Category Archives: Angus Taylor

Labor leaves door open for jobseeker recipients to work more hours before losing payments

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Treasurer says government won’t rule out adopting Peter Dutton’s proposal for social security recipients to be able to earn more before being penalised

The Albanese government has kept open the option of taking up the opposition’s proposal to increase the hours jobseekers can work before losing their payments.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, declined to rule out adopting the idea, saying the government was “always looking for ways to make it easier for people to participate in work”.

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Labor hits back at Coalition attacks on super changes – as it happened

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Coalition will return ‘fiscal discipline’ to economy: Taylor

Taylor then outlines the Coalition’s basic pitch ahead of the next election: everything stays the same – and more austerity.

The first thing we will do when we get back into government is to re-establish the fiscal guard rails and the discipline that comes with it for ministers, bureaucrats and everybody. That is how you do this. Tax won’t be the focus. It will be making sure the economy grows faster than ever.

When it comes to tax, you describe all of the tax concessions as a hit list. Does that mean you think the system is perfect, nothing should ever be touched on tax?

No, we think the stage-three cuts need to go in place.

Is there any tax concession you would not touch?

Well, David, you asked about the fiscal guard rails. The key to this is to have budget balance as an objective in the budget. Labor has taken that out of the budget. As I said to you last time I was on this program, you need to make sure the economy grows faster than your spending. Now, Labor has taken these objective ace way. So they have lost all discipline.

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Treasurer asks Australians ‘whether we can afford’ tax breaks on biggest superannuation balances

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Jim Chalmers defends potential change to super rules for balances over $3m as Coalition vows to oppose it

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has defended potential superannuation changes, asking Australians to consider “whether we can afford” to keep giving large tax concessions to the small number of wealthy people with multimillion dollar balances.

While insisting the Albanese government had made no firm decisions yet, Chalmers claimed it was “not especially controversial” to re-evaluate how tax concessions flowed to people with the highest super balances.

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Australian missing in Turkey found alive but two still unaccounted for – as it happened

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Ley denies opposition is a ‘no-alition’

Karvelas:

The prime minister use the word ‘no-alition’ to describe your political strategy this week – the reconstruction fund and your opposition to that, which was revealed this week. Is this opposition going to take the Tony Abbott approach, and just oppose everything?

Not at all. We just want the government to deliver on their promises. And we’re not giving them blank checks on the national reconstruction fund, either, because it’s $15bn. They haven’t explained how it will benefit our manufacturing sector with the imperatives right now that the industry sector needs.

The IMF has warned against these off-budget vehicles as $45bn of them in the government’s plan. And it’s not a plan for the economy as it is now. It’s not a plan for rising costs of living, for rising inflation. It’s not a plan that even makes the government’s own promises. So we’re just saying just deliver on your promises, prime minister.

Julian Leeser asked a perfectly sensible question in question time yesterday, which was about which part of the Calma-Langton report would you adopt? … It was a basic question about detail. The prime minister just didn’t even answer one single part of it.

But you could be part of the process. The prime minister is saying be part of the process.

We are part of the process … but if the prime minister can’t answer a simple question that wasn’t the least bit political, it was asked in a very flat, factual manner in parliament. And if he answered that in a political way, what that tells me [is] he’s politicising the debate. But I agree, I don’t want to see this politicised.

We don’t really have any guardrails around a final outcome with detail that lands exactly where we want it to, which is in the health and welfare of Indigenous Australians. … the prime minister has tied that to the concept of the voice but he can’t explain it. So until he provides the details, I believe it’s actually the Labor party that is putting reconciliation at risk.

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Angus Taylor behind decision to delay energy price rise report until after 2022 election

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Exclusive: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has revealed Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg also knew of the decision

The former energy minister Angus Taylor asked his department to consider delaying telling voters about electricity price rises before the May election, then made the decision to do so.

Taylor told media in October that he didn’t know about incoming price rises and that he didn’t see the Australian Energy Regulator’s report proposing to increase the default market offer. In May last year, a spokesperson for Taylor rejected claims the delay was for political reasons.

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Stuart Robert told lobbyist not to donate to Angus Taylor fundraising group as ‘it will be declared and it will hurt you’

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Exclusive: Private emails from 2018 show Robert advised Synergy 360 boss not to join supporter network for Liberal colleague

The federal Liberal MP Stuart Robert told a lobbyist and potential donor not to donate to colleague Angus Taylor’s fundraising group as it would need to be declared and “it will hurt you”, emails obtained by Guardian Australia reveal.

