Category Archives: Australian politics

Labor urged to keep ‘golden ticket’ investor visa primarily used by Chinese migrants

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Immigration expert says the policy amounts to selling a visa ‘very cheaply’ without a good return on investment

The Australia China Business Council has urged Labor to retain the “golden ticket” significant investor visa after the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, signalled it could be axed.

The council made the call in a submission to the home affairs department’s migration review, which has also reignited debate between business and unions about the level of migration and raising the pay floor for temporary skilled migrants.

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Defence personnel deployed to aid flooding recovery – as it happened

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Voice leaders ‘tired of political games’

A leading Indigenous voice to parliament advocate has lashed the “tired political games” marring discussion around the proposed advisory body, AAP reports.

Constitutions are for principle. The machinery is for parliament. The High Court of Australia was recognised in 1901 and set up via legislation several years later … it’s a normal constitutional approach.

The Uluru Statement was issued to the Australian people because as Australians we are tired of political games. This isn’t about politicians and politicking, this is about the Australian people and our future.

You can’t just say to the Australian public as the prime minister, ‘you vote at an election … on a Saturday and we’ll give you the detail on the Monday’. It’s a very serious decision to change our constitution.

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Australia live news update: fifth child airlifted to hospital with irukandji jellyfish sting; Albanese and Dutton trade insults over Indigenous voice

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Federal opposition leader wants Labor to legislate its preferred model before referendum is held this year. This blog is now closed

‘I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation’

Peter Dutton is asked about whether the prime minister has been given a copy of his letter – Anthony Albanese has said he has not received it – and Dutton says a copy has been provided to the prime minister’s office and he expects “he will respond in due course”.

I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Certainly not racist. It’s not being opposed to reconciliation. It’s all about, frankly, just being informed about what it is they’re being asked to vote on. I don’t think that is unreasonable to ask the prime minister to provide that.

I’ve met with the prime minister and I’m grateful for the meetings that we’ve had and he knows that I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation.

I’m speaking of millions of Australians, we’re asking you the reasonable questions.

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Albanese accuses Dutton of engaging in ‘culture war stunts’ over Indigenous voice

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Opposition leader has demanded more detail, saying lack of clear information will condemn referendum to failure and damage reconciliation efforts

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has accused the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, of engaging in “cheap culture war stunts” over the Indigenous voice to parliament.

Dutton on Sunday demanded – in a letter to Albanese also released to the media – more detail on the proposed body which will be voted on at a referendum by the end of 2023.

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ADF airlifts food to Western Australia areas hit by floods – as it happened

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Australian Defence Force planes now able to use the airstrip at Fitzroy Crossing as weather improves. This blog is now closed

“Bonza the bogan airline” sounds like a crap children’s book, but it’s an interesting story about another moving part in Australia’s turbulent air transport industry. Also, Elias Visontay managed to get budgie smugglers into it, making the skimpy swimwear somewhat of a sub theme on the blog today:

Waters at Menindee expected to peak

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Anthony Albanese ‘confident’ about Aukus deal despite US submarine scepticism

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Defence minister Richard Marles says Australia will need to make its own industrial contribution for the US and UK deal

Australia is on track to announce plans to buy new nuclear-powered submarines from the US and UK, despite scepticism in Washington, the Albanese government says.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the defence minister, Richard Marles, said Australia’s relationship with the US remained strong after revelations two US senators raised concerns to the president, Joe Biden, the Aukus deal between the three countries could kill off America’s submarine-building industry.

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US senators urge Joe Biden not to sell ‘scarce’ nuclear submarines to Australia

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Democrat and Republican lawmakers reportedly warned president that Aukus security pact could stress US submarine industrial base ‘to breaking point’

Two top US senators have urged president Joe Biden not to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, warning it would diminish US national security given the vessels are “scarce”.

The intervention confirms the US is under pressure not to sell its submarines before Australia is able to build its own as part of the Aukus alliance – meaning it could be decades before Australia gains nuclear submarines.

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NSW Health warns of rise in invasive bacterial infections – as it happened

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Warning as cases of meningococcal disease and invasive group A streptococcus rise. This blog is now closed

Albanese government and Business Council agree to disability employment pilot

The Albanese government has announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Business Council of Australia to create and implement a “new disability employment pilot”.

