What we learned today, Monday 29 June
And with that, we’ll close the blog for today. Thanks for reading. Here are the top stories of the day:
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Australia signed the Nakamal treaty with Vanuatu after another round of talks between the two country’s leaders resulted in an agreement.
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Federal parliament resumed, with the Greens and David Pocock backing calls for a parliamentary inquiry into the alleged “petro-grooming” of children.
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The latest Newspoll was released, showing Labor inching back into top spot with the highest primary support (33%) followed by One Nation (29%) with the Coalition trailing (17%).
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The environment minister, Murray Watt, said there was no evidence yet of transmission of bird flu to Australian wildlife.
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The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, resisted calls for a royal commission into the state’s $100bn Big Build infrastructure project and sought to blame inflation rather than corruption for cost blowouts.
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In other Victorian political news, the Greens unveiled their policy of implementing a new tax bracket on investment property holdings worth more than $5m.
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And Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming said she misunderstood the “technical meaning of the term ‘headlock’”, but would not apologise to her colleague Matthew Guy over the allegation he assaulted her.
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It was confirmed that representatives from the ABC and SBS would be called as witnesses to the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion, after complaints were made to the inquiry about their coverage of the Middle East.
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A 23-year-old man was charged with the domestic violence murder of his partner, who was remembered as “a beautiful young mother” who leaves behind a two-year-old son.
Updated
Court rules identities of survivors of Bondi attack cannot be published
A New South Wales court has ruled that the identities of multiple survivors of the Bondi terror attack and complainants in the case against alleged gunman Naveed Akram will be suppressed.
An interim non-publication order granted in December had protected the identities of a number of survivors named in 59 charges against Akram unless they gave their consent, with more survivors later applying to have their identities protected.
Akram, 24, received 19 additional charges last month. A further interim suppression order was placed over a number of victims and complainants named in the fresh charges, which the court heard included police officers.
Crown prosecutors made a formal application for a final suppression order this month. Today, local court judge Karen Stafford granted the order, which will last until the case is referred to a higher court, not the 50 years requested in the joint submission by prosecutors and lawyers representing other affected parties, including potential witnesses in the case. Stafford said:
That evidence satisfied me that the alleged victims or witnesses to the Bondi shooting have had or are more likely to suffer real risks to their mental safety.
Without going into greater detail … my view is that the material satisfied me that if the orders were not made … that that would exacerbate the trauma already suffered by them as a witness to the shooting.
Matthew Lewis SC, who appeared on behalf of five media publications – including Guardian Australia – did not oppose the application, but asked for amendments to the orders, some of which were agreed to.
Akram, who was not required to appear today, has yet to enter a plea to any charges. His lawyers did not oppose the orders.
Liberal defector Hollie Hughes won’t rule out return to politics with One Nation
Liberal defector Hollie Hughes may be plotting a political comeback after joining One Nation.
Hughes, a former Liberal senator for New South Wales, did not rule out another run for parliament when she was asked by the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program today if she still harboured political aspirations.
Hughes resigned from the Liberal party late last year after losing her Senate seat amid a preselection battle.
On her way out the door, Hughes publicly criticised the then shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, saying he did not have enough economic policies and was partly responsible for the Coalition’s crushing election loss.
Asked by the ABC today if she was thinking of running for parliament at the next election “under the One Nation banner”, Hughes said:
Oh, look, you never say never.
I am interested, but I don’t know what it looks like, and unfortunately, no big announcement from me: not today, but not never.
Hughes said she left the Liberals because she felt the party “had lost its soul”.
She said her turning point came when her then colleagues didn’t support Pauline Hanson’s bill to give palliative care to babies that were “born alive” during “failed” abortions, and that:
It was just a profound movement in the value of life that I thought the Liberal party supported, and that was a demonstration to me [that] we didn’t share the same values any more.
Hughes also claimed that Hanson had been “misquoted” when she suggested parents taking time off work to care for newborn babies should not have their wages paid by employers and parental leave was the reason for the gender pay gap.
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Andrew Hastie claims multiculturalism is an ‘extreme’ and ‘politically loaded’ word
Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie has claimed multiculturalism is “now a politically loaded term” that is as “extreme” as the word “monoculture”.
Despite declaring “war” on One Nation, Hastie promoted a similar approach to immigration to the rightwing party’s leader, Pauline Hanson, during an interview with the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program today.
The Liberals have struggled to define their position on multiculturalism and immigration as they attempt to stem the loss of votes to Hanson’s party.
Earlier this month, Hanson used her first speech at the National Press Club in Canberra to declare Australia cannot be multicultural and must exist as a “monocultural society”.
Asked by the ABC today about his views, Hastie said:
Monoculture and multicultural, they’re two extremes in a sense.
[Multicultural] is now a loaded political term.
Most Australians, when they talk about multicultural, think, you know, different foods, different backgrounds.
He added:
In the end, if a democracy’s going to function, you have to have a common set of values.
It can’t just be a free for all, [living] according to how you think the world should be.
Hastie refused to define One Nation as “hard right” and said he wanted to win back its voters who had defected from the Coalition, rather than alienating them. He said:
People are drawn to strength, and so I think we should be sending a strong message that we are committed to winning government [and] delivering centre right government for the Australian people.
You can read more here:
Updated
Indigenous words stripped from Queensland state electorates after redistribution
The names of prominent Queenslanders and Indigenous words have been stripped from 19 state electorates.
The Queensland Redistribution Commission handed down its final redistribution of the state’s electorates this afternoon.
It adopted most suggestions of the Liberal National party’s submission about boundary changes, which are expected to slightly advantage the party at the 2028 election.
Rising Labor star Meaghan Scanlon may struggle to hold her Gold Coast seat, which has been heavily redistricted in the changes.
The commission took up an LNP recommendation to revert to almost purely geographic names for electorates, reversing a decision from 2017 to name 11 after prominent Queenslanders.
The commission said:
We are of the view that voter recognition of an electorate’s location is essential.
Electorate names which do not identify or suggest the location of an electorate are apt to cause unnecessary confusion.
Electorates named for Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, suffragette and unionist Emma Miller, Queensland’s first female doctor, Lilian Cooper, the Indigenous name for the Brisbane river Maiwar, and Mary McConnel, the founder of the state’s first children’s hospital in 1878, will all change to suburb names.
An electorate named for former National premier Frank Nicklin will also be renamed as will an electorate for Labor MP Vi Jordan and former premier Arthur Macalister.
One name will remain though: the electoral district of Cook will continue to be named for Captain James Cook.
