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Amy Remeikis
David Pocock says Labor not protecting most vulnerable after failure to raise jobseeker rates
Hello again from Canberra where the economic inclusion advisory committee interim report – which was released just after 5pm yesterday recommending a rise in jobseeker – is still making waves.
The Antipoverty Centre, which advocates for people living on welfare and in poverty (they go hand in hand these days) have taken to calling it the “economic exclusion committee”. They were sceptical of the process from the outset, questioning what impact it would actually have when it came to raising the rate.
Well, it seems we have the answer – not really a lot.
As Paul Karp reported, it doesn’t appear that the government is going to take up the committee’s (non-binding) recommendations. And that has left senator David Pocock, who had negotiated for the committee to be established in return for his support on the government’s IR legislation, a bit miffed.
The current level of income supports for more than one million Australians is seriously inadequate. The committee recommended a substantial increase in the rate of jobseeker as a first priority and an increase to commonwealth rent assistance.
It is unacceptable that as one of the wealthiest countries in the world so many people in our community, especially children, are being forced to live in poverty in this worsening cost-of-living crisis.
It appears that this Labor government can find extra money for just about anything – from inland rail cost blowouts to submarines – but it won’t do more to protect the most vulnerable.
The Antipoverty Centre was a little more blunt in its response, saying the government “never cared” what the committee would say.
Key events
Voice committee heads north to hear traditional owners
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has defended the wording of the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament, dismissing fears of possible high court challenges, AAP reports.
It comes as traditional owners from far north Queensland and the Torres Strait are due to give evidence as an inquiry into the proposed body resumes.
Albanese said the prospect of cases being brought before the courts due to the wording had been shot down by Australia’s top constitutional law experts. He told 2SM Sydney this morning:
This is a legally sound proposition. It makes it very clear that parliament is in charge.
There’s no obligation and there’s certainly not an obligation on the government to agree to the voice. There is the provision for the voice to be heard, for at least the views to be put.
The third hearing of the parliamentary inquiry into the voice to parliament and executive government will be held in Cairns today. The committee is examining the proposed constitutional changes and the question that will be taken to the public before the terms of the referendum are locked in by federal parliament.
Torres Strait Island councils and traditional owner groups from Cape York and the Torres Strait are among those giving evidence at the hearing.
Bill Shorten says ‘budget heaving with a trillion dollars of Liberal debt’ as raise in jobseeker looks unlikely
As we mentioned earlier, it’s looking unlikely the government will substantially lift jobseeker payments despite its own poverty experts calling for an increase to the “seriously inadequate” unemployment support.
The government services minister, Bill Shorten, told ABC News Breakfast this morning, he can’t answer the question.
That will be up to the government as a whole. I don’t know.
The reality is that we know that people are doing it tough, absolutely doing it tough. And what we want to do is where it’s responsible that we can – and affordable – that we can support people doing it tough.
The reality is we got to weigh that up against all the other things in the budget and the budget is heaving with a trillion dollars of Liberal debt.
The electric vehicle strategy will look at reducing the barriers to electric vehicle uptake, including demand, supply or infrastructure.
The minister for infrastructure and transport, Catherine King, said the government would ensure the fuel efficiency standards work for Australia’s market.
This strategy offers an historic opportunity to develop fuel efficiency standards that learn from international best practice, while recognising the unique needs of Australians.
It will send a strong message to the global car industry that when it comes to transport technology, Australia will no longer settle for less.
More than 85 percent of all cars sold in the world are subject to fuel efficiency standards. It’s time Australians were offered the same choice.
Consultation on the design of fuel efficiency standards begins today, and is available here. Following that consultation, the government will release the proposed Fuel Efficiency Standard by the end of this year.
Government launches nation’s first electric vehicle strategy
Australians can expect a better choice of electric vehicles and less pollution as the government launches Australia’s first national electric vehicle strategy.
The strategy will introduce a fuel efficiency standard which will outline how much pollution (specifically, carbon dioxide) a car will produce when it’s running.
Up until today, Australia – together with Russia – was among the only developed countries that didn’t have fuel efficiency standards. It has meant Australians have missed out on a greater choice of car models because manufacturers have prioritised sending more efficient vehicles to countries with standards in place.
The efficiency standard is also set to save motorists $519 per year in fuel costs, the government said previous analysis has shown. With passenger cars making up almost 10% of Australia’s CO2 emissions, the government says it is an important step to meet our emissions reduction targets.
A joint statement from the minister for climate change, Chris Bowen, and infrastructure minister, Catherine King, said:
Transport is the third largest source of emissions in Australia. This Strategy will help cut our emissions by at least 3 million tonnes of carbon by 2030, and over 10 million tonnes to 2035.
Australian governments, car makers, motoring clubs, climate groups, businesses and unions were all on board with the strategy, according to Bowen. He said:
Fuel-efficient and electric vehicles are cleaner and cheaper to run – today’s announcement is a win-win for motorists.
The efficiency standards will only apply to new cars, and not retrospectively, so consumers will still be able to choose they vehicle they want to drive, the government says.
The national electric vehicle strategy is available here.
Karen Andrews agrees that LNP is distracted by the no campaign
Karen Andrews, who yesterday stepped down as shadow home affairs ministers and announced she would not contesting her seat of Macpherson in the next federal election, has this morning reflected on the state of the party and parliament she will be leaving.
Speaking to ABC Radio this morning, Andrews said she was very surprised by the Liberal’s historic defeat in the Aston byelection. She said she agreed with the former deputy state director of the Victorian Liberal party Tony Barry’s opinion that if the party focuses on fringe issues, it will get fringe results.
Andrews wasn’t pessimistic about the party’s future, as she said conversations will all her colleagues showed they were all “committed to doing things differently”. Asked if her party was being distracted by the vote no case, Andrews said “I believe so”.
She said “it is clearly an important issue” and that there is a strong will from the Australian people to respond to it. She believed the party’s focus on local communities was “the right thing to do” but acknowledged they needed to respond to the issue of constitutional recognition.
The more talk there is of one issue in isolation, the greater the risk of disenfranchisement amongst Australian voters, Andrews said.
On the issue of the voice, she believes the “better way forward” is for there to be greater dialogue and discussion between two major parties so that recognition can be resolved.
She called on both major parties to focus on a more positive approach, saying Question Time is full of negativity and politicians who “beat each other up for silly little reasons.”
I’d like to see a gentler parliament … the Australian people deserve better.
Paul Karp
Dutton reiterates push for nuclear power
Dutton argued that a 82% renewable energy target – including 28,000km of transmission wires by 2050 costing at least $100bn – is unfeasible.
The only policy he elaborated on in detail was nuclear power:
That’s why we’re pushing for a discussion on next-generation, zero emission, small and micro nuclear technologies which countries around the world are investing in. These reactors can plug into an existing distribution network. Similar technology in the form of sealed nuclear reactors will power our future submarines for up to 30 years – equal to the life of the boat. They will be based here in South Australia.
Nuclear power within the energy mix has the potential to help us meet three obligations: To improve our environment by reducing emissions. Ensure Australians have affordable power. And create a dependable energy system which supports our businesses, industries and households. And that is policy pragmatism.
Dutton also attacked Labor for “dramatically increasing numbers under a ‘Big Australia’ agenda”.
He said:
Across this and next financial year, around 650,000 migrants will come to our country. It will be the biggest surge in the history of our population. It will occur amidst the housing and rental shortage. Migration on this scale will put even more pressure on transport, on classrooms, on hospitals and on other services.
Paul Karp
Dutton: Liberals are down but not out
Last night the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, gave the Sir John Downer oration at the University of Adelaide. In it, he argued that the Liberals are down but not out and promised new policies to maximise the difference with Labor, including support for nuclear power.
Dutton said:
The Liberal party has obviously suffered recent setbacks at the federal and state levels. Labor is in power across mainland Australia. I know that many Liberals – whether it’s our members or our rusted-on supporters – are feeling despondent and disillusioned. But in the cycle of politics, parties will be down, but, of course, they are never out.
We have been there before. And we’ve come back. It’s in our darkest hours where we find the courage, the camaraderie, the commitment, the conviction and the confidence for revival, for resurgence and for victory.
Dutton noted commentators in the media made similar predictions in 2007, and argue their policy prescriptions amount to arguing if the Liberals “could be more like the Labor party they would be able to vote for us for the first time”.
Dutton channelled Winston Churchill, claiming “the next election will be one of our finest hours” because the Liberals had “learnt from past mistakes”.
He said the next election will be “a very significant choice, between ongoing policy of taxing and spending and fulfilling the union wish list under Labor … or restoring policy grounded in reason under the Coalition”. He promised the Liberals “will not adopt a cowardly small-target strategy”.
Natasha May
Good morning! Natasha May on deck with you.
Amy Remeikis
David Pocock says Labor not protecting most vulnerable after failure to raise jobseeker rates
Hello again from Canberra where the economic inclusion advisory committee interim report – which was released just after 5pm yesterday recommending a rise in jobseeker – is still making waves.
The Antipoverty Centre, which advocates for people living on welfare and in poverty (they go hand in hand these days) have taken to calling it the “economic exclusion committee”. They were sceptical of the process from the outset, questioning what impact it would actually have when it came to raising the rate.
Well, it seems we have the answer – not really a lot.
As Paul Karp reported, it doesn’t appear that the government is going to take up the committee’s (non-binding) recommendations. And that has left senator David Pocock, who had negotiated for the committee to be established in return for his support on the government’s IR legislation, a bit miffed.
The current level of income supports for more than one million Australians is seriously inadequate. The committee recommended a substantial increase in the rate of jobseeker as a first priority and an increase to commonwealth rent assistance.
It is unacceptable that as one of the wealthiest countries in the world so many people in our community, especially children, are being forced to live in poverty in this worsening cost-of-living crisis.
It appears that this Labor government can find extra money for just about anything – from inland rail cost blowouts to submarines – but it won’t do more to protect the most vulnerable.
The Antipoverty Centre was a little more blunt in its response, saying the government “never cared” what the committee would say.
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning. I’m Martin Farrer and welcome to today’s rolling news coverage. It promises to be a pretty busy day so I’ll have a couple of breaking stories for you before my colleague comes along to run the show.
We’re getting into budget bargaining season as stakeholders and interest groups bid to put pressure on the Albanese government ahead of Jim Chalmers’ big day next month. Specifically, our story says ministers are being urged to include a pay rise and increased rent assistance for all childcare and aged care workers as part of “specific and urgent” recommendations by the women’s economic equality taskforce.
Meanwhile, there are warnings the planned extra $4.8bn spend on aged care will still not be enough, while the government may ignore calls from its own experts to lift ‘seriously inadequate’ jobseeker rate. The latter move has angered the independent senator David Pocock who says it is “unacceptable”. More coming up on his comments.
Students are being left with as little as $13 a day to live on as the youth allowance fails to keep pace with soaring rents, according to analysis from Homelessness Australia. We’re also looking at how Help or Hecs debts are ballooning thanks to inflation, and how best to tackle paying them off. One former student tells us that she now owes more than she did when she left uni.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will no doubt also have suggestions for the treasurer when it releases its national electric vehicle strategy this morning. Chris Bowen and Catherine King, the energy and infrastructure ministers respectively, will make a joint announcement about it shortly and we’ll have the latest as soon as it happens.
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