Source : the age
Hello and welcome to our national news live blog for Monday, August 10. Here’s what is making news today.
- The Coalition has accused Labor of exploiting a $171 million multicultural fund to bankroll its own seats and entrench “ghettoisation” of migrant communities, as the Albanese government quietly shifts funding toward cross-cultural programs over narrower ethnic or religious activities, setting up a clash over border controls and diversity ahead of parliament resuming this week.
- Albanese will also aim to settle an ongoing debate on betting ads in talks with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor this week. Sources close to both leaders told this masthead there was appetite to strike a major party deal on a long-running dispute that has pitted the AFL, NRL and media outlets, who rely on ad revenue, against religious leaders and advocates who have argued for a blanket ban on betting promos.
- Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned the US is unlikely to deliver any nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, as he argued the superpower would not be able to build enough Virginia-class vessels to honour its commitments to the defence pact.
- Australia’s confirmed bird flu detections have reached 215, as the Australian Centre for Disease Control say the risk to human health remains low. There are no confirmed detections in commercial poultry or the agriculture system.
- And Iran and Oman remained short of a final deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while US President Donald Trump signalled the US could wait for Tehran’s economic suffering to soften its stance after Tehran renewed a hefty list of demands for Washington as conditions for a full reopening of the waterway.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has demanded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese apologise to his Japanese counterpart following comments he made on a podcast last month about a gift he received from the leader which has been observed as a sexualised joke about her breasts.
“The comments were beneath the office of prime minister. They were insulting, and the prime minister should make a personal apology. He’s done it through a statement. I mean, the hypocrisy of Labor and the Prime Minister on this topic knows no bounds, no bounds whatsoever,” Taylor told a Canberra press conference this morning.
Albanese received significant criticism for his appearance on the Bush Deep podcast last month over comments he made about pop-star Kylie Minogue. During the appearance he also made comments about a gift of a “royal melon” from recently elected Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the first woman to lead her nation.
During the appearance Albanese jibed about a “couple of melons” he received from Takaichi. At one point in the conversation he held his hands out in what many have interpreted as a gesture representing large breasts. Podcast host Nikki Osborne made a comment about Takaichi “looking like Pamela Anderson”.
Westpac says new home loan applications have fallen about 20 per cent since the May budget when the government announced a tightening of tax concessions for property investors, as the banking giant’s profits moved higher.
The nation’s second-largest mortgage lender today reported unaudited net profit of $1.8 billion for the June quarter, up 3 per cent on the quarterly average for the March half.
As the housing market slows, Westpac said the number of average monthly mortgage applications had fallen 20 per cent between the May budget and the end of July.
Despite a slowdown in new lending, the bank still expects growth in the overall stock of housing credit, which it forecasts will expand by 4.7 per cent in the current financial year and 5.2 per cent in following year.
“We have a strong balance sheet and are focused on supporting our customers through uncertainty while delivering sustainable returns”, Westpac chief executive Anthony Miller said.
“While many households are feeling the impact of cost of living pressures, businesses are investing and our customers have continued to show resilience.”
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has defended remarks Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made about Japanese leader Sanae Takaichi during a controversial podcast, following reports a former ambassador to Tokyo warned the comments have damaged Albanese’s standing in Japan.
In July, Albanese appeared on comedian Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast, in which he said he wanted to “shag” pop darling Kylie Minogue, and joked about the “melons” he received from Takaichi during her visit to Australia in May.
He apologised for his remarks about Kylie Minogue following widespread condemnation from women across the political spectrum.
The July podcast is back in the headlines today after former ambassador Shingo Yamagami wrote in The Australian that the remarks the PM made on the crown melons he was gifted by his Japanese counterpart were “unthoughtful” and “insulting” and showed a lack of strategic judgment.
Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Matt Thistlethwaite has defended Labor’s record on migration after a fiery attack from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson this morning in which she accused the government of “lying” to the Australian public about migration numbers.
Thistlethwaite said the numbers Hanson cited in her post were “not correct”.
“Those numbers that Pauline Hanson refers to are net overseas migration numbers, which includes Australian citizens who are living overseas and returning home. Is Pauline Hanson saying that Australians living overseas do not have the right to return home?
“The better figure is permanent migration. That we’ve set at 185,000 for the last couple of years, and we’ve met that figure. That figure is based a lot on what employers tell us they need in terms of skilled migration, and indeed the states and territories to run their healthcare system, their aged care system, their education system, and their construction sector, we’ve consistently met those targets that are outlined in the budget,” he told News24.
Labor is facing mounting pressure to outline its migration policy after Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke cancelled a scheduled immigration address to the National Press Club last week.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has blamed rising rents and low wages on Labor’s migration policies in a sweeping attack on Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, as she accuses the government of planning to bring in an additional million migrants over the next four years.
