Thread: Keeping tabs on Australia"s newly elected Government

Australia begins clean-up after floods kill 5, damage 10,000 properties

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday the clean-up had begun in the country's southeast after floods killed five people and inundated more than 10,000 properties.

"We’re continuing to work closely across federal, state and local governments to make sure Australians get the support they need now and through recovery," Albanese said on social media platform X.

Damage assessments were under way in New South Wales' hard-hit mid-north coast region after floods this week cut off towns, swept away livestock and destroyed homes, the state's emergency services agency said. It estimated that at least 10,000 properties may have been damaged.

Conditions had improved since Friday in the affected areas of Australia's most populous state, the agency said.

Even so, hundreds of flood-hit residents were still in evacuation centres, State Emergency Services commissioner Mike Wassing said at a media conference in Sydney, with 52 flood rescues being made overnight.

The latest flood-linked death was that of a man in his 80s, whose body was found at a flooded property about 50 km (31 miles) from Taree, one of the worst-hit towns, police said.

Albanese, forced on Friday to cancel a trip to Taree due to floodwaters, said it was "awful to hear the news of more loss of life". Taree sits along the Manning River more than 300 km (186 miles) north of Sydney.

"All of our thoughts are with his loved ones and the community at this time," Albanese said in a statement.

The floods, sparked by days of incessant rain, submerged intersections and street signs in mid-north coast towns and covered cars up to their windshields, after fast-rising waters burst river banks. At their peak, the floods isolated around 50,000 people.

Australia has been hit with more extreme weather events that some experts say are the result of climate change. After droughts and devastating bushfires at the end of last decade, frequent floods have wreaked havoc since early 2021.

reuters.com

Matt Kean says election was win for rational policy

The chair of the Climate Change Authority, Matt Kean, has said the federal election was a “win for rational decision-making and rational policy” and the authority has been consulting on a potential 2035 emissions reduction target of between 65% and 75%.

Kean, a former NSW Liberal energy minister, told a webinar organised by news website the Energy that “the Australian public clearly chose the rational path, which is also the cheapest path, and also the path that lets us decarbonise the economy”. He said:

This election result was a win for rational decision-making and rational policy.

And clearly there was a fork in the road when it came to the choices that Australians were presented with when it came to the energy transition and the transition of our broader economy.

Under one path, one party was saying we’re going to delay the transition to net zero until 2048 when we might install some nuclear reactors.

He said the election outcome was a “win for evidence, engineering and science” and “I think clearly the government has a mandate to get on with this energy transition”.

The Guardian

PM sends army to help clean up after devastating NSW floods

Seventy Australian defence force personnel will be deployed to the New South Wales mid-north coast to assist with the cleanup from the devastating floods.

The troops will be on the ground from Tuesday alongside the veteran-led Disaster Relief Australia, helping to clear debris, reopen roads and conduct welfare checks on residents in the flood zone.

Anthony Albanese announced the ADF deployments as the massive cleanup operation began for communities across the region.

Unfortunately we are getting far too much experience in dealing with extreme weather events, the prime minister told a press conference inside the national situation room in Canberra.

Science told us that there would be more frequent events and that they would be more intense, and that is what we are seeing playing out with a devastating impact on communities; most significantly, a devastating human impact, with five lives lost during this event, but also a significant environmental impact and of course a significant economic impact as well.

The Guardian

Culture war cost us seats, senior Liberals tell Four Corners

Current and former Liberal party MPs and senators have said the party’s focus on culture war has seen their inner-city constituencies abandon them and contributed to their election loss in what one called fairy floss politics.

Speaking to ABC’s Four Corners on Monday night, former NSW Liberal president Jason Falinski, former senator George Brandis and NSW senator Maria Kovacic criticised their party’s focus on small, hard-right constituencies and culture wars.

The party alienated women, especially those who wanted to work from home, offended public servants, multicultural communities, people in the inner cities, students and other minority groups as well, Brandis said:

It was almost as if we were running out of new people to offend.

People who felt the party needed to lean harder into the culture wars were “nuts”, Brandis said:

The people you have to persuade are the people who didn’t vote for you last time but are open to persuasion. And those people live in the centre ground of Australian politics. And if you spend your time drinking your own political bathwater and only living in an echo chamber of far-rightwing opinion, you’re never going to get them.

