Australia news LIVE: Coalition announces joint energy policy, Ley says migration policy imminent; Albanese sets sights on security deals with Fiji and Vanuatu

Good morning and welcome to our national news live blog for Monday, November 17. My name is Emily Kaine, and I’ll be helming our live coverage for the first part of the day. Here’s what is making news this morning.

• The Coalition met yesterday at a joint party room meeting over its energy policy. The leaders repeatedly returned to the issue of affordability and largely avoided the more fraught subjects of net zero and the Paris Agreement. In a brief aside during the net zero press conference, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said her migration policy was imminent.
• Australian energy giants have backed the government’s 2050 net zero target and warned that failing to embrace renewables will only send power bills higher, contradicting a key Coalition argument as it fights to wind back climate action.

• Anthony Albanese is moving to lock in a security pact with Fiji, as well as resuscitate a security deal with Vanuatu two months after negotiations collapsed during his visit to the Pacific island nation. The PM is looking to build on a “watershed” defence agreement with Indonesia that analysts say has reshaped power relations in Asia, and has struck a positive tone on the prospect of avoiding conflict with China over Taiwan.

Anthony Albanese is moving to lock in a security pact with Fiji, as well as resuscitate a security deal with Vanuatu two months after negotiations collapsed during his visit to the Pacific island nation.

The PM is looking to build on a “watershed” defence agreement with Indonesia that analysts say has reshaped power relations in Asia, and has struck a positive tone on the prospect of avoiding conflict with China over Taiwan.

In an interview from his Kirribilli residence, Albanese told this masthead that progress was also being made on a long-delayed trade deal with the European Union, coming off the back of an export tie-up with the United Arab Emirates struck last month.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the flight deck of HMAS Canberra in Sydney, where they announced a defence pact last week. Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong

Albanese failed to sign the Nakamal agreement when he visited Vanuatu in September, but on Friday said he was working hard to conclude the deal and revealed he had a productive conversation with Fijian leader Sitiveni Rabuka on Thursday. Australia is pushing for treaties with both nations in a contest with China to win over Pacific nations.

Fresh from the deal with Australia’s populous and increasingly influential near-neighbour, Indonesia, Albanese declared his government had done “substantially more” to nourish relations with allies and build new security ties during a period of anxiety over the contest between China and the US.

Read more from our chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal.

The Coalition met yesterday to finalise a joint position on its energy policy. Here are the key takeaways from the joint party room meeting and final announcement.

• There were no surprises when Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and leader of the Nationals, David Littleproud, announced their energy policy yesterday, following Ley’s announcement that the Liberal Party was dropping their commitment to net zero last week. The leaders repeatedly returned to the issue of affordability and largely avoided the more fraught subjects of net zero and the Paris Agreement.

• Nationals leader David Littleproud framed the new policy as a shift from talking about climate to talking about economics. “This debate is not one predicated on science. It is one predicated on economics. The Albanese government wanted to hold this country back and continue to throw sledges at the Coalition about a 2015 debate about the science of climate change,” Littleproud said. “We’ve moved on to the economics of it.”

• Opposition frontbencher Jonno Duniam denied the Coalition would be in breach of the Paris Agreement by backsliding on emission reduction commitments that Australia signed up to in 2016. Duniam invoked Article 4.15 of the agreement, which stated parties should consider the outcomes for “economies most affected by the impacts of response”.

• In a brief aside during the net zero press conference, Ley said an announcement of her migration policy was imminent. “I want to update you on another priority of mine, which is migration,” she said. “In the coming weeks, we will release a migration policy, the broad principles of such a policy that demonstrates what I have said from the get-go, which is that this country’s migration numbers are far too high, and this needs to be addressed as a priority.”

Stay with us as we continue to bring you reaction to the Coalition’s new energy policy throughout the day.