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Dan Tehan is up again, and asks more directly if the government still stands by its commitment to reduce energy bills by $275.
Chris Bowen gets up again and says that modelling was done in 2021 (which earns a roar from the opposition benches who have been asking this question for the last three years).
Energy prices have fallen as I just said by 6.2% in the year just gone and they would know that that was not inevitable, they would have been 16.6% higher if the honourable member had his way in energy bill relief not being applied, that was the key difference.
Tehan gets up with a point of order, and Milton Dick says Bowen should stick to what the government is doing (and not stray into criticising opposition policy).
Bowen says the government commits to reducing energy prices by bringing more renewable energy online and delivering home batteries.
Back to the House, shadow energy minister Dan Tehan asks Chris Bowen about whether the government is still committed to its 2022 election promise to reduce energy bills by $275, when prices have gone up more than $1300 for some households over the last three years.
Bowen’s answer is short – he says today’s CPI figures, which he says Tehan conveniently didn’t refer to in his question, show energy prices are down 6.2% in the year to June.
He says it’s due to the government’s energy bill relief and that households could save up to $1300 by installing a home battery under the government’s policy.
Coalition ‘divorced from reality’ on Gaza, Wong says
Sarah Basford Canales
Penny Wong has accused the Coalition of being “divorced from reality” after Michaelia Cash asked the Albanese government to rule out recognising Palestinian statehood while Hamas is in control of Gaza.
During Senate question time today, Cash asked the foreign affairs minister if the government would “categorically rule out ever recognising a Palestinian state while Hamas is in control of Gaza” amid commitments from France and the UK in the last week.
Wong said the Albanese government condemned Hamas and pointed out that conversations with other nations in the Middle East were focused on reform of the Palestinian Authority and the demilitarisation of Hamas.
Countries have made clear that they want the security architecture in the Middle East to assure the security of Israel. This is where the international community is at … This is where the discussion is, senator, and this is where the government is engaging … if we want long-term peace and security in the Middle East, for both Israelis and Palestinians alike, then we need to deal with the issue of a Palestinian state. That is the best way to ensure stability and peace for both Israelis and Palestinians alike. So, senator, I would suggest to you it might be good to grapple with that reality, because that is where the discussion is.
Cash repeated the question, to which Wong replied:
People should understand in this place just how out of touch the Coalition is on this. They don’t even support a ceasefire, which the whole world, including President Trump supports … that says something about the extent to which your position is divorced from the reality of what is happening on the ground, what is happening for people In the Middle East and what is happening to the women and children of Gaza who are, no, they are not all Hamas …
Crossbencher asks why Labor hasn’t reversed Coalition’s Job-ready Graduates scheme
The first question from the crossbench comes from Dai Le, who asks about why the government hasn’t reversed the controversial Job-ready Graduates scheme, which was introduced under the Morrison government.
She says many students in her western Sydney electorate studying arts degrees have been unfairly disadvantaged by the scheme.
Albanese says the government’s legislation to cut Hecs debt by 20%, which will reduce both university and Tafe debts, will help students in her seat, as well as the extension of fee-free Tafe courses.
The final report from the University Accord states that the scheme “failed to meet its objectives” and recommended urgent reform.
Albanese doesn’t say anything about whether the scheme will be reformed, but says the government is “focused on the issues that people in her [Le’s] electorate and electorates like hers are most concerned about”.
Ley calls Chalmers ‘out of touch’ over inflation
Sussan Ley is back up again and has taken umbrage with Jim Chalmers calling the latest inflation data “outstanding”, when the price of eggs has increased by 34% and bread has increased by 18% over the last three years.
She calls Chalmers “out of touch”, which the speaker, Milton Dick, is not having, and tells Ley to withdraw that descriptor.
I don’t think Chalmers is unhappy about the question – as Ley says, he’s been calling the numbers outstanding, and he says it a few more times in his answer.
When we came to office that food inflation was running at 5.9%. And now it is about half of that: 3.0%. If the member for Farrer is unhappy about food inflation, she must be absolutely livid at the underperformance of her own government, the government she was a cabinet minister in. Because when we came to office, inflation had a six in front of it and it was absolutely galloping.
Chalmers says he “hopes” the opposition keeps asking about inflation because the data is “very encouraging”. He does still acknowledge that there’s more to do on cost of living.
The first dixer is on the social media ban (again, no surprises here, the government uses dixers to promote its policies).
Anthony Albanese says a lot of similar lines as he did in his press conference earlier.
PM angers opposition with Medicare ‘green and gold’ jibe
While the protesters were shouting, Sussan Ley asked her first question to the prime minister.
She starts on bulk-billing rates, saying that the PM has said on 71 occasions that seeing a GP is free, but the facts state differently.
She cites data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare that Australians paid more than $166m in out-of-pocket costs to see a GP in May.
Anthony Albanese says the government is strengthening Medicare, to increase the bulk-billing rate.
He then decides to have a bit of the go at the opposition, and this line gets them pretty incensed.
This is an important part of the reform agenda where Labor not only created Medicare but we will always work to strengthen it. I know it annoys those opposite to see this little bit of green and gold. Green and gold the same colour our athletes proudly wear …
Ley tries to stand up with a point of order but then Albanese continues, and says that the government values Medicare.
Protesters shout ‘sanction Israel’ as question time begins
In a different part of the public gallery, there are four people standing up with posters shouting “sanction Israel now”.
Other members of the public in that area are being cleared out so parliament security can get to the protesters.
They keep shouting “sanction Israel now” until they exit the public gallery.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, also acknowledges the former Olympic athletes in the chamber today.
She says the decision for some athletes not to compete in the 1980 Moscow Olympics came with a “personal cost”.
We would not send athletes to Olympics in Moscow today and the Australian government was right to support a boycott then. That decision, correct as it was, takes nothing away from the Australians who did compete. They should not be personally attacked, they should never have been personally attacked. I repeat to you in the gallery today, you made Australia proud.
Before questions begin, Albanese acknowledges the group of 1980 Olympians sitting in the gallery.
Today in our parliament we honour your contribution to our nation. We recognise your participation but importantly as well we recognise your pain. And we extend that recognition to all those who cannot be with us today.
Forty-five years ago, the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan cast a dark shadow over what should have been your shining moment. As nations around the world grappled with the boycott, Australia’s athletes, some still only teenagers, were placed in an incredibly difficult position.
Parliament acknowledges athletes who competed at 1980 Moscow Olympics
Anthony Albanese has formally acknowledged 121 athletes who defied the government and competed under a neutral flag at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
There’s a cohort of that group who have been in parliament to mark the occasion and some are sitting in the public gallery to watch question time today.
Across from them is the former Olympian Dan Repacholi, a Labor MP, who’s also wearing his Olympics blazer in the chamber today!
Do you have any questions for Back to Back Barries?
Folks, we are on the downhill slide to question time (today’s moving quick!) but before we get there we ask …
Do you have any questions about politics this week?
Back to Back Barries is Guardian Australia’s political analysis podcast. Each week veteran political journalist Barrie Cassidy joins former Liberal advisor and pollster Tony Barry to pull apart the spin behind the strategies.
And they want to hear from you. Send your politics questions to backtobackbarries@theguardian.com and they’ll pick some to answer on this week’s episode, out this Saturday.
Sarah Basford Canales
Angus Taylor says Gaza situation ‘tragic’ but recognising Palestinian state ‘putting the cart before the horse’
Angus Taylor says the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is “tragic” but Australia cannot recognise Palestine until Hamas is removed from Gaza and Israeli hostages are returned.
The shadow defence minister told Sky News on Wednesday afternoon the choice to recognise Palestinian statehood right now was “putting the cart before the horse”.
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, has committed to recognising Palestine by September unless Israel abides by a ceasefire in Gaza and commits to a two-state solution. It follows French president Emmanuel Macron‘s decision earlier to recognise Palestine at the UN general assembly in September.
Australia joined 14 other countries this morning to describe the recognition of Palestine as “an essential step towards the two-state solution”. Anthony Albanese, however, declined to commit to a timeline for recognition of statehood, saying the government was looking at the “circumstances where recognition will advance the objective of the creation of two states”.
Since Labor was elected in 2022, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has adjusted Australia’s language on the peace process, saying the “pathway out of the endless cycle of violence” in the Middle East can only come with recognition of “a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel”. Australia had previously seen Palestinian statehood as a final step of a negotiated outcome between Israelis and Palestinians.
Asked whether the starvation of Gaza was a contributing factor for the Coalition to reconsider its current policy on the timing of a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, Taylor said:
It’s clearly tragic. But as I say, you’ve got to remember the origins of what’s going on here, which ... was this attack by Hamas. We still have, of course, hostages being held. They haven’t been released. This is another prerequisite for getting to a peace agreement, and we’re not there.
