Good morning
Amy Remeikis
Happy hump day to those who still believe time has meaning.
Thank you to Martin Farrer for starting the blog off this morning. You have Amy Remeikis with you for the parliamentary day now.
I hope you are taking care if you’re in the fire zone in Victoria – we are thinking of you on what must be a terrifying day.
In the parliament, it’s all about the Dunkley byelection. You can tell that the internal polls are telling both parties it’s close by just how ridiculous it is all getting: the Coalition are focussed on fuel efficiency standards ending Australia’s love affair with the current five-most popular cars (which apparently Australians are going to love forever and never want to change), while for the government it’s all about tax cuts.
As our Josh Butler said a little earlier, Anthony Albanese was SO keen to talk tax cuts he called a 8.30pm press conference – a time usually reserved for sudden events. After a small freak out, it was quickly confirmed it was over the tax cut legislation passing the Senate, which it was always going to do because the Coalition, after a pretty epic bitch-and-fold, supported them.
Such is the environment we find ourselves in.
You’ve got Paul Karp, Daniel Hurst, Sarah Basford Canales and Josh Butler to help you make sense of it all and Mike Bowers to take you there.
Ready? I’m on to my second coffee. Not sure there’s enough today.
Let’s get into it.
Key events
On private health funds getting towy over waiting to hear from the government about premium increases (health insurers claim it is because the government doesn’t want the cost of living backlash before the Dunkley byelection. Mark Butler says it is because he wants the health funds to prove why the increases are necessary. Given the profits of health funds and the premium increases with declining services, you be the judge)
Albanese:
Well, we make no apologies for pushing back against these health funds. The health funds have got a story out there in their interests. That’s what they do. And I reckon people will see through it pretty clearly. We make no apologies for pushing back trying to get the best deal possible for consumers. That’s what Mark Butler is doing. It’s nothing unusual at all about the time frame, which is late February to early March, Sussan Ley when she was the Health Minister made a decision later than where we are today. And there’s nothing unusual about this at all.
Albanese: tax cut changes ‘not an easy decision’ but ‘the right decision’
On the “broken promise” of changing the stage-three tax cuts (the latest Guardian Essential poll had Albanese falling in the trust stakes) the prime minister said:
We made not an easy decision. We made the right decision for all the right reasons. We know that families are under cost of living pressure.
The idea that we could sit back and ignore the clear recommendations that this was the best way that we could have an impact on providing that assistance to middle Australia without putting upward pressure on inflation – we couldn’t ignore that.
We have a responsibility to do the right thing, and that’s precisely what we have done.
And the fact is – the Liberals, of course, said that they’d oppose it. Then they said that they’d roll it back. Then they said we should take it to an election. Then, they ended up voting for it.
So they changed their position as well. Well, they can change the way that they vote, but they can’t change their values, which is why this morning, Senator (Jane) Hume has been out there saying that they’d start again with their tax proposals.
We’ll wait and see what it is that they come up with. But this is a much fairer proposal and it was unanimously endorsed by the Senate last night.
Anthony Albanese’s breakfast TV blitz has hit the ABC. He begins by speaking about the deaths of Jessie Baird and Luke Davies:
This is just a terrible incident that’s occurred here. The loss of the two young men and I feel for the grieving of the family, the friends. They obviously were full of life, because so many people interacted with them. It’s a really tough day for, as well, the queer community, and it’s been a very difficult time.
President of the Phillipines to address Lowy Institute today
The president of the Phillipines, Ferdinand R Marcos Jr, will address the Lowy Institute today, ahead of his address to the parliament on Thursday.
Australia is about to officially “upgrade” its relationship with the Phillipines to a “strategic partnership” which is just a fancy way of saying “both nations are concerned over security in the region and we are going to work together a bit to try and allay our concerns”.
