What we learned, 16 February 2025
With that we’re wrapping up the blog. Before we go, here are the major stories from Sunday:
The Labor government will ban foreign home buyers from purchasing Australian houses for two years in a move that gives bipartisan support to Coalition policy;
WA residents are picking up the pieces in the wake of a tropical cyclone making landfall on the state’s far north coast.
Home affairs minister Tony Burke says three men in immigration detention will be resettled in Nauru.
New South Wales will continue efforts to end industrial action by rail unions after losing its latest bid in the Fair Work Commission.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton says the Teal crossbench will “never” deal with the Coalition in negotiations on minority government.
Independent MP Allegra Spender has flagged that electoral spending reform would feature in any negotiations in the event of a hung parliament.
We’ll pick things up again tomorrow.
Updated
Expectations RBA will cut interest rates but economists uncertain
Expectations the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut interest rates have ratcheted up in recent weeks, following a softer-than-expected December quarter CPI print that brought annual underlying inflation close to the RBA’s target band.
Traders are pricing in a 90 per cent chance of a cut, but many economists believe it will be a much closer-run thing than the market expects, with 22 per cent of economists surveyed expecting no change.
Following the RBA rates decision and Statement on Monetary Policy update on Tuesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics is due to release wage price index data on Wednesday and labour force statistics on Thursday.
RBA governor Michele Bullock will face a parliamentary grilling over her rates decision in Canberra on Friday, rounding out a monumental week on the economic front.
- AAP
Auction activity slightly picks up this weekend
Auction activity has remained stable this weekend with 1,972 auctions to be held.
This is more than the 1,670 held last week but marginally lower than the 2,091 auctions that occurred at the same time last year.
Based on results collected so far, CoreLogic’s summary found that the preliminary clearance rate was 71.2% across the country, which is higher than the 67.4% preliminary rate recorded last week and well above the 64.2% actual rate on final numbers.
Across the capital cities:
Sydney: 569 of 796 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 76.6%
Melbourne: 614 of 845 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.1%
Brisbane: 109 0f 152 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 57.8%
Adelaide: 60 of 111 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 61.7%
Canberra: 35 of 59 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 60%
Tasmania: One auction held.
Perth: Five of eight auctions held.
Calls grow for more AFL Indigenous All Stars games
Saturday’s AFL Indigenous All Stars match was a raging success, with a record crowd of 37,865 turning up for the 43-point demolition of Fremantle.
Xavier Clarke is urging the AFL to continue using world-class stadiums to host the Indigenous All Stars following the raging success of the match against Fremantle in Perth.
A record crowd of 37,865 was at Optus Stadium on Saturday to see the Clarke-coached Indigenous All Stars smash Fremantle by 43 points -- 16.12 (108) to 9.11 (65).
The crowd dwarfed the previous record of 17,500 at Darwin’s TIO Stadium in 2003 when the All Stars beat Carlton by 73 points.
The last time the Indigenous All Stars match was held in 2015, a sell-out crowd of 10,000 was present at Perth’s Leederville Oval as the Eagles secured an eight-point win.
The only time the match was hosted at a major stadium - at the MCG in 1985 - less than 6000 fans turned up for the match.
- AAP
Sprint sensation Gout Gout smashes Noah Lyles’ personal best time for 400m
Just days after warning Noah Lyles he was coming for the world and Olympic champion, teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout has achieved a mark that has eluded the US track star.
In a rare outing over 400m at the Joanna Stone Shield meet in Brisbane on Saturday, Gout clocked 46.20s , almost a second under Lyles’ personal best for the distance and the fastest under-18 time by an Australian for 35 years.
Gout recently returned from a Florida training camp with Lyles and the American’s coach Lance Brauman.
During the training stint, the pair engaged in some spirited banter in a podcast during which Lyles welcomed Gout’s declaration that he intended to upset the American, possibly as soon as this year’s world championships in Tokyo.
The foundations for that campaign are being built under the watch of Gout’s coach Di Sheppard.
For more on this story, read the full report here:
The Greens say the Albanese government is using forced deportations to Nauru to whip up fear and division on migration for political gain.
