Category Archives: Anthony Albanese

Chris Bowen defends energy price relief plan – as it happened

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Households expected to save around $230 on average after national cabinet agrees to energy price cap scheme. This blog is now closed

Mountain mist frog’s call preserved on Songs of Disappearance

Sticking with the mountain mist frog, which has just been declared extinct, a kind reader has just sent me a Spotify link to a recording of its calls, as part of a collection called Songs of Disappearance. The frog has not been seen for 20 years.

We know what’s causing this crisis: habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change. We know the solutions to the crisis: stronger environment laws, stronger climate action and increased investment in habitat protection and restoration.

The Albanese government is heading in the right direction by instituting an overhaul of our flawed national environment law, but it must not delay or cut corners.

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$1.5bn energy price relief package for Australians including caps on coal and gas

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Treasury advised the PM and premiers not to deliver the rebates as cash handouts due to risk of fuelling inflationary pressure

Canberra and the states have agreed to cap coal and gas prices, and provide additional rebates for Australians on low and middle incomes, as part of a $1.5bn intervention that will shave hundreds of dollars off power bills.

After a national cabinet meeting on Friday, governments have agreed to cap gas prices temporarily at $12 per gigajoule and cap coal prices at $125 per tonne. Parliament will be recalled next week to implement the change.

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Australia news live: national cabinet to discuss energy fix; Victorian Labor poised to surpass 2018 ‘Danslide’

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Reducing bills will be main focus of virtual gathering of the prime minister, premiers and chief ministers. Follow all the day’s news

Ears to the ground as national cabinet meeting approaches

The rumour mill is running hot ahead of national cabinet. Here’s some of what people have been saying.

During an interview with Patricia Karvelas this morning, the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said:

Well, I’ve confirmed that certainly people will see a reduction in their bills … The reduction will happen not in a handout, but when they get their bill. It’ll be baked into the bill.

The NSW government is leading the push for a rebate, which is believed to have in-principle backing of the Albanese government. The rebate in NSW could be worth as much as $280 for households.

The temporary rebate would be in addition to existing energy rebates already offered in NSW and Queensland for low-income households and are designed to cover the six to 12-month gap until price rises are projected to flatten under coal and gas price caps.

The future is renewable. Let’s be very blunt. Coal-fired power stations are going to close. That’s a statement of fact. We need to replace them. The transition to renewables has been too slow, and too disorderly.

The task here is to ensure that new energy comes on not after coal-fired power leaves, because that’s too late, but before.

What this is, is the safety net under this transition to ensure we have reliable energy.

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Andrews government on track to surpass ‘Danslide’ – as it happened

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Government yet to cap wholesale coal price, but still aiming to land ‘before Christmas’, treasurer says

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is speaking to ABC Radio. RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas asks him:

Has the government resolved to cap the wholesale coal price at $125 a tonne and the gas price at $13 a gigajoule?

There hasn’t been a concluded view reached yet, and that’s because this is a challenge of such complexity and such consequence for industry and for Australians around the country, that it needs to be a genuine partnership between governments and that requires all sides to come to the table in a reasonable and a constructive way, which recognises that one level of government can’t fix this all on its own.

The need for Aukus is even clearer today. More than ever, our three countries share of similar outlook on the key challenges and opportunities confronting our world. Aukus will enhance our shared ability to sustain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, and since creating this trilateral security partnership our defense forces, industries, and scientific communities have been hard at work. Over the past 15 months we’ve made great progress toward identifying a pathway for Australia to acquire conventionally armed and nuclear-powered submarines. Today on behalf of President Biden, I want to reaffirm the US commitment to ensuring that Australia acquires this capability at the earliest possible date, and in adherence with the highest nonproliferation standards.

And central to that is Australia being able to acquire a nuclear-powered, highly capable submarine and we are deeply grateful for the work that we’ve been able to do with both the UK and the US to enable Australia to acquire that capability. And it’s not lost on us the significance of the US and the UK, working together and transferring this technology to Australia. And there has been an enormous amount of work being done by our officials to bring this about, and obviously to bring today about. I think as we talk today, we’re all going to speak to the fact that we’re on track to be able to make this announcement in respect of what will be the optimal pathway for Australia to take in the first part of next year, which is what we have always intended to do.

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NSW ‘almost ready to sign up’ to coal price cap to provide energy price relief

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State’s energy minister, Matt Kean, says ‘It’s not about royalties, it’s all about consumers’, putting pressure on Queensland counterpart

New South Wales is prepared to agree to a price cap on coal without compensation to provide energy price relief to consumers and business, adding pressure on Queensland to follow suit.

Meanwhile, a meeting of energy ministers in Brisbane on Thursday has agreed, as expected, to move ahead with a so-called capacity investment scheme to help accelerate the take up of new storage in the electricity grid.

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Chinese ambassador hails ‘very successful’ meeting – as it happened

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The US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, is up next.

Austin says there will be an increase rotational presence of US navy and army troops in Australia. It will see more US air, land and sea forces in Australia.

Our mateship will stand as a bedrock of future peace and security.

