Category Archives: Australian politics

Morrison and Abbott praise Trump – as it happened

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There was some seriously colourful language in Senate estimates yesterday, but in this case the media regulator found radio hosts’ words were a step too far. Sarah Martin reports on what the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young described as “revolting, sexist, racist, misogynistic, divisive stuff”:

A “dangerous anti-abortion bill” before the Senate should be withdrawn, if the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, wants credibility on women’s healthcare, the minister for women, Katy Gallagher, says.

It is typical of Peter Dutton to view this purely as a matter of winning or losing votes, rather than any genuine commitment to women’s healthcare.

If Peter Dutton wants any credibility on women’s healthcare, he must immediately ensure Senators [Matt] Canavan and [Alex] Antic withdraw their dangerous anti-abortion bill currently before the Senate.

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2GB’s Ben Fordham pulls out of Liberal event, saying he didn’t realise it was fundraiser for party

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Nine radio star says he speaks to political organisations, Scouts, charities and preschools but draws the line at political promotion

Nine’s 2GB radio host Ben Fordham has pulled out of a Liberal party fundraiser in Kirribilli, saying he did not realise the event was raising money for the political party when he accepted the invitation to speak.

“Kirribilli Branch is honoured to be joined by Ben Fordham, Sydney’s No.1 radio presenter,” the invitation said. “Ben will provide a review of the major stories he has uncovered and covered this year and the very important election year on the horizon.”

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Drilling for Sydney to Newcastle high-speed rail begins but Labor accused of uncosted ‘fantasy project’

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Two drill rigs, installed on barges, have started work on the Hawkesbury River at Brooklyn and at Brisbane Water near Gosford

Drill rigs have started boring into rocks and riverbeds to determine the best route for the tunnelling megaproject needed for a high-speed rail line between Sydney and Newcastle, but the fast train’s future is far from certain amid questions about its cost.

Almost three years after Labor came to power on a promise to build the fast train, two drill rigs have begun geotechnical examinations on the Central Coast of New South Wales, the Albanese government announced on Tuesday, as its newly formed High-Speed Rail Association (HSRA) works on a business case for the project’s first stage.

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Employers shortchanged Australian workers a record amount of super last year, tax office says

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The dollar figure of superannuation that went unpaid after recovery efforts rose to $5.2bn from $4.8bn in 2022-23

Australian workers missed out on a record $5.2bn of superannuation that employers failed to pay last financial year, according to the Australian Taxation Office.

The ATO has released the data on the superannuation “gap” in its annual report, which also reveals that $1.4bn is likely to go unpaid because it is owed by insolvent companies.

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Australia politics live: Albanese tells caucus Labor will campaign on ‘risk’ of Dutton; Miles returns as Queensland Labor leader

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‘We need to extend the average time people stay in our defence force,’ says Matt Keough

The defence personnel minister, Matt Keough, has also been talking about that retention and renumeration package for defence.

We need to extend the average time people stay in our defence force.

That does mean it had a vulnerability. We’re looking at moving to more of a mesh-type arrangement of satellites, which provides greater resilience, with a more up-to-date technology, and we’ll be able to deliver the technology faster as well.

We are very much confident that we can meet these targets and that’s because we have properly funded them and we have a plan to get there, which is about really improving the terms of service for those who work in our defence forces.

We’re increasing and expanding the bonuses for continuing on in the defence force. We’re continuing the original retention bonus after your initial service obligation for three years and beyond that. There will be another bonus for people who stay in the defence force after that. And that’s really targeting those who are in their seventh, eighth, ninth years of service, which gets to the middle ranks where we’ve got an issue. And we’re also going to grow the active reserves so there are more opportunities for people in the reserve to do full-time or part-time work in the defence force.

This original plan goes back seven or eight years and it was about having two or three satellites above Australia to deliver that capability. Since then, we have seen technologies develop which can shoot satellites out of the sky but we have also seen technologies develop where you have thousands of micro satellites in a more distributed way providing the same effect and we are seeing that with Starlink above Ukraine.

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Peter Dutton rules out Coalition abortion policy changes and blasts MPs for stirring debate

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It follows party criticism of Jacinta Nampijinpa Price for condemning later term abortions, though opposition leader did not name names

Peter Dutton has blasted Coalition MPs for fuelling a federal debate on abortion laws, declaring there would be no change to policy if he wins government and they must show more “discipline” on the topic.

Dutton told MPs in his private weekly party-room address on Tuesday morning that the 11th-hour emergence of the issue during the recent Queensland state election campaign may have cost the Liberal National party votes.

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Eight staff of Australian Electoral Commission contractor fabricated voice referendum location data

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AEC ‘considering its legal position’ after investigation prompted by Guardian reporting into allegations from McNair whistleblower

Eight staff fabricated location data on Indigenous communities while working for a company contracted by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) during last year’s failed voice referendum process, an investigation has found.

The AEC said it was now “considering its legal position” over the scandal and remained “incredibly disappointed” in the alleged behaviour of McNair yellowSquares, a market research firm engaged as part of the commission’s efforts to improve participation in the vote.

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Independent MPs cancel airline VIP memberships – as it happened

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In case you missed it – political editor Karen Middleton talked to shadow transport minister Bridget McKenzie about the Qantas saga for the Australian Politics podcast – please enjoy McKenzie’s nimble wordcraft:

Westpac has recorded a $7bn full-year profit, representing a modest decline on last year’s strong result, as the number of homeowners falling behind on repayments jumped higher.

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How donations to political parties from gambling companies linked to horse racing have surged

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A total of $2.7m has been donated to the major parties in the past decade from eight companies

Political donations made to the major parties by gambling lobby groups have surged more than 600% in the past decade, new analysis shows, as the debate over whether to implement a total ban on gambling advertising rages on in Canberra.

The figures, reported to the Australian Electoral Commission and analysed by the Parliamentary Library, show donations from the biggest gambling companies involved in horse betting to the major parties have increased from $66,650 in 2013-14 to $488,000 in 2022-23, representing a 632% growth.

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More than 5.4m extra doctor visits were bulk billed last year after incentives boost, health minister says

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Increase follows Albanese government tripling financial rewards for GPs to bulk bill pensioners, concession card holders and children

More than 5.4m additional visits to the doctor were bulk billed in the last year due to a boost to incentives, according to figures released by the health minister, Mark Butler.

The proportion of all doctors’ visits that are bulk billed has increased by 1.7 points from 75.6% in October last year to 77.3% this October, the data shows.

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Albanese pledges permanent free Tafe places – as it happened

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Australians will have access to permanent free Tafe nationwide if the Labor government is re-elected, the PM says in the first major policy announcement. Follow today’s news live

Trump ‘not afraid to exercise power’: Hockey

Hockey says he believes Trump will seek to restart his trade war with China as he “sees China as the main adversary of the United States rather than Russian, or even threats in the Middle East”.

At the end of the day, if – the United States – the thing about Donald Trump is he’s not afraid to exercise power and he’s not afraid to threaten to use power. If he does that, then it actually emboldens Australia’s position, doesn’t weaken it because it means we have an entry point into that unpredictable power that others don’t.

I think Trump is – I know that Donald Trump sees Australia very favourably when it comes to issues like national security. I think that will flow through to Aukus that he won’t want to change the relationship with Aukus. He will, however, put a greater priority on building up the US defence system, its reservoir of not only talent, but also importantly the hardware, be it F-35s or Virginia-class subs. So might mean we go down the pecking order on the Virginia-class subs, but again it will rely heavily on our advocacy with Trump.

Whatever the case, I think, you know, we’ll be in a good position with Harris as well.

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‘The worst is behind us’: Albanese optimistic that Australia has defeated the inflation crisis

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Prime minister says nation has weathered ‘global storm’ of high prices and announces more free Tafe places at rally

Anthony Albanese has all but declared victory over the inflation crisis in an upbeat campaign rally speech promising more free Tafe places and cost of living support.

On Sunday the prime minister addressed a rally in Adelaide, declaring that Australia had navigated through the “global storm” of high prices and has “new reasons for optimism and new proof the worst is behind us”.

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Student debt relief will make ‘massive difference’ for young Australians, education minister says

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Hecs debt will be reduced by 20% for university students under a government proposal should Labor win the next election

Slashing the Hecs debts of millions of university students will be a major boost for young Australians, the education minister says, as the federal government seeks a reset by targeting younger voters.

The government has indicated it will take 20% off students debts, which would apply to $16bn worth of loans, if Labor wins the next election.

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University graduates to save $680 a year, on average, as Albanese announces increase to Hecs threshold

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PM to announce change that would see minimum debt repayment threshold lifted from $54,000 to $67,000 from next financial year

Graduates will be able to earn more money before they start repaying their university debts under new laws to be introduced by the Albanese government next year.

The prime minister will announce the cost-of-living measure alongside the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, at a campaign rally in Adelaide on Sunday.

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Respawned: Queensland magazine the Cane Toad Times takes aim at a post-truth world

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It emerged from the slime of the sunshine state during Bjelke-Petersen’s oppressive regime. Now it’s back – but can it survive more sensitive times?

A man whose pseudonym is Johnny La Rue is holding a yellowed magazine with two toad-headed lovers embracing on the front. He reads aloud a headline that would likely trigger a firestorm on social media were it written today.

“Who wrote that?!” he exclaims.

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Australia news live: PwC reveals it sacked eight staff over data breaches; Perth man dies after being taken to police watch house

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Court to rule in Pauline Hanson-Mehreen Faruqi case

A federal court judge is ready to rule on whether Pauline Hanson made a racial slur when she told Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to go back to Pakistan.

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Peter Dutton’s office asked Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting for flight on private jet

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Opposition leader, who says Anthony Albanese is ‘obfuscating’ in his answers on Qantas upgrades, says he never personally asked mining magnate

Peter Dutton has admitted his office asked the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart’s company for a lift on a Hancock Prospecting jet to a Bali bombing memorial service, days after he said he had never personally asked Australia’s richest person for help with flights around Australia.

The opposition leader said his office’s request to Hancock came after he claimed the government would not help him get a flight on a special purpose flight, that commercial options were not available, and that a chartered jet would be too expensive. The admission came as Dutton again ridiculed Anthony Albanese for his explanations over the widening Qantas upgrades scandal, accusing the prime minister of being “dishonest”.

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Victoria to cut more than 130 bushfire forest service jobs – As it happened

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Young man dies in multi-vehicle crash in Queensland’s Bundaberg Region

A fatal multi-vehicle traffic crash last night at Elliot in Queensland’s Bundaberg Region last night is being investigated by the police forensic crash Unit.

All travel has been appropriately declared and is a matter of public record.

The only people that need to look at the rules are [shadow transport minister] Bridget McKenzie and Peter Dutton. They’ve got some serious explaining to do.

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‘Bias’ finding over robodebt investigation undermines faith in anti-corruption watchdog, legal expert says

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Review into integrity body especially concerning as it relates to ‘the person at the top’, Geoffrey Watson SC says

The federal anti-corruption watchdog’s conflict of interest is “really concerning” because it relates to “the person at the top”, Geoffrey Watson SC, a former counsel assisting to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, has said.

On Wednesday, the inspector of the National Anti-Corruption Commission released a excoriating review of the Nacc’s decision not to investigate robodebt corruption referrals, finding it to be “affected by apprehended bias”.

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Anthony Albanese denies ever calling ex-Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to ask for an upgrade

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Prime minister issues statement saying ‘all travel has been appropriately declared’ after allegations made in new book over politicians’ travel

Anthony Albanese has denied ever calling Alan Joyce for free Qantas flight upgrades during his time as transport minister and opposition leader.

The rebuke comes days after the claims were made in a new book by former Nine newspaper columnist Joe Aston, alleging a number of federal politicians had regularly received free business or first-class upgrades as part of their membership to the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge, described as the “speakeasy for Australia’s ruling class”.

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