What we learned today, Tuesday 18 April
Thanks for following along on the blog today. Here is a wrap of the day’s biggest stories:
The shadow home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, announced that she is quitting the Coalition frontbench and will not recontest the next election. She also said she will not be campaigning for a no vote in the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum.
Senator James Paterson has taken up Andrews’ role, while Jacinta Price became the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians and Kerrynne Liddle the shadow minister for child protection and prevention of domestic violence as part of a Coalition cabinet reshuffle.
Guardian Australia understands that the government will not lift jobseeker payments, despite advice for a “substantial increase” from the interim economic inclusion advisory committee.
After much back and forth, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, says he did not raise specific instances of alleged child abuse with Anthony Albanese but maintains that he raised broad concerns about assaults in Indigenous communities in private and in parliament.
The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, praised the NDIS during a National Press Club address today, arguing it is “the difference between a life and a living death for many vulnerable Australians” and laying out six policy directions for the scheme.
The Queensland government introduced legislation to limit rent increases to once a year in a bid to “give renters a fair go”.
Australia’s international student sector has become a “Ponzi scheme” due to loopholes on work rights introduced by the former federal government that have attracted the “wrong type of student”, an inquiry has been told.
Updated
Queensland rental cap passes parliament, MP tweets
According to the Labor MP Yvette D’Ath, the Queensland government’s plan to cap rental increases to once a year has just passed parliament.
Our plan to cap rental increases just passed Parliament.
— Yvette D'Ath MP (@YvetteDAth) April 18, 2023
Earlier this afternoon, my colleague Eden Gillespie reported that the last-minute amendments to limit the frequency of rent increases were introduced into parliament to the Palaszczuk government’s electoral reform bill.
In Queensland currently, landlords can currently increase rents every six months. The new plan would bring the state in line with other Australian jurisdictions like Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.
Updated
A damning ruling about the legality of Covid fines has prompted New South Wales police to quietly withdraw some infringements from court and forced the judiciary to put all remaining Covid breach cases on hold, pending urgent legal advice.
Read more below:
NDIS has ‘lost its way under Labor’, opposition says
The shadow minister for the NDIS, Michael Sukkar, said the scheme has “lost its way under Labor” in a statement published this afternoon.
This follows on from the NDIS minister, Bill Shorten’s address at the National Press Club today.
In a statement, Sukkar said NDIS participants and taxpayers were keen to hear how the government would tackle “the worsening challenges faced by the NDIS” during today’s address, but were “left none the wiser”.
He said:
After nearly 12 months of kicking key decisions down the road, all Bill Shorten could provide was the usual prevaricating motherhood statements, identifying issues without providing detailed solutions.
Instead of focusing on workforce provider shortages, this Minister was more fixated on the bureaucracy within the NDIA, failing to address the core issues participants face within the scheme and refusing to detail any policy decisions or a legislative reform agenda.
Sukkar said the government “must now provide certainty to participants and outline the therapies and services that the government inevitably intends to cut”.
In his address, Shorten argued the NDIS suffered under the nine years of Coalition government and his greatest regret is that the scheme “has been at the mercy of administrative vandals for 90% of its existence”.
Shorten also said:
And at no point have I come under any pressure from the treasurer or anyone else to say that somehow we’ve got to slash and burn the NDIS to subsidise something else.
Updated
Government will not lift jobseeker, despite call for ‘substantial increase’
A “substantial increase” to “seriously inadequate” jobseeker unemployment payments has topped the wishlist of the economic inclusion committee established by the government as part of a deal with Senator David Pocock.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, released the advice of the interim economic inclusion advisory committee on Tuesday, promising some relief and committed that “there will be measures in the May budget to address disadvantage” including energy price rebates.
Guardian Australia understands that the government will not implement the report’s central recommendation: to lift jobseeker, citing the fact that increasing it to 90% of the pension would cost $24bn over four years.
The committee, chaired by the former families minister Jenny Macklin, concluded that on “all indicators” jobseeker and youth allowance are “seriously inadequate, whether measured relative to the national minimum wage, in comparison with pensions, or against a range of income poverty measures”.
People on these payments face the highest levels of financial stress in Australia.
Committee members heard from people who live on income support having to choose between paying for their medicine or electricity bills.
Updated
It’s been a big day of news, so make sure to get across all the biggest headlines with this great wrap from my colleague Antoun Issa:
Breaking from our political reporter Josh Butler:
breaking: the government-appointed Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has recommended "a substantial increase to the base rates of JobSeeker Payment" from the federal government
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) April 18, 2023
also says Commonwealth Rent Assistance is "inadequate" pic.twitter.com/sLCNTWeMvZ
Cyclist hit by train at Ascot Park in Adelaide
Emergency services were at the scene of a serious rail crash at Ascot Park near Adelaide this afternoon, involving a cyclist and a train.
According to South Australia Police, at 3pm today police and paramedics were called to the train crossing on Sixth Avenue and Railway Terrace after reports a cyclist was struck by a train.
The Noarlunga line has been shut down until further notice, and Sixth Avenue at the intersection of Railway Terrace is closed to traffic.
Major Crash investigators are making their way to the scene.
The public are asked to avoid the area.
Pauline Hanson refuses to apologise for offensive NDIS cartoons
Earlier in the day, the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, issued a statement in which she refused to apologise for an offensive cartoon posted to social media earlier this month, which mocked the National Disability Insurance Scheme and included offensive depictions of people with a disability.
The clip was posted as part of Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain YouTube series, and describes the NDIS as a “scam” and a “rort”.
In her statement, Hanson said she is “not going to apologise for our cartoons”:
Satire has been an effective political communication tool for centuries and our cartoons are resonating strongly with the hundreds of thousands of Australians watching them every week.
Hanson argues those who criticised the cartoon and defended the NDIS had “completely missed the point”.
Instead of wetting their pants over a clever cartoon, groups which advocate for disabled Australians should have been at the forefront demanding NDIS reform.
This comes as the NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, spoke at the National Press Club today and described the scheme as “the difference between a life and a living death for many vulnerable Australians”.
Updated
Liberal and Labor MPs at odds over voice’s ability to spur ‘action on the ground’
On Afternoon Briefing, the Liberal MP James Stevens is asked for his thoughts on the Coalition’s new frontbench and what it means for the no campaign on the voice.
[Jacinta Price and Kerrynne Liddle] are both women with very significant personal and lived experience of the real challenges facing Indigenous communities and the disadvantage they are facing, and I think that underscores what our argument is to the people of this country.
We need to do better by our Indigenous Australians and we want to focus on on-the-ground, practical measures. That starts by acknowledging they are existing, which is difficult to get the prime minister to do at the moment.
The reshuffle that Peter Dutton announced this morning underscores that we’ve got a genuine … practical approach to addressing Indigenous disadvantage and we think that is where the government needs to be focused …
The Labor MP Louise Miller-Frost said it is “incorrect” to suggest a dichotomy between the voice and action on the ground:
The voice is about informing actions on the ground so that when we are adding taxpayer money, trying to make life better and trying to close the gap, we actually have information from those people on the ground around Australia [who are] most affected, about what will work for them.
It’s the ‘nothing about me without me’ principle that is so common in public health. Of course, there will be action on the ground, but we need them to be the right actions.
Updated
Dutton’s voice decision ‘doing a huge disservice’ to community: Sarah Hanson-Young
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young is appearing on Afternoon Briefing to discuss the Coalition’s cabinet reshuffle today and how this will affect the voice debate, with two Indigenous senators promoted.
Greg Jennett:
Do you think this will increase the forcefulness or persuasiveness of the ‘no’ campaign that Peter Dutton and others want to prosecute?
Hanson-Young:
I’m not convinced that this increases the persuasiveness, but it definitely is Peter Dutton doubling down on his anti-voice ‘no’ position.
She argues that the Liberal party is “in freefall” and have “had a total mess of a year already”:
The Aston byelection. They still can’t find a leader in New South Wales. They’ve got the premier in Tasmania standing alongside the prime minister, backing the voice [in contrast to] the decision Peter Dutton has made on the voice, and now with this cabinet reshuffle.
You gotta remember what happened at the last election. The Liberal party lost two seats to the Greens, they lost six seats to the [teals]. Those members … are going to know that the overwhelming voters in those electorates are going to vote yes. So Peter Dutton is doing a huge disservice to the community.
Updated
Australian and New Zealand armies sign Plan Anzac
Following on from O’Neil’s comments, it was announced this afternoon the Australian and New Zealand armies will build on their history of cooperation with Plan Anzac.
The bilateral agreement is designed to increase capacity to operate together with a framework for engagement, enabling the two armies to exchange views and share situational awareness, capability, training and readiness.
The Australian chief of army, Lt Gen Simon Stuart, said the agreement would increase cooperation between the two armies:
Plan Anzac builds on our significant history of partnership by strengthening our army-to-army relationships, enhancing interoperability, capacity, ability to jointly support combat operations as well as joint capabilities to meet today’s challenges.
This partnership will see both armies better prepared to work together to support security and stability missions, and humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations.
The New Zealand chief of army, Maj Gen John Boswell, said Plan Anzac was a step forward for the trans-Tasman strategic partnership.
Updated
Outgoing shadow home affairs minister Karen Andrews ‘should feel really proud’ of her work: Clare O’Neil
O’Neil also spoke on Karen Andrews’ decision to quit the frontbench and step down as shadow home affairs minister today. Andrews occupied the ministry immediately before O’Neil.
She said:
We are from different sides of politics, [but I] think anyone who puts their hand up to serve their community – and the way that she did, representing a local area for 13 years – deserves huge commendation.
We have lots of different views around this parliament but we are actually all [here for] the right reasons and I’m sure that Karen should feel really proud about the work she has done … I wish her all the very best for the future.
Updated
Close Australia-NZ relationship ‘not reflected in public policy’: Clare O’Neil
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, is speaking on ABC Afternoon Briefing about Australia’s relationship with New Zealand ahead of the NZ prime minister Chris Hipkins’ visit to Australia this weekend.
Hipkins has said he hopes to improve the pathways for New Zealanders living and working in Australia, which O’Neil called a “running sore in the relationship we have with our deeply beloved family and friends across the ditch”.
There is no two countries in the world, probably, closer than Australia and New Zealand. That is not reflected in public policy and a lot of your viewers might know that New Zealanders living in Australia have very different rights and entitlements then Australians do living in [New Zealand], so this is the point that the prime minister has talked about quite a bit …
When asked if any agreement is being made, O’Neil said:
I will let the prime minister speak a little bit more about that.
Updated
Queensland Greens MP says state’s changes to social housing eligibility leave people ‘falling through the cracks’
The Queensland Greens MP Michael Berkman has slammed the state government for “quietly tightening the eligibility criteria for social housing” to obscure “ballooning” waitlist numbers.
Guardian Australia revealed last week that Queensland’s maximum social housing income threshold for two single adults and a child is vastly lower than Victoria’s.
The Queensland Audit Office found last year that since 2019, the government has classified all new social housing applicants as “very high need”. This means they had “multiple and complex wellbeing factors” like being homeless or unemployed long-term.
The QAO said while there were 5,179 applicants on the register deemed low, moderate, and high need, they were “unlikely to be allocated housing” by the state government.