Falinski said that fairy floss politics – that is, high-calorie, low-nutrition politics such as copying Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, concept – was not healthy for us.

Kovacic said:

I don’t think that everyday Australians are particularly interested in culture wars. People have abandoned us in the cities because our messaging doesn’t resonate with them, and they haven’t gone to the right. They voted for Labor and the teals because what we’re selling them isn’t aligned with them.

The Guardian

Australia’s youngest-ever senator Charlotte Walker has a lot to learn but says she is ‘not naive’

Walker unexpectedly took the sixth Senate spot for Labor in South Australia at the election on 3 May – her 21st birthday

The median age of Australia’s federal parliamentarians is 50.

On election night, as the scale of Labor’s victory was revealed, Charlotte Walker was blowing out the candles on her 21st birthday cake.

On Tuesday, she was officially declared a Labor senator for South Australia and became the youngest senator ever elected.

“I’m just taking it a day at a time,” she tells Guardian Australia as she prepares for Senate school in Canberra.

On 3 May Walker worked on polling booths then spent the night in the seat of Boothby, where Labor’s Louise Miller-Frost held out against Liberal Nicolle Flint. Amid the other celebrations, a colleague sorted her out with cake.

Walker says she loves her work for the Australian Services Union, and would be staying there if she wasn’t off to Canberra.

Asked what makes her nervous about her parliamentary debut, she says she is “not naive”.

“There’s a lot to learn,” she says, but the support from her union and Labor colleagues has been “amazing”.

The Guardian

Labor approves extension of Woodside’s contentious North West Shelf gas development

The environment minister, Murray Watt, has given the greenlight to Woodside Energy’s application to extend the life of one of the world’s biggest liquified natural gas projects from 2030 to 2070.

Watt said he had told Woodside he planned to approve the life extension of the North West Shelf gas processing plant, on the Burrup Peninsula in northern Western Australia, with “strict conditions” relating to local air pollution. Woodside has 10 days to respond.

The proposed approval has come despite some experts raising concerns about the impact of local pollution on a globally significant collection of rock art in the Murujuga cultural landscape, which includes the Burrup Peninsula. The area is home to more than 1m petroglyphs, some nearly 50,000 years old.

Scientists and activists have said the life extension could be linked to up to 6bn tonnes of greenhouse gases being emitted in the decades ahead, mostly after the gas is shipped and burned overseas.

The Guardian

Andrew Forrest’s mining company Fortescue says North West Shelf project approval ‘a step backwards’ on climate ambition

The mining company Fortescue Metals – owned by the billionaire Andrew Forrest, who says he aims to meet “real zero” carbon emissions – has sharply criticised the Albanese government’s approval of a 40-year life extension for the North West Shelf gas processing facility.

The company’s chief executive, Dino Otranto, said the idea that Australia could lock in fossil fuel projects until 2070 while still claiming progress toward net zero was “concerning”.

If Australia is serious about tackling climate change we must move beyond net zero and commit to genuine emissions reduction.

Extending high-emitting projects like the North West Shelf is not a credible long-term climate solution – it’s a step backward. More than that, it raises serious questions about how we define climate ambition in Australia.

We need to ask ourselves why we are rewarding companies that continue to burn fossil fuels, instead of incentivising those that are leading the way on decarbonisation. Every year, Australia pours billions into fossil fuel subsidies – public funds that should be redirected toward eliminating emissions.

The Guardian

Winter to be warmer than average across Australia, BoM says

Winter will be warmer and in some places wetter than average this year, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

“While winter is a time for cooler weather, the winter long-range forecast shows day and night temperatures are likely to be above average across Australia for this time of the year,” BoM said in its forecast.

Rainfall is also expected to be above average for interior and central parts of the country, while parts of the tropical north, south-east and south-west will see rainfall in the typical range.

This includes in parts of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania that have been affected by prolonged dry conditions as well as parts of New South Wales recently impacted by severe flooding, BoM said.

This winter forecast follows an autumn which was much wetter than average in the north and east of Australia, and much drier than average in many southern parts.

There is also an “unseasonal increased risk of fire this winter” across parts of South Australia and Victoria.

The Guardian

Australia is the best country in the world,’ PM Albanese hints at legacy

Albanese also shared insights on upcoming infrastructure plans tied to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.

In a relaxed and rollicking interview on Brisbane’s Nova radio, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mixed banter, music nostalgia and politics, declaring confidently, “Australia is the best country in the world.”

Albanese made a rockstar-style entrance — timed perfectly with a Rihanna track — prompting the hosts to joke, “I’m not coming in until they play Rihanna,” to which the PM quipped, “Exactly.”

The light-hearted conversation drifted into 90s music, Origin footy heartbreak, DJing days, and his love for the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He cheekily admitted he’d only made it to one game this year — the one where Souths pipped the Broncos with Latrell Mitchell’s heroics, to the despair of Queensland fans.

“You’re doubling down on us,” laughed the hosts as Albanese recalled Latrell’s epic field goal and tackle on a “rampaging Payne Haas,” which left Broncos fans crushed.

But the banter gave way to more serious reflections on political life. The PM noted that politics is “an honourable profession” but not for the faint-hearted, stressing the personal toll, public scrutiny, and resilience required.

“You’ve got to be motivated by wanting to make a difference,” he said, recalling moments where government policies had tangibly helped Australians, from housing support to single parent payments.

Albanese also shared insights on upcoming infrastructure plans tied to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics. He assured listeners that the government was committed to delivering value-for-money legacy projects, like a new arena and upgraded facilities, hinting at a mix of public and private investment.

“It will happen,” he said confidently, adding that the Games would be a moment for Brisbane to shine — just like Sydney did in 2000.

The PM wrapped with fond memories of cheering on weightlifters over beers during the Sydney Olympics:

Everyone in the audience wants everyone to be successful.

With cracking one-liners, classic rock throwbacks, and a dose of optimism, the Prime Minister’s Nova appearance served up Albanese at his most relatable — part fan, part leader, and all in for Australia.

‘Australia is the best country in the world,’ PM Albanese hints at legacy | The Australia Today

Federal budget deficit running better than expected, data shows

The federal budget deficit is already running $4.8bn better than expected in the financial year to April, according to the Department of Finance’s latest monthly statements.

To be clear: the nation’s finances are still in the red, just not as deeply as anticipated a couple of months ago.

The March 25 budget forecast an underlying cash deficit of $24bn in the first 10 months of 2024-25.

But the departmental figures show the actual deficit for the period came in at $19.2bn.

The rapid improvement was powered by corporate taxes coming in $3.2bn better than anticipated, the statements show.

High commodity prices may explain the larger than anticipated tax take on profits: the iron ore price is still sky high, trading at about $US96 a tonne, despite the global jitters caused by Trump’s tariffs.

The March budget predicted last financial year’s surplus of $15.8bn would flip to a $27.6bn deficit in 2024-25 – the start of a string of deficits.

“The budgetary bad news is arriving more slowly than Treasury and Finance forecast,” the independent economist, Chris Richardson, said.

The Guardian

Australia’s emissions up slightly in 2024 as Labor faces heat over ‘climate-wrecking’ gas project

Australia’s climate-heating emissions increased fractionally last year as pollution from fossil fuel power plants rose for the first time in a decade, and domestic air travel and use of diesel-powered cars and trucks hit record highs.

The jump in emissions was small – just 0.05% – due to falls in pollution from other sectors. But the direction was at odds with the Albanese government’s pledge to cut pollution to reach targets for 2030 and 2050.

The data was released on Friday, two days after the environment minister, Murray Watt, announced he planned to approve a 40-year life extension for one of Australia’s biggest fossil fuel developments – Woodside Energy’s North West Shelf liquified natural gas (LNG) processing facility in the Pilbara.

Based on the Burrup peninsula, in Murujuga country, the North West Shelf is Australia’s third biggest industrial polluter, responsible for about 1.4% of the country’s annual climate pollution.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has rejected concerns about the facility’s emissions continuing for decades after 2050, saying the national goal was “net zero, not zero”, implying ongoing fossil fuel use could be justified by using a contentious carbon offset scheme. His comments echoed language used in 2021 by the Coalition’s then emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, when defending climate policies under Scott Morrison.

Rising electricity use

The quarterly greenhouse gas inventory said the increase in national emissions last year may be short-lived, with preliminary data suggesting they fell in the first quarter this year.

Emissions last year were estimated to be 446.4m tonnes of carbon dioxide, 0.2m tonnes higher than in 2023. The increase is largely due to pollution from electricity generation rising by 2.2%, reversing a 10-year trend. Australians used more electricity overall, and there was less hydro power available than usual during winter. Solar use was up, but the extra demand was otherwise met by more coal and gas.

