Key events
Assange supporters call for release ahead of US talks
Ahead of the visit from US secretary of state Antony Blinken to attend the Ausmin talks, Julian Assange’s supporters are renewing calls for his release.
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Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, said the meeting could be the last chance for his release before he faces extradition from the UK to the US.
In a statement, Shipton said:
Julian is inches away from extradition to the USA. The meeting between The Secretary of State and the Prime Minister could be the last chance to put a stop to Julian’s nightmare.
88% of Australians agree that the Biden Admin should drop the charges against Julian. Each day the US Administration ignores the Australian public on Julian’s freedom it becomes clearer and clearer Australia’s true standing in the alliance.
Earlier this week, there was the very upsetting story of the pilot whales stranded at Cheynes Beach in Western Australia. Our reporter Narelle Towie was on the ground at the beach and found herself joining volunteers trying to save the stranded pod. This is her account, evoking both the beauty and the heartbreak of what that experience was like:
Amy Remeikis
Ley’s skin in the game for possibility of double dissolution
Just a side note on the post about Sussan Ley’s response to the potential double dissolution trigger – Ley has a little bit of skin in the game about not wanting an early election, as the deputy Liberal leader is facing another strong preselection challenge in her electorate of Farrer.
Scott Morrison had to step in and save Ley at the last election, after her branch looked set to vote in a new candidate. At this point, it looks like Ley will need Peter Dutton to step in and secure her preselection, given her challenger, Jean Haynes seems well on her way to securing the support of branch members. From all accounts Ley has Dutton’s support and she is by no means the only sitting Liberal facing a preselection challenge, but an early election would mean a bit more wrangling than usual and that means messiness – which is not exactly the vibe you want ahead of going to the polls.
‘A vote for an Indigenous voice to parliament makes economic sense’: treasurer
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is making an economic case for the Indigenous voice to parliament, penning a piece in the Australian newspaper this morning:
In total, the commonwealth spent $2.64bn last financial year aimed at closing the considerable gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
But these significant investments aren’t driving the significant outcomes Indigenous Australians need and deserve.
… what we’ve done for the past decade hasn’t worked. If we’re going to shift the dial on closing the gap and get better value for our investments, we’ve got to do something different. Through listening and collaboration – the keys to good public policy – the voice will deliver a framework for a better future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Better policy outcomes will deliver better economic outcomes.
Wong outlines Pacific security and climate agenda for Ausmin talks
What’s on the agenda for the Ausmin talks this weekend? Wong says cooperation on security and climate in the Pacific.
Wong defends the engagement of the US in the region, highlighting the fact it’s the second Ausmin in eight months, on top of leaders’ meetings, as well as Austin and Blinken’s visits to Pacific Island countries.
Wong:
The US recognises and the administration recognises the importance of the United States to this region. They are indispensable to the balance in the region, the strategic equilibrium and how we make sure we get the region we want: peaceful, stable and prosperous, where sovereignty is respected.
Wong labels Greens and Coalition’s opposition to housing bill ‘one of the most unholy alliances’
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has (like Richard Marles) also quashed the idea that the reintroduction of the housing bill is about angling for an early election.
Wong has told ABC News:
What the government’s angling for and focusing on [is] more housing for Australians. That is what we are focused on.
We want to give the Greens an opportunity to not vote with the Coalition – that is a pretty odd alliance, isn’t it? – to not vote with the Coalition and to vote for more housing in Australia, it is as simple as that.
… My focus as Senate leader will be on advocating to the Greens and to the community why we need this legislation.
We know the problems with housing supply in this country. We know that the best way to reduce the pressure on rents, the increasing costs of rentals and the best way to reduce the cost of housing is to increase supply.
The Greens voting with Peter Dutton has to be one of the most unholy alliances we have seen for some time in politics.
Amy Remeikis
Ley attempts to link cost of living and inflation to housing bill
Ley then moves on to the cost of living.
Over the past two weeks I have met individuals experiencing homelessness and support services and they have told me [that] as a result of the cost-of-living crisis, people who have never needed support are accessing it now.
This is all true. But it’s not linked to the housing fund. One of the reasons inflation is sticking around is because of rental increases. And rents are increasing because we have a very tight market, which means landlords can increase rents because people don’t have a lot of choice about where to go. And one of the reasons we have a tight rental market is because we haven’t had the right policy settings over the last couple of decades to either a) help younger generations buy their own home or b) change rental settings to adapt to a reality where more of us are renting for longer.
Ley’s statement then finishes with this slightly confused metaphor:
Labor’s housing proposal doesn’t just put the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, it puts it down the road – we need urgent action on this cost-of-living crisis now, not this policy.
