Key posts
- Voice is for people to decide, not politicians: Bragg
- Growing chorus of Liberals want conscience vote on Voice referendum
- RBA poised to hold interest rates in pre-Easter relief for home buyers
- Unfit Medicare system haemorrhaging $3 billion a year
- Liberal MPs plot comeback with housing policy overhaul
- Trump returns to New York to face hush-money charges
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
1 of 1
Voice is for people to decide, not politicians: Bragg
The federal Opposition is yet to decide on a position on the Voice to parliament, but will meet in Canberra tomorrow.
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has welcomed the move but said the Voice referendum was not about politicians.
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg.
“My view has always been that this is a vote of the Australian people. It’s not politicians,” Bragg told RN Breakfast this morning.
“Our job is to give advice to people if they want to hear from us about how they should vote for the upcoming referendum.”
He said it was important to look to history and how the Liberal Party managed major issues such as this in the past.
It comes after the Opposition’s spokesman for Indigenous Australians, Julian Leeser, called for substantial changes to the proposal for the Voice.
Leeser told the National Press Club yesterday that majority support for the reform in the opinion polls could be eroded, and the referendum lost.
Instead, he pushed for a slower, years-long approach to the recognition of First Australians in the constitution.
But the senator said this morning it was “too early” to say if the referendum would fail.
“I think it’s too early to say that, we need to see what the committee recommends,” Bragg said.
Growing chorus of Liberals want conscience vote on Voice referendum
Liberal MPs will seek a free vote on the Indigenous Voice at a crucial party meeting tomorrow to ensure they can back the constitutional change at a referendum later this year, and avoid a clash with colleagues if Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and shadow cabinet members decide to oppose the reform.
The push for a conscience vote is gaining ground within the Liberal party room as Dutton prepares for a meeting in Canberra that will canvass new plans to amend the government proposals on the recognition of First Australians and the powers of the Voice.
Julian Leeser ahead of an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on the Voice referendum. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
But the opposition leader’s sudden call for the meeting, which surprised MPs when it was announced on Monday morning, is being seen by some as a way to distract the party from a debate on the Aston byelection and turn attention to the argument over the constitution.
Liberal Senator James Bragg will speak about the Voice issue on ABC radio shortly, but readers can find out more on the proposed conscience vote here.
RBA poised to hold interest rates in pre-Easter relief for home buyers
The Reserve Bank is poised to halt its record run of interest rate rises today, providing home buyers some pre-Easter relief after lifting average mortgage repayments over the past year by more than $1200 a month.
Financial markets are expecting the bank to hold the cash rate at 3.6 per cent at its meeting and keep interest rates there for the rest of the year.
The Reserve Bank is poised to halt its interest rate increases on Tuesday, after taking the cash rate to 3.6 per cent from 0.1 per cent since May last year.Credit:Peter Rae
The RBA has not previously moved interest rates, up or down, where markets have fully priced in no change.
But some economists are sceptical.
Find out more about the predictions here.
Unfit Medicare system haemorrhaging $3 billion a year
Medicare is haemorrhaging up to $3 billion a year in waste, according to a government-commissioned review of the health system’s integrity, which warns it risks losing billions more to rorts in an overly complex and opaque bureaucracy that needs urgent reform.
An independent report into non-compliance and fraud in the $38 billion universal healthcare system by health economist Dr Pradeep Philip has found Medicare is so poorly structured and loosely scrutinised that it is no longer fit for purpose and has left “the gate wide open” to fraud.
An independent review has found Medicare is so poorly structured and loosely scrutinised that it is no longer fit for purpose and has left “the gate wide open” to significant levels of fraud.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The former head of the Victorian Health Department says the 6000 items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule are difficult to navigate, only a small portion of 500 million transactions each year are scrutinised, and the growing corporate ownership of medical clinics has weakened the relationship between doctors and patients while limiting oversight of billing.
Read more on this issue here.
Liberal MPs plot comeback with housing policy overhaul
Liberals from Australia’s capital cities have formed a group to consider ways to win back urban voters and avoid an Aston-sized swing that would sweep the party out of Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth at the next election.
Members of the informal pact, who include Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, housing spokesman Michael Sukkar and manager of opposition business Paul Fletcher, are working on policies aimed at transforming the housing market to give young people a chance of owning a home.
Peter Dutton campaigning in Aston.Credit:Chris Hopkins
The group also seeks to rebuild the party’s relationships with white-collar women and the Chinese diaspora.
The Coalition is reeling from a byelection loss in the previously safe outer-metropolitan Melbourne seat of Aston, where Labor secured a 6.5 per cent swing that South Australian Liberal MP James Stevens said would take the Liberals off the map in several major cities if replicated nationwide at a general election.
More on this issue here.
Trump returns to New York to face hush-money charges
Donald Trump arrived in New York to face criminal charges in a hush money probe that will make him the first former US president to enter a courtroom as both a defendant and political candidate seeking re-election for the White House.
The 76-year-old’s plane arrived at LaGuardia airport at about 1.30pm New York-time after departing from Florida.
Former president Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York, before he surrenders to authorities tomorrow. Credit:AP
Trump was expected to arrive at Trump Tower in Manhattan by mid-afternoon, in what will the biggest security stress-test since the January 6 Capitol attack in 2021.
“MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the president posted on his Truth Social platform as his plane took off in Florida. “WITCH HUNT, as our once great Country is going to HELL!”
As Trump made his journey, the streets of Manhattan were filled with additional police, particularly around the office of District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who the former president and Republicans have accused of embarking on a politically motivated witch-hunt.
The full story on Trump’s arrival is available here, courtesy of our North American correspondent.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning, and thanks for your company.
It’s Tuesday, April 4. I’m Caroline Schelle, and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.
- The Reserve Bank of Australia will decide on whether to raise interest rates at the board meeting later today.
- There are also plans to provide tax relief for women facing financial penalties if they return to work.
- Liberal MPs are set to meet tomorrow to discuss their position on the Voice to parliament referendum, and will also consider ways to win back voters after the Aston byelection loss.
- Medicare is losing $3 billion a year according to a government-commissioned review.
- A group of big polluters is calling for a more ambitious climate goal to help cut greenhouse gases.
- TikTok is set to be banned on government devices, with Victoria announcing plans for the move two days after Premier Daniel Andrews returned from China.
- Heading overseas, former US president Donald Trump has arrived in New York ahead of his court appearance for hush money charges.
- Russian authorities have blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies for orchestrating a bombing at a St Petersburg café that killed a pro-war blogger.
1 of 1
Most Viewed in National
Source: Read Full Article
