Category Archives: Coalition

Exclusion zones: is Peter Dutton’s campaign avoiding proposed nuclear power sites?

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The opposition leader says he ‘won’t be able to get to all’ of the seven locations earmarked for flagship nuclear policy, while Labor says he has not been within 50km of any during election campaign

Peter Dutton is avoiding visiting any of the seven sites for his proposed nuclear reactors, Anthony Albanese and the Labor party claim, arguing the issue has become “radioactive” for the Coalition.

The Liberal leader says he is still committed to nuclear power, even as he concedes it may not be “politically popular”.

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Trade unionists, conservationists and church groups unite against Dutton’s nuclear plan

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Seven Regions Nuclear Free alliance launches campaign representing groups who oppose the Coalition’s proposed nuclear reactors in their communities across Queensland, NSW, SA, Victoria and WA

Trade unions, conservationists, First Nations groups, church congregations and community organisations have launched a coordinated campaign against opposition leader Peter Dutton’s plan for nuclear reactors across Australia.

The Coalition has pledged, if elected, to build seven nuclear reactors to replace retiring or retired coal sites naming Tarong and Callide in Queensland, Liddell and Mount Piper in New South Wales, Port Augusta in South Australia, Loy Yang in Victoria, and Muja in Western Australia.

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Coalition promises crackdown on ‘drugs and thugs’ as polls continue to favour Labor

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Opposition expected to use final two weeks of the campaign to focus on the traditionally safe grounds of national security, crime and defence

The Coalition would crack down on “drugs and thugs” with a new policy pledge including tougher narcotics laws and a new disclosure scheme to help parents “unmask” sex offenders who may be in contact with their children.

Peter Dutton said an elected Coalition government would spend $750m on its so-called Operation Safer Communities plan, to include tightened border security and safety laws, extra funding for police and investigators, and detection of illicit drugs.

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‘Propaganda’: Albanese mocks Russia’s ‘you have no cards’ warning to Australia

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Incendiary letter by Moscow’s envoy says Australians should be more concerned about US bases on their soil than a Russian base in Indonesia

Russian warnings to Australia that “you have no cards” to stop Russian military activity in the Indo-Pacific have been mocked by Anthony Albanese, who has dismissed an incendiary letter from an ambassador as authoritarian “propaganda”.

The unsubstantiated spectre of a proposed Russian military airbase on Indonesian territory has loomed over the past week of Australia’s federal election campaign, with the opposition accusing the government of obfuscating and dodging questions, and the government responding that the opposition had misrepresented the Indonesian government and actively fanned Russian propaganda.

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‘Bordering on incredible’: Coalition under fire for planning to scrap Labor climate policies and offering none of its own

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With Peter Dutton’s views on climate change in the spotlight, the focus has turned onto whether there will be any policies to reduce emissions in the next decade

The Coalition is refusing to say if it will introduce any policies to cut Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade as it pledges to unwind most climate measures introduced under Labor.

Peter Dutton’s position on the climate crisis came under scrutiny last week after he gave contradictory answers on whether he accepted mainstream climate science. Asked during a leaders’ debate on the ABC whether extreme weather events were worsening, the opposition leader said: “I don’t know because I’m not a scientist”.

Dropping a Labor goal of 82% of electricity coming from renewable generation by 2030 and slowing the roll out of solar and wind farms, in part by scrapping a “rewiring the nation” fund to build new transmission connections. Instead, it says the country would rely on more fossil fuels – coal and gas-fired power – until it could lift a ban on nuclear energy and build taxpayer-owned nuclear generators, mostly after 2040.

Abolishing fines for car companies that do not meet targets to cut the average emissions from the new cars they sell.

Not supporting Labor’s 2030 emissions reduction target. Former diplomats say lowering the target would put Australia in breach of commitments made in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Opposing a joint Australia-Pacific bid to host a major UN climate summit in Adelaide next year.

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Dutton pledges tax breaks for business startups and meets alpaca who sneezed on King Charles

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Opposition leader also says his migration plan would prioritise tradies and not yoga teachers

The Coalition says it will introduce tax offsets to help an extra 350,000 small businesses get going if it is elected.

