Shadow energy minister Ted O’Brien kicked out of question time after interjection
Josh Butler
In a question time where the opposition seemed set to put more focus on to nuclear energy, shadow energy minister Ted O’Brien has gotten himself kicked out quite quickly, after a strange interjection.
Asking acting PM Richard Marles about “global momentum for nuclear energy”, and his claim that the government “remain stubbornly in opposition of this proven energy resource”, O’Brien took his seat.
“The answer is – it’s all about cost and it’s all about economics. We don’t have a civil nuclear industry in Australia today. It is a significant fact, an inconvenient truth,” Marles started to respond – before O’Brien made a noisy shouted interjection.
Marles called it a “ridiculous display”. O’Brien was ejected by speaker Milton Dick under standing order 94a.
Key events
Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown has asked whether the government would redirect costs for the Middle Arm hub to support clean energy projects instead?
The infrastructure minister, Catherine King, said the government remains committed to Middle Arm and said:
Let me just remind the House that this is an equity injection. It is not money that then can be transferred to other projects …
The Australian government remains committed to Middle Arm, there are a number of processes that have to be gone through, through the environmental processes, through planning processes, as well, through Infrastructure Australia, and all of those are underway at the moment …
But again, I say to the Greens, stop using politics constantly in these sorts of debates, stop using politics, because we know that Middle Arm actually does support renewable energy … and it also makes sure that we have a strong economic future for the Northern Territory.
Nationals MP asks where is the housing for new immigrants
Nationals MP Anne Webster has asked about housing and immigration. She claims that a new person is arriving to live in Australia every 44 seconds – where are these people meant to live?
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, responded that migration is “coming down because of changes that have been made by our government” and “if there is a single person in this parliament who is responsible for [the] broken [housing] system, he sits over there in the opposition leader’s chair”.
She said the government arrived to office and found housing “in an absolute mess”, and said when the opposition was in government “they didn’t even have a commonwealth housing minister.”
O’Neil took aim at the Liberals and Greens for not support its housing policies, and said:
Now if only, Speaker, we had a parliament that actually wanted to work with us on this issue that affects millions of people … What we have is an opposition that knows only one word – no, no, no – to every single proposition that’s put forward.
[The] Greens … talk a big game about housing, but when it comes time to make real change for real people, they say no too.
So who would have thought the far left and the far right had so much in common in this country. Despite that opposition, we will work hard to make sure that we meet the housing needs of people in this country
Marles says supporting a civil nuclear industry ‘makes no financial sense whatsoever’
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, has asked another question about – surprise, surprise – nuclear energy.
He asked whether the government’s opposition to nuclear “has nothing to do with cost or time, but because of their political battle with the Greens in inner-city seats”?
Richard Marles replied that “we do have a battle with the Greens political party, and we join that battle with relish”.
Which really does stand in stark contrast to what we see from those opposite who, when it comes to housing, the environment or now immigration, are in the greatest love affair of all time with the Greens political party. I mean, I think Romeo and Juliet teaches us that love conquers all. But I definitely do not think that Shakespeare [could] imagine what was going on here. What we are seeing here is the most unholy alliance between the Greens and the Liberals.
Marles echoed earlier comments, and said “the simple reason why we are not supporting a civil nuclear industry, it’s because it makes no financial sense whatsoever”.
Marles on ‘crystal-clear articulation’ of Coalition philosophy
While taking a dixer, Richard Marles pointed to some comments from the deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley yesterday in parliament, that “if you don’t pay for something, you don’t value it” – in reference to fee-free Tafe.
You can read more on this in yesterday’s blog here.
He said it gave “a crystal clear articulation of the philosophies of those opposite”, and said:
This was exactly demonstrated when the leader of the opposition was the minister for health, when he tried to introduce a GP tax, when he tried to put a cost on the attendance at emergency departments right around the country, when he sought to increase the prices of basic medicines.
And what he did as the minister for health, if given the chance, he would do as the prime minister across the board. Well, Mr Speaker, on this side of the house, we have a very different philosophy …
Marles is asked again about civil nuclear industry
Nationals MP Kevin Hogan has asked the acting prime minister whether the government signed an agreement under the Indo-Pacific economic framework that includes a cooperative work program to support the uptake of small modular nuclear reactors?
Richard Marles said the opposition “crawl[s] to this topic through every different alleyway”, and repeated:
But let me be really clear, what I can absolutely confirm is that this government is not going to be pursuing a civil nuclear industry …
Kylea Tink asks about use of public money to pay interest on political party loans
Independent MP Kylea Tink has asked the treasurer how the government can justify allowing public money to be used to pay the interest on political party loans, while ordinary Australians are struggling?
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said minister Don Farrell “has been working for some time in a consultative way to do what we can to make sure that our donations regime is as transparent as possible, and that we take responsible and necessary steps to lessen the impact of big money on politics.”
He urged the parliament to support the government’s measures – meaning the electoral reform legislation.
Shadow energy minister Ted O’Brien kicked out of question time after interjection
Josh Butler
In a question time where the opposition seemed set to put more focus on to nuclear energy, shadow energy minister Ted O’Brien has gotten himself kicked out quite quickly, after a strange interjection.
Asking acting PM Richard Marles about “global momentum for nuclear energy”, and his claim that the government “remain stubbornly in opposition of this proven energy resource”, O’Brien took his seat.
“The answer is – it’s all about cost and it’s all about economics. We don’t have a civil nuclear industry in Australia today. It is a significant fact, an inconvenient truth,” Marles started to respond – before O’Brien made a noisy shouted interjection.
Marles called it a “ridiculous display”. O’Brien was ejected by speaker Milton Dick under standing order 94a.
Richard Marles criticises ‘ridiculous’ Coalition nuclear policy
After Labor’s Catherine King took a dixer on policies to address the gender pay gap, shadow climate and energy minister Ted O’Brien asked why the government remains opposed to exploring nuclear as an option.
The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, said it comes down to cost. He began giving an answer but had to stop twice due to interjections, and O’Brien was sent out under 94a.
Marles got up for a third time, and answered:
It is a ridiculous policy that has been put forward by those opposite, and it simply fails to ignore the convenient truth for those opposite – that we don’t have a civil nuclear industry in Australia today and to establish one from scratch, costs money, and takes time.
It’s not that simple, although the leader of the opposition may think it’s that simple, because he thinks that the way it works is that you go up and burn uranium, that we go out the back, set up a bonfire, throw some uranium on it, and bingo, there’s renewable energy. But unfortunately, that’s not how it actually works.
He said the government’s renewables policy “stands in stark contrast to the ridiculous antics that we see from those opposite.”
Question time begins on US-UK civil nuclear deal
The opposition leader Peter Dutton has opened question time with a question to Richard Marles, again asking why Australia didn’t sign up to a civil nuclear deal signed by the US and UK.
Marles answered questions about this yesterday, and the UK government admitted Australia was mistakenly included on a list of countries expected to sign up to the deal:
Marles responded that “there’s a very similar simple answer to that question – because we don’t have a civil nuclear energy country, and nor do we seek to establish one.”
We don’t seek to go down that path, so we are not a part of that agreement. And if we did go down that path, as the leader of the opposition is suggesting, there would be no prospect of any piece of electricity entering into the grid for two decades.
Just minutes into Question Time, before Marles even gave his answer, Spence MP Matt Burnell was sent out under 94a for interjecting.
Question Time will begin in about five minutes’ time. Grab a coffee and stay tuned, we’ll bring you the latest here in a moment.
Shadow treasurer replies to Chalmers’ statement on the economy
Earlier, the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, delivered a reply to treasurer Jim Chalmers’ statement on the economy (which you can read about earlier in the blog, here and here).
He argued the government, in its nearly three years in office, has “made bad decisions and had the wrong priorities” – pointing to the money spent on the voice referendum and “three expansionary budgets that have kept inflation higher for longer”.
He outlined the economic approach the Coalition would take if elected to government, and said:
We will get our economy back to basics – fighting high prices and interest rates first, winding back regulatory roadblocks, boosting productivity and delivering lower, simpler and fairer taxes. We will also stand up for consumers, small businesses and farmers by delivering stronger penalties for anti-competitive behaviour in the supermarket and hardware sectors.
We will support Australians to build businesses, not bureaucracies. We will ensure that Australians have more affordable and reliable energy by rejecting the government’s reckless renewables-only approach.
We will restore the dream of home ownership and unlock up to 500,000 homes by investing in shovel-ready infrastructure that will enable homes to be delivered faster. We will reduce migration and place a two-year ban on foreign investors buying existing homes.
We will tackle union corruption that is continuing to drive up building costs. And, we will take action to make our communities safer, including online.
Peter Hannam
Aemo confident power strains can be managed next week as heatwave sweeps east
As noted in earlier posts, we’ve got the combination of warm weather lapping across most of Australia’s population centres over the next few days.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has issued updated lack of reserve level 3 alerts for Tuesday evening in New South Wales, seeking extra generation (latest alert has the potential “interrupted” supply at 142 megawatts).
To stress: the alerts are intended to prompt a market response and aren’t a prediction of blackouts. Aemo also indicates that one issue was a transmission one – and the resolution of that should ease the grid strain.
In the meantime, AGL Energy has provided an update on what’s happening to its Bayswater coal-fired power plant in the NSW Hunter Valley. It’s a big one, with about 2715MW capacity when all four units are online.
However, unit 2 is offline until early December (circa the 6th) for planned maintenance. Its unit 1 is working fine and its unit 4 is expected to return to full operation this evening.
Unit 3, though, is the one that lately dropped out of service for unscheduled “tube leak repair” work, an AGL spokesperson tells us. It’s expected to be back within 14 days if not sooner.
Nick Bryant: ‘It almost seems like Australia has lost the ability to do big things’
Wrapping up his appearance at the NPC, Nick Bryant argued that it “hasn’t been a great century for Australia” when asked about an increasing focus on leaders, rather than policy issues, in the country.
Bryant said the century started great for Australia with the Sydney Olympics, but “it hasn’t been a brilliant 23 years since.”
You have had this churn of prime ministers, a politics that is incredibly destructive and personalised and it almost seems like Australia has lost the ability to do big things any more.
The reform era was always based on big things. The reform era has sadly been replaced by a revenge era and a retribution era. It’s trying to get back to the reform era, big ideas rather than small-target politics.
An optimism, which strikes me as the greatest natural characteristic that Australia has – there is a reason why the cameramen of the BBC are Australians – because they are optimistic and they always think they can do stuff. I don’t see that as much in modern Australia as when I first came here.
Former BBC foreign correspondent Nick Bryant on right approach to Trump: ‘Don’t be bullied’
At the National Press Club today, former BBC foreign correspondent Nick Bryant has been speaking and taking questions from the crowd.
He was asked to weigh in on Kevin Rudd’s role as ambassador to the US, and said Australia should stand by him:
You cannot let America have a veto over your diplomatic appointments. The other point is, you cannot show weakness at the start of a new Trump era, right?
I watch many international leaders deal with Donald Trump and they adopted a swathe of different approaches. Shinzo Abe tried to befriend him on the golf course … but Trump was still hostile against Japan. [Emmanuel] Macron did a faux friendship thing … Malcolm Turnbull had the right approach. Don’t be bullied … That is the approach to adopt with Trump, don’t concede ground.
Watch: Kevin Rudd says he’s ready to work with incoming Trump administration
Earlier, we brought you comments from ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, saying he is ready to work closely with the incoming Trump administration.
Here is a video of the full comments he made via video link this morning, to the Sydney International Strategy Forum:
Just following on from our last post: Brain Tumour Alliance Australia says it uses shoes to get its message across, because shoes “clearly visualise that brain tumours affect everybody regardless of age, gender or background and provide a powerful and impactful message to parliamentarians and to society.”
A Parliament House courtyard has been filled with the shoes of people affected by brain tumours, as part of an annual “head to the hill” event.
Brain Tumour Alliance Australia hosts the awareness event each year to advocate to government, saying that brain tumour research remains significantly underfunded compared with other cancers.
Mike Bowers snapped these photos from the event earlier:
Benita Kolovos
Victorian renewable energy park to be completed by 2027, Jacinta Allan says
Dubbed the SEC Renewable Energy Park, premier Jacinta Allan said the project will be capable of generating around 242,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy a year, or enough to power 51,000 homes.
It will consist of 119-megawatt solar farm and 100-megawatt two-hour batteries, which will be developed by Swedish company OX2.
Allan said the local community will also directly benefit from the profits from the projects, via a fund to be set up by the SEC. She said $42,000 a year will be spent in the local area during the project’s construction and a further $70,000 every year once the project is operational.
It is expected to be complete by 2027 and will provide electricity to Victorian government schools, hospitals and offices.
Victoria to build $370m state-owned solar farm and battery
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian government has announced it will spend $370m to build a massive solar farm and battery in Horsham, which will be able to power more than 50,000 homes and be wholly state-owned.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, visited the city in Victoria’s west to announce the solar farm today as the second investment of the state’s State Electricity Commission.
At the 2022 state election, the Labor government committed to reviving the SEC, which for decades was the sole agency in the state for electricity generation, transmission, distribution and supply before it was privatised in the 1990s.
Allan said the solar farm would be the first 100% government-owned energy generation project since the commission was privatised in the 1990s.
