Australia news LIVE: Labor accuses Coalition of ‘hysteria’ over foot and mouth disease as 47th parliament sits for first time; COVID cases grow across the nation

Thanks for joining us for our live news coverage today. In case you missed them, here are the major headlines from the afternoon:

• The government is continuing to negotiate with the Greens on its climate change bill, with Greens senator Larissa Waters saying the party still has “huge issues” around the approval of new coal and gas projects.
• Newcastle Labor MP Sharon Claydon has been elected deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. Earlier in the day, Labor MPs Milton Dick and Sue Lines were elected as speaker of the house and president of the Senate, respectively.
• An integrity taskforce says it has not found evidence of foreign or other interference with the 2022 federal election.
• Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor says the government is yet to identify where the skills shortages are in Australia’s labour market.

We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest news.

New Labor MP Sally Sitou said her first speech in Parliament marks 40 years since her parents became Australian citizens after fleeing Laos during the Vietnam War.

“This moment here is surreal in the best way possible … for this was an improbable candidacy,” Sitou said in the House of Representatives.

Sally Sitou defeated Liberal Fiona Martin to win the inner-western Sydney seat of Reid in May.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

She said the moment was an even bigger deal for her parents, who “fled their home because of who they were and the values they held, and here they are in the public gallery watching their daughter”.

“I am the daughter of migrants, a proud Chinese-Laos Australian,” she said.

The Reid MP, who defeated Liberal Fiona Martin to win the inner-western Sydney seat, urged Australians to celebrate its first people and learn from their custodianship of the land. She also encouraged new Australians to strive for civic life.

“I believe it was important I put my hand up to stand for Reid, a thriving multicultural and multi-faith community, because as audacious as this dream was, it has never been more important for someone like me to dream it,” she said.

“You are not defined by your postcode, what school you went to, or where your parents come from.”

In a wide-ranging speech, Sitou also argued teachers should be paid their worth, saying the administrative burden the exhausted workforce was buckling under following the pandemic needed to be overhauled.

Read more here.

Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor says the government is yet to identify “precisely” where the skills shortages are in Australia’s labour market and economy.

Speaking to ABC on Tuesday afternoon, O’Connor said a new agency to be legislated this week, Jobs and Skills Australia, industry and experts, “so that when we’re investing billions of taxpayers dollars in skill acquisition … we’re doing it in an area that’s going to fill the areas that are vacant in the labour market”.

“What businesses are crying out for his skills, not just in the aged care or care industry but across the spectrum,” O’Connor said, as the nation grapples with a skills crisis fuelled by the pandemic.

With the first sitting day of parliament underway, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is now delivering a condolence motion following the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has delivered a condolence motion following the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.Credit: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

“Our shock at the death of Abe Shzino was acute, and I welcome today the ambassador and … and our friends from the Japanese embassy here in Canberra,” Albanese said.

“It is hard to believe we’re talking about him in the past tense. On that terrible day Japan lost a true patriot and a true leader.

“Our friendship with Japan is one of the central elements of Australia’s international relations.”

Newcastle Labor MP Sharon Claydon has been elected the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, and West Australian Liberal MP Ian Goodenough has been elected Second Deputy Speaker.

Both were congratulated on their new roles following a ballot.

Earlier today, the House of Representatives and the Senate elected their Speaker and President respectively, with Labor MP Milton Dick and Sue Lines receiving the honours.

There has been a lot of talk about the Labor government’s plan to legislate a 43 per cent cut to emissions by 2030, as it negotiates with the Greens, who hold a greater share of power after the election and whose support will be necessary for the government to pass legislation.

The government said earlier that its 43 per cent target is a floor and not a ceiling.

Greens Senator Larissa Waters spoke about the negotiations this afternoon. Here’s what she had to say:

We have the biggest ever greens team that we have ever had in the Federal Parliament.

[I’m] pleased to see [the government has] made some changes to address some of our concerns. We still have huge issues, as does the scientific community and our Pacific leaders about opening up new coal and gas projects.

As we have said from the outset, the 43 per cent target is not science based. It is too low. All these other problems associated with the [emissions target bill], namely that it might have acted as a ceiling on ambition, we are pleased the government has come to the table to address that concern.

We also had concerns that there was really no enforceability for this bill. The government seemed to have proposed now that certain agencies will at least be bound by that target, so again, there is some movement there.

But we are still in negotiations, and they are good faith negotiations so we will continue to do those outside of the media cycle, and we will keep pushing on the key issue of there not being new coal and gas opens, particularly not with the support of taxpayer dollars.

No foreign or other interference with the 2022 federal election has been identified by an integrity taskforce.

The Electoral Integrity Assurance taskforce, which is made of a number of federal government agencies, including the Australian Federal Police and the Office of National Intelligence, provided its formal advice to the Australia Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers today.

“The board has advised [that] taskforce agencies did not identify any foreign interference, or any other interference, that compromised the delivery of the 2022 federal election and would undermine the confidence of the Australian people in the results of the election,” Rogers said.

“The work of the taskforce plays a vital role in protecting and preserving Australia’s electoral integrity, and I am pleased to be able to share this advice with all Australians.”

The advice follows the return of the writs for the May election.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage, another disease has scientists on high alert.

Monkeypox is not a new virus, but it’s rarely seen outside Africa, so its sudden explosion around the world, including in Australia, has scientists worried it may be evolving better ways of spreading.

Monkeypox moves slower than COVID, through close contact, meaning it does not pose the same risk.Credit: CDC

On July 23, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, its highest alert, in a move expected to marshall more resources and pressure governments to step up containment efforts.

Weeks earlier, on May 20, monkeypox made it to Australia for the first time as two returned travellers from Europe were diagnosed. That cluster has since grown to more than 40 cases, but some 16,000 have been reported in total across more than 70 countries since early May, from Europe to North America and the Middle East.

Still, health officials stress that monkeypox moves slower than COVID, through close contact, meaning it does not pose the same risk. The WHO has warned countries to contain outbreaks fast before they gain a foothold and convened researchers from around the globe to examine what’s driving it.

Read the full explainer here.

Good afternoon and thanks for reading our live coverage today.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:

• Climate change has dominated the first sitting day of the 47th federal parliament. Labor insists that it has a mandate from the Australian people to legislate a 43 per cent cut to emissions by 2030, but that the target is a floor and not a ceiling. The Greens say they will continue “good faith” negotiations.
• Speaking earlier this morning before parliament resumed, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he wanted to oversee a parliament that functions “much better than the last one”. “I want more unity, less division,” he said. Queensland Labor MP Milton Dick has been elected speaker of the House of Representatives while West Australian Labor senator Sue Lines has been elected president of the Senate.
• Meanwhile, the Coalition’s deputy leader in the Senate, Michaelia Cash, says former prime minister Scott Morrison’s decision to skip the first week of parliament to attend a conference in Tokyo is a matter for him and all interests will be declared in the usual way.
• In other news, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has condemned the execution of four pro-democracy activists in Myanmar and says Australia is considering sanctions against members of the country’s military junta.
• And all mail from China and Indonesia will be screened for foot and mouth disease.

I’m signing off the blog now. Angus Thompson will continue to cover federal parliament for the next few hours and Pallavi Singhal will be in the driver’s seat for the rest of the afternoon.

Have a great afternoon. I’m back bright and early tomorrow morning.

As flagged earlier this morning, Governor-General David Hurley arrived at Parliament House this afternoon where received the royal salute and inspected the guard.

The governor-general will then proceed to the Senate and summon the members of the House of Representatives. When all MPs are gathered, Hurley will declare the 47th parliament open. At the conclusion of his address, there will be a 19‑gun salute on the forecourt of Parliament House.