Body found in search for boy swept out to sea in NSW
The body of a boy, believed to be that of the 11-year-old who was swept out to sea on New South Wales’ Central Coast on Sunday, has been found.
A short time ago, NSW Police released a statement:
A body, believed to be that of a boy missing at The Entrance, has been located today.
About 5.15pm on Sunday, emergency services responded to reports a child had been swept into the ocean while attempting to cross The Entrance Channel.
An extensive multi-agency search for the missing boy was subsequently conducted, with ongoing taskings continuing today.
About 2.30pm today, emergency services were called to The Entrance following reports a body had been located in the water.
While the body is yet to be formally identified, it is believed to be that of the missing boy.
The boy had been visiting the Central Coast from Sydney with his father and three siblings.
The police said a report will be prepared for the Coroner.
Key events
Luca Ittimani
Despite no official election outcome as of yet, New South Wales Libertarian MP John Ruddick has declared Donald Trump has won the US election, getting cheers from the 50 or so attendees at his watch party in state parliament:
The NSW Libertarian party is going to make history around the world. We are calling this election for Donald Trump. Donald Trump has won. And I can say this is the greatest comeback in history since the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Ruddick told the crowd he hoped to hear from “president-elect Trump” soon and asked:
Do we want to continue to watch Fox [News] or do we want to watch them cry on CNN?
The crowd cheered as the results for the key swing state Georgia, where Trump is currently leading 51%, appeared on screen – a CNN presenter said the count in some states would not be completed today and would continue tomorrow, drawing some boos and shouts of: “That’s a steal!”
Thank you, as ever, Tory Shepherd. Let’s get straight on with the rest of the day’s (non-US election) news…
I’m going to leave you with Daisy Dumas for the rest of the afternoon. I may need a shower, some white noise (read: wine), and some dog time after that QT. See you tomorrow!
Question time wraps up
That’s another question time over, and it had the scrappy feeling of the last day of school. But it’s not! It’s back on tomorrow, then there are two more sitting weeks before the end of the year.
Labor ‘considering a whole range of possible reforms’ on childcare, Chalmers says
The independent MP Kylea Tink is asking the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, about abolishing the activity test for childcare.
Chalmers says:
We are big believers in the social and economic value of early childhood education and care. We see it as a gamechanger for families, and for the economy more broadly … we are considering a whole range of possible reforms as part of our commitment to try to get the system as close as we can to something which is a bit more universal.
He says early childhood education and care has been “at the very core of our agenda”, that the government has invested in cheaper childcare and lifted subsidies.
“We’re also delivering a 15% pay rise for our early childhood educators,” he says.
Investors start to price in a second Trump administration
Peter Hannam
In case you’ve strayed from the Guardian’s live US election blog, it’s worth noting that the money is moving in the direction of a victory for Donald Trump.
The US dollar, for instance, is rising against other currencies, including the Australian dollar.
The US dollar gain against the Mexican peso is 2.5%, presumably because there’s a greater chance of tariffs or some other punishment if Trump takes office. He’s made various threats against the US’s southern neighbour over the years, such as promising to get them to pay for a wall that for the most part never got built.
Part of the appeal of a Trump win is the promise of lower corporate taxes than would happen if vice-president Kamala Harris were to win a promotion to the top job. As things stand, the latter is looking a longer shot as the counting proceeds.
Australian stocks are higher, too, lifting more than 1.1% for the day.
As mentioned earlier, Australia’s Treasury has provided advice to the Albanese government about what a Trump administration might mean.
Higher tariffs, particularly against China, won’t help Australia, and they may prompt higher US interest rates than otherwise would be the case. The latter is one of the reasons why the US dollar is rising.
How to price in the effects of other Trump policies – such as dismantling key government agencies – is anybody’s guess.
Bulk billing was ‘in freefall’ under Liberals, health minister says
The Liberal MP Paul Fletcher has asked about bulk billing rates, saying it was 88% under the Coalition and 74% under Labor.
The health minister, Mark Butler, says bulk billing was “in freefall” when the Liberal party was coming to the end of its time in government.
He says the figures Fletcher was using included Covid vaccinations and consults for Covid vaccinations, which “artificially boosted” the bulk billing rates under the former government:
The former government did not include transparent data on bulk billing. They artificially inflated it with Covid vaccinations and the rest. The second thing is the trajectory was clear.
And he calls Fletcher the “worst health minister in the history of Medicare” and Sussan Ley the “second worst” for freezing Medicare.
Karen Middleton
Promotion still sinking in for Australia’s new defence force chief
The new chief of the defence force, David Johnston, is appearing at his first Senate estimates committee hearing since taking up the position in July, but it seems the promotion hasn’t quite sunk in.
Ahead of making an opening statement, Johnston identified himself.
“Good afternoon senators, thank you for the welcome. Vice-admiral – er – Admiral David Johnston, chief of the defence force,” he said, to chuckles from the committee.
“Slight upgrade there, mate,” the committee chair, Raff Ciccone, quipped.
“It takes some changing,” the admiral replied, before going on to talk about the difficulties in recruitment and retention of defence personnel.
Free Tafe is doing its job, minister says
The deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, is asking about fee-free Tafe.
“How many have resulted in no qualification being delivered?” she asks.
(If you remember yesterday she asked the same question and it became a barney about how long Tafe courses went for, with Labor saying most take up to three years, so can’t have finished because the program hasn’t been going that long.)
The skills and training minister, Andrew Giles, says it takes four years to get the data.
