Dutton demands PM ‘stand up for our country’ over China’s treatment of journalist
Daniel Hurst
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has demanded that Anthony Albanese “grow a backbone and stand up for our country” regarding the treatment of the Australian journalist Cheng Lei – just hours after the prime minister denounced Chinese embassy officials for “ham-fisted” conduct.
Albanese had already confirmed that Australian officials followed up with the Chinese embassy “to express our concern” over the “clumsy” attempt by officials to stand in between cameras and where Cheng was sitting with fellow reporters at a signing ceremony at Parliament House yesterday.
Speaking to ABC Perth Breakfast, Albanese described Cheng – who was detained in China until the government secured her release late last year and who now works for Sky News Australia – as “a very decent human being and a very professional journalist”. Albanese said there “should be no impediments to Australian journalists going about their job and we’ve made that clear to the Chinese embassy”.
Hours later, Dutton said Albanese should be prepared to “call out bad behaviour”. Dutton said he had raised the “very regrettable incident” during his own meeting with China’s premier, Li Qiang, in Canberra late yesterday.
Dutton said he was “very pleased to hear that the government’s raised that with the Chinese embassy because it’s completely unacceptable in our free society for that sort of conduct to take place”.
Dutton contended that Albanese had “clearly misled the Australian people yesterday” when, according to Dutton, Albanese “said that he had heard nothing of it, he didn’t understand what the question was, or didn’t know anything about it”.
While it is true that Albanese said at a press conference yesterday afternoon that he had not personally seen the incident and was “not aware of those issues”, Albanese never said he didn’t understand the question. The prime minister reiterated that it was “important that people be allowed to participate fully” in events at Parliament House.
Key events
Peter Hannam
Some more on the RBA’s interest rate decision (which will be left at 4.35%):
The RBA, though, did tighten some of the language, saying “inflation remains above target and is proving persistent”.
“Inflation is easing but has been doing so more slowly than previously expected and it remains high,” it said in a statement.
“The path of interest rates that will best ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable timeframe remains uncertain and the Board is not ruling anything in or out,” it said, repeating a mantra that leave it the option of another rate rise if needed.
The market response so far has been modest with the Australian dollar holding its level with the US dollar at about 66.1 US cents but shares pared back some of the day’s 1% gains.
Graham Readfearn
A controversial wind farm project in north Queensland backed by mining magnate Andrew Forrest has been given approval by the federal government with a list of conditions to protect threatened species.
Windlab’s Gawara Baya wind farm will see up to 69 turbines built on a cattle property 65km south-west of Ingham.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, said the project would boost the capacity of renewables and put “downward pressure on [electricity] prices.”
Last year Apple pulled out of a major agreement to purchase power from the project after environmentalists expressed concern about its potential impact on koalas, greater gliders, Sharman’s rock wallaby and the red goshawk, considered Australia’s rarest bird of prey.
Among the conditions, Windlab will not be allowed to clear any of the wallaby’s home range habitat, and will have to ensure gliders can move across the project area and, once the wind farm is running, would be forced to shut down operations and revise operations if “ecologically significant” numbers of threatened bird or bat species are killed.
Windlab is majority-owned by Forrest’s Tattarang group through its company Squadron Energy.
The approval comes as the Coalition has become increasingly vocal against the government’s renewable energy transition
Jordyn Beazley
Hello, I’ll now be with you until this evening.
Mostafa Rachwani
And with that I leave the blog with Jordyn Beazley, thanks for reading.
Reserve Bank leaves interest rate at 4.35%
Peter Hannam
The Reserve Bank has left its key interest rate unchanged for a fifth consecutive meeting at 4.35%.
The outcome, following a two-day meeting in Sydney, was expected by economists and markets. Attention now will focus on the wording of the RBA’s statement and a media conference by the bank’s governor, Michele Bullock, starting at 3.30pm Aest.
Peter Hannam
RBA decision due shortly
We’ll shortly get the Reserve Bank’s interest rate decision at the conclusion of its two-day board meeting in Sydney.
All economists surveyed by Reuters expect the RBA will leave the cash rate at 4.35% where it’s sat since November. (That would make it five meetings in a row of stasis.)
