In case anyone still wanted to go to the United States (and risk arrest, being lost in immigration detention and spending thousands to get out – if you do) then the agreement to streamline travel between Australia and the US has been formalised!

Huzzah!

From the government release:

The Albanese Labor Government has passed legislation that will allow eligible Australians to apply for easier passage through US airports.

The United States’ Global Entry Program provides an avenue for eligible citizens of trusted partner countries to access expedited clearance processes on arrival in the US.

This is a mark of the closeness of the relationship and trust between Australia and the US and will be welcomed by Australian tourists, business leaders and corporate travellers who will be able to join faster entry lanes when they arrive in the US.

This program is voluntary, and only available for pre-approved, low-risk travellers who meet the strict eligibility criteria as set out by the US. Both Australia and the US will conduct background checks on Australian applicants.

The Global Entry Program membership also opens up eligibility to TSA Pre-Check program, making travel within the US a much simpler process.

A limited number of Australian citizens have been able to apply for Global Entry Program from January this year under phase one, which is now closed. The passage of this Bill will pave the way for the expansion of the program to all eligible Australians with phase two expected to commence in the second half of the year. 

Over on ABC TV, Angus Taylor is continuing his media blitz on the fuel excise, speaking to ABC TV and claiming they are more “responsible”

Labor’s policy is go going to cost $17 billion (over three years)

This is substantially more responsible.

But the important point is that it can be because it’s very, very targeted and it’s temporary. Also immediate – so it will be July 1, you’ll be waiting 15 months for Labor’s policy to come through, (this is the main line you’ll be hearing at the election) but more broadly, we have opposed $100 billion of Labor spend that we think is inappropriate at this time and I can assure you we’ll put our costings out before the election.

It will be a more responsible position than Labor’s, and importantly, we’ll re-establish those fiscal rules that households have to abide by, that businesses have to abide by, but that Government has thrown out since Labor came to power which has meant we got an extremely irresponsible budget where frankly the Treasurer has driven the budget off a cliff. (Morrison and Frydenberg also had deficits forecast. Not that deficits are inherently bad, but if we are going to get into it…)

Health minister Mark Butler has spoken to ABC radio RN, saying the government doesn’t believe that cutting the tobacco tax would do anything to combat the blackmark trade in tobacco. Organised crime gangs have stepped up their illegal tobacco businesses (and the violent crime that goes with organised crime activities) as smokes and vapes in Australia become more expensive.

Butler says it’s enforcement, not tax cuts that will solve the problem:

I don’t accept is the idea that if you make legal cigarettes cheaper, first of all, you’re you’re going to knock out illegal cigarettes. I don’t think there’s any evidence of that around the world markets like the US, many in the Europe that have cheaper legal cigarettes. In the US as case, quite cheaper legal cigarettes still have rampant black markets. So so you’re not going to get rid of the black market and organized crime in illicit tobacco just because you reduce the price of illegal cigarettes. The other reason is we know that cheaper cigarettes will drive up smoking. It’s no coincidence that Australia has some of the highest prices of cigarettes, but also some of the lowest rates of smoking in the world. So I’m not going to sort of raise the white flag on one of the most important measures around tobacco control, just because organized crime has got their hands into the illicit tobacco market. The answer is enforcement. It’s about tracking them down. It’s about putting them in the dock, and it’s about at the end of the day, putting in place really serious penalties.

In case you have missed it, there is a bit of a tussle going on in the Coalition. Angus Taylor was accused by some colleagues (privately) of backgrounding against Peter Dutton. There is some suggestion from some within the LNP who think Taylor is preparing for a leadership challenge if the Coalition lose this next election. (With Andrew Hastie to follow Taylor. What a line up.)

So of course, the response has been for some Dutton loyalists to start backgrounding against Taylor.

Dutton addressed this in the party room meeting by saying that Taylor had his full support and to stop white-anting him in the media. And we all know what that means.

