Ley says ‘dirty deal’ will hike up energy prices
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, says the government and the Greens have come up with a “bad deal” and it was “not necessary” for the bill to be passed this year.
As she speaks to reporters, she’s holding the Coalition’s energy policy booklet.
She accuses the Greens of being anti-gas and anti-resources and says the concessions by the government will lead to communities and jobs being under threat.
What is very clear from the reaction so far to the dirty deal done by the Labor party with the Greens, a deal that was not necessary to conclude today or this year what is absolutely clear is this going to put energy prices up. It will provide further pressure on electricity bills for struggling households and families … The Greens party has always been at war with gas.
The shadow environment minister, Angie Bells, rejects “assertions” the Coalition was not at the table to negotiate with the government. Murray Watt said this morning the Coalition’s negotiations were a “shambles”. Bell says:
It is a bad bill for those Australians who work in the sectors that will be impacted by this and I reject any assertion that the Coalition was not at the table right up until the very last point last night, 9:30pm. We were still talking to the government around our commitments and adjustments we feel that were needed for this bill.
Key events
Police praise bystanders after fatal shark attack on NSW mid-north coast
NSW police’s Timothy Bayly is giving an update on a fatal shark attack on the mid-north coast:
New South Wales ambulance attended the scene but sadly the woman passed away at the scene.
At this stage, the woman is believed to be aged in her mid 20s and formal identification is not yet occurred.
The detective inspector says a man also aged in his mid-20s was attacked by the shark. He was airlifted to hospital and is in a critical condition.
I can say at this stage as they were known to each other. They were going for a swim and the shark attacked.
Police have also praised bystanders at the beach who applied a tourniquet to the man, stablising his condition before he received treatment from paramedics.
The courage from some bystanders is amazing. To put yourself out there is very heroic and it did give us time to get to that male patient.
Coalition try to remove debate guillotine in Senate
As we’ve been reporting this morning, the government and Greens voted this morning to bring on debate of the environment laws in the Senate.
But debate will be cut short by 3.30pm when the Senate will go to a vote.
So the Coalition – who are pretty unhappy with Labor’s deal with the Greens – are trying to move a motion in the Senate to essentially remove that guillotine that would cut off debate, and allow the Senate to consider the bill further.
Without the Greens the Coalition don’t have the numbers – crossbenchers, David Pocock (who is also critical of the deal) and Tammy Tyrrell are voting with the Coalition to allow further debate.
Coalition: Ley left on read by PM
The Coalition say that the government should have worked with them to pass the legislation next year, and Ley says the prime minister did not offer a meeting with her to negotiate – as he claimed this morning.
Giving us a few more details, the opposition leader says she reached out to the PM after question time yesterday.
I didn’t receive an offer from the prime minister to meet I texted him after Question Time and the tax remains unanswered. I come back to the point about the lack of good faith negotiations because, we know that this could have gone into next year we could have taken the time to get it right.
The opposition are also highly critical of the government for putting a tight time limit on debate of the bill in the Senate.
The debate will go to 3.30pm today, when a vote will take place.
Ley says ‘dirty deal’ will hike up energy prices
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, says the government and the Greens have come up with a “bad deal” and it was “not necessary” for the bill to be passed this year.
As she speaks to reporters, she’s holding the Coalition’s energy policy booklet.
She accuses the Greens of being anti-gas and anti-resources and says the concessions by the government will lead to communities and jobs being under threat.
What is very clear from the reaction so far to the dirty deal done by the Labor party with the Greens, a deal that was not necessary to conclude today or this year what is absolutely clear is this going to put energy prices up. It will provide further pressure on electricity bills for struggling households and families … The Greens party has always been at war with gas.
The shadow environment minister, Angie Bells, rejects “assertions” the Coalition was not at the table to negotiate with the government. Murray Watt said this morning the Coalition’s negotiations were a “shambles”. Bell says:
It is a bad bill for those Australians who work in the sectors that will be impacted by this and I reject any assertion that the Coalition was not at the table right up until the very last point last night, 9:30pm. We were still talking to the government around our commitments and adjustments we feel that were needed for this bill.
Josh Taylor
Telecoms ombudsman records spike in complaints about triple zero around Optus outage
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) noticed a spike in complaints about customers having difficulty reaching triple zero on mobile phones around the time of the Optus outage in September, but cannot attribute all to the Optus outage.
The ombudsman went from recording six complaints in August this year, to 22 in September and 34 in October, according to data provided to the Senate inquiry on the Optus outage.
The TIO said this spike does not necessarily demonstrate an increase in network outages or failed calls, with more than half of the complaints occurred in the weeks or months prior to the 18 September Optus outage.
It is also likely that media on the Optus outage encouraged consumers to make complaints about triple zero that may previously have gone unreported.
The TIO said many of these failed attempts appear unrelated to network outages such as pre-existing reception issues, handset faults, or landline issues. Two of the complaints related to the Optus outage, and one is linked to a TPG outage in June.
The complaints appear for all three major mobile networks, and across at least five different states or territories over a range of dates.
