What we learned, Tuesday 4 November
We will be leaving it there, thanks for joining us. Here’s what we covered today:
The Reserve Bank has left the official interest rate on hold at 3.6%, after a surprise jump in inflation.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission has confirmed it is investigating a matter which “relates to a grants scheme” relating to a commonwealth official.
The opposition has dumped controversial plans to allow Australian first home buyers to access some of their superannuation savings for a deposit.
Barnaby Joyce claimed credit for the Coalition sitting on the brink of dropping or dramatically altering its net zero emissions pledge, saying he and supporters like Matt Canavan have “just moved the whole agenda to exactly where I want it to be”.
Large streaming services like Netflix will be required to spend 10% of their Australian expenditure on local content like dramas and arts programs, under new content obligations to be introduced by the federal government
The Greens are expected to vote against the EPBC environmental laws in the lower house this week.
The Coalition will oppose Labor’s controversial bill to dramatically curtail freedom of information laws, voicing alarm at new fees to lodge requests and the government’s push to expand cabinet confidentiality rules.
The Senate established two new inquiries into the country’s new aged care system, after the legislative changes came into force this week.
Thirteen people were arrested after hundreds gathered to protest a state government-sponsored defence conference in Sydney, amid criticism that Israel’s largest weapons companies were attending the event.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, defended the state government’s sponsorship of the Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition.
Queensland teachers voted to take strike action in the next three weeks, after knocking back a pay offer from the state government last Friday.
Updated
Liberals abandon super for housing policy
The opposition has confirmed it has dumped controversial plans to allow Australian first home buyers to access some of their superannuation savings for a deposit.
Before the May election, the Peter Dutton-led opposition said it would allow first home buyers and older women to access up to $50,000 from their retirement savings to go towards the deposit for their first home. Economists said the plan could push up house prices and do little for people most in need of help getting into the housing market.
On Monday the shadow minister for housing and homelessness, Andrew Bragg, told ABC TV the policy was dead, part of a review of all its election promises.
“We won’t have that policy again,” he said.
I think it’s not necessarily going to solve the problem and I think we need to have more effort on the supply side. There may still be a case for some demand side measures, but I want to reorient … our overall position.”
In Senate question time on Tuesday, the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, called the change in policy “a crab walk away” from the previous policy:
There it went on the floor, on the scrap heap.
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Greens express in-principle support for streaming content quotas
The Greens have also responded to the proposed law which would create local content quotas for major streaming platforms.
Sarah Hanson-Young said:
The Greens have long campaigned for local content quotas on streaming platforms to support Australian stories on our screen. Big tech companies like Netflix who make massive profits from Australians should be required to have Australian content.
A country that invests in its community and democracy, invests in its own cultural assets and story tellers.
We will look carefully at the detail of the bill and reserve our position until we know it is strong enough to ensure a strong future for our screen industry, including children’s content.
Australian kids deserve to see themselves reflected on our screens, and not just be fed American rubbish day in day out.
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Arts bodies hail streaming content quota announcement as 'vital lifeline' for Australian industry
Industry bodies have responded to the proposed law which could require streaming services with more than a million Australian subscribers to invest at least 10% of their total Australian expenditure on new local programs.
The Screen Producers Australia (SPA) chief executive, Matthew Deaner, said the announcement had come after more than a decade of advocacy, navigating years of challenges, delays, and global complexities:
This announcement marks a landmark day for the Australian screen industry.
For too long, our local production sector has operated in an uneven environment where global streaming services could reap the benefits of doing business in Australia without contributing fairly to the creation of Australian stories.
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), the union representing actors, directors, writers, and crew, described the announcement as a “vital lifeline” for a screen industry that had been left vulnerable by a dramatic downturn in local production. MEAA’s chief executive, Erin Madeley, said the quotas offered “hope and renewed opportunity to thousands of creative professionals whose livelihoods depend on a thriving and sustainable local screen industry”.
The Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG), which had also strongly lobbied for the quotas, said its members worked in a volatile market where streaming platforms wielded enormous power. The AWG president, Peter Mattessi, said the legislation would ensure that those who deliver content will “invest in the importance of Australian storytellers telling Australian stories.”
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Greens push for vote on Aukus parliamentary inquiry
The Greens have pushed for a vote for a “full and open” parliamentary inquiry into Aukus at a press conference this afternoon.
Greens senator David Shoebridge said that the inquiry would follow the US and the UK who have had inquiries into Aukus and is a pathway for Australia to move “away from the United States and towards a genuinely independent and foreign policy”.
The Greens also welcomed the government’s announcement of three hours of free solar power a day to households, Shoebridge said, criticising the National party as “backwards” for “trying to drag the Liberal party back to the 1950s of coal power”.
The senator went on to call out the Albanese government for lack of transparency about their “first tentative steps” to stop Australian weapons and weapons parts being exported to Israel, which he said is “because they are still too scared to openly stand up to Donald Trump”.
Shoebridge said “it’s great” the Coalition will support the Greens to oppose Labor’s restrictive changes to FoI:
This is a bill with no friends, apart from a prime minister committed to secrecy … We know that the Coalition has its internal troubles, hopefully this is something they can stick together on.
Updated
Greens senator moves to force Labor to hand over controversial Nauru interview translation
Over in the Senate, Greens senator David Shoebridge is moving a motion to force the federal government to hand over any and all translations of an interview given by Nauruan president, David Adeang, shortly after Nauru agreed to take people released into the Australian community after the NZYQ high court ruling.
If you need a quick reminder, this happened back in February, and while it was difficult to find a person able to translate Nauruan to English, Guardian Australia was able to report parts of the interview. Apparently, it might have been a task for the federal government too, and a translation cost the department thousands of dollars.
After the Greens and the Coalition teamed up, the motion was passed on Tuesday afternoon but whether any documents will actually be delivered is another matter.
We will find out either way when the deadline is up tomorrow at 5pm.
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Labor blocks Nationals MP from speaking in apparent payback for Senate revolt
Labor appears to be beginning its payback on the Coalition opposition over the Senate question time revolt last week, blocking Nationals MP Kevin Hogan from speaking on a daily “matter of public importance” debate and instead moving on with legislation.
Avid blog-watchers would remember last week’s record-breaking Senate question time, after David Pocock led non-government senators in a revolt over government secrecy and transparency. Labor foreshadowed some retribution on the Coalition for helping upend tradition and convention in the Senate. We may have seen the first of it today in the House of Representatives.
Usually after question time in the house, a member can propose the chamber debate a “matter of public importance” – any important topic, not strictly related to legislation, where members can have their say. Hogan, the Nationals MP, proposed the topic for today to be “This Government’s betrayal of regional Australia is hurting family budgets and businesses” (the topics are often politically charged and partisan, with the government often proposing discussing how great their policies are).
But the leader of the house, Labor minister Tony Burke, sprang to his feet when the debate was called on, moving for it to be ignored and regular government business to occur instead. That doesn’t happen very often – but in the house, where Labor has a majority unlike in the Senate, the government won that vote and the MPI was abandoned.
Coalition members could be heard yelling “shame” at Burke after the vote. Burke didn’t give a reason for the lesser-used tactic, but it’s understood that Labor MPs in the house have been keeping a close eye on what’s been happening in the Senate – so this may not be the last procedural back-and-forth we see on this.
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Federal corruption watchdog investigating about 40 matters including one that ‘relates to a grants scheme’
The National Anti-Corruption Commission has confirmed it is investigating a matter which “relates to a grants scheme” relating to a commonwealth official.
It can also be revealed the Nacc has 40 corruption investigations on foot, including seven concerning the conduct of current or former parliamentarians, five about the conduct of current or former parliamentary staff, five relating to entitlements and three relating to grants.
The Nacc’s 2024-25 annual report states it had decided to prepare investigation reports for three investigations. Two related to published investigations, one which made a finding of corrupt conduct and another which led to charges of corrupt conduct.
“The third pending report relates to a grants scheme,” the Nacc said, in its only comments on the pending report. The Nacc act says a report must be completed after a corruption investigation, including if the investigation found the person had not engaged in corrupt conduct.
In a statement to Guardian Australia, a Nacc spokesperson declined to give any more information on the investigation – but confirmed the Nacc can only investigate corruption issues relating to commonwealth public officials, and cannot investigate corruption issues relating to state, territory or local government officials.
