Key events40m agoGood morningFilters BETAKey events (1)Australia (3)Europe (3)6m ago19.16 EDTPaul Karp
Education minister lashes Peter Dutton over Robodebt
The education minister, Jason Clare, has spoken to Sky News on Sunday where he spoke about the Coalition’s reaction to the robodebt royal commission report, saying opposition leader Peter Dutton had shown “all the empathy of a rock” in responding to it.
He told Sky News:
The fact that Peter Dutton on the day that this came down, went straight to politics showed that this bloke doesn’t get it. It’s not about that. It’s about Jennifer [Miller]. It’s about people like her. You know, a number of people lost their live others tried to take their own life, ended up in hospital and they’re still dealing with that. That’s the real human consequence of this. And that should always be kept in mind here. This was, i think now proven any legal scheme that operated For four and a half years … You can go back further than late 2017 from late 2016, early 2017 they knew this computer system was sending our bills to people who didn’t owe them. And yet they kept on, going it showed that they didn’t give the stuff. How could you keep sending bills to people that they didn’t know when the system or when the evidence at least was showing that that it was wrong.
Clare said that Scott Morrison, his ministers and bureaucrats “are going to have to live with this on their conscience for the rest of their lives.”
19m ago19.03 EDT
Trade Minister Heads To Europe For “Difficult” Trade Negotiations
Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell is also heading to Europe on Sunday to head up negotiations with the European Union about a possible Free Trade Agreement.
As a bloc, the EU is Australia’s third-largest trading partner, with total two-way trade worth $97 billion in 2021-22.
Farrell will meet with his counterpart Executive Vice-President and European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, as well as the EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski.
Farrell said that “negotiations remain difficult and have reached a point where issues vital to Australia’s national interest must be improved”.
A trade agreement with the EU would unlock an overall market of 445 million people and a GDP of $24 trillion.
Concluding an ambitious trade deal between like-minded partners is important at a time of mounting geo-political uncertainty.
The Government remains strongly committed to the best possible deal for Australian businesses, farmers, workers and the broader community.
I am prepared to persist even if it means the negotiations extend into the second half of this year.
31m ago18.51 EDT
Prime Minister heads to Europe for security meetings
Anthony Albanese will fly out of Perth bound for Europe and security talks as Ukraine marks the 500-day anniversary of war with Russia.
The prime minister will get down to business on Monday in Berlin, where he will meet Germany’s chancellor…
2023-07-08 18:16:45
Link from www.theguardian.com
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