Category Archives: Australian politics

Australia news live: Labor’s preliminary refusal of Pep11 gas project ‘an amazing step forward’, Scamps says; total fire ban announced for parts of NSW

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On the double-dissolution threat floated by Anthony Albanese yesterday, Sarah Hanson-Young says:

Again, why, why be so bullish about this? The Australian people don’t need a panicked prime minister who wants to press the exit button because he can’t get his own way.

They want a government that’s willing to work across the parliament. Now, a third of Australians voted for parties other than Labor or Liberal at the last election. And they did that because they want a parliament that works for them.

We want to fix it. We want to give the government the opportunity to fix it. I’m not just interested in saying no to things. I want to get outcomes. I guess that’s my concern.

This prime minister seems to have such a chip on his shoulder, doesn’t want to work with anyone. Just wants to do it all his way. I don’t think this is a very good sign for the future. Come on, come on, prime minister, you know, let’s put – put aside the politics and get on with getting some outcomes.

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Labor urged to commit to universal childcare after report finds many children miss out on critical learning

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Productivity Commission report also says controversial activity test should be scrapped through overhaul of subsidies

Early education advocates have urged the Labor government to commit to universal childcare in the lead-up to the election, after a major report warned too many children were missing out on critical learning due to high costs and access issues.

The Productivity Commission has recommended that the federal government increase funding and simplify subsidies for early childhood education and care. It also said the controversial “activity test” should be scrapped, and called on state governments to provide out-of-hours care for older children in public schools.

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Albanese targets Greens on ‘gesture-based’ climate politics in speech defending Labor’s business policies

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PM says Labor’s nature-positive legislation provides ‘vital certainty’ and talks up mutual respect in an address before the Business Council of Australia

Anthony Albanese has accused the Greens of “gesture-based climate amendments” to Labor’s environment legislation in a speech defending his government’s reform record and its relationship with big business.

In an address to the Business Council of Australia on Tuesday evening, Albanese said Labor is “pro-business and pro-worker” and sought to distinguish himself from Peter Dutton by arguing he respects their views even when he disagrees.

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Labor push for vote on help-to-buy bill delayed in Senate – as it happened

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White House marks three years since signing of Aukus agreement

Happy three-year anniversary of the signing of Aukus, to those who observe.

Three years ago, President Biden and our Australian and United Kingdom partners committed to Aukus, an enhanced security partnership that promotes a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable.

As this partnership has grown, it has strengthened the security of our allies in the region as well as our own security here at home. Over the past three years, our countries have made significant strides in supporting Australia’s acquisition of a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability.

That is bad news for Australian solar homes.

To create space for inflexible nuclear power plants ramming energy into the grid, millions of household solar systems will be the first casualty.

Solar power is already being switched off in South Australia when it makes so much free power available that it exceeds electricity demand.

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Politics live: Senate question time spars over housing and the economy; plan for Australia to build rocket motors for ‘world’s most advanced missiles’

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Albanese says it’s a ‘good thing’ Trump is safe after apparent assassination attempt

Anthony Albanese has responded to news about an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

Everyone wants the democratic process to be peaceful and to be orderly. This incident in the United States is of concern, again. It is good that President Trump has said that he is safe and that the incident, the details of which are still coming out, so it’s not quite clear all of those details but what is clear is that President Trump is safe. That is a good thing.

The first round of Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund and National Housing Accord programs will deliver 4,220 social and 9,522 affordable homes, including 1,267 homes for women and children escaping domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness.

In just the first round of these programs, the Albanese Government is directly supporting more social and affordable housing than the Liberals and Nationals did in their entire nine years in office.

Housing Australia has recommended contract negotiations for 185 projects, with construction on almost 40 per cent of the 13,742 dwellings forecast to get underway this financial year.

Round one of the programs’ funding will unlock $9.2 billion of investment in social and affordable housing across Commonwealth, State and Territory government, and the private and community housing sectors.

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‘Zero repercussions’: victims of robodebt ‘embarrassed’ to have believed justice would be done

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Despite a royal commission and now findings of misconduct, those affected say many of those responsible have been able to ‘just walk away’

Victims of the unlawful robodebt program say they feel “embarrassed” to have believed justice would be delivered following a royal commission into the scheme, suggesting “they could put all this into a Monty Python movie”.

