Key events
Sarah Basford Canales
Public consultations for a national autism strategy open today as the federal government hopes to develop a whole-of-life plan for autistic Australians – the first of its kind in the country.
Forums, focus groups and workshops will be held across the country from 4 September until late October to determine key reform areas across healthcare, education and employment.
Research has shown the life expectancy for autistic people is lower than the general population, though the reasons are not yet fully understood.
Social services minister Amanda Rishworth said it was important the strategy be informed by those with lived experiences along with professionals working within the sector.
Rishworth said:
This is a strategy for all autistic Australians, wherever they are in their journey. We want to encourage as many people as possible to have their say so we can capture the full diversity of their experiences and what autistic people want and need from the strategy.
Dutton has underestimated Liberal voter goodwill on Indigenous voice: Burke
And on the voice, how does the government plan on turning around the vote?
Tony Burke:
By continuing to explain that recognition through a voice will deliver results. We need to remember this idea came after governments of both sides said to First Nations people, tell us what would make recognition meaningful, and people came back simply saying, well, it’s meaningful if there’s also a commitment through the Australian people that you will listen, that would make it meaningful. And so we will continue to be out there campaigning.
I’m very confident on this.
And I also think that Peter Dutton, I think, has underestimated the goodwill of a whole lot of Liberal voters here as well. There’s a generosity in the Australian people and as people come closer to the date, focus their minds and look at the proposal – we see it as something where there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Senate crossbench will have constructive conversations about IR bill: Burke
Tony Burke says talks with the Senate crossbench have been under way, but there have been no promises made, because no one has seen the legislation as yet:
No one’s locked in they have to look at the legislation. Almost certainly there’ll be a Senate inquiry process ….
The opposition only needed to hear the title of the bill, that it was closing loopholes, and they knew they were against it.
But for the crossbench, they’ll conduct their due diligence we’ll have constructive conversations. And I’m very hopeful that there’ll be enough goodwill to be able to close these loopholes this year.
Legislation to target ‘a minority of employers’ exploiting loopholes: Burke
The message from Tony Burke on this legislation is “it’s for the minority of employers who are doing the wrong thing”.
You’ve just got a minority of employers that are exploiting a number of loopholes. It’s bad for their workers. It’s also bad for the other businesses that have to compete with them.
You have something that changes the plan for labour hire so that … workers who are brought in for short-term contracts or workplace to get the same pay as if they’d been hired directly by the business.
Most businesses won’t notice IR law changes as they ‘don’t use the loopholes’: Burke
Speaking to Sabra Lane on ABC radio AM, Tony Burke kicks off his big day by making it clear that the same job, same pay legislation won’t be something that most businesses even notice:
Most businesses don’t use the loopholes. So this is something where there is a subset of workers who will notice a really significant difference.
But for most workers around Australia, you know the work that we’re already doing in getting wages moving is the main thing for them.
So you know, most employers don’t undercard enterprise agreements. Most employers, if you’re a casual and you’re wanting to be able to convert to permanent work, they do it cooperatively. Most employers don’t engage in wage theft.
And so for each of these issues, we’re talking about loopholes that a minority of employers use, but I’ll tell you what, for those workers who are disadvantaged because they’re unlucky enough to be with an employer who does use these loopholes – for those workers, today makes a real difference for their working lives.
Good morning
Amy Remeikis
Welcome back to Politics Live and the parliament sitting, where IR is the main game.
After a fairly big business-led backlash to the same work, same pay legislation Tony Burke has been talking about, the government is going on the offence, selling the bill as necessary for today’s workforce.
Small business will most likely be exempt from the most major changes to the bill and there will be more time for businesses to make the change. Plus, there are all the platform issues to work out – what is in and what is out (Facebook Marketplace, Airtasker etc).
In news that will absolutely shock you, Peter Dutton doesn’t think the Coalition will be able to support it.
Burke will be out and about talking about that morning through to night today, so you will probably be sick of him by the time the day is out.
Meanwhile, the latest Newspoll shows support for the voice has continued to fall with no in a majority, 53 to 38.
The poll, first published in the Australian, also showed Anthony Albanese’s popularity fell by six points to 46%, while those who feel negatively about the prime minister have risen to 47% –meaning his Newspoll popularity has fallen into negative territory for the first time since he won office. Labor is behind the Coalition on the primary vote measure, but still comfortably ahead when it comes to two-party preferred (53 to 47).
So it is going to be a bit of a rough week for the government who are trying to turn the voice referendum around with a lot less political capital than they had even a few months ago.
And that’s before the economy takes its predicted downturn.
We will keep you abreast of all that is happening in Canberra – you have Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp, Josh Butler, Daniel Hurst and Sarah Basford-Canales to help guide you through. Mike Bowers is already out and about and you have me, Amy Remeikis, on the blog for most of the day.
Ready? I am looking at my third coffee already.
Let’s get into it.
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