Referencing Guardian Australia’s reporting in a speech in parliament on Tuesday, Berkman said these changes had resulted in Queenslanders “falling through the cracks”.
He said:
Last year Susanne and Richard Orlando, who is disabled, were evicted from their Gold Coast NRAS home which they shared with their autistic son, Wayde.
They’ve struggled to find a rental in Queensland’s hostile private market and have no income or assets other than Centrelink, but have been told they’re not eligible for social housing because the family earns more than $877 a week before tax.
Updated
Any specific allegations of child abuse known by Dutton ‘should be reported to police’, says Albanese
Wrapping up the Sky News interview, Andrew Clennell asks Albanese about something Peter Dutton said earlier in the day:
Clennell:
Mr Dutton said to me this afternoon that he told you in a conversation last year that there were public servants who did not want to remove kids who were sexually abused in the Northern Territory. He admitted he didn’t tell you about any particular case … Do you recall that conversation?
Albanese:
He just said himself that he didn’t raise any specific allegation with me. He just said that in that interview. I didn’t see the interview live, but he just said it, which is very different from what he said in the Northern Territory, very different, where he suggested that he had told something specifically to me … Where’s the specific allegation here?
… I find child abuse abhorrent, I’m sure Peter Dutton does too. If there’s any specific allegation, it should be reported to the police.
Updated
University of Sydney enterprise bargaining may finally conclude after nine days of strikes and a 21-month process
The longest running university strike campaign in Australia’s history may be coming to a close after union members at the University of Sydney voted against a further two days of industrial action.
There have been nine days of strikes since an epic 21-month enterprise bargaining process began.
On Tuesday, National Tertiary Education Union members at the university voted against three further days of strike action next month, instead supporting the provisional endorsement of the current proposed enterprise agreement package as an “acceptable framework to finalise negotiations”.
They clarified the agreement would be subject to final drafting and clarifications of the workloads of education-focused roles, as well as benchmarks to improve the levels of First Nations employment to parity with the population.
A spokesperson for the University of Sydney said it looked forward to finalising the agreement.
We’re confident the proposed package secures the best overall conditions, provides the highest wage increases and maintains the highest salaries in the sector for our staff – and look forward to finalising the agreement as soon as possible, so we can provide the improved conditions and wage outcomes to our staff.
Updated
PM stays quiet on possibility of raising jobseeker payment rate
Circling back to Anthony Albanese’s interview on Sky News, he is asked about the possibility of raising jobseeker payments.
Albanese remained tight-lipped and pointed to the upcoming budget in two weeks’ time, but also said these measures are considered “in a context”, pointing to inflationary pressure.
He said:
A Labor government will always look for ways in which we can provide assistance to those in need. It is of course in a context, and the context is we don’t want to add to an inflationary pressure and we inherited a trillion dollars of debt from the former government, without any plan for future economic growth.
That’s what investment in childcare and addressing skill shortages, addressing the new economy through a national reconstruction fund is about as well.
So you’ll see a comprehensive plan from the government consistent with the commitments that we took to the federal election in 2018 … and we’ll also be considering the context of we’re dealing with globally, those economic headwinds which are there.
Updated
‘One of our most valuable resources’: University peak bodies recommend changes to encourage return of international students
Expanding the work rights of international students and streamlining visas are among a series of recommendations made by peak university bodies.
The bodies appeared before a joint standing committee today holding an inquiry into the future of Australia’s international student sector.
Chief executive of the Group of Eight, Vicki Thomson, said international education was “obviously critical” to supporting Australia’s “strategic and foreign policy objectives”, while also critiquing the former federal government’s harsh stance during the pandemic.
When China was no longer on speaking terms with our government we never lost access … I’ve found it hard to forget the former PM saying if they could not support themselves they should go home. In this new political era we have to make sure we do much better – [international students] keep diplomatic and trade doors ajar and [are] one of our most valuable resources as a trading nation.
Innovative Research Universities marketing media adviser Bethany Keates said there were long-term opportunities for the sector to grow and diversify while cautioning there was a “disconnect” between entry requirements and the international student sector, including refining student visa applications.
There’s a further potential to recognise the value [of international students] as a soft power … of reframing the discourse from one of pure economic benefit to overall societal and cultural benefit.
Executive director of the Australian Technology Network of Universities, Luke Sheehy, said greater long-term visa options for international students would help lure them back to the Australian market.
The experience international students have while in Australia will be a key driver [for future success] … we’ve consistently advocated for an effective system combining part-time work while studying, post-study work rights and migration opportunities.
Updated
On the Coalition’s “no” stance on the voice referendum, Albanese says:
They’ve known full well what the timetable is, and yet they’ve already made a decision. There’s been no participation in good faith. The National party didn’t even wait to find out what the question was before they decided they were against it. And that’s the nature of the ‘no-alition’ that we’re dealing with.
Updated
PM: Dutton can ‘continue to wallow in his negativity’ about Indigenous voice
Andrew Clennell interviewed Peter Dutton earlier, who said he’s positive he can convince the Australian people the voice is too far-reaching, and that the newly appointed shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Price, will help him achieve this.
When asked about this, Albanese said:
Peter Dutton can continue to wallow in his negativity, I think Australians will judge him for that. What I’m about is having a positive agenda for the country.
Clennell asks if Albanese is expecting to face Dutton at the election:
That’s a matter for the Liberal party and the National party.
I think what is very clear is they are focused very much on themselves. They haven’t come to terms with the election loss last year, and when they lost the byelection in Aston … [Dutton’s] response was to call a party room meeting with two days’ notice, have a meeting that determined to vote no for the voice, but said they’d have local and regional voices and a national voice, then do a press conference and say they wouldn’t have a national voice.
I’d just leave Peter Dutton and those matters for the internals of the Liberal party and the National party.
Updated
PM says government looking for budget areas where they can exercise ‘restraint’
Anthony Albanese is appearing on Sky News and is asked by the political editor, Andrew Clennell, about the upcoming budget.
He says when it comes to investments, it’s about looking at how to deal with immediate challenges while also building a resilient economy into the future.
We are looking for areas in which we can show that restraint.
We want to ensure it is well built for the future.
Albanese is also asked whether the stage-three tax cuts are set in stone:
I’ve said every time I’ve been asked about this … that there’s been no change in the governments position.
Updated
Lyssavirus warning after sick bat found on Gold Coast
A public health alert has been issued for the fatal Australian bat lyssavirus after a flying fox was found with the disease on the Gold Coast, AAP is reporting.
Anyone who came into contact with the animal found at the Southern Beaches Community Garden in Tugun should seek urgent medical assistance, Gold Coast Public Health said on Tuesday.
The sick bat was found hanging low in a tree in the garden on 11 April.
Vicki Slinko of Gold Coast Public Health said:
The Public Health Unit has contacted those people who reported the bat, as well as those who cared for it, to determine if they were scratched or bitten.
Once the bat was rescued, it was only handled by trained and vaccinated carers.
Slinko said bats should not be handled by members of the public under any circumstances, even if they appeared to be dead.
Only people who are trained and appropriately vaccinated should handle bats.
The virus is potentially deadly to humans and is part of a group that includes rabies. It is regarded as endemic among Australian bats.
The health unit said three cases of human infection of lyssavirus have been recorded in Queensland.
All three were fatal after patients were bitten or scratched by a bat.
Updated
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS) are arguing that this crisis can only be averted with immediate emergency funding, complemented with a sector strengthening plan for ensuring ongoing service sustainability.
Warner says:
The federal government has known about our slide into crisis for some time. They appear to be willing to let our services either collapse or turn people away.
We are committed to doing everything we can to support our communities but there’s no point in sugar-coating it – this is an extremely dire situation.
Updated
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services say they are ‘on the brink of collapse’
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS) across the country are urging the government to deliver a $250m emergency support package to help prevent imminent service freezes, which could occur in a matter of weeks.
Karly Warner, the chair of NATSILS (the national peak body for ATSILS around the country), says staff are “on the brink of collapse” and that services have been sliding “into crisis for some time”.
According to a joint statement from ATSILS across the country, demand for their services has increased by up to 100% since 2018, however, core funding from the federal government has declined.
At the frontline, certain service locations in regional Australia face freezes within the next four weeks.
The statement argues that service freezes will have “dire consequences” for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians seeking “equal access to justice”:
Service freezes risk disastrous outcomes including increased family violence and child removal, unjust incarceration and deaths in custody.
The current workload crisis facing our frontline services risks the physical and mental health of our staff and therefore our clients.
The difficult decision to freeze services will be devastating for our organisations because it means real people who deserve culturally appropriate legal representation are turned away and suffer unnecessarily through the justice system.
Updated
IPA welcomes Price as shadow minister for Indigenous Australians
The Institute of Public Affairs has welcomed the appointment of Senator Jacinta Price as shadow minister for Indigenous Australians.
The IPA executive director, Daniel Wild, says her appointment is “a critical step in ensuring mainstream Australians, who do not want to be divided by race, will have a stronger voice in the national debate”.
Wild says:
Peter Dutton’s appointment of Senator Price is the right decision for Australia. It comes at a critical time in our history in the face of the Voice to Parliament referendum, which seeks to fundamentally and radically change the way Australia is governed.
Wild also welcomed the appointment of Senator Kerrynne Liddle as shadow minister for child protection, and Senator James Paterson as shadow minister for home affairs.
The appointments of Senators Price and Liddle is an important step in ensuring practical policies will come to the fore in the national debate rather than those of the activist class.
Senator Paterson has already demonstrated an immense capacity and dedication to the security of our nation. His promotion today will no doubt allow for him to make an even greater contribution and is warmly welcomed by all at the IPA.
Updated
WA premier to extend China visit after flight delay
The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, has confirmed he will extend his visit to China for one more day after touching down in Beijing, the West Australian has reported.
He was due to land in China on Monday but a mid-air medical emergency on his connecting flight delayed the journey.
Updated
Queensland government moves to limit rent increases to once a year
The Queensland government has introduced legislation to limit rent increases to once a year in a bid to “give renters a fair go”.
The last-minute amendments to limit the frequency of rent increases were introduced into parliament on Tuesday to the Palaszczuk government’s electoral reform bill.
In Queensland, landlords can currently increase rents every six months. Limiting rent increases to once a year would bring the state in line with other Australian jurisdictions like Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.
The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said the government will begin public consultation on stage-two rental reforms that “aim to strike the right balance between the needs of tenants while supporting continued investment”.
Palaszczuk wrote on Twitter:
Today we’re taking more action to give people who are renting a fair go.
But the Greens MP for South Brisbane, Amy MacMahon, slammed the legislation as “weak reforms” that match the status quo:
This is a cowardly measure that will continue to allow landlords to raise rents by however much they’d like, with no real changes to improve the lives of renters.
Queenslanders need a freeze on rental increases, followed by a long-term cap of 2% every two years.
Updated
What we learned from Shorten's press club speech on the NDIS
And that’s a wrap on Bill Shorten’s address at the National Press Club. For those just tuning in, here’s a brief overview of what we learned:
Shorten praised the NDIS and argued it is “the difference between a life and a living death for many vulnerable Australians”.