Which, confusion about what the ambulance is doing about the housing market aside, points to the Coalition maintaining its opposition to the housing fund, leaving the government to negotiate with the Greens.
Amy Remeikis
Ley claims Labor policies causing builders to go bust as ‘inflation is out of control’
Ley now brings in a new argument – that Labor has made it more expensive to build a home. She said in a statement:
Labor’s housing proposal does not stack up and comes as their economy-wrecking policies are making it more expensive than ever to build a home.
If we are talking about housing, day after day we see builders going bust because inflation is out of control.
Builders are going bust because many have locked in contracts from before global inflation took hold and building supplies increased. Globally. There was that whole thing about supply chains affecting the building trade from the pandemic. That sent prices for materials through the roof and if you were someone who had locked in a contract and suddenly those materials were double the quoted price, well, you’re in trouble.
(I’m also not sure how a housing policy that is designed to build more houses is bad for people who build homes, either.)
Amy Remeikis
Ley accuses PM of ‘height of arrogance’ over housing bill
One person who has NO TIME for double dissolution talk is the acting opposition leader, Sussan Ley.
Ley accused Anthony Albanese of “threatening the Australian people” with an early election “because Labor’s policies don’t stack up”.
It has to be remembered here that the Coalition said no to the housing policy – which is a $5bn future fund where the dividends would be spent on social and affordable housing from the outset. At first because they said it would be inflationary. And now because they say it won’t build enough houses.
Amy Remeikis
Housing bill squabble to bring back possibility of double dissolution election
Parliament resumes next week after a five-week hiatus over winter, which means all the squabbles and fights we left in June are starting to whirl up again – chief among them housing. As Daniel Hurst reported this morning, Labor is going to bring back its housing bill to the house in October, where it will pass. Once it hits the Senate, things get a little more dicey. If it’s rejected by the Greens, who so far aren’t seeing what they want from the government, then the government has a double dissolution trigger.
What does that mean? Well, if Anthony Albanese was of a mind to, he could call an election which would dissolve both houses – meaning we could get a whole new senate. Malcolm Turnbull was the last prime minister who did that in 2016, which is when we ended up with all those minor parties in the senate (double dissolutions have a lower quota threshold for the senate, which made it a bit easier).
The chances of Albanese doing that probably hinge on the outcome of the referendum – a no vote would not be great timing for a government who backed the yes campaign to then go to an election. On the other hand, there are those within Labor who think an early election would mean a chance to get rid of the more unpopular parts of the stage-three tax cuts.
But nothing is ever certain in politics until it is.
NSW police is conducting an internal review to see if two young school children walking past a dead body – the victim of yesterday morning’s shooting, the latest in a spate across south west Sydney – could have been prevented.
Deputy police commissioner David Hudson has told ABC News he was shocked seeing the pictures emerge of the children walking past the body:
The early indications are that there was a 50m exclusion zone around the deceased.
All efforts had been made to cover the body but at certain stages of the forensic examination, that body did need to be uncovered so the forensic police could do their work for the coroner and unfortunately, those children did walk past.
We have been in contact and I have been in contact personally with the Department of Education to ensure those children are OK.
‘This is about getting more housing’
Reintroducing the housing bill is about housing, not elections, deputy prime minister Richard Marles insists.
As my colleague Daniel Hurst told you earlier, the reintroduction of the housing future fund bill to parliament means the government could have the option of going to the governor general and asking for a double dissolution.
Asked if the government will seriously consider the option if the bill fails to pass a second time, Marles said:
This isn’t about elections, this is about getting more housing.
Rheinmetall contract
The government yesterday chose a South Korean company Hanwha over German rival Rheinmetall to build infantry fighting vehicles for the Australian army.
Richard Marles has denied that Rheinmetall’s disappointment at losing the contract has led it to halt negotiations on a separate contract, under which Australia was supposed to build and supply the Germans with armoured vehicles known as boxers:
The arrangement around the supply of boxers to Germany from Rheinmetall’s Brisbane facility is something that is separate from the decision in respect of the infantry fighting vehicle.
Aukus is on track, Marles says
The defence and foreign affairs ministers, Richard Marles and Penny Wong, will hold standalone meetings with Lloyd Austin and Anthony Blinken in Brisbane today ahead of the Ausmin meeting tomorrow.
Marles insists the Aukus deal is still on track, despite the fact that US Republican senators have threatened to block the deal, using it as leverage to demand an increase in US defence funding. Marles has told ABC Radio:
We’re confident about the processes that are under way in the US. I mean, obviously, Congress can be a complicated place as legislation makes its way through it, but actually we’re encouraged by how quickly it is going through and we are expecting that there will be lots of discussions on the way through.
