Category Archives: Australian politics

Explainer: when will Covid vaccines be available for children under five?

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Making sure adults and older children are vaccinated is the best thing to do if worried about under-fives not being eligible, expert says

Children under the age of five are not yet able to be vaccinated against Covid leaving some parents worried their younger children could catch the virus from older siblings who have returned to school.

Less than 50% of children aged five to 11 have received their first vaccine dose. But it is hoped child vaccination rates will be bolstered by Australia becoming the first country to approve the Moderna vaccine for children aged six and over. Pfizer continues to be available to children aged five and over.

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Australia live news updates: Victoria records 15 Covid deaths, NSW 11 and Qld eight; flood fatalities as Queensland battered by rain

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Man found dead in Stones Corner and SES volunteer dies responding to call for assistance north-west of Ipswich

Leach says people are ignoring warnings to not drive through floodwaters.

Unfortunately, not. We keep saying,” If it’s flooded forget it.” Please don’t drive through. You don’t know how deep it is, how swift it is, you don’t know what’s underneath those waters.

We’ve had over 80 rescues of people. Our message is really clear: Please don’t drive through floodwaters. Back it up, find an alternate route.

For us it is anywhere south of Hervey Bay through to the Gold Coast and west to Toowoomba, south of South East Queensland is completely saturated and there is no signs of this system letting up any time soon.

We’ve just responded in the last hour to Noosa- we put out an emergency alert - a very big thunderstorm (is passing) over the Noosa area and we are now responding to requests for assistance up there. But we are still busy in the Lockyer Valley, Ipswich, northern Brisbane suburbs but it could happen anywhere.

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Australia news live updates: Marise Payne says calling Russian troops peacekeepers is ‘obscene perversion’

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More heavy rainfall for south-east Queensland; foreign affairs minister says Australia could impose more sanctions on Russia if tensions escalate further. Follow all the day’s news

The Australian government should consider building up to six conventional submarines to bridge the gap before the nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus plans are ready, a new report says.

Under the trumpeted Aukus partnership, the US and the UK have promised to help Australia acquire eight nuclear-propelled submarines, but Scott Morrison has indicated the first of these might not be in the water until about 2040. The government plans to extend the life of Australia’s ageing Collins class submarines in the meantime.

Despite extending the life of the Collins-class submarines by 10 years, they are projected to be withdrawn from service at 24-month intervals from 2038. From a strategic and operational standpoint, the RAN could be left with no submarines capable of being deployed, leaving our armed forces with a significant capability gap. This conflicts with Australia’s increasingly high strategic threat and would undermine national security.

The order of up to six conventional submarines will take one to two years to complete detailed planning and achieve government approval before contracts can be awarded. Within two years of the contract being signed, manufacture of the submarines should start, which would be in 2026.

In the wake of the recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) by the Russian Federation, Ambassador Alexey Pavlovsky was summoned to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to be presented with a strong protest. At the same time, the Australian government announced a new package of unilateral sanctions.

In this respect, the following should be noticed. Contrary to what the Prime Minister of Australia asserted today, Australia does not always stand up to the bullies.

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Australian prime minister Scott Morrison says Russia acting like ‘thugs’ over Ukraine – video

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Morrison said the Russian government is acting like ‘thugs’ and ‘bullies’ as the likelihood of war with Ukraine escalates. 'Australia will always stands up to bullies’, Morrison said while announcing a suite of sanctions against Russian interests

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Australia news updates live: Morrison announces sanctions and travel bans for Russian individuals; 23 Covid deaths recorded

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Scott Morrison announces targeted sanctions and travel bans for Russian individuals after Cabinet committee discusses Australia’s response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine; Victoria records 17 Covid deaths, NSW records six. Follow all the day’s news live

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has called for a health-first approach to alcohol and other drug use.

This comes after reports of the Reason party’s Fiona Patten introducing a private member’s bill to institute a decriminalisation model in Victoria.

Instead of a punitive approach via the criminal justice system, Victorian police would instead issue a mandatory notice and referral to drug education or treatment to people possessing a drug of dependence or who are believed to have used a drug of dependence. Compliance with this process would result in no finding of guilt or criminal record.

It is similar to the Portuguese model introduced in 2001. Of the more than 32,000 drug arrests in Victoria in the year leading up to September 2021, 80% were for drug use or possession only rather than trafficking large drug quantities.

RACGP president Dr Karen Price said saving lives and reducing harm must always come first:

Alcohol and other drug use is, primarily, a health issue that should be managed by health professionals, including GPs.

Almost everyone knows someone who has been negatively affected by alcohol or other drug use in some form, it cuts across all demographics and all segments of society. So, if you declare a “war on drugs” you are declaring war on someone’s partner, family member, colleague, or friend – it just makes no sense.

