Category Archives: Australian politics

Indigenous Australians Agency refutes Jacinta Price’s claim that Uluru statement is 26 pages

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Exclusive: Government agency wrote to voice referendum no campaign leader, saying her claim was incorrect and pointing to publicly available one-page document

The National Indigenous Australians Agency has written to Coalition senator and no campaign leader Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to flatly deny her claims that it told her the Uluru statement from the heart was a 26-page document, again confirming it is a one-page document.

It is likely to further escalate tensions in the parliament over the voice referendum, after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, described Coalition questions about the Uluru statement as “conspiracy theories”. Prof Megan Davis, the Uluru Dialogue co-chair and architect of the Uluru statement, claimed opponents were seeking to “confuse the mainstream media and our political leaders”.

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Australia politics live: Pocock claims Labor adopting Coalition’s ‘gas-led recovery’ and doing bare minimum on climate crisis

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Follow today’s live news updates

Doctors press Labor over NT gas projects

More than 2,000 doctors, GPs and health professionals have now signed a letter to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, demanding the government reconsider subsidising the Middle Arm project and “intervene to prevent gas fracking in the Beetaloo Basin, acknowledging that the emissions cannot be fully offset”.

We do not want these industries to be established in Darwin due to the risk they pose to the population and the risk they pose to the whole of Australia by driving the climate crisis.

We would like governments around Australia to put the health of their people first and understand the principle of first do no harm when considering the approval of projects like this.

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PwC scandal: Australian Tax Office tried to get federal police to investigate in 2018

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Tax office tells Senate committee it did not have the investigative powers to secure enough evidence from consultancy firm, hampering efforts to persuade federal police to investigate

Repeated efforts by the Australian Tax Office to convince federal police to investigate PwC in 2018 failed because it did not have “the investigative powers” to secure key evidence.

For the first time the ATO has published a detailed timeline of the PwC scandal that confirms years of frustration at the firm allegedly withholding information about how it helped multinational companies avoid paying tax.

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Australia to officially resume use of term ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’, reversing Coalition stance

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Labor is vowing to strengthen its objections to ‘illegal’ Israeli settlements ahead of next week’s national conference

The Australian government will reinstate the term “Occupied Palestinian Territories”, vowing to strengthen its objections to “illegal” Israeli settlements before next week’s Labor party national conference.

Some delegates at the national conference in Brisbane are expected to agitate for the party to take a stronger position and commit to a timeframe to recognise Palestinian statehood.

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No vote overtakes yes in all states except Victoria, Guardian Essential poll shows

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‘Hard no’ opposition to the Indigenous voice rose in July but young people, women remain strong supporters

More Australians are planning to vote no in the Indigenous voice referendum than yes, a first for Guardian’s Essential Poll.

The Essential poll of 1,150 voters released on Tuesday found that 47% did not approve of the voice, with 43% in favour and the remaining 10% unsure. That represents a reversal of July’s results, which found yes narrowly ahead by the same margin.

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Australians increasingly concerned about online privacy after high-profile cybersecurity breaches

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After massive hacks at Optus and Medibank, survey from information commissioner finds three-quarters of people feel data breaches are among biggest risk to privacy

Australians are more concerned than ever over the handling of their personal information and want tough laws to protect them after the Optus and Medibank cybersecurity breaches, a new study has found.

The latest Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey, released on Tuesday by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), found three-quarters of Australians feel data breaches are one of the biggest risks to privacy they face. That is an increase of 13% since the survey was last conducted in early 2020.

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The Sofronoff inquiry has only further damaged the public’s faith in the justice system

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Public is now asked to believe flaws exposed by Lehrmann case can be remedied by report whose author had ‘lapse in judgment’

The Sofronoff report was supposed to bring finality.

It was to give some semblance of closure to a saga that has dragged on and on, plumbing new depths in each ghastly iteration.

