Australia news live: Angus Taylor says Labor’s budget update shows ‘red ink as far as the eye can see’
Angus Taylor says Labor’s budget update shows ‘red ink as far as the eye can see’
The opposition’s Treasury spokesperson, Angus Taylor, says the midyear economic update (Myefo) shows “red ink as far as the eye can see”.
Taylor held a press conference in Canberra a short time ago, where he criticised the Albanese Labor government for the results of the midyear economic update (Myefo).
Released today, the Myefo shows Australia’s federal budget is on-track for a deficit of $26.9bn this financial year and is not projected to return to balance until 2034-35.
The update breaks Labor’s streak of two full-year budget surpluses with a deficit in its third year, albeit one that is $1.3bn smaller than projected in May.
Responding to the update, Taylor said:
This is not free money. This is the biggest-spending government we have seen outside of wartime or crisis, the biggest-spending government outside of wartime or crisis.
And there is absolutely no pathway in this update to a restoration of Australians’ standard of living.
Taylor said that in the past 2.5 years, Australia had for the first time experienced seven consecutive quarters of household recession, with GDP per capita going backwards.
Key events
Benbrika’s barrister Dan Star KC said the month-long extension was not opposed, although they would contest the making of a more permanent order in 2025.
Justice James Elliott found there were reasonable grounds to extend the supervision order for a further 28 days, noting it was necessary to protect the community.
The order will expire at 3pm on January 16 but Star indicated he would not oppose a further month-long extension at that time.
The parties will return to the Supreme Court on January 14 to formally extend the order again.
Benbrika, now aged in his 60s, was convicted over plots to attack the MCG during the 2005 AFL grand final and Melbourne’s Crown Casino.
In 2009, he was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for directing a terrorist organisation.
His sentence expired in November 2020 but a further three-year detention order was made and he was not released back into the community until December 2023.
Benbrika was immediately placed under the government supervision order with more than 30 strict conditions.
– Australian Associated Press
Convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika will remain under government supervision for at least another month but with fewer restrictions.
Benbrika was released from prison in December 2023 after serving close to 20 years behind bars for plotting terror attacks in Melbourne.
He was immediately placed under a government supervision order, where he was subject to more than 30 strict conditions including police surveillance and a curfew.
The order was due to expire at 3pm on Thursday but federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus applied in the Victorian Supreme Court to extend the order.
Zoe Maud SC, representing the attorney-general, told the court on Wednesday the extension was necessary to protect the safety of the public.
She referred to a recent psychiatric assessment of Benbrika, which found he still held some extremist views and it would take time for the deradicalisation program to change his core beliefs. He also had problematic personality traits that would make him susceptible to being influenced or influencing others, Maud said.
“Presently, the potential for violence is well contained but in the context where he benefits from many interventions,” the barrister told the court.
Maud outlined the conditions of Benbrika’s current order, including that he was subject to a curfew, restrictions on his employment, and police monitoring of his devices and internet use.
On the proposed extended order, Benbrika would have to follow conditions ensuring he participated in psychological and psychiatric treatment, as well as the deradicalisation program he was already undergoing.
– Australian Associated Press
More to come in the next post.
Taylor has emphatically claimed the opposition’s nuclear policy will bring down power bills by 44% even though the Coalition’s own modelling does not show this.
Responding to a question from a reporter as to whether the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, was correct to claim power bills would be 44% less than under the planned renewables transition, Taylor said:
There is no doubt about that.
Over time what you see, basic economics, as long as you have good competition policy in place, and we absolutely intend to do that, prices paid reflect cost underlying cost.
The Coalition released its nuclear modelling last Friday based on costings it commissioned from Frontier Economics, which claimed the policy would cost $263 billion or 44% less than the planned transition to renewables.
The report did not say individual power bills would cost 44% less.
Furthermore, the detail in the Frontier Economics report shows this 44% cost reduction comes as a result of comparing two different scenarios for the future of the electricity grid.
The Coalition’s preferred scenario also assumes Australia will have far less major industry and would use roughly one-third less electricity in 2050 than under Labor.
At his press conference, Taylor was asked twice to clarify what he meant, after which he then said the 44% figure was the difference in cost between the Coalition and Labor’s plans.
