Australia news live: Minns tells Dutton to keep NSW police out of ‘federal political fight’; human ashes found on bus in Rockhampton | Australia news

Sarah Basford Canales

Albanese ‘very concerned’ about Australia’s social cohesion

Continuing from our last post: Anthony Albanese expressed he was “very concerned” about social cohesion in Australia, saying the country had been a “successful, multicultural nation”.

I think when it comes to the Middle East, these are complex issues. They do not need people talking up the heat, they need people turning it down … I’m concerned that that there have been occasions where there have been attempts to politicise this, or weaponise these issues in a way, which in my view, isn’t appropriate.

PM responds to Dutton’s comparison between Port Arthur and 9 October protests

Sarah Basford Canales

At the Queensland Media Club this afternoon, Anthony Albanese was asked by Guardian Australia reporter, Eden Gillespie, about his eyebrow-raising speech last night.

Gillespie asked:

Peter Dutton has blamed police and Labor for the rise in antisemitism. He said police were going soft on people and that you had been too weak. What do you think of those allegations? And of Mr Dutton using the Gaza issue to make domestic political criticisms?

The prime minister responded:

I think that Peter Dutton’s reference to Port Arthur … people will draw their own conclusions about that. I did see those comments and was somewhat taken aback by those comments. And it’s up to him to explain that.

I’m someone who has spent time, including recently in Parliament House, with the family of victims of Port Arthur. And I think that sometimes what Peter Dutton does in his comments, is to think about how hard you could possibly go and how angry you could possibly be – and then go one step further.

Last night, Dutton likened the 9 October protests against Israel’s initial response to Hamas’s 7 October attack to the shooting murder of 35 people at Tasmania’s Port Arthur historic site in 1996, which heralded tougher gun laws in Australia.

While no one was killed during the 9 October protests, the events at the Sydney Opera House were akin to a Port Arthur moment in terms of their social significance.

Minns rebuts claim from Dutton that police have been weak on antisemitism

Luca Ittimani

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has hit back at the federal opposition leader Peter Dutton’s claim that police have been weak on antisemitism.

Minns said:

Keep NSW police out of the federal political fight. They do a great job in New South Wales and we should all get behind them.

In a speech yesterday, Dutton blamed police and Labor political leaders for what he called an unprecedented and unchecked rise in antisemitism.

The former Queensland police officer accused police of being weak and woke, and demonstrating a “supine” response to antisemitism:

Minns said the NSW police force was a “wonderful institution”:

The men and women that make up the police force work around the clock … being a police officer is way harder than being a senior politician, including being the leader of the opposition.

Adam Morton

Climate Change Authority advises government on 2035 emissions target

One of the Albanese government’s biggest announcements before the next election will be the national emissions reduction target it sets for 2035. It will indicate how rapidly the government plans to accelerate action to address the climate crisis.

The Climate Change Authority is advising the government on the target, and has just released an issues paper that gives the first insight into its thinking.

Its initial proposal is for a cut of between 65% and 75% compared with 2005 levels by 2035.

The authority’s chief executive, Brad Archer, said the evidence considered so far suggests this target “would be ambitious and could be achievable if additional action is taken by governments, business, investors and households”.

The government’s current target is a 43% cut by 2030. Views differ among experts on whether it is on track to achieve it. Scientists have said while it is a big improvement on the Coalition’s climate pledge when it was in power, it is not enough to live up to the goals of the Paris agreement.

The authority’s issues paper also considers what steps the government should be taking in six areas – electricity and energy, transport, industry and waste, agriculture and land, resources, and the built environment – to get to net zero by 2050.

We’re wading through the issues paper. You can read it here.

Lisa Cox

Middle Arm site is crown land, NT minister says in response to Thorpe question on consulting Larrakia people

Back to the parliamentary inquiry into the Middle Arm development in Darwin:

The social impact study senator David Pocock asked about in today’s Middle Arm inquiry was first reported on by Guardian Australia in this story last year, in which Larrakia traditional owners raised concerns about the development and a lack of consultation from the Northern Territory and federal governments.

The study said it could not make any findings about the development’s potential cultural impacts because there had been inadequate consultation with Larrakia and Tiwi people.

In this morning’s hearing, the independent senator Lidia Thorpe asked the NT government what steps it had taken to consult Larrakia people, the traditional owners of Darwin. In particular, she asked the government to explain part of its submission to the inquiry, which said it was taking a “Larrakia-led” approach to the development, based on principles of free, prior and informed consent:

Your government have said that you follow the principles of free prior and informed consent. You said that – so what does that mean? Tell me what it means? Explain that to me.

The chief minister, Eva Lawler, said the government had strong relationships with Larrakia people but on the question of free, prior and informed consent specifically, she didn’t “see the relevance” because Larrakia people did not hold native title rights and the Middle Arm site was crown land.

The government told the inquiry there was a Larrakia consulting group that had been working with the government and there had been “a range of meetings with larger family groups”.

Kate Lyons

Rockingham police appeal to public after suspected human ashes found on bus

Police in Rockingham, Western Australia are appealing for the owner of a box of what is believed to be human ashes to come forward, after it was left on a bus late in February.

Rockingham police shared a photograph of the box, which has the dates 24/4/77 and 29/4/23, as well as the word “Ranga” and a love heart, written on the front. If the dates are dates of birth and death, this would mean the person died shortly after their 46th birthday.

WA police said:

On [12 March], a Transperth staff member has attended Rockingham Police Station to hand-in a cardboard box that was left on a Transperth bus on [24 February]. It is unknown which bus route the bus travelled, but was possibly the 549 Route which travels between Rockingham and Fremantle.

The owner of the box, and anyone with information, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

Let’s circle back to Anthony Albanese at the Queensland Media Club, where he has been taking questions from reporters.

He is asked about comments from the state premier, Steven Miles, that winning the Queensland election will be like climbing higher than Mount Everest, and he’s “not even at base camp yet”.

Albanese acknowledged it is difficult for a long-term government, but said “a lot of people” wrote off the former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews before the last election in Victoria.

Albanese:

What I’ve seen in Steven is someone who really cares about people, who doesn’t want people to be left behind – and that sort of compassion, I think, will shine through.

I wish him well. I am not a participant in the Queensland state election but certainly I will be prepared, as I always am. I’ve lodged a few Labor campaigns around the country and I’ve lodged a few campaigns in Queensland over a period of time also.

So it is difficult for a long-term government – they have been in government for three terms, and Annastacia [Palaszczuk] I think retired with an extraordinary record of leading Labor to victory on three occasions. She deserves incredible respect and is a Labor hero forever as a result of that.

But we will wait and see how it goes. I heard a lot of people write off Daniel Andrews before the last election in Victoria also.

Daniel Hurst

Factchecking claims from Dutton on 2GB radio

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has falsely claimed that the Australian government is “talking about giving statehood to a Hamas-led territory in Palestine”.

In a regular interview with 2GB radio today, Dutton spoke about the rise in antisemitism in Australia, before claiming:

And we’ve got the prime minister running off talking about giving statehood to a Hamas-led territory in Palestine. It doesn’t make any sense to me.

This is not what the government has said. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, certainly triggered a round of political debate – and some criticism – with her speech on Tuesday stressing that the only way to end the cycle of violence in the Middle East in the long term is a two-state solution. She said each state must recognise the right of the other to exist.

Wong noted that the international community was “now considering the question of Palestinian statehood as a way of building momentum towards a two-state solution” – which is true given that countries including the Conservative party-governed United Kingdom has said so openly – but she did not give any timeframe for Australia to do so.

Wong was emphatic that the Australian government saw “no role for Hamas in a future Palestinian state”.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, reiterated yesterday – a day before Dutton’s 2GB claim – that “we don’t think that Hamas should have any role in a future Palestinian state – we’ve made that very clear”. Albanese said:

They’re a terrorist organisation and not a legitimate party to the future of Palestine. And they are an organisation that have not assisted … Palestinians, as well as, of course … being committed to the destruction of the state of Israel.

What we want is Israelis and Palestinians to be able to live in peace and security with stability, and to be able to prosper in the future in a region which is peaceful.

Lisa Cox

Circling back to the parliamentary inquiry into the Middle Arm development:

Over two days of hearings in Darwin, senators are taking evidence from Larrakia traditional owners, environment groups, scientists and health workers with concerns about the project.

The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the inquiry had taken “hundreds” of submissions from community members concerned about the health impacts of a new industrial precinct just a few kilometres from Palmerston. She pushed the government to provide its “worst case scenario” modelling of the potential health impacts of the project.

The government told senators they had undertaken 200 studies examining the full range of potential impacts of the project. Those studies are not public and Hanson-Young asked for them to be tabled on notice. At a rally before the hearing, she said she plans to raise all of the concerns presented to senators in Darwin at a meeting with the environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, today:

I’ll be telling her that there’s no social licence for Middle Arm in Darwin, the Darwin community are worried about the impact on their health.

