Albanese publicizes furlough scheme for flood-hit staff
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Flood victims in western Queensland unable to work because of the deluge might be eligible for a three-month catastrophe allowance after the commonwealth activated the particular cost scheme.
Because the federal election enters its second week, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will go to components of the huge outback flood zone on Saturday to announce additional assist.
The commonwealth will activate its catastrophe restoration allowance, which supplies cost for as much as 13 weeks for staff and sole merchants who lose revenue as a direct results of the emergency.
The prime minister stated:
The imaginative and prescient popping out of western Queensland is actually surprising and distressing.
My ideas are with everybody affected by this flooding – my message to Queenslanders is we’re right here for you.
My authorities has been working with the Queensland authorities to activate help and supply assist.
On the worst of instances, we see the very best of the Australian character.
Purposes for the allowance will open at 2pm on 8 April.
Key occasions
We’ve made it to every week into the election marketing campaign. So who’s profitable?
In line with the Sydney Morning Herald, Labor is uncovered to a stoop in assist in Australia’s two most populous states regardless of a political restoration in current weeks, placing key seats because of the weak spot of the get together’s major vote.
A survey revealed within the outlet right this moment exhibits the Labor major vote has fallen to 30% in New South Wales and 27% in Victoria within the first three months of this 12 months, down from 33% in every state on the final election.
It’s not all unhealthy information for Labor, although. YouGov’s newest Public Knowledge ballot means that Peter Dutton has recorded his worst-ever internet satisfaction ranking of -15, down from -2 in February.
Labor takes a 2% lead over the Coalition with a 51% to 49% break up within the two-party most well-liked vote.
In the meantime, the Monetary Evaluation’s political correspondents, Tom McIlroy and Ronald Mizen, stated Labor got here out on high within the first week.
On the finish of week one, it was clear that Albanese received extra days than Dutton and due to this fact received the week. However there are nonetheless 4 extra to go, and something can occur in an election.
Albanese heads to Queensland and Dutton to NT
It might be Saturday, however Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton aren’t letting a weekend cease them from hitting the marketing campaign path.
The PM is heading to western Queensland to go to components of the area battered by current flooding.
In the meantime, Dutton is in Darwin, marking his first go to to the Northern Territory for the reason that marketing campaign kicked off, the place each seats are actually held by Labor.
He’s anticipated to element the Coalition’s announcement that it might power the sale of the Port of Darwin if elected, with a press convention to return quickly.
Albanese took the wind out of his sails yesterday after calling in to native Darwin radio to make an analogous announcement.
Why the Coalition is attempting to keep away from affiliation with Trump
There was an early perception that Donald Trump’s shock return to the White Home would foreshadow a path to a Coalition election victory in Australia primarily based on a surge in assist for rightwing politics, AAP reviews.
However quick ahead a number of months and native response to Trump’s divisive insurance policies has upended these predictions forward of the three Might ballot.
Because the US president slapped 10% tariffs on all Australian exports, Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have flexed their marketing campaign muscle on how they might cope with an unpredictable American chief.
Whereas some inside the Coalition initially welcomed the Republican’s victory within the presidential election, the affiliate professor at america Research Centre David Smith says the opposition is now attempting to keep away from any affiliation with Trump.
There have been some figures who believed the Coalition may benefit from emulating Trump in some methods … however since he’s turn into president, he’s turned off quite a lot of Australians each in type and substance and the Coalition now seems to go in the other way.
The Australian Nationwide College worldwide regulation skilled Donald Rothwell says Albanese has largely tried to keep away from offering a operating commentary on Trump’s actions however the tariff state of affairs has made it unavoidable on the marketing campaign path.
The tariffs will instantly create a contest between the federal government and the Coalition as to who will reply the hardest and which response would be the only.
Dry climate lastly for Queensland’s south-west
Queensland’s south-west is lastly dealing with dry climate, giving authorities a clearer image of the extent of the injury from flood waters. Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist on the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), spoke to ABC Information Breakfast this morning.
He stated flooding was occurring on “pretty much all our rivers” by means of the state’s south-west, central and northern waterways.
That main flooding could proceed for weeks, as we simply noticed a 12 months or two value of rainfall shifting down the rivers there.
We are able to see a sample shift as we transfer by means of the approaching week or two, as we see that bathe and thunderstorm exercise contract to far northern Australia … the remainder of the nation trying dry, which is nice information for the flood-affected areas in Queensland however not these experiencing the drought situations in South Australia and Victoria.
Each events again taking Port of Darwin out of Chinese language fingers
Emily Wind
The Labor authorities is on the hunt for a purchaser for the Port of Darwin regardless of the Chinese language-owned firm which holds the lease insisting it isn’t on the market.
Anthony Albanese revealed the plan after calling in to native Darwin radio yesterday afternoon in a deliberate try and get forward of an analogous announcement the Coalition has reportedly scheduled for right this moment.
Landbridge Group took management of the port in 2015 after the Northern Territory authorities signed a $506m settlement whereas in monetary duress. The deal gave Landbridge 100% operational management of the port.
In 2023 earlier than a visit to Beijing, Albanese dominated out cancelling the corporate’s lease.
However talking with ABC Darwin yesterday, the prime minister indicated he wished business negotiations to happen, and was “prepared to go down the road of taxpayer direct involvement” if wanted.
