Category Archives: Coalition

Real incomes shrink as wages growth of 0.7% in March quarter falls behind inflation

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Labor says figures released by the ABS show gap between wage growth and cost of living increases in Australia is now the largest in more than two decades

Australian wage growth barely budged in the March quarter, with salaries increasing at less than half the headline inflation rate, stoking concerns pay packets continue to shrink in real terms.

During the first three months of 2022, the seasonally adjusted wage price index (WPI) rose 0.7% from the December quarter to be 2.4% higher than a year earlier. Economists had tipped a quarterly and yearly rise of 0.7-0.8% and 2.5%, respectively.

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Public sector cuts worth $3.3bn would not result in job losses, David Littleproud claims

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Nationals frontbencher describes cuts as ‘sensible management’ but unions say they will result in thousands of job losses

Nationals frontbencher David Littleproud has claimed that spending cuts imposed across the public sector to deliver $3.3bn in savings to pay for the Morrison government’s election commitments will not result in job losses.

Littleproud at first told the ABC erroneously on Wednesday morning that “governments don’t employ people, businesses do”.

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Scott Morrison tells A Current Affair ‘jobkeeper saved the country’ – as it happened

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Prime minister tells Tracy Grimshaw ‘I could have been more sensitive at times’; nation records 66 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Ita Buttrose:

We will retain an internal system of editorial complaint handling. We accept the recommendations, but we have amended one already. The review recommends that the ombudsman should report directly to the board. We should report to the board and the managing director, but the directors felt that this would simply be continuing the system we already have and we wanted a different more independent approach. So the ombudsman will report directly to the board and the process will be separate from editorial management.

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‘Hello it’s John Howard calling’: former PM says Liberal party asked him to ‘campaign extensively’

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The current prime minister is unpopular in city marginal seats, so the Coalition is banking on robocalls and letterbox drops from Howard to sway voters

Australians might have been sitting down for dinner about 7pm on Monday, or tuning in to the news, but for those living in marginal seats there was a chance they were interrupted – by the former prime minister John Howard.

“Hello it’s John Howard calling from Sydney for the Liberal party,” were the words voters in seats such as North Sydney, Wentworth and Hughes heard when they answered their landlines and mobile phones.

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‘Poisonous pamphlets and pork’: what messages are cutting through to voters in this messy campaign?

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Here’s what is weighing on the minds of five undecided voters before the federal election on 21 May

Undecided voters will play a key role in deciding the outcome of Saturday’s election with many waiting until the final week, days, or even hours, to make their decision.

So what in this very long, and at times messy, campaign has cut through?

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Australian federal election 2022 live: Albanese calls Coalition housing scheme ‘an attack on future generations’; AEC finds signs in breach

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Anthony Albanese labels Coalition housing scheme ‘an attack on future savings’; AEC says Advance Australia ‘Greens’ signs in breach of electoral act; home price increases will be ‘marginal’ under new plan, Scott Morrison says; PM says Labor was informed about Aukus when they ‘needed to be’; NSW records four Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news live

Labor campaign spokesperson Jason Clare has a new line.

He told ABC TV:

The next week is really important. Australians have a big choice to make this weekend. It is a choice between a better future under Labor and more Scott Morrison.

As Australians think about this, they would be thinking “Do you want to wake up on Sunday morning and roll over and see Scott Morrison?”

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Adam Bandt outlines seven demands for Labor in Greens’ balance-of-power wishlist

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Party confident of winning at least one seat in Brisbane, where it will launch its campaign on Monday

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, will release a $173bn balance-of-power wishlist at the party’s campaign launch in Brisbane on Monday night, outlining seven key concessions it wants from Labor in the event of a minority government.

The Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, has ruled out doing any deals with the Greens to form government, while Bandt has said the party will not support the Liberals under any circumstance.

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Coalition minister concedes plan to allow first homebuyers to access super will push up house prices

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Allowing access to up to $50,000 of retirement savings ‘like throwing petrol on a bonfire’, industry super group warns

The Coalition has conceded its plan to allow first homebuyers access to superannuation will push up prices, as industry super and progressive thinktanks warned it could add tens of thousands to the cost of a home.

The policy, unveiled at the Coalition launch on Sunday, to allow first homebuyers access to up to $50,000 of retirement savings has prompted warnings that house prices in Sydney could increase by as much as $134,000.

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Liberals launch new housing policy – as it happened

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Paul Keating condemns Liberal housing scheme; Anthony Albanese speaks at Brisbane rally, after promoting Labor’s manufacturing plan; 20 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Labor leader Anthony Albanese appearing on ABC Insiders now, opening with a cheeky comment about how “it’s good to have a political leader appearing on the ABC”.

First question is about cost of living and an increase to the minimum wage, which Albanese uses to wedge the government.

