What we learned: Wednesday 23 July
With that, we will wrap up the blog for this evening. I hope you have a great night. Here were today’s top stories:
The 48th federal parliament began today, with commotion in the Nationals party. Senator Bridget McKenzie rubbished suggestions that the junior Coalition partner is in “disarray”. This was after the former Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, hinted at leadership ambitions and backed his colleague – and occasional foe – Barnaby Joyce in support of his bill to repeal the net zero by 2050 policy.
The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi was sanctioned after the upper house agreed her decision to protest during the governor general’s address to parliament by raising a Gaza protest sign was “utterly disrespectful”.
The government confirmed Australia has made a second $800m payment to America’s shipbuilding industry, despite the Trump administration placing the Aukus agreement under review.
Labor will make domestic spy agency Asio’s powers for compulsory questioning permanent and expand offences covered by the rules, ignoring warnings from human rights advocates.
An independent review into an anti-racism conference at Queensland University of Technology found allegations of antisemitism were unfounded, while questioning the future purpose of the institute which presented it.
All children tested so far for sexually transmitted infections in the case of accused childcare paedophile Joshua Dale Brown have tested negative, the Victorian deputy premier, Ben Carroll, told reporters.
Also in Victoria, the first hearing of the parliamentary inquiry into the practices of cults and organised fringe groups was held.
And a leading doctor told the National Press Club a “slip, slop, slap”-style preventive campaign is needed for dementia, as new research shows cases of the disease could be delayed with no added cost.
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Bridget McKenzie rubbishes suggestion Nationals in ‘disarray’
Circling back to Afternoon Briefing, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has rubbished suggestions that the junior Coalition partner is in “disarray”.
The first day of the 48th federal parliament was partially consumed by commotion within the Nationals party.
It began with a front-page story in The Australia, in which the former Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, got behind his colleague – and occasional foe – Barnaby Joyce in support of his bill to repeal the opposition’s net zero by 2050 policy.
McCormack also hinted at a potential tilt at returning to the Nationals leadership, before the backbencher sought to quell those whispers on Sky News this afternoon.
David Littleproud is the leader … David, as he said this morning, will do what the party wants as the leader, and that is his obligation and duty. And I support David.
Other Nationals stayed mum when asked about their support for net zero by 2050 in a group press conference earlier this afternoon, with Matt Canavan saying he was “still thinking about it”.
McKenzie was asked about the day’s events as she was interviewed on the ABC, saying that Joyce was “fine to bring on whatever” bill he likes.
I will be the last person to tell senators and members they cannot stand up in Australian parliament for the things they believe in.
But to make too much of it, to suggest the National party are in disarray, the Coalition has issues around energy policy, it does extend the argument a bit too far.
She was also coy when asked for her view on net zero, and whether the policy was “dead” in the Nationals party room.
Both the Liberals and the Nationals are undertaking a review on their climate and emissions reduction policies following the Coalition’s crushing election defeat.
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Queensland government says state will ‘not be writing a blank cheque’ to Glencore over copper smelter
Global demand for copper is expected to double in the next 25 years, driven by the transition to renewable energy.
The sector is facing disruption due to an expansion of processing in China. The company estimates it would lose $2.2bn at the refinery in the next 7 years.
The Queensland minister for natural resources and mines, Dale Last, said the state government would negotiate in good faith, but:
We will not be writing a blank cheque for a multinational company that returned $2.2bn USD to its shareholders just months ago, and continues to act only on its global commercial priorities rather than in the interests of the Mount Isa and Townsville communities.
The Queensland government has put a genuine and responsible offer on the table to help secure the future of the Mount Isa copper smelter and Townsville refinery because the Crisafulli gGovernment backs our resources and minerals processing sectors and the hard-working families who rely on them, and we’re asking Glencore to do the same.
Our advocacy with the federal government continues because the competitiveness of smelters in Australia is a national issue, and it demands a national response.
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Glencore considering shuttering north Queensland copper smelter and refinery
Australia’s largest copper smelter is facing being mothballed, according to operator Glencore Metals.
According to Suresh Vadnagra, the head of Glencore’s global Nickel and Zinc department, the future of the Mount Isa copper smelter will be decided in the “next few weeks”.
The company met with the state resources minister, Dale Last, on Monday to discuss “potential support measures” for the smelter.
In an internal memo posted on its Facebook page, the company said:
Unfortunately, these measures fall well short of bridging the economic gap for the copper smelter and refinery.
Glencore is genuinely disappointed at the prospect of placing the smelter and refinery into care and maintenance if we do not receive adequate government support.
To be prepared, we now need to start preparations for placing these assets into care and maintenance until such time that market conditions improve enough for the assets to be restarted and operated on an economically viable basis.
The Mount Isa smelter and Glencore’s copper refinery in Townsville are Australia’s largest processing facilities. The company will close its copper mine outside the town – the state’s largest – next week, but the state still has an estimated 60 more years of minerals in the ground.
You can read more here:
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PM says new $800m payment to US for Aukus deal is a scheduled payment, not an “extra” one
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says Australia has paid the US another $800m for the Aukus submarine deal because it was part of a “schedule of payments to be made”.
Albanese was also interviewed on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing today, where he was asked why the government had made another payment towards the deal despite the Trump administration placing the Aukus agreement under review.
First reported by the Nine newspapers, it emerged today that Australia had made a second $800m payment to America’s shipbuilding industry – bringing total payments so far to $1.6bn.
Asked to explain, Albanese said it was a scheduled payment – not an “extra” payment.
There is a schedule of payments to be made, we have an agreement with the United States as well as with the United Kingdom.
It is about increasing the capacity, their industrial capacity, and as part of that, we have Australians on the ground, learning the skills so that when it comes to the SSN-Aukus, the submarines being built here in Australia, we have those skills.
As part of the Aukus deal – in which Australia would buy nuclear submarines from the US ahead of its own nuclear submarines being built in Adelaide – Australia has agreed to pay about $4.6bn towards boosting US shipbuilding capacity.
In June, US president Donald Trump ordered a review into the Aukus deal.
The review is being headed by the Pentagon’s undersecretary of defense for policy, Elbridge Colby, who has previously declared himself “sceptical” about the deal.
My colleague, Ben Doherty, has more on this here:
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G8 Education welcomes federal government’s legislation on safety in childcare
One of Australia’s largest early learning providers has welcomed the government’s federal legislation on safety in childcare, but said all levels of government must “urgently explore further measures that better protect children”.
G8 Education said Jason Clare’s legislation was a good step, but wanted to see more.
The company’s CEO and managing director, Pejman Okhovat, said:
We recognise this has been a distressing time for families in Victoria, and across Australia, and we support all steps being undertaken by Federal and State Governments to improve safety across the early childhood education and care sector.
G8 Education looks forward to continuing to work with Government to ensure the highest standards of care and protection for every child. This includes engaging with the Department of Education to better understand the details and thresholds included in the draft legislation shared this morning.
The thresholds are about when the government regulators might step in to cancel, suspend or disapprove a provider’s use of the childcare subsidy, the major “stick” of the legislation to encourage better behaviour.
Okhovat said he was keen to see more action on a national register of childcare workers, which will be discussed with states and territories at a ministers’ meeting next month.
G8 said it would continue to advocate for a national registry for working with vulnerable people (including children, the NDIS and aged care), national teachers registration, national register of early childhood workers employment history, and aligning state regulations on safety and child protection.
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Almost 1,000 Transport NSW office staff to lose their jobs amid restructure
Staff at Transport NSW have begun to be notified of 950 job cuts in corporate and support functions, as part of a restructure which aims to find efficiencies in back office roles and prioritise frontline services.