He confirmed that two choices had been on the desk – for the port to be privately owned by an Australian firm, or return to being a authorities asset. The important thing, he stated, was that it “be in Australian hands”:
We try to see if there’s a non-public purchaser, significantly by means of superannuation funds.
The [Country Liberal party] ought to have by no means flogged it off.
Albanese stated the federal government would have “more to say” earlier than the federal election on 3 Might, however he argued Landbridge had “not had the investment into the port that’s required to bring it up to scratch”.
“We don’t think that it is being utilised enough for Darwin,” he stated.
Darwin has an unlimited potential to be a development space of accelerating our exports by means of the Port of Darwin, and that’s a part of the context that we’re coping with right here.
Albanese stated a majority of ports round Australia, like airports, had been owned by superannuation funds, “which means that they’re owned by the Australian people and help to make contribution to their savings”.
Full story right here:
Do Australians need their chief to cuddle up or muscle as much as Trump?
One other challenge for Peter Dutton is his alignment with Donald Trump’s rightwing populism on issues comparable to immigration, defence and slicing so-called authorities waste.
That was trying fairly good for Dutton when the brand new US president took workplace and minimize a commanding determine.
However since then Trump’s tariffs have sparked fears of a world recession and threaten to trigger quite a lot of injury to the Australian economic system.
Josh Butler reviews on how Dutton, who’s slipping within the polls, may cope with this downside and steer a course away from the Trump toxicity.
What we realized in week one on the marketing campaign path
As flagged within the introduction, our reporters Dan Jervis-Bardy and Josh Butler have been out on the stump all week with Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton.
They’ve put their heads collectively and given an evaluation of how the 2 campaigns have dealt with the primary week, concluding that the Labor man has most likely had the very best of it fired up by his shock tax-cutting price range and a robust message on beefing up Medicare.
Albanese has seemed assured, they are saying, and has been chatting with a message he believes voters like:
Albanese and senior Labor strategists didn’t panic because the Coalition inched forward within the opinion polls halfway by means of 2024. They had been assured the competition would tighten and switch of their favour when voters had been confronted with the “choice” of a Dutton or an Albanese authorities.
In contrast, they are saying Dutton has not responded brilliantly to being questioned on a regular basis about insurance policies and has seemingly misplaced floor:
He’s beneath stress, although, and dealing with a ticking clock on questions he refuses to reply – there’s solely a lot longer he can promise that the gasoline modelling will come “soon”, that he’ll announce his public service cuts “at an appropriate time”. He’s getting questions on this almost every day, and even joking that the “anticipation” of journalists will quickly put on off.
However, as they write, there’s an extended option to go:
Albanese received the week. Even Dutton could admit that. But it surely’s only one week.
“I’m not getting ahead of myself,” Albanese stated. “Elections are hard to win, and there are four weeks left in this campaign.”
The true measurement of Australia’s devastating floods
We even have a giant learn on the floods which have devastated western Queensland and which are actually spreading to north-western NSW.
The Bureau of Meteorology stated yesterday that the flooding had “severely impacted” extra catchments spanning about 1m sq km – greater than NSW and even greater than Texas – since heavy rain downpours started drenching south-west and central Queensland on 23 March.
Learn the total article right here:
Albanese publicizes furlough scheme for flood-hit staff
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Flood victims in western Queensland unable to work because of the deluge might be eligible for a three-month catastrophe allowance after the commonwealth activated the particular cost scheme.
Because the federal election enters its second week, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will go to components of the huge outback flood zone on Saturday to announce additional assist.
The commonwealth will activate its catastrophe restoration allowance, which supplies cost for as much as 13 weeks for staff and sole merchants who lose revenue as a direct results of the emergency.
The prime minister stated:
The imaginative and prescient popping out of western Queensland is actually surprising and distressing.
My ideas are with everybody affected by this flooding – my message to Queenslanders is we’re right here for you.
My authorities has been working with the Queensland authorities to activate help and supply assist.
On the worst of instances, we see the very best of the Australian character.
Purposes for the allowance will open at 2pm on 8 April.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our reside information weblog. I’m Martin Farrer with the highest in a single day tales and my colleague Caitlin Cassidy will take over.
Folks in western Queensland who’ve misplaced work due to the floods will be capable to apply for a three-month catastrophe allowance after the commonwealth activated the particular cost scheme. Purposes might be open from Tuesday, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, introduced this morning, as he stated his authorities was “working with the Queensland government to activate assistance and provide support”. Extra arising.
With the election marketing campaign into ninth day right this moment, we glance again on the first week of the race. Beginning with a shock go to to Peter Dutton’s Dickson voters, our reporters travelling with the 2 groups assume Labor chief Albanese has proven a actual confidence in his message to voters that has left his opponent trying extra picket and predictable. Extra arising.
An enormous speaking level right this moment might be information that Labor and the Coalition have flagged plans to finish a 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese language firm. Albanese dialled right into a Darwin radio station yesterday afternoon to announce plans to discover a new proprietor for the town’s port as Coalition members had been en path to the Northern Territory for an election announcement on Saturday. Dutton additionally backs the concept. Extra arising.
Dutton’s enthusiasm for Donald Trump’s rightwing populism is being examined now that the US president has solid doubt over Australia’s navy alliance with America and after he has seemingly taken a wrecking ball to the world economic system. With US and European markets as soon as once more beneath the cosh in a single day, now we have been how the Coalition chief can distance himself from the person within the White Home. Extra arising.