“What the data says is that free Tafe is doing its job,” he says.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is up talking about the “reckless arrogance of the opposition leader, and the comical cluelessness … of his offsider”.
His major focus, he says, is “the fight against inflation”. And he says the RBA’s Michele Bullock made three major points, that inflation is the highest priority, and that when it comes to inflation “public demand is not the main game”. And third, that “inflation has fallen substantially from its peak in 2022 and its coming back to target in a reasonable way”.
He’s really been having a crack at Taylor all week – he’s just accused him of “chirping away” in an “incoherent way”.
Opposition repeats ‘weak and incompetent’ line
Here’s the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, using the “weakest and most incompetent” line again.
But Speaker Milton Dick’s been doing his homework, referring to previous rulings by speakers. After looking at those precedents, he again asks Taylor to remove that part of his question (without ruling it out of order).
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, in the name of seeking “clarification”, says something something “weak” something something “incompetent”. It’s almost like they think the more often they say the words the more they’ll stick (something that does, in fact, happen).
Dutton wants a ruling on “weak” and “incompetent”. “It’s not a personal reflection on the prime minister,” he says. “It is a description of the government.”
Also (I’m paraphrasing): “They said it first.”
And Taylor. Again.
Teal MP links US election to question about real-time donation disclosure
The independent MP Kate Chaney is up now, saying Australia “is not immune to the mistrust we see in the US”.
There is increasing suspicion that politicians are acting in the interests of airlines, fossil fuels or gambling companies, unions or a political party instead of all Australians.
Voters deserve to know who is funding all political candidates before they vote. Will the government legislate real-time donation disclosure in time to make our next federal election transparent?
There was jeering and heckles from the floor, and Speaker Milton Dick intervened again.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says democracy is something “that must be cherished and must be nurtured and cannot be taken for granted”:
I can confirm that I’ve been working as the leader of the government to increase transparency, including on funding issues, and indeed, I [had] just this morning, another constructive discussion with the minister for the special minister of state, Senator Farrell, about these issues.
We believe in lower donation thresholds, and have done that and took that to an election.
He says he’s “not picking” on Clive Palmer but that his company’s donations distorted the political system and says something must be done. He says some of the crossbench have “very strong views” about the timing of changes. He also mentions “some of the backers” of the crossbench having opinions.
Josh Butler
Tense moment between Labor minister and Fatima Payman in Senate estimates
There was a tense moment between the Labor minister Murray Watt and former Labor senator Fatima Payman in the employment hearing of Senate estimates just before the lunch break.
Payman, who quit Labor earlier this year to sit as an independent, asked Watt – the employment and workplace minister – about salaries of administrators appointed to the CFMEU.
Reading from a “leaked document” purporting to show the payments made to those administrators (Watt said he wasn’t aware of their individual salaries), Payman asked:
Do you know how many fee-paying members it takes to cover the salaries of these three officials?
Watt responded:
No, but I dare say it’s pretty similar to the members’ contributions that were needed to pay the salaries of two former officials who are facing corruption charges in NSW right now.
Payman:
I’m talking about these three officials, and on my calculations it would be almost 2,000 members’ hard-earned fees that they’re paying their dues, just to employ your hand-picked bureaucrats. How can the government justify this program of jobs for mates at the expense of workers?
Watt responded:
I’m not sure who’s supplying these questions to you Senator Payman.
Payman interjected:
Don’t insult my intelligence and being able to put questions to the government, minister. That’s really not fair.
After a brief interlude from the Labor committee chair, Tony Sheldon, the hearing got back on track. Watt referred back to his previous public statements about protecting the interests of union members.
LNP’s decision to pause truth-telling ‘continues 165 years of government failing to listen’: Josh Creamer
Andrew Messenger
Josh Creamer, the chair of Queensland’s truth-telling and healing inquiry, has spoken about the decision to put the process on “hold”.
Despite repeated requests, Creamer has yet to receive a call from the minister, Fiona Simpson, or premier, David Crisafulli. The inquiry received a brief letter from Simpson at 6.49pm on Monday, he said.
“I request further truth-telling sessions, notices, hearings and other work of the inquiry be placed on hold, until such time as the government repeals the act,” Simpson wrote.
Creamer will meet Simpson tomorrow, he said:
People have said to me, this is like the chief protector days, a single person deciding what’s best for every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island person in the state.
The government has previously signalled its intention to repeal the Pathway to Treaty Act in one of the two sitting weeks of parliament this year, making it one of the government’s first acts. Crisafulli, who voted for the original bill, called the inquiry “divisive”. Creamer said:
Ceasing the inquiry’s work in this way continues 165 years of government failing to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Creamer said pausing the inquiry left it unable to provide “support to our participants who are no doubt hurting through this process”, in violation of its trauma-informed process mandated in its terms of reference.
Liberal MP echoes ‘incompetence’ line in interest rates question
The Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie echoes Taylor’s line on weakness and incompetence despite Dick’s quite heartfelt plea about the language used in the house.
After more discussion over the words used, McKenzie repeats the rest of Taylor’s earlier question about interest rates (without repeating the weakness and incompetence line).
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, refers to comments from the RBA’s Michele Bullock, saying “we still have inflation coming back to target in a reasonable way”:
She also went on to say … the fact that inflation, now for the last year, has only been 2.8% is actually real for people.
They are seeing lower petrol prices. They are seeing lower electricity prices. So this is good for people. Real incomes are rising again. As inflation is declining and wage growth is a bit higher than that, and you’ve got the tax cuts, real incomes are rising again. That is what governor Bullock had to say yesterday.
