News and politics live updates: PM pressed on melon remarks as Minns intervenes, Senate forces letter release

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers is claiming to be a champion of higher wages despite average salaries growing at the slowest pace in four years and lagging behind inflation.

Australia’s average, full-time pay before bonuses rose by 3.7 per cent in the year to May, which at the time was well below the 4 per cent inflation rate, meaning a 0.3 per cent cut in real wages with low-skilled workers in sectors like hospitality doing even worse.

This was also the slowest annual growth since 2022, but with women working full-time now earning six figures on average for the first time, Dr Chalmers instead focused on the gender pay gap in a joint statement with Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth.

“Average weekly earnings are up and the gender pay gap is closing under Labor,” they said on Thursday.

“That means more money in people’s pockets since we came to Government and more money again since the beginning of the year.

“New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows average weekly full-time earnings have now increased by more than $300 per week since the Albanese Government was elected.”

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West Australia’s threatened black cockatoos will be the next species vaccinated from H5N1 bird flu under a federal government response to the deadly virus.

WA has been the latest jurisdiction to identify species to be vaccinated after a $2 million program launched by the Agriculture Minister Julie Collins earlier this week.

Ms Collins provided the update in Question Time on Thursday afternoon and said that WA’s decision to nominate the black cockatoo came after Victoria had identified little penguins off Phillip Island and St Kilda on Wednesday.

“The West Australian government has today announced a vaccination trial on threatened black cockatoos at the zoo,” she said.

“So, this will focus on three species: the Carnaby’s, the Baudin’s, and the Forest Red-tailed black cockatoos.”

​Read the full story here.​

US undersecretary of defence Elbridge Colby says Washington is “optimistic” about AUKUS, highlighting Australia’s requirement to the “historic” deal.

Colby, who has been a notable sceptic of the deal, spoke to Australian journalists during a virtual news conference in Thailand on Thursday, and quoted President Donald Trump as he labelled the project “full steam ahead”.

“We all know this is a historic endeavor on the part of both countries, but particularly for Australia, and that requires a real level of effort that we see the evidence for, and so we remain optimistic, but also clear-eyed, about what we all need to do to achieve that,” Mr Colby said.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of things that the Australian side needs to do. They know what is required.

“We’ve been very clear in private with them … to give everybody a reasonable, stable, and realistic set of expectations to achieve this historic ambition that will put us all in a stronger place.”

Mr Colby refused to confirm whether Australia will receive three Virginia-class submarines during the 2030s as pledged in AUKUS, but said the Pentagon is aiming to increase their production.

He also refused to confirm how AUKUS will function once the Virginia subs are equipped with nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missiles in 2032.

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins says Tasmania’s state laboratory has returned its first positive result for H5 bird flu in samples from a brown skua found at Rocky Cape.

“We have sent samples to the CSIRO lab testing, and will provide an update to the public as soon as these results do become available,” she said.

“If confirmed, this would be the first confirmed case of H5 bird flu in Tasmania, and that will be six states that then have the bird flu in Australia.

“This is of course not unexpected, and I know that it’s disappointing, but it is a sign that our biosecurity system is working and our detection system is also working.”

“I want to reiterate that there is no evidence of any detection of the H5 bird flu in our poultry or agricultural systems, and that the risk to human health remains low.

“I also want to thank the Australian public for reporting sick and dead birds at birdflue.gov.au.”

Angus Taylor’s senior press secretary has lashed out at Channel 10’s political editor Ashleigh Raper after she questioned the Opposition Leader about an ICAC investigation into illegal donations.

Ms Raper repeatedly asked Mr Taylor about his links to donations made to a right-wing religious faction in the NSW Liberals which has been the subject to a corruption inquiry, during a press conference in Canberra.

Mr Taylor says he “not going to give a running commentary” while refusing to answer the reporter’s questions.

“I’ll let the commission do its work. No payment was made. I was clear about that from the start,” Mr Taylor was reported in saying.

Mr Taylor’s press secretary Kane Silom was then sprung on hot mic as the press conference wrapped up, walking up to Ms Raper and slamming her questions.

“Are your ratings that bad? Seriously, that’s a fricken disgrace,” Mr Silom said.

“What? Asking questions about an ICAC inquiry?” Ms Raper said.

“He’s answered them like 500 times, seriously. . .No wonder 10 Plus got cut,” Mr Silom shot back, referring to Channel 10’s affairs program.

Several Labor MPs have roasted Shadow Housing Minister Andrew Bragg for comments made at this National Press Club address in Canberra on Wednesday.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neill described it as a “big day out” for the Liberal MP, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese encouraged the party to “broadcast one of their shadow ministry meetings” insisting it would be “pretty entertaining”.

