
In Spain, more than 200 people have been killed after the deadliest floods in the country’s modern history. Australia is heating faster than the global average, meaning more extreme heat events, longer fire seasons, increasingly intense heavy rain and sea level rise. And globally, this year is highly likely to be the hottest on record, beating the current title holder, 2023. For some, this escalating scientific evidence can be alarming. But the person in charge of Australia’s response to the climate crisis says that is not a word he would choose.
“If alarm implies concern, sure. But alarm implying surprise? No,” says Chris Bowen, the country’s climate change and energy minister.
We’re living climate change. What we’re now trying to do is avoid the worst of it.
Report after report, temperature records tumbling, natural disasters increasingly unnatural – that’s why we keep going. That’s what drives me. It gets me out of bed every day. So perhaps alarmed is the wrong word. Disturbed, maybe. But, you know, not surprised.
For more on this the Guardian Australia’s interview with the federal climate minister, read the full report by environment editor Adam Morton:
Updated
It’s up to Labor to ‘make the case for fairness’: SA premier
The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, with a somewhat gravelly voice, is now giving his speech making the case for the Albanese government. He’s made a reference to the Light on the Hill, and has pitched the Labor government as the stewards of fairness in Australia.
It’s up to Labor to “make the case for fairness in this country” he says – but he warns of a fierce fight ahead.
The Tories are going to come at us. And they’re going to come at us hard. It’s the one thing they might actually be good at.
Updated
Dutton’s agenda is ‘all wrong for Australia’: PM
Albanese:
Peter Dutton has spent every day hoping the worst for this country. He thinks Australia can’t compete for good jobs, that workers don’t deserve their wages, that you don’t need help with your power bills, he thinks medicine should be more expensive and Medicare less generous. He is wrong about our country and his agenda is all wrong for Australia.
Because the challenges facing us won’t be solved by cutting. The opportunities ahead of us won’t be seized by wrecking. This is a time for building. Building better education for all, building more homes for Australians, building the cleaner and cheaper energy to cut our emissions and power our homes and industries. Building an economy defined by good jobs, fair wages and equality for women. Building an economy connected to the growth and opportunities of Asia where we make things here in Australia. Building a society defined and uplifted by better aged care, a more secure NDIS and stronger Medicare for everyone. Building a nation that is secure at home, strong in our region and respected on the world stage. Building and Australia where we care for our environment and keep it safe for our grandchildren. Building in Australia where we embrace every culture, every faith and every tradition that enriches our nation, beginning with the oldest continuous culture on earth.
My fellow Australians, next year, with respect for our people, optimism for the future and a determination to shape it. A Labor government will be asking for the opportunity to continue to serve the greatest country in the world and the chance to make it even greater still. Building on the strong foundations we have made, building together, building to last, our Labor government building Australia’s future.
And with that, Albanese leaves to great applause.
Updated
PM hints at further education pledges
Albanese has signalled that his government has unfinished business saying these policies are the “next big step” but “won’t be the last”.
My colleague Paul Karp suggests that this means the government may look at the cost of degrees, will seek to undo parts of the Coalition’s “job ready graduates” program, or return to a demand-driven university system.
Meanwhile, the PM is building to a crescendo saying the next election will present a clear choice:
A Labor government driving to be the change our nation needs and creating the opportunities that our people deserve. Or a return to the denial, delay and vision of the past Liberal and National parties, the same people that spent nine years in government creating the problems and have spent every day in opposition trying to block the solutions.
Their cuts, waste and neglect left Australia wide open to global uncertainty and now they want to go further, they want to cut what is helping, punish people that are struggling, to claw back big tax cuts we delivered, close the Medicare urgent care clinics we opened, to stop the housing projects we started, to take away the help with power bills you deserve, to push up the price of medicines you need, to rip away the pay rises you received and the rights you have, to derail the progress we made on renewables so they can burn 100s of billions of dollars on nuclear reactors, a plan that will deliver less than 4% of the energy Australia needs, and two decades too late.
Updated
Graduates have been ‘caught out’ by rising inflation: PM
Albanese is now addressing his promise to wipe $3bn of student debt if re-elected. He says Australia’s graduates have been “caught out” by rising inflation and that this change will save a person with an average debt “around $1,200”.
Part of this was about addressing a one-off but, just as importantly, we changed the system and made it fairer and better so it could never happen again.
Albanese says it was a Labor government that created the Hecs system and “chose that name because it was about students making a contribution to the cost of their education”. He says that was changed by the Liberals to make it more like a standard loan.
This generation of students graduating from three-year degrees with debt of 30, 40, $50,000. That level of debt hangs over you. You can see it when you login to myGov or do your tax return and it affects how much you can borrow for homes and impacts decisions you make about your family and career. Because of the changes in rising costs, it comes out of your take-home pay sooner. Fixing this intergenerational unfairness will require substantial investment. It will take time.
The PM says that if his party wins re-election, his government will wipe 20% of student debt “for everyone that has one”.
This measure alone means a typical university graduate will see their debt cut by $5,500.
The government will also raise the repayment threshold from $54k to $67k, lower the rate of repayment and “index both to keep them fairer into the future”.
Updated
PM pledges permanent free Tafe
Australia will have access to permanent free Tafe nationwide if the Labor government is re-elected, the PM says in the first major policy announcement.
Albanese says his government will legislate to guarantee 100,000 free Tafe places each year to give “more opportunity for Australians to train and retrain in a changing and dynamic economy”.
Tafe gives our country and our people all of this and as long as there is a labour government, free Tafe is here to stay.
The PM says his government will also double the number of university hubs in regional communities.
Updated
Education at heart of Labor’s vision for Australia: PM
The PM is using the opportunity to define the legacy of his first-term government and to lay out his vision for what Australia as “a country where you know if you put in and work hard, it adds up to something” and “no one held back and no one left behind”.
Albanese says education is at the heart of this vision, as it will help ensure the country has the “tradies and architects to build and plan the homes we need, the engineers and electricians that deliver the clean energy to take us to net zero, the scientists discover new cures and driving new breakthroughs”.
He says that his government has done this by putting Tafe back of its policy planning.
No Labor government would ever call Tafe a waste.
Updated
‘Our nation can lead the world on clean energy’: PM
Albanese is seeking to cast the challenges that Australia has faced as opportunity:
I know workers, families and small businesses have all done it hard. But while there are still challenges to meet, still problems to solve, still people under pressure that need our help, when we look at the economy today, we can see new reasons for optimism, new proof that the worst is behind us.
Together we have faced a global storm and have navigated it in the Australian way, the Labor way, not by cutting services Australians count on, not by denying families the help they need in hard times, but by looking after people and look to the future. For all the challenges we have faced, this remains a time of profound opportunity for Australia.
He then pivots into a discussion about South Australia’s embrace of renewable energy as an example of how “our nation can lead the world on clean energy”.
We can power a new generation of manufacturing. We can make things here in Australia. We can build Australia’s future stronger and fairer than ever before. And we can make sure the people who have carried the weight of today’s challenges share the reward of tomorrow’s opportunities. Reform that holds no one back, progress that leaves no one behind. That is what drives and defines our government.
Updated
PM outlines new reforms since Labor came to office
Albanese is running through the list of reforms and interventions his government has introduced since coming to office. According to the PM, this includes:
Making medicine cheaper;
Opening 75 new Medicare urgent care clinics;
Boosting bulk billing;
“Rebuilding the health system so that your Medicare card that matters, not the balance on your credit card”;
Energy bill relief for households and business
A crackdown on dodgy pricing and unfair practices;
Industrial relations reforms;
Boosting wages in aged care, childcare and low-paid industries;
Expanding paid parental leave to six months and adding superannuation to it;
Tax cuts “for every single Australian taxpayer”.
Albanese also points to falling inflation, a narrowing gender pay gap, a stabilised relationship with China and “back-to-back budget surpluses for the first time in nearly two decades.’
When you look at all of these facts, this is an economic record we are so proud of.
Updated
PM outlines ‘serious and urgent challenges’ government has faced
With Marles having set the scene, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is called to the stage with applause.
Albanese opens by using the moment to set the scene for the challenges faced by his newly elected government.
We came to office knowing this is a time of serious and urgent challenges for the global economic uncertainty. A worldwide surge in inflation and energy prices. And Australia’s relationships with our own region under strain.
Under home, aged care was in crisis. Medicare under threat. Bulk billing in freefall. Real wages going backwards not by accident but as a deliberate design feature of the economic architecture. Our energy grid had been run down by years of ideology and neglect. And skills and manufacturing hollowed out to the point that in the midst of a global pandemic we nearly ran out of masks and could not make any more here. These are the challenges we have had to face. This is the mess we have worked to clean up.
Updated
‘Can we afford the cost of Peter Dutton?’: Marles
The defence minister, Richard Marles, is speaking now at a campaign event in Adelaide as federal Labor gears up for the next election.
Marles is attempting to flip the script on the Coalition leader, Peter Dutton, presenting his as reckless, arrange and selfish, and committed to austerity saying he “is prepared to send the country backwards if it will propel him forwards”.
Marles has attacked Dutton’s record on healthcare from his time when he served as Tony Abbott’s health minister, joking that “he was so bad as health minister that even Tony Abbott had to sack him”.
If we give Medicare back to Dutton it will be gone for ever.
He has also landed attacks on the Coalition’s nuclear pitch, pointing out that Dutton has so far refused to answer basic questions and provide basic numbers.
Even if you ignore all of that, you cannot ignore that Peter Dutton’s reckless and risky plan to build nuclear power plants will send energy bills through the roof.
The theme, which will probably be developed going into the next federal election, appears to be a simple one:
Can we afford the cost of Peter Dutton?
Updated
Female killer who wore clown costume released from US prison
An American woman who pleaded guilty to dressing as a clown and in 1990 murdering the wife of a man she later married has been released from prison, ending a case that has been strange even by Florida standards, AAP reports.
Sheila Keen-Warren, 61, was released 18 months after she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting of Marlene Warren, Florida Department of Corrections records show.
The plea deal came shortly before her trial would have started.
Keen-Warren, who has maintained her innocence even after her plea, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
But she had been in custody for seven years since her arrest in 2017, and Florida’s law in 1990 allowed significant credit for good behaviour.
It had been expected she would be released in about two years.
Palm Beach county state attorney Dave Aronberg said in a statement Saturday that the release does not undo her conviction.
Sheila Keen-Warren will always be an admitted convicted murderer and will wear that stain for every day for the rest of her life.
Aronberg last year conceded that there were holes in the case, saying they were caused by the three decades it took to get it to trial, including the death of key witnesses.
Greg Rosenfeld, Keen-Warren’s attorney, has said she only took the plea deal because she would be released in less than two years and had been facing a life sentence if convicted at trial.
We are absolutely thrilled that Ms Keen-Warren has been released from prison and is returning to her family. As we’ve stated from the beginning, she did not commit this crime.
Marlene Warren’s son, Joseph Ahrens, and his friends were at home when they said a person dressed as a clown rang the door bell.
He said that when his mother answered, the clown handed her some balloons.
After she responded, “How nice,” the clown pulled a gun and shot her in the face before fleeing.
Updated
Unclaimed Myki credit sits at $115m
The Victorian government is holding $115m in unclaimed Myki funds in a trust, Guardian Australia can reveal.
Last month, the NSW government announced it was holding $143m in unused Opal transport card funds from nearly 18m cards that hadn’t been tapped on for over a year, encouraging people to check cards and transfer the money back to their bank account.
Sixty per cent of transport users in New South Wales have switched to using credit cards, bank cards or their phones for tapping on.
In Victoria, however, a similar type system isn’t expected to roll out until next year, and Myki cards expire. When they expire the leftover funds go into a trust held by the government until they’re claimed.
As of the end of June, that fund sits at $115m. The government extended the expiry of Myki cards by two years in October last year, and indicated the improvements under way will reduce the risk of unused funds sitting on cards in the future.
Updated
What a week of riding Uber Pool reveals about Sydney
As kids we’re warned not to accept rides with strangers. But when my editors told me to take Uber Pools around Sydney and write about the characters I meet, I had little idea I’d be in for fashion critiques, tales of backseat romances, plenty of awkward silences – and mostly solo rides.
When it first launched before Covid, Uber Pool was perhaps the truest form of ride sharing.
Not only would passengers literally share rides, it offered seriously cheap fares – lower than even the artificially low rates Uber initially charged in early years to capture market share.