On Saturday morning, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, announced an “entrepreneurship accelerator” which would see new businesses receive tapered tax offsets and tax deductions for tech upgrades.

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Coalition’s claim that fuel efficiency standard would raise prices based on car no longer on sale

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Questions arise over election proposal to axe penalties for high-emitting cars after revelations Toyota RAV4 model used in analysis has been discontinued

The Coalition’s claim cars will be more expensive as a result of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) has come under scrutiny because at least one of the opposition’s headline figures is based on a car no longer on sale.

The revelation casts doubt on a key Coalition election proposal to eliminate penalties for cars that emit CO2 beyond regulated limits, to ensure “Australians save thousands when buying a new car”.

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‘Let Rome burn’: Coalition MP says allowing blackouts the only way to turn voters off renewable energy

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Exclusive: Power outages in major cities would help build opposition to climate policies, Colin Boyce tells podcast

The Coalition MP Colin Boyce says he believes the way to turn voters against renewable energy is to “let Rome burn for a while” and allow power blackouts to occur in major cities.

Guardian Australia reported on Wednesday that Boyce had described blackouts as a “big political opportunity” at a meeting of climate science deniers in late 2023.

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Peter Dutton’s nuclear power plan could lead to major electricity shortages, analysis says

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Coalition’s proposal overestimates the reliability of Australia’s ageing coal generators, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis says

Peter Dutton’s plan to build less renewable energy and keep Australia’s coal plants running longer has overestimated the reliability of ageing generators and could lead to major electricity shortages, according to a new analysis.

The Coalition has pledged to put taxpayer-funded nuclear reactors at seven sites around Australia and has pointed to modelling by Frontier Economics that shows the country’s ageing coal fleet would need to take up the slack in electricity generation while they are built.

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Coalition MP Colin Boyce told climate science deniers blackouts a ‘big political opportunity’

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Boyce tells Climate and Energy Realists Queensland that opposition to renewables is growing and fellow MPs should adopt a ‘do nothing strategy’

Coalition MP Colin Boyce told a group of climate science deniers that blackouts were “a big political opportunity” and that he had urged fellow MPs to adopt a “do nothing strategy” that would allow power outages and build opposition to net-zero policies.

A video of Boyce, posted on YouTube, speaking to the Climate and Energy Realists Queensland group, includes comments by the Flynn MP that net-zero climate policies “need a rethink”.

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Peter Dutton says he will help his children with a house deposit ‘at some stage’

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Both major parties spruik housing policies, with Anthony Albanese saying critics may not have read all the detail of Labor’s plan

Peter Dutton says he will help his son with a housing deposit “at some stage”, a day after dodging questions about whether he would use his family wealth and salary to assist his children to get into the market.

Dutton on Monday brought his 20-year-old son, Harry, on the campaign trail to talk about the difficulties of saving for a home. Harry said he and his sister, Rebecca, had both been “saving like mad” to scrape together deposits of their own.

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Victorian Liberal leader distances state party from Peter Dutton’s nuclear proposal: ‘Our focus is gas’

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Exclusive: Brad Battin says he had a conversation with the federal opposition leader about the ‘language’ he would use about plans to build a nuclear reactor in eastern Victoria

The Victorian opposition leader says he discussed the language he would use to distance the state party from the federal Coalition’s campaign to build a nuclear reactor in the Latrobe Valley, telling Peter Dutton “it’s your campaign”.

The Loy Yang coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley east of Melbourne is one of seven proposed sites for the federal Coalition’s proposal to build nuclear reactors, the centrepiece energy policy the federal Liberal leader will be taking to the 3 May poll.

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Guardian Essential poll: Labor pulls further ahead of Coalition as voters back Albanese on cost of living

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The survey is in line with other recent major polls which have all showed movements toward the ALP

Labor has pulled further ahead of the Coalition as the election campaign continues, opening up a larger lead in the latest Essential poll after two weeks of policy confusion and backdowns from Peter Dutton’s Liberals.

Dutton’s approval rating has also dipped, while more voters rate Anthony Albanese as the better leader on addressing cost of living, providing stable leadership, emissions reduction and keeping Australians safe.

