Federal budget 2022 live updates: Peter Dutton to deliver budget reply speech tonight; Speaker rules PM did not ‘disrespect’ Coalition MP

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Michelle Landry has issued a statement following criticisms regarding the conduct of the prime minister during Question Time today.

Speaker of the House and Labor MP Milton Dick has ruled out he was disrespectful in an answer to Landry this afternoon, saying he was directly responding to interjections from the leader of the opposition.

Landry sees it differently. She says she was “yelled at and screamed at” across the chamber and felt “intimidated and bullied”.

I respectfully ask the prime minister to publicly apologise to me in the House of Representatives.

Updated at 04.04 EDT

Albanese speaks to new UK PM

Anthony Albanese has congratulated the UK’s new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, on his new role.

If all goes to plan in UK politics, they will hold their first bilateral meeting next month, at the G20 in India.

Updated at 03.58 EDT

Severe weather warning for Victoria’s southern alps

Damaging winds averaging 60 to 70 km/h with peak gusts to 100 km/h are possible over Alpine areas in Mt Baw Baw on Friday afternoon.

Updated at 03.48 EDT

Speaker rules PM was not disrespectful to Michelle Landry in question time

Further to the criticisms raised by Michelle Landry and other female Coalition MPs, the Speaker of the house, Milton Dick, has now ruled quickly that the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was not disrespectful in his answer during question time earlier.

Dick, also a Labor MP, told the house just before the chamber adjourned for the day:

I have reviewed the footage and I can confirm that the prime minister was answering the question from the member for Capricornia. During the answer, the prime minister was also directly responding to interjections from the leader of the opposition.

In reviewing the footage, I did not see the prime minister show any disrespect to the member for Capricornia. As the footage was not on the member for Capricornia for the entire response, I did not see her leave the chamber. Of the Capricornia that I was able to review, she appeared engaged in the response to the prime minister.

Landry, along with the deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, and other MPs have demanded Albanese apologise. Landry said the PM called her to say he didn’t mean to upset her. We’ve contacted Albanese’s office for response, and his side of the phone call.

Updated at 03.30 EDT

Meanwhile, Canberra’s own David Pocock has been up and about today:

Fossil fuels 90% responsible for energy crisis – report

The Climate Council has responded to a new global report which has found fossil fuels are 90% responsible for the energy crisis.

The IEA’s 2022 World Energy Outlook, released today, found gas alone was 50% to blame for energy prices increasing.

Former Origin Energy executive Andrew Stock, now a councillor with the Climate Council, said this week’s federal budget “spelled grim news for Australians already feeling the pinch”:

The IEA report has made it abundantly clear that fossil fuels are the root cause of this problem, particularly gas, which is the most expensive form of power in Australia. This global report points to an obvious, affordable solution – a rapid transition to renewable energy. Which would be a win for households, businesses, jobs and the climate. Solar and wind are the cheapest sources of power globally, and are already outcompeting fossil fuels. The report highlights the forecast increase in total global energy demand to 2030 will be met almost entirely by renewables.

The message for Australia is clear. After a wasted decade, we are now on the right track, but have tremendous ground to make up.

The Climate Council says based on Australia’s high emissions, economic strength and untapped opportunities for renewable energy, it should be aiming to reduce its emissions to 75% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Updated at 03.06 EDT

RBA loses $40bn on domestic bond binge during Covid bailout

As expected the Reserve Bank has reported a huge accounting loss for the 2021-22 year as it adjusted the value of the humongous bond holdings it snapped up during the Covid pandemic.

The purchases of mostly federal (but some state) debt helped lower the borrowing costs for the then Morrison government (which also splurged $300bn-plus to keep the economy afloat).

All up, the RBA more than tripled the size of its balance sheet to about $650bn when its special bond purchasing program stopped. Anyway, with interest rates rising, it had to reflect the lower market value of all that debt. For the domestic bonds alone, the unrealised valuation losses were $40.3bn.

The overall accounting loss for the year was $36.7bn, a record with sunshine second. Equity also dropped to negative $12.4bn.

But as the RBA report said:

This negative equity position does not affect the Bank’s operations or its ability to operate effectively or perform its policy functions. The Board expects that the Bank’s capital will be restored over time due to positive underlying earnings and capital gains when bonds mature.

