Australia politics live updates: Labor says low wage growth ‘not an accident’; China-Solomons pact ‘not transparent’, says Payne; 50 Covid deaths | Australia news

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has released a statement in response to Paul Karp’s story on the party recommending it’s supporters preference sitting Liberal MPs last.

One Nation preferences will target left-leaning Liberals in some key seats in a bid to protect Australian values and ensure strong conservative representation in the new Parliament.

One Nation leader, Senator Pauline Hanson, said her plan to target Bass in Tasmania, held by left-leaning Liberal Bridget Archer, had been her first shot across the bow.

The Liberals need a wake-up call and I’m more than happy to provide it. They are no longer the conservative party Australians knew. We need to clean out a small number of left-leaning Liberals who masquerade as conservatives. Instead of talking to me about preferences, the media should be asking Scott Morrison why he is prepared to hand Jacqui Lambie the balance of power, someone who hates the Liberals and votes consistently against them.

Hanson said that in addition to Bass, One Nation would also target Tim Wilson in Goldstein, Trent Zimmerman in North Sydney, Helen Haines in Indi and James Stevens in Sturt.

“Scott Morrison has surrendered independent Australian climate policy to these left-leaning Liberals, who are obviously in the wrong party,” she said.

“He needs to be reminded that conservative Australians feel betrayed by his lurch to the left with net zero emissions by 2050, and the left-leaning Liberals who pushed him there need to be removed.”

Hanson said One Nation would work with the Nationals in some seats to negate the loss of seats held by left-leaning Liberals.

“I think we are all in broad agreement that a Labor-Green government would be a disaster for Australia,” she said.

“Unfortunately, left-leaning Liberals aren’t giving conservative Australian voters much reason to hope their party will act differently to Labor on issues such as immigration, the housing crisis, religious freedom, critical race theory, gender reassignment, trans women competing in women’s sports and climate change.”

The statement goes on to say she is prepared to work with some conservatives on preferences.

Peter Hannam

I didn’t think Josh Frydenberg could look any more exhausted than he did yesterday, but he looks even more tired today.

He is still using his “serious” voice, where he speaks very slowly and deliberately as he blames international pressures for Australia’s inflation increase:

They’re being driven by international factors and we saw that particularly in terms of fuel costs, up 11% for the quarter, up 35% for the year, the single biggest increase in fuel costs since Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait back in 1990, more than 30 years ago. When you look at what’s happened through Covid, it’s put real pressures on supply chains and disrupted those and that’s why we have seen freight costs increase by five-fold at least.

When it comes to the war in Ukraine, that’s lifted commodity prices very significantly – fuel, oil and gas prices, are up, wheat prices are up significantly, that’s playing through, both to the bowser here in Australia as well as to the supermarket shelf prices. Now, we understand those cost-of-living pressures which are very real for Australian families and that’s why we announced a comprehensive and clear set of measures in the budget just over two weeks ago.

That included halving the fuel excise. Now, for people here in this seat of McEwen, we’re talking about 100,000 vehicle owners who are now seeing their fuel prices more than 22 cents lower than they were going into budget night.

We also announced that for 10 million Australians, low and middle-income earners, they would get an additional $420 on top of the existing low and middle income tax offset when they put in their tax return from 1 July and more than 70,000 people in this electorate had benefited from the Coalition’s cut to taxes. We also announced that $250 payments would be provided to six million Australians on income support.

That includes in the electorate of McEwen more than 12,000 pensioners. Others who are job-seekers, others who are on disability spore, veteran veterans, carers, are all receiving these $250 payments including eligible self-funded retirees. And we have also ensured that medicines are becoming more affordable and accessible for more than 2.4 million Australians. These are a comprehensive set of measures designed to ease the cost-of-living pressures that Australians are feeling right now.

Q: I understand there’s a backlog in the processing of visitor visas given that the government’s …

Kristina Keneally:

I think every visa category has a backlog of some sort, yes.

Q: Under a Labor government, would you increase the workforce for the processing of these visitor visas?

Keneally:

The announcement we made yesterday is an important one because we got rid of the public sector cap. It’s an artificial cap. We need to unclog the visa processing system how many more

… Well, I’m in the going to start canvassing numbers here because the other thing that’s happened under this government is that the immigration portfolio has been outside of Cabinet for most of a decade. There is one portfolio and one area that the government has complete and utter control over that directly affects economic growth and that is migration.