“Tony Burke isn’t cutting migration … Labor is lying again. And here’s the worst part. You can’t even trust them to stop at a million. This weak government has never once hit a migration target it set. Not once, in four years,” Hanson wrote in a post to X this morning.
The sledge comes a week after Burke delayed a speech outlining the government’s migration overhaul amid a dispute in cabinet. Hanson said the minister was planning to announce “another million people” migrating to the country.
“They already brought in 1.5 million in four years. That’s why your rent exploded, your pay went backwards, and your kids can’t buy a home. It’s why hospitals are turning away sick people.”
After abruptly delaying the announcement of a migration overhaul last week, Burke is expected to provide more detail in coming days, on a package of new measures to cut the net overseas migration intake to its budget forecast of 225,000 per year.
Nine months after the Bondi massacre enlivened debate over social cohesion, Labor is toying with proposals to rework the skills program to better serve the economy, put stricter rules on working holidaymakers and family reunion visas, and cut work rights from visa overstayers. Polls suggest there is support among voters for tighter controls on migration.
Minister for Health and the NDIS Mark Butler says he remains “convinced” the government’s proposed cuts to Australia’s disability insurance system is the “right” legislation, despite human rights concerns about the disproportionate impacts of the cuts on people with disabilities.
Last week, the Australian Human Rights Commission urged the government to halt the reform bill to address “significant human rights concerns”.
“At the moment, we are still convinced this is the right legislation to pass through parliament as soon as possible. I’d like to see it passed this fortnight because it is critical we start the work of getting the NDIS back on track,” Butler told ABC Radio National this morning.
“Of course, we take all of the evidence seriously … But I’m still convinced this is the right set of reforms for a critical social program.”
The NDIS Amendment Bill is likely to pass within the next fortnight.
Iran named a new head of its powerful Supreme National Security Council, state media reported.
Mohsen Rezaei had been a military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander.
It was the latest shuffle at the top for the politburo-like body, which has a range of political opinions and rivalries and is adapting to the loss of several senior officials in the war.
The appointment could represent a further consolidation of power by the country’s old-guard security establishment, The New York Times reported.
Health Minister Mark Butler has batted down suggestions Labor are “returning to the drawing board” on its migration policy, after Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke cancelled an immigration address to the National Press Club last week.
Speaking to Nine’s Today show this morning, Butler said the government were trying to achieve a “balance” between the need for skilled migrants and the need to reduce net migration numbers.
“The net migration numbers are down by almost a half … We’re looking at what else we can do to get those numbers down and be smarter about the balance that Australia needs.
“There are gaps in our workforce, as I said, in construction, in health, in IT. But we also do need a system here. So while we’ve got those numbers down by almost a half, we had said that we want to get them down more to make sure we achieve that balance,” Butler said.
Burke’s address was called off following a cabinet meeting last Monday. A new date for the speech has not yet been confirmed.
Hello and welcome to our national news live blog for Monday, August 10. Here’s what is making news today.
- The Coalition has accused Labor of exploiting a $171 million multicultural fund to bankroll its own seats and entrench “ghettoisation” of migrant communities, as the Albanese government quietly shifts funding toward cross-cultural programs over narrower ethnic or religious activities, setting up a clash over border controls and diversity ahead of parliament resuming this week.
- Albanese will also aim to settle an ongoing debate on betting ads in talks with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor this week. Sources close to both leaders told this masthead there was appetite to strike a major party deal on a long-running dispute that has pitted the AFL, NRL and media outlets, who rely on ad revenue, against religious leaders and advocates who have argued for a blanket ban on betting promos.
- Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned the US is unlikely to deliver any nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, as he argued the superpower would not be able to build enough Virginia-class vessels to honour its commitments to the defence pact.
- Australia’s confirmed bird flu detections have reached 215, as the Australian Centre for Disease Control say the risk to human health remains low. There are no confirmed detections in commercial poultry or the agriculture system.
- And Iran and Oman remained short of a final deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while US President Donald Trump signalled the US could wait for Tehran’s economic suffering to soften its stance after Tehran renewed a hefty list of demands for Washington as conditions for a full reopening of the waterway.
Iran and Oman remained short of a final deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, although US President Donald Trump signalled patience, saying the US could wait for Tehran’s economic suffering to soften its stance.
For its part, Iran ruled out direct talks with the US for now, citing what Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described as repeated violations of a short-lived interim peace agreement signed in June.
“As long as the American violation of the Memorandum of Understanding continues and the US does not make amends for its violations, there is no possibility of resuming negotiations,” he was cited as saying by state TV. Araghchi also said a pact with Oman to establish a shipping route through the strait was “very close”.
That didn’t seem to bother Trump, who on Sunday (US time) told Axios that the US was now “low-keying it”.
“We are only semi-negotiating with them,” he said. “We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.”
