Rate hike a ‘wake-up call’ for Labor, Taylor says
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, described Tuesday’s rate hike as a “wake-up call for government”.
Less than a week out from the Albanese government’s budget, Taylor says if he was in charge of the books he would want to create a clear plan to bring down inflation and a budget surplus.
He’s told ABC News Breakfast this morning:
It is clear that Australia is now running world-leading inflation. We don’t want to lead the world in this way …
First and foremost, we need to see budget surpluses, budget balance over the next four years.
The best way to take the heat off inflation is for the government to manage its spending. That is the most important way to do that.
Guardian columnist Greg Jericho weighed in on the rate rise yesterday:
Key events
But the housing affordability fund won’t fix the immediate rental affordability crisis. On whether there needs to be a lift to rental assistance in the budget, Collins says “there is not silver bullet.”
What we’re doing is working as quickly as possible with states and territories to turn around very serious housing issues in Australia.
Collins says social housing has already been built since the Albanese government came into government because they pre-empted it would take time for the housing future fund to pass parliament and generate returns:
We’re talking about over 5 years, from once the fund’s been established, what we already have done is unlock the $576m from the national housing infrastructure facility immediately.
We already have homes under construction through our federal government funding since we’ve come to office today. We did that as an interim measure while we waited for the Housing Australia Future fund to get up and running.
We know that once the bill passed the parliament that it will take some time to generate some returns and those returns then being available for investment which is why we’ve done that.
Social housing fund plan relies on stock market ‘gamble’, Greens say
Greens leader Adam Bandt still isn’t backing the government’s social housing fund because of the way it’s constructed – “a gamble on the stock market” with no guaranteed minimum spending if the fund doesn’t generate a return. Bandt said if the government had gone ahead with its proposal last year not one house would have been built.
But this morning housing minister Julie Collins is saying Bandt is incorrect.
Asked how many houses would have been built, Collins said:
All existing future funds provide consistent and reliable annual disbursement. We’re talking over a decade the average is 9%.
Collins also stresses that the housing fund is “not the only thing” the government is doing when it comes to housing.
Jacqui Lambie Network senators back housing affordability plans
Senators Jacqui Lambie and Tammy Tyrrell have agreed to back the government’s housing affordability legislation.
The housing minister, Julie Collins, has told ABC Radio the deal was struck after the government agreed to build 1,200 social housing homes in every state and territory:
We’ve agreed to make sure that every state and territory gets a fair share of housing from the housing future funding from other federal government programs.
In the past both territories had received zero social housing from some federal government programs, Collins said:
What we want to do is make sure that every state and territory gets their fair share of funding.
Cait Kelly
Five drug-induced deaths a day in 2021, data shows
There were 1,788 drug-induced deaths among Australians in 2021, according to preliminary estimates in a new report by the drug trends program at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW Sydney.
This is equivalent to five drug-induced deaths a day and comprised 1% of all registered deaths in Australia for that year.
Natural and semi-synthetic pharmaceutical opioids like morphine and oxycodone are the primary opioids involved in overdose deaths, followed by heroin.
Drug trends program lead Amy Peacock said about 500,000 people are missing out on drug and alcohol treatment due to a lack of funding:
Many of these deaths occurred in the home. There is opportunity for others present to avert death and reverse the effects of an opioid overdose if they administer a medicine called naloxone.
The Australian Government has funded the availability of naloxone for free, without a prescription, for anyone who may be at risk of witnessing or experiencing an overdose.
‘This is Labor’s inflation’
Angus Taylor won’t name any specific areas where he thinks spending could be cut. He says it’s a matter of sticking to the “very simple formula” of making sure the economy is growing faster than they’re spending.
He criticised the spending the Albanese government added to its October budget:
This is not inflation coming out of the Ukraine, it’s not coming out of Russia. This is coming out of Canberra. This is Labor’s inflation.
Rate hike a ‘wake-up call’ for Labor, Taylor says
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, described Tuesday’s rate hike as a “wake-up call for government”.
Less than a week out from the Albanese government’s budget, Taylor says if he was in charge of the books he would want to create a clear plan to bring down inflation and a budget surplus.
He’s told ABC News Breakfast this morning:
It is clear that Australia is now running world-leading inflation. We don’t want to lead the world in this way …
First and foremost, we need to see budget surpluses, budget balance over the next four years.
The best way to take the heat off inflation is for the government to manage its spending. That is the most important way to do that.
Guardian columnist Greg Jericho weighed in on the rate rise yesterday:
Update on two police officers stabbed in SA
Yesterday two police officers were stabbed and an alleged offender shot dead in South Australia’s mid-north.
The South Australian police commissioner, Grant Stevens, says one officer is recovering well while the other came out of surgery late last night.