Q: Ms Keneally, just on border protection. Would a Labor government keep in place temporary protection visas? And if not, what would you replace them with? And on offshore detention, you repeatedly spoken about about the fact you don’t want it to be a permanent, you want it to be temporary, right? What would you do to enable it to be temporary and not indefinite considering the New Zealand is for the legacy caseload, not from someone who comes from now?

Kristina Keneally:

First of all, I’m not sure I understand the phrase legacy caseload. Let me explain. I have been through this several times including this morning on Sky News, but I’m happy to repeat it here for you when it comes to operation sovereign borders, we do support boat turn-backs and, resettlement and offshore processing.

In terms of protection visas, the only people in Australia on temporary protection visas came before operation sovereign borders: If you attempt to come to Australia by boat you’ll be turned back or you will be sent to Nauru. Even the people who come from Nauru and PNG for medical treatment do not go on temporary protection visas.

They’re either on no visa because they’re here with ministerial permission or they’re on a bridging visa. So the only people in Australia on temporary protection visas are people who have already been recognised as refugees by a Liberal government.

They have lived in Australia for more than 10 years. They work here, they pay taxes, they run businesses, I met a family in Adelaide, they’re all on temporary protection visas. They own a cafe, a successful cafe, it survived through the pandemic. They were denied jobkeeper but they were paid jobkeeper to pay to the Australians that they employ.

So this cohort of people, about 20,000, every three or five years the government demands they go through a bureaucratic process to get a protection status again. It’s unnecessary and costly. Clogs up the Department of Home Affairs which has got 100,000 backlog for citizenship applications, 54,000 backlog for visa applications, businesses say it gets 12 months or more to get a skilled visa approved. When we got a skill shortage. We got a clogged up Department of Home Affairs. And we’re making them go through this process for no good reason.

Q: What visas would you give to that 20,000?

Keneally:

A permanent protection visa.

… Labor’s platform has a 90-day rule and we would take up the New Zealand deal. We would implement the New Zealand deal. You can’t believe a word Scott Morrison says.

Scott Morrison said for years taking up the New Zealand deal would restart the boats. Peter Dutton said for years, taking up the New Zealand deal would restart the boats. That was not true. And we know it’s not true because Scott Morrison backflipped just a few weeks ago and took up the New Zealand deal. He took up the New Zealand deal to send bag inner city Liberal seats, make no mistake about it. You can’t believe a word he says …

We will implement the deal, anyone who has attempted to come to Australia by boat will not settle here, we will negotiate through other countries, as the government has been doing, people have been going to Canada, people have been going to other countries. There will be third country resettlement.

Decade of low wage growth ‘deliberate’: Jason Clare

Q: We’re in the middle of a crisis. Is childcare the only policy that Labor has to alleviate this cost of living crisis? What are you going to do for pensioners, for example, that will continue to struggle to pay for essential household items.

Jason Clare:

The answer is no, and have a look at the answer I gave you to your first question in this press conference. Yes, we support to immediate cash help that people are getting.

Yes, we support the cut in petrol costs, they help everyone that has a car by you need medium and long-term changes here that are going to help people with their longer term challenges.

Don’t underestimate the childcare policy in terms of the impact that it’s going to make on more than a million Aussies. I know myself as the father of a child who has just moved from childcare to primary school, it felt like you got a pay rise when they leave day care. It’s expensive. If you can have a policy in place that does two things. Amanda made this point in the press conference.

This policy ticks two of the big boxes to tackle two of the big challenges in this country. Cost of living and getting skilled workers into the workforce. You talk to employers who are tell you all the time they can’t find skilled workers. The childcare policy will give the average family on $100 another $1600 back in their pocket every year but it also means they can go back to work.

Hang on a second, there’s childcare and that’s important if you’ve got a woman with a child – you know, a man and a woman with two kids maybe, take my house, and one person’s working full-time, the other one’s working 2.5 days a week and you can change the cost of childcare that 2.5 days might become three or four. The impact of that young person being in childcare is amazing.

The impact for that family in terms of the extra money is terrific and the impact that business’s extra productivity because you have a skilled worker already trained back in the workforce that, he’s why this is a big deal for cost of living and skilled workers for employers who desperately need it.

We’re going to cut the cost of electricity, too. Anybody who pays an electricity bill, whether you’re 18 or 80, know it’s too expensive. You asked me about pensioners. Pensioners ask me about the cost of electricity all the time. And we’ve been banging on in this country about how we can fix it and try to scare the pants off people about how you might fix it for the last 10 years.

The Liberal party have been telling people that if you invest in renewable energy and try to do something about climate change your bills will group. Well, now the opposite is true.