The Nacc’s statement said:
The Commission will finalise this investigation after the procedural fairness processes required under the National Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2022 have been undertaken.
Those procedural fairness processes include giving people a fair chance to respond to the allegations.
The Nacc’s annual report gave broad details of “the 40 corruption investigations that were on foot during the reporting period”. The list provided, where the Nacc said some investigations fall under multiple categories, included 12 investigations concerning the conduct of current or former senior executive officials, seven relating to consultants or contractors, nine relating to law enforcement officials, 20 relating to procurement, six relating to recruitment, five relating to corrupt conduct at, and six relating to misconduct in law enforcement.
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Federal ministers considering giving state ministers longer speaking time at upcoming NDIS meeting
The federal NDIS minister, Jenny McAllister, says she and the disability minister, Mark Butler, are “considering” a request from state and territory ministers to be allowed to speak for more than two minutes at an upcoming NDIS meeting.
The country’s disability ministers are due to meet this Friday for the first time since Butler’s surprise announcement (according to some ministers) at the National Press Club in August to develop the $2bn Thriving Kids program designed to divert children with mild to moderate developmental delays from the NDIS.
Last Friday, state and territory ministers warned they would boycott the meeting unless they were given 10 minutes to discuss changes to the nearly $50bn program. At the moment, they have two minutes.
McAllister told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:
Yes, we are talking with counterparts and considering their requests and we are interested in what they prioritise. There is a lot on the agenda and it is an important meeting and I hope it goes away in the way it is planned.
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Labor to force streaming services to invest in Australian content
Large streaming services like Netflix will be required to spend 10% of their Australian expenditure on local content like dramas and arts programs, under new content obligations to be introduced by the federal government – which fall short of what some in the screen industry had called for.
The arts minister, Tony Burke, and communications minister, Anika Wells, announced on Tuesday afternoon that a new obligation on streaming services with more than a million local subscribers will require them to invest at least 10% of their total expenditure for Australia – or 7.5% of their revenue – on “new local drama, children’s, documentary, arts and educational programs”.
“This will give vital support to our domestic screen sector and arts workers by ensuring quality local stories continue to be produced in Australia,” the ministers said.
But some in the screen industry had called for a 20% local quota. The announcement had been delayed, after the Labor government had earlier promised a quota system by mid-2024.
Burke said:
Since their introduction in Australia, streaming services have created some extraordinary shows. This obligation will ensure that those stories – our stories – continue to be made. These platforms are having no problem getting their content into Australia.
Wells added:
Many streamers are already producing great Australian shows like Apple Cider Vinegar, The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Boy Swallows Universe; this announcement makes sure shows like these continue to be part of our national identity.
Updated
Senate inquiries to examine aged care home supports and in-home care
The Senate has established two new inquiries into the country’s new aged care system, after the legislative changes came into force this week.
Pushed by the Greens, the first inquiry will look at the planned transition of the Community Home Support Program (CHSP) into a new scheme. Currently CHSP provides at-home support for more than 800,000 people, through block funding grants to organisations like Meals on Wheels.
A separate inquiry will consider the new Support at Home program for in-home care, including the impacts of new pricing mechanisms and co-payments introduced on 1 November.
Senator Penny Allman-Payne, the Greens’ spokesperson for aged care, said more scrutiny of Labor’s plans were required as more than 200,000 Australians remain on wait lists for care services:
Older people across the country – hundreds of thousands of whom are on fixed incomes – are copping increased costs for their care at home so that privatised aged care providers can make bigger profits. That’s a broken system.
Older Australians are still dying waiting a year or more for care, and rather than boost needed supports like the Community Home Support Program, they’re planning to close them.
The CHSP inquiry will report in April next year, while the inquiry into Support at Home will run until November.
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Three-hour solar subsidy will help ‘absolutely everyone’, minister says
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, was on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing a short time ago speaking about the government’s announcement to consumers will get access to three hours of free electricity in the middle of the day from July next year.
Asked if the free subsidy will bring down prices across the board, Bowen said:
Obviously it will help those Australians who are in a position to take it up. Think about someone working from home who is at home in the middle of the day and can put on the washing machine and dishwasher knowing it is free, or a retired pensioner couple, or people with apps who set their appliances to work in the middle of the day. But also the rest of us … moving the load to when power is the cheapest, that helps absolutely everyone.
It is only because of our transition that we are able to do this because there is so much solar in the system … That is a challenge to the operator in some regards, having so much energy in the middle of the day. But it is a massive opportunity if you can shift a percentage of stuff that would happen in the night-time.
Updated
Better for RBA board to change its mind than ‘stick to its guns’, Bullock says
Bullock said the RBA is not “wedded religiously to a particular path” on interest rates:
What we are trying to do is very actively analyse the data as it comes through. We’re not backward looking. We take the data that we’ve got, we use that as a starting point, and then we attempt to forecast, using our models, using our judgment about what the outlook might look like.
I would have thought, quite frankly, that it would be worse for the bank to stick to its guns rather than change its mind in the face of new information.
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Bullock: ‘Anything’s possible’ as to where rates go in future
Asked if it’s possible interest rates could go up or down in the future, Bullock said: “Anything’s possible.”
She continued:
All I would say is that I think we’re at the right spot we need to be at the moment, and we can respond where the risks arise.
So if the risks turn out to be on the downside, which some people have suggested on the employment side, we’re able to respond. Likewise, if the risks are on the upside, we’re able to respond. But I think at the moment, we think we’re where we need to be.
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RBA still chasing inflation target of 2.5%, Bullock says
Bullock said that the RBA is still targeting 2.5% as the official inflation target:
The board is very definitely targeting 2.5%. Just below three is not good enough for the board.
And I think again, when you take those inflation forecasts at face value with the one more interest rate cut in there, what that’s telling you is that it’s really an interesting question about whether there’s many more rate cuts left to come.
The bank’s updated forecasts, predicated on market bets of a cut by the end of 2026, show core and headline inflation were no longer expected to gradually return to 2.5%, the middle of the RBA’s preferred range, but instead bump up then drop back to 2.6% by the end of 2027.
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Unemployment should stay ‘reasonably stable’: Bullock
Bullock said that the RBA expects that the unemployment rate will remain “reasonably stable from here on in”.
Asked by a reporter if there was any risks of stagflation, she said:
I think, at the moment, we’re still confident that inflation is going to come down, and we’ve got employment at a pretty good place.
Updated
RBA board did not consider rate cut, governor says
Michele Bullock said the RBA did not consider cutting the cash rate this time round.
We basically just talked about holding and the reasons to hold, and then discussed strategy moving out, depending on what way.
What I think I highlighted in my opening statement … was that unemployment went up a little bit more than we expected, but so did inflation, so we’re being a little bit cautious here.
Updated
RBA governor says ‘temporary factors’ behind higher inflation not expected to continue
The RBA governor, Michele Bullock, is speaking now about the bank’s decision to leave the official interest rate on hold.
Bullock said:
Inflation in the September quarter was higher than we were expecting in our previous forecasts.
We think some of this was driven by temporary factors such as travel costs, council rates and fuel, and we don’t expect some of these to continue. We are, however, taking signal from stronger price increases that may suggest more inflationary pressure in the economy than we thought before.
In particular, the cost of new dwellings and market services both increased by more than expected, and inflation in these components tends to be more persistent at the same time, the unemployment rate has gone up.
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Question time ends
Tim Wilson tries again to get a question in, but Albanese stares him off and ends question time for the day.
Not before Jason Clare gave his best impression of a race commentator during a dixer on the 20% Hecs debt discount.
The race that stops the nation has been run and won and there are a few lucky winners across the country. But in the next few weeks there won’t just be a few winners, there’ll be millions of them. And that’s ‘cause we’re cutting student debt by 20%.
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Clare O’Neil pushes back on claim regional areas not getting fair share of housing funding
Andrew Gee is up again with a second question, but not before Tim Wilson tries to get in with one of his own at the dispatch box. But Milton Dick tells him to sit down.
Gee tells the housing minister his electorate and other country communities are not getting their fair share of national housing funding.
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, says the housing programs have an “important regional dimension”.
The home ownership statistics in your part of the world are looking pretty good, I think there’s about 1,300 people in the member for Calare’s electorate who have got into first home ownership with our backing.
O’Neil says she’d be “pleased” to talk to Gee and his community further.
