Match each diplomatic, inflammatory or amusing quote to the politician from which it emerged
In an increasingly heated political debate in the lead-up to Australia’s election, claims of appeasing China and even labels of “Manchurian candidates” have flown thick and fast.
The truth is both major parties have been recalibrating their China policy over the past decade in response to what they see as a more assertive nation under Xi Jinping.
Continue reading...Clive Palmer cancels press club appearance; foreign minister condemns Russia’s declaration of Ukranian separatist independence as PM says Russia should ‘step back’; defence responds to China’s claim about laser incident; NSW and Victoria both record 14 Covid deaths, Queensland records five; mask rules lifted in Victoria from midnight Saturday and in Queensland next week. Follow the latest updates live
Jumping back to the Sydney train situation for a moment and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary, Alex Claassens, is discussing the return of limited train services with ABC News Breakfast:
Apparently, where we ended up late last night was we negotiated an outcome where trains will run today. We finally managed to get the management team to see some common sense and today they will be operating a service roughly around the half-hour to 15-minute mark.
They will then try and improve on that during the day. We will work together as much as we can to try to get as many trains on the tracks as we can, and you can imagine our disappointment yesterday morning when we got up like everybody else in Sydney to realise some genius had made a decision to cancel all of our train services.
Continue reading...The majority of Australians support a position which is the polar opposite to the government’s current tub-thumping on national security
Scott Morrison’s efforts to politicise Australia’s complex relationship with China seems to be further soiling his own flagging reputation.
Like a bull in the proverbial, he has spent the past fortnight bombarding the airwaves with hastily googled dossiers and cold war-era panics to suggest an Albanese government would become an antipodean branch office of the Beijing Politburo.
Continue reading...Perrottet urged to work with union over NSW train dispute; Peter Dutton says all signs on Ukraine ‘pointing in one direction’; at least 17 Covid-related deaths; Australia’s international border reopen for the first time in nearly two years. Follow the latest updates live
AGL Energy has rejected a takeover bid by tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset management giant Brookfield, saying the preliminary offer “materially undervalues the company”.
Brookfield and Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures made the extraordinary offer to take over Australia’s most polluting company on Saturday, with a goal to shut its coal power plants earlier than planned.
The prime minister and the defence minister are imperilling Australia’s national security as they try to hang on to power
Too often, political journalism is the art of asking the wrong question.
We can preoccupy ourselves wondering whether or not a particular tactic will work. These are valid enough deductions, but the whole exercise can read like theatre criticism.
Continue reading...Under-pressure prime minister tells party room ‘you haven’t seen me as focused as I can be yet … I know what the path is’
Scott Morrison has urged colleagues to ramp up examples of “sharp contrast” with Labor as the opposition signalled it could support a strengthening of the character test legislation despite previously helping to scuttle the proposal in the Senate.
The prime minister has revived the Coalition’s character test bill in the hope of wedging Labor on national security in the final sitting weeks of the current parliament. Morrison is attempting to regroup politically after an internal revolt scuttled his signature religious discrimination legislation last week.
Continue reading...Parliament marks anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations; Acoss calls for next budget to address climate crisis; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded; treasurer asked about possible axing of low-income tax offset; politicians back in Canberra for final sitting week before federal budget. Follow all the day’s news
NSW treasurer Matt Kean is talking about the weekend’s byelection results. He says:
This wasn’t a referendum on the government ... these were four byelections that had unique issues in each of the seats.
Continue reading...Uncertainty over jobs data due to Omicron; Mark McGowan says WA border reopening still to be decided; Daniel Andrews announces LGBTQ+ support package; Victoria’s Covid rules under review as nation records least 47 Covid-related deaths; Scott Morrison condemns ‘bullying’ on Ukraine border. This blog is now closed
Things get trickier when Speers asked Keneally whether Labor believes schools should be allowed to hire and fire teachers based on whether they are gay or transgender under the law.
Keneally started by saying that “Labor also supports the right of religious schools, faith-based schools to be able to hire staff, whether it is teachers or other staff, that support the mission and the values of the school.”
And so it’s straightforward with children, we think there are some slight complexities with teachers and staff that should be looked at by the Australian Law Reform Commission.”
David, let’s look at what Labor did in the parliament this week. We do believe that people of faith deserve protection from discrimination and extending the law to do that and we think that should not come at the expense of increasing discrimination to other groups of people. We also believe that students at school should be protected and that reflected in the amendments we moved and supported.
