Australia news live: MPs told gas export tax would mean cheaper power for households; ‘large’ crocodile attacks man in WA
Politicians ‘underestimate’ public’s attention on gas tax, inquiry hearsKrishani DhanjiKonrad Benjamin, the former school teacher behind Punters Politics, tells the inquiry that the gas issue has fired up his near million followers across his social media accounts.Independent senator, David Pocock, who is also at the Greens-led inquiry, asks Benjamin just how much attention is being paid to the issue, and his answer is – a lot.
double quotation markWhen you look at social media channels like mine, Instagram reels like you [Pocock] have put up before, when you look at those numbers, there is no other issue that I’ve come across in Australia that gets 8m [views] on your reel, regular 2m, and this is … my audience is solely Australian.
Coming up to a million followers on all of my platforms, that is almost entirely, solely from the energy generated around this issue. And I think senators and politicians underestimate how much we’re watching, how much we understand.
We know there’s appetite among some in the Labor caucus to implement a windfall tax or flat export tax, but the government is facing a heap of external pressure from the industry (who don’t want to take a haircut on their profits) and overseas nations including Japan.Benjamin warns the parliament that “politicians ignore just how much we’re paying attention to this at their own peril”.'We've been sold out': Punters Politics fronts inquiry into gas export tax – videoShareUpdated at 04.29 CESTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureDan Jervis-BardyTaylor says 25% gas export tax would kill sectorThe opposition leader, Angus Taylor, claims a 25% levy on gas exports would shut down the industry.As a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra examines the prospect of a new gas tax, Taylor was asked on Tuesday if he was open minded to extracting more revenue from the sector.Taylor, who is this week visiting the mining state of Western Australia, said:
double quotation markThere is a proposal around a 25% tax which would close down the gas industry and that is the intent of that tax.
It’s worth remembering that Taylor’s shadow cabinet colleague and potential future leadership rival, Andrew Hastie, last month declared he was open to a 25% gas export tax to help contribute to a Scandinavian-style sovereign wealth fund.View image in fullscreenAngus Taylor. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAPShareBenita KolovosJacinta Allan announces several budget items focused on Melbourne’s western suburbsMeanwhile in Victoria, the premier, Jacinta Allan, spent her morning in Melbourne’s western suburbs announcing several budget items focused on the area, including:
$249m to boost maternity services across the western suburbs, including a new 24-bed postnatal ward at Sunshine hospital, funding for an additional 1,500 sonography appointments and more special care nursery cots at Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s hospital for babies with complex needs
$95m to open the upgraded Werribee Mercy hospital emergency department
$14.8m to boost capacity on the Wyndham Vale line but introducing longer, nine-car trains during peak times.
$7m to fund more police prosecutions at Wyndham law courts
Allan told reporters:
double quotation markThese are investments that Labor governments can make through a strong budget position and using that position to invest in the things that matter most for working people and families – good hospital services, more train services, community safety – that all has that focus on making things easier, making life safer and more affordable for working people and families here in our great growing western suburbs.
Allan denied that the announcements – including Sunday’s $400m commitment to fund another month of free public transport and then halve fares until the end of the year – would risk the state’s credit rating:
double quotation markWe’ve grown the economy faster and larger than any other state in Australia in the last decade. We’re delivering an operating surplus, the only state on the eastern seaboard to do so. Those two things mean that we can continue to reduce the levels of debt and at the same time, and particularly at this time when families and working people are under more pressure than ever before, we can help people.
