Category Archives: Australian politics

Controversial dynamic ticket pricing to be banned in Australia amid sweeping federal crackdown

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Anthony Albanese says ‘dodgy’ trading practices, ‘hidden fees and traps are putting even more pressure on the cost of living’ and need to be stopped

The “dynamic pricing” of concert tickets will be banned as the federal government cracks down on “dodgy” trading practices and tackles hidden fees and subscription “traps” for online shopping, gym memberships and airline tickets.

Anthony Albanese and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will on Wednesday announce plans to ban unfair trading practices under Australian consumer law, the latest consumer-focused competition and pricing changes proposed by the government and badged as cost-of-living relief.

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‘I love the smell of success more than petrol’: investors break with tradition in world-leading climate campaign

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Investors say climate change poses biggest risk to their assets, and urge Albanese government to see the economic dangers of a slow path to net zero

Institutional investors dealing with portfolios in the trillions of dollars aren’t typically the most vocal climate campaigners. You won’t find many superannuation fund staff, fund managers, asset consultants or brokers with a placard on the streets or on top of a Newcastle coal train.

But you may increasingly find them on a screen you’re watching. Or at least their message.

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Australia news live: Hanson-Young calls for investigation of live music ticketing allegations; culprit flees botched ram raid with arm on fire

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The federal government has announced targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on five Iranian individuals it says is “contributing to Iran’s missile program.”

A statement from the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said Iran’s missile program “poses a material threat to regional and international security”, with the 1 October attack on Israel a “dangerous escalation that increased the risk of a wider regional war.”

Australia will continue to hold Iran to account for its reckless and destabilising actions.

We’re holding ministers accountable when the premier of Tasmania refused to. This project – for people who don’t know – is $500m over budget, five years delayed.

It’s a completely debacle. Someone needed to take responsibility. The premier [was] saying he wouldn’t do that, the parliament decided it would act and, at the last moment, the deputy premier resigned.

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Shoppers to no longer pay fees when using debit cards under new Albanese government plan

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Treasurer says uncovering ‘unfair’ practices also part of proposed surcharge revamp designed to give consumers better deal and cut small business’s costs

The federal government is preparing to ban debit card fees and instruct the consumer watchdog to investigate excessive card costs, as the unpopular system of transaction charges gets set for an overhaul.

The proposed changes would mean consumers no longer pay a fee when using their debit card to buy their morning coffee or make a major retail purchase. Credit card fees would still apply.

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‘Easier to buy your 10th house than your first’: Unions NSW joins push to reform negative gearing and capital gains tax

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Exclusive: Survey finds 72% of 2,158 workers want Albanese government to rethink housing tax breaks – particularly renters and over-65s

Unions NSW has thrown its support behind reform of the negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, arguing that the housing market is “fundamentally broken”.

The Unions NSW secretary, Mark Morey, is now calling on the Albanese government to reform the tax concessions and reinvest “profound savings” in housing, such as by expanding the Housing Australia Future Fund.

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Albanese backs Queensland premier’s opposition to nuclear power as early voting in state election opens

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PM says Steven Miles’s plan to hold plebiscite on nuclear if Labor wins 26 October poll is a ‘matter for Queensland’ but he supports the stance

Anthony Albanese has backed Steven Miles’s opposition to nuclear power while joining the Queensland premier on the first day of pre-poll voting in the state election.

At a joint press conference in the Gold Coast on Monday, the prime minister was asked about Miles’s plan to hold a plebiscite on nuclear if Labor wins this month’s poll.

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Dfat says it has told Israel ‘unacceptable’ targeting of UN personnel in Lebanon must cease – as it happened

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Jacinta Nampijinpa Price on Voice referendum, one year on

The shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, was on ABC News Breakfast earlier on the first anniversary of the Voice referendum.

We have been calling for an inquiry into statutory authorities for the last 18 months, which we believe need to be looked at closely because of their failures to ... well, not all statutory authorities, but some, in terms of their failures of how they’re supposed to serve the interests of those that they are supposed to represent.

And this has been ongoing now and something that the Albanese Government has continued to ignore. But those voices – especially of Traditional Owners – that I have been speaking to, are growing louder, with more concern. And, really, there is a need to fix the structures that currently exist, and it begins with an inquiry.

There’s no evidence at all that current laws led by the Albanese government are stifling businesses from employing people. In fact, we’ve actually created nearly 1 million jobs since coming to office a bit over two years ago … So unfortunately, for some of the leading business groups calling for this, the evidence of what’s going on in the economy just doesn’t back up their wish list.

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‘No settlement to the original grievance’: voice champions give rallying cry for unity in Australia

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‘Our mob across the country wanted structural reform', Pat Anderson told online audience; ‘that’s what we’re still fighting for,’ Prof Megan Davis said

A key proponent of the Indigenous Voice to parliament, rejected at a referendum a year ago, has challenged Australians to be “bigger and wider – to be grand” and to forge from that bruising experience “an authentic Australian nation”.

Pat Anderson’s rallying cry on the eve of the anniversary came at the close of an hour-long online event for key ‘Yes’ advocates to reflect, lament and commit to “stay true to Uluru”.

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Business Council blames slow local decision-making for feeding Australia’s housing supply crisis

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Peak business body proposes deadlines to ‘speed up’ local councils, saying delays are making developers reluctant to invest

Local councils would be forced to set deadlines for deciding on housing development applications and lose approval rights if they cannot stick to them, under a proposal from the national peak body representing big business.

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) is urging state governments to force local councils to consult housing development proponents and set agreed deadlines, case by case, for ruling on their applications – then be held accountable for meeting them.

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Steven Miles bats away accusations of pinching policies from Greens ahead of Queensland polls opening

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State premier announces free state primary school lunches at campaign launch after revealing plan for state-owned health clinics

Premier Steven Miles has warded off allegations of plagiarism from the Greens for a signature free school lunch policy announced at Sunday’s election campaign launch.

The Labor leader promised a free lunch for every Queensland state primary school student, the day before polls open in the state’s election. It came just a day after he unveiled a policy of state-owned, privately run GP clinics.

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Tanya Plibersek defends Aboriginal heritage order blocking ‘irreversible damage’ of goldmine tailings dam

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Financial impact on mining company does not outweigh ‘permanent loss’ to cultural sites, environment minister says

Tanya Plibersek has defended her decision to issue an Aboriginal heritage protection order for the site of a proposed goldmine near Blayney, saying the financial impact on the mining company does not outweigh “irreversible damage and permanent loss” to Aboriginal cultural heritage sites.

The environment minister made a partial declaration under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act in August, blocking a proposal by mining company Regis Resources to build a tailings dam for its $900m McPhillamys gold project in the headwaters of the Belubula River. The declaration did not cover the rest of the proposed mining area.

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Sussan Ley says Richard Marles should resign if he failed to provide safe workplace for chief of staff

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Deputy opposition leader expresses concern for Jo Tarnawsky’s welfare after chief of staff claims she was effectively sacked

The deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, says Richard Marles should resign if he has failed to provide a safe and respectful workplace as required under the ministerial code of conduct.

Ley said on Friday that allegations from the deputy prime minister’s chief of staff, Jo Tarnawksy, were “extremely serious” and expressed concern for her welfare.

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Australia news live: QLD LNP leader says end of coal before 2030s ‘fanciful’; patients at Sydney GP given less-effective vaccines

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The LNP leader, David Crisafulli, appears to be walking away from a commitment to 75% emissions reduction by 2035. Follow today’s news live

Rowland questioned on gambling ad ban

Michelle Rowland was also asked why it has taken 16 months for the government – as yet – to make no decision on gambling ads. The communications minister said the government has “been working diligently in this space” but action “should have been taken on this some 10 years ago”.

We’re working very closely with the states and territories because the vast majority of recommendations in our late colleague Peta Murphy’s report go to issues that go across commonwealth and state jurisdictions.

We’re also working very closely to ensure that there are no unintended consequences here and it’s actually effective.

We have every anticipation that we will be able to respond comprehensively this year and that’s what we’re working towards as a government.

We will be taking advice on the appropriate form in which that can be done. Legislation is obviously an option because there is an interactive gambling act at the commonwealth level, which enables some of these approaches to be implemented.

There will be penalty for the platforms just as they are now in the Online Safety Act … These penalties will be drafted and, as I said, we’re currently reviewing the Online Safety Act because the penalties as they stand … the maximum penalties are less than $1 million for some offences.