Updated
Albanese asked whether help-to-buy scheme will push house prices up
Liberal MP Mary Aldred is up next – and goes on the attack on housing. Housing prices grew at a faster rate in September than at any other time in the last two years, and she says the government’s help-to-buy scheme will “push house prices up by 6.6% in 2026 for several years after that”, while interest rates didn’t go down today.
Anthony Albanese tests Aldred and says she should write to all her constituents who are eligible for the help-to-buy scheme.
He then goes down a familiar path, criticising the opposition for not having a housing minister, saying, “Apparently, up to 2022 everything was hunky dory”.
The opposition stands up on a point of relevance, but Milton Dick says the question was broad, and tells Albanese to remain relevant. Albanese says:
Before May 2022 there were houses being built everywhere, there were social homes and people were getting into public housing. Rentals apparently were coming down under them. It’s all nonsense because it’s all about supply. And what we have done is concentrate on supply.
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Infrastructure minister says NSW government still weighing up major work on Great Western Highway
Back to the crossbench, Nationals turned independent MP Andrew Gee asks whether the government will commit to turning the Great Western Highway into a genuine expressway to Sydney?
Gee represents the seat of Calare which stretches from Lithgow near the NSW Blue Mountains to Dubbo.
The infrastructure minister, Catherine King, says this major work has to be done with the support of the NSW government who are still considering the project.
She then accuses the former government of promising and not delivering on projects in the region, and lists other infrastructure projects Labor has funded.
We are investing in infrastructure in Calare, but we do it properly, and we do in a way that we can deliver … properly planned and properly costed, unlike those opposite.
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Shadow treasurer’s question on inflation is dishonest or lacks understanding, Chalmers says
Ted O’Brien asks the treasurer again if he’ll “stop his spending spree”, with the Reserve Bank predicting that inflation won’t return back into the target band of 2-3% until 2027.
Jim Chalmers says O’Brien hasn’t “thought through his question”.
If he was talking about the forecasts he would point out that the Reserve Bank has revised down the contribution made by public spending to the economy. Either he doesn’t understand that, which is troubling, or he does understand that and he’s trying to be dishonest about it, equally troubling.
Chalmers adds that while there are inflation pressures in the economy, inflation is expected to moderate in the December quarter.
What governor [Michele] Bullock said last week when she was asked about the fiscal position … [she said] we have relatively low debt compared to other countries, relatively low debt to GDP ratios … and the most recent deficit in fact is quite small as well.
Updated
Independent Kate Chaney asks Burke about ‘huge loopholes’ in environment law reforms
Independent Kate Chaney throws another question to the environment minister on the environment protection reforms.
She says the current reforms are at risk of being undermined by “huge loopholes”:
Under the reforms, projects can pay for environmental projects into a central offsets fund, but in New South Wales, Queensland, the Pilbara and overseas, these funds have consistently failed to deliver real environmental outcomes.
Will the government consider amendments to put stronger safeguards around this offsets fund so it actually delivers for nature?
Tony Burke (again, representing the environment minister, Murray Watt) says the new laws shift regulations around offsets from no net loss, to introducing a “net gain”.
That’s a significant shift that happens in terms of what offsets are aiming to be able to deliver for the environment.
Burke says an independent restoration contributions holder will also be established to manage offset funds and ensure that “net gain” is delivered.
Updated
A little earlier, just before question time, Michael McCormack brought his binoculars and best commentator’s voice to the house.
You can see his 90-second speech in all its glory here (and I promise it’s worth the watch!)
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Bowen says Nationals ‘out of touch’ after deputy’s question on aluminium smelter ignores Rio Tinto’s mention of renewables
The deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan is up next, and asks about the future of the Tomago aluminium smelter. He quotes Rio Tinto’s CEO who said “unfortunately all market proposals received show future energy prices are not commercially viable”.
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, says Hogan should have read the full quote – “there is not a full stop [there], there’s a comma,” he says. The rest of it, Bowen says, is: “and there is significant uncertainty when the renewable projects will be available at the scale we need”.
What does that mean? Bowen says:
Rio and Tomago were arguing for more renewables not less. They are not blaming renewables, they’re calling us to do more and we agree with them. The opposition are the ones out of touch.
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PM dismisses ‘rhetorical flourishes’ from Ley after she claims Labor’s ‘reckless’ spending drove RBA rates call
Staying on that rate hold, the Coalition leader, Sussan Ley, says Australian households have been “denied a Christmas rate cut” because of “Labor’s reckless spending”.
Anthony Albanese says he’ll skip past “some of the rhetorical flourishes” in the question.
He goes through the support the government has provided on cost of living, and does a political “compare and contrast”.
They [the Coalition] oppose the energy bill relief. They oppose the tax cuts. They oppose the pay rises for low income workers. They opposed fee-free Tafe.
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Chalmers says RBA decision to keep rates on hold ‘widely expected’
As we brought you a moment ago, the Reserve Bank has kept rates on hold.
In a dixer (an easy question from a government backbencher to a minister), Jim Chalmers says that households would have liked to have seen a rate cut today, but the decision was widely expected.
This decision was widely anticipated by markets and widely expected by economists.
Now, it is the case that inflation is much lower than we inherited from those opposite, and that has given the Reserve Bank the confidence to cut interest rates three times already this year.
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Shadow treasurer says Labor does not take responsibility for rises in inflation
Jumping back into question time, the shadow treasurer, Ted O’Brien, asks Jim Chalmers again about the rising cost of living. O’Brien says the government takes the glory when inflation goes down, but doesn’t take responsibility when it goes up.
Chalmers says he “shares” the win when inflation goes down with the Australian public (cue lots of heckling from the opposition).
He says the government takes responsibility for the difficulties in the economy after the Covid pandemic and for getting real wages moving again.
We’re actually doing something about it now, when Australians are under pressure, in this building. This House of Representatives, has two choices to do something about it in the most responsible way that we can, which has been the approach of this Albanese Labor government, or to oppose that cost of living help and to take the most irresponsible course of action, which is what the course that those opposite have adopted.
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RBA holds official interest rate at 3.6%
The Reserve Bank has left the official interest rate on hold after a surprise jump in inflation, in a widely expected decision.
The RBA’s monetary policy board on Tuesday left the cash rate at 3.6%, where it has sat since August. Economists and banks overwhelmingly expected no change.
The central bank has cut interest rates three times in 2025, easing pressure on mortgage holders and fuelling rapid house price rises.
Core inflation rose to 3% – the top of the RBA’s preferred range – in September, the first acceleration of the underlying measure since 2022, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday.
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Independent Helen Haines questions new environment bill’s commitments to community consultation
Over to the crossbench, and independent MP Helen Haines says poor community consultation under the current the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is eroding social licence. She asks if the minister will commit to “best practice community engagement standards” under the new EPBC bill.
Tony Burke (representing the environment minister, Murray Watt, who sits in the Senate) says he understands Watt has spoken to Haines about community consultation.
Burke adds that standards can’t be established until the bill is passed.
Soon we will be making draft standards available for matters of national environmental significance and for offsets. Also the first Nations engagement standard and data and compliance. None of these standards actually have force until they have legislation to bounce off effectively, to launch from.
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PM asked to stay relevant after quoting Liberal MP’s past work on net zero at McKinsey in reply to cost of living question
Next is Liberal MP Simon Kennedy (no question from Sussan Ley as yet), who brings more stats to the PM on the impacts of the cost of living. Kennedy says:
In my home state of NSW, more than 4 in 10 people are concerned about going without food. More than a third have skipped meals to cover the essentials. More than 1 in 3 will need financial assistance in the lead-up to Christmas.
Anthony Albanese says Kennedy has had some “outstanding contributions” including his work at McKinsey where he co-authored a report titled or “Carbon light: How Australia can power ahead in a net zero world”.
To no one’s surprise, that immediately gets a point of order on relevance from the opposition. Milton Dick says the question was pretty broad so the PM has scope to diverge, but he should at least try to be relevant.
Albanese ignores the call to be relevant at first, by continuing to quote that McKinsey report and the “opportunities” it says net zero brings. He then gets back on to the cost of living point – and spruiks the government’s tax cuts, medicare funding and medicine price caps.
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Question time begins
A slight change in the ordering of questions today – the Coalition starts with Liberal MP Leon Rebello, who asks the prime minister about the latest rise in unemployment, and increase in the latest inflation rates. “Is this what the prime minister meant when he promised no one will be left behind?” he asks.
