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The Liberal party brand is no longer “fit for purpose” and has lost its volunteer base on the ground, according to an internal review seen by the Australian. The report says membership numbers have dwindled amid factional battles and it is also expected to conclude that the unpopularity of former prime minister Scott Morrison was a key factor in May election defeat.
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The Australian reports:
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A key recommendation, which the report says was fundamental to the party being competitive at the next election, was the resurrection of a volunteer base and grassroots campaign activity. This, it claims, was a major factor in the party’s inability to defend against teal independents who had swamped key Liberal seats with volunteer brigades of 1500-2000 people.
\n
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Welcome to our rolling coverage of the day’s news. Natasha May will be along soon to take you through the day but in the meantime this is Martin Farrer getting the news rolling along – and these are the stories making the headlines this morning.
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Penny Wong will return to Australia today after what appeared to be a successful trip to Beijing for talks with her opposite number Wang Yi designed to rebuild bridges burned between the two countries in recent years. The foreign affairs minister said she had raised the key issues of human rights and trade during the discussions in Beijing. A joint statement published after the meeting said China and Australia had agreed “to a relationship based on mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and navigating differences”.
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Kathryn Campbell, the former social services department chief who was grilled at the robodebt commission hearings, remains on her top-tier salary package of nearly $900,000 a year, despite no longer managing any people in her new role as roving Aukus adviser. Defence has confirmed Campbell “currently has no direct reports” – meaning people she supervises directly – and “retains conditions of employment from her previous role as secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade”.
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Multiple media outlets have received legal letters from lawyers for Bruce Lehrmann, as the former Coalition staffer begins potential defamation action over coverage of allegations by Brittany Higgins that she was raped in Parliament House in 2019. Guardian Australia has been told by a source close to Lehrmann’s team that media outlets including News Corp Australia, Paramount and the radio station WSFM have been issued with concerns notices.
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Key events
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The Liberal party brand is no longer “fit for purpose” and has lost its volunteer base on the ground, according to an internal review seen by the Australian. The report says membership numbers have dwindled amid factional battles and it is also expected to conclude that the unpopularity of former prime minister Scott Morrison was a key factor in May election defeat.
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The Australian reports:
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\n
A key recommendation, which the report says was fundamental to the party being competitive at the next election, was the resurrection of a volunteer base and grassroots campaign activity. This, it claims, was a major factor in the party’s inability to defend against teal independents who had swamped key Liberal seats with volunteer brigades of 1500-2000 people.
\n
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Welcome to our rolling coverage of the day’s news. Natasha May will be along soon to take you through the day but in the meantime this is Martin Farrer getting the news rolling along – and these are the stories making the headlines this morning.
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Penny Wong will return to Australia today after what appeared to be a successful trip to Beijing for talks with her opposite number Wang Yi designed to rebuild bridges burned between the two countries in recent years. The foreign affairs minister said she had raised the key issues of human rights and trade during the discussions in Beijing. A joint statement published after the meeting said China and Australia had agreed “to a relationship based on mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and navigating differences”.
","elementId":"f8a9d261-bb73-4561-850d-db5d6f28ff4d"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"
Kathryn Campbell, the former social services department chief who was grilled at the robodebt commission hearings, remains on her top-tier salary package of nearly $900,000 a year, despite no longer managing any people in her new role as roving Aukus adviser. Defence has confirmed Campbell “currently has no direct reports” – meaning people she supervises directly – and “retains conditions of employment from her previous role as secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade”.
","elementId":"54d341ad-a091-4671-ab33-50b8b7a4f9e8"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"
Multiple media outlets have received legal letters from lawyers for Bruce Lehrmann, as the former Coalition staffer begins potential defamation action over coverage of allegations by Brittany Higgins that she was raped in Parliament House in 2019. Guardian Australia has been told by a source close to Lehrmann’s team that media outlets including News Corp Australia, Paramount and the radio station WSFM have been issued with concerns notices.
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Filters BETA
New South Wales received the funding connecting Snowy 2.0 and renewable zones in exchange for signing up to the federal government’s energy market intervention, which included the price cap on gas and coal. However, Bowen clarifies:
We’d already been talking about it for a long time before that. You don’t do these deals in a matter of days.
On the matter of ongoing energy deals with other jurisdictions, RN Breakfast host Sarah Dingle asks:
It’s been reported that your talks with Queensland are at an advanced level, what is Queensland going to get to signing up to your intervention?
Bowen:
Queensland have already announced a very ambitious renewable energy plan, which is great.. these negotiations and discussions don’t happen overnight.
Energy minister cites ‘global race on transmission’
Chris Bowen:
We are in a global race on transmission. I mean, everyone in the world is doing this too, so booking in the slots to get the raw materials necessary, the metal, the very high voltage wire, etc, is very important, and it’s a global race.
And so, these funding deals that we’ve announced yesterday together with the deal we announced with Tasmania and Victoria earlier in the year and the deals that we will announce when other states and territories in the not-too-distant future really give the developers the certainty they need to get on with the job.
There’s always going to be challenges particularly around supply chains, labor shortages. That’s why careful planning prudent management is so important to really minimise the risks of those challenges.
‘There’s absolutely no point developing this renewable energy unless we connect it to the grid’
Chris Bowen says the projects and the transmission lines can be built simultaneously.
We have to. That’s got to be our aim – no point having one finished before the other, really.
So, yes, it is about making sure that the transmission matches the development of the projects because there’s absolutely no point developing this renewable energy unless we connect it to the grid. The grid connection is important to bring on that clean, green, cheap renewable energy which is so important.
NSW energy deal to unlock $12bn market benefit, Chris Bowen says
The federal and NSW governments yesterday struck a deal to connect Snowy 2.0 and renewable zones. The deal was made in return for support for the coal price cap.
Energy minister Chris Bowen is speaking to ABC Radio about the deal. Explaining what will be built with the $4.7bn commitment for renewable energy infrastructure in NSW, he says:
This is part of our rewiring the nation commitment that we took to the election to upgrade our grid to make it fit for purpose for a renewable-based grid.
It’s $4.7bn from the federal government, $3.1bn from the NSW government … which will unlock about $12bn of market benefit and also unlock a lot of private sector investment and a lot of renewable energy, particularly in the regions whether it be the central west, or the Hunter Valley, or New England or any New South Wales renewable energy zones.
You can read more about the deal from our state correspondent Michael McGowan:
Australia’s ambassador to China ‘protesting vigorously’ against China’s jail visits ban
Penny Wong confirmed she had raised the cases of the detained Australian journalist Cheng Lei and writer Dr Yang Hengjun, pushing for them to be reunited with their families and the resumption of regular consular access.
AAP has a bit more background about the need for consular access, after a ban on consular visits to jailed citizens was introduced in China due to the massive wave of Covid-19 sweeping the country:
Diplomats have not been able to visit detainees like Australian-Chinese journalist Cheng Lei and writer Yang Hengjun since September, after China enforced a total ban on consular access – for all countries to all prisoners.
Australia’s ambassador to China Graham Fletcher said consular officials were particularly focused on regaining access to detained citizens. He told reporters in Beijing:
At the moment because China is experiencing a surge, it has unfortunately stopped regular access to all prisoners … for all countries. We are protesting vigorously about that.
Wong’s trip to China is the first ministerial visit Fletcher has hosted since former trade minister Simon Birmingham travelled there in November 2019.
The ambassador said he believed Australia was in “good position now” to “repair” the relationship and collaborate on “worthwhile” initiatives:
There are lots of things that Australia and China can work well together on … like climate change, renewables, health.
Fletcher said “China has learned that Australia has a sense of itself and a national interest”.
The ambassador said he believed once Covid-19 was no longer an impediment to international travel, people-to-people connections between China and Australia through business, tourism and education would resume.
Fletcher said he was looking forward to future trade, ministerial, state premier and business leader visits as travel restrictions eased.
Australia and China to resume regular high-level talks
Good morning! Natasha May on deck with you.
Penny Wong last night spoke to her counterpart in Beijing, Wang Yi, in a meeting that lasted 90 minutes.
She told reporters after the bilateral meeting that China and Australia would be resume regular high-level talks:
We’ve continued to put the view that we are able to grow our bilateral relationship and uphold our respective national interests if we navigate our differences wisely, and that is the challenge for this generation.
I did set out our positions on issues which I know are so important to Australians and are important to the government – relevant consular matters, trade blockages, human rights, as well as regional security, international security and the norms and global rules which underpin our prosperity.
There was a discussion about opportunities for further dialogue to work through how we might do what I think is in the best interest of both countries and consumers in both countries.
We have agreed to maintain high-level engagement and we’ve agreed to further dialogue in a range of those areas.
You can read more about that meeting from our foreign affairs correspondent Daniel Hurst:
Liberal party ‘not fit for purpose’, internal report says
Martin Farrer
The Liberal party brand is no longer “fit for purpose” and has lost its volunteer base on the ground, according to an internal review seen by the Australian. The report says membership numbers have dwindled amid factional battles and it is also expected to conclude that the unpopularity of former prime minister Scott Morrison was a key factor in May election defeat.
The Australian reports:
A key recommendation, which the report says was fundamental to the party being competitive at the next election, was the resurrection of a volunteer base and grassroots campaign activity. This, it claims, was a major factor in the party’s inability to defend against teal independents who had swamped key Liberal seats with volunteer brigades of 1500-2000 people.
Good morning
Welcome to our rolling coverage of the day’s news. Natasha May will be along soon to take you through the day but in the meantime this is Martin Farrer getting the news rolling along – and these are the stories making the headlines this morning.
Penny Wong will return to Australia today after what appeared to be a successful trip to Beijing for talks with her opposite number Wang Yi designed to rebuild bridges burned between the two countries in recent years. The foreign affairs minister said she had raised the key issues of human rights and trade during the discussions in Beijing. A joint statement published after the meeting said China and Australia had agreed “to a relationship based on mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and navigating differences”.
Kathryn Campbell, the former social services department chief who was grilled at the robodebt commission hearings, remains on her top-tier salary package of nearly $900,000 a year, despite no longer managing any people in her new role as roving Aukus adviser. Defence has confirmed Campbell “currently has no direct reports” – meaning people she supervises directly – and “retains conditions of employment from her previous role as secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade”.
Multiple media outlets have received legal letters from lawyers for Bruce Lehrmann, as the former Coalition staffer begins potential defamation action over coverage of allegations by Brittany Higgins that she was raped in Parliament House in 2019. Guardian Australia has been told by a source close to Lehrmann’s team that media outlets including News Corp Australia, Paramount and the radio station WSFM have been issued with concerns notices.