Senator David Shoebridge, Greens spokesperson for Immigration and Multiculturalism. said the Albanese government’s announced on Sunday was an attempt to “run to the right of Dutton” that is “cruel and wrong in principle” but “also won’t work politically.”
This posturing by Labor doesn’t build their brand, all it does is legitimise Dutton’s brutal rhetoric on migration and citizenship.
No one is in immigration detention because they have committed a crime. They are in immigration detention because of a visa issue.
Today’s announcement entrenches a two-class legal system where you can be subject to arbitrary detention and forced to a country you have no connections to because of where you were born.
Dozens of other countries face far more pressing immigration issues than Australia, yet no other country has decided to bribe other countries to take people without any regard for human rights.
What we are seeing is the Albanese Government picking and choosing who gets human rights. When you start picking and choosing who gets human rights, it takes us down a divisive and dehumanising path.
Norelle is among scores living in cars and tents in a once-affordable Queensland city. Some are now being forced to leave
When John, 81, fled the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 at age 24, he never thought he’d end up living in a park outside Brisbane, Queensland.
“Every time I come here I wonder if I’ll find him alive,” says Beau Haywood, the founder of local food charity Nourish Street. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s found a rough sleeper dead.
John has spent a year at the car park at Bicentennial Park, one of a growing number of people living in cars, tents and worse – sheltering in corners and in plain sight all over the Redcliffe peninsula.
On Thursday night, Beau visits every one of them. He knows all the spots; the former methamphetamine addict was homeless here himself only a few short months ago.
The Guardian rides with Haywood from suburb to suburb to a dozen spots across the region. Here six tents behind a public swimming pool, there 30 people at the local showgrounds. He estimates 120 people all told, all living on the streets.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Andrew Messenger:
Queensland residents begin recovery after torrential rain
Residents in northern parts of Queensland have begun to survey the damage wrought by a fortnight of torrential rain that caused major flooding and the deaths of two people.
Flood warnings remain in place in flood-devastated areas of Queensland as residents return home to count the cost of the big clean-up.
Flood alerts include a major warning for the Lower Flinders River and a moderate warning for the Thomson River.
Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton joined Queensland Premier David Crisafulli in Ingham on Saturday, where two lives were lost.
Hundreds of people were forced to evacuate during a fortnight of record rainfall that flooded homes.
Dutton said lives had been destroyed and more action was needed to make flood insurance more affordable.
- AAP
Sydney’s archaic sewerage system a ‘significant’ source of microplastic pollution, CSIRO finds
It is not just human waste that is being pumped into the ocean off Sydney’s popular beaches due to the city’s unusual and archaic sewerage system – government scientists have confirmed billions of microplastics are also polluting the water.
A CSIRO report, released in 2020 but not reported on until now, found the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) at Malabar discharged an estimated 5.4bn to 120bn of microplastics into the ocean each day.
By comparison, the report found the Cronulla plant – which uses more advanced techniques to treat wastewater – discharged an estimated 86m to 350m microplastic particles each day.
Guardian Australia has previously reported that Sydney Water planned to spend $32bn to improve the city’s sewerage system but would not upgrade the Malabar, Bondi and North Head treatment plants.
Instead, the water authority planned to send less waste through the three coastal plants once it overhauls the rest of the city’s water infrastructure over the next 15 years.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Catie McLeod:
RTBU NSW branch Secretary Toby Warnes is speaking to reporters now about a decision by the Fair Work Commission to allow union members to continue industrial action in their ongoing dispute with the state government.
There have been at least five [Fair Work hearings] and the government haven’t won one yet. Right now they’re five for none.
Warnes said commuters looking to travel in Sydney is to check all the applications before leaving home, consider other methods or work from home, saying “if the government lifts its lockout notices, I can guarantee the trains will run pretty much as normal tomorrow”.
Warnes says that the New South Wales government has not been engaged with unions over the last ten months unless there are periods of industrial action.
Responding to questions about the government statements that it would continue taking legal action to end industrial action, Warnes says effort would be better spent negotiating a deal.
It would be nice if the government spent as much time and resources negotiating with its workers than bringing legal actions.
Warnes says rail workers have been coming to work, completing their shifts and have been told they would not be paid for the time. He said that the FWC found that Sydney Trains systems did not distinguish between those who do not come into work for sick leave, and those engaged in industrial action.