He said:
The cost of electricity to Australians is 44% lower under this plan than Labor’s, the underlying cost.
And as long as there are strong competition policies in place and there will be under us, that should be reflected in power bills.
Angus Taylor says Labor’s budget update shows ‘red ink as far as the eye can see’
The opposition’s Treasury spokesperson, Angus Taylor, says the midyear economic update (Myefo) shows “red ink as far as the eye can see”.
Taylor held a press conference in Canberra a short time ago, where he criticised the Albanese Labor government for the results of the midyear economic update (Myefo).
Released today, the Myefo shows Australia’s federal budget is on-track for a deficit of $26.9bn this financial year and is not projected to return to balance until 2034-35.
The update breaks Labor’s streak of two full-year budget surpluses with a deficit in its third year, albeit one that is $1.3bn smaller than projected in May.
Responding to the update, Taylor said:
This is not free money. This is the biggest-spending government we have seen outside of wartime or crisis, the biggest-spending government outside of wartime or crisis.
And there is absolutely no pathway in this update to a restoration of Australians’ standard of living.
Taylor said that in the past 2.5 years, Australia had for the first time experienced seven consecutive quarters of household recession, with GDP per capita going backwards.
Kelly Burke
Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art will begin charging an entry fee in 2025 for the first time in more than two decades.
Free general admission was introduced in 2000 under the directorship of Elizabeth Ann MacGregor with the aid of a Telstra sponsorship.
But stagnant government funding has forced the museum’s hand, with the introduction of a $20 entry fee from 31 January. That fee will rise to $35 if visitors want to also see its major summer or winter exhibitions.
Concession tickets will be priced at $16 and $28 respectively, however visitors under 18 and students will continue to have free entry.
Read the full story here:
Flood warnings remain for more than a dozen rivers and creeks in south-east, west and central Queensland.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines told AAP many of the minor flood warnings could possibly escalate to moderate with heavy rainfall.
Water has been released from the south-east’s Wivenhoe dam for the first time in two years after reaching 90% capacity.
It led to the closure of Savages Crossing, Colleges Crossing and Twins Bridges roads, escalating the risk of flooding in the waterways around the region’s major dam.
“There’s certainly a distinct possibility that we will see significant rises given the stormy forecast for the rest of the days,” Hines said.
The last time the dam released water was during 2022 floods which caused destruction across Queensland’s south-east and northern NSW, resulting in 24 deaths.
Somerset and North Pine dams are also releasing flood waters.
The storms and rainfall in the south-east are set to ease from Thursday afternoon, providing a welcome dry spell into Christmas week.
However, north Queensland is next in the firing line for wet weather and storms beginning on Thursday from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Townsville.
“It’s a split forecast across the state with it continuing to be wet and stormy in the north but much drier and sunny in the south,” Hines said.
– Australian Associated Press
Women rescued from flood waters as deluge continues
Two people have been rescued from flood waters after a rain-hit state was again struck by storms ahead of the festive season.
The women were found in the tray of a ute after a swift water rescue team was called to Euthulla, about 450km north-west of Brisbane, on Tuesday night.
The SES has responded to almost 200 callouts across Queensland since Tuesday morning, mostly for leaking roofs, sandbagging and fallen trees after the latest round of wet weather.
“The ground is really quite wet at the moment, so it doesn’t take too much for some of those trees to decide that they’d rather lay down than stand up,” SES operations director Glenn Alderton told ABC Radio.
More than 300 properties are without power on Wednesday, with thousands at one stage affected mostly across the Gladstone and Sunshine Coast region north of Brisbane.
Central and eastern Queensland copped the brunt of the heavy rain on Tuesday, with Mapleton, north of the Sunshine Coast, hit with 102mm while nearby Cooloolabin Dam received 103mm.
Up north, Townsville had about 65mm, while in the south-east Brisbane was a drier than recent days with 10mm of rain in 24 hours, but enough to cause major delays for players in the cricket Test between Australia and India at the Gabba.
More wet weather is expected, with storms forecast from Brisbane to Townsville on Wednesday afternoon.
– Australian Associated Press
More to come in the next post
‘Clandestine’ magic mushroom lab in Sydney apartment uncovered
The largest alleged magic mushroom lab ever found in an apartment by NSW police has been dismantled.
Detectives have charged four people and conducted seven search warrants after an investigation into an alleged criminal syndicate manufacturing and supplying prohibited drugs across Sydney, NSW police said.
At 8:30am yesterday, police stopped a vehicle in Sydney Olympic Park and arrested two men, aged 45 and 30.
The older man was charged with 10 offences relating to “the supply of large commercial quantities of drugs”. The younger man was charged with four offences relating to “the supply of large commercial quantities of drugs”.
At 9.30am, detectives arrested a 28-year-old man at a cafe in West Ryde. He was charged with supplying a prohibited drug in an indictable and commercial quantity.
All three men were refused bail to appear in Burwood local court today.
At 9.50am, detectives searched a Pyrmont property and discovered a “clandestine laboratory” producing psilocybin (also known as magic mushrooms).
The laboratory “is the largest magic mushroom lab found by NSW police in a residential apartment”, police alleged.
A 45-year-old woman was arrested at the scene and charged with five offences relating to “the supply of large commercial quantities of drugs”. She was refused bail to appear in Downing Centre local court today.
Search warrants were also executed at Oatlands, Campsie, Epping, Rydalmere, West Ryde and Pyrmont. Police seized “a large amount of prohibited drugs” including 100 bags of magic mushrooms.
Henry Belot
Push to force Essendon Football Club to acknowledge ‘social harm’ cause by poker machines fails
A motion to force the Essendon Football Club to acknowledge the harm caused by its poker machines has failed to win enough support at an annual general meeting.
The motion, put forward by advocacy group No Pokies at Essendon, called for a statement conceding the club was contributing to “social harm” to be included in financial reports.
In one year, Essendon made close to $15m from 190 poker machines at two venues in Victoria.
Other major Victorian AFL clubs have divested from poker machines, citing gambling harm inflicted on their community.
The motion required support from 75% of members to succeed, as involved amending the club’s constitution. It only received 32.6% of votes.
The Essendon board encouraged members to oppose the motion, arguing it would reduce money that could be spent on football and community programs.
It told members the motion was not in the best interests of the club:
The club being forced to exit gaming in an unplanned manner would affect the club’s ability to invest in areas that are important to our members, such as our football department and community programs. Additionally, revenue from our hospitality venues enables the club to be less financially dependent on AFL funding, and thereby, more independent in its operations.
Petra Stock
Andrew Edmunds, a spokesperson for the NSW State Emergency Service said the southerly buster and thunderstorms that arrived yesterday afternoon and evening brought storms to the Illawarra, Southern Highlands, Hunter and Central Coast.
There were about 140 incidents in those areas – mostly fallen powerlines, trees and branches – with the majority attended to overnight, he said.
As we head into the Christmas period, we should hopefully see dry and sunny conditions, which would obviously be a welcome change for people.
Caitlin Cassidy
Western Sydney University vice-chancellor says Atar results ‘a time of nerves and hopes’ – for parents as well as students
The release of Atars is nerve-wracking for students – but so too for parents.
The vice chancellor of Western Sydney University, George Williams, is among thousands of parents in New South Wales with a child graduating year 12 this year. He says he knows firsthand what has gone into this moment.
The hours of studying, the assignments, and a learning experience interrupted by the pandemic. This year’s HSC graduates are a special and resilient bunch who have demonstrated the fortitude and commitment needed to complete their studies despite often experiencing great hardship.
The ‘big reveal’ of the results is a time of nerves, hopes and crossed fingers, and that’s just for parents like me.
Still, Williams says today’s results don’t determine future success.
Not everyone will get the marks they want today. In my case, I missed out on my preferred university course by a single mark. I had to rethink and change tack, but everything turned out OK. A new door opened for me, for which I am grateful to this day.
Elias Visontay
Jones says allegations are ‘baseless’ or ‘distort the truth’ as he vows to defend against every charge
Alan Jones has said he is “emphatic” in his vow to defend every charge levelled against him of indecent assault.
Speaking outside Sydney’s Downing Centre courts after appearing for a mention, the veteran broadcaster said:
Firstly let me say this, I am certainly not guilty and I’ll be presenting my account to the jury as you heard this morning.
I will not be engaging in a running commentary in the media, but I want you to understand this.
These allegations are all either baseless or they distort the truth and you should know that prior to my arrest I was given no opportunity by police to answer any of these allegations.
I have never indecently assaulted these people.
The law assumes that I’m not guilty, and I am not guilty.
That’s all I can say at the moment, but I am emphatic that I’ll be defending every charge before a jury in due course.
That’s all I’ve got to say.
Petra Stock
Queensland water authority says water grid is nearly at 88% capacity
The Queensland water authority Seqwater is closely monitoring dam levels in response to current and forecast rainfall in the state’s south-east.
The water authority said it was releasing water from Somerset dam into Wivenhoe dam, which can hold 2m megalitres on top of its water supply storage capacity during periods of heavy rain.
Seqwater is also releasing water from North Pine and Wivenhoe dams, with several ungated dams also spilling excess water. A spokesperson said:
As at 8:30am on Wednesday 18 December, the SEQ water grid is currently sitting at approximately 87.7%. Due to recent rainfall and inflows, 19 ungated dams are also spilling excess water and outflows may increase due to continuing rain.
These are ungated dams, meaning that once they reach 100% capacity, water spills over the spillway and safely out of the dam as it is designed to do.
Spilling is a normal part of operations at Seqwater. At our ungated dams, excess water naturally flows over the spillway and safely out of the dam into the creek or river system the dam is built on.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a moderate flood warning for the Mary River and several minor flood warnings for rivers across Queensland.
Jones to plead not guilty
Jordyn Beazley
Alan Jones will plead not guilty to 34 historic sexual assault charges in his first appearance before court since he was arrested.
The former Sydney radio host appeared before Judge Michael Allen, the NSW chief magistrate, at Sydney’s Downing Centre on Wednesday.
It comes after the 83-year-old was charged with an additional eight indecent assault offences after he was charged with 24 offences in November.
The charges include 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault where the alleged victim was under his authority. He also faces allegations of assault with an act of indecency, sexually touching a person without their consent and common assault.
The alleged offences took place between 2001 and 2019, with the youngest of the alleged victims 17 years old at the time.
Eight new charges against Alan Jones brings total to 34
Former broadcaster Alan Jones has been charged with eight fresh indecent assault charges relating to a tenth complainant, following an investigation into allegations of indecent assault and sexual touching over two decades.
NSW police confirmed an 83-year-old man was issued a court attendance notice for the additional charges in a media release today, just as Jones arrived at Sydney’s Downing Centre local court to appear before a hearing into historical assault charges.
Jones was already facing 26 charges relating to nine alleged victims. The fresh indecent assault charges brings the total to 34.
The other charges include 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault where the alleged victim was under his authority. He also faces allegations of assault with an act of indecency, sexually touching a person without their consent and common assault.
Benita Kolovos
Jacinta Allan denies ‘antisemitism’ crackdown being used as smokescreen to target climate protesters
Victoria premier Jacinta Allan was asked about the reaction to her crackdown on protests announced yesterday and whether they would have a “chilling effect on democracy” as warned by the Greens. She responds:
Last Friday, I attended the Adass Israel synagogue. It was my second visit … a private visit, and I was shown inside the synagogue, and I saw the blackened charred remains of what was a beautiful place of worship in ruins … prayer books blackened, the synagogue destroyed, and I was shown where a man had been sitting praying quietly in the early hours of that Friday morning, and he had to flee for his life as a consequence of that horrific attack … Where’s the thoughts for that individual? For that community’s rights and protections? Well, I’m thinking of their rights and protections.
It’s worth noting the firebombing at the synagogue was not a result of a protest. Rather it was a targeted terror attack. Asked why she was using it to justify the protest crackdown, Allan responds:
We cannot separate the attack on the Adass Israel synagogue from the broader context, from the broader challenges we are seeing in our communities, here in Melbourne, in Sydney, in cities around the world, as a consequence of the conflict in the Middle East … It is also being used by some as a cloak, to be hateful, to be vile, to be antisemitic. There is no place for that behaviour. And yes, we do need to strengthen the support for Victoria police, which is what we announced yesterday.
Allan denied the antisemitism crackdown was being used a smokescreen to target climate protesters, as suggested by the Human Rights Law Centre.
Allan says:
No. I can’t be any clearer to you.
Our report:
