Category Archives: Coalition

ABC misses out on final leaders’ debate; key independents back call for robodebt inquiry – as it happened

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Channel Seven to host final debate of election campaign; crossbenchers back call for royal commission into robodebt scandal; Scott Morrison focuses on cost of living concerns; Anthony Albanese marches for May Day in Brisbane; Sally McManus would support wage increase for public sector workers; 13 Covid deaths recorded across the nation. This blog is now closed

Labor is still on the campaign sell for its first homeowner policy.

Jason Clare faced questions ranging from, “Is this too small to have an impact?” to, “Won’t it drive up house prices?”

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Albanese rallies against ‘fear and division’ at Labor campaign launch – as it happened

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Anthony Albanese and senior Labor members speak at ALP campaign launch in Perth; Scott Morrison speaks at Sydney rally; Coalition outlines e-safety plan; Greens announce LGBTQ+ equality plan; Victoria reports seven Covid deaths; NSW reports five; South Australia reports two. This blog is now closed

Simon Birmingham is pushed on what the Coalition will actually do on the cost of living but there isn’t a clear answer. See this exchange with Insiders host David Speers:

Q: So essentially to get wages going is to keep doing what you’ve been doing for the last nine years?

David, our plan is a comprehensive economic plan and in contrast to the Labor party. We have outlined clearly plans for … that jobs growth. Jobs growth fuelled by lower taxes and tax relief for Australians that continue to be implemented in terms of lower income taxes, support for more businesses.

David, it is a plan that we’ve outlined in quite a lot of detail, compared to ...

If you look at this year’s budget, small business, a particular focus in relation to investment in technology …

The approach we’ve taken is to fix a particular problem in the housing market and that was the fact that you had to save, of course, for your deposit, takes months and months, years and years, to get that 20% deposit to avoid having to pay mortgage insurance, that was meaning that people were having to pay rent at the same time as saving.

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Coalition criticises Labor’s housing policy because government could profit from price rises

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Scott Morrison argues Labor is ‘looking to make money out of this’ as Anthony Albanese pledges to cut cost of some mortgages by up to $380,000

The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, says Australians don’t want Anthony Albanese at the table with them sharing equity in their homes after Labor announced a policy to make homeownership more affordable for low and middle income earners.

Birmingham told the ABC on Sunday the Morrison government’s affordable housing initiative was the preferred model.

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Labor to help low and middle income earners buy home with shared ownership scheme

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Anthony Albanese will unveil $329m Help to Buy housing initiative as the centrepiece of Labor’s campaign launch in Perth

Anthony Albanese will provide help for Australians on low and middle incomes to buy houses by giving eligible applicants a commonwealth equity contribution of up to 40% of the purchase price of a new home, and up to 30% for an existing home.

The Labor leader will unveil the new $329m housing initiative as the centrepiece of Labor’s official campaign launch in Perth on Sunday. If Albanese wins on 21 May, Labor’s new shared equity housing policy will be implemented in addition to the Morrison government’s First Home Guarantee scheme.

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Albanese and Morrison to face off in second leaders’ debate of federal election, Nine says

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News of debate which will employ a panel of three journalists comes as Labor pledges robodebt royal commission and Coalition promises cheaper medicines

Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison will go head to head in a second leaders’ debate less than a fortnight out from the federal election, the Nine network has announced.

It follows days of backroom negotiations between the two major parties while the opposition leader recovered from his recent bout of Covid-19.

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Labor pledges royal commission into ‘human tragedy’ of robodebt if elected

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Anthony Albanese vows to find those responsible for the scheme as Morrison says ‘the problem has been addressed’

Labor has promised to launch a royal commission into the discredited robodebt scheme if it wins government.

The automated matching of tax and Centrelink data to raise debts against welfare recipients for money the Coalition government claimed to have overpaid ran between 2015 and November 2019, and saw the government unlawfully raise $1.76bn in debts against 443,000 people.

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Coalition pledges to cut medication costs; 53 Covid deaths – as it happened

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Prime minister announces a $10 cut to PBS scripts from next year in an attempt to tackle cost-of-living pressure, while Labor vows to hold a royal commission into the robodebt scandal. This blog is now closed

Now some questions on China’s security deal with the Solomon Islands.

Morrison, asked about the timing of the announcement, says:

We’re very aware of the influence that the Chinese government seeks to have in this country. We, in fact, introduced laws to prevent it. So any suggestion that the Chinese government doesn’t seek to interfere in Australia – well, we didn’t put that legislation in for no reason. We put it in there to ensure that Australian security could be safeguarded from foreign influence in our own country.

