Australia news LIVE: Liberals, Nationals go cold on nuclear; Experts want treasurer to overhaul tax system to end bracket creep

The most senior Liberal member on the House of Representatives economic committee has spoken out supporting breaking up big businesses, as the Coalition debates its position on the Greens’ proposal to end the duopoly held by the big supermarkets.

The Nationals are the only party to publicly back the Greens’ proposed divestiture powers bill announced last week, which would allow the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the courts to force corporations such as Woolworths and Coles to sell assets if they grew too big and gained too much market power.

In contrast, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is yet to state a position on the Greens’ bill, which will be debated in the Senate this week. However, he has previously said there was a “huge problem” with the supermarkets having a duopoly, and although big businesses had a responsibility to make a profit, there were a few areas where competition policy was not working.

“In the end, the companies have got to make a viable return for their shareholders, otherwise they don’t operate, they don’t employ people, but equally, we need to make sure that consumers are getting value for money and the farmers aren’t being ripped off,” Dutton told 3AW on February 20.

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Returning to Employment Minister Tony Burke, who says it is not uncommon for legislation to be kept away from the media spotlight when it is being negotiated, as the religious discrimination legislation is yet to be released.

Burke told ABC Radio National that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese does not want a “huge divisive debate” about the reforms to religious discrimination, which sparked a political firestorm over gay rights, gender and religious freedom.

Last week, Albanese said he would not present religious discrimination reforms to the parliament unless the bill received bipartisan support.

“It’s not uncommon when negotiations are being discussed in good faith that it’s kept away from the media spotlight,” Burke said.

“We’re going through a constructive process with the opposition to see whether or not there’s a landing place where this can be done in a bipartisan way. That’s a reasonable thing to do. I don’t think there’s too many Australians who are jumping at the chance to start a divisive debate.”

The Australian Law Reform Commission recommended last week the government repeal the entire section 38 of the sex discrimination act to protect LGBTQ teachers from being discriminated against.

Earlier, Treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke about the result of the Tasmanian election, saying the Liberals have little to crow about.

Australia’s only Liberal government, led by Jeremy Rockliff, is on track to win more seats than Labor after Saturday’s state election, but not the 18 required for a majority.

Chalmers told ABC News Breakfast the federal party would have liked to see Labor do better in the state, but it was clear they couldn’t form government at this stage.

“I don’t want to diminish or undermine the really important work that [Tasmanian Labor leader] Rebecca White and her colleagues have been doing, focused on housing and health and the cost of living.”

He said Labor would have hoped for a better outcome, but the final distribution of seats wouldn’t be known for some weeks.

“The biggest conclusion from the outcome in Tasmania was that double-digit swing against the Tasmanian Liberals,” Chalmers said.

“We would have liked to have done better, but the Liberals certainly don’t have anything to crow about.”

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has backed a minimum wage increase for low-paid workers, saying the government wants to see wages go up in line with inflation.

Speaking on Seven’s Sunrise, Plibersek said the government’s submission to the Fair Work Commission’s 2023-24 annual wage review states it wants Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn.

“We want to see them get a wage rise, and we want to see them get a tax cut, so they keep more of those higher wages. At the moment, you know, an Australian on the minimum wage who is working full time is [making] just under $46,000 a year,” Plibersek said.

“It’s pretty hard to make ends meet on that sort of pay. We want to see wages at least keeping up with inflation.”

Speaking on a panel, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce accused the government of failing to properly fix the entire cost-of-living crisis.

“I’m asking for a full delivery of that, rather than just this sort of window dressing,” he said.

Turning now to news about the Tasmanian election, where federal senator Jacqui Lambie said newly elected members of her party would work with the Liberals.

Australia’s only Liberal government, led by Jeremy Rockliff, is on track to win more seats than Labor after Saturday’s state election, but not the 18 required for a majority.

The Greens have three seats and could finish with as many as six, with the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) on two. Two independents are also likely to be elected.

Labor leader Rebecca White, who didn’t concede defeat on election night, said it would be “very hard” for her party to form government.

“We have to form government in some and if they’re [Labor] not going to be in the race, then I guess we have no choice,” Lambie told ABC’s Radio National this morning.

She said she wanted to make sure a government was formed.

“I’m quite sure Tasmanians do not want to go back to re-election over the next two months, that’s not bringing stability.”

