Category Archives: Australian politics

Christmas hams, candles and a ‘priceless’ 75cm statue: what Australia’s politicians are being gifted

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Disclosures include a custom turntable from Joe Biden and a statue depicting Julian Hill on a gold armchair gifted by a local supporter

The Labor MP Julian Hill’s declaration of a 75-centimetre statue of himself, given by a constituent, has shone a light on the interesting – and sometimes weird – world of political disclosures and gifts.

Gifts ranging from bottles of wine to customised vinyl record turntables, free concert tickets to flight upgrades are accepted and dutifully recorded on the federal politicians’ publicly-available register of interests, as required under parliamentary rules.

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Australia news live: Andrew Hastie warns of ‘breakouts of strategic disorder’ across globe; high court gives government win in ‘steering wheel’ visa case

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High court rules in favour of Andrew Giles in long-running case featuring a ‘bizarre’ photo of a signed ministerial brief next to a steering wheel. Follow today’s news live

‘Aid workers are to be protected’

Penny Wong was also asked to provide an update on the work done by Mark Binskin so far, who was appointed special adviser on Israel’s response to the deaths of World Central Kitchen aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom.

There are positive engagements and we appreciate that this is a very important issue for Australia. We have been saying for a very long time it is important that international humanitarian law be adhered to.

Under international humanitarian law, as you know, aid workers are to be protected. Demonstrably, there was a deadly failure of deconfliction – deconfliction being the ways in which making sure that defence forces are aware of where humanitarian workers are so they can be protected and there was a deadly failure.

We’ve made no such decision, the discussion I want to have is to look at what is happening in the international community where there is the very important debate about how it is we secure long-lasting peace in a region where which has known so much conflict.

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‘Sign here’: high court finds no requirement for minister to read submissions on visa decisions

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Long-running dispute, featuring ‘bizarre’ photo of visa cancellation next to steering wheel, ends with finding that minister can rely on accurate summaries from department

The immigration minister is not required to personally read submissions for intervention on visa decisions, the high court has ruled, in a decision breaking Labor’s losing streak on sensitive migration cases.

On Wednesday, the high court unanimously ruled in favour of Andrew Giles in a long-running case featuring a “bizarre” photo of a signed ministerial brief next to a steering wheel.

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Scott Morrison-era ‘accounting tricks’ to cost public schools $13bn over next five years

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National School Resourcing Board’s review finds state schools lost more than $2bn in 2022 due to a Coalition-era loophole

Australia’s public schools will miss out on $13bn in the next five years if accounting tricks are maintained in upcoming funding agreements, a major report has found.

The National School Resourcing Board’s annual review, tabled in parliament last week, showed government schools lost more than $2bn in 2022 because of a Morrison-era loophole that allows states and territories to claim up to 4% of public school funding on non-school expenditures.

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Mona loses Ladies Lounge anti-discrimination case with ‘persons who do not identify as ladies’ to be allowed entry – as it happened

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A search will resume this morning for a woman who went missing while bushwalking at Belmore Falls in New South Wales.

Just after 1pm on Sunday, emergency services were called to Belmore Falls near Robertson after reports a woman had slipped and fallen down a cliff. An extensive search was initiated, but the 20-year-old was not located and the search was suspended at dusk.

We’ve got large multinationals in the supermarket ring who aren’t captured. So I’d like to see this expanded over time.

Woolworths, I think, makes a good point, and that is the code to be extended should be expanded to cover rivals Amazon, Costco and even Chemist Warehouse.

We’ll have more to say on that in coming weeks and months.

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Tanya Plibersek rejects Toondah Harbour project over impact on globally significant wetlands

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Walker Corporation had proposed 3,000 apartments, marina and shops for the site, which is a critical habitat for the endangered eastern curlew

• Toondah Harbour: should a wetland home to endangered birds become $1.3bn worth of shops, high-rises and a marina?
• To the moon and back with the eastern curlew

The environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, has announced she will reject an apartment and retail development on an internationally important wetland at Queensland’s Moreton Bay.

Plibersek said on Tuesday she would refuse Walker Corporation’s Toondah Harbour project – first proposed eight years ago and opposed by a long-running community campaign backed by scientists and conservationists – because it would have an unacceptable impact on the Ramsar site.

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Bridget McKenzie’s office wanted ‘sports rorts’ funding tripled after consultation with MPs and senators, documents confirm

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Exclusive: FoI documents show senator’s office spoke to other members, duty-senators and some cross-benchers to prioritise marginal and target seats

Bridget McKenzie’s office proposed tripling funding for the “sports rorts” program to deliver “priorities for target and marginal” seats after consultation with MPs and senators, new documents confirm.

After a three-year freedom-of-information battle, the Greens have secured the release of colour-coded spreadsheets related to the community sport infrastructure grant program and the “talking points” document prepared for McKenzie to pitch to then prime minister, Scott Morrison, to expand the program from $30m to $100m.

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Guardian Essential poll: voters back Coalition’s super for homes and Greens housing policy

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Australians want wide-ranging reform of ‘failing’ housing system and back the Greens’ public sector property developer, poll finds

Australians think the housing system is failing and support a range of more radical solutions, including the Coalition’s push to use super for housing and the Greens’ public sector property developer.

Those are the results of the latest Guardian Essential poll of 1,165 voters which sends a warning shot to the Albanese government and state governments to do more to combat falling home ownership and higher rents.

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On the state government’s role to “provide social housing and regulate rentals”, 50% said it was doing a poor job while 19% said it was doing a good job.

On the federal government’s role to “set policies on how homes should be taxed”, 47% said it was doing a poor job and 19% said a good job.

On the local government’s role to “establish planning rules for local communities”, 41% said it was doing a poor job and 23% said a good job.

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PM says transparency around aid worker’s death ‘in Israel’s interest’ – as it happened

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PM ‘absolutely’ confident supermarket review will reduce prices for consumers

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to ABC News Radio, also weighing in on Craig Emerson’s supermarket review.

Including the Senate review … we’ve already announced our funding of Choice, the consumer organisation, to do quarterly price monitoring, ensuring that consumers know where the best deal is available and using that use of information to drive that competition through the system.

We’ve only got a few supermarkets in Australia and it does concentrate a lot of market power in the hands of the retailers, [so] heavy fines might be the way to go. I certainly wouldn’t stand in the way of that.

And I know many people, particularly in one of the richest cities in the world in Sydney, are doing it incredibly tough when you’ve got the dual hits of both interest rate rises and high inflation.

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Australia’s big supermarkets could face penalties of up to $10m under proposed mandatory code

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Government report stops short of recommending powers to break up big chains saying heavy fines and effective enforcement would be ‘a more credible deterrent’

Australia’s big supermarkets could face hefty fines as part of a federal government plan to make the grocery code of conduct mandatory and give it teeth.

A report ordered by the government – to be released on Monday – warns changes are needed to redress “a heavy imbalance in market power between suppliers and supermarkets in Australia’s heavily concentrated supermarket industry”.

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Israeli officials who want to deny aid to Gaza civilians merit Australian sanctions, humanitarian groups say

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Peak body for Australian aid groups joined by faith groups and health experts saying there is no excuse for starvation due to impact of war

The Australian government should impose targeted sanctions on Israeli officials who have called for the denial of aid to civilians of Gaza, according to humanitarian organisations, faith groups and health experts.

The Australian Council for International Development (Acfid), the peak body for Australian aid groups, said a “man-made, preventable famine” in Gaza would leave “a permanent stain on all our collective humanity”.

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‘I’ve got the yarn’: Taylor Auerbach cautioned over spending as he courted Bruce Lehrmann, texts reveal

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Fellow Spotlight producer told Auerbach he found it ‘bizarre’ he was taking Lehrmann to dinner every night

Spotlight producers warned Taylor Auerbach about dropping too much money on Seven’s company card while he courted Bruce Lehrmann over several months for an exclusive interview, text messages have revealed.

The text messages between the former Seven producer and his senior colleagues were tendered in federal court after the Lehrmann defamation trial was reopened for Auerbach to give additional evidence as part of Channel Ten’s defence.

