News and politics live updates: Anthony Albanese says no changes to WA’s GST arrangement while he’s PM

Anthony Albanese has brushed off questions about why he won’t be visiting the State seat of Secret Harbour in WA’s south to assist the Roger Cook’s WA Labor government win the ongoing by-election.

The Prime Minister told reporters that while in Perth he wouldn’t be travelling south to the area where Labor candidate Georgia Tree, who is also a former staffer to Resources Minister Madeleine King, is trying to wrestle One Nation.

He was asked: “Prime Minister, speaking of democracy, we’re only half an hour away from the pre-poll booth at Port Kennedy for Secret Harbor. Why aren’t you hitting the campaign trail while you’re here? And how much responsibility do you bear if Labor loses that by-election?”

Mr Albanese insisted it was a “a state by-election” and traditionally prime ministers wouldn’t visit them to actively campaign.

“It’s a state by-election. I am here, and I’m doing my job as Prime Minister of Australia… announcing jobs and economic activity here for something that is very important,” he said.

“I’m doing the same as I did in the Nepean by-election or the Kiama by-election (by staying away).”

However, when reminded that Mr Albanese visited in 2023 during the Rockingham by-election, where he was photographed with then-Labor candidate turned MP Magenta Marshall, Mr Albanese denied that was the reason for the long trip west.

“No, no, I didn’t. I went to an urgent care clinic, which we were opening,” the Prime Minister said.

“I wish Roger Cook all the very best in his campaign. Georgia Tree is a good candidate.

“If the people of that electorate want a voice in government, they should vote Labor.”

The Defence Minister says it’s not clear what the final cost of the Henderson shipyard redevelopment will be, but the government is not imagining it to be near $70 billion as some connected to project claim.

Richard Marles on Monday joined the Prime Minister and WA Premier for the unveiling of boundaries for the new Henderson Defence Precinct.

Mr Marles has been asked about reports in the West Australian newspaper that the estimates for the project have risen from an initial figure of $25 billion to now up to $70 billion.

“The sort of money that you’re seeing in today’s newspapers, I mean, we’re not imagining any of that - but we are really clear that what we have committed in terms of the budget gets us to the milestones that are in the medium term, and we’re well aware that future investment will need to be made, and we’re preparing for that as well,” the Minister told reporters.

“We have the $12 billion commitment in respect of what we imagine to be a $25 billion equipment over the course of the decade, and that funding and beyond is something that we will work through in the federal budget.”

Anthony Albanese has given a full-throated endorsement for WA’s current share of the GST while under intense pressure from journalists in Perth.

It comes after a Productivity Commission interim report into the 2018 Morrison-era top up payments found the reforms had been a “costly mistake” for the Federal Budget.

The Prime Minister vowed under his leadership of the country, there would be “no change to WA’s arrangements whatsoever on the GST”.

“What I believe is very clearly there will be no change to WA’s GST arrangements whilst I’m Prime Minister,” he said.

“WA is a major driver of our national economy, and they deserve their fair share of the GST.

“That is my view. That has consistently been my view. The floor of 75 per cent will absolutely stay.

“I think that WA deserves that because WA contributes to the national economy.

“I will always back WA.

“I am in sync with the Premier of WA, and I can’t be clearer about that.”

When asked about whether his commitment also extended to WA’s share being pegged to New South Wales, the Prime Minister said that arrangement was “all academic”.

Anthony Albanese has joined WA Premier Roger Cook in Perth to announce new boundaries to transform the Henderson shipyard into a massive defence precinct that can support AUKUS.

The Prime Minister said finalising the deal between the Commonwealth and WA was “a major step” towards establishing a “world-class sovereign shipbuilding and sustainment hub” in Western Australia.

Both insisted that the project would deliver thousands of “well-paid, highly skilled jobs” and “continuous naval shipbuilding and sustainment in WA for generations to come”.

Mr Cook also acknowledged the major milestone and envisaged it as the State’s future second biggest industry behind the resources sector.

“Today we are firing the starter’s gun on the largest naval shipbuilding maintenance hub in the Southern Hemisphere,” Mr Cook said.

“This is a key part of my government’s vision to drive jobs and economic growth.

“We see this overtaking agriculture as our second biggest industry in Western Australia.”

Australia faces a genuine artificial intelligence conundrum. Just how much red carpet do we roll out for the tech bros and how much intellectual and environmental sovereignty do we concede in order to stay in the race?

AI policy is a hard political debate our nation needs to have, but it comes at a time when we have some of the weakest political leadership in Canberra. It’s AI in the Age of Albanese.

Assistant Minister for Science and Technology Andrew Charlton has done some seriously good policy work to provide guardrails and attempt to define the conditions under which the sector can develop in Australia.

This hasn’t stopped the ACTU calling for more worker protections as AI threatens mass unemployment as we humans are replaced with AI, or simply fear we will be replaced.

In the midst of this huge policy challenge, though we are blessed with the Albanese Government.

Even simple bans on online gambling ads in sport — like the ones we did for cigarettes — have proven too difficult for Anthony Albanese to legislate.

The Albanese Government has senior ministers testing previously unknown levels of incompetence. Albo still can’t bring himself to say sorry.

Is it any wonder that Australians are deeply concerned the Albanese Government might not be up to the challenge of AI policy.

Read more.

Vladimir Putin’s increasing interest in AUKUS shows why Australians need to urgently improve our understanding of the Kremlin, Australia’s former Ambassador to Russia has said.

This month, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first-ever visit to the Kuril Islands, which are disputed by neighbouring Japan, to warn that the Indo-Pacific was becoming “increasingly prone to conflict”. AUKUS — Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines from the US and UK — was singled out as a reason.

Peter Tesch served as Australia’s Ambassador in Moscow between 2016 and 2019 and held a string of senior diplomatic postings as well as helping develop the AUKUS policy.

In an interview with The Nightly, he said Mr Putin’s intensifying focus on AUKUS, combined with Russia’s alignment with China since the war in Ukraine, showed why Australia had to develop its own Russia expertise.

“We need to stop being as neglectful of the significance of Russia for our interests as we have been in the last 20-odd years,” Mr Tesch said.

“We only have two universities in Australia — the University of Queensland and the University of Melbourne — where you can deliberately study the Russian language and associated fields and disciplines; so we need to staunch the haemorrhage of that investment in Russia literacy.

“It starts but does not end with the language because many people mistakenly think knowledge of a foreign language is about conversation. I argue it is about comprehension, and we need to better comprehend Russia’s worldview.”

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Questions continue to swirl around the Coalition’s immigration policy, with Liberal senator Jonno Duniam refusing to put a timeline on when Australians will finally get to see it.

“I’m not going to put a date on it,” Senator Duniam said.

“We are in 2026, and the world in 2028, which is the first opportunity the Coalition will have at the election to form government if we win, so we need to make sure we are as relevant to that point in time as possible.”

Australians shouldn’t expect the policy before the end of this year, with Senator Duniam indicating it could instead emerge a “short time after that”.

New boundaries to transform the Henderson shipyard into a massive defence precinct that can support AUKUS have been finalised in a deal between the Commonwealth and WA that aims to avoid disruption to the resources sector.

The Prime Minister will on Monday head to Henderson to unveil the long-awaited site selection for the new naval shipbuilding and sustainment facility which his government claims will support around 10,000 jobs over decades.

Sources familiar with the project have told The West Australian that estimates for the overall cost of the Henderson Defence Precinct have ballooned up to anywhere near $70 billion, much higher than the initial $25 billion figure touted last year.

The West can also reveal the designated area for AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine sustainment facilities will be in the central sector of the revamped Henderson site, while naval shipbuilding and ship sustainment will be located to the south.

Following extensive technical analysis and engagement, the WA Government will operate common user facilities in separate “non-defence sites” to the north and south of the central section designated for submarines and naval surface ships.

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The next Chinese ambassador to Australia is expected to arrive in Canberra this week to begin his diplomatic posting.

Diplomatic sources have told The Nightly veteran Chinese Foreign Ministry official Liu Jinsong is flying into the country as early as Monday.

A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong has declined to comment on the arrival of the next Chinese ambassador as diplomatic tensions between both nations continue to play out over various issues.

Former Ambassador Xiao Qian, who served in Australia for more than four years, was farewelled last month by other members of Canberra’s diplomatic corps during an event at the Chinese embassy.

His replacement Liu Jinsong has served as the head of the foreign ministry’s department for Asian affairs and was previously posted to Thailand, Japan and the United Kingdom, although his appointment to Canberra has not been publicly confirmed.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has been forced to clarify the party’s signature migration policy after a newly elected colleague suggested its widely promoted 130,000 net overseas migration target could actually be significantly higher.

One Nation has pledged to slash net overseas migration to 130,000, but newly elected MP David Farley sparked confusion after suggesting the figure would not include at least 100,000 skilled workers entering Australia through existing visa schemes.

That could potentially push the overall figure closer to 230,000 — roughly in line with Labor’s target of 225,000.

But appearing on Sunrise alongside Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek on Monday morning, Mr Joyce repeatedly insisted One Nation’s target remained 130,000.

“It’s 130 net. We’ve been saying that all along,” Mr Joyce said.

Asked directly whether there would be another 100,000 migrants on top of the figure, Mr Joyce was unequivocal.

“There’s not going to be an extra hundred on top of that. No.”

When host Natalie Barr asked whether Mr Farley had simply misspoken, Mr Joyce conceded: “Yeah.”

“Well, I mean that’s not unusual. Show me a political career where people haven’t made, you know, made a mistake. And I’ll show you a person who’s not telling the truth,” he said.

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