Nominations for the ALP leadership close on Monday. So, if no one else pops their head up over the next few days, the opposition begins its official renewal from Monday.
We should know what the Morrison cabinet will look like on Monday as well. Then it’s a case of working out when parliament will come back. Plus, finding some stuff to legislate.
We should also have a better idea of whether the Morrison government will have 77 or 78 seats. Cowan and Lilley should stay with Labor. But then again, stranger things have happened in Australian politics in 2019!
With things having firmed up, we are going to officially wrap up our 2019 Politics Live campaign blog. Of course, we will be back when parliament starts, and for any bits and bobs which may need live coverage between now and then.
Thank you to everyone who has chosen us as their 2019 election go-to. You have overwhelmed us with your generosity, your humour and your support. This little blog only works because of the people who prop up my fingers and brain – Katharine Murphy, Mike Bowers, Paul Karp and Sarah Martin and everyone without a byline who you don’t see, but are crucial in keeping it all up and running and tidying up my mistakes.
To every one who sent in messages, tips, treats, tidbits, jokes and complaints – thank you. You often made our day.
We will be back with you very, very soon. In the mean time, make sure you check back on the Guardian for news updates, you can find me (and occasionally Bowers) giving political updates on @pyjamaapolitics and of course, twitter.
I’m off to stare at a wall for a bit. As always – take care of you.
Updated
Tony Burke also echoed what he told Murph, about where he believes Labor’s climate policy needs to go:
When we work through the policy review, I have got a really strong view that we’re reviewing policies, we’re not reviewing values.
What I mean by that is we respect – with respect to climate change policy, the government has dared us to say, “Your targets were too high. That’s what you should abandon.”
The principle that we base targets depending on the science, we must not shift on. If there is going to be any room for compromise, the compromise has to be in what the method is to deal with that.
Because, the planet is not going to turn up and say, “Let’s have a compromise, there will be less climate change and we’ll cut a deal.”
The environment when it negotiates back is completely uncompromising. We have to keep the same starting point that we have to respect and listen to the science of climate change and that needs to drive our emissions targets.
Once we deal with that, we then deal with the mechanism, we’ve got to work our way through the fact that for 12 years now the different mechanisms we have put forward, the Australian people, or the parliament or whatever, have ultimately said no to.
As a result of that, Australia is in a worse position than we would have been if we got our original policy through 12 years ago.
Australia is less prepared for the future. Our pollution is higher.
That means that the – and sorry, the other political problem we had with these market mechanisms has been because you are doing what business has asked for, which is to say, “OK, here is the most efficient method. You can make a whole series of decisions as to how you implement it” that is why you can’t have a total answer of a neat answer because of the variables to business.
I don’t have a fixed view on what the alternative is, but effectively the right and the environmental movement have shifted to a direct action model. Every other theory will tell you it is less efficient and it is less efficient.
But we are heading down the path now, once we get to the end of the next term, we will have had inaction for the last 15 years and that is not counting the 12 years the Howard government did nothing.
I believe on two things, the climate part, the scientific part that you start with, and then the economic mechanism that you employ. Any compromise that happens has to be on the mechanism, not on whether or not you respect the science.
I’m not going to say specifically their policy design, I think there are issues with their policy design. But we now need to beat the table of working through what are the other ways of reaching targets beyond simply saying we’ll have a market mechanism.
Because while I still believe it is the most efficient policy, every academic will tell you it is the most efficient policy. You sit down and look at it, business knows it is the most efficient policy. But you have got to a point and say it is not happening and then you have one of two worlds and say the Australian people, we are not listening back to you and won’t compromise.
Or you compromise on the science, and I think that would be unthinkable.
Updated
Question: Anthony Albanese echoed something Chris Bowen said a couple of days ago: Labor needs to show more respect to people of faith. Your electorate has migrants and do you think Labor needs better answers to these people?
Tony Burke:
Yes, we do. It is a real problem that there has been a successful campaign by, that has allowed people to view issues of faith as effectively being about examples of intolerance, and that is what religious people want and rhetoric has made it think it was Labor’s view.
The people in my community and people of faith are passionate about a whole range of issues.
And they also will feel, at different points, that they are ridiculed, vilified for their faith, and they feel that pressure and that can be real. If someone is abused on public transport because – and it’s “swear word Arab” or “swear word Christian, Jew or Muslim” all of those things are equally offensive.
We have been very good at standing up when people have felt they were being ridiculed in any way for their race but we haven’t sent the same principle and the message is identical if you are receiving that sort of hatred for your faith. We’ve got a way to go in making those positions clear.
And ultimately, if you start with the view that basically people want to be able to get on with their lives and want to be able to mind their own business, don’t want to be hassled by each other, a whole lot of principles we have been running for a very long time about not being prejudiced against, because of your race, because of who you love, because of who you are, because of your faith, they all fit.
They all fit in that same mantra and we need to be able to explain that far more effectively.
Updated
Tony Burke to Patricia Karvelas, on one thing which lost Labor the election:
One thing? Whew ... Um, I think, I’ll have a go but I’ll let you know as well, I’m still digesting it all and trying to make sure that we’re very much listening respectfully to the Australian people as they tell us what they think we got wrong.
It is true that on the polling booths the number of times – and in the streets in the days leading up – the number of times you had to talk to somebody about something that was not our policy was like I have never seen before.
I spent more time fielding complaints about Labor’s death tax that didn’t exist than I did about any of our actual taxation policies.
When people wanted to complain about negative gearing policy, it was without exception people complaining on the basis they believed we were going to stop them from negatively gearing a property they already had and were already negatively gearing, which was not our policy.
There is no doubt that we had a massive problem in dealing with all of the range of – let’s call them misconceptions, to use the politest term I can think of – of Labor. I don’t think it is good enough to say they were lie, the Liberal party spread them, let’s therefore get angry about it. It happened.
There is a whole lot of people we wanted to protect and look after who we can’t because we are in opposition again and we have to think through – OK, what had we done that allowed those sorts of views of us to become so widespread?
Now, part of that may well be the concept that we simply had too many different strategies, too many policies for people to keep track of and when everything is that busy, if a lie gets a head of steam or a misconception gets a head of steam, then you don’t have the space to be comprehensively refuting it.
