Category Archives: Australian politics

LGBTQI+ intolerance prevalent among Australian air force chaplains, inquiry told

Posted on by

Military chief says review into chaplaincy found ‘unacceptable views about minority groups, women, LGBTQI+ persons’

Some religious chaplains in the air force hold “unacceptable views about minority groups, women [and] LGBTQI+ persons”, posing a mental health risk to members, the royal commission into defence and veteran suicide has heard.

And part of a review commissioned by the defence department into the air force chaplaincy unit – quietly tabled as evidence to the royal commission – found tension between theology and values, “notably in relation to gender and LGBTI inclusion”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Rushed bill forcing hundreds of non-citizens to facilitate own deportation passes lower house

Posted on by

Human Rights Law Centre says bill ‘deliberately separates families’ and risks non-compliance with obligations under refugee convention

Legislation that would force hundreds of non-citizens to facilitate their own deportation or face imprisonment has been rushed through the lower house, despite warnings it breaches human rights obligations.

The Labor government combined with Peter Dutton’s opposition shortly before question time on Tuesday to approve the new powers for the immigration minister despite howls of dissent from independents and minor parties about lack of due process.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Toyota boss says fuel efficiency standard ‘not a car tax’ as Labor defends secrecy around bill

Posted on by

Follow the day’s news live

Renewed push to scrap activity level requirements for childcare subsidies

There was a lot of disappointment last budget when the government did not scrap the activity test as a way of making early child education more accessible and universal.

Zoe Daniel MP, Member for Goldstein

Georgie Dent, the CEO of the Parenthood

Sam Page, the CEO of Early Childhood Australia

Kate Carnell, the former Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman and former ACT chief minister

Natalie Walker, the deputy chair of Goodstart Early Learning

Sue Morphett, a businesswoman and the former president of Chief Executive Women

Continue reading...

Labor unveils watered-down fuel efficiency standard that eases emission rules for large SUVs

Posted on by

Bill to be introduced to parliament this week will incentivise carmakers to import cleaner vehicles

The Albanese government has watered down flagship new laws aimed at disincentivising the use of high-polluting cars and hastening the importation of cleaner vehicles amid pressure from the auto industry.

On Tuesday the transport minister, Catherine King, and the energy minister, Chris Bowen, revealed the details of compromise bill to be introduced to parliament this week, with the changes largely easing rules for popular large SUVs.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Catherine King takes aim at Liberals over preselection of women at end of heated question time

Posted on by

Follow the day’s news live

Chalmers: we can have cost-of-living relief and wage growth

Here is how Jim Chalmers was selling the wage submission (at least on ABC TV this morning). The treasurer said it wasn’t a binary choice between cost of living relief and wages growth:

We don’t see cost of living relief as ‘instead of’ decent wages growth. We want to see wages growth on top of the billions of dollars of cost of living relief that the Albanese government is rolling out.

… The tax cuts we’re rolling out for everyone, or cheaper childhood education or cheaper medicines - none of those are a substitute for getting wages growing in the economy once again.

I think if you’ve followed Tasmanian laws, and they’ve worked very well down there and actually your bill is based on that, you might have … a good good bit of airing out there and actually be able to settle this once and for all.

I think there’s a very fine line between having choices … and running … a business or a school or anything else.

People send their kids to faith based schools with expectations and I think we’ve got a walk a very, very fine line with all of that.

Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese among several politicians to declare free Taylor Swift tickets

Posted on by

The PM was captured on video at Sydney Eras concert with his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, apparently on balcony of corporate box

Anthony Albanese accepted free tickets to Taylor Swift’s sold-out Sydney concert last month, one of several federal politicians who were gifted passes to the hotly anticipated Eras tour.

The prime minister declared “I’m a Swiftie” when the American pop star swept through Australia in February. He has now declared receiving tickets to her performance, disclosing “tickets to Taylor Swift concert in Sydney from Universal Music Group” under the “travel and hospitality” heading on his parliamentary register of interests.

Continue reading...