There are 2.1 million Australians with disability of working age, but only 53.4% are in the labour workforce. We also know 93% of working-age people with disability face difficulties finding work due to the lack of suitable employment and perceived limitations of their disability.

This new employment pilot seeks to address this and provide significant benefits to people with disability, employers and businesses, the economy and the broader community.

There has been a big increase as a consequence of the indexation made necessary by this higher inflation. And so that indexation is flowing through I think in welcome ways to people who are on payments. There will always be an appetite to do more and to do better when it comes to these payments. And we will always do what we responsibly can to support people, particularly people on low and fixed incomes.

It’s not something I’m contemplating because ... our position on those tax cuts hasn’t changed. And it’s not the only factor frankly in the budget which people are talking about right now, in welcome ways. As we get towards the budget, that I’ll hand down in May, there’s a lot of pressure on the budget when it comes to aged care, health care defense, spending the NDIS, the cost of servicing the trillion dollars of debt that we inherited from our predecessors.

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Voice to parliament: no campaign targets older Australians as yes group goes after young

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Facebook defends decision to delete a small number of advertisements from the no side that independent fact-checkers deemed ‘false’

A stark schism is already emerging in the voice to parliament referendum in how the respective sides are campaigning for support, with the leading yes group overwhelmingly appealing to younger voters while the main no organisation is strongly targeting older Australians.

It comes as Facebook defends its decision to delete a small number of advertisements from the no side that independent fact-checkers deemed “false”. The social media giant maintains it will reject other referendum ads that breach policies – except those from politicians.

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Doctors want Medicare rebates to double to stop GPs abandoning bulk-billing

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Australian Medical Association calls for rebates to match the increased cost of living, but others say Australia must rethink healthcare as a whole

Medicare rebates to GPs need to double to stem the tide of doctors abandoning bulk billing, the Australian Medical Association has warned, while sounding the alarm over “catastrophically bad” access in rural and regional areas.

Doctors groups claim an increasing number of general practitioners can’t afford to offer bulk billing because federal payments have not kept pace with growing costs.

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National Library of Australia’s free digital archives may be forced to close without funding

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With only six months worth of funding left, library’s director general faces ‘very big decisions’ on the future of Trove

The future of Trove, the National Library of Australia’s expansive public digital archives, is in doubt with just six months funding left, with the library’s director general revealing that it is facing “very, very big decisions” in the next few months, if the government does not step in with funding.

Trove, a free online resource used by thousands of researchers, academics and members of the public, receives more than 20m hits each year. It has been treading water for the past six years, drip-fed by the federal government to the tune of about $5m annually.

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Lifesavers rescue 1,200 over holiday period in Australia – as it happened

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‘Challenging night’ for WA fire crews in south-west

Earlier today, Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services incident controller Peter Thomas said it had been a “challenging night” for fire crews in the south-west, as bushfires threaten the region.

So our volunteers from the Donnybrook area across the south-west [who have] come to deal with this incident.

We’ve had some strong winds that have been coming consistently from the east, but been fairly strong and making it challenging for our crews.

When we allow sportspeople from Russia to participate in the Australian Open, we do exactly what Putin wants.

It doesn’t matter what flag Russian Federation players compete under. It has Ukrainian blood on it.

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Australian health minister suggests pre-flight China tests designed to make Beijing share more data on Covid outbreak

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Mark Butler signals measure could be lifted if China provides ‘real-time uploading’ of genomic sequencing of cases

Australia’s health minister says he wants pre-flight Covid testing for travellers from China to be “temporary”, suggesting the requirement could be lifted if Beijing shares more information about its outbreak.

Mark Butler suggested on Thursday – the first day of the new testing regime – that the measure was put in place as part of an international push for China to provide real-time data on the genomic sequencing of Covid cases.

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Melbourne shrank while Queensland grew: what the pandemic did to Australia’s population

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The Victorian capital is still on track to outpace Sydney as the biggest city in Australia but Covid lockdowns slowed that growth

Melbourne’s population growth turned negative during the pandemic as people fled prolonged Covid lockdowns, while Queensland welcomed a steady stream of people moving from other states, new population data shows.

