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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Cait Kelly and Amy Remeikis (earlier)

PM says voice referendum should be ‘unifying moment’ – as it happened

Julian Assange Australia United States Helen Haines Labor Essential

What we learned, Monday 1 August

And with that, we are going to put this blog to bed. Before we wrap up, let’s go over the big headlines today:

Thank you for spending part of your day with us – we love it. See you tomorrow!

Updated

Greens MP for Griffith, Max Chandler-Mather, gives first speech

It’s a searing indictment on the two-party system.

Chandler-Mather argues that it is “abundantly clear that billionaires and big corporations run parliament”.

“Indeed when it comes to representation I imagine people like Clive Palmer and Gina Rinehart must feel pretty good that sometimes it feels like 89% of the people in this place ultimately represent their interests,” he said.

Chandler-Mather says Labor and the Coalition both support the stage three tax cuts, costing $224bn. He rejects the claims that Greens policies, including dental on Medicare, scrapping student debt, increasing jobseeker, or investing in public housing are too expensive.

Chandler-Mather says the logic of insider interests is “best exemplified” when it comes to climate change, citing the fact “over 2 degrees of warming is exactly what 89% of this place supports”, because Labor doesn’t agree with the Greens’ push to ban new fossil fuel projects.

He says:”Spending only a week in this place has been a stark lesson in how so much of the pomp, ceremony and rules of this place work to deepen and reinforce that disconnection. Literally the same week the Business Council was holding a special event in parliament house with the prime minister, children peacefully calling for action on climate change were dragged out by police.”

Chandler-Mather has a policy suggestion: the four-day work week “with no loss of pay”, which he says “would give people that most precious of resources: time”.

Chandler-Mather speaks about the Greens’ grassroots organising in Brisbane, telling voters in Griffith that political experts who said the minor party had no chance of winning Griffith were wrong, and they were right.

He clearly doesn’t think the Greens have tapped out at four lower house seats: “Next time an expert or politician tells you it’s unrealistic to expect that in a wealthy country like Australia no one should go hungry or without a home ... know that when they tell you tax cuts for billionaires, more coal and gas, and mandatory detention of refugees is the best you can hope for - know that they’re wrong. Because if the Greens wins in Brisbane, Ryan and Griffith proved one thing it’s that the only barrier to change is our capacity to organise campaigns like this across the country. Our collective power terrifies the major parties and their corporate donors. But it should give you hope.”

Updated

Albanese on Coalition’s view on voice: ‘I believe they will support a change’

Albanese says he has talked to Dutton about the voice and hopes he will support it:

It is very important that this be a unifying moment for the nation. This should be a source of pride and we need to do things differently. We know that there is still a 20-year life expectancy gap. There are huge gaps in infant mortality, in education outcomes, healthcare outcomes, housing.

We need to find a better way and a better way is by showing people respect. Australians understand that. I believe they’ll embrace that and they will support a change, which is very simple to the constitution. One that makes our country more inclusive.

Updated

Albanese: ‘the oldest continuous civilisation on Earth should be a source of pride’

Albanese says there are various different views within First Nations communities about the voice, and they will all be heard.

Australia’s constitution should recognize the fact that people have been here for 60,000 years. The oldest continuous civilisation on Earth and that should be a source of pride. Our history didn’t begin and end in 1788.

Updated

Albanese on a First Nations voice to parliament: ‘A pretty simple proposition’

Anthony Albanese has rejected claims that voters won’t know what they’re voting on in the voice referendum.

Albanese said:

Well, of course they will know how it works. But the truth is it is a pretty simple proposition. The proposition is where matters affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, then those people, First Nations people, should be consulted on it. It is not a third chamber, it is simply good manners.

It is no different from the fact that we consult women’s organisations if you want to have an impact on women. You consult different organisations, sections of society, on matters that affect them, and the thing is that if you consult people ... if you give them that sense of ownership, you get more positive outcomes.

Updated

What about the $275 power bill promise?

The PM has been asked about his promise to cut people’s power bills by $275 during the election, and if he plans to keep it:

What we didn’t know, and what Australians were kept in the dark about, was that the government in April changed the regulations just before the election was formally called. These large increases in wholesale prices were due to come in while the election was on but they put their mark to July 1 and put off any notification of them.

That is something that we weren’t aware of, but we know that every energy expert in Australia will tell you the key is to invest in renewables and our plan will make sure that businesses have the certainty they need.

Updated

Prime minister Anthony Albanese is on The Project

He has been asked about the ACCC report which says we might be running out of gas next year.

Well, we are going to make sure that we take measures so that households and businesses can continue to have gas.

What the report shows is that there’s a potential shortfall there but that the shortfall is far less than what is available in non-contracted gas, so we’re going to take measures, including bringing forward the trigger, to reform the rules around the trigger, as well to make sure that Australian gas can meet Australian needs.

Updated

The PM is about to appear on The Project, so I will bring you that when he is on.

‘The 450 is off the table’

Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie has tweeted that the 450GL of water needed to save the Murray-Darling Basin plan is off the table.

My colleague Tory Shepherd had this article last month, looking at how just two gigalitres of the environment saving water had been deleted:

Updated

New Labor MP Gordon Reid has spoken of working in a hospital with “no beds, not enough staff” as he recounted his path to entering politics.

Reid, an emergency department doctor, won the seat of Robertson - on the NSW central coast - from the Coalition at the May election. In his first speech to parliament, on Monday night, he talked of the stress of working in medicine during the pandemic.

“You feel the sweat running down your face, your neck – but no time to sit, no time to rest, the room must be prepared for the incoming patient. You hear the sirens,” he said.

“The ambulance drives up to the resus bay, having to slow down because of the many other ambulances ramped, filled with unwell patients. The doors to the resus bay open, paramedics are doing chest compressions and rescue breaths on the 55-year-old male that was found unresponsive on the floor of his home by his wife and young children.”

Reid talked of his commitment to Medicare, and said busy shifts in the emergency room spurred him into considering a run for political office.

“I stand before you today, not because I no longer want to be a doctor…I love being a doctor, and will always love being a doctor…but by undertaking this most important role, my skills and my experience will no longer be limited to the bedside,” he said.

Reid described himself as “a proud Wiradjuri man, living on Darkinjung country” and implored parliament to support the Uluru statement from the heart. He spoke of his family, including his grandparents, in saying “we have an essential duty to listen to our elders, to hear them, to understand them, so that our light may shine brighter today, than it did yesterday.”

Jacinda Ardern in Samoa

From AAP:

Jacinda Ardern has toasted New Zealand’s enduring friendship with Samoa after touching down in Apia as the Pacific nation re-opens to international visitors.

Ardern is leading a cross-party delegation of MPs with business, religious and community leaders on a short and sharp two-day visit at the invitation of Samoan prime minister Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa.

The occasion is Samoa’s 60th anniversary of independence, a Pacific first, and the signing of a Treaty of Friendship with New Zealand, which endures to this day.

“We don’t have a treaty of this kind with any other country,” Ardern said.

“Our unique friendship will continue to expand and deepen.

“And we pledge to recommit ourselves to walk together whatever paths the future may hold for us both as friends and neighbours in the region we each call home.”

Updated

Aukus partners say nuclear subs would not contravene non-proliferation treaty

From AAP:

Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom have moved to assure the international community any nuclear-powered submarines under the trilateral Aukus alliance would not contravene the non-proliferation treaty.

Nuclear states are prohibited from sharing nuclear weapons to non-nuclear states under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

In a joint working paper submitted to the Review Conference of the Parties to the treaty, the Aukus nations argued the highest possible standards would fulfil their obligations.

This includes welded power units which mean Australia couldn’t conduct uranium enrichment or fuel fabrication.

The welded units mean the removal of nuclear material would be “extremely difficult” and would render the submarine inoperable, the nations say.

“Naval nuclear propulsion cooperation under Aukus will be conducted in a manner that is fully consistent with our respective obligations under the [treaty], and relevant safeguards agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” the working paper reads.

“Further, the nuclear material inside of these reactors would not be in a form that can be directly used in nuclear weapons without further chemical processing, requiring facilities that Australia does not have and will not seek.”

Updated

First Lizzo, now Beyoncé

A few weeks ago Sydney woman Hannah Diviney tweeted about Lizzo’s ableist slur on her new album – it blew up, and Lizzo re-released the song.

Now Beyoncé has made the same mistake on Renaissance:

Updated

Ryan has tweeted about her slap-down earlier in parliament:

Updated

Sydney’s rain

This is a lot!

Updated

Signage could have prevented death in at Grampian’s ‘selfie rock’, Victorian coroner finds

From AAP:

More warning signs at a popular lookout spot in Victoria’s west could have prevented a woman’s death, a coroner has found.

Rosy Loomba was taking a photo with her husband at the Grampians’ Boroka Lookout in December 2020 when she fell to her death.

The 38-year-old was trying to walk back from the “selfie rock” ledge to her children and friends, but lost her balance and fell 30 metres, the deputy state coroner, Jacqui Hawkins, found.

While the lookout spot is fenced off, Hawkins said it was common for people to climb over the “easily scaled” wire fence to take photos on the rock ledge.

At the time of Loomba’s death, there were 30 other people waiting to take their photo.

Hawkins recommended Parks Victoria install extra signage in the area that expressly stated people have died and been seriously injured at the location.

Updated

For those who missed it earlier, or just want to watch it again - we have the video of Kooyong MP Monique Ryan telling the Coalition to put their masks on:

Companies must have actual plans to achieve net zero, says Fortescue CFO

From AAP:

Much of corporate Australia is outdoing the government on climate ambition but some have little more than motherhood statements and no firm plan to achieve net zero, a business forum has been told.

Company directors have gathered in Sydney to discuss how Australian firms are responding to the threats and opportunities posed by climate change.

The former Reserve Bank deputy governor Guy Debelle, who recently became chief financial officer of Fortescue Future Industries, was among the speakers to welcome Labor’s moves to legislate its emissions targets.

Debelle warned company boards yet to articulate and fund their emissions reduction strategies are already behind.

These investment decisions ... needed to be taken a couple of years ago but at the very least they need to be taken now.

It’s going to be interesting, as we see people reporting over the next little while, in terms of their sustainability agenda.

