Key posts
- Joe Biden says unidentified aerial objects don’t come from China
- Environment Minister may step in over plastics recycling
- ‘Stop talking and start acting’: Investors dread Greens’ brinksmanship
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
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RBA governor to face more questions on rate rises
As we flagged earlier, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s governor Philip Lowe will face questions on interest rates, the economy and how that will impact people.
The reserve bank governor will face the House Economics Commitee today, and one of the politicians who will question him spoke to him on ABC’s RN Breakfast.
“Today’s an opportunity for the reserve bank governor to reflect on the outlook for interest rates, how the economy is going, and we’ll be asking him some questions about how that performance will affect people, including people in my electorate are about,” Labor MP and economist Andrew Charlton.
The Parramatta MP said he recognised it was very tough for people because of the increases in rate rises.
“Those increases are hitting people who have mortgages very, very hard. The Governor of the Reserve Bank has said those people are top of mind for him,” Charlton said.
He said it was a difficult balance for the RBA.
“Their job right now is to try to bring down inflation, to take away the punchbowl…from the party without putting the economy into recession, and that’s hard to do because monetary policy complex,” he said.
Sixth person dead after cyclone hits New Zealand
Staying with international news for the moment, New Zealand remains in a national state of emergency following the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle.
The death toll stands at six as Fire and Emergency NZ confirmed a second volunteer firefighter died on Thursday from injuries sustained in a collapsed house in Muriwai, in Auckland’s west, earlier in the week.
Flood destruction in Napier in New Zealand’s wine-growing North Island region.Credit:Getty
While much of North Island was lashed by the storm, most fears are centred on Hawke’s Bay, where three people have died and there are expectations that number will grow.
The government’s most senior figure from the region, Police Minister Stuart Nash, de-camped to Napier when parliament was called off for the week.
Mr Nash, basing himself at Napier City Council’s response headquarters “as it’s the only place to get power and wifi”, says the devastation is worst in the Esk Valley, to the city’s north.
“It’s a very fertile wine producing region. It is quintessential Hawke’s Bay,” he told AAP.
“That valley has been completely devastated. There’s silt up to two meters in some places.”
AAP
Joe Biden says unidentified aerial objects don’t come from China
In breaking news now, US President Joe Biden has broken his silence on the unidentified flying objects that have been shot down across North America.
He still does not know what they are, but they do not appear to be part of a Chinese spy balloon program, he said today.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Chinese surveillance balloon and other unidentified objects shot down by the US military in Washington.Credit:AP
President Biden also suggested the three objects taken down over the skies of Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron were likely used for benign purposes, potentially tied to private companies or research institutions.
In the face of mounting pressure from both sides of politics, Biden made a previously unscheduled television address on Thursday (US time) to shed some light about what he knew about the objects and the suspected Chinese spy balloon that sparked their rapid take-down.
Read more on the unidentified objects here.
Environment Minister may step in over plastics recycling
The government is prepared to regulate the plastics-recycling industry if voluntary codes fail to fix the crisis revealed by the collapse of REDcycle, Australia’s largest plastics-recycling program, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is expected to announce.
“I’m happy to let industry take the lead, but if industry is unable to act, then I have no problem with imposing obligations,” says a draft of the Plibersek’s speech to a recycling round table being hosted by Nine newspapers and Visy industries today.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is expected to say the government will step in to regulate the plastics recycling industry if needed. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“Regulation is never our first step – but I’m not afraid to take it when necessary.”
Plibersek will tell industry leaders, including executive chairman of Visy Industries, Anthony Pratt, and senior executives of the major supermarkets and package food producers, that the government has been happy to support ambitious recycling targets set by the previous government.
Further details on regulating the plastics-recycling industry are here.
‘Stop talking and start acting’: Investors dread Greens’ brinksmanship
The Greens are being warned against blocking new laws to cut carbon emissions in a deepening row with Labor over their demands to halt new coal and gas projects, with big investors dreading a repeat of the 2009 vote that doomed a Labor proposal to put a price on carbon.
Investor groups urged all sides to back the federal government’s new safeguard mechanism, which is designed to cut emissions and impose costs on companies that do not achieve their targets, or risk economic damage from the uncertainty over federal law.
Greens leader Adam Bandt has demanded changes to the safeguard mechanism billCredit:Alex Ellinghausen
“The parliament needs to pass it,” said Investor Group on Climate policy director, Erwin Jackson, of the safeguard mechanism.
Greens leader Adam Bandt has demanded changes to the safeguard mechanism bill, which was introduced in November, to stop any new coal and gas projects going ahead because scientists and the United Nations back the halt.
Read more on this issue here.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning, and thanks for your company.
It’s Friday, February 17. 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:
- Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek may step in to regulate the plastics recycling industry
- Teal MP Monique Ryan and her estranged chief of staff Sally Rugg will return to court today over their stoush about unreasonable work demands
- Investor groups urged all sides to back the federal government’s new safeguard mechanism, which is designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions
- Reserve Bank of Australia governor Phillip Lowe will also face another grilling in front of the House Economics Committee
- In Sydney, Premier Dominic Perrottet will back a ban on gay conversion “therapy” ahead of the state’s election
- To Victoria, where former union official Mary Doyle will run as Labor’s candidate for the seat of Aston formerly held by Alan Tudge
- Tragically in Queensland, the bodies of two miners were found and police determined the deadly shooting at Wieambilla was a religiously motivated terrorist attack
- And heading overseas, where United States President Joe Biden has spoken about the unidentified objects shot down over North American airspace
- Meanwhile, New Zealand remains in a state of emergency as a sixth death has been confirmed following the devastation caused by Cyclone Gabrielle
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