Lambie said her party wanted more integrity and transparency for the state parliament, and said a “good start” would be to look at the controversial stadium proposed for Hobart.

“I still cannot come up with a decent reason why it is a priority to have a new stadium with a roof,” she said.

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Staying with Employment Minister Tony Burke, who was questioned about religious discrimination laws after the prime minister vowed to shelve changes unless he gains Coalition support for new rules for thousands of schools and other faith-based institutions.

Burke told RN Breakfast this morning that the government wanted community cohesion.

“The bottom line is we want to be a country where people get along with each other, we want to be a country where people aren’t targeted because they have a particular religious faith – or if they have none,” he said.

“We want to be a country where people aren’t targeted because of sex, where people aren’t targeted because of race, for disability or any of the discriminatory categories,” he said

Burke said religious schools should be able to have the full choice on employing people who share their faith, but once they are employed, all the rights against discrimination should be held by the worker.

He said it was “completely reasonable” to hire people of your own faith at a religious school, when parents are sending their children to that school for that purpose.

The minister said he hoped there would be bipartisan support around the discrimination laws.

“We’re hopeful that there’s bipartisan support, it’s an issue that’s been hanging around a long time, and the country will be in a better position if we get it done.”

Employment Minister Tony Burke says the government’s submission to the Fair Work Commission to increase the minimum wage is about helping improve a decade of wage stagnation.

Speaking on ABC Radio National, Burke said it was a balance between improving wages and making sure inflation keeps decreasing.

“What we’ve been able to do is get wages moving at the same time as inflation has been moderating,” he said.

“The challenge here is to make sure that for the people on low wage, that they don’t go backwards, and for the commission to be able to use the best economic advice to be able to set wage rates.”

While the inflation rate is coming down, economists have warned it could be high for longer. When asked if he was concerned, Burke said that was a matter for the Reserve Bank of Australia.

“This is where I say there are a whole series of issues that the Reserve Bank takes into account. It’s not for me, as the minister, to be second guessing them, but it is our job as a government to make sure that we’ve got the policy settings right to give as much space as possible to the Reserve Bank,” he said.

Health workers in NSW will no longer be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 under a state government plan to phase out vaccine mandates in coming weeks.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said this morning the government would speak to the workforce about removing the mandates enforced during the vaccine rollout in August 2021.

“We know that COVID is still around but we’ve got to get back on with life,” he told Sydney radio station 2GB.

“The best thing every one of us can do at the moment is just keep up to date with our vaccination schedule [and] that includes healthcare workers. But we’ve also got to make sure that we get on with running a health system after COVID, and we can’t continue to operate in the same way that we did in the middle of the pandemic.”

Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant was on board with the changes, he said.

Park said anyone who lost their job due to the mandate would be able to reapply for their job if it was still available or had become vacant.

“They’ll obviously be able to put in an application through that normal process – should we make a decision to drop these mandates.”

Staying with the treasurer, who said inflation was still a major concern for the Reserve Bank but it was moderating.

“We’ll get a monthly [inflation] figure later in the week, it might bounce a little bit up. It might bounce a little bit down. But overall, the direction of travel is really clear,” Jim Chalmers told ABC News Breakfast.

He said consumption had been flat, and the central bank would be focused on that.

“But if you take a step back for a moment and think about the inflation figures and the wages figures we’ve been talking about and the jobs figures – we have a rare trifecta in our economy.

“We have unemployment coming down. Inflation is moderating, and we have real wages growth for the first time in years. All three of those things are good things.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is speaking about the government’s submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review.

He told ABC News Breakfast this morning that Australia’s low-paid workers should not have their wages go backwards.

“Our focus this week and every week is helping to ensure that people can earn more and keep more of what they earn,” Chalmers said this morning.

The treasurer said the focus for the government was ensuring people can earn more, and keep more of what they earn.

“We are enthusiastic supporters of a decent minimum pay increase for Australian low-paid workers so that people can earn more and the tax cuts are all about ensuring that people can keep more of what they earn as well,” he said.

“One of the reasons why we’ve got some welcome and encouraging wages growth in our economy, after a decade of stagnation, is because of the way that we have enthusiastically championed decent pay rises for people on the lowest income.”

The treasurer said the government didn’t see cost-of-living relief “instead of” decent wages growth.