Category Archives: Australian politics

Labor says Dutton ‘desperate’ to distract from defence failures – as it happened

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Nadesalingam family arrive back home to Biloela; New Zealand ‘heartened’ by Albanese government’s climate stance; Australia records at least 40 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Jacinda Ardern will be raising Australia’s controversial deportation policy in today’s meeting. Asked if she has knowledge of whether the government is prepared to “water it down a little bit”, she replies:

Just to be clear, the issue we have is not with deportation. We deport as well. If a New Zealander comes to Australia and commits a crime, send them home ... but when someone comes here and essentially, hasn’t even really had any connection with New Zealand at all ... have all their connections in Australia and are essentially Australian, sending them back to New Zealand, that’s where we’ve had the grievance.

I’ve heard the prime minister prior to winning the election speak to his acknowledgement that that is the part of the policy that we’ve taken issue with. Even that acknowledgement says to me he’s hearing us, he knows it’s a problem.

It’s been a bugbear for us for a long time so I would like to see movement on it.

We talked about music on occasion but I’m not sure I would’ve picked necessarily the right music if I think I was given that task.

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Ardern’s fiance takes swipe at Albanese’s outdated music taste after leaders exchange records

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‘What is this, 2004???’ Clarke Gayford posted in response to Australian PM’s gift of Midnight Oil, Spiderbait and Powderfinger albums

Jacinda Ardern’s fiancee has taken a cheeky swipe at Anthony Albanese’s music taste after the Australian prime minister and his New Zealand counterpart exchanged records during the pair’s first face-to-face meeting.

Ardern and Albanese, who have both moonlighted as DJs in the past, made the customary display of gift-giving at their first meeting since the federal election in Sydney on Thursday, with both opting for the high-risk, high-reward gift of music.

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Albanese vows to reconsider Australia’s deportations rules in olive branch to New Zealand

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Jacinda Ardern welcomes ‘reset’ in trans-Tasman relationship after years of tension over visa cancellations on character grounds

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has vowed to consider changing how the government handles visa cancellations in an olive branch to ease longstanding tensions with New Zealand.

The pledge to look at tweaking the scheme prompted the visiting New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to declare the talks in Sydney on Friday allowed for “a reset” in the trans-Tasman relationship.

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Nation records 59 Covid deaths as NT announces closure of quarantine facility – as it happened

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Two charged after remains found on Glass House Mountains; Victoria’s health workers to receive $3,000 one-off payment; nation records 59 Covid deaths as boosters recommended by Atagi for at-risk children between 12 and 15. This blog is now closed

Capacity mechanism is a priority to bring on renewables, energy ministers say

The first meeting of energy ministers yesterday evening indicated there will be a new intensity in federal-state-territory coordination.

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Albanese says cost of living concerns will be ‘front and centre’ of cabinet meeting

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Inflation, energy prices and wages growth on Labor’s agenda as pressure builds to provide relief to low income earners before October budget

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says a cabinet meeting on Thursday will consider how best to respond to the cost of living crisis facing Australians amid warnings inflation will significantly worsen this year.

The meeting of his new inner ministry comes after the Reserve Bank this week lifted the official cash rate by 50 basis points to try and get on top of rapidly growing inflation. All of the big four banks have passed on the rate hike to mortgage holders.

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Youpla funeral fund collapse: minister seeks advice on compensating victims

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Stephen Jones says he needs to know scale of problem before committing to redress scheme

The new minister for financial services has asked Treasury for advice on how to compensate Indigenous people who were victims of the collapse of the funeral expenses fund Youpla.

Stephen Jones, who was sworn in last Wednesday after Labor’s election victory, stopped short of committing the Albanese government to compensating the victims, telling Guardian Australia he first needed to understand how big the problem was.

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Australia live news update: Wong condemns ‘reckless’ North Korea missile launches; Nine overturns order to hand over drafts

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NSW Appeals Court throws out order requiring Nine Entertainment to hand over draft material; foreign affairs minister labels North Korean ballistic launches ‘reckless and destabilising behaviour’; stripping dual nationals of citizenship unlawful, high court rules; National Disability Insurance Agency chief resigns; Victoria records 25 Covid deaths, Queensland 15, NSW records 10 deaths, WA records eight, ACT records one. Follow all the day’s news

China’s warning to Australia

China has warned Australia to stop “provocations” or face “serious consequences” after the federal government said a Chinese jet plane was intercepted, the AFP and Guardian staff report.

