Chalmers touts Aust-India ties despite spy revelations
Australia still has a good relationship with India, treasurer Jim Chalmers says, despite revelations a nest of Indian spies was disrupted by federal spy agencies, AAP reports.
The Washington Post and the ABC have reported Indian spies were kicked out of Australia after trying to steal sensitive information about defence projects as well as airport security.
The nest of spies was disrupted in 2020 by Asio, with director general Mike Burgess revealing in 2021 it had tried to target relationships with politicians, a foreign embassy and a state police service.
However, Burgess did not at the time reveal which country was behind the operation. He said during the 2021 speech:
They successfully cultivated and recruited an Australian government security clearance holder who had access to secretive details of defence technology. They asked a public servant to provide information on security protocols at a major airport.
Chalmers said Australia still had close ties with India, telling ABC News Breakfast:
We have got a good relationship with India and with other countries in the region, it’s an important economic relationship. It’s become closer … in recent years as a consequence of efforts on both sides and that’s a good thing.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi visited Australia last in May 2023, holding several large events in Sydney with the Indian diaspora.
Chalmers said he was not aware of efforts by the federal government to express concern to Indian counterparts about the nest of spies, due to the coalition being in charge at the time of the incident.
Key events
Queensland scraps detention as last resort for young criminals
The Queensland government will scrap detention as a last resort for offenders amid growing concerns over youth crime, AAP reports.
Premier Steven Miles has confirmed the clause “detention as a last resort” in the Youth Justice Act would be amended to children should be detained in custody where “necessary” to keep Queenslanders safe.
We’ve seen a lot of misrepresentation and confusion suggesting that the courts are unable to impose detention. I am concerned that the existing wording of the principle is undermining confidence in the laws and the courts.
The clause will be redrafted to clarify young offenders should be detained in custody where necessary when other measures of prevention and intervention are not sufficient.
It also says children should not be detained for longer than necessary. Miles said:
While prevention and intervention are essential, there are cases where detention is necessary for community safety. These changes will remove any doubt that detention should be used in those circumstances.
Detention as a last resort for children is enshrined in international law, including in the United Nations’ convention on the rights of the child, which Australia has ratified.
For more around this topic, Eden Gillespie has you covered:
Politicians respond to budget airline Bonza’s voluntary administration
In case you missed it yesterday, low-cost airline Bonza has entered voluntary after abruptly cancelling all of its flights after the repossession of its entire fleet. You can read all the details below:
A number of politicians have reacted to the news on ABC News Breakfast this morning. Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley said this would be “devastating” for rural Australians, with two Bonza flights in her hometown of Albury at the NSW-VIC border.
I know city-based politicians who actually don’t understand how important it is to have flights to and from the regions… I do want to see this government are doing everything it can to get Bonza back in the air and to recognise that competition in the aviation sector and access to regional roots in regional Australia must be top of the list when they consider airline policy.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the situation was “really disappointing” and he feels for any stranded passengers.
This is a very unfortunate set of events for the workers at that company and also for people who are stuck. We are doing what we can to make sure alternative arrangements are being struck.
And Queensland premier Steven Miles said he would like to see Bonza continue operating because links between regional cities are “really important”.
Queensland is quite different to other states in that we have those regional cities that are really only accessible by air or by very long car drives.
Chalmers touts Aust-India ties despite spy revelations
Australia still has a good relationship with India, treasurer Jim Chalmers says, despite revelations a nest of Indian spies was disrupted by federal spy agencies, AAP reports.
The Washington Post and the ABC have reported Indian spies were kicked out of Australia after trying to steal sensitive information about defence projects as well as airport security.
The nest of spies was disrupted in 2020 by Asio, with director general Mike Burgess revealing in 2021 it had tried to target relationships with politicians, a foreign embassy and a state police service.
However, Burgess did not at the time reveal which country was behind the operation. He said during the 2021 speech:
They successfully cultivated and recruited an Australian government security clearance holder who had access to secretive details of defence technology. They asked a public servant to provide information on security protocols at a major airport.
Chalmers said Australia still had close ties with India, telling ABC News Breakfast:
We have got a good relationship with India and with other countries in the region, it’s an important economic relationship. It’s become closer … in recent years as a consequence of efforts on both sides and that’s a good thing.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi visited Australia last in May 2023, holding several large events in Sydney with the Indian diaspora.
Chalmers said he was not aware of efforts by the federal government to express concern to Indian counterparts about the nest of spies, due to the coalition being in charge at the time of the incident.
More information-sharing between states to help tackle violence against women, Queensland premier says
Queensland premier Steven Miles says he would like to see more information-sharing between states as a way to protect women and children facing violence.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast ahead of today’s national cabinet, Miles said:
I know that our domestic and sexual violence services they’re really stretched at the moment. We increased their funding by 20% earlier in the week but we, of course, like to see even more resources go to them.
I know also that often offenders will move between states and territories, and so information-sharing between our political forces can help them to know the history of offenders.
And then the most important thing I think is prevention and how do we, as a nation, educate our boys and young men that violence against women and children is just unacceptable.
Adam Morton
Gas strategy to be released so national discussion ‘guided by evidence and less by culture wars’
In addition to focusing on offshore wind (see earlier), Chris Bowen’s speech to the energy users association today will also include some observations about the future of gas.
The climate change and energy minister will argue there are “exaggerated claims on all sides of the gas debate”.
Slogans like ‘gas-led recovery’ and ‘no new gas’ are equally catchy – and equally unhelpful to explaining the proper role of gas in our net zero energy mix.
Bowen’s speech, released to journalists by his office, says the resources minister, Madeleine King, will release a future gas strategy in the coming weeks so that the “national discussion on gas can be guided more by the evidence and less by the culture wars”.
Bowen will say gas will play an “important role in electricity by firming and peaking renewables” as unlike coal and nuclear it could be turned on and off at short notice, that there are not yet substitutes for gas in many industrial settings, and that new gas supply will be needed “even as we electrify at pace” as current supplies are dwindling.
The International Energy Agency last year found the growth era for fossil fuels had finished, and that global investment in oil and gas would need to be cut roughly in half by 2030 to put the world on track to reach net zero emissions by mid-century.
Climate Analytics found gas was the largest source of global fossil fuel emissions growth last decade.
‘This is genuinely a national crisis’: Treasurer ahead of national cabinet on violence against women
Ahead of today’s national cabinet aimed at addressing violence against women, Jim Chalmers was asked how much he as treasurer is willing to spend on this issue.
He told ABC RN:
I think our whole government recognises that we need to do better and we need to do more. This is genuinely a national crisis and women are not safe in our community. We’re very cognisant of that, and very focused on that …
I think this is partly a story about government investment, but not solely a story about government investment. And if there are ways that we can provide more investment or invest differently in these really important services to keep women safe, then obviously that’s something that we’re prepared to consider and that’s one of the reasons why the leaders from around Australia gathering today.
He also spoke about the topic on ABC News Breakfast. He said changes to bail laws are “one of the things that needs to be considered” and also “having a look at the various legal arrangements to make sure that they’re up to scratch”.
Treasurer on falling retail figures, cost of living
The treasurer was also asked about annual growth in retail figures, which has fallen to its lowest levels since the pandemic.
You can read all the details on this in yesterday’s blog, here.
Chalmers said “this is what happens when interest rates have increased and the economy is slowing”.
And it’s no surprise to us because we know that people are under pressure. We saw that in those very weak retail figures, we’ve seen it in consumption figures, we’ve seen it in the growth figures. And that’s why in this budget, there will still be a primary focus on the fight against inflation, but also a focus on how we grow the economy, how we focus on economic security in ways that we just talked about, to make sure that we are striking the right balance, fighting inflation in the here and now but laying the foundations for future growth in our economy.
There’s no shortage of challenges, and what we’ve demonstrated the first two budgets and will demonstrate again in the third is a willingness to fight inflation as the primary focus, but not the sole focus.
Foreign investment changes will not target any one particular country: Chalmers
The treasurer is now speaking to ABC RN about the foreign investment changes, and said they are not working to target any particular country.
Jim Chalmers was asked if the laws were introduced to target China, but he denied this:
No, our foreign investment regime is non-discriminatory. We apply pretty tough tests to certain kinds of investments, no matter where they come from, from around the world.
We want to look very closely [at] who’s making the investment, what the structure of the investment is and what kinds of industries people are proposing to invest in, and those pretty tough tests – which will be even stronger [thanks] to the reforms I announced today – they will apply equally to investment from China, as from other parts of the world.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers flags foreign investment changes
As we flagged earlier, the treasurer Jim Chalmers will today announce foreign investment changes, with approvals to be made quicker and greater scrutiny to be placed on potential risks.
You can read all the details on this from Peter Hannam below:
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast just earlier about the changes, Chalmers said it was about ensuring Australia has “the right kind of robust framework” to screen foreign investment proposals and “make sure they’re in our national interest”.
Right now, we treat investments from right around the world more or less the same. We want to streamline it for the less-risky investments so we can devote much more time and energy and resources to screening the sorts of investments that we’re seeing in critical industries – like critical minerals, critical infrastructure, critical data, and the like.
This is all about strengthening the foreign investment framework to make sure that investment is in the national interest. We want to maximise the right kind of investment, but we want to minimise risk and that’s what these changes I’ll announce today are all about.
NSW police investigating alleged drive-by shooting in western Sydney
New South Wales police are investigating an alleged drive-by shooting in Merrylands, in western Sydney, overnight.
Officers were called to Myall Street around 10pm last night and found several shots were fired from a light-coloured vehicle.
No injuries were reported inside the home, and a crime scene has been established.
A short time later officers were called to Bass Hill following reports of a car fire, and found a white Hyundai hatchback well alight.
The fire was extinguished and it is believed no one was inside. Police are investigating whether the two incidents are linked.
Steps made towards Australia’s first offshore wind farm
Adam Morton
The development of an offshore wind farm zone off Victoria’s Gippsland coast appears a step closer after the Albanese government awarded feasibility licences to six companies.
The licences, awarded by the climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen, allows them to conduct environmental assessments and geotechnical surveys, and gain initial approvals to build turbines that, if delivered as proposed, could have a capacity of 25 gigawatts.
The successful developers are Star of the South, long considered a frontrunner to become Australia’s first offshore wind farm, High Sea Wind, Gippsland Skies, Blue Mackerel, Kut-Wut Brataualung and Ørsted Offshore Australia.
The Gippsland offshore wind zone has to-date not faced the criticism, some of it based on misinformation campaigns, that has been directed towards proposed zones in New South Wales’ Hunter and Illawarra regions.
In a speech to the Energy Users Association of Australia in Melbourne today, Bowen will say offshore wind energy was not about meeting 2030 emissions reduction and energy targets as the industry would take longer than that, it was “very much about planning for a reliable energy system years into the future”.
The International Energy Agency puts offshore wind in a category of its own as ‘variable baseload power’, with similar capacity factors as gas and coal-fired power plants.
As well as jobs rich, offshore wind is energy rich. That’s why major Australian energy users – from Alcoa in Portland, to Bluescope in the Illawarra, to Tomago in the Hunter – say that offshore wind is vital to their energy future.
Salvos survey: vulnerable Australians facing frightening choices amid cost-of-living crisis
Vulnerable Australians are struggling to afford essentials, with many facing a choice between paying their grocery bill or their landlord, AAP reports.
One in four people have eaten expired or soiled food while about 5% have eaten from rubbish bins, according to a survey by the Salvation Army.
Among 1500 people who approached the charity for help, 45% had to choose between paying for housing or buying food, while 61% struggled to pay utility bills on time, more than six times the national average, the Salvation Army said.
Major Brendan Nottle said the number of people struggling in the community and the choices they faced were frightening:
Individuals and families shouldn’t have to make these sorts of decisions, like choosing whether to eat, pay rent or send your kids to the doctor.
One mother told the charity she was constantly borrowing money from friends, skipping meals so her kids could eat.
The survey highlighted the depths of Australia’s current cost of living crisis, the Salvation Army said.
Cait Kelly
Advocacy group calls on government to provide housing support for women fleeing violence
Homelessness Australia is calling on federal and state governments to “plug gaping holes” in the housing and homelessness support available to women fleeing violence.
In 2022-23, homelessness services assisted 58,589 women and 37,825 children who had experienced domestic and family violence. But only 3.7% of those seeking housing got the long term housing they need to be safe.
Homelessness Australia CEO Kate Colvin said:
Lack of pathways to housing mean women experiencing violence are stuck in homelessness, with many returning to violent homes or never leaving.
Violence is the biggest cause of homelessness for women and children. Yet on current settings that’s unlikely to improve. National Cabinet can not avert its eyes. It must confront this challenge on Wednesday.
Homelessness services are so overwhelmed that many women and children can’t even get through the door. Each day homelessness services turn away 295 people; four in five of them are women or children.
The result of these gaping holes in the housing and support women need to be safe is that women return to violence and many never leave.
Good morning
Emily Wind
And happy Wednesday. I’m Emily Wind and I’ll take you through our live coverage here on the blog today – thanks to Martin for kicking things off.
Have any questions, thoughts or tips? You can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites or shoot me an email: [email protected].
Let’s go.
Churches to front Yoorrook commission
Three of Australia’s most prominent Christian churches are to be grilled at a truth-telling inquiry as it focuses on land injustices against Aboriginal people, AAP reports.
Representatives from the Catholic, Anglican and Uniting churches are expected to face a public hearing at the Yoorrook Justice Commission in Melbourne today.
The inquiry has homed in on land injustice in its latest hearings.
Churches played a significant role in setting up Victorian missions and reserves where Aboriginal people were confined.
Some have acknowledged their ministries were built on stolen Aboriginal land, while churches were also behind the forcible removal of children in the stolen generations.
Children were subsequently placed in churches’ care.
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan was the latest witness to give evidence at the inquiry on Monday, revealing that she was prepared to make a formal apology to Aboriginal Victorians.
House prices rise for 15th month running
Australia has clocked its 15th month in a row of house price growth despite wobbly economic conditions, with prices gaining a further 0.6% in April, AAP reports.
Dwelling values were growing at the same pace in April as in both February and March, according to Corelogic’s home value index.
The research director at the real estate data firm, Tim Lawless, said home values were still rising despite higher interest rates, low sentiment, worsening affordability and ongoing cost-of-living pressures.
Housing values are now up 11.1%, or about $78,000, since the trough in January last year. But the prospect of higher-for-longer interest rates, stubborn price pressures, worsening housing affordability and slowing economic activity could weigh on price growth.
Yet working in the other direction was a supply shortage of housing that “doesn’t look like it will change in the near future”, Corelogic found.
Perth recorded another robust 2% lift in home prices over the month, the fastest increase of any capital city.
The Western Australian capital, Adelaide and Brisbane have been stand-out performers of late, although the Queensland property market was showing signs of losing momentum.
Lawless said:
Affordability pressures may be impacting the pace of growth across the city, following a nearly $300,000 increase in values since the onset of Covid in March 2020, the largest dollar value increase of any capital.
The strongest growth was occurring in the lower range of the market in almost every capital city, with the exception of Darwin.
Similarly, growth in unit prices was typically outpacing house values.
Farrell hails trade progress with China
Trade minister Don Farrell has held a virtual meeting with his Chinese counterpart, and says it went well. He said in a statement that they had “welcomed progress” in bilateral trade:
Australian coal, cotton, copper ores and concentrates, timber logs, oaten hay, barley and most recently bottled wine, have returned to the Chinese market.
Student and tourist numbers and official and business delegations are increasing.
I reiterated our firm commitment to rules-based trade and I pressed for remaining trade impediments affecting our hard-hit live rock lobster industry, and red meat export establishments to be resolved as soon as possible.
Farrell said he looked forward to welcoming minister Wang to Australia soon.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to the daily news blog. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you some of the best overnight stories before Emily Wind gets into the hot seat.
Anthony Albanese has called for a debate on the blocking of misogynistic content online before a snap national cabinet called for today to focus on women’s safety. The federal government has signalled that strengthening violence prevention by countering online harms will be a priority at the meeting, called after a spate of violent attacks on women.
We have a special report today from the Great Barrier Reef where a summer of storm surges and cyclones has left the Unesco heritage site looking like a “graveyard”, according to scientists stunned by the latest bleaching event. Surveying an area of coral off Heron Island, one scientist estimates that “90% of branching corals are dead or dying”.
Foreign investment approvals will be made quicker but greater scrutiny will be placed on potential risks as Australia tries to balance economic and security interests, treasurer Jim Chalmers will say today. The Treasury will set a target to process half of foreign investment cases needing approval within 30 days after from next January, Chalmers will tell the Lowy Institute in Sydney. It will also seek more funds from abroad to support so-called build-to-rent housing ventures and the energy transition off fossil fuels as the government pursues its Future Made in Australia policy.