Australia politics live: Sarah Hanson-Young says Senate question time has become ‘an absolute farce’

4.54am GMT Polling analyst warns Liberals axing net zero pledge would put ‘more nails in party’s coffin’ The Coalition is unlikely to be in power for another decade if the Liberals follow the Nationals in jettisoning their commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, an expert warns. The Nationals voted unanimously over the weekend to drop the target from the party’s official platform, setting up a potential clash with the Liberals. Moderate Liberal MPs have advocated for the party to maintain its support for the target, while conservatives have urged Sussan Ley to abandon the pledge. Kos Samaras, founder of research firm Redbridge, said the Coalition risked losing much-needed votes from younger Australians after its election drubbing in May if it dropped the climate commitment. He told AAP: Politically, at this rate, they won’t be in government in the next 10 years. The Coalition is only securing 15% to 16% of gen Z voters in this country. This entire saga is going to continue to basically put more nails on that coffin of theirs when it comes to talking to younger Australians. – AAP Updated at 5.00am GMT 4.51am GMT Thank you all for following along on the blog with me today. I’ll hand you over to the wonderful Caitlin Cassidy, and see you here bright and early tomorrow! 4.40am GMT Investor group urges Coalition to continue support for net zero emissions by 2050 Investors are urging the Coalition not to abandon net zero emissions by 2050, as bipartisan political support for the emissions target hangs in the balance. In a statement on Monday after reports the Liberals could follow the Nationals in abandoning net zero emissions, the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) emphasised the need for “broad political support” for the target. The IGCC executive director, Francesa Muskovic, said: Investors want to see broad political support for net zero by 2050, as well as the much stronger policies that are needed to accelerate the country’s rollout of renewable energy and clean industry. Until we reach net zero, floods, fires and droughts will become worse, productivity, food supply and community health will go down, and Australians will experience those losses in their superannuation balances and across their financial lives. Updated at 4.46am GMT 4.34am GMT TLDR: Here’s what happened in question time It was a largely subdued affairs in the house during question time today, other than a couple of blow-ups that led to the eviction of Ted O’Brien early on in the piece. The Coalition did a bit of a repeat of questions from last week to this week (perhaps because Anthony Albanese was back from overseas) including pushing the PM on last week’s inflation rate. From the crossbench, independent Zali Steggall asked about local content quotas for streaming services (there wasn’t much of an update of any progress on Labor’s election promise) and Andrew Wilkie pushed Chris Bowen on Australia’s scope three emissions – which include carbon emissions in exported coal and gas. New Zealand’s speaker was in the chamber today – the first time a visiting speaker has sat on the floor of the house for question time in 21 years. Updated at 4.38am GMT 4.22am GMT Senate question time descends into ‘rabble’ The Senate chamber is descending into some uproar now. The government’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, criticised David Pocock, claiming he should sit in the Liberal party room because they had teamed up on the previous motion. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the Greens won’t support the Coalition motion on locking the government out of questions, but says QT has become a “farce” and is criticising both Labor and Coalition over the situation. Senators from both major parties are also yelling back at her. Hanson-Young asks the Senate president, Sue Lines, to control the “rabble” that the chamber is turning into. Pocock is now speaking, saying he won’t support the Coalition motion either, but continues criticising the government for not releasing the report into board appointments. We’re still technically in question time here, and I think we’ll still get the extra five questions that last week’s motion originally mandated. But there’s a bit happening in the chamber at the moment. “I applaud the Senate for actually putting our foot down and saying ‘you should comply with the order of the Senate,’” Pocock says. Updated at 4.37am GMT 4.21am GMT Sarah Hanson-Young says Senate question time has become ‘an absolute farce’ Things may have wrapped up in the house, but Senate question time is still going. The drama from last week, about extending question time and who gets (or doesn’t get) to ask questions, is also still going. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the Senate’s QT has “become an absolute farce”. The Coalition is now trying to amend the question time rules, again, to largely stymie the Labor government’s ability to ask itself “dixer” or softball questions. The Senate opposition leader, Anne Ruston, is moving a motion which would restrict the government to getting to ask itself just one question, with nearly all the questions going to the Coalition, crossbench and Greens. This goes back to last week, when David Pocock led a non-government revolt in seeking to force the government to release a long-awaited report on board appointments. The non-Labor senators teamed up to change the question time rules, adding extra questions to the end of the session until the government releases that report. Related: New record as Senate question time blows out into chaotic marathon over transparency fight Now the Coalition is doing its own move, moving for the question order to be dictated ahead of time, with Labor only getting one question, until they release that report. Updated at 4.34am GMT 4.18am GMT What are Australia’s obligations under the Paris agreement? Following on from the last post … Then there’s the question of Australia’s obligations under Paris. The agreement requires that with each new emissions reduction target – known as nationally determined contributions – countries must ratchet up their ambitions to reflect their “highest possible ambitions”. In plain terms, countries cannot go backwards. The Albanese government has committed Australia to net zero by 2050, with the interim goals of 43% by 2030 and 62%-70% by 2035, compared with 2005 levels. So if a future Coalition government were to submit new targets to the United Nations that were lower than those, Australia would be in breach of the Paris agreement. The opposition already opposes Labor’s 2035 target and is on the brink of abandoning net zero emissions altogether – both of which are in breach of Australia’s obligations. Updated at 4.31am GMT 4.17am GMT Are net zero emissions by 2050 part of the Paris agreement? You might have seen the Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg making the claim this morning that the Paris agreement allows for net zero emissions to be reached in the “second half of the century”. Bragg has made the point several times on Monday, seemingly in an attempt to justify watering down the Liberals’ commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 without totally abandoning net zero. But what does the Paris agreement actually say? Here’s the text: In order to achieve the long-term temperature goal set out in Article 2, Parties aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, recognizing that peaking will take longer for developing country Parties, and to undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with best available science, so as to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century, on the basis of equity, and in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty. So, technically speaking, Bragg is right – the text of the Paris agreement does not mandate net zero emissions by 2050. However, the advice from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on what was needed to achieve the Paris goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C settled on 2050, hence the target that scores of countries – including Australia – have signed up to. Updated at 4.30am GMT 4.09am GMT Question time is over The skills minister, Andrew Giles, gets the last dixer – and with that, question time is over. Perhaps even a bit earlier than expected. Updated at 4.10am GMT 4.07am GMT Bowen asked about international obligation to reduce CO2 emissions Back to the crossbench, independent Andrew Wilkie asks the energy minister, Chris Bowen about the international court of justice ruling that found states have a binding international obligation to assess and limit scope 3 emissions which includes carbon in exported coal and gas. Bowen says the Climate Change Authority considered that ICJ ruling in their advice to the government when setting an emissions target. Their [CCA] advice to us was to set the maximum possible level of ambition, which is advice of course that the government accepted. What the honourable member is doing is then raising other issues around scope 3 international emissions in other countries, which he’s entitled to do. But I’d like and make this point. That our obligation is to reduce our emissions and to work with other countries to help them reduce their emissions, not to come at it in some other way. Updated at 4.12am GMT 4.03am GMT Why have only 567 of Labor’s promised 40,000 homes been built so far? Liberal backbencher Henry Pike asks the PM about Labor’s housing targets – and says just 567 of the promised 40,000 social or affordable homes have been completed, with the Housing Australia Future Fund (Haff) now being looked at by the national auditor general. Anthony Albanese starts his answer saying that the Coalition didn’t even have a housing minister for several of the years that they were in government. Pike tries to make a point of order, but Milton Dick says he can’t make one “because you don’t like the answer”, and says previous speakers like Bronwyn Bishop (of helicopter fame) didn’t even allow points of order. Albanese says: The question that’s asked by the member speaking about the number of houses that have been completed under the Haff – they held up the Haff for month after month after month after month. And then they go, “Why aren’t the houses built?” You have got to be kidding me! Updated at 4.05am GMT 3.53am GMT PM asked about mining companies’ support for nature reforms Back to the crossbench, Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown asks the PM why mining companies like BHP support Labor’s environment law reforms, while NGOs like the Australian Conservation Foundation are critical of it. Anthony Albanese says the parliament shouldn’t “play the games” that led to the legislation not being carried under the last term. I’m not quite sure that the member is being fair dinkum with the quote that is, she says, of the group that is are supporting this legislation, to be honest. What we need to do is to not play these games which led to nothing being carried during the last term of a “noalition”, people saying they’re against it. (A reminder here that Tanya Plibersek had negotiated a deal in the last parliament, before it was pulled at the 11th hour by the PM.) Nationals MP Anne Webster tries to pull up Albanese’s use of “noalition” which Milton Dick says was more in reference to the Coalition and Greens, not just the opposition. Albanese continues, and the point of order is a “self-identification” by the Coalition of being a “noalition”. We have people who say no to everything that the government puts forward, but they also say no to everything that each other put forward as well. That’s what we have seen from the disorder. Updated at 4.10am GMT 3.44am GMT How is Labor addressing mortgage stress? The Coalition pivots back to cost of living, and shadow minister Melissa McIntosh, a western Sydney MP, asks the prime minister what he’s doing to address mortgage stress. Anthony Albanese’s talking points are almost exactly the same as in previous questions (including a jab at the Coalition’s division at the end). We’ll continue to roll out cost of living support, and I’d ask the member for Lindsay to think about supporting some of it sometime. Support energy bill relief, supporting cheaper childcare, supporting cheaper medicine, also the 60-day dispensing, supporting the measures that have come in today. Those opposite will continue to just oppose everything, whether it’s opposing what we’re doing or opposing what each other are doing. Updated at 3.50am GMT 3.40am GMT Keogh accuses opposition of ‘misleading’ on defence honours bill The shadow veterans’ affairs minister, Darren Chester, gets the call and asks the government about legislation to limit the awarding of defence honours to 20 years. Chester says: The now prime minister issued a media release on 24 May 2020 titled “Tasmanian war hero Teddy Sheehan deserves Victoria Cross”. And I quote: “It is never too late to honour the meaning of Lest we Forget, or to commemorate the courage of one of our own.” It was a question he put to the minister, Matt Keogh, last week, and Keogh answers a little more sharply today, and says the government is trying to “modernise” the system. The reason the prime minister put out that press release in the first place was because the previous government, despite the tribunal’s recommendation, said no, and set up a completely separate process because of the pressure brought upon by veterans … Stop misleading people, shadow minister. Updated at 3.42am GMT 3.33am GMT Ted O’Brien booted from the chamber The deputy Liberal leader, Ted O’Brien, gets the next question, and asks if the PM will rein in Jim Chalmers’ spending, as he forced the treasurer to “backflip” on the super tax. Anthony Albanese is stopped almost as soon as he starts, as Milton Dick warns the opposition (including O’Brien) to stop shouting. Albanese continues: If you listen between the lines there, to that question, what they’re saying is they would rip and cut everything that we are doing when it comes to cost-of-living measures to assist people. And then we get our first booting of the week. O’Brien, who keeps shouting at Albanese, is told to leave under 94a – “no one can take the mickey here,” says Dick. Updated at 3.37am GMT 3.28am GMT Burke says government goal of Australian content quotas for streaming services ‘remains on