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China’s status as trading partner shouldn’t stop Australia calling out bullying behaviour, Dutton says

Dutton, speaking in Brisbane earlier this morning ahead of the Chinese ambassador to Australia’s address at the National Press Club at lunchtime today, said:

I’ve been at pains to point out you can go back numerous speeches, press conferences I’ve attended where pointed out we have an incredibly diaspora community of people of Asian heritage in our country and they’re in a country like ours because they value peace and they want to be part of a wonderful democracy where we value the rule of law and we call out people like President Putin and President Xi for their activities and actions and we want, as I said a normalised relationship with China.

They’re an important trading partner but we don’t tolerate the sort of bullying behaviour and the reactions we’re seeing to the visit by Speaker Pelosi to Taiwan in the last week. I think a frank [dialogue] is what we need to have.

Dutton went on to say it’s not only the military drills near Taiwan which are concerning, but also other activities like cyber attacks.

The foreign interference, not just the military exercises that we’re seeing now, but the covert activity online, the cyberattacks. Industrial-scale cyberattacks, the collection of people’s health records, of aged care records that we’re seeing China undertake those attacks online at the moment. We can do that in a respectful way and to be condemned for it is an absurdity and we should be honest about the situation we face. If we’re not, we’ll find ourselves two or three or five years down the track on a path we can’t correct.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has this morning said Australia must continue to call out the actions of the Chinese government to ensure peace in the region. He has compared the situation in Taiwan to that in the Ukraine.

We have to be realistic about where we are in the world at the moment. Over the last couple of years, we’ve spoken about our region being in a period similar to the 1930s and that’s the reality of it. It’s what the intelligence showed to us when we were in government and it’s clearly the intelligence that the government is reading at the moment. It’s the intelligence that the French are seeing, the Canadians, the Brits, the Americans and it’s a time for countries to come together to condemn the actions of President Putin in the Ukraine – which we’ve done collectively.

Of course you could argue that the world could have spoken up more against President Putin to prevent him going into Ukraine. The carnage that we’ve seen in the Ukraine we don’t want to see repeated in Taiwan and so I think it’s appropriate to be frank and honest and open. If we don’t shine a light on the activities and behaviour of somebody like President Putin or bike President Xi, we will find ourselves in conflict in this region.

The Chinese Communist party has been clear about their intent in relation to Taiwan and nobody’s exaggerating. Nobody is making this up. If we want to be frank and honest, then that’s better than a model of appeasement. I’ve always believed the only way to maintain peace in the region is if we call out bullying behaviour and bad practice and if we do that we can have … a normalised relationship with China.

Calls for energy-efficient building code to stop Australians living in ‘glorified tents’

Energy and climate experts, property developers, architects and health professionals have joined forces to call for a building code that will stop Australians living in “glorified tents”, AAP reports.

The Property Council boss, Ken Morrison, says Australia has let itself fall behind international standards over the past 10 years and now is the time to catch up.

Crippling power bills and deaths from increasingly hot summers and cold winters have given fresh impetus to minimum energy-efficiency requirements for new homes.

Advocates say strengthening energy provisions in the national code and mandating a 7-star minimum energy standard would reduce the cost of living, cut emissions and improve the quality of Australia’s housing stock.

The Energy Efficiency Council chief executive, Luke Menzel, said today:

As we’ve learned in the pandemic, our homes are our shelter and places of refuge.

Improved energy-efficiency standards are a “no-brainer” and will play a big part in cutting emissions, he said.

The call for long-sought amendments to the national construction code comes two weeks ahead of a meeting of federal, state and territory ministers.

The Climate Council chief executive, Amanda McKenzie, said:

This is Australia’s opportunity to improve its energy efficiency standards which will make our homes safer, more efficient, more affordable and help to address climate change.

Many Australians are currently living in glorified tents.

The statement signed by more than 100 organisations says the stricter code would cut emissions by up to 78m tonnes by 2050 and reduce deaths during extremely cold or hot weather.

The move could also lower the cost of electricity grid upgrades by up to $12.6bn by 2050 and reduce poverty by ensuring higher standards and lower power bills in new social housing and private rentals.

Mandating the 7-star energy rating could slash the average household energy bill by up to $576 a year, according to official data.

The proposed changes to the code include introducing a whole-of-home “energy budget” for fixed appliances for hot water, heating, cooling and pool pumps.

Industry would be granted a 12-month transition period under the proposals.

Images of yesterday’s fire at NSW waste depot released

A fire occurred yesterday at a waste depot in New South Wales. Fire and Rescue NSW has just released images of the damage.

Emergency response crews say they were “confronted with large amounts of burning waste that may have contained unexploded ammunition”.

Assistant treasurer responds to Commonwealth Bank’s nearly $10bn profit

The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has been asked on Sky News about the almost $10bn cash profit the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has announced this morning, and whether this is where increased mortgage payments are going.

Jones says the CBA has a huge slice of the mortgage market, and a significant slice of the business market and while he wants banks like CBA to be lending, “we want to ensure they get the balance right.”

He says the government want to ensure the CBA and others are passing on profits to their customers.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions has released its submission ahead of the government’s jobs and skills summit, saying the Reserve Bank of Australia is focusing too much on inflation and it should be giving more attention to full employment and secure employment.

Jones is asked if he would consider implementing them but the connection is lost leaving us hanging.

Animal activists lose high court case against NSW secret recording laws

Christopher Knaus

Activists have lost their high court case against New South Wales laws criminalising the use of secretly recorded vision of animal cruelty and abuse.

The state’s Surveillance Devices Act criminalises the use of footage or audio that was obtained using a listening device or hidden camera, but, unlike other states, gives no public-interest exemption.

The Farm Transparency Project, an Australian animal advocacy group, launched a case last year arguing the laws were an unfair burden on freedom of political communication.

The laws have been used to pursue activists on criminal charges and have prevented media outlets from using footage depicting cruelty or abuse in abattoirs and knackeries across the state.

Prior to the high court case, the laws prevented the Guardian from showing secretly recorded footage of ex-racehorses being sent for slaughter at NSW pet food factories, a clear breach of industry rules.

The high court on Wednesday morning ruled that the laws do not pose too great a burden on speech. The laws were upheld and the Farm Transparency Project ordered to pay costs.

The case split the court. Three high court justices dissented from the majority ruling.

Community consultation on refugee program begins

The minister for immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs, Andrew Giles, has shared this morning that he begun community consultations on Australia’s refugee and humanitarian program yesterday.

You can read more about Labor’s refugee policy from my colleague Paul Karp:

Acting PM wants to see China relationship ‘in a better place’

Circling back to the defence minister and acting prime minister, Richard Marles’ appearance on ABC News Breakfast, as tensions continue to rise with China’s military drills around Taiwan.

Marles was asked if he is worried now that “relations between the two countries are now well and truly back in the freezer”:

I’m not going to speculate on that. What we can do is control our side of the equation and what we will do is have a different tone to the former government.

We’re going to engage with the world, including with China, on a respectful, professional diplomatic basis. We believe in the power of diplomacy. We want to have – and we value – a productive relationship with China and we would like to see the relationship in a better place.

China is going to say what China says. We control our end of this equation. And in describing that end, it’s this. We will engage with the world with respect, with professionalism, with sobriety. With a faith and diplomacy. We will continue to do that. While the Government has changed, our national interest hasn’t. We will also speak to our national interest and we will speak to it with vigour.

Victoria has recorded 5,898 new Covid cases in the last reporting period and 52 deaths, with 610 people in hospital and 30 in intensive care.

Victorian Health said: “Of today’s 52 reported deaths, 40 occurred in the past week, 10 occurred in the past fortnight and 2 deaths occurred in late July.”

Reactions to opposition’s snub of jobs summit

The opposition has declined Labor’s invitation to the jobs and skills summit, which was extended to the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, last night.

The deputy leader, Sussan Ley, has said this morning no one from the coalition, including Dutton, will go.

Members of the coalition including the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, had previously said the Coalition should be represented at the summit.

The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, has said on social media the opposition’s stance indicates “they don’t want to be part of the solution” the summit is setting out to create.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, will skip the Albanese government’s jobs and skills summit, which has been branded a “stunt” and a “talkfest” by the Coalition, AAP reports.

The summit – a Labor election promise – will aim to address Australia’s economic challenges and will bring together about 100 representatives from the business, union, and community sectors.

The Liberal deputy leader, Sussan Ley, said no one from the coalition, including Dutton who was invited by the government, will go. She told Sky News today:

It’s just a stunt.

All this is going to be is a talkfest designed to look after union mates.

The Labor party dropped the invitation to the media … they briefed out the story first, which just goes to show their level of insincerity about it.

Police call for help to identify man hit by train in Victoria

An unidentified man has been laying in hospital for more than a month after being hit by a Melbourne train, AAP reports.

The man was struck between Royal Park and Jewell railway stations in Brunswick on 7 July, and was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and remains in a serious but stable condition.

No phone, wallet or cards were found on the man at the time and police haven’t been able to identify him despite extensive inquiries.

From his hospital bed, the grey-haired patient has mumbled the names “Roy and Ryan from Coburg” but it is unclear if he is referring to himself or someone he knows.

A facial composite image of the man, believed to be 65 to 75 years old, has been released in the hope someone will recognise him and contact Crime Stoppers.

He is described as white, about 175cm tall and of medium build with a prominent mole below his left eye, and no identifying scars or tattoos.

Chair of NSW flood inquiry calls for government to release full report

The NSW Labor MP who chaired the inquiry into the Northern Rivers flooding, Walt Secord, spoke to ABC radio, after findings of serious failures by agencies during the devastating floods earlier in the year.

The full report is yet to be released but the parts which have been leaked were scathing.

Secord said the members of the “tinny army” – the men and women who jumped into boats, surf boards, to rescue neighbours – did so against the orders of state officials.

But he said, “if they didn’t things would have been a lot worse”.

He said the want to see SES engaging with more local volunteer recruitment and is calling on the government to release the full report.

You can read the full story about what the flood inquiry found from my colleagues Tamsin Rose and Josh Butler: