Source : the age
Deputy leader of the National Party Darren Chester says politicians have “lost track” of their common desire to minimise gambling harm for Australians.
“There is a common desire across the parliament, and I think the Australian community, to minimise gambling harm,” he told ABC Radio National.
“When you see the normalisation of gambling for the football codes and it being so omnipresent, I guess on streaming services, but also on live TV during peak family viewing time, this is the issue.
“There’s no question that reforms the government’s putting forward are not going as far as I think the committee expects in terms of reducing the overexposure to advertising.”
The Coalition is likely to push the government into stricter regulations of gambling inducements, as well as a tightening of advertising rules. The Greens and crossbench have already demanded amendments, meaning the laws won’t pass without changes.
Chester said the Coalition would outline its response to the proposed reforms soon.
One Nation senator Sean Bell said he did not know how party leader Pauline Hanson funded her recent trip to Europe but that he was sure it was value for money and not with the $5 million Fire the Liar campaign donations.
Bell was responding to a question about revelations in this masthead that Hanson used party funds to pay for a $900-a-night five-star hotel in London, including keeping rooms vacant while she flew to Italy with mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
“You’re asking me to speculate on something that I have no knowledge about,” Bell told News24, before saying Liberals seizing on the report should focus on Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s international trips as COP president.
“I mean, I can assure people, and Senator Hanson assures people, when we go overseas, we do so making sure people get bang for their buck,” he said.
“And that money that we’ve raised, for instance, with the Fire the Liar campaign, I know for a fact that that is cordoned off where it can only be used to campaign against this terrible Albanese Labor government. All the money that was sent to that is being used on that issue.”
US President Donald Trump said he might support the prosecution of former COVID chief Anthony Fauci after a Republican-controlled Senate committee voted to find him in contempt of Congress.
Fauci was held in contempt on Thursday (US time) after taking the Fifth Amendment – the right not to incriminate yourself – 111 times during a tense Senate hearing last week.
The 85-year-old told the committee he had already answered their questions over multiple appearances during and after the pandemic, and that he believed the current inquiry was a witch hunt to put him “behind bars”.
A committee led by Republican senator Rand Paul – a fierce critic of Fauci since COVID – voted along party lines to refer him to the Justice Department for being in contempt of Congress.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has rejected reports that the Labor cabinet is divided over its migration policy after a scheduled immigration address by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was cancelled this week.
“Tony will be speaking to the National Press Club at the earliest opportunity,” Marles told Nine this morning.
“It’s not unusual for dates to be moved around … So the reports the cabinet was divided are not true.”
Burke cancelled the address after a cabinet meeting on Monday. Marles would not say who made the final decision to postpone the speech.
Staying with Tim Wilson on the Today show this morning, the shadow treasurer had some choice words for former Victorian premier Dan Andrews as backlash intensifies regarding a proposed $134,000 taxpayer-funded bronze statue of the former leader.
“You know, I don’t think Dan Andrews should want this statue, frankly, because I think there’s a serious risk of it becoming a public urinal,” the member for Goldstein said.
“The first minor public project that should be cut should be Dan Andrews’ statue because that does not sit on any hierarchy of a single Victorian and their priorities.”
Critics have slammed the project as tone-deaf and a waste of public funds.
Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson has accused One Nation leader Pauline Hanson of ripping off “struggling” voters who have donated to her party, following revelations by this masthead that Hanson used party funds to pay for a five-star hotel in London during a recent European trip.
An insider with knowledge of Hanson’s booking schedule told this masthead that the Queensland senator stayed at the luxury Conrad London St James hotel in July. Rooms at the Conrad average £450 ($860) a night during peak season.
The source said that Hanson had paid for the rooms and left them vacant for five nights while she flew to Italy to meet Gina Rinehart.
“You have people who donate to her party from their limited savings, they’re struggling to get ahead, and now we find it’s going towards luxury hotel rooms in London.
“This seems to be a pretty clear betrayal of the people she claims to represent,” Wilson told the Today show.
But Hanson has denied dipping into the party’s $5 million fund created by thousands of small donations from ordinary Australians in a viral fundraising campaign.
US President Donald Trump has denied the US is running low on key munitions, saying the country has “massive amounts” of them, while warning of punishment for those who say there’s a shortage.
Trump made the comments on social media hours after The Washington Post reported that he had clashed with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth over shortages of long-range guided missiles and air-defence interceptors that threatened to limit his military options in the war with Iran.
Trump added on Truth Social that “defence companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history”. He said “leakers” of supposed “treasonous statements” were being pursued, adding, “Long-term jail sentences will be sought!”
According to the Post, Trump vented frustration with Hegseth on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting last week, saying that he had been misled about munitions shortages. Citing a source, the newspaper said the depletion of key missiles and air-defence systems was among the reasons Trump called off strikes against Iran in recent days.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticised the story and said the incident never happened.
Bloomberg
A group of more than 100 academics, advocates, legal experts and community organisations have signed a joint statement calling on the government to pause a bill that will cut billions of dollars from the NDIS over four years.
The signatories warn that the amendment will allow the government to reduce essential supports that enable people with disability to live “safe, connected and independent lives”.
It follows an earlier call this week by the Australian Human Rights Commission to halt the progression of the bill until the human rights concerns and impacts of the reforms are addressed.
The proposed cuts to the scheme will face a final vote in the Senate later this month.
Good morning and welcome to our national news blog for Friday, August 7. Here’s what you need to know today.
- One Nation leader Pauline Hanson will be forced to field questions about why she used party funds to pay for a five-star hotel in London during a recent European trip after this masthead revealed she kept rooms vacant while she flew to Italy with mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
- Australia now has 123 confirmed detections of H5N1 bird flu, but there remain no detections in commercial poultry or the wider agriculture sector, says the Department of Agriculture. The government has urged the public not to touch sick or dead wildlife, and to report any suspicious animal deaths immediately to the 24-hour Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.
- The Catholic Church has warned against a rise in “us and them” politics and divisive rhetoric, and urged Australians to reject vilification and rebuild social cohesion amid raging debate over migration and national values.
- And US President Donald Trump has denied that the US is low on key munitions in its war with Iran following reports this week of missile shortages. In a post on social media, he says the country has “massive amounts” of them, while promising to punish those who say there’s a shortage.
