Category Archives: Coalition

Australia politics live: Labor blocks Zoe Daniel’s push to ban gambling ads but promises ‘comprehensive’ response to issue

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Tony Burke says Labor committed to strong consumer protections regarding online gambling and does not oppose principle behind independent’s bill

‘A sackable offence’

Here is how that “conversation” played out.

What we want understand now is whether this Labor minister was in fact complicit in politicising this event. That is unforgivable.

Not only that, misleading parliament is a serious offence, a sackable offence and standing by this minister, if she has misled parliament, has consequences.

You were in the Senate yesterday when Katy went through what happened and what I’d like to understand from you is how is it the two years after this event you are trying to make this somehow the problem of the current government when we were not even in government, not four years after this event occurred.

The real issue is the fact that a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted in our workplace and I would really like to focus on that is the main issue here because that is the main issue here, because that is the subject that matters.

What we are finding out now is what the minister knew and why her testimony to the Senate as different from that. There’s a lot of considerations here, I know people are talking about how this information came into the media and certainly the media has a lot of considerations to make.

There has to be respect for the parliament and the court and the law but that information is now out there and journalists need to make decisions about whether it is in the public interest.

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Liberal MPs break ranks to call for inquiry into Brittany Higgins’ leaked text messages

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Andrew Bragg and Bridget Archer make call after Network Ten asks AFP to investigate alleged leaking of evidence in Bruce Lehrmann trial

Liberals Andrew Bragg and Bridget Archer have broken ranks to call for an inquiry into how Brittany Higgins’ text messages were leaked, with Bragg labelling debate in the Senate where the Coalition is pursuing Katy Gallagher “very ugly”.

The pair made the call after the finance minister denied misleading the Senate about her knowledge of Higgins’ allegation before it aired and Network Ten asked the Australian federal police to investigate how Higgins’ texts became public.

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Australia politics live: Morrison addresses Higgins discrepancy; PM says bus crash a ‘tragedy beyond comprehension’

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Katy Gallagher hits back at Coalition attacks, saying she conducted herself with ‘highest levels of integrity’ over Higgins allegations. Follow live

First Nations people call on government to sign nuclear weapons prohibition

A group of people are on their way to Canberra to call on the prime minister to sign the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons and speak to MPs about their experience surviving the British nuclear testing program in Western Australia and South Australia in the 1950s.

Our mob were not informed of those tests that were about to take place on our traditional lands.

Consent was never given by Anangu for the Emu Field tests. The government did not come and ask Anangu if it was okay to test on our traditional lands.

Everyone knows the commonwealth doesn’t have the power to cap rents. There’s eight different states and territories across the country all doing different things. Some of them have ruled it out.

We have data and evidence it doesn’t work and it puts downward pressure on supply. What we need to do is add to supply. That’s what we’re doing, not just with our housing Australia future fund and our other investments. We have homes under construction today because we made that money available.

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Katy Gallagher denies misleading parliament as she blasts ‘giddy’ reaction to Brittany Higgins texts

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Finance minister tells Senate she has ‘always acted ethically and with basic human decency on all matters to do with Ms Higgins’

Katy Gallagher has denied misleading parliament over her knowledge of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation, hitting back at the Coalition over their “giddy” reaction to leaked text messages.

The minister for finance and women made a personal explanation to the Senate on Tuesday, after Peter Dutton claimed Labor had used the complaint for “political purposes” and “conspired” to maximise the damage to the Morrison government.

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Australians’ support for Indigenous voice steady with 60% in favour, Essential poll finds

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Guardian Essential poll finds high level of backing for voice to parliament, despite other polls showing support flagging

Public support for the Indigenous voice to parliament is holding steady and remains high, the latest Guardian Essential poll shows, in contrast with other recent polls suggesting that support is sliding.

The poll of 1,123 voters, published on Tuesday, found 60% of respondents were in favour of the voice, up one point on the previous survey, while 40% were opposed to it.

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Coalition’s wounded feelings over Brittany Higgins will sink debate to new lows

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The opposition is out for vengeance over what it sees as ‘collusion’ and ‘weaponisation’ but Labor will no doubt push back

What an edifying spectacle parliament is going to be this week.

The Coalition’s two-year old wound caused by accusations it mishandled Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation has been reopened, and they’re out for vengeance.

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PM denies Katy Gallagher misled parliament over Brittany Higgins case after text messages released

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Coalition presses finance minister over her comment to Senate estimates that ‘no one had any knowledge’ before rape allegation was made public

Anthony Albanese has denied that the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, misled the Senate by insisting “no one had any knowledge” before Brittany Higgins made her rape allegation in February 2021.

The opposition is continuing to press Gallagher for an explanation of her evidence to Senate estimates, which has come under question due to the release of text messages between Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, suggesting contact with Gallagher four days before the story broke.