Taylor is asked about it on ABC radio and says:

One of the one of the wonderful things about our jobs, yours and mine is we get lots of free advice. We only have to go onto Twitter to see that, probably for our mental health we shouldn’t do that…but the point is, that’s part of what what you have when you you’re pretty high profile.

…I’ve got, I’ve got, as you, as you would have seen, a very large number of colleagues who are massively supportive of what Peter and I are doing, because we are fighting hard against a bad Labor government that has left Australians poorer, and we can’t afford another three years of that.

And let me tell you, my colleagues understand that Peter has made that point on many occasions, and we will continue to fight hard for those hard working Australians who deserve relief at the bowser, who are paying too much for everything right now and who can get a better deal.

Are the ‘colleagues’ in the room with us now?

Angus Taylor and his massively supportive colleagues:

Angus Taylor tells the ABC”s Sabra Lane that ‘the party of lower taxes’, the Coalition, would repeal Labor’s most recent tax cuts if they win government and replace it with the fuel excise cut.

“We absolutely would repeal it,” he said.

“This is a lower tax, let’s be clear. It’s a lower tax, and it’s alongside other major tax initiatives we’ve already announced, like accelerated depreciation for small businesses, like making sure we don’t have taxes on unrealised capital gains, and like, establish or re establishing the tax to GDP cap to make sure that over time, taxes are contained for Australian families.”

This is a dark day for two of Australia’s greatest treasures: the environment and our democracy.

Last night’s passing of amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act weakens the protection of our natural treasures, rammed through by a government which promised greater protection.

The amendments increase the likelihood that Australian native species will become extinct, driven by a government which promised no extinctions under its watch.

The amendments are designed to protect the destructive, foreign-owned commercial salmon industry in Tasmania.

But the changes could stop anyone – from local community groups to Federal Government Ministers – from reviewing projects like coal mines, gas exploration, land clearing or other destructive practices.

 “This bill has ramifications for industries that goes well beyond salmon. It will affect all industries governed by this legislation,” said Eloise Carr, Director, The Australia Institute Tasmania.

“Labor and Coalition MPs described what they were trying to achieve as ‘fixing a flaw’ in the EPBC Act. There was no flaw in the law. 

“For once, just as our nature law was about to do what it is supposed to – protect world heritage and species threatened with extinction – the major parties have changed the law.

“We have a parliamentary process to scrutinise laws before they pass. But not this time.”

Ten years ago, Anthony Albanese described similar changes proposed by the coalition government as an act of environmental vandalism. 

“Now, Anthony Albanese and his government have committed environmental vandalism,” said Eloise Carr.

As if all that isn’t bad enough, the amendments have been so poorly drafted – and so devoid of scrutiny – they may not stand up to a court challenge.

“The bill is so poorly drafted that it risks not even applying to the salmon industry in Macquarie Harbour. Legal challenges are almost guaranteed,” said David Barnden, Principal Lawyer at Sydney litigation firm Equity Generation Lawyers.

Hello and welcome to your last sitting day of the 47th parliament.

It’s going to be a big one, so strap in!

Peter Dutton will deliver his budget-in-reply speech this evening, but the Coalition media team have been out and about making sure everyone has the news he will cut the fuel excise by 25c, at a cost of $6bn.

Despite having called the Labor tax cuts “an election bribe” and a “hoax” (we are still working that one out) THIS is apparently just good policy.

“If elected, we will deliver this cost-of-living relief immediately, whereas people have to wait 15 months for Labor’s 70¢-a-day tax tweak,” Dutton has said in a statement.

Labor don’t seemed too fussed by it all, but it does show just how this election is going to play out.

The senate has turned to estimates after it passed Labor’s environment wrecking laws over night – so that is it for the senate for this parliament. But that’s not it for the environment laws, with opponents promising to continue to fight.

It’s going to be a five coffee morning. We’ll bring you all the news as it comes, so prepare yourself however you need.

Ready? I am absolutely not.

But let’s get into it, for the final time this parliament.