What we learned, Monday 1 August
And with that, we are going to put this blog to bed. Before we wrap up, let’s go over the big headlines today:
- Prime minister Anthony Albanese said says he has talked to Opposition leader Peter Dutton about the voice to parliament referendum and hopes he will support it.
- Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Labor government has ‘no intention’ to introduce a windfall tax on gas companies.
- In her first question time contribution, Dr Monique Ryan told the Coalition to ‘put your masks on’.
- The nation recorded 19 Covid deaths as Victoria health officials said the state appears to have passed the peak of its latest Covid wave.
Thank you for spending part of your day with us – we love it. See you tomorrow!
Updated
Greens MP for Griffith, Max Chandler-Mather, gives first speech
It’s a searing indictment on the two-party system.
Chandler-Mather argues that it is “abundantly clear that billionaires and big corporations run parliament”.
“Indeed when it comes to representation I imagine people like Clive Palmer and Gina Rinehart must feel pretty good that sometimes it feels like 89% of the people in this place ultimately represent their interests,” he said.
Chandler-Mather says Labor and the Coalition both support the stage three tax cuts, costing $224bn. He rejects the claims that Greens policies, including dental on Medicare, scrapping student debt, increasing jobseeker, or investing in public housing are too expensive.
Chandler-Mather says the logic of insider interests is “best exemplified” when it comes to climate change, citing the fact “over 2 degrees of warming is exactly what 89% of this place supports”, because Labor doesn’t agree with the Greens’ push to ban new fossil fuel projects.
He says:”Spending only a week in this place has been a stark lesson in how so much of the pomp, ceremony and rules of this place work to deepen and reinforce that disconnection. Literally the same week the Business Council was holding a special event in parliament house with the prime minister, children peacefully calling for action on climate change were dragged out by police.”
Chandler-Mather has a policy suggestion: the four-day work week “with no loss of pay”, which he says “would give people that most precious of resources: time”.
Chandler-Mather speaks about the Greens’ grassroots organising in Brisbane, telling voters in Griffith that political experts who said the minor party had no chance of winning Griffith were wrong, and they were right.
He clearly doesn’t think the Greens have tapped out at four lower house seats: “Next time an expert or politician tells you it’s unrealistic to expect that in a wealthy country like Australia no one should go hungry or without a home ... know that when they tell you tax cuts for billionaires, more coal and gas, and mandatory detention of refugees is the best you can hope for - know that they’re wrong. Because if the Greens wins in Brisbane, Ryan and Griffith proved one thing it’s that the only barrier to change is our capacity to organise campaigns like this across the country. Our collective power terrifies the major parties and their corporate donors. But it should give you hope.”
Updated
Albanese on Coalition’s view on voice: ‘I believe they will support a change’
Albanese says he has talked to Dutton about the voice and hopes he will support it:
It is very important that this be a unifying moment for the nation. This should be a source of pride and we need to do things differently. We know that there is still a 20-year life expectancy gap. There are huge gaps in infant mortality, in education outcomes, healthcare outcomes, housing.
We need to find a better way and a better way is by showing people respect. Australians understand that. I believe they’ll embrace that and they will support a change, which is very simple to the constitution. One that makes our country more inclusive.
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