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| Australians' climate fears grow as bushfires rage – politics live | Australians' climate fears grow as bushfires rage – politics live |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Jim Chalmers stopped by doors this morning (which meant he had been tapped to deliver this morning’s missives) | |
| He responded to Scott Morrison’s calls for Labor to support the drug testing trial policy: | |
| The Prime Minister last night on 7:30 said that he couldn’t understand why people were resisting these drug testing trials. I mean, how out of touch can this guy be? It might be a 60 year old trying to get back in the workforce for a long time, maybe having lost your job as a 50 year old. The Prime Minister now wants you to pee in a cup in a demeaning way as a part of his picking fights with the Labor Party. I mean this is - what he’s proposing here hasn’t worked overseas. It won’t work here. It is indiscriminate. It’s ineffective. It unnecessarily demeans people when they’re trying to get back in the workforce and the health experts, the law and order experts, experts right across the board, have criticised this approach. | |
| That’s why I question the Government’s motives here, its motivations. This, for the Government, is not about getting people off drugs, or off welfare into work; it’s about chasing headlines, it’s about picking fights with the Labor Party and I think people who are unemployed in this country deserve a Government which actually cares about getting them into work, and prioritises that over these kind of political games. | |
| This always makes for some great shots (insert puns about parliamentarians and endangered animals here) | |
| Australia’s political leaders will come face to face with some of Australia’s most endangered native animals at Parliament House in Canberra today, to mark National Threatened Species Day. | |
| That’s just after midday. Mike Bowers is on it. | |
| Jacqui Lambie all but quashed the government’s hopes of passing its revived drug testing policy yesterday when she said she would not support it until she saw proper rehabilitation services put in place. Scott Morrison says his government will be talking to all the senators about the bill, including Lambie, but he says: “The question is, why won’t Labor support, a fair dinkum trial to try to actually try and deal with one of the biggest challenges we have which is to try and help people break addictions, and find themselves in employment and actually change their lives for the better.” | |
| Scott Morrison, who just attended to suicide prevention breakfast, has stopped by for a doorstop. | |
| Asked about criticisms that extending the cashless debit card program to more welfare recipients further stigmatises those on welfare, Morrison says “I don’t accept that” and moves on to the next question. | |
| That’s a favoured move of his – and he is very adept at it – he shuts down a question by saying he doesn’t accept something, or gives a one-word answer, and moves on. It’s not that the questions are not being asked, it’s that they are not always answered. And we can’t force politicians, of any ilk, to answer beyond the way they choose. | |
| Not news, but for those of you who like to be in the know about this sort of stuff, Mathias Cormann and Peter Dutton, who famously walk together most parliamentary mornings, have switched from walking along Red Hill to walking along the lake. | |
| It’s been noted no less than three times to me this morning. No idea why the location change, but there you go. | |
| Anthony Albanese is chatting to Laura Jayes on Sky this morning. | Anthony Albanese is chatting to Laura Jayes on Sky this morning. |
| It looks as though Labor will be continuing the attack we saw yesterday – that the government concentrates on “wedging” Labor instead of actually coming up with a plan. | |
| “They continue to act like an opposition in exile, sitting on the government benches,” Albanese said, pointing out that before the last two sittings, Scott Morrison had told his party room that pieces of legislation were “tests for Labor”. | |
| On who is right between Wayne Swan (keep the policies, but change the communication) or Mark Butler (we need to look at why we lost and properly examine what we are doing), Albanese all but says some policies will change, but the values won’t. | On who is right between Wayne Swan (keep the policies, but change the communication) or Mark Butler (we need to look at why we lost and properly examine what we are doing), Albanese all but says some policies will change, but the values won’t. |
| He again talks about the “vision statements” Labor will be releasing. | He again talks about the “vision statements” Labor will be releasing. |
| But we won’t see anything until after the review, which is due back in October. | But we won’t see anything until after the review, which is due back in October. |
| We’ve woken this morning to more bad news on the fire front in Queensland and NSW, with more homes lost. | We’ve woken this morning to more bad news on the fire front in Queensland and NSW, with more homes lost. |
| Meanwhile, the annual Climate of the Nation report is out, and people are more concerned with the impacts of climate change than ever before. From Katharine Murphy’s report: | Meanwhile, the annual Climate of the Nation report is out, and people are more concerned with the impacts of climate change than ever before. From Katharine Murphy’s report: |
| The annual Climate of the Nation survey, which has been tracking Australian attitudes to climate change for more than a decade, finds concern about droughts and flooding has risen from 74% of the survey in 2017 to 81% in 2019. | The annual Climate of the Nation survey, which has been tracking Australian attitudes to climate change for more than a decade, finds concern about droughts and flooding has risen from 74% of the survey in 2017 to 81% in 2019. |
| Concern about climate-related extinctions – an issue highlighted dramatically in May when a major scientific report warned that a million species across the world faced extinction – has risen from 71% in 2017 to 78% in the 2019 survey, while concern about water shortages, an issue front of mind as a consequence of Australia’s prolonged drought, has increased from 67% to 78%. | Concern about climate-related extinctions – an issue highlighted dramatically in May when a major scientific report warned that a million species across the world faced extinction – has risen from 71% in 2017 to 78% in the 2019 survey, while concern about water shortages, an issue front of mind as a consequence of Australia’s prolonged drought, has increased from 67% to 78%. |
| Public sentiment about phasing out coal has also shifted in the past few years. In 2017 65% of the survey thought coal power stations should be phased out gradually to help manage the costs of the transition, but the percentage has dropped to 52% in 2019. The percentage of people believing the shift from coal to clean energy needs to be accelerated, even if the transition costs more in the short term, has increased from 19% in 2017 to 26% in 2019. | Public sentiment about phasing out coal has also shifted in the past few years. In 2017 65% of the survey thought coal power stations should be phased out gradually to help manage the costs of the transition, but the percentage has dropped to 52% in 2019. The percentage of people believing the shift from coal to clean energy needs to be accelerated, even if the transition costs more in the short term, has increased from 19% in 2017 to 26% in 2019. |
| There has also been an increase in the percentage of people in the survey arguing that Australia should completely end coal-fired power generation within the next 10 years. In 2017 30% of the survey agreed, and in 2019 39% agreed. | There has also been an increase in the percentage of people in the survey arguing that Australia should completely end coal-fired power generation within the next 10 years. In 2017 30% of the survey agreed, and in 2019 39% agreed. |
| Of course we have already had the argument over whether the fact rainforest is burning is because of climate change between Richard Di Natale and Pauline Hanson, but that aside, rainforest is burning when it hasn’t burned before. And it’s September. | Of course we have already had the argument over whether the fact rainforest is burning is because of climate change between Richard Di Natale and Pauline Hanson, but that aside, rainforest is burning when it hasn’t burned before. And it’s September. |
| But that should come up today. And, if it doesn’t, well that is the problem right there, isn’t it? | |
| Meanwhile, there will be party room and caucus meetings today. Not a lot on the agendas, although I imagine Michelle Rowland’s intervention will probably be brought up in Labor’s catch-up. | |
| Also, Peter Dutton’s home affairs department will also get a bit more heat today. | Also, Peter Dutton’s home affairs department will also get a bit more heat today. |
| You have Mike Bowers and Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin and Paul Karp, as well as whatever amount of brain cells I manage to scrape together. | |
| Ready? | Ready? |
| Let’s get into it. | Let’s get into it. |