Australia news live: Tony Burke announces independent administrator of CFMEU | Australia news

Bowen also outlined the government’s plans for future transmission lines:

You may have heard certain politicians say that we have a policy of building 28,000km of transition lines. It isn’t true – never has been.

We’re supporting the building of 4,000km of transmission lines over the next decade, plus the upgrading of another 1,000km.

Of the 4,000km actually required, 900km are complete, or well under physical construction, while the others are at various stages of advanced planning and approval.

Chris Bowen said that during his travels throughout regional and rural Australia, he understands the energy transition can be “confronting” for some.

I’ve met with passionate renewable energy advocates in the regions who have demanded more action faster [and] more renewables.

I’ve met with people who are happy to see renewables, but want to see better consultation and better community benefits.

And, of course, I’ve heard from some who oppose the renewable rollout all together – it’s far from a majority in any place I’ve visited, far from a majority, but it is a contested space.

He said the government has set expectations for “effective and responsible” engagement by transmission companies to improve the outcomes for local communities.

To read more about the renewable energy resistance in some parts of regional Australia, you can read this fantastic feature from Aston Brown below:

Back to the National Press Club, where energy and climate change minister Chris Bowen has been speaking.

He said that 2050 isn’t the start date for action, but the “deadline for delivery,” and told the crowd:

Some people say they’re committed to net zero by 2050 as if saying it is enough, and they think that they can delay action to the late 2030s, or indeed, to the 2040s. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the task before us and of the opportunities before our country.

Top energy regulator doubts nuclear energy possible in Australia by 2050

Peter Hannam

The Australian Clean Energy Summit 2024 in Sydney doesn’t include many supporters among the attenders for nuclear energy being built in the country.

One senior supplier privately said the federal opposition’s pledge to build seven nuclear energy plants were “a distraction”, while one state official described the move as “chilling” for renewable energy investor interest.

That didn’t stop federal opposition energy spokesperson Ted O’Brien giving his stump speech (with no Q&A), blaming the government for an “all eggs in one basket approach” with renewables, and the need for a more “balanced” approach that included nuclear energy. (He received polite applause, only.)

It was a pity O’Brien was caught in traffic and missed an earlier session that included Clare Savage, the head of the Australian Energy Regulator.

Savage said Australia was “probably a decade too late” to go down to the nuclear track. As a regulator, she estimated that it would take at least two years to remove the legal impediments and introduce supporting legislation at state and federal level (assuming that was possible).

“By the time you would have to try and build out the safety framework, the environmental framework, the market operations, the underwriting, I reckon that’d take at least …another eight years,” Savage said. Add another couple of years before any sod could be turned it would then need 15 years to build a reactor.

So that’s 25 years from now, so you’re probably at 2050.

Bearing in mind coal plants will probably all be gone by 2040 – assuming their operations can be extended even that long – we’d have a decade gap to fill. Not very promising.

The minister for climate change and energy is beginning his address at the National Press Club

Josh Butler gave us a preview of what Chris Bowen will say, which you can read about earlier in the blog here and here.

We’ll bring you the highlights from his speech, and questions from reporters.

Safety not valued at Queensland power plant before blast, report finds

AAP reports that almost half a million households were left without power after pieces of metal weighing almost half a tonne blasted out of a turbine in the May 2021 incident at central Queensland’s Callide power station.

Three years after the “catastrophic missile event” near Biloela, forensic engineer Sean Brady’s final report has been released.

It found state-owned operator CS Energy did not value safety or implement suitable welfare processes before the explosion.

Staff had raised concerns years before the explosion that Callide was an unsafe work environment and the lack of maintenance over the years could lead to an incident, Dr Brady found.

CS Energy chair Adam Aspinall on Wednesday said it was an unacceptable outcome at Callide that had damaged trust with the community and stakeholders.

“I apologise to our employees, the government and the people of Queensland for CS Energy not having maintained the world-class performance they expect,” he told reporters.

This is worth a look over your lunch break:

MBA welcomes CFMEU action, but calls for return of regulator

Master Builders Australia has welcomed the announcement of an independent administrator for the CFMEU, but said it was only a first step in “stamping out the toxic and ingrained culture … of bullying, thuggery, and complete disregard for the law”.

In a statement, the body said that the announcement was a significant move in addressing a range of serious allegations against the CFMEU.

