What we learned; Sunday 14 May
That’s it for our live news coverage today. Thanks for being with us.
Here’s what we learned.
The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the Senate should put “political games” aside and pass the government’s housing bill in order to help ease the housing crisis as soon as possible.
The SA shark attack victim was identified as 46-year-old Simon Baccanello as a search for his body resumed on Sunday.
A missing Queensland woman has been found in South Australia.
Victoria Liberal MP Moira Deeming has vowed to remain in the party despite being expelled from the party room.
Protesters are skirmishing with oil company Santos in Adelaide ahead of the APPEA conference next week.
A separate group of protesters with Greenpeace have scaled a piece of oil and gas infrastructure that has been abandoned off the Ningaloo Reef by Woodside Energy.
Australian synth metal band Voyager have taken ninth place in the Eurovision song contest.
Have a good rest of your weekend. We’ll have another live blog tomorrow.
Updated
Platypus return to Sydney national park after 50 years
Platypus have returned to Sydney’s Royal national park for the first time in five decades as part of a state-first translocation program.
Five female platypus have been released into the national park south of Sydney and four males will follow in the coming week after the quartet establish their territory.
The relocated platypus were collected from southern NSW to promote genetic diversity and brought to Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, where they underwent veterinary health checks and were fitted with transmitters before release.
The Royal national park – Australia’s first official national park – has not been home to the native egg-laying mammals for 50 years after becoming locally extinct.
It is hoped the program, a collaboration between NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, UNSW Sydney and World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia, will re-establish a self-sustaining and genetically diverse platypus population.
Platypus are under threat from habitat destruction and fragmentation amid increasing extreme climate events.
Taronga Conservation Society Australia’s Cameron Kerr said the shy and enigmatic creatures were silent victims of climate change.
While their elusive behaviour keeps them from view, under the surface they are particularly susceptible to drought and environmental change.
This translocation not only re-establishes a population in part of their former range but allows us to refine the skills and expertise that will inevitably be required to counter the impacts of increasingly frequent and more severe climate events.
WWF-Australia’s rewilding program manager Rob Brewster believes the nation risks losing platypus forever if it doesn’t take bold actions to reverse their decline.
The last century saw the destruction of so much of Australia’s wildlife and wild places.
The return of platypus to the Royal national park shows that we can move beyond just protecting what remains, and actually restore what we’ve lost.
The former Coalition NSW government quietly delayed the reintroduction program last year over water quality concerns after pollution events linked to the nearby Metropolitan mine at Helensburgh.
- AAP
Updated
A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged after allegations he was involved in a wildlife smuggling operation between January and March this year.
The man was about to board a flight for Hong Kong at Perth international airport on Friday when he was stopped and charged with two counts of attempting to export Australian reptiles.
They included shinglebacks and northern blue tongue lizards.
The man has been remanded in custody to appear at Northbridge magistrates court tomorrow, 15 May 2023.
The arrest is part of the Operation Nemo, an investigation in collaboration with Australian Border Force and the Australian federal police into an organised criminal syndicate involved in the illegal trafficking of Australian native wildlife.
The minister for the environment and water, Tanya Plibersek, said the government has employed specialist investigations to target transnational wildlife smuggling groups.
Our precious, unique animals, which are vulnerable to wildlife traffickers, deserve the strongest possible protection.
This arrest sends a warning to anyone out there thinking of getting involved in wildlife crime, we are watching, you will be arrested, and you could go to jail.
Updated
Greenpeace activists scale turret in Woodside protest
Activists with Greenpeace Australia Pacific have carried out a protest on a discarded oil tower owned by Woodside Energy on Sunday,
Two people scaled the Nganhurra Riser Turret Mooring, an 83-metre-long, 2452-tonne discarded piece of industrial waste infrastructure 19km away from Ningaloo Reef and Exmouth Gulf.
The activists dropped a banner reading, “Woodside, Don’t Be A Tosser”.
BREAKING @greenpeaceap activists climbed a toxic discarded sinking oil tower owned by fossil fuel company @WoodsideEnergy near Ningaloo Reef #WhalesNotWoodside #dontbeatosser ACT NOW >>> https://t.co/TjRV2SRHaF pic.twitter.com/6H2gt6uQHM
— Greenpeace Australia Pacific (@GreenpeaceAP) May 14, 2023
Greenpeace Australia Pacific says the riser turret mooring reportedly contains “toxic fire retardant foam” and was recently been found to be sinking due to a lack of maintenance.
