November 8, 2024

Federal election 2022 live: Tanya Plibersek says PM has ‘given up’ on easing cost of living; NSW records six Covid deaths, Victoria four

Tanya #Tanya

Plibersek is asked about the proposed stage three tax cuts that Labor has supported and which will lead to superannuation changes that will benefit men. She says it is something Labor will look at in government.

What makes a difference to the superannuation pay gap: when we invest more than $95bn, when we make child care cheaper, that allows those women who have been locked out of work, because it is too expensive – they actually lose money by working day four or day five in a week. They can earn more, have less time out of paid work, they can contribute to their own superannuation when they get back to work more easily.

As for the paid parental leave superannuation, it is something that we would look at in government. It is something that we would love to do when we can afford to.

Updated at 19.43 EDT

Speers now asked about Labor’s policies on fair pay for women.

Plibersek says Labor’s policy includes getting rid of pay secrecy clauses, increasing transparency of wages by “asking large companies to report on their gender pay gap”, by tackling the issue in the public service and changing industrial relations laws that the equal pay is a requirement of the Fair Work Act.

Updated at 19.44 EDT

Was that a little bit of snark?

Plibersek is challenged over whether Labor actually has a school policy and after a bit of an explanation, Insiders host David Speers interjects suggesting the explanation is “a little bit vague” leading to a little cross talk.

Almost no – Sorry, go on. I don’t want to interrupt you, David, please go on.

Updated at 19.35 EDT

On education Plibersek says Labor will work with states and territories to address a skills shortage and has a $500m policy to create 20,000 “additional university degrees”.

At the moment more young people are being turned away from a university education than ever before, so we want to make sure that more Australians get the opportunity of upgrading their education and skills so they can get the job of their dreams. And places is not nothing.

Updated at 19.36 EDT

Plibersek says PM has ‘completely given up’ on alleviating cost of living pressures

Tanya Plibersek is now live on ABC Insiders where she is attacking the government over its failure to act on cost of living issues.

The prime minister has completely given up on helping families with the extraordinary cost of living pressures they are under right now.

The deputy leader of the Labor party lists a series of failings of the government, including an industrial relations system that keeps wages low, a refusal to criminalise wage theft, act on gender equity, to provide cheap child care or lower power bills.

I think it’s really instructive we’ve got a prime minister who says, ‘I’ve got nothing. I’ve got nothing for you. I know you’re struggling, but I’ve got nothing’.

Updated at 21.10 EDT

NSW records six Covid deaths

Six people with Covid-19 have died in New South Wales overnight, with the state recording 8,891 new cases on Sunday morning, 1,504 people in hospital, and 57 in ICU.

Updated at 19.15 EDT

Victoria records four Covid deaths

Four people with Covid-19 have died overnight in Victoria. The state recorded 8,744 new cases on Sunday, with 491 people in hospital, 38 in ICU and eight on ventilation.

Updated at 19.08 EDT

Coalition pledges $53m to support IVF procedures for cancer patients

The Coalition have promised $53m to support IVF procedures for cancer patients with genetic conditions who still wish to have children.

In an announcement timed for Mother’s Day, the ABC reports that those who might struggle with having children due to medical conditions will be able to freeze and store their eggs, sperm and embryos for free.

It is anticipated the plan will help up to 6,000 Australians access reproductive technology services with $14.4m dedicated to subsidise the storage costs of preserving this material.

Another $25m in the package will be spent over four years to deliver perinatal mental health and well being services.

Labor, meanwhile, has marked the day with their own announcement: $11m in extra funding for playgroups to help them recover from Covid-19 and expand their networks.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said playgroups were critical in childhood development.

On Mother’s Day, I can’t think of a better way to come out of the pandemic than by strengthening the communities that are built for mums and kids through increasing funding to grow and support playgroups all over the country.

With AAP.

Updated at 19.23 EDT

Deputy Barnaby Joyce says he trusts Scott Morrison despite having previously described the prime minister as a “hypocrite and a liar”.

Joyce was pushed on the issue of trust during an early Sunday morning interview with Nine after text messages he sent to Brittany Higgins questioning the integrity of the PM were revealed in February.

The texts were sent on 22 March 2021 at 8.30pm, a month after Higgins’ sexual assault allegations were made public.

After attempting to avoid the question, Joyce backed the prime minister.

Trust is not about what I think of you Chris, and I do trust the prime minister because every agreement I’ve had with him, he has honoured.

This is a much bigger thing. This is about the nation trusting the capacity of a government to keep them in safe hands.

He also said the government could be trusted to meet its climate change targets.

You should trust it because every target that is set in regards to climate change we’ve met. Every target. We’re an honourable country. We should be trusted because we understand what is before us.

An analysis of the Coalition’s climate change commitments found it would not live up to the 2015 Paris agreement and would lock in more than 3C of global heating.

Updated at 19.09 EDT

Good morning

It’s Sunday morning and we’re picking up the live blog once more as we head into week five of the 2022 federal election.

Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce is out of the gate early with a quick interview on Channel Nine – more on that later.

Meanwhile both prime minister Scott Morrison and opposition leader Anthony Albanese will be starting their day in Sydney. The Coalition will be talking about its plans to boost tourism and its $20m commitment promise for wineries, breweries and distilleries, while Labor will be continuing to highlight cost of living pressures.

Tonight Morrison and Albanese will square off in their second leaders’ debate. The event will be broadcast on Nine with the two candidates taking questions from the media.

I’m Royce Kurmelovs, taking the blog through the day. With so much going on out there, it’s easy to miss stuff, so if you spot something happening in Australia and think it should be on the blog, you can find me on Twitter at @RoyceRk2 where my DMs are open.

With that, let’s get started …

Updated at 19.23 EDT

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