Australian news and politics live: Anthony Albanese’s stark warning for Greens defector Dorinda Cox
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Key Events
Minimum wage rises 3.5 per cent
The Fair Work Commission has announced it will increase the national minimum wage and all modern award minimum wages by 3.5 per cent effective 1 July this year.
In bringing down the decision, the FWC said it had deferred wage hikes for three years concerned about inflation but that it was now time for the minimum wage to catch up.
“We are concerned that if this opportunity is not taken in this annual wage review, the loss in the real value of wages which has occurred will become permanently embedded in the modern award system and the national minimum wage and a reduction of living standards for the lowest paid in the community will thereby be entrenched,” FWC President Justice Adam Harper said.
Plibersek defends Woodside’s North West Shelf gas approval timing
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has pushed back against criticism over the timing of Labor’s approval for the extension of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project, urging voters not to be cynical about the decision.
The project’s approval has drawn strong opposition from environmental and Indigenous groups, who warn the extension could lead to significant pollution and harm to culturally important sites.
Speaking to ABC Radio on Tuesday, Ms Plibersek, who previously served as environment minister and twice delayed a decision on the project, said Labor had good reason for waiting until after the election to make its ruling.
“The West Australian government had six years to assess this project, and we’ve had it before the Commonwealth government for about six months,” Ms Plibersek said, adding she was “proud” of the work Labor had done during her time as environment minister.
When asked about concerns from Indigenous stakeholders regarding the potential impact on rock art, Ms Plibersek said she supported the artefacts’ UNESCO world heritage listing.
On the project’s carbon footprint, Ms Plibersek stressed that it must be considered as part of Australia’s broader emissions reduction efforts.
“All of these projects have to fit within Australia’s trajectory to net zero,” she said.
“During my time as environment minister, I approved more than 80 renewable energy projects, enough to power 11 million Australian homes.
“We’re on track to get to 82 per cent renewable energy. We’re on track for our emissions reduction.”
PM won’t rule out defence funding rise
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is not ruling out raising defence spending, it can be revealed.
In recent days, Mr Albanese has appeared to dismiss calls made by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and the head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute that Australia lift its game.
That has given the impression that Mr Albanese is resistant to spending more on defence.
But The Nightly understands the Prime Minister is open to an uplift.
However, he will avoid being forced into setting a target and instead focus on funding new and extra capabilities.
This view is in line with previously unreported comments that he made during the election campaign in a wide-ranging interview with The Nightly focusing on foreign policy, national security and Australia’s defences.
Under Labor defence spending is only projected to increase to 2.3 per cent by 2034.
Albanese confirms plans for Trump talks
The Prime Minister has confirmed publicly he is seeking to meet with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Canada later this month.
Canadian leader Mark Carney invited Anthony Albanese to attend the meeting of global leaders when they spoke shortly after the May 3 election.
Mr Albanese confirmed on Tuesday the widely speculated meeting with Mr Trump was being organised to take place in Alberta rather than Washington..
“That’s what we hope to do there,” he told ABC Perth.
He said his approach in dealing with Mr Trump was to be “consistent and clear and unambiguous”.
“That is what I’ve been. I’ve had three really constructive discussions with President Trump, but it’s important that you don’t jump around and take different positions from day to day,” he said.
Albanese welcomes Cox, criticises Greens’ direction
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is on ABC Perth talking about Dorinda Cox and the North West Shelf.
He says Senator Cox had decided after much thought that her values aligned more closely with those of Labor rather than the Greens, leading to her defection.
“We know that the Greens have lost their way,” Mr Albanese said.
“That’s one of the reasons why they lost three of their four seats in the House of Representatives, and the domination of issues that certainly aren’t environmental have been their concerns.”
Asked how someone who has so stridently spoken out against the extension of the North West Shelf project can now be on board with Labor, Mr Ablanese points out the Greens including Senator Cox voted for the safeguard mechanism as the primary way to cut emissions.
“The North West Shelf, like other projects right around Australia, the top 200 emitters, are all subject to that (safeguard mechanism) that requires emissions to be brought down each and every year or to be offset as part of getting to net zero,” he said.
“We have not just a policy of net zero. We have a plan to get there… You can’t change the way that the economy functions through just good will or good thoughts.”
Union demands 4.5 per cent pay rise for low-paid workers
Having worked as a delivery driver at Pizza Hut, as a cleaner, in a newsagency and at a call centre, Sally McManus used to depend on an award wage.
Now, the 53-year-old firebrand leading Australia’s top union body is calling for a 4.5 per cent pay rise for nearly 3 million workers who live pay-to-pay on an industry award or minimum wage.
The Fair Work Commission will on Tuesday release its annual wage review decision.
Ms McManus says it’s essential the nation’s lowest-paid workers receive a pay rise above inflation.
“It’s about whether you can keep up with your bills or not, it’s whether or not your life gets slightly better, whether it stays the same or whether it goes backwards. It’s everything,” she tells AAP.
“When you’re on those wages, you’re not saving money. Everything you earn, you spend.”
Greens reflect on loss of First Nations Senators
With two Aboriginal women now having left the Greens, the party is facing questions about its representation and approach to First Nations issues.
“I think there’s two very different reasons why those strong First Nations women made the decisions they made. It was definitely their call to make,” she told ABC News Breakfast.
“Senator Thorpe has gone on to be a really strong voice in the Parliament and I’m sure Senator Cox will continue to work for the issues that are meaningful for her,” Waters explained.
“But the Greens remain entirely committed to strong advocacy on truth telling, on treaties, on justice, on healing, on reparations. Our policies are still very firm for First Nations justice and we won’t be changing course in that regard.”
Greens leader responds to Dorinda Cox’s defection
The Greens are reeling after WA Senator Dorinda Cox announced her move to Labor, but party leader Larissa Waters says there’s no animosity and wishes her well.
“Dorinda spoke for herself yesterday and said her values aligned more closely with the Labor Party. And people need to have values fit with the party they seek to represent,” she told ABC News Breakfast.
“Dorinda called me an hour before her press conference with the Prime Minister. And we had a very calm and measured conversation about it. And I did genuinely wish her all the best.
“There’s no animosity there. It’s disappointing for us to lose a Greens senator. But Dorinda says her values lie there. You need to be true to yourself, don’t you?”
Study links men’s violence to mental health, father-son ties
Mental ill health and poor father-son relationships have been revealed as key factors that could contribute to men’s violence against women.
A longitudinal study conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) surveyed men and boys in 2013/14 and again in 2022 for critical insights into factors influencing the use of violence.
The research has produced the first national estimate of male intimate partner violence perpetration, with the 2022 study finding more than one-in-three Australian men aged 18 to 65 have used intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
This is up from one-in-four men who reported ever having used intimate partner violence among the same cohort surveyed in 2014.
The latest study also found an estimated 120,000 men nationally were starting to use violence for the first time each year.
