Federal politics was dominated this week by the Coalition’s announcement of seven proposed nuclear reactor sites across the country and controversy surrounding Chinese Premier Li’s visit to Australia – thefirst visit in seven years.
Elsewhere in the world, election fever is at an all-time high. We’ve had the European Union elections, France legislative election, numerous Pacific Island nations, and many more. Still to come we have the November Trump v Biden election, but before that our UK friends will head to the polls. The Tories are facing a wipeout in the UK with the progressives, or as some would say socialist party, well ahead in the polls.
Back home, federal politicians will return to Canberra on Monday for the final two parliamentary sitting weeks before the winter recess. The government has an enormous legislative agenda that they will be seeking to finalise during these sitting weeks.
Before we take a look at what dominated the news cycle this week, let’s take a look at some of the headlines:
- Hollywood star Donald Sutherland dies aged 88 after an extensive career with iconic roles in M*A*S*H, Klute and The Hunger Games.
- Albanese tells critics of Labor’s three-eyed nuclear memes to ‘lighten up’.
- Extreme heat wave in the Northern Hemisphere kills hundreds and leaves millions more sweltering as summer begins.
- Australian among hundreds dead in Saudi Arabia on Hajj pilgrimage.
- Pat Cummins takes historic World Cup hat-trick to put Australia in command against Bangladesh.
- Melbourne man arrested after allegedly claiming more than 500 COVID-19 grants.
Politics
Are we ready to go nuclear?
With the debate over energy policy intensifying, the leader of the opposition took the opportunity this week to announce seven proposed sites for nuclear reactors under the coalition’s nuclear energy policy. As previously flagged, the seven sites are all located on retired or retiring coal sites and close to transmission lines.
The proposed sites are Queensland’s Callide Power Station and Tarong Power Station, NSW’s old Liddell Power station and Mount Piper Power Station, Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, Western Australia’s Collie Power Station and South Australia’s Northern Power Station. The two initial reactors will be chosen from the seven identified sites. There could be five further nuclear plants built in the long term.
Interestingly, five of the seven sites are in Coalition seats: including that of Nationals leader David Littleproud’s seat of Maranoa. Mount Piper falls within independent Andrew Gee’s seat who was elected as a Nationals MP in 2022 but quit the party. Liddell is the only site in a Labor held seat, the seat of Hunter.
A significant obstacle the Coalition needs to overcome is that nuclear power is currently illegal in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and federally. All of those laws would need to be overturned, and a regulatory regime for safety and waste management introduced before nuclear power could become a reality in Australia.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers didn’t mince words when he told The Australian’s energy conference the Coalition’s nuclear plan is “the dumbest policy ever put forward by a major party”. And while there are reasonable criticisms to be made around costs and timing, several Labor MPs took to social media this week to post memes questioning the safety of nuclear. One depicted Blinky Bill with three eyes and another had a fisherman holding a four-eyed fish suggesting that would happen to Lake Macquarie if the nuclear reactor was established in the Hunter.
The two major parties have very different ideas about Australia’s energy future and it looks like the next federal election is turning into a referendum on energy policy.
RBA wary of big-spending governments
The RBA Board met on Tuesday and left rates on hold, although Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock said the Board had considered the case for a rate hike.
In her press conference after the decision, the Governor’s language indicated she was increasingly pessimistic about the economic conditions and Australia’s narrowing path out of recession.
The RBA Board’s statement said, “recent budget outcomes may also have an impact on demand”, breaking with a tradition that usually sees the RBA steer clear of engaging in any commentary on governments’ fiscal policy.
The Treasurer called a press conference to confirm he certainly wouldn’t be taking advice from Michele Bullock on how to do his job, just as he wouldn’t seek to tell her how to do her job. Jim Chalmers said the government’s strategy was right, and that budgets were just one factor the RBA considers when determining the case for interest rate hikes or cuts.
Michele Bullock and her Board will next meet on 5-6 August to assess critical quarterly CPI data to be released on 31 July. That data, if it confirms a trend of stagnant or even increasing inflation, will almost certainly cause the RBA to act.
A further rate rise this year will be seized on by the Coalition as proof the government’s fiscal strategy has failed.
Josh Burns MP targeted in racist attack
Earlier this week the electorate office of federal MP Josh Burns was attacked and vandalised by at least five offenders.
The windows of his St Kilda office were smashed, and racist slogans were painted over the building. One read “Zionism is Fascism” which is a vile phrase that shouldn’t be tolerated. Police and firefighters attended the scene after the offenders allegedly lit fires in telecommunication pits at the front of the building.
This is the latest attack in a string of vandalism targeting the offices of state and federal MPs in the wake of the conflict in Gaza. Protestors have occupied a number of parliamentary offices, including that of the PM in his Sydney electorate.
The former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg spoke out to condemn the attack as “despicable and dangerous”. He called on political leaders and law enforcement to increase their protection of the community in the wake of these unacceptable acts. Again, if you haven’t watched Frydenberg’s Sky News documentary titled Never Again: The Fight Against Antisemitism, we implore you to watch it. It’s now available on YouTube.
eSafety Commissioner to force tech giants to act on child abuse
New mandatory standards targeting the spread of child sexual abuse and pro-terrorist material will apply to social media, cloud storage services, artificial intelligence services and dating apps in Australia, the eSafety Commissioner has announced today.
It follows the failure of industry to come up with voluntary codes that satisfied Commissioner Julie Inman Grant. The code will be enforceable and will require ‘Designated Internet Services’ to take steps to prevent the spread of videos depicting torture and rape.