The Transport for NSW secretary, Josh Murray, said that the growth in senior executive roles within the organisation had reached a point that would be “unsustainable in any sector”, and that:
From 2021 to 2023, Transport for NSW added an average of two new senior executive roles every week, and a 30% increase in senior management and award staff.
Guardian Australia understands that the agency has removed more than 200 senior executive roles in the changes so far, as part of the state government’s election commitment to reduce senior executives by 15%.
Murray said:
These decisions are never easy – they affect real people and teams who’ve contributed to vital work. But they are necessary to ensure we have a sustainable structure that provides the best possible value to the people of NSW.
As one of the largest public service agencies in the country we have a responsibility to ensure we operate efficiently. Every dollar saved from our costs is a dollar for schools, hospitals, police or frontline public transport and roads, so we must build our budgets carefully.
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Australia should be prepared to take further action against Israel, Ed Husic says
Labor MP Ed Husic says Australia should be prepared to take further action against Israel if Benjamin Netanyahu’s government doesn’t respond to earlier sanctions.
Last month Australia joined the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in placing financial sanctions and travel bans on two Israeli government ministers, over what the foreign minister, Penny Wong, described as “inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank”.
Husic was interviewed on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing a short time ago, where he was asked if the Albanese government should “go further”. He responded:
We are trying to encourage the Netanyahu government, a number of countries are saying clearly and if you look at the statement itself the other big thing about it is a lot of allies of Israel signed up to that statement, so pretty significant.
If they fail to respond it will be up to the international community to take further steps, and certainly the Australian government as part of a broader coalition should be prepared to take further steps.
Last month Husic, who was dumped as a cabinet minister after the federal election, broke ranks with the Labor party to criticise the Netanyahu government, suggesting the Israeli strikes on Iran that sparked the latest Middle East conflict were not justified.
You can read more about that here:
In May, Husic wrote an opinion piece for Guardian Australia in which he criticised the Albanese government for not doing enough to condemn Israel for withholding aid from Gaza.
In it, he wrote:
Australia has a proud tradition of refusing to be silent on the world stage when it comes to defending vulnerable and oppressed people. We can be emboldened by our legacy of doing so.
Two million starving people in Gaza need all the help we can muster alongside others.
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QUT review questions ‘future role and function’ of Indigenous research and education centre
The university received correspondence from more than 300 individuals and organisations after the event, which security described as peaceful, the review found.
The review said: “while some controversy emerged following the media reporting … it is important to consider the full context of the event and the presentations”, which “were not antisemitic in nature”, and that:
The intent of the presentations remained aligned with the university’s standards and the purpose of the debate.
The review also noted it had received submissions that the Carumba Institute, a centre for Indigenous research and education, should be closed.
On this, it said:
The review is not in a position to assess this issue. However, the review is in a position to conclude that the University Council should consider the future role and function of the Carumba Institute … Whatever else may be said, the media coverage and various responses to the Debate in particular whether justified or not, have damaged the reputation of the university.
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Independent review into anti-racism conference at Queensland university finds antisemitism allegations unfounded
An independent review into an anti-racism conference at the Queensland University of Technology has found allegations of antisemitism were unfounded, while questioning the future purpose of the institute which presented it.
The 70 page Middleton review, released today, said the January event was not antisemitic in nature, however it cautioned more “careful consideration” should have been given as to whether a “greatest race debate” should have taken place “in the current social and political climate following 7 October 2023”.
The conference received critical coverage in some media, including in The Australian, over a slide, presented by the head of the Jewish Council of Australia, Sarah Schwartz, which criticised what she described as stereotyping of the Jewish community by the Coalition.
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Senate president labels Faruqi protest ‘utterly disrespectful’
Returning to the upper house of federal parliament once more, the Senate president, Sue Lines, has criticised Mehreen Faruqi’s actions as “utterly disrespectful” after the Senate passed a disapproval motion against the Greens senator earlier this afternoon.
The motion, which was introduced after question time, was a strike against Faruqi for holding up a sign protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza during the governor general’s speech yesterday.
Lines said the governor general had no power to remove Faruqi’s prop and with Lines not in the president’s chair, the breach of standing orders could not be addressed for the entirety of the address.
Lines said:
Senator Faruqi, you are a champion in this chamber for respectful debate and behaviour.
You have used the processes of the Senate and its committees to reinforce the expectations of behaviour standards.
These standards and expectations that you expect also apply to you.
Your actions during the governor general’s address were utterly disrespectful and showed a complete disregard for the rules, the traditions and the customs of this place.
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No positive STI results to date as testing of children in case of accused Melbourne childcare paedophile continues
All children tested so far for sexually transmitted infections after coming into contact with accused childcare paedophile Joshua Dale Brown have tested negative, the Victorian deputy premier, Ben Carroll, has told reporters.
Carroll this afternoon said he’d received the advice from staff at the Royal children’s hospital:
I’ve even spoken with people involved at the Royal children’s hospital that I think they’ve tested just about everyone, but I can get that clarified, and all the tests have been negative. And this is something we hoped for and wished for.
About 2,000 children were required to get tested for STIs as a precaution after they attended childcare centres where Brown had worked. Brown was charged with more than 70 offences relating to eight alleged victims, aged between five months and two years old.
The health department has not publicly stated the infections the children will be screened for. However, in information provided to affected parents and seen by Guardian Australia, they have recommended testing for chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis for some children, or chlamydia and gonorrhoea for others.
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Senate passes Labor motion expressing ‘extreme disapproval’ against Mehreen Faruqi for Gaza sign protest
While the Coalition amendment failed, Labor’s original motion to sanction Mehreen Faruqi passes the Senate.
The Greens opposed the motion along with independent senator Fatima Payman while One Nation and independent senator Tammy Tyrrell teamed up with the two major parties to sanction Faruqi.
While we have been calling it a censure motion, it’s technically a motion to express “profound disapproval” against the senator but also includes that the Senate voted it not “appropriate for Senator Faruqi to represent the Senate as a member of any delegation during the life of this parliament”.
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Coalition amendment to suspend Faruqi from Senate fails
The Coalition’s amendment to the motion to sanction Mehreen Faruqi fails, with Labor, the Greens and Fatima Payman voting against it.
The opposition’s amendment would have suspended Faruqi from attending the Senate for failing to apologise about her protest action during the governor general’s speech yesterday.
As a reminder, Faruqi’s sign read “sanction Israel”.
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Waters labels Wong’s ‘attention-seeking’ claim against Faruqi ‘a disgrace’
Back to the Senate, the Greens leader, Larissa Waters, stands up and defends her colleague, Mehreen Faruqi, saying Penny Wong’s claim that Faruqi is seeking attention is a “disgrace”.
Waters says:
What a disgrace to say that it was attention-seeking by Senator Faruqi for herself, rather than the issue of starving women, children and men in Palestine.
That says more about Senator Wong than it does about Senator Faruqi.
Faruqi later stands up in the chamber, telling them she won’t back down.
She says:
I will not back down from this call because Palestinians are being murdered, starved and displaced by Israel as we speak, and all you can do is crack down on people who protest, who tell the truth, who hold up a mirror to you all for your silence and complicity.
Labor and the Coalition in this chamber wants to avoid the truth. You don’t want to see it or hear it, and now here we are. You want me … you want to force me to apologise for telling the truth.
Faruqi then claims the upper house has been racist before withdrawing the comment:
You are more focused on cracking down on black and brown women in this parliament. You’ve …
The Senate will now vote on Wong’s original motion and the opposition’s amendment to take it a bit further.
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Hi. I hope you’ve had a great day so far. I’ll be with you on the blog for the rest of the afternoon.
Thanks for joining me on the blog today, for the first full sitting day of parliament.
I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Catie McLeod, and I’ll be back here early tomorrow morning (with plenty more caffeine in hand)!
TLDR: what happened in the first question time of the new parliament?
To recap:
The Coalition focused heavily on the government’s superannuation tax today, with questions on the impact of taxing unrealised gains on farmers, small businesses and whether Labor would go further to tax unrealised gains on the family home.
Having given their first speeches last night, new MPs Ali France (who toppled Peter Dutton) and Sarah Witty (who toppled Adam Bandt) were given the first dixers today.
Teal independent MP Kate Chaney asked communications minister Anika Wells whether the government would finally accept the recommendations of the now two-year-old inquiry into gambling. Wells said she’s still working on gambling reform and has been meeting with broadcasters, sports groups and harm reduction organisations.
Tinder gained a reference in Hansard, prompted by a somewhat graphic quote from Nationals MP Michael McCormack to Sky News today, that was jumped on by Chris Bowen to attack the minor Coalition party.
Updated
Protester removed from gallery as Cash moves amendment to suspend Faruqi
The Senate opposition leader, Michaelia Cash, stands and urges the motion to go further – the Coalition wants to suspend Faruqi.
We believe that the ultimate punishment fails to meet the gravity of what occurred during yesterday’s joint sitting of parliament. It falls short of what Australians rightly expect of their elected representatives. What we witnessed yesterday was not simply a breach of standing orders. It was a breach of respect for the institution of the Senate. It was a breach of our rules, for our history, but most importantly, the people that we serve.”
While Cash speaks on the opposition’s amendments to the motion, a protester from the public gallery wearing a Palestine shirt begins shouting a series of chants against Israel and its administration.
The protester can be heard saying, “Israel is murdering children” and “Netanyahu is a war criminal”. The Senate president, Sue Lines, requests broadcasting turn off the audio so it can’t be heard.
The protester is removed by security guards from the public gallery and Liberal senator James Paterson can be heard saying “on ya bike” as the man is escorted out.
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Wong accuses Faruqi of protesting for ‘attention’
Continuing briefly with Penny Wong’s searing rebuke of Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, the senior Labor figure accused Faruqi of protesting for “attention”.
I think we all understand that what Senator Faruqi wants most of all is attention, and it may well be her move is designed to show her base – [the] Greens' base – that she’s more hardline than the current leader …
The reality is, this is a very difficult conflict. I have often spoken in this place about the need for all of us to be responsible about how we deal with it here. And I also would say to the Senate, we have moved this motion because we do not believe that this institution should be denigrated in the way that it was.
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Labor attempts to move censure motion against Mehreen Faruqi over Gaza sign protest
Over in the Senate, Labor is attempting to move a censure motion against Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi after she held up a sign in protest against Israel during the governor-general’s speech yesterday.
Penny Wong, who is foreign affairs minister as well as leader of the government in the Senate, said she understood Australians were “distressed by the violence” Palestinians were facing in Gaza by Israeli forces but that Faruqi had taken it a step further.
It’s about decisions taken by all of Australia during the campaign. But senator Faruqi wanted it to be about her, presumably, in her campaign for the leadership of the Greens ... senator Faruqi demands respect, but she does not offer it. She denigrates anyone who doesn’t agree with her on everything, regularly, including personally, I don’t think this is the leadership Australians expect. I don’t believe this is what Australian democracy is about.
Updated
The last dixer goes to Tony Burke, which allows him to list off all the pieces of legislation that the government is delivering.
And with that, Question Time (and a pretty long QT, may I say) is over.
Updated
Staying on foreign affairs, Angus Taylor in his new shadow portfolio asks the prime minister whether he got assurances from Chinese president Xi Jinping that China will no longer conduct live fire exercises on Australia’s coast.
Anthony Albanese doesn’t answer the substance of the question, and attacks Taylor over his comments to the ABC 7.30 program that the government “make principled commitments to the security of Taiwan”.
His [Taylor’s] comments when it comes to the long held position that has been a bipartisan position up to now, when it comes to the issue of the Taiwan Straits, the fact that the United States has had a long-term position about strategic ambiguity, and that has been done for a responsible reason. But what we saw from the shadow defence minister in his first outing in uttering comments in an area that requires responsibility, requires a national interest, requires the support of our sovereignty when it comes to our decision making processes – what we saw, is a breach.
Taylor stands up to make a point of order on relevance, but Milton Dick says Albanese is still in his preamble and is talking about the China trip (which was in Taylor’s question).
Albanese then says he was “concerned” about previous live fire drills and said Australia complies with international law and expects other nations to comply with international law as well. (He doesn’t say whether he got any assurances from president Xi on the issue.)
Updated
Andrew Wilkie, a long time independent from Tasmania, asks the next question to the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles.
Wilkie asks:
In July, two vessels were reportedly docked in Botany Bay with some 175,000 tonnes of petrol from the Jamnagar refinery in India, which uses up to 55 per cent Russian oil. So these vessels effectively carried some 90,000 tonnes of Russian sourced petrol paid for by Australians, which will help fund Putin’s war in Ukraine. Deputy prime minister, why are the loopholes in our sanctions so big you can drive a tanker through them?
Marles says the government is committed to supporting Ukraine’s resistance against Russia.
At [the] Nato summit, I announced increased sanctions to an additional 44 people and entities, which now means that in total, there are about 1500 people and entities in Russia which are the subject of Australian sanctions, which sees a significant impact on the Russian economy in areas such as electronics, areas such as energy, such as finance.
Wilkie tries to raise a point of order on relevance, but speaker Milton Dick says Marles still has one minute to answer.
Marles ends his answer reiterating his earlier points that Australia stands with Ukraine (not going to Wilkie’s point of Australia using Russian oil in the production of petroleum and other fuels).
Updated
Deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan has the next question, and asks the assistant treasurer how many farmers and small businesses will be impacted by the superannuation tax.
Daniel Mulino says he can’t say how many farmers will be impacted, but the total number of those who will be impacted by the policy is 80,000.
I think when it comes to drilling down into smaller categories than that, it is difficult to ascribe a particular number to particular types of business. But what I can say is that the overall number of funds affected by this is in the order of half a per cent across both our defined contribution and defined benefit, across the entire category of all members. And that’s a very small fraction.
A few Coalition frontbenchers talk over Mulino as he speaks, and I can hear David Littleproud saying some will be “hung out to dry” by the policy.
Updated
Andrew Gee, a Nationals MP turned independent, asks the next question from the crossbench.
He says people living in the country have a shorter life expectancy than people in the city, and asks when the government will fix the rural doctor shortage crisis.
Health minister Mark Butler acknowledges that not only is it hard to find a GP, it’s much harder to find a doctor in the bush.
We just haven’t kept up with the number of GPs anywhere in the country. But particularly in the bush, as the member knows, there is no single fix for this challenge, which is why we are trying to work right across a range of areas to improve that access, but also that affordability.
As he says, we’ve got to train more young people as doctors in the community, in the rural communities, we know that if they train in the bush, they’re far more likely to stay in the bush.
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The next dixer goes to Jason Clare, on the issue of child safety in childcare centres.
Clare says again that not enough has been done, and it’s being done too slowly to protect vulnerable children.
The education minister introduced new legislation to crack down on centres that aren’t meeting quality standards.
I think everyone here is determined to do what needs to be done to rebuild confidence in a system that parents need to have confidence in, and the legislation that I introduced today is part of that. It’s not everything. There’s a lot more that needs to be done. And the terrible truth is that this work will never end.
Sussan Ley, on indulgence, thanks Clare for his engagement with the Coalition.
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We’re back on questions about unrealised gains, and shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien asks whether the government will consider taxing unrealised gains on the family trust or the family home.
Anthony Albanese takes the question and says the government’s agenda is “tax cuts”. He also takes a swipe at O’Brien.
O’Brien stands up to make a point of order, accusing the PM of dodging the question. Milton Dick asks the PM if he’s already finished his answer or not – Albanese earns a few chuckles from the government benches by saying:
Oh, we might give him a go.
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The second crossbench question goes to independent MP Kate Chaney, who asks whether the government will commit to implementing the recommendations of the gambling inquiry led by late Labor MP Peta Murphy.
Chaney was a member of that committee, which handed down its report and recommendations two years ago.
The new minister for communications, Anika Wells, says the government takes “seriously” its responsibility to people impacted by online gambling, and has “delivered the most significant” online harm reduction initiatives.
Wells doesn’t commit to implementing all of the recommendations of the inquiry report but says she’s been meeting with stakeholders including sporting groups, broadcasters, and harm reduction groups.
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After another dixer (this time on defence), Tim Wilson, the Liberal MP who has returned to parliament after defeating Teal MP Zoe Daniel asks about… superannuation.
I’m sensing a theme here from the opposition bench.
Wilson says:
On 28 February 2023, the Treasurer said, ‘Labor’s unfair super tax on unrealised capital gapes would apply to’ around 80,000 people. Does the Treasurer stand by that number?
Jim Chalmers says he “didn’t describe it” in the way Wilson has framed the question.
He says that the policy change is modest, and Labor is committed to strengthening superannuation.
We’re about strengthening superannuation and those opposite are about weakening superannuation. For evidence of that, Mr Speaker, think about the fact that on 1 July this year we completed the journey to 12 per cent compulsory superannuation. That’s something we’re very proud of on this side of the House. So, too, are we proud to be paying the superannuation guarantee on government paid parental leave for the first time ever.
Wilson interjects with a point of order, but Dick says Chalmers is being relevant.
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Ted O’Brien, the deputy Liberal leader and shadow treasurer takes the mic, and asks Jim Chalmers about the super tax.
He asks Chalmers whether Labor will rule out taxing unrealised capital gains on anything beyond superannuation.
Chalmers (like the PM before him) goes straight into the tax cuts that Labor passed in the last parliament rather than directly answering the question.
Our priority is cutting taxes for 14 million Australians. We have made it clear that all people will bring all kinds of ideas to the economic reform round table next month here in Canberra.
O’Brien shouts over him, saying “so you won’t rule it out”.
Milton Dick soon asks everyone in the chamber to “show a little restraint”.
Updated
Bowen takes a feisty swipe at the Nationals
Given a dixer on acting on climate change, energy minister Chris Bowen takes a swipe at the Nationals over their fight over net zero.
You might recall Sarah Basford Canales’ post earlier today, where Michael McCormack says that the Nats are “virile and out there”.
While McCormack and Barnaby Joyce have said they’re not trying to bump David Littleproud as leader, Bowen said:
This is not his Tinder profile, this is his dream ticket. He’s not looking to swipe right, he’s looking to swipe out the member for Maranoa [Littleproud] is what he’s trying to do. But [while] they’re trying to betray the member for Maranoa, they’re really betraying people in rural and regional Australia, they are the ones who pay the price of drought and flood which will be more common and severe under climate change.
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David Littleproud now gets a go, and asks the government about the proposed super tax. He asks what happens to a farmer whose farm is in a self-managed super fund, who has to pay unrealised capital gains in a year when there’s been no crop.
Daniel Mulino, the newly minted assistant treasurer, takes the answer.
Mulino says some familiar lines about the tax being a modest measure, and adds that it’s about making the superannuation system “fairer”.
Littleproud interjects to say Mulino isn’t actually answering his question about what happens to the farmer.
Milton Dick says he appreciates it’s not the answer the opposition wants, but Mulino is being relevant.
Mulino ends his answer, saying again that it’s a “modest” measure.
This measure has been on the public books for well over two years. It was consulted on very broadly and we took this measure to the last election. I certainly won’t be taking lectures on the fairness of the superannuation system from a party that has opposed every single increase in the superannuation guarantee over the last 25 years.
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The next dixer goes to the new member for Griffith, who beat former Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather.
Renee Coffey bowls a question to health minister Mark Butler about urgent care clinics.
It’s all very positive unsurprisingly, Butler says 50 were promised at the 2022 election, and 87 were delivered, and the extra 50 that were promised at the last election will be opened this financial year.
The first crossbench question goes to Nicolette Boele, the new Bradfield MP who extremely narrowly beat Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian.
She asks when the government will stop green-lighting fossil fuel projects and deliver on environmental reforms.
Tony Burke answers, as environment minister Murray Watt sits in the Senate.
On the nature positive laws, Burke says the work is being done to form legislation asap.
The work that the government is doing both with industry stakeholders and with environmental groups to try to make sure that we can bring environmental law reform together in this term. That negotiation is happening, that work is happening because at the moment until we’re able to get environmental laws that are fit for purpose, we have a situation where no-one wins in terms of business wants to be able to make sure it can get decisions in a timely way, and from the environment perspective we wanna make sure we’re able to protect our precious environment and our heritage.
The next dixer goes to Sarah Witty, the other Labor MP who toppled a party leader (Adam Bandt) at the last election.
The question goes to Jason Clare and how the government is helping with student debt (no prizes what she’s referring to there).
Clare talks about the “privilege” of introducing the bill to cut Hecs debts by 20%.
Sussan Ley asks the next question from the opposition bench, on Labor’s proposed tax on super accounts over $3m.
But she doesn’t actually mention the word super, she calls it Labor’s tax on income people haven’t earned (ie unrealised gains).
So the PM takes the opportunity to talk about tax more generally, and the tax cuts that the government legislated at the end of the last term.
As a direct result of the actions that we have taken, we will see income tax cuts for all 14 million taxpayers … delivered on 1 July next year and then a further tax cut the year after.
Ley gets up to make a point of order, and says the government knows she’s talking about the superannuation tax, but Milton Dick says she didn’t mention that specifically in her question.
He also adds that he doesn’t want see the house get into “bad habits” early.
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The first dixer (a flattering question asked by a government backbencher to a minister) is by the new member for Dickson, Ali France.
She asks about the cost of living, and how the government is helping households.
Albanese takes the question, and lists off measures including the new Hecs debt bill introduced to parliament today, paid placements for some students, and free Tafe places. He also mentions paid parental leave being increased, and the 12% superannuation guarantee coming into effect.
We hear someone from the opposition benches mention the promised $275 off energy bills (a Labor promise from the 2022 election campaign).
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Anthony Albanese begins his answer to Ley’s question, lauding a social and affordable housing project on the Gold Coast, one of the “largest” that is being delivered by the housing Australia future fund.
No surprises that he ends the answer with a pointed attack against the Coalition, accusing them of a “decade of neglect” on housing.
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Question time under way
Sussan Ley starts question time (her first as opposition leader), and she starts on the issue of housing, a massive issue during the election.
The prime minister promised to deliver 1.2m homes but he has let down young Australians by delivering just 17. With leaked Treasury advice confirming this is a broken promise, will the prime minister abandon his failing policies and work constructively with the Coalition to address Labor’s housing crisis?
