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Nuclear costings coming ‘in coming weeks and months ahead of election’: Taylor
The shadow treasurer was also asked when the Coalition would release the costings of its nuclear plan.
We will not be announcing it on your program this morning, as much as you might like me to.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Emails seen by Guardian Australia from Michelle Rowland's office say they ‘can’t commit to a revised timeframe’ on the long-awaited reforms
The communications minister’s office has apologised to multiple people harmed by the gambling industry after delaying long-awaited advertising reforms, admitting government action has taken “longer than hoped”.
Emails seen by Guardian Australia shows Michelle Rowland’s office “can’t confirm a revised timeframe” for when it will formally respond to a report from the late Labor MP Peta Murphy, which called for a total wagering ad ban some 18 months ago.
“I acknowledge the ongoing toll this is taking on you and others, and I’m personally very sorry that we have not been able to secure an outcome thus far,” a staffer for the minister said in an email.
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Labour market steadying as latest monthly CPI result looms
The consensus for much of the year has been the Reserve Bank’s 13-year high interest rates would squeeze demand in the economy, nudge up unemployment and help bring down inflation. And then it could start cutting its cash rate.
And then more recently, we’re actually starting to see [the labour market] tighten.
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The independent MP Zoe Daniel was on ABC News Breakfast earlier to discuss her alternative to the under-16 social media ban, which she introduced as a private member’s bill yesterday.
Daniel said her bill would implement an overarching statutory duty of care on social media companies “that goes to safety by design – but that in and of itself is not enough”.
What you need to make that work is the companies to assess the risks, mitigate the risks, be transparent about how they’re doing that.
The bill builds in penalties so if the companies do not comply, they could be fined up to 10% of global revenue. Also, their onshore executives could be held accountable for that … and the bill also has a provision to enable users to have control over the algorithm, as exists overseas, particularly in the EU …
[There are] obviously privacy concerns, and given the government’s had to pull their misinformation [and] disinformation – or their censoring the Australian public – bill from the Senate this week, we want to make sure we get strong, robust laws that don’t damage the [right to] privacy and make compulsory Australians having to have digital IDs.
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Does the delay on gambling ad restrictions have anything to do with the demands of lobbyists?
Clare O’Neil said it wasn’t about lobbying, but “about making sure that we get this right”.
And the minister has pointed to previous attempts to scale back gambling advertising that have actually resulted in more gambling advertising. This is a delicate area, and we’ve got to get the balance right, and that’s what the minister is seeking to do.
These complicated matters, they just are. You know, if this was a really simple problem to fix, then it would have been fixed a long time ago.
I would say our government deserves credit for stepping up and saying we’re going to take action on this, and the minister [Michelle Rowland] is doing what is appropriate, which is diligently working through what the proposals will look like.
The minister is working with people, experts, stakeholders, others who will be affected by this legislation, and the government has said will come forward with … proposals early next year.
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Heatwave conditions are building over parts of Victoria and New South Wales today.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, much of Victoria will experience heatwave conditions, with maximum temperatures in the mid to high 30s.
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New South Wales MPs condemned for ‘part-time’ parliamentary year
Scores of NSW MPs will earn the equivalent of more than $10,000 per sitting week in 2025 after a bid to increase the year’s 16-week calendar was rejected, AAP reports.
To do this, government MPs have to turn up to parliament and discuss matters. Voters won’t be happy that government MPs would prefer to hide in their electorate offices rather than turning up to parliament, where they face scrutiny.
Continue reading...Vehicle set on fire in Woollahra and 10 cars vandalised with slogans ‘fuck Israel’ and ‘PKK coming’
A vehicle has been set on fire and 10 cars have been vandalised with anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, sparking outrage and condemnation from politicians including the prime minister.
New South Wales police said they had discovered the graffiti on the cars and the door of an apartment complex in Woollahra after they were alerted to the blaze about 12.30am on Thursday.
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Continue reading...Despite a diplomatic push from Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese, Turkey won’t back down on its bid to host Cop31
Australia’s plan to host a major UN climate summit in 2026 has hit a Turkish roadblock. It is unclear how long it will last.
The Albanese government had expected that its bid to co-host the Cop31 summit in partnership with Pacific island nations – a Labor promise since before it won power in 2022 – would be agreed by now, as the UN climate talks in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku approach their final stages.
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Oxfam reacts to Australia’s Cop29 pledge
Oxfam Australia has welcomed the government’s Cop29 pledge of $50m towards a global loss and damage fund to help the world’s most vulnerable people to repair the damage from climate breakdown.
If climate change losses and damages are not included in the new global climate finance goal, the new fund for responding to loss and damage risks becoming an empty vessel.
The danger is that developed country governments will prioritise meeting the new and ambitious climate finance goal, and will not prioritise a fund that doesn’t count towards it.
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First investment announced as part of National Reconstruction Fund
The science and industry minister, Ed Husic, was on ABC News Breakfast to discuss the government’s first investment via the National Reconstruction Fund – $40m to a Toowoomba mineral processing factory.
The difference in terms of what the [NRF] does is it provides loans, equity, and guarantees to firms that are [working across] seven priority areas to expand and grow their operations.
Given the sizes of the investments, it does take more time to be able to go through to shape up what the investment will look like, how big it’ll be, over what term, the rate of return – because the other important thing to stress to viewers is – this is not about handing out grants, and certainly not doing it on the basis of political colour-coded spreadsheets as we saw with the last government.