Ms Grant was critical of the industry’s proposed voluntary code, saying it did not go far enough to signal tech companies’ commitment to investing in technologies that would detect child sexual abuse material on their platforms.
She confirmed the new standards will not require tech companies to break end-to-end encryption, a key feature of many prominent messaging platforms.
Queensland
The Miles Government spent the week spruiking key initiatives from last week’s budget, with the Premier out and about on the Bruce Highway in Brisbane, in Caloundra with marginal first-term MP Jason Hunt and as far north as Cooktown to speak with local health workers.
While in north Queensland, Miles joined federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek to announce parts of the Cape York Peninsula would be added to Australia’s UNESCO World Heritage list, and an uplift to the Remote Communities Freight Assistance Scheme to help remote communities deal with the rising cost of essentials like groceries and fuel.
But the federal Coalition’s nuclear announcement dominated Queensland politics this week, with the Premier coming out strongly – vowing to “fight against the LNP’s nuclear reactors in Queensland”.
Leader of the opposition David Crisafulli, who had already announced the state LNP would not pursue nuclear as a means of achieving Queensland’s ambitious emissions reduction targets, doubled down on that stance this week.
Crisafulli confirmed it was “not part of our plan”, creating a headache for federal leader – and fellow Queenslander – Peter Dutton. Vocal Queensland Nationals MP Colin Boyce, in whose electorate one of the proposed seven nuclear reactors would be, publicly slammed Crisafulli for his position against the Coalition’s nuclear policy.
The divide between the federal and state parties is incredibly damaging ahead of October’s state election, and the issue will dominate the LNP’s upcoming state conference in a couple of weeks. The parliamentary party will be hoping harmful divisions in the grassroots membership don’t distract from their campaign to unseat the decade-old Labor government.
Global
Panda diplomacy
Premier Li Qiang visited Australia this week, the first visit of the Chinese Premier in seven years. The visit comes as the Australia/China relationship continues to thaw after a particularly hostile period.
A key feature of the visit was the announcement to extend the loan of the pandas at Adelaide Zoo, however as expected the trip wasn’t without controversy.
On Monday, Premier Li was at Parliament House in Canberra to join Albanese for a leaders meeting before a lunch in the Great Hall at Parliament House. Not long after the event, footage emerged of a tense altercation which appeared to show a Chinese embassy official impeding Sky News reporter Cheng Lei’s view as she was sitting in an area assigned for media representatives during a document signing ceremony.
The event is controversial because Lei spent two years and 11 months in prison in China on trumped-up espionage charges and has since spoken out about the potential ramifications of reporting on China. During the footage, Australian officials are seen asking the Chinese embassy staff to move but they appear to refuse, continuing to block Lei’s view and from television cameras filming the journalist and former political prisoner.
This incident caused outrage from the opposition who demanded the PM stand up to China and call out this alleged behaviour. The PM did eventually condemn the behaviour, however Dutton is reported to have taken it upon himself and raised it with Chinese officials during his official meeting with them.
China is an important trading partner for Australia and governments of all political persuasions have a challenging time balancing the economic and diplomatic relationships with them.
Polls predict UK Tories heading for electoral wipeout
Polling released this week suggested Labour’s Keir Starmer will storm into government with a 200-seat majority over the Conservatives, the largest in a century.
But Labour and other commentators are being cautious, saying the final result might be closer than predicted, although no one is suggesting Labour won’t be victorious on 4 July.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives’ campaign has been rocked by allegations that candidates and Party insiders placed bets on the timing of the UK election, which was unexpectedly called six months early by PM Rishi Sunak.
The UK’s Gambling Commission is investigating a number of candidates, the wife of campaign director Tony Lee and even a member of the PM’s police bodyguard, who has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Sunak says he is “incredibly angry” about the allegations and said they should be fully and properly investigated.
Sport and Pop Culture
Timberlake DUI
Boy band superstar Justin Timberlake was arrested in the affluent Hamptons on suspicion of intoxicated driving after he failed field sobriety tests.
Police reports show he was initially pulled over for driving through a stop sign and failing to stay on the right side of the road. Timberlake was arraigned and released without having to post bail about nine hours after he was arrested.
While driving under the influence is a serious matter and should be treated as such, the internet was flooded with memes after the incident. The memes weren’t about the drink driving, rather they made fun of the fact the arresting officer had no idea who Justin Timberlake was. It’s been reported that he was a young officer and therefore not really Timberlake’s demographic (i.e us … millennial women).
Apparently, Timberlake said under his breath, ‘This is going to ruin the tour.’ The cop replied, ‘What tour?’ Justin said, ‘The world tour.’
Jerry Seinfeld heckled by pro-Palestinian activists in Australia
Increased security has been announced for US comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s two Melbourne shows this weekend, after his shows in Sydney earlier this week were disrupted by pro-Palestinian activists.
The Jewish comedian, who has been outspoken in his support of Israel throughout their conflict with Hamas, mocked the protestors as they were removed from his show, telling them their actions had “solved the Middle East”.
Seinfeld plays two shows at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday on Sunday this weekend, with the venue saying security measures had been ramped up amid expectations of further disruptions.
A nude swim in Hobart
Today, a record 3,000 people took part in the annual nude swim in the River Derwent in Hobart to mark the winter solstice.
The naked swimmers gathered on the beach for the sunrise before entering the water reported to be around 12 degrees Celsius which was actually 5 degrees warmer than the outside temperature.
People from all over join locals for the swim, including a Gold Coast couple who found themselves featured on ABC News. I’m sure their three children were proud to see their parents on tv for this unusual event.