Australia news live: Albanese to put AI concerns to Trump; former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon’s murder trial to begin

Dan Tehan says call to cut fuel excise during high oil prices ‘good’ and ‘sensible’

Dan Tehan, the shadow minister for energy, said Gallagher’s criticism of the Coalition’s fuel plan wasn’t fair.

Tehan said the call for a ۵۰% cut to the fuel excise whenever barrels of oil top $۱۰۰US was a “good, sensible, practical measure” that would help Australians deal with a cost of living crisis. He told RN:

I would say to Anthony Albanese and the Labor party is get out amongst the people and see what’s happening in your electorates because people are hurting because of cost of living. …

We have the discipline to be able to do the policy work to make sure we can offset policies like this so it won’t be inflationary and it will provide much needed relief to people and they need it now.

Tehan maintained the plan would be funded by the promised cuts to the tobacco excise, which would allow the plan to “not be inflationary at all”.

Finance minister says Coalition proposal to cut fuel excise during periods of high oil prices ‘unfunded, uncounted promise’

Katy Gallagher, the federal finance minister, said the government doesn’t think a Coalition plan to halve the fuel excise whenever oil prices skyrocket is a “good idea”, saying it is an “unfunded, uncounted promise” from Angus Taylor.

The government halved the fuel excise for three months earlier this year amid the war in Iran and then discounted it at a small rate until August. Taylor proposed to institute that plan whenever Brent crude oil averages US$۱۰۰ a barrel over a two-week period on Sunday.

Gallagher told RN Breakfast that was not something the government has been considering:

Obviously, we’ve helped when the war started with some changes to the fuel excise, but we’ve shifted and [are] including in the budget to providing more permanent cost of living arrangements, including through the tax system, to make sure that that ongoing cost of living help is there permanently, not just in these one-off arrangements, which, when we’ve got higher inflation, could be difficult in the economy.

She said the government hasn’t been considering further cuts to the fuel excise.

Our decisions have been built and baked into the budget to make sure that that cost of living help is permanent. You know, the sooner this war in the Middle East stops, the better.

New diplomatic postings for Cairo, Port Moresby and Dili

Foreign minister Penny Wong announced the appointments of three people to lead Australia’s diplomatic posts in Cairo, Port Moresby and Dili, as well as the consulate in New York as we reported earlier.

Wong said Joel McGregor would serve as Australia’s next ambassador to Egypt; Jamie Isbister would be the next high commissioner in Papua New Guinea and Lucienne Manton would be the new ambassador to Timor-Leste.

Wong said in a statement:

Australia’s diplomatic network enables us to promote our interests in peace, security, trade, investment and other areas of cooperation.

Australia takes the world as it is and seeks to shape it for the better – these diplomatic appointments will deepen Australia’s connections abroad and increase our ability to influence where it matters.

Petra Stock

NSW to lead Australia with solar panel recycling mandate

New South Wales plans to introduce Australia’s first mandatory solar panel recycling scheme to ensure the materials are recovered rather than sent to landfill.

The state launched consultation on the design of the stewardship scheme on Monday amid prolonged delays at the national level.

Around ۱۴,۰۰۰ tonnes of solar panel waste was generated in NSW each year, which was expected to grow to ۸۹,۰۰۰ tonnes by ۲۰۴۵. The proposed scheme would require solar panel manufacturers to take responsibility for the end-of-life management of their products, helping fund collection, recycling and resource recovery.

NSW environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said:

NSW has embraced rooftop solar, and now we’re making sure those panels don’t become tomorrow’s landfill problem. Solar panels contain valuable materials that can be recovered and put back to work.

“NSW is getting on with the job,” Gayle Sloan, the chief executive of the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia. The state was implementing mandatory battery stewardship and intended to finalise solar panel regulation by the end of ۲۰۲۶.

She said:

The solar model can then be adopted by other jurisdictions or transition to a future Commonwealth scheme. That is tangible reform: establish the rules, set a deadline and create a pathway for national action.

Read more on the delayed implementation of a national scheme here:

Albanese says he will put concerns about AI to Trump

Sarah Basford Canales

The intergenerational report also said Australia was well positioned to benefit from AI but its impact on many industries – such as the labour market – were too early to forecast.

The economic and social implications of AI are expected to be profound but the specific impacts will depend on the evolution of the technology, how deeply and broadly AI is adopted, and how it will be used.

Australia is a leading destination globally for datacentre investment and has seen a near doubling of capital expenditure in this area since the ۲۰۲۳ IGR.

It comes as Albanese will be face-to-face with Donald Trump at a gala reception hosted by the US president during the high-level week. Trump has called the fears surrounding AI a “hoax” and said a slowdown in the AI race by the United States could involve the country losing ground to China.

Albanese said he would put concerns about AI to Trump.

We have a view about artificial intelligence that there needs to be appropriate safeguards put in place, and I will advocate that privately, the same as I will publicly.

