What we learned, Thursday 11 May
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today – thanks so much for joining us. Here is a wrap of the day’s biggest stories:
The Greens voted with the Coalition in the Senate to block a move to guarantee a vote on the housing Australia future fund bill.
The Greens say they want Labor to commit to more, with Adam Bandt comparing the bill to “a bucket of water to a house fire”. Meanwhile the Nationals senator Matt Canavan said the opposition would “use every tactic to make sure it does get stopped”.
The Labor Senate leader, Penny Wong, said the Greens had joined a filibuster against the bill and accused their housing spokesperson of putting his “ego” above the need for more housing, before withdrawing the comments.
You can read our full coverage of the housing fund fight for more, and this analysis from our chief political correspondent, Paul Karp.
A spokesperson for Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto confirmed he had received a defamation concerns notice from suspended MP Moira Deeming.
Labor MP Mary Doyle made her first speech in parliament since her historic win in Aston.
Young Australians had high levels of mental stress and climate worry, according to the latest findings in the wellbeing index report released by Australian Unity and Deakin University.
Stick around on the Guardian website tonight as we bring you the latest from the opposition’s budget reply, due at 7.30pm.
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Mehreen Faruqi criticises continuation of childcare subsidy activity test
In a series of tweets, the Greens spokesperson for education, Mehreen Faruqi, said it is “beyond disappointing” that the government has kept the childcare subsidy activity test, which she says “locks thousands of the most disadvantaged children out of accessing [early childhood education and care]”.
It's beyond disappointing that the Govt has kept the punitive & universally despised activity test, which locks thousands of the most disadvantaged children out of accessing ECEC. Even the Govt’s own Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce recommended abolishing the activity test.
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) May 11, 2023
The ECEC workforce desperately need a pay rise & recognition for the important work they do. However, Labor has just tinkered around the edges, with more funding for professional development & skills building whilst ignoring the elephant in the room - wages.
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) May 11, 2023
She also argued that there was “nothing” in the budget to “ease the burden” for those with student debt:
Uni students are bearing the brunt of the cost of living crisis, with many being forced to abandon their degrees in favour of paid work. Unfortunately, this budget will provide scant relief, with Youth Allowance & Austudy being raised by a measly $2.85 a week.
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) May 11, 2023
Faruqi said extra university places in Stem disciplines were welcome, but should be about more than just supporting Aukus. She also welcomed more fee-free Tafe places, but said long-term investment and abolishing fees altogether was needed.
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Paul Fletcher and Milton Dick share pictures of Address in Reply at parliament
Liberal MP Paul Fletcher and Labor MP Milton Dick have shared some images on social media from this morning’s Address in Reply:
The Address in Reply is the formal acknowledgement by the @AboutTheHouse to the Governor-General for the speech given at the opening of Parliament.
— Paul Fletcher (@PaulFletcherMP) May 11, 2023
It was an honour to participate in the presentation of the Address in Reply this morning. pic.twitter.com/duE6qU1Oro
This morning I was honoured to present the Address in Reply to His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Rtd) at Government House. pic.twitter.com/KIrTuFMSci
— Milton Dick (@MiltonDickMP) May 11, 2023
The Address in Reply is the formal acknowledgment by the House to the governor general for the speech given at an opening of parliament.
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Racism is contributing to unsubstantiated child protection reports, Victorian commission hears
About 60% of child protection notifications for Victorian First Nations families are unsubstantiated, with the state’s department of families acknowledging racism is a contributing factor in some reports.
While the rate is comparable to non-Indigenous children, a senior department official told the state’s Indigenous truth inquiry that discrimination against Indigenous families contributed to notifications that did not meet the threshold for investigation.
The department’s figures showed there were more than 11,000 reports of First Nations children to the department in the 2021-22 financial year. In the same time period, 404 reports were made about unborn First Nations children.
Continue reading:
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NSW Labor wants toll relief to benefit motorists not private operators
The review of Sydney’s patchwork toll road network ordered by the New South Wales Labor government will examine if cashback relief schemes to help commuters are ultimately benefiting private operators.
On Thursday the government tabled the terms of reference for the independent review of tolling in the state, which is being led by former Australian Competition and Consumer Commissioner chair Allan Fels, as part of Labor’s election commitment to simplify the complex web of privately owned toll roads in the city.
The terms of reference include: the structure and level of tolls in NSW in the future, looking at their efficiency, fairness, simplicity and transparency, existing agreements with providers and the impact on all forms of transport; and the extent to which tolls should reflect the capital and operating costs of roads, the impact different users have on road sustainability and the use of roads throughout the day.
The review will also explore: the appropriate targeting of relief to provide fairness for the whole community and how to ensure the community, rather than toll road owners, benefit from toll relief; whether tolls are understandable, simple for motorists to pay and administratively efficient to collect; and the scope for competition and regulation to influence road tolls and the efficiency of service performance by providers.
John Graham, the minister for roads, said “toll relief must be aimed squarely at motorists and the community, not the owners of toll roads in NSW”:
Tolling in NSW is inconsistent, with different pricing rates, methods of calculating charges and vehicle classifications depending on the road, making it confusing for motorists.
Daniel Mookhey, the state treasurer, noted the government would be bringing in a $60 a week cap on tolls, however, this will only come into effect from January.
Transurban, which operates most of Sydney’s toll roads and has increases baked into its contracts, will be a key subject of the review. Critics of Sydney’s toll pricing structure and contracts have raised concerns that any reforms will include costly compensation claims paid to Transurban.
A public discussion paper will be released mid-year, followed by public hearings in the second half of 2023, with a final report to be released publicly before cabinet considers its recommendations.
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It’s been a massive day, so make sure to catch up on all the biggest headlines so far with this wrap from my colleague Antoun Issa:
University of Sydney posts surprise $298.5m surplus as others report deficits
The University of Sydney has posted a surprise operating surplus of $298.5m for 2022 as elsewhere the financial impacts of Covid-19 come back to bite.
In March, it was revealed universities logged a record $5.3bn surplus in 2021. But of Australia’s 38 public universities, 12 had now disclosed their 2022 results, recording a combined deficit of around $630m.
The University of the Sunshine Coast is the only other university to have recorded an operating surplus.
Victoria University published a net operating deficit of $73.2m, pinned to lower than expected student numbers and reduced value of investments during a “very tough” year, while La Trobe reported a net operating deficit of $28m.
The University of Melbourne, Monash University and six Queensland public universities also reported operating deficits.
The vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney, Mark Scott, said the $298.5m was “significantly down” on 2021’s “one-off” result of a $1bn surplus – the highest of any tertiary institution.
Our 2022 result still provides us with financial sustainability but there is no question we are navigating the challenges currently facing a volatile higher education sector.
The overall decrease in our operating revenue was partly offset by the continued willingness of our international students to study with us and we’re delighted the vast majority are able to be with us in person once again.
The university’s underlying margin was $381.5m compared with $453.7m in 2021.
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Greens’ tactics on housing bill ‘disgraceful’, Labor says
Meanwhile, the Labor senator Anthony Chisholm said his party was prepared to have the vote on the housing bill and argued the Greens’ tactics had been “disgraceful”:
Let’s be clear about what happened this week. The opposition have been opposed to this from the beginning, I understand that … but the role of the Greens this week was disgraceful.
They used every trick in the book from Tuesday through to today to delay and obfuscate without actually bringing this to a vote.
Even this morning when we tried to bring [a vote] on, they said we needed more time and then by lunchtime they’ve actually come in and pulled it completely.
Chisholm was asked if he thinks the Greens are “running scared”, and answered:
They say that they’re prepared to have to vote and vote it down, yet we saw something completely opposite from their actual behaviour.
There obviously is something at play, whether it is a lack of confidence in their shadow spokesperson, because they weren’t consistent in how they behaved in the Senate, and the result is we haven’t made any progress on passing this bill and they teamed up with the opposition to actually pull it …
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Coalition will ‘use every tactic’ to block housing bill: Matt Canavan
Staying with the housing Australia future fund bill: the Nationals senator Matt Canavan said the Coalition would “use every tactic to make sure it does get stopped” – including voting with the Greens.
He said on Afternoon Briefing:
I think this is a half-baked solution. The government, I just heard before in the chamber, was trying to trumpet the fact they’ll build 30,000 homes through this scheme in five years.
We have 350,000 people arriving in Australia every year at the moment. How is 6,000 homes a year going to solve the housing crisis we’re seeing?
They’re talking like it is going to, but the math just doesn’t add up for the government.
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‘We’re the only ones serious about finding a solution to the housing crisis,’ Greens MP says
The Greens’ spokesperson on housing, Max Chandler-Mather, was up next on Afternoon Briefing. He is asked why the Greens don’t just vote against the government’s $10bn housing Australia future fund bill if they cannot support it.
Chandler-Mather answered:
Because it seems like right now we’re the only ones serious about finding a solution to the housing crisis and actually working out a plan that starts to tackle the scale of the housing crisis.
He was also asked if he’s afraid for his party to be seen voting against the bill:
Frankly that’s neither here nor there. What we are trying to do is give us enough time to bring the government to the table and start to negotiate on a plan that starts to tackle the scale of the crisis.
Our Greens party room meeting is meeting tomorrow to continue these discussions. We are taking this as the highest priority because we should.
You can read more on this from Paul Karp here:
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Dutton’s budget reply will focus on cost of living, Fletcher says
The shadow government services minister, Paul Fletcher, spoke on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, ahead of the opposition leader Peter Dutton’s budget reply tonight.
Fletcher remained tight-lipped on what the opposition is supporting and not supporting in the budget and said we would need to wait for Dutton’s speech tonight. However, he did flag that cost of living would be a focus:
... in his budget reply speech [Dutton will] first of all be pointing out the situation that we face as Australians, in significant measure due to a whole series of broken promises from this government.
Cheaper mortgages were promised, $275 reduction in power prices was promised, ‘things will be cheaper under me’ – that’s what we were told.
Instead we have a cost-of-living crisis, 10 interest [rate] rises in a row on this government’s watch. Mortgages of $700,000, $750,000, people would now be paying an extra up to $20,000 a year.
This is the cost-of-living pressure. That’s what we’ve been focusing on in question time this week because so many Australians are looking at this budget and saying, ‘well there’s nothing in it for me.’
Fletcher also added:
The number one thing we needed to see from this budget was to put downward pressure on inflation but instead we have seen a whole series of economists pointing out what this budget is likely to do is to spark another interest rate increase from the Reserve Bank.
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Massive thanks to Amy for taking us through the day – and the week! I’ll be with you for the remainder of the day, let’s get into it.
I am going to hand you over to Emily Wind to take you through the next little bit.
Peter Dutton will step up to the dispatch box at 7.30 for the budget reply speech and we will have all the coverage of that tonight as well as tomorrow, so make sure you stick around (or don’t, I can’t tell you what to do, I’m not your supervisor).
A very big thank you to those who did stick around and keep me company this week. I couldn’t have done it without you. You are the reason that we keep on keeping on and we are grateful to each and every one of you.
Politics Live will be back in a week – there is estimates and a house sitting from 22 May, so get ready for that (which is also the week of the Guardian’s 10th birthday celebrations, so it’s going to be a big week).
I’ll see you soon – but until then, please – take care of you.
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ACT cost of living inquiry calls for all income support payments to be increased
The ACT parliament has released its cost of living inquiry report – the Greens-chaired committee had representatives from the major political parties and still managed a consensus report, so things are serious.
There are 52 recommendations including this one:
Rec 51: The Committee recommends that the ACT Government advocate to the Commonwealth Government to increase the rate of all income support payments to above the Henderson poverty line.
Which is why it is relevant here.
The Greens senator Janet Rice has already taken up the case – the Greens have long advocated for all income support payments to be raised above $88 a day, so this shouldn’t be news to anyone.
Since @SenKatyG failed to answer my question in QT yesterday as to why politicians like us deserve $9000 a year in Stage 3 tax cuts while Jobseekers get a measly $2.85 a day, maybe she will now listen to her local party and answer to her constituents doing it tough.
— Janet Rice (@janet_rice) May 11, 2023
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Victorian government responds to Barak Beacon public housing protest
A little follow-up to my previous post: a spokesperson from the Victorian government has responded to public housing resident Margaret Kelly’s protest this afternoon.
In a statement sent to my colleague Benita Kolovos, the government spokesperson said:
We acknowledge that moving home can be difficult, but to deliver more than 300 new and much-needed social and affordable homes at Barak Beacon, we need to relocate any remaining residents.
Margaret has been offered three separate modern, spacious and accessible homes nearby but has refused to engage with Homes Victoria to explore the suitability of these homes.
If she chooses to, Margaret will have priority access to return to one of the newly constructed homes at Barak Beacon once the redevelopment is complete.
This important project will revitalise the Barak Beacon community and allow more people to make Port Melbourne their home.
Guardian Australia understands that Kelly still has not received any assurance the minister will meet with her.
She has not been arrested, but has agreed to leave the building.
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Question time ends.
We all made it.
Until next time.
Peter Dutton’s budget reply speech is at 7.30pm. Speaker Milton Dick is reading the same riot act to the house – don’t interrupt, be polite, make sure your guests behave, and the opposition leader can speak for as long as he wants.
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Moira Deeming serves John Pesutto with defamation concerns notice
A spokesperson for the Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto, has confirmed he has received a defamation concerns notice from the suspended MP Moira Deeming, less than 24 hours before the state parliamentary party is due to vote on a second motion to expel her.
Deeming’s lawyer, Patrick George from Company Giles, sent the letter on Thursday morning.
According to the Australian, the notice warns Deeming may commence federal court proceedings after 28 days if Pesutto does not immediately seek the withdrawal of Friday’s expulsion motion, publish an apology to her on his website, and pay her compensation and legal costs.
A spokesperson for Pesutto confirmed he had received the letter, telling Guardian Australia:
Mr Pesutto has received a letter from Mrs Deeming foreshadowing legal proceedings. As the matter is before the courts, he will not make any further comment.
Guardian Australia understands the vote will go ahead as planned on Friday morning.
Five Liberal MPs – Roma Britnell, Wayne Farnham, Matthew Guy, Cindy McLeish and James Newbury – are seeking to expel Deeming from the party room for “bringing discredit” on the parliamentary team.
It comes after she threatened to mount a legal challenge against her nine-month suspension from the party. Deeming then backed down from the threat, issuing a statement on Saturday denying she planned to sue the Liberal party and claiming she only wanted a lawyer’s assistance to help clear her name.
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Anthony Albanese takes a question from Karen Andrews, who stepped back from the shadow frontbench when she announced she would be retiring from federal politics at the next election. (Stuart Robert is still in the shadow ministry, despite not being in parliament and not handing in his formal resignation, although announcing he plans on leaving very soon.)
Andrews delivers her questions less INCENSED from the backbench.
Albanese messes up her electorate but, other than that, starts off with a heartfelt ‘well done’ acknowledging Andrews’ retirement announcement.
(The question is another version of what we have been hearing from the opposition and the answer is the same as what we have been hearing in response so I will save you from that.)
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It’s like Anthony Albanese woke up this morning and decided he wasn’t featuring in enough memes and needed to do something to address it.
Mike Bowers saw this during question time:
Meanwhile, this is what Jim Chalmers must look like on Christmas morning (Angus Taylor had just asked him a question):
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Continued from previous post:
Kelly has been trying to engage in dialogue with the department for months. She told Guardian Australia in August:
No matter who you write to, the only people you ever get to talk to are the relocation team. And it has certainly made me feel helpless, as if I’ve got no voice.
Kelly has since been issued with an eviction notice and ordered to leave her home by 16 May.
A report by independent architectural firm Office found late last year that refurbishing, not demolishing, Barak Beacon could save more than $88m and still result in an equivalent number of additional apartments to the government’s proposed new development.
The minister’s office has been contacted for comment.
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Public housing resident threatened with arrest at protest over demolition
A 68-year-old public housing resident whose home is soon to be demolished as part of the Victorian government’s “big build” program has reportedly been threatened with arrest after glueing herself to the fittings at the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing in Melbourne.
Margaret Kelly, a resident of Barak Beacon housing estate in Port Melbourne for 23 years, was participating in a protest against the state Labor government’s demolish-and-rebuild public housing strategy on Thursday.
Guardian Australia understands Kelly attended the offices of the department to request a meeting with state housing minister, Colin Brooks.
Kelly, a disability pensioner, and the other Barak Beacon residents learned just before Christmas in 2021 from a flyer under the door that their houses would be knocked down and replaced with a new development. Since then, the residents of the community have been relocated and scattered through Melbourne’s suburbs.
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Dipping out of question time for a moment because it is all the same questions.
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The Nationals MP for Mallee, Anne Webster, asks:
Mildura Fruit Juices Australia has had to reduce its intake of grapes this season as the energy cost to evaporate them into grape concentrate is now unviable. The company’s general manager has reported a $500,000 per year price hike in electricity this year.
Why is Mildura Fruit Juices not enjoying the reduction in power prices the prime minister promised?
Anthony Albanese:
She asked about the price of gas, but they came in here and voted against a cap on gas prices. Voted against it. Voted against it. Said that it would be Armageddon. I’ve quoted some of the things that was said by those opposite if we dared to put a cap on gas prices, which we did. It was the right thing to do and it had an impact. And in addition to that the member voted against, voted against the $3bn combined with the Victorian government along with other state and territory governments ...
Webster says she wasn’t talking about gas, she was talking about electricity.
Albanese comes back and says well the Coalition also voted against the measures to lower electricity prices.
Chris Bowen takes the question over and says much the same thing.
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The Nationals MP for Lyne, David Gillespie, asks what the prime minister has to say to one of his constituents, Stuart, whose wife had to go back to work earlier than she wanted because of the cost-of-living crisis.
Why does this budget do nothing structural to help Australians like Stuart and Samantha get ahead, including losing the low and middle income tax offset where they would have been $1,500 better off?
(Ummmmm it was the Coalition government which ended the Lamito. Josh Frydenberg extended it, but then put a stop to it. It was only ever temporary – which is how the Coalition government set it up. It was in the final Coalition budget as not being extended. So that seems an awkward question to ask, and that is before you even get to the fact that the last two days have been spent with the Coalition arguing that the budget is inflationary. So it’s inflationary, but giving middle income earners up to $1,500 wouldn’t be inflationary? It’s going to be a very long year.)
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The Liberal MP for Flinders, Zoe McKenzie, takes us straight back there when she asks the prime minister:
Labor’s budget provides no funding for new infrastructure investment in our capital cities. So what additional level of congestion does the government expect the extra 1.5 million people who will come to Australia over five years will cause?
I think you know what the answer is and just how much glee Anthony Albanese gets from delivering it.
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Opposition raises population growth and infrastructure spending
Paul Fletcher takes a break from making points of orders to ask the PM:
My question is to the prime minister. In 2019 he said population growth open by migration was causing strain on our big cities and it was a wake-up call to fast track spending on major road and rail projects. In this budget there is no new spending on infrastructure projects in the capital cities.
If you thought this was an issue in 2019, why has he done nothing about it now he is in power and there is an extra 1.5 million people who will come to Australia over five years?
