Category Archives: Anthony Albanese

Australia news live: Elise Archer resigns from Tasmanian parliament after ultimatum from premier; fire tears through Kings Cross hostel

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Jeremy Rockliff writes to Elise Archer asking that she advise whether she will remain in parliament

No property loss in hunter region bushfires, NSW RFS deputy commissioner says

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, NSW RFS deputy commissioner Peter McAfee also provided an update on the bushfires in the Hunter region.

So some really great saves by firefighters in really challenging conditions.

We still have some high fire danger days right across northern NSW with with extreme up in the north-west, so it’s not over this period of fire activity, but some good news to see that change moving through the southern part of the state.

It really was a serious incident there right into the evening, with crews protecting properties throughout.

We’ll have our teams in there at daylight this morning. They’re already getting in there, just looking at exactly what’s occurred. It’s [was] too dangerous to do all that work overnight.

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Hanson-Young labels Dutton’s voice campaigning ‘sinister’ – as it happened

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Residents of Pine Scrub and Leeka in Tasmania urged to leave amid out of control fire

A bushfire emergency warning has been issued to the Tasmanian communities of Pine Scrub and Leeka.

Burning embers may threaten your home before the main fire arrives.

Smoke and ash may make it difficult to see and breathe.

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Voice to parliament referendum: early voting opens as yes and no campaigners hit the hustings

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Early polling locations open in Victoria, Tasmania, WA and NT with other states to follow on Tuesday

Campaigners for both sides of the Indigenous voice referendum have hit the hustings as early voting opens across the country.

The yes and no campaigns have less than two weeks to make their case over whether to enshrine an Indigenous advisory body in the constitution.

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Penny Wong refuses to release documents related to Qatar Airways decision – as it happened

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The foreign minister claims public interest immunity over Dfat advice. This blog is now closed

Rishworth won’t confirm adoption of any disability royal commission recommendations, ahead of report release

Families and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has refused to confirm if the government will be adopting any of the recommendations made in the disability royal commission report ahead of its public release today.

I’m not going to comment on any specific recommendations.

Obviously, we need to also make sure people with disability have choice and control.

You never change a country for the better through fear, you change it through hope and optimism and compassion and justice.

That’s what this referendum is about.

This is a body that won’t provide funds, that won’t run programs, that will just give advice to the government, and that experience of past bodies, and issues that have arisen has been factored in by Indigenous Australians when they’ve made this request.

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China lifts trade restrictions as relationship improves – as it happened

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Trade minister Don Farrell welcomes ‘positive step forward’ but says Australia pressing for all remaining restrictions to be lifted. This blog is now closed

Chalmers also declared the government is not “currently contemplating” a fuel subsidy, as prices continue to rise.

It comes after new data released yesterday showed cost of living is still increasing, with fuel costs jumping 9.1% in August, gas up 12.9% and electricity 12.7%.

It’s not something that we are currently contemplating. And one of the reasons for that is we’ve got I think, a much better way of providing cost of living help for people.

Historically, what the Reserve Bank tries to do is to understand the overall direction of travel.

And the direction of travel has been really clear, inflation is moderating overall, we’ll get these bumpy and lumpy figures month to month from time to time, but it’s moderating overall.

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Anthony Albanese to accelerate transition to low emissions after voice referendum

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Exclusive: PM says the ‘right decisions’ are needed to ensure Australia emerges a winner in the global race to renewable energy

Anthony Albanese has signalled he will do more to accelerate the transition to low emissions after the voice referendum has concluded, declaring the “right decisions” are needed to ensure Australia emerges a winner in the global race to renewable energy.

Albanese’s signpost during an interview with Guardian Australia’s politics podcast comes as the government is working up a policy response to challenges and opportunities created by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act ahead of the prime minister’s visit to Washington in late October.

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Australia news live: Jacinta Allan expected to become new premier of Victoria after Dan Andrews resigns; Tesla battery storage fire in Queensland

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Bill Shorten says Allan is a ‘leader in her own right’; rule quirk means Labor may have acting premier

Andrews’ handling of pandemic ‘a legacy of his strength’, Bill Shorten says

NDIS minister and former Labor leader Bill Shorten has spoken highly of outgoing Victorian premier Daniel Andrews while speaking to ABC RN this morning.

I think the pandemic was the most unusual period in Victoria … and I think that we were learning a lot as we went along during that.

When I think back to those first few days, in March 2020, I think the aim was to ensure that we had enough hospital space to be able to treat people if they got very sick, and that required, I think, a high degree of central leadership.

Police will continue to monitor the situation as there are a large number of batteries on site … Nearby residents are urged to monitor [social media] and be prepared for police to door-knock homes in the area if the situation worsens.

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Deputy premier puts hand up for Victoria’s top job – as it happened

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Canterbury Road fire: firetrucks wetting down area

Supt Adam Dewberry with Fire and Rescue NSW has just provided us with an update on the factory fire on Canterbury Road in Sydney’s south-west.

