What we learned today, Tuesday 30 June
That’s where we’ll leave things for today. Thanks for reading, as always. Here were our top stories:
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The federal parliamentary sitting week continued with the Coalition hitting a new historic polling low, prompting debate among Liberal frontbenchers over whether the party should “rebrand” to win back voters who continue to desert the federal opposition.
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Later, Garth Hamilton dramatically threw himself out of the chamber during question time during debate over a report in the Nine newspapers in which Angus Taylor was accused of claiming that authorities deliberately allowed the devastating 2003 Snowy Mountains bushfires to burn because they were in a wilderness area.
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The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the government was providing consular assistance to seven Australians affected by the earthquakes in Venezuela.
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal action against Amazon in the federal court alleging the company breached consumer law by introducing advertising for Prime Video users, and charging customers extra to opt out.
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Sydney’s Cairo Takeaway secured a legal win over a pro-Israel activist who had claimed he was “completely vindicated” after settlement, with a court ruling Ofir Birenbaum and his lawyer released “highly misleading and even deceptive” statements that implied they had won the case.
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Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell was sentenced to a community corrections order – which includes 200 hours of community work – for behaving in an offensive manner in public over a 2024 stunt, during which a magistrate found he performed “appalling racial slurs” during a stunt outside a Chinese consulate.
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The Queensland government rejected claims its policies have further strained an under-pressure child protection system, after revelations that vulnerable children were made to sleep on the floor of public service offices.
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There was an explosive crash involving semi-trailers carrying tonnes of flammable materials on a major New South Wales highway, with police saying it was “nothing short of a miracle” that six truck drivers emerged relatively unscathed.
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The Guardian published an investigation exposing the links between a US business linked to baby deaths around the world and Australian “birth keeper” Emily Lal.
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Julie Collins, the agriculture minister, said a fifth case of the H5 bird flu had been detected in Australia, in a migratory sea bird.
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And Qantas customers who were refused refunds for flights cancelled during the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were told they could start their compensation claims as part of a class action settlement.
See you tomorrow.
Updated
Antisemitism education taskforce delivers interim report
The education minister, Jason Clare, has welcomed the halfway report from the government’s antisemitism education taskforce, delivered today by chair, David Gonski.
A 12-month process was put in place in December last year, established to implement education measures announced in a review by special envoy for combating antisemitism, Jillian Segal. The taskforce is also charged with providing advice on further measures to stop antisemitism and to promote an inclusive Australia.
The taskforce has put in place a university report card review, commissioned new training programs and contributed to a review of Australian school curricula.
Clare said:
There is no place for the poison of antisemitism in our schools, universities or anywhere in our society.
We have all seen the evil it can lead to.
There’s a lot that we as a country need to do to tackle antisemitism and what we do in education is a big part of that.
Clare said from 15 July, new university threshold standards will require universities to demonstrate the action they are taking to prevent and respond to antisemitism and other forms of racism.
He added:
There is more to do, and the taskforce will continue to drive this work throughout the rest of this year.
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Liberal frontbencher rejects call for Coalition ‘rebrand’
Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg has rejected suggestions his party should “rebrand” to win back voters and accused Labor of treating voters like they are “dumb”.
The federal senator was interviewed on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing a short time ago, where he was asked about his colleague Melissa McIntosh’s comments that their party needed something fresh after the Coalition hit a new historic polling low.
Bragg said:
No, I think what is needed is a coherent sort of economic policies, which are revolutionary.
I think people want to break the system, and they’re right to want that, and we have to meet that moment.
Asked by the ABC if you’d have to “break the liberal party, to break the system”, Bragg said:
No, I don’t think so.
He also rejected the Greens’ calls for businesses to be forced to pay super to workers under the age of 18 as “communism”, saying:
This is becoming the most repressive system in the world.
I mean, I don’t even think the communist manifesto calls for this level of superannuation.
I believe that we are in a cost-of-living crisis, and I believe people should have their own money and should be able to spend on what they want to spend it on.
Labor thinks people are dumb, OK?
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EY graduate employee sacked after PM’s bank account allegedly accessed
An employee at one of the big four accounting firms has been sacked after he and another man allegedly accessed Anthony Albanese’s personal banking account, AAP reports.
The men, aged 21 and 25, faced court on Tuesday over the breach which Australian federal police alleged occurred when the EY graduate was on secondment at the Commonwealth Bank.
Paul Issa, 21, was charged with accessing restricted data without authorisation, as well as distributing personal data.
Phillip Issa, 25, was charged with facilitating unauthorised access to restricted data.
The two Sydney men were charged on 6 May and granted bail to appear before Downing Centre local court on Tuesday, an AFP spokesperson said in a statement.
Both men had their bail continued until their next court appearance on 25 August.
According to his register of interests, the prime minister holds a savings account at CBA, as well as a mortgage for a property on the Central Coast he jointly owns with his wife.
A CBA spokesperson said it was not appropriate to comment on individual contractor matters.
A spokesperson for EY declined to comment, but confirmed the former employee was no longer working at the firm.
The big professional services firms have come under increased scrutiny in recent years, after scandals involving rivals KPMG and PwC for leaking confidential information about client audits and tax policy respectively.
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Hi, I’ll be with you on the blog for the rest of the day. Thanks for reading so far.
Thank you all for following along on the blog today – it was a slightly spicier end to question time than we’ve had recently!
I’ll leave you with the brilliant Catie McLeod for the rest of the day’s news, and see you back here bright and early tomorrow.
Tl;dr here’s what happened in QT
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Liberal MP, Garth Hamilton, dramatically yeeted himself out of the chamber after shouting “bullshit” during a dixer. He was later “named” at the end of question time.
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The Liberals tried to hammer Labor on a few issues today – from falling house prices and negative equity, to alleged CFMEU corruption.
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Chalmers tried to once again weaponise Melissa McIntosh’s call for a Liberal party rebrand, saying the opposition weren’t having a marketing problem, but a meltdown.
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The government announced one childcare centre has had its funding cut, after failing to lift its standards.
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And independent MP Rebekha Sharkie asked the government whether it would do more to encourage testing of bowel cancer in young people – Mark Butler agreed more should be done.
‘This is a new low’: Milton Dick names Garth Hamilton
After a final dixer to Chris Bowen, Anthony Albanese calls it on question time.
But immediately after, Milton Dick moves to name Garth Hamilton, for his behaviour in the chamber earlier (see the recap here).
He says to the House: “This is a new low.”
Tony Burke then moves for Hamilton to be named, but the Coalition won’t support it, so that brings us to a division.
Labor backbencher Basem Abdo shouts from the benches: “Are you serious? Control your crew, what a disgrace, Angus.”
It looks like One Nation MP, David Farley, is abstaining from the vote. Others on the crossbench including the teal independents side with the government to name Hamilton.
When named, Hamilton will face a 24-hour suspension from the chamber.
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Sharkie gets second question on allied health services for veterans
Rebekha Sharkie gets a second question, and asks the veterans’ affairs minister about a proposed $5,000 cap for allied health services. She says Shane, a 64-year-old veteran in her electorate, will hit that cap in less than four months.
Matt Keogh says the median use of allied health services by a veteran is $1,900.
Around one in 10 veterans may go above that $5,000 amount and we have committed, as you would expect us to, to work with the … community in consulting with them about the best method for obtaining those approvals where [someone] may need more.
He then calls out the opposition for heckling during his answer, accusing them of “trying to create fear in the veteran community”.
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More to do to fix aged care support system, says minister
How many older people are dying while waiting for an aged care support at home package, asks Nationals deputy leader, Darren Chester, to aged care minister Sam Rae.
Rae acknowledges that there’s more to do to fix this system, but still says that the government has vastly improved it.
The government’s been in hot water over its “support at home” packages, particularly over the automated assessment tool that’s under review.
Rae says:
No one in this place wants any older Australian to pass away waiting for the care that they deserve.
We have made significant progress but for all of those people [and] the older people to come, we will continue that work to deliver on the promise of the royal commission and provide the safe, dignified care that every older Australian deserves.
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Butler acknowledges more action needed on ‘terrible trend’ of increase bowel cancer cases in young people
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie asks Mark Butler whether the government will raise awareness and provide support to GPs to encourage screening of bowel cancer in young people.
She says:
Many report their GPs are reluctant to screen because of their young age leading to advanced cancers being diagnosed.
This extraordinary, terrible trend that we are living through now with, as the member said, the largest increase in younger onset bowel cancer we can find anywhere in the world.
At the end of Butler’s answer, he acknowledges that more does need to be done:
We need to understand what is driving this big increase in diagnosis and we need to help lift the awareness among GPs about this issue and for them to know what to do about it.
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Government cuts funding for one non-compliant childcare centre
During a dixer, the education minister, Jason Clare, reveals that one childcare service has had its funding cut for not repeatedly meeting standards.
It’s a measure that the government put in place last year to crack down on under performing provider, and force them to raise their standards.
He says issue notices have been sent to 115 centres, of which 47 have now “suddenly fixed the problems they had refused to fix for more than five years”.
Seven other centres have relinquished their licences.
I can inform the house that today, my department has cut funding to a service in Victoria that has been warned and continued not to meet the standard. This is not the end. This is just the start.
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More questions on CFMEU
It’s question number three on alleged CFMEU corruption, this time asked by Nationals MP Pat Conaghan, who again pushes Anthony Albanese to say what assurances he was given by the Victorian premier on whether taxpayers have provided funds directly or indirectly to underworld figures.
Albanese accuses the opposition of allowing the CFMEU to expand during their tenure, and says that in 2024, the commonwealth put in provisions in funding agreements with the states and territories that “place obligations on jurisdictions to report any allegations of unacceptable behaviour”.
Victoria continues to keep the Commonwealth informed of the work that they have done to strengthen the integrity processes.
As he answers, Conaghan tries to make a point of order, but Milton Dick shuts it right down, saying Albanese is being relevant.
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Butler says reduction in funding for after hours care reflects drop in demand
Back to the crossbench and independent MP Helen Haines asks the health minister, Mark Butler, to guarantee that rural communities without a Medicare urgent care clinic will not lose access to after hours care.
Butler says that Haines is talking about Walwa bush nursing centre in her electorate because the government has changed how funding is paid to primary health networks to support after hours services across the country.
He says the service has seen a reduction in demand.
He then spruiks the government’s 1800 Medicare phone line which offers 24/7 access to a nurse.
As I said in my response to the member’s letter about that particular after hours service, the PHN, the primary health network, has provided some funding through the 26-27 financial year to that service. They have, on my advice, been experiencing quite low service volumes. That around the country is seen as a reflection of these new services like 1800 Medicare and urgent care clinic networks. The funding that they will receive over the 26/27 financial year will reflect the significant reduction I understand this service has seen in their after hours volumes.
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Opposition continues questions on CFMEU corruption
Angus Taylor is back, and makes a second attempt to push the PM on alleged CFMEU corruption.
He asks the PM to confirm that no taxpayer funds have directly or indirectly been handed to any criminal underworld figures.
Anthony Albanese says that he expelled former Victorian CFMEU boss John Setka from the Labor party, and put the union into administration.
Within three weeks of my election as leader of the opposition I took on some people, such as John Setka. I expelled him from the Labor party. He took action and took us to court. He appealed that court action and we defended that and John Setka remains outside the Labor party. We also have excluded the CFMEU from being affiliates of the Labor party. We also put the CFMEU into administration.
The opposition tries to make a point of order on relevance – but the PM’s already sat down and finished his answer.
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Albanese questioned on alleged CFMEU corruption in Victoria
Liberal MP Mary Aldred is next and asks the prime minister about his interview on 7:30 last night, where he was asked about alleged CFMEU corruption.
He was asked for assurances that no commonwealth funding would end up in the hands of organised crime – to which Anthony Albanese responded “of course”.
Albanese gives a very short answer saying he opposes corruption:
I, like the Victorian premier, was opposed to corruption in any form. It is up to authorities, wherever there is evidence, as I said last night, for action to be taken by those authorities, should there be any evidence of corrupt conduct.
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Garth Hamilton throws himself out of QT after outburst
Liberal MP Garth Hamilton just dramatically saw himself out of the chamber, after saying “bullshit” during a dixer.
The minister for emergency management, Kristy McBain, was referring to a story in Nine Newspapers, which reported Angus Taylor was accused of claiming that authorities deliberately allowed the devastating 2003 Snowy Mountains bushfires to burn because they were in a wilderness area.
McBain says:
That is absolutely shameful. I am disgusted and so are the first responders who have come into my office to complain about it.
While she speaks, Hamilton swears, slams his desk shut with a bang, and immediately starts walking out.
Labor MPs shout and gesture at him to the speaker for walking out. Hamilton throws his hand up, gives the Speaker a quick bow and then exits.
Independent Zali Steggall then called on Hamilton to be “named” in the house (which would ban him from the chamber for 24 hours).
Milton Dick says he didn’t see what transpired but tells everyone to reflect on their behaviour and allows McBain to finish her answer.
A little earlier, Liberal MP Andrew Wallace also left the chamber without being prompted after making quite a bit of noise.
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Coalition ‘becoming desperate and pathetic’, says Chalmers
Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie asks: why was it fair for Jim Chalmers to previously benefit from negative gearing and “rip up the same opportunity for millions of aspirational Australians?”
There’s some back and forth over whether that question is allowed under standing orders. Milton Dick says he doesn’t like the “imputation” in the question, and warns “it is a dangerous slope to go down for everyone in the house if we are going to open this can of worms up.”
He allows the question, but says he’ll let Chalmers give a broad answer (ie not really answer the question).
Chalmers starts saying he reckons that dangerous slope is why no one on the frontbench of the Coalition asked the question.
Just like the leader of the opposition, the questions from the Liberal and National party are becoming desperate and more than a little bit pathetic …
Not everybody fails upwards up the ladder like the leader of the opposition does. Not everybody starts their life at the top of the ladder and there is not much point in a ladder if the first few rungs are missing. That is the case when it comes to the housing market in this country.
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Chalmers says opposition having 'meltdown' not marketing problem
Labor are trying to squeeze out all they can from Melissa McIntosh’s rebrand comments yesterday (and her doubling down today).
During a dixer, Jim Chalmers says the opposition aren’t having a marketing problem, but a “meltdown”.
He says the three rightwing parties “share a divisive, anti-worker, anti-housing agenda and that, more than anything, explains the mess that they’re in”.
It is not a marketing problem over there, it is a meltdown. The member for Hume [Angus Taylor] said his leadership was a change or die moment and he made the wrong choice. He said it was a change or die moment and then he forgot to change. So that leaves only one option.
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Labor and Liberals rinse and repeat on house pricing questions
Tim Wilson is next to the despatch box, and tries a slightly more specific question, asking if the government received modelling or advice from Treasury or Apra (the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority) on whether any first home buyers would go into negative equity because of “Labor’s deliberate correction”.
The Coalition is trying to corner O’Neil over her comments last week that the country is experiencing a “correction” in the housing market. Jim Chalmers had to intervene, saying O’Neil meant it in a general, not a technical sense.
O’Neil says it’s the same question as Taylor’s and offers a very similar answer.
The impact of the budget changes on house prices is actually in the budget documents ,and I would really encourage those opposite to have regard to those documents.
I am going to refer to page five of the fact sheet on CGT and negative gearing and I am quoting directly from the budget: ‘Treasury modelling suggests the reforms will increase the owner/occupier share of housing, resulting in about 75,000 additional owner/occupiers over the next decade.’
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It’s question time!
After a brief distraction from a very dramatic penalty shootout between the Netherlands and Morocco (which saw the latter come out on top), our attention has returned to the house.
Angus Taylor begins question time, asking Clare O’Neil how many first home buyers have fallen into negative equity since the budget.
Negative equity is where a person has paid a certain price for a house, and has a certain amount of debt, but in the circumstance that house prices drop they now they owe more than the market value of the property.
It’s a similar line of questioning to yesterday – which O’Neil points out, and says sarcastically, “let me go through it again for those who are slower on the uptake”.
O’Neil spends the time trying to defend Labor’s budget policies – to grandfather negative gearing and change capital gains tax discounts, and points back to Treasury modelling.
Those opposite have availed themselves of the information about the Treasury modelling, surely, which suggests a slower rate of growth of two percentage points. That ballpark figure is backed up by other major models, including that of the Commonwealth Bank and the Grattan Institute.
Updated
Low risk to human health from bird flu at this stage, says chief veterinarian officer
The chief veterinarian officer, Beth Cookson, is with Collins and says that there have been almost 100 negative tests for the virus.
She, like Collins, tells the public to continue reporting any sick or dead wildlife, but to not touch or come into contact with them.
Cookson adds there’s low risk to human health at this stage.
I think it’s a real strength of our biosecurity system that we have detected these individual cases. Of course, I would acknowledge that these birds are active in our southern waters during this period of year, and the climatic conditions do mean that they are occasionally sighted on the southern shoreline.
Updated
Fifth migratory bird tests positive to bird flu
Julie Collins, the agriculture minister, says a fifth case of the H5 bird flu has been detected in Australia in a migratory sea bird.
She’s hosting a press conference at Parliament House, and says that there is no evidence of mass mortalities in wildlife, and no evidence it has spread into poultry or agriculture systems.
This giant petrel was found at Roses Beach in West Australia. This brings the total number of confirmed H5 detections to 5 in migratory seabirds. 4 of these detections were from seabirds in Western Australia, and the one seabird that was found in South Australia.
It’s not unexpected that other migratory seabirds may have also arrived at other locations along Australia’s coastline.
Collins says the government and authorities are well prepared to deal with the outbreak.
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Pasin says comments to work with One Nation ‘misinterpreted’
Liberal frontbencher and staunch conservative, Tony Pasin, has said that his comments suggesting the Liberals and One Nation allocate seats to run in were “misinterpreted”.
He’s standing at Matt Canavan’s press conference and is asked if he still stands by that previous call.
Pasin reportedly told The Australian newspaper earlier this month:
We should work hand-in-glove to defeat Labor. We should work together to identify which seats are more appropriately targeted by a One Nation candidate or a Liberal candidate.
Pasin – after a bit of back-and-forth in the press conference – said “my comments to that regard have been misinterpreted”.
We should do everything we can to defeat Labor. It’s not a suggestion that we shouldn’t run against each other.
Before he got to that part of the answer, Pasin gave an unequivocal slap down of Melissa McIntosh’s call for a rebrand and a relook at the Liberals’ values, saying “the Liberal party values are timeless, and my attitude has always been that I want the Liberal party to be the very best version of itself”.
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Review into how much top public office holders are taking home
Few outside Canberra might be familiar with the Remuneration Tribunal, but it’s essentially an independent umpire in charge of setting the salary packages for federal office holders.
It’s in the midst of looking at a whole range of remuneration packages provided to the top mandarins and boffins in the federal bureaucracy to see whether there needs to be more consistency in how much they’re all taking home.
It’s a good question to ask because on a quick glance, its consultation paper, released today, shows the range of salaries for top officials goes from $144,020 a year for the chair of the Tiwi Land Council to more than $1m a year for the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. The roles are quite different but it still represents a wide gap.
The paper says about 70% of remuneration packages for the top jobs fall between $300,000 and $600,000.
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‘Pump the breaks on datacentres,’ warns Husic
Ed Husic says he was already concerned about the “frenzy” of datacentres being built in Australia, but now he’s worried they’re taking up land earmarked for homes.
He says a report from Geelong last week claimed a block of land had been set aside for 2,000 homes that was bought out by a company to build a centre.
He tells Sky News that that move goes against the government’s overall target to build 1.2m homes by 2029, and calls for a pause.
There’s been a bit of a frenzy going on with datacentre builds … Land gets snapped up that should have been set aside for houses, and we’ve already got 90,000 workers short in construction.
So if we are having a situation where datacentres are now taking up land for homes, we’ve got to pump the brakes on this.
It’s not the first time Husic has sounded the alarm over the rapid pace of the sector – he has called previously for a slower and more thought-out approach to AI and datacentres.
As my colleague Luca Ittimani brought you below, the Reserve Bank has warned investment in that sector is heating up the economy.
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Datacentres could help overheat economy, RBA warns
The Reserve Bank board has warned rising investment in data centres and steady spending means the economy is still running pretty hot after its three interest rate rises.
The minutes from the RBA’s 16 June meeting show the board identifying two key risks to inflation which could force another interest rate hike, after it decided to leave rates on hold this month: unreliable world oil supply thanks to the US-Israel war on Iran and weak productivity growth.
Members disagreed over how hot the economy was running. The board noted household spending had not weakened much this year and mortgage payments were taking up a smaller portion of pay packets than the last time the cash rate was at 4.35%, as income had risen faster than borrowing over the last couple of years.
The board was surprised by the strength of business investment and warned the rush to build datacentres could worsen skills shortages and leave the economy running hotter. The minutes mentioned “datacentres” five times.
The housing market had been weaker than the RBA predicted and household spending could slow if the market fell further, the board noted.
Bond and currency markets have slipped since the minutes’ release, indicating analysts do not see in them much sign the board is keen to hike rates. Markets had cut bets on another hike after 16 June, with rates expected to stay on hold over the coming 12 months.
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The bells are already ringing in the House – which has just begun sitting.
The government is trying to bring a vote onto its workplace relations bill that critics say helps the fair work commission better deal with a backlog of cases, BUT will also allow the government to discriminate against businesses that don’t have an enterprise bargaining agreement in procurement and grant processes.
The bill passed the Senate with a couple amendments from the Greens, which means its now back in the House for a final sign off.
This would normally be no trouble because the government has the numbers.
They still do, but the opposition wants to have a crack at the government and open the bill back up for debate, so they call for a division after the government tries to bring the bill to an immediate vote. Manager of opposition business, Dan Tehan shouts out “are you gagging this?”
It’s a small delay, the bill will pass the House again pretty soon.
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Greens demand another gambling inquiry amid frustration over government reforms
The Greens want a Senate inquiry into Labor’s proposed reforms to gambling advertising, pushing for a probe to run over the parliamentary winter break.
The long-awaited gambling reforms were approved by Labor’s caucus meeting today, after a consultation period run with stakeholders.
We’re still awaiting the final form of the legislation but Anika Wells said there would only be minor changes to the exposure draft – which we understand will be some small changes to definitions and settings, nothing major.
The Greens are said to be quite unhappy and upset by the proposed reforms, saying they don’t go far enough to address gambling harms. The bill is expected to be introduced into the lower house this week, and may come to the Senate before parliament rises on Thursday night.
The Greens are also not keen to wave through Labor’s updates to the under-16s social media ban as the government proposes to double fines for big tech companies and give the eSafety commissioner more powers to investigate.
The Greens have long held concerns about the legislation and also want the new changes to be examined by another Senate committee.
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Labor obligated to act on housing crisis: Albanese
Anthony Albanese has told Labor MPs the government is “obligated” to address the crisis in housing affordability, days after tax reform proposals from the federal budget passed parliament.
Addressing a closed-door meeting of caucus at Parliament House this morning, the prime minister said “everyone now accepts that the housing market is broken”.
Once that premise was accepted, there was an obligation to act.
We will keep hearing from young people who had given up and will now own their first home.
A Labor MP asked Albanese about the advantage wealthy people have in using their existing assets to leverage more assets.
Albanese said the budget dealt with examples of inequality of opportunity.
We don’t stand for equality of outcomes, but we do stand for equality of opportunity. The concept of improving the situation for people who earn their income from work is part of this.
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‘She gets a layer of misogyny,’ Burns tells inquiry
Josh Burns, who is Jewish, told the royal commission into antisemitism earlier of his guilt that his partner, Victorian Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell, has copped misogyny on top of antisemitism.
He told the inquiry about the impact of antisemitism on his staff after his office was vandalised, and that there had been more than 1,000 phone calls and 10,000 abusive social media messages.
And he said “probably one of the hardest things” was to have someone you love get abused”:
[She gets] the same questioning of her loyalty and the same attribution of blame that I get. But she gets a layer of misogyny and a layer of sort of violent, sexualised comments on top of it as well that I don’t get.
One example the commission was shown was attacking Purcell for getting “knocked up” by a “Nazi cunt”.
Burns said the Online Safety Act and the social media platforms needed better ways to deal with the attacks:
Instagram knows when I was looking for a new high chair for my six-month-old. They can do a better job of … making it a bit safer online.
The third block of hearings began on Monday, and will go for two weeks.
Updated
Property investor borrowing grows at fastest pace in 10 years
Property investor borrowing rose at its fastest rate in a decade in May despite three interest rate rises and the budget’s tax changes, data from the Reserve Bank shows.
Investor borrowing for housing grew $6.6bn in May, an 0.8% rise on a seasonally adjusted basis. Investor credit has grown by at least that much every month since August, with the annual pace rising to 10.3%, the fastest pace since 2015.
Owner-occupier borrowing has slowed to 0.4% growth in May, the slowest pace since February 2025, after rising 0.5% each prior month this year.
Borrowing across the economy overall picked up 0.7%, in line with the prior two months and higher than analysts had expected after rising interest rates increased the cost of loans.
The data provides the first system-wide insight on how borrowing has changed since the federal budget in mid-May cut off access to negative gearing for investors buying existing homes. Banks have responded by slashing investors’ borrowing capacity by about 20%, NAB has reported.
Westpac earlier in June reported investor loans had fallen by a fifth since the budget but owner-occupier demand had held steady.
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Josh Burns calls out ‘ugly’ online abuse directed at Georgie Purcell
The federal Labor MP Josh Burns says social media platforms are “arenas of hate” which his partner, Georgie Purcell, has been on the receiving end of.
Speaking to the media a short time ago, after appearing at the royal commission into social cohesion, Burns said Purcell, a Victorian upper house MP for the Animal Justice party, had successfully built a “massive platform” but regularly received online abuse.
Burns said:
She’s very good at social media, but what comes with it, unfortunately, is all of the antisemitism that I receive, plus this added layer of misogyny and sexism that, frankly, only happens because she’s a woman in politics, that I don’t get as a male in politics.
She gets all of the abuse just because she’s associated with me, just because her partner’s Jewish, and then because she’s a woman in politics, she also gets an added layer of misogyny and often violent sexualised language, which is pretty ugly.
Burns continued:
Social media platforms are the arenas of hate, and they are the platforms in which people can spread messages of dehumanisation and racism and vilification.
And I would actually challenge the social media platforms to prove that they are not amplifying that.
You can read more about Purcell’s experience, in her own words, here:
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Government rolls out Social Cohesion Education Hub
School students and teachers will soon have access to lessons combating antisemitism and discrimination via a national online hub.
The government has announced the hub will be rolled out from today, which was a recommendation by the special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal.
The education minister, Jason Clare, says the hub will bring together existing resources from across the country in one place, before developing more resources over time “in tranches to fill gaps and address emerging needs”.
The Social Cohesion Education Hub comes with a price tag of $6m over five years.
Clare says:
Bringing together existing resources from across the country into one place is the first step. We’ll keep adding to the hub over time to make sure we’re giving schools and educators the tools they need. What we teach in schools is important here too. That’s why education ministers have agreed to a focused review of the school curriculum.
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Shared ebikes now used by a million NSW residents monthly
Over 1 million New South Wales residents now use a shared ebike each month, roughly doubling since October, as the state moves to add new parking zones.
The secretary of Transport for NSW, Josh Murray, shared the number on Tuesday, announcing the new parking plan alongside minister John Graham. Graham said:
We’ve got to change the culture. We’re asking for cooperation for bike riders here. These bikes are incredibly popular but they are having an impact on our city.
The state has charged ebike operators 80 cents per ride and is directing some of that funding to help councils set up parking zones. Operators will enforce compliance by geotracking the bikes and requiring customers to send photos of correctly parked bikes, Graham said.
The government was moving towards requiring ebike riders to park in a bay or be unable to end their trips, which would leave their meter running, Graham said.
Riders can be required to park in a parking bay or the trip won’t end. That’s where this is heading.
Thirteen NSW councils now host sharebike schemes. Graham said the government expected councils to install thousands of additional parking spots over 2026.
You can read more about the parking plan here:
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What’s changing on 1 July?
Tomorrow is 1 July which means you can file your tax return, but there are also a bunch of other changes coming into effect.
From automatic indexation on some social welfare payments to extended parental leave (which Labor was spruiking all of last week), my colleague Ima Caldwell has a breakdown of all the changes that you need to know:
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Oh wait, another pollie has announced a podcast
Every politician and their dog seems to be buying sound equipment and setting up a podcast studio – with Sarah Hanson-Young the latest to announce her new show … the original and creatively named, “The Sarah Hanson-Young podcast”.
To name a few, Liberal MP Andrew Wallace has a podcast, named “Wally’s World”, Labor MP Dan Repacholi has “Dan & the Doctor”, David Pocock has a podcast “With David Pocock”, and Alex Antic brings you “Based with Senator Alex Antic”.
I’d love to know the listener numbers on any and all of these.
Hanson-Young’s new weekly podcast promises “her political insights and analysis on current affairs, and a chat with a special guest to share conversations she’s having about fixing a broken political system”.
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Following on from our previous post …
The parties’ confidential settlement involved Cairo Takeaway, Birenbaum and the Daily Telegraph releasing a joint statement in which the Daily Telegraph apologised to Cairo Takeaway for “causing distress”. Cairo also apologised unreservedly to Birenbaum.
But just hours after the agreed joint statement was published, the dispute was reignited when Birenbaum posted an additional “personal statement” to his Instagram and X accounts claiming he was “vindicated”. He posted the personal statement to the X account three hours before he posted the joint statement.
His lawyer, Rebekah Giles, also sent statements to media in which she labelled the settlement “an important win for Ofir Birenbaum and the Australian Jewish community”, the court heard.
In May, during a hearing over allegations Birenbaum breached parts of the settlement, lawyers for Cairo Takeaway alleged the statements by Birenbaum and Giles were a “coordinated effort” to discredit the settlement and “control the narrative” in the media.
Birenbaum’s lawyer, Kieran Smark SC, denied the comments were inconsistent with the official joint statement. He also suggested Birenbaum was vindicated because the restaurant had made a public apology.
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Ofir Birenbaum breached settlement with Cairo Takeaway, court finds
A pro-Israel activist breached parts of a legal settlement with Sydney restaurant Cairo Takeaway, a court has found.
Justice Robert Bromwich handed down his decision in the federal court of Australia on Tuesday in the latest chapter of the long-running feud after Ofir Birenbaum went to Cairo Takeaway wearing a Star of David cap and necklace with reporters from the Daily Telegraph in February 2025.
The operation, later revealed to have been dubbed “undercover Jew” internally by the newspaper, made international headlines after it backfired.
In August, Birenbaum launched defamation proceedings against the restaurant’s owner Hesham El Masry and staff member Talaat Yehia for statements made in a series of social media posts.
The case settled in March, but was reopened after the restaurant alleged Birenbaum had breached parts of the settlement the parties had agreed by claiming he was “completely vindicated”.
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‘I honestly don’t think rebranding is going to help us get there’: Duniam
Jonno Duniam, who has announced he will retire from the Senate some time this year, disputes the call for a Liberal rebrand and says the focus should be on developing a suite of policies.
He tackles the suggestion from Melissa McIntosh a little stronger than some of his colleagues and says that talking about the Liberal party and its brand probably won’t help the Coalition win the next election.
He tells Sky News:
I think people are less concerned about the packaging or the box and what it looks like on the outside and more worried about what is on the inside, which is, frankly, where we’ve got to be focused. We’ve got to actually get our policy work done … That’s when we’ll start seeing the dial shift, or people return to us, having abandoned us.
I don’t think talking about ourselves and our brand is going to help us win the next election. I honestly don’t think rebranding is going to help us get there.
He also trashes any talk of preference deals, saying, “I think it is ridiculous for us in 2026 to be talking about preferences for a 2028 election.”
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Duniam says ‘bet your bottom dollar’ Labor will legislate super for under-18s
Shadow frontbencher, Jono Duniam, says you can bet your bottom dollar Labor will mandate superannuation payments for under-18s.
Right now an employer only has to pay super to a worker aged under 18 if they work more than 30 hours a week.
Jim Chalmers this morning said the government was engaging with young people on the issue, but said the priority for the moment was payday super (requiring employers to pay super at the same time as a paycheque).
Duniam told Sky News the government should understand what the changes will do before “rushing into another dodgy dirty deal”.
On whether the government, the people who control whether this happens or not, are going to do it, I think you can bet your bottom dollar they will …
Obviously, there are implications for employers, and we want to understand all of this. You can’t just do these things on the fly. There are costs to employers, particularly when you’ve got a huge casual and young workforce. Let’s understand what impact that would have on the economy before we rush off into another dirty dodgy deal with the Greens.
Qantas customers told to start compensation claim
Qantas customers who were refused refunds for flights cancelled during the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions can start their compensation claims as part of a class action settlement.
Echo Law began contacting affected customers on Monday as part of a $105m settlement reached in March, in which Qantas agreed to resolve claims regarding its refund policies.
The court-approved letter sent to customers says that “even persons who have used their Qantas flight credit or were ultimately refunded for their flight are eligible for a settlement payment”.
The minimum compensation payment is $50, although some customers will receive “significantly more”, according to the letter.
The lawsuit alleged that affected customers were contractually entitled to cash refunds when their flights were cancelled, but were instead issued travel credits, often with restrictions and expiries.
Qantas settled the claim but did not admit fault.
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Leeser won’t back calls for a Liberal rebrand
Like every other Liberal facing the media this morning, Julian Leeser is asked whether he wants to – like Melissa McIntosh – see a rebrand of the Liberal party.
He doesn’t say yes or no, but the underlying vibe is – not really.
He sticks to the messages that the Coalition has been trumpeting – lower taxes and stronger borders – and says that’s been going down well among his constituents in Sydney.
When I go around my electorate, I’ve been talking to them about our tax-back policy, which is going over very well in the community because we are going to let people keep more of the money they earn.
When you go into a new tax bracket because you’ve had a wage drives, you deserve to keep that money.
Asked whether he supports Andrew Hastie’s strategy of fighting One Nation head on or Angus Taylor’s approach, Leeser again doesn’t want to engage, and says:
I’m focused on selling our policies to people in my electorate.
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Leeser describes antisemitic abuse post Bondi terror attack
Julian Leeser, a Liberal frontbencher and Jewish MP, says online abuse has “gone to a whole new level” since the Bondi terror attack in December, and has called on social media platforms to step up.
Yesterday we reported that the royal commission into antisemitism had received a mixed response from platforms, some which had provided little or no response.
Leeser told Sky News:
Every time I post anything on my social media, I’m called a traitor and a Mossad agent, and there are graphic, violent and sexual comments that are made that I will not repeat on your program. That’s what Jewish Australians are copping today.
I’m a member of parliament. You expect some level of abuse as a member of parliament, but no one should expect that level of abuse, and I don’t want an Australia for my children, or for anyone’s children, where people are judged on the basis of their race or religion.
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Lawyer investigating CFMEU says call to pause Victorian big build projects is ‘silly’
Geoffrey Watson, the barrister who was appointed by the CFMEU administrator to investigate allegations of corruption and criminal offences within the union, said it would be counterproductive to pause Victoria’s big build projects while corruption in the sector is rooted out.
That call was made by deputy Liberal leader, Jane Hume, yesterday after reports by Nine newspapers that CFMEU officials appointed criminals to major roles within big-build firms and the state government knew the union’s takeover of construction sites was driving up costs and blowing out timelines.
Watson told RN Breakfast earlier this morning it was concerning. Watson has called for a royal commission to investigate how organised crime within the building sector “has infiltrated and really wrecked a major part of the economy”.
This is really into a criminal investigation … It happens to be the building industry, but it’s not like the other [construction sector] inquiries. It’s into crime. Now, why do I think we need it? It’s because the police, and they’ve made a statement today, they don’t have the relevant powers. They’ve been doing a great job, but they don’t have the relevant powers to investigate.
But asked whether federal funding for the big builds should be paused while the issue is investigated, Watson says that would be silly.
It’s silly. It’s counterproductive again, you want the projects now that they’ve started to get on and get finished … But if you said, as I heard suggested yesterday by somebody, that the site should be shut down, well, all you’re going to do is enable the people to be paid for not working. You’re going to drive a whole lot of innocent contractors out of business.
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Amazon responds to ACCC case
Just in response to the earlier news that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is taking Amazon to court over alleged unfair contract terms that allowed the company to charge Prime users extra for Prime Video free of ads, the company’s spokesperson has sent the following response:
We are reviewing the case filed by the ACCC in detail. We have cooperated with the ACCC throughout its investigation and remain focused on providing the best experience for our Australian customers.
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ACCC sues Amazon over charging Prime users extra for no ads
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken Amazon to the federal court alleging the company breached consumer law by introducing advertising for Prime Video users, and charging customers extra to opt out.
Amazon customers who pay a Prime prescription of $79 per year, or $9.99 per month, previously had access to the company’s streaming video platform as part of the overall subscription package at no extra charge.
In 2024, Amazon introduced advertising to the platform, and users who wanted to keep the streamer ad free would need to pay $2.99 extra per month.
In the federal court case launched by the ACCC on Tuesday, the watchdog has alleged that Amazon’s Australian Prime contracts with over 1 million annual subscribers between November 2023 and August 2025 contained five unfair contract terms to allow the changes without offering subscribers a remedy.
The ACCC chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said:
We allege that Amazon AU included multiple unfair terms in its contracts with Australian annual Prime subscribers, and it then relied on some of these terms to bring ads on to Amazon Prime Video.
Consumers who wanted to avoid ads were left with no choice but to pay more to maintain the service they’d initially signed up for.
The ACCC also alleges that Amazon’s US parent company was involved in the drafting of the Australian contracts.
The ACCC is seeking declarations, penalties, consumer redress, costs and other orders.
Amazon was approached for comment.
It’s the second case against Amazon launched by the ACCC this year, following court action in May over kids products sold on Amazon’s marketplace that allegedly failed to comply with mandatory button battery warning requirements.
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‘We just have to keep on those messages,’ says O’Brien
Ted O’Brien has moved down the press gallery corridor into the Sky News studio, where he’s once again asked whether the Liberals need a rebrand – he says he’s not proposing one but concedes communication by the party should be better.
He basically says that the current message is right – it just needs to be said louder and heard by more Australians.
While I’m not proposing a rebranding for the Liberal party, I can see where Melissa [McIntosh] is going with this because we do need to communicate more with the Australian public about the fact that it’s only the Liberal party that we’ll look after Australian families.
I think we just have to keep on those messages.
Asked about whether the Coalition is hoping for One Nation’s preferences, O’Brien says he wants as many first preferences for the Liberals and Nationals as possible, but is open to it.
I’m hoping that we can garner as many primary votes as we can.
Do we want preferences? Yes, from her [Pauline Hanson] from everybody, I’m talking about citizens who vote, we want their preferences.
As for preference deals being done, well that’s a different story. Firstly, that’s up to the organisational wing, but putting that to the side, now’s not the time to be doing preference deals. You do that in the usual way in the political cycle, which is right at the end.
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Wilson rejects push for Liberal rebrand
While Melissa McIntosh might be calling for a rebrand, Tim Wilson seems eager to stay on the same message and talk about how the “best word we have is ‘liberal’”.
Why then, asks a journalist, do only 17% of voters want to put a “1” next to the name?
Wilson says:
Liberalism is not just an end in itself; it’s an enlivening of how people can live out their best lives.
A journalist pushes back again, asking why that message isn’t cutting through, which Wilson then replies, “I’ve said consistently there’s a lot more work to do.”
He’s then asked whether the messaging needs to change to get the ideas through to the public.
Again, Wilson doesn’t really want to engage with the calls for a rebrand, and answers:
It’s not just about identifying the problem; it’s also about pointing out what the clear solutions are. What do we want? We want an Australia where hard work pays off, Australians feel in control of their own lives, and of course, that they feel a basic sense of respect.
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Liberal rebrand ‘not my proposal’, says O’Brien
Ted O’Brien says he agrees with his colleague Melissa McIntosh that the Liberals need to better communicate with the public, but doesn’t join her call for a full rebrand.
He also rebukes questions on whether the leadership should be replaced if Angus Taylor’s message isn’t cutting through to the public.
O’Brien clearly doesn’t want to engage and tries to quickly switch the narrative to how the public are getting poorer.
While that’s not my proposal, I think what Melissa is getting at is right in that we need to communicate our plan. And Mel [Clarke], that’s why, with all respect, I’m pushing back on some of these questions about wanting to talk polling and leadership. Right now, the Australian people are poorer. They’re poorer than they were years ago … Now, what’s the plan to get out of that? The plan is the biggest, most consequential tax reform by the Taylor government.
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Pacific regional security pact ‘the next step’, says O’Brien
Following Pat Conroy in the RN Breakfast hot seat is shadow foreign affairs minister, Ted O’Brien, who says Australia should support and be a part of a regional security pact.
It’s an idea the Coalition has committed to, and one Solomon Islands have recently floated.
O’Brien says a pact should be negotiated through the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
I think a regional security pact here – we are talking about partners within the region, again, Australia is a part of that region and I think it is the next step.
I do believe over the years there have been bilateral agreements put in place, there have been some multilateral agreements, but now is the time for us to step up even further in the Pacific and ensure that the stability of the region is secured.
I continue to push this from the Coalition’s perspective. But it has to be owned by the region. It has to be co-designed by the region. And it shouldn’t just deal with issues of military security, but maritime security.
Conroy was also asked about the idea of a regional security pact earlier and said “We’re open to it. We’re always driven by what the Pacific sets as its priorities.”
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Conroy says government ‘hopeful’ of concluding treaty with Fiji
Off the back of inking the deal with Vanuatu, the prime minister announced yesterday he’ll shortly be visiting Fiji where there’s another agreement in negotiation.
Pat Conroy tells RN Breakfast that he won’t get ahead of Anthony Albanese but he’s feeling pretty good about that agreement – known as the Vuvale Union – being resolved.
We’re still negotiating the Vuvale treaty and we’re hopeful of concluding it, but I’m not going to get ahead of the prime minister, but I’m very confident in our relationship that Prime Minister Rabuka has pioneered through the Pacific Island Forum, and I’m hopeful that our relationship will get even closer very shortly.
Albanese will also be visiting Solomon Islands.
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Wong extends deepest sympathies to family of teenager killed in Thailand
Jumping back into her interview on ABC News Breakfast, Wong is asked what consular assistance has been provided to the Australian man suspected of killing a 17-year old girl in Thailand.
The foreign affairs minister, says first that she extends her deepest sympathies to the girls’ friends and family, and that she has been horrified by what’s been reported.
She won’t provide any details of what consular assistance has been offered. She also says she has not yet spoken to her counterpart in Thailand, but there has been some engagement on the issue at the “official level”.
I want to start by saying this is horrific and I think we’ve all been horrified by what has been reported and extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends who have lost someone they love dearly.
We provide consular assistance to people. I’m not able to provide details about because I’m bound by privacy requirements but all Australians have access to consular support around the world when necessary.
I know there has been engagement at the official level and I will be obviously going to be Asean meeting, so I no doubt will have the opportunity to speak with my foreign minister counterpart there.
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Vanuatu promises to ‘consult’ with Australia on third-party investment in critical infrastructure
The minister for defence industry and the Pacific, Pat Conroy, is celebrating the treaty signed by Vanuatu and Australia yesterday, and is asked to explain what consultation will look like on third-party investment in critical infrastructure under that agreement.
The minister tells ABC RN Breakfast that the consultation process will allow Australia to help assess countries understand “what they’re getting, understand both the opportunities and also the risks that that poses”.
Asked whether he believes that consultation process will be honoured under future governments, Conroy says “any issues around implementation of the treaty will be gone through the Nakamal Committee to resolve”.
Our requirement to consult is merely talking to us about what they’re planning and also us providing planning and technical assistance around that infrastructure.
These clauses are obviously constructed so that if there’s infrastructure that could be potentially militarised, there’s an opportunity through the Nakamal Committee, which is implementation committee of the treaty, because that’s really important in our region. We’re in the middle of a great power contest in our region. It’s really important that we don’t have foreign military bases in the Pacific.
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Australia providing consular assistance to seven people after Venezuela earthquakes
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says the government is providing consular assistance to seven individuals affected by the earthquakes in Venezuela.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, she won’t reveal more details, but says the quakes were “utterly devastating”.
It has been utterly devastating and more parties are working through the scale of those who were lost and those who are still trapped. This is very distressing situation for all and we extend our deepest sympathies to the people of Venezuelan.
We are providing some consular assistance to some seven individuals. We obviously will continue to engage with authorities to determine if any Australians need further assistance.
Asked to confirm whether the seven are Australian citizens, Wong won’t say and repeats that the government is providing assistance to “seven individuals”.
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Chalmers defends house price forecasts
The government has been facing some heat over the cooling house market around Australia with falling auction clearance rates, and forecasts that house prices in Sydney and Melbourne could fall more than $100,000.
But Labor is sticking to its line that the Treasury department forecast house prices would grow 2% slower in the medium term, and not leave a bunch of homeowners going backwards.
Jim Chalmers tries to keep the narrative positive and says clearance rates went up a little this weekend in Brisbane and Adelaide, while the markets in Sydney and Melbourne began cooling before the release of the budget.
He tells Sky News:
Auction clearance rates in Brisbane came up on the weekend, if you compare the preliminary numbers from the week before. They also came up in Adelaide. They came up nationally in aggregate, as I understand it. But in Sydney and Melbourne, we saw some softness there, that actually predated the budget announcements.
Chalmers also defends against the criticisms the government should have just applied its tax changes to residential property and nothing else – like shares and businesses.
It doesn’t make a lot of sense to replace one big distortion that Howard and Costello introduced when they made that big policy mistake in 1999 and ruined the housing market for too many people, especially young people; [it] doesn’t make sense to replace that big distortion with another big distortion.
And so we’re applying this CGT discount – there’s still a discount, just calculated differently to reflect real gains – we’re applying it fairly and neutrally across the board so that we don’t introduce another big distortion and repeat the mistakes.
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‘I want us to have more cut-through’: McIntosh doubles down on rebrand call
Melissa McIntosh is back on the airwaves this morning after causing a stir yesterday when calling for her party to “rebrand”.
She says it wasn’t her intention to cause such a stir and concedes she was being pretty “blunt”. But doubles down when speaking to the Today show and says that if the message isn’t being sold to the community, then perhaps the brand should change.
Just to recap, McIntosh yesterday told Sky News:
Some people think that we’re stuck in the past and our policies need to resonate with the Australia of today and the future. So I think it’d be a really good time for us to revisit our values.
Today she says the party does have strong values in “sticking up for small businesses and the individual”, but those values aren’t getting cut through.
If things aren’t resonating, and if people are actually latching on to our policies and believing in that, but they’re not wanting to vote for us, then maybe we need to do something about the brand,
I want us to have more cut-through on our policies. I worked for John Howard back in the day, and my patch, we were the Howard battlers, we’re the Menzies Forgotten people, and we’re Tony Tradie. So we are pretty much the heartland of Australia. And when the heartland of Australia tells you that you need to get more cut-through to get more voters on your side, then you need to listen to the people.
Yesterday, the Labor party weaponised her call in question time – we’ll see if they do it again.
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Chalmers ‘engaging’ on giving workers under-18 superannuation
Jim Chalmers won’t yet heed the call from advocates including the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Greens to guarantee superannuation payments for workers under the age of 18, but says he’s “engaging” on the issue.
Currently under the law, under-18s are only eligible for super payments if they work more than 30 hours a week.
Chalmers tells ABC News Breakfast the government is talking to young people about the issue, but the priority for the government right now, is payday super – which are new rules that take effect tomorrow, forcing employers to pay super at the same time as wages.
This is a really important issue. I actually met with a delegation of young workers about this last week. We are always looking for ways to strengthen the superannuation system to make it deliver for more workers.
Chalmers is asked twice whether all workers under 18 should get super. He says the government is open to more change but won’t make any promises or give us a timeline.
We’ve indicated a willingness to continue to engage with young people, with unions, with the super sectors, for what the next set of changes may be. For us the focus is payday super because it comes in from tomorrow.
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Fuel prices increase (slightly) tomorrow
In response to the fuel crisis and war in the Middle East, the government cut the fuel excise in half – which was saving motorists about 26 cents per litre – which was due to end tomorrow.
But earlier this month, the government extended it for another month, but cutting 16 cents off the full price of petrol per litre, rather than the 26 cents – so prices will tick up a little.
In response, the government has told the consumer price watchdog to make sure that petrol retailers aren’t taking the mickey.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, the extension will provide more cost-of-living relief.
This is a really important warning from the ACCC because we want to make sure that every cent of the government’s fuel excise cut is passed on to motorists who need this extra bit of relief.
It’s been really terrific to see petrol prices and diesel prices come down very substantially in recent months. In fact, this week, we think for the first time, both petrol and diesel is cheaper than it was before the war in the Middle East began. But people are still under pressure. That’s why we’re extending this fuel price relief, this petrol and diesel tax cut for another month, at a tapered rate.
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Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started!
It’s going to be another busy day in Parliament with just a few sitting days left before the winter break.
Jim Chalmers has drawn the short (or long depending on where you stand) straw and is doing the media rounds this morning. The government, despite experiencing a small uptick in the polls yesterday, is still working overtime to sell their budget and the tax changes that passed at the end of last week.
I’ve got my coffee, I hope you’ve got yours, let’s get stuck in.
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Happy last day of the financial year, to those who celebrate.
For reasons best known to accountants, tomorrow is the day when a whole heap of legal changes kick in: minimum wage rises, payday super, parental leave tweaks and a lot more.
We’ve got a handy summary of all of them for you:
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Australian engagement with Asia ‘facing existential crisis’
Anthony Albanese’s special envoy for the Indian Ocean, the Labor MP Tim Watts, says Australia needs to build a stronger pipeline to boost engagement with key Asian neighbours.
Launching a new parliamentary report, Watts says while Labor is leading the most active period in Australian diplomatic engagement, the system needs more investment for the future.
He paints a worrying picture. Enrolments in south-east Asian languages have fallen by 75% since 2005 at Australian universities, with only about 500 students in the country studying Indonesian. Just 3.3% of year 12 students studied a priority Asian language in 2023.
“Building Asia capability in Australia requires sustained national policy focus over the long term,” Watts says.
The dividends of these efforts, and the costs of inaction, are not realised within a single electoral cycle. Asia capability has always been too difficult to tackle today, and too easy to leave to a future government.
The report calls for a new 10-year national Asia capability strategy, a network of “leader schools” and renewed investment in immersion experiences and higher education courses.
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‘Paul Hogan nailed it,’ Albanese says in praise of the actor’s One Nation critique
The prime minister also used his 7.30 appearance to push back against Pauline Hanson’s advocacy for a “monocultural” society, describing multiculturalism as “who we are as Australians” and shouted out Paul Hogan after the veteran actor called the One Nation leader a “pelican”.
Albanese had been asked to define multiculturalism, as many politicians have been pressed by journalists to do since Hanson’s address at the National Press Club (with varying levels of competency – Andrew Hastie called it an “extreme” and “politically loaded word”).
Hanson used Hogan as a representative of a “monocultural” Australia that she wished to see returned but the actor dismissed her as “living in the past” and pointed out “we’re all migrants”. Albanese said:
It’s who we are as Australians, and I thought that Paul Hogan nailed it today as well. We’ve never been a monocultural society … We are a modern country that is multicultural in our nature. That means that we have respect for each other.
Albanese was also asked about support for One Nation, which has dipped in a recent poll but remains hovering around 30%. Pressed on why so many Australians believed Labor “don’t understand them”, he replied:
What my job is to do is to represent the national interest. That’s what I do to respect every voter … Pauline Hanson has a long political career. But we have seen the rise of populist rightwing parties throughout the western world.
Albanese said that was something that reflected a “range of frustrations”, but the government “firstly and primarily” was fixed on addressing cost-of-living pressures.
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Housing reforms are about making system ‘fairer’ for young people, Albanese says
The prime minister says he “doesn’t want to live in a society that’s defined by intergenerational inequity” after clearance rates fell below 50% in most major capital cities after the government’s housing reforms.
Appearing on ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday evening, Anthony Albanese pushed back at criticism that a post-budget fall in housing prices was evidence that Labor had taken the wrong path in legislating the taxation changes:
What is important is that last Saturday, when people went to buy their own home … they weren’t competing against investors who knew that if they could bid an extra $20,000, or $50,000, then taxpayers would essentially be subsidising that by increased deductions.
Albanese reiterated that the housing system was “broken” and pointed to Treasury estimates that house prices would continue to increase but by a lesser amount. Major banks have said prices will remain flat or marginally fall through 2026.
He said:
This is about making the system fairer … We know there’s been a 400% increase in house prices since 1999 – more than double than wages, and that’s why we couldn’t continue to sit back and not pursue this reform … We’ve seen home ownership rates drop for younger Australians. And I don’t want to live in a society that’s defined by intergenerational inequity.”
Greg Jericho has done some interesting analysis on house prices, and whether concern over falling prices is justified, here:
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog, as the last week of parliament before the winter break rolls on. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
Anthony Albanese has defended the government’s housing reforms, telling 7.30 last night that he didn’t want to live in a country defined by intergenerational inequity. More coming up.
He also praised Paul Hogan for pushing back at Pauline Hanson’s attack on multiculturalism, with the prime minister saying the actor “nailed it”. More coming.
