Category Archives: Australian politics

Angus Taylor remains in Labor’s sights over grasslands and power prices

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Push to set up Senate inquiry takes a step forward, as Coalition faces questions on why energy prices keep rising

Labor will continue to target the energy minister, Angus Taylor, as the government’s weak link, citing power price rises since 2015 and renewing its push to set up a Senate inquiry into his meetings with the environment department over endangered grasslands.

On Sunday the mooted inquiry took a step forward with Rex Patrick reversing Centre Alliance’s position and pledging to support the move, although Labor and the Greens still need Cory Bernardi or One Nation’s votes to succeed.

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Jeff Kennett accuses Victorian Labor MP who kicked in hotel door of playing mental health card

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Former premier says he objected to Will Fowles ‘using the coverall of a mental health illness’ when explaining his confrontation

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has accused a state Labor backbencher who kicked in a door at a Canberra hotel of wrongly playing the mental health card.

Will Fowles smashed a door at the Abode hotel during a confrontation with staff over his luggage on Thursday morning. Police have questioned the MP for the Melbourne seat of Burwood but he has not been charged over the incident.

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Labor grills Angus Taylor over company interests – politics live

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Energy minister accuses opposition of ‘grubby smear campaign against my family’ and ALP pursues Coalition over its superannuation schism. All the day’s events, live

With the chambers all quiet and the rush to the airport in full swing, we are going to go collapse in a heap and stare at a wall.

Until Monday, when the parliament is back for the last sitting ahead of the winter break.

Here’s how Mike Bowers saw some of the day

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The imperative for progressives? Bold action on inequality, democracy and climate | Osmond Chiu

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Big challenges demand a big, convincing narrative that taps into the public mood

Writing publicly means living with the chance you will be a hostage to fortune. But I wrote in March that: “While Shorten has attempted to draw parallels to Bob Hawke’s style of leadership, the best comparison may instead be with a UK Labour government that never was: the unsuccessful campaign and platform of Ed Miliband in 2015.”

On 18 May, like many progressives, a sense of an incoming Labor government was replaced by shell shock that seemed to parallel what happened in Britain in 2015. The salience of a campaign mobilised against taxation, swings in regional and outer suburban electorates and the inability of Labor to cut through despite conservative chaos and division must prompt some deep reflection.

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Repealing medevac would be ‘a wicked thing’, Centre Alliance says – politics live

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Rebekha Sharkie says if the government is successful in repealing the legislation it will cause ‘needless harm’

On the ensuring integrity bill, Rex Patrick says there are political elements to the bill it can’t support:

The aim was to deal with misconduct and there is no question that has been in the union movement.

I have seen the fairly significant sheet of judicial rulings against some of the unions and in some instances we have some very conservative, considered judicial officers stating things like this union is simply using the fines, treating the fines as the cost of business.

Rex Patrick is speaking to Patricia Karvelas on Afternoon Briefing and says while Centre Alliance supports the intent of the temporary exclusion order bill, it will abstain from voting for it, because it can’t support it in its current form.

Labor will be passing it, although it has raised its own concerns.

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Angus Taylor pursued by Labor over rising emissions and grassland meetings

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In a combative question time the energy minister suggests the Coalition has an ‘open mind’ on nuclear power

Angus Taylor has flagged the Morrison government has an “open mind” about pursuing nuclear power during a combative question time where the energy minister was pursued about rising emissions and his meetings with officials about the protection of grassland in the south-eastern highlands.

Taylor, who is the minister for energy and emissions reduction, was asked repeatedly by Labor on Tuesday whether emissions had risen in recent years, whether he supported calls by government backbenchers to establish a nuclear industry, and whether he had declared any relevant conflicts when meeting departmental officials.

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Labor supports exclusion orders for foreign fighters – politics live

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Opposition will try to introduce amendments but if that fails it will pass the bill. All the day’s events, live

tl;dr - shut the hell up.

I'm also told @ScottMorrisonMP told backbenchers who have been out and about on issues, including, lately, superannuation, to calm their farms and work through party processes. Words to that effect @AmyRemeikis #auspol

You know what it absolutely is not, and was never, going to be? A third chamber.

I'm told @SenatorMcGrath raised constitutional recognition in today's party room meeting. He asked what the position was. @ScottMorrisonMP and @KenWyattMP told him the voice could be many things & constitutional change wouldn't be radical @AmyRemeikis #auspol

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Coalition accused of ignoring bipartisan advice over scrutiny of security powers

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Labor and Centre Alliance fear government will proceed with two key bills without recommended safeguards

The Morrison government is being accused of ignoring bipartisan recommendations and breaching commitments to reform the spy agency’s powers as it prepares a fresh push on national security when parliament resumes on Monday.

Labor and Centre Alliance fear the government is set to ignore advice to improve scrutiny of proposed new powers for the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, to exclude citizens from Australia and to phase out Asio’s detention powers.

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Greens senator Nick McKim deported from Manus Island

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Tasmanian member says he was asked to leave after trying to visit East Lorengau transit centre

The Greens senator Nick McKim says he was deported from Manus Island because he “simply stood on a public street and asked politely” to see conditions in a refugee and asylum seeker transit camp.