ShareUpdated at 06.53 CESTAI cameras helped spot more than 1,100 bushfires over the summerArtificially intelligent cameras detected more than 1,100 bushfires in Australia over summer, including some that would have been missed by humans until they posed a greater risk, AAP reports.One fire outbreak caused by lightning strikes, for example, could have damaged a pine forest if cameras had not alerted firefighters.Pano AI revealed the findings on Tuesday after installing more than 100 high-resolution cameras across areas of NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Of the fires discovered, 667 were in NSW.View image in fullscreenFirefighters battle a bushfire in New South Wales. Photograph: Tuncurry Rural Fire BrigadeThe detections follow a summer of severe heatwaves in several Australian states, and the fourth warmest January recorded since 1910, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.Pano AI’s fire-detecting technology, typically installed on fire towers, uses ultra high-definition cameras to scan for smoke during the day and heat at night. It compares what it finds to a database of more than three billion images and alerts emergency services if it detects fire with a high level of confidence.ShareUpdated at 06.37 CESTBenita KolovosVictorian opposition leader says graffiti on war memorials should cop up to 10 years in jailThe Victorian opposition leader, Jess Wilson, has been in Sorrento this morning ahead of early voting opening for the Nepean byelection tomorrow. Wilson announced that if elected in November, the Coalition will create a new criminal offence for vandals who damage or destroy war memorials and other historically significant landmarks.Wilson said the offence would cover war memorials and other protected sites, including several cultural, religious and historical places and landmarks of significance, such as statues of Capt James Cook or his cottage in Fitzroy Gardens.Destroying or marring these sites with paint or graffiti would carry up to 10 years’ jail – up from three months, or a $3,000 fine – and offenders would be ordered by the courts pay for the full cost of cleaning, repairs and restoration.View image in fullscreenThe Victorian opposition leader, Jess Wilson. Photograph: James Ross/AAPSpeaking at the Sorrento Portsea RSL branch, Wilson said since 2020 at least 18 statues or memorials have been vandalised but “not a single offender has been charged.” She went on:
double quotation markWe’ve seen over recent years, the destruction of war memorials, of cenotaphs. We’ve seen vandals come and attack these significant memorials right across our state in the lead up to important days like Anzac Day, Remembrance Day. That is an attack on the Australian way of life, because these memorials stand there in recognition of those who have sacrificed their own life for our country.
She said not all acts of vandalism would attract the 10-year maximum penalty and that courts would have discretion:
double quotation markIf you’ve got a 14-year-old who’s on a school excursion and you know, he goes up and sticks some chewing gum on a site, or he draws a moustache on a statue, that shouldn’t trigger the 10-year maximum.
ShareUpdated at 06.26 CESTCocaine exposure in waterways may change salmon behaviour, study findsCocaine exposure could lead fish to swim further, raising alarms as the drug’s by-product seeps into the world’s waterways, AAP reports.A study led by researchers from Griffith University and other international institutions has found salmon exposed to benzoylecgonine, a cocaine metabolite, swam up to 1.9 times further per week and dispersed up to 12.3km further across a body of water than unexposed fish.While the impact of more mobile fish was unclear, any change in animal behaviour could be a concern, study co-author Marcus Michelangeli said:
double quotation markIf we’re finding exposure to these substances basically causes erratic behaviour – in this case, moving too far or bursting further than they naturally do – that can really mess with the normal ecological functions these species play.
View image in fullscreenExperts say treatment facilities often cannot fully remove the substances from wastewater. Photograph: Simon Price/AlamyCocaine and benzoylecgonine end up in waterways when the drug is ingested and broken down by humans, and then released into wastewater through urine. Treatment facilities often cannot fully remove the substances from wastewater, which means they are discharged into lakes and rivers.At this point, concentrations of cocaine in waterways are not high enough to pose any threat to human health, Michelangeli said.“The reality is that wildlife is already being exposed to a wide range of human-derived drugs every day,” Michelangeli said.
double quotation markThe unusual part is not the experiment – it’s what’s already happening in our waterways.
Read more here:ShareUpdated at 05.58 CESTAussie shares dip as ceasefire nears expirationThe Australian share market has dipped as investors weigh whether a ceasefire in the Middle East will hold, as the US and Iran each try to exert control over a crucial oil transport waterway, AAP reports.At midday on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 0.14% while the broader All Ordinaries slipped 0.11%.The two-week ceasefire is set to expire on Thursday morning AEST time.Near midday on Tuesday, five of the ASX’s 11 sectors were lower, five were higher, while the property sector was little changed. The energy sector was the biggest mover, dropping 0.8% as Brent crude oil traded for $US95 a barrel, about the same level as Monday.The Australian dollar, meanwhile, was changing hands at 71.74 US cents, up from 71.56 US cents at 5pm on Monday.ShareUpdated at 06.07 CEST‘We’ve been sold out’: Punters Politics fronts inquiry into gas export taxKonrad Benjamin, a former school teacher who is behind the social media account Punters Politics, tells a Senate inquiry into taxing gas that the issue has fired up his near million followers.'We've been sold out': Punters Politics fronts inquiry into gas export tax – videoShareWA officials notified of crocodile attack in the Kimberley involving ‘large’ animalWestern Australia officials said they were notified of a crocodile attack involving a “large” animal on the state’s coast, near Broome, on Monday.The attack reportedly took place on Saturday north of the Coulomb Point nature reserve in the Kimberley, on a beach near an area known locally as Hidden Creek, according to WA’s department of biodiversity, conservation and attractions (DBCA).The injured person was transported from Broome to a hospital in Perth in a stable condition after the incident.The agency said in a statement:
double quotation markParks and Wildlife Service staff have already spoken with a relative of the man who was attacked and intend to discuss the incident further with those involved.
DBCA will also undertake a site visit this week, as part of the investigation.
The DBCA added that crocodiles are common in the region and people should take care anywhere along the Kimberley coast and “all water bodies across northern Australia, including estuaries, tidal rivers, river pools and the waters around offshore islands”.“Your safety is your responsibility,” DBCA said.ShareUpdated at 05.05 CESTLuca IttimaniSam Neill says he wasn’t prepared for ‘personal abuse’, threats after voicing opposition to New Zealand goldmineActor Sam Neill says he has received violent threats over his opposition to a goldmine near his vineyard, condemning criticism from a New Zealand minister and a newspaper columnist.Neill is opposing the open-cast goldmine, called Bendigo-Ophir, which Australian mining company Santana Minerals is pushing to expedite. You can read more here:New Zealand’s resources minister, Shane Jones, has dismissed Neill’s environmental concerns, reportedly telling The Post in December:
double quotation markVery few of us have been born with the privileged professional existence that Sam has had … he should not be allowed to state and run those arguments, unfettered, just because he’s a famous Hollywood actor.
View image in fullscreenSam Neill near his vineyard. Photograph: Aina J. KhanNeill has shared a video update on Instagram, criticising Jones and columnist Damien Grant, whose article, “There’s no reason to listen to millionaires complaining about mining projects”, was published on Tuesday. Neill said:
double quotation markI stand by those views and I’m glad I voiced them. What I wasn’t prepared for was the personal abuse I would come in for. … [Jones] chose to make this personal and I’m baffled as to why you would do that. … But it wasn’t just him. The amount of personal abuse the came in online, all over the shop, was frankly very shocking and disturbing, including threats of physical violence. …
The fight goes on and we really need to stop this filthy mine. It’ll be the end of everything.
In the caption to the post, he added:
double quotation markThey seem to think that such small success i have enjoyed is somehow to do with being ‘entitled’. In fact I have worked very hard , at both my jobs ( acting, wine ) for the last 50 or so years. That’s not entitlement, that’s hard graft.
ShareAustralians becoming an ‘endangered species’, Elon Musk claims Billionaire Elon Musk weighed in earlier on Australia’s birthrate, responding to a post on his X social media account with a simple message: “Australians are becoming an endangered species”.The sentiment plays into a trend for populist political parties to point to the fertility rate as a campaign strategy, including the new Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, who said last month he wanted to see Australia welcome “more Australian babies”.My colleague Krishani Dhanji dug into the phenomenon surrounding pronatalist policies last month:The Australian Bureau of Statistics put out figures in October that show the total fertility rate is now at 1.481, as of 2024, the most recent year reported. That number declined from 2023 and is well below the 1.795 reported in 2014.It’s unclear why Musk has suddenly become interested in the figures.ShareAdam Bandt predicts ‘statues in every town square’ for PM who makes gas companies pay ‘fair share’ of taxDan Jervis-BardyThe former Greens leader, Adam Bandt, says statues would be built in honour of the prime minister that forces gas companies to pay “their fair share of tax”, such is the scale of public support for the policy.Now the chief executive of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Bandt is in Canberra to give evidence at the parliamentary inquiry into the tax settings for the gas giants.The ACF is among a broad coalition of groups calling for a 25% levy on gas exports to replace the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT).Speaking to reporters before fronting the inquiry, Bandt said the public “have had enough” of the amount of tax revenue generated under the existing regime.
double quotation markIt could be turned around. I’ll tell you what, they would be erecting statues in every town square for the first prime minister that makes the gas corporations pay their fair share of tax and uses it to fund free public transport forever, grow the industries of the future or pay for the clean-up bill after cyclones and floods.
ShareUpdated at 05.05 CEST
