Dutton discredits renewables when asked about energy policy
Peter Dutton was also asked about the role of domestic gas production in the energy mix – will this be enough, or should there be more coal in the mix? The opposition leader pointed to state government’s decisions to extend the life of coal fired plants and said:
At the moment, the problem is that the government’s got this view of trying to please inner-city Green voters with the renewables-only policy which has driven uncertainty into the market.
So gas is going to be required, and every serious commentator from Aemo down says that gas will play a very significant role in shoring up and providing the base load power that we need to shore up the renewable energy and system.
He went on to discredit renewables, and said:
Renewable energy is great, but we can’t pretend that it operates 24/7, it doesn’t … There are very serious concerns about disruption to power and a modern, functioning economy can’t survive on part-time power.
Is Dutton correct? Read on and decide for yourself:
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And when he talks about cutting government spending, what he’s talking about is cutting things like the pension, cutting energy bill relief, cutting Medicare.
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And it doesn’t matter how many weasel words he uses when he says that he disagrees with the government investing in Medicare, that’s what he will cut. So there was not much new from Peter Dutton, in fact, nothing new from Peter Dutton. Most of it was borrowed from others. So [it was] pretty uninspiring from my perspective.
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social services minister Amanda Rishworth.”,”caption”:”The social services minister Amanda Rishworth.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1736714636000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”15.43 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1736716644000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”16.17 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1736715507000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”15.58 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”15.58″,”title”:”‘No new ideas and no solutions’: Rishworth on Dutton’s pre-election pitch”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sun 12 Jan 2025 17.11 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sun 12 Jan 2025 15.13 EST”},{“id”:”678428268f081d50dfe5e477″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
As AAP reports, Jewish leaders have condemned the latest antisemitic attack at a Sydney in which red swastikas were allegedly spraypainted across the front wall of Newtown synagogue in Sydney’s inner west by a male and female about 4.30am on Saturday.
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They are also alleged to have ignited a clear liquid that burned out within minutes, but the fire could have had deadly consequences if it had taken hold, NSW’s police commissioner, Karen Webb, said yesterday.
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Investigation had been taken over by counter-terrorism command’s hate crime unit, Webb said.
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I appeal to anyone out there who knows who has perpetrated these disgusting offences to come forward and tell police who they are.
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There are other local investigations where there are graffiti on ride share bikes and skate parks and other things will continue to be dealt with locally, unless there’s a suggestion that they are linked.
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Peter Dutton was also asked about the role of domestic gas production in the energy mix – will this be enough, or should there be more coal in the mix? The opposition leader pointed to state government’s decisions to extend the life of coal fired plants and said:
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At the moment, the problem is that the government’s got this view of trying to please inner-city Green voters with the renewables-only policy which has driven uncertainty into the market.
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So gas is going to be required, and every serious commentator from Aemo down says that gas will play a very significant role in shoring up and providing the base load power that we need to shore up the renewable energy and system.
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He went on to discredit renewables, and said:
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Renewable energy is great, but we can’t pretend that it operates 24/7, it doesn’t … There are very serious concerns about disruption to power and a modern, functioning economy can’t survive on part-time power.
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Is Dutton correct? Read on and decide for yourself:
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Anthony Albanese and senior ministers will get together for the government’s first cabinet meeting of 2025 today.
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As AAP reports, more cost-of-living relief is likely to be discussed in Canberra as Labor prepares to call an election, which must be held by 17 May.
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The prime minister last week embarked on a three-state blitz of key battlegrounds across Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, where he announced billions in funding for infrastructure.
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Meanwhile the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, launched his pre-election pitch yesterday in Melbourne, saying the nation had a “last chance to reverse the decline”.
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Parliament is due to resume for the year on 4 February for the year.
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Good morning, and happy Monday – welcome back to a new week on the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage for most of today.
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Anthony Albanese and senior ministers will get together for the government’s first cabinet meeting of 2025 today. As AAP reports, more cost-of-living relief is likely to be discussed in Canberra as Labor prepares to call an election, which must be held by 17 May.
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For more on this, in today’s Full Story podcast Nour Haydar talks to political reporter Dan Jervis-Bardy about the events that could shape federal politics this year:
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Meanwhile, Northern Territory police are investigating a light plane crash that has left one man dead. About 10.20am yesterday, police responded to the crash in Middle Point, which had two people on board.
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An uninjured 29-year-old female passenger was transported by helicopter from the scene and taken to Royal Darwin hospital for assessment, while the 63-year-old male pilot was located deceased inside the aircraft.
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A crime scene was declared and investigations into the crash are ongoing, NT police said.
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As always, you can reach out with any tips, questions or feedback via email: emily.wind@theguardian.com. Let’s go.
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Key events
Search resumes for man in rain-swollen dam
A search is under way after a man leapt into the water from the wall of a swollen dam and failed to resurface in Queensland’s south-west, AAP reports.
Emergency services rushed to Beardmore dam at St George after a man was reported missing yesterday afternoon. It is understood he jumped from the dam wall and attempted to resurface but was pulled into a strong current.
Police, SES, swift water rescue crews and aerial teams immediately began searching for the missing man. The search was called off late yesterday before resuming at 6am today, with police divers also called in to help.
Authorities have also pleaded with locals to leave the search to emergency services. Police said in a statement:
Police kindly ask locals to avoid attempting to search the area due to the potentially dangerous terrain and to trust that emergency services are doing everything they can to locate the missing man.
After months of heavy rain across Queensland, the dam is currently 102.4% full.
Albanese responds to claim Dutton made during speech on antisemitism
Anthony Albanese was asked about comments made by Peter Dutton in his speech yesterday, regarding antisemitism. Dutton said:
Shockingly, antisemitism surged by more than 700% and every incident of antisemitism can be traced back to the prime minister’s dereliction of leadership in response to the sort of events on the steps of the Sydney Opera House [after 7 October].
Responding to this, Albanese told ABC Radio Melbourne this was an example of Dutton being “just plain nasty.”
On Sunday, October 8, at 9am I was on the Insiders program. I had already spoken to the Israeli ambassador to Australia, who was in Israel at the time. We unequivocally condemned that action. The next day, on October 9, the day that the Opera House event happened, I called for that to not go ahead …
Once again, on an issue that shouldn’t be one where Peter Dutton seeks to divide politically, it should be one where he acknowledges that anyone of any decency opposes antisemitism, anyone with any decency says it was entirely inappropriate for that demonstration to go ahead, as I said before it happened. Before it happened. And yet he seeks, once again, everything is a political opportunity for Peter Dutton, rather than an attempt to bring the country together …
Albanese said he is “horrified by antisemitism” and “we call it out each and every time.”
Albanese says Dutton represents ‘shift to a hard-right version of the Liberal party’
Anthony Albanese accused Peter Dutton of building “a career on dividing people, and I want to bring the country together”.
I don’t think that providing support for people is just a sugar hit. I think it is worthwhile … [Dutton has] built a career on targeting people, particularly people who are vulnerable.
He’s never sought to bring people together, which is why his own party rejected him and elected Scott Morrison as leader, even though Scott Morrison had a very small base of support, because they understood that he represented a shift to a hard-right version of the Liberal party.
‘We do need leadership in this country, but we need leadership with a heart’: Albanese
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking on ABC Radio Melbourne after Peter Dutton’s pre-election campaign pitch yesterday.
He has been taking questions on the rising cost of living and outlined a number of measures the government has taken:
We understand that people have done a tough with global inflation, and that’s why we provided cost of living relief, that’s why we provided additional dollars into every taxpayer’s pocket through our tax cuts for every taxpayer, energy bill relief, cheaper childcare, free Tafe, the tripling of the bulk-billing incentive for Medicare and the urgent care clinics.
Albanese highlighted comments by Dutton yesterday that described cost of living measures as sugar hits:
[Dutton] refused to support energy bill relief. We do need leadership in this country, but we need leadership with a heart. Peter Dutton represents a cold hearted, mean spirit[ed and] just plain nasty response, and that’s not going to help people.
Open letter calls for climate duty of care to be legislated
A group of well-known Australians have signed an open letter urging the federal government to legislate a climate Duty of Care for future generations. The letter, addressed to Anthony Albanese, Tanya Plibersek, Chris Bowen and Anne Aly, reads:
We know that climate change will have a disproportionate impact on current and future generations, as the world continues to warm and climate disaster increases in frequency and severity … We call on you to acknowledge your duty of care to us. We call on you to ensure that the decisions you make today are made with our health and wellbeing at the forefront of your minds, and that this is guaranteed by law.
The letter was written by four young people, including teenage climate crisis campaigner Anjali Sharma. It was signed by Lucy Turnbull, John Hewson, Craig Foster, Peter Doherty, Emma McKeon and Grace Tame, among others.
Hewson, a former leader of the Liberal party, said in a statement that it is a “very sad commentary” on the “poor state” of governance there should be any doubt about the “responsibility to recognise a duty of care to safeguard the health and well-being of future generations of Australians, especially in relation to climate change”:
Even more embarrassing has been the willingness of Sussan Ley as minister for the environment in a previous LNP government being prepared to contest this responsibility in the courts, and that as a consequence it is now necessary to seek to have parliament legislate this responsibility.
Paterson questioned on prospect of tax cuts
Q: Will we hear about any tax cuts, because David Littleproud said yesterday the Coalition won’t commit to it before the election. Will you commit?
James Paterson responded that “it has to be sustainable.”
The truth is the government has a lot of money and we do have a very big budget deficit looming. The mid-year economic and fiscal outlook predicted this budget deficit this year will be $28bn. That is massive deterioration under Labor’s watch. But we will always be fiscally responsible, but wherever we have the opportunity to reduce taxes, we will do so.
Paterson on energy relief: ‘our priority is taking the pressure off inflation’
The shadow home affairs minister James Paterson spoke with ABC News Breakfast earlier about Peter Dutton’s pre-election campaign pitch. He was asked if energy bill relief would be off the table under a Coalition government, and said:
When you are paying $50,000 more on on your mortgage, then $250 or even $500 off the energy bill won’t even touch the sides. So our priority is to take the pressure off inflation so that rates can come down and things can become more affordable.
Asked where the Coalition would make cuts, Paterson said it had opposed $90bn of Labor spending since the election and “we’ll have more to say on the savings as we go to the next election”.
He pointed specifically to an increase in public servants in Canberra, as Peter Dutton did earlier, and was asked what the Coalition would cut this by?
Paterson again said this would be announced closer to the election:
It adds up to $6bn a year, so I think we do need to find efficiencies in the federal government. Frontline services will obviously be protected … but we don’t think value for money has been obtained by hiring those 36,000 extra public servants in Canberra.
Dutton questioned on campaign slogan
Peter Dutton also spoke with Sunrise, where he was questioned about his campaign slogan, “let’s get Australia back on track”.
The host noted its similarity to Make America Great Again, and said during Dutton’s speech yesterday there was also a slogan borrowed from Joe Rogan, that “weak leaders create hard times”.
On the similarity, Dutton said:
I saw a quote that I used in May and I think it was used in the American campaign, and somehow then it was written up here that we were borrowing something from the Trump campaign.
I think there are some pretty basic principles that are around that are shared across countries … and one of them is that we do need to stand up for our values and what we believe in, and yesterday was about outlining our 12 priority areas of getting our country back on track.
Dutton continues rounds on breakfast television
The opposition leader Peter Dutton has been making the rounds this morning, also speaking with the Today Show.
