Category Archives: Australian politics

Scott Morrison says it would have been ‘weakness’ for him to meet new Chinese ambassador

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Australian prime minister defends level of support for Solomon Islands and rest of Pacific amid tensions over security deal

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, says there will be no diplomatic thaw in relations with China until it lifts a block on ministerial meetings.

“So long as China continues to refuse to have dialogue with Australian ministers and the prime minister, I think that’s an entirely proportional response,” Morrison told reporters on Saturday regarding reports he declined to meet China’s new ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian.

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Coalition urged to terminate Canstruct contract to end financial ‘black hole’ on Nauru

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There is little sense keeping refugees on island at great expense following New Zealand resettlement deal, human rights groups say

The government must end the “moral and financial black hole” on Nauru by ceasing its contract with Canstruct and returning those on Nauru to Australia in the wake of the New Zealand refugee resettlement deal, human rights groups say.

Asked on Friday whether it would end the Canstruct contract for “garrison and welfare services”, the government declined to answer.

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Chinese draft security deal with Solomon Islands didn’t blindside Australia, Morrison says

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Analysts say unratified document which would allow China to base ships in the Pacific is a ‘wish list’ which reveals nation’s intent in ‘black and white’

Scott Morrison says Australia was not blindsided by a draft security deal between China and Solomon Islands, which experts warn has demonstrated a “black and white” intent at expanding influence in the Pacific.

The draft would allow China to base navy warships in the Pacific less than 2,000km off the Australian coast, but some experts, including the Lowy Institute’s Jonathan Pryke, caution it reads more like a “wishlist” from China than a finalised agreement.

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Great Barrier Reef authority confirms unprecedented sixth mass coral bleaching event

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Aerial surveys show almost no reefs across a 1,200km stretch escaping the heat, prompting scientists to call for urgent action on climate crisis

The Great Barrier Reef has been hit with a sixth mass coral bleaching event, the marine park’s authority has confirmed, with aerial surveys showing almost no reefs across a 1,200km stretch escaping the heat.

The Guardian understands a United Nations mission currently under way to check the health and management of the reef will be briefed on the initial findings of the surveys as early as Friday in Townsville.

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Nine-year wait for NZ refugee deal due to fears of snubbing US option, Jacqui Lambie and government say

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Independent senator says deal with New Zealand to resettle 450 people could have caused some to turn down US program

Australia waited nine years to accept the New Zealand refugee deal out of fear asylum seekers would snub the option of the US, independent senator Jacqui Lambie and the Morrison government have claimed.

On Thursday Australia accepted an offer first made in February 2013 to take up to 450 refugees and asylum seekers, which Lambie then revealed had been a key commitment to win her casting vote to repeal legislation improving access to medical evacuation from offshore detention.

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Liberals select right-aligned candidate Simon Kennedy to run in Bennelong

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McKinsey partner who provided advice on jobkeeper replaces John Alexander in Sydney north shore seat

The Liberals have selected Simon Kennedy, a partner at consulting firm McKinsey, for the federal seat of Bennelong on Sydney’s north shore, in a branch plebiscite which again saw the right-aligned candidate trump the moderates’ preferred pick.

Kennedy, who is a relative newcomer to the party, won the ballot against Gisele Kapterian, a former ministerial staffer, 148 votes to 95. He replaces the former tennis star, John Alexander, who is retiring.

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‘Really concerning’: China finalising security deal with Solomon Islands to base warships in the Pacific

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Draft agreement circulating on social media suggests China could establish military base less than 2,000km from Australia

Australian officials are alarmed at Solomon Islands’ planned security deal with China with the defence minister, Peter Dutton, stating “we would be concerned clearly about any military base being established” less than 2,000km off the coast.

Solomon Islands has signed a policing deal with China and will send a proposal for a broader security agreement covering the military to its cabinet for consideration.

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Australia agrees 450 refugees can be resettled in New Zealand, nine years after deal first offered

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Under the deal 150 refugees a year held on Nauru, or who have come to Australia temporarily, will be eligible for resettlement

Up to 450 refugees from Australia’s regional processing centres will be resettled in New Zealand over the next three years, after the Coalition belatedly took up a long-standing agreement struck more than nine years ago.

