World

Australian politics live: Queensland border reopens; Morrison condemns China tweet

Published




21:23

Penny Wong appeared on ABC News Breakfast this morning, where she was asked about Australia’s relationship with China, following a foreign ministry senior official tweeting a photo-shopped image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to a child’s throat.


I think we are unified in our response in our condemnation of this image. And I made a statement, as did Anthony Albanese, yesterday. But if we throw forward – and in your introduction you rightly pointed out we have a range of very substantial difficulties in our relationship with China at this point. We have economic challenges with the problems we’ve had with a whole range of exports, which is obviously a major issue for the Australian economy, for jobs, and for all the Australians who rely on those industries. And we have this deliberate provocation. I think it’s very important that we respond in a calm and measured way and make very clear what we believe is acceptable. This isn’t the behaviour, as I said yesterday, the offensive doctored photograph is not the behaviour of a responsible, mature international player.





21:15

Alan Tudge had a (virtual) meeting with Chinese-Australian community leaders last night, where the multicultural minister made this observation:


Australia has welcomed migrants from China for more than 200 years and Australians of Chinese background have added immensely to our nation.

Except for, you know, the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act being one of the first acts passed by the Australian federated parliament. Its whole point was to keep out immigrants from Asia and kick out those who had already arrived. Before that, there was the whole indentured labour thing. Oh, and the Victorian Chinese Restriction Act, and The Walk from Robe.

And if you need some more recent history – the White Australia Policy. It’s there in the name, in case it wasn’t clear what it was all about.

Much like Scott Morrison’s there was “no slavery in Australia” comment, (another furphy, as there obviously was slavery in Australia – Blackbirding being just one example – it does the nation no favours when its leaders try to erase its past, no matter how well intentioned the warm and fuzzy falsehoods seem.

Updated





21:00

Daniel Hurst

There’s some good news for farmers in a new report from the agricultural forecaster, with winter crop production in Australia expected to increase by 76% in the 2020-21 financial year to 51.5 million tonnes.

After years of drought that result would be “second only to the record high of 56.7 million tonnes in 2016-17”, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (Abares). The outlook released today is an 7.4% upward revision from the forecast Abares published in September.

Here are a few key stats from the latest Australian crop report:

  • Wheat production forecast to increase by 106% to 31.2 million tonnes, the second highest on record.
  • Production of barley – the product hit with hefty tariffs by China earlier this year – forecast to increase by 33% to 12 million tonnes, the second-highest on record.
  • Canola production forecast to rise by 59% to 3.7 million tonnes, the fifth-highest on record.
  • Chickpeas production is forecast to increase by 162% to 737,000 tonnes.

In a statement, the executive director of Abares, Steve Hatfield-Dodds, said production in key cropping regions in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia was “boosted by favourable conditions during the critical grain development phase”.

“Crops in these states were generally in very good condition at the end of winter, and the favourable rainfall during September and October was perfectly timed for the growth cycle. Production is expected to be a record high in New South Wales, the second-highest on record in Victoria and well above average in South Australia.”

However the report notes the outlook is not uniform across the country, with crop prospects in Western Australia and Queensland “less favourable than other states at the end of winter and yield prospects deteriorated in these states during early spring because of unfavourable seasonal conditions”.

Barley seeds in Western Australia.

 Barley seeds in Western Australia. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/EPA

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21:00

Josh Frydenberg spent quite a bit of time talking up the economic recovery yesterday, after ATO figures showed less people and businesses were relying on Jobkeeper.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still a lot of people suffering. More than a million Australians are unemployed at the moment.

As AAP reports:

Thousands of Australian households and small businesses have struggled to pay their power bills during the COVID-19 crisis, a new report shows.

The Australian Energy Regulator’s annual retail markets report, published on Tuesday, reveals a $10 million jump in small business energy debt in the first three months of the pandemic.

After coronavirus hit in late March, that figure has blown out from $35 million to $45 million in June.

Long-term residential electricity debt also grew 21 per cent to $124.5 million from late March to early November.