Now, I don’t want out of that for us to get a view that therefore Labor should stand for less. But in terms of policy design, we have to be in a situation where we, people can be making judgments purely on what we have decided our policies are. And there is no doubt – there is no doubt at all, that a big part of what we were dealing with, just with the anecdotes that I’ve personally experienced with people and that my colleagues have, that we spent a large part of our time trying to explain to people that what they had heard, what they had read, what they had believed, was a policy that in fact had nothing to do with what we were proposing.
Updated
Just before heading on the ABC, Tony Burke spoke to Katharine Murphy about climate policy:
The shadow environment minister, Tony Burke, has declared Labor can no longer pursue a climate policy based on a market mechanism to reduce emissions.
But he insists there can be no retreat from what the science says needs to happen to avoid dangerous warming.
In a significant piece of post-election positioning, Burke told Guardian Australia Labor needs to adopt new policies of regulation and spending – like the Green New Deal model pursued by some Democrats in the United States, or like the existing Australian Direct Action model – because that is the only way a majority of Australian voters will sign on to climate action.
While Labor can compromise on the mechanism, Burke says there can be absolutely no compromise on the science. “The reason we can’t compromise on the science is this: there’s a limited time for the nations of the world to act to keep us within 2C.
“There is a chance the tipping points are reached before you hit 2C, but if we work on the basis that we’ve at least got until 2C warming before the whole planet takes on its own spiralling cycle of heating up, then compromise on the science is completely unacceptable, perverse and no go,” Burke said in an interview with Guardian Australia.
Updated
Tony Burke on whether the Labor deputy should be a woman (given Anthony Albanese looks like being elected unopposed):
I think across the senior positions in the Labor party, you need to make sure that you have true representation of Australia. That means you need to, you want to have roughly equal numbers of men and women in senior positions and diversity of background and diversity of heritage – all of those issues. Effectively make sure you have a frontbench, part of it being in touch is the mere life experience matches that as closely as the rest of the country. Something the government didn’t quite deliver on for themselves but that is a broader discussion specific to the deputy leader.
Updated
Tony Burke on Afternoon Briefing:
... Given it is my first interview, I should just briefly, anyway, congratulate the government on their return and acknowledge we’ve always got to work on the basis that the Australian people get it right.
So we’ve got to do a whole lot of listening as a result of the outcome on the weekend and I’ve got the deepest respect for Bill Shorten, for Tanya Plibersek, for Chris Bowen, in the way the three of them really led a whole lot of the policy debate, but the outcome we had is what we have to deal with. I think all we can do on that score is congratulate the government and move on.
You’ve asked me directly about the deputy leadership. Certainly Richard Marles has been called by people for quite some time on this and wasn’t trying to be a leadership aspirant but was wanting to be deputy. I don’t know how that is in terms of other people who are hitting the phones as well. Certainly, one of the things that will be really important is that we have a deputy of the sort of calibre that we had when Tanya Plibersek was in the role, when you’ve got somebody who, if the leader is having a hard day, a hard week or whatever, somebody who really has that capacity to hold the whole party together.
We’ve had six years of really good stability and as different people put themselves forward, making sure we get a deputy leader who fits that score is going to be really important. Because one of our great strengths, no matter what went wrong in the campaign, our unity was an absolute strength.
Updated
Lilley and Cowan have both been moved into the AEC’s ‘close seat’ counter, along with Bass and Macquarie.
At the moment, Anika Wells is holding on to Lilley for Labor with 821 votes.
Anne Aly has a 741-vote lead in Cowan.
Susan Templeman is 148 votes behind in Macquarie, with Labor holding grave concerns it will lose the seat.
Ross Hart is almost certainly gone in Bass, where he is 548 votes behind the Liberals’ Bridget Archer.
Updated
Greens warn Labor against fast tracking Adani mine
Things are going great in Queensland:
Greens Deputy Leader and spokesperson for climate change and energy Adam Bandt MP today warned Labor against fast tracking Adani. Not only will this put lives at risk by making climate change worse, but Labor would be putting at risk inner-city seats in Brisbane and Melbourne.
“If Queensland Labor misreads the election results and starts hugging coal even tighter, voters in the inner city will punish Labor and shift to the Greens,” said Mr Bandt in a statement.
“Labor has tried to walk both sides of the street on coal, but if Labor now comes down on the side of opening new coal mines, expect a swift and brutal response from voters in the inner city who want action on global warming.
“If Labor sides with coal, Anthony Albanese will sign his party’s death warrant in federal seats like Griffith and Wills, where people want to be represented by politicians that stand for climate action.
“The Greens achieved a double digit swing in the state seat of South Brisbane against Jackie Trad in 2017. If the federal election results were mirrored at the next state election, the Greens would win the seat.
“By fast-tracking Adani, the Queensland Premier has just put her deputy’s seat at even further risk, and the Greens will redouble our efforts to win it.
“There is no ‘pro-Adani’ or ‘pro coal’ mandate from this election. In Central Queensland, the Liberal/National vote stagnated.
“I welcome moves from some unions to support a ‘green new deal’ to transition workers out of coal. If Labor and unions keep backing coal, they’re not just giving workers false hope, they’re keeping the LNP in government.”
Updated
Well, my plan to take over Australia has just started!
— Albo draws lewds 🔞 (@Albo) May 23, 2019
*EVIL LAUGH*https://t.co/dM0NlW109V
This is great:
Thoughts and prayers with this Italian erotic comic artist named Albo, who has been abruptly buried beneath a deluge of tweets about craft beer, franking credits and the Newtown Jets. 😭 #auspol https://t.co/m2ReWi4kyI
— Eliza Barr (@ElizaJBarr) May 23, 2019
Also, do not open this person’s twitter account if you are at work/public/in front of baby Jesus.
Updated
Blanche d’Alpuget will be the guest on 7.30 tonight, in her first interview since Bob Hawke’s death.
Barnaby Joyce was not at the Nationals meeting, says Mike Bowers.
Updated
From the Nationals leadership:
A meeting of The Nationals Party Room in Canberra today has welcomed new members and confirmed the continuation of leadership positions.
While vote counting is continuing, currently it’s expected The Nationals will have five new members in the new term of Government, including four women, following formal declaration of the Federal Election results.
