Haines said her integrity bill – which was debated in the last parliament, was the perfect place for Labor to start.
If the Albanese government is going to deliver this integrity commission by Christmas, I think it would make a lot of sense to start with the bill I put forward. It’s very detailed. Its ready to go. It’s been endorsed by eminent retired judges across the nation and legal academics and experts.
So that’s the ideal place to start. It’s also been endorsed by the new independents coming onto the crossbench. So the co-operation of the crossbench would be there.
I think we saw in the last parliament also the opposition supported my bid for debate on that bill. And indeed, all of the crossbench and of course the member for Bass [Bridget Archer] who crossed the floor on that. It’s an ideal place to begin.
A quick reminder if more recent electioneering has driven all of that from your minds:
The independent member for Indi, Helen Haines, is on the ABC now. She says she has spoken to the new PM.
I congratulated prime minister Albanese on his success. And I made it clear to him that I wanted to see that promise of an integrity commission delivered by the new government.
As they have promised, by Christmas. So we talked about that. I also talked about the pressing need for investment in rural and regional healthcare, and most particularly here on the border, where we desperately need a new single-site hospital.
Marles was also asked if Labor was looking at an October budget:
It’s an environment that has created by the fact we have had a government that doubled the debt before the pandemic started. Has left us on a pathway to more than $1tn of debt. We’ve got deficits as far as the eye can see in terms of what the liberals have done with the budget.
So a lot of that does present a challenge for us going forward. And I think even more significantly it’s that lost decade of productivity I have described. But we’ve got plans to change that. We are really focused on making sure we can get productivity going again because that’s what will make sure we get wages going again.
Marles is also asked about petrol prices, which are rising again:
It is difficult. We’re facing a cost of living crisis. As a government, we’re willing to say that in a way the former government was not. What ultimately underpins is it we’ve had the longest period of wage stagnation since records were kept.
What underpins that is a decade of lost productivity. What that’s we need to change. It doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve been clear about that. But the job does start overnight and we’re on the pathway right now to making sure that we revitalise Australian industry, we give people the skills they need so they can get the good jobs out there.
There’s more immediate steps we can take in relation to making childcare more affordable for example, which will have an impact on the cost of living. But this is a big challenge for the country.
You can’t repair a decade of economic neglect which we’ve seen under the former government in a week. But we are going to start the job today.
Marles is asked about China sending a congratulatory text to Albanese – after 2.5 years of diplomatic silence.
I think China is going to continue to be a difficult relationship for us. From an Australian point of view, we understand the complexity of the relationship.
It is our largest trading partner, but China is seeking to shape the world around it in ways we have not seen before, in places like the South China sea. But [also] in increased strategic competition in our region, in the Pacific, and we’ve seen the agreement they have signed with the Solomon Islands.
All of that I think is going to make it a pretty challenging pathway forward. And we are certainly going to be navigating that pathway from the point of view of making sure Australia’s national interest is absolutely clear.
We build the strategic space to be able to have the courage to speak to Australia’s national interest when that differs from Chinese action.
The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, is on the ABC now. He was asked how it feels going from deputy PM to acting PM within 72 hours:
My head is spinning is the honest answer to that. Genuinely feels unbelievable. But look, it’s been an exciting 24 hours and I think we feel the responsibility of the office very significantly.
But we’re excited about the opportunity of what we can do for the Australian people. I think coming out of the pandemic this is one of the biggest moments to reimagine the nation that we’ve had since the end of the second world war and we’re excited about the opportunity to grab that.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria’s opposition is set to vote to expel MP Bernie Finn from the parliamentary Liberal party this morning, after he posted on Facebook he was “praying” for abortion to be banned in Australia.
If passed, as is expected, the upper house MP will be forced to sit on the crossbench and will be unable to run as a Liberal at November’s state election.
Finn’s comments came after the leak of a draft decision showing a majority of US supreme court justices may overturn Roe v Wade, which ruled abortion was a constitutional right.
In his post, Finn said “killing babies is criminal”. When a woman commented that she did not support abortion but believed there should be options for women who are victims of rape, Finn replied: “Babies should not be killed for the crime of his or her parent.”
He maintains he has held such views for his whole political career.
In an interview on 3AW radio on Monday, Finn said he would not attend the party room meeting, describing it as a “kangaroo court”.
He said he was considering joining another political party, should he be expelled.
The opposition leader, Matthew Guy, on Monday said action was being taken because of Finn’s behaviour rather than his views.
Finn has previously been censured for his social media use, including a post in which he likened the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, to Adolf Hitler. He has also shared pro-Trump conspiracy theories including the claim that the former president was “improperly” removed from office.
Finn has been an upper house MP since 2006. Between 1992 and 1999 he was a lower house MP for the electorate of Tullamarine before it was abolished in 2002.
He has asked supporters to join him on the front steps of parliament this morning.
Liberal party member Warren Entsch is speaking on the ABC. He was asked if he would support Peter Dutton to lead the party.
