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Ley takes aim at Albanese over rate rise as question time begins
Sussan Ley takes the first question and asks, will the prime minister take responsibility for yesterday’s rate rise – and adds a “yes or no” at the end to try to corner him.
Of course, because the opposition leader has a preamble to the question criticising the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and quoting an economist, it’s likely Anthony Albanese won’t give her a yes or no answer.
Lo and behold, Albanese says that private sector spending has increased.
We know that Australians are still doing it tough and we know cost-of-living pressures are real but that is why we have measures to actually address cost-of-living pressures. To take pressure from family budgets in every way that we can.
Manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke, tries to make a point of order but he gets quickly shut down. Albanese then takes the opportunity to make a dig at the Coalition.
They can’t stop talking about themselves, each and every day. Sky News does not have 30 seconds when there is not one of them sitting in the studio.
The opposition then gets a big talking to by Milton Dick, telling them to stop interjecting so much. Darren Chester and Tim Wilson both get an official warning (which means they’re on thin ice, and risk being booted out of the chamber).
What a start to the hour!
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A saga of Shakespearean heights in the House
Eagle eyes in the chamber have just spotted Garth Hamilton, an ally of Andrew Hastie, also reading today.
He’s sitting next to the WA MP, who has a copy of “The Art of War” on his desk.
What’s Hamilton reading?
Othello.
I’m not joking.
Independent MP asks prime minister when the government will act on report recommendations
Independent MP, Kate Chaney, says there have been 78 committee reports ranging from gambling to domestic violence, and asks why the government has only responded to 67 of them.
One of the most high profile of these reports that the government hasn’t responded to is the Murphy report into online gambling, that was handed to Labor two and a half years ago.
Anthony Albanese says his government deals responds with “orderly decision making”.
My government takes these issues seriously, which is why we engage, including it must be said, with the crossbench regularly at the regular meetings we have.
Jim Chalmers seems like he isn’t having as much fun in question time today, compared to yesterday where every answer had a quippy jab at the opposition.
He’s asked by shadow treasurer (and shadow assistant treasurer) Ted O’Brien whether all those economists who say government spending is contributing to inflation are wrong.
Chalmers brings the debate back to the Liberals’ pre-election costings (which showed that government debt would go up for two years before going down).
By his own logic, and you can’t take to an election a policy to spend much more and to have bigger deficits and more debt and then make the argument that the Shadow Treasurer is making. He’s got to choose one argument or the other.
There are a range of views about this. AMP - government spending has peaked the growth in government spending is going to add less to inflation, the Commonwealth Bank - the public sector’s contribution to growth has seized. Westpac - public sector demand growth is slowing and was negative over the first half of 2025.
Who has a copy of The Art of War on their desk?
I’ll give you one guess …
He might not be plotting a leadership spill, but headline-attracting conservative MP, Andrew Hastie, has a copy of The Art of War on his desk in question time.
Make of that what you will.
Hastie bowed out of a potential leadership contest last week, after a meeting with conservative heavy-hitters in Melbourne.
Bowen says electricity prices are falling even without household energy bill reduction
Colin Boyce, who has had a very exciting week following a failed leadership attempt in the s party room, takes the next question, and asks energy minister, Chris Bowen, where Labor’s promised $275 energy bill reduction is.
We’ve been over this many times before, but for those who are new here or don’t recall the lore, Labor promised ahead of the 2022 election that household energy bills would go down by $275 by 2025.
Bowen says that wholesale prices are going down (again a very similar answer to what he gave yesterday to a very similar question):
The fact of the matter is in Queensland wholesale prices of electricity in May 22 with $347 a megawatt hour, they are now $58 a megawatt hour [lower], some of the biggest reductions we saw over the last quarter were in Queensland.
Sussan Ley is back at the dispatch box and presses Anthony Albanese again on whether he will accept responsibility for Labor’s “reckless spending”.
Albanese says his government has been the only in almost two decades to deliver back to back surpluses.
He then does a compare and contrast on former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s budget (which he unsurprisingly says was worse) and says Australia’s economy still has a triple-A rating. He then takes another stab at the opposition over their decision before the last election to oppose Labor’s promised tax cuts.
Victorian MP, Sam Groth, announces resignation
Leaving federal politics for a moment, former deputy Liberal leader, Sam Groth, has issued a statement confirming he will resign from parliament next week “to pursue other opportunities”. He’s leaving seven months earlier than planned, which will trigger a byelection.
Groth’s statement continued:
Next week I will resign from the parliament of Victoria as the Member for Nepean to pursue other opportunities.
It has been an honour to serve the people of Nepean and I sincerely thank them for the trust they placed in me for the opportunity to represent our community.
I am very grateful to my staff for their professionalism, dedication and tireless work in supporting the people of Nepean.