Anthony Albanese says 1.1 million jobs have been created under his government.
He would have known, when it comes to fiscal policy, that they sat there, promised a budget surplus in their first year when they were elected in 2013 and every year thereafter, and, in fact, they delivered just zero when it comes to surpluses but this treasurer delivered not one, but two budget surpluses, the first consecutive budget surpluses in 20 years.
Albanese then cycles through the government’s commitments in bulk-billing and super on paid parental leave.
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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, congratulate the winner of the prime minister’s prize for science, ahead of questions.
Albanese says the prize reminds us that Australia “punches well above its weight in scientific excellence, innovation and discovery”.
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The race that stops the Nation(als)
Before question time today, the former Nationals leader Michael McCormack gives us an absolute treat of a 90 second statement.
As he did last year, he gives us a play-by-play of the race that stops the nation – by that I mean parliament, and by “the race” I mean the race to lead the Coalition.
Here’s a little taste:
Word is New England may soon be changing stables. Farrer surrounding herself with stablemates. Farrer trying hard, so too Fairfax. Leadership aspirants looming thick and fast … Lawler, Casey and Capricornia cracking the whip. Come on, cheer them home, Grayndler has a huge lead, Greenway laying down the law now, Corio steady but on the wrong course, he thought it was a golf course.
There are heaps of references in there – Farrer of course being to Sussan Ley, the member for Farrer, while Fairfax refers to the member for Fairfax, Ted O’Brien etc.
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Coalition confirms it will oppose Labor’s restrictive changes to FoI
The Coalition says it will oppose Labor’s controversial bill to dramatically curtail freedom of information laws, voicing alarm at new fees to lodge requests and the government’s push to expand cabinet confidentiality rules.
As Krishani Dhanji brought you earlier, there was a stoush in the house earlier when the government pushed to refer the bill’s debate to the federation chamber – a much smaller chamber of the parliament, and usually reserved for non-controversial debates.
Despite a Coalition and crossbench resistance, the government won that debate with their superior numbers. But the shadow attorney-general, Andrew Wallace, confirmed the Coalition would push strongly against the bill – joining much of the crossbench in opposing the push.
It means the bill, at this stage, is destined for failure with no other non-Labor support.
In a statement, Wallace confirmed the Coalition will oppose the bill and would “work with crossbenchers to remove the most restrictive measures, including bans on anonymity, new fees and expanded Cabinet exemptions”.
Freedom of information is not a privilege, it’s a right. A government that hides information forgets who it serves. The Coalition stands for open government, free media and the people’s right to know.
He accused the government of “institutionalising secrecy”.
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Bowen spruiks ‘solar sharer’ program giving households three hours of free energy
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, is spruiking his announcement to give Australian households at least three hours a day of free solar power – even if they don’t have solar panels.
Bowens doing a quick doorstop in parliament before heading up to question time.
He says there are now 4.2m households with solar panels, and there’s plenty of electricity in the middle of the day to go around.
Think about a person working from home who is in the position where they can control their energy use and do more in the middle of the day, or a retired couple living at home who can put their washing machine on or the dishwasher on knowing the power will be free.
The “solar sharer” program would be implemented through a change to the default market offer that sets the maximum price retailers can charge customers for electricity in parts of the country.
Bowen says it will be regulated by the Australian energy regulator and will put “consumers first”.
He also adds that there’s “no catch” and it will be up to households to take the offer up.
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ACTU celebrates passage of payday super bill, saying workers will retire with ‘tens of thousands of dollars more’
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has celebrated the passage of the government’s bill to incentivise employers to pay superannuation to their employees at the same time they pay the wages – to address issues around unpaid super.
The ACTU said super theft “strips $5.7bn from 3.3 million workers”. In a statement, the ACTU assistant secretary, Joseph Mitchell said:
Payday super means millions of workers will retire with tens of thousands of dollars more in superannuation, not just by reducing super theft, but by earning faster and more compound interest from their super.
But the Greens have criticised Labor’s rejection of their amendment which would guarantee super payments for under 18s.
At the moment, workers under 18 need to work at least 30 hours a week for the same employer to be eligible for super. The Greens senator Barbara Pocock is not too happy at Labor.
Labor had a chance to back young workers so that all of them are paid super contributions from their employers regardless of their hours. Instead they voted against it.
For too long, workers under 18 have been missing out on super – setting them back financially and costing them thousands early in their careers.
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Anika Wells unlikely to face Senate inquiry over Optus triple zero outage
The Coalition and Greens want the communications minister, Anika Wells, to front the Senate inquiry into Optus’ triple zero outage, but we hear it’s unlikely that she will take up the invitation.
Greens sources said they would seek to invite Wells to appear before the committee, and Coalition communications spokesperson Melissa McIntosh indicated the same on Sky News just now.
The non-government parties say they have questions over how Wells’ office and department was kept in the loop – or not – as Optus realised the scale of the tech outage that affected some emergency calls.
But there’s a parliamentary convention that ministers in the house don’t appear before inquiries held by the Senate. We understand Wells’ office has not yet received a formal invitation to appear before the hearing, but the minister would be unlikely to buck convention and agree to appear before the committee.
The Greens will also seek to invite executives from Optus’ parent company, Singtel, to appear. There’s also discussion about asking other telco providers to appear as well, to ensure that similar outages couldn’t occur to other networks.
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Coalition unable to stop FoI bill debate being sent to ‘legislation clearing house’
Back to the House, the Coalition’s motion to suspend standing orders to stop the freedom of information bill going to the federation chamber for debate has failed.
Even with support from the crossbench to keep this debate in the House, nothing can beat the massive majority the government has, unless they don’t show up or some MPs cross the floor.
Chief opposition whip, Aaron Violi, then tried to table a list of Coalition MPs who wanted to speak on the bill in the House. (That request was denied.)
The shadow attorney general, Andrew Wallace, spoke on the bill.
When Australians ask their government for information they are not being difficult, they are exercising their right of citizenship …
This bill does not modernise the freedom of information act, it weakens it. In fact, it tramples it.
The problem is not too many FoI requests, it is too few answers.
Debate was then wrapped, and the rest of the debate will now go to the federation chamber.
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Hanson says she attended Trump’s Halloween party and will address CPAC in US
While Labor will try to force all senators to stay put in the Senate for question time today, one senator is halfway across the world, spending time with US conservatives and Donald Trump.
Speaking to Sky News’ Andrew Bolt last night, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson confirmed she has been visiting the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and attended Donald Trump’s Halloween party on Friday.
She also confirmed she would be speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the US on Tuesday. Hanson also spoke at the Australian CPAC conference earlier this year. She told Bolt:
It was lovely to actually be at that function on Friday night for Halloween, it was a great night.
My colleague Sarah Basford-Canales reported yesterday that Hanson was in the US, but her office refused to confirm that she was at Trump’s Gatsby-themed event – which Gina Rinehart also attended.
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Turnbull says defence expo demonstrators have a right to protest
Returning to the Sydney defence conference, Guardian Australia has run into the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is attending as part of the New South Wales delegation.
Turnbull says he did not see protesters when he came to the conference this morning, but says “they’ve got a right to protest”.
Asked about the appropriateness of the attendance of Israeli weapons companies, amid warnings the Australian government may be breaching its international obligations by trading with them, Turnbull says: “I don’t buy into that.
“Today is about A, defending Australia, and B, supporting technology,” he says.
Guardian Australia has also been able to speak to a representative from Rafael Systems, one of two Israeli companies that NSW MPs and human rights experts have called to be removed from the conference. They say the company has no comment to make on this morning’s protest.
Asked about the company’s presence today following links to alleged war crimes by Israel’s military in Gaza, they say: “We don’t deal with politics.”
We’re here to talk about how to help Australia, how to help New Zealand, how to help our other allies increase their security … We have a lot of meetings scheduled today.
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G8 Education says it ‘welcomes scrutiny’ and is committed to regulatory reform
In today’s ASX announcement, G8 Education also said it “welcomes the scrutiny and changes that are aimed at providing better outcomes for children and our team”.
In July a former childcare worker was charged with more than 70 offences involving children, including at a Melbourne centre managed by G8 Education. He has yet to enter a plea. The accused worked at the centre in early 2024. G8 Education has repeatedly apologised for “the pain this has caused”.