The Chinese government would say that, wouldn’t they?

There are temporary measures that we put on the budget, longer term measures in the mid-year statement. It is a fairly common way that we do budgets …

This is a longer term measure and it will start next calendar year. So the reason that we’re talking about it now, normally we would make an announcement like that later in the year.

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Peter Dutton says Australia should be prepared for war – but are we?

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The defence minister’s rhetoric isn’t matched by reality with five key projects behind schedule, not fit for purpose, axed or facing other problems

Australia’s defence minister, Peter Dutton, said on Anzac Day: “The only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war and be strong as a country, not to cower, not to be on bended knee and be weak.”

But how does this rhetoric about preparing for war match reality? We take a look at five significant defence projects that are either well behind schedule or have had major problems.

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Trent Zimmerman says moderate MPs ‘prevailed’ over Barnaby Joyce on net zero emissions

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Liberal MP tells North Sydney candidates debate that moderates won commitment despite opposition from Nationals

Liberal party MP Trent Zimmerman says he and fellow moderate MPs “prevailed” over the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, in securing a net zero climate target, saying the Nationals leader was opposed to the policy.

Zimmerman, a key Liberal party moderate facing a serious challenge to hang on to the North Sydney electorate from the independent Kylea Tink, told a Sky News debate on Thursday that he would push for “stronger” emissions targets if the Coalition was re-elected.

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Australia’s foreign minister denounces China’s ‘secret’ security deal with Solomon Islands

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Marise Payne says other members of the ‘Pacific family’ share concerns but she rejects claims her government ‘dropped the ball’ in the region

Marise Payne has denounced the “secret” terms of China’s security deal with Solomon Islands, while insisting “no document signed and kept away from public view” would change Australia’s commitment to answering Pacific countries’ needs.

The foreign affairs minister said the agreement was “not transparent” – unlike Australia’s existing security treaty with Solomon Islands – and was also being hidden from other Pacific countries.

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Labor ‘gravely concerned’ by Karen Andrews’ claim about potential China election interference

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Kristina Keneally says home affairs minister must clarify comments or brief Labor on intelligence reporting of foreign interference

Labor has raised grave concerns about the home affairs minister’s use of “privileged access to intelligence reporting”, after Karen Andrews publicly alluded to a potential attempt by China at interference in the federal election.

The shadow minister, Kristina Keneally, has written to Andrews to remind her of “the vital convention that opposition is briefed on any developing matters of national security” during the election caretaker mode.

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Coalition climate policy forced big polluters to pay $15m for carbon credits in past year

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Scott Morrison says Labor wants to use government safeguard mechanism as a ‘sneaky carbon tax’ but it is already making big business pay for offsets

The Coalition last year required polluting businesses to buy 419,000 carbon credits at an estimated cost of $15m using a policy that Scott Morrison now falsely describes as “Labor’s sneaky carbon tax”.

Government data released last month shows that, under the Coalition’s so-called safeguard mechanism, major polluting companies had to buy 70% more carbon credits last financial year than in 2019-20.

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Australia politics live updates: inflation figure highlights cost of living ‘triple whammy’, says Labor; Frydenberg takes aim at ‘fake independents’

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Labor launches economic plan after CPI increases to 5.1%; Frydenberg says ‘teal’ independents ‘a slogan and a billboard’; home affairs minister implies timing of China security pact is ‘political interference’; Jason Clare says Coalition ‘at war with itself over climate change’; Australia sending extra military assistance to Ukraine; at least 43 Covid deaths recorded – follow all the day’s news

Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie will address the press club today.

Paul Kelly, Daryl Braithwaite, Lime Cordiale and Grinspoon will be playing a major free concert in Lismore next month, in an attempt to boost morale in the wake of recent flood devastation in the region.

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Matt Canavan declares net zero by 2050 is ‘all over bar the shouting’ after PM tries to quell divisions

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Labor earlier jumped on climate crisis split between Liberals and Nationals after Colin Boyce said emissions target had ‘wiggle room’

Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan has declared net zero by 2050 “all over bar the shouting” only hours after Scott Morrison attempted to hose down internal divisions – insisting the mid-century target was “absolutely” Coalition policy.

Labor criticised the “spectacular” split between inner-city Liberals and rural Nationals on the policy, criticising the Coalition for running a “fear campaign” on the opposition’s policy around coal jobs.