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Melbourne Royal Children’s hospital 12-hour wait times blamed on summer viruses and lack of bulk-billing GPs

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Demand back to normal in emergency department after long wait times for some patients with less urgent illness

The Royal Children’s hospital in Melbourne is back to “normal” levels of demand after a surge on Monday night that led to emergency wait times of up to 12 hours.

Dr Sarah Arachchi, a general paediatrician who works across public and private hospitals in Melbourne, said a lack of bulk-billing doctors, summer viruses including Covid-19, and health anxiety among carers had led to the hospital having to urge people to seek alternative care if their child’s condition was not urgent.

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Bid to make key robodebt documents public blocked – as it happened

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Fans frustrated at last-minute World Cup arrangements

As fans and supporters made their way out of the Darling Harbour viewing site for the Socceroos’ round of 16 loss to Argentina, many expressed their frustration at the hastily organised event.

Lots of us got locked outside. It would have been good if they let some more people in. There were so many up there on stairs, it could’ve been more dangerous if they jumped around too much.

Six thousand people for a major sporting event is just not good enough. It looks like triple that number have turned up. It feels like they underestimated the number of people who would turn up today.

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PM urges climate ‘wake up’ amid floods; man mauled to death by dogs – as it happened

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fights extradition from Britain to US, where he is wanted on criminal charges. This blog is now closed

We now have more details from NSW authorities about the four-vehicle crash on Sydney’s Anzac Bridge shortly before midnight last night, which killed two people.

NSW police have named the two victims as a 25-year-old female from the local area and a 38-year-old man from Sydney’s south-west. A police representative has been speaking to reporters:

At about 11:45 last night, there was a minor collision on the Anzac Bridge involving two vehicles. A 25-year-old female and a 38-year-old male were exchanging details or doing what you need to do after you’ve had a minor collision.

At that point, there’s been another two vehicles that have become involved in that stationary collision. One was a taxi and the second was a Commodore. Tragically, the way those vehicles have collided into the stationary cars has impacted with the two pedestrians who were out on the road exchanging details and unfortunately those two people have been killed.

The last 12 hours have seen an absolute tragic number of road trauma incidents in NSW. Six people have lost their lives. Six families are grieving the loss of family members.

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Australia news live: interest rates tipped to rise next week; airport strike planned for next Friday called off

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Speaking on a panel of central bankers on Friday, Philip Lowe said it was possible to execute a soft landing for the economy. Follow live

Rishworth defends superannuation stance

There are still calls on the government to add superannuation payments to paid parental leave. Rishworth is asked if it’s something the government is committed to looking at in this term of parliament:

We’ve set up the women’s economic equality taskforce to look at a range of issues. Along with our childcare changes and our paid parental leave, we have really put women’s economic participation front and centre of this government, as a priority.

I think this is disingenuous by the opposition leader, there is plenty of detail of what a model would look like.

His party is clearly divided. He needs to be a leader when it comes to this.

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Lower house to return on Friday – as it happened

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The government services minister Bill Shorten was on ABC radio RN Breakfast when he learned the Medibank hackers had released all the customer information on the dark web.

Josh Taylor has reported on that here.

Our democracy is precious, our federal government is crucial to the success of the nation, and I know, as you do, that trust in our parliament, in our commonwealth, in politicians, has been falling dramatically. That’s a real problem and I really hope this begins to restore the trust.

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Albanese confident Queensland and NSW premiers will back plan to cut power prices

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PM tells business leaders his government is ‘working around the clock to deliver a solution’ and flags collaboration with states

Anthony Albanese has told business leaders he is “confident” the Queensland and New South Wales premiers will assist his government with a plan to reduce power prices for households and businesses.

The prime minister used a speech to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to provide an assurance that the government was “working around the clock to deliver a solution” and to flag collaboration with the states.

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Australian PM Anthony Albanese urges US government to end pursuit of Julian Assange

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Prime minister says he raised Wikileaks co-founder’s case with US representatives recently and will continue to push for it to be ‘brought to a close’

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says he has personally urged the US government to end its pursuit of Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange.

In his most in-depth comments about the diplomatically sensitive issue in months, Albanese said he had raised the Assange case “recently in meetings” with US representatives and he vowed to continue to press for it to be brought to a close.

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Labor adds extra week of Senate estimates – as it happened

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Milton Dick also makes these recommendations for things he believes may improve the parliament:

Offensive words or reflections on Members Standing Orders 88 to 90, for example, provide that Members should not use offensive words or cast adverse reflections on Members, but they do not refer specifically to language or behaviour that is sexist or otherwise exclusionary or discriminatory. Revisions to these Standing Orders, so that they explicitly include that this type of conduct is highly disorderly, would be advantageous to the Chair in ruling on such matters.

Education and procedural support

Sanctions against disorder Under Standing Order 94{a), the Speaker may direct a Member to leave the Chamber for one hour if the Member’s conduct is considered disorderly. At times, this direction to leave can be advantageous to a Member or be worn as a ‘badge of honour’.