Dutton has said he will reduce government spending, but his own finance spokesperson, Jane Hume, says there is a sovereign and political risk in that – are they on the same page? Dutton said the point Hume was making is “that you need to get the balance right.”
We need to do what is right in our country’s economic interests. We have to have the settings so that people can invest here. And at the moment, when we speak to CEOs and chairs of companies … what they’re doing is moving capital away from Australia into south-east Asia, into Africa, into North America, and we’re missing out on the tax dollars and the jobs here in Australia.
Dutton has also said taxes would be lower under a Coalition government. Asked which ones, he said there would be a focus on “cutting government waste”, specifically pointed to increased public service employees:
It’s a question of how much money is in the bank and how much can we responsibly give back, because in the end, it’s people’s money. People are working hard for it.
‘No new ideas and no solutions’: Rishworth on Dutton’s pre-election pitch
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, spoke with the Today Show earlier this morning about Peter Dutton’s pre-election pitch yesterday. She says he is “back from leave with no real new ideas and no solutions”:
And when he talks about cutting government spending, what he’s talking about is cutting things like the pension, cutting energy bill relief, cutting Medicare.
And it doesn’t matter how many weasel words he uses when he says that he disagrees with the government investing in Medicare, that’s what he will cut. So there was not much new from Peter Dutton, in fact, nothing new from Peter Dutton. Most of it was borrowed from others. So [it was] pretty uninspiring from my perspective.
Counterterrorism police take over investigation of swastika vandalism
As AAP reports, Jewish leaders have condemned the latest antisemitic attack at a Sydney in which red swastikas were allegedly spraypainted across the front wall of Newtown synagogue in Sydney’s inner west by a male and female about 4.30am on Saturday.
They are also alleged to have ignited a clear liquid that burned out within minutes, but the fire could have had deadly consequences if it had taken hold, NSW’s police commissioner, Karen Webb, said yesterday.
Investigation had been taken over by counter-terrorism command’s hate crime unit, Webb said.
I appeal to anyone out there who knows who has perpetrated these disgusting offences to come forward and tell police who they are.
There are other local investigations where there are graffiti on ride share bikes and skate parks and other things will continue to be dealt with locally, unless there’s a suggestion that they are linked.
Factchecking Dutton’s claim Labor is pursuing a ‘renewables-only strategy’
Just continuing from our last post, where Peter Dutton claimed the government has a “renewables-only strategy”.
The government’s own Future Gas Strategy says that “even in net zero scenarios, Australia and the world will need gas at lower levels through to 2050 and beyond.” The full quote reads:
The role of gas will change as we reach net zero in Australia by 2050. Even in net zero scenarios, Australia and the world will need gas at lower levels through to 2050 and beyond. Australian gas will play an important role in an orderly global and domestic energy transformation. However, to meet our legislated climate goals, we must find alternatives to gas and gas-related emissions must decline.
Dutton discredits renewables when asked about energy policy
Peter Dutton was also asked about the role of domestic gas production in the energy mix – will this be enough, or should there be more coal in the mix? The opposition leader pointed to state government’s decisions to extend the life of coal fired plants and said:
At the moment, the problem is that the government’s got this view of trying to please inner-city Green voters with the renewables-only policy which has driven uncertainty into the market.
So gas is going to be required, and every serious commentator from Aemo down says that gas will play a very significant role in shoring up and providing the base load power that we need to shore up the renewable energy and system.
He went on to discredit renewables, and said:
Renewable energy is great, but we can’t pretend that it operates 24/7, it doesn’t … There are very serious concerns about disruption to power and a modern, functioning economy can’t survive on part-time power.
Is Dutton correct? Read on and decide for yourself:
Will Peter Dutton promise any tax cuts to everyday Australians before the next election?
Dutton told ABC RN “we’ll do what we can afford”. He accused Labor of living “beyond their means, which is why they need to tax so much”:
They spend a lot, and they tax a lot … We will act responsibly. We’ll manage the economy effectively, and we’ll make the decisions that will bring inflation down, interest rates down, and make sure that we cut the government waste.
