Politics live: Greens propose tax change to save Australians $1,000 a year; eSafety says social media akin to gladiator arena | Australia news
Shoebridge to pitch increased welfare spending, hike in tax-free threshold
Tom McIlroy
The Greens leader, David Shoebridge, will address the National Press Club in Canberra today, promising to help Australians struggling with cost-of-living and answering questions about allegations against senator Jordon Steele-John.
He will propose lifting the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $26,000, meaning people earning a wage won’t pay tax on their first $26,000. He says that will save the average working Australian more than $1,000.
The Greens are also proposing a $1,000 annual boost for people on income support, including pensioners, carers, students, and job seekers.
No matter who you are, whether you’re working, studying, looking for work or on a pension, you’ll get more than $1,000.
Costings for the Greens from the Parliamentary Budget Office show the plan would cost about $22bn a year, with Shoebridge proposing to pay for it through higher taxes on gas exports and a market-based tax on resources companies.
Steele-John is on leave from parliament amid an investigation into allegations about his conduct towards women. He has denied the allegations.
Key events
Opposition accused of ‘refusing to participate’ on digital duty of care
Communications minister, Anika Wells, has said she is discussing the government’s latest tranche of social media reforms and has kept her door open to all parliamentarians who want to find ways to improve the bill.
But she told ABC Radio National:
The oppositions say they care about kids’ safety online and I believe them – but parliament is where you prove it.
Where are their amendments?
The test is simple here, they should bring an amendment, not a slogan to kill the bill.
Online hate is spilling into the real world, AFP warns
No single measure can undo the change in social attitudes driving political threats, according to the head of the Australian federal police, as it grapples with how to keep parliamentarians safe.
As the nation comes to grips with an alleged attack against independent MP Helen Haines, AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett said it has aligned with a global trend of violence emerging with little or no warning from individuals largely unknown to authorities.
“Lone actors are being motivated by a convergence of personal grievances, mental health vulnerabilities and ideological concerns,” she told the Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday night.
Barrett said technology has enabled an “instant pipeline of hate” delivered to people’s homes, including teenagers, and workplaces because of the ubiquity of devices.
– Australian Associated Press
Adeshola Ore
Racism going undercounted in Australia, report finds
Data on racism is limited, inconsistent across jurisdictions and leading to people’s experience of discrimination being severely undercounted, a new report by the Australian Human Rights Commission has found.
The report, titled Data for Change: A National Approach to Anti-Racism Data, is being released today by the race discrimination commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman.
It renews calls for national data reform to ensure racism is not undercounted. The recommendation to develop a national anti-racism data plan was contained in the commission’s national anti-racism framework released in 2024, but to which the Albanese government is yet to respond.
The report also recommends strengthening the monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs designed to eliminate racism.
Sivaraman said:
We hear about the devastating impacts of racism from communities every day. But many experiences go unreported or uncounted, and our systems often do not capture the full picture.
This is not about collecting more data to prove racism exists. We already know it does. It is about making inequality visible, holding institutions to account and giving communities greater agency over their data to drive real change.
PM did not mislead voters over golf club grant, Murray Watt says
The environment minister, Murray Watt, has backed the prime minister after he conceded “it was not correct” to say a $6m grant to the Marrickville golf club was for sewerage works.
Asked whether Anthony Albanese misled parliament over this grant, Watt told ABC News Breakfast:
The prime minister was correct in saying that the original announcement included that sewerage work to remove pollution going into the Cooks River. Obviously, the situation changed with the New South Wales government making a similar commitment
Australia pays biggest bill for global diesel crisis
Australia has paid more than twice as much as any other nation in additional diesel import costs during the global fuel crisis, with a report putting the toll at $9bn over six months.
The added cost equates to $324 for every Australian, exceeding the bills incurred by Brazil, South Africa, France and the UK.
The Climate Council released the figures from its energy security scorecard on Wednesday, which also found Australia paid an extra $1.6bn for petrol imports.
The findings come days after oil prices reached a six-month high amid escalating threats in the Middle East.
– Australian Associated Press
No new numbers on social media ban deactivations due to investigations
Tom McIlroy
The eSafety commissioner won’t release updated figures on the number of accounts held by under-16s that have been deactivated or suspended in compliance with the social media ban as investigations are underway into compliance with five of the platforms.
