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Coalition and Greens blocking housing bill ‘beggars belief’: treasurer
Asked about rental assistance in the budget, Chalmers has lashed out at the “coalition of weirdos” blocking the government’s housing future fund from passing in the upper house.
One of the reasons why we have vacancy rates so low and rents so high is we don’t have enough homes and that is why it beggars belief that this coalition of weirdos in the Senate – the Liberals and Nationals and Greens – have banded together to say they will oppose building more social and affordable homes in this country. It beggars belief.
Key events
Victoria records 44 Covid deaths and 311 people in hospital
There were 6,452 new cases in the weekly reporting period, and 17 people are in intensive care.
Those numbers are up slightly on 6,255 cases and 42 deaths last week.
This week we reported 6,452 new cases with a daily average hospital occupancy of 311 and 17 patients in ICU. 44 deaths were reported in the past 7 days.
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives. 🧵 1/2 pic.twitter.com/FXmBOFFLra
— Victorian Department of Health (@VicGovDH) May 5, 2023
NSW records 53 Covid deaths and 1,291 people in hospital
There were 12,323 new cases in the weekly reporting period, and 30 people are in intensive care.
Numbers have gone up from last week’s 11,745 cases, returning to around the same level of the previous week. Recorded deaths are also up significantly from 35 last week.
COVID-19 weekly update – Friday 5 May 2023
In the 7 days to 4pm Thursday 4 May:
– 12,323 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded: 5,758 rapid antigen tests (RATs) and 6,565 PCR tests
– 53 lives lost pic.twitter.com/ZDM7zSNSd2— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) May 4, 2023
Caitlin Cassidy
Refugee activist charged with assault during protest at Andrews Giles’ office
A Tamil refugee activist has been arrested and charged with assault at Andrew Giles’ office during a protest over the treatment of refugees.
Yesterday afternoon, more than 70 refugees and supporters entered the Melbourne office of the minister for immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs to challenge the federal government’s immigration policy.
Aran Mylvaganam was subsequently handcuffed and arrested by members of Victoria police. In a statement, Victoria police said when police attempted to remove the man, he allegedly assaulted police members.
He is expected to be charged on summons for assault related offences. The officer received minor injuries and was treated at the scene. The rest of the group left the office building without further incident.
Mylvaganam founded the Tamil Refugee Council, and has stood as a federal and state upper house candidate for the Victorian Socialists.
He called it an “outrageous attack on free speech”.
We went to the relevant minister to voice our opposition to the barbaric treatment of thousands of refugees by the Labor government … [which] has refused to give any answers to the 12,000 refugees who were not included in their temporary protection visa announcement in February … they want to live stable, secure lives in Australia.
National Union of Students national education officer Xavier Dupé, who was at the protest, has demanded a written apology from Giles and Victoria police for the “attack on freedom of speech”.
NT to receive over $14m for additional policing in Alice Springs
The commonwealth and Northern Territory governments have today signed two national partnership agreements which will fund:
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30 additional high-visibility police officers
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21 additional liquor licensing inspectors and compliance officers
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10 additional security guards in public places across Alice Springs
The government says the two-year agreements are part of the Albanese government’s $48.8m community safety package for Alice Springs.
Budget press conference summary
That press conference has wrapped up now. What did we learn about the budget from the treasurer?
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There will be help for vulnerable people, while enforcing strict fiscal discipline.
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It will set up the country to take full advantage of opportunities for growth with clean energy at the centre of the strategy.
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Cost-of-living support will take pressure off inflation and not add to it.
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He wants to “attack entrenched disadvantage” through place-based initiatives partnering with philanthropic organisations, local communities and impact investing.
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We can expect a small improvement to the budget bottom line in the near term but there’s still substantial pressure in the medium term.
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The cost of servicing the previous government’s debt will be $112bn over forward estimates – which amounts to $60m a day in interest repayments.
Coalition and Greens blocking housing bill ‘beggars belief’: treasurer
Asked about rental assistance in the budget, Chalmers has lashed out at the “coalition of weirdos” blocking the government’s housing future fund from passing in the upper house.
One of the reasons why we have vacancy rates so low and rents so high is we don’t have enough homes and that is why it beggars belief that this coalition of weirdos in the Senate – the Liberals and Nationals and Greens – have banded together to say they will oppose building more social and affordable homes in this country. It beggars belief.
Don’t expect big changes to employment services in budget, treasurer says
Our chief political correspondent, Paul Karp, is asking the treasurer about that announcement on tackling entrenched disadvantage:
Is this an indication that the Workforce Australia, formerly JobActive, model, has failed? And could the investments in place-based initiatives and long-term unemployment replace paying private providers to hound job seekers to tick boxes and jump through hoops?
Chalmers says:
We are motivated by the sense here that we can do a much better job of putting the opportunities of a growing, job-creating economy within the reach of more people. And part of that is how we do JobActive and employment services.
This is an important part of our plan, there will be other elements on Tuesday night but … You shouldn’t anticipate big changes in the budget on Tuesday night when it comes to employment services but we have been working a lot behind the scenes and around the clock – Julian [Hill], Tony [Bourke] and others – to see if we can do this much better.
The government anticipates “having more to say” about employment services later this year at the conclusion of the committee process, Chalmers said.
Gallagher says women at centre of decision-making on budget
Gallagher is flagging there will be further measures in the budget helping Australian women achieve economic parity.
