‘Absolute lunacy': Claims Labor has put Australia at risk with net zero
Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce claims Labor has put Australia at risk over its push to net zero.
'Absolute lunacy but what happens at the end? The pensioner, poor old Australian, they pay through the teeth,' Mr Joyce said.
'We have put our nation at risk.'
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West Australian
39 minutes ago
- West Australian
Australian news and politics live: Greens Leader Larissa Waters responds after Dorinda Cox joins Labor
Scroll down for the latest news and updates. The Prime Minister has confirmed publicly he is seeking to meet with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Canada later this month. Canadian leader Mark Carney invited Anthony Albanese to attend the meeting of global leaders when they spoke shortly after the May 3 election. Mr Albanese confirmed on Tuesday the widely speculated meeting with Mr Trump was being organised to take place in Alberta rather than Washington.. 'That's what we hope to do there,' he told ABC Perth. He said his approach in dealing with Mr Trump was to be 'consistent and clear and unambiguous'. 'That is what I've been. I've had three really constructive discussions with President Trump, but it's important that you don't jump around and take different positions from day to day,' he said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is on ABC Perth talking about Dorinda Cox and the North West Shelf. He says Senator Cox had decided after much thought that her values aligned more closely with those of Labor rather than the Greens, leading to her defection. 'We know that the Greens have lost their way,' Mr Albanese said. 'That's one of the reasons why they lost three of their four seats in the House of Representatives, and the domination of issues that certainly aren't environmental have been their concerns.' Asked how someone who has so stridently spoken out against the extension of the North West Shelf project can now be on board with Labor, Mr Ablanese points out the Greens including Senator Cox voted for the safeguard mechanism as the primary way to cut emissions. 'The North West Shelf, like other projects right around Australia, the top 200 emitters, are all subject to that (safeguard mechanism) that requires emissions to be brought down each and every year or to be offset as part of getting to net zero,' he said. 'We have not just a policy of net zero. We have a plan to get there… You can't change the way that the economy functions through just good will or good thoughts.' Having worked as a delivery driver at Pizza Hut, as a cleaner, in a newsagency and at a call centre, Sally McManus used to depend on an award wage. Now, the 53-year-old firebrand leading Australia's top union body is calling for a 4.5 per cent pay rise for nearly 3 million workers who live pay-to-pay on an industry award or minimum wage. The Fair Work Commission will on Tuesday release its annual wage review decision. Ms McManus says it's essential the nation's lowest-paid workers receive a pay rise above inflation. 'It's about whether you can keep up with your bills or not, it's whether or not your life gets slightly better, whether it stays the same or whether it goes backwards. It's everything,' she tells AAP. 'When you're on those wages, you're not saving money. Everything you earn, you spend.' Read the full story here. With two Aboriginal women now having left the Greens, the party is facing questions about its representation and approach to First Nations issues. 'I think there's two very different reasons why those strong First Nations women made the decisions they made. It was definitely their call to make,' she told ABC News Breakfast. 'Senator Thorpe has gone on to be a really strong voice in the Parliament and I'm sure Senator Cox will continue to work for the issues that are meaningful for her,' Waters explained. 'But the Greens remain entirely committed to strong advocacy on truth telling, on treaties, on justice, on healing, on reparations. Our policies are still very firm for First Nations justice and we won't be changing course in that regard.' Read the full story here. The Greens are reeling after WA Senator Dorinda Cox announced her move to Labor, but party leader Larissa Waters says there's no animosity and wishes her well. 'Dorinda spoke for herself yesterday and said her values aligned more closely with the Labor Party. And people need to have values fit with the party they seek to represent,' she told ABC News Breakfast. 'Dorinda called me an hour before her press conference with the Prime Minister. And we had a very calm and measured conversation about it. And I did genuinely wish her all the best. 'There's no animosity there. It's disappointing for us to lose a Greens senator. But Dorinda says her values lie there. You need to be true to yourself, don't you?' Read about Dorinda Cox's surprise move here. Mental ill health and poor father-son relationships have been revealed as key factors that could contribute to men's violence against women. A longitudinal study conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) surveyed men and boys in 2013/14 and again in 2022 for critical insights into factors influencing the use of violence. The research has produced the first national estimate of male intimate partner violence perpetration, with the 2022 study finding more than one-in-three Australian men aged 18 to 65 have used intimate partner violence in their lifetime. This is up from one-in-four men who reported ever having used intimate partner violence among the same cohort surveyed in 2014. The latest study also found an estimated 120,000 men nationally were starting to use violence for the first time each year. Read the full story here.
