Australia news live: Jane Hume rejects suggestion windfalls from Coalition future fund plan could lead to pork barrelling
Hume rejects suggestion windfalls from Coalition future fund plan could lead to pork barrelling
The shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, is speaking with ABC Afternoon Briefing about the Coalition’s new future fund proposals.
The two new funds being promised today – the Future Generations Fund and Regional Australia Future Fund – will be grown using 80% of any “positive windfall receipts variations each year”. You can read more details on this earlier in the blog.
Hume touted the future funds as helping Australians “benefit from the prosperity of our nation, rather than having it squandered on either recurrent spending, making the structural budget worse, or, more importantly, on sugar hits”.
Host Patricia Karvelas asked what the point of putting money aside is “when you’re still running deficits?”
Hume said this was an “opportunity to pay down debt.”
If you put money into a future fund it actually earns more money than it cost to repay the debt.
Asked about concerns this could lead to pork barrelling, Hume said “it in itself [is] a physical guardrail, it means you can’t use windfall gains for pork barrelling, or physical sugar hits or for recurrent expenditure.”
There will still be infrastructure investment that [is] done through the regular budget processes, that would be expected. The regular budget processes will not change, but what’s important here is when there are these windfall gains, that they are invested for future generations rather than squandered.
Key events
Sarah Basford Canales
Dutton visits sixth petrol station in seven days
Peter Dutton dropped into a petrol station in Caulfield as part of one of the opposition campaign’s media stunts.
Sitting shotgun while Goldstein candidate, Tim Wilson, drove in his extremely blue Liberal-branded van, Dutton exited to put 35 litres in the tank.
Dutton was joined by Wilson, Victorian opposition leader, Brad Battin, and Macnamara candidate, Benson Saulo.
The four men stood at the bowser – a completely unnatural petrol tank fill up – talking about how the opposition’s proposal to slash the fuel excise by 25.4 cents for 12 months would help drivers save money on petrol bills.
It was a swift stop, as most stunts for the TVs are, but it was delayed ever so slightly by a 12-year-old kid who walked up to ask the alternative prime minister a few questions.
Then Dutton was off and the press pack left behind waiting for the next stop.
Labor minister lashes Coalition’s mixed messaging over Paris agreement
Labor MP Anne Aly, also speaking on Afternoon Briefing, took aim at the Coalition’s mixed messaging over the Paris agreement. Here was what she had to say, in full:
I just want to get everything right here, because you’ve got Ted O’Brien leaving the door open to Paris, Jane Hume just came on recently and said no we’ll stick with it, [Jonathon Duniam] is saying something different now. This pretty much sums up what the Coalition has been for the nine years they were in government, which sums up why they did not land a single energy policy for those whole nine years.
With all due respect, we are not going to be lectured by a party, a Coalition, that could not come up with an energy plan for nine years while they argued and quibbled over whether or not climate change even existed. We’re not going to then be lectured by then about Paris or environmental targets or anything else.
What we have is a clear path to renewable energy, shored up by gas, shored up by hydro, that will deliver to the grid the electricity needs for now, and the future, that Australians need – and at a cost Australians need.
All the Coalition is offering is a nuclear fantasy to build nuclear plants somewhere in the never-never that our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren and great great-grandchildren will be paying for, that will not deliver the energy needs we need, at a higher cost.
Second shadow minister says Coalition committed to Paris agreement following O’Brien’s earlier comments
The shadow environment minister, Jonathon Duniam, has also claimed a Coalition government would remain committed to the Paris agreement.
To recap: at today’s debate, the Coalition’s energy spokesperson Ted O’Brien refused to commit to staying in the Paris agreement.
The finance minister, Jane Hume, told Afternoon Briefing there was “no doubt” the Coalition was committed to the Paris agreement.
And now, also speaking on Afternoon Briefing, Duniam said “there is no intention to leave it”.
We have signed up, we now have a legislated target here, which is frankly unnecessary, we were going to be working toward the target anyway.
We’ve got to do what we can to minimise our impact on the planet and I think there are a range of measures that can be put in place. We differ from the government about how best to achieve the target.
Former ambassador to China says Australia will need to work with them ‘whether we like it or not’
The former ambassador to China, Geoff Raby, says Australia is going to have to work with China “whether we like it or not”.
Discussing all things tariffs on ABC Afternoon Briefing, he described the tariff back-and-forth between the US and China as “much more chaotic than one could ever imagine” and that “anything that harms China’s economy harms Australia.”
China takes 37% of our exports, more than the next five markets that we sell to, and although we talk endlessly about diversification the reality is that the fundamental economic relationship between Australia and China is such that we will be selling to China a lot of our goods, and it will continue.
Asked about China’s call for Australia to “join hands [with them] to defend the multilateral trading system,” Raby said China has been the “word that no one in this election campaign dares mention.”
It’s nothing unusual for us to be working with China – it’s unusual that for our single largest market, politicians in Australia today seem to be reluctant to even talk about it.
The reality is we are going to have to work with China, whether we like it or not, as well as we work with other regional countries. But other regional countries, south-east Asia in particular, have none of the hesitation that we have over working with China.
Dutton to visit sixth petrol station in seven days
Sarah Basford Canales
We’re at our third stop in Melbourne for the day following Peter Dutton.
The final stop of the blitz is in Caulfield in the seat of Macnamara. And it’s at a petrol station – his sixth bowser visit in just seven days to spruik the fuel excise cut promise.
The opposition leader is yet to arrive but the cameras are in position with the Liberal candidate, Benson Saulo, waiting in the petrol station’s empty car park to the side.
Also joining the media flurry is the Victorian opposition leader, Brad Battin.
Leigh rules out revisiting changes to negative gearing in favour of ‘supply-side measures’
Andrew Leigh was also asked if it is worth Labor revisiting changes to negative gearing, if it has “some merit and if the community mood is changing?”
But he ruled this out, saying “most economists” would point to “supply-side measures” as having an impact on housing.
The Greens are focused almost entirely on demand-side measures … In many cases Greens candidates are opposing development. We believe supply really is the key here.
Leigh lashes Coalition’s proposed future funds as ‘replacing housebuilding with pork barrelling’
The assistant minister for competition, Andrew Leigh, is also up on ABC Afternoon Briefing this afternoon – responding to the Coalition’s proposed future funds.
Leigh argued it was “no surprise” this policy was announced the day after the treasurers’ debate, as “Angus Taylor wouldn’t have wanted questions on this last night.”
The fact is you don’t pay down debt taking on more debt and this is going to be policy which will increase gross debt if the Coalition was elected.
As you made clear to Jane Hume, if this policy had been in place the Coalition wouldn’t have delivered any surpluses if they’d been in government … through the last couple of years, and that would be consistent through what happened over the previous decade when they printed the mugs but never delivered the surpluses.
He argued that Labor’s funds are about “building housing and investing in manufacturing,” and the Coalition’s were “about going back to the days of car park rorts, sports rorts” and better regions fund, “which saw 90% of resources channelled towards Coalition target seats”.
The Coalition have a terrible record of pork barrelling. You’re not going to benefit future generations of Australians by replacing housebuilding with pork barrelling.
Hume says there is ‘no doubt’ Coalition is committed to Paris agreement, despite O’Brien’s comments
Jane Hume was also asked whether a Coalition government would commit to remaining in the Paris agreement, after Ted O’Brien ruled out committing to this during today’s debate.
Hume said that “yes,” a Coalition government would remain in the Paris agreement.
We are committed to the Paris agreement, there is no doubt about that.
But on Labor’s current trajectory, the idea of getting to 43% is an absolute fantasy and I think that’s exactly what it was Ted was alluding to.
Hume questioned on Dutton’s repeated insistence Labor seeking to do deal with Greens
Jane Hume was asked about Peter Dutton’s repeated criticism that Labor would make a deal with the Greens if elected to a minority government.
(The PM has repeatedly ruled out a deal with the Greens).
She was asked, couldn’t Labor do a deal with the teals rather than the Greens?