It also called for the “reinstatement” of a “strong” building regulator. The Albanese government abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission last year.

The MBA said in a statement:

This culture has existed for decades and has stifled productivity and increased the cost of construction at the expense of the community, taxpayers, jobs and small business.

All levers need to be pulled to ensure these investigations are well-resourced, thorough and have the full powers available to them.

It has been extensively documented in four royal commissions, dozens of inquiries and reviews, and hundreds of court judgments. The time for talking is over – what we need now is real action to fix this problem once and for all.

More action will still be needed to hold recidivist officials accountable, and a strong building regulator must be reinstated.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus, president Michele O’Neil and members of the ACTU executive will address the media at 2.30pm this afternoon.

Government doesn’t want to punish workers by stopping projects, says PM

Overwhelmingly – let’s be very clear – overwhelmingly, people who work in the construction sector go to work, they work hard, it’s dangerous work and they earn for their family and they make a contribution to building and construction, whether it be large homes or whether it be civil construction, railway lines or roads. We don’t want that to stop.

PM says ‘nothing off the table’ over CFMEU

Anthony Albanese has also been speaking to the media from Brisbane, and was asked whether deregistering the CFMEU should be taken off the table.

The prime minister said that “nothing will be taken off the table but we want action”.

Notice that the Master Builders Association and the Constructors Association have all welcomed the actions that the government has taken as well.

It’s important that the action be effective, and some of the things that have been proposed haven’t been effective … You can spend a lot of time having talks, what we’ve done is have action. And today’s announcement is decisive. It’s clear and it will make a difference.

Dutton backs continuing Ukraine support

Moving to international politics, Dutton was asked about previous comments made by Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, opposing aid to Ukraine, and whether this worried him.

Dutton responded:

I congratulate JD Vance on his appointment as the running mate to President Trump and obviously, as has been the case over decades – regardless of whether it’s a Democrat or Republican administration, regardless of whether at this end it’s a Labor or Liberal administration, we work closely with our counterparts in the United States and will continue to do that.

We believe very strongly that support should be provided to Ukraine because innocent men, women and children are being slaughtered by President Putin and the world shouldn’t take its eyes away from what’s happening in Ukraine just because time has elapsed and the media cycle moves on.

Peter Dutton argued that NSW premier Chris Minns and South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas “show the leadership that the prime minister can’t demonstrate” by returning donations from the CFMEU.

The fact is that Labor party has taken over $10m worth of donations from the CFMEU during the prime minister’s time as Labor leader … they should stop receiving any donations and the money that they have received should be quarantined.

Dutton says CFMEU allegations ‘only scratching the surface’

Peter Dutton is speaking to the media from Brisbane about the CFMEU allegations.

The opposition leader claimed that “we’re only just scratching the surface” of alleged misconduct and, in his view, “this will turn out to be the biggest defrauding of the Australian taxpayer in our country’s history”.

I don’t believe that the prime minister’s response by announcing an administrator will be appointed and somehow that will be adequate to deal with the issues before us. The weakest possible response from Anthony Albanese would be to appoint an administrator to the CFMEU…

If the prime minister had any backbone whatsoever, he would deregister the CFMEU.

Workplace relations minister Tony Burke told a press conference just moments ago why the government was not considering deregistration (see our earlier post).

Q: You’ve spoke when about inadequacies of the [Australian Building and Construction Commission]. What about the Registered Organisations Commission? Is there a role for restoring that, or a version of that, so it can better police this behaviour?

Tony Burke responded:

The power of the Registered Organisations Commission are the powers that were transferred to the general manager of the Fair Work Commission, who I’ve just said I have full confidence in …

If it ends up being that the legislation – and this part of it was not changed when we made that shift – but if the legislation does not create a clear enough path to putting administrators in different roles, and the attempts from the regulator are challenged, then when parliament returns we’ll legislate.

The press conference has now wrapped up.

Tony Burke said what the government had been discussing with the administrator “is not limited to Victoria”.

But it will be the decision of the regulator to work out where it goes.

The workplace minister was asked if he would move to close this loophole (as mentioned in our last post).

Tony Burke responded:

I personally have a view in favour of registered organisations having the significant role. The reality is at the moment there is no pathway through the parliament on changing that.

There are some organisations that are not registered that traditionally the Coalition have been close to. There are some organisations that are not registered that the Greens party has been quite close to, and I don’t believe that pathway is open.