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Trend unemployment falls to lowest rate in four years at 5.5% – politics live
Trend unemployment falls to lowest rate in four years at 5.5% – politics live
(35 minutes later)
2.31am BST
02:31
The Greens MP Adam Bandt is not pleased with where he thinks Labor is heading with the energy debate. Earlier today, we reported Bandt called the Neg as being worse for renewables than doing nothing.
Now Bandt is calling on Labor to join the Greens in its opposition to the policy
“Cutting support for renewables is appalling, but actively pulling wind and solar out of the system is pure bastardry and Labor must not have a bar of it,” he said in a statement
“Labor did a deal with the Liberals to cut the Renewable Energy Target and they’re getting ready to cut renewables again, sending MPs out to pretend the NEG is some kind of carbon price in disguise.
“Doing another deal with the Liberals to cut renewables would be a new low for Labor.”
2.27am BST
02:27
Andrew Wilkie has responded to Labor and the Coalition’s position on the casino inquiry
Labor and Liberal grovel to poker machine industry, says @WilkieMP #auspol pic.twitter.com/A60U0nf1xl
2.09am BST
02:09
Is the Neg a carbon price bingo
Katharine Murphy
When economists try to be diplomats: “It’s the internalisation of an externality”
AGL is in town today, appearing before a parliamentary committee looking at electricity infrastructure. Tim Nelson is AGL’s chief economist.
Nelson has just given a tick to the Turnbull government’s national energy guarantee, at least in concept. He thinks imposing a reliability and an emissions reduction obligation on electricity retailers through the existing electricity market contracts structure is “a very neat way to tie it together” – but he adds the obvious caveat, “that said, the devil will be in the detail”.
A funny exchange follows between Nelson and the Labor MP Pat Conroy, who knows a a lot about energy policy, having worked in the backroom during the climate wars of the past ten years before embarking on his own political career.Conroy thinks, and has said, that the NEG is an awful lot like a not very transparent carbon price. He wonders whether Nelson agrees.
Nelson, attempting diplomacy, thinks the NEG is an “internalisation of an externality.”Ok, Conroy says, what’s the externality we are talking about? Nelson says the emissions reduction obligation imposed by the government – the requirement to ensure Australia meets the Paris target.
So we are placing an internal price on carbon dioxide emissions, Conroy asks?
The beast continues to move: with no major party support for the Senate inquiry into the Wilkie casino allegations, the motion is being delayed.
As pointed out in the comments, it could come back, depending if anything is found at the state level. But for now, it is being shuffled off the agenda.
1.56am BST
1.56am BST
01:56
01:56
Gareth Hutchens
Gareth Hutchens
A little more detail on the latest job figures:
A little more detail on the latest job figures ...
The unemployment rate declined to 5.5% in September, driven by a large increase in part-time employment, in seasonally adjusted terms.
The unemployment rate fell to 5.5% in September, driven by a large increase in part-time employment, in seasonally-adjusted terms.
Between August and September, 13,700 part-time positions were created, and 6,100 full time positions were created.
Between August and September, 13,700 part-time positions were created, and 6,100 full-time positions were created.
Over the last twelve months, full-time employment has increased by 315,900 persons, while part-time employment has increased by 55,600 persons.
Over the last 12 months, full-time employment has increased by 315,900 persons, while part-time employment has increased by 55,600 persons.
Last month, the largest increase in employment was in New South Wales (up 21,100 persons), followed by Victoria (up 8,900 persons) and Western Australia (up 8,300 persons).
Last month, the largest increase in employment was in New South Wales (up 21,100 persons), followed by Victoria (up 8,900 persons) and Western Australia (up 8,300 persons).
But the unemployment rate has not fallen in every state and territory - Queensland’s unemployment rate increased from 5.7% to 5.9% last month. South Australia’s unemployment rate increased from 5.7% to 5.8%.
But the unemployment rate has not fallen in every state and territory – Queensland’s unemployment rate increased from 5.7% to 5.9% last month. South Australia’s unemployment rate increased from 5.7% to 5.8%.
