14m agoMon 18 Aug 2025 at 10:41pm
Chalmers on the symbolism behind roundtable location
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is up next, and he’s heaping on the praise to Anthony Albanese for his support since the PM first announced the roundtable ten weeks ago.
“If there’s a defining characteristic of the government that he leads, it’s that it is a concerted and methodical and consultative government, and we share his belief that the best progress that we can make is the progress that we all make together,” he says.
Chalmers outlines the symbolic reasons why the cabinet room was chosen to host the roundtable. He says it wasn’t because they wanted to replace the role of cabinet but because the experts in the room are best placed to inform cabinet.
It’s also because the room has a limited number of seats and the government wanted to keep the guest list short.
“We wanted to keep the numbers focused, and we wanted it to be a genuine conversation. We chose it because we want you all to grapple with the same sorts of issues and trade offs and opportunity costs that we grapple with,” he says.
He says the responsibility on attendees couldn’t be bigger given the improvements in the Australian economy paired with global uncertainty.
“It’s hard to recall a time when the balance between opportunity and uncertainty was so finally poised,” he says.
And then the media were promptly booted from the room.
22m agoMon 18 Aug 2025 at 10:32pmRoundtable proposals could go to cabinet within days
On reforms, Anthony Albanese has told attendees ideas presented to the summit could be taken to cabinet within days of the talks wrapping up.
“There’ll be things that we can do immediately,” the prime minister said.
“[Treasurer] Jim [Chalmers] and [Finance Minister] Katy [Gallagher] will take to the cabinet processes in the coming days literally and say, ‘Righto, this is a good idea, we can get this done’.”
Other ideas could even pop up during next year’s budget, or even as early as the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) in December.
Albanese also defended the government’s 1.2 million new homes target. You might remember that target as the one Treasury advice accidentally leaked to the ABC warned would not be met.
The prime minister said he thinks the government can get there.
“And we can get there by making sure that we remove some of the impediments which are there. How do we identify those impediments? They aren’t just planning, of course, they are the skills, they are labour impediments as well.”
37m agoMon 18 Aug 2025 at 10:17pm
‘Job of reform is never done’: PM opens up roundtable
Anthony Albanese, Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher have just sat down at the cabinet table.
The prime minister kicks things off by thanking attendees for participating, not just in the three-day summit but in the forums the government’s held in the lead-up to the talks.
“We all know … that the job of reform is never done,” he says.
“This is an opportunity over the next three days to have your input, to have … dialogue with each other as well as with the government.”
Albanese says while the government was re-elected with a mandate, he does not want to “limit” its ambition. But he reminds attendees his government’s focus is on delivery and that the roundtable is designed to inform the next three budgets.
In his remarks, the PM touches on Australia’s natural resources such as wind and solar, its geographical location in the “fastest growing region of the world” and artificial intelligence.
“I don’t expect you will solve all of those issues in the next three days,” he says.
“But what you will have is ideas and input that will shape that agenda and shape that public discourse as well.”
Attendees squeeze around the oval table. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)49m agoMon 18 Aug 2025 at 10:06pmRoundtable attendees arrive in cabinet room
Attendees of the three-day Economic Reform Roundtable have handed over their phones and are taking their places around the cabinet table.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will officially kick off proceedings. He’ll be followed by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who will also deliver some remarks.
Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock will also address attendees.
The first day is set to be all about resilience, with a focus on international risks, opportunities and trade and how to attract skills and investment.
Anthony Albanese, Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher enter the cabinet room. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)
54m agoMon 18 Aug 2025 at 10:01pm
Summit to tackle long and short-term issues
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher’s focus now turns to the three-day productivity summit, which kicks off this morning at Parliament House.
The Labor frontbencher says she, and other ministers, have been struck by the “level of buy-in and interest” from stakeholders who are attending the talks.
“I think that gives you a sense of the engagement that’s been had, but also the willingness to put shoulders to the wheel to genuinely talk about some of the challenges across the economy and what are, you know, probably the short-term, medium-term and long-term ideas about how we address some of them,” she says.
She says global uncertainty makes the discussions “even more important”.
59m agoMon 18 Aug 2025 at 9:56pm
Israel’s cancellation of Aussie diplomats ‘unjustified’
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says the government wasn’t surprised by Israel’s decision to revoke visas of several Australian diplomats in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israel’s decision came just hours after Australia cancelled the visa of far-right politician Simcha Rothman, and follows the federal government’s confirmation that Australia would recognise a Palestinian state.
