Tanya Plibersek has refuted Pauline Hanson ’s claims that her comments on paid parental leave were taken out of context.
Plibersek says Hanson claimed in 2017 that women “just get pregnant to get the money”. that she’s been completely unsympathetic to the financial stress of having a baby.
The social services minister is today spruiking the extension of government paid parental leave. will give parents 26 weeks – at the minimum wage rate. Four of those weeks will have to be taken by the second partner.
(This announcement isn’t a new one. the government always likes promoting its announcements a bunch of times for maximum political attention).
double quotation mark A few weeks ago. [Hanson] said, you know, ‘Love, if you’ve got the equipment, have the baby, take the time off work’. She’s been completely unsympathetic to the financial stress on Australian families that having a new baby brings with it. She says that at the Press Club – and obviously she’s had a negative reaction and now she’s back-pedalling. But paid parental leave is not safe with Pauline Hanson. just, by the way, it’s also not safe with the Liberals. Scott Morrison and Joe Hockey called mothers on paid parental leave rorters and double dippers.
Wilson defends old paid parental leave comments, accuses Plibersek of drumming up debate
Tim Wilson has copped a bit of heat over his comments to ABC Q&A back in 2013. where on paid parental leave he said, “that is not my choice that women have children … it’s genetic”.
Social services minister Tanya Plibersek has spent the morning reminding Wilson of those controversial comments,. the shadow treasurer has pushed back.
Speaking to Sky News. Wilson said he does, in fact, support PPL, he was talking at the time about Tony Abbott ’s policy which would have provided six months of paid parental leave at the person’s normal wage.
double quotation mark I support paid parental leave, I just didn’t support –. this is the oddity, and she knows this – I didn’t support the Abbott government’s proposal on paid parental leave, and that’s what I was talking about at the time. Minister Plibersek has a long history of trying to drum these debates up.
In pics: Albanese meets baby Zoe as the government spruiks paid parental leave extension
There’s not much politicians love more than a pic opportunity with a baby. especially when it’s tied to an announcement (call me a cynic!)
This morning Anthony Albanese couldn’t resist getting the cameras into his office to photograph him holding a cute baby. while the government spruiks the incoming extension to paid parental leave.
PPL will extend from 1 July to 26 weeks – to be shared by both parents (except in single parent families).
Here’s the very happy looking PM:
Labor looks to pass NDIS reforms in August
After securing victory yesterday. making a deal with the Greens to pass tax reforms, Labor is yet to cement its pathway to passing the NDIS overhaul.
The Greens have promised to do all they can to kill the bill entirely,. the Coalition have remained open to the changes – the government just needs to get them over the line.
The finance minister. Katy Gallagher, says the government wants those reforms debated once the longer inquiry into the bill comes back, which is due on 14 August.
She told a press conference a little earlier:
double quotation mark We intend to deal with that bill in the 2nd week of the August sitting. That is our position. The greens understand that, we understand their position. And so it really comes down to how do we get, you know, the votes through the Senate,. that will rely on the coalition working with us on the, on delivering the NDIS bill.
We’re not going to convince the Greens, they’ve taken a decision. They don’t want that bill to pass.
Chris Bowen has asked energy retailers to explain why some of their prices are going up from 1 July when they’re supposed to go the other way. under the latest default market offer.
What’s the DMO? Have a read here.
But long story short. households in most parts of the country are supposed to see prices fall up to 10%, according to the Australian Energy Regulator’s final offer for 2026-27.
The energy minister says that not all companies have to apply the default market offer to their prices, but he’s referred retailers to the Australian competition. consumer commission (ACCC) to look for any misconduct where those prices should be coming down.
double quotation mark Companies have to comply with the default market offer for their relevant default offers,. they don’t have to apply it to all their market offers. We’ve seen some companies. not all, far from it, choose to increase their fixed supply costs while reducing their per-kilowatt hour costs.
What I’ve asked the regulators to do is look at that. ensure it complies, particularly with the prohibited misconduct provisions in energy market laws, which require companies to pass on sustained reductions in energy costs through their bills.
I understand these fixed-cost increases have caused a lot of concern. People have raised them with me, quite rightly, and I’ve raised them with energy companies.
The shadow housing minister. Andrew Bragg, has cast some doubt over Clare O’Neil ’s claims this morning that the housing market is currently experiencing a “correction”, as auction clearance rates drop below 50%.