Updated
at 2.09am BST
1.53am BST
1.53am BST
01:53
01:53
While we are on Holden, this is very much worth your time to read. No politics, but a lot of heart:
While we are on Holden, this is very much worth your time to read. No politics, but a lot of heart:
I wrote a little story about Holden and my family, hope you like. https://t.co/3SrVHobxV7
I wrote a little story about Holden and my family, hope you like. https://t.co/3SrVHobxV7
1.52am BST
1.52am BST
01:52
01:52
Kim Carr had A LOT to say about Holden’s closure and has not been shy at letting us know who he blames and why.
Kim Carr had A LOT to say about Holden’s closure and has not been shy at letting us know who he blames and why.
Tomorrow marks what can only be described asa national tragedy. A national tragedy that need not happen. It was totally avoidable. A national tragedy that’s come about as a direct result of a crusade by the very hard right-wing men and women of the Liberal Party. Remember Sophie Mirabella? Crusade to take $500 million out of the automotive program. Remember the statements of the Treasurer goading General Motors to leave Australia, at the time when the international investment committee was meeting in Detroit,stood up in the House of Representatives and goaded them to leave. As the head of General Motors at the time said, played chicken with the automotive industry in this country. We know, because we directly engaged with General Motors, that they were prepared to stay. They took the proposition to their own work force to substantially reduce costs at a time when the dollar was over $1.11on the parity rate. Workers voted in a secret ballot to take a pay cut, to reduce their conditions, on the condition that General motors were prepared to invest. They came to us as a Labor Government and we negotiated arrangements for two new models. A proposition which I took to the government and was endorsed by the government. General Motors, in turn, said, “We have to get bipartisan support for that proposition. We can’t make those sorts of investments without the support across the parliament.” The Liberal Party refused. We also know with Toyota, two new models, and if we had kept the automotive industry in place, if we had a Labor Government, we would have kept the automotive industry in place and by now we’d be talking about the production of hydrogen cars in this country.”
Tomorrow marks what can only be described asa national tragedy. A national tragedy that need not happen. It was totally avoidable. A national tragedy that’s come about as a direct result of a crusade by the very hard, right-wing men and women of the Liberal party. Remember Sophie Mirabella? Crusade to take $500 million out of the automotive program. Remember the statements of the treasurer goading General Motors to leave Australia, at the time when the international investment committee was meeting in Detroit, stood up in the House of Representatives and goaded them to leave. As the head of General Motors at the time said, played chicken with the automotive industry in this country. We know, because we directly engaged with General Motors, that they were prepared to stay. They took the proposition to their own work force to substantially reduce costs at a time when the dollar was over $1.11on the parity rate. Workers voted in a secret ballot to take a pay cut, to reduce their conditions, on the condition that General Motors were prepared to invest. They came to us as a Labor government and we negotiated arrangements for two new models. A proposition which I took to the government and was endorsed by the government. General Motors, in turn, said: ‘We have to get bipartisan support for that proposition. We can’t make those sorts of investments without the support across the parliament.’ The Liberal party refused. We also know with Toyota, two new models, and if we had kept the automotive industry in place, if we had a Labor government, we would have kept the automotive industry in place and by now we’d be talking about the production of hydrogen cars in this country.”
As for why he believes it matters, Carr had this to say:
As for why he believes it matters, Carr had this to say:
What are we losing? We are losing an industry which provided 15% of our R&D for manufacturing. Manufacturing is the largest area of our R&D. 15% of our R&D for manufacturing comes out of the automotive industry. We are losing an enormous platform for our skills development. We are losing the capacity in steel, in glass, in aluminium, electronics. A modern motor car has some 250 microprocessors within it. It is probably one of the most advanced pieces of equipment ordinary people use. We are losing the capacity, one of 13countries in the world that can make a motor car from the point of conception to the showroom floor. We are losing that capacity. What’s been put in its place? A promise about the naval shipbuilding program where we won’t be cutting steel for some years. Two patrol boats for Adelaide next year. Two patrol boats. We are asking the automotive industry, the automotive workers to think about two patrol boats. This is a government that has no plan for the future, has no commitment to advanced manufacturing. We are leaving automotive communities in the lurch, we are leaving this country in the lurch, because of their blatant negligence and their ideological hostility. Ideological hostility to an incredibly important industry that this country has taken generations to build. A country that, of course, is amongst the best in the world in terms of its capacity to survive the rigors of advanced manufacturing.”
What are we losing? We are losing an industry which provided 15% of our R&D for manufacturing. Manufacturing is the largest area of our R&D. 15% of our R&D for manufacturing comes out of the automotive industry. We are losing an enormous platform for our skills development. We are losing the capacity in steel, in glass, in aluminium, electronics. A modern motor car has some 250 microprocessors within it. It is probably one of the most advanced pieces of equipment ordinary people use. We are losing the capacity, one of 13 countries in the world that can make a motor car from the point of conception to the showroom floor. We are losing that capacity. What’s been put in its place? A promise about the naval ship-building program where we won’t be cutting steel for some years. Two patrol boats for Adelaide next year. Two patrol boats. We are asking the automotive industry, the automotive workers to think about two patrol boats. This is a government that has no plan for the future, has no commitment to advanced manufacturing. We are leaving automotive communities in the lurch, we are leaving this country in the lurch, because of their blatant negligence and their ideological hostility. Ideological hostility to an incredibly important industry that this country has taken generations to build. A country that, of course, is amongst the best in the world in terms of its capacity to survive the rigors of advanced manufacturing.”
Updated
at 2.08am BST
1.44am BST
1.44am BST
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01:44
The Dfat appointments are rolling out. The latest– Geoffrey Shaw as Australia’s ambassador for People Smuggling and Human Trafficking.
The Dfat appointments are rolling out. The latest – Geoffrey Shaw as Australia’s ambassador for people smuggling and human trafficking.
From Julie Bishop’s statement:
From Julie Bishop’s statement:
The Ambassador for People Smuggling and Human Trafficking plays a lead role in advancing Australia’s international interests by countering people smuggling in support of Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB). Dr Shaw will work closely with the OSB Joint Agency Task Force to coordinate the international elements of OSB across government.
The ambassador for people smuggling and human trafficking plays a lead role in advancing Australia’s international interests by countering people smuggling in support of Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB). Dr Shaw will work closely with the OSB Joint Agency Task Force to coordinate the international elements of OSB across government.
The Ambassador also focuses on Australia’s regional and international engagement to combat human trafficking and modern slavery, including as co-chair with Indonesia of the 45-country Bali Process, the preeminent regional grouping working to address these transnational crimes.
The Ambassador also focuses on Australia’s regional and international engagement to combat human trafficking and modern slavery, including as co-chair with Indonesia of the 45-country Bali Process, the pre-eminent regional grouping working to address these transnational crimes.
Dr Shaw is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) and was most recently Assistant Secretary, People Smuggling and Human Trafficking Taskforce. In Canberra, Dr Shaw has held a range of positions in Dfat, including as Assistant Secretary, Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office. He has served in senior positions in Geneva, with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, and as the IAEA Representative to the United Nations in New York.
Dr Shaw is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) and was most recently assistant secretary, people smuggling and human trafficking taskforce. In Canberra, Dr Shaw has held a range of positions in Dfat, including as assistant secretary, Australian safeguards and non-proliferation office. He has served in senior positions in Geneva, with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, and as the IAEA representative to the United Nations in New York.
Updated
at 2.06am BST
1.38am BST
1.38am BST
01:38
01:38
Casino inquiry doomed to fail
Casino inquiry doomed to fail
The casino inquiry motion is coming up in the Senate–that is on the back of the Andrew Wilkie allegations from Wednesday–but it is expected to fail.
The casino inquiry motion is coming up in the Senate – that is on the back of the Andrew Wilkie allegations from Wednesday – but it is expected to fail.
Both Labor and the Coalition have said the authorities and the states are better placed to carry out any investigations and without the support of either major party, the motion is doomed to fail.
Both Labor and the Coalition have said the authorities and the states are better placed to carry out any investigations and without the support of either major party, the motion is doomed to fail.
Here is what communications minister Mitch Fifield had to say this morning:
Here is what communications minister Mitch Fifield had to say this morning:
Ultimately it’s up to the Senate what it chooses to have an inquiry into it. But the Minister for Justice, Michael Kennan, has already made clear that Austrac takes any allegations seriously and will investigate those. The other allegations that have been made fall squarely into the responsibility of the Victorian Government, its law enforcement agencies and its regulators.
Ultimately it’s up to the Senate what it chooses to have an inquiry into it. But the Minister for Justice, Michael Kennan, has already made clear that Austrac takes any allegations seriously and will investigate those. The other allegations that have been made fall squarely into the responsibility of the Victorian government, its law enforcement agencies and its regulators.
And this is what Bill Shorten had to say a couple of minutes ago:
And this is what Bill Shorten had to say a couple of minutes ago:
Gambling casino legislation is regulated by the state. The Senate is not a police force. The Senate is not a statehouse of parliament. We said straightaway when we heard these allegations, very serious, deserve a full and unequivocal investigation. But you don’t send the Senate to do a job that the police have got to door that the state regulator’s got todo. This is not a question about investigating the allegations. It’s a question who is best placed to investigate them? Police and the gambling regulators with the full resources and knowledge or another committee?
Gambling casino legislation is regulated by the state. The Senate is not a police force. The Senate is not a state house of parliament. We said straight away when we heard these allegations, very serious, deserve a full and unequivocal investigation. But you don’t send the Senate to do a job that the police have got to door that the state regulator’s got to do. This is not a question about investigating the allegations. It’s a question who is best placed to investigate them? Police and the gambling regulators with the full resources and knowledge or another committee?
Updated
Updated
at 1.42am BST
at 2.03am BST
1.33am BST
1.33am BST
01:33
01:33
Trend unemployment lowest in four years
Trend unemployment lowest in four years
The ABS reports the unemployment rate for September was 5.5 % (trend) down from 5.6% in August.
The ABS reports the unemployment rate for September was 5.5 % (trend) down from 5.6% in August.
The ABS says that is the lowest trend rate in four years.
The ABS says that is the lowest trend rate in four years.
Updated
Updated
at 1.38am BST
at 1.38am BST
1.26am BST
1.26am BST
01:26
01:26
Just like white chocolate isn’t technically chocolate, but you’ll still find it near the dairy milk ...
Just like white chocolate isn’t technically chocolate, but you’ll still find it near the dairy milk ...
The NEG is an EIS + a reliability scheme. By allowing trading, a carbon price is established, like an auction sets a house price #auspol
The NEG is an EIS + a reliability scheme. By allowing trading, a carbon price is established, like an auction sets a house price #auspol
Updated
Updated
at 1.52am BST
at 1.52am BST
1.24am BST
1.24am BST
01:24
01:24
Labor mourns Holden
Labor mourns Holden
Bill Shorten has fired the latest salvo in the “Australia First” wars, using the closure of Holden tomorrow as a rallying cry:
Bill Shorten has fired the latest salvo in the “Australia First” wars, using the closure of Holden tomorrow as a rallying cry:
Where are the visionaries now? Turnbull blamed the wages of the workers when Holden made their decision. He’s washed his hands of it; not his problem. Australia is a good manufacturing nation, we’re a great manufacturing nation. I want to congratulate generations of Australian workers and their families who have worked at Holden, who have worked in the auto-component industry. They are world-class trades people building a world-class product. This car industry did not need to close. It closed because of the lazy, negligent, disinterest of the right-wing economic rationalists of the Turnbull and Abbott government. They goaded the industry into going. As a result, Australia is poorer tomorrow because of the inaction and neglect of the Turnbull government. We say to those who still work in Australian manufacturing: Labor’s got your back. We understand, and if we get the privilege to form a government, we will back Australian-made and Australian manufacturing. We have announced on the weekend in South Australia the creation of an Australian manufacturing future fund. This will ensure that the finance is available for all the great manufacturing ideas, for all the small and medium businesses who want to back Australian made. I promised Australia and I promised the Australian manufacturing sector that the three-word slogan you are most going to hear from me if I’m prime minister is ‘made in Australia’.
Where are the visionaries now? Turnbull blamed the wages of the workers when Holden made their decision. He’s washed his hands of it; not his problem. Australia is a good manufacturing nation, we’re a great manufacturing nation. I want to congratulate generations of Australian workers and their families who have worked at Holden, who have worked in the auto-component industry. They are world-class trades people building a world-class product. This car industry did not need to close. It closed because of the lazy, negligent, disinterest of the right-wing economic rationalists of the Turnbull and Abbott government. They goaded the industry into going. As a result, Australia is poorer tomorrow because of the inaction and neglect of the Turnbull government. We say to those who still work in Australian manufacturing: Labor’s got your back. We understand, and if we get the privilege to form a government, we will back Australian-made and Australian manufacturing. We have announced on the weekend in South Australia the creation of an Australian manufacturing future fund. This will ensure that the finance is available for all the great manufacturing ideas, for all the small and medium businesses who want to back Australian made. I promised Australia and I promised the Australian manufacturing sector that the three-word slogan you are most going to hear from me if I’m prime minister is ‘made in Australia’.
Updated
Updated
at 1.52am BST
at 1.52am BST
1.16am BST
01:16
Bill Shorten has just repeated his dab move for school students ahead of a media event at Old Parliament House.
pin this gif pic.twitter.com/UGeqQkAm1D
1.13am BST
01:13
As expected, the Medicinal cannabis bill has just passed the Senate
Updated
at 1.15am BST
1.04am BST
01:04
The Senate is busy debating the Greens motion on medicinal cannabis, which opens up the market for Australian-grown products to be accessed by patients and stops the government from using clauses in import products to stop category A drugs from being prescribed to terminally ill patients.
Labor is in support of this and it looks like most of the crossbench is as well.
Updated
at 1.20am BST
1.03am BST
01:03
Ben Doherty
Yesterday it was the proposed welfare drug testing trial which caught the UN’s attention – and not in a good way, as Paul Karp reported
Today:
Australia’s marriage equality postal survey has attracted international criticism overnight, with the UN human rights committee in Geneva telling the government that fundamental rights were not to be judged by a show of hands, or granted by virtue of popular opinion.
Committee member Sarah Cleveland told the Australian delegation of the survey: “human rights are not to be determined by opinion poll or a popular vote”.
Australia’s human rights record is being examined by the committee – indigenous incarceration and asylum policies are expected to be pre-eminent – in Geneva this week, at the same time as the country was elected uncontested to the UN’s powerful human rights council in New York.
Updated
at 1.07am BST
12.54am BST
00:54
While the government works to stave off a banking royal commission, Scott Morrison has announced the actions it is taking to pull the banking industry into line.
From his statement:
Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR)
The government is bringing greater accountability to our banks, introducing tough new rules for banks and their executives that will keep their behaviour and decision making in check. Under the BEAR, banks and their senior executives and directors will be expected to conduct their business with honesty and integrity, prudence, care and diligence; deal with APRA in an open, constructive and cooperative way; and prevent matters from arising that would adversely affect the bank’s reputation or hurt its customers.
Where these expectations are not met there will be strict consequences.
APRA will be empowered to more easily remove or disqualify executives, dish out substantial fines to banks when they fail to crack down on bad practices, and claw back remuneration from individuals.
Banks will also be required to register individuals with APRA before appointing them as senior executives and directors. And APRA will have new powers to examine witnesses, including during potential investigations of breaches of the BEAR.
Section 66
Legislation is also being introduced to deliver more choice for customers by boosting competition in financial services.
We are lifting the prohibition on the use of the word “bank”, so all banking businesses with an ADI licence will be able to use this term. Currently only ADIs with more than $50 million in capital can call themselves a bank.
Credit cards
The reforms include:
• requiring that affordability assessments be based on a consumer’s ability to repay the credit limit within a reasonable period;
• banning unsolicited offers of credit limit increases;
• simplifying how credit card interest is calculated; and
• requiring credit card providers to have online options to cancel cards or to reduce credit limits.
Crisis Management
APRA will be given clear powers that will enable it to set requirements on resolution planning and ensure banks and insurers are better prepared for a crisis.
APRA will also be provided an expanded set of crisis resolution powers to allow it to act decisively to facilitate the orderly resolution of a distressed bank or insurer.
Macroprudential powers
APRA will be able to make rules where it sees that the activities of non-bank lenders are materially contributing to risks of instability in the Australian financial system.
APRA will also be given the ability to collect data from the non-bank lender sector to determine if and when to use this new power.
Modernising APRA’s legislative framework
The legislation will insert an objects provision into the Banking Act 1959 to make clear APRA’s roles and responsibilities under the Act, aligning it with other acts such as the Life Insurance Act 1995.
This will make clear that APRA can, and will, act to address varying economic circumstances and stresses as they arise across different parts of Australia.
Updated
at 12.56am BST
12.41am BST
00:41
On issues which were all-encompassing but appear to have become less all-encompassing, the next round of banking hearings is on tomorrow.
David Coleman said the government’s plan of hauling the banking execs ahead of a parliamentary committee on the semi-regular, rather than a banking royal commission is working.
It’s become less obvious as the RBA stays steady on rates – which has made non-action by the banks, or delayed action by the banks, a little less obvious.
But Coleman told Sky the banks were still being questioned over “pay and go” fees –where paypass/paywave cards are being routed through the Visa or Mastercard route –which carries fees for retailers and ultimately customers.
So the ATM fee scrapping looks a lot less generous when you consider the drop in the number of people using ATMs and the amount of money being raked in by pay-and-go card habits.
Coleman said the committee was making progress on that.
Labor has maintained a royal commission is the only way to investigate what is happening in the Australian banking industry, but Coleman said the committee was having “ a real, substantive effect”
“Nine our of our 10 recommendations to the government were adopted, so the things about customers being able to get redress when things go wrong, that has been fixed. That was a real issue – the lack of executive accountability, no senior executives fired for any of the scandals in the banking industry – that has been fixed through the executive accountability regime. The lack of competition – we are changing the rules to make it easier to set up a bank so you can compete with the big four. All these things are happening. It is good to see moves like ATM fee abolition. We have also seen three of the four banks that have come out with a low-cost credit card in response to the inquiry and that is a big issue for a lot of Australians, so we are seeing a positive change, but we will keep at this, because this is an inquiry that goes forever, this is not a one-year inquiry, this is a permanent oversight function, we have achieved a lot in the first year and we will keep doing it.”
But it is not all sunshine and lollipops even in the Coaltion party room on banking.
As Katharine Murphy told us yesterday, a brouhaha was brewing in the party room over the plans to regulate the salary and appointment of banking executives:
Veteran Liberal MP Russell Broadbent kicked up a stink about this package in the Coalition party room meeting yesterday, and is reserving his rights, which means he might cross the floor to vote against the change.
Broadbent has told me governments should not be regulating the internal affairs of businesses. He says that’s like Labor’s plans for bank nationalisation in the 1940s.
“This is totally at odds with what the Liberal and National parties stand for,” Broadbent said. “I think Ben Chifley tried something like this in 1947.”
Updated
at 12.52am BST
12.24am BST
00:24
A Neg for breakfast
Katharine Murphy
Malcolm Turnbull has started Thursday with a breakfast hosted by the Ai Group to explain the government’s new energy policy to the suits. The prime minister this week has been flanked by a hastily convened Jedi council – the heads of the energy market regulators – and they came along for the ride to the National Press Club this morning.
It was clear from the mood in the room that what business leaders want is bipartisanship. They want a policy which makes sense and they want to know the policy will remain constant for a reasonable period of time.
Turnbull said rather grandly in his pitch that the government looked to the opposition to settle the climate wars, but he also studded his remarks with plenty of trolling of the South Australian government’s idiocy and ideology, and of Labor’s stupidity more generally.
A couple of business leaders asked very politely about bipartisanship, including the host, the Ai Group’s chief executive, Innes Willox, who asked whether Turnbull had a plan B in the event the states didn’t like the new plan. Willox asked what would happen if the states said no. “Let’s focus on getting them to say yes,” Turnbull said, side stepping the elephant in the room.
I made an attempt to put the elephant back in the room by asking whether the government actually wanted a fight with Labor on energy, or whether they wanted a settlement – and if they wanted a settlement, was it productive to keep bagging Labor and the states publicly all the time? The prime minister thought one had to point out previous mistakes in order to create the ground for a settlement in energy.
John Pierce, one of the Jedi council, and the chairman of the Australian Energy Market Commission, was asked a question about prices and economic modelling. Pierce noted that economic models “don’t give you the truth”. He said good economic models lined up elegantly with the assumptions that were built into them. Rather than focussing on things like specific price reductions association with the new framework, Pierce hoped people would focus on the model. He said the purpose of the energy guarantee was simple: the business that produces the lowest cost, reliable energy, which was consistent with the emissions reduction target, “wins”.
Pierce was asked later whether the new framework was actually a de facto carbon price, as a lot of analysts have noted. He thought not. His explanation for why a system which creates a market for emissions reduction via regulation wasn’t a form of carbon price wasn’t entirely convincing.
He said South Australia, for example, wouldn’t have to do much in order to comply with the emissions reductions rules, given its high proportion of renewables. He then moved to say the new system priced reliability. Given the national energy guarantee has two components: reliability and emissions reduction, it wasn’t clear why the system priced one but not the other.
In case it’s not clear – it’s not helpful to the government to point out in public that the Coalition party room has just ticked off on a form of carbon pricing after having resisted any sort of carbon pricing for the best part of a decade. Not helpful. People who want a solution to the problem don’t want to engage on this turf.
Updated
at 12.43am BST
12.19am BST
00:19
The latest unemployment figures are due at 11.30am (AEDT) today, so get ready for that.
But on the jobs front, Christopher Knaus has written on an alarming trend:
Entry-level jobs are disappearing from the Australian labour market, and five entry-level workers are now competing for each advertised job, a report has found.
The findings prompted Anglicare Australia’s deputy director, Roland Manderson, to call on the government to stop making scapegoats of the unemployed.
You’ll find more on that here and we will bring you the unemployment figures shortly after they are released.
Updated
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00:02
But Dutton did confirm that those who applied for citizenship after 20 April, when the government first proposed its changes, which included longer waiting periods for citizenship, will be processed under the existing rules.
Updated
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11.53pm BST
23:53
Peter Dutton is not backing down on his citizenship changes and is condemning Tony Burke for condemning him. It seems Dutton is not impressed with the comparison to the White Australia Policy.
It is very clear from their own statements that for a long period of time they have supported strengthening the Citizenship Act but they are acting now against the national interest and in their own political interest by pulling this stunt in the Senate with the Greens in an effort to try to delay debate about what is a very important bill. Now what we have proposed in relation to the bill, very sensibly, we’ve been able to negotiate with the independent senators, given that the Labor party will enter into no sensible discussion at all. We have been able to offer up some amendments to the bill which address, in large part, some of the recommendations put forward by the Senate committee; our discussions with the independent senators will continue because we will not be distracted by a political stunt in the Senate between the Labor party and the Greens. We believe very strongly that the proposal we have put forward is moderate, it is sensible, and as I pointed out this morning, we have cancelled the visas of 3,000 people who have committed serious offences, in many cases against Australian citizens, including against children and including the distribution of drugs such as ice. One-thousand-one-hundred people within that cohort were permanent residents and would have gone on to become Australian citizens. Our argument is that these changes were sensible, because we are asking people not only to abide by Australian laws but to adhere to Australian values and we have put forward some sensible amendments. Our discussions will continue with the independents but Tony Burke’s completely over-the-top reaction today really shows that he and Mr Shorten are acting not in the national interest but in their own political interest and for that they should be condemned.
