Category Archives: Peter Dutton

Australia politics live: Dutton says Coalition won’t support motion to censure Morrison – but Archer says she is ‘inclined to’

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The censure motion against Scott Morrison over multiple ministries scandal will be debated in House of Representatives tomorrow. Follow the day’s news live

Bipartisanship cedes to brinkmanship in battle over integrity commission

Meanwhile, Mark Dreyfus is preparing to stare down the Liberals and the Greens over an amendment to the national anti-corruption commission legislation which Dreyfus says risks establishing the commission and the Liberals and Greens say will ensure it won’t be political.

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Climate concern the main reason voters swung to independents at federal election, study finds

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Nearly half of voters who switched to an independent candidate at 2022 election did so because of climate fears, researchers say

Concern about the climate crisis was the No 1 issue that prompted Australians to switch their vote to an independent candidate at this year’s federal election, according to in-depth social research.

It was the No 2 issue that led to people to swing to Labor, behind concern about the cost of living – including affordable housing.

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Victorian election 2022 live results: premier Daniel Andrews and Matthew Guy make final pitches as state polls set to close – latest updates

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The Liberal leader needs to pick up 18 seats to form government outright in the Vic state election. Who is winning? Follow all the latest news, results, analysis and reaction tonight

Matthew Guy says he would redivert $2bn allocated to the Suburban Rail Loop

Returning to Victoria again, opposition leader Matthew Guy has appeared on Weekend Sunrise to say he hopes he’s convinced voters of his “positive and focused” plan.

Everywhere I have been on pre-polling booths ... this week, people are pretty clear they want the fresh start.

We want a reboot in this state, we want to come out of Covid-19 and put aside all the dark memories of the past, like the government that put us there.

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Australia news live: Medibank hacker demands ‘US$1 per customer’ ransom; ‘rotten egg gas’ problem in navy patrol boats

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Defence officials say there is an issue with hydrogen sulphide in the vessels’ waste systems. Follow the day’s news live

Coalition’s staff cap has fuelled lack of payment integrity, Shorten says

Bill Shorten goes on to criticise the NDIS staff cap implemented by the Coalition government:

When there were 180,000 participants in the scheme, the staff numbers were around 3,500 to 4,000. And the government of the day said, ‘OK, no more staff.’

Now the scheme has half a million people-plus, and what’s happened is that we’ve brought in contractors or labour hire or partners in the community and the scheme hasn’t been well, in my opinion, supervised and well loved.

I don’t blame someone for seeking to get support for the child. What does make me wonder is the state school systems providing the support for kids with developmental and learning delays? Are they doing enough or not? How can you force their hand to do it so that these people aren’t going on the NDIS?

Originally, when the NDIS was created, it was to be a 50/50 split, at the moment the federal government is paying 64% to 66% of the scheme and states are paying in the mid 30s.

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One thousand residents urged to evacuate as central west braces for flood peak – as it happened

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Pregnant woman and midwife among 10 rescues in NSW town of Forbes. This blog is now closed

Victorian Labor lead narrows in polls in lead-up to state election

The Victorian election race appears to be tightening three weeks out from polling day, with Labor in danger of slipping in to minority government, AAP reports.

The AMA analysed the documentation these media reports relied on and, like the department, found nothing – not a skerrick of evidence – to support the claims made in headlines splashed across some news organisations.

The AMA has acknowledged consistently that while some fraud does occur, the vast majority of doctors are doing the right thing. And we have seen the mental toll these reports have taken on Australia’s doctors.

The minister has again highlighted the impact of years of cuts and neglect of Medicare, and, while this latest review may identify potential savings that could be made, what Medicare really needs is genuine reform and an injection of new funds.

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Coalition attacks repatriation of women and children from Syria – as it happened

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A further 40 who remain in Syria are expected to be returned in two separate repatriations in coming weeks. This blog is now closed

Victorian flood risk persists with downpours ahead

Persistent rain may cause more flash flooding across Victoria over the long weekend as the state braces for possibly its coldest Melbourne Cup Day in nearly three decades, AAP reports.

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Australia news live: Noel Pearson says ‘racism will diminish’ with Indigenous recognition; energy ministers to look at gas price cap

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In his Boyer lecture, Pearson said Australia’s ‘terrible ideology of the denial of recognition’ needs to end. Follow the day’s news live

Perrottet calls for greater infrastructure funding

Perrottet also used the press conference to call for greater infrastructure funding for NSW from the federal government, as he has done many times in recent weeks.