The Labor MP Tim Watts is overheard yelling that these questions are “African gangs 2.0” (remember when Peter Dutton said people were too afraid to go out to dinner in Melbourne?)
Anthony Albanese:
I thank whoever suggested that they give me a question on infrastructure. I thank them very much whoever the member of the tactics committee was to put that forward.
We have always said on the issue of migration, 2019, they were in government and their projections when they were in government were for higher migration than we had today. Higher numbers, that is a fact. That is the facts.
So one of the things that has happened, one example really clearly so that somehow they get this: when you used to have students arrive to Australia, and produce an income, and students were coming, first-year, and other people finish their degree, they go. What happened? There was a pandemic and people didn’t come so they were not there to go. What has happened now is the economy has opened up, and students are coming to start their degrees, but they are not leaving because they haven’t finished their degrees. It is not hard.
There is a point of order on relevance but Milton Dick rules the prime minister is being relevant.
Albanese:
I certainly am – they need to read their own questions before they ask them.
He goes on to speak about a bunch of different infrastructure projects with the same energy as your divorced aunt who went to Bali to find themselves and is now very into yoga and has a lot of elephant statues around the house and just wants you to know how much it changed her life.
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After the “I thank Plan B for his question” quip, Paul Karp, who is in the chamber, reports that Paul Fletcher and Kevin Hogan almost tripped over themselves trying to get up for a point of order. “Absolutely launched himself,” Paul says of Hogan.
It was withdrawn.
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The Nationals MP for Page, Kevin Hogan, wants to know from Jim Chalmers:
In April 2022 the then shadow treasurer told the Australian public there would be no tax increases under a Labor government. Why has the treasurer broken a promise by increasing tax on Australian and international tourists, raising the passenger movement charge when we have the most globally competitive tourism market we’ve ever seen? Why do Australians always pay more under Labor?
Jim Chalmers:
There is a pattern emerging here. Early in the package they get the shadow treasurer to ask a question, that doesn’t go so well so it’s obligatory for someone else to ask it. And now we’re onto Plan B, so I thank Plan B for his question.
You can see why people want to come here and our advice is a $10 increase to the passenger movement charged from $60 to $70, which reflects the indexation since 2017, will have no impact on the amount of tourists coming here.
Mr Speaker, those opposite have to decide do they want more tourists coming here or do they want fewer tourists coming? One reason why the net overseas migration is a bit higher is because more longtime tourists are coming to Australia.
So the first question that gets asked suggests there are too many tourists coming to Australia. The most recent question is there aren’t enough tourists coming to Australia. They have to make their mind up.
Tonight the opposition leader gets an opportunity to clean up all of this rubbish – one shadow minister saying one thing, another shadow minister saying another, and it’s his opportunity to get up and say does he support cost-of-living relief or not. He can do that from the dispatch box at 7.30.
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Marles targets Coalition over mixed messages on defence spending
The defence minister, Richard Marles, used a dixer today to target the Coalition over its mixed messages on defence spending in the wake of the defence strategic review.
He pointed out that the shadow defence minister, Andrew Hastie, and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, had warned against “cannibalising” other defence capabilities to pay for Aukus (that means not cutting defence projects like the infantry fighting vehicles).
But the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, told the ABC’s Insiders program last Sunday that “the defence budget should be within the envelope that’s already been established and that money should be used well” (which sounds like an argument for “reprioritising” within defence, which is what the Labor government is doing).
Marles continued:
If you are not going to reprioritise defence spending on the one hand, and you are not going to increase defence spending on the other, then the only way those two statements add up, is if the leader of the opposition has the honesty tonight in his budget reply to make clear a Coalition government would not be funding the Aukus agreement, that a Coalition government would not be funding a new long-range strike capability for this country, that a Coalition government would not be resourcing our defence force personnel which this country so badly needs. Because they cannot have it both ways.
Dutton could be seen reacting to these comments with incredulity (Aukus being something initiated under the Coalition). Marles claimed the “guiding philosophy” in defence policy under the Coalition was “smoke and mirrors” because the defence review had found $42bn in additional defence spending over 10 years that the former government had announced but not yet funded in the budget.
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But Chalmers is not finished. He continues:
The point I am making is the member for Griffith shouldn’t come in here and pretend there has been a policy change in the budget when it comes to the repayment of Hecs debt.
This is the longstanding arrangement that applies, has applied to the indexation of student debt, and his time would be better spent in this place not making up stories about Tuesday night’s budget and voting for social and affordable housing instead.
This is a member who wanders around his electorate pretending he is for social and affordable housing and comes here to vote against it.
When it comes to students and young people … what this government is doing is [helping] students and young people with an increase in commonwealth rent assistance, an increase in Austudy and youth allowance and the base rate of jobseeker.
These are important ways we demonstrate our support for students and young people, like I told the member for Fowler.
I understand that the member for Griffith will get all over his social media feed and complain Labor has made some kind of change when it comes to Hecs, but we have not.
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Jim Chalmers:
It is characteristic of this, dishonest of the member to pretend there has been some change in the budget on Tuesday night.
Adam Bandt says this is a reflection on the member and the treasurer should withdraw.
He does.
Chalmers:
I say to the member for Griffith that he should not come into this place and pretend that Tuesday’s budget had any changes to the repayment arrangements around Hecs debts.
At least have, ask for the questions you want, important questions about the cost of living. Don’t come in here and pretend ... You are voting with [the Coalition].
The leader of the opposition interjects. Arrangements between major parties and the Greens, that’s not the best day to do it, I say to the leader of the opposition.
Today is not the best day to point that out. Those opposite are engaged in an unholy alliance with the Greens to knock off a social and affordable housing bill in the Senate. To bring up in this typically in a vested way, a relationship between the Coalition party and the Greens is not the day to do it.
Today is not the day to do it.
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Chandler-Mather asks treasurer to justify pushing students further into debt
The Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, asks almost the same question as Dai Le did a little earlier:
Angus Shepherd completed his PhD yesterday with a Hecs debt of $48,000. He is set to pay back around $1,500 of his debt in his next tax return, but with … indexation the debt will rise by about $2,700 … Can the treasurer justify why Labor thinks it’s a good idea to push students further in debt and increase more [in indexation] than changes to tax on gas operations?
Jim Chalmers (Michael Jordan voice) ‘and I took that personally’.
Greens housing Max Chandler-Mather is asking about indexation of Help debt and not raising enough from PRRT. Not housing!
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) May 11, 2023
Chalmers: "it is characteristically dishonest of the member to pretend there has been some change"
MUCH HARDER than the was to Dai Le.
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PM highlights potential rise to minimum wage
Melissa Price has a question for Anthony Albanese:
Cory and Sarah are a hard-working couple with a mortgage from Western Australia. They told the Today show what this budget has said to all Australians: ‘I believe that the government hasn’t listened to any of us.’
Why has this government brought down a budget which risks middle-class Australians becoming the new working poor?
Albanese goes through the all things the government has been spruiking – Medicare, childcare, cheaper medicines, single parent payment changes, etc – and then finishes with:
Tonight I look forward to finding out if [the opposition] are in favour of those 6 million Australians paying less for their medicines or not.
As a result of our budget now … 80,000 Australians will pay zero for their Tafe courses because of us; 250,000 aged care workers will get paid more; Because of our submissions, the Fair Work Commission has agreed also [that] those on a minimum wage will get paid more.
Under our government, we are looking after people wherever they live, whatever their income, whoever they are.
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Wells spruiks electricity and childcare subsidies as measures putting downward pressure on inflation
Anika Wells:
The question is not my portfolio’s responsibility, but I’m happy to expand on what I was asked this morning – how is this a budget that assists middle Australians?
And I said this is a budget for middle Australians because they are facing energy bills, they have children, middle Australians need to pay for medicines and they like to go to the doctor, preferably a bulk-billing doctor near where they live. And this is a cost-of-living budget with a $14.6 billion package designed to decrease the price of childcare. I have had three kids in childcare at one time …
There is a point of order here about how Wells was asked about “downward pressure on inflation” and Tony Burke jumps in to say Wells is answering the question:
Just to the point of order, the question does not relate to the minister’s portfolio, the minister has taken it anyway, the minister has been absolutely relevant to every aspect, and the only objection from the shadow minister is [that] her question is being answered and she doesn’t like the facts that are coming out.
There is no point of order. Wells continues:
I was saying I have three kids in childcare, and that on 1 July our decision to reduce the cost of childcare for people makes a huge difference to cost of living.
And we have made decisions to put downward pressure on the price of childcare, downward pressure on the price of electricity bills rather than the cash bonanza you tried to do when you had the levers of power.
We are making decisions to give subsidies to people and to give subsidies on things like energy bills and childcare bills, because that puts downward pressure on inflation.
She continues to talk about the pay rise for aged care workers to fill in some more time.
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Sussan Ley is up with her question and it’s for Anika Wells:
My question is to the minister for aged care. Deloitte and EY have all said the Labor higher-taxing, big-spending budget will raise inflation, risking further interest rate rises. This morning the minister said, and I quote: ‘This is a budget that will put downward pressure on inflation.’
Can the minister explain how the budget will put downward pressure on inflation?
This is one of those trick questions where it is set up to show that a minister doesn’t know how to explain terminology they have used.
There are absolutely ministers to use this on, but Wells is one of those strange people who lives and breathes politics and policy and reads all the briefs and all the commentary, and then still tracks down people to have chats about all the things she has read about. It’s massive vice-captain energy, but it’s also the reason she’s risen up the ranks so quickly.
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Treasurer forced to withdraw remark made to Taylor that ‘this is why no one takes you seriously’
Jim Chalmers continues his play time (you can tell he thinks of answering Angus Taylor as a little treat, like giving a cat a little piece of salami) and lists all the economists who think the budget will have a neutral impact on inflation. He finishes with “This is why no one takes you seriously”, but is made to withdraw.
