Category Archives: Scott Morrison

Labor supports exclusion orders for foreign fighters – politics live

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Opposition will try to introduce amendments but if that fails it will pass the bill. All the day’s events, live

tl;dr - shut the hell up.

I'm also told @ScottMorrisonMP told backbenchers who have been out and about on issues, including, lately, superannuation, to calm their farms and work through party processes. Words to that effect @AmyRemeikis #auspol

You know what it absolutely is not, and was never, going to be? A third chamber.

I'm told @SenatorMcGrath raised constitutional recognition in today's party room meeting. He asked what the position was. @ScottMorrisonMP and @KenWyattMP told him the voice could be many things & constitutional change wouldn't be radical @AmyRemeikis #auspol

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Scott Morrison prays at Hillsong conference – video

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Australian prime minister Scott Morrison speaks about the debate around freedom of religion at the opening of the national conference of the evangelical Hillsong church. 'It’s not the laws that makes freedom of religion work, it’s the culture that accepts it,' he tells a crowd of 21,000 people. 'I speak about my faith ... because I want everyone in this place to feel comfortable talking about their faith in this country. It’s not a political agenda, it’s who we are.' Morrison says while freedom of belief in Australia is fundamental, Christians need to prioritise love over judgments. He used the example of persecuted Christians in Soviet Russia: 'You didn’t hear the stories that they were complaining about their rights. They were out there for God ... This country needs more love, less judgment'

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Government pushes parliament to pass Coalition tax plan – politics live

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New and old faces are back in Canberra as the 46th parliament prepares to sit for the first time. All the day’s events, live

Welcome to the first (semi) official day of the 46th parliament. The MPs are back in town, and so are we, and it will no doubt be a bumpy ride.

Today is mostly formalities - finishing to set up offices, swearing in David Hurley as the new governor general, finding where to get coffee - you know, the important things.

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Alek Sigley: Facebook page of Australian missing in North Korea briefly reappears

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Scott Morrison says world leaders at G20 summit have offered assistance to help find Sigley

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, says Australian authorities are still attempting to establish what happened to Perth student Alek Sigley, who disappeared in North Korea several days ago.

Morrison told reporters at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday evening that he had been in contact with Sigley’s family. He said world leaders at the summit had offered their assistance in attempts to locate the young man.

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Scott Morrison wins G20 support to root out terrorist content on the internet

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Australian prime minister convinces world leaders to take action following the Christchurch massacre

The world’s leaders have pushed social media giants to root out terrorism and violent extremist content on the internet.

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, earned a victory at the G20 summit by convincing all leaders of the world’s major economies to agree to take action, inspired by the live-streamed Christchurch massacre.

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Scott Morrison says quick resolution of US-China trade dispute ‘unrealistic’

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PM says ‘substantial and difficult’ issues to be resolved in standoff after speaking with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the G20 in Osaka

Scott Morrison says it is “unrealistic” to expect a quick resolution of the damaging trade dispute between the United States and China on Saturday at the G20 meeting in Osaka.

After conversations with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, Morrison told travelling reporters on Friday there was a determination to resolve the standoff but he was not “naive” about how quickly the two countries would come to terms because there were “real, substantial and difficult issues to be resolved”.

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Nothing new in Coalition’s nuclear awakening. No wait, perhaps there is

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Could this be the catalyst for the Coalition of 2019 to reconnect itself with the position it adopted in 2007 for sound reasons?

Fair warning before we kick off this weekend. Increasingly, I’m reaching that stage of my professional life where I can be heard muttering, and sometimes shouting, I’m too bloody old for this.

My long-suffering colleagues in the Canberra bureau of Guardian Australia have absorbed bouts of muttering and shouting over the past few weeks as various Nationals and some Liberals have lined up post-election to support a new inquiry into nuclear energy, as if this might be a light bulb moment.

