Federal election 2022: Barnaby bleeds as heckler in bizarre crack at PM
A $1 billion naval centre will be established in Sydney as Australia ramps up its warship capabilities in the wake of a growing threat posed by China. It comes as the PM faces a critical TV debate to survive.
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Just a couple of hours before the final leaders‘ debate, a major new poll has dropped and it spells ominous news for the Prime Minister.
The YouGov poll predicts Labor will win 80 seats if the vote was today, meaning it could govern in its own right.
It has been described as “the most sophisticated poll conducted across Australia”, based on a sample size of almost 19,000 voters.
The results, if replicated, would mean Labor governing with a majority of five seats, the Coalition left with 63 seats, and one Greens and seven independents making up the rest of the 151 House of Representatives seats.
The poll results come just before the final television debate showdown between Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese.
Meanwhile, Peter Dutton has announced a $1 billion naval maintenance centre will be established in Sydney as Australia ramps up its warship capabilities across four major centres in the wake of a growing threat posed by China.
The news comes after Barnaby Joyce’s Press Club address has been marred by a nose bleed, while Scott Morrison has been called a ‘mongrel’ by a heckler who then tried to apologise to the PM
Mr Morrison earlier blasted his Labor rival, calling him a “loose unit” and “reckless” over his comments about the economy. Mr Albanese has explained how he will push for wage increases if elected as the new Prime Minister, including for key government contracts in aged care, the NDIS, child care and employment services.
Meanwhile, Liberal MP Gladys Liu has been targeted by anti-Chinese Communist party activists during a meeting in Chisholm, which she is fighting to retain with a razor-thin majority.
SEE OUR COVERAGE OF THE FINAL LEADERS DEBATE HERE
$1 BILLION NAVY WARSHIP PLAN
A naval maintenance centre will be established in Sydney as Australia ramps up its warship capabilities across four major centres in the wake of a growing threat posed by China.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton said the centre would be established at the Garden Island Defence Precinct as part of the government’s commitment to a new innovative model for the Royal Australian Navy fleet.
Three other centres will be established in Cairns, Darwin and Henderson in Western Australia as part of the program. Mr Dutton said the release of the major project tender as part of the Continuous Naval Shipbuilding program was a significant opportunity for industry in the Sydney area.
“When Labor were last in government they slashed defence funding and delayed major projects creating a ‘valley of death’ in Australia’s defence industry,” Mr Dutton said.
“This new approach aims to mitigate the ‘boom and bust cycle’ by providing long term work packages and removing barriers to entry for small and medium enterprises.
“By adopting this new approach, the Morrison Government is opening up opportunities for local small and medium enterprises to be involved in building our sovereign defence industry and reducing administration for the workforce, making it easier to do business with Defence.”
Regional Maintenance Centre East is planned to be operational by mid-2024 and will initially support the three Hobart class destroyers and HMAS Choules, with additional Sydney-based capabilities including the Canberra class Landing Helicopter Dock ships and their landing craft, one Supply class auxiliary oiler and two Anzac class frigates being considered for inclusion during the initial contract term.
“This tender will see the Government meet its commitment to the establishment of four regional maintenance centres in a national network to provide continuous sustainment of the Navy’s fleet around Australia.
“The successful tenderer for this maintenance centre will play an integral role in planning, managing and delivering maintenance at Garden Island, the home of Navy’s major fleet units and a strategic asset for delivery of naval capability.”
The partnership is expected to inject more than $1 billion into the Sydney region economy over the next five years.
“This brings the initial investment across the network of four regional maintenance centres to approximately $1.327 billion that will initially create close to 200 direct jobs,” Mr Dutton said.
He said it was part of a record $270 billion investment by the government in defence.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce told the National Press Club on Wednesday that Chinese military expansion was the biggest issue before Australians "without a shadow of a doubt".
Mr Joyce said he had been aware of Beijing's ambitions "for quite some time", going back to issues of foreign ownership in Australia more than 10 years ago.
BARNABY’S ONSTAGE NOSE BLEED
The Deputy Prime Minister had to step off the stage while he was taking questions from journalists on Wednesday.
Mr Joyce was sniffing and using a tissue as he was asked about where the Coalition between the Liberals and Nationals was made vulnerable because of disagreement over climate change and net zero.
“Don’t you love you get a bleeding nose in the press club?” Mr Joyce joked, before proceeding with his answer.
“Anyway. No, it doesn’t. Because what we are doing is … we have got to make sure our nation earns as much money as possible.
“We can’t do that if we shut down coal exports.”
Mr Joyce was answering a follow-up question from the same journalist about a prospective coal fired power station in Queensland when his nose appeared to start bleeding more profusely.
The press club’s host, ABC journalist Jane Norman, intervened by saying: “I might pause for a moment”.