Vacancy rates under 1% in most of these suburbs show the immense strain on housing availability. When you’re allocating nearly half your income on rent … the financial stress becomes unbearable.

Our index is more than just numbers; it’s a call to action. Policymakers and stakeholders need to acknowledge this growing crisis.

The relentless climb in rent and plummeting vacancy rates are not just statistics but indicators of a quality of life that is rapidly deteriorating for Australian renters.

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Anthony Albanese tells Peter Dutton he will set up bipartisan committee to legislate on voice to parliament if yes vote succeeds

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Speaking at the same Yes23 campaign launch in Sydney, Julian Leeser says ‘Australians aren’t a perfect people … but are good-hearted’

Anthony Albanese has sought to allay concerns about the design of the voice by telling Peter Dutton he will set up a bipartisan committee to legislate the advisory body, if the referendum is successful.

The prime minister revealed the move at the launch of the Uniting Church’s Yes23 campaign in Sydney on Sunday. At the same event the Liberal MP and voice advocate Julian Leeser urged Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians to move from “being strangers from each other to being siblings of this great land”.

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Smorgasbord of conspiracy theories join forces at Sydney’s unofficial no rally – as it happened

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And now that I’ve introduced you to the “wanking off the dolphin” story, I’m going to skedaddle. Jordyn Beazley is set to steer the mighty blog ship for the next little bit, enjoy!

Our reporter Ben Doherty has been following developments at the UN this week and here’s the top of his story on Penny Wong’s speech, which was delivered in New York this morning Australian time.

With its special responsibility as a permanent member of the security council, Russia mocks the UN every day it continues its illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine.

The rest of the permanent members and all member states must be unyielding in our response to Russia’s grave violation of Article II of our shared UN charter.

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Lidia Thorpe may ‘pull back’ on voice opposition if Labor does more on Indigenous deaths in custody

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Exclusive: Independent senator says Anthony Albanese ‘needs to act’ on recommendations of 1991 royal commission

The independent senator Lidia Thorpe has said she could “pull back” on opposing the voice if the government commits to implementing recommendations of the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, urging Anthony Albanese to announce action before referendum day.

Thorpe told Guardian Australia this week that she was “not necessarily campaigning” against the voice but was hoping for a no result, and agreed with no campaign leader Warren Mundine’s claim that treaties would be more likely in the event the referendum fails.

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Uluru Dialogue accuses Dutton of ‘deception’ over voice – as it happened

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Jim Chalmers is now on RN Breakfast, where he was asked by host Hamish McDonald whether he was reconsidering the stage-three tax cuts given much of the $22.1bn budget surplus comes from the taxes of “hard working Australians”.

Chalmers said the government has not changed its view on the tax cuts, which recent data showed will flow disproportionately to high-income earners and men:

Well, first of all, it’s partly a function that people are working more and earning more. The labor market is incredibly resilient given what’s coming at us from around the world. And so unemployment is lower than what many people anticipated. And wages have began growing again, and that’s a good thing too. And that’s one of the reasons why the budgets in better nick but also getting good better prices for our commodities and what that means for company tax.

We haven’t changed our view about the stage three tax cuts, but we have found a way to provide substantial cost-of-living relief for people on low and middle and fixed incomes, because we recognise people are doing it tough and they’ve been our priority.

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Anthony Albanese expected to announce inquiry into Australia’s Covid response – reports

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A three-strong panel will look into how governments responded, according to reports, but the opposition says it won’t have enough powers

A leading infectious diseases expert says an inquiry into the Covid pandemic must look at all aspects of governments’ responses, including factors beyond medical issues, such as decisions around lockdowns and school closures.

The federal government is on Thursday expected to announce a special commission of inquiry into the Covid pandemic, the Australian Financial Review reported late on Wednesday.

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Australia news live: Central Land Council executive condemns Jacinta Price’s ‘denial of history’ in press club comments as ‘disgraceful’

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The CLC executive – 90 elected members who represent 75 communities across nine regions – said comments insult survivors of 1927 Coniston massacre. Follow the day’s news live

New report combats ‘inaccurate assertions’ about teaching courses

Almost three-quarters of Australian teachers are satisfied with their training programs, a new report has found, undermining the suggestion poor course content is leading to workforce shortages in the field.

Rather than focusing on the unsubstantiated claim that teachers are generally dissatisfied with ITE programs, we should instead focus on the willingness and capacity of ITE providers to continually improve these programs.

This will require a shift in focus from policymakers - away from the overwhelming emphasis on ITE and towards effective, system-wide [development] that becomes a regular part of teachers’ workload rather than a bolt-on.

Not a preamble. Not a footnote in the Constitution. First Nations people want structural change that can make a practical difference.

A mechanism that can make children’s lives better. Not just something that will feel good - something that will do good.

As the Minister, I will go to the voice and say: ‘this school attendance program isn’t working’. Help me to get the best possible advice to fix it … From every corner of the country – about how we can do better.