You can read more here:
Updated
Man charged with domestic violence murder after woman’s death in eastern Sydney in 2024
New South Wales police say they have charged a man with domestic violence-related murder in relation to a woman’s death in eastern Sydney more than 18 months ago.
Police said emergency services found the 66-year-old woman’s body at a property on Astoria Circuit in Maroubra on 18 November 2024.
At the time, officers from the Eastern Beaches area command and the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad established Strike Force Nain to investigate the incident.
This afternoon, police announced they had arrested a 52-year-old man in relation to the alleged incident.
After arresting the man about 8.30am this morning at a property on Pennant Hills Road in West Pennant Hills, police said they took him to Castle Hill police station where he was charged with murder (DV).
He was refused bail to appear before Parramatta local court today.
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Hi, I hope you’ve had a lovely Monday so far. I’ll be with you on the blog for the rest of the day.
Thank you all for joining me on the blog today!
I’ll leave you with the great Catie McLeod for the rest of the afternoon and see you back here bright and early tomorrow.
Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
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Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh found herself as Labor’s punching bag in QT today, after she suggested to Sky News her party should “rebrand” following a raft of poor polling.
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The Liberals tried to corner housing minister, Clare O’Neil over how many first home owners owe more now than when they bought with cooling house prices.
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The crossbench pushed the government over its digital duty of care bill, and how far it would go to prevent future harms online.
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Two Labor MPs were yeeted by Milton Dick today, but no Coalition MPs faced the boot.
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The PM and Angus Taylor gave a shoutout to the Socceroos after the end of QT, giving the opposition leader a chance to own his famous “well done Angus” gaffe.
Lowy family target of thousands of online attacks
The prominent Lowy family has been subjected to more than 15,000 serious online attacks, former Westfield co-chief executive Steve Lowy has told the antisemitism royal commission.
The Lowy Family Group has its own security team to monitor threats.
Of the 15,000 attacks, the team identified 200 “persons of interest” and referred “in the order of” 30 or 40 to police.
The commission was shown examples of Steve Lowy, his wife, Judy Lowy, and his father, Frank Lowy – a Holocaust survivor – being targeted.
The examples included death threats, calls for Frank Lowy and others to be executed, and antisemitic tropes and memes.
“They could lead to violence, physical violence,” Steve Lowy said:
I have a firm belief that these online threats lead to or inspire others to do … violent physical activity. Online is more about gathering this information on a regular basis. But on the physical side of things, one needs to be diligent all of the time, which causes enormous psychological issues.
He also said social media should be subject to the same laws as traditional media, where they would be subject to prosecution.
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Albanese and Taylor praise Socceroos as question time ends: ‘Fantastic, great work’
After a final dixer to small business minister Anne Aly, Anthony Albanese calls time on QT.
On indulgence, the PM talks about how good the Socceroos are.
He says the team represents the “strength, diversity, and unity” of modern Australia.
Of course, in the current climate, he makes a point about how multicultural the team is (and throws in a cheer for SBS who are broadcasting the World Cup).
They are humble, they are determined, and they are so proud to be wearing the green and gold. This is a team that can trace their heritage to every corner of the world.
Angus Taylor associates his remarks with the PM and adds:
So to the Socceroos, I say, fantastic, great work. Well done.
(A reference of course, to his famous “well done Angus” tweet).
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‘There’s no jobs on a dead river’: Labor defends Murray Darling Basin plan
One Nation MP David Farley has the call next and asks the government to request the commonwealth environmental water holder to urgently assess if the current objectives through the additional water buy-backs have been met under the Murray Darling Basin plan, and if so, then all surplus water be returned to farmers.
Tony Burke, representing the environment minister, gives an impassioned defence of the basin plan and says the government doesn’t get involved in selling back surplus water.
He adds “there’s no jobs on a dead river”.
The concept of surplus water not being used to keep the basin healthy is not something that the government does. The water that is there is to make sure that we still have a living river system, because there are no jobs on a dead river.
The whole reason we had to have that reform is because when the rivers were dying, the jobs and the towns were going too.
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Under pressure on house prices, O’Neil says opposition ‘uselessly defending status quo’
Clare O’Neil is still in the opposition’s sights, with the Nationals frontbencher Anne Webster now asking the housing minister to reveal how many first home owners owe more money than their home is worth.
O’Neil says it’s a variation on a question she’s been asked multiple times, and says “I’m not changing my answer”.
She tries to deflect, and attacks the opposition.
Yet another question time when those opposite come into question time again and again, uselessly defending a status quo that every other person in our country can see is broken.
Manager of opposition business Dan Tehan is up again making a point of order, and tries to quote the “wise words” of the Speaker Milton Dick to get O’Neil to answer the question and stop talking about the opposition.
Dick tells Tehan “good try” and directs O’Neil to stop talking about the Coalition.
O’Neil then spruiks the government’s housing policy (which again Tehan tries to argue is not answering the question), so Dick tells her to just wrap up.
She says:
I’m making the point to the parliament someone here has to stand up for first home buyers and that’s exactly what Labor did on Thursday.
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Anika Wells says ‘we need to hold [tech platforms] to account’
Will the government commit to a digital duty of care that includes an “overarching duty” so tech companies have to address future harms, asks independent MP Kate Chaney.
The communications minister, Anika Wells, says the digital duty of care reforms are meant to do two things – make big tech prevent harm and psychosocial harm to their users, and ensuring safety by design.
She says the first point goes to Chaney’s question of an overarching duty.
Wells says she looks forward to continuing to work with Chaney on the issue in the second half of this year.
Safety by design … is switching the onus from, at the moment, them being able to do basically what they like in an unregulated space, the harm occurring, and then avenues to people who have been harmed through things like eSafety to big tech needing to do safety by design.
We need to hold them [platforms] to account, to continue to work together in a bipartisan measure, I do think we address that, but I look forward to working with you on digital duty of care in the sector in the second half of this year.
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Second Labor MP booted from QT: ‘You won’t get away with anything in this chamber!’
Dan Tehan tries a third time to grill Clare O’Neil on her claims last week that Australia is experiencing a house price “correction”.
Jim Chalmers had to intervene last week and said O’Neil was referring to a correction generally, and not based on the economic definition.
Tehan tries again to ask how many first home buyers “owe more money than their home is worth” as the market cools.
O’Neil starts her answer talking about why the legislation is good, but doesn’t actually address the question about negative equity.
Before she can get much further, Milton Dick kicks out Labor backbencher Mike Freelander for being disruptive, warning the House “you won’t get away with anything in this chamber!”
Tehan then tries to raise a point of order on relevance, but Dick reckons O’Neil is being relevant and allows her to continue.
She says:
I’m talking about the treasure write modelling that supported the tax changes in the budget, that show over time house prices in Australia will continue to increase, just a little bit more slowly than they otherwise would have. We’re talking about two percentage points difference.
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O’Neil refuses to engage on ‘utterly incorrect’ housing question
The Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie is next and asks how many first home buyers will be facing negative equity, if the housing minister’s prediction of prices dropping 20% comes to fruition.
Clare O’Neil gives her shortest answer yet:
The premise of the question is factually and utterly incorrect.
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McIntosh’s Liberal ‘rebrand’ call gets a heavy workout in QT
It’s Liberal frontbencher Angie Bell’s turn at the despatch box next and she asks if the cooling housing market is “Labor policy working as it was designed”.
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, spends most of her answer having a dig at the opposition, but briefly addresses the actual question.
And spoiler alert, O’Neil also brings up Melissa McIntosh’s call for a Liberal “rebrand”.
I think the parliament is very well versed on this one. In the medium term the advice from treasury is that house prices will continue to rise, but a little bit more slowly than they otherwise would have.
Speaker, we had one of the frontbenchers given a notable interview today, saying that her party needs a rebrand.
Dan Tehan is getting his steps up today because he is back making a point of order. Milton Dick tells O’Neil to stop talking about the opposition.
She says “very happy to”, except seems to ignore Dick and keeps trying to lash the Coalition.
I’m simply making the point, Speaker, that we’ve got frontbenchers openly saying that they need to rethink the existence of their political party. On this side of the parliament, we’re living a different experience.
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Katter accuses Labor of prioritising ‘double degree ideological know-alls’
Bob Katter is up next from the crossbench with a question that I’m somewhat struggling to decipher, but it’s about the government’s reformed Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
He says the act “effectively dispossesses the people who have lived and loved their land for generations”, and asks if the government will continue prioritising the “double degree ideological know-alls” against the people who did “hard yakka”.
Tony Burke, who represents the environment minister in the House, says approval times under the legislation are significantly improved, and that the legislation deals with heritage listings.
The legislation itself does and has always dealt with heritage listings, both national and world Heritage, where it’s not often appreciated, do not simply deal with natural values, they deal with cultural values as well, and a large number of listings, quite specifically include cultural values and it has been the legal way to make sure that the principles that he has referred to in the question find their way into Australian law.
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Labor and the Coalition spar over ‘cleaning up messes’ as first MP is booted from chamber
Angus Taylor is back at the despatch box and asks the PM when he’ll step in to “clean up the treasurer’s mess” after Jim Chalmers said he would fix the widow tax but couldn’t say how.
Before the PM can answer, Labor MP for Adelaide Steve Georganas says something about cleaning up the Liberals’ mess, and promptly gets kicked out by Milton Dick – our first of the day.
It looks like Melissa McIntosh’s interview is going to haunt the Liberals – at least for the next hour, with Albanese quickly whipping out and weaponising her words again.
He says:
It’s pretty bold of the leader of the opposition to speak about cleaning up messes, when his shadow ministers are out there saying the Liberal party should be dissolved and start again.
(It’s not quite what she said – McIntosh called for a revisit of the Liberal values and rebranding of the party).
The opposition tries to make a point of order on relevance, which doesn’t get very far, before Albanese continues.
I gave an answer to the first question, Mr Speaker, which is that none of those people will be impacted, none of them.
Updated
Albanese digs into opposition after Taylor targets 'bungled budget'
Angus Taylor begins his line of questioning on the so-called “widow tax”, and asks how much more widows, divorcees and victims of family and domestic violence will pay “because of the treasurer’s bungled budget?”
The government last week announced at the 11th hour that it would make exemptions for those cohorts affected in subsequent legislation (after David Pocock had put forward amendments to address the issue in the Senate).
Anthony Albanese immediately says “the answer is they won’t”, before digging into the opposition.
No wonder they’re struggling over there, Mr Speaker. We had a shadow minister earlier today speak about abandoning the Liberal Party name. She said this – I think it’s time for the Liberal Party to rebrand itself.
He’s referring to Melissa McIntosh who said it’s time for a rebrand to Sky News a little earlier. She offers what looks like a wry smile as the PM goes on the attack.
Dan Tehan stands up to make a point of order, saying the question didn’t open the PM to criticise the opposition.
Albanese continues, saying he’s “comparing and contrasting”.
A government that is determined to make a difference … And it stands in stark contrast with the character reference given by his own shadow minister, who said this, some people think that we’re stuck in the past and our policies need to resonate with Australia of today and the future. So, I think it would be a really good time for us to revisit our values, what we stand for, and the way we project ourselves.
Updated
Question time begins
It’s question time!
Before we get into questions, Anthony Albanese heralds the Nakamal treaty, just signed with Vanuatu. Vanuatu’s prime minister is sitting in the chamber to watch QT.
Albanese says after this week he will travel to Fiji and Solomon Islands to continue building Australia’s diplomatic relationships in the Pacific.
Nakamal will help our two nations build a more prosperous, stable, and secure region. Another important step, furthering our shared vision for the Pacific, where peace and security in the region is the shared responsibility of the region.
There was a common view and consensus across the border about how important this agreement is to securing a more resilient, sovereign and connected region.
Angus Taylor also makes his remarks on the treaty, welcoming the agreement which he says is the “latest phase of a partnership that has been growing stronger over many years and successive governments”.
We do live in dangerous times, where authoritarian powers seek to coerce and control using both carrots and sticks. And for countries like ours, enhancing our partnership sends a strong message about the importance we place on sovereignty, collective security, and the solidarity of our fellow democracies.
Updated
PM avoids question on if royal commission should adopt contested definition of antisemitism
Albanese is asked about evidence to the royal commission that the social media platforms aren’t doing enough to stamp out antisemitism.
He’s asked if they should engage with the royal commission and adopt the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism (which has many critics). Albanese says:
Firstly, yes, in a word, in terms of compliance. The royal commission, of course, is independent of government. That’s very important that it be allowed to do its work, which it’s doing very effectively.
A reporter tries to ask again whether they should adopt the IHRA definition, but Albanese ends the press conference.
Updated
Power to compel documents from tech platforms will form ‘stronger body of evidence’ for court cases: Wells
Wells says the new powers will allow the eSafety commissioner to compel documents from big tech platforms to prove they’re making efforts to stop under-16s using social media.
She likens it to a police investigation, and says it will mean Julie Inman Grant and her department will no longer have to rely solely on the platform’s words:
The laws as they currently stand mean that the eSafety Commissioner asks these tech companies to provide information on a monthly basis. As you would imagine at the moment … we believe that they are taking the mickey, there’s a lot of faff about that and essentially she [Inman Grant] has to take them at their word. By requiring documents [it] means that they require, like with a police investigation, minutes, emails, evidence between third-party providers and the big tech companies … that forms a stronger body of evidence for a court case.
Albanese is asked when we could see action taken against social media companies. He won’t give a timeline, but says the government is determined and “won’t shy away” from enforcing the reforms.
Updated
‘Big tech using classic big tech tactics’: government spruiks crackdown on tech platforms
Anthony Albanese says at least 20 countries are following Australia’s social media ban for under-16s as the government promises to increase fines for platforms breaching the laws and give the eSafety commissioner new powers.
The announcement was made yesterday after research recently found four in five children were still using the apps.
Speaking to reporters in Parliament House, Albanese says it is clear the tech platforms are not doing enough to stop children accessing social media, so they need to do more.
We’re calling time on the social media companies today and doubling down on the changes that we have made and that we’re prepared to make.
The legislation will be introduced today. Albanese thanks former Liberal leader Peter Dutton who he says supported the original reforms with bipartisanship.
The communications minister, Anika Wells, says the platforms need to stop doing just the bare minimum:
Just today, I heard of a 13–year–old who opened a new social media account and wasn’t even asked her age. It is simply not good enough. It is big tech using classic big tech tactics, doing the bare minimum and thinking that they are above domestic law.
My message to big tech is this – we are not stopping. Every effort you make to frustrate these laws will be met with our efforts to make these laws work.
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Queensland premier confirms children have slept on the floor of a child safety centre
Children recently slept overnight at a child safety service centre in south-east Queensland, the state premier, David Crisafulli, has confirmed.
The Together Union raised concerns about a Ipswich centre at the weekend. Crisafulli confirmed the reports on Monday morning but said it was a “rare occurrence” and had taken place three times under the former Labor government.
The state recently committed to end the practice of housing children under five in hotels in response to a recent commission of inquiry into the child safety sector. It has committed to a string of other reforms.
When asked by media, Crisafulli did not commit to ending the practice but said he was “determined to fix child safety”:
These kids otherwise might be on the street, and they make a decision as child safety officers to give the kids somewhere to stay that’s not on the street that night and then place them the next day. I reckon that shows the kind of people who work in child safety.
The greatest gift we can give is to remove the pipeline that’s going into residential care to reduce the prospect of kids falling through the cracks.
Updated
Woman shot dead in alleged domestic violence murder in Queensland
A young man has been charged with domestic violence murder after a woman was found dead with gunshot wounds at a suburban home, AAP reports.
Emergency services were called to a home on Loder Street in the Gold Coast suburb of Biggera Waters, in Queensland, about 8pm on Sunday. It concerned reports of a woman suffering life-threatening gunshot injuries.
A 23-year-old woman from Biggera Waters was declared dead at the scene. A local man of the same age was arrested without incident.
He has since been charged with domestic violence murder and unlawful possession of weapons used to commit an indictable offence (domestic violence). He is due to appear at the Southport magistrates court on Monday.
No one else was injured and there was no threat to the public, Queensland police said. The investigation is ongoing.
Updated
Public health leaders demand government action on junk food advertising
Leading public health figures, universities and organisations including Diabetes Australia, the Cancer Council and the George Institute for Global Health have written a letter to the federal government calling for an urgent response to a report on limiting unhealthy food marketing to children.
Published in November, a feasibility study undertaken on behalf of the government by the University of Wollongong and the Deakin Institute for Health Transformation found there is no evidence that food industry self-regulation has protected children from exposure to unhealthy food marketing.
The government is yet to respond to the report, which found broad support for a comprehensive legislative framework to reduce unhealthy food marketing exposure to all children and for a government-led food classification system.
The call for a response comes from a preventive health roundtable convened by independent federal MP Dr Sophie Scamps, and as figures released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare last week show the rates of obesity among Australian children continue to rise.
The proportion of children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 living with being overweight or obesity increased to 28% in 2022-24, from 25% in 2017-18. Scamps said:
In failing to regulate junk food marketing targeting children, the federal government is failing our children.
The government needs to stop sitting on their hands and act decisively to safeguard the health of our children. The report confirms that voluntary industry codes are not working and that comprehensive restrictions across all media and settings are both achievable and effective.
Updated
Albanese tight-lipped on cost of agreement
The original deal – when the prime minister visited Vanuatu last year – had a price tag of $500m over ten years, but Anthony Albanese won’t say clearly whether that’s changed or if the price has remained the same.
Albanese tells reporters the deal will support the economic development of Vanuatu, support mitigation efforts against climate change and provide support for Pacific nations “to be less vulnerable to shocks such as we’ve seen with the Middle East conflict and the strait of Hormuz because of the reliance upon diesel”.
He says the actual numbers will be revealed later this year when the December budget update is released:
We’ll be transparent, as we are, in these matters. They’ll be available as part of MYEFO [the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook] at the end of this year.
We, of course, are providing support for economic development in Vanuatu. That is in the interest of the people of Vanuatu, but also in Australia’s national interests to have economic development in our region.
Vanuatu PM, Jotham Napat, says Vanuatu has passed legislation to stop any militarisation of critical infrastructure, which is a core part of this agreement, when asked why negotiations on the issue were so drawn out:
As a country, we have passed an act in parliament not to allow any militarisation – to actually be used for our critical infrastructure, and we give very strict attention to all of our critical infrastructure.
Updated
‘Nothing to hide’ on deal with China, Vanuatu PM says
Anthony Albanese is asked to spell out exactly why the agreement states Vanuatu’s critical infrastructure should be free from militarisation and why there should be no foreign military base.
The Australian prime minister doesn’t say China: he keeps his language broad, and says it’s about the sovereignty of Vanuatu.
We respect the right of all nations to make sovereign decisions about their engagement with other countries. But what this does do is to provide certainty for Australia that there will be no foreign military base. That we’ll prioritise policing cooperation with Pacific Island Forum members – something that we’ve asked for across the board – and that there will be any consultation on any third-party engagements in critical infrastructure.
The Vanuatu prime minister, Jotham Napat, is also asked where the Namele agreement between Vanuatu and China is up to. Napat says that agreement is yet to be signed, and his nation is waiting to “get the clearance from Beijing”.
So currently, it’s not yet signed. We will share the agreement. There is nothing to hide. Our government is transparent. And I am so grateful that the prime minister has also given me the clearance to share the Nakamal agreement.
