Australia politics live: Labor makes move to crack down on consultants after latest scandal

From

55m ago

Wilson says time and trust needed to win the public back

The Guardian Essential poll shows the Coalition is still in dire straits, with its vote being eaten up by One Nation.

There’s some interesting data in the latest poll around One Nation, and a little less appetite from the public for some of their key policies – have a read below:

But it also shows that while One Nation’s primary vote dropped from 28% to 26%, and Labor ticked up from 29% to 30%, the Coalition is still coming third with a very low primary vote of just 23%. So Sky News host Pete Stefanovic asks Tim Wilson why people still aren’t buying what the Liberal party is selling.

Wilson says it’s about time and trust.

There’s absolutely policies we need to get right, to articulate and to articulate to the Australian people. We’ve put out a series of policies already around the tax back guarantee to actually protect Australians against Jim Chalmer’s active inflation agenda.

And every time we talk to people about it, they see the benefit and the advantage of it, but this is going to take time. No one’s pretending otherwise.

The key thing we’ve got to do is solidify trust … and part of the challenge is we’ve got to be a sustainable alternative that clearly articulates a vision for the country.

Key events

19m ago

Coalition to push to ‘get the balance right’ on gambling legislation

55m ago

Wilson says time and trust needed to win the public back

1h ago

‘We’re very confident in Treasury’s forecasts’: Labor defends tax reforms against cooling housing market

1h ago

Good morning

2h ago

Labor moves to clean up consulting industry

2h ago

Welcome

‘This is a chance for the Coalition to actually stand for something’ Greens consider teaming up to push Labor on gambling reforms

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the government’s gambling reforms don’t go nearly far enough, and confirms her party has been talking with the Coalition to potentially team up to force stronger action from Labor.

She tells ABC RN Breakfast the government’s legislation fails to ban online gambling advertising, which is what the report led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy recommended, doesn’t deliver a national regulator, and doesn’t address gambling inducements.

They’re [the Coalition] at least saying that this doesn’t go far enough and that’s better than what Labor’s putting on the table. But this is a chance for the Coalition to actually stand for something.

The way young people are targeted through this advertising is insidious and we need to stop that. But you know what else hurts young people and children is when their mum or dad is addicted to gambling, when the whole family falls apart, when no one has any money to put food on the table or to pay for the school fees or that next school excursion. And families are being torn apart because of gambling addiction and advertising of this harmful product just needs to stop.

The Greens have said they’ll push for the legislation to be examined by a Senate inquiry – but that doesn’t necessarily stop the government being able to pass the bill before it, if it gets the support of the Coalition.

Coalition to push to ‘get the balance right’ on gambling legislation

The Coalition is in the negotiation hot seat with the government to pass Labor’s gambling reforms, but they haven’t said they’ll give it the green light yet.

Peter Dutton, the former Liberal leader, had drawn up online gambling policy last term promising to ban sports betting advertising during the broadcasting of games – one hour before and one hour after.

It’s stronger than what the government’s proposal, which will only cap online gambling ads to three an hour on broadcast television between 6am and 8:30pm.

We know there are some in the Liberal party who want to push the government much further, including Liberal MP Simon Kennedy.

Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan, speaking to RN Breakfast this morning, says the Coalition is still in talks with the government and are keen to tighten the legislation a little.

We want to work with the government to make sure that we get this right. There is a feeling that there are some changes that need to be made to tighten it, especially when it comes around children being able to view television ad-free when it comes to gambling advertising … Sarah Henderson is right across this issue, and we’ll be working to make sure that we absolutely get the balance right.

We don’t want kids exposed to advertising when they’re going to sit down and watch Friday Night Footy match. And that’s what we’re working to make sure that we can achieve.

Albanese says charges against EY employees who accessed PM’s bank account details ‘appropriate’

It’s not just KPMG in (boiling) hot water right now; EY is also in the spotlight, after two of its graduate employees on secondment at the Commonwealth Bank allegedly used the bank’s systems to access the personal details of Anthony Albanese. The two employees have been sacked.

Albanese tells ABC News Breakfast he won’t comment on the issue, which is now before the courts, but says it’s appropriate the issue is being taken seriously.

It’s before the courts and I’m not about to go into the detail of that. It’s appropriate that charges have been laid …accessing anyone’s privacy, any Australian’s privacy, is alarming, let alone someone from a contractor who’s not an employee of Commonwealth Bank being able to access that information.

More broadly, Albanese says the government is cracking down on the behaviour of consulting firms, who he says “need to be held to account” – pardon the pun.

We’ve cracked down on that and we’ll continue to examine these issues. Quite clearly, the behaviour of some of these big accounting firms has been completely unacceptable. In some cases, it has involved breaches of the law. And they need to be held to account.

Mulino lists options to crackdown on audit firms after KPMG scandal

Daniel Mulino, the financial services minister, says the behaviour by the big four firms “simply isn’t good enough” as the government considers options on how to stop them from breaching trust and misusing confidential information.

As my colleague Tom McIlroy brought you earlier, the options are being considered after it was revealed KPMG staff leaked confidential Lendlease and Optus information to colleagues who were applying for lucrative audit contracts at Westpac, Dexus and Telstra. At least three partners were involved.

Mulino tells ABC RN Breakfast the government could consider capping the number of partners in firms, to make them smaller, or force the companies to separate – either just their auditing and non-auditing services, or split the company entirely so one does audit work and the other does non-audit work.

Host Mel Clarke, asks him why it’s taken so long to just get out this options paper, when parliament was rocked by the PwC scandals three years ago. He says:

Since I’ve come into this role, I’ve really tried to prioritise drawing together a lot of strands of work that were already in play. And especially now that we’ve seen what’s happened with KPMG, we’re now accelerating a lot of the government’s work.

Asked whether the government will tear up any existing contracts with KPMG, Mulino says: “I’m not aware of any specifics on that front.”

Wilson says time and trust needed to win the public back

The Guardian Essential poll shows the Coalition is still in dire straits, with its vote being eaten up by One Nation.

There’s some interesting data in the latest poll around One Nation, and a little less appetite from the public for some of their key policies – have a read below:

But it also shows that while One Nation’s primary vote dropped from 28% to 26%, and Labor ticked up from 29% to 30%, the Coalition is still coming third with a very low primary vote of just 23%. So Sky News host Pete Stefanovic asks Tim Wilson why people still aren’t buying what the Liberal party is selling.

Wilson says it’s about time and trust.

There’s absolutely policies we need to get right, to articulate and to articulate to the Australian people. We’ve put out a series of policies already around the tax back guarantee to actually protect Australians against Jim Chalmer’s active inflation agenda.

And every time we talk to people about it, they see the benefit and the advantage of it, but this is going to take time. No one’s pretending otherwise.

The key thing we’ve got to do is solidify trust … and part of the challenge is we’ve got to be a sustainable alternative that clearly articulates a vision for the country.

Cooling housing market a ‘crisis of confidence’, says Wilson

Tim Wilson is blaming treasurer Jim Chalmers and his budget for falling house prices, which experienced the largest decline in three years in the month of June.

The shadow treasurer says Chalmers has “crashed the confidence of the Australian economy” since his budget – of which the key changes to capital gains tax, negative gearing and working Australians tax offset passed last week.

Wilson tells Sky News that despite claims from the government that the cooling is to allow young people to catch up and get a foothold in the market, he’s not hearing evidence from the banks that this is happening.

What’s happened is crisis of confidence in the Australian economy, we’ve had record, small business instalments, is record low, small business confidence, record low, consumer confidence.

Despite all the claims that it’s about young people getting into housing, I’m told that banks are saying there’s not a lot of debt being issued to young people trying to buy home.

‘It’s all a bit befuddling’: Butler bats away leadership questions

Mark Butler, the health minister, is asked about chatter over whether he could be the next leader after Anthony Albanese.

Butler, from South Australia, is a senior member of the left faction in Labor, and a key ally of Anthony Albanese, and he’s just about to turn 56 (Albanese is 63).

He’s one of a handful of names being thrown around, including Jim Chalmers, who’s one of the more senior members of the right faction, and a Queenslander.

Butler says he has “frankly no idea” why everyone’s talking about this.

It’s all a bit befuddling.

We’re only a year into a term where our prime minister, Anthony Albanese, won a really significant victory with a really big agenda … Our job as a team that has the privilege of governing this country is to work together under a leader in Anthony Albanese that I feel privileged to support.

‘We’re very confident in Treasury’s forecasts’: Labor defends tax reforms against cooling housing market

Labor is under pressure to defend itself as new data shows house prices in Sydney and Melbourne recorded their biggest one-month decline in values in three years.

Treasury had forecast the impact of the government’s budget measures to capital gains tax and negative gearing would slow prices by 2%, but the Cotality data showed prices in Sydney falling 1.2% and in Melbourne 1% in the month of June.

Mark Butler, the health minister, is asked on ABC News Breakfast if Treasury got that forecasting wrong. He says he believes they’re “well-based”:

You’ve got to wait more than a few weeks. As I said, there’s a lot happening in the economy and the housing market – much of it as a result of global factors, as we’ve seen now for a few years. I’m very confident that Treasury’s forecasts are well-based, they’ve thought about it very carefully. The history of house prices in Australia is one of growth. And it doesn’t mean there won’t be a week here or a week there that you get particular numbers. But we’re very confident in Treasury’s forecasts.

Good morning

Krishani Dhanji

Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you for another busy sitting day, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.

Gambling reforms will be on the government’s agenda today – but advocates are still pushing for the changes to go further to crack down on online gambling advertising.

It’s also 1 July which means all the changes coming into effect – minimum wage increase, paid parental leave increase, social services indexation (which happens automatically without the government’s input) – will be spruiked by Labor.

And tonight is Canberra’s night of nights, the Midwinter Ball, so there might be a few people getting a little distracted this afternoon as they start getting ready for the event.

Let’s get straight into it!

Labor moves to clean up consulting industry

Tom McIlroy

The federal government has released an options paper to improve the regulation of accounting, auditing and consulting firms in Australia, the latest move in the wake of the KPMG scandal, in which partners leaked client information and mishandled the whistleblower who raised the alarm.

KPMG staff leaked confidential Lendlease and Optus information to colleagues who were applying for lucrative audit contracts at Westpac, Dexus and Telstra. At least three partners were involved.

A new options paper, released by the assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino, on Wednesday, flags possible moves to impose quality management and ethical obligations on the big firms, as well as possible operational or structural separation of different business functions.

Partnership limits could be reduced, new governance rules imposed and mandatory periodic testing for audit services, or a regular rotation of contracts introduced.

In recent years, we have seen behaviour from some large accounting, auditing and consulting firms in Australia that is not fair and honest.

This has undermined trust in the firms themselves and raised broader questions about the resilience of the frameworks meant to uphold market integrity.

It is time to return trust and integrity so that the government, taxpayers and other businesses can rely on the services of large accounting, auditing and consulting firms.

Caitlin Cassidy

Independent MP Boele backs childcare reforms

The independent member for Bradfield, Nicolette Boele, has backed calls for a national early childhood education and care commission to manage supply and improve safety regulation in the sector.

Addressing parliament on Tuesday evening, Boele said “supply and need just aren’t lining up, and that points to a market that needs proper stewardship”.

The proposed commission has the backing of a NSW parliamentary inquiry and childcare groups including Thrive by Five, The Parenthood, Early Childhood Australia and Minderoo.

Boele said families couldn’t keep waiting on reviews while bills amassed, and called for an updated timeline on the government’s Deloitte pricing review:

If you’re in that position, hearing that the government is waiting for Deloitte to finish a report before they can increase the childcare subsidy, doesn’t hold up. Families can’t budget around a maybe. I’ve written to the minister, and I want the government to commit to a national commission with a firm timeline – not keep it on the “considering” pile.

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.

There’s plenty of news to come but we’re kicking off with Labor revealing the actions it’s considering taking to crack down on the consulting industry after the latest scandal at KPMG.

More on that in a few minutes.