foot’ Over to the crossbench, independent Zali Steggall asks the government whether it will fulfil its promise to introduce local content quotas on streaming services. Anthony Albanese jumps in first to answer before the arts minister, Tony Burke, and says the government “very much support[s] the local content in the Australian arts sector right across the board”. Burke says Australians should be able to access locally made content no matter which channel or streaming service they’re using, but gives no guarantees on timing or progress to get there. If you pick up your remote control at home and you go to the ABC or SBS, you’re guaranteed Australian content, you go to the commercial TV stations there’s still some level of Australian content guaranteed … with the same remote control flicking to any of the streaming services, there’s currently no guarantee of Australian content … We need to work through a series of different trade obligations but in doing so the government’s objective which we previously stated remains completely on foot and hope to continue to be able to report more to the house. Updated at 3.31am GMT 3.23am GMT ‘Kick him out!’ After the first couple of questions, the speaker normally gives a few shout-outs to special guests sitting in the public gallery. Today, former Labor MP Graham Perrett, who’s only too familiar with section 94a, is watching question time. As Milton Dick introduces him, a few Coalition MPs jokingly shout, “kick him out!” (which gets a good few laughs across the chamber). Dick says in response, “the former member for Moreton, who I know will be silent during question time …” (which gets even more chuckles). Updated at 3.26am GMT 3.16am GMT Albanese defends Labor’s action on cost of living Staying on cost of living, the chief opposition whip, Aaron Violi, says research by the St Vincent de Paul Society shows 32% of households have skipped meals or gone without food to cover essentials, and 36% of Australian families are concerned about going without food. Anthony Albanese says the government is acting on the cost of living, and takes the opportunity to dig in on the Coalition’s internal turmoil surrounding net zero emissions. The number of times that the Coalition, in government or in opposition, has made a submission or a Fair Work case supporting an increase in real wages? Zero. Zero. Zero. Now, we know they don’t support net zero, but we know also they are net zero when it comes to increases in real wages. Updated at 3.22am GMT 3.10am GMT When will prices come down? Sussan Ley’s first question to Anthony Albanese is on last week’s inflation figures which showed a higher-than-expected rate, and asks when household bills will drop. Albanese says “everyone” knows that inflation started with a six before the 2022 election, and has been nearly halved. Ley makes a point of order, asking the PM to say exactly when prices will come down. Milton Dick’s not convinced by the point, and lets Albanese continue. Albanese finishes his answer taking a dig at the Coalition, for not backing Labor’s top-up tax cut pledge at the last election. They put forward an option which said, “A vote for the Liberal party is a vote for higher taxes and higher deficits”, and the Australian people rejected them, and the Australian people are continuing to reject them. Updated at 3.13am GMT 3.04am GMT It’s question time! With a special guest The PM is back and today there’s another special guest in the chamber (though not of the musical variety). New Zealand’s speaker, Gerry Brownlee, is sitting in the house today, next to Milton Dick, who says it’s the first time in 21 years that a visiting speaker has sat on the floor of the house. Anthony Albanese and Sussan Ley both welcome Brownlee. Updated at 3.36am GMT 2.46am GMT No public progress with Coalition or Greens on Labor’s proposed environmental laws The government’s environment protection bill (EPBC Act) hasn’t yet made any headway publicly with either the Coalition or the Greens. Murray Watt, speaking to Sky News a moment ago, said negotiations are ongoing, he’s ready to listen to all options and there’s no “preferred partner” to get these reforms through. He added: But as yet, we haven’t had any amendments provided to us by other side of politics. On whether the government can get these reforms through by the end of this year (again remembering that there’s just two joint sitting weeks including this week left in the sitting calendar), Watt says, “I’ll leave it for very intelligent commentators like you, Kieran [Gilbert], to judge that kind of thing, but I’ve certainly put everything I’ve got into these reforms.” Updated at 3.04am GMT 2.25am GMT Coalition calls for Optus to pay compensation to those affected by triple-zero outage The Coalition says Optus should pay compensation to the families of people who died during the network’s triple-zero outage when they were unable to call emergency services, with one senator claiming the telco hadn’t answered key questions about the disruption. Optus executives fronted a Senate inquiry today, but we didn’t learn a lot more about the emergency calls outage. The CEO, Stephen Rue, said the company “will do the right thing with compensation”, but Liberal senator Sarah Henderson told a press conference she wanted more assurances: I don’t have the confidence at this point in time that Optus will do the right thing. And so therefore I believe we need full facts in relation to what Optus is going to do in relation to those failed triple-zero calls. They provide a service, that service failed ... So I think Optus has got huge liability, and we demand answers as to what they are going to do for these families. She didn’t raise a potential compensation number or amount. Henderson was unhappy that Optus had taken numerous questions on notice during the hearing, rather than answering at that point. She said she believed that behaviour was “in breach of Senate rules” and said she’d raised concerns about whether executives could be in contempt of the Senate. Updated at 2.29am GMT 2.16am GMT Missy Higgins puts on the ol’ razzle dazzle at Parliament House Sometimes parliament sees some very cool guests, and today, musician and Australian treasure Missy Higgins graced us with a performance ahead of the Aria awards later this month. *I say us, I wasn’t there either so I’ll also be enjoying these pics – like many of you – from the office! Points to you if you can spot all the pollies in the audience. Updated at 2.24am GMT 2.05am GMT Is Tim Wilson throwing his hat in the leadership ring? Like many Victorians, Tim Wilson doesn’t want to work on Melbourne Cup day. He’s even called the PM a “philistine” for holding a parliamentary sitting day during this sacred event. (FYI – Melbourne cup day is tomorrow for those who don’t normally celebrate) In a Facebook post, Wilson also jokingly throws his hat in the leadership ring: Our philistine prime minister is forcing parliament to sit on Tuesday defying Melbourne’s traditions and way of life. I make this commitment: this will never happen under a Wilson government! Updated at 2.08am GMT 1.48am GMT Australian Academy of Science president warns Australia is in a race for Stem talent The president of the Australian Academy of Science is delivering the annual Ralph Slatyer address, which honours Australia’s first chief scientist. Chennupati Jagadish warns Australia is in a global race for Stem (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) talent: There is a global reconfiguration of our energy systems, necessary to decarbonise our economies, whilst not weakening them. Science and technology sit at the absolute centre of these changes. Last month’s critical minerals agreement between the United States and Australia underscores this. It wasn’t simply a trade deal. It was recognition that geopolitics now turns on access to the raw materials of the technological revolution. Sadly, I can say with both confidence and despair that science and technology is neither positioned nor valued as the national strategic asset it is at the heart of our ability to trade, make deals, boost productivity and navigate geopolitical complexity. He says Australia has not sought to strengthen its science and technology capability to respond to a changing world: We cannot make good on our critical minerals promises when the number of geologists we attract, train and retain is in freefall. Nor can we rely on importing talent when the International Union of Geological Sciences says other countries are experiencing similar declines. Updated at 1.53am GMT 1.10am GMT Ley sticking to working group process to form Liberal position on net zero Going back to Sussan Ley’s doorstop earlier on net zero, the opposition leader says she’s still sticking by the joint Liberal-National working group process to set up a potential joint position on energy and climate. In brief comments outside a charity event, Ley downplayed the effect of the Nationals’ solo decision yesterday to dump their net zero support. It is currently unclear how the Liberals could come to a vastly different position to the Nationals at this point, but Ley is clearly hoping her colleagues start turning their attention on the Labor government at some point soon rather than continuing their internal bickering. She said: I always said that the Nationals would come to their decision in their party room and the Liberals would similarly come to our decision in our party room. But our joint energy working group has done an incredibly sound job up until this point in time, it’s continuing, and we can look forward to a Liberal party energy position and then coming together as a Coalition. I’m looking forward to the work that will happen between now and the Liberal party’s position becoming known, and then us sitting down together as two mature parties developing something that takes the fight up to the Labor party. Because while a lot of your questions are about process and personnel, for me it is really about one thing and that is the train-wreck energy policy of this government. Updated at 2.18am GMT 12.44am GMT Coalition senator Sarah Henderson says evidence at Optus hearing ‘shocking’ The Coalition says it’s walked out of the Optus triple zero hearing with “more questions than answers”. Sarah Henderson, a former shadow communications minister, said the evidence heard in the hearing was “shocking”. There were ten different points of failure. There were five calls to the overseas call centre which were never escalated, the CEO sat on his hands and for many hours didn’t inform Acma, the regulator, and the minister’s office, about the true scale of the catastrophe, with three people confirmed dead as a result of what happened on that terrible and fateful day. Henderson says the regulator and minister have also “drastically failed”, and urged communications minister Anika Wells to front the inquiry. Liberal senator Dean Smith also said the prime minister’s office has questions to answer about what it knew and when it sought information from Optus. Updated at 1.11am GMT 12.38am GMT Penny Wong says Australia is ‘horrified’ by reports of atrocities in El Fasher, Sudan Foreign minister Penny Wong says Australia is “horrified” by the reports of “mass killings, sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians” in El Fasher, Sudan. The reports of atrocities have emerged from El Fasher since it fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces last weekend. Related: Sudan’s brutal civil war – what has happened in El Fasher? In a statement, Wong said: We condemn the atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces and call for an immediate end to the violence and unhindered humanitarian access. All parties must uphold their obligations to protect civilians and respect international law. Updated at 12.48am GMT 12.30am GMT Ley says Nationals ‘entitled’ to own position on net zero target Sussan Ley says the Nationals are “entitled” to make their own position on net zero, and says she and the Liberals will join their partner in developing a joint position on energy. The opposition leader gave a quick comment on her way out of a charity event for the Kmart Wishing Tree. She said the Liberals are still working on their energy and climate policy, and would have a position of their own. Ley said a joint Liberal-National working group is still working on a joint policy. She said she and David Littleproud had a “convivial” conversation after the Nationals dumped net zero yesterday, and that she looked forward to the two parties getting together to find a way forward. As some in the Liberal party muse over whether the Coalition can continue, and there is some anger at the Nationals for coming out so strongly, Ley indicated her intent was still to find a joint Coalition position to work for both parties. Updated at 12.35am GMT 12.06am GMT Independent criticises ‘gigantic loopholes’ in Labor’s proposed nature laws Independent MPs are pushing for changes to Labor’s proposed new nature laws, with one claiming the bill contains “gigantic loopholes that you could drive a heavy hauler through”. The laws to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act are scheduled for debate on Tuesday, with the government planning to rush them through the lower house this week. The independent MP for Curtin, Kate Chaney, is drafting amendments to address two loopholes that she fears could undermine the entire bill. The first is the proposed “restoration fund”, which developers would have the choice of contributing to as one option to offset damage from their projects. Chaney said: That means projects can actually just pay to destroy, they can choose to just put money into a fund, and we may end up with a lot of money but no projects that actually offset the damage that’s being done. And that would not be a good outcome for nature. The independent MP also wants changes to a contentious new exemption that would allow the environment minister to approve projects in breach of nature laws if it was deemed in the “national interest”. The former treasury secretary Ken Henry, the Labor MP Ed Husic and Labor’s grassroots environment action group have all called for guardrails to limit how the power could be wielded. Fellow independent MP Sophie Scamps said she couldn’t support the laws in their current form, criticising the new loopholes and plans to devolve more decision-powers to the states. I cannot support the EPBC Act … in their current form, because there