Category Archives: Australian politics

Australia news live: household assistance on energy bills to be detailed in budget, Chalmers says

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Treasurer says volatility in the global economy to have ‘flow-on effect on budget’. Follow the day’s news live

The shadow minister for foreign affairs, Simon Birmingham, is chastising the PM for letting there be any doubt whether he will be attending the Nato security summit.

Bangarra Dance Theatre supports voting ‘Yes’ in voice referendum

For over three decades, Bangarra Dance Theatre has been privileged to be entrusted with sharing the powerful voices of the world’s oldest living cultures – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures of this nation.

The stories we tell have awakened a national consciousness to the deep scars of our colonial history, and the legacy of unseen trauma left in its wake. We attend to this knowing that by carrying Story, we also carry a responsibility to give insight into our experiences, promote understanding, and effect change. But is this enough?

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Penny Wong dismisses Paul Keating’s claim that the military has taken over Australian foreign policy

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Minister says foreign and defence policies are both essential for making the country stronger and more influential

Penny Wong will dismiss Paul Keating’s claim that the military has taken over foreign policy in Australia, as she insists the defence department and diplomats are working together to “keep the peace”.

In a speech on Monday, the foreign affairs minister will say countries across the Indo-Pacific region want to “choose their own destiny” and not have the rules “dictated by a single major power to suit its own interests”.

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Jacinta Price calls for federal takeover of child protection, claims Indigenous kids being sent back to abusers

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Coalition senator echoed Peter Dutton’s accusations of child sexual abuse in Alice Springs and reiterated her opposition to the voice

Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has called for a federal takeover of child protection, saying foster parents have told her Indigenous children are being put back into the hands of abusers.

Nampijinpa Price levelled serious accusations against the Northern Territory’s child protection agency on Sunday as she reiterated her opposition to enshrining an Indigenous voice in the constitution.

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Man charged with foreign interference to remain behind bars until Monday – as it happened

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The 55-year-old businessman appeared via video link at Parramatta magistrates court. This blog is now closed

‘Really disturbing footage’: David Pocock responds to gas seep video

Senator David Pocock has called the video showing large methane gas bubbles active on the surface of Queensland’s Condamine River “really disturbing footage”.

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Legal experts criticise suggestions Indigenous voice will have veto power in parliament

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‘No substance in it,’ former chief justice Robert French says, while experts split on whether amendment should include ‘executive government’

Constitutional experts have criticised suggestions the Indigenous voice will have veto power in the Australian parliament, calling such prophecies “doomsdaying” and “distorting” of the truth.

Speaking at the first hearing of the joint select committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice referendum, a string of legal experts said the voice would be legislated to provide representations on relevant matters, akin to advice.

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NSW minister calls frontline workers ‘heroes’ after paramedic killing – as it happened

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Kerrynne Liddle says ‘prove it’s not happening’ on child sexual abuse in Alice

Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle, the first Indigenous senator from South Australia, and a name being touted as a contender for shadow minister for Indigenous Australians after Julian Leeser’s resignation.

I think we have to be really careful about politicising this issue, because matters related to any form of assault are sensitive, but important to understand and respond to.

… I think what’s really important though, is it can’t ignore the issue of sexual abuse, but you must also tackle those issues, alongside other issues which include [service] delivery and decision dysfunction.

Do you encourage your leader to temper his language given we haven’t yet seen evidence to say that there is a widespread phenomenon of this?

I say prove it’s not happening. And then we can have a conversation about the kind of language that we can actually use for this.

… You’ve got you’ve got the statistics, which everyone accepts are underreported and underrepresented. You’ve got to have relationships with communities to enable people to start talking about these safe spaces for young people to raise this issue of need to support people to have housing so that young people and older people are not at risk of this.

It’s possible to be optimistic about Australia’s economic future, and to be realistic about a global slowdown.

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Kerry O’Brien gives impassioned defence of Indigenous voice to parliament at hearing

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Former ABC journalist tells joint select committee on voice wording that it is a ‘simple and unambitious and unthreatening’ proposal

Prominent Australian journalist Kerry O’Brien has delivered a passionate defence of the Indigenous voice to parliament, saying the nation is at an “absolutely pivotal moment” in demonstrating “our ability to learn the lessons of the past”.

O’Brien was speaking at the first day of hearings of the joint select committee on the wording of the voice referendum.

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Thousands of Australian visa decisions may be affected by high court ruling, experts warn

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Advocates fear court’s decision rejecting Coalition-era policy could result in a hasty legislative fix

Migration and legal experts have warned the true number of visa decisions affected by invalid refusals of ministerial intervention is likely to be in the tens of thousands, after the high court rejected bureaucrats’ ability to block applications.

Advocates fear the court’s decision on Tuesday rejecting a Coalition-era policy that cases must show “unique or exceptional circumstances” could result in a hasty legislative fix.

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Constitutional expert gives legal tick to Indigenous voice in parliamentary submission

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Voice will not result in obligations on the executive or parliament, Anne Twomey says in submissions to inquiry

One of the nation’s top constitutional experts has reiterated to a parliamentary inquiry that the Indigenous voice to parliament won’t slow down government decision-making or clog up the courts.

Conservative critics have raised fears the voice could spur ongoing court challenges, but Prof Anne Twomey once again dismissed those concerns in a submission to the parliamentary inquiry probing the referendum.

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TikTok can still access data from Australian government devices via app on personal phones, academic warns

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Data sharing between platforms could limit effectiveness of social media app’s ban from government devices

TikTok could still access information held on Australian government devices if public servants and politicians continue to use the app on their personal mobile devices, according to a legal academic from the University of New South Wales.

Dr Katharine Kemp, who focuses on consumer law and has researched a wide variety of privacy policies for digital apps, said the loophole could limit the effectiveness of the ban on TikTok from government devices.

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Peter Dutton accused of misrepresenting locals’ views on Indigenous voice to parliament

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Residents of Leonora in country WA say the opposition leader was more interested in discussing the cashless debit card

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is being accused of misrepresenting his visit to the Western Australian town of Leonora, with locals claiming he was more interested in their views on the cashless debit card, than canvassing their opinion on the Indigenous voice to parliament.

Dutton said he travelled to communities, including Leonora, about 800km north-east of Perth, seeking grassroots opinions on the voice and this had helped inform the Liberal leader’s decision to oppose the yes vote.

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Australia’s trade minister hopeful China bans will end but warns against putting ‘all our eggs in one basket’

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Don Farrell has dismissed talk of any Australian policy shift after breakthrough reached on barley exports

The Australian trade minister says he wants a quick return to normal trade with China but has warned exporters not to put “all of our eggs in one basket”.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Don Farrell was bullish about the prospect of Australia succeeding in its international challenge against Beijing’s tariffs on Australian barley, saying he thought “we would ultimately win that”.

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Australia news live: Dutton says PM should ‘make sure’ federal police are sent to to Alice Springs; recount ordered for Sydney seat

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Opposition leader says locals are leaving town and tourism numbers are down due to lack of safety. Follow all the day’s news

If the NDIS is improved for people, it will be better for budget, Shorten says

Shorten is being asked about his other portfolio, minister for NDIS. The Grattan Institute yesterday made several recommendations to help rein in the budget, saying the government need to take a hard look at the NDIS.

If we run the scheme better for the person, the participant, the person with severe and profound disabilities. I also think that some of the other anxieties which are about money being wasted, will be dealt with.

We’ve been reforming individual features of the scheme already like getting people who are medically discharged from hospital on the NDIS, not languishing in hospital for months and months. We’ve been reducing some of the legacy cases.

So the budget will no doubt have measures which will be about improving the NDIS for participants but the budget isn’t an end in itself. So we’re doing work right now. There’ll be more work being done, and there’ll be work also finally announced when the review happens.

The bigger piece first of all, is that when the government thinks that someone owes a debt to the government, we’ve got to have a much more methodical transparent process to establish the accuracy of the debt.

The best thing you can do is not make a mistake to begin with – and I mean the government not make a mistake.

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Defence whistleblower David McBride to stand trial four years and eight months after being charged

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Trial set down for 6 November for former military lawyer accused of leaking classified Australian defence information to journalists

Former military lawyer David McBride will have waited four years and eight months before facing trial for allegedly leaking classified defence information to the media.

