It is now a three-person race to lead the Coalition’s junior partner with the deputy leader joining Darren Chester in announcing intention to nominate
David Littleproud will run against Barnaby Joyce for leadership of the National party.
The high-profile deputy leader announced on Saturday he’d told Joyce of his decision to nominate.
Continue reading...Prime minister says Labor ‘won’t drop the ball’ as Samoa signs agreement with China; the Greens’ Stephen Bates claims victory in seat of Brisbane. Follow all the day’s news
Nationals MP Darren Chester reportedly told Barnaby Joyce of his intention to challenge him for the leadership in the party’s group chat.
May we all strive to have such chaotic group chat energy.
Continue reading...Analysis: Implications of Greens wins could be decades-long – for both Labor and the LNP
A few days before the 2019 federal election, a group of regional Queensland state MPs held crisis talks with the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, and her then deputy, Jackie Trad.
They brought advance news of the thrashing that Labor was about to receive in the state’s regional areas. Some had copped abuse from voters at polling stations. They said delays approving the Adani Carmichael coalmine would ultimately cost them their seats.
Continue reading...Exclusive: President of south-east Asian nation says Australia used cover of ‘supposedly altruistic foreign aid program’ to spy on behalf of oil companies
The president of Timor-Leste, José Ramos-Horta, has accused former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer of “avoiding and distorting” the issues around the 2004 bugging scandal, saying recent comments ignored the fact that Australia had spied “on behalf of oil companies and using the cover of Australia’s supposedly altruistic foreign aid program”.
On Thursday, Downer appeared on the ABC’s Q&A program and was questioned about the 2004 Australian Secret Intelligence Service mission to bug Timor-Leste’s government during sensitive talks to carve up oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.
Continue reading...Tamil family can return to Queensland town while their immigration status is resolved, Labor’s Jim Chalmers says
The Murugappan family is set to return home, to the rural Queensland town of Biloela.
The interim home affairs minister, Jim Chalmers, said on Friday afternoon that he had exercised his powers under the Migration Act to give them bridging visas, fulfilling a pre-election promise to let them go home.
Continue reading...ABF officials made it clear publication of the interception could only proceed on the authority of the home affairs minister, Guardian Australia understands
Scott Morrison’s staff conveyed a clear message to border force officials through Karen Andrews’ office on election day that they wanted the department to publicise the interception of a boat from Sri Lanka, Guardian Australia understands.
While an investigation into the politically charged incident is ongoing, people familiar with the events last Saturday have confirmed that on current information, staff working for Andrews made it clear to officials that Morrison wanted the boat interception publicised. They also conveyed that they wanted the opposition briefed about the incident, given the caretaker convention was in force.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...NSW paramedics take industrial action; election vote count ‘progressing well’; interest rate rises on horizon; Penny Wong speaks at Fiji press conference; Anthony Albanese signs Fair Work Commission submission on increasing minimum wage; decision on Biloela family due; at least 39 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
Peter Dutton was on the Today show this morning, maintaining his charm offensive from yesterday, and distancing himself from former prime minister Scott Morrison.
Dutton emphasised his “work ethic” and his connection with John Howard and Peter Costello (very interesting in light of the election result):
I have a lot of respect for Scott and all of my former leaders, but I grew up under John Howard and I was assistant treasurer to Peter Costello.
I have, I think, an incredible work ethic and I have a desire to do what is right by our country. I’ve had tough jobs in immigration, border protection and in defence ...
Continue reading...Report says Adani’s Carmichael mine in central Queensland seems ‘rather a political decision, not an economically driven one’
Any new coalmines in Australia’s Galilee Basin, including Adani’s Carmichael mine, will not be economically viable in the long run under even the most generous assumptions about the future of the fossil fuel, according to an analysis by German academics.
The study, developed in conjunction with Australian experts, found it was “highly implausible” that mines in the central Queensland basin could run profitably and there was a high chance they would end up as stranded assets.
Continue reading...Foreign minister uses speech in Fiji to declare ‘this is a different Australian government’ that will act responsibly on climate change
The new foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has promised to treat Pacific island countries with respect, telling an audience in Fiji that Australia is “a partner that doesn’t come with strings attached” and won’t “impose unsustainable financial burdens”.
Wong promised to respect Pacific priorities and institutions as she set out an implicit contrast with China, which is pursuing a sweeping regional economic and security deal with Pacific nations that would dramatically expand Beijing’s influence and reach into those countries.
Continue reading...Former veterans affairs minister says ‘it’s important we listen to the message we received over the weekend from the Australian people’
Nationals MP Darren Chester has confirmed he will run for the party’s leadership in a ballot next week, setting up an explosive showdown with his rival Barnaby Joyce - a man Chester once described as “incoherent”.
The Nine newspapers reported Chester saying it was “time for a change” in the party, and that the Nationals needed to “take some responsibility for the Liberal losses in the city”.
Continue reading...Tim Smith, who is retiring in November, says Coalition needs to ‘stop obsessing with the woke causes of inner-urban elites’ and focus on suburbs
The voters of Kooyong in Melbourne’s east have been described as “loud, entitled and privileged” – by their own state Liberal MP.
Victorian Liberal Tim Smith represents the state electorate of Kew, which overlaps the federal seat of Kooyong, where independent Monique Ryan defeated former treasurer Josh Frydenberg in Saturday’s election.
Continue reading...New foreign minister tells Fiji ‘I hope I will be here often’; Jane Hume and Brian Loughnane to review Liberal party’s election campaign; Labor retains Tasmanian seat of Lyons; nation records 71 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
The PM is asked what he thought of Tanya Plibersek saying Peter Dutton looks like Voldemort, and reiterates that he wants to “change the way politics operates”:
It was a mistake. It shouldn’t have been said. We all make mistakes from time to time.
What we need to do is to move on from them and it is how we respond to them. Tanya Plibersek responded appropriately. I want to change the way that politics operates.
Quite clearly, one of the issues that came up, we might have discussed it in previous weeks on this program, is we couldn’t tell from opposition where all the pots of money had been stored by this government.
They abused the process of the contingency reserve to create funds for use during the election campaign. We will go through those line by line because it is taxpayers’ money, not Liberal party or National party money that was being allocated in the billions, frankly, during this campaign.
Continue reading...Incoming Indigenous affairs minster says predicament of families affected by collapse of predatory funeral fund is ‘totally unacceptable’
Linda Burney will make an investigation into the predatory funeral fund ACBF-Youpla one of her “highest priorities” on taking over as Indigenous affairs minister, after Guardian Australia revealed new details of its collapse, which left more than 13,000 people facing the probable loss of everything they had paid into the fund.
“I assure people that this is the top of my agenda, probably the first thing that needs to be resolved, and I will do that carefully,” Burney told Guardian Australia.
Continue reading...Citing huge workloads for MPs, premier will introduce bill to increase House of Assembly, reversing 1998 reduction
The number of MPs in Tasmania’s lower house of parliament is set to increase by 40% after the new Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, responded to concerns about politician burnout and a shallow ministerial talent pool.
Rockliff made a surprise announcement on Wednesday that he would table legislation this year to increase the size of the House of Assembly from 25 to 35 members at the next state election, due in 2025.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...Cards branded with Australian government’s ‘Zero Chance’ logo and QR code to border force website distributed in Indonesia
Playing cards adorned with the Australian government’s “Zero Chance” campaign against “illegal migration” were distributed to refugee children in Indonesia by people trespassing on school grounds, the charity running the school alleges.
The playing cards were allegedly given to children during break time at the Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre in west Java.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...Eligibility for fourth dose of Covid vaccine extended; ‘don’t think we’ve got a better choice’ for Liberal leader, Dave Sharma says of Peter Dutton; at least 41 coronavirus deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s developments
The SMH has some interesting lines from the Liberal candidate in Gilmore, Andrew Constance, who says his party were punished for being “too focused on themselves”.
While Gilmore remains on a knife-edge, the former state government minister said he was not surprised by the outcome of the election, warning the Liberal party that it needed to refocus on community concerns:
The party has been too introverted and too focused on itself.
It has to recognise its broad-based appeal is not sectional interest. The party exists for the community … there’s no such thing as a “heartland” in Australian politics.
Continue reading...As China pursues Pacific-wide security pact, foreign minister says ‘after a lost decade we’ve got a lot of work to do to regain Australia’s position’
Australia has responded to reports that China is pursuing a Pacific-wide security pact with almost a dozen nations, stating that while Beijing’s intentions were clear “so too are the intentions of the new Australian government” to be the partner of choice in the region.
China will seek a regional deal with 10 Pacific island nations covering policing, security and data communications cooperation when the foreign minister, Wang Yi, hosts a meeting in Fiji next week, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Prime minister in Tokyo says no ‘serious person’ had believed Coalition line that a Labor government would adopt a softer approach towards Beijing
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says his government will not bend to demands from China to reset the strained relationship despite overtures from Beijing in the wake of Labor’s election win.
Speaking after a meeting of the quadrilateral security dialogue (Quad) in Tokyo on Tuesday, Albanese confirmed the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, had sent a congratulatory letter to him following Saturday’s election win. The letter was first reported by Chinese state media Xinhua on Monday.
Continue reading...Prime minister confirms Australia to host Quad summit in 2023 after Tokyo meeting; 68 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
Marles is also asked about petrol prices, which are rising again:
It is difficult. We’re facing a cost of living crisis. As a government, we’re willing to say that in a way the former government was not. What ultimately underpins is it we’ve had the longest period of wage stagnation since records were kept.
What underpins that is a decade of lost productivity. What that’s we need to change. It doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve been clear about that. But the job does start overnight and we’re on the pathway right now to making sure that we revitalise Australian industry, we give people the skills they need so they can get the good jobs out there.
I think China is going to continue to be a difficult relationship for us. From an Australian point of view, we understand the complexity of the relationship.
It is our largest trading partner, but China is seeking to shape the world around it in ways we have not seen before, in places like the South China sea. But [also] in increased strategic competition in our region, in the Pacific, and we’ve seen the agreement they have signed with the Solomon Islands.
Continue reading...Expert says collective bargaining is a ‘minefield’ for employers and simplifying it should be a focus of the forum
More immigration, improved skills policy and simplifying collective bargaining have emerged as three top demands from employers for the new Labor government’s jobs summit.
Experts suggest the forum could also pave the way for reforms including wage theft legislation, which was dropped from the Coalition’s industrial relations bill, and action on union demands about insecure work.
The better off overall test so hypothetical patterns of work don’t prevent pay deals being approved;
The requirements for the FWC to be satisfied that genuine agreement has been reached;
The requirement for employers to explain the terms of a proposed pay deal to employees prior to the vote.
Continue reading...