Greens to force vote on gambling advertising ban, prime minister says lay off of B-girl Raygun — as it happened
Pressure continues to mount on the government to implement a full ban on gambling advertising, as the Greens indicate they will force a Senate vote on the issue.
And the prime minister lines up in defence of Olympian breakdancer Rachael "Raygun" Gunn, saying criticism of her is unfair.
Follow all the updates in our live blog.
Live updates
Wages grow slower in June quarter, and slip behind prices
We've just learned what happened to wages in the three months to June: they grew by 0.8 per cent, and 4.1 per cent in the year to June.
For the last three months, that's a bit less than prices grew by (1.0 per cent). Over the whole year, it's still a touch above prices.
Don't expect this to change too much in the thorny debate over inflation, which has seen the government and the RBA at odds over their assessment of economic conditions.
The RBA is more concerned about persistent inflation. But wages haven't been a main focus. The RBA expected wages growth to ease gradually and that's what we're seeing here.
More analysis can be found over on the business blog!
That's all folks
Thanks for spending some (or all) of your day with me.
I'll be back bright tomorrow morning for another edition of the ABC's politics live blog with special guest Andrew Greene.
He'll be joining me to answer your questions about the AUKUS agreement.
No question is too big or small (trust me, he sits across from me and I'll be lobbing questions his way).
So leave me any and all of your questions in the comments and I'll get you an answer tomorrow.
See you then!
'It's not as if we haven't done anything': Labor MP on gambling reforms
It's been a year since late Labor MP Peta Murphy handed a bipartisan committee report to government, recommending a total ban on gambling advertising.
Gambling, media and sporting companies have received closed-door briefings on Communication Minister Michelle Rowland's tightly-held plans.
Luke Gosling told Afternoon Briefing Labor is working to change the message around gambling.
"It's not as if we haven't done anything," he says, noting reforms such as banning the use of credit cards for online wagering.
"I think where the PM is getting to is that we probably have done more than any other government in this regard," he says.
"We are taking it very seriously, but we do want to get the balance right."
We need to be 'surgical' on CFMEU, Labor MP says
Luke Gosling is now in the studio. He's asked if he expects Queensland and the Northern Territory (where he lives) branches of the CFMEU will cut ties with the ALP.
The NT MP says it's a decision for their members.
"I think it is important that we just be a little bit surgical, and I think that's what our legislation is doing here, it is hitting where the problem is with the strongest possible measure in the form of an administrator, so I think that's good and appropriate," he says.
Aaron Violi says the government could have gone stronger, and deregistered the union.
Labor has argued that wasn't the best course of action because deregistered unions can still appear before Fair Work.
The Liberal MP says well, the government should amend how Fair Work operates to not allow deregistered unions to appear before it.
Coalition remains 'sceptical' of Labor's response to CFMEU allegations
Labor's Luke Gosling is still stuck in the chamber and is rushing up to the studio, so Liberal MP Aaron Violi is flying solo on the pollie panel at the moment.
He says there is still "scepticism" within the Coalition about the links between the CFMEU and the government.
"There are officials from the CFMEU on the preselection panel in Victoria to decide the preselection of federal Labor members and those preselections have not been opened yet," he says.
"So there is scepticism on our side about how this is really going to make a difference, or is this all show and the government are hoping the issue will move away pretty quickly."
He says he hasn't seen the CMFEU legislation himself but the Coalition is going through its procedures to land a "good position".
"But we know we need to hold the CFMEU to account," Violi adds.
Business wants a royal commission into CFMEU saga
Bran Black is the chief executive of the Business Council of Australia.
While he's pleased the government has released the legislation that would grant the minister powers to force the CFMEU into administration, he'd rather a "full an open" royal commission be ordered.
"It is only through getting that full transparency with public reporting and public recommendations that we can get genuinely to the bottom of this issue and then decide how you to look forward," he told Afternoon Briefing.
Black also says he'd like to see a new watchdog established to keep an eye on the construction union.
Senate inquiry into CFMEU bill would be a 'delay tactic'
Labor frontbencher Tim Ayres is the first cab off the rank for today's Afternoon Briefing.
Ayres is asked if the government will tolerate any move from the Greens or the Coalition to delay new powers to force the embattled construction union, the CFMEU, into administration.
He says "urgent action" is required.
"This is urgent legislation. It ought to be given automatic passage in the parliament," the senator says.
"Delay tactics, that in the normal process of events are absolutely proper for a Senate committee to do its work. The problem that with that here, Greg, is that is a delay when urgent action is required."
📸 Some happy snaps from the chamber
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PM calls time on QT
Only seven more QTs to go this fortnight.
Quirk of the chamber means Burke still answering CFMEU questions
Tony Burke may have hung up his hat as workplace relations minister but it doesn't mean he's free of questions about the CFMEU.
Why's that you ask? It's because the new minister, Murray Watt, is a senator. So questions can't be asked of him during the House's QT.
So a minister must represent him and lucky for Burke, he's got the gig.
Independent Allegra Spender asked him if the government will consider a body or framework to replace the building construction watchdog that Labor dismantled.
"I believe as many others do, that the industry is different and needs a different oversight mechanism," she says.
Burke says the government's focus is on putting the CFMEU into administration. He says the previous watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, was incapable of dealing with any criminal issues.
'We'll continue to engage on Makarrata', PM says
Peter Dutton tries again: "has the Prime Minister committed to anyone that he supports the establishment of a Makarrata commission?"
The PM gives a short answer.
"What we have said on Makarrata is that we’ll continue to engage," he says.
"We held a referendum last year, which wasn’t successful. That’s right. It wasn’t successful.
"And what happens is you accept that, you accept responsibility for it.
"Something foreign to those opposite. We can accept our responsibility. You accept your responsibility for saying that it would have an impact on interest rates and on nuclear subs."
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Marles defends revamped AUKUS agreement
Opposition MPs have jeered Defence Minister Richard Marles in parliament after he described the AUKUS agreement as "not much more than a thought bubble" until Labor came to power.
The Albanese government today tabled details of a revamped agreement with the United States and United Kingdom to facilitate the transfer of nuclear powered submarine technology to Australia under a program costing up to $368 billion.
Marles told parliament the new document is a crucial step in the program which was first announced under former PM Scott Morrison.
"When we came to power AUKUS was really not much more than a thought bubble but since then we have been turning it into a reality," he said.
PM grilled on gambling reforms
Anthony Albanese is asked if he will reconsider the government's position on gambling ads, as recommended by the late Peta Murphy.
"Will you reconsider your reported position, and honour Peta’s legacy by banning all gambling ads?" independent MP Zoe Daniel said.
Labor is yet to present its reform plans to cabinet but has been consulting with industry stakeholders.
The PM says the government has "has made it very clear that the status quo regarding the saturation of gambling advertising, particularly where kids are exposed to it, is untenable".
Friend of the blog Tom Crowley has been all over this story today and has the full story for you below:
Two different tales on Makarrata commission in the House and the Senate
There is still some confusion about whether the government has ditched its commitment to establish a Makarrata commission — a promise Anthony Albanese recommitted to on election night when he said his government would implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.
Opposition MP Melissa Price challenged the government on whether it had abandoned the Makarrata commission, after confusion over Albanese's comments at Garma earlier this month.
Albanese repeated what he said at Garma, which was that Makarrata was a Yolgnu word meaning "coming together after a struggle", and that was what he intended to do.
He added that the government has the same answer now on Makarrata as it did before the failed referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament: "that is not the focus that we have".
That runs contrary to recently installed Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy's take on the issue, that the government is not "moving away" from a Makarrata commission.
In the Senate, McCarthy just now said again that the government remains committed to establishing a commission.
"We remain firmly committed to the principles of the Uluru Statement from the Heart," the minister said.
"There are a variety of views on how to move forward and it is important the next steps bring people together."
... and Angus Taylor gets the boot!
Speaker Milton Dick says he's kicking this fortnight off with a "lesson to everyone".
"There's consequences for actions," he says after booting the shadow treasurer out of QT for interjecting eight times.
He also puts Jim Chalmers on notice that he'll be next if he doesn't zip it.
NOTE: An earlier version of this post had an image of Milton Dick, and I photoshopped some fun glasses on him. I've taken this down because Parliament House isn't a fan of fun edits and I'd rather not follow Angus Taylor and get the boot!
New Indigenous Australians Minister asked about Makarrata commission
Over in the Senate, the new Indigenous Australians Minister, Malarndirri McCarthy, has just been asked about the government's plans for a national Makarrata truth-telling commission — her first question as a minister.
Anthony Albanese told the ABC earlier this month that the government was no longer proposing a truth-telling commission, despite previously committing to enact the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.
Greens senator Dorinda Cox asked why the promise had been abandoned.
McCarthy said they had learnt from the Voice referendum that it would be difficult to establish a commission without bipartisan support.
"We would not endeavour down that pathway without the support of the opposition. The opposition leader made it very clear on that weekend that he was not going to do that. So that makes that pathway difficult to tread."
Angus Taylor reheats question on RBA
The shadow treasurer has Jim Chalmers in his sights today. He asks a re-jigged version of Sussan Ley's earlier question about the RBA and inflation.
I won't go into because you can probably guess what Chalmers had to say in response (our fault? nah it's YOUR fault vibes).
Treasurer says govt knows it can't fix every problem
Monique Ryan has the next non-government question (aka not a dixer).
The independent asks Treasurer Jim Chalmers if he will commission a Productivity Commission inquiry into the economic cost of poverty to Australia.
Chalmers says the PC recently completed a report into economic mobility – how inequality changes over time – and the government is not contemplating another study at this time.
"But as a Labor government we are proudly focused on the most vulnerable in our society and on the question of intergenerational disadvantage," he says.
He says Labor is doing a range of things and namechecks the JobSeeker increase, tax cuts and increases to the minimum wage.
"We are proud of the progress we have made for Australia's most vulnerable but we don't pretend that every challenge in our society is fixed."
PM defends against RBA comments on inflation
Opposition deputy Sussan Ley used her question to throw comments by the Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock at the government, which were dismissed by the PM when raised last week.
Bullock said last week that "public demand is forecast to be stronger than previously expected, reflecting recent public spending announcements by federal and state and territory governments", but Anthony Albanese rejected suggestions fed spending was to blame for ongoing inflation pressures.
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In response, Albanese returned the serve with a different quote by Bullock: "governments have a job to do and I have a job to do," he quoted.
"The Reserve Bank's job is to get inflation down. Governments have a different job. Their job is also to get inflation down, and they acknowledge that, but it's also to provide services and infrastructure for the Australian people."
Albanese said that was "precisely" what the government was doing.
Coalition takes aim at PM over cost of living
Peter Dutton is up first. He takes aim at the government's handling of cost of living pressures.
The PM says the only thing the Coalition has been consistent on is voting against Labor's cost of living measures.
He goes off to list all the things they voted against (i.e stage 3 tax cut overhaul, energy price relief).
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The PM also uses his time to make light of Dutton's remarks last week that people in the regions should pay less tax than city dwellers.
"We know also that those opposite, when it comes to economic policy, do have some half-baked plans," Albanese says.
"Zonal taxation depending upon where you live. Breaking up private sector companies through forced divestment. And nuclear reactors owned by the government sometime in the 2040s," he says.
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