Key events
In today’s Full Story podcast, our senior business reporter, Jonathan Barrett, tells Nour Haydar why so many governments around the world lost power last year because of high inflation, and what Anthony Albanese’s administration could learn from the country that bucked the trend – Mexico.
Rafqa Touma
Thank you to Martin Farrer for kicking off the blog this morning. I’ll be updating you with the day’s news from here.
Albanese government urged to add dental care to Medicare
Natasha May
The peak body for dentists is urging the Albanese government to use the upcoming election as an opportunity to commit to a dental scheme for seniors.
The calls comes as Guardian Australia has this week published a series of stories on the state of dental care in Australia, highlighting the inequality of Australian’s access to dental care and how Labor is coming under growing pressure to add dental to Medicare:
As my colleague Dan Jervis-Bardy highlights in that piece the Australian Dental Association have proposed a dental scheme for seniors, which would provide a capped maximum of $1,132 worth of free dental care for qualifying seniors every two years.
In a statement released today ADA president Dr Chris Sanzaro says the seniors scheme is the affordable option and would address the fact that on average Australians over 65 are missing 14 teeth, and around one in four avoid eating some foods due to problems with their teeth or mouth.
Sanzaro said: “a complete overhaul of the way dentistry for older Australians is funded is long overdue, particularly seniors with little or no income in the current cost of living crisis.”
More on this story here:
There’s more reaction to the big story of yestrday and today – the discovery of a caravan full of explosives on the outskirts of Sydney and its potential link to an antisemitic attack.
In a statement last night, the Zionist Federation of Australia said the discovery amounted to the most “severe threat” ever faced by the Jewish community in Australia and that the plot, if carried out, “would likely have resulted in the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil”.
The statement said:
For 16 months, the Jewish community has been warning that unchecked incitement, violent rhetoric, and weak leadership have created the perfect environment for extremism and terrorism to flourish. This foiled attack is yet another manifestation of the senseless hatred and violence that continues to target our community.
NSW Premier Chris Minns rightly pointed to the root cause: a hate-filled ideology driven by people who seek to spread division and fear. This is not just a threat to Jewish Australians, it is a threat to our shared values, our safety, and our way of life.
It is long past time for leaders at every level to take decisive action against those who incite hatred, glorify terrorism, and create the conditions for such atrocities to be planned.
The Jewish community will not be intimidated. We will continue to stand strong, proud, and united, and we expect those in positions of power to ensure that threats against our community are met with zero tolerance.
Liberal MP Julian Leeser leads condemnation of explosives ‘plot’
Jordyn Beazley
Liberal MP Julian Leeser has called on Australians to “stand together” after the discovery of an apparent antisemitic bomb plot and to unite “in our abhorrence of those who seek to perpetrate such hatred”.
Leeser, who is Jewish, said he was “deeply disturbed” by news that a caravan was found on the outskirts of Sydney laden with explosives with indications it would be used in an antisemitic attack.
The announcement by police yesterday of the discovery of the caravan comes amid a rise of antisemitic attacks in Australia after the Hamas terror attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 led to an invasion of Gaza by Israel’s military.
Last week, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said police believed foreign actors could be paying local criminals to carry out antisemitic attacks in Australia.
Leeser, who is the federal member for Berowra – which takes in Dural where the caravan was found on a residential property – said last night:
I am deeply disturbed at today’s revelations about a potential terror plot targeting the Jewish community with a potential mass casualty event…
This is another sad reminder of the hatreds Jewish Australians have endured over recent times. It keeps escalating. But equally it stands as a stark contrast to the goodness, decency and stoicism of Jewish Australians.
To all Australians I say, if you have a Jewish friend or colleague please reach out to them and let them know you support them and stand with them.
It’s a time when we must stand together as Australians – united in our abhorrence of those who seek to perpetrate such hatred.”
Leeser also thanked police and security services for their work and said that police have requested assistance from anyone who saw the caravan parked in a hazardous position in Dural between 7 December and 19 January.
More on this story here:
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories before Rafqa Touma takes the controls.
More than 100 counter-terrorism police will be continuing their investigation today into who was behind the stockpiling of explosives in a caravan on the outskirts of Sydney with indications the materials could have been used in an antisemitic attack. The NSW premier, Chris Minns, promised to bring the “full force of the law” against those responsible, while Jewish groups condemned the apparent plot as the “most severe threat” yet to their community. We have reaction coming up, including from Liberal MP Julian Leeser who said he was “deeply disturbed”.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, heralded a deal brokered with the Greens and independent David Pocock to create a federal environment protection agency as “critical” before it was scuttled by Anthony Albanese, new documents show.
Yesterday’s inflation figures offered Labor hope that prices – and interest rates – will be falling by the time of the election. On the face of it, it looked like good news for Anthony Albanese’s government but our senior business reporter reminds us that it’s only the pace of increase that is slowing and that the cost of most consumer staples remains much higher than they were when Labor won power back in 2022. Inflation is also the subject of today’s Full Story podcast. Coming up.
