Politics live updates: Coffee cart row as Coalition attacks Labor’s COP spending, rejects hypocrisy claims

NAB chief executive Andrew Irvine has slammed Anthony Albanese’s Labor Government for spending a lot more on public service jobs since it came to power in 2022 and warned of another rate hike.

“It is undoubtedly true that that additional public sector spending in an environment where we have poor productive supply capacity is unhelpful,” he told the House of Representatives economics committee on Friday.

“Public sector spending in and of itself is, I think, crowding out private sector spending and that’s, I think, problematic.”

Since Labor came to power in May 2022, Federal Government spending on public sector jobs has soared by 35.3 per cent to $43.8 billion as the number of Commonwealth public servants and agency staff has climbed by 14.7 per cent or almost 50,000 people to 389,200, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed.

But Mr Irvine said state and territory governments, who receive Commonwealth funding from GST collections, were also to blame, under questioning from Liberal MP Simon Kennedy.

“I would point out it’s not just the Federal Government, it’s all levels of government - State spending, local councils, everything,” he said.

Mr Irvine said reduced public sector spending would put downward pressure on interest rates.

“In the short term, that’s undoubtedly true because reduced public spending would create less demand for products and services,” he said.

“And so it would take demand out of the economy and it would make it less difficult for the Reserve Bank governor to have to continue to constrict private sector demand.”

Mr Irvine, the head of Australia’s biggest business lender, said interest rates could still go up again if inflation failed to moderate back to the RBA’s 2-3 per cent target.

“Unfortunately, if that does not happen, all indications are that they would raise again,” he said.

But when it came to high inflation, he blamed Australia’s weak productivity for hampering the supply of goods and services in the economy.

“That is the fundamental issue in this country and if I could urge this committee, all parliamentarians, 95 per cent of the problem here is supply,” he said.

He made the observation on Friday as the big four banks raised their variable mortgage rates to reflect Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock and her monetary policy board’s Melbourne Cup day decision to raise rates for the fifth time in 2026 to an 18-year high of 4.85 per cent.

The Prime Minister is being accused of having a “deep character flaw” and being “allergic to accountability” following the latest revelations in the Marrickville Golf Club controversy.

On Thursday, officials appeared to contradict Anthony Albanese’s previous statements on the value of an honorary membership he was given and his role in approving a grant for the club located in his seat of Grayndler.

“The problem with the Prime Minister is he can never fess up to it,” Opposition Leader Angus Taylor told News24 on Friday.

“He’s allergic to accountability on the Marrickville Golf Club, he’s allergic to accountability on the economy – on five interest rate increases over the course of this year, the home-grown inflation that he has driven, he just will not accept it”.

“This Prime Minister has a deep character flaw which is now affecting, in a serious way, his ability to govern this country,” Mr Taylor added.

The Albanese government says it’s not responsible for the lack of cabinet minister appearances at the anti-Semitism Royal Commission, insisting Commissioner Virginia Bell made no requests for evidence.

The anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion Royal Commission will deliver its findings next week, but did not hear from the Prime Minister, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke or other Labor figures appearing in their roles as members the Albanese government.

Asked about the lack of government representation, Mr Burke said there was “nothing in the terms of reference that determined” their non-appearance.

“If at any point the Royal Commission wanted any evidence to be given by any minister, it would have been provided and provided immediately,” he told reporters in Sydney.

“The whole concept of a royal commission is that you have an independent commissioner make the decision as to which evidence they believe is going to provide what they need to give recommendations to keep Australians safe.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says he has received briefings Australia’s Cyber Security Coordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness, and Microsoft about a massive IT outage, which he says authorities do not believe to be a deliberate attack.

Microsoft has been hit with a widespread global outage as users face disruptions across its online services including Outlook, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive and Copilot.

“They believe that they’re dealing in some ways similar to what we saw with respect to CrowdStrike, where there is an update that has that has gone awry,” Mr Burke told reporters in Sydney.

“One of the things that we had with CrowdStrike was we then had a whole lot of downstream impacts where it was affected the capability of a whole range of other products quite separate from that”.

NAB chief executive Andrew Irvine says AI will have the biggest effect on society since the industrial revolution.

The head of Australia’s biggest business lender, however, denied artificial intelligence was behind last month’s move to retrench 2500 staff or 6 per cent of its global workforce by mid-2027.

“While NAB’s recent workforce changes were not driven by AI, we must acknowledge the reality that artificial intellligence will ultimately have implications for the future workforce in banking and any other industry,” he told the House of Representatives economics committee.

“This will include adapting to rapid technological change such as artificial intelligence which will be as consequential to how we all live and work as any previous industrial revolution.

“When used responsibly, AI improves customer and colleague experiences, increases productivity and helps colleagues spend me time serving customers.”

He began his evidence to MPs noting the Reserve Bank’s five rate hikes this year were hurting borrowers as businesses absorbed higher wholesale costs.

“Many of our customers are managing but many are finding it tougher,” Mr Irvine said.

“Families are watching household budgets closely while businesses are absorbing higher input costs.”

Victorian Premier Ben Carroll is at risk of losing his own seat at the State election, as the Coalition extends its primary vote lead over Labor with just over two weeks to go until polling day.

