Category Archives: David Pocock

Coalition’s $50 jobseeker rise more generous than Labor’s proposal, Pocock says

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Albanese government risks being unfavourably compared to the Morrison government if it does not raise the payment for all, the key independent says

The Morrison government’s post-Covid decision to lift jobseeker payments by $50 a fortnight helped more people than the Albanese government’s mooted 55-plus budget proposal, the key crossbench senator David Pocock says.

With less than a week to go until the budget is handed down, advocates and MPs are becoming increasingly concerned the Albanese government’s second budget will not do enough to help those living below the poverty line, or help women re-enter the workforce.

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Australia news live: Andrew Hastie fires back after Mark McGowan ‘cold war pills’ comment caught on camera

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Coalition’s defence spokesperson calls WA premier ‘a prison guard looking for work’. Follow live

Voice committee heads north to hear traditional owners

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has defended the wording of the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament, dismissing fears of possible high court challenges, AAP reports.

This is a legally sound proposition. It makes it very clear that parliament is in charge.

There’s no obligation and there’s certainly not an obligation on the government to agree to the voice. There is the provision for the voice to be heard, for at least the views to be put.

That will be up to the government as a whole. I don’t know.

The reality is that we know that people are doing it tough, absolutely doing it tough. And what we want to do is where it’s responsible that we can – and affordable – that we can support people doing it tough.

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David Pocock wants urgent action on carbon credit system ahead of vote on key climate policy

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Crossbench senator’s support is crucial if government is to introduce planned revamp of safeguard mechanism

Independent senator David Pocock has urged the Albanese government to quickly implement all recommendations from a review of Australia’s carbon credit system, given it wants to introduce a climate policy that relies heavily on offsets.

Pocock’s is a key vote if the government is to introduce a planned revamp of the safeguard mechanism, a scheme that is meant to reduce carbon pollution from 215 big polluting industrial and resources sites.

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Greens to push Labor to fast-track 26 weeks of paid parental leave and pay superannuation on it

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Party joins chorus of super funds and crossbenchers who want to use government’s tax concessions bill to call for broader changes

The Greens will seek to push Labor to increase paid parental leave to 26 weeks sooner than planned and to pay superannuation on it through possible amendments to the government bill to reduce tax concessions for high super balances.

The Greens employment spokesperson, Senator Barbara Pocock, said women “shouldn’t have to wait” until 2026 for 26 weeks of paid parental leave (PPL), slamming Labor’s plan in the October budget to increase the entitlement by “a miserly two weeks year after year”.

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Teal MPs say capping superannuation at $3m might undermine confidence in saving for retirement

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Despite this pushback, most crossbench MPs remain open to debate, and several independent senators have spoken in favour of curbing some super tax concessions to help budget repair

Independent MPs including Kylea Tink, Zoe Daniel and Zali Steggall have said that capping superannuation balances at $3m may undermine the confidence of people saving for retirement.

The teals have joined the Coalition in warning against capping, which appears to be the most likely measure to implement Labor’s objective for super to be “sustainable and equitable”, saying the government should look to raise revenue elsewhere, including company profits and tax evasion.

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David Pocock wants stage-three tax cuts revisited in light of shrinking workforce

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ACT senator suggests ageing population with proportion of taxpayers declining means situation has ‘changed significantly’ since cuts legislated in 2019

New data on Australia’s ageing population and shrinking workforce should push the government to review the stage-three tax cuts, independent senator David Pocock has said.

Pocock said economic circumstances have “changed significantly” since the Morrison government legislated the tax cuts, with Labor’s support, in 2019.

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David Pocock and the Greens welcome Labor’s environmental reforms but push for more urgent action

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Crossbench says government’s response ‘moving in the right direction’ but lacks aspects such as a climate trigger and a pause on logging

The Greens and independent senator David Pocock have signalled they will expect the Albanese government to move more urgently to improve environmental protection if it is to win their support for conservation law changes next year.

On Thursday, the government released its response to the 2020 review of national environmental laws by the former competition watchdog Graeme Samuel. The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, announced a suite of proposed reforms, including a new environment protection authority and national environmental standards.

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David Pocock criticises official’s ‘inappropriate’ conduct after she confronted scientific group over carbon credit evidence

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Shayleen Thompson of the Clean Energy Regulator had ‘robust’ exchange with Wentworth Group director

The independent senator David Pocock has criticised a senior government official’s conduct as “troubling and inappropriate” after parliament heard she was involved in a “robust” conversation with a scientific group about its evidence to an independent inquiry into Australia’s carbon credit scheme.

Shayleen Thompson, the executive general manager of government agency the Clean Energy Regulator, told Senate estimates she contacted the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists to raise what she considered “factual issues” with its submission to the Chubb review into the carbon credit system.

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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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Australia politics live: Albanese accuses Dutton of ‘dog-whistling’ over Cop27 climate damage fund

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Buy now, pay later review has been coming for a while

The last time the issue was examined, under the previous government, it was decided the industry could regulate itself.

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News live updates: Medibank, Optus among companies shunning privacy law hearing in ‘collective failure of corporate Australia’

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Greens senator David Shoebridge has criticised notable absences at a Senate committee looking at privacy laws today. Follow the day’s news live

ADF personnel to help in NSW as government works on dedicated disaster workforce

Murray Watt is asked about a permanent disaster workforce to assist during national disasters and their clean-up, given the pressure put on the defence force.

The ADF does certainly play a role, particularly in the recovery phase. And just yesterday we activated more defence forces to go into western New South Wales to assist so over the next couple of days, we expect to see 200 defence force personnel helping there to top up these state-based services. But the reality is all of this is putting a huge amount of pressure, whether it be on those state-based services or the ADF. And that’s why in this budget, we committed over $30m to a volunteer veteran organisation called Disaster Relief Australia to sort of top up the kind of services that are available for communities, particularly in that clean-up phase.

But we’re going to be keeping on doing some work on this about what we need to put in place as a country to supplement the ADF and I’d be hopeful that we might be able to bring that to a conclusion around about the budget next year.

There’s insurance costs so let alone the huge damage bill that individuals are going to be incurring themselves.

So I think everyone is unfortunately going to be having to put their hands in their pockets for for this unfolding event that just won’t go away.

So even if we weren’t to get any more rain, we’re going to be looking at even more damage from the existing flood waters. And, as I say, I think we’re likely to see more. We’ve also got to remember that we haven’t yet seen the cyclone season start whether that be in north Queensland, Western Australia or Northern Territory. So unfortunately I haven’t got a lot of good news for people except for the fact that there is unlikely to be a lot of rain over the next couple of days. So that’s a good thing.

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Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock oppose Labor ‘rushing through’ workplace bill

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Albanese government has agreed amendments to get business on board but independent senators won’t be bullied into passing omnibus legislation

The Albanese government is ratcheting up pressure on Senate crossbenchers to support its contentious industrial relations legislation after Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock signalled concessions to employers were not enough to expedite the bill’s passage.

Labor used the resumption of federal parliament on Monday to welcome last week’s 15% pay rise for aged care workers and declare that other workers battling escalating cost-of-living pressures needed industrial regulations that worked in their interests, given inflation was now forecast to peak at 8%.

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Australia politics live: David Pocock withdraws comment after criticising ‘bullshit’ climate scepticism in Senate

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Labor is due to pass its climate bill through the Senate today. Follow the day’s news live

Looks like you can expect more questions for Kristy McBain in QT today.

Paul Fletcher dropped by doors as the opposition still try to make fetch happen:

We need to see the prime minister and his ministers demonstrate that they are taking compliance with the ministerial code seriously. The prime minister talked a great deal about integrity and accountability and he needs to explain how his code operates, how he’s satisfied that his ministers are in compliance with it. His ministers need to explain how that satisfied themselves that they are in compliance with the code.

We heard a lot from Mr Albanese … about new standards of integrity and accountability. This is now the first test, with a significant number of questions being asked about compliance with the ministerial code.

