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What we covered today
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Thanks for reading our live national news blog today, Tuesday, June 23. This is where we will end the rolling coverage.
Here’s a brief look at some of the main headlines of the day.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese invoked the Socceroos to speak about the value of diversity in Australian society, responding to Pauline Hanson’s calls for a monoculture, which he said was a “nonsense argument”.
New One Nation MP David Farley appeared on the ABC to call on migrants to “blend in” and “act Australian” but appeared to have broken slightly with his leader’s demand for a strict national “monoculture”. In an interview following One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s controversial National Press Club address last week, the MP for the regional seat of Farrer since last month acknowledged that Australia was “multiracial, and it is multi faith”.
- Health Minister Mark Butler rejected claims that changes to the NDIS would result in the deaths of participants and their isolation from their communities – an issue raised in a brief Senate inquiry that has today been extended.
Ben Roberts-Smith scrapped plans to travel to Canberra for the opening tonight of the Anzac Hall at the Australian War Memorial after becoming sick. Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Slade Howell, told Sydney Downing Centre’s court during a bail hearing application this afternoon that the accused war criminal had “fall[en] ill” and had stayed in his home state of Queensland.
The NSW treasurer delivered the state’s budget, announcing an extra $10.3 billion in health funding over four years, but the budget remains in deficit.
Thanks for tuning in. We’ll be back tomorrow with your latest news updates.
Latest Posts
Antarctic storms threaten to dump more dying birds on Australian shores
By Mike Foley
Australians should be on high alert for more sick or dead birds this week as a storm brews in the Southern Ocean that could drive more infected birds from the Antarctic region to our coastline, raising the risk of a devastating outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus.
A cold front is expected to sweep past the coastline of south-west Western Australia from late Thursday evening, increasing the risk of more infected seabirds landing on Australia’s southern shores from outbreak hotspots such as Heard Island.
This has been identified as the likely pathway for the two known cases of infected birds found near Esperence last week, a brown skua and a giant petrel.
BirdLife conservation and science director Dale Wright said: “Looking at the two species that have already arrived on our shores, there’s a concern that other seabirds might be pushed to our shore by more storm fronts.”
Australia is the final continent to record cases the H5N1 bird flu, which has killed millions of wild birds and mammals across the world, and wreaked havoc on the poultry industry overseas. Experts warn the virus would be catastrophic for Australia’s native wildlife, which is thought to be particularly susceptible.
Read more from climate and energy reporter Mike Foley here.
One Nation votes with independents, Greens to cap fuel tax credit scheme for miners
By Brittany Busch
One Nation MP David Farley has voted with the independents and the Greens to cap the fuel tax credit scheme for the most profitable mining companies.
Labor and the Coalition opposed the amendment moved by Bradfield MP Nicolette Boele.
The scheme would be limited by introducing a transition tax incentive with a cap of $50 million annually per consolidated corporate entity.
One Nation MP David Farley acknowledges Australia is multiracial and multi-faith
By Clay Lucas
New One Nation MP David Farley has appeared on the ABC to call on migrants to “blend in” and “act Australian” but appeared to have broken slightly with his leader’s demand for a strict national “monoculture”.
In an interview following One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s controversial National Press Club address last week, the MP for the regional seat of Farrer since last month acknowledged that Australia was “multiracial and it is multi faith”.
However, like his leader, Farley demanded priority be given to national assimilation. “We don’t mind if you’re British, Australian-British, Australian-Canadian or Australian-Chinese, but you’ve come to this country, and been adopted by this country,” Farley said. “You’re an Australian first, so blend in.”
When pressed on what “blending in” meant, Farley said migrants must “act Australian”.
Why Albanese’s sweeping property tax changes mark the biggest reform in a generation
By Shane Wright
Anthony Albanese’s emphatic federal election victory has delivered the biggest tax shake-up in a generation.
No matter your opinion about the merits of the government’s planned changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax (plus the working Australians tax offset and $1000 standard deduction), the political magnitude of what will pass the Senate this week is difficult to ignore.
You might not recognise it because it has been so long since a broad range of tax changes, in a single package, have been announced, debated and pushed through the parliament.
Since World War II, there have only been three that really surpass it. Read Shane Wright’s analysis here to find out more.
‘In a battle of wits, Starmer appeared unarmed’: Kathy Lette on why Britain has a new PM
By Kathy Lette
Writer Kathy Lette says she first met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer when he was her then-husband Geoffrey Robertson’s junior at Downing Street Chambers. Lette says Starmer was diligent, decent, calm and capable – but also a bit lacklustre.
“I would never have singled him out as prime ministerial material. Basically, if Starmer bored any more he’d strike oil,” Lette writes in her latest piece. Read it here.
Aged care assessment tool a disgrace, says Monique Ryan
By Brittany Busch
Independent MP Monique Ryan has criticised as a disgrace the government’s use of an assessment tool in aged care that relies on an algorithm.
During this afternoon’s question time, Ryan, the member for the Melbourne seat of Kooyong, shared the story of elderly constituent Graham Crossan, who lives with motor neurone disease.
“Graham is 80, he’s ventilation dependent, and he needs 24-hour care, but your integrated assessment tool says he doesn’t qualify for the highest level of support. It’s a disgrace,” Ryan said.
Aged Care Minister Sam Rae said he was very familiar with the case and was regularly briefed about Crossan.
Speaker tears into Angus Taylor after lies accusation towards prime minister
By Brittany Busch
Speaker Milton Dick has torn into Angus Taylor and struck out his question after the opposition leader accused the prime minister of lying – a word that has been banned because it is unparliamentary.
“You are demeaning the dignity of this house,” Dick said. “For 125 years, those sorts of descriptors have not been used.”
Taylor called for the prime minister to answer the question, and Dick said the only reason he wasn’t “named” – an official rebuke that comes with a short ban from the chamber – was because of the respect afforded his position.
“If this continues, I will be left with no other choice,” Dick said. “This is a deliberate defiance of the conventions and traditions of this House.”
It’s the second day in a row Dick has struck out an opposition question, usually a rare measure, in a sign he has run out of patience with the line of questioning.
Coalition demands Albanese rule out family home tax
By Brittany Busch
The Coalition has called for the prime minister to rule out putting taxes on the family home.
“Not only do we think the first home and the family home is sacrosanct on this side, we want more Australians to have it,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. “That’s the point that you’re opposed to.”
The prime minister cited a real estate agent from the Cook electorate who said they had seen growing interest from first home buyers in the past week. “That is what is happening right around the country,” he said. “Labor supporting people into their own home, which is so important. Those opposite are just opposed to it.”
Albanese mocks ‘chief yapper’ Taylor over Greens tax deal
By Brittany Busch
Anthony Albanese has relished Coalition attempts to pin him down on potential changes to tax law, saying it was the opposition’s fault for dealing itself out of negotiations.
The prime minister suggested Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, whom he labelled the “chief yapper”, could not be annoyed that Labor talked to the Greens to negotiate its capital gains tax changes.
“It strikes me as … strange, Mr Speaker, that those opposite say that the legislation that is before the Senate is so terrible that they had to rule out any support for it before they’d even seen it, and now they’re asking a series of questions about not things that are in the legislation, but things that aren’t,” Albanese said.
Manager of opposition business Dan Tehan jumped up to accuse Labor of “tax-maxxing” with the Greens. Speaker Milton Dick was onto him, saying he would not abide MPs abusing the standing orders to get clips for their social media.