He tells ABC News Breakfast that despite any cooling in the market. at the bottom end where first home buyers are competing, the prices are still unaffordable for many.
double quotation mark It is a long game, housing,. I am not sure she is a forecaster – but what we are seeing in the entry level housing is still persistently higher prices. The government have pumped prime prices with their collapse of supply and their 5% deposits. Until we see a larger amount of housing supplied I don’t think we will see price stability or affordability.
Bragg says we need more investors in the market not less to build more homes,. that the capital gains tax and negative gearing changes will scare them off.
double quotation mark We want more investors. This is the bizarre thing about Labor’s dodgy deal with the Greens, they want to exempt their mates in the super funds so they can build more houses. they want to kick SMSF (self-managed super fund holders) out of the market. It seems like they want to prioritise institutional interests over people. My view would be we want to have more investment in housing, who cares who the investor is.
Hanson importing ‘chaos and division’: Labor MP
Everyone’s having a crack at Pauline Hanson this morning – no doubt. they realise the political threat she now raises for both major parties.
Labor assistant minister for multicultural affairs, Julian Hill, says One Nation is promoting “cooker stuff” (i.e extreme. conspiracy-driven political views).
double quotation mark She wants to make it easier to sack people, to cut conditions for working Australians, massive cuts to the health system,. this is cooker stuff, abolish the entire health department. But shockingly, and she’s refusing to back down on this, getting rid of paid parental leave.*
This is about importing an extreme rightwing agenda into Australia that goes against everything which everyday Australians have stood for.
It’s an appalling agenda, you may as well rename it Gina Rinehart [policy].
*Hanson said that government paid parental leave could stay,. that small businesses could fold if they had to pay PPL.
Monthly inflation data out this morning
Consumer price data out at 11.30am this morning is expected to show inflation accelerated further in the year to May. despite another month of retreating fuel prices.
Headline inflation was 4.2% in the year to April,. Westpac and NAB economists predict it lifted to 4.4% in May.
That is well above the 2-3% range targeted by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Economists. the RBA are alive to the risk that the spike in petrol and fertiliser prices is pushing up the prices of a broader set of goods and services, especially for staples such as milk, fruit and vegetables.
The central bank’s preferred measure of underlying inflation –. removes more volatile prices – is also expected to head in the wrong direction.
CBA analysts expect the “trimmed mean” rate of inflation will climb to 3.6% in the year to May. from 3.4% in April.
The RBA held its cash rate last week after three straight increases,. has warned it is prepared to hike again if inflation proves stickier than hoped.
Financial markets before the release of this morning’s data were pricing in an almost 30% chance of a hike at the end of the RBA’s next meeting on 11 August,. a nearly 70% chance of an increase by the following meeting in November.
Housing market experiencing a ‘correction’, O’Neil says
Jumping back to Clare O’Neil ’s appearance on RN Breakfast, the housing minister said the market is currently experiencing a “correction” as auction clearance rates drop. prices in some cities fall.
O’Neil said the market is cyclical,. that the current trends are just part of that – brought on by not just the tax changes but also the outbreak of war in the Middle East, and rising interest rates in the wake of that.
She adds that there was extremely high house price growth from before the Covid pandemic until now,. the market is seeing a correction from that.
double quotation mark I think the housing market’s cyclical in Australia. A very uncontroversial comment. We see periods of very significant house price growth. then we see the market make a correction and that’s what we’re seeing at the moment.
She says it’s the first time in a long time that she’s picked up the Sunday paper. seen “article after article talking about first home buyers winning at auctions.”
Children and Young People with Disability Australia calls on government to scrutinise NDIS bill
Children. Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) welcomed yesterday’s extension to the NDIS bill inquiry while calling on the government to genuinely scrutinise its impacts on disabled children and young people.
The CYDA CEO, Skye Kakoschke-Moore, said the delay was a testament to the power of disabled people, families. advocates who refused to let unprecedented changes be rushed through parliament:
double quotation mark Above all else, what this development shows is that our collective advocacy cannot be ignored.
The government must now take the time to properly scrutinise how this law will impact the nearly half a million people with disability under 25 who rely on the NDIS every day.
CYDA’s submission highlighted four key areas of concern in the Bill, including:
The requirement for a person to undertake “all appropriate treatment” without consideration of their location or financial means
The reliance on parental responsibility and already stretched informal supports as alternatives to properly funded supports
The reduction in funding for social and community participation
The centralisation of power with the disability minister of the day
Ruston pushes for overhaul to controversial aged care tool
Over to her portfolio, the shadow health. aged care minister, Anne Ruston, will introduce a private member’s bill to change the government’s controversial integrated assessment tool.
