‘We need to stand firm': Anthony Albanese under fire amid China visit
'There are significant advantages to our relationship with China … there are benefits economically,' Mr Violi told Sky News host Danica De Giorgio.
'We should never sell out our country, or our national interests, and we need to stand firm.
'It appears the Prime Minister has not done that when it comes to the Port of Darwin.'
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News.com.au
18 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Sussan Ley claims Australians will pay more tax if ‘Jim Chalmers gets his way'
Sussan Ley says the Coalition will target Labor's tax agenda, claiming Australians would pay more tax if 'Jim Chalmers gets his way'. Speaking to the Coalition party room on Monday, ahead of the opening of the 48th parliament, the Opposition Leader said the party would 'not be judged by the headlines of the day' and instead be judged on 'what we offer the Australian people at the next election'. This follows Sunday night's NewsPoll that revealed the Coalition's primary vote fell from 31.8 per cent to 29 per cent, the lowest point in 40 years. In her address to the Coalition party room, Ms Ley vowed to 'fight them every step of the way' after leaked Treasury advice urged the Treasurer to consider new taxes in order to boost the budget bottom line. 'Now, I haven't met a single Australian who wants to pay more tax, who thinks they're paying not enough tax,' she said. 'And what I do know is that every single Australian expects this government to minimise their tax bill, to work hard for them, and to make sure they run a responsible budget with responsible economic management across the country. 'And that's clearly not going to happen if we let Treasurer Jim Chalmers get his way.' While Ms Ley said the Coalition was willing to be more co-operative with the government, she dismissed claims from Anthony Albanese that they would 'just get out of the way'. 'Our job is to represent the millions of Australians who voted for us and the millions who maybe did not but still expect us to be the strongest and best opposition that we can be and we will be,' she said. Nationals leader David Littleproud accused the Prime Minister of 'swanning around the international stage' and forgetting 'struggling' Australians. 'The fundamentals have not changed and we do not need to change, but we need to prepare to have that fight,' he said. 'We will agree where we can but where we must we will hold true to our values and beliefs and have the courage to stand up.'
Sky News AU
29 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
'Impossible': Nationals leader issues stern warning to Sussan Ley on net zero fight after Joyce calls on Coalition to dump emissions targets
Nationals leader David Littleproud has admitted achieving net zero is almost 'impossible' in a major blow to Sussan Ley's efforts to unify the Coalition on the controversial issue of emission reduction targets. The matter of emissions reduction targets has become a contentious sticking point within the Coalition, with the Nationals deciding to briefly exit its decades long political partnership with the Liberals in late May in protest over the issue. However, Liberal leader Sussan Ley in an attempt to modernise the party's brand has hailed 'reducing emissions' as a crucial policy aim so that Australia is "playing its part in the global effort.' Yet the issue once again ignited on Monday, with veteran Nationals MP and former party leader Barnaby Joyce insisting the Coalition needed to scrap its position on clean energy targets. Mr Joyce told Channel Seven's Sunrise program that the Coalition needed to desperately find policies which would separate them from the Labor Party, and implored his party to withdraw its support for emission reduction targets. 'You have to find issues which are binary, which you are fully for and the Labor Party is fully against,' Mr Joyce said. 'That's why such issues such as net zero, I say: find a point of division. You don't believe in net zero, they do believe in net zero ... if you have another way of going about it, there are your numbers.' When pressed about Mr Joyce's critical comments, Nationals leader David Littleproud said his party was committed to overseeing its review process into the polarising issue, but conceded that it was almost 'impossible' to reach the government's current renewables targets. 'What we are experiencing, particularly in regional areas, that I don't think people in metropolitan areas understand is the real burden of our landscape being ripped up,' Mr Littleproud told Sky News. 'Our livelihoods are being ripped up for this full renewables approach – we are tearing communities apart. 'Unfortunately, when you see many parts of the rest of the world now saying that we're not going to get to net zero, we need to actually make sure that we're sensible about this, rather than trying to achieve the impossible.' Mr Littleproud's comments are contrasted by remarks made by Liberal leader Sussan Ley who has repeatedly said the Coalition needed to become more embracing of renewables projects. Mr Littleproud said the Coalition needed to put forward a 'sensible position, but not at the cost of regional and rural Australians.' He also said that backbenchers were allowed to 'advance their own bills" with Mr Joyce vowing that he would table legislation in the new parliamentary term to abolish the government's net zero targets. Mr Littleproud further blasted the Albanese government's 'hasty' push to roll out renewable projects nationwide to meet federal climate targets and said regional communities were being asked to shoulder the burden of the energy transition. 'I say to city people we are not saying we don't believe in climate change, but you are asking us to bear all the burden and there is a consequence for your food security, and a consequence for the electricity bill that you are receiving at the moment,' Mr Littleproud said. 'When you see people like Zali Stegall rail against just six wind turbines on north head, yet she's prepared to see our landscaper littered with hundreds of them the irony and the hypocrisy."
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Coalition MP's ‘brutal' admission as support for Labor soars
The Coalition reported its lowest Newspoll primary vote in 40 years. Support for Labor has crept up as backers of the coalition have retreated, according to the first Newspoll since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's election win in May. The survey, published in The Australian on Monday, showed a 1.4 percentage point rise in Labor's primary vote since the election to 36 per cent while the coalition slipped from 31.8 per cent to 29 per cent. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Barnaby Joyce addresses Coalition's declining support. And on a two-party-preferred basis, the Labor government has bolstered its lead of 55.2 per cent to 44.8 per cent on May 3 to 57 per cent to 43 per cent in the Newspoll. 'They are brutal numbers,' Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce told Seven's Sunrise program on Monday. 'Obviously, it's going to be a hard time ... any person in a lower house seat ... if you had a three in front of your primary vote you would be very, very worried.' The Greens' primary vote remained steady at 12 per cent, as did the independents and minor parties category on 15 per cent, while One Nation was up 1.6 percentage points to eight per cent. The 29 per cent primary vote number is the coalition's lowest reading in a Newspoll survey since ?November 1985. The combined Labor and coalition primary vote total - at 65 per cent - is also at its lowest level in Newspoll history. Mr Albanese's pre-election Newspoll net approval rating of minus 10 improved in the survey published on Monday to zero, with 47 per cent of voters satisfied with his performance and an equal number dissatisfied. The poll has new coalition leader Sussan Ley's net approval rating at minus seven, an upgrade from her predecessor Peter Dutton's minus 24 result, but 23 per cent of respondents indicated it was too early to judge her performance. Federal minister Tanya Plibersek shrugged off suggestions Labor MPs risked becoming overconfident. 'The prime minister has made it very clear that we are there to deliver what we promised the Australian people, and that's our 100 per cent focus,' she told Sunrise. The 48th parliament has its official opening in Canberra on Tuesday. MPs and senators were welcomed by Governor-General Sam Mostyn at Government House on Sunday as part of formalities before the start of the new session. Labor will have an increased majority in the new term, holding 94 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives after its election triumph on May 3. The Newspoll survey of 1264 voters was conducted online between July 14 and July 17.
