Inflation still high, too soon to rule ‘anything’ out, RBA’s Bullock says
The RBA governor Michele Bullock is holding a press conference on the RBA rate decision. She lays out what the board considered:
First of all, we’re making progress in our fight against inflation but it does remain high. As we have discussed before, in fact at previous press conferences, it is a challenge. It hurts everyone, inflation. And that is why it is so important that we get inflation back into a target band of 2%-3%. Recent data suggests we are on the right track but to best ensure it gets back to target remains uncertain.
We want to hold onto as many gains in the labour market as we can. What we need is a greater confidence that inflation will return to the target band in a reasonable timeframe and stay there so domestic data over recent weeks has been larger as expected.
The board believes the risks in the outlook are finely balanced and it is too soon to rule anything in or out.
The data shows a slowing in GDP growth in the December quarter, … slightly higher unemployment, slightly higher wages growth and a further moderation and inflation.
We understand that households are still bearing the brunt of this inflation challenge. We see the weak consumption data and we know there is a big cost-of-living squeeze on households. Unemployment has also picked up a bit.
Employment is continuing to grow but these are firmly on the board’s radar and that is why we are being cautious. Wages growth picked up a little further and it is expected to moderate but it may take some time.
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First of all, we’re making progress in our fight against inflation but it does remain high. As we have discussed before, in fact at previous press conferences, it is a challenge. It hurts everyone, inflation. And that is why it is so important that we get inflation back into a target band of 2%-3%. Recent data suggests we are on the right track but to best ensure it gets back to target remains uncertain.
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We want to hold onto as many gains in the labour market as we can. What we need is a greater confidence that inflation will return to the target band in a reasonable timeframe and stay there so domestic data over recent weeks has been larger as expected.
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The board believes the risks in the outlook are finely balanced and it is too soon to rule anything in or out.
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The data shows a slowing in GDP growth in the December quarter, … slightly higher unemployment, slightly higher wages growth and a further moderation and inflation.
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We understand that households are still bearing the brunt of this inflation challenge. We see the weak consumption data and we know there is a big cost-of-living squeeze on households. Unemployment has also picked up a bit.
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Employment is continuing to grow but these are firmly on the board’s radar and that is why we are being cautious. Wages growth picked up a little further and it is expected to moderate but it may take some time.
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As expected, the Reserve Bank has left the cash rate unchanged for a third meeting in a row at 4.35%.
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The central bank’s decision was widely expected by economists. We’ll hear more from RBA governor Michele Bullock at the RBA’s outlook in a media conference starting in about an hour’s time.
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Peter Dutton is up with no ceremony:
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In January of this year, a record 125,410 visa-holders arrived in Australia, far outstripping the housing stock available here in our country. Given permanent and long-term overseas arrivals are outpacing the construction of new homes at a rate of almost four to one, can the Prime Minister tell the house how many new homes or units were built in January?
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Sigh.
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Anthony Albanese:
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I’m asked a question about migration and, indeed, just last week, the Centre for Population put out a population forecast which showed that the Australian population is now expected to be smaller in 2030-32 than the pre-pandemic forecast published by the former government when this bloke here was the minister, when he was the cabinet minister responsible for migration. Here’s what the population statement said: for 2030-31, the expected population is 600,000 people, or 2.1%, below what was projected prior to the onset of the pandemic in 2019-2020. But it’s not just when he was the minister, Mr Speaker, because this is what the leader of the opposition has said with his current title of leader of the Opposition. He has said this on 2 September, 2022: “We do need an increase in the migration numbers.”
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Michael Sukkar interrupts with a speech dressed up as a point of order and then Tony Burke has had enough and asks the speaker to make a ruling on whether MPs need to state their points of order first. Milton Dick agrees, making a new ruling:
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Moving forward, if you don’t get up and say the standing order, you’ll leave the chamber immediately. Just so everyone is crystal clear, no more coming to the despatch box, giving a speech, asking a question. Under the standing orders there is time to take a point of order on relevance. It’s pretty easy to do. You get up and say, “I’m taking my point of order on relevance”. So, this is the warning shot. It is happening more and more. Question time is not going to operate like that. If you do that, you won’t stay.
