What we learned – Wednesday 3 July
As politicians and journos party down at the midwinter ball, we’ll wrap up our live coverage for the night. We’ll have a gallery of all the pictures up later so you can relive it all over again.
It was also a busy day news wise. Here’s a summary of the day’s main developments:
Anthony Albanese has said senator Fatima Payman has “made a decision to place herself outside the Labor party”, and suggested he expects that Payman may resign from the party “in the coming days”.
Australia’s corporate watchdog should be split into two after “comprehensively” failing its role as a regulator, including focusing more on managing its reputation than enforcement action, a parliamentary committee inquiry has found.
Booktopia has entered into voluntary administration, but will continue filling orders and selling to the public under supervision from an insolvency adviser.
Australia’s universities have descended into infighting over a proposed international student cap, with some bodies claiming the government is protecting elite institutions.
Have a pleasant evening.
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TV big names shimmer
It’s not just the politicians posing for pictures tonight. Here we have veteran journalist and host of ABC’s 7:30 Sarah Ferguson next to Sky News commentator and host Peta Credlin.
The theme for tonight is Love is in the Air, and is there anything better than seeing two big names from rival outlets normally in fierce competition with each other taking the opportunity to pose for a smile next to each other?
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Helen Haines in the house
Here we have independent MP for Indi Helen Haines in an pine lime-coloured dress that’s bordering on the definition of glamorous! She’s also sporting a black fur belt of sorts.
She’s with husband Phil who is pulling of a classic tuxedo look and a posing with a cracking smile for Getty photographer Tracey Nearmy who has brought you many of the photos through this blog along with AAP’s Mick Tsikas and Lukas Coch.
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Everything but the bagpipes
Resources minister Madeleine King is striking here with sparkles a plenty.
But I wonder if she might be having words with husband Jamie afterwards for stealing the attention with his tux on top kilt down below trademark which he’s become known for at past midwinter balls.
Cold time of the year to be making your way around Canberra in a kilt so this is real dedication to the look Jamie!
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(S)Tealing the show
We’re now very much in group shot territory and the teals are putting in a team effort here, though only one, Monique Ryan on the far left, is wearing actual teal.
She’s next to Wentworth MP Allegra Spender wearing a bluey/purple lustrous material, Zali Steggall in a silver white number, Kylea Tink and Zoe Daniel in sparkly black gowns, Kate Chaney in a navy dress, and Sophie Scamps in a shiny light blue wraparound.
They’re all smiles and why not when you’ve got a chance to unwind in style!
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Rachel Griffiths alert!
If you weren’t already excited, we have an actual bona fide celebrity in the house!
Here is actress Rachel Griffiths with home affairs minister Clare O’Neill.
Griffiths in several layers of black with red shoes that certainly stand out.
O’Neill, meanwhile, is sporting two shades of red in her dress which is possibly actually pants.
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Ged Kearney makes a statement on contraception
Another statement item were these earrings from assistant health and aged care minister Ged Kearney. She is wearing long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) devices as earrings, which I’m informed are designed by Melbourne jewellery designer Barley Lane.
Here she is with adviser Gabriel Steger from her office, also wearing an IUD bolo tie.
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A tux and posture to set your watch to
Say what you will about leadership tension, but these Nationals sure know how to pull off a tuxedo.
First it was leader David Littleproud, now it’s former leader Michael McCormack, the MP for the Riverina, looking a million bucks in this tux and with a standup posture you can set your watch to!
He’s accompanied by his wife Catherine, who is in turning heads in a bronze dress that stylishly runs down to the floor.
They’re both smiling and it’s not hard to see why!
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This goes with that it’s Sussan
The deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley is here in what appears to be a navy velvet dress. Not only an elegant look, but sensible given it’s one of the warmer fabrics out there!
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Power couples aplenty
We’ve already seen a few power couples enter tonight, and that list grows here with Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young and her partner Ben Oquist, the executive director of the Australia Institute.
Oquist’s outfit here is no-nonsense and stylish, and it lets Hanson-Young’s white dotted black dress shine through.
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Here we have Labor stalwart and NDIS minister Bill Shorten
He’s taking things up a notch with tasteful white pocket square popping out of his tuxedo jacket.
He’s pictured here with his daughter Georgette, who is in “a sleek, almost oil slick-like taupe or purple grey” gown, with an “elegant feathery cape”, according to an editor in our newsroom.
The Shortens are certainly not short on style!
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Now here’s a man who knows how to wear a tux
Nationals leader David Littleproud in a strapping black and white number sporting an even better posture! Talk about a role model! He’s pictured with wife Sarah in a marigold yellow dress that goes great next to the tux.
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Senator Jacqui Lambie also a contender for show stealer
Her whirlwind blue number, complete with feathers and beading stands out big time!
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Who’s this young whippersnapper?
Why it’s prime minister Anthony Albanese, the top man himself, looking sharp in this “men in black” style combo. He is all smiles pictured next to fiance Jodie Haydon, who herself is turning heads sporting a long sparkly black long dress.
Albo’s got plenty to smile about with this entrance and he’s not shy about showing us those chompers.
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We now have the second-biggest of the big dogs
Peter Dutton, opposition leader, setting his own menswear trend in wearing a stylish tuxedo jacket but with the unorthodox choice of a standard tie down his centre.
He’s looking sharp and turning heads with this so I’m sure that’s mission accomplished!
He’s not to be outdone by his wife Kirilly, who is all smiles in a fresh and flowing pink dress.
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I’m informed that Anne Aly, the minister for youth and early childhood education, has possibly stolen the show with this black statement dress.
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Sports minister Anika Wells is stealing the show
She’s sporting a “satiny and pearlescent” number, a description I’ve stolen from someone in our newsroom.
She’s pictured here with Labor MP Andrew Charlton, who is sporting a solid smile and is in a no-nonsense black suit with a classic black tie!
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And here’s independent senator Lidia Thorpe in a statement outfit
She’s in a classy white dress which appears to read “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free”.
And perhaps in a nod to the “Love is in the Air” theme – she has a bag that reads “Love Harder”.
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We’re getting into power couple territory here with Labor MP Josh Burns and partner Georgie Purcell, who is an MP in the Victorian parliament for the Animal Justice Party.
Burns is playing the dapper card, with a classic black jacket and purple bow tie. Purcell is in a stylish matching black dress. They’re all smiles!
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The big dogs are starting to arrive
Dr Jim Chalmers, the treasurer, in a sharp black suit and black tie combo!
He arrives with his journalist wife Laura, who is in an elegant blue gown with some shine to it.
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A greenwave has landed!
Here we have Greens senator Larissa Waters in a limerick green number, but all attention is on her “statement” earrings.
Also entering was fellow Greens senator Dorinda Cox. She’s sporting a clutch handbag which reads “Truth & Justice Now”, while wearing a black dress with what I’m told are “sequins”.
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Midwinter ball under way at Parliament House
Politicians and media figures are gathering for the Midwinter Ball.
The theme for tonight’s ball, “Love is in the Air”, was announced back in May – awkward timing given the Albanese government’s very public spat with senator Fatima Payman was still making headlines on Wednesday..
Making an entrance here is seasoned journalist Annabel Crabb, looking stylish in a chrome dress with a black jacket.
“It’s a quite delightful look,” says someone on our news desk.
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Labor passes its own Palestine motion in parliament
The government has passed its own motion in the parliament “to support the recognition of the State of Palestine as part of a peace process in support of a two-state solution”, as the fallout continues over Senator Fatima Payman’s rebel move to back a Greens motion in support of Palestine.
Labor’s motion – “That this House endorses the Government’s position to support the recognition of the State of Palestine as part of a peace process in support of a two-state solution and a just and enduring peace” – passed 81-55, with the government and most of the crossbench backing it.
The Greens and Coalition voted against the government motion on Wednesday night, for separate reasons. The Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather took umbrage at the term “as part of a peace process”, responding “this motion is a joke”.
Chandler-Mather said:
What peace process? Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza. It’s not a peace process.
Why is it 146 countries could find it within their hearts to recognise Palestine right now? Why is it that the Australian government refuses? And how is it that when a Labor senator, senator Payman, who had the principles and courage to cross the floor to vote with the Greens to immediately recognise Palestine, why is it that senator Payman faces more sanctions than Labor has dished out against Israel?
The government minister Tanya Plibersek tweeted soon after the House vote on Wednesday: “The Greens have just teamed up with the Liberals to vote against a motion to recognise the State of Palestine as part of a peace process in support of a two-state solution and a just and enduring peace.”
The Greens have just teamed up with the Liberals to vote against a motion to recognise the State of Palestine as part of a peace process in support of a two-state solution and a just and enduring peace. pic.twitter.com/RHIRcBLZ5E
— Tanya Plibersek (@tanya_plibersek) July 3, 2024
Payman last week backed a Greens-led motion declaring an urgent need “for the Senate to recognise the state of Palestine”.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, had unsuccessfully sought to amend the motion’s wording to specify that recognition of Palestine occur “as part of a peace process in support of a two-state solution and a just and enduring peace”.
Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday “the problem with the motion that was moved by the Greens is it forgot to mention Israel, and a one state solution, whether it is Israel or Palestine, is not in the interests of Israelis or Palestinians”.
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Australian universities clash over proposed international student cap
Australia’s universities have descended into infighting over a proposed international student cap, with some bodies claiming the government is protecting elite institutions.
The draft bill, announced in May, would allow the education minister to limit the enrolment of overseas students by provider, course or location. To enrol more students, institutions would be required to establish additional purpose-built student accommodation.
