Category Archives: Peter Dutton

Opposition refers minister to Ibac – as it happened

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Warren Mundine said he has kicked two people off his no campaign group Recognise a Better Way, one of which for allegedly making an antisemitic comment.

I’ve actually kicked several people off our campaign in regard to their comments and I intend to keep on doing that.

That’s just between us and the couple of people we had sent off. I don’t appreciate racist comments … All they know is I got rid of them and I don’t accept any racial comments from anyone in regard to these issues.

… It wasn’t particularly about Aboriginals, one was a very antisemitic comment and I’m not gonna wear that crap.

When I talk about treaties, when I talk about constitutional recognition, it is in regard to treaties that are signed between the commonwealth government and First Nations peoples.

… I believe in treaties between the First Nations and the commonwealth and at that, and I put it in that context.

I was involved in the beginning … and then after it got further down the track in regard to [what] it was looking at, [then I said] I don’t support that.

It has to be the First Nations, it has to be the traditional owners who make those agreements. I can’t speak for other people’s country, and they can’t speak for my country.

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Coalition’s position on the voice ‘clear as mud’ and ‘completely confused’, Burney says – as it happened

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‘Mistakes of the past’: David Littleproud compares voice to ATSIC advisory body

Littleproud says the proposal for the voice to parliament will “repeat the mistakes of the past”, comparing the proposal to ATSIC.

No, again, David, the problem comes from the lived experience we have. And it might work in suburbs in capital cities but when you’re talking about representative bodies in rural and remote Australia, you’re talking about hundreds of thousands of square kilometres, hundreds of different diverse communities that have different challenges and needs.

We were saying let’s have common sense.

Why not let the market decide but let’s educate Australians. This won’t happen overnight. This is something we need to bring them on that journey. That’s why I wanted to have some political leadership but from across the aisle, and say let’s have a national energy summit, bring Australians into our trust and let them decide what the energy mix should look like and live town our international commitments.

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National party refuses to back Peter Dutton on alternative Indigenous voice proposal

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David Littleproud says his party has ‘real concern’ about regional advisory bodies Dutton has promised to put in legislation, but not in the constitution

The Nationals have refused to commit to legislating an Indigenous voice if the Coalition wins the next election, undercutting Peter Dutton’s attempt to win over voters with an alternative proposal.

Dutton has campaigned against enshrining a voice to parliament in the constitution, arguing it is “risky” to mention the advisory body in the nation’s founding document.

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Died Pretty frontman dies after long illness; Albanese says Matildas an ‘inspiration’ ahead of quarter-final – as it happened

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Alice Springs bushfire spreads through national park

An uncontrolled bushfire is spreading through Tjoritja West MacDonnell National Park near Alice Springs.

An uncontrolled fire in Tjoritja West MacDonnell National Park is currently burning to the North and East of Simpsons Gap extending East towards Alice Springs and to the north-west towards the Hamilton Downs Youth Camp access.

Effective containment strategies are not yet in place.

It is understood a car and motorcyclist collided on Wilsons Road, at the intersection of Orchid Avenue, about 8.50pm.

Police were told another vehicle then crashed into the rider who [was] lying on the road with critical injuries.

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Politics live: tourism boost as China approves resumption of group travel to Australia

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Coalition argue migration rates are behind housing crisis

The Coalition have pursued Labor over those figures, despite the numbers being lower than what was forecast when the Coalition was in power, and due to the re-opening of the borders after the pandemic closures.

I’m very supportive of migration to Australia which helped build this country, but the pace and the rate of that migration is absolutely a legitimate issue for public debate and the impact that has on services into our community is also very legitimate, particularly housing. Frankly, I thought this was a particularly tone deaf contribution from the business community today, suggesting that the only numbers that matter were the permanent migration program and not the temporary workers, students who are coming here right now.

Because we know they are coming in extraordinary numbers and by the end of this year, I’ve been told by people in the industry it’s going to be eye wateringly high numbers, perhaps the largest ever on record.

If we want to continue to be competitive in attracting global talent, our migration system needs to be reformed.

Australia is competing against other countries for the best and brightest; and slow or complex migration systems, which do not provide appropriate levels of certainty for someone looking to uproot their lives to move internationally, puts us at a serious disadvantage.

There is a current misconception that our migration figures are higher than normal.

It is important to recognise migration numbers currently recorded simply reflect a rebalancing after the pandemic border closures in 2020 and 2021.

