What we learned; Tuesday 25 February
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today. These were the day’s major developments:
It was a big day in Senate estimates. In one hearing, the ABC’s acting managing director disclosed the broadcaster has tried to settle out of court the Antoinette Lattouf unlawful termination case multiple times and has spent $1.1m on external lawyers so far.
The Asio director general Mike Burgess told estimates that antisemitism has become the agency’s “number one priority” in terms of threats to life.
A fiery stoush erupted in another hearing over reports about Peter Dutton’s shareholdings from 2009, with the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, challenged by Liberal counterparts Jane Hume and James McGrath to repeat her claims outside the protection of parliamentary privilege.
The former defence minister Linda Reynolds used her final Senate estimates appearance to request an apology from Gallagher.
Elsewhere, Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson reached an agreement to cover her legal costs over the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial. Ten will pay Wilkinson about $1.1m.
Nine Entertainment flagged further restructuring into next financial year after the broadcaster and publisher reported a 15% drop in its half-year group earnings to $268m, weighed down by the end of its arrangement with Facebook owner Meta.
New South Wales recorded its first death of a person with Japanese encephalitis since May 2022, a man aged in his 70s.
Also in NSW, the collection of food organics and garden organics (Fogo) waste will become mandatory after legislation passed the state parliament.
We’ll be back first thing tomorrow. Until then, enjoy your evening.
Updated
Burgess has also told the senate estimates hearing that an attempt by News Corp staff to allegedly provoke staff at Sydney Middle Eastern restaurant was ‘mind-blowingly stupid’.
Asked about the incident by independent senator Gerard Rennick, Burgess said:
In that case, if those facts are correct then that is just mind-blowingly stupid is it not? And inappropriate that you would do something to generate a headline.
[It’s] entirely unhelpful and think about the poor person on the receiving end of that.
For more context, here’s the original story of the incident:
Burgess was asked if the media has responsibility to tone down the language it uses. He said there was a responsibility to “comment appropriately”.
He was also probed on the media’s response to the Dural caravan incident, but refused to comment.
Updated
Asio says antisemitism is its ‘number one priority’
The Asio director general, Mike Burgess, is appearing at Senate estimates this evening, where he has said that, for the first time, antisemitism has become the agency’s number one priority, in terms of threats to life.
Burgess said:
In terms of threats to life, it’s my agency’s number one priority because of the weight of incidents we’re seeing play out in this country.
I don’t believe we’ve done that in our history, certainly not in my six years as director general... It’s the volume of incidents that we are dealing with.
Burgess again urged the public to let the agency “do our job”, as pressure mounts for more action to be taken against antisemitic acts.
Senator James Paterson suggested investigations into incidents have taken a long time, but Burgess retorted the agency isn’t “sitting back”.
Burgess said:
Let us do our job, sometimes these investigations do take time. It’s not because we’re sitting back admiring the problem... [Investigations] require some capabilities to be put in place that allows us and police to do their job.
Updated
Five hundred prominent Jewish Australians publicly decry Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal
Five hundred prominent Jewish Australians have taken out a full-page ad in today’s Sydney Morning Herald and the Age newspapers urging Australia to reject Donald Trump’s plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.
The petition was organised by an independent collective of Jews and was signed by musician Ben Lee, actor Miriam Margolyes, lawyers Andrea Durbach, Robert Richter, Josh Bornstein and George Newhouse, disability commissioner Dr Rhonda Galbally, businessman Ron Finkel and award-winning authors Anna Fienberg, Eleanor Limprecht, Dennis Altman and Clare Wright.
The executive officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, Sarah Schwartz, was also a signatory.
She said the repression of Jewish dissenters was at an “all-time high” and that:
Publicly signing on to something like this is not easy.
The fact that so many were willing to sign their name, standing on the shoulders of our Jewish ancestors who stood up against injustice, shows that Jewish voices in support of Palestinians can no longer be ignored.
Updated
Inman Grant has also revealed during the Senate estimates hearing the difficulty the regulator had in getting responses from encrypted messaging app Telegram on what the app was doing to tackle terrorism and child abuse content.
Inman Grant fined Telegram nearly $1m earlier this week for taking more than five months to respond to a transparency request from her office.
Telegram has since answered all questions with no outstanding issues but Inman Grant said the delay had impeded her work in deciding to issue the fine.
Inman Grant told Senate estimates “they wouldn’t accept the notice” and, when asked where it should be sent, the company would not respond.
She said:
It was very sporadic, and frankly quite shady.
She said the company ultimately decided to engage with her office in late August last year.
The Telegram chief executive, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France in late August last year on charges of failing to curb extremist and terrorist content.
Telegram is appealing against the fine.
Updated
eSafety commissioner writes to generative AI companies trying to stop child abuse material
Australia’s online safety regulator has written to generative AI companies calling on them to take action on their technology being used by nudify-type apps that are being used to create child abuse material of school-aged girls in Australia.
There have been a spate of cases in Australia of apps that generate nude images of people being used by school students to create fake nude images of girls under 18.
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, told Senate estimates on Tuesday she had written to generative AI providers “whose technology has been implicated in the creation of deepfake image-based abuse of under 18s in classrooms across Australia, enabling the creation of synthetic CSAM [child sexual abuse material] to the great detriment of these schoolgirls”.
She said:
We have let them know of their safety obligations and that we’ll take enforcement action in earnest.
Updated
Queensland reports 12 deaths amid spike in tropical bacterial infection melioidosis
Public health authorities in north Queensland say there have been a “large number of deaths” – now 12 across the state – amid a spike in cases of melioidosis, a tropical bacterial infection.
Melioidosis is endemic in parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory, where it is often contracted from contaminated soil. It can also be spread via water or the air.
There have been a record number of cases in the Queensland tropics since the start of the year.
In Cairns there have been 53 reported cases and 9 deaths since 1 January.
Most of those have been in the city’s “southern corridor”, a strip of suburbs extending to the south of the city.
There have also been three deaths in the Townsville area.
Case numbers have soared compared with previous years and authorities believe large amounts of rain could be a cause.
The Tropical Public Health Services director, Dr Jacqueline Murdoch, said:
The deaths are reflective of the cases. It’s a very severe disease and it has a very high fatality rate and we do have a large number of deaths now that is reflecting the large number of cases that we have.
Heavy rainfall can bring the disease-causing bacteria into surface water and soil.
We are yet to pinpoint exactly why we are seeing so many cases now, and there is likely to be many factors at play.
Murdoch said people in high-risk categories – people with diabetes, kidney or lung problems, or undergoing cancer treatment – should be aware of potential symptoms and present to hospital early.
Updated
ABC’s editorial director asked about use of term ‘genocide’ in relation to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza
ABC journalists may use the term “genocide” in relation to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza but they must also reference Israel’s denial that they are committing genocide, the ABC’s editorial director has told Senate estimates.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi asked if the ABC had changed its editorial guidance in relation to the use of the word “genocide”.
The public broadcaster’s editorial director, Gavin Fang, said:
I don’t believe we’ve actually changed our guidance on genocide, nor have we ever said that the term genocide could not be used.
What we’ve put in our guidance to staff is that it’s a highly contentious matter and that, by and large, on most occasions that you would, if you are reporting on allegations of genocide, you need to provide the other perspective on that.
Updated
Confusion over whether Labor will try again to establish national environment watchdog
There was a very confusing exchange in environment estimates overnight about whether a re-elected Albanese government would reintroduce laws to establish a national environment protection agency.
The Labor senator Tim Ayres initially made some clear remarks, telling Coalition senator Jonno Duniam “the legislation will not be reintroduced” and:
I think it would have been much better for the country if the Senate had engaged in a serious way with the government’s reform agenda but that legislation won’t be re-introduced.
And that opportunity for reform has been missed but of course there are still issues there that need to be resolved.
Duniam interpreted this as meaning the national “EPA is never coming back” but he was then told by another participant that was not what Ayres had said.
A confusing exchange ensued.
By the end it was unclear whether Ayres meant the very same bill that had been put to the parliament this term would not be reintroduced – but perhaps Labor would introduce different legislation for an EPA at a future date – or if the proposal for an EPA was off the table entirely.
We sought clarification from the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, who declined to provide a comment on record.
Ayres and environment officials told the estimates hearing that broad work on environmental reform – a much larger task than the single issue of an EPA – continued.
Duniam did try rephrasing his question to ask whether legislation to establish an EPA could be introduced in the next term of parliament and pressed Ayres to clarify whether he meant Labor would not reintroduce it at all.
To which Ayres replied:
What I said was the legislation that was before the parliament will not be reintroduced.
Labor senator Penny Wong has previously told the Senate the legislation that was before the parliament would not be reintroduced this term.
Updated
Tens of thousands to be inconvenienced by bus strike, Brisbane council says
More than 75,000 residents of Brisbane would be inconvenienced if the bus drivers’ union goes ahead with planned strike action on Friday, according to their employer.
Brisbane city council is locked in negotiations with the Rail Tram and Bus Union.
Members walked off the job for two hours last week at 4am on Thursday but disruption was limited because the industrial action was so early in the day.
However, the council says plans by the union to strike between 4pm and 6pm on Friday – during afternoon peak hour – would affect about six times as many services.
The deputy mayor, Fiona Cunningham, said residents should plan for “traffic chaos”, accusing the union of holding the city to random.
Cunningham said:
Disrupting afternoon peak-hour could cause mass mayhem and people should expect significant impacts right across the network.
Bus union bosses aren’t just disrupting Brisbane residents heading home for the weekend.
They’re also disrupting thousands of people heading to Boondall to see one of the world’s biggest country music stars [Chris Stapleton] play to a sold-out crowd.
The strike only affects services contracted out to Brisbane city council, not other transport providers in south-east Queensland.
Updated
ABC regularly defends its journalists from Murdoch media queries, Senate estimates told
The ABC news director, Justin Stevens, has told Senate estimates that the ABC regularly defends its journalists from “multiple queries” from Murdoch outlets, including The Australian.
In a response to a question from Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Stevens said:
Despite the very small readership, we do engage and respond to a lot of their queries quite regularly, and we do defend the work of our journalists. Almost every week there’s multiple queries.
Having said that, as a public broadcaster, we must be subjected to scrutiny, and we must have a culture of accepting scrutiny and self-reflection where we get things wrong and be transparent about that.
Updated
ABC has spent $1.1m on external lawyers in Antoinette Lattouf case, Senate estimates told
The ABC has tried to settle out of court the Antoinette Lattouf unlawful termination case multiple times and has spent $1.1m on external lawyers so far, the broadcaster has told Senate estimates.
The acting ABC managing director, Melanie Kleyn, who is standing in for the outgoing managing director, David Anderson, said the ABC maintains “that it did not terminate” Lattouf.
Kleyn:
The ABC has tried on multiple occasions to settle the matter on a commercial basis without admission or liability.
We do understand this is an impost on public funds.
Kleyn announced the launch of Your Vote, Your Say across the ABC on Thursday before the federal election.
She said:
This initiative harnesses our unmatched network of reporters and radio programs – based in more than 60 locations across remote, regional and metro Australia – to make sure people’s voices are heard and their concerns are addressed.
Updated
Coalition senator James McGrath labels the Greens ‘racist’ and ‘antisemitic’
Coalition senator James McGrath has called the Greens a “racist, antisemitic political party” during a heated exchange in budget estimates.
McGrath got into a disagreement with the Greens senator Barbara Pocock after she accused him of “speaking over the top of women” during the estimates hearing.
Pocock accused McGrath of having referred to her as “antisemitic”, saying:
I am the only Greens senator in this room, and you have referred to me, and my party, as antisemitic.
It is a lie. It is not true and I insist that you withdraw it.
McGrath, a Queensland Liberal National party senator, said he had not described Pocock “personally” as being antisemitic or racist but he had described her political party in this way.
He was asked three times by the chair of the committee to withdraw his remarks but he refused.
McGrath said:
I am not withdrawing that the Greens are a racist, antisemitic political party. I am not withdrawing that.
Updated
Mostyn defends appointment as governor general and says you need ‘diversity’ in career to understand role
Continuing from our last post: Sam Mostyn said she knows why people criticise her appointment but you “need diversity” in your career to understand the role, particularly one that has been defined by modernity.
When the term is governor general, and the word general is there, and it’s constitutional, and the history of this role is people who have often been generals … and done magnificent jobs …
There’s nothing here that says you have to be someone that has a military background or been a general elsewhere … but someone who in a modern sense has enough general skills and understanding to bring together the things this job uniquely gets to see, and reflect that back to those that need to hear it.
Updated
Governor-general says young people losing faith in democracy
The governor-general, Sam Mostyn AC, says young people are losing their faith in democracy and feel politicians have “lost the capacity” to talk with and listen to the community.
Appearing at a higher education summit headed by Universities Australia in Canberra alongside UA’s chair, professor David Lloyd, Mostyn said she couldn’t have predicted Australia would be heading to a world where the words “care and kindness” were seen as “soft or irrelevant” when she was offered the role.
When we talk about social cohesion or the breakdown of social fabric … we’re not arguing well anymore. We’re allowing ourselves to get to anger, fury … and we lose the opportunity to debate.
She said young people “deeply care about the future” but have a lack of trust over democracy, exacerbated by a declining understanding in civics education.
They don’t trust the figures [in] or the way we construct our democracy ... I think that’s because many in those trusted positions have lost the capacity to talk with and listen to communities ... rather than using language that’s either distant or not consistent with what communities see.
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, Catie McLeod will be here to take you through the rest of today’s news. Take care.
Asia Pacific Awards finalists speak out about Creative Australia decision
Continuing from our last post:
A number of the finalists in the Asia Pacific Awards have been vocal on social media and through open letters and petitions decrying the Creative Australia decision, and calling for the reinstatement of Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino.
Finalist Blacktown Arts posted on Instagram last week that it was disappointed in the Creative Australia decision, and endorsed a message by the Western Sydney Arts Alliance alleging political interference in the decision and calling for a transparent inquiry into the controversy.
Parramatta-based artist initiative Pari, a co-finalist with artistic partner Arab Theatre Studio, has called for Creative Australia to issue a public apology to Sabsabi, Dagostino, “and the entire arts sector”.
Another finalist, Campbelltown Arts Centre, was run for more than a decade by Dagostino before he relocated to the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Museum 18 months ago.
Three individual artists who are finalists in the awards – Latai Taumoepeau, Abdul Abdullah and Angela Tiatia – are signatories to the Memo petition condemning Creative Australia’s decision as “a concerning precedent for artistic freedom and sectoral independence”.
Updated
Creative Australia postpones annual award ceremony amid Venice Biennale controversy
Creative Australia has postponed its annual awards recognising artist and arts organisations’ contribution to the Asia Pacific region, just six days before the awards ceremony was due to take place.
The organisation has given no reason why it has suddenly postponed the Asia Pacific Arts Awards, which were scheduled to go ahead next Monday at Arts Centre Melbourne.
A Creative Australia statement posted on its website only said the organisation remained “committed to recognising and celebrating the achievements of the Asia Pacific arts community” and that “the incredible work of the shortlisted nominees will be acknowledged at a later date”.
Creative Australia staff nationwide were informed of the decision this morning.
The beleaguered government cultural funding body is scheduled to appear at tonight’s senate estimates hearing where its chief executive, Adrian Collette, is expected to be grilled over the Venice Biennale controversy, which saw Lebanese-born Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino withdrawn as Australia’s representatives at the 2026 Venice Biennale, just six days after being announced as the successful candidates.
Acoss says Coalition’s intention to cut public sector jobs to fund Medicare is ‘grave cause for concern’
The Australian Council of Social Services says it strongly opposes the Coalition’s intention to cut public sector jobs to fund Medicare.
In a statement, the Acoss CEO, Dr Cassandra Goldie, said it welcomed Labor’s $8.5bn pledge to increase GP bulk billing access, and the Coalition’s commitment to match this. But she said the Coalition’s intention to cut 36,000 jobs to do so is “grave cause for concern”:
The public service delivers a range of essential supports for people on low incomes in need including delivering income support, the NDIS, aged care and other essential services.
The addition of 3,000 permanent staff in Services Australia in 2023 was most welcome because it reduced the unacceptable call wait times and backlog of payment claims.
We must not return to a state where it takes months to get essential income support payments or people spend hours on the phone trying to speak to someone about their payment.
Goldie said Centrelink and other essential services are “human services and need humans on staff to deliver them”. She is calling on the Coalition not to cut public service staff from essential services, and for permanent staff to not be replaced by contracted staff.
Updated
Watch: Reynolds asks Gallagher to apologise for ‘all the damage’ done during Lehrmann saga
Here is a video of the interaction between Linda Reynolds and Katy Gallagher in Senate estimates, which we brought you just earlier:
Fiery stoush in Senate estimates over reports of Dutton’s 2009 shareholdings
A fiery stoush has erupted in Senate estimates over reports about Peter Dutton’s shareholdings from 2009, with the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, challenged by Liberal counterparts Jane Hume and James McGrath to repeat her claims outside the protection of parliamentary privilege.
This goes to a story, first broken by news.com.au, about Dutton’s stock interests in 2009, including a disclosure on his parliamentary register of interests of buying shares in big banks – which he disclosed the day before the then-Labor government announced a package to assist banks during the global financial crisis. Labor said Dutton has “questions to answer” about the timing.
We’ve just gotten a new statement from Dutton’s office on this, with a spokesperson saying “Mr Dutton had no access to any sensitive information on these matters, nor was he privy to government briefing on the GFC.” Dutton’s statement went on to criticise Labor’s “dirt unit” of “obsessing about Peter Dutton”, adding “all updates to Mr Dutton’s register of interests were made at the appropriate time.”
In estimates just now, Gallagher was at the table with officials from the Australian Public Service Commission, as Labor senator Jana Stewart asked questions about how APS workers had to deal with sensitive information.
Gallagher said:
So for example, if a public servant was to know, hypothetically, that the banks were to be bailed out during the GFC, and sought to buy up shares in all those major banks on the eve of that announcement, I imagine there would be serious consequences.
Hume:
Want to say that outside of parliamentary privilege, minister?
McGrath added “please, please”, as Gallagher claimed Dutton had “genuine questions to answer.” McGrath added “all you’ve got is mud.” The three senators spoke over each other, as the committee chair tried to restore order.
McGrath:
Go on Sky News, go on the ABC even, say it there … you’re throwing mud at Peter Dutton, that’s all you’ve got.
Gallagher:
It was just a coincidence, was it? That there was a lot of shares purchased the day before a bank bailout?
Hume continually called out “grubby”, as McGrath claimed Gallagher’s comments “defame the leader of the opposition”. The hearing was briefly suspended to restore order, before it resumed again shortly afterward.
Updated
Reynolds uses final Senate estimates appearance to seek apology from Gallagher
The former defence minister Linda Reynolds has used her final Senate estimates appearance to request an apology from finance minister Katy Gallagher.
She requested an apology to herself, her staff and family “for all of the damage that has been wrought on them by you and by others in the Labor Party”. Gallagher said she had already spoken to this in the chamber, facing two weeks of questions from the opposition on this, but offered:
I am sorry that you have been hurt by all of this. But I – and I’ve gone back and had a look at the questions I’ve asked – I believe the questions I ask, in my role, when you’re a minister and you’re accountable for what happened in your office, were reasonable.
Reynolds interjected, saying “so that’s a no” on whether Gallagher would apologise. Gallagher went on:
No, that is not a no … You were a minister, you were accountable for what happened in your office, and we asked questions about an alleged sexual assault in this building. And I would believe that other senators in a similar circumstance would ask exactly the same questions.
But did I seek to cause harm to you or anyone else? No. I asked questions that I think most people would expect would have been asked with such serious allegations about what has happened in this building and the changes that we have put in place since to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again.
Reynolds stood up and left, again stating “so that’s a no”. Gallagher said that was her “editorialising”. LNP senator James McGrath interjected and the exchange became heated. Gallagher told him:
My conscience is clear … An alleged rape had happened in this building …
Updated
Winter crops drop after record season
The Australian Bureau of Statistics says there was a 27% drop in winter broadacre crop production sold in 2023-24, with 50m tonnes of production sold.
Rob Walter, ABS head of agriculture statistics, said the drop in production sold drove a 29% drop in value to $18.7bn:
After having one of the best seasons on record in 2022-23, the drier conditions across large parts of Australia lead to 27% less winter broadacre crop production being sold nationally and generally lower yields.
Wheat, barley and canola made up 93% of total winter crop production sold and was valued at $16.5bn. There were 28m tonnes of wheat sold in 2023-24, a 32% fall from 2022-23. The local value of wheat fell 35% in 2023-24 to $8.8bn.
Australian winter broadacre crops covered an area of 20.5m hectares in 2023-24, 3m hectares less than the previous season, the ABS said.
Australia also produced 29.9m tonnes of sugarcane in 2023-24, 2.7m tonnes less that in 2022-23. Despite this, local value rose by $692m to $2.2bn off the back of strong sugar prices, the ABS said.
Updated
Pacific worker labour scheme wage boost changes delayed
Pacific island workers in Australia under a working visa scheme will have to wait nine months longer for changes that would boost their wages, AAP reports.
Workers from 10 countries can come to Australia and be employed across a range of sectors including agriculture and meat processing to fill labour gaps under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (Palm) scheme.
They have to be paid for at least 120 hours a month, but this was set to change to at least 30 hours a week from 1 July. Hours would be averaged over the course of a month, meaning that in some weeks, workers could do 20 hours and more than 40 in other weeks.
By ensuring people need to be paid for 30 hours a week, this could increase wage payments as businesses would need to account for extra hours in slower weeks, and then still pay overtime in busier weeks.
This change has been pushed back until 31 March 2026 as the federal government reviews the terms following consultations. The employment minister, Murray Watt, said it was “best to leave the Palm settings as they are for the moment while we better understand the impact of the changes that we’ve made”.
His department has been reviewing the scheme’s minimum hours requirement to ensure Pacific workers are adequately paid and not suffering from any unreasonable cost deductions during their time in Australia.
There were around 27,000 participants in the scheme working across almost 500 businesses in December.
Updated
NSW records first Japanese encephalitis death since 2022
New South Wales has recorded its first death of a person with Japanese encephalitis (JE) since May 2022.
NSW Health said a man in his 70s from northern Sydney died on 23 February in a Sydney hospital, where he had been receiving care for JE since early February. A statement said it is likely the man acquired JE while on holiday in the Murrumbidgee region in January.
This is the state’s third confirmed death from JE since the virus was first detected in NSW in 2022. NSW Health expresses its sincere condolences to his loved ones.
NSW Health said an additional case of JE has also been identified in a woman in her 60s in northern NSW, who likely acquired the infection on her rural property in Tenterfield Shire. She is receiving care in hospital.
NSW Health’s executive director of health protection, Dr Jeremy McAnulty, said it is important “all people take precautions against mosquitoes, not just those living in affected regions.” He said JE was “a risk you must consider” if travelling west of the Great Dividing Range.
JE virus is spread by mosquitoes and can infect animals and humans. Here is an explainer on the virus from 2022:
Public service officials discuss releasing confidential chapter of robodebt royal commission report
Public service officials say they’ve held discussions about the public release of a confidential chapter within the robodebt royal commission’s final report, a Senate estimates hearing has heard.
The “sealed” chapter, which contains the names of public servants and other government officials referred to the Australian federal police and the National Anti-Corruption Commission among other bodies, has remained hidden from the public view while further investigations are under way.
Earlier this month, the Nacc announced it was re-opening its investigation into six individuals referred to the body by the royal commission for potential corrupt conduct after it had earlier dropped the investigations.
At a Senate estimates hearing this afternoon, the Australian Public Service Commissioner, Gordon de Brouwer, confirmed his agency had been in discussions with the attorney general’s department regarding the possible public release of the sealed chapter.
The public service minister, Katy Gallagher, said she had also received advice from “relevant agencies” regarding its release but declined to comment further.
I don’t think I can [say what’s been discussed], at the moment, while there’s matters ongoing. We are just, you know, mindful of the work of the Nacc.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, told the National Press Club in July 2024 ongoing processes meant the government hadn’t quite closed the curtain on the robodebt royal commission’s response.
The following month, the former government services minister, Bill Shorten, said he had not yet “won” the argument in convincing his colleagues to publicly release the sealed section.
Updated
Past creators of Venice Biennale’s Australia Pavilion call for transparent inquiry
Continuing from our last post:
The open letter also calls for a transparent inquiry into the processes of selection, invitation and withdrawal, which the curators say has put the future of the Australian presentation at the Venice Biennale into question, eroded the respect and international recognition of Australian art accrued by mutual efforts over decades, and threatened the principle of artistic independence.
We are stunned that in these fraught times, the Creative Australia board and CEO took no time to defend their decision against uninformed comments on Sabsabi’s early works by those who had not even seen them. Rather than fostering civil discussion of complex subjects, their reactive move has inflamed a polarised debate.
Updated
Past creators of Venice Biennale’s Australia Pavilion pen open letter to Creative Australia
Another open letter of protest over the dismissal of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino has been sent to the board of Creative Australia and its chief executive, Adrian Collette, this one from past curators of the Venice Biennale’s Australian Pavilion stretching back more than four decades.
The petition has been signed by a dozen past curators, from Grazia Gunn who curated the Arthur Boyd exhibition back in 1988, to Ellie Buttrose who curated last year’s Golden Lion award-winning exhibition by Archie Moore.
The open letter calls for the reinstatement of Sabsabi and Dagostino, who had the biennale contract withdrawn by the government’s principal arts investment and advisory body just six days after being announced as Australia’s representatives for the prestigious 2026 world event.
The open letter says past curators express their “dismay and disillusionment” at Creative Australia’s “abrupt, unexplained and unprecedented reversal” of its decision.
Creative Australia was established to ‘uphold and promote freedom of expression in the arts’ and ‘to support Australian arts practice that reflects the diversity of Australia’. Today these defining words have a hollow ring, at odds with our prior understanding of the role of Australia’s peak arts body.
Updated
Domino’s shares battered as store closures hit profits
Traders have taken a slice out of Domino’s Pizza’s share price, AAP reports, after restructuring costs from store closures hit profits.
Shares in the Australian-based offshoot of the American fast food chain plunged more than 11% this morning as investors chewed a $22m loss for the six months ended 29 December.
The loss was a result of Domino’s incurring $115.6m in restructuring costs, of which $80.6m was related to the recently announced closure of 205 loss-making stores, the majority of which were in the struggling Japanese market.
Domino’s chief executive Mark van Dyck said the “decisive” closures were among the first outcomes of a comprehensive business review intended to simplify the company and improve profitability.
Excluding non-recurring items, which also included legal costs and the rollout of a new finance and supply system, Domino’s recorded a 5.7% drop in net profit after tax compared to the same period the year prior.
Network sales fell 2.9% to $2.08bn, including a negative impact from foreign exchange fluctuations and store closures.
On a positive note, franchisee profitability rose 13.7% and same store sales grew 1.3%.
Updated
H7N8 bird flu detected on fourth poultry farm in Victoria
The H7N8 high pathogenicity avian influenza (bird flu) has been detected at a fourth poultry farm in Euroa, in north-eastern Victoria.
Agriculture Victoria said the new detection is within the 5km restricted area and in close proximity to the three other infected properties.
Before today, the latest detection had been on 20 February.
Victoria’s acting chief veterinary officer, Dr Cameron Bell, said the new detection was “not unexpected” given how close the affected properties were to each other.
This detection is the result of comprehensive and ongoing surveillance activities by Agriculture Victoria staff within restricted and control areas.
Control orders have been in place since the H7N8 strain was first detected on a poultry farm on 8 February.
The orders restrict the movement of poultry, poultry products, equipment, and vehicles on or off properties in designated zones around the infected properties to prevent the spread of the disease.
These zones include a restricted area covering a 5km radius around the farms, with a broader control area spanning the Strathbogie Shire east of the Goulburn Valley Freeway, and including the townships of Euroa, Violet Town, Longwood, Ruffy, Avenel and Strathbogie.
