Labor senator Fatima Payman at the swearing-in ceremony of the new governor general, Sam Mostyn, at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.Photograph: Lukas Coch/EPA
Labor senator Fatima Payman at the swearing-in ceremony of the new governor general, Sam Mostyn, at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.Photograph: Lukas Coch/EPA
Shorten says he thinksLabor partyis trying to give Senator Payman ‘space and time’
Bill Shortencontinues:
I see why people feel so strongly. They can feel so strongly about the hostage is not being returned, or the deaths in Gaza. People could feel also very strongly about the near million deaths in Sudan.
I can get these very incredibly strong issues. And if you come from particular communities, they’re even more intense, although that doesn’t need to be the prerequisite.
My proposition is that I think the party is trying to deal with this challenge and respect the individual by saying hey, if you’re not happy with the rules, as you’ve signed up to, you know, take some time out and I think what the party is trying to do is give Fatima some space and time.
Bill Shorten says he doesn’t believe Albanese asked Payman to quit the Senate
The NDIS minister,Bill Shorten,is being asked about his WA colleagueFatima Paymanon ABC radio. He is asked about a report (in theAge) thatAnthony Albaneseasked her to quit the Senate during their Lodge talk on Sunday.
Shorten says he doesn’t believe it and demands to know the host’s source.
Before I deny something, what’s your source?
Told it is a report in the Age and that Payman has said she feels intimidated and that she’s in exile, Shorten says “that’s the report in a story”:
No, I don’t believe that.
…Because I wasn’t there and I don’t believe it. I actually think the prime minister, Senator Wong and the leadership are handling a complicated issue pretty well.
…Senator Payman is smart, she’s young, she’s savvy. She comes from a diverse community who feels the grief and the horror of the deaths in Gaza and feels very stronglybut what I also understand is that when you become a Labor candidate, you actually sign a contract. And the contract is that you will be bound by the decisions of the caucus.
Now she can’t do that at the moment.
…I do not for one second think that the Labor party has been anything other than reaching out to her. Now I don’t think she’s been intimidated or exiled. I can’t speak for how she’s feeling that’s up to her, but I can speak towards what I see as the objective conduct of empathetic committed colleagues.
The reality is in as far as I can see it and I can see them at a distance is that people are giving her space. The fact of the matter is, if you can’t agree to the team and the coach’s instructions, then you know she’s on the bench for the time being.
It’s a Tuesday in a parliament week, which means the session won’t start until midday to account for the party room meetings.
As Sarah reported, it will be Labor’s first meeting since SenatorFatima Paymanwas suspended. Originally for a week, that has now become indefinite after Payman said she would cross the floor to recognise Palestinian statehood, again.
Payman says she feels like she has been exiled and feels as if some Labor MPs are attempting to intimidate her into quitting the Senate. Payman is considering her future.
There’s an off-the-record briefing after every party room meeting – we’ll let you know what was said, if anything, among the Labor caucus.
Labor MPs team up with David Pocock to protest ANU childcare closures
The potential closure of childcare centres at ANU have united independent senatorDavid Pocockand Labor MPsAlicia PayneandKaty Gallagher.The three are holding a press conference with parents and their children who would be impacted by the closure of the centres.
Earlier this month, ANU announced it would not renew the leases of the four childcare centres on its campus, effective from January 2025. The university has blamed heritage issues with the buildings and says two centres will open in 2025. But the loss of more community early learning centres has activated the Canberra MPs, who are stepping in to shine more of a spotlight on the decision.
Hello and welcome to your politics live coverage of the last parliament session before the winter break. Thank you toMartinfor starting it off this morning – you have AmyRemeikiswith you for most of the day. Coffee number three is on the boiler. Ready? Let’s get into it.
Tech Council says 200,000 AI-related jobs could be created over next 6 years
Up to 200,000 artificial intelligence-related jobs could be created in the next six years, according to a new report by the Tech Council of Australia.
The report, released Tuesday morning at Parliament House and supported byMicrosoft,LinkedInandWorkday,said generative AI could generate around $115bn for the economy with more than two-thirds of that figure coming from productivity gains.
But the workforce would also have to grow by about 500% until the end of decade to meet rapidly growing demand.
The report said there had already been a rise in Australia’s AI workforce from about 800 workers in 2014 to more than 33,000 in 2023
The council’s chief executive,Damian Kassabgi,said AI was one of the leading tech trends and the workforce will only continue to grow over the years.
“This growth won’t be isolated to the tech sector or tech jobs. In addition to roles that are responsible for developing, designing and maintaining AI systems, we will need people with skills in areas such as human resources, sales and governance to successfully scale these systems and businesses to harness the potential in front of us.”
The report found the demand could be met by a combination of entry-level training, and upskilling and retraining existing workers.
Labor to hold first caucus since suspension of Fatima Payman
Sarah Basford Canales
This morning Labor will hold its first full caucus meeting without the Western Australian senatorFatima Payman.
On SundayAnthony Albaneseconfirmed he had suspended Payman indefinitely from caucus after an interview with ABC’s Insiders in which the 29-year-old said she would again cross the floor if faced with another Senate motion to recognise the state of Palestine.
Payman released a statement yesterday afternoon saying she had been “exiled” by the party and ostracised by colleagues:
I have lost all contact with my caucus colleagues. I have been removed from caucus meetings, committees, internal group chats, and whips’ bulletins. I have been told to avoid all chamber duties that require a vote including divisions, motions and matters of public interest.
The major parties and the Greens hold their party meetings most Tuesday mornings during parliament’s sitting weeks.
During those meetings, members share messages, voice opinions and vote on final motions.
For Labor, especially while in government, decisions of caucus are final and members are expected to publicly toe the line.
NSW Coalition in crisis meeting after sacking of Nationals MP Wes Fang
NSW Liberals are heading to a key meeting to sort out the future of their partnership with the National party as experts warn the internal turmoil might put voters offside, Australian Associated Press reports.
After the opposition leader,Mark Speakman,ditched upper house MPWes Fangfrom the shadow ministry for publicly lambasting him and claiming Speakman was “pretending” to care about the Riverina, the Nationals hit back by claiming Liberals didn’t have the power to sack their members.
Fang’s shadow portfolios were officially removed from the NSW parliament website on Monday, with the Liberals saying the parliamentary clerk had accepted Speakman’s ability to sack the MP.
An urgently convened party meeting on Tuesday will pave the way forward for theCoalition,with the Liberals understood to be seriously contemplating blowing up the agreement if the Nationals don’t accept the sacking.
The health minister,Mark Butler,has beenregularly releasing data on bulk-billing rateswhich he says continue to improve each month since the introduction of higher incentives for doctors in November.
The latest monthly data for May shows approaching 1m (more than 915,000) additional free visits. The overall bulk billing rate reached 79% – a rise of 3.4% since the higher bulk-billing incentives came into effect.
The government claims that in two years, it has increased Medicare rebates by twice as much as the former government did in its nine years in office.
Butler said:
Doctors’ groups have called our tripling of the bulk billing incentive a “game changer” – and close to one million additional free visits to the GP in May prove that it is one.
After a decade of cuts and neglect to Medicare by the Liberals bulk billing was in freefall.
The pressure on general practice began whenPeter Duttonwas health minister and he tried to do away with bulk billing by introducing a fee on every single visit to the GP, and then started a six-year freeze on Medicare rebates.
The Albanese government committed to making it easier for people to see a bulk billing doctor – and that is exactly what is happening right around the country, particularly in rural and regional Australia.
Good morning and welcome to our rolling politics coverage from Canberra and beyond. I’mMartin Farrerand I’ll be bringing you the best of the overnight stories beforeAmy Remeikistakes over.
Anthony Albanese’sapproval rating has dipped to a new low withour latest surveyshowing his approval rating at net -9 and nearly half of voters saying he’s not doing a good job.Peter Dutton’snumbers were level but questioning showed voters were concerned about the cost and safety of his nuclear plans. The PM might also be pleased to hear that up to 200,000 artificial intelligence-related jobs could be created in Australia in the next six years. More coming up.
The federal Labor party will this morning hold its first full caucus meeting withoutFatima Payman.The Western Australian senator was suspended on Sunday after saying she wouldagain cross the floorif faced with another Senate motion to recognise the state of Palestine. She said yesterday she will reflect on her future while accusing some members of trying to “intimidate” her to quit Senate. More coming up.
The New South Wales Coalition will hold a showdown party meeting this morning after Liberal leaderMark Speakmansacked Nationals MPWes Fangfrom the shadow ministry. The Nationals claim Speakman doesn’t have the authority to sack their members and there are some expectations that the Liberals are prepared to ditch their junior partners over the row. More coming up.
Laws outlawing the sale of vapes might have come into force but a team of Guardian Australia reporters were nevertheless able to easily buy them from convenience and tobacco stores in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide yesterday.Our investigation showsthere’s still a long way to go to enforce the ban despite all parties – and especially retailers – knowing that it was coming into force for some time.
And more than 2m extra bulk billed GP visits have occurred since the government tripled the bulk-billing incentive, new data released this morning by the government shows. More on that, too, soon.