So we would like to see the government now accept that amendment that has been supported by the House of Representatives with those five Liberals crossing the floor, and they should just get this bill done. The prime minister promised some years ago to people of faith he would provide this legislative protection. He promised in writing that he would protect children. He is – if he is going to break that promise, he needs to explain it to the Australian people.
Continue reading...Peter Dutton confirms Scott Morrison was misled by Liberal MPs who crossed floor on religious discrimination bill; Martin Foley says code brown declaration for Victoria’s hospitals will end Monday; at least 49 Covid deaths recorded nationally. Follow all the day’s news
An electric scooter rider has died after a collision with a station wagon south-east of Melbourne, AAP reports.
Police said a white Volkswagen station wagon was driving on the Princes Highway in Narre Warren on Thursday afternoon when it collided with the e-scooter.
The rider, who has not been formally identified, died at the scene. The station wagon driver was not injured and stopped to help the rider.
Major collision investigation unit detectives are investigating the crash.
Opinion:
Continue reading...NSW records 24 Covid-related deaths, Victoria records 16; TGA approves AstraZeneca booster for adults; Christian lobby says government should withdraw religious discrimination bill after controversial legislation moves to upper house. Follow all the day’s news
Need a quick recap of yesterday’s shenanigans in question time? As prime minister Scott Morrison said: Bring. It. On. Sarah Martin reports:
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has provisionally approved an AstraZeneca booster for adults.
The decision to receive Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) as a booster must be made in consultation with a medical professional.
Continue reading...Debate over religious discrimination bill to continue as House of Representatives agrees to sit late; Brittany Higgins calls for Jenkins review to be implemented; nation records at least 68 deaths from Covid – follow all the day’s news
The Coalition has been sitting on a major report into the state of the care workforce in Australia since September last year, Sarah Martin reports. The report “set out to examine the needs of the care and support workforce for aged, disability, veteran and mental health care”:
I mentioned the Health Services Union’s survey earlier, in the context of the opposition hoping to wound the government over the aged care crisis.
Continue reading...Apology for staff and politicians who have experienced sexual harassment, assault and bullying at Parliament House; Daniel Andrews welcomes border reopening, announces free RATs for kids in childcare; anti-vaccine mandate protests continue; Victoria records 9,785 Covid cases and 20 deaths, NSW records 9,690 cases and 18 deaths; Queensland records 5,178 cases and 12 deaths. Follow the latest updates live
The defence minister Peter Dutton has told the Today show he is reserving his right to take legal action against former NSW premier Bob Carr, who doubled down on his claims that Dutton was the “mystery minister” who called prime minister Scott Morrison a “psycho”. Dutton said:
It was not me. I mean, every family’s got this crazy uncle that wakes up from the rocking chair and sort of in a startled way shouts out something and I just don’t know what is going on with Bob Carr. Is he the full quid or not? He’s a bizarre guy. He hasn’t produced any evidence. He’s now saying if it’s not me, then the person needs to come forward to prove my innocence. I just find it bizarre. But anyway, I just find it bizarre. But anyway, I think he has discredited himself.
He hasn’t produced any evidence and you can’t just make a claim and then back away from it. But that’s what he’s done. I think it’s embarrassing for him and I think most journalists frankly have treated him as a bit of a joke and this sort of relevance deprivation syndrome cuts in for a lot of former politicians as we’ve discussed on the show before.
Continue reading...Coalition faces fierce internal opposition to the legislation while Labor stalls on finalising a position
Scott Morrison has signalled he will seek to legislate the religious discrimination bill “in the near future”, as mounting internal opposition leaves securing Labor support the most viable path to pass the reform.
Morrison appealed for support for the “important bill” on Monday, telling reporters in Canberra that it is “something that should unite the parliament, not divide it”.
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Continue reading...Scott Morrison announces packages for aged care and NDIS as anti-vaccine protesters mass outside the National Press Club; 77 Covid deaths recorded across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Follow updates live
O’Neil:
A pay rise that lasts up until the next election is a cynical political ploy, because we know this plan ... will not do anything more than hold this thing together by a thread.
The truth is that the aged-care sector – the average experience of a person in aged care today is one of neglect.
The truth is that we have a crisis in aged care that has been eight years in the making.
Scott Morrison has cut aged-care funding personally as treasurer twice. One of the first actions of the incoming government was to cut the wages of aged-care staff and now we are expected to believe that this is going to make a difference?