Updated
Vanuatu Australia treaty based on ‘mutual respect, trust and understanding’
Anthony Albanese is celebrating an agreement signed with Vanuatu this morning, the Nakamal treaty, which has been ten months in the making.
Critically, the agreement states Vanuatu’s critical infrastructure will remain free from militarisation and the Pacific nation should not be used as a foreign military base.
The underlying reason? Ensuring China does not set up a military base in region. Speaking in Parliament House, Albanese says:
This is the bed rock of the relationship between our two nations, and of this agreement, mutual respect, trust and understanding.
We’ve concluded a balanced agreement that will protect our collective and individual security and our sovereignty. And it will support our interest in a stable, prosperous and secure region that we both call home.
Importantly, this agreement advances the consensus that security is a shared responsibility of the Pacific family – the members of the Pacific Islands Forum – and encapsulates Vanuatu’s decision not to be used as a foreign military base and that Vanuatu’s critical infrastructure remains free from militarisation.
Under Nakamal, Vanuatu has continued to look at Pacific Island Forum members to support its policing needs, including Australia as Vanuatu’s longstanding primary policing partner.
Updated
Bleijie says disrupting opposition leader’s budget speech ‘fair game’
Jarrod Bleijie was also asked about the government’s tactics in parliament last week.
The LNP deliberately interrupted Labor leader Steven Miles’s budget in reply speech on Thursday, making 23 points of order, and interjecting. Labor also accused them of standing in front of television cameras to prevent them filming it. The hour-long address took an additional 16 minutes due to interruptions from the LNP.
By convention both the government’s budget speech and the leader of the opposition’s reply are heard in silence, but it’s not uncommon to hear a handful of interjections, including when the LNP was in opposition. Labor did not make a single point of order during the treasurer’s speech.
Bleijie denied that the interruptions were part of an organised strategy and accused Labor of “gutter politics”, saying the party had “set a new standard, a new threshold, and it’s a low standard”.
With respect, when convention and protocol is broken on our treasurer’s speech, it’s fair game to reply in the same way.
Speaker Pat Weir said on Friday that parliament was becoming a “race to the bottom” of “personal vitriol” “attacking people rather than debating issues, ideas, and policy”.
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Queensland’s deputy premier calls ‘anti-defence’ Victorian government ‘a bunch of socialists’ who don’t ‘deserve’ army expo
Victoria’s government is “anti-defence” and the state’s economy a “basket case”, according to Queensland’s deputy premier, arguing that the rival state should not host an army expo.
Announcing a state grant to a Brisbane drone manufacturing facility, Jarrod Bleijie made a pitch for the Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition, the country’s largest land defence trade event, to return to the sunshine state.
Western Australia will host this year’s expo in October. The event, which takes place every two years, is contracted to return to Victoria in 2028.
Bleijie said he had met with the organisers who told him they want to honour the agreement with Victoria but added “if the situation changes”, “we want them back”.
They’d obviously contracted to Victoria. Now, I think Victoria’s economy is an absolute basket case, and you’ve got an anti-defence government down there, and they’re a bunch of socialists, I don’t think they deserve it.
The event was last held in Queensland in 2022, to widespread protests.
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Australia and Vanuatu sign ‘historic’ Nakamal agreement after talks in Canberra
Australia has signed the Nakamal treaty with Vanuatu after another round of talks between the two country’s leaders this morning.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has confirmed he inked the treaty after meeting with Vanuatu’s prime minister, Jotham Napat, in Canberra.
The two countries had gone back and forth on the treaty for some time.
Late last year, the government failed to get Vanuatu over the line on the $500m agreement after the Pacific island nation raised concerns the pact would block other countries from providing infrastructure funding.
Albanese made some brief remarks after signing the treaty, saying it was a “historic day” for the relationship between the two countries.
He thanked Napat for his “warm engagement” and said:
The visits that we have had to each other’s countries, and the engagement between our ministers has been very positive.
And we know that we are all part of the Pacific family. And they are connections that have been built up over many generations.
We are deeply honoured to be Vanuatu’s primary partner, across all dimensions, across security, across the economy, and across development, and our discussions today and the agreement that we will sign is indeed a historic step forward
The two leaders are expected to hold a joint press conference in Canberra shortly. We’ll bring you more details when we have them.
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'It's time': Liberal frontbencher calls for party rebrand and to 'revisit our values'
The Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh says it is time for a party rebrand after it sank further in today’s polls, suggesting her colleagues should revisit their values.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, the shadow NDIS minister said she wasn’t suggesting changing the foundations of the party, but that it “might be time for us to re-look at how we express ourselves externally”.
She said anyone saying everything looks wonderful for the party has their “head in the sand”.
I’m putting myself out on a limb a little bit, I think it’s time for the Liberal party to rebrand itself. Some people think that we’re stuck in the past and our policies need to resonate with the Australia of today and the future. So I think it’d be a really good time for us to revisit our values. What we stand for and the way we project ourselves to Australians.
That takes a lot of work inside the party to go back to our roots, and then to look at our messaging and our communications to the Australian public, because you can’t keep getting poll after poll saying that it’s diabolical out there and just ignore it.
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In pictures: Albanese welcomes Vanuatu PM to parliament
Anthony Albanese and Vanuatu’s prime minister, Jotham Napat are about to sit down for a meeting at Parliament House.
Albanese welcomed Napat just a moment ago, and the two will hold a press conference for the media in around an hour or so.
They’ll be discussing the Nakamal agreement, which has been sitting on the negotiating table for around 10 months.
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ABC and SBS set to appear at Bondi attack royal commission
Witnesses from the ABC and SBS will be called as witnesses to the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion.
It was unclear until now whether they would be called, but counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC has told the commission that they will. He also said that some submissions to the commission are “highly critical” of the public broadcasters’ coverage of the Middle East conflict.
The commission has had a mixed bag in reactions from social media platforms.
Lancaster said Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and TikTok had engaged “meaningfully”, that there was no response from X or Telegram, a limited response from Reddit and Twitch, and that Gab (a US platform that claims to welcome “all first amendment protected speech”) was “openly hostile”, with a representative saying the platform will “publish what it likes, when it likes”.
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Coalition’s censure motion fails
The Greens support the government to tank Michaelia Cash’s suspension of standing orders to censure the treasurer.
But wait, there’s more!
Then the deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume tries to suspend standing orders once again to make a statement. She’s trying to give Cash another go at attacking the government.
Hume says:
We need to suspend to ensure that Senator Cash has the appropriate opportunity to censure this government, to censure this government for its contempt of the Senate, for its contempt of the Senate.
