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Kelly Burke<\/p>\n
Adelaide University cancels event with UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese<\/p>\n
Adelaide University has abruptly cancelled a high-profile public event featuring UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, prompting organisers to accuse the institution of turning Adelaide into \u201cMoscow on the Torrens\u201d.<\/p>\n
The event is part of Constellations: Not Writers\u2019 Week, the popup literary festival that emerged in the wake of the cancelled Adelaide Writers Week.<\/p>\n
It was scheduled to take place at the university\u2019s Elder Hall tomorrow night, but organisers say the university has informed them certain booking requirements were not adhered to. The Guardian has sought comment from Adelaide University.<\/p>\n
A new venue to accommodate 650 in-person ticket holders and 350 livestream ticket holders has been secured at Norwood Concert Hall.<\/p>\n
Albanese is appearing via video link alongside historian Prof Henry Reynolds and academic Dr. Lana Tatour.<\/p>\n
Louise Adler, the former director of Adelaide Writers\u2019 Week, lashed out at the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWelcome once again to Moscow on the Torrens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
double quotation markUniversities, the arts, and the media were once respected as sites where controversial ideas could be tested. That is no longer a given. We are witnessing relentless campaigning by sectional groups and their influence over politicians \u2026 the public square is being seriously impoverished.<\/p>\n
Organisers of the event claim the university has bowed to pressure from the Australian, which reported last week that Albanese\u2019s scheduled appearance was in defiance of a recent US sanction against her issued by the US president, Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.37 EST<\/p>\n Question time ends<\/p>\n And after a final dixer to Tony Burke, question time is over for the day.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.27 EST<\/p>\n Nationals\u2019 Michelle Landry continues Coalition<\/a> questioning line on living standards<\/p>\n And we\u2019re back to regularly scheduled programming, and this time Nationals MP Michelle Landry is holding the baton, putting the same question to Anthony Albanese about Australians\u2019 living standards going backwards.<\/p>\n Albanese says again that the question flies in the face of the accounts data released today that shows the economy is growing.<\/p>\n Dan Tehan gets up on a point of order, which Albanese says is because he \u201chasn\u2019t been on TV for a minute\u201d.<\/p>\n The personal jabs are really up there today folks.<\/p>\n Milton Dick says the questions are so broad the opposition can\u2019t compel the government to be tight with their answers. \u201cI will keep saying it and hopefully it will get through,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.27 EST<\/p>\n Allegra Spender asks treasurer how budget will address AI<\/p>\n A bit of a flavour change here, independent MP Allegra Spender says the government is moving too slowly on artificial intelligence and asks Jim Chalmers how the government is considering the impact of AI on the economy, and how the budget will urgently address \u201cboth capturing the upside and managing the downside risks?\u201d<\/p>\n Chalmers says he reckons the government isn\u2019t moving too slowly and that some \u201csubstantial progress\u201d has been made.<\/p>\n He says the government\u2019s national AI plan has three goals: capturing the opportunities of AI \u201cincluding attracting more investment\u201d, spreading the benefits of AI and keeping Australians safe.<\/p>\n On the upcoming budget, he says:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe\u2019ve made it really clear, a big focus will be this productivity challenge that the honourable member knows has been hanging around in our economy now for some decades. AI can be part of the solution to our productivity challenge if we manage it right and maximise the opportunities along the lines of the AI plan.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.19 EST<\/p>\n PM says opposition \u2018completely ignoring\u2019 national growth figures<\/p>\n Angus Taylor gets another go at the dispatch box, and says Australians have \u201cendured the longest household recession on record\u201d, and asks the PM the same question about the buck stopping with him.<\/p>\n Now so far, these fairly long questions have been exploited by Labor because broad questions allow very broad answers, and there\u2019s not a whole lot the Speaker can do about it.<\/p>\n Albanese again takes advantage, saying \u201canother tight question from the opposition there, Mr Speaker!\u201d He says the question ignores today\u2019s national accounts data.