I have a very positive and constructive relationship with the president, and I will engage respectfully and constructively with him.

The prime minister will spend the week in New York City for a United Nations climate summit, where he will also hold talks on global conflicts and AI.

Trump has said he would appoint an AI chief and create an “AI Force” to help monitor the technology, though he gave almost no details about either plan.

– with AAP

Jim Chalmers to release intergenerational report with AI warnings

Sarah Basford Canales

Australia faces a more “fragmented and uncertain world” in the coming decades but key policy decisions will set future generations up well for the “AI revolution”, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says.

Chalmers will present the seventh intergenerational report (IGR) on Monday, detailing forecasts for the impact of new technologies on society and the economy, along with more warnings about the country’s aging population and declining fertility rates.

It comes as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, meets with world leaders in the United States this week to discuss a “global framework” for the rollout of AI, urging the “big two giants” – the US and China – to work in the interest of humanity.

In a speech to unveil the latest report, the treasurer will warn of the threats on the horizon in a more dangerous, unpredictable and divided world.

The world is becoming more dangerous. More unpredictable. More unequal. And more divided.

These are not just individual threads but part of a bigger fraying of that intergenerational promise of better times.

Chalmers said an IGR has never been released at a time with “politics this fraught, or a future less certain”.

Yet this IGR shows we are better placed than our peers in almost every regard.

The global and generational risks are serious, but Australia’s opportunities are endless.

The report’s forecasts show Australia’s population is projected to slow, with an estimated population of ۳۹.۳m by ۲۰۶۵-۶۶, ۱.۸m fewer people than the previous report’s forecast.

Much of the slowdown in population growth was tied to lower fertility rates as women continued to have fewer children.

Anthony Albanese launched a formal bid for Australia to serve a two-year term on powerful UN body in ۲۰۲۹ and ۲۰۳۰.

A vote for the spot won’t be held until mid ۲۰۲۸, but lobbying efforts will intensify during the prime minister’s visit to New York for the UN general assembly.

The prime minister said Australia’s role on the council would be able to benefit ordinary citizens.

“Engagement with the world matters. It matters because it makes a difference to the cost of living, to inflation, to Australians’ way of life,” he told reporters in New York on Monday, Australian time.

That is why we can’t afford to not be engaged with the world, because it has a direct impact on the quality of life of Australians on a day-to-day basis.

We have an opportunity through this potential seat on the UN Security Council to play a key role in shaping the global issues that really matter to Australians.

Australia has served on the security council five times since the UN was established following the second world war – the most recent stint was in ۲۰۱۳ and ۲۰۱۴, where Australia was able to lead a response to the Russian downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH۱۷.

Albanese said the role Australia played during that period was evidence of what a spot on the council could achieve.

We do need to stand up to the Middle East conflict. I think there is a role for middle powers to engage, and Australia has done that as we’ve engaged with the war in Ukraine in the coalition of the willing.

Former NSW police officer’s double murder trial to get under way

Kat Wong

The trial of a former NSW police officer accused of murdering two men is set to begin in Sydney.

Beau Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter over the deaths of TV presenter Jesse Baird, ۲۶, and his partner Luke Davies, ۲۹, in February ۲۰۲۴.

His case has faced ongoing delays since charges were laid, but today, the ۳۱-year-old’s trial will finally get under way.

On Monday, a jury will be selected at NSW supreme court on King Street.

Depending on how long the empanelment process takes the court may hear the crown’s opening statement in the afternoon.

Justice Natalie Adams will preside over the trial, which is slated to go for two to three months and include a brief of evidence with more than ۲۰۰ witnesses.

The case has received significant media attention and Lamarre-Condon’s trial is also expected to attract substantial public interest.

Anthony Albanese has named former News Corp executive Siobhan McKenna as Australia’s next consul-general in New York.

The prime minister announced her appointment while launching Australia’s bid for a seat on the United Nation’s security council in New York on Sunday. She will replace Heather Ridout, formerly chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, following the expiry of her four-year term in December.

McKenna, the chair of Australia Post, has also chaired the National Broadband Network in addition to her time as CEO of broadcasting at News Corp. The prime minister said McKenna would “bring a great deal of financial and economic capacity to the role”.

When reporters asked about McKenna’s time at Murdoch press – describing her as “Lachlan Murdoch’s probably closest aide for a long, long time” – and whether the prime minister had sought assurances she wouldn’t “continue to lobby or deal with Mr Murdoch in advancing business interests”, he said:

Siobhan McKenna is a professional, and she will do an outstanding job representing Australia and the Australian government here in New York. And the fact that she has experience in both the private sector and the public sector is a very good thing. I’m someone who supports people being appointed on merit. Siobhan McKenna has been appointed on merit.

Good morning and welcome to Guardian Australia’s live news coverage for Monday.

Jim Chalmers will release the latest intergenerational report, while overseas Anthony Albanese has appointed a former Murdoch executive to a top diplomatic post.

Stay tuned.