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Payne says China military base in Solomons would be a ‘red line’ – as it happened

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Queensland senator Matt Canavan adds to uncertainty about Coalition climate commitments; foreign minister accuses Labor of ‘playing politics’ on national security after Penny Wong criticises Scott Morrison for ‘refusing to take responsibility in Pacific’; at least 50 Covid deaths as WA to ease mask mandate in some settings. This blog is now closed

Scott Morrison is in Townsville (north Queensland) today where he will be making announcements on energy.

Given what we just heard from Scott Morrison there, it’s worth your time having a listen to climate and environment editor Adam Morton on today’s Full Story podcast examining if the policy differences between the Coalition and Labor and ultimately asking: is either party preparing enough for the transformational change ahead?

Economic modelling should be used as a guide. Both sides of politics lean on it more as a forecast that will be fact ... I don’t think anybody can tell us exactly what our power bills will be in 2025, 2030, 2050 but no one disagrees that more solar and wind is good in terms of lowering prices because it is much, much cheaper to generate what’s in place.

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Richard Marles’ contentious China trip was praised by Coalition MP

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Deputy Labor leader was joined in Beijing in 2019 by Ted O’Brien who wrote a positive testimonial of the study tour

A Coalition MP praised a now contentious trip to China featuring Labor’s deputy leader, Richard Marles, as “an invaluable opportunity to have open and candid dialogue”.

The Morrison government has attempted to discredit the opposition’s claim that the major parties are united on China policy by highlighting Marles’ trip to China in 2019 and his speech to a Beijing university. Marles said at the time it would be a “profound mistake” to define China as an enemy.

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‘We have not seen the preparation’: Labor attacks Coalition after Dutton’s declaration on war

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Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles says Coalition ‘is a government which beats its chest’ but does not deliver

Labor has hit back at Peter Dutton’s claim that the only way to “preserve peace is to prepare for war”, suggesting the Coalition’s actions fall short of its words.

The defence minister made the comments on Anzac Day morning, warning that “people like Hitler” are not “consigned to history” and Australia must do more to stand up to China’s aggression in the region.

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Anzac Day commemorated; ABC reviewing presenter’s social media activity – as it happened

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Deputy Labor leader says Chinese Solomon Islands base would make Australia ‘less safe’; Anzac Day services and marches return for the first time since pandemic began; Peter Dutton compares events in Ukraine to ‘the 1930s’; ABC presenter Fauziah Ibrahim under social media review; at least 17 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Sticking with Brendan O’Connor for a moment, the shadow defence spokesperson says Labor would have “grave concerns” if a Chinese military base were established in Solomon Islands.

This comes after Scott Morrison yesterday said the establishment of a base there would be a “red line”, without saying how his government would actually respond, with O’Connor saying it was just “post-facto rhetoric”:

We understand what the prime minister says by that. But, really, it’s post-facto rhetoric. We need to see better investment and better engagement in the region ... rather than react after the fact.

Given the change in tone and rhetoric and words used by the prime minister, we will seek a briefing from the government. We’ve been getting updates all the way through, and we appreciate that.

It was a smaller sum. [The government’s plan] would go no way to provide support for veterans. It would not increase the frontline staff required to respond to their needs. It would do in no way enough to support those people who’ve put themselves in harm’s way.

People are waiting for days, weeks, months just for some of the more simple applications and claims.

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Australia live news updates: Scott Morrison accuses Labor of ‘sewer’ tactics over Gladys Liu ad; Daniel Andrews attacks ‘cruel’ trans debate; 17 Covid deaths

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Coalition and Labor to focus on Northern Territory as week three of the federal election campaign begins. Follow all the developments live

Queensland Health has issued a recall notice for vegan chocolates after they were found to contain milk.

More details would be provided but it looks as if the Foods Standards website is offline for maintenance.

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Barnaby Joyce refuses to use term energy ‘transition’ because it ‘equals unemployment’

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Deputy prime minister made comments in coal community of Gladstone in Queensland as Scott Morrison makes $300m NT energy and jobs announcement

Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce believes a “transition” from coal to cleaner energy “equals unemployment” in the regions, declaring the Coalition would not use the term during the election.

The Nationals leader has also backed the government’s clean energy fund to support coal, and for other government infrastructure funds to finance the construction of coal-fired power stations, but not for the building of cleaner hydrogen plants.

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