What we learned; Friday 18 May
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today – thanks so much for joining us. Here is a wrap of the day’s biggest stories:
NSW police are investigating the use of a Taser on a 95-year-old woman with dementia at an aged care facility.
Noel Pearson continued to be very critical of Mick Gooda for offering his view “executive government” should be removed from the voice proposal.
Anthony Albanese announced Australia will be imposing further sanctions on Russia.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said he wouldn’t describe Joe Biden’s cancelled trip to Australia as a “snub”.
ABC’s Q+A host, Stan Grant, has stepped down after racist abuse following his appearance on the broadcaster’s coronation coverage.
An Australian doctor, 88, has been reunited with family after being imprisoned for eight years in Burkina Faso.
The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, said China’s decision to resume importing Australian timber is a “very positive step”.
The deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, said she hopes sporting codes will also back the opposition’s call to ban gambling ads during sporting broadcasts.
Ninety per cent of teachers in New South Wales can’t afford to live where they teach, new research has found.
AMP was issued a $24m court-imposed penalty after it continued to charge the accounts of more than 2,000 deceased customers upon being notified of their deaths.
The Energy Security Board set up by the Turnbull government will be scrapped.
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Survivors of child sexual abuse will be further supported as they seek help or make a compensation claim, under a $142.2 million funding boost over the next five years, reports AAP.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth revealed on Friday an additional $142.2m in the May budget for the National Redress Scheme, to ensure survivors can access it in a timely and trauma-informed way.
The funding will be used to improve the processing of applications, and outcomes for survivors accessing the scheme.
Rishworth said the government’s priority was to make sure survivors did not face unnecessary delays, with improvements aimed at making it easier to apply.
The extra money will ensure the scheme itself is adequately funded, but importantly that the support services around it are too, she told Sky News.
The evidence shows that if people go through a redress support service then it is a smoother ride for them through the process.
Of the funding, $80.1m over the next four years will be dedicated to scheme support services, including tailored services for Indigenous and disabled people, and language assistance.
The minister cautioned that greater benefits of the program are still to come, as it takes time for people to understand they are entitled to redress.
But an increasing number of institutions joining the scheme shows confidence in it is growing, she said.
Eighty-one-year-old Queensland woman allegedly punched in face in own home by young intruder
AAP is reporting that an 81-year-old woman has been allegedly assaulted inside her home in Queensland’s north after joy-riding youths crashed two stolen vehicles before attempting to flee.
On Friday, four youths were taken into police custody in Townsville after authorities attended a two-vehicle crash along Dalrymple Road in Garbutt just prior to midday.
It is alleged between five and eight kids were seen fleeing the scene following the incident.
Police allege three of them entered the yard of a nearby property and attempted to commandeer another vehicle.
“They have climbed the back stairs of a house and have entered that house [in] which an 81-year-old female and 85-year-old male were sitting at home on the couch,” Townsville district duty officer, Scot Warrick, said.
It will be alleged the three offenders then demanded keys to a car and when told they would not be given, rummaged through some property.
“They then left that address but one of those males has then returned, forced open the back door and has punched the 81-year-old lady in the face, causing some minor injuries,” Senior Sergeant Warrick said.
“I have no words to describe that that type of behaviour.”
Two males and two females have been taken into custody.
Both vehicles involved in the crash were stolen, police confirmed, with a third car involved in dangerous convoy-like driving around Townsville.
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Energy Security Board’s days are done, energy ministers determine
Not a lot was expected from today’s gathering of energy ministers (some virtually) in Alice Springs, but one change seems noteworthy.
The Energy Security Board (ESB), set up almost six years ago by the Turnbull government, will be scrapped, according to a communique from the meeting.
“Recognising the strengthening of collaboration that has occurred between the Commonwealth and jurisdictions on critical energy market reforms under the National Energy Transformation Partnership, ministers agreed that the time is right to transition to a new operating model for the ESB to meet the challenges of the energy transformation in the national electricity market,” the statement said.
In its place from 1 July will be a “new model”, with an Energy Advisory Panel to coordinate market bodies’ advice to governments. The panel will include the heads of the three energy market bodies and the energy commissioner of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) as an observer.
There had been gripes about the ESB for some time and about whether it had passed its use-by date. (Back in the day, the board was to have implemented then-PM Malcolm Turnbull’s national energy guarantee, but that ended up being blocked by his own party room, sealing his fate in the process.)
The meeting discussed a range of other issues, including whether eastern Australia was entering the winter with enough gas in storage. The ACCC reassured ministers that there was sufficient supply to meet domestic needs.
The Australian Energy Market Operator now needs to ensure ample supply gets to where it is needed in a timely fashion.
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PM addresses Stan Grant Q+A departure, calls for respectful debate on voice
I just wanted to return for a moment to the PM’s presser in Hiroshima earlier, where he also addressed Stan Grant’s decision to leave the ABC’s Q+A program.
While Albanese did not appear to be across the exact details of the situation, he did say he respected Grant, and that, with the voice referendum on the horizon, online commentary remains respectful:
I would just say Stan Grant is someone who has my respect, and I wish him well. I think we need to be really cognisant in the lead up to the referendum that will be held in the fourth quarter of this year about some of the hurtful comments that have been made.
You only have to look at social media feeds to see some of the comments that, quite frankly, are completely out of line. We can have respect for different views without engaging in vilification, and that’s important.
Meanwhile, Sarah Ferguson, host of the ABC’s 7.30 program, has tweeted her support for Grant and her disgust at the abuse he has faced:
Stan Grant is an admired colleague. The abuse directed at him is disgusting. There are no words adequate to the horror we feel at this. Stan is brilliant and cherished.
— Sarah Ferguson (@FergusonNews) May 19, 2023
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Majid Kazemi execution by Iranian authorities prompts calls from Greens for sanctions
Majid Kazemi, a man arrested after participating in a peaceful protest in Iran in November, has been executed by Iranian authorities.
Kazemi had family in Australia who were campaigning on his behalf, and Australian Greens senator Jordon Steele-John was fulfilling the role of political sponsor, and working with his family.
Steele-John announced this afternoon that Kazemi was executed, adding that the Australian government has not done enough in response to the Iranian regime’s actions:
I am sharing this statement with a heavy heart, following the tragic news of the execution of Majid Kazemi by Iranian authorities.
Majid was loved by many and had his whole future ahead of him. Living in Isfahan, he had a successful business making kitchenware from copper.
In November 2022, Majid protested the Iranian authorities, who arrested him and forced him to confess under torture. He was sentenced to death despite no evidence presented to the court.
Australia has always advocated against the death penalty, however, the Australian government has not done enough in response to the ongoing, unlawful and brutal executions.
Alongside my Australian Greens colleagues, I am calling on the Australian federal government to expand the Magnitsky sanctions, including financial asset freezing and further visa bans on people linked to the Iranian regime, including key security officials, Basiji Militia, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp and the morality police. Additionally, we are calling on the Australian government to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
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The PM went on to address China’s decision to lift restrictions on imports of Australian timber, saying Australia’s relations with China need to “improve”.
Albanese said it was important any impediments be lifted, and that China needs to show it “believes in trade, according to international norms”:
It is important [that] any of the impediments to trade between China and Australia be lifted. It is in Australia’s interest to be able to export our wonderful barley and wine and other products to China, but it is in China’s interest to receive there as well because they are the best in the world, the best seafood, the best agricultural products, and I reckon the best wine as well.
But with China, our relationship is one which is on the improve, I think everyone can see that. We will continue to liaise with them on trade issues. It is important that China show that it supports trade, and any impediments don’t head in that direction to trade. So that’s important, that China show the world that it does believe in trade, according to international norms, which are there.
We have, on barley, we have suspended the action that we had taken there, and we hope that that provides for a win-win situation. That is what our objective is.
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Albanese announces further sanctions on Russia
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, speaking in Hiroshima this afternoon ahead of the G7 summit, has announced that Australia will be imposing further sanctions on Russia.
Albanese announced additional sanctions to join those already implemented against more than 1,000 people and entities who support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The latest sanctions target subsidiaries of Russian state-owned atomic energy corporation Rosatom that are involved in nuclear research, infrastructure development and weapons manufacturing.
They will also target Russia’s largest petroleum company Rosneft, gold company Polyus PJSC and steel company Severstal PJSC. The sanctions will also bid to ban the export of machinery to regions of Ukraine currently under Russian control and to Russia itself.
We will continue to work with the G7 and international partners to address the global impacts of Russia’s invasion.
This includes the financial, energy, defence and metals sectors that aid and sustain Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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China timber trade restrictions gone, barley could be next, Murray Watt says
Agriculture minister, Murray Watt, was on the ABC earlier today, saying it was a “really positive step” to see China lift restrictions on imports of Australian timber.
The restrictions were lifted earlier this week and Watt said there were also “positive signals on the barley front”.
We’d be hopeful that we can certainly get that resolved within that three-month window.
I think this is another really positive step forward in our government’s efforts to try to stabilise our trading relationship with China. It is obviously something that everyone from the prime minister to Penny Wong and Don Farrell have been putting a lot of effort into since we were elected and really what this means is that we now resume the opportunity to export timber, products to China.
Before the suspension was imposed by China about two and a half years ago, China was actually our largest export market for timber products. It was worth about $560 million to the timber industry at the time, and, of course that is a massive market to lose, and while we have been able to find other markets in the meantime, nothing has really been able to make up for the loss of that market to the timber industry.
Watt went on to say that the entire situation reflected the need to diversify Australia’s export markets to ensure industries aren’t hamstrung in this way again:
One of the things that Australia producers and I think all Australians have learned through this experience is that we do need to keep up the efforts to diversify our markets to make sure we are never in this sort of situation again, whether it be China or any other country, but the reality is that even with these impediments that we’ve had, China does remain our largest trading partner, including in agriculture, so it is an important market to resume connection with.
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Abuse of Grant was ‘abhorrent and unacceptable’
And just sticking with Stan Grant for a moment, ABC’s director of news, Justin Stevens, has addressed the situation, saying the abuse was “abhorrent and unacceptable”.
In a statement released this afternoon, Stevens says Grant was invited to take part in the coverage of the coronation “as a Wiradjuri man to discuss his own family’s experience and the role of the monarchy in Australia in the context of Indigenous history”.
He was not the instigator of the program.
The panel discussion in which he participated aired early as one segment in around eight hours of live Coronation coverage. The timing of this important discussion in the lead-up to the event has resulted in a strong response from some viewers. This is regrettable.
The responsibility for the coverage lies with ABC News management, not with Stan Grant. Yet it is he who has borne the brunt of a tirade of criticism, particularly in the usual sections of the media that target the ABC.
Reporting on his contribution to the panel discussion has been unfair, inaccurate and irresponsible. It has contributed to fuelling horrendous personal and racial abuse.
Any complaints, criticism – or vitriol – regarding the coverage should be directed to me, not to him.
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ABC’s Q+A host, Stan Grant, steps down after racist abuse following hosting of coronation
Thanks Natasha, Mostafa Rachwani with you to take you through the rest of the day’s news.
And I just wanted to start with some breaking news: Stan Grant has announced he is stepping down as host of the ABC’s Q+A program.
In a column published on the ABC website, Grant says he is walking away because of the amount of racist abuse he has received in the wake of hosting the King’s coronation:
Since the King’s coronation, I have seen people in the media lie and distort my words. They have tried to depict me as hate filled. They have accused me of maligning Australia.
Nothing could be further from the truth. My ancestors would not allow me to be filled with hate.
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Thanks for following along today. I’m handing over to Mostafa Rachwani. Have a great weekend!
A marine warning could bring dangerous rips, waves and strong rip currents to Lord Howe Island.
NSW SES is advising people in the warning area as follows:
Boats in harbours, estuaries or shallow coastal water should return to shore. Secure your boat and move away from the waterfront.
Vessels already out to sea should stay offshore in water at least 25m deep until further advised.
Obey all signs about beach and foreshore closures and instructions from emergency services.
If you have a home or business emergency plan, refer to it now.
Check to see if your neighbours are aware of this advice.
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NSW SES warns Lord Howe residents to take caution as tsunami may impact island
NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES) has issued an emergency warning for Lord Howe Island following an undersea 7.7 magnitude earthquake that triggered a tsunami.
The SES says the island may be impacted by dangerous rips, waves and strong ocean currents in the marine environment, with the possibility of localised overflow onto the immediate foreshore.
State duty commander, and assistant commissioner, Nicole Hogan, said people should avoid the immediate water’s edge of harbours, coastal estuaries, rock platforms and beaches at Lord Howe Island.
Boats in harbours, estuaries or shallow coastal water should return to shore and be secured. People should move away from the waterfront and obey all signs about beach and foreshore closures.
At present there is no threat to mainland Australia, and the NSW SES is in constant communication with the Bureau of Meteorology and is monitoring the situation.
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Ticks and crosses for Albanese government’s approach to environment in Human Rights’ report card
Human Rights’ report card is giving the Albanese government a middling assessment.
It says that while the government legislated a 43% emissions reduction target by 2030, it is still “actively supporting” the expansion of fossil fuels industries.
The organisation specifically called out the environment minister’s first approval of a new coal mine this month as well as the fact that the government rejected a request to reconsider approvals for three other coal mine projects or extensions.
This is contrary to earlier warnings by the United Nations, the International Energy Agency and the world’s leading climate scientists.
You can read their full report card in their statement here.
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Human Rights Watch acknowledges human rights improvements but urges government to do better
Leading up to the government’s first anniversary in office, Human Rights Watch is calling on the government to do better when it comes to delivering on their human rights pledges.
Sophie McNeill, the senior Australia researcher, said:
While the Albanese government has made some improvements on human rights issues, serious concerns remain that need to be swiftly addressed.
The Albanese government should take urgent, concrete steps to phase out fossil fuels, reduce the incarceration of First Nations people, and uphold Australia’s international legal obligations toward people in detention, refugees and asylum seekers.
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A year in office and Anthony Albanese is betting big on Australia’s better angels
This Sunday marks a year since Albanese’s Labor government won office.
Our political editor, Katharine Murphy, reflects on the anniversary and how the mantle of the office has settled on the nation’s leader here:
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While a tsunami warning is in place for Lord Howe Island, the Bureau of Meteorology say there is no threat to mainland Australia.
#LordHoweIsland under #Tsunami Warning to the marine environment after magnitude 7.7 #earthquake near Southeast of Loyalty Islands. No threat to Mainland Australia. 8cm Tsunami Wave observed in New Caledonia. Latest info here: https://t.co/Tynv3ZQpEq. pic.twitter.com/nvK3yXbDXx
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) May 19, 2023
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‘Covid credit card’ repayment plan in next week’s state budget, Victorian premier says
Paying back the ‘Covid credit card’ will be a priority for the Victorian government in next week’s state budget, AAP reports.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, maintains all of Labor’s election commitments will be delivered when the budget is handed down.
But he says the government needs to address the state’s growing debt, which is predicted to hit $166bn by mid-2026.
The money borrowed during the Covid pandemic was not “productive debt” that made the economy bigger, Andrews said. He told reporters:
It was like a Covid credit card.
We borrowed in an emergency to save lives, save jobs and get through a terrible, terrible event.
He said the government had a plan to repay the debt but would not release details ahead of the budget.
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Anthony Albanese arrives in Japan for G7 summit
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has just touched down in Hiroshima ahead of attending the G7 summit.
Australia is not part of the G7 but is one of several nations invited as an outreach partner.
Some of the G7 leaders who are already in Japan laid wreaths at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park earlier this morning.
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AMP ordered to pay $24m for charging dead customers
AMP has been issued a $24m court-imposed penalty after it continued to charge the accounts of more than 2,000 deceased customers upon being notified of their deaths.
The federal court issued the penalty after finding four AMP companies breached the law by charging life insurance premiums and advice fees to the superannuation accounts, which generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for the financial services firm.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic), which pursued the civil proceedings, said the misconduct represented a fundamental breach of trust between a customer and their financial services provider.
Asic deputy chair, Sarah Court, said:
The AMP companies had been notified that these customers had died, and despite this, continued to charge premiums and fees on their super accounts.
The practice of some financial firms to charge dead customer accounts was one of the biggest revelations of the banking royal commission that recommended widespread changes to the sector in its 2019 report.
AMP acknowledged the court decision in a statement on Friday and said that it had remediated all affected customer accounts.
AMP group general counsel, David Cullen, said:
We have made significant changes to our systems and processes in recent years designed to prevent this from recurring.
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Nicolas Cage heading to Australia in September to shoot new thriller The Surfer
In news that will delight Nicolas Cage fans across the country, the actor is coming to Australia.
Cage will be filming his new psychological thriller The Surfer in Australia from September this year, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
In The Surfer, when a man (Cage) returns to his beachside hometown in Australia, many years since building a life for himself in the US, he is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a local gang of surfers who claim strict ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. Wounded, ‘The Surfer’ decides to remain at the beach, declaring war against those in control of the bay. But as the conflict escalates, the stakes spin wildly out of control, taking ‘The Surfer’ to the edge of his sanity.
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BOM issues tsunami warning for Lord Howe Island
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a tsunami warning for Lord Howe Island after an undersea earthquake southeast of the Loyalty Islands.
The 7.6 magnitude earthquake occurred at around 12.57pm AEST, with the BOM saying that at this stage no tsunami waves have been recorded.
They say that if a tsunami is generated, it will affect Lord Howe Island from after 4.15pm local time:
The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre is closely monitoring the situation and will advise immediately if there is cause for concern.
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NSW records 14,699 new Covid cases and 61 deaths
NSW has recorded 14,699 new Covid cases in the seven days to Thursday, with 61 lives lost.
COVID-19 weekly update – Friday 19 May 2023
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) May 18, 2023
In the 7 days to 4pm Thursday 18 May:
• 14,699 new cases have been reported: including 8,943 positive rapid antigen tests (RATs) and 5,756 positive PCR tests.
• 61 lives lost. pic.twitter.com/Iq27rvDNtM
There are 1,322 people in hospital with the virus, with 24 in ICU.
This is a considerable uptick in cases from last week when NSW recorded just over 12,000 cases and 53 deaths.
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Victoria records 28 Covid deaths and 327 people in hospital
There were 9,316 new Covid cases in the weekly reporting period and 17 people are in intensive care.
That’s another big jump from 7,594 cases last week and 6,452 in the first week of May. Deaths have come down since 44 were recorded last week.
This week we reported 9,316 new cases with a daily average hospital occupancy of 327 and 17 patients in ICU. 28 deaths were reported in the past 7 days.
— Victorian Department of Health (@VicGovDH) May 19, 2023
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives. 🧵 1/3 pic.twitter.com/nDZSq0d0Ht
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Liberals out in force at Chinese consulate event in Sydney
China’s consulate in Sydney hosted a welcoming for its new deputy consul general, Wang Chunsheng on Thursday evening, hours after China lifted its ban on timber imports from Australia and PM Anthony Albanese announced US President Joe Biden had cancelled his visit to the city.
Wang and his boss, consul general Zhou Limin, addressed the audience in English, touting the opportunities the Middle Kingdom offers Australia, particularly if the country’s middle class swells to 800m as projected over the next decade.
Spotted among the dignitaries were federal manager of opposition business, Paul Fletcher, newly minted state Liberal MP Matt Cross, and recently retired NSW Liberal ministers, Geoff Lee (whose grandfather arrived from China’s Guangdong province in 1920) and Jonathan O’Dea.
The latter’s successor as speaker of the NSW lower house, independent MP Greg Piper, was also in attendance.
Unaffordable housing will amplify teacher shortages, researcher says
Eacott said housing affordability had been overlooked in the teacher shortage crisis because of other issues like increasing workloads, poor working conditions and stagnant pay.
But he said the high price of housing was pushing teachers to choose between forgoing their salary for housing near their school or enduring long commutes.
Housing affordability is one of those understated reasons why, and not doing anything to address it will only amplify the problem.
Commutes of more than an hour would not be uncommon … the school system is struggling to find enough teachers as it is. If teachers can’t afford to live near or within reasonable commuting distance of their schools, we can only expect those shortfalls to continue to grow.
Projections indicate NSW will need 13,000 more teachers in the next decade to meet student demand.
Eacott says salary loading for teachers working in severely unaffordable areas would be one potential policy solution that could be implemented in the short term to help alleviate the cost of housing, as well as considering teachers and other essential workers in infrastructure planning when developing future cities.
We rely so much on our teachers, so it’s only fair we take steps towards providing them and other essential workers with affordable and secure housing options.
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Most NSW teachers can’t afford to live where they teach, study finds
Ninety per cent of teachers in New South Wales can’t afford to live where they teach, new research has found.
The UNSW Sydney study found housing affordability was a major issue hitting a sector already plagued by shortages and teachers were being priced out of housing near their schools, with many areas too expensive for educators at the top of the pay scale.
Analysing quarterly sales and rental reports across the state, the study found there were 675 schools where the median rent for a one-bedroom place was unaffordable on a graduate’s salary.
For experienced educators at the top of the pay scale, 70 schools were in an area where a single-bedroom home was also unaffordable – equivalent to a person spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
Study author Prof Scott Eacott said the last time a first-year teacher’s salary could comfortably afford the rent for a one-bedroom dwelling was around a decade ago.
Fundamentally, there’s been an increasing gap between salary and the costs of housing that the standard pay rise isn’t covering, and it’s pushing teachers further away from their workplaces or out of the profession entirely.
The issue is not just limited to teachers, but all essential workers who are increasingly finding it difficult to find affordable places to live within a reasonable distance of their workplace.
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Australia’s consulate general has officially opened in Kolkata. The assistant foreign affairs minister, Tim Watts, was part of the ceremony.
A fun night - including with some impressive dancing - as we formally opened Australia’s Consulate-General in Kolkata. pic.twitter.com/gn25c7EB5O
— Tim Watts MP (@TimWattsMP) May 19, 2023
The Consulate is boosting our trade and investment engagement with eastern India, fostering new connections between people, and deepening our cultural links. pic.twitter.com/y5QMeFcCB3
— Tim Watts MP (@TimWattsMP) May 19, 2023
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No police officer is above the law, says NSW assistant commissioner
That press conference about the incident in which 95-year-old Clare Nowland was Tasered by police has wrapped up now. Nowland has dementia and was living at an aged care facility.
Cotter said out of procedural fairness to the officer involved, he won’t say whether he is facing criminal charges.
What I’ve said is that no officer, not one of us, is above the law. All our actions will be scrutinised robustly from a criminal perspective as well as a departmental perspective of and if it dips into either of those domains you can be rest assured that if it lands there – I’m talking in a generic sense – criminal actions will be taken.
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'She had a walking frame. But she had a knife,' NSW police say
On whether she was engaging in a threat at the time she was Tasered, Cotter says:
At the time she was Tasered she was approaching police, it is fair to say at a slow pace.
She had a walking frame. But she had a knife.
I can’t take it any further as to what was going through anyone’s mind with the use of a Taser.
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Ninety-five-year-old Clare Nowland was in treatment room alone when police arrived, says Cotter
Cotter clarifies the incident did not take place in Clare Nowland’s room:
It was in a room. She had left her bedroom and had walked around the nursing home facility.
I’m not sure exactly how long, but probably for a couple of hours she was out of her bed.
She had gone to the kitchen, she had access to a knife, and she was in a treatment room, I think it is classified as, where medical treatment – a small confined space room – where treatment would normally be administered during working hours.
And she was in that room by herself.
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Police and paramedics tried to de-escalate and get Nowland to drop knife: Cotter
Asked about de-escalation tactics deployed before the Taser was used, Cotter says:
The police and a number of staff, both paramedics and otherwise, engaged in conversation with her to de-escalate the matter for her to drop the knife and that went on in a conversation for a number of minutes.
I’m not going to talk about the exact words used, but the words were clear to de-escalate the matter.
Clare approach the doorway where the police were and at that stage the one officer discharged the Taser.
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However, Cotter says it’s not in the public interest to release the footage while it forms a “significant and integral” part of the investigation.
Body-worn camera footage of Tasering is ‘confronting’: Cotter
Cotter confirms there is “confronting” police body cam footage of the incident:
I have seen the footage. Both officers had their body-worn video activated.
The incident in its totality is captured, both audio and visual, and I have seen it and I understand what I’ve seen.
… It is confronting footage.
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Police officer involved will have duty type reviewed, says assistant commissioner
What actions will be taken against the officer involved in the incident?
Cotter:
Clearly his duty type will be under review, understanding that this is a live investigation and has the opportunity to be spoken to and be interviewed.
If at some stage we believe interim action has to be taken then it will be taken.
At this stage, he is nonoperational, he is not in the workplace, and any ultimate sanction, if that is to be determined [as] an end result, that will be taken.
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‘We … have discussed it at every level,’ says Cotter of whether Nowland posed a threat to officers
Asked about the public outrage over whether Nowland really could have threatened officers, Cotter says it’s been discussed at every level of the police force:
It’s a matter for concern … We have spoken about it at the upper echelons of this organisation, have discussed it at every level, and are very concerned about what occurred the other day that’s why we have the investigation live that we have at the moment.
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The police officer had 12 years’ experience in the force, Cotter says:
The officer involved specifically has about 12 years of experience.
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Cotter asked whether he thinks officers were at risk of being overpowered by 43kg, 5’2” 95-year-old woman
A reporter asks Cotter, given Clare Nowland is 5’2” and weighs 43kg, whether he thinks that the officers were at risk of being overpowered.
Cotter:
Subjectively I cannot transport myself to the mind of the actual officer or officers. What I can say is that this is a very live and serious investigation of which the homicide squad is investigating and in the rights to everyone involved, the investigation process has to carry on.
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Tasers meant for self-defence, but assessment of threats ‘very subjective’, says assistant police commissioner
Peter Cotter, the NSW assistant police commissioner, is now taking questions.
Asked about his reaction when he heard about the incident, Cotter speaks to the reasons why police officers carry weapons:
The reasons why we carry weapons and equipment that we do is clearly to defend ourselves, principally the principles of self-defence. Defend yourself from harm or hurt or potential death. Equally, protect your colleague, your work colleague and to protect members of the public. Each of the pieces of equipment that we hold or carry a significance and I suppose are a trigger or condition that authorised the use.
If I speak about tasers, per se, and not specifically about this incident, the rules governing that you can use your Taser as a police officer, and again it’s very subjective to the threats facing you at that time, so we can’t talk too much specifically about the incident, but generally, we say it is there is a piece of equipment to defend yourself when you think your life is in danger or someone else’s life is in danger, where you have a genuine fear and threat of being physically overpowered, if there is a violent confrontation occurring but of course, those facts have to be real.
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Elderly woman Tasered by police going ‘in and out of consciousness’, says Cotter
Cotter says Clare Nowland has been going in and out of consciousness:
As we meet here today, the status or the health of Clare is that she still remains in hospital, she remains in and out of consciousness, her family with her, she is comfortable but I am not privy to talk any more about her absolute health diagnosis or prognosis.
On behalf of the family who we have spoken to today, they literally don’t want to say too much, they do want to say too much to me as a conveyor of any message and equally, they don’t want to say too much personally to the press.
What they have asked of us is to express a behalf of them that if they could be left alone to attend to their mother, grandmother and the health of the family and the sadness they feel at this stage is their main concern.
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Speaking about what that investigation will involve, Cotter says:
Numerous people will be spoken to: witnesses, … family, those present, police; statements will be taken and an investigation [which will be] ultimately reviewed by the professional standards command of the NSW police force with clear oversight from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission of NSW.
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Police launch 'level 1' critical incident investigation into Tasering of 95-year-old woman
Cotter says the police critical incident investigation launched is the highest level investigation, a “level 1” classification:
Following on from that specific incident, an investigation was commenced.
As is the norm when part of a police operational response, and someone is injured, whether that be a member of the public or the police themselves, whether it be an offender or perhaps in this case Clare, an investigation is commenced, that is called a critical incident investigation.
Given what was before us at midday on Wednesday, this investigation was nominated as a level 1 critical incident.
The criteria for a level 1 critical incident classification is … an injury that leads to death or imminent death … The policy states that in a level 1 critical incident, the homicide squad are involved.
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Significant concerns for 95-year-old Clare Nowland’s health: Cotter
Cotter says there are significant concerns for Nowland’s health:
She is a 95-year-old lady who suffers from some of the general frailties of that age, but the injury that she suffered as a result of hitting her head on the floor has rendered her bedridden at the moment.
I’m not in a position to talk about her diagnosis or her prognosis, except to say that she remains in a critical condition and her family and extended family surround her and have done since about midday on Wednesday.
There are significant concerns clearly for her health and where that may lead.
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Senior constable ‘activated his Taser’ after Nowland did not drop knife, Cotter says
Cotter says Clare Nowland did not drop the knife when police commenced negotiations:
For whatever reason, she did not do that.
One of the police officers who responded, a senior constable, activated his Taser which struck Clare, whereby she fell to the ground, striking her head.
Immediate medical care and attention was delivered to Clare by the nursing staff and the paramedics and also the officers involved.
As a result of that, the injury to her head, she was taken to the district hospital which is where she remains today.
It is equally fair to say that she is in a state of ill-health.
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Police found 95-year-old Clare Nowland at nursing home holding a steak knife, Cotter says
Cotter is now going into the details of what occurred on Wednesday when police were called to Clare Nowland’s nursing home:
On Wednesday morning, the 17th, police were called to the nursing home in Cooma.
The call was along the lines of one of the patients, Clare, having a knife in her possession.
Paramedics and police responded, and Clare was located within the nursing home facility.
At the time she was in her room, she did have a knife in her hand and it is fair to say that she was armed with that knife.
The knife in question was a steak knife, with a serrated edge, that she had obtained from the kitchen area of the nursing home a couple of hours earlier.
Negotiations commenced with Clare to essentially drop the knife.
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Cotter:
We have extended again our sympathy and our concern for what [the family] have gone through over the last couple of days and Clare’s health.
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Assistant police commissioner says senior officers have been at bedside of 95-year-old woman Tasered on Wednesday
The assistant police commissioner, Peter Cotter, speaks of the “care and the empathy and sympathy” felt for the family of 95-year-old Clare Nowland:
But of course her legacy is a number of children and grandchildren.
We feel for all her family. We have been in contact on the ground there at Cooma with our officers, our senior police who have been with the family and been equally at the bedside of Clare since Wednesday.
We have liaised with the family, talking to them candidly about what has occurred.
As a senior member of the organisation and on behalf of the commission of police, I have also spoken with one of the daughters who is essentially the spokesperson in behalf of the family.
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NSW police have just stepped up to give a press conference about the 95-year-old woman Tasered by police in an aged care home.
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Marles: Australia-US alliance is ‘is the centrepiece of our national security architecture, of our worldview’
Richard Marles is acting prime minister with Albanese attending the G7, and he’s speaking in Ipswich in Queensland about the importance of the US and Australian leaders’ meeting at the summit:
The president and the prime minister will be meeting at a time of huge consequence for our region, for the world, but also our relationship with the United States.
Earlier this year we announce the optimal pathway for Australia acquiring a nuclear-powered submarine capability under the banner of Aukus. That will be really essential in terms of the talks we have with the United States.
… The alliance between Australia and America really is the centrepiece of our national security architecture, of our worldview, and this is going to be a really important meeting between the two of them.
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Pilots hit out at Qantas over lease decision
Pilots have hit out at Qantas over its plan to lease aircraft from Finnair, because the deal includes using the Finnish carrier’s crew and pilots with the planes.
Earlier today, Qantas announced it would lease two A330s from Finnair to fly between Sydney and Singapore and Sydney and Bangkok for two and a half years, as it patiently awaits delivery of its multibillion-dollar aircraft order to renew its ageing fleet in coming years.
The Australian and International Pilots Association, a union representing Qantas pilots, has blasted the “appalling” decision, with its president, captain Tony Lucas, calling Friday “a sad day for our great airline”. He was especially critical of the announcement alongside a plan for Qantas to convert two of its own A330 passenger planes into freighters.
Lucas said:
Qantas’ decision to wet lease two Finnair aircraft is shocking, bitterly disappointing and could have been avoided with more effective management decisions … The decision to wet lease illustrates the failures of the fleet planning processes of the last five years and certainly recent decisions made during the pandemic recovery.
Not only is it disappointing for our hardworking and dedicated pilots but it is also disappointing for loyal Qantas passengers. Using the words of Qantas, stepping on to one of its aircraft is supposed to “feel like home”. Sadly this won’t be the case for passengers on these flights.
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Watchdog ‘monitoring’ police investigation of Taser use
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission says it is “independently monitoring” the internal police investigation into the use of a Taser on a frail 95-year-old woman Clare Nowland in Cooma.
In a short statement, the LECC said:
The NSWPF are investigating the circumstances of the incident and the investigation will be reviewed by the Professional Standards Command. The LECC is independently monitoring the investigation under Part 8 of the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Act 2016 to ensure public confidence in the investigation.
Police are expected to front the media later this morning to explain why a Taser was used on Nowland in an aged care facility about 4am on Wednesday, which caused her to fall back, hit her head, and sustain life-threatening injuries.
Police say the duty status of the officer responsible is under review. It has set up a critical incident response team, including homicide squad members, to investigate the use of force.
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Dutton: Noel Pearson ‘went overboard’ in criticisms of Mick Gooda
We brought you Noel Pearson’s fairly scathing assessment of the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner Mick Gooda, who is pushing the yes campaign to compromise.
In an interview with ABC Radio this morning, Pearson metaphorically accused Gooda of “wetting the bed far too early in the day” in suggesting the campaign remove executive government from the voice proposal.
Dutton is saying he believes Pearson overstepped the mark with his comments:
I would say [Gooda] is a person [with] a big heart, enormous heart, a very decent man, and I don’t think he deserved the assessment that was given of him this morning.
Noel is a wonderful Australian. He is a colourful character. By his own admission he has a pretty sharp tongue. I thought this morning he went overboard in relation to Mick.
Mick is a good person, a good man; he wants what is best for Australians. There are many Indigenous Australians who are supporting the voice and many who are opposed to it. We should have a respectful debate. That is what I would ask of Noel Pearson [and] of everyone in the debate.
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Dutton says Australians are starting to work out Albanese sees “political advantage out of the voice being a wedge against the Coalition”.
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Counterproductive for ‘elites within sport’ to take position on voice to parliament: Dutton
Dutton says he believes it’s counterproductive for sporting codes to be advocating a position on the voice:
Look, I actually think we’ve got to have an honest conversation here.
I think it’s counterproductive for the sporting codes to be out there advocating a position because most of their fans are really scratching their head as to why the elites within sport – particularly the elites involved in the administration of the game, taking a position in relation to the voice, when those who are watching a football match are happy to hear the arguments for and against and have the detail and understand what it is that they are being asked to vote for at the referendum later this year.
They will make their own minds up. They don’t need to be told by the CEO of the organisation, they don’t need to be told by some multimillionaire living in a capital city in a mansion how they should be voting when they are struggling out in the suburbs.
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Bipartisan support on gambling ad ban in the interest of the nation, says Dutton
Speaking of Dutton’s push to ban gambling advertising, the opposition leader has been speaking about the matter this morning at a Salvation Army outpost in Brisbane:
We can’t allow a culture to continue where young people are introduced at a younger and younger age to betting and gambling culture because, for many Australians, it becomes unmanageable.
… That’s why we made the announcement last week. And here at the Salvation Army, you see the frontline service and those volunteers and employees in the Salvation Army who are working with people with addiction, who have a gambling addiction, who have lost a fortune, who have lost their family or their house.
Dutton says while he hasn’t heard a response from the prime minister on the issue, it’s in the interest of the entire nation for his proposal to receive bipartisan support.
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Sussan Ley urges sporting bodies to back ban on gambling ads during broadcasts
The deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, says she hopes sporting codes will also back the opposition’s call to ban gambling ads during sporting broadcasts if they are following the “moral compulsion” to back the Indigenous voice to parliament.
Ley was asked about the no campaign being outnumbered when it comes to peak sporting bodies after the news yesterday that the AFL commission will support the yes campaign, joining Football Australia, Tennis Australia, the Australian Olympic committee, and Commonwealth Games Australia.
She responded:
The sporting bodies can take whatever position they choose. I would say to them, if they’re looking at moral compulsion they all might also look at the changes Peter Dutton announced to gambling advertising and big codes with a conscience, and I hope they back that in too.
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Queensland’s new housing minister visits public housing construction site
Less than 24 hours after she was sworn in, Queensland’s new housing minister, Meaghan Scanlon, donned hi-vis and a hard hat at a construction site in the state’s south-east.
The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, deputy premier, Steven Miles, and Scanlon fronted the cameras on Friday following a cabinet reshuffle that took many by surprise. The trio reannounced the construction of 281 homes – including 75 social and affordable housing units – at a retirement community, Parkside Yeronga.
Scanlon, a 30-year-old renter, said she was “up for the challenge” as housing minister.
She confirmed she had already met with Micah Projects to discuss emergency and crisis accommodation.
I know from a public housing perspective, it’s really hard to find safe places.
The real estate and housing sector is complex, and we need to get the balance right. We need to unlock supply.
But Palaszczuk batted off questions about further changes such as limiting the amount rent can be increased by. She said the government had “already made a very serious decision” about limiting the frequency of rent increases to once a year.
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A little bit more information on the WorkCover changes to mental health claims related to anxiety, overwork and stress, via the premier’s media release:
WorkSafe will update the test for workers receiving WorkCover weekly payments beyond two-and-a-half years by introducing a Whole Person Impairment test of greater than 20 per cent – to more objectively measure the degree of physical and mental impairment.
Additionally, workers who experience stress and burnout will no longer be able to access weekly benefits from WorkCover – instead, they will be eligible for provisional payments for 13 weeks to cover medical treatment, while enhanced psychosocial supports will be provided to help them return to work or explore training pathways.
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‘We can do way better’ with upfront care to return Victorians to work, doctor says
Occupational physician, Dr Mary Wyatt, is now speaking. She’s supportive of the changes, saying the longer people are on WorkCover, the worse they are for it:
For over 20 years we’ve been advocating for better systems to help people back to work.
We see the negative impacts [on] people day in and day out, when they’re subjected to schemes that are not set up and are working in their best interests.
… If you care right upfront and look after people in those first few weeks, we can do way better.
And even better than that is prevention, and particularly prevention of psychosocial hazards or mental health issues at work. So we are so pleased to hear about Return to Work Victoria and a coordinated effort to actually tackle those problems in the early months.
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Pearson on WorkCover changes:
This is a sensible balance and a sensible pathway forward. And I think we really have done the hard work to get it right.
As the premier has indicated, we need to make sure that we get the legislation right going forward. And that’s going to require more time and more work with unions in business because this is complicated legislation.
But we are absolutely up for the challenge that lies before us because we can’t afford to get this wrong. I don’t think anyone wants to see a situation where we do not have a functional, solvent, sustainable workers’ compensation scheme in the state of Victoria.
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WorkCover changes to repair ‘fundamentally broken’ scheme, minister says
The minister for WorkSafe, Danny Pearson, is now speaking about the importance of the changes to WorkCover:
We’ve been honest and upfront, the scheme is fundamentally broken and it needs to be repaired.
Back in 1986 when the scheme first started, 2% of claims were mental health claims; at the moment they’re 16% and they represent 50% of the scheme’s cost.
… We just cannot sit idly by and let this happen and I will not let the scheme fail.
… So we’ve come up with a package of reforms and as the premier has alluded to, not everyone’s happy. The board suggested that we should have a premium increase at over 2%.
We thought that was too excessive. We could have had a whole person impairment test at 130 weeks, it could have been 35% like in South Australia or 29%. Again, we thought that was too excessive.
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Andrews also says people currently on WorkCover will not be affected:
If you are a beneficiary of this scheme, this does not affect you; you are grandfathered, in essence. This is for prospective clients, for those who have not yet reached the 135-week mark.
There will be a legislative review of all of the changes in three years’ time from the time they pass parliament.
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Victoria to introduce ‘whole person impairment test’ for lifetime work compensation
The Victorian government is also limiting eligibility for claims relating to anxiety, overwork and stress. Andrews says:
The number of mental health claims, as they’re sometimes called, particularly for issues of stress and burnout, has grown incredibly.
Now, we need to provide people that make those claims with support. We need to make sure that we wrap support around them, but not have them in a situation where they are away from work and unable to work for years and years and years. That is not a good outcome.
… In order to get those lifetime benefits more broadly, you will need to pass a new test, a 20% whole person impairment test, and that’s considerably lower than other parts of our country where a similar test operates … [it’s] 35% in South Australia, for instance.
As part of the changes, there will be further obligations on employers to provide “mental and emotional, psychological safety”, Andrews says.
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More on Victoria’s WorkCover changes
Andrews says premiums will increase from 1.27% of businesses’ payroll to 1.8%. The government is also making legislative changes to the scheme, including setting up a new agency called Return to Work Victoria.
Here’s how he explains its function:
That will be to [provide services to] people who don’t have a catastrophic injury but – if not well managed, if not properly supported, if not given the care and attention and support that they need – can find themselves on benefits, locked out of the labor market [and] not well enough, not confident enough, to be able to come back to work.
That agency will be all about bespoke case management, and also working with employers, to make sure that they provide the safest environment, and an environment where, if there’s an issue, that issue can be dealt with.
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‘I always want to encourage more women into politics,’ says Ley on Fadden byelection
The deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, is stopping short of saying she’d like to see a woman preselected for the Fadden byelection following Stuart Robert officially tendering his resignation yesterday.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Ley said the gender of the Liberal candidate was a decision for the state division:
I want to see more women in parliament and I have never stepped away from that.
Obviously the selection of the candidate who will be fighting for Fadden …. it is up to the Queensland division who they select.
Yes, I always want to encourage more women into politics whether that be directly into representing the party as a candidate or as an organisation more broadly stepping up in the local government.
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Daniel Andrews announces changes to WorkCover
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is announcing sweeping changes to the state’s WorkCover scheme, which he says is “broken”:
The number of claims and the cost of claims has tripled since 2010. And what we know is that if people are consigned to hundreds and hundreds of weeks of benefits, being away from friends, co-workers, connection, productive work, then that’s simply no good for them and their family. It’s no good for them financially as well.
Of course, all those health impacts … come from a system that should be about getting you back to work.
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Officer responsible for Taser ‘under review’, police say
The position of a police officer who used a Taser on a 95-year-old woman in a Cooma aged care facility, leaving her in a critical condition, is “under review”, police say.
Police will front the media at 11.30am to explain why its officers deployed a Taser on elderly woman Clare Nowland, who suffers from dementia.
In a statement, police confirmed the officer responsible is having his duty status under review.
It also confirmed the homicide squad has been brought in to help investigate the incident. In a statement, police said:
About 4.15am on Wednesday (17 May 2023), emergency services were called to an aged care facility on Binalong Crescent, Cooma, after reports a resident was armed with a knife.
Officers attached to Monaro Police District attended, along with NSW Ambulance paramedics, and located the woman, still armed with a knife.
Police attempted to speak to the woman. During this interaction, a senior constable discharged his taser, causing the woman to fall and strike her head.
The 95-year-old woman was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics before she was taken to Cooma District Hospital, where she remains in a critical condition.
A critical incident team comprised of officers from State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident, including the discharge of a taser.
That investigation is subject to independent review.
The officer’s duty status is under review.
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NSW Council for Civil Liberties calls for independent probe of police’s Tasering of 95-year-old woman
The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties has called for an independent, external investigation of police’s use of a Taser on a frail 95-year-old woman in a Cooma aged care facility on Wednesday.
Police used the Taser on Clare Nowland, 95, at Yallambee Lodge, leaving her in a critical condition.
The council’s president, Josh Pallas, said the investigation should not be conducted internally by police.
Police should never investigate police. The NSW Ombudsman and the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission should initiate an inquiry into this because it transcends issues of police powers with mental health and ageing.
We have heard nothing from the NSW minister for ageing, Jodie Harrison or the minister for mental health, Rose Jackson. I would have expected given the significance of this matter both ministers would be on the front foot and proactive to ensure that this never happens again.
We need to ensure that no matter what the circumstances of this case that our elderly nursing home residents are protected. That includes protection from excessive police force.
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Qantas announces new international services as company continues post-pandemic recovery
Qantas is continuing to ramp up its international operations, leasing additional planes from other airlines as it waits for newly bought planes to arrive to replace its ageing fleet.
While Qantas’ domestic operations recovered faster, its international capacity is still at just 84% of its pre-pandemic levels. Aiming to reach 100% of pre-Covid levels by March 2024, Qantas on Friday announced a slew of new international services, including increasing flights to Tokyo, Los Angeles and New York from October.
Qantas also announced it would lease two Airbus A330s from Finnair to boost its fleet, as it patiently waits to re-energise what has become one of the oldest fleets among its competitors. Qantas continues to reactivate planes including its A380s that have been stored in the desert since the pandemic.
Elsewhere, Sydney airport has announced its passenger traffic reached 83.9% of pre-pandemic levels in April. The airport’s chief executive, Geoff Culbert, said Chinese passport holders now ranked third in the list of top 10 nationalities to fly through Sydney in April. While this market is still at 53.8% of pre-pandemic levels, Culbert said the momentum since China reopened its borders has been pronounced.
Culbert said:
At the end of this month, Sydney airport will have seven mainland Chinese passenger carriers offering 30 return services per week, with even more flights to be added soon. That’s remarkable considering we started the year with just three airlines flying four return services to mainland China a week.
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UK and US participation in Aukus a sign of their serious concerns for Pacific, Dutton says
Dutton says he agrees with Marles on the importance of prioritising the navy. He goes on to say the US and UK’s participation in Aukus is proof they hold serious concerns in the region:
But we have to be realistic about the militarisation within the region; under the Aukus deal that the Labor party signed up to, there will be four nuclear powered submarines from the US and one from the UK essentially based in our waters from 2027.
So that tells you a lot about what the Americans see, what Nato sees. They don’t start moving their assets, significant assets like submarines and relocating them from other theatres or other seas and locations into our part of the world unless they’re very concerned about what they’re very concerned about what the next few years might hold.
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Defence minister says improving Australian navy’s firepower is front of mind
The former defence force chief Sir Angus Houston yesterday told the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies that Australia’s Navy lacked the necessary weaponry and firepower to combat China.
Circling back to Marles’ Today show interview, the defence minister said the navy was front of mind as evidenced by the Aukus deal to acquire nuclear-powered subs:
It is very important that we bring a lot more potency to our defence force in general, but [Houston] was talking specifically about our navy and that is very much in the forefront of our minds in terms of how we respond to the defence strategic review.
Which is why we’re looking at our surface fleet right now but also why we’re moving down the path of acquiring a nuclear-powered submarine capability.
It is really important that we are doing everything we can to meet this challenge because we do face a very complex time.
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Social services minister announces $142.2m funding boost to survivors’ compensation scheme
Survivors of child sexual abuse will be further supported as they seek help or make a compensation claim, AAP reports.
The social services minister Amanda Rishworth has today revealed an additional $142.2m funding boost to the national redress scheme over the next five years, to ensure survivors can access it in a timely and trauma-informed way.
Rishworth said the government’s priority was to make sure survivors did not face unnecessary delays.
This extra funding will allow more survivors access to free, confidential, practical, and emotional support for those applying or considering applying to the scheme.
Of the funding, $80.1m over the next four years will be dedicated to scheme support services, including tailored services for Indigenous and disabled people and language assistance.
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Yunupingu’s vision ‘elevated us all’, says PM in tweets paying tribute to Indigenous leader
Before he jetted off to Japan, the PM attended the public memorial for Gumatji leader Yunupingu in northeast Arnhem Land community where he was born.
Albanese said Yunupingu, who died on 3 April, “elevated us all”:
It’s often said we stand on the shoulders of giants.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 18, 2023
Yunupingu was a giant who made sure we could. He lifted us up so that we could see as far as he did.
And what a vision he shared with us. A vision so grounded in all that was just and fair and right it elevated us all. pic.twitter.com/jISEaYhL0H
He walked in two worlds with power and grace, and he worked to make them whole.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 18, 2023
Now he walks in another place, but has left such great footsteps for us to follow here in this one. pic.twitter.com/vq9TZgS2Sg
You can read more about the memorial from our Indigenous affairs editor Lorena Allam:
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Dutton continues opposition’s criticisms of Labor budget
Dutton also continues the opposition’s main line of attack on the Albanese’s government budget, claiming it’s inflationary. Economists says otherwise but the opposition leader paints a bleak picture of “middle Australia” struggling:
I think in the budget for middle Australia, we have that whole class of people now [where] Labor is creating the essential working poor, working their guts out, barely keeping their heads above water.
Asked if there was any happiness to be found, Dutton says:
Lots of happiness. In two years time I hope we can vote a bad government out and Richard can find a full time job at the show there.
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‘It’s important that like-minded countries come together,’ Dutton says
Opposition leader Peter Dutton is appearing opposite Richard Marles, and says meetings like the Quad and the G7 are crucial:
It’s important that like-minded countries come together to express our commitment to freedom of speech, to freedom of navigation, to all of the values that have stood us well over a long time. And I think it’s an important optic for the world as well to see all of the leaders there.
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Biden’s cancellation not a snub, Marles insists
The media is still trying to get the Albanese government to admit it feels bruised after Joe Biden cancelled his Australian visit for the Quad leaders meeting.
But deputy prime minister Richard Marles tells the Today show he wouldn’t describe what’s happened in terms of a snub:
You’ve got a leader of a country who is dealing with an urgent issue in terms of their domestic politics. It’s unfortunate. But it happens. It’s nothing more than that.
Marles emphasises that Anthony Albanese and the other Quad leaders will still be meeting on the sidelines of the G7, which he is pretty chuffed Australia has been invited to:
It says a lot about Australia’s standing in the world right now. It says a lot, I think particularly about our relationship with Japan, actually, given that they’re the hosts of this.
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Australian doctor, 88, reunited with family after eight years in captivity in Mali
An Australian doctor has been reunited with his family after more than seven years in captivity in west Africa.
Dr Kenneth Elliott and his wife Jocelyn Elliott were kidnapped by extremists in northern Burkina Faso near the border with Mali in 2016. Jocelyn Elliott was released a month later in February 2016.
Over seven years later, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says Elliott has been released “safe and well” after tireless work by the government and Elliott’s family.
Wong acknowledged the strength and resilience of Elliott and members of his family “through the most difficult of circumstances”.
The family said:
We wish to express our thanks to God and all who have continued to pray for us.
We express our relief that Dr Elliott is free and thank the Australian Government and all who have been involved over time to secure his release. We also continue to pray for those still held and wish them freedom and safe return to their loved ones.
At 88 years of age, and after many years away from home, Dr Elliott now needs time and privacy to rest and rebuild strength. We thank you for your understanding and sympathy.
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Busy summit will boost Australia’s trade, Alabanese says
Anthony Albanese says he’s honoured to accept Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida’s invitation to take part as an outreach partner at the G7 summit in Hiroshima.
Albanese says the “busy summit” will help boost Australia’s international trade:
This is a vital meeting at a vital moment for the global economy and our region, and it builds on the ambitious agenda for Australia we outlined in last week’s budget …
I’m proud to take Australia’s seat at a table that represents more than half a trillion dollars a year in trade – supporting Australian businesses, producers, jobs, innovators and industries …
A strong economy at home depends on strong relationships and engagement abroad.
One in four Australian jobs are related to international trade and we know jobs in export industries pay above the national average income.
That’s why my government continues to work hard to restore Australia’s reputation in the region, to engage constructively in multilateral forums, and to rebuild our national credibility on the entry ticket for modern international dialogue: a commitment to act on climate change.
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China’s decision to resume importing Australian timber hailed
The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, says China’s announcement it will resume importing Australian timber is a “very positive step”.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, Watt says while he understands lingering concerns within Australia’s timber industry despite the ban being lifted:
It is an important market to resume connection with.
Watt also says China has given “positive signals” which should see the tariffs on barley lifted within three months:
As I understand it from Don [Farrell], having spoken to him last night, there were positive signals on the barley front. We would be hopeful that we could get that resolved within that three-month window. The next thing would be wine.
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Police investigate use of stun gun on 95-year-old woman
NSW police commissioner Karen Webb says she understands community concerns in response to yesterday’s news that police used a stun gun on a 95-year-old woman with dementia at an aged care facility.
Webb has released a statement:
My thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.
I understand and share the community concerns and assure you that we are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness.
A Critical Incident Investigation is currently being conducted into the circumstances of the incident.
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Gooda ‘can’t separate compromise from capitulation’, Pearson says
Noel Pearson continues to be very critical of Mick Gooda for offering his view “executive government” should be removed from the voice proposal:
Mick’s problem is that he can’t separate compromise from capitulation. He thinks capitulation is compromise …
Mick Gooda’s intervention, all it does is of course is make the yes campaign’s job harder.
Pearson warned about the danger of giving “the whole game away” on the voice if campaigners gave in on removing executive government.
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When Noel met Julian
Noel Pearson is recounting a meeting with Julian Leeser two weeks ago.
(Leeser resigned as shadow attorney general after the Liberals decided to oppose the voice but still wants to see executive government taken out of the proposal.)
Pearson claims that during the meeting Leeser admitted that his proposed change to the voice – which Mick Gooda is also backing – wouldn’t bring anyone new onboard from the opposition:
Two weeks ago I spent a whole day with Julian Leeser, my old friend … and he made the case for revisiting this issue.
And I asked him, what happens if this is done, who in your party is going to come onboard if an amendment like this is made? And I told him that your amendment would actually gut the voice proposal, because it would remove … the most important function a voice would perform.
And he told me in all honesty that … no new people would come onboard [in the Coalition] if the change was made, but it may help with the overall vote.
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Pearson says yes campaign proper is yet to begin
Former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner Mick Gooda yesterday said the yes campaign leadership needed to compromise because the referendum was too important to fail and he fears that is.
Cape York Indigenous leader and co-architect of the Uluru statement Noel Pearson is this morning telling ABC Radio that Gooda is wrong.
Pearson acknowledges the situation is challenging but says the campaign proper is yet to begin:
We’ve been under heavy weather. I’ve been out in the ocean and we’re approaching the river.
And when you get to the river, the bar is rough. And we’ve been going through that process …
The campaign proper is yet to start. When this legislation passes, the parliament will be ready to start a long paddle up the river.
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Chalmers trumpets Labor’s economic achievements
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has released a statement trumpeting the government’s economic achievements on the (almost) one-year anniversary of the 2022 election.
They are:
More than 330,000 jobs created since May 2022
Wages growth of 3.7% in the year to the March quarter
A forecast surplus in 2022-23, a dramatic turnaround from the $78 billion deficit we inherited from the previous government.
A forecast Budget improvement of more than $143 billion over four years to 2025-26, compared to the Coalition’s 2022-23 March Budget.
Legislated an emissions reduction targets of 43 per cent by 2030 and net zero by 2050, and passed the safeguard mechanism
Investing over $40 billion in our plan to make Australia a renewable energy superpower
Cost of living relief on childcare