Albanese on skipping Cop27: ‘I can’t be in all places at once’
The PM is now defending his decision not to attend the major global climate conference COP, which starts this weekend:
I can’t be in all places at once. It’s as simple as that. If we could – if we could do that, then I’d achieve it and I’m sure, therefore, if I was going, people would say why aren’t I attending budget. We had Parliament last week. This COP is one of implementation. It’s not one of a new policy and program.
Australia will be represented by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen and assistant minister Jenny McAllister. Albanese:
My criticism of the former Government was that they went to a conference, gave an empty speech to an empty room that didn’t commit to anything new. The Glasgow Conference was about an increased contribution for 2030.
The former government failed to do that and it probably would have been better off if they hadn’t had gone at all because it just exposed to the world that Australia wasn’t stepping up at a time when other global leaders were.
Parliament is sitting at the same time that is scheduled with the leaders meeting and I’ll be meeting all the leaders of the 20 largest economies in the world at the G20 in Bali.
Key events
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From AAP:
Australia has signed a new strategic partnership agreement with Thailand following talks with the Asian nation’s deputy prime minister.
The agreement comes as Australia and Thailand commemorate 70 years of diplomatic relations.
The agreement signed by Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday includes cooperation on net-zero emissions, health, trade and security.
Senator Wong met with Thai Deputy Prime Minister Don Pramudwinai during a visit to Bangkok.
She said Australia would continue to work closely with Bangkok on areas like defence and regional security.
“Some 19 Australian agencies have made commitments to work with Thailand under this partnership on many areas of practical cooperation,” she said.
“As middle-sized countries, what I would say is we share many of the same aspirations for the region in which we live. Ultimately, Australia seeks, and I believe Thailand also seeks, a region that is peaceful and predictable.”
Nino Bucci
Partner of former Hawthorn player won’t take part in ‘culturally unsafe’ AFL racism review
The partner of a former Hawthorn player who says the football club demanded that she terminate a pregnancy says she will not take part in an AFL investigation into the claims.
The Gunditjmara and Bunitj woman, known as Amy, released a statement on Wednesday morning saying that the investigation announced into claims made by First Nations players and their partners was founded on an “unsafe process”.
Christopher Knaus
Prosecutors decline to comment on whether ATO whistleblower charges will be dropped
Commonwealth prosecutors have declined to say whether they will drop some of the 24 charges laid against tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle.
Boyle, who worked in the Australian Taxation Office’s Adelaide office, blew the whistle in 2018 on its aggressive use of extraordinary powers to pursue debts, which he said was destroying the lives of small business owners and families. He is now facing 24 charges in the South Australian district court, including for allegedly recording private phone calls and making records of protected information.
Boyle is attempting to use whistleblower protections to shield himself from prosecution, invoking the Public Interest Disclosure Act in a way that is largely unprecedented. At a hearing last month, prosecutors argued that Boyle was not entitled to PID act protection.
But the prosecution’s arguments during last month’s hearing may have undermined some of the charges it will seek to bring against Boyle at trial. The court heard it may reconsider whether to proceed with some of the charges.
The CDPP declined to comment on whether it planned to drop any charges against Boyle when approached by the Guardian.
The Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions will not be making public comment on this matter as it is still currently before the Court.
Prosecutors have already reduced the number of charges Boyle is facing by a substantial number. When he was first charged in 2019, prosecutors brought 66 charges. That was reduced to 24 in 2021.
Queensland’s system for screening people who work with children is “re-traumatising” for Indigenous people
Queensland’s blue card system is a “modern-day injustice” for Indigenous people living in remote communities that should be reformed, a parliamentary report says.
A parliamentary committee rejected a Katter’s Australian party bill to overhaul the system to apply to work with children but has backed trials of some of the proposals.
The committee chair, Peter Russo, said applying for blue cards can be “exhausting and re-traumatising” for Indigenous people due to intergenerational trauma, language barriers and complex ID requirements.
Some face significant disadvantages in making online applications due to a lack of facilities or internet access, which contributes to inequity and delays.
As world decarbonises mining industry must put and end to corruption, conference hears
The mining industry has been urged to do more to stamp out corruption, and respect land and water rights as it expands to meet global demand for critical minerals, AAP reports.
Limiting global warming to below 2C is estimated to require a four-fold increase in the supply of minerals for clean energy technologies in coming decades.
The chair of the global Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, has used her keynote address at a prestigious mining summit to call for more accountability.