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AFP signals journalists could face charges for publishing secrets

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Acting AFP commissioner denies the government directed the investigations, which have led to raids on the ABC and News Corp this week

The Australian federal police have all but confirmed that ABC and News Corp journalists could be charged for publishing protected information after two dramatic days of raids which prompted outrage and drew international attention to Australia’s draconian secrecy laws.

The acting AFP commissioner, Neil Gaughan, held a press conference on Thursday to contain political fallout, denying suggestions the police had waited until after the federal election to execute warrants and claiming no contact had been made with the executive since they informed home affairs minister Peter Dutton’s office when the investigations started.

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Australia to achieve 50% renewables by 2030 without government intervention, analysis finds

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RepuTex modelling suggests surge in state schemes and rooftop solar will reduce wholesale prices, making gas- and coal-fired power less competitive

Australia is on track to achieve 50% renewable electricity by 2030 even without new federal energy policies, according to modelling by the energy analysts RepuTex.

The analysis, to be released on Wednesday, suggests that a surge in renewable energy driven by state schemes and rooftop solar installations will reduce wholesale prices from $85 per MWh to $70 over the next three years.

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Scott Morrison to sell Pacific ‘step up’ on Solomons visit as pressure builds over climate

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Australia to discuss Pacific investment bank and infrastructure amid concerns over Chinese influence

Australia is set to sound out the Solomon Islands on its infrastructure wish list and pitch its new Pacific investment bank, amid growing concerns over Chinese regional influence and debt-trap diplomacy.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is expected to arrive in the capital, Honiara, on Sunday for a day-and-a-half bilateral visit before he heads to the United Kingdom and Singapore.

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Anthony Albanese leaves open Labor’s stance on high-income tax cuts

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Likely new Labor leader sets up battle with Coalition, calling on Scott Morrison to split tax cut package

Anthony Albanese says Scott Morrison should split the income tax cuts package when parliament resumes after the election, signalling Labor is still on the fence about whether to support tax cuts for Australians on high incomes.

After Queensland rightwinger Jim Chalmers quit the Labor leadership field on Thursday, leaving Albanese with a clear path to replace Bill Shorten as Labor leader, the high-profile New South Wales leftwinger told reporters it wasn’t sensible for the Coalition to bake in tax relief for the top end several years in advance.

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Barnaby Joyce agitating for return to cabinet as Morrison prepares frontbench

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Labor facing factional battle between Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen

The former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce is positioning himself for a return to cabinet following the Coalition’s shock election win, as Scott Morrison prepares to unveil his new-look frontbench as early as next week.

The jockeying within the Coalition comes as Labor’s leadership contest crystallises, with a factional battle looming between the shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, and leftwinger Anthony Albanese.

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Federal election 2019: Tanya Plibersek will not contest Labor leadership ballot – politics live

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Deputy leader says ‘now is not my time’ to run for Labor leadership, as Coalition inches towards majority after Australia’s election. Follow all the day’s events

The count continues, as do the Labor leadership deliberations.

We should find out tomorrow if it will be a contested ballot, or if Anthony Albanese, as the only declared candidate, is elected unopposed. Jim Chalmers, Chris Bowen and Clare O’Neill (as a deputy contender) are names repeatedly thrown around as maybe challengers.

And the Liberals have just moved ahead in Macquarie – it’s only 20 or so votes at this stage – but it’s the first time the Liberals have been ahead in the count. If that trend continues, Scott Morrison is looking at holding 78 seats.

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Australia’s Labor party weighs up future after shock election defeat

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Postmortem begins as MPs express devastation over unexpected and bruising result

The fight for the future of Australia’s Labor party has begun after it lost what was considered up until the final days of the campaign to be an unloseable election, in a result that Labor MPs said was “devastating”.

While counting was still ongoing, the Liberal National Coalition was predicted to win 76 seats in the 151-seat House of Representatives. The Australian Labor party (ALP) was predicted to win 69.

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Australian federal election 2019: Labor leadership talk begins after Morrison’s ‘miracle’ win – politics live

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Coalition seeks final seats to form majority government after winning Australia election. Meanwhile Labor faces leadership contest and recriminations. Follow all the latest updates, live

The AEC has laid out its plan for the remaining count:

Our team is today progressing the count and undertaking the significant and essential large-scale task of sorting, securely packaging and transporting all declaration votes – votes cast outside of an elector’s home division. This involves millions of ballot papers and more than 40,000 transport routes.

“This logistical activity occurring today is huge and complex, and illustrative of the highly manual process we undertake in delivering the count for the federal election,” [AEC commissioner] Tom Rogers said.

The business community is turning its attention to a potential minority government. From AAP:

Business groups are hoping for a sensible approach to how the country is run after prime minister Scott Morrison unexpectedly won the federal election, albeit in a possible minority Coalition government.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO, James Pearson, hopes the speeches made by Mr Morrison and outgoing Labor leader Bill Shorten on the importance of bringing Australians together will translate into a “sensible and calm approach” as government is formed.

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Australia’s ruling Coalition claims election victory in major upset

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Scott Morrison’s government set to hang on to power despite polls predicting his demise

It was billed as the climate change election, and the climate lost.

Despite enduring its hottest year on record and a series of environmental calamities that have brought the climate emergency into sharp relief, Australia has voted for the centre-right Liberal party and its coalition partner, and against taking forceful action on the climate crisis.

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Australian federal election 2019: Tony Abbott concedes defeat to Zali Steggall in Warringah – politics live

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Western Australia seats crucial as Queensland swings to LNP. Follow all the updates and analysis, live

It’s worth noting that the polls have predicted a very different result to what we are seeing now.

The primary vote gap between Labor and the Coalition is a lot bigger than the polls suggested.

For those who missed when I was talking about Dawson a few weeks ago in the campaign, the mood there was that the stories were part of a southern conspiracy to remove George Christensen.

So they fell in behind him.

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Morrison knew in 2016 of Australia’s resettlement of Rwandans accused of killings

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Exclusive: US advice was that the men, who have refugee status and were accused of murdering tourists in Uganda in 1999, presented no security threat

The national security committee of cabinet was briefed about all aspects of the American refugee swap deal in late 2016, including the resettlement of two Rwandan men accused of murdering tourists in Uganda.

Guardian Australian understands the NSC was briefed, and the then treasurer, Scott Morrison, the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, and the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, were aware of all the elements of the agreement signed by Malcolm Turnbull and Barack Obama in 2016.

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Federal election 2019: Bill Shorten says Labor ‘the only game in town’ on wages – politics live

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Labor leader wants to bring together business groups and unions for meeting, as Bob Hawke calls Shorten a ‘consensus leader’. All the day’s events, live

Today the high court has released its full reasons for its decision in the case brought by former Liberal National Queensland president Gary Spence to challenge Queensland’s developer donation ban. Orders were delivered in April upholding Queensland’s ban, closing a loophole that would have allowed developers to donate to candidates in the federal election campaign.

The first thing to note is that Spence did not come close to winning on the point of whether the ban impermissibly burdens the implied freedom of political communication.

Scott Morrison ‘aspiration’ count:

14 May – 21 times

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Federal election 2019: Labor’s Belinda Hassan target of suspected arson attack – politics live

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The ALP’s candidate for Dawson confirms ‘scary incident’ where the fuel tank of her car was broken into. All the day’s events, live

And then it ends with this:

PK: Finally, you want to remove Josh Frydenberg, who fought hard for the National Energy Guarantee and for a compromise to move forward on climate change and energy. Is that a smart move?

Patricia Karvelas: One of the critiques of you is past involvement in Link Energy’s purchase of fossil fuel assets in 2010. Do you regret that?

Oliver Yates: I think the question is you need to see it was a company who bought them before I was even on the board. This is part of the Liberal dirt sheet. It’s round to everybody...

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