The independent senator David Pocock pointed to a social impact study, commissioned by the NT government, which he said warned the Middle Arm development could lead to – among a long list – reduced health and safety, reduced housing affordability, reduced marine safety, potential water scarcity and a reduced quality of life for Darwin residents. Pocock said:

I mean, is this one of the 200 technical studies that you’ve referenced? And if so, how can you claim that studies have consistently backed the development? They seem like serious, serious risks.

NT chief minister rejects criticism of Middle Arm development at senate inquiry

Lisa Cox

The chief minister of the Northern Territory, Eva Lawler, has used a federal Senate inquiry to reject criticism of the proposed Middle Arm development at Darwin harbour, telling opponents of the project “you can’t complain about a wait time at a hospital or funding for education if you don’t support Middle Arm”.

Hearings of an inquiry examining the controversial project, in which the Albanese government is taking a $1.5bn equity stake, have been taking place in Darwin.

The project has been controversial because it was publicly labelled a sustainable development despite being linked to new gas projects.

Lawler told this morning’s hearing the proposed industrial precinct signalled “a change of direction” for the territory that would lead to an increased population, more GST and “ongoing secure jobs for territorians”. She said:

You can’t complain about a wait time at a hospital or funding for education if you don’t support Middle Arm.

The government told the hearing that an environmental impact statement for the project, originally expected last year, would now be handed to the federal government later this year.

Lawler was asked whether the government could clarify “once and for all” whether the site would support a petrochemicals industry. The chief minister said she would not rule out that possibility; however, officials said the concept for the development had evolved over the years to factor in renewable energy and critical minerals.

The chief minister said “Middle Arm provides the opportunity for energy for industry … whether it’s renewables or it’s gas”.

Tim Crakanthorp found to have breached public trust and ministerial code but no finding of corrupt conduct

Tamsin Rose

The former New South Wales Labor minister Tim Crakanthorp has been found to have breached the public trust and the ministerial code after an investigation by state’s corruption watchdog.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption made no finding of corrupt conduct.

The probe was launched last year when it was discovered the Newcastle MP had allegedly failed to declare “substantial private family holdings” in the Hunter region relating to his wife’s family. Crakanthorp was the minister for the Hunter.

Neither Crakanthorp’s wife nor her family were accused of any wrongdoing.

In its report handed to the premier, Chris Minns, on Wednesday and released publicly today, Icac found that Crakanthorp had beached the public trust when he “knowingly failed to declare a conflict of interest arising from interests” in property around the Broadmeadow Investigation Area and the Hunter Park Sport and Entertainment Precinct held by him, his wife and his in-laws.

“That such failure constituted a breach of public trust,” Icac found.

The commssion also found that Crakanthorp’s “conduct in participating in meetings when minister for the Hunter that could affect his and his extended family’s properties constituted a breach of public trust”.

The commission found Crakanthorp breached the ministerial code “by failing to declare his conflict of interest as required” and by participating in meetings relating to the conflict.

Crakanthorp has been contacted for comment.

Aldi confirms it has no plans for Tasmanian expansion

Jonathan Barrett

As we flagged just earlier: Aldi is not expanding into Tasmania any time soon, according to the chief executive of the supermarket chain’s Australian arm, due to difficulties in setting up in more isolated areas with smaller populations.

Aldi’s Anna McGrath told a Senate inquiry into supermarkets today that while the chain now had almost 600 stores across the country, it could not reach some areas accessed by major chains Coles and Woolworths.

When we’re identifying where to expand, we do need to consider the additional costs and complexities that are involved and therefore when it comes to Tasmania it would be largely the supply chain elements.

It’s not currently in our plans.

The Greens senator Nick McKim, who represents Tasmania and is chairing the committee, said the response would disappoint shoppers seeking an alternative to the majors.

Recent financial results suggest consumers are starting to turn against the big supermarkets due to high grocery prices, instead shopping at lower-cost rivals including Aldi.

The Senate inquiry, designed to investigate how big supermarkets set prices and use their market power when dealing with suppliers, is due to report its recommendations to the government in early May.

The recommendations may include measures that would help rivals better compete with Coles and Woolworths, which collectively control two-thirds of the market.

It has taken Aldi more than two decades to build a 10% market share after opening its first Australian store in 2001.