He argued the NDIS has suffered under the nine years of Coalition government and regrets it has been “at the mercy of administrative vandals for 90% of its existence”.
Shorten outlined the six policy directions for the NDIS: increase the NDIA workforce and its specialisation, move to long-term planning, address spiralling costs, review supported independent living, target the misuse of NDIS funds to eliminate unethical practices, and increase community and mainstream support.
A priority for the government is to reverse “warehousing” of NDIS participants in hospital when they’re medically cleared to leave.
Shorten also announced that an early intervention pilot for children showing early behavioural signs of autism will be trialled in Western Australia.
Updated
Our reporter Amy Remeikis has asked Shorten a question:
We know Aukus is happening. We know stage-three tax cuts are still in. But why is it the vulnerable who always seem to have to wait for answers? Hecs debt is indexed at a rate that is causing massive financial and emotional pain for young people. Your six-step plan to reform the NDIS is going to take time. We’ve had no word on whether welfare will become liveable. So why do the vulnerable have to wait, even under your government?
Shorten:
I don’t buy what you’re saying, but I get some of it. I don’t think it’s a simple binary between a particular defence infrastructure project or something else.
Shorten says in the area he is responsible for, the vulnerable haven’t had to wait, pointing to his removal of third-party debt collectors last week.
He also says he doesn’t want concern about other issues to “leach into what we’re doing in the NDIS”.
The NDIS isn’t paying for subs, as Peter Dutton suggested we should. And it isn’t responsible for other areas of government welfare programs.
… Have the arguments about raising the rate, fine, I get that, I can see that point of view … Some people say we shouldn’t be spending money on submarines. That’s somebody else’s point of view.
But on the NDIS, this is straight down the line. I’m interested in how to make the NDIS as strong and as sustainable as it can be, providing the best opportunities for people. And at no point have I come under any pressure from the treasurer or anyone else to say that somehow we’ve got to slash and burn the NDIS to subsidise something else.
Updated
Shorten is given a hypothetical scenario: What if, because of the uncapped nature of the scheme, the cost increases and becomes $80bn a year by 2031-32 – is it acceptable if we have a good scheme but it costs that much?
Shorten:
I understand your question but I’m not going to play.
I’m not going to … say there is a magic number which works. What makes the scheme sustainable is if participants are getting outcomes. What makes the scheme sustainable is if public trust in the scheme is high. What makes the scheme sustainable is if we deflate some of the inflationary pressure …
The scheme will grow each year. That’s inevitable and I say that again clearly for people beyond this room. I don’t see the scheme as shrinking, and that’s not what we’re trying to do, but if we focus on the outcome for the participant and the maintenance and rebuilding of public trust, then I think you will end up seeing the right priorities being targeted.
Updated
Jess Malcolm from the Australian asks if Shorten is open to changing who is eligible for the NDIS as a way to reign in spending.
Shorten answers a clear “no”:
There are some groups who seek to be included where we have no plans to, that’s people who acquire their disability over 65.
… We’re not looking at adding a vast slab of people but one of the challenges has been that I – this is a personal view and I’ll wait to see what the review says – but if we solely rely on diagnosis, then you can get yourself caught in all sorts of categories or inclusions or exclusion. I don’t want to do that. I think it is looking at the whole person.
So, no, we’re not looking at slicing slabs of people off, no. We’re not looking at changing a whole lot of diagnosis and putting them in. But I think there are some people not on the scheme missing out … and I think there’s people on the scheme who we could support better.
Updated
Phil Coorey from the Australian Financial Review and Nicole Hegarty from ABC News both ask about the states picking up their share of NDIS funding.
Bill Shorten begins his answer by emphasising “the scheme is viable”:
It’s not just a state issue. The challenge is how do we make sure that every dollar that the scheme has is getting to the people where it’s meant to go. That’s the sweet spot.
… If we always ask ourselves the question, what’s the best evidence? How do we deliver what’s reasonable and necessary based upon that to participants? I know I’m sounding a bit optimistic there, in the light of the sort of ballooning balance sheet, but I think if you go through the reforms we have outlined … and what we’ll get in October, I think we’ll get focus and that’s what we need, focus and clarity.
Updated
Thanks Natasha! Stick with us as we continue to work through the questions Shorten is answering around the NDIS, and more news this evening.
That’s it from me today. Emily Wind is taking over and will continue to bring you the questions Shorten is fielding from the press club and more.
Taking questions, the first one is from Jade Gailberger from the Herald Sun:
At the end of last year, Australia failed to meet a Coalition commitment to have no people under the age of 65 entering residential aged-care facilities and no people under the age of 45 living in these facilities. When will your government set new targets, what year will they be achieved and how will you actually achieve them?
Shorten acknowledges the targets haven’t been met.
We’re diving down between ourselves, the Department of Social Services – great to have the secretary here, Ray Griggs – and the NDIA to see how we can better approach people principally between 45 and 65 who haven’t moved out in the same way that I think younger people have and we have to see what’s causing that blockage.
The issue of getting people into appropriate accommodation, though, is part of a bigger challenge, so it’s not just aged care. I have talked about how we have done it with hospitals.
… There’s a lot of great allied health clinicians and care teams, social workers, working in hospitals. And what we have done is given those extra people … dealing with the people stuck in hospital greater autonomy to make decisions.
… What we try to do now is give more autonomy to the wranglers and the hospital teams to make decisions concurrently. This doesn’t sound like rocket science but it’s a revolutionary concept. I’m keen to see what we can do to aged with the same approach we have done to hospitals.
Updated
Shorten ends his speech “on a very personal note”:
After the bitter disappointment of the 2019 election, I came to the understanding the universe does not grant reruns. But with every precious minute in the job as NDIS minister, I actually do feel like I have a remarkable second chance to return to where it started, to serve where my passion beats.
I said before, working with disability advocates, people with disability, experts, with Julia Gillard and Jenny Macklin, literally thousands of Aussies living with disability, it has been a journey of discovery and of privilege.
I know there is nothing I will ever do that is more important than securing the future of the NDIS. I am sure because of you. And I am working for you, and together I know that we can create the NDIS which you deserve.
Updated
Shorten calls NDIS ‘a fundamental government promise on a level with Medicare’
Circling back to Bill Shorten’s press club address, the minister compares the mission of the NDIS to that of Medicare:
Australia’s NDIS has embedded as a fundamental government promise on a level with Medicare. Medicare is the idea that the health of any one of us matters to all of us. At the centre of the NDIS is the understanding that disability could affect any one of us or our family.
Talking of Australian values, there’s no greater embodiment than the disability movement – which is really a shorthand way of me expressing my privilege to stand alongside the advocates of the disability movement and serve the millions of Australians they speak for.
… I can promise every Australian who cares about the future of the NDIS that the size of the challenge in front of us is more than matched by the strength of the Albanese government’s determination.
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China’s growth picked up faster than expected in the March quarter
As mentioned in an earlier post, what happens to China’s economy has a bigger influence on global growth than any other nation.
China is Australia’s biggest trading partner with exports worth about as much as the next four markets combined. So, how China goes matters a lot for Australia’s economic outlook.
China’s first-quarter GDP figures are out today, and they topped economists’ estimates. The economy there rose 4.5% year-on-year, versus about 4% predicted. Compared with the December quarter, growth was 2.2% (or slightly more than the 2% tipped), or so says the National Bureau of Statistics.
Private consumption looks like it’s bouncing back from the severe rolling Covid lockdowns but spending on fixed assets (which consume a lot of raw materials that Australia export) is on the disappointing side, Bloomberg reports economists as saying.
Infrastructure spending grew by 8.8% year-on-year, manufacturing grew 7% but real estate development (another consumer of iron ore) declined 5.8%.
According to the stats bureau, output of solar cells rose 53.2% and new-energy automobiles (mostly electric vehicles) rose 22.5%. Given Australia relies on China for more than 90% of its solar panels and increasingly for its electric vehicles, those trends are also noteworthy.
As it happens, we looked at Australia’s renewable industry prospects here today, and while bright, they actually needed to become more dazzling and in quick time:
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The sixth and final reform, for the NDIS to be surrounded by increased community and mainstream supports, is “fundamental”, Shorten says:
It is more a case of mainstream services actually delivering on inclusion at universal service provision as they’ve always been meant to do.
I hear from many individuals and families that a form of unintentional division seems to have crept in where if you have a disability you take the NDIS line and you don’t take the mainstream line. Once you’re on NDIS, everything becomes an NDIS issue.
People’s lives are not dictated according to the division of responsibilities, a national scheme or a state scheme. These are their lives. It’s the job of government to fit in with the cycle of people’s lives – not the other way around.
Existing mainstream services and facilities like health and education, transport, they must be more accessible and supportive … It’s about doing these things in addition to properly funding the NDIS.
The NDIS in isolation cannot deliver on the vision of independence because it was never conceived of or promised to support every Australian with any disability.
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The fifth systemic reform, Shorten says, is to target the misuse of NDIS funds to eliminate unethical practices.
With a renewed focus on evidence and data, we can get rid of shoddy therapies that offer little nor value to participants, to desperate parents.
What I class as unethical practices includes pressuring participants to ask for services or support ratios they don’t need, spending participants’ money contrary to their plan, asking for and searching additional fees for a service, and offering rewards for taking particular services not on a participant’s plan.
… We must say to the untrustworthy providers who make participants feel dehumanised and feel treated as cash cows, you’re not welcome. You taint the reputations of quality service providers.
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The fourth systemic reform is to review supported independent living (SIL), Shorten says:
Supported independent living is designed to allow people with higher needs to live in their home but with a significant amount of help, 24/7 if necessary.
Currently the program is delivering poor outcomes for too many participants.
In some cases SIL splits up families or couples and drives people into institutional settings that can in some cases be inappropriate and absolutely not in the best interests of the participant in terms of safety, quality and outcomes.
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Shorten makes the announcement that an early intervention pilot for children showing early behavioural signs of autism will be trialled in Western Australia.
The underlying goal of any intervention is to reduce the need for support over time and increase participants’ independence in their daily living.
The parent of any child on the NDIS will tell you that they hope that their child can exit the scheme as soon as possible.
I’m pleased to announce today the NDIA will fund a pilot program in partnership with the Telethon Kids Institute in Western Australia that will examine whether pre-emptive intervention for children showing early behavioural signs of autism may reduce the level of support required later in life.
Some 700 families in Western Australia will be invited to be part of the pilot and if that shows that intervening earlier can assist children to have improved outcomes as they develop, I think it’s very exciting for future generations and for early intervention mainstream services outside the NDIS so the NDIS is not the only lifeboat in the ocean.
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The third reform is the need to address spiralling costs, Shorten says:
Reasonable and necessary supports lie at the heart of the NDIS. It is a bounded concept. Supports must be reasonable and necessary.
… I’m talking about maximising the benefits for the participants, no one else.
There are some providers who do overcharge for good and services. There is unfortunately a cultural assumption in Australia that where there’s government money you can charge more.
Because an NDIS package is taxpayer-funded it is not fair game for the doubling and tripling of prices. It shouldn’t be treated as some sort of wedding tax.
If one provider is overcharging for their service it means the participant can’t afford another service they might need.
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'Nonsensical' short-term NDIS planning isn't working: Shorten
The second systemic reform to the NDIS is to move to long-term planning, Shorten says:
Short-term planning just isn’t working. It’s stressful, debilitating and frustrating, nonsensical that every 12 months or six months participants and their families have to prove they’re still disabled.
Amputees must prove they’re still missing a limb, the people who are blind have to prove they still can’t see, people with Down syndrome they still have Down syndrome.
Instead of causing grief and wasting resources, let’s think long-term. Why not have multiyear plans, more flexibility and sustainable, freeing up time to produce better plans that deliver better outcomes for people with disability.
Ridding us of the perverse incentive that the only thing that matters in the NDIS [is] getting it, keep it and renewing it.
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Shorten outlines Labor’s six policy directions for NDIS
Shorten is outlining the six policy directions that the government will work on to deliver better outcomes for people with disability “and in the process help secure the ongoing future of the scheme”.
Our first systemic reform is to increase the NDIA workforce and its specialisation.
… It means lifting staff caps, returning some call centre functions in-house, getting the culture right so we can reduce the staff churn.
We’ve got to update our systems so people with a disability only have to tell us their stories once.
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Shorten says government working to reverse ‘warehousing of NDIS participants in hospital’
Shorten is talking about how the government has been trying to reverse the “warehousing of NDIS participants in the hospitals of Australia”:
In 2021 a Victorian government analysis found that on average it took 160 days for NDIS participants that were medically ready to leave hospital.
Imagine that. You’re ready to go home but you’ve got to spend almost a half a year waiting while there are other people languishing on hospital waiting lists.
This situation makes no sense. It’s not just an immense waste of resources but it’s a return to a Dickensian reality that the NDIS was designed to end, a violation of human rights.
Our government put people and supports in place to slash the bed block in hospital discharges. We have already reduced delays from 160days to 29 days. It’s saving up to $550m costs.
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Shorten attacks Coalition record on the NDIS
Bill Shorten is lamenting how the NDIS suffered under the nine years of Coalition government:
The Coalition record of malign neglect is appalling.
… They tried to bulldoze through a reform which they called independent assessments, but that was just double speak for Robodebt 2.0.
They let down people with disability by leaving the NDIS wide open to fraud.
One of my greatest regrets, is that the NDIS has been at the mercy of administrative vandals for 90% of its existence.
The fact that it’s survived is a credit to the dedication of people with disabilities, their families, advocates, allies, services providers, unions, and the never to be underestimated decency of the Australian people.
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Shorten hails leadership of Fearnley and others in NDIS
Circling back to Bill Shorten’s address at the National Press Club. He’s saying that he believes one of the best ways to safeguard the NDIS has been to put people with lived experience in leadership roles.
And that’s why even though he’s a greatly humble man, I managed to convince disabilities advocate Kurt Fearnley to become chair of the NDIA board. He still hasn’t forgiven me.
We are genuinely lucky to have a leader of his equal.
We are proud also that with people with disability are half of the directorship of the NDIA board.
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More must be done to stop exploitation of international students, inquiry told
International students are being exploited when they arrive in Australia and more regulations are needed to prevent misconduct, an inquiry has been told.
Speaking to a joint standing committee on Tuesday, the International Education Association of Australia CEO, Phil Honeywood, said “genuine students” were under mental health pressure to work full-time while studying onshore to send money back to their families.
A survey of 5,000 international students from New Zealand and Australia cited concerns in Australia whereby students were in a “monocultural bubble” and ripe for exploitation.
They get a part-time job by word of mouth through a recently arrived migrant from the same country … the employer says ‘I’ll look after you’, won’t pay them an award wage, and it instantly creates an interdependence situation … students are caught in a vicious cycle.
There’s no doubt we’ve got young people here who … haven’t had the right motivation. They’re in the system. It’s led to Australia having a diminished reputation as a high quality study destination country instead reinforcing students are needed to fill labour markets.
He said unregulated migration or education agents often didn’t inform students they were receiving commission to direct young people into courses that didn’t suit their talents or skills.
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NDIS is the difference between a life and a living death for many, Shorten says
Shorten goes on:
The truth is that the NDIS is the difference between a life and a living death for many vulnerable Australians.
And as a nation, every state and territory, and every community has directly benefited economically and socially from the NDIS.
Australians overwhelmingly support our scheme … Remember one in five Australians reports as having a disability. None of us are immune. We’re all touched by it.
Every one of you today knows someone with a disability. Think of them. And then tell me that the NDIS isn’t a great idea.
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Shorten delivers ‘State of the Union address on the NDIS’
The minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Bill Shorten, is addressing the National Press Club this lunch time in Canberra, a decade on from the scheme’s inception.
Shorten is describing the speech as a “State of the Union address on the NDIS”:
I want to explain why we created the NDIS, explain how the NDIS has lost its way and explain why we need to reboot the scheme and disability services and supports. So not just the why, but the how. You could call this a sort of State of the Union address on the NDIS.
Why we created the NDIS … it’s driven by a basic human question that has fuelled my own political journey. The itch that I have under my skin that I have always had to scratch: How, in the lucky country, can we tolerate any Australian being treated as a second-class citizen?
I had the privilege to be appointed parliamentary secretary for disabilities by Prime Minister Rudd at the end of 2007. Before then, across two decades of working as a trade unionist, I thought that I knew disadvantage and discrimination. I thought I knew powerlessness and poverty. I thought I knew my country. But I didn’t.
Great [disability] advocates … showed me an invisible Australia, an Australia that shut out its fellow citizens from education, employment, housing, you name it.
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Universities are paying cash bonuses to agents to lure international students, inquiry told
University providers are offering cash bonuses to education agents over and above commission to lure international students to their courses, an inquiry has been told.
Speaking to an inquiry into the international education sector, the International Education Association of Australia CEO, Phil Honeywood, said money was being “handed in an envelope under the table” to employees who directed traffic to particular providers.
It’s been going on for many years. Other benefits can be provided to agents and vice versa … how do you stop very bad human behaviour? These entrepreneurs will do anything they can to make a profit. The government has to step up, it’s high time there be a regulatory framework put in place to call out bad behaviour.
Honeywood said the “shocking situation” had been exacerbated by the pandemic when education providers were battling to keep and attract students.
Onshore agents going to providers and saying ‘if you want a student to transfer to your provider you’ll pay me up to 50% commission’. The quality of the education outcome is going to be badly compromised.
I’m aware of offshore agents who will have [partners] running onshore operations, a vertically integrated business model offshore [where the] agent gets [the] student initially, [the] student arrives using public university as a trojan horse to get the student visa, and have been organised by onshore agent to direct student to another provider so the company picks up two commissions … after five or six months.
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Australia has a moral obligation to help Pacific countries develop, minister says
The Australian government says it has a moral obligation to help Pacific island countries develop, not just a national security imperative to ensure a more stable region.
The assistant trade minister, Tim Ayres, made the comments at an Australia-Solomon Islands business forum in Brisbane today.
The relationship between the two governments hit turbulence last year after Solomon Islands signed a security agreement with China, prompting Labor to claim the then Coalition government had dropped the ball in the Pacific.
Ayres said the Australian government saw Solomon Islands as “a long-term partner” but closer business and other ties would “only be realised if we listen deeply and act cooperatively on our shared interests and values”.
He said economic growth and development were “crucial to the stability, security and prosperity of the Pacific”. He pointed to the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (Palm) scheme as an example of Australia “providing more and more Solomon Islanders with the skills they need to set up business and make products on shore”.
He said:
Something we don’t talk about enough is the ‘why’. Of course, Australia is interested in engaging with our regional partners, to ensure greater economic prosperity and regional security.
We want to have a stable region where no country dominates, and no country is dominated; where the sovereignty of each nation is respected; and where we can work with our like-minded partners towards shared goals, in ways that respect each other’s national interests.
But sitting stalwartly alongside the national security argument is the moral argument.
Twenty-two of Australia’s 26 nearest neighbours are developing countries.
We have a moral obligation to act responsibly to help grow economic opportunity for the region while at the same time respecting the sovereignty of our neighbours.
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International student sector has become a 'Ponzi scheme' due to loopholes, inquiry told
Australia’s international student sector has become a “Ponzi scheme” due to loopholes on work rights introduced by the former federal government that have attracted the “wrong type of student”, an inquiry has been told.
The International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) CEO, Phil Honeywood, told a joint standing committee into Australia’s tourism and international education sectors Australia lost an “incredible market share” to competitive countries during Covid and was still recouping from huge reputational damage due to the “manner in which international students [in Australia] … were treated”.
He said there was a “pent-up appetite” to study in Australia but there were growing concerns in the sector on the “ballooning numbers” of “non-genuine” applicants from south Asia, due to a cap on the amount of hours international students could work being removed by the former government during the pandemic.
Other countries, including New Zealand, the US and the UK, cap working rights for foreign students to 40 hours a fortnight.
Honeywood says:
The former federal government announced out of the blue not long after they opened the borders they would permit full-fee-paying international students to work full time while they were meant to be studying full time, concurrently. In a global community coming out of Covid, this was … heaven for countries doing it tough in our region. It shocked me we received no indication this was going to happen. It’s become a Ponzi scheme which is attracting the wrong motivation for young people.
The federal minister for home affairs, Clare O’Neil, announced from 1 July international students could work a maximum of 48 hours a fortnight but Honeywood said it would take a “long time” for the consequences to be wound back and there was still a message Australia was “open slather” for visa loopholes.
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Victorian Liberal MP pushes for free vote on voice within party
The Victorian Liberal frontbencher Jess Wilson has flagged she is leaning towards supporting an Indigenous voice to parliament and pushed for her colleagues to be allowed a free vote on the issue.
The state’s Liberal party is yet to reach a position on the proposed advisory body and whether MPs will get a free vote on the issue or be bound to a party room decision. Last week, the opposition leader, John Pesutto, said he expected the party would formalise a position by the end of next month.
Speaking to ABC Radio on Tuesday morning, Wilson said she supported constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians and was “minded” to support enshrining the body in the nation’s founding document:
I’d like to see the Victorian Liberal party have a free vote on that and a respectful debate.
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Reactions flow as Karen Andrews quits frontbench
Politicians are taking to social media to congratulate Karen Andrews for her service after announcing she is quitting the Coalition frontbench and will not recontest the next election.
The incoming shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, said in a statement:
I pay tribute to Karen Andrews for her service in the portfolio in opposition and in government. Australia is safer and more secure thanks to difficult decisions she took as minister, including the listing of all Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organisations for the first time and world-leading critical infrastructure protection reforms.
The Liberal senator Jane Hume said she is grateful for Andrews’ “contribution, leadership and friendship for so many years”:
She leaves a proud legacy to the nation.
Congratulations to @JNampijinpa, @SenatorCash, @SenPaterson and @Kerrynne_Liddle on their appointments to such important roles, and my sincere gratitude to @karenandrewsmp for her contribution, leadership and friendship for so many years. She leaves a proud legacy to the nation.
— Jane Hume (@SenatorHume) April 18, 2023
Meanwhile, the Labor MP Graham Perrett said it was “an honour” to work as Andrew’s deputy chair on the public works committee for many years.
Her professionalism & work ethic were on show all around Australia on a wild & wide range of public projects. Good luck Karen.
I wish all the best to @karenandrewsmp in her new endeavours. It was an honour to work as her Deputy Chair on the Public Works Committee for many years. Her professionalism & work ethic were on show all around Australia on a wild & wide range of public projects. Good luck Karen.
— Graham Perrett (@GrahamPerrettMP) April 17, 2023
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Independent providers say new federal jobs agency should better engage with sector
The peak body representing independent skills training providers says legislation establishing Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) needs to be amended to better engage with the independent tertiary education sector.
The Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA) provided advice to the Senate education and employment legislation committee on Monday, reviewing the amendment bill into the new government agency.
Legislation to establish the JSA passed in October, with the agency, responsible for advising the government on the labour market and workforce skills and training needs, formally beginning in mid-November. The bill, introduced last month, will establish the JSA in its final form.
ITECA’s chief executive, Troy Williams, said the legislation was a missed opportunity to create an agency with strategic insights needed to implement workforce development plans. Independent providers support around nine in 10 of the 4.3 million students in skills training, including more than half of apprentices and trainees.
The failure to involve independent skills training providers in the governance structure of JSA would pose significant strategic challenges to the agency’s ability to create an effective workforce skills plan that can actually be delivered.
Independent skills training providers bring a wealth of expertise and knowledge to the development and delivery of workforce skills plans. ITECA believes that the JSA legislation should be amended to create a stronger and more inclusive governance structure to ensure JSA’s effective decision-making, transparency, and accountability – one that includes the strategic insights that independent skills training providers have.
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Beazley: ‘any decision to go to war, or not to, will be solely a matter for Australia’s government’
Kim Beazley – who was the former ambassador to the US and now chair of the Australian War Memorial’s council – said there had been “a lot of discussion about threats to our sovereignty” once Australia acquired US-made Virginia class nuclear-powered submarines in the 2030s.
But he said the US had made clear that “all facets” of their deployment would be under Australian control:
Any decision to go to war, or not to, will be solely a matter for Australia’s government.
At this point, it might be worth reminding readers of a US embassy cable from 2006 - published by Wikileaks – in which Beazley, as opposition leader, was reported to have told the US ambassador that in the event of a war between the United States and China, Australia would have no alternative but to line up militarily beside the US, “otherwise, the alliance would be effectively dead and buried, something Australia could never afford to see happen”.
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Kim Beazley defends Aukus deal
The Labor luminary Kim Beazley – who has long been a fierce defender of the US alliance – has dismissed concerns about the impact of the Aukus deal on Australia’s room to make sovereign decisions.
A number of political figures, including the former prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull (Liberal) and Paul Keating (Labor), have raised concerns that the multi-decade nuclear-powered submarine program will leave Australia dependent on the US for the nuclear reactor technology and technical support. They have argued this could have the effect of making it harder for Australia to make its own decisions about whether to join the US in a potential military conflict.
But Beazley, who was a defence minister in the Hawke government and later served as a senior minister in Keating’s government, wrote an article today saying that the alliance between the US and Australia was “critical to our survival”.
In a piece for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s publication the Strategist, Beazley said the Australian Defence Force’s “strike, intercepting, surveillance and transport aircraft are virtually all American, including the F-35 Lightning IIs, Superhornets, Growlers, Wedgetails, P-8 Poseidons, C-17 Globemasters, C-130 Hercules, Chinooks and Black Hawks”. He said the Royal Australian Navy’s sensing and weapon systems were largely American:
We don’t feel our sovereign decision-making is curtailed by our need to acquire these weapons and spares. If origin equals sovereignty, we lost it long ago. But of course, it doesn’t.
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Does the SA voice legislation change the state constitution?
One of our readers has asked us to fact check something that Peter Dutton said earlier about South Australia’s Indigenous voice model.
While it’s beyond this live blog to give chapter and verse on constitutional law, the comparison of what’s happening at the federal level to the South Australian constitution is more complicated.
Here’s what Dutton said:
In South Australia, the Labor government’s taken a decision to put the voice into legislation, not change the constitution here in South Australia. I think that’s a very important point.
But the SA constitution is itself is a piece of SA legislation, and as our diligent reader pointed out – and I’ve just verified – South Australia’s First Nations Voice Bill 2023 amends the Constitution Act 1934.
Part 2 of the bill is titled “Amendment of Constitution Act 1934” and states:
After section 2 insert: Recognition of importance of First Nations voices
(1) The Parliament of South Australia recognises the importance of listening to the voices of First Nations people if there is to be a fair and truthful relationship between the First Nations and non-First Nations people of South Australia.
(2) The Parliament acknowledges that the voice of First Nations people has not always been heard in Parliament, and intends that, through the First Nations Voice Act 2023, that voice will be heard, and will make a unique and irreplaceable contribution to South Australia that benefits all South Australian.
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RBA minutes reveal possibility of more rate rise to come
The Reserve Bank’s decision to pause its record run of interest rate rises earlier this month was a close call, with the central bank board deciding it needed more information to determine “when and how much more” rates would be lifted.
Minutes from the 4 April rates meeting released on Tuesday show the nine board members examined at length the case for another 25 basis-point increase. That would have made it 11 consecutive rate hikes and lifted the cash rate to 3.85%.
The case for another rate rise included the usual comments that inflation - running at an annual pace of 6.8% in February - “remained too high and the labour market was very tight”, the minutes show.
In addition, the board weighed up two other factors that “were relevant to the case” for more interest rate increases. These were the faster-than-expected pickup in population growth as immigration levels rose and the “increased risk of larger wage increases in parts of the economy”.
However, the board ended up opting to halt the rate hikes in order to gather more information on the economic impacts of the 10 increases so far, given their full effects would take time to be felt. “Members judged that monetary policy was already restrictive,” the minutes showed.
By the 2 May meeting, board members would have access to the March quarter consumer price index figures which are scheduled for a 26 April release. RBA staff were also due to “present a full set of updated forecasts” at that May meeting.
In the end, there was “a stronger case to pause” at the April gathering than to lift the cash rate.
Still, “it was important to be clear that monetary policy may need to be tightened at subsequent meetings”, implying that the RBA may still have more than one rate rise to come.
Indeed, the RBA’s projections of inflation returning to its target band of 2%-3% by mid-2025 “were conditioned on monetary policy being tightened a little further”, it said.
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Andrews not the only LNP member to support party stance but not campaign for no in voice referendum
Just circling back to Karen Andrews saying that while she supports her party’s position on the voice, she will not be campaigning for a no vote. She’s not alone in the Liberal party to be far from wholeheartedly backing Dutton’s stance on the voice.
The opposition leader in the senate, Simon Birmingham, has also said that he will not be campaigning against the Indigenous voice to parliament. He’s said:
My intention is to respect the Australian people, who will go about this referendum applying their judgment to the issues that are before them at the time.
Read more here:
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Andrews ‘confident’ that LNP will work to make sure more women are ‘preselected into winnable seats’
Andrews is also asked about her experience of being a woman in the conservative party and in government.
I’ve spent my entire life working in male-dominated environments, so I started my working life as an engineer and that was absolutely male-dominated. I then moved into industrial relations.
My third career was politics and there will be a fourth career for me as well. I think that where you have women in a minority, it is always going to be difficult, just like when there are fields where men are in a minority. It is difficult for them as well too.
But I’m very confident that the … National party and the Liberal party across Australia will work to make sure more women are preselected into winnable seats and we will make sure that our messagings, what we stand for, are communicated in a way that people will be prepared to support us.
On whether her replacement in the seat of Macpherson should be a woman, Andrews says it will be a matter for the party to determine and that she will not have any direct input into the decision.
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Karen Andrews will not campaign for no vote in Indigenous voice referendum
Andrews says she will not be campaigning for a no vote in the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum.
While she says she doesn’t support the current form of words proposed, she’ll be speaking to her electorate about arguments in a neutral way.
I won’t be out there wearing a shirt that says “vote no.”
When people speak to me I will go through what my concerns are, but I want to do that in a very neutral way so, that people are in a position that they can make their own mind up.
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‘Range of factors’ contributed to decision to step back from shadow cabinet: Andrews
Asked about what prompted the decision, Andrews said it was a range of factors.
There’s no one single thing that brought me to the conclusion that I wouldn’t seek re-election at the next election. There’s probably a range of factors that contribute to that.
I’m very comfortable with the decision that I made. I am standing back from the frontbench very comfortably. I’m very happy to do that.
I think this was the right time for this to happen. I’m comfortable with my decision not to recontest and I look forward to work being whoever the party chooses to be the next candidate for Macpherson.
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Andrews: ‘important that Liberal National party gets right candidate quickly onto the ground’
As Andrews also said in her statement, she wanted to make sure that the Liberals had enough time to find the right candidate to replace her in her local seat and as shadow home affairs minister.
Given that I had made that decision, the right thing to do was to speak to Peter and let him know that that was my decision. It’s important that the Liberal National party gets the right candidate quickly onto the ground here on the Gold Coast and the very important shadow portfolio of home affairs has someone into that role so that in the lead-up to the next election, Peter can have the right team in place to take forward beyond the election.
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Andrews made decision not to contest next election a few weeks ago
Karen Andrews has stepped up to speak on the Gold Coast about her decision not to seek re-election at the next federal election.
Andrews says when she made the decision a couple of weeks ago, Dutton declined her offer to step down from the front bench – but that changed when a reshuffle was announced following Leeser’s announcement.
A couple of weeks ago I had made the decision that I was not going to contest the next federal election.
I spoke to Peter Dutton and I gave him my view that I would not be standing and seeking re-election at the next federal election. I offered to step down from the ministry at that point and he declined that offer.
But when a reshuffle was happening today, the decision was made that I would step back to the backbench and continue my work from the backbench.
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Nationals leader: elevation of Jacinta Price to shadow Indigenous affairs role ‘a big day’ for Aboriginal Australians
Nationals leader David Littleproud says the promotion of Jacinta Price to the shadow Indigenous affairs role is “a big day” for Aboriginal Australians, and said her job would be focused on suggesting “tactile solutions” to help close the gap on social and health outcomes.
Guardian Australia understands Price plans to continue with her existing role as leader of the Fair Australia campaign (powered by the Advance conservative lobby group) which is one of the leading groups advocating for a No vote in the referendum.
Littleproud again called on the government to cancel the referendum to insert the Voice into the constitution, again claiming that symbolic constitutional recognition of Aboriginal Australians would have political consensus and be a more appropriate response.
The Uluru statement from the Heart specifically called for a constitutionally-enshrined voice to parliament. Indigenous Australians who took part in the years-long dialogue processes leading up to the Uluru statement have specifically rejected simple constitutional recognition.
Littleproud rebuffed a question from me at his press conference about whether he rejected the Uluru statement, but said “it’s not a document that all Indigenous Australians have signed up to”.
He claimed:
There are plenty of Indigenous Australians, particularly in remote areas, are suspicious of [the voice] and they don’t want to see that pathway taken. They want to be empowered at a local level.
Littleproud claimed the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, needed to “acknowledge” that the referendum was dividing Australians.
He is also crowing about getting a seventh position for the Nationals in shadow cabinet, which he said is higher than the quota that the Coalition agreement technically provides for in the split between the Liberals and their junior partner.
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Over 300 submissions made to Universities Accord discussion panel
More than 300 submissions have been made to the Australian Universities Accord process, set to be the largest reform for the higher education sector since the Bradley Review 15 years ago.
Submissions have been logged across higher education staff, students, unions, business and government, peak bodies and policy experts.
The federal education minister, Jason Clare, said they would play a “critical role” in deliberations of the Accord panel, with an interim report to be released by the end of June.
The submissions come alongside the release of a discussion paper and meetings with around 120 groups and individuals.
The chair of the Australian Universities Accord Panel, Prof Mary O’Kane, said the panel was “very grateful” to all those who worked on submissions.
We have received a wealth of smart ideas and great examples of best practice with suggestions for how they could be scaled up.
Public Universities Australia critiqued “several vital omissions” in the discussion paper in its submission, including no recognition universities were experiencing a “governance crisis” driven by “management and corporate practices” rather than academic values.
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Opposition leader: Labor chose to legislate voice in SA, not hold a referendum
Dutton pipes up to highlight that states like South Australia have decided to put it into legislation, not the constitution:
The only point I’d make to that of course, in South Australia, the Labor government’s taken a decision to put the voice into legislation, not change the constitution here in South Australia. I think that’s a very important point.
The Labor premier – and it’s the case in other jurisdictions where they’re talking about a similar model, South Australia is the first – each Labor jurisdiction has taken the decision not to change the constitution but to allow for the voice in their respective states to be in legislation.
And that’s exactly what we’re proposing, because the prime minister now is up to three forms of words, maybe a fourth, we don’t know yet. And if you put that into the constitution, I just think we need to understand this very fundamental point. You can’t out-legislate the constitution.
And if you put a broad form of words into the constitution, it ends up being litigated for years and years and years in the high court. That is not going to deliver outcomes for anyone.
And I suspect it’s part of the thinking for the premier here in South Australia and elsewhere as to why they haven’t enshrined their Voice in the constitution. Because they’re worried about the import. When you look at successful models elsewhere, they’ve not been put into the constitution. But that’s the decision that Anthony Albanese has made and that will be the debate over the next few months.
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Kerryne Liddle concerned on SA voice model and its reflection on national proposal
Price says she also wants to allow South Austalian senator Kerryne Liddle to share her thoughts on the state’s voice model.
Liddle says:
I guess what we have currently is legislation that’s just recently been passed. We don’t actually know how effectively this model will work.
I agree with my colleague Jacinta. I raised concerns about some of the definitions that were used in that legislation. Apparently they used the Corrections Act and they used the Sentencing Act. I would say they are highly inappropriate definitions when you look at the choices that were available to the state government in terms of the definitions they could have chosen.
They could have chosen the national [act] that’s been in place and used by governments for around 40 years by the national government but they chose not to.
I’ve also had it raised directly from constituents concerned they did not have enough information. They were not aware that it would result in the removal of the Aboriginal Lands Standing Parliamentary Committee. This government has a lot to answer for in terms of the consultation process it undertook and there are lessons for that in this national voice proposal.
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Price worried about non-Indigenous people claiming to be Indigenous
She says there are lessons to be learned from the model for the voice in South Australia:
I think it is utterly ridiculous that it is being left open for individuals to declare their Aboriginality. And just based on that the fact that a citizen of South Australia can write a statutory declaration and claim to be Indigenous is deeply concerning.
Another matter that is of great concern, which has been talked about by a lot of Indigenous people around the country, are those who claim to be Indigenous who aren’t necessarily Indigenous.
You will see in South Australia a dramatic increase in the number of Indigenous people within its population, no doubt because of that particular model.
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Nationals concerned First Nations communities will be ‘exploited for the purposes of the referendum’
Jacinta Price:
My concern is also there are those in communities who will be exploited for the purpose of this referendum going forward.
But I think as you’ll see, more and more locals, if the media are prepared to go out to those communities and have those conversations, they will find that a lot of those people in those communities don’t know what this all means and how, in fact, they’re supposed to be empowered through this model.
Just like the delegation that came to Canberra said to us that, ‘well, we have representatives in parliament who are there, paid by the taxpayer, to represent the views, the opinions, the concerns, because Indigenous people in remote communities also elect us into parliament.’
They are calling for us to do our jobs and do our jobs a lot better. Those I’ve spoken to are not interested in yet another bureaucracy.
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Price: Indigenous communities ‘on the ground’ don’t know what the voice is
Circling back to the press conference in Adelaide, Jacinta Price is saying First Nations communities “on the ground” don’t know what the yes campaign on the voice referendum is about.
I think there are examples of Indigenous leaders in communities who are coming out and saying now that they don’t have any idea what the prime minister’s proposal for their yes campaign is.
They don’t know what the voice is. They don’t feel like they will be represented by yet another model that they see as being run by those who had long-held positions within the Aboriginal industry, if you like.
Those calls are coming from them for this push for the ‘yes’. But those people on the ground in communities don’t know what this is about.
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Littleproud makes dig at Liberal party
Littleproud is touting the leadership of the Nationals, and making a dig at the senior partner of the Coalition when he mentions “being mature sitting at the table giving tactile solutions” at the Jobs Summit which the Liberals did not attend.
Littleproud:
This is a very big step for the Coalition, but a big step for the National party in the way we have tried to lead the debate.
Whether that be asking for a national energy summit only months after being elected, to have a conversation about what energy future looks like.
Going to the Jobs Summit, being mature sitting at the table giving tactile solutions about how we can move this forward.
Whether it be a national conversation about vaping and protecting children with better regulations, the Nationals don’t want to be a harping position, we want to bring constructive ideas to this place that will actually shift the dial for those that we represent which are those 30% of Australians that live outside capital cities.
So a proud day for Jacinta Price and her family, a proud day for the Nationals, but a proud day for the Coalition in a positive step forward in making sure that our conversation about bringing those disadvantaged Indigenous Australian voices even louder to this place.
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Shadow ministry now has 50% female representation, Littleproud says
Littleproud says Jacinta Price being appointed shadow minister for Indigenous affairs is a win for female representation within the shadow cabinet and validation of the common sense the National party bring to Canberra.
This now takes our female representation as well in our shadow ministry to 50% and in shadow cabinet to just under 60%.
That’s the diversity that we bring from the National party. The lived experience, the common sense that we bring to Canberra, is being acknowledged in the conviction and courage of our ideas and our experience, bringing it to Canberra, is being acknowledged in these appointments today.
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Jacinta Price will bring ‘lived experience’ to new Indigenous role, Littleproud says
The Nationals leader David Littleproud is speaking in Canberra, praising the lived experience Jacinta Price will bring to the role of shadow minister for Indigenous Australians.
He also says it’s a “proud day” for his party gaining another cabinet position – Price is a member of the Country Liberal party, and despite Liberal being in the party’s name, sits with the National party in federal parliament.
Litteproud says it’s representatives like Price with lived experience, not the voice, which will close the gap:
That’s how you will close the gap in bringing that experience to Canberra and she’ll be a strong voice for Indigenous Australians but a strong voice for all Australians.
I’m proud as the Nationals who have led the debate on the voice, not in a malicious way, but in one with the lived experience of trying to bring practical experience about not adding more bureaucracy, but having a better bureaucracy and bringing Jacinta to the forefront of that will be important in the conversation, we as a nation, have to have in a mature way in this referendum debate moving forward.
But it is also a proud day for the Nationals. We have been able to secure now our seventh shadow cabinet position.
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Dutton and Albanese disagree over child sexual abuse discussions
There’s disagreement between the prime minister and opposition leader whether Dutton raised concerns with Anthony Albanese about child sexual abuse in Alice Springs last year.
As we mentioned earlier on the blog, Albanese told ABC’s 7.30 program last night he did not know what Dutton’s claims were based upon:
It’s possible that there may well have been a letter somewhere. I don’t know what the basis of it is. But certainly, he has not raised any specific issue about any claim about any individual circumstance with me.
Asked whether he raised concerns with the PM, Dutton says:
Yes I did. I made reference to that in the parliament. You can check the Hansard in that regard.
In the end, I think some of the commentary, frankly, from a couple of the Northern Territory ministers and the prime minister is ... It’s not about them and it’s not about me. It’s about how we provide a brighter future in Alice Springs and elsewhere.
There is a systemic problem in Alice Springs, the Northern Territory and other parts of the country and a big part of the decision to put Jacinta Price into this portfolio and Kerrynne Liddle into her portfolio is because we want to provide a brighter future for those kids.
… I just think instead of running off on red herrings and trying to create these distractions, if the prime minister doesn’t understand that there’s a problem in Alice Springs, then he should fly there tomorrow, because on my visits, the local residents have been very clear, very frank in their advice.
… The only motivation I’ve got here is to work with the prime minister and that was the essence of our discussion. I sat down with him and said that we would support measures, legislation, funding, whatever it took to provide stability into a community like Alice Springs, and that’s the only motivation that we have.
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Karen Andrews supports Liberals voice position, Dutton says
Dutton has denied that Andrews’ decision to step down from the front bench was due to the opposition’s stance on the voice (as was the case with Julian Leeser two weeks ago).
Asked whether the opposition’s stance on the voice affected Andrews’ decision to step down from the front bench, Dutton reference Andrews’ statement (which you can read if you scroll back two posts):
No, I think you’ll see Karen put out a statement to that effect this morning. I think she strongly supports the position we’ve adopted and I think that’s been reflected in her statement.
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Peter Dutton on Karen Andrews: “It can take a toll and that’s the case for all of us”
Back to the press conference in Adelaide where Peter Dutton is now taking questions.
Dutton has said Karen Andrews was not pushed out from the front bench – he says that was “100%” not the case.
Karen made a decision that she wasn’t going to contest the next election. She said to me at the time of the next reshuffle she would be happy to stand aside.
She’s, I think, as an engineer, when you look at her background, her experience over her period in government and now in Opposition, she will look forward to the next successful stage of her life.
I think sometimes we underestimate with the travel and scrutiny and everything else involved in this business, you know, it can take a toll and that’s the case for all of us.
But for Karen, to leave at a time of her choosing and in those circumstances I think speaks to her skill set and the way she’s been a significant contributor, not just in the home affairs portfolio when we were in government, but in Opposition when you don’t have the resources of a department.
Her involvement in many discussions around the cabinet table reflected her real-life experiences, and she’ll be missed and I wish her every success.
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Karen Andrews statement
Karen Andrews has released a statement about her decision to step down from the frontbench saying she wanted to make sure that the Coalition had the “maximum” time to find appropriate replacements.
She also said that she will continue to support the party position on the voice.
This is what she wrote:
After much deliberation, I have decided not to recontest the seat of McPherson at the next election, and as a result I have asked Peter Dutton not to include me in his new Shadow Ministry.
Having made the decision to call time on my political career, I wanted to ensure the Coalition has maximum time to have a replacement in the crucial Home Affairs portfolio, and the best local candidate for McPherson in place.
