PM says opposition ‘tying themselves in knots’ as parliament resumes. Follow the day’s news live
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Continue reading...Category Archives: Malcolm Turnbull
Mayor issues flood warning – as it happened
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- Australian Sam Lee charged with conspiracy to commit fraud in US for role in $1.89bn ‘Ponzi scheme’
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We’ve just spoken to St Vincent’s hospital and confirmed that the woman bitten by a shark in Sydney Harbour last night remains in hospital in a stable condition.
The woman, in her late 20s, was bitten on the right leg by a suspected bull shark in Elizabeth Bay last night.
Continue reading...Sliding doors: cabinet papers reveal how close Coalition came to endorsing emissions trading in 2003
The Howard government drafted a statement declaring its support for an emissions trading scheme before abruptly changing course
The Howard government drafted a statement declaring its support for an emissions trading scheme 20 years ago, only for the idea to be scuttled by business lobbying, newly released documents show.
Cabinet papers from 2003, released by the National Archives on Monday, show the then Coalition government was in possession of clear advice from Treasury that a broad-based market mechanism would be the cheapest way to reduce emissions.
Continue reading...Thatcher ‘utterly shattered’ by MI5 revelations in Spycatcher, files reveal
National Archives papers show prime minister tried in vain to avoid inquiry over Peter Wright’s memoirs
Margaret Thatcher was “utterly shattered” by the revelations in Spycatcher, the memoirs of the retired MI5 officer Peter Wright, files released publicly for the first time reveal.
The files also reveal the dilemmas faced by Thatcher’s government in its futile battle to suppress the book, including whether to agree to the Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer mediating an out of court “solution”.
Continue reading...Kerry Packer was proposed as mediator in Thatcher’s fight to stop Spycatcher memoir
Counsel for ex-MI5 officer Peter Wright suggested role for Australian media tycoon but idea was swiftly rejected
The Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer was suggested as a mediator in the fight by Margaret Thatcher’s government to prevent the publication of Spycatcher, the memoirs of former MI5 officer Peter Wright, according to newly released official papers.
The offer was made by Wright’s Australian counsel – and future Australian prime minister – Malcolm Turnbull as part of a proposed out-of-court settlement, files released by the National Archives show.
Continue reading...Former PMs pour cold water on claims Anthony Pratt told them Trump’s US submarine secrets
A US news report claimed Donald Trump discussed secret US naval capabilities with the billionaire Australian businessman
It was a revelation that could have had explosive ramifications.
US news outlet ABC News reported that an “excited” Donald Trump allegedly discussed top-secret details of US nuclear submarines with the Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt, who later allegedly shared the information with at least 45 people, including “three former Australian prime ministers”.
Continue reading...Turnbull government’s $33m grant went to company part-owned by mental health commissioner after lobbying
Exclusive: Funding to Innowell in 2017 without competitive tender was for mental health app and followed months of lobbying by Prof Ian Hickie. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Hickie
The former government led by Malcolm Turnbull awarded a $33m grant to a company that was developing a mental health app after months of lobbying from one of its own mental health commissioners who was also a shareholder in the months-old startup.
The one-off grant was awarded in 2017 without a competitive tender to Innowell for a series of collaborative research trials into a digital mental health platform. Its shareholders include PwC, the University of Sydney and former mental health commissioner Prof Ian Hickie.
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Continue reading...Former NSW deputy Liberal leader says party has ‘moved too far to the right’ – as it happened
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- Peter Dutton urged to differentiate Liberal party after Aston loss prompts identity crisis
- ‘A great Australian’: Anthony Albanese leads tributes to Yunupingu
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Prime minister pays tribute to Yunupingu
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to the Yolŋu man Yunupingu, one of the most significant Indigenous figures in history and a former Australian of the year, as “an extraordinary leader”.
He was one of the greatest of Australians.
An extraordinary leader of his people, respected right across Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.
I said to him that I was serious, that we would do it.
Today we mourn with deep love and great sadness the passing of our dearly loved father Yunupiŋu.
The holder of our sacred fire, the leader of our clan and the path-maker to our future.
The loss to our family and community is profound. We are hurting, but we honour him and remember with love everything he has done for us.
We remember him for his fierce leadership, and total strength for Yolŋu and for Aboriginal people throughout Australia. He lived by our laws always.
Yunupiŋu lived his entire life on his land, surrounded by the sound of bilma (clapsticks), yidaki (didgeridoo) and the manikay (sacred song) and dhulang (sacred designs) of our people. He was born on our land, he lived all his life on our land and he died on our land secure in the knowledge that his life’s work was secure.
He had friendship and loyalty to so many people, at all levels, from all places.
Our father was driven by a vision for the future of this nation, his people’s place in the nation and the rightful place for Aboriginal people everywhere.
In leaving us, we know that Dad’s loss will be felt in many hearts and minds. We ask you to mourn his passing in your own way, but we as a family encourage you to rejoice in the gift of his life and leadership.
There will never be another like him.
In time we will announce the dates for bäpurru (ceremonies) that will see him returned to his land and to his fathers. These ceremonies will be held in North Eastern Arnhem Land.
We ask the media to respect our grieving space over the coming weeks as we put together ceremonial arrangements to honour Dad.
Instead of flowers, we invite those of you who were touched by Dad’s fire to share with us your personal recollections and memories of his life. This will lift our spirits.
Opposition demand funding for yes and no campaigns – as it happened
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- Super changes could affect 10% of people in 30 years, Labor reveals
- Malcolm Turnbull tells robodebt inquiry ‘I did not turn my mind to the legality of the program’
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The RBA board will meet tomorrow to make its decision about raising interest rates (which, if it does so, will be the 10th increase in a row). The board has said it won’t hesitate to raise interest rates again and again to get inflation down to its target band (between 2 and 3%), but the data shows whatever savings buffer some people had after the pandemic is diminishing.
David Pocock told ABC Breakfast TV it might be time to look at how we deal with inflation:
I mean, this is a big question. There’s so many Australians doing it tough. My understanding is that they are simply implementing the rules. I’d like to maybe see some discussion about the rules.
If – you know, to reduce inflation, is the best way just to give money to the banks? You know, there’s surely a better way of locking up some of the cash in the economy, whether it’s putting it into super, raising the GST, I don’t know – but to have politicians criticise what seems to be just the process that has been set up by politicians is one thing.
Continue reading...China is carrying out ‘blatant’ influence operations in Australia, Malcolm Turnbull says
Former prime minister likens covert operations to famous scene in Casablanca and warns influence register should be more than ‘box ticking’
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Australian security agencies know China is carrying out “blatant” influence operations despite the lack of listings on the country’s transparency register, the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has told an inquiry.
Turnbull said on Tuesday he was “puzzled” the legislation his government introduced was not more rigorously enforced and that officials should not treat it as a “robotic box-ticking exercise”.
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Continue reading...Kevin Rudd to shed media disclosure obligations as ambassador to US
Former prime minister’s 84 disclosed public speaking activities to soon be marked ‘ceased’ on foreign influence register when he takes up position in US
For years, the former prime minister Kevin Rudd has disclosed details of state-linked media interviews – including with the BBC and Radio NZ – and other public speaking commitments on the Australian government’s foreign influence register.
His prolific postings are based on what the former Labor leader once labelled an “absurd interpretation” of his obligations by government officials.
Continue reading...Malcolm Turnbull warns NSW and Queensland of ‘company they’re keeping’ by blocking UN prison inspectors
Former prime minister disappointed by states’ decisions to not allow full access to UN subcommittee on prevention of torture
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The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned the New South Wales and Queensland governments to “think carefully about the international company they are keeping” by blocking or limiting United Nations inspectors’ access to detention facilities.
Turnbull said he was disappointed by the government decisions to not allow full access to the team, who are in the country this week as part of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, ratified when he was in office in 2017.
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Continue reading...Australia reacts to monarch’s passing – as it happened
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- Republic debate flares as Australia mourns its longest-serving monarch Queen Elizabeth II
- Explainer: What happens in Australia now that the Queen has died and Charles is King?
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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
Continue reading...Dutton says he was not aware of Morrison’s secret ministries – as it happened
- Scott Morrison faces probe over secret ministry claims as government seeks legal advice
- Scott Morrison used self-appointed powers to override minister on unpopular Pep11 gas-drilling permit
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Ed Husic pushes for ‘brain regain’
Industry minister Ed Husic will this week host a series of five roundtable meetings with science and technology leaders in the lead-up to the federal government’s jobs summit, in a bid to kickstart what he called “brain regain” – attracting Australia’s bright minds working overseas to return home, to combat the so-called “brain drain”.
These discussions will also include ways to increase the representation of women and people of diverse backgrounds in skilled occupations. One of my priorities is on “brain regain” – encouraging Australian researchers and innovators to return home. I am interested to hear ideas on how this can be best achieved.
I can’t emphasise strongly enough that this is the start of engagement with these industry sectors. After the jobs and skills summit I will continue the work with industry leaders to ensure we apply practical solutions to accelerate Australia’s pathway to high-skilled, high-value economy.
He’s applied for a job and that’s coming with a significant degree of scrutiny, as it should do. That’s part of the territory if you’re going to put yourself forward for those roles.
If he felt the need to protect the environment from offshore drilling for gas off Sydney’s northern beaches and he felt he needed to swear himself in as minister, that’s something I support.
Continue reading...Ryan says supporters have received ‘threatening’ letters – as it happened
Independent MP for Kooyong says some supporters have received anonymous handwritten letters; nation records at least 11 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
- Big electricity consumers in Queensland cut use to help avoid blackouts as NSW faces shortfall
- Daniel Andrews tells private healthcare groups wanting $3,000 staff bonuses to pay their own rewards
- Matt Kean accused of ‘treachery’ by NSW Liberal colleague David Elliott over messages to journalist
- Malcolm Turnbull calls for gas export limits as energy regulator caps prices in Queensland
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Standing proud in the Nadesalingams’ Biloela back yard is a rusty old Hills Hoist.
Birds squawk in the paperbark trees lining the road as mum Priya strolls in and out of the kitchen, determined to make sure we are looked after, offering us tea and water.
It was such an extraordinary time, and things were moving so quickly early ... the advice to the various governments at the time were really monumental.
It was quite terrifying ... we would do what the data was [saying], the experts together provided advice. In the end, Australians have done very well and turned up and got their vaccinations and we managed to live through some significant lockdowns and have come out of this better than many other countries.
We live in a great country with a great health system and I was confident we would be able to get our way through this, we still are not out of it, Covid is still here ... if you haven’t had that third dose vaccination, have it.
Continue reading...Malcolm Turnbull calls for gas export limits as energy regulator caps prices in Queensland
Former PM says state and federal governments should ‘make sure all the gas we need is available here’
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Malcolm Turnbull has said governments should limit gas exports to ease the energy crisis in the eastern states, hours after regulators intervened to cap electricity prices in Queensland.
On Sunday night, the Australian Energy Market Operator limited Queensland wholesale prices at $300 per megawatt hour, the first time such a move has been made in Queensland, according to the Wattclarity website. Aemo said the caps were last imposed in the National Electricity Market in Victoria and South Australia in 2019.
Continue reading...Malcolm Turnbull says Australians are ‘voting with their feet’ to support teal independents
Former PM to tell Washington Harvard Club the rise of the independents could mean the ‘capture’ of the Liberal party is thwarted by ‘direct democratic action’
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- Election 2022 seat explorer; Pork-o-meter election promises tracker
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Disgruntled Liberal voters are “voting with their feet” to support the so-called teal independents, because the influence of the party’s moderate wing at the federal level was “diminished and diminishing”, the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is set to say.
Describing the 2022 Australian election campaign in a speech he is to give to the Washington Harvard Club on Friday, Turnbull says the rise of the independents is “the most interesting part of the election” because “if more of these ‘teal’ 10 independents win, it will mean the capture of the Liberal Party will be thwarted by direct, democratic action from voters. People power, you might say.”
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Continue reading...Payne says China military base in Solomons would be a ‘red line’ – as it happened
Queensland senator Matt Canavan adds to uncertainty about Coalition climate commitments; foreign minister accuses Labor of ‘playing politics’ on national security after Penny Wong criticises Scott Morrison for ‘refusing to take responsibility in Pacific’; at least 50 Covid deaths as WA to ease mask mandate in some settings. This blog is now closed
- Matt Canavan declares net zero by 2050 is ‘all over bar the shouting’ after PM tries to quell divisions
- Katharine Murphy: Scott Morrison is setting up another fake fight on a carbon ‘tax’
- Guide Dogs Victoria CEO stood down after endorsing Josh Frydenberg in election ads
- Exclusive: these maps show exactly where Scott Morrison is targeting his slick video ad campaign
- ‘This is a hose you have to hold’: Turnbull accuses Morrison of failure over China-Solomons pact
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Scott Morrison is in Townsville (north Queensland) today where he will be making announcements on energy.
Given what we just heard from Scott Morrison there, it’s worth your time having a listen to climate and environment editor Adam Morton on today’s Full Story podcast examining if the policy differences between the Coalition and Labor and ultimately asking: is either party preparing enough for the transformational change ahead?
Economic modelling should be used as a guide. Both sides of politics lean on it more as a forecast that will be fact ... I don’t think anybody can tell us exactly what our power bills will be in 2025, 2030, 2050 but no one disagrees that more solar and wind is good in terms of lowering prices because it is much, much cheaper to generate what’s in place.
Continue reading...UK officials still blocking Peter Wright’s ‘embarrassing’ Spycatcher files
A documentary-maker has accused the Cabinet Office of defying the 30-year rule in withholding details of the MI5 exposé
The Cabinet Office has been accused of “delay and deception” over its blocking of the release of files dating back more than three decades that reveal the inside story of the intelligence agent Peter Wright and the Spycatcher affair.
Wright revealed an inside account of how MI5 “bugged and burgled” its way across London in his 1987 autobiography Spycatcher. He died aged 78 in 1995.
Continue reading...Malcolm Turnbull on Murdoch, lies and the climate crisis: ‘The same forces that enabled Trump are at work in Australia’
Systematic partisan lying and misinformation from the media, both mainstream and social, has done enormous damage to liberal democracies, the former PM writes
The United States has suffered the largest number of Covid-19 deaths: about 600,000 at the time of writing. The same political and media players who deny the reality of global warming also denied and politicised the Covid-19 virus.
To his credit, Donald Trump poured billions into Operation Warp Speed, which assisted the development of vaccines in a timeframe that matched the program’s ambitious title. But he also downplayed the gravity of Covid-19, then peddled quack therapies and mocked cities that mandated social distancing and mask wearing.
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