Ted O’Brien is back! Awwww, we have missed Ted.

Ted wants to know:

“Can the Prime Minister provide a single example of an Australian family had a has received a $275 cut to their power bill? As was promised before the last election nearly 100 times?“

The Coalition and Labor benches both make a lot of noise.

Anthony Albanese doesn’t help that by answering with:

“I note that all Australian households, including that of the honourable member, got $300, as a direct result, as a direct result of our Government’s policy.”

He then sits down. The Coalition finds this OUTRAGEOUS. The questions move on.

Anthony Albanese takes the question in a different direction, and says:

“We do need to invest in those measures. We also need to invest in projects that help reduce the risk much damage to homes and businesses, that will put that downward pressure on insurance premiums. When I was in Darwin on Christmas day, one of the things that occurred with the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy, that tragedy – as Darwin was built back, it was built back to be more cyclone resilient, as opposed to what was there 50 years earlier which just saw massive damage that could have been less had that not occurred.

So we do need to invest. We also are working with insurance companies through, for example, the hazards insurance partnership brings together the Australian Government and the insurance sector, creating a forum so that we can talk about how we can reduce those insurance premiums because we know that it is having a real impact and I thank the member for the ongoing interest in these serious issues.“

Or – and hear us out here, we could stop approving new coal and gas projects. REVOLUTIONARY

Independent Warringah MP Zali Steggall asks about the worsening impacts of climate disasters and the increasing difficulty in insuring against them.

You can read about some of those issues, here:

Around the world, climate change is increasing the costs of insurance and Australia is no exception.

Between 2022 and 2023, the average home insurance premium in Australia rose by 14%, the biggest rise in a decade.

Major floods in eastern Australia pushed insured losses in 2022 to a record $7 billion, almost double previous records. Perhaps more alarmingly, since 2013, insured losses in each year have exceeded the combined losses of the five years from 2000 to 2004.

Modelling from The McKell Institute estimated that the direct cost of natural disasters in Australia could reach $35 billion per year (in 2022 dollars) by mid-century, an average of more than $2,500 per household per year. However, such averages hide more than they reveal. In areas at high risk of extreme weather events, insurance costs are multiples of national averages.

Michael Sukkar asks Anthony Albanese:

“My question is to the Prime Minister. On what date was the Prime Minister first advised of the planned mass casualty terror attack against Sydney’s Jewish community?“

That is because we know that the PM was told of the find and investigation a lot earlier than it went public (NSW police said they went public earlier than they wanted after a leak to News Corp about the find and investigation.)

Albanese chooses his words very carefully here:

“I thank the member for his question and it goes to national security issues. On our national security, there are two priorities. The first priority is, of course, keeping the public safe. The second and related principle is that we engage with the Australian Federal Police and the national intelligence agencies, we don’t go out there and brief about national security committee meetings.

We don’t – we don’t discuss those details because it’s an ongoing investigation. (There are interjections from the Coalition here)

…What you do when you have an ongoing investigation is that you take the advice of the Australian Federal Police and the ASIO Director-General. And that is precisely what I have done the whole way through.

Now, the Leader of the Opposition is always made available briefings when they’re requested. He’s not requested a briefing from – at this time. He has had, he said on Sunday, that he had text messages with the ASIO Director-General. When asked by David Speers what was in those text messages, he quite rightly – quite rightly – refused the say, because that’s how you deal with these things. This isn’t some game.

This isn’t some game and it should not be about politics. And quite frankly, it is astonishing…”

Sukkar has a point of order:

“On relevance – we’ve asked for the date, not the detail. The date. And Premier Minns made the date clear, so I’m sure that the Prime Minister is not accusing Premier Minns of having done anything improper.”

And Albanese continues:

“There are some people who, in the past, have understood why these issues are important, that we back up our National Security Agencies rather than seek to undermine them.