Why is it controversial? The tool uses an algorithm to determine how much funding an older person should receive under the aged care system, based on an assessor asking them questions about their physical, social. personal circumstances. But that algorithm can’t be overridden by a human, which has led to complaints against the system.
The commonwealth ombudsman is now reviewing the tool.
Ruston says her bill (which won’t pass. the government is highly unlikely to support it) will bring back human oversight to the process:
double quotation mark The three things it seeks to do is to restore the discretion of a human assessor to make sure. the algorithm in their professional judgment doesn’t make an error. It also requires greater transparency so that every decision that’s made. the person can know how the algorithm was used, how professional judgment was applied, so they know why they received the level of care that they got.
And we also want to make sure that anybody who has received an assessment since this algorithm computer-only decision-making mechanism has been in place. that they can have a reassessment because we believe that so many of the results have clearly been incorrect.
The Liberal shadow health minister. Anne Ruston, has done what her leader Angus Taylor could not yesterday, saying she does support multiculturalism.
Ruston is in the RN Breakfast hot seat following Clare O’Neil and says unequivocally Australia was “built on multiculturalism”.
Perhaps Ruston should have been the one answering the questions yesterday, because despite saying she. Taylor and the Coalition are “absolutely as one” in supporting multiculturalism, she’s a bit clearer than her colleagues.
double quotation mark Absolutely Sally, I do support multiculturalism. This country was built on multiculturalism …
I think Angus. I and the rest of the team in the Coalition are absolutely as one when we say that we want a future for Australia that is built on respecting our values and our way of life. And I think we are absolutely all on a unity ticket when it comes to what we see the future of Australia is,. the future of Australia is one that’s based on multiculturalism.
Liberals and Nationals getting ‘eaten alive’ by One Nation, O’Neil says
Clare O’Neil has lambasted the Coalition and leader Angus Taylor for not standing up for multiculturalism yesterday.
The Labor frontbencher. speaking to ABC RN Breakfast, does not hold back in her criticism, saying the opposition are “inert, they are cowardly, they are frozen”.
She says if Taylor can’t defend multiculturalism, he should not be the leader of a mainstream political party.
double quotation mark I am so sick of watching the Liberals. the Nationals get eaten alive by One Nation and they are inert, they are cowardly, they are frozen. When are they going to stand up. fight against the absolutely outrageous nonsense that One Nation are spreading right around this country? You know, Pauline Hanson says there are no good Muslims in Australia. Why can’t Angus Taylor stand up and call that racism? Because that is what it is.
Asked about a recent Lowy Institute poll that found support for multiculturalism is dropping, O’Neil says that the country should be able to have a policy conversation about migration “without resorting to the kind of racism. division that we’re seeing from One Nation”.
double quotation mark Migration is a very important policy topic for the country. Migration has been too high, and that is why our government is bringing migration down. But let’s not say that that’s an excuse for the kind of division. racism that we are starting to see emerge as what is deemed to be a normal part of the public debate.
Tanya Plibersek has refuted Pauline Hanson ’s claims that her comments on paid parental leave were taken out of context.
Plibersek says Hanson claimed in 2017 that women “just get pregnant to get the money”. that she’s been completely unsympathetic to the financial stress of having a baby.
The social services minister is today spruiking the extension of government paid parental leave. will give parents 26 weeks – at the minimum wage rate. Four of those weeks will have to be taken by the second partner.
(This announcement isn’t a new one. the government always likes promoting its announcements a bunch of times for maximum political attention).
double quotation mark A few weeks ago. [Hanson] said, you know, ‘Love, if you’ve got the equipment, have the baby, take the time off work’. She’s been completely unsympathetic to the financial stress on Australian families that having a new baby brings with it. She says that at the Press Club – and obviously she’s had a negative reaction and now she’s back-pedalling. But paid parental leave is not safe with Pauline Hanson. just, by the way, it’s also not safe with the Liberals. Scott Morrison and Joe Hockey called mothers on paid parental leave rorters and double dippers.
‘Take a deep breath’ on house prices, Plibersek says
There are always a few major themes to a sitting week,. one of the biggest threads this week has been concern over falling house prices and a cooling market.
Frontbencher Tanya Plibersek says everyone needs to take a deep breath over these reports,. reiterates figures from the Treasury department that in the longer term, house prices will grow 2% slower.
On ABC’s News Breakfast, host James Glenday says people probably don’t have a lot of faith in that modelling.
But Plibersek says that most people aren’t buying today. selling tomorrow and a slow down of prices will help young people catch up.
double quotation mark I think people need to take a deep breath on all of this. Our Treasury estimates are that house prices will continue to grow. They’ll grow more slowly. And that gives people the chance of home ownership. If you go to auctions at the moment, there’s still a lot of buying going on,. it’s first home buyers who are actually having a shot at the market …
Most people don’t buy a house and sell it tomorrow either. That’s the thing that we need to keep in mind. People buy a house and stay there.
Karl Stefanovic appears to have taken his controversial interview with British far-right activist Tommy Robinson mostly offline overnight.
The video went up on the broadcaster’s personal yesterday, after an earlier teaser promo on Stefanovic’s social media. It included a line in which he praised Robinson’s “tenacity and courage”
However it was not present this morning on the or podcast RSS feed – nor was the promo on his Instagram.
At the time of writing, Stefanovic’s feed on Elon Musk’s X platform still featured both the promo. a clip from the interview.
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
After landing a deal with the Greens yesterday to pass its bill to change negative gearing. capital gains tax, Labor is still trying to sell the whole thing to the public. Expect plenty more argy bargy on the changes in Parliament today. as the Coalition tries to brand the taxes as “toxic” (among other slogans).
Speaking of the Coalition. the opposition leader landed himself in a bit of trouble yesterday over his inability to back multiculturalism in Australia (after Pauline Hanson said the policy had “failed”) so we’ll be seeing more reaction to that too.
There’s plenty going on, let’s get cracking!
The Greens have argued Labor’s proposed reforms to the national disability insurance scheme are “punching down” on the very people the scheme is designed to protect.
Greens senator Nick McKim told the ABC’s 7:30 program on Tuesday night. “we are absolutely committed to fighting this bill with every tool in our toolkit”.
The Greens secured an eight-week delay in the passage of the NDIS reforms, in exchange for their support in passing the Labor government’s key budget tax reforms to negative gearing. the capital gains tax discount.
McKim said his party would continue to oppose the NDIS reforms: “we want to see this bill killed.”
double quotation mark We’ve delayed it for eight weeks. achieved some amendments that will take some of the worst elements out of this bill.
When this eight-week period is done. if we need another inquiry or more delay, that’s what we will be moving for.
McKim said Labor’s changes would cause harm to people currently supported by the NDIS:
double quotation mark [This means] the withdrawal of desperately needed supports that allow disabled Australians to live a more dignified life,. respite and relief for families who put so much into supporting disabled family members.
A major new gallery at the Australian War Memorial will keep the “flame of memory” burning for future generations. the prime minister told the opening ceremony in Canberra last night, Australian Associated Press reports.
Anthony Albanese was among those on hand last night for the opening of the memorial’s atrium. Anzac Hall, a gallery that focuses mainly on Australia’s commitments to the Middle East, Afghanistan and peacekeeping operations.
Retiring chief of the defence force, David Johnston,. the next leader of the Australian military, current chief of navy, Mark Hammond, were among other dignitaries.
Albanese told those gathered they were bonded by the power of “lest we forget.”
double quotation mark That most unadorned of sentences. dwells within us like a heartbeat – we vow to keep the flame of memory burning so brightly that its glow reaches future generations.
Today we adjourned the parliament so that everyone who wished to could come mark the opening of this atrium. Anzac Hall, an addition to the Australian War Memorial that makes that flame burn so much brighter.
What a sublime and powerful addition it is. A bold vision turned into a reality that enhances the institution of which it is now part.
The prime minister implored attenders to “read all the words” about those who have gone before them.
double quotation mark Look at the faces. get lost amid the smiles, the hope and camaraderie – the counterpoint to war’s relentless, inhuman arithmetic. They are its true cost.
Yet, amid this loss. sacrifice, what pulses so powerfully is life, and an abiding sense of what is worth fighting for.
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
A major new gallery at the Australian War Memorial will keep the “flame of memory” burning for future generations. the prime minister told the opening ceremony in Canberra last night. More coming up.
And with the nation on red alert for bird flu, new reports of dead birds are coming into a hotline –. so far, none have been confirmed as caused by the virus.
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