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The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, has emphasised the ABC’s editorial independence, in response to complaints from the Ukrainian ambassador about last night’s Four Corners program spotlighting the perspective of Russian troops on the frontline.
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In a statement issued a short time ago, Rowland said:
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The ABC has operational and editorial independence. Questions or concerns about ABC editorial content should be directed to the ABC.
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I have received the Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia’s correspondence, and have provided him with information regarding the ABC complaints process and relevant contact details.
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The Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, has demanded a meeting with ABC management to protest last night’s Four Corners program, which he alleged “was the journalistic equivalent of a bowl of vomit”.
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The program was titled Ukraine’s War: The Other Side. The ABC’s blurb said it was “a rare insight from the other side”, adding that “filmmaker Sean Langan’s groundbreaking documentary offers a human perspective on life on the Russian frontline”.
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In a statement issued this morning, Myroshnychenko said the program “unquestioningly repeated and aired countless blatant lies, historical distortions, racist claims and propaganda narratives emanating from the Kremlin” and therefore “completely served the interests of Russia’s dictator, Putin”.
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Myroshnychenko said:
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It also minimised and denigrated the deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children who have been killed by Russian soldiers in an illegal and brutal invasion strongly condemned by Australia and the majority of countries through the UNGA resolution in March 2022.
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The Australian Broadcasting Corporation should be ashamed that it put such total garbage to air.
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Through the Minister for Communications, I will ask for a meeting with the Managing Director of the ABC and the Executive Producer of Four Corners to understand what process led to the airing of this pro-Putin and pro-violence propaganda piece by Australia’s national broadcaster. I will share with them the facts that the program totally disregarded.
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Comment is being sought from the ABC.
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The drama around Don Farrell’s comments though comes because of their timing. China’s foreign minister Wang Yi is visiting Australia this week (after visiting New Zealand) and there are suggestions Farrell made the comments downplaying the US relationship because of that pending visit.
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Simon Birmingham told Sky News this morning:
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I can’t get inside Don Farrell’s head to say for sure whether or not you’re right. But what Don Farrell did was quite insulting to the United States, and he ought to apologise for it. He ought to set the record straight.
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Let’s be very clear. Under the Five Eyes agreement, the United States shares its most sensitive intelligence with Australia. Under the Aukus partnership, we’re expecting the United States to share its most sensitive defence technologies with Australia. So, we are asking them to put enormous trust in us and we should reciprocate that trust. Every single Albanese government minister should be crystal clear about that. Not dismissive of it.
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(Just an FYI, New Zealand is also a member of Five Eyes).
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New laws are set to be introduced to Victorian parliament to force career criminals to repay any wealth that they cannot prove was lawfully acquired.
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The state attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, and police minister Anthony Carbines will on Tuesday announce the new laws they say are “aimed at depriving crime bosses of the use and enjoyment of their unexplained wealth”.
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They said while authorities can currently confiscate wealth they believe has been illegally acquired, it must be in the criminal’s name.
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Under the bill, a new pathway will be created for an “unexplained wealth order” that will allow authorities to seize an asset purchased due to the proceeds from crime in someone else’s name.
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The changes will also capture “consumable wealth and wealth that has been gifted, disposed of or expended” – such as the hiring of a yacht, a hotel penthouse or sexual services.
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attorney general Jaclyn Symes.”,”caption”:”Victorian attorney general Jaclyn Symes.”,”credit”:”Photograph: James Ross/AAP”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1710798348000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”17.45 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1710798974000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”17.56 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1710798370000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”17.46 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”17.46″,”title”:”Victoria announces ‘unexplained wealth’ laws aimed at crime bosses”,”contributors”:[{“name”:”Benita Kolovos”,”imageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/03/03/Benita_Kolovos_2.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=d3f0a5f1842f00e9418475562a58b666″,”largeImageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/03/03/Benita_Kolovos.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=5eab712ba445dc6cf12cdc0f9a1eff16″}],”primaryDateLine”:”Tue 19 Mar 2024 01.05 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Mon 18 Mar 2024 15.29 EDT”},{“id”:”65f8b3ea8f08f31585c6fd4e”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The reason Chris Bowen has a bit of pep in his step today is because of the release of the latest default market offer on electricity prices.
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As Peter Hannam reports, there could be some relief in store on power:
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Millions of households could see power prices fall in the coming year as falling costs for generation have declined from the “extreme peaks of 2022”, the Australian Energy Regulator says.
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The regulator released its draft default market offer for the 2024-25 on Tuesday, setting a guide for electricity prices in New South Wales, South Australia and south-east Queensland. Victoria was expected to reveal its equivalent default prices soon.
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The majority of residential customers can expect price cuts of between 0.4% to 7.1%, while most small business customers could see reductions between 0.3% and 9.7%, the AER said. Price changes, though, may hinge on location and type of load demand.
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Asked whether Paul Keating should meet China’s foreign minister Wang Yi, Chris Bowen says:
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\n
Certainly if he chooses to.
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I mean, this is a very important visit by the Chinese foreign minister. I think it reflects the efforts of the government and of the Chinese government to be fair, to stabilise relations.
\n
There’ll be important meetings with serving government ministers. It is entirely usual for a visiting foreign minister to seek out a former prime minister, particularly one who played the role he did in Australia finding security in Asia, not from Asia, as Paul Keating did all those years ago.
\n
He’s deeply respected across Asia and a meeting of that nature is, I think, singularly unremarkable.
\n
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Welcome back to politics live for the second sitting day of the session. Thank you to Martin for kicking things off this morning. Amy Remeikis will be with you for most of the day.
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It’s going to be a busy one – so let’s get into it.
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Survivors of sexual harassment in the workplace will be encouraged to share their stories and solutions as part of a new project being launched by the Australian Human Rights Commission today.
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The Speaking from Experience project – another recommendation from the landmark 2020 Respect@Work report – will allow victim-survivors to voluntarily share their experiences so the commission can better understand how common workplace sexual harassment is and come up with ways to prevent it from happening.
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The sex discrimination commissioner, Anna Cody, said those who had experienced sexual harassment while on the job could offer “invaluable insights into the challenges and solutions needed to create safer workplaces”.
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In particular, Cody wanted to hear from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers, culturally and racially marginalised workers, young workers, workers with disability and LBGQTI+ workers.
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Cody told Guardian Australia:
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We know that, very sadly, sexual harassment pervades every industry and every workplace. We’ve had a national inquiry. What are the areas now that we need to really focus on to shift the experience of sexual harassment within Australian workplaces?
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A number of in-person consultations will also be held, kicking off in Perth this week.
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The Coalition has taken aim at former prime minister Paul Keating for accepting a meeting with the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, who is visiting Australia later this week.
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The Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham, said the idea of the meeting was “pointed and somewhat insulting” in light of the extent of Keating’s past commentary directed towards the Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong:
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Paul Keating’s reckless and irresponsible comments since the Albanese government was elected demonstrates an underlying division within the broader Labor party
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Whatever their personal views, our former prime ministers carry with them a special responsibility to be cognisant of changing security challenges and judicious in the use of their office. Paul Keating’s running commentary has been neither, and is clearly welcomed for propaganda purposes elsewhere.
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Keating yesterday rejected criticism of his decision to accept Wang’s meeting invitation, saying the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet had offered “to facilitate the meeting and to make appropriate arrangements”.
