Live: Marles says suburbs are not the right place for data centre development

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says suburbs are not the right place for data centres to be built.Follow all the updates in our live blog. Fri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:45amFri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:45amButler accuses Coalition of political point scoring over David Jones collapseHealth Minister Mark Butler has accused the Coalition of political point scoring over the collapse for department store David Jones.Yesterday, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said while David Jones survived through two world wars and the Great Depression, it hasn't survived the Albanese government.Deputy Liberal Leader Jane Hume has, just like her leader, pinned the blame on the collapse of the department store on the federal government."David Jones is just one of many businesses that are struggling under Labor's economy, with higher taxes, higher rents, higher electricity prices, higher insurance costs, more red tape," Hume says.But the health minister says the big retailers are facing pressure from online shopping giants, as well as pressure on consumer spending."Trying to look through all the political point scoring that we just heard. I think all your viewers understand there's real pressure on these big retailers. More and more people are doing online shopping. I know even I do it," Butler says.Fri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:31amFri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:31amMarles says suburbs are the wrong place to build data centresDeputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says suburbs are the wrong place to build data centres, and that they can instead be built a long way from where people live.The prime minister mapped out a national framework for artificial intelligence standards earlier this year to address the technology's impacts.Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, the deputy prime minister says requiring data centre companies to bring their own water and power should also be part of the equation."Building them in suburbs is the wrong place. You know, you can build them a long way from where people are. But also making sure that the companies building them bring to the equation their own power and water," Marles says."If you do that, they can actually contribute to the power grid, not take power out of the power grid. That side of the equation needs to be gotten right as well, and we're very focused on that."Fri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:20amFri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:20amMarles says US midterms won't change the way Australia deals with TrumpDeputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says the US midterm elections won't change the way Australia deals with President Donald Trump.Democrats made big gains in Tuesday's midterms, taking control of Congress and winning several traditionally Republican-held Senate seats.Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, the deputy prime minister says the government will work with the US to maintain and uphold the alliance."We live in a world today where we face a very challenging strategic landscape and in that context our alliance with the United States is critically important. So, it's our job to manage it," Marles says.Asked if the government could learn from the US elections, Marles says cost of living remains the priority."We're obviously mindful of that. From our perspective, we are focused on what we can contribute to that, and that's the management of our own budget, which we do in a very prudent way," he says.Fri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:18amFri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:18amCanavan and Rae weigh into Hanson, Faruqi court battleThe aged care minister and Nationals leader have weighed in on a court battle between One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi.The High Court has agreed to hear Hanson's appeal against a finding she racially vilified Faruqi by telling her to "piss off back to Pakistan".Nationals leader Matt Canavan has told Channel Nine he'd prefer discussion about those types of matters to happen in the parliament."I don't like it when these types of political disputes are settled through our courts. I'd prefer that to occur through the parliament and through political debate like we're having this morning," Canavan says.Aged Care Minister Sam Rae agrees and says he believes Australia has robust debate."None of us want to get involved in a legal process, but I do think we've got a healthy, robust debate here in our country. We want to protect that," Rae says.Fri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:14amFri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:14amCanavan criticises treasurers attempt to find ideas to boost productivityNationals senator Matt Canavan has criticised the treasurer's move to seek ideas to boost productivity from his department. The Australian reports Treasurer Jim Chalmers has asked Treasury to develop new productivity ideas that can be included in this year's mid-year financial update.Speaking to Channel Nine, the Nationals leader says the Coalition would cut taxes and scrap net zero to boost productivity."We have this joke of a treasurer asking for ideas about productivity. He had a productivity roundtable 18 months ago, but it didn't tackle the real issues. That's why productivity has continued to fall," Canavan says."What we would do is scrap net zero and get energy prices down. That will increase productivity because energy is the economy. We'll cut taxes. This government's increased them massively."Fri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:09amFri 6 Nov 2026 at 7:09amGood morning 👋Hello and welcome to our federal politics live blog. It's great to have you join us here early this Friday morning!I'm Josh Boscaini, joining you live from Parliament House in Canberra, here and ready to bring you all of today's federal politics news.I'm not quite sure what today has for us, so let's get this blog up and away and see what happens!