Health News at Your Fingertips

Jim Chalmers is now introducing the legislation aimed at helping the pick up of electric vehicles (it’s a fringe benefits tax thing, which is why the treasurer is introducing it).

Chris Bowen finishes with:

The bill … may be simple in what it lays out, but it’s significant in what it seeks to achieve.

There are many issues about which members of this house will disagree but the principle of holistic action on climate change should not be one of them.

Our country and our parliament have wasted long enough delaying and denying. The time for action is now. We don’t have a second to waste.

The Australian people voted for action on climate change on May 21.

Now is the time for the parliament to vote for action.

Extinction Rebellion’s ‘zombie koala’ protests outside Parliament House

While Chris Bowen introduces this bill, Extinction Rebellion is protesting outside, armed with a “zombie koala” as the visual representation of what is at risk if climate policy doesn’t go further. (Sound warning on the video for zombie roaring.)

Chris Bowen’s speech includes a few shots at the Coalition for “making the choice” to continue “scare campaigns” rather than moving with the times.

“It’s disappointing,” he says.

Chris Bowen is on his feet introducing Labor’s climate legislation.

There is still no agreement in the Senate, but it is the first step.

“It sends a message that Australia is back as a good international citizen,” Bowen says.

Mike Bowers was in the chamber for the standing orders vote:

Brendan O’Connor is putting through two of his bills – and then we will get to the climate bills.

Labor’s changes to standing orders on speaking times pass

As expected. You can see the details here.

Tragic news out of Queensland. AAP reports:

Queensland’s deputy premier says the death of a toddler from Covid-19 in the state is “awfully sad”.

The 23-month-old died at Queensland Children’s Hospital on Sunday night, but the child’s death was only confirmed late on Tuesday night.

The deputy premier, Steven Miles, says he can’t talk about the case due to privacy protocols but offered his condolences to the family.

My heart just goes out to that family, and of course to our health workers who would have done everything that they could to take care of that little child.

Miles said there were about 1,000 people in hospital with Covid-19 in the state, but the government had no plans for a mask mandate or any other health measures to suppress the outbreak.

Peter Hannam

Today’s consumer inflation figures are likely to be the highest in decades when they land in about an hour’s time from the ABS.

Market economists on average are expecting the headline consumer price index figure for the June quarter to come in at 6.3%, which would be the highest since the 6.9% pace clocked in the December 1990 quarter. (Cue tedious references to Madonna’s “Justify my love” topping the charts, etc … if anyone remembers it.)

Anyway, the headline number will tell only part of the story. For one thing, the ABS splits discretionary and non-discretionary goods.

In the March quarter, the 5.1% “headline” CPI number was overshadowed by the 6.6% pace of price increases for things that people generally had no choice about.

The other key number, for borrowers and savers at least, will be the trimmed mean tally which strips out more volatile movers and is the number the Reserve Bank is usually most keen to look at.

In the March quarter that number came in at 3.7%, or outside the 2-3% range that the RBA prefers over the long term.

As we reported when those figures landed in the middle of the official election campaign in April, the big inflation numbers were high enough to prompt immediate speculation that the central bank would lift its cash rate target the following week … which, of course, it did.

As things stand before today’s CPI numbers land, investors are certain the RBA will lift its cash rate for a fourth straight month when its board meets next Tuesday. In fact, there’s about a 4/5 chance it will hike by 65 basis points to make the rate a nice round 2%.

Given inflation (and jobs growth) have tended to surprise on the upside, will we see another larger than expected jump today? Stay tuned …

Standing orders changes going to a vote

The motion and amendments to change standing orders are going to a vote.

We’ll bring you that result very soon.

Josh Butler

One Nation: Hanson to oppose motion for Aboriginal flag to be displayed in Senate

Further to Pauline Hanson’s interjection in the parliament in the very opening seconds of the Senate’s first sitting morning during the Indigenous acknowledgement of country, her office claimed the acknowledgement “perpetuates racial division”:

From this point forward, Senator Hanson will refuse to acknowledge country in the Senate.

Senator Hanson will also oppose a motion in the Senate today for the Aboriginal flag to be displayed in the Senate. Senator Hanson considers that only one flag, the Australian national flag, truly represents all Australians.

To back up her argument, Hanson claimed the acknowledgement is not “any sort of indigenous Australian tradition, given that at most it has only been in use for the past 25 years (and in Parliament only 12 years).”