Liberals ‘hyperventilating’ over national debt figure, says Chalmers
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has defended the government’s budget position and says debt would have been even worse under the Liberal party.
In a statement, Chalmers says under the Coalition gross debt would have crossed the $1tn mark three years ago.
No amount of hyperventilating from the Liberal Party today will change the fact that debt is $200 billion lower this year than what they left us … If the Coalition had been in power today, gross debt this year would already be approaching $1.2 trillion.
Chalmers says two international ratings agencies, Moody’s and S&P Global, this month reaffirmed Australia’s AAA credit rating.
Key events
Mistakes ‘on both sides’ says Israeli ambassador
Hillel Newman said there was no intention to kill innocent civilians, and therefore there was “no criminal liability” on the IDF soldiers.
The Israeli ambassador said the IDF is documented to have tried to contact the World Central Kitchen convoy, but could not connect, leading to an operational failure.
He told reporters:
There were operational failures, I said that. There were failures, lets say, on both sides there were mistakes made by the convoy but there were mistakes made by Israel …
They tried to make contact with the convoy in order to see what was going on and there was no connection, so there were operational failures, who knows who’s guilty of that, that’s not the important issue. The important issue is there was no intention to kill innocent people, there was a true belief that Hamas had taken control of the convoy and therefore there’s no criminal liability.
The foreign minister Penny Wong, who just met with Newman to express the government and public’s outrage, is due to speak with the media in about an hour.
Achol Arok
‘Respect the process and accept it’: Israeli ambassador refuses to issue apology over Frankom’s death
Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, has backed the decision by the Israel Defense Forces not to pursue a criminal investigation into the 2024 strike on an aid convoy that killed seven people, including Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom.
The decision not to investigate further came despite the IDF’s admissions that the strikes on Zomi and her colleagues’ vehicles were the result of serious failures to follow procedures, mistaken identification and errors in decision-making.
Speaking outside parliament shortly after meeting with the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, he said while the deaths were “is a tragedy … that does not mean criminal liability”.
We must respect that conclusion and what happens from now. If the findings are not to your liking, that’s not a reason to go against a court … we’ll respect the process and accept it.
What does it mean, justice? Lynch people in the street? No, justice is, that’s why you have a court, the court measures what happened and comes to a decision.
We express deep sorrow and grief with the family. I don’t want to go into, apologise has all kinds of legal ramifications.
Benita Kolovos
‘Nothing off limits’ for royal commission, Carroll says
The Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, says the royal commission will have full coercive powers and public hearings. He says he has appointed Christopher Kourakis because he was “unquestionable integrity”, “impartiality” and “unfavouring fidelity to the rule of law”.
He went on:
He has a single motivation: to ensure the law serves the community. I chose someone independent, rigorous and fearless, the best in Australia, because that is what this job demands. The terms of reference are broad; they are expansive. Nothing is off limits. They cover the conduct of the CFMEU, construction companies, labor hire firms, consortia, and criminal actors on Victoria’s major projects, and they cover the role of government, the executive, government departments, and delivery agencies in overseeing these projects.
Carroll says it will be up to the commission to decide who has to appear before hearings:
Not the government, not me. The commissioner. If he wants to hear from ministers, former ministers, senior officials, union leaders, or company executives, he has the power to call them.
Benita Kolovos
Terms of reference released commissioner appointed
The Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, is about to hold press conference to release the terms of defence for the a royal commission into the construction section.
Christopher Kourakis has been appointed commissioner and he has until 20 August 2027 to report back to government.
Nick Visser
Teenager in hospital and another in custody after incident at Sydney high school
A teenage boy is in custody and another boy is in hospital for a cut to his abdomen after an incident at a high school in Sydney’s Granville South.
NSW police said emergency services were called to the school around 10.15am Thursday morning after reports a boy, 14, had been injured. Officers were told the boy suffered a cut to his abdomen and was treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics before he was taken to the hospital.
Officials described his condition as stable.
Another student, also 14, was detained on-site before police arrived and then taken into custody. A knife was seized at the school and taken for further examination. No charges have yet been filed.
NSW Ambulance and Westmead hospital referred any questions to police.
All other students are reported to be safe and no further incidents have been reported.
Body found in search for missing hiker Lily Hooper
Ima Caldwell
According to the NSW premier a body has been found in Nattai national park, where a search party of 200 had been looking for Lily Hooper – who went missing last Wednesday.
NSW police confirmed to Guardian Australia that a person had been located at a national park south of Sydney, but did not confirm if it was Hooper.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, paused budget estimates after he was handed a note confirming she had been located alive, saying it was “fantastic news”.
However Minns soon afterwards apologised and said Hooper’s body had been found and she was deceased.
Cait Kelly
Race discrimination commissioner proposes national racism data plan
The royal commission into antisemitism has been discussing a national racism data plan. The race discrimination commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, said a database of racism should be developed – to take the onus off community organisations, who normally do it themselves but do not have the resources to capture the full picture.
What is reported and what is complained about is just a microcosm … And the obligation falls on the community to [collect the data].
That is a huge obligation on small organisations, and they will tell you what is reported to them is a fraction of what’s happening in the communities.
He cautioned, though, about collecting the data properly, with data sovereignty and an anti-racism framework at the forefront of the framework:
The history of collecting data [on First Nations peoples] has been to surveil them; to take their children away; it’s been to their detriment. We have to think about why we are collecting this data. We have to make sure we are doing it in an anti racist way.
Patrick Commins
Jobless rate climbs in July to 4.5%
The unemployment rate has lifted to 4.5% in July, from 4.4% the month before, after the number of employed Australians dropped by 15,800.
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics are weaker than anticipated – the consensus had been for the jobless rate to stay steady – and will add weight to arguments for the Reserve Bank to not hike rates again.
The data also showed underemployment – which includes people with jobs but who are looking for more work – held at 6.4%.
Penny Wong’s meeting with Israeli ambassador wraps up
Talks between the Israeli ambassador, Hillel Newman and foreign minister Penny Wong have come to an end at Parliament House.
Rae stands firm on controversial aged care algorithm tool
The aged care minister, Sam Rae has continued to defend a controversial aged care assessment algorithm tool, which experts say has no human override function.
He tells the press conference, alongside Mark Butler, that the government has already made some changes to the assessment, that assesses eligibility and support levels for at home care, including prioritising people with motor neurone disease.
Rae says the algorithm is just one part of the assessment.
IAT [the integrated assessment tool] is a component of the single assessment system, which was a key recommendation of the aged care royal commission. We’re getting fairer and more efficient outcomes by using this new assessment system. And fundamentally, that’s the important part here, driving down assessment wait times for older people.
But journalist Evelyn Manfield points out that an algorithm wasn’t a recommendation of the royal commission.
Our focus is on improving the prioritisation mechanism at this stage. But as I’ve said a number of times, we’ll continue to listen to older people, take on board that advice and make improvements where we think that’s appropriate.
Labor de-merges two home care programs for older Australians
The government has announced it will continue to fund the Commonwealth Home Support Program until 2029, which provides older Australians with services at their homes, delivered through state-based services and community organisations like Meals on Wheels.
The health minister, Mark Butler, says the previous government had committed to merging that program with the Support at Home program which is the commonwealth-run scheme that provides clinical and independence supports.
Butler says he was “sceptical” of that decision.
There was a decision taken by the former government to merge these two programs, the home support program and the home care program. I have been pretty sceptical about that for some time because I think they deliver quite different services, drawing on quite different capabilities in the communities and serving quite distinct needs on the part of older Australians.
Liberals ‘hyperventilating’ over national debt figure, says Chalmers
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has defended the government’s budget position and says debt would have been even worse under the Liberal party.
In a statement, Chalmers says under the Coalition gross debt would have crossed the $1tn mark three years ago.
No amount of hyperventilating from the Liberal Party today will change the fact that debt is $200 billion lower this year than what they left us … If the Coalition had been in power today, gross debt this year would already be approaching $1.2 trillion.
