Category Archives: Australian politics

Labor fast-tracks territory rights vote to increase chance of passing workplace laws this year

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Crossbench senator David Pocock says the two extra sitting days approved by the Senate to pass legislation is ‘a start’ but more time is needed

The Albanese government has fast-tracked a final vote on the territory rights bill in a bid to shore up its chances of passing industrial relations law changes this year.

The Senate has approved a plan for two extra sitting days this Friday and next and a final conscience vote on the bill to restore territories’ ability to legalise voluntary assisted dying on Thursday 1 December – a key demand of crossbench senator David Pocock.

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BoM update suggests big wet to continue as La Niña lingers – as it happened

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David Pocock was asked how he would vote on the IR bill, if he was made to vote for it today while on ABC radio RN.

He said he couldn’t “in good conscience” vote for the bill, if it came to the crunch today (which it won’t, it was a hypothetical).

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Electronic monitoring in community could reduce immigration detention, document states

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Briefing note reveals surveillance among ‘key initiatives being further explored’ by home affairs department

Electronic monitoring is being considered to help clear the “intractable” caseload of people in immigration detention, according to a document released under freedom of information.

According to an August briefing note, surveillance is among alternatives to immigration detention under consideration by the home affairs department. These also include better risk assessment, an independent panel to advise on the release of people in detention and a “step-down” model into community detention.

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Australia politics live: Albanese accuses Dutton of ‘dog-whistling’ over Cop27 climate damage fund

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Buy now, pay later review has been coming for a while

The last time the issue was examined, under the previous government, it was decided the industry could regulate itself.

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Flood warnings in Victoria and NSW – as it happened

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Birmingham against a windfall tax for oil and gas companies

Birmingham says he is opposed to a windfall tax for oil and gas companies to help assist with rising energy prices.

We don’t think that simply slugging a tax in relation to companies is going to do anything for the energy prices of Australians. You’ve got to fix supply in the gas market to provide for genuine outcomes there, and those types of taxes will actually only hurt you in the longer term because they will act as an investment disincentive and you have less supply for the future.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has previously said limiting global heating to 1.5C as set out in the Paris agreement meant there can be no new oil, gas or coal investment beyond 2021.

A windfall tax is not about shoring up gas supplies, but generating revenue which can re-invested in new renewable energy projects and other decarbonisation projects.

I strongly support recognition and have done for many years and, of course, the debate around the voice has come along subsequent to early efforts to try to achieve Indigenous recognition. When it comes to the model for the Voice, I do think Australians deserve to see more detail and have more answers about how it will work, how it will be constituted and how it will make a difference. I understand the very passionate views by those who argue for the voice and I don’t wish to see them disrespected in any way, but I also acknowledge that there are strong Indigenous views of doubt and question about whether the voice will be actually effective in achieving any substantial change on the ground in relation to Indigenous disadvantage.

We are going to be asked to support a constitutional change for a model that is as undefined by the government in relation to that model. It is not unreasonable to want to see the detail of the model.

An economy growing as strongly as possible, keeping unemployment as low as possible – those are the things that our government managed to achieve, with strong economic growth in our last year in office, with unemployment down to 50-year lows, creating the conditions for economic growth to help to drive productive wages growth.

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Parliament might need ‘extra time’ to meet election pledges, PM says

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Anthony Albanese open to extending the sitting calendar to debate bills on industrial relations and an anti-corruption commission

Federal parliament’s sitting calendar may be extended beyond its scheduled Christmas break next week, as the government hopes to pass a raft of complex legislation and fulfil election promises before the end of the year.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has conceded the Senate may need “extra time” to consider his contentious industrial relations bill, with the government still needing to woo crossbench senators to pass the workplace legislation.

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Evacuation order issued for Condobolin; Albanese says renewables can fight inflation – as it happened

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Lachlan River is at major flood level and SES predicts a record peak of 7.8 metres on Monday. This blog is now closed

Poppy seed tea warning

Australians are being warned not to drink poppy seed tea, promoted on popular social media platforms, after a spate of poisoning cases across Australia linked to the home-brewed sedative.

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Albanese says Biden’s inflation-busting plan has opportunities for Australia

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Australian PM says he used meetings on sidelines of summits this week to talk about commercial openings in green energy

Anthony Albanese has revealed he discussed opportunities for Australia to commercialise new clean technology with the US during conversations with Joe Biden on the sidelines of international summits over the past week.