There are other states who aren’t doing the heavy lifting, and I say to them, start building as much as we are in our great state.

We should continue to get more funding from a commonwealth government. I’m always going to stand up for the people of NSW.

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Federal budget 2022 reply speech live: opposition leader Peter Dutton to respond to Labor’s October budget – latest updates

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Leader of the opposition to give his reply to the treasurer Jim Chalmers’ first budget. Follow the day’s news live

The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi will give notice of a private senator’s bill she will introduce today aiming to halt the indexation on student loans and increase the repayment threshold to above the median wage.

Faruqi says it is one way which would help ease the cost of living burden on people with student debt:

Student debt is no small problem. About three million people in Australia have the burden of student debt.

At a time when the cost of living is biting hard, governments can no longer ignore the student debt crisis and its impacts.

What we have said all the time is that we want wages to grow, and we want them to stay growing. Not to have a short-term growth and then have at the expense of potentially higher unemployment.

So that’s the first thing. The second thing is we’ve got to get an IR system that drives productivity. That’s not about working harder for less, it’s about working smarter. It’s about creating the environment where people use new technology, where they innovate, where they share ideas, where they open new markets, where they have more skilled people.

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Treasurer says Taylor’s fingerprints ‘all over’ energy policy chaos – as it happened

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Over on Sky News, the questions were all about the next budget:

Host: Joining us live now in Canberra is the prime minister, Anthony Albanese. Prime minister, good morning to you. So, a safe budget to pay for your election commitments. Are tax increases and spending cuts next?

Hang on, Pete. We’ve just had the budget last night. You’re now talking about future budgets. Let’s talk about what we did last night. What we did last night was to fulfil our election commitments, provide cost-of-living relief with cheaper childcare, cheaper medicines, more paid parental leave, more support for affordable housing. And we want to get wages moving again. We did all that without putting pressure on inflation by targeting our investments in things like infrastructure, improving the National Broadband Network, making sure that there’s that growth in the economy without putting pressure on inflation. That was our focus last night. And we managed to achieve it.

Look, we inherited a trillion dollars of debt, Peter, as you know. We inherited a trillion dollars of debt with not much to show for it. What we did last night was to make $22bn of savings. We took the revenue gains that have come through, 99% of those revenue increases from the higher costs of fuel and energy, we put them straight to the budget bottom line, 99% of them. So it was a responsible budget that saw a significant drop in the deficit to $37bn from what was anticipated. That is a responsible thing to do. Because we want to make sure that we fight inflation because that is necessary if we’re going to get real wages moving in the way that we want them to.

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Lidia Thorpe to refer herself to privileges committee over relationship with ex-bikie

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Greens senator’s move heads off hostile referral by Coalition over possible perceived conflict of interest due to former role on law enforcement committee

Greens senator Lidia Thorpe will refer herself to the Senate privileges committee for possible investigation of her previously undisclosed relationship with former bikie leader Dean Martin.

Thorpe will write to the Senate president on Monday assenting to an inquiry into the possible perceived conflict of interest arising from the relationship due to her former role on the joint law enforcement committee.

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Albanese urged not to ‘lose the moment’ for tax reform as he squashes debate on stage-three cuts

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Economists say the tax cuts are unaffordable and should be trimmed or changed, either now or in May

Economists have urged the federal government not to squander the chance for tax reform, after the prime minister hosed down speculation about possible changes to the legislated stage-three cuts in this month’s budget.

The chief executive of the Grattan Institute, Danielle Wood, said she would be “sad” if “we lost the moment” for a substantial discussion about tax changes and hoped a broader debate was still possible before the next budget in May.

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Banks raise interest rates in response to RBA – as it happened

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Australian dollar drops and shares bounce higher on reserve bank’s dovish move. This blog is now closed

Sexual violence rife on dating apps

Dating apps need to better protect their users after a study revealed high rates of sexual violence, stalking, assault and unwanted sharing of explicit images, AAP reports.

This is highly concerning given the significant and potentially long-term impacts associated with these victimisation experiences.

These impacts include poorer health and wellbeing, including overall life satisfaction, social isolation and lower self-esteem, as well as increased risk of re-victimisation.