(Labor MP Tim Watts is overheard by Paul Karp yelling out that the Coalition has “called the waaaaambulance on this one” when Paul Fletcher rises to accuse Chalmers of serious lack of respect to Angus Taylor.)
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‘I mean, seriously! Help the guy out’: Chalmers takes aim at Angus Taylor after question on interest rates
Angus Taylor has another question for Jim Chalmers, and the Labor caucus cheers.
This morning, Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said this when speaking about Labor’s budget with Karl Stefanovic.
Karl: ‘Interest rates will be higher for longer?’
Bill Evans: ‘That is the risk.’
Will the treasurer finally admit he is alone in saying that this budget will reduce inflation?
Chalmers looks like someone just hooked him up to an IV with all the good stuff.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. This guy is truly the gift that keeps giving, isn’t he?
Mr Speaker, if the shadow treasurer had watched the whole conversation between Bill Evans and Karl Stefanovic, Karl asks Bill Evans: ‘Have you changed your expectations for interest rates?’
And he says no.
I mean, seriously!
Help the guy out. Help the guy out. Someone point out to him that when Karl Stefanovic asked Bill Evans, ‘Have you changed your expectations on interest rates into the future?’ – he said no, it does not change them. Which is the point that I’ve been making ever since the budget was handed down, Mr Speaker.
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Hecs indexation ‘the usual arrangements that apply’: Chalmers
Independent MP Dai Le has the first of the crossbench questions:
University [graduates] across the country will be forced to pay an additional 7% on top of the already exorbitant Hecs debt. This will impact the young people who are already struggling to study, work and pay rent and are facing some of the worst economic challenges we have seen in a long time.
Young people are our future and deserve a fair and equitable access to education. What will the government do to ease their debt pressure with the budget surplus?
Jim Chalmers takes this one:
Obviously, the indexation of student loans has not been changed by this government. These are the usual arrangements that apply. What has changed is the way that we are supporting students in the budget being handed down on Tuesday night.
He goes on to talk about the changes to Austudy and rent assistance.
Chalmers:
What we tried to do in the budget on Tuesday night is to say to all those Australians who are doing it tough, to all the Australians were under the pump, including young people, including students … ‘We will do what we can to help you.”
We’ll do that in a responsible … way which weighs up all pressures on the budget and in the economy. But this side of the house is proud to back in our young people [and] back in our students, and the way that we fund the education system and the way that we provide cost-of-living relief where we can is a really important demonstration of our support for young people and students.
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Julie Collins: Opposition blocking housing bill that would help address need created by migration
Back to question time and the opposition has mixed it up – it is not Sussan Ley with the second question, but Dan Tehan! What. A. Treat.
AMP chief economist, Dr Shane Oliver, has noted the resurgence in underlying demand on the back of very high immigration, and that 400,000 arrivals this year inflates demand for an extra 200,000 dwellings. The AMP could see the link between very high immigration and housing shortage, why didn’t the government?
(Notice Tehan gave Oliver his doctorate title there – it is to make a point.)
Julie Collins takes this one:
I want to thank the members opposite for that important question. You come in here and talk about migration when it … [was] higher under those opposite, Mr Speaker.
… They were very quiet about housing when they were in government and they are now blocking the housing Australia future bill in the Senate, the bill that will provide 30,000 additional social and affordable rental homes.
… You say we’re not doing enough when it comes to migration. The former leader of the opposition said we are doing too little, too late.
The numbers would be higher under you … [and you are] trying to block the housing we are trying to provide. Seriously! That is what you are doing.
The answer goes on about the housing bill.
Updated
Reporting date for robodebt inquiry extended for second time
The reporting date for the robodebt royal commission has been extended – for the second time.
It was due to report 18 April, then 30 June – but it has now been extended to a week later to 7 July.
That has been approved.
Updated
Anthony Albanese continues, directing his answer to David Littleproud:
You don’t have to take your instructions from the Liberal party. Stand up for yourself. Back yourself in! Have a bit of confidence.
He then continues to quote Littleproud:
‘We didn’t get it right’, and the fact the backlog was there, he said: ‘And I congratulate Andrew Giles for the work he has done … in a pragmatic way making sure we can go forward.’
I can go to the leader of the Liberal party because this is what he said, when we made that announcement in relation to the migration move. He said it was too little, too late, he wanted more, more and sooner, he said this decision to lift … migration should have been made 100 days ago when the government was elected.
He said: “We need an increase in migration announcements; these are all brand new announcements. I want to see the rubber hit the road; it is clear the migration number has to be higher.”
He then runs out of time.
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PM quotes Littleproud’s comments on migration in response to Dutton
Anthony Albanese:
They have had a further 24 hours to consider the magnificent budget [handed] down by the treasurer.
And they have come up with the same first question as yesterday. When they asked just one question of me in the shadow treasurer just asked one question of the treasurer.
Remarkable.
I’m asked about migration. And yesterday I told the House and wasn’t challenged that the numbers were going to be higher under them.
That is just a fact.
And … I’m going to quote my friend the leader of the National party again here, because he had some advice for the Liberal party leader, about immigration or where policy was.
He said this: “We will be constructive with this government and … we welcome the changes they are bringing forward. We believe permanent migration is important.”
He went on to say this: “We have to acknowledge some of the challenges we left behind, like the fact there were nearly a million unprocessed visas was a failure. You have got to put your hand up. You have to be honest with people.”
The current leader of the Nationals, David Littleproud has a point of order here that the question was about the 1.5 million people, but the speaker, Milton Dick, rules this is not a point of order.
Updated
Question time begins
Peter Dutton kicks things off – with “big Australia” rhetoric.
There is a caveat which has been added to these questions – which was present in interviews today as well – “we all support immigration”/“migrants are great”.
That’s to try and get ahead of any attacks that these questions/attacks are based on anti-immigration sentiment and instead are focused on concerns about infrastructure and housing.
Dutton:
As a great multicultural society, we all support the well-planned migration program.
With … congestion and growing cost-of-living challenges, why is the prime minister adding another 1.5 million people from overseas over the next five years, including an extra 400,000 this year – and why was this hidden from the budget speech?
Why [does] the prime minister’s migration policy make life harder for the great number of working poor Australians?
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Greens say housing bill is ‘highest priority’
The Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, has told reporters in Canberra that “despite all the bluster … the Greens are committed to negotiating a good outcome”.
He said the bill was “our chance” to force the government to take bolder action on the housing crisis.
Chandler-Mather revealed the Greens party room will be meeting on Friday to discuss negotiations. “We are treating this as our highest priority right now.”
That’s an interesting hint given finance minister, Katy Gallagher, said business could be rearranged to facilitate passing the bill.
Could we see a Friday sitting to rubber stamp a Labor-Greens deal? Anthony Albanese is clearly involved in the last-minute push – eagle eyed Mike Bowers spotted him lobbying Chandler-Mather in the house before his press conference.
Updated
Was Labor’s budget inflationary? Investors don’t think so
With the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, primed for his reply speech this evening, we’ve taken a bit of a longer look at whether investors think the 2023-24 budget was actually inflationary.
In short, financial markets said “meh”:
Investors aren’t infallible, of course, as we saw earlier this month when they were largely blindsided by the Reserve Bank‘s surprise interest rate rise. That’s not to say the RBA won’t hike again, but there’s every reason to think the central bank was well-briefed beforehand by the government, not least because the treasury secretary, Steven Kennedy, sits on the central bank board.
And as the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said on RN Breakfast this morning: “I do speak to the governor [Philip Lowe] about my policies, about my budgets, and the fiscal stance of the government. I do that in advance of releasing the budget and I do it after releasing the budget.”
So if the markets – for the dollar, interest rates and so forth – weren’t fussed by the budget’s impact on inflation, borrowers shouldn’t be too bothered either.
Updated
It is almost question time
Time flies when you are staring into the abyss) so get ready for that.
Will it be better than yesterday? We can only hope.
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Anthony Albanese’s busy morning – in pictures
Anthony Albanese has been busy in the chamber. Our own Mike Bowers followed him with his lens as the PM:
Congratulated Mary Doyle (after becoming emotional during her speech, as she spoke about growing up in public housing and some of her family challenges).
Spoke to independents.
Spoke to Greens MPs.
(One of these interactions was not like the others. See if you can guess which one)
Updated
Coalition and One Nation vote against ‘equal parenting’ language amendments to Family Law Act
Meanwhile in the house, there was just a second reading vote on the amendments to the Family Law Act the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, introduced.
The Coalition voted against the changes. But Bridget Archer, who had been in the chamber earlier in the day, seems to have abstained from the vote.
The amendments make some changes advocates have been calling for for some time – including to some language of the presumption of equal shared parenting. In a statement, Dreyfus said the amendments are needed to provide clarity:
As more than two dozen inquiries have now shown, the current parenting framework in the Family Law Act is complex and confusing and urgent reform is needed. It contains provisions which are misunderstood and, in some cases, have led to unsafe parenting arrangements.
… The bill recognises the importance of a child having a relationship with both of their parents which will ensure the court continues to take this into account when making parenting orders.
One Nation is also against these amendments.
Updated
Government fails attempt to move housing bill to top of schedule
The government has moved an amendment restoring the housing bill to the top of the schedule. The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, warned that if the Senate delayed, Labor would be “letting everybody know” the Greens, Liberals and Nationals had voted together “all the way until we get an outcome on housing”.
She said:
What a week. What you’ve done is ensure this bill doesn’t pass, the money doesn’t flow and the houses don’t get built.
She then noted for the benefit of hansard that this was sarcasm.
