Category Archives: Michael McCormack

Matt Canavan quits cabinet to back Barnaby Joyce for National party leadership

Posted on by

Joyce says he will challenge Nationals leader Michael McCormack for the top job when a party room spill is called on Tuesday

Barnaby Joyce will challenge Michael McCormack for the leadership of the Nationals when a party room spill is called on Tuesday, saying he has learned from his past mistakes and is the best person to lead the party to the next election.

The former leader’s tilt at a comeback won support from the cabinet minister Matt Canavan on Monday night, with the Queensland senator resigning his position to back Joyce in the leadership ballot.

Continue reading...

Australia bushfires: 20 structures destroyed as NSW firefighters hospitalised with severe burns

Posted on by

Record temperatures and ‘volatile and erratic’ conditions as more than 100 fires burn across New South Wales

Three firefighters were hospitalised with severe burns and 20 properties estimated lost in a blaze south of Sydney as the bushfire emergency raging across the east coast of Australia reached a new crisis point on Thursday.

Record temperatures and gusty, damaging winds combined with the prolonged drought crippling this part of the world to create what the commissioner of the Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons, described as “volatile and erratic” conditions as more than 100 fires continued to burn across New South Wales.

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...

Former Tuvalu PM says he was ‘stunned’ by Scott Morrison’s behaviour at Pacific Islands Forum

Posted on by

Enele Sopoaga says he was also ‘insulted and deeply angry’ at comments made by Australian deputy prime minister Michael McCormack

The former prime minister of Tuvalu has said he was “stunned” by Scott Morrison’s behaviour at the recent Pacific Islands Forum, which he though communicated the view that Pacific leaders should “take the money … then shut up about climate change”.

Enele Sopoaga, speaking at the national conference of the Australian Council for International Development (Acfid) in Sydney on Wednesday, said Morrison’s behaviour at the forum, which Tuvalu hosted in August, was “dismissive” of the concerns of the Pacific regarding the climate crisis.

Continue reading...

Scott Morrison heads to Washington for state dinner with Trump – politics live

Posted on by

Michael McCormack the acting prime minister as the government prepares to hand down its final budget statement. All the days events, live

From Josh Frydenberg’s office:

These outcomes demonstrate that the Government’s economic plan is working and confirm that the Budget will be back in the black and back on track for the 2019-20 year.

Importantly Australia has completed its 28th consecutive year of economic growth and maintained its AAA credit rating.

Josh Frydenberg (who is not yelling and for that we are all grateful)

The Australian economy is strong and ready for the challenges ahead.

As a result of the Morrison government’s economic plan and responsible economic management, the underlying cash balance in the final budget outcome for the 19/20 year is $13.8bn better than estimated at the time of the 2018/19 budget.

Continue reading...

Pacific islands will survive climate crisis because they ‘pick our fruit’, Australia’s deputy PM says

Posted on by

Exclusive: Michael McCormack says island nations want Australia to shut down industry ‘so they can survive’

Pacific island nations affected by the climate crisis will continue to survive “because many of their workers come here to pick our fruit”, Australia’s deputy prime minister has said.

Michael McCormack’s comments were made after critical talks at the Pacific Islands Forum that almost collapsed over Australia’s positions on coal and climate change.

Continue reading...

Coalition awarded $1.4bn in grants in election lead-up – half without an open tender process

Posted on by

Battleground states of Victoria and Queensland were biggest beneficiaries, receiving $422m and $331m respectively

The Coalition awarded almost $1.4bn in grants through its regional development program in the lead-up to the election, with about half of the funding not subject to a competitive tender process.

The spending included grants made through the Stronger Communities program, a political slush fund that gives every lower-house MP $150,000 to spend on small community projects costing between $1,500 and $20,000. Almost $100m has been paid out under the scheme since it was first announced in the 2015 budget.

Continue reading...

‘Do what it takes’: Nationals leader defends preference deals with One Nation

Posted on by

Michael McCormack raises eyebrows saying his party is ‘aligned with One Nation’ more than Labor or Greens

The Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, has unveiled a new statutory authority for water infrastructure in an effort to contain a bush boilover at the election – and has declared his party is happy to enter preference deals with One Nation because their policies align.

McCormack used a speech to the National Press Club on Tuesday to unveil a new Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility-style body for dams, with the new body charged with using “the best available science” to examine how large-scale water diversion projects could be established to deliver reliable and cost-effective water to farmers and regional communities.

Continue reading...

Nationals rebels put the boot into their leader as party feels regional backlash

Posted on by

Many MPs are exasperated with Michael McCormack and despairing about where they have washed up post-Barnaby Joyce

In practical terms it’s a strange thing to demand – calling on the leadership to pass a package that has no obvious prospect of passing the parliament without amendment in the time left available.

But six Queensland Nationals have elected to put the boot into their leader, Michael McCormack, for failing on two fronts: failing to pressure the Liberals to pass the so-called “big stick” package, which they believe will lower power prices, and failing to sign up to new taxpayer-backed investments in power generation. For most Nationals north of the New South Wales border, that means new coal generation.

Continue reading...