Attention will focus on the wording of the central bank’s communique, especially if it implies another rate rise could be imminent. That would make it 14 in this cycle.
However, prior to today’s meeting, markets were predicting the next move would be a rate cut. According to the ASX rates tracker, a move to 4.1% could come as soon as next March.
Anyway, stay tuned for the 2.30pm Aest announcement.
Man arrested for murder over body found in Nepean River in 2004
Jason Palmer’s body was found in a river at Menangle, south of Sydney, on 29 February 2004, three weeks after he was reported missing.
The 34-year-old’s body was weighed down with rocks in the murky depths of the Nepean River, but an initial investigation did not identify a suspect. A 2007 coronial inquest found Palmer was stabbed to death in the western Sydney suburb of Lakemba.
Authorities restarted an investigation in 2022 that led to the arrest of 52-year-old Queensland man Gofal Baziad in south-west Sydney on Monday. He was charged with murder.
Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty, who runs the NSW police homicide team, said: “It’s been 20 years since Mr Palmer, who was originally from the UK, is alleged to have been murdered … he was a husband and father, and police had always remained hopeful of an arrest.”
“This arrest once again demonstrates that investigators will not rest until there’s a resolution for unsolved matters, and to provide answers to families.”
Baziad faced Campbelltown local court on Tuesday, did not apply for bail and will remain in custody.It is alleged he was known to Palmer.
Detectives think there are members of the public that know something about the case and are urging them to make contact.
Via AAP
Paul Karp
Dutton says Liberals want to do renewables ‘in a responsible way’
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has done a doorstop in Bomaderry, in the NSW southern coastal electorate of Gilmore.
With senior Liberals and Nationals contradicting each other on the role of large-scale renewables in reaching net zero by 2050, Dutton claimed the Coalition “want to have renewables in the system but we want to do it in a responsible way”. He said:
We need to be able to firm up that intermittent power. It can’t be reliant on the weather for the ability to turn on the lights. A modern economy just doesn’t work like that …
I want to make sure we’ve got renewables in the system. We’re happy for batteries, but we can’t pretend that batteries can provide the storage.
CSIRO’s gencost report found that electricity from large-scale nuclear reactors would cost between $141 per megawatt hour and $233/MWh compared with combining solar and wind at a cost of between $73 and $128/MWh – figures that include building transmission lines and energy storage.
Asked about nuclear power’s social licence, Dutton said:
We could have a sort of 14-year-old conversation about these issues but let’s have an adult conversation. I know the Labor party is putting out all sorts of cartoons, Simpsons [memes] and nonsense.
This is about keeping the lights on in hospitals. It’s about making sure pensioners can afford to eat and heat, not one or the other.
Dutton then defended the safety of nuclear power on the basis of the presence of the nuclear heights reactor in Sydney and nuclear propulsion of Australia’s next-gen submarines.
Dutton demands PM ‘stand up for our country’ over China’s treatment of journalist
Daniel Hurst
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has demanded that Anthony Albanese “grow a backbone and stand up for our country” regarding the treatment of the Australian journalist Cheng Lei – just hours after the prime minister denounced Chinese embassy officials for “ham-fisted” conduct.
Albanese had already confirmed that Australian officials followed up with the Chinese embassy “to express our concern” over the “clumsy” attempt by officials to stand in between cameras and where Cheng was sitting with fellow reporters at a signing ceremony at Parliament House yesterday.
Speaking to ABC Perth Breakfast, Albanese described Cheng – who was detained in China until the government secured her release late last year and who now works for Sky News Australia – as “a very decent human being and a very professional journalist”. Albanese said there “should be no impediments to Australian journalists going about their job and we’ve made that clear to the Chinese embassy”.
Hours later, Dutton said Albanese should be prepared to “call out bad behaviour”. Dutton said he had raised the “very regrettable incident” during his own meeting with China’s premier, Li Qiang, in Canberra late yesterday.
Dutton said he was “very pleased to hear that the government’s raised that with the Chinese embassy because it’s completely unacceptable in our free society for that sort of conduct to take place”.
Dutton contended that Albanese had “clearly misled the Australian people yesterday” when, according to Dutton, Albanese “said that he had heard nothing of it, he didn’t understand what the question was, or didn’t know anything about it”.
