Australia politics live: Katy Gallagher calls on Peter Dutton to distance himself from Matt Canavan comments on gender pay gap reporting | Australia news

Gallagher calls on Liberals to distance themselves from Canavan comments on gender pay gap data

Kate Lyons

Katy Gallagher has called on Peter Dutton to distance himself from comments made by Matt Canavan, after the opposition senator called the release of a national gender pay gap report today “useless data” that “breeds resentment and division” and might push people toward following Andrew Tate – an influencer currently facing human trafficking and rape charges.

The government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency released individual gender pay gaps at nearly 5,000 businesses across Australia – every private company with 100 employees or more – on Tuesday for the first time.

Canavan posted on social media platform X on Tuesday morning, after the release of the data, saying it could push people toward Tate:

The Gender Pay report is useless data because it does not even correct for basic differences like hours worked. The Gender Pay report is now the annual Andrew Tate recruitment drive. It just breeds resentment and division. Andrew Tate is so popular because governments and corporates push a simplistic, divisive and clearly incorrect gender narrative. This creates a massive vacuum for the likes of Andrew Tate to fill.

Gallagher:

I completely reject those assertions … I would say that this is data that’s been collected for 10 years. It did pass the parliament unanimously with the support of the opposition … This is important data and I hope that Peter Dutton and Sussan Ley will distance themselves from those comments as well.

WGEA has been collecting gender pay gap data from companies for a decade, but has only been allowed to publicly release the data showing industry-level pay gaps, not the pay gaps at individual employers. This changed after the passage of the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Act 2023, which passed with unanimous support last year.

Benita Kolovos

Victoria’s Bayindeen fire evacuations ‘a precaution’

In Victoria, the premier, Jacinta Allan, is speaking about the map that’s been distributed to media identifying a potential impact area around the Bayindeen fire near Ballarat. She says:

This is an additional tool we have developed in consideration of the active fire that is still present in and around that that area … We have seen through the fire events over the last couple of weeks that people have listened to the warnings, they have heeded the advice and we are deeply grateful for that and that is a significant contributor to there not being any loss of life as a consequence of the two recent fire events we’ve experienced here in Victoria.

The emergency management commission’s Rick Nugent says they’ve identified about 30,000 people who live in the potential impact area. Residents of nearby aged care facilities have already been relocated.

He says:

It is early advice. The fire there is active but it’s not running. So [the map] is really a device that if the conditions are such that it caused the fire to run, then it is likely to impact on those areas. So we’re asking people in there now as a precaution not to remain.

He says possessions “can be replaced”, lives cannot.

Sarah Basford Canales

Greens: ‘Women of Australia are cheering as Scott Morrison retires’

The gender pay gap is a hot topic in the Greens party room and there was discussion surrounding a push to prevent companies with large pay gaps from receiving government grants and contracts.

In a brief on-the-record moment, the Greens senator Larissa Waters notes Morrison’s valedictory is slated for this afternoon, saying “the women of Australia are cheering as Scott Morrison retires”.

Given the conduct of parliamentarians has been in headlines in recent weeks, the Greens are also concerned about the delays to implement a drug and alcohol policy in the building.

A draft policy, worked on by the parliamentary leadership taskforce, has been gathering dust for six months and an enforcement body to sanction misbehaving MPs has been delayed until at least October this year.

The Greens said they don’t support Zali Steggall’s calls to introduce random drug and alcohol testing in the building because parliamentarians are meant to be adults and should know not to get drunk at work, they said.

Sarah Basford Canales

Greens partyroom concerns: housing, stage-three, and rhetoric on immigration

The Greens held their party room meeting this morning where a range of topical issues, including Gaza, housing and the gender pay gap, were canvassed.

The minor party will cause a stir in the Senate around midday just as former prime minister Scott Morrison is expected to deliver his final speech to parliament.

The motion will push the federal government to reinstate funding to the UNRWA but will most likely be denied leave, meaning it will result in a suspension of the standing orders.

The Greens expect the stage-three tax cuts will dominate the upper house this week with one member describing it as “a bit less crap” than the original Coalition plan.

The demonisation of immigrants was also raised as a major concern in Tuesday’s meeting, with members feeling “really alarmed” at the Trumpian language used by the opposition and how the Labor party is allegedly leaning into it.

The Greens are also limbering up for another fight on housing, as we’ve reported previously, saying they will oppose Labor’s help to buy scheme in the Senate (where Labor needs the Greens’ support) unless the government budges on its demands.

Those demands include changes to capital tax gains discounts and generous negative gearing incentives and a look at coordinating a national cap on renting.

Caitlin Cassidy

Skills minister says VET and university sectors must collaborate to address skills shortages

The minister for skills and training, Brendan O’Connor says it is “critical” Vocational Education and Training (VET) and university sectors better collaborate in order to meet skills shortages hitting the nation.

O’Connor told the Universities Australia Summit this morning that the “heads and hands” need to work together, with technical skills to complement conceptual knowledge.

That means the VET sector needs to be held in the same esteem as the university sector by industry, by governments, by the community and by the university sector.”

The Universities Accord final report, released on Sunday, recommended greater alignment between the two sectors, including cross-provision and an expanded role of Tafe.

O’Connor said the government was “considering its response to the report”, while backing greater sector-wide collaboration, such as movement from Tafe to bachelors programs and recognition of prior knowledge in degrees.

… Australia is facing a once-in-a-lifetime skills challenge. That is the greatest skills crisis or shortage we’ve had for five decades … it’s a very exciting time to be involved in public policy, but we have to make sure we get the policy settings right … there’s a lot of challenges ahead.

Benita Kolovos

Victorian authorities say weather conditions coming through at noon and urge evacuees to leave now

Country Fire Authority chief officer Jason Heffernan says:

There is still time for communities to make sure that you prepare and get ready for tomorrow’s weather events. As you heard the commissioner say, particularly for those people in the Wimmera … fires will become very uncontrolled very quickly, and no homes are designed to withstand those catastrophic conditions. So if you’re planning to leave early, you are requested to do so this evening or by tomorrow morning. I would not let any later than lunchtime because those weather conditions will be coming at 12 o’clock.

Josh Butler

Just one quick last observation from the Labor briefing – there’s been a trend in the Labor party meetings recently where the party spokesperson says there were zero (or close enough to) questions to the ministry or PM. Today there was one question!

A backbencher asked agriculture minister Murray Watt about an agricultural tariff, to which Watt said some producers would be unhappy at the changes.

Catastrophic fire danger warning issued for Victoria’s Wimmera region

Benita Kolovos

Just heading back to Victoria for a moment:

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference at the state control centre. She says a decision has been made to declare a catastrophic fire danger warning for the Wimmera region, which takes in the town of Horsham.

She says:

Tomorrow is likely to be one of the most dangerous days Victoria has experienced in recent years.

People in the areas surrounding the Bayindeen bushfire, near Ballarat, which began last week, have also been told to leave their homes early tonight or before midday tomorrow.

Calla Wahlquist

Victorian fire authorities urge residents to ‘leave today’ in areas of concern

The emergency services minister, Murray Watt, has been keeping a close eye on western Victoria, with everyone very worried about Wednesday.

Five hundred firefighters are working to build contain lines along the 170km perimeter of an out-of-control bushfire burning near Ballarat ahead of forecast extreme to catastrophic fire conditions tomorrow.

At a community meeting in the town of Avoca on Tuesday, incident controller Paul Bates from Forest Fire Management Victoria said the 21,000ha fire – which started last Thursday – has been burning in state forest and timber plantations.

The area of concern for tomorrow is north and east of the fire, bounded by the Pyrenees, Sunraysia and Western Highways.

“The focus of the day with mild conditions is to really work on that eastern edge and stitch it up as best as we can,” he said.

Bates said tomorrow would be a “difficult day” with winds forecast to reach up to 50km/h, and even stronger winds around peaks like Ben Nevis which is within the fire ground.

He added that “the peak temperature, the driest air, is going to coincide with that really strong northwest wind change,” forecast to hit about 6pm or 7pm.

“All efforts tomorrow will be focused on the eastern edge of the fire,” he said.

Bates urged anyone who planned to evacuate, particularly within the area of concern, to leave on Tuesday afternoon.

“If your plan is to leave, leave today. If you are undecided, leave today. That’s the strongest message I can give you.”

Josh Butler

Albanese fires up troops on legislation but manages expectations on Dunkley

Anthony Albanese also went on to rev up the troops with criticisms of the Coalition over their stance on Labor’s revamped stage-three tax cuts. He again claimed the Liberals would seek to “reverse” the changes and alleged “Peter Dutton wants people to work more for less” – which we took to be a reference to the Coalition’s opposition to the right to disconnect work place laws.

The PM said the “help to buy” housing legislation would go through the lower house this week, foreshadowing further attacks on the Greens who announced intent to oppose the plan without further concessions on public housing and negative gearing. Albanese claimed the Coalition and Greens were teaming up to block the change.

On the Dunkley byelection, Albanese continued to manage expectations for his partyroom, again pointing out the average swing against the government in byelections and noting that it would be a tough-fought contest. Labor sources still expect to win the seat, but you can’t take anything for granted in politics at the moment.

The party spokesperson said Albanese “referred to the misinformation campaign on the ground, both with the Liberal party and through their proxies.”

Josh Butler

Albanese calls out Liberal ‘proxies’ in partyroom meeting

A relatively quick meeting of the Labor partyroom this morning, where Anthony Albanese called out “misinformation” in the Dunkley byelection – accusing the Liberal party “and their proxies” of mischief.

The prime minister didn’t specify exactly who he meant, according to a party spokesperson, but the room took it to be a reference to Advance – the conservative campaign group pushing hard for voters to “put Labor last” in this weekend’s vote.

In the meeting, Albanese acknowledged the service of WA senator Louise Pratt, who recently announced her intention to retire from parliament at the next election. The PM praised her as someone who “always stood up on issues of human rights and discrimination”.

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