Marles says Dutton spreading misinformation over US-UK civil nuclear deal
The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, was on ABC News Breakfast earlier and was asked about the Coalition’s attack on the government for not joining a US-UK civil nuclear deal (as we flagged earlier).
Marles said the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is “intentionally seeking to conflate two ideas here and, frankly, spread a form of misinformation really”.
We don’t have a civil nuclear industry. This is an agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States to cooperate in respect of their civil nuclear industries. It is simply not an agreement which would apply [and] sits completely separately to what we are doing with the UK and the US in relation to Aukus, which is an agreement that is proceeding very well.
Marles said what is “embarrassing” is Dutton’s proposition that “Australia should walk down from where we are now in having no civil nuclear industry, to trying to acquire one”.
That is embarrassing because it would be pursuing for Australia the single most expensive form of electricity on the planet, like $1,200 on each and every household’s budget power bills, that would be the increase by walking down that path.
We wouldn’t see it for a couple of decades and even when it came into place, it would contribute at most about 4% to the power grid. Putting that proposition in front of the Australian people, that is what’s embarrassing.
Key events
Trains to run on Thursday as rail union backs down
Sydney trains will run on Thursday after a small concession from the rail union to delay strike action until Friday, AAP reports, amid an ongoing wage dispute with the government.
A months-long dispute between the NSW government and the state branch of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union escalated yesterday when state transport minister Jo Haylen announced no train services would run for four days:
But early this morning Transport for NSW said it had agreed with the union to run services on Thursday, a relief for Pearl Jam concertgoers who would have had to find alternative transport to Sydney Olympic Park in the evening. A spokesperson said:
At this stage the RTBU has not agreed to lift their industrial action they have planned for Friday through to Sunday. The notified bans in place by the union will bring the heavy rail network to a shutdown on Friday, Saturday, and through until Sunday morning this weekend.
Haylen is hoping the concession will give the union and the government more time to come to an agreement before the weekend. She told 2GB:
It gives us another day to continue our negotiations and hopefully get people where they need to go. But the union industrial action is still planned for Friday and Saturday and we know that’s going to have a massive impact on millions of people who rely on these train services.
Survey reveals ‘concerning’ signs of political polarisation
One-third of young Australians say they are willing to lie, commit violence, send threatening messages to MPs or vandalise government offices in support of a cause they care about.
As AAP reports, a new survey by the Susan McKinnon Foundation quizzed 3000 voters across Australia on their attitudes to political polarisation and social cohesion. The majority, 55%, said Australia has become more divided compared to five years ago, with 27% saying they feel the country is extremely or very divided.
Generational differences about how to deal with views on social justice were stark, with between two to four per cent of people over the age of 55 backing similar responses to their young counterparts.
One in three Gen Z voters and a quarter of Millennial voters said they were prepared to support actions including encouraging or using violence, sending threatening or intimidating messages to members of Parliament, damaging property, vandalising government offices and lying to advance a cause they cared about.
Program lead at the Susan McKinnon Foundation McKinnon poll, Matt Crocker, said the survey reflected “some emerging areas of concern”.
While young people have always been passionate for social change, younger people appear more willing to support some practices that can undermine safety and circumvent our democracy. The high level of support for some of these practices is surprising and concerning.
A bare majority of Australians believe both extreme left views (51%) and extreme right views (53%) are a serious threat to the country. However, the research also found that those with stronger political views were more likely to blame the other side.
76% of those on the left were much more likely to think extreme right views were a problem, while those on the right (71%) were much more likely to think extreme left views were a problem.
Marles says the cost of online scams is rising
On ABC RN, the acting PM was asked about the latest Australian Signals Directorate findings that cybercriminals are using fake QR codes or sophisticated AI scams to trick Australians into giving up their private details or downloading dangerous files.
Richard Marles said the ASD is seeing reports every six minutes, and the cost of each of those attacks is going up:
We are worryingly seeing an increased focus by both cybercriminals and state actors on our critical infrastructure, and that’s something which has become much more prevalent in the course of the last year …
One of the actions that we take is attribution. We have raised attribution in respect of China, in respect of Russia, in respect of Iran. We do so very carefully in circumstances where we can, but attribution is an important tool that we have applied more in the last year than we have ever done.
Marles says government will raise Gordon Ng sentence with Chinese government
Richard Marles was also asked about news that 45 pro-democracy activists were arrested in Hong Kong, including the Australian-Hong Kong dual national Gordon Ng, after the city’s largest national security trial.
He said the government is “very concerned”, specifically about the sentence applied to Ng, and “we will continue to make representations in respect of the sentence”.
But beyond that, as you say, we are very concerned about the application of the national security law in Hong Kong, and obviously in terms of how it’s been applied to Gordon Ng, and that’s a point that we made when the original conviction occurred …
[This is] a matter that we will continue to raise with the Chinese government in all of our advocacy, and this is a consular matter which is front and centre in terms of the way in which we are engaging with China.
Will the government seek to reopen the embassy in Ukraine?
Richard Marles said it was “something we want to do”.
We’ve been wanting to do it for some time. We do have our ambassador in the region, who operates out of Warsaw. This is a matter of making sure, obviously, in the context of a war zone, that we can open this in a manner which is safe for all of those who would be in the embassy. And so this continues to be a work in progress around how that can be done, but we are engaging closely with Ukraine.