are the most ginormous, gigantic loopholes that you could drive a heavy hauler through, which means there is no guarantee that our environment will be better protected. Labor wants the EPBC reforms to pass the Senate this year but that hinges on a deal with either the Greens or the Coalition, neither of whom support the bill as it stands. Updated at 12.12am GMT 11.54pm GMT Canavan comments on pregnancy terminations ‘beyond disappointing’ says Labor senator The government, with some of the crossbench and Greens, has voted to debate Baby Priya’s bill, and vote on it by 1pm today. The opposition says it supports the bill but did not support the guillotine motion to put a time limit on debate. Labor’s Michelle Ananda-Rajah, who is a medical doctor, disputes the claims from some including Canavan around late-term pregnancy terminations. It has been beyond disappointing to see the arguments peddled in this chamber … [These are] not trivial matters, they are not done on the whim of a mother or father, they are a medical decision made by doctors and a wider medical team, usually in a special hospital for women. Ananda-Rajah also brings up the reports of women who are having homebirths and freebirths, and urges families to listen to medical professionals. As Melissa Davey brought you a bit earlier, the Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Ranzcog) and the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) have called for legislative changes to restrict labour and birth management to registered practitioners such as obstetricians, gynaecologists, GP obstetricians or midwives. Ananda-Rajah says: There are disturbing reports in the media of women who are not listening to their trained midwives or doctors but instead choosing to be influenced by doulas or social media influencers around having homebirths or freebirths. This has led to numerous deaths, both of babies as well as women in Australia … I would urge women of Australia to seek your advice from trained professionals, either midwives or obstetricians. Updated at 11.58pm GMT 11.39pm GMT Net zero debate continues in parliament Another Liberal is calling for the opposition to junk its commitment to net zero, with Western Australian MP Rick Wilson up in the House of Representatives now, speaking in support of Barnaby Joyce’s bill to scrap the climate commitment. He claims his electorate of O’Connor, a vast area in the south-east of WA, is “ground zero for net zero”, and raises criticisms of renewables projects, including solar and windfarms. Wilson is unhappy about agricultural land being concerted into renewable projects, and voices concerns about “visual and noise pollution, and potential adverse health effects” of renewables. Wilson draws a line between the closure of mining and renewables projects, claiming higher emissions reduction targets and energy prices will see such facilities shut down. Joyce, who remains sitting as a National but still isn’t participating in their party-room meetings, is sitting behind Wilson as he speaks. Labor MP Dan Repacholi, representing the working-class electorate of Hunter, speaks next and says he “feels like a kindergarten teacher” when he speaks about net zero with Coalition MPs. He rejects claims that net zero would see the closure of coalmines, calling that allegation “rubbish”, and says net zero is good for the Hunter. Net zero isn’t about shutting up shop. It’s about running mines, keeping people in work and reaching net zero through offsets and better technology. Updated at 11.42pm GMT 11.29pm GMT Liberal frontbencher says net zero target must be retained ‘in some form’ The senior Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg says net zero must be retained “in some form” and is confident the Coalition will agree on such a position – despite the Nationals’ decision to abandon its commitment to the climate target. The Liberals are under fresh pressure to settle their position on net zero after the Nationals unanimously decided to walk away from the goal at a special party-room meeting on Sunday. If the two Coalition partners cannot agree to a compromise, some Liberals believe the party should be prepared to break up the Coalition. A leading moderate and net zero supporter, Bragg says net zero must be retained “in some form”. He told reporters in Parliament House: You have to have net zero in some form. I mean there’s no doubt that Australia has very serious treaty obligations. So my point is we’re a serious country, we’re a trade exposed nation. We’re not going to walk away from international agreements. Never. But I would say that the domestic rules have made life harder for Australians and so Labor’s net zero has been a complete disaster. Asked if he would need to reconsider his position on the frontbench if net zero was dumped entirely, Bragg was confident it would not come to that. I’m confident we will maintain fidelity for our international agreements. How we implement those domestically is a matter we need to work through, but I think we can do it better than Labor. Updated at 11.51pm GMT 11.22pm GMT Labor tries to bring forward Senate debate on paid parental leave after stillbirth Over in the Senate, the government is trying to bring forward debate and a vote on Baby Priya’s bill today, which would force employers to give parents who have experienced a stillbirth their paid parental leave entitlements. Several conservatives, including Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie, have been accused of playing politics by using the debate to argue that the leave should not be given to parents who have a late-term abortion. Medical experts have said the argument shows a lack of understanding about stillbirths and labelled the comments as “terrible, cynical, awful”. Senator Matt Canavan, who didn’t speak in the federation chamber, has been making the same claims as his colleagues Joyce and Hastie this morning, and says the government has “blindsided” the Senate by trying to move up the vote to 1pm. Finance minister and minister for women, Katy Gallagher, doesn’t address Canavan’s claims, but says three hours of debate is enough and defends the bill. It recognises that the loss of a baby is devastating for parents and if there is a way to respond … to seek legislative reform that would allow a mother in the exact same experience as what baby Priya’s mother endured to grieve and have an entitlement to grieve through that period of what would have been her parental leave, that’s what this bill is about. Updated at 11.52pm GMT 11.20pm GMT Independent Kate Chaney to introduce bill on voter data mining Independent MP Kate Chaney is introducing a bill this morning to stop political parties mining voter data through postal ballot applications. What’s the problem? It’s one the Australian Electoral Commission is also not pleased about – where the major parties send unsolicited postal vote application forms to voters, they’re filled out and sent back to the major parties – who are accused of harvesting that data – before they send it on to the AEC. It’s not a new problem, the AEC warned the major parties about the issue during the 2022 election, and the Liberals were accused of doing it ahead of the voice referendum campaign. To parliament, Chaney