Key events
Patrick Commins
Jumping out of question time for a moment, the 37% rise in electricity prices in the year to October was a highlight of this morning’s inflation report, but there were plenty of other noteworthy movements.
For example, the cost of accessories jumped by 12%, which the ABS said was “due to an increase in jewellery prices as retailers passed on record high gold and silver prices”.
While most (some?) of us can handle not buying more expensive trinkets, there was plenty of pain in areas where households have no choice but to pay:
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Child care costs were up a whopping 11% in the year, as operators upped their fees to reflect higher operating costs and wages, the ABS said.
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Rents rose by 4.2% annually, accelerating from 3.8% in September.
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Water and sewage prices were up 7.1% annually. The impact of annual price reviews was much greater in Sydney, where prices jumped by 19.4%.
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Servicing or fixing your car costs 5% more than it did this time last year, although petrol prices were only 1.9% higher.
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Finally, higher medical fees and private insurance premiums drove a 5.1% annual rise in medical and hospital services.
Angus Taylor kicked out of question time
The deputy Nationals leader, Kevin Hogan, again asks Chris Bowen about the international declaration to phase out fossil fuels. Hogan asks:
Whilst working as a part-time minister, did the full-time Cop president consult the minister for trade before signing this executive order?
(Again, the question skirts around Milton Dick’s rule yesterday.)
Before Bowen gets up, Angus Taylor, who’s spent most of QT shouting from the opposition frontbench, gets kicked out. Meanwhile David Littleproud is on his final warning.
Bowen says Australia signed the international declaration back in 2023:
Yes, Australia did join with other countries in the declaration on the transition away from fossil fuels. I can understand, while this is offensive to those opposite, because it says, “We reaffirm that the best available science must guide the implementation of the transition.” That’s what Australia agreed with those countries. I know the word “science” triggers those opposite, because they find that offensive.
Josh Butler
Lights go out briefly in house during question time
It’s been a relatively tired few question times this week, but things livened up just now when (some of) the lights unexpectedly went out – sparking the Coalition to erupt in laughter, pointing at the energy minister Chris Bowen.
You need to remember some of the recent parliament lore around the Coalition’s attacks on Bowen and reliability of the energy grid, to connect the dots that a few lights going out in parliament would become a source of mirth.
As the health minister, Mark Butler, was at the dispatch box, mid-answer, some of the overhead lights flickered off. Some stayed on, so the room wasn’t plunged into darkness, but it surprised people before the Coalition realised it fed into their attacks on the energy grid’s reliability.
Most of the opposition benches laughed and jeered, pointing at Bowen – one bright spark pulled out their phone and flicked on their torch light, soon followed by more than a dozen others, waving their illuminated screens around like they were at a concert.
It was a brief moment of levity before the house was brought back under control. Some Coalition members continued the gag, joking that they couldn’t see in the dimmer-than-usual chamber, and calling out that Bowen was sitting “in the dark”.
Bowen accuses Ley of ‘misleading’ house on full-time president claim
Sussan Ley is trying on the “part-time” minister line again – but learning from Milton Dick’s ruling yesterday (that ministers should be referred to their proper title), she changes her wording to, Bowen “in his capacity as full-time Cop president, and an energy minister working part-time”.
Chris Bowen says it is government policy that Australia supports a “just, orderly, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels.”
Are you against the “just” part, “the equitable” part, or the “transition” part?
He then accuses Ley of “misleading the house”:
The leader of the opposition went on to repeat her false allegation, which she’s done now on multiple occasions, that somehow the office of president of the COP negotiations is full-time …
The leader of the opposition is either deliberately or not deliberately misleading the house. Because it is not true and has never been true.
He then goes on to call the opposition “anti-Australian” for not wanting the government to have a stronger role internationally.
Agriculture minister says bill to stop construction of windfarms on farmland would override states’ responsibilities
Over to the crossbench, Andrew Gee asks the agriculture minister about farmland that’s being used to install renewable energy projects.
Gee has a bill before the house that would stop windfarms being built on prime agricultural land, and asks if the government will support it.
Minister Julie Collins says land use is the prime responsibility of the states, and that Gee’s bill would “override” that power and responsibility.
Your proposed bill does seek to override those laws … raising significant property rights and constitutional concerns. Such implications do require careful consideration.
Australia is in a fortunate position where we can actually feed Australia more than 2.5 times over in terms of our food production. We can produce almost all of the food that we need in Australia, but we certainly understand food security is important
She adds that the government has launched a food security strategy.
Shadow treasurer and PM spar over inflation and interest rates
The shadow treasurer, Ted O’Brien, has made a quick dash from the National Press Club over to the house, and continues to push the PM on today’s inflation figure.
He says the treasurer’s been on a “spending spree” and today’s figures will mean the Reserve Bank will keep interest rates on hold “indefinitely”.
Anthony Albanese goes on the attack and says the opposition describe cost-of-living assistance as creating a “culture of dependency”.
In the Coalition’s opinion, if you’re an Australian who is getting cost-of-living help, we know that you’re opposed to that. Working in the public sector – well, we know that you’re opposed to them continuing to work in the public sector. Or if you’re working in essential services, you’re an economic burden …
For those opposite, they think everyone but them is a leaner.
For those playing at home, it’s a reference to former treasurer Joe Hockey’s infamous line that Australians are either “lifters” or “leaners”.
O’Brien tries to make a point of order, saying his question went to government spending. Albanese bats it away and points to the 41,000 workers the Coalition proposed to sack at the election (interesting timing bringing that up, when the government has told the public service to find savings).
It’s question time!
Sussan Ley is starting on today’s inflation numbers – she says the PM said the economy had “turned a corner” in recent months, but there have now been inflation increases in the last two months.
Anthony Albanese reiterates the lines from Jim Chalmers, that the lift in inflation is in part due to the end of state energy subsidies, and again points to the figures being lower now than they were when Labor first came into power in 2022.
We’ve produced one budget surplus and then a second budget surplus, and then a reduced budget deficit. And in May of this year, the Coalition managed to come up with the extraordinary formula of commitment to increase everyone’s taxes but, at the same time, increase the deficit. Quite an achievement from those opposite.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Continuing from our last post …
The government is willing to effectively prevent the fast-tracking of coal and gas projects under a deal with the Greens, while an agreement with the Coalition would involve constraining the powers of the proposed environment protection agency.
In an email to supporters, the Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) – which has campaigned for years to fix the EPBC Act – said it preferred the government teamed up with the Greens.
The email read:
As you know, the EPBC reform bills are being debated in the Senate this afternoon, with significant negotiations underway. Murray has released his offer to both the Coalition and the Greens.
The Greens offer includes most of LEAN’s key asks, and we are hopeful this will be the path forward. The Coalition offer, while clearly inferior, does not catastrophically weaken the Labor bills. We will continue to push for amendments that address our “no exemptions” ask.
We remain positive, though understandably nervous, and we know many of you feel the same.
PM actively involved in talks with Greens to broker EPBC deal
Dan Jervis-Bardy
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has held talks with the Greens leader, Larissa Waters, in an escalation of efforts to land a deal to pass the government’s signature environmental protection laws.
Guardian Australia understands Albanese has not held similar leader-to-leader talks with Sussan Ley as of 1pm on Wednesday, although the environment minister, Murray Watt, has spoken with his Liberal counterpart, Angie Bell, today.
As reported this morning, the government is optimistic it can strike a deal with the Greens to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act before parliament rises for the year on Thursday night.
Watt’s latest meeting with Bell shows the government is still pursuing a potential deal with the Coalition, although that option is considered less likely after Ley criticised Labor’s offer to them as “totally insufficient”.
Watt also met with the Greens environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, on Wednesday.
Albanese’s direct involvement in party-to-party talks on legislation is typically a sign that negotiations have reached the pointy end.
Labor has offered concessions to both sides.
Coalition won’t support changes to property investor tax concessions
My colleague, Tom McIlroy, is at the press club and asks Ted O’Brien whether tax concessions for property investors are making the housing market more unaffordable.
No, is the short answer.
O’Brien says the issue is supply, which is a responsibility of all three levels of government, but confirms that the Coalition does not support changes to those tax concessions like capital gains tax and negative gearing.
It is key that we have a system that encourages investment in properties. And so I don’t think that is where the problem lies. The problems are multiple. This government again as we know is falling dreadfully short of its 1.2 million target of new homes …
It’s all about supply and we need to ensure that we encourage investment and therefore if you ask capital gains tax and whatnot, to be candid we don’t support changes in that regard.
O’Brien challenged on energy prices under Coalition plan
Jumping back to the National Press Club, Ted O’Brien is asked how much energy bills will drop under the Coalition’s plan – which ditches net zero targets.
O’Brien says it’s about “trust”, and that the Coalition governments of past have brought prices down, while Labor’s promised $275 reduction in household bills never eventuated.
On how the savings under the Coalition would appear, O’Brien says their plan, which would keep coal-fired power stations open for longer by stopping the “premature” closure of plants, would not require as many transmission lines to be built.
One of the economic benefits of that is you don’t have to invest so much into transmission lines, and when all of us get our bill at home, if you have a look at it, it’s probably around 50%, is your network charges. One of the benefits of the plan we have [is] cost avoidance.
He doesn’t say exactly how much prices will go down.
On the government’s modelling that it would cost $17bn to keep coal-fired power stations open for an extra ten years from 2028, O’Brien counters to say Jim Chalmers hasn’t told the public how much the government’s plan will cost.
Adeshola Ore
‘Pressing need for action’ on national anti-racism framework, civil society groups say
A coalition of civil society groups are urging the Albanese government to fully fund and implement the national anti-racism framework one year after it was released.
A group of almost 50 organisations, including Reconciliation Australia, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and the Australian National Imams Council, have supported a joint statement calling for the government to prioritise the framework’s first two recommendations.
The framework, released by the Human Rights Commission last year, includes 63 recommendations.
The first two recommendations are for the government to commit to the framework and establish a national anti-racism taskforce to oversee and advise on its implementation.
The statement says:
At a time when racism and division are deepening, there has never been a more pressing need for action. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to experience systemic and everyday racism, which has only intensified since the referendum. There can be no racial justice in this country without racial justice for First Nations peoples.
Across the country, anti-migration rallies and racially-charged demonstrations are testing the limits of our rich multicultural identity.
O’Brien won’t yet reveal where the Coalition would cut government spending
At the National Press Club, Ted O’Brien is asked how the Coalition would pay for proposed income tax cuts and balance the budget.
The shadow treasurer says broadly that to spend “you have to find offsets”, but won’t reveal what those offsets would look like – promising that they’ll come before the next election (which is about two and a half years away).
It is not the responsibility of an opposition to find the offsets for a government’s spending priorities. To Jess*, I would say before the next election you will see our priorities and the extent to which that requires more spending we’ll be the ones to tell you how we will be making room for the budget to pay for it.
*Jess is a case study in O’Brien’s speech.
On whether the opposition would extend the electricity rebates (that Jim Chalmers has also been asked about), O’Brien also remains coy.
We will wait to see if the treasurer wishes to put something on the table than we will do what we always do, weight it up constructively and we will respond.
Chalmers talks up electricity rebates’ impact on inflation
Chalmers is speaking to reporters in parliament after the latest inflation data (and perhaps not so coincidentally at the same time that his shadow counterpart, Ted O’Brien, speaks at the press club).
Chalmers talks up the impact that the cutting of state energy rebates has had on inflation, and how important those federal rebates are.
What the October monthly figure, which showed a fall of 10% in electricity costs, what that shows is that the introduction and removal of the energy rebates at the commonwealth level and at the state level do have an impact on these figures. We’re seeing that in the monthly figures and also in the annual figures. One of the reasons why inflation was flat in the month of October is because electricity is down 10% and we’ve also seen the price of fuel go down as well.
Earlier this morning Chalmers said a decision on whether the rebates would be extended would be made within “the next few weeks”.