A new poll out on Friday shows Opposition Leader Jess Wilson is on track to lead the Liberal-Nationals coalition to a win at the November 28 election.

The second Lighthouse election tracking poll conducted by News Corp Australia’s Growth Intelligence Centre shows Labor’s primary vote has fallen one point to 21 per cent, while the Coalition has risen one to 32 per cent, the Herald Sun reported.

One Nation’s primary vote was stable at 23 per cent, as was the Greens at 14 per cent and ‘others’ sitting at 10 per cent.

The net favourability ratings of both Mr Carroll and Ms Wilson have improved as the campaign continues, but Ms Wilson is significantly more popular, sitting at +17 while Mr Carroll trails on -19.

Meanwhile, bookmaker Sportsbet has shortened the odds of Mr Carroll retaining his seat of Niddrie in Melbourne’s northwest, pushing him out to paying $2.80 against the $1.45 for the Liberals.

The poll comes as the Coalition and One Nation on Monday resolved to preference each other ahead of Labor on how-to-vote cards in key seats across the state, a move which could mean deeper losses for Mr Carroll.

The Coalition would benefit from One Nation preferences in battles against Labor, while Pauline Hanson’s party could take over Labor in seats where the Coalition doesn’t finish in the top two in the voting count.

with NCA Newswire

The chief executives of NAB and Commonwealth Bank are appearing before a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra on the day variable interest rates rise.

National Australia Bank CEO Andrew Irvine has begun giving evidence at Parliament House as the head of Australia’s biggest business lender.

His Commonwealth Bank counterpart Matt Comyn is taking questions on Friday afternoon.

The second day of the House of Representatives economics committee into the big four banks is being held on a Friday the 13th as Australia’s biggest lenders pass on the Reserve Bank’s latest 25 basis point increase.

ANZ chief executive Nuno Matos and his Westpac counterpart Anthony Miller appeared on Thursday.

A political debate has broken out over the Albanese government’s spending at COP31, with the Coalition criticising a $32,000 expenditure on a coffee cart and the cost of sending 192 officials to the event.

During a heated clash, Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume described the coffee cart spending as “excessive” and “performative” amid ongoing cost-of-living pressures and rising energy bills.

While the Coalition originally introduced the initiative at the 2021 summit under former energy minister Angus Taylor, Ms Hume argued the economic circumstances were vastly different at the time.

“We didn’t spend $30,000 on a coffee cart during a cost-of-living crisis. We didn’t send almost 200 bureaucrats at a cost of $2 million when we have energy bills going up by 40 per cent,” Ms Hume told Sunrise.

“This is crazy stuff.”

Health Minister Mark Butler jumped to Labor’s defence, saying the expenditures were “necessary” and a coffee cart at the Australian pavilion was an effective way to promote the nation’s offerings on the world stage.

“It’s a necessary expenditure every year. This is the biggest industry trade expo there is in the world. It’s not just a government negotiation,” Mr Butler said.

“Now, governments for a long time have known that one of the best ways to bait the hook, to get people to stop by the Australian pavilion, is the fact we have the best coffee in the world.”

The regions are set to remain a focal point in Victoria’s election campaign, as the opposition leader hits the road ahead of early voting.

Stepping aboard the “Jess Express”, the journey was marked by a handful of jokes and another stunt aimed at Labor, with eye masks handed out bearing the message “wake up Ben”.

As the party’s bus headed down the Hume Highway towards Wodonga, pressure was building in Melbourne for Labor.

Premier Ben Carroll was on Thursday accused of “abandoning” promises made to injured workers.

It marked the latest attack by a union in the past week for the government, with the community and public sector union withdrawing its support after public service cuts.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari hit out at the government following a pre-election budget update from Victoria’s Department of Treasury and Finance, which revealed the government had raided $1.3 billion in payments from WorkSafe.

“This surplus is built by once again ripping money away from injured workers,” Mr Hilakari said.

Back in Wodonga, Ms Wilson gathered at a local pub in the electorate of Benambra, held by retiring Liberal MP Bill Tilley for two decades, to chat with eager voters on Thursday.

The coalition is sitting strong ahead of election day, with its primary vote at 31 per cent, according to the The Australian Financial Review/RedBridge/Accent Research poll published on Wednesday.

Labor’s primary vote sits at 23 per cent, while One Nation remains strong at 22 per cent and the Greens at 15 per cent.

with AAP

Greta Thunberg has slammed Australia’s track record on climate action at COP31 talks in Turkey, saying “even a snail would agree” that the country needs to move faster.

The 23-year-old Swedish environmental and social activist’s appearance alongside speakers from Australia, Nepal, Rwanda and Gaza caused traffic chaos inside the United Nations’ climate summit in Antalya on Thursday, which also heard criticism of Australia’s ongoing mining approvals.

Australia’s Energy Minister Chris Bowen will lead negotiations at the annual event, which has drawn more than 92,000 attendees, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived on Wednesday for the leaders’ summit portion of the event.

Asked whether she agreed with comments about Australia’s slow record on climate action, Ms Thunberg said her opinion was obvious.

“Even a snail would agree with that,” she told the crowd.

“It’s commonsense. It doesn’t get more clear than that.”

with AAP