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Despite his outspoken criticism of the Aukus pact, Keating said he was pleased Australia had “moved substantially from the counterproductive baiting policy the Morrison government applied to China to now something much more civil and productive”.
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Good morning and welcome to today’s politics live blog. My name is Martin Farrer and first I’m going to flag up the best overnight stories before Amy gets into the hot seat.
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Ever since Clive Palmer spent $117m at the last election, there have been growing calls for curbs on political donations. Now an alliance of independents want to outlaw gifts of more than $1.5m. Lower house crossbenchers including Kate Chaney, Zali Steggall, the Greens, David Pocock, Lidia Thorpe and the Jacqui Lambie Network will present a united front by introducing their fair and transparent elections bill in both houses of parliament to outlaw large donations.
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In addition, the Greens plan to introduce a private senator’s bill to give the ACCC powers to “smash the supermarket duopoly”. The idea of divestiture powers allowing the breakup of big businesses after a court finds a serious breach of competition law has been backed by former ACCC chair Allan Fels.
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The Reserve Bank is widely tipped to leave its key interest rate on hold at this week’s board meeting, which winds up today. But economists are split on how soon borrowers can expect rate relief. The central bank will announce the results of its second board meeting for 2024 at 2.30pm and while pundits and investors alike expect the RBA will leave its cash rate unchanged at its 12-year high of 4.35%.
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The Coalition has criticised former prime minister Paul Keating for accepting a meeting with the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, who is visiting Australia later this week. Simon Birmingham called Keating’s decision “reckless” and irresponsible” while the former Labor PM continued to hit back at his critics. Keating, an outspoken opponent of the Australian government’s plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, accused News Corp’s national broadsheet The Australian of being “trenchantly anti-Chinese”.
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Key events
Paul Karp
The special minister of state, Don Farrell, has accused some teal independents of hypocrisy for proposing a cap of $1.5m on political donations but no cap on spending on election campaigns.
Farrell said:
Labor is committed to this reform. We need to stop billionaires throwing their money around and trying to buy our elections. Some of the teals are saying to us that they agree with banning big money, just not theirs.”
Earlier today, teal MPs including Kate Chaney, Allegra Spender, Zali Steggall and Zoe Daniel rejected any suggestion of hypocrisy, noting that many of their donations were from smaller donations.
We’ll bring you a full news story shortly.
A spokesperson from the ABC has responded to the criticism from the Ukrainian ambassador to Australia which Daniel Hurst reported on earlier – the ABC will be meeting with the ambassador to discuss his concerns.
The ABC ran a documentary from film maker Sean Langan on Four Corners, which presented the Russian side of the frontlines following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The spokesperson said:
Ukraine’s War: The Other Side is a challenging but legitimate documentary, made by reputable journalist Sean Langan and first aired last month on the UK’s ITV, that offers a rare insight into the lives of Russian soldiers during the war. It adds to our understanding of this tragic conflict and shows the full, horrific impact of the war. The reporter challenges the Russian soldiers and civilians featured in the film about their beliefs and opinions.
The documentary is being seen internationally and is considered an important contribution to the reporting of the war. We believe Australian audiences also have the right to watch it and make up their own minds.
Four Corners has broadcast several programs exploring aspects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, such as:
The ABC will be meeting with the Ukrainian Ambassador to discuss his concerns.
Daniel Hurst
Australia, UK hold defence, climate, clean energy, cyber, and economic security talks
The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, isn’t the only international visitor to Australia, this week.
The Australian government has confirmed it will welcome the UK’s foreign secretary (and former prime minister) David Cameron and the UK’s defence secretary, Grant Shapps. The pair will be in Canberra on Thursday for one-on-one talks with their direct counterparts, Penny Wong and Richard Marles. The four will then fly to Adelaide for annual all-in talks on Friday known as Aukmin. That’s not Aukus; it’s stands for the Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations.
They will discuss ways to deepen cooperation between Australia and the UK “across defence, climate action and clean energy, cyber, and economic security”, a statement issued by the Australian government says.
