Labor admits to being ‘a bit slow' on SA algal bloom
Butler, who represents the South Australian electorate of Hindmarsh, said the government had accepted the climate-induced natural disaster was a national issue, and it would need to do more to help manage a crisis that has been unfolding since February.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
22 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Labor looks to speed up PBS listings amid calls from lobby groups
Health Minister Mark Butler says he is looking at recommendations to speed up medicine approvals amid pressure from lobbyists both within Australia and in the US. Medicines Australia has repeatedly highlighted that Australia lags behind comparable countries in listing new medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) – a list of federally subsidised medicines. It takes an average of 466 days from when the Therapeutic Goods Administration approves a medicine to when it becomes affordable on the PBS, according to the peak body. This is much longer than in the UK and Canada, for example. The lengthy timeline has also angered the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which has framed the PBS as a 'non-tariff trade barrier' that harms American companies in representations to the Trump administration. Lengthy PBS listing times is among PhRMA's core criticisms. Mr Butler said on Thursday he would look at Medicines Australia's recommendations to make the 'approvals system quicker'. 'We're getting an enormous number of new medicining coming on to the market,' he told the ABC. 'We're living through a turbocharged period of discovery bringing more and more new medicine, so making sure that we can assess them and approve them very quickly to get them into patients as quickly as possible is something I've said is a real priority for us this term.' Because the PBS compels drugmakers to negotiate prices with the federal government, PhRMA has accused Australia of 'freeloading' on US-funded research and development. Meanwhile, American consumers pick up the bill, according to the lobby group. 'The medicines industry, understandably, given their interest, want to make prices higher as well, so there will be a bit of a debate about how we do that,' Mr Butler said. 'But I'm very much on the page of getting medicines more quickly into our system, our PBS system. 'It's a terrific system and we're trying to make medicines cheaper at the same time for Australians.' PhRMA has explicitly urged the Trump administration to 'leverage ongoing trade negotiations' to influence Australia's PBS policies. Mr Butler has echoed Anthony Albanese and fellow senior government ministers in ruling out any 'compromise' on the system as part of tariff talks. For the moment, Donald Trump's concern with the sector appears to be largely focused on bringing down prices in the US rather than punishing allies for having cheaper medicines. A RAND Corporation report found that Americans pay nearly four times more than Australians for medicines and about three times more than the average in other developed economies. The answer, according to the US President, is to make pharmaceuticals in the US. In a warning shot to firms, Mr Trump this week threatened to slap tariffs of up to 250 per cent on foreign-made products. With Australian pharma exports to the US worth more than $2bn in 2024, it would hit producers Down Under hard. Exports are mostly blood products and vaccines but also include packaged medicines and miscellaneous products, such as bandages. 'We'll be putting (an) initially small tariff on pharmaceuticals,' Mr Trump told US business news channel CNBC. 'In one year, 1½ years maximum, it's going to go to 150 per cent and then it's going to go to 250 per cent because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country.' He did not say what the initial rate would be, but earlier in the year he said duties on the sector would start from 25 per cent.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
The aggressive courting of Tasmania's crossbench MPs is heating up with two weeks until fresh no-confidence motion
After weeks of uncertainty, Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff's bid to be recommissioned for another term was endorsed by the state's governor on Wednesday morning. The decision led to bookmakers paying out on bets for the election, and plenty of big grins from Mr Rockliff. And he's been hard at work finalising a shake-up to his cabinet that could be announced as soon as Thursday morning. But things aren't as finite as they seem. In just two weeks, state parliament will be recalled. And Labor leader Dean Winter has confirmed Mr Rockliff's government will face a motion of no-confidence when that happens, barely two months after a successful no-confidence motion triggered July 19's snap state election. So how can it be the case that after an election that was supposed to resolve all the uncertainty, we're back here again? Firstly, the 2025 election no-one really wanted delivered an eerily similar parliament to the one elected a year before. In 2024, there were 14 Liberals, 10 Labor MPs, five Greens and six other crossbenchers — three Jacqui Lambie Network MPs and three independents. This time around, there were again 14 Liberals, 10 from Labor and five from the Greens, and six others on the crossbench. The only real change is that there are five independents, and one Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP. The Liberals are still in minority and the tensions that existed before the election — about a lack of transparency from the government, concerns about its handling of big projects and the budget — are still very live. Also, unlike last year's election, where Mr Rockliff's reaction to winning just 14 seats was to immediately move to secure four confidence and supply agreements in a bid to deliver stability, this time he hasn't tried. He's argued the agreements are good, but not necessary. Then there's the matter that at least 19 of the 35 lower house MPs are either Labor MPs or from the progressive side of politics — the five Greens