Australia news LIVE:US President to address Parliament in May;AUKUS deal questioned by Labor MPs

Thanks for joining us. Here are some of our main headlines today:

The government has shut down a spontaneous push to ban Nazi symbols nationwide after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton attempted to force a debate in federal parliament,backed by the Greens and a number of independents.

Dutton moved to suspend normal parliamentary business so shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser,who is Jewish,could introduce a private member’s bill to ban swastikas,Nazi salutes and Nazi uniforms,among other associated symbols.

The Victorian and NSW governments last year banned the public display of Nazi symbols,and on Monday the Victorian governmentpledged to ban the Nazi salute after dozens of black-clad people from the neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network attended an anti-trans rights rally outside the state’s parliament on Saturday.

Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull,the campaigner who led the “Let Women Speak” rally,is set to speak outside Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday. She has denied associating with neo-Nazis and criticised those men who attended.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus accused Dutton during question time on Tuesday of being silent on the protest,prompting the opposition leader to condemn the attendees,accuse the government of politicising the issue,and offer his support for any future legislation to ban Nazi symbols.

“Nazi symbols are,of course,associated with one of the most heinous regimes in history. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany carried out the deliberate,calculated and organised mass murder of six million European Jews as well as five million prisoners of war and other victims,” Dutton said on Wednesday.

“We owe it to all those who were victims of one of the greatest crimes ever committed that such crimes are never repeated. As a parliament,as a people,ours is a duty to the present and the future informed by one of the greatest sins of the past.”

Samoa’s prime minister has raised concerns about China setting a new precedent in its security arrangements with the Solomon Islands.

Fiame Naomi Mata’afa,who is in Australia to meet Prime Minister Anthony Albanese,said she is worried about the precedent the Solomon Islands security pact with China has set. Mata’afa and Albanese have signed a new co-operation agreement.

“It’s an issue that needs to be looked at because it could easily develop as a trend. It would not be a trend that I would encourage,” she said. “It was presented that China was wanting to bring in security personnel in a sense to protect those assets,physical and human.”

The comments came after reports the Solomon Islands had chosen a Chinese company to upgrade the international port in the capital,Honiara.

The Solomon Islands signed a security pact with Beijing after Chinese police personnel were sent to the Pacific nation when riots broke out to protect Chinese businesses and people.

Ms Mata’afa said Pacific nations needed to be the first point of call for security issues in the region,with problems arising when other nations send in security personnel under the guise of protecting their assets.

AAP

Constitutional lawyer Megan Davis,a member of the Voice referendum working group,has just spoken inside parliament after finishing a meeting about the referendum.

She said the national vote would be held later this year and the group was very close to finalising its advice,which would allow the government to introduce a bill in parliament next week.

She said the working group had already agreed to the following key design principles:

“This voice will give all Australians the chance to come together and consider updating our Constitution,to recognise and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,and our 65,000 years of continuous connection with this land,” Davis said.

“We are so close to finalising our advice so that the Government can introduce the constitutional alteration bill into parliament next week. So close to doing what grassroots communities across the country have asked for.

“We are putting the finishing touches on this historic change. Australia has been considering the idea of constitutional recognition for a long time.“

Question Time is now over and the House of Representatives has turned to discussing a matter of public importance,which has been nominated today by independent MP Helen Haines. She wants to talk about worker shortages in regional and rural health and these were some of her comments:

“Regional Australians have fewer doctors,nurses,dentists,pharmacists,psychologists and other health workers per capita compared to our city cousins. Our bulk billing rates are among the lowest in the country.

“Long waiting lists mean less disease prevention,more chronic disease,longer times to diagnosis,more avoidable complications. It’s expensive to travel to see a specialist in Melbourne or Sydney,out of reach of many who are struggling to pay their rent or electricity bill.

“When we don’t have enough health workers,it’s our local doctors,nurses and allied health professionals who suffer. We can’t afford to lose any more to burnout,simply because they’re shouldering a load that should be shared,but there’s no-one there. We need urgent change. We need a long-term and sustainable solution.”

The government has been flagging a major overhaul of the Medicare system for months now,as bulk-billing rates fall across the country and it becomes more expensive to see a doctor.

Assistant Health Minister Emma McBride acknowledged the struggling health system and said the government’s Strengthening Medicare taskforce recommendations would boost affordability and increase access. We’re waiting for the May budget to see how precisely that will be implemented.

Michelle Ananda-Rajah,a Labor MP and physician,also said it was time to correct policy and invest in people.

The Solomon Islands has awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara in a project funded by the Asian Development Bank,Reuters is reporting.

The China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) was the only company to submit a bid in the competitive tender,Mike Qaqara of Solomon Island’s infrastructure development ministry said.

“This will be upgrading the old international port in Honiara and two domestic wharves in the provinces,” Qaqara said.

The ADB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Solomon Islands struck a security pact with Beijing last year,prompting concern from the United States and its allies,including Australia,New Zealand and Japan,over China’s ambitions to build a naval base in the region.

The Solomon Islands and China have denied the security pact would allow a naval base,however.

Delegations from China and the United States are visiting Honiara this week,competing for influence in the strategically-located Pacific islands nation.

Reuters

The Coalition is using its questions in parliament this afternoon to press the federal government on cost-of-living pressures facing millions of Australians.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton,deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor have all asked about rising financial stressors such as power bills and mortgages,followed by the question:“Why is the Prime Minister so out of touch and why do Australian families always pay more under Labor?”

This is a sample of the response that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been repeating:“The shadow treasurer ignores the fact that inflation has taken off before Labor took office and indeed,on their watch,the March 2022 quarter inflation jumped by 2.1 per cent,the highest quarterly rise this century – no matter who is in government,the highest rise.

“The truth is that the shadow treasurer pretends that there wasn’t inflation before the election when,in fact,inflation was having the highest single quarterly increase in this century,and he ignores the fact that interest rates began rising on their watch.”

Over the 12 months to the December 2022 quarter,the consumer price index ended up rising 7.8 per cent.

We’re into question time in federal parliament now,where Treasurer Jim Chalmers has made another plea for support for the government’s safeguard mechanism so that the parliament does not spend another decade “stumbling and stuffing around” on climate change.

The safeguard mechanism is designed to impose binding caps on Australia’s 215 biggest polluters and force them to reduce their carbon footprint by a cumulative 205 million tonnes by the end of the decade.

But the Coalition is not engaging and the Greens have played hardball in negotiations for their support. They want the government to also ensure there will be no new coal or gas mines.

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Energy Minister Chris Bowen has rejected this demand,despite having less than three sitting weeks in parliament to legislate crucial amendments so the reforms ahead of the mechanism’s July 1 start date.

Chalmers said the mechanism would provide certainty to business and industry,encouraging investment in renewable energy.

“That is why the business community and Australia’s biggest employers and investors are pleading with this parliament to support the passage of the safeguards legislation,” Chalmers said.

“And that is why it is incumbent on everyone in this parliament to get behind it. Australians and their economy cannot afford another decade of this parliament stumbling and stuffing around when it comes to climate change and energy policy.

“We want to get on with the job of providing business with the certainty they need in the interest of our economy,our environment,our country,our people,and their future.”

Bowen made a similar point a few questions later,as he referenced Liberal MP Bridget Archer’s lament (which we reported below) that the Coalition had not engaged in the policy debate.

“The member for Bass has described her own party’s position as going nowhere and of course,she is correct. But what can’t go nowhere is climate policy in this country,” he said.

“As the opportunity for this parliament over the next fortnight,the consequences of the safeguard reforms not passing a very real.”

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