West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
In China, The Great American burger is now made with Australian beef
At his restaurant in Beijing, Geng Xiaoyun used to offer a special dish of salt-baked chicken feet — or 'phoenix talons' as they are called in China — imported from America. With prices climbing 30 per cent from March due to tariffs, the owner of Kunyuan restaurant had to pull the Chinese delicacy from the menu. 'American chicken feet are so beautiful,' Xiaoyun said. 'They're spongy so they taste great. Chinese [chicken] feet just aren't as good.' Geng can now source chicken feet from Brazil or Russia but said they just don't stand up to the American ones. He keeps a small stash for himself but hopes to serve his American phoenix talons once again. 'The price of American chicken feet will come back down,' Xiaoyun said, 'as long as there are no big changes in the world's political situation.' But the 90-day tariff pause agreed by China and the US in Geneva in May is now under threat as both sides have accused each other of breaching the terms. On Monday, the Chinese Commerce Ministry responded to President Donald Trump's claim that the country 'totally violated its agreement'. The ministry pointed at recent US artificial intelligence chip export controls as actions that 'severely undermine' the Geneva pact. As the world waits and watches, American agricultural products have been vanishing from Chinese stores and restaurants and losing ground to other imports. US Department of Agriculture grade beef has been a draw for years at Home Plate, a Beijing restaurant known locally for its American-style barbecue. However, staff said the restaurant stopped serving American beef last month. Dishes like The Great American burger are made with beef imported from Australia. Australian beef has zero duty under the terms of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, though China does maintain the right to a safeguard limit on those imports. Liu Li, a beef supplier at the Sanyuanli market for three decades, said the tariffs have disrupted supply, hiking the price of US beef by 50 per cent compared to before the tariff fight. 'US beef is fattier and tastier,' Li said. 'It's a shame we're in a trade war. The high price is just too much to bear.' CNBC
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien doubles down on Coalition's conditions for super tax support, demands Labor ditch key elements
Shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien has reaffirmed the Coalition will not support Labor's proposed superannuation tax changes unless the government scraps the tax on unrealised capital gains and agrees to index the $3 million threshold. The government's widely criticised proposal to increase the tax rate on superannuation funds exceeding $3 million, while also targeting unrealised capital gains, is likely to pass parliament as Labor's majority in both houses means the party's sole obstacle is gaining approval from the Greens. The controversial policy would raise the earnings tax on superannuation balances above $3 million from 15 per cent to 30 per cent. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has refused to index the $3 million figure. Mr O'Brien has doubled down on earlier declarations the Coalition would consider offering bipartisan support for the plan if Labor scrapped taxing unrealised gains and indexed the threshold in its controversial superannuation proposal. 'We think that Labor's super tax is super big and super bad. I can't think of one element of it I like, candidly,' he told Sky News Host Sharri Markson on Monday. 'If, though, that Labor does want to speak to the Coalition, then they'll have to walk away from a lot of those aspects of what they've put forward. 'There's no doubt in opposition we will be constructive where we can, but critical where we must." Mr O'Brien said there was 'no choice but to be absolutely critical' as the two aforementioned aspects of the policy were clearly "egregious'. The government also faces pushback from the Greens, which has expressed support for taxing unrealised gains but urged Labor to lower the threshold to $2 million and index this with inflation. Labor's proposal is set to impact more Australians than the Greens' counterproposal over the long term, according to the Australian Financial Review. The Greens' plan to lower the threshold by a million would mean an additional 16,000 taxpayers would be roped in throughout the first year, however, it would hit fewer Aussies after about 16 years. Mr Chalmers claimed the tax would initially only hit 80,000 Australians. However, Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino conceded about 1.2 million, or 10 per cent of taxpayers, would be impacted within 30 years. Mr O'Brien said the Coalition would 'always be open' to discussions, but stressed this did not mean it would offer unconditional support. 'If indeed Jim Chalmers wants to come and have a discussion with the Coalition about his super tax, well, he would have to firstly walk away from the unrealised capital gains component, and at least, he should be compromising on indexation," he said. 'Now, if he caves in on all those things and wants to talk about super reform - then let's have a chat about super reform.'