says: This loophole is particularly bad, because political parties, their contractors and volunteers are exempt from the Privacy Act … not only can [major parties] store and use this data for micro-targeting, profiling or future campaigning without consent, but they can also sell this personal data to third-party data brokers or analytics firms. We have no idea if they currently do this because there’s no oversight. It’s a private member’s bill, and unlikely to get picked up by the government. Updated at 11.23pm GMT 11.08pm GMT Call for legislation to prohibit unregulated practitioners managing labour and birth In the wake of several recent tragedies linked to freebirth, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Ranzcog) and the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) have called for legislative changes they say are necessary to prevent harm and loss of life.Ranzcog and the ACM want consistent legislation across jurisdictions to restrict labour and birth management to registered practitioners such as obstetricians, gynaecologists, GP obstetricians or midwives.Freebirth is the intentional practice of giving birth without a registered healthcare professional, such as a midwife or doctor, present. It is different from a homebirth, which is a planned birth at home with a registered healthcare provider.The colleges want unlicensed or unregulated people to be prohibited by law from undertaking the management of labour and birth. Regulatory frameworks need to be made consistent across all states and territories to ensure women receive the same protections regardless of where they give birth in Australia, the colleges have said in a statement.Ranzcog president Dr Nisha Khot said: While choice and model of care are important, such choice must operate within frameworks that ensure safety, quality and accountability. This proposed legislation would affirm that principle. Updated at 11.12pm GMT 11.01pm GMT Optus company chair says there were ‘10 failures’ in triple zero outage Optus chairman John Arthur was asked about the failures behind the triple zero outage. He said CEO Stephen Rue was brought on to make sure episodes like the outage never happen, and that he expected Rue to finish the job he was brought onboard to complete. Arthur told senators: There were I think 10 failures here, 10 failures. And if you’re asking me whether I am alarmed at that, I can assure you I am. However, this man was brought into this company to make sure we became a company that didn’t have 10 failures like that. Now that’s his job, and I’m expecting him to finish it. Arthur assured senators that there would be fallout from the investigations into the outage “when we have all the facts” and the “dust settles”. I never in my life want to be in the position I’m in today where I have to answer these sorts of questions about a company I’m associated with. When the dust settles … when we have all of the facts … the board will, as is its duty, deal with accountabilities. Updated at 11.21pm GMT 11.00pm GMT The bells are ringing in Parliament House First up in the House this morning is debate on private members’ bills – that means we’ll see a bill from Kate Chaney on postal ballot data harvesting (more on this shortly), one from independent Andrew Gee on stopping windfarms in state forests and, of course, more debate on Barnaby Joyce’s repeal net zero bill. I’ve said this before, but the government is milking Joyce’s bill for all its worth – it’s a political play that wedges the Coalition, and Labor has so many backbenchers it can just keep putting them up to debate the bill – even if Joyce runs out of supporters to spruik his bill. We’ll see who stands up on it today. Updated at 11.02pm GMT 10.39pm GMT What is underpinning the Nationals’ net zero decision? The Nationals have promised to scrap net zero by 2050 targets and scrap the Climate Change Act under their policy – so where has this come from? Yesterday’s announcement followed a process led by senators Matt Canavan and Ross Cadell with modelling by the Page Research Centre. The Page report says power prices have gone up almost 40% since net zero was legislated, and recommends prioritising reducing power bills, tying Australia’s emissions reduction to the OECD average, lifting the moratorium on nuclear energy, and reinstating the Abbott-era emissions reduction fund. Littleproud has said the Nationals’ position is in line with the work of Page, but hasn’t said exactly which recommendations will be undertaken. And what is Page? Page is a think tank that says it works “closely with the Nationals”. It’s led by Gerard Holland, who wrote the report and is a former electoral officer to former deputy Nationals leader Fiona Nash. The chair of Page is former Nationals leader and former deputy prime minister John Anderson. Updated at 10.47pm GMT 9.56pm GMT Hanson-Young asks when Optus knew of deaths related to outage and when government was informed Staying on the inquiry, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked a series of questions nailing down the timeline during the outage, asking when Optus knew people had died and when executives, and the government, were informed. Stephen Rue said Optus was first advised of a fatality around 8.43pm on 18 September, but senior management was not informed until after midnight on the 19th. Rue himself was told around 8am on the morning of the 19th. Hanson-Young noted that Rue called the Optus board and the CEO of SingTel, Optus’s parent company, less than an hour later. But the government regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma), and the government minister were not told until around 2pm on the 19th. Hanson-Young said: What on earth were you doing between 8am in the morning and 2pm? Rue said Optus was completing welfare checks and gathering information, but the senator was not satisfied with that answer. She said: You weren’t doing that, you had people doing that. What were you doing? … You made sure the board knew, but you didn’t call the minister or the regulator. You were too busy putting your ducks in order, telling your board what was going on, contacting your executives, making sure that your your company’s ducks were in order. Meanwhile, the federal government, the regulator and the minister were left in the dark. Updated at 10.09pm GMT 9.55pm GMT Optus executives answer questions about triple zero outage as CEO defends his job Optus CEO Stephen Rue is being questioned over the telecommunications company’s triple zero outage, which left multiple people dead after they could not reach emergency services. Rue, sitting alongside other Optus executives, said the call failures on 18 September during an upgrade were “unacceptable”, saying as CEO he was “accountable for Optus’s failing and I’m deeply sorry”. Rue said: The tragic deaths of people during this outage stay with us as individuals and as a company as we investigate the incident. I fully accept there are aspects to the way events unfolded and how they were communicated over September 18 and 19 that we should have handled better. Rue defended his position as CEO, saying that while there were understandable questions about his position, he believes any change in leadership “could