Dutton says Liberals will not ‘take money away’ from people who benefit from tax changes
Speaking to Nine’s Today show, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, was asked:
At the end of the day, you know, your own electorate is among those who are going to benefit greatly from these changes to the tax cuts, some 85% of them. You don’t want to take money away from them, do you?
Dutton:
And we’re not going to. I’ve been very clear about the fact that …
He was also asked whether he backed calls from some premier’s that the RBA should cut interest rates. Yesterday, Queensland premier, Steven Miles, said the RBA “needs to start cutting interest rates now to take pressure off households”.
Dutton argued Miles, and Victorian premier Jacinta Allan, were “at odds with their Labor colleagues”, noting the RBA’s independence.
Somebody like Steven Miles or Jacinta Allan and others, frankly, they’d be better off concentrating on how they can deal with the ambulance ramping disaster and youth crime at the moment, which is out of control in many parts of the country.
So, I think they should concentrate on fixing up their own problems at the moment.
Key events
Man charged for allegedly scaling and tagging Flinders Street station
A man has been charged over allegedly scaling and tagging Flinders Street railway station in Victoria.
Victorian police allege that on 12 January, a man scaled and tagged the heritage listed façade of the building and caused “extensive damage”.
It is also alleged tags were painted on walls around the Westgate Tunnel Project in Spotswood and across Sandringham, Mernda, Craigieburn and Sunbury railway lines.
The damage is estimated at over $200,000, police said.
Police executed search warrants at addresses in West Footscray and Caulfield North and seized a number of items including spray paint, knuckle dusters and a samurai sword.
A 23-year-old West Footscray man has been charged with multiple offences including criminal damage and possessing a controlled weapon.
He has been bailed to appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 8 February.
Speaking to 3AW, Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto was also asked about the opposition’s stance on treaty.
This comes after it withdrew its support for a treaty with the state’s Indigenous people and ended years of bipartisanship on the issue.
Pesutto argued that the opposition never supported the treaty itself, but the “process” of working towards one.
I’ve had some concerns for a while about whether, under any scenario, I could see the Coalition agreeing to a treaty. And I’ll tell you why – the treaty, according to [premier] Jacinta Allan, is a process. [She] has never explained to our listeners or the Victorian people what could be or what won’t be in the treaty.
When asked if he knew what was in the treaty, Pesutto claimed “Jacinta won’t tell us”.
Pesutto says taxpayers not paying for defence on Deeming defamation action
Victoria’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, was speaking with 3AW radio just earlier.
He was asked about the defamation case brought against him from expelled Liberal MP Moira Deeming. He said the matter between the two was “sorted out” from his end – he is not the one bringing the legal action.
There was an outcome last year that had it been observed, would have seen her return to the party room. Things have taken a different course. I’m totally focused on the cost of living issues facing Victorians, I’m not bringing this action, I’m not concerned about it, it’s with my lawyers and they manage it for me.
Asked about the cost of the legal action, Pesutto said “I’m the one who gets the bills and I’ll sort that out”, but taxpayers won’t pay for it and neither will the party.
Benita Kolovos
The former Labor MP for Hawthorn, John Kennedy, is in court to watch Moira Deeming’s defamation proceedings kick off against John Pesutto – the current member for Hawthorn.
Could this be the beginning of a bid for reelection?
NSW police say no evidence offensive antisemitic phrase chanted at pro-Palestine protest last year
Tory Shepherd
New South Wales police say an independent analysis of audio and video files from a pro-Palestine protest at the Sydney Opera House last year found no evidence for claims that anyone had chanted “gas the Jews”.
People reported hearing the comments at the protest in October last year, and the reports are being investigated by Strike Force Mealing.
In a statement this morning, police said they would continue their investigation and urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers. Police said:
Strike Force Mealing was established to investigate reported unlawful activity committed during an unauthorised protest at the Sydney Opera House on 9 October 2023.
Police received reports following the protest suggesting that an offensive antisemitic phrase was chanted during the event.
As a result of independent forensic analysis of audio-video files of the demonstration provided to investigators, police have no evidence that this phrase was used.
Police also obtained statements from several individuals who attended the protest indicating they heard the phrase however these statements have not attributed the phrase to any specific individual.
We’ll bring you more after a press conference due to start shortly.
Benita Kolovos
First hearing to be held in Deeming defamation case against John Pesutto
I’ve just arrived at federal court for the first hearing in expelled Liberal MP Moira Deeming’s defamation action against the Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto.
She alleges comments he made after she spoke at an anti-trans rally gatecrashed by neo-Nazis in March last year defamed her.
Her lawyers said Pesutto’s comments, as well as a 15-page document his office circulated to Liberal MPs and the media when he moved to expel her from the party, were defamatory as they suggested Deeming “supports, sympathises with or associates with white supremacists and neo-Nazis”, and that she is a white supremacist or neo-Nazi.
Pesutto denies these imputations and his lawyers will largely rely on the honest opinion defence, which allows people to express opinions on matters of public interest, as well as the defences of contextual truth and qualified privilege.
According to the defence document – seen by Guardian Australia – Pesutto will argue her association with the event organisers made her unfit to be a member of the Liberal party room.
The first case management hearing will largely be procedural and should be done within an hour, with neither expected to attend.
But Deeming’s lawyer, high-profile defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou, has flown down from Sydney to push for another short hearing to determine imputations that could expedite any possible trial. Here’s our preview:
Jonathan Barrett
Gunner quits Fortescue as exodus continues
Michael Gunner, the former chief minister of Northern Territory, has resigned from Fortescue, adding to the exodus of high-profile departures from the mining and energy company.
Gunner joined the Andrew Forrest-led company in late 2022, several months after he resigned as the Top End leader.
In August last year, the chief executive of Fortescue’s mining business, Fiona Hick, and chief financial officer, Christine Morris, both resigned after short stints with the company.
Guy Debelle, the former Reserve Bank deputy governor, also left Fortescue last year after just 17 months in the role.
Gunner said in a social media post that he’d made the decision to leave for personal reasons, and he said he’d always be a “friend of the Fortescue family”. He wrote on LinkedIn:
After taking on the Australian director role in August it meant more travel away from Darwin and the family, which I found too difficult.
I’m taking a bit of time before deciding with the family what I do next and am now reporting for lunchbox duty.
Fortescue has been contacted for comment.
The company is undergoing significant change as it diversifies away from its roots as a pure Pilbara iron ore miner to also develop into a clean energy producer.
Gunner worked in the energy division, as did Deborah Caudle, who resigned from her role as chief financial officer in January. Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull also recently cut ties with Fortescue’s energy division.
Assistant competition minister says ‘too many markets are dominated by just a few players’
The assistant minister for competition, Andrew Leigh, has put together this video encouraging more competition in the Australian economy. He compared Australia’s concentrated supermarket, banking and telco sectors to the diversity offered in sporting codes, and said:
Too many markets are dominated by just a few players. Sport shows us how competition can make the game more fun. Wouldn’t it be good if our economy was just as competitive as our favourite sporting codes?
Peter Hannam
Australia’s January was third hottest on record, BoM data shows
Summer might not have felt very warm so far, but perceptions can be misleading.
Data out from the Bureau of Meteorology for last month shows that it was particularly warm for overnight temperatures. January, in fact, was the third-warmest on record for minimum temperatures:
Maximum temperatures weren’t notably warm, perhaps not surprising given the storms and rain events that meant there was a lot of moisture to evaporate and blunt some of the daytime heat:
Mean temperatures that average out the days and nights were also pretty high, given the warm overnight readings to start with.
The result is that by mean temperatures, only two other Januaries were warmer than last month.
And for mean temperatures (now I’ve had a closer look) was also the third warmest January on record. Only January in 2013 and 2019 were warmer, with the fourth warmest back in 1932). pic.twitter.com/JWXnbYwf71
— @[email protected] (@p_hannam) February 1, 2024
A couple of hot spells ahead, such as Sunday and Monday in eastern states, so February might end up on the warm side of the ledger too.
Penny Wong signals next steps in UNRWA funding investigation while in NZ
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has shared more photos from her meeting with New Zealand’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Winston Peters.
Through working together, Australia and New Zealand can use our influence to shape the world for the better.
NZ’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters and I discussed what more we can do together, in particular in the Pacific. pic.twitter.com/EsBRIZXsFG
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) February 1, 2024
In case you missed it: while in New Zealand, Wong announced she has directed Australia’s humanitarian coordinator, Beth Delaney, to coordinate “like-minded partners as well as UNRWA” to work out the next steps after more than 10 countries suspended funding to the agency.
Peters said New Zealand’s next tranche of funding to UNRWA was not due until the middle of the year, meaning there was time for Wellington to assess the findings of the investigations.
You can read all the details from Daniel Hurst below:
Two dead after being hit by train in Berowra
A man and a woman have both died after being hit by a train in Berowra, in Sydney’s north.
According to NSW police, emergency services were called to Berowra railway station shortly after 12am following reports a man and woman had been hit by a train.
Police were told a woman, aged in her 30s, was being assisted off the tracks by a man in his 20s when they were both hit by a freight train.
The pair were treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics, however they died at the scene. They have not been formally identified.
Officers have established a crime scene and are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident, and a report will be prepared for the information of the coroner.
Dutton says Liberals will not ‘take money away’ from people who benefit from tax changes
Speaking to Nine’s Today show, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, was asked:
At the end of the day, you know, your own electorate is among those who are going to benefit greatly from these changes to the tax cuts, some 85% of them. You don’t want to take money away from them, do you?
Dutton:
And we’re not going to. I’ve been very clear about the fact that …
He was also asked whether he backed calls from some premier’s that the RBA should cut interest rates. Yesterday, Queensland premier, Steven Miles, said the RBA “needs to start cutting interest rates now to take pressure off households”.
Dutton argued Miles, and Victorian premier Jacinta Allan, were “at odds with their Labor colleagues”, noting the RBA’s independence.
Somebody like Steven Miles or Jacinta Allan and others, frankly, they’d be better off concentrating on how they can deal with the ambulance ramping disaster and youth crime at the moment, which is out of control in many parts of the country.
So, I think they should concentrate on fixing up their own problems at the moment.
Dutton does not take definitive position on stage-three tax cut changes
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, spoke to Nine’s Today show earlier about the changes to stage-three tax cuts.
He argued the tax changes were a political decision made in the lead-up to the Dunkley by-election. He pointed to the rising cost of groceries, fuel and electricity as something the government needed to focus on, but denied the Coalition is “at odds” over whether to support the tax cuts.
No, we’re not [at odds]. We’re working through the figures. There are big numbers here, and our argument is that there should be incentive in the system.
There was a bit of back-and-forth over the opposition’s position on the changes. Dutton was asked if he would stand in the way of these changes as a party?
He responded:
I’ve been very clear that the Liberal party is the party of lower taxes. We always have been, we always will be, because we manage the economy more effectively. So, we’ll announce our position in due course, but we think there’s a massive black hole in what the government’s doing at the moment.
So, no definitive answer on the Coalition’s position just yet.
Australia ‘on track’ with climate targets to protect reef, Labor tells Unesco
Graham Readfearn
The Albanese government has claimed it is “on track” to have national climate targets that would be in line with keeping global heating to 1.5C in a report to Unesco on efforts to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
The federal and Queensland governments are trying to convince Unesco not to recommend the world’s biggest coral reef system be placed on a list of world heritage sites in danger – with a decision due at a meeting in India in July.
Last year Unesco’s 21-country world heritage committee followed recommendations from Unesco that Australia should submit a report by 1 February that would review progress against a list of concerns, including action on improving water quality, sustainable fishing and climate change.
Continue reading:
Today, the government is also set to release a strategy to restore and protect wetlands in the catchment of the Great Barrier Reef.
Heatwaves scorch WA but cool change expected over weekend
Over in Western Australia, the state is expected to swelter through yet another day of heatwaves.
However, a cool change is on the way this weekend, senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury told ABC News Breakfast.
We are continuing to see severe heat waves across the west coast, including Perth. We have seen a few extremely hot days across there with temperatures in the high 30s and low- to mid-40s. Perth has seen a couple of days in the low 40s and is forecast to get to 39 today. T
he good news is we are expecting a cooler change to move through over the weekend with milder temperatures on the way there.
Today, there are extreme fire danger ratings in place for Swan Inland North, Swan Inland South, Brockman and Blackwood.
BoM warnings over ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily still current for Queensland
Senior BoM meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily is currently sitting north of Burketown in Queensland, expected to be slow-moving today.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Bradbury said the BoM still has warnings current for the Gulf Country, with the ex-cyclone impacting the far northwest of Queensland and far northeast of the NT.
Mornington Island saw more than 130mm of rainfall overnight, and has seen wind gusts over 100km/h, with very wet and windy conditions in the vicinity of the ex-cyclone.
We are expecting ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily to be slow moving today, lingering in the same area it is now.
Through the weekend we are expecting to see the system drift slowly southwards, so through the western districts of Queensland, gradually moving towards NSW.
It is likely to move into NSW early next week but it will start to lose moisture and energy that we have been seeing across Queensland.
