Zoe Daniel says constituents ‘deeply frustrated’ by climate approach of major parties
Teal MP Zoe Daniel has criticised both the opposition and Labor for their climate policies.
Speaking to ABC RN, Daniel said there has been a “real frustration” within her electorate after Peter Dutton said he did not intend to propose an alternative 2030 emissions reduction target before the next election, which is due by May 2025.
I was with a group of volunteers last night, and they were just gobsmacked that the opposition leader would come out and announce a backsliding policy on climate.
Daniel said there is also a “deep frustration about Labor’s unambitious performance on climate policy”.
I think people feel really let down by the government. So in that sense, there is, I think, a view in an electorate like mine that if [people] want strong accountability on climate, it’s going to come from the crossbench, not from the two major parties.
Key events
Albanese backs UN security council ceasefire resolution
A United Nations security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza is a significant breakthrough, the prime minister has said.
As AAP reports, Anthony Albanese said Australia fully backed the ceasefire resolution. He told ABC radio:
This war needs to stop and a ceasefire proposal put forward by the United States, and now by the UN security council, is positive leadership from the United States, it is a plan we fully support.
We need to see an end to the conflict, we need to see the hostages released and we need to see a plan for the infrastructure and for rebuilding of basic facilities there in Gaza.
Nuclear reactors ‘will be in National party seats’, Littleproud says
Q: Are you happy to go to the next election campaigning for a couple of nuclear power plants held in National electorates?
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, responded: “yes”.
We will be very upfront and honest. They will be in National party seats. We’ve been very clear that they will be limited to where existing coal power stations are … there’s 12 to 14 existing coal-fired power stations across the country so, we can limit to that. But you’ll know very soon the specific sites.
Littleproud couldn’t say how soon nuclear power would power homes and industry if the Coalition wins the election. But he said the UAE will “get a facility up in 6-8 years” and “it won’t be that close in Australia”.
2030 target a ‘moot point’, Nationals leader says
The leader of the Nationals, David Littleproud, was on ABC News Breakfast earlier where he was asked: would you prefer Australia just leaves the Paris climate agreement entirely?
Littleproud responded:
No, we wouldn’t. What that would mean is that all our exports would have a border adjustment tariff put on them. And the capital markets, public and private, would factor in somewhere between 1.5% and 3% on your mortgage, so you would be paying more for that. We always said when we signed up to it that we had a uniquely Australian way of achieving it, while not tearing up the economy, and that’s what we continue to be committed to.
Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and Morrison cabinet colleague Keith Pitt this week called for the Coalition to abandon the Paris agreement. But Littleproud said Joyce was “being verballed”, because “he was the leader who signed the National party up to the Paris accord by 2050”.
And asked how the Coalition can be committed to the spirit of the Paris agreement while not committing to interim targets like the legislated 2030 goal, Littleproud argued that the 2030 target is a “moot point”.
Jim Chalmers lines up ‘soft landing on narrow runway’ for economy
Global headwinds will continue to buffet Australia’s economy as the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, sets a course for a final approach towards low inflation, AAP reports.
Chalmers is confident Australia remains on track for “a soft landing on a narrow runway”, although low economic growth and persistently high inflation are still cause for concern.
Australia’s economy grew an insipid 0.1% in the March quarter – the fifth consecutive quarterly fall in gross domestic product on a per capita basis.
Viewed in combination with tepid consumer spending and a weakening labour market, the path for the government to bring inflation down to the Reserve Bank’s 2% to 3% target while avoiding a recession is narrowing.
But Chalmers is optimistic, saying that tax cuts, investment in the green energy economy and cost-of-living measures such as energy bill relief put Australia in good stead to weather the global storm.
In a speech to the Morgan Stanley Australia summit today, he will say:
This is what a soft landing on a narrow runway looks like. An economy still growing, inflation coming back to band, unemployment with a four in front of it, tax cuts and rising wages supporting a gradual recovery in consumption, and a sensible approach to budget repair to buffer us against uncertainty.
This is the soft landing we are cautiously confident of, but not complacent about. Just as a soft landing in the global economy is assumed, but not yet assured.
Climate action can’t be based on trust or rhetoric, teal MP says
During the conversation on ABC RN, teal MP Zoe Daniel said it was time to “knuckle down and get it done” when it comes to tackling climate change, which has been “beset by rhetoric”.
When we’re talking about rhetoric, yes, it has been beset by rhetoric. Now’s the time to actually knuckle down and get it done. Take the steps that are required in a logistical sense, in a budgetary sense, in a community sense.
And on that basis, I speak for my community who I believe do want strong action on this, and we can’t do it based on trust. You know, what [Keith Wolahan] seems to be saying is that the Coalition won’t put a number on [its 2030 target], OK. But then they’re asking us to just trust that we’ll have nuclear reactors in 15 years and we’ll be able to hit targets by 2050. I think if there was one overarching theme of the 2022 election it was that people don’t trust governments. So there’s going to have to be more underpinning it than that.
Liberal MP Keith Wolahan has also been speaking to ABC RN about climate policy, and defended his party’s stance on 2030 targets:
Of course it is a government’s job to implement the plan. But the problem we have had in this area is that it has been driven by politics and rhetoric and headlines. And so when Labor gave the number, it was just a number. They didn’t have a plan on how to get there. And what we are seeing again and again is that this plan is not achievable on their own best measure.
He said that the Coalition is “committed to [the Paris agreement] because we care about climate change”.
He was later asked if the last few days have “done damage” to the party in teal seats. Wolahan replied:
I will say this, when I saw the headline I was taken aback by it, and it’s fair to say there were some text messages saying “Did we miss a party room meeting?” But it took me five minutes to fact-check it and find out it wasn’t true.
‘Ideology, not policy if Coalition can’t put a target on emissions reduction’: Zoe Daniel
Teal MP Zoe Daniel continued to lash the Coalition for its decision not propose an alternative 2030 climate reduction target before the next election.
She told ABC RN that it is “ideology, not policy if they can’t even put a target on it”.
I really see it as a return to the politics of fear. If you’re going to have the courage of your convictions, announce what your target is and put the detail behind this.
As to the Trumpism factor, Trump pulled out of Paris. I was there as a journalist covering that. I find that really concerning. And from the perspective of our kids, the future generations in this country, I find this turn of events really worrying and also for business, this is really problematic and irresponsible.
We have legislated targets. I added a note to the Climate Change Act to make it explicit that 43% was a floor, not a ceiling, so that business would have certainty, and our businesses are seeing all the pick-up sticks thrown up in the air again, because the Coalition is floating this out and they won’t even have the courage to put a number on it.
Zoe Daniel says constituents ‘deeply frustrated’ by climate approach of major parties
Teal MP Zoe Daniel has criticised both the opposition and Labor for their climate policies.
Speaking to ABC RN, Daniel said there has been a “real frustration” within her electorate after Peter Dutton said he did not intend to propose an alternative 2030 emissions reduction target before the next election, which is due by May 2025.
I was with a group of volunteers last night, and they were just gobsmacked that the opposition leader would come out and announce a backsliding policy on climate.
Daniel said there is also a “deep frustration about Labor’s unambitious performance on climate policy”.
I think people feel really let down by the government. So in that sense, there is, I think, a view in an electorate like mine that if [people] want strong accountability on climate, it’s going to come from the crossbench, not from the two major parties.
Labor MP Anne Aly welcomes UN security council ceasefire deal as ‘breakthrough’
Labor frontbencher Anne Aly spoke to ABC AM earlier from Jordan, having attended a Gaza humanitarian conference.
She welcomed the UN security council’s decision to endorse a hostages-for-ceasefire Gaza deal and labelled it a “breakthrough”.
This is the furthest that the international community has been able to get in terms of working towards a ceasefire, a rebuilding of Gaza and a lasting two-state solution for Israel and Palestine … There is that sense that it does require political will.
Aly said there was “unanimous agreement” that land routes are the most efficient way to deliver aid into Gaza, and said:
Ultimately, this is about Israel taking responsibility for this and this was something that we emphasised in our intervention, that Israel must allow the flow of aid into Gaza and … the distribution of aid throughout Gaza.
Sydney’s light rail network disrupted today amid industrial action
A reminder for Sydney commuters that the light rail network will be disrupted today amid planned industrial action.
Throughout today, no trams will run on the L1 Dulwich Hill, L2 Randwick or L3 Kingsford tram lines.
Transport for NSW said it had organised a number of bus services to help students impacted by the disruption, including for Sydney Boys and Sydney Girls high schools.
A limited shuttle bus service will also run to help impacted students along the L1 Dulwich Hill light rail line.
Light rail services stopped operating at 11pm last night. People are urged to use other travel options today, such as the bus or train, and allow extra travel time.
NSW Greens MP calling for new approach to cocaine
The Greens are calling for a new approach when it comes to cocaine, arguing that the “zero-tolerance approach to drug use continues to be an abject failure”.
NSW Greens MP and drug law reform and harm reduction spokesperson, Cate Faehrmann, said in a statement this morning:
Recent estimates have Australians consuming around 3,300,000 bags of cocaine per year, with every single one of them bought off the black market. There is no way of knowing whether any of them have been cut with deadly substances like fentanyl or nitazene.
We have to acknowledge that the majority of people who use cocaine do so recreationally and there is absolutely no chance of stopping people using the drug. We therefore need to consider all options to reduce harm, including regulating cocaine in a similar way to how we regulate alcohol.
Faehrmann said a regulated market would “undercut the black market” and “drive organised drug gangs out of business.” She also said a government-regulated market would mean people would know exactly what substances they were taking.
Amy Remeikis
More on the push for $10-a-day childcare
Australia has one of the most expensive childcare systems in the OECD, with Australian parents on an average wage paying 16% of their budget on childcare, which is also double the average of the OECD of 9%.
Jay Weatherill, who heads up Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five campaign, said a simplified system, enshrined in law, with lower out of pocket costs would pay a whole of society dividend.
Parents are struggling to afford early childhood education, languishing on year-long wait lists, and primary carers – usually women – are having their careers hindered.
While the majority of young families are doing it tough, the system is particularly letting down children from low-income households and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. It is not a fair or equitable system, and it needs to change.
Think tank pushes for $10-a-day childcare
Amy Remeikis
Parents could save hundreds of dollars a week if the government overhauled its early childhood education scheme by paying providers directly and capping out of pocket costs to $10 a day for half the week, a new report says.
The Centre for Policy Development (CPD), a progressive think tank, posits the government could not only make early childhood education more attainable, it could also alleviate one of the biggest cost of living pressures if it took back control over childcare.
Key to that would be out-of-pocket costs capped at $10 a day for at least three days (free for low income parents) and a system where the government paid providers directly, rather than the current system, where parents have to estimate their activity (work) and incomes to receive the subsidy.
The CPD’s report sets out changes over a decade, transitioning from the current subsidy-driven system to one where early childhood education is considered universal – one of the Albanese government’s stated aims. Across those 10 years, the CDP says workforce challenges could be overcome, while also ensuring value for money within the system itself and tailoring supports to every child.
CPD program director, Katherine Oborne, said adopting the report’s reforms would improve educational outcomes as a whole:
Research indicates that 22% of Australian children start school developmentally vulnerable. Without significant reform, children will continue to miss out on early learning opportunities, impacting their long-term development.
A new child-centred funding model—one that acknowledges families’ need for affordable care, addresses the diversity of children’s needs, and supports the workforce providing the care—will ensure all children can engage in early learning, making the system more accessible and affordable for families.
Good morning
Emily Wind
And happy Wednesday – thanks to Martin for kicking things off for us. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll take you through our rolling coverage today.
As always, you can get in touch with any thoughts, tips and questions via X, @emilywindwrites, or you can send me an email: [email protected].
Let’s get started.
Australia tags extra $10m in humanitarian aid for Gaza
Australia will provide an extra $10m in humanitarian assistance for the people of Gaza, taking the total to more than $72m, AAP reports.
The new funds will be directed to the World Food Program to pay for food assistance for civilians facing the risk of famine.
Since 7 October, Australia has committed $72.5m in humanitarian assistance for Gaza and the refugee crisis in the region. The foreign affairs minister Penny Wong said in a statement today:
Australia continues to press for a ceasefire, for humanitarian aid to reach Gazans in desperate need, and for hostages to be released.
We support the ceasefire endorsed by the UN Security Council and want to see it fully implemented by both parties.
Any delay will only see more lives lost.
Federal report into consultancy forms released today
A federal inquiry is due to release its final report into consulting services today in long-awaited findings that could redefine how the sector operates in Australia after the PwC tax leaks scandal.
The parliamentary committee is set to address issues of accountability and regulation in its recommendations, as it grapples with the risks posed to the public sector by the growing reliance on a small number of consultants.
Our business reporter Jonathan Barrett looks at why the inquiry was called, what the most important issues are, and what the inquiry has found so far:
Top bosses receive double-digit pay rises despite cost of living crisis
Executives at some of Australia’s largest companies have received double-digit pay rises as workers face rising cost-of-living pressures, Australian Associated Press reports.
A report on board and executive pay among ASX-listed companies, released on Tuesday by the Governance Institute of Australia, found the salaries of chief executives rose by 14% in the past financial year while managing directors received an 11% pay rise.
The survey of 1089 companies had shown the average pay of a chief executive of an ASX 200 listed company was $1.37m in 2023/24, up from $1.14m in 2022/23.
The average salary of the chairs of prominent companies also increased from $1.58m to $1.88m during the same period, while the salaries of general staff at the same companies rose by about 5%.
The Governance Institute’s chief executive, Megan Motto, said the report showed a widening disparity between executives and other staff.
“Against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis, and with so many doing it tough, it might be hard for many to stomach these figures on an individual basis,” she said.
“It will be up to those investors and shareholders to make their voices heard if they feel there are reputational risks in not meeting community expectations.”
The report found about half of the managing directors and chief executives were eligible for performance bonuses.
Josh Butler
Gas supply would last 60 years without any new projects, new report finds
Australia could stop opening new gas projects and still have enough supply to meet domestic needs for 60 years, claims the Climate Council in a new report calling for a quicker phase-out of the fossil fuel.
Powering Past Gas, released today, says Australia does not need to open any new gas projects and instead calls for more rapid changes to the nation’s energy market to reduce the need for gas – such as faster electrification transitions, cutting household and industrial use of gas, and slashing leaks of methane from extraction projects.
The report notes that new gas projects in Qatar and the United States may make Australian gas less competitive on global markets, and warns that major export destinations for Australian gas such as South Korea, Japan and China are increasing their renewables share and cutting their gas usage into the future.
The Climate Council says gas is not needed as a “transition” fuel, as the Australian government’s energy strategy outlines.
“Switching from coal to gas would be like moving from tapes to CDs when Spotify has already been invented,” the report says.
“Gas used to be considered a better energy option, but now we can leapfrog it by moving from coal directly to cheap and reliable clean energy.”
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer, bringing you the best overnight stories but then it will be my colleague Emily Wind to be your guide for the rest of the day.
Some of Australia’s most powerful business lobbying forces have called for the Coalition to agree to meet Labor’s 2030 emissions reduction target after Peter Dutton said he didn’t back the goal and would set a new one after the next election. The Australian Energy Council, which represents electricity companies and gas wholesalers and retailers, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Industry Group all want the certainty of the current position maintained and an end to “climate wars”.
A climate activist group claims today Australia could stop opening new gas projects and still have enough supply to meet domestic needs for 60 years. More on that coming up.
There is a glimmer of hope today for renters, who have been faced with a relentless increase in accommodation costs over the past couple of years. Figures today show rents falling 0.5% in our capital cities and vacancy rates are expected to rise this winter to add to the slightly better outlook.
Executives at some of Australia’s largest companies, meanwhile, have received double-digit pay rises, according to a new report on executive pay. More coming up.
