What we learned - Wednesday 26 June
That’s where we’ll leave the blog this evening, but first let’s recap the main events:
The Coalition used Labor senator Fatima Payman’s decision to cross the floor yesterday afternoon as an attack on Anthony Albanese’s strength as a party leader.
Australia’s university wage theft is on track to exceed $380m, new research found.
The Queensland government said it plans to establish a new greater glider forest park as part of a $200m plan to reform the state’s timber industry.
Fatima Payman will not be expelled from Labor for crossing the floor, Richard Marles said.
The Pharmacy Guild said the Coalition no longer opposes original prescription-only vaping bill.
Anthony Albanese met with the Solomon Islands prime minister, Jeremiah Manele, and spoke to the media afterwards.
Nationals senators crossed the floor to back the Greens’ failed bid to break up the supermarket duopoly.
Julian Assange was officially sentenced to time served.
Labor MP Kristy McBain defended the coal seam gas project approval.
Environment minister Tanya Plibersek said protecting koala habitat is one of the conditions for approving Gina Rinehart-backed gas project.
Politicians were warned against accepting Qantas compensation payments for cancelled flights.
Have a lovely rest of your evening.
Updated
Domestic inflation surprise sinks Australian shares
Australian shares have dropped after official data showed inflation re-accelerating, raising the chances of an August rate rise, AAP reports.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Wednesday gave back roughly half of Tuesday’s gains, finishing down 55.8 points, or 0.71%, to 7,783, while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 54 points, or 0.67%, to 8,022.9.
The ASX200 was already in the red but fell another 36 points in the space of two minutes after the late-morning inflation readout.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported consumer price rises rose 4% in the year to May, up from 3.6% in the 12 months to April, and the third straight month that inflation has come in hotter than consensus expectations.
Updated
Tourism bouncing back with record visitor spending
International tourists are breaking spending records across Australia, with visitors staying longer than they did before the Covid-19 pandemic, AAP reports.
International tourists spent $30.9bn in Australia in the year to March 2024, slightly above pre-pandemic spending levels, according to data from Tourism Research Australia.
Half the states and territories across Australia exceeded 2019 spending levels.
South Australia recorded the greatest improvement, with spending at 120% of pre-Covid levels, followed by Western Australia (111%), NSW (105%) and Queensland (102%).
International travellers stayed longer and spent more per trip in the year to March 2024 than they did pre-Covid.
Trips to Australia were up to 84% of 2019 levels, average spend per trip increased by 25%, and nights away exceeded pre-pandemic levels, with an average stay of 37 nights.
Updated
Thanks Amy and good afternoon everyone!
The parliament is winding down but the news continues – so I will hand you over to Natasha May for the rest of the evening.
We will be back with Politics live very early tomorrow morning for the last sitting of this week (there is one more session) and, of course, please check back for updates – it is going to be another big night and day of news. Until then, please take care of you.
Updated
Victorian nurses and midwives agree 28.5% pay increase over four years
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation members have this afternoon endorsed an offer from the Victorian government for a 28.5% wage increase over four years.
The union’s secretary, Lisa Fitzpatrick, has confirmed nurses agreed to the deal at a meeting held in Melbourne and eight regional locations on Wednesday, which also includes more than 70 improvements to allowances, penalties and terms and conditions.
It comes after union members knocked back an in-principle agreement in May after voting to begin industrial action including shutting down one in four hospital beds.
Under the initial agreement, workers were offered a wage boost of 18 to 23% over four years but it was rejected due to a number of uncertainties.
Fitzpatrick says they went back to the negotiating table and have “come back with certainty”. She says:
We’ve secured a significant gender equity wage increase for a nursing and midwifery workforce that is 89% female.
[But] there is still much work to do to acknowledge nurses and midwives’ work through the pandemic and address current workforce and staffing pressures so that nurses and midwives can start to love their work again.
The wages and new and improved allowances and penalties and terms and conditions are designed to retain our early-career and experienced nurses and midwives, recruit new nurses and midwives and start to rebuild our health system.
Updated
Vaping change ‘significant progress’ despite being not as stringent as intended
Quit and Cancer Council Victoria said “while the vaping reforms are not as stringent as originally intended – where the sale of vapes would have continued to require a medical prescription – these reforms still represent significant progress”.
The peak body for general practitioners (RACGP) also expressed its support for the stricter regulations on vaping passing into law. However its president, Dr Nicole Higgins, emphasised the college remains a strong advocate for people who want help to quit nicotine to get expert support from their GP, and evidence-based methods to quit.
Higgins said:
Vapes are only recommended as a second line aid for quitting in health guidelines after people have tried other options, such as nicotine patches. It’s also important that a person’s vape use is monitored, as it should only be a short-term treatment and can be harmful if they’re still smoking cigarettes.
Other health experts have been more vocal criticising the Greens’ stripping the prescription model from the legislation. Veteran anti-tobacco campaigner Simon Chapman called the changes “hugely disappointing” saying the “Greens have flushed the prescription-only access component of the reforms down the public health toilet”.
Updated
Health groups welcome ‘world leading’ vaping changes
Peak health bodies are welcoming the passage of the government’s “world leading” vaping reforms despite the legislation not being as tough as originally intended.
Australia has become the first country to ban the sale of vapes outside pharmacies, but adults will no longer require a prescription from a doctor, under the deal reached with the Greens.
The president of peak body for doctors, the Australian Medical Association, Prof Steve Robson, said the reforms “will be a major turning point in the fight against the insidious vaping and tobacco industry”.
We commend health minister Mark Butler and the federal government for putting this issue firmly on their agenda, because previous attempts to regulate vaping in Australia have failed due to the failure to listen to the public health experts, leading to more and more young people taking up vaping and becoming addicted to nicotine.
The AMA reiterated vaping is extremely harmful to people’s health, with evidence showing it can cause nicotine dependence, poisoning and acute nicotine toxicity causing seizures, burns, nausea and lung injuries. In addition, vapes can contain a range of harmful substances such as diacetyl, formaldehyde, chlorine, benzene, mercury and arsenic, which all have long-term impacts on human health and can cause cancer, the peak body warned.
The AMA acknowledged the amendments to the legislation will make vapes more accessible for adults in pharmacies and said it will work closely with the government and pharmacists to ensure arrangements are “robust and primarily focused on other nicotine cessation tools that are backed by sound evidence.”
Updated
‘Prices did actually fall in May’
With all the inflation talk, let’s have a look at Greg Jericho’s view:
Main reason for the little spike in inflation today?
— Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) June 26, 2024
The May 2023 was replaced in the annual figures by the May 2024 figures.
Last year in May prices fell 0.4%, this year they fell just 0.1%.
That's basically it. Prices did actually fall in May. pic.twitter.com/6edUjpq2E1
Updated
Politicians warned against accepting Qantas compensation payments for cancelled flights
Politicians and their staffers have been warned against taking advantage of compensation payments being distributed by Qantas which they’re technically eligible for after their taxpayer funded flight bookings were cancelled.
In May, Qantas announced it had struck a deal with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over landmark legal action it was facing for allegedly selling tens of thousands of tickets to flights that had already been cancelled in its system.
As part of what was the largest settlement for a corporate penalty the ACCC has ever agreed to, Qantas agreed to fork out $100m as a civil penalty and pay $20m to customers in compensation, with payments to customers ranging from $225 to $450.
On Wednesday, the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) – the commonwealth government body which manages work expenses for parliamentarians and their staff – sent out an email that it was aware some politicians and staff were affected by Qantas’s cancellations and are eligible for the remediation payments.
The email, seen by the Guardian, said:
As these funds will be paid to individuals, IPEA reminds all parliamentarians and staff that they should not obtain a personal benefit where the travel was funded by the commonwealth. In these circumstances, it is not appropriate for parliamentarians and staff to accept this offer of payment.
It added:
As part of the negotiated agreement with the ACCC, Qantas will donate any unclaimed funding from the $20 million remediation program to an approved charity. This is the appropriate outcome for any remediation payments owed to the commonwealth.”
Updated
Question time ends
Question time has ended. We have one more left in this week, before the parliament rises until Monday.
Updated
Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel asks Catherine King about the Victorian government’s Suburban Rail Loop project:
There’s concern in Goldstein about the state government’s Suburban Rail Loop project, with plans for many high rise apartments. Residents fear traffic chaos and overwhelmed education and health services, with the possibility the SRL will never be completed because the Victorian government can’t pay for it.
It’s been reported it could blow the Commonwealth infrastructure budget, especially if the Federal Government has to rescue a partly built project. What information has the minister received from her department, and will any information or advice received be made public?
Catherine King:
As I have made very clear on a number of occasions, no decisions have been made about further funding before and before any further requests for funding are agreed to. Victoria will need to work with Infrastructure Australia so that it can provide advice on this project. But in relation to planning issues, this is primarily a matter for the Victorian government.
But we know that in order to address housing affordability, we need a steady supply of new housing and in the right places, supported by the right infrastructure. And that does mean, as I say, building housing around really important public transport links.
Updated
David Littleproud gets the next question:
The National Seniors Social Survey paints a stark picture of life for older Australians struggling with the cost of living crisis. Many older Australians are forgoing basics like fresh fruit and milk and stockpiling petrol to make ends meet.
One Queensland woman wrote that she has to choose between seeing her grandchildren or affording medical treatment. Isn’t this another example of Labor’s home grown inflation making life harder for our most vulnerable?
Anthony Albanese:
Indeed we recognise that many Australians are doing it tough and for people who are on a fixed income, particularly if they’re retired and pensioners, they do it tough, in Australian society. And that’s why, the support that you spoke about, if they’re in Queensland, uh, not just the $300 energy bill relief, but that will be on top of the relief of the Queensland government.
