What we learned; Tuesday 11 June
It’s time to wrap up a big day of news here at the live blog. Here are our highlights:
Peter Dutton said the Coalition is committed to the Paris Agreement but won’t be forced on any detail about climate targets unless they win the next elections. Anthony Albanese responded by saying he does not think that Australians want yet another election fought on climate change.
The prime minister is looking forward to welcoming Li Qiang, who will make the first visit to Australia by a Chinese premier since 2017.
The foreign minister Penny Wong said Australia welcomes the UN security council’s resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Agriculture minister Murray Watt said Australia’s egg supply is not at risk from bird flu.
Nine was “rightly” accused of having a “blokey” culture in the past, its former head of news said.
And, it’s been a bad day for Bonza, with the airline sacking all of its staff as administrators revealed they are yet to receive a binding offer.
That’s all for now, good night and thanks for joining us.
Updated
Dutton defends climate policy as cost of living relief
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has pointed to the state of the economy as his primary motivation for winding back Labor’s legislated 43% emissions reduction target by 2030 – a move that could undermine Australia’s commitment to the Paris agreement.
The Liberal leader told 2GB on Tuesday afternoon he remained committed to net zero by 2050 but needed to be “realistic” about the cost of living.
When the prime minister made the commitment of 43%, the economy wasn’t in a state that it is now … It’s a very different environment.
When asked what his target would be so that Australians could receive “a bit” of cost of living relief, Dutton declined to offer a figure.
It’s very hard in opposition – without all the modelling and the advice from government – to put an exact figure on the table.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, earlier said Dutton’s climate policy was “absurd”, and that walking away from a 2030 target was the same as walking away from the Paris agreement.
But Dutton suggested countries could still reach that target without setting ambitious midterm targets.
Well, the Paris agreement is predominantly about net zero by 2050, and that’s what we’ve signed up to. You don’t need to go, you know, [go a] linear way to that – to try and get to the 43%, which most analysts at the moment say that the government won’t get to anyway.
Updated
