Dutton’s nuclear plan is ‘a scam with scant details’, Bowen says
Chris Bowen adds to that answer:
To add briefly what these polls show and I don’t normally comment on them but they do reinforce the views that are expressed to me by Australians every day.
Renewables are not only the cheapest form of energy, they are the most popular. And the fact is Mr Dutton’s nuclear policy, as much as it is a policy – I use the term lightly because it is a scam with scant details.
It is an anti-renewables policy. That is what is driving it. They have to decide what lane they are in.
On the one hand they say we don’t have enough renewables but what they actually say more often as we have too much renewables.
They think we’re too successful.
If Mr Dutton is really pleased and proud of this, where other costs? Where are the gigawatts?
Where is what it will mean for renewable energy? Mr Littleproud this morning said that he knows the costs but is not prepared to share them yet with the Australian people. We are happy to debate this every single day between now and the next election. Every single day.
Key events
For those who have been following along with cash transportation business Armaguard’s financial woes, AAP has an update for you:
Cash transport company Armaguard has secured its future for another 12 months after locking in a $50 million deal with its largest customers.
The agreement, funded by Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB, ANZ, Coles, Woolworths, Bunnings and Australia Post, means Armaguard will receive monthly payments in exchange for efficiency and restructuring requirements.
….The deal comes three months after Armaguard rejected a $26 million deal from the Australian Banking Association, the big four banks, Woolworths, Coles and Australia Post despite being told the company was not financially viable.
Instead, its parent company Linfox, owned by billionaire Lindsay Fox, announced it would pump $10 million into the business as Armaguard worked to find solutions to its financial woes.
To square that circle on the Greens motion to suspend standing orders to debate divestiture powers for the major supermarkets – the government is not supporting it (not surprising, given the Greens were criticising government policy) and therefore the motion will be lost.
Josh Butler
Governor general David Hurley stands in a forest clearing, surrounded by blackened trees sprouting green shoots, in his official portrait in Parliament House. The work, unveiled this morning as Hurley nears the end of his term, was painted by artist Jude Rae.
In his speech at the official ceremony, Hurley advised viewers to pay close attention to the background, and what it represented. As the Queen’s representative, Hurley has regularly toured bushfire and disaster zones nationwide.
The background is actually far more important in this portrait, because it’s about us as a country. When you see it, it’s about us as a people, representing some of the difficulties we have experienced in the nation over the last five years,” Hurley said.
It tells us not only the journey we went through, but how strong we are.”
Hurley said he was an “optimist” for Australia. He also praised his wife, Linda, and his family for their support over his term as governor general. Hurley praised his wife as “tireless”.
If we could have painted a little Linda face in there somewhere, it would have been just the right touch,” he said, saying the portraits collection should consider images of partners in future.
Max Chandler-Mather says Labor just ‘tinkering around the edges’ of cost of living crisis
Tony Burke has introduced that bill.
The Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather is now seeking to suspend standing orders to talk about the Greens proposal to give the ACCC divestiture powers for the big supermarkets.
Chandler-Mather:
Now they [the government] have agreed to enforce the code of conduct between suppliers and supermarkets and that is good but the problem is they’ve done nothing to touch the huge profit margins that Coles and Woolworths are making. Not only that, but while they are making these huge crisis profits, Labor refuses to even tax them fairly, so we can raise money off Coles and Woolworths and use that to go and help people struggling with the cost of living.
So they get basically massive crisis profits, pay barely any on tax on those excess profits, they don’t have to reduce their market share like supermarkets around the world have to and it’s perfectly legal for them to continue to price gouge ordinary Australians.
People are getting fed up with a Labor government that continues to tinker around the edges of a massive cost of living crisis and refuses to do anything substantial to tackle the structural issues in our economy and political system that allow big corporations to screw ordinary Australians.
For those watching the House of Representatives and wondering what is going on – Paul Fletcher is attempting to suspend standing orders to make the government bring on the CFMEU demerger bill.
Which sounds very normal.
EXCEPT the government was already bringing on that bit of legislation. Tony Burke is introducing it at midday. Which we are told the opposition knew, and has either forgotten, or the message didn’t get passed along, or they are just trying it on for funsies.
So in about three minutes time, Burke will be introducing the legislation for the CFMEU demerger, as previously scheduled.
Greens urge Labor to be tougher on supermarkets
The Greens senator Nick McKim is not a fan of Jim Chalmers’ mandatory code of conduct for the big supermarkets – because he says it does not go far enough in addressing the issues:
Is Labor actually trying to help Australian shoppers, or just chasing a headline?
Only the Greens have proposed concrete measures in parliament that will result in lower food and grocery prices.
Divestiture powers exist in numerous free-market economies around the world, and the chair of the ACCC has confirmed that greater competition in the supermarket sector would bring down food and grocery prices.
The Greens will continue to push for measures that foster competition and lower prices. It’s time for the Labor party to decide whether to protect the profits of supermarket giants or provide relief to Australian shoppers.
The curtin is off!
David Hurley has been painted in a blue shirt (no tie) and camel-coloured pants, holding a hat and standing in the bush.
Mike Bowers will have something for you very soon.
Josh Butler is at the portrait unveiling and he says the curtain is still well and truly covering the piece.
There has also been no singing as yet.
For those who don’t immediately get that reference:
PM’s poetic words on Hurley portrait: ‘It captures not just a moment, but holds before us the essence of a life’
Anthony Albanese at the unveiling of David Hurley’s portrait (Sam Mostyn will take over as governor-general from 1 July)
The unveiling of an official portrait for the Historic Memorials Collection is a special occasion that recognises the service of Australia’s highest officeholders.
In my role as chair of the Historic Memorials Committee, I was delighted to see the portrait some weeks ago.
I want to congratulate the artist, Jude Rae, on her remarkable eye and the brilliance of her hand as it painted this wonderful work into being.
I also wanted to acknowledge the governor general’s own commitment to the collaboration with this fine artist. This is the second time she has painted your portrait, and what shines through in the work is a shared understanding.
It is a portrait that captures not just a moment, but holds before us the essence of a life.
The outgoing governor general David Hurley is having his portrait unveiled in Parliament House as you read this.
Jude Rae was commissioned for the portrait.
Anthony Albanese will deliver the speech for the unveiling.
Victoria approves huge high-rise housing project in Box Hill
Benita Kolovos
Over on the eastern side of Melbourne in Box Hill, planning minister Sonya Kilkenny has approved a project to build 1,700 new homes across seven high-rise apartment buildings.
As first reported by the Age, Kilkenny has today approved the Box Hill Central North Masterplan, which has been fast-tracked under the government’s development facilitation program, meaning at least 10% of the $1.57bn project will be affordable housing.
The project, overseen by Chadstone Shopping Centre’s Vicinity Centres, will include seven buildings ranging from 19 to 50 storeys tall, surpassing Box Hill’s current tallest building the Sky One apartment tower, which is 36 storeys.
The site of the new project will also feature about 4,000 square metres of retail space, as well as a co-working zone, civic plaza, urban park and new pedestrian and bike paths.
Kilkenny says the apartment towers align with the government’s “long-term vision” for Box Hill, which is the end of the $34.5bn Suburban Rail Loop East train line. As part of the project, the government has taken over planning controls within a 1.6km radius of each of the stations along the line: Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill.
She says this will lead to the creation of 70,000 new homes. Kilkenny says:
With Melbourne’s population set to be the size of London by 2050, we’re pulling every lever we can to ensure we can get thousands of new homes for Victorians off the ground faster – where they want to live. Box Hill is one of our fastest growing communities and this project will bring more than 1,700 new homes right next to the Suburban Rail Loop – helping us deliver more homes close to jobs, services and great public transport.
Mike Bowers caught Anthony Albanese looking pretty pleased he managed to surprise people with the Matt Kean announcement.
Here he is as they walked out into the courtyard:
Minns: ‘There’s a big difference between a block of flats and a nuclear reactor in your back yard’
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has been asked about community support for nuclear and whether his government would work with a future federal government on nuclear if Peter Dutton won the election (a reminder that the Coalition would have to win 18 seats to govern in its own right, assuming it didn’t lose any):
Minns:
Obviously it’s pretty hypothetical. We’re kind of 72 hours into this nuclear debate and there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered by the federal opposition before I think the public will make a final decision about whether they’re for it or against it.
Ultimately, it’s their decision but I’ve got a mandate too and we didn’t run on a platform of repealing [a ban on] nuclear energy in New South Wales and I’ve got major concerns about community responses in the sites that have been picked by the federal opposition.
So I did read the article this morning in the Telegraph, and it did report that Scone, Gloucester and the Hunter, 66% of residents didn’t want it in New South Wales, let alone in their local community.
So that’s seemingly the initial information seems to indicate that there’s overwhelming opposition within that community. Now I don’t regard that as nimbyism.
I mean, there’s a big difference between a block of flats and a nuclear reactor in your back yard. And I think that that’s got to be taken into consideration.
Ultimately, you’re asking these communities to shoulder a nuclear reactor in their community for decades, decades into the future and no community consultation was undertaken by the federal opposition. It was just announced, not sites for potential exploration, just we are building a nuclear reactor in your community. You don’t get a say. I can imagine the communities in both Lithgow and the Hunter region will be furious about it. And I think that that’s borne out by the recent polling from the telegraph this morning.
