Category Archives: Labor party

Weather warning for north Queensland – as it happened

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‘No plans to change’ Australia Day, minister says

Speaking on the Today show, Amanda Rishworth is asked about a decision by Cricket Australia to scrap the term Australia Day at the Brisbane Test match this Friday.

We have absolutely no plans to change that. The prime minister has said that on a number of occasions.

I think it is important that we do, though, acknowledge that Australia Day for some people is a difficult day. For others, it’s a day that is the day they became an Australian citizen and that’s really important to them.

This is something you’ve been aware of for several months, in fact, perhaps longer than that. So, why fly to Canberra now?

This year will be a year of delivery. And so at the beginning of the year, it’s not uncommon for political parties to get together. I would suggest that the opposition, from time to time, has flown people to all one place. So, it is a bit two-faced to be criticising the Labor party here. But it will be an important meeting, as will this year be of us continuing to deliver help for Australians.

We don’t have parliament by Zoom. We don’t have a number of political meetings, committee meetings by Zoom. They are done in person. It is important that MPs do get together and actually put their views forward.

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Victorian opposition drops support for treaty, citing ‘issues around cultural heritage’

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The Coalition backed a bill in 2022 to start the treaty process but spokesman Peter Walsh says ‘things have changed’

The Victorian opposition has dropped its support for a treaty with the state’s Indigenous people, citing concerns about cultural heritage laws.

The move was described by the state’s First People’s Assembly as “disappointing but not surprising”.

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Albanese government secures further gas supply before meeting on cost-of-living relief

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Deal aimed at keeping energy bills affordable will see 260 petajoules supplied to gas-fired power stations in Australia’s south-east coast until 2033

Australia’s south-east coast will be further guaranteed gas supply in an effort to keep lights on and energy bills affordable before predicted supply shortages at the decade’s end.

It comes as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has called Labor MPs and senators to Canberra on Wednesday for a snap caucus to discuss further cost-of-living relief measures put forward by Treasury.

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Child among asylum seekers returned to country of origin after being sent from Australia to Nauru

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Home affairs department confirms eight of the 11 people flown to island nation in September have since returned home

Eight of the 11 asylum seekers taken to Nauru in September – including a woman and child – have returned to their country of origin.

In October Guardian Australia revealed the transfer, the first by Australia to the regional processing centre in nine years, which occurred just months after the last asylum seekers were removed from the Pacific nation.

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Victorian Labor at odds with federal party on industrial relations bill

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State treasurer Tim Pallas warns amendments will encourage unions to refuse to bargain as he seeks meeting with Tony Burke

The Victorian government and employer groups have raised the alarm about amendments to Labor’s industrial relations bill, warning they will embolden unions to refuse to bargain with industry.

The Victorian treasurer, Tim Pallas, has written to the federal workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, warning the amendments will guarantee unions “will be no worse off on a clause by clause basis” if they dig in and seek an arbitrated outcome from the industrial umpire, encouraging unions to do so.

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Child attacked by crocodile at Kakadu – as it happened

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PM says $15bn reconstruction fund is ‘open for business’ despite inability to apply for it

The prime minister was asked why the $15bn national reconstruction fund is “taking so long”, having passed through the parliament in March last year and being brought into effect in July.

Whether the website is there or not, is it is an interesting point that you’re making, but businesses that are interested in this would have looked at a video from the finance minister Kate Gallagher in November, that set out the investment mandate that was agreed to by the government and the National Reconstruction Fund, which importantly, is an independent body at arm’s length in terms of making those decisions because we want those decisions.

The money is available now.

I’ll examine the issue of the website, that is a reasonable point that you make. But people who are actually following this and interested in applying will have seen Katie Gallagher’s release setting out what the what the process is.

At a time when members of the Australian community are unhoused as a result of fire, as a result of flood, it seems unacceptable … that we could be giving large benefits to those who already have a great deal.

… inequality is an issue and the government has looked at ways in which we can improve that position.

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The Greens ring in the new year with a new fight over Australia’s housing crisis

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Adam Bandt signals new rent freeze push and criticises ‘tax cuts for billionaires’ as Labor aims to get ‘help to buy’ scheme through parliament

New year, new housing fight.

The Labor government may have started the year keen to talk cost-of-living relief and housing solutions, but the Greens have entered 2024 vowing to push the Albanese government to make actual change.