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Mohamed came to Australia as a teenager. Now, he faces being deported to a country he doesn’t know

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After almost a decade in immigration detention Mohamed Coker was told he would be put on a plane to Sierra Leone within hours

“My dad was murdered there. The people that murdered my dad are still around … I fear the same thing will happen to me.”

Mohamed Coker, 33, spoke to Guardian Australia on his way to the airport.

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‘Deadly failure’: Australia demands Israel take ‘appropriate action’ against those responsible for killing aid workers

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Foreign minister Penny Wong says IDF’s killing of the seven aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, ‘cannot be swept aside’

The Australian government has demanded Israel take “appropriate action” over its military’s “deadly failure” that killed seven aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom.

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said she and the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, wrote to their counterparts in Israel overnight on Friday after a verbal briefing on the initial findings of Israel Defense Forces’ investigation, which Wong said had not yet satisfied the government’s expectations.

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Julie Bishop ‘deeply honoured’ to be appointed UN special envoy for Myanmar

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Former Australian foreign minister named as secretary general António Guterres’ special envoy to country gripped by civil war

The former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop has been appointed the United Nations secretary general António Guterres’ special envoy on Myanmar, the world body has said.

Bishop, the Australian National University’s chancellor, will take up the UN role that has been vacant since June last year, when Singaporean diplomat Noeleen Heyzer stepped down.

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Fears parliamentary behaviour watchdog could be curbed by confidentiality agreements

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Greens senator Larissa Waters vows to ensure the new process expected to open in October should be led by the complainant

The Greens senator Larissa Waters has vowed to push for a powerful complainant-led sanctions body in parliament following reports those coming forward about bad behaviour in Canberra could be forced to sign confidentiality agreements.

After years of Parliament House’s poor workplace culture being in the spotlight, the independent enforcement body, described as the “final” piece of the puzzle this week by finance minister Katy Gallagher, is finally expected to open its doors in October.

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Gaza killings: Australia plans to appoint independent adviser to scrutinise Israeli inquiry

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Penny Wong demands Israel preserve evidence because of unsatisfactory initial inquiry as Israel dismisses two officers over death of seven aid staff

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Australia has demanded that Israel preserve all evidence surrounding the killing of seven aid workers in Gaza and it also plans to appoint an independent adviser to scrutinise the official investigation.

The Australian government said on Friday that the information provided by Israel on its investigation into the killing of Australian citizen Zomi Frankcom and her World Central Kitchen colleagues “hasn’t yet satisfied our expectations”.

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Australia weather live updates: more heavy rain forecast for NSW and Qld as SES issues flood warnings; Sydney downpours cause train delays and airport flight cancellations

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Dozens of flights cancelled at Sydney airport and drivers told to avoid non-essential travel as inland low and coastal trough combine

Helen Reid from the Bureau of Meteorology has just provided us with an update on the Sydney rain and said the city could very well receive a month’s worth of rain in one day.

She pointed to the Observatory Hill gauge and said on average in April, there is around 126.5mm of rainfall during the month. Since 9am yesterday morning, there has been 106mm of rain.

We are expecting rainfall over Sydney to increase during today … I would suggest that if we got more than the April average, that wouldn’t be too beyond too far beyond this stretch of imagination.

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‘Time to be fearless’: NT attorney general urges Australian leaders to pursue treaty after voice defeat

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Chansey Paech says the Uluru statement is ‘not finished’ despite the result of the voice referendum

The Northern Territory’s attorney general is urging the nation’s leaders to put last year’s voice referendum result behind them and move to forge treaties with Indigenous people because “the time for sorry business is over”.

The attorney general and deputy chief minister, Chansey Paech, is urging the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and state and territory colleagues not to allow the referendum result to stall progress on the other elements of the Uluru statement from the heart.

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Australia’s east coast forecast to avoid gas shortfall despite claims of looming supply crisis

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ACCC report says region is expected to have surplus of six petajoules in third quarter ‘even if all uncontracted gas is exported’

Australia’s east coast is expected to have a small surplus of gas in the third quarter of 2024, with an improvement in forecast supply since the gas market code was introduced.

Those are the results of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s interim update on gas supply, to be released on Friday, which the Albanese government has said shows new enforceable supply commitments are making a difference.

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