If a Member’s conduct is grossly disorderly, the Speaker can choose to name the Member in accordance with Standing Order 94{b), but in practice this option is not often used and not used for ordinary offences. It would assist the Speaker to have additional options to sanction a Member for disorderly conduct. For example, choices for increased penalties of time, and/or the introduction of cascading penalties of time for continued disorder, would be a disincentive to Members to be ejected.

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Australia politics live: Dutton says Coalition won’t support motion to censure Morrison – but Archer says she is ‘inclined to’

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The censure motion against Scott Morrison over multiple ministries scandal will be debated in House of Representatives tomorrow. Follow the day’s news live

Bipartisanship cedes to brinkmanship in battle over integrity commission

Meanwhile, Mark Dreyfus is preparing to stare down the Liberals and the Greens over an amendment to the national anti-corruption commission legislation which Dreyfus says risks establishing the commission and the Liberals and Greens say will ensure it won’t be political.

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Australia politics live: Dodson ‘taken aback’ by Nationals’ call on Indigenous voice but doesn’t see it as a setback

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Coalition is alienating young voters, PM says

Over on ABC radio Melbourne, Anthony Albanese has been asked what he thinks about the Victorian election and the lessons for the Liberal party.

One of the things that we’re seeing, I believe is an alienation from younger voters from the Coalition.

When you have a position where you have senior members of the Coalition [who] can’t say that climate change is real in spite of the floods and bushfires and all of the evidence of the heating of the planet that we’re seeing, let alone any time something is put up to take action on climate change. They dismiss it.

[It] depends where you work. There will be some businesses, for example, which refuse to bargain with their staff where they used to and their staff where they used to and the better-off-overall test became too complex. Getting rid of the red tape we got there will bring some of the businesses back to the table straight away.

Also, any businesses that are concerned, like ... that actually don’t want to be involved in multi-employer bargaining, the simple fix for them is for them to negotiate with their staff now.

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Liberal MP may support Labor censure of Scott Morrison over secret ministries scandal

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Bridget Archer says she is considering her position regarding the censure, reiterates her dismay at the previous prime minister’s actions

Liberal MP Bridget Archer has indicated she may join a Labor government censure motion of former prime minister Scott Morrisonover his multiple secret ministries scandal.

On Monday Anthony Albanese’s cabinet endorsed all the recommendations of Virginia Bell’s inquiry and agreed to introduce legislation to formalise the publication of ministerial arrangements this week.

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Victorian election 2022 live results: premier Daniel Andrews and Matthew Guy make final pitches as state polls set to close – latest updates

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The Liberal leader needs to pick up 18 seats to form government outright in the Vic state election. Who is winning? Follow all the latest news, results, analysis and reaction tonight

Matthew Guy says he would redivert $2bn allocated to the Suburban Rail Loop

Returning to Victoria again, opposition leader Matthew Guy has appeared on Weekend Sunrise to say he hopes he’s convinced voters of his “positive and focused” plan.

Everywhere I have been on pre-polling booths ... this week, people are pretty clear they want the fresh start.

We want a reboot in this state, we want to come out of Covid-19 and put aside all the dark memories of the past, like the government that put us there.

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Australia news live: nude activists target fast fashion in Melbourne CBD; ANZ cops heat for bankrolling more emissions

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Police threaten to arrest protesters unless they leave store. Follow all the day’s news

Niki Savva also reports in her book that the shadow cabinet (of which Ley is the deputy leader) decided to downplay the issue.

ABC asks Ley if that was a mistake:

That’s not a description I would agree with. And I don’t comment of course on what happens in shadow cabinet.

Also revealed is that Josh Frydenberg put to Scott Morrison, you wouldn’t do it again, if you had you time over and Scott Morrison reportedly replied, ‘Yes, I would.’

Are you alarmed by that?

That’s a report of one person saying something to another. And you’re asking a third party who wasn’t privy to either.

Was this extreme overreach?

Well, I’m not a public commentator, I’m deputy leader of the opposition and both the former prime minister and the former treasurer are friends of mine and I actually note that they’re friends with each other, as Josh says in that report, so I’m not going to get into who said what and when.

But the question was, is it extreme overreach?

Well I’m just not a public commentator, I’m not going to engage.

With respect you’re the deputy leader of the Liberal party, you either think it’s extreme overreach, or you don’t.

I think the most important thing is what Peter Dutton and I said at the time – we will support any action or steps required to close the loophole that facilitated this and that includes legislative change, by the way.

So descriptions of what went on in the past, people can make those those comments, and they will and they have, but what I think people in the public need to hear is what we will do going forward and we have made that very clear.

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Scott Morrison sought advice on a sixth ministry and did not agree to be interviewed by inquiry

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Anthony Albanese says his government will accept all recommendations of Bell report on former PM’s secret ministries

Scott Morrison’s secret appointment to additional ministries was “apt to undermine public confidence in government” and was “corrosive of trust in government”, Virginia Bell has found.

In a report, released on Friday, the former high court justice said Morrison’s appointments to the health and finance ministries were “unnecessary” while three other appointments “had little if any connection to the pandemic”.

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