It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve this nation as Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs, and as Minister for Industry, Science and Technology under a Coalition Government, and on the shadow front bench as Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence.
I am proud to have been the first female Queensland MP in a Cabinet role, and I am even prouder of the strong work the Coalition did in government to safeguard Australia’s national security – including introducing world-leading legislation to protect Australia’s critical infrastructure - to stand up our manufacturing sector to create PPE and other items for our national stockpile during the Covid-19 pandemic, to strengthen our nation’s space sector by positioning Australia on the global map, to drive gender equity in STEM, and many other things that I will never, ever forget we achieved in my lifetime and during my time in service.
It has been an immense privilege.
…I will continue to support the party position on the Voice and to campaign hard for a Coalition victory at the next election.
I look forward to continuing to serve my constituents with honour and diligence until the next election, and represent their concerns as the Federal Member for McPherson.
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Kerrynne Liddle “delighted” to be shadow minister for child protection and prevention of domestic violence
Kerrynne Liddle steps up to speak following Price. Liddle has been appointed to the outer ministry as the shadow minister for child protection and prevention of family violence.
Liddle:
Well, I, too, am delighted to take on this responsibility on behalf of the Coalition but also on behalf of all Australians. I, too, come from a history of working at a level in the areas that are critical of safe families, in areas of social housing, in areas of employment, in areas of education, all of those things help contribute to making families safer and to enable young people and older Australians to go about their lives in relative safety. I’m delighted to be able to take on this role to work with my Coalition colleagues and I certainly look forward to getting started pretty quickly on day one.
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Jacinta Price: I absolutely look forward to bringing about better lives for our most marginalised Australians
Senator Jacinta Price steps up saying she is humbled to be named shadow minister for Indigenous Australians:
I’m humbled and grateful that the leadership Peter has entrusted me to carry out this on behalf of Indigenous Australians. And also for Australians.
I look forward to working along with my Coalition colleagues within the shadow ministry. I’m grateful that my colleague Kerryne Liddle has also now the opportunity to work to protect some of our most vulnerable Australians as well and I absolutely look forward to bringing about better lives for our most marginalised Australians in this country.
As I said, again, I’m very grateful for the opportunity to undergo this portfolio in the s
hadow ministry. I have worked hard over many, many years to effect change in an area that I’m deeply passionate about.
Throughout my life, I understand the trials and tribulations of those who are nearest and dearest to me and I will continue to fight for those marginalised Australians going forward and I’m very grateful again for the opportunity to do so within this portfolio.
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James Paterson named shadow home affairs minister
Dutton acknowledges Karen Andrews stepping down from the front bench and says James Paterson will be stepping into the role of shadow home affairs minister.
I want to say thank you very much to Karen Andrews, who is a dear friend. She has given many years of fine service to the Coalition both in government and most recently in Opposition.
Karen and I had a conversation recently where she advised me that she would step down from the front bench and not context the next election. She has been a warrior for really important causes and the home affairs portfolio, as we know, is a very important one and in government and in each significance, as I said, she really has been a first-rate contributor to that portfolio and I wish her every success into the future.
Senator James Paterson will join the shadow cabinet as the new shadow minister for home affairs, as a former member and chair of the parliamentary joint committee for national security, he’s been at the forefront of many debates about the future of our country in recent years.
He’s done an outstanding job in holding the government to account for crime security failures. He will retain his existing shadow ministerial portfolio of cybersecurity and will do a great job there.
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Michaelia Cash named shadow attorney general
Dutton says that Michaelia Cash will step into the other portfolio previously held by Julian Leeser, shadow attorney general.
Dutton:
The honourable Senator Michaelia Cash will return to the role of shadow attorney-general, in addition to the roles she will has now. She’s a very fierce and very smart legal mind. Michaelia has been a dear friend for a long period of time. She’s a trusted confidante, somebody I worked closely with and will be a very safe set of hands in relation to that portfolio responsibility.
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Kerrynne Liddle named shadow minister for child protection
Dutton says that Senator Kerrynne Liddle has been appointed to the outer ministry as the shadow minister for child protection and prevention of family violence.
I’m also very proud that Senator Kerrynne Liddle, will join the outer ministry as the shadow minister for child protection and prevention of family violence. She has an incredibly distinguished career prior to entering the Senate. She worked as a senior business leader, a small business-owner, as a journalist and former small business-owner and senior leader in the private and public sector, her extensive professional experience has led to her success in key areas including tourism, energy, media tertiary education, arts, social housing and Indigenous affairs sectors so I am very pleased that she’s able to join the shadow ministry in what is a critical role.
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Jacinta Price named shadow minister for Indigenous Australians
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has just stepped up to speak in Adelaide.
Today I want to announce the following changes to the Coalition shadow ministry. I’m absolutely delighted that Senator Jacinta Price will take on the role of shadow minister for Indigenous Australians.
Many Australians know Jacinta well. She’s a fighter. She’s a warrior for Indigenous Australians. And she’s a very proud Territorian. She’s a former councillor, mayor of Alice Springs and small business-owner. She’s always fought hard to improve the lives of Indigenous women and kids and we’ve seen that in recent days. She’s done an incredible amount of work to tackle tough issues like the scourge of sexual abuse, domestic violence and the crisis in law and order in some Indigenous communities, particularly Alice Springs most recently.
I’m incredibly proud of the work she’s been able to do, that she continues to do and I know she’ll do an outstanding job in leading the charge for better practical outcomes for Indigenous Australians not through the prime minister’s Canberra voice bureaucracy.
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The peak union representing students has lashed out at a recommendation made by the Senate education legislation committee yesterday to reject a bill introduced by the Greens to abolish the indexation of higher education student loans.
The bill, introduced by Greens education spokesperson Mehreen Faruqi, also recommended the threshold of income should be raised from $48 361 to the median wage before students start repaying loans.
National president Bailey Riley said she was disappointed the committee report palmed off HECS to the Universities Accord process, due to report at the end of the year. The NUS has echoed the Greens in calls for the immediate freezing of HECS indexation to ease the burden of student debt amid a cost of living crisis.
We are already looking at becoming the most indebted generation in Australia’s history and now the federal government is looking to profit from young Australians during a cost of living crisis.
The government keeps telling students to wait for these accords. The time to act is now, not years into the future once students are thousands of dollars further in HECS debts.”
HECS loans are expected to by indexed by around 7% on 1 June, the highest rate in decades. It means average debts of $24,770 would increase by at least $1,700.
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Fresh electoral challenge for Coaltion
Andrews’ departure from the seat of McPherson, (which she won in 2010 after facing off a strong preselection challenge from Peter Dutton) opens up a new can of beans for the LNP as it struggles to regroup after its election loss.
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Karen Andrews to quit frontbench
The shadow home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, will announce later this morning that she is quitting the Coalition frontbench to sit on the backbench and will not recontest the next election. Guardian Australia understands this is not related to the Liberal party’s stance on the Indigenous voice.
This morning opposition leader, Peter Dutton, will announce a reshuffle after the departure of Julian Leeser to the backbench – but these changes will be more extensive than previously thought given Andrews’ exit.
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Police investigate fatal Melbourne house fire
Police are investigating after a man died in a house fire in Melbourne’s northeast, AAP reports.
Emergency services were called to Wewak Parade at Heidelberg West about 12.50am on Tuesday to find a single-story unit fully ablaze.
Almost 30 firefighters in breathing apparatus searched the burning building for an unaccounted-for resident and evacuated others in the six-unit complex.
Firefighters used hose lines to stop the flames from spreading to other units.
The blaze was declared under control after about one hour and 15 minutes but a man found inside the property died.
Police established a crime scene and are investigating the cause of the fire.
Arson and explosives squad detectives and an arson chemist attended the units this morning.
Officers encouraged anyone with information about the blaze to contact Crime Stoppers.
Ambulance Victoria also treated a firefighter for an injury to his hand.
Recession can still be avoided if the RBA makes the right calls, KPMG says
Deloitte might have called “consumer recession” as likely (see earlier post) with households spending less money this year than last, but the economy itself may yet avoid a contraction, says rival mob KPMG.
“At this stage, KPMG’s central macroeconomic forecast is for Australia to experience a slowdown in economic activity later in 2023, but we are not expecting the economy to enter a recession over the forecast period,” the group said.
Still, “the risks of higher interest rates and recession have increased in recent months”.
Various factors will influence the outcome, including, of course, the Reserve Bank. We’ll get the minutes from the 4 April meeting (at 11.30am AEST) that surprised some economists (but not investors) by leaving the cash rate unchanged at 3.6%.
The minutes will give us more sense of the balance of risks, as viewed by the bank a couple of weeks ago, about whether more rate rises may still be to come.
Since then we’ve had the March labour market figures that showed the economy was still creating more than 2,000 full-time extra jobs a day, or more than economists had tipped.
Another factor is how China goes, since that economy is critical for our trade and the trade of most of our major partners too. We’ll get its first-quarter GDP figures later today (at about noon AEST), and economists are tipping growth quickened to 2% vs 0% in the December quarter, and 4% at an annual rate.
ANZ gives some indication of China’s overall clout, noting IMF forecasts that the country will contribute 22.6% of global growth in the five years to 2028. By contrast, India is forecast to deliver 12.9% of global growth, while the US is forecast to deliver 11.3%.
That China ratio, though, is lower than for previous decades, and a reason the world is facing its most sluggish growth outlook for more than 30 years.
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Five teenage girls arrested in Sydney after police chase
Five teenage girls have been arrested after allegedly leading police on a high-speed car chase in Sydney’s west that ended in a crash, AAP reports.
NSW police say dog squad officers spotted a stolen car speeding just before midnight on Monday on the Great Western Highway at Bungarribee.
According to police, they tried to pull the car over but it failed to stop, leading to the pursuit.
Police said in a statement:
A short time later, the vehicle failed to navigate an intersection and hit a truck.
Police allege the five girls fled on foot into nearby bushland but were arrested and taken to Mount Druitt police station.
The alleged driver, a 17-year-old girl, was treated by paramedics for dog bites sustained in the arrest, according to police.
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O’Neil: Scale of human and drug trafficking into Australia “mandates” government action
Speaking of Peter Dutton, home affairs minister Clare O’Neil has attacked the opposition leader’s self-presentation as being tough on borders:
One of the great frauds that’s been perpetrated in Australian politics is Peter Dutton presenting himself as the big tough guy who’s tough on our borders.
What has been shown in report after report after report is that our migration system is being used to facilitate worker exploitation. And not just that, but to facilitate some of the worst crimes that can be conducted. We’re talking about things like human trafficking and sexual slavery.
O’Neil says the former Victorian police chief commissioner Christine Nixon is assisting the government in investigating the rorting of Australia’s migration system by these syndicates involved in human and drug trafficking and migrant worker exploitation.
Nixon’s report will inform how the government will address the problem, which O’Neil admits is on a scale bigger than she thought it was going to be:
I think the scale is larger than I thought it was going to be … and certainly mandates the government taking action.
O’Neil said another review into the migration system had proved “damning.”
It does show that there are aspects of our migration system which are broken in fundamental ways. It is a system that is on strategic, it’s complex, expensive, it’s not delivering for Australian citizens or businesses or the migrants who are coming here under it.