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Coalition scores just 1/100 points for environment and climate policies from conservation organisation

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Australian Conservation Foundation says opposition has ‘failed every single test’ while Labor passes with 54% and Greens achieve 98%

One of Australia’s largest conservation organisations has awarded the federal Coalition just 1 out of 100 for its environment and climate change policies – the lowest score it has given the Liberal and National parties in more than 20 years of compiling pre-election scorecards.

Labor scraped through with a pass – on 54% – while the Greens achieved 98%, according to the scorecard, which ranked the major parties and key independents on their policies for protecting nature, championing renewable energy, and rejecting nuclear and fossil fuels.

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Ten things we learned from Anthony Albanese’s speech at the Labor party campaign launch

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The PM addressed a crowd of 500 people in Perth, spruiking new policies on housing and tax deductions, celebrating WA and invoking Donald Trump. Here’s what you may have missed

Labor’s election campaign launch in Perth was headlined by a $10bn housing pledge, a vow to help first home buyers and a new $1,000 “automatic” tax deduction for all workers.

It also featured a former prime minister, gags about rugby league and more than a few digs at Peter Dutton alongside Labor’s claims that he is copying Donald Trump’s political playbook.

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Community groups furious Coalition nuclear plan would go ahead even if locals oppose it

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Opponents of policy say locals should be ‘very angry’ they will not be able to veto generators in their towns despite Coalition promise to consult them

There is a “growing backlash” to the Coalition’s nuclear plan, with community groups furious at the lack of consultation and angered that the policy would not give local communities the power of veto and that nuclear plants would be built regardless of local opposition.

Opponents say pro-nuclear lobby group Nuclear for Australia has been hosting information sessions but that they make it overly difficult for people to attend, make it hard to ask questions, and are not able to answer those questions that are posed.

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Jacinta Price says Coalition will ‘make Australia great again’ – then accuses media of being ‘obsessed with’ Trump

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Senator channels US president during election campaign event, but says Coalition’s government efficiency unit ‘not an ode to Donald Tump’

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has rejected comparisons to Donald Trump after announcing she wanted to “make Australia great again” at a campaign rally in Perth.

The outspoken Northern Territory senator joined Peter Dutton in the seat of Tangney in Perth’s inner suburbs as the Coalition looks to win back Labor’s “red wall” in the western state.

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Liberal candidate co-authored inquiry submission suggesting Hazaras not persecuted for ethnicity in Afghanistan

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Exclusive: Zahid Safi, who is running in Melbourne seat of Bruce, listed as last author on 2021 Senate submission which says victims of Afghanistan war ‘not based on ethnicity’

The Liberal candidate for Bruce co-authored a parliamentary submission suggesting the Hazara community in Afghanistan was not persecuted on the basis of its ethnicity, contradicting the Australian government and drawing rebuke from international human rights groups.

Zahid Safi co-authored a submission to a 2021 parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s involvement in the Afghanistan war, which incorrectly cited a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report to allege Hazara “warlords” had “cut the breasts of women” and watched “live delivery of pregnant women” during the early 1990s. The 2005 HRW report does not mention these acts.

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It’s week two of Peter Dutton’s campaign and (almost) everything is tightly scripted

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The Coalition leader muzzles the press pack in a way Albanese often struggles to achieve – after a train wreck opening week, he’s taking back control

“Who won the election?” 12-year-old Sammy asks Peter Dutton, leaning through the window of the passenger seat where the opposition leader sits.

The Coalition leader has just finished his last pit stop in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs for the day: a petrol station. By this point, he’s been to six of them in the last seven days – mostly cleared of regular punters – selling his party’s promise to bring down petrol costs by about $14 per car a week. Economic analysts put that estimate a lot lower – about $7.56.

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Dutton tight-lipped over how many voluntary redundancies would be offered in public service cuts plan

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Opposition under pressure to release secret modelling and costings revealing how it plans to downsize the public service by 41,000 jobs by 2030

Peter Dutton has dodged revealing how many voluntary redundancies could be offered as part of the opposition’s plan to downsize the public service by 41,000 jobs by 2030.

Speaking at a conveyor manufacturing factory in Perth on Friday, the opposition leader avoided providing further details about the plan.

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