In submissions to the bill, published on Wednesday, regional and smaller universities were pointing the finger at elite capital city institutions, including the University of Sydney, alleging they should be targeted due to having a larger impact on the rental crisis.
Read more:
Liberals split on Coalition’s supermarket divestiture policy
Peter Dutton’s Liberals are split on the Coalition’s plans to crack down on supermarket chains price gouging, with several MPs warning adopting the Nationals party’s preferred policy appears “driven by politics”.
On Wednesday the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, acknowledged that there were “a lot of views” in the Coalition, arguing “that makes better policy” and Liberals’ concerns had already been addressed by various safeguards in the plan.
Under the Coalition proposal, supermarket and hardware chains could face being broken up as a “last resort” for repeated price-gouging.
Dutton announced the policy on Tuesday after briefing the Coalition party room, during which about half a dozen Liberals spoke against the plan or raised concerns.
Read more:
Live blog to run late for Winter Ball at parliament
For style fans out there and those who can’t get enough politics – a reminder that this blog will be running a little later tonight to bring you all the pictures and facts about who’s wearing what at tonight’s Midwinter Ball at Parliament House.
To whet your appetite, here’s a memory satirist Mark Humphries shared earlier from a previous ball.
With the Midwinter Ball on tonight, here’s a throwback to the most uncomfortable minute of my life. Peter Dutton made his way to the stage too early and I had to finish my jokes about him with him standing next to me. pic.twitter.com/xsz1xX5ugQ
— Mark Humphries (@markhumphries) July 3, 2024
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Disadvantaged areas disproportionately punished by junior wages, analysis finds
The impact of junior wages in Australia is the greatest amongst the nation’s most disadvantaged suburbs, an analysis by a community legal firm has found.
A report by the Young Workers Centre, run by Victoria’s peak union body, reveals that junior wages are contributing to widening social and economic division in Australia.
The report found that young workers in Australia’s most disadvantaged suburbs are nearly 20% more likely to be in paid employment than young people in middle class suburbs.
James Lea, acting director of the Young Workers Centre, says paying younger workers less than their adult co-workers is discriminatory:
The young people who can least afford it - those from low-income localities, those from migrant backgrounds, and those escaping social problems at home – are disproportionately punished by junior wages.
Junior rates are intentionally lower than the minimum amount a person can live on without support – but only half of young workers are able to rely on family for support when faced with financial difficulties.
Last month, a nation-wide meeting of union groups endorsed a campaign to scrap junior wages and lift the cohort’s remuneration. But business groups argue it will deter employers from hiring young workers.
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A Sydney man will reappear before court after he was arrested by counterterrorism police on charges relating to threatening messages he sent via a social media platform.
New South Wales police said officers from its Counter Terrorism & Special Tactics Command Security Investigation Unit commenced an investigation into threatening messages after being contacted by South Australian Police.
In a statement, police said:
“It will be alleged that a 34-year-old man from Liverpool sent a total of four messages via a social media platform between Thursday 6 June 2024 and Wednesday 19 June 2024 to a 41-year-old man living in Adelaide.
Both men are known to one another with the older man being a religious elder in South Australia.”
Police arrested the 34-year-old man at Sydney domestic airport about 5pm on Tuesday.
The man was taken to Surry Hills police station and charged with “two counts of use carriage service to menace/harass/offend and two counts of use carriage service to threaten to kill”.
He was refused bail, and appeared at the Downing Centre local court on Wednesday, where he was remanded in custody to reappear at the same court on Thursday.
Shorten and Hanson joins forces to urge parties to ‘put your politics aside’ on NDIS
The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, held a joint press conference in his office with the One Nation senator Pauline Hanson a little earlier on the NDIS.
The strange bedfellows stood side-by-side to discuss the scheme’s growing cost and a decision last week by the Greens and the opposition to delay proposed changes until at least August to continue consideration by a parliamentary committee.
Hanson said she supported Labor’s proposals for the NDIS that will change the way participants receive plan budgets. It will also give more powers to the head of the agency in charge of the scheme to curb top-up payments.
Shorten has claimed the delays will cost an estimated $1bn, or about $23m a day, in wasted spending, labelling it “obscene, horrific, stupid and arrogant” last week.
Shorten said:
In the process of lobbying senators, I’ve been talking with Pauline Hanson - she has always been pretty firm and clear with me that she thinks that things need to be straightened up. But I’m really pleased today that she’s willing to add her voice about the need to move on parts of reforming the NDIS.
Hanson said:
I’m saying to everyone, put your politics aside and do this for the Australian people and we have to have accountability [of taxpayers’ dollars] ...
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Booktopia goes into voluntary administration
Booktopia has entered voluntary administration after the online bookstore was unable to secure additional funding to sustain its loss-making operations.
Three partners of McGrathNicol Restructuring have been appointed voluntary administrators and are undertaking an urgent assessment of the company while options of a sale or recapitalisation are explored.
Booktopia suffered a $16.7m loss for the six months to 31 December, compared to a $3.9m loss a year ago.
Its shares have not traded on the ASX since 13 June while it was attempting to secure additional funding.
The company has said that economic headwinds and the continued soft performance of the Australian book market had diminished its core business which was selling books via two websites, Booktopia.com.au and angusrobertson.com.au. Both remained operational on Wednesday.
The bookseller announced on 3 June that its chief executive was departing, it was withdrawing its earning forecasts and was borrowing $1m at an 18% interest rate to pay for 50 redundancy packages for workers at its headquarters in the Sydney suburb of Rhodes.
– via AAP
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Share market rises for first time in new financial year
The Australian share market has enjoyed its first day of gains in the new financial year, helped by dovish comments from the US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and better-than-expected domestic retail sales data.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Wednesday finished up 21.7 points, or 0.28%, to 7,739.9, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 26.4 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 7,986.1.
One Australian dollar was buying 66.72 US cents, from 66.45 US cents on Tuesday.
– via AAP
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Senior NSW doctor initially believed girl had a virus before her sepsis death, inquest hears
A senior doctor at the regional New South Wales hospital where a two-year-old girl died of septic shock initially did not think her elevated heart rate and low oxygen levels were a sign of sepsis, an inquest has heard.
Pippa Mae White died on 13 June 2022, two months before her third birthday, after doctors at the hospitals in Cowra and Orange assumed she had an acute viral illness, rather than the bacterial infection that resulted in her death.
The NSW deputy state coroner, Joan Baptie, is examining whether Pippa’s death was preventable and whether she received appropriate care in Cowra and Orange, and from the Newborn and Paediatric Emergency Transport Service (Nets) team.
Read more:
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Two people have been charged as part of an investigation into alleged widespread vandalism at Sydney’s Macquarie University that allegedly included graffiti of a swastika.
A 19-year-old man and 20-year-old woman were arrested on Tuesday after counter-terrorism police executed a search warrant on a home in Sydney’s north-west.
Police said they “seized numerous items related to extreme rightwing ideology which will be the subject of further investigation”.
The ongoing investigation began in February after police were told five people entered the university grounds and graffitied offensive symbols in 24 locations around the campus.
Read more:
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Sarah Basford Canales has headed down to Bill Shorten’s office to let you know what unhinged-ness has been unleashed there between Shorten and Pauline Hanson.
And Elias Visontay will take you through the rest of the evening –including a little of the Midwinter Ball in Parliament House.
I’ll bring you any news from the ball tomorrow, as well as anything else which is going on. It seems Labor is preparing for Fatima Payman making an announcement, given what Anthony Albanese had to say in question time, so we will of course also have eyes all over that.
See you early tomorrow morning. Until then – take care of you.
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Bill Shorten is holding a press conference with … Pauline Hanson.
So that is something that is happening.
It will be on the NDIS bill, and it is once again in his office (the last time he did one in his office it was to launch the ‘waste tracker’) but we haven’t heard what today’s stunt is about.
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Dutton to Albanese: ‘Call an election and sort it out. You’re a very scared man’
There is a very long back and forth about whether the prime minister is in order which I won’t bore you with here.
Albanese gets to return to the question
He’s gone from nuclear to meltdown, nuclear to meltdown, which he does consistently.
Paul Karp can hear Dutton tell Albanese across the despatch box:
“Call an election and sort it out. You’re a very scared man. Weak and scared.”
There are more back and forths over whether the prime minister is in order. Paul Fletcher stands up to help Dutton substantiate his point of order and then all of Labor mimes shuffling papers.
A reminder – these people receive about $230,000 minimum.
Question time ends.
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Albanese to Dutton: ‘It’s not so much a supermarket policy as a super Marxist policy’
Peter Dutton asks Anthony Albanese:
Does the prime minister guarantee that during his prime ministership he will not change the current negative gearing and capital gains tax treatment of rental properties.
Anthony Albanese decides to treat it as a ‘here is why the Coalition is terrible; the greatest hits’ and Dutton is not happy.
Albanese:
He hasn’t asked a question about anything that we actually are doing in the housing area. And what’s more, he hasn’t even asked a question about anything that he’s doing. But their nuclear reactor policy order 22nd, 22nd …
Dutton wants to know if Albanese is in order:
It was tight. It didn’t ask about alternatives. And all day we’ve had questions that have been provided that haven’t been answered. He hasn’t given a straight answer all day. And I seek your ruling in relation to whether he is relevant to the question that was asked of him.
Albanese is told to stick to the question.
Albanese:
They really don’t want to talk about the policies that they have, which isn’t surprising given it’s not so much a supermarket policy as a super Marxist policy.
Dick tells him to return to the question.
Albanese:
I’m asked about ruling things out and I’ll tell you what I’ll rule out. Mr speaker, I rule out choosing copper over fibre for the NBN. I rule out governing by colour coded spreadsheets. I rule out paying $30mn for a block of land that’s worth three. I rule out having 22 energy policies and not implementing any of them …
Dutton is of course back on his feet.