actually set back the transformation under way” at the company. I firmly believe that another change of leader at this time is not what Optus needs, or what our customers need. Updated at 10.35pm GMT 9.54pm GMT PM questioned on universal childcare promise The PM gives us a forward sizzle on his promise to deliver universal childcare – saying we’ll be hearing more about it from early next year. But he’s reluctant to provide any details as to what that will look like. Reporter Katina Curtis asks whether universal childcare will be in place by the next election (which is about two and a half years away). Albanese: Well, you’ve got three years to continue to ask and follow up, Katina. Curtis: Do you believe that for-profit childcare still has a place? Albanese: You’ve got three years to follow that up. Well, you get the same answer. What we’re doing in child care, we’ve made a significant difference. Updated at 9.58pm GMT 9.35pm GMT Power prices driven partly by ‘dysfunction’ of former Coalition government, PM says Anthony Albanese acknowledges power prices and the cost of living are still having an impact on households, but pins some of the blame on the former government. Speaking to reporters in Canberra this morning, the PM says his government has capped coal and gas prices and put in energy bill rebates (which are due to finish at the end of this year). What has occurred on power prices is a product in part of the dysfunction and chaos that’s been there of the Coalition – 24 out of 28 coal fired power stations announced their closure. They [the Coalition] had no plan to do anything other than fight each other, and that’s continuing today. Updated at 9.38pm GMT 9.29pm GMT ‘The Coalition as we knew it is dead,’ Simon Holmes à Court says after net zero decision The National party’s decision to scrap its net zero by 2050 commitments is prompting a lot of reaction from within and without federal parliament this morning. Climate 200 founder and co-convenor Simon Holmes à Court has lashed the minor party over the decision, settled in a party room meeting on Monday. It puts extra pressure on the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, as she struggles to hold the Coalition together. “In the last decade the Nationals have evicted the Liberals from The Lodge, the city electorates, and now the national conversation,” Holmes à Court said. The fault lines that have been papered over for years are now a chasm that cannot be breached. He links the decision to previous policy moves by former leaders Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton, both of whom lost to Labor and Anthony Albanese. Morrison and Dutton abandoned the centre, leaving space for independents to properly represent middle Australia, and now the Nats have taken the whole team out of contention. The old broad church has been burnt to a cinder – the Coalition as we knew it is dead. Updated at 9.35pm GMT 9.19pm GMT Littleproud says net zero decision ‘not about politics but good policy’ Nationals leader David Littleproud is continuing his media round this morning, defending his decision to scrap net zero by 2050 commitments, and do it before the Liberal party has reached its own position on energy. On ABC News Breakfast, Littleproud says the decision to announce the policy yesterday is “not about politics”. Littleproud says he won’t be pressuring the Liberal party to drop its commitment to net zero, and that it’s all about “respect” in the Coalition. This is not about politics but good policy. We’re calm and methodical about this and we’ll work with our Coalition partners when they get to their position. But we made it clear, as did the Liberal party after the election, that we had processes – individual processes – that our party would run through. We got to ours on the weekend, the end of ours. And we’ll respect and wait for the Liberal party, and do that in a respectful way. (Commentators would probably argue that there are wide-ranging political implications though.) Updated at 9.25pm GMT 9.07pm GMT Mortgage arrears fall at Westpac after rate cuts Mortgage holders are enjoying a reprieve from relentless cost of living pressures, as the number of home owners falling behind on their repayments falls. Westpac’s full year results, released this morning, show that its delinquency rate for loans that are more than 90 days behind has dropped to 0.73%, from 1.12% a year ago. On Monday, the bank reported a 2% slide in annual profit to $6.9bn for the year ended 30 September, down from $7.1bn a year ago. It will pay a full year dividend of $1.53 per share. The Reserve Bank’s official cash rate, which informs mortgage rates, has been cut three times this year to 3.6%. Westpac said most of its customers had welcomed the interest rate relief, while broader cost of living pressures had also eased. Westpac’s chief executive, Anthony Miller, said: Notwithstanding the relief from interest rates, challenges remain, with inflation and unemployment increasing in recent months. Globally, uncertainty remains but this is an opportunity for Australia and we are in a good position to work through any impacts from events such as the ongoing geopolitical and trade tensions. While many forecasters had been expecting further interest rate relief this year, the odds of imminent cuts have collapsed due to increasing inflation. The RBA will hand down its next interest rate decision tomorrow. Updated at 9.11pm GMT 9.02pm GMT Tehan ‘very confident’ he can reach position with Nationals on energy The question every Coalition member is facing this morning is whether the Nationals’ decision to scrap net zero will allow the two parties to stay together. Tehan – who has both staunch net zero backers and critics in his own party – says he’s “very confident” he can reach a position with the Nationals on energy policy. I never started this process seeking to fail. I want to succeed, and that means we’ve all got to work together. And the way we have been constructively working together – obviously, there’s some noise here and noise there – but the way we have been working constructively together, I’m very confident that we’ll be able to reach a position which means we can all continue to work together in the best interests of the nation. Updated at 9.08pm GMT 8.56pm GMT ‘We want to get it right,’ says Tehan on Liberal energy policy Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan, who’s leading the Liberal party’s energy policy review, is facing more pressure now that the Nats have come out of the gate and staked their position by abandoning net zero. Tehan, following Littleproud on RN Breakfast, says everything is AOK with the Nats and that he’ll take his time to “get it right” on energy policy. We’ve got to get it right in understanding: OK, what is it that we need to do to make affordable energy our number one priority, but at the same time be doing our bit when it comes to reducing emissions? And we’re working through that methodically. We’ve been doing it not only as a Liberal party but also jointly with the National party – very constructively, I might add – and we’ll continue to do that. So when will the Liberals announce their policy? Tehan says: “in a perfect world, it would be great to have it done by