Warnes also rejected government allegations that it could not give the union “a blank cheque” due to risk that they would make new demands in six months, saying “that’s now how Enterprise Bargaining Agreements don’t work like that”.
Unfortunately we’ve seen a complete disregard for facts by Sydney Trains, Transport for New South Wales, and the government during this bargain.
Updated
Melbourne zoo investigating shock death of Kimya the western lowland gorilla
Vets at Melbourne zoo are investigating the sudden death of Kimya, a 20-year-old western lowland gorilla.
In a statement, Zoos Victoria said the gorilla’s death was “unexpected” and that staff were “devastated” at the news.
“Kimya passed away unexpectedly this morning, and vets are undertaking a necropsy to determine the cause of death,” Zoos Victoria said.
Melbourne zoo members, visitors, volunteers, and staff – especially Kimya’s dedicated keeper team, many of whom have cared for her since her arrival – will deeply feel this loss.
The zoo said it was looking in the matter, and “as part of this investigation a full necropsy will be undertaken to determine the cause of death”.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Mostafa Rachwani:
Children among seven injured as burnout goes wrong in NSW
A five-year-old and six-year-old are among seven people injured after a teen driver lost control of his car while doing a burnout, AAP reports.
The 18-year-old driver lost control while performing the burnout in front of a crowd at Abermain, west of Newcastle in the NSW Hunter Valley, just after midnight on Saturday night.
The man’s car smashed into a parked vehicle which then struck seven onlookers, including a five-year-old and a six-year-old.
The children were treated by paramedics at the scene and rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
Five other adults were also injured and taken to hospital for further treatment.
The driver remains in hospital under police guard with serious injuries.
Police have established a crime scene on Bromage Road as they probe the circumstances of the crash.
Updated
PM sparks anger with pledge over salmon farming in Tasmania
Anthony Albanese has promised to introduce legislation that will allow “sustainable salmon farming” to continue in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, sparking anger from conversationists and researchers who urged for the local industry to be scaled back.
The promise, made in a letter to industry group Salmon Tasmania, came after years of lobbying for action in Macquarie Harbour to save the threatened Maugean skate from extinction.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, had also been reconsidering the future of salmon farm licences in Macquarie Harbour after environment groups made a legal case that an industry expansion in 2012 had not been properly approved.
In the letter, the prime minister referenced a new report from the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (Imas) which shows the Maugean skate population is “consistent with the long term average as at 2014”.
Albanese said the report noted positive signs with oxygenation efforts – with reduced levels of dissolved oxygen across the harbour posing the main threats to the species.
The prime minister said in the letter, seen by Guardian Australia:
But even with this new and positive data, it is clear to me the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act – introduced 25 years ago – does not allow for a commonsense solution on an acceptable timeline.
For more on this story, ready the full report by the Guardian Australia’s Emily Wind:
Updated
NSW man dies after car driven by 14-year-old rolls
An investigation is under way after a man died after a single-vehicle crash in the state’s Hunter region yesterday.
Police were called to Merriwa hospital about 4.20pm on Saturday, after a 65-year-old man died shortly after being driven there by a family member.
Officers attached to Hunter Valley police district were told the man suffered critical injuries when the 4WD in which he was a passenger crashed and rolled on Roma Road, 40km north of the Merriwa township.
The driver, a 14-year-old girl, was uninjured.
Police have been told the area is out of phone reception and the crash was only discovered when a neighbour and a family member drove past.
They took the injured man to hospital; however, he died shortly after arrival.
Local police have established a crime scene and an investigation has commenced by officers attached to the Crash Investigation Unit.
NSW seeks end to industrial action by train drivers with application to Fair Work
The NSW transport minister, John Graham, says the government will seek to end industrial action by train drivers with an application to the full bench of the Fair Work Commission on Wednesday.
Earlier on Sunday the commission ruled that industrial action was decreasing, giving unions a win as train drivers and guards failed to show up for work on Friday.
Graham said the government “will not hesitate” to file again to “protect commuters”.
This dispute over time has been about a range of things, at one point about running trains 24 hours a day and at another point about free fairs, now it is about a $4,500 sign-on bonus. We cannot afford bells and whistles.
Graham said the government was offering “fair pay and conditions in line with what the government has settled with other workers”.
There is no blank cheque here. We cannot sign a blank cheque to settle this dispute. If we did there would be another demand in six months, and we would be back again explaining why another demand for spring the rail network to a halt, so no blank cheque, we need to settle this fairly.
Updated
Schools to get new anti-bullying standard
The government wants to tackle bullying in schools with a new national standard on best practice response for teachers.
The education minister, Jason Clare, announced the initiative on Sunday, appointed Dr Charlotte Keating and Dr Jo Robinson as co-chairs of the an anti-bullying rapid review to look at how schools could better address bullying.
Clare said:
Bullying is not just something that happens in schools, but schools are places where we can intervene and provide support for students. All students and staff should be safe at school, and free from bullying and violence.
That’s why we’re taking action to develop a national standard to address bullying in schools.
Updated
Dutton pledges to ‘engage very quickly with Trump’ on deals
Asked about comments Dutton made during a Sky News interview that aired earlier on Sunday where he said people shouldn’t take everything the US president, Donald Trump, says “literally”, Dutton said:
I just think we’ve got a different president with a different style from most of his predecessors, and he wants to do deals. I think there’s a great deal for Australia to do with the United States.
Dutton pledged to “engage very quickly with the Trump administration”, saying the Coalition “we’ve already got obviously a number of contacts within the Trump administration”.
Some of those friendships, longstanding, and we will be the best party to have a productive, constructive relationship with the United States that will serve Australia’s interests.
Updated
Coalition are ‘underdogs’ in election: Dutton
Dutton says the Coalition are the underdogs going into the next federal election despite a YouGov poll suggesting his party is currently the favourite to win the next election.
We’re the underdogs going to this campaign because a first term government hasn’t lost since 1931. But to counter that, in the Albanese government, we’ve got the worst government since 1931. So people are ready for a change.
Updated
Dutton says Middle Arm in NT a ‘very significant project’
Dutton has waved off concerns about a proposed petrochemical hub, Middle Arm, planned for Darwin Harbour in the Northern Territory saying that environmental regulations will be followed.
Dutton said Middle Arm “is a very significant project”.
We obviously have been sympathetic to it in the past, and we will in government.
Asked whether Dutton would commit $1.5bn to get the project off the ground, Dutton says “we’ll have a chat to the Territory government about the latest figures and what’s happened to costs”.
Updated
Dutton appears to have declared a pre-emptive victory at the upcoming federal election, saying “there is no prospect of Anthony Albanese forming a majority government after the election”.
So if you vote for Labor, you’re voting for a Labor-Greens government, and we don’t need three more years of Anthony Albanese, let alone three more years of an Albanese government, which would be a disaster for families and small businesses.
Dutton hints at Indigenous spending cuts
A future Coalition government would expect to see cuts to Indigenous spending if elected after an audit, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, says.
Dutton is speaking to reporters in Palmerston in the Northern Territory where he says the government has been “putting more and more public servants, more and more bureaucracy, and more layers making it harder for decisions to be made” at a time when “Australians have had to trim back every dollar of expenditure and discretionary spend and waste in their own budgets”.
Asked about the announcement that three men will be deported to Nauru under an arrangement with the Pacific nation, Dutton instead boosted the Coalition’s record on “stopping the boats”, saying that Labor has allowed “the boats to restart”.
Updated
On the deal with Nauru, Burke says:
The government of Nauru, is aware of their background. The government of Nauru is a sovereign government, and they’ve made a decision as a sovereign government to issue these visas. Under our character test they are not eligible for a visa in Australia, given that visa has been issued. They should leave.
He also says the government anticipates the decision will face legal challenge, as the immigrations laws passed were intended to serve as a workaround to the NZYQ decision by the high court.
Bourke says he anticipates the reforms will withstand legal challenge.
Fun fact there are more legal cases against the Immigration minister than any other minister in the Australian government. Always has been, always will be. Lawyers haven’t launched anything yet. I simply, whenever I make any decision, I presume that there’ll be a contest in the courts.
And you know, we will go in there with in a very strong position as a Commonwealth dealing exactly with the legislation that the Parliament passed to be able to send people to third countries.
Burke said that it is the view of the government the three people “are not being indefinitely detained”.
They’re being detained pending pending removal. We know exactly where they’re going. And there is a visa. We are the there are final pieces of logistics that now get now get organised. But they had to be taken into detention the moment Nauru had issued the visas, because at that moment the visas they were on were cancelled. And under the Immigration Act they became unlawful non-citizens in Australia.
Updated
Three men in immigration detention to be resettled in Nauru: Tony Burke
The Australian government is moving to remove three people from Australia to Nauru under migration laws it passed.
The three people were part of the NZYQ cohort who the government says have “failed the character test”. All three are violent offenders and one has been convicted of murder.
Speaking to reports, the minister for home affairs, Tony Burke, says all three men “are now in immigration detention”.
They will be put on a plane and sent to Nauru as soon as arrangements are able to be made. That will not be within the next seven days, but it will be as soon as possible.
Burke said he was “very grateful to the government of Nauru that we are in a situation now where three people, where previously the situation had seemed intractable, are now on a pathway to leave Australia”.
Updated
Slide in Labor poll numbers a cost-of-living issue: David Littleproud
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, is riding high after a negative poll showing the Coalition leading Labor 52 to 48 on a two-party preferred basis.
Speaking to Weekend Today on Sunday morning, Littleproud said the slide in poll numbers for Labor came down to cost-of-living issues and that a future government had to “get back to basics”.
One of the most telling factors in this poll is that 55% of Australians think that the country is heading in the wrong direction. They’ve asked themselves, ‘Do they feel better off and do they feel safer after three years of Anthony Albanese?’ And what we’ve got to do is continue to articulate the commonsense solutions to address that cost of living.
That’s a sensible energy grid that drives down, not just your power bill, but your food bill and a sensible migration bill, a migration policy that actually helps to build some homes, brings the right people in, and banning foreigners from competing with you.
Updated
Election poll places Coalition in pole position
Labor has a mountain to climb to prevent Peter Dutton from forming government at the next election, with polling predicting a coalition wave in outer suburbs, AAP reports.
The coalition will be just two seats short of forming government in its own right at the next federal election, polling has found, but the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has cast doubt on his party securing the support of independents.
Latest modelling by YouGov released on Sunday projected the coalition to win 73 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives, well ahead of Labor on 66.
The result, if replicated at the election, which is due to take place by 17 May, would leave Dutton to become Australia’s next prime minister, said YouGov director of public data Paul Smith.
It would also make Labor the first single-term federal government since 1931.
Haemorrhaging votes in working class outer suburbs, Labor was on track to lose 15 seats but gain three from the Greens in Brisbane and one from independent Dai Le in western Sydney.
Two government ministers were set to lose their seats – Pat Conroy in Shortland and Kristy McBain in Eden-Monaro.
Labor’s primary vote share was projected to slip below 30% while the coalition’s would lift to 37.4%.
But that was only the model’s central result out of a range of possible outcomes, with the Coalition on course to secure between 65 and 80 seats, Labour taking 59-72, the Greens 1-3, and independents 7-10.
Updated
Dutton pledges to reappoint sacked home affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo
Dutton also signalled that he would re-appoint former home affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo if re-elected, saying he was “unfairly vilified” by the Labor government.
I think he was vilified unfairly by the government, and I would make a decision in relation to appointments, if we’re fortunate enough to win government.
Pezzullo was sacked after an independent inquiry found he had breached the government’s code of conduct 14 times, including using his power for personal benefit.
You can read more about what happened here:
Updated
Dutton links immigration to housing crisis
On migration, Dutton doubles down for his calls to reinstate visa categories for high net worth individuals and made a pitch to Chinese families, but it was net migration that drew his ire.
Asked about people arriving on student visas, staying past the end date and applying for humanitarian visas, Dutton said: “if the visa has an end date, the expectation is that they leave our country at the time of their end date.”
At the moment, just to put this into perspective, you’ve got students who are getting to the end of their visa period and applying for humanitarian visas with no merit whatsoever, but they’re here for seven years because with work rights, because that’s how long it takes for the matters to be resolved through the courts.
Referring to a phrase former immigration minister Amanda Vanstone borrowed from an Indonesian counterpart and popularised, Dutton said the Australian government didn’t just have “sugar on the table”:
The Australian government, at the moment, has a sugar bag on the table and is providing incentive for people to stay, not to leave, which is part of the housing crisis.
Updated
Teal crossbench will ‘never come our way’: Coalition leader Peter Dutton
On the prospect of minority government and negotiations with the teal independents, Dutton ruled out a deal with the Greens “particularly given now that we know they’re a racist, antisemitic party” and suggested that the “teals will only ever support a Labor government”.
In the same breath, Dutton says he will “talk with the crossbench” but suggested “they will never come our way”.
Despite this, Dutton added he expected independents to support a Coalition government if it managed to secure 72 seats.
It would be unusual that if we were able to achieve 72 and we were a number of seats ahead of the Labor party, that there wouldn’t be a guarantee of supply and confidence from the crossbench, but some of them will only ever support the Labor party.
Updated
Dutton pledges tax cuts, if affordable
During his interview, Peter Dutton claimed power bills have increased by $1,000 or 34%. Pushed on this, Dutton did not clarify the source for this figure.
What the opposition did make clear was that a re-elected Coalition government would continue to pursue tax cuts.
We want to reduce taxes wherever possible, but we’ll be dictated to by how much money is left in the bank. We’re not going to act in an irresponsible way. The liberal party, the Coalition, will always manage the economy more effectively than Labor, and we do that by spending in a reasonable, responsible, pragmatic way. And if we can afford tax cuts, then they’ll be delivered.
In addition, Dutton once again flagged that his government would seek to slash the public service, saying the money spent on salaries could be “used for paying off debt”.
Updated
‘Townsville would be in darkness now’: Dutton on government’s energy policy
Asked about climate and the Paris agreement – specifically what he would do now the US has pulled out of the pact for a second time – Dutton has alleged that “Townsville would be in darkness now” with the government’s current approach to energy policy as diesel generators are needed to power communities hit hard.
We need base load power. We also need to have an eye on price.
Dutton suggested the Albanese government’s focus on green hydrogen and “other emerging technologies” is “pie in the sky stuff”.
Elsewhere Dutton repeats a familiar suggestion of the country’s oil and gas producers that there is a shortage of gas on the east coast owing to interference by climate and environment groups.
According a recent IEEFA analysis, the shortages emerged after Australia took the decision to export gas from the east coast gas market 10 years ago through Queensland’s LNG export terminals.
Updated
Dutton shapes trans rights debate around women’s sport
Asked about his stance on trans rights, Dutton restated his view that “there being two sexes and a group of people, obviously, outside of male and female”, referring to a “small group” who are intersex or indeterminate.
Dutton said he was “not interested in what’s happening in people’s bedrooms, I’ve got no interest in people’s relationships”.
He however suggested “there’s a real live debate about what happens in women’s sport” – a familiar talking point among anti-trans activists.
I think girls and women should be protected. And I do think that a young girl who wants to compete in the 2032 Olympics, but can’t place at the moment because she’s got biological males competing against her. I think that’s a real problem.
Updated
Trump ‘not an Obama, not a bush, he’s very different character’: Dutton
On Donald Trump himself, Dutton describes him as, first of all, “a businessman” who is unlike his predecessors, but suggests “I don’t think you’re taking everything he says literally.” On tariffs, he says that Trump has signalled there is “room to move” and that “we need to cut him a bit of slack”.
He’s not a Reagan, he’s not a Clinton, he’s not an Obama, not a Bush, he’s a very different character.
Updated
Dutton would leave Rudd as ambassador to US until Trump turns on him
Dutton also appeared to hedge on the future of Kevin Rudd as Australian ambassador to the US, saying that “if he’s the best person for the job, then he should stay in the job” – but:
If it turns out that he’s had no access to the White House and no real influence in relation to this issue, or whatever the next issue might be, then you would have to, you would have to reassess his position. But at the moment, we’re being told that he’s effective in his advocacy in the administration. I suppose time will tell.
However Dutton said that his “instinct” would be to leave Rudd in his job unless the Trump administration turns on him, “then that would make it very difficult”.
Updated
PM should have been ‘on a plane to US’ to talk tariffs with Trump: Dutton
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, ‘should have been on a plane to the US’ to talk tariffs with the US president, Donald Trump, opposition leader Peter Dutton says.
Dutton has given a long, sit-down interview to Sky News on Sunday which opened with a discussion of the tariff issue. Dutton says the prospect of tariff being imposed on Australian goods is “not in the best interest of the relationship” with the US and says it should be resolved quickly.
There also appears to be some recognition that the Australia-US relationship may be on shaky ground; Dutton criticised the government for not engaging more fully with the US, saying no government minister had been to the US since Penny Wong was present for the inaugeration.
Dutton was corrected on this as Defence Minister Richard Marles travelled to the US with a $800m cheque to help rebuild a US nuclear submarine shipyard.
It doesn’t seem to have made any difference at all.
Dutton also raised the prospect of pressure on Australian manufacturing from rising input costs, rising energy costs and rising insurance – all things have had their prices rising owing to costs associated with climate change.
It is also worth remembering the downturn in manufacturing began under previous Coalition governments when the Abbott government oversaw the shutdown of the Australian car industry with the closure of domestic manufacturing at General Motors Holden, Toyota and Ford.
Updated
Banning hate speech would combat antisemitism: Spender
Australia already has strong immigration laws that allow it to deport people who are engaged in antisocial behaviour and says parliament should focus on acting to ban hate speech in order to combat anti-Jewish hate, Spender says.
We need to stop antisemitism at its source, and that is, part of that is about the hate and hate that gets provoked, that gets whipped up, particularly by some of the hate preachers, but also by some of the neo-Nazi people who have been particularly persecuting the LGBTQIA community as well.
And that’s a wrap.
Updated
Nuclear power can’t be delivered fast enough for climate crisis: Spender
On nuclear power, Spender says she is not “anti-nuclear power” but says it is not going to deliver the outcomes on climate change that are needed in the next 10 years.
Even putting climate aside, the issue is that 90% of our coal-fired power stations are going to close in the next 10 years so we need to transition in the next 10 years.
Spender says the best course of action is “staying the course, actually backing renewables, giving business the certainty to continue to invest”.
Updated
'We need to see how this plays out': Allegra Spender on possibility of a hung parliament
On the upcoming election, Spender says “we need to see how this plays out” and that “it is very unclear exactly what [parliament] is going to look like in the end.”
On statements from Peter Dutton this morning that the Independents should back him in any minority government:
Yes, I’m sure that is what he thinks and it will depend on the numbers and the shape of the crossbench and what people are willing to negotiate and back at that time so I think we really need to look at it at the time.
Asked whether she means the party who gets the most seats won’t necessarily get her support, Spender says: “Not necessarily but it is only a factor that I will consider.”
Asked about comments by Dutton that the Independents will “never support a Coalition government” Spender says she has “been explicit, time and time again” that she has worked with both major parties, including the Coalition in the past.
In relation to climate, I haven’t worked with the Coalition because I don’t think they are committed to a transition in terms of the most cost-effective and frankly good for the climate transition that we have at the moment.
So my point is I take things on the basis of the arguments and on the basis of the evidence and I am very open to working with a coalition government and I’m open to working with the Labor government, but that depends on what they are actually going to put on the table.
Updated
Electoral reforms would be part of hung parliament negotiations: Spender
Spender says she would make revisiting the electoral reforms an issue in any negotiations around a hung parliament.
What I want to see is good process, good parliamentary process where all of these issues are really fleshed out, where community can actually listen to the experts arguing about these laws so that we can get one answer that is going to get big money out of politics and make sure there is a level playing field.
On the possibility of a hung parliament, Spender says her primary concern is ensuring “stable government” and the priorities of her community on “some of the big issues that are facing the country” of which “action on climate change is really critical”.
Myself and I think others on the crossbench have approached decisions on parliament and how we vote and what we support really on the basis of what the evidence is saying. Is it in our long-term interests? What do our communities think? What are the experts think? Bringing that together, backing good ideas from all sides, working with all sides to try and get good policy through – that is how I will continue to behave whatever form the next parliament takes.
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Electoral spending cap should apply to major parties: Spender
On the $90m limit, Spender says “$90m can go a long way in a seat like Wentworth”.
Everyone knows how much I spent in the last campaign, we don’t know how much Dave Sharma spent and we don’t know how much Tony Abbott spent and Josh Frydenberg spent in fighting the independents.
