Morrison government’s advertising spend tops Coles and McDonald’s

Coalition spent $145m on advertising last financial year, with defence recruiting and Covid vaccines among biggest campaigns

The federal government spent more money on advertising last financial year than McDonald’s and Coles, new research suggests, prompting calls for greater oversight on taxpayer-funded public campaigns.

A new paper from progressive think tank the Australia Institute scrutinises government spending on “campaign advertising” – a repeated series of ads to promote important messages.

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Alan Tudge remains as education minister after saying he would not return to the frontbench

Officials confirm Tudge remains minister ‘on leave’ despite acting minister Stuart Robert performing functions of the role

Alan Tudge will stay officially as the education minister for an extra two and a half months despite claiming he would not return to the frontbench in March.

At Senate estimates on Friday, government officials confirmed that Tudge remains education minister and is “on leave” despite the acting minister, Stuart Robert, performing the functions of the role.

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Ukraine president addresses parliament; Putin a ‘war criminal’, PM says – as it happened

Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Australian contribution to become more critical as Scott Morrison pledges extra $25m in military assistance to Ukraine; Sydney rainfall tops record set in 1956; flood and hazardous surf warnings across NSW; nation records 32 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Parliament has passed legislation that can stop deadly mitochondrial disease in babies, using a partial DNA donation. It passed in the Senate scramble last night. Here’s the background:

Communities in the northern rivers region of NSW are going to get some reprieve from the rain today as the east coast low drifts away from the coast.

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Australian arts sector says budget cuts during pandemic recovery ‘highly disappointing’

Federal budget papers reveal $190m or 19% reduction in 2022-23 compared to previous year, Fund the Arts coalition says

The arts sector is facing a significant drop in federal government funding as pandemic support measures come to an abrupt end despite some industries struggling to recover.

The arts minister, Paul Fletcher, said the inclusion in the budget of an additional $20m in Covid-19 relief under the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (Rise) scheme in 2022-23, first announced last week, was an “unprecedented injection” of art stimulus funding.

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Australia’s minimum wage should be raised by 5% to counter inflation and living costs, unions say

ACTU secretary Sally McManus says increase needed for low-paid workers to ‘keep their heads above water’

Australia’s lowest-paid workers should get a 5% pay rise – or $2,000 more a year, according to a submission from unions to the industrial umpire.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions has called for the minimum wage to increase from $20.33 an hour to $21.35, to boost the wages of 2.67m employees who rely on the annual wage review for a pay rise.

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Redspice: budget ushers in Australia’s ‘biggest ever’ cybersecurity spend

Pledge of $10bn will see electronic spy agency ASD double and ramp up ability to launch offensive cyber operations

Australia’s electronic spy agency will double in size and ramp up its ability to launch its own offensive cyber operations as part of a $10bn national security budget pledge curiously dubbed Redspice.

But the funding is spread over 10 years and only $4.2bn will be spent in the first four-year budget cycle. Given the government is partly offsetting the package with savings from other parts of the defence portfolio, the cyber pledge is worth only $588.7m in new money in the first four years.

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Australia news live updates: many Lismore buildings ‘expected to flood again’; new Russia sanctions; man’s body found in Qld flood waters

Many buildings in Lismore are ‘expected to flood again’ as CBD ordered to evacuate; severe weather warning for large parts of NSW; foreign minister announces ‘Magnitsky-style sanctions’ targeting 39 Russians; treasurer Josh Frydenberg says election will be held ‘in a matter of weeks’; nation records 24 Covid deaths, with record high daily case numbers in Tasmania. Follow the latest updates live

The New South Wales government has approved fewer than 400 disaster relief grants for flood-ravaged northern rivers businesses, despite receiving almost 8,000 requests for help since applications opened almost a month ago.

After the state’s north was left reeling by weeks of devastating floods, the government announced grants of up to $50,000 for small businesses to help pay for cleanup costs, repairs, replace damaged stock and to lease temporary premises.

Today it’s been revealed that the unemployment rate will have a friend for the first time in 50 years. This is a remarkable achievement that belongs to 26 million Australians. We’ve avoided the scouring of the labour market so reminiscent of previous recessions in Australia in the 80s and 90s.

We now have an unemployment rate that is very, very low and we are banking that dividend, now with the cost of living.

Would you be providing that if Australians weren’t going to the polls in a matter of weeks?

We would of course be providing cost-of-living relief given the circumstances that Australia now faces. There’s higher expected inflation, indeed, it’s a global phenomenon. There’s petrol prices rising above $2 a litre and with the other challenges on Australian companies.

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Morrison government predicts unemployment will drop to 50-year low as it spruiks pre-election budget

Treasurer’s office says dip to last years, as Labor points to stagnant wages and vows to lift them

Josh Frydenberg’s pre-election budget will project Australia’s unemployment rate will drop to 3.75% this year, its lowest figure in 50 years, with the Coalition to talk up a “remarkable” post-pandemic recovery.

The treasurer’s fourth federal budget will also fund an extra 15,000 subsidised training courses for aged care workers, in a nearly $50m promise to boost the sector’s workforce.

