Australia news live: Queensland, NSW and Victoria reject Coalition’s nuclear power policy; bird flu detected at egg farm on Sydney’s north | Australia news

Andrew Messenger

‘You’ve sniffled a million koalas, but I never have’: Tucker Carlson kicks off tour

Tucker Carlson has kicked off a speaking tour of Australia with a press conference at Clive Palmer’s gigantic Brisbane mansion home in which the former Fox News host urged one journalist to hop the border at “Tijuana” to vote Republican, called another reporter a liar, and finished by imitating smelling a Koala.

He also compared Australia’s vaccine mandates to Nazi Germany and said he would make a “big effort to vote for” Donald Trump in November because his fraud convictions were part of a conspiracy to “take out” the former president.

Palmer’s company Mineralogy is bankrolling the 10-day “Australian freedom conference” speaking tour.

Their first event kicks off in Cairns this week, before they head to Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. They’ll also be joined by Queensland GP Melissa McCann, who launched a lawsuit over Covid-19 vaccines and former Republican political adviser Dinesh D’Souza, who was incarcerated for making illegal campaign donations before being pardoned by Donald Trump.

Carlson was asked about a 1999 comment that Trump was “most repulsive person on the planet” by a reporter from channel nine. He had earlier asked about a private texts by Carlson criticising the president which were released in a lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems.

“Is your point and of course these are not questions and I’ve been around and in your profession my whole life – I think I’m older than you,” he said.

He then made the reporter tell him his age before continuing:

I understand what you’re trying to say, which is that I actually secretly hate Trump but I’m pretending to like him for the money or something … but you don’t have the balls to actually say it. I get how this works.

I’ll tell you exactly how I do feel, which is frustrated with Trump at times over the wall, affectionate for Trump, personally, always have been.

But more than anything grateful for what Trump has done which is to reveal whose lying – you, but many other people other than just you, it shows sort of like who’s on the side of entrenched power – in you and many like you – and who isn’t.

Carlson later demanded the same journalist tell whether he had spoken out when governments “put people in camps” during the pandemic.

He said another Australian journalist should enrol to vote illegally in the US to cast a ballot for the Republicans:

I’m voting against what they’re doing to my system. And I would urge all people to do the same – including you by the way. You could sneak over our border from Tijuana right now … and vote against this garbage.

He later told the press conference he “sniffed a Koala this morning”.

“I didn’t just touch it and run my hands through its luxurious fur but I went like that and inhaled its musky odour,” he said, while imitating holding the marsupial to his face.

“That was a lifelong dream for me.

“It’s not a big deal to you guys; you’ve sniffled a million koalas, but I never have.”

Tory Shepherd

Nuclear power safe and has ‘important role’: SA premier

South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, says nuclear power is safe and has “an important role to play in the global energy mix as we pursue a decarbonised future”. But, he says, the question is whether it’s economical:

And what we know is that from report after report is that in the Australian context, it will make power more expensive. So why on Earth would we pursue it?

Malinauskas says it’s also “normal” to announce the cost of policies, which the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, failed to do:

That means one of two things. Either Peter Dutton knows how much it’s going to cost and he’s refusing to tell people. Or, he’s making a massive policy commitment without knowing how much it’s going to cost. Either way, it’s an extraordinary position.

Tory Shepherd

Dutton’s nuclear plan makes ‘absolutely no sense’: WA energy minister

Western Australia’s energy, environment and climate action minister, Reece Whitby, says opposition leader Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan makes “absolutely no sense to Australia, and particularly to WA”. It would lead to “massive, massive increases in power bills”, he said.

Whitby said building a nuclear power industry would be hugely expensive and take a long time, and that WA had plentiful renewable resources in the meantime. He said:

In Australia you have no legislative or regulatory landscape or infrastructure for nuclear, you have no workforce. It’s going to take a long, long time – I think at least 20 years or more – and we don’t have time to waste. This is the worst possible case you can imagine. Peter Dutton, I think, is lacking courage … he must know this is a crazy plan. He must know that it won’t work.

Nuclear energy was a “unicorn that will never arrive” and a way for coal supporters to keep the coal industry going, Whitby said.

Cait Kelly

Pawnbrokers heightening hardship, study finds

Pawnbrokers are increasing the hardship of highly vulnerable consumers and are poorly regulated by governments, according to new research by Melbourne Law School.

Lead researcher and post-doctoral fellow Dr Lucie O’Brien said they found pawn lenders can charge extremely high interest rates – sometimes the interest on a short term loan can be equivalent to 420% a year:

We surveyed 1,472 consumers, including 582 who had used pawn loans, along with others who had used payday loans and Buy Now Pay Later products.

We found that pawn loan users were the most vulnerable group – the most likely to earn less than $25,000 a year, the least likely to own their own homes or hold credit cards, and the most likely to rely on social security.

Consumers who can’t repay their loans often lose their belongings for good, having borrowed only a fraction of their market value.

For many of those surveyed by Melbourne Law School, pawn loans made their financial problems worse, she said.

Some had to borrow from friends or family. Some said they had gone without or cut back on essentials. Others had been forced to sell a personal possession as a direct result of taking out a pawn loan.

Benita Kolovos

Victoria premier shuts down nuclear in question time

The premier, Jacinta Allan, is the final member of the government to speak in question time – and you guessed it – she has reiterated her opposition to the federal opposition’s nuclear energy plan for Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, in the centre of the state’s Gippsland region. She says:

Gippsland is one of the most beautiful regions across our state. Not only that, it also produces some of the finest produce that you’ll find anywhere around the world – good milk, cheese, award-winning wine, some of the best beef and lamb you will find. But this morning, speaker, we’ve heard that there’s something else that is potentially going to be added to the list of things that are produced in Gippsland, and that is nuclear waste … There are some that want to dump not only toxic and risky nuclear sites into Gippsland, speaker, they also want to see the results that will affect households and businesses across the state, with prices skyrocketing.

She said as long as Labor were in government they would oppose nuclear energy – and criticised the state opposition for not doing the same:

We will stand up for the Gippsland community and say no to the federal Liberal National party’s plan to bring toxic, risky, expensive nuclear power to Gippsland … But there are some who are refusing to rule out building a nuclear plant in our state. There are some who we know have a secret plan … to join arm in arm with their federal Liberal National colleagues to support this nuclear plan but we will stand with Gippsland.

Sarah Basford Canales

Coalition’s nuclear policy a ‘distraction’: mining union

The Mining and Energy Union, which is more open to nuclear energy than other unions, has said it is disappointed the Coalition announced its nuclear policy without consulting coal power regions.

In a statement on Wednesday, the union’s general secretary, Grahame Kelly, said the Coalition’s plan was a “distraction”.

“We need to be acting to deliver an orderly transition that focuses on jobs, economic activity in affected regions and positive social outcomes for affected workers while we still have the chance. We are also disappointed the Coalition has announced this policy with no consultation with these coal power regions about whether they want a nuclear future.”

Kelly pointed out the “clock is ticking” on several coal power stations the Coalition is proposing to convert to nuclear power stations will close in the next five years – such as the Collie power station in Western Australia in 2027 or Callide power station in Central Queensland in 2028 – years before the opposition says the first nuclear power plant will come online.

“Power stations in the proposed sites for nuclear would be long closed before the plants would become operational, and if no support is provided, those workers and communities will have already packed up their lives and moved on.”

Josh Butler

Clean energy group labels Dutton a ‘vandal’

The Smart Energy Council says the Coalition’s nuclear plan threatens the renewables rollout and investment in Australia, calling the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, a “vandal” for the policy.

The group, which advocates for clean energy programs and companies, said the nuclear plan now injected uncertainty into the Australian market, at a time when renewables projects are searching for investors to back them. Smart Energy Council CEO, John Grimes, warned Australians may have to pay more for their energy, and that nuclear power would not be cheaper.

Grimes told a press conference today:

Peter Dutton is a climate investor vandal. These announcements today already have a material impact on Australia’s rateability as a destination for investment in the transition. Australians today will start paying more because of this vandalism, and this absolute nuclear fantasy.

Grimes pointed to the recent CSIRO GenCost report which stated nuclear power was more expensive than renewables – contradicting Dutton’s claims today that nuclear power would be cheaper.

Grimes also pointed out that some of the sites pencilled in by Dutton for a nuclear plant have already outlined their own plans to house renewables projects like solar manufacturing – and that the nuclear plan created uncertainty for those plans.

Grimes said:

The power companies know that the game is up for coal, coal is done and dusted … that’s why those plants have put in large energy storage facilities, big batteries, because we’ve got permanent solar and wind across the network.

The sovereign risk in this announcement today is staggering. The lack of engagement with the market and with competition is unbelievable, coming from the leader of the conservative side of politics. The damage done to jobs, but more importantly, the increased power bills that ordinary Australians will pay. This is unacceptable and has to be ruled out.

Andrew Messenger

Nuclear ‘not part of our plan’: QLD opposition leader

The Queensland opposition leader, David Crisafulli, has told cameras nuclear is “not part of our plan” 10 times in a Townsville press conference.

Federal Liberal leader – and fellow Queenslander – Peter Dutton announced plans for two nuclear plants in the state.

Crisafulli said he hadn’t had any recent conversations with his commonwealth counterpart about the policy “but Peter knows my position on it … it’s not part of our plan”.