Spender says she supports spending caps, but only if it applies to the major parties as well.
She also rules out forming a political party saying: “I’m really proud to be an independent.”
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Electoral spending law reform ‘has really fallen short’: Allegra Spender
On the recent deal between Labor and the Coalition to limit campaign donations – a reform cast by Independents as a “stitch up” designed to remove the electoral threat they pose – Spender says the goal should be to ensure a “really good contest”.
A third of the country wants to vote for someone who is not the major parties, so one set of the country is saying we want choice.
Spender says “frankly the reform has really fallen short both in getting money out of politics and also on making sure there is a level playing field.”
My concern, however, is that I can only spend $800,000 as an independent. The Coalition or a Labor Party, they can spend $800,000 with a name of the candidate running against me and then they can spend an unlimited amount, frankly, else, just with Labor or Liberal or a party name.
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Assets should be leveraged in tariff negotiations with US: Spender
Spender says Australia hosts US military bases and supplies basic resources to the world such as critical minerals, and these assets should be leveraged in any negotiations with the US around tariffs.
On Donald Trump’s negotiating tactics, Spender says: “The threats are not the point.”
[The US] is asserting what we bring to the party and I think the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull did that really well as he understood what was in the US interest and what was in Australia’s interest.
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Australia should stand up for itself to US: Spender
Australia should plan for disruption from the US president, Donald Trump, and be prepared to stand up for itself, Independent MP Allegra Spender says.
Jacqui Lambie has a lot right when she says that we do need to stand up, we do need to be assertive about what is in Australia’s interest but why Australia is such an important partner to the US both militarily and strategically, but frankly, economically.
The US has a trade surplus with Australia. They are exporting more to us than they are importing. It is good economics to have a good relationship with Australia.
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Government to ban foreign homebuyers for two years
The Albanese government has matched a Coalition policy to bar foreign buyers from buying Australian homes for two years.
The ban, announced by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, takes effect from 1 April and applies to foreign-owned companies and temporary residents, subject to exceptions for projects that will increase housing supply and participants in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme.
With 5,360 home purchases by foreigners in the last financial year for which data is available, it is not thought the policy will have a significant impact on the Australian housing market, but the decision does remove a potentially thorny political issue for Labor going into this year’s election.
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Independent MP Allegra Spender will speak to the ABC Insiders host, David Speers, this morning.
Meanwhile the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has given a long interview to Sky news.
We will bring you all the latest as it happens.
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WA residents pick up pieces after tropical cyclone
Regional towns lashed by Tropical Cyclone Zelia face being isolated for days with limited food supplies as communities begin to count the cost of the destructive weather event, AAP reports.
The cyclone made landfall at Port Hedland in north-west Western Australia as a category four, bringing heavy rain and damaging winds, but has weakened to a tropical low as it tracks southwards.
The WA premier, Roger Cook, said there were no reported deaths or injuries as on-alert communities escaped the worst of the cyclone.
Emergency crews have begun assessing the damage but the downgraded weather system is still dumping significant rain on parts of the Pilbara region, exacerbating flooding.
Major roads have flooded, cutting off critical connections for supply deliveries including the North West Coastal Highway between Port Hedland and Broome.
Emergency warnings remain for people in the Pilbara towns of Warralong and Marble Bar, with the WA Fire and Emergency Services commissioner Darren Klemm warning heavy rain and flooding was not expected to subside until next week.
The DeGrey River is expected to reach major flood levels at the Great Northern Highway.
The weather bureau warns flood peaks at DeGrey are approaching the 2013 level of 8.61 metres and could reach 8.86 metres – a height not seen in a quarter of a century.
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Good Morning
And welcome to another Sunday Guardian live blog.
Pilbara residents are beginning to clean up after Tropical Cyclone Zelia made landfall at Port Hedland in Western Australia’s far north, bringing heavy rain and damaging winds. The cyclone struck as residents of northern parts of Queensland have started their own recovery process after two weeks of torrential rain and major flooding.
The Albanese government will match an existing Coalition policy by moving to ban the purchase of homes in Australia by foreign buyers for two years. The decision will contain some exceptions for investments that “significantly increase housing supply” and for participants in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started ...