“Because Mr Joyce, I apologise, you are on stage with a blood nose,” she said.
“Here are some tissues if you like to just move away for a moment.”
Mr Joyce composed himself off to the side of the stage and then returned to continue taking questions.
NO POPULARITY CONTEST SAYS JOYCE
The deputy PM described the unpopularity of Scott Morrison as “irrelevant”.
As he leant on his preferred “dentist” analogy, the Nationals leader said he believed the people of Australians “were not fools” and would make a determination about which leader was best positioned to navigate the “precarious” geopolitical landscape.
“The premise is that you say it sways votes in an exceptional manner and I don't concur with the premise, I don't believe it does,” he told the National Press Club. “I believe the Australian people are smarter than that.”
On the Nationals and Liberal Party’s secretive Coalition agreement, Mr Joyce said it was not a double-standard to call on “teal” independents to be transparent about who they would vote for in a hung parliament while keeping the terms of the party’s deal out of the public spotlight.
“Because in my discussions to get the best deal for regional Australia I don't want to have to ventilate every iteration, every nuance, day by day within the media,” he said.
“Well us because that's fulfilling your desire not regional Australia's desire. So you want a straight answer, the answer is no, I won't.”
Mr Joyce declared Chinese military expansion is the biggest issue before Australians "without a shadow of a doubt".
The Deputy Prime Minister said he had been aware of Beijing's ambitions "for quite some time", going back to issues of foreign ownership in Australia more than 10 years ago.
"I refer to my successful endeavours to stop a Chinese state owned enterprise takeover of Rio Tinto, our largest iron ore exporter, back as far as 2009," Mr Joyce said.
"Later, my support (for) changes in foreign investment laws which the Labor Party opposed."
PM CALLED MONGREL BY HECKLER IN NSW
The Prime Minister has been heckled by a Robertson electorate local while coming in and out of a community event on the NSW Central Coast.
Mr Morrison was meeting with community groups, including the Country Women's Association, in Umina Beach. But while walking into the event a passer-by, who told News Corp his name was "Gugu Plan", called Scott Morrison a mongrel.
He alleged Australia was not a legitimate government and that the election was "voting for a corporation".
On the way out he approached the Prime Minister again to apologise but also criticised his leadership.
"I wanted to offer him a hand of apology for calling him a mongrel but I stand by what I said," he told News Corp.
"If he wants to stand in office, if he wants to represent the country of people regardless of who they are and what their political leaning i, you have to stand up and be a man of integrity and morality.
"When you're wrong, admit you're wrong.
"If he can do that with the Australian people, maybe this country has got a chance."
At the event, Mr Morrison spoke to 15-year-old Liam Williams. He asked the Prime Minister to get him a job that "paid the best".
WOMEN QUIT PARTY OVER ‘GENDER TRAINING’ DEMAND
Two female federal election candidates have resigned after being told they had to undergo “gender training” for sharing or liking two news articles about transgender issues on their private Facebook pages.
Animal Justice Party (AJP) candidates Linda McCarthy and Sue Clarke were reprimanded by a party committee after it was claimed they had received complaints about the articles.
Ms McCarthy said she shared the articles without comment on her personal Facebook page in early April, before the election was called.
One article on the Age website was about how trans rights should not automatically trump the rights of other groups, while another on Sky News was about UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson stating that “biological males should not be competing in female sporting events”.
Fellow candidate Sue Clarke, said “her only crime” was to ‘like’ those articles.
PM BLASTS ALBO AS ‘RECKLESS’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has doubled down in his attacks on Anthony Albanese’s wages comments, describing him as an economic “loose unit” and “reckless”.
Speaking in Newcastle, Mr Morrison hit out at his opponent and said raising wages at 5.1 per cent would only increase inflation.
He also said the Opposition Leader’s comments would add to the problem.
“The way you engage with economic policy is not in the loose way we saw from Anthony Albanese,” Mr Morrison said.
“Anthony Albanese is a loose unit on the economy
“What he said yesterday, it’s like throwing fuel on the fire of rising interest rates and rising costs.”
Mr Morrison also accused Mr Albanese or “making stuff up”.
“What he said puts a chain reaction in place, dominoes fall which lead to higher interest rates and higher costs of living.”
“Anthony, you either don’t know what you’re talking about, and you’re not up to the job, or you’re taking the Australian people for a ride … He’s playing you like a mug.”
“They won’t be able to pay for things if inflation goes even higher and interest rates go even higher,” he said
“That is why what Anthony Albanese is speculating on and running at the mouth on, would only make that decision situation worse.
“Labor would make the very issues you’re highlighting even worse.”
Pushed about his attacks against Mr Albanese over wanting a pay rise, Mr Morrison said his comments were about the Labor leader being thoughtless.