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Australia news live: budget and minimum wage hike not to blame for rising interest rates, Chalmers says

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Treasurer points finger at inflation, adding ‘people are under pressure and the global economic conditions are not helping either’. Follow live

Parts of Victoria and South Australia are being warned to expect heavy rainfall today.

The heavy rain that’s already hit Western Australia is sweeping across the country, with South Australia’s Riverland and Murraylands warned to brace for heavy rainfall to last until Friday.

We want to see productivity get going. We have had the worst decade, I think, in productivity growth in the last 60 years in the previous decade so there’s a lot of work to do. We can’t turn that around in one year.

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Morrison government’s $4m grant to group accused of ‘extreme religious practices’ was likely unlawful

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There is no evidence politicians knew of the allegations against the foundation when the grant to WA group the Esther Foundation was announced

The Morrison government gave $4m to an organisation accused of “extreme religious practices” – including exorcisms and gay conversion – on the same day the Australian government solicitor (AGS) advised the grant would “likely be without lawful authority”.

The former prime minister Scott Morrison announced the grant for Western Australia’s Esther Foundation in the lead-up to the 2019 election, declaring the organisation had “completely, completely captured” his heart.

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Central bank going ‘rogue’, senator claims – as it happened

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Burke says the loophole only applies to where the business has agreed on a minimum rate of pay:

The loopholes are really simple … which is, if an employer agrees with their workforce and registers, this should be the rate of pay.

You shouldn’t then be able to go to a labour hire company and completely undercut what you’ve just agreed to.

Yesterday was one of the one of the strangest debates I’ve ever found myself in – because business was running a passionate campaign against a policy that the government is not proposing, that the government’s not going to do. And to me, it would sound like a bad idea anyway.

Effectively the way business were arguing yesterday – there was someone on PM yesterday afternoon, claiming that somehow this would prevent hairdressers from being able to pay different rates of pay for the people in their employment. Just not true.

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Australia news live: economists push interest rate forecasts higher; teens arrested over violent carjacking

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Eight teenagers in police custody after allegedly dragging woman from car on the Gold Coast. Follow the day’s news live

Business groups argue ‘same job, same pay’ laws would disadvantage workers

I mentioned a little earlier that business groups have glommed together to launch a campaign against the federal government’s proposed “same job, same pay” industrial relations laws.

The so-called ‘Same Job, Same Pay’ proposals does not mean equal pay for men and women. It does not speak of fairness and justice, as its name falsely represents.

It means by law, employers will have to pay workers with little knowledge or experience exactly the same as workers with decades of knowledge and experience.

Without a real threat of losing passengers to other airlines, the Qantas and Virgin Australia airline groups have had less incentive to offer attractive airfares, develop more direct routes, operate more reliable services, and invest in systems to provide high levels of customer service.

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Queensland LNP criticised for ‘failure of leadership’ on voice – as it happened

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Why didn’t the Coalition government know about these issues?

Shouldn’t it have?

And that’s exactly I would imagine the issues that will be fleshed out by this inquiry it, because this has been a loophole if you like, but that said privacy provisions, particularly when you’re dealing with government agencies, are really important to engender trust.

Now, as I said, there are a number of processes under way. We’ve seen what happens in recent times, when there is ongoing media commentary or into matters that relate to criminal proceedings. So we should be very careful about being part of that commentary that might impact other proper processes.

Secrecy provisions are there and privacy provisions are there for very good reasons. Now, whether those privacy provisions manifested in the best outcome here is for others to say, but I don’t think we should throw the baby out of the bathwater. We want to make sure that people have trust in the ATO trust when they give information to agencies that it will be kept private.

But look, this will all be flushed out it will all be flushed out in two inquiries. One by the AFP – there’s been a reference made to them already. And the other by a Senate references inquiry and I don’t want to pre-empt exactly what that particular that references inquiry will find. My colleagues right across the chamber will be investigating this issue, I would imagine, very thoroughly along with others to do with the PwC scandal.

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Australia politics live: Lambie threatens to disrupt Senate over Afghanistan medals; question time under way

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Adam Bandt rails against Woodside’s exclusion from petroleum resource rent tax

Greens leader Adam Bandt is speaking to ABC radio RN Breakfast about the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) changes and in particular the fact that Woodside’s Western Australian North-West Shelf project isn’t included in it.

The tax is still broken, and they’re meant to be subjected to it. They should pay their fair share of tax. As I say, even after these changes, Australia only brings in a few $100 million extra from these big gas corporations that are making billions of dollars of profits. It’s about a 10th of what comparable countries bring in. If we made these guess corporations pay their fair share of tax. They’d be an extra $94 billion over the decade to go to things like delivering cost-of-living relief, funding a rent freeze, getting dental into Medicare.

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Guardian Essential poll: majority of Australians support rent freezes, migration cap amid housing crisis

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Poll finds respondents support policies of the Greens and Coalition, posing a potential risk to the Albanese government

A majority of voters support severe measures to tackle the housing crisis including freezing rents, capping migration and using superannuation for housing, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

The poll of 1,138 people, released on Tuesday, finds support for a range of signature policies of the Greens and Coalition, demonstrating the risk posed to the Albanese government if it is not seen to be doing enough to fight rising rents and property prices.

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57% supporting preventing wealthy families using family trusts to minimise tax, and just 15% opposed

49% supporting only allowing negative gearing on one investment property, and just 17% opposed

47% wanting to tax deceased estates worth more than $5m to fund affordable rentals, and 23% opposed; and

36% supporting removing all negative gearing tax concessions on investment properties and 25% opposed.

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Australia news live: 3.8 magnitude earthquake largest to hit Melbourne in over a century

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Thousands of people contacted Geoscience Australia to report they felt shaking, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage. Follow the latest updates

Paterson says the Indigenous voice to parliament’s differentiation on the basis of characteristics people have no control over is “offensive to liberal principles.”

Asked about whether he agrees with his leader Peter Dutton, when he talks about the voice re-racialising Australia, Patterson says:

What proponents of the yes campaign are trying to do is to treat Australians differently. …what we are doing is putting into our constitutional something which treats people differently because of a characteristic over which they have control. And I think that is offensive to liberal principles. And we are all human beings and we’re all Australian, and we should be all treated equally before the law before the Constitution as well.

It is in Australia’s national interest that Ukraine prevail. We have to do everything in our power to ensure they do.

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Bridget McKenzie praises Victorian Nationals’ vote against Indigenous voice; third teenager comes forward over Surry Hills fire – as it happened

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Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, is speaking from the Northern Territory on the Indigenous voice to parliament as today marks 56 years since the 1967 referendum.

Today marks 56 years since the 1967 referendum. One of the most successful federal referendums in Australia’s history. A day when Australians came together to vote to change the constitution so Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people would be counted as part of the population.

As a nation, we look back at the 1967 referendum, at Charlie Perkins and his freedom rights, at more than a 90% vote “yes” which was done with great pride.

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Nurses union fined $350,000 for West Australian strike; Rex Patrick loses FOI challenge – as it happened

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The former independent senator has lost his legal challenge against what he argued were unreasonable delays in the freedom of information (FOI) system. Follow the day’s news live

Evacuated dental hospital near site of Sydney blaze becomes emergency services hub

While the light rail that runs past the charred husk of the burnt out building on Randle Ln is running this morning, many of the roads are blocked off by police tape, including a usually very busy section of Elizabeth St, which will likely have an impact on morning traffic.

There’s else a lot of work to be done. The building opposite has been damaged by that extreme heat. Firefighters were able to cut that fire off from spreading into the building across the road. But the main priority is that wall. There are two walls that are in a precarious position.

We are talking about tonnes and tonnes of bricks that could come down and become projectiles that is why we have such a tight exclusion zone, not allowing anyone in, including firefighter[s], until we get the engineers in.

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Nationals leader repays Gold Coast travel expense claim he made after he ‘sought the wrong advice’

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David Littleproud left parliament early in February to travel to the Gold Coast, three days after he and his spouse settled on a new apartment there

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has repaid travel expenses he claimed after leaving parliament early to travel to the Gold Coast in February.

In a statement Littleproud said he had “mistakenly sought the wrong advice” and “incorrectly” re-entered Queensland in between sitting weeks via the Gold Coast.

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Australia politics live: ABC journalists walk out to stand in solidarity with Stan Grant against ‘awful blight’ of racism

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Greens announce comedian Mandy Nolan as Richmond candidate for 2025 election

We are only a year into the Albanese government, but it’s never too early to be prepared, I suppose. The Greens have announced their candidate for Richmond at the next election – Mandy Nolan.

At the last election people were desperate to kick out the Liberals, but now they’re realising Labor also wants new coal and gas, which makes the climate crisis worse, as well as billions in handouts for property moguls, which pushes up rents and house prices. Labor has no plan whatsoever to help renters and Labor’s housing bill sees the crisis get worse.

Mandy’s already got a team of volunteers ready to hit the streets and talk to Richmond residents about how the Greens are the only party fighting for renters and climate action.

The Finance and Public Administration Committee (which includes department of parliamentary services and prime minister and cabinet).

The Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee, where it will be the Department of Home Affairs show.

The Environment and Communications committee will hear from the climate change and energy department as well as environment and water. (So power prices will dominate this one).

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Property market revival continues; employment minister dismisses wage price spiral fears – as it happened

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Birmingham says cost of Coalition’s jobseeker plan is ‘being worked through’

Asked whether the Coalition would support a lift to the jobseeker payment, Birmingham tells David Speers that Peter Dutton has “proposed an important alternative that would help Australians who are willing to and looking to engage in the workforce”.

We’ve outlined an alternative at this stage, David. We are not at an election and not about to firm government in the next two years.

That clarity should be there before the prime minister entertains a formal state visit to Beijing.

We should expect them to be lifted complete, as we should the tariffs on our wine industry.

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