It’s like ‘OK that’s nice’ but what are you actually doing to achieve it? Where is your decarbonisation plan, show me the investment you are needing ... to achieve that outcome rather than just having a nicely articulated objective without any of the detail about the strategy to achieve it.

Updated

Hello everyone! This is Cait, I will be taking you through the rest of the day. A big thanks to Amy for steering the ship so smoothly - as always.

Let’s get into the afternoon.

First up, I’ve got this story from Natasha May about Zinta – the biosecurity detector dog who sniffed out two egg and beef sausage McMuffins coming back from Bali and potentially saved the Australian agricultural industry:

Updated

I am going to hand over the blog to Cait Kelly now, who will guide you through the evening. I will be back early tomorrow morning for another day of parliamentary fun. It’s party room meeting day tomorrow so there will be plenty from that.

And of course, plenty in the day itself, as climate, Covid and the Voice all continue to dominate discussions (along with the economy, energy and all of the other things which keep our daily lives running).

Have a wonderful evening and please give all of the thanks to Mike Bowers for all the running around he did (as usual).

Thank you for joining me today. You are all the highlight of my week. See you tomorrow and in the meantime – as always, take care of you.

Updated

Parliamentary library advertising for staff after crossbench olive branch

The parliamentary library is advertising for researchers ranging from the APS4 to EL1 levels.

The reason that is significant is when Anthony Albanese was hosing down controversy about cutting the crossbench staff allocation, he suggested the library would get more resources. But how many more staff? Nobody knows.

Last week a spokesperson for the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, told Guardian Australia:

Additional resources for the Parliamentary Library to better assist parliamentarians in their duties will be considered as part of the October budget process.

The job ad states:

Several current vacancies will be filled through this recruitment process. A merit pool will also be established to fill further ongoing or non-ongoing vacancies that may arise over the next 12 months.

Among the eligibility criteria are “have an understanding of, and ability to analyse legislation” and to “be familiar with the legislative drafting process or have the ability to develop such knowledge”.

I think the crossbench staffers whose employment was just made redundant might know a thing or two about that!

Updated

Madeleine King is still doing the media rounds, speaking on the gas report the ACCC handed down this morning.

She is asked while on the ABC if the government would consider something like a profit windfall tax:

I think it’s unhelpful to link the issues into this issue is principally today we’re talking about a predicted shortfall.

LNP MP Terry Young is arguing against the Territory rights bill for a couple of reasons – he doesn’t think governments should have more powers for one.

And because the territories don’t have Senates, and therefore are not “properly equipped” to deal with laws like voluntary assisted dying.

Which is also true of the state he represents, Queensland. Which has passed VAD laws.

Updated

These photos never look natural

Victorian health officials confident latest Covid wave has peaked

Victoria appears to have passed the peak of its latest Covid wave that was fuelled by the new Omicron subvariants. Health officials in the state are confident cases and hospitalisation are now on the downslope.

Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said there has been a 10% reduction in case numbers compared to last week:

That’s good news and, as well, [we] would expect hospitalisation numbers also appear to be plateauing.

Sutton added that 10% of new cases are now reinfections, which adds a cumulative risk of long Covid:

People are at greater risk of heart attack, they’re at a greater risk of a stroke following a Covid reinfection.

Updated

From Mike Bowers’s lenses to your eyeballs:

Anika Wells
The minister for aged care, Anika Wells, during Question Time. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
David Littleproud
David Littleproud reacts to Catherine King quoting a previous tweet of his on foot-and-mouth disease. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Fantastic. Good job.

Angus Taylor
Angus Taylor reacts to the Chris Bowen during Question Time. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Scott Morrison on the backbench
The former prime minister, Scott Morrison, takes his seat on the backbench this afternoon. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

The second reading debate on the Territory rights bill has begun.

Updated

LNP MP Bert van Manen (for the division of Forde up in Queensland) wants to know if the standard of dress has been lowered in the house.

Milton Dick says it has not.

Not sure who van Manen is dobbing on, but as someone who wears pyjamas in most settings, I do not understand the policing on dress. However the parliament apparently does.

Updated

Littleproud: Labor misrepresenting May tweet about foot-and-mouth disease

David Littleproud is giving a personal explanation because Labor keeps referring to his tweet about foot and mouth disease, but he says they are not reading the whole tweet.

He is pointing out that under the standing orders, once someone has made a correction, the speaker can step in and stop the misrepresentation on board.

Milton Dick says he will “reflect on his view”.

David Littleproud
David Littleproud reacts to Catherine King quoting a tweet regarding foot-and-mouth disease from his time as the agriculture minister from earlier in the year. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Move to allow Territory rights bill to be debated immediately

Labor’s Tony Burke is moving to suspend standing orders to allow the debate of the second reading of Luke Gosling’s restoring territory rights bill immediately – and then have the debate sent to the Federation chamber for the rest of the day.

This is part of the “urgent” bill standing orders the government introduced last week.

Paul Fletcher, the Liberal’s manager of opposition business, says this is a “government determined to ram matters through as quickly as it can” and seems happy to be able to say “I told you so” in parliamentary language.

Updated

Question Time ends

And it ends a little earlier than usual, which prompts some surprise from the opposition.

Updated

Albanese: not having nurses in aged care homes will affect emergency departments

Sussan Ley to Anthony Albanese:

When asked about how many nurses would be required in aged care to meet your election commitment your minister said 869 nurses were required. Can the prime minister please confirm that to meet your election commitment in full, only 869 nurses will be required in aged care homes?

Albanese:

I’m quite happy to take a question from the deputy leader of the opposition about aged care. Because we went to the election with a comprehensive plan to fix aged care, putting nurses back into nursing homes 24 hours a day, because we know that’s one of the issues having an impact on emergency departments.

If you don’t have a nurse in a nursing home, when an elderly person gets sick, they can often end up getting an acute health condition because there is not someone onsite to help them. That’s what the royal commission said and what we are responding to and ... I [am] finally just beyond comprehension that after nine years of neglect from those opposite on aged care, after having an aged care royal commission which made very clear recommendations ... the response of the opposition is to come in here and ask questions like this. Not to ask questions...

Ley stands up on a point of order which Dick says is not a point of order.

Milton Dick:

I want to remind all members of the house, simply raising points of order about relevance to disrupt Question Time will not be tolerated and I simply will not take the point of order if this continues. Order. I call the prime minister.

Albanese:

I was asked question about nurses in nursing homes and those opposite are saying is that it’s not relevant ... the consequences of not having a nurse in a nursing home. That’s what they are saying.

We had a very clear plan about nurses in nursing homes. We had a very clear plan about 215 minutes of care. A very clear plan about more accountability for the operators of nursing homes, a very clear plan about the nutrition in nursing homes for aged care residents. Because we know that over half, according to the royal commission, over half of aged care residents were not getting the nutrition they need. They [were] literally starving.

This is the issue befalling Australians and I say to the opposition, do you think seriously about the impact of those people watching this at home who have mum or dad or grandpa or grandma or their sister or brother in an aged care home, worried about the impact which is there, worried about the deficiencies that have been identified by the aged care royal commission, and you know what they are saying around the country?

They are saying, we want a nurse in a nursing home. They are saying we want 215 minutes of care. They are saying, we want better nutrition. They say they want their accountability. Those opposite ... show with this line of questioning how completely out of touch they are.

Peter Dutton stands up on indulgence:

I join with the prime minister’s sentiment in doing the best for those in aged care facilities, that is absolutely the desire and the approach of this Coalition, Mr Speaker. We will support measures by the government which will go to providing support to those in aged care facilities. This question was about how many nurses are needed...

Milton Dick is not happy:

I gave indulgence to the leader of the opposition because of the position that he holds. I will not have the use of indulgence used for political point scoring.

Updated

Wells confirms government will need 869 new nurses to pursue 24/7 aged care support

Sussan Ley to Anika Wells:

I refer the minister to her answer last [session] that 869 new nurses would be needed for policy. In April, when asked about the number of nurses needed, now [the] minister for home affairs said we will need to bring in [the] low thousands, somewhere between 2,000 to 3,000 new people. Was the minister for home affairs [wrong] or did you, minister, mislead the House?

Wells:

I welcome the opportunity to speak of workforce numbers and shortages. Particularly the numbers that came out at estimates, I think it was 1 April from the top of my head. I think it is important to note that these numbers were the modelling of the then Morrison government when being told about workforce shortages.

The difference, Mr Speaker, is that we are actually doing something about it. We are doing something about workforce shortages.

They were given a second report and the theme of today that they chose not to tell people about. They were told the bad news and decided not to tell Australians anything about it and to try and skate through. So yes, when we’re talking about workforce, there are different numbers ...

Ley:

On relevance: was the member for Hotham wrong or...

There is no point of order.

Anika Wells
The minister for aged care, Anika Wells, during Question Time. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Wells:

Yes, the number is still 869, and it was 869 when you didn’t do anything about it and was thousands at the 200 care minutes, which is the other commitments you speak about often. The thing to note is when protectively asking us about where these workers will come from, it was a problem you chose to do nothing about.

You had this problem for years and years and ... it is probably worth noting at this point, when we talk about aged care workforce shortages, where did it stem from? It stems from December 2013, when one of the first actions of the Abbott government was to cut the aged care workforce government compact.

Paul Fletcher gets up and Dick asks Wells if she has concluded her answer:

Wells:

No I haven’t.

So Fletcher gets his point of order – it’s on Wells’ use of “you” instead of titles. (So many people in this place reveal themselves as the classroom nark everyday.)

Dick asks Wells not to use “you” and Wells continues:

Is that if that is the most burning thing they can raise, I think that shows when we talk about workforce shortages.

This started in 2013 when one of the first acts of the Abbott government was to suspend standing orders in the House to cut the aged care workforce compact. It was one of the first things that cut workers’ rights and put us down this track. Who was the health government at this very moment when orders were suspended? Who was the health minister?

[It was] the now leader of the Opposition. He was the one who was health minister when they suspended standing orders to cut the ageing care workforce numbers Compact.

We are upfront about this. It will require thousands of workers to come back online to fix the problem. That is why we are trying to give them a pay rise. We will need 869 nurses to meet our 24/7 nursing requirement. That [was] the question you asked me on Thursday and I answered.

