Politics live: Xi hails ‘benefits’ of improving China-Australia relations after meeting Albanese at G20 | Australian politics

According to a new report from the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the gender pay gap is now at its lowest point ever at 11.5%.

It said new work rights and higher wages in sectors like aged care are closing the gap at a rate three times faster than under previous Coalition governments. Since 2022, the gender pay gap has been closing at a rate of 1.3% each year, compared to 0.4% under successive Coalition governments.

ACTU president Michele O’Neil said that sectors with a majority of women workers “pay some of the lowest wages despite workers providing some of the most valuable services to our community, such as caring for our loved ones.”

Government policies have a direct effect on the underpayment of women workers and the gender pay gap.

The gender pay gap is closing three times faster under this current government than the previous government, meaning if Peter Dutton’s party was still in power, the average woman working full time would be $1,900 worse off.

Ed Husic was asked about comments from Clive Palmer overnight on the 7.30 program, that the government’s proposed electoral reforms are a Labor and Liberal stitch-up for the major parties to have the entire game to themselves.

Husic responded:

I’m not surprised people with a lot of money who want to be able to influence elections are upset by what we’re wanting to do. But I think a lot of Australians will back what we are trying to do and want to make sure that we’ve got elections that are fair and that aren’t influenced by big money.

The minister said that a number of state governments have started to work on similar reforms.

Husic on Coalition backflip on international student cap

Ed Husic was asked about the Coalition’s decision not to back the government’s proposed cap on international students. You can read all the details on this below:

Husic said that Peter Dutton had indicated in budget-reply speeches that he also wanted to bring immigration back to pre-pandemic levels, and accused the Coalition of not “back[ing] up what they say they’ll do.”

This is another case of them playing politics, putting their political interests above the interests of the country. We already have some measures in place to help us in this area. But, as stakeholders have observed, the Coalition just opposing this legislation gives no solution, no indication about what they’d do.

So the onus is on them now to say, “Well, if you said this is important to do, why won’t you actually support work to be done in this space?”

First investment announced as part of National Reconstruction Fund

The science and industry minister, Ed Husic, was on ABC News Breakfast to discuss the government’s first investment via the National Reconstruction Fund – $40m to a Toowoomba mineral processing factory.

The NRF was passed last year and established an off-budget $15bn investment fund to support manufacturing and emerging industries.

Husic said this investment was “the first of many that we’ll start to see being announced by the NRF”. But why has it taken so long for the first investment? He responded:

The difference in terms of what the [NRF] does is it provides loans, equity, and guarantees to firms that are [working across] seven priority areas to expand and grow their operations.

Given the sizes of the investments, it does take more time to be able to go through to shape up what the investment will look like, how big it’ll be, over what term, the rate of return – because the other important thing to stress to viewers is – this is not about handing out grants, and certainly not doing it on the basis of political colour-coded spreadsheets as we saw with the last government.

Getting those investments right takes a bit of time. But when they do, it’s a bigger investment, a bigger stake, a bigger aim, which is to provide long-term growth for the country.

Australia’s social cohesion at record low but 70% believe migrants make country stronger

The Middle East crisis has tested the strength of Australia’s multicultural society and it has weathered the storm – so far.

At least that’s according to the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute’s annual survey, Mapping Social Cohesion, which is out today.

The survey of 8,000 randomly selected people was carried out in conjunction with the Australian Multicultural Foundation and the Australian National University. It found support for multiculturalism remains mostly positive, with 85% agreeing it has been good for Australia generally and 82% saying it is good for the economy.

The lead author of this year’s survey report, Dr James O’Donnell, said he had expected to find that social media use might be fuelling polarisation of attitudes including towards faith groups. But he said:

In fact, the social media users were less likely to have a negative attitude towards Jewish and Muslim people, irrespective of where they were on the political spectrum.

You can read the full article here:

Australia expected to sign up to UK-US deal on civil nuclear technology

Good morning

Emily Wind

Aukus unease

Speaking of Donald Trump, our latest Guardian Essential poll has been canvassing opinions about what his re-election might mean for Australia.

It has found that more people think the new Trump administration will be bad news for the global economy (42% said negative, 38% said positive), “resolving global conflicts and promoting peace” (41% to 37%) and America’s influence on global affairs (44% to 37%).

Read the whole story here:

‘Authoritarianism and chaos’

In the lead-up to his return to the White House, president-elect Donald Trump has quickly assembled a new team of loyalists including Elon Musk, a Fox News host and a vaccine sceptic. While his cabinet nominees will still need approval from Congress, the controversial list is already raising alarm bells.

For today’s Full Story podcast, Washington DC bureau chief David Smith speaks to Nour Haydar about what these latest announcements tell us about Trump’s plans for his second term as president.

Spending survey

As mentioned, we have a story this morning about a Commonwealth Bank survey showing that Australians aged between 18 to 29 have cut back on their spending due to the cost-of-living crisis more than older people who are shopping more.

The survey also picked up some geographical differences, with Western Australia “really outperforming” the rest of the country in how much residents had spent.

Here’s the full article:

More on that Xi-Albanese meeting

Anthony Albanese, who visited Beijing a year ago, said there had been “further encouraging progress in the stabilisation of our relationship” and that trade was “flowing more freely” between the countries, AAP reports.

China is Australia’s largest trading partner and total two-way trade hit a record $327bn in 2023.

Chinese authorities introduced sanctions – since lifted – on some Australian products in 2020 after Scott Morrison’s government called for an international inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic. Albanese said:

We continue to explore opportunities for practical cooperation in areas of shared interest, including on our energy transition and climate change.

We live in the fastest growing region of the world in human history – and the rise of China has contributed to this while lifting the living standards of hundreds of millions of people through increased economic activity.

Albanese and Xi Jinping meet on sidelines of G20

Welcome

Martin Farrer