And one of those was, indeed, quoted in February 2022 when the former government was in place. [Albanese reads from an old article] ‘The chair of Parliament’s joint committee [which included] the Liberal Senator James Patterson has rebuked defence minister Peter Dutton for referencing classified information during last week’s hyperpartisan brawling over national security’.

Of course, that was when the Leader of the Opposition was claiming both open source and other intelligence I see, confirmed that Labor was somehow, according to him, Beijing’s pick at the 2022 election. That, of course, was before he became pro-China just last week.”

Albanese runs out of time, but what he is referencing at the end there is the Coalition’s reverse ferret on issues pertaining to China, after focus groups found that the Chinese-Australian community are fans of the normalising of relations between Australia and China under the Albanese government but are not overly fans of the Coalition’s reaction to China. And now that the Coalition want to win back seats like Chisholm, suddenly China isn’t as interesting to the Coalition as the Big Bad of security threats. Funny that.

Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie has the next crossbench question and asks:

Between June 2022 and June 2024, the Australian population increased by 1.19 million, 4.4%. Over that time, Commonwealth supported places for medicine have effectively stayed the same with 1-in-3 GPs set to retire, the AMA has forecast a shortfall of 10,000 GPs in Australia. Will you urgently lift the number of Commonwealth-supported places to study medicine to help address the doctor shortage in Australia?

Jason Clare responds:

“Can I thank the member for her question as she would know in budget two years ago, we allocated extra places for medical studies at university, that’s thing we did in consultation with the Minister for Health, that’s something that’s always under consideration by this Government.

As I have said in this chamber many times, I want more people to get a crack at going to university or go to TAFE. That’s why we’re making the changes that we are whether it’s making TAFE free which the opposition are opposed to or whether it’s cutting the cost of university by cutting student debt by 20%. In December, we released the midyear economic update where we allocated additional funding to university to help more young people get a crack at going to university including – and I know this is important to the member because she’s contacted me on a number of occasions about young people being able to study far away from capital cities – the announcement we made yesterday around a university study hub at Kangaroo Island is a classic example of that.

Extra funding to help children from poor backgrounds and from regional Australia to get the support they need not just to start a university degree, but to finish it, real demand-driven needs-based funding to help more students not just start a degree, but finish it so that we get the doctors that we need, the teachers that we need, the nurses that we need, the psychologists that we need, the social workers that we need – all of the skilled workforce that we need to build Australia’s future.”

The prime minister though doesn’t have a Grogs (who should be resting!) on staff and so instead answers that question on the inflation rate.

Albanese:

“Indeed it, goes to cost of living and it goes to inflation. And what we know is that inflation is now at 2.4% – less than in the bottom half of what the Reserve Bank range of 2% to 3%, their target range, is. We know that when we were elected, it had a “6” in front of it. And of course, the price of all goods and services feed into those inflationary figures. We know, as well, that the underlying rate is down to 3.2%. And we know, as well, that the response of those opposite has been to never be more upset than when inflation was going down. Never be more upset. They went out there…”

Ley wants the number though and raises a point of order:

“The Prime Minister appears to be in some parallel universe. These figures are readily available. It’s a question about the increase in the percentage rate, by percentage rate, of the cost of food since Labor was elected.“

(Sussan Ley accusing someone else of being in a parallel universe is quite funny)

Milton Dick says it is up to Albanese if he gives the figure or not, but he has to be relevant. Albanese is not relevant. Michael Sukkar is very upset. Dick puts on what everyone in Queensland politics knows is his ‘Dugald’ (his given first name) voice and tells Sukkar he’ll rule as he sees fit. Albanese continues on inflation.

These people all earn at least $200,000 a year.

Back to the mess that is the first federal QT of the year and it is Sussan Ley time! Hi Sussan!

“Prime Minister, by what percentage has the cost of food increased since the election of the Albanese Labor government?”

We can answer that!

Food and non-alcoholic beverage have gone up 12% since June 2022

But in June 2020 they were going up 5.9% a year, now they are rising at 3.0%

And then there is that whole price gouging thing and also the revelations of Coles and Woolworths taking turns in having ‘sales’.