I think, Mr Speaker, you said if you want a different answer: ask a different question. Broadly, as you know from the second report [the Coalition] strive[s] to do nothing about, thousands of personal carriers, kitchen staff and others in aged care will be required to get to what is a better standard of care.

They are quibbling over how we work to get a better standard of care and, really, after 9 years of neglect a better standard can’t come soon enough.

Updated

Standing order 98C limit questioners, not answers

Paul Fletcher has a very long point of order in the middle of Chris Bowen’s dixer:

It goes to the question to the extent to which ministers are given free rein to give their own interpretation of what has happened over the last 10 years.

Standing order 98C is quite clear on the range of questions to which ministers can be asked about.

It is restricted to public affairs administration the well understood requirement that the answer must be relevant to the question. It can’t be appropriate that there is a construct under which a minister is asked a question which invites him to reflect in the broadest possible terms of the conduct of previous government*. He should be telling the Australian people what the Albanese government’s plans are to solve the problem.

*Again, just choking on the irony over here, given the number of dO yOU kNoW oF AnY AlterNAtiVe apProacHEs in Morrison government dixers.

Tony Burke responds:

Just for the point of order for the benefit of the manager of opposition business. The standing order he referred to at the start carries rules for the question. They apply to the questioner.

Standing order 104 is the one that refers to the answers. That is the standing order that refers to the minister. It is not a valid point of order to use standing order 98 to try to limit what is in an answer. This question specifically included what are the consequences of a failure to act. The minister is being specifically relevant to it.

Milton Dick says he is listening to both the questions and the answers.

Updated

Victoria and South Australia running at a sub-zero price on power today

I think we’ve settled on a standard Q&A between the opposition and the Albanese government over electricity prices. The former will keep asking when Labor’s promise of a cut of $275 in average annual household power bills will kick in, and the government will respond by saying the Morrison government deliberately delayed the release of the default market offer (and thus delayed exposing higher power prices).

Details of the power price delay were first reported here (as far as we can tell), which was pretty brazen – and set a booby trap of sorts for the next government. It’s not clear when the $275 price cut was meant to kick in by, and what the baseline is.

Perhaps we should start the clock on from this quarter?

For what it’s worth, Victoria and South Australia – thanks to good wind and sunshine today – are both operating at a sub-zero price of power in the national electricity market at about minus-$30 per megawatt hour, as we type.

As for next year, there’s continued falls in the recent week, but they have a long way to go before they get back reliably below $100/MWh.

Updated

Dr Monique Ryan tells the Coalition to 'put your masks on'

In her first question to the parliament, the independent MP for Kooyong, Dr Monique Ryan, makes her mark:

Repeated infections with Covid-19 are [thought] to be more severe and carry a high risk of persisting symptoms for as long as six months, as well as an increased risk of hospitalisation and death.

There is increasing risk of cumulative neurological and cardiovascular disease from infections from Covid-19. Covid-19 infections in this country are at a record high and increasing. Can the minister please explain how he proposes to manage the oncoming national significant burden of disability and chronic illness – put your masks on* – from repeated infection ...with Covid-19.

*This is directed at the Coalition side of the chamber which is still mostly mask-free. There are jeers in response.

Mark Butler:

I thank the member for Kooyong for her questions and she is actually is one of the large number of health professionals in the Parliament who will add depth to our health policy.

There can be no more important time then now because this pandemic is still ravaging our community. Official numbers record that more than 300,000 Australians each and every week of being infected with Covid and we know from zero sampling and other ways that the likely number is more than twice that.

We think that as many as half of Australia has contracted Covid just over the course of this year so far.

Our focus is on getting through this wave. We have extended support to state hospital system. We have expanded access to fourth-dose vaccines and antiviral treatment.

We are encouraging Australians again to be Covid-safe. In particular, as the member pointed out, to wear masks when indoors [and] are not able to socially distance.

As the member points out [and] the member for Higgins [Labor’s Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah] pointed out in her beautiful speech this morning, we also need to come out to grips with long Covid. Long Covid is not easy to diagnose or treat.

The medical literature already reports more than 200 different symptoms being logged, most commonly involving fatigue, shortness of breath and what people are calling brain fog.

Some symptoms are disappearing after a few months; others experience quite specific ... symptoms requiring specific interventions for example from a cardiologist.

More and more Australians are suffering longer term, multi-system disorders that prove hard to diagnose and treat.

The truth is, Mr Speaker, we don’t know [the] scale of the challenge.

A common estimate of about 4% of Covid patients experienc[ing] long-term symptoms already runs to hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Australian. Support is available through our standard medical system. States are operating long Covid clinics.

Their waiting lists are growing. It is increasingly clear to me that we will need to develop a focused response nationally to the phenomenon of long Covid.

I have already started work on the next phase of the government’s pandemic response, particularly beyond this winter and this third Omicron wave. I have already spoken to the Chief Medical Officer to introduce proposal around long Covid in particular.

I am keen to continue discussions with the member for Kooyong and other members of this place [regarding] this profound long-term health challenge that is proving so debilitating [and] distressing for so many Australian.

• This post was amended on 1 August 2022 . Due to an editing error an earlier version misidentified the member for Higgins being referred to as the Liberal’s Dr Katie Allen. This has been corrected to Labor’s Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah.

Updated

It’s not exactly the more respectful question time which was promised, but I think we all knew that was going to be a harder task than asking me to give up potato.

And I will never give up potato.

King: Coalition did nothing after foot-and-mouth outbreak began

David Littleproud to Catherine King:

I refer to the agriculture minister’s admission that almost four weeks after the foot and mouth outbreak, none of the promised 1m vaccination doses have been delivered to Indonesia, nor have the additional veterinarians arrived. How many of those doses have been delivered and veterinarians arrived in Indonesia?

King [representing Murray Watt]

As the shadow minister knows, in order to deliver the vaccine, you actually have to make sure that you got the right virus in the first place and they take a while to manufacture for a start, and they will be delivered as we promised.

But if you want to talk about delays, if you want to talk about delays, when did we hear about a foot and mouth outbreak in Australia? When did we hear about it? We heard about it on Twitter from the then minister of agriculture on the 9 May.

Littleproud has a point of order.

Milton Dick:

The minister will resume her seat. She’s only been going 30 seconds. Order. The leader of the National party rising on a point of order. I’ve given you the call.

Littleproud:

Mr Speaker, understanding order 68, on Thursday after Question Time, I gave a personal explanation about the [point the] prime minister gave that quoted the tweet which the minister has just raised.

Milton Dick:

There’s no point of order, that is a separate matter. This is not the time to do it. It’s not during Question Time and I give the call to the question – I give the call to the minister and ask for it to be relevant to the question of delay in vaccine rollout in [the] four weeks after the foot and mouth outbreak has occurred. I call the minister.

King:

When do we hear about this outbreak? On Twitter, when the then minister for agriculture decided to announce it to the Australian public via tweet on 9 May and what did he do? He offered a briefing to the opposition ... as per our caretaker arrangements, but then what did you do? Absolutely nothing. Nothing! You did nothing.

Updated

For those asking, Mike Bowers has found Scott Morrison’s new spot in the house:

Scott Morrison on the backbench
Former prime minister Scott Morrison takes his seat on the backbench. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Scott Morrison
So much listening. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Bill Shorten greets Scott Morrison
Labor’s Bill Shorten greets the former prime minister, Scott Morrison. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Albanese: interest rates were forecast to rise no matter who was in government

Angus Taylor to Anthony Albanese:

How much higher is the cash rate today compared to when you came into government? How much more are Australians paying on a typical mortgage as a result?

Albanese:

The cash rate today is 1.35 (there are cheers).

And what we know is that ... the Reserve Bank said that ... I want to get this quote, I want to get this right, because the Reserve Bank said ... prior to the election, they foreshadowed interest rate increases.

If those opposite want to argue ... that if the government had not changed, if the Australian people had not voted for change on the 21 May, [then] interest rates would be the same, then they are just kidding themselves. They are just kidding themselves.

We know that tomorrow the Reserve Bank will meet and is likely to make another decision.

We will wait and see what that independent decision is but I do note, I do note that less than one month into the election and this perhaps summarises the attitude of those opposite and where these questions derive from.

They said, quite frankly, the Labor government has had nine years in opposition to prepare for the date [they] would be in government, so there’s no excuse.

They spent nine years in office, [Peter Dutton’s face here is art] nine years in office, they will not take responsibility [for] anything that they left, the trillion dollars of debt or any of the other chaos they left in the economy, the failure on social policy, the failure on energy policy, the failure on environmental policy, they will not take responsibility for their failure on transparency, where we’ve seen they hid the energy prices...

Paul Fletcher gets up with a point of order, but Albanese decides he has concluded his answer.

Updated

Albanese: Coalition was a ‘light-on government that did nothing to keep the lights on’

Ted O’Brien is getting more face time in opposition than he ever had when his party was in government. He has a question for Anthony Albanese:

My question goes to the prime minister and I refer to the fact that the official Labor party website continues to promote the promise of a $275 cut in people’s household bills ... it [is] still there today. (INTERJECTIONS)

Will the prime minister please tell us why he is giving false hope to Australians who are already struggling with cost of living that they are going to get a cut in their power bills?

Albanese:

I will ask the minister [to add to this]. I shouldn’t get all of this. I should spread the opportunity. The truth is that [the Coalition] knew before the election that power prices were going up but they chose to keep Australians in the dark. A light-on government that did nothing to keep the lights on.

That’s what the opposition was. 22 different energy policies; [they] did not land one of them ... We have one policy, we announced it in December last year, we will implement that policy and we will deliver more renewables into the system which is the cheapest form of new energy.

Unlike those opposite, who actually had a billion-dollar fund that they announced ... they announced project after project. Three years ago ...

(Ted O’Brien has a point on order and Albanese is asked to stay relevant)

He lists a few broken promises and then the minister for climate, Chris Bowen, gets a guernsey (that’s to say, it’s his turn to speak):

We are going after those commitments because we know that clean energy is cheap energy, so we have already started introducing our policies. To 80% of our grid. It is the case that the former minister didn’t not only not release he sat in his office and signed energy.