McBride’s case was mentioned briefly in the ACT supreme court on Thursday morning, the latest step in protracted legal proceedings that have been in train since March 2019.

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Simon Birmingham the latest Liberal party frontbencher who will not campaign against Indigenous voice

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Senator’s show of reluctance comes after Julian Leeser resigned as shadow attorney general over referendum stance

The Liberal frontbencher Simon Birmingham says he won’t campaign against the Indigenous voice to parliament, becoming the latest opposition member to show reluctance to support the party’s official position on the referendum.

Former Liberal minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt said some of his former colleagues were being “tested” after the party’s policy to campaign against the voice was revealed, as fallout continues from Julian Leeser’s resignation from the opposition frontbench.

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Indigenous voice: electoral commission launches campaign to combat misinformation and confusion

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The AEC says it will be ‘proactive’ online and use a variety of other media to help inform voters about the upcoming referendum

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has launched a public education campaign to improve knowledge of the constitution and the referendum process, while combatting misinformation about the voice to parliament.

More than 6.4 million enrolled voters have not taken part in a referendum since the 1999 poll on whether Australia should become a republic. Community leaders and government agencies have warned there is a basic lack of understanding about the process and a deluge of misinformation.

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Dutton may allow conscience vote, Wyatt says – as it happened

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Treasurer flags power bill assistance

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is giving more specifics about how this IMF report may affect the upcoming May budget. He’s flagging the government will be helping Australians pay their electricity bills.

As we say these forecasts about a decline in the economy are because of these cost of living pressures, which is hurting families and pensioners and people right around Australia.

Because they are expected to be persistent because we expect inflation to be higher than we’d like for longer than we’d like and we do need to deal with in a responsible, methodical way those cost-of-living pressures and so we need to do that in a way that doesn’t make inflation worse.

On the view of the International Monetary Fund, the global economy is on an increasingly perilous path. The situation in the world has become more complex and more challenging even over the course of the last few months. And so we won’t be completely immune from that.

The Treasury does expect our own economy to slow considerably later this year because of that combination of a slowing global economy and the impact of higher interest rates here at home as well. So we’ve got a lot coming at us from around the world.

So is it your view that avoiding a recession is still possible but a lot harder now?

Of course, it’s still possible and it’s still the expectation of the Treasury and the Reserve Bank, and a number of other economic forecasters here in Australia.

But we need to be upfront … and say that a slowing global economy matters to us a great deal, and we do expect our own economy to slow considerably the Treasury and the Reserve Bank are not currently expecting a recession here at home.

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Australian university reforms to incentivise Stem degrees over arts have ‘dismally failed’, peak bodies say

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Leading tertiary voices push for Morrison government policy to be scrapped, saying it hurts both students and universities

Higher education reforms introduced by the Morrison government – which doubled the price of some humanities degrees and lowered fees on some other courses – have not benefited students and should be scrapped, peak university bodies say.

The jobs-ready graduates package was implemented by the former Coalition government in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic to incentive students to study certain degrees, including science and engineering.

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Leeser praised by Labor but his changes to Indigenous voice model likely to be ignored

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Government unlikely to support former Liberal frontbencher’s call to wind back the voice’s power to make representations to parliament and executive government

The Labor government and Aboriginal leaders have praised Julian Leeser’s decision to quit the shadow frontbench to campaign for the Indigenous voice to parliament, but his calls to alter the wording of the referendum question may still be ignored.

A parliamentary committee on the referendum will hold its first public hearing on Friday, but Labor is unlikely to support Leeser’s suggestion to wind back the voice’s power to make representations to parliament and executive government.

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Australia and China’s barley deal over tariffs is an 11th-hour off-ramp after years of trade tensions

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Latest move fits with Albanese government’s attempts to pursue ‘constructive’ dialogue with China without making any policy concessions

The Australian government is taking a gamble by pressing pause on its formal complaint against China’s hefty tariffs on barley at the 11th hour.

But ministers appear to see this as a risk worth taking in the hope of solving one of the most intractable elements of the wider dispute between Australia and its largest trading partner.

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