Category Archives: Labor party

Anthony Albanese to give evidence at Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald’s trial

Posted on by

Former NSW Labor MPs allegedly conspired over mining properties in Bylong Valley, near Mudgee

The federal opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, a former New South Wales premier, Morris Iemma, mining figures and public servants are expected to give evidence in the trial of former mining ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald.

The former state Labor MPs – with Obeid’s son Moses, 50 – are being tried in the NSW supreme court over their alleged conspiracy to commit an offence between 2007 and 2009, when Macdonald was mineral resources minister and the Obeids owned land in coal country.

Continue reading...

Morrison vows new approach to Closing the Gap as he says latest results ‘not good enough’ – politics live

Posted on by

Prime minister says reality for Indigenous children a ‘national shame’ as Senate turns up the heat on the government to release the PM&C report into the sports grants affair. All the day’s events, live

Scott Morrison:

There remains much to do.

And we will do it differently by working together. By moving from a fixation with what is going wrong to a focus on strength.

Scott Morrison:

I am saddened that we have not met the target for child mortality but I draw hope and result from the fact that we are making progress in tackling the risk factors.

More Indigenous mothers are attending antenatal care in the first trimester and more are going to at least five antenatal sessions.

Continue reading...

Chief medical officer warns against coronavirus xenophobia – politics live

Posted on by

The fallout from last week’s leadership spill continues, with rebel MPs refusing to fall into line. All the day’s events, live

There is a real pattern emerging of Nationals MPs wearing green ties with dark blue suits, and really I can see why the party room is in revolt.

Josh Frydenberg is yelling again, and I can’t transcribe it, because GUESSWHOTHATFINANCIALGENIUSWASSIRTAXALOT is doing my head in, and really, you only get one life.

Continue reading...

Morrison staffer who helped club win grant caught on video urging crowd to vote Liberal

Posted on by

Online video emerges as the Senate sets up an inquiry into the Coalition’s $100m sports rort grants

Video has emerged online of a member of Scott Morrison’s electorate staff being lauded for helping Cronulla Sailing Club win an $8,400 grant, as the Senate moved on Wednesday to set up an inquiry into the controversial $100m community sport infrastructure grant program.

In the video posted to Facebook, a representative of the club thanks the staffer, identifying her as “Scott Morrison’s PA”, for helping push her to apply for a grant for a new stainless steel barbecue. GrantConnect shows the grant was approved in December 2017 as part of the stronger communities program.

Continue reading...

Jacqui Lambie wants deal on union-busting bill ‘as soon as possible’

Posted on by

Crossbencher ‘hopes to think’ she is close to a deal with government on union penalty bill unexpectedly defeated last year

Senator Jacqui Lambie is looking to strike a deal with the government “as soon as possible” on the union penalty bill, while Labor struggles to contain a debate in its own ranks about union-backed superannuation funds.

Lambie is meeting the industrial relations minister, Christian Porter, on Tuesday to continue negotiations on the bill, which would lower the threshold for the deregistration of unions and disqualification of their officials.

Continue reading...

‘New underclass’: Labor warns on Australia’s reliance on short-term migration

Posted on by

Large numbers of easily exploited temporary migrants could have a ‘corrosive’ effect, says Kristina Keneally

Australia’s reliance on temporary migration is creating a new economic underclass that risks having a “corrosive” effect on the nation’s society, Labor’s shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, says.

In a major speech to the Curtin institute on Thursday night, Keneally will step up Labor’s attack on the government for its reliance on temporary migration, saying current trends could see as many as 3 million people – or 12% of the population – living in Australia on a temporary basis.

Continue reading...

Blazes flare amid extreme conditions in Australia – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed. Our live coverage will continue tomorrow morning

We are wrapping up the live blog now, but we will be back at 7am AEDT for the latest on the fires.

As of 9pm, this is what we know.

There’s now what media (but not RFS) refer to as a megablaze in the Kosciuszko national park with three fires at emergency level in that area of southern NSW, just near the Victorian border.

There’s also concern that a fire at watch-and-act level in Faulconbridge in the Blue Mountains could worsen around midnight once the southerly reaches there. People in the Wentworth Falls and Leura areas are being advised to stay alert.

Continue reading...

