Category Archives: Australian politics

Albanese backs anthem change; federal Icac under fire – live news

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Opposition leader supports NSW premier’s call to change words to Australia’s national anthem to be more inclusive of First Nations. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

The ABC has more on the complaint Rachelle Miller has lodged against Michaelia Cash, whose office she worked in once her relationship with Alan Tudge ended. Cash has rejected the claims.

From the ABC report:

After the May 2018 budget, when many ministers travel the country to sell the political message, Ms Miller was told she would not be travelling with the minister because Senator Cash did not think her attendance necessary.

“I felt like I had been set up to fail, there was no way that I could manage it from the Canberra office,” Ms Miller’s complaint reads.

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is having a sale on its very in-demand (I’m sure) State of Origin merchandise.

It’s Pauline Hanson vs Mark Latham in the PHON SOOO and I don’t know much, but I do know this - if you walk into someone’s house and they have one of these products, walk back out.

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Gladys Berejiklian says she can’t recall if she was at dinner where Labor claims illegal donations were made

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Labor claims dinner at Club Taree raised $18,000 from four donors and gave them access to premier

Gladys Berejiklian has said she cannot remember whether she attended an “intimate fundraising dinner” at Club Taree in May 2018, where Labor claims illegal property donations were made.

Labor used question time in New South Wales parliament on Wednesday to ask about the event and donations made to the campaign of the mid-north coast MP Stephen Bromhead, the member for Myall Lakes, in 2018.

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Anthony Albanese sidesteps questions about a Labor medium-term emissions target

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The opposition leader’s comments follow Joel Fitzgibbon’s resignation from the frontbench in a dispute about climate policy

The federal Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, has declined to say whether Labor will articulate a medium-term emissions reduction target before the next federal election.

Albanese’s sidestep followed Joel Fitzgibbon’s resignation from the Labor frontbench on Tuesday after a lengthy internal dispute about climate policy that culminated in a blow-up at shadow cabinet on Monday night.

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Q+A: Malcolm Turnbull clashes with News Corp’s Paul Kelly over climate coverage

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Former PM says Murdoch media has become ‘pure propaganda’ and is doing enormous damage to the world’s ability to respond to climate change

Malcolm Turnbull says News Corp has become an organisation for “pure propaganda” that has done enormous damage through its promotion of climate change denial.

In a heated exchange on Monday night’s Q&A, the former prime minister and the Australian’s editor-at-large, Paul Kelly, clashed over the media organisation’s treatment of climate science.

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Foreign spies could target Australian politicians using ‘unwitting relatives or friends’, Asio warns – politics live

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Federal parliament returns; Asio chief warns of ‘real threat’ from foreign spies; incoming Biden administration vows to sign back up to Paris agreement. Follow all the updates

The Senate has just voted up a motion rebuking the government over the weakness of its preferred model of National Integrity Commission.

The motion was voted up 28 to 25 with Labor, Centre Alliance, Rex Patrick, Jacqui Lambie and One Nation combining to warn the Coalition over the draft bill’s inadequacies.

Greens senator Larissa Waters motion stated:

Senate just passed a motion 28:25 for a strong corruption watchdog, listing all of the features the Gov’s weak model leaves out. A defacto vote on the Gov’s bill - the Senate can see through the fig leaf of the Gov’s belated and pathetic model that wouldn’t stop a thing! #auspol

Richard Marles says Labor is not pursing a royal commission into the Murdoch media empire and will “let Kevin speak for himself”.

Andrew Leigh officially tabled the Kevin Rudd-led petition, which had more than 500,000 signatures, in the parliament today.

We have talked about our position in relation to the media over a long period of time. Now, this is not something we have been considering. This is something Kevin Rudd has been pursuing in his capacity as a private citizen. I mean, I obviously note it is a significant petition in terms of those who have signed up to it and it has been presented to the parliament appropriately. That is where the matter is that in terms of the opposition.

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Scott Morrison congratulates Biden-Harris team on victory over Donald Trump – video

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Scott Morrison has congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their projected US election win. Morrison spoke about the importance of the alliance between the two countries that was strengthened following the second world war and the value of the US in the Australia-Pacific region. While President Donald Trump is yet to concede, Morrison joined leaders around the world in congratulating Biden


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Scott Morrison congratulates Joe Biden on US election win and flags Australian visit in 2021

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Morrison’s predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, welcomed the defeat of Donald Trump by tweeting ‘what a relief’

Scott Morrison has signalled he would invite Joe Biden to visit Australia for the 70th anniversary of the Anzus treaty in 2021 as he congratulated the Democrat for winning the US presidential election.