Robert was sent an email from his friend David Milo, the chief executive of lobby group Synergy 360, inquiring about an invitation he had received to join the Hume Forum, “the official supporters’ network of federal minister and member for Hume, Angus Taylor”.

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2 October 2018: the ECE tender opened – three companies including Infosys were shortlisted.

29 May 2019: the member for Fadden was appointed minister for human services and the NDIS.

26 June 2019: leaked emails reveal the minister met Infosys and his good friend Milo, a paid consultant to Infosys, in Sydney.

2 July 2019: final valuation was submitted – negotiations on value and period of contract continued for another four months.

8 November 2019: Infosys was awarded the first of four contracts valued at $18m.

19 November 2019: the minister met Infosys.

30 December 2019: the minister met his friend Milo on the Gold Coast, which triggered an email from Milo saying “minister gave insights on progress of Infosys and future opportunities”.

1 February 2020: the minister was guest speaker at an Infosys conference at Melbourne Park on the afternoon of the Australian Open tennis finals.

1 July 2020: Infosys was awarded a further $142m contract.

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Dutton given official warning by Speaker – as it happened

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How can strengthening federal laws stop the destruction of sacred heritage sites?

Tanya Plibersek:

I think I think it’s really worth having a look at the two inquiries that the the parliament undertook into the Juukan Gorge destruction because it describes not just the failure of laws, but the failure of process and the failure of people to listen and that happened at the commonwealth level and it also happened at the West Australian state government level.

The other thing that it describes is a company that paid lip service to consultation and really, you know, really didn’t do what it should have done when Aboriginal people said you can’t blow up caves that are 46,000 years old, that have examples of continuous use and habitation that you know, the site of finds like a 4,000-year-old hair belt, and tools that are tens of thousands of years old.

There’s absolutely a sense of urgency to ensure that this sort of cultural heritage destruction doesn’t happen again.

I completely agree with that, but a very strong message from the the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance is also that they genuinely want to sit at the table to work through these issues in partnership and cooperation.

Yeah, I’m not going to put I’m not going to put a timeline on it yet. I think that’s something that we determined as we work through the complexity of these issues, and there are a lot of complexities involved.

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Peter Dutton sidelines Scott Morrison allies in shadow cabinet as Nationals take six spots

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Angus Taylor becomes shadow treasurer, but Alex Hawke gets no position in a shadow cabinet with 10 women

Allies of Scott Morrison have been dumped from the shadow cabinet and senior conservatives promoted in a reshuffle stamping Peter Dutton’s mark on the Liberal party.

Dutton and the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, announced the shadow ministry in Brisbane on Sunday, revealing it will include 10 women, with six Nationals in cabinet.

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More than 90% of Australia’s fuel imported – leaving country vulnerable to shortages, report says

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Experts say not enough is being done to reduce petrol consumption and encourage uptake of electric vehicles

Almost all of Australia’s fuel supply is imported, leaving the country vulnerable to shortages, a thinktank has warned in a new report accusing the government of not doing enough to reduce and replace demand.

As the war in Ukraine puts the global fuel supply in sharp focus, the Australia Institute found that 91% of Australia’s fuel in the 2021 financial year was imported (including 68% imported as refined crude, as well as 71% of the fuel refined here).

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Coalition tries for third time to let renewable energy agency fund technologies using fossil fuels

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New rules could allow Arena to back developments that use CCS, such as that of ‘blue’ hydrogen made with gas, Senate hears

The Morrison government has launched a third attempt to change the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) to allow it to fund a broader range of technologies, including some using fossil fuels.

The Senate has twice in the past year used a disallowance motion to block new regulations introduced by the energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, to expand Arena’s remit to include backing technologies such as hydrogen made with gas and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

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Icac queries Barilaro grant to company linked to Angus Taylor’s family

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Icac refuses to confirm or deny if it’s investigating, but has asked questions about the $107,000 grant

New documents reveal the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption has asked detailed questions about a $107,000 grant made by the former deputy premier, John Barilaro, to Monaro Farming Systems, a company linked to the family of federal cabinet minister Angus Taylor.

The grant was paid out of Local Land Services funds – part of Barilaro’s then portfolio of regional NSW – in 2018, and was announced by the deputy premier.

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Projections suggest Australia could meet 2030 emissions target without using Kyoto credits

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Prime minister Scott Morrison wanted to announce the policy shift at a weekend summit but he’s not yet secured a speaking spot

The Morrison government will release updated national greenhouse gas emissions projections that claim Australia is nearly on track to meet the target for 2030 it set under the Paris agreement.