“There is a very clear divide here. A government that says that low wage growth was a key feature of their economic architecture and Labor that says that, “We want an economy that works for people, not the other way around” and that people who are on minimum wages are doing it tough.”

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Morrison hails close ties with India and Albanese pledges $970m for Medicare – as it happened

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Scott Morrison reiterates new pitch to voters, promising a ‘gear change’, and Anthony Albanese reveals plan to boost primary healthcare. This blog is now closed

Morrison has unfurled his famous boomer dad vibes, snorting at young people using “devices”:

I still remember the mates are used to play with when I was a kid, when I used to go play sport, I used to look forward to it every Saturday and be there with mum and dad, come and be on the sidelines, it is those great
experiences of family life which creates strong families and strong communities.

And by investing in a healthy lifestyles of our children, and doing that with the highly successful sporting schools program, this means we can get more and more about into healthy lifestyles, we need to get them off those phones and get them on the field. I hear some noise from parents who know exactly what I am talking about. And sure, they can have fun with their devices, that has to be on the timing at all the rest of it, you guys struggle without as much as I am sure we all do, but we want them out there running around, we want them living healthy lifestyles.

We have had to come through and toughed it out and push through as hard as we possibly can, and as a Prime Minister and as a government we have had to do that as well.

But as we go into this time of opportunity, and that is exactly what it is, and the kids reminded me of that again this morning, as we go into that time of opportunity, as a government, we change gears, as a Prime Minister, I change gears, and we go and secure those opportunities ahead.

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Albanese says Morrison broke faith with US by delaying Labor’s Aukus briefing

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Biden administration reportedly said defence alliance needed bipartisan support, but opposition was not told until day before it was announced

Anthony Albanese says the prime minister, Scott Morrison, broke “faith and trust” with the US by waiting four-and-a-half months to brief Labor on the Aukus deal, a claim the Coalition has criticised as “misleading” and “reckless”.

Albanese was responding to a report in Nine newspapers that the Biden administration would only consider the project if it had bipartisan support.

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Australian federal election 2022: Albanese seizes on PM’s ‘bulldozer’ admission; Chinese spy ship off WA coast ‘an act of aggression’, Dutton says

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Opposition leader says ‘bulldozers wreck things’ after prime minister blames pandemic for how he has governed country; Chinese spy ship spotted off Western Australia; Marise Payne and Penny Wong debate foreign policy at National Press Club; nation records at least 52 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news

On what Anne Ruston said, here is some of what Scott Morrison said about the 5.1% figure on 11 May:

Anthony Albanese says that he wants wages to go up by 5.1% and he thinks that Australians don’t know what the impact of that would be on their interest rates, on unemployment or on inflation in the cost of living.

He thinks Australians don’t get the link between these things. He thinks he can just say what he likes and you can have your cake and eat it.

I think you’ll find that the government has been very clear in its condemnation of the comments by Mr Albanese, not because of the figure that he put out there specifically, but the fact that he’s just chosen to put a figure out there you know, without bothering to consult, take advice, you know, there’s no science around it.

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Builders and bulldozers: Anthony Albanese rubbishes Scott Morrison’s late attempts at change

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Prime minister says ‘I haven’t got everything right’ as opposition leader urges ‘if you want change, change the government’

A buoyant Anthony Albanese declared himself a “builder” on Friday as he scoffed at Scott Morrison’s pledge to learn from mistakes he made as a “bulldozer” throughout the pandemic – a late attempt by the prime minister to recast his character in the final days of the election campaign.

With his personality and record under siege from Labor, Morrison has promised to change his leadership style and admitted he had lessons to learn from his first term as PM.

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Chinese-speaking voters critical of Coalition’s ‘militaristic’ stance on China in lead-up to 2022 election, WeChat study shows

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Labor also faces criticism, but Albanese is gaining ground in news coverage on Chinese social media platform, research finds

The Coalition’s muscular position toward China is not going down well with Chinese-speaking voters, while Labor is facing criticism over its more generous approach to humanitarian immigration, an analysis of WeChat audience comments reveals.

The study of more than 3,000 political news stories and associated comments appearing on the Chinese social media platform, WeChat, has been undertaken by researchers at Monash and Deakin Universities over the past 11 months, including during the election campaign.

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Coalition targets marginal seats with almost $3bn in election spending promises

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Labor has pledged close to $1bn for its top 10 marginals with Victorian seat of McEwen leading list of commitments

The Coalition has made almost $3bn in spending promises across 10 marginal seats ahead of the election, including a surprising $300m to try to flip the Labor seat of McEwen in Melbourne’s outer north.

