Australia politics live: Palmer loses high court bid to reregister UAP; Husic says no plans to cut back aluminium production amid tariffs row
Palmer loses high court bid to reregister UAP ahead of federal election
Emily Wind
Mining magnate Clive Palmer has lost a high court bid to reregister his United Australia Party ahead of this year’s federal election.
The UAP was “voluntarily” deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission in September 2022, with its lone senator, Ralph Babet, saying at the time the party would continue and he would represent it in parliament.
You can read more details from when it was deregistered below:
The high court today upheld the validity of the Commonwealth Electoral Act, which plaintiffs Palmer, Babet and Neil Favager, the party’s national director, had sought to challenge.
According to the pronouncement of the orders, the pair were ordered to pay costs. Candidates with the party will not be identified with the UAP on ballot papers at the upcoming election.
The court is yet to publish its reasons, but is expected to do so in “due course”.
Palmer formed the UAP in 2013.
Key events
PM and opposition leader pay tribute to former Liberal MP Thomas Hughes
Anthony Albanese says in Hughes’ 101 years, “he gave us many remarkable chapters”.
Even in Tom’s absence, may his presence always loom large in your lives. As Tom himself once put it: ‘It’s been a long life, but I’ve been very, very lucky.’ Australia was certainly lucky to have him. May he rest in peace.
Peter Dutton also gives his condolences.
Born into a greatly accomplished family, Tom Hughes undoubtedly felt the weight of great expectations; but, imbued with the same sense of service as his grandfather and father, it was inevitable that Tom would add to the Hughes family legacy and leave his mark on this nation. And he most certainly did.
Sarah Basford Canales
ASRC welcomes extension of appeals timeframe for refugees and asylum seekers
Earlier this morning, changes to how the Administrative Review Tribunal operates passed the upper house into law.
Some of the amendments passed included extending the appeals timeframes for people in immigration from seven days to 14 days.
The amendments were welcomed by the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, but its deputy chief executive, Jana Favero, said there were still missed opportunities.
Those missed opportunities included not extending the ability to review decisions for those made by the Immigration Assessment Authority, which was abolished in October.
Favero said while some changes provided “basic procedural fairness for refugees and people seeking asylum”, the amendments overlooked the lack of recourse or pathway to permanency for those who received IAA decisions.
The chamber is getting louder as we count down to question time.
Malcolm Turnbull and Lucy Turnbull are here today. There will be a condolence motion before questions begin for Lucy Turnbull’s father, Thomas Hughes, who was a former Liberal MP and attorney general.
Palmer loses high court bid to reregister UAP ahead of federal election
Emily Wind
Mining magnate Clive Palmer has lost a high court bid to reregister his United Australia Party ahead of this year’s federal election.
The UAP was “voluntarily” deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission in September 2022, with its lone senator, Ralph Babet, saying at the time the party would continue and he would represent it in parliament.
You can read more details from when it was deregistered below:
The high court today upheld the validity of the Commonwealth Electoral Act, which plaintiffs Palmer, Babet and Neil Favager, the party’s national director, had sought to challenge.
According to the pronouncement of the orders, the pair were ordered to pay costs. Candidates with the party will not be identified with the UAP on ballot papers at the upcoming election.
The court is yet to publish its reasons, but is expected to do so in “due course”.
Palmer formed the UAP in 2013.
Husic says aluminium production cutbacks not being considered amid US tariffs
Back to the press club, and to the issue dominating the globe, Ed Husic is asked about the tariffs Donald Trump has just signed off on.
He says it’s important to recognise the “breadth of work” that’s been done by the government to exclude Australia from the tariffs on steel and aluminium.
The world has a high demand for our aluminium. We need it as part of the transition to net zero and there is a healthy future for Australian aluminium and the question is for our American friends: do you want to pay more for that product that you have got a big demand for? We will work through all those issues.
Husic is also asked whether Australia would consider cutting back its aluminium exports to the US.
To your question would we cut back production for the purpose of export, that is not something we are contemplating. I imagine that the firms involved wouldn’t be contemplating that either. They will satisfy demand wherever it exists on the globe.
Having spoken with the owners of aluminium smelters themselves, their preference is not to have those tariffs in place. They are also confident in their product, in their people, in what they are offering the world and I think they will continue to export.
Greens condemn video about treating Israeli patients
Greens leader Adam Bandt and Greens senator David Shoebridge have also condemned a video circulating social media, allegedly showing two hospital workers claiming they would refuse to treat Israeli patients and one saying they would “kill them”.