Considering the long- and short-term implications for victim-survivors after experiencing these harmful behaviours, there is an obvious need to develop mechanisms for protecting users.

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Australia’s CMO warns further Covid waves ‘highly likely’ – as it happened

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The minister for sport, Anika Wells, is speaking to ABC Radio about an announcement to expand the government’s scope to help people in sport report racism, abuse and mistreatement.

It comes after a range of high-profile cases in elite sport, including the damaging review into Hawthorn Football Club which contained allegations of serious mistreatment of First Nations former players, as well as the Australian Human Rights Commission’s report into the culture of gymnastics, the findings in Swimming Australia’s review of the treatment of female swimmers and the Do Better report.

It absolutely is concerning ... it’s shocking and certainly action will be taken.

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Peter Dutton’s defamation case against refugee activist Shane Bazzi ends with resolution

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Bazzi will not face prospect of high court overturning earlier win and Dutton will not pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs

Peter Dutton’s defamation case against Shane Bazzi has come to an end, with the Liberal leader dropping his attempted high court appeal and the refugee activist ceasing a bid for costs.

Bazzi’s lawyers, O’Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors, revealed the pair had reached a resolution with final orders made by the full federal court on Monday.

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Clare O’Neil suggests Labor may legislate fines after Optus data breach – as it happened

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The Nationals want to get back to their roots – the regions.

The country party are launching a “regional listening tour” to find out what is affecting people in the country.

Migration is not the only solution to the challenges our regions are up against,” Littleproud said.

We need to look at what can be done now to help those Australians that are already in town.

We know distance is one of the greatest barriers to opportunity. So we’re coming to your town to create this opportunity to share your concerns and help us come up with the solutions.

For example, would a Regional University Centre stop our children from leaving town? Or could paying their HELP debts be the incentive they need to stay where we need them?

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Australia news live: China meeting ‘constructive’, Penny Wong says; up to 9.8m Optus customers affected by data breach

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The foreign minister is in New York City for the UN general assembly. Follow the day’s news live

In New South Wales politics this has just happened:

The Senate is also up and about with a condolence motion being held in the upper house as well.

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Greens urge Labor to redirect fossil fuel subsidies to renewables in budget – as it happened

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Victorian government commits $1bn to emergency departments in Melbourne’s north

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has vowed to expand two of the state’s busiest emergency departments in Melbourne’s north, in a pre-election $1bn health pledge.

We know there is pressure in the system.

This means more emergency department space, more emergency department patients being treated and a stronger and better health system for millions more.

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Guardian Essential poll: Australians divided on whether King Charles should be head of state

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Survey respondents split 50-50 but women, older voters and Coalition supporters more likely to back new monarch, poll suggests

Australians are divided over whether King Charles III should be the country’s head of state, with the latest Guardian Essential poll suggesting a 50-50 split between those who support the new UK monarch and those who do not.

The survey of 1,075 people, taken after Queen Elizabeth II’s death, gives little hope to the republican cause with fewer than half of the respondents (43%) supporting Australia becoming a republic – a figure that has barely moved over the past five years.

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PM hails monarch as ‘absolute inspiration’ as leaders lay wreaths at Parliament House – as it happened

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Prime minister, opposition leader and governor general take part in ceremony. This blog is now closed

Prime minister Anthony Albanese and the governor general, David Hurley, are now walking towards the statue of the Queen, together with speaker of the house Milton Dick.

A crowd of parliamentarians and dignitaries are gathering at the Queen’s Terrace area of Canberra’s Parliament House, where a wreath-laying ceremony will take place at a statue of Queen Elizabeth.

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Australia reacts to monarch’s passing – as it happened

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The prime minister Anthony Albanese is addressing the nation about the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

He said it is a loss that is “felt deeply in Australia”. The Queen was a rare and reassuring constant in a period of massive change, he said, and was the only monarch to visit Australia, which she did 16 separate times.

There is comfort to be found in Her Majesty’s own words. “Grief is the price we pay for love.”

This is a loss we feel deeply in Australia. Queen Elizabeth II is the only reigning monarch most of us have known, and the only one to ever visit Australia. Over the course of a remarkable seven decades, Her Majesty was a rare and reassuring constant amidst rapid change. Through the noise and turbulence of the years, she embodies and exhibited a timeless decency and enduring calm. Her

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