Key events
The RBA legislation comes after the RBA review – that is why Michelle Bullock holds the press conference after each meeting now – part of the RBA review was the recommendation for the governor to better explain the RBA board’s decisions.
The RBA board also recommended the government scrap the never-used emergency power for the treasurer to force the RBA to act. That power was set up following the Great Depression, when the government of the day tried to force the Commonwealth Bank (then Australia’s central bank) to fund a national infrastructure program to keep the economy stimulated. The bank refused and Australia was plunged into depression. When the RBA legislation was set up, that was remembered and the emergency power became part of the whole she-bang.
When Chalmers announced he would be getting rid of the power, as per the suggestion of the RBA review board, former treasurers and RBA governors all came out and said that wasn’t a great idea – that the power was needed for insurance.
The legislation would also put in place a second RBA board, which would review governance of the RBA.
There were questions over whether that was necessary as well.
So the Coalition have been playing hard ball on the legislation. Chalmers gave ground by saying the emergency power would be kept, but negotiations between the government and LNP have been increasingly stalled.
It looks like they may have come to a grinding halt, meaning Chalmers may not get this legislation through the parliament.
Treasurer calls press conference over Reserve Bank legislation
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has called a press conference for 8am (in the blue room, the second most fancy press conference location) over the RBA legislation.
It’s early for a couple of reasons – it is party room meeting day, so Chalmers is getting ahead of that, but Chalmers, as you may have noticed, is also trying to take back the agenda at large.
He has made quite a few interventions lately (commenting on RBA interest rates, Peter Dutton’s leadership style, the census question debacle) so there is a pattern emerging.
Good morning
Amy Remeikis
A very big thank you to Martin for starting us off this morning. He is absolutely right – it is a day of protest. You’ve got Amy Remeikis on the blog and the entire Guardian brains trust at your disposal. Coffee number three is on the stove.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.
Our rural affairs writer, Gabrielle Chan, has been looking at today’s farming protest and how it compares to the last one endorsed by the National Farmers’ Federation which was, amazingly, nearly 40 years ago in 1985.
Murdoch’s real-life succession drama to begin in Nevada court
The battle between Rupert Murdoch and his children over the future of his media empire begins this week in Nevada as observers attempt to force the court to make the secretive dispute public.
Murdoch wants to change the structure of his family trust to give all voting power to his oldest son, Lachlan. If successful, Murdoch’s other adult children, Prudence, James and Elisabeth, will lose their voting power.
Of the children, Lachlan is the most politically aligned with his father while his younger siblings have expressed reservations about the direction of the companies, particularly during Donald Trump’s presidency.
The only information available to the public are the key dates of the trial, which is being held in Reno, Nevada, listed on the court’s website. The trial is slated to have a status conference today followed by a series of evidentiary hearings starting 16 September.
Read the full story here:
McKenzie reiterates walkback on airline divesture powers that is not Coalition policy
The shadow transport minister, Bridget McKenzie, was again forced to clarify the Coalition does not explicitly support breaking up Qantas just hours after floating the possibility of forced divestiture powers in the aviation sector.
McKenzie warned in a newspaper piece yesterday the competition watchdog’s review of the aviation sector “will be a failure if it does not address the role of divestiture”.
But her Nationals leader, David Littleproud, said it wasn’t Coalition policy. And then she was quizzed again on the issue on ABC’s 7.30 last night when she said it would be “one of the tools” that could be used to introduce more competition.
Our full story is here:
Nurses to strike in New South Wales
A widescale nurses’ strike has triggered warnings to keep ambulances and EDs clear of minor cases as Labor feels the heat for “refusing” to fix a gender pay gap, Australian Associated Press reports.
Nurses and midwives were expected to walk off the job across NSW for 12 hours today after demands for a 15% pay rise this year were rebuffed.
NSW Health, which had begun contacting patients about postponing surgeries, challenged the strike in the state’s industrial relations commission yesterday, emerging victorious late in the afternoon. The commission ordered the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association to cease the strike action immediately.
In the face of official orders to halt their strike, rallies are scheduled in 16 locations including Albury, Newcastle, Tamworth and outside premier Chris Minns’ electorate office in Sydney.
Life-preserving staffing will be maintained but longer waits in emergency departments and planned surgery cancellations are expected.
The union said members were not taking industrial action lightly.
Labor was “refusing to fix the gender pay gap” and deliver the state’s largest female-dominated workforce fair and reasonable pay, the association’s general secretary, Shaye Candish, said. Three in four NSW public health workers are women, with median salaries 3.2% below their male counterparts.
While dismissed by the premier as unaffordable, an immediate 15% pay rise could be covered through capturing $3bn in lost commonwealth health funding, the union says.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ve got some of the main overnight stories before Amy Remeikis comes along.
The Albanese government is hoping to regain the political initiative by introducing legislation to set a minimum age for social media platforms before the next election. The prime minister is expected to announce plans today for legislation to be introduced into parliament but will stop short of specifying the age, arguing the government wants to wait for the conclusion of an age-verification trial which begins its final phase this week. Read the news here – and of course the blog will cover developments.
More voters are blaming the Albanese government for interest rate rises with 44% finding fault with ministers, according to the latest Essential poll, although the number blaming “prices going up” stayed the same as seven months ago at around 58%. Better news for the government was that 53% thought the proposed cap on international student enrolments was “about right”.
It’s a big day of protest up and down Australia. In New South Wales, nurses and midwives are planning to walk off the job from this morning for 12 hours after demands for a 15% pay rise this year were rebuffed – though the state’s industrial relations commission yesterday afternoon ordered the union not to go ahead.
In Canberra farmers from across the country plan a protest starting at 11am with the planned phase-out of the live sheep trade, the Murray Darling Basin plan, and increases in biosecurity charges the main issues. Gabrielle Chan brings you the history – and the complaints that should be on their list, but aren’t.
And in Melbourne activists intend to disrupt a military expo that starts tomorrow. We’ll have all the developments as they happen.