Australian news and politics live: Unions use Economic Reform Roundtable to push for new taxes

Tasmania is set for an ongoing minority Liberal Government after a snap election, a hung parliament and a failed bid by Labor to seize power.

Parliament will sit on Tuesday for the first time since the July 19 poll delivered the Liberals 14 seats and Labor 10, both short of the 18 mark required for majority.

Liberal leader Jeremy Rockliff was recommissioned as Premier but his ongoing support was set to be tested by a Labor no-confidence motion in parliament.

Labor leader Dean Winter’s attempt to court the cross bench hit a fatal bump on Monday when the five-seat Greens, whose support his party needed, said they could not back the motion.

Kristie Johnston and David O’Byrne, two of five independents on the cross bench, have also declared they won’t support Labor.

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Senator Canavan has announced he will hold a rival productivity roundtable of business leaders and economists on Wednesay after slamming the Albanese Government for “wasting time” discussing topics such as AI instead of energy prices.

“The Government is ignoring the topic of energy price at its so-called ‘productivity’ roundtable. Labor does not even have a plan anymore to lower power prices,” he wrote on X.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament House, Senator Canavan also raised concerns about new carbon accounting rules being imposed on the farming sector.

Senator Canavan emphasised that those rules add a $2.1 billion compliance cost to the Australian economy.

“We’ve got these rules which will make banks go to their customers and ask them to count up all their carbon emissions in their businesses and report back to them,” he said.

“Just adding more adding more heartache, more headaches, more paperwork for our nation’s farmers who already have enough to do when it comes to the weather.”

One of Federal Parliament’s newest senators has resigned less than one month after being sworn in.

NSW One Nation senator Warwick Stacey on Tuesday resigned from the Senate due to health reasons.

“I don’t think a person elected to parliament should be anything less than completely dedicated to a role entrusted to them by voters, so I’m resigning to make way for someone who can do that on behalf of the people of NSW,” he said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, I will be unable to fully dedicate myself to the role as I deal with my personal health issues.”

One Nation will announce Senator Stacey’s replacement in coming weeks.

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iNet revealed on Tuesday that it had been compromised, with an unknown third party accessing its order management system on Saturday.

The company said that most of the data breached was of a non-identifying nature and used to authenticate and activate orders for iiNet services such as NBN.

However, it admitted that a list of email addresses and phone numbers had been extracted from its system.

The list contained about 280,000 active iiNet email addresses and about 20,000 active iiNet landline phone numbers, plus inactive email addresses and numbers.

Customers are urged to remain vigilant, especially of any communications received via email, text or phone.

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About 100 days into her new role as Opposition leader after Peter Dutton lost his seat and top job at the May 3 Federal election, Sussan Ley has been asked about polling on her performance.

The latest Newspoll, which showed she suffered some fall in support from voters comes after only two weeks of the 48th Parliament sitting and before the Liberals post-election review is completed.

“I won’t be judged by headlines or polling numbers. I know that we will deliver a credible, compelling, serious agenda for change to the Australian people,” she told reporters in Sydney.

“We’re developing that now. What’s most important for me and my team is to be out there working hard for the Australians that need us to back them.

“They need a government that understands what their life is like, gets out of their way, reduces their red tape, helps them, gives them confidence and looks to the future alongside them.”

As the first day of the Albanese Government’s economic reform roundtable kicks off in Canberra on Tuesday morning, Opposition leader Sussan Ley has slammed the PM for being asleep at the wheel.

“This is the fourth year of a Labor Government and it is as if they’re only just discovering that they need to do something about productivity. Where were they for the last three years?,” she questioned at a press conference in Western Sydney.

“And every step they take mitigates against the most important thing here which is attracting investment, driving growth, lifting living standards, increasing the size of businesses and having confidence.”

Opposition leader Sussan Ley has slammed the Albanese Government for the deterioration of their relationship with Israel after 24 hours of tit-for-tat visa cancellations.

She called for Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to publicly explain on what grounds he cancelled the visa of Israeli politician Simcha Rothman.

“That is something all Australians should be very sad about today,” she told reporters in Western Sydney.

“Israel is a Liberal democracy in the Middle East and we should be supporting them as that liberal democracy.

“The steps that the Albanese Government has taken over recent days and weeks certainly have not demonstrated that.

“This is an elected member of the Israeli Parliament and it’s a very unusual thing to refuse a visa.”

Speaking to those at the economic reform roundtable, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the renewable energy transition has marked the biggest change for the world since the Industrial Revolution.

“We think about the changes that are really shaping the world today, we have the biggest revolution since the Industrial Revolution, with clean energy.

“We have a revolution that is less certain, as well, in the form of artificial intelligence and new technology.”

Mr Albanese said the greatest asset to meet this challenge was the Australian people.

“The fact that we have a diaspora from everywhere in the world that connects us in a human way is something that is an enormous asset for us.

“Wherever I am, there’s someone with a connection to Australia, and we shouldn’t take that for granted. We should see that as an asset that we can seize.

“The fact that we’re located in the fastest growing region of the world in human history, is another great asset.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has addressed the business leaders, unions, and policy experts who have gathered at Parliament House for the Economic Reform Roundtable.

After listing off economic wins for the Labor Party, including last week’s rate cut and the low unemployment figure, Dr Chalmers said he would still like to see more.

“Australia’s performance, in many ways, does set us apart, but we’re not satisfied with that. We need to do more, and we need to do better, and we will do better, and that’s what this is all about.”

He called on the experts in the room to suggest ideas that serve the national interest, while remaining affordable.

“We need you to be specific. We need you to suggest ways to pay for them so that good ideas are also affordable ideas.

“We need you to be able to find common ground and recognise that sometimes that involves compromises, because this is all about building consensus, and it’s all about building momentum, which means going beyond our own narrower sectional or commercial interests and serving the national economic interest.”

Business leaders, unions and policy experts have gathered at Parliament House for the highly anticipated Economic Reform Roundtable.

Cutting red tape has emerged a key theme with both the private sector and government agencies calling for regulations to be slimmed or made fit-for-purpose.

Opening the talks, the Prime Minister said the question to be answered was “how does our economy become more productive, more resilient?”

He pointed to his Government’s pledge to build 1.2 million homes by 2030 as an example of where action was needed.

“You don’t have a target, you’re not going to be trying to get there,” Mr Albanese said.

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