Updated
Government questioned on whether it will pursue Treaty and Truth following previous election promise
Over in legal estimates, the shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, has been testing the government on whether they’ll pursue Treaty and Truth, after promising to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full at the last election.
Don Farrell is in the hot seat, representing the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, and won’t bite on Cash’s attempt to force Labor to rule out pursuing Treaty and Truth if it’s returned to government.
Farrell says Labor had promised a referendum on the voice and delivered on that, but won’t tell the next government what to do.
With time ticking down before the election is called, Farrell says, “what the government will take to the next election will be very clear”.
Cash has also levelled an accusation at Dreyfus, saying he’d said to someone at an event that the government would try to “circumvent” the referendum result, but hasn’t provided any details on when or where that occurred. Farrell says he won’t “dignify that [accusation] with a response”.
Updated
Shortage of funnel-web spiders puts anti-venom program at risk, Reptile Park says
The Australian Reptile Park says it is urgently seeking more funnel-web spider donations to help sustain its venom program.
The park said this year’s funnel-web season had been slower than usual but upcoming humid and wet weather across Sydney was set to increase sightings of the spider.
Funnel-webs seek out sheltered, shady spots during rain, making houses and gardens the perfect environment. The park said it had received far fewer spiders than normal for this time of year, “which could have deadly consequences”.
No funnel-web bites have led to death since antivenom was introduced in 1981, but the park said:
Without a steady supply of spiders, the program is at risk.
Spider keeper Emma Teni is urging the public to catch any funnel-web spider they come across:
Every spider received could be the one that saves a life. The venom program relies entirely on public donations of these spiders, and without them, the production of antivenom— which has saved countless Australians— would not be possible.
To learn more about how to safely capture a funnel-web and donate it you can have a read online here.
Updated
Government releases response to review of paid family and domestic violence leave
This morning the government released its response to an independent review of the paid family and domestic violence leave.
The review found the leave was “life changing” for those accessing it and that there was broad stakeholder support from employers and unions.
In a statement from the minister for finance and women, Katy Gallagher, social services minister Amanda Rishworth and employment minister Murray Watt, they said the government accepts all five recommendations from the review. Work is now under way on:
Integrating the leave as an ordinary workplace practice across Australian workplaces.
Providing tailored guidance for priority cohorts, such as First Nations, culturally and linguistically diverse and casual employees.
Training programs for first responders, health, allied health and community frontline workers who commonly interact with victim-survivors on the entitlement.
Additional strategies to improve awareness and access to the entitlement.
The review also found that “ongoing stigma around family and domestic violence was a barrier to workers accessing the leave”, the joint statement said. The statement said resources would be updated and re-promoted to incorporate feedback from the review.
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Everybody’s Home says ‘poll after poll’ shows support for winding back negative gearing and capital gains tax
Continuing from our last post: Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said the “worst housing crisis in living memory is smashing Australians” and “voters are ready to turn their pain into political power”:
Poll after poll has shown us that voters are open to winding back investor tax breaks like negative gearing and the CGT discount. This poll shows that voters strongly favour affordable homes over investor tax breaks. Twice as many voters say funding affordable housing, rather than property investor tax breaks, is the fairest way for the federal government to address housing affordability.
Phasing out investor tax breaks isn’t just fair, it will make housing more affordable. Every dollar that goes to property investors through tax breaks is a dollar that could build social housing for Australians.
Voters are demanding the next federal government make commitments that match the scale of the housing crisis. That means building more social housing, ending investor tax breaks and strengthening renter protections.
Updated
Only small number of voters support tax breaks for property investors, polling shows
New polling in key federal electorates reveals only a small percentage of voters support tax breaks for property investors – while almost half would like to see more funding for affordable homes.
Commissioned by Everybody’s Home, uComms polled more than 2,500 voters across Bennelong (NSW), Brisbane (Queensland), Cowan (WA) and Kooyong (Victoria) in February. The poll shows:
Two in five (44%) prefer funding affordable homes, compared with only one in five (17.5%) who favour tax concessions for property investors.
Two in five (44%) voters believe both Labor and Liberal are not committing to solutions that will make housing more affordable for most Australians, with only 9% of voters believing they are.
Three in five (60%) are likely to vote for a party or candidate who prioritises solutions that make renting more affordable and secure.
Housing (37%) is the biggest cost-of-living pressure for voters, followed by groceries (26%), energy bills (16%) and insurance (9%).
Woodside's profit more than doubles to $5.6bn
Sticking with Woodside for a moment: AAP reports that its statutory net profit after tax rose 115% in 2024 to US$3.57bn (A$5.62bn) but that it will pay a smaller dividend.
Australia’s largest oil and gas producer said its underlying net profit for the 12 months to 31 December was down 13% to US$2.88bn, primarily due to lower oil and gas prices.
The company produced a record 193.9m barrels of oil equivalent in 2024, underpinned by strong early production at its Sangomar oilfield off the coast of Senegal, which generated US$950m in sales revenue since producing its first oil in June.
Woodside’s Scarborough project 375km off the Pilbara coast of WA is now 80% complete and on track for its first LNG cargo in 2026, chief executive Meg O’Neill said.
Woodside said its operating revenue was down 6% to US$13.2bn, as the average realised price it received for oil equivalent dropped 7%. Production costs were down 2% despite the inflationary environment, Woodside highlighted.
Woodside said it would pay a 53 US cent a share fully franked final dividend, down from 60 cents a share a year ago.
Updated
Albanese says delayed decision on North West Shelf gas project not about playing politics
Wrapping up the press conference, Anthony Albanese was asked why the government has delayed a decision on the Woodside-run North West Shelf gas project.
He rejected the notion this was “playing politics”, and deferred a further question to the environment minister.
PM rejects notion Australia would be involved in peace negotiations between US, Ukraine and Russia
Asked if Australia would be involved in peace negotiations between the US, Ukraine and Russia, Anthony Albanese said Australia had not been involved:
But our position is very clear. We regard the struggle of the people of Ukraine as being a struggle between a country defending its sovereignty, defending its borders, defending the rule of law, a democracy in the Ukraine, versus an authoritarian regime that has breached international law, that has engaged in barbaric activity and attacks against infrastructure and civilians in Ukraine.
This is an unlawful action by Russia. We have stood with the people of Ukraine, because their struggle is the struggle for the international rule of law.
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Albanese says Defence was ‘certainly aware’ of Chinese live-fire exercise after Virgin pilot alerted to it
Another reporter asked Anthony Albanese if he is concerned it was a Virgin Australia pilot that first alerted to the Chinese warship live-fire exercise in the Tasman sea, rather than Defence?
He said the Defence was “certainly aware” and he had spoken with the chief of the ADF about what has occurred:
Australia has had frigates, both monitoring by sea and by air, of the presence in the region of these Chinese vessels.
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PM says government has gone through budget ‘line by line’ to account for Medicare pledge money
A reporter asked how Labor is planning to fund its Medicare pledge – with Peter Dutton flagging public sector cuts to do so.