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Australia news live: Indigenous voice no campaigner Warren Mundine says date of Australia Day should be changed

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Mundine says win for no vote more likely to lead to treaties; Walk for Yes events held around Australia

Asked about the Indigenous Advisory Council, Mundine says the body was “just a committee” that advised the Prime Minister and Cabinet “in ways that we could improve things”. He says this body was different to the proposal for the voice which will create unnecessary bureaucracy.

Well, the difference between us and the voice, as I said, we weren’t a representative body, we were made up of all different races. And we were experts in these areas of what needed to be done … and also we weren’t in the constitution. We were totally outside that.

This is one of the problems I had, and this is one of the [reasons] why I stepped away from the Uphold & Recognise movement, was because I didn’t see – why did we have to have it in the [constitution]? Because that creates a position that [Indigenous Australians] are always going to need help and are always victims, and I didn’t agree with that.

I say treaties in the plural sense because we have to recognise Aboriginal culture. Aboriginal culture is our First Nations, and the first thing we learn about life is that one nation cannot talk about another nation’s country, only those traditional owners of those countries can talk about those countries, and therefore when you talk about like a state treaty or a national-type treaty, it doesn’t make sense in our culture.

If it is a “no” vote, that’s when the real work starts. As Jacinta said, the senator, she said we have to have accountability. We are spending billions of dollars every year and according to Closing the Gap we are still not going places. We have to deal with that.

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Yes campaign ramps up with new $20m ad campaign and rallies around Australia

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Launch of ad promoting the yes vote ahead of the voice referendum coincides with Walk for Yes events in major cities

The yes campaign has stepped up its efforts ahead of the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum, launching a $20m advertising blitz as it holds ‘Walk for Yes’ rallies around the country.

The ad, which launches on Saturday across TV, digital, radio and print, features a young Indigenous boy who asks if he will “grow up in a country that hears my voice”.

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Burney decries ‘unbelievably racist and bullying’ treatment in candid remarks to NSW premier – as it happened

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Burney says Price’s comments ‘simply wrong’

Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney also described Jacinta Price’s comments as “simply wrong”.

It’s a real betrayal to the many families that have experienced things like Stolen Generations.

The idea that colonisation in any country ... doesn’t have long and far-reaching effects is simply wrong.

There are many people I’ve spoken to last night, this morning, that are very distressed and quite frankly, pretty disgusted. But I am going to focus on the goal here and that is a successful referendum.

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Opposition leader accused of being ‘chief propagandist’ – as it happened

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All eyes will be on the high court from about 10am, when it hands down its decision on whether Qantas illegally sacked its ground staff three years ago. The TWU brought the case and Qantas has appealed it all the way to the high court.

You can read some of the previous reporting here:

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Politics live: James Paterson calls for security vetting of Australian parliament staff in wake of UK espionage scandal

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Shadow home affairs minister calls for extra checks ‘at the very least for MPs who work on sensitive committees’. Follow today’s live news updates

Ley defends pharmacists’ opposition to 60-day dispensing rule for prescriptions

The interview then gets to the issue of pharmacists and the change the government made to allow for 60-day dispensing (two-for-one prescriptions) which will save chronically ill patients up to $180 a year (as well as money on less trips to the doctor, travel etc.) but will cost pharmacists up to $150,000 a year (from the fourth year of the change) in lost dispensing fees (plus people buying fewer ‘incidentals’ such as jelly beans).

I’ve been in contact with many pharmacists over recent weeks, including those who left their businesses and assembled here a couple of weeks ago and I really am concerned about the impact this policy change is going to have.

I’m hearing [about] pharmacies who are already laying off staff. They’re already letting people go and most importantly, they can’t continue to provide the previously free support services that they used to …

Because they’ve told me.

Because if the government has changed the contract it has with pharmacy and is paying them less, they have to change their business in response. It’s as simple as that.

I would like to absolutely recognise the contribution she has made. She has been a trailblazer for our party. She has changed national politics and I have seen the work that she’s done over many years, much of it very modest, very behind the scenes, very in community.

So people often think of her as a defence and foreign affairs minister. I’ve seen her as a local champion for Western Sydney, and disadvantaged people across this country, and I have yeah, I mean, I’ll be really sad to see her go.

Always standing up for Australia’s national interest and a safer, stronger region. It’s as simple as that.

I think we did extremely good work with the Solomon Islands and, indeed, with the Pacific and people are looking at this through the lens of Covid and suggesting that we could have done more when, in fact, travel was an impossibility. I think that issue is well and truly being put to bed.

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Yes campaign hopes to reignite momentum for voice with nationwide events and advertising blitz

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Campaigners are keen for federal politics to take a backseat so the campaign can get more attention

The yes campaign is looking forward to reigniting momentum in its campaign after the coming parliamentary sitting week – the last before the referendum on 14 October – with a nationwide series of major community events, performances and a further advertising blitz.

“The real campaign kicks off after Thursday,” a yes campaign source said, referencing the end of the parliamentary week. “It’s really a month-long campaign.”

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