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Topic:Government and Politics
The government has lined up to dismiss Peter Dutton's nuclear plan ahead of the release of the Coalition's long awaited costings.
Follow all the updates in our live blog.
By Jake Evans
News companies have shed hundreds of jobs since Meta refused to continue paying them, and the opposition says yesterday's announcement of a new tax on the social giants could have been made months ago — before those jobs were lost.
On Thursday, the federal government said it would introduce a tax on social media companies that could be used to fund Australian news media — with an "offset" for the social giants to pay less or zero if they negotiate deals directly with news companies instead.
The tax is a reaction to the owner of Facebook and Instagram, Meta, deciding in March to stop complying with laws that require social media companies to pay for hosting news content on their platforms.
But Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman said in the months since Meta's snub of the code, the government had allowed job losses in the media sector through its delays, because it had not considered the issue a priority.
"The delay is completely inexcusable. It's not the Manhattan Project: this could have been done months and months ago," Coleman told the ABC.
You can read the full story below
By Courtney Gould
We've just received the official alert: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will address the media on the Coalition's long-awaited nuclear costs in around 90 minutes.
Stay tuned.
By Courtney Gould
As they say on cooking shows, here's one we prepared earlier.
Energy reporter Daniel Mercer and climate lead Tim Leslie put together this piece on the numbers that you should keep in mind when thinking about nuclear's place in Australia’s energy transition.
By Courtney Gould
Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Nationals frontbencher Bridget McKenzie were also sent out this morning to spruik the Coalition's nuclear plan.
Ahead of the release of the policy price tag, Peter Dutton said the cost of his plan would be $263 billion cheaper than the transition to renewables. It's based on modelling produced by Frontier Economics which has not been seen by the ABC or published.
They both denied the plan was a "fantasy" and argued it was the only way for Australia to reach its net zero emissions target by 2050.
"Our [plan] is actually going to be a cleaner, cheaper and more consistent plan for our nation to actually make sure we keep those [energy] jobs here at home and get those bills down," McKenzie told the Today Show.
Over on Sunrise, Ley used similar lines while trying to put the heat back on Labor, questioning why the government refused to support nuclear.
"Australians are up for an adult conversation on this," she says.
Both frontbenchers were asked repeatedly if they could say nuclear would bring down energy bills. In response, Ley and McKenzie argued the nuclear roll out would be cheaper.
While Ley said "if the system costs less … pay less", McKenzie declined to give a promise power bills would be cheaper as a result.
"That'll be in the detail later on. I'm not throwing down our costings this morning on the Today Show," the senator said.
By Courtney Gould
Bill Shorten and Jason Clare were also sent out this morning armed with a number of pre-prepared quips designed to dismiss the Coalition's nuclear power plan as a joke.
"Their numbers won't stack up. Mike Tyson once said that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. All I can say about Peter Dutton's plan is, wait until they get punched by the facts," Shorten told the Today Show.
Over on Sunrise, Clare told viewers the plan had "the shelf life of a seafood milkshake" and called it the "biggest hoax since Milli Vanilli".
I've Googled that one so you don't have to. According to Mental Floss, the pop duo was revealed to have not sung a note on their debut album Girl You Know It's True.
By Courtney Gould
Meanwhile, Nationals frontbencher Barnaby Joyce was speaking with ABC's RN Breakfast.
Joyce was repeatedly asked if he could promise power prices would be cheaper if the Coalition wins the next election.
The former deputy prime minister, refused to answer the question directly.
"That is asking for a hypothetical question, which I could answer for you, but I would not be telling the truth, because I don’t have the facts before me," he says.
Asked about why the taxpayer should be taking on all the risk to build nuclear, he says it's not a new thing to ask.
Joyce points to the Snowy Hydro 2.0 scheme, announced back in 2017 by then-PM Malcolm Turnbull with a $2 billion price tag, which has blown out to $12 billion.
He says he knows the Coalition were "part of [it] at the start" but for the cost of all the blow outs, which he says will be $32 billion, they could have built "three nuclear reactos".
The Nationals frontbencher says voters will be wrestling with the high cost of electricity at the next election.
