Category Archives: Australian politics

‘Not in the spirit of our friendship’: Penny Wong concedes past Australian wrongs in Timor-Leste

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Foreign minister says previous governments have treated the country in ‘disappointing’ ways during visit to Dili

The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has attempted to improve Australia’s ties with Timor-Leste by conceding that “disappointing” actions by past governments were “not in the spirit of our friendship”.

Wong did not mention the scandal surrounding Australia’s bugging of the nation’s cabinet room in 2004, but acknowledged Timor-Leste’s sovereign right to make its own choices “without having them encroached by others”.

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Scott Morrison rejects robodebt royal commission findings but won’t say if he was referred for prosecution

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Anthony Albanese highlights commission’s ‘extraordinary’ conclusion that former PM’s evidence was ‘untrue’

Scott Morrison has rejected the robodebt royal commission’s findings but not said whether he has been referred for further civil or criminal actions, in contrast to claims from former Coalition ministers Christian Porter, Alan Tudge and Stuart Robert ruling themselves out.

In a statement on Friday, the former prime minister said he “completely” rejects adverse findings, claiming they were “wrong, unsubstantiated and contradicted by clear documentary evidence presented to the commission”.

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‘Crude and cruel’ scheme: robodebt royal commission report recommends civil and criminal prosecutions

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Recommendation of referrals included in ‘sealed chapter’ of 1,000-page report with findings handed to federal government and released publicly

The “crude and cruel” robodebt scheme has resulted in a recommendation that unnamed individuals be referred for civil and criminal prosecutions, the royal commission has revealed.

The commissioner, Catherine Holmes, submitted her report to the government on Friday and revealed it contained a “sealed chapter” that recommended referrals of individuals for what it labelled a “costly failure of public administration”. The report said robodebt was “neither fair nor legal”.

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The robodebt royal commission revealed the worst of ‘welfare cop’ politics. But what happens next is up to us all

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Catherine Holmes’ report is damning for the Coalition and the public service, yet the reckoning she advocates will take more than policy change

Robodebt royal commissioner Catherine Holmes’ report is damning for the Coalition and former ministers, including Scott Morrison, Alan Tudge and Stuart Robert.

And it is disastrous for the public service – certain individuals within it and the entity as a whole; or what some might call the bureaucracy’s soul, if such a thing can exist.

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Robodebt royal commission report handed down – as it happened

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Bill Shorten: robodebt commission report will be a ‘vindication’ for victims and their families

The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, says today “is a vindication” for victims of the robodebt scandal with the royal commission report being handed down. He told ABC’s RN this morning:

The heart of this story today is the fact that real people unlawfully had debt notices … raised against them by the most powerful institution in Australia, the commonwealth government.

Two of these people, after receiving robodebt notices, subsequently took their own lives that I’m aware of.

Today is not the day [their mothers] want. What they really want is their sons to be alive.

One of the challenges we’re seeing across the country is great teacher shortages … COVID brought that timetable forward.

Classrooms are more complex, there is a great diversity of needs across the classroom, and as society changes a lot of teachers and education ministers are testifying about the impact of technology in classrooms.

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Political future of renegade senator Gerard Rennick to be determined at LNP conference

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The Liberal senator is vying for a winnable spot on the party’s federal ticket at Friday’s preselection

The political future of the renegade Queensland Liberal senator Gerard Rennick will be determined on Friday amid a push to remove him from a winnable spot on the party’s Senate ticket.

Rennick is vying for a third spot on the ticket in Queensland, with hundreds of state councillors to determine preselections at the Liberal National party’s state conference in Brisbane.

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Peter Dutton ramps up nuclear power push and claims Labor down ‘renewable rabbit hole’

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Opposition leader to tell Institute of Public Affairs that domestic reactors are natural next step from Aukus pact

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has ramped up calls for nuclear power in Australia, casting the move as a way to avoid dependence on wind and solar technology from China and a natural next step from the Aukus pact.

Dutton will make the comments on Friday at an event organised by the Institute of Public Affairs, a Liberal-aligned thinktank that has publicly opposed curbs on coal-fired power and has lobbied against the net zero by 2050 policy.

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Senator says she has been ‘excluded’ from writing pamphlet – as it happened

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Patricia Karvelas challenges Littleproud’s Covid reasoning behind the Murray-Darling Basin delays on ABC RN this morning.

“This isn’t a new problem … Your government was in power when a 2019 Productivity Commission report warned that there had been limited progress returning the water to the environment,” she says. “Why didn’t you change course?”

This is a very technical piece of legislation … The 450 is additional to the 2,750 gigalitres of water in the plan, the Productivity Commission looked at the 450 gigalitres, there’s only been 2 gigalitres recovered on the 450 …

Because the neutrality test on social and economic impact on rural communities have not been passed to get more water back out of it – that’s a test the Labor government put in place, that we adhere to that the states agreed to.

He [is] going down a path that’s divided the country and meant that the attention has been taken away from managing people’s cost-of-living crisis, and focused on trying to win a referendum in which he has overreached in conflating a voice with constitutional recognition.

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Linda Reynolds says she has ‘had enough’ as she threatens Brittany Higgins with defamation case

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Higgins had called on the senator to ‘stop’ after Reynolds confirmed she intended to refer commonwealth’s settlement with Higgins to anti-corruption watchdog

Brittany Higgins has revealed she has received a defamation threat from her former boss Linda Reynolds over an Instagram post that included a list of complaints against the senator.

Reynolds has responded by accusing Higgins of “defamation of my character”.

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AFR apologises for running voice no campaign ad featuring ‘racist trope’

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Newspaper publisher says ad ‘should not have run’ after federal independent MP Kate Chaney accuses no campaign of stoking ‘fear and hate’

The no campaign has been accused of using a “racist trope” in a newspaper ad which included a cartoon figure of an Indigenous voice campaigner appearing to dance for money.

Matt Kean, a New South Wales Liberal MP, lashed the Advance conservative lobby group for “a throwback to the Jim Crow era of the deep south”, saying the full-page ad in the Australian Financial Review had no place in Australian politics. A spokesperson for Nine, publisher of the AFR, later apologised and said the ad should never have run.

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Australia should recognise state of Palestine as part of ‘fair go’ ethos, de facto ambassador says

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Izzat Abdulhadi of Palestinian delegation calls for government to resist ‘pressure’ to avoid contentious topic – and to strongly condemn Israel’s raids on Jenin

Australia should stand up for the “fair go” by recognising Palestine as a state, according to its de facto ambassador, who argues that Israel’s “brutal” military operation in the city of Jenin only increases the urgency for bold steps.

Palestinian recognition is one of the foreign policy issues set to be discussed when Labor holds its next national conference in Brisbane in August.

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Former KPMG partner urges royal commission into consulting industry following damning report into PwC scandal

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Whistleblower tells Senate inquiry into federal government’s use of consultants that ‘self-regulation is failing’ across the industry

A former KPMG partner turned whistleblower has urged the federal government to consider a royal commission into the consulting industry and to formally ban firms that breach legal and ethical standards.

In late 2021, Brendan Lyon told a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry that he was pressured to amend his work, which found the state’s budget was $10bn worse off than Treasury claimed.

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Australia news live: Burney condemns ‘Trump-style’ voice politics; ‘well publicised’ matters referred to federal corruption watchdog

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Follow the day’s news live

Prime minister Anthony Albanese says he is “one of the millions of Australians” who welcomed the decision from the Reserve Bank yesterday, on Nine’s Today program this morning.

People are doing it tough out there … I am determined to work each and every day to provide whatever assistance the government can do. Whether that be the direct assistance in cheaper childcare, the tripling [of] the Medibank bulk billing incentive so people can see their doctor for free, or fee-free TAFE and all those measures to take pressure off cost-of-living.

As well, of course, managing the economy and producing a surplus in excess of $2.4bn to put that downward pressure on inflation.

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Childcare fees in Australia outpace inflation with rises of up to 32%, report finds

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ACCC says number of centres charging above hourly rate cap has doubled as government’s cheaper childcare package comes into force

Childcare fees have outpaced inflation in the past five years, with rises of between 20% and 32% from 2018 to 2022 according to a report from the competition regulator.

Households are now paying 4% more for centre-based and outside-school-hours care, 6% more for family daycare and 15% more for in-home care services, once adjusted for inflation.

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$123.64 per child a day for centre-based daycare, with $48.60 out-of-pocket

$90.23 a child a day for family daycare ($28.92 out-of-pocket)

$30 per child a session for outside-school-hours care ($13.54 out-of-pocket)

$301.42 per family a day for in-home care ($60.69 out-of-pocket).

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Minister suggests rate pause based on uncertain outlook – as it happened

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Foreign minister Penny Wong says the focus of Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo’s visit to Australia will be on strengthening economic ties between the two countries, on ABC RN this morning.

One of the things we’re focused on is how do we improve our economic ties. Obviously, the nation is an increasing economic power and will be over the next decade. We want to make sure we’re partners in that. So there will be a great focus on the economy and the economic relationship.

You’ll see some big changes to make sure we make business travel easier.

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Pauline Hanson threatens to release anti-voice essay if shut out from official referendum pamphlet

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Exclusive: One Nation leader wants her input to be included for the no side as concern grows among some politicians their views may be left out

Pauline Hanson has threatened to send her own 2,000-word anti-voice essay to Australian voters unless a parliamentary committee includes her contributions in the official referendum pamphlet for the no side.

The so-called “progressive no” views of left-wing senator Lidia Thorpe may also end up excluded from the no essay, which will be authorised by a committee dominated by Coalition and conservative politicians.

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Bernard Collaery trial highlights ‘prohibitive’ and ‘onerous’ government secrecy restrictions, lawyers claim

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Exclusive: Whistleblower’s legal team detailed the ‘profound’ cost of the commonwealth’s rules in inquiry into the effectiveness of the National Security Information Act 2004

The secrecy restrictions around Bernard Collaery’s prosecution were so severe that he was forced to obtain government approval for his lawyer to view evidence against him, communicate with his legal team in-person in secure rooms chosen by the commonwealth, physically transport documents around the country at exorbitant cost and compose drafts on commonwealth laptop computers at pre-approved locations.

The national security law watchdog is currently investigating the operation and effectiveness of the National Security Information Act 2004, which the federal government uses to protect sensitive information during court proceedings.

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Senator ‘working on’ settlement referral – as it happened

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Some more detail here on the new national anti-corruption watchdog from AAP.

The integrity commission’s job is to stamp out corrupt conduct by commonwealth officials – including ministers, parliamentarians and their staff, public servants, and government contractors.

The thing I would be really careful about it would be weaponising things before elections.

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Australia’s national anti-corruption commission receives 44 referrals on first day of operation

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Nacc commissioner Paul Brereton reveals the body has already received a number of leads but not all will be investigated

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) has hit the ground running, with commissioner Paul Brereton revealing by 5pm Sunday it had already received 44 referrals online.

At its opening ceremony in Canberra on Monday, Brereton promised “we will listen to you”, referring to the fact that “anyone can refer corruption issues to the commission”, as well as its ability to commence investigations of its own motions.

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‘It’s crippling families’: parents say childcare centres pushing up rates as Labor’s subsidy kicks in

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Experts warn early learning centres may seek to capitalise on government’s scheme, which comes into effect from 1 July

Two years ago, it cost Jessica* $176 a day to send her daughter to childcare in Melbourne. From July, it’ll be $204.40 – a $26.40 jump.

Jessica is now reconsidering a second child. She’s accepted for the first five years of her daughter’s life, her and her partner will “just have to be broke”, dishing out more than $1,000 per week on fees.

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