Australia news live: Littleproud says Dutton’s idea to break up insurers ‘not a policy’; crime syndicate busted over Pokémon card thefts
Littleproud says Dutton idea to break up insurers ‘not a policy’
Earlier this morning, Nationals leader David Littleproud was up on ABC RN after Peter Dutton floated the idea of divestiture powers applying to the insurance industry.
Asked if the policy had been approved by the joint party room, Littleproud instead took aim at Anthony Albanese and argued insurance premiums had gone up 19% since he came to power.
If you’ve got the policy levers, why wouldn’t you look to make sure that everyone is doing what they should be, and … making sure that there’s deterrence for companies to make sure that they’re doing the right things? If they don’t, there is a penalty – and unfortunately, that’s why we had to act with the supermarkets.
Asked why the didn’t the Coalition act on this when it was in power for a decade, Littleproud said it had put in place mitigation works.
Drawn back to the original question on whether this policy was approved by the joint party room, Littleproud responded:
It’s not a policy, what was announced. What Peter Dutton has said [is] we are prepared to use whatever policy lever we need to ensure that Australia’s cost of living, and consumers, are being treated fairly … I think it would be unfair to say that that was a policy announced by Peter Dutton.
Key events
Price and policy changes redirect Uber’s electric drive
Ride-share giant Uber could ditch discounts given to Australian electric vehicle drivers – that cost the company more than $30m – to provide greater support for EV charging.
AAP reports the company has pledged not to back down from its goal of reaching net zero by 2040, despite challenging international economic and political conditions.
Uber electrification and sustainability head Rebecca Tinucci made the comments during a visit to Australia, following a dramatic drop in sales of new electric cars in Australia and significant transport policy changes in the US.
I’m not going to sugar-coat it: the job does get harder when you have a large government like the US not leaning in as much but we work with a lot of different governments across the globe.
Our electrification ambitions will remain and do remain but we want to be smart about understanding what are the regions where we can lean in and do more, one of which I believe is Australia.
In addition to discounted car finance options, Uber has delivered electric vehicle drivers on its platform a half-price service fee since 2022 – at a cost of “about $30m”. The discount is due to expire on 30 June and Tinucci said the company was weighing up whether to discontinue it to prioritise making it easier or cheaper for drivers to recharge EVs.
We are starting to see [total cost of ownership] in Australia get closer to parity so the question becomes where should our investment go. I think some of the other puzzle pieces might be a better place for our investment – as an example, charging.
Police union and Victorian opposition leader respond to Patton resignation
Circling back to earlier news that Victorian police commissioner Shane Patton has stepped down following a vote of no confidence:
AAP reports that police union secretary Wayne Gatt has thanked Patton for his service, after triggering the events leading his resignation. Gatt said the association would now continue fighting to address many of the issues impacting the force, its members and the community.
Victoria’s opposition leader, former police officer Brad Battin, said a change of leadership wouldn’t resolve the systemic issues plaguing law and order in the state:
The dismissal of the chief commissioner is also not going to change many of the frustrations that our officers are experiencing when the criminals they arrest are released hours later or the resources they need to do their jobs are not forthcoming.
Westpac reports rising personal loan arrears
Jonathan Barrett
More people are falling behind on their personal loan repayments, while mortgage arrears have steadied, according to Westpac’s quarterly update released today.
Personal loans, which are sometimes taken out to consolidate debt, require much higher repayment rates than a typical home loan, and are often used by people already under financial pressure.
Westpac’s figures show that personal loan delinquencies, representing those who have fallen more than 90 days behind in repayments, are near five-year highs, representing 2.83% of that part of its lending book.
The equivalent delinquency rate for mortgages dropped during the last quarter from 1.12% to 1.03%.
The banking sector has been reporting reduced rates of mortgage arrears, with some under-pressure homeowners able to direct last year’s stage-three tax cuts to staying solvent.
Property agents are also reporting increased sales activity by stressed households, which wipes those arrears from lending books.
Westpac reported a quarterly net profit, excluding large one-off expenses, of $1.9bn, up from $1.8bn a year ago.
Lindy Lee quits board after ‘fraught’ dumping of Biennale artist
The Creative Australia board meeting that led to Lebanese-Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi being dumped as the nation’s representative for the 2026 Venice Biennale was “fraught and heartbreaking”, the artist Lindy Lee has revealed.
You can read the full story from Nour Haydar, below, for the latest:
Littleproud asked if Coalition nuclear costings include power plant insurance
The CEO of the Insurance Council of Australia, Andrew Hall, spoke with ABC RN this morning and said if Australia went down the path of nuclear energy, the federal government would need to lead the insurance coverage.
David Littleproud was asked about this, and whether the Coalition would consider this, and responded:
We’ll look at what Mr Hall is trying to articulate there.
Asked if the Coalition’s costings for nuclear included insurance for nuclear power plants, Littleproud responded:
They cover the whole costings around, what we’ve been able to do with independently verified numbers that is consistent internationally.
Littleproud was again asked specifically if insurance was included in the costings, and responded:
That’s exactly why we had it independently costed, internationally, and to make sure that it is within international comparisons.
Littleproud says Dutton idea to break up insurers ‘not a policy’
Earlier this morning, Nationals leader David Littleproud was up on ABC RN after Peter Dutton floated the idea of divestiture powers applying to the insurance industry.
Asked if the policy had been approved by the joint party room, Littleproud instead took aim at Anthony Albanese and argued insurance premiums had gone up 19% since he came to power.
If you’ve got the policy levers, why wouldn’t you look to make sure that everyone is doing what they should be, and … making sure that there’s deterrence for companies to make sure that they’re doing the right things? If they don’t, there is a penalty – and unfortunately, that’s why we had to act with the supermarkets.
Asked why the didn’t the Coalition act on this when it was in power for a decade, Littleproud said it had put in place mitigation works.
Drawn back to the original question on whether this policy was approved by the joint party room, Littleproud responded:
It’s not a policy, what was announced. What Peter Dutton has said [is] we are prepared to use whatever policy lever we need to ensure that Australia’s cost of living, and consumers, are being treated fairly … I think it would be unfair to say that that was a policy announced by Peter Dutton.
Hanson-Young says arts community ‘reeling’ after Creative Australia decision
At the core of the controversy is Khaled Sabsabi’s 2007 video installation titled You, which includes images of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Asked if it was appropriate for him to be selected, Sarah Hanson-Young said that “the process by which artists need to go through to get selected is very rigorous”.
That’s what happened in this case … it was a very, very rigorous process. I’ll tell you what’s not appropriate is to go through that process, to have a peer-reviewed, to sign a contract, spend taxpayers’ money, and then have it withdrawn because of some questions being asked that, frankly, [are] completely naive and and uninformed about the artist’s work, the impact of their work and the message that their work is sending, which is about peace, unity and inclusion.
The Greens senator said that “artistic work must be free from political interference and intimidation”. She said Creative Australia’s emergency meeting came off the back of a member of Peter Dutton’s team asking a question in Senate question time.
What pressure was put on members of that board to make that decision for political convenience? If the minister has nothing to hide, if there are no other members of government that have nothing to hide, then ensure there is a full, frank investigation, including the records of phone calls and notes that may have been taken.
Hanson-Young said members of the arts community had reached out to her and were “reeling” from the decision, saying Australia looked like “a laughing stock”.
Greens welcome Creative Australia inquiry into Venice selection process
Greens senator and arts spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young was on ABC RN this morning to discuss Creative Australia’s decision to withdraw Lebanese-born Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi from the 61st Venice Biennale.
Australia’s principal arts investment and advisory body has been rocked by two senior resignations after the decision from the board, which led to media and political pressure.
Hanson-Young welcomed news this morning that the organisation will conduct an independent and external review into its 2026 Venice artistic selection process. She said:
We do need a full and frank inquiry. I also think it needs to look at the political interference into this appalling decision that the board made in a very fast and rush meeting last Thursday.
And only six days after awarding the submission to two of Australia’s most influential creators, to have that withdrawn because a question was asked in parliament by a conservative MP, and there was a gossip column in The Australian newspaper, and who knew what? Why did this occur? And why didn’t the premium arts body, Creative Australia, stand up for Australian artists and the arts world?
The federal arts minister, Tony Burke, has denied allegations of political interference.
Syndicate busted for allegedly targeting crypto ATMs and collectible cards
Victorian police say they have dismantled an organised crime syndicate that was allegedly involved in stealing six cryptocurrency ATMs and committing a series of burglaries at collector card stores.
Detectives arrested four people over the past week as part of their investigation into alleged commercial burglaries. The ATM’s were allegedly stolen from businesses in Hoppers Crossing, Bentleigh, Brunswick, Werribee and Vermont.
It will be alleged the group targeted three collectible card stores in Epping, Moonee Ponds and Eumemmerring, and detectives believe the group may have been using stolen cars.