Marles weighs in on latest developments on war on Ukraine
Richard Marles also spoke with ABC RN just now, asked about the latest developments out of the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has formally lowered the threshold for Russia’s use of its nuclear weapons after the Biden administration’s decision to allow Ukraine to strike targets inside Russian territory with US-supplied longer-range weapons. Asked for his reaction, Marles told the program:
It’s completely reprehensible on the part of Russia. I mean, there’s only one country which is talking about using nuclear weapons, and that’s Russia …
Russia’s cooperation with North Korea, such that we now have North Korean troops massing on the Ukrainian border, is an appalling escalation in what is already an appalling conflict … What’s at issue here is the global rules-based order, which is very much in Australia’s national interest, and that’s why we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes for this conflict to be resolved on its terms.
So you don’t see it as a dangerous escalation from the US to allow Ukraine to use these missiles to strike on Russian territory? Marles said this was Ukraine defending itself:
Ukraine is the country that was attacked. It was Russia which crossed the border into Ukraine and began this war, and Ukraine has a right to defend itself. It’s not Ukraine who’s talking about an escalation to a nuclear level … at every point it is Russia which is escalating this.
Marles says Dutton spreading misinformation over US-UK civil nuclear deal
The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, was on ABC News Breakfast earlier and was asked about the Coalition’s attack on the government for not joining a US-UK civil nuclear deal (as we flagged earlier).
Marles said the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is “intentionally seeking to conflate two ideas here and, frankly, spread a form of misinformation really”.
We don’t have a civil nuclear industry. This is an agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States to cooperate in respect of their civil nuclear industries. It is simply not an agreement which would apply [and] sits completely separately to what we are doing with the UK and the US in relation to Aukus, which is an agreement that is proceeding very well.
Marles said what is “embarrassing” is Dutton’s proposition that “Australia should walk down from where we are now in having no civil nuclear industry, to trying to acquire one”.
That is embarrassing because it would be pursuing for Australia the single most expensive form of electricity on the planet, like $1,200 on each and every household’s budget power bills, that would be the increase by walking down that path.
We wouldn’t see it for a couple of decades and even when it came into place, it would contribute at most about 4% to the power grid. Putting that proposition in front of the Australian people, that is what’s embarrassing.
Clean Energy Council data shows surge in renewables since 2015 has reduced relative emissions by 30%
Kane Thornton, the chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, was up on ABC RN earlier this morning to discuss its new report – showing a surge in renewables since 2015 has reduced emissions by 30%, relative to if Australia had remained reliant on the 2015 fleet of power stations.
This morning, he told the program this was a good news story for the sector:
About five years ago, we were at around 15 or 16% of the grid coming from renewables. Today, we’re over 40% and by the end of next year, we’ll be pretty close to 50%.
So a pretty dramatic increase in the amount of renewables in the grid, which is obviously great for emissions, it’s also great because coal-fired power stations are starting to close down, they’re starting to get less reliable, and that renewable electricity is also [helping keep] power prices down and keep the lights on.
Thornton said the data shows the importance of having confidence about the future and “all political parties having a clear vision and … being aligned on targets”.
Where they’ve got that sort of certainty, then investors will put significant money on the table, and that rate of renewables accelerates. Where there’s uncertainty about the future, then the rate of new investment tends to slow down.
Cost of living, cybersecurity and AI top ethical considerations for Australians: report
The Governance Institute of Australia’s 2024 ethics index shows that cost-of-living pressures and concerns about cybersecurity and AI are the top ethical considerations for Australians.
Based on a survey conducted with Ipsos, Australians perceived supermarket pricing as the most unethical behaviour (-50) while perceptions of GPs who don’t offer bulk billing have also fallen further (-33).
In terms of government promises ahead of the next federal election, Australians ranked affordable housing, renewable energy and grocery prices as their top three campaign topics. But the Governance Institute CEO, Megan Motto, said clear differences emerge when examining election promises by party preference:
Liberal voters favour nuclear power, while Labor voters focus on affordable housing, renewable energy and union actions. There is also a significant difference in perceptions of US relations based on the election result.
Fire services (76), nurses (75) and ambulance services (74) were seen as the most ethical jobs, while real estate agents (-18), federal politicians (-15) and state politicians (-6) were seen to be the least ethical.
The report also found that the ethical obligation for organisations to tackle climate change, even if it results in reduced profits or job losses, has increased significantly over the past year.
‘Colesworth’ is National Dictionary Centre’s word of the year
The ANU’s National Dictionary Centre has selected the portmanteau – or blended word – “Colesworth” as its word of the year, highlighting the perceived duopoly of Australia’s largest supermarket retailers Coles and Woolworths.
A senior researcher at the centre, Mark Gwynn, says the phrase has been around for a number of years but usage has spiked recently as ordinary Australians vent their frustration at the increasing prices of food staples and questionable pricing practices.
Aussies walk out of the supermarket with less after paying more, but then hear news of massive profits in the supermarket sector. And with official investigations into some of the pricing practices at Australia’s two largest supermarkets, it’s no wonder that ordinary shoppers have become cynical.
The blend of the supermarket names Coles and Woolworths into Colesworth provides a succinct way of referring to both supermarkets while at the same time hinting at the negative aspects of what is perceived as an unfair duopoly.
Some other words on the shortlist were breaking (in reference to Raygun’s Olympic appearance), climate trigger, ute tax (a derogatory term for the new fuel efficiency standard) and YIMBY (yes in my back yard).