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Add Brendan O’Connor to the list of ministers who cannot pronounce nuclear.
There is a habit of adding an additional ‘u’ to make it ‘nuculear’. I have a speech impediment – I understand tricky words. But we are going to hear a lot of nuclear in the coming months and we might all save ourselves some sanity if we take out that u.
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The dixers are becoming truly dire. ‘Why are regional communities better under the Albanese government?’ may as well just be ‘Why is this government great at being a great government?’
This is why we do not cover the dixers.
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Further to Natasha May’s post, I am not sure whether they have measured the impact that being forced to sit through question time has on your life expectancy.
Moving on.
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Life expectancy falls in Australia for the first time in 30 years
Australians’ life expectancy has decreased for the first time in 30 years, according to a new government report.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) released its biennial health report card this week, finding overall health continues to fare well when compared with similar countries despite significant impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic and the burden of chronic conditions.
The report found that in Australia life expectancy at birth is the fourth highest among 38 OECD countries, after Japan, Korea and Switzerland.
A boy and a girl born in 2020–2022 can expect to live on average 81.2 years and 85.3 years respectively – an increase of more than 40% since the start of the 20th century.
However, those numbers for 2020–2022 decreased by 0.1 years for males and females compared to 2019–2021. The AIHW said that dip represents the first time since the mid-1990s that life expectancy in Australia decreased.
The report found this was likely due to the increase in deaths seen in 2022, of which close to half were due to Covid-19. The AIHW deputy chief executive officer Matthew James said:
Even though life expectancy in Australia decreased in 2020–2022, it was still higher than it was in 2017–2019, prior to the pandemic, by 0.3 years for males and females.
Covid-19 became the third leading cause of death in Australia in 2022, marking the first time in over 50 years that an infectious disease has been in the top 5 causes of death.
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Albanese on Payman: ‘She wished to be able to take an independent position when it comes to the Middle East’
Anthony Albanese:
I am asked about the political party that belong to and I have been loyal to my whole life and people making a decision to distance themselves from their former party.
And he’s [Bandt] on that cross-section who used to be members of the National party or members of the Liberal party and Senator Thorpe, of course, was elected earlier in the last election as a member of the Greens political party and chose to depart from that.
From time to time, that happens.
And that has happened in terms of the senator making a decision, that she wished to be able to take an independent position when it comes to the Middle East.
I’m also asked about events in the Middle East and our position, and our position has been very consistent.
Our position has been consistent with the motion that was moved by Senator Wong in the Senate and one in which people need to explain why it is that they objected to such a motion.
It was the need for the Senate to recognise the state of Palestine as a part of a peace process in support of a two-state solution and a just and enduring peace.
Those in the Greens political party in the Senate and the Coalition voted against that. I don’t understand what is objectionable about that.
The key to what needs to happen in the Middle East is that there needs to be support for President Biden’s peace plan, there needs to be a ceasefire and an end to what has occurred in Gaza.
There needs to be, therefore, a release of hostages. There needs to be increased humanitarian support for the people of Gaza and there needs to be a lasting and enduring peace that means the people of Palestine and Israel, living side-by-side in peace and security.
That is our position. That is something that we work towards. It won’t be achieved by resolutions in the Senate and stunts by the Greens. It won’t be achieved by those people who choose to desecrate war memorials.
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Bandt asks Albanese if he will impose sanctions on Israel
Greens leader Adam Bandt asks a question:
My question is to the prime minister. Your Labor government has over 1,300 autonomous sanctions on Russia because of their violation of international law, yet even with the UN confirming the Israeli government has committed war crimes in Palestine, you have failed to impose any sanctions at all.
Will you impose any sanctions on the government of Israel?
Why have you put more sanctions on a Senator for speaking out about Palestine than on the extremist Netanyahu government for invading Palestine?
We’ll post the whole answer here, but the short version is Albanese does not address the sanctions question.
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Graham Perrett, the Labor member for Moreton, gets booted out of the chamber for interjecting.
It’s a familiar position for him.
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Anthony Albanese gets a dixer on supermarket prices:
What actions is Albanese Labor government taking to make sure that Australians are getting better prices at the supermarket, and what approaches has the government rejected because they would lead to higher prices?
Kevin Hogan has a point of order about whether the government can just use the compare and contrast question to criticise the opposition.
Milton Dick says he has to stick to the question.
Albanese says not to worry “I will bring it home”.
Albanese is told to respond to members with their title and he says that “sure, well, if they knew what his shadow portfolio was I would say”.
So it’s all going well.
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‘Expect further announcements’ on Fatima Payman in coming days: Albanese
Sussan Ley, who spent the last week saying the prime minister had been ‘weak’ in not sanctioning Fatima Payman, has another question about Payman’s welfare:
Have Labor Senator Fatima Payman claims been intimidated by members of the Labor Party been referred to the parliamentary workplace service?
I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for her question, and it comes straight Leader of the Opposition last week was criticising us for the fact that we had taken a great deal of care to give consideration to Senator Payman.
Senator Payman, of course, has made a decision to place herself outside the Labor Party, that is a decision that she made. I expect further announcements in the coming days. Which will explain exactly what the strategy has been over now more than a month.
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Jim Chalmers on ‘the shambles of those opposite’
Jim Chalmers takes a dixer so he can dunk on Angus Taylor, which is a favourite pasttime of his.
Chalmers loves some Gen X rap, but this battle is more like Kendrick Lamar and Drake (but even more lame, if that is possible).
Chalmers:
The announcement on divestiture has exactly the same shambolic features as the nuclear announcement, the tax announcement and the migration announcement.
Every announcement that they make is a new in the fire of angry incompetence which puts the future of our economy at risk. Every new announcement that they make is the worst combination of uncosted and unhinged and undercooked.
The primary purpose of each new announcement seems to be to distract from the announcement that they made a few weeks ago. Let me give you a sense of that.
Even a cursory look at the headlines. It gives you a sense of the sounds of those opposite.
‘The shadow treasurer rules out of these four nuclear power’ before they announced 100% subsidies.
‘Further confusing the migration message, the shadow treasurer changes the script on Dutton’s immigration cuts’.
‘The shadow treasurer is at odds with leader on migration targets in shambolic post-modern appearance’.
‘Leader of the opposition supermarket push leaves some colleagues feeling ambushed’.
‘Peter Dutton says tax plan too costly’ – that is a tax cut plan that the shadow treasurer has announced, but my favourite all of them is this headline ‘he is not incompetent’, Dutton backs Taylor’.
Responsible economic management versus the shambles of those opposite.
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Coalition focuses attack on migration and housing
There is another question on the migration number and housing.
At this point of the election cycle, you can tell what the parties’ focus groups are saying because it turns up in question time.
So it is cost of living for both sides, but that the Coalition is also pushing along the migration line tells you something as well.
Anthony Albanese takes the question and says:
What we have done is we have restored immigration compliance that was cut by the leader of the opposition by nearly 50%, we’ve increased the temporary skilled migration threshold up to $70,000, we’ve ended the pandemic event visa, something they left in place, we cracked down on rorts in international education, we’ve implemented a $160 million reform package, we’ve imposed no further study conditions on visitor visas, we’ve ended, we are ending migration system settings that drove temporary visa holders to stay long-term and we’ve introduced limits on international student numbers. We are taking action. As opposed to the mess that we inherited from those opposite.
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Anthony Albanese answers question on migrant intake’s impact on housing
Michael Sukkar has an early question – perhaps the Coalition’s tactics team know he can’t keep the interjections in for much longer.
Why won’t the prime minister admit that his decision to let in a record 547,000 migrants last year has been a significant reason for his homegrown housing crisis?
Anthony Albanese says the government “inherited” the system and if the Coalition wanted to help fix it, they would vote for the housing policy in the Senate.
Sukkar has a point of order which is not a point of order, and Albanese says he was talking about housing policy – which reminds him of a new policy the LNP leader in Queensland, David Crisafulli, has just announced.
I’m not sure what form of housing they [the federal Coalition] want. Because they don’t want public housing, they don’t want private rentals, and they don’t want homeownership. Because all three have they opposed. But you’ll be interested to know, Mr Speaker, that the Queensland LNP have come out with an election policy. Do you know what it is? Shared equity. [laughter] Shared equity!
David Crisafulli has come out with a policy saying that he will have a shared equity scheme if he is elected in Queensland.
(The Coalition has been against the federal home equity scheme Labor put forward at a federal level, despite it existing at a state level already in many jurisdictions.)
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Chris Bowen takes another dixer on how terrible the Coalition’s nuclear plan is, but I think that there should also be a rule that no one in the parliament can mention nuclear until there is an agreement on how we say “nuclear”.
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Andrew Wilkie asks about housing funding for Tasmania
Andrew Wilkie gets the first crossbench question:
Despite all the federal government talk about doubling housing and homelessness funding, funding for Tasmania will in fact decline this year under the national agreement on social housing and homelessness from $38.1 million to $37.4 million. This is the biggest proportional decline of any state. I’m sure you understand the dire housing situation in Tasmania as well as I do. How on earth would you let this happen?
Julie Collins:
I understand where he is coming from with his question and his concern for the people of Tasmania who are struggling with housing challenges, and indeed I share his concern in terms of what is happening in Tasmania with housing. But I want to reassure the member for Clark that the inference of his question is actually not true. No state or territory is going backwards in funding under the new agreement, none.
Collins goes through the housing policy but Wilkie has a point of order:
Regarding the national agreement with social housing and homelessness, the minister is attempting to mislead the parliament.
