Category Archives: Labor party

‘Independent’ group Energy for Australians that ran anti-Labor ads received more than $1m from coal lobby

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Coal Australia denies its donations to the ‘community-driven association’ amount to astroturfing, but critics accuse the group of misleading the public

An “independent, community-driven association” that ran anti-Labor adverts during the last federal election was entirely funded by a coal industry lobby group, the Guardian can reveal.

Energy for Australians accepted more than $1m from Coal Australia – a group advocating for coal whose members include major miners Yancoal, Peabody, New Hope and Whitehaven.

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Jacinta Allan wants voters to see Victoria’s 12-year-old Labor government as ‘new and united’. Can she cling to power?

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With a reshuffled cabinet, the premier is hoping to quell leadership rumblings as her party seeks an unprecedented fourth term

As the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, stood alongside the fresh faces in her reshuffled cabinet on Wednesday, she attempted to send her increasingly jaded electorate a blunt message: despite its 12 years in power, her government is – apparently – new.

In her opening four-minute preamble to reporters, Allan - whose Labor government will in November seek an unprecedented fourth term - repeated the word 17 times. In one sentence alone, she referred to her “new cabinet”, “new portfolios”, “new solutions” and “new areas that are going to drive this government forward”.

Benita Kolovos is Guardian Australia’s Victorian state correspondent

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Labor to underwrite Australian fuel imports under new security powers to ensure supply

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Albanese announces forthcoming legislation to guarantee private sector purchases of fuel and fertiliser

The Australian government will take on the financial risk of importing essential products affected by the war in the Middle East to get additional supplies of petrol, diesel, and fertiliser into the country.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, announced the new fuel security powers on Saturday after a month of soaring diesel and petrol prices and widespread shortages at service stations, particularly in regional Australia.

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Gas giants warn against windfall gains tax as Pocock says ‘wartime profits’ should go to struggling Australians

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Government faces political fight as industry says mooted 25% levy on exports would hurt Australia’s economy and energy security

Gas giants will lobby against any federal government moves to introduce a 25% export levy on windfall profits, as crossbenchers pressure the prime minister to redirect billions of dollars in “wartime profits” to Australians struggling amid the global energy crisis.

It comes after the prime minister’s department asked Treasury to model the effects of placing a flat 25% tax on gas exports, the ABC reported on Friday, along with any further changes to the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) and corporate income tax.

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Pauline Hanson censured over Muslim comments but only two Coalition senators back motion

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It is Hanson’s second censure within four months, this time over comments questioning whether there were ‘good’ Muslims

Pauline Hanson has been censured again by the federal Senate, with two Liberal senators crossing the floor to support a motion calling out the One Nation leader’s “inflammatory and divisive” recent comments about Australian Muslims.

Hanson dismissed the motion – her second censure within four months, after her stunt of wearing a hijab in the parliament last year – as a “joke”, theatrically slapping herself on the wrist before storming out of the chamber prior to the final vote. The Greens and much of the crossbench backed Labor’s censure motion, while the Coalition resolved to oppose it, saying censures should be reserved for the most serious conduct.

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Flights from Australia to Middle East cancelled – as it happened

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The foreign minister, Penny Wong, says Australia was not told in advance about the bombing of Iran but won’t say whether intelligence facilities here were used.

“We weren’t told advance. You wouldn’t expect us to be but you would see there’s obviously been a lot of discussion,” she said.

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Labor rejects standalone AI legislation with plan that offers to help ‘unlock’ public and private data

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Roadmap focuses on technology’s ‘economic benefits’ and says existing laws will cover the fast-growing new technology

The Albanese government has decided against legislation to manage artificial intelligence, with a new national roadmap emphasising Labor’s focus on the technology’s economic benefits and plans to “unlock” vast datasets held by private companies and the public service to help train AI models.

Supporting and reskilling workers affected by AI in their jobs, boosting investment in datacentres, and sharing the productivity benefits across the economy are key components of the Labor government’s National AI Plan, launched on Tuesday.

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Australia news live: grounded Jetstar flights resume; foreign couple arrested over alleged $1m Sydney casino fraud

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Follow all the day’s news live

Welcome to Guardian Australia’s Sunday live blog.

The Jetstar Airbus A320 planes that were recalled yesterday (leading to more than 90 domestic flights being cancelled) have all received the necessary software update and services have resumed as normal this morning.

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New behaviour standards are in place for parliament but crossbenchers say question time still rife with bullying

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Independent MP Zali Steggall says it’s not always clear who is behind disorderly behaviour – and sometimes it can be a whole section of a political party

Sweeping behavioural standards have now been in place in Australia’s parliament for years, but crossbench MPs have warned question time is still rife with bullying and a “mob mentality” that needs to be stamped out.

Data obtained through the speaker’s office shows 21 MPs across the Coalition and Labor have been booted out of question time 31 times, under standing order 94a during the first six months of the 48th parliament.

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Labor urged not to ‘go soft’ on gambling ads after reports the government may resist a total ban

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Crossbenchers and gambling harm advocates criticise suggestion the long-delayed recommendation may not happen due to under-16s social media ban

Crossbench politicians and gambling harm advocates have urged the Albanese government to follow through on the late MP Peta Murphy’s long-delayed recommendation to ban wagering ads, amid media reports Labor may baulk at putting major restrictions on television and online promotions.

The Australian Financial Review reported on Thursday the government may not pursue a total ban on online gambling ads, partly due to the under-16s social media ban helping stop children seeing digital advertisements.

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Survey finds 40% of Australian women without kids hesitant to have children because of climate change

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Research which polled a representative sample of 2,000 people also found over a third of Coalition voters believed the climate would not change at all

About 40% of Australian women without kids say they are hesitant to have children because of climate change, a new survey suggests.

The survey, on attitudes about the impacts of global heating, also found that half of Australians were very or extremely concerned about climate change and two in five believed the climate would be “much hotter” in 2050.

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Graham ‘Richo’ Richardson, former Labor party powerbroker, dies aged 76

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Former NSW senator and right factional enforcer has died aged 76 after a long period of ill health

Anthony Albanese has led tributes to the former Labor powerbroker Graham “Richo” Richardson, acknowledging him as a flawed but loyal and “larger-than-life character”.

Richardson, a senator for New South Wales between 1983 and 1994 and a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments, died early Saturday morning aged 76.

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Australians to get at least three hours a day of free solar power – even if they don’t have solar panels

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Labor announces ‘solar sharer’ program for households in NSW, south-east Queensland and South Australia

Australian households in three states will be promised access to at least three hours a day of free solar power, regardless of whether they have rooftop panels, the federal government has announced.

The “solar sharer” offer will be available to homes with smart meters – which is the majority of homes – in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia from July next year, with other areas to potentially follow in 2027.

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Australia news live: Nationals set to formalise position after vote to ditch net zero; more rain forecast after storms and hail lash Queensland and northern NSW

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Meanwhile PM says he’d like ‘more cooperation’ between China and US on artificial intelligence. Follow updates live

Watt says Labor doesn’t have a policy to end native forest logging

Asked if he wanted native forest logging to continue (it’s not banned in the legislation, despite the significant negative environmental impact that it has), Watt dodges the question by saying the party doesn’t have a specific policy of ending native forest logging.

What we have said, though, is that we will follow the recommendation from Graeme Samuel to apply national environmental standards to the regional forestry agreements that are used for native forestry, so what that means in practice is that native forestry would need to meet higher environmental standards than are currently required under the legislation. That’s a big step forward in terms of the environmental management of native forestry. But it doesn’t go as far as what the Greens party is seeking in being an all-out ban.

Not in its own right. We haven’t taken the approach of saying that particular projects are altogether banned. Every project will be assessed on its merits whether it be a coal and gas project, whether it be a housing and renewable project, they have all got to demonstrate they’re not having a significant impact on one of the nine matters of national environmental significance under the act.

If a coal or gas development was seeking approval, then it would need to meet the national environmental standards. It would need to avoid and minimise its environmental impacts and offset them to achieve a net gain. So they would be improvements compared to the criteria that apply to a project at the moment. If it was considered to have an unacceptable impact on the environment then it would get knocked back as would a housing development or a renewable project.

We’re not trying to sort of put in particular criteria for particular sectors. What we’re trying to do is put in a balanced package for all sorts of projects, for all industries, that deliver environmental and business gains.

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New record as Senate question time blows out into chaotic marathon over transparency fight

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Labor government loses control of chamber and threatens to strip Coalition members from parliamentary committees

In chaotic Senate scenes, Labor has set a 125-year record by keeping question time running for more than three hours, after the government lost control of the chamber and threatened to strip Coalition members from parliamentary committees in a fight over transparency.

Senator David Pocock led a push to dramatically extend question time and force ministers to answer more questions, with the Coalition, Greens and crossbench defying the government to force changes to long-held conventions and rules in the upper house. It was a rare move which Labor minister Murray Watt labelled a “dummy spit”.

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Expanded state powers on fossil fuel projects and water ‘betrayal’ of Australians, nature law critics say

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Extracts of planned changes to the EPBC Act prompt ‘anger’ from conservation organisations that fear nature protection will be weakened

State governments could be given expanded powers to make decisions on fossil fuel developments under Labor’s proposed overhaul of environment law, prompting “shock and anger” from community-based conservation organisations that fear nature protection would be weakened.

The Albanese government plans to introduce its planned changes to the national law – the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act – to parliament later this week, and has been briefing interest groups on its plans.

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Companies could have profits from breaking environment laws stripped under Australian reforms

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Exclusive: Looming overhaul of protections should also include definition of ‘unacceptable impact’ on environment, Murray Watt says

The Albanese government wants the power to strip companies of any financial gains made from breaking environment laws, as part of a package of landmark reforms to be put before parliament in the next two weeks.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, the environment minister, Murray Watt, also revealed he wants a definition of “unacceptable impact” to be part of the nation’s new environment laws.

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AFP promises ‘swift action’ after Albanese, Ley and Morrison’s private phone numbers exposed online

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Richard Marles says investigation under way into how the prime minister and other senior government staff’s phone numbers appeared in databases

Federal police are scrambling to assist politicians after the private phone numbers of Anthony Albanese, Sussan Ley, Scott Morrison and senior government staff were discovered to be freely available in large contact databases published by American marketing companies.

The Australian federal police is seeking to have prime minister Albanese’s number removed from such databases, where it is available to users free of charge, and to assist other federal parliamentarians who have been similarly exposed. Police have warned that harassment by phone or carriage service is illegal, and promised “swift action” against those breaching such laws.

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Superannuation tax changes: new rules have been proposed for your super – here’s what you need to know

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Major changes announced by Jim Chalmers include indexing superannuation balances to inflation and addition of a new threshold taxing balances between $3m and $10m

The Albanese government has dramatically rewritten its major tax policy, caving in to criticism on its controversial superannuation tax plan by raising thresholds and slashing the amount of money it will rake in.

After a long period of sustained attack from politicians and lobby groups, the government has conceded defeat on all major criticisms, with the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, saying the policy rewrites would “better target superannuation concessions”.

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Australia’s household energy bills will halve by 2050, modelling suggests

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Grattan Institute report argues fall in costs will provide federal government room for more action on climate

Australian household energy bills will halve by 2050 as solar panels, batteries and electric cars and appliances become the norm, reducing pressure on the federal government over living costs and creating room for more climate action, a thinktank study suggests.

Modelling by the Grattan Institute finds that cutting greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation in line with the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 will cut average household energy costs from about $5,800 today to about $3,000.

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