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Grassroots Labor members urge Australia to back South Africa’s case against Israel at UN court

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Rank-and-file members say joining the ICJ case accusing Israel of genocide would send a ‘powerful signal to the world’

Rank-and-file Labor party members are urging the Albanese government to intervene in and support South Africa’s case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ), pointing to Australia’s previous support of Ukraine in a similar case against Russia.

The first hearing in The Hague is set for 11 and 12 January with a provisional ruling possible within weeks. Israel has responded to the allegations and urged the ICJ to reject it.

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Australia news live: only 54.3% of Virgin flights and 66.3% of Qantas flights on time last month, transport minister says

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‘Very disappointing results, it is no wonder that so many Australians remain fed up with our major airlines,’ Catherine King says. Follow today’s news updates live

‘Very, very clear’ renewables are the cheapest form of energy, Bowen says

Renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy, including its storage and transmission costs, the energy minister told ABC RN.

Its conclusions this year are unimpeachable and very, very clear.

The cheapest form of energy is renewable energy, even including the costs that go with renewable energy around storage and transmission.

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Eva Lawler named Northern Territory chief minister after Natasha Fyles resignation

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Fyles quit after it was uncovered she owned undisclosed shares in a mining company with interests in the territory

The current treasurer of the Northern Territory, Eva Lawler, will be the territory’s new chief minister.

Lawler will replace the outgoing chief minister, Natasha Fyles, who resigned after it was uncovered she owned undisclosed shares in a mining company with interests in the territory.

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Phone service slowly returns to flood-hit areas – as it happened

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Just circling back to QFES assistant commissioner Kevin Walsh, who mentioned the state of the roads and reminded people in the area to be very careful when driving around.

Walsh said:

Monday afternoon was the first opportunity that we had to send in rotary aircraft, so we got rotary-wing aircraft in large numbers up in Far North Queensland at the moment through private contractors and also Australian Defence Force. So they’re very busy in the air and relocating people.

And I think the other message also is to have a look at those roads and the damage that they have sustained. There are many roads still under water where you can not see that damage. So it’s really important for the local people to realise that it’s still very, very dangerous to be driving through flooded waters because you can’t see the damage of the roads underneath it. That’s one of our key messages we’d like the local communities to heed.

So far we’ve only been able to assess about 60 properties. I think throughout today though, we’ll get a better sense of how many properties are affected, and then we’ll be looking for further packages of disaster assistance that will put together or put together with the commonwealth.

But just judging from the other emergencies that I’ve been a part of, we’re talking billions not millions [of dollars].

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Labor plan would give home affairs minister powers over critical infrastructure during cyber-attacks

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Clare O’Neil releases consultation paper on new cybersecurity legislation, which proposes changes to Security of Critical Infrastructure Act

Australia’s home affairs minister would be able to order critical infrastructure such as energy, transport or communications entities to take or cease action during a significant cybersecurity situation, under changes proposed by the federal government.

In related changes billed as a response to the 2022 Optus and Medibank incidents, the minister could also order companies to replace personal documents compromised in a data breach, or to share customer data with banks in a bid to prevent further fraud.

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Australia news live: Natasha Fyles resigns as Northern Territory chief minister; PM to visit north Queensland flood zones on Thursday

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Communities urged to exercise caution amid ‘huge volumes of water’

QFES commissioner Steve Smith has also made some comments on the flood situation up in Queensland.

There’s still huge volumes of water moving down through the systems, so at different points on the water, in the water catchments, they’re going to have rises. So we need people to stay informed, and they’ve done a great job in doing that. So we want that to continue with the support from community.

No. So we have commenced a search and rescue investigation into that. Degarra was one of the communities we couldn’t get into yesterday, but we have been speaking to a local man where there were a number of rescues completed yesterday in Degarra. So we have dispatched the water police vessel this morning, which left in the early hours of this morning and is on the way to that location. And in addition to that, we’ve now got rescue helicopters going that way as well.

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Tech giants could be forced to share secret news deals under Australia’s media bargaining code

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New legislation will help ensure sustainability of public interest journalism, Labor says

Tech giants could be forced to hand over sensitive details on how they distribute news on their platforms to Australia’s competition watchdog as part of the federal government’s commitment to levelling the playing field for public interest journalism in the digital age.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will undertake periodic reporting into how platforms subject to the media bargaining code are distributing news content on sites and whether significant bargaining power imbalances between the tech giants and media organisations exist.