Up to 150 refugees a year will be able to go to New Zealand, under the deal announced by Australia’s home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, and the New Zealand immigration minister, Kris Faafoi, on Thursday.

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UN mission must see coral bleaching to get ‘whole picture’ of Great Barrier Reef, experts say

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Government’s reef envoy says visiting scientists ‘have to see the good and the bad’ as widespread bleaching confirmed

A UN mission under way in Queensland to see if the Great Barrier Reef should be put on an “in danger” list will not get “the whole picture” unless it visits reefs currently experiencing coral bleaching, conservationists and the government’s own reef envoy have said.

Details of the 10-day mission, which began on Monday in Brisbane, are being kept confidential and the locations to be visited have not been formally disclosed.

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Michael McCormack’s movie nights cost taxpayers $2,500 a ticket – and his scene was cut

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Exclusive: regional movie events in 2019, attended by just 137 people, were set to feature then deputy prime minister spruiking infrastructure spending

They’re the “problematic” videos that the finance department didn’t want to see the light of day.

Created for an “objective” infrastructure campaign, the videos featured a cheery Michael McCormack spruiking federal government spending. They were to be played before free movies in a taxpayer-funded roadshow through regional cities to promote the Building our Future package in 2019, ahead of the May election.

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Australia news live update: NSW government seeks to suspend MP facing charges; nation records 26 Covid deaths

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NSW government seeks to suspend Gareth Ward; Craig Foster lashes treatment of asylum seekers in National Press Club address; new research suggests long-lasting Covid immune response from vaccine-induced T-cells; at least 26 Covid deaths recorded; Atagi expected to green light fourth booster shots for some Australians. Follow all the day’s news live

David Koch:

Have you spoken to the “mean girls” – Kristina Keneally, Penny Wong – in the last week or so since Kimberly Kitching’s death about the allegations of bullying?

I think that term is really unfortunate.

She used it, it is not just us.

There is a lot of people speaking on other people’s behalf at the moment. I think that in politics, there are a range of people who are involved in party politics who play it pretty hard. One of those was Kimberly Kitching. She was somebody who engaged in politics and was passionate about her belief and from time to time that could produce some conflict. But it needs to be done in a way that is respectful, in a way that is understanding, and attempts to reach consensus.

It is rather bizarre ... I am always available and indeed I lobby regularly to be on the Sunrise program. I am always happy to discuss things with the media, but I won’t be taking lectures from a prime minister who visited Lismore and had strict streets shut off so victims of floods could not get near him.

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China could ‘take out’ Australian satellites says new head of Defence’s space command

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But experts warn again accelerating ‘an upward spiral towards a less stable and more risky space environment’

The new head of the defence force’s space command says she is “scared” by the activities of China and Russia and concerned by Australia’s current inability to combat those threats.

Air vice-marshal Cath Roberts on Tuesday warned that a Beijing-controlled satellite could, for example, easily “take out” the National Broadband Network for regional Australia.

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SA hospitals under ‘extraordinary strain’; Perrottet asks MP to resign after charges – as it happened

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NSW MP Gareth Ward denies historic sexual abuse allegations; South Australian hospital system ‘under extraordinary strain’ new premier says, as at least 23 Covid deaths recorded nationally; Anthony Albanese proposes award in late Victorian senator Kimberley Kitching’s honour. This blog is now closed

Peter Malinauskas has promised to keep his shirt on from now on, after a photo of his muscled torso made quite a stir in the world of Australian politics.

ABC radio host Patricia Karvelas:

During the campaign, you were photographed shirtless in swimming shorts, and it caused a bit of a stir. I have to ask you ... the Australian’s Greg Sheridan said jokingly on [ABC] Insiders that you’re “far too good looking”. Which I thought was quite a statement. What have you made of the reaction to that picture?

Do you have any idea how much grief I’ve copped around the place as a result of that?

Have they told you just to buff to be premier?

They’ve piled it on, let me tell you. I haven’t stopped copping it, and I deserve every bit of it.

We were announcing a big investment at our major aquatics centre here in South Australia and a whole bunch of us jumped in for a swim in our boardies with our kids there. And, yeah, it got a bit more attention than I anticipated, fair to say.

So you’re going to keep your shirt on from now on?

Damn straight!

