Prepare dinner apologises for JD Vance ‘knob’ comment as ‘poor’ however ‘popular’ alternative of phrases
The Western Australian premier, Roger Prepare dinner, was up on ABC RN simply earlier earlier than this weekend’s state election.
He was requested about his remark labelling the US vice-president, JD Vance, as a “knob” throughout a pre-election occasion in Perth. Having beforehand apologised for the comment, he stated:
I made an offhand comment in a lighthearted second throughout an occasion, and withdrew it as shortly as I might. Pretty unprofessional comment, and I apologise for anybody who has offended. I believe it’s truthful to say that it was a particularly poor alternative of phrases but in addition a particularly widespread alternative of phrases.
Key occasions
Steggall says insurance coverage premiums have risen ‘exorbitant’ quantity since 2022
New analysis from the Australia Institute reveals one in 5 households are both underinsured or has no insurance coverage in any respect because of hovering premiums – and if you happen to don’t have insurance coverage, you’re prone to lose three-quarters of your wealth.
Unbiased MP Zali Steggall informed ABC Information Breakfast this was an “iceberg issue where the scale is probably much greater than what we think.”
[The research shows] when occasions like [Tropical] Cyclone Alfred hit, an enormous proportion of the group stand to lose the majority of their property and wealth they’ve accrued over their lifetime.
Steggall stated it was vital to deal with the “underlying factor around why insurance is so expensive – which is climate risk.”
These occasions occur increasingly more usually. That’s why governments of all persuasions have to do rather more to put money into preparation, adaptation, to mitigate the local weather threat.
As Krishani Dhanji reported earlier within the weblog, Steggall is asking for Labor and the Coalition to decide to legislating nationwide local weather threat and adaptation plans.
Steggall stated on common, insurance coverage premiums had risen 32% throughout the nation since 2022 – an “exorbitant” quantity.
It’s merely unaffordable. And it’s not simply households being impacted, it’s native authorities areas – they’re going through rising clean-up [and] catastrophe emergency prices.
Drugs out of attain for ladies as dwelling prices chunk
Ladies are twice as seemingly as males to say they can’t afford a prescription for themselves or their households, AAP stories, as pharmacists urge larger funding to assist sufferers entry life-saving remedy.
One in 4 girls couldn’t afford a script over the previous three years amid cost-of-living pressures, in accordance with analysis commissioned by the Pharmacy Guild.
This rose to one-in-three girls for these aged 35-54, in accordance with a survey of greater than 2800 individuals. The quantity reporting cash as a barrier to accessing remedy has additionally risen by one-third since 2022.
Total, one in 5 Australians reported skipping a prescription, which will increase to one-in-three individuals in regional areas.
The findings have prompted the pharmacy sector to name for the prescription co-payment to be diminished from $30 to $19.
Sydney pharmacist and Pharmacy Guild nationwide councillor Catherine Bronger stated she noticed girls day by day who wrestle to pay for prescriptions:
You shouldn’t have to decide on between remedy, it shouldn’t be a luxurious and we shouldn’t be having this dialog.
Ladies are typically those that come into the pharmacy, for his or her households and for themselves. It may be for a power situation like preventative bronchial asthma drugs, the place they might wait slightly longer and stretch out their meds slightly bit.
Canavan says there may be ‘no way election should be called’ amid cyclone
Nationals MP Matt Canavan says there may be “no way the election should be called” proper now amid Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Talking on the Right this moment present, Canavan stated Anthony Albanese ought to preserve “the focus firmly on helping Queenslanders to get through this event”.
The election will likely be referred to as when it’s referred to as. The PM’s been taking part in video games on this all 12 months, so he’s solely obtained himself accountable to backing himself into this nook.
We are able to have it in Might. I believe the precedence needs to be on what’s greatest for the individuals impacted by Cyclone Alfred, not what’s greatest to go well with the political circumstances of the prime minister.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, stated earlier this morning that the election timing was a matter “for another day” amid the cyclone.
Chalmers says US has not made resolution but on Australian tariff exemption
Jim Chalmers was requested about Donald Trump’s handle to Congress yesterday and the indication reciprocal tariffs would start on 2 April – there was no direct point out of Australia, so are we secure?
The treasurer stated the federal government had been “engaging at every level” on this, nonetheless:
I believe the choice on Australian exemptions has not been made, so we’ll proceed to make our case.
Chalmers stated any resolution had not been “conveyed to us”, so discussions are persevering with.
Chalmers welcomes ‘heavy lifting’ of personal sector in economic system progress
Jim Chalmers additionally weighed in on yesterday’s GDP numbers and was requested how a lot of the development is because of inhabitants progress and folks working longer hours.
The treasurer stated yesterday’s numbers had been “encouraging” and present the “economy has turned the corner”.
It’s rising solidly, we did see a strong rebound in progress, and that’s not primarily due to the 2 issues that you simply talked about. Per capita progress is optimistic once more after a interval of softness in our economic system, however essentially the most encouraging factor – from my viewpoint – in these numbers yesterday was the truth that the non-public sector is doing a few of the heavy lifting.
We would like the non-public sector to take its rightful place as the first driver of progress in our economic system. There are good the reason why public spending was serving to to maintain the economic system ticking over over the past couple of years, however the non-public sector is rebounding strongly. Progress in our economic system is broader. That’s an excellent factor.
For extra evaluation on the GDP figures, you’ll be able to learn extra from Greg Jericho beneath:
Chalmers says finances was reoriented in direction of mitigation for disasters, that are ‘becoming more frequent and severe’
Let’s circle again to Jim Chalmers, who additionally spoke with ABC RN this morning about local weather mitigation efforts.
Particularly, is sufficient being executed by way of the finances for local weather adaptation to maintain up with the disasters the nation is seeing?
The treasurer stated $1bn over 5 years had been spent on this:
We’ve tried to reorient the finances in direction of preparation and mitigation in addition to responding to pure disasters, and that’s as a result of these disasters are sadly changing into extra frequent and so they’re changing into extra extreme.
I believe that’s only a scientific truth and so the onus is on us, the duty is on us, and we’ve embraced that duty to try to do extra the place we are able to to make our communities a bit extra resilient.
Chalmers stated there would “always be more that needs to be done” and the federal government would “find as much resources as we can for what is a really important task”.
Prepare dinner says WA Labor aiming for ‘50% plus one’ at this weekend’s election
The Western Australian election this Saturday will likely be Roger Prepare dinner’s first as chief of the state Labor get together.
Former chief Mark McGowan gained the final two state elections in landslides, however it’s anticipated Prepare dinner will lose seats. Requested what variety of seat losses can be acceptable, the premier stated “we’re not taking anything for granted in this election”.
We definitely don’t consider that, you understand, we’re a shoo-in. We’ve dedicated to testing each single seat.
We’re not counting seats. All we wish is to have … 50% plus one … and we’ll work day in time out, as we have now been proper up till the eighth of March, to guarantee that we are able to put our plan to the individuals of Western Australia, to maintain the economic system the strongest within the nation.
Does WA premier belief Donald Trump to honour Aukus deal?
Roger Prepare dinner warned final 12 months that Donald Trump was an financial menace to Western Australia and, if he was elected, it will be a “dark road” for the world.
Requested if that “dark road” is now rolling out, Prepare dinner stated no – however it “underpins the point … that we do live in uncertain times”.
And the purpose that I’ve been making is that in unsure occasions you want skilled management, somebody who has the abilities and the group behind them to have the ability to navigate troubled waters.
Western Australia is a key a part of the Aukus settlement between Australia, the US and the UK. Requested if he trusts Trump to honour the deal, Prepare dinner stated he wasn’t within the federal authorities however had been assured by the deputy PM, Richard Marles, that “there is still a lot of strength in the relationship, and that the US government considers itself a very strong and long-term ally in relation to these matters”.
Now, individuals must also keep in mind that the Aukus preparations had their birthplace in the course of the time of the Trump authorities. These items aren’t put collectively in a single day.
And so I believe it’s in all probability true to say that the Trump authorities in all probability feels as a lot possession of the Aukus preparations as different administrations of the US authorities.
However Trump didn’t appear to know what Aukus was final week? Prepare dinner stated he “won’t criticise him for not understanding every acronym that’s thrown at him”.
Prepare dinner apologises for JD Vance ‘knob’ comment as ‘poor’ however ‘popular’ alternative of phrases
The Western Australian premier, Roger Prepare dinner, was up on ABC RN simply earlier earlier than this weekend’s state election.
He was requested about his remark labelling the US vice-president, JD Vance, as a “knob” throughout a pre-election occasion in Perth. Having beforehand apologised for the comment, he stated:
I made an offhand comment in a lighthearted second throughout an occasion, and withdrew it as shortly as I might. Pretty unprofessional comment, and I apologise for anybody who has offended. I believe it’s truthful to say that it was a particularly poor alternative of phrases but in addition a particularly widespread alternative of phrases.
Suspicious hearth in Tullamarine in a single day being investigated
Emergency companies have responded to a suspicious hearth in Tullamarine in a single day.
Victoria police consider a automobile was pushed right into a premises on Barrie Highway earlier than being set alight and “causing significant structural damage”. A spokesperson stated:
Nobody was inside on the time. Against the law scene is at the moment in place and an arson chemist will attend later this morning.
Any witnesses, or these with dashcam or CCTV footage, are urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Chalmers says election timing matter ‘for another day’ amid Tropical Cyclone Alfred
Jim Chalmers was additionally requested concerning the timing of Anthony Albanese calling a federal election, and if he has paused this amid Tropical Cyclone Alfred?
However the treasurer stated the main target was on the extreme climate occasion:
We haven’t been targeted on the timing for the election for apparent causes. Queensland and northern NSW is about to be hit by what might be a devastating climate occasion and so concerns about election timing and all the remainder of it – they’re issues, for my part, for an additional day. The main target right now is on serving to individuals put together for a troublesome couple of days, after which some troublesome weeks and months to comply with.
A reminder that you could learn all the most recent cyclone updates on our separate liveblog with Natasha Might:
