Latest news with #ex-Greens
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘An element of trust': Inside Xi and Albanese's warm, funny private lunch in Beijing
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has feted a rare intimate lunch with Chinese President Xi Jinping as a moment of 'trust' in an ambitious new phase in relations, after years of Australia pursuing a more limited policy of stabilisation. Revealing details of the event for the first time, the prime minister also used an interview to shift his gaze to the domestic agenda, with Labor to pursue pre-election pledges to wipe 20 per cent off student debt and enshrine penalty rates in law, and rush through new laws to boost childcare centre safety after shock allegations of a child abuse in Melbourne and Sydney. However, the prime minister said he would not seek to pass a contentious super tax hike in the first fortnight of parliamentary sessions of the 48th parliament. Instead, Labor's 17 new MPs will deliver their maiden speeches, led by Ali France and Sarah Witty , who respectively toppled former Coalition leader Peter Dutton and ex-Greens leader Adam Bandt. Albanese demanded the Coalition get out of the way of his agenda after it described his week of high-level talks in China as 'indulgent' and a 'working holiday'. In an interview on his flight back to Australia, the prime minister provided details about a private banquet that Xi organised after the pair's formal bilateral talks. Until now, he had not spoken at length about the private meal that analysts have said was a treat few foreign leaders were handed when they travelled to Beijing. 'He was very personal. It was a very personal discussion,' Albanese said of the lunch in Beijing's Great Hall on Tuesday. 'We got to know each other a lot more; a lot more about our backgrounds, our upbringing, our views, a lot more about everything … There was humour.
The Age
2 days ago
- Business
- The Age
‘An element of trust': Inside Xi and Albanese's warm, funny private lunch in Beijing
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has feted a rare intimate lunch with Chinese President Xi Jinping as a moment of 'trust' in an ambitious new phase in relations, after years of Australia pursuing a more limited policy of stabilisation. Revealing details of the event for the first time, the prime minister also used an interview to shift his gaze to the domestic agenda, with Labor to pursue pre-election pledges to wipe 20 per cent off student debt and enshrine penalty rates in law, and rush through new laws to boost childcare centre safety after shock allegations of a child abuse in Melbourne and Sydney. However, the prime minister said he would not seek to pass a contentious super tax hike in the first fortnight of parliamentary sessions of the 48th parliament. Instead, Labor's 17 new MPs will deliver their maiden speeches, led by Ali France and Sarah Witty , who respectively toppled former Coalition leader Peter Dutton and ex-Greens leader Adam Bandt. Albanese demanded the Coalition get out of the way of his agenda after it described his week of high-level talks in China as 'indulgent' and a 'working holiday'. In an interview on his flight back to Australia, the prime minister provided details about a private banquet that Xi organised after the pair's formal bilateral talks. Until now, he had not spoken at length about the private meal that analysts have said was a treat few foreign leaders were handed when they travelled to Beijing. 'He was very personal. It was a very personal discussion,' Albanese said of the lunch in Beijing's Great Hall on Tuesday. 'We got to know each other a lot more; a lot more about our backgrounds, our upbringing, our views, a lot more about everything … There was humour.
Sydney Morning Herald
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Former Greens leader Adam Bandt's new gig revealed
Former Greens leader Adam Bandt is not resting on his laurels. Persistent speculation says Bandt is heading to the Australian Conservation Foundation, which sounds like a great fit. But so far, it is back to the future for the ex-Greens leader, who led the party to unprecedented lower house success in 2022 before it lost three seats – including his own – at the federal election on May 3. CBD hears Bandt is working for the United Firefighters Union (UFU), a Labor-aligned union, where an old mate and client, Peter Marshall, presides as secretary. Bandt has been spotted attending the office from time to time in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, in his old federal seat of Melbourne. Pre-parliament, Bandt was an industrial relations and public interest barrister and solicitor and worked protecting the rights of coal miners in the La Trobe Valley after power station privatisation. He has represented the UFU before, which often clashes with Labor governments, something Bandt definitely vibes with. Loading The firebrand union last put its head above the parapet when it challenged the Victorian state government's plan to increase its fire services levy and convert it into an Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund. Marshall also attacked the federal government's demerger plans for the CFMEU after this masthead's Building Bad series revealed corruption and links with bikies. Bandt also attacked the legislation. The association is longstanding. The UFU backed Bandt in the 2010 election for Melbourne when he took the seat off Labor, and several times since. Bandt was elected five times before losing his seat to Labor this year in a shock turn of events the ALP didn't see coming. And neither did Bandt.
