Australian news live: Joyce claims he’s added to ‘acceptability’ of One Nation; economists warn rates hike likely ‘not one and done’

From 2h agoBarnaby Joyce says his defection to One Nation contributed to party’s ‘surge’ in supportBarnaby Joyce, who yesterday told the Coalition to get back together in the House of Representatives, says he’s added to the surge in support for One Nation since he defected in December.Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, he also says he’s added to the “acceptability” of the fringe party. I’m definitely part of it … I’m not going to go with faux modesty, I think I’m part of it. It gives people licence that they have the capacity to, I don’t know, go to dinner and say, “actually I’m a One Nation voter”. On whether he thinks there will be other Nationals MPs joining Joyce in defecting to One Nation, he says: No, I don’t. What they’re following is obviously the policies of One Nation and they’re following policies of One Nation because the policies obviously resonate with the community as reflected in the polls. An example of Joyce’s point here is when Liberal MP Phil Thompson introduced an amendment to Labor’s antisemitism laws last month, to ban the burning of the Australian flag. His amendment looked practically identical to an amendment that Joyce was also putting forward for One Nation. Thompson’s amendment was voted down by the government, and Joyce’s was dropped because it was essentially the same.One Nation member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, in the House of Representatives. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPKey events1h agoVictorian government announces free ADHD top-up scripts1h agoNationals not a ‘faction’ of the Liberal Party, says Littleproud2h agoRBA rate hike ‘not one and done’, economists say2h agoBarnaby Joyce says his defection to One Nation contributed to party’s ‘surge’ in support2h agoLabor ‘mindful’ of government role in spending, finance minister says3h agoAustralian prison population hits eight-year high, with deaths by ‘unnatural causes’ highest in five years3h agoLiberal party can go it alone, says deputy leader3h agoBattery installs increase four-fold off the back of federal subsidy, report says3h agoGood morningShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureAbdel-Fattah to appear with Louise Adler at ‘Not Writers’ Week’ festival in AdelaideLeaving federal parliament for a moment, Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah will appear at the Constellations or ‘Not Writers’ Week’ festival in conversation with former Adelaide Writers’ Week Director, Louise Adler on 1 March.The Constellations event has been created last minute by a grassroots group of authors, publishers and booksellers in Adelaide after the Adelaide writers’ week was cancelled.Abdel-Fattah’s invitation to appear at the writers’ festival was revoked, leading to Adler quitting her position as director, and the festival being cancelled entirely.Abdel-Fattah will also appear in the ‘Rivers of Reason: Blak & Arab Writers in Conversation’ event alongside other writers including Melissa Lucashenko, Dr Chelsea Watego, Ali Cobby Eckermann, and Daniel Nour.Coal lobby-backed campaign group a ‘textbook example of Liberal astroturfing’ says independent MPIndependent MP Sophie Scamps, a “teal” who ousted former Liberal Jason Falinski in a blue-ribbon Sydney seat, has attacked campaign group Australians for Prosperity that was almost entirely funded by a coal lobby group.Guardian Australia analysis of the Australian Electoral Commission’s transparency register found Australians for Prosperity, which attacked Labor, the Greens and teal independent candidates were backed by Coal Australia. Australians for Prosperity is connected with former Liberal MPs Falinski and Julian Simmonds.Scamps told Guardian Australia “voters deserve honesty”. Australians for Prosperity is a textbook example of Liberal Party astroturfing. While it claims to be a grassroots movement “backed by Australians”, it emerged suddenly just before the last election with the purpose of attacking teal candidates advocating for climate action … It’s well overdue the Liberal Party came up with a few policies instead of relying on misleading tactics to win support. In pictures: here’s who was roaming around the press gallery this morningMinister for Finance Katy Gallagher speaks to journalists in the Press Gallery. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien in the Press Gallery at Parliament House. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPNationals Leader David Littleproud speaks to journalists after an interview on Sky News Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPBenita KolovosMore on yesterday’s Melbourne train disruptionsWe have some further info from Metro Trains on yesterday evening’s peak hour delays on the lines that travel through the new Metro Tunnel, which left some commuters trapped on trains for two hours.They have confirmed the issues began at 5pm, when a fault on the overhead power supply on the network in Armadale affected trains on the Cranbourne and Pakenham line. The fault also stopped trains going through the Metro Tunnel and a section of the Sunbury line, as Metro Trains needed to suspend the line between West Footscray and Caulfield to undertake repairs.Metro Trains said the two trains closest to the fault were halted and passengers were required to stay on board until the situation was safe. For one train, this was a 90-minute wait and for the other, a two-hour wait before they were helped off and had to walk to nearby Malvern station.Passengers rush to board a train at Flinders Street station. Photograph: Joshua Stanyer/SOPA Images/ShutterstockAlbanese: Beer excise freeze a ‘cost of living measure’The bells have rung and the House and Senate are sitting, but there’s not a whole lot of drama happening so far today.The prime minister is giving a speech to the House on Labor’s beer excise freeze that will knock about one cent off a mid-strength pint, which he’s branded a cost-of-living measure. The beer tax will frozen for two years.Anthony Albanese says: It took a Labor government to freeze the beer excise making sure that this was just part of our cost of living measures that we implemented, not just talking about cost of living pressures, but doing something about it … It’s a way of people getting through their university days or just working part-time for people when they’re raising a family as well. So good for our economy, good for our jobs, good for our local community as well. And that’s why, from the front part of the beer garden, when you raise a glass, you can do so, knowing that our government won’t be raising the price over that two years. Again, the freeze will save about 18 cents on a 48-litre keg of mid-strength beer.The legislative agenda is a little on the thin side at the moment, also on the notice paper is the bill to establish the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (Atec) which was supposed to be established last month, and a bill to give coal mining workers long service leave.Labor are probably pretty happy that the focus remains on the Coalition’s messy split.Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Paul Braven/AAPBenita KolovosVictorian premier apologises after major delays on Metro Tunnel’s second day of full serviceThe Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has apologised for yesterday’s major delays on the lines that travel through the Metro Tunnel, which only ramped up to full capacity on Monday.During the evening peak on Tuesday, Metro Trains suspended services on the Sunbury line and there were major delays on the Cranbourne/Pakenham lines due to a problem with overhead wires near Armadale. Both lines run through the new tunnel.Allan says: As Metro Trains has also done this morning, I’d like to acknowledge and apologise to those passengers who had had a really difficult experience last night as a result of a fault of the train network, and the investigations are continuing as to what was behind the cause of the disruption last night. Victorian government announces free ADHD top-up scriptsBenita KolovosThe Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference this morning to announce free top-up prescriptions for people with ADHD.Under the plan, if someone with an existing ADHD diagnosis needs a new prescription urgently and can’t see their regular doctor, they will be able to dial into the Victorian virtual emergency department and have a free consultation.The doctor will verify their current medication and dosage and send the prescription to their local pharmacy. The one-off refill will be for at least 30 days and up to six months.It follows the announcement of a $750,000 plan yesterday to train GPs to be able to diagnose and prescribe medication for adults and children with ADHD.Both changes come into effect in September. Allan says: We’re doing this because we don’t want parents or kids to get caught out. We heard from Bronwyn yesterday about how she had to keep her little boy home from school for a couple of weeks when he had run out of the medication. Jacinta Allan and Mary-Anne Thomas speak to media on Tuesday. Photograph: Michael Currie/AAPThe health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, says: There are a range of reasons why people might not be able to access their medication, their script may have run out, they may have lost their script. This happens to the to all of us at any given time, but we know that there are real consequences for missing a medication that is designed to be taken every day, and that’s where the Victorian virtual emergency department … can step in to meet the needs of Victorians wherever they live. Nationals not a ‘faction’ of the Liberal Party, says LittleproudConversations are ongoing over whether the Liberals and Nationals can settle their messy divorce.The ball is now in the Nationals’ court, after Sussan Ley wrote them an offer yesterday with several conditions – the two main conditions being that shadow cabinet solidarity must be obeyed, and that the three former Nationals frontbenchers who crossed the floor face continued punishment. Ley says there will be another meeting between the two leaders today.David Littleproud is speaking to Sky News, and says he won’t “rule anything in or out” on Ley’s conditions for the Coalition to reform, but says he wasn’t happy about those terms being made public. I’m not going to rule anything in or out. What I’m saying is that we’ll do that behind closed doors. We’ll do that in a constructive way within our room. And I don’t intend to give a running commentary of where our room is with respect to that, I don’t think that’s respectful, not only to my room, but it’s not respectful to the Liberal Party either. So the fact is, we didn’t really want any of these out in the media at all, to be candid. Littleproud stands by his argument that there wasn’t a proper party room process before the hate speech bill (which is what kicked off the whole separation).David Littleproud. Photograph: Darren England/AAPShadow cabinet solidarity was one of the key sticking points when the Coalition first split in May, and Littleproud says the Nationals shouldn’t have to be “subservient” to the Liberals. We’re not a faction of the Liberal Party, we’re the National party. The Coalition is not one party, and there’s this cultural mindset in Canberra and particularly in some of the commentary, that we should be subservient. We shouldn’t have our views, but we should as National party members, we have different values, different principles, at times, on different issues, to the Liberal Party, and we’re paid to come here and to express them. RBA rate hike ‘not one and done’, economists sayPatrick ComminsThe Reserve Bank’s rate hike on Tuesday does not look like a case of “one and done”, NAB economists are warning this morning, with financial markets pricing in another move higher at the May meeting.The Aussie dollar jumped back over 70 US cents and regained three-year highs overnight in a further sign that investors believe the RBA has further work to do to get inflation back under control in 2026.While the RBA’s governor, Michele Bullock, said that Tuesday’s rate move was an “adjustment” rather than the start of a new hiking cycle, markets are even factoring in a solid chance of a third increase by the end of the year.NAB’s head of markets research, Skye Masters, wrote: NAB expects the RBA to deliver another 25bps [0.25 percentage points] rate hike in the cash rate at the May meeting, and while governor Bullock did not want to signal that this was the start of a series of rate increases, NAB recognises that the risks are biased towards more than 50bps of hikes [in 2026]. Natasha MayAction needed to stop private health insurers offering doctors ‘take it or leave it’ contracts, peak body saysThe peak medical body is calling for regulation to prevent private health insurer’s “abuse” of their market power when creating contracts with doctors.In a new position statement released today, the Australian Medical Association says insurers must be prohibited from offering doctors ‘take it or leave it’ contracts, which they say limits patient choice and increases out of pocket costs.Approximately 97% of procedures performed in private hospitals are conducted by doctors working under ‘no gap’ or ‘known gap’ agreements with private health insurers.The AMA’s federal president, Dr Danielle McMullen, said: If a doctor does not sign because the insurer’s remuneration is too low or charges just $1 more than the insurer is willing to pay, the insurer will then slash the medical benefits they would pay to patients and blame it on doctors’ fees. Yet for most insurers, medical benefits haven’t been indexed and the ‘known gap’ contract limit of $500 hasn’t changed for years, meaning that doctors are being asked to sign contracts that do not reflect the current costs of providing care. This is deceptive and unfair and leads to higher out-of-pocket costs for patients. Chalmers pours some cold water on capital gains tax reportsAs we brought you earlier this morning, there are some reports the government could be considering changes to the 50% capital gains tax discount for property investors. The tax discount is being looked at by a Greens-led Senate inquiry.Jim Chalmers was stopped by reporters as he was walking into parliament this morning – which is notable, if I can take you briefly down memory lane. During sitting weeks, reporters used to hang out by the Senate and House entrances every morning trying to question pollies as they walked in. But there are other ways for politicians to enter parliament without facing a barrage of questions, and so this practice has somewhat diminished over time.For Chalmers to enter through the Reps doors might mean there was something he particularly wanted to say this morning, and he used the opportunity to temper expectations on the reporting around capital gains tax discount changes. We haven’t changed our policy on capital gains. That committee work is ongoing, and any further changes to taxes beyond those we’ve already flagged would be a matter for cabinet in the usual way. We’ve got other priorities when it comes to tax reform, cutting income taxes, standard deduction, a fairer superannuation system from top to bottom, making sure we’re getting the multinational tax regime right. Those are our priorities. That’s something that the Senate committee is looking at … We’ve made it very, very clear that our focus in housing is on building more homes. It’s on the supply side. Lisa CoxCigarette butts Australia’s most littered individual item, Clean Up Australia annual survey findsCigarette butts have become Australia’s most littered item according to the annual Clean Up Australia litter report, which counts rubbish found in Australia’s streets, parks, bushlands and waterways.Cigarette butts, which are made of plastic, accounted for 23.6% of all counted individual litter items, up 3.5% on the 2023-24 results and overtaking soft plastics wrappers (18.6%), followed by plastic bags (8.7%).Clean Up Australia’s chair, Pip Kiernan, said the increase was “troubling” and an estimated 8.9bn butts were littered in Australia every year: Many in our community don’t know that the butts are actually made of plastic, and when littered, they shed microfibres, leach toxic waste, and take up to 30 years to decompose. Plastics continued to be the most common major type of litter found at 80.8% of all counted litter.Soft plastics as a category of litter remained a significant problem, accounting for 30.5% of litter surveyed, while packaging of various types accounted for 59.5%.Kiernan said the pervasiveness of plastic showed “we cannot simply recycle our way out of this challenge” and packaging reforms to reduce production of single-use plastics were needed.Vapes were found at 33.5% of sites surveyed, a figure that Clean Up Australia said had increased by 23.5% over three years “highlighting the pressing need for a nationwide safe disposal system”.Used cigarette butts on the pavement in Sydney. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAPBarnaby Joyce says his defection to One Nation contributed to party’s ‘surge’ in supportBarnaby Joyce, who yesterday told the Coalition to get back together in the House of Representatives, says he’s added to the surge in support for One Nation since he defected in December.Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, he also says he’s added to the “acceptability” of the fringe party. I’m definitely part of it … I’m not going to go with faux modesty, I think I’m part of it. It gives people licence that they have the capacity to, I don’t know, go to dinner and say, “actually I’m a One Nation voter”. On whether he thinks there will be other Nationals MPs joining Joyce in defecting to One Nation, he says: No, I don’t. What they’re following is obviously the policies of One Nation and they’re following policies of One Nation because the policies obviously resonate with the community as reflected in the polls. An example of Joyce’s point here is when Liberal MP Phil Thompson introduced an amendment to Labor’s antisemitism laws last month, to ban the burning of the Australian flag. His amendment looked practically identical to an amendment that Joyce was also putting forward for One Nation. Thompson’s amendment was voted down by the government, and Joyce’s was dropped because it was essentially the same.One Nation member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, in the House of Representatives. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPMeanwhile, Ted O’Brien is also making moves across the Parliamentary press gallery, and lands in the RN Breakfast studio.He says he doesn’t buy the government’s argument that private spending is driving inflation. I accept what the RBA governor said in the press conference yesterday that she did, which is you see both private and public spending increasing and hitting up against basically the speed limit of the economy. Both are having an enormous impact. But mostly, I believe it’s government spending because government spending has been running about four times the pace of the economy itself in the last financial year, running about twice the pace of the economy in this financial year. So what would the opposition do? O’Brien says there need to be tighter “fiscal rules” around spending. On specific areas to cut, he says the opposition would cut the electric vehicle fringe benefits tax and net zero authority which would save around $5bn.Government’s job to minimise pressure on households, Gallagher saysKaty Gallagher moves from one end of the ABC office to the other, now appearing on ABC News Breakfast off the back of her RN interview.Host James Glenday says Gallagher got the “short straw” in having to front up to the media on the difficult news.The finance minister says she understands yesterday’s rates decision will hit families hard: The government understands the decision taken yesterday by the independent Reserve Bank will hit those homes … they’re under pressure, we understand that. So, the job for the government really is to, in the upcoming budget, continue to roll out some of the cost of living help that we’ve already rolling out. And to continue to manage, the budget in a responsible way, to minimise some of those pressures on households. So where is the inflation coming from?Gallagher says private sector demand is contributing to the heat in the economy: If you go and have a look at governor’s statement and the statement on monetary policy, I mean, the surprise element if you like in the some of the pressure on inflation, the bank does put down to increase in private demand. And so, that is the issue really they’ve been grappling with in their decision. Will the government announce some bold economic reforms in the budget?RN Breakfast host, Sally Sara, asks Katy Gallagher whether there will be some big, meaty economic reform come May (which is when the budget will be released).The question gets a small, dry chuckle from Gallagher, but she sidesteps the question. That’s why we held an economic reform roundtable as one of the first things we did on coming back to government, there was another range of ideas that came through that. And as you would expect, and I’ve heard the treasurer and the PM say this in recent days around reform, that is part of our thinking in the budget process as well.