More on the story here:
In a post on X, Bandt wrote, “everyone must be able to access healthcare”.
Any suggestion that people would be unsafe or denied treatment in hospital is appalling.
Shoebridge echoed the statement, saying the comments were “abhorrent and have no place in our society”.
It is entirely appropriate that this has been referred for investigation. Public hospitals are a place where everyone should be safe.
Husic sidesteps whether he’s pressing Chalmers again on company tax
Over at the National Press Club, Ed Husic is asked about whether he wants to advocate – as he did last year – to the treasurer for a reduction in the company tax rate, as a way to drive private research and development.
Husic chuckles, and won’t bite on whether he’s challenged the treasurer on the policy again.
I see what you’re doing and I ain’t falling for it. Jack, I appreciate the question but there are a lot of things we do need to do. Today is an opportunity for us to recognise from a primarily economic lens, the value of R&D and the way it transfers confers advantage to Australian firms [that] will be really important long-term.
Earlier Husic said he’d like to see a higher target on how much research and development Australia does.
It has been reflected upon, in terms of our investment in R&D relative to the economy and also relative to our performance in the OECD, we have often said we need to get somewhere up to around 3% [of GDP]. We are a shade under 1.7% at the moment.
Sarah Basford Canales
Australia-Israel allies group relaunched at parliament
Coalition MP Andrew Wallace has today relaunched the Australia-Israel allies caucus, hosting a small event in Parliament House with the Israeli ambassador, Amir Maimon.
Wallace addressed the audience, which included a number of Coalition MPs and senator and former Labor MP Mike Kelly, shortly after Maimon, who requested his speech be off the record.
Parliament already has a friends of Israel group established, but Wallace – who chairs the group – said the caucus was necessary because friendship groups couldn’t “rock the boat”.
Parliamentary friendship groups, by their very nature, walk a fine line between not being critical of the government of the day, and unfortunately, this government has abandoned Australian Jews and has abandoned the state of Israel to such an extent that, as the chair of this caucus, I have had to be very vocal.
The member for Fisher also condemned the two New South Wales hospital workers who appeared in a social media video allegedly refusing to treat and threatening to kill Israeli patients.
I would say it’s not just on the left side of politics. You’ve got the far left and you’ve also got this far right as well. So you’ve got the extremities of Australian politics and those people that tend to gather in those environments, spewing out the most vile hatred.
Australia set on ‘seizing benefits’ of AI as it signs Paris summit declaration – Husic
Industry and science minister Ed Husic is at the National Press Club today spruiking science (no shock there) and the pathway for growing Australian research and development.
It’s the 40th anniversary of science and technology Australia (STA), which he says has gone from “strength to strength”.
On the more contentious area of artificial intelligence and its regulation, Husic says Australia signed the declaration on “inclusive and sustainable” artificial intelligence in Paris yesterday at the AI action summit.
He’s still working on broader guardrails for AI in Australia.
We are focused on seizing the benefits [of AI] while building trust, that is why we signed the Paris declaration overnight at the AI Action Summit, unlocking AI growth in ways that benefit the economy and communities. That is the focus of our national AI capability plan, while developing the right guardrails for high risk AI that might cause harm.
Debates about how to best govern AI are moving swiftly. We are listening closely to conversations here and overseas and we will have more to say on this soon.
You can see more of that AI summit here:
AGL holds ground on renewables saying ‘time and cost’ rule out nuclear power
Electricity giant AGL Energy is standing firm on replacing ageing coal-fired power stations with renewable energy, as it rejects a federal opposition plan to add nuclear energy to the nation’s network.
AGL chief executive Damien Nicks told AAP.
Both time and cost won’t allow nuclear to be done on time … the question right now is about getting on and getting this done as soon as we can.
Our strategy is about building a whole range of assets, not one or the other. It’s going to be renewables, batteries, pumped hydro, gas peakers to support what this market needs.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton plans to build seven nuclear reactors on former coal sites across the nation, including sites owned by AGL in NSW and Victoria, if elected in 2025.
Nicks said that on the Liddell site in the NSW Upper Hunter region, AGL was a third of the way through construction of a major battery, a $750m, 500-megawatt project that was on track for commencing operations in 2026.
We’re making 20-year decisions that will outlive changes in politics every three or four years.
Emily Wind
Rail protest outside NSW parliament blocks street – report
2GB reports that Macquarie Street in Sydney is blocked outside of the NSW parliament, amid the Electrical Trade Union train dispute protest – with demonstrators bringing along a giant inflatable rat.
As reported in yesterday’s blog, the ETU said the action would take place between 8am and 4pm today.
Members of the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU), who operate trains, were going to take part in protected industrial action for a two week period from today, but this was paused.
Former Tasmanian Labor leader quits to focus on federal tilt
Tasmania’s ex-Labor leader Rebecca White is resigning from state politics to focus on run for federal parliament.
AAP reports that White, who led the Tasmanian party to three election losses, has announced her resignation from parliament effective immediately. She said in a statement:
The time has come for me to step aside and focus my energy on the upcoming federal election campaign, where I hope to continue my service to our community of Lyons in the Australian parliament.
It is with great excitement that I now dedicate myself to the task of winning the support of my community to represent them in the federal parliament.
White said she timed her resignation to allow the electoral commission to conduct a recount and enable the next member for the seat to join the parliament for the first sitting week in March.
Albanese condemns video of hospital workers claiming they would refuse to treat Israeli patients
Emily Wind
The prime minister has labelled a video circulating online – showing two hospital workers claiming they would refuse to treat Israeli patients and one saying they would “kill them” – as “antisemitic” and “disgusting”.
Guardian Australia is working to verify the footage and we will have more details on this later.
In a post to X, Anthony Albanese wrote:
The antisemitic video circulating today is disgusting. The comments are vile. The footage is sickening and shameful. These antisemitic comments, driven by hate, have no place in our health system and no place anywhere in Australia.
These individuals have been stood down by NSW authorities. They have rightly been referred to the NSW police for criminal investigation. Individuals found to have committed criminal antisemitic acts will face the full force of our laws.
Melbourne pro-Palestine rallies turn monthly as ceasefire teeters
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Melbourne will move from weekly to monthly, AAP reports, after protesters have gathered in the CBD for 70 consecutive weeks.
With a ceasefire deal hanging in the balance, Australian Palestine Advocacy Network head Nasser Mashni defended the “unified decision” of organisers to move the rallies to monthly. He told ABC Radio earlier:
We are not stopping our movement. We are not stopping our actions. We are strategising to make bigger and more impactful actions, and stopping a weekly rally doesn’t mean that we won’t call snap rallies and actions as and when necessary.
The next Melbourne protest is slated for Sunday and another on 23 March. At that point, the rallies will become monthly unless Israel resumes bombing Gaza. The march route from the state library to the steps of state parliament will not change.
Rallies are also planned for Canberra (14 February), Adelaide (16 February) and Sydney (2 March) in coming weeks.
Nasser denied organisers had backed down following calls from premier Jacinta Allan, the state opposition and Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to move or end the weekly rallies.
Departing MP Stephen Jones reveals he is sex abuse survivor: ‘I didn’t want to be defined by it’
Stephen Jones has revealed he was the survivor of child sexual abuse, in his valedictory speech to parliament yesterday.
Jones announced last month he’d be retiring from the seat of Whitlam, after representing the electorate for 15 years.
He reflected on former prime minister Julia Gillard’s establishment of a royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in 2012, calling it a “really brilliant contribution” and said it didn’t get enough recognition.
What was so important about this was that for decades the victims had been denied; their stories, if ever told, were contested, and they were told they were not true.
I can say, because I was part of some of those earlier discussions, that establishing this royal commission wasn’t inevitable; it was contested, including in this chamber. It wasn’t inevitable. It took courage, and I thank former prime minister Gillard for it.
Jones said the royal commission was a “necessary piece of truth-telling and reconciliation”.
The royal commission was a really painful experience for survivors but a necessary piece of truth-telling and reconciliation. Survivors, including me, appreciate it – a point I’ve never disclosed because I didn’t want to be defined by it and because I didn’t want to detract attention from those who, unlike me, didn’t have a voice or didn’t have access to power to tell their story.
Vandalised office understood to be Senator James Paterson’s
We have more information on the vandalism of a Victorian senator’s electoral office in South Melbourne that we reported earlier.
Guardian Australia understands the office that was vandalised was Senator James Paterson’s.
The incident took place in January, and federal police have said they’re investigating.
Butler pushes back on private health insurers over premium hikes
Going back to health minister Mark Butler’s press conference earlier, he also confirmed private health insurers will need to come back to the government by early next week with their applications for premium increases.
Butler has sent insurers back twice to settle on a premium rise for consumers for this year.
I have written back to some of the insurers only, I think, very late last week from memory, asking them to resubmit their applications for premium rises for 2025 from memory.
I asked that response be delivered late this week or very early next week…So I think I’ll be in a position to make that decision relatively soon.
Butler says he believes a decision will be made before the government enters into caretaker mode during the election campaign.