There’s a shout from Clare O’Neil, the housing minister, who says “get your numbers right” from the benches.
Milton Dick’s not a fan of the interjection, and tells her not to do so before a minister has begun their answer (she nods furiously).
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Canavan says he is ‘still thinking about’ whether he supports net zero
A number of Nationals have stayed mum on their support for net zero by 2050 in a press conference this afternoon with Senator Matt Canavan saying he’s “still thinking about it”.
A group of Coalition members, including Canavan, Bridget McKenzie, Colin Boyce and Richard Colbeck, are pushing for an inquiry into onshore metal manufacturing but the questions were all razor focused on net zero.
Canavan was asked whether he supported net zero by 2050 but said he was still mulling it over, despite previously being an ardent critic of the policy.
McKenzie said it was important to distinguish between “recognising climate change is real” and “how we deal with that challenge as a species on Earth”.
Everyone wants to get involved on the ‘Oh, net zero, you’re in, you’re out’. We actually care about the jobs, which is why we want the inquiry.
Both the Liberals and the Nationals are undertaking a review on their climate change and emissions reduction policies. Canavan remained hopeful in the event the Coalition partners reached opposing outcomes on the net zero by 2050 target.
Asked whether that could undo the Coalition partnership, Canavan said:
Look, I don’t talk in hypotheticals … We’ve had difficult issues like this before in the last decade in my time here, and they’re always … Chicken Little, the sky is falling in type-conclusions made but we find a way.
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We’re counting down to the first question time of the new parliament, and we’ll be looking out for how the government, opposition and crossbench set the tone of debate.
Now that the new rules are in place, if there’s particularly unruly conduct, an MP could be thrown out of the House for up to three hours.
We’ll also be keeping a close eye on what issues the Coalition chooses to prod the government on.
The Nationals in the halls of power
The Nats have been taking over the press gallery corridors today.
Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, both of whom are pushing for net zero to be repealed (and have denied they’re agitating for a leadership change) were out late this morning.
Earlier, leader David Littleproud (who says he’s “relaxed” about what Joyce and McCormack are up to) was in the corridors talking to journalists as well.
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Australia may have to pay half a billion dollars to oil giant Chevron under 1980s deal
The Australian government faces having to pay half a billion dollars to American oil and gas company Chevron to help it clean up oil wells on Barrow Island, in Western Australia, under a deal made in the 1980s.
The WA government also faces a hefty bill – estimated to be $129m – to help repair an offshore nature reserve where about 900 wells have been drilled over the past six decades.
Chevron says it has paid more than $1bn in royalties – about $3 a barrel – for oil and gas extracted from beneath the island, which is about 70km off the state’s north-west coast. Under state legislation written especially for the project, federal and state taxpayers will have to pay them back about nearly half that amount to help cover remediation costs.
The Greens have called the decades old deal “perverse” and senator Peter Whish-Wilson says the government shouldn’t give Chevron “an inch”.
You couldn’t imagine a more perverse deal between a big corporation and government. It’s critical that a full rehabilitation of the ocean commences immediately, but the bigger the job the more the taxpayer is on the hook. This provides a perverse incentive for both parties to overlook regulator responsibilities and minimise rehabilitation.
You can read more from my colleagues Peter Milne and Adam Morton here:
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House passes establishing votes on regular joint standing committees
There’s all sorts of procedures that take place in the new parliament.
Right now in the House, MPs have just finished voting to establish all of the regular joint standing committees – that’s committees that have both MPs and senators on them.
This includes committees on human rights, treaties, electoral matters and migration. They’re all fairly long-standing committees.
Now that those have been passed, they’ll go to the Senate this afternoon for “concurrence” and then they’ll be established.
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McCormack reiterates support for David Littleproud as Nationals leader
There’s been a lot of commotion in the Nationals camp this morning after former Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, got behind his colleague – and occasional foe – Barnaby Joyce in support of repealing the opposition’s net zero by 2050 policy.
McCormack’s comment to the Australian also cheekily hinted at potential leadership ambitions of the Coalition’s junior partner when he referenced Scott Morrison’s infamous line before voting against then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in a spill: “I’m ambitious for him”.
But the Nationals backbencher has sought to quell those whispers on Sky News this afternoon.
David Littleproud is the leader … David, as he said this morning, will do what the party wants as the leader, and that is his obligation and duty. And I support David.
McCormack then took the interview in an unusual direction, after saying he didn’t want to be a boring interview for the media. Liberal MP Dan Tehan had earlier suggested on Sky News that McCormack and Joyce were like two steers in a paddock that should be left to fight it out.
McCormack responded:
We’re not gelded, we’re not emasculated. We’re very much virile and out there.
As for whether the majority of Nationals agree with Joyce on repealing net zero, McCormack responded: “Time will tell. I’d like to think so”.
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Greens raise three hopes for productivity roundtable
The Greens want the government to use their productivity roundtable (coming up in August) to address three areas of reform, including to help mothers re-enter the workforce.
They’re calling for Labor to:
End property speculation incentives that they say allow wealthy investors to pay half the tax of workers.
Put in place policies that make it easier for primary carers to get back to work.
Drive investment in to clean industries.
The party leader, Larissa Waters, said in a statement that the roundtable shouldn’t be a “high level talkfest”:
Mums and parents who want to get back to work should be encouraged to do that, not smashed by tax so hard they’re essentially working for free.
When a second parent goes back into the workforce, they can face an effective marginal tax rate of up to 80% - which punishes mothers for wanting to go back to work and perpetuates gender based economic disadvantage which haunts mothers for life.
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What’s on the agenda for the Liberal postmortem into their election defeat?
Sussan Ley’s postmortem into the Liberal party’s historic thumping at the 3 May election is gaining speed, just as the new federal parliament gets down to work.
Ley has tapped Liberal elders Nick Minchin and Pru Goward to lead the probe into what went so badly wrong for former opposition leader Peter Dutton and the party.
Minchin, a former Howard government minister, and Goward, a former NSW state minister, are at Parliament House today, talking with Liberals about policy and organisational changes needed to win back voters.
The terms of reference for the review are broad, allowing it to consider the election campaign, the party’s conduct in the last term of parliament, and “further relevant matters” if judged to have a bearing on election results.
It will also consider: the historically low primary vote for the Liberal party; the party’s electoral performance among different voter segments; and “the long-term challenge for the party presented by independents”.
The Queensland Liberal National party senator James McGrath is expected to run a separate review into the party’s structure.
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Greens say Labor’s childcare bill ‘Band-aid’ solution but won’t block it
The Greens have derided the government’s childcare safety bill as a “Band-aid” solution that won’t do enough to address issues in early education, but say they won’t stand in the way of the legislation passing.
The Green’s spokesperson on early childhood education, Senator Steph Hodgins-May, said her party had offered support to the government but had “heard very little in return”.
“The bill introduced today is a band-aid measure that only comes into effect after harm has occurred; it does nothing to address the deeper, systemic issues that put children at risk,” she said in a statement.
We won’t stand in its way, but it’s disappointing we weren’t provided this legislation until today.
Hodgins-May said the Greens wanted to see more reform down the track, including an independent watchdog “with real teeth to enforce national quality standards”.
Until the government reckons with the market-driven childcare system, it will always put profit over the safety and quality of our children’s care.
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Asked whether the Liberals are wrong to support net zero, Joyce says:
Net zero is bad policy ... net zero is the wrong policy.