There are oooohhhhhhhssss at this (because accusing a minister of attempting to mislead the parliament is one of the more serious things you can accuse someone of in in the parliament. Yes, I know.)
Wilkie is made to withdraw and does so.
Collins:
I will reiterate, no state or territory will be receiving any less under the new housing agreement. Let me be very clear about that. I’m happy to have a meeting with the member for Clark and go through the figures and to clear this up with him
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Coalition v Labor on inflation
Angus Taylor time!
After three failed budgets [have] failed to tackle and beat inflation, respected economist Chris Richardson has said governments have abandoned the field in the inflation fight, we are fighting the inflation fight one-handed. Mortgage relief is a very, very long way away. When will the prime minister admit his $315 billion spending spree is driving homegrown inflation and threatening further interest rate increases into the future?
Jim Chalmers takes this one, because of course he does.
Once again, as the prime minister said a moment ago, if the shadow treasurer thinks there is $315 billion to my spending in the budget, then he should come clean to the pensioners and veterans and people who rely on Medicare in this country and tell them exactly how he is going to cut $315 billion of spending from the budget, Mr Speaker. If he is angry about inflation, which is running in orderly terms, that 3.6%, he must have been absolutely furious with the 6.1% that he left us when he stopped being one of the most embarrassing parts of the worst performing government since federation, Mr Speaker.
From there, you know where he goes with it all.
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Anthony Albanese answers that with:
I thank the leader of the opposition for his question, which goes to a comparison of where the Australian economy was in 2022 and where it is now. I am happy to comment on that, Mr Speaker, because in the March quarter of 2022, inflation was 2.1%.
The biggest quarterly rise this century. This century. What we have done is reduce inflation from where we inherited it.
When it comes to wages, outside of the pandemic, the biggest drop in real wages this century also occurred in the March quarter of 2022. Down 1.4%. Think about this. Inflation record up in 2022, wages record down in March 2022. Now, real wages grew more in the past year at 0.5% than they did during their entire 10 years in office. We inherited a sluggish labour market.
Under us, 880,000 new jobs have been created. Productivity growth under them was the worst in 40 years, and we have reversed that decline. Business investment declined to the lowest levels since the early 2000s under them, business investment under us has grown in every single quarter, up 13% in real terms.
And of course the budget, under them, they planned a $78 billion deficit with no surpluses projected at any time between 2022 and 2060-61. That was their projections going forward. We have turned that $78 billion deficit into a Labor surplus of $22 billion, and then a second Labor surplus in the following year.
But they also make this absurd claim about government spending, and they include in that things that I would suggest therefore they must be opposed to. Indexation of the aged pension, they are against that. Indexation of income support payments, the payrise for care workers, well, they were upfront about proposing that, funding new medicines on the PBS, apparently they are against all of that, the natural disaster recovery and relief in the electorates of the member for Riverina and the member for Calare and the member for Page, the member for Richmond, in all of these electorates they are against that as well apparently.
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Question time begins on cost of living
We are straight into the questions.
Peter Dutton asks about mortgage costs – saying a couple of years ago …
An Australian family could secure a new variable rate home loan at 2.4%, paying $35,000 a year. After two years of Albanese government decisions driving up inflation, your loan variable interest rate is 6.3%, costing Australian families an extra $21,000 in after tax dollars. Why [not admit] the $315 billion spending spree is driving home grown inflation and threatening further interest rate increases to the future?
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French company EDF reportedly scraps small nuclear reactor due to ‘soaring costs’
In news that should make Chris Bowen pretty happy ahead of question time, Renew Economy is reporting French nuclear giant EDF has cancelled its plans for a small modular reactor because of “soaring costs”.
The publication reports EDF is now fully owned after facing “potential bankruptcy due to delays and massive cost over-runs at its latest generation large scale nuclear plants” and had been working on plans for a small modular reactor “for years” but has now scrapped it.
The French outlet L’Informé reported on Monday EDF had cancelled the project “because of engineering problems and cost over runs”.
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We are in the downhill slide to question time, where everyone will probably behave a little more than usual.
The Midwinter Ball is being held tonight, and so everyone pretends to be in a good mood ahead of the event.
MPs have to be invited to sit on a table, so not everyone gets a ticket to the press gallery hosted ball (missing out on a ticket might be the better of the two options).
Both the prime minister and opposition leader give a speech that is usually tongue-in-cheek and it is all under Chatham House rules, but your blog scribe doesn’t attend the ball and therefore is not privy to the agreement. So if anything happens – we’ll let you know.
NSW gives fast-track approval for six renewables-related projects
The New South Wales government has today given fast-track approval for six projects related to renewable energy, including three pumped hydro projects.
The six now have so-called “critical state significant infrastructure” status, bringing to 24 renewables-related projects earmarked for streamlined approval since the Minns government took office, the state says.
After the federal opposition announced last month it would build (with federal funds) seven nuclear plants from the mid-2030s if it won office, NSW’s granting of the project is a reminder that the energy transition is proceeding apace (though that pace needs to quicken).
Three of the six are pumped hydro projects which are not “weather-dependent” - countering one of the gripes about renewable energy from the pro-nuclear crowd. These ventures link an upper dam with a lower one with a tunnel, using times of cheap power to pump water up and then releasing it when electricity prices are high.
One of these projects involves EnergyAustralia making use of Lake Lyell near its Mount Piper coal-fired power stations - the site of one of Peter Dutton’s proposed nuke alternatives. Another is at Mussellbrook, where AGL Energy wants to redevelop a former coalmine, while Yancoal is exploring using an old coalmine to build a pumped hydro and solar plant near Stratford.
It’s perhaps fitting that ex-fossil fuel sites get repurposed for renewable energy (and probably saves a bit of rehabilitation dough in the process).
The other three fast-tracked projects involve transmission links, including for the New England Renewable Energy Zone. This zone could perhaps have done with a bit of a higher priority early on.
The NSW government last year pushed back the “initial energisation” date for this zone – and its proposed first stage of 2.5 gigawatts of solar and windfarms – almost three years to 2031.
Not everybody noticed though, with the Australian Energy Market Operator still listing its startup date as 2028-29 as recently as last week.
A “miscommunication” is to blame, a NSW official tells Guardian Australia.
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Attorney general has framework for a human rights act ‘on a silver platter’, Rosalind Croucher says
On the question of a human rights act and what the attorney general should do, Rosalind Croucher says it is up to him but he has the framework “on a silver platter”.
It’s not for me to set agendas for the attorney. The attorney committed to the process by getting the parliamentary joint committee to consider a human rights framework for Australia.
He’s initiated that action.
He has their report. So his commitment to the idea of changing, modernising, providing a human rights framework for today’s Australia is real. Now, he has the series of reports, as I said, not flippantly but seriously, on a silver platter or at least on his desk.
He has those reports.
There are other issues – the religious discrimination issue is obviously a live issue. There are other commitments that the government has made, including the amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act as a priority. There are many issues. In terms of the what next? That is for him. He has this body of work.
And what I would like to see, as the next step, is the introduction of an exposure or the development and introduction of an exposure draft bill based on the model that was used as the centrepiece in the report of the parliamentary joint committee, and open it up through that vehicle for further consultation and engagement, which people want to have. But on an exposure draft bill that. That’s what I would like to see. And you can ask the attorney - throw him the challenges that you would like to make. But it is now up to him.
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Human rights protections ‘shouldn’t be party political issue’, Rosalind Croucher says
Back to the press club address – what does Rosalind Croucher think of Anthony Albanese’s commitment to having bipartisan agreement on the religious discrimination legislation before moving ahead with it?
Croucher:
Politics is always a deal.
In any government, the introduction of legislation is a matter for the politics of the day. What I can say is that the commitment by our governments over the years – whether it is a Coalition government or a Labor government – they have agreed in equal measure in signing up to international treaties. It should not be a party political issue whether we bring human rights promises in terms of protections into our own legal system.
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Greens undecided on whether they will repeat motion to recognise Palestinian state
The Greens are still refusing to say whether they will seize the opportunity before parliament rises on Thursday afternoon for a five-week break to ask the Senate to vote on another motion seeking to recognise a Palestinian state.
Senator Nick McKim said the party was still deciding whether to repeat the motion it put last week, which saw Labor senator Fatima Payman defy her party’s position and cross the floor to vote for it.
Payman has said she is abstaining from all votes this week except anything she considers a matter of conscience, in the wake of her indefinite suspension from the Labor caucus and all of its internal committees and communications for declaring she would repeat last week’s action if the opportunity arose.
McKim said the Greens’ motivation was to push Labor to exert more pressure on the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza.
What I will say is that our focus will remain as it has been on trying to force Labor into sanctioning the Israeli government and trying to force Labor out of complicity in a genocide,” McKim told journalists. “So, everything that we have done has been about making sure that we stand up for Palestinians in Palestine, making sure we stand up for Palestinian Australians and making sure we put the pressure on Labor to do the right thing.
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Over in the house, Tanya Plibersek’s “nature positive” legislation (the one with the EPA) is going through its votes.
There is a bit of a hold-up with some divisions but the government wants this passed before QT and so it will be (although it won’t be voted on in the Senate this week).
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Tracking costs
As Sarah Basford Canales reported last week, Bill Shorten has launched a website cost tracker for the cost he says the delay in passing his controversial NDIS legislation in the Senate is costing Australians.
You can find that at www.outoftouchwithcostofliving.com
The Unemployed Workers Union has its own website tracker – the cost of not raising the jobseeker rate above the Henderson poverty line, while at the same time what the government is spending on private job agencies.
You can find that one at www.outoftouchwithcostofliving.org.au
We've noted Labor's concern that there have been too many distractions from their cost-of-living measures. So we've decided to help them, by amplifying their welfare policies.
— AUWU (@AusUnemployment) July 3, 2024
Track what Labor is doing to welfare recipients at https://t.co/bViocowebP#RaiseTheRate https://t.co/KUBxeD75II pic.twitter.com/k1oCKGZBAC
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Human rights commission ‘often misunderstood’, outgoing president says
Now at the end of her seven year term as the human rights commission president, Rosalind Croucher has had a few words about the organisation itself and how it is often misunderstood.
It is a wondrous organisation, full of extraordinary, largely unsung, people.
However, this wonder is, for me, tempered by one of the most surprising aspects of leading the commission: that despite our role being clearly and expressly laid out in legislation, it is often, wilfully or otherwise, misunderstood.
Commonly expressed canards about the commission include: references to people being ‘hauled before the Human Rights Commission’; disappointment being expressed when we don’t ‘prosecute’ someone, and the very generalised criticism about being ‘absent’ in commenting on an issue, usually at a global or international level, and usually expressed as ‘where is the Human Rights Commission?’
These critiques – and critics – misunderstand several key parameters: that we are obliged to consider all complaints that are sent to us; that no one is ‘hauled before us’ – we provide a dispute resolution process that is neutral, voluntary and low cost, and fewer than 4% of the thousands of matters conciliated each year by us ever go anywhere near a court; that the accepting of a complaint does not automatically mean that the commission considers it to have merit; that we have no power to prosecute anyone and do not instigate complaint ourselves; and that our role is about human rights issues in Australia – we are not a public commentator at large on the state of the world.
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Rosalind Croucher is about to start her press club address – we will bring you the highlights.
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Retail sales up 0.6% in month, double the rate forecast by economists
Two batches of figures out today from the ABS point to stronger than expected economy activity – but that’s because expectations were pretty grim to start with.
Retail sales were 0.6% higher in June than in May, or twice the meagre growth rate anticipated by economists. Still, they were up only 1.7% from May 2023 and given the inflation rate was 4%, they were down more than 2% in real terms.
Some of that spending was related to end of financial year discounting starting earlier than usual (a trend we see at the other end of the year as pre-Christmas sales increasingly start from early November).
Perhaps the obscure fact of the day: Western Australia’s retail turnover rose 1.3%, aided by the restoration of the Trans-Australian Railway and Eyre Highway freight routes after major flooding in March. (Guess we don’t have much coastal shipping these days.)
For the other major stats, the ABS said dwelling approvals rose 5.5% in May, quickening from April’s 1.9% pace. Economists had been tipping a 1.6% rise.
WA led the way with a 19.6% jump (probably more to do with the soaring property prices there than a post-flood approvals binge), with Victoria’s up 8.9%.
The value of total building approved rose 0.6% to $13bn, the ABS said, reversing a 0.7% fall in April.
Neither set of numbers is likely to shift the Reserve Bank’s interest rate dial. The biggest influence on that won’t come until 31 July, when we get June quarter inflation figures.
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‘Carbon capture and gas should have no access to Future Made in Australia funds,’ ACF says
Australian Conservation Foundation’s lead exports campaigner, Elizabeth Sullivan, said the Future Made in Australia legislation was a good move – as long as gas is left out of it.
In a rapidly changing global energy landscape, the Future Made in Australia legislation is shaping up to provide the strong foundation needed to establish world-leading renewable manufacturing and export industries.
These are the industries that will propel our future – not polluting coal and gas, or non-solutions like nuclear energy or carbon capture and storage, which come with huge new risks and keep our economy burning coal and gas for longer.
Carbon capture and gas should have no access to Future Made in Australia funds.
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Governor general Sam Mostyn meets Lismore mayor to discuss flood recovery
AAP reports Sam Mostyn has hosted locals from Lismore who went through the floods in 2022 as one of her first acts as governor general.
Ms Mostyn was warmly received as she addressed the Australian Local Government Association’s (ALGA) national general assembly on Wednesday, her first public engagement since being sworn in two days ago.
Describing her first day in her new office, Ms Mostyn said she met with Lismore mayor Steve Krieg and deputy mayor Jeri Hall to discuss the regional city’s continued recovery after the catastrophic 2022 floods.
‘Our meeting and discussion was a great example of how trust is built and reflects what I have heard across the country in recent months - communities crave kindness and care,’ Ms Mostyn told the gathering of the nation’s councillors in Canberra.
‘They seek empathy from those with power over the decisions that affect them and they deserve respect and engagement.
‘I also heard repeatedly that Australians desire unity and optimism.
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New ambassadors announced
Penny Wong has announced five new ambassadors:
Derek Yip as Australia’s next ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Greg Wilcock as Australia’s next consul general in Honolulu.
Damien Donavan as Australia’s next ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco.
Leann Johnston as Australia’s next ambassador to Nepal.
Max Willis as Australia’s next high commissioner to the Republic of Vanuatu.
Amanda McGregor has been named Australia’s next special representative on Afghanistan.
On McGregor’s appointment, Wong says:
Based in Qatar, Ms McGregor will work with like-minded countries to call out the Taliban on its abuse of human rights and support the people of Afghanistan.
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New CEO of Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority
Stephen Gniel has been formally appointed as the new CEO of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (Acara).
Gniel had been seconded into the role on an acting basis since November following the resignation of David de Carvalho. He was previously the CEO of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (Vcaa).
The body came under fire last year for a series of errors discovered in VCE exams, prompting the state’s education minister to launch an investigation.
His three year appointment into the new role was decided by Acara board members and a representative from the Department of Education, with consideration by federal cabinet.
Gniel:
I’m delighted at the opportunity to lead Acara at this very important time for education in Australia. Our relentless focus will continue to be on ensuring we support our teachers and inspire improvement in the learning of all young Australians through world-class curriculum, assessment and reporting.
The minister for education, Jason Clare, congratulated Gniel on his appointment.
Gniel ... brings a wealth of experience across early childhood education, schools, and tertiary portfolios in the education sector.
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Chalmers says Nationals ‘making it up as they go along’ on competition policy
Jim Chalmers, though, says he won’t be pushed on divestiture powers for the supermarkets:
Now the difference between us and the Coalition is we devise and implement our competition policy in a considered and a methodical way, relying heavily on the advice of the ACCC and others.
What we see with our opponents is the Nationals making it up as they go along, riding roughshod over the Liberals, rolling Angus Taylor once again like he’s been rolled on tax and he’s been rolled on public funding for nuclear reactors as well. So this is the same kind of shambles as we saw with nuclear and with migration. They can’t explain the most basic details.
One of the reasons why the last three big reviews of competition policy hasn’t recommended we go down this path is because of the possible unintended consequences. If you made supermarkets sell, are they allowed to sell to another big rival? Does it mean they close down more stores in local communities? And does that mean less competition rather than more competition in local communities?
Chalmers is also keen to point out the doubts those in the Liberal party have previously expressed about the idea:
Not that long ago Jane Hume was saying that she was worried that divestiture wouldn’t decrease prices. She’s on the record as recently as April making that clear.
So we make our competition policy on the advice of the ACCC, not on the advice of the National party riding roughshod over the Liberals.
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Australia Institute supports Coalition backing supermarket divesture powers
The Coalition’s support for divestiture powers over the major supermarkets which it announced yesterday (after months of the Greens making the same recommendation) has support from an unlikely (at least for the Coalition) source – the Australia Institute.
The institute’s senior economist, Matt Grudnoff, said the proposed divestiture powers could help keep down inflation and make groceries cheaper.
Research from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, released at the beginning of 2023, showed that corporate profits, not wages, were the major driver of the burst of inflation in Australia that followed the Covid lockdowns.
The Australian economy has become less competitive over the last few decades and these laws would go some way to addressing that structural imbalance.
… Divestiture powers will enable the government to break up large businesses abusing their market power and force them to compete, leading to lower prices and better service for consumers.
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MPs and family and domestic violence workers call on government to address delays in funding and hiring
Goldstein independent MP Zoe Daniel is calling on the government to address the delay in frontline family and domestic violence workers.
Daniel has invited organisations from the sector to attend the parliament and have their voices heard, including:
Elise Phillips, Domestic Violence NSW
Karen Dini-Paul, Warringu Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation
Leeanne Caton, NT representative
Kathleen Maltzahn, Sexual Assault Services Victoria
Yvette Cehtel, Women’s Legal TAS
Larissa Waters from the Greens and the Liberal’s deputy leader, Sussan Ley, have also been raising the issue.
The government has said it has funded the positions, but the states and territories have not hired enough fast enough. Daniel and the sector says the excuses and delays have gone on for too long.
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Labor moves motion to suspend standing orders for vandalism condemnation be adjourned
Back on today’s motion to suspend standing orders for a motion condemning the vandalism of the war memorials and Jason Clare has moved it be adjourned – for much the same reasons Matt Keogh outlined yesterday (see below)
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Minister for veterans affairs condemns war memorial ‘defacement’
In moving that the motion be adjourned yesterday, the minister for veteran affairs, Matt Keogh, said:
What I seek to do is to condemn what they have done, because it cuts against the exact freedom that they are espousing and it cuts against the exact freedom they are afforded in being able to exercise those free democratic rights in every other way that they or anyone else may seek to raise their cause in this country.
That is what makes what has happened here not just truly abhorrent but problematic.
In saying all of that, it confirms exactly what the member for Canning has sought to do by bringing forward this motion today and it confirms why Senator Lambie brought forward her motion at the beginning of the week.