Almost 60,000 households opted to defer paying their energy bills under retailers’ hardship offers.

At the end of June, a total of 171,464 customers were in debt at an average of $908.

“This report really underscores the struggle it has been for many customers to get on top of their energy bills during the pandemic,” AER Chair Clare Savage said in a statement on Tuesday.

“If you are struggling to pay your bills talk to your retailer about your debt – even if you can’t afford to pay anything right now.

“You won’t be disconnected, and your retailer will work with you to set up a plan and help you start paying off your debt.”





20:57

Daniel Hurst

The Senate will consider a range of amendments to the Morrison government’s foreign veto bill amid a push by the Coalition to have the new powers pass before the Christmas break.

The bill would allow the foreign affairs minister to veto certain types of agreements state, territory and local governments reach with foreign government entities if deemed to harm Australia’s foreign relations.

The Coalition has already moved its own amendment to clarify universities will only have to tell the Australian government about agreements with foreign universities where the government of that country or region “is in a position to exercise substantial control over the university”.

But Labor, the Greens and the independent senator Rex Patrick are seeking broader changes to the government’s bill.

Labor will move an amendment to force the minister to prepare a report on the implications of the new veto powers on the current 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company, while also spelling out how the new law would apply to similar leases of major infrastructure if those such arrangements were reached in future.

Labor wants an annual report tabled in parliament detailing how the minister has used the powers.

Labor’s Penny Wong also put forward amendments to ensure the foreign minister’s decisions to veto agreements can be reviewed by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal – something the Greens have also proposed.

Amid concerns the definition of foreign policy is vague, the Greens also want to ensure the foreign minister must publish a statement at least once a year outlining Australian foreign policy as it applies to the veto powers, so that bodies making agreements can have more certainty about what is in the government’s sights.

The Greens have proposed amendments removing Australian universities entirely from the reach of the bill. But if that fails, the Greens will move to ensure university agreements are only covered if worth at least $250,000.

Patrick has proposed an amendment to ensure the bill is broadened to cover deals reached between the Australian Olympic Committee and foreign Olympic bodies including the International Olympic Committee.





20:32

Good morning

Pinch and a punch and all that – happy December!

It being 1 December means you can now eat anything you’d like, it being “the season”, which is how I’ll be explaining away the chocolate I had for breakfast.

It also means the Queensland border is open to greater Sydney and Victoria (having already opened to regional NSW earlier) with a date for South Australia to follow, hopefully, in another week’s time.

Queensland’s economy needs it – the state debt is to hit $106bn – although the pandemic isn’t to blame for most of that. Queensland’s budget position hasn’t been great in years – it was one of the main reasons Campbell Newman was elected back in 2012 – but Queenslanders also love their services, which is one of the reasons Newman lost just three years later. Following the federal government’s lead, Queensland is the latest state to use its budget as the lynchpin in an economic stimulus plan. If there is one thing 2020 has taught us, it’s that government budgets are NOTHING like household accounts and debt and deficit is not the world ender the Howard government claimed it was. Plus, money is super cheap for government’s right now and those bonds have long-term low interest rates locked in, so given how rough the next few years will be, economically, for the world, governments need to do all they can to cushion the blow.

Speaking of cushioning the blow, the RBA is meeting today. It’s been talking about the need to focus on full employment over inflation and warning the federal government not to withdraw its stimulus too early. Australia has record low interest rates and the central bank has embarked on a mass bond-buying scheme, but it’s running out of levers. Governments have to step up.

Politics at the moment is all about China. The Chinese government did not back down yesterday, and China’s state media was defiant. Scott Morrison is still in quarantine at the Lodge (where he will be until Thursday) but the Coalition and Labor party is as one condemning China’s latest salvo in an escalating diplomatic spat, so we’ll keep you updated with that and everything else which happens in the corridors of power today.

You have Amy Remeikis with you, as well as Mike Bowers, Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst.

I’ve had two coffees to wash down that chocolate. It’s gonna be that sort of day.

Ready?

Updated

source: theguardian.com