Marles says it is “an increasingly complex strategic environment” and he looks forward to “working with our United Kingdom counterparts this week to progress ambitious new initiatives to deepen our defence partnership”.
Wong says Australia and the UK are “working together, including in the Indo-Pacific, for a world that is peaceful, stable, prosperous and respectful of sovereignty”.
Dutton says Labor election promise of religious freedom bill now ‘a lie’
Peter Dutton is now saying the government ‘went to the election with a promise that has now turned into a lie’ which is an interesting line to take, given that the voice was also an election promise, but Dutton and the Coalition called on the government to scrap the referendum because there was no bipartisan support.
One of the reasons the government is shelving religious freedoms is because it does not want to have a debate on religion in the current climate of heightened Islamophobia and antisemitism when there is no bipartisan support for the bill.
The government has learnt, through what happened in the voice referendum, what can happen when there is no bipartisan support in areas of great community sensitivity.
But Dutton is saying the government should press on, regardless, because it was an election commitment.
Perhaps, Dutton doth protest too much on religious freedom legislation
Peter Dutton walked out of the house of reps chamber and into the opposition courtyard where he and Michaelia Cash held a press conference slamming the government for preparing to not move ahead on religious freedom legislation.
Essentially, Dutton is saying how dare Anthony Albanese not move forward with this, because he told religious leaders before the election he would move forward with this, and now he isn’t. The Coalition says it can’t offer bipartisan support because it doesn’t know what the government is putting forward.
But none of this is different to the position the former Coalition government took to the 2019 election. They said they would do it, but then it turned into religious freedom legislation and the Coalition ended up having to pull its own bill from the senate because it couldn’t get it past its own party room. Coalition MPs, including Fiona Martin, Bridget Archer, Trent Zimmerman, Katie Allen and Dave Sharma crossed the floor to support an amendment, which abolished the right of religious schools to discriminate against gay and transgender students.
After a marathon battle, my amendment to help protect students from all forms of discrimination has been passed. Ultimately, I could not support the Religious Discrimination Act but I am proud to have played a small part in making bad legislation better.
— Rebekha Sharkie MP (@MakeMayoMatter) February 9, 2022
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After a marathon battle, my amendment to help protect students from all forms of discrimination has been passed. Ultimately, I could not support the Religious Discrimination Act but I am proud to have played a small part in making bad legislation better.
— Rebekha Sharkie MP (@MakeMayoMatter) February 9, 2022
Rather than have that version of the bill go through to the senate, the Morrison government pulled it.
Inflation still high, too soon to rule ‘anything’ out, RBA’s Bullock says
The RBA governor Michele Bullock is holding a press conference on the RBA rate decision. She lays out what the board considered:
First of all, we’re making progress in our fight against inflation but it does remain high. As we have discussed before, in fact at previous press conferences, it is a challenge. It hurts everyone, inflation. And that is why it is so important that we get inflation back into a target band of 2%-3%. Recent data suggests we are on the right track but to best ensure it gets back to target remains uncertain.
We want to hold onto as many gains in the labour market as we can. What we need is a greater confidence that inflation will return to the target band in a reasonable timeframe and stay there so domestic data over recent weeks has been larger as expected.
The board believes the risks in the outlook are finely balanced and it is too soon to rule anything in or out.
The data shows a slowing in GDP growth in the December quarter, … slightly higher unemployment, slightly higher wages growth and a further moderation and inflation.
We understand that households are still bearing the brunt of this inflation challenge. We see the weak consumption data and we know there is a big cost-of-living squeeze on households. Unemployment has also picked up a bit.
Employment is continuing to grow but these are firmly on the board’s radar and that is why we are being cautious. Wages growth picked up a little further and it is expected to moderate but it may take some time.
Question time ends with unedifying name-calling across the house
Dan Tehan then rose to complain that the terms ‘thug’ and ‘coward’ were used in heckles and he wants them ruled unparlimentary.
Tony Burke points out that in the last term of government, Peter Dutton used the term ‘thug’ 15 times.
The chamber moves on.
Daniel Hurst
Dutton says no surprise Albanese shows himself as ‘weak’ and ‘pathetic’
Question time ends but there is a bit of a mess around a personal explanation.
Peter Dutton stood up to make a personal explanation against the sledges that Anthony Albanese made in his dixer answer.
He said he had advised his Coalition colleagues at this morning’s party room meeting that the Labor party would be “completely hypocritical” in attacking the opposition on nuclear power, including on waste and safety, in light of Labor’s support for Aukus.
Dutton said he had also told his colleagues that Labor would find it hard to criticise the Coalition about the location of proposed reactors because the opposition would restrict them to the sites of “end-of-life” coal generators.
Dutton said he also made the point the Coalition had “a little more work to do” in relation to the cost aspect of nuclear power. He told parliament:
For the prime minister to come in here today to again show how weak he is as a leader, how pathetic he is as a prime minister, should come as no surprise to anyone.”
Albanese slams opposition’s nascent – very nascent – nuclear energy policy
Anthony Albanese takes a dixer on energy just so he can line up the opposition for some sledging.
He says the opposition was telling some members of the press gallery yesterday it would announce its nuclear policy today (we wouldn’t know, as we appear to have dropped off the opposition’s list. So sad) and that today in the party room, Peter Dutton said:
There are a few details that were outstanding. Just four.
Safety, disposal, cost and location.
So apart from safety, disposal, apart from the cost and apart from where they are going to go, it is all sorted out!
Good news, team, good news.
Other than that, everything is ready to go.
We just need to buy the land, build the walls and then put the roof on and then we have a new house. Unbelievable.
In fact, it is a lot like the Liberal Party, no help to anyone today, and a waste that takes forever to clean up.
Well, we have been cleaning up their ways and it should not come as a surprise. This is a mob who thought the NBN should be built not with fibre but with copper wire.
This is the mob that were promising commuter car parks where there were no train stations.
Mr Speaker, the climate is changing but they never will. They have had 22 policies in energy in opposition and now they have come up with [some] they cannot land. They could not land in government and they cannot land in opposition.
Despite the fact they had a prime minister who would come in here with a lump of coal saying it was all OK, they did not need to act, the truth is that they left a mess when it came to … a proper energy policy. We have one and we look forward to them announcing their policy when they sort out those four little issues.
Kevin Hogan quotes Toyota on fuel efficiency standards impact but it would say that, wouldn’t it?
Nationals MP Kevin Hogan continues to beat the completely ridiculous fuel-efficiency-standards-are-bad drum, asking:
Three of the top six selling vehicles in regional Australia are made by Toyota and will cost families up to an extra $20,000 to purchase after the new tax. Toyota’s vice president of sales Sean Handley stated it would have an impact on regional Australia and it would reverberate through the Australian economy. Will the minister concede the price of existing cars will increase [under the fuel efficiency standard]?
Missing is the context that other cars will become cheaper. Which is why this debate is so ridiculous.
Chris Bowen, who may actually now say these words in his sleep, responds:
As we said before, it is time for Australia to catch up with the rest of the world. These standards were introduced in the US in 1975, in Japan in 1995, in China in 2005, in South Korea 2006, in the EU 2009, in Canada, a country with similarities with Australia and differences, 2011. Mexico 2013. India 2014. Saudi Arabia 2016. New Zealand 2023. It is also the case that those opposite could ask why we’re not going further, because the model we are proposing has lesser standards than those in New Zealand and Europe.
Andrew Leigh, that quiet Australian, sent to the sin bin
During that answer, Labor MP, Dr Andrew Leigh, who is perhaps respected as the biggest nerd in the parliament, was booted under 94A.