“It is like he just unzips his head and lets everything fall on the table,” he said.
ALBANESE HITS BACK
Mr Albanese hit back, saying Mr Morrison had been “loose with the truth” and slamming the government’s priorities.
He said a 5.1 per cent pay increase would translate to a minimal $1 rise for those on the $20.33 minimum wage.
“It’s ok (Mr Morrison’s) government can always find money for sports rorts, for carpark rorts, for all of this activity,” he said.
“(But) backing a $1 an hour pay increase is not ok.
“That is what this debate is about.
“A conscious decision over the last decade of driving down wages.”
“The Reserve Bank have been saying for a long period of time that one of the handbrakes on our economy has been wages,” he said.
He instead referred to a speech he delivered last week, which referred to minimising cost-of-living pressures.
LIB MP BACKS DEVES ON CONCERNS
A Liberal MP says that he "respects" controversial Warringah candidate Katherine Deves' views on transgender women being banned from female sport, saying the issue has been raised with him a "couple of times" by constituents.
Terry Young was questioned about the issue by Sky News host Laura Jayes during a debate for the electorate of Longman against Labor candidate Rebecca Fanning on Wednesday.
"Do you agree with her views," Jayes asked. "I respect her views," Mr Young answered.
"I'm not going to put my own personal views out there."
Mr Young later said that the issue had been raised with him "a couple of times … not many".
"The point here is that we've got parents of daughters who are concerned that they're going to be sharing a dressing room with someone who used to be a male, and also competing against those people and getting an unfair advantage and look I support them in that," he said.
Mr Young used one example at a golf club.
"One example I can think of was at a golf club … the ladies committee got very upset because there was someone who had transgendered over and was hitting the ball further and winning all competitions, and they weren't terribly happy about it, but they just lived with it.
“But they weren't happy about it.
"We're talking about a social competition here … when you get to the elite level and things like that, that's an issue as well."
Mr Young was asked to also comment on Ms Deves' insistence that "mutilation" was the correct terminology for gender reassignment surgery, seeming to retract an earlier apology for being offensive.
Scott Morrison, when asked about this, said gender reversal surgery for young adolescents was a "significant issue".
He was then forced to acknowledge that it was not available to children in Australia when pressed on the issue.
But he said it was a serious operation at any age. "Why should government be involved in that at all?" Jayes asked.
"Well that's the Prime Minister's views," Mr Young said. "What's your view on it?" Jayes asked.
"At the end of the day that's a choice of the individual and that's the beauty of living in a democracy," Mr Young said. At the end of the day, that‘s a choice of the individual and that's the beauty of living in a democracy.
LONGMAN LIVE DEBATE
Labor's candidate for the marginal Queensland seat of Longman says the outer-Brisbane electorate is experiencing a GP "crisis", but the Liberal incumbent says the issue is "solved".
Liberal Terry Young and Labor candidate Rebecca Fanning went head to head in a debate on Sky News on Wednesday in Caboolture.
Longman is the LNP's most marginal seat held by just 3.3 per cent.
"I have heard from so many locals all across our region, whether it's Bribie Island or Caboolture, Burpengary, or Woodford who have to wait two or three weeks or longer for a GP appointment," Ms Fanning said.
"So we'd have a GP crisis in our region. "That's the most common response I get from locals when I ask them about their experience with the health system."
Ms Fanning was pressed repeatedly by Sky News host Laura Jayes about whether she'd push Anthony Albanese for a 50-50 public health model with the Queensland government.
She would only say that Mr Albanese would work productively with state premiers.
"Well, this is a really important difference between Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison," she said.
"Anthony Albanese will work constructively with the state premiers on health funding whereas what we see from Scott Morrison is he never takes responsibility and he just wants to pick political fights.
"When we saw last year that every single state requested more health funding from the Morrison government they singled out Annastacia Palaszczuk to attack her.
"So we need a Prime Minister who is going to work together with people to find solutions to these really big problems."
Mr Young said the issue with GP waits had been solved because he had pushed for the area to be classified as having a shortage of medical practitioners.
The Distribution Priority Area status allows communities to access overseas trained doctors.
"I was a bit perturbed by the fact that we didn't have that, we actually had it until 2016," he said.
"And then we lost it. It's assessed independently by the health department."
He said that he spoke with the health minister and the health department was ordered to re-examine the numbers which were proven to be out-of-date.
Mr Young said that had led to a number of areas getting their priority status back, and they were now recruiting for additional doctors to fix waits.
THE KEY ISSUES WE ARE SEARCHING ON
AGED care may be more important than cost of living issues this election campaign, new research shows, even though it hasn’t received as much attention from the major parties.
Defence spending and climate change also ranked highly in the minds of Australian voters, according to the analysis, outranking an independent commission against corruption.
