Australia news LIVE: GDP figures show worst economic growth in decades; Dutton faces possible probe over terror leader’s detention

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says politicians should not stoke division after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in question time yesterday compared protests for Palestine to Holocaust deniers.

Labor and the Coalition berated the Greens on Wednesday for lending support to pro-Palestinian activists who have targeted federal MPs and vandalised electoral offices.

During Dutton’s speech, he said: “six million people were gassed in the second world war, and we have got people in our country today out there on university campuses and outside MP’s offices denying that that took place.”

Speaking on Radio National this morning, Chalmers said it was not for him to fact-check Dutton’s claim during question time.

“Our job is to try and calm this division, not stoke it,” Chalmers said.

“That’s certainly what the prime minister’s objective is. [It’s] my objective. [It’s] the government’s objective.”

To international news briefly, a new poll shows almost two-thirds of Americans considered middle class said they are facing economic hardship and don’t anticipate a change for the rest of their lives.

By many traditional measures, the US economy is strong, with robust labour, housing and stock markets, as well as solid gross domestic product growth. But the data doesn’t capture the financial insecurity of millions of households who worry about their future and are unable to save, according to the poll commissioned by the National True Cost of Living Coalition, which was created this year to come up with cost-of-living tools that help gauge economic wellbeing in the US.

In the large poll of 2500 adults, 65 per cent of people earning more than 200 per cent of the federal poverty level – at least $US60,000 ($90,000) for a family of four, often considered middle class – said they are struggling financially.

A sizeable share of higher-income Americans also feel financially insecure. The survey shows that a quarter of people making more than five times the federal poverty level – an annual income of more than $US150,000 for a family of four – worry about paying their bills.

Despite a series of economic reforms by President Joe Biden’s administration and Congress, Americans are experiencing the strain of inflation, stagnant wages, and higher interest rates. Middle-class economic discontent is seen as a lingering vulnerability for Biden’s re-election chances.

Biden, channelling populist outrage for inequality, has called for higher tax rates on businesses and rich Americans. Donald Trump, who claimed to represent forgotten Americans in the 2016 campaign, has pledged tax cuts for the middle class if he is elected in November.

Read more here.

Bloomberg

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to comment on revelations that Opposition Leader Peter Dutton could be investigated by the national security watchdog.

Yesterday, a Victorian Supreme Court judge found when Dutton was home affairs minister, his department failed to disclose scathing reports questioning an assessment tool used to detain terror cell leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika. This flawed assessment was used to prolong Benbrika’s time in jail.

Speaking in Adelaide, Albanese said it is usual practice for him to not comment on ongoing court cases but criticised Dutton for the “dysfunctional” department under his watch.

“It was dysfunctional … we inherited more than a million people in the queue for visas, you had a systematic dysfunction and a shambolic approach,” Albanese said.

Albanese also pushed back from a question about when the government will release a revised direction 99, after Immigration Minister Andrew Giles came under fire last week when the direction was being used to release criminal non-citizens back into the community because of their strong ties to Australia.

“I can confirm that you won’t have that long to wait,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has shut down rumours he will shuffle his ministry, saying his government is stable and orderly.

Asked at an Adelaide press conference if a federal ministry reshuffle was going to happen soon, Albanese responded saying “no”.

“[We’re] the first government in a long while that’s been stable, that’s been orderly, that has done what we said we would do,” he said.

“We said we’d look after people and we’ve done it, we said we’d support AUKUS and we’ve turned what was essentially a framework into something that’s real. We have delivered a budget that is dealing with the immediate concerns that people have of lifting those cost of living pressures.

“My government has been stable, that compares with the shambles that we replaced.”

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles is under particular pressure to keep his portfolio as the opposition calls for his resignation because of government failures to deport foreign criminals.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke in Adelaide this morning to announce a new candidate for the Sturt electorate.

Lawyer and local councillor Claire Clutterham will stand for Labor in the South Australian seat at the next election.

Liberal Party MP James Stevens won Sturt at the last election by a margin of just 0.45 per cent, suffering a 6.42 per cent swing against the party.

The winning margin for the Liberals was only 1,016 votes, reflecting a tightening contest in the seat compared to earlier elections when former cabinet minister Christopher Pyne held the seat.

Pyne won the seat with 55.9 per cent of the primary vote in the 2016 election, for instance.

The Labor primary vote at the 2022 election was 30.7 per cent, while the Liberals gained 43.1 per cent, highlighting the way preferences will be crucial to the outcome at the next election.

“South Australia punches above its weight in our national government, what Claire will do is to bolster that South Australian team, along with the other extraordinary members we have in other electorates here in South Australia,” Albanese said.

“The local member here has sunk without a trace.”

Teal MP for Wentworth Allegra Spender has called for greater support of those with complex mental health issues after speaking with victims of the Westfield Bondi stabbing, saying it’s a legacy they want from the traumatic event.

In April, Joel Cauchi took the lives of six people in the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre before being shot dead by a NSW Police officer. Family members denounced Cauchi’s “truly horrific” mass murder, saying he had been battling mental health issues for most of his life.

Speaking on ABC Radio’s AM program, Spender said since the April Bondi stabbings, there needs to be more support for those with complex mental health issues.

“It’s absolutely tragic … these family members are talking saying, you know, their lives have been ruined by this situation,” she said.

“I’ve been approached in the streets, you know, on email, people just saying ‘this is so hard, we don’t have the answers here’.”

Spender said it is up to the community and politicians such as herself to reform the mental health system.

“These are really complex needs of people that we can, and we must, do better for their families and those people,” she said.

“I feel very strongly having spoken to family members from Bondi Junction, you know, that is what they’re asking as the legacy of that horrific attack.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke at a press conference in Adelaide this morning.

Watch below.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has acknowledged the economy is barely growing, but doesn’t expect Australia to enter a recession as he defends the government’s economic management.

Yesterday, it was revealed that, over the first three months of the year, the Australian economy grew by just 0.1 per cent, taking annual economic growth to 1.1 per cent. It’s the slowest rate of annual growth since December 2020 and the worst rate of growth since the recession in the early 1990s excluding the pandemic.

Appearing moments ago on Channel Nine’s Today program, Chalmers was asked by host Karl Stefanovic whether we’re heading toward a recession. Here is how he responded, edited for length and clarity:

Oh, that’s not our expectation, Karl. We think the economy will continue to grow, but quite softly. You know, those figures that we saw yesterday, were very weak. You know, the economy barely grew in the first three months of the year. We knew it was going to be weak. And that was the case. And I think it rings true for a lot of your viewers, too, Karl. You know, people know that the economy is soft and they are under pressure. And that’s why the budget was really important. The budget is all about fighting inflation, but also providing help for people when the economy is soft.

Chalmers was then asked if immigration was the only reason Australia wasn’t in a recession already, as Stefanovic pointed out GDP per capita had regressed. In response, Chalmers pointed to interest rate rises as the main handbrake on the economy:

Karl, there’s a whole range of factors you can point to, in the absence of which, growth would be even weaker. You know, the growth figure for the first three months of the year was 0.1 per cent. And so any contribution to that growth is welcome, but what we’ve seen over the last 12 months or so is the impact of these rate rises that are in the system. The rate rises began before the election and continued after. And, you know, we’ve spoken about it before. That’s putting people under a lot of pressure and it’s slowing the economy as well. There are some other factors too. And so really, from our point of view, the most important thing to do is to fight this inflation without smashing the economy and to provide this cost-of-living help in the most responsible way. And that’s what we’re doing.

Peter Dutton could be investigated by the national security watchdog after a Victorian Supreme Court judge found that, under his watch as home affairs minister, the department failed to disclose scathing reports questioning an assessment tool used to detain terror cell leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika.

Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said on Wednesday that she had concerns there had been “a serious interference with the administration of justice”, and she was referring the matter to the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor.

Hollingworth was scathing of the conduct of the Australian Federal Police and the Department of Home Affairs for not sharing the expert reports with Benbrika’s legal team.

Dutton is now opposition leader but oversaw the Australian Federal Police and Home Affairs as part of a broad law-and-order portfolio from late 2017 to March 2021. During this period, an order extending Benbrika’s prison term was handed down and the matter was litigated in Victoria.

Read more here.

One set of numbers can change an entire economic narrative – and not for the better.

Just a month ago, the Reserve Bank was noting that household savings were increasing, a sign that people were socking away cash in their bank accounts to take advantage of higher interest rates.

So confident was it, the bank revised up its forecasts for the nation’s household savings ratio – the proportion of net disposable income that is not consumed by households – in its most recent outlook on the economy, from 0.9 per cent to 3.2 per cent for the final three months of 2023.

By the middle of this year, it reckoned the savings rate would still be about 3.2 per cent before increasing by year’s end. But that version of the economy took a battering on Wednesday when the Australian Bureau of Statistics said nope, household savings are actually much, much lower than we thought.

Read more of Shane Wright’s analysis here.