That motion was supported by the government, and the sentiments were supported by the prime minister in his answer in question time yesterday, in the speech made by the member for Spence, in the public comments made by the minister for defence on Sunday and in the comments that I have made previously in relation to these things occurring at other memorials.
I think both sides of this House and many on the crossbench join together in those sentiments. It is deeply concerning to me that there was a political party in the Senate that voted against that motion on Monday. I think we all agree with that.
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LNP attempt to condemn pro-Palestine graffiti on war memorials
Over in the House and LNP MP Phil Thompson is trying to suspend standing orders to move another motion to have the house condemn the recent anti-genocide vandalisation on Australian war monuments in Canberra.
That the House condemns the act of defacing war memorials by pro-Palestinian protestors which is deeply insulting for current and former members of the Australian Defence Force and undermines the significance of these memorials as symbols of national pride and remembrance.
Keith Wolahan is the seconder.
A similar motion moved by Andrew Hastie yesterday was adjourned.
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Chalmers repeats party line on Payman
On Fatima Payman’s suspected exit from the Labor party, Jim Chalmers said he wasn’t sure if she was leaving but:
I mean she’s certainly chosen to sit herself outside the obligations that all of the rest of us sign up to. We’re a party of progress, not protest, we believe that we get more done collectively than individually. That’s been one of the reasons for our success over a really long period of time.
The path that Fatima has chosen has been chosen by her, not for her, and my hope is that we can welcome Fatima back into the fold at some point when she’s prepared to be subjected to those obligations that all the rest of us have signed up to when we become Labor members and senators.
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Chalmers says Labor policies helping on inflation
On the speculation that the Reserve Bank may be considering another interest rate rise, Jim Chalmers said:
I think people have got different interpretations about those Reserve Bank minutes that came out yesterday, and again I don’t make predictions about decisions they take independently.
My job is to focus on this fight against inflation. You and I have spoken about it a heap of times on your show. Getting the budget into surplus is part of that effort. Rolling out this cost‑of‑living relief in a substantial and meaningful but also a responsible way, that’s part of us doing our bit to get on top of this inflation challenge.
Inflation’s higher than any of us want to see it but it’s much lower than it was when we came to office and our policies are helping.
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Schrodinger’s election
I regret to inform you we are deep in the “when will the election be called” speculation zone, which happens every time we get to when the prime minister could legally call it (from August) and things are unsettled (timeless statement).
The truth is the government and the opposition have been in election mode for some time – pretty much the beginning of the year. And that is usual for the last year of the electoral cycle. And it is even more usual when the economy isn’t doing too well and people are feeling under pressure.
But because we don’t have fixed terms, you are all going to be subjected to endless speculation that we “could” go to an election. Which of course we could – it is just that none of us know, until we know.
Jim Chalmers was asked about it on the Nine network this morning when he was asked to repeat after the host ‘there will be no early election’.
Chalmers did not, probably because breakfast TV hosts shouldn’t be running the country (or at least not so overtly), leading to a back and forth which included Chalmers saying:
I tell you what, I’m working towards an election next year. … My understanding, my intention is that we go on the usual time frame. That’s certainly how I’m operating.
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Victoria’s housing minister, Harriet Shing, is holding a press conference in Melbourne to announce a pilot program aimed at tackling homelessness among First Nations people.
She says the program will see Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation take over a City of Melbourne building on Bourke Street to deliver the program.
It will provide wraparound support, including arranging housing and allied health services, from Tuesdays to Saturdays. The corporation already runs outreach vans, which provide rough sleeper kits, meals and hot drinks to about 500 homeless people each night in the CBD and its surrounds.
Shing says up to 15% of people experiencing homelessness identify as Aboriginal despite only making up 0.5% of the CBD’s population.
We also know that homelessness is something which is increasingly being experienced by people in private rentals, and around 80% of the people accessing homelessness services for the first time are coming from the private rental market.
This is where it’s so important, not only to bring additional housing online and to ease the challenges of availability and affordability, but also to make sure that when and as people need that extra support, they are able to access it in a way that is culturally safe.
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Chalmers explains ‘three pillars’ of Future Made in Australia law
Jim Chalmers has explained the details of his Future Made in Australia legislation and why he says it’s essential for Australia’s future in economic and environmental terms.
We can grasp the jobs and opportunities of the energy transition. The world is moving on and Australia needs to move with it. Because if we get stuck in the past, this country will be poorer. It will be more vulnerable and we won’t make the most of the golden opportunity in front of us.
He says the new law will be built on three pillars:
The first is a national assessment framework to identify the sectors in which Australia has a comparative advantage in the new clean-energy economy, or in which it needs to invest for future economic or national security reasons.
The second is what he calls a “robust sector assessment process” aimed at working out what is holding back private investment in Australia.
And the third is a set of “community benefit principles” to ensure that the public money that’s invested - and the extra private investment it encourages - will have benefits both to the economy and to the community.
The time to act is now. The world is changing with or without Australia. The golden opportunity in front of us will start shrinking if we take any longer.
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Bondi Junction stabbing victim’s family says no material action has been taken on mental health
Elizabeth Young said Australia’s governments had promised to address mental health in the wake of the attack which killed her daughter, but she says there has been no material action.
After the horror of the Bondi Junction stabbings, the federal and state and territory governments committed to a national mental health ministers’ meeting, who discussed joint action on mental health reform.
Currently, three months on, no date and no agenda has been set for this meeting.
Please, in the long shadow of the horror of Jade’s death, I beg you, as the voice of three shattered households, please actually do something about the discrepancies, the disparities, the inconsistencies in current mental health funding and management between the federal government and states and between states.
Think as ordinary humans. Think as a mother, a father, a husband, a sister, a brother. Find the courage to work together to coordinate action on mental health reform and funding.
We need a coordinated national approach to mental healthcare so that, no matter where you live, you should be able to receive the care that you’ll need. Australia’s mental health system is in crisis, and now is the time to act.
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Mother of Jade Young, Bondi Junction stabbing victim, calls for further mental health support
The mother of one of the victims of the Bondi Junction stabbing attack has spoken at a press conference at Parliament House.
Elizabeth Young said her daughter Jade was described in the media as “47-year-old architect Jade Young” but says she was so much more than that.
She was a loved wife, a most-loved mother of two young girls. She was our treasured daughter, and PJ’s beloved jiějie - Chinese for “big sister”.
Elizabeth has travelled to Parliament House on behalf of Jade’s family to urge the government to do more to address gaps in mental health funding.
Jade was a primary victim of that devastating attack, but three households – two in New South Wales, one in Tasmania – are the collateral damage.
Within hours of her death in the hideous aftermath, our New South Wales families were given unconditional support. We were introduced to our police liaison person. We were guided through the first steps of recovery. In the nearly three months since, with the aid of specialist mental health practitioners, we are beginning to emerge from the suffering that has enveloped us as a result of Jade’s death and are trying to give the girls - aged 9 and 14 - a life as close to normal as possible.
But not all of us have been so fortunate. Our son PJ, who lives in Tasmania with his family, received no such treatment. Being nowcomers to Hobart, they firstly had to find a GP, then negotiate their own specialist support, paying out of their own pockets.
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Chalmers introduces Future Made in Australia bill
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is on his feet in the house introducing the Future Made in Australia legislation. (This part of the legislation is on Treasury’s role, which is why Chalmers has carriage over it.)
Chalmers seems to be speaking to the bill as though it is going to become a part of the nation’s history books and thus needs some good lines:
Our goal here is to power the future, not manufacture the past. Our strategy is to engage and invest not retreat and protect.
Our emphasis is on attracting private investment, not replacing it.
To prosper from change, not just protect ourselves from it.
And the Bill I’m introducing today is putting this plan into practice – to help make Australia a renewable energy superpower, and an indispensable part of the global net zero economy.
To more closely align our national security and economic security interests. To modernise and strengthen our economy, in a world built on cheaper and cleaner energy.
To grab the vast industrial and economic opportunities from the world’s shift to net zero. And share the benefits of those opportunities with every Australian.
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New Greens Senator says Labor’s Future Made in Australia is ‘greenwashing’
The new Greens senator for Victoria, Steph Hodgins-May, stopped by doors this morning (the main entry ways where journalists are waiting, and where MPs who have something to say drop by – there are plenty of other entrances to the parliament where we are not allowed to stop and ask MPs questions)
Hodgins-May says she is not a huge fan of the Future Made in Australia legislation:
Labor’s Future Made in Australia is really a future for coal and gas past 2050 when you look at the fine print.
Enough of this greenwashing from Labor. They can talk a big game on batteries and renewables, but if they’re also keeping coal and gas in the system for longer, we won’t make the transition.
Labor can’t keep putting its foot on the accelerator and the brake at the same time. Real climate action means no new coal and gas.
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Outgoing Australian Human Rights Commission president to address National Press Club
Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher is coming to the end of her seven-year term as the Australian Human Rights Commission President and will be delivering an address to the National Press Club on creating a national human rights act.
Her speech, “Free + Equal: Safeguarding the rights of all Australians’”will be delivered from 12.30. We’ll carry the highlights, as well as some of the Q&A.
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McKim: Greens are ‘proud of the position we’ve taken’ on Gaza
Nick McKim is asked about some of the criticism from Labor MPs, including Queensland’s Graham Perrett who described Adam Bandt to the Saturday Paper as “an opportunistic, vote-harvesting stunt master who can go eff himself.”
McKim says:
He [Perrett] is under pressure from people in his electorate who don’t support what the Labor party is doing and who want Labor to sanction the Israeli government, who want Labor to stop being complicit in a genocide. And of course, he is under pressure and of course, he’s going to lash out at us.