The Tasmanian senator arrived back in Australia on Saturday after he was told to leave Papua New Guinea on Thursday night.

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Jacinda Ardern prime minister of Australasia? If only it was that simple | Nicholas Reece

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New Zealand has a long history of outstanding policy innovation and political leadership. Australia could learn a lot from it

The good and the great of Melbourne packed in to the town hall on Thursday evening to hear the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, speak on the topic of why good government matters.

Since the tragic Christchurch mosque massacre, Ardern has come to be seen not just as one of the world’s youngest leaders of a nation, but also as one of the world’s great leaders.

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Dick Smith says he doesn’t want $500,000 in franking credits he received

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The Australian businessman says he’s ‘so horrified’ by his cash rebate amount and wants the scheme means-tested

The Australian businessman Dick Smith has called for the franking credits system to be reformed after revealing he was once handed $500,000 in cash rebates in a single year.

When Smith was told he would soon receive what he called “ridiculous money”, he complained to the tax office and requested that the agency close down his self-managed super fund.

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Australian defence department gave contract to US business blacklisted for bribery

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Lock N Climb awarded $25,000 contract when firm’s president still serving court-imposed probation for bribery offence

Australia’s defence department gave tens of thousands of dollars of work to a US firm blacklisted for corruption and bribery.

Defence last year contracted US firm Lock N Climb to provide it with $25,000 of specialist ladders used for aircraft maintenance. The work was awarded through a limited tender process, meaning other firms were restricted from competing for the contract.

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Australia must prepare for a Chinese military base in the Pacific | Hugh White

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The cost of keeping China out of the region is too great, we must build forces that could counter its operations instead

Let’s be honest: Australians have never had much time for our South Pacific neighbours.

The island nations that lie to our north and north-east, stretching from Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands to Vanuatu, Fiji and beyond, may be close to us geographically, but we have not found them especially interesting, important or profitable.

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LNP lets property developers be ‘diamond’ members after donations ban

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For a special membership fee, developers will have access to Liberal National party events such as cocktail receptions

The Queensland Liberal National party will offer property developers free cocktails and other perks as part of a paid “diamond membership” package, following the state’s ban on them making political donations.

At its annual convention, which is being held across three days this weekend, the party said it would institute the new membership scheme, which allows developers and others to pay a $990 special membership fee.

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MyGov crashes as thousands try to submit tax returns

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The outage could also have significant impact on welfare recipients, who use MyGov to contact Centrelink

As thousands of Australians try to submit their tax returns, the main online portal for federal government services has gone down.

In an outage that will also affect thousands of welfare recipients across the country, the MyGov site appeared to be unavailable on Friday morning, returning an error.

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Scott Morrison prays at Hillsong conference – video

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Australian prime minister Scott Morrison speaks about the debate around freedom of religion at the opening of the national conference of the evangelical Hillsong church. 'It’s not the laws that makes freedom of religion work, it’s the culture that accepts it,' he tells a crowd of 21,000 people. 'I speak about my faith ... because I want everyone in this place to feel comfortable talking about their faith in this country. It’s not a political agenda, it’s who we are.' Morrison says while freedom of belief in Australia is fundamental, Christians need to prioritise love over judgments. He used the example of persecuted Christians in Soviet Russia: 'You didn’t hear the stories that they were complaining about their rights. They were out there for God ... This country needs more love, less judgment'

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Labor can’t appear to ignore economic wellbeing over ideological values | David Hetherington

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Progressive politics must find ways to build areas of consensus while keeping an eye on hip pocket issues

Bob Hawke, a political superstar, was a social democrat. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an up-and-coming star today, is a democratic socialist. While the vernacular has changed, the focus remains on the “social” part of the equation rather than the “democratic” one. The social bias draws support and condemnation in equal measure.

Yet perhaps the left misses a trick when it allows the democratic aspect to be downplayed. Almost all in the broader left accept that you can’t implement a social program if you can’t build a democratic mandate for it.

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Reserve Bank governor calls for more federal spending to boost economy

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Philip Lowe urges government to invest in infrastructure after bank cut official interest rates to record low of 1%

The Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, says two interest rate cuts in as many months should put the economy on a “better path” but he has again called on the government to pull its weight.

The RBA on Tuesday cut the official cash rate to a fresh record low 1% and left the door open for another before Christmas as global trade uncertainty and low wage growth continues to weigh on inflation.

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‘Action now’: the farmers standing up against ‘wilful ignorance’ on climate

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The challenge for farmers is how to discuss global warming without scaring people out of food production

The last election may have left the impression with voters that farmers and rural people in general do not accept climate science because there was no seismic shift of seats.

Yet this week the agricultural thinktank, the Australian Farm Institute, gathered farmers and their advocacy groups to talk about the impacts of global warming on the already risky business of farming.

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Government pushes parliament to pass Coalition tax plan – politics live

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New and old faces are back in Canberra as the 46th parliament prepares to sit for the first time. All the day’s events, live

Welcome to the first (semi) official day of the 46th parliament. The MPs are back in town, and so are we, and it will no doubt be a bumpy ride.

Today is mostly formalities - finishing to set up offices, swearing in David Hurley as the new governor general, finding where to get coffee - you know, the important things.

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