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Who said it? Australia’s political war of words over China – quiz

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Match each diplomatic, inflammatory or amusing quote to the politician from which it emerged

In an increasingly heated political debate in the lead-up to Australia’s election, claims of appeasing China and even labels of “Manchurian candidates” have flown thick and fast.

The truth is both major parties have been recalibrating their China policy over the past decade in response to what they see as a more assertive nation under Xi Jinping.

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Australia news live updates: Queensland and Victoria to lift mask rules as nation records 33 Covid deaths

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Clive Palmer cancels press club appearance; foreign minister condemns Russia’s declaration of Ukranian separatist independence as PM says Russia should ‘step back’; defence responds to China’s claim about laser incident; NSW and Victoria both record 14 Covid deaths, Queensland records five; mask rules lifted in Victoria from midnight Saturday and in Queensland next week. Follow the latest updates live

Jumping back to the Sydney train situation for a moment and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary, Alex Claassens, is discussing the return of limited train services with ABC News Breakfast:

Apparently, where we ended up late last night was we negotiated an outcome where trains will run today. We finally managed to get the management team to see some common sense and today they will be operating a service roughly around the half-hour to 15-minute mark.

They will then try and improve on that during the day. We will work together as much as we can to try to get as many trains on the tracks as we can, and you can imagine our disappointment yesterday morning when we got up like everybody else in Sydney to realise some genius had made a decision to cancel all of our train services.

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Scott Morrison’s China gambit is a Hail Mary from a flailing leader trying to galvanise fear | Peter Lewis

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The majority of Australians support a position which is the polar opposite to the government’s current tub-thumping on national security

Scott Morrison’s efforts to politicise Australia’s complex relationship with China seems to be further soiling his own flagging reputation.

Like a bull in the proverbial, he has spent the past fortnight bombarding the airwaves with hastily googled dossiers and cold war-era panics to suggest an Albanese government would become an antipodean branch office of the Beijing Politburo.

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Australia news live updates: Perrottet urged to work with union over NSW train dispute; international border reopens; 17 Covid deaths

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Perrottet urged to work with union over NSW train dispute; Peter Dutton says all signs on Ukraine ‘pointing in one direction’; at least 17 Covid-related deaths; Australia’s international border reopen for the first time in nearly two years. Follow the latest updates live

AGL Energy has rejected a takeover bid by tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset management giant Brookfield, saying the preliminary offer “materially undervalues the company”.

Brookfield and Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures made the extraordinary offer to take over Australia’s most polluting company on Saturday, with a goal to shut its coal power plants earlier than planned.

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‘Act of intimidation’: Morrison condemns Chinese navy for shining laser at Australian surveillance plane

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Prime minister characterises incident as ‘a reckless and irresponsible act that should not have occurred’

Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, has declared a laser incident involving a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft last week is an “act of intimidation” by China.

Australia’s defence department reported a laser emanating from a People’s Liberation Army Navy vessel illuminated a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft last Thursday when the Chinese ship was sailing east through the Arafura sea.

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‘Serious safety incident’: Chinese ship shone laser at Australian aircraft, defence says

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Department condemns ‘unsafe military conduct’ after laser detected coming from People’s Liberation Army Navy vessel

The lives of Australian Defence Force personnel could have been endangered after an aircraft detected a laser emanating from a Chinese ship, the Australian defence department says.

On Thursday 17 February, the P-8A Poseidon detected a laser illuminating the aircraft while in flight over Australia’s northern approaches, defence says.

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Australia live news updates: Victoria records 20 Covid deaths and NSW 12; Mark McGowan defends timing of WA border reopening

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Western Australia premier says he will spend week in hotel quarantine to avoid perceptions he will benefit from timing of border reopening; SA election campaign officially begins

In Victoria over the past week, this is how Covid hospitalisation and ICU numbers have tracked, starting with today’s figures and working backwards: 365 (55 in ICU); 451 (64), 401 (78), 397 (68), 441 (67), 465 (66), 465 (62).

So in NSW over the past seven days, this is how hospitalisation and ICU numbers have tracked, starting with today’s figures and working backwards: 1297 (81 in ICU); 1381 (92); 1447 (92); 1478 (92); 1583 (96); 1649 (100) and 1614 (93).

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Morrison and Dutton are imperilling Australia’s national security to hang on to power | Katharine Murphy

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The prime minister and the defence minister are imperilling Australia’s national security as they try to hang on to power

Too often, political journalism is the art of asking the wrong question.

We can preoccupy ourselves wondering whether or not a particular tactic will work. These are valid enough deductions, but the whole exercise can read like theatre criticism.

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Men on high incomes to take lion’s share of Coalition’s $184bn tax cuts, analyses find

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Government’s ‘trickle down disaster’ will further entrench inequality between men and woman, Greens say

Tax cuts planned to take effect in 2024-25 are highly regressive and would pay male beneficiaries twice as much as women, separate analyses by the Australia Institute, the Greens and the Australian Council of Social Service have found.