RMIT FactLab made the findings after studying Google Search trends for the week ending May 9, discovering aged care internet searches ranked significantly higher than the four other issues across most states.
Researcher Miguel D’Souza said trending topics were a good indicator of what the public was interested in and what they wanted to learn more about.
“Political parties, as part of their tool set, could use trends as an indication of where voters’ interests are,” Mr D’Souza said.
“I find trends useful to extrapolate what ordinary people are searching for related to the bigger topics.”
Aged care searches were particularly prevalent in Victoria and South Australia, followed by Tasmania, New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland.
The report comes a day after aged care workers in WA and Queensland walked off the job to protest poor wages and working conditions, and follows a damning Royal Commission into the sector found aged care residents living with poor nutrition and inadequate medical care.
Both the Liberal and Labor parties have announced contentious plans to introduce 24-hour nursing care to aged care facilities if elected.
By contrast, defence spending ranked highest among voters in the ACT and Northern Territory, including a spike in searches for the defence debate between Defence Minister Peter Dutton and Labor shadow minister Brendan O’Connor.
Online queries for an ICAC also rose during the week, while climate change searches fell slightly despite trending throughout the election campaign so far.
Even though it has dominated election messages, internet searches for the cost of living only ranked between two and five per cent of all queries.
Despite RMIT’s findings, an analysis of Facebook ads from candidates this election did not mention aged care. Jobs and lies dominate Labor and Liberal party ads this campaign, according to the University of Queensland, followed by the economy, Medicare and infrastructure.
PM VISITS VITAL SEATS
The Coalition is touring vital regional NSW seats ahead of the third leaders debate, with Scott Morrison touching down in Newcastle. The Prime Minister is visiting The Melt, a lab for developing new advanced manufacturing technology and helping fledgling businesses test their ideas.
This includes mentoring and support to help them expand their companies.
It is in the Labor-held seat of Shortland, with the nearby Hunter Valley also a key target for the Coalition.
Mr Morrison will unveil $50 million to create a business and research partnership with the University of NSW and the University of Newcastle, creating 1600 jobs over four years.
The universities will work with 27 industry partners to develop world-leading technology in solar, hydrogen, storage and green metals and rapidly deploy new technology solutions.
“Our economic plan is supercharging Australia’s research and development, creating more jobs and helping to build a strong economy and a stronger future,” Mr Morrison said.
“We are investing in new clean energy technology to turbo charge our significant investments in hydrogen to create jobs around Australia, particularly in the Hunter.”
ALBANESE VISITS CHILDCARE CENTRE
Mr Albanese and opposition early childhood education spokeswoman Amanda Rishworth began the day meeting with parents in Willoughby East, in the electorate of North Sydney, to talk about early childhood education.
He and Labor’s candidate Catherine Renshaw, contesting the seat along with Liberal incumbent Trent Zimmerman and independent Kylea Tink, met with local members of The Parenthood and executive director of the group, Georgie Dent.
Mr Albanese, who was this morning accused by Prime Minister Scott Morrison of wanting to “have his cake and eat it too”, was offered a cupcake but declined.
Several parents told him of the economic burden of childcare – one describing her return to work as “an expensive hobby” – while others said they struggled to find childcare in their local area that met their needs.
One member, Brydon Timothy Wang, said he was a gay dad and thanked Mr Albanese for speaking publicly about his non-traditional family.
“You cracked open that door to say that families can come in all different shapes and sizes,” he said.
“It was extremely moving and humane and I thought it was very powerful.”
Mr Albanese responded by saying “one thing matters: love”.
The Parenthood, a group that aims to ensure the views of parents and carers are represented in policy decisions.
FRYDENBERG CONFIDENT DESPITE POLL
Independent challengers are on track to knock off senior Liberals Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Tim Wilson, according to shock new polling that shows the federal government is more successfully repelling the teal wave in New South Wales.
The YouGov research, commissioned by News Corp, reveals the Treasurer’s primary vote has slumped to 38 per cent in the race against Climate 200-backed candidate Dr Monique Ryan.
Her primary is at 28 per cent, which YouGov concludes would give her an election-winning lead in Kooyong after preferences of 53 per cent to 47 per cent.
Senior Liberal sources said on Wednesday that while the Kooyong race would go down to the wire, they were confident Mr Frydenberg would hang on. They said the mood had been positive for the deputy Liberal leader during early voting so far.
But Mr Frydenberg, who has a media blitz planned to begin Thursday, said he had faith in Menzies “quiet Australians” and the “Howard battlers” to see through Dr Ryan’s campaign.
“At the last election the polls pointed to a Coalition loss, and as we know history recorded a very different result,” Mr Frydenberg said at a Hawthorne polling booth on Wednesday morning.
Mr Frydenberg conceded he starts the campaign “as the underdog,” but warned against placing too much faith in polling.
