Australia news live: Nationals set to formalise position after vote to ditch net zero; more rain forecast after storms and hail lash Queensland and northern NSW | Australian politics
Citizens expected to formalize net zero position at party room meeting
Krishani Dhanji
The National Party is holding a special party room meeting this morning after the party’s federal council yesterday removed support for net zero from the federal platform.
senators Matt Canavan And Ross CadellThose tasked with reviewing the Nat’s energy and net zero policy are expected to present their review to the party room for debate this morning.
We were told this morning that this would take about two hours, and there is an expectation from some in the room that a policy position will be determined today.
A bitter fight has broken out between the Liberal and National parties and conservative and moderate groups over whether the net zero target should be retained, leading to speculation that the Coalition could split.
The problem caused: Barnaby Joyce Leaves national party chamber but party leader David Littleproud He confirmed on Saturday that Joyce was still a member of the party and could return to the party room.
You can follow the background of today’s meeting here:
important events
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt is defending the minister’s current overhaul of environmental laws, including the minister’s power to approve ongoing projects on grounds that are in the national interest, even if they are deemed to cause too much damage to the environment.
Watt is speaking to ABC TV’s Insider program this morning. He claimed the new laws would provide greater clarity than existing legislation on what would be an unacceptable impact on the environment. He said:
Under current legislation, a minister can turn down a project if it is clearly unacceptable, but there is no definition of what this means in current legislation.
What we are trying to do through these reforms is to actually provide a definition of what would be considered an unacceptable impact on the environment and therefore considered a no. The kinds of things we’re talking about in this definition are situations where, for example, something would seriously damage or cause irreparable damage to a particular environmental agent, and some of the examples I gave would be the extinction of thought if someone wanted to mine Uluru, build the Great Barrier Reef, or drive a species to extinction. I think most Australians would say this type of project would not go forward.
To clarify the previous Medicare post: The announcement is about the rollout of Labour’s $8.5 billion election promise to increase bulk billing. This was not a new announcement or new funding.
Nino Bucci
Australia needs a national hate crime definition, experts say
Hate crimes have long been debated in Australia, but the war in Gaza and an increase in reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia have brought laws designed to punish these crimes into the political spotlight.
Australian federal police commissioner Krissy BarrettHe went so far as to say that new national hate crime laws may need to be strengthened.
So how many of these crimes resulted in police charges across Australia? And how differently is a hate crime report handled in each jurisdiction?
After governments introduced new laws – following concerns about the accuracy of data on anti-Semitic incidents reported by New South Wales police and some states taking new approaches to the issue – Guardian Australia began investigating hate crime.
The picture that emerged was complex.
Read the full story from me and my colleague Adeshola Ore:
Expanding bulk billing will benefit ‘every voter in the country’, health minister says
A new $8.5 billion injection of funding into Medicare will mean “every voter in the country will now have GP surgeries mass billing every patient”, the health secretary has said. Mark Butler he said.
The federal government’s new funding announcement will expand incentives for bulk billing for GPs, which is a payment on top of Medicare benefits paid to GPs and encourages them to bulk bill patients.
The incentive was previously only available to bulk billing children under 16 and discount card holders. Expanding the scheme will mean GPs and practices will receive incentive payments for every patient they bulk bill.
The government claims this will result in 18 million additional bulk-billed GP visits per year, and that nine in 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed by 2030.
Butler said in a statement this morning:
I want every Australian to know that they only need a Medicare card, not a credit card, to get the healthcare they need.
Now every electorate in the country will have GP practices mass-billing every patient.
Citizens expected to formalize net zero position at party room meeting
Krishani Dhanji
The National Party is holding a special party room meeting this morning after the party’s federal council yesterday removed support for net zero from the federal platform.
senators Matt Canavan And Ross CadellThose tasked with reviewing the Nat’s energy and net zero policy are expected to present their review to the party room for debate this morning.
We were told this morning that this would take about two hours, and there is an expectation from some in the room that a policy position will be determined today.
A bitter fight has broken out between the Liberal and National parties and conservative and moderate groups over whether the net zero target should be retained, leading to speculation that the Coalition could split.
The problem caused: Barnaby Joyce Leaves national party chamber but party leader David Littleproud He confirmed on Saturday that Joyce was still a member of the party and could return to the party room.
You can follow the background of today’s meeting here:
Albanese praises Apec opportunities for ‘informal dialogue’
Prime minister, Anthony Albanese, He said he wanted to see “more cooperation” between China and the US on artificial intelligence, but said the meeting between the Presidents Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping An “important step forward” was taken in Korea this week.
The leaders are in Gyeongju for the Apec summit, where Albanese also met with the new Japanese prime minister. Takaichi Sanaeand Thailand’s new prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul.
Albanese said he has personally had “four or five interactions” with President Xi and “has also had multiple interactions with President Trump,” including at last week’s informal dinner.
I also quite enjoy the informal dialogue… Of course, the informal dinner here with President Trump was a few hours of informal discussion. This is how you build relationships. They are formal meetings where there are tickets, people take notes, I tell you what was said, and then it’s just interaction with people.
On AI, Albanese said Xi and Trump “agreed to dialogue next year”:
It is in the world’s interest for the world’s two largest economies and powers to engage constructively with each other. Their actions have an impact all over the world. We live in an interconnected world. Several people have commented in recent days that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is affecting supermarket shelves in Chile, Mexico and Australia.
Therefore, we need to encourage cooperation in all areas whenever possible. That’s what Australia is doing and we want to see more of it. I think there have been some positive steps forward this week.
More rain on the horizon after severe storms and huge hail in Queensland and NSW
Millions of people saw the worst of the weekend’s wild weather after giant hailstones, rain and devastating winds hit parts of eastern Australia. AAP reports.
Thunderstorms hit an area from central Queensland to northern NSW on Saturday, inundating Brisbane, the Sunshine and Gold Coasts as they moved east; The Bureau of Meteorology issued warnings late into the night.
It was reported that car windows were broken and houses were damaged in some regions, and thousands of houses were left without electricity due to the storms with hail up to 9 cm wide and winds of up to 100 km per hour.
According to media reports, many people were treated due to hail.
In NSW, 7cm hail fell in parts of the Hunter, mid-north coast and central tablelands on Saturday, while Grafton in the northern rivers region received 70mm of rain in half an hour.
Although the storms are planned to continue today, they are expected to be controlled in a smaller area.
“Many places will not see the same risk,” BoM forecaster Angus Hines in question. “But that doesn’t mean there’s no risk.”
Hines said severe storms were likely to continue to plague the sunny state, but they were expected to affect areas from Brisbane to Bundaberg.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to your Sunday live news blog. my name is Stephanie Convery and I will be with you most of today, bringing you the latest news as it happens.
First of all, the Prime Minister Anthony AlbanesePresident says he wants to see more cooperation between US and China after diplomatic talks Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping At the Apec summit in South Korea this week. We’ll say more about these comments in a moment.
When we returned home, the federal health minister said, Mark Butlerannounced an $8.5 billion investment in Medicare, expanding bulk billing incentive payments to general practitioners; The government says this will make bulk billing available to more patients – up to 18 million additional bulk billed GP visits each year.
And the Nationals have a party room meeting this morning where they are expected to formalize their net zero position following yesterday’s vote to abandon the pledge.
Grab a coffee and settle in: All this and more coming soon.
