Australia politics live: government to give Closing the Gap update; Albanese to spruik mining policy
Government to give Closing the Gap update
The government will provide its latest closing the gap update today, after Anthony Albanese announced $842.6m over six years for remote First Nations communities in the Northern Territory on Friday.
The prime minister will also announce that the government will ensure the costs of 30 essential products in more than 76 remote stores will be the same as the cost in metropolitan areas.
Last year Choice found people living in remote Indigenous areas were sometimes paying twice the cost of basic goods like flour and milk compared to capital cities.
Anthony Albanese will make a speech in parliament today, saying the closing the gap report “lays bare” the areas in which Australia’s population “are not together.”
The latest Productivity Commission reporting shows that while we are seeing improvements on 11 of the 19 targets in the National Agreement, only five are on track to be met.
Today is about facing up to what’s not working and learning from what is.
Key events
Cait Kelly
Two in three retirees who rent privately owned homes live in poverty and the problem will get worse, a new report has found.
Most older working Australians who rent do not have sufficient savings to keep paying rent in their retirement, according to the report from the Grattan Institute.
More than half of households aged 65 and older who rent report a total net financial worth of less than $25,000, compared with just 6% of homeowner households of that age.
Grattan’s Brendan Coates said Australia was failing too many retirees who rent.
The report really identifies that while most retirees are doing pretty well – they’re actually more financially comfortable than many working-age Australians – it’s retirees who rent who are really struggling… And they’re in a lot of strife.
Read the full story here:
Malarndirri McCarthy is also speaking with ABC’s AM, on implementing price caps on essential items in regional areas. She says the 30 items include flour, milk, cereal and fresh fruit, to reduce the cost of living in remote and regional areas.
Why are the prices so high? McCarthy says the added cost comes from transporting the goods into remote areas:
Well, this is actually more about reducing the extra cost in remote and regional Australia is largely due to food supply chain you would have seen and we do currently with flooding, with extreme temperatures. We see roads cut off. We see bridges collapse. They were usually usually lots of issues that create difficulties for those food supplies to get into our communities across the country.
McCarthy also talks about increasing nutrition in First Nations communities.
What we want to see is food products that actually assist as well in healthy living nutritionists and nutrition filled foods. And this is what this announcement today is all about, is making sure that we are concentrating not just on the costs of food, but the quality of food.
Chronic kidney disease is a huge issue across all Aboriginal families, really, but mostly in remote region Australia,
The Prime Minister is pitching his production tax credits bill to business, in a speech to the Ai Group dinner tonight.
Labor will prioritise passing the bill this week, the main pillar of its Future Made in Australia plan that includes $13.7bn worth of tax breaks for processing critical minerals on-shore and green hydrogen production.
The Coalition has opposed the plan, but Labor has the numbers from the crossbench to pass the bill in the senate.
Anthony Albanese will tell the business group he values “constructive engagement”, and the bill will help ensure economic resilience.
That’s why our Government has focused on providing business with the incentives, opportunity and certainty to invest – in new energy, new projects, new technology and new markets in our region and around the world.
Deloitte’s investment monitor in June found almost $30bn of private investment was being pursued in WA to receive the tax credits, which have also been supported by the Liberal and National leaders in the state.
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, is doing the rounds this morning, first on ABC News Breakfast, on the Closing the Gap report, and the announcement to ensure the cost of products in remote Indigenous areas is the same cost as products in cities.
McCarthy says there’s no specific date for when those food prices will come down, but says she’s working on a national plan to tackle the issue, which she’ll announce soon with the states and territories.
Along with the high prices of food, is access to food, as we’ve just seen with the Townsville coverage, people get cut off. Roads get cut off bridges get cut off. So infrastructure and all those needs that are required to make it essential to get good food into remote and regional Australia is imperative.
McCarthy’s also asked about the state of the youth justice system and the high rates of youth incarceration. She says she’ll be meeting with states and territories to work with them on the issue.
[I] raised this issue directly with the [state and territory] Indigenous Affairs ministers about our concerns of First Nations people and the high rates of incarceration, but also remand Bridget many, many people are in remand, and what other options could we look at instead of overcrowding in remand?
Government to give Closing the Gap update
The government will provide its latest closing the gap update today, after Anthony Albanese announced $842.6m over six years for remote First Nations communities in the Northern Territory on Friday.
The prime minister will also announce that the government will ensure the costs of 30 essential products in more than 76 remote stores will be the same as the cost in metropolitan areas.
Last year Choice found people living in remote Indigenous areas were sometimes paying twice the cost of basic goods like flour and milk compared to capital cities.
Anthony Albanese will make a speech in parliament today, saying the closing the gap report “lays bare” the areas in which Australia’s population “are not together.”
The latest Productivity Commission reporting shows that while we are seeing improvements on 11 of the 19 targets in the National Agreement, only five are on track to be met.
Today is about facing up to what’s not working and learning from what is.
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning!
Krishani Dhanji here with you, welcome to the second sitting week of the fortnight, there’s plenty on as time ticks down towards the election campaign.
The government has its production tax credits legislation high on the list to pass this week. Labor will also hand down its latest closing the gap update, which the prime minister will speak on later today.
Both the Coalition and Labor will also be considering the federal implications of the byelection results in Victoria over the weekend.
It’s going to be a big one! Let’s get started.