The vote on that is taking place now, and it looks like the Greens are once again siding with the government.
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Michaelia Cash moves to censure treasurer in the Senate over tax bill
Things are heating up quickly in the Senate, with Liberal frontbencher Michaelia Cash moving to suspend standing orders to have a go at the government’s tax bill and what she says is a lack of consultation.
The motion states that the inquiry into the bill “raised serious concerns about the lack of transparency, inadequate information, and limited scrutiny afforded to the Senate”, saying Treasury officials were “unable or unwilling to answer basic questions”, and moves to censure the treasurer and minister representing the treasurer in the Senate.
A censure motion is a symbolic gesture that has no practical consequences but has political significance.
Cash says to the Senate chamber:
Australians you would have thought were entitled to answers. Instead, what did they get? They got confusion, contradiction.
Well, Australia’s now waking up to what those consequences are.
This is a significant motion. It is all about ministerial accountability. Something that this government promised the Australian people, president, both prior to the 2022 election, and the 2025 election, that it would have no issues with. Well, lo and behold, that is why this censure is needed. It is a serious motion.
Penny Wong stands up after Cash and says the motion should not be supported.
The desperate and divided Coalition, desperate and divided, led by a man who knows not what he believes in, a group of people who can’t agree what they believe in, scrabble around desperately for an emotion to distract from the fact that they do not know in what they believe.
The Coalition would need the Greens support to get the motion over the line.
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‘How long have you been practising that?’ Watt’s rehearsed lines on One Nation
I always wonder how long politicians practise their zingers in the mirror, ready to deliver on TV or during question time. Sometimes you can tell they’ve spent down trying to iron out the timing, and sometimes it just looks natural.
I’ll also add here that ministers are often given talking points that they’re encouraged to use during interviews that come from the top, but sometimes you just know they’ve come up with a line and they can’t wait to use it.
Environment minister Murray Watt was put in the spotlight for just that this morning, after recycling a couple of lines between an interview on ABC News Breakfast and to journalists later in the press gallery corridor.
The line in question:
It’s a little bit like a shopper at the supermarket who reaches out for a product because they like what’s on the label, but then they have a look at what’s in that product and see that it’s actually not very appetising. And I think that’s the problem for One Nation, is that they make a lot of promises about standing up for battlers, but people are now seeing through them and see that actually as tough as life is right now for many Australians, it would be a lot worse under a coalition between One Nation and the Liberal party.
A journalist then pipes up, asking:
How long have you been practising that? That was uncannily similar to your ABC24 interview.
To which Watt concedes:
I had a think about it last night.
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University students facing ‘double squeeze’ as living costs skyrocket, analysis finds
With independent MP Monique Ryan introducing her bill to move the indexation date on Hecs debts, Universities Australia has released new analysis showing just how far students have gone backwards over the last five years.
They’ve tied the analysis to the year the controversial job ready graduates scheme was introduced by the Morrison government – 2021.
The analysis shows in that time, student rents have increased 40%, groceries are up 27% and fuel is up 43%. And students are now spending just over 50% of their weekly expenditure on housing.
The body’s chief executive, Luke Sheehy, said it shows students are being hit on all sides – from the rising cost of living, and increasing student debt. Universities Australia has long called for job ready graduates to be abolished.
He said:
Students are paying more for rent, more for groceries, more for electricity and more for fuel. At the same time, the government continues to punish students with some of the highest university fees in Australia’s history.
That’s the double squeeze students are facing. They are paying more to live and more to study, yet they’re still unable to keep pace with the rising cost of living.
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Greens slam fossil fuel industry’s marketing to children: ‘They’re going after our kids’
The Greens have also joined the call for a Senate inquiry into the fossil fuel industry marketing to children.
Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May has accused the industry of copying the big tobacco strategy.
She says the problem is “likely far greater than this report reveals”.
‘Get them young’ was Big Tobacco’s strategy, and it appears the fossil fuel industry has copied the playbook from cradle to career. They’re going after our kids.
Labor approves new coal and gas projects with one hand, takes millions in fossil fuel donations with the other, and stands by while these corporations gain access to Australian classrooms.
This is about social licence. These companies know their business model faces growing public scrutiny, so they’re investing in the next generation’s perceptions.
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Maroubra beach in Sydney’s east reopens after shark sighting
A beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has reopened within an hour of being closed following another shark sighting.
Maroubra beach was shut on Monday morning after Surf Life Saving NSW drones spotted a shark at 8.40am.
The beach was closed for less than an hour before being declared safe again.
Surrounding beaches in the Randwick council area, including Clovelly and Coogee, remain open.
The New South Wales government on the weekend announced additional dawn-to-dusk drone patrols as part of a $34m anti-shark program.
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‘Let kids be kids’: climate group slams fossil fuel marketing targeting children
The Australian Conservation Foundation has called for a Senate inquiry following a report into the fossil fuel industry’s marketing towards young children.
A report by Comms Declare found coal, oil and gas companies are reaching kids through schools, museums, sporting clubs, early learning programs and scholarships.
The ACF’s climate and energy program manager, Gavan McFadzean, called gas giant Woodside’s sponsorship of the Nippers “particularly revolting”.
How can a corporation whose key product directly causes ocean warming be allowed to sponsor a children’s lifesaving program?
Let kids be kids. Australian children should be able to learn, play and grow without companies Glencore, Woodside and Santos misusing educational spaces to build trust and social licence.
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Monique Ryan calls Labor's gambling reforms ‘milksop’, saying she ‘won’t support a half measure’
The independent MP Monique Ryan is heavily critical of the government’s gambling reforms – which will be introduced to parliament this week.
For a recap of what the changes are – read here.
Ryan says evidence shows a partial ban won’t work and accuses the government of folding on the reforms.
A 2019 report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), on the impact of government restrictions on gambling advertising during live sport established in 2017, found a partial ban can lead to more advertising.
Ryan says she won’t be supporting the bill (although she sits in the House, where the government has a majority).
The legislation that the government will be proposing will be inadequate. It will not protect young Australians from gambling harm. Saying that we’ll only have three ads an hour instead of five or six or seven, there’s no evidence that that will significantly decrease the harm to young people from gambling advertising
I can’t support something that won’t work, and I won’t support a half-measure which looks like a wave in the right direction but won’t achieve the desired result. And so I won’t support the legislation in its current form. I couldn’t do that.
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Monique Ryan pushes bill to move Hecs indexation date: ‘You wouldn’t accept that on your mortgage’
The independent MP Monique Ryan will introduce a bill today to move the Hecs indexation date.
