The push for public supermarkets + Where do dead solar panels go?

Chris Spyrou (0:08)

Hey, Chris Spyrou with you, and it is good to be back here on The Briefing. The number of homes being powered by solar panels is increasing across the country as part of our transition towards greener power. But the Federal Government has recently paused a multi-million dollar scheme to develop an industry around making sure they get recycled.

James Petesic (0:26)

It's too easy for people to get rid of panels in other ways. That's fine from an economic perspective, but from an environmental point of view, panels contain critical minerals like silicon, silver, copper and metals that are key to the clean energy transition.

Chris Spyrou (0:42)

That deep dive into the government scheme that's recently been paused and why solar panel recyclers wanted up and running is coming up in the second half of this episode. First though, let's get into the headlines with Sacha Barbour Gatt on Tuesday the 6th of October.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (0:58)

Thank you, Chris, welcome back, lovely to have you back across from me. The Coalition will today unveil its migration policy with a plan to slash the intake to a third of its current level. Angus Taylor is expected to announce a reduction in the NOM, that's Net Overseas Migration, to 100,000 in his first year as Prime Minister if he's elected in 2028

The party would look to achieve this by cracking down on overstayers, visa hoppers, students, temporary visa holders with non-essential skills and family reunion programs.

Chris Spyrou (1:30)

There are also reported plans to establish so-called safe nations to allow for speedier rejections of temporary protection visas. In a major difference to the government's policy, the Coalition would actually prioritise working holiday visas to ensure enough backpackers were available to fill seasonal work in the regions, something pushed for by the nationals. We'll get the full details today, but from what we do know, the plan would put the party in the middle of One Nation's plan to 130,000 a year and Labor's 225,000 a year, and that's at an expected 160,000 following Taylor's first 12 months in power.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (2:06)

Yeah, interesting one.

This has been building and building as a major election issue for 2028

And so this is the third major migration policy we are going to see delivered or announced in recent weeks. We saw One Nation, then Labor, now the Coalition coming out. Interestingly, aside from some of the other issues around high migration, impact on infrastructure, things like that, there's also a conversation around how changing migration figures will impact the economy. So there are reports that MPs within the Liberal Party were pushed to run the numbers repeatedly with the Parliamentary Budget Office to get to the lowest number they could without impacting the economy. So expect that to be a talking point from Angus Taylor today. This would not impact Australia from a fiscal point of view. One Nation's plan we know is uncosted. They had no formal assessment of how negative NOM would impact the economy, which is what they've gone for. In terms of the Greens and their position on migration as we head closer to 2028, David Tubridge, the new leader, has characterised the discussion and the recent moves by the major parties as in line with the Trump administration's ICE agency and demonstrative of Australia's race to the bottom on migration. So it would be interesting to see if the Greens come out with any sort of formal policy on migration. We are actually interviewing David Tubridge this week, so I'll put it to him.

Chris Spyrou (3:31)

Overseas now and Andrew Mountbatten-Winze is taking his fight against UK police to court this week after launching a legal challenge over his arrest in connection to the Epstein files back in February. The former prince wants a judge to rule on whether the search warrants used to raid his home and former home were lawful. The first hearing is on Thursday UK time.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (3:51)

A reminder, it was back in February that Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. It followed the discovery of e-mails he sent Jeffrey Epstein, appearing to forward sensitive government material in 2010, while he was Britain's special representative for trade. He was released later that day. The investigation remains ongoing and he has not been charged. Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing.

Chris Spyrou (4:16)

Back home now and we've got public hospitals and public schools, so should Australia have public supermarkets as well? Well, the Greens official think tank thinks so, and it's put a price tag on it. Former Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, who now runs the Green Institute, is pitching a $25 billion plan for a chain of public, not-for-profit supermarkets. He's calling them Fairgo Grocers.