O’Neil flagged that law reform could be necessary with the minister for immigration Andrew Giles consulting how exploitation cane be designed out of our migration system as part of these broader set of reforms.
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Dutton confirms imminent media conference
Further to Amy’s post earlier, Peter Dutton has now confirmed a press conference in Adelaide in the next hour (9am local time, 9.30am AEST) where he’s expected to announce a reshuffle of his ministry list.
As for the choice of location, Adelaide could just be coincidence, or one could speculate that it could point to the identities of opposition members possibly about to get a promotion.
Indigenous senator Kerrynne Liddle, and the shadow health minister, Anne Ruston both represent South Australia. We’ll see what happens in the next hour or so.
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Australia “five years behind where we need to be” on hacking, O’Neil says
Last night a Russian hacker told Four Corners that Australians are the most stupid humans alive when it comes to hacking. The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, has hit back against the idea that Australians are considered an easy target, telling ABC Radio:
I don’t think that Australia is considered an easy target. I think that might have been the impression given before when we didn’t have national leadership on this issue. But that changed when the government was elected in May last year.
… Australians can see we’ve got a bit of a hill to climb here. We are five years behind where we need to be. But there is an enormous amount of effort going into making sure that Australia is a hard target. And we are making significant ground on that.
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Joyce claims the Indigenous voice would have a right to be consulted
Joyce admits the voice to parliament will not be able to veto Anzac Day and other public holidays, as deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley has suggested.
But before answering the question on Anzac Day, Joyce first brings up “what is pertinent right now”. He claims the voice would have a right to be consulted rather than just a right to “make representations” which is what the draft text actually says.
It does have influence over the executive because consultation, which will be determined by the high court.
Now I can’t work out why an Indigenous voice needs to talk to the governor of the Reserve Bank about interest rates, or the chief of the defence force or the head of Asio. Why are these groups involved? How does that involve itself with the issues of Indigenous Australians.
After trying to dismiss the issue of Anzac Day as going into the minutiae, Joyce admits:
They can’t veto but they can certainly question the process of consultation.
… The high court will determine consultation. So on issues like that or anything else, they’ll say, ‘Were we properly consulted. Did you take into account all the facts? Did you put too much emphasis on a fact? Did you err on a fact? Did you leave a fact out.’ And if they can do that, they can say ‘I wasn’t properly consulted, therefore that decision is unconstitutional.’
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Joyce describes Indigenous voice as ‘a consultative power by selected group’
Joyce says the voice will affect all Australians, not just Indigenous Australians, because a selected rather than elected body will move away from the democratic process.
It is a massive change to how democracy works because we’re now dealing with a consultative power by selected group, not an elected group … and that move away from the democratic process.
Joyce references the Calma-Langton report, but Karvelas pulls Joyce up on the fact that report has yet to be adopted.
Karvelas:
What I’m asking you is that you say on one hand that there’s no legislation … But you also make a claim about a model which doesn’t exist, you can’t have it both ways.
Joyce:
In all the narrative from Mr Pearson, to his Ms Langton, to the Calma Langton report, they talk about selection, not election.
Karvelas:
So then you do think you’ve got a model?
Joyce:
Then let us see the legislation.
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‘I just don’t believe that we should be inserting a racial clause into our constitution,’ says Barnaby Joyce
Nationals frontbencher Barnaby Joyce has had a lively exchange with RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas this morning discussing his views on the Indigenous voice to parliament.
When Karvelas attempted to clarify if Joyce has the same policy now as the Liberals – supporting regional and local bodies being legislated and a constitutional recognition approach – Joyce says:
I just don’t believe that we should be inserting a racial clause into our constitution in 2023.
Tick the box that you believe in racial differentiation. You’ve just ticked the box that you believe in racial differentiation.
I believe our constitution should be rid of racial differentiation, class differentiation, creed, religion, colour differentiation, I think that people should be dealt with in the circumstances in which they find them – not on the premise of the colour of their skin.
Asked if he doesn’t believe in constitutional recognition at all, Joyce says “it’s the form it comes in”.
It’s the form that it comes in. I’ve got no problems with the statement of fact that Indigenous Australians were the first people in Australia.
I’ve got no problems with the constitutional recognition referendum on the premise that we see the details first … I’m talking to about a more proper and pertinent alternative approach, which means that we get all the details not some of the details, we see the legislation before we vote, we don’t get a blank check. And we also make sure that we see the proper legal opinion before we vote not someone’s opinion of the opinion, which is what Mr Albanese is going to give us.
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PM denies government has failed to act on child sexual assault warnings
Circling back to what the PM had to say appearing on 7.30 last night, Albanese has dismissed Peter Dutton’s claim that his government has failed to act on child sexual assault warnings.
Visiting Alice Springs last week, Dutton said he had brought the issue of children who’d been sexually abused being placed back into the hands of perpetrators to the prime minister’s attention in October 2022.
But Albanese told the ABC he was not aware of the allegations.
I have no idea of what it is based upon.
It’s possible that there may well have been a letter somewhere ... but he has not raised any specific issue about any claim, about any individual circumstance with me.
If he did, I would say to him that he should report that to the police.
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Faruqi says Hecs student debt system is broken
Faruqi has said that the Hecs student debt system is broken as “education should not be a lifetime debt”.
Asked if she accepts that the majority report found that if that money wasn’t returned, it could impact the viability of the scheme, meaning it could impact whether people could get debts and loans in the future, Faruqi said:
The overwhelming evidence the committee received and the overwhelming submissions to the Senate committee were in support, very strong support, of the measures in my bill.
It was a small number of stakeholders who raised this issue of the system working.
But to be frank, a system that puts people, millions of people, in a lifetime of debt with so much stress and pressure is pretty broken. It’s pretty obscene that people were hit by 3.9% increase to their debt last year, and will be hit by another 7% increase this year.
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Labor has betrayed Australians with student loans, Mehreen Faruqi says
The Senate education legislation committee yesterday recommended that the Greens bill to abolish indexation of higher education student loans and raise the threshold of income before repayments start be rejected by the Senate.
Following the decision, the Greens deputy leader and education spokesperson, Mehreen Faruqi, yesterday said a failure to act will mean “millions will be hit with a student debt avalanche”.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, Faruqi said the Labor committee’s decision has betrayed Australians struggling with student loans:
Student debt is no small problem. More than 3 million people are impacted by this. And we have heard testimony after testimony and story after story of the harmful impacts on mental health, as well as financial stress, that people are facing out there.
What is happening is that – because of student debt, people are being locked out of the housing market, they can’t get a loan, it’s been hard for people to pay their rent or put food on the table and it’s crushing dreams of further study.
I heard from so many people telling me they wouldn’t have gone to uni if they knew they would come out with a huge debt, that would keep ballooning every single year.
I think it’s devastating it’s going to stop people from further study. So given that context, it is really disappointing and I think Labor has actually betrayed those millions of Australians who are being impacted and will be hit by a student debt avalanche on June 1 when it goes up by 7%.
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Albanese on the Indigenous voice: ‘The solicitor general’s view will be made very clear’
The solicitor general’s advice on the Indigenous voice to parliament will be made “very clear”, the prime minister Anthony Albanese says.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has been calling on Albanese to release the advice provided by the solicitor general to cabinet.
Appearing on ABC’s 7.30 program last night the PM said:
The solicitor general’s view will be made very clear by himself through the attorney general, which is the appropriate forum for it to take.
It was not appropriate to release cabinet documents, he added, in line with the process followed by the previous Coalition government and past Labor governments.
Albanese said Dutton was raising questions and doubts “by not having any substance to his opposition” to the voice.
Albanese said he had made it clear there would be local and regional bodies, which may differ across the states and territories. He pointed to South Australia’s decision to set up a state voice.
It’s quite clear that the national voice would work with state voices, were they to be established as well. So clearly we want to hear from local communities, working the way up. But you need a national voice as well.
– with AAP
Updated
Good morning! Natasha May reporting for blog duty.
Updated
Australia heading for 'consumer recession', says Deloitte
Economists from one of Australia’s biggest consultancy firms are expecting a “consumer recession” largely triggered by two rate hikes they claim were needless, writes Australian Associated Press.
The grim prediction comes ahead of minutes from the Reserve Bank’s April meeting where the board opted to pause after 10 interest rate rises in a row.
The Deloitte Access Economics report said the last 50 basis points of increases were “unnecessary” and had only served to dampen Australia’s growth outlook.
The lead author of the report and partner at the firm, Stephen Smith, said household spending would finish the year below where it started as the costs of servicing a mortgage ballooned.
Smith said most Australians would cope with the cash rate hitting 3.6% but many would not, with the cost of servicing an average $600,000 mortgage rising by more than $14,000 per year once all the rate hikes flow through.
“But that’s just the average, and there are plenty of mortgage holders on either side of those numbers,” he added.
Under these conditions, he said at least 300,000 households already have more cash flowing out through higher mortgage repayments and general expenses than coming in through wages and other sources of income.
“That should shock all of us,” Smith said.
Liberal reshuffle expected today
Hello from chilly Canberra, where it looks like the Liberal reshuffle is imminent.
Don’t expect too much change – the name of the game at the moment is keeping the Liberals together. As Paul Karp and I reported on the weekend, it looks like Michaelia Cash is in line to get the shadow attorney general portfolio, although Paul Fletcher was another name in contention (Michael Sukkar the other lawyer in the top three looks like he might be too busy already with his shadow portfolios).
We’ll find out soon, but it does seem like the Indigenous Australians shadow portfolio will be split between an existing cabinet minister (like Anne Ruston) and a new shadow assistant minister – most likely Jacinta Price. I think that will mean one more assistant shadow ministry than Labor has, which is allowed under the rules – it’s just up to the Liberal party to work out staffing, because you don’t get extra funding.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to the live blog. I’m Martin Farrer and these are the top overnight stories as my colleague gears up to start the day.
One of our top stories – and the one that’s also leading the websites of a few of our rivals – is news that Bill Shorten will stand up at the National Press Club today and admit that the national disability insurance scheme “is not delivering the outcomes Australians with disability need and the Australian public expects”. So not only is he pledging to root out fraud from the system, he’s basically saying it needs a full “reboot”. Stay tuned for details because this looks like being a big story today.
The voice to parliament will of course be another big one today, not least because our latest Guardian Essential poll finds that opposition is hardening. The proposed constitutional change still enjoys majority support with 60% in favour but the number of people describing themselves as a “hard no” was up three points to 26%, with “soft nos” down by three points to 14%.
Another top story is what we might calls “news you can use” and concerns the soaring cost of air travel to Europe this year. Basically, pent-up thirst for travel – or “revenge” travel in the industry jargon – is helping to drive up air fares to Europe almost 50% higher than the same period last year, with the average return fare to popular destinations now $2,571, according to data compiled by booking site Kayak.
Economists from one of Australia’s biggest consultancy firms are expecting a “consumer recession” largely triggered by two rate hikes they claim were needless. The prediction comes ahead of minutes from the Reserve Bank’s April meeting where the board opted to pause after 10 interest rate rises in a row. They’re coming up at 11.30am this morning.