During a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry in September, Greens MLC Abigail Boyd read a series of confirmed, unrelated breaches at centres owned by G8 Education. These included a child being slapped on the face in 2023 and others being exposed to mould in 2024.
G8 Education said in its ASX statement today that it was working with state and federal governments and the relevant regulators, and that:
We remain committed to implementing all regulatory changes effectively and, in addition, continue to invest in strengthening the recruitment, training and development of our team, and improving our safety, quality and educational practices.
Furthermore, we have committed to the rollout of CCTV across our network, commencing in 2026.
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G8 Education downgrades revenue forecast after failing to turn around drop in enrolments
G8 Education has told shareholders it has failed to turn around a drop in enrollments and is on track to make less money than it expected this year, after multiple safety breaches at its centres and its past employment of a childcare worker now facing multiple child sex abuse charges.
Australia’s largest for-profit childcare provider posted an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange today, saying it had downgraded its revenue forecast for this financial year to between $91m and $98m due to “subdued occupancy”.
G8 Education noted it had said in August that it was experiencing lower occupancy rates but expected its full-year revenue to be similar to the 2024-2025 financial year.
The company conceded its “focus on initiatives to support traditional seasonal occupancy growth” in the second half of the year had not been successful, saying that:
The operating environment has remained challenging, with families continuing to face cost of living pressures, lower enquiry levels compared to last year and ongoing sector-wide challenges.
As a result, the expected seasonal increase in occupancy in October did not occur.
The company said that, as of 2 November, its year to date occupancy rate was 65.7%, which is 4.5 percentage points lower than it was in the year before.
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Alex Hawke calls out Labor for trying to send FoI bill to ‘legislation clearing house’
Looks like the drama won’t just be reserved for the Senate today, there’s some early shenanigans going on in the house too.
The government has tried to move debate on the highly controversial freedom of information bill to the much smaller federation chamber, which the opposition has called a “secondary chamber” where there will be less scrutiny of debate.
Manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke, tries to suspend standing orders to stop it going to the chamber, and has a go at the government. He says too many bills are being sent to the federation chamber for debate and that, “the federation chamber has become a legislation clearing house”.
I can assure the prime minister that their changes to freedom of information are highly controversial and deserve a serious examination by this parliament.
This is not a debate that should be sent somewhere to ram it through … it should be scrutinised by this house.
Hawke says the opposition is also standing up for the media, who have deep concerns over this legislation.
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Anti-nuclear weapons group founder calls for timeline on Australia signing treaty
Dr Tilman Ruff, co-founder of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican), said the minister’s comments “gave the impression” the federal government would no longer go forward with signing the treaty after Marles said it was a “decision of government” and that it already follows the “Non-Proliferation Treaty” – a separate treaty that aims to prevent the buildup of nuclear weapons.
Ruff said:
As Australia pursues nuclear-fuelled submarines under Aukus, it is essential that we send a clear message to our nation, our region and the world that nuclear weapons are a red line. We call for the government to set a timeline for the signature of the TPNW in this term of parliament.
In a statement to Guardian Australia, the assistant climate change minister, Josh Wilson, who is a co-convener of the Parliamentary Friends of the TPNW (Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons), said the government’s position had not changed.
The government’s position hasn’t changed. We continue to actively support disarmament and non-proliferation measures as part of our commitment to a world without nuclear weapons, and Australia recognises and values the contribution that the TPNW has made to that vital cause in terms of global focus and momentum. The Albanese government has engaged as an observer with the TPNW process, and continues to consider how the TPNW can interact with and reinforce foundation agreements like the NPT.
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Marles’ comments spark concerns Labor will renege on promise to sign nuclear weapons ban treaty
An anti-nuclear weapons group has raised concerns the Albanese government is walking back its promise to sign and ratify a nuclear weapons ban treaty, after comments made by the defence minister, Richard Marles, on ABC’s Four Corners last night.
Countries who sign up to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons would be prohibited from developing, testing, producing, acquiring, possessing or using nuclear weapons. Since 2017, 94 countries, including Ireland, Mexico and New Zealand, have signed the treaty with many having also ratified it since. Notably, the US, China, Russia, France and the UK join Australia as countries who’ve yet to sign it.
At Labor’s 2018 national conference, Anthony Albanese, then shadow infrastructure minister, passed a resolution that Labor, in government, would sign and ratify the treaty. It was seconded by Marles. The footage of Labor’s commitments in 2018 was aired in an episode of ABC’s Four Corners last night.
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Well, I have received update from the government on their motion to force all senators to be present and in the chamber for Senate question time.
A government spokesperson clarified senators can leave for bathroom breaks and emergencies.
It’s not yet clear whether the motion will go through – the government would need either Coalition or Greens support. Or the Coalition and the Greens could team up with the crossbench and vote against it.
Coalition tearing themselves apart over net zero again, PM says
Anthony Albanese has lashed the Coalition over its plans to dump support for net zero by 2050 emissions policies, urging Labor MPs to maintain focus on the economic opportunities from the renewable energy transition.
Speaking to a closed-door meeting of the Labor caucus at Parliament House on Tuesday, Albanese said the politics were bad for the opposition leader, Sussan Ley.
“It is all about investment certainty,” Albanese said.
“We need investment certainty to deliver reliable energy. This is a commonsense approach.”
Of the Coalition, Albanese said:
Those opposite have torn themselves apart before and they’re doing it again.
It’s important we keep our focus on what we are doing for jobs and the economy.
Albanese noted that 24 out of 28 coal-fired power stations in Australia had announced their closures under the former Coalition government.
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Queensland treasurer vows to continue good faith negotiations with teachers’ union
Queensland’s treasurer, David Janetzki, has vowed to continue good faith negotiations with the state’s teachers union, in the face of threatened strike action.
QTU delegates voted on the weekend to take their second strike action of the year within the next three weeks. The first is estimated to have disrupted learning for 600,000 school students across the state.
At a press conference in Rockhampton, Janetzki said “we believe we’ve made a good offer”:
Well, we’ll remain good faith negotiators, and we’ll continue to work with them [the union].
We’ll let the process take its course now. We want to see teachers well paid and safe in the classroom, and that’s what we’re working towards through some of the red tape reduction and work that the education minister [is taking].
More than two-thirds of teachers voted down an 8% pay rise offer last week. The state government hopes to take the union into industrial arbitration to resolve the dispute.
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Sydney defence expo continues uninterrupted by protest
Inside the Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition, outside which police arrested at least 10 protesters and used pepper spray on crowds, the atmosphere is relaxed.
Thousands of people, including hundreds of white-uniformed Australian navy personnel, are packed into the International Convention Centre in Darling Harbour. A naval band is playing classical flute music, while attenders are being given out free doughnuts and lollies by organisers and exhibitors, including some of the world’s largest weapons companies.
Inside the main exhibition hall, people are flocking to stalls run by the likes of Lockheed Martin and the Australian federal and state governments, as attenders pose alongside scale models of ballistic missiles and unmanned drones.
Among the exhibitors is Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, and the Israeli state-owned company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, who both have large, centrally located stalls.
Former member of the UN commission of inquiry, Chris Sidoti, has criticised the companies for being “key enablers of the Israel Defense Forces in its commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza over the last two years”.
Guardian Australia has approached Rafael and Elbit for comment.
Updated
Sydney weapons expo protesters to march to Town Hall
Protesters are set to march from Sydney’s Tumbalong Park, where they have gathered since 6.30am this morning, to the city’s Town Hall.
NSW police said the unplanned march should begin momentarily, with traffic disruptions and rolling road closures as the group moves through the CBD.
Marchers will head from the park to Liverpool Street, before turning on to George Street.
A police operation is ongoing.
UPDATE: Protesters have indicated they will be marching from Darling Harbour to Town Hall at 11.20am.
— NSW Police Force (@nswpolice) November 4, 2025
Traffic is expected to be disrupted, with rolling road closures to take place.
The group is expected to march from Tumbalong Park onto Liverpool Street, before turning onto… https://t.co/MrzPRz8hTl
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Greens to move amendment to ensure workers under 18 are paid super
The Greens are set to move an amendment to Labor’s Superannuation Guarantee bill today, making sure workers under 18 are paid super.
This bill will require employers to meet key obligations to accurately calculate employees’ individual superannuation guarantee.
And the Greens want under-18s included. Right now, to be eligible for super, under 18s need to work at least 30 hours a week for the same employer. However, most young people juggle paid work with school and study commitments and, therefore, are unable to reach the required 30 hours per week. As a result, hundreds of thousands of young workers are missing out.