If you invest in more in renewable energy you’ll cut the cost of electricity. That is why we’re saying we will do that this. If you want your electricity bills cut you’ve got to vote Labor at this election.

Q: I know you said Solomon Islands is a sovereign nation but they’ve effectively said they’ll only release the details of the security pact if China gives them the green light. If elected how will you push China to see those details because it is in Australia’s interests and just secondly pledge to boost foreign aid but in the wake of this pact should Australia be making a more concerted effort to strengthen defence and security ties wits Pacific neighbours?

Kristina Keneally:

Two parts to that. First, the Solomon Islands are a sovereign nation, and I think the very pointed that you raised in that question is why Australia should be quite alarmed. We have already now got China dictating terms to a member of our Pacific family.

And this points to the failure of the government to act when they became aware that this deal was potentially in the offing.

Marise Payne should have gotten up from her desk and gone to the Solomon Islands.

Now, all of the non-Pacific island nations and Timor-Leste are sovereign nations and it used to be the case that Australia was the first country of choice for them. We’re at risk of losing that.

We have are at risk of losing that. So the package we announced this week is about strengthening institutional relationships in terms of our defence forces and the police forces in the Pacific nations.

It is also about projecting Australia’s voice to the region through increased broadcasting.

It’s also about providing financing for climate change infrastructure. It’s also about the people to people links and if I can say one of the big announcements we make – made this week that I think people didn’t notice enough is a real first in our migration program. 3,000 dedicated spaces per year in the permanent intake for the Pacific islands and Timor-Leste to be conducted as a lottery, apportioned to each of those nations based on population.

Last year, there were only 720 permanent arrivals from the Pacific islands to Australia. 3,000 a year. It is an opportunity for us not only to provide significant economic boost because we know that those people when they come here to work from those nations they send money back to their communities. $2,200 every six months. But 3,000 people having the opportunity to come here with their families, permanent residents, creating those people to people links, those ties, that is a fundamentally important offer and it’s a fundamentally important chance for us to grow closer to our Pacific islands.

Q: First issue, NDIS. Reports are showing is it’s going to be $64bn by 2030 … When you’re sitting around the cabinet table after 21 May if you win the election the cost of this scheme is getting bigger and bigger, is $64bn affordable or will tough decisions have to be made about reining in the NDIS to bring it in budget.

Secondly, just on debates. Labor wanted to do a debate at the press club, last week of the campaign. PM said he’ll do one on Channel Nine. Channel Seven want do one as well, the ABC wants to do one. What is the ALP’s position, Mr Albanese’s position, on doing debates. How many debates is he prepared to do and who with?

Jason Clare:

I’ll deal with the first one NDIS. I think Bill talked about that last week. He made the point that there are costs you can take out through consultants and lawyers and so forth. We need to make sure we’re helping the people who need help. I told this room the story last Friday about people in my own community who get cut after cut after cut. At the risk of labouring the point, the boy’s name is [Jacob] and he has autism and Angelman syndrome.

He has had his funding cut three times in a row. His dad can’t get funding for care on the weekend so he can take the other boys out to footy and mum’s not there because mum died of a brain tumour three or four years ago. This is serious. This is not about numbers this is about people.

The things that this government is doing to it at the moment are hurting real people. So you can manage it properly and you can make sure that you don’t hurt people along the way and that’s what Bill was talking about last week.

Frankly, that’s what that woman at the debate was talking about last week as well. There are two types of people when it comes to the NDIS. There are people who have had their funding cut and there are people who are terrified of having their funding cut.

Now, on the debates, there are going to be more debates. I can’t wait for them. I’m sure Albo can’t wait for them either. There’s a bit of back and forth that’s happening at the moment between the parties.

We have written to the Liberal party recommending a debate at the press club. They’ve knocked that back. I expect that over the course of the next few days we’re going to get a result here so we sort it out and organise these debates and get them together head to head. We won the first debate.

Of course you’d expect us to want more debates. I’m surprised Scott Morrison wants more debates, he’s been knocking them back in the parliament for three years. You’d know this if you watch parliament. Every time we move for a debate up pops Peter Dutton and moves the member no longer be heard.

I was surprised in the Sky News debate when Albo started winning the debate that Peter Dutton didn’t run in and move that the member be no longer heard.

So, yes, there will be more debates, can’t wait for them.

Has Kristina Keneally spoken to Anthony Albanese about being home affairs minister if they win government?

Of course all of these decisions are made by the leader but yes I’ve had every indication that the portfolios I currently hold are the ones I’d take into government.