The PM poked fun at Mr Bragg’s response when asked about Coalition leadership speculation.

Mr Bragg had dodged a media question by saying: “That’s really a question for the commentators to get into.”

“Now, Speaker, you’ve just heard the Prime Minister talk about the the big day out from the Shadow Housing Minister yesterday, and boy, was it something,” Ms O’Neill said.

“A real wild ride in a speech one might euphemistically call wide ranging. Senator Bragg covered his views on communism, North Korea state-sponsored corruption giving superannuation to cats and dogs.

“His big idea on housing and the one that I actually really want Australians to hear and understand is this: The Liberals’ answer to housing affordability is substandard housing for Australian on low incomes.

“It shouldn’t be controversial that Australians should be able to buy a home knowing that it’s safe and decent for themselves and their families.

“But asked directly… whether some low-income Australians should accept substandard housing, Senator Bragg said ‘yes, definitely’.

“He was asked whether homes need any energy efficiency standard, and his answer was, ‘You’ve got to have a window in a room’.

“Asked ‘how should Australians cope with a freezing winter at home?’ and the shadow treasurer had the answer. Get this, he said ‘put a jumper on’.

“Old-fashioned snobbery is alive and well in the Liberal Party of Australia, and Labor rejects it completely.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has mocked the former Coalition government’s wage record, reminding Parliament that under their leadership, keeping wages low was “a deliberate design feature of their economic policy”.

He also accused the Liberals, Nationals, and One Nation of sharing a “dangerous and divisive anti-worker agenda” aimed at dismantling compulsory superannuation.

“Real wages growth is expected to return later this financial year as inflation subsides. Average annualized full times earning growth under this government is much stronger than it was under our predecessors, and that’s because, in their own words, lower wages were a deliberate design feature of their economic policy,” he said.

“So workers are earning more under this government, and because of our tax cuts, they’re keeping more as well.

“The Liberals, the Nationals, and One Nation all share a dangerous and divisive anti-worker agenda.

“They also want to end compulsory super for workers.

“The policy of those opposite (is) to end super as we know it, to hack at and to then destroy an essential part of our social and economic architecture, and make people poorer at work and in retirement as a consequence.

“Their hatred of super would decimate the retirement incomes and the economic security of Australian workers.

“Their hatred of super should send a shiver up the spine of every single working Australian in this country.”

There has been a fiery debate in Parliament after the shadow treasurer Tim Wilson asked about newly released ABS data showing the average Australian worker is “$1200 a year poorer” than a year ago.

“Why is the Albanese Labor government making Australians poorer?,” Mr Wilson said in Question Time.

Anthony Albanese responded that Labor was focused on easing cost of living pressures but constantly faced opposition from the Coalition.

“Labor is indeed focused on easing cost of living pressures. All measures that were opposed by those opposite,” he said.

“Whether it’s the tax cuts that came in on July one, whether it’s the measures that have lifted up pulp billing to 84 per cent nationally.

“Whether it’s the 800,000 enrolments in free TAFE, whether it’s the new legislation delivering wage justice for early childhood educators, whether it’s minimum standards and minimum pay for gig economy workers, whether it be expanding paid prac…

“Whether it be the new Fair Work Court that we have announced as well to make sure that workers can be looked after.

“Whether it be the even more cheaper medicines that were added to the PBS.”

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek says the government is working to address tech-facilitated abuse, and raised concerns about the growing prevalence of sexual strangulation in Australia.

“Ending gender-based violence is a priority for our government,” she said.

“We know that escalating rates of sexual violence, particularly amongst young people, are a huge concern that we need to address.

“Almost 40 per cent of victims of sexual assault are between the ages of 10 and 17, and we know that online harms are spilling into real-life harm.

“As the Prime Minister said, sexual strangulation is becoming commonplace because children are seeing violent and degrading pornography before they’ve had their first kiss.

“It’s where they’re getting their sex education from.

“Tech facilitated abuse is exploding.

“We need to work with people who use violence, help those who are willing to change, and for those who aren’t willing to change… who go on and harm one woman after another, throw them in jail.

“Of course, we’re not waiting for the second action plan to take action.

“Our government’s $4.4 billion investment has helped 1400 organisations help close to half a million people.

“We won’t rest. We won’t stop. Every one of us here, every level of government, every community organisation, every school, and every family has a role to play in our aim of ending violence against women and children.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, phone 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Crisis Care Helpline on 1800 199 008.