The knife-edge seats of Bass in Tasmania and Gilmore on the New South Wales south coast have attracted the most pork-barrelling commitments from the Liberal party, with more than $500m committed to projects in Bass, held by Liberal MP Bridget Archer on a 0.4% margin, and $430m in Gilmore, held by Labor on a 2.6% margin.

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Australia election 2022 live news: former high commissioner to Solomon Islands attempts to confront Morrison on campaign trail

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Simon Birmingham says Anthony Albanese ‘making it up as he goes along’ on wage rises; Peter Dutton takes swipe at Clive Palmer over seat preferences; at least 53 Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news

Josh Frydenberg told ABC TV he believed Scott Morrison won last night’s debate.

He also believes moderate Liberals have done enough to influence the party from the inside:

Let me take those issues individually. Firstly, on climate, I was a strong advocate, so was Dave Sharma, Katie Allen, Trent Zimmerman, Tim Wilson and many others about getting Australia to net zero emissions by 2050.

We argued inside the tent for that commitment and it’s in Australia’s best interest that it’s a bipartisan commitment. It’s Australia’s best interest that we have a long-term economic plan to get there.

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Matt Kean warns of Trump-like shift in Liberal party if teal independents oust moderates

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In election pitch, NSW treasurer says party at risk of becoming like Republicans, with Putin sympathisers and anti-vaxxers

The New South Wales Liberal treasurer Matt Kean has warned of the dangers of a Trump-like shift to the right within the conservative party, as he pleaded with voters not to boot out moderate MPs in favour of teal independents on 21 May.

The plea was supported by the state’s premier, Dominic Perrottet, who said voters would regret stepping away from the party if independents won seats over moderate Liberals.

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Matthew Guy uses budget reply speech to attack Victoria’s response to the pandemic

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Opposition leader makes no new policy announcements ahead of election, but criticises levels of debt

The Victorian opposition leader, Matthew Guy, has delivered a budget reply speech focused on attacking the government’s response to the pandemic, without announcing any new policies ahead of the November state election.

Guy characterised the premier, Daniel Andrews, as an “arrogant and unchecked” leader, who would send Victoria “broke” as a result of Covid-19 lockdowns, cost overruns on major projects and record debt levels.

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Albanese wins final election debate over Morrison, according to Seven’s undecided voters

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Potential wage rises dominated the debate early, with the prime minister suggesting a 5% increase could see small businesses fold and jobs lost

Anthony Albanese has been declared the winner of the final leaders’ debate of the election campaign after he and Scott Morrison put forward competing views on wage rises, economic management and energy policy.

With less than a fortnight until polling day, about 150 undecided voters determined Albanese the clear winner of the Channel Seven debate on Wednesday night. The Labor leader convinced 50% of those who voted in the network’s “pub test” compared to 34% for Morrison and 16% who were still undecided.

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Leaders face off in final debate – as it happened

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Prime minister says wage increase would put jobs at risk as leaders meet for third time during campaign on Channel Seven; Barnaby Joyce discusses China threat in National Press Club address; at least 53 Covid deaths across nation with WA cases hitting new daily high. This blog is now closed

Jane Hume then seemingly defends Scott Morrison’s criticism of barristers and lawyers yesterday as being taken out of context:

Q: Where have we become, as a nation, when the Prime Minister of Australia yesterday said that he has no truck with barristers and lawyers?

Well, I don’t think he said that he has no truck with the legal system.

I’m not entirely sure of the context of that comment but I can assure you the Prime Minister upholds the rule of law and respects the legal profession.

I don’t think this is a comment worth taking out of context.

In the context of the Icac, the Government wants to make sure there is a Commonwealth integrity commission introduced in the life this parliament but we want to make sure that it’s one that presumes innocence, not guilt, that it doesn’t turn into a show trial, that it isn’t simply Icac on 24/7TV. We want to make sure it delivers integrity.

I didn’t say that. The Prime Minister said that.

We want to make sure - I do, as the Prime Minister, and the Coalition Government - that any Commonwealth integrity commission delivers justice, it delivers a presumption of innocence and it doesn’t deliver a show trial which is exactly what the Prime Minister is objecting too.

I think that Katherine Deves is fighting for an important cause, which is fairness for women in sport ...

I would not use those words. I wouldn’t use them on social media, and I wouldn’t use them in conversation with you or anyone. That said, Katherine Deves is fighting for an important cause.

I’m not going to pass judgement on what the prime minister did or didn’t say. But the most important thing is Katherine Deves is fighting for an important cause, which is fairness for women being able to play in sport fairly and equally.

I think there’s an awful lot of women in those seats that want to make sure that they and their daughters can play fairly and equally in sport. In sport.

I’m not going to second-guess how people would feel about those comments. Suffice to say ...

These are sensitive issues and should be approached cautiously, making sure our language is not insensitive in the way it’s expressed, because these are important issues and we know that particularly transgender children are some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

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