Lots of people don’t answer their phones, lots of people don’t participate in polling.”
Mr Frydenberg didn’t directly respond to questions that asked if he would enlist big names in the Liberal Party to help swing momentum back in his favour.
Instead he highlighted the Coalition’s traditional success in appealing to the values of aspirational Australians.
“John Howard called them ‘the Howard battlers,’ Sir Robert Menzies called them ‘the forgotten people,’” he said.
Dr Ryan said her team expected Kooyong could be decided by as few as 500 votes.
“We’ve conducted our own polling and it suggests it’s going to be extremely tight,” Dr Ryan said on Wednesday.
But Dr Ryan said she “wouldn’t want to read too much” into any polls that predicted her victory
Mr Wilson has also fallen behind in his Victorian seat of Goldstein, with a primary vote of 40 per cent not enough to remain in front of teal challenger and former ABC journalist Zoe Daniel, who has a 52-48 per cent lead on a two-party preferred basis.
But the Morrison government is holding firm in the NSW seats of North Sydney, Wentworth and Mackellar — three key targets of the independent movement fronted by female candidates campaigning on climate change, integrity and gender equality.
ALBANESE: ‘I DON’T WANT PEOPLE GOING BACKWARDS’
Anthony Albanese has rebuffed warnings from economists that the wage hikes he backs could fuel inflation and add to household debt as “nonsense”, in an interview where he also “apologised” to Erin Molan and convinced her to switch allegiances to Labor.
Mr Albanese, speaking on 2DayFM Sydney with Ed (Kavalee), (Dave) Hughes and Erin (Molan), backed in his comments from yesterday when he said “absolutely” wages should increase by at least 5.1 per cent — or the current rate of inflation.
“People (on the minimum wage earn $20.33 an hour … inflation, the cost of everything is going up, and they’re struggling to get by,” he said.
“And I made the simple point that I’ve made consistently throughout this campaign. I don’t want people to go backwards.”
Challenged with warnings from economists that a wage hike of 5.1 per cent could be inflationary, Mr Albanese waved it off as “nonsense” saying “any economist knows, and the Reserve Bank knows if you have wage increases at no more than inflation plus productivity, then that isn’t inflationary”.
Ms Molan, whose father is Senator Jim Molan, later confronted Mr Albanese on his quip about the government’s cost of living measures being temporary and having “all the sincerity of a fake tan, they disappear once people have cast their vote”.
“On behalf of someone who makes Nicole Kidman look bronzed, and someone who is heavily reliant on the fake stuff, are you willing to apologise to all of us who feel we’re still sincere despite having to turn to the bottle?” Ms Molan said.
Mr Albanese then apologised “personally”.
The conversation then shifted — as it has on nearly every breakfast radio interview Mr Albanese has done in the last year — to his weight loss.
The hosts challenged Mr Albanese to consider “bronzing up the rig that you’ve got now”, to which he said the “line needed to be drawn somewhere”.
“Erin, will you vote Labor if I bronze up?” Mr Albanese asked.
“You know what, it’s only one vote it won’t count anyway, yes, yes I will,” she said.
“Molan backs Labor, that will be the splash tomorrow,” the Labor leader replied.
“I don’t think my (father Senator Molan) will ever talk to me again,” Ms Molan said.
Labor’s campaign is set to spend the day in Sydney before Mr Albanese and Mr Morrison go head to head for the third time on Channel 7’s debate tonight.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox told Nine Radio that any wage growth over five per cent is unsustainable.
“Everyone should get a pay rise … the fact that we already have the highest minimum wage, we’re the champion of minimum wage, and unions want to put them up by another 5.5 per cent – that’s another $42 a week,” Mr Willox said.
“Of course that then flows through to every other wage negotiation that business has … not every business (can afford it). There are hundreds of thousands of small businesses and for many of them, this would be a backbreaker, it’s not sustainable for them to be asked to pay this
“It’s just not going to work for small and medium businesses. It would be (the final nail in the coffin)s.
CHISHOLM PROTEST TARGETS LIU
A late night candidate’s forum in the ultra marginal seat of Chisholm was disrupted by controversial anti-Chinese communist party activist Drew Pavlou.
Mr Pavlou, 22, stormed the Mount Waverley Community Centre and targeted incumbent Gladys Liu over what they say are previous links to the Chinese Communist Party.
Ms Liu has vehemently denied such links.
Interrupting her opening remarks, Mr Pavlou repeatedly yelled “why won’t Gladys Liu..” while being pushed out of the room by attendees.
Mr Pavlou is a prominent critic of the Chinese Communist Party and was controversially suspended by the University of Queensland in 2020 over his activism. He is vying for a Queensland Senate seat in the federal election.
“Why would you take money from the Chinese government?” the second protester, Max Mok, yelled while throwing fake money around the room.
Mr Pavlou was arrested in New South Wales last week for holding up a sign saying ‘f*** Xi Jinping’.
Mr Pavlou told The Australian he had organised a rally of about 30, mostly anti-Chinese government activists focused on Hong Kong, Uighur Muslims, and Tibet at the Eastwood community marketplace on Saturday.
“The police pulled me aside and they said your actions are now causing fear and alarm to the public. This can escalate to violence, and there’s a threat, and so we’re directing you to move on.“I just said, I believe in free speech and as a matter of free speech, I won’t be moving on. You’ll have to arrest me.”
Ms Liu holds the seat of Chisholm on a razor thin margin of 0.5 per cent.
CHINA VISIT THREATENS TO ROCK PM’S RUN HOME
A visit by a high level Chinese delegation to sign the security pact between Beijing and the Solomons Islands threatens to rock the final week of Scott Morrison’s bid for re-election.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to lead the delegation on a tour of the region.
Several well-placed sources told The Australian intelligence suggests the visit to the Solomon Islands by one of China’s most senior politicians could take place prior to the Australian federal election, even as early as this week.
However, the timing is unclear. Mr Wang’s visit would be to a range of Pacific countries, not exclusively the Solomon Islands.
Should the visit occur before the May 21 election, national security analysts say it could be seen as an attempt at political interference in support of Labor.
Meanwhile, the Royal Australian Navy has ruled out any “interim” option to submarine warfare despite nuclear powered submarines promised under the AUKUS security pact unlikely to enter our waters for another two decades.
The Indo Pacific 2022 maritime exposition has heard the rapid security deterioration in the Pacific made the nuclear submarine acquisition vital to Australia’s defences.
But Chief of navy Vice Admiral Mike Noonan ruled out calls for another submarine option to bridge the gap between the ageing Collins class submarines now and the nuclear ones in the future.
He said the end of the 2030s remained achievable for the first nuclear powered vessels and until then, the Collins would be upgraded, to make do.
WEST NEEDS TO UNITE ON CHINA, RUSSIA: DUTTON
Defence Minister Peter Dutton faced questions from voters in Sky News’ Pub Test on Tuesday.
Mr Duton said the current international climate meant the west had to unite to defend its values.
“I think people believed that the dictators, the autocrats were confined to history and somehow this was something you read about in the history books,” he said.
“But I think as we’re seeing in the Ukraine and potentially broader Europe these people are rising again and the west needs to unite,” Mr Dutton said.
Mr Dutton said he wanted “nothing but a normalised relationship with China”, however he said the leadership had changed rapidly in recent years.
Mr Dutton suggested the Coalition had provided “stability” in national security and border protection.
He said the government’s policy of preventing unlawful immigrants arriving in Australia relied on temporary protection visas, which Labor is proposing to pull back.
Temporary Protection Visas are given to those who are found to be in need of protection, in place of a Permanent Protection Visa.
“The temporary protection visa is the most significant element and the key to our success with Operation Sovereign Borders,” Mr Dutton said.
He said the country had moved beyond the days of mass detention of illegal immigrants but that the potential was there for people smuggling to increase.
Mr Dutton scoffed at the suggestion Climate Change was a more pressing national security issue than China and Russia.
He said the government had put $270 billion into defence this decade and that spending was increasing on a yearly basis.
“Under the AUKUS deal not just on the nuclear propelled submarines but also what we’re doing with the Americans and the Brits in space, on satellite technology, autonomous vehicles, underwater autonomous vehicles, the Loyal Wingman,” Mr Dutton said.
“All of those programs are designed to provide safety and security to our country for the next four or five decades. I think that’s one of the crowning achievements of the Morrison government.”
Mr Dutton defended increasing ties between China and the Solomon Islands on the government’s watch, calling China’s actions “provocative”.
He said Australia needed to be “eyes wide open” about China’s actions in the Pacific and around the world.
“It’s China that has changed. Not, in our region, Australia or New Zealand – it’s China – and the approach is aggressive and we need to be realistic about that,” Mr Dutton said.
He said the government had taken advice from ASIO, the Department for Defence and the Defence Force in dealing with developments in the Solomon Islands.
Mr Dutton said there were “good reasons, not all of which we can speak about publicly,” for why the government had taken its approach.
“We need to balance it delicately and in the end the Solomon Islands is a sovereign nation,” he said.
Mr Dutton said polling that showed the Morrion government losing support in the election was not as accurate as the reality on the ground.
Responding to a question regarding conservatives’ role in Australia Mr Dutton said the “silent majority … in their millions need to speak up.”
“The trouble is for our support base, they’re small business people, they’re out working and of a night time they’re doing the books and putting kids to bed and dealing with the realities of life,” Mr Dutton said.