Gallagher says the government’s view was the cancellations were “unjustified”.
“Well, from our point of view, at a time when we need more diplomacy and more dialogue between countries, this is a disappointing decision.
“We’re not surprised necessarily by it. We saw similar steps taken against other countries, for example, Norway, when decision was taken about recognising Palestine.”
“Certainly our view is this is unjustified. And, you know, we need more talk, more diplomacy, more channels in for discussion. Than than we’ve needed before.”
1h agoMon 18 Aug 2025 at 9:41pm
‘Big call’ to revoke Israeli MP visa
James Paterson also stopped by ABC News Breakfast this morning, where he was asked about Israel’s decision to revoke the visas of Australian
representatives to the Palestinian Authority.
The shadow finance minister said there was “no question” Australia’s relationship with Israel was “the worst it has ever been since the creation of the state … following World War II.”
“The expulsion effectively of our
diplomats from the West Bank is extremely regrettable,” he said.
“It follows the decision of our Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to block a visa for a visiting member of the Israeli parliament.
“I’m sure there’s things I disagree with things that Simcha
Rothman has said, I disagree with this view about the two-state solution, it’s a very big call to block the visa of a visiting member of parliament from another country.”
He questioned whether Burke’s decision was discussed with Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“All the implications should have been considered and it’s not clear that occurred,” he says.
1h agoMon 18 Aug 2025 at 9:32pmOpposition changes position on potential Ukraine peacekeeping
The federal opposition has flagged it’s now open to supporting Australia sending troops to Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping effort, if a peace deal is reached.
It’s a significant policy shift for the Liberal Party. In March, then-leader Peter Dutton described Australian boots on the ground as a “thought bubble by the prime minister.”
That was despite world leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, actively discussing a potential “coalition of the willing.”
But today, Liberal frontbencher James Paterson told Nine Australia “should certainly consider that if we’re asked.”
According to a spokesperson for Sussan Ley, the party’s new position is to assess any Ukrainian peacekeeping proposal the government puts forward.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese maintained his earlier position that if there was a global peacekeeping response, Australia would consider the proposal.
It followed a call he joined with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, as negotiations to end the war continue.
1h agoMon 18 Aug 2025 at 9:22pm
Trump-Zelenskyy meeting an ‘important step’
US President Donald Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy overnight, with Trump saying he’d provide Ukraine with security guarantees in the event of a peace deal with Russia.
Labor frontbencher Amanda Rishworth described the meeting as an “important step” towards peace.
“We’ve said on a number of occasions we can’t achieve peace without President Zelenskyy being involved, and obviously part of that is recognising the sovereignty of the Ukraine. So [it’s an] important step … We welcome any step that gets us to the end of the war in Ukraine because this was an illegal invasion by Russia,” she told Nine.
Asked if Australia would consider sending peacekeeping troops, Rishworth said the PM had said the government would consider any request.
But Greens senator Nick McKim, who was also on the panel, said it was “way too early” to start talking about peacekeepers.
“We need to be really careful before we deploy any Australian troops into any theatre around the world but I just genuinely hope that we can see peace now,” he said.
1h agoMon 18 Aug 2025 at 9:13pm’Tough decisions’ need to be made during summit: ACCI
Andrew McKellar, the chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is set to spend the next three days locked in the government’s productivity summit.
He told ABC Radio National Breakfast that he was entering the talks with a “sense of optimism” and said it’s a “great starting point”.
“We go in with our eyes open and, ultimately, there will be some tough decisions that have to be made,” he says.
“Sometimes there are going to be winners and losers in these processes, but I think if we don’t have some of those tough conversations, then the risk is that we will end up in a much worse place.”
Ahead of the round table, the government hosed down expectations the summit could result in tax reform.
McKellar said he’d encourage them to put “comprehensive tax reform” on the agenda but acknowledged change took time.
1h agoMon 18 Aug 2025 at 8:59pm
👋 Good morning
Hi friends, welcome to our politics live blog.
I’m Courtney Gould, logging in from the ABC’s Parliament House bureau in Canberra, ready to bring you all the news as it comes in.
We’ve talked (and blogged) about it a lot over the past two weeks and now the government’s economic reform round table is finally here. Get pumped.
We’re burning daylight so let’s go!
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