Labor’s offshore gas bill labelled ‘a betrayal’ by First Nations activists

Posted on by

Leaders with responsibilities for sea country on way to Canberra to lobby against legislation

The Albanese government is facing major blowback over changes to its offshore gas bill, which the crossbench and environment groups have labelled “window dressing” that fails to prevent new rules watering down First Nations consultation.

Seeking to clear the decks before Easter, the government is expected to reveal tweaks to its proposed vehicle efficiency standards this week. And on Monday Labor introduced amendments to add safeguards to the offshore gas bill after widespread concerns, including from within it own ranks.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Tim Wilson defeats two women to win Liberal preselection in Goldstein and set up rematch against teal Zoe Daniel

Posted on by

Former MP held the seat in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs from 2016 to 2022

The former MP Tim Wilson has won preselection to become the Liberal party candidate in his former seat of Goldstein, setting up a rematch with the “teal” independent Zoe Daniel.

Wilson, who held the seat in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs between 2016 and 2022, won the vote of Liberal party members on Sunday afternoon, beating out two female challengers, Colleen Harkin and Stephanie Hunt.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Peter Dutton in standoff with state Liberal leaders over federal Coalition’s nuclear plan

Posted on by

The federal opposition leader’s calls to include nuclear power in Australia’s energy mix has so far failed to win support from his state colleagues

The federal Coalition faces a battle with the states on its proposal for nuclear power stations at the sites of decommissioned coal power plants, with state premiers and opposition leaders alike largely against Peter Dutton’s proposal.

Labor governments and Coalition oppositions in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia are either outright opposed to the plan or have failed to endorse it.

Continue reading...

Australian intelligence chiefs want law to stop former spies taking skills overseas

Posted on by

Asio bosses fear ‘growing threat’ as foreign governments are allowed to gain knowledge of tradecraft

Australia’s intelligence chiefs have asked the government for new laws to stop former spies marketing their skills abroad, fearing current provisions are allowing foreign adversaries to gain invaluable knowledge of Australian tradecraft.

Asio is seeking specific consolidated legislation requiring that former spies gain explicit permission before they offer themselves as trainers, in light of what it says is the serious and growing threat of espionage and foreign interference.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Liberals struggle to hold power in Tasmania as minor parties surge at election

Posted on by

Party leading poll with 36.9% of vote, but suffered 12% swing against it since last election three years ago

The Liberal party faces having to negotiate with an expanded crossbench to hang on to power in Tasmania after winning the biggest share of the vote in the state election, but falling short of a majority of seats in parliament.

By late on Saturday, the Liberals, led by premier Jeremy Rockliff, were leading the poll with nearly 36.9% of the vote, but had suffered a 12% swing against it since the last poll three years ago.

Continue reading...

Lidia Thorpe hits out at slow progress on new body to punish politicians for misconduct

Posted on by

Independent says allegations she raised in Senate in June are yet to be dealt with by parliament’s HR body

Lidia Thorpe has expressed frustration with the slow progress on a new watchdog to hold politicians accountable for bad behaviour, as the federal government prepares plans for a workplace body with the power to punish parliamentarians for misconduct.

The independent parliamentary standards commission, a key recommendation for fixing the culture in Parliament House, will be given the power to investigate and sanction MPs and senators and is expected to be up and running later this year if it gains multipartisan support.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Israel must allow humanitarian relief to reach Gaza, Australia and UK say in new joint statement – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

As part of the latest Aukus developments, Australia will send A$4.6bn to the UK to clear bottlenecks at the Rolls-Royce nuclear reactor production line.

Richard Marles was asked why it costs so much, and why this component needs to be done in the UK. He told ABC News Breakfast:

We made clear a year ago that we wouldn’t be building the nuclear reactors in Australia. They will be built by Rolls Royce at its facility in Derby in the UK and once the sealed reactors are built, they will be taken here to the Osborne Naval ship yard and placed in the submarines which the rest of which will be built here at Osborne.

Building nuclear reactors is difficult to do and in order for this to play out, that facility in Derby, which is building nuclear reactors for Britain’s navy, that needs to be expanded and that is what this contribution is for.

Continue reading...