While we have been concentrating on question time, there has been moves in NSW politics:

NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen has resigned. As AAP reports:

A senior minister accused of repeatedly using taxpayer-funded drivers for non-work purposes has bowed to increasing pressure and quit cabinet.

NSW Premier Chris Minns had defended Transport Minister Jo Haylen after a series of car-related scandals in which she tasked a driver to take her to a boozy winery lunch and drop her children off at weekend sport in Sydney.

But Ms Haylen announced she would quit her cabinet post on Tuesday afternoon while continuing to serve in her local electorate.

“I’ve made some mistakes, people aren’t perfect,” she told reporters.

“I did not break the rules, but I acknowledge that’s not the only test here … I’ve let the public down and I’m very sorry for that.”

For reasons which escape me, apparently the biggest issue facing the nation at the moment is….Schnitty Tax Breaks.

Angus Taylor asks ANOTHER question asking about the tax breaks for big business when it comes to catering their meetings (I can not believe I just typed that sentence).

Treasurer, a large company can cater for a lunch with food and alcohol in its boardroom worth thousands of dollars and can claim that cost as a tax deduction. What is the cost of this tax policy to the budget?”

Jim Chalmers responds:

Their policy for lower wages for workers and longer lunches for bosses is a matter of fairness – but not the way that they think it is. Not the way that they think it is. And if the member for Hume wants to be the Treasurer of this country, he really should know that the numbers that he is asking for are not itemised in the budget. And that’s because they are part of the tax base, and we’re not proposing to change it. The only party in here proposing to make it easier for bosses to claim long lunches, paid for by workers and taxpayers, is those opposite, Mr Speaker.

They are the only ones – proposing to change these arrangements. I can hear him chirping away. He hasn’t been this unhappy since inflation came in at the lower end of the RBA target band.

There are once again a flurry of points of orders and arguments about whether or not the treasurer is in order (he is) and whether Peter Dutton can keep making political statements in raising points of orders (he can’t, but that’s not going to stop him).

Chalmers then comes back to his favourite topic and his reason for getting out of bed in the morning – slamming Angus Taylor:

“We tried to warn the Opposition Leader that, if you put this bloke in charge of the costings, it would go bad. And it turns out it did.”

He is out of time.

There is another dixer and this time it is to education minister Jason Clare, who is asked about the Hecs changes.

Clare says:

If you want a good example of the difference between Labor and Liberal, then this is it. We’re cutting HECS debt for 3 million Australians, and they want to cut the cost of lunch for bosses. That’s it in a nutshell. We’ve already cut HECS debt by more than $3 billion for 3 million Australians. We passed those laws late last year and, over Christmas, the ATO made this change. Cutting the debt of 3 million Australians. But there’s more to do, and there’s more that we will do. If we win the next election, we will cut all student debts by a further 20%. That means that somebody with an average HECS debt today of $27,000 will see that debt cut by more than $5,000. And if they’ve got a HECS debt of $50,000, then that’ll be cut by $10,000. That’s a lot of help for a lot of young people just out of uni, just getting started. And what do you think the Liberals think of all of this? They’re opposed to that.”

The lunch zingers continue. Apparently Australians will now look at people pulling out credit cards at company lunches at cafes and wonder if they are now paying for it. Given most Australians are hard pressed paying rent and buying a take away coffee these days, that might be a bit of an over exaggeration.

And on HECs, it is always worth remembering that students raise more money for Treasury than gas companies pay in PRRT.

Oh – and it is still really expensive to get a degree.

https://australiainstitute.org.au/report/university-is-expensive/

In less than 20 years, the average HECS-HELP debt for people in their 20s has more than doubled.

Without lowering the cost of expensive and popular courses, the Albanese government’s recently proposed changes to HECS indexation rates will not do enough to address the growing debt that university students face today.