In fact, the social media users were less likely to have a negative attitude towards Jewish and Muslim people, irrespective of where they were on the political spectrum.
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Three million Australians are at risk of homelessness, a 63% increase since 2016, a new report from Homelessness NSW and Impact Economics has revealed.
By looking at household data including income, support and rental stress, the report found in 2022 there were 3.04m Australians now at risk of homelessness, an increase on the 1.87m reported in 2016.
1 in every five days the frontline services could not assist a family with children because they were so stretched.
Individuals without children were turned away 1 in every 2 days.
Unaccompanied young people and children without accommodation were turned away on 1 in 9 days.
I think more broadly, the government under Anthony Albanese has got an excellent record of managing relationships around the world, making genuine progress, whether it’s with China, whether it’s with American friends or others.
I think when it comes to Peter Dutton, I think he has a kind of a reckless arrogance which doesn’t lend itself to foreign policy and maintaining and managing some of these complex relationships.
I think he would be a risk to our economy, and that’s because that reckless arrogance, which has been a defining feature of his time as a politician over a long period of time now … [it] doesn’t lend itself to managing these relationships, which are so important to us.
Continue reading...Education minister Jason Clare says ‘never in my life’ did he expect to see opposition and Greens take same stand on immigration
The Albanese government has been left red-faced after the Coalition made a last-minute backflip over plans to cap international student numbers from next year.
The education minister, Jason Clare, has accused Peter Dutton of being a “fraud” on tough immigration policies after the opposition sided with the Greens and independents on changes to limit new enrolments from overseas students to 270,000 in 2025.
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Continue reading...Minor party’s offer, which includes ban on native-forest logging, represents its second concession on stalled legislation in less than a week
The Greens have dropped their demand for a climate trigger to be incorporated in the government’s stalled Nature Positive legislation, indicating they are now prepared to pass the bills in return for a Australia-wide ban on native-forest logging alone.
The party has previously refused to support Labor’s legislation, insisting that both a climate trigger and forest-logging ban must be included.
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Continue reading...ALP denies reforms rushed into parliament are designed to target Simon Holmes à Court and Clive Palmer
Australia’s two major political parties will more than double their public funding at the 2028 federal election to reap a combined $140m under the government’s proposed changes to electoral laws, according to the organisation which funded successful teal independent candidates at the 2022 election.
Climate 200 has calculated the likely increase in the amount the Labor and Liberal parties could claim in public funding at the 2028 election, after the proposed new system is slated to take effect.
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Warning for heavy rainfall, damaging winds and potential flash flooding in north-east Victoria
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for the north-east of Victoria, with forecasts of heavy rainfall and “damaging to locally destructive wind gusts”:
Heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding is forecast with areas of rain and thunderstorms for the northeast of Victoria from Sunday morning.
Six-hourly rainfall totals of 30 to 60mm are likely, with isolated totals up to 80mm possible. 24-hourly rainfall totals of 60 to 80mm are likely, with isolated falls of 100mm possible.
He’s Australia’s appointment. It says something about the importance of the United States that we have appointed a former prime minister.
That’s a sign of how seriously we take this relationship, which is a relationship between our peoples, based upon our common values.
Continue reading...Anthony Albanese meets with leaders of Peru and Indonesia as middle nations seek to diversify trade away from the US
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has hailed “inclusive trade and investment” at a major Asia-Pacific economic forum in Peru where leaders are attempting to push against the protectionist policies favoured by US president-elect Donald Trump.
Speaking at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders summit, which assembles 21 of the world’s largest economies, Albanese told a press conference that Apec leaders consistently “spoke about the importance of free and fair trade between our economies to lift up the living standards of people throughout this region”.
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Watt says issue of reconciliation not closed in Australia despite voice referendum
Wrapping up the interview, Murray Watt was also asked about the haka performed in New Zealand parliament yesterday over a controversial bill that proposes to radically alter the way New Zealand’s treaty between Māori and the crown is interpreted.
I think there are many Australians who care very deeply about the rights of our First Peoples. Of course, Australians had their say on the voice to parliament in the recent referendum but I don’t think that means the issue of reconciliation is closed in Australia. That is something that our government remains committed to working on with our First Peoples and I think a lot of Australians support that as well.
I probably won’t comment on what’s happening in New Zealand because it’s their own affairs, but it shows these issues still really matter to people.
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Could Donald Trump really fire Kevin Rudd?
The former prime minister’s criticism of Donald Trump has drawn the ire of those in the president elect’s inner circle, and prompted renewed debate about whether the incoming administration could seek retribution.
I’d be very much opposed to that.
You’ve got the world’s richest man, and you’ve given him this position of incredible influence in the American government. I think jobs for mates is a very bad idea. I don’t think that politicians should be putting their friends, their dear friends into positions of great influence in this country.
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The treasurer, Jim Chalmers will today announce funding of $900m for states and territories through a new national productivity fund to boost competition and productivity across the economy.
Launching the plan in a speech to the Australian Business Economists in Sydney, Chalmers is hoping the plan will will incentivise states to achieve productivity gains through pro-competitive policies such as streamlining commercial planning and zoning, and removing barriers to the uptake of modern construction methods.
In March this year, on behalf of the Council on Federal Financial Relations, I asked the Productivity Commission to model the potential impacts of a revitalised NCP.
Its final report landed this month and the benefits on offer are substantial, if not staggering. The PC found a revitalised NCP could boost GDP by up to $45bn a year and reduce prices by 1.45 percentage points. That GDP boost represents about $5,000 per household, per year.
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