Cabinet papers 1998-99: Coalition’s campaign to unleash the GST laid bare

Posted on by

Tax reform dominated debate, as ministers discussed East Timor and the 2000 Olympics – and resisted climate action

On 1 July Australia’s goods and services tax will have been in place for 20 years. It is uncontroversial in concept, with no major party advocating its abolition. Every so often there are calls for it to be increased from 10% or expanded – calls that are usually rebuffed.

But just how fraught the GST was to introduce is one of the key insights from the release of cabinet papers by the National Archives of Australia, covering the years 1998 and 1999. There were other concerns: East Timor’s independence, the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the failed republican referendum, and familiar resistance to doing anything but the minimum on climate change.

Continue reading...

‘Sad day for women’: Queensland LNP leader under fire for ‘Princess Palaszczuk’ comments

Posted on by

Deb Frecklington said she had ‘no choice but to remain grounded’ because she had children, and said the premier’s fashion choices were ‘too much’

Federal and state Labor MPs have rounded on the Queensland LNP leader, Deb Frecklington, after she criticised Annastacia Palaszczuk for her fashion choices and said she had “no choice but to remain grounded” because she had children.

In an interview with the Sunday Mail, Frecklington said Palaszczuk had “deliberately changed her image – the whole ‘Princess Palaszczuk’ is pretty obvious – but I haven’t changed mine”.

Continue reading...

Chaos in parliament over Coalition’s union-busting bill – politics live

Posted on by

Scott Morrison announces cut in number of government departments as part of public service overhaul. All the day’s political news, live

Labor is moving a motion saying the government’s attempts to push the union-busting bill through without debate was “anti-democratic”.

Better still is this bit of the motion:

This is a prime ministerial tantrum, with the prime minister of Australia behaving like a juvenile schoolyard bully just because he didn’t get his way last week.

We’re now moving through the votes for the government’s union-busting bill.

A side note - this is the 100th division to take place in the House for this sitting fortnight.

Continue reading...

Police ask Clover Moore for statement on Angus Taylor – politics live

Posted on by

Sydney lord mayor approached by police investigating accusations the emissions reduction minister relied on a falsified document to attack her. Follow all the day’s political news live

That’s where we’ll leave the live blog for the day. Thanks for following along.

It’s been another messy day. Many say the medevac repeal has made it one of parliament’s darkest.

Another development on the Angus Taylor front.

The City of Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, has been approached by police to provide a statement for their investigation into accusations Taylor relied on a falsified document to attack her travel-related emissions. The council said in a statement:

Continue reading...

Scott Morrison still under pressure over Angus Taylor response – politics live

Posted on by

PM concedes a misstep in his defence of minister as Labor continues its attack. All the day’s events, live

From Peter Dutton’s office:

The Australian Government has declared three terrorist attacks for the purposes of the Australian Victim of Terrorism Overseas Payment (AVTOP) scheme.

The Senate is finishing up its divisions on the ensuring integrity bill. That’s brought on the second reading debate, where we go into the amendments.

We’ll be in amendment hell until about 11.45am. Then it’s usual Senate business for a bit, and then straight back into the IR bill. The only thing that will interrupt it then, is question time.

Continue reading...

Labor condemns ‘disgraceful’ Westpac as Hartzer stands down – politics live

Posted on by

Westpac chief executive’s resignation draws little sympathy on all sides of politics. All the day’s events, live

And here is another indication of where question time is headed:

Last week, a bank broke money laundering laws 23 million times.

But instead of going after them, the Liberals are going after unions – trying to take away their right to exist.

This Government hates working people. We'll fight them every step of the way. pic.twitter.com/9vMhFquk4W

A group of north Queensland dairy farmers are on their way to Canberra to express their frustrations at what is happening within their industry.

That’s at the same time the Nationals are trying to get ahead of Pauline Hanson, who may have come late to the issues, but certainly has been running full steam ahead since becoming aware of it.

David Littleproud, the drought minister, some time ago said he fixed the supermarket [milk price] problem. He said he thumped his chest, waved his fists at them, and demanded they put their milk prices up.

Well, we know that solution lasted about five minutes.

Continue reading...

Stuart Robert on robodebt: ‘This government does not apologise’ – politics live

Posted on by

Aged-care package ‘falls well short’ of what is required, Labor says; Morrison responds to Chinese spy plot allegations; and Jacqui Lambie ‘not supporting a repeal’ of medevac, Rex Patrick says. All the day’s events, live

And on that note, we are going to ground this plane - but we will be back tomorrow morning for more fun and games.