Winding up his nine-day travel program on Saturday in Bangkok – and as the Cop27 in Egypt moved into end game – Australia’s prime minister told journalists he spoke to Biden “about how Australia can benefit from his groundbreaking Inflation Reduction Act” passed in the US earlier this year.

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Anthony Albanese calls for emergency UN meeting to condemn North Korean missile launch

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Australia’s prime minister joined forces with Kamala Harris, Fumio Kishida, Jacinda Ardern, Han Duck-soo, and Justin Trudeau, on issue at Apec summit

Anthony Albanese has called for an emergency session of the UN security council to condemn North Korea’s provocative launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone on Friday.

Australia’s prime minister joined the vice-president of the United States, Kamala Harris, the prime minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, South Korea’s prime minister, Han Duck-soo, and the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, in a huddle on the sidelines of the Apec summit in Bangkok on Friday.

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Apec leaders condemn North Korean missile test – as it happened

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Multi-employer bargaining should be limited to low paid sectors – Westacott

The second thing Jennifer Westacott tells Patricia Karvelas the BCA doesn’t like, is that big business could bargain together:

The second thing we’re really concerned about is the kind of expansion of the multi-employer agreement remember at the summit of the jobs and skill set that this was very much about low paid workers.

So our argument is, well, why wouldn’t you just fix up that low paid stream rather than what we’re currently doing, which was more we have to carve the sector out. The issue and this is more complex is than in the current proposal, and we’re very worried about this, that big employers could be forced to bargain together and that is not good for wages.

The first is and the government to be fair, let’s be clear, we are working constructively with the government. We’re working constructively with the crossbench I think everyone wants Australians wages to go up.

I don’t think the legislation in its current form is going to do that and let me give you those three reasons.

Well, we want to see obviously that period longer, but we want to see kind of much clearer kind of restatement of the objects of the act that the single enterprise system is the system that we want people to use. We want it to be much easier for people where they agree they just keep bargaining.

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‘A remarkable man’: Anthony Albanese confirms release of Sean Turnell from Mynamar jail

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PM pays tribute to foreign minister Penny Wong for diplomacy that led to freeing of Australian economist after 650 days

Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to his foreign minister Penny Wong and to regional neighbours while confirming that the economist Sean Turnell has been released from prison in Myanmar and is on his way home to Australia.

Australia’s prime minister spoke to Turnell – a former adviser to the democratically elected civilian government led by ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi – after arriving in Bangkok on Thursday night.

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Sportsbet calls for ban on using credit cards to gamble online as AMA warns of rising harms

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Top bookmaker says use of credit to fund wagering is ‘high risk’ ahead of government inquiry into industry

Online gambling companies could be barred from accepting credit card payments under a proposal backed by leading bookmaker Sportsbet and the nation’s peak banking lobby group, as the federal government probes further restrictions on betting.

The Australian Medical Association meanwhile warned there was “little evidence” current regulation was addressing problem gambling online, raising fears about its growth during the Covid pandemic.

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News live updates: Medibank, Optus among companies shunning privacy law hearing in ‘collective failure of corporate Australia’

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Greens senator David Shoebridge has criticised notable absences at a Senate committee looking at privacy laws today. Follow the day’s news live

ADF personnel to help in NSW as government works on dedicated disaster workforce

Murray Watt is asked about a permanent disaster workforce to assist during national disasters and their clean-up, given the pressure put on the defence force.

The ADF does certainly play a role, particularly in the recovery phase. And just yesterday we activated more defence forces to go into western New South Wales to assist so over the next couple of days, we expect to see 200 defence force personnel helping there to top up these state-based services. But the reality is all of this is putting a huge amount of pressure, whether it be on those state-based services or the ADF. And that’s why in this budget, we committed over $30m to a volunteer veteran organisation called Disaster Relief Australia to sort of top up the kind of services that are available for communities, particularly in that clean-up phase.

But we’re going to be keeping on doing some work on this about what we need to put in place as a country to supplement the ADF and I’d be hopeful that we might be able to bring that to a conclusion around about the budget next year.

There’s insurance costs so let alone the huge damage bill that individuals are going to be incurring themselves.

So I think everyone is unfortunately going to be having to put their hands in their pockets for for this unfolding event that just won’t go away.

So even if we weren’t to get any more rain, we’re going to be looking at even more damage from the existing flood waters. And, as I say, I think we’re likely to see more. We’ve also got to remember that we haven’t yet seen the cyclone season start whether that be in north Queensland, Western Australia or Northern Territory. So unfortunately I haven’t got a lot of good news for people except for the fact that there is unlikely to be a lot of rain over the next couple of days. So that’s a good thing.

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Anthony Albanese seeks ways to boost Australia’s defence capability as G20 ends

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Flurry of face-to-face talks with the leaders of US, UK and France could lead to more deals for military equipment

Anthony Albanese has confirmed he canvassed interim solutions to boost Australia’s defence capability with Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron in a flurry of private meetings on the sidelines of the G20 and East Asia summits.

After meeting the French president in Bali on Wednesday, Australia’s prime minister flagged he was actively pursuing closer defence and security cooperation with Macron, given France is a significant Pacific and Indian ocean power.

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In-home aged care’s administration fees to be capped amid gouging fears

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Exclusive: Charges for switching packages also to be banned as care advocates welcome government’s changes

Administration fees for in-home aged care packages will be capped under new federal reforms, after concerns some providers are “gouging” clients with charges of up to 60%.

Aged care advocates have welcomed the change, saying some providers were overcharging or using inefficient practices, and that more transparency on pricing would further lower prices.

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News live: Penny Wong condemns Russia’s deadly missile attacks; Deliveroo to end operations in Australia

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Foreign minister says ‘Australia stands with Ukraine’ following reports a Russian missile landed in Polish territory killing two people. Follow the day’s news

ABC Radio asked Simon Birmingham about reports from this morning that a Russian missile has hit Poland near the Ukraine border: The shadow foreign affairs minister says:

This is deeply, deeply troubling news.

If an accident occurs it can result in a real escalation ... it shows just how dangerous a game Russia is playing.

We can’t expect instant miracles, but the ultimate test of dialogue will be the outcomes that are received if this dialogue is successful, to see breakthroughs in regard to those trade barriers... and also critically the just treatment of Australian’s detained in China.

And then of course challenges in terms of engagement within the region, that we must continue to argue for China to respect international law, international rules and norms

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Labor to boost whistleblower protections in last sitting fortnight of parliamentary year

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Exclusive: government will introduce new laws to make ‘immediate improvements’ ahead of fuller review in 2023, attorney general reveals

Labor will move to boost whistleblower protections by introducing a new bill in the final sitting fortnight of the 2022 parliament, the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has revealed.

The Albanese government will introduce amendments to deliver “immediate improvements” to whistleblowing laws ahead of a fuller review in 2023, Dreyfus will tell an anti-corruption conference in Sydney on Wednesday.

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Australia news live: immediate evacuation orders as central west NSW faces dramatic floods; record early voting in Victoria

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The SES has said the Lachlan River is rising faster than originally forecast. Follow all today’s news

Some issues ‘we have raised will be solved overnight’: Chalmers

Albanese has said there are no preconditions ahead of the meeting with Xi but Karvelas is pressing Chalmers on what could be on the table. He’s staying pretty tight-lipped but here are some of his answers.

We’ve made it really clear for some time … that these trade sanctions are not in Australia’s interests, and we want to see them lifted.

I don’t think anybody pretends some of the issues China has raised, certainly some we have raised will be solved overnight, but again we give ourselves a much better chance where there is engagement and dialogue.

Australia’s made its views clear over a long period of time when it comes to the detention of these two people.

What’s Australia’s ambition here?

We seek a more stable relationship with China.

We will speak up for our national interest where necessary, but we believe engagement is important to give ourselves the chance to work through some of these issues if we’re talking to each other.

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Australian business hails Albanese’s meeting with Xi as ‘tremendous reset’

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Business Council of Australia chief Jennifer Westacott sees a chance to ‘start building relationships’ damaged by trade and human rights disputes

The Business Council of Australia has hailed the Albanese government’s “tremendous reset” with China as a breakthrough meeting was planned for Tuesday between the Australian prime minister and the Chinese president on the sidelines of the G20.

The BCA’s chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, told journalists on Monday night that Labor’s “huge foreign policy reset” with Indonesia and Pacific countries, and the “tremendous reset announced today with China”, was creating opportunity “for business to come in behind … and start building those business-to-business relationships”.

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‘Dialogue is always good’: Anthony Albanese to meet Xi Jinping on sidelines of G20 in Bali

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Prime minister says ‘we need to talk to develop mutual understanding’ as China declares it’s ready to meet Australia ‘halfway’

Anthony Albanese will meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, ending three years of diplomatic deep freeze between the two countries.

Australia’s prime minister confirmed the conversation would take place on Tuesday evening on the sidelines of the G20. It will follow a landmark meeting on Monday night between Joe Biden and the Chinese president – the first face-to-face talks between the two men during Biden’s presidency.

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