Key posts
- Labor’s core housing promise suffers major setback
- Labor targets Liberal’s childcare ‘hypocrisy’ ahead of Aston byelection
- Solicitor-general didn’t advise watering down Voice wording
- ‘Women being ripped off’ by quarterly super payments
- Russia fires supersonic anti-ship missile in Sea of Japan
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
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Labor’s core housing promise suffers major setback
A Labor election promise aimed at addressing Australia’s housing crisis has suffered a major setback after the federal government failed to secure crossbench support for the legislation.
The government wanted the policy passed this week, but lack of backing in the Senate means it will now have to try again after the May budget.
Housing Minister Julie Collins urged crossbench MPs to talk to their senators to get the housing policy passed.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Housing Minister Julie Collins’ $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund risks sinking unless she meets demands from the Greens, which include an additional $5 billion a year for social and affordable housing, and a national agreement to cap rent increases for two years.
The full story on the housing policy is available here.
Labor targets Liberal’s childcare ‘hypocrisy’ ahead of Aston byelection
Labor has ramped up its attacks on Aston Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell, accusing her of hypocrisy for claiming tens of thousands of dollars in ratepayer funded childcare entitlements while criticising Labor’s expanded subsidies.
Shortly after Anthony Albanese became prime minister, Campbell wrote a column for this masthead questioning the usefulness of Labor’s expanded childcare policy, pointing out it would add an extra $5.4 billion pricetag to the federal budget.
She is no longer a regular columnist.
Peter Dutton and the Liberals’ candidate for Aston, Roshena Campbell, campaign in the seat.Credit:Joe Armao
At the time the opinion piece was published, Campbell was a City of Melbourne councillor and therefore eligible to be reimbursed for childcare costs. Between January 2021 and December 2022, the mother of three was reimbursed $30,000, according to council disclosure logs.
Updates on the byelection are available here.
Solicitor-general didn’t advise watering down Voice wording
The Commonwealth’s top legal adviser told a key referendum working group the constitutional wording for an Indigenous Voice to parliament posed limited legal risk as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese continues to resist calls to release his advice.
Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue, whose opinion has become central to the political debate over the Voice’s scope, did not recommend removing the ability for the Voice to lobby the executive branch of government when speaking to members of the government’s powerful referendum working group.
Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue’s opinion has become central to the debate over the Voice’s scope.Credit:Andrew Meares
Five members of the working group, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements, confirmed Donaghue did not speak in favour of watering down the Voice when he presented to the group with Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on March 9.
The full story on this is available here.
‘Women being ripped off’ by quarterly super payments
Industry super funds say about 1 million women would be thousands of dollars better off in retirement if the federal government mandated payday superannuation contributions.
Peak body Industry Super Australia is pushing the government to update laws that allow businesses to pay super quarterly, saying the move could reduce unpaid super by at least 15 per cent.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the government wants to ensure all workers receive the super contributions they are entitled to.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The government will this week introduce separate legislation to help tackle unpaid super, which costs workers billions of dollars a year.
The full story on this issue is available here.
Russia fires supersonic anti-ship missile in Sea of Japan
The Russian navy has fired supersonic anti-ship missiles at a mock target in the Sea of Japan, the country’s Defence Ministry said.
“In the waters of the Sea of Japan, missile ships of the Pacific Fleet fired Moskit cruise missiles at a mock enemy sea target,” it said in a statement on its Telegram account yesterday.
The P-270 Moskit is a medium-range supersonic cruise missile capable of destroying a ship within a range of up to 120km.Credit:Commons
“The target, located at a distance of about 100 kilometres, was successfully hit by a direct hit from two Moskit cruise missiles.”
The P-270 Moskit missile, which has the NATO reporting name of SS-N-22 Sunburn, is a medium-range supersonic cruise missile of Soviet origin, capable of destroying a ship within a range of up to 120km. Russia fired the missiles in the same area during tactical exercises in 2019.
More on this story here, courtesy of international wire service Reuters.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning, and thanks for your company.
It’s Wednesday, March 29. I’m Caroline Schelle, and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.
Here’s what you need to know before we get started:
- Labor has targeted the Liberals’ Aston candidate over childcare “hypocrisy” ahead of the byelection.
- Australia’s solicitor-general told a key Voice referendum group the constitutional wording posed limited legal risk.
- The Albanese government has been dealt a blow on their core housing promise, after failing to secure crossbench support for the legislation.
- The National Gallery of Australia, which houses Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles, used buckets and towels during downpours. A prominent arts industry figure described it as a “national disgrace”.
- In NSW, the newly elected Labor government will start drafting terms of reference for a royal commission into the state’s health services.
- Meanwhile, Victorian crossbenchers claim credit for a “more transparent” state parliament, as Premier Daniel Andrews released his itinerary for his controversial China trip.
- Overseas, Russia has fired a supersonic anti-ship missile in the Sea of Japan, as a leading opposition figure says President Vladimir Putin’s death would end the war.
- And in the UK, left-wing British Labour MP who led the party to two election losses in the past decade, has been banned by his colleagues from standing as a candidate.
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