Anthony Albanese took aim at the Coalition for cutting jobs:
We accounted for much of this money as well, in the mid-year economic forecast. We have gone through the budget line by line. We didn’t do what the Coalition did, which was on Sunday say, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll just make this big commitment without knowing what it is, without seeing any of the detail before it’s even been announced.’
Updated
Albanese criticises Dutton’s move to cut public sector jobs
After Labor announced its Medicare pledge, Peter Dutton said the Coalition would match this dollar for dollar, cutting public sector jobs to fund it.
Speaking to reporters just now, Anthony Albanese claimed there was “no opposition health policy”:
There is no opposition health policy. They just said on Saturday, in something that it was sincere as a fake tan, said that he’d match it. Well, it’ll fade away, just like a fake tan does. And when they come into office, you can rest assured the cuts will be back, because he needs to make cuts.
Albanese said slashing 36,000 public servants would lead to “less people providing support for our veterans, less people providing the support that Australians need, perhaps more robodebt being brought back as well”.
Updated
PM attacks Dutton’s record as health minister
Speaking about the measures included in Labor’s Medicare announcement, Anthony Albanese claimed that “all of this is under threat if we are not successful in the election”.
As he has done in previous days, the prime minister is taking aim at opposition leader Peter Dutton’s track record as health minister, and said:
What we know is that Peter Dutton, when he was health minister, ripped $50bn out of the hospital system, tried to introduce a GP tax every time people visited a GP which meant, of course, abolishing bulk billing altogether. We know that he said there were too many free visits to the doctor, and that it was unsustainable … We know he tried to introduce a tax when people would visit a hospital, as well as a pharmaceutical tax. When he couldn’t get his way on that, he froze the Medicare rebate for six years, which is why bulk billing went into free fall.
Setting the scene for the federal election, the PM said the election campaign would be “about two different views of Australia, our health system, with Medicare at its heart”.
Updated
Albanese addresses reporters in Sydney
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is addressing the media in Chatswood in Sydney, touting the government’s $8.5bn Medicare pledge.
He said supporting Medicare was the “Australian way”, comparing it with the US healthcare system:
We do not need an Americanisation of the health system. What we need is for Australians to be able to rely upon the fact that when they need it, they will get the care that they need – and primary healthcare through our GPs is so important.
Updated
Nine flags further restructuring amid cultural reset
Nine Entertainment will expand its restructuring program into next financial year as part of a business and cultural reset after the company’s earnings were buffeted by subdued advertising conditions and the end of a content deal.
The broadcaster and publisher reported a 15% drop in its half-year group earnings to $268m, weighed down by the end of its arrangement with Facebook owner Meta.
Revenue from the company’s broadcast arm, its biggest division, fell 3%, while streaming revenue at 9Now jumped higher.
Nine said in its six-month results there would be further restructuring in the next financial year as part of a program to reduce costs.
It is seeking to find cost efficiencies of more than $100m by mid 2027. Nine’s acting CEO, Matt Stanton, told shareholders today:
At the same time, we intend to take this opportunity to transform both the culture at Nine and as leaders in the industry, the underlying cultural issues that have plagued the broader media sector in Australia for many years.
A bombshell report released last year revealed Nine had a systemic issue with the abuse of power and authority, bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment across the company.
The broadcaster is also looking to streamline its news operations for its television and streaming business. Stanton said:
We intend to streamline the news gathering processes nationally, aimed at ultimately improving news editorial workflow. We will look for opportunities to bring production to nine rather than rely on outside broadcast.
Updated
NSW and Queensland under increasing pressure to close deal on public school funding
The NSW and Queensland governments are under increasing pressure to close a deal on public school funding with the commonwealth as the federal election looms closer.
The NSW Teachers Federation president Henry Rajendra said NSW was one of only two states that hadn’t signed up to a long-term agreement on the future funding of schools:
This needs to change now. No public school in NSW is funded to 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard, the minimum level governments agreed was required more than a decade ago. Yet every private school in the state is funded at or above this standard.
Right now, principals and teachers across NSW public schools are doing an amazing job but they are being asked to do too much with too little.
Modelling from Save our Schools convenor Trevor Cobbold suggested the two states could be underfunded by nearly $40bn in funding over the next decade if the standoff wasn’t resolved, including $18bn in NSW and $21bn in Queensland:
This would be disastrous for the learning outcomes of disadvantaged students and for the many under-resourced disadvantaged schools in the two states.
Late last month the NSW deputy premier and NSW education minister, Prue Car, said the state government would “continue to advocate for the best terms for NSW from the commonwealth” while the Queensland education minister, John-Paul Langbroek, said talks were continuing.
Updated
Closing tax loopholes on wealth would make housing more affordable, Australia Institute research finds
Research from the Australia Institute shows closing tax loopholes on wealth will make housing more affordable and reduce wealth inequality.
The richest 10% have seen their property assets grow by an average of $2.2m a household over the last two decades.
Wealth is being taxed more generously than income, with $100bn of tax concessions going to the three biggest assets: other property, superannuation and the family home.
For every dollar of tax concessions directed to the bottom 10% of Australian households, the richest 10% receive $40, the research shows.
Matt Grudnoff, senior economist at the Australia Institute, said the housing crisis was “making wealth inequality worse” and that investment properties are “concentrating housing into the hands of fewer and fewer people”.:
The housing crisis and wealth inequality are two sides of the same coin. We know that wealth inequality is bad for social cohesion, democracy, and prosperity. We also know the pain that the housing crisis is causing. Both of these can be improved by cracking down on tax loopholes for the wealthy.
Updated
Allan holds press conference on new townhouse code
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference to announce the new townhouse code (see earlier post), which she says will make approving new home buildings up to three storeys quicker.
Speaking in Brunswick, she has also announced the government will be reviewing the 606-page Planning and Environment Act, which she says has been criticised as complex, inconsistent and old-fashioned:
Our current planning system can be a bit of a Snakes and Ladders game … which is why we’re also announcing today that we are rewriting the Planning Act. A decades old act [that dates] back to the 70s and 80s.
That’s a long time ago in terms of understanding what Melbourne and Victoria needs today – a set of planning tools that says yes to the building of more homes, getting approvals through processes more quickly, having great quality products, like we’re seeing here with the townhouse code that we’re releasing today that provides those options for more young people, for more workers, for more families to have the opportunity that previous generations have had.
Updated
Man charged over alleged Nazi display at war memorial
A man who allegedly displayed a Nazi swastika drawn on his chest while standing beside a war memorial has been arrested and charged.
AAP reports that police were called to the memorial in north-west Sydney where officers found a 31-year-old man allegedly displaying the swastika. He was arrested and charged with knowingly displaying by public act a Nazi symbol without excuse.
Offenders can face up to one year in jail or an $11,000 fine or both under the Crimes Amendment (Prohibition on Display of Nazi Symbols) Act passed three years ago in NSW.
Since December, a synagogue has been firebombed, multiple cars have been torched and vehicles and buildings in areas with large Jewish communities have been vandalised and graffitied.
Last week the Minns government passed a tough package of laws aimed at curbing racially motivated crimes, including one measure that bans exhibiting Nazi symbols near a synagogue.
The man was granted strict conditional bail and is set to appear in court in March.
Updated
Kathy Shand quits as Sydney Writers’ festival chair
Kathy Shand has quit as chair of the Sydney Writers’ festival board just weeks before its 2025 program is due to be announced.
Yesterday the festival board announced Shand’s departure after 12 years in the role. She was replaced by Robert Watkins.
The board thanked Shand’s “signification contribution” to the festival “helping to shape its direction and strengthen its position as one of Australia’s leading literary and cultural events”.
It praised her “leadership, generosity, and dedication to championing writers”.
In a separate statement, the festival said it “proudly champions freedom of expression, freedom of speech and respectful debate” and said the 2025 festival program would demonstrably reflect its commitment to “presenting a plurality of voices [and] a diversity of thought”.
They said it would include “both Jewish and Palestinian writers and thought leaders”.
The festival takes place in the second half of May and the program is due for release on 13 March.
Updated
Captain Cook’s cottage and statue damaged in Melbourne
Victoria police are investigating after Captain Cook’s cottage and statue were damaged in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens this morning.
Police believe the cottage was spray painted about 2am, and was defaced with “various anti-Cook comments”.
Police also said the Cook statue has been damaged in an apparent attempt to remove the head.
Detectives have secured nearby CCTV and are asking anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.
Updated
Chinese warship live-fire exercise discovered by Virgin pilot, Air safety body says
Air Services Australia faced questions at Senate estimates overnight on how it found out about two Chinese live-fire exercises in the seas between Australia and New Zealand last week – which caused commercial flights to be diverted in the skies above.
CEO Rob Sharp said he was made aware of the Chinese warship’s live-fire exercise after a Virgin pilot overheard a broadcast from the Chinese fleet while flying near it, and called it in:
It was in fact a Virgin Australia aircraft that advised one of our air traffic controllers that a foreign warship was broadcasting, that they were conducting live firing 300 nautical miles east off our coast. So that’s how we first found out about the issue.
He said within two minutes air traffic control sounded a hazard alert for all flights in the area. Peter Curran, the deputy CEO, said Defence had also been contacted shortly afterwards:
At that stage, we didn’t know whether it was a potential hoax or real.
An Emirates aircraft was also in contact with the warships, Curran said, which advised they were conducting live firing. Throughout Friday a total of 49 aircraft were diverted, Curran said – some of which were in the air when Air Services was first made aware of the firing:
Many of them were flights afterwards, subsequently flight planned to simply re-route around the airspace.
Air Services had only just stopped diverting flights after the Chinese fleet sailed south, away from flight paths, Curran said.
Updated
Fogo waste collection to be mandatory in NSW
Collection of food organics and garden organics will be mandatory in NSW after legislation passed the state parliament.
The laws will make collection of Fogo waste compulsory for households statewide by July 2030, and in stages from July 2026 for businesses and institutions.
Landfills are due to reach capacity in the greater Sydney region by 2030 and an estimated one-third of household red bin capacity is taken up by food waste. Fogo recycling aims to divert this waste from landfill into compost.
The NSW environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said NSW had “ignored the crisis for landfill capacity for too long” and that it “cannot kick this can down the road any longer”:
The new Fogo laws mean NSW is leading the nation in combating food waste, becoming the first to mandate this recycling revolution across the state.
Fogo bins will be rolled out at premises including supermarkets, pubs, cafes, universities, schools, hotels and hospitals. Large supermarkets will also be required to report on the amounts and types of surplus food donated to charities such as OzHarvest, Second Bite and Foodbank.
The Minns government will direct $81m to a “Fogo fund” which will largely go to councils for infrastructure including bins, kitchen caddies and liners, contamination audits, community education programs and staffing.
Updated
Forecast for two tropical cyclone’s lying well off Australia’s coast
Let’s take a look at the two tropical cyclones now well off the coast of Australia.
Tropical Cyclone Alfred is tracking through the Coral Sea off the north Queensland coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology said that from later today it is forecast to move southwards. Beyond Thursday there is a small chance it may move towards the Queensland coast at the weekend.
Tropical Cyclone Bianca is a category-three system well to the west of Exmouth in Western Australia and moving is south-west.
It is forecast to weaken today and decrease below tropical cyclone strength tomorrow. It is expected to remain well away from the WA coast and does not pose a direct threat to any mainland or island communities.
Updated
Victorian government announces 'townhouse code' to 'rapidly' approve new home buildings
The Victorian government has introduced a “townhouse code” which it says will “rapidly approve” new home buildings up to three storeys tall, as long as they suit the needs of residents and the surrounding community.
The government said the code would turbocharge the approval of more duplexes, townhouses and low-rise apartments for workers and young people – with “no costly delays, no VCAT limbo, and no sluggish bureaucracy”.
The code sets standards for good development, which includes:
Neighbourhood character rules like six metre setbacks at the front, and setbacks at the side and rear.
Tree canopy and open space requirements, including protecting trees that are a certain size.
A mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in projects of a certain size, to support families.
Protection for neighbours from overlooking and overshadowing.
Enough sunlight, storage, room size, ventilation and private open space for residents.
Buildings that are sustainable and energy efficient.
A planning permit application will have to include all the evidence it meets the code. Councils will assess if it meets the code and, if met, no more assessments would be required and the project fast-tracked. If the code is not met, then a normal planning process will then apply.
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What to expect from Senate estimates today
Senate estimates will be back under way today, and AAP has flagged a little of what we can expect:
Creative Australia bosses, including the chief executive, Adrian Collette, will front an estimates hearing and it’s expected they’ll be questioned about the selection body’s shock decision to ditch the Venice Biennale team.
Lebanon-born artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino had been chosen for the 2026 Biennale, until early works of art by Sabsabi were raised in parliamentary question time on 13 February.
Creative Australia called a snap board meeting after question time and by 9.30pm that night it had rescinded its invitation to Sabsabi and Dagostino. Immediately after question time, arts minister Tony Burke called Collette to discuss the selection but Burke denies any political interference.
Meanwhile, an estimates hearing will consider the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as former Nine Entertainment chief executive Hugh Marks prepares to start a five-year term as ABC managing director in March.
Journalist Antoinette Lattouf’s departure has been a topic at previous estimates hearings, with questions about how much money the ABC was spending on legal fees. The broadcaster’s response in August means it remains unlikely the question will be answered at the hearing today:
To avoid prejudice to the ABC’s position, or unintended interference or influence of the proceedings, questions on the costs of litigation should be deferred until the conclusion of those proceedings.
Updated
McKenzie defends Dutton public sector cuts as McKim warns of ‘Donald Trump-style campaign’
Bridget McKenzie also defended Peter Dutton’s move to slash public sector jobs to fund the Coalition’s Medicare injection. She argued there had been 36,000 additional public servants in Canberra under Labor:
We also think that there’s been wasteful spending in excess of $100bn of initiatives over the last three years that could be better prioritised. What economists are saying is that Australians are going to have to pay more in taxes to actually pay for the spending of this government, and we believe particularly young people don’t need to be on the hook for this. We need to be making sure a government lives within its means, just like your viewers.
Asked if the Greens would support this, Nick McKim instead accused Dutton and the Liberals of “engaging in a Donald Trump-style campaign”:
We’re really worried about a descent into far-right extremism in Australia led by Peter Dutton, in the same way that we’re seeing it in the US. So we’re not going to back any of that stuff … We want people who are doing it tough to get more support, we want strong climate and we want to see actually things improve for people.
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McKenzie and McKim on Labor’s Medicare plan
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie and Greens senator Nick McKim both spoke to the Today Show earlier on the government’s Medicare announcement last week.
In case you missed it: Labor has promised 18m extra bulk-billed GP visits a year as part of an $8.5bn investment in Medicare, which Peter Dutton then said the Coalition would match dollar-for-dollar, by cutting thousands of public servant jobs.
McKenzie rejected the notion that the Coalition wouldn’t have done this, if not for Labor making their announcement:
There was an absolute response, because what we can’t have is another Mediscare campaign by a prime minister desperate to drag the Coalition down because he’s got no new ideas.
McKim said the Greens were “absolutely backing it” because “it was our idea”:
We’re stoked that it’s been put in place, and it just goes to show that, you know, Greens pressure works … Ultimately, we’ve got a lot more ideas like this. If you want a few more, how about dental into Medicare?
Updated
Ten to pay $1.1m to cover Lisa Wilkinson legal costs
Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson have reached an agreement to cover her legal costs over the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial.
Ten previously agreed to pay Wilkinson the sum of $558,548.30, which is less than a third of the $1.8m in indemnity costs she sought.
But yesterday the federal court confirmed an agreement between the parties for the network to pay Wilkinson $1,150,000.
It has until 19 March to pay the remaining $591,451.
Updated
Good morning
Emily Wind here, signing on for blogging duties – thanks to Martin Farrer for kicking things off for us. I’ll be with you on the blog for most of today, guiding you through our rolling updates.
As always, you can read out with any tips, questions or feedback via email: emily.wind@theguardian.com. Let’s go.
Updated
CBA boss acknowledges 'challenge' for households
The boss of Australia’s largest retail bank has penned a letter of reassurance to customers amid cost-of-living pressures and a slip in its shares, AAP reports.
Commonwealth Bank chief Matt Comyn said in a letter that hit most patrons’ email inboxes on Monday:
It’s been a challenging time for Australian households and businesses, and we know many customers have been looking forward to lower rates.
For our variable home loan rate customers, the full interest rate reduction will hopefully provide some relief.
CBA shares fell more than 8% last week – a fall mirrored by other major Australian banks – but recovered on Monday, rising 2.97%. Comyn declared in his letter that physical cash was “here to stay”, even if customers’ banking preferences may evolve:
We’ll continue to distribute more than $4bn in cash each month through Australia’s largest branch and ATM network, which will also benefit from $100m in upgrades in 2025.
We have extended our promise to keep all our regional CommBank branches open until at least 31 July 2027 to support communities and jobs in regional Australia.
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Greens vow to overhaul job services and abolish mutual obligations
This morning the Greens will launch their policy to overhaul job services by eliminating for-profit providers from the employment services system, restoring the Commonwealth Employment Services, abolishing mutual obligations and hiring more staff to bring call wait times to Centrelink to under five minutes.
Based on PBO analysis, the party said its plan would cost approximately $3.6bn over four years. It said the CES would create thousands of public service jobs and would be universally accessible for everyone, including those who are already employed.
Greens spokesperson on social services Penny Allam-Payne said:
The privatised employment service system is costly, ineffective and cruel. It makes it harder for people to look for and find work, while enriching for-profit providers, many of whom have demonstrated a callous indifference to the well-being of the people they’re meant to help.
Mutual obligations are not only cruel, they’re completely dysfunctional. Multiple ongoing technology issues have rendered the system almost inoperable, while information that’s recently come to light raises serious questions about the legality of the whole scheme.
We’d be better off doing away with the system altogether, rather than continuing to throw good money after bad on something that is costly to administer and completely counterproductive.
Updated
Pledge to make beaches and parks more accessible
The Labor government has pledged $17.1m to provide more accessible beaches, parks and tourist locations for people with a disability. Social services minister Amanda Rishworth is launching the “Accessible Australia” initiative today in Cairns.
It aims to provide federal funding for infrastructure such as more accessible change room and toilet facilities, all-terrain or beach wheelchairs, and “inclusive” play spaces for people with special needs.
An existing program, Changing Places, will be expanded to help people access parks and beaches, including funding for accessible pathways better suited to wheelchairs, “mobi-matting” suitable for people with wheelchairs or reduced mobility, and playgrounds with facilities like sensory play platforms.
Rishworth’s office suggests the initiative could help attract more visitors to Australia, with the program to be promoted through Austrade. The minister said:
Through Accessible Australia, we are significantly broadening the types of accessible infrastructure and amenities that will be built across Australia, providing access – for the first time for many – to national parks, beaches and play spaces.
The Australian government will also provide funding to state and territory governments to help with the design, development and delivery of Accessible Australia projects.
People with disability have the same rights to be included in our communities, to access the spaces we gather in, and to experience our beautiful natural environment.
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Labor outlines plan to expand mobile coverage across Australia
The Labor government is promising a “universal outdoor mobile obligation” if it wins the coming election, pledging what it calls a “world first reform” for universal call and SMS service across virtually all of Australia.
Communications minister Michelle Rowland will launch the policy today. Her office says it will lead to up to 5m sq km of new outdoor mobile coverage across Australia, including more than 37,000km on regional roads. The new universal outdoor mobile obligation will require mobile carriers to provide access to mobile voice and SMS almost everywhere across Australia.
Rowland said:
Whether it’s in national parks, hiking trails or out on the farm, outdoor coverage will be accessible almost anywhere where Australians can see the sky.
The plan would expand triple-zero access, boost voice and SMS coverage in mobile black spots, and improve mobile signals during disasters and power outages. The government says it would seek to introduce legislation this year, with implementation by late 2027, to “expand the universal service framework to incorporate mobile coverage for the first time”. Rowland:
The government will work with stakeholders and industry to get the legislation right, including flexibility where warranted by supply, spectrum and other factors. The Albanese government will also engage with industry and examine incentives and removal of barriers to support public interest objectives and competition outcomes.
Updated
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Emily Wind with the main action.
Anthony Albanese says he is confident that the US would defend Australia if it were to come under attack, despite Donald Trump rewriting European security since coming to power. But the prime minister added that Australia needed to look after its own security and would make its own decisions on foreign policy, including on support for Ukraine.
The comments came on a special edition of the ABC’s Q+A last night, in which he took questions from members of the public on foreign affairs, the cost-of-living crisis, housing and social cohesion. Reaction coming up.
On the subject of the economy, the Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn has written to his customers to reassure them amid cost-of-living pressures. He says high borrowing rates have proved a “challenging time for Australian households and businesses” and “we know many customers have been looking forward to lower rates”. More coming up.
The Labor government is promising a “universal outdoor mobile obligation” if it wins the coming election, pledging what it calls a “world first reform” for universal call and SMS service across virtually all of Australia. More coming up as Michelle Rowland, the communications minister, launches the plan today.
And Labor is also promising $17.1m to provide more accessible beaches, parks and tourist locations for people with a disability. More on that in a tick.