Chalmers says two international ratings agencies, Moody’s and S&P Global, this month reaffirmed Australia’s AAA credit rating.
Israeli ambassador arrives at Parliament House
The Israeli ambassador, Hillel Newman, has arrived at Parliament to meet with Penny Wong.
The foreign minister said this morning she would express Australia’s outrage to the ambassador, over the Israel Defense Forces’ decision to not criminally investigate the killing of Australian Zomi Frankcom and other World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza.
Indigenous Australians ‘denied an equal response’ to racism, antisemitism royal commission hears
Cait Kelly
Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner, Katie Kiss, has told the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion that Australia will not be able to address racism towards any other community that has settled in this country until it deals with its racism towards First Peoples.
She said there was a tendency to invisibilise racism towards First Nations communities:
[First Peoples] have consistently come to the table seeking the ability to engage with the broader community in genuine good faith. Some of those conversations are had genuinely, and some of them are not.
The exposure to racism has been ongoing and persistent.
When you can’t engage safely in broad political debate… that erodes trust and sense of belonging.
When you’re followed by security guards, you’re not feeling safe; when you’re tagged by police, you’re not feeling safe.
In terms of the system and structures, we’ve engaged in good faith to build a cohesive set of values that also see Aboriginal people as part of the community. Over time and time again, we’ve had that dismantled because of the way that engagement has come back to us.
We get denied an equal response.
Labor ‘squandered a golden opportunity’ on gambling reforms, David Pocock says
David Pocock is still, safe to say, very disappointed by the gambling reforms that passed through the parliament yesterday.
He says the changes fall well short of what was recommended by the landmark 2023 Murphy report. The “you win some, you lose more” report made 31 recommendations, including a phased out comprehensive ban of online gambling ads, and the establishment of a national regulator – neither of which were accepted by the government.
Pocock tells News24 it was a squandered opportunity:
Nothing happened for three years, they were finally sort of forced into doing something, and they’ve done the absolute bare minimum. And I think they’ve just squandered a golden opportunity to, one, do what the Australian people want, what the Murphy report said, what experts say is evidence based policy.
I hope that they pay the price for it. It says a lot that at the end of the day, they had to do a deal with the Coalition.
Wells welcomes governor general’s intervention on Swans investigation
Anika Wells says she’s glad the governor general, Sam Mostyn, spoke out over an allegation of sexual assault linked to several Sydney Swans players.
In remarks published by the ABC, Mostyn said the allegation “shocked and troubled” her, and said she is “devastated for the women” affected by the alleged behaviour of Sydney Swans players linked with the allegation.
At her earlier press conference, Wells said women’s safety, wellbeing and dignity must come first, “before an immediate discussion about how this impacts finals”.
I was glad that she [Mostyn] added her voice to it, I’ve tried to do that today.
I thought the AFL CEO statement was good, I think everyone could do more.
Debt shouldn’t become an ‘intergenerational legacy’, says Wilson
Tim Wilson stopped to talk to journos in the press gallery corridor this morning, slamming the government’s financial credentials as the country soon hits $1tn of gross national debt.
Gross debt is the total amount of money a country owes, but we tend to use net debt figures more often which is the total amount of debt minus income including taxes, financial assets, etc.
Wilson said:
We know that it’s costing about $2,000 per Australian taxpayer to continue to finance this debt, and as a consequence, it could be a $2,000 tax cut that was offered if it wasn’t there. This is why the task is so important, to confront debt, to make sure it doesn’t continue to be part of an intergenerational legacy that’s being left behind.
But Greens senator David Shoebridge, earlier told News24 the problem was on both major parties for selling off Australian assets and not adequately taxing our resources.
We’ve had Labor and the coalition, sell off every income producing asset that most state and federal governments have: banks, insurance companies, airlines, airports, flogged the lot off, privatised the whole lot, and then refused to put in revenue measures on, public theft, like zero tax on export gas.
So you flog off all the publicly owned income producing assets, you don’t tax the corporations that you give them to and gift them to, and you wonder about why debt is increasing.