Jewish Council of Australia requests investigation into how Palestinian visa details leaked for safety reasons
The newly formed Jewish Council of Australia wants the government to investigate how a list of Palestinian people who had obtained visas for Australia had their private details provided to Sky News.
The News Corp broadcaster ran a story naming a Palestinian man who had been given a visa and said it had obtained 500 names of Palestinians who had been approved for a visa (only 80 or so have been able to leave Gaza and travel to Australia).
The council released a statement saying it was concerned for the safety of those who had their identities leaked and wants the government to investigate how it happened.
Public policy and politics expert and executive officer of the Jewish Council, Dr Elizabeth Strakosch, said the council also rejected claims accepting Palestinians “fleeing unprecedented violence is in any way a threat to the safety of Jewish people”:
Many of us have deep relationships with Palestinian people based on mutual trust and respect. Any suggestion that Palestinians arriving from Gaza are a threat to Jews is outrageous.
We are concerned about the racist language used by some Jewish community organisations in describing Palestinian refugees arriving in Australia. They rely on racist tropes of Palestinian people as dangerous and full of hatred. It is unacceptable to use racist and dehumanising language to argue against providing safety to those fleeing overwhelming violence.
Amy Remeikis
Amy’s analysis: what’s at stake in Dunkley for Albanese and Dutton?
Continuing on from his late night press conference, Anthony Albanese is doing a blitz of breakfast TV.
He has also spent the last couple of afternoons doing interviews with Melbourne media. The Dunkley byelection is on Saturday, and the Advance ground campaign is having an impact, sending Labor into overdrive to try and keep the seat.
Before the late Peta Murphy won it, it was not a natural fit for Labor. Murphy kept it with personal appeal in the electorate. But with a new candidate and a cost of living crisis – plus the usual swing against governments in byelections (the Aston byelection being an anomaly) – Peter Dutton could be about to get a new party room member.
Albanese not only wants to retain the seat for all the usual reasons; he also wants to keep the momentum the government got back in the new year (after a slump following the voice campaign and referendum) going.
Dutton, meanwhile, wants to cement in his party’s minds he could win a general election.
So both have a bit riding on this one.
Good morning
Amy Remeikis
Happy hump day to those who still believe time has meaning.
Thank you to Martin Farrer for starting the blog off this morning. You have Amy Remeikis with you for the parliamentary day now.
I hope you are taking care if you’re in the fire zone in Victoria – we are thinking of you on what must be a terrifying day.
In the parliament, it’s all about the Dunkley byelection. You can tell that the internal polls are telling both parties it’s close by just how ridiculous it is all getting: the Coalition are focussed on fuel efficiency standards ending Australia’s love affair with the current five-most popular cars (which apparently Australians are going to love forever and never want to change), while for the government it’s all about tax cuts.
As our Josh Butler said a little earlier, Anthony Albanese was SO keen to talk tax cuts he called a 8.30pm press conference – a time usually reserved for sudden events. After a small freak out, it was quickly confirmed it was over the tax cut legislation passing the Senate, which it was always going to do because the Coalition, after a pretty epic bitch-and-fold, supported them.
Such is the environment we find ourselves in.
You’ve got Paul Karp, Daniel Hurst, Sarah Basford Canales and Josh Butler to help you make sense of it all and Mike Bowers to take you there.
Ready? I’m on to my second coffee. Not sure there’s enough today.
Let’s get into it.
Victorians warned to evacuate as bushfire worsens
Victorians under threat from bushfires are facing their last chance to leave as catastrophic conditions descend on the state’s west, Australian Associated Press reports.
The Bayindeen bushfire, north-west of Ballarat, is still raging this morning and authorities released a map showing the fire could rip through areas including Beaufort, Elmhurst, Amphitheatre, Lexton, Learmonth and Clunes.
Forecast temperatures in the high 30s and wind gusts of up to 80kmh in the area were expected to fan the flames.
The fire had burned through more than 21,300 hectares as of Tuesday.
Residents were warned to get out by this morning, while those in regions with extreme fire danger were also told to flee.
The areas with an extreme fire danger rating on Wednesday were the Mallee, Northern Country, North Central, Central and South West regions.
Mildura was set to reach 44C and other areas were also expected to creep into the 40Cs before a cool change approached central parts of Victoria after 8pm.
Residents fleeing danger zones were urged to go to built-up areas such as Ballarat, Ararat and Maryborough.
And while we’re still on the subject of voting intentions, we have a piece today looking at the shifting sands of voter behaviour as Labor and the Coalition brace themselves for a test of their popularity in the Dunkley byelection this weekend.
Intifar Chowdhury, a youth researcher and a lecturer in government at Flinders University, has crunched the numbers from the last five federal elections and finds that younger voters especially are less likely to vote according to party allegiance.
Policies are now the number one driver at 56.3% compared with 22.4% for party loyalty. Bad news for Messrs Albanese and Dutton, but good news for the Greens and the teals.
Read the full article here:
Albanese attacks Coalition for not embracing tax cuts
Josh Butler
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has used a late night press conference to blast the Coalition again for not full-throatedly backing Labor’s tax cut changes, claiming the opposition would “never stand up for low and middle income earners”.
Labor’s revamped stage three tax cuts passed through the Senate overnight, and will come into effect from 1 July for all taxpayers. They will see a greater benefit flow to those on lower and middle incomes than the Coalition-legislated original plan would have.
Just days out from the crucial Dunkley by-election, the government has painted the changes as cost of living relief, a point Albanese was keen to hammer home at a press conference called for 8.30pm last night.
It was a time he conceded was “unusual”, after most journalists in Parliament House had gone home for the evening, long past the 6pm TV news bulletins and newspaper print deadlines had passed.
To a room of only four journalists gathered to ask questions (including your correspondent), Albanese praised the passage of his government’s tax plan. He claimed there was a “great divide in Australian politics” between the government and opposition, alleging “Peter Dutton wants people to work longer for less”.
Albanese and finance minister Katy Gallagher rolled out their usual stump speeches on how all taxpayers would benefit, and that most would get a higher benefit than before.
The lines they chose to front-load at the beginning of their remarks were of most interest – Albanese quickly moved to attack the Coalition’s shifting positions on the tax cuts, while Gallagher called it “a great result for Australian women”, on the same day the gender pay gap figures were released.
Asked about Saturday’s Dunkley election, Albanese responded “we wanted every single taxpayer in Dunkley to get a tax cut”, before quickly moving to criticise Dutton again.
“But by-elections are always tough, so we’ll wait and see what happens,” he went on.
“I expect that in by-elections there’s normally swings away from the government.”
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the day in Canberra and beyond. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you the best overnight stories before Amy Remeikis takes over.
Muslims across Australia are preparing to observe Ramadan from next Sunday but some community leaders have backed out of the traditional state premiers’ dinners in protest against government responses to the Israel-Gaza war. Two peak Muslim bodies rejected invitations to iftar dinners hosted by the premiers of New South Wales and Victoria, reflecting broader community frustration.
Inflation data for January will be released later this morning that could give a hint about the next move in interest rates. The December rate was 3.4% (well down from 4.3% in November) but January’s is expected by a consensus of forecasters to be 3.6%, which means the Reserve Bank might not feel it can begin cutting rates.
Anthony Albanese’s government will be hoping for better news as it campaigns hard to win the Dunkley byelection on Saturday, where cost of living is one of the main stump issues. Last night the prime minister held a press conference at the unusual time of 8.30pm to hail the passing of Labor’s tax cut changes – a move he hopes will garner votes and boost his party’s popularity. More details coming up.
More than 30,000 Victorians have been urged to leave their homes before what authorities fear could be the worst fire day for the state in four years, with temperatures forecast to reach the mid 40s in some areas today. More coming up.