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Australia live news update: man drowns at Sydney beach; Labor’s Katy Gallagher says ‘mean girls’ label ‘diminishes women’; 11 Covid deaths

Man drowns on Sydney’s northern beaches; Labor senator Katy Gallagher says she had no ‘difficult arguments’ with Kimberley Kitching beyond what was normal in politics; Victoria records five Covid deaths and 7,466 new cases; NSW records one death and 17,450 new cases; Queensland records 7,738 new cases and one death; Western Australia records 7,197 new cases, four deaths. Follow developments live

The NSW Labor opposition has outlined a plan for the state to rebuild and recover from the devastating floods that have left about 1,500 people in emergency accommodation and damaged or destroyed about 95,000 homes, AAP reports.

The federal and New South Wales governments were too slow to act in the immediate response and have been too slow in their support, NSW Labor has said in a statement today.

The difference is, David, we’re looking for maximum community benefit and economic benefit while the government’s looking for maximum political benefit.

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Veterans’ affairs minister told Barnaby Joyce he was quitting due to budget ‘disgrace’

Scott Morrison claims minister did not ‘properly understand’ budget process

The Australian veterans’ affairs minister, Andrew Gee, was on the cusp of offering his resignation from cabinet following a major stoush over department funding days out from the federal budget.

In a major attack on the federal government, Gee called a press conference on Saturday morning to announce he would quit the frontbench after being refused $96m in funding before the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, finally intervened.

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Scott Morrison says it would have been ‘weakness’ for him to meet new Chinese ambassador

Australian prime minister defends level of support for Solomon Islands and rest of Pacific amid tensions over security deal

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, says there will be no diplomatic thaw in relations with China until it lifts a block on ministerial meetings.

“So long as China continues to refuse to have dialogue with Australian ministers and the prime minister, I think that’s an entirely proportional response,” Morrison told reporters on Saturday regarding reports he declined to meet China’s new ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian.

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Michael McCormack’s movie nights cost taxpayers $2,500 a ticket – and his scene was cut

Exclusive: regional movie events in 2019, attended by just 137 people, were set to feature then deputy prime minister spruiking infrastructure spending

They’re the “problematic” videos that the finance department didn’t want to see the light of day.

Created for an “objective” infrastructure campaign, the videos featured a cheery Michael McCormack spruiking federal government spending. They were to be played before free movies in a taxpayer-funded roadshow through regional cities to promote the Building our Future package in 2019, ahead of the May election.

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Australia news live update: NSW government seeks to suspend MP facing charges; nation records 26 Covid deaths

NSW government seeks to suspend Gareth Ward; Craig Foster lashes treatment of asylum seekers in National Press Club address; new research suggests long-lasting Covid immune response from vaccine-induced T-cells; at least 26 Covid deaths recorded; Atagi expected to green light fourth booster shots for some Australians. Follow all the day’s news live

David Koch:

Have you spoken to the “mean girls” – Kristina Keneally, Penny Wong – in the last week or so since Kimberly Kitching’s death about the allegations of bullying?

I think that term is really unfortunate.

She used it, it is not just us.

There is a lot of people speaking on other people’s behalf at the moment. I think that in politics, there are a range of people who are involved in party politics who play it pretty hard. One of those was Kimberly Kitching. She was somebody who engaged in politics and was passionate about her belief and from time to time that could produce some conflict. But it needs to be done in a way that is respectful, in a way that is understanding, and attempts to reach consensus.

It is rather bizarre ... I am always available and indeed I lobby regularly to be on the Sunrise program. I am always happy to discuss things with the media, but I won’t be taking lectures from a prime minister who visited Lismore and had strict streets shut off so victims of floods could not get near him.

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SA hospitals under ‘extraordinary strain’; Perrottet asks MP to resign after charges – as it happened

NSW MP Gareth Ward denies historic sexual abuse allegations; South Australian hospital system ‘under extraordinary strain’ new premier says, as at least 23 Covid deaths recorded nationally; Anthony Albanese proposes award in late Victorian senator Kimberley Kitching’s honour. This blog is now closed

Peter Malinauskas has promised to keep his shirt on from now on, after a photo of his muscled torso made quite a stir in the world of Australian politics.

ABC radio host Patricia Karvelas:

During the campaign, you were photographed shirtless in swimming shorts, and it caused a bit of a stir. I have to ask you ... the Australian’s Greg Sheridan said jokingly on [ABC] Insiders that you’re “far too good looking”. Which I thought was quite a statement. What have you made of the reaction to that picture?

Do you have any idea how much grief I’ve copped around the place as a result of that?

Have they told you just to buff to be premier?

They’ve piled it on, let me tell you. I haven’t stopped copping it, and I deserve every bit of it.

We were announcing a big investment at our major aquatics centre here in South Australia and a whole bunch of us jumped in for a swim in our boardies with our kids there. And, yeah, it got a bit more attention than I anticipated, fair to say.

So you’re going to keep your shirt on from now on?

Damn straight!

I think we’re about to see a federal election where a cost of living is a front and centre issue. And I think Australians get the price of petrol, but they can’t control the price of groceries.

