Burning native forest wood waste for electricity shouldn’t be classed as renewable energy, Senate report suggests

Climate bill inquiry says government should consider establishing a transition authority for coal and gas workers

A Labor-led committee has recommended the government consider changing a controversial law classifying electricity from burning native forest wood waste as renewable energy after the Senate votes for its climate change legislation.

The Senate committee inquiry into Labor’s climate change bill also recommended the Albanese government consider how to help with “transition arrangements” for fossil fuel workers affected by the shift to a cleaner economy.

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Big business and unions reveal shared policies on three big ticket items ahead of jobs summit

Business Council and ACTU agree on need to boost paid parental leave, reform migration skills lists and set up an authority to support the clean energy transition

Big business and unions have agreed on three big ticket items ahead of the jobs and skills summit, including a boost to paid parental leave.

The Business Council of Australia and Australian Council of Trade Unions released their shared policies on Thursday, which include the need to extend paid parental leave, reform migration skills lists and set up an authority to support the clean energy transition.

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Labor urged to improve work rights for people on bridging visas amid skilled migration push

Call comes as one government MP says jobs summit focus must not detract from dealing with massive backlog of humanitarian visas

The government is being urged to look at improving work rights for people on bridging visas already in Australia, and not to neglect the backlog of humanitarian visas amid calls for an increase to the skilled migration intake.

There is widespread expectation the government will boost Australia’s skilled migration intake from around 160,000 people a year to 200,000 people, with consensus among unions and industry that the cap needs to be lifted.

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Australia news live: PM pays tribute to Gorbachev as ‘one of the true giants of the 20th century’

Anthony Albanese will meet with premiers and chief ministers today for the national cabinet in Sydney

Jobs summit should support apprenticeships in female-dominated trades, independents say

Independents are calling for more investment in female-dominated trades like textiles and floristry ahead of the government’s jobs and skills summit to be held tomorrow.

This jobs summit must not become fixated on getting only the high-vis industries out to work and leave the pink workforce at home yet again … We have women who want to work. We must enable them.

There’s been too narrow a view of what are the apprenticeships and trades, it’s been a very bloke-centric approach.

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Australian Monarchist League appoints former Liberal senator Eric Abetz as chairman

The group aims to fight the Labor government’s plans to hold a referendum on a republic, should it win a second term

The Australian Monarchist League has called on the services of former Liberal senator Eric Abetz as it aims to fight the Labor government’s plans for a republic.

The staunch monarchist lost his seat at the May federal election after being demoted to third spot on the party’s ticket, ending a 28-year senate career.

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Rural Victorian town left without bulk-billing doctor after clinic closes doors

Thousands of patients in Mildura region in state’s north-west are unable to access medical records or GP care

About 15,000 patients in and around the rural city of Mildura in Victoria’s north-west have been left without a bulk-billing doctor and are struggling to access their medical records.

The Tristar medical group, which owns the Mildura clinic, went into voluntary administration in May, and after the sale of the clinic to another medical group fell through earlier in August, the clinic has closed its doors.

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Academics welcome Australian Research Council overhaul following controversial grant decisions

Researchers and Greens raise concerns about ‘national interest test’ introduced by Coalition which Labor has signalled will remain

The Australian Research Council, the national body responsible for administering non-medical research funding, will be reformed in a development welcomed by the research community after grant delays and longstanding accusations of political interference.

The federal education minister, Jason Clare, announced on Tuesday a review of the agency, which administers around $800m in funding each year to Australian researchers.

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Lawyer reveals dementia diagnosis after guilty verdict – as it happened

Independent calls for PM to ‘protect’ potential Icac from government interference

The independent MP Helen Haines, has called on the prime minister to “protect” a potential federal Icac from any future government interference.

We need more detail around how it will be funded to make sure, in subsequent governments, that the powers of this commission can’t be eroded away. And we need to make sure that the broad definition of corruption can really capture anyone who attempts to improperly influence government decisions.

The other part of it that I haven’t seen, and I would like to see, is what the government plans to do to encourage a pro-integrity culture. And I haven’t seen anything about that thus far.

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Increasing paid parental leave to 52 weeks would give billion-dollar boost to economy, unions say

In the lead-up to Labor’s jobs and skills summit, unions have also called for payments to match actual wages and the inclusion of superannuation

Unions have called for a massive expansion of paid parental leave by extending it to 52 weeks, paying parents their actual wage and including superannuation.

A report released by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) on Monday night has suggested halving the gap in women’s pay and participation would boost the economy by $111bn.

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Stage-three tax cuts: richest 1% of Australians will save as much as poorest 65% combined, analysis shows

Adam Bandt says changes will ‘turbocharge’ inequality as parliamentary budget office analysis finds men will benefit the most

The richest 1% of Australians will get as much benefit from the stage-three tax cuts as the poorest 65% combined, new parliamentary budget office analysis has projected, heaping more pressure on the Albanese government to rethink its commitment to the controversial $243bn reform plan.

After the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, reaffirmed Labor stood by the tax changes on Monday, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, again called for the Coalition-legislated tax cuts to be discussed at this week’s jobs and skills summit, warning the reforms would “turbocharge” inequality.

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Business cuts to on-the-job training have made Australia increasingly reliant on migrants, experts say

Academic says companies ‘squealing’ to government about worker skill shortage are contributing to it

Businesses have demanded governments invest more in skills training even as they reduce such spending themselves, leaving Australia reliant on skilled migrants to avoid falling further behind comparable nations, academics and unions say.

The assessment, made public days before the jobs and skills summit in Canberra, comes as the federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, released draft legislation on Monday that would give $1.5bn in tax incentives for small businesses to lift the skills of employees.

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Penny Wong visits PNG and Timor-Leste as expert warns neighbours are ‘playing the China card’

Foreign affairs minister met PNG leaders on Monday in Port Moresby and will continue to Timor-Leste on Wednesday

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says Australian aid in the Pacific comes with “no strings attached”, in a veiled reference to China’s expanding power in the region.

Visiting Port Moresby on Monday, Wong said Australia wanted the “closest possible relationship” with Papua New Guinea and would work with, and listen to, its government and people.

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Australia news live updates: Albanese says government will ‘stand by’ stage three tax cuts at press club speech

The PM says his government made the decision in 2019 ‘that we would stand by that legislation rather than re-litigate it’. Follow all the day’s news

Pocock pushes for scrapping of stage-three tax cuts

Independent senator David Pocock was on RN speaking about the stage-three tax cuts, which he says should be “resisted” – no matter what was promised before the election.

What I’ve said is that they should be revisited … [Anthony Albanese] has a really strong case to relook at these these tax cuts and see what what else that could actually be spent on, given the you know the huge amount of money that they represent.

Things have changed a lot since these were where they decided. We’ve had bushfires, a global pandemic. We’ve had flooding and stagnant wages, and now people are in a cost-of-living crisis across the country. And so I just don’t think that we can justify handing out $240bn over the next 10 years to the wealthiest Australians.

Ultimately, when we hit the budget in October – which is where these issues get reviewed every year – when you look at the budget, there will be things that we want to do that we can’t do. And that’s the reality of a trillion dollars of Liberal debt, particularly as inflation goes up. That debt now costs a lot more than it costs even a year ago.

So there will be things that that we would want to do that people would like us to do that aren’t going to be possible as an example. It’s basically saying, ‘Yeah, this is just too too expensive.’

We’re only in the second month of that new system. A lot of it was designed before we came to office and the contracts had all been signed before we came into office. So I’m still very mindful of what we can do. But the the challenges of the people who are in the system right now are exactly as you’ve described.

I think to live on $46 a day is incredibly difficult if not impossible.

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Australia’s jobs and skills summit: who’s going and what’s on the agenda?

Labor hopes together business, unions and the community sector will be able to find ways to lift wages, spur productivity and ease skills shortages

Lifting wages, productivity and easing skills shortages are top of the agenda at Thursday and Friday’s jobs and skills summit.

Here’s everything you need to know about the event.

Maintaining full employment and growing productivity

Equal opportunities and pay for women

Sustainable wage growth and the future of bargaining

Mega-trends driving our current and future skills needs

Workforce opportunities from clean energy and tackling climate change

Skills and training

Migration

Workforce participation

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Pocock urges Labor to scrap tax cuts – as it happened

Independent senator David Pocock says circumstances have changed ‘so much’ since stage three tax cuts policy was legislated. This blog is now closed

McManus: normal part of bargaining to have industrial action as a last resort

McManus is asked if she wants workers in specific business to regain the right to strike in support of workers in other business (otherwise known as sympathy strikes or solidarity action).

Not in support of workers in another business – together. It is a normal part of bargaining to have … as a last resort, to take industrial action, and that is what happens in countries that have multi-employer bargaining, and there [are] not more strikes, there is more pay rises.

Essentially when workers have an option to do that, obviously it means the option to have a better outcome, and a better outcome more quickly.

Basically, workers’ bargaining power has been smashed over that period of time That’s why we have a problem, a huge problem, with wages growth and unless we address that issue, that is not going to change.

We think [sector-wide bargaining] should be open to all, but obviously a lot of places … they are getting pay rises at the moment. They can access the bargaining system.

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How would an Indigenous voice work and what are people saying about it?

In press conference with NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal, PM reveals he has been talking with sporting figures about supporting campaign

The Albanese government has put forward a preferred form of words to insert into the constitution to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament, starting with a simple question for us all to vote on.

“We should consider asking our fellow Australians something as simple as: ‘Do you support an alteration to the constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?’” Anthony Albanese said in July during a landmark speech at the Garma festival in Arnhem Land.

There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

It may make representations to parliament and the executive government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The parliament shall, subject to this constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

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Electric car-ready homes will help firm up the power grid, Ed Husic says

Governments urged to plan for emerging technologies that will allow bidirectional charging so vehicle batteries can power homes

Australia’s first mandate to make new apartment buildings “electric vehicle-ready” should be extended to all new housing, potentially turning entire suburbs into virtual batteries supporting the power grid, the federal science minister said.

Ed Husic helped helm Friday’s gathering of federal, state and territory building ministers in Sydney, where it was agreed to amend the national construction code to require new apartment blocks to be capable of charging cars in all their parking spots.

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Perrottet government faces challenge from new wave of teals in NSW’s 2023 state election

Community-based groups are looking for candidates but they may find it harder to gain traction than federal independents

The Perrottet government will face a wave of community-based independent candidates at the next state election running on platforms of integrity in NSW politics, sustainability and local development issues.

Community-based groups, some of which include people who worked on federal campaigns for “teal” candidates, are being set up along the north shore of Sydney and in the east.

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Albanese meets with NBA legend in support of Indigenous voice – as it happened

Greens call for immediate pay rises for minimum wage earners; 86 Covid deaths reported. This blog is now closed

The minister for employment and workplace relations, Tony Burke spoke to Channel Nine this morning, saying there is “a lot” government can do to help close the gender pay gap.

Burke said there is currently a 14% difference between what men and women are paid, which amounts to $250/week.

It’s a really common ploy in workplaces where women are being paid less than men. We want to get rid of those clauses.

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Shaquille O’Neal meets with PM in support of Indigenous voice to parliament

Anthony Albanese announces the NBA legend will be part of the effort to mobilise support in the lead-up to a referendum

The prime minister is usually a towering figure in the national imagination, but on Saturday Anthony Albanese was quite literally dwarfed by Shaquille O’Neal during an announcement the NBA star would be lending his support to the campaign for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

The former LA Lakers centre is in Australia for a speaking tour and reached out to the government to inform himself about the proposal for the First Nations voice, Albanese said.

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