What we learned: Monday 24 October
With that, we will wrap up the blog for the evening to prepare for everyone’s favourite day of the year behind Christmas, New Year’s and Halloween – Budget Day!
Here were the major developments ahead of its release.
The prime minister had addressed the Labor caucus room ahead of the budget’s release on Tuesday. He said it was impossible to “change nine years of chaos” in one budget but Labor will “give support where it’s needed not based on partisan lines on a map”, in a dig at his predecessor, Scott Morrison.
Meanwhile, the Nationals’ shadow infrastructure minister, Bridget McKenzie, has accused the Albanese government of pursuing a “vendetta” against rural and regional Australia through Tuesday’s budget.
The Albanese government will scrap two Coalition grants programs to set up two new regional programs worth $1bn over the next three years, it was confirmed today.
Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has confirmed her self-referral to Senate privileges committee following revelations of an undisclosed relationship. She said in a statement the Greens party room backed her decision.
And Amnesty International has criticised Australia over its failure to legislate the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture after UN inspectors were turned away from NSW prisons. The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has responded to the UN subcommittee on prevention of torture’s (SPT) decision to suspend its visit to Australia and says the Australian government “regrets” the UN decision and expresses “disappointment” at the NSW government to deny the SPT access to its prisons.
You can catch up on our floods summary here:
Updated
Polls suggest more than half of Australians support banning fossil fuel sponsors for national sports teams
The Australia Institute has released new polling that suggests 53% of Australians support a ban on fossil fuel companies sponsoring national sporting teams.
Some 32% opposed, while the polling also showed 60% of Australians agree fossil fuel sponsorship “is the new cigarette advertising”.
Richie Merzian, director of the Australia Institute’s Climate & Energy Program, said:
This research shows fossil fuel corporations are losing their social licence to sponsor sporting teams and major events in mainstream society.
Australians don’t accept cigarette sponsorship due to the deadly impact on human health and this research shows two in three Australians view fossil fuel sponsorship as the new cigarette sponsorship.
Given that gas, coal and oil companies supercharge the deadly impact of floods, bushfires and extreme weather events, it’s unsurprising these companies are losing their social license to sponsor major events in mainstream society.
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We could be in for some frosty weather next week.
Temp anomalies are likely to be felt nation-wide, with a system of this magnitude.
— Tyson Millar (@TysonMillar) October 24, 2022
Here’s temp anomalies for 4pm next Tuesday (Melbourne Cup). If it verifies, temps 8-12°C below average, -17°C in parts of central QLD. pic.twitter.com/LvxUUzWjXT
Albanese spruiking budget on social media
The prime minister is up and about on the socials touting tomorrow’s budget with a pic op.
Our first budget delivers on our promise to build a better future for all Australians. pic.twitter.com/NqJTzYijX3
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) October 24, 2022
He says it is a “responsible, family-friendly budget” – presumably regarding the support it provides parents more so than its appropriateness for younger children to consume.
This is a responsible, family-friendly budget that will help Australians with the cost of living - cheaper childcare, cheaper medicines, extending paid parental leave and getting wages moving again. I’m so proud of my team, and I’m looking forward to releasing it tomorrow.
Updated
As Weatherzone have noted, it has been very wet.
In South Australia, Renmark recorded 95.6mm of rain in the 24 hours to 9am this morning, including 92.6mm in just a six-hour period.
The SA Riverland town of #Renmark broke its daily rainfall record (for any month) yesterday, with records dating back to 1889. So you'll excuse us if we call that "Renmarkable".https://t.co/DtvVHoS0eN pic.twitter.com/y51ghdYtl8
— Weatherzone (@weatherzone) October 24, 2022
It smashed the record as the heaviest 24-hour falls in recorded history dating back to 1889. The previous record was 88mm in 2011.
Updated
Our dedicated flood blog has wrapped up.
You can recap today’s events here:
Meanwhile, a severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for large parts of central New South Wales from Walgett down to Hay.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning for DAMAGING WINDS, LARGE HAILSTONES and HEAVY RAINFALL for Central West Slopes & Plains & Hunter, Central Tablelands, North West Slopes & Plains, South West Slopes, Riverina, Lower Western, Upper Western & Northern Tablelands.https://t.co/FRxGiyuDM4 pic.twitter.com/q9aU3xaltZ
— NSW SES (@NSWSES) October 24, 2022
And there’s more rain – and possible alpine snow – to come.
Look what's coming next week... pic.twitter.com/U6x08UuLVW
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) October 24, 2022
GFS putting an absolute stonker of a polar front through the South East next week. 540 thickness progged into QLD. Hello negative SAM, you old friend. This will momentarily clear out all that humid mess.
— Tyson Millar (@TysonMillar) October 24, 2022
Snow accumulations of 10-20cm on the alps above 1600m, is looking possible. pic.twitter.com/wjRRLRM5Bx
Updated
My colleague Peter Hannam has made an interesting observation about the current state of petrol prices.
Petrol prices have looked a bit subdued lately, with average retail prices ($1.80/litre) only 4.4 cents above the average wholesale price, the Australian Institute of Petroleum data for week to Oct 23 show. (A similar gap in the previous week too.) Probably won't stay that way. pic.twitter.com/vYfikHWyNe
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) October 24, 2022
Australia and Japan boost security ties
The Japanese ambassador to Australia, Shingo Yamagami, also appeared on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing today, following a meeting between the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, in Perth.
Asked about the expansion of the two nations’ defence and security ties via a new agreement, the ambassador said it had been a “landmark” meeting that had cemented Japan and Australia’s enduring mateship.
Yamagami said:
I would call it a landmark visit … the special strategic partnership between Japan and Australia has been elevated to a new height. I think it was … effective in terms of further promoting, even cementing, the mateship between two leaders. If you look at the unprecedented frequency of visits by [the] two leaders you will be amazed to see … Albanese went to Tokyo both in May and September and this time Kishida was coming to Australia. So … they met just five months after Albanese became prime minister, this was their meeting number four … this doesn’t happen in any other country.
The ambassador said the “ultimate aim” of Japan and Australia’s joint endeavours was to “increase deterrence” in the region and abroad, with particular concern for threat of heightened action by Russia in Ukraine.
Nobody would like to see this issue in Taiwan Strait or [the] issue in the South China Sea getting out of control so in this regard there is a lot that Australia and Japan can do together and incidentally … we are seriously concerned about the nuclear threat by Vladimir Putin and, you know, look, Japan’s experience … since Hiroshima, Nagasaki bombing … if nuclear weapons are ever used that would constitute an act of hostility against all human kind so this is a kind of sense of crisis we hold in looking at the situation both in Ukraine and in the Taiwan Strait.
Updated
Vinomofo tells authorities customer data has been posted online – reports
Wine distributor Vinomofo has reported to authorities that someone has posted what is purported to be customer data obtained from the hack on the company reported last week.
The company reported last week that names, dates of birth, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and genders of customers were exposed in the breach.
A purported hacker has posted what is claimed to be 17GB of customer records – over 700,000 records – on the same forum where a small amount the Optus data was posted last month.
A spokesperson for Vinomofo said it was aware of the post, but would not confirm its authenticity.
The spokesperson said:
We are aware of unsubstantiated claims by third-parties that they have illegally sold the unlawfully accessed Vinomofo information. Our cyber-security and forensic specialists are investigating this claim. We have also reported the matter to law enforcement.
However, our cyber security and forensic specialists have assessed that the risk to our customers by this information being accessed and potentially sold remains low.
The spokesperson reiterated that it was an attack on the company’s testing platform, and not the company’s actual website, but could not say how many customers were affected. The company has yet to explain why actual customer information is on a test platform.
Vinomofo has claimed the company does not hold financial data, and that was not compromised. Guardian Australia has confirmed payment processing and storage of financial data for Vinomofo does occur through the company’s financial institutions in compliance with payment card industry security standards.
Updated
Labor’s legislation will make industrial relations ‘worse’: Angus Taylor
Asked what, as treasurer, Taylor would do for cost-of-living relief, he replied “first and foremost, a responsible budget”.
It’s looking like it’s going to be a big spending, big taxing budget. That’s not what is needed at the moment. Responsible budget is what we need … we do need to avoid a toxic industrial relations culture and environment. Legislation right now which is going to make industrial relations worse in this country, that’s exactly what we don’t need.
Questioned about Labor’s comments there should be more spending in areas “woefully neglected” during the coalition’s time in government including health, NDIS and aged care, Taylor said “Labor would say that” and inflation was driving up taxation.
Bracket creep, which is the rising rate of taxation you get from inflation, you’re pushing people up into higher tax brackets. Bracket creep is like a thief in the night. It raises taxes on people without them realising until they go to their pay packet or bank account stop and they see the money is not there. Tony Burke said before the election, we would see this new government, and that’s exactly what is happening.
Updated
Governing ‘is hard’: Angus Taylor
Taylor says governing “is hard” and you have to make “hard decisions” quite regularly.
We governed through the pandemic. It was hard, let me tell you. Sitting around the cabinet table making hard decisions, that is the nature of it but you can never abscond from trying to deal with those issues that you have and right now, the challenge is to deal with inflationary and interest-rate pressures.
As we approach Christmas, we will see real pressure on Australians is rising interest rates flow through, rising cost of living at the checkout, fuel, when you are buying all sorts of things, furniture at the store, you name it. We are seeing those inflationary pressures and it is the role of government to do everything they can to remove those pressures, which means a responsible budget.
Updated
Angus Taylor says government touting fiscal responsibility is ‘deeply ironic’
Angus Taylor is appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing discussing the targeted savings in the budget flagged by the federal government.
Asked if he agreed with Nationals colleagues who have expressed concern regional areas may be hit by the tightening of drawstrings, he replied, “absolutely I do.”
Covid has actually been kind to … discovering the regions. So the investment in regional areas is an investment, but in the future of Australia. We want to see [that] continue.
Taylor said it was “deeply ironic” the government would be touting fiscal responsibility regarding regional projects after announcing $2.2bn for Victoria’s suburban rail loop.
It doesn’t have a cost benefit, not a positive cost benefit … it has been recommended by Infrastructure Australia and was rejected by the Victorian auditor general so what matters here is there are projects which will deliver a real return to those communities. Labor is saying this about regional Australian projects and at the same time announcing $2.2bn for a project a few weeks before a Victorian election with a key political motivation.
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PM says budget will remove 'some of the waste and rorts'
The prime minister has been holding a picture opportunity at Parliament House this afternoon ahead of Tuesday’s federal budget. Our photographer at large Mike Bowers was there.
Appearing alongside the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, Anthony Albanese said it would be a “good night tomorrow night” and he was “really looking forward to it”.
It is a budget that is fair, a budget that deals with cost-of-living pressure whilst not putting pressure on inflation. So [a] targeted family-friendly budget that also removes some of the waste and rorts that have riddled the budget over a period of time.
Updated
Investment in childcare ‘absolutely critical’: Danielle Wood
Wood says a lot of the inflationary pressures we are experiencing at the moment are due to global concerns – the war in Ukraine being one. But what the government does have the capacity to do is keep unemployment low and labour markets tight.
We actually do have that at the moment it is just very unfortunate that it is happening at the same time as a very strong increase in the prices which means that even though we are now seeing wages growth pick up, [they’re] still not keeping pace with inflation.
Other domestic measures, like investment in childcare, will be “absolutely critical”.
We know that high out-of-pocket childcare costs are a significant barrier to women working more. The other significant announcement in this space was the paid parental leave announcement which was made last week. It will feature in the budget which is a decision to gradually increase the amount of paid parental leave available to families to 26 weeks but also to make it more gender equal so there will be a use it or lose it position for both parents and the idea of that is to actually encourage more dads to take leave …
That is an important policy to help drive cultural change that will complement the childcare policy and I think start to unleash some of that untapped resource that I’ve been talking about.
Updated
Government ‘taking a responsible path’: Danielle Wood
Danielle Wood says the climate the budget is being laid out in (not to mention the rain and the floods) is one of fiscal challenges, domestically and internationally.
We come out of Covid with substantial amounts of government debt, budget deficits as far as the eye can see and then there’s the economic argument … if you put cash into people’s hands you actually add to demand in the economy, more people going out and spending.
Remember that the Reserve Bank is trying to put the brakes on and you make their job harder so you add to those inflationary pressures and you potentially have to see rates go higher. The government, I think, is taking a responsible path, which is not giving in to those demands and pulling back on spending as much as it can.
Updated
Labor aim to ‘manage expectations’ with budget, Gratton Institute CEO says
The chief executive of the Grattan Institute, Danielle Wood, is speaking with ABC’s Afternoon Briefing on the “bread and butter” budget to come tomorrow amid higher inflation, stagnated wage growth and cost-of-living concerns.
Asked what Australians can expect from the “no frills” expectations laid out by the federal government, she said there “won’t be much in the way of surprise”.
They’re very much focused on delivering on the election commitments so we will see measures like more affordable childcare, medicines, money for Medicare, various things that they announced throughout the election campaign will be featured heavily in the budget.
But I think really what the treasurer and finance minister are doing is managing expectations so I don’t think we should expect to see any big cost of living measures in there as we did in the March budget, nor do I think we will expect to see any surprise changes on the tax front either. So most of what’s in there I think we should already understand and know about.
Updated
Australia’s unhealthiest older citizens twice as likely to enter aged care compared with healthiest, study suggests
The first study to measure the individual and combined association of lifestyle factors with aged care admission, found the risk was most pronounced in those aged 60 to 75, AAP reports.
Using data from more than 127,000 people recruited to the long-term study investigating healthy ageing in New South Wales, researchers divided participants into three risk groups. They were given healthy lifestyle scores out of 10, with up to two points each awarded in relation to five risk factors: smoking, physical activity, sitting, sleep and diet quality.
Based on statistical modelling estimates, the results were also investigated according to age and body mass index groups.
The study leader, Dr Alice Gibson, from the University of Sydney, said:
Population ageing is one of the most significant social and economic changes affecting almost every country in the world. Effective strategies to prevent or delay older adults entering nursing home care will help ensure society can adequately care for its increasing number of older people.
A quarter of participants were classified in the low-risk group after scoring nine to 10 points, Gibson said.
About 62% were in the medium-risk group (six to eight points) and 14% in the high-risk group. During a follow-up a little over 11 years further into study, more than 23,000 or about 18% of the subjects had been admitted to an aged care facility for the first time.
Compared with those in the low-risk group, the risk of nursing home admission was 43% higher among those in the high-risk group and 12% higher in the medium-risk group, Gibson said.
Those with the lowest lifestyle score (less than two out of 10) saw their risk of aged care admission double compared with those with the highest scores (nine or 10 points). The increased risk was slightly higher for the unhealthiest 60- to 64-year-olds, while risk estimates were not altered by being overweight.
Updated
Labor suggested Shaq say ‘I love Indigenous Australians’ at press conference, FOI reveals
Remember that extremely weird time in history when American basketball star Shaquille O’Neal rolled into Parliament House with the prime minister and Linda Burney for an extremely brief, but electric press conference?