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Pro-Palestine rally leaders credit public ‘pressure’ with Labor’s shift on Gaza

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Change of heart on ceasefire shows ‘collective action is working’, Sydney protest speaker says

Speakers at Sydney’s pro-Palestine rally have said public outcry against the war in Gaza has pushed the Albanese government to shift its position and back calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, while criticising Labor for not calling for a permanent end to the conflict.

On Wednesday Australia joined 152 other nations in voting in favour of a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages in an emergency session of the United Nations general assembly. The move followed Australia’s decision in late October to abstain from casting a vote on a similar motion.

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Marles will ‘make right decision in Australia’s interest’ over deploying navy vessels to Red Sea, Farrell says – as it happened

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Up to 49 tonnes of illicit drugs prevented from reaching Australia

Australian federal police and international law enforcement partners have prevented up to 49 tonnes of illicit drugs from reaching Australia throughout the past financial year.

The AFP cannot overstate the amount of harm that 29 tonnes of methamphetamine could have caused to the community if it had not been intercepted by law enforcement.

On average, close to 12,000 Australians are hospitalised from methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin use every 12 months.

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Australians may get more cost-of-living relief in the next budget, Jim Chalmers says

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Exclusive: Treasurer says government working on measures to ease the squeeze as well as policies to accelerate transition to net-zero emissions

Jim Chalmers has said Australians could receive more help with cost-of-living relief in the budget next May and confirmed the government is working up new policy measures to accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions.

In an end-of-year interview with Guardian Australia following the release this week of the mid-year budget update, the treasurer said the government would consider further interventions to help households between now and the May budget as long as measures didn’t fuel inflationary pressure, which has been moderating.

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Steven Miles announces ambitious emissions reduction plan in first speech as Queensland premier

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Miles raises state’s reduction target to 75% by 2035, one of the most ambitious in the country, in a move praised by environmental groups

Steven Miles has used his first speech as Queensland premier to announce an ambitious emissions reduction plan for the state in a move praised by environmental groups.

On Friday, Annastacia Palaszczuk’s newly anointed successor raised the state’s target to 75% by 2035. Queensland had previously promised just 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. The previous objective was even lower than the targets set by Scott Morrison in 2021.

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Australian news live: major Victorian road project blows out by more than $10bn; backing UN Gaza ceasefire vote the ‘right call’, PM says

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PM says: ‘Hamas can have no role in the future governance of of Gaza, and we need to work towards a political solution.’ Follow the day’s news live

Focus on mental health

The government will be injecting $456m into digital mental health services – including Lifeline and Beyond Blue – to give people to with anxiety and depression better access to mental health services.

Some people go through situational distress through a relationship breakdown or a job loss or bereavement, and they need relatively short periods of support. They might not have a diagnosable mental illness, but they’re certainly distressed and they need support and that really is what the digital investment we’re looking at today is particularly targeted that there are people who go through periods of anxiety and depression and better access.

There’s definitely a gap there for people with more complex needs, but better access which is the scheme that provides Medicare rebates for psychological therapy, the one that we’re talking about, that is not designed to pick up those people and really we need to find alternative systems of support for them.

That is really the concerning growing area of need in the country, not just here in Australia and other countries as well.

They’re now close to $100 a session on average, but there’s many that are higher than that as you indicate. So affordability is a driver of inequity as well and so we’re looking at ways in which we can put out different systems for people who just don’t have the capacity to pay those sorts of gap fees.

We’ve made clear that we will always make the ADF available to states and territories when it’s needed. But we do need to have some other options in place.

We’re a lot better prepared as a country than we were heading into black summer four years ago.

At the federal level, things have significantly changed. We’ve now got one coordinated Emergency Management Agency rather than responsibilities being split between different agencies. We’ve started building a national emergency management stockpile for the very first time, we’ve got the largest fleet of firefighting aircraft that Australia’s ever seen.

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Immigration minister lifts ankle bracelet and curfew conditions for two ex-detainees suing Australian government

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Andrew Giles eases visa restrictions for at least two of the three people challenging new rules in high court

The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, has quietly lifted the ankle bracelet and curfew conditions from at least two of the three people released from detention who are challenging tough new visa rules in the high court.

Guardian Australia understands that Giles has exempted a Chinese asylum seeker known as S151 and an Afghan refugee known as AUK15 from the conditions, a move that could thwart their attempts to expedite cases against draconian emergency legislation passed after the ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.

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