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Nazis in Melbourne ‘scumbags’ and ‘sick individuals’, Dutton says
Asked about the Nazis on the steps of parliament house on Spring Street in Melbourne over the weekend who are galvanising around the issue of immigration, Dutton said it “deeply concerns me”.
They are scumbags, they are sick individuals, and of all things of all causes to take up – how on earth anybody in their right mind could take up a Nazi cause or wave that flag or salute in a way that a monster taught them to salute is beyond me.
Key events
Albanese goes on that debating policy is what’s supposed to occur at the national conference:
I saw the article and it says there will be a policy debate about issues at ALP national conference. Ho-hum. There’s policy debates about everything. That’s why we have an ALP national conference. We are a party that debates our policy live on national TV.
The PM was also asked about the internal push back within the Labor ranks which the Nine newspapers are reporting this morning, with backbenchers wanting to see the party’s more ambitious s housing policies and limit negative gearing.
Reporter:
The evidence is really clear about needing to make tax changes including to negative gearing. Your MPs have also expressed a hope to revisit negative gearing. Do you take all of that on board?
Albanese:
The government’s position is very clear and it’s a position for which we received a mandate at the 2022 election and I’m someone who keeps the commitments that we made and our 2022 election commitments we’re busy implementing.
(So that’s a no on changes to negative gearing)
Strongest threat to security has been rightwing extremism ‘for some time’: PM
Albanese says there is no place in the country for the neo-Nazi demonstrations which took place in Melbourne over the weekend at an anti-immigrations rally:
For some time the strongest threat that has been identified for our security has been rightwing extremism.
There is no place in Australia for the sort of demonstrations that we’ve seen now on a number of occasions here in Melbourne with people paying tribute to nazism, an evil doctrine that resulted in the mass murder of people on the basis of their religion, on the basis of who they were, on the basis of their sexual preference.
The time for tolerance of those matters has long gone. People should have a look at the consequences of that hatred. And it is an ideology of hate.
It’s rejected overwhelmingly by all fair-minded Australians and certainly the authorities will continue to monitor and will have every support for any recommendation that is put forward by those authorities to the government.
PM says Greens also blocking medium-density development in Brisbane
Albanese says the Greens “can’t have it both ways”, blocking the government’s housing bill at the same time as their housing spokesperson runs petitions against developments in Brisbane.
One of the things that I find remarkable is that at the same time as the Greens are blocking additional support for social housing, they’re also running petitions of their housing spokesperson to block any development in medium-density and development of more housing supply in Brisbane. You can’t have it both ways.
PM expresses frustration over blocked housing bill
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has been speaking in Victoria expressing his frustration at the government’s $10bn housing future fund being blocked in the senate without support from the Greens or the opposition.
This is a commonsense position that last week in the Senate we couldn’t even get put to a vote.
Sports minister agrees with PM that betting ads are ‘annoying’
Wells – who is also sports minister – agreed with her boss, Anthony Albanese, that she finds sports betting advertisements “annoying”. However, she isn’t going as far as the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, who wants them banned.
Wells says she’s deferring to the inquiry looking into the issue:
I agree with the prime minister that [they’re] annoying …
I listen to national sporting organisations as the sports minister and they have so far been putting constructive submissions into the inquiry … being run by my excellent friend and colleague Peta Murphy. And I trust Peta’s judgment and I wait for the results of her inquiry.
Pressed on the urgency of an issue ruining people’s lives, Wells says the Albanese government responded to the urgency by setting up an inquiry in the first year of government to work through the issues.
Wells outlines measures to ensure care workers’ pay rise passed on in full by providers
Circling back to the aged care minister Anika Wells’ interview. The government committed $11bn in the budget to pay for the 15% wage rise for aged care workers, but there’s still questions around how they can ensure providers pass on the wage rise in full to workers.
Wells says providers’ attestation in their regular reporting, public data and a schedule of pay that workers can consult will all ensure workers do see the full benefit of that wage rise:
What we’re going to do is make providers attest through their regular reporting to us as the government department that they have passed along those wages in full … and if they lie in their attestation that is a criminal offence.
