5&5: Don’t try that with uranium

Both the House and the Senate were back this week...

My guest on the podcast this week is Jerome Laxale, the Labor MP for Bennelong - you can listen here.

Here’s the 5&5.

BEST

  1. July 1 cost of living relief

  2. Lisa Chesters’ win for women

  3. Anne Aly on ECEC

  4. Jerome’s Reggae Day

  5. Julian Assange

WORST

  1. Nuclear nonsense

  2. Don’t try that with uranium

  3. NDIS and housing delay

  4. Missed it by that much!

  5. Fletch happened again

1. A tax cut for every taxpayer. A pay rise for 2.6 million workers. Energy bill relief. Cheaper medicines. Two extra weeks of paid parental leave for new parents. All starting on July 1. While Peter Dutton is off talking about nuclear reactors, the Government is busy delivering real and immediate cost-of-living relief. As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Question Time on Monday: “This isn’t the beginning of our cost-of-living help and it’s certainly not the end."

2. Lisa Chesters pointed out July 1 would be a big day for women. Ninety per cent of women will receive a bigger tax cut under Labor than they would have under the Liberals. And women will be the biggest beneficiaries of the rise in the minimum wage too: “Of Australian workers who rely upon the minimum wage, 56.7 per cent are women. They are our cleaners, our retail workers, our ECEC educators, our dental nurses and our pharmacy assistants, just to name a few. They are going to get not only a tax cut that those opposite would have denied them but also a pay increase."

4. My podcast guest Jerome Laxale pointed out there were lots of exciting things happening on July 1: “Firstly, it's Territory Day, and I'm sure our friends in the Northern Territory will have a good time. For dad-joke experts like me, it's International Joke Day on 1 July, and I'll be diligently observing that. And, for the Bob Marley fans, it's International Reggae Day. But do you know what the most important thing about 1 July is? It will see Australians get much-needed cost-of-living relief."

5. A cross party group co-chaired by Labor’s Josh Wilson and independent Andrew Wilkie has been working to secure the release of Julian Assange. As Assange was boarding a plane bound for Australia, Wilkie asked the PM if he welcomed the end of the long-running saga. The PM responded: “Regardless of your views about his activities - and they will be varied - Mr Assange’s case has dragged on for too long. I have said repeatedly that there was nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration. I am pleased that he is on his way home to Australia to reunite with his family … This outcome has been the product of careful, patient and determined work. Work I am very proud of."

1. While the Government was busy delivering cost-of-living help, Peter Dutton spent all week in Parliament obsessing over his so-called “plan” to build nuclear reactors a couple of decades from now. We don’t know how much they’ll cost. We don’t know what he’ll do with the nuclear waste. And we don’t know how he intends to overcome the state bans on nuclear energy. All we do know is nuclear power would add to household energy bills because it’s the most expensive form of energy. Other than all that, great plan Peter! And all because the Liberals can’t bring themselves to support renewable energy. As the PM explained first thing in Question Time on Monday: “We know that the cheapest form of new energy is renewables. And Australia is home to some of the greatest sources of renewable energy in the world: sunshine and wind—and the Leader of the Opposition's anger and negativity, a great source of renewable energy that has no end and that is used every single day."

2. The PM reminded the chamber that the Liberals’ hatred of renewables once led to them waving around a lump of coal in Question Time: “I will give you another big tip: don't try that with uranium.”

3. You may have heard Dutton saying their nuclear reactors would only generate enough waste to fit into a can of Coke. But as Chris Bowen said in Question Time on Thursday: “I heard it the first time and thought everybody can make a mistake. Five times now he’s said it. What’s the real figure? It's 12,500 cans of Coke a year. Just 12,499 out you are!” Pat Conroy interjected: “Missed it by that much."

4. Two really important issues with serious consequences are both being blocked in the Senate by an alliance of the Coalition and the Greens party: NDIS reforms and housing support. As Bill Shorten told the chamber the delay in passage would cost more than $1 billion: “That could pay for the packages of 60,000 children on the scheme in a year.” And as Julie Collins explained, every day that new housing supply is delayed is another day of increased pressure on rents and house prices.

5. Fletch happened again. On Monday the hapless Manager of Opposition Business Paul Fletcher tried to suspend standing orders to bring on the introduction of a Bill … that was already on the list for me to introduce next. Yes, you read that right. He moved a suspension to make something happen what was already about to happen - and the only reason it wasn’t happening was because he moved a motion to make it happen. Oh, Fletch.

Both Houses will be back next week for the final sitting before the July break.

‘til then,

Tony

PS. I had the privilege to introduce Australian musician Tones & I at a Spotify function at Parliament House this week. Earlier this year Tones became the first female artist in the world to achieve 3 billion streams of her song Dance Monkey on Spotify. I’ve chosen a different Tones song as my Song of the Week though. In honour of Peter Dutton’s nuclear meltdown, here’s “Just A Mess."

Tony Burke