“They’re not involved in the day to day political exchange that you might see on Twitter or Facebook and they just don’t have the time to be online warriors the way that the left does.”
He added many businesses were pursuing “woke agendas” more now than ever.
THERE’S NO PERFECT PM
Mr Dutton said Mr Morrison was not a perfect Prime Minister but the country needed a “strong” leader.
“We need to be a strong country, not a weak one. We need a strong leader in Scott Morrison,” he said. “You might not like every aspect of Scott, and that was true of John Howard, it was true of Tony Abbott, and if you’re looking for a perfect Prime Minister you will never find that person.”
WHY EXPERTS SAY ALBO’S WAGE HIKE WILL CAUSE CARNAGE
Wage hikes backed by Opposition leader Anthony Albanese risk fuelling inflation and further adding to household cost-of-living pressures, economists say.
Mr Albanese on Tuesday declared the minimum wage should “absolutely” increase by at least Australia’s current inflation level of 5.1 per cent, prompting Prime Minister Scott Morrison to accuse him of “making things up on the run about what he thinks wages should be”.
Independent economist Saul Eslake said wages growth beyond inflation, without productivity increases above the current sluggish 0.5 per cent annual rate, risked either fuelling inflation or adding to unemployment if businesses were unable to afford increased pay bills.
“Wages growth in excess of productivity pushes up what we call unit labour costs,” he said. “That is labour costs per dollar value of output. That can only have two consequences.
“One, it will add to inflationary pressures, if demand is sufficiently strong that businesses can pass those cost increases on.
“Alternatively, it will come at the expense of profits if businesses can’t pass the cost increase on and that may result in higher unemployment.”
Mr Eslake said increased inflation was the most likely scenario, because demand was strong and consumer spending was forecast to grow by five per cent or more this year in real terms.
But he predicted inflation was likely to start falling because price hikes for consumer goods globally had peaked and shipping costs had started to go down as Covid-induced supply chain issues waned.
Mr Eslake said wages would likely start picking up gradually, as they have in the United States and United Kingdom, as unemployment reduced below four per cent.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said union calls for minimum wage rises of more than five per cent were unsustainable and risked economic carnage.
“In the current circumstances, there is a clear risk that a high increase in wages without improved workplace productivity would fuel inflation and increase the likelihood of a steeper rise in interest rates to the detriment of growth and job creation,” Mr Willox said.
“An increase in the minimum wages, as demanded by unions, would have adverse impacts on the economy, on unemployment, on underemployment and on sentiment, and would be a setback for many low-income households.”
A central pillar of Labor’s election campaign has been the promise that its policies will lift wages while the Coalition allowed “real wages” — a measure of wage growth against inflation — to go down in the last few years.
Mr Albanese refused to say whether or not he supported the ACTU’s push for a 5.5 per cent increase — in which the hourly minimum wage would go from $20.33 to $21.45 and the weekly rate (38 hours) from $772.60 to $815.09 — saying instead that workers “shouldn’t go backward”.
Asked later if he therefore supported the minimum wage increasing by 5.1 per cent, Mr Albanese said “absolutely”.
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Phillip Lowe, in a statement last week, said the headline inflation rate was forecast to hit 6 per cent this year.
Speaking at a lunch in Sydney’s West Ryde to promote his Liberal candidate for Bennelong Simon Kennedy, the Prime Minister criticised Mr Albanese for suddenly backing a 5.1 per cent rise to the minimum wage, which covers an estimated 2.2m workers.
“ (Mr Albanese is) just running off the mouth on important issues like our national economy and national security,” he said.
On Mr Albanese’s 5.1 per cent benchmark rise, Employment Minister Stuart Robert said “putting a figure on what the Fair Work Commission should do … is unprecedented.”
Meanwhile, on a blitz of the Melbourne electorates of Kooyong, Chisholm and Deakin, the Labor leader batted away suggestions he would be a “pushover” for state Premiers.
He also moved to defend allegations Labor’s maths on a teaching bursary policy had been misleading after it was found the $50.8m set aside would only cover 3000 spots over the forward estimates instead of the 5000 Labor had spruiked.
“The full costs yesterday were some $146.5m … that’s the cost over the entire project,” he said.
ALBANESE ON WAGES
“I want a high productivity, good wage economy going forward.”
– Doorstop interview, Brisbane, April 19
“Real wages are the most important indicator in terms of cost of living, and the fact is that real wages have been going backwards.”
– Sky News interview with Andrew Clennell, April 11
How are you going to lift wages? “ I’ve got a Full Employment Summit that I’ll have to bring business and unions together.”