After backing net zero for two elections, and going “forward with government policy”, Joyce says the Coalition was handed its “derriere on a plate” by the electorate.
Earlier in an interview with Sky News, Joyce went further to say he never agreed to net zero and didn’t vote for it in the Nationals party room.
It was an agreement of the National party room for a whole range of tabulated items – intermodal for Tennant Creek, for Alice Springs, sealing of roads, beef roads, there was a whole range of issues that were part of it … None of those eventuated, so there was no, as far as I’m concerned, there was no deal.
For those wondering what “intermodal” and “beef roads” are, he’s talking about regional infrastructure.
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Barnaby Joyce says ‘people crying’ in regional areas about net zero
A little earlier this morning, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce stopped in the corridor to have a spray about net zero (he’ll be introducing his own private members bill to repeal the target).
Joyce is asked why he’s not participating in the process that leader Sussan Ley has established, reviewing the opposition’s energy policy, that will be led by Dan Tehan.
He says people feel the process has been “obfuscated” and they want to see action.
People feel that the process has been obfuscated, people are furious. You get to understand the sort of fury that [they have] in regional areas. We have in meetings, people crying, we have in meetings, people feeling bullied. They believe the government is just running roughshod over them.
They do not want they do not want us to say, ‘Well, what I’m going to do is have a committee about how you feel.’ They’re saying now you go down and do something about it, and that’s what we’re doing.
Joyce also denied that the push to repeal the target is a threat to David Littleproud’s leadership of the Nationals.
The Australian reported Joyce said he would “happily” back former leader Michael McCormack to return to the role, but wasn’t agitating for a spill.
Please God, I’m not pushing any barrow for leadership of the National party. People ask you questions, you give them straight answers, it’s not about that. It’s about net zero.
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Anika Wells meets with YouTube to discuss social media ban for under 16s
Ahead of the Albanese government announcing in the next few weeks the rules for the social media under-16s ban, the minister, Anika Wells has met with YouTube to discuss its potential inclusion or exclusion from the ban.
It is understood that no decision has been made on whether the platform will be included in the under-16s ban from December, but YouTube has stepped up lobbying efforts to remain out of the scope of the ban, meeting with Wells in recent days.
The company has also taken out a full-page ad in the Australian newspaper this week when parliament returned arguing the platform was different to rivals such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
The ad says YouTube is in a “category of one” and is “built for kids”.
The lobbying is set to continue this week with the annual Google showcase event scheduled for next week in Parliament House.
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, last month recommended rescinding the federal government’s planned exemption for YouTube, citing research putting YouTube at the top of where children encounter harmful material online.
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Politicians join Voices for Gaza vigil
Outside parliament house, several politicians have joined the Voices for Gaza vigil, organised by several aid groups including Amnesty International and Oxfam, to read out the names of the 17,000 Palestinian children who have been killed.
This morning, Labor’s Ed Husic, a Muslim MP and outspoken critic of Israel, and independent senator David Pocock spoke in front of a small crowd of people.
Yesterday, Greens senators Larissa Waters and David Shoebridge were also out on the lawns reading some of the thousands of names.
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Steggall attemps to move amendment to define disorderly conduct in Labor’s new parliamentary rules
The independent MP Zali Steggall is trying to move an amendment to the standing order changes to better define disorderly conduct.
Her amendment is backed by fellow independent Helen Haines. Steggall says it’s important to define disorderly conduct so it’s not left to “vague interpretation”.
There is a balancing act between robust parliamentary debate and having a safe, respectful, and discrimination-free workplace. As parliamentarians we must lead by example and ensure that freedom of speech is encouraged in our workplace, but it is not used to excuse harmful behaviour and disorderly conduct.
The leader of the House, Tony Burke, says the government won’t support Steggall’s amendment but acknowledges some of the “intimidatory” behaviour that has been directed at the crossbench.
Offensive words are out [of the new practice], offensive gestures are clearly out, but offensive and intimidatory behaviour are not necessarily covered.
What we have often seen, which is more directed at the crossbench than any other members in this place, is … a pile-on occurring, which for any observer would think they are watching intimidation … I’ve seen it happen a lot to the crossbench.
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Greens and Coalition bristle against Labor’s changes to the standing orders
You can see just how dominant the government’s numbers are in the House, as they vote on changing some of the parliamentary standing orders (as Tom explained below).
The opposition has made some criticism of the changes, with the manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke saying they have only a “veneer of increased transparency and democratic operation”.
The Greens are also pretty incensed about some of the changes – particularly the rule that would allow Hansard not to record the names of MPs voting in favour of legislation if there are six or fewer members on one side of the chamber for the vote.
Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown has called it a “stitch up” that undermines transparency.
It gives Labor and Liberal MPs cover to hide how their MP’s are voting on important issues. Voters deserve to know how their representatives are voting.
Labor needs to explain why they want to hide their MPs voting positions from the public. Transparency should be a bare minimum in a democracy.
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Parliamentary time-out length to be increased to three hours among other procedural changes
It is the first substantive day of sitting in federal parliament, with the first question time since the election due to kick off at 2pm.
The leader of the House of Representatives, Labor’s Tony Burke, is introducing new changes to the standing orders - the rules which govern how business in the lower house is run on a day to day basis.
Among the changes are rules allowing members to be booted from parliamentary proceedings for a maximum of three hours, up from the previous rule of 60 minutes.
The speaker would have the power to remove a member from debate for three hours “where there is continued or escalating disorderly conduct.”
Another change would allow Hansard, the record of proceedings, not to record the names of MPs voting in favour of legislation if there are six or fewer members on one side of the chamber (ie, clearly in the minority) at the time of a vote. The new rule states:
If, after the doors are locked, there are six or fewer Members on one side in a division, the Speaker shall declare the decision of the House immediately, without completing the count. The names of the Members who are in the minority shall be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings.
Labor is expected to pass the changes to standing orders using its new, larger majority, even if the Coalition or the Greens disagree.
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Hume says we should ‘take the politics’ out of net zero and view it from an economic lens
Liberal senator Jane Hume says “take the politics out” of net zero, and look at the issue from an economic lens.
Hume, who was kicked off the frontbench by Sussan Ley, is weighing into the energy debate within the Coalition, with some Nationals MPs pushing for the 2050 target to be scrapped. She tells Sky News voters have sent a message to the Liberal party on the issue.
The electorate has told us that they want to see a net zero energy future, they want to see emissions come down. That’s what successive elections have told us. Now my personal opinion is that this is profoundly important for not just the electorate, but also for our country. We want to make sure, though, that that transition to a lower emissions future is seen through the lens of an economic problem …
We need to be able to take the politics out of this issue, and say, how do we get to a net zero energy future and reduce emissions, but at the same time maintain our prosperity.
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has said he’ll introduce a private members bill to repeal net zero, while Ley has handed her shadow energy minister, Dan Tehan, the responsibility of leading a team to review all energy policies.
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Clare introduces childcare safety bill into House
Jason Clare is now introducing the childcare safety bill in the House of Representatives.
The education department secretary will have the power under this bill to consider a provider’s “quality, safety and compliance history” to determine whether they should be approved to access the childcare subsidy.
Clare says this has “never been part of the childcare subsidy system” but he concedes that government’s haven’t worked fast enough.
I’ve been pretty blunt. In the last few weeks, people have been arrested and convicted of offences like those alleged before, and governments of different colours, state and federal have taken action, but not enough, and not fast enough. That’s the truth.
Clare says the bill also expands commonwealth powers to publish information about providers that are sanctioned for non-compliance, and publicise information when a provider is refused approval for a new service.