Why? Because at the moment, if you have a Hecs debt, you’ll be making payments out of your paycheque over the course of the year, but none of that is actually applied to the balance until after your tax return is submitted, which is in July.
But indexation – which increases the debt in line with either inflation or the wage price index – is added before your payments are applied. Which means you’re being indexed on debt that you’ve already paid off.
If that date was changed, it would save university graduates $3.2bn over ten years, according to costings by the Parliamentary budget office, commissioned by Ryan.
She told RN Breakfast this morning:
You end up paying indexation, which is effectively interest, on debt that you’ve already repaid. You wouldn’t accept that on your credit card, you wouldn’t accept on your mortgage, but we’re expecting graduates to basically end up paying back more than they should on their HECS debts.
I asked [education minister] Jason Clare about this in the House a couple of weeks ago and he can’t give us a time frame. He acknowledges the unfairness of the indexation. He’s done that before. He’s also acknowledged the unfairness of the Job Ready Graduate Scheme, which doubled the cost of arts, law, finance, and economics degrees under Scott Morrison, but which has now been in place longer under Anthony Albanese.
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Taylor says Coalition ‘breached trust’ during Covid pandemic and must rebuild it
Angus Taylor claims Coalition governments, including one in which he was a senior minister, “lost trust” with the electorate through the Covid pandemic, saying they “allowed big government to become accepted”.
The opposition leader also says he’d never “attack” One Nation voters, claiming his focus is on fighting Labor.
Taylor was on 2GB this morning, saying the voting public was “angry” about politics and the economy, including standards of living and taxes. He admitted the Liberal Party had to rebuild trust among voters, but that while the Coalition’s vote was previously “in free fall”, Taylor claimed now “the Coalition is solid as a rock” - despite its primary vote falling to just 17% in one poll published today.
“It’s going to take time because people need to rebuild trust in their Coalition, in a Liberal party, in a National party that has breached trust,” Taylor claimed.
In an interview with The Australian over the weekend, Taylor claimed the pandemic was one of the times the Coalition and Australian governments breached trust with voters.
He reiterated the message on 2GB this morning:
We allowed big government to become accepted, and we don’t believe in big government. Australians felt that government got too big, too heavy, too close to their daily lives.
We needed to come out of Covid with a strong plan to pare back on both spending and the role of government in people’s lives.
I think that is, widely accepted on our side of politics now. But that did breach trust and we’ve got to rebuild that trust and rebuilding trust takes time.
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Coalition’s poor polling is a ‘complete distraction’, Tim Wilson says
The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, has also weighed in to the Coalition’s poor polling today.
Newspoll recorded Labor’s primary vote rising from 30% to 33% as One Nation went down from 31% to 29%, while the Coalition faces a historic low of 17%.
Wilson, speaking to journalists this morning in parliament, called the polling a “complete distraction”.
I think that’s a complete distraction. We need to make sure that we’re ending the corruption, we’re stopping inflation, we’re cutting taxes, and we’re backing small business …
I think the focus of the Australian people is their anger with their government, and as a consequence, they’re looking around and trying to make sure that there’s an alternative. There’s more work to be done and no one’s trying to pretend otherwise.
As the Nationals leader Matt Canavan said this morning, “the herd is moving … it’s just not going through the right gate for us at the moment”.
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Angus Taylor should ‘absolutely’ remain Liberal leader at the next election, Jane Hume says
Despite the Coalition still going backwards in the polls (today hitting a rock-bottom 17% primary) Hume tries to remain jovial, and backs in her leader, Angus Taylor.
She says Taylor’s only been in the role for around 17 weeks now, and has come up with some credible policies, they just need to be sold to the public.
She adds that Taylor has prosecuted the government’s budget “exceptionally well” – despite Labor experiencing a slight uptick in today’s polls.
In that period of time, we’ve been pretty upfront that we’ve got a long road to go. We know it’s been, we know it’s going to be tough. We breached trust with Australians …
Our job is to make sure now that people can see that Angus Taylor is leading not just a credible team but has a credible plan to put Australia back in the right direction
Host, Mel Clarke asks whether Taylor should remain leader all the way until the next election, Hume says, “yes, absolutely”.
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‘Halt it and deal with it’: Jane Hume calls for pause on Victoria’s Big Build sites
The deputy Liberal leader, Jane Hume, says Victoria’s Big Build projects should stop to weed out all corruption.
The Nine newspapers have reported an attempted clean up of Victoria’s Big Build has failed to stop large sums of money flowing from state and federally funded projects to the underworld.
Hume, sitting in the hot seat on RN Breakfast after Anika Wells, says there should be a Victorian royal commission into the issue.
I do believe that you need to remove the corrupt elements before you can continue to give taxpayer money to these projects.
Asked whether its feasible to leave strategic infrastructure projects with no timeline, Hume says:
I personally think halting it and dealing with it is the only way to do it. And the best way to deal with that would be through a royal commission in Victoria. But at a federal level, we’ve given the Albanese government an option to have an inquiry about corruption in the construction industry and they have voted against it over and over again.
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Royal commission hearings resume today
The next round of hearings for the antisemitism royal commission begins today.
Over the next two weeks, commissioner Virginia Bell will hear evidence about “the dissemination of antisemitic content and other forms of hateful speech in the online environment, as well as antisemitism in traditional media and broadcasting”.
Today’s witness list includes Arsen Ostrovsky, who was the victim of conspiracy theories spread online after the Bondi terror attack, and businessman and philanthropist Steven Lowy.
We don’t know yet who else will appear – Meta reportedly will, while the ABC and SBS have made submissions. An ABC spokesperson said they will “continue to engage constructively” with the royal commission, while an SBS spokesperson said it was engaging with the royal commission and would meet its legal and regulatory obligations.
Anika Wells won’t be seeing the Socceroos in Dallas on Saturday: ‘I’ll be watching on TV’
Anika Wells landed herself in a lot of hot water last year for taking her family to sports games (and other events) on the taxpayer dime.
Perhaps that might be why she says she won’t be going to see the Socceroos in Dallas, Texas on Saturday as they begin their knockout campaign.
She tells RN Breakfast that sometimes she wears her sports minister hat to go see games live, and sometimes she has to wear her communications minister cap and watch the games on free to air TV.
Regretfully, we’re here until Thursday night with Parliament and the game is at 4am Saturday morning. So I’ll be watching on the TV. And like I’ve said before, sometimes I’m the minister for sport and it’s important I’m at major events because there’s all kinds of elements and stakeholders that are there for me to be there in person. Sometimes I’m the minister for communications and I need to see what that experience is like for Australians watching that on free to wear with regard to any siphoning legislation and reforms, etc. So this one I’ll be watching on TV.