He said:

I want Queenslanders to know we’ve been consistent throughout this, it’s not part of our plan; Queenslanders need to know that we’re focused on the issues they’re talking to us about.

I understand that’ll be a debate in Canberra, that’s where it should be.

Queensland has state legislation banning nuclear power generation and connection. Yesterday, Crisafulli ruled out repealing the legislation even if presented a nuclear project that stacked up.

He said the state party had its own plan mapped out for energy, with the first priority being to reopen the Callide coal fired power station that blew up in 2021.

Dutton announced that one of the seven nuclear plants he plans to build by 2035 would be constructed at Callide.

Daniel Hurst

Guardian Essential poll shows clear generational divide on Gaza war

Given the Coalition’s nuclear policy announcement was imminent, the focus of the Guardian Essential poll report yesterday was justifiably on Australians’ views on climate and energy policy.

But readers might find it of interest to dig deeper into the Gaza-related results.

The 1,181 respondents were asked about their view on Israel’s military action in Gaza. Just 15% of those surveyed said Israel was “justified” in continuing the military action, down four points since the same question was asked in April.

Some 21% supported a temporary ceasefire (up two points since April), and 38% said Israel should permanently withdraw its military action in Gaza (up six points since April). The rest were unsure.

As seen in polling in other western countries such as the US, there is a clear generational divide when it comes to views on the Israel-Gaza war. The Guardian Essential poll results suggest Australians aged over 55 are twice as likely as those aged 18 to 54 to believe that Israel is justified in continuing its military action in Gaza.

By political affiliation, 11% of Labor voters felt that Israel was justified in continuing its military operation in Gaza, compared with 25% of Coalition voters holding that view and just 6% of Greens voters.

Essential also asked a new, specific question about the Australian government’s response to the Israel-Gaza war and which of three options was closest to their view.

A majority of all respondents (53%) said they were “satisfied” with the Australian government’s response. Of the remainder, 32% said “the government’s response has been too supportive of Israel” while 16% said “the government’s response has been too harsh on Israel”.

Once more, let’s break that down by party affiliation: 62% of Labor voters were satisfied with the Labor government’s response to the conflict, 29% said it was too supportive of Israel and 9% said too harsh on Israel.

Interestingly, 55% of Coalition voters were satisfied with the Labor government’s response, while 24% thought it was too harsh on Israel, and 21% too supportive of Israel. Supporters of the Greens – a party that has been campaigning heavily against the government’s stance – were predominately dissatisfied with the government’s response. A full 48% of Greens voters thought the government had been too supportive of Israel, although 41% said they were satisfied with the government’s response (and 11% thought the government was too harsh on Israel).

(The percentages may not necessarily add up due to rounding.)

Jordyn Beazley

Hello, I’ll be with you until this evening.

And with that, I leave the blog with Jordyn Beazley. Thanks for reading.

The NSW government has confirmed that bird flu has been detected at a Hawkesbury egg farm.

The government has enacted its emergency biosecurity incident plan to address the detection confirmed as the High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI).

The plan includes an individual biosecurity direction to the farm and business and closing it off. A formal control order will be declared this afternoon that will extend biosecurity control to a radius of 1km to 2km around the farm site.

The HPAI detected is the H7N8 type and is not the same strain as the current Victorian outbreak. It is understood at this point to be a separate spill-over event, potentially from wild birds.

Under the individual direction the affected egg farm has implemented quarantine to prevent the movement of equipment, and animals, to stop further spread.

The government said the detection won’t affect consumers.

Benita Kolovos

Question time begins in Victorian parliament

Question time has kicked off in Victoria – we’re expecting the government to go hard on the opposition, over its federal counterparts plans for nuclear energy.

First question is to the premier, Jacinta Allan, from the opposition’s education spokesperson, Jess Wilson:

Former Labor premier John Cain passed the Builders Labourers Federation Derecognition Act in 1985. John Cain was willing to take on this militant and thuggish union, the precursor to today’s CFMEU. When will the premier introduce similar laws to rein in the militant CFMEU?

Allan quips back:

We on this side of the house are very proud of the legacy of the Cain government … the minister for energy reminds me of course, that it was the Cain government that introduced the prohibition on nuclear.

Benita Kolovos

Victoria’s $1.2bn tutoring program ‘did not significantly improve’ learning

The Victorian government’s $1.2bn school tutoring program, which started during the pandemic to help students at risk of falling behind to catch up, did not significantly improve the outcomes for those involved, according to the state’s auditor general.

The auditor general report on the Tutor Learning Initiative, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, found despite the significant investment, the program “did not significantly improve students’ learning compared to similar non-tutored students”.