Amid the latest mining boom, she told the International Mining and Resources Conference in Sydney the key risk is around the awarding of mining licences, particularly when they are fast-tracked.
Not to put too fine a point on it, bribes may be used to influence decision-making or preferential treatment can be given to politically connected companies.
The more ambitious the world is in its decarbonisation efforts, the more mining it’s going to need.
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Victoria has 74 flood warnings in place as above-average rainfall continues
From AAP:
Heavy rainfall is set to ease briefly in the coming days as emergency services and volunteers around Victoria fight to contain flood damage and assist people in need.
There are 74 flood warnings in place across the state, revised down from more than 90 yesterday, and an evacuation order remains in place at Echuca.
Despite the temporary relief in weather conditions, above average rainfall is expected to continue for the next six to eight weeks.
The Murray Darling Basin Authority increased its daily water release at Hume Dam from 50GL to 75GL a day to free-up space at the dam on Tuesday.
Emergency Victoria has warned residents in flood-affected areas are at risk of mosquito-borne diseases, water-borne diseases and illness relating to mould exposure.
The environmental health coordinator for the City of greater Bendigo, Jason Barnes, said residents should remove stagnant water around the house, wear loose-fitting clothing and use insect repellents containing Deet or picaridin.
Uncertainty around AFLW grand final venue
Hello everyone, this is Cait! A big thank you to Natasha for taking us through the morning.
First up I have news about the AFWL grand final – at this point, no one seems sure where it will be held.
Brisbane’s minor premiership has created a potential grand final fixture dilemma for the AFLW, AAP has reported.
The AFLW have been left with a possible headache should Brisbane reach the grand final, as the highest-ranked AFLW team has grand-final hosting rights.
Metricon is already booked for non-football events on the 26-27 November grand final weekend, while the Lions’ new Springfield facility appears unlikely to be ready in time.
A Sheffield Shield game is scheduled for the Gabba from 1 December.
Speaking at Monday’s finals launch, the AFLW boss, Nicole Livingstone, said the grand final hosting rights “does mean there’s a bit of last-minute planning”.
We won’t make any announcements around [the] grand final right now. Because we still need to wait to see who’s going to make the grand final.
We’ll continue to work with all stakeholders. We have a great relationship with cricket, so we’ll continue to talk to cricket and also talk to the Queensland government [about the Gabba].
But I don’t want to put the cart before the horse – we need to make sure that Brisbane are going to be the hosts.
Ikon Park and Marvel Stadium are the two options if a Melbourne team qualifies to host the grand final.
Natasha May
Thanks for your attention on what has certainly been a day of surprises with lions on the loose and snow in November. That’s it from me as the wonderful Cait Kelly will take you through the rest of this afternoon!
10 emergency warnings across New South Wales
Please check the latest updates through the links below:
$100m for emergency housing will help victims of domestic violence – PM
A reporter asks: “How about people who are in crisis accommodation? We talk about domestic violence, but there are people currently sleeping in their cars.”
Albanese:
That’s why we’re putting $100m into additional emergency housing. That is why we are responding to this. Tonight, like every other night that’s occurred over a number of years, there’ll be women and children turned away from shelters because there’s simply nowhere for them to go.
We need that emergency housing, but we also need the uplift in social and affordable housing so that people can have some permanency. The government is acting on that.
The PM said he visited public housing residents in SA last year and saw their homes were in a “state of disrepair”.
I’m very pleased that now you have in Peter Malinauskas a state Labor government that also understands the importance of housing including the right of people to live with some dignity in their lives. This is something I’m very passionate about. We have made some significant announcements and there’ll be more to come.
‘We have a comprehensive plan for housing’ – PM
The PM has now been asked about the lack of public housing:
What we did in last week’s budget was have a Housing Australia Future Fund, that will provide 30,000 additional social and affordable housing units over a five-year period in addition to that we announced our Housing Accord.
This will encourage institutional investors to invest in affordable housing and is expected to deliver a million additional homes being constructed over a four-year period. That is federal government working with state government ministers, working with local government, and working with the private sector.
In addition to that, we’ll have our housing supply and affordability council established looking at ways in which planning laws can encourage investment in housing. In addition to that, we have allocated $100m for additional emergency housing so that women and children escaping domestic violence can have somewhere to go. We have a comprehensive plan for housing.
Albanese on skipping Cop27: ‘I can’t be in all places at once’
The PM is now defending his decision not to attend the major global climate conference COP, which starts this weekend:
I can’t be in all places at once. It’s as simple as that. If we could – if we could do that, then I’d achieve it and I’m sure, therefore, if I was going, people would say why aren’t I attending budget. We had Parliament last week. This COP is one of implementation. It’s not one of a new policy and program.
Australia will be represented by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen and assistant minister Jenny McAllister. Albanese:
My criticism of the former Government was that they went to a conference, gave an empty speech to an empty room that didn’t commit to anything new. The Glasgow Conference was about an increased contribution for 2030.
The former government failed to do that and it probably would have been better off if they hadn’t had gone at all because it just exposed to the world that Australia wasn’t stepping up at a time when other global leaders were.
Parliament is sitting at the same time that is scheduled with the leaders meeting and I’ll be meeting all the leaders of the 20 largest economies in the world at the G20 in Bali.
Albanese says voice will lead to better outcomes for Indigenous people
What the voice to parliament does is just do two things. One – recognise Indigenous people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in our constitution. And, secondly, ensure that they’ll be consulted and be able to put forward a view on policies that impact them. That’s not only good manners, it will lead to better outcomes.
Albanese is now talking about the voice:
I would – I’d encourage people to spend half an hour logging on to ABC iview, to listen to and watch Noel Pearson’s powerful advocacy for a voice to parliament in the Boyer Lectures or read the Boyer Lectures online. I watched it the other night, and it was such a strong advocacy.
I’m very confident that Australians, when they have the opportunity to unite the nation, to do something that clearly identifies our confidence as a nation, our pride in the fact that we share this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth, that they will want that represented in the nation’s birth certificate which is what the constitution represents.
And secondly – that we know that you’ll get better practical outcomes, like any other endeavour, when you actually consult people who are directly affected.
PM says government examining all options on tax
The PM, Anthony Albanese, has just spoken to the media. He was asked about former ACCC chair Rob Sims calling for an extra windfall profits tax and if he was willing to do more if regulation change isn’t enough:
We have said we’re prepared to examine further action which is exactly what we’re doing between departments, talking to people in the energy sector as well. We understand that there are a range of proposals out there. We want to make sure that we get it right.
We confronted when we came to office a circumstance where some were saying the lights wouldn’t stay on over June, July. We fixed that. We then confronted a supply issue in gas.
We fixed that as well with the heads of agreement that were agreed to cooperatively by the suppliers. What we need to do now is to make sure that we address the issue of price.
The government has said we’re examining all of the options, and we’ll continue to do so over the next little period because we want to make sure that not just households, but that also businesses are able to access power without placing pressure on – on their ability to operate in a reasonable way.
Taylor says opposition supports voluntary code of conduct
Karp:
I heard your point about the importance of supporting domestic gas supply but I didn’t hear an answer on supporting a mandatory code of conduct.
Taylor:
We supported the voluntary code of conduct that is ready in place and at this point I don’t know what is being proposed, it is just too hard to speculate that we will see what comes forward, but there is no question that the government needs to work closely with the gas producers, stop demonising them, work with them and find solutions with them.
Is taking the code of conduct to the next step part of that? We will wait and see but at this stage we haven’t seen anything tangible to comment.
Angus Taylor defends push for more domestic gas supplies to bring down prices
Guardian Australia’s Paul Karp questions Angus Taylor’s claims that gas prices are all about supply at the National Press Club where he has finished his address and is now taking questions from journalists.
Karp:
Increasing production does very little to decrease the price when it’s mostly exported and Labor’s heads of agreement have increased domestic supply and prices are still too high. So my question is would the Coalition support a mandatory code of conduct including regulation of price and secondly, if you want to pay down debt and deficit, would you support an increase in the PRRT [petroleum rent resource tax]?
Taylor:
On your point about supply, we did see what happens when you get more supply on the gas network, we saw the gas price drop to $5 a gigajoule stopping the key to this is very simple.
It is only so much gas that can be exported from Australia, so much gas that can be exported from Australia, same in the United States. We are one of the biggest exporters alongside Qatar in the world so there is only so much you can export so if you can produce more than that and more than the domestic market needs you drive down the price of.
That is what we have seen in the United States. The US government, Democrat administration, obviously, has supported making sure more supply out from under the ground, and we saw the results of that.
The proof is in the pudding and you can see this by just looking at what Rod Sims says who has watched this market for a long time, reported on this market, reviewed this in the past and he has made exactly the same point so I think it is very clear.
You ask a question about more tax. Our focus is to get the price down, not to tax more. The primary goal here right now has to be to get the price down in the key to that, it’s economics 101. Get more supply in, that’s how markets work.
