Steven Miles taps treasurer as deputy in Qld premiership bid

Thanks very much for reading Need to Know this Tuesday, December 12. Here are today’s biggest developments:

- Steven Miles to become Queensland premier: Steven Miles says he will seek nomination as Queensland premier with Treasurer Cameron Dick as his deputy when the Labor Party caucus meets on Friday.

- China lifts trade ban on three Australian abattoirs: China has started lifting its trade ban on Australian red meat imports, leaving lobster and some beef as the last products facing Beijing’s coercive trade sanctions.

- Palestinians paying ‘too heavy a price’, Husic says: Industry Minister Ed Husic says Israel’s retaliation to Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack has been “disproportionate” and innocent Palestinians are paying “too heavy a price”.

- Victoria signs $3.6b contract for Suburban Rail Loop: A multibillion-dollar construction deal has been brokered to begin tunnelling on Melbourne’s mammoth Suburban Rail Loop.

- MYEFO savings clawed back from infrastructure, other areas, Gallagher says: Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says the $10 billion in savings the government has found in the mid-year economic update comes not only from infrastructure savings.

Daniel Andrews’ dismissal of officials who sought to hold his government to account shows that he misunderstood the authority he held as Victoria’s premier, the former head of the state’s anti-corruption watchdog says.

Winning elections did not give Mr Andrews “unlimited authority” that allowed him to ignore checks and balances that bodies such as the ombudsman and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission were tasked with enforcing, Robert Redlich said.

“This concept that we were somehow exceeding our authority when we challenged him, as someone who’s been duly elected, really does involve a misunderstanding about the extent of his own authority,” he told The Australian Financial Review.

“He didn’t have unlimited authority, and the role of IBAC, the auditor-general, and the ombudsman is to make the executive government accountable where it appears, on the face of it, that it exceeded that authority.

“Somehow, he’s twisted the situation and says, ‘because I’m elected, no one can tell me what to do unless they’re elected’. But it’s got nothing to do with an electoral mandate – he has to act within defined parameters.”

Read more here.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has signed a $3.6 billion tunnelling contract for the $125 billion Suburban Rail Loop, defying the “knockers and blockers” who have called on the government to delay or scrap the controversial project.

Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass last week said the public could “reasonably question” whether the SRL was the best use of taxpayers’ money, after finding it was created in “excessive secrecy” and that PwC was engaged to “prove up” the plan within just three weeks.

Allan announced on Tuesday that the state government had signed contracts with a consortium of global tunnelling experts to build 16 kilometres of twin tunnels between Cheltenham and Glen Waverley for SRL East.

That is despite the federal government committing just $2 billion of the $35 billion first stage of the project, and one-third – or up to $12 billion – expected to come from “value capture” from new taxes that are yet to be designed.

Read more here.

The ABC has axed its nightly live panel program, The Drum, resulting in up to five positions becoming redundant.

The ABC said the decision was “informed by long-term audience trends” and would allow it to try other programming in its key 6pm timeslot.

The Drum presenters Julia Baird, Ellen Fanning and Dan Bourchier will move to other roles with the ABC.

Baird will take on a new position for ABC News combining writing, podcasting and video, Fanning will move to the ABC’s Queensland newsroom, and Bourchier will join ABC NEWS Channel as a presenter.

“It’s anticipated the changes at ABC NEWS Channel will result in fewer than five positions being made redundant,” the ABC said in a statement.

Peter Dutton has warned Labor’s decision to ban foreign tradies from accessing a new fast-track visa program will keep upward pressure on house prices, even as he criticised the Albanese government for not doing more to curb migration.

“What sort of a government at the time of a building crisis, when you can’t get a tradie and you certainly can’t afford one, what sort of government decides to close the door to tradies coming into Australia,” the opposition leader said on Tuesday.

“It’s completely the wrong decision. And it’s going to impact on housing affordability.”

As part of its new migration strategy, Labor will create a priority visa pathway for employers to bring in migrants who earn more than $135,000, in an application process that will take just seven days.

But as foreshadowed by The Australian Financial Review, highly paid tradies, machinery operators, drivers and labourers have been excluded from the so-called “specialist skills” pathway amid pressure from the union movement.

Read more here.

New Zealand’s new coalition government appears to be shifting closer into the United States’ orbit, with a senior minister signalling an openness to the AUKUS second pillar while describing the last government as “anti-American”.

On Monday night, Foreign Minister Winston Peters gave an address to the diplomatic corps in Wellington signalling a “reinvigoration” of security ties with the US and like-minded partners.

And on Tuesday, Defence Minister Judith Collins showed eagerness to include New Zealand in talks around the AUKUS second pillar, centring on advanced military technology.

“We’ve been very clear that we were disappointed that more hadn’t been done to include New Zealand in the second tier of AUKUS,” Collins said.

“I’m sure that will be an opportunity for us to work more closely with our friends and partners.”

Qantas and Jetstar are preparing for one of their busiest Christmas holiday travel periods in years as they continue to invest for customers.

The airline says more than 8.5 million people are expected to fly on Qantas and Jetstar throughout December and January on nearly 70,000 flights.

This is more than half a million above the same time last year and the most since 2019-20.

Qantas says the biggest day of travel is expected to be Friday, December 15, with more than 150,000 customers flying throughout the day.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles says he spoke to leadership rival Shannon Fentiman today and guaranteed her role as health minister and also a spot in the party’s leadership group.

He also said he would support Fentiman, who he described as a long-time friend, to take over as the convener of Labor’s powerful Parliamentary Left-faction.

Fentiman withdrew from the race to replace premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today when it became clear she would not be able to secure majority caucus support.

Miles also flagged a broader reshuffle of Labor’s front bench, which would be announced once his position was formalised by caucus at a meeting on Friday.

Standing alongside the treasurer and his soon-to-be deputy premier, Cameron Dick, he further announced that a 12-month freeze on car registration costs from July would be his first decision.

Steven Miles says there will be changes to Queensland’s cabinet after the new premier takes the reins.

He confirmed that Cameron Dick would remain treasurer and also become deputy premier, should Labor’s caucus back his bid for leadership on Friday.

“Of course, what we’ve indicated is that Cameron and I will put ourselves forward at that meeting,” he said.

“After that meeting will be the time to begin discussing what the cabinet looks like.”

Steven Miles says he will seek nomination as Queensland premier with Treasurer Cameron Dick as his deputy when the Labor Party caucus meets on Friday.

Miles’ bid for the premiership follows the shock resignation of Annastacia Palaszczuk as premier on Sunday after nearly nine years in the role.

“Cameron has been a strong treasurer. We have worked together to deliver a strong state economy that is delivering for Queensland as one that is focused on creating jobs,” Miles said.

“Caucus will meet on Friday, and the ultimate decision rests with caucus.”

Miles also announced that the Queensland Labor government would freeze car registration for the next year, ensuring that “families don’t have increased car registration bills”.

“We know that for many families, registration is one of the biggest bills,” he said.

“This builds on all of our other work to address cost of living: our energy rebates, free kindy, free TAFE, our increases to the patient travel subsidy scheme, and our school breakfast program.”