Once he had done it he thought to himself, “fantastic. Well done Angus” ... We have got the former minister for energy who sat on energy price rises. We have got the former minister for the environment who sat on the report ... [I’m] surprised they don’t have their meetings in a safe house.

Milton Dick reminds Bowen to refer to members by their titles.

Updated

Chalmers: no intention to introduce windfall tax on gas companies

Elizabeth Watson-Brown, the Greens MP for Ryan has a question for Jim Chalmers:

My question as to the Treasurer. We are in a... cost of living [crisis] but corporations are making record profits, and the gas corporations are gouging us all. In the upcoming budget will you place a windfall tax on these excess profits to invest in universal services like getting dental into Medicare and bring down the cost of living for everyone?

Chalmers:

Thank you very much. I think the member for Ryan for her question and congratulate her on her election. It is not the government’s intention to apply a windfall tax to the gas companies.

Obviously, we listen respectfully to the views put to us from right around the country about the best ways to deal with this combination of cost of living pressures, a big part of which [is the] skyrocketing cost of energy ... but we are not currently working up a windfall tax or anything that looks like that as we deal with the complex combination of economic circumstances that we have inherited as a new government.

We do have a policy on multinational taxes which is part of making sure that multinationals pay their fair share of taxes in Australia, so that we can invest that money [in] some of those areas that the member for Ryan is right to identify, whether it be Medicare, whether it be childcare, investments and educational skills. All of these important areas.

One of our defining tasks as a government ... is how do we take money which has been spent on unproductive purposes for a political dividend and how do we redirect that money, in the interests of the Australian people, into areas which does deliver, whether it is a social dividend or economic dividend ... as the creators of Medicare ... we are looking for ways to more responsively fund those priorities.

When it comes to the energy market in particular ... our focus on the energy market is on security and affordability ... some of the issues which have been raised by the ACCC in the report that I released overnight which go to making sure that Australians can access the energy that they need at affordable prices.

That is a big reason why inflation is what it is because energy prices are going through the roof. That we are conscious of that and I working to ensure that we can responsibly addressed that but the proposal that the member for Ryan has respectfully put to us is respectfully not ... a path that we are going down.

Updated

Katter: I identify as a First Australian but whether I am or not is ‘irrelevant’

Labor’s dixers are on the Indigenous Voice to parliament. Bob Katter stands up:

As the minister for Queensland the state with the biggest population of Indigenous Australians, you will hear me identify myself as a First Australian. Whether I am or not is irrelevant. It is an important point I make. It is an important serious point I make.

Speaker Milton Dick asks him why he is on his feet. Are you asking a question?

Katter:

I’m sorry I was commenting, point of order on the last question, if I am out of order I will resume seat.

There is no point of order. Katter sits down.

Updated

Dutton: why isn’t Labor extending the fuel excise? Albanese: you set the end date

As commentators pointed out, the danger of the opposition asking about cost of living, is that so much can be turned back on the previous government. But points for asking about something relevant to people. Baby steps.

Peter Dutton:

To the prime minister, under your government ... households are facing rising power bills [and] your plan to address this is in disarray. Will your government compound the pressure on household budgets by not extending the fuel excise relief? Why is Labor making a bad situation worse?

Anthony Albanese:

Did that just happen? Thanks, Mr Speaker. I thank the leader of the opposition for his question. I point to the fact that he was in the cabinet that put together the budget; it had the end date for the measure he talks about.

To be fair, things have changed again and while the previous government did put in the end date, Labor has the power to extend it.

Updated

Albanese: former government locked in these higher power prices

From that to the questions.

Peter Dutton to Anthony Albanese:

My question is to the prime minister. ABS data shows electricity prices increased on average by 12.9% per year when Labor was last in government compared to just 0.3% during the previous Coalition government. Given the prime minister has dumped his promise to cut our prices by $275 for Australian families, can the prime minister cut the hubris and tell families with a prior power prices will be higher or lower when they get their next bill?

Albanese (following in the tradition of recent prime ministers of asking for hands up during question time):

I thanks so much the leader of the opposition for this question which goes to whether Australians will have higher power prices when they get their next bill, and I’m happy to outline for the benefit of the house what the circumstances are when they get their next bill, because we have course did have a policy we announced on 3 December last year.

On the 31 March this year, the governor general signed a determination to delay the publication of the default market offer for energy prices. On 6 April, the determination to amend paragraph 17-2C of the industry code was registered and published. On the 7 April, the determination with the delayed date came into effect and guess when the election was called? The 10 April. So three days before the election was called, this minister, this minister went to the [governor general and] put in a determination to change the industry code to keep it secret.

On the 11 April, parliament was prorogued and caretaker commenced. On the 1 May ... the previous publication date was the date [of] the default market offer.

21 May was election day and guess when they published it, was it before or after the 21 May? What do you think? Hands up those who think it might have been before the election? Hands up those who think it was after the election?

(Paul Fletcher tries to have a point of order, but he is denied.)

Albanese:

Those people who said it was after the election were spot on. On the 26 May ... the default market offer was finally published by the Australian energy regulator, and the new default price that will feed straight into people’s power bills came into effect on 1 July.

The default market price ... that this former government tried to hide from the Australian people. What we know is that renewables will lead to cheaper power prices. We stand by our modelling, those opposite ... couldn’t even be straight with the Australian people about the higher power prices that they locked in.

Updated

Question time begins

Anthony Albanese is on his feet, paying tribute to Archie Roach (his family has given permission for his name to be used)

Albanese:

May his family draw consolation that maybe Archie just walks in another place with his beloved Ruby once more. While we grieve his death, we will try to heed his words. We will not cry, we will lift our spirits high up to the sky. We will hold onto everything that Archie Roach gave us and celebrate him and all that he created. What a remarkable man. What a privilege that our lives overlapped with his. May he rest in peace.

Peter Dutton also spoke in tribute.

The house had a moment’s silence in honour of Archie Roach.

Brave

Liberal MP not interested ‘in a political debate’ on previous government’s energy policy

James Stevens was asked on the ABC whether or not there is merit in the “inherited this mess” line from the Labor government on gas.

He said:

Look, I don’t think that we should turn this into a political debate about what the previous government and current governments and how long they’ve had to act.

The point is that we’re hearing now about these challenges. There are mechanisms that are in place already. If there needs to be tweaks to that, then we’re going to support the government in having all the tools and policy levers they need to ensure that a country with an enormous number of reserves of natural gas and other critical minerals, etc, that we never have a situation where domestically, we can’t provide enough gas for the needs of our own industry and households.

So, I think that the blame game is completely pointless in this. I think that the current government and the current minister needs to focus on doing whatever they need to do to put that security in place. And if there needs to be further legislative change, I’m keen to support them in doing so.

Updated

National Covid summary: 19 deaths reported

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 19 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 616
  • In hospital: 165 (with 2 people in ICU)

NSW

  • Deaths: 7
  • Cases: 9,471
  • In hospital: 2,323 (with 69 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 229
  • In hospital: 49 (with 1 person in ICU)

Queensland

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 4,303
  • In hospital: 782 (with 24 people in ICU)

South Australia

  • Deaths: 5
  • Cases: 2,389
  • In hospital: 350 (with 12 people in ICU)

Tasmania

  • Deaths: 3
  • Cases: 690
  • In hospital: 139 (with 8 people in ICU)

Victoria

  • Deaths: 3
  • Cases: 7,678
  • In hospital: 773 (with 50 people in ICU)

Western Australia

  • Deaths: 1
  • Cases: 2,816
  • In hospital: 411 (with 13 people in ICU)

Question Time approaches

We are getting closer to Question Time, or, as it has been known from last week, CFMEU/ABCC time.

Surely the Coalition has moved on by now, but who knows! That is the excitement of question time.

Updated

Latest RBA rate decision due tomorrow

This time tomorrow (well, 2.30pm, Canberra time) we’ll have the RBA’s rate decision after its August board meeting. Everyone is pencilling a rate hike, not least because inflation is already running at the highest in two decades and might well nudge 8% by the year’s end.

Should the cash rate target be elevated to 1.85% - the closest thing to a consensus call - the extra 50 basis point increase will add an extra $140 to your monthly repayment bill per $500,000, according to RateCity.com.

It’s worth remembering that the RBA lifting its cash rate remains something of a novelty. Before they moved during the official election campaign (awks), you had to go back to November 2010 for the previous increase (Americain won the Melbourne Cup that day, since you asked).

And you have to go even further back to find a comparable series of rate rises. From August to December of 1994 (who knows whose music led the charts at the time?), the RBA lifted rates by 75 basis points and then two bouts of 100 basis points. Makes you wonder why they didn’t smooth things out a bit.

Of course, we’re much smoother these days, although the Morrison government and the soon-to-be-trounced treasure Josh Frydenberg might wonder why they didn’t get a bit more warning about that May move. One for the memoirs perhaps.

Anyway, here’s what those pesky investors are predicting ... including about 200 basis points more increases (including tomorrow’s move) before the RBA will pause and then start cutting.

Updated

Here is the moment Greens senator Lidia Thorpe made her thoughts known in the Senate during her swearing in:

Updated

Sophie Scamps: the secret to overcoming a century of party-dominated politics was listening

Mackellar MP Sophie Scamps claims “politics in this country may never be the same” after the unprecedented wave of new independent members who won office at the May election.

The member for Mackellar, Sophie Scamps, delivers her first speech in the House of Representatives on Monday.
The member for Mackellar, Sophie Scamps, delivers her first speech in the House of Representatives on Monday. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

In her first speech to parliament on Monday afternoon, Scamps – one of half-dozen new MPs partly supported by Climate 200 – described the trend as a “wave of change”.

What was the “secret”? How did someone like me – a GP never previously active in politics – overcome more than a century of party-dominated politics?

The key, the power, I believe, was simply listening. Like my other crossbench colleagues, I listened to my community.

Scamps spoke of watching the election results in 2019, when Zali Steggall won Warringah from Tony Abbott, and had a “lightning bolt” moment that year courtesy of a friend of her 12-year-old son.

I have long been troubled about the impact that climate change will have on the health and wellbeing of children and future generations. This day, my son and his friends were asking me about climate change – and I responded – that they would one day need to act on it.

[My son’s friend] Mathias looked up at me earnestly and said, “Yes, because you adults have failed us.” His comment found its target. I listened – and decided to act.

Scamps said she was previously “horrified” of public speaking, saying it wasn’t easy to choose to run for parliament. Referencing Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings, she made a plea for others to work together on climate change: “I urge you too, to step on to the road and join me in this journey.”

Scamps spoke of visiting flood victims in Lismore and of her concern over extreme weather events. She also blasted “all-too-frequent acts of corruption in our politics” in stressing the importance of a national integrity commission, and the importance to “keep our democracy strong”.

We must ensure that political appointments to government agencies are independent, merit-based – and that this is enshrined in law.

Scamps also mentioned her desire to see youth mental health services expanded, her support for Labor’s plans to bolster aged care standards, and backed the Uluru Statement From the Heart.

Sophie Scamps is hugged by independent member for Warringah, Zali Steggall after making her maiden speech.
Sophie Scamps is hugged by independent member for Warringah, Zali Steggall, after making her maiden speech. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Prediction: Labor will be pressured to allow industry-level wage bargaining

Steven Amendola, partner at employment law firm Kingston Reid, has suggested that Labor will come under pressure to allow industry-level bargaining to lift wages.

Amendola told an online forum about IR reform on Monday:

Whilst Labor has said previously that they don’t favour sectoral or industry bargaining, the only way that I see enterprise bargaining as broadly impacting wage growth ... is if they allow a broad based industry or sector bargaining, so that might get revisited.

This is an interesting observation because although Labor’s 2021 platform promised to “improve access to collective bargaining, including where appropriate through multi-employer collective bargaining”, it wasn’t something that featured in their election policies, a sore spot for the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

Amendola noted the Fair Work Act already allows multi-enterprise agreements for industries with low bargaining power, but it “hasn’t worked terribly well if at all”.

To stimulate more wages growth, you want it to be more broadly based.

Amendola cited deals struck in the construction sector, where the CFMEU negotiates for “pattern agreements” that have “strong” terms and conditions for employees. Allowing unions to seek similar agreements among cleaners, aged care and other sectors where they are not traditionally as strong could lift wages.

Stephen Smith, the head of workplace relations at Australian Industry Group, said it had fought “tooth and nail” against industry level bargaining and would do so again.

He noted Labor’s platform referred specifically to low-paid industries, arguing that and supporting industry-level bargaining by unions like the CFMEU and AMWU was like chalk and cheese.

I can’t see Labor being foolish enough to go down that path.

Updated

Some truly wonderful pictures in this gallery:

Updated

Byron writers’ festival moves location from North Byron Parkland after Splendour in the Grass washout

The Byron writers’ festival has abandoned its venue for this year’s events, after the Splendour in the Grass music festival was washed out on the same ground late last month.

The three-day writers’ festival, opening on 26 August, was to have taken place at the privately-owned North Byron Parklands in Yelgun, 23km north of Byron Bay. But after months of rain, the sodden grounds turned the Splendour festival into a mud-fest last weekend, with thousands of concertgoers taking to social media to complain and demand refunds.

The Byron writers’ festival has announced it will pitch its five marquees closer to the township, on a plot of land adjacent to the luxury resort Elements of Byron.

The festival’s artistic director, Zoe Pollock, said in a statement the last-minute change of venue had been “expedited” by the resort and Byron Shire Council, the majority of whose councillors have always been against the use of the North Byron Parklands for major events that attract tens of thousands of people.

The aftermath of the Splendour in the Grass music festival at the North Byron Parklands on 25 July.
The aftermath of the Splendour in the Grass music festival at the North Byron Parklands on 25 July. Photograph: Jason O’Brien/AAP

Updated

As descriptions of the Queen and the institution she represents go, “coloniser” is not inaccurate.

Updated

One of the reasons why builders are struggling is because they are locked into contracts when building materials were relatively cheap (compared to now and the supply chain issues).

Updated

Luke Henriques-Gomes wants to chat to you if you have been made to complete one of these courses:

For those who have this burning issue on the top of their minds, Madeleine King was asked about whether there would be any relief for beer drinkers in the October budget given the inflation on beer in that press conference as well.

She declined to answer.

Mike Bowers was in the blue room (the second most fancy press conference location for governments) as Madeleine King spoke about the ACCC gas report.

The Resources and Northern Australia Minister Madeleine King at a press conference
The Resources and Northern Australia Minister Madeleine King at a press conference Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

What’s missing between today’s ACCC gas report and January’s?

To underscore the different approach being taken with the Albanese government – and the ACCC –on gas supply, here are a couple of extra points.

The resource minister, Madeleine King, said it would be “lunacy” to try to browbeat NSW and Victoria over gas, noting that previous efforts by the Morrison government basically got nowhere.

In 2020, to refresh a few memories, the federal government and the then Berejiklian governments were cheering a deal that was supposed to inject 70 petajoules of extra gas into the east coast market – mainly through the development of the Narrabri gasfield in northern NSW.

In exchange, the NSW government would tap into $3bn to support the roll-out (think transmission lines) for renewable energy. As a few people noted at the time, there was no consequence if NSW did nothing.

Anyway, the seemingly interminable approval for that Narrabri field has trundled along with Santos still to make a final financial sign-off of the deal.

That’s another way of saying: nothing extra can happen in terms of new gas supplies in the near term. It’s all about making sure what “excess” or uncontracted gas there’s floating around (some 167PJ of gas) doesn’t all get sucked up and shipped overseas.

Not the biggest ask, you’ve have to say, given we’ll be paying over-the-odds for it anyway (and way more than it’s costing to produce).

But the other point worth noting is what was in the January ACCC report
but isn’t in this one.

Whereas that previous one highlighted “bans, moratoria and other regulatory restrictions on onshore exploration and development”, you won’t find words like that in this new ACCC report.

Similarly absent are paragraphs like this:

Government processes may be contributing to the lack of diversity and the slower development of new sources of supply. Governments play an important role in influencing the development of gas in the east coast gas market, with states and territories responsible for releasing acreage, granting permits to explore for, appraise and produce gas in tenements located onshore and within three nautical miles of the coast.

Guess what, that’s gone too. Quite an interesting point of difference, by the looks of it.

Updated

Albanese: People respond to a bit of honesty and integrity in politics

Anthony Albanese has maintained his chats with Adelaide radio 5AA, something he used to do with Christopher Pyne and then did himself when Pyne retired.

He is asked by the host about his Newspoll approval ratings (61% approve of the job he is doing so far) and said:

Oh look I’m not a commentator, and polls will go up and down. I’m just doing the job that I was elected to do ... when you get some positive feedback, that’s good. But it won’t always be, so I’m very conscious about that. But I believe people are responding to the positive agenda that the new government is setting, I have an extraordinarily talented team ... that have come into government, a mix of vast experience.

People like Penny Wong, our Senate leader, a great South Australian, and so many others from South Australia, Amanda Rishworth, Mark Butler, and Don Farrell are all cabinet ministers. They are all people of great capacity, who are making an enormous difference to the nation. I think that that experience as well, we have come into government, we’re trying to get things done, put in place measures that we committed to prior to the election, and achieve outcomes for people.

And where we need to tell people exactly what is going on, even if the message is difficult, like Jim Chalmers was last week. I think people respond to a bit of honesty and integrity in politics as well.

Updated

Greens: Get rid of negative gearing and capital gains tax in the housing market

Nick McKim also has thoughts on the housing market as a whole:

The government also needs to step in to help new-owners and renters.

Having lured new homeowners into taking on record levels of debt, the RBA is now punishing them doubly.

Interest rate rises reduce the value of their asset and increase their monthly mortgage repayments.

Getting rid of negative gearing and capital gains tax would reduce demand in the housing market without affecting mortgage repayments for homeowners.

And the additional revenue could help fund 1 million new social houses that will provide renters with an affordable and secure alternative to the Hunger Games that is Australia’s private rental market.

Updated

Greens: RBA ‘needs to hit pause’

The Greens’ treasury spokesperson, Nick McKim, says the RBA should not raise rates tomorrow and people should not be paying the price to solve inflation rises:

The RBA needs to hit pause. Inflation is being driven by supply side shocks and corporate profiteering. Jacking up interest rates will not fix these problems.

The RBA needs to be honest about this with the Australian public. Monetary policy cannot curb inflation without punishing workers, renters and new homeowners, none of whom are the cause of the problem.

They should not increase rates tomorrow. And the treasurer needs to step in and use the levers that the Australian public have given him.

We need a super profits tax to reign in corporate profiteering and to fund cost-of-living relief, such as free childcare and putting dental care and mental health into Medicare.

We can’t wait for the government’s review to get fiscal and monetary policy working together. A failure to use fiscal policy will only increase the likelihood of the RBA overreaching.

Updated

King: former approach of attacking states didn’t work

Asked about her approach not to push the states around or tell them what they should be doing about gas pipelines, Madeleine King says:

I would note, the former minister, the resources or energy minister, the approach they took of attacking state governments didn’t work, did it? The evidence is here today. Those situations have not changed in those states.

It would seem like lunacy to follow that path and also it is not my style. I don’t think it is helpful to beat people over the head.

I don’t think it is helpful to refer to legislation as a big stick. It is not helpful to call it a trigger either, to be honest. It is just language.

We need to work together on these things. I know the states are very activated around their energy needs.

They will have to have a pretty decent think about what needs to happen. As for Narrabri itself, there is a lot of approvals required. I am not sure if there is anyone in particular to blame on this, whether it is the proponents [or] some of the applications may be lacking? I don’t know.

The state government ... my understanding is Matt Kean is keen on that being developed. There is a lot to work through. I am not here to push people around.

Updated

Resources minister: no utility in breaking long-term contracts for gas supply

Q: So is the answer to send less to China to ensure Australian supply?

Madeleine King:

These are international long-term contracts. They are important. There is no utility in Australia seeking to break international long term contracts. We depend on international investment, not just for gas, for iron ore development, for so many things in this country, we want to be known and remain, as we are known, as a reliable trading partner.

