Dutton vows to stand ‘unashamedly’ with resources sector if Coalition wins next electionKaren MiddletonPeter Dutton has vowed to stand “unashamedly” with Australia’s resources sector if he wins office at the next election, accusing the Albanese government of using cultural heritage protection laws to “stymie” important resource projects.Addressing the Minerals Council’s annual conference in Canberra on Wednesday, Dutton said he was concerned “the bad old days are returning” under the Albanese government, with industrial law favouring unions and hurting the wealth-creating mining industry.He accused Labor of making what he called “adversarial policies” to silence internal critics, protect itself against the Greens’ electoral threat and appease unions.“These three factors – placating the party members, preventing the bleeding of the votes, and pleasing the union bosses – are shaping much of the government’s policy platform,” Dutton said. “So let’s be under no misapprehension that the government is putting partisan interests and political survival ahead of our national interests.”He said returning Labor at the next election risked the prosperity of the resources sector “and all Australians”.ShareUpdated at 04.46 CESTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureQuestion time beginsPeter Dutton opens the questions today:
My question is to the Prime Minister. Core inflation in Australia is higher than every major advanced economy. It is higher than the US, the UK, Canada, the euro area, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and New Zealand, Prime Minister. With falling disposable income and sticky high inflation hurting households, why is the Albanese government fighting the Reserve Bank while Australian families go backwards?
Anthony Albanese:
I’m asked about international comparisons. And I can’t do better than quote Michele Bullock, the RBA Governor, who said this on August 6, 2024. “We didn’t go as high as the Fed. Our interest rates are lower I would observe than the Bank of England, the US Fed, Bank of New Zealand, all have interest rates up above 5%. Bank of Canada did too. We don’t”.
Peak headline hit on an annual basis at 7.8% in Australia. That was before we came into government. It is now half. We have halved inflation from where it was in 2022. In the UK, 11.1%. In New Zealand, 7.3%. Canada, 8.1%. The US, 9.9%. The current cash rate here in Australia is 4.35%. In it’s 5%. In New Zealand, it’s 5.25%. And in the US it is 5.5%. The cash rate under the Leader of the Opposition as Assistant Treasurer was 6.75%. 6.75%.
Michael Sukkar yells some things (timeless statement)Albanese:
The member for Deakin thinks it was funny that his leader was once Assistant Treasurer.
Because the bizarre joke is that those people come in come in here when inflation was double what it was, what it is today when we came into office. When employment has seen some 980,000 jobs [added]. When we see wages, wages increasing rather than decreasing. Which is what those opposite wanted to see. When we see the workforce participation rate at record levels. When we see the gender pay gap at a record low of 11.5%. And when we see the economy of course under us experiencing modest growth. Modest growth but growth nonetheless. Those opposite, if they had their way, and implemented the more than $300 billion of cuts, we would have seen a devastation in our economy had we followed what they want to do.
We are not sure how it is possible, but those three minutes for about two months.SharePeter Dutton also gives a shout out to … Qantas:
Qantas do an amazing job in bringing back our Paralympians and Olympians and have done so since the end of the second world war and 1968 since the Paralympics.
Seems like there might be a little bit of damage control going on after Bridget McKenzie freelanced on Coalition policy when it came to airlines. (McKenzie called for divestment powers, naming Qantas specifically and saying it might be made to sell off Jetstar, before she was made to walk her own comments back.)ShareUpdated at 06.09 CESTQuestion time is delayed while Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton pay credit to Australia’s Paralympian team.Albanese:
To every member of the Australian team, I simply say you’ve done yourself proud. You’ve done your families proud. But you’ve done our nation proud as well. Australia is so proud of you. Congratulations. And welcome home.
ShareDaniel HurstMehreen Faruqi denounces Israeli airstrikes on al-Mawasi ‘humanitarian zone’The deputy leader of the Greens, Mehreen Faruqi, began her speech to the Senate with denunciation of the Israeli airstrikes on al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday:
‘We were all asleep. Then suddenly everything was turned upside down. The colour of the sky changed … the sky was filled with screams, crying and the sound of ambulances.’
That was how an eyewitness described Israel’s latest massacre in Gaza, committed yesterday. There have been just too many. We can’t bear to look, but we should never look away. Families were sheltering in tents in what was supposed to be a safe zone and they were burned alive, buried in the sand. The bombing was so severe it left a deep crater … and melted bodies. At least 19 people were slaughtered, and the death toll is expected to climb. That is on top of the 41,000 Palestinians already slaughtered.
Dr Elspeth Pitt, a Scottish emergency doctor working at a field hospital run by the British medical humanitarian organisation UK-Med, said the clinic “received 26 patients, mostly women and children” and “had to do several amputations and dealt with shrapnel injuries and burns”, the Guardian has reported.The Israeli military said it had “struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre embedded inside the humanitarian area in Khan Younis”. Israel has said it is targeting Hamas, not the Palestinian people.ShareUpdated at 06.05 CESTDaniel HurstDeputy Greens leader offers solidarity to Melbourne weapons expo protestersIn a speech to the Senate, the deputy leader of the Greens, Mehreen Faruqi, has offered her solidarity to “the thousands protesting in Melbourne today to say no to the business of war”.Vision from the scene shows at least one protester being arrested and Victoria police using pepper spray on others at a rally outside the Land Forces exposition at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre this morning, as my colleagues report here.Faruqi told the Senate:
My solidarity is with the thousands protesting in Melbourne today to say no to the business of war and to say no to Australia being complicit in genocide, because that is where this Labor government has shamefully positioned this country.
Labor tries to distract and deflect, but there is no deflection. So long as we have defence contracts with Israeli weapons companies, the Labor government is complicit in genocide, so long as you refuse to impose sanctions on Israel, this Labor government is complicit in genocide, and there are no excuses for inaction.
The UK has suspended some arms sales to Israel. Canada today is halting more arms sales to Israel. What will it take for the Labor government to take action against the apartheid state of Israel? Your hollow words and pointless phone calls are nothing but a smokescreen, and everyone can see through it. Do something. Take action.
The Australian government has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza since December and has repeatedly called on Israel to comply with international law, but has so far resisted calls to describe Israel’s conduct as genocide and to impose sanctions against members of the Israeli government.South Africa has brought a case before the international court of justice accusing Israel of genocide. Israel denies the claim and the ICJ has yet to rule on the substantive accusation, but the court said in an interim ruling in January that “at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa” were “plausible” including “the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts”.ShareUpdated at 06.03 CESTWould you look at that – it is almost time for question time.Hold on to your loved ones.ShareUpdated at 05.42 CESTSusan McDonald attacks Labor’s critical minerals agendaThe love-in that has been the Mineral Council’s conference, also known as the “which major party loves the resources sector more, let us count the ways”, has heard from both major leaders now.Peter Dutton, however, was not asked about his opposition to the production credits the government has proposed as part of its critical minerals Future Made in Australia policy.Dutton had called the production credits “welfare for billionaires” but apparently asking Dutton if he would keep them wasn’t a priority of the conference during his appearance.The LNP senator Susan McDonald did touch on the credits, and it seems the Coalition is still not a fan:
Their entire critical minerals agenda has been focused on the production tax credits, the un-costed, un-mapped and un-delivered production tax credit that is a major plank of the so called Future Made in Australia policy. It is fast becoming a never-to-be-made-in-Australia policy.
ShareUpdated at 05.42 CESTJust on Peter Dutton’s final point there, what he never mentions is the cost of private consultants who come in to do the job when public servants are sacked.The jobs still have to get done – and when the public servants are not there, consultants are contracted, usually at much higher hourly rates than a public servant, to complete the projects.ShareKaren MiddletonDutton says Australians ‘crying themselves to sleep’, unable to pay for insurance, car costs and school feesPeter Dutton has labelled Anthony Albanese’s government “a Whitlam-style government” whose policies would deliver “dire consequences” for Australia’s economy if it was given another term in office.Answering audience questions at the Minerals Council annual conference, Dutton has condemned the government’s industrial relations, tax policies and compliance arrangements as undermining productivity and taking Australia back to the 1970s.Dutton said Australians were “crying themselves to sleep”, unable to pay insurance policies, car costs and school fees.
That’s the reality of life at the moment and of what has happened in this country in just a very short period of two years.
Dutton queried the growth of the federal public service.
You’ve got to ask yourself: do we need 36,000 more public servants?”
ShareUpdated at 05.12 CESTKaren MiddletonDutton says he will ‘turbocharge’ mining and de-fund the Environmental Defender’s Office if he wins officePeter Dutton has vowed to “turbocharge” the mining industry, saying he will de-fund the Environmental Defender’s Office if he wins office at the next election and overturn Tanya Plibersek’s decision rejecting one aspect of the proposed McPhillamys goldmine project in central-western NSW.He said he would halve and then cap timeframes for approving resources projects.
I want to see more excavators digging. I want to see more gas flowing and more trucks moving and that requires removing those regulatory roadblocks which have needlessly inhibited projects coming online until years after they should have started.
Dutton said he wanted to mine, export and use more uranium.He said a Dutton Coalition government would be “the best friend” of Australia’s resources sector.
To support you, to make your industry strong, is to support our country and to make that country strong into the future as well.
ShareUpdated at 04.48 CESTDutton vows to stand ‘unashamedly’ with resources sector if Coalition wins next electionKaren MiddletonPeter Dutton has vowed to stand “unashamedly” with Australia’s resources sector if he wins office at the next election, accusing the Albanese government of using cultural heritage protection laws to “stymie” important resource projects.Addressing the Minerals Council’s annual conference in Canberra on Wednesday, Dutton said he was concerned “the bad old days are returning” under the Albanese government, with industrial law favouring unions and hurting the wealth-creating mining industry.He accused Labor of making what he called “adversarial policies” to silence internal critics, protect itself against the Greens’ electoral threat and appease unions.“These three factors – placating the party members, preventing the bleeding of the votes, and pleasing the union bosses – are shaping much of the government’s policy platform,” Dutton said. “So let’s be under no misapprehension that the government is putting partisan interests and political survival ahead of our national interests.”He said returning Labor at the next election risked the prosperity of the resources sector “and all Australians”.ShareUpdated at 04.46 CESTThere were snakes in the parliament today (I think you can finish the joke yourself).A Threatened Species day event was held, meaning MPs piled into the courtyard to have photos with animals.Mike Bowers was there:Warren Entsch handles a Woma python at a Threatened Species day event. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The GuardianEnvironment minister Tanya Plibersek with a red tailed black cockatoo. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The GuardianShareUpdated at 04.24 CEST