While it is true that Albanese said at a press conference yesterday afternoon that he had not personally seen the incident and was “not aware of those issues”, Albanese never said he didn’t understand the question. The prime minister reiterated that it was “important that people be allowed to participate fully” in events at Parliament House.
Paul Karp
Simon Birmingham contradicts Nationals opposition to large-scale renewables
The Liberal leader in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, has contradicted the Nationals’ opposition to large-scale renewables.
Birmingham told Sky News that there is “absolutely a place for large scale renewables, as part of a technology neutral approach” and they are an “important part of the mix”.
Birmingham said that renewables and other sources of power should be judged on reliability – “which is why nuclear is important” – price, including the cost of transmission, and “social licence” aspects about whether local communities support them.
He said:
There will be difficult discussions on that journey [to net zero by 2050]. We’ve been having them in relation to nuclear energy. The Albanese government has stuck its head in the sand.
Caitlin Cassidy
Greens label international student caps ‘blatant power grab’
The Greens have echoed calls amongst the university sector to wind back a proposed cap on international students, labelling the proposal an “audacious attack” on student choice and institutional independence.
In a submission to the draft framework, the Group of Eight and the University of Sydney warned the policy could have disastrous economic and social consequences.
The deputy Greens leader and higher education spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said it was welcome to see a growing list of critics “slamming the government for making policy decisions based on an entirely false and divisive conflation of international students and the housing crisis”:
The bill is a blatant power grab, giving the education minister an unprecedented, dangerous level of ministerial discretion over universities. After years of sustained underfunding of universities by both Labor and Coalition governments, the bill will make things worse and risk thousands of jobs during a cost of living crisis.
Capping international student numbers under the guise of easing pressure on the rental market is not just a dishonest, dog whistling conflation, it is bad policy that will do nothing to fix our broken housing system or higher education system.
Virgin Australia flight makes emergency landing in New Zealand
A suspected bird strike has caused a Virgin Australia flight to make an emergency landing in New Zealand after one of its engines caught fire.
The Melbourne-bound flight left Queenstown on Monday evening with footage emerging later that appeared to show fire coming from the Boeing 737-800. The jet was carrying 67 passengers and six crew and landed safely about 50 minutes after leaving Queenstown and was met by fire trucks on the tarmac.
Passengers said they saw flames coming from one of the engines and heard loud bangs, the New Zealand Herald reported. A statement from Queenstown airport said bird strikes are a “known risk to aviation” and that the usual risk of bird strikes were “low.”
Bird strikes are a known risk to aviation around the world and airports put considerable effort into mitigating this risk.
The Civil Aviation Authority records the incident rate for bird strikes at Queenstown Airport as ‘low’.
Bird activity varies according to the season and migratory patterns. The primary species of concern at Queenstown are oyster catchers and plovers, along with smaller birds such as finches, starlings, and sparrows.
An inspection was completed minutes before Virgin Australia flight VA148 departed on 17 June and no birds were detected on the airfield at that time.
You can read more at our story below:
Benita Kolovos
Further changes in Victorian youth crime bill
Other changes included in the bill are:
The creation of a new legislated scheme for warnings, cautions and diversions.
A new magistrate for the children’s court, to specifically handle repeat youth offenders.
The activation of the already-announced two year trial of electronic monitoring of repeat offenders on bail, coupled with a more intensive supervision orders.
A codification of the existing legal presumption known as doli incapax which states a child under 14 cannot be held criminally responsible unless they knew their actions were seriously wrong.
Creation of a new youth justice victims register.
And a focus on ensuring self-determination is taken into account when dealing with Aboriginal youth offenders, including allowing cautions to be administered by Elders.
If the bill is passed, Victoria would become the first state to introduce the change, though the North Territory has also raised the age to 12. The ACT has committed to raising the age to 14 by 2026, while Tasmania will lift the minimum age of incarceration to 14 but leave the age of criminal responsibility at 10.
Several human rights groups and Indigenous organisations had called for Victoria to immediately raise the age to 14 in line with medical expert advice and international standards for child development.
Erdogan said the government has a position to raise the age to 14 “subject to an alternative service model” being created. He said that change would require a seperate bill.
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