And then the amendment was defeated 35 to 21, with the Greens and Coalition voting together again.
Updated
Housing bill remains stalled as Labor talks of conspiracies
Katy Gallagher is on her feet urging the Greens and the Coalition to “listen to housing advocates,” to listen to the state and territory housing ministers “who know a little about what they are talking about” and pass the bill.
She accuses the Greens and Coalition of coming up with plans to team up and tank the bill “in the dark of the hallways at night”.
But what seems to be happening here is the Coalition is taking advantage of the stalemate between the Greens and Labor over the bill and is stirring up some trouble, which the Greens are going along with, because they are annoyed at Labor for trying to force a vote on the bill when there is still no agreement.
All in all everyone is annoyed at everyone else, fingers are being pointed everywhere and the bill remains stalled.
Updated
Coalition moves to add three government bills to schedule ahead of housing vote
The Coalition is moving in the Senate to add three government bills to the program ahead of the housing Australia future fund bill. These are bills on veterans affairs, vocational education, and whistleblowers.
In the first of a series of votes, the Coalition and Greens voted together, and it passed 36 votes to 21. This could be the nail in the coffin to the Haff bill getting a vote today.
Updated
Greens not backing down on housing bill in Senate
Back in the Senate and the housing future fund debate has briefly resumed (it is not going anywhere today).
And the Greens are showing no signs of backing down or softening their approach to the negotiations – Nick McKim just referred to the bill as a “steaming pile of neoliberal rubbish”.
Updated
Mary Doyle’s first speech – in pictures
Here is how the chamber looked for that first speech, as captured by Mike Bowers:
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Mundine: national voice body ‘should be legislated today if they think it’s so wonderful and so good’
Warren Mundine spoke to the ABC today, saying the two groups were “always working together” but now had formalised those links. Mundine and Price had long-planned a speaking tour around the country to spruik the no vote.
What we did was look at, OK, ‘you work on this campaign, you work on that campaign’ and try and bring the two campaigns closer together … It’s common sense. With the yes campaign they have one umbrella group driving their campaign. We need to do the same with ours.
Mundine told the ABC that even polling done by the no side found that 90% of voters backed constitutional recognition for Aboriginal people – but that the support was far lower for the voice consultation body. He said the voice should be legislated by parliament, not enshrined in the constitution.
To me, if you’re going to have a voice, a body to Parliament, it should be legislated and it should be legislated today if they think it’s so wonderful and so good.
He claimed the new campaign had some 37,000 volunteers and “several million dollars in our bank account.”
Updated
Mundine says no campaign has 'several million' in funding
Warren Mundine, leader of the no campaign in the Indigenous voice referendum, says it is “common sense” for the two main opposition groups to merge – claiming their new united organisation has “several million dollars” on hand.
As Guardian Australia reported this week, Mundine’s Recognise A Better Way is merging with Fair Australia, another no campaign group led by the Nationals senator Jacinta Price and the Advance conservative lobby group. The new entity will be known as Australians For Unity; Mundine told us the merger came in a bid to be more efficient with resources, to avoid “competing” with each other.
Updated
The Labor caucus lines up to congratulate Mary Doyle and the chamber moves on.
But it has to be said – there are some very, very proud people in the public gallery today. Their smiles could power the whole parliament. It’s lovely to see.
The new member for Aston finishes with a promise to her constituents;
To represent all the people I now have the great honour of calling my constituents. To listen to them, to speak up for them, and to deliver their share of the better future Labor is building for Australia. My message to them is: I will always put you first as your member for Aston.
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Doyle: families like mine are not a political football to be kicked around at election time
Mary Doyle:
I confessed at the start of my campaign in 2023, I’m not a seasoned politician, and I still don’t think of myself as a politician. I am a regular type of person who’s lived the kind of life which mirrors that of many of my constituents.
My backstory is one riddled with challenges. Families doing it tough in Aston, families like mine growing up, don’t need a pat on the head and a pitying look. What we need is good policy and to be taken seriously.
We are not a political football to be kicked around at election time. Those on the other side talk about opportunity while denying families like mine any assistance to grasp those opportunities. Labor governments understand this … and the one I’m now a part of is no different. No one held back. No one left behind.
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Doyle speaks on experiencing social justice through schooling and Medicare
Mary Doyle:
As a child growing up in public housing, like some other very senior people sitting in the House right now, I didn’t always have the things some other kids at school took for granted.
I understood from an early age that my family was not one with a lot of money. I went to both the local Catholic schools, where most families paid fees, but my family, like some others, were an exception to this rule.
When I went on a school camp in grade six (to a camp in the Basin in my electorate, incidentally) it was through the generosity of the school’s committee. Social justice was a concept I learned from an early age from my Catholic schooling in Echuca; they lived by it – if there were kids in the school that came from struggling families, the school helped discretely.
There were nuns and teachers at both St Mary’s Primary and St Joseph’s College who were exceptional in imparting the tenets of social justice.
These lessons have stayed with me.
She also spoke about finding out she had breast cancer at 25, with no family history and how Medicare helped her through it.
Updated
Mary Doyle delivers first speech
After her historic win – the first time in more than a century a government candidate has toppled an opposition candidate in an opposition-held seat during a byelection – Mary Doyle is making her first speech in the parliament.
It’s a full house for Labor to watch their new “Labor hero” lay out her plan for representing the people of Aston.
Doyle lays out her family history, and adds:
In the early 70s, because of my dad’s alcoholism and mental health issues, he had to apply for what they called back then the “invalid pension” – the married couples’ one.
Both payments had initially been paid directly to my dad, then the Whitlam government changed that, and mum was very happy to be receiving her own cheque paid to her, not dad.
This policy change had a profoundly positive effect on the way mum handled household finances. She could now save a bit here and there for things we needed. My big brother Kevin, a huge Gough Whitlam fan, pointed out to me years later when I was a teenager, how changes like these – introduced by the Whitlam Labor government – helped families like ours. This is what Labor governments do.
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House resumes sitting
The house has resumed its sitting for the last day this week.
It is straight in to a deferred second reading division but sometime after that, the new Labor MP for Aston, Mary Doyle will give her first speech.
Updated
For completeness, here was JLN senator Tammy Tyrrell’s response to Nick McKim:
I'm shocked the Greens don't understand 'reasonable'!
— Tammy Tyrrell (@TammyTyrrell_) May 11, 2023
You can’t make the Fund finance construction if nobody’s lining up to build homes.
That wouldn’t be ‘reasonable’, Nick.
Good news is Tas has plenty! One provider said there’s up to 700 they can tick off *this year*. So... https://t.co/DxN1nXpuNR pic.twitter.com/2VLYc9CNk1
Continued from last post
The latter review, released last year, revealed 33 deaths between July 2021 and May 2022 were linked to delays in answering emergency calls and “agency command and control issues”.
In one case, someone waited for more than 76 minutes for their emergency call to be answered, as the pandemic placed “unprecedented demand” on the system.
Symes said Leane is headed on already planned leave from late May until the conclusion of his contract in July. The current Esta deputy CEO, Debra Abbott, will take over the position from 31 July.
Symes said:
Mr Leane has been instrumental in implementing change at Esta and has supported the delivery of significant reform across the organisation during his tenure. I would like to thank Mr Leane for his utter commitment to Victoria’s triple zero service and emergency services sector, and wish him and his loved ones all the best for the future.
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Victoria triple zero operator chief set to resign
The chief executive of Victoria’s triple zero operator, Stephen Leane, is set to resign at the end of July, the state’s emergency services minister, Jaclyn Symes, has confirmed.
Leane, a former Victoria police road safety commissioner and brother of state MP Shaun Leane, has been the head of the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (Esta) since April 2022.
He took on the interim CEO position from October 2021 at the request of the state government amid its triple zero crisis.
Symes said Leane had been integral in restoring community confidence in ESTA and implementing changes recommended by two seperate reviews into the organisation by former Victoria police chief commissioner, Graham Ashton, and the inspector general for emergency management.
Updated
Still on the Greens, they gave notice yesterday they would be introducing a bill to the parliament today which aims to freeze rent increases and rate increases by the RBA.
Updated
The Greens Nick McKim and the Jacqui Lambie Network senator Tammy Tyrrell are having a small social media back and forth over the Labor housing fund. The JNL is on board after securing the agreements it wanted with the government but the bill won’t pass without the Greens support (the Coalition opposes it).
Hey Tammy, you’ll notice the word ‘guarantee’ is not there, and it not in the legislation either. I could take reasonable steps to play full-forward for Hawthorn this weekend but pretty sure that’s not going to happen. You’ve been dudded. https://t.co/Y9JHFf2MQq
— Nick McKim (@NickMcKim) May 10, 2023
Unfortunately Senator Lambie and her party have a track record of being dudded. Lambie voted to end the price on carbon which was delivering massive windfall gains for Tasmania, she voted to end the Medevac legislation, and she voted for the stage 3 tax cuts for the top end.
— Nick McKim (@NickMcKim) May 11, 2023
Updated
We are just over 20 minutes away from the house sitting commencing. It is sitting a bit later today because it will go a bit later than usual, with Peter Dutton’s budget reply speech scheduled for this evening.
That’s why you are seeing Sussan Ley out and about today – Dutton is keeping his powder (mostly) dry.
It’s all part of that rebrand and the attempt to soften Dutton’s image. And that also means seeing less of him. When a leader steps away from the media spotlight it is usually because a focus group has told the party that seeing less of the leader plays better in the polling.
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Australia wellbeing index released
It is not great news, but I don’t think anyone will be surprised by its findings. From the statement:
Australian Unity and Deakin University have released their latest wellbeing index survey report, measuring the subjective wellbeing of over 2,000 Australian adults against a series of personal and national life domains.