The TIO also revealed it received two complaints on the date of the Optus outage relating to the same medical emergency where they weren’t able to call triple zero on Optus, before eventually calling on another network. The TIO passed these issues on to Optus at the time, but did not get confirmation of the outage from Optus until the company announced it at the press conference held late Friday.
Australian Energy Producers chief says government’s environmental deal ‘not in the national interest’
The peak body for gas producers has denounced the government’s environment deal with the Greens, and called it a “squandered opportunity”.
While environment groups have largely welcomed the deal (though expressed concerns it will still allow the expansion of fossil fuel projects), the fossil fuel sector is unhappy.
The Greens deal removes fast-tracked approvals for fossil fuel projects.
Australian Energy Producers chief executive, Samantha McCulloch, said carving gas out of streamlined reforms is “not in the national interest”, and the laws won’t address costs and delays in delivering gas to Australians.
[This] is a squandered opportunity to address the significant costs and delays in delivering gas to Australian consumers … Carving gas out of streamlined reforms is simply not in the national interest. The deal will entrench slow approvals which will drive up energy costs, deter investment and further delay the new gas supply Australia urgently needs.
By conceding to the Greens, the Government has chosen more red tape and uncertainty instead of enabling new gas supply.
Malcolm Turnbull’s portrait being unveiled in parliament
Well it’s all happening today, isn’t it!
As is customary for all past prime ministers, Malcolm Turnbull’s portrait is being unveiled this morning at parliament house.
He has this to say:
The challenges to democracy are very real, we look across the Pacific and we see what is happening in the United States and it shakes every assumption that we have had, you look at what is happening in Europe, we look at the challenges in our own region.
Democracy is under siege, but here in Australia I believe it is stronger than just about anywhere else.
Both Anthony Albanese and Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, are there for the unveiling.
Environmental groups welcome Labor-Greens EPBC deal but remain concerned over fossil fuel approvals
The government and the Greens are pretty happy about their deal announced this morning, and so too are some of the climate and environment advocacy groups.
But they warn the job of protecting nature isn’t done, and express concern that the legislation will still allow the expansion of fossil fuel projects.
The Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO, David Ritter, said:
The agreement announced today secures a significant improvement on the broken laws that for too long failed to deliver credible environmental protection.
Removing the risk of fast-tracking coal and gas projects is also welcome. But the big sting in the tail is that the legislation still fails to address the enormous climate harm to nature from these sorts of projects. It still leaves the door open for the heedless expansion of coal and gas.
The Climate Council CEO, Amanda McKenzie, said the law still “fails” the 2025 climate test.
This deal strengthens protections for our native forests, and provides a faster yes to responsible renewable energy projects that cut climate pollution … But this 2025 law fails the climate test. All new coal and gas projects still get a free pass on climate pollution. In fact, the law forbids the environment minister from considering a project’s climate pollution when assessing whether it should go ahead.
Report finds ‘preventable hospitalisations’ make up 8.5% of admitted patients
A new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report found “potentially preventable hospitalisations” were 8.5% of total admitted patient spending in 2023-24, and totalled $7.7bn. It has prompted renewed calls for the government to spend more on prevention.
The ‘Cost of potentially preventable hospitalisations in Australia 2023–24 report’ classifies preventable conditions into three broad categories; acute, chronic, and vaccine-preventable.
Chronic conditions comprised most (45.2%) of total potentially preventable hospitalisations, followed by acute conditions (37.5%). Spending was highest for diabetes complications ($962m), followed by congestive cardiac failure ($861m) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ($797m).
CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia, Adjunct Prof Terry Slevin, said; “This report tracked hospital expenditure from 2014-15 to 2023-24 and shows most people were hospitalised for chronic conditions that could be prevented”.
For decades, all Australian and state/territory governments have prioritised spending on acute care instead of keeping people out of hospitals.
Opposition disputes PM meeting offer
The opposition has disputed the PM’s claim that he’d offered to meet with Sussan Ley to negotiate the environmental reforms.
A spokesperson for the leader has said:
The prime minister is being characteristically tricky. He never offered to meet with the opposition leader about EPBC.
The opposition has said this morning that they only found out their negotiations with the government were no longer happening when the PM stood up and announced the deal with the Greens.
Patrick Commins
Regulator caps high-risk bank lending
The financial regulator will put a limit on banks’ higher-risk lending, as part of a “pre-emptive” measure to curb a growing speculative fervour in the property market.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (Apra) had foreshadowed the potential for intervention after a surge in borrowing by investors sparked fears of declining lending standards.
This morning, Apra announced the share of banks’ lending to borrowers with debt-to-income ratios above six would be capped at 20% from February.
The regulator’s chair, John Lonsdale, said Apra was prepared to intervene further if needed.
Although broader risks are contained, we have seen in the past that they can build rapidly when interest rates are low or declining, borrowers extend themselves and competition among banks for new mortgage lending intensifies.
We will consider additional limits, including investor-specific limits, if we see macro-financial risks significantly rising or a deterioration in lending standards.
Melissa Davey
First strong estimate of those living with incurable breast cancer
About 21,000 Australians were living with metastatic (incurable) breast cancer in 2024, according to first-of-their-kind estimates published today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
This figure is double previous estimates, and exposes the scale of need and urgency for health system reform, the Breast Cancer Network Australia said in a statement, with the organisation releasing its own report on Thursday drawing on the new data and calling for action and change to help those diagnosed live better for longer.
AIHW spokesperson, Justin Harvey, said; “Metastatic breast cancer develops when cancer spreads from the breast and nearby lymph nodes to other parts of the body”.
Until now, we haven’t been able to properly understand how many Australians live with stage four, incurable cancer that is managed as a life-limiting condition requiring ongoing treatment and support.
An estimated 20,800 women and 150 men were living with metastatic breast cancer in 2024.
The federal health minister, Mark Butler, said the national estimate marks an important milestone in Australia’s cancer data reform and said the achievement “has been driven by the leadership and advocacy of Breast Cancer Network Australia”.
A done deal: pics of the morning
‘Dodgy dirty deal’: Coalition furious over EPBC agreement
Jonathon Duniam, who was a key negotiating figure for the Coalition is ropable in the Senate – which has passed the motion to bring on debate of the environment bills.
He says the bills will “now be rammed through in record time” and warns the bill will see native forestry “shut down” within years.
The government was negotiating with both the Coalition and the Greens to pass the bill, with two separate sets of amendments.
Duniam is not happy the Greens won out on the negotiations, and says the Coalition found out that the government was not accepting its amendments at the prime minister’s press conference this morning.
This is a pattern of behaviour at the end of every sitting year we see the arrangement be the mighty new Labor-Green alliance come together, they’ve been together behind closed doors for a couple of weeks now hatching this one up.
Where are they [Labor] standing up for the workers who have been abandoned under this the dodgy, dirty deal done behind closed doors at the 11th hour.
He’s also critical of the Greens who had forced the parliament to set up an inquiry into the bill, that’s due to report back in March next year.
Who’s voting to ram the bills through the Senate today, none other than the Australian greens enviro spokesperson senator Hanson-Young and all her colleagues.
Caitlin Cassidy
UTS backflips on restructure after internal and external backlash
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has announced a major backflip in its ongoing restructure after facing backlash from the NSW state government and sectors of the federal government, including Labor senator Tony Sheldon.
In an email sent to staff on Thursday, the vice-chancellor, Prof Andrew Parfitt, said management had received more than 500 pieces of staff feedback over the ongoing academic change proposal and associated job cuts, as well as input from “external stakeholders and students”, which contained “very helpful insights and suggestions”.
Initially, more than 1,000 subjects were due to be slashed and UTS was to close its teacher education program and public health school in addition to the cutting of about 400 jobs.
Parfitt said individual outcomes for staff wouldn’t be confirmed before the end of the year, but a high number of redundancy requests would allow the university to reduce the majority of staff through voluntary separations. The university’s change implementation plan will be released in February.
There was considerable feedback on also balancing the public good of delivering some courses with our capacity to resource these to ensure high quality relevant offerings.
We acknowledge that discussions about course viability and future delivery can create uncertainty and concern for staff … Your feedback has been essential in identifying alternatives and options during change and informing decision making.
Parfitt said the decision to slash teacher education courses would be reversed, with fewer staff, and international studies would also continue in a different form. An undergraduate program in public health would still face the axe.
Government moves to suspend standing orders in the Senate to bring on EPBC bill
With the deal now done, the government is moving a motion to suspend standing orders to bring on debate of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation bills.
The PM has said the bills will pass the Senate today – but they’re not currently on the notice paper to be debated, so the government has to take action to do that.
The motion would bring on the bill for debate immediately and guillotine debate (i.e force a vote on the bill) at 3:30pm. The Senate would then spend the rest of the evening voting on other legislation.
There’s a few procedural motions and divisions – so the bells will be ringing several times before the debate can begin.
The opposition is voting against the motions that will bring on the bill.
PM brushes off questions on Nauru’s President
Jumping back to the end of the PM’s press conference, my colleague, Tom McIlroy, asks the PM about accusations against Nauru’s president David Adeang – reported by the Guardian.
Anthony Albanese brushes off the question and says the issues raised occurred before Labor was elected.
Those suggestions [are] subject to a period before we were in office. I’m happy to answer questions and be accountable for what we’ve done in office and what we’ve done in office is entirely appropriate.
Woman dies after shark attack on mid-north coast of NSW
To step away from politics for a second for some breaking news:
A woman has died after a shark attack on the mid-north coast this morning, NSW police said.
About 6.30am, emergency services were called to a beach at Crowdy Bay after reports two people had been bitten by a shark.
NSW Ambulance paramedics attended but the woman, believed to be aged in her 20s, died at the scene.
The man – also believed to be aged in his 20s – sustained serious injuries and has been airlifted to the John Hunter hospital in a critical condition.
The beach has been closed.