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Hecs legislation to increase income threshold before debt repayments begin
The new Hecs legislation also increases the income threshold for paying off the debt.
Clare says that the threshold will increase so you’ll only be repaying the debt when you earn above $67,000, rather than the current threshold of $54,000. For someone earning $70,000, the government says it’ll reduce their minimum repayment by $1,300.
That’s real cost of living, health, more money in your pocket, not the government’s, when you really need it. This is important structural reform ... This is about putting money back into your pocket and putting intergenerational equity back into the system.
Unsurprisingly, Clare takes a dig at the Coalition for opposing the policy during the election. He says one unnamed Nationals MP told the media: “My kids are paying off a university debt, and I reckon they voted Labor.”
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The bells are ringing! Parliament begins as Jason Clare introduces Hecs debt bill
Parliament is sitting, and Jason Clare’s first order of business is introducing the Hecs debt bill, cutting 20% off existing university and Tafe debts.
Clare says it will help 3 million Australians, and cut student debt by more than $16bn, most of the benefit going towards young people.
These are the Australians who will build Australia’s future, who are already building [it], and this will take a weight off their back.
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Littleproud ‘relaxed’ over possibility Nationals dump net zero
David Littleproud says he’s “relaxed” over Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack pushing for the Nationals to abandon net zero, and says the policy is a decision of the whole party room.
The Nationals leader tells Sky News he has “real concerns” about net zero, and has asked Matt Canavan, a vocal net zero critic, and Ross Cadell to review the policy.
I’m open, and that’s why I started this process, and wanted to make sure that we do this calmly and methodically and understanding the human toll, the economic toll, the social toll this is having on our communities. I don’t think people in metropolitan areas understand and appreciate exactly the burden you’re asking us to bear.
McCormack, a former Nationals leader, told the Australian on Wednesday that he will back Joyce’s private member’s bill to scrap net zero and refused to rule out a Nationals leadership challenge. Asked whether he’d be able to hold the leadership, Littleproud says he’s “comfortable in his own skin” and “relaxed”.
I was the leader, the first leader to have the political courage to say no to the voice. I was the first leader in our history to have the courage to get nuclear energy into our Coalition policy setting. I was the first leader to get divestiture powers into our Coalition policy…
I don’t wake up in the morning worrying about [a leadership challenge]. If you do that, if you focus on yourself, then you’re not focused on what you’re trying to achieve.
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Clare flags later meeting to address wider range of issues in childcare sector
Back to the early education safety press conference: the education minister, Jason Clare, says today’s federal parliament bill deals mostly with cutting funding and increasing spot checks at underperforming centres, measures he called a “stick” to encourage providers to lift their game.
But he said a meeting of state and territory education ministers next month would look to a wider range of issues, including whether to offer more training and support to centres, examining more CCTV rollouts in childcare, and the long-discussed national database or register of childcare workers.
The early education minister, Jess Walsh, said more had to be done on “helping those providers to lift their game”.
Clare conceded that today’s federal legislation “isn’t the only thing we need to do”, noting the need for a national register to track workers from centre to centre and across states.
The minister also said a separate meeting of state and territory attorneys general, also held next month, would look at reforms to working with children checks - which Clare said were “overdue”.
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Algal bloom inquiry raised as questions raised about future
Parliament could soon hold an inquiry into the algal bloom crisis in South Australia, to look at how the government should deal with a similar environmental disaster in the future.
Ross Cadell, a Nationals senator and shadow minister for water, has been among those pushing for an inquiry, and told RN Breakfast this morning it would help to “come up with the methods of how we can deal with something of this size”.
Cadell says he won’t be “overly critical” of the federal government in it’s response to the bloom, but believes the state government was slow to act.
I think they’ve [the government] come together to try and make this inquiry and see how we can do better. I don’t think they’ve got the tools at their hands under the current guidelines of what a natural disaster is, what emergency response is, to naturally fit this, so part of the inquiry is looking fit for purpose of the future.
I think South Australian government probably was a bit slow to react…but I’m not going to be critical. This is people suffering. I’m not going to sit here and point fingers.
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Minister says reforms should have happened ‘yesterday’
Jumping back to the government’s presser on childcare, state and territory education ministers will meet next month to establish a national educators register, and Jason Clare says that “can’t happen fast enough”.
Work is already being done by the states, including Victoria, to establish state based registers, but Clare says there needs to be a nationally consistent register.
The truth is, this should have happened yesterday, and this can’t happen fast enough, and states are already taking steps to expand their existing teacher registers, Victoria is a good example of that.
So where states do that, that’s good, but we need to join it up, because to make the system work the way it needs to work, we need to be able to track people, not just from centre to centre, but from state to state.
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Ley says Coalition will support childcare reforms
Childcare reforms are “above politics” says the opposition leader, Sussan Ley.
Speaking to Sky News, Ley says she’ll discuss the Hecs and childcare reforms with her party room, but the Coalition has said it will support both.
I’m pleased with the government’s efforts around child care, because it’s too important to get that wrong, and I have said we want to be above politics in the interests of caring for families. We’ve just been horrified at these stories.
Ley adds that while the Coalition will work “constructively” on these two pieces of legislation, that doesn’t mean a “blank cheque of goodwill for everything that comes across the table from the Labor party.”
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Reforms not about ‘shutting centres down’: Clare
Jason Clare, Jess Walsh and skills minister Andrew Giles are standing up in parliament to talk about the Hecs and childcare legislation being introduced today.
Clare says funding is the “biggest weapon” the commonwealth has to crack down on standards within the childcare sector.
It’s something like $16bn a year, and that covers about 70% of the cost of running the average childcare centre, childcare centres can’t operate without it. And I think it’s fair. I think most mums and dads will think it’s fair that if centres are repeatedly not meeting the sort of standards that we set for them, that we should have the power to be able to cut that funding off.
This is not about shutting centres down. It’s about lifting standards up and giving us the powers to make that happen.
As we mentioned earlier, Clare said this is one part of the reforms the government is looking at. The education minister will meet with his state and territory counterparts next month, and will look at establishing a national educator register.
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Questions raised as to timing of removal of childcare subsidies in event of breach
There are still questions over when a childcare service would be stripped of its subsidy funding.
Childcare minister Jess Walsh is on RN Breakfast this morning, and is asked when the legislation would be used – whether for failing to meet standards or when there is an actual incident.
Walsh says the government can issue a “show cause” notice for “repeat offenders”, which would require a service to show the government why they should maintain their funding.
The legislation gives us the ability to put all of that information and for the secretary of my department to make a decision to identify those repeat offenders, those providers, those services that persistently and consistently fail to meet standards and fail to keep our children safe …
We can start by issuing a show cause notice as to why that provider, that service, should maintain their commonwealth funding through the childcare subsidy. And we can make that show cause notice public.
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Coldplay couple: everything is ‘on camera’, Albanese says
The prime minister has weighed into the story that’s taken the globe by storm … I’m of course talking about the Coldplay couple caught on a kiss cam.
“You can’t get away from it!” said the PM, dialling into KIIS fm this morning, but he said it just shows how everything can be recorded.
It’s just a reminder that everything you do these days is on camera, no matter who you are, whether you’re a public figure or just this couple, obviously, [a] couple that weren’t supposed to be a couple at a Coldplay concert, and they ended up, the whole world knows who they are now, so I think [it’s] a wake up call.
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Childcare safety legislation ‘one part’ of reforms says minister
The education minister, Jason Clare, says he’s working with states and territories to look at developing a national educator register for childcare workers and regulations for CCTV in centres.