"Here's the two points of truth you have to ask yourself: Is my power bill cheap? Am I happy with what is happening? And is every other country on the globe off their head with nuclear power, or are we actually dragging the train?" Joyce says.
By Courtney Gould
A plan to whack Facebook, Google and TikTok with a fresh tax if the tech giants do not strike deals with media outlets for news content is pretty "simple", Anthony Albanese says.
The government unveiled the tax, which could also apply to Apple and Microsoft, would be applied to the platforms' Australian revenue, but can be reduced to zero if they sign agreements similar to those Google and Meta (the owner of Facebook) signed in 2021, including with the ABC.
Albanese tells ABC Radio Melbourne it's about protecting Australian journalism.
"Australian journalism it is really important that we support journalism now. These social media platforms that … essentially don't have journalists working for them, but produce and earn revenue off that work of journalists, be it across the board, whether it's the ABC or News Limited or the Guardian or the Age, they reprint it, send it out in digital form, and they should pay for journalism," he says.
"It's as simple as that well. Otherwise, we will have, let alone some of the smaller organisations, of course, that people rely upon, your PedestrianTVs and some of these sites as well, primarily news."
By Courtney Gould
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in good spirits as he poked fun at Peter Dutton's nuclear power plan this morning.
"It's Friday the 13th, an auspicious day, I've got to say, for Peter Dutton to drop his nuclear nightmare policy out there," he says.
He says he hasn't had a sneak peek of the policy but disagrees with the argument nuclear would be cheaper than renewables.
"We know this is a plan for the 2040s and in the meantime, I'm not quite sure what he thinks will happen with energy security," he says.
"The truth is that renewables are the cheapest form of new energy. Everyone knows that that's the case."
By Courtney Gould
By Courtney Gould
Labor went to the last election promising to bring down power prices by $275 by 2025. As it fast approaches that self-imposed deadline, Energy Minister Chris Bowen is asked if he regrets making that promise.
He doesn't directly answer the question, instead opting to pivot to talking about the nuclear price tag. What he doesn't regret, he says, is pointing out that renewables will bring prices down.
"I look forward to debating the competing plans before the Australian people at the next election," he says.
News Breakfast host Michael Rowland tries again: "Do you regret promising back then that power prices will be $275 cheaper which they clearly will not be by next year?"
Here's how Bowen responded.
"Well, obviously we're dealing with a different set of circumstances internationally. Australia's increase in energy prices has been less than a lot of other comparable countries. We delivered billions of dollars of energy bill relief which has been the appropriate thing to do, which had been opposed by the Liberal and National Party.
"The next election will be about the plans for the next three years an beyond.
"I mean, what the Liberal Party will propose, is based on what I have read in the newspapers this morning , 38 per cent nuclear by 2050 which will be one of the highest nuclear penetrations in the world, which is the most expensive form of energy, of course, available to any energy system at the moment.
"So good luck to them explaining that to the Australian people."
By Courtney Gould
Energy Minister Chris Bowen has been quick off the blocks this morning, rejecting the Coalition's claim nuclear power will be cheaper than renewables.
As Michelle Grattan, the chief political correspondent at the Conversation, wrote in a piece published on the ABC website this morning, the Coalition's modelling puts the cost of nuclear at $263 billion cheaper than renewables.
The Labor frontbencher says the policy won't pass the pub test, saying the modelling makes "magical assumptions".
"Now, CSIRO and AEMO have been talking about the cost of nuclear since way before we were in office, as being the most expensive form of energy available," he says.
"I mean, fundamentally … what the Coalition is asking the Australian people to believe is this: That they can introduce the most expensive form of energy and it will be end up being cheaper.
"It won't pass the pub test. It won't pass the sniff test because it is just a fantasy."
By Courtney Gould
In the words of Taylor Swift, it's been a long time coming. One has to wonder if the opposition considered today's date, Friday the 13th, when it circled the day on the calendar.
The opposition will today reveal the cost of its nuclear policy, with modelling claiming it will be substantially cheaper than renewable energy.
You can read more about the Coalition's plan below from the Conversation's chief political correspondent Michelle Grattan.
By Courtney Gould
Welcome to our politics live blog. Courtney Gould from the ABC's Parliament House team here to guide you through the day.
Let's dive right in.
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