Greens delayed help-to-buy vote to give Labor more time to negotiate: Adam BandtBack to the housing bill mess, Adam Bandt has said his party rejected the government’s attempt to have one of the bills put up to vote because it wants the government to negotiate with them.Bandt told the ABC:
We want the government to stop bulldozing, trying to get their bills through the Senate and start negotiating to actually fix the housing crisis. Two bills that you referred to, one pushes up the price of houses for 99.8% of renters and the other pushes up rents by giving public money in the form of tax breaks to developers to build expensive apartments that they will build anyway.
We are in the middle of the housing crisis and the government is coming up with Band-Aid answers that make the problem worse and what we need is the prime minister to stop bulldozing, start negotiating so we can tackle the causes of the housing crisis.
There’s only a few months until the election, this is all Labor has on the and what we’re saying like we did with the Housing fund before is in the middle of the housing crisis, you can do much better but you have to drop this my way or the highway.
ShareUpdated at 08.31 CESTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureAlbanese refuses to confirm further negotiations with Greens over housing billAlbanese says the outcome today counts as a rejection by the Senate but the Senate will get the next couple of days, and he says he hopes the Greens will “get some common sense”. He won’t say whether there will be more negotiations over the bill, as the Greens want, and won’t say whether there will be a double dissolution coming as a result.ShareUpdated at 09.49 CESTPM says Greens should ‘be honest’ and vote for – or against – Labor’s housing legislationThe prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has called on the Greens to “be honest” and vote for or against the help-to-buy housing bill. Speaking to ABC Sydney on Tuesday, Albanese said it was “nonsense” that the legislation would increase the price of housing. He said:
This is a system that has operated very effectively in Western Australia for decades. It is just another measure to try to assist people into home ownership, but the Greens have voted against that, along with the Coalition, the same noalition, if you like, have voted against build to rent.
He said the Greens are voting against it to be spoilers, and claimed the party was not voting for it so they can campaign on the issue:
This is a Senate only sitting week. They’ve been sitting for two days. They haven’t passed a single thing. They haven’t voted on anything. They’ve just talking away, stopping things being voted on. And I don’t think that’s what the people who voted with either for the Liberals or the Nationals or the Greens or One Nation, no matter what way people voted.
For goodness sake. Get on with it. Vote for this legislation, or be honest and vote against it, rather than what is effectively a vote against the legislation along with the Coalition.
ShareUpdated at 09.48 CESTEmergency operation under way to rescue man who fell into a mineshaft in Hunter Valley, NSWA police operation is under way in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales to locate a man who is believed to have fallen down a mineshaft.Emergency services were called at 12.45pm today to Dry Creek Road, Ellalong, where police were told a man had fallen into a decommissioned mine shaft. NSW police said:
Officers attached to Hunter Valley police district remain on scene and are being assisted by Police Rescue, NSW Ambulance, and Fire and Rescue NSW.
The operation is expected to be ongoing for some time, and further information will be released when available.
ShareUpdated at 09.36 CESTTicketmaster says ‘market value’ tickets match secondary market pricesTicketmaster has responded to concern around tickets for Green Day’s 2025 Australian tour being as high as $500 due to what it calls “In Demand” pricing that saw ticket prices for some tickets in the presale surge.A spokesperson said tickets cap out at $500 and Ticketmaster does not set the prices – the artists and their teams that do so. The “market-priced” tickets are a manual adjustment of a “small portion” of tickets closer to the full market value revealed in resale markets, the spokesperson said.
Rather than fans paying limitless prices on the secondary market and being unsure if tickets are actually genuine, the relatively small number of tickets that some tours price at ‘market value’ enable the general price of the majority of tickets to be more affordable by a larger number of fans.
The revenues are also retained within the live music ecosystem with the relevant taxes and performing rights payments being made rather than only benefiting the scalpers selling them. This is particularly important as artists have become more reliant on touring as their main source of income and are seeing touring costs rise.
Pricing isn’t about charging people more; it’s about looking at prices fans are already paying on secondary [markets] and shifting that value back to the artist.
ShareUpdated at 09.42 CESTEarlier today, we reported that more than 150 places of worship around the country are hanging banners this week calling for action on climate change and renewable energy as part of a week of action from faith communities.Here is a photo from one of the events today of Very Rev Andreas Loewe outside St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne.Very Reverend Andreas Loewe, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, with Rabbi Allison Conyer, Chair of the Assembly of Rabbis and Cantors and Rev Andrea Mayes at St Paul’s Cathedral Melbourne. Photograph: Australian Religious Response to Climate ChangeShareUpdated at 09.14 CESTGreens call on government to support UN motion recognising ICJ ruling on illegal Israeli occupationJust following on from our earlier post on the upcoming UN vote on Palestine, the Greens are calling for the federal government to support the motion recognising the ICJ ruling, being voted on Wednesday at 1am AEST.Jordon Steele-John, the Greens senator and party spokesperson for peace and foreign affairs, said:
The Australian government must formally recognise at the United Nations the State of Israel’s prolonged and deliberate effort to undermine peace and self determination of the Palestinian people.
This is a chance for Australia to be on the right side of history. To acknowledge and help work towards the resolution of decades of intentional provocation by the State of Israel. This policy has seen in the West Bank and Gaza forced displacements, a spiral of violence and an apartheid system that Palestinians are forced to live under every day.
ShareUpdated at 08.55 CESTAmy RemeikisThe fallout from the housing bill kerfuffle will continue and Josh Taylor will guide you through the rest of the evening (as well as covering off some of the other news that is about).The Canberra team will have updates for you as well. We will be back with day three of the Senate-only week, which is getting a little bit messy (it wouldn’t be the Senate without some mess) and it seems as if everyone would rather not be sitting in a chamber together at this point.Who would have had double dissolution threat on their Tuesday bingo card?Until we see what tomorrow brings – take care of you.ShareUpdated at 08.40 CESTNational Farmers Federation expresses support for UAE trade dealBut the National Farmers’ Federation’s Tony Maher, is a fan, “commending” Don Farrell for his “leadership”:
The deal will deliver $50 million each year in tariff savings to Australian farmers and food producers and further support trade diversification, improving their profitability and competitiveness.
Australian farmers export more than 70% of what they produce, so gaining new and diverse market access is critical to the sector’s resilience.
This agreement also marks a strategic opening into the Middle East, a growing market of more than 58 million people with a heavy reliance on food imports.
ShareUpdated at 08.39 CESTACTU president says UAE ‘among the worst countries in the world for workers’ rights’ as trade deal loomsReturning to the UAE trade deal Don Farrell announced earlier today (agreed, but not yet signed) the ACTU are not in favour of it.The ACTU president, Michele O’Neil, said:
Australian Unions support trade expansion when it is both free and fair. The UAE ranks among the worst countries in the world for workers’ rights and would be one of the most repressive countries any Australian government has ever done a bilateral trade agreement with: trade unions, political organisations and political parties are illegal.
We have expressed our opposition to Australia doing a deal with the UAE without strong and enforceable labour rights. The text of the agreement has not been released and we are concerned that the government has announced its intention to sign the agreement without any public scrutiny of the commitments it contains.
The UAE is an absolute monarchy, with a notorious record on human rights, including modern slavery under the kafala system of labour migration.
In the UAE migrant workers in particular are vulnerable to exploitation, for instance, no punishment for sponsors who confiscate workers’ passports and withhold wages, and domestic workers frequently work more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with few or no holidays, and are subject to widely documented psychological, physical and sexual abuse.
We do not support the government entering into this trade agreement while labour standards are not enforceable, while workers have no right to join independent trade unions and collectively bargain, and while the fundamental architecture of the kafala system remains in place.
ShareUpdated at 08.38 CESTBandt labels threat of double dissolution ‘astounding’On the double dissolution threat Anthony Albanese let out today, Adam Bandt says:
I think that is astounding that the prime minister’s first point of call is to start threatening an early election rather than say he will negotiate to get legislation through the Senate.
… Why is he talking about it all? The parliament, the Australian people in the last election elected a record number of Greens and third voices to parliament and part of that is people are increasingly moving away from the old parties because they can see the talker began but don’t actually tackle the crisis.
We are saying in this parliament that we will work with the government but you have to actually take them to the cause of the housing crisis and the government talks about threatening an early election. That strikes me as the prime minister playing politics and being willing to see the bill failed rather than negotiate its passage.
ShareUpdated at 08.35 CEST