Barnaby Joyce denies he’s being sidelined for election campaign
Over the weekend there were reports from Nine papers that a new rule requires all shadow ministers in the Nationals to get permission from leader David Littleproud to travel to other electorates, in a move to hide Barnaby Joyce.
Joyce was asked on Sunrise a little earlier if he’s been asked to stay in his lane, and replied “not directly”.
I’m not going to deny that they have said that everybody has to coordinate through the leader’s office, but maybe that’s the case in all parties … I don’t know if it’s directed at me.
I did not go to an election where the Nationals did not pick up a seat, including the massive swings against us in the Morrison government.
Asked how he’s getting along with David Littleproud, he says “very well”.
Tanya Plibersek told the panel on Sunrise Joyce should visit her electorate in Sydney
I think the more people that see him the better.
Key events
‘What are we getting back?’: Lambie
While the government should be able to pass its production tax credits legislation this week, independent senator Jacqui Lambie wants to see some pretty significant changes.
She’s on Sky News asking what the public will get out of handing companies thousands of dollars in tax credits.
What are we getting back? Why aren’t we taking equity shares in these companies and actually feeding that back into health and education? We still want to talk about that up here, but seriously, we need to take some ownership here.
Lambie is also asked about the byelection results in Victoria, and its federal implications. She says it shows Australians are looking for options other than the two major parties.
I think the people have had about a gut full of the major parties … I think people are looking for options.
She also says in her state of Tasmania, both Liberal and Labor held seats will be up for grabs.
Minister spruiks government’s women’s health package
‘Lower costs, more choices’ is the line of the morning on the government’s $573m package for women’s health. It was repeated by minister for finance and women Katy Gallagher, who spoke to the Today Show a little earlier.
The whole package – because it covers UTIs and pharmacy and HRT [hormone replacement therapy] and menopause assessments – is about making the cost cheaper. So, lower costs, more choices, and better services.
We’ve been forgotten in these areas for too long and this will make a huge difference for younger women and older women.
Gallagher is also asked about the byelection results in Victoria, and pins a portion of the result on cost of living.
Asked whether it means the Labor will be forced to spend more in the state to bolster its numbers, Gallagher says her party has been “responsible”.
I think we know what happens regardless of a state byelection in Victoria that this election is going to be really close. I think that’s pretty clear. We take nothing for granted, we’ve got to continue to talk and address people’s cost-of-living needs.
Barnaby Joyce denies he’s being sidelined for election campaign
Over the weekend there were reports from Nine papers that a new rule requires all shadow ministers in the Nationals to get permission from leader David Littleproud to travel to other electorates, in a move to hide Barnaby Joyce.
Joyce was asked on Sunrise a little earlier if he’s been asked to stay in his lane, and replied “not directly”.
I’m not going to deny that they have said that everybody has to coordinate through the leader’s office, but maybe that’s the case in all parties … I don’t know if it’s directed at me.
I did not go to an election where the Nationals did not pick up a seat, including the massive swings against us in the Morrison government.
Asked how he’s getting along with David Littleproud, he says “very well”.
Tanya Plibersek told the panel on Sunrise Joyce should visit her electorate in Sydney
I think the more people that see him the better.
Health package to address contraception, menopause and perimenopause
Yesterday the government announced a $573m package for women’s health to reduce costs on contraception and menopause treatments.
The health minister, Mark Butler, is talking up the announcement on ABC RN Breakfast calling it a “significant package”:
Women face a whole range of fairly significant costs simply because they’re women around contraception, menopause and perimenopause, and yesterday’s landmark package really reverses the decades of neglect that those two Senate reports really highlighted and delivers Australia’s women finally, more choice, better care and lower costs.
The two Senate reports he’s referring to there are on reproductive health and menopause – the former which a parliamentary committee handed to the government back in May 2023.
The reproductive health inquiry recommended abortion access at all public hospitals, which was also a Labor platform commitment in 2019, before the party walked away from it.
Butler says it’s not the government’s policy to “force” state governments to provide services in their hospitals.
Tying state government hospital funding, which is such a crucial part of our health system, to some sense from Canberra about what the operational arrangement should be in every one of the 700 public hospitals, given we have no line of sight about the workforce that they employ and a range of other important things like that, is just not our approach to that.
You can read more on the health package here:
Federal MPs respond to Victorian byelection results
While doing the rounds this morning, federal MPs have been probed on what the Victorian byelection results will mean when the whole nation goes to the polls within months.
Tanya Plibersek was asked on Sunrise and put the focus straight on the cost of living:
We know that people have been under a lot of cost of living pressure, and that’s why we’re 100% focused on taking some of that pressure off … of course you pay attention [to the results], but I think one of the interesting things about the results is that there was a significant drop in the Labor vote, but most of it didn’t go to the Liberals.