Twelve officials, including former department heads Kathryn Campbell and Renée Leon, breached the public service code of conduct 97 times during their involvement in robodebt, an Australian Public Service Commission taskforce found on Friday.

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Shorten furious over robodebt department head’s attempt to position herself as ‘scapegoat’

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Kathryn Campbell defends her role in unlawful scheme and rejects claim she came up with program with former prime minister Scott Morrison

Bill Shorten has launched an excoriating attack of former public servant Kathryn Campbell after she claimed she was unfairly blamed in the robodebt scandal and defended her decisions around the scheme.

“Robodebt was a shocking betrayal and failure of empathy towards vulnerable people who needed support from the government,” Shorten said on Saturday.

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Delayed air travellers may get compensation under rules Albanese government proposes

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Catherine King says new charter may force airlines to compensate you if they bump you off a flight, delay your flight, or cancel it

Airlines in Australia may yet be forced to compensate passengers for bumping them to other services because of overbooking, delaying or cancelling their flights, under the charter of aviation rights proposed by the Albanese government.

The transport minister, Catherine King, told Guardian Australia that, despite the aviation white paper not endorsing a standalone compensation provision, the government aims to have legally enforceable penalties included in the charter. It also wants powers granted to the proposed new aviation ombudsman to deal with how airlines treat passengers.

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Inquiry into robodebt issues sanctions against four of 12 staff: why so few and what happens next

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Australian Public Service Commission’s report finds 12 of 16 public servants breached code of conduct 97 times but only remaining staff to be reprimanded

The outcome of a highly anticipated 13-month inquiry into the conduct of current and former bureaucrats involved in the illegal robodebt scheme has been released.

The Australian Public Service Commission’s report marks the formal end of the agency’s investigation into what public servants responsible for devising and running the scheme knew and how they acted.

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John Howard weighs in on stoush between NSW and federal Liberals – as it happened

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Assistant treasurer says Elon Musk post is ‘crackpot stuff’

The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has said Elon Musk labelling the Australian government as “fascists” is “crackpot stuff”.

And whether it’s the Australian government or any other government around the world, we assert our right to pass laws which will keep Australians safe – safe from scammers, safe from criminals.

And, for the life of me, I can’t see how Elon Musk or anyone else, in the name of free speech, thinks it is OK to have social media platforms publishing scam content, which is robbing Australians of billions of dollars every year. Publishing deepfake material, publishing child pornography. Livestreaming murder scenes. I mean is this what he thinks free speech is all about?

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Federal government approves third runway for Melbourne airport

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Approval requires the establishment of a noise amelioration program for nearby communities

The federal government has approved a third runway for Melbourne airport, with conditions set to share and minimise the effects of aircraft noise on surrounding communities.

The transport minister, Catherine King, announced the go-ahead for the runway construction on Friday, saying it would allow the airport to cater for the demand of a growing city and provide better access for freight and passengers.

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Anthony Albanese may decide who runs in safe Labor seat as deputy PM and union locked in tussle

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Richard Marles and Bill Shorten’s old union, the Australian Workers’ Union, in stoush to pick candidate for Gorton

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, is locked in a struggle with Bill Shorten’s old union, the Australian Workers’ Union, to pick the next candidate for the safe Labor seat of Gorton.

Shorten’s seat of Maribyrnong will be contested by the left’s Jo Briskey while Labor’s choice for Gorton is a tussle between the climate crisis and water policy expert Alice Jordan-Baird and the Brimbank mayor, Ranka Rasic.

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Labor’s stalled environmental agenda under pressure from left and right

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While the Greens remain hopeful of compromise, the PM has indicated he wants a deal struck with the Coalition

Anthony Albanese is rejecting demands from the Greens and some Senate crossbenchers to subject development projects to climate-impact assessments and remove forestry’s effective exemption from environmental protection law, as the government negotiates on stalled legislation with parties to the left and right.

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is in talks with the Greens, crossbenchers and the Coalition over legislation to establish an environment protection authority.

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Australian politics live: Labor confirms aged care deal; AEC abolishes Kylea Tink’s electorate; parliamentary standards bill passes Senate

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Helen Haines condemns ‘stitch up’ over Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission bill

Independent MP Helen Haines is furious at what she calls a “stitch up” between Labor and the Coalition that “weakens the transparency of the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission”.

The bill as currently drafted means serious findings could be made about an MP, but they could face no sanction and the public could never know.

I want to see more transparency around this process.

The government made two last-minute changes to its own legislation that would reinforce the major party duopoly, ensuring no member of the crossbench can be deputy chair of the parliamentary standards oversight committee. What a stitch up!”

We’re going to have the same people on the joint select committee as on the privileges committee, meaning the people who are meant to make sure the whole system is working are the same people who are part of it.

I’m really staggered by this, and it isn’t right.

We’re taking a stand against the unchecked greed that’s fuelling the cost-of-living crisis, and we’re urging the parliament to support this critical reform.

Our bill will put an end to corporate price gouging by making it illegal for corporations with substantial market power to charge excessive prices for goods and services.

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Teal independent Kylea Tink considers options after seat abolished by AEC

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North Sydney MP says decision is ‘deeply disappointing’ but has not ruled out running for new local seat or switching to Senate

The teal independent MP Kylea Tink says she is considering her political options after it was confirmed her seat of North Sydney will be abolished by the Australian Electoral Commission.

Tink is not ruling out running for a new local seat or even trying to switch to the Senate at the next election.

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Key gambling harm advocate ‘saddened’ by Albanese’s statements on betting ads

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Tim Costello says the prime minister has ‘mindlessly’ followed gambling industry’s attempts to present him as a prohibitionist

Tim Costello has rejected Anthony Albanese’s suggestion he wants gambling banned and accused the prime minister of “mindlessly” repeating industry attack lines to justify a partial gambling ad ban.

On Thursday Costello, the chief advocate of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said he was “very disappointed” at Albanese. Costello insisted in 30 years of advocacy he has “never been a prohibitionist”.

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Labor claims Aukus nuclear waste dumping issue just a Greens scare campaign

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Legislation before Australian parliament covers the way the country’s nuclear-powered submarine program will be regulated

The Albanese government has bowed to pressure to close an Aukus loophole, insisting newly revealed changes will ensure Australia will not become a dumping ground for nuclear waste from US and UK submarines.

The Greens argued the government’s latest amendments did not go far enough and it was becoming increasingly clear the Aukus security pact was “sinking”.

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Jacinta Price alleges ‘opportunists’ claiming Indigenous heritage to block resources projects

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Shadow minister for Indigenous Australians says Albanese government ‘turning a blind eye’ to alleged ‘weaponisation’ of identity

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has claimed “opportunists” are making “false claims” to membership of Indigenous groups to scuttle resource projects seeking environmental approval.

The shadow minister for Indigenous Australians made the claim on Wednesday while defending a Coalition plan to designate which Indigenous groups would need to be consulted by project proponents, as revealed by the shadow resources minister, Susan McDonald, at a Minerals Week event.

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Australia politics live: Labor’s hate speech bill will not not criminalise vilification; man who ‘flipped the bird’ in parliament was not signed in by politician

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Dan Tehan outraged over tattered flag after devastating winds

Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan is continuing to moonlight as Australia’s flag hall monitor.

While values are still rising at the national level, albeit at a slowing pace, beneath the headline figure, we’re starting to see some weakness, particularly in Victoria.

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Universities say they are being treated like ‘political footballs’ in scathing critique of Labor’s student cap

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Decision to cap international enrolments the most ‘extraordinary intervention’ since 2021 Coalition vetoing of research grants, Universities Australia chair to say

The chair of Universities Australia will accuse both sides of parliament of using the tertiary education sector as a “political plaything” in a scathing critique of Labor’s proposed international student cap.

Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Prof David Lloyd will call the decision to cap international student enrolments at a maximum of 270,000 the most “extraordinary intervention” by a government into universities since the Morrison government vetoed six Australian Research Council (ARC) grants in 2021.

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