The Greens’ amendment would ensure super contributions are paid to all workers, including under-18s.
Greens spokesperson for finance, employment and workplace relations, senator Barbara Pocock, said:
Under-18s pay taxes and contribute to our economy, so why shouldn’t they receive super?
Excluding young people from super only makes it harder to get ahead – robbing them of thousands in retirement savings and financial security.
The Greens believe superannuation should be a universal right. Every worker deserves super, whether they’re 16 or 60 years old, and should receive the same financial rights as everyone else, whether part-time or full-time.
Labor has previously promised to deliver super for all workers. The national platform states:
Labor will … work with unions and employers to examine gaps in the superannuation system and where possible close these gaps for injured workers, young workers, carers (including for parents who provide full-time care up until school age) and low income families.
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Greens say door is still open for environmental laws negotiations
The Greens are expected to vote against the EPBC environmental laws in the lower house this week.
Following a meeting of the party room this morning, the Greens have said they don’t believe the legislation goes far enough to protect forests and address climate change, and has been geared too much toward mining and industry interests.
The minor party isn’t expected to propose amendments in the lower house, but hasn’t ruled out amendments in the Senate.
The Greens say their door is still open to minister Murray Watt for more negotiations, but they’ve resolved to oppose it in the lower house for now.
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Cancelling Centrelink payments a ‘fundamental breach of natural justice’, Wilkie says
This morning, independents Lidia Thorpe and Andrew Wilkie gave a presser on the amendment to give home affairs the power to cancel Centrelink payments of those accused of a serious crime and on the run from the law for a minute.
Wilkie said it was a “fundamental breach of natural justice”.
Until someone has been convicted in a court found guilty, then they are innocent. So the whole notion of taking income support of anyone in the community simply because they are accused of something is a fundamental breach of natural justice.
It is wrong. It’s also punitive, because the person who has the income support stopped is, in all likelihood, providing financial support for someone else, for the wife and the kids, for the family.
Thorpe called for an inquiry into the proposed amendment:
People are innocent [until] proven guilty. We look at the assault on Aboriginal women who are victims of family violence, and the cops rock up. And then Aboriginal women become the perpetrators.
Now this has long-reaching impact … and an inquiry needs to happen.
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Barnaby claims credit for net zero drama
Barnaby Joyce has claimed credit for the Coalition sitting on the brink of dropping or dramatically altering its net zero pledge, saying he and supporters like Matt Canavan have “just moved the whole agenda to exactly where I want it to be”.
Joyce told a press conference:
I think I’m going quite well. It’s almost like I’ve done it before.
Joyce says he’ll remain outside the Nationals and Coalition party rooms for now, even as the two opposition parties discuss net zero and climate commitments today in their weekly meetings. Joyce said he had no meetings scheduled with Pauline Hanson this week - who, as we reported yesterday, still remains out of the country and was reportedly spotted at Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Halloween party – as questions remain about whether he could switch to One Nation.
In a doorstop, Joyce downplayed the impact of the damaging and ugly net zero fight on the Coalition’s electoral fortunes, noting it was still early in the cycle before the next election. He also said he didn’t want the debate to claim the scalp of Liberal leader Sussan Ley, who is fighting to stave off pressure from her right flank.
Joyce said he wanted to see renewable power wound back, and maintained that coal power would be the cheapest option, raising concern about the effect of power prices on businesses. However Joyce claimed “the Business Council is wrong” after the peak corporate group backed net zero and called on the Coalition to maintain its commitment.
Asked why he remained outside the Coalition and Nationals party rooms, and why he wasn’t internally contributing to the debate he wanted to have, Joyce said he and colleagues like Canavan had moved the whole debate, but wouldn’t telegraph what his next campaigning move would be.
It’s having no effect, is it? We’ve just moved the whole agenda to exactly where I wanted to be. I think I’m going quite well.
Here’s a trick. Keep cards close to your chest and don’t tell anybody what you’re doing, because that’s how you have effect.
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The Senate shenanigans don’t stop!
We’ve got a copy of a motion which Labor has drawn up, that would stop all senators from being able to leave the chamber during the extra long question time.
A quick recap: senate question time has been extended to give non-government senators five extra questions, until the government hands in a report on government board appointments that independent David Pocock has been chasing for months, and was handed to Labor two years ago.
Now it seems like Labor are looking to move a motion on top of that one, that “all senators be required to attend the Senate whilst questions without notice are asked and answered”.
A senator can only be “excused” if they have been “granted leave of absence by the Senate” or with the agreement of all whips and independent senators.
So what does that mean for bathroom breaks? Or any other emergencies? We’ll try and get to the bottom of this! *A quick midday update, we have got the answer for you, which you can see here.
But I will note that – like in the case of question time being extended – the Coalition, Greens and crossbench can again team up to defeat this motion if Labor brings it forward.
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10 arrested during Sydney protests over defence expo
10 people have now been arrested at this morning’s protests in Sydney’s Tumbalong Park.
NSW police said its operation remains ongoing, with a smaller group of protesters still demonstrating near the ICC against the weapons expo. Police said on social media:
The safety and security of delegates at the venue and the wider community is paramount. Anyone who breaches the peace will be arrested.
Police will continue to have a presence at the assemblies and will work with protestors to ensure there is minimal impact to the community.
UPDATE: 10 people have now been arrested, and the police operation remains ongoing.
— NSW Police Force (@nswpolice) November 3, 2025
The safety and security of delegates at the venue and the wider community is paramount.
Anyone who breaches the peace will be arrested.
Police will continue to have a presence at the assemblies… https://t.co/hwdz82SxFD
Legal service warns security services changes will impact Aboriginal women misidentified as perpetrators
Staying on the security services amendment, senator David Pocock is expected to try and split the changes into a separate bill that can be sent to an inquiry today.
Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre CEO and Bundjalung woman Christine Robinson has also put out a statement saying:
Wirringa Baiya has concerns about the proposed amendments, and the way that these are being pushed through the parliament without adequate scrutiny.
As a service that works with Aboriginal women who are often misidentified as perpetrators, we see the many possible unintended consequences of this proposed amendment.”
The 2024 Senate Inquiry into Missing and Murdered First Nations Women and Children found misidentification of women as perpetrators puts First Nations women at risk.
Robinson said:
We urge the government to remove this amendment from the bill and go through the appropriate pathway to allow necessary scrutiny and input from stakeholders.
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Critics urge government to scrap plan to allow police and ministers to cancel welfare payment
A growing group of civil society organisations representing welfare recipients, First Nations people, survivors of family violence, disabled people and legal experts are calling on the government to scrap a proposed amendment that will allow police and federal government ministers to cancel someone’s welfare payment.
The person must be accused of a serious crime and on the run from law enforcement.
Karly Warner, chair of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (Natsils), said:
The Government is trying to pass legislation that would allow police to cancel Centrelink payments for people who have not been found guilty of any offence.
This is an unprecedented attack on fairness and due process which will shake public confidence in our legal system. Under this legislation, people’s benefits could be stripped away simply because they are unaware police have issued a warrant for their arrest, and without any opportunity to access legal help.
The proposed amendments will inevitably have a greater impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who are grossly overrepresented at every stage of the criminal process. Cutting off people’s Centrelink payments will not only impact those individuals, but put their children and families, too many of whom already live below the poverty line – at risk of homelessness and child removals.
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Joyce warns Coalition split 'not as easy as you think'
As the Liberals and Nationals try to find a pathway to energy harmony, Barnaby Joyce – who is still not sitting in party room meetings – says he’s keeping his cards “close to his chest” on whether he’ll fully return to his party.
While “vastly happier” with the Nats current position of scrapping net zero, as previously reported, he’s not happy about the number of renewables that will continue being built in the regions.
Speaking to Sky News, he says:
On the backbench, you don’t have many cards, and when you [have] the few cards you do have, you keep them very close to your chest, because I think people would have given net zero no chance of having an effect on the agenda. Egotistical statement, I think I have.
Joyce says he respects leader Sussan Ley and regards her a “political friend”. On whether the Coalition can or should be split, he says, “that’s not as easy as you think”.
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‘The Liberal party is not National party lite’, says Liberal MP
Shadow cabinet minister, and moderate, Tim Wilson says his party should stand its ground and develop its own energy policy separately, after the Nats came out of the gate early over the weekend.