Morrison told reporters that Canberra would continue to deal with the Trump administration during the transition period but looked forward to working with Biden from January.

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When Donald Trump is peddling outrageous lies, where is the line between reporting and enabling? | Katharine Murphy

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Trump has accelerated the drift towards post-truth, and the media is shackled to that acceleration

We’ve all been transfixed by the American election, glued to CNN or our preferred network or live blog of choice, constantly refreshing our social media feeds, cursing Nate Silver – demonstrating that global anxiety is the glue of 2020.

At the time of filing, the vote count is grinding on, and my purpose is not to get into winners and losers and the consequences. Here, I want to step back and look at some propositions that are uncomfortable for a person in my position to look at.

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Victoria’s hotel quarantine program revealed to cost $195m – as it happened

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Four new coronavirus cases recorded in NSW southern highlands as Victoria quarantine inquiry delivers interim report. This blog is now closed

That’s it for tonight, thanks for reading. To recap today’s developments:

The chief of the defence force, Angus Campbell, has released a statement about the inquiry into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.

Campbell said he received the Afghanistan inquiry report today, which examined the conduct of elite Australian forces in more than 55 incidents of alleged unlawful killings between 2005 and 2016.

Today I have received the Afghanistan Inquiry report from the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF).

The independent inquiry was commissioned by Defence in 2016 after rumours and allegations emerged relating to possible breaches of the Law of Armed Conflict by members of the Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan over the period 2005 to 2016.

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Australia news live: Victoria and NSW report no new Covid cases as Queensland pushed to open border

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Border restrictions continue to be eased as Australian politicians respond to US election result. Follow latest updates

The best doughnut, is a jam doughnut, followed closely by cinnamon.

Both fresh, of course.

Related: How doughnuts became Australia's symbol of Covid hope

News Hub reports New Zealand’s US ambassador has commented on the election. As government employees, ambassadors are prevented from indicating political views (despite being political appointments) but it looks like Scott Brown, for one, is feeling confident enough in the result to be a little honest.

From News Hub’s report:

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NSW-Victoria border to open on 23 November; Australia awaits American election outcome – politics live

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‘We need to keep moving forward as we live with Covid-19,’ Gladys Berejiklian says. We’ll also be bringing you Australian reaction to that election, as it happens

The Queensland election may be over, but that doesn’t mean the border wars have ended.

As AAP reports:

It’s like the whole of Australia – in terms of politics – has stopped right now.

It’s all about the US.

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Australia’s economic dependency on China ‘will not change’, says former ambassador to Beijing

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Geoff Raby argues the suggestion Australia can turn to other markets is ‘nothing other than wishful thinking’

Australia is likely to keep suffering economic harm from “repeated rounds of Chinese economic coercion” and needs to find a way to reset the relationship, a former ambassador to Beijing has warned.

Seafood exporters are the latest industry group to report disruptions in accessing the Chinese market and Geoff Raby, the Australian ambassador to China from 2007 to 2011, said Australia needed China more than the other way around.

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Former NSW auditor general blasts Coalition for attempting to ‘reduce scrutiny of government’ activities

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Tony Harris has criticised the Morrison government for slashing audit office funding and delaying federal anti-corruption watchdog

Tony Harris, the former New South Wales auditor general, has blasted the Morrison government for cutting funding to the Australian National Audit Office and for moving too slowly to establish a federal anti-corruption commission.

During an appearance before the Senate committee examining the sports grants saga, Harris said he believed there was “a pattern of behaviour that constitutes a goal” of reducing public scrutiny of government activity.

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Australia’s right is united by ‘up yours’ contrarianism and Mark Latham is its bellwether | Malcolm Knox

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Coronavirus didn’t kill the culture wars, it only sent them into a momentary recess

When Covid-19 hit, I’d been wondering for a long time what glued together the disparate positions of the religious right in Australia: for deregulation yet also massive taxpayer subsidy; for free enterprise yet also against the free movement of labour; for the equality of all freedoms as long as one, religion, is more equal than others; for “our children’s future” yet also against climate science.

During the coronavirus crisis, the patterns began to repeat: divergent positions coalescing under an intellectually amorphous but readily identifiable tribal banner. What unified that tribe was, for want of a better word, a contrarianism, what impolite adherents might call an “up yours” to political correctness.