I think we’re about to see a federal election where a cost of living is a front and centre issue. And I think Australians get the price of petrol, but they can’t control the price of groceries.

The way we address cost of living as a nation is to start having an incomes policy focus on how we improve working in small businesses to improve the productivity of their labour, so they can earn a higher income. And that’s why education, training and skills is so important.

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Labor government would present second 2022 budget to correct ‘decade of rorts and waste’, shadow treasurer says

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Jim Chalmers says if elected, an Albanese government will deliver a ‘proper’ budget before the end of the year to amend ‘damage of the last 10 years’

A Labor government would present a second “proper” budget in 2022 if elected to correct the “decade of rorts and waste” they expect to be bookended by treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s budget next week.

The shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will tell the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday an Albanese government would release its own budget by the time of the traditional mid-year fiscal update in December, if not sooner.

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Peter Dutton says space command needed as some countries ‘see space as a territory for their taking’

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Defence minister argues boundary between competition and conflict ‘increasingly blurred’ after Russia destroyed satellite leaving ‘lethal debris’

Space must not become “a new realm for conflict”, Peter Dutton will say as he launches the Australian defence force’s new space command.

The defence minister will on Tuesday accuse some countries – including Russia – of seeing “space as a territory for their taking”. Dutton will tell a conference in Canberra that Australia will work with allies to push for “a safe, stable and secure space domain”.

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Guardian Essential poll: voters mark Morrison government down on flood response

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Separate Australian National University longitudinal survey suggests Coalition primary vote slumps to 32.2% with Labor in election-winning position

Voters are underwhelmed by the Morrison government’s response to recent catastrophic flooding in New South Wales and Queensland, and a majority fear disasters will be worse in the absence of significant action to address climate risks, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

The survey of 1,091 voters finds only 26% of respondents characterised the Coalition’s recent flood disaster response as good, while 40% thought poor and 34% said neither good nor poor.

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Digital code of conduct fails to stop all harms of misinformation, Acma warns

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Need for damage to be serious and imminent before Facebook and Google take action means ‘chronic’ problems build, watchdog says – citing mistrust of vaccines

The code of conduct adopted by digital platforms, including Facebook and Google, is “too narrow” to prevent all the harms of misinformation and disinformation, Australia’s media regulator has warned.

The requirement that harm from social media posts must be both “serious” and “imminent” before tech companies take action has allowed longer term “chronic harms” including vaccine misinformation and the erosion of democracy, according to the Australian Communication and Media Authority.

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Victorian government calls for ‘fair’ commonwealth funding for transport projects

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Grattan Institute report finds ‘consistent pattern’ of transport funding going to political battleground states

Victorian transport infrastructure minister Jacinta Allan has called on the federal government to provide the state with its “fair share” of funding after a report found the state was being shortchanged compared with New South Wales and Queensland.

The Grattan Institute report, released on Sunday night, found there was a “consistent pattern” of successive federal governments spending more money on transport in New South Wales and Queensland – where elections tend to be won and lost – than in Victoria.

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New Gabba train station centrepiece of $1.8bn infrastructure spend in south-east Queensland

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Three levels of government announce ‘city deal’ plan in Brisbane to address ‘positive issue of growth’ amid population boom

Environmental and “liveability” pressures that are mounting on south-east Queensland as its population booms will be alleviated under a $1.8bn “city deal”, the prime minister, Queensland premier and Brisbane lord mayor have all promised.

The three leaders spoke on Monday morning from inside the Gabba, the stadium that will be knocked down, rebuilt, integrated into a new underground train station and will, according to the prime minister, Scott Morrison, form the heart of a deal which plans for the next two decades.

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Coalition expands recycling, carbon credit scheme by $60m amid claims of climate ‘fraud’ by thinktank

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Recycling Modernisation Fund boost will focus on hard-to-recycle plastics as carbon credit tax cuts aim to encourage farmers to cut emissions

The Coalition will put $60m into recycling initiatives and make tax changes to encourage farmers to reduce their carbon output, in a pair of pre-budget announcements as the government seeks to beef up its environmental credentials ahead of the federal election.

It comes as the Australia Institute thinktank launches a new television campaign accusing the government of using “dodgy carbon credits” and calling the Coalition’s net zero by 2050 plan a “fraud”.

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