<\/p>\n double quotation markThey come in here with Monday\u2019s pack [of questions] that they forgot to ask, ignoring today\u2019s figures on the national accounts that are out today, completely ignoring the growth that is there, and they come in here and just continue to just talk Australia down.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.11 EST<\/p>\n Will the treasurer bring forward measures to stop excessive grocery pricing?<\/p>\n Back to the crossbench, Rebekha Sharkie asks the treasurer if he will bring forward the ban on excessive pricing of groceries that is due to come into effect on 1 July.<\/p>\n Jim Chalmers, without committing to accelerating the deadline, says price gouging is a \u201cbig focus\u201d of the government, and they are working to \u201cstrengthen the arrangements as soon as we can\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markWe go as quickly as we can, but also consulting where we need to, making sure that we get it right.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.00 EST<\/p>\n \u2018This is beyond a joke\u2019: Speaker gets fired up<\/p>\n Milton Dick is not having it today.<\/p>\n Liberal frontbencher Angie Bell gets to the dispatch box next and asks the same question again (living standards going backwards, the buck stopping with the PM, you get the gist).<\/p>\n Anthony Albanese takes the call this time, and soon after the opposition jumps up to make a point of order on relevance.<\/p>\n But the speaker\u2019s fuse is short, and burning quickly, as the chamber gets loud with the two major parties shouting at each other. Dick then intervened:<\/p>\n double quotation markThis is beyond a joke, the way the childish, snide remarks are being added in. It\u2019s not dignified. So, I don\u2019t know how else to explain it, I can only imagine what the gallery thinks.<\/p>\n Albanese has another go at the opposition which gets them riled up again<\/p>\n double quotation markThey\u2019re not interested in the economy, they\u2019re not interested in jobs, they\u2019re not interested in living standards. All they\u2019re interested in is over who is next to jump into various [party] positions.<\/p>\n Anthony Albanese in question time. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/AAPShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.58 EST<\/p>\n Chalmers references Guardian report on Tim Wilson\u2019s shares that bet against Australian market<\/p>\n Variation on a theme is the vibe of the questions today \u2013 Tim Wilson is back up and says Australia\u2019s is the only advanced economy to go backwards \u2013 and asks whether the PM if he\u2019ll accept the buck stops with him. This time Wilson actually lists the countries that have a lower inflation rate than Australia.<\/p>\n Jim Chalmers says that Australia\u2019s economic growth is stronger than every other advanced economy. He says he knows that makes the shadow treasurer \u201cunhappy\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe living standards in today\u2019s national accounts went up, it went up through the year.<\/p>\n Why does that make the shadow treasurer unhappy? Chalmers has a printout of a Guardian article by my colleague <\/a>Jonathan Barrett<\/a> which shows Wilson holds shares that bet against the Australian share market.<\/p>\n Chalmers says Wilson should stop talking the economy down:<\/p>\n double quotation markHe has invested in shares which ensure the worse the Australian market and economy performs, the more money he makes out of it, Mr Speaker.<\/p>\n Jim Chalmers holds a printout of a Guardian Australia article in parliament. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/AAPShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.57 EST<\/p>\n \u2018Listen up!\u2019 Chalmers tells opposition<\/p>\n The deputy Nationals leader, Kevin Hogan, is next to the dispatch box and says Australia is the only advanced economy where living standards have gone backwards. The question, of course, is when the prime minister will accept that the buck stops with him.<\/p>\n The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, takes the question and again takes a jab at the opposition for taking until the third question time to ask about the economy.<\/p>\n double quotation markGiven it\u2019s Wednesday, and that appears to be Economy Day \u2013 and they\u2019re asking us about the economy at last, Mr Speaker \u2013 you would think that having taken three days, a three-day run-up to ask a question about the economy, that they would have some understanding of what\u2019s happening with living standards, Mr Speaker. Now, I refer those opposite \u2013 listen up.<\/p>\n Oh boy. That \u201clisten up\u201d gets the opposition fired up, with shouts of \u201cooh, Jimmy!\u201d heard from the benches.<\/p>\n Chalmers runs through the national accounts numbers and says living standards, including real disposable incomes per capita, rose in the quarter.<\/p>\n