Category Archives: Labor party

Uluru Dialogue accuses Dutton of ‘deception’ over voice – as it happened

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Jim Chalmers is now on RN Breakfast, where he was asked by host Hamish McDonald whether he was reconsidering the stage-three tax cuts given much of the $22.1bn budget surplus comes from the taxes of “hard working Australians”.

Chalmers said the government has not changed its view on the tax cuts, which recent data showed will flow disproportionately to high-income earners and men:

Well, first of all, it’s partly a function that people are working more and earning more. The labor market is incredibly resilient given what’s coming at us from around the world. And so unemployment is lower than what many people anticipated. And wages have began growing again, and that’s a good thing too. And that’s one of the reasons why the budgets in better nick but also getting good better prices for our commodities and what that means for company tax.

We haven’t changed our view about the stage three tax cuts, but we have found a way to provide substantial cost-of-living relief for people on low and middle and fixed incomes, because we recognise people are doing it tough and they’ve been our priority.

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Anthony Albanese expected to announce inquiry into Australia’s Covid response – reports

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A three-strong panel will look into how governments responded, according to reports, but the opposition says it won’t have enough powers

A leading infectious diseases expert says an inquiry into the Covid pandemic must look at all aspects of governments’ responses, including factors beyond medical issues, such as decisions around lockdowns and school closures.

The federal government is on Thursday expected to announce a special commission of inquiry into the Covid pandemic, the Australian Financial Review reported late on Wednesday.

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Australia news live: Central Land Council executive condemns Jacinta Price’s ‘denial of history’ in press club comments as ‘disgraceful’

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The CLC executive – 90 elected members who represent 75 communities across nine regions – said comments insult survivors of 1927 Coniston massacre. Follow the day’s news live

New report combats ‘inaccurate assertions’ about teaching courses

Almost three-quarters of Australian teachers are satisfied with their training programs, a new report has found, undermining the suggestion poor course content is leading to workforce shortages in the field.

Rather than focusing on the unsubstantiated claim that teachers are generally dissatisfied with ITE programs, we should instead focus on the willingness and capacity of ITE providers to continually improve these programs.

This will require a shift in focus from policymakers - away from the overwhelming emphasis on ITE and towards effective, system-wide [development] that becomes a regular part of teachers’ workload rather than a bolt-on.

Not a preamble. Not a footnote in the Constitution. First Nations people want structural change that can make a practical difference.

A mechanism that can make children’s lives better. Not just something that will feel good - something that will do good.

As the Minister, I will go to the voice and say: ‘this school attendance program isn’t working’. Help me to get the best possible advice to fix it … From every corner of the country – about how we can do better.

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Australia news live: Victoria to spend public housing money on Carlton towers; RBA considered further rate hike

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Reserve bank considered a 25 basis point hike before deciding to hold benchmark cash rate unchanged at 4.1%, minutes reveal. Follow the day’s news live

O’Neil: government response on cybercrime will not take away responsibilities of corporations to secure data

Clare O’Neil is asked whether the government is considering implementing a “safe harbour rule” like other countries have that would enable businesses to report what’s happened but then be saved from prosecution.

What’s really important to understand … is the way in which a cyber attack unfolds is quite different than other types of crime. So if you get something stolen from your house, the police can come in and you can identify the items that are gone usually pretty much immediately. Cybercrime is not like that. Often what is taken is invisible and it will take sometimes months to understand exactly what has happened.

So what what we are thinking about at the moment is how to make sure we’ve got as open disclosure as possible at the crisis point of the attack. So when we know there is an intruder on the system … we need to help companies [eject] them from the system as quickly as possible. That doesn’t take away from any responsibilities that corporations will have ultimately around the transparency of what has happened, and reporting that to government and to regulators.

We’ve got really good reason to believe that the cybersecurity environment is actually going to worsen. And I say that not to scare people, but to help them understand that we can see what is coming at us and that is why the government is so fiercely active on this issue.

What I mean by that is that cybercrime is a relatively new form of criminal activity. And I think what we’re seeing is countries around the world start to build and develop responses that will actually help us bring perpetrators to account …

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Labor’s first NSW budget in a decade will provide ‘practical assistance’, treasurer says

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A $7bn shortfall has been forecast this financial year, but Daniel Mookhey says any cuts to be made will be in areas that ‘don’t affect people’

The New South Wales, treasurer Daniel Mookhey, says Labor’s first budget for the state in more than a decade will lay the groundwork for future reform, make cuts “in areas that don’t affect people” and provide support for a “once in a generation” cost-of-living crisis.

“We are looking for every available opportunity we can to provide practical assistance to people,” he said.

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Replacing Australia’s retiring coal power stations with small nuclear reactors could cost $387bn, analysis suggests

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The figure adds fuel to the growing political dispute over the pace and form of Australia’s energy transition

The federal government says it would cost as much as $387bn to replace Australia’s retiring coal-fired power stations with the form of nuclear power proposed by the Coalition.

The figure, produced by the energy department, is the projected cost of replacing all of the output from closing coal-fired plants with small modular reactors.

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Qatar Airways chief says Australia’s decision to block flights ‘very unfair’ after pandemic support

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Akbar Al Baker says request for more flights into Australia was ‘legitimate’ at a time the airline was ‘so supportive of Australia’

Qatar Airways says the Australian government’s decision to block its request for extra flights was “very unfair” given the airline’s support for Australians during the pandemic.

The airline’s bid to fly an extra 21 services into Australia’s major airports was rejected with ministers citing a range of reasons including it being contrary to the national interest.

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Australia news live: Indigenous voice no campaigner Warren Mundine says date of Australia Day should be changed

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Mundine says win for no vote more likely to lead to treaties; Walk for Yes events held around Australia

Asked about the Indigenous Advisory Council, Mundine says the body was “just a committee” that advised the Prime Minister and Cabinet “in ways that we could improve things”. He says this body was different to the proposal for the voice which will create unnecessary bureaucracy.

Well, the difference between us and the voice, as I said, we weren’t a representative body, we were made up of all different races. And we were experts in these areas of what needed to be done … and also we weren’t in the constitution. We were totally outside that.

This is one of the problems I had, and this is one of the [reasons] why I stepped away from the Uphold & Recognise movement, was because I didn’t see – why did we have to have it in the [constitution]? Because that creates a position that [Indigenous Australians] are always going to need help and are always victims, and I didn’t agree with that.

I say treaties in the plural sense because we have to recognise Aboriginal culture. Aboriginal culture is our First Nations, and the first thing we learn about life is that one nation cannot talk about another nation’s country, only those traditional owners of those countries can talk about those countries, and therefore when you talk about like a state treaty or a national-type treaty, it doesn’t make sense in our culture.

If it is a “no” vote, that’s when the real work starts. As Jacinta said, the senator, she said we have to have accountability. We are spending billions of dollars every year and according to Closing the Gap we are still not going places. We have to deal with that.

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Burney decries ‘unbelievably racist and bullying’ treatment in candid remarks to NSW premier – as it happened

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Burney says Price’s comments ‘simply wrong’

Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney also described Jacinta Price’s comments as “simply wrong”.

It’s a real betrayal to the many families that have experienced things like Stolen Generations.

The idea that colonisation in any country ... doesn’t have long and far-reaching effects is simply wrong.

There are many people I’ve spoken to last night, this morning, that are very distressed and quite frankly, pretty disgusted. But I am going to focus on the goal here and that is a successful referendum.

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Politics live: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she does not believe legacy of colonisation continues to impact Indigenous Australians

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Shadow Indigenous affairs minister last spoke at forum alongside Marcia Langton and Josephine Cashman in 2016. Follow live news updates today

We’ll be hearing from Michael Long and the Long walkers very soon.

In other news ahead of us, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price will give an address to the national press club and then she is down for an event with the Australian newspaper later this afternoon.

[It’s an issue that’s been identified across international media and domestically, but we need to make sure that there are absolutely no loopholes or ability for people to think that they can operate contrary to Australia’s national interest.

And so we’re making sure that our laws clearly identify and make it clear to any veteran to any firm former service personnel to public servants that have worked in defence that we take the integrity of our information, our national security information and training very seriously, and that we are going to properly regulate any work that they do for a foreign military or companies associated with them so that we’re protecting our national interest.

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Opposition leader accused of being ‘chief propagandist’ – as it happened

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All eyes will be on the high court from about 10am, when it hands down its decision on whether Qantas illegally sacked its ground staff three years ago. The TWU brought the case and Qantas has appealed it all the way to the high court.

You can read some of the previous reporting here:

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Greens vow to ‘keep fighting’ on housing as party takes aim at Labor’s help to buy scheme

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Adam Bandt says Greens will continue to ‘use our power’ in parliament to push for rent caps despite agreeing to future fund

Labor’s “Help to Buy” shared equity scheme will be the next housing bill in the Greens’ sights in the minor party’s push for a cap or freeze on rent increases.

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has vowed to “keep fighting” despite the minor party agreeing to pass Labor’s $10bn housing Australia future fund (Haff) bill in return for a further $1bn for public and community housing.

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Annastacia Palaszczuk digs in with ‘ruthless people’ swipe as leadership speculation swirls

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The Queensland premier defends her record as a political underdog but Labor MPs agitating for change remain unconvinced

When Annastacia Palaszczuk says she is “absolutely determined” to lead Labor to another election in Queensland, no one has any doubt that she means it.

“I feel refreshed, I feel energised,” the Queensland premier said on Monday, returning from leave to address worsening polls and growing unrest among government MPs.

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Politics live: James Paterson calls for security vetting of Australian parliament staff in wake of UK espionage scandal

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Shadow home affairs minister calls for extra checks ‘at the very least for MPs who work on sensitive committees’. Follow today’s live news updates

Ley defends pharmacists’ opposition to 60-day dispensing rule for prescriptions

The interview then gets to the issue of pharmacists and the change the government made to allow for 60-day dispensing (two-for-one prescriptions) which will save chronically ill patients up to $180 a year (as well as money on less trips to the doctor, travel etc.) but will cost pharmacists up to $150,000 a year (from the fourth year of the change) in lost dispensing fees (plus people buying fewer ‘incidentals’ such as jelly beans).

I’ve been in contact with many pharmacists over recent weeks, including those who left their businesses and assembled here a couple of weeks ago and I really am concerned about the impact this policy change is going to have.

I’m hearing [about] pharmacies who are already laying off staff. They’re already letting people go and most importantly, they can’t continue to provide the previously free support services that they used to …

Because they’ve told me.

Because if the government has changed the contract it has with pharmacy and is paying them less, they have to change their business in response. It’s as simple as that.

I would like to absolutely recognise the contribution she has made. She has been a trailblazer for our party. She has changed national politics and I have seen the work that she’s done over many years, much of it very modest, very behind the scenes, very in community.

So people often think of her as a defence and foreign affairs minister. I’ve seen her as a local champion for Western Sydney, and disadvantaged people across this country, and I have yeah, I mean, I’ll be really sad to see her go.

Always standing up for Australia’s national interest and a safer, stronger region. It’s as simple as that.

I think we did extremely good work with the Solomon Islands and, indeed, with the Pacific and people are looking at this through the lens of Covid and suggesting that we could have done more when, in fact, travel was an impossibility. I think that issue is well and truly being put to bed.

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Yes campaign hopes to reignite momentum for voice with nationwide events and advertising blitz

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Campaigners are keen for federal politics to take a backseat so the campaign can get more attention

The yes campaign is looking forward to reigniting momentum in its campaign after the coming parliamentary sitting week – the last before the referendum on 14 October – with a nationwide series of major community events, performances and a further advertising blitz.

“The real campaign kicks off after Thursday,” a yes campaign source said, referencing the end of the parliamentary week. “It’s really a month-long campaign.”

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Will she stay or go? Annastacia Palaszczuk returns to slow-motion leadership turmoil

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Despite growing discontent and sagging poll numbers, Queensland Labor’s leadership will probably only change if the premier resigns – or deputy Steven Miles mounts a challenge

Twenty-four hours is supposed to be a long time in politics. But the past fortnight in Queensland has felt like watching the continents drift apart.

Annastacia Palaszczuk returns from leave on Monday to confront the first serious threat to her leadership since 2012, when she took the wheel of a Labor opposition that could fit comfortably inside a Toyota Tarago.

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Marise Payne to quit parliament – as it happened

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The Bureau of Meteorology is urging people in western Sydney, southern and central ranges and the Hunter region to tidy up loose items around their yards as damaging winds are extending over the areas today.

Gusty storms may hit Sydney and the Central Coast today, while there are possible severe storms heading to the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast this afternoon, with a risk of damaging winds and large hail, the BoM says.

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Australia politics live: Kylea Tink calls out ‘overly aggressive and personalised’ question time debate

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Follow today’s live news updates

If you want to make a submission to the government about the Australian aviation industry, the link to the green paper is here

The green paper is public consultation. It comes before the white paper, which is a discussion paper provided to the parliament. White papers lay out the issues with context (the whole picture as it were) and then make recommendations on what needs to happen.

I consulted colleagues prior to the decision, but the decision was mine.

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Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce to front Senate inquiry into blocked Qatar Airways flights

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Transport minister Catherine King revealed in question time on Wednesday that she spoke with Virgin Australia before blocking the request

Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce will be called to front a Senate inquiry over his discussions with the federal government in the lead up to a ruling that blocked competitor airlines from offering more flights.

Other witnesses to be invited to give their side of the story include Joyce’s successor, Vanessa Hudson, along with officials from Qatar Airways, Virgin Australia and regional airline, Rex.

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Question time chaos – as it happened

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Tasmanian hospitals experiencing significant demand, public asked to reconsider attending

Tasmanians are being urged to stay away from the state’s two main hospitals unless it’s an emergency as they face “significant demand”.

The hospitals are closely managing elective surgery activity to maintain access for emergency demand. This includes working with private hospitals to access contracted bed capacity and elective surgery.”

I think the Qantas board has to seriously consider some of the decisions that they have been making. I mean, not for nothing, you’re in front of the competition watchdog for what is alleged to be quite egregious behaviour.

You have also sought to, as I said, keep on your balance sheet half a billion dollars of your customers’ money rather than giving it back in the middle of a cost of living crisis. (The flight credits)

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