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PM accuses Coalition of ‘creating noise and confusion’ over voice – as it happened

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Australia has ‘nothing to fear and everything to gain’ from a yes vote, Anthony Albanese says. This blog is now closed

Albanese says he won’t announce date of voice vote at Garma

Albanese will not announce at Garma what date the voice to parliament referendum will be held on:

I’ve made it clear a year ago what the timetable would look like, that it would be in the last quarter of this year. Obviously when we get into December, you are into the rainy season, so that gets knocked out. September, it could be held then except we have the footy finals.

We’ll make an announcement soon. We’ll talk through with the Australian Electoral Commission and make sure it’s an appropriate date, one that doesn’t clash with other events.

What is occurring with this referendum is it’s a clear proposition … the words are clear that have been put forward, they’ve been passed by the parliament, overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Indeed, across the parliament, both sides say they support constitutional recognition. Both sides say that you need to legislate the voice. The only difference is that Peter Dutton is saying that if you actually … enshrine it in the constitution, that that is something that they oppose.

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Australia news live: ‘nonsense’ to suggest Qantas has an outsized influence over Albanese government, Alan Joyce says

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Queensland to give free meningococcal B vaccine to infants, children and adolescents

The meningococcal B vaccine will be made free for infants, children and adolescents in Queensland.

After hearing the stories of heartbroken Queensland families, I had to act.

We know the meningococcal B strain can be lethal and – if a young person is lucky enough to survive the disease – it’s likely they will develop permanent and sometimes devastating complications.

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Albanese lashes Dutton over Garma festival no-show as leaders trade barbs over Indigenous voice

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PM and opposition leader spar over referendum, apology to the stolen generations and the prospect of treaty in heated parliamentary debate

Anthony Albanese has accused Peter Dutton of “undermining the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people” by opposing the Indigenous voice, launching a strident defence of the referendum and criticising the opposition leader for declining to attend the Garma festival this weekend.

As the Coalition again pursued the government in question time over the treaty element of the Uluru statement from the heart, asking how long it would take and what it would cost, Albanese sought to re-focus attention on the referendum. The prime minister questioned why the Liberal party opposed a constitutionally enshrined voice despite backing a legislated model, claiming the opposition was seeking to divide the nation.

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Dutton was briefed five times on US-Australia talks over impact of war crimes allegations on alliance

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Exclusive: Documents show officials raised concerns SAS might be mentioned in US state department’s human rights report

Peter Dutton was briefed five times about sensitive discussions between the United States and Australia over whether war crimes allegations jeopardised military cooperation, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Australian officials also privately raised concerns with the then defence minister that the issue might be mentioned in the US state department’s annual reports on human rights around the world.

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Megan Davis dismisses Coalition concerns over Indigenous treaty, saying ‘none of this is secret’

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Exclusive: Uluru statement from the heart architect says information on Labor’s approach to treaty has been ‘on the public record for over half a decade’

Uluru statement from the heart architect Prof Megan Davis says information about the voice and treaty has been “in plain sight” since 2017, downplaying the Coalition’s concerns about treaties and noting such agreements are already in train across multiple states.

Labor has committed to the 2017 Uluru statement in full, including treaty, the second element of the statement, with Anthony Albanese making the pledge on multiple occasions, including his election victory speech.

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Labor to meet Greens over housing bill – as it happened

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RFS predicts severe bushfire season to come

Firefighters are scrambling to catch up on bushfire preparations as NSW braces for a hot summer, AAP reports.

The No 1 factor for that not going ahead was the weather conditions, the rain, the flooding, that’s meant the crews weren’t able to get out and do that important work in communities.

There is plenty more to be done and this boost in mitigation personnel will enable even more vital work to be undertaken.

This is a tragedy. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the Australian Defence Force personnel on board. All were from the 6th Aviation Regiment based at Holsworthy army barracks in Sydney and valuable members of our community.

Our thoughts are also with those who served alongside these four young men – their friends and colleagues in uniform – and the broader defence community.

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Labor launches inquiry into home affairs procurement after ‘serious issues’ with Nauru contracts

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The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, says revelations about contracts with company linked to a foreign bribery case ‘merit detailed and thorough examination’

Labor has announced an independent review of the management of regional processing procurement by the Department of Home Affairs after revelations it granted contracts to a company linked to the subject of a bribery investigation.

The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, announced the inquiry citing “serious issues” with the governance of offshore processing contracts which she said “merit detailed and thorough examination”.

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Home affairs may have misled Senate over Nauru contracts linked to man convicted over bribery

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Exclusive: Department claimed accommodation contracts with companies linked to Mozammil Gulamabbas Bhojani could not be cancelled – despite containing termination clauses

The department of home affairs appears to have misled the Senate over controversial contracts it signed with a company linked to a man under investigation for foreign bribery.

In a written response this month, the department told the Senate it had no power to cancel Nauru accommodation contracts with Radiance International Inc – linked to Mozammil (Mozu) Gulamabbas Bhojani, ultimately convicted of bribing politicians on the Pacific island state – but the department’s contracts explicitly allowed it to tear up the contracts for any reason.

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Essential poll: sizeable support for Daniel Andrews’ decision to scrap Commonwealth Games

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Almost 60% of people support players receiving equal pay in the Women’s World Cup

More than 40% of Australians agree with Daniel Andrews’ controversial decision to scrap the Commonwealth Games, with his home state most supportive of the move, new polling shows.

While critics bemoaned the decision as “an international embarrassment”, the latest Guardian Essential poll found Australians were less invested, with 41% of those polled agreeing with the Victorian government’s decision, while 36% disagreed and 24% were unsure.

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News live updates: hundreds charged after NSW domestic violence operation; South Australia moves to ban no cause evictions

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Four-day operation results in 1,107 domestic violence charges being laid against 592 people. Follow live

‘Textbook fiscal policy’ from Labor about getting economy ‘in nick’

Chalmers is asked whether it’s possible to control inflation without the unemployment rate growing further.

Remains to be seen.

We’ve got the budget in better nick, not the expense of the economy but in addition, and cost-of-living help is targeted in out-of-pocket health costs, electricity, rent and some particular pressure points. We found $40 billion of savings over two budgets compared to zero in savings in the last Liberal budget.

So all of those things are about get getting the economy in nick at the same time we provide help for people to get through through a difficult period.

The point that Michele Bullock was making in that speech, which, again, I think is relatively uncontroversial, is that as the Reserve Bank forecast and the treasury forecasts, have inflation moderating in coming months, they have a tick-up in unemployment. I’ve been upfront. The challenges in the economy are unsubstantial, globally and domestically, I think the slow-down is expected in the forecasts to be significant. That will have implications for the unemployment rate, which is the point that Michele Bullock was making.

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‘A lethargic result’: Labor says it is ridiculous for Peter Dutton to take heart from Fadden byelection win

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Deputy prime minister Richard Marles says byelection swing to LNP was ‘half the average swing you would expect against a sitting government’

Senior members of the Albanese government insist they are not troubled by Labor’s loss in the Fadden byelection, as they seek to reassure Australians their main focus is on the cost-of-living crisis.

The Liberal National party retained the safe Gold Coast seat on Saturday in a byelection caused by the resignation of former minister Stuart Robert. There was a swing of about 2.4% to the LNP after preferences.

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Fadden byelection: Peter Dutton’s leadership given breathing room as LNP retains Gold Coast seat

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Cameron Caldwell wins retiring member Stuart Robert’s seat with Labor candidate Letitia Del Fabbro conceding less than 90 minutes after polls closed

The Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, has been given some breathing room with the LNP comfortably retaining its safe Gold Coast seat of Fadden.

Labor, which had debated whether to even run a candidate in the poll, went into the byelection expecting the LNP to win – it was always about by how much.

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Government ‘realistic’ about chances in Fadden – as it happened

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Stakes are high in contest for Queensland seat. This blog has now closed

Singleton Roosters to play their first game since tragic bus accident

NSW premier Chris Minns is in Cessnock today, where he will attend the first games of the women’s and men’s Singleton Roosters Australian rules football teams since the bus tragedy that rocked the community in June.

For the rest of winter and into spring, there’s a very high chance of above average temperatures, and actually quite a high chance of unusually warm temperatures as well.

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Next RBA governor should not be a senior public servant, Peter Dutton says

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Speculation mounts Cabinet will sign off on decision on Friday, as Liberal leader says position should have no connection to government

A senior public servant should not be appointed the next Reserve Bank of Australia governor in order to avoid any connection with past governments, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, says.

As speculation mounts the government is set to sign off on the appointment at a Cabinet meeting on Friday, Dutton said the potential successor should not come from the public service.

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Early robodebt critics outraged by how long Coalition persisted with unlawful scheme

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Shocking to learn politicians and public servants ‘were basically just lying to us’, Andrew Wilkie says

Early critics of robodebt have said they are shocked, appalled and outraged by how long the Coalition government persisted with the unlawful scheme.

The independent MP Andrew Wilkie and former the administrative appeals tribunal member Terry Carney were responding to the release of the royal commission report on Friday.

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