Also, that data is going to be published from January 1, so that anybody who has an interest or concern about this – and I know a lot of aged care workers do – will be able to see that data.
Finally … we’ve managed to strike a compact with providers and the unions so that we will publish a schedule – because it’s incredibly complex, all the different rates of pay, awards – a schedule that will provide anyone, personal carers, aged care workers in particular, where they can look up the schedule, check that they are being paid what they should be paid under the pay rise. And if not, they could work with their local union to a local resolution and if not, they can escalate it.
The employment relations minister, Tony Burke, is not impressed with Peter Dutton’s answer earlier refusing to back the minimum wage being brought in line with inflation.
Peter Dutton just refused to back a pay rise for workers on the minimum wage.
He spent 10 years as a senior member of a Government that deliberately kept wages low. He hasn’t changed.
Labor wants a pay rise for low-paid workers. Dutton wants them to go backwards. @RNBreakfast
— Tony Burke (@Tony_Burke) May 15, 2023
Paul Karp
PM says Australia would stay in Commonwealth realm in event of successful republican vote
On Fox FM, Anthony Albanese was asked about whether an Australian prime minister will attend another coronation.
He said:
I don’t know. At some stage I think there will be another vote on the republic at some stage. But the Australian prime minister would still go because we’d still remain part of the Commonwealth …
There’s 57 Commonwealth countries, but there’s only 15 now that are part of the realm, that is, have the king as our head of state.
So, at some stage – I’m a republican – I think we will make that decision to have an Australian as our head of state, but we’ll stay in the Commonwealth. It’s an important part of our history.
On the government’s vaping crackdown, Albanese said:
[Vaping] is not a good thing. And the problem with vaping is that it’s a bit of an entry point into then full-on tobacco use.
And the problem with vaping as well is that it does of course contain nicotine, many of them, and some of the marketing [contains] things with little dinosaurs and stuff … pretty colours unicorns and all that stuff.
… It’s not healthy, not a good thing.
Too soon to predict aged care worker growth, minister says
The aged care minister, Anika Wells, has admitted it’s still too early to predict how many new workers will be added to the sector, after a new priority agreement for migrant workers.
Under an aged care labour agreement, skilled migrants would gain access to priority visa processing along with a two-year pathway to permanent residency as an incentive for new aged staff.
While the first aged care facility in Perth signed on to the scheme, which will net 570 workers in the next five years, Wells it was too soon yet to determine how many new staff would come to the industry nationwide.
She told ABC Radio earlier this morning:
It’s far too early for us to try and predict how many workers it will yield. We just know this is the number one thing that providers have been asking us to do.
It’s taken collaboration, not just across the providers, the unions and the workers who seek to address workforce shortages in aged care but across different portfolios of government.
– AAP
Paul Karp
PM says voice ‘won’t have an impact on most people’s lives’ but could improve lives of Indigenous Australians
Anthony Albanese is doing a round of FM radio interviews in Melbourne, canvassing a lot of personal topics including the coronation, his relationship with Jodie Haydon, his car crash and his glow-up.
On the Indigenous voice referendum, Albanese said:
I’m worried about the impact on Indigenous people if it doesn’t get up; I’m worried about the way that Australia will be perceived. This is a pretty gracious and generous request. It’s simply asking to be recognised that our history didn’t begin in 1788. We should be proud that our history includes sharing this continent with the world’s oldest continuous culture. And that should be a source of pride.
And secondly, we should just listen to people, ask them if we’re going to have an impact on them. That’s just really common courtesy. And importantly you get better results when you involve people in things that impact them.
Albanese was asked if he regrets not explaining to people in the suburbs sooner what the voice is about. He said:
No, no. The referendum won’t be held for many months. So for a whole lot of your listeners, they will focus from now going forward. We haven’t passed the legislation yet, it’ll be sometime between October and December. And the truth is that overwhelmingly it won’t have an impact on most people’s lives …
There’s no right of veto. None of that, that’s all just nonsense. Those [are all] scare campaigns. But it just might make the lives of the most disadvantaged group in Australia better. We still have a 10 year expectancy gap in life. We have the highest incarceration rates. We have gaps in health, housing and education outcomes and we need to do better.
Royce Kurmelovs
Protesters demonstrate outside oil and gas conference in Adelaide
It’s a frosty morning in Adelaide, where the leading lights of Australia’s oil and gas industry are filtering into the Convention Centre for their annual conference.
The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Appea) represents oil and gas producers in Australia as their peak industry group.
Outside, a group of protesters have blocked the entrance to the car park along North Terrace – a continuation of a skirmish that began yesterday. Two protesters, including Deanna “Violet” Coco, were arrested during a protest at the South Australian Drill Core Library where Appea had organised a site visit.
Inside the conference centre, the Appea board is holding a private meet-and-greet ahead of opening addresses by Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King, South Australian minister for energy and mining Tom Koutsantonis and Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill.
The last oil and gas conference in Adelaide was met with fierce protests over the industry’s role in contributing to climate change, who interrupted a government-led industry roundtable event at the Wine Centre:
Cait Kelly
Another drag storytime cancelled over security fears for queer events
In Melbourne, another drag storytime event has been cancelled, and one moved online amid increasing security concerns for queer events.
At least ten queer events in the past six months have been called off in Melbourne because of far-right activists.
Frock Hudson, aka Dean Acuri, was scheduled to perform a drag storytime at Eltham library on Wednesday to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT).
Over 50 people had registered to go but it has been moved to Zoom after far-right activists repeatedly called and emailed abuse to staff at Yarra Plenty Regional Library.
In a statement last night, the Rainbow Community Angels, a new group formed to hold counter-protests at queer events attended by fascists, promised to still hold an event on Wednesday:
We very sadly need to let you know that the wonderful Eltham Library have been forced to move their Drag Storytime online due to Victoria Police advice.
But we are not going anywhere! We are defending Councils’ important work to promote inclusion, respect and safety for everyone in their communities.
Join the angels to celebrate local community inclusion of LGBTIQA+ people, especially young people and kids from rainbow families.
Another event scheduled to take place at Woodleigh school on the Peninsula to celebrate IDAHOBIT, with Acuri and drag performer Dolly Diamond, has also been cancelled.
Acuri performed at the school for IDAHOBIT in 2022. The school has been contacted for comment.
The ‘dog whistling’ comments Dutton brushed off
Just taking a step back to provide some context on the “dog whistling” comments Dutton brushed off as being from Labor staffers masquerading as journalists.
He’s referring to author, columnist and former adviser to Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, Sean Kelly’s commentary in the Nine papers yesterday.
Kelly took a look at Dutton’s rhetoric around immigrants in the past (including Dutton’s 2018 gangs comments) in light of his decision to home in on the government’s migration projections of 1.5 million people over the next five years as a key budget response. Kelly wrote:
It is always tempting for politicians to follow that old American advice: split the country in two and tear off the bigger half. In certain times, and in relation to certain issues, it is crucial they resist that temptation.
‘We should have a broad membership’, Dutton says after question on Moira Deeming
Dutton is backing the Liberal party as a broad church; asked about whether there is still a place for people like Moira Deeming after she was expelled from the party room last week, he says:
I believe that we should have a broad membership when people express their views, provided they’re not breaching the law. Their views might not be consistent with mine, but I will defend their right to express it.
… We’re not cyborgs who have a compulsion to have the same view.
Nazis in Melbourne ‘scumbags’ and ‘sick individuals’, Dutton says
Asked about the Nazis on the steps of parliament house on Spring Street in Melbourne over the weekend who are galvanising around the issue of immigration, Dutton said it “deeply concerns me”.
They are scumbags, they are sick individuals, and of all things of all causes to take up – how on earth anybody in their right mind could take up a Nazi cause or wave that flag or salute in a way that a monster taught them to salute is beyond me.
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