Updated

Madeleine King
The resources minister, Madeleine King, at a press conference in the blue room of Parliament House. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

King: gas supply is a matter for the states

Madeleine King is asked whether or not she wants the NSW government to look at getting more gas into the system, like from the Narrabri pipeline:

It is important that state governments and territories look at what is available to them. I am not here to tell them what to do. They will make their own decisions for their own communities.

It is logical to me as the federal resources minister that more reserves closer to where consumers are makes more sense rather than trying to force things down pipelines that aren’t big enough or ship things around the country which will make gas more expensive. Those are matters for the state governments to address and I am sure they are looking at it.

Updated

Resource minister refuses to call on states to permit further gas developments

Madeleine King, the resources minister, has been giving part of the government’s response to the rather critical ACCC report on gas, as we reported here (and the original report is here).

The ACCC report is damning, there’s no doubt about it.

The main response, though, is that the government will extend the so-called gas trigger (which is not much of a trigger at all) otherwise known as the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism (ADGSM) out to 2030. It was due to expire in January, but its effectiveness has been widely questioned given it’s quite a process to pull the trigger.

A strengthened ADGSM will work alongside the new heads of agreement, and ensure the government can respond quickly to short-term issues rather than only respond to forecast shortfalls a year in advance.

Several journalists have tried to prod King to call on the states to remove barriers to onshore gas developments, including Santos’s Narrabri projects in NSW and a couple in Victoria. King, though, isn’t biting on this one, saying it’s a matter for the states.

In fact, the ACCC (unlike previous gas reviews) notably does not prod the states on new gasfield developments either. In other words, the issue is not the availability of uncontracted gas but where it’s going – and that’s about 70% of it going overseas.

Updated

Gas lobby group: industry stood up when the east coast needed us this winter and we will do so again now

Meanwhile, the acting chief executive of the fossile fuel industry lobby group Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA), Damian Dwyer, says there won’t be a shortfall in domestic supply:

There has never been an actual shortfall and there will not be one next year – this is the ACCC signalling that action is needed, and the industry will act.

The report also shows contract prices for gas delivered into the market in 2022 and for delivery into the market in 2023 remained competitive. The report found, for example, that prices paid for gas supply agreements for delivery into southern states falling from $11.50/GJ in January-August 2021 to $9.25/GJ in September 2021-February 2022.

While prices for delivery in 2023 have increased, they remain well below international prices.

We very much understand our obligation to Australians and the importance they place on gas in running their homes and businesses, and that will be honoured.

Dwyer says the pressure on the system is because of outside influences:

It has been confirmed by Aemo just last week that the reason for pressure on the system is the extraordinary and rapid demand for gas we have seen this winter because of the extreme pressure on the broader energy system.

There have been major coal-fired generations outages and renewable generation not stepping up when required due to bad weather as well as a cooler winter and immense pressures on the global energy market due to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.

The industry stood up when the east coast needed us this winter and we will do so again now as we have done for decades, providing safe and reliable energy supply.

Updated

CEFC director calls for carbon exports super profits tax

Meanwhile, the director of Climate Energy Finance, Tim Buckley, says it is time for a carbon exports super profits tax:

The ACCC report highlights, yet again, there is no gas production shortage in eastern Australia. Production has trebled since 2015 and we – domestic consumers and domestic industry – use less than a third of this production.

Two thirds of east Australia’s fossil gas production is exported, and the absence of any effective price or volume regulations over multinational use of Australia’s public resource means the domestic market is held to ransom, paying at or above export price parity. The gas cartel has manufactured an east Australia energy crisis, all while they are war profiteering.

Now is the time for a carbon export super profits tax, and a domestic gas reservation. A carbon export tax would provide an immediate price signal to supply domestic gas customers first, and would immediately lower the price. The bigger the export tax impost, the bigger the reduction to domestic customers to use our own gas.

We have a concurrent fiscal, energy and climate crisis – a carbon export tax would help solve all three.

Updated

Resources minister: government extending domestic gas security mechanism until 2030

The ACCC’s warning on gas supply has created a chain reaction of, well, reactions, this morning.

The minister for resources, Madeleine King, says the government is doing what it can to ensure supply:

Following consultations ... the government will extend the ADGSM [Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism] until 2030, with a review due in 2025. The ADGSM is currently due to expire in January 2023.

Because the previous government failed to extend the mechanism beyond its current sunset clause, the so-called trigger cannot be pulled until the regulations are updated. This urgent work is underway.

Once the mechanism is available, I will take the first step in activating it.

The Albanese government will ensure Australian householders and businesses continue to have access to reliable energy supplies and we will take whatever steps are needed to avoid a repeat of the crisis we faced in early June.

Based on the forecast shortfall, the government needs to see firm commitments out of the east coast LNG exporters.

I will continue to work with gas and LNG producers, as well as state and territory governments to encourage new supply, and to find industry-led solutions to secure Australia’s ongoing energy needs.

The government is also talking with key trading partners to reassure them that Australia remains a trusted trading partner and a stable and reliable exporter of resources and energy.

The ADGSM is a measure of last resort which allows the government, in the event of a predicted shortfall, to restrict exports to ensure enough gas is available for domestic use.

Updated

Aukus steering group releases progress report

The US has released the readout from the recent Aukus steering group meeting – here is what the US says was discussed:

The Joint Steering Group for Australia’s Nuclear-Powered Submarine Program met on July 25-28, continuing its progress on defining the optimal pathway to provide Australia with conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines at the earliest possible date while ensuring the highest standards of nuclear stewardship, including the responsible planning, operation, application and management of nuclear material, technology and facilities.

The participants took stock of ongoing progress to deliver on our leaders’ commitment to set the highest possible non-proliferation standards, including through continued close consultation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. They welcomed the publication of the working paper on “Cooperation under the Aukus partnership” for the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The paper details our proposal to provide complete power units to Australia, Australia’s commitment that it will not conduct enrichment, reprocessing or fuel fabrication in connection with its nuclear-powered submarine program, and our engagement with the IAEA to find a suitable verification approach. They noted the introductory remarks of the IAEA director general to the June board of governors in which he expressed “satisfaction with the engagement and transparency shown by the three countries thus far” and noted that he plans to present a report on Aukus to the September Board.

The Joint Steering Group for Advanced Capabilities met on July 28-29, reviewing progress across critical defence capabilities. The participants decided to bolster combined military capabilities, including by accelerating near-term capabilities in hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, as well as cyber. They also recommitted to deepening cooperation on information-sharing and other previously agreed working groups. As work progresses on these and other critical defence capabilities, we will seek opportunities to engage allies and close partners.

Updated

Bill to permit legislating assisted dying laws for territories expected to pass

Northern Territory Labor MP Luke Gosling admits some Indigenous communities have “big reservations” about the expansion of access to euthanasia, but has implored his colleagues to support his bill on territory rights.

Gosling and his Canberra colleague Alicia Payne have co-sponsored a private member’s bill this morning in parliament, which would restore the right for the NT and Australian Capital Territory to make their own laws on voluntary assisted dying - which the territories are currently prevented from doing.

Labor will grant members a conscience vote.

Supporters believe the bill will pass through the House and Senate, but several Labor MPs are expected to vote against the territory rights push due to their opposition to euthanasia. Conservative lobby groups, as well as the Labor senator Pat Dodson, claim the expansion of assisted dying may discourage some people in Indigenous communities from accessing healthcare.

Luke Gosling
The member for Solomon Luke Gosling introduces the restoring territory rights bill into the House of Representatives this morning. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

In a press conference following the introduction of the bill, Gosling – the member for the NT seat of Solomon – said the debate must be had with “sensitivity and awareness of these issues and how they affect First Nations communities”.

There’s no doubt that when this has been discussed in the past, there have been big reservations held by some of our First Nations communities.

He urged those voicing such concerns should discuss the matter with the “powerhouse” of Indigenous MPs including Malarndirri McCarthy and Marion Scrymgour.

Gosling himself has “reservations” over expanding euthanasia access, but said the bill was about the democratic rights of territories to make their own laws. He said he was reaching out to senators to lay out that distinction, including writing to the new Coalition senator for the NT, Jacinta Price.

Payne said it was important to stress that the bill would not automatically expand euthanasia access; rather, it would be up to territories to advance any such legislation themselves.

It just means that we want to have the debate, and I really respect those in the federal parliament who may not support voluntary assisted dying but support our right to have the debate.

The ACT’s chief minister, Andrew Barr, joined the press conference. He said there was “optimism” the bill would pass, and said the ACT legislative assembly would pursue its own careful process once the bill was successful.

We would have a process that will run for a number of years, it would not be a quick or straightforward process.

Updated

Albanese: clean energy will create greatest transformation in economy since Industrial Revolution

From that same interview:

Jake Tapper:

The climate crisis is here ... by the time world leaders, including India and China and the United States, all get together and agree to do something significant, won’t it be too late?

Anthony Albanese:

Well, I certainly hope not. And I’m very optimistic.

At the Madrid Nato Summit, I had discussions with world leaders and also, of course, at the Quad Leaders’ meeting. And I regard people as being very prepared to take much stronger action.

There’s a greater recognition now as well that dealing with the challenge of climate change represents also an economic opportunity. We will see the greatest transformation that we have seen in our economy since the Industrial Revolution with the shift to clean energy.

And clean energy will, of course, see jobs being created at the same time, something that the Biden administration recognises, something that our European friends certainly recognise as well.

Updated

Albanese on Taiwan: ‘not in the interests of peace and security to talk up issues of potential conflict’

Anthony Albanese spoke to CNN’s Jake Tapper about a range of issues, including Taiwan. From the transcript:

Tapper:

The CIA director, William Burns, recently said that it’s not a question of if, but when and how China will try to invade Taiwan.

If China attacks Taiwan, would Australia defend Taiwan militarily?

Albanese:

Look, we’re not dealing with hypotheticals, as have Australian governments taken that position in the past.

Australia supports a one-China policy, but we also support the status quo when it comes to the issue of Taiwan, that people respect the existing structures which are there. I believe that clearly is in the interests of all parties.

And I have taken the view as well that it is not in the interests of peace and security to talk up those issues of potential conflict.

Updated

University of Western Australia suffers data breach

The University of Western Australia has suffered a data breach, with the institution warning students their information may have been collected via unauthorised access to the information management system.

The university told students that the Callista system was accessed by someone unauthorised to do so, though UWA has not identified who accessed it.

The data accessed regarding students and alumni includes names, student IDs and images, home addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, emergency contacts, personal email addresses, course details and grades.

No credit card details or other personal information was accessed, the uni said.
The breach has been reported to the Western Australia police, and affected accounts have been suspended.

UWA said there is no risk as a result of the breach, but people should be alert to suspicious activity, emails or calls.

Updated

ACT chief minister Andrew Barr as the Territory rights bill was introduced to the parliament. Barr sat in the gallery as as gesture of support.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr watches the Restoring Territory rights Bill being introduced into the House of Representatives
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr watches the Restoring Territory rights Bill being introduced into the House of Representatives Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Tiktok working with the Australian Information Commissioner

Just on my last post regarding the privacy commissioner looking at TikTok’s data collections, a spokesperson for TikTok has confirmed the company is working with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

We reached out to the [OAIC] with whom we are now in correspondence. Given the many inaccuracies and mistakes in Internet 2.0’s report, we look forward to providing a clearer and more accurate picture to the commissioner.

Internet 2.0 misstates the amount of data we collect. For example, we do not collect user device IMEI, SIM serial number, active subscription information, or integrated circuit card identification number. We do not have automatic clipboard access, though it may be initiated by a user. Unlike other apps, we do not collect precise GPS location but use approximate location information like IP addresses to make broad inferences that help us comply with local laws in the markets where we operate. It also helps us support fraud prevention and detection, and prevent inauthentic spam or bot-like behaviour on our platform.

Updated

The former prime minister and deputy prime minister have been sworn into the parliament.

Mike Bowers was there, of course (I swear that man clones himself, the amount of places he gets to).

Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce and Maria Vamvakinou being sworn in
The former prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the former deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, along with the member for Calwell, Maria Vamvakinou, being sworn in as members of the House of Representatives. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton
Scott Morrison talks to opposition leader Peter Dutton. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Australian privacy watchdog monitoring TikTok over user data concerns

TikTok is in the eye of the privacy commissioner, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review that the commissioner is considering the privacy concerns regarding an Internet 2.0 report on what data TikTok seeks to collect through the app.

The report looked at TikTok’s code and criticised the number of permissions that the app seeks for access to information on Android devices such as calendars, location information, phone number, SIM card number and storage.

This has sparked concern from those who were already worried about TikTok originating from China, with some calling for more scrutiny over the wildly popular social media app.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner provided the same statement to the AFR it has provided other outlets in the past few weeks. That is:

We are considering privacy concerns raised in the Internet 2.0 report in line with our regulatory action policy.

Platforms and apps must be transparent in how they treat their users’ data and protect their privacy, particularly for vulnerable users such as children, and should only collect information that is reasonably necessary to deliver the service. In regards to consent, individuals need to be provided with genuine choices around how their personal information will be handled, and those choices need to be inherently fair.

Members of the public should also review their privacy settings regularly.

As my colleague Alex Hern wrote last month, the problem with TikTok isn’t unique to TikTok. The kind of data the company seeks is what is called fingerprinting – which is used to track users across the internet for advertising purposes and what Apple is trying to crack down on – so the issue people have with TikTok is an issue they should also have with a lot of other non-Chinese companies.

Hern:

The problem with TikTok is no more and no less than the fact that it is a tremendously influential and important app, owned by a Chinese company. There is no technical data that will answer the question of whether that level of social and cultural power ‘should’ be in the hands of a company with roots in a geopolitical opponent.

Updated

Karen Andrews moves motion on Department of Home Affairs

Karen Andrews is moving a motion in the house on home affairs – the former minister is upset with the changes Labor has made to the portfolio. But as part of that, she seems to make a call for whistleblowers within the department to come forward to her office:

I do encourage any of the hardworking individuals within the home affairs portfolio, as it was, to contact my office if they find there are issues as a result of this government. I will respect your confidentiality.

That’s certainly a turnabout from the Coalition when it comes to whistleblowers in the home affairs department (and beyond, given prosecution decisions).

This is the motion:

Mrs Andrews, pursuant to notice, moved — That this House:

(1)recognises that since it was established by the previous Government in 2017 the Department of Home Affairs, as it was structured, has been important in keeping Australians safe and secure;

(2)acknowledges the vital work of the law enforcement and national security agencies that have worked very closely together under the Home Affairs portfolio;

(3)notes that the Department of Home Affairs was fundamentally changed by the current Government, as announced on 1 June 2022; and

(4)calls on the Government to ensure that these fundamental changes to the department will not reduce the operating budgets of our national security and law enforcement agencies.

Former minister for home affairs Karen Andrews.
Former minister for home affairs Karen Andrews. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Territory rights bill introduced

Alicia Payne is seconding Luke Gosling’s bill to restore territory rights.

The bill does not make voluntary assisted dying legal in the territories – but it gives those within the ACT and the NT the right to have the debate and decide for themselves.

In 1997, Kevin Andrews successfully led a push to take away that right.

Updated

Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce return to parliament

Also in the House:

Scott Morrison is making his first appearance since parliament began after heading to Japan for a conference with a bunch of other former conservative leaders.

Barnaby Joyce has returned from leave following the death of his father last week.

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, Labor member for Calwell Maria Vamvakinou and former prime minister Scott Morrison are sworn in in the House of Representatives on Monday.
Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, Labor member for Calwell Maria Vamvakinou and former prime minister Scott Morrison are sworn in in the House of Representatives on Monday. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Government to publish aged care Covid vaccination rates online

In a bid to improve transparency, the government is making public the Covid vaccination rates for aged care residences:

From today, 1 August 2022, the aggregated data for each residential aged care home will be available in both a list and interactive map.

The data will be updated weekly on the Department of Health and Aged Care’s website, health.gov.au.

Updated

ACT chief minister Andrew Barr is in the gallery as Labor MP Luke Gosling introduces a private members’ bill to restore territory rights.

Lower house bill to end indefinite and arbitrary detention welcomed by ASRC

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre has welcomed the reintroduction of the bill, which Andrew Wilkie first introduced last year with Zali Steggall as the seconder.

The bill would mandate timeframes on detention, independent oversight, introduce minimum conditions of detention and make detention a last resort.

During a review of the legislation by the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, ASRC joined hundreds of other organisations and individuals in supporting the bill to combat the crisis in Australia’s immigration detention system.

Updated

Andrew Wilkie reintroduces bill to end indefinite detention of asylum seekers

In the house, independent MP Andrew Wilkie is reintroducing his bill to end indefinite and arbitrary detention for asylum seekers.

Wilkie has been working to do this for years. He says:

There are alternatives to the way we do business. We just have to open our eyes and our minds and stop this pig-headed response from both the government and the opposition who want to look tough on national security, when in fact we should look compassionate.

Kylea Tink is seconding the bill.

Andrew Wilkie.
Andrew Wilkie. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

More airport chaos as dozens of flights out of Sydney and Melbourne cancelled

Travellers at Sydney and Melbourne airports are seeing dozens of flights cancelled.

Twenty-one domestic flights have been cancelled out of Sydney airport across Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Rex airlines, including flights scheduled earlier this morning and later today.

Qantas has cancelled eight flights from Sydney to Melbourne, while Virgin Australia has cancelled eight flights out of Sydney Airport travelling to various locations including Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and the Gold Coast.

At Melbourne airport, there have been 12 domestic flight cancellations: seven from Qantas, four from Virgin and one from Jetstar.

The interruptions today come after Qantas passengers were left waiting on the tarmac due to a technical glitch yesterday.

Updated

Parliament is about to start its session – the sitting begins at 10am.

Updated

With more Covid cases likely to pop up in the parliament this week (Helen Haines has tested positive) the Department of Parliamentary Services is reminding building occupants of the reporting procedures for Covid.

Report it to the local health authority.

Report it to your employer/organisation.

Updated

Property prices falling in Australia at rates not seen since GFC

Ahead of the RBA meeting tomorrow, which will end with another rise in the cash rate, Peter Hannam has looked at the latest CoreLogic report which has found property prices are falling at rates not seen since the GFC.

But – and there is always a but, as Peter points out – there is still a very long way to go before property prices reach pre-pandemic levels.

A house is advertised for auction in Sydney.
A house is advertised for auction in Sydney. Photograph: Mark Baker/AP

Updated

Ratbag: mutual aid project created to provide RATs for concession card holders

The free rapid tests program for those on fixed and low incomes ended on Sunday.

Given how much Covid is in the community, a mutual aid project has stepped in to fill the gap.

Project coordinator Paul McMillan said:

The end of the program is particularly risky for people who have to do activities to get their Centrelink payment, such as those on the jobseeker payment.

While living on just $46 a day, those on unemployment payments are forced to leave home to attend activities. A positive Covid test is required to avoid payment suspension when isolating and PCR tests have become increasingly hard to get.

You can find out more or donate here.

A rapid antigen test.
A rapid antigen test. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

Updated

Foundation launched in honour of Lowitja O’Donoghue’s 90th birthday

It is Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue’s 90th birthday today.

The Lowitja Institute is proud to launch the Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation in honour of the occasion.

From its release:

Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue is a proud Yankunytjatjara woman, and patron of Australia’s only national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled health research institute.

Chair of the Lowitja Institute, Selwyn Button, said the foundation will acknowledge, recognise and preserve the extraordinary legacy of O’Donoghue’s work.

Our founding patron and namesake Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue has dedicated a lifetime to upholding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights to improve outcomes in health, education, political representation, land rights and reconciliation.

The Lowitja Institute is proud to support a foundation that represents the enduring legacy of Dr O’Donoghue who fought so hard for the rights of our peoples.

It is only fitting that her work continues to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through scholarships, a newly created suite of educational resources and annual events.

With support from the National Indigenous Australians Agency, the Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation Scholarships will be dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people interested in study, internship, and a career in nursing and the public service sector.

Lowitja O’Donoghue.
Lowitja O’Donoghue, pictured here in 2011. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP

Updated

Labor MPs to introduce bill to give territories power to make their own laws

ACT Labor MP Alicia Payne and NT Labor MP Luke Gosling will introduce a government bill in the house today to give the ACT and NT governments the right to make their own laws. They have been unable to do so since 1997.

Andrew Leigh says it is beyond time:

In the last two parliaments, the 45th and 46th parliaments, I’ve moved motions and bills to repeal the 25-year-old ban on the territories legislating on voluntary assisted dying. In that time, every state across Australia has moved on this, and Canberra has been left behind.

It’s not fair, especially for a place that leads the country on so many counts – on clean energy, on protecting ourselves against Covid, on being just too good at Wordle.

Today’s bill is about giving the voters of the ACT and Northern Territory the same democratic freedoms as everyone else in Australia. Canberrans deserve the right to debate this issue. We shouldn’t be silenced due to an outdated law that no longer reflects who we are as a country.

Updated

Luke Henriques-Gomes has been looking into the job agencies people are forced to use as part of their unemployment payments.

Homelessness in the spotlight

The housing minister, Julie Collins, says Australia’s rate of homelessness is “unacceptable”, as she promises a greater leadership role from the federal government in the sector.

Australia today marks the beginning of Homelessness Week, with social agencies calling on governments nationwide to do more to address housing and rental affordability, as well as the underlying factors contributing to homelessness.

Collins took over the housing portfolio following the election, and says the new Albanese government will step up the federal efforts to address homelessness.

Our reforms aim to ensure every Australian has access to safe and affordable housing to improve social and economic outcomes for all Australians, including those at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness,” she said on Monday.

According to the 2016 Census, in Australia there are over 116,000 people experiencing homelessness, and this figure is unacceptable.”

Labor’s housing policies include a $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund, which will be used to build 30,000 social and affordable homes within five years.

Collins told Guardian Australia this program is expected to commence properly from early 2023, with the federal government working with states to identify where the homes will be built and who they will go to.

The future fund will also contribute $200m to repairing, maintaining and improving housing in remote Indigenous communities.

Collins said the government would advance a new National Housing and Homelessness Plan, following what she described as “productive” meetings with state and territory governments last month.

We all need to be heading in the same direction.

We need to be ambitious ... we all need to be working together to solve the housing affordability issues we have.

Collins said her approach as minister would be to collect more data on housing and homelessness, and to look more closely at how other social factors contribute to someone finding themself without a home. She welcomed the elevation of the housing portfolio to cabinet under Anthony Albanese, flagging a greater role for the federal government on housing and homelessness to ensure that “investment will be all heading in the same direction”.

What’s happened is the states and territories have been doing their own thing and I don’t think there’s been enough national leadership.

Anthony Albanese (left) and minister for housing, Julie Collins.
Anthony Albanese (left) and minister for housing, Julie Collins. Photograph: Rob Blakers/AAP

Updated

Australia facing gas shortfall in 2023 as ACCC urges producers to keep supplies onshore

Peter Hannam has looked into the ACCC interim report:

In its gas inquiry 2017-2025 interim report released on Monday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the east coast gas market is facing a gas shortfall of 56 petajoules in 2023.

This gap is about 10% of annual domestic demand, ‘signifying a substantial risk to Australia’s energy security’, the report says.

The potential shortage marked ‘a significant deterioration’ compared with the ACCC’s 2022 forecast and ‘could place further upward pressure on prices and result in some manufacturers closing their businesses, and some market exit has already occurred’, the report said.

Updated

Aid organisations lobby Albanese government to fight global famine

Australia’s leading aid and development organisations have formed a major coalition to urge the Albanese government to help fight global famine and stop an unfolding global humanitarian catastrophe.

The alliance, named Help Fight Famine, have put together a budget submission urging the Labor government to contribute more to the global food crisis caused by Covid, conflicts (including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) and climate change.

The report’s key recommendations call for the government to:

  • Deliver an urgent $150m famine prevention package to stop a catastrophe in the worst-affected hunger hotspots in the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.
  • Invest long-term in a targeted Global Food Security Strategy.
  • Include measures to strengthen resilience of the Asia-Pacific region to climate change, disasters, and economic shocks by increasing Australia’s development assistance.
Villagers gather during a visit by United Nations in the village of Lomoputh in northern Kenya in May. The UN says the drought is a severe climate-induced humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa. More than 50 million people in the wider east African region are expected to face acute food insecurity this year.
Villagers gather during a visit by United Nations in the village of Lomoputh in northern Kenya in May. The UN says the drought is a severe climate-induced humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa. More than 50 million people in the wider east African region are expected to face acute food insecurity this year. Photograph: Brian Inganga/AP

Updated

Anthony Albanese to feature as guest quizmaster on Have You Been Paying Attention?

Amanda Meade tells me that Anthony Albanese will be the guest quizmaster on Network Ten’s Have You Been Paying Attention?

From the media release:

Coming to us live from The Lodge, ‘Albo’ will show us whether he can give as good as he gets when he steps in to help Quizmaster Tom Gleisner in the honorary role of Have You Been Paying Attention? guest Quizmaster.

What a time.

Updated

Decision on Indigenous Voice to parliament ‘will be owned by the Australian people’, says Linda Burney

Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, appeared on ABC News Breakfast this morning where she was asked about the Voice to Parliament referendum:

I understand that there is debate around detail. But when you have a look at the fact that there has been 10 years of expert advisory groups, of parliamentary groups, of discussions with constitutional lawyers, of discussions with First Nations people, there is a lot of information already in the public arena.

And I think Megan Davis has been making that point. And, of course, there was the Marcia Langton and Tom Calma exercise in the last government that talked about what a Voice might look like.

The prime minister was very clear, and I completely agree with him, that it is important that we now go out and consult about the Voice.

This referendum ... is not a referendum of politicians, it is a referendum and a decision in the Australian public, and it will be owned by the Australian people. And that is very, very important.

The minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney (right) during question time last Thursday.
The minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney (right) during question time last Thursday. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Rebekha Sharkie to move motion for raising pension income test threshold

Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie is moving a motion in the parliament today to raise the income test threshold for pensioners in an opt-in model, to better support people receiving a pension who want or need to be able to work more hours.

Sharkie will be joined by Dai Le, the independent member for Fowler, Craig Sullivan, the National Seniors Australia spokesperson, Alexi Boyd from the Council of Small Business Organisations, and National Farmers Federation president, Fiona Simson.

Gina Rinehart and Helen Haines will provide comments in support.

The member for Mayo, Rebekha Sharkie.
The member for Mayo, Rebekha Sharkie. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Australian childcare costing households 20% of income compared with Sweden’s 5%, researchers find

The Australia Institute’s Nordic Policy Centre has had a look at childcare around the world and the different models Australia could adopt.

Unsurprisingly, parents and carers in Sweden, Denmark and Norway are spending a lot less on early childhood education than Australians.

Researchers found Australians spent 20% of their household income on childcare, while Swedish households spent 5%, Norway 8% and Denmark 10%.

The report recommends capping early childhood education costs as a proportion of income, and rebalancing the proportion of private providers who receive subsidies with investment in government and not for profit providers .

And of course, paying early childhood educators more.

The report has been released ahead of Jason Clare’s announcement of a Productivity Commission review into the sector and the planned strike by early childhood educators on 7 September.

Updated

Poll suggests more Australians than ever support government intervention in Julian Assange case

Support is growing for the Australian government to act and intervene in Julian Assange’s case, with Essential polling released by his supporters showing that among those aware of Assange’s circumstances, 88% either support calls for him to be returned to Australia or are undecided.

Just 12% of people oppose his return.

The results showed more than 60% of people polled were aware of Assange’s circumstances.

“The data shows that Australian citizens want the Australian government to take action in even greater numbers than the previous poll conducted by Essential research in March 2021,” the Australian Assange campaign said.

“The Australian government has the power to request that Julian is brought home, but now is the time as Julian’s life is on the line.”

The poll of more than 1,000 Australians was carried out on 27 June – just after the UK had granted permission for Assange to be extradited to the US where he faces a prison sentence of more than 170 years.

Protesters call for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during a rally outside Parliament House in Canberra on 28 July.
Protesters call for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during a rally outside Parliament House in Canberra on 28 July. Photograph: Lukas Coch/EPA

Updated

Traveller fined $2,664 after returning from Bali with undeclared McDonald’s food

The fight to keep foot-and-mouth disease out of Australia continues – which a passenger returning from Bali to Australia learned the hard way after receiving a $2,664 fine for arriving with two undeclared egg and sausage McMuffins and a ham croissant.

Sniffer dog Zinta alerted to the passenger’s backpack and the products were found, making the airport trip to Maccas twice the cost of the trip to Bali.

Minister Murray Watt says he has “no sympathy” for passengers who disobey the biosecurity rules. Zinta and her canine colleagues are part of the response to the FMD outbreak in Indonesia.

A traveller’s airport trip to McDonald’s has cost them $2,664.
A traveller’s airport trip to McDonald’s has cost them $2,664.
 Photograph: Triangle News/02086293622/contact@trianglenews.co.uk

Updated

Good morning

Welcome to the second week of the first sitting.

It’s all about climate this week as Labor prepares to get its bill passed through the house. The Senate will be the tricky bit – the Greens want something more than Labor is currently offering, and without the Greens vote, the bill won’t pass.

So there is a bit to come on that. The Greens want a climate trigger and are putting legislation through the senate for it. Labor hasn’t ruled it out but it hasn’t ruled it in either.

Meanwhile, Covid has entered the parliament with Indi MP Helen Haines tweeting she has tested positive.

Given the poor airflow in the parliament, and the close-quartered working environment, Haines will not be the only one testing positive this week.

By and large the Coalition have not been wearing masks. You would have to think there will be at least a couple of absentees there too.

Independent MP for Indi, Helen Haines, pictured here in February.
Independent MP for Indi, Helen Haines, pictured here in February. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

And of course, there will be more on the Indigenous Voice to parliament. Anthony Albanese outlined more of the Voice model at Garma, but it will be some time before it’s put to a vote with the Australian people.

We’ll cover all the day’s events as they happen. Mike Bowers is out and about, while Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp, Tory Shepherd and Josh Butler have Parliament House covered.

It’s going to be a busy morning. I’m two coffees deep and going for my third. Ready?

Updated

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