The investigation allegedly led to police uncovering a cave of items, including about $50,000 worth of collectible trading cards, including Pokémon, Disney Lorcana, Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic the Gathering, Dragon Ball Z, AFL and NBA.
Police allege they also uncovered five stolen firearms, 100 stolen car keys, ammunition, a pill-press machine and stolen power tools.
Four people have been arrested in total, including two alleged primary offenders – a 37-year-old man from Reservoir and a 32-year-old man from Epping – with both facing numerous charges including burglary.
The two other men, a 33-year-old and a 46-year-old, both from Reservoir, were released pending further investigation.
Plibersek on latest polling numbers
The federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, was on Sunrise earlier this morning, where she also weighed in on those latest polling numbers.
She said the results show “every vote counts”, taking aim at Peter Dutton for opposing cost-of-living measures put forward by the government.
We know that cost of living is top of mind for Australian families. We are working every single day to take pressure off families. All Peter Dutton has done is try to get in the way of those us helping those families.
If he has a plan to make life easier for families, what is it? Free lunch for bosses and nuclear power some time in the 2040s. He won’t tell us the cost of those policies, he won’t tell us what he will have to cut to pay for the nuclear power.
Malinauskas asked if SA government would take stake in Whyalla steelworks to save it
The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, was on ABC News Breakfast earlier and he discussed the future of the embattled Whyalla steelworks.
Last week he said the state government was starting to look at contingency plans if the steelworks couldn’t pay back “tens of millions” of dollars owed to a number of creditors, and that he’d been engaging with the federal government on the issue.
Today, asked if the SA government would be prepared to take a stake in the business in order to save it, Malinauskas said: “I don’t think we’re in a position at the moment … to be ruling anything in or out.”
I don’t think we should have a completely nationalised steelworks. I think that’s not the go-to option, to say the least. I think we want a highly capable steelmaker producing steel for this country domestically. I’m relatively agnostic about who that is, just as long as they have the capability to make the investment for the capital upgrades that are required.
But I do think the government’s got to play a role here if something were to go wrong with GFG. It’s too important for the nation. It’s a critical piece of economic infrastructure that simply can’t be lost.
O’Neil on RBA rates decision tomorrow
The Reserve Bank is due to announce its latest interest rate decision tomorrow. Clare O’Neil weighed in on this and told the Today Show:
Whether the RBA decides to cut rates this week or whether they do that at a future date, what I really want people to see is that we’ve done exactly what was needed for the economy at the time.
Host Karl Stefanovic said O’Neil seemed “desperate to sell the government’s bona fides, but you’re frustrated that [voters are] not listening”. She shot back, saying: “I don’t feel frustrated at all.”
That’s not what this is about … My job as a politician is to make sure that I do the right thing and make the right decisions for the Australian people. It’s up to your viewers at home to decide on election day whether they want to, you know – our government’s played some really important foundations for prosperity for our country, or are they going to go with negative?
O’Neil responds to latest polling results
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, has been making the rounds on breakfast television this morning and also spoke with the Today Show about the latest polling numbers.
Responding to the numbers, she acknowledged it has been “a really difficult period globally for the economy”, noting that the UK, the US and Canada had “all gone through some real difficulties, similar to what Australians have faced over the last three years”.
O’Neil took aim at the opposition and said:
It’s been a difficult period. No one’s going to deny that Australians have been under huge pressures. But all of those things that we’ve done to assist people with cost-of-living issues, remember that Peter Dutton came out and opposed those, so people would be feeling worse today if Peter Dutton had been the prime minister.
Rail union chief weighs in on pay talks with NSW
The president of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, Craig Turner, was also on ABC News Breakfast this morning to discuss the latest on negotiations between the unions and the NSW government.
He was asked if this was the best way for the unions to approach negotiating, amid “a cost-of-living crisis [with people] who can’t drive at the moment, who rely on the train network”. Turner responded:
Unfortunately, it’s the only way we can get – or try to get – the government back to the table … The government rhetoric and Sydney and NSW Trains is, ‘We will just take you to court all the time.’ They have an external legal firm who seem to be just consistent on taking us to court and not getting the deal done.
Turner said there was meant to be conciliation in the Fair Work Commission at 10am this morning, “which we would attend, and we think we could get the job done”.
But unfortunately, their legal firm has contacted the commission to vacate today. So we’ll be showing up to get it done. It’s not a personal thing, this. We need to get everything done and to move on, especially for the commuters of NSW.
Turner told commuters that “you can’t just blame the union for everything, the government should get this sorted”.