This includes Dr Anne Webster in Mallee, Perin Davey (New South Wales Senate), Susan McDonald (Queensland Senate), Dr Sam McMahon (Northern Territory Senate) and Pat Conaghan in Cowper.
The four new female members adds to existing members and ministers in Bridget McKenzie (Victoria Senate) and Michelle Landry (Capricornia).
At the meeting, Riverina MP Michael McCormack was also returned as Leader of The Nationals and Bridget McKenzie as Deputy Leader.
Mr McCormack said The Nationals had wasted no time returning to work immediately for the people of regional Australia who had endorsed the Liberal and Nationals Government’s local plans for job creation and economic growth.
Senator McKenzie said she was excited with the party’s growth in female representation and especially pleased this increase has been delivered through a merit-based process with new Senators and MPs having strong grass roots experience in areas important to regional Australians such as business, agriculture, family farming, water policy and family support, not-for-profit management.
“This is a team whose heart is in the regions and who remain determined to deliver on the faith placed in us by regional Australia.”
Updated
Oliver Yates hopes to crowdfund legal challenge against Liberal ads
Oliver Yates is hoping to crowdfund a legal challenge against the Liberal party advertising in Chisholm which mimicked AEC notices, saying, in Mandarin, to vote 1 Liberal and then number the other squares:
Misleading and deceptive signs, authorised by the Liberal Party, were displayed at polling booths across Kooyong. The Liberal Party’s conduct and the AEC’s failure to enforce its own Electoral Act demonstrates a failure of integrity in our democratic system” said Mr Yates, in a statement.
Mr Yates added that since he raised concerns of the Liberal Party’s Mandarin language signs, he has been inundated with offers of support from members of the community. The signs were in the AEC purple colours to deliberately appear as AEC material directing people to vote for the Liberal Party.
An English translation of the signs is “The correct voting method. Note down number 1 besides the Liberal party on the green ballot paper and then the number from small to large in the rest of the squares”. There is a barely readable attribution to the Liberal Party at the bottom of the sign.
“I fought the election campaign on a platform to restore integrity to politics. Given the Liberal party’s behaviour during the election, that campaign will continue.
“My office and the Greens have both made formal complaints to the AEC and to the Australian Federal Police. My office is now working with Michael Bradley, Partner at Marque Lawyers to have this matter brought before the Court of Disputed Returns.
“I am today urging people to chip in to ensure we can take on the power of the Liberal Party and hold them accountable for their lies and deliberate deception.
“We do not accept the AEC’s view that these signs are acceptable. Our legal advice is strong. You cannot mislead voters on how to cast a valid vote.
“Through this legal action, the Liberal Party might realise that people will not accept misleading and deceptive conduct as simply ‘part of the game’.
“I ran on a platform to restore integrity in politics. Given the Liberal Party’s behaviour in the election campaign, the need to restore integrity in politics is more important than ever before.
“We are giving people the opportunity to contribute to the people-powered CODE PURPLE INTEGRITY FIGHTING FUND to cover the costs of taking this action.
“I couldn’t be more disappointed with the misleading and deceptive conduct by the Liberal Party throughout the entire campaign. The twisted lies that they spread about their opponents through saturation mailouts, these deceitful signs and scurrilous behaviour at polling booths on election day, are not the way elections should be conducted in Australia. Kooyong had never been subjected to this kind of conduct ever before.
“The AEC’s indifference to all this and refusal to take any action is also quite staggering.
“The legal action in relation to the misleading signs is an initial opportunity to raise the standard of conduct and draw people’s attention to the need for truthful advertising.
“I will continue to do everything we can to restore integrity in politics. In the aftermath of the election there is growing public interest in improving the way elections are conducted so this doesn’t happen again. Through this legal action, we need to set a precedent for next time. Your contribution to supporting this action would be most appreciated.
Updated
Anthony Albanese finishes with this:
Look, I’m not complacent about it and I don’t take it for granted. I think if you go back and have a look at the news broadcasts of last night were different from the news broadcasts of the night before and they were different from the news broadcasts of the night before and the night before that. If you go back to Saturday’s news, they were reporting that I would be standing here as a minister in a Labor government on the basis of exit polls.
So I’m not getting ahead of myself. One of the things that I will do is respect proper processes. I’m doing that after nominations close at 10am on Monday. I will have more to say whether as a contestant in a ballot. And I support this process.
Be very clear. There is no one who I have said a ballot is not a good idea. That is not my position. My position is that I’m putting myself forward. Everyone else has a perfect right to nominate.
If they do, I will put myself forward before the caucus. I’ve had the opportunity to speak, I must say, to most of the caucus members. I believe that a majority of them will support me in a ballot if one is held.
And I’m also aware of the relationship I have with the party membership. I have travelled the length and breadth of this land.
I don’t think there is anyone who has launched more Labor campaigns, federal or state, currently involved in active politics than myself. I know the party members. I understand the party members.
I listen to the party members. Can I say that one of the things that I will do if I’m successful is have a process whereby we go out there and consult and listen to the party membership, to affiliates, as well as to people who did not support us.
There is an old saying I used to get told, that we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Because we should listen twice as much as we talk.
And on that note, I’ve talked enough, thanks very much.
Updated
Question: Can I ask you about your view on the CFMEU, been critical of them in the past and their actions. They are affiliated with the Labor party. Are you comfortable with that?
Albanese:
Look, I’m comfortable with trade unions being involved in the Labor party, yes, I am. What that does is give us a connection to workplaces. Can I say this, that the trade union movement, particularly in the area of the construction sector, it’s a dangerous industry.
Have a look at how many deaths there have been in the workplace and think about how many more deaths there would be if trade unions weren’t there defending occupational health and safety. Having said that, when trade unions step out of line, I will publicly say, just as when employers step out of line that that is inappropriate.
People should behave according to the law at any time.
Updated
Question: What is your view, I know you want to talk to your colleagues about becoming leader, about whether Labor should support the government’s income tax package if they refuse to break it up in parliament?
Anthony Albanese:
I’ll talk to colleagues about that. Can I say we are preparing to support the first tranche, which is about lower and middle income earners.
