Source : the age
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has said the Socceroos represent her vision of a monocultural Australia, as she doubled down on comments she made about multiculturalism at the National Press Club last week.
“In the past week, the far left have naturally taken my comments into the realm of utter fantasy. I was going to ban foreign food, and the Socceroos wouldn’t have beaten Turkey under my policy. What rubbish, predictable and pathetic,” Hanson told the Senate this afternoon.
“The Socceroos, in fact, represent my vision of a multicultural, of a monocultural Australia. People from different backgrounds and cultures and nations all wearing green and gold and representing one nation under one flag and succeeding under the same set of rules,” Hanson said.
During her time in the Senate, Hanson misspoke when referencing multiculturalism and corrected herself to say “monocultural”.
“Australian monoculture is not exclusive, it is welcoming. It’s an umbrella which covers all manner of difference. It’s not a dirty word.”
One of the two Socceroos to score a goal in this year’s World Cup was Nestory Irankunda, who is of Burundian decent and was born in a Tanzanian refugee camp before moving to Perth at three months old.
Returning to Australia, where Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has told Sydney radio station 2GB he has offered to meet with One Nation’s Pauline Hanson.
“There is no reluctance at all,” Taylor said.
“I have offered to meet her and she has not taken it up.”
Taylor said the senator had his number, knew where his office was, and its door was always open.
“So what more can I do?” he asked about meeting Hanson.
Turning to overseas news, US President Donald Trump said Iran will only be able to use funds released from frozen accounts to purchase food and medical supplies from the US, a claim which was quickly disputed by Iran.
In a social media post, Trump said the billions of dollars in unlocked financing will go “into escrow, controlled by the U.S.A.” and will be used to purchase American-grown products such as corn, wheat and soybeans.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said funds would be used by his country “freely, in whatever manner it deems appropriate,” rather than being restricted to purchases from the US.
Iran has $12 billion in frozen finances, which the country says will be released in two equal instalments.
The Coalition has been under pressure to clarify its position on multiculturalism after One Nation leader Pauline Hanson declared it a “failed policy”, and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor avoided saying the word at a press conference yesterday.
“What we want is people to come to Australia, to commit to Australia, and to contribute to Australia, anchored in central values which unite us all around basic principles of equality before the law, respect for our institutions, and the basic rights and freedoms, as we say in our citizenship pledge,” Wilson told reporters in Canberra.
“Of course, people will come from all over the world, and that’s what enriches our country so long as they commit to those underlying values, which was the original intention of multiculturalism, not what we now have, which is identity politics pushed by Labor because they want to divide the Australian community.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has defended the government’s plan to preference businesses with union agreements in government procurement contracts.
“[It] reflects the view that this government has long held, which is the best kind of most productive workplaces are where workers and management come to good agreements,” Chalmers said.
“The changes that [Workplace Relations] Minister Rishworth is putting through the parliament reflect that view that we have long held.”
The Coalition have argued this is an attempt to “sneak a national CFMEU tax” through parliament.
The housing minister’s description of the sector facing a “market correction” was a colloquial use of the word, not a technical one, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said.
“I think the housing minister was using a general description rather than a technical definition. If you look at the budget assumptions from Treasury, they expect house prices to continue to grow, but a bit more slowly,” Chalmers told journalists in Canberra.
A market correction typically represents a decline of between 10 and 20 per cent in an asset class. Housing Minister Clare O’Neil used the term during an appearance on ABC radio this morning.
“We have seen a softening in house prices in recent months, even before the budget, and that’s a reflection of a whole range of factors, including changes in interest rates, softness in the broader global and domestic economies, as well as any other influences from the budget,” Chalmers said.
“The housing minister, I think, was reflecting an accurate general view, not attaching to the situation some kind of technical definition.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is speaking after the release of the latest data that showed inflation falling from 4.2 per cent to 4 per cent, which was above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target band of between 2 and 3 per cent.
“The new inflation numbers show that inflation came down again in monthly and in annual terms as well. Inflation came off quite substantially in the month of May, and we also saw it moderate in annual terms,” Chalmers told a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra.
“Today’s numbers are much better than the market expected, and better than forecast,” he said.
Chalmers said unexpected costs related to the war in the Middle East “will play out for some time”, and said Australia’s performance should be compared to the US, Canada and European nations where inflation has ticked up.
“Our economy is not immune from all of this global uncertainty and volatility, but we are well-placed, and we are well-prepared to confront it.”
Television presenter Karl Stefanovic has posted a video to social media from London alongside One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce, ahead of a podcast appearance with the former National this evening.
“Just walking the mean streets of London, and you never know who you’re going to run into when there’s a change of prime minister,” Stefanovic says into the camera as he walks with Joyce, referencing the resignation of UK prime minister Keir Starmer.
“You got that five bucks you owe me?” Joyce asks, before Stefanovic responds, “No, I don’t,” and plugs the podcast appearance.
The appearance comes as One Nation leader Pauline Hanson accuses Nine, the owner of this masthead, of attempting to sack Stefanovic over a controversial appearance from far-right British activist Tommy Robinson.
The podcast in which Robinson appeared has been removed from several online platforms.
Joyce appeared on Stefanovic’s podcast earlier in the year, and was involved in a special episode recorded during the Farrer by-election which One Nation’s David Farley won in a landslide.
Inflation has again eased, but there are ongoing signs that underlying price pressures remain a problem for the economy.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics this morning reported that inflation in May eased by 0.1 per cent, taking the annual rate down to 4 per cent. It had peaked at 4.6 per cent in March after the war against Iran pushed up the price of petrol and diesel.
According to the bureau, fuel prices fell by 11.9 per cent in May following a 7 per cent drop in April that occurred after the federal government halved petrol excise.
This drop in fuel prices was accompanied by a fall in prices for clothing and footwear plus for health services and goods.
But in a concern for the Reserve Bank, both measures of underlying inflation lifted by 0.4 per cent in May, with both now at 3.6 per cent.
Ahead of the figures, financial markets put the chance of an interest rate rise by year’s end at 50-50, with most expecting the RBA to start cutting rates by November next year.
Oil exports from the United Arab Emirates have recovered to nearly 85 per cent of the country’s pre-Iran war levels as of early June.
The UAE’s exports have hit 4.3 million barrels a day, up from just 1.9 million barrels per day in March following the outbreak of the war. It used a pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz to the port Fujairahma and ramped up exports through the Strait of Hormuz “with tankers’ transponders turned off to avoid detection,” according to a report from the International Energy Agency.
Oil prices are now trading near pre-war levels, after the US and Iran signed an interim peace deal, with the Strait of Hormuz reopened.
Bloomberg