Malarndirri McCarthy was also asked about the wash-up on ABC News Breakfast:
We’ve shown we’re working hard. We’ve shown we’ve got a plan going forward. I’ve certainly watched the byelection results in Victoria. I know it’s difficult. Certainly for Labor in Victoria, but we will keep fighting, right up to the time that we go to an election.
Cait Kelly
Renting retirees ‘really struggling’
Two in three retirees who rent privately owned homes live in poverty and the problem will get worse, a new report has found.
Most older working Australians who rent do not have sufficient savings to keep paying rent in their retirement, according to the report from the Grattan Institute.
More than half of households aged 65 and older who rent report a total net financial worth of less than $25,000, compared with just 6% of homeowner households of that age.
Grattan’s Brendan Coates said Australia was failing too many retirees who rent.
The report really identifies that while most retirees are doing pretty well – they’re actually more financially comfortable than many working-age Australians – it’s retirees who rent who are really struggling… And they’re in a lot of strife.
Read the full story here:
Malarndirri McCarthy is also speaking with ABC’s AM, on implementing price caps on essential items in regional areas. She says the 30 items include flour, milk, cereal and fresh fruit, to reduce the cost of living in remote and regional areas.
Why are the prices so high? McCarthy says the added cost comes from transporting the goods into remote areas:
Well, this is actually more about reducing the extra cost in remote and regional Australia is largely due to food supply chain you would have seen and we do currently with flooding, with extreme temperatures. We see roads cut off. We see bridges collapse. They were usually usually lots of issues that create difficulties for those food supplies to get into our communities across the country.
McCarthy also talks about increasing nutrition in First Nations communities.
What we want to see is food products that actually assist as well in healthy living nutritionists and nutrition-filled foods. And this is what this announcement today is all about, is making sure that we are concentrating not just on the costs of food, but the quality of food.
Chronic kidney disease is a huge issue across all Aboriginal families, really, but mostly in remote region Australia,
PM to pitch production tax credits bill
The prime minister is pitching his production tax credits bill to business, in a speech to the Ai Group dinner tonight.
Labor will prioritise passing the bill this week, the main pillar of its Future Made in Australia plan that includes $13.7bn worth of tax breaks for processing critical minerals on-shore and green hydrogen production.
The Coalition has opposed the plan, but Labor has the numbers from the crossbench to pass the bill in the senate.
Anthony Albanese will tell the business group he values “constructive engagement”, and the bill will help ensure economic resilience.
That’s why our government has focused on providing business with the incentives, opportunity and certainty to invest – in new energy, new projects, new technology and new markets in our region and around the world.
Deloitte’s investment monitor in June found almost $30bn of private investment was being pursued in WA to receive the tax credits, which have also been supported by the Liberal and National leaders in the state.
Plan to tackle issue of cost of products in remote Indigenous areas
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, is doing the rounds this morning, first on ABC News Breakfast, on the Closing the Gap report, and the announcement to ensure the cost of products in remote Indigenous areas is the same cost as products in cities.
McCarthy says there’s no specific date for when those food prices will come down, but says she’s working on a national plan to tackle the issue, which she’ll announce soon with the states and territories.
Along with the high prices of food, is access to food, as we’ve just seen with the Townsville coverage, people get cut off. Roads get cut off bridges get cut off. So infrastructure and all those needs that are required to make it essential to get good food into remote and regional Australia is imperative.
McCarthy’s also asked about the state of the youth justice system and the high rates of youth incarceration. She says she’ll be meeting with states and territories to work with them on the issue.
[I] raised this issue directly with the [state and territory] Indigenous affairs ministers about our concerns of First Nations people and the high rates of incarceration, but also remand … Many, many people are in remand, and what other options could we look at instead of overcrowding in remand?
Government to give Closing the Gap update
The government will provide its latest closing the gap update today, after Anthony Albanese announced $842.6m over six years for remote First Nations communities in the Northern Territory on Friday.
The prime minister will also announce that the government will ensure the costs of 30 essential products in more than 76 remote stores will be the same as the cost in metropolitan areas.
Last year Choice found people living in remote Indigenous areas were sometimes paying twice the cost of basic goods like flour and milk compared to capital cities.
Anthony Albanese will make a speech in parliament today, saying the closing the gap report “lays bare” the areas in which Australia’s population “are not together.”
The latest Productivity Commission reporting shows that while we are seeing improvements on 11 of the 19 targets in the National Agreement, only five are on track to be met.
Today is about facing up to what’s not working and learning from what is.
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning!
Krishani Dhanji here with you, welcome to the second sitting week of the fortnight, there’s plenty on as time ticks down towards the election campaign.
The government has its production tax credits legislation high on the list to pass this week. Labor will also hand down its latest closing the gap update, which the prime minister will speak on later today.
Both the Coalition and Labor will also be considering the federal implications of the byelection results in Victoria over the weekend.
It’s going to be a big one! Let’s get started.