Landmark report calls for removal of LGBTQ+ discrimination exemptions for Australia’s religious schools

Posted on by

Law Reform Commission says schools shouldn’t be allowed to discriminate against staff and students on basis of sexuality, gender identity or relationship status

Blanket exemptions allowing religious schools to discriminate against staff and students on the basis of sexuality and gender identity should be repealed, a key report to the federal government has recommended.

The long-awaited report from the Australian Law Reform Commission, released on Thursday, says the institutions should be allowed to preference staff in line with their beliefs so long as its proportionate and “reasonably necessary” to maintaining a community of faith and isn’t unlawful under existing discrimination laws.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

David Shoebridge says Julian Assange ‘may not survive’ trial and extradition – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed.

Expect to hear a lot more on this today:

Southern Australia could face gas shortages during “extreme peak demand days” from 2025 as Bass Strait supplies dwindle, the Australian Energy Market Operator has said.

Continue reading...

Affordable housing beyond reach in all Australia’s eastern capitals, data shows

Posted on by

Only Perth and Darwin buck the trend, according to analysis by the Parliamentary Library, as the Greens say home ownership has become an ‘impossible dream’

Affordable housing is now beyond reach in all Australia’s eastern capitals, according to new analysis released by the Greens, with the average annual salary needed to buy a home without financial stress $164,400.

There are just two capitals – greater Perth and Darwin – where the cost of a unit would not put the average earner under housing stress, according to the Parliamentary Library’s analysis of data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and CoreLogic.

Continue reading...

Crossbenchers back Lidia Thorpe’s call for federal government to act on deaths in custody reforms

Posted on by

Exclusive: Victorian senator criticises lack of monitoring of royal commission recommendations and demands ‘tangible and achievable action’

An alliance of parliamentary crossbenchers has backed a call from senator Lidia Thorpe for the federal government to urgently address long called for reforms in landmark reports on Indigenous deaths in custody and child removals.

Thorpe, the Victorian independent, said the Australian Human Rights Commission should be empowered to oversee progress on the key Closing the Gap measures.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Peter Dutton claims PM ‘misrepresented’ earlier comments about Kevin Rudd’s performance as US ambassador

Posted on by

Follow the day’s news live

The Republican candidate for the US presidency, former president Donald Trump, has had a few things to say about former Australian prime minister and current US ambassador Kevin Rudd.

Trump spoke to UK conservative Nigel Farage on GB News, saying if Rudd is hostile “he will not be there long”:

The Aukus deal that is in place, America, you know, the UK, Australia, very, very important deal, it is there to try and combat that huge growth in China. But now of course things have changed in Australia, we have a Labor government in Australia. The previous ambassador, Joe Hockey, I think was quite a good friend of yours, you got on pretty well with him. Now they have appointed Kevin Rudd. Former Labor MP, an he has said the most horrible things, you were a destructive president, a traitor to the west, and he is now Australia’s ambassador in Washington. Would you [take a phone call from him?]”

Yeah, well don’t know. He won’t there be long if that is the case. I don’t know much about him. I heard he was a little nasty. I heard he’s not the brightest bulb. I don’t know much about him, but he won’t be there long if he is at all hostile.

Continue reading...

Australians ‘shocked’ at death sentence imposed on Yang Hengjun, Penny Wong tells Chinese counterpart

Posted on by

Foreign affairs minister says she raised concerns about China’s human rights record during meeting with Wang Yi, including in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong

The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has told her visiting Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, that Australians are “shocked” at the suspended death sentence imposed on the writer Dr Yang Hengjun.

Wong raised the Australian citizen’s case – along with human rights more broadly – during a meeting that was largely aimed at stabilising the previously turbulent relationship with Australia’s largest trading partner.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Alex Antic: Liberal who rolled female frontbencher described as nice guy turned ‘Trumpian’ by colleagues

Posted on by

The conservative firebrand has rekindled criticism of party’s ‘women problem’ after nabbing top spot on South Australian Senate ticket

Former colleagues paint Alex Antic – the rabble-rousing Liberal senator who rolled female frontbencher Anne Ruston in a preselection battle – as a nice guy turned “Trumpian”.

Antic, a backbencher known for his “anti-woke”, anti-vaccine mandate and anti-transgender stance, nabbed the party’s number one Senate ticket spot in South Australia on the weekend.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...