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Two birds infected by H5N1 bird flu in Australia, government confirms
Two birds have now been declared infected by the H5N1 bird flu strain, after testing by authorities.
The agriculture minister, Julie Collins, is providing an update on the situation with Roger Cook – the premier of WA, where the birds were found.
Collins says the response to the outbreak is being coordinated at the national level.
We are working to determine whether or not the … bird flu has established in the wildlife, or established in Australia, other than these two isolated birds.
Cook says that work has been done in preparation for any bird flu outbreak, and says there is a hotline for the public.
We are working together, hoping for the best, preparing for the worst, and being over-prepared.
We want people to be vigilant. This is obviously a very concerning situation, but it’s one that we’re prepared for.
Key events
Chalmers promises action on regional bank closures
Back to the crossbench, regional Victorian MP Helen Haines asks the government when it will formally respond to a report into bank closures in regional Australia, which recommended that access to financial services should be recognised as an essential service.
She says that “596 regional towns that once had one or more bank, now have no form of bank at all”.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the rate of regional bank closures has “plummeted” under the Labor government, but concedes that there’s more work to be done.
He says that the government hasn’t waited to respond to the report to act on the issue.
We do have more work to do there. We’ve been upfront about that. I acknowledge (Australian Banking Association chief executive) Simon Birmingham and others who have been working very closely on that, and we hope to make some more progress before long. We’ve also been working with the regulators and with communities to try and find sustainable solutions here. So, we do recognise how important regional banks are to regional communities like the Honourable member’s.
Taylor takes a haircut as Chalmers quips back over CGT attack lines
s MP, Llew O’Brien asks the PM if “a bricklayer who comes up with a faster way to lay bricks, a farmer who comes up with a more efficient way to harvest his crops, or a hairdresser who comes up with a new hairstyle will be eligible for the innovative business CGT concession”.
Jim Chalmers takes the question and says that in almost every case, those businesses would come under the higher turnover threshold which has increased from $2m to $10m.
Angus Taylor asks over the despatch box about the hairdresser. Chalmers quips:
The hairdresser is going to be turning over more than 10m bucks, is it, mate? Yeah, it might be where you get your haircut.
It gets a good few chuckles and Taylor starts theatrically combing out his hair with his fingers. The opposition then makes a point of order saying that the question was to do with the innovative business concession.
Chalmers continues:
When it comes to farmers, as a consequence of the implementation details that we announced on Thursday, something like 99% of all agricultural businesses will be eligible for the updated 50% active asset reduction, Mr Speaker … this might be why the Farmers Federation has described this, and I’m quoting, as “one of the most consequential wins for the NFF and its members, following sustained advocacy on behalf of farmers”.
Wilson ‘weaponising a scare campaign’ on CGT changes he called for, Chalmers says
Jim Chalmers says Tim Wilson is “a bit slow on the uptake” after the shadow treasurer asks the PM to confirm that businesses of all sizes will lose the existing 50% capital gains tax discount across all assets.
Chalmers takes the question for Anthony Albanese and says following the changes announced last week, 98% of businesses and all small businesses will now get access to carve outs from the capital gains tax reforms.
100% of small businesses, active small businesses get access to the higher turnover threshold, and that means 98% of active businesses get access to carve-outs and concessions.
I think it says everything about the Shadow treasurer that he is trying to weaponise a scare campaign against the types of changes that he called for in this parliament and in his book.
The book Chalmers is referring to has been well referenced in QT recently, but generally with a fair bit more fanfare (and sarcasm), as Wilson’s book said that the existing CGT discounts have “no intergenerational justice”.
Coalition continues attack over tax
s MP Kevin Hogan is up next and asks the prime minister to confirm if his government is the highest taxing government in Australian history, despite the “budget backflip”.
Anthony Albanese says it was the Howard government that was the highest taxing, and then points out that the opposition, under Peter Dutton, had proposed higher taxes at the last election (because they had voted against Labor’s tax cuts), which sends the chamber into an uproar.
Milton Dick tells everyone to pipe down and respect the dignity of the House.
Albanese continues:
They wanted $14bn of higher taxes on the resources of manufacturing sectors by abolishing production tax credits. They want higher taxes on motorists by abolishing the EV concession.
The opposition tries to raise a point of order, but Dick isn’t having it and says that the PM answered the question within the first few seconds, and is allowed to make some comparisons.
There’s some more back and forth over parliamentary semantics, then Albanese finishes his answer:
We, on this side, have put forward no less than five tax cuts, Five tax cuts, one of which, of course, kicks in next week for 14 million Australians.
And if the leader of the opposition had been the treasurer, rather than the worst shadow treasurer Australia’s ever seen, what we would have seen is higher taxes.
Independent MP calls for local veterans wellbeing hub
Over to the crossbench, independent MP for Calare in regional NSW, Andrew Gee, asks the government if they will provide funding support to the Bathurst RSL for a veterans and families wellbeing hub.
Minister for veterans’ affairs, Matt Keogh, doesn’t provide a direct answer to Gee and whether his local RSL will get his funding.
He says broadly that a new veteran and family wellbeing agency will be stood up from 1 July, based on a recommendation from the royal commission into defence and veteran suicides.
But he won’t says whether that body will provide funding to Bathurst.
