Australian politics live: Man cautioned after allegedly stalking female Labor MPs; PM dismisses Costello criticism | Australian politics
Man cautioned after allegedly stalking two SA members of parliament
A man who allegedly targeted two South Australian member of parliament has been cautioned.
SA police issued stalking cautions to the 44-year-old man on Tuesday afternoon and said the cautions related to separate alleged incidents involving two MPs that were not connected.
He was also arrested for a separate alleged breach of bail.
The state’s education minister, Lucy Hood, and another Labor MP, Ella Shaw, spoke about their alleged experiences during a press conference on Wednesday.
Shaw alleged she was involved in an incident in her community while working and said she made the report because she didn’t want “any young person in my electorate to feel the way I was made to feel”.
The education minister said it was “frustrating and unfortunate”, telling reporters:
It is a sad occurrence that the political discourse has moved to such a level that we see young women in our parliament who are having to put up with this behaviour.
Key events
Taylor says country needs to get ‘balance right’ on datacentres
Angus Taylor, the opposition leader, said the country needs to get the “balance right” on AI, but powering datacentres with renewables only would not deliver for Australians.
Taylor spoke to reporters earlier, saying the debate around datacentres was “pretty common sense”
It’s like gas, you’ve got to get the balance right. And the balance is put them in the right locations where there’s community support, and there will be locations with community support.
Critically, make sure you’ve got the energy you need. So these datacentres are not going to drive up the cost of energy for Australians.
I tell you, a renewables-only strategy is not going to deliver on this.
Man cautioned after allegedly stalking two SA members of parliament
A man who allegedly targeted two South Australian member of parliament has been cautioned.
SA police issued stalking cautions to the 44-year-old man on Tuesday afternoon and said the cautions related to separate alleged incidents involving two MPs that were not connected.
He was also arrested for a separate alleged breach of bail.
The state’s education minister, Lucy Hood, and another Labor MP, Ella Shaw, spoke about their alleged experiences during a press conference on Wednesday.
Shaw alleged she was involved in an incident in her community while working and said she made the report because she didn’t want “any young person in my electorate to feel the way I was made to feel”.
The education minister said it was “frustrating and unfortunate”, telling reporters:
It is a sad occurrence that the political discourse has moved to such a level that we see young women in our parliament who are having to put up with this behaviour.
Albanese dismisses economic criticism from ‘partisan participant’ Peter Costello
The PM is asked about criticism of the government’s handling of economic issues from former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello, who served under John Howard.
In response, Anthony Albanese offers a prediction for the next election in 2028:
Peter Costello is a partisan participant. He’s not an observer. He’s not a commentator. I quite like Peter …
I’ll make this prediction: when the election’s on in 2028, there’ll be a splash in a broadsheet which is ‘Howard condemns Albanese government’ – wait for it.
Inflation rise part of ‘global uplift’: Albanese
Anthony Albanese has once again pointed to international affairs when pushed on cost pressures faced by ordinary Australians.
He says:
Some of these pressures are global, which is why we’re seeing that global uplift in inflation, and we’re not immune from that impact.
It’s one of the reasons why we have continued to call for a de-escalation in conflict in the Middle East, because it is having an impact here.
PM insists government is addressing the cost of living
Following yesterday’s latest inflation figures, the prime minister has maintained his government is bringing down the cost of living.
Anthony Albanese points to his government’s budget surpluses and other measures that “ensure that any cost-of-living measures are ones that not just provide help for people today, but build a stronger tomorrow”.
‘Nativist’ opposition to EU trade deal not in national interest: Albanese
Opposition to the EU free trade deal is “an excuse for going down the road of protectionist and nativist politics”, Anthony Albanese says.
He told reporters:
Nativist politics is not in Australia’s national interest. We are a trading nation. We are an island continent in which economic growth and productivity is boosted by engaging with the world.
PM says Coalition’s fair trade credentials will be ‘shredded’ if EU deal support withheld
The Coalition’s support for free and fair trade will be undermined unless it supports the government’s deal with the EU, the prime minister has said.
For people who say they belong to a political party that supports markets and supports free and fair trade – that will be completely undermined and shredded unless they support this legislation.
PM talks up EU free trade deal amid scrutiny
The Australia-European Union free trade agreement has come under the spotlight this sitting week.
Anthony Albanese says it would boost the economy and benefit areas like critical minerals, fruit and vegetable production, and the wine industry.
But it has been under discussion for years and continues to face roadblocks due to concerns from farmers.
Gas reservation policy set for lower house vote today
Australia’s domestic gas reservation is set to be debated and voted on in the lower house today.
Ahead of this, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says it is important for increasingly supply and putting downward pressure on prices.
PM spruiks social media reforms in press conference
The prime minister is urging the Senate to pass his government’s latest social media reforms, telling reporters it is about returning control to Australian people:
Rather than international base companies, determining through algorithms what Australians receive, it empowers people themselves to determine what you receive on your devices, so that you should have that control.
This isn’t about government having a greater role. It’s about people having a greater role, having more control themselves, and it’s deserving of support of this parliament.
Greens announce plan to make Yarra River swimmable
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian Greens have announced a $70m election commitment to make Melbourne’s Yarra River swimmable in the next decade.
Approximately $50m would be spent on pollution and storm water management improvements in the urban catchment zone, while $20m would go to grants for community, environmental and First Nations groups to support the health of the river, its tributaries and surrounding land.
The plan also includes tougher penalties and enforcement against polluters and legislated targets to have the entire river swimmable by 2036 and some sections safe within five years. The government would be required to publicly report on progress.
Once swimmable, the Greens would set up accessible swimming places along the river for people with disabilities.
The Victorian Greens leader, Ellen Sandell, says:
Imagine a Melbourne where you can finish work on a hot summer’s day, head down to the Birrarung/Yarra and jump straight in. Victorians used to swim in the Birrarung/Yarra. There’s absolutely no reason why we can’t again. Paris has done it in the Seine, we could do it here too.
Earlier this month, four Melbourne councils and Melbourne Water joined together to pledge to make the Yarra swimmable by 2050. In 2024 the Yarra city council signed on to the international Swimmable Cities Charter, created in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics, which aimed to make urban swimming the status quo.
Swimming in the waterway was restricted in the 1960s and then altogether banned downstream of Abbotsford due to pollution and contamination.
Cutting spending best way to address ‘silent tax’ of inflation, Hastie says
Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has said Australians should be “very concerned” about the prospect of another interest rate rise.
He tells ABC Radio National:
Inflation is a silent tax that is eating away at people’s wealth.
He added the best thing the government could do was to cut spending and manage its finances.
The assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino, has defended his government’s reaction to inflation after data showed it was 4.3% to September, telling ABC Radio National:
We’re not blaming foreign situations and leaving it at that.
I think it’s important context to acknowledge that there are inflationary impulses coming internationally.
But as I pointed to, we need to continue to strengthen our fiscal position. We’ve done that across a number of budgetsand we need to continue with productivity reforms.
Our inflation explorer tracks how prices have risen – or fallen – since 2022
Australia must navigate global factors in battle against inflation, assistant treasurer says
Higher-than-expected inflation figures and an increasingly likely rate rise are continuing to dominate the news cycle.
Asked why the government is unable to bring inflation down, the assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino, pointed to the impact of international affairs on Australia’s economy.
He told ABC Radio National:
What we saw in the figures released earlier this week is that the conflict in Iran is lasting longer and is more severe than had been forecast, and that means that global energy prices are higher than had been expected a few months ago.
We’re seeing higher inflation than expected right across the advanced economy world.
Pushed on why other nations were having more success in bringing inflation down, Mulino said other countries “have not been anywhere near as successful as Australia in terms of their labour market outcomes”.
Kat Wong
Thanks for taking us through those updates, Martin Farrer! I’ll steer us through the rest of the day’s news as we round off the last parliamentary sitting of the week.
US increasingly seen as a ‘threat’ by Australians, survey shows
Australia’s immediate neighbours are trusted more than historic allies, according to a new survey AAP reports on, which shows the United States is increasingly considered a “threat”.
Only half of the Australians polled in a YouGov survey, commissioned by the Australia Institute, considered longtime ally the US a “friend”. Meanwhile 42% perceived America as a “threat” (defined as a nation viewed with caution or suspicion).
Only 4% of young voters labelled the US a “close friend” while over half of young Australians considered it a threat.
Two-thirds of One Nation voters perceive the US as a friend, with the Coalition close behind. Labor voters are largely split and only one-quarter of Greens voters view the global superpower positively.
Only 21% of respondents had confidence in Donald Trump to “do the right thing” in world affairs, ahead of only the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.
Indonesia, a close geographic neighbour and emerging partner, has been rated a more trusted partner than the United States, leading by 14% in the friend category.
Social media a ‘business model for hate’: Chalmers
Tom McIlroy
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says overheated discourse on social media is in large part responsible for the toxicity in politics, including the threats and abuse being sprayed at politicians.
Speaking at the Political Book of the Year awards in Canberra last night, Chalmers reflected on the alleged attack against Indi MP Helen Haines last week. He said hate had always been present in Australian society but it now has “a business model, a formula, an assembly line for mass-production.”
He described a new kind of digital misogyny that follows women in public life wherever they go, making the current climate harshest for women.
That climate is no accident. Hate is monetised and weaponised by algorithmic rage-bait. Extremism is incentivised; nuance is penalised. The most available public figures are the most vulnerable.
So tonight is a little reminder of why reason and research matters, why nuance matters, what’s at risk and what’s at stake and why that matters too.
Books inform our views without hardening them. Social media hardens our views without informing them.
Haines is recovering in hospital. Police have charged a 43-year-old man over the alleged attack outside her Wangaratta electorate office.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Kat Wong with the main action.
