Defence minister Richard Marles says protests made to Beijing over ‘unacceptable’ altercation that forced pilot on UN mission to avoid being hit
The federal government has accused a Chinese fighter jet of dropping flares dangerously close to an Australian helicopter on a United Nations mission in international waters.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, branded the incident “unacceptable”.
Continue reading...Deputy prime minister says Australia remains committed to Ukraine’s war effort as it struggles to hold back Russian advances
The Australian government has announced a new $100m assistance package for Ukraine, which includes munitions and military equipment, during a visit to the country by the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles.
Australia’s package will include $50m in military assistance, including $30m towards uncrewed aerial systems, and $15m towards other high-priority equipment such as combat helmets, rigid hull inflatable boats, boots, fire masks and generators.
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PM ‘absolutely’ confident supermarket review will reduce prices for consumers
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to ABC News Radio, also weighing in on Craig Emerson’s supermarket review.
Including the Senate review … we’ve already announced our funding of Choice, the consumer organisation, to do quarterly price monitoring, ensuring that consumers know where the best deal is available and using that use of information to drive that competition through the system.
We’ve only got a few supermarkets in Australia and it does concentrate a lot of market power in the hands of the retailers, [so] heavy fines might be the way to go. I certainly wouldn’t stand in the way of that.
And I know many people, particularly in one of the richest cities in the world in Sydney, are doing it incredibly tough when you’ve got the dual hits of both interest rate rises and high inflation.
Continue reading...Coalition MP Colin Boyce claimed highest travel allowance of $29,623 for third quarter in 2022, while Adam Bandt claimed $15,309 for plane charter
Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles have defended themselves and their colleagues over millions in taxpayer-funded expenses claimed by federal politicians, as political spending again comes under the microscope after the release of long-delayed reports.
The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (Ipea) this week published new reports giving the public insight into how politicians spend public funds on office expenses and travel.
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Continue reading...The reason Anthony Albanese cited for declining sounds very familiar. Almost like the Coalition said the much the same thing
The Australian government’s decision to rebuff a US request to send a warship to the Red Sea has been greeted in some quarters as a seismic event, but it’s not really a bolt from the blue.
Australia is facing “an increasingly challenging strategic environment which is placing greater demand on ADF resources closer to home”, a senior Australian political figure said.
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Up to 49 tonnes of illicit drugs prevented from reaching Australia
Australian federal police and international law enforcement partners have prevented up to 49 tonnes of illicit drugs from reaching Australia throughout the past financial year.
The AFP cannot overstate the amount of harm that 29 tonnes of methamphetamine could have caused to the community if it had not been intercepted by law enforcement.
On average, close to 12,000 Australians are hospitalised from methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin use every 12 months.
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No move on paying super to people on paid parental leave
But so far, the government has not moved on paying superannuation to parents (mostly women) on paid parental leave.
Super, of course, is really important and it’s something we would very much like to look to in the future when the budget can afford it. But this is a very big step forward, the current arrangements, but we’ll continue to look around superannuation into the future and consider it in each budget context.
I think with the reserved period as well, we’re going to see an increase in shared care, both parents taking some time out, which is really, really important if we want to get a more equal burden of, you know, of that share of care.
So that is really important as well.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...David Shoebridge says statement calls into question deputy PM’s claim that keeping flight details secret complies with the rules, but Marles insists all his travel accords with ‘the relevant guidelines and security procedures’
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has been accused of not telling the truth in an answer to parliament by claiming he complied with guidelines on the use of taxpayer-funded VIP flights, despite failing to give details of $3.6m of flights he authorised.
Guidelines in place since 2013 oblige the government to make details of flights public every six months. But the former Coalition government ended that practice, citing a pending security review by the federal police, finance department and others.
Continue reading...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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Tasmanian hospitals experiencing significant demand, public asked to reconsider attending
Tasmanians are being urged to stay away from the state’s two main hospitals unless it’s an emergency as they face “significant demand”.
The hospitals are closely managing elective surgery activity to maintain access for emergency demand. This includes working with private hospitals to access contracted bed capacity and elective surgery.”
I think the Qantas board has to seriously consider some of the decisions that they have been making. I mean, not for nothing, you’re in front of the competition watchdog for what is alleged to be quite egregious behaviour.
You have also sought to, as I said, keep on your balance sheet half a billion dollars of your customers’ money rather than giving it back in the middle of a cost of living crisis. (The flight credits)
Continue reading...Heckling, outrage and claims of ‘appeasement’ as stage-managed debate at ALP event gives way to genuine disagreement
There was a personal defence from Anthony Albanese. Aukus supporters lobbed claims of “appeasement” at its critics, which were angrily rejected by a Labor MP and leftwing unions. But in the end, Labor finally thrashed out its position on the Aukus nuclear-submarine acquisition.
Late on Friday morning, the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, and the defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, sought to head off a party conference showdown, moving a 32-paragraph statement that argued spending $368bn on nuclear submarines would enhance Australia’s national security.
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Continue reading...Military thinktank says plan to deploy ‘yet to be acquired’ weapons would ‘risk further escalation for no prospect of gain’
Australia’s push to develop and deploy its own missiles lacks credibility as a means to deter conflict unless backed up by US support, a new paper warns.
The report, published by the Australian Army Research Centre, points to the Australian government’s desire to increase the country’s “self-reliance”.
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Continue reading...Deputy PM will offer reassurances on nuclear non-proliferation and waste amid grassroots dissent over the program
The Albanese government will stare down union and grassroots Labor dissent against the Aukus nuclear-submarine acquisition, offering reassurances about non-proliferation and waste but rejecting hostile motions at the party’s national conference.
The deputy prime minister and defence minister, Richard Marles, and the defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, will move a 32-paragraph statement arguing the submarines are important to deter “aggression” and committing to deliver “well paid union jobs”.
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Continue reading...EY criticised for lack of disclosure on Santos work during parliamentary inquiry. Follow today’s live news updates
Question of whether vape ban to be legislated by commonwealth or states, Butler says
Mark Butler was also asked about the government’s plan to ban all disposable vape products. He said they are working on it “furiously” with eight other jurisdictions for a uniform approach, but haven’t got a set timeframe yet.
… which will be, you know, difficult, complex and probably take some time.
We know that there will be a furious response by the industry – there has been every time we tried to regulate nicotine or tobacco – so we want to make sure that we get this right.
And one of the real problems is we don’t know how much nicotine. This black market that’s flourished [is] cynically targeted at kids.
You can tell that through the fact that they’re bubblegum flavoured and they’ve got pink unicorns on them. It’s not as if those sorts of things are targeted at the middle-aged hardened smoker.
In addition to that … small rural pharmacies, which is the vast bulk of them, will receive 100% of the reduction in dispensing income – that’s over and above the additional investment we’re making in all pharmacies across the country – which will amount … to hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from taxpayers through the course of this four-year period.
Continue reading...Ministers’ meeting focused on military cooperation and agreed to increase ‘tempo’ of US nuclear-powered submarine visits to Australia as part of Aukus pact
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has pushed back at the Australian government’s calls to end the pursuit of Julian Assange, insisting that the WikiLeaks founder is alleged to have “risked very serious harm to our national security”.
After high-level talks in Brisbane largely focused on military cooperation, Blinken confirmed that the Australian government had raised the case with the US on multiple occasions, and said he understood “the concerns and views of Australians”.
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Continue reading...Four people were on board the Australian army helicopter when it went down at about 10.30pm on Friday in Whitsundays
Four pilots are feared dead after an Australian army helicopter crashed into water off Hamilton Island in Queensland on Friday night, with search and rescue teams discovering aircraft debris.
As the search continues, the Australian Defence Force has announced a temporary pause on the use of MRH90 helicopters as a precaution.
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No campaign ‘offers no solutions and no vision’: young Indigenous leaders
The youth declaration urged Australians to educate themselves on the change, claiming “the no campaign offers no solutions and no vision for our young people’s futures, or our families and communities”.
We are excited that our Uluru Youth Dialogue, as the leading and only youth-led campaign, will be at the forefront of this referendum working alongside the senior leaders of the Uluru Dialogue.
These statistics are important. They paint a picture of a media debate that has shut out young people and their voices. Especially the voices of First Nations young people.
It is our future. Young people are crucial to this movement. We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, carrying forward the spirit and legacies of warriors before us.
Continue reading...Aukus requests would be handled faster than almost all applications ‘other than from Taiwan and Ukraine’
Australian requests for US military equipment would be handled faster than almost all applications “other than from Taiwan and Ukraine” under a proposal before the US Senate.
The Australian government has long viewed the complex web of US export controls as a potential barrier to the Aukus security partnership.
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Continue reading...Four-day operation results in 1,107 domestic violence charges being laid against 592 people. Follow live
‘Textbook fiscal policy’ from Labor about getting economy ‘in nick’
Chalmers is asked whether it’s possible to control inflation without the unemployment rate growing further.
Remains to be seen.
We’ve got the budget in better nick, not the expense of the economy but in addition, and cost-of-living help is targeted in out-of-pocket health costs, electricity, rent and some particular pressure points. We found $40 billion of savings over two budgets compared to zero in savings in the last Liberal budget.
So all of those things are about get getting the economy in nick at the same time we provide help for people to get through through a difficult period.
The point that Michele Bullock was making in that speech, which, again, I think is relatively uncontroversial, is that as the Reserve Bank forecast and the treasury forecasts, have inflation moderating in coming months, they have a tick-up in unemployment. I’ve been upfront. The challenges in the economy are unsubstantial, globally and domestically, I think the slow-down is expected in the forecasts to be significant. That will have implications for the unemployment rate, which is the point that Michele Bullock was making.
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