Woodside no longer uses the tower and was previously told by oil and gas regulator NOPSEMA to remove the infrastructure, warning that if it spilled it would “cause a significant threat to other marine users including damaging vessels” and be an ongoing threat to the local environment.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter said Woodside’s failure to clean up the site proved it could not be trusted.
Every kid like me who grows up in WA learns that you don’t just chuck your rubbish in the ocean, but that’s basically what Woodside have done here on a massive scale.
This toxic oil tower should have been disposed of safely years ago, but Woodside has shamefully left its industrial junk to decay in the ocean close to the globally famous treasures of Ningaloo Reef and Exmouth Gulf.
Updated
Wages and jobs data expected this week
The Australian Bureau of Australia’s wage price index for the March quarter, scheduled for release on Wednesday, is tipped to reveal strong growth underpinned by strength in the labour market.
The Reserve Bank remains wary of wages and prices becoming stuck in a feedback loop, but its most up-to-date forecast includes wages growth peaking at 4% – a level consistent with its plan to tame inflation.
While workers have enjoyed larger sums landing in their bank accounts, extremely high inflation has robbed Australians of a real wage rise.
Inflation was running at 7.8% in the December quarter and 7% in the March quarter, leaving wages growth trailing far behind.
On Thursday, the national statistics bureau is due to release its April jobs report, which might finally show the jobs market weakening in line with forward-looking indicators like job vacancies.
Also of note will be the release of the Reserve Bank’s board meeting minutes after its May interest rate hike, which surprised many.
RBA governor Philip Lowe has since spoken publicly about the decision so the minutes, due on Tuesday, are unlikely to contain major revelations.
Also on Tuesday, the ABS will release overseas migration data and Westpac and Melbourne Institute will drop their consumer confidence survey.
– AAP
Updated
Australian real estate market remains strong with three in four properties clearing
Auction clearance rates dropped by 3% this week with 1,673 auctions held across Australia’s capital cities.
According to Core Logic’s Weekend Market summary, the clearance rate dropped 3% this week. Although the combined figure was lower than at the same time last year, more properties cleared with three in four properties selling.
Across Sydney 649 auctions were held, in Brisbane there were 117 auctions, 83 in Canberra and 77 in Adelaide. The South Australia capital recorded the strongest preliminary clearance rate across the smaller capitals, with four in five properties reporting a sale.
In Perth, four of the 12 properties up for auction were successful, while one of the two properties sold in Tasmania were successful.
Updated
Missing Queensland woman found in SA after week-long search
A Queensland woman who went missing a week ago on South Australia’s Eyre peninsula has been found safe.
Identified only as Julie, the 48-year-old was last seen at Streaky Bay, north of Port Lincoln, on Sunday afternoon.
Emergency service personnel, including police aircraft, spent the week searching the area for the woman.
There were concerns for her safety as she was unfamiliar with the area.
Police on Sunday morning confirmed Julie had been found north of Streaky Bay.
She is receiving medical attention and her family have been told she is safe.
Police would like to again thank members of the public and emergency services for their assistance.
– AAP
Updated
Robots, a barbershop and bagpipes: a Sydney school reinvents its tough past and what it means to love learning
The principal at Granville Boys high school is sick of talking about its one-time reputation for being a difficult, violent school.
Noel Dixon, who has been principal at the western Sydney school for just over four years, instead wants to talk about the success of their robotics team, their barbershop program or their bagpipe band.
“Reputations can hang around a school for too long, we still hear about incidents from 12 years ago being brought up. But that’s not our school now,” he says, as a robotics class buzzes behind him.
Dixon has worked hard to shift the mentality of the school, which was once known for school-yard violence and low attendance, focusing on rewarding positive behaviour and encouraging the boys to enjoy school and find something to be passionate about.
For more on this story about how a school with a bad reputation is reinventing itself, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Mostafa Rachwani.
Updated
A few weather updates for those heading out for lunch this Mother’s Day.
🌷 Are you heading out for Mothers Day? Check out today's forecast across the nation's capital cities.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) May 13, 2023
Stay up to date with the latest via the website https://t.co/4W35o8i7wJ or BOM Weather App. pic.twitter.com/6SQdl2mGbo
⛈️ Thunderstorm forecast for #QLD: a chance of a thunderstorm in the southern and southeastern interior, Moreton and Stradbroke Islands, and the far north today and tomorrow. Cloudy with scattered showers in the southeast. Radar: https://t.co/CocrScN4dU pic.twitter.com/lSEaLhJ44A
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) May 13, 2023
Trailer #frost report from #Richmond this morning. Plenty of cold minimum temperatures around, nearly -4°C at #Ouse, -1.6°C at #Grove and -1°C at Campania.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Tasmania (@BOM_Tas) May 14, 2023
Frosts are less likely for the next couple of days, but they'll be back for more on Wed and Thur! https://t.co/HuaA4GZ8br pic.twitter.com/iQmAbfKAVP
PRESCRIBED BURN: A prescribed burn is planned in Ngarkat Conservation Park in the Murray Mallee today and tomorrow, weather conditions permitting. For a full list of planned burns visit: https://t.co/iUQk6Aaraz@CFSAlerts #prescribedburn pic.twitter.com/SBZeaVJFx2
— SA Department for Environment & Water (@SAEnvirWater) May 13, 2023
Updated
Deeming vows to stay in Liberal party
Exiled Victorian MP Moira Deeming has vowed to stay in the Liberal party despite being expelled from the parliamentary party room.
Deeming sparked controversy in March after attending a rally where neo-Nazis performed the “heil Hitler” salute.
She was originally suspended for nine months, but an expulsion motion was brought to the party room on Friday after she served Liberal leader John Pesutto with a defamation concerns notice.
Liberal MPs subsequently voted 19 to 11 to expel Deeming from the parliamentary party for “bringing discredit” to the Victorian Liberals.
Pesutto maintained Deeming’s expulsion was not about her views, instead suggesting her legal threat did not sit well with MPs.
Deeming said she felt betrayed by the action, telling Peta Credlin in the Herald Sun she had honoured the terms of her suspension even when Pesutto did not.
She also maintained she would not quit the Liberal party.
If they want to get me out of the party, then it’s going to be another public round of beating me up for doing nothing wrong.
And if they want to have another go, they are welcome to it, but I know how much support I’ve got among party members because thousands and thousands of them have contacted my office since March.
Deeming said her legal action against Pesutto was a matter for her lawyers.
Pesutto on Friday said he would “vigorously defend” any legal challenge.
– AAP
Updated
Oil industry and environment protests in war of signs ahead of national conference
Extinction Rebellion has begun a series of protests on Sunday ahead of the upcoming Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association Conference in Adelaide this week.
The conference will gather together Australia’s oil producers and begin on Tuesday, with Monday devoted to site tours and workshops.
In the lead-up to the conference, South Australia oil and gas company Santos have embarked on an advertising blitz across Adelaide airport.
I saw a lot of unbelievable things this week but this signage at Adelaide airport takes the cake! pic.twitter.com/7e84NrHPDq
— Barbara Pocock (@BarbaraPocock) May 12, 2023
Extinction Rebellion plans to answers this by holding a three roadside protests from along Sir Donald Bradman Drive, “to greet APPEA conference delegates as they make their way to the city from the airport”.
Two are planned for Sunday and another for Monday before the conference begins on Tuesday.
Federal minister for resources, Madeleine King, South Australian minister for energy and mining, Tom Koutsantonis, and former RBA governor Glenn Stevens are expected to address the conference on Tuesday.
Updated
SA shark attack victim named
A man believed dead after he was attacked by a shark off the coast of South Australia has been identified as a local school teacher.
The search for Simon Baccanello, 46, has resumed on Sunday after efforts were called off overnight.
Emergency services were called to Walkers Rock on the Eyre peninsula in South Australia at about 10.10am after several people witnessed the attack about 30-50 metres offshore.
Updated
Don Farrell returns from trip empty handed but says gains made
Trade minister Don Farrell has returned from a two-day trip to China in a sign of improving relations with Australia’s biggest trading partner, but there has been no change to bans against the country’s exports.
Farrell had discussions with his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao on Friday and agreed on a follow-up visit in South Australia to continue the dialogue.
The Chinese government said a recent agreement to lift some trade bans “remains on track”.
The ABC reports that Farrell also discussed Australians Cheng Lei and Yan Henjung who have been detained on allegations of espionage.
Updated
Independent western Sydney MP looks to build new political movement
The independent MP Dai Le firmly believes western Sydney is ripe for a new political movement, similar to Jacqui Lambie’s in Tasmania.
With the Fairfield mayor, Frank Carbone, she has registered a new party based in the west with the ambition of dislodging support for the major parties and installing more “genuine westies” in parliament.
Our people … pay tolls and taxes, and yet the money doesn’t come back into building services and infrastructure for our community.
We need to come together and build a stronger western Sydney voice for our community.
The end goal is to have representation for western Sydney, from people who are actually from western Sydney, live in western Sydney, understand the issues of western Sydney.
However great Le’s belief, political experts are sceptical that such a party is viable, with one warning that success in a single seat does not often guarantee a region-wide mobilisation of support.
According to Le, the creation of the new party is a warning to Labor and the Liberals that parachuting candidates into western Sydney will no longer work, as she proved when she defeated Labor’s Kristina Keneally at the 2022 federal election.
For more on the emergence of a new independent political party, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Mostafa Rachwani and Tamsin Rose.
Updated
Early fire control program under way in Kimberley despite recent record floods
Barely four months have passed since record floods swamped the Kimberley, but the region is already burning.
Tim White, from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, said the region is already dry enough to allow controlled burning to take place.
As early as late March there were some lightning-ignited fires occurring. Our planned burn program is absolutely critical this year, when you consider the consequences of a number of really good wet seasons in terms of vegetation growth.
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie dumped a year’s worth of rain at Dimond Gorge in the space of a week, not far from the main operations base for the conservancy’s Mornington-Marion Downs wildlife sanctuary.
From all of us at the Bureau, we wish every kind of mum around WA a happy Mother's Day on Sunday. Check the forecast for your weekend here: https://t.co/fEPHQKVGmy pic.twitter.com/oyjw5swNb3
— Bureau of Meteorology, Western Australia (@BOM_WA) May 12, 2023
Nearby Fitzroy Bluff, part of an ancient range of cliffs that rises 341 metres above sea level, became an island.
The Adcock river burst its banks, submerging many of the base’s buildings.
At the height of the drama, choppers were sent in to evacuate staff and researchers who had retreated to the few buildings that were not swallowed up.
White said the early season burning program, covering over 6m hectares of the Kimberley, was essential to ensure large-scale fires don’t break out.
One of the big aims is to maintain areas of long unburnt fuels – around three to four years of vegetation.
- AAP
Updated
No spoilers for those who haven’t yet watched Eurovision, but here’s a few photos of the Australians in the final.
Updated
White Cliffs: where life is lived underground and the desert does strange things
Sonia Hyland is underground on a treadmill. There are no windows and no one can hear her blasting Florence + the Machine.
She’s in a dugout, tucked into the cool earth of White Cliffs, a town in remote New South Wales. Outside, the thermometer regularly hits the mid 30s in summer – it once almost hit 50C. But inside these submerged homes, it hovers at about 20 to 22C.
Hyland is one of several locals in this town an hour north of Wilcannia and about three hours’ east of the South Australian border – and who were captured on camera by photographer Marco Serventi.
Maxine Harris poses in a bright pink sunhat against the lumpy wall of her underground home. A group of locals play golf among rocks bigger than the balls. Children perch on the fence of the arena where gymkhanas and rodeos are still held.
“It’s probably the last frontier town in Australia. It’s in the middle of the desert, 300km from the nearest shop and the weather’s beautiful most of the time,” says Tallon Towers, who also lives in White Cliffs.
For more on this story – and the spectacular images – read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Tory Shepherd.
Updated
Treasurer justifies giving giving growing share of GST to WA
Chalmers is also asked about giving a growing share of GST to WA and whether it can be justified given the current economic environment.
I think there is, David. I mean, this is in recognition of the really quite remarkable contribution that the people and industries of WA make to our economy nationally. And to the national budget as well. I think it is a – you know, a good thing that we guarantee a floor of GST revenue out west at the same time as we have said, and we have honoured, a deal that says none of the other states are worse off as a consequence of that deal.
But what about other states?
That’s why we have guaranteed no state is worse off as a consequence of this deal. We have some other state budgets to come, David. It remains to be seen whether some of them are in surplus as well. But the other states aren’t worse off in consequence of this deal.
Chalmers says he “thinks it’s entirely reasonable that WA gets the floor that has been agreed”.
And with that, that’s a wrap.
Updated
Jim Chalmers says revisiting stage-three tax cuts ‘hasn’t been a priority’ of this budget
Chalmers on the stage-three tax cuts:
It hasn’t been a priority in the context of these budget deliberations because we found other ways to make make meaningful changes in the budget, help people through difficult times and invest in their future.
Why does the government want to keep them?
We have said in principal that returning bracket creep is a worthy objective of governments of both political persuasions frankly.
But don’t those earning over $200k get the bulk of the stage-three tax cuts?
Yes, I understand the structure of the tax cuts. I’m trying to explain to you that when it comes to returning bracket creep that is a worthy objective. And as you rightly said a moment ago, it hasn’t been a focus of this budget. They don’t come in for more than a year now. There are other things we want to do in the interim.
Updated
Chalmers asked on Insiders about stage-three tax cuts
On the stage-three tax cuts, Chalmers says government has “made a heap of progress showing restraint in the near term but also finding almost $18bn in savings and reprioritisations, plus some modest, meaningful tax reform”,
The fruits of all of that is a structural position which is better than what we inherit but there are still structural issues in the budget. One of the reasons why we saw some of that near-term improvement in the budget is because people are working more and earning more and that’s a good thing.
The treasurer is asked about how the government’s “position on the stage-three tax cuts has not changed”. Why?
Because we had other priorities. We wanted to make sure that we could take some of the edge off these cost-of-living pressures without adding to inflation.
Updated
Chalmers does not say how his government arrived at the $74bn figure outlined in the budget:
The 8% target I was about to refer to kicks in from 2026 and that is the best balance of recognising that the scheme needs to grow. We’re not talking about winding back growth in the scheme.
After a non-answer, Chalmers is pressed again:
We obviously we come to these sorts of decisions based on the advice of the agencies. And working closely with the sector and others.
Did Treasury look at the number?
Of course.
Are they comfortable with it?
Well obviously otherwise it wouldn’t be in the budget. This is a lot of collaboration, Treasury, finance, the NDIA, the minister, the expenditure review committee, more broadly, and what it recognises is it’s a demand-driven program. The costs will continue to grow. There are ways with can moderate that costs in a way and that’s what we intend to do.
Which really clears everything up.
Updated
Chalmers grilled about potential rent freeze
Chalmers is asked three times whether he has any views about a potential rent freeze. He says he has been focused on cost-of-living measures at the federal level.
My thoughts are we’re better off trying to encourage supply. While doing that we’re trying to take some of the edges off the pressure people are funding, that’s why I funded the biggest increase in rental assistance.
On the $74bn cuts to the NDIS announced in the budget, the treasurer says the governments “overwhelming priority when it comes to the NDIS is to make sure that people who the scheme was designed to serve get the right services and programs to help them”.
What we’ve been able to do, and I acknowledge the work of Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese working with the states and territories to do this, is to try and moderate the costs. It’s still a demand-driven program. It still will be growing very quick, the quickest growing in the budget but we need to moderate some of these costs.
In the near term that’s about cracking down on fraud and money going where it’s not supposed to be going. We also need to be making sure that we are moderating costs in – growth in costs in services and equipment, for example.
There is a review under way, there’s lots of engagement with the reviewers and with the sector and with the people that the scheme was designed to serve. That work will be ongoing.
Which begs the question: what about the medium-to-long term?
Updated
Chalmers says the problem with the housing market currently is “supply”.
We don’t have enough homes and so whether it’s the build to rent tax breaks, the housing Australia future fund or the housing accord or some of these other measures, it recognises if we need - if we’re going to make housing more affordable, we need more supply.
The treasurer is asked about a Greens proposal to double the $1.6bn social and affordable housing fund, and freeze rent increases. He says that rent freezes are a matter for state and territory governments.
But Anthony Albanese, to his credit, has shown leadership at the national cabinet level to see how we can work with the states and territories on issues like renters’ rights and that’s really important. When it comes to the agreement with the states and territories, we will do what we can.
On whether the government may increase the funding for affordable housing Chalmers says he is “not going to pre-empt the conversations that we have with the states and territories or nominate a number today”.
It wouldn’t be the best negotiating tactic, David, to nominate a number today but we have said we’re prepared to extend it.
Updated
'End the political games' over housing bill: Jim Chalmers
Chalmers is asked several times about whether the government was considering adopting Peter Dutton’s suggestion that those on jobseeker be allowed to work more before their pay is docked, but refuses to say clearly whether the government was already looking at the idea.
We’re looking at the workforce more broadly in the context of the employment white paper and all the policies we have already put in place so people can work more and earn more and provide for their loved ones.
Moving on to the government’s housing policy, Chalmers again urges parliament to “end the political games and the ambit claims in the Senate and get this key piece of legislation past”.
You know, we need to make sure that we put in place this key part of our policy but in addition to that we’ve got new tax breaks for build-to-rent properties to build more affordable rental properties.
We have an increase in commonwealth rent assistance, the biggest for 30 years, we have got changes to NHFIC, we have an agreement to extend the $1.6bn housing and homelessness agreement with the states. We’ve got a whole range of elements of a really comprehensive package for housing.
It’s time to get the housing Australia future fund passed there [in] the Senate so we can build more social and affordable homes.
Updated
‘This was a budget for middle Australia,’ Chalmers says
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has rejected criticisms from Peter Dutton that the budget does nothing for “middle Australia”, saying the opposition leader is engaged in a “predictable combination of division and dishonest” that he learned “at the feet of Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison.”
This was a budget for middle Australia with help for people doing it the toughest and big investments in the future of our economy at the same time as we’re able to put the budget on a much more sustainable footing.
Chalmers says the government is working on “hooking people up with the opportunities of a job-creating economy”.
Whether it’s our efforts in communities there where thereby intergenerational unemployment, all of this is about making sure we can get more people into work so they can earn a decent wage and provide for their loved ones.
Updated
Search resumes for missing SA surfer feared taken by shark
Emergency services are yet to find a surfer missing off the South Australian coast after a suspected shark attack.
A 46-year-old Elliston man was surfing at Walkers Rock beach, about 365km west of Adelaide when he was attacked on Saturday morning.
No one else was injured in the incident, which was witnessed by multiple surfers.
Police, SES and local community members spent the day searching for the man but were unable to locate him.
Superintendent Paul Bahr will speak about the attack and subsequent search on Sunday at 9am at Port Lincoln police station.
The incident occurred near a reef break popular with surfers in an area with a history of shark attacks.
- AAP
Updated
Jim Chalmers the guest on Insiders this morning
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is appearing on ABC Insiders this morning to debrief about budget week.
We will bring you all the latest as it happens.
Updated
Angus Taylor also rolled out this zinger on Sky News:
The truth is, inflation is coming from Canberra now - not from the Kremlin - and Canberra needs to deal with it.
Taylor says Labor needs to ‘put away their ideological prejudices’
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, was up after Amanda Rishworth on Sky News this morning. Asked to respond to the social services minister’s comments, he said:
Oh that’s just rot. You would expect that from a government that doesn’t seem to be focused on the things that are really going to help all Australians to put downward pressure on inflation, getting people into work.
The analysis is simple: Over 430,000 job vacancies … if there was ever an opportunity to get people into work it’s now.
Taylor said the opposition wanted to work with the government on implementing the proposal for jobseekers to be able to work more hours before losing their payments. Taylor said Labor needed to “put away their ideological prejudices”.
Updated
Rishworth dismisses Dutton's jobseeker proposal
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, has dismissed Peter Dutton’s jobseeker proposal as “just a thought bubble with no substantive analysis behind it”.
In his budget reply speech on Thursday, the opposition leader withheld support for the government’s $40 a fortnight increase in jobseeker and instead called for welfare recipients to be able to earn more before payments are reduced.
In an interview with Sky News this morning, Rishworth said:
This is a thought bubble by Peter Dutton. And what we don’t know is how this will actually encourage workforce participation. He’s provided no evidence to suggest that this would alleviate barriers that many people on jobseeker have in gaining employment. He quoted 75% of job seekers don’t report any earnings. But of course, that means they’re already not taking out the income-free threshold of $150.
Rishworth argued Dutton’s proposal could have “unintended consequences”.
Now, of course, we’re going through a whole range of scenarios and analysis through our white paper on labour and full employment and so we will continue to work through that process in a rigorous way.
Updated
Good Morning
And welcome to another Sunday Guardian live blog.
A search for a 46-year-old man who is believed to have died after being attacked by a shark on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula will resume on Sunday morning. Police, SES and residents of Elliston, a small town of 400 people about 650km from Adelaide searched throughout Saturday on boats and jet-skis to find the missing surfer, who was about 50m offshore when he was attacked.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the social services minister, Amanda Risworth, have been doing the rounds on Sunday morning. Appearing on Sky News, Rishworth dismissed a suggestion by the opposition leader Peter Dutton in his budget reply speech that the cap on how much income jobseeker recipients can receive from work before their payments are affected should be raised.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs, taking the blog through the day. With so much going on out there, it’s easy to miss stuff, so if you spot something happening in Australia and think it should be on the blog, you can find me on Twitter at @RoyceRk2 where my DMs are open.
With that, let’s get started ...