An annual emissions projection report to be released on Thursday shows the government now estimates emissions in 2030 will fall just short – by 56m tonnes – of meeting its target of a 26-28% cut compared to 2005 levels if Australia doesn’t deploy Kyoto credits to hit the target.

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Australian politics live: Coalition to put forward IR changes; cruise ship ban extended

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Fair Work Commission to be given power to approve agreements that don’t guarantee workers are better off overall. Follow all the latest updates

Earlier, the Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary, Sally McManus, set out the union movement’s objection to the “extreme” industrial relations bill.
Those are:

On the other side of that debate:

Take the sand out of your ears – and let's hope we can soften your hearts. Because all this legislation does is push people further and further in the ground. Please Senators, vote no to this horrendous legislation. My full speech: https://t.co/MTYbj02hyw

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Labor calls on Josh Frydenberg to front Covid-19 inquiry to explain jobkeeper ‘$60bn black hole’

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Penny Wong says treasurer should have ‘the courage’ to take responsibility for error as Coalition faces calls to expand wage subsidy

Labor will attempt to pressure the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, to appear before the Senate’s Covid-19 inquiry to explain the “$60bn black hole” in the jobkeeper program.

The move comes as the Morrison government faces growing calls to expand the wage subsidy to cover a wider group of workers, after revelations on Friday that the six-month program is now expected to cost the budget $70bn rather than $130bn.

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Coalition credibility is only as strong as its weakest link – and right now that’s Angus Taylor | Malcolm Farr

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There’s no evidence the minister did the dodgy document deed himself. But someone did and it’s hard to believe he doesn’t know who

There are 13 people who should be able to help resolve the Angus Taylor mystery – and help the energy minister get it off the political agenda.

They are the 13 who downloaded the Sydney City Council annual report 2017-18 between Friday 6 September and Monday 9 September last year.

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Angus Taylor and Scott Morrison won’t be able to brush off uncomfortable questions much longer | Malcolm Farr

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As Australia moves back to normal activities, the Coalition will be held to account on standards of integrity

It has taken a cruel and untamed global disaster to draw attention from the government’s record of questionable integrity standards.

That record is bulging with episodes of controversial conduct, and they are not going to disappear into post-coronavirus history.

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No evidence doctored documents Angus Taylor used to attack council existed on website, NSW police say

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NSW police also say they asked to interview energy minister, but all questions were answered by his lawyers

New South Wales police says it found no evidence that the document Angus Taylor’s office used to attack City of Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore ever existed on the council’s website, casting renewed doubt on the minister’s explanation.

Taylor has repeatedly insisted that the false document he used to wrongly attack Moore for her travel-related emissions was downloaded from the council’s own website.

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Liberal MP says Coalition needs to look at a 2050 net zero emissions target – politics live

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Trent Zimmerman says Australia needs to look beyond good target for 2030 as we head into Glasgow. All the day’s events, live

It’s time for who’s that MP?

It’s Andrew Wallace.

Asked about the Nationals (and some Liberals) who claim a net zero 2050 emissions target would bring about end of days, Trent Zimmerman tells the ABC:

No-one is saying that getting to 2050 with a net zero target is an easy task. It is a challenge.

We know in many areas we are doing really well.

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Chaos in parliament over Coalition’s union-busting bill – politics live

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Scott Morrison announces cut in number of government departments as part of public service overhaul. All the day’s political news, live

Labor is moving a motion saying the government’s attempts to push the union-busting bill through without debate was “anti-democratic”.

Better still is this bit of the motion:

This is a prime ministerial tantrum, with the prime minister of Australia behaving like a juvenile schoolyard bully just because he didn’t get his way last week.

We’re now moving through the votes for the government’s union-busting bill.

A side note - this is the 100th division to take place in the House for this sitting fortnight.

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Police ask Clover Moore for statement on Angus Taylor – politics live

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Sydney lord mayor approached by police investigating accusations the emissions reduction minister relied on a falsified document to attack her. Follow all the day’s political news live

That’s where we’ll leave the live blog for the day. Thanks for following along.

It’s been another messy day. Many say the medevac repeal has made it one of parliament’s darkest.

Another development on the Angus Taylor front.

The City of Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, has been approached by police to provide a statement for their investigation into accusations Taylor relied on a falsified document to attack her travel-related emissions. The council said in a statement:

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