The so-called stage-three tax cuts will remove the 37 cents in the dollar tax bracket, lower the 32.5 cent bracket to 30 cents, and raise the top tax bracket to start at $200,000 compared with $180,000 now. All up, the cuts will cost about $184bn over the first decade, the groups said.

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Australia politics live news updates: character test laws up for debate again, NSW seat of Willoughby hangs in the balance

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NSW seat of Willoughby hangs in the balance; Coalition set to reintroduce controversial amendments to existing migration legislation, as opponents describe it as a racist law. Follow all the day’s news live

Public school funding has effectively been cut, while private school funding has increased. Is Gonksi goneski? Adeshola Ore has the numbers:

Western Australia premier Mark McGowan will make an announcement about when the state’s hard border will lift by the end of the month, AAP reports.

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‘Do your job’: Morrison urges MPs to point out stark difference between Coalition and Labor

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Under-pressure prime minister tells party room ‘you haven’t seen me as focused as I can be yet … I know what the path is’

Scott Morrison has urged colleagues to ramp up examples of “sharp contrast” with Labor as the opposition signalled it could support a strengthening of the character test legislation despite previously helping to scuttle the proposal in the Senate.

The prime minister has revived the Coalition’s character test bill in the hope of wedging Labor on national security in the final sitting weeks of the current parliament. Morrison is attempting to regroup politically after an internal revolt scuttled his signature religious discrimination legislation last week.

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Australia politics news live updates: Rudd accuses Liberal party of ‘appeasing’ China; NSW nurses strike; at least 36 Covid deaths

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Victoria records 20 Covid deaths, NSW records 16; former Labor PM hits out at Peter Dutton; Morrison government prepares legislation that would speed up the deportation of foreign-born criminals convicted of violent or serious sexual offences. Follow live

Prime minister Scott Morrison has accused judges of handing out sentences that allow foreign-born criminals to dodge deportation.

The government will introduce legislation so non-citizens who have been convicted of a crime are easier to kick out. He tells 2GB radio that judges are giving out more lenient sentences so people are not captured under current laws. He says:

The judges are handing down sentences that allow people to get around this.

We want to make sure we can punt them.

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Australia politics news live updates: parliament marks anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded

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Parliament marks anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations; Acoss calls for next budget to address climate crisis; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded; treasurer asked about possible axing of low-income tax offset; politicians back in Canberra for final sitting week before federal budget. Follow all the day’s news

NSW treasurer Matt Kean is talking about the weekend’s byelection results. He says:

This wasn’t a referendum on the government ... these were four byelections that had unique issues in each of the seats.

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‘A RAT means a missed meal’: Morrison government urged to make rapid Covid tests free for all

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Unions and charities say cost of tests hurts vulnerable Australians most, as 150,000 sign petition for free kits

Vulnerable Australians are being forced into “hiding at home” and lower-income workers are skipping meals because of the cost of rapid Covid tests, unions and welfare charities warn, as they plead with the Morrison government to reverse its opposition to providing free testing kits for all.

Despite the government’s recent move to make rapid antigen tests tax deductible, a coalition of advocacy groups including the Australian Council of Social Services (Acoss) and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) warn the tax write-off plan provides a greater discount to higher-income earners.

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Uncertainty over jobs data due to Omicron as nation records at least 47 virus deaths – as it happened

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Uncertainty over jobs data due to Omicron; Mark McGowan says WA border reopening still to be decided; Daniel Andrews announces LGBTQ+ support package; Victoria’s Covid rules under review as nation records least 47 Covid-related deaths; Scott Morrison condemns ‘bullying’ on Ukraine border. This blog is now closed

Things get trickier when Speers asked Keneally whether Labor believes schools should be allowed to hire and fire teachers based on whether they are gay or transgender under the law.

Keneally started by saying that “Labor also supports the right of religious schools, faith-based schools to be able to hire staff, whether it is teachers or other staff, that support the mission and the values of the school.”

And so it’s straightforward with children, we think there are some slight complexities with teachers and staff that should be looked at by the Australian Law Reform Commission.”

David, let’s look at what Labor did in the parliament this week. We do believe that people of faith deserve protection from discrimination and extending the law to do that and we think that should not come at the expense of increasing discrimination to other groups of people. We also believe that students at school should be protected and that reflected in the amendments we moved and supported.

So we would like to see the government now accept that amendment that has been supported by the House of Representatives with those five Liberals crossing the floor, and they should just get this bill done. The prime minister promised some years ago to people of faith he would provide this legislative protection. He promised in writing that he would protect children. He is – if he is going to break that promise, he needs to explain it to the Australian people.

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