The auditor general came to this conclusion after comparing 2022 and 2023 maths and reading test scores of students between grades 3 and 10 who received tutoring and those who didn’t. The report said:

“When we compared similar students from each group, we found that students who received tutoring learnt less than those who did not receive tutoring. Among disadvantaged students, there was no difference in learning gains between tutored and non-tutored students. There was also no significant difference in learning gains between tutored students in metropolitan, regional or rural Victoria.

The report also found the program was “not well targeted and not well enough connected to students’ classroom learning and their particular learning needs” and despite the department of education having the information it needs to improve delivery of the initiative, it has failed to do so.

It made three recommendations to the department, which have all been accepted in full or in principle.

The opposition spokesperson for education, Jess Wilson, said the program was “another example of an education investment failing to deliver greater learning outcomes”. She said:

“The minister for education must explain the incompetent management of this program and why a $1.2bn investment in student learning has resulted in no meaningful improvements at a time that learning outcomes are already at record lows.

Labor cannot manage money, cannot manage our education system and Victorian students are paying the price.

Dutton has ‘put the economy and our environment under threat’: NSW energy minister

The NSW minister for climate change and energy, Penny Sharpe, has criticised the Coalition’s nuclear policy, saying it puts the “economy and our environment under threat”.

Sharpe reiterated the NSW premier’s comments, where he said the policy would be too expensive and would take too long to build:

NSW has benefited from bipartisanship on the transition of our energy system. Peter Dutton has today shredded this and put the economy and our environment under threat.

We don’t need nuclear reactors in NSW. We have a strong renewables sector, some of the best solar and wind resources in the world and a roadmap to cheaper and affordable energy that’s well under way.

The reality is that nuclear reactors are horrendously expensive to build, take too long to construct and are too costly to run. NSW energy consumers can’t afford that.

Mr Dutton is putting at risk the $32bn of investment that is flowing into NSW to build low-cost renewable energy and provide economic benefits and jobs to regional communities.

Coalition’s nuclear policy a ‘fantasy’ and ‘dead cat strategy’: Bandt

The Australian Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has criticised the Coalition for their nuclear power policy, saying its “not going to happen”.

Bandt called the policy a “fantasy” and added that it was a “dead cat strategy” that is a “dangerous distraction”:

The battle lines for the next election are clear. Liberals are for nuclear, Labor is for more coal and gas and the Greens are for clean renewables.

Peter Dutton can talk about nuclear power as much as he wants, but it’s not going to happen.

If I wanted to tune in to a fantasy I’d watch The Lord of the Rings.

Peter Dutton can’t win government and he can’t repeal the nuclear ban in the Senate. It’s a ‘dead cat’ strategy, a dangerous distraction from Liberal and Labor’s push to open up more coal and gas.

Liberal and Labor can have a fake debate about building nuclear power stations in 30 years, but if they both keep opening more coal and gas mines in the meantime, the climate crisis will get worse and people will suffer.

More than 1m chickens and ducks to die in Victoria amid bird flu outbreak

Over 1m chickens and ducks will die in an effort to minimise the ultimate destruction caused by bird flu outbreaks on seven properties in Victoria, AAP reports.

The highly pathogenic H7N3 strain of bird flu was found at a seventh Victorian farm – already in quarantine – in the Golden Plains shire in the state’s central-west, Agriculture Victoria revealed this week.

All poultry at the farm would be humanely disposed of under veterinary supervision and movement controls were still in place near Terang, Meredith and Lethbridge, the authority said.

“We’re continuing to work with affected producers and the poultry industry to respond to these detections through ongoing testing and careful biosecurity practices,” Victoria’s chief veterinary officer, Graeme Cooke, said.

“Movement restrictions are expected to be in place for several weeks, and we’re working with industry to support poultry farmers with the logistical challenges they’re facing.”

Most of the properties affected have chickens but a duck farm in Golden Plains shire that produces eggs and meat, and was already in quarantine, was confirmed to have the virus on 13 June.

Agriculture Victoria continues to assure consumers not be concerned about eggs and duck meat products as they are safe to consume.

Six of the infected properties near Meredith are confirmed to have the H7N3 strain of avian influenza and one infected property near Terang is has the H7N9 strain.

Neither is the H5N1 strain that has infected billions of wild and farmed animals globally, raising fears of human transmission.

Locals not keen for nuclear plant, says Victorian MP

The state MP who represents Morwell, one of the proposed Coalition nuclear sites, has said that he isn’r ruling out support for his federal colleagues but locals are not keen.

Nationals MP Martin Cameron was speaking outside Victorian parliament earlier, where he said he would engage the local community in discussions on the proposal, but added that “a lot of water to go under the bridge before we get there”.

I’ve spoken with power-supply people in the Latrobe Valley and their thoughts are that they’re not set up for nuclear power.