‘You can’t be more Pauline than Pauline’: Penny Wong says Liberals being ‘overrun by fringes’
Penny Wong says the Liberal party is “overrun by the fringes” and that its approach to environmental policy will lead to higher energy prices.
Speaking with the ABC’s Insiders just now, the foreign affairs minister asked:
What has become of the Liberal party? I mean, this used to be a serious mainstream political party in this country, and now it is overrun by the fringes.
They are trying to outflank Pauline Hanson, and what I’d say to Sussan Ley – and to Andrew Hastie and to Angus Taylor – is you can’t be more Pauline than Pauline. But, ultimately, what their … confused, divided approach will lead to is higher prices for Australians.
She said Labor “understands” people’s frustration with energy prices and that bringing more supply into the system will “structurally improve the position on prices for Australians”.
Key events
Wong says Turkey-Australia Cop31 hosting deadlock ‘needs to be resolved’
Australia and Turkey have very different reasons for wanting to host the next Cop climate conference, says Penny Wong, as the impasse continues – and the deadline for the decision fast approaches.
Speaking with the ABC’s Insiders a short time ago, the foreign affairs minister said she anticipates a resolution by the conference’s end rather than automatically defaulting to Bonn, as per Cop rules.
“Obviously, what the Pacific want for the conference and what Turkey want are very different, so we’re gonna keep advocating for the Pacific Cop,” she said.
What I would say is this does need to be resolved. Obviously, discussions are ongoing now in Belem, in Brazil. Chris [Bowen] is on his way – or he may be there now – and we hope that negotiations will see an outcome.
The prime minister is looking forward to seeing President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan at the summit. I would anticipate there will be resolution by the end of the week.
She did not comment on claims the conference would cost Australia up to $2bn.
Speedway car injures 13 after ploughing into crowd
A speedway car lost control and ploughed into a grandstand, injuring 13 rural motoring enthusiasts.
Early on Saturday evening, emergency services rushed to Walcha’s showgrounds, 90km from Tamworth in New South Wales, after a crash at the weekend Walcha Motorcycle Rally, reports AAP.
A 27-year-old speedway car driver had an on-track collision in the demolition derby before his vehicle crashed through the fence and into the crowd, NSW police said.
A NSW Ambulance spokeswoman told AAP 13 people were injured in the incident.
Two are in a critical condition – a man in his 50s suffered spinal and hip injuries and a man in his 30s had a head injury.
They were taken to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle by helicopter.
The 11 other victims, aged 20-75, were transported to hospitals in Armidale, Tamworth and Walcha; six had serious injuries.
Police crash investigators are examining the scene.
‘You can’t be more Pauline than Pauline’: Penny Wong says Liberals being ‘overrun by fringes’
Penny Wong says the Liberal party is “overrun by the fringes” and that its approach to environmental policy will lead to higher energy prices.
Speaking with the ABC’s Insiders just now, the foreign affairs minister asked:
What has become of the Liberal party? I mean, this used to be a serious mainstream political party in this country, and now it is overrun by the fringes.
They are trying to outflank Pauline Hanson, and what I’d say to Sussan Ley – and to Andrew Hastie and to Angus Taylor – is you can’t be more Pauline than Pauline. But, ultimately, what their … confused, divided approach will lead to is higher prices for Australians.
She said Labor “understands” people’s frustration with energy prices and that bringing more supply into the system will “structurally improve the position on prices for Australians”.
Tom McIlroy
‘We want to get this right’ Duniam says of slashing overseas migration
The shadow home affairs minister, Jonathon Duniam, says the opposition will promise a cut to overseas migration in coming months, days after conservative Liberal MPs raised the policy as a possible warning shot against Sussan Ley’s leadership.
After the party’s moderates lost an internal policy fight on net zero carbon policies by 2050, some Liberal MPs warned dealing with the hot button issue of migration policy was their next priority.
Duniam – who expressed support for Ley’s leadership on Sky on Sunday – declined to put a timeline on the policy process.
“We want to get this right, and I want to work very closely with my colleagues and experts in the field, including representatives of immigration stakeholder groups, to ensure that we do the right thing,” he said.
I’m not just going to rush to an announcement of a policy and pluck numbers out of thin air and processes. We’re going to get it right, and we’ll do it at a time that is right for our party and for our country.
Duniam said the policy would cover both net overseas migration and Australia’s permanent intake of overseas arrivals, confirming the policy would cut arrival numbers.
Storm barrage to continue lashing eastern Australia
Severe thunderstorms could continue to lash parts of NSW and Queensland on Sunday, the Bureau of Meteorology says.
Damaging wind gusts, heavy rainfall or hailstones were possible, meteorologist Angus Hines said.
“From Port Macquarie northwards across the border into much of eastern and central Queensland, we could continue to see severe thunderstorms,” he said.
On Saturday, severe thunderstorms lashed south-east Queensland, with more than 50mm of rain recorded in 30 minutes at multiple locations west of Brisbane.
Almost 3,000 properties were without power in south-east Queensland at 9pm on Saturday, according to Energex.
Large hail up to 7cm in diameter fell in the tiny town of Silverspur, about 60km south-west of Stanthorpe, according to Higgins Storm Chasing Facebook page.
The group’s social media posts also showed flash flooding in the Scenic Rim region and several fallen trees near Coffs Harbour in northern NSW.
The storms are expected to move off the coast on Sunday.
– AAP
Conservative Liberal senator says Sussan Ley’s leadership secure after net zero axing
Tom McIlroy
Conservative Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam says he supports Sussan Ley’s leadership and doesn’t expect a challenge against her in the wake of the net zero decision.
Speaking on Sky News, Duniam downplayed a show of force from the Liberal party’s right wing ahead of last week’s party room meeting, when conservative MPs and leadership aspirants Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor arrived as a united group.
I’m great mates with Andrew Hastie, also great mates with Angus Taylor and all of the people in that group, along with people that others would classify as moderates.
At the end of the day, what we need to do is straighten out our policy offering and have clear, coherent arguments about what we are offering and why it is better for the Australian people than what Labor are offering.
Duniam declined to say whether Hastie or Taylor would be a better leader of the opposition.
“Sussan Ley is our leader,” he said:
I support her because she is the one who’s guided us through this process.
She’s the one who has landed this policy outcome. I look forward to working with her on other issues like migration, which is in the home affairs and immigration policy area.
So I’m supporting Sussan Ley. She’s our leader. She’ll take us to the next election, and we are going to give it a red hot go and hold this appalling government to account.
Welcome
Daisy Dumas
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Daisy Dumas and I’ll be bringing you the day’s breaking news.
We’re expecting ongoing fallout from the Coalition’s reversal on net zero, while a storm of a different kind battered parts of New South Wales and southern Queensland last night – more on the wild weather very soon.
Let’s get going.