Speaking to Sky News a little earlier, Wilson said there is a pathway for the Coalition to be united on energy policy, but it has to “lead on the conversation” and not be “defined by the terms of our opponents”.
The Liberal Party will develop its own policy, the liberal party is not National party lite. We will make our own decisions about our own policy, and we will stand up for what we believe in for conversations around energy and climate change.
Sussan [Ley] did an excellent job in May of this year when the National party sought to split off, and rather than simply chasing them, she stood her ground, because she knows that once she loses moral authority, you can’t get it back. You need to stand up as the leader of the party, for the Liberal Party.
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Queensland teachers to strike after knocking back pay offer from state government
Queensland teachers have voted to take strike action in the next three weeks, after knocking back a pay offer from the state government last Friday.
Queensland Teachers Union delegates voted for the escalation at a state council meeting on Saturday, after union members overwhelmingly voted down a state government 8% pay offer last week.
“No specific date has been determined, further meetings of QTU Executive are expected before any formal announcement will be made,” QTU president Cresta Richardson said.
The QTU encourages the government and the Premier to end the negotiation by offering a package that addresses the QTU’s claims, and our members see value in.
Meanwhile, state government employees members of the building trades group of unions are set to walk off the job at 10am today. Members of the Electrical Trades Union, Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, the Plumbing and Pipe Trades Employees Union and CFMEU are demanding a 35-hour working week, which they say would put them in line with white-colour public servants.
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Liberals and Nationals should stay together but ‘not at any cost,’ Bragg says
Like an old married couple, the Coalition has gone through plenty of “marriage counselling” sessions, Andrew Bragg says.
Jumping back into that interview on ABC News Breakfast, the shadow cabinet minister says that the Liberals do need to come up with their own separate policy, after the Nationals came out with the anti net zero stance over the weekend.
Bragg says he’s a supporter of the Coalition staying together and he doesn’t “believe that the fragmentation of the centre-right is in Australia’s interests,” but that also doesn’t come at any cost.
We’ve been married for a long time. There have been times where there have been marriage counselling sessions and I think before the next session, we certainly need to have our own position.
There’s a reason you have divorce laws, I guess. But we would be much better served to stay with the Nationals, because we have given Australia good government over this last 80 years. So that would be my strong preference, but it’s not at any cost.
Bragg is also aware of the other existential threat to the Liberal party – young people.
He says there’s an expectation with the growing number of millennials and gen Zs on the voting roles, to show “that we actually believe that [climate change] is a real risk to our future, and that we have a credible policy to address it”.
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NSW premier: ‘I’m not responsible for the invitations’ to defence expo
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has defended the state government’s sponsorship of the Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition, the focus of an attempted blockade by human rights protesters in Darling Harbour this morning.
Speaking on ABC Radio Sydney earlier, the premier said the maritime sector was a “massive part” of the NSW economy, contributing 40% of defence industry jobs in the state, which he said would remain important as regions including the Hunter move away from coal extraction.
Minns denied having seen calls from NSW Labor MPs Cameron Murphy and Anthony D’Adam for Israeli weapons companies to be removed from the conference, as reported by the Guardian, but characterised the MPs as “frequent critics” of the government.
Asked if he was comfortable with the attendance of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, and the state-owned company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, he said:
I’m not responsible for the invitations. That’s not me running away from ... who’s invited to this particular summit.
I have got little to no exposure or decision making in relation to Australia’s relationship with foreign countries and foreign arms manufacturers in relation to where it’s used. That’s the Commonwealth government’s responsibility, it’s not mine ... We want to see the industry grow. I’ve got a responsibility to see ten of thousands of people move into new industries in the decades ahead.
Updated
We have some more pictures of the protest outside the ICC in Sydney.
Police have been using pepper spray on demonstrators.
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Protesters pepper-sprayed by police in Sydney after Hannah Thomas addresses crowd
Police just used pepper spray on the gathered crowd, prompting people to run from a squad of mounted officers. Some people are coughing and wiping their eyes in the grass, while others have reconvened.
The pepper spray was used as some in the crowd attempted to break through metal barricades. More police vehicles are arriving, adding to the dozens of officers already here.
Before the police used pepper spray, Hannah Thomas, the former Greens candidate who was seriously injured during a protest in June, briefly spoke to the rally crowd.
Thomas, who has undergone multiple rounds of surgery, told Guardian Australia it was still triggering being back at an action that was heavily policed. But she said the defence expo warranted the protest.
“That event is fucked.”
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Dropping net zero would make Australia a ‘pariah state’, Bragg says
One of the Liberal party’s most staunch net zero supporters, Andrew Bragg, says Australia can’t walk away from the Paris agreement and a commitment to reduce emissions.
But, and there’s a big but here, that doesn’t mean net zero has to be reached by 2050.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Bragg says – as he did yesterday – that the Paris agreement states that net zero has to be achieved in the second half of this century.
(However, we would add here, that the advice from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on what is needed to achieve the Paris goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C is net zero by 2050).
Virtually every country has committed to net zero emissions. We would be a pariah state.
The Paris Agreement is the red line here. I mean, you’ve got to be in the Paris Agreement. Because if you weren’t, you would be in a group of countries like Iran and Libya and maybe two or three others … And the Paris Agreement requires you to get to net zero in this century. I think that that would be an important objective for Australia to maintain
Updated
No rate cuts from RBA today
The Reserve Bank’s monetary policy board won’t be announcing a rate cut at 2:30pm today, after figures last week showed inflation came in hotter than expected in the September quarter.
After three cuts this year, the RBA’s cash rate sits at 3.6%.
With the outcome preordained , there will be a lot of focus on the RBA’s latest set of economic forecasts, released in the latest Statement on Monetary Policy, and the governor’s press conference at 3:30pm.
Unemployment is also on the rise, and Michele Bullock will need to explain how the central bank is navigating the last mile to bring inflation definitively back under control without pushing the jobless rate much higher.
Economists have largely pushed out forecasts for a rate cut to early next year, or predicted that the central bank may be done cutting rates.
That will be bad news for indebted homeowners, but may help take some of the steam out of the already unaffordable housing market, where prices are accelerating.
Financial markets, for now at least, are still pricing in some chance of a rate cut over the coming year.
Updated
Four arrested as protestors converge on Sydney defence expo
A few hundred protesters are gathered at Sydney’s Tumbalong Park, where police have cordoned them into a fenced-in area across from the International Convention Centre. The protest was initially meant to be a blockade, but dozens of uniformed officers and mounted units have surrounded the ICC to prevent any major disruption.
Josh Lees, an organiser for Palestine Action Group, said police were aggressive when protesters began to gather near Sydney’s IMAX theatre, using pepper spray and pushing the group towards the cordoned area. He said multiple people were arrested. It’s unclear if anyone has been charged.
NSW police said four people have been arrested, adding in a statement:
Police will have a presence at the assemblies and will work with protestors to ensure there are no breaches of the peace and there is minimal impact to the community.”
Chants of “shame”, “long live Gaza” and “hands off the West Bank” rang through the crowd.
Lees said it was a nice turnout for an early Tuesday morning, but added:
It’s good, but we need more.
Updated
McIntosh believes there is enough goodwill between the two parties to form a unified position on energy policy.
Staying on RN Breakfast, McIntosh says there’s a “long history of being able to work with the Nats”.
I think our relationship is strong enough for us to come to settle on a position as long as we’re listening to our communities … So if we continue on a sensible path where we are stripping away any other agendas besides trying to do the best for Australians, I think we’ll end [up] there.
McIntosh adds that the Liberal party’s review - led by Dan Tehan – has been “a good one” and will save the party from an internal “uproar”.
On the issue of Sussan Ley’s leadership, McIntosh says the media are “making more of that issue than what we’re feeling internally”, but admits the party does need to get its act together.
Everyone’s had a chance to speak. It’s not like we’ve waited for one party room, there’s going to be an uproar, and no one really knows each other’s positions.
But I think Australians do want us to sort out our issues quite quickly. They’re disappointed in us, probably could use stronger words than even disappointed and want us to get our act together. So let’s start focusing on those policies that make a difference.
Updated
Melissa McIntosh wants Liberals to ‘get their act together’
Internal divisions haven’t stopped Coalition MPs fronting up to their morning interviews today, including shadow communications minister Melissa McIntosh, who tells ABC RN Breakfast the public want her party to “get their act together”.
