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A fifth of mortgage holders coming off fixed rates this year, finance minister says
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, also spoke to ABC Radio this morning about how the government is balancing the budget with record high inflation, and all signs pointing to another rate hike from the RBA next week.
Gallagher says there will be mortgage pain for over a fifth of mortgage holders:
We’re expecting about 20% of mortgage holders to come off fixed rate loans this year.
We always said 2023 was going to be challenging year … Dealing with the inflation challenge is a key economic priority for the government.
When it comes to budget preparation, Gallagher says the government will be fiscally responsible, and “work hand in hand with the RBA … not against them”.
As for what the government will prioritise in that budget spending:
What you’ll see is a continued focus on cost-of-living relief, funding those priority areas like health and aged care and making sure we’re getting the balance right in terms of spending restraint, banking upgrades and looking for sensible savings where we can.
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Adam Bandt accuses Albanese government of greenwashing
Adam Bandt has accused Labor of “gaslighting” and “greenwashing” for allowing new coal and gas mines to offset emissions in its upgraded safeguards mechanism.
The Greens leader will tell the Smart Energy Council today that new coal and gas mines “will be the biggest sticking point” for the minor party, whose 12 Senate votes will be required to pass legislation for the scheme.
Read the full story here:
Perth to reach 39C today
Perth is waking up to what is set to be a scorcher, with a maximum temperature of 39C predicted today before temperatures drop to the mid-30s for the rest of the week.
Firefighters rush to Brisbane unit blaze
Emergency crews have found one man dead and evacuated a dozen people from a Brisbane unit complex after a fire erupted at day break, AAP reports.
Paramedics were on scene to treat a number of people rescued when the Clayfield unit block caught fire at about 5am on Monday.
Queensland ambulance service medical director, Stephen Rashford, said:
One person was deceased at the scene and a small number of patients were transferred to hospital in a stable condition.
We were greatly assisted by the residents of the building, who despite being elderly were incredibly resilient and worked well with our teams.
The 55-year-old man’s death was not caused by the fire, police believe.
Fifteen Queensland firefighter crews rushed to the blaze and had it under control just over an hour after it broke out.
The fire was reported in the lift and on level five of the building, a Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokesperson said.
Firefighters are conducting a secondary search of the building.
Finance minister backs construction union’s ‘effective bargaining’
Circling back to the finance minister’s interview with ABC Radio, Gallagher says she backs effective bargaining for the construction union CFMEU, who are pushing for “significant” wage increases.
It’s very unsurprising that a union would be arguing for better wages for its workers.
I back effective bargaining – that is, the employer and the unions and the employees sit down and they negotiate what’s possible.
Rio Tinto investigating lost capsule
Rio Tinto says it is taking the loss of a radioactive piece of equipment smaller than a 10 cent piece between its Western Australia mine site and Perth “very seriously”.
The company has launched an internal investigation into how the item went missing over a 1,400-kilometre stretch of road. It comes as authorities also launched their own probe and began to comb parts of the roads for the capsule.
The capsule is understood to have fallen from a truck of a contractor hired to transport the device after leaving the site in Newman, in the Pilbara, on 10 January. The truck arrived at a Perth depot in Malaga on 16 January.
Rio Tinto’s iron ore chief executive, Simon Trott, said on Sunday:
We recognise this is clearly very concerning and are sorry for the alarm it has caused in the Western Australian community.
As well as fully supporting the relevant authorities, we have launched our own investigation to understand how the capsule was lost in transit.
WA emergency services have called on other states and the federal government for support finding the capsule as they lack the equipment to search for the device.
The search has involved people scanning for radiation levels from the device along roads used by the trucks, with authorities flagging the entire 1,400km route might have to be searched.
– AAP
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A fifth of mortgage holders coming off fixed rates this year, finance minister says
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, also spoke to ABC Radio this morning about how the government is balancing the budget with record high inflation, and all signs pointing to another rate hike from the RBA next week.
Gallagher says there will be mortgage pain for over a fifth of mortgage holders:
We’re expecting about 20% of mortgage holders to come off fixed rate loans this year.
We always said 2023 was going to be challenging year … Dealing with the inflation challenge is a key economic priority for the government.
When it comes to budget preparation, Gallagher says the government will be fiscally responsible, and “work hand in hand with the RBA … not against them”.
As for what the government will prioritise in that budget spending:
What you’ll see is a continued focus on cost-of-living relief, funding those priority areas like health and aged care and making sure we’re getting the balance right in terms of spending restraint, banking upgrades and looking for sensible savings where we can.
Mundine says recognition of migrants in constitution would not minimise First Nations people
Warren Mundine, a leading organiser of the formal committee advancing the “no” campaign for the Indigenous voice to parliament, is speaking with ABC Radio. The campaign will propose symbolic constitutional recognition of both Indigenous people and migrants, instead of an Indigenous voice to parliament.
RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas asks Mundine why his group are putting migrants on the same platform as First Nations people. He emphasises how migrants have contributed to improving Australia’s food culture and shaping modern Australia:
There’s no doubt that migrants have been key to the formation of modern Australia.
Karvelas pushes Mundine on why he is conflating the two groups when no one is calling for this recognition of migrants. Mundine insists it would not minimise First Nations.
I think [migrants] should be recognised for their contribution to this country. And I think that’s fair enough, but that’s not minimising the Indigenous.
NSW clubs to introduce gambling code
With gambling shaping up as a contentious issue in the NSW election, the industry has released a code of conduct promising to ban suspected criminals, AAP reports.
ClubsNSW is resisting the push for mandatory cashless gaming cards, saying there is no evidence they will address problem gambling.
Its gaming code of practice released on Monday includes welfare checks on poker machine players at least every three hours and measures to ban problem gamblers from venues.
Under the code, to take effect from July, club staff would be trained to identify key problem gambling indicators, while every club would have a responsible gambling officer.
The industry body said in a statement:
In the event that a player shows any level of distress or hardship, they will need to take a break from gambling for at least 24 hours.
ClubsNSW says under its code patrons seeking credit for gambling, borrowing money from other patrons or who admitting to stealing money to gamble would be offered counselling and automatically barred from gaming rooms.
The code will allow family members to request an exclusion for loved-ones who they believe are experiencing gambling harm, with an expert gambling counsellor to determine whether a ban is appropriate.
ClubsNSW chief executive, Josh Landis, said the code was the most effective way to protect problem gamblers while also keeping criminal activity out of clubs.
The code includes lifetime bans for suspected money-launderers.
Arts industry insiders weigh in on cultural sector changes
Wesley Enoch, Rachel Griffiths and Jaguar Jonze are speaking to ABC Radio as a panel to get an industry perspective on the changes the government is introducing to the cultural sector.
A separate body is being created to oversee working conditions for creative workers, which Jonze says is needed:
Ongoing and abusive behaviour has been allowed and almost encouraged through the industry.
Jonze says there are also issues with financial abuse and an artist loss mentality, which need to be addressed.
Hanson-Young wants to see progress on treaty and question of sovereignty as well as voice
ABC Radio also asked Hanson-Young about her party’s position on the Indigenous voice to parliament following the Greens spokesperson for Indigenous affairs, Lidia Thorpe, last week vowing not to support the voice unless she is “satisfied that First Nations sovereignty is not ceded”.
Thorpe also has called for treaty before voice.
Hanson-Young said: “I want to see progress on all those elements. It would be devastating if we didn’t get progress on all three.”
There’s different views across the broad community across First Nations communities. But we are all committed to making sure we have progress on the question of sovereignty.
She says she welcomes the government clarifying the issue and says based on her readings on the issue, she understands it is an issue that can be “very easily dealt with”.
Greens want investment in education of arts and culture
Sarah Hanson-Young, the Greens spokesperson for the arts, was speaking to ABC Radio earlier following the government outlining its proposed overhaul to the arts sector.
Hanson-Young said the arts in Australia have been “sidelined at best, attacked and undermined at worst”.
She welcomes the greater investment the government will introduce but says she wants to see the arts integrated into a whole of government response, including investment in the education of arts and culture.
Every child should have the opportunity to learn art, music … at the moment it’s done as an add-on.
Hanson-Young also supports a 20% local production quota for all of the streaming services.
Equal shared parental responsibility to be removed under draft family law changes
The draft changes to the family law system follow an inquiry carried out by the Australian Law Reform Commission in 2019, as well as parliamentary probe into the issue in 2021.
The proposed changes will also remove the presumption of “equal shared parental responsibility”, due to inquiries concluding that the measure was misunderstood.
The presumption meant parents were required to consult with each other when making long-term decisions, but was often misinterpreted as creating a right to an equal amount of shared time with children.
The laws will also introduce a requirement for independent children’s lawyers to meet with children to make sure their view points were considered when the court makes it decision.
Under the current laws, the independent lawyers may only be used in exceptional circumstances.
Courts will also be provided with greater powers to protect affected parties and children from protracted and adversarial litigation
The changes also propose a definition of what is a member of the family, that would be inclusive of Indigenous concepts of family and kinship.
Public submissions on the draft bill are open until 27 February.
– AAP
Changes to family law system on the cards
Australia’s family law system is set to be simplified as part of a wide-ranging overhaul, AAP reports.
The federal government released draft legislation of the family law changes today, which will aim to address large court delays and access to support services.
Under the proposed changes, custody arrangements will be determined by six “best-interest factors” for the child, including child safety, a child’s development needs as well as the preferences of the child themself.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the factors for best interests would be streamlined in order to make the system easier for the courts and for parents.
Dreyfus said in a statement:
Currently, custody arrangements require the court to consider two primary factor and 13 additional factors and be guided by four objects, five principles and one presumption.
These long overdue proposed reforms replace the often confusing law around parenting arrangement with a simpler child-focused framework that will guide parents who can agree on their own post-separation parenting arrangements.
International domination of Australian streaming platforms ‘needs to change’, arts minister says
As part of the overhaul to the arts sector, Labor has committed to a timeline for the introduction of quotas to force streaming companies such as Netflix, Disney, Amazon and Apple TV to spend a minimum percentage on specifically Australian content.
The industry has been pushing for streaming platforms to be forced to spend 20% of their Australian revenue on locally made content, but the government has yet to reveal a figure.
The arts minister, Tony Burke, has spoken to ABC News Breakfast this morning. Michael Rowland puts it to the minister that the profit of Disney’s local operation quadrupling last financial year must make a strong case for at least a 20% local production quota for all of the streaming services.
Burke:
There’s no doubt a lot more can be done – a lot more. In terms of the exact number and how you cut it – that’s something we’ll be working through in the first six months of this year. Legislation in the second half of the year, and then, as of July 1 next year, streaming quotas will exist in Australia. There will be Australian content obligations.
The days have to end, where you’re sitting there with a remote control, going through show after show and everything appears to be from either the United States or the UK.
If you’re watching the TV, and it’s free-to-air, you’re getting Australian content. But if you’re watching through the Internet, you’re not guaranteed getting anything at all. And that just needs to change.
Good morning!
And welcome to the blog this last Monday of January. It’s a big day for policy overhauls with the Albanese government making announcements about reform to both the country’s family law and cultural sector.
The federal government has today released draft legislation of changes to family law to simplify it and reduce conflict for families.
The overhaul will see changes to custody arrangements, which will be determined by six “best-interest factors” for the child, including child safety, a child’s development needs as well as the preferences of the child.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the changes would put the best interests of children first, as well as address long court delays and access to support services.
You can read more from Paul Karp:
Australia’s arts scene is set for a revival with the government wanting to see Australians enjoying more music, books and TV produced by Australians.
The government will today be outlining its new national cultural policy, known as Revive, which commits $286m for the arts industry over the next five years.
The policy will set up a new arts investment and advisory body known as Creative Australia which will be in charge of funding artistic projects across a range of mediums. You can read more about the overhaul from Kelly Burke:
Rio Tinto is launching an investigation into how a radioactive piece of equipment smaller than a 10 cent piece was lost somewhere between its Western Australia mine site and Perth.
A formal committee advancing the “no” campaign for the Indigenous voice to parliament will be launched today when its first meeting is convened today, the Australian is reporting.
Warren Mundine, a leading organiser of the no campaign, says it will run on a slogan of “recognise a better way”, and will propose symbolic constitutional recognition of both Indigenous people and migrants, instead of an Indigenous voice to parliament.
You can read more about the no campaign from Paul Karp:
In sporting news, the Australian Open came to an end last night as Novak Djokovic clinched his tenth victory at Rod Laver Arena with a win over Stefanos Tsitsipas. Aryna Sabalenka had victory in the women’s singles over Elena Rybakina Saturday night to claim her maiden grand slam crown.
Let’s get into it!
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