Summary of the day
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s a wrap of what we’ve learned today:
The federal government has announced Australia’s “largest-ever” tender to build renewable energy projects, which will be underwritten by the commonwealth.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese said it was “extraordinary” that X, formerly known as Twitter, did not comply with orders from the eSafety commissioner to take down footage of the Wakeley church stabbing.
The X boss, Elon Musk, should “front up here to parliament”, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has declared, calling the billionaire CEO a “tech thug” and “cowboy” after his platform refused to take down the videos.
The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, said the opposition would support any moves from the government to place penalties on social media companies that won’t remove content deemed damaging to social cohesion.
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has denied there is tension in the Coalition around nuclear power, telling Sky News that a “clear majority” of his party want nuclear power.
Global financial uncertainty has prompted the Treasury to downgrade its growth forecasts for major economies ahead of the federal budget.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has called for the government to issue targeted sanctions on Israel and cease all military trade due with the country due to the war in Gaza. It has also called for a commitment of an additional $100m in humanitarian assistance to Gaza and the West Bank.
An inspection report by the Australian Human Rights Commission has found a high-security immigration detention centre in Western Australia was, in part, “no longer fit for purpose”.
Steve Gollschewski has been named as the new Queensland police commissioner, following the resignation of Katarina Carroll last month.
Erin Patterson, the woman accused of murdering and attempting to murder her relatives by serving them a meal laced with deadly mushrooms, may spend 15 months in custody before she faces a committal hearing, a court has heard.
Murujuga traditional custodians have called for an immediate inquiry to investigate the alleged leak of a confidential report on the Burrup peninsula to the media.
International traffic is now closer to pre-pandemic levels than domestic flights at Sydney airport.
A man has died after being shot by police at a rest area south of Gladstone, Queensland.
Electric utes are being shipped to Australia for use on mining sites after a local firm signed a deal with one of America’s leading vehicle manufacturers.
Thanks so much for your company today. We’ll be back bright and early with all your news, live, tomorrow morning, just after 7am. See you then.
Updated
Crocodile euthanised after fatal attack on teenager
Wildlife officers have euthanised a large crocodile believed to have killed a 16-year-old boy in the Torres Strait last week.
The teenager, and a 13-year-old boy, reportedly attempted to swim back to Saibai Island from a broken-down dinghy early on Thursday morning last week, Queensland police said, with the younger boy making it to safety.
Wildlife officers located the four-metre animal responsible during spotlight searches on Friday night near where the boy died and it was killed on Saturday, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Moody’s seems in no hurry to downgrade NSW credit rating
As we saw earlier today, NSW treasurer Daniel Mookhey was almost daring credit agencies to cut the state’s credit rating in the wake of what he dubbed a “rip-off” GST carve-up:
So bad was it from the budget outlook, Mookhey said, it was almost certain to cost NSW its remaining AAA rating with two of the big three agencies.
Well, one of the two, Moody’s, had kicked the tyres earlier this month and seems in no hurry to downgrade NSW.
John Manning, vice-president and senior credit officer for Moody’s Ratings, told Guardian Australia:
Moody’s retains its stable outlook on the state of New South Wales’ AAA rating ahead of the release of the state’s fiscal 2025 budget.
So nothing changing just yet. The NSW budget lands in June.
Fitch, the other agency with a top-notch rating for NSW, is yet to get back to us. (S&P cut NSW’s debt rating in 2020.)
The state opposition, meanwhile, aren’t impressed, saying Mookhey was using the GST carve-up complaints to divert attention from the impact on the budget of lifting the cap on public wage increases.
The parliamentary budget office had indicated prior to the 2023 election that Labor was relying on productivity gains to offset higher salaries – something the Coalition says is yet to happen.
Updated
Call for second Melbourne injecting room amid synthetic opioid fears
Health experts are warning of the looming threat of strong synthetic opioids called nitazenes among Australian drug users, as former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark said there was an urgent need for a second safe-injecting room in Melbourne.
Referring to the long-mooted facility, Clark, who is chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, said:
The bottom line is that people that are using drugs need to be safe. And that’s why a centre is so important … I hope it will go ahead. The first one is clearly highly successful.
Speaking at the World Health Summit regional meeting, Clark said there was a need for drug decriminalisation, public drug-testing facilities and safe-injecting sites to get ahead of what was described as the imminent threat posed by synthetic opioids, which are already causing an epidemic of drug fatalities in North America.
Nitazenes have already been identified in the ACT, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Certain nitazenes can be from 10 to 100 times more potent than fentanyl, which is also a powerful synthetic opioid.
Read the full story here:
Updated
ACTU calls for sanctions on Israel over Gaza war
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has released a new statement on Gaza, calling for the Australian government to, among other things, place sanctions on “Israeli officials who have called for the denial of aid, and military and civil servants denying essential food and materials to civilians in Gaza”.
Speaking for the Australian union movement, the ACTU statement says it is “horrified by the escalating violence and death toll of civilians in Gaza”.
It continues:
The ACTU reiterates its statements and resolution of 19 October 2023 and 23 February 2024 and continues to call for an urgent and permanent ceasefire and the release of hostages and political prisoners.
The union movement has urged the Albanese government to use “all influence, pressure and diplomatic measures to achieve a permanent ceasefire” and the end to all military trade with Israel.
As well as targeted sanctions and the cessation of all military trade, the ACTU has called on the government to commit an additional $100m in humanitarian assistance to Gaza and the West Bank.
The statement says:
The ACTU calls on the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership to promote open, tolerant and respectful societies through adherence to democratic principles in governance, respect for human rights and equal treatment for all.
The ACTU calls for an end to the occupation of Palestine and a just and sustainable peace in accordance with UN security council resolutions. Including the removal of illegal settlements, the withdrawal of Israel from all Palestinian lands along with the dismantling of the separation wall.
In line with the ACTU’s commitment to a two-state solution with the security of borders for both nations, we call on all countries to recognise, without delay, Palestine as a sovereign state with East Jerusalem as its capital. This will confirm the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination in a free and independent Palestine.
Updated
Greens press for student loan overhaul
Speaking of student debt, the Greens have renewed their push for sweeping loan reforms that would scrap the process of Hecs/Help rising with inflation.
The prime minister has been dropping his own hints that recommendations to reform student loans in the University Accord are being looked at in the federal budget.
One recommendation is to tie student loans to whatever is smaller out of the wage price index (WPI) and the consumer price index (CPI) rather than setting automatically to CPI. Last year, loans were indexed by 7.1% due to high inflation, with a rise in excess of 4% expected this year.
Another option, put forward by higher education economist Andrew Norton in this masthead, would impose a cap at 3% or 4%.
But the deputy leader of the Greens, senator Mehreen Faruqi, says this isn’t enough.
WPI is usually higher than CPI (including this year, according to the govt’s projections) so this change will make little difference ... a cap of 4% still means at least a $1k hike in the avg. HECS debt and almost $3k for someone with a $70,000 debt. A hike people should not be slugged with in a cost of living crisis.
Labor refused demands from the Greens to protect students from huge debt increases last year, but there's still time to stop the massive indexation hit coming again this June.
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) April 22, 2024
No more tinkering around the edges. In the May budget, Labor must scrap indexation on student debt.
Updated
Man shot by Queensland police near Gladstone dies
A man has died after being shot by police at a rest area south of Gladstone.
Police said the man was shot by an officer on Monday, 20km south of Miriam Vale, around 10.50am.
A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesperson said the man was assessed in a critical condition but they did not transport him to hospital.
Guardian Australia understands that he died at the scene.
The Bruce Highway at Gindoran, 5km north of John Clifford Way, remains closed.
Guardian Australia is still awaiting further details about the circumstances of the shooting. A police investigation is under way.
Updated
Treasurer considers relief for ‘under pressure’ students
We mentioned it briefly earlier but the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has further hinted that relief may be on the way for students completing mandatory unpaid university placements.
Students in a range of courses including nursing, teaching and social work are required to complete hundreds of hours of internships in order to graduate.
Academics, the Greens and grassroots group Students Against Placement Poverty have lobbied the commonwealth for years to address the burden, pointing to high drop-out rates and burnout.
The University Accord final report, handed down earlier this year, urged the government to front the bill for “care” degrees, and work with industry to implement stipends for remaining mandatory internships.
Speaking to the media today, Chalmers said both loan reform and placements were being looked at in the budget, acknowledging “students are under pressure”.
With the budget a mere three weeks away – watch this space.
Updated
Court hears conflicting accounts over Victorian school bus crash
A bus driver says he slowed to a near stop at an intersection west of Melbourne when a truck rammed into the back of his bus, seriously injuring eight students, a court has heard.
But another motorist has disputed Graham Stanley’s claims, telling the Melbourne magistrates court he saw no brake or indicator lights in the lead-up to the May 2023 collision that saw a truck crash into the back of the bus.
At the time, 45 students from the Exford primary school in Eynesbury were on the bus. Eight children suffered life-threatening injuries, with two students needing to have arms and hands amputated. Stanley was also hospitalised with a broken ankle.
The driver of the truck was charged with 11 offences, including four counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury.
He faced the Melbourne magistrates court on Monday for the start of a two-day committal hearing.
Read the full story from AAP here:
Updated
Funding boost for warning systems in flood-hit regions
Flood-prone areas across Queensland will receive $7m for early warning infrastructure, AAP reports.
The federal government has announced 170 projects, including new river height gauges, cameras, signage and sensor technology for areas heavily impacted by flooding in 2022.
The emergency management minister, Murray Watt, said that with more frequent and intense flooding in recent years, this infrastructure was crucial.
While we can’t predict the future, we know complacency is simply not an option when it comes to building disaster resilience.
With earlier flood warnings and more comprehensive information captured we’ll significantly improve our defence against disaster events.
More than 20 Queensland councils will get $235,000 each for new flood warning infrastructure. An extra $1m will be set aside for “high-priority” projects within nine of these local government areas.
Updated
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today. Stephanie Convery will be here to guide you through the rest of today’s news. Take care.
Crocodile believed to be responsible for fatal attack on teen euthanised
A crocodile believed to be responsible for a fatal attack on a 16-year-old boy in the Torres Strait last week has been euthanised.
Last Thursday a search and rescue operation was launched near Saibai Island after reports a 16-year-old was missing. That night a spokesperson confirmed they had discovered his body with injuries consistent with a crocodile attack.
According to a statement from the Queensland Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, the four-metre crocodile was located during night spotlight searches on Friday, near where the teenage boy was killed.
The animal displayed parading behaviour such as raising its head as it swam, which is consistent with it being the target animal.
The crocodile was “humanely euthanised” on Saturday and disposed of at sea, the department said, “in keeping with the wishes of the Saibai Island community”.
The [department] expresses its sincere condolences to the friends, family and community on Saibai Island.
Updated
New Zealand PM interested in Taiwan trade, but not travel
In some international news via AAP: the New Zealand prime minister, Christopher Luxon, says he wants to increase trade links with Taiwan, but has ruled out visiting the island nation while leader in deference to the One China policy.
Last week, NZ sent its first-ever official cross-parliamentary delegation to Taiwan. Taiwan is eager to join the 11-nation CPTPP trade bloc (which includes Australia and NZ) but is considered unlikely to be admitted, given China also wants membership.
NZ does not have an official diplomatic relationship with Taipei, but has a free trade deal signed in 2013.
Luxon said his government has a goal of doubling its export value in the next decade, and plans to lean on Asia heavily to do so. Asked specifically if that included Taiwan, he said: “Yes, we already have a free trade agreement with Taiwan.”
NZ’s openness to Taiwan comes at a moment of geopolitical inflection, with the new right-leaning government exploring closer ties with the US and “traditional” partners.
Each of the countries Luxon visited last week (Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines) have strong relationships with Washington – Thailand and the Philippines were formally allied to the US.
Updated
The Bureau of Meteorology has shared a weather outlook for the week ahead.
Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury says the weather will be mostly settled this week, with just a few patchy showers in the south-east.
Weather update: Here's what to expect across Australia this week, including mostly settled conditions & patchy showers in the south-east. Video current as of 12 pm AEST 22 April 2024.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) April 22, 2024
Latest: https://t.co/4W35o8iFmh or via the BOM Weather app. pic.twitter.com/RhAyLU690b
Updated
Electric utes rolling to Australia, mining sites first
Electric utes are being shipped to Australia for use on mining sites after a local firm signed a deal with one of America’s leading vehicle manufacturers, AAP reports.
Mining transport company MEVCO announced a partnership with Rivian Automotive today, revealing the firm would bring its award-winning R1T ute to Australia for the first time.
The vehicle, which has yet to be sold to Australian consumers, comes after several brands announced plans to bring electric utes to Australia, and after the federal government revealed the details of its proposed fuel efficiency standard.
The MEVCO chief executive, Matt Cahir, told AAP the company had struck a deal with Rivian after almost a year of talks and had already offered 45 mining companies test drives in its electric utes.
Cahir said delays to getting electric utes into the country had been holding the transition back and Australian mining firms were calling out for more options.
It’s understood the first Rivian R1T utes in Australia will be left-hand drive models but right-hand drive vehicles will be made available in future.
The Rivian Automotive strategy vice-president, Dagan Mishoulam, said the Californian company was eager to play a role in getting more electric vehicles on Australian roads.
Updated
Man shot by police in Queensland, parts of Bruce Highway closed
A man has been shot by police south of Gladstone, with the incident sparking a road closure on parts of the Bruce Highway.
Police said the incident occurred at a rest area, 20km south of Miriam Vale, about 10.50am on Monday.
An alert on the Queensland Traffic website flagged a road closure on the Bruce Highway at Gindoran, 5km north of John Clifford Way.
As of Monday afternoon, police have released very little information on the shooting. It is unclear in what circumstances it occurred and what condition the man was in after the incident.
Investigations are continuing.
Updated
Greens want Musk to 'front parliament' after refusing to take Wakeley stabbing videos down
The X boss, Elon Musk, should “front up here to parliament”, the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has declared, calling the billionaire CEO a “tech thug” and “cowboy” after his platform refused to take down videos of the Wakeley church stabbing.
X, formerly known as Twitter, has thumbed its nose at the Australian government’s orders from the eSafety commissioner to remove the violent videos and other misinformation about the recent Sydney stabbings. A conga line of Australian politicians have savaged Musk and X’s response in recent days. The Greens’ communications spokesperson, Hanson-Young, added to that criticism in a press conference this afternoon.
It’s just appalling that Elon Musk is refusing to take down those horrendous violent posts. The online tech thugs are operating as if it’s the wild west. Elon Musk should front up to the Australian people, he should front up here to parliament and argue why his company shouldn’t have a social conscience and shouldn’t be doing the right thing.
Frankly, I don’t think he [Musk] has the guts to do it.
Asked if she would try to actually ask or seek to compel Musk or other tech bosses to appear in parliament, such as in a Senate committee hearing, Hanson-Young declined to confirm – but said “there’s a number of different ways that could happen. I’m open to discussing with all of my parliamentary colleagues, from all sides, how we could make that happen.”
Hanson-Young said the Greens were still considering whether to back the government’s misinformation bill, but indicated that they thought the penalties on tech companies should be even higher than what the government has set out in draft legislation. She said the penalties needed to be stronger than “wet lettuce”.
Hanson-Young said there needed to be more transparency from social platforms on how their algorithms worked, and how they worked to send some violent content viral.
Updated
Dolphins join surfing champion as she catches a wave in WA
This Monday is well and truly delivering on the cute animal content.
A pod of dolphins joined surfing champion Gabriela Bryan while she was catching a wave at the Margaret River Pro in Western Australia over the weekend.
The Hawaiian surfer went on to win her first World Surf League tour event. You can watch the amazing moment below:
Updated
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Milton Dick, has met with the Australian electoral commissioner, Tom Rogers, to accept the return of the Cook byelection writ.
(In a federal byelection, the writ – the document commanding an electoral officer to hold an election – is issued by the speaker.)
This morning I met with the @AusElectoralCom Commissioner, Tom Rogers to accept the return of the Cook by-election writ.
— Milton Dick (@MiltonDickMP) April 22, 2024
The new Member for Cook, Simon Kennedy will be admitted to the House in the next sitting week. pic.twitter.com/EqfOqZvNkh
The new member for Cook, Simon Kennedy, will be admitted to the house during the next sitting week. Parliament is scheduled to return on 14 May.
Updated
Incoming Queensland police commissioner says tackling domestic violence a priority
At his earlier press conference, the new Queensland police commissioner, Steve Gollschewski, said reform around domestic and family violence was a priority of his.
He told reporters:
Domestic and family violence reforms is something that is absolutely critical and will remain as a priority for myself as the commissioner and for our organisation.
While much is being done, and I look forward to being able to share the work being done in the reform space, much more needs to be done for the victims of domestic and family violence to make sure that the perpetrators are held to account and can change what they do, but also for our police who are dealing with over 140,000 calls for service every year.
Updated
Curious husky puppy freed from chair by firefighters
In some *very important* Monday afternoon animal news: firefighters have rescued a 14-week-old husky puppy from a chair over the weekend.
On Sunday night, Ace became entangled in the metal spokes of a chair in Queanbeyan. The local Fire and Rescue NSW crew used hydraulic cutting tools to carefully free him, allowing him to return to his oh-so-important puppy duties: sleeping, getting pats and being a good boy.
FRNSW said:
Still curious, the puppy was quick to assess the crew’s rescue equipment, all the time hoping he hadn’t been too much of a ‘pain in the neck.’
Updated
PM defends western Sydney infrastructure spending
Circling back to the prime minister’s earlier press conference:
Anthony Albanese also fielded questions about western Sydney’s infrastructure funding, after the Daily Telegraph reported roads were being defunded around the western Sydney airport.
Albanese told reporters:
With regard to western Sydney, every single dollar that had been allocated to infrastructure in NSW is still in the budget, and more. We are continuing to invest in NSW infrastructure, including billions of dollars in western Sydney, including in the airport … as well as in roads [and] rails around western Sydney …
Previously, there was an under-allocation for infrastructure projects around the country with massive blowouts, with lots of announcements going back to prior to the 2013 election by the Coalition, the 2016 election, the 2019 election, for things that simply had no funding allocated for them. You can’t build a road on a media release. You need proper funding in order to actually get things done and my government’s determined, when it comes to infrastructure, to get things done and you’ll see that again in the budget in May.
Updated
Man arrested after woman found dead in NSW home
A man has been arrested after a woman was found dead in the New South Wales central west overnight.
Around 1.50am today, emergency services were called to a home in Forbes after concerns were raised for the welfare of a woman. Officers attended and located the body of a woman.
She is yet to be formally identified, but is believed to be in her late 20s.
A crime scene was established and an investigation launched into the woman’s death.
A man was arrested at the property and taken to Parkes police station, where he is assisting police with inquiries.
Steve Gollschewski appointed as new Queensland police commissioner
Steve Gollschewski has been named as the new Queensland police commissioner, following the resignation of Katarina Carroll last month.
He has been acting police commissioner since Carroll stood down, and was previously deputy commissioner for more than a decade. The announcement was made at a press conference just earlier with the premier, Steven Miles, and the police minister, Mark Ryan.
Updated
Greens vow to use Senate numbers if ministers fail to reach deal on public school funding
The Greens have vowed to used their numbers in the Senate if education ministers fail to reach a deal on fully funding public schools in every state and territory.
The education minister, Jason Clare, has so far inked deals with Western Australia and the Northern Territory to reach 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard – a target that has only been met by the ACT.
Ministers will hold their next meeting in Perth on Friday, with funding negotiations expected to be on the agenda. Clare has flagged his intention to introduce legislation on funding agreements by the end of the year.
The Greens spokesperson on primary and secondary education, senator Penny Allman-Payne, said the party had a bill before the Senate that would axe the arbitrary 20% cap on commonwealth funding of public schools and replace it with a floor of 25%.
This is what the states and the unions are calling for and it’s what Labor could deliver if it backed our bill. We need to end overfunding of privileged private schools and ensure that our public system is fully funded, fully staffed and inclusive for all students.
Updated
Murujuga traditional custodians call for investigation into leak of cultural heritage report
Murujuga traditional custodians have called for an immediate inquiry to investigate the alleged leak of a confidential report on the Burrup peninsula to the media.
Save our Songlines – a group of traditional custodians who initiated a cultural heritage review into the impact of Woodside’s Burrup Hub and other industry on world heritage-nominated Murujuga rock art – accused Woodside of attempting to “sabotage and undermine” the cultural heritage assessment just days before its AGM.
Woodside said it “rejects any assertion” they were responsible for “leaking any aspect of the Section 10 inquiry”.
Woodside does not breach its confidentiality obligations.
The draft report was provided to the applicants and a small number of other affected parties by the environment department late on 19 April on a strictly confidential basis, but Save our Songlines says this was leaked to media within hours.
An exclusive report in The Australian was published on 20 April.
This came just days before the Woodside AGM on 24 April, and a fortnight before federal senators are due to travel to the Burrup for committee inquiry hearings for the Protecting Sea Country bill on 6 and 7 May, Save our Songlines said.
Mardudhunera woman Raelene Cooper, a former chair of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, said:
I am calling for a full inquiry and investigation into how this summary of my draft report was leaked before I even had a chance to read it or respond to the minister. I will be seeking legal advice on what this means for the process and how those responsible for the leaking of this document can be held accountable before we respond further to the draft report.
Updated
‘We reject the cruelty of Israel’: Jewish group marks Passover at Labor MP’s office in solidarity with Palestine
Advocacy group Loud Jew Collective have marked the beginning of Passover with a protest at the office of Labor MP Josh Burns, where more than 60 Jewish participants called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The group also called for an end to diplomatic relations with Israel and for the free and unrestrained delivery of aid to Gaza.
Jewish community leader and organiser from the Loud Jew Collective, Gem Walsh, said:
We have called this protest because again and again we see our government fail in their basic obligations to support and uphold Palestinians’ human rights.
Josh Burns is the chair of the parliamentary joint committee on human rights, so he has a special responsibility to be calling for a ceasefire, free and unfettered food and aid, [and] an end to this genocide that Israel is waging against Palestinians.
As Jews we disavow what Israel is doing. We are gathered today, as part of a growing global movement of Jews who want freedom and liberation for all. We reject the cruelty of Israel and Zionism.
Updated
Government commits $5m for research into telehealth
A virtual emergency department is among the research projects that will share in more than $5m from the government to identify how telehealth services can best be used in Australia.
The six projects receiving grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council will develop a solid evidence-base to inform future health policy on telehealth, while supporting current services.
The announcement comes as Australia’s health regulator earlier this month said it is fielding complaints about the use of artificial intelligence during telehealth prescribing, and patients being issued with prescriptions without speaking with a doctor.
The health minister, Mark Butler, today said that, as telehealth had become a “permanent feature of the health system”, the government was committed to ensuring its quality for patients:
The expansion of telehealth services, during the early days of Covid, has been described as ‘10 years of change in 10 days’ and that is not an exaggeration.
The Albanese government is committed to unlocking telehealth’s potential, while also ensuring its safety and quality for patients. These six research projects will help point the way to better telehealth.
Prof Jonathon Karnon from Flinders University will lead a project to improve the design and application of virtual emergency department services in Australia.
Prof Meredith Makeham and a team from the University of Sydney will explore the safety, quality, acceptability, and sustainability of using telehealth to provide care for aged care residents.
James Cook University researcher Prof Sarah Larkins will investigate the experience of telehealth providers and patients in North Queensland, to optimise access, quality and safety in rural and remote Australia.
Updated
PM challenges Dutton to outline where proposed nuclear power stations would be built
Anthony Albanese has challenged Peter Dutton to finally outline where the Liberals would plan to build nuclear power stations, after the opposition leader said yesterday that the long-awaited unveiling of their alternative energy policy may be delayed.
Dutton and the Coalition have repeatedly raised expectations that they would detail their nuclear alternative around the May budget. But the opposition leader said on Insiders yesterday that the events of the recent Sydney stabbings had “meant that part of our programme couldn’t be rolled out” and “we’ll announce it in due course”.
Reports this morning in the Nine newspapers indicate there may be tension inside the Coalition partyroom on locking in the locations for the power stations.
Albanese said the Liberals should say “who will fund them, what’s the timeframe, and what they’ll do to fill in the gap that will be there with the closure of coal fired power plants, which is scheduled regardless of who’s in power, in coming years”.
Nuclear reactors don’t have any financing.
Updated
PM says it is ‘extraordinary’ X not complying with takedown order
Anthony Albanese says it is “extraordinary” that X, formerly known as Twitter, did not comply with orders from the eSafety Commissioner to take down footage of the Wakeley church stabbing.
Elon Musk’s platform said over the weekend that Australia “does not have the authority to dictate what content X’s users can see globally”, claiming it would challenge the order in court. Musk himself criticised eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant as the “Australian censorship commissar”.
In a press conference in Mackay, Albanese has claimed “the pain of many people has been exacerbated by what occurred on social media” after the recent Sydney stabbings.
Social media has a social responsibility.
In addition to that, of course, we know some of the misinformation, including naming some innocent bloke as the perpetrator, is just extraordinary, that that occurred and that that was replicated.
We need to recognise that, and social media has a responsibility. By and large, people responded appropriately to the calls by the eSafety Commission. X chose not to. I find it extraordinary X chose not to comply, and are trying to argue their case.
We know, I think overwhelmingly, Australians want misinformation and disinformation to stop. This isn’t about freedom of expression. This is about the dangerous implications that can occur when things that are simply not true, that everyone knows is not true, are replicated and weaponised in order to cause division, and in this case, to promote negative statements.
Updated
Musk an ‘egotistical billionaire’ for ignoring X takedown requests: Plibersek
Labor’s frontbench are coming out in full force against X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk, after he accused Australia’s online safety watchdog of being a “censorship commissar” for ordering the social media company to take down graphic footage of a stabbing attack at a Sydney church.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is the latest minister to have a dig at the tech billionaire, calling him “egotistical” for ignoring Australia’s lawful request to take the violent imagery off the site.
Plibersek accused Musk of caring more about getting his way rather than extending respect to victims of the crime on Sunrise this morning:
It just beggars belief, really, doesn’t it, that this guy, this egotistical billionaire, thinks that it’s more important for him to be able to show whatever he wants on X or Twitter or whatever you want to call it today, it’s more important for him to have his way than to respect the victims of the crimes that are being shown on social media and to protect our Australian community from the harmful impact of showing this terrible stuff on social media …
We need to keep Australians safe from this terrible stuff on social media. And Elon Musk doesn’t dictate to the Australian government what we are doing here domestically with our laws.
Updated
Chalmers expects funding for western Sydney to ‘continue to grow’
Jim Chalmers also responded to accusations the government was abandoning western Sydney on infrastructure. The front page of today’s Daily Telegraph said Labor was defunding upgrades for roads which are crucial to the success of western Sydney’s international airport.
Chalmers said western Sydney would be a “big priority in the budget”, with $14bn already spent there:
That’s more than the Liberals and Nationals did and we expect that investment to continue to grow. Funding for infrastructure in NSW went up by around $1.3bn in Myefo, and one of the reasons why we want to get the budget in much better nick is so that we can afford to invest in really important parts of Australia like western Sydney.
I’m a huge believer in western Sydney. I think western Sydney is, in many ways, the hope … when it comes to the way [that] we want to build an economy that delivers for more people, and you should expect to see that reflected in the decisions that we take in the budget.
Updated
Q: Just on housing affordability and cost of living, has there been any further consideration given to reforming negative gearing?
Jim Chalmers:
No.
Budget will consider Hecs relief and assistance for people on practical placements: Chalmers
Turning to education, and Jim Chalmers said the government was looking at both Hecs relief and assistance for people undertaking practical placements in its budget.
He noted that education minister Jason Clare was leading the work when it came to considering recommendations of the Universities Accord.
The Universities Accord is a first class piece of work and we’re giving it the attention that it deserves. As the prime minister indicated last week, we do acknowledge that students are under pressure and if we can afford to do something to help on that front, that’s obviously something we’ll consider as we finalise the budget.
Updated
‘Easy, but wrong’ for states to blame commonwealth for budget pressures: Chalmers
Turning to New South Wales, Jim Chalmers has responded to comments from the state treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, that the GST carve-up has stripped more from state revenue than Covid-19.
Chalmers said it would be “easy, but wrong” for any state or territory government to blame the commonwealth government for pressures on their own budget.
I engage respectfully and pretty frequently with treasurer Mookhey and indeed with the treasurers of all the states and territories … Decisions around the allocation of the GST are taken at arm’s length from the government by the commonwealth grants commission and it’s not unusual for a state or a territory … to have a different view about the allocation.
It’s also entirely unsurprising that the states and territories would like more money to fund their priorities. I understand that as well.
Chalmers said NSW was “already receiving billions of dollars in extra funding” from the commonwealth around health, hospitals and housing, and the no-worse-off guarantee.
Because we do recognise the pressure on state and territory budgets.[However] … It would be easy, but wrong for any state or any territory to blame the commonwealth government for the pressures on their own budget.
Updated
Cost-of-living help to feature in budget, Chalmers says
Jim Chalmers said the government was still aiming for a second surplus.
We feel like the first surplus last year – the first in 15 years – was an important way to put downward pressure on inflation, so our objective is still a second surplus … The degree of difficulty on that has come up a bit, but that is still our objective.
Chalmers said cost-of-living relief would still form part of the budget, designed in a way to “take the edge off inflation rather than add to it”.
We want our cost-of-living help to be part of the solution to inflation rather than part of the problem, and so that will be a feature as well.
Updated
Chalmers fronts media on downgraded growth forecast ahead of federal budget
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is speaking to the media from Canberra, providing an economic update ahead of the federal budget.
As we flagged earlier, global financial uncertainty has prompted Treasury to downgrade its growth forecasts for major economies ahead of the budget.
Chalmers told reporters just now:
Because of this international uncertainty, the budget will downgrade forecasts for growth in most of the biggest economies that the Treasury provides a forecast for. There will be a downgrade for China, Japan, and the UK, and there’ll be other changes in the forecasts that we’ll finalise in the next couple of weeks.
The budget will have a premium on responsibility and an emphasis on economic security, and what we will see is a budget strategy which will evolve along with our challenges.
Updated
12 people police are looking for believed to have come from outside church
New South Wales police said the 12 people they are looking for in relation to last week’s riot came from outside the church, where bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed and the incident was broadcast on a livestream.
The initial response from the people inside, they did a great job holding the [alleged] young offender down… The police investigations are based around that fact that obviously thousands of people have come from surrounding suburbs to the location [after seeing the livestream].
The police officer could not say “what a single person’s thoughts might [have] been” but some people came to the church “for the wrong reasons”.
NSW police address media after calling for assistance in locating 12 men
New South Wales police are speaking to the media after it appealed to the public for information on 12 men earlier today, in relation to the riot in Wakeley last Monday.
Police released the images of 12 people they are most wanting to speak with, but said there are up to 50 people they are looking for in relation to the riot. Police believe 2,000 people in total were in attendance.
We know there’s groups of families involved that have gone there to support their parishioner. We’re not looking for those people. But we’re looking to speak to them if they can provide information about the people involved in that [alleged] violent behaviour.
Investigators are working through up to 600 hours of footage, including body-worn footage, police said.
‘It just doesn’t work’: Liberal senator weighs in on job-sharing MP proposal
It should come as little surprise that Australia’s major political parties are not warming to the idea of allowing parliamentarians to job-share after one left-of-field proposal over the weekend.
To recap, two Melbourne women – Lucy Bradlow and Bronwen Bock – have announced their plan to run for federal parliament as independent “job-sharing candidates” in the seat of Higgins.
Higgins was snatched by Labor for the first time ever at the 2022 federal election but is historically a blue ribbon Liberal seat.
The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, weighed in against the idea of the two-for-one deal the aspiring politicians are offering. Speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, Birmingham said the idea “just doesn’t work”, citing examples of minor parties who have combusted over the years.
The idea that you have representative democracy is to vest that in an individual [and] that is an age-old proposition. It requires an individual to exercise their judgement, but also to be able to do so consistently.
I think if you think about how many of the smaller parties and others have operated over recent years, we often get in – the most recent example was Jacqui Lambie and Tammy Tyrrell, two members supposedly of the same party elected, but then they go their separate ways during the course of the parliament, because they have legitimate disagreements in how they work together or the issues they stand for.
It just doesn’t work to have a member of Parliament split in two as two different individuals, and then expect they’re going to be able to operate in consensus and deliver the type of consistency that’s required.
As my colleagues Ben Smee and Lisa Cox canvassed over the weekend, constitutional law experts aren’t quite in agreement over whether the idea could work in reality.
Professor Anne Twomey said she was “very doubtful” it would be constitutionally valid while Professor Kim Rubenstein believed it was “entirely consistent” with the constitution.
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Federal government ‘still in discussions’ with NSW around distribution of health funds
As Peter Hannam reported earlier: NSW will “almost certainly” lose its top-notch debt rating after a carve-up of GST, the state’s treasurer Daniel Mookhey has said.
The assessment comes about a month after the commonwealth grants commission revealed how it would allocate GST money. NSW complained it would lose $1.65bn even as its population swelled and other states, such as Victoria, got extra funds. You can read all the details on this below:
Speaking to ABC Radio earlier today, Mookhey said the changes flagged by the commonwealth grants commission were expected to cost NSW nearly $12bn in the coming four years:
That’s the equivalent of about 19,000 health care workers, that’s 16,000 teachers ... $11.9bn is how much we spend on mental health, Tafe and the NSW police force combined every year.
To put this in really stark relief, NSW has lost more revenue with the commonwealth grants commission than we did during Covid-19.
The federal assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, told ABC Radio his government was still in discussions with NSW about the distribution of funds under health, education and other deals:
In the area of health, we’re negotiating with NSW and other states around the new health and hospitals agreement.
We’re in discussions around the NDIS, we’ve provided a record new injection into housing funding – $2bn last year alone.
- with AAP
Updated
Circling back to Erin Patterson’s case, which resumed after about 10 minutes:
Tim Walsh, the magistrate, said he would not be able to accommodate the dates put forward by Erin Patterson’s lawyers for a committal hearing – the hearing in which the evidence against her will be tested for the first time.
He asked her lawyers whether they had considered moving the case to the Melbourne magistrates’ court, or applying to have it fast tracked through the supreme court.
But Colin Mandy, for Patterson, said it was her wish for the case to be heard in Morwell, regardless of any prospective delays, which Walsh said could mean she spends at least 15 months on remand before the committal hearing.
Walsh said he was concerned by the delay, notwithstanding Patterson’s wishes.
Mandy said that it was standard practice for a court to hear matters as close as possible to where an alleged crime occurred and to the home of the accused. The crimes allegedly occurred at Patterson’s home in Leongatha, about 60km away.
Mandy said:
It’s not only a matter of principle and there are powerful reasons for the committal having to take place in the local community.
Walsh responded: “It won’t be in the local community, it will be in Morwell.”
Mandy then said, “That’s close to Ms Patterson’s home in the context of regional Victoria.”
Patterson was remanded in custody until 7 May, when the matter will return for a committal mention.
Gap between Labor and coalition remains tight, according to latest polls
Anthony Albanese remains the preferred prime minister over opposition leader Peter Dutton after two new polls found the major parties are running neck and neck ahead of the May budget.
A Newspoll published in The Australian shows most voters think Albanese is the better leader at 48% against Dutton at 35%.
On a two-party preferred basis, Labor narrowly leads the opposition at 51% to 49% – unchanged from the previous poll. At the same time, Labor’s primary vote sits at 33%, below the coalition at 38%.
The results tally with another poll published by Nine newspapers today. The Resolve Political Monitor also shows Albanese leading Dutton on the preferred prime minister stakes, at 41% to 32%. But after preferences, the two parties are tied at 50%.
The Newspoll also asked voters about Labor’s Future Made in Australia Act, and found 56% of voters agreed the government should actively invest in green projects, against 38% who disagreed.
The Resolve poll asked voters about cost of living pressures, with 55% saying they would struggle to raise the few thousand dollars needed for a major expense. The poll also found Australians are most concerned about grocery costs (55%) and utility bills (37%).
The 2024/25 budget will be handed down on 14 May. The Newspoll of 1,236 voters was conducted online between 15 April and 18 April.
- from AAP
Paterson’s case temporarily stood down as multiple people join wrong online court link
Erin Patterson’s case has been stood down temporarily, as the court heard multiple people including her lawyer and the prosecutor had joined the wrong online court link.
The court also heard that Patterson was no longer being represented by Philip Dunn KC, who had been replaced by Colin Mandy SC.
Patterson was asked by Magistrate Tim Walsh who she expected would be appearing on her behalf this morning, when it because clear that neither her lawyer nor the prosecutor was on the online hearing. Paterson said:
It was my understanding that Mr Mandy would be here.
Walsh apologised to Patterson for having to stand the matter down because of the issue.
Updated
Erin Patterson appears via video link ahead of today’s court appearance
Erin Patterson has appeared via video link ahead of a court appearance this morning.
Wearing a royal blue top and staring straight ahead, Patterson appeared on camera from a small room in the Murray unit of the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a women’s prison.
A mention of her case is expected to start soon in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court in Morwell.
‘Why not walk?’: Google Maps to roll out green features
Google Maps will politely pester Australian travellers to take public transport or walk to their destination in one of several of green changes introduced to the service this Earth Day, AAP reports.
Fuel-efficient routes, which will be shown in the app from today, will use artificial intelligence to identify paths that use the least energy, even if they take more time.
Google Maps users will be able to specify whether they are driving a petrol, hybrid, diesel or electric vehicle to help determine the most energy-efficient route, and EV drivers will be able to search for nearby charging stations.
Users in Sydney and Melbourne could be prompted to travel in even more environmentally friendly ways in future, as the app will deliver suggestions showing public transport or walking alternatives if travel times are similar or better.
The new feature is expected to launch in Australia’s two biggest cities in the “coming weeks”.
Updated
Education minister to attend teaching summit in Singapore
The education minister, Jason Clare, will strengthen ties with his Chinese counterpart at an international summit on the teaching profession in Singapore.
Clare is travelling to the summit today, which will be attended by education ministers from 20 nations to address the role of technology in the future of learning, education and training.
As part of the visit, Clare has planned bilateral meetings with New Zealand’s newly sworn-in education minister, Erica Stanford, the minister of education for People’s Republic of China, Professor Huai Jinpeng, and Singapore’s minister for education, Chan Chun Sing.
It follows Jinpeng’s first ministerial visit to Australia last year, in a sign of a return to normality for the nation’s international education sector. China remain’s Australia’s largest market, composing 20% of all international students.
Updated
‘Insulting and offensive’ to conflate X takedown order with censorship: Birmingham
The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, said the opposition would support any moves from the government to place penalties on social media companies that won’t remove content deemed damaging to social cohesion.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast earlier today, Birmingham argued social media giants should be able to use their algorithms to “quickly and effectively remove content that is damaging and devastating to the social harmony and fabric of society”.
We should expect that, we should demand it, and we will certainly back the government to put in place the types of powers or penalties that make social media companies pay attention.
Asked about Elon Musk’s pushback to a global takedown order, and accusations of censorship, Birmingham said this was a “completely ridiculous and preposterous argument”.
The type of standards that we expect in everyday life, that we expect in other forms of media, should be able to be applied to the online world as well.
The idea that it is “censorship” to say that imagery of a … stabbing incident should not be able to be broadcast in an unfiltered way for all to see, children to access and otherwise, is an insulting and offensive argument.
Updated
Inspection report finds ‘serious concerns’ at Western Australian detention centre
An inspection report by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has found a high-security immigration detention centre in WA was, in part, “no longer fit for purpose”.
The report of Yongah Hill immigration detention centre followed a two-day inspection of the adult male facility in 2023, and raised concerns over the safety conditions and level of care for detainees and staff.
Inspectors noted a reported rise in the trafficking of drugs and other contraband, bullying and standover tactics, and violence. It also found a “lack of access to healthcare”.
The AHRC made 33 recommendations to the department of home affairs, including that “inadequate” low security compounds be decommissioned and replaced with smaller compounds, a review of officer staffing with an intent to increase numbers, and an independent review of healthcare services.
Human rights commissioner Lorraine Finlay said:
Parts of Yongah Hill are no longer fit for purpose. A majority of the people interviewed told us that they felt unsafe in detention. The welfare and safety of both detainees and staff must be paramount.
But there must be a nuanced approach. Safety is about how you treat people, not just how you keep them secure.
You can read the full story from Paul Karp below:
Updated
Nationals leader denies tension in Coalition around nuclear power
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has denied that there is tension in the Coalition around nuclear power, telling Sky News that while “a few want to make hay for their own personal gain” by leaking out of party room, a “clear majority” of his party want nuclear power.
Littleproud said the Coalition has a “clear proposal” to put nuclear power stations where existing coal power stations are, which would reduce the need to build new transmission lines from renewable energy.
Littleproud said the Coalition will incentivise communities “that are most appropriate” for nuclear power by asking what they need “in terms of infrastructure and discounted power”, which he said would also increase their industrial capacity. “That’s the pathway Peter Dutton and I are on,” he said.
Responding to reports that the Coalition has delayed its policy, which was set to be announced before the budget, Littleproud said that the opposition “won’t be bullied into any timeline” but the plan will be released before the election.
Littleproud said the Coalition’s policy would help Australia “live up to its international commitments by 2050”.
In September Littleproud faced a push at the Nationals’ conference to abandon the net zero by 2050 commitment. He stared it down, but is still under pressure to seek a multi-billion dollar deal from the Liberals in return for continuing to support the target.
Greens accuse Elon Musk of ‘profiting off outrage and hatred’ on social media
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has urged X boss Elon Musk to “come out from behind his keyboard and front the Australian people and parliament” after stating he will fight a global takedown order of content related to last week’s church stabbing in Sydney.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Hanson-Young said “horrific videos [that] spread like wildfire” need to be taken off of platforms at the “very least”.
The problem we have [is] that for far too long, these big tech giants have gotten away with little to no regulation, they don’t pay tax, and no wonder [they] think that they can give the middle finger to the government.
She said social media is like the “wild west” and that “cowboys like Elon Musk” use it to “keep on making money and profiting off outrage and hatred”.
I know that the Australian community are white-hot with anger about this, as are communities right across the world. We do need proper regulation of these big social media company, but we’ve got to be smart about it…
It’s not individual users that made those horrific videos spread like wildfire over the last week. It is the algorithms and the business model of these social media companies, and that’s what we need to get to. We need proper regulation for transparency of algorithms, transparency and reporting of how they use users’ data and they need to be taxed and regulated properly.
Elon Musk should front the Australian people and the parliament and have a genuine conversation about being a good corporate citizen.
NSW police appealing for information around Wakeley riot last week
The New South Wales police have released images of 12 men they believe can assist with inquiries into the Wakeley riot last week.
Three men have so far been charged over their alleged involvement in the riot, and remain before the courts.
The Strike Force Dribs commander, superintendent Andrew Evans, said these particular 12 individuals are being targeted by investigators because of the alleged “violent and aggressive nature of their actions”.
We are doing everything we can to identify these men and are now appealing for public assistance. Someone in the community knows who they are.
The men are detailed by police as follows:
Person A: Caucasian appearance, medium build, with a tattoo of Jesus Christ on his stomach and a full tattoo sleeve on his left arm. Wearing black jeans that cut off at the ankle, black belt, dark coloured shoes and a black shirt wrapped around his face.
Person B: Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, with receding dark brown hair and a beard. Wearing a black jumper, grey pants, black shoes and carrying a grey shoulder bag.
Person C: Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, with short black hair and beard. Wearing a grey V neck shirt, dark jeans and white shoes.
Person D: medium build, wearing a grey hooded jumper, grey shorts, black socks and white shoes.
Person E: Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, muscular build, tan complexion, with a dark coloured beard. Wearing a Nike hat, black singlet, grey cargo pants and white shoes.
Person F: Wearing a t-shirt, a ring and a watch on his left hand and carrying a cross.
Person G: Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, wearing a black jumper with yellow writing, a white hat and white shoes.
Person H: Wearing a t-shirt and carrying a fire extinguisher.
Person I: Short dark hair and a beard, wearing a hooded jumper, dark pants and a black shoulder bag.
Person J: Large appearance, bald with a goatee, wearing a dark jumper with writing around the collar.
Person K: Hair in braids and having a dark beard, wearing a black hooded jumper, tracksuit pants and socks with slides; and
Person L: Wearing a dark singlet, dark shoes and light-coloured shorts.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Updated
Waverly mayor says candlelight vigil for Bondi Junction victims ‘very sombre’
Waverly’s mayor, Paula Masselos, said last night’s candlelight vigil for the victims of the Bondi Junction attack was “extremely emotional” and “very sombre”.
She said between 5,000 and 7,000 people attended the vigil, including the prime minister, premier and governor, as well as Inspector Amy Scott.
We grieve together as a community and as a country. pic.twitter.com/Vo1Q9AThu0
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 21, 2024
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Masselos said:
There is going to be quite a journey of healing, because people heal at various times … We are working with the state government [on] a permanent, in-place memorial, which will also be a part of the healing process. That’s going to take just a little bit longer… But rest assured, we are here for the community and we will be with the community as they go through their own grieving process.
The mayor said she had the opportunity to speak with Faraz Tahir’s community, who showed up in large numbers to honour the security guard who lost his life in the attack.
I know that a lot of people also embraced them and were supporting them. So last night it really was an opportunity to also acknowledge the bravery and heroism of a number of people.
Updated
FA announces host states for Women's Asian Cup
The Matildas’ route to potential Asian Cup success is a step closer to being finalised, AAP reports, after Football Australia revealed the host states for matches at the 2026 edition of the tournament.
FA confirmed on Monday that NSW, Queensland and Western Australia had been nominated as the preferred locations for the continental competition.
Twelve teams across three groups will take part in the tournament, which was last won by China in 2022.
After being the only AFC member to enter an official bid, Australia was in March recommended as host – following on from the success of last year’s Women’s World Cup.
FA said expressions of interest for potential venues began prior to the start of the World Cup, with all states and territories invited to make their pitch.
Victoria is the most notable absentee from the list of nominated states, having also missed out on hosting games beyond the quarter-finals of the World Cup due to the AFL season.
Next month’s A-League All Stars games will be hosted in Victoria, though, while the Matildas and Socceroos have played several matches in Melbourne in recent years.
Updated
Assistant treasurer ‘incredibly disappointed’ by Elon Musk’s response to takedown directive
Stephen Jones said it is “incredibly disappointing” that X boss Elon Musk is ‘making fun’ of the direction to remove content relating to last week’s stabbing at a church in Sydney, rather than complying.
Jones told ABC RN just earlier this morning:
We believe it is incredibly disappointing that Elon Musk, instead of complying with a lawful direction, has decided to make fun of it.
Decency can’t be dead and I think any Australian looking at that would go ‘oh come on’. Like, it’s a pretty simple and straightforward request, it’s a lawful request, and it’s one that [most] Australians would think it was the right [and] decent thing to do.
And instead of complying with that, he decides to make fun of it and says ‘I’ll see you in court’. I think that goes to the values that are at the heart of some of those operations and they’re way out of step with the Australian community and I’d say more broadly than that, way out of step with the way that these places need to operate.
Will the government meet Must in court? Jones responded: “We will fight it”.
But at the same time, we’re looking at all of the laws across these areas to ensure that our regulators have the power to do what is necessary to keep our online platforms safe.
Updated
'More determined to remove journalists than criminals': assistant treasurer on social media giants
Assistant treasurer Stephen Jones has accused social media giants of being “more determined to remove journalists from their platform than criminals”. Speaking to ABC RN, he said:
For platforms like Meta to be more determined to take journalists off their platform than they are criminals means they’ve got a real moral problem at the epicentre of that company, and it can’t continue.
Jones said a mandatory code for social media giants was needed this year, and accused X (formerly Twitter) of being “a factory for trolls and bots and misinformation”.
For parts of industry, not all of it, to say ‘don’t worry, just leave it to us and we’ll put in place voluntary codes’ – give me a break.
They’ve had forever to put in place mechanisms that would work and, as I’ve said, [because they are] more determined to remove journalists from their platform than criminals I think we know where the priorities lie, and it’s not in protecting the users of Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and places like this …
None of these places are above the law. They’re not a sovereign state. They can’t be a lawless program, a playground for criminals and cranks. And new laws need to be put in place, and this government is determined to do that.