What’s the take away? Treasury should not expect any dividends from the RBA for a long time.

Also of interest, so to speak: Governor Phil Lowe’s total compensation dropped about 3.6% from the previous year, to a tad under $1.037m, or about $20,000 a week.

Updated at 02.56 EDT

Helen Haines welcomes announcement of single-site hospital for Albury-Wodonga

Member for Indi Helen Haines has welcomed the announcement that Albury Wodonga Health will be redeveloped into an expanded single-site hospital.

If you missed it earlier, the NSW and Victorian premiers fronted the media to announce a joint plan to overhaul Albury base hospital with a $558m redevelopment.

Haines said she had made the case for a new hospital to the prime minister in their first conversation after the election.

Doctors, health professionals, patients and the wider community have been campaigning for a new hospital for years and I have proudly stood beside them … this announcement is reward for our advocacy, the result of constantly fighting for our healthcare to be taken seriously by every level of government.

This re-developed single-site hospital will benefit people all over North Eastern Victoria and Southern NSW – more care will be available close to home without having to travel to Melbourne. We will no longer face situations where some services are offered at one site, and other services on the other side of the border. Patients won’t wait hours to be transferred, or for specialists to travel from one hospital to another. This will lead to better health outcomes and be safer for patients.”

But Haines argued it still falls short of what many in the community had lobbied for and wasn’t “the end of the fight on our health care”, with more needed to improve funding in regional and rural areas.

She will be appearing in Wodonga tomorrow afternoon to hold a press conference.

Updated at 02.39 EDT

Greens call for Labor to put ‘women and carers first’ in proposed industrial relations bill

The Greens have called for Labor’s proposed changes to industrial law to put “women and carers first” and lift wages of the low paid following workplace relations minister Tony Burke’s introduction of the bill to the house today.

The party is aware its vote will be key to the industrial relations bill passing through the Senate.

Senator Barbara Pocock, Greens spokesperson for employment, said evidence from submissions before the select committee on work and care showed 5 million people were trying to balance work with caring responsibilities.

We need to move from the Hunger Games to roster justice, and decent work. That means adequate notice of shift changes, negotiation, minimum hours. Our major supermarkets can predict the kinds and quantities of apples they will buy tomorrow, but apparently can’t tell their workers what shifts they’re working.

Being unable to plan your life or see your kids is hugely stressful. Many workers withdraw from the labour market because it’s impossible to juggle taking care of the kids and keep working.

Australian workers, especially women, have waited decades for flexibility that actually works for them. They’ve waited for justice in their rosters, rosters and predictability of their working time.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said the party had argued for a long time that industrial relations in Australia was broken.

Pressure on workers has been growing for too long, wages have been too low, and people haven’t been able to bargain for better pay and conditions. Labor needs the support of the Greens to pass this bill.

The Greens want industrial relations laws that work for women, work for carers and lift the wages of the lowest paid. That’s what we’ll be looking for as we work our way through this bill.

Read about the bill here:

Updated at 02.36 EDT

Above-average rainfall forecast for eastern Australia throughout November

The Bureau of Meteorology has released its climate outlook for the November to January period.

Not great, but unsurprising news for some – rainfall is likely to remain above average for most of eastern Australia, particularly in the month of November.

La Niña, a negative Indian Ocean dipole, an expected positive phase of the Southern Annular Mode and warmer waters around Australia are contributing to the wetter conditions.

The BoM:

For the fortnight 31 October to 13 November, above median rainfall is likely for most of eastern Australia. This increases to very likely for north-east and far south-east parts of the mainland. Below median rainfall is likely for large parts of Western Australia extending into the western Northern Territory.

Maximum temperatures are likely to be warmer than median for much of north-west Australia and Tasmania. Below median temperatures are likely for southern Queensland, and most of New South Wales and Victoria.

Minimum temperatures are likely to be warmer than median for much of the northern halves of Queensland and the Northern Territory, and south-eastern Australia.

The Sydney CBD skyline hidden behind fog. The BoM forecasts above-average rainfall for the eastern states throughout November. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Updated at 02.57 EDT

Many thanks to Amy Remeikis for keeping us informed on a mammoth day, during a mammoth week.

We’ll be keeping the blog open a little longer tonight to catch the opposition leader’s budget reply speech.