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Key events
On the referendum date, Anthony Albanese says it will be ‘sometime between October and December’.
It is most likely going to be in October. But away from the AFL grand final Albanese says:
People are a bit distracted on that day. But we will announce it plenty of time in a in advance.
So far the Anthony Albanese ‘interview’ on FM radio Melbourne KIIS FM is talking about how cold Melbourne is.
(I would like to state for the record that I can not feel my fingers and my cats are doing their best to burrow under my skin it is so cold in Canberra.)
The chat moves on to the referendum. Albanese says:
It’s always easier to get a no vote than it is to get a yes vote in a referendum history tells us that that is the case. I think it’s something like eight successful out of 48 so that’s not a great strike right?
But this is such a sensible reform. This is about recognising first Australians in our Constitution, we should be proud of the fact that we share this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth. And secondly, it’s about giving them a voice on matters that affect them.
So we know that if you’re a young Indigenous person, you are more likely to go to jail than to university. That’s not good. And after I think there’s an eight year life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australia, there are health gaps. there are infant mortality gaps, their housing gap, If you’re going to need to do better.
Independent Kooyong MP Dr Monique Ryan said the crossbench was distressed by the last week:
I can speak for other members of the crossbench because we talk to each other after each Question Time because we found it distressing, and we wanted to stand to our feet and say that we felt it was conduct unbecoming Parliament, and I think if we learn nothing from this, we have to decide as a society whether we want our Parliament really to be dragging people who have gone through really difficult experiences through that sort of experience again. It wasn’t ideal. It was – I actually felt it was shameful.
Bridget McKenzie said there were legitimate questions to ask (in the senate, the Coalition was still questioning Katy Gallagher yesterday)
I think there were serious questions that needed to be asked in the face of a minister misleading the Senate and we asked questions about who knew what, when, what was done with that information – all very legitimate questions, and this issue, when it was last in Parliament was pursued ferociously by the then Opposition and I think we were very careful as we could be with our tone, but to also ask legitimate questions of the Government and their ministers, not just around who knew what when but also around the swiftness of the compensation payment, why some evidence in that process was explicitly excluded, and that, you know, the substantial nature of it – all legitimate questions and the right thing to do.
Liberal senators Anne Rushton and Linda Reynolds were told two years ago what Gallagher knew and when –because she told them in a break from the senate estimates hearing which the Coalition is using as the foundation of the ‘Gallagher misled parliament’ attacks.
McKenzie said the Coalition was “very careful to make sure our tone was correct and that we were actually pursuing the issue, not the person”.
Asked if she could go back in time, knowing how the week played out, if she would play the week the same way, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said:
Yeah, absolutely.
Bill Shorten says parliament created a ‘depressing week for Australians’
The NDIS minister Bill Shorten was a guest on Q&A last night, where the panellists were asked about what was seen coming out of the parliament in the last week:
I’m afraid it was worse than shambolic. It was toxic.
It is not how a lot of parliament is, but it certainly is not how it should be, so I suspect 100% of the MPs will probably realise when they got on the plane and left the building that it had been a really depressing week for Australians.
There is a lot of good work going on, but a week like that and some of the actions overshadowed what a lot of us are trying to do every day, which is make Australia a better place and help Australians.
Anthony Albanese is kicking of his media day with an FM radio show – this time KIIS FM. That’s coming up in the next 30 minutes or so.
Josh Taylor
Call for Parliament House to ban single-use coffee cups
Hold onto your lattes: a Labor MP has called for Parliament House to ban single-use coffee cups, calling for a major change to the fuel that keeps federal politics running.
We hope you haven’t spit your soy flat white all over your phone or keyboard in shock, but Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale wants to see the heart of our democracy phase out single-use cups and instead transition to keep cups or mugs for all.
Last night, the Parliamentary Friends of Waste and Recycling (yes, it exists) held an event for Plastic Free July. With contributions from environment minister Tanya Plibersek, Labor MP Libby Coker and Liberal Bridget Archer, a bunch of MPs signed a pledge to avoid plastic through next month, and will lobby more of their colleagues to do the same.
Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, Plastic Free July’s founder, said the shift couldn’t just be to recyclable or compostable cups, because there aren’t the facilities to manage them all – instead, she called for a greater uptake of reusable cups.
But Laxale went even further in his idea, saying parliament should wind back single-use cups altogether. Parliament House has two main coffee sellers: the independent Aussies cafe, and venues run by the Department of Parliamentary Services. The first-term MP has done some digging, and says the DPS-run coffee outlets had sold some 280,000 coffees in this financial year – with about 252,000 of those being in single-use cups.
“It’s something I noticed when I became an MP. It’s just a monumental amount, in an environment which a closed-loop system, or just using mugs, would work,” Laxale said.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the bleary-eyed MPs and staffers in coffee queues this week to monitor the takeup of the idea.
Good morning
A very big thank you to Martin on this chilly Canberra morning – temperatures are currently below zero, which will make for some frosty politicians.
Thank you for joining us on the third last sitting day before the big winter break. You have Paul Karp and Josh Taylor in Canberra and Amy Remeikis on the blog.
It’s a three-coffee morning. And if you have cats, bring them closer. Ready?
RBA minutes to shed light on next rates call
Mortgage holders will be hoping for signs the Reserve Bank is at the end of its interest rate hiking cycle when the minutes from the last board meeting are released today, AAP reports.
Australia’s central bank opted to hike by 25 basis points at the June meeting, sending the cash rate above 4%. The RBA has lifted the official cash rate 12 times since May last year, choosing to hike at every meeting except April.
The board will next meet on 4 July.
NAB markets economist Taylor Nugent said the June rise was likely a close call and exactly how finely balanced the decision was would be telling.
He hoped the minutes would reveal if the Reserve Bank board was really reacting to the incoming data on a month-by-month basis, or if it had instead lost confidence in returning inflation to target more gradually than some of its international peers.
NAB economists are anticipating two more 0.25 percentage point increases to take the cash rate to 4.6%, with July and August the most likely months.
Two senior RBA officials will also make public appearances on Tuesday.
Deputy governor Michele Bullock is giving a speech about “achieving full employment” at an Ai Group event in Newcastle, and assistant governor Chris Kent is speaking on a panel on the ISDA/AFMA Derivatives Forum in Sydney.
Labor to announce expansion of humanitarian visa program
Mostafa Rachwani
The government will today announce it is increasing Australia’s humanitarian visa program, as part of Labor’s election commitment to double the intake over time.
There are currently 17,875 places in the 2022–23 humanitarian program, after the former government slashed the intake to 13,750, despite skyrocketing rates of displacement globally.
The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, who will provide an update on the exact amount they are increasing the intake by later today, said that the government was working on delivering a humanitarian program that takes into account the “entire resettlement journey”.
With more people displaced worldwide than ever before, the Albanese Labor government is stepping up to play its part in the global resettlement effort in a considered and responsible way.
We’re delivering a humanitarian program that considers a refugee’s entire resettlement journey, ensuring refugees can rebuild their lives with certainty and participate fully in Australian society.
The minister will also be providing an update on how many resolution of status visas are being issued to temporary protection visa holders, with the government saying it is on track to convert most of them in 12 months.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the day in politics and beyond. I’m Martin Farrer with the best overnight lines before my colleague Amy Remeikis comes along.
Campaigners and lawyers have accused the authorities in Northern Territory of a “tremendous injustice” in allowing the major expansion of the gas industry in the Beetaloo Basin, a large area between Katherine and Tennant Creek that contains vast reserves of shale gas. In our top story this morning, Lisa Cox has been talking to people who feel let down by the Northern Land Council and are now appealing for help from the “whole world”. A former council member, Janet Gregory, says she feels responsible for allowing the fracking agreements to go ahead but is now fully involved in the fight.
The Australian government must reform the immigration system to get more migrants into suitable jobs as 286 occupations face shortages, according to new report from a consortium of migrant advocacy and service groups. Their suggested solutions include reviewing the right to work for people on temporary visas and reforming English language requirements. Also today there’s an announcement due on Australia’s new (higher) humanitarian visa intake.
The Victorian government will consider introducing rent caps and new taxes on owners of Airbnbs and vacant properties to help ease pressure on renters, under a deal struck with the Greens in exchange for their support for the state budget. In an exclusive story, Benita Kolovos says the Greens extracted the concessions, which they hope will begin to curb the rapid rise in rental prices in Melbourne.
And we’re expecting the minutes from the most recent Reserve Bank meeting, to understand better why it put up interest rates yet again, and what the chances are of more pain for mortgage payers to come.
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