Political reporter Josh Butler has found via freedom of information documents the government suggested O’Neal should praise Cathy Freeman and ask Australians to talk at their sporting clubs about the Indigenous voice to parliament during his August press conference with Anthony Albanese.
Read his story here:
Updated
Gender equality policies should be focus of budget, experts say
There are some firsts in tomorrow’s budget – including an option to measure the community wellbeing and health of society rather than just GDP.
But experts from RMIT University have said a gender equality policy agenda should be front and centre as core economic, not just “women’s issues”.
Dr Leonora Risse, a senior lecturer in economics, said:
Tuesday’s budget will be the opportunity for the Albanese government to lay out the first steps of their gender equality policy agenda. A gender equality approach to the budget means looking beyond specific policies and casting a gender lens across the full policymaking process.
Paid parental leave and childcare affordability should be treated as core economic issues that affect the country’s overall productivity and prosperity, rather than just thinking about these policies as ‘women’s issues’.
We have to make bold moves to make it societally and professionally acceptable for men to put their hand up and take a larger share of parental caregiving. Bolstering women’s financial self-sufficiency reduces their dependency on government welfare later in life.
Updated
The famous budget tree looking – I’ll be honest here – rather grim ahead of the big day tomorrow.
Budding budget tree #auspol pic.twitter.com/2kYujyEnhR
— Karen Barlow (@KJBar) October 24, 2022
Many thanks to the wonderful Amy Remeikis for keeping us informed today. I’ll be with you for the rest of this wet afternoon.
I am going to hand you over to Caitlin Cassidy for the rest of the afternoon.
Sarah Martin is looking at what has already been announced from the budget, so check back for that. We’ll be keeping an eye on everything else outside the budget as well (you never know what might get snuck in).
I’ll be back early tomorrow morning – until then – take care of you.
Updated
Impossible to ‘change nine years of chaos’ in one budget: Albanese
Anthony Albanese has addressed the Labor caucus on Monday afternoon, thanking the Australian defence force for relief efforts in the floods. Albanese said that Labor will “give support where it’s needed not based on partisan lines on a map”, in a dig at his predecessor, Scott Morrison.
Albanese referred to Tuesday’s budget as the 26th he’s seen in his time in parliament, but just the seventh to be delivered by a Labor treasurer. He said its three aims are: to deliver on election commitments; restore responsible fiscal management; and deliver targeted relief to households. The prime minister said it wasn’t possible to change nine years of chaos and neglect in one budget.
Albanese urged Labor MPs to sell the budget because while “you all know” Labor’s policies for cheaper childcare, aged care, cheaper medicine and a better NBN – not everybody in the Australian community does.
A suite of legislation was approved, the most significant of which increase penalties for privacy law breaches and deliver changes to the bargaining system to try to increase wages. The fair work secure jobs better pay bill will be introduced on Thursday.
Updated
Birmingham welcomes any meetings between Albanese and Chinese leaders
The Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham, also welcomed the possibility of a leader-level meeting between Anthony Albanese and the Chinese president or premier – but said Australia should be “keeping our eyes wide open to the challenges that appear even more evident after the last couple of days”.
Birmingham said Beijing’s trade actions against a range of Australian sectors, including barley and wine, were “deeply disappointing” and “represent breaches of the China - Australia free trade agreement (FTA) and of China’s World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations”.
The recent contact between Australia and China’s foreign ministers is welcome. I hope there will be more of it.
The last leader level dialogue between our nations occurred between then prime minister Morrison and premier Li Keqiang in the margins of the last face to face meeting of the East Asia Summit, in 2019 in Bangkok. I was present for that meeting.
I would hope – and expect – a similar opportunity to eventuate for prime minister Albanese when face-to-face G20 and [East Asia Summit] events occur next month in Indonesia and Cambodia. This will also mark the lead up to the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Australia-China diplomatic relations.
Such a meeting, if it occurs, will also be welcome. The refusal of China to engage in ministerial or leader-level dialogue over recent times has been counterproductive. Whatever the differences, talking is the last thing that should be ceased, not the first.
The subtext here is that Birmingham is saying it was China’s fault, not the Morrison government’s, that high-level dialogue had not been possible in recent years. Li Qiang is set to become China’s second most powerful leader in March, when Li Keqiang steps down as premier after two terms.
Birmingham said it was important that in any talks Australia “remain resolute in defence of our national interest and explicit in defence of our values” – and the test of any meeting would be whether any outcomes were achieved (such as the detained Australian journalist Cheng Lei and the detained Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun):
Critically, we should press for progress on worrying and sensitive consular cases, which have recently passed yet more critical deadlines with no known progress, leaving individuals and families in a continuing state of despair.
We should of course press for an end to the trade sanctions, for respect for international laws, for the safety of our defence forces, and for basic human rights to be upheld. We should also seek areas for cooperation, where possible, while keeping our eyes wide open to the challenges that appear even more evident after the last couple of days.
That would appear to be a reference to the 20th Communist party congress, where China’s president, Xi Jinping, consolidated power and said he would never rule out the use of force to take Taiwan.
Updated
Lidia Thorpe confirms self-referral to Senate privileges committee
Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has released this statement:
I have decided to write to the president of the Senate today requesting a referral of myself to the Senate committee of privileges.
The Greens party room backed my decision today.
I am more than willing to participate in any inquiry.
I am proud of my work for First Nations justice and I won’t stop fighting for my people.
As required by the standing orders I will not be making any further comment in relation to the referral until the president has concluded consideration of the matter.
Updated
Budget lock-up basics
I have had a few questions about this, so here is how a budget lock-up works.
Parliament will sit as normal tomorrow, but at 1.30pm journalists, members of the opposition and crossbench, lobbyists and advocacy groups (all of whom have registered) will hand over their phones to a Treasury official, sign a document committing to not breaking the budget embargo and spend the next six hours trawling through the budget papers.
Treasury officials are made available for questions – but it has to be a specific question. (The 2014 budget was particularly tricky – so much had changed in that budget in how the Abbott government was spending funds it was almost like having to ask the right riddle to get the right answer.)
For journalists, it means double and triple checking what they are reading. There is no internet or phones allowed, so you have to be prepared with previous budget books to be able to cross reference. It also helps to take in every promise the government has made in the area you have been allocated to cover.
And then when the treasurer takes to the parliament floor to deliver their speech – about 7.30pm – the budget embargo lifts and everyone hits publish at once.
There is then a sprint for reaction – we call it the boxes, because, well, it happens at the mail boxes, where advocate and interest groups line up and give their first reactions to the budget – and that is then run back to the newsrooms for inclusion in your stories.
The whole exercise doesn’t finish until about 9pm or later (11pm is the usual) and then you get up the next morning for the first big political day where it’s no holds barred.
And then we’ll do it all again in May!
Updated
Coalition asks why Labor has not expelled Russian diplomats
The Coalition has called on the Albanese government to explain why it has not followed through on its pre-election comments that Russian diplomats should be expelled from Australia.
The Morrison government also did not take that step in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after officials are believed to have raised concerned about the risk of triggering tit-for-tat action that would have seen Australian diplomats expelled from Moscow.
On 7 April, then-opposition leader Anthony Albanese called on the Australian government to expel Russian diplomats, declaring that the “sickening abuses being carried out by Russian forces” in Ukraine must trigger immediate consequences. The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, was asked in New York last month whether Australia would expel the Russian ambassador to Australia, and replied that such matters “remain under consideration”.
The Coalition’s spokesperson on foreign affairs, Simon Birmingham, raised the issue in a speech to the national conference of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in Canberra today:
In the months leading up to the election, Labor from opposition adopted certain policy positions which it has not yet acted upon. One example is Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong declaring that Russian diplomats should be expelled from Australia.
The policy position was unequivocal.This hasn’t happened. When questioned, the government appears to be retreating from that position.
Whether it should or should not occur is not the point in this context. The government, from opposition, said that is what should happen. It has not yet offered satisfactorily explanations to Australians ... as to why not.
Birmingham said Labor had also not yet used Magnitsky-style sanctions “notwithstanding the enthusiastic calls by the now-government for their use”. He said the Coalition would seek to hold Labor to account, arguing bipartisanship in foreign policy “does not mean the absence of scrutiny and the occasional criticism”:
Perhaps on these issues Labor was just playing pre-election politics in some of these areas. But explanations, at the very least are now due in relation to relevant action to occur.
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NSW premier says state’s prisons have ‘highest standards’
The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has reaffirmed his position that jails in the state have the “highest standards” after the UN anti-torture subcommittee left the country due to access issues.
Speaking at the RFS headquarters on Monday, he said:
We have an ombudsman, an independent process in place that look at our jails, look at our correction facilities. We have the highest standards anywhere in the world and I support our independent ombudsman and correctional facilities staff in providing advice to the NSW government. If there are complaints or there are issues, they are dealt with appropriately, but no one’s provided any information to me that would say otherwise.
When asked why not let them in if that was the case, he said:
We’re a sovereign country in our own right and we’ve got the highest standards when it comes to correctional facilities in NSW. If there is a problem, please raise it. If there’s not, we have an ombudsman in place, and I support the work that they do.
Updated
Don’t expect any of the numbers in tomorrow’s budget to be overly inspiring.
The debt is getting really expensive .. fed govt just sold $300m that won't be repaid until June 2051. The interest rate on it was 4.56%. In Sept, it was sold at 3.9%. Gross debt just over $892 billion and climbing
— Shane Wright (@swrighteconomy) October 24, 2022
Updated
Health professionals under investigation should be given support, advocate says
Health professionals being investigated should have mental health support and the right to legal representation, a new advocate says.
Queensland became the first state to pass new laws giving federal watchdogs more power over registered health practitioners, AAP reports.
The laws, which are set to be enacted in all states, allow regulators to ban unregistered practitioners and warn people when registered professionals are being probed or disciplined.
The incoming chair of Australian Health Practitioners Advisory Solutions, Dr Gino Pecoraro, said the laws don’t take into account the well-being of professionals.
He said mental health support should be mandatory for those being probed, a process that can take years.
Pecoraro also said practitioners must be allowed to have legal representation and not be publicly named when they’re facing tribunals.
The group will lobby the federal health minister, Mark Butler, to change laws to ensure the system is more balanced.
“We’re trying to provide support and to lobby government to make sure that the regulatory bodies that look after healthcare workers are a bit more fair,” Pecoraro said.
The group wants there to be “consequences” for patients and professionals found to have made vexatious or frivolous complaints as well.
Updated
Simon Birmingham gives speech at Australian Institute of International Affairs
The leader of the opposition in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, gave the keynote speech at the Australian Institute of International Affairs where he spoke about how he will approach the foreign affairs portfolio from opposition:
A fundamental part of my role, and of any opposition in our system, is to the hold the government to account for the things it says; the things it says it will do, and; its delivery of them.
Bipartisanship and the support for bipartisan foreign policy does not mean the absence of scrutiny and the occasional criticism. We will seek to get the balance right.
In the past five months I have met many people and organisations representing the international affairs community, including many from the diplomatic corp.
I look forward to further engagement and working with organisations like the Institute and those here in this room and the broader international affairs community.
My approach, as I indicated, will be of one seeking to be constructive; calling out where necessary mistakes or actions, but looking to advance always Australia’s national interests.
Our national interest is always best served by holding true to our values. Values defined in the last foreign policy white paper as political; economic; religious freedoms; support for liberal democracy; the rule of law; racial and gender equality; and mutual respect. If we are always guided by those in our engagement with others, it will serve us well. It will guide us well. It will help us to be predictable and consistent in the decision making we take. And predictability and consistency help other governments in their engagement with us.
Updated
Lidia Thorpe understood to be self-referring to Senate privileges committee
Guardian Australia understands that Greens senator Lidia Thorpe will refer herself to the Senate privileges committee over her previously undisclosed relationship with former bikie leader Dean Martin.
Thorpe will write to the Senate president on Monday afternoon asking for the referral, a decision that has been supported by the Greens party room. The referral reflects that Thorpe is happy for the privileges committee to inquire into the relationship.
Thorpe was facing a hostile referral from the Coalition and is also the subject of a probe by the law enforcement committee, which is checking what confidential information she may have received in its briefings about bikie gangs.
On Friday the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was asked about possible censure of Thorpe and told reporters in Perth that Labor would “examine any proposal” that was moved.
Thorpe has accepted that she “made mistakes” and had “not exercised good judgment” but denies giving Martin any confidential information.
Thorpe said Martin’s history with the Rebels was a “past connection”.
“Obviously, I’m concerned about the criminal activities of outlaw motorcycle clubs in general. But when we met, Mr Martin was no longer involved with that world.”
Guardian Australia does not suggest that Thorpe shared any confidential information with any person not authorised to receive it.
Updated
Attorney general says NSW decision to deny UN inspectors entry to prisons is 'disappointing'
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has responded to the UN subcommittee on prevention of torture’s (SPT) decision to suspend its visit to Australia and says the Australians government “regrets” the UN decision and expresses “disappointment” at the NSW government to deny the SPT access to its prisons:
It is disappointing that the New South Wales government refused to allow the SPT to visit any state-run places of detention across that state.
The SPT experienced some difficulties in accessing specific places of detention in jurisdictions other than NSW. These difficulties were unfortunate, but attempts were made to resolve issues in good faith. Access to commonwealth-run places of detention were facilitated in all cases.
Australia has been a party to the convention since 1989 and ratified the optional protocol in 2017. No state or territory objected to ratification. No state or territory has requested funding to facilitate the SPT’s visit, which had its costs met by the UN.
The decision of the SPT to cancel its visit, more than halfway through its scheduled time in Australia, is a development that could have been avoided. The SPT had carried out a number of successful visits to places of detention across the country.
The suspension of the visit does not change the Australian government’s commitment to promoting and protecting human rights domestically and internationally. It is vital that places of detention in Australia maintain the rights of those who are held within their walls. Australia does not resile from efforts to raise global human rights standards and hold others to account. Likewise, we remain willing to face scrutiny of our own human rights record.
I assure the Australian people and the international community that the Australian government’s commitment to human rights endures. The government will continue to raise these matters with states and territories.
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Chinese state media denounces closer security ties between Australia and Japan
Chinese state media have denounced closer security ties between Australia and Japan as being driven by a “harsh and prejudicial judgment” of Beijing’s intentions in the region.
After the two countries promised to consider joint responses to regional crises, the China Daily said in a relatively muted editorial that the move was at odds with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese’s “generally” positive steps “to correct his predecessor’s wrongs”:
It is not China’s ‘assertiveness’, but the United States’ ambition to contain China’s rise with the aid of its allies that has caused the ‘deteriorating security outlook for their region’.
The Global Times, meanwhile, ran a news article quoting China-based analysts as claiming Japan and Australia had proven a willingness to be “US pawns” and arguing that any attempts to suppress China’s rise were “doomed to fail”.
The comments come after Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, and Albanese signed a new security declaration on Saturday “to meet growing risks to our shared values and mutual strategic interests”.
The declaration said that over the next 10 years Australia and Japan would work together more closely to deter “aggression and behaviour that undermines international rules and norms”. The key phrase in the document is:
We will consult each other on contingencies that may affect our sovereignty and regional security interests, and consider measures in response.
It doesn’t explicitly commit the countries to respond to a military crisis - such as in Taiwan or in the South or East China seas – as it is not a security treaty. But the declaration appears to be a clear statement of intent on how Japan and Australia are drawing closer together. Japan and Australia are also expected to step up the sharing of intelligence and strategic assessments about China’s intentions.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, told the 20th Communist party congress last week that he would never rule out the use of force to take Taiwan – a self-governed democracy of 24 million people.
Updated
Seems like the Nationals have found their subject – Bridget McKenzie will be holding a press conference very soon.
Updated
Littleproud says Labor has turned its back on regions and budget is ‘all about’ Daniel Andrews
David Littleproud is not happy with Labor’s decision to change up the building better regions fund – and he blames the Victorian election:
“Labor needs to tell our hard working regional and rural communities why it’s putting its city mates before regional and rural Australia,” Littleproud said.
It is incredibly hypocritical of Labor to accuse the Nationals of pork-barrelling when we already know this Budget is all about helping the re-election campaign of Victorian premier, Dan Andrews.
It’s hardly startling that most of the money for a regional program went to Nationals-held seats. It’s a regional fund and we are the party that represents regional Australia.
Families are facing a cost-of-living crisis and taking money out of our regional and rural areas will ultimately hurt each and every Australian.
He said prior to the election, the Nationals secured $21bn in new funding for regional community facilities, healthcare, water infrastructure, roads, education and training.
Now many projects face the chopping block, including regional veterans’ and families’ hubs, Littleproud said.
“We need regional and rural infrastructure to get produce from the paddock to a port, to pay the bills for this nation and improve our communities.
“Labor has turned its back on regional and rural families and workers. Common sense tells you to take that away and punish regional and rural Australia means the entire economy is poorer for it.
“This is all a smokescreen to rip the guts out of regional and rural Australia and to put it into the Dan Andrews re-election campaign.”
Updated
It’s unusually quiet in the build-up to the budget
This may be the quietest budget eve (in the political sense) I can remember covering.
Things are very muted. I’ll let you know what we know is in the budget so far in just a moment, but it is a very strange day
Updated
Amnesty Australia decries 'international embarrassment' after NSW turns UN inspectors away from prisons
Amnesty International has criticised Australia over its failure to legislate the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture after UN inspectors were turned away from NSW prisons:
Amnesty International Australia’s impact director Tim O’Connor said in a statement:
This is an international embarrassment and shows how paper-thin the commitment to Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture [OPCAT] is.
Even though this important international treaty was ratified in 2017, it has never been passed into domestic law, and the result is that we have grave concerns about conditions of detention in this country.
We need only look at the horrific experiences of young people in youth detention, allegations of systemic abuse, the continued use of tools of torture like spithoods and the hundreds of First Nations people who have died in custody to see that there are serious problems that require independent scrutiny.
And of course, the continued detention of refugees and asylum seekers has ruined the physical and mental health of thousands of people who have done nothing more than ask for our protection because they can’t be safe in their own homes.
If the States and Territories are complying with their obligations under OPCAT then they have nothing whatsoever to fear from the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture [SPT] visiting their prisons and detention facilities. Preventing the SPT from doing its job raises grave concerns about the conditions of people in detention in Australia.
It also highlights the urgent need for a Federal Human Rights act to provide robust safeguards for the human rights of all in this country.
Updated
Labor still committed to lowering power bills in long term
Labor had promised to lower power bills by $275 by 2025.
Does the assistant treasurer Stephen Jones think that will still happen? He told Laura Jayes on Sky News:
Look, obviously the war in Ukraine is pushing the price of energy up all around the world. So all of the inputs into our electricity generation, coal and gas, in fact, all the non-renewable inputs, solar and wind and geothermal still going cracker jacks. But all of those fossil fuel inputs and prices have gone through the roof and that’s having an impact on energy prices, no doubt about it.
We’re still committed to our policy because we know that that’s the only way that we can bring prices down over time. … We’ve got the war in Ukraine and not enough generation capacity in the Australian grid and problems with the distribution. We’ve got a plan to deal with that. We’ll have more to say about that tomorrow night.
But it’s about rewiring the nation and creating long-term stable energy policy. Something that Angus Taylor probably has contributed more to in this parliament than anyone else, and that is the destruction of sensible energy policy. Nobody has done more to destroy energy policy and drive prices up in this parliament than Angus Taylor. We’ll be turning that around. We’ve already put the building blocks in place to do that.
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Taylor says Coalition achieved ‘remarkable’ economic outcomes
Q: Are there any changes the Morrison government could have made, in hindsight?
Angus Taylor says yes and also no but kinda maybe, but no:
When you look back at the Covid era, there’s always things that you look at and say, you know, could we have done it better? But I tell you, overall, when you look at the aggregate outcome, it was remarkable. I mean, we have an economy that is performing better than almost any economy in the world. It’s an absolutely extraordinary outcome.
We’ve got a budget that has delivered a $50bn increase in revenues – much of which is because Australians are working harder and they got out of the pandemic back in October when New South Wales and Victoria came out of the lockdowns, came out of that and we came out of that swinging. You know, in incredible health.
So, you know, the overall outcome here was right. Are there individual things that could have been better? We’ll debate that for years to come. I’m sure we will. And that’s appropriate.
He does not want to go into what those “individual things” that could have been better are.
Updated
Labor ‘running up the white flag’ on economy, Angus Taylor says
The shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has said Labor is “running up the white flag” on the economy:
Well, you know, when Labor was in opposition, they took the position that governments needed to take responsibility for the economic outcomes and that was completely understandable that governments do.
We did during the pandemic and in fact we saw coming out of the pandemic 3.9% growth. A remarkable … Australia absolutely top of the charts in terms of how we performed versus the rest of the world economically. Unemployment rates at levels we haven’t seen for decades. Absolutely remarkable outcomes.
But Labor when it comes to their budget is unwilling, is unwilling to take responsibility. They said they were going to be a government that took responsibility. I’m not seeing taking responsibility at all. I’m seeing from the from the treasurer doom, gloom forecasting and commentary but responsibility? No.
Updated
Nationals accuse Labor of having ‘vendetta’ against regional Australia
The Nationals’ shadow infrastructure minister, Bridget McKenzie, has accused the Albanese government of pursuing a “vendetta” against rural and regional Australia through Tuesday’s budget.
McKenzie told reporters in Canberra:
I’ve been really disappointed and I guess found it quite offensive ... the way the Labor party has framed up this budget, as any spending out in rural and regional communities as waste.
That’s simply not the case. It’s to overcome social and economic disadvantage to not only improve the outcomes and economic situation of rural regional communities ... [but] actually driving productivity gains and economic gains for our entire nation.
When you look at the total budget spend, the amount of savings they’ve found in these sorts of programs is miniscule and really does nothing to fix the structural issues with the budget long-term. It’s incredibly disappointing that programs like building better regions fund, [and] the regionalisation agenda ... have been canned and it’s because the Labor party absolutely has a vendetta against the regions.
Of particular concern is the future of the Rockhampton ring road, which the Nationals noted that Anthony Albanese had committed to in January 2019 as Bill Shorten’s shadow infrastructure minister.
Other projects the Nationals fear could be cut include:
$483m for the Urannah Dam.
$600m for the Paradise Dam at Bundaberg.
$400m for the beef roads.
Updated
Labor scraps Coalition-era regional grants programs and creates new ‘transparent’ ones
The Albanese government will scrap two Coalition grants programs to set up two new regional programs worth $1bn over the next three years.
Ahead of Tuesday’s budget, the infrastructure minister Catherine King has announced the government will not proceed with future rounds of the Building Better Regions Fund and the Community Development Grants program, both of which have come under fire for political pork-barrelling.
King said the new programs would invest in community infrastructure in a way that was “transparent, fairer and more sustainable.”
A new Growing Regions Program will be made available to regional local councils and not-for-profit organisations through an annual open, competitive grants process, while a separate Precincts and Partnerships Program will be set up for larger projects in regional Australia.
King said in a statement:
While Coalition MPs are cynically attempting to claim election promises as funded projects, the Government is delivering improvements the Australian people voted for by cleaning up the chaotic mess the previous government left behind.
The Government will consult on the guidelines to ensure best practice transparency and consistency of process, as well as fairer distribution of funds to ensure people can have confidence in the new programs.
King criticised Nationals MPs for their handling of the Building Better Regions Fund, which was found by the national audit office to have favoured National party electorates.
She said MPs had told some applicants their projects would be going ahead, but this was not the case, and in other instances had handed out funds to people who had never applied and didn’t know they had got the money.
She said the Community Development Grants program had started out as an election fund, but had become a grants program that community organisations had no ability to apply for.
No new projects will be funded from the CDG program, however all contracted projects will be honoured, and a further 82 projects that date back to 2016 and that are yet to be contracted will have six months to finalise negotiations before the program ends.
Updated
Labor says inflation, not wage growth, the main budget challenge
All this inflation trouble means Labor’s promise to tackle stagnant wage growth won’t eventuate for some time.
The finance minister Katy Gallagher told Sky News:
You know, obviously, in the short term, we’re dealing with this … very difficult inflation challenge. And I don’t think anyone’s expecting, when you’ve got inflation running as high as it is at the moment, that your wages are going to be able to keep up with that.
I think the difference between us and the former government is they had a policy about keeping wages low. We really want to get wages moving, which is why, you know, we’ve supported the minimum wage cases, why we’re looking at how we can support those cases in aged care – the wage case there.
So we definitely want wages to get moving and we are hopeful they will once inflation tapers off. But at the moment, the biggest challenge that we’re trying to deal with in this budget is getting inflation back to more normal levels.
Updated
Victorian opposition vows to pause EV tax and create 600 charging points
Victoria’s opposition has vowed to pause the state’s controversial electric vehicles tax and inject $50m to create 600 charging points if it wins next month’s state election.
The opposition leader, Matthew Guy, made the pre-election pledge on Monday morning.
In July, the federal attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, joined a legal challenge in the high court to veto Victoria’s electric vehicle tax, setting up a showdown between the commonwealth and state governments over who controls revenue from the vehicles.
Dreyfus was supporting two Victorian motorists who argue the imposition of a tax of 2.1-2.6 cents per kilometre by the Victorian government was unconstitutional because the state does not have the constitutional power to impose such fees.
NSW and Western Australia are also planning to implement EV road user charges from 2027 but the South Australia government scrapped its tax after it came to power in March.
Updated
Joyce says it’s on ‘Labor’s watch’ if debt tops $1 trillion
Barnaby Joyce was asked what he would like to see in the budget and he told the Seven Network:
Well, the first thing I’d say is we don’t have a trillion dollars in debt – we’re more than $100bn away from a trillion dollars in debt. So, if it goes to a trillion dollars in debt, it’s gone through on the Labor party’s watch.
What you’ll see is a typical Labor party budget where you have more expenses on the profit and loss and they’ll be taking money away from assets on the balance sheet.
Now, what we see right now with these weather events is billions and billions of litres of water that is basically flowing to sea, and we had money in the budget for dams so that we had assets on the balance sheet to make our economy stronger. Just like we would with rail, just like we would with roads. So in the future when you need more money for pensions or the NDIS or Medicare you have an asset base that’s more capable of covering those costs.
But if you take away the money from the assets and just put it on to new expenses on your profit and loss, then of course you’re not setting yourselves up in a responsible way in the future to be able to have a national business that can cover its costs. So just look forward to more expenses on the profit and loss. Here they come.
Updated
There won’t be any changes to the stage-three tax cuts in this budget, but that doesn’t mean the issue will be going anywhere
re-vamping our stage 3 tax cuts spending interactive to include more general budget items, so if there's something that didn't make it on last time you'd like to see, please @ me https://t.co/7KMxW3PMZ7
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) October 23, 2022
Updated
Daniel Andrews announces education package in election pledge
Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, has announced $1.6bn for new and upgraded schools and kindergartens if re-elected in November.
The package includes $850m to fund works at 89 existing primary and secondary schools and $25m to plan for the construction of 25 new schools in growing suburbs. This includes:
Six new primary schools and two secondary schools for the south-eastern suburbs.
Three new primary schools, one prep to year nine school, a secondary school and a specialist school for the west.
Five primary schools, a secondary school and a specialist school for the north.
A new primary school at Fishermans Bend in the CBD.
Two new primary schools near Geelong.
A new primary school at Leneva, near Wodonga.
Some $19m will also be spent to attract and retain teachers, including via an improved graduate program, another program to support experienced teachers back into the workforce and a migration support service to help principals recruit teachers from overseas.
Speaking at Seaford North primary school in Melbourne’s south-east on Monday, the premier said:
This is about every child getting every chance in the education state. It’s about thousands of jobs and it’s about making sure that the best teaching and learning is matched by the best facilities.
Updated
68th International Whaling Commission meeting wraps
The 68th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting has wrapped up in Slovenia and Australia now has a vice-chair in Dr Nick Gales.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society had a bit to say about the meeting:
The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) has welcomed the IWC’s agreement of a critical resolution to tackle the threat of ocean plastic pollution and the failure of attempts by pro-whaling nations to undermine the global moratorium on whaling.
The IWC’s precarious financial situation has also been addressed for now, but many other commitments were postponed for consideration over the next two years before the next meeting of the IWC in Peru in 2024.
Particularly disappointing was the manner in which pro-whaling countries chose to walk out of a key session so the proposal to establish a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary, led by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, could not be voted on, a proposal that has been before the commission for more than a decade.
“The tactics used by pro-whaling countries at the meeting to block a vital whale conservation measure were shameful,” said Darren Kindleysides, the CEO of AMCS.
With the world’s whales and dolphins facing a wider range of threats today than ever before, we need nations to work together to ensure their future. Instead, this demonstrates the lengths to which some countries will go to ensure sanctuaries for whales and dolphins are not established. Many of those same countries were also trying to push for the global commercial whaling moratorium to be lifted at this meeting, a push that thankfully was once again not successful at this meeting.
Updated
Speaking of the CSIRO, Peter Hannam has a story on strategies its leadership is looking at to secure more funding – which is not being welcomed by the staff.
Updated
Seems like there is more of a spotlight on funding arrangements, which is well overdue:
We expect better from our national scientific research body.
— David Pocock (@DavidPocock) October 23, 2022
The CSIRO has been a trailblazer & trusted source of expertise for Australians. It's time they returned to that leadership position.
https://t.co/r1yWnxJ3EV
Updated
Barnaby Joyce and Tanya Plibersek on Netball Australia and Gina Rinehart
Over on the Seven network this morning, Barnaby Joyce (who once received a $40,000 “prize” from Gina Rinehart which he had to hand back) had a lot of opinions on Netball Australian players expressing opinions (a quick recap here):
Joyce:
Yes. Like most other people. You’ve got $15m of somebody else’s money. It’s been given to you. How about saying thank you rather than, “oh, yeah, we don’t want it.” And now the money’s gone, they’re going, “oh, guess what? We haven’t got the money to pay our players and to cover the financial situation that Netball Australia fights in”.
We’ve already seen people are coming out now, such as Australian Women’s Golf saying, “we’ll take the money.” There are a lot of other causes. There are people … returned servicemen and returned servicewomen sport who are saying, “like, we’ll have the money.”
Like, they’ve got to realise … if you don’t make the money, be really, really careful of the person who offers you the money or you won’t get the money.
Host: Yeah, Tanya [Plibersek], this was over a comment made by Gina Rinehart’s father, who died 30 years ago. He said it 38 years ago. Where do you stand on this?
Plibersek:
Well, I think it’s a matter for Netball Australia. And what I would say is I don’t mind hearing from the players. I think they’ve got a right to express their opinions, and this is a terrific successful team. I wish --
Host: But where do you stand, Tanya?
Plibersek:
Well, I’m telling you where I stand. I wish them all the best in getting new sponsorship. They’re a terrific, successful team, and I really hope there are other Australian businesses out there who are prepared to get in behind women’s netball and back it. It’s a great sport played by millions of Australians –
Host: Look, we all back the netballers –
Plibersek:
And this is a particularly successful team.
Host: – as far as their sporting prowess –
Plibersek:
Well, really? Do we? Because Barnaby’s saying that they’re idiots for expressing their opinion.
Host: Well, I think a lot of people are questioning them this week …
Joyce:
Yeah, well, do you know, someone, Tanya, who’s got a lazy $15m in their top drawer? Tell us who they are so we can give it to the netballers. Otherwise, yeah, it was crazy what they did. Very foolish.
Barr: Yeah, Tanya, where do you stand on this actual issue … do you back Gina Rinehart for taking the money away from them, or do you back the netballers for harking up over this?
Plibersek:
Well, I think the netballers have a right to express an opinion. And, you know, I absolutely think they’ve got a right to express an opinion. Good luck to them. And I really do hope that they find other businesses that want to support them, because they’re a great team, a successful team, and I’d like to see women’s netball backed.
Updated
Calla Wahlquist is running a blog on the floods, which you can find here:
Tasmania tops CommSec’s state of the states report
CommSec’s state of the states report is out and there has been some movement for the top spots, AAP reports.
(Cruelly, the greatest nation on earth – Queensland – was robbed as number one, but we did win the State of Origin so there is that)
From AAP:
Tasmania and Queensland are the fastest-rising state economies as a plunging housing market helps drag NSW to near the bottom of the leaderboard. The island state rose from third to first place among states and territories in CommSec’s quarterly State of the States report, which gauges the economic “momentum” of each region.
CommSec’s chief economist, Craig James, said Tasmania had returned to the top of the rankings due to consistently high scores across all indicators.
Queensland’s second position was its highest place in the 13-year history of the survey as strong population growth and low relative unemployment buoyed its economy. The state enjoyed a population boom during the Covid-19 pandemic as residents abandoned the larger capitals for Brisbane and other locations like the Gold Coast.
“When looking at annual growth to get a guide on economic momentum, Queensland had annual growth rates that exceeded the national average on five of the eight indicators,” James said.
NSW, which ranked ahead of only the Northern Territory, was weighed down by its low growth in housing finance as Sydney experienced the sharpest fall in property prices of the country’s major cities. Victoria dropped to fifth in the rankings after soaring to first place in July after the lifting of Covid-related restrictions.
The southern state lagged others when it came to relative economic growth and dwelling starts.
James said much of the states and territories’ future economic performance would depend on how they responded to a period of rising interest rates.
The report weighs the recent performance of states and territories across eight key indicators against what is considered “normal” for each region to produce a measure of each region’s economic momentum, rather than directly comparing figures for each state.
Based on a comparison of annual growth rates instead, the NT had the strongest economic growth in the country with a 29.9% increase in activity, followed by Queensland with 21.3%.
NSW recorded the best employment growth at 9.2%, nearly double that of its closest competitors.
How the states fared
1: Tasmania
2: Queensland
3: ACT
4: Western Australia
5: South Australia
6: Victoria
7: New South Wales
8: Northern Territory
Updated
Save the Children want the government to make sure there is ongoing funding in the budget to help children across the globe deal with Covid, conflicts and the climate:
The charity’s CEO, Mat Tinkler said:
In a world of Covid-19, global conflict, and increasingly severe bushfires, floods and other disasters, in the shadow of what many children perceive as the existential threat of climate change, this is truly a time of crisis for children.
It’s an incredibly difficult time in history to be a child, with so many factors having the potential to cause significant harm to the development, learning and lifelong opportunities of an entire generation.
Not seriously investing in the safety, resilience and development of Australia’s children is to not invest in the future of our country as a whole. We implore the new federal government to dig deep and do the right thing for our kids, who have both so much to lose and so much to gain.
Updated
King: two new regional grants programmes to be launched
Speaking to Newcastle radio 2HD, the infrastructure minister, Catherine King, said there would still be a lot in the regional spending bucket when it came to her portfolio:
The first thing is that we’ve had to clean up what’s been a pretty confusing and difficult mess of programmes across the regional portfolio. It’s been one of the areas that’s taken quite a substantial amount of my time.
So what we’re planning to do is introduce two new regional grants programmes. One that will be a competitive round for local councils and not-for-profits that replaces the Building Better Regions Fund that the previous government had and that there was such a damning audit report on. It will be a much more transparent, consistent annual grants round that we will provide funding through to local communities.
The other is one that’s based on precincts, so that where you’ve got places like Newcastle or other parts of Lake Macquarie, for example, where you know that the university campus is going to really change the dynamic of a CBD. You can need a precinct where you’ve got better retail outlets or you actually want to put arts and culture in.
The precinct programme is for those larger-scale programmes, and we’re looking for local councils and state governments in particular to bring those projects forward. But there’s also lots of things that are also being announced in the budget that the money will start to flow through for Newcastle, including the port of Newcastle and the University of Newcastle, and that money will be in the budget as well.
Updated
Gallagher: spending audit is an ‘ongoing piece of work’
And it will continue, Katy Gallagher says:
My view is finance minister is that this is a process that should keep going. We’ve identified obviously, some of that the short term work and that will be reported in the budget.
But this spending audit should should keep going. We should do it in every budget, just to make sure that we’re constantly looking at ways we’re spending money and I think the Australian public would expect us to do that, that it’s not always adding in new spending when there’s … need that arises, and there will be, but we’re looking at existing expenditure as well and how we can reuse that or … realign it with … new investments.
So, yes, it’s an ongoing piece of work in short, and I think the other thing I’d say is … the audit has identified areas where we just need longer to work through, as a finance department, to see whether there’s opportunities for, again, reprioritisation or savings.
Updated
Budget cuts to come from across government, not just infrastructure, Gallagher says
Further to Murph’s reporting, Katy Gallagher told ABC Radio RN that not all of the $22bn in “savings” (budget parlance for cuts) will come from infrastructure:
It’s not exclusively infrastructure. We are finding savings across government. We have gone to every single department and ask them to look at their programs to identify programs that don’t need to be done any longer or don’t align with government priorities and where we’ve been able to return some money to the budget we’re doing that.
The other part of it is actually not adding new funding to things but using existing funding to fund some of our our priorities. So it’s been a very useful exercise and I think $22bn is a pretty reasonable figure to have achieved over just, you know, a couple of months in government.
Updated
Cait Kelly has been following the wait in Echuca as the flood waters rise:
For those unable to look away from the out of control trolley car that is UK politics, we have you covered here:
Coalition releases budget wishlist
The Coalition have released its demands for tomorrow’s budget, quoted below.
In the short term the government must:
Build upon the strong position the government has inherited from the Coalition and not deteriorate the bottom line. Labor has inherited the lowest unemployment rate in decades, economic growth over 3%, and an improving budget bottom line. A high-taxing, high-spending traditional Labor budget will only make the Reserve Bank’s job harder next Tuesday.
Put downward pressure on inflation and interest rates without increasing taxes. The government should heed the calls of stakeholders and the community to commit to the Coalition’s tax to GDP cap of 23.9% to put a speed limit on spending and include a plan to return inflation to within the Reserve Bank’s target of 2-3%. The government’s budget cannot respond to growing cost of living pressures with increased taxes.
Deliver relief to supply side pressures in the economy by increasing productivity and participation. The government must reject changes to industrial relations that will start a wage-price spiral and damage the productivity of our struggling small and family businesses.
Avoid breaking promises made to the Australian people at the election to bring down power bills by $275, to implement the stage-three tax cuts in full, to bring down the cost of living and to increase real wages.
Updated
Tasmanian and Queensland flood warnings
That is continued:
Tasmania
Ten emergency warnings are current.
A watch and act alert is in place for residents along the Liffey River, while advice alerts have been issued for those on the North Esk, Macquarie, Meander, South Esk, St Pauls and Lake rivers in the north.
Concerns have eased despite up to 45mm of rain falling across the North Esk, South Esk and Macquarie River catchments.
The Bureau of Meteorology says showers will clear about the north-west on Sunday but more rain is on the way.
Queensland
Six emergency alerts are active.
A watch and act alert is current for Biggenden and Dallarnil in the Burnett region, while residents in Brisbane, Redlands City, Noosa, on the Fraser Coast and at Gympie are subject to advice warnings.
A major flood warning has also been issued for the Macintyre River, which is expected to peak at up to 9.9 metres at Goondiwindi early Monday.
The state’s south-east corner was soaked overnight into Sunday, with falls of more than 150mm in places.
An isolated fall of 156mm was recorded at Canning Creek, with more than 100mm at Maleny on the Sunshine Coast and over 80mm at Bellthorpe in the Moreton Bay area.
Moderate flooding could also occur along the Mary River at Tiaro from Sunday after rainfalls of 170mm.
Updated
Flood warnings across NSW and Victoria
AAP has a wrap of the flood warnings:
Victoria
Sixty-six emergency warnings are in place.
Evacuation orders remain for Echuca on the Murray River.
Residents at northern Gunbower, Leitchville, Patho, Torrumbarry, Tocumwal and Wharparilla have been told to seek higher ground, as have those downstream of Rochester and at Seymour, north of Melbourne.
Authorities say it is too late to leave at Barmah and Lower Moira on the Murray and not safe to return to homes in Kerang and Bunbartha.
Flooding also continues on the Goulburn River downstream of Shepparton, on the Barwon downstream of Inverleigh, along the King River and Seven Creeks downstream of Euroa.
Major inundation is occurring near Echuca after water reached levels not seen in almost 30 years on Saturday.
An emergency warning for Loddon Weir also remains, along with a landslide warning for alpine residents at Bogong and Falls Creek.
NSW
There are 124 current emergency warnings.
Evacuation orders are in place for Moree, Terry Hie Hie, Gunnedah and Carroll in the state’s north, the Riverina town of Narrandera and Mudgee in the central west.
Residents have also been ordered to higher ground at Cummeragunja, Mathoura East, the Murray Valley and Moama on the Murray River.
The Murray is forecast to peak Sunday into Monday.
Flooding continues in multiple locations across the state including on the Lachlan River at Forbes, the Macquarie River at Warren, the Northern Rivers in Nimbin, at central western Wellington and Cowra, and in Bourke, Brewarrina and Wilcannia in the west and northwest.
Rain is falling across much of NSW, with severe storms possible in the east, with locally heavy falls leading to flash flooding, gusty winds and possibly hail.
Natural disaster declarations have been made in more than 40 local government areas.
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Hume: push for internal diversity ‘coming from the Liberal party more broadly’
The shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, was also on ABC radio RN where she was asked about the lack of women in the Liberal party.
Patricia Karvelas tells her the Liberals, particularly in the lower house, is a “sea of men” and whatever the opposition is doing to increase the number of women in the party is not working. (That’s because it’s a target, not a quota, and targets don’t work, but anyway … )
Hume:
That’s exactly right … which is why we want to make sure that each one of those programs that’s running in all the different states is coordinated, that we’re adopting best practice and that we make sure that there is a singular focus on improving the gender diversity and diversity more broadly of … our political ranks.
It is really important not just because you want to better reflect the community that you represent, but also because when you have diverse groups around the table, better decisions get made, better decisions make for better policy, better policy makes for better politics.
So we know that there is an imperative to do that. This is not something that’s coming from the women in the Liberal party. This is something that’s coming from the Liberal party more broadly and I think there is a collective view to focus on (that).
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The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, is on ABC Radio RN talking about the $22bn in “savings” following the budget spending audit.
Murph reported on that here:
Gallagher says it comes from the whole of government and includes infrastructure.
Some infrastructure spending will be “re-profiled”, Gallagher says. What is “re-profiling?” It’s a couple of things – moving some projects that aren’t ready yet, or reallocating some of the funding to other projects.
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Good morning
Hello and welcome to budget week – your second one for this year.
Jim Chalmers will deliver his first budget tomorrow. Today is going to be filled with some more speculation about what is – and isn’t – in it.
It’s a “responsible” budget that will be “family friendly” and “steady and stable”.
What that translates to is “don’t expect a lot of treats”. Chalmers is balancing inflationary pressures with rising cost of living and stagnant wage growth. What that means is a budget that won’t actually deliver a huge amount of cost of living relief, which is going to disappoint a lot of people.
There is also going to be a pretty big axe fall through the infrastructure section, with the government reviewing and re-allocating Morrison government projects announced in the March budget. That was part of the “end pork-barrelling” commitment but it has the Nationals in a tizzy already, given regional Australia was a big winner of a couple of deals within the Coalition government. So prepare for that battle.
The parliament doesn’t sit until tomorrow but the MPs are starting to file in. It might be budget week but that’s not all that has the government occupied. It’s also going to introduce its industrial relations bill, where a political fight is brewing over multi-employer bargaining.
There are amendments to privacy laws after the Optus and Medibank data breaches brought forward things the government was going to do a little bit later.
And there is also the balancing act that is the Senate. There’s only about 11 sitting days in the red chamber until the end of the year (budget estimates takes out sitting days the house has) and quite a lot of legislation the government wants passed. It means there is speculation another sitting week will be added to December already brewing. The government says it’s not needed, but that hasn’t stopped people from circling it in their calendars just in case.
We’ll keep an eye on all the Canberra shenanigans. We’ll also be watching the floods – the level of the Murray is still rising at Echuca as locals shelter behind sandbags and a huge levee.
If you’re in the flood zone, we are thinking of you. We know it’s one of the scariest waits imaginable. We’ll keep you updated as information comes through.
For those following along with us today, welcome and I hope you have your coffee. I’m on my second already and a third is on the way. Ready?
Let’s get into it.
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