Now, ultimately, everything that we do is political. We are not doing anything other than our job here. And our job is to come into this place, to speak for the millions of Australians who don’t support the genocide that’s under way in Gaza, to speak for the millions of Australians who want the Labor government here in Australia to stop being complicit in this genocide, to put in place sanctions against the Israeli government.
Those are the things that we’re going to focus on. And Labor can, Labor will do whatever they do. We have a job to do here. And we’re proud to speak for the millions of Australians who want Labor to take a different position, who want to see an end to weapons exports, and military hardware exports to Israel.
Those are our jobs. Mr Perrett is entitled to run off and lash out at whomever he wants. We are proud of the position we have taken and we’ll continue to advocate for peace in Gaza.
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Greens say Palestine bill isn’t about internal Labor politics
The Greens have reserved their right to bring another motion before the senate on Palestinian statehood. The last time the party brought forward a motion on Palestinian statehood is when Labor senator Fatima Payman crossed the floor. Nick McKim is asked if a motion would be put to the senate today and says:
What the Greens will do is what we have always done, for us this is never about internal Labor party politics, this is about trying to put pressure on a Labor government in Australia to sanction the Israeli government, to stop being complicit in a genocide and it’s always for us been about representing the tens of thousands of people in Gaza who have been slaughtered by a genocidal Israeli government. And we will keep doing those things.
… All of these things are under consideration for us. But our thoughts are about those issues that I have just mentioned, not about internal Labor party politics.
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Nick McKim says this is now ‘moment of choice for Labor’ over supermarket powers
Sticking with senators: Greens senator Nick McKim, who introduced a private members’ bill to give the ACCC divesture powers over the big supermarkets, is feeling some type of way over the Coalition now deciding they are also for divestiture powers (although the Coalition says they are for different divestiture powers than the Greens).
McKim told ABC News Breakfast:
[I’m] pretty happy. When we set up the select committee on supermarket prices our whole aim was to bring down food and grocery prices in Australia and we’re a step closer to that.
The Labor party is the only party standing with Coles and Woolworths and their billion-dollar profits and their price gouging of Aussie shoppers. This is now a moment of choice for Labor.
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Ayres says he thinks Ed Husic will be out there promoting Future Made in Australia bill as well
So why is it that Tim Ayres, the assistant minister, is speaking on this and not the industry minister, Ed Husic? (The suggestion in the question is that Husic is not doing interviews on the legislation so he is not asked questions about Fatima Payman.)
I think every minister who’s been engaged in this, including Ed, will be out there spruiking this policy.
It is it is a centerpiece for the Albanese government. This piece of work is as I said, a lot of the focus this week has been on the here and now, dealing with the cost of living pressures for ordinary Australian households.
But the second focus of this government is about making sure that we’re making the big changes for the long term to make the economy more resilient, to lift our national productivity, to make sure that we’re creating the jobs of the future in the regions and suburbs.
Sidenote: there are a lot of auditions occurring at the moment for the cabinet reshuffle Albanese will most likely carry out over the winter break. Ayres is one of those putting themselves forward for a promotion (although the Senate is a little bit tricky and he is in the same faction as Jenny McAllister, who is in the same boat)
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Ayres dodges question on effect of potential Trump victory on Albanese economic plan
What if Donald Trump wins the next US election? Will that impact the Albanese plan? Tim Ayres:
We’ve seen a shift across the world in terms of the way that countries engage in trade. It has become a feature of statecraft.
And Australia has has of course seen its fair share of impediments placed in front of Australian exporters and we are determined to diversify our trade relationships.
That that isn’t just about market diversification, although that’s very important. It’s also about diversifying the products and services that we offer the world and about making sure that we not only secure our supply chains, but make the Australian economy more resilient for the future where in an uncertain or less certain world.
We can’t afford complacency about our economic future. And that is that is one of the driving features, or the driving imperatives behind this piece of legislation and behind the Albanese government’s approach to manufacturing.
We need to diversify the range of products and services that we’re offering the world and go up the value chain to make sure that we’re creating the jobs of the future and making Australia more economically resilient.
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Tim Ayres says Future Made in Australia ‘won’t be a pork barreling exercise’
Future Made in Australia is the domain of the industry minister, Ed Husic. But this morning, it was the assistant minister for manufacturing, Tim Ayres, who was doing the media on the legislation.
Ayres was asked whether the legislation could be used for pork barrelling (see below) by ABC radio’s AM host, Sabra Lane, and said:
It certainly won’t be a pork barreling exercise. We’ve seen enough of the old style grant schemes under the Morison government.
These projects will have to be either key to the net zero transformation of our economy – so capturing those big investment opportunities here in Australia or they will need to be where Australia could have a genuine comparative advantage in the future or to deal with their economic or national security imperative.
That’s what the legislation is designed to do, to protect the interests of Australia for the future.
So will it be a politician or a public servant who makes the final decisions?
Ayres:
The focus of decision making here will either be with Treasury or of course some of the investment vehicles that the government has here, so Export Finance Australia, the national reconstruction fund, that is where the decision making about some of these programs will be. But of course [there’s also] the national interest framework, just like the foreign investment review board does now.
That will that will be the locus of decision making there.
Updated
Labor to introduce Future Made in Australia laws today
The government will be introducing its Future Made in Australia legislation today, which it hopes will act as a bit of a circuit breaker in all the Fatima Payman talk. (Hope is a dangerous thing to have, as LDR says)
The legislation lays out the framework to allow private sector investment in renewables and critical minerals, while also protecting national interest (you may remember some talk about whether China will be able to invest in Australia’s critical mineral sector – you’re about to get your answers). There will also be community benefit principles laid out for investment decisions.
The press release on the legislation introduction lays out those principles:
Promote safe and secure jobs that are well paid and have good conditions;
Develop more skilled and inclusive workforces, including by investing in training and skills development and broadening opportunities for workforce participation;
Engage collaboratively with and achieve positive outcomes for local communities, such as First Nations communities and communities directly affected by the transition to net zero;
Strengthen domestic industrial capabilities including through stronger local supply chains; and
Demonstrate transparency and compliance in relation to the management of tax affairs, including benefits received under Future Made in Australia supports.
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Bob Katter says official portrait of him ‘an honour for an ordinary bloke’
Bob Katter has responded to the news he will be receiving an official portrait (an honour usually reserved for prime ministers, presiding officers of the parliament and chief justices)
It is an honour for an ordinary bloke.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and [the speaker] Milton Dick, whatever others may say about them, they are the people who are very comfortable with the ordinary sort of bloke.
John Howard is another a great example. A person who was ordinary bloke who ended up being the second longest serving prime minister in Australian history.
I don’t walk in or out of Parliament without giving a fist-up salute to Charlie McDonald, whose portrait hangs out the front of the chamber. He one of the original speakers of the house who was also the first Member for Kennedy and a magnificent ordinary bloke.
Some might say that the perfect portrait of Katter has already been captured (by our own Mike Bowers):
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Khalil says he would welcome Payman back to Labor caucus
Peter Khalil says he “would love to see Fatima back in caucus,” even if she has been speaking to political strategist Glenn Druery.
This might sound unusual, but I forgive people. People make mistakes all the time, and it’s important to forgive. And I think we should do more of that in public life as well. People do the wrong things sometimes. I am not perfect. I’m sure Fatima isn’t.
…I would love to see Fatima back in our caucus. People make mistakes all the time. And it’s important to forgive people. And I think, I mean, the thing is, there’s so much pressure being put on people around these issues so much politicisation of this.
In the end, what we all want is probably the same thing, which is to end to human suffering and to end to a conflict overseas, and we’re doing everything we can, at a diplomatic level through being a party of government. And I think that’s far more effective than running stunt motions in the Senate.
Khalil says there has been “a lot of disinformation spread which we are battling with as well”.
I’m happy to debate our foreign policy, whether we’ve done enough or whether we haven’t, we’ve done too much, or whatever it might be.
And that’s an important debate in our democracy. But it has to be based on on the objective facts of what we’ve actually done. And unfortunately, there’s been a lot of disinformation spread around these issues, and we’re battling that as well.
… [but] Again, I think we need to be a bit kinder to each other and more forgiving of each other and [aim for] a better type of politics.
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Peter Khalil: ‘Diversity makes our politics better’
Would Peter Khalil be comfortable having Fatima Payman in the caucus, given the senator has reportedly had discussions with political strategist Glenn Druery?
Politics is a tough game, but you know, there are a diversity of views.
…When I first arrived here, I was one of the few… person of colour. In the last election, we’ve had many, many people been elected and there’s more diversity, but diversity doesn’t just come from your skin colour. It comes from your background, your faith, your socio-economic background … we need more people in politics, you know, maybe to build up against the trust deficit that we get in democracy, because this diversity makes our politics better.
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Labor’s Peter Khalil, facing grassroots Muslim Vote group, defends record on Palestine
Labor Wills MP Peter Khalil is speaking to ABC radio RN Breakfast about the electorate campaigns which are being run against him (and other Labor MPs) by a grassroots Muslim Vote group.
Khalil is also being targeted by the Greens.
I’m interested in Palestinian self-determination, Palestinian statehood and justice, in a two-state solution and peace. Everything I’ve done as an MP as a lowly backbench MP is to try and influence our policies to reach that outcome.
And that is real material work, putting up motions in the Senate have no real material impact on the what’s happening on the ground, but actually helping Palestinians get out of Rafah which we’ve done to get back into my electorate, family members to be reunited makes a difference to people’s lives.
Increasing humanitarian aid by over $100m makes a difference, saves lives; calling with the international community to end the conflict to end the fighting makes a difference; that increasing pressure that has been put on through the international community through our diplomatic effort makes a difference.