The novelty of riding with a stranger, and the more circuitous routes at prices not much higher than a bus ticket, proved popular. It was also like playing Russian roulette – passengers still got the significantly cheaper fare even if the algorithm failed to match them with a co-rider.
Uber’s pool option disappeared at the outbreak of the pandemic, and while it has since been reintroduced, its savings are now less pronounced, and marginal if the algorithm doesn’t find you a co-rider.
I was curious if passengers had re-embraced sharing confined spaces with randoms. Post-pandemic data shows Australians are driving private cars more than ever. Have Sydneysiders become a special breed of overly precious recluses?
For more on this story, read the full feature by Guardian Australia’s Elias Visontay:
Updated
Leading women’s rights advocate dies
Fay Marles, a leading feminist in Victoria and an advocate for the rights of women in the workplace, has died.
Marles was appointed Victoria’s first Equal Opportunity Commissioner, a position she held until 1986. Her work in that role changed helped open up the workplace to women in the state.
In a statement on Saturday, the University of Melbourne issued a statement detailing her career and the long association with the institution that began when she began as an undergraduate in 1944.
Fay will be deeply missed by the University community and the very many people whose lives she touched.
Fay passed away on Friday, surrounded by her children who spent the day beside her. She is survived by, Victoria, Jennifer, Elizabeth and Richard. Her husband, Don Marles, passed away in 2017 after 66 years of marriage.
Updated
Tasmanian government eyes TasPorts and TT-Line merger
A proposed merger between besieged TasPorts and TT-Line has been flagged by the Tasmanian government, AAP reports.
The premier, Jeremy Rockliff, confirmed on Sunday the government would explore the merger and combine it with TasRail to make it a “unified government entity”.
Describing the proposal as a “landmark move”, Mr Rockliff said it would enhance the efficiency and sustainability of Tasmania’s transport and logistics services.
We have seen growing concerns around the performance, accountability, and coordination of some of our government businesses.
Recent issues have highlighted the need for a more strategic, long-term approach to managing Tasmania’s critical infrastructure.
We also require a greater customer focus and better service delivery.
TasPorts is a state-owned company responsible for eleven Tasmanian ports and the Devonport Airport.
TasRail is a state operated company that manages mailine trainlines across the state since 2009, it only operates freight services.
Rockliff said the possible merger could ensure a more integrated, cost-effective, and responsive system for the people of Tasmania.
The Tasmanian government will undertake a detailed restructuring analysis to assess the proposal and ensure a smooth transition.
The analysis will also identify any potential regulatory, legal and competition issues.
It’s unknown how long the analysis will take or when the proposed merger could take place.
Rockliff is expected to hold a press conference on Sunday.
Updated
Why wait?: Greens welcome PM pledge on student debt
The deputy Greens leader, Senator Mehreen Faruqi has responded to the government’s announcement that it will wipe a fifth of the country’s student debt if re-elected by asking: why wait?
In a statement on Sunday, Faruqi said the announcement was “a big win for the Greens and all those in the community who have pleaded and pushed for action to tackle skyrocketing student debt”.
This is a start, but if Labor can wipe 20% of student debt, surely they can wipe all of it.
There’s no reason to wait till July to deliver much needed student debt relief. Labor should bring on the legislation now and we’ll work with them to pass it.
Instead of promising to wipe some student debt if they get re-elected, Labor should start wiping student debt now. Student debt relief shouldn’t be dangled like a carrot on a stick and held hostage to the next election results. We have the numbers in parliament to do it right now.
Updated
Coalition criticises PM’s ‘cash splash’ pledge on student debt
Earlier the shadow foreign affairs minister, Simon Birmingham, also gave the Coalition’s reaction to Labor’s announcement that it will slash student debts by 20%.
Birmingham told Sky News:
I think the initial reaction is, where is the money coming from? When Anthony Albanese was elected he inherited an improving budget position ... but the actions of this government have created a worsening budget position … higher deficits in years ahead. And if Anthony Albanese intends to turn the next election campaign into some great cash splash, where is the money coming from? . …
This isn’t real reform, this doesn’t change the student fees that somebody who starts next year pays. This is simply a cash splash … an attempt at trying to con or hoodwink the electorate ahead of the election.
Updated
South Australian senator Simon Birmingham has expressed frustration at the publication of photos identifying the new home of the Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong.
In a post to social media on Saturday he asked media to take down and avoid publishing photos over security concerns.
High profile politicians face genuine security considerations for themselves and their families.
Responsible media should respect those safety considerations in any reporting of the issues.
I urge media to delete all published images of Penny Wong’s new house. High profile politicians face genuine security considerations for themselves and their families. Responsible media should respect those safety considerations in any reporting of the issues.
— Simon Birmingham (@Birmo) October 31, 2024
Updated
‘It’s certainly not pretty, but this democracy is working’: Hockey
Hockey says he does not have concerns that Donald Trump, should he lose the US election, will not accept the result leading to possible civil unrest.
I’m not so concerned about it at all. I think the moment that was most risky for civil unrest in the United States was the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
Thank God – Democrats say that to me as well as Republicans, ‘Thank God that didn’t happen’ because it’s going to be a moment like that that will ignite the flame of American politics and we all hope and pray that doesn’t happen.
So I think Americans recognise this is democracy. It’s certainly not pretty, but this democracy is working.
Updated
Re-election of Trump would be good for Australia: Hockey
Hockey says a re-elected trump will be a known quantity to Australia and “will be good for us”.
I’ll just say this: Donald Trump 2.0 won’t be a hell of a lot different to Donald Trump 1.0. That’s good for us. It offers some measure of predictability, whereas Harris will be a little less predictable because she needs to differentiate herself from the Biden presidency and most importantly, she will always be looking to re-election. Don’t forget – if Trump is elected, that’s it. Even under Trumpland thinking, he can only serve one more term and that’s it, he can’t run for re-election. Harris can run and will run for re-election if she’s president. So it will be a different type of Presidency.
Harris currently serves as vice-president under the US president, Joe Biden, who was elected in 2020.
Updated
Trump ‘not afraid to exercise power’: Hockey
Hockey says he believes Trump will seek to restart his trade war with China as he “sees China as the main adversary of the United States rather than Russian, or even threats in the Middle East”.
Hockey says Australia will be able to leverage its relationship with the US to maintain Aukus.
Hockey is asked about what Trump’s position on climate change will mean. He says that a re-elected Trump may provide “unpredictable power” that will reinforce Australia’s position as it seeks to re-engage with Pacific Island nations on climate change.
At the end of the day, if – the United States – the thing about Donald Trump is he’s not afraid to exercise power and he’s not afraid to threaten to use power. If he does that, then it actually emboldens Australia’s position, doesn’t weaken it because it means we have an entry point into that unpredictable power that others don’t.
Updated
Hockey confident Aukus deal will remain despite result
Hockey says Australia will be able to manage a new tariff war triggered by a re-elected Trump administration as “we have done it before”.
On Aukus, he says he believes Trump will not seek to change the relationship or pull out of the regional alliance.
I think Trump is – I know that Donald Trump sees Australia very favourably when it comes to issues like national security. I think that will flow through to Aukus that he won’t want to change the relationship with Aukus. He will, however, put a greater priority on building up the US defence system, its reservoir of not only talent, but also importantly the hardware, be it F-35s or Virginia-class subs. So might mean we go down the pecking order on the Virginia-class subs, but again it will rely heavily on our advocacy with Trump.
Hockey says he does not believe a Harris administration would back out of the deal.
Whatever the case, I think, you know, we’ll be in a good position with Harris as well.
Updated
Trump’s tariffs will have ‘profound impact’: Hockey
Hockey says that Trump’s tariff policies will “have a profound impact on Australia and the rest of the world”.
It will stimulate inflation in the United States, it will have a dramatic impact on the US dollar, it will have a dramatic impact on US interest rates, and there’s no win out of Donald Trump’s tariff policies for anyone, including in particular the consumers here in the United States. On the other side – and the key thing about his tariff policies is that they don’t need congressional approval. So he can do it by executive order as he has done before. That’s what makes his tariff policies real.
During his tenure as federal treasurer under the Abbott Coalition government, Hockey was a fierce supporter of free trade and deeply hostile to government support for industry, who oversaw the closure of the Australian car industry after he dared General Motors Holden to “come clean” about its intentions.
Hockey says neither candidate will be able to win both houses needed to get their policy agenda over the line.
Updated
Hockey cites ‘unbelievable’ coalitions of both candidates
Hockey says his read on the election is that the difference comes down to policy, with both candidates having pulled together “unbelievable” coalitions.
For Trump supporters, they want lower tax, they want less regulation, they want a stronger border. For Harris candidates – the overwhelming unifying factor is that Kamala Harris is not Donald Trump. That has brought together an unbelievable coalition that stretches from Bernie Sanders on the left to Liz Cheney who would be a very, very conservative Republican on the right. I mean, that’s a very broad coalition.
That’s up against Donald Trump whose coalition stretches from Elon Musk to the head of the Teamsters Truck Driving union. Now, you couldn’t get a bigger differentiation in that cohort as well.
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Hockey expects US election will be close
Hockey, speaking to ABC Insiders which is being broadcast from Detroit, Michigan, says he expects the election will be close and the result will not be known for “four or five days”.
He says North Carolina will be a key seat, with the former federal treasurer expecting it will be won easily by Trump.
I think North Carolina will come in early if it is a strong result for Trump and it will be a precursor to a – an overall victory for Trump. But if it’s close, then obviously it’s going to make it a very interesting night.
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‘Most Americans have made up their mind’: Hockey
Former US ambassador Joe Hockey says he thinks “most Americans have made up their mind” in the final stages of the US presidential election.
Hockey says there are several unknowns in this contest, ranging from how many will turn out to vote and no one has a clear understanding of which way the outcome will swing.
It is a result that no one is able to predict and it’s going to come as a surprise to Australians, given there are so many polls that were in a position where we can’t pick the winner, but the fact is no one knows how big the turnout is going to be. Unlike Australia where we have compulsory turnouts in elections, here it is a mystery how many new voters will come out and how they’re going to vote.
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Two men charged after bushfire in Adelaide on Saturday
South Australian police have charged two men after a bushfire in Adelaide’s north on Saturday afternoon.
The grass fire burnt 33 hectares (82 acres) at Penfield around Womma Road in Adelaide’s north which burnt several glass houses and a shed.
Three people were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.
The fire is believed to have begun when a spark from an angle grinder ignited the blaze which proceeded to burn out of control.
South Australian police have arrested two men in connection with the fire and charged them which cause a bushfire being recklessly indifferent.
The last major fire to affect the agricultural was the Pinery Creek fire that threatened Gawler and the Barossa region in 2015.
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The former ambassador Joe Hockey will speak with ABC Insiders host, David Speers, on Sunday morning ahead of the US election.
Coming up on #ABCInsiders with David Speers:
— ABC News (@abcnews) November 2, 2024
• Former U.S. Ambassador interviewed🔎
• 📸 Cathy Wilcox
• 🛋️ Farrah Tomazin and Jade Macmillan.
See you at 9am #auspol pic.twitter.com/0NObDnqF7o
Coalition senator Simon Birmingham appeared on Sky News earlier on Sunday.
We will bring you all the latest as it happens.
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PM pledges to cut student debt by 20%
All Australians will have their student debt cut by 20% next financial year, as part of a major federal government overhaul designed to boost access to education and address “intergenerational unfairness”.
The change, which will be outlined by the prime minister at a campaign rally in Adelaide on Sunday, will wipe about $16bn worth of debt and is being sold as a cost-of-living measure for young Australians.
According to government figures, a university graduate with an average debt of $27,600 will save $5,520. The 20% reduction is not capped and also applies to VET loans and apprenticeship support loans.
When combined with changes to how the indexation on student loans is set, as detailed in the May budget, close to $20bn of student debt will be removed for 3 million Australians.
For more on this story, read the Guardian Australia’s full reporting here:
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Good Morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
Anthony Albanese has announced a plan to wipe a fifth of all student debt if his government his re-elected. The PM is expected to outline the details of the change at a campaign rally in Adelaide on Sunday, will wipe $16bn worth of debt as part of the government’s cost-of-living measures.
Two men have been arrested following a grass fire in Adelaide’s north that alleging began after an angle grinder started the blaze. Emergency services were called to an area at Penfield on Saturday afternoon after the fire burnt 33 hectares and several glass houses.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started ...