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Climate statements take centre stage at Midwinter Ball in protest over oil and gas sponsorship

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Greens leader Adam Bandt’s wife, Claudia Perkins, and Senator Sarah Hanson-Young wear dresses with slogans calling for end of fossil fuels

Parliament House’s Midwinter Ball was punctuated by climate change demonstrations as protesters outside and Greens politicians inside called on the government to phase out fossil fuels.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young wore a dress bearing the phrase “end gas and coal”, while the wife of Greens leader Adam Bandt, Claudia Perkins, arrived in a gown emblazoned with the slogans “coal kills” and “gas kills”. The fashion statements came after criticisms raised by Senator David Pocock and climate groups about fossil fuel companies Woodside and Shell sponsoring the annual press gallery ball.

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David Pocock to use Senate balance of power to push for waiving of ACT’s public housing debt

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Independent calls for $100m debt to be wiped as part of negotiations over Labor’s $10bn housing policy, which also faces Greens resistance

The new independent senator David Pocock will use his balance of power position in the Senate to push for the ACT government’s $100m public housing debt to be waived as part of negotiations over Labor’s new housing policy.

Legislation for the government’s new $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund also faces resistance from the Greens, with the party’s housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather saying the proposal is not “good enough” to secure support in the Senate.

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Labor’s climate bill set to pass with support from Greens and Bridget Archer

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Adam Bandt says Greens will back legislation but signals further fight on new fossil fuel projects, while the Liberal MP says she’ll cross the floor

The House of Representatives is moving towards passage of Labor’s bill enshrining emissions reductions targets for 2030 and 2050 after the Greens signalled they would support the legislation and Liberal MP Bridget Archer confirmed she would cross the floor.

After weeks of negotiations, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, confirmed on Wednesday his party would back the Albanese government’s legislation in both chambers, and king-making Senate independent, David Pocock, confirmed his priority was “getting a target locked in and legislated”.

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One Nation senators and David Pocock granted second adviser amid backlash over crossbench staff cuts

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More senators and MPs due to meet Anthony Albanese next week after crossbenchers warned cuts could slow Labor’s legislative agenda

One Nation senators and independent David Pocock have been granted an extra adviser each, as the Albanese government softens cuts to crossbench staff.

But the decision to give Pauline Hanson, Malcolm Roberts and Pocock six staff each instead of the slated five is unlikely to stem demands from independent MPs in the lower house that they need more staff too.

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Greens to seek changes to Labor’s integrity commission legislation to protect whistleblowers

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David Shoebridge reveals suite of amendments including budgetary independence and lowering bar to investigations

The Greens will seek to amend Labor’s integrity commission legislation to protect whistleblowers and lower the bar for investigations, in a test for government cooperation with the crossbench.

On Sunday the Greens justice spokesperson, David Shoebridge, revealed the party in the Senate would adopt a suite of amendments requested by transparency experts to align the Labor proposal with the crossbench bill championed by independent MP Helen Haines in the last parliament.

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Australian politicians respond to US abortion decision – as it happened

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Sussan Ley and Jason Clare react to US supreme court decision on abortion rights; Australia to send $1m earthquake relief to Afghanistan; nation records 26 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Sussan Ley: Roe v Wade overturning ‘a backward step for women’

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley says the US supreme court’s decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion is a “backward step for women in the US”.

This has been a step backwards for women in the US. I’m very discomforted by anything that puts a personal and sensitive issue that a woman has to grapple with in many instances, or a family has to grapple with, in the same sentence as criminal.

Thank God we are a country here in Australia where abortion is not an issue that divides the Labor party and Liberal party.

I’m thinking at the moment for the women who live in some of these states that are basically being told today that if you want to have an abortion then get on a bus and travel a couple of hundred kilometres.

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Senate may have a progressive majority as Greens and David Pocock make election gains

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If Saturday’s count points to the final result, Anthony Albanese’s government will not face a hostile upper house

While election night coverage was mostly focused on the House of Representatives, there has been a significant shift to the left, potentially setting up a progressive Senate majority, unlike the deadlock experienced by the first Rudd government.

Labor and the Greens hold only 35 seats in the outgoing Senate, meaning they need to win four more for the Greens to hold the sole balance of power. Labor will want to avoid the deadlock experience from 2008 to 2011, when Labor needed the Greens, Nick Xenophon and Family First senator Steve Fielding to pass legislation. This deadlock led the Rudd government to instead work with the opposition on climate legislation, among other issues, and thus opened up the space for Tony Abbott to wreck the government’s agenda.

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