What we learned today – Tuesday 26 April
Well, friends, thanks for joining us for another day in Blogland! Things got heated over climate change, tensions are still inflamed over the China-Solomons Island pact, and prime minister Scott Morrison made croissants while Labor leader Anthony Albanese copped a serving over the airwaves as he stayed in isolation. Here are today’s top headlines:
Amy Remeikis will be back with you in the morning, setting you up for another wild day in Australian news and politics with the whole Guardian Australia team. Sweet dreams!
The transcript is quite something. I couldn’t make it to the end.
My thoughts and prayers are with the Labor staffer who had to transcribe every word of Anthony Albanese’s 27 minute interview on 2GB earlier today. Here was a highlight. pic.twitter.com/1rWGJTejJj
— Stephanie Dalzell (@steph_dalzell) April 26, 2022
In the last recorded call for assistance, she is crying so loudly that the prison officer warns her to be quiet, in case she wakes up other prisoners.
The Liberal candidate for Bennelong Simon Kennedy says he’s vaccinated, and he encourages everyone to get vaccinated, but:
This is really extraordinary stuff from Christopher Knaus and Ben Doherty. The Indonesian children jailed as adults in Australia, using deeply flawed evidence:
Clive Palmer’s company’s proposal to dig Australia’s largest thermal coalmine in central Queensland is “an attempt at financial gain” that comes with “an obscenely high cost” for future generations, First Nations people argue. Ben Smee took a look:
Katharine Murphy on the Coalition’s new attacks on the “great nothingness” of a Labor carbon tax:
They are lying, and worse, they are fully aware they are lying.
With Labor leader Anthony Albanese still in Covid isolation, other Labor leaders and luminaries were out on the hustings:
There was no shortage of material for AAP’s photographers on the road with prime minister Scott Morrison today:
Prime minister Scott Morrison buttered up some Macrons… ah, sorry, macarons… on the campaign trail today, while Labor leader Anthony Albanese did some croaky interviews from isolation. The China/Solomon Islands debacle continued, and new doubts were raised about the Coalition’s commitment to action on climate. Josh Butler has today’s election briefing for you:
Should I stay or should I go now? Josh Taylor on what Elon Musk’s Twitter move might mean for you:
Another area of some confusion… Labor’s Kristina Keneally said earlier that Labor would uphold Australia’s commitments to Vietnam under their changes to agricultural visas, that would now be aimed at Pacific Islander workers.
Canavan says it’s “nonsensical” to leave out southeast Asian countries, and Labor’s Murray Watt repeats Keneally’s line that the government’s program hasn’t delivered a single worker, and that there are 6,000 Pacific Islanders ready to work on Australian farms.
Canavan is asked if he’s telling voters not to trust his own government’s commitments. He says:
Don’t believe anybody who tells you they know what’s going to happen in 2050, I don’t know what’s going to happen in 2050, or 2030.
Canavan says the Paris agreement was not binding, the Coalition had no clear trajectory to net zero, countries are not living up to expectations, and there are no penalties for those who miss their targets.
“It’s a farce,” he says.
‘Net zero is dead’: Matt Canavan
Queensland senator Matt Canavan has made a useful contribution to the confusion over the Coalition’s climate change commitments (bunch of ‘c’s, there).
Net zero is “dead”, he has told the ABC:
Net zero is dead anyway. Boris Johnson said he is pausing it, Germany is building coal and gas infrastructure, Italy is reopening coal-fired power plants, it’s all over.
You’ve heard the politicking, the bickering and the snickering over Labor’s Pacific plan – now hear from Daniel Hurst. He’s followed the whole thing very closely and is discussing it with Jane Lee for the Campaign catchup:
