Peter Dutton and Brendan O’Connor are about to face off at the National Press Club
More evidence home ownership has become harder for a variety of reasons – and it’s only going to become even more impossible for those already struggling to enter the market
There is a bit of chatter around One Nation’s “ghost” candidates as well.
Pauline Hanson’s party pledged to run someone in all 151 seats. But as Joe Hinchliffe and Michael McGowan have been reporting, not all candidates are known – or even seen – in the electorate they are running in.
Given all the talk around Anthony Albanse deferring questions to his shadow ministers, it is worth revisiting this story from Daniel Hurst in February last year:
Scott Morrison has avoided answering parliamentary questions by referring them to ministerial colleagues 189 times since becoming prime minister, new analysis reveals.
The analysis, undertaken by the parliament’s independent procedure office in response to a request from Labor, indicates there have been a further 62 times when Morrison answered a question in part before asking another minister to add to the answer.
By contrast, the procedure office reported that it could not find any similar cases when Julia Gillard was prime minister from 2010 to 2013.
But in that same article, Tony Burke said:
He doesn’t answer journalists’ questions in press conferences, and he won’t answer our questions in parliament,” Burke said.
Mr Morrison is always there to take credit for good news, even when he’s had nothing to do with it. But when the questions get tough, he hides behind his ministers.”
So neither side is clean on this issue.
Barnaby Joyce is in Ayr in Queensland (Dawson electorate) where he will no doubt talk about coal.
Daniel Hurst
In the last post I mentioned Labor’s trade diversification plan has “four main pillars”, including revitalising the relationship with Indonesia.
The other three pillars are:
- An Export Market and Product Diversification Strategy, involving “a whole-of-government approach to revigorate our engagement with the emerging markets of the Indo-Pacific and identifying emerging areas of potential Australian export strength, such as digital health and financial services”. Labor is promising early ministerial visits to Indonesia, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. An Albanese Labor government would “establish a cross-sectoral Trade 2040 Taskforce, bringing together all relevant agencies, industry and experts, and reporting to key ministers”. This would look for areas of Australian strength that are currently underdeveloped for export markets, and develop strategies for maximising export potential. There will also be a Ministerial-level Technical Barriers to Trade working group to tackle biosecurity barriers for Australian exports.
- A renewed focus on building economic ties with India. Labor says that will include commissioning a post-pandemic update of the 2018 India Economy Strategy conducted by former Dfat secretary Peter Varghese. Labor would also seek to institute an annual India-Australia Economic Dialogue between each nation’s Trade Minister and Treasurer. And it said it would seek to improve “India literacy in the business community … from a language and culture point of view”. It would create a pilot in-country Indian language study program, modelled on the Australian Consortium of In-Country Indonesian Studies (ACICIS).
- Seeking to include Australia’s trading partners in multilateral economic fora. The shadow trade minister, Madeleine King, said in the face of “rising economic coercion we must work to strengthen the global rules-based trade system and hold countries that break these rules to account”. She said Australia should “engage fully within rich tapestry of regional architecture in the Indo-Pacific”. King said Labor would support the accession of Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea to the big trade deal known as the CPTPP, adding: “We will work to cooperate with the US on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, and encourage their participation in other regional fora, such as the CPTPP. Labor will also support India’s membership of APEC and RCEP, if it wishes to join.”
Labor accuses Coalition of ‘cynical and stupid’ lack of attention to Indonesia relationship
Daniel Hurst
Labor has accused the Coalition of a “cynical and stupid” lack of attention to the relationship with Indonesia.
The shadow trade minister, Madeleine King, made the startling claim during a speech in Perth outlining Labor’s plans for trade diversification (this is a buzzword that means reducing the reliance on a single market, ie China).
Speaking at the Perth USAsia Centre, King said the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) had been signed three years ago but “since then has mostly just gathered dust”:
There has been very little effort made by the Morrison government in developing our trading relationship with our nearest neighbour. It’s as though they have a blind spot when it comes to our near abroad …
Indonesia is set to be the fourth largest economy in the world – behind the US, China and India – within two decades. IA-CEPA is a great foundation but the fact that the relationship has languished since it was signed is both cynical and stupid. And, frankly, unforgivable.
The Liberals’ approach to international trading relationships is set-and-forget: they’re all about the photo opportunity at the trade deal signing ceremony, but have failed in doing any of the follow-up.
It’s not the first time King has accused the Coalition of a “set-and-forget” attitude to trade agreements. This comes, of course, after the Morrison government cited the finalisation of trade deals with the UK and India in the past year as proof of its commitment to trade diversification.
King today announced a trade diversification plan with “four main pillars”, one of which is to revitalise Australia’s trade relationship with Indonesia. She said an Albanese Labor government would seek to establish an economic 2+2 ministerial dialogue with Indonesia:
The annual Economic Ministerial Dialogue will be augmented by a +1 set of ministers from each side, changing each year based on discussion priorities. For example, we might include infrastructure ministers one year – to bring Australian expertise to the grand challenge of building the new Indonesian capital of Nusantara in East Kalimantan, a province on the island of Borneo. A remarkable vision and one Australia and Indonesia can work on together.