Initial data for the March quarter suggest the long-term trend of pollution from electricity falling should restart this year. This has been backed by a separate report by the Australian Energy Market Operator.

At the end of last year emissions from power generation was 23.7% lower than in 2005. Experts expect it to continue to fall as a government underwriting program announced in November 2023 supports an influx of new large-scale solar, wind and batteries.

But emissions from transport continue to surge as Australians fly more and burn more diesel in bigger cars and trucks. Pollution from the transport sector was up 1.9% last year. It has skyrocketed 20.8% since 2005.

Vehicle efficiency standards introduced last year require auto companies to reduce the average pollution from new cars each year, but they are expected to only gradually affect total transport emissions.

‘More to do’

Government officials estimated national pollution was 27% below 2005 levels, largely due to a change in the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the land and forests. The Albanese government has a legislated target of a 43% cut by 2030 and has promised a 2035 target later this year.

The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said Labor was on track to reach the 2030 target but there was “more to do” to get there.

‘We’ll determine our defence policy’: Albanese responds to US push for huge rise in spending as it stokes China fears

Anthony Albanese has responded to the United States’ calls for a huge rise in defence spending amid fears about China, while hitting back at Donald Trump’s move to double tariffs on steel and aluminium.

On Saturday Pete Hegseth urged US allies in the region, including Australia, to “share the burden” and lift defence spending to 5% of GDP, warning that “Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”.

“There’s no reason to sugar coat it,” he said. “The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent.”

Albanese said Australia had already committed to additional investment in defence and would “determine our defence policy”.

“We’ll determine our defence policy, we’ve invested, just across [the next four years], an additional $10bn in defence,” the prime minister said on Sunday. “What we’ll do is continue to invest in our capability but also our relationships in the region.

“Our position in regards to Taiwan is very clear, has been for a long time – a bipartisan position to support the status quo.”

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Australia is on track to lift defence spending to 2.4% of GDP by 2033-34, up from the approximately 2% it is on now.

The Pentagon undersecretary Elbridge Colby has previously told a US Senate hearing that the US wanted Australia to reach a 3% defence spending threshold.

On Sunday, Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles said the issue of defence spending was a conversation he was “totally up for”, noting Hegseth had raised it in talks.

The head of China’s delegation at the conference dismissed Hegseth’s warnings as “groundless accusations” and “nothing more than attempts to provoke trouble, incite division and stir up confrontation to destabilise the Asia-Pacific region”, according to Associated Press.

Marles noted that China had developed the single biggest increase in military capability by any country since WWII, and that it had occurred “without strategic reassurance” and “without a clear strategic intent”.

The tussle comes as Donald Trump announced he would double steel and aluminium import tariffs worldwide from 25% to 50% from 4 June to “further secure” his country’s domestic industry.

Albanese reiterated on Sunday that the president’s decision was an “an act of economic self-harm” and “inappropriate” for US consumers.

The trade minister, Don Farrell, said Australia would “convince” the US to exempt Australia from the universal tariffs.

“We’re going to coolly and calmly argue our case for the removal of these tariffs,” he said.

The energy minister, Chris Bowen, told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday “all options” would be considered, including a World Trade Organization dispute, but the first step would be discussions with the US.

Trump had said he would give “great consideration” to an exemption for Australia from steel and aluminium tariffs in February but ultimately decided against any exemptions.

Albanese is expected to meet Trump in person for the first time since both leaders were re-elected on the sidelines of the G7 leaders’ summit in Canada this month.

The shadow finance minister, James Paterson, said the US decision was “harmful” to its relationship with Australia and that the prime minister needed to “robustly defend” Australia’s interests.

“[Albanese] should lay out the case to the president both why these tariffs are unwise and unjustified, generally, but particularly why they’re unjustified when it comes to Australia, a country with which the United States has a trade surplus,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

Australia exports relatively little steel to the US. About 2.5% of US aluminium imports by volume come from Australia, but this is less than 10% of Australia’s total exports of the metal.

The National party leader, David Littleproud, said Albanese should convince Trump of the seriousness of the decision and to return to “rules-based order of trade”.

“We have a compelling case, to have a carve-out, even if you take away the insanity of these tariffs as a whole because of our relationship and the cheque we just dropped for submarines with the United States,” he told Weekend Today.