Stevens has told ABC News Breakfast this morning:
I visited Jordan Allely last night and he’s recovering well. He was in hospital overnight.
The other police officer, Ian Todd, was in surgery until about 11. 30 last night. He’s now recovering from surgery. We’re still waiting to see what the outcome of that procedure will be. His family are with him and all of our best wishes are with him and his family.
Natasha May
Good morning! Thanks to Martin for getting us started. I’ll be with you until the afternoon.
PM tours UK shipyard building submarine
Anthony Albanese has toured a shipyard in northern England where the UK’s first Aukus submarine will be built, AAP reports.
The prime minister said during a visit to the port town of Barrow-in-Furness yesterday:
We’re talking about the most sophisticated manufacturing task on the planet, which is why it has to be got right.
Australia and the UK will both build the new nuclear-powered military submarines, known as SSN-AUKUS, with Australian personnel picking up skills that will lead to subs being constructed in South Australia. Albanese said:
I look forward to having Australians training alongside the highly skilled submarine builders here in Barrow-in-Furness.
The prime minister said the Australians he met at the BAE Systems shipyard would “bring those skills back home to build a stronger manufacturing sector in Australia”.
Albanese says he invited King and Queen to visit Australia
Anthony Albanese has made his first comments since meeting King Charles yesterday, saying it is clear the monarch has a “great affection for Australia”. He also said he has invited the monarch to visit. The prime minister described the private audience he had with the king at Buckingham Palace as “very warm”
He told reporters while visiting Barrow-in-Furness in northern England yesterday:
I appreciated the discussion that we had and that King Charles has a great love for and affection for Australia. It comes from his time as a student there but also his many visits to Australia.
The prime minister said he had extended an invitation to visit Australia during the meeting.
I can confirm that I once again reiterated that King Charles and Queen Camilla would be very welcome visitors to Australia as would any other member of the royal family.
Josh Butler
Government to give $1.5m to increase voice awareness
The government will commit almost $1.5m to the Museum of Australian Democracy and Constitution Education Fund Australia to spread awareness of referendum processes ahead of the Indigenous voice campaign later this year.
Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney today will announce the institutions “will jointly deliver a grassroots civics program which will provide accessible, neutral and easy-to-understand information about the constitution and referendum processes”.
The CEFA will get $1m to “create a range of e-learning materials and digital content to engage all Australians and enhance their understanding of Australia’s democratic systems, the constitution and voting generally throughout the course of the year”.
MOAD will get $475,000 to boost “reach and visibility of their existing civics education products through digital channels, libraries and other public institutions around Australia in the coming months”.
Guardian Australia reported in March that the government had authorised $9.5m of spending for a voice civics and awareness campaign to include the “facts of the voice”. The money was contained in the “decisions taken but not announced” section of October’s budget, revealed in a legislative instrument made by the finance minister, Katy Gallagher.
Burney said on Thursday that since Australia hadn’t held a referendum since 1999, no Australian aged under 42 had ever voted in one:
For many Australians, this will be the first referendum they’ve ever participated in and it’s crucial they have the facts to make an informed decision.
Delivering this civics program will ensure all Australians can contribute respectfully and knowledgeably to the national conversation about the referendum before voting day.
MOAD director Stephanie Bull said her institution would develop digital content around the referendum, while CEFA’s chief executive Kerry Jones said her group would “present the information in an attractive and comprehensive format to a wide range of electors”.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ve got details of the top breaking stories this morning before Natasha May comes along to take over.
The federal budget is not until next week but the Albanese government has revealed that one of the biggest measures will be billions of dollars to fund a 15% pay rise for aged care workers. It means about 250,000 workers such as nurses, personal care workers and cooks will be better off from July. Anika Wells, aged care minister, will be making the announcement today.
The government will give almost $1.5m to help the Museum of Australian Democracy and Constitution Education Fund Australia to spread awareness of referendum processes before the voice campaign later this year, Linda Burney will announce today. It comes as the veteran Indigenous rights activist, Gary Foley, warned last night that the Indigenous voice to parliament will face the same fate as its predecessors and be ignored by governments. Speaking in Melbourne, he said the voice would make “no difference” to the lives of First Nations people and not be taken seriously by federal governments.
A new report out today will reveal that Australia sees five drug-induced deaths a day – 1% of all registered deaths in Australia for 2021 (the year that was looked at).
There’s been a dramatic claim by the Russian government that Ukraine tried to assassinate Vladimir Putin with a drone attack on the Kremlin. It appears the attack happened overnight on Tuesday local time with footage on social media showing an explosion above the Kremlin. Russia said the attack had been thwarted by air defences. Ukraine said it did not attack Russian territory and said the attack was the result of “local resistance”.
