Ley says ICC warrants ‘troubling’
Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says it’s troubling the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
While a number of countries including Italy and Canada have indicated they could implement the warrants, the US says it “fundamentally rejects” the court’s decision to issue warrants against the Israeli officials.
Ley says she agrees with the US.
“I know that Australians will be troubled today to see this targeting of a democratically elected leader who is trying to protect its country from terrorists,” she says.
Foreign Minister responds to ICC arrest warrants for Israeli PM
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has released a statement in response to the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defence minister and a senior Hamas official.
Wong says Australia respects the independence of the ICC and its role in upholding international humanitarian law.
PM ‘scared’ to move on gambling ads: Coalition
With just days left until parliament rises for the year we still know very little about the government’s plan for gambling advertising.
Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman says it’s “very unlikely” there will be movement in this space anytime soon.
He referenced an interview the minister, Michelle Rowland, had with the ABC earlier in the week, where she said the government had not made a decision whether a proposed ban would be legislated or regulated through codes of practice.
“Given that there’s four parliamentary sitting days, you’d think if you’re going to introduce legislation, you’d at least know that with the form the regulation would take, so not looking likely,” he tells ABC Radio National Breakfast.
Coleman accused the PM Anthony Albanese of running scared.
“We have a prime minister who is scared to do anything because he’s scared of the reaction of media companies. He’s scared of the reaction of (anti-gambling advocate) Tim Costello, and frankly, he’s scared of the reaction of his own backbench, who have been calling for action for more than 18 months,” he says.
Are we heading to an early election?
Should voters expect to be heading to the polls early? That’s the speculation following a report in the Nine Newspapers this morning that Labor will power up its election team in December.
Wayne Swan, the national president of Australian Labor Party, played down the prospect of an early election.
Responding to reports the ALP had rented a venue in Surrey Hills to operate its campaign headquarters, Swan said the party “hired those digs a long time a go”.
“The Liberal Party will have done the same and so will have done the
same,” he responded.
Independent says Future Fund change ‘sounds like’ Labor’s ‘dipping into’ savings
Independent MP Dai Le was also on the panel alongside Wayne Swan this morning.
She said she was concerned the government was going to dip into the Future Fund to help fund its priorities.
Here is the back and forth.
LE: The treasurer did deliver his speech on the economy … talking about December being, that we’ll get a preview of the of the budget in early December. That was in his speech on the economy. But there is no mention in that speech about dipping into the future funds to invest.
SWAN: Nobody’s dipping into the Future Fund.
LE: Well, you know, but it sounds like they are.
SWAN: They’re not they’re not saying that at all. They’re saying something entirely different.
‘Desperate’: Former treasurer hits back at Future Fund criticism
A move to direct the $230 billion Future Fund to favour investments in housing, renewable energy and infrastructure hasn’t gone down too well with the Coalition.
The man who created the fund, Peter Costello, slammed Labor’s plans, while former PM John Howard also took aim.
Former treasurer Wayne Swan called the criticism “desperate” when asked during his regular Today Show interview on Friday Morning.
“This is just absurd political criticism in the lead up to the next election. Nothing more, nothing less,” he said.
“There is nothing slightly off about this mandate. The fund has to meet the mandated return, and all the government is saying is we’re capital hungry for some investment in a few areas. And if you can get the return in those areas, take it.”
Swan, who is now the national Australian Labor Party president, was asked if the script was flipped and the Coalition wanted to use the Future Fund to invest in nuclear power if Labor would be “crying blue murder”.
“We would,” he told Nine.
“I don’t think there’s anything controversial about investing in housing and the and the energy grid.”
He says voters can make a judgement about the government’s economic record at the next election.
👋 Good morning
Welcome to our politics live blog. Courtney Gould from the ABC’s Parliament House team here to guide you through the first part of the day.
Let’s get into it.
