Key events
AFP decry ‘useless’ work-from-home pay deal entitlements and threaten to withdraw police resources in lower-risk settings
(Continued from previous post)
The protected action includes removing federal police from the Canberra airport and parliament during sitting weeks, withdrawing federal police resources from political functions and events unless they carry a “significant” threat rating and temporarily removing police resources from commonwealth investigations, including those related to the NDIS and ATO.
I know these actions will disrupt the viability of activity at parliament house … They are not measures the AFPA is taking lightly. Our members are very aware of the vital role they play in ensuring the safety of community members, members of parliament and senators.
…Work from home entitlements are useless to an AFP officer who cannot investigate international paedophile syndicates or take a bullet for the prime minister from home. The deal currently being presented, is toxic.”
Caruana said a survey of members showed 6% said they would leave “immediately” if the deal was not improved, while 68% responded that they would actively look for other career opportunities.
Caruana said the AFPA would “not take any industrial action that will put anyone in danger” but would fight for a “reasonable deal”.
AFP poised to strike over ‘toxic’ pay deal
For the first time this century, Australian Federal Police are proposing to take industrial action over a pay deal the federal police union described as “toxic”.
The Australian Federal Police Association wrote to all parliamentarians on Sunday afternoon warning of upcoming protected industrial action their members have voted to take after pay negotiations broke down.
The federal government deal, accepted by other public servants, consisted of a 11.2% wage increase over three years, as well as an increase in allowances and flexibility, such as guaranteed work at home.
AFPA’s president, Alex Caruana, said work at home benefits were “useless” for AFP officers, and the pay deal would see a mass exodus of AFP officers from the force.
(continued in next post)
Chalmers and Gallagher pick fight with Liberals over public spending
Labor’s finance team and Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher are laying the turf for a new electoral battleground against the Coalition – the future of public spending, including pensions.
Chalmers and Gallagher compiled recent comments from their opposition counterparts, Angus Taylor and Jane Hume, criticising public spending.
The amount of public expenditure has become a hot-button political issue as the debate continues over whether the spending of state and federal governments (almost all of them led by Labor) was contributing to inflation and stopping the RBA from dropping interest rates.
Chalmers and Gallagher say that since Hume, the opposition finance minister, commented on 1 August that wouldn’t have made “$315bn of spending in the last two years” if it was in government, the senior Coalition leadership has repeated the claim. (The government says it is over six years, not two.)
The $315bn figure includes the indexation of the aged pension and unemployment payments, increased rent assistance and social housing, the energy bill relief, new medicines on the PBS, superannuation on paid parental leave, natural disaster funding and GST revenue.
It’s everything, in other words. Which has led to the government making the leap that the Coalition would put “everything” at risk if it won government.
The election can be held any time between now and May, so expect a lot of this coming your way.
A legislative preview
Let’s take a look at what is coming up in the sitting.
After the recent ministry reshuffle, Anthony Albanese has been trying to refocus the agenda on measures the government has put in place to mitigate the rising cost of living so far, including tax changes and the energy bill relief. As part of the attempts to refocus the agenda on its own terms, the government will spend these first sitting weeks introducing a flurry of legislation.
Among the bills heralded by the government is the first tranche of the future made in Australia legislation which aims to set up a national interest framework to underpin investment and attract private capital – including community benefit principles. That just means that benefits to the community (or lack of them) must be considered when it comes to projects.
Legislation to enable the construction division of the CFMEU to be placed under the control of an administrator will also be introduced and passing it will be one of the priorities of the government over the next two weeks. The bill will grant “sweeping powers” to the appointed administrator “to clean up” the union, a government spokesperson said.
Bill Shorten will be working to progress his NDIS bill through the senate, which so far has not proven to be an easy task.
Passing the legislation aimed at criminalising the sharing of sexually explicit deepfake material should be easier and the Hecs indexation bill should fall somewhere in between the two (in terms of ease).
Indigenous knowledge systems to be elevated under new science priorities
Indigenous knowledge systems are being elevated in the national science priorities for the first time, with the science minister, Ed Husic, unveiling the new science framework this morning [Monday, Sunday 12 at 8am].
The national science and research priorities and statement are the official mission statements underpinning government, private sector and university efforts to tackle Australia’s big issues. Last updated under the Abbott government, Husic said it was time for a new foundation.
The chief scientist, Dr Cathy Foley, was asked to come up with the priorities which should underpin Australia’s science and research. The new priorities are:
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Transitioning to a net zero future – to develop and adopt next generation technologies, particularly in clean energy and storage, advanced materials, artificial intelligence, quantum and robotics.
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Supporting healthy and thriving communities – so more Australians can enjoy healthier lives from birth well into old age.
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Elevating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems – to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people particularly to have more of a say in advancing research that affects them.
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Protecting and restoring Australia’s environment – to mitigate the impacts of climate change and protect our biodiversity, diverse landscapes and ecosystems.
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Building a secure and resilient nation – to strengthen our democratic institutions while addressing economic, social, geopolitical, defence and national security challenges.
Good morning
Hello and welcome back to Politics Live.
It has been a long five weeks since the parliament last sat, but then again, as someone once noted (probably Ray Cummings and not Albert Einstein), time is what keeps everything from happening at once.
Except in politics, it would seem.
Labor returns with a reshuffled ministry and a renewed focus on getting people to see it has acted on the cost of living. But with inflation proving sticky, those outside the aggregate the RBA uses to make its decisions – that’s anyone without a savings buffer, not spending money on holidays and with high housing costs – is feeling the pain.
That makes Labor’s job even harder, because being told things aren’t as bad as they could be isn’t a winning strategy when people feel they may not get through what is in front of them. The latest Newspoll has the Coalition and Labor on 50-50 on a two party preferred basis.
For the Coalition to be within spitting distance of winning government, it would need to win at least 14 seats and then hope for support from the crossbench; minority government with Labor has been looking the more likely outcome for some time, and the poll numbers aren’t getting any better.
Still, while December 7 is still being bandied about as a potential early election date, with the poll numbers not showing any improvement you can expect the election to be held in 2025.
Elsewhere, the CFMEU administration legislation will be introduced into the parliament this week as a “priority”. Labor is very keen to have that issue cleaned up – and as soon as possible – as it seeks to remove distractions.
The government will focus on putting through what is left of its agenda for the next few sittings. Some, like the religious discrimination legislation, is all but dead, although there will be hate speech laws to go along with the doxing ban.
Tanya Plibersek is hoping for a win in her nature positive bill, but has to convince the Greens it will actually do what it says it will do.
Clare O’Neil now has the housing quagmire, which you would only think would be easy after home affairs if you haven’t been paying attention. Housing is one of the more visible portfolios in the government, given an entire generation is now struggling with it and unless O’Neil has some wriggle room with the Greens, it doesn’t appear to be getting any easier.
All in all it’s going to be a busy couple of weeks, so I’m glad to have you back with us. You have Karen Middleton, Paul Karp, Daniel Hurst and Sarah Basford Canales, as well as Mike Bowers to guide you through it. Amy Remeikis – that’s me! – will be with you on the blog for most of the day.
Ready? Grab your coffee (number three over here) and let’s get into it.