The finance minister, who is also minister for women, makes the point it’s “a very strong budget for women in this country”.
The government has heard the key recommendation from their jobs and skills summit that driving women’s economic equality is a key priority for economic growth overall, Gallagher says.
We made a commitment as a government that we wanted to put women at the centre of our decision-making …
We have listened to women around the country. You saw the beginnings of that with PPL and childcare investments in October. You will see more of that in the budget and one of those was the one we announced yesterday [for] aged care workers where more than 90% of that work force are women. The ParentsNext program, 95% of people on that are women. That is factored into our decision-making very much.
Katy Gallagher announces end of ParentsNext scheme
Gallagher is announcing – as we’ve reported earlier this morning – that the mutual obligation side of ParentsNext will stop.
We want to make sure that this group of vulnerable Australians gets the support that they need to get ready for work or have other training opportunities. We just don’t believe we need to take their money away in the process.
You can read the full report here:
Finance minister says $7.5bn to go into underfunded services
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, follows the treasurer and says more than $7bn has been found to deal with the previous government’s underinvestment in key areas of service delivery.
What you will see in this budget – we started it in October, where we funded about $4.1 billion in the zombie legacy unfunded programs. In this budget, you will see an additional $7.5 billion being found, we have made room for that in the budget because these are services that people rely on.
Interest on previous government’s debt will be $112bn over five years: Chalmers
Chalmers says the cost of servicing the previous government’s debt is $112bn.
The budget is under substantial pressure into the medium term. We expect a substantial improvement in the budget in the near term but after that, the pressures intensify rather than ease.
We still have big structural challenges in our budget. We still have that combination of interest costs on the debt, the NDIS, health care, aged care and defence putting substantial pressure on the budget.
What we have revealed today is that the cost of servicing the debt that the Liberals and Nationals left behind in the budget that we hand down on Tuesday night will be $112 billion over the forward estimates.
This is the hefty price that Australians are being asked to pay for the Liberals’ failures to manage the budget responsibly.
Budget will aim to ‘attack entrenched disadvantage’, says Chalmers
Chalmers says the budget will particularly look to tackle “entrenched disadvantage” through a series of place-based initiatives.
We also want to make sure, in addition to what we will do on cost of living for the most vulnerable Australians, a particular effort to attack entrenched disadvantage in communities like the one that I grew up in.
What Minister [Amanda] Rishworth and I and the cabinet have agreed for Tuesday night’s budget is a series of place-based initiatives to try and shift the needle in disadvantaged communities.
It has been a concern of ours for some time that even in an economy which is capable of creating opportunities and an economy with 3.5% national unemployment, there are parts of Australia – there are pockets of disadvantage in this country, and we don’t want to see long-term unemployment.
We don’t want to see entrenched intergenerational disadvantage and so one of the initiatives, one of the package of initiatives in the budget on Tuesday night will be a dedicated effort to attack entrenched disadvantage in communities right around Australia.
Chalmers hints at ‘a budget in the best Labor traditions’
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is giving a press conference in Canberra with some hints ahead of next Tuesday’s budget.
This budget will be a budget in the best Labor traditions, help for the vulnerable, with cost of living pressures, an eye on the future and strict fiscal discipline as well.
We know that in order to do all of the things that we want to do for people to get them through a difficult period and in order to properly set Australia up for the future, that needs to be built on a foundation of responsible economic management and responsible economic management is what you will see on Tuesday night.
Fears for paddler missing in Torres Strait
Extensive search efforts for a father missing off a Torres Strait island have been unsuccessful after the discovery of an unmanned outrigger canoe, AAP reports.
The vessel was found 100 metres offshore from Thursday Island on Wednesday afternoon, triggering a major sea and air search for the missing 38-year-old man.
The paddler was last seen about 3.45pm before his hat was found on Channel Rock by a member of the public.
Marles and Dutton continued to play hot potato with the budget debt, with the opposition leader reminding Marles that Labor supported every dollar of the Covid spend and proposed another $81bn of spending.
Marles again underlines trillion-dollar debt due to Morrison government’s lack of ‘discipline’
The acting prime minister Richard Marles appeared in tandem with the opposition leader on the Today Show and hit back at Dutton, reminding him the government inherited a trillion-dollar debt from the former government he was part of:
For all their rhetoric, [the Morrison government] was a big spending, high-taxing government which lacked discipline when it came to the management of the budget such that we’ve now got a trillion dollars of debt and with very little to show for it.
What that means in terms of framing a budge is that we’re faced with $112 billion interest bill over the next five years, just to service that debt. And that’s one of the real pressures that we have, which we wish wasn’t there, but it is there.
Dutton: Australia’s high level of inflation ‘nothing to do with international factors’
Circling back to the opposition leader’s interview on the Today Show, the Coalition are continuing this line of attack on the government for inflation they say cannot be blamed solely on international circumstances.
We’ve heard Albanese government ministers mention global headwinds more times than I care to remember, but Dutton is saying there is a problem at home if Australia compares so unfavourably with other G7 nations:
For Australia we have got the highest level of inflation compared [with] other G7 nations. That’s nothing to do with international factors.
It’s all to do with government policies and the policies have been driving up interest rates and the Reserve Bank has an obligation to deal with that.
In relation to the banks, I just wish that they would increase their deposit rates and do it as quickly as they increase the mortgage rates. I think people would see it as a bit more of a genuine approach.
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