The Australian military plane seriously threatened China’s sovereignty and security and the measures taken by the Chinese military were professional, safe, reasonable and legal.

We can trace Australia’s celebrated connection to the space industry back to the 1950s and as a nation we have to build on that legacy.

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After four years, Murugappan family begin journey home to Biloela

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Anthony Albanese says he is proud to see Tamil family returning home, but their long-term status remains unresolved

The family of Tamil asylum seekers held in detention for more than four years have finally begun their journey home to the central Queensland town of Biloela.

Speaking from Perth airport on Wednesday, Priya Murugappan, also known as Priya Nadesalingam, thanked the community in Western Australia, where the family has spent the past 12 months, before beginning the journey east.

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‘We can do much more’: Albanese calls on business to look past China to opportunities in Indonesia

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Prime minister says there is significant opportunity for Australian companies in Indonesia’s growing economy

Anthony Albanese has declared Australia needs to move past its reliance on China for trade and income-generating opportunities with business needing to prioritise new strategies in Indonesia.

On his final day in Indonesia, the prime minister on Tuesday said industry could not rely on a thaw in the Australia-China relationship to restore lost opportunities.

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Reserve Bank hikes official interest rate by 50 basis points to 0.85% to curb inflation

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Decision exceeded predictions from economists while Westpac was the first of the big banks to pass on the rise in full to customers

The Reserve Bank has announced the biggest single rise in the cash rate in 22 years as Australia’s central bank tries to quash inflation before it gets out of control.

The RBA board at its regular monthly meeting lifted its cash rate target 50 basis points to 0.85%. Economists were again surprised by the size of the move, having been mostly split between predicting a 25 or 40 point increase, according to Bloomberg.

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Man who had Australian visa cancelled challenges government’s ability to keep evidence secret

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Lawyers for Lebanese man tell high court that national security information should not be kept completely secret from parties

Lawyers for a man whose visa was cancelled because of an adverse Asio assessment have argued courts cannot be required to keep evidence completely secret.

The high court began hearing the man’s case on Tuesday. It challenges the federal government’s ability to keep national security information secret in merits reviews and appeals.

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Treasurer warns of ‘severity and magnitude of inflation challenge’ after RBA hikes official interest rate

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Jim Chalmers responds to Reserve Bank decision to lift cash rate 50 basis points as Anthony Albanese declines to comment during Indonesia trip

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has described the Reserve Bank’s decision to hike the cash rate by 50 basis points as “difficult” news for homeowners, while warning that inflation will get worse before it gets better.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, who is in Indonesia, left the government’s response to the RBA’s higher-than-expected increase on Tuesday to his treasurer as he sought to revive a Keating-era tradition of not commenting on domestic issues while travelling overseas.

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PM says prospect of Chinese naval base in Cambodia ‘concerning’ – as it happened

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Prime minister responds to reports of Chinese naval base in Cambodia; nation records 29 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

There’s no magic fix for inflation, Jason Clare says

Education minister Jason Clare appeared on the Today show this morning alongside Scott Emerson.

Inflation is through the roof. Wages are through the floor. We have got interest rates knocking at the door. The Reserve Bank ... have made it clear there will be a number of interest rate rises, which makes it harder for people with big rate rises already. Especially for people who are ahead in their mortgage, but if you have just signed up and the bank says you have to pay more, it will make it harder and harder.

There is no simple magic fix to this.

The market expects them to increase interest rates because we have an inflation problem in the economy and rising interest rates were something that the Reserve Bank governor flagged before the election and that is the trajectory we are on, but just because these interest rate rises are expected, it won’t make them any less difficult for a lot of people who are already confronting cost-of- living pressures.

That is the unfortunate reality. There is no point mincing words about that. Our job is the government is to make sure that after some of this near-term cost-of-living relief runs out that it is replaced by responsible long-term sustainable cost-of-living relief in areas like medicines and childcare, getting power bills down over time and getting real wages moving again.

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Energy companies urged to find more gas for Australia as Labor mulls supply ‘trigger’ to ease price surge

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Resources minister signals ‘very positive’ talks with gas corporations and suggested managing coal supply could relieve market pressures

New minister Madeleine King has asked resource companies to find more gas to direct into Australian markets as she considers pulling the so-called gas “trigger”.

However, the resources minister has also claimed more coal supply was key to combating a brewing energy crisis.

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‘A dangerous act’: how a Chinese fighter jet intercepted an RAAF aircraft and what happens next

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Government says PLA J-16 forced Australian P-8 on routine surveillance into a dangerous manoeuvre over South China Sea

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has denounced an incident in which a Chinese fighter plane forced an Australian plane into a dangerous manoeuvre. China’s actions were “an act of aggression and a dangerous act”, Albanese told reporters in Jakarta on Monday evening.

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PM calls Putin’s actions ‘abhorrent’ after confirming he’ll attend G20 – as it happened

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Prime minister speaks in Jakarta after sharing bike ride with Indonesian president; Richard Marles says finding successor to Collins-class submarines is ‘No 1’ defence priority; Australia records at least 19 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed.

Similarly, on the Indigenous voice to parliament, Dutton said the Coalition is “very open to the discussion and what the government has to say”.

In principle, do we support anything that’s going to improve the situation of Indigenous Australians? Absolutely.

In Ted O’Brien we have someone with an exceptional background, a very considered person, a great communicator. And he did a report ... when he was on the backbench in the last parliament on nuclear energy. He had a particular focus on the latest generation, the small modular nuclear generation which can power up to 100,000 houses. So I’m not afraid to have a discussion on nuclear. If we want to have a legitimate emissions reduction, if we want to lower emissions reduction, that’s exactly the path president Macron has embarked on in France, it’s what prime minister Johnson is talking about in the United Kingdom ... I don’t think we should be afraid to talk about any technology that’s going to have the ability to reduce emissions and electricity prices. That’s something we can consider in time. I don’t think we should rule things out simply because it’s unfashionable to talk about them.

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Defamation trial hears ‘malicious’ text message Pauline Hanson sent former senator’s wife

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Brian Burston, who represented One Nation from 2016 to 2018, is suing his former leader for what he says were accusations of sexual harassment against him

Pauline Hanson sent a “spiteful” and “malicious” text message to the wife of former One Nation senator Brian Burston claiming that he considered her to be an “old bag” and was “infatuated” with one of his staff members, a court has heard.

A defamation trial brought by Burston against Hanson began in the federal court on Monday over a series of what he argues are allegations of sexual harassment made against him on social media, in interviews and in a text to his wife, Rosalyn.

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The Coalition didn’t do much on nuclear energy while in office. Why are they talking about it now?

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There is a long history of nuclear energy being used as a delaying tactic for acting on climate change in Australia

Last week, the Nationals’ new leader, David Littleproud, said it was time for Australia to have a “mature” conversation about nuclear energy while his predecessor, Barnaby Joyce, called for a national moratorium to be lifted and argued nuclear power would be “really important” if the country was serious about reaching net zero emissions.

On Sunday, the nuclear power advocate Ted O’Brien was appointed as the Coalition’s climate change and energy spokesperson. In an interview with ABC Radio National, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said he was “not afraid to have a discussion on nuclear” as the country should not be afraid to “talk about any technology that’s going to have the ability to reduce emissions and electricity prices”.

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Anthony Albanese vows to strengthen Australia’s ties on official Indonesia visit

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PM accompanied by senior ministers and business leaders as Labor’s regional diplomatic offensive continues amid growing China assertiveness

Anthony Albanese has declared he wants to strengthen the Australia-Indonesia relationship while deepening ties with south-east Asian nations amid escalating tensions prompted by China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

Australia’s prime minister touched down in Jakarta on Sunday night accompanied by senior ministers and a high-powered business delegation to pursue a two-day diplomatic full court press in Indonesia.

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Peter Dutton sidelines Scott Morrison allies in shadow cabinet as Nationals take six spots

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Angus Taylor becomes shadow treasurer, but Alex Hawke gets no position in a shadow cabinet with 10 women

Allies of Scott Morrison have been dumped from the shadow cabinet and senior conservatives promoted in a reshuffle stamping Peter Dutton’s mark on the Liberal party.

Dutton and the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, announced the shadow ministry in Brisbane on Sunday, revealing it will include 10 women, with six Nationals in cabinet.

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