I wish Jess and the Liberal team all the very best for the November election.
Most importantly, I thank my family, my wife Britt and our twin boys, for their unwavering love and support.
Liberal leader, Jess Wilson, will hold a press conference at 3pm.
Heat turns on to Jim Chalmers over interest rate rise
We’re staying on inflation, with s MP Michelle Landry (who now sits on the crossbench), asking whether the treasurer will take responsibility for the interest rate rise and apologise.
Even if the s and the Liberals are sitting apart, they’re on a unity ticket attacking the government on inflation and are asking very similar questions.
Jim Chalmers says he “takes responsibility for all aspects of my job”, but again pins the inflation blame on higher than expected private spending.
I think it is really important to recognise that the points that I have been making yesterday and today are in lockstep with the points that were made by the Reserve Bank governor. And this is what the Reserve Bank governor said in the press release announcing the decision that growth in private demand has strengthen substantially more than expected. Private demand is growing more quickly than expected.
We know that there is more work to do on inflation and productivity against the backdrop of global economic uncertainty and that is the government’s focus.
Chalmers defends government spending after rise in inflation
When will the treasurer stop spending, asks shadow treasurer (and deputy leader of the opposition), Ted O’Brien, quoting economist Shane Oliver, who has said that cutting government spending would help slow inflation.
Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says that the points made by Oliver are “not unanimously shared” by other economists, and defends the government’s budget position.
[If] his question is will the government, will the government be looking to make more savings in its fifth budget in May, the answer to that is yes.
He should tell the House how much higher inflation would be as a consequence of the member for Fairfax [O’Brien] and the member for Hume [Angus Taylor] taking to the last election a bigger deficit this year and the biggest deficit next year as well, as always they have set a little track for themselves, Mr Speaker, on this question.
What’s this about a bigger deficit? The Coalition’s pre-election costings showed that under their plan, the deficit would have gone up over two years, before then coming down.
Independent MP questions lack of time and consultation on hate speech laws
Independent MP Nicolette Boele gets the next question, as per the new question time rules, and asks the government about the lack of time and consultation on the hate speech laws that were passed last month. She asks:
What steps will the government take to ensure that lawmaking processes following future crises will not degrade democracy in this way?
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, doesn’t outline any steps to ensure the crossbench are briefed in and kept in the loop on significant emergency legislation. He says, “nothing degrades democracy more than a terror attack.”
I would love to have a situation where all legislation can be dealt with in a staged manner like [we] do with most legislation … where we don’t commence debate in the week it is introduced that’s what we normally do.
Burke says the reason the emergency legislation was so important was because the Socialist Network (a neo-Nazi group) claimed it would shut down its operations in Australia before that legislation was introduced.
Ley takes aim at Albanese over rate rise as question time begins
Sussan Ley takes the first question and asks, will the prime minister take responsibility for yesterday’s rate rise – and adds a “yes or no” at the end to try to corner him.
Of course, because the opposition leader has a preamble to the question criticising the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and quoting an economist, it’s likely Anthony Albanese won’t give her a yes or no answer.
Lo and behold, Albanese says that private sector spending has increased.
We know that Australians are still doing it tough and we know cost-of-living pressures are real but that is why we have measures to actually address cost-of-living pressures. To take pressure from family budgets in every way that we can.
Manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke, tries to make a point of order but he gets quickly shut down. Albanese then takes the opportunity to make a dig at the Coalition.
They can’t stop talking about themselves, each and every day. Sky News does not have 30 seconds when there is not one of them sitting in the studio.
The opposition then gets a big talking to by Milton Dick, telling them to stop interjecting so much. Darren Chester and Tim Wilson both get an official warning (which means they’re on thin ice, and risk being booted out of the chamber).
What a start to the hour!
Joe Hinchliffe
Brisbane 2032 Olympic boss says budget ‘bears no resemblance to reality’
Brisbane’s Olympic boss has conceded to international colleagues that the budget for the 2032 Games “bears no resemblance to reality”, given its expanded footprint.
But 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee president, Andrew Liveris, cut an upbeat figure in Milan as he addressed the Olympic Committee Summit on Tuesday, stressing the event’s “north star” mantra: “Believe. Belong. Become. Brisbane, 2032”.
The Games were initially forecast to cost about $11.5bn by then Labor Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, after Brisbane was announced the host city in 2021.
Two premiers with two different centrepiece stadium visions later, the 2032 event has been spread out across the state by Liberal party premier, David Crisafulli, whose plan involves basketball in Cairns, more than 1,700km north of Brisbane, rowing in Rockhampton about 650km up the Bruce Highway, and a new 63,000-seat stadium for athletics in the capital’s Victoria Park. Liveris said:
The delivery plan gave us, in essence, nine locations … These are nine locations that, not only have a capital consequence, but an operating consequence – and so the costing out of that … we have the big budget and that bears no resemblance to reality, especially right now.