That was announced in its budget just a short time ago. We’ll bring that support, to well over $1,000 as a result.
And of course, in addition to that, I have spoken to people in the great state of Queensland, and I’ll say that just once today, (that’s a state of origin joke) given circumstances later this evening, I’ve spoken to people who have an energy bill of zero as a result of the support of state and federal governments to make an enormous difference.
Updated
We are chasing clarification over what Anthony Albanese just said in relation to Senator Fatima Payman
Albanese said he spoke to the WA senator and she will not be joining the Labor caucus for the rest of this session
We understand that Payman remains a member of the Labor party and the caucus, but at the prime minister’s request, won’t be attending caucus for the remainder of the sitting session. The parliamentary session ends next Thursday. That would suggest Payman will miss one caucus meeting, which is scheduled for next Tuesday.
We are not clear on whether it is being considered an official suspension or not.
Updated
There has been a bit of mix up with the question order
Peter Dutton was standing for the call that was given to Monique Ryan for a crossbench question, and then Dutton got the next question, when it should have gone to a Labor MP.
So Labor just got two dixers in a row.
Updated
For those who didn’t see it, this was Anthony Albanese’s official response to the question about Julian Assange:
Anthony Albanese continues:
I met with Senator Payman earlier today. She will not be attending the Labor caucus for the rest of this session.
Peter Dutton is on his feet immediately. Milton Dick says it is impossible for there to be a point of order on relevance as the prime minister is being relevant. Dutton argues. Dick points to previous decisions from speakers on the same issue. Dutton argues and Dick orders him to sit down, without allowing Dutton’s microphone to be turned on.
Albanese concludes:
What I do is show leadership for our united team.
What he does, what he does is fail to provide any leadership. Which is why the kiss of death is endorsement from this bloke.
Peter Dutton asks Anthony Albanese about Labor MP Fatima Payman crossing the floor
Payman voted with the Greens motion asking the Senate to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Dutton also brings up Payman’s previous use of the slogan ‘from the river to the sea’. He says that Bob Hawke acted to suspend members who crossed why he was prime minister and asks why Albanese won’t act against Payman.
Albanese is prepared for this one too:
I note the regular tracks of members for the LNP to sit on the same side of the government at various times.
Something they say is a positive.
I make this point. From the river to the sea, refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. The problem from the river to the sea being one state whether just Israel or just Palestine, the existence of the other peoples and denies the need for a two state solution.
That is why I have consistently opposed it. I have consistently supported two states, Palestine and Israel living side-by-side in peace and security and that is the Australian Labor Party ‘s position.
I am proud of it. I have consistently opposed the actions of the course from day one of what occurred with the terrorist attacked on October seven.
Hamas committed atrocities and needed to be condemned. I have also expressed my great concern at the humanitarian loss in Gaza including our call for the ground invasion of rougher do not occur because we warned of what the consequences of that would be.
I regret the loss of all innocent life, whether it be Israeli or Palestinian. That is the principal position that I have taken. And that is why I have yesterday in the position that was put forward by Senator Wong in the Senate was a principal, the need for this to recognise the state of Palestine as a part of the peace process in support of the two state solution and adjust an enduring peace.
It’s beyond me why the Greens political party or the Liberal Party or the National Party did not support that position. For the truth is that they did not. The truth is they did not. That is the appropriate position put forward.
Updated
Chris Bowen takes a dixer just so he can have some fun with the opposition’s nuclear policy:
It takes some doing to accidentally breach an international treaty but leave it to the leader of the opposition.
There was a flurry of phone calls we now know the leader of the opposition rang the member for Fairfax and said ‘honey, I shrunk the Paris Accord’.
They dealt with the accident that he created but this is what we get – we get energy policy on the run.
…The leader of the opposition said, when asked about waste from nuclear facilities he said a small modular reactor would get one can of Coke a year worth of waste. One can of Coke.
The first time I heard it, I thought everyone can make a mistake, everyone can speak once, we won’t make an issue, but five times he said it.
What is the real figure based on analysis and Rolls-Royce the company the ability to have the opposition has quoted?
12,500 cans of coke from a small modular reactor. Just 12,499 out. This is what we get we get the leader of the opposition.
He is not across the detail of this important policy area make up as he goes along and is letting the member for New England, Senator Canavan, and the Nationals write their policy.
Updated
Michael Sukkar is booted out of the parliament for interjecting.
(Timeless statement)
Updated
There is a point of order on relevance and Milton Dick points out the question was broad and therefore the prime minister can take it in whatever direction he sees fit.
Anthony Albanese continues:
I’m asked a question about leadership and I’m happy to answer the question about leadership. Because we know that for the Leader of the Opposition, any endorsement is a kiss of death and in the preselection for the Queensland LNP Senate to get, he endorsed sitting Senator Gerard Rennick.
He wrote a written letter of support asking people to support him ‘as part of my team’.
[Rennick] is now suing the LNP and Peter Dutton claiming the party is run in an unprofessional manner.
He [Dutton] did better and in a three man race to replace Marise Payne he backed two of the three horses….The third horse won, Mr Speaker. With Dave Sharma and then he endorsed Hollie Hughes.
The shadow treasurer [Angus Taylor] had something else in mind, Mr Speaker.
Peter Dutton stands up on a point of order, but the point of order on relevance has already been taken (the leader of the opposition is always allowed the call when they stand up, even if the point has already been taken)
There is 23 seconds left, but Albanese has made his point.
Sussan Ley time. Huzzah.
My question is to the prime minister. Under this economically illiterate prime minister, families and small businesses are hurting …
Tony Burke is immediately on his feet.
You made a ruling in response to the manager of opposition business a few weeks ago. That ruling was made at the request of the opposition. You also indicated that if we had questions like this, we would start looking at are simply going to the next question.
Milton Dick asks Ley to reword the question.
Ley:
Families and small businesses are hurting with core inflation having now increased for four consecutive months to 4.4%. As the Reserve Bank Governor said last week, groceries, petrol, health, education, rent, insurance, expenses are all going up. Isn’t this another example of this prime minister’s weak leadership letting Australians down?
Albanese:
That question and the reframing of it says more about the deputy leader of the opposition … and her character than anything else.
Just like we saw on the weekend, the leader of the opposition go from a so-called policy announcement that we know now was actually a mistake that led to them change their position into a full-scale personal attack.
Albanese has a degree in economics, which is another reason why the question was particularly pointed.
Updated
Jim Chalmers continues:
This answer also gives me the opportunity to point out to the shadow treasurer that he has now said twice today something which is factually wrong about international comparisons of inflation, and I thought I would take this opportunity to correct the shadow treasurer for making this mistake twice in the last half an hour or so.
He said a moment ago in the question to the prime minister that core inflation in Canada was going down. Core inflation in Canada is going up.
If the shadow treasurer is unhappy with inflation and at 4% as our way, he must have been absolutely filthy at the 6.1% that he presided over. He must have been absolutely furious at the performance of his own government when they bequeathed us inflation at 6.1%.
Updated
Angus Taylor tries again:
After two years of Labor’s homegrown inflation, food is up by 21%, rent up 14%, electricity is up by over 21% and gas is up to over 22%. Isn’t this another example of this prime minister’s week leadership letting Australians down?
Jim Chalmers takes it and it goes as you expect:
As the prime minister indicated in his answer a moment ago, we have to be very careful about the facts that the shadow treasurer points in his questions. And this gives me, and the reason I am so grateful to the prime minister for letting me answer this question is because it gives me an opportunity to correct some of the facts that the shadow treasurer has been pedalling in the last half an hour or so. The first one, if he wants to talk about homegrown inflation, homegrown inflation is non- tradable is, non- tradable inflation is lower under us that it was under them.
The same is true of headline inflation. Inflation when we came to office, as the prime minister rightly said, was 6.1% and now it is 4% in the monthly indicator, and that is too high.
But it is much lower than the inflation that we inherited from those opposite.
Updated
Tanya Plibersek continues:
We can’t get to net zero overnight but we are making extremely strong progress and I’ve spoken in this place yesterday about the number of renewable energy projects that we have already approved, 54 renewable energy projects, one every two weeks.
On top of these - the previous environment minister [Sussan Ley] is interjecting about koala habitat, that is pretty rich coming from a government that hid the State of the Environment Report because it said that the environment in Australia was bad and getting worse under the leadership of those opposite.
Nobody has done less to help the Australian environment than the deputy leader of the opposition. On this proposal and others like it we will assess every project project by project for its environmental impacts and it they will be assessed against the Safeguard Mechanism, voted for by those on the crossbench and by the Greens political party climate and their environment spokesperson, her quote on this was under these laws pollution will now go down, not up.
Updated
Plibersek says protecting koala habitat one of the conditions for approving Rinehart-backed gas project
Greens MP for Ryan, Elizabeth Watson Brown asks Anthony Albanese:
Yesterday your government approved a $1bn Gina Rinehart-backed koala habitat destroying gas project with over 150 new gas wells able to run until 2080. In the middle of the climate crisis, billionaires open more coal and gas and will the prime minister reverse this decision?
Tanya Plibersek takes this one:
As I said yesterday as we have been saying all along, our government’s priority is to get more renewables approved and more renewables into our energy system.
The project that was approved yesterday as a domestic, largely domestic credit gas project that will support the manufacture of glass, bricks, cement, food packaging, and as for the misinformation about koala habitat, the member for Ryan is absolutely wrong, in fact one of the conditions of approval for this project is that koala breeding and foraging habitat must be protected.
It is very important to say to the member for Ryan and to others that share her concerns, this project, like any large project in Australia, will be measured against the Safeguard Mechanism.
The safeguard laws, the strong climate protection laws that the Greens and most of the crossbench voted for, is how we keep emissions down in Australia, how we actually get to net zero in this country.
Updated
We reported on part of the US Embassy statement a little while ago –here is a comment from the US Ambassador, Caroline Kennedy on the Julian Assange decision.
— U.S. Embassy Australia (@USEmbAustralia) June 26, 2024
(Continued from last post)
Albanese:
Over the two years since we took office my government has engaged and advocated including at leader level to resolve this.
We have used all appropriate channels, this outcome has been the product of careful, patient and determined work.
Work I am very proud of.
The Australian government continues to provide consular assistance to Mr Assange as he returns home.
As we do for Australians, for Australians right around the world. I can confirm that US ambassador Kevin Rudd and it UK High Commissioner Stephen Smith are travelling to Australia with Mr Assange.
I thank them for their work and others at the respective embassy and high commission for helping us reach this conclusion.
This work has been complex and it has been considered. This is what is standing up for Australians around the world look like. It means getting the job done, getting results and getting outcomes.
Having the determination to stay the course and I am very pleased that on this occasion, this has been a successful outcome that I believe overwhelmingly Australians did want to see.
As I said, they will have different views. About the engagement and the activities of Mr Assange, but they will be pleased that this saga has been brought to an end and he will be able to reunite with his family.
Anthony Albanese is prepared for this and reads from a piece of paper:
I think the member for Clark for his question and I thank him, along with the parliamentary group co-chaired by the Member for Fremantle for their commitment to this issue that I recognised has involved some member for all political parties in this place including members of the Liberal party and the National party.
Julian Assange is on his way home to Australia.
A short time ago a United States court in Saipan accepted a plea agreement between Mr Assange and the United States Department of Justice.
Mr Assange has since boarded a flight to Australia and will land in Australia later today.
Regardless of your views about his activities and they will be varied, Mr Assange’s case has dragged on for too long. I have said repeatedly that there was nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration. I am pleased that he is on his way home to Australia to reunite with his family here.
Updated
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie asks:
Millions of people around the world particularly in Australia are thrilled by the news that Julian Assange has finally been set free and is on his way back home to Australia. Will you join with me in welcoming the end of this long-running saga and will Mr Assange return home to his family?
Updated
After a dixer on cost of living policies from the government, Angus Taylor asks Anthony Albanese:
Core inflation in Australia is high and it is rising (he lists some other economies where he says inflation is falling)
Is it another example of this prime minister’s weak leadership letting Australians down?
Albanese:
Some of the premise of that question … are simply wrong. Simply wrong. The fact is that we inherited an inflation rate with a six in front of it, six in front of it and the measures ...
(Michael Sukkar gets his final warning for interrupting)
Albanese:
The fact is that inflation is lower than what we inherited. The fact is that the measures that we have put in place that have put downward pressure on inflation such as energy price relief have had a substantial impact on helping to drive down that inflation.
And when Michele Bullock, the RBA governor, was asked about how is Australia’s experience in regards to core inflation since the beginning of this year different or the same to that which has been observed in the US or Canada or the European area, this is what the RBA governor had to say.
She said this - it is a very similar experience, she went on to say the look at core inflation and services inflation a particular overseas experience there is very similar to here.
(There are more interruptions and the speaker tells the chamber to can it)
Updated
Anthony Albanese continues:
We know, of course, from Karen Middleton, that not only did they have 22 different energy policies in 10 years, now we know they had three different energy policies in one weekend! In one weekend!
This is how the climate change denial runs, they walk away from a 2030 target, once slip of the tongue and they junk it
…They have come up with the most expensive form of new energy possible.
They are basing their policy on the next decade on the basis of a mistake in the Weekend Australian.
The shadow cabinet got rolled by [The Australian national editor] Dennis Shanahan! (Laughter)
It’s extraordinary! Well done Dennis, keep going.
Updated
Liberal MP corrects Anthony Albanese over Peter Dutton’s pronouns
After echoing the prime ministers’ words about the importance of Australia’s relationship with the Pacific Islands, Peter Dutton asks this question:
[The prime minister] spent the first 18 months touring the world and spending $450m on the divisive voice referendum instead of focusing on economic decisions and putting budgets together to help Australian families, not hurt them. Will the prime minister take responsibility for the cost of living pain that families are feeling today?
Anthony Albanese:
I’ll leave people to draw their own conclusions between the gap that was there of mere seconds of speaking about the importance of a relationship with our neighbours and with the world and that question.
And that question.
And that question.
Albanese then moves on to the government’s cost of living measures.
Albanese refers to Dutton as ‘he’ prompting LNP MP Angie Bell to jump up:
Members should be called by their correct title. The prime minister has repeatedly called the opposition leader ‘he’ and members should be addressed by the correct title.
Albanese:
Anything is possible, Mr Speaker, anything is possible on that side, I didn’t know he was a they, but anything is possible.
Updated
Inflation data may prompt RBA to raise rate, say economists
After the inflation pop in May (see our story here), a few economists are getting twitchy, shifting their expectations about what the Reserve Bank will do next.
For instance, Phil O’Donaghoe, Deutsche Bank‘s chief economist for Australia, now expects an RBA rate rise in August when the central bank’s board next meets.
Underlying inflation is intolerably high in Australia,” he said. “In fact, Australia is the only G10 country where underlying inflation has increased since December.”
NAB said it’s reviewing its position of expecting the next RBA move to be a rate cut in November. Prior to today, all but ANZ among the big four banks had tipped a rate cut by then but it won’t be surprising to see others shifting.
Judo Bank‘s Warren Hogan has been adamant for some time that the RBA’s monetary policy was too slack, and that at least one more rate rise was needed this year to bring inflation to heel. Hogan told Sky News that there was now a 75% chance of an August rate hike by the RBA.
A few things, of course, can happen between now and then. One will be the full June quarter inflation figures that we’ll get on 31 July. Perhaps more noteworthy will be how taxpayers respond to the stage three tax cuts that kick in from 1 July.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers will be trying to tread a fine rhetorical path: celebrate your tax cut but don’t spend it all at once!
Updated
There is some argy bargy over the criticism from the Greens and some crossbench independents over the approvals given to the Atlas stage three gas project (which is part owned by Gina Rinehart)
You can find the approval document here
The government is pointing to this part:
Listed threatened species and communities (section 18 and section 18A)
Unconventional gas or large coal mining development with impact on water resources (section 24D and section 24E)
The approval holder must not:
…clear any Koala foraging and breeding habitat.
….To ensure no functional change to Koala dispersal habitat, the approval holder must not remove more than a total of 4 ha of trees
As evidence the project won’t impact koala habitat as claimed by the Greens.
Not sure that will appease the critics.
Updated
Question time about to commence
But before we get to the questions, Anthony Albanese is welcoming the Solomon Islands prime minister Jeremiah Manele to the parliament. Manele is the special guest for this session.
Updated
Coalition’s NBN technology suffers more outages: ACCC
While much discussion in the past week has focused on the Coalition’s big technology policy on nuclear energy, it’s worth remembering how their last big one - the NBN - has played out in practice.
An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report out today has found that the two technologies in the NBN pioneered by the Coalition as an alternative to the former Labor government’s fibre-to-the-premises network have more frequent outages than those lucky NBN users on full fibre.
The ACCC found that customers on fibre-to-the-node connections accounted for almost half (48%) of outages reported between March and April this year, despite making up 34% of fixed line connections on the NBN. FTTP made up 12% of the outages reported despite being 36% of the network.
Fibre-to-the-node as well as hybrid fibre coaxial (the Coalition’s other preferred technology) also recorded worse latency and packet loss compared to full fibre.
4.1% of all NBN connections were said to be underperforming compared to the speeds customers were paying for, and 81% of these services were fibre-to-the-node.
NBN is midway through a project to upgrade millions of these connections to full fibre.
Updated
Labor MP defends coal seam gas project approval
Kristy McBain spoke against a Greens motion in the house earlier this morning which was condemning the government for approving a coal seam gas project, that could result in up to 151 new gas wells in Queensland.
McBain said the government followed the law.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the law needs to be changed:
Today Gina Rinehart is cheering the government’s approval of 151 new gas wells, threatening more than 500 hectares of koala habitat.
This will kill koalas, waste billions of litres of water and fuel the climate crisis.
In the very week Labor’s weak environment laws are before the Parliament, the environment minister is backing more fossil fuels and more destruction.
There’s nothing in Labor’s weak environment laws to stop these catastrophic approvals continuing, which is why the Greens are pushing to fix the laws with a ban on native forest logging and a climate trigger.”
Updated
The shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has also responded to today’s inflation data:
Today’s monthly inflation data shows Labor’s ‘carefully calibrated’ economic plan is failing Australians.
With headline inflation rising to 4.0% and core inflation – the RBA’s preferred measure – rose to 4.4%, Australian families and small businesses will be bracing for even more economic pain than they have already endured.
No matter how the government tries to spin this, there is no doubt from today’s data that this is Labor’s homegrown inflation crisis with domestic inflation hitting 5.2%.
Updated
And after all of that we are left with just under one hour until question time
To recap the morning’s news:
Julian Assange pleaded guilty to one charge of violating the US espionage act and was sentenced to 62 months in prison, with credit for time served in the UK Belmarsh prison. He is now on his way to Australia, a free, but convicted, man.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has confirmed WA Labor senator Fatima Payman will not face suspension or expulsion from the party for crossing the floor yesterday in the Senate, in support of a Greens motion recognising Palestinian statehood.
Labor has given environmental approvals to a coal seam gas project backed by Gina Rinehart in Queensland.
Two Nationals senators, Ross Cadell and Matt Canavan crossed the floor to vote for Greens legislation which aimed to give the ACCC divestiture powers over the major supermarkets.
Inflation increased in the 12 months to May to 4%, from 3.6% in April.
Solomon Islands prime minister, Jeremiah Manele, met Anthony Albanese and the official statement lists Australia as the security ‘partner of choice’ – this is noteworthy because of the previous Solomon Islands’ government’s relationship with China had been growing.
The legislation increasing the base salary for incoming governor general Sam Mostyn has passed the senate
The vaping legislation has passed the senate with the Greens amendments.
Updated
Liberal MP Bridget Archer and Greens senator David Shoebridge also speak
Archer:
I would like to echo what Andrew Wilkie has said. While this is a terrific outcome for Julian Assange, we must not lose sight of the fact that all of the issues that we have been raising for some time about what this means for democracy and for press freedom, haven’t gone away.
My encouragement would be to all of those people that have supported Julian to this point, continue to get behind the stories. To ensure that our democracy is not eroded by this kind of overreach we have seen in relation to Julian Assange.
Shoebridge:
While Julian Assange will be coming home and walking free with his family as he should, David McBride is in jail just a few short kilometres away from here for also being a whistleblower about war crimes.
And Richard Boyle faces court for exposing their wrongdoing of the ATO.
Maybe we can all join together across politics and celebrate that freedom of Julian Assange as we should but realise there is so much more to do because we need a whistleblower commission here: David McBride to walk free and we could attract Richard Boyle should never be prosecuted by his own government telling the truth.
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Labor MP Josh Wilson speaks on Assange
Wilson, who was a member of the parliamentary group in support of Julian Assange acknowledges Andrew Wilkie’s steadfast advocacy and the public momentum.
He then turns to the government:
Without a shadow of doubt, the most significant shift was in the approach the Australian government from the time that Anthony Albanese was the leader of opposition through to his prime ministership, he made it clear that enough was enough.
And when you have that change of approach and you have the steady and careful behind-the-scenes persistent resolute work of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister and the Attorney-General, not to mention a couple of key and potent diplomats in High Commissioner Stephen Smith, and ambassador Kevin Rudd, that makes today, as a result, Julian Assange is free.
More than anything, it will be uplifting for millions of people, millions of Australians, to think today that embraced short space of time, Julian Assange will stand free as an Australian citizen on Australian soil.
I hope he does what I would do, take himself for a walk on the beach, hug his wife and kids and spend time with them and his family.
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Andrew Wilkie continues:
I will flag, though, one alarming issue. That is today, on US territory, a precedent was set for the charging and conviction of a journalist for doing the job. That is a really alarming precedent.
It is the sort of thing we would expect in an authoritarian or totalitarian country, it is not what we would expect from the United States or a similar country like Australia.
I think it sends a chill down the spine of journalist worldwide that this precedent has been set and it means that there is more work to do to push for media freedom and protections for journalists so that they can do their job.
At the end of the day, Julian Assange is a Walkley award-winning Australian journalist who did his job and we have all seen Collateral Damage. Probably will go down in history as the most significant video released by media in the history of media until this day. And we are all better informed thanks to WikiLeaks.
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Andrew Wilkie is speaking about his years of advocacy for Julian Assange:
For many years, a series of Australian governments were either disinterested in Julian Assange or downright hostile. It is pleasing that this government was the government, finally, that listen to the community and took up the challenge and did a lot, a real lot, of difficult, quiet, behind-the-scenes work with foreign governments to bring about today.
I would also like to acknowledge the millions of people, run around the world, we have rallied for Julian for years. For the years that he had been at Belmarsh prison and the seven years in Ecuadorian embassy before that. Today is their day as much as it is, more than day therefore any politicians in this country. I acknowledge them.
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Here is what Julian Assange’s longest serving legal counsel, Jennifer Robinson had to say outside the court:
Further to the news Victoria will be closing two prisons, our reporter Nino Bucci points out that it is a fairly new decision:
The Victorian government specifically told me there were no plans to close Port Phillip Prison when I asked them in December while working on this piece. I guess a lot can change in six months!https://t.co/BhqP0TbgvM
— Nino Bucci (@ninobucci) June 26, 2024
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has responded to today’s inflation news:
Inflation is still higher than we would like, but monthly inflation is less than half its peak and much lower than the 6.1 per cent we inherited from the Coalition.
As we’ve said many times before the monthly CPI number is volatile and can jump around because not every item in the basket is updated each month.
Today’s annual number was dragged higher by fuel prices and the impact of base effects, which are the result of a large fall in month-to-month inflation in May 2023 impacting the annual May 2024 number.
The ABS’s numbers that strip out the monthly volatility showed a welcome moderation. Monthly CPI excluding volatile items and holiday travel moderated to 4.0 per cent in May, from 4.1 per cent in April.
We know people are under substantial pressure, but the ABS clearly confirmed again today that inflation would be even higher if it wasn’t for our cost-of-living policies.
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The US embassy in Canberra statement on Julian Assange includes:
At today’s proceeding, Assange admitted to his role in the conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act and received a court-imposed 62-month time-served sentence, reflecting the time he served in UK prison as a result of the US charges.
Following the imposition of sentence, he will depart the United States for his native Australia. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Assange is prohibited from returning to the United States without permission.
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Victoria will shut two prisons
AAP reports facilities to close include a privately-run maximum security jail, which will shift inmates to a $1.1bn facility that has been sitting idle for almost two years.
Port Phillip Prison will close by the end of 2025 and the 59-year-old Dhurringile Prison will close within months, corrections minister Enver Erdogan announced on Wednesday.
Port Phillip Prison is privately operated by G4S and has been open since September 1997 with a capacity of 1,087 inmates.
The state’s contract with G4S was renewed in 2015 and agreement extensions were expected to continue for 20 years, depending on performance.
Workers at both closing prisons will be given the opportunity to work elsewhere within Victoria’s justice system.
Inmates at Dhurringile will likely move to the Beechworth minimum security prison.
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Julian Assange has left the Saipan courthouse and is on his way to the airport
We are awaiting the Australian press conference with the parliamentarians who were part of a parliamentary group lobbying for his release (which was seperate to the official diplomatic efforts made by the government)
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What are the drug schedules?
Just to be clear there, Schedule 2 drugs are the ones which are on the shelves at the pharmacist – you can just pick them up and go to the register, no questions asked.
Schedule 3 is behind the counter, where you have to have a conversation with a pharmacist to be allowed the drugs.
Schedule 4 is prescription only drugs.
(Schedule 1 is as I have just been informed, not in use. )
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Government vaping bill, with the Greens amendments, passes Senate
There is a bit going on today, so excuse the jumping around.
Greens senator Jordon Steele-John gave a speech where he spoke about some of the lobbying of the Pharmacy Guild. Steele-John said he took a meeting with the Guild because it did not provide evidence to the committee he was on reviewing the legislation and he wanted to know their views.
And in that meeting, they articulated that their preferred approach to this area of policy was not to have vaping products listed under Schedule 3, which is a perfectly legitimate position for them to put to us in their capacity as a peak body.
What I cannot cop, and what I must use this opportunity to call out, is the argument that the opposition of the Guild to Schedule 3 is based around a concern that the substances may not be appropriate for use under Schedule 3, because they, in the view of the Guild, are not safe.
Let me say very clearly, the view the Guild put to me and my team in our meeting was that they would support Schedule 4 of these substances, or they would support Schedule 2 of these substances. They did not support Schedule 3.
So to come into this debate and propose that they oppose this scheduling because they are concerned about the safety of the substance is very disingenuous, given that Schedule 2 would have made it easier for young people and adults to access vaping products.
It would have made them an in front of the counter substance, without the requirement to engage in a therapeutic conversation with a pharmacist or to demonstrate your proof of age.
So, there’s a lot that I will cop in this debate, but I will not cop that perspective from the Guild and I think they need to be more transparent with the Australian public in relation to this debate.
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The press conference with Julian Assanges’ legal team is underway – you can watch that here:
Online tracker of intimate partner homicide launched
Statistics show five women were killed by their partners in Australia between January and March this year.
The federal government announced the tracker in November, maintained by The Australian Institute of Criminology. The data only includes verified incidents where the partner has been charged, or would have been charged had they not also died.
The five verified murders are compared with eight for the same period last year.
The statistical tracker comes amid an intense focus on intimate partner violence over the last few months and will be updated quarterly.
Announcing the launch of the statistical dashboard, minister for women Katy Gallagher, social services minister Amanda Rishworth and attorney general Mark Dreyfus said the dashboard is part of the 2022-2032 National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children, which aims to reduce female intimate partner homicide by 25% this year.
It is hoped the tracker will allow for more timely reporting and help police and policy makers better understand the scale of the crisis and respond appropriately.
“89% of victims of intimate partner homicides in 2022-3 were women,” the ministers said.
Every single one of these lives lost is a tragedy. We all have a role to play in ending violence against women and we know that all governments have more work to do.”
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Let’s take stock of the outcome of the meeting between Anthony Albanese and the visiting prime minister of Solomon Islands, Jeremiah Manele.
Manele told reporters earlier today that his country’s security partnerships, including with China, were “domestically focused” in order to “address internal security challenges”. He also acknowledged that China and Australia both had strategic interests as well.
Interestingly, the agreed joint statement issued by the two leaders outlines the Solomon Islands government’s plans for a “three-tier” system for ensuring the country’s security needs. The first tier is boosting Solomon Islands’ own domestic police force. The second tier is seeking assistance from other Melanesian countries, and the third tier is seeking support from Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) members. This hierarchy is significant because Australia is a member of PIF, but China is not.
Australia has also been asked, and is eager to support, Solomon Islands’ plans to boost its domestic police force (see tier one above). Officials see it as significant that this request was made first to Australia. The joint statement says:
Australia’s continued support to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force will build Solomon Islands’ ability to meet its own security needs, and reduce its reliance on external partners.
In 2022, under former prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, Solomon Islands sealed a security pact with China that alarmed Australian officials. Manele, who served as foreign minister under Sogavare, has indicated that his country will continue its foreign policy of “friend to all and enemy to none”, and he is due to visit Beijing after his weeklong visit to Australia.
But today’s joint statement describes Australia as “Solomon Islands’ security partner of choice”.
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Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has released a statement on Julian Assange’s freedom:
Millions of people around the world, and especially in Australia, will be thrilled that Julian Assange has finalised a plea deal with the United States Department of Justice and is on his way home.
Mr Assange should never have been charged, and his release from prison and return home is way beyond time. After all, he is an Australian citizen, publisher and journalist who did nothing more than release information about egregious US misconduct, including war crimes, and for that he always should have been applauded, not punished.
Wilkie says there “must never be a repeat of this shocking episode”.
Whistleblowers and media freedom are essential ingredients of any healthy democracy and attacks on them need to be fiercely resisted. That’s exactly what Mr Assange’s supporters did and I’m immensely proud of them for doing that. Moreover the US’s ridiculous claim to global judicial extraterritoriality must be rejected in future.
One of the alarming dimensions of this whole horrid saga is that the precedent has now been set for charging and convicting a journalist for simply doing their job. While we expect to see this in authoritarian regimes, for it to have occurred in the United States of all places, with its constitutional protection for freedom of media, should send chills down the spine of journalists everywhere.”
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Assange’s supporters in parliament to speak shortly
Now that Julian Assange has been officially freed by the US District court judge who heard his guilty plea and credited his time served in his sentencing, Andrew Wilkie and the members of the Australian parliament group who were lobbying to free Assange, will hold the press conference they cancelled yesterday.
That is due in the next half an hour or so.
Updated
Julian Assange has officially been sentenced to time served
You can follow along with our reporter on the ground in Saipan, Helen Davidson, here.
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Ansar Allah terrorist listing under review
The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security is undertaking a review of the listing of Ansar Allah as a terrorist organisation under Australia’s criminal code.
The intelligence committee is one of the only standing committees in the parliament (meaning it always exists) and is bipartisan. It’s recommendations are usually adopted by the government of the day (although there have been rare instances where the government has not accepted recommendations, most recently seen under the Morrison government)
Ansar Allah is also referred to as the the Huthi or Houthi movement and was listed by the government as a terror organisation under the criminal code last month. That listing – the first time it has appeared on the designated terrorist organisation list in Australia –triggered the intelligence and security committee’s review.
Section 102.1A of the Criminal Code provides that the Committee may review listings of terrorist organisations and report its findings to each house of Parliament within the 15 sitting day disallowance period.
Members of the public are invited to make submissions to this review by 12 July 2024.
Further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee’s website.
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Further inflation figures
Looking at the inflation figures, of particular concern will be the acceleration of the trimmed mean measure of inflation, which is what the RBA looks at more closely than the “headline” CPI figure.
That jumped to 4.4% from 4.1% in April.
The qualifier is that the monthly numbers aren’t as complete as the quarterly ones but the partial figures out today don’t paint a promising picture of inflation in retreat.
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When it came to electricity prices though, the ABS said that without the government energy relief, prices would have risen by 14.5% in the 12 months to May, instead of 6.5%.
ABS head of prices statistics Michelle Marquardt reports:
Housing rose 5.2% in the 12 months to May, up from 4.9% in April. Rents increased 7.4% for the year, reflecting a tight rental market across the country. The annual rise in new dwelling prices remained steady at 4.9% with builders passing on higher costs for labour and materials.
Electricity prices rose 6.5% in the 12 months to May, up from 4.2% in April. Out-of-pocket costs for electricity are gradually increasing as the Energy Bill Relief Fund rebates are progressively being used up by eligible households.
Annual inflation for Food and non-alcoholic beverages was 3.3% in May, down from 3.8% in April.
The largest contributor to the annual increase in food prices was Meals out and take away foods, which rose 4.2% in the 12 months to May compared to 5.4% to April. Higher prices for grapes, strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes and capsicums drove Fruit and vegetable prices to their largest annual rise since April last year.
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ABS names inflation culprits
Further to Peter’s update on inflation there, the ABS reports the most significant contributors to the inflation rise were:
Housing (+5.2%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.3%)
Transport (+4.9%)
Alcohol and tobacco (+6.7%)
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Inflation rising
Australia’s inflation rate quickened to the fastest pace in 2024 last month, stoking concerns that the Reserve Bank won’t be cutting its key interest rate soon and might yet have to raise it.
Consumer prices in May were 4% higher than a year earlier.
That result compared with CPI at 3.6% in April and the 3.8% pace economists had expected for last month.
The pickup in inflation to its highest level since November was driven by a 5.2% increase in the cost of housing, with transport costs up 4.9% from a year earlier, the ABS said.
The Australian dollar jumped about 0.2US cents to almost 66.7US as investors shifted their bets about interest rates. Stocks also shed about 0.2 percentage points, bringing the losses for the day to about 0.9%.
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More details on Australia-Solomon Islands police training partnership
Returning to the Solomon Islands–Australia partnership for a moment, here is the read-out from the meeting between the two nations’ prime ministers when it comes to increasing the police force:
Noting Australia’s position as Solomon Islands’ security partner of choice, leaders discussed the request from Solomon Islands to Australia to assist in growing and building the capability of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force, including the Solomon Islands Government’s ambition to increase its police force from 1,500 to 3,000 officers – a program of decadal change, which will support the Solomon Islands Government’s ambitions to grow its police force to 5,000 over time.
Leaders asked ministers and officials to work together on next steps and to consider the basis on which this request could further strengthen sovereignty and regional stability.
Australia’s continued support to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force will build Solomon Islands’ ability to meet its own security needs, and reduce its reliance on external partners.
Australia welcomed Solomon Islands’ three-tier security arrangement, comprising: tier one, being addressed through enhanced domestic capability of a strengthened and empowered Royal Solomon Islands Police Force; tier two, assistance from Melanesian Spearhead Group countries through bilateral or collective engagement; and tier three, activation of bilateral or collective support from Pacific Islands Forum members.
Leaders agreed to the importance of this three-tier framework for strengthening Solomon Islands’ sovereignty, stability and resilience.
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Greens back call to address wage theft at universities
The Greens have backed calls to crack down on wage theft at universities after new analysis released by the union today estimated underpayments were on track to exceed $380m.
Deputy leader and spokesperson for higher education, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said the National Tertiary Education Union’s (NTEU) findings were “of no shock to any of us”.
The fact that we have a university system where vice-chancellor’s earn salaries exceeding $1m a year while casual staff are robbed of hundreds of millions of dollars is obscene.
Enough is enough. It is time for the government to fix the broken business model of the neoliberal university that only works off the back of casual and underpaid staff. This must end.”
Faruqi called on the government to require universities to set public targets for increased permanent employment, increase funding and overhaul university governance to be more representative of staff and students.
Wage theft disproportionately impacts staff on casual contracts.
Read more on vice-chancellors’ salaries and the NTEU’s claims in Caitlin Cassidy’s report from last month:
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On the issue of increasing the size of the Solomon Islands police force, and the role of the AFP in that, Anthony Albanese says:
With regard to Australia’s role, we had police commissioner [Reece] Kershaw as part of the meeting that we had in the cabinet room, and that’s not by accident.
Because Australia has historically played a role in training, in delivering support for the Royal Solomon Islands police force which is there. What we’ve had is discussions that we’ll continue.
We will deliver, very soon as well, two vessels for the Solomon Islands. Importantly, they’re purpose built for the Solomons. They’ll be able to be repaired in the Solomons.
Some of the lessons of the past have been learnt in order to improve when we provide infrastructure to make sure it’s sustainable, and to make sure we’re providing training and skills to maximise the benefit for the Solomon Islands going forward.
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On the issue of Solomon Islands being seen to have become closer to China under previous governments, Jeremiah Manele says:
Our security partnerships, including with China, is domestically focused. We are trying to address internal security challenges. Of course, we do acknowledge and appreciate that our partners – China and Australia – they have security strategic interests as well. In our case we see security through a development lens. As a country, we have wider and deeper development interests, that it is important for us to work with all our partners to address these development challenges going forward.
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Jeremiah Manele says he is honoured to be in Australia, for what is his first international trip since becoming the prime minister of Solomon Islands – and he paints a bit more of a picture about how the meeting between himself and Albanese went:
We had very frank discussions and dialogue and looked at ways to lift the current Solomon Islands–Australia relationship to another level, through transformational partnership.
During this visit we discussed many areas of mutually important strategic partnerships, ranging from the highly successful and mutually beneficial Pacific Australia labour mobility scheme, as the prime minister has alluded to, to investments in infrastructure, police training and security, climate change, health, and the new Pacific engagement visa to mention a few.
I’m committed to ensure our relationship with Australia goes from strength to strength.
And I’m also committed to finding amicable and win-win solutions to any of our partnerships that may need the attention of our cabinet.
And on that note, I have said we had very frank discussions this morning, and taken onboard Australia’s concerns in some of these areas. And we will report back to cabinet on the way forward.
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Albanese and Solomon Islands PM speaking to media
Anthony Albanese is holding a press conference with the Solomon Islands prime minister Jeremiah Manele.
He opens by speaking about the strength of the relationship:
Australia and Pacific nations are well-placed to reach the security needs of our region.
We regard security as the job of our Pacific family. As we demonstrated during the Solomon Islands’ historic joint elections in April, when Australia worked with Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Fiji, to assist the Royal Solomon Islands police force with election related security and logistics.
And, prime minister, can I say that I very much look forward to working closely with you in the future.
This has been an important visit for you. It’s been a visit in which you will see, go to the State of Origin tonight in Melbourne to experience some Australian culture, before visiting Brisbane as well.
You and your delegation are welcome here. You are very familiar with Australia, having been here, as we discussed in our one-on-one meeting, as part of the public service engagement and cooperation that we have with exchanges.
Those people-to-people relations are so important. And I see today as an important next step in a personal partnership, but also a partnership between our two nations that I want to see grow into the future.
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Pay rise for incoming governor general being legislated in Senate
Also in the Senate, the chamber is just about to pass the legislation which will increase the incoming governor general’s salary by $214,000.
The Greens attempted to amend the legislation to add in that until low-paid workers get a 43% pay rise the governor general shouldn’t either, and that the government should cut ties with the British monarchy, establish truth telling and treaties with First Nations people and make Australia a republic – but that did not go anywhere.
The vote passing the legislation is happening as I write this and the Coalition is in support, so there is no question of it passing.
An important element in all of this is the salary is being increased as Sam Mostyn, the incoming governor general, does not have a pension from a previous public service position. David Hurley, the outgoing governor general, receives a very generous pension from his ADF senior service.
That pension was considered in setting his base salary, which was 43% lower than what is being set for Mostyn, but his pension also came from taxpayer funds.
It is normal to set the governor general’s salary in-line with what the chief justice of Australia receives, making allowances for any other taxpayer-funded pensions which may be paid due to previous positions. If you don’t have one of those pensions, then the base salary is increased. If the next governor general after Mostyn does have one of those pensions, then the base salary would decrease.
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Nationals senators cross floor to back Greens’ failed bid to break up supermarket duopoly
Over in the Senate, there has been a bit of drama around Nick McKim’s legislation giving the ACCC divestiture powers over the major supermarkets.
The Liberals and Labor voted against it – but we had some Nats cross the floor.
Ross Cadell and Matt Canavan both voted for the Greens legislation. No Nationals senator voted against it – the rest of the Nationals’ Senate team abstained.
As McKim pointed out, the last time the Greens and the Nationals came together on an issue, the banking royal commission was called.
Labor and Liberal, the Coles and Woolworths of Australian politics, have just voted down the Greens’ Bill to break up the supermarket duopoly.
— Nick McKim (@NickMcKim) June 26, 2024
Thanks to the Crossbench and Nationals senators who supported us. Not a single Nationals Senator opposed the Bill.
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Independent MP Sophie Scamps also spoke in favour of the Greens motion, just as the debate ends.
The chamber is divided. You won’t be surprised to learn the government is voting against it, which means the motion will be defeated.
The local government minister, Labor’s Kristy McBain, is now speaking against the Greens motion, saying the government followed the law in approving the Atlas gas project.
McBain then turns to the Greens:
If any of the Greens were anywhere near serious, if they were pragmatic, instead of standing up and protesting they would have said more about the opposition leader’s nuclear plan.
We’ve had one tweet, one tweet, one tweet from the leader of the Greens about nuclear energy.
… It’s the continual performative politics that we see over and over again from the Greens, not pragmatic, not dealing with the issues at hand, instead, it’s politics.
The Greens have been critical of the coalition’s nuclear idea – immediately after it was announced, Adam Bandt said:
Peter Dutton can talk about nuclear power as much as he wants, but it’s not going to happen.
If I wanted to tune in to a fantasy I’d watch The Lord of the Rings.
Peter Dutton can’t win government and he can’t repeal the nuclear ban in the Senate. It’s a “dead cat” strategy, a dangerous distraction from Liberal and Labor’s push to open up more coal and gas.
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Greens MPs condemn Atlas gas project in parliament
In the house, Greens MP Elizabeth Watson Brown has moved a motion to suspend standing orders to debate a motion condemning the government for approving the Atlas stage three gas project, while insisting the approval be overturned.
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, is also speaking on the motion – but so far, there has not been anyone from the government come and speak on it.
I thought we had got rid of Scott Morrison and his gas-led recovery.
… The first step to tackling a problem should be to stop making the problem worse. Stop approving new coal and gas mines. This is a contemptible decision that should be overturned.
The independent Warringah MP, Zali Steggall, is also speaking in support of the motion.
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Here are some more photos from this morning’s official welcome for the Solomon Islands prime minister, Jeremiah Manele, at Parliament House:
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Independent board of Australian Research Council announced
The Australian Research Council, which awards grants to researchers, now has an independent board which will make most of the decisions on where those grants will go, rather than the education minister of the day.
You can read about the history of that decision here, but a review of the ARC under the former Coalition government found “at least six projects had been unfairly blocked by former ministers including Simon Birmingham, Brendan Nelson, Stuart Robert and Dan Tehan”.
Under the new regime, the education minister will have final approval over the funding guidelines and be able to direct the board to not approve a grant, or terminate funding based on national security concerns, but they will have to report to parliament their decision and why it was made.
The members of the ARC Board include:
Prof Peter Shergold AC (Chair)
Prof Susan Dodds FAHA (Deputy Chair)
Distinguished Prof Maggie Walter
Prof Cindy Shannon AM
Prof Paul Wellings CBE
Emeritus Prof Margaret Harding
Mr Mark Stickells AM
Ms Sally-Ann Williams FTSE
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Albanese meets with Solomon Islands prime minister in Canberra
Most eyes will be on the US district court in Saipan, but in Canberra, Anthony Albanese is meeting with the Solomon Islands prime minister, Jeremiah Manele.
Solomon Islands’ budget is in a bit of peril, which will be one of the issues discussed at the bilateral meetings today.
Earlier, Richard Marles told ABC radio:
I’ll be having lunch with Jeremiah Manele myself, and we constantly talk about ways in which we can support Solomon Islands. And obviously, we’ve been providing development assistance to Solomon Islands for decades. So, we’ll look at the requests that are being made by Solomon Islands and how we can help.
I would say that we seek to be the partner of choice for Solomon Islands, and that includes in respect of security. We understand we don’t get rights here, that’s something we need to earn, but in prime minister Manele’s government, there is the opportunity for a new partnership with a new government, and we are very optimistic, optimistic about the prospects of being able to pursue that with him.
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RBA assistant governor speaks ahead of inflation data release
Lots of eyes will be on the ABS’s release of May inflation figures later this morning, and what the data means for the Reserve Bank’s key interest rate.
Before then, though, Christopher Kent, the RBA’s assistant governor, has made it clear that the central bank thinks its current cash rate – at 4.35% – seems to be doing the trick.
In a speech to the Australian Banking Association in Melbourne this morning, he’s laid out the bank’s thinking about the impact of the interest rate hikes (425 basis points in total) since May 2022.
Kent said:
We know that many are feeling a painful squeeze on their finances because of higher interest rates … high inflation, though, has also reduced people’s purchasing power. It has adversely affected all households, but especially those on lower incomes.
He makes the now compulsory point that nothing is being “ruled in or out” about future moves. The key takeaway, though, looks to be this line:
Monetary policy is restrictive and so it is continuing to bring aggregate demand into better balance with aggregate supply, as intended.
Steady as things go, in other words.
The CPI numbers, out at 11.30am AEST, will give us an update about how demand and supply are aligning in the economy. Economists are expecting May inflation to come in at an annual rate of 3.8%, a pickup from 3.6% in both March and April.
Sounds bad, but remember, the RBA’s forecast has already assumed the June quarter CPI (out on 31 July) will be 3.8%. A big number, say 4%, would get the rate-hike bulls running.
Stay tuned for those figures in a couple of hours.
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Good news for those hoping to get into the parliament – the Senate car park gate has been fixed.
Bad news – the car park is just about full and you might as well head to the overflow carpark now and do the trek up, because it will save you time.
On the positive side, it might be the only bit of fresh air you get all day.
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How does John Shipton feel about his son Julian Assange having to plead guilty in order to be freed?
Shipton told the ABC:
I divide it into two. One is the human factor. You only get a bit of time on this earth to spend with your loved ones. That’s all you get. The construction or, if you like, the exposition and understanding of that is encapsulated in the decision to make freedom available to Julian under certain circumstances is vital.
You can’t live here without time on this earth and spending time with your loved ones is really important.
The other section, as I have previously expanded upon, state to state relationships, how states can work together and do work together, particularly when the United States is immensely powerful, a super power in economy and military and Australia relatively is small and weak, relatively to that gigantic super power.
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What influence does John Shipton believe led to this moment?
I think the profound influence is the Australian people who, as you see by the media storm that has engulfed Australia over Julian’s return, is the profound influence of the unity and insistence of the Australian people, the Australian parliament, the Australian government, the foreign minister and Anthony Albanese, and Kevin Rudd and Stephen Smith.
These are people experienced and top of the tree in politics in Australia.
And they carried on their shoulders all of the support that the Australian people give them and insist that the matter be resolved fairly.
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Assange’s father ‘doing cartwheels’ at son’s imminent return to Australia
Julian Assange’s father, John Shipton, has spoken to the ABC as the court appearance which is expected to formally allow his son to return to Australia gets underway.
Shipton said he was feeling overwhelmed with joy:
Well, I mean, doing cartwheels is a good expression of the joy that one feels that Julian is returned home, well, about to return home. The circumstances, there may be some questions to be resolved by the lawyers and the diplomats in the future, but having Julian home to an ordinary life after 15 years of incarceration in one form or another, house arrest, jail and asylum in an embassy is pretty good news.
How is Assange?
As you can easily imagine, that his spirits have lifted and he will be able to spend quality time with his wife, Stella, and his two children. Be able to walk up and down the beach and feel the sand through his toes in winter, that lovely chill. And be able to learn how to be patient and play with your children for a couple of hours. All of the great beauty of ordinary life.
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For those who haven’t made it in to work at parliament yet, don’t expect an easy go of it.
The official welcome for the Solomon Islands prime minister means the road and entrances in front of the parliament are blocked off.
Also, the Senate car park gate is broken and no one knows when it will be fixed as yet. The cars in the queue are being sent in circles. Happy Wednesday!
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Just on the Pharmacy Guild statement Mel Davey alerted you to – there is no chance that the original bill will go through the Senate.
The amendments from the Greens have been accepted by the government and that is the new bill, which will be passed in the Senate by the Greens, Labor and a couple of the crossbenchers.
The Coalition did not engage in the negotiating process with the government. The shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, did speak about what the Coalition’s policy would be on vaping, if elected, in the Senate last night, but she also said this crucial line:
Whilst we won’t stand in the way of this legislation passing the chamber, the Coalition condemns the government for doing a dirty deal with the Greens, a deal that shows a weak government in chaos, a government desperate to get their legislation through such that they’re prepared to drop a policy on our frontline primary care workers, professionals and pharmacists without notice or consultation.
“Won’t stand in the way of this legislation” is parliamentary code for “won’t vote for it, but also won’t vote against it”. When the vote happens, it is unlikely there will be many Coalition senators in the chamber, which is also what happened when the plain packaging legislation went through.
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The prime minister of the Solomon Islands, Jeremiah Manele, is being welcomed by Anthony Albanese this morning.
There is an official welcome under way on the parliament forecourt.
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Pharmacy guild says Coalition no longer opposes original prescription-only vaping bill
Yesterday, more details emerged about the deal the government struck with the Greens to water down vaping legislation, so that a prescription would not be required for adults buying vapes from pharmacists.
Pharmacists were up in arms over the deal, saying they did not want to sell an unregulated product over the counter without a prescription, especially given the health harms vapes cause.
But Labor was forced to do the deal with the Greens in order to get the Senate support required for the bill to pass, given the Nationals did not support the prescription model and the Liberals also had concerns.
Overnight, pharmacy owner lobby group the Pharmacy Guild of Australia has claimed the Coalition now supports the original legislation – that is, to make vapes available via a prescription only.
In a statement, the Guild said;
Given the Coalition will not oppose the Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill 2024, the proposed amendments to make nicotine-containing vapes available without a prescription are no longer required.
The Guild urges the government to bring forward a vote on the original Bill, which has already passed the House of Representatives, and to dump their Green’s led amendments which open up greater access to nicotine-containing vapes.
The original Bill now has the necessary political and stakeholder support to pass the Senate.”
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Aemo roadmap shows ‘clean energy grid being built in front of our eyes’, Climate Council says
The latest report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) is going to get a bit of an airing from the government today, in response to Peter Dutton’s nuclear idea:
The Climate Council’s Greg Bourne said Australia needed to stay the course on its renewables transition:
AEMO’s roadmap shows our clean energy grid is being built in front of our eyes.
Renewables backed by storage will power our homes and industry 24/7 and we are already nearly halfway there. We should be emboldened by the progress we’ve already made, and build on this momentum so millions more Australians benefit.
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Greens criticise Albanese government’s approval of Atlas coal seam gas project
Yesterday, Tanya Plibersek’s department granted environmental approval to the billion-dollar Atlas Stage 3 gas project.
The coal seam gas mine, which is south-west of Wandoan in Queensland, is a project part-owned by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting which has been undergoing approvals for the past two years.
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, says the project will involve construction of up to 151 coal seam gas wells and clear at least 360 hectares of koala habitat. He addressed the issue at a press conference early this morning:
Labor has to decide whether they want action on climate or whether they’re going to keep approving new coal and gas mines in the middle of a climate crisis.
There is now next to no difference between Labor and the Liberals when it comes to coal and gas.
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You can follow the Julian Assange court appearance here:
Marles: Labor caucus ‘choosing to have agency’ on Payman issue
(Continued from previous post)
Host: Because it is about this issue. This is what I am I’m trying to get to I still don’t feel, with respect, I do have an answer on that. Is it because it’s this issue?
Marles:
The caucus is choosing to have agency in relation to this issue.
Yes, this issue and particularly this issue, but as it might have agency in relation to any other issues.
So is this a particular issue? Yes, but but others might occur in the future.
The fundamental point here is there is no mandated consequence in the rules – that’s the point.
And the caucus has agency in terms of how it manages this going forward, and how we seek to manage this particular issue.
Yes, this issue in relation to the Middle East, is to do so in a way which gives expression to the idea that we want to bring Australians together.
And we don’t see that we do that by starting to expel people because they’ve expressed a particular view and the final point I’ll make on this is what is really important here is Senator Payman has made absolutely clear that she wants to continue to represent the people of Western Australia as a Labor senator as she was elected.
And that’s what will she’ll continue to do.
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The host then asks Richard Marles whether it is his view that “Palestine is the specific issue” and Marles says:
I hear the question, but let me get the answer out. There is no mandated consequence [to crossing the floor].
The caucus has agency over how it manages this and every issue, and we’re going to manage this in a way which which lives what we’re seeking to do in the community and that is bringing Australians together.
And you don’t bring Australians together if you send a message in terms of our behaviour here, that we’re about to expel people, impose consequences because of their particular view on this issue.
Host: So it is a special issue then.
Marles: That is how we are seeking … that is how we are choosing to deal with this issue.
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The host responds by asking Richard Marles whether crossing the floor is “still a significant issue” within the Labor party.
He says:
Of course, it’s a significant issue … [Host: just not on this issue?] It’s a significant issue.
And I think if you were to ask Senator Payman, she would say it was a very significant issue.
There isn’t a mandated consequence for this within our rules. It’s actually not without precedent. And we’re going to handle this in in in a sensible and a mature way …
Host: What I am trying to get to is, is there something special about this issue?
Marles: There is no mandated consequence and the caucus has agency …
Host: OK, if she crossed the floor on something else, would she face a consequence if it was on China? Or if it was on Myanmar? Would she face a consequence then?
Marles:
If I can get the answer out. Members of our caucus absolutely understand their obligations as part of our caucus. The caucus has agency in terms of how it manages each and every case, and there is no mandated consequence for this.
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Fatima Payman will not be expelled from Labor for crossing the floor, Richard Marles says
Richard Marles:
Fatima Payman has expressed her view on this issue. She obviously has very strong [views] there’s no intention to see any consequences in relation to that … she’s not about to be expelled.
… This is not a moment to be going around punishing people. I mean, since October 7 we have seen, obviously, a very complex issue, but a complete human tragedy play out in the Middle East.
Back here in Australia, we’ve seen social cohesion put under enormous pressure.
We want as a government, but I think across the country, all of us as Australians need to be doing everything we can to be bringing people together in this moment.
I mean, that’s what we’re seeking to do in the community, but if we’re trying to live that, now’s not a time to be going around expelling people because they’re expressing particular opinions.
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On domestic issues, Richard Marles is asked about whether there will be consequences for WA senator Fatima Payman’s decision to cross the floor.
Being part of the Labor caucus means adhering to the party position. Crossing the floor can mean suspension or expulsion from the party, but there is no mandated punishment – the caucus leadership can decide on a case by case basis.
Since 1950, there have been 29 Labor MPs who have crossed the floor, and yesterday Payman became the 30th (about 186 Liberal MPs have done it in the same time).
There has been reporting that it was the first since the Hawke government, but two MPs crossed the floor in the Beazley opposition and in 2005, Labor MP Harry Quick asked the Hansard to record he had voted against an anti-terrorism bill as there was no division (so he didn’t physically cross the floor).
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On former US vice president Mike Pence’s views that Julian Assange should be “prosecuted to the full extent of the law”, Richard Marles says:
I don’t think it serves to go over Mr Assange’s actions many, many years ago, other than to observe that since then, Mr Assange has been incarcerated for many, many years.
And that’s really the point that we are making here.
Whatever has occurred in the past, Mr Assange has served a considerable amount of time in prison and of course, he was confined for a considerable period of time prior to that.
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Does Richard Marles believe that it was political pressure which brought about this day?
Marles:
Again, I don’t think it helps to speculate on that. All I can say is that we’ve been advocating on Mr Assange’s behalf, as we would do in relation to any Australian who is incarcerated overseas who needs the advocacy of the Australian government.
That’s what governments do around the world.
And Mr Assange has circumstances, irrespective of one’s view of what he did previously, he had been incarcerated for a prolonged period of time, there was no fixed resolution to that incarceration that was fundamentally unfair.
That’s what we sought to resolve and, and that’s been the heart of our advocacy.
And in that context, we’re very pleased that we’re getting to this day.
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Marles ‘pleased we are seeing movement’ on Julian Assange case
The defence minister, Richard Marles, is speaking to ABC RN Breakfast about Julian Assange:
We’ve been facilitating Mr Assange’s movements. And so as Mr Assange appears in US court this morning in Saipan, and it is my understanding that our ambassador the United States, Kevin Rudd, is there, as is the High Commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, who’s has been facilitating Mr Assange’s travel.
Obviously, we are limited in what we can say. Now, this is this is before the United States courts literally as we are speaking, and we need to let that process take its course, but we’re obviously very pleased that we are seeing movement and resolution to Mr Assange’s circumstances because he was incarcerated for a protracted period of time.
And there needed to be resolution and we’ve been very much advocating on his behalf, since we’ve come to government with both the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom and we’re pleased we’ve got to this day.
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Australia was recently in an El Niño cycle, which usually means drier conditions. (The bureau declared it over in April)
As the climate council explains:
An El Niño event can intensify heat waves, increase the severity of bushfires, and contribute to drought conditions. The influence of El Niño is primarily felt in eastern Australia, resulting in warmer-than-usual temperatures and reduced rainfall. This combination not only heightens the risk of extreme heat but also elevates the danger of bushfires, particularly in southeastern regions.
The bureau is now on La Niña watch, with some of the conditions for a La Niña event having been spotted, but no one can yet say for sure whether one will develop.
What we do know from the scientific research, is that climate change is bringing El Niño and La Niña events more frequently and can mean more extremes with the weather as well.
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Liberal MP Dan Tehan had a list of grievances he wished to raise with the house last night. Top of the list: the lack of rain in Victoria and the impact that is having on farming communities.
I rise today to ask the federal government and the Victorian state government to look incredibly seriously at the extraordinarily dry conditions across south-west Victoria and across south-east South Australia. In many parts of western Victoria, south-west Victoria and south-east South Australia, we haven’t had rain since January.
Obviously, we’re now in winter, and we have the makings of what is called a green drought.
High interest rates have been added on top of the prices that farmers are now having to pay for fodder and the other cost-of-living issues that farmers are facing.
We now need both state and federal governments to seriously look at providing some sort of relief to farmers in our region.
I will be writing to both the federal government and the Victorian state government for them to look at this, because farmers are starting to do it really tough as a result of the fact that we haven’t had serious rain in some parts since the middle of January.
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With the energy debate once again raging in the parliament, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce is feeling on stronger ground. He stole a few moments in last night’s grievance debate (it is literally called a grievance debate and is a space where MPs can raise any issue that is bothering them) to lay out his own grievances with wind farms.
I’ve got a grievance, that you’re putting your swindle factories – your so-called wind farms – all over our countryside. I’ve got a grievance, that you’re painting our fields a photovoltaic black.
(This has become a favourite line of Joyce’s and he has used it quite a few times in the last few days.)
I’ve got a grievance, that you’re running transmission lines hell west and crooked through our country.
I’ve got a grievance, that people in our area can’t afford their power and, basically, are going cold in the middle of winter.
I put to the member for Fraser: if you think these are such great ideas –these swindle factories, these photovoltaic fields of black – then put them in the seat of Fraser.
Take one wind tower and put it up there.
But no: you want to pay for your virtue by inflicting the problem on us.
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Queensland to ban logging in new greater glider reserve
The Queensland government plans to establish a new greater glider forest park as part of a $200m plan to reform the state’s timber industry.
The premier, Steven Miles, will today announce he will ban logging in between 50,000 and 60,000 hectares of high value ecosystem within the Eastern Hardwoods region in Wide Bay, north of Brisbane.
In addition, a new park to protect the greater glider will be established in the south-east Queensland bioregion.
The state government will also appoint an advisory group to develop a 30-year plan for the sector. It will include representatives from the timber industry, forestry experts, the conservation sector, First Nations peoples, the Australian Workers’ Union, construction sector and outdoor recreational groups.
It will spend $200m on a new “Queensland sustainable timber industry framework”, designed to serve the industry for the next three decades.
Miles said:
Queensland’s timber industry is the backbone of the housing and building sectors.
That’s why I’m doing what matters to support timber workers and the industry to continue building our state, while also increasing our protected area estate.
The terms of reference released today map out our priorities as a government – that is, timber supply security, environmental protections, jobs and diverse employment opportunities.
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Some quick Assange FAQs
We’ll have a dedicated blog for all Julian Assange news from today’s court appearance up and running very soon, but first we’ll answer some questions we’ve received.
Why Saipan?
It’s the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a United States territory in the Pacific Ocean. Julian Assange will be appearing in a US court, without having to step foot on the US mainland. It’s only about 3,000km from Australia and in the same time zone, so you can safely assume it’s a location that has been chosen very carefully by Assange’s legal team.
When is it happening?
Assange’s hearing is scheduled for 9am, which is also 9am on Australia’s east coast.
What will happen?
All going to plan, Assange will plead guilty to violating the espionage act and receive a sentence of 62 months. The time he has spent in the UK’s Belmarsh prison will be credited to his US sentence, meaning he should be allowed to go free.
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Good morning
Hello and welcome to your Wednesday politics live blog. Thank you to Martin for starting us off – you have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day now.
It’s a four-coffee and chocolate-for-breakfast morning as we wait for Canberra to warm up.
Ready? Let’s get into it.
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University wage theft on track to exceed $380m, study says
Australia’s university wage theft tally is on track to exceed $380m, new research shows, prompting calls from unions for an urgent parliamentary inquiry into underpayments of staff.
The research, released by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) today, found $203m has been paid to or is in the process of being repaid to staff across 30 institutions, affecting more than 100,000 individuals.
A further $168m worth of provisions for underpayments has been set aside by nine universities in recently released annual reports, while the union estimates a further $10m across three universities is yet to have been disclosed.
NTEU national president, Dr Alison Barnes, said wage theft at public universities had spiralled into a “national disgrace”.
Vice-chancellors and senior executives must be held to account for the industrial-scale wage theft that has become the shameful hallmark of Australian universities.
University staff will not accept any more empty platitudes – it’s time for vice-chancellors to finally face proper scrutiny for this awful behaviour. Wage theft is a crime. Who has lost their job? Who is going to jail?
Barnes will be joined by ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, at Parliament House today to jointly call for the parliamentary inquiry.
Payman ‘bitterly disappointed’ Labor colleagues did not join her in crossing the floor
Shortly after the vote on Tuesday, Senator Payman told reporters it was one of the most difficult decisions she’s had to make but she did so “for humanity”.
The 29-year-old senator, who fled Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to Australia with her family shortly after she was born, added she was “bitterly disappointed” her colleagues did not feel the same.
“I was not elected as a token representative of diversity, I was elected to serve the people of Western Australia and uphold the values instilled in me by my late father. Today I have made a decision that would make him proud and make everyone proud who err on the side of humanity.”
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Coalition to attack Albanese over Fatima Payman crossing floor
The Coalition looks set to use Labor senator Fatima Payman’s decision to cross the floor yesterday afternoon as an attack on Anthony Albanese’s strength as a party leader.
Payman crossed the floor in the upper house on Tuesday after a Greens motion to recognise Palestinian statehood was put to a vote.
The major parties, and some crossbenchers, joined to vote against the motion, which lost 52 to 13.
Payman joined the Greens and independent senators Lidia Thorpe and David Pocock, in a break with the party’s rules to vote as a collective bloc on caucus decisions. It is the first time a Labor member has broken ranks to cross the floor since 2005 and the first time since 1986 while Labor has been in power. Payman faces potential suspension or expulsion, though a government spokesperson said there is “no mandated sanction” in these circumstances.
The Liberal senator Michaelia Cash told Sky News on Tuesday night it was Albanese’s “weak leadership” that led to these events.
Cash said:
What Senator Payman did today was actually a challenge to Prime Minister Albanese’s leadership ...
You’ve got to look at why Senator Payman did this and it is the weak leadership that Anthony Albanese has shown since the terrorist attacks on October the 7th last year. It is little wonder that Senator Payman thought she had licence to cross the floor.
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And in our Full Story podcast episode today, our foreign affairs and defence correspondent Daniel Hurst tells Nour Haydar what led up to the breakthrough in the long-running legal case and what happens now.
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From a plea deal to a 2am prison call – how Assange was freed
Our chief reporter in London, Daniel Boffey, and Guardian Australia’s Daniel Hurst have put together a read on how the deal to free Assange came about.
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WikiLeaks (and flight tracking sites) have confirmed that Julian Assange’s plane is on the ground on the Pacific island of Saipan, where he is due to face a US judge in a couple of hours to enter his guilty plea and receive a sentence.
Guardian correspondent Helen Davidson is also on the ground in Saipan, and will bring all the latest news from the Assange court hearing as it happens.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling politics coverage. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the best overnight stories making news – but very soon Amy Remeikis will be along to helm proceedings from Canberra.
Peter Dutton’s refusal to commit the Coalition to a 2030 emissions reduction target came after ambiguous comments in a newspaper interview were reported as a shift. Guardian Australia understands Dutton never intended to declare a new position, but misspoke during an interview with The Australian newspaper just over two weeks ago. He decided to go quiet for three days and then come out swinging, rather than reveal it was inadvertent.
Also in politics, the Coalition is likely to attack Labor today over Senator Fatima Payman’s decision yesterday to cross the floor to back a Greens motion on recognising Palestinian statehood. More on that soon.
Julian Assange arrived in Bangkok overnight (pictured) and in a few hours is due to appear in a court on the US-controlled island of Saipan, where he is expected to be sentenced on one espionage charge before making his way back to Australia. His plane landed on the remote island just minutes ago. In the meantime there’s more reaction as human rights advocates in the UK said the country’s next government must push the US for reassurance it will not pursue journalists again for publishing classified information.
The headteacher of the top Sydney school embroiled in a row over becoming co-educational has written to parents and alumni expressing disappointment with a group of people within the school’s community “whose behaviour is inconsistent with our school culture and our values”. The head of Newington College, Michael Parker, said in his email that a “campaign of deliberate negativity” had “undeniably impacted the broader community’s understanding of who we are and what we stand for” although he did not specifically mention the opposition to the coed plan. More coming up.