They are being challenged but, at the same time, the industry does understand the need to comply here and, by and large, does comply with the rules under the Online Safety Act.

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Social media platforms with ‘low risk of harm to children’ could escape Albanese government age ban

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Communications minister Michelle Rowland says ‘likely’ changes to Online Safety Act ‘will place onus on platforms, not parents or young people’

Social media companies could escape the Albanese government’s proposed age ban if they can demonstrate a “low risk of harm to children”, the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, has said.

Rowland will announce on Friday that the “likely” amendments to the Online Safety Act banning children from social media will “place the onus on platforms, not parents or young people” to enforce the ban.

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Australia politics live: Richard Marles tells question time ‘I feel very sad that events have got to where they have’ after chief of staff’s bullying allegations

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The opposition communications spokesperson, David Coleman, is speaking to ABC radio RN, criticising the government’s legislation designed to keep the NBN in public hands.

He is having trouble saying whether the opposition will support the bill, or whether a future Coalition government would want to sell the NBN.

We’re not going to just sort of immediately jump at some silly theatrical statement from the government. The adults in the room will review this in a normal way.

We’ve got no intention of changing the ownership structure of the NBN. Nobody does. And frankly, because the NBN is going so badly, there’s not exactly a lineup of people [wanting to buy it].

Parents are crying out for a degree of certainty, they’re crying out for government guidance, a lot more rule that people can follow. That doesn’t mean there won’t be challenging but at least provides a starting point for parents. It gives them a tool about how to address this and parents who have gone through all this and all the pain that social media can place upon their children, they’re the ones I think are the most powerful advocates for this reform.

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Sudden ‘period of leave’ for head of Department of Parliamentary Services

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Former anti-corruption commissioner steps in after Rob Stefanic announces decision to take leave

The head of the Department of Parliamentary Services has announced a sudden “period of leave”, leaving a former anti-corruption commissioner in charge of the department.

The secretary, Rob Stefanic, announced to staff in an email on Wednesday morning he had made a decision to “take a period of leave”.

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Australian teens approaching age limit could be spared from social media ban, ACT leader says

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Exclusive: Andrew Barr says it ‘doesn’t make sense’ for existing users to be banned for a year or two before regaining access

It “doesn’t make sense” to remove existing teen users of social media from the platforms just a year or two before they regain access, Andrew Barr says.

The ACT chief minister’s comments point to the possibility that existing users could be grandfathered by the proposed social media ban so that they keep their accounts or are temporarily moved on to teen-friendly versions, such as that recently introduced for Instagram by Meta.

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A bizarre game of political chicken? How Queensland lurched to the right on law and order

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Labor’s cave-ins on youth justice over the past two years were meant to neutralise the opposition’s attacks – but they appear to have merely emboldened the LNP

Has the Queensland election campaign become a bizarre game of political chicken?

The economic debate has veered sharply to the left. The Liberal National party’s “small target” plan has involved adopting many of Labor’s policies, including cheap public transport fees and other cost-of-living handouts.

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Scientists contest environment minister’s claim of ‘blitzing’ Australia’s ocean reserve expansion goal

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Tanya Plibersek claims Labor is protecting 52% of its ocean territory, but experts say that is ‘misleading’

Scientists have challenged Tanya Plibersek’s claim that Australia is protecting more than half of its oceans and has “blitzed” a 30% target, arguing industrial longline fishing will still be allowed in some areas the government says it is conserving.

The environment minister told a “global nature positive summit” in Sydney on Tuesday the government had quadrupled the size of the sub-Antarctic Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve, a world heritage area about 4,000km south-west of Perth.

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Doubts over legal regime to re-detain those released from Australian immigration detention, FoI documents reveal

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Exclusive: Meeting minutes show that without any offending by those released, it’s hard to ‘illustrate that they pose an ongoing risk’

Officials responsible for a regime to re-detain people released from immigration detention have cast doubt on its effectiveness, warning the minimum nine-month timeframe to put cases together could make it harder for the government to win.

“In the absence of any offending, [it is] hard to illustrate that they pose an ongoing risk – so the longer it takes it weakens [the applicants’] case,” officials said, according to minutes of a January meeting discussing the operation of the scheme, passed after the high court’s ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.

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