The data from the Centre for Population showed Melbourne’s rate of population growth dropped from 1.8% in 2018-19 to -1.6% in 2020-21. Both international and interstate migration to Victoria fell, with annual population growth going backwards at -0.9%.

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Australian defence force to spend $1bn acquiring naval strike missiles and army rocket systems

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Government says purchase of truck-mounted rockets ‘largest expansion of army strike capability in living memory’ with range extended from 50km to 300km

Australia will spend more than $1bn on new naval missiles and acquiring a US rocket artillery system used by the Ukrainian military.

The defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, said the acquisition of 20 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars) including launchers, missiles and training rockets, from US defence contractor Lockheed Martin was the “largest expansion of army strike capability in living memory”, reflecting the need to deter threats in a time of “strategic uncertainty”.

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Unprecedented amount of water moving down Fitzroy River in Kimberley – as it happened

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Record flooding in Western Australian region forces evacuations. This blog is now closed

People battling floods in South Australia and now the Kimberley in Western Australia will be among those glad to see a shift back to more typical rainfall patterns.

As it happens, that sort of shift in climate influences looks to be under way, particularly as the La Niña in the Pacific continues to weaken.

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Covid testing for China travellers ‘not an especially onerous requirement’, Chalmers says – as it happened

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Opposition calls on government to explain decision to implement restrictions on travellers arriving from China. This blog is now closed

China travel situation the ‘first test of the Albanese government’, Liberal MP says

The shadow assistant minister for mental health, Melissa McIntosh, is among those from the Coalition criticising Labor’s decision not to follow health advice on imposing conditions on travel from China.

The Coalition always supports the best interests of Australians and the safety of Australians ... Now I think this is really the first test of the Albanese government when it comes to pandemic management.

And it’s quite perplexing that on New Year’s Eve, the chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, sent a letter to the health minister, Mark Butler, stating he did not feel these restrictions on Chinese travellers were really required. And then a day later, the health minister has gone against the health advice, of the chief medical officer of this country, and imposed those restrictions. I think Australians very much deserve answers when it comes to the government’s decision, why did the government go against the chief medical officer’s advice and what’s the plan now they’ve implemented these restrictions?

One of the reasons why Australia got through the pandemic as one of the best countries in the world to do so was because we followed Australia’s medical advice. Australia’s medical advice. Not following other countries.

I think it’s really important we’re consistent in what we do as a nation ... when it comes to following the advice. And as I said, this is really a first test of the Albanese government. It’s leading people to be confused. Why would you have the chief medical officer say one thing, and the government ignore that, and do another?

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Daniel Andrews and Dominic Perrottet call for reforms to Australia’s ‘broken’ primary care system

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Victorian premier says state-run hospitals should not be acting as safety nets because people ‘cannot find a bulk-billing doctor’

Victorian and New South Wales have banded together to ramp up pressure on the federal government to overhaul Australia’s ailing primary care network through national cabinet this year.

Visiting a newly opened urgent primary care clinic in Melbourne, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said state-run hospitals were too often acting as a safety net amid an ongoing shortage of bulk-billing general practitioners.

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David Pocock wants stage-three tax cuts revisited in light of shrinking workforce

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ACT senator suggests ageing population with proportion of taxpayers declining means situation has ‘changed significantly’ since cuts legislated in 2019

New data on Australia’s ageing population and shrinking workforce should push the government to review the stage-three tax cuts, independent senator David Pocock has said.

Pocock said economic circumstances have “changed significantly” since the Morrison government legislated the tax cuts, with Labor’s support, in 2019.

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Australia imposed Covid checks on travellers from China against advice of top health official

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Prof Paul Kelly told Albanese government there was not ‘sufficient public health rationale’ for additional requirements targeting China

The Albanese government imposed pre-flight Covid checks on travellers from China against the advice of the chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly.

The 31 December advice, published by the health department, stated that Kelly did “not believe that there is sufficient public health rationale” for any additional requirements, labelling any restriction on travel from China “disproportionate to the risk”.

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