Key findings:
Satisfaction slides: Australians’ overall life satisfaction has fallen to the lowest score on record.
Young Australians are struggling: 18-25 year-olds’ wellbeing has hit an all-time low and they recorded the highest levels of mental distress and climate worry.
Multiple crises put pressure on wellbeing: More Australians on average scored below the normal range for personal wellbeing, including those under 56 years of age, on a household income below $60,000 and those in casual work or unemployed.
Updated
The trade minister, Don Farrell, is on his way to Beijing – for those who didn’t see Daniel Hurst’s interview with him, you’ll find it here:
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No vote on future fund today – but speeches aplenty
There is a very, very long list of speakers for the housing future fund bill in the senate. That means there will be no vote on it today. After losing the motion to suspend standing orders to change government business for the day, the government is at the mercy of the Senate and the Senate says it has things to say.
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Jim Chalmers on Dutton: ‘he will try and divide people’
Jim Chalmers has been scathing of the Coalition’s reaction to the budget – and says in a quick doorstop interview tonight has to change things. (You’ll see some repeated lines from earlier today):
Now tonight Peter Dutton has to put an end to this ridiculous charade from his party, which is pretending at the same time that we should both spend less and spend more in the budget.
Angus Taylor says we shouldn’t be providing this cost-of-living relief. Sussan Ley suggests we should be providing more cost-of-living relief.
Peter Dutton needs to put an end to this division. Peter Dutton is a divisive figure, but he’s not a credible figure. Peter Dutton takes his cues from Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison.
Everybody’s moved on from Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison except for Peter Dutton.
His strategy is to divide Australians, to pit Australians against each other in the aftermath of this budget.
Our budget is about bringing people together, support for the vulnerable support for middle Australia, and key investments in opportunities and future growth in the economy. That is our priority as a government.
Tonight, Peter Dutton will play the usual divisive politics … he will try and divide people, he will try and pit Australians against Australians, but the budget is designed to bring people together.
Updated
Greens to refer PwC tax avoidance scandal to National Anti-Corruption Commission
The Nacc is due to begin operating in the second half of the year. Greens senator Barbara Pocock hopes it will take up the referral to look at what happened with PwC and its use of confidential treasury information for clients.
The big question today is ‘Why hasn’t finance minister Katy Gallagher acted on this?’
… My proposal to refer this matter to the NAAC has been approved by the Greens partyroom and we are now looking at the procedures to make this happen at the earliest possible date.
… Australian taxpayers need to trust that their government will hold wrongdoing to account. And we need to ask whether we are only looking at the tip of the iceberg. We need to know much more about the huge, opaque consulting industry at large.
Updated
Bob Katter will be one of the MPs happy with this report from our Khaled Al Khawaldeh:
Westpac’s U-turn on its plan to close down at least three north Queensland bank branches has been welcomed by local politicians but they say further reforms are needed to ensure the proper delivery of services in regional areas.
A Westpac spokesperson said the decision to keep the Tully, Cloncurry and Ingham branches open alongside a further five branches around regional Australia had been made in consultation with local stakeholders, employees and customers. However, they could not confirm if the reversal would be indefinite.
The decision came months after the bank paused the closures in response to the Senate inquiry into banking services.
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Greens on Aukus education funding: ‘Universities are best placed to contribute to peace, not warmongering’
The Greens education spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, says the federal government’s budget offers “next to nothing” for the tertiary sector and funding extra university places to support the nuclear submarines program is “gross”.
The budget outlined funding for an additional 4,000 Commonwealth support places to support skills requirements for the Aukus program, totalling $128.5m.
Faruqi:
While extra university places in Stem disciplines are welcome, the government’s stated purpose of these places to support Aukus is gross. Universities are best placed to contribute to peace not warmongering.
The Greens welcome the investment in more fee-free Tafe places, but rather than one-off measures, we need sustained, long-term investment in public Tafe and the abolition of fees altogether.
The budget also offered around $150m in placements and scholarships for psychology, nursing and midwifery students, and $31.6m to trial training arrangements for international students in rural and remote locations.
UNSW, home to Australia’s largest engineering facility, has welcomed the Stem funding, which will span energy, defence and nuclear engineering. The university’s vice-chancellor, Prof Attila Brungs, said UNSW looked forward to “work with the federal government in support of the national interest”.
Updated
Sussan Ley avoids questions on if Morrison pandemic spending contributed to inflation
On ABC News Breakfast this morning, Sussan Ley was questioned over whether the Coalition’s pandemic spending may have contributed to the inflation we are seeing now.
Here is how that played out:
Host: You don’t think the Coalition’s stimulus, though, contributed to some of the inflation we’re seeing now?
Ley:
We spent what we needed to get people through.
Host: But did it contribute to some of the inflation that we’re seeing now?
Ley:
That spending was critical to the bounce back the economy experienced.
Host: But did it to some of the inflation we’re seeing now?
Ley:
What it did was it helped Australians get through.
Host: Just to answer the question, did it contribute to some of the inflation that we’re seeing now?
Ley:
The inflation we are seeing now is a result of the tax and spend policies of this Labor government because clearly they have not got … a proper plan to tackle inflation.
Updated
AEC set to deploy mobile polling stations to health care facilities
The AEC has an announcement:
At the upcoming referendum, the AEC will be delivering increased polling services at residential health care facilities. This includes deploying mobile polling teams to residential mental health facilities for the first time.
— AEC ✏️ (@AusElectoralCom) May 11, 2023
Media Release: https://t.co/lt1XRzM7Zu pic.twitter.com/wQNe5IbtLF
Updated
So where does that leave the housing future fund?
In limbo. Which is exactly where it was before this morning.
Unless either the Greens drop their demands or the government compromises to make the fund better, then it is not going anywhere.
Updated
Motion to suspend standing orders to debate on housing bill defeated
The vote in the Senate finishes up as expected and the chamber moves on.
Updated
Drama in the Senate as housing bill attacks get personal
Things are getting very messy in the senate. The Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson is made to withdraw an interjection after he calls out that the Labor party had “conned” Jacqui Lambie.
Labor senator Murray Watt continues the government attack against the Greens for not moving on the bill. Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie raises a point of order that Watt should not be yelling at the Greens and his comments should be directed through the chair.
She then goes to make her own speech, but we are out of time.
The vote is on and the government will lose, but it will get the footage of the Greens voting with the Coalition and One Nation which it will then push out on your social media accounts. The Greens will push out their own social media posts.
From all the government bills so far, this housing one has become the biggest mess.
Updated
Roberts opposes suspension order
One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts continues to give speeches like he is reading one of those chain FB posts your parents share around.
Roberts:
Labels are the refuge of the ignorance, the dishonest and the fearful people using using labels in this parliament, decide for yourself which of those apply to you? Is it ignorance, dishonesty or fear?
Anyway, he is opposing the suspension order.
Updated
Lambie makes emotional appeal to the Greens: ‘do you really want to keep playing with people’s lives’?
Jacqui Lambie then turns to the Greens:
So please, for you people over here, that think you have a social conscience? Do you really want to keep playing with people’s lives? Do you really?
You have the biggest balance of power in this in this Parliament this time around. You have that you can keep chipping away no different than what you do with the gas and coal and what you’re doing there.
And you keep getting better at it and you keep getting you keep reducing on having more guests and coal here and you’re doing a great job.
Okay, you’re doing a great job, but … we need a start-up. This is something we can keep chipping away at. We can keep doing deals out and adding to it.
So please can we just use the base here and get started today? No more on the politics. No more than rubbish. I just want roofs over people’s heads. That’s all I want.
Updated
Lambie on housing bill: ‘I know this is not perfect. But people out there need a roof over their heads’
Jacqui Lambie notified the government last night that she was forfeiting an hour debate that had been given for a private member’s bill and she tells the senate she did that because the bill would have failed because it is not ready yet.
Lambie is emotional as she speaks about what is happening in the senate.
We can’t hold this back. I know this is not perfect. But people out there need a roof over their heads.
So for goodness sakes, please can we just get a start on this? I don’t want to hold them back any further. Nothing’s ever perfect up here. It’s never perfect.
But for somebody to know what it’s like to move out of normal housing, and know that we didn’t have to live in tents with my mum, which would have absolutely paralysed her knowing that she couldn’t keep a roof over her kids heads is heartbreaking.
We cannot hold this up. We need this to get through. We cannot hold this up another day.
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Labor motion to start debate on housing bill will fail
But the Coalition is not supporting the government motion to bring about the vote.
Simon Birmingham says the bill deserves “fair debate” and the government is trying to force through the vote, to try and “clean up its mess”, so it won’t be supporting the government.
Which means the suspension motion will fail.
You will get a lot of BREAKING tweets from government members that the Greens have sided with the Coalition to stop the housing bill being voted on, but I think we are all a little beyond that at this point, right?
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Birmingham plays up Greens-Labor ‘lover’s tiff’
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham is probably having the best time out of anyone in the senate at the moment.
Well, it’s always unfortunate to see lovers having a fight isn’t it?
Particularly when it plays out publicly. A lover’s tiff between the parties of the current government, between the Labor Party and the Greens and there’s little stoush that’s turning into a big stoush turning into quite a personal stoush.
Penny Wong interjects to say that the “lovers” are the Coalition and the Greens this week. No one truly believes that.
So Birmingham continues with this gift he has been given;
You know, government ministers are feeling the pressure when they start to personalise the debate and we saw there in Senator Wong’s contribution that it was a personalisation of the debate targeting, in particular, the Greens housing spokesperson. Turning it into a personal debate against a member of the Greens, trying of course to play into whatever divisions may exist within the Australian Greens.
Well, it didn’t sound like a policy debate. It sounded like a personal attack. It sounded like a big sledge against the Greens. It sounded like the two of you falling out of love with one another.
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Wong withdraws comments against Greens’ Max Chandler-Mather
Greens senator Nick McKim is not having it.
McKim:
The leader of government in the Senate is well out of order, she is reflecting personally on the motives and impugning the motives of a member of [the Senate].
She is not only wrong, she is very clearly showing that Mr Chandler-Mather is right under the skin of the government.
McKim asks her to withdraw, which Wong does.
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Penny Wong says Greens housing spokesperson's 'ego' being held above house future fund
So the senate has opened up with a bang – Penny Wong is moving a motion to suspend standing orders to prioritise the housing future fund bill and bring it to a debate at 1pm today.
Wong is accusing the Greens of “filibustering with the Coalition” and has launched a pretty extraordinary attack against Max Chandler-Mather, the Greens housing spokesperson.
Wong:
Let me talk to you about the Green spokesperson on housing. You know, he’s had a taste of the media spotlights. He’s had a taste of the media spotlight.
Your spokesperson on housing is now prioritising media attention [over] housing for women and kids fleeing domestic violence. That’s shameful you know, this man’s ego.
This man’s ego that is more important than housing for women fleeing domestic violence and all the women at risk of homelessness. This man’s ego matters more than women’s violence.
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The parliament sitting is about to begin and the fight over the housing fund is once again front and centre.
Keep an eye on the senate today – it is going to get rough.
Chalmers criticises Greens’ ‘unholy alliance’ with Coalition on housing fund
[Continued from previous post]
Clutching a near-empty white coffee mug in his hands, Chalmers said he wasn’t “walking around here with Back In Black mugs” - a dig at former treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s forecast surplus that never eventuated.
But he didn’t exactly say no to the premise of the question. Anyway - a little earlier in the press conference, as he was being asked about the Greens’ position to not support the housing bill, Senator Jacqui Lambie squeezed past to get to her own interview down the hall (the corridors in Parliament House are quite narrow, and such traffic jams often happen on busy mornings).
As Lambie turned into the ABC, Chalmers called back “we appreciate your support for housing, Jacqui”.
She responded: “the sooner we get that foundation, the better. Every day the Greens stop it, is another day people are in those bloody tents”.
Chalmers, chuckling, said the government was trying to work with the crossbench - but then accused the Greens of being in an “unholy alliance” with the Coalition to oppose the bill.
Those negotiations continue today.
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Treasurer quiet on potential budget surplus next year
Jim Chalmers stayed tight-lipped on the prospect of a second budget surplus next year. The treasurer also heaped more pressure on the Greens to back the government’s housing bill, with a surprise encounter with Jacqui Lambie in the halls of the press gallery creating a lighter moment in a high-stakes negotiation.
Some analysts believe next year’s budget could also deliver a surplus, with some predictions that treasury had underestimated the price of key commodities - and that the final calculations could see income from those resources end up far higher than booked. The Australian Financial Review reported yesterday that the budget could be $14bn better off than forecast next year, which would wipe out the planned $13.9bn deficit – and deliver another small surplus.
In a doorstop interview after appearing on RN, Chalmers said he had “seen that commentary” but there were “good reasons to be cautious... and not get ahead of ourselves”.
I’m not going to write and release the 2024 budget a few days after releasing the 2023 budget.
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Independents not on board with scale of PRRT changes
Both Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock are on a unity ticket when it comes to the PRRT not being good enough as well. The gas industry really doesn’t want this to get to a Senate negotiation stage.
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Pocock also criticises opposition position on welfare changes
The ACT independent senator David Pocock also has thoughts on the modest rate rise and how the opposition has been spinning it:
Let’s let’s be honest here – an extra $2.85 a day is welcome, but it’s not lifting people out of poverty.
And we [are] hearing really disappointing divisive politics from someone like Angus Taylor saying that the best form of welfare is a job while the experts are saying when you’ve got people living in poverty, it’s actually a barrier to getting back in the workforce.
So … as politicians, if they want people to get back in the workforce, then don’t have [low] unemployment benefits.
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Jacqui Lambie on ‘divisive’ welfare measures: ‘if we can help break that cycle, that’s what we need to be doing’
On the opposition’s attempts to spin the raise of the rate as “divisive” because some Australians are getting help while others are not, Jacqui Lambie says:
Here’s a good one – maybe if they lived in public housing and growing up on the breadline like I did there, and [knew] what it was like to live with a mother on a single mother’s pension then [maybe they] would have a completely different attitude to that.
Because, quite frankly, when you are down and out and you are living on that breadline, sometimes that little bit of extra help will be what gets you back up on your feet, and if we can help break that cycle, that’s what we need to be doing.
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Jacqui Lambie is on RN Breakfast and has some very strong thoughts on a budget surplus:
The only people that give a stuff about a surplus in a deficit and think it’s a trophy-earning thing to call [say] “we’ve got a surplus” are other people in Canberra.
She thinks Labor could have gone further on raising the base rate.
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Allegra Spender on Motherless Daughters Mothers’ Day
There are usually a few Mothers’ Day events at parliament house in this week. This year, there is also the first Motherless Daughters Mothers’ Day breakfast.
The independent Wentworth MP Allegra Spender has been a big supporter – Spender lost her mother Carla Zampatti in 2021 and has spoken of the need to support people through their grief beyond the immediate loss.
Spender is giving a speech at the breakfast – here is a small part of it.
Around two years ago my mother went out one evening, fell down some stairs, hit her head, fell into a coma and died a week later.
I had never had to deal with grief like that before. I wasn’t ready for how much it affected me, both immediately after she died and to this day.
There are many reasons why in theory I shouldn’t have found it as difficult. Mum had a long and wonderful life dying at 82, I wasn’t young when she died – I was 43.
But still it is hard – grief comes back at the most unlikely moments – like when I am walking through these corridors, or reading certain things. She knew a lot of people and I still have people coming up to me telling me stories about her – which is so lovely, but can blindside you when you least expect it.
Mother’s day coming up is a strange day, For me, I associate it much more with celebrating her than being a mother myself.
My reflection on this is that as a culture, we have forgotten at some level how to mourn, how to grieve. It is not something we talk about – but it is the people who have been through it before that provided the greatest solace.
So I wanted to thank Motherless Daughters for the support they provide people who have recently lost their mothers, and their advocacy on this issue. I think it will have a positive impact both for daughters, but also help us to deal with grief and loss more broadly in our society.
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Sussan Ley gives hints on opposition budget attack lines
The deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, has started the day in a chipper mood. She stopped by to hold a short press conference to set the tone of the day for the opposition:
Peter Dutton will deliver a reply to Anthony Albanese’s incredibly disappointing budget.
It’s a reply that will speak to Peter Dutton and his values. It’s a reply that will speak to our plan for aspirational Australia, one that recognises that middle Australia has been well and truly left behind by this budget.
Now we all like to think our home is our castle. Right now, Australian households feel under siege with the average family going backwards by $25,000 a year.
When it comes to the economic debate about inflation, well, I would trust Chris Richardson well ahead of Jim Chalmers. One is a trained economist, the other is a treasurer with a PhD in politics.
We know how hard families are doing it right through this budget period. We know that taxing and spending is not an economic plan, and we know it definitely is not a plan to deal with inflation.
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Investors say budget didn’t shift the rate-risk dial
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is on day two of his budget sell, and judging by most of the media coverage a key question is whether the budget is inflationary or not.
Our first take was that in general it was not likely to increase the risk of another Reserve Bank rate rise. (You can read it here if you missed it.)
The reality is that you can always find a range of economists to pick out one view or another. ANZ, Westpac, NAB seemed like big players to check in with, given their exposure to the mortgage market, and they weren’t too fussed. CBA, the biggest mortgage issuer, said the budget had “mixed” impacts, not enough for them to change their inflation forecasts.
But all that chatter is all well and good. The litmus (if not editorial) test is what happened in financial markets.
Answer: not much at all.
Did the budget increase the chances of another RBA interest rate rise? Investors assessed the odds of a rate rise as a 0% chance at the June RBA board meeting before the budget landed...and afterwards? Still 0% chance, with a cut pencilled for next March. pic.twitter.com/BLKloKs4Wa
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) May 10, 2023
As Westpac summed it up in their wrap of markets: “Australia’s budget was received calmly.”
Chalmers, in other words, should just point to the scoreboard.
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Bandt signal Labor may need to negotiation on resource rent tax changes
The Greens won’t stand in the way of most of the budget though. But if the PRRT changes come to the parliament and the government has to negotiate with the Greens – that is a different story.
Adam Bandt says:
The government can’t take our support on the gas tax changes for granted. The former head of the competition watchdog has said the government has squibbed it on this and let the gas corporations off the hook.
If that comes to parliament, we’ll be fighting to make them pay their fair share of tax … [that would] would bring in an extra $9bn a year that could be used to address the cost of living crisis and freeze rents.
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Greens on Labor’s housing fund: it’s ‘a bucket of water to a house fire’
Adam Bandt now moves into the interview chair for RN Breakfast and the Greens leader is going very hard on the housing fund.
The Greens are not for shifting. They want the government to increase the amount of money available from the fund to build more social and affordable housing and they want action on rents.
The government is bringing a bucket of water to a house fire and the rental crisis will get worse over the next couple of years.
We’re pushing the government, we’re saying we’re prepared to work with you on your housing package. But it’s not enough to just have a tick-a-box approach that says I’ve got housing legislation and therefore that will address the crisis.
The crisis will get worse under the government’s approach. We’re fighting for renters, for building more public housing now, and reining in the soaring rents that are just putting people … below the poverty line, choosing between food … [Labor should] start doing what governments used to do, which is just actually build public housing … and do it on the scale that’s needed.
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Treasurer on potential post-budget polls: “I hadn’t given it a moment’s thought”
Jim Chalmers doesn’t bite on the stage-three tax cuts question and the interview ends with whether he expects to see a “budget bounce” (that is when the polls go up after a budget is delivered because it has been well received).
I haven’t given it a moment’s thought.
… I think about how we get things through the parliament. And I care about …. how the community views our budget. I’m not going to pretend I don’t, but … if you try and put a budget together for a budget bounce, you’re probably going to be disappointed.
I’ve tried to put the budget together for the right and responsible reasons. And I will always do that, my commitment to listeners is to always try and do the right thing.
Not everyone will agree with it. But I will always try and do the right thing. And let the political cards fall where they may.
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Is the job done, according to the government, on raising the base rate of the working age payments?
Jim Chalmers:
I’m not going to write the 2024 budget two days after the 2023 budget of course, you’re not expecting me to do that. But what I will say is what the Prime Minister and others have said which as the Labour government, we will always try and do what we can to help people are subject to the budget pressures and the economic pressures at the time.
…I see it as part of the ordinary work of a Labor government that cares about vulnerable people.
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Chalmers on affordable housing: ‘we are putting in a lot of effort’
But will Australia’s infrastructure stand up to it, given there is already a housing crisis?
Jim Chalmers:
Obviously we need to – we are already putting a lot of effort into making sure that we build more affordable properties. For example, you know, in the budget on Tuesday night there was a new tax break for … build-to-rent properties, because we need to build more affordable rental property.
Chalmers also gives the stalled housing fund a plug.
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Chalmers: opposition migration attacks ‘ridiculous’
On the “big Australia” opposition attacks given the 715,000 migrants which are forecast to arrive in Australia over the next two years, Jim Chalmers holds back a sigh.
The government says this is part of a correction after borders were closed during covid when people left but didn’t come back in.
We still haven’t caught up with what the previous government was forecasting in their budgets. And I think that completely torpedoes this ridiculous campaign from Peter Dutton and others about migration. They were forecasting a much bigger Australia in their own budget.
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Treasurer pushes ‘middle Australia’ benefits in budget
Jim Chalmers says the big program changes – cheaper medicines, tripling the Medicare bulk billing incentive and childcare subsidy changes (which come in July after forming part of the last budget) will help middle Australia.
Asked if the bulk billing change will really help middle Australia because it is for concession card holders, Chalmers says:
And kids under 16 … there are kids right throughout middle Australia and they will benefit substantially, but also we’re making medicines cheaper.
Also … we’ve put these caps on gas and coal and that’s the big reason for the moderation in the … electricity price increases, the household energy upgrades funds, the home guarantee scheme, the Tafe and training places, the fact that we’ve got wages moving after a decade of deliberate wage suppression and stagnation.
All of this is for middle Australia at the same time. It hasn’t prevented us from looking after the most vulnerable.
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Jim Chalmers: Dutton hasn’t moved on from Abbott and Morrison
Over on ABC Radio RN Breakfast, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is struggling to keep his voice steady – after two days of non-stop talking, his voice is starting to fade. He has to take a drink of water mid-sentence after the dreaded dry throat strikes.
But he rallies when it comes to the opposition and what might be in Peter Dutton’s budget reply:
I think the divisive commentary is coming from the opposition. I mean … Peter Dutton is a divisive figure, but he’s not a credible figure.
He takes his cues from Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison. The rest of Australia has moved on from Abbott and Morrison but he hasn’t. And we’ll see that tonight in his budget reply. He is trying to divide people against each other in this budget.
This budget is about bringing people together. It’s about recognising that some people are doing it especially tough and to try and provide a bit of help for them at the same time as we provide substantial help in middle Australia as well.
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Monarchists demand ABC apologised for ‘biased’ coronation coverage
The Australian Monarchist League has launched an online petition demanding the ABC apologise for its “biased coverage of the coronation of King Charles III”
The campaign chair of the AML and former Liberal senator, Eric Abetz, who often led the Coalition government’s estimates charge when the ABC was in front of it, said an inquiry was also necessary.
Nothing less than a full independent inquiry into the circumstances of this highly inappropriate hijacking of the broadcasting of the coronation is required.
This was history in the making … Instead of celebrating the occasion and informing viewers of who was arriving and their position and the traditions associated with the various elements of the coronation, viewers were subjected to a diatribe of monologues by ABC personnel peddling their pet subjects backing each other’s views.
… it appears the occasion was deliberately used to pursue an agenda to denigrate the constitutional monarchy ...
OK. Abetz says the “universal” feedback was the ABC had gone too far. Not sure that’s actually “universal”.
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Concerns raised over exclusion of single parent payment from other welfare payment increases
Antipoverty advocates have raised concerns about the exclusion of the single parent payment from the $40-a-fortnight increase to other working age welfare payments, including jobseeker and youth allowance.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the single parent payment was not included in the increase because the government wanted to “address the lowest payments in the system”.
The “parenting payment, single” (PPS) is about a $177 a fortnight above the jobseeker rate. It also allows for a parent to earn more from work before their payment is cut. Eligibility for the payment was expanded in the budget to include 14-year-olds, up from eight. If passed by the parliament, the changes are scheduled to come into effect from September.
Toni Wren, the Executive Director of Anti-Poverty Week, said it was “completely mystifying” the PPS wasn’t included in the raise, which she said would have provided the modest benefit “to more than 230,000 parents [95.5% of whom are women] and 460,000 children who now rely on it”.
This is four times the number of parents (57,000) who benefit from the change to eligibility for the payment.
The Morrison government ensured Parenting Payment Single recipients received the coronavirus supplement in 2020 and the permanent $50-a-fortnight increase which replaced it in April 2021. This Labor government has chosen to specifically exclude them.
Cutting Parenting Payment Single recipients out of this very modest increase is a mean and unnecessary decision.
The disability support pension and the carer payment were also excluded from the $40 a fortnight increase.
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The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is about to kick off his day two of the budget sell.
The big question is still around – does this budget increase inflation?
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Progress report: housing future fund negotiations
Just on the housing future fund, the government is no closer to getting the numbers it needs to pass the bill.
The ACT senator David Pocock has called for “good faith” negotiations to reach a compromise on amendments. That includes on increasing the $500m annual cap on disbursements if it makes more money, so more money can be spent on housing.
The Future Fund’s 10-year return is 9.7%, well above the 5% enshrined in this legislation. Pocock:
It makes no sense for the government to have to come back to the parliament and amend the legislation every time the HAFF has a good year.
Indexation of the cap is also crucial to attracting the investment we need into new social and affordable rental homes at scale.
Pocock believes that a non-indexed $500m cap would provide $12bn in nominal income over 25 years, an indexed cap would provide upwards of $18.3bn in total (and he says that’s a conservative estimate)
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Good morning from Amy
Welcome to parliament Friday! We have almost made it through budget week. Well done you. Just a few more things to get through – like the ongoing housing fund fight and the budget reply and then we will all be freed. Huzzah!
Big thank you to Martin for taking us through the early morning. You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day. I’m treating my pounding head with three coffees.
Ready? Let’s get into it.
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The trade minister, Don Farrell, arrives in Beijing today for crucial talks about… well, trade. He’s going to press for an end to China’s import restrictions on a range of Australian exports including lobster, red meat and wine.
He spoke with our foreign affairs correspondent, Daniel Hurst, ahead of the trip:
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A preview of the opposition’s budget reply
Labor’s migration settings and the growing cost of living imposed on families are expected to feature in the federal opposition leader’s budget reply, AAP writes.
Peter Dutton, the Liberal leader, will formally respond to the Albanese government’s second budget in parliament on tonight.
Dutton is also expected to reveal what aspects of the budget the Coalition will support, signalling approval for planned expanded access to GP bulk billing and energy bill relief.
“We’ve certainly spoken a lot about trying to provide support to people on lower incomes, but there are millions of Australians who have missed out significantly in this budget,” he said on Wednesday.
“They’re the ones that I think are really hurting at the moment and we’ll have more to say about that.”
Dutton used Question Time in parliament on Wednesday to quiz the PM, Anthony Albanese, about the impact of 1.5 million migrants over five years on city congestion and housing.
Albanese said the government was seeking to reform the migration program, bringing in highly skilled workers to build the economy and dealing with systemic exploitation of temporary workers.
The federal opposition leader is also expected to zero in on a Coalition claim Labor has added $25,000 to the average family’s costs since ousting the Morrison government in May last year.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome again to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ve got the top overnight stories for you before Amy Remeikis takes the controls.
In an exclusive story today we reveal how an inundation of survivor claims means insurers have abandoned church bodies, leaving state governments to organise taxpayer-funded deals to indemnify the churches. Queensland alone has brokered temporary deals relating to 18 organisations providing out of home care and youth homelessness services to underwrite claims they face.
There’s still a wealth of reaction to the budget of course, and although an increase in welfare payments has been welcomed, some people on benefits tell us it’s “just a Band-Aid”. They say low-income earners will remain trapped in their predicament and high housing costs unless there is also reform of the private rental market. Budget cuts, meanwhile, have cast doubt over the first national space mission to build satellites to detect and respond to bushfires and floods. The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, will formally respond to the budget in parliament today.
Shane Drumgold, the ACT’s director of public prosecutions, will undergo a fourth day of questioning today at the independent inquiry into how the territory’s justice system handled Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations. Yesterday he told the inquiry about his suspicions of a conspiracy against her.
And the trade minister, Don Farrell, heads to China today hoping to persuade them to drop the remaining trade sanctions against Australia. We spoke with him ahead of the trip.