Today the government will introduce legislation to strip childcare subsidy funding for centres that repeatedly fail their safety requirements. Clare tells ABC News Breakfast the threshold could be “as simple as one” strike for a centre for its subsidy funding to be stripped.
It could be as simple as one [strike]. It is important to make a point that regulators can shut a centre right now if they think there is a serious threat to children’s safety but this will give us the power to issue a … notice to a centre and say we will shut it within 28 days unless they meet that minimum standard, or to set conditions on them as well.
Clare says this is just “one part” of the work that needs to be done.
We’ll be talking at that [state and territory ministers] meeting about a national educator register so we contract workers from centre to centre, as well from state to state, I think that what is happening in Victoria shows the weakness in that area, but also the role that CCTV can play in deterring people doing bad things and police investigations but most important of all, mandatory child safety training.
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Ley won’t weigh into Nationals leadership
The net zero debate is still alive and kicking within the Coalition with some Nationals agitating loudly for the policy to be abandoned.
Sussan Ley is on the Today Show this morning and says her energy minister Dan Tehan is looking at all energy policies.
But the debate also puts a question mark over the leadership of David Littleproud – a supporter of net zero. Among those arcing up is Barnaby Joyce, who wants to introduce a bill to abandon net zero, and the former leader Michael McCormack.
Ley says she has a good relationship with all the Nats, and will let them “speak up for themselves”.
The leader of the Nationals is a matter for their party room and I’ll leave that to them. And as I said at the beginning, Karl [Stefanovic], these three blokes speak up pretty well for themselves. And I’m sure they’ll do that.
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Australians lodge more than 100,000 financial complaints
Australians have filed more than 100,000 complaints against their financial institutions for the second year in a row, with insurance and financial advice issues surging, according to the financial ombudsman.
Fiscal year data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) shows that the three most complained about financial products were personal transaction accounts, motor vehicle insurance and credit cards.
Consumers also regularly raised complaints over misleading product or service information, delays in insurance claim handling, and service quality.
The chief ombudsman at AFCA, David Locke, said the number of complaints was “unacceptably high”.
We’ve now had three years of high complaints… Firms have more work to do to ensure fair responses to complaints are delivered earlier, without people having to take the extra step of coming to us.
AFCA is an independent external dispute resolution scheme consumers go to if a problem can’t be resolved with their financial institution.
The 100,745 complaints lodged in 2024-25 represent a slight decline from last year’s record of 104,861, although the number remains elevated.
Locke said that while scam-related complaints fell, the number of cases was “far too high and behind every case is a consumer who has been traumatised and often suffered life changing impacts”.
This evil trade causes so much human harm, and the law and regulatory framework we currently have is not sufficient to address this. Industry should not wait to take action; every day we see the impact of more people affected.
While the parliament passed a scams prevention framework earlier this year, industry codes of practice are still being developed.
Childcare safety bill due to be introduced today
The federal government will introduce its childcare safety bill to parliament today. It was previously expected to arrive on Thursday, but the timeline has moved up.
We don’t have specifics on what the bill will set out yet - but there will a press conference from education minister Jason Clare and early education minister Jess Walsh this morning, and we’ll bring you more from that shortly.
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O’Neil says she is ‘desperate’ to get on top of childcare safety reforms
There are a few reforms on the table to help fix the childcare sector, with the first being legislation to strip childcare subsidy funding for centres that repeatedly fail their safety requirements.
Next month there will also be a meeting of state and territory education ministers, as well as a meeting of state and territory attorneys general, where there will be discussion of further reform.
Why wait until next month for those meetings? The government was asked that this morning, but frontbencher Clare O’Neil says the work is already being undertaken. O’Neil told Sunrise she’s “desperate” to see the reforms pass:
The working with children checks are of course a part of this and the attorneys general across the country are working together … to make sure that we fast-track this. So that meeting next month will be to finalise some of that work. It is already under way. It’s really critical that we get on top of this.
Updated
Good morning from Krishani
Krishani Dhanji here with you to take you through all things politics today, and a big thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
Parliamentary business kicks into full swing today, after a largely ceremonial opening of the 48th parliament yesterday.
Childcare reforms and Hecs debt cuts will be top of the agenda, and we’ll see our first question time, with Sussan Ley taking the chair opposite Anthony Albanese.
Stick with us, it’s going to be a busy day!
Updated
Experts say reforms needed as Queensland begins child protection inquiry
Brave reforms are needed to protect the most neglected, abused and disadvantaged kids from a “harmful” child protection system, advocates say.
Calls for transformational change have been made before a Queensland government-backed child safety system inquiry that begins in Brisbane today, AAP reports.
The inquiry, which is expected to last 17 months and cost $20m, will investigate the system’s failures and the damage it has caused, and will recommend changes to better protect vulnerable children.
Queensland had more than 3,000 children living in out-of-home care in 2024, many with traumatic backgrounds and needs not being met by the child safety system.
Elements of the state’s child protection system were not fit for purpose and harmful to children and families, Queensland’s family and children commissioner, Luke Twyford said.
“This inquiry can produce the bold and transformational reform needed to deliver better outcomes for Queensland children and families,” he said.
The inquiry must listen to children, young people and families with experience of the system and take action on what they said, Twyford said.
“They know best how the system performs and the changes needed to deliver on the promise the system makes to keep children safe,” he said.
The Youth Advocacy Centre’s chief executive, Katherine Hayes, said significant system change was urgently needed to improve the lives of vulnerable children facing the “most awful circumstances” every day without the proper assistance of child safety.
One dead and one hospitalised after Sydney jet ski crash
Breaking out of politics for a moment: A teenage boy has died and another is in hospital in a critical condition after a jet ski crash in Sydney, AAP reports.
Emergency crews were called to Tom Uglys Bridge in Sylvania, in Sydney’s south, just after 6pm last night after reports of people floating in the water.
A 15-year-old boy was found deceased in the water and was unable to be revived, police said.
A 14-year-old boy was treated at the scene for a severed arm and taken to Sydney Children’s hospital by paramedics. He was in a critical condition last night.
A crime scene has been established and investigations into the crash have begun.
It was a rather more gentle introduction for Ali France, the new Labor MP who defeated Peter Dutton at the last election, who gave a very moving, personal maiden speech about the obstacles she has overcome on her way to becoming an MP.
We have a story right here:
And some video of that speech:
It’s been a baptism of fire for the Australian Greens leader, Larissa Waters, who has begun her first parliamentary session in the top job with an internal crisis over the expulsion of co-founder Drew Hutton.
When asked last night on ABC’s 7.30 about the exact reasons for Hutton’s defenestration from the party, Waters said that she had not read the relevant documentation and that it had been dealt with “by the party”.
Full story here:
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Krishani Dhanji will take the controls.
Larissa Waters is likely to face more questions today about the Greens’ handling of the expulsion of co-founder Drew Hutton. She told the ABC’s 7.30 last night that she had not read the relevant documentation on the case and had left the process “to the party”. More coming up.
An inquiry into Queensland’s child safety system begins in Brisbane today with calls for transformational change to better protect vulnerable children. The inquiry, which is expected to last 17 months and cost an estimated $20m, will investigate the system’s failures and the damage it has caused and will recommend changes. We have more coming up and we’ll bring you updates when it gets under way later this morning.
Parliament will resume as Labor takes the first steps to implement its second term agenda. The education minister, Jason Clare, is due to deliver on Labor’s election promise by introducing legislation to the lower house to slash university debt for three million Australians by 20%.
Plus the national parliament’s first question time in more than 100 days! What a treat.