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Queensland’s border will remain closed to Victoria and greater Sydney, Annastacia Palaszczuk says – politics live

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Queensland premier says Queensland border will stay closed to Victoria and greater Sydney as pressure mounts on NSW and WA to open. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

Independent MP for Warringah Zali Steggall is using the release of the bushfire royal commission report to call for greater action on climate change.

“The royal commission final report makes it clear: increasing temperatures due to climate change will contribute to greater severity of extreme weather and natural disasters in Australia.

“The outlook for Australia is alarming. Australians are now staring down the barrel of more unpredictable and dangerous events that will affect our safety and prosperity as a nation.

Afternoon all, cheers Amy Remeikis

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Labor agrees to support new gas projects after public brawl sparked by Joel Fitzgibbon

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Party has signed off on document acknowledging role gas plays in economic growth, job creation and electricity generation

A public battle between Anthony Albanese, Mark Butler and Joel Fitzgibbon over Labor’s language regarding gas has triggered a process whereby the ALP has agreed to support new gas projects, subject to environmental approvals and reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

The brawl was triggered when the shadow resources minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, publicly endorsed the taxpayer underwriting of new gas infrastructure championed by one of Scott Morrison’s most influential business advisers, Nev Power, before seeing any of the specifics.

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Australian MPs pull out of dinner with Qatari ambassador over Doha airport incident

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Members of security and intelligence committee snub invite in protest at invasive treatment of women before flight to Sydney

Australian politicians from the major parties have pulled out of a formal dinner at the Qatari ambassador’s residence in protest at the invasive treatment of women at Doha airport.

Members of parliament’s security and intelligence committee have taken the stand as political pressure grows for the government to strengthen its response to the compulsory medical examination travellers endured before travelling from Doha to Sydney on 2 October.

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PM names new high court justices as Porter say war crimes investigation ‘detailed and extensive’ – politics live

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Melbourne lockdown lifted as Victoria records two Covid cases and two deaths. Senate estimates looks at Australia’s response to Doha airport incident. Follow live

Students at the University of Sydney have occupied a building on campus that houses the vice-chancellor’s office, in a protest against cuts to staff in medical sciences.

Approximately 50 students are in the building right now, chanting and asking for the vice-chancellor, Michael Spence, to meet with them.

USyd students are currently occupying the universities administration building, where senior management, including Michael Spence, have their offices. Students are refusing to leave until the university commit to reversing all staff and course cuts. #Auspol pic.twitter.com/dnEBFPXg7l

Daniel Andrews has released a statement on the Melbourne Cup:

I have today advised the Victoria Racing Club that connections of horses competing at the Melbourne Cup Carnival will not be permitted to attend the course.

The government has determined that next week is not a suitable time for gatherings of that nature.*

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Asic admits it acted at ‘glacial’ pace over rent payments to deputy chairman

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Acting chair Karen Chester confirms at Senate inquiry that some of the advice KPMG gave its chairman related to tax minimisation

The acting chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Karen Chester, has admitted to parliament that the regulator acted with “glacial” speed in dealing with concerns about rent payments to its deputy chairman, Daniel Crennan QC.

Last week the auditor general, Grant Hehir, told the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, that payments of about $70,000 to Crennan and $118,000 to KPMG for tax advice it gave to the Asic chairman, James Shipton, breached public service pay rules.

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Daniel Andrews gives Covid update as Victoria records zero coronavirus cases and Melbourne lockdown lifted – live

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Premier expected to announce more details of city’s reopening after record-breaking Covid-19 lockdown, as federal parliament and Senate estimates return and questions continue over management of Australia Post. Follow latest updates

The rules for household visits will go through share houses, teenagers and who can visit who after a visit.

But they are complicated, so I will wait to go through them and then bring them to you once they are clear.

Back at Treasury estimates, the Labor senator Katy Gallagher is attempting to get either officials or the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, to acknowledge that workers earning less than $80,000 will get less tax relief in 2024-25 than they will get this year because of the one-off extension of the $1,080 offset in the October budget.

Treasury officials say the extension of the offset is a “classic stimulus measure” so it shouldn’t form part of an assessment of the tax scales in future years. They say this year’s budget includes extending the offset (the stimulus measure) and a tax cut through the bringing forward of the stage two tax cuts (a structural change).

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