It is going to coordinate across those veterans and families hubs that we already have up and running …
I’ve looked at the business case that’s been provided by the member, I very much appreciate it and look forward to trying to work through that after we’ve stood up the wellbeing agency from one July this year.
Labor and Coalition trade barbs over capital gains tax
Angus Taylor has another go at asking the same question with a more direct “can the prime minister confirm that Australia will have the highest tax rate on real capital gains in the world?”
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, takes the question, but before he can get into it, s MP Kevin Hogan makes an unparliamentary remark (that I couldn’t hear from the benches), and is forced to withdraw. As soon as he does, Chalmers makes an unparliamentary remark in response, which he’s also told to withdraw.
Chalmers calls the opposition “deliberately disingenuous” for comparing tax rates on real and nominal gains.
What they don’t understand, or don’t concede, Mr Speaker, is that there will still be a discount for capital gains, but it will be a fair reflection of inflation rather than the Howard approach.
The opposition again makes a point of order on relevance, asking for international comparisons.
Then Chalmers brings out the numbers:
On reasonable assumptions, [at a] 5.1% rate of return, S&P ASX 200, the tax rate is 21.4% for example. That is lower than the UK at 24%, it’s lower than Germany, 26 to 28%, it’s lower than France, 34 to 35%, it’s lower than Ireland, 33%, it’s lower than the Netherlands, 36%, it’s lower than Denmark, 42%.
It’s question time!
Angus Taylor begins and asks the prime minister can he name a country that will have a higher tax rate on real capital gains than Australia, after an “Olympic level backflip” on his budget announcement.
Anthony Albanese says the government had foreshadowed in the budget there would be changes and that those “hyperventilating” over the policy hadn’t seen that detail.
Taylor makes a point of order, saying the PM hasn’t named a country yet, to which Milton Dick says he can’t compel Albanese to give him the answer he wants.
Albanese says:
What we’ve done is what we said we’d do on budget night: consult widely, back small business to succeed and grow, make the tax system fairer and make sure that young Australians get a fair crack.
He doesn’t name any other countries.
Bird flu ‘very difficult to eradicate’, Watt says
The environment minister, Murray Watt, says that overseas the bird flu has been very difficult to eradicate, particularly if it spreads into agricultural production.
The first bird that was confirmed to be infected with bird flu was a brown skua found in Western Australia, and the second was a northern giant petrel, found in the same region.
The government says it’s been working with the poultry sector to stop it from spreading into the agriculture system.
Watt says:
What we have seen globally is that it is very difficult to eradicate. We have been successful in eradicating the H7 virus twice in the last five years, but we do know that the H5 virus is much harder to eradicate if it gets into our agricultural system.
The chief veterinary officer, Dr Beth Cookson, says that there are other cases currently being tested but only two cases have been confirmed.
She tells the press conference that they’re monitoring levels for a “baseline” level of deaths among birds against any higher levels that could be linked to bird flu.
That there are no indications of mass mortality, so I can’t say that there’s a high level of suspicion of any of those reports at this stage. We would expect a baseline level of deaths in wild populations at any time, and what we’re trying to do now in the early days of the investigation is to understand what’s being reported through the public hotline is associated with that normal baseline, or whether there has been any indication of spread.
Until now Australia only continent not to have bird flu, minister says
The environment minister, Murray Watt, is also at the press conference and says that, until now, Australia was the only continent in the world not to have a H5N1 bird flu case, so authorities have had time to prepare.
Watt encourages the public to call the emergency hotline and remain vigilant.
It’s important to remember that at this point in time we only have two confirmed cases, but we don’t underplay the threat that this poses to wildlife and our agriculture sector in Australia should this become a wider outbreak.
And that’s why, since those detections late last week, all of the relevant plans to deal with this incident, all of the relevant committees have met, everything has been enacted, because we’ve done the work with states and territories, with industry, with environment groups to make sure that we’re ready for when Australia did have its first detection of this strain.
Two birds infected by H5N1 bird flu in Australia, government confirms
Two birds have now been declared infected by the H5N1 bird flu strain, after testing by authorities.
The agriculture minister, Julie Collins, is providing an update on the situation with Roger Cook – the premier of WA, where the birds were found.
Collins says the response to the outbreak is being coordinated at the national level.
We are working to determine whether or not the … bird flu has established in the wildlife, or established in Australia, other than these two isolated birds.
Cook says that work has been done in preparation for any bird flu outbreak, and says there is a hotline for the public.
We are working together, hoping for the best, preparing for the worst, and being over-prepared.
We want people to be vigilant. This is obviously a very concerning situation, but it’s one that we’re prepared for.
In pictures: Australia and Canada sign export agreement
Greens’ motion on NDIS fails in Senate
Debate has wrapped up in the Senate over the Greens motion on the government’s NDIS bill, calling for it to be withdrawn.
Greens senator, Nick McKim, was the last to speak on the motion, which was debated for two and a half hours:
These cuts will be the difference between a disabled person being able to leave their house or not being able to leave their house. These cuts will be the difference between a disabled person being able to have a shower or not being able to have a shower.
These cuts will be the difference between a disabled person being able to improve their verbal communication skills or to remain nonverbal, and unable to communicate verbally.
While the Coalition supported the Greens to bring on the debate, on the actual motion most of the Coalition abstained, with just a handful of opposition senators voting alongside the government.