Q: And you’ll do that without providing these so-called sugar hits of cost of living relief?
Dutton said the government was “bequeathed an incredible set of economic numbers” which is how they achieved a surplus in the first two years – but have spent an extra $347bn dollars and “taxed Australians more and more and more.”
We’ve got an inflationary environment which is not under control, and if it doesn’t get under control, we’ll see interest rates sit higher for longer, or indeed go up, and we’ll see an environment where families continue to lose their small businesses and continue to struggle to pay the bills.
Dutton says spending needs to stop to curb ‘homegrown inflation problem’
Yesterday, Peter Dutton suggested Labor’s “Panadol policies” must stop, when discussing government spending. He was asked: which cost-of-living measures should Australians not have received?
The opposition leader said there was a “homegrown inflation problem”, as pointed out by the RBA, and “that is as diplomatic as the Reserve Bank governor can be to say: ‘Stop the spending’”.
And it applies not only to federal government, but to the state governments as well, who are adding to the fuel that is keeping inflation higher for longer.
And if you have a look at the sugar hits, you can provide support to people, and people appreciate some support, obviously, particularly for energy costs … but people are smarter than that. They realise that what it’s doing is keeping their mortgage rates higher for longer.
So should Australians not have received energy relief? Dutton responded “we’ll make an announcement in relation to our policies when we get closer to the election”.
In relation to what support we’ll provide, what we think is inflationary, that we won’t support. And we’ll have a look at that, particularly given that we’ve got a budget coming up in March.
Dutton on election slogan ‘let’s get Australia back on track’
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, spoke with ABC RN this morning about his pre-election pitch in Melbourne yesterday.
He was asked about his slogan – getting Australia “back on track” – and the similarity of this to New Zealand’s back on track election slogan and to Trump’s Make America Great Again. Is this lack of creativity a clue that the biggest problems we’re facing around cost of living are largely global?
Dutton responded that “Australians are feeling is that our country does need to be put back on track”.
So I know there are a lot of sort of insider comments about slogans … but what it means is that we want to help families who have really struggled under this government …
To get our country back on track, I think, reflects the reality of where we are at the moment and what most Australians, particularly those in the outer suburbs, would want from an alternative government.
PM to hold first cabinet meeting of the year
Anthony Albanese and senior ministers will get together for the government’s first cabinet meeting of 2025 today.
As AAP reports, more cost-of-living relief is likely to be discussed in Canberra as Labor prepares to call an election, which must be held by 17 May.
The prime minister last week embarked on a three-state blitz of key battlegrounds across Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, where he announced billions in funding for infrastructure.
Meanwhile the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, launched his pre-election pitch yesterday in Melbourne, saying the nation had a “last chance to reverse the decline”.
Parliament is due to resume for the year on 4 February for the year.
Welcome
Good morning, and happy Monday – welcome back to a new week on the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage for most of today.
Anthony Albanese and senior ministers will get together for the government’s first cabinet meeting of 2025 today. As AAP reports, more cost-of-living relief is likely to be discussed in Canberra as Labor prepares to call an election, which must be held by 17 May.
For more on this, in today’s Full Story podcast Nour Haydar talks to political reporter Dan Jervis-Bardy about the events that could shape federal politics this year:
Meanwhile, Northern Territory police are investigating a light plane crash that has left one man dead. About 10.20am yesterday, police responded to the crash in Middle Point, which had two people on board.
An uninjured 29-year-old female passenger was transported by helicopter from the scene and taken to Royal Darwin hospital for assessment, while the 63-year-old male pilot was located deceased inside the aircraft.
A crime scene was declared and investigations into the crash are ongoing, NT police said.
As always, you can reach out with any tips, questions or feedback via email: emily.wind@theguardian.com. Let’s go.