But, fundamentally, we have reached an agreement with the Biden administration about how Australia acquires the nuclear-powered submarine capability and we’re proceeding along that path with pace … It is on track.
Daniel Hurst
Greens push for reforms to strengthen renters’ rights
The Greens’ position is that the proposal is government’s housing policy package is inadequate. In June, before the winter parliamentary recess, the Greens voted with the Coalition in the Senate to delay consideration of the legislation until 16 October to “allow time for national cabinet to progress reforms to strengthen renters’ rights”.
The Senate also set up an inquiry into the rental crisis, a process designed by the Greens to pressure the Albanese government to lead on action with the states and territories to freeze or cap rising rents.
The inquiry will consider rising rents and rental affordability; supply and demand; actions that governments can take to reduce rents or limit rent rises; and “improvements to renters’ rights”, including rent control, length of leases and no-grounds evictions.
The government has previously warned that the Senate’s delays constitute a failure to pass the housing fund bill, the first step towards the option of a double-dissolution election to resolve the deadlock.
Good morning!
Natasha May reporting for blog duty.
Albanese to reintroduce stalled housing bill
Daniel Hurst
Anthony Albanese will visit a Greens-held electorate today to announce the government will reintroduce its housing Australia future fund legislation when parliament resumes next week.
The bill remains stalled in the Senate, where the Coalition and the Greens have used their combined numbers to delay it. The government is expected to reintroduce the legislation into the House of Representatives in a tactic apparently aimed at putting a spotlight on the Senate hold-up.
The government plans to put the bill to a vote in the lower house in October before it returns to the Senate.
Albanese is set to announce the plans at a newly delivered social housing complex in the electorate of Brisbane, which is held by the Greens MP Stephen Bates.
In a statement distributed before the press conference, Albanese said:
We will use every opportunity to deliver the social and affordable housing that this fund will provide. We will use every process available for this important legislation.
Reintroducing this Bill gives the Coalition and the Greens an opportunity to stop playing politics and support a $10bn housing fund that the Australian people clearly need and support.
Education minister releases draft guide on AI in schools
Josh Taylor
The federal education minister, Jason Clare, has released a draft framework on the use of artificial intelligence in schools for consultation.
The framework breaks up the potential use of AI into distinct categories including: teaching, school wellbeing, transparency for student and teacher understanding of the technology, fairness, accountability, and privacy and security.
The development of the framework came amid inconsistent policies among educational institutions on how to respond to the wide availability of generative AI technologies such as ChatGPT being used by teachers and students alike in school work.
The draft framework can be found on the NSW Department of Education website, and comment is being accepted until 16 August.
Clare said the technology was not going away and would be built into everything we use.:
Like the calculator or the internet, we need to learn how to grapple with this new technology. There are lots of opportunities, but there are also challenges and risks.
We need to make sure students use AI for good and get the marks they deserve and don’t use it to cheat, while also ensuring their privacy is protected.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you the best breaking stories this morning before my colleague Natasha May takes over.
Anthony Albanese, along with the rest of the nation, will try to shake off the disappointment of the Matildas’ shock defeat to Nigeria, which he saw first hand at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane last night. But he will use his visit to Queensland’s capital to visit the Greens-held electorate of Brisbane today where he will announce that he is going to reintroduce the government’s stalled housing bill when parliament resumes next week. The bill, remember, has been held up by the Greens and the prime minister plans to attack them for “playing politics”.
He will also host talks with US secretary of state Antony Blinken and US defence secretary Lloyd Austin in Brisbane after they touched down in the city last night. Australian defence minister Richard Marles and foreign affairs minister Penny Wong will meet the pair on Friday before a working lunch with the prime minister. Defence and security ties, climate change and economic issues are expected to be discussed, along with emerging technologies, the clean energy transition and the role of critical minerals.
Daniel Andrews will try to move on from suitcases of cash and Ibac today but our analysis of the corruption report will linger in the minds of voters in Victoria despite his protestations that it’s a “complex” issue. Thousands of miles away, the consequences of his decision to pull the plug on the Commonwealth Games continue, with Birmingham said to be considering holding the 2026 event in Victoria’s place.
More than 25,000 allegedly illegal vapes have been seized in a police raid on a store in central Melbourne in a crackdown aimed at sending a “clear message” to other stores. The police seized vapes worth $800,000 from a shop in Swanston Street. Although the federal government outlawed non-prescription vapes in May, the market continues to thrive, with the products freely available thanks to what critics say is the failure of federal authorities to prohibit cross-border shipments.