He has only published one book this year, so perhaps he needed to steal a little extra time to finish another one before the financial year is out.
But one of the quietest MPs in the parliament getting the boot for being rowdy has tickled the funny bone of the entire chamber.
(We too had to double check that Milton Dick did indeed say the member for Fenner)
Graham Perrett is next up to ask a dixer and can’t contain his mirth. He is usually on the receiving end of a 94A booting, so he’s enjoying the boot being on the other foot.
Greens challenge Labor to take on Australia’s supermarket duopoly
Greens MP Stephen Bates continues his one man crusade to NEVER wear a tie in the house of representatives and you have to respect the commitment.
It all started when the Nationals complained Bates wasn’t wearing a tie, shortly after he was elected. Bates doesn’t have to wear a tie and to continue to trigger the tie police, vowed to never wear one during his time in parliament. It is these petty vengeances which help us all get up in the morning.
Bates:
Tomorrow the Greens will introduce a bill to create divestiture powers so we can finally break up the Coles and Woolworths duopoly and end the price gouging, powers that already exist in Europe and the US. Will your government stand on the side of Australians and take on the big supermarket corporations or will you just trot out your weak excuses about the Soviet Union and let the giant supermarkets continue to ride rough shot over Australians?
Anthony Albanese:
I’ve been waiting to get a question about the Soviet Union and I’ve got one from the Queensland Greens. Who would have had that on their bingo card?
Hastie attempts gotcha! moment with nuclear argument but Marles fights back
Andrew Hastie is back with the Coalition’s new line of questioning ‘all nuclear is the same’.
Can Richard Marles confirm HMAS Stirling will be the home of Australia’s future nuclear reactor powered submarine fleet? Is the minister aware of any safety concerns for local residents?
The strategy here is if there are no safety concerns with the nuclear submarines, than there will be no safety concerns for a nuclear power plant – GOTCHA!
Marles:
… There will be an enormous effort in terms of putting in place safe regulation of the nuclear establishment and safety of that site. We are of course talking about nuclear reactors which are of a size that they will …
There is a point of order on relevance after 30 seconds which is barely enough time for me to swallow a gulp of tea.
Marles continues:
We are of course talking about a nuclear reactor of a size which will power a single machine.
That’s what we’re talking about in terms of the nuclear reactors that are within the submarines.
And we understand the sensitivity involved here and the safety that needs to be put in place. These are not nuclear reactors of the size, for example, which would power cities.
These are not nuclear reactors of those sites. And they do not generate the same amount of material of a nuclear reactor which might, for example, power a city.
And we understand the sensitivity that would be involved in giving assurance to the Australian people about where reactors which power cities might reside and where the nuclear material that comes from those reactors would be stored.
That is on a completely different scale to what we’re describing in terms of a nuclear reactor which powers a single machine. Those opposite are trying to draw some comparison to them and nuclear reactors which power cities. That is the difference here. It will be completely safe. They’re positing something entirely different.
Telcos ‘on notice’ to solve Triple Zero 3G/4G problem, Rowland says
Michelle Rowland takes a dixer on the switch from 3G networks to 4G and what this means for people who rely on the 3G network, particularly when it comes to being able to call Triple Zero. Some handsets use 4G for voice calls and data but are configured to switch to 3G for 000 calls. Rowland has asked the big telcos to identify those customers who would be impacted and says that so far, the response from the big telcos has not been good enough, so she has asked for a new plan.
I’ve asked Telstra, Optus and TPG to give me their action plans by March 25 and fortnightly updates and told CEOs directly they must have easier ways to check if their handset is affected.
The government takes this issue extremely seriously and will continue to monitor the switchovers and note options exist in law, including potential proposals to delay 3G switchovers if that is in the public interest and subject to consultation processes.
Australians rightly expect the 000 service can be relied on when they need it. It’s one of the most critical public interest requirements for mobile carriers. The industry is now on notice to resolve this as an absolute priority.
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