Updated
‘An attitude they’re above the laws of a nation’: Bill Shorten on X
Bill Shorten was also asked about X (formerly Twitter) boss Elon Musk’s decision to challenge an order to remove content on the site relating to last Monday’s Sydney church stabbing.
Asked if there should be a boycott of the social media platform, Shorten said he didn’t know about this but labelled the behaviour as “very arrogant”.
There’s almost an attitude they’re above the laws of a nation.
I think it is entirely unexceptional of a nation to say we want to take down some of the most violent and shocking footage, and somehow for them to say we’ve got freedom of speech, but we’re allowed to pollute the metaphorical airwaves with horrible vile and imagery – no one gets to vote for X. They do vote for governments and governments are accountable. So I do think what the eSafety commission has done [is] exactly right. It is about protecting citizens.
Updated
NDIS minister defends scheme from critics, asks what alternative would be
The minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Bill Shorten, has defended the scheme against criticism from a former productivity commission boss.
In an article in the Financial Review, Gary Banks said the organisation got it wrong when recommending the NDIS and warned that Labor’s proposed overhaul would do little to reduce its budget trajectory. Banks said in a speech:
In retrospect, the commission clearly underestimated the incentives for ‘overservicing’ that such a scheme presents and, in particular, was too optimistic about the prospects of an eventual payback to the economy.
Speaking on ABC RN this morning, Shorten said at its inception there was an “overarching faith” the NDIS should be left to the market to fix any issues, but there hasn’t been enough “market stewardship”.
If you’re going to give resources for disability, you’ve got to make sure that there are rules around how it’s used and the nature of the services provided, and there just wasn’t enough work done about making sure we had enough workforce, making sure that we had service providers who were to doing what they’re saying they’re doing, [or] even qualified to do what they’re doing.
But I don’t share Mr Banks’ negativity about just wrapping up the scheme. The alternative to having the scheme is to go back to what existed beforehand, and that was a disaster where you had to have a worst set of circumstances today than yesterday to move up the queue and get resources, and even had to be more diabolical situations tomorrow, that’s not the way to allocate resources.
Shorten questioned that NDIS critics “must understand the consequence of what they say”, because “what is the alternative? Just give up?” He called on critics to meet with him to discuss their concerns, rather than “commenting in the paper”.
We’ll have to work on fixing this together, us and the Coalition.
Updated
Treasury downgrades growth forecasts ahead of budget
Global financial uncertainty has prompted the Treasury to downgrade its growth forecasts for major economies ahead of the federal budget, AAP reports.
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East as well as a slowdown in China has led to the rethink on global economies, with the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, warning of a “fraught and fragile” outlook internationally.
China’s growth has been downgraded by 0.25 percentage points in 2025 to 4.25%, according to Treasury forecasts. The downgrade would mean China’s growth would be the weakest period since the Asian nation opened its economy up in the 1970s.
The UK’s economy’s forecast has also been downgraded by 0.5 percentage points to 1.25% in 2025, and Japan has had its growth revised to just 0.75% in 2024, down by 0.25 percentage points after weaker than expected consumption.
Ahead of May’s federal budget, Chalmers has been meeting with G20 counterparts in Washington, and said global uncertainty had led to the revised expectations:
Events in the Middle East are casting a shadow over the global economy, compounding the concerns about lingering inflation and weaker growth.
The fraught and fragile global outlook was a big feature of discussions in Washington DC and will be a big factor as we put the finishing touches on the budget.
Further revisions on growth forecasts are expected following the release of US GDP figures on Thursday, as well as similar data for the EU later in May.
Updated
International travel closer to pre-pandemic levels than domestic at Sydney Airport
International traffic is now closer to pre-pandemic levels than domestic flights at Sydney Airport.
In the airport’s traffic and operational performance report for the first 2024 quarter, it shows international travel has had a 96.6% recovery rate to pre-pandemic levels (that is, in comparison with the first quarter of 2019). Domestic and regional travel, by comparison, had a 91.9% recovery rate.
The airport suggests this is due to lower levels of domestic business travel. Sydney Airport CEO Scott Charlton said:
The Q1 passenger data shows us that on the domestic front, higher airfares, lack of capacity and a downturn in discretionary business travel has affected demand.
This is contrasted with relatively higher seat capacity and competition on major international routes which underpinned strong international passenger volumes for the quarter.
Updated
Bowen hits back at Dutton while announcing tender for renewables
The federal opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has argued in favour of building nuclear power stations to replace retiring coal-fired generators. On the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, Dutton queried the impact of renewables projects and said they required a “social licence”.
We can’t turn the old system off until the new one is ready. I know people want to pretend wind and solar can go around the clock, it can’t.
In a statement announcing the new renewables tender (see last post), Bowen appeared to clap back at Dutton’s comments:
The rain doesn’t always fall, but we always have water on tap because we store it for when we need it – our energy plan does just the same thing for reliable renewables.
Our plan is delivering the certainty and confidence the market needs to deliver the energy we need, when we need it.
This is in stark contrast to the Coalition’s risky reactor plan which won’t do a thing to plug the electricity gap as 90% of the existing coal fleet retires over the next ten years.
Albanese government announces 'largest-ever' tender for renewable energy projects
The Albanese government has announced Australia’s “largest-ever” tender to build renewable energy projects, which will be underwritten by the commonwealth.
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, says the release of a tender for 6GW of new power generation includes a new renewables deal with New South Wales that will provide at least 2.2GW of power supply for the state.
In November, the government announced an ambitious 32GW plan to underwrite renewables in pursuit of Australia’s target of 82% renewable generation by 2030, amid an “alarming” slowdown in private investment. The tender aims to trigger a first tranche of projects.
In addition to 2.2GW of power earmarked for NSW, 300MW has been earmarked for projects in South Australia, subject to an agreement between governments.
The government says it plans to release tenders from its capacity investment scheme about every six months until 2027. Selected projects will be offered long-term underwriting agreements that include agreed “floor” and “ceiling” revenue for investors.
Updated
Good morning
And welcome to a new week on the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll bring you our rolling coverage for most of today.
The Albanese government has announced the country’s “largest-ever” tender to build renewable energy projects, to be underwritten by the commonwealth. The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, says the release of a tender for 6GW of new power generation includes a new renewables deal with NSW to provide at least 2.2GW of power supply for the state. More on this soon from Ben Smee.
International traffic is now closer to pre-pandemic levels at Sydney Airport, more so than domestic. In a statement, the airport said this is due to lower domestic business travel. Sydney Airport’s CEO, Scott Charlton, said:
The Q1 passenger data shows us that on the domestic front, higher airfares, lack of capacity and a downturn in discretionary business travel has affected demand.
This is contrasted with relatively higher seat capacity and competition on major international routes which underpinned strong international passenger volumes for the quarter.
Sydney Airport’s international travel has had a 96.6% recovery rate to pre-pandemic levels, compared to domestic and regional, which has had a 91.9% recovery rate.
See something that needs attention on the blog? You can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites or you can send me an email: emily.wind@theguardian.com.
Let’s get started.