– Sky News interview with Andrew Clennell, April 11
“What we saw was the Business Council and the ACTU get very close to an agreement that would boost productivity. The way that you lift wages and lift profits can only be through productivity, that’s how you can get a win-win. And that’s what I’m keen on”
– Sky News interview with Andrew Clennell, April 11
“We want to see real wages increase in our first term. And we also want to identify ways in which particular sectors can be improved.”
– Doorstop interview Launceston April 11
“What you can have in this country is enterprise bargaining that lifts wages, but you can also have structural reform and policies that lift wages. You can do that by having secure work recognised as an objective of the Fair Work Act.”
– Doorstop interview Launceston April 11
TURNBULL GOES ON ATTACK AGAIN
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has taken another swipe at the Coalition, accusing the government of abandoning Australians abroad during the pandemic.
Mr Turnbull, who appeared to back independents in the election last week, posted a picture of himself with wife Lucy, voting at Australia House in London.
He said Foreign Affairs and The Australian Electoral Commission had done a great job setting up what ‘is normally the largest single polling station in an Australian election’
“But it is a very great shame that so many Australian missions overseas will not at this election be conducting in person voting including places like Tokyo and Hong Kong where there are large numbers of Australians.
‘This limiting of overseas in person voting is utterly at odds with our tradition of making it easy and indeed compulsory to vote.
“The practical consequence of this will be, I fear, that many overseas Australians will be effectively disenfranchised. Covid has been cited as a reason but in many of these places other countries, like France, have managed in person voting for their overseas citizens.
“Postal voting has been offered but international mail has been so disrupted in recent times you have to be sceptical about how many will get their ballots let alone return them in time.
“The new parliament should review this and I hope ensure it never happens again. “Many Australians abroad have felt let down and abandoned during the pandemic – this will be like rubbing salt in a very raw wound.’’
HOWARD SAYS ALBO NOT ACROSS KEY DETAILS
Former Prime Minister John Howard has questioned Mr Albanese’s understanding of basic economics after his pledge to back a wage increase of more than 5 per cent.
“I don’t know what economics degree he got to say that,’’ Mr Howard said of the pledge.
He said while everyone wanted to see their wages go up, wage increased had to be affordable and tied to productivity gains.
“The whole across the board approach which the Labor Party is so fond of, is not the right approach at all.’’
Mr Howard quoted former Labor leader Tony Blair, in saying that ‘fairness in the workplace starts with the chance of getting a job’.
Economists and business leaders have warned big increases in wages could send small businesses still struggling to come out of the Covid pandemic, to the wall.
Mr Howard said as a Prime Minister you have to be across the details. He said he had to be across the detail of the biggest tax changes since federation – the introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (GST).
“ (Mr Albanese) does give the impression of someone who is not across the detail,’’ Mr Howard told The Kenny Report on Sky News.
Asked whether the Coalition had failed to deliver ‘one big idea’ during the election campaign, the former PM said: “I think the big idea is to continue the remarkable recovery’.
“According to every metric we have done so well,’’ Mr Howard said pointing to the lowest unemployment rate in decades. “The other crowd don’t have the runs on the board with economic management or national security.’’
He said Mr Albanese’s flip flops on border protection were very concerning.
“Anthony Albanese doesn’t really understand what is really is involved. “He doesn’t have a lot to get across yet he keeps stumbling on detail.’’
Asked who he thought would win the election, Mr Howard said he believed the Coalition could ‘make it’ but he was not complacent.
“I think it is very tight.’’
ROBODEBT MINISTER PULLS OUT OF POLL FORUM
THE Gold Coast’s most senior Federal government MP has made a stunning last-minute withdrawal from a candidates forum on the Glitter Strip.
Employment Minister and Fadden MP Stuart Robert was scheduled to appear at a candidates event at Paradise Point on Tuesday night, but organisers were notified late in the day that he was “now required to be with the Prime Minister” early in the morning and “the availability of flights precludes me from attending tonight”.
Mr Robert may have faced a frosty reception at the forum after revelations the Federal government has refused to commit funding to two major infrastructure projects on the Gold Coast.
Early Tuesday it emerged that McPherson MP Karen Andrews had backflipped on her support for the next stage of the city’s light rail network.
Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey later told State parliament the Feds were refusing to commit funds to the much-needed “Coomera Connector” motorway to relieve congestion on the M1 between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
The double whammy left some Gold Coasters seething, including Mayor Tom Tate, a lifelong Liberal party member who said he would be voting for Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party in the Senate.
Six other candidates fronted for the Fadden event, hosted by the Paradise Point and Northern Districts Progress Association.
After a short preamble, organisers said they had received an apology from Mr Robert. “Is that an apology for what he’s done to the community?” one wag yelled.
Mr Robert has been embroiled in several scandals in his career in politics and was the Government Service Minister during the Robodebt fiasco.
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Originally published as Federal election 2022: Barnaby bleeds as heckler in bizarre crack at PM
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