and independents David O'Byrne, Peter George, Kristie Johnston and Craig Garland. That, plus the lack of confidence and supply agreements, has opened the door for Labor, who didn't try to govern after the last election in 2024 or two months ago following the successful no-confidence motion it moved to step up negotiations with the crossbench. That's the other huge difference to what unfolded two months ago. Labor is actively trying to form a minority government of its own, despite winning just 10 seats. To do that, it needs the support of the Greens, plus at least three other crossbenchers. So there are two parties trying to win over the six non-Green members of the crossbench, and only one of them has picked a side, with independent MP Craig Garland saying he'll vote for a no-confidence motion and support the formation of a Labor government. It means those five other crossbenchers — including three entirely new to parliament in independents Peter George and George Razay and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Carlo Di Falco — have less than two weeks to decide if they want to depose Mr Rockliff and install a government led by Mr Winter instead. They're all being aggressively courted by the Liberals and Labor, who will meet with all six on Thursday. In her decision published on the Government House website, Governor Baker said Mr Rockliff's incumbency meant he had the right to remain in office until parliament decided whether it had confidence in him. And with Tasmania's constitution requiring premiers and ministers to be commissioned within seven days of the election writs being delivered, Governor Baker says she could not afford to wait for a parliamentary vote. "I consider myself bound to make an appointment within that period, because the state must not be without a government," Governor Baker said. But the return date of August 19, much sooner than some were expecting, means that the political uncertainty won't last for too much longer. Within two weeks, Tasmanians will have an answer to the question an election couldn't solve: Who's going to be the state's next long-term premier? Both sides have mounted arguments about why it should be them. But the biggest task now sits with Mr Winter, who sat at the helm while his party suffered a 3.1 per cent statewide swing against it and failed to win a quota in his own right in the seat of Franklin. He's got to make Tasmanians understand why the parliament is again debating kicking out a premier who received more than two quotas in his seat of Braddon. And convince people that this time, a no-confidence motion is a positive move to install a Labor government, not a negative tactic to oust a popular premier when he's got no plan to lead the state himself. And he's got to convince the crossbench, including a Greens party he's at least publicly ignoring, that he's the right man to lead the state, despite his party being rejected at the election. And convince them to risk facing public backlash and support a no-confidence motion, knowing full well all the commentary that doing so will lead to. Despite the governor's decision, Tasmanian politics is still extremely turbulent. And there will be huge consequences for the party, and the leader, caught on the wrong side of the power play that's still got weeks to unfold.
West Australian
3 hours ago
- West Australian
Kiama MP Gareth Ward to fight expulsion attempt by Labor government in Supreme Court
Convicted rapist and sitting MP Gareth Ward will return before the Supreme Court in Sydney's CBD today as he fights attempts by the Labor-controlled state government to have him expelled from parliament. The Kiama MP was taken into custody on remand last week while awaiting sentencing after he was found guilty by a jury of three counts of indecent assault and a fourth count of intercourse without consent. The charges relate to acts against two young men – an 18-year-old at Meroo Meadow in 2013 and a 24-year-old man in Potts Point in 2015 – and sparked calls for the south coast MP to resign from parliament. A motion was expected to be introduced by Labor to the Legislative Assembly to expel Ward, with support from the Coalition earlier this week. If successful, it would mark the first expulsion from the NSW lower house since 1917. Instead, the matter was set down for a full-day hearing at the Supreme Court after an 11th hour injunction was applied for by Ward's lawyers, who argue the state parliament does not have the power to expel him. The last-minute legal move makes it almost impossible to expel Ward, who is still being paid by parliament and is the current member for Kiama, before the Legislative Assembly adjourns until next month. Leader of the House Ron Hoenig earlier in the week said the court did not have the authority to stop matters being but before legislators, but that the state government would abide by the injunction out of respect. The matter sets the stage for a peculiar legal challenge. Premier Chris Minns told 2GB on Tuesday morning most people would 'appreciate it's an unconscionable situation to have someone who's currently sitting in jail in Silverwater convicted of serious sexual offences who is demanding to remain a member of parliament and continue to be paid'. Asked why Ward had not resigned, Mr Minns said 'clearly, he's got no shame'. Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said that, if the government was prepared, they could resume 'in the interim with a small quorum of MPs'. 'We would be willing to do that. It would be possible, for example, to have just 20 MPs, the quorum deal with the matter,' he said. Mr Speakman said 'As a general principle, we are supporting the government's efforts in court. 'That includes as a general principle the arguments that it's putting in court and the outcome that it seeks, which is that the injunction is lifted and the parliament can proceed to expel Mr Ward.' The injunctive orders issued by the court, 'pending further order', restrain the defendant, Mr Hoenig, from 'from taking any steps to expel or otherwise resolve to expel' Ward between July 30 and 10am on Friday.