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Australia politics live: NSW government considers aerial shooting of wild horses in Kosciuszko

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State government seeking feedback on proposed amendments to park’s wild horse management plan. Follow the day’s news live

Voice being weaponised politically and to help ‘raise funds’: Andrew Gee

Andrew Gee had more to say about that:

I think that at the moment the voice is being weaponised politically for a number of reasons, and obviously, it helps raise funds and I know this because I’m still getting the emails saying, ‘the voice is terrible, please give some money’.

They’re doing it I think to shore up leadership positions. I think they’re doing it to just have some ground to fight on. But ultimately, I think, the hope that this is the pathway to victory is a bankrupt hope.

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Investor linked to Stuart Robert is still a director of 10 companies despite ‘severing ties’ with Australia

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Despite claiming he lives overseas and can’t testify at a parliamentary hearing, John Margerison still has a role in at least 10 firms according to Asic records

A Gold Coast businessman with ties to former Liberal MP Stuart Robert remains listed as a director in at least 10 Australian companies despite “severing ties” and living abroad.

John Margerison had been called as a key witness for a parliamentary hearing in July into contracts awarded by Services Australia and the National Disability Insurance Agency.

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Australian government spent $42,000 on Sydney-themed Quad merchandise for event that didn’t go ahead

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Exclusive: Items included stationery, media banners and accreditation lanyards for summit that was cancelled with just one week’s notice

The Australian government spent more than $42,000 on Sydney-themed merchandise for the ill-fated 2023 Quad leaders’ summit before the event was hastily moved to Japan.

Guardian Australia can reveal the government’s planning taskforce also spent more than $6m in preparation for the event to be hosted at the Sydney Opera House.

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Australia news live: pre-emptive release of Sofronoff report ‘denied me procedural fairness’, Shane Drumgold says

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ACT director of public prosecutions steps down after agreeing with ACT attorney-general Shane Rattenbury his position was ‘no longer tenable’. Follow live news updates today

PM urges people to look at the yes and no pamphlets

Albanese is asked about the word “Makarrata”, which has been subject to attack by the no campaign.

Why would someone disagree with the idea of Makarrata, with which is a Yolngu word for coming together after conflict - what that is about is just advancing reconciliation.

What the no campaign insists on doing is talking about anything but what is in the question before the Australian people. I would say to your listeners, have a look at what the question is, have a look at the yesand the no pamphlets. The yes pamphlet with its optimistic appeal for hope and a vision for the future, and the no campaign quoting people, misquoting people who are not actually supporting it.

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Voice would ‘fail at first hurdle’ if not enshrined in constitution, Albanese says

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Speaking at the Garma festival in the Northern Territory the prime minister issued a plea for support for a yes vote, saying there will not be another opportunity any time soon

Anthony Albanese says the Indigenous voice would “fail at the first hurdle” if it were not enshrined in the constitution, again rejecting calls from sceptics to change the referendum and simply enact the First Nations consultation body in regular laws.

The prime minister says the Labor government and Coalition opposition have broadly similar policies on the voice, but maintained the voice must be protected in the constitution because of the request from Indigenous Australians through the Uluru statement from the heart.

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Labor launches crackdown on tax adviser misconduct following PwC scandal

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Government says it will increase penalties for promoting tax avoidance schemes and bolster regulators’ powers

Penalties for promoting tax avoidance schemes will be increased tenfold and financial regulators will get much stronger powers as the federal government seeks to fix “severe shortcomings” in the nation’s financial systems exposed by the PwC scandal.

In what the treasurer, Jim Chalmers calls, “the biggest crackdown on tax adviser misconduct in Australian history”, advisers and firms promoting tax exploitation schemes would face fines up to $780m, while red tape that hamstrung regulators from better investigating PwC will be slashed. The Treasury department will also conduct a two-year whole-of-government response to the shortcomings exposed by the disclosure of confidential tax information.

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Bureau of Meteorology super computer delays ‘very concerning’ ahead of summer

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Exclusive: Insiders say ‘stuff-ups’ have occurred despite millions being spent on consultants, as senator warns of high stakes in ‘what could be a catastrophic fire season’

Preparation for this summer’s weather extremes from fire alerts to cyclone warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology could be affected by the bungled introduction of a new super computer despite many millions being spent on consultants, insiders say.

The new computer, dubbed Australis II, is twice as powerful as its predecessor but has been sitting idle for a year. It may not be fully operational until mid-2025, according to a timeline shared to staff and seen by Guardian Australia.

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Labor faces push to triple number of NT and ACT senators and give territorians a bigger say in referendums

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Exclusive: Under national conference proposal, the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory would have six senators

The Albanese government will be pushed at Labor’s national conference to triple the number of territory senators and increase the power of territorians’ votes in referendums.

Under the proposals the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory would be represented by six senators each, half the number of senators from each of the states, and territories would count for the double majority in referendums.

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Noel Pearson says Indigenous voice is not about ‘party politics’ and will cut wasteful spending

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Pearson says referendum is not a competition ‘between blue and red’ after Anthony Albanese’s Garma festival speech

The prime minister’s Garma speech was the “unequivocal” support for an Indigenous voice to parliament of an Australian leader, not a party politician, the Cape York leader, leading “yes” campaigner and Guugu-Yimithirr lawyer Noel Pearson has said.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told the Garma festival in north-east Arnhem Land on Saturday that he would not defer or delay the referendum, and dismissed “no” campaigners as being “desperate to talk about anything but the actual question”.

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PM accuses Coalition of ‘creating noise and confusion’ over voice – as it happened

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Australia has ‘nothing to fear and everything to gain’ from a yes vote, Anthony Albanese says. This blog is now closed

Albanese says he won’t announce date of voice vote at Garma

Albanese will not announce at Garma what date the voice to parliament referendum will be held on:

I’ve made it clear a year ago what the timetable would look like, that it would be in the last quarter of this year. Obviously when we get into December, you are into the rainy season, so that gets knocked out. September, it could be held then except we have the footy finals.

We’ll make an announcement soon. We’ll talk through with the Australian Electoral Commission and make sure it’s an appropriate date, one that doesn’t clash with other events.

What is occurring with this referendum is it’s a clear proposition … the words are clear that have been put forward, they’ve been passed by the parliament, overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Indeed, across the parliament, both sides say they support constitutional recognition. Both sides say that you need to legislate the voice. The only difference is that Peter Dutton is saying that if you actually … enshrine it in the constitution, that that is something that they oppose.

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Australia’s defence department clamps down on private consultants

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Exclusive: federal government has moved to stop the re-engagement of consultants within Defence after more than $1.3bn spent in the last financial year

The Australian government is moving to curb the revolving door between the Department of Defence and private consultants amid increasing scrutiny of the practice.

Guardian Australia understands Defence has introduced a new moratorium on entering into contracts with personnel who have left within the past 12 months.

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Anthony Albanese vows ‘no delaying or deferring’ of Indigenous voice vote

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In Garma speech, PM says there is ‘nothing to fear and everything to gain’ and no vote in referendum would only lead to ‘more of the same’

There is “nothing to fear and everything to gain” from an Indigenous voice to parliament, Anthony Albanese has said at the Garma festival in Arnhem Land on Saturday, in his strongest pitch yet for Australians to vote yes in the upcoming referendum.

The prime minister promised to stay the course on the vote, due between September and December this year.

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‘An opportunity to be lifted up’: Anthony Albanese hails local clan council as model of Indigenous voice at Garma festival

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The event began with a solemn and loving tribute to beloved late Gumatj leader Yunupingu

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has reaffirmed his commitment to implementing the Uluru statement in full, saying “no one will be hurt by a yes vote in this referendum, but we have an opportunity to be lifted up”.

Asked by reporters if he still was committed to the Uluru statement in full, Albanese simply answered: “yes”.

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