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Gambling ads legislation to be introduced this week with ‘minor’ revisions
Anika Wells says the government’s legislation to tackle online gambling advertising will be introduced this week, but despite widespread calls to make them tougher, the bill will only include “minor revisions”.
The prime minister announced the legislation at the national press club earlier this year, after sitting on a report led by the late Labor MP, Peta Murphy for three years.
Advocates have said a partial ban on online gambling advertising won’t be effective.
Wells tells RN Breakfast that she’s been consulting, but there won’t be an “substantive” changes to the bill.
The differences between the exposure draft and the legislation will be evident. But Mel [Clarke], they’re minor. There’s nothing that is particularly substantive that will alter people’s views of the legislation, given that these are very deeply entrenched views from all sides on this particular issue.
These are minor revisions.
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Social media ban ‘flexible and adaptable’, Anika Wells
Anika Wells denies the announcement the government would toughen penalties for breaches of the social media ban, and give the eSafety commissioner more powers, is an admission the ban is failing.
The government says it will introduce legislation to double the fines to $99m – in line with other corporate penalties – and give the eSafety commissioner stronger information-gathering powers.
Research released this month has found more than 80% of children with social media accounts said they were still on the platforms, more than three months after the ban came into force.
Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast, Wells says it’ll take time for the numbers to go down and the culture to change. The communications minister says:
We’ve consistently said that our social media minimum age law is a world first. It’s going to need to be flexible and adaptable.
I think we can all agree we would like the scheme to work better than it is currently, but that is on big tech taking the mickey.
There are two pieces to this. There are the actual enforcement mechanisms that we need to do now … But then there’s also the broader cultural change piece. And much like when seatbelts became mandatory in cars, it took a while for people to observe that law. And this is about the five-year-olds, the nine-year-olds who will never have a social media account until 16. That change will take a while to seep through.
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Vanuatu PM in Canberra for talks with Albanese as hopes rise over treaty
Vanuatu’s prime minister, Jotham Napat, will meet with Anthony Albanese today in Canberra for talks, after months of negotiations on the Nakamal agreement.
The two countries have gone back and forth on the treaty, which is yet to be inked, but today’s visit could be a good sign of progress.
Late last year, the government failed to get Vanuatu over the line on the $500m agreement, amid concerns from Vanuatu that it would block other countries providing infrastructure funding.
The leaders will sit down for a meeting before addressing the media later today – so we’ll bring all that as it comes.
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No evidence yet of transmission of bird flu to Australian wildlife, says environment minister
Murray Watt is asked about the big story in his portfolio – bird flu, of which cases have now been detected in Western Australia and South Australia.
The environment minister says that there are so far four confirmed cases, and all have involved a migratory bird.
He repeats all state, territory and federal governments have undertaken preparedness plans over the last couple of years to deal with any outbreak.
There’s no evidence at this point in time there’s been any transmission from those migratory birds to the broader Australian wildlife population. That’s obviously a good thing. That’s something we won’t want to see happen.
I wouldn’t want to predict exactly what will happen from here. It is possible that we’ll see more cases over the next few days or weeks. But what I can say to people is that we’re prepared and … we want people to avoid contact with sick or dead birds. We want them to record and report any sightings they come across, so we can ensure that testing is done.
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Hanson’s press club speech a ‘reality check’ for Australians, Watt says
Environment minister Murray Watt says One Nation’s popularity dipping from 31% to 29% in the latest Newspoll is due to Pauline Hanson’s controversial press club address, but concedes the “polls will bounce around a bit”.
Most politicians will always say, “the only poll that matters is the one on election day”, but best believe many of us are watching the polls with eagle eyes right now as One Nation surges in popularity.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Watt says that address was a “reality check” for Australians, because Hanson revealed One Nation could make things worse.
We have seen a bit of a change in the public mood towards One Nation since Pauline Hanson’s press club speech.
I think that speech was a bit of a reality check for a lot of Australians who were thinking about voting for One Nation, because they got to see that as much as people are under pressure at the moment, things could get worse under One Nation with all the cuts they were talking about imposing.
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Labor back in top spot ahead of One Nation in latest Newspoll
After a very tumultuous six weeks following Labor’s budget, things might be looking a little better for the government now that the contentious capital gains tax and negative gearing bill has been passed (even if there will be further amendments coming after the winter break).
At least the polls today might be providing a little reprieve, with the latest Newspoll showing Labor inching back into top spot with the highest primary support (33%) followed by One Nation (29%) with the Coalition trailing (17%).
Speaking to Sunrise this morning, social services minister Tanya Plibersek says it’s a “modest improvement” but welcome.
Yes, of course, any improvement is welcome. But we know that we to provide real answers and real change to the pressure that people are feeling.
Plibersek is on a panel with the Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, who says the electorate is currently “very volatile”.
I’m a half glass full sort of guy Nat [Barr] and the electorate’s very restless. People are understandably restless because they’ve seen their incomes decline back to 2011 levels under government … So it’s very volatile.
The first thing you’ve got to do is get the herd moving and the herd is moving. It’s just not going through the right gate for us at the moment.
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Fossil fuel companies are marketing to children, a report says. How?
We’re expecting some focus in Canberra today on a report that looks at how fossil fuel companies market to Australian children, including in communications programs at schools, museums, science centres and other trusted institutions.
The report has been released by the climate-focused organisation Comms Declare. It suggests the fossil fuel industry is potentially reaching millions of children through more than 260 programs aimed at kids of all ages.
Comms Declare is calling for a Senate inquiry into the issue. It points out the Australian Capital Territory has banned fossil fuel sponsorships in schools, following similar restrictions in some jurisdictions overseas.
The independent senator David Pocock and the Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May are expected to join the report’s authors at a press conference this morning.
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Good morning. Krishani Dhanji here with you for what’s likely to be another very busy sitting week – the last before the winter break.
Parliament will be joined by Vanuatu’s prime minister, Jotham Napat, who will be meeting with Anthony Albanese today. The visit comes as two nations have been going back and forth for nearly 10 months negotiating a treaty. Could today be the day the ink is set and dried?
A new report has been released showing how fossil fuel companies market to Australian children, and spoiler alert, the Greens and David Pocock aren’t happy about it. We’ll have more on that very shortly.
And the polls have shown a shift back to Labor, once again claiming the highest primary vote above One Nation – expect plenty of reaction to that this morning.
Let’s get straight into it!
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