The government shouldn’t play politics with this. The idea that you make a decision in 2019 about what happens in the middle of the next decade is quite frankly a triumph of hope over experience and reality.
The truth is that our international global economic circumstance is very vulnerable. The talk of, well, not the talk, the reality of trade disputes between China and the United States and what impact that has on us, the Reserve Bank of Australia and Treasury are warning of a softening in the economy in terms of demand.
We need to, I think, not pretend that you can decide today precisely what the tax system will look like many, many years hence.
So we’re quite prepared, I’m sure, that caucus would approve the expedition of the first tranche of tax reform. I note that Scott Morrison has already broken a promise, a very clear promise, that that would be in place by July 1.
It is not bad when a government breaks a promise in the first few days. It usually takes even the Liberal party a little while, a couple of months to start breaking promises. But they have already done that.
And that was at the centre of their pitch to voters. One of the things I think it will determine as well, caucus will think about, is how it is that the government can breach such a clear commitment when it made that commitment just in the lead-up to the election last Saturday.
Updated
He continues:
Can I say also that one of the things that we need to do as a party is to recognise – and I say this again – recognise the magnitude of the challenge that we face.
A magnitude which is on the basis of winning just the votes of one in every three Australians’ first preference last Saturday.
But I don’t think it should be a cause for despair. I think it should be a cause for determination.
We must – we must work with the people of Australia, wherever and whoever they are, to build a blueprint for a better country.
Now if I could sum up my approach in one word, to quote the late, great Aretha Franklin, it is this – respect.
Respect for people wherever they live. Respect for people whatever their faith. Respect for people whatever their sexuality and lifestyle. Respect for each other.
One of the things that I think is regrettable about the nature of what has happened in politics in recent times is that rather than our diversity being seen as a positive, it is being seen, perhaps, that we are a divided country.
I think very clearly that we’re not. What unites us is much greater than what divides us.
One of the things I intend to do, if I’m elected leader of the Labor party, is to put forward a positive vision, positive messages, positive policies, about what I am for, rather than just what I am against.
And I think, frankly, the result in Warringah showed that the Australian people don’t want politics to be defined by just what people are against, and they responded to that.
I intend to do that, whether it’s specific policies or whether it is engaging with people in our cities and regions, men and women, people regardless of their ethnicity and regardless of their faith.
Because I think our diversity as a country is a great strength. We are the most successful multicultural nation on the planet. We benefit and, indeed, are privileged, to live in a country with the oldest continuous civilisation on the planet and I intend to pursue the reforms that have been advocated so strongly by Labor’s first caucus of reconciliation, noting that next week is reconciliation week and, indeed, a public holiday in Canberra next week for Reconciliation Day. We are diminished as a nation while we don’t recognise First Nations peoples in our constitution.
Updated
Anthony Albanese on his leadership style:
Can I say, though, in terms of my leadership style, one of the things that I have done this week is spoken to colleagues in an inclusive manner. I’ve tried, as well, through forums like this, to speak to the Australian people. Again in an inclusive manner.
I hope that’s one of the things that defines my leadership, if I am, indeed, successful in being elected by members to lead the Labor party. I, of course, have also consulted many, many party members. I’ve consulted trade union affiliates to the Labor party who play such an important role in our structures.
Can I say that in terms of inclusiveness, one of the things I have done as well during this process is not tried to enter any arrangements with anyone about any future positions. I put myself forward on my merits and if I am successful I will come into the position exactly that – as someone who has been elected and supported on my merits without any issues being raised, about future arrangements or any deals. I think that is really important for the integrity of the process.
And I think it is has been good that the other candidates who have, I guess, checked out support, with caucus and party members, have been consistent about that as well.
Updated
Anthony Albanese speaks about his bid for Labor leadership
Anthony Albanese is speaking following Jim Chalmers’s decision not to run for the ALP leadership:
I want to pay tribute to Jim Chalmers. He in the short time he has been in parliament has made an outstanding contribution to the cause of Labor and he will make an outstanding contribution to the future, not just in opposition but in government.
I want to work with Jim Chalmers and I see him as having a key role in the opposition, if I am, indeed, successful in becoming leader of the Australian Labor party. Nominations, of course, opened this morning.
I can confirm that I will be nominating. Nominations close on Monday and I don’t want to preempt the process. And on Monday, if it is the case that I am elected without a ballot, I’ll certainly have much more extensive things to say than I’m prepared to say this afternoon.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce’s electorate:
More than 18,000 stung with fines for not voting in election https://t.co/SIU7u8hkoU
— ArmidaleExpress (@ArmidaleExpress) May 23, 2019
New England saw almost a 10 per cent dip in participation, with 16.4 per cent of the electorate not voting.
When combined with the 6.59 per cent of votes marked informal, almost a quarter of the electorate (23 per cent) didn’t have have their say.
Despite the large number of non-voters, New England actually had one of the highest turnout rates in the country, with 83.57 per cent, ranking in the top 10, above both the NSW average (80.14 per cent) and the national average (77.62 per cent).
Much variety. Many diversities.
Back in Canberra with the @The_Nationals team, getting to work on behalf of regional Australia!#PuttingLocalsFirst #RegionsMatter pic.twitter.com/VHDrJeyD3S
— Michael McCormack (@M_McCormackMP) May 23, 2019
There are more than two women in the National party now. Now, I think there are six out of 21 Nats.
Updated
'We proved them wrong': Michael McCormack hails election win
Michael McCormack:
He [Scott Morrison] has done a mighty job, a mighty job. And when all the polls, when all the so many in the media and the trolls and those on Twitter said we couldn’t do it, we proved them wrong.
We proved them wrong through hard work, decency, teamwork and delivery.
In the next three years we will get on and make sure the fantastic budget Josh Frydenberg delivered is put into place and make sure the tax cuts are put into place and we are going to build on the jobs record, the infrastructure delivery record, and we’re going to make this country an even better place in which to live.
And certainly for those people in the margins, certainly those families, those small business people and everybody who lives in rural and regional Australia will know that the National party has their back, the people suffering from drought, the people who are suffering in North Queensland from the floods, and I look forward to going to Cloncurry with the prime minister this afternoon.
But we have their back. We have their interests at heart and will continue to deliver for them. Thank you, again, for the support you placed in myself. I owe a debt of gratitude to you.
To my wife, Catherine, and family, and my chief of staff and hard-working staff and to my wonderful deputy leader, Bridget McKenzie. How good is Bridget McKenzie?
Meanwhile, a dairy which has been around for 100 years was closed in Victoria today (from AAP):
Fonterra has cut its full-year guidance and will close a century-old factory in western Victoria amid drought conditions it says represent a “new norm for the Australian dairy industry”.
The New Zealand-based processor on Thursday said its Dennington plant, which employs 98 people and opened in 1911, was “not viable” in current market conditions, and would be shut down later this year.
“This is not a one-off for this season, it’s the new norm for the Australian dairy industry and we need to adapt,” chief executive Miles Hurrell said in a statement.
Fonterra, the world’s largest dairy producer, slashed its full-year guidance and said it expects earnings per share in the range of 10-15 NZ cents instead of its earlier estimate of 15-25 NZ cents.
The company informed Dennington workers of the decision on Wednesday and has reportedly told milk suppliers of a November closure date.
“The Australian ingredients business continues to feel the impact of the drought and other significant changes that mean there is excess manufacturing capacity in the Australian dairy industry,” Mr Hurrell said.
“With the reduced milk pool in Australia, we must put it into our highest returning products and most efficient assets. Dennington is over 100 years old and not viable.”
Updated
One of these things is not like the others:
“How good is Bridget McKenzie” asks Michael McCormack after being re-elected unopposed to the National party leadership along with deputy McKenzie @AmyRemeikis @GuardianAus @murpharoo #PoliticsLive pic.twitter.com/esQLmXMi5M
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) May 23, 2019
Updated
Adani has met with the Queensland coordinator general over the approvals timeframe:
Today we met with officials from the Department of Environment and Science (DES) and the Coordinator General to put a timeline on finalising the outstanding management plans for the Carmichael Project once and for all.
We welcome the intervention from the Premier to get the Coordinator General involved, to ensure these approvals are concluded in a timely manner.
Today’s meeting was constructive and a positive step. We have been asking for clarity of timing and process for more than seven months now, and we are now more confident than ever that we will receive it.
There are a couple of elements to finalise with the Coordinator General and I will be doing that this afternoon and tomorrow morning.
Assuming that all goes to plan, the Premier will be in a position to publish the process and timeframes formally.
Whilst we are working through the final details we believe the timeframes discussed to date are sensible and achievable.
Ultimately however, actions speak louder than words. We look forward to the Coordinator General working to ensure that the agreed timeframes are met.
We are not being pig-headed about finalising these plans and will work with state government officials as quickly as possible in order to move forward.
DES has been reviewing these environmental management plans for over two years now.
DES has been reviewing the groundwater management plans for more than two years, across 11 versions, and had access to CSIRO and Geoscience Australia’s previous assessments for over six weeks.
Over the past two years, seven versions of the Black-Throated Finch Management Plan have been submitted to the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, consisting of more than 1,000 pages of advice which have been assessed and verified by more than 10 different scientists, five environmental consultancy groups and even a Land Court judge.
DES officials have provided input and reviewed every version, every step of the way over the past two years.
My team and I look forward to working with the Coordinator General and the Department of Environment and Science to get the Carmichael Project done.
I have also spoken this morning with Stephen Smyth, CFMEU Queensland Branch President of the Mining and Energy Division, and briefed him on the status of the approvals, and confirmed his ongoing support.
We are determined to see this through for the benefit of Queensland and in particular for the people in regional Queensland.
Updated
Thank you PM @ScottMorrisonMP and warmest regards from all of us in Indonesia. Australia has been one of our great allies, and we look forward to continue deepening our ties and strategic partnership in times to come. https://t.co/KvSZiDom2M
— Joko Widodo (@jokowi) May 23, 2019
In news which should not surprise anyone, Michael McCormack and Bridget McKenzie have been elected unopposed to the National party leadership.
Good news everyone!
The member for Sky is now back on Sky!
Craig Kelly has made a triumphant return to the Sky broadcast, although he still interviews like he is yelling at you over a pub bar.
Updated
Scrapping the medevac laws is one of the first priorities for the Morrison government.
Helen Davidson has an update on medical transfers:
More than 40 people have been transferred to Australia for urgent medical treatment from Manus Island and Nauru since the passing of the medevac laws.
The majority were brought to the mainland under the already existing processes, with 14 going through the new system. No one went to Christmas Island.
The Medical Evacuation Response Group (Merg), which is triaging the refugees and asylum seekers seeking care, said they were receiving an average of about 11 applications a day. Doctors were triaging a daily average of 8.2.
Since the federal election on Saturday there has been a spike in apparent suicide attempts and acts of self-harm among people on Manus Island and Nauru, including at least 12 suicide attempts on Manus Island.
“We have been working rapidly, and around the clock, to ensure critically ill people are assessed by doctors for transfer as quickly as possible,” said Dr Sara Townend, who is coordinating the doctors.
“After almost six years the demand for assistance with applications has been huge.”
Updated
The Ramsey Centre is still trying to get up in the University of Queensland.
Tony Abbott has a bit of free time at the moment. I’m just saying.
This has been doing the rounds on social media.
This attitude and way of thinking is a lot more common than you think. A lot more.
That voter in Corangamite pic.twitter.com/TKIq82GIGh
— ANDREW THOMAS (@andthomsydney) May 22, 2019
We shouldn’t forget the Senate
Now that it’s clear, more or less, what’s happening with Labor and the leadership in the lower house, let’s look at the Senate.
I’ve been saying for days that Penny Wong and Kristina Keneally are the likely Senate leadership in the coming term. It is possible Don Farrell, the current Senate deputy, will also want to stay (although people say he’s intent on getting Richard Marles up as deputy leader in the House, and remaining on the frontbench when the new regime takes over).
But we need to consider the factional dynamics. With the leadership in the House sitting with the left once Anthony Albanese takes over from Bill Shorten, it would be traditional to give the Senate leadership to a rightwinger.
Wong is from the Labor left. Some in the right faction will want the Senate leadership to go to Keneally, who hails from the NSW right.
