16 hours ago
Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
The opposition tried to get the treasurer to take responsibility for the jump in inflation and put pressure on government spending. But Jim Chalmers largely stuck to his lines – that inflation is half what it was in early 2022 and the jump is in part due to state energy rebates ending.
Liberal MP Tim Wilson was ejected from QT, while Angus Taylor was warned early on in the piece that he’d quickly used up his “nine lives” and would be booted if he kept heckling.
The shadow veterans affairs minister, Darren Chester, pushed Matt Keogh on the government’s defence honours bill, which the minister accused the Coalition of trying to stoke anxiety over. Liberal MP Phillip Thompson was also booted during this exchange.
Chalmers gave assurance to independent MP Monique Ryan that the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) would not be abolished, after a report by the department.
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Josh Butler
Lidia Thorpe says claims she would ‘burn down’ Parliament House at a a Pro-Palestine rally was a joke
Senator Lidia Thorpe says she will not apologise for her claim to a pro-Palestinian rally in Melbourne that she would “burn down” Parliament House, accusing critics of “fake outrage” and “treating a metaphor like a national emergency”, and right-wing media outlets of twisting her words.
In a speech to the Senate late last night, Thorpe said it was a “joke” that she was criticised and investigated by federal police over the remarks two weeks ago. Thorpe claimed her mention of fire was a reference to renewal and reform:
Fire has deep spiritual significance for First Peoples. It clears, it renews, it makes way for something new. That is what I was speaking about, not arson, but challenging colonial systems that continue to harm people.
I will not be quiet. I will tell the truth. And the truth is that this parliament is in desperate need of renewal. Parliamentarians sit idly by while our people are dying, passing laws that harm us. They sit idly by while people in Palestine face genocide. This parliament has the power to change, but those in this place choose not to... It needs to be rebuilt from the ground up if anything is ever going to change.
Thorpe went on:
That’s what my words were about. And yet here we are treating a metaphor like a national emergency. What a joke. The problem isn’t my words. It’s the colonial systems that still refuse to change, and all these politicians with their hot takes, their fake outrage. I won’t apologise and I won’t be dragged down.
Thorpe went on to criticise “the right wing media” which she said twisted her words for commercial reasons.
They love to lecture me about seeking headlines, but they’re the ones writing the headlines. They peddle slop to drive outrage, clicks and sell papers. These hollowed-out, irrelevant news outlets are bleeding audiences, profits and influence.
They’ll do anything to grab attention. And what better way than another Lidia Thorpe scandal... and the AFP investigating a metaphor. What a waste of public money and everyone’s time.
Luca Ittimani
Woolworths values rises by $650m despite weak supermarket sales
Woolworths has reached its highest market value in over a month despite reporting disappointing supermarket sales, as investors hope it has stopped losing customers to Coles.
The company’s capitalisation has risen by $650m to near $33.6bn after publishing updated sales data this morning, while Coles has slumped over $400m down to $30.6bn.
Today’s report showed Woolworths’ supermarket sales picked up less than $300m in July-September from the year prior, below analyst expectations of at least $340m. Michael Toner, an RBC analyst, said Woolworths’ bigger sales and smaller mark-ups were not translating to faster food sales growth.
Woolworths said pet and baby product sales have weakened and tobacco sales have more than halved compared to 2024, while a glut of berries and avocados weighed on fruit and vegetable revenue.
But Amanda Bardwell, Woolworths’ chief executive, struck a hopeful tone, saying customer satisfaction was picking up and sales had strengthened in October, suggesting an end-of-year improvement. She said in a statement:
While [sales were] below our aspirations and there remains more to do, we are cautiously optimistic about our key trading quarter and we have strong plans in place for our customers for the festive season.
Bardwell’s optimism will be tested tomorrow when Coles is expected to report supermarket sales growth of more than $400m, as it continues to swipe customers from its competitor. Read why Woolworths has struggled here:
Krishani Dhanji
Thank you all for following along on the blog with me today!
I’ll leave you with the fabulous Caitlin Cassidy for the rest of the afternoon, and will see you here bright and early tomorrow for the final sitting day of the week.
Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
The opposition tried to get the treasurer to take responsibility for the jump in inflation and put pressure on government spending. But Jim Chalmers largely stuck to his lines – that inflation is half what it was in early 2022 and the jump is in part due to state energy rebates ending.
Liberal MP Tim Wilson was ejected from QT, while Angus Taylor was warned early on in the piece that he’d quickly used up his “nine lives” and would be booted if he kept heckling.
The shadow veterans affairs minister, Darren Chester, pushed Matt Keogh on the government’s defence honours bill, which the minister accused the Coalition of trying to stoke anxiety over. Liberal MP Phillip Thompson was also booted during this exchange.
Chalmers gave assurance to independent MP Monique Ryan that the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) would not be abolished, after a report by the department.
Prime minister lands in South Korea
Anthony Albanese has touched down in Seoul, South Korea for the APEC summit.
Making a few comments to journalists on the runway (no questions) he says Australia does 75% of its trade with APEC nations, so it is a important series of meetings and events.
Albanese says he will also visit a cemetery where some of the Australian soldiers who died fighting in the Korean war have been laid to rest.
Some 281 Australians are laid to rest here, and an opportunity to pay tribute and my respect to them but also pay my respects to the 17,000 Australian men and women who fought here for freedom on the Korean peninsula as part of the United Nations forces defending democracy and freedom.
Patrick Commins
Jump in inflation pours cold water on interest rate cut hopes
Today’s jump in inflation may not have just delayed the next interest rate cut, but may have ruled out another cut altogether, according to the CBA.
The bank’s head of Australian economics, Belinda Allen, said it would take a substantial lift in unemployment or moderating inflation “to bring the RBA back to the easing table”.
Allen clearly doesn’t see either of these things happening anytime soon, predicting the Reserve Bank will remain on hold for the foreseeable future as they keep an eagle eye out for any sign inflation is reaccelerating.
Elsewhere, experts were downplaying the prospect of a cut this year after data showed consumer price growth jumped to 3.2% in the year to September, from 2.1% in June.
More worrying for the central bank was that underlying annual inflation, which removed the impact of big price moves like a 23% spike in electricity costs, lifted for the first time in nearly three years, to 3%.
Jonathan Kearns, the chief economist at Challenger, said “the current outlook suggests rates could remain unchanged until the middle of next year”.
Westpac’s Luci Ellis had pencilled in a rate cut next week, but said a rate cut would now be delayed until February at the earliest.
Question time ends
We get a final dixer on medicare (with references to Labor’s favourite “all you need is your medicare card …” line), and question time is over for the day! One more to go this week.
Liberal MP ejected amid battle over defence honours changes
The shadow veterans’ affairs minister Darren Chester presses Matt Keogh again on the defence honours bill. He asks whether the veterans’ affairs minister can name a single veteran who supports the bill.
(Before Chester even finishes the question, Liberal MP Phillip Thompson gets booted out of the chamber under 94a).
Keogh says he’s engaged with many ex-service organisations in developing the legislation.
I’m not going to go into chapter and verse of every individual conversation I have just to satisfy your ego.
There’s a bit of back and forth over Keogh’s use of “your” – because chamber rules and etiquette require members to refer to others by their title or electorate. Keogh then ends his answer.
I’ve had lengthy engagement in respect of this bill that will make sure that we have a tribunal that is modern, that is able to look after the concerns of our veterans, and to make sure that the tribunal is able to consider relevant evidence that is easily available to it.
Liberals love Peta Credlin while Labor cares about credibility, Bowen says
Chris Bowen loves a good jibe in question time, and takes the opportunity in a dixer to skewer the opposition over what he says is their love of Sky After Dark.
The government are also milking the uncertainty around Barnaby Joyce’s future and his discussions with One Nation.
Bowen says:
We’re about storing renewable power after dark. They’re about appeasing Sky After Dark. We’re about building policies to build the nation. They’re about building policies to beat One Nation. We’re about expert reports. They’re about The Bolt Report. We care about credibility. They care about [Peta] Credlin.
Chalmers commits to not abolishing Medical Research Future Fund
The independent Monique Ryan – a former paediatric neurologist – has been asking the government questions over the MRFF.
Previous QT questions have been around the low level of spending from the fund when it’s amassed quite a sum (which the health minister, Mark Butler, has said is being increased and looked at currently).
Today she asks the treasurer to confirm that the fund won’t be abolished after the release of a report by the department which she says was gathering opinions on options for the MRFF – including to shut it down.
Chalmers says immediately: “I can give that commitment. We won’t be abolishing the fund”:
These research funds are really important. We believe in them the important role that health and medical research plays in own community, in our economy and, most particularly, when it comes to the health of Australians and the position that we take following that review will reflect that.