There are officially seven sitting days left. Medevac and ensuring integrity are still high on the government’s wish list, but, as always the crossbench is the key. It looks like the government has agreed to Pauline Hanson’s amendments for the union bill, but she is still holding out. Jacqui Lambie has a diary full of meetings when it comes to medevac. Keep a close eye on that one.

Something to watch out for, tomorrow

Our 2019 Mapping #SocialCohesionReport launches tomorrow, 26 November. The report produced in partnership with @MonashUni researchers uses a comprehensive survey to gauge a nuanced understanding of shifts in public opinion on social cohesion and population issues.

Continue reading...

Scott Morrison can’t attack Australia’s political circus and pretend he isn’t its ringmaster | Katharine Murphy

Posted on by

The prime minister is relentlessly pursuing the politics of panic, but validating voter anxiety can only go so far

It’s possible I have Harold Bloom lodged in my head lately because he loomed large in my youth, and he died recently, but when I listen to Scott Morrison, increasingly I think of Bloom, and The Anxiety of Influence.

If you are too young or productively educated to have encountered Bloom, he is the literary critic who held that all writers have to confront the writers who came before them, in the process creating imaginative space for themselves. Bloom’s theory is more complex than my simple rendering, but that’s the primary idea.

Continue reading...

Greens MP Adam Bandt defends senator who called major party politicians ‘arsonists’

Posted on by

Deputy leader says he does not regret linking the government’s climate change policy to the bushfires

The Greens MP Adam Bandt has defended his party colleague labelling politicians from the major parties “arsonists” while bushfires swept through swathes of New South Wales and Queensland last week.

Bandt noted that the Greens senator Jordon Steele-John was among the generation of young people “terrified” about the impact of climate change, and said the point of the remarks was to highlight Australia’s inaction on reducing fossil fuel emissions.

Continue reading...

John Setka tells Anthony Albanese to ‘grow some balls’ after Victorian Labor no-show

Posted on by

Labor leader denies non-attendance at Victoria’s Labor party conference sparked by threats of a union walkout

Controversial union boss John Setka has told the federal Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, to “grow some balls”, amid the latter’s no-show at Victoria’s Labor party conference.

Albanese denied his non-attendance at the annual meeting in Melbourne this weekend was sparked by threats of a union walkout.

Continue reading...

Labor’s election review reads like a disaster movie – with a few clues for the stunned survivors | Katharine Murphy

Posted on by

There is no definitive roadmap from the reviewers, but a couple of dangerous ideas are floated

The forward sizzle about the release of Labor’s campaign review was focused on the obvious conflict point – how Bill Shorten would absorb the post-mortem. Would the review be scathing about the former leader’s lack of popularity, attributing the lion’s share of the blame for the election loss to him? Would Shorten then strike back, setting the framework for a contested term, and another election loss?

The reviewers met with Shorten privately early on Thursday, before the review went to the national executive, so the former leader was briefed ahead of the public unveiling. Shorten then responded publicly to the review before it was released, framing it on his own terms, and his own terms were clear as a bell. In the world of second chances, “were the universe to grant re-runs” the former leader would do things differently and, by the way, he’d be around for the next 20 years.

Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese can’t afford to lie low – and he faces a gruelling uphill journey | Katharine Murphy

Posted on by

The Labor leader wants blue-collar workers to know he knows they exist, isn’t ashamed of them and has them front of mind

Anthony Albanese would be better off if he could wave a cheery goodbye and retreat from the political fray until budget time next year, re-emerging after Labor as a collective has finished absorbing the May election loss, written all the books and all the blogs and the think pieces, completed the close inspection of the navel, and worked out where it wants to reposition itself.

But Albanese doesn’t have that luxury.

Continue reading...

Absence of Morrison at Uluru event ‘more than an insult’ to Indigenous Australians

Posted on by

Exclusive: Labor senator Pat Dodson says PM’s failure to show up to climb closure celebrations demonstrates his ‘shallowness’

Labor senator Pat Dodson has blasted the prime minister for his absence at Sunday night’s celebrations of the closing of the climb at Uluru as “more than an insult” to First Nations people.

Sitting alongside Labor colleagues Linda Burney, Malarndirri McCarthy and Warren Snowdon, Dodson chastised Scott Morrison’s failure to progress the Uluru Statement from the Heart, saying it demonstrated he’s a man in need of “an epiphany”.

Continue reading...