But I think it’s unlikely Keneally will push for the top spot right at the moment if Wong wants to stay on (and my assumption is she will want to stay on). Wong and Keneally have a good personal relationship and Wong is one of Labor’s most beloved figures. If more intelligence comes to hand on this question I’ll share it.
Updated
How good is Ulaanbaatar?
“More than 60,000 votes repatriated home from more than 80 countries – from Accra in Ghana to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia – are now being swiftly sorted for further distribution to their “home divisions” for inclusion in the count,” the AEC said in a statement.
The receipt of overseas votes back to Australia following election day is one of the more significant logistical undertakings and allows counting to progress further towards official seat declarations.
Close seats
A count of absent votes in the seat of Bass (Tas) will be undertaken with updated results to be reflected in the Tally Room late today. Results will also update for the seat of Macquarie (NSW) following completion of a count of absent votes scheduled today.
The rolling process of validation against the roll and counting of declaration votes will continue in all 151 seats again today.
Updated
Along with @ClareONeilMP – also understood to be weighing up a run for Labor deputy – @JEChalmers ... Victorian right winger @RichardMarlesMP is already out of the blocks #auspol @AmyRemeikis
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) May 23, 2019
— Anthony Chisholm (@AnthonyChisholm) May 23, 2019
Clare O’Neil is weighing up her options:
Huge congratulations to @AlboMP on his success. Onwards to 2022.
— Clare O'Neil MP (@ClareONeilMP) May 23, 2019
Many Labor people - particularly Labor women - have contacted me in recent days encouraging me to run for Labor Deputy Leader to ensure there is a women in the Leader/Deputy team. (1/2)
One of the best things about Labor is that women are encouraged to put themselves forward for leadership roles and I know that will continue.
— Clare O'Neil MP (@ClareONeilMP) May 23, 2019
I’m going to talk to a few colleagues about whether it’s possible for me at this point. (2/2)
Updated
Scott Morrison:
First of all, it is great to be here with Michael, the deputy prime minister, and I want to thank you for coming together today. On Saturday, the Australian people have given us a very specific task and that is to continue the good government of this great nation.
I deeply respect, as does Michael, the work of the public service in delivering on the agenda of a government. On delivering on the policies of a government. In every portfolio that I’ve served in and worked with the public service, that is always the relationship I have had.
To set out clearly where we were going and to have the very strong expectation that that would be delivered, and that has always been my experience.
As Michael and I finalise my ministry, there are three key areas where we’ll be setting some very clear direction.
The first of those is, obviously, that we need to ensure that our economy remains strong to support the budget and the financial management that enables us to do all the things that we intend to do across all the various portfolio areas: health, education, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, mental health, in particular for young people, the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Secondly, the world is an increasingly uncertain place. I have had many discussions with people around this room around the uncertainties that present not just in the economic sphere but in the strategic sphere as well.
I think it very important that we continue to focus on the ways we can use our influence and our relationships and build on those relationships in the Indo-Pacific region and with our friends and partners around the world to continue to be a voice of reason and common sense that is focused on the prosperity and the peacefulness in our region for the people of our region.
The third area, and I think this is the most important for everyone sitting around this table, of course the public service gives us fearless and frank advice, but the thing we depend on and that you’re professionally responsible for is the delivery of those services.
Whether it’s in the National Disability Insurance Scheme or whether it’s in hospitals and infrastructure delivery, where Michael is so involved, concluding arrangements and ensuring that the funding that is provided to the states and territories, and the services that we run through Centrelink, this all needs to work seamlessly and efficiently.
A big part of the way I intend to direct over the next three years is there will be very clear targets about performance levels we expect from the delivery of the public service.
That Australians should expect to see things turned around quickly. That investors that are looking to invest in Australia, the blockages that often frustrate them, they will be dealt with.
Congestion busting just doesn’t need to happen on our roads and around the country.
Congestion busting needs to happen in the bureaucracy. I want to see some congestion busting in the bureaucracy, ensuring that we get things done.
So when your ministers are appointed and you sit down with them, you can expect them to have very clear views about the direction that the government will be taking. I will certainly be doing that as prime minister.
But before we go into that phase, I wanted to sent a very clear message that I understand the role that the public service plays in delivering on the government’s plans and the government’s agenda.
It is an important partnership.
It is a partnership that I respect professionally and I’ve always had that respect returned to me with all of those I’ve worked.
With that, I thank you for all the work that you and your departments are already doing in the years ahead. It will be a very busy time, I assure you.
Updated
And anyone wanting a bit more information on the One Nation truck fire Pauline Hanson blamed on “the left” but actually was probably caused by a discarded cigarette, AAP has written up this report:
A discarded cigarette started a blaze which destroyed a One Nation campaign truck in Hobart, discrediting claims by the party that the “left” was to blame.
Senate candidate Adam Lambert had been driving the truck, emblazoned with the faces of Pauline Hanson and her team, and was inside a Howrah shop on Sunday when the fire began.
On Thursday, police said the fire was not deliberately lit and firefighters revealed the likely cause was an ember from a discarded cigarette.
“This determination is based on there being no evidence of a deliberate ignition source, or any fault with the vehicle, in addition to CCTV footage not showing anyone at the back of the vehicle at the time,” the Tasmania Fire Service said.
The white Holden ute caught fire at Shoreline Plaza the day after the federal election.
Lambert posted a video to Facebook – showing flames leaping high above the cabin of the ute – saying he walked out of the shop to find the vehicle ablaze.
“If you don’t like us don’t vote for us, but for those magnificent supporters who have voted for us, this is a little more encouragement on how we have to work a bit harder for you guys next time,” he said.
Senator Hanson said “someone was seen torching it before fleeing”.
“It is amazing how the left call for tolerance but act like they’re above the law when you don’t agree with their ideologies,” she wrote on social media.
While there is no evidence of a crime, police want to hear from anyone with more information about the fire.
Moral of the story – smoking is bad, kids.
Updated
While Richard Marles is being thrown around as a potential deputy leader of the Labor party, Clare O’Neil is also a potential contender (both are from the Victorian right).
Don Farrell could also pop up in the Senate contest.
Updated
Mike Bowers went along to the opening of the meeting between Scott Morrison and Michael McCormack with department secretaries.
Morrison told the group he wanted to “bust bureaucratic congestion”, while McCormack offered “how good is the public service” as his opening gambit.
Updated
Richard Marles and Jim Chalmers are the names being thrown around for deputy.
At this stage.
Linda Burney was asked on Sky if she would consider the Labor deputy position. If Anthony Albanese is elected leader, it would be unlikely that Burney, a fellow left faction member, would be elected alongside him, but this is what she had to say earlier:
Look, my job is very much about working as a team player and you might think, well of course she’s going to say that but you know me and you know that I will work as a contributor and as a competent, very able person within whatever the shadow ministry looks like.
... I am not making any decisions like that and I don’t expect that to be the case. I’m very focused on what I’ve been doing. I am incredibly fearful, David [Speers], of what the re-election of the Morrison government means for the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Are they going to continue to use that as a cash cow to prop up budgets? I listened to Alan Tudge very carefully the other day, on his comments on Indigenous affairs and welfare. It scared me to think that there is going to be an approach by this government that will be about not making sure that the most vulnerable people in our society get their needs, and get the support from the government that they require, particularly in the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Updated
Anthony Albanese will give a brief press conference/statement on Jim Chalmers’ announcement at about 2.30pm.
Updated
The deputy Labor leader position is not set. If Anthony Albanese is elected unopposed, then you would think the deputy would have to come from the right. That’s a caucus vote.
In the Senate, convention is the same - that is a left/right or right/left duo. At this point, the only names that seem to be thrown up are Penny Wong and Kristina Keneally. Having two women leading the Senate team helps offset the issue if two men win the party leadership.
Updated
This is not the mining division of the CFMEU, but it is interesting:
CFMEU: PALASZCZUK RISKS BEING CONNED BY ADANI pic.twitter.com/jS3tDOADoe
— CFMEU C&G Qld/NT (@CFMEUQNT) May 23, 2019
Now, from what I have heard, there doesn’t seem to be any dark horse emerging for the Labor leadership. All the names – Tanya Plibersek, Chris Bowen and now Jim Chalmers – have all either pulled out or publicly said no.
That doesn’t mean that there won’t be a nomination before Monday. There are those in the party who want the contest to work out all the issues and use it as a cathartic experience. And then there are those who just want to get on with the job.
At this point, it seems like Anthony Albanese will be elected unopposed. But. There are still a few days to go.
Updated
And a tweet thread (because we all know nothing is official in 2019, until it is on social media official):
I won’t be putting my hand up for the leadership of the Australian Labor Party this time around. (1/7)
— Jim Chalmers MP (@JEChalmers) May 23, 2019
Updated
Jim Chalmers’ statement:
I won’t be putting my hand up for the leadership of the Australian Labor party this time around.
I want to thank the many parliamentary colleagues, branch members, activists and people from the broader labour movement and from communities right around Australia who contacted me and urged me to run on a platform of generational change.
I have been genuinely surprised by the magnitude of their support and encouragement and I hope I haven’t let them down in making this decision.
I gave it very careful consideration and I didn’t take it lightly. There were good reasons to run. But in the end I couldn’t be assured of winning, and if I did win, the extra responsibilities of leadership would make it much harder to do my bit at home while the youngest of our three little kids is only five months old.
I do want to play a substantial role in rebuilding, renewing and refreshing our party and its policies after Saturday’s stinging defeat, and as a Queenslander, I want the best state in Australia to have a more prominent voice in the alternative government.
I spoke to Anthony Albanese this morning and told him I will enthusiastically support him and work tirelessly with our team to give Australians the Labor government they need and deserve at the next opportunity.
Updated
Not that we doubted – but confirmed – Jim Chalmers will announce he will not be running for the Labor leadership.
Nominations don’t actually close until Monday, so I don’t think we will hear from Anthony Albanese that much today, but it is looking like he will be elected unopposed.
Updated
Anthony Albanese likely to be elected unopposed
This is starting to filter out now:
BREAKING It is understood from Labor sources Jim Chalmers has spoken to Albanese to convey his support and pull out of the Labor leadership race #ausvotes
— PatriciaKarvelas (@PatsKarvelas) May 23, 2019
Updated
Following the banking royal commission, Asic got $600m from the government to help increase resources to deal with the recommendations the government accepted (which were mostly all, except scrapping trailing commissions – which are under review).
Earlier this year, Josh Frydenberg said:
This review will follow the introduction of a number of new measures that the government has already announced, including: the best-interests duty that will legally obligate mortgage brokers to act in the best interests of consumers; a new requirement that the value of upfront commissions be linked to the amount drawn down by borrowers; a ban on campaign- and volume-based commissions; as well as a two-year limit on clawback, starting from 1 July 2020. These changes will address conflicts of interest in the industry by better aligning the interests of consumers and mortgage brokers.
Asic has now announced it won’t be going on a litigation spree. As AAP reports:
Asic has assured nervous brokers and advisers that no one would benefit from prosecutions “for the sake of it”, as the financial watchdog takes a bolder approach to litigation following the royal commission.
Greg Yanco, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s executive director of markets, said the regulator would increase the number of matters it takes to court but only if it was in the public interest.
“It’s not the way to go first and litigate everything,” Yanco said at the stockbrokers and financial advisers conference in Sydney.
“We don’t have unlimited resources, and that really wouldn’t play to the result we’re looking for, which is addressing deterring future misconduct, and really making the community expectations of wrongdoing will be dealt with appropriately through the courts.”
Updated
The debrief and reflection on what went wrong for the campaign against the government continues.
Paul Karp has looked at what the unions have to say. The ACTU ran a complementary but separate campaign to Labor:
“We’ve got to look to our purpose – our purpose as unions is to change workers’ lives through collective action, we are not the campaigning arm of the ALP.”
So says Tim Kennedy, the National Union of Workers national secretary, one of a number of union officials and thought-leaders questioning whether the Australian Council of Trade Union’s estimated $25m spend on the election was worth it.
But the ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, has defended the campaign, arguing that working people can’t pass up the opportunity to fight elections and change laws she says are stacked against working people.
McManus blames two factors for the shock loss: Clive Palmer’s big ad spend and a subterranean social media campaign falsely claiming Labor would introduce a death tax.
Updated
Scott Morrison is back in Canberra – he’ll have a few meetings with departmental secretaries, before heading to Queensland.
Updated
And if you need more China Stone, Ben Smee has looked at it, which you’ll find here:
That being said, here is how AAP has reported the China Stone:
A Chinese company has suspended its bid for mining leases to develop a large coalmine next door to Adani’s proposed operation in Queensland.
The China Stone project promised to create thousands of jobs, but the state government says the company has “voluntarily not progressed” with its mining lease applications.
“MacMines has voluntarily not progressed their five mining lease applications for the China Stone project,” the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy has told the ABC.
“The schedule associated with progressing a mining lease application are subject to the proponent’s commercial decisions.”
The China Stone project is owned by MacMines Austasia, a subsidiary of China’s Meijin Energy Group.
MacMines chief executive, Russell Phillips, told the ABC the project’s future was under discussion and he wasn’t in a position to elaborate.
But he also said it was “definitely not being shelved”.
Deputy premier, Jackie Trad, said she hadn’t been given the intimate details for the company’s decision to discontinue its applications.
“But I do understand that was a commercial decision,” she told ABC television.
Asked about what it said about investor confidence in Queensland, she said mine projects must stack up environmentally and economically.
The proposed China Stone mine site is the closest to Adani’s planned mine in the coal-rich Galilee basin.
Adani has repeatedly accused the state Labor government of changing the goalposts for its mine.
Regional voters turned against Labor at last weekend’s federal election, at least in part because of drawn-out delays plaguing Adani’s mine and the jobs it promises.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has spent the past year saying outstanding approvals Adani needs will not be rushed.
On Wednesday, days after Labor’s drubbing in Queensland, she said she was “fed up” waiting for departmental decisions on the approvals.
She ordered Queensland’s coordinator general to oversee approvals for the mine.
Adani, the Department of Environment and Science, and the coordinator general are due to meet on Thursday to nut out a deadline for decisions on the outstanding approvals.
MacMines still holds an exploration permit and it can opt to reapply for mining leases in the future.
Updated
Right. I know it has been a very long month and that the wash-up from the election is bitsy and speculative – and that is not us playing games, that is just us reporting what we know, when we know it.
This is a political blog, so it covers politics. Right now, in Australia, for one side federally, that is in flux. For the other, there are questions that need to be answered and we are asking those questions, but it has been five days since the election and not everything is worked out yet.
I see in the comments people are talking about China Stone pulling out of Queensland. We’ve been bringing you updates on the Adani situation because it had direct implications on the federal election and what is happening in Queensland, at a political level. The response has been a direct implication to the election.
However, I am not a resources reporter and while I keep an eye on the market and the major projects, I am not across every single aspect of mining in this country. As for implications of one company voluntarily pulling their project, I posted what BHP said about its planned downturn in the coal price. I don’t think it will be the last of that, but then we have also been posting what the RBA has been saying about the Australian economy more widely.
So while I accept criticism, this is also a moving beast. I try to put in a little of everything, but it’s not always going to do all of the things all of the time.
Updated
The Nationals will be meeting in about an hour to work out their four spots in the cabinet.
Michael McCormack and Bridget McKenzie will hold the leadership.
Updated
Adani is meeting with the Queensland coordinator general today.
The approval timeframe will be released tomorrow.
That sound you hear is National party MPs cheering their victory.
Updated
Looking at the Queensland Senate count, Chris Ketter, who holds the No 2 spot for Labor, needs to hope that the postals and preferences still to come in tip him over the line.
Otherwise – it is three for the LNP and one for Labor.
Updated
Just rounding out that circle:
Pauline Hanson said someone was seen torching a One Nation van in Tassie. Police checked and there's no evidence a crime was committed. https://t.co/wZARu4gc9m
— Angus Livingston (@anguslivingston) May 23, 2019
Updated
Bob Katter says Scott Morrison is embarking on a “thank you Australia” tour, for his re-election.
Cloncurry, in the state’s north-west, is apparently on his list for this evening.
“We are deeply appreciative of the prime minister visiting so soon after re-election,” Katter said.
“We hope he takes cognisance of the fact that while the cattle station owners got looked after – and rightly so – it must be pointed out that there are lot of other people that are not happy that they are being cut out of the government assistance.
“Whilst the primary issue is to get cattle back into the area, and preference always must be given as assistance to the base industry, discussions will be taking place this week with the authority that now has the confidence of a government in office instead of a government in election mode.”
Katter said there were many cattlemen who owned and bought cattle but did not own land and didn’t qualify for the assistance as it currently stood.
“There are an enormous number of ‘job farmers’, as I call them, and more importantly businesses, that are germane to the industry and not the least being livestock hauliers and the local supermarkets, to quote but two examples,” he said.
“We emphasise that this is to be addressed at the authority level and it in no way detracts from our enormous appreciation of what the prime minister has done for the north-west.”
Updated
Good morning
Welcome to day 50m of the election/election fallout of 2019.
Today we find out if the Labor leadership contest is to be a contest, with Jim Chalmers to announce his decision this morning about whether he will run against Anthony Albanese.
Albo remains the only declared candidate after Chris Bowen withdrew yesterday. You would have to say Albanese is the frontrunner – the list of Labor MPs, including those from the New South Wales right, coming out in his support yesterday seemed never-ending.
And the party knows he remains popular within the grassroots membership, which is the reason Bowen cited in withdrawing.
But there is not long to wait now, until we know.
On the government side of things, the National party MPs are meeting today to discuss all things National, like who deserves a spot in the ministry and what portfolios should be lumped together. It sounds like there is a bit of a kerfuffle around Barnaby Joyce (standard), trade, water and agriculture.
So situation normal in the Nats. Although Michael McCormack has more authority than he did before 18 May, so he might actually get to, you know, lead on a few things. Still, nothing says boilerplate like a room of emboldened Nationals MPs, so stay tuned on that.
And we should have more of an idea whether the Morrison government will end up with 77 seats or 78 seats, with the Macquarie count becoming a little clearer. If Macquarie falls, there will be ramifications within the Labor party over how that campaign was run, given this time round, Victoria was running the show.
But all of that waits before us.
I am going to find another coffee before I throw my computer out of a window, so I hope you have had yours.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.
Updated
