Category Archives: Coalition

Barnaby Joyce says he has given up alcohol for Lent as Perin Davey admits having two drinks before Senate hearing

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New England MP accuses opponents of exploiting issue for political gain, while footage emerges of deputy Nationals leader appearing to slur her words

Barnaby Joyce says he’s giving up alcohol for Lent while accusing political opponents of seeking to exploit the issue of parliamentarians’ consumption of alcohol, as the conduct of politicians again falls under the spotlight.

The shadow veterans affairs minister made the comments on Monday after the deputy Nationals leader, Perin Davey, admitted she had two drinks before a Senate committee hearing in which she appeared to slur and stumble over words.

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Australia news live: Taylor Swift shows to go ahead at Sydney Olympic Park after no asbestos found – as it happened

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NSW environment watchdog gives venue green light after tests; agency says schools at Marsden Park and Orchard Hill found to have mulch containing bonded asbestos. This blog is now closed

Asked about the Barnaby Joyce incident and “issues of alcohol in Parliament House”, Chandler-Mather says the public is right to expect “a high standard for politicians”, even though they “don’t always deliver”.

Look, personally, in general I don’t think drug testing and alcohol testing in any workplace is necessarily a good idea. People are justifiably upset at the standard politicians hold themselves to.

When we talk about immigrants, we’re talking about the nurses and teachers, construction workers. Secondly, we saw during Covid net migration reached near zero and house prices continue to … go up. Property is treated as a massive speculative asset that drives up the price of housing.

I want to be clear, we have enough homes for people to live in. We have enough construction materials to build the homes for the new people coming to this country. We don’t have the political will to take on a housing system and property developers who restrict supply to make money for themselves and treat housing as a huge speculative asset.

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BoM issues cyclone alert for NT and Queensland; NSW Health warns of high-dose MDMA tabs in circulation – as it happend

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Heavy rainfall is expected to hit the Gulf of Carpentaria coast with a risk of a possible tropical cyclone from Thursday. This blog is now closed

Not everyone voted to bring Julian Assange back to Australia

Looking at the Hansard, it seems there were 11 MPs who abstained from voting on the Assange motion:

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Australia politics live: Queensland introduces bill for carbon reduction target; Garnaut argues for zero-carbon exports

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‘Export of zero-carbon goods can underpin a long period of high investment, rising productivity, full employment and rising incomes,’ economist tells press club. Follow the day’s news live

When it comes to treaty and truth-telling though, things are a little less clear. For all intents and purposes the government seems to be backing away from a designated federal process. We heard some of that yesterday, but Linda Burney continues it today.

For all Jacinta Price is accusing the Labor government of doing treaty “by stealth” that doesn’t appear to be the reality. Instead, existing processes look like being utilised.

I am having discussions with the cabinet about that, and I’m not going to go into those discussions. But the issue of truth-telling is incredibly important. And there are many, many ways in which that can happen, including the school curriculum.

The reality is the treaty process is well under way at a state and in many ways at a local level. You look at the Noongar agreement in and around Perth. For all intents and purposes, that’s a treaty.

What I’m suggesting is that we will listen to what people are saying.

I know that there are some people in the media, but I want to talk also to community leadership. I’m meeting with land councils today, for example, who are in Canberra this week for estimates. Those are the organisations that really worked very hard towards the referendum and I want to hear from them where they believe the next steps should be.

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Commuter chaos as wild weather leaves half of Melbourne’s train lines offline – as it happened

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Today is the 16th anniversary of Rudd’s national apology

It is National Apology Day, which marks the anniversary of the day the former prime minister Kevin Rudd formally apologised to Indigenous people for the stolen generations.

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Seven of the immigration detainees released in Australia were convicted of murder or attempted murder

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Home affairs department also reveals 24 former detainees have been charged with visa rule breaches or state offences since their release

The revelation that seven of 149 people released from immigration detention were convicted of murder or attempted murder has reignited a political firestorm around the government’s handling of the NZYQ high court case.

The home affairs department revealed on Monday that 24 of the people released as a result of the high court’s ruling have already been charged for visa condition breaches or state offences and 36 are not required to wear ankle bracelets.

72 convicted for assault and violent offending, kidnapping, armed robbery

37 for sexually based offending, including child sex offending

16 for domestic violence and stalking

13 for serious drug offending

Seven for murder and attempted murder;

Fewer than five for people smuggling, crimes of serious international concern; and

Fewer than five with “low level or no criminality”

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Albanese calls on Coalition to explain Barnaby Joyce footpath incident

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Prime minister says ‘there needs to be an explanation’ after former deputy prime minister was seen lying on a Canberra street swearing into his phone

The prime minister has called for the Coalition leadership to explain the actions of former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, who was last week filmed lying on a Canberra footpath having a phone conversation.

Guardian Australia understands Joyce won’t attend the Nationals party room meeting scheduled for Monday.

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Australia politics live: PNG PM James Marape praises legacy of Gough Whitlam in historic address to parliament

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Marape hails Whitlam for ‘hearing the cries of the founding fathers of Papua New Guinea for our own self-determination’. Follow the day’s news live

David Littleproud continued:

But there needs to be greater architectural reform, which is also what Professor Fels articulated, which is what the Nationals have said. When there’s too much market concentration, you have too much power.

And all we’re saying is that whether it is in the supermarket [or farm gate], we want fair prices from the farm gate to the supermarket gate.

I think that he demonstrated the need and reinforced what the Nationals have been calling for, when there’s evidence, clear evidence around price gouging.

We saw that with meat prices where farm grade prices dropped by 60% or 70% in June. Yet, the checkout price only dropped by 18%. They put pressure all the way down through the supply chain. And what Allan Fels has said in his inquiry is that we need to have more ACCC price investigations, where there’s clear evidence. And that’s what we were calling for and the government ignored that. And I think shoppers have paid too much.

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Australia politics live: army to hire UK military helicopters to fill Taipan gap; PNG PM coming to Canberra

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The ‘Juno’ training helicopters will support essential training for aircrew before the arrival of new Black Hawks from the US later this year. Follow the day’s news live

The ADF expects that the training helicopters will be available for operations in Oakey in Queensland by around the middle of this year.

The government will argue these helicopters have been chosen because they can perform a variety of roles “including personnel and equipment transport and Defence assistance to the civil community”.

We need a highly capable Army. When the tough but necessary decision was made last year to expedite the withdrawal of the MRH-90s from service, it meant that we needed to look at all options when it came to filling the capability gap and the training which our servicemen and women need.

We have been working with the United States and United Kingdom on ways in which we can bridge this gap, and their support and willingness with the acceleration of the Black Hawks and leasing of training helicopters will have a significant impact.

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Australia politics live: Coalition votes to back Labor’s changes to stage-three tax cuts

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PM says opposition ‘tying themselves in knots’ as parliament resumes. Follow the day’s news live

School funding data

(continued from previous post)

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News live: Australian government ‘appalled’ by Yang Hengjun’s suspended death sentence, Wong says

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The foreign minister, Penny Wong, says ‘Australia will not relent in their advocacy for justice’ for Dr Yang. Follow the day’s news live

Finance minister Katy Gallagher was asked about the Grattan Institute research (we had this earlier in the blog) showing that a third of households don’t pay tax and therefore miss out on the benefits.

Will the government consider raising jobseeker?

I think the treasurer and I have made it clear that every budget, we look at all aspects of expenditure across government, that would include looking at our payments and looking at our services … I think the PM committed to that before the election, this is something that we keep under consideration. It has to be balanced up with all of the other competing pressures where people want additional spending as well.

I think people are up for a rational and reasonable discussion… We made this decision based on putting people before politics.

I’m sure there’ll be others that will write things about [this] in future, but that hasn’t been something that we’ve been conscious of, it really has been about what we can do to help people – particularly those that have been feeling the crunch from the interest rate increases.

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Climate groups welcome fuel efficiency standards – as it happened

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Labor tried to amend stage-three tax cuts, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese says Labor attempted to amend the stage-three tax cuts but its proposal failed by a single vote:

What we did in the parliament in 2019 is two things. One, we tried to amend our the stage-three tax cuts. We weren’t successful. We failed by just one vote. When that occurred, we thought that we weren’t prepared to stand in the way of all of the government to say they knew what the economy would look like in five years’ time.

One of the things, David, I have done is go to the National Press Club – and say we have changed our position. Why? We listened to people and particularly low- and middle-income Australians are under financial pressure.

What I can’t do as prime minister of Australia is to wring my hands and say, “If only there was something I co-do about it” What we needed to do was to look at what is the best way we can take pressure off cost of living without putting pressure on inflation.

We want it to be passed as soon as possible. Certainly, it needs to be passed during this existing session, so as to provide that easy transition for employers, the tax office, for others as well.

Circumstances have changed. We’ve responded.

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Fuel efficiency standards: Labor unveils proposal, highlighting petrol savings of $1,000 a year for motorists

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Coalition-led scare campaign predicted for plan to place yearly cap on emissions for new cars sold in Australia

The Albanese government has unveiled its long-awaited plan for fuel efficiency standards for new cars while highlighting potential savings of $1,000 a year and predicting a Coalition-led scare campaign.

The proposed model, announced on Sunday, would place a yearly cap on the emissions output for new cars sold in Australia to incentivise carmakers to supply low- and zero-emissions vehicles and penalise companies that do not.

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Rightwing lobby group Advance Australia doubles donation revenue but half of donors unknown

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Campaigner for no vote in voice referendum received $5.2m last financial year, 47% of it ‘dark money’ from sources not revealed publicly

Advance Australia, the conservative lobby group that claimed success for defeating the voice referendum, more than doubled the amount of donations it received during the 2022-23 financial year.

But the origin of almost half of the funds remains unknown.

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ACCC to investigate supermarket sector – as it happened

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BoM issues wind weather warning for Tasmania

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds in parts of Tasmania.

Australia has a very important role to play as a signatory to the ICJ, a signatory to the genocide convention, to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians and ensure that the investigations that are occurring with UNRWA … don’t inhibit funding and delivery of services that are going to basically save lives in coming days and weeks and months.

UNRWA has done the right thing in standing down the staff, sacking them. They have got an independent investigation occurring. 150 UN UNRWA staff have been killed, their families and children as well, over the past several months of this conflict. The UN is in the middle, sandwiched in the conflict, trying to do its best to save lives. Donor governments like Australia need to bear this in mind that, if funding ceases, there is nowhere else to turn to. People will simply collapse and die.

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New Zealand to be briefed on Aukus – as it happened

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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to ABC RN, and says news that the inflation rate has plunged to a two-year low of 4.1% is “welcoming, encouraging progress”.

… We know that people are still under pressure and we need to not be complacent about it. We need to continue to work as we have with our three point plan, having the surplus, making sure we deal with cost of living pressures without putting pressure on inflation, and dealing with … supply-chain issues as well.

With parliament resuming next week, this is a wake-up call that 2024 is the last chance for meaningful democratic reform ahead of the 2025 election …

Australians should go to the next election with strict political donation disclosure laws, truth in political advertising laws in force and information about who’s meeting ministers made public as a matter of course.

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Australia news live: murder charge laid after ‘long, sad journey’ for disappeared 23-year-old’s family

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Ms Bernard, a Kowanyama woman, was last seen at Archer River quarry on 10 February in 2013. Follow the day’s news live

Update on Queensland flooding

Senior BoM meteorologist Angus Hines spoke to ABC News Breakfast just earlier to provide an update on the rain and flooding in Queensland.

Last night the rainfall totals were between 50mm and 120mm which is still a very significant dose of rain, but bear in mind this time yesterday we were talking about 300mm leading to widespread flooding.

We could see these rivers with elevated levels for the next several days, as it will take a while for those flood waters to drain out, long past when the rainfall conditions have cleared up.

The goal for the AI taskforce is to be a trusted source of expert advice and assistance for the Law Society, and through it, for the solicitor profession across NSW. Its members will be drawn from the law, justice system, academia, and government.

The work of the taskforce will enhance the Law Society’s work to ensure that NSW leads the way in harnessing the best that AI has to offer for the legal profession while mitigating the risks.

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Mayor issues flood warning – as it happened

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We’ve just spoken to St Vincent’s hospital and confirmed that the woman bitten by a shark in Sydney Harbour last night remains in hospital in a stable condition.

The woman, in her late 20s, was bitten on the right leg by a suspected bull shark in Elizabeth Bay last night.

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Thousands rally in solidarity on Invasion Day in Melbourne, Sydney; AFL clubs call for 26 January date change – as it happened

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Australian and Aboriginal flags raised during Canberra ceremony

Following the welcome to country, the flag-raising ceremony has begun, with six flags raised including two Australian flags, two Aboriginal flags and two Torres Strait Islander flags.

Australia is home to the oldest continuous culture on Earth, 65,000 years of uninterrupted heritage, demonstrated by the unique archeological evidence found in the very ground that you may are sitting on, found in the rocks and stones of this very place. That makes this continent unique in the whole world.

Ngunnawal’s view of heritage transcends time, it is our way of being with nature, best expressed in the Ngunnawal language through the concepts of respect and deep honour, coming together in the wellbeing for all.

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Australia news live: Townsville residents advised to shelter in place ahead of Cyclone Kirrily reaching Queensland coast

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The latest advice from the Bureau of Meteorology is that Tropical Cyclone Kirrily will begin crossing the coast from 10pm tonight. Follow the day’s news live

As we flagged just earlier, wind gusts associated with Tropical Cyclone Kirrily have already begun around the Whitsundays, with gusts over 100km/h.

In a Facebook group for Whitsundays locals, a new resident has asked an innocent question:

Hey there I’m kind of new to town from Melbourne. Does anyone know how to tie my tree down so that it doesn’t blow away?

“I would use fairy lights.”

“If you hop around clockwise on your left leg 3 times and then do a Kangaroo hop to the right, the drop bears will take care of it by having the tree extend it’s roots deeper.”

“If you’re really from Melbourne you would know how to tie down a tree with the windy crap weather down there. Ride a kangaroo to bunnings [and] get some ratchets.”

“From the state of the supermarket shelves I’m guessing everyone is using toilet paper to tie their trees down.”

“Take the leaves off and store inside. The rest will be fine.”

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