These are things that will have a material outcome, and I actually have argued very strongly that Australia should play a very constructive and substantive role in doing what we can to contribute to Palestinian statehood going forward and for … a just and enduring peace.
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Bob Katter is getting an official portrait to commemorate his 50 years in Australian parliaments.
Sarah Basford Canales reports the Historic Memorials Committee met for the first time since 1973 to make the decision on whether the independent MP should be immortalised and made the decision that, yes, he should be.
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Amy’s analysis: why does Labor have a solidarity rule?
There has been a lot of talk about why Labor has the solidarity rule.
It goes back to the party’s trade union roots, where workers were bound to a position in their fight against landowners for better rights. You couldn’t have workers splitting from the agreed position while negotiating with the capital holders and undermining the strength of the bargaining position and so the solidarity rules were set in place; once a position has been agreed upon by the caucus, all members are bound to it.
The discussion now is whether that rule is still set for purpose in a modern political setting.
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Given David Littleproud brought up Fatima Payman there (something he also did over the live sheep export issue, when he said she should cross the floor against the Labor bill phasing it out because it was a “humanitarian issue”), this is a very interesting perspective on what it is like to cross the floor:
Nationals spruik their own supermarket policy
Nationals leader David Littleproud is out on the sell for his latest policy to deal with the major supermarkets. It’s a franken-policy – a bit of what the government is putting forward with the mandatory code of conduct, but some stronger penalties and the Greens call for divestment powers. The Nationals could have voted or worked with the Greens last week on Nick McKim’s private members bill, but didn’t (although Ross Cadell and Matt Canavan did cross the floor to support it; the rest of the Nats abstained).
The Liberals were against the policy (long time blog readers might remember the “big stick” for energy companies that became a toothpick), but the Nationals and Peter Dutton rolled those with concerns in the joint party room. Littleproud:
We always have debate in our party room. We celebrate diversity. You’re not going to get suspended or expelled from the Coalition ...
(That’s true – instead people who disagree on major policy directions tend to quit and sit on the crossbench).
Littleproud continued:
There was a lot of views. That what fed into us making sure we put the safeguards in place. That’s how you get better policy. Not by demonising people and intimidating people, as Senator Payman has said, she’s been intimidated by her Labor colleagues. You can you have the diversity of ideas in the coalition. That’s how you change Australians lives for the better.
We want to make sure that no Australian has to miss a meal because someone is taking advantage of them at the check-out, or a farmer not being able to produce your food any longer.
Littleproud spent most of the last Morrison government as agriculture minister. There was no policy change then.
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Good morning
Hello and welcome back to Politics Live – and the second last sitting day before the parliament rises for the winter break.
You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.
Student protestors back Greens bill on university divestment
Students involved in the student encampments, which have largely wrapped up during the semester break, have backed Faruqi’s bill.
Pip, a member of the ANU Gaza solidarity encampment, said “far too many universities”, including her own, had investments and partnerships with a wide range of weapons companies.
We deserve universities that are committed to education and bettering the world, not universities that facilitate the destruction of innocent civilian lives.
Harrison, a member of the University of Sydney’s student representative council, said his institution had been engaged in a memorandum of understanding with Thales since as early as 2017.
That’s why students at the University of Sydney launched our encampment, to oppose this intimate partnership and blatant conflict of interest whereby our own chancellor ... sits on the non-executive board of directors of the weapons company the University of Sydney seeks to strengthen its ties with.
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Greens to introduce bill requiring disclosure and divestment from ‘dirty’ university partnerships
The deputy leader of the Greens, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, will introduce a bill to ban university ties to weapons companies following months of pro-Palestine encampments across Australian universities.
The end dirty uni partnerships bill would require Australia’s public universities to disclose all links with weapons, fossil fuel and gambling industries and divest from partnerships with them. Senior university leaders would also be prohibited from being involved with “dirty industries” including sitting on boards or having shares or investments.
The term “partnership” would include scholarships, investments, joint ventures and research ties.
Advice from the parliamentary library found almost a dozen universities had existing partnerships with weapons companies, but a complete audit was compromised by a lack of reporting requirements.
Faruqi said several prestigious universities were receiving millions of dollars from major arms manufacturers, including Lockheed Martin and Thales.
The transparency rules are so lax that universities aren’t even required to disclose these partnerships. Universities should be places of public good that are committed to peace, anti-racism and decolonisation.
They should be loudly advocating against war rather than playing a role in Israel’s war machine or getting into bed with companies profiting from genocide. All universities should heed the calls of the courageous staff and students who have been camping out in solidarity with Palestine across the country, and agree to disclose and divest.
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Australian Services Union branch backs Payman
A branch of the Australian Services Union has backed the Labor senator Fatima Payman, saying she was acting in line with the party’s platform when she crossed the floor to vote in favour of a Palestinian state.
Despite federal Labor MPs and senators yesterday endorsing Anthony Albanese‘s decision to suspend Payman from the caucus, the ASU’s NSW & ACT services branch has issued a statement commending her “for supporting the Labor platform”. The statement said:
We call on all Labor politicians to uphold the Labor platform and recognise Palestinian statehood as a priority in their voices and votes in our Parliament and in United Nations forums.
The Labor party should be focused on doing everything in its power to stop Israel committing genocide in Gaza, rather than focusing on its own MPs who speak up for peace and recognition of Palestine in accordance with their own party platform.
The Labor platform - reaffirmed at the party’s national conference last August - expresses support for “the recognition and right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states within secure and recognised borders” and “calls on the Australian government to recognise Palestine as a state” as “an important priority”.
The ASU, which is affiliated with the Labor party and is aligned with its left faction, said the party’s platform was “developed by thousands of party and union members committed to peace and justice for the Palestinian people”.
Analysis finds 49 laws affecting protest introduced over last two decades
The Human Rights Law Centre is urging all governments to repeal anti-protest laws after a new analysis found 49 laws affecting protest had been introduced over the past two decades.
The new report, released Wednesday morning, also found New South Wales had introduced the highest number of anti-protest laws while protesters in South Australia could be stung the most for exercising their rights, with fines up to $50,000 for breaking rules.
Those from environmental, climate and animal rights movements are the most consistently targeted. The report said “vague and poor drafting” of laws could result in offences such as “obstructing a road”, “preventing a business undertaking”, or “causing annoyance” to participants of a meeting.
David Mejia-Canales, a senior lawyer at the centre, said the right to protest is “fundamental to our democracy”.
“Our right to protest must be protected so that all of us can challenge and hold governments and corporations to account. But over the last 20 years, governments across Australia have attempted to silence those who speak out by attacking our fundamental rights which are poorly protected in our laws.
“Governments across Australia can change course by repealing anti-protest laws and introducing human rights acts across federal, state and territory governments. These would provide clear rules for governments on how to balance and protect basic rights for everyone in the community.”
Albanese says he wants Payman to rejoin Labor caucus
Anthony Albanese says he wants Fatima Payman rejoin Labor – “and that option is certainly available to her” – but has also hinted at the potential for her not to return to the government partyroom.
The prime minister gave a cagey interview to ABC 7.30 last night which focused on Payman’s suspension from the Labor caucus following her support last week of a Greens motion relating to Palestine. Albanese upgraded her suspension from one week to indefinite after she gave an interview to Insiders on Sunday saying she may cross the floor again.
Albanese said Payman’s future in Labor “is a decision for her”.
“She has made the decision that she can’t be bound by what puts our team together. And I would like to see her rejoin the team and that option is certainly available to her,” he told 7.30.
But he then went on to say: “I’ve been around a while, and I’ve seen people at various times make decisions to change the direction upon which they were elected.”
The PM said it was “a pity” Payman had taken the course of action she had, and that it was “not acceptable” for her to reportedly be speaking to Muslim groups seeking to campaign against Labor MPs in some western Sydney and Melbourne seats.
“The idea that this happened just in the last 24 hours is I think not what has occurred,” he said.
“Someone doesn’t just pop up on Insiders because they were walking past the studio on Sunday. Now, I asked for an explanation of why, what the motivation of that was. I haven’t received one. Just as Senator Payman’s caucus colleagues weren’t given the courtesy of any advance notice that she would cross the floor to vote for a position that is not consistent with Labor’s position, when it comes to the Middle East.”
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling politics coverage this Wednesday. I’m Martin Farrer and before Amy Remeikis comes along, I’ll be running through a few of the big overnight stories.
A famous Labor dissenter has advised Fatima Payman to “stick to her guns” as her dispute with the party continues to dominate the discourse in Canberra. Harry Quick, the last federal Labor MP to vote against his party when he opposed Howard-era anti-terror laws, urged Fatima Payman to be true to her principles as she faces intense pressure to toe the line on Palestinian statehood or leave Labor.
His support came as Anthony Albanese criticised Senator Payman for talking to Glenn Druery, after the political strategist and so-called preference whisperer confirmed he was having “informal conversations” with Payman and Muslim community groups about the next election. However, he also said he wanted her to rejoin the Labor caucus. More coming up.
Melburnians are waking up to a very cold morning today, with the mercury forecast to be not far off 0C (at the time of writing, it was 1.2C at the Olympic Park weather station in the middle of the city and just 0.5C at the airport). And as they do so, many will be wondering why their house is so poorly insulated. Our data specialist Josh Nicholas has come up with one of his big charts to illustrate the problem – namely, that the average Australian home built before 2003 averages just 1.8 out of 10 for insulation, and that’s 70% of Australian homes.
And a new report from the Human Rights Centre calls for the repeal of anti-protest laws across the country that are criminalising a fundamental right. More on that, too, soon.