So we are working with the IOC on the revised budget.
Tom McIlroy
Zali Steggall warns government against selling off defence assets in Sydney
Teal MP Zali Steggall has warned Labor against a quiet sell off of defence assets in Sydney, saying she is concerned about the partial sale of HMAS Penguin at Balmoral, in her own electorate.
Labor is pushing ahead with sales of about $3bn in property, and a partial sale of Penguin is planned, with part of the site being retained for a defence diving facility.
The Warringah MP said:
Any proposal to dispose of part of the site raises serious questions about national security, heritage protection, environmental impacts and how public land on Sydney Harbour will be used in future,”
Public defence assets should not be quietly sold off without scrutiny. If changes to HMAS Penguin are being contemplated, they must be justified, transparent and subject to genuine community consultation.
I will continue to seek answers and will keep the community updated as further information comes to hand.
Hume sidesteps question on potential spill timing
Liberal senator Jane Hume, who worked closely with Angus Taylor in the previous parliament, was asked on Sky earlier today whether there could be a leadership spill in a matter of days.
Hume, instead of answering directly, said next week is Senate estimates, which would make a spill pretty difficult.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way, as they say, but estimates means that senators aren’t able to participate in party meetings as they normally would, for the hours that they are questioning officials.
Asked point blank whether Taylor needs to either proclaim he’s running, or stand down, Hume says, “There has been no challenge laid down.”
I can understand how frustrating this must be for Liberal supporters, but what I will tell you is that our job up here right now is to hold the Labor government to account.
Andrew Messenger
Queensland premier vows to implement optional preferential voting by next state election
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, has also vowed to reintroduce optional preferential voting to take effect at the next election.
The Liberal party said in opposition they planned to return to optional preferential voting, but have yet to make any moves to do so. There’s been speculation the reluctance might be due to an increase in support for One Nation in federal polling.
But Crisafulli vowed that the change will be legislated this term.
It’s something that we have to do this term, not something we have to rush to do.
Under Labor, Queensland adopted optional preferential voting at the 1992 election, but the party changed the voting system to compulsory preferential in 2016 in a last-minute vote.
Making voters number all the boxes helps Labor avoid splitting the left vote in three-cornered contests against the Greens – and the LNP avoid splitting it against One Nation or the Katters’ Australian party.
One Nation not the same party it was 25 years ago, says Pyne
Staying on Christopher Pyne at the Press Club, the former defence minister says there has been a “stabilisation” of rightwing party One Nation over the more than 25 years of its existence.
He says with the addition of Barnaby Joyce, and jettisoning some of it’s “less palatable public pronouncements” from the 90s, One Nation has the capacity to do relatively well.
After former Liberal senator, Cory Bernardi’s, announcement that he’ll join One Nation’s Legislative Council ticket for the South Australian election, Pyne says he believes he’ll get in.
She [Pauline Hanson] has gained a great deal of experience over that time in how to appeal to the voters of Australia. So, we are seeing a stabilisation of One Nation and we now see … four senators in the Senate from One Nation, plus Barnaby Joyce.
One Nation has dropped a lot of its less palatable public pronouncements that were made back in the 1990s and the early 2000s as the party has matured. And I think they’ll do relatively well in the future. Whether they’ll get 26% of the vote or not, it’s hard to say two-and-a-half years from an election. I would be very surprised because I think the Coalition will right the ship, as I said before, by that time. If Cory Bernardi wants to go back into politics, good luck to him. It’s a democracy, it’s a free country. I’m almost certain he’ll get elected.
Pyne tells Liberal colleagues to ‘stay off the television and radio’ unless talking about Labor
Former Liberal minister, and moderate, Christopher Pyne, says Sussan Ley has been doing “a perfectly good job” as leader, but needs “clear air” from colleagues.
Speaking at the Press Club, in his post political position as chair of the Council of the Ageing, Pyne warned other Liberals to stop airing their dirty laundry … on air.
Since May, there’s been an endless public dispute. My former colleagues probably need to stay off the television and the radio, unless they want to talk about the Labor party and the government. Their job is to oppose the government, and to point out its deficiencies, praise them when they’re right. Criticise them when they’re wrong. It’s not to endlessly talk about the internal dynamics of either the Liberal party, the leadership, or the Coalition in the press.
Pyne said he understands the pain his former colleagues are feeling since the Coalition’s historic election defeat, but tells them to keep those feelings within the party.
The best method to deal with this trauma is to keep it internally inside the party, and talk about it amongst your colleagues, but it’s not to endlessly talk about it on the ABC, or Sky, or Nine, or in The Australian.