In March, the commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, announced that TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat were under investigation for compliance with the ban, and with new powers to compel the companies to produce documents, that investigation is under way, Inman Grant told Senate estimates last night.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said more than 5m accounts have been deactivated across the 10 platforms required to comply, but no more updated figures will be coming while the investigations are ongoing as it may prejudice the outcome of those investigations, officials told Senate estimates.
No decision has been made as to whether to take any of the platforms to court to seek fines of nearly $100m for breaches of the law.
The government has resisted providing a public breakdown of the accounts deactivated across the 10 platforms but some companies – such as Meta and Snapchat – have provided their own figures.
Liberal senator Sarah Henderson requested the eSafety commissioner release the data publicly as “the numbers don’t add up”, indicating that the committee was provided much more detail privately by eSafety on the figures that had not been made public.
The question was taken on notice.
Kat Wong
Thanks for kicking things off this morning, Martin Farrer. I’ll take us through the blog for another busy sitting day.
eSafety commissioner and family subjected to ‘onslaught of online abuse and threats’
Josh Taylor
Australia’s eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said she and her family had been subjected to an onslaught of online abuse and threats in the 10 years she has been in the role.
In her final appearance before Senate estimates last night, Inman Grant said it was a “sensitive and pivotal moment” for the parliament in the wake of the alleged attack on Helen Haines, and the environment was “dangerously febrile for women in senior government roles.”
When public officials are used for political point scoring, a target goes on our backs and we are subjected to an onslaught of online abuse and threats.
As many of you know, this has been the normal state of affairs for me and my family for years, yet somehow this is meant to be accepted as part of public service.
Inman Grant did not name any people who have targeted her personally, but her work in the role has seen her labelled as a “censorship commissar” by the world’s richest person, Elon Musk. US Republican congressman Jim Jordan labelled Inman Grant as a “zealot for global takedowns”.
Inman Grant said more needs to be done for the next generation of leaders to feel safe in online spaces or public-facing roles.
Social media is no longer the once envisioned digital town square – it has become more like a gladiatorial arena.
Meanwhile, platforms continue to roll back abuse and violent speech policies that let some of the most egregious offenders out of digital jail.
Read our story here:
Shoebridge to pitch increased welfare spending, hike in tax-free threshold
Tom McIlroy
The Greens leader, David Shoebridge, will address the National Press Club in Canberra today, promising to help Australians struggling with cost-of-living and answering questions about allegations against senator Jordon Steele-John.
He will propose lifting the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $26,000, meaning people earning a wage won’t pay tax on their first $26,000. He says that will save the average working Australian more than $1,000.
The Greens are also proposing a $1,000 annual boost for people on income support, including pensioners, carers, students, and job seekers.
No matter who you are, whether you’re working, studying, looking for work or on a pension, you’ll get more than $1,000.
Costings for the Greens from the Parliamentary Budget Office show the plan would cost about $22bn a year, with Shoebridge proposing to pay for it through higher taxes on gas exports and a market-based tax on resources companies.
Steele-John is on leave from parliament amid an investigation into allegations about his conduct towards women. He has denied the allegations.
Inflation expected to rise to 4.2%
Patrick Commins
Official data released at 11:30am are expected to show inflation accelerated to 4.2% in the year to September, from 4% in the month before, as rising fuel costs amid a worsening Middle East conflict compound cost of living pressures.
Look out for the Reserve Bank’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation, which removes the most volatile prices. That measure is predicted to hold at 3.6% in the year to the September quarter, economists say, but anything higher will virtually guarantee a fifth interest rate hike next Tuesday.
The RBA may feel the need to hike regardless, as recent comments from top central bank officials suggest they are more worried about high inflation becoming entrenched in the system than the rising rate of unemployment.
Financial markets are pricing in about a 65% chance of a Melbourne Cup day rate rise.
The latest inflation report also lands in the middle of a parliamentary sitting week, and the opposition will be quick to use the figures to attack Labor for its management of the economy.
Rising unemployment and accelerating inflation is not a situation anyone is comfortable with. But a more benign set of numbers today will take the heat off mortgaged households, the Reserve Bank and the Albanese government.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Kat Wong with the main action.
Australia’s eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, told Senate estimates last night that she and her family had been subjected to an onslaught of online abuse and threats in the 10 years she has been in the role. More details in a minute.
The latest inflation figures will be released at 11.30am and are expected to show an increase in prices of 4.2% in the year to September. That means the chances of a rate hike on Melbourne Cup day next week will also rise. More coming up.