The way we address cost of living as a nation is to start having an incomes policy focus on how we improve working in small businesses to improve the productivity of their labour, so they can earn a higher income. And that’s why education, training and skills is so important.

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Guardian Essential poll: voters mark Morrison government down on flood response

Separate Australian National University longitudinal survey suggests Coalition primary vote slumps to 32.2% with Labor in election-winning position

Voters are underwhelmed by the Morrison government’s response to recent catastrophic flooding in New South Wales and Queensland, and a majority fear disasters will be worse in the absence of significant action to address climate risks, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

The survey of 1,091 voters finds only 26% of respondents characterised the Coalition’s recent flood disaster response as good, while 40% thought poor and 34% said neither good nor poor.

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Urban congestion funding for Coalition and marginal seats far outstrips safe Labor seats, report finds

At last election, just one of 71 Coalition promises worth $100m or more based on approved business case, says Grattan Institute

The government’s controversial urban congestion fund is pumping tens of millions of dollars more into marginal and safe Coalition seats than strong Labor electorates, a new report has found.

The Grattan Institute on Sunday released a damning report examining the way successive governments have used transport spending promises to further their political interests.

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Australia live news update: Payne calls Russia’s actions in Ukraine ‘war crimes’; Steven Marshall quits as Liberal leader after SA election loss

Scott Morrison says Russia must pay ‘high price’ for Ukraine invasion as further measures announced; Steven Marshall steps down after losing South Australia election to Labor and Peter Malinauskus; Josh Frydenberg says federal budget measures won’t ‘overheat’ economy; four Covid deaths in NSW and three in SA. Follow all the day’s news

The federal finance minister, Simon Birmingham, is appearing on ABC’s Insiders now, and of course, has been asked why the Liberals experienced a landslide loss in the state election there overnight.

Birmingham says that a number of voters were potentially tricked by “misleading statements” about Labor’s ability to stop ambulance ramping.

I think always when an election is lost, there are a number of factors at play. I think that history will judge Steven Marshall’s government for its policy achievements and management more kindly than the electorate did yesterday. The economic confidence he delivered to South Australia, the ongoing growth in what will be higher-paying, more highly skilled [workers] in SA for many years to come, the transformation of schooling SA, investments in hospitals, these will be positives which he will be marked up for but clearly a disappointing day for the Liberal family in SA to have that result.

The campaign was one in which we saw the Labor party run a very targeted, very singularly focused campaign around hospitals and ambulances. I think there were many misleading aspects to that campaign and even the Electoral Commission found so in the last day or so, but that again is a reminder to all of us that we can’t underscore the potential for Labor to run these types of scare campaigns just like they did with mediscare back in 2016, particularly when they can roll out the public sector unions to devastating effects.

So is that your take on this election result, the electorate was tricked?

No, not entirely. I do think that Labor’s campaign was effective, but I also think, as the Electoral Commission found, that it was based on misleading statements and that of course is something that does mean that some voters potentially were tricked but equally I think Covid did play a very difficult role for Steven Marshall.

When he opened the borders from SA to the rest of the country on 23 November, it was 24 November, the very day after that Omicron was first reported to the World Health Organization as a variant of concern. You couldn’t have had perhaps more unlucky timing than Steven Marshall faced in that regard and that the carefully calibrated plans he had for reopening were clearly blown out of the water at that time and that did create real challenges for the Government through the run-up and lead-up to the election, and, of course, in terms of what the narrative of their campaign was.

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South Australia election: Labor win should have Morrison government ‘trembling’, ALP says

Scott Morrison dismissed state and federal comparisons, saying ‘Anthony Albanese is not Peter Malinauskas’

The South Australian election result should have Scott Morrison’s Coalition “trembling” ahead of the federal poll, Labor says, after Peter Malinauskas became the first opposition leader to defeat an incumbent government since the start of the pandemic.

The outgoing premier, Steven Marshall, announced on Sunday he would step down as Liberal leader after the landslide loss to Labor, saying he “takes full responsibility for the result” and accepts “the will of the people”.

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Against the foil of the Morrison government, Dominic Perrottet’s flood response has been pragmatic

The NSW government knows the more it is held up against the Coalition in Canberra, the better it looks despite its own shortcomings

It’s hard to imagine many inside the New South Wales government were particularly upset with veteran Nationals backbencher Geoff Provest when he aimed both barrels at the prime minister over his response to the state’s flood disaster this week.

Hardly the state government’s most prominent attack dog, Provest did not miss in his assessment of Scott Morrison after his north coast electorate of Tweed was inexplicably excluded from extra disaster funding announced by the prime minister last week.

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‘Disrespectful and wrong’: lawyers slam Coalition’s push to restore power to deport Aboriginal non-citizens

Federal government’s appeal against the release of NZ man due to his claim of Aboriginality is being criticised as ‘a significant step backwards’

The Morrison government’s plan to restore its power to deport Aboriginal non-citizens has been criticised as “disrespectful and wrong” and a “significant step backwards” in the recognition of Aboriginal societies.

Both claims are made in submissions to an appeal by the federal government to overturn the landmark Love and Thoms decision.

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