Hume responded:
Potentially, but why would they not make a deal with the Greens? That way they get control of both houses, the upper house and the lower house …
“Because they said they don’t want to,” Patricia Karvelas noted. Hume repeated her argument:
You can see why that would be an enormous temptation for Labor to get in bed with the Greens, because they get control of both houses.
But Labor could form government with the teals, “just on the numbers”? Hume conceded:
They absolutely potentially could, and it would be interesting to see what that teals’ demands would be.
Hume rejects suggestion windfalls from Coalition future fund plan could lead to pork barrelling
The shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, is speaking with ABC Afternoon Briefing about the Coalition’s new future fund proposals.
The two new funds being promised today – the Future Generations Fund and Regional Australia Future Fund – will be grown using 80% of any “positive windfall receipts variations each year”. You can read more details on this earlier in the blog.
Hume touted the future funds as helping Australians “benefit from the prosperity of our nation, rather than having it squandered on either recurrent spending, making the structural budget worse, or, more importantly, on sugar hits”.
Host Patricia Karvelas asked what the point of putting money aside is “when you’re still running deficits?”
Hume said this was an “opportunity to pay down debt.”
If you put money into a future fund it actually earns more money than it cost to repay the debt.
Asked about concerns this could lead to pork barrelling, Hume said “it in itself [is] a physical guardrail, it means you can’t use windfall gains for pork barrelling, or physical sugar hits or for recurrent expenditure.”
There will still be infrastructure investment that [is] done through the regular budget processes, that would be expected. The regular budget processes will not change, but what’s important here is when there are these windfall gains, that they are invested for future generations rather than squandered.
Suicide Prevention Australia welcomes $15m funding package from Coalition
Suicide Prevention Australia has welcomed the Coalition’s $15m funding package for suicide prevention services, as announced this afternoon.
In a statement, the group welcomed news the Coalition would reinstate the suicide prevention research fund if elected – and called on Labor to do the same.
Its CEO, Nieves Murray, said suicide prevention “must be at the core of our national agenda”.
We cannot afford to roll back investment in suicide prevention at a time when distress levels remain high, particularly among young people. Our latest community tracker revealed that nearly one in five (19%) young Australians (18-34) have experienced suicidal distress in the last 12 months, including having serious thoughts of suicide, making a suicide plan, or attempting to take their life …
The Coalition’s commitment to reinstating the research fund if elected is a step in the right direction, but we now call on the Albanese government to reverse its decision and ensure suicide prevention is prioritised in this election.
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In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Smart Energy Council slams O’Brien’s refusal to commit to staying in Paris agreement
Thom Woodroofe, a senior international fellow at the Smart Energy Council, says Ted O’Brien’s refusal to commit to staying in the Paris agreement was an “extraordinary confirmation that not even this would be safe under a Coalition government”.
In a statement, he argued the Coalition was “hell bent on wasting money on nuclear plants we don’t need and making us an international pariah again”.
It confirms what we all feared to be the case: Peter Dutton may say one thing on Paris now, but his party room will force him to have a different position after the election. And that’s before we even get to our plans to reduce emissions.
If Australia were to leave the Paris agreement, we would be the only country in the world to follow Trump out the door, subject ourselves to even more trade tariffs in the form of carbon border adjustments, and irreparably damage our relationships in the Pacific.
Dutton labels independent candidate running in his electorate a ‘Green at heart’
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, spoke with Brisbane’s 4BC radio this afternoon, taking aim at the independent candidate for Dickson – who is seeking to unseat him – as a “Green at heart”.
Ellie Smith is running in Dutton’s electorate and is backed by the Climate 200 movement, but doesn’t want to be labelled as a teal, but rather, a community independent, Queensland-style.
Speaking on the program, Dutton took aim at Smith as being “funded by multimillionaires out of Sydney who are heavily involved in the renewable energy industry”.
She really is Green at heart and will only ever support an Albanese government. So a vote for the teal candidate in Dixon is just a vote, ultimately, for Anthony Albanese.
The fact is that it’s just a front for the Greens. At least the Greens have the decency to wear who they are on, you know, on their sleeve … Whereas a teal pretending to be independent, who is actually a Green and would only ever support the Labor minority government, it’d be really bad for our local area.