Nobody has put their hand up, and I will not speculate or comment about Peter Dutton, and I have to say to you, the Peter Dutton that I know is certainly not the Peter Dutton that I see hammered in the media. I have known Peter since he came into the Parliament, and from my perspective, he is a thoroughly decent human being, him and his wife, I considered to be friends.
And I can go through a number of situations, particularly when he was an immigration portfolio that I suspect that anybody else would have said no, but in these cases I was able to present a case, a strong case and the compassion he showed in dealing with those issues and sorting them out to a very positive, satisfactory conclusion is something I won’t forget.
China breaks diplomatic freeze against Australia for first time in 2.5 years
China has broken its diplomatic freeze against Australia – sending a congratulations message to the new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, the first time the government has made contact with Australia in 2.5 years.
The message came from China’s premier, Li Keqiang, which is standard for how Chinese diplomacy usually works. State news agency Xinhua is reporting that the telegram said:
The Chinese side is ready to work with the Australian side to review the past, look into the future, and uphold the principle of mutual respect and mutual benefit, so as to promote the sound and steady growth of their comprehensive strategic partnership.
This is a small sign that China wants to change things and get the relationship more on track.
The rain is not letting up in northern NSW.
AAP reports that people living in the Northern Rivers region are enduring more rain as they try to recover from the impact of devastating floods earlier this year.
The Bureau of Meteorology says the Wilson river at Lismore peaked near the minor flood level on Monday night after heavy rain in recent days, with the downpour expected to continue all week.
A minor flood warning is current for the nearby Richmond River.
There’s a hazardous surf warning in place for much of the NSW coast, from Byron Bay in the north to Batemans Bay in the south.
The BOM says the La Niña conditions that brought unprecedented rain and flooding to vast swathes of the coast in summer and autumn will continue throughout winter, bringing above-average rainfall for much of eastern Australia.
Some areas have already reached the average rainfall for May in the past few days, the BOM said.
On the ABC Joyce also suggested the Nationals would be looking to pick up extra cabinet positions when the new Coalition agreement is discussed.
Q: Is the prospect that you could suggest there is a split in the coalition?
At this point in time, there’s not a Coalition. That will be negotiated. It’s one of the big jobs ahead of us. To negotiate the Coalition, negotiate ministries, the guardrails of policy. Negotiate, you know, resources, these are – this is the big task that is imminently before us.
And you know, that’s what I’ll be focused on, to make sure the Nationals get the best deal they can.
Q: Do you think the Nationals deserve more, given what you said is a very successful campaign?
Well, obviously we are a greater proportion, if there was a Coalition, if there’s a Coalition, we’re a greater proportion of that Coalition. So that’s beyond dispute.
Q: So more frontbench positions?
You’re asking an obvious question. Mathematically, yes.
Barnaby Joyce was just on the ABC, where he was asked if the party was going to drop its support for a net zero target.
Q: Why have you raised the prospect of not supporting net zero?
The Nationals party can talk about what issues they want. We don’t go into the party room saying this won’t be discussed or that won’t be discussed.
Q: But you left it open in your language that it was …
It’s up for discussion. Given it was agreed in November, in the party room, to support net zero, why do you even revisit … the prospect of it? I said it’s my intent to stick to our deal. But if other people want to discuss it, that’s their right. My intent is to stick to the deal that I made.
Q: So the agreement from November in the party room doesn’t necessarily mean it’s locked in? The party room can change that view.
Any person – we’re going around the circles, aren’t we? In the party room, people can discuss whatever they like. My intent is to stick to the deal that I negotiated. That’s how it works.
Now, obviously, the Labor party are coming forward now with a different proposition to the parliament. I imagine people want to discuss that. I don’t see anything remarkable about that.
Morning summary
Good morning everyone – this is Cait Kelly and I will be with you on the blog for the first part of the day.
Australia’s new PM, Anthony Albanese and foreign minister, Penny Wong, will make their diplomatic debut on the world stage today after arriving in Tokyo for the Quad meeting. Climate change, concerns over China’s assertiveness and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are likely to be discussed.
It will be another day of leadership speculation for the Coalition parties, with Peter Dutton still looking like the frontrunner for the Liberals. Both Jane Hume or Sussan Ley have entered the race for the deputy position.
The Nationals have announced they will spill their leadership next Monday after Barnaby Joyce signalled they may abandon support for net zero. Joyce was speaking on ABC this morning and said he was confident of his own leadership position:
At this point in time, I haven’t heard of anybody publicly on the record saying they want to stand. I accept that if they do. That’s how the party works.
Slater & Gordon is investigating a possible class action against Victoria’s triple zero authority ESTA for what it says are systemic failures. Slater & Gordon lawyers said that thousands of people have received unacceptable delays.
And Australian petrol prices are leaping back up again, with the average price for the country now nudging $2.
Right – that’s the big headlines, let’s get into it.
www.theguardian.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism