Key events
To close out the conversation Wilson was asked about the internal pressure within the Coalition to abandon support for any policies that might help Australia achieve net zero and address the existential threat posed by climate change.
And so my position, David, is we should make sure that we have net zero outages, net zero price increases, and net zero emissions, because you need to have things in a position of balance of policy to make sure that we can grow the future of the Australian economy, because that’s also the basis of social licence to cut emissions as well. If you don’t have net zero outages and net zero price increases, public support for net zero emissions reduction is also gonna fray.
Recent outages in Australia, such as the 2016 South Australian blackout, have been caused by extreme weather events amplified by climate change, or failures in old fossil fuel infrastructure such as the 2021 Callide C power station explosion.
At the previous election, Wilson narrowly beat a Teal-independent Zoe Daniel who had in-turn been elected over concerns about a failure to address climate change under the previous Coalition government.
And that’s a wrap.
Asked whether he had “some ideas about how to fix the economy?”, Wilson said:
I absolutely do, David.
When prompted, Wilson added:
I’m going to work with my colleagues to make sure we drive them forward as part of a policy package to take to the next election. I’m absolutely committed to making sure we have simplification, to make it easier to employ more Australians, and to raise standards of living, and improve the number of Australians going on to get jobs, and well-paid jobs.
We’ve got big challenges coming ahead around challenges like artificial intelligence and making sure we make workplaces more productive, but also building out the capacity for small businesses to be successful as part of a dynamic economy. So, we’re gonna have these conversations in the coming weeks and months, David.
But the most important thing is that, when we make decisions, our focus is going to be on how we improve and grow the economic pie for the country, David. It’s not gonna be focused on what we’re gonna design the laws to rule things in or out, based on whether we’re paying off and clipping the ticket for our union mates – which has been the basis that this Government has taken for its trade union mates.
Simplification, artificial intelligence, well-paid jobs – a lot of talking points, few policy details.
Wilson would not say whether the Coalition supports a legally-enshrined right to work from home.
Wilson was asked repeatedly about his party’s position on this issue but said there are already rules in place to allow workers and bosses to negotiate.
Well, we’ve made it clear that we believe working from home works best when you have employers and employees working together. Now, there’s already pre-existing arrangements under federal legislation to give workers a pathway to do so.
Asked whether the Coalition opposes similar moves in Victoria, Wilson described the push by the Allen government as “an ill thought out political stunt, not one of substance” for its exclusion of “many different types of workers”.
Wilson was asked five times whether he opposed the Victorian legislation. His response:
It hasn’t been put forward in federal legislation, it’s something in state legislation. And the state legislation, the federal legislation already provides provisions to make sure that Australians can work from home, because we support work-from-home as part of workplace flexibility arrangements.
Wilson was then asked whether he opposed four-day working weeks – a question repeated three times:
Well, if employers and employees want to come together and negotiate arrangements that suit them, that’s a very different thing from what Sally McManus is proposing, where they’re seeking to legislate these sorts of proposals, which they aren’t even adopting themselves.
Wilson also refused to explain his stance over a proposal from some Young Liberals to limit negative gearing to one property.
Tim Wilson: Australian government has written ‘blank cheque’ to Hamas
Any resolution to Israel’s war on Gaza and the broader question about the future of a Palestinian state requires the involvement of the United States and Israel, Coalition MP Tim Wilson says.
Wilson says the government had previously said Hamas could not participate in a future government but it has not made clear how this might be achieved with the decision to recognise a Palestinian state.
What they’ve done is written a blank cheque, very clearly, to those who are sponsoring terror, and, in fact, what it’s actually doing is providing incentives where Hamas as an organisation uses civilians as part of its propaganda efforts, and it’s incentivising more of that conduct into the future. And it will be civilians that will pay the price for that.
Hamas was democratically elected to govern Gaza in elections in 2005.
Wilson: Albanese government has thrown bipartisan position on Palestinian state into ‘turmoil’
The Albanese government stopped engaging with the Coalition before it recognised a Palestinian state, upending what was a bipartisan agreement about the conflict with Israel, Tim Wilson says.
Wilson says there had been an agreement about what was needed to resolve the conflict and there had been preconditions agreed upon.
We’ve taken a long-term bipartisan position around a two-state solution based on a series of pre-conditions that we would expect to be met, like the lasting security in respect for the state of Israel. Like making sure Israeli hostages are returned. Like making sure there isn’t going to be Hamas running any government. We’ve set about pre-conditions and we’ve been very public about that.
Up until last Monday, that was also the position of the government. Now, what the government has done is essentially thrown that into turmoil by making a commitment to recognise a Palestinian state. But not being able to then say if those preconditions are going to be met, that they’re going to back down. There wasn’t the engagement with the opposition up until this point.
I would have thought that, actually having an engagement with the opposition for a lasting policy position from the Australian government would be a sensible way forward. They’ve chosen not to take that path.
Coalition’s Tim Wilson: peace plans for Ukraine must involve Ukraine government
Any decision about the future of Ukraine must involve the Ukrainian government, says Coalition MP Tim Wilson.
Speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers this morning, Wilson reaffirmed his party’s view that “any sort of arrangement needs to be deeply involved in Kyiv”, after US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Because the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia is not something that we’ve ever been prepared to tolerate, and anything going forward needs the Ukrainians on board as part of a lasting resolution towards peace.
Labor and the Coalition have long maintained a bipartisan view that any discussion about the future of Ukraine must involve the Ukrainian government.
Wilson, however, sought to criticise the government for handling its relationship with the US saying “it’s really important that we maintain an active engagement with the United States” saying Australia’s influence with the US had been “weakened this week” – reference to the decision by Australia to recognise a Palestinian state.
Asked whether Australia should not criticise Trump, Wilson said:
I’ve never said that at all. I mean, government is well within its rights to criticise another government if it disagrees. The most important thing is we are in a position to be able to influence it successfully. Sometimes publicly, sometimes privately.
Wilson double sparks remarkable Australia comeback win to stun South Africa
Australia rallied from 22-0 down as Harry Wilson, their captain, scored two tries in a stunning 38-22 bonus-point victory over South Africa in their Rugby Championship opener on Saturday, the Wallabies’ first victory at Ellis Park in Johannesburg since 1963.
South Africa raced into a seemingly commanding lead through tries by the wing Kurt-Lee Arendse, the centre André Esterhuizen and the No 8 Siya Kolisi, but their achilles heel has been the breakdown and it was there that Australia began to take control.
The Springboks led 22-5 at half-time but Australia came alive in the second period and were excellent in soaking up pressure and hitting the world champions with fast breaks as they won on South African soil for the first time in 14 years.
For more on this remarkable comeback, read the full report:
Arrests made after clash between two groups of protesters in Melbourne
Four people have been arrested after a clash between two groups of protesters in Melbourne on Saturday.
A group of about 120 people attended a Women Will Speak rally in the CBD at noon yesterday which was met by a counter protest of 80 people gathering in support of transgender rights.
Three officers were injured as they tried to separate the two protest groups.
The rally organisers said they had gathered to demand the state government “stop conflating sex and gender identity in policy and law”.
Conservative political party Family First encouraged its supporters to attend the Women Will Speak rally, saying the rights of women and girls were being “trampled” by “misguided laws” that protected the rights of transpeople.
Social media accounts belonging to activist group Trans Queer Solidarity encouraged people to attend the counter rally saying the Women Will Speak protest sought to end the existence of trans people. It said the group acted to “pipeline people to the far-right”.
Coalition senator Tim Wilson will speak to ABC Insiders host David Speers this morning.
Earlier, Treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke to Sky News about the government’s economic roundtable. He was followed by Shadow Industry Minister Alex Hawke.
Good Morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
Four people have been arrested after a clash between two groups of protesters in Melbourne on Saturday. A group of about 120 people attended a Women Will Speak rally at noon yesterday which was met by a counter protest of 80 people gathering in support of transgender rights.
A search for four women reported stranded on rocks south of Catherine Hill Bay Beach, Lake Macquarie has been called off after emergency services failed to find anyone. People were called to the area on Saturday afternoon but despite their best efforts the status of the women remains unknown.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