Continue reading...Vote on proposed peace deal to placate warring factions pushed to an electronic ballot next week after Friday night meeting of state executive
The New South Wales Liberal party has failed to resolve its preselection impasse for federal candidates and has delayed the issue until next week, dramatically raising the prospects that a federal intervention will be required.
The 27-member state executive met on Friday night for less than two hours, but did not consider a controversial deal which was designed to placate the warring factions and settle a number of key seats by bypassing branch votes.
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Continue reading...Labor leader outlines election priorities; nation records 76 Covid deaths; Peter Dutton warns against Russia invasion of Ukraine; giant ram survives 4.7 magnitude earthquake in WA. Follow all the latest news
The benchmark ASX200 is set to fall 1.7% this morning, according to futures data, following further losses on overseas markets overnight.
In the US, the S&P500 fell 0.72% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index dropped 0.43%, while London’s FTSE100 shed a whopping 2.63%.
Continue reading...NSW records 34,759 Covid cases and 2,242 hospitalisations on state’s deadliest day; Victoria reports 40,127 cases with 946 in hospital as more than 6,600 health workers furloughed, Queensland 22,069 cases and 525 in hospital, Tasmania 1,583 cases and 22 in hospital; $1,000 fines for not reporting positive rapid antigen tests in NSW. Follow all the day’s news
In New South Wales, four people have been rescued after a ute was swept into a flooded creek in the Hunter Valley last night.
Emergency services were called to Wells Gully Road at McCulleys Gap late last night, after the ute was swept off the spillway into Sandy Creek. A 49-year-old man, a 16-year-old boy, and two girls aged 14 were forced to climb on to the roof of the car after it began to sink in strongly flowing flood waters.
He has his own philosophy if he thinks like that ... he’s the most healthiest guy, he takes care of his life ... he’s playing tennis and he wants to stay. And I know that he’s doing everything to stay healthy to take care of his body, so ... if he’s not, he doesn’t want to, that’s his choice.
So, what’s the problem? You know, the vaccination – the vaccination, it’s not that I’m against it of course I’m not ... it’s not the point. If he’s healthy, his PCR is negative, why he cannot play?
I cannot say the ... all issues I don’t know exactly I’m reading in the newspapers. I didn’t talk to Novak about that. So I really cannot say anything. What I can say, that Judge Kelly [has] decided that Novak is free. So for me, this is closed book.
He didn’t know. Probably he didn’t know it, because when he realised [about] isolation, then he go to isolate ... because he didn’t know anything about that, He ... I really cannot say but it’s maybe the best is to ask him.
Continue reading...Karen Andrews, home affairs minister, did give a hint of how things might play out.
AAP reports that, before Novak Djokovic’s arrival, she said that while the Victorian government and Tennis Australia may allow a non-vaccinated player to compete in the Australian Open, it was the federal government that dealt with border entry requirements.
Continue reading...NSW records 20,794 new Covid cases and Victoria 8,577, with seven deaths across both states; Queensland reports 4,249 cases, ACT 514 and Tasmania 466; Scott Morrison says health systems well equipped as Covid hospitalisations across the country rise; Greg Hunt says more RATs on the way as double-dose vaccination rate hits 91.5%; Josh Frydenberg grilled over rapid antigen tests. Follow all the day’s news
Researchers in Antarctica are dealing with an outbreak of coronavirus despite being based in one of the world’s most remote regions.
Since 16 December at least 16 of the 25 polar researchers based at Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Polar Station are now infected with the virus.
Continue reading...PM says mask guidelines up to states; NSW records 3,763 new cases and two deaths; Victoria records 1,503 cases and six deaths; ACT records 58 cases; Tasmania records 12 cases; national cabinet to meet as confidence in interstate travel plummets. Follow all the day’s news
More than 300 doctors around the world have written to deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce today urging him to seek Julian Assange’s immediate release from prison in the UK on medical grounds.
The letter cites concern over Assange’s apparent mini stroke, warning it may be “the tip of a medical iceberg”:
Indeed his symptoms suggest as much. It is therefore imperative that Mr Assange be released from prison, where his health will otherwise continue to deteriorate and where his complex medical needs cannot be met.
Perhaps our concerns were previously dismissed by your colleagues as hyperbolic. They are not. On the issue of cardiovascular pathology, we have been proven right. We do not wish to be proven right on the issue of Mr Assange’s survival.
We implore you, as Deputy Prime Minister, to intervene with the UK Government to seek Mr Assange’s immediate release on urgent medical grounds. We reiterate that he is an Australian citizen innocent in the eyes of the law, and guilty of and charged with nothing in the UK.
Continue reading...