Christmas”. Including this week, there are just two joint sitting weeks left this year, so time is certainly ticking. Updated at 9.10pm GMT 8.50pm GMT David Littleproud says Australia shouldn’t be ‘streaking ahead’ on emissions reduction Nationals leader David Littleproud says Australia shouldn’t be a “laggard” on emissions reduction, but we also shouldn’t be “streaking ahead”. Talking to ABC RN Breakfast this morning after making the announcement yesterday, Littleproud says Australia should be doing its “fair share”. But what’s a fair share, asks host Sally Sara, when Australia’s per capita emissions are three times the global average? Littleproud says: I think this is where the reality of getting to this per capita is a puerile argument. The reality is each country has a responsibility, and this is where they get into things like Scope 3 [emissions], saying Australia should have to pay for that because we actually export a lot of resources overseas that are then burned … It shouldn’t be just about what we actually are emitting, it’s what we can mitigate. He points to Australia accounting for 1% of global emissions, and says it’s a “small amount of the total emissions globally”. Updated at 8.55pm GMT 8.44pm GMT ‘Australians aren’t happy with us’, says Coalition frontbencher Facing Nationals flying ahead of the Liberals on energy and a brutal Newspoll result this morning, Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh is asked on Sky News how worried she is about the declining public support. “I don’t want to spin it,” she says, but digs in on net zero, saying many in her community don’t want it. Australians aren’t happy with us. We lost an election, and we were annihilated at the election. We need to get our act together. We need to focus on being a strong opposition. On whether Sussan Ley can and should stay on as leader, she says: Sussan still has my confidence, and she should be able to stay on as leader. As I said, we’re down in the dumps. It’s not just about the leadership, it’s the whole Coalition and the people that are left – my colleagues, they’re wonderful, talented people, and we should be giving Sussan a chance. Updated at 8.46pm GMT 8.32pm GMT Hanson-Young says Coalition ‘just not serious about government’ Staying on Sarah Hanson-Young on ABC News Breakfast, the Greens senator did not hold back in slamming the Nationals over their decision to scrap support for net zero, accusing the Coalition of having “delusional and dangerous” climate policy. She calls on Labor to “rule out” working with the Coalition on any environment or climate policy (ie the government should negotiate with the Greens on the EPBC bill). The Coalition have proved themselves to be a party that’s just not serious about government. You can’t pretend in Australia that you care about the future of our country, the safety and security of Australia. You can’t even pretend that you care about the bush and the regions if you don’t have a credible policy on climate change. The climate crisis is already here. Reminds me of Logan Roy telling his children in Succession – “you are not serious people”. Updated at 8.37pm GMT 8.24pm GMT SingTel should appear before Optus inquiry, Greens and Coalition say The Greens and the Coalition will grill Optus over its outage earlier this year during a parliamentary hearing. Shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, told ABC News Breakfast a bit earlier that the inquiry would “get to the bottom” of what happened. When I met with the CEO of Optus he said it was human error and I asked ‘How can human error result in the outage where lives were lost?’ That is not good enough. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who’s also been heavily critical of Optus, also told News Breakfast the inquiry will be looking to call in the CEO and board members of SingTel to face questions. I’ve been worried for far too long that Optus is much more worried about its profits than it is people’s safety. And now we have a situation where people have died because Optus put profits ahead of safety, and SingTel needs to take responsibility for that. Updated at 8.27pm GMT 8.14pm GMT ‘I have a lot more to ask,’ Barnaby Joyce says on Nationals’ energy policy Barnaby Joyce isn’t completely sold on the Nationals’ energy policy despite being one of the most vocal advocates to scrap net zero (and still has a bill in the House to do that). On Sunrise this morning, Joyce says he still has concerns over the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) which underwrites renewable projects. The Nats have decided that they’ll keep the scheme but will expand it to also underwrite fossil fuel projects. Joyce says he will go through the fine print with senator Matt Canavan, who led the Nationals review with Ross Cadell. I have a lot more to ask and I will do my job and ask. Few in the Liberal party, who have been staunch net zero supporters, are concerned this could be the end for the Coalition. Asked whether the Coalition is “over”, Joyce says: I don’t know, that is above my pay grade. In the past, I’ve argued against splitting the Coalition. Updated at 8.50pm GMT 8.11pm GMT A third of metropolitan and regional GPs to be fully bulk-billing Just one third of all metropolitan GP practices will be fully bulk-billed under the government’s increased bulk-billing incentive, which came into effect on 1 November, as the government has promised that there will be no out-of-pocket payment for 90% of all GP visits by 2030. Labor has released new data overnight showing how many clinics have indicated they will now fully bulk-bill. In metro areas, of 4,720 practices, 1,557 will be fully bulk-billing (33%) - an increase of 622 clinics that say they will now bulk-bill due to the incentive. In regional centres, of 620 practices, 209 will be fully bulk-billing (33%) - an increase of 108 clinics. But in remote communities, almost half of all practices will now be fully bulk-billed - with 51 out of 110 practices indicating they won’t charge out-of-pocket costs for patients. The top ten electorates that will see the most number of mixed billing practices become fully bulk-billed include: Labor-held Ballarat in regional Victoria; Labor-held Rankin in outer suburban Brisbane; LNP-held Hinkler and Flynn in regional QLD; Labor-held Hawke outside Melbourne; Labor-held Calwell and Hotham in metropolitan Melbourne; LNP-held Spence in South Australia, LNP-held Parkes in regional NSW, and LNP-held Cowper in regional Victoria. Updated at 8.31pm GMT 8.10pm GMT Welcome Good morning, Krishani Dhanji with you here for another busy sitting week (and the second last joint sitting week for the year). The Liberals are facing some pressure after the Nationals came out and scrapped their commitment to net zero. The Liberals are still considering their position on the policy. The government is keeping somewhat of a lower profile early this week; they’re still spruiking their pre-election promise to increase bulk-billing incentives which came into force over the weekend. And the Optus boss will face a parliamentary hearing today into the September outage. The Greens and Coalition have been pushing for a full inquiry into the incident. It’s going to be another busy week, stay with us!