The Liberals are getting closer to an energy policy, but there’s still broad internal debate over where it should land.
McIntosh says they’ll get to a position “relatively soon”, and says many in her community of Western Sydney, struggling with their power bills, don’t want net zero.
This is not an ideological thing that we don’t believe in climate change or any of that sort of stuff. They’re just really struggling. Their power prices are up … Dan Tehan has been very consultative with colleagues for weeks now, and there’s been a number of working groups, a number of meetings, a number of sessions for people to be involved with I think we’ll come to a position relatively soon.
Updated
Coalition must ‘pull itself together in some shape or form’, Monique Ryan says
Independent Monique Ryan – who won former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s seat – is weighing into the party’s political woes, and says voters are “asking what the Liberals care about”.
Leader Sussan Ley hasn’t been given a chance to be a leader, says Ryan, after Peter Dutton led a “really disappointing campaign” without a significant policies.
Ryan says there needs to be a strong opposition, to stop it becoming a government that can do what it likes unchecked. (She’s not particularly complimentary of Ley though).
At the moment all [Liberals] seem to care about is their own political prospects, which are heading to oblivion if they continue to behave this way.
I don’t think [Ley’s] been particularly impressive herself, to be honest, but, you know, people want the conservative side of politics to have a policy platform. We’ve seen in Victoria for many years what happens when you don’t have an effective Opposition. What you have is a poor government that can do what it likes and Australians deserve better. They need to have an effective Opposition. So I would hope that the Coalition can pull itself together in some shape or form so it can do that.
Updated
Keeping the Coalition together
Can the Liberals and Nationals coexist? “Very easily” says Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie.
The Nationals came out of the gates early to firm up a position to scrap net zero, leaving the Liberal party scrambling to come up with its own policy, that will appease members of its own party and keep the Coalition together.
On the Today show, McKenzie concedes leader Sussan Ley has “one of the most difficult jobs” in Parliament, to rebuild the Liberal party.
We want her [Ley] to be successful because we believe that the Coalition is the best government … and after a catastrophic loss, there’s a lot of rebuilding to do.
But, you know, the National party’s been getting on with the job of delivering an energy plan that’s cheaper, better and fairer.
The Liberals have made clear [their] process hasn’t finished yet. And when it [is] we’ll sit down and have a conversation.
Updated
Good morning
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
Liberals and Nationals will sit down today for their party room meeting, as the senior Coalition partner considers dropping net zero targets.
The government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation bill (EPBC) will also be up for debate in the House today – and I’ve been told there has been plenty of time allocated for plenty of speeches.
We’ll also be following the attempt by protesters to blockade a state-government sponsored defence conference in Sydney this morning organised by the Palestinian Action Group.
It’s going to be a busy one – stick with us!
Updated
Hastie ‘increasingly determined to run for leadership’ next year
Staying with the Coalition turmoil and as mentioned at the top of the blog, the Nine newspapers are reporting that Andrew Hastie is “increasingly determined” to run for the Liberal leadership in the new year.
There is a growing possibility that Ley will bow to pressure from the rightwing of the Liberal party to dump support for Australia’s net zero target after their Coalition partners the Nationals announced over the weekend that they would ditch the plan.
If she does not – and she is privately believed to want to keep the policy in order to woo back urban voters – she could leave herself open to a leadership challenge in the new year, the Nine outlets report.
Her deputy, Ted O’Brien, and rightwinger Angus Taylor are seen as potential challengers but Hastie “is viewed as a more likely contender” after “developing his support base and policy agenda” in the weeks since quitting the frontbench team over climate policy.
The report said:
Sources close to Hastie not authorised to speak publicly said that despite wanting to spend more time with family, he was increasingly determined to run for the leadership as early as next year. His supporters believe he has overtaken Taylor as the right’s preferred candidate, though Taylor is likely to draw more support from the moderates given he has espoused less contentious policy positions than Hastie since the election loss.
Updated
Sussan Ley under pressure from conservative men
Our political editor writes this morning that there are no good options for Sussan Ley in the showdown over net zero and she faces either losing voters or losing the backing of many MPs and splitting the Coalition asunder.
Tom McIlroy writes:
If things get worse for Ley, a leadership rival like Angus Taylor or Andrew Hastie might move against her, seeking to draw a line under the chaotic six months since the election. A new leader could use the summer break to recalibrate and start fresh in 2026.
It will be an awful look for the first female opposition leader to be torn down by a bunch of conservative men, but once the rot sets in, even a small stumble can become the spark for a leadership challenge.
Ley is dogged by bad options and bad timing. Whether she can hold on to her job to Christmas, and present a credible climate policy, remains to be seen.
Read Tom’s whole article here:
Nationals net zero position doesn’t put pressure on Ley’s leadership, Littleproud says
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has said the Nationals ditching the net zero target will not put pressure on Sussan Ley’s leadership of the Liberal party.
Littleproud told ABC’s 7.30 that the Nationals and Liberals are “sovereign parties” and each party was going through its review process on net zero, with the Nationals deciding this week ahead of the Liberals settling their position in the coming weeks.
Asked if it would cost Liberals urban seats at the next election, he said the Nationals’ policy is still about reducing emissions, but should be done in a cheaper way and address energy affordability for businesses and households.
He said after the Liberals decide their position, the two parties will work constructively to get to consensus.
He said “all solutions” including nuclear “should be on the table” for forms of energy, with coal assets sweated out through the transition, with the energy operator focused on the most affordable energy source, not focused on the 2030 interim target.
Updated
Rivalry between the US and China is ‘all over’, Keating says
Keating was also frank in his assessment of the rivalry between China and the US, describing the Asian superpower’s achievements as “like nothing in human history”:
It comes after Trump described crucial trade talks with the Chinese president in South Korea as “amazing”, saying their dispute over the supply of rare earths had been settled and that he would visit China in April.
Keating said “between the United States and China, it’s all over”:
The Chinese have won hands down. It’s all over. They can out produce people. They’ll dominate technological capabilities … What China is today in terms of modernity, capacity, utilisation of services, is like nothing in human history.
He said president Trump was “too street smart” to know that there would be “any chance of any sort of military defeat of China”.
The Americans see the Chinese have committed the great sin of internationalism. They built an economy bigger than America … This year, Chinese GDP is $40tn, and American GDP is $30tn … Imagine American military police in Shanghai, Beijing today with 1.4 billion Chinese [people]. I mean, what does an American victory look like?
Paul Keating says he gave 'fighting points' to Anthony Albanese before Trump meeting
The former prime minister Paul Keating says he provided Anthony Albanese with “fighting points” ahead of his meeting with Donald Trump lest the US president turn “nasty” on him.
Speaking to journalist Troy Bramston at the State Library of NSW on Monday evening, Keating said he believed the prime minister would have been willing to respond to Trump with strength if the situation called for it:
I did give our prime minister a heap of fighting points in the event that Trump turned nasty on him. It turned out he didn’t have to use them … The meeting went really well, but I think the prime minister was up for having Australian punch back, if he received one [hostility], and I think this is the way to handle it.
Asked how he would respond to Trump if he were in office, Keating described the president as a “power guy”:
If you showed the slightest sign of weakness, you’re buggered with him.
He likened Trump’s leadership style to that of the “mafia family model”, in that it was insular and respected powers regardless of whether they adhered to the global rules based order:
Trump’s primary interest is in the western hemisphere. That’s why he’s interested in Greenland. That’s why he’s interested in Canada and Mexico … He doesn’t care about Europe … I don’t think he cares about east Asia … he has a view about these places like mafia families … The Chicago family doesn’t disturb the family in Florida, right? I think this is Trump’s view about foreign policy.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Krishani will take you through the day’s events.
The former prime minister Paul Keating says he provided Anthony Albanese with tips about how to “fight back” against Donald Trump if the US president had turned nasty during their recent meeting. Speaking at the State Library of NSW, Keating also compared Trump to a mafia boss and said that China had won the battle for superpower supremacy with the US “hands down”. More coming up.
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has said the Nationals’ decision to ditch the net zero target will not put pressure on Sussan Ley’s leadership of the Liberal party. His comments on ABC’s 7.30 last night came after a weekend of turmoil around the Coalition and reports this morning that the former frontbencher, Andrew Hastie, would consider running for the Liberal leadership. More on that, too, soon.