King said called for dialogue between the respective health ministers to “work together on bringing Australia’s expertise in digital health services across its rural and remote areas to the challenging geography of Indonesia and its thousands of islands”. Labor would also activate the joint Australian-Indonesian trade in goods, trade in services, investment and economic cooperation committees in chapter 18 of the existing trade deal.
She said Labor would also focus on enhancing Indonesia literacy among Australian students under an existing program that is “vital to our people-to-people relationships with our nearest and very important neighbour”.
Queensland reports 11 Covid deaths
Queensland also has an increase in deaths to report for the last 24 hours:
Paul Daley has also had a look at the campaigns:
The former Liberal seat of Hughes is one the Liberals are hoping to win back as part of their election tally (sitting MP Craig Kelly resigned from the Liberals and is now running for Clive Palmer’s party)
Anne Davies has a story on a candidates’ forum there:
Several audience members walked out of a candidates’ forum in the southern Sydney seat of Hughes on Wednesday evening after the maverick MP Craig Kelly labelled mandatory vaccination in workplaces “an abuse of human rights” and “a very dark period in Australia’s history”.
Kelly, who quit the Liberal party last year and is now standing for the United Australia party, said Australia was violating human rights by allowing workplaces to insist on vaccination:
The people who engage in the mandates in this country, forcing other Australians against their free will and without their consent to force them into a medical intervention, are blackmailing people. It’s unAustralian and against everything we stand for.
Several people in the audience walked out, while other panel members looked perplexed.
Peter Hannam
It’s an odd world we live in and this election campaign is sometimes among the oddest bits.
The Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, and his climate and energy spokesperson, Chris Bowen, visited the Smart Energy Council’s conference in Sydney this morning. Bowen gave a standard speech to an audience of energy wonks and clean energy businesses.
Many have an eye to profit, sure, but others have worked out that a hotter world is not going to be great for families, communities, economies … and political leaders.
Albanese was a relatively last-minute booking (4pm yesterday, we hear). He and Bowen looked at solar panels built using technology developed by researchers (which wouldn’t be hard as probably half or more of them of globally have an Australian contribution).
There was also a refitted electric truck that will run 700km on batteries that can be replaced within minutes. Cheaper to run and without a supply line that runs (vulnerably) through thousands of kilometres.
But climate action might not get much coverage. Why? Because Albo couldn’t remember all six points of Labor’s six-point NDIS plan.
The press pack smelt blood. In a break, Albanese got an adviser to dig up the policy paper. A staffer duly handed it to him but unhelpfully did not open it to the relevant page. Up close, I could see Albanese’s hands trembling as he struggled to find the right page.
Trying to regain his footing, Albo is asked for his five-point aged care plan, and that he can recount.
Just metres away, leading US climate scientist Mike Mann is telling the audience about the challenges coming. The 50-plus degree temperatures punishing millions and millions of people on Asia’s subcontinent get discussed.
What kind of present faces them – let alone the future?
Worse health outcomes for those outside cities, NSW inquiry finds
Tamsin Rose
The New South Wales government has been handed 44 recommendations to fix dire healthcare issues in regional, rural and remote parts of the state in a scathing report released today aftger a year-long inquiry.
The inquiry found people living outside metropolitan areas had “significantly poorer health outcomes”, were more likely to suffer from chronic disease and die prematurely, and had inferior access to services – especially those in Indigenous communities. Two dozen findings were made in the report released this morning, including that there were significant financial challenges for regional patients when compared with people living in cities.
The report also that there was significant under-resourcing and the funding divide between the state and commonwealth governments “has led to both duplication and gaps in service delivery”.
The disadvantage and discrimination experienced in Indigenous communities was also highlighted in the report:
It is unacceptable that some First Nations people still experience discrimination when seeking medical assistance in some rural, regional and remote hospitals in New South Wales. Telehealth has created another barrier for First Nations people in terms of accessing culturally appropriate health services.
The inquiry also found there was a “culture of fear” within the department that meant people were less willing to come forward with issues. Among the extensive recommendations was a funding model review, greater engagement with local community groups and more funding for regional nurse practitioners.
The inquiry received more than 700 submissions and held 15 hearings across the state where doctors, patients and administrators outlined the extreme challenges faced in their communities including hospitals operating without doctors, the difficulty of recruiting GPs and the vast distances people traveled for care.
Nurses recounted horror stories including patients dying on bathroom floors, families with loved ones in palliative care being forced to administer intravenous painkillers themselves and cleaners and cooks performing nursing duties.
Stuart Robert transcript change
Paul Karp
This morning the acting education minister, Stuart Robert, bizarrely claimed to have been doing Alan Tudge’s job for “almost 12 months”.
Robert told ABC News Breakfast:
Well, I’m the acting education minister, Lisa, and have been for almost 12 months. So I’ve got full authority in terms of running the education portfolio, as well as skills and workplace and the other things that I do.
In fact, Robert has only been acting education minister since 2 December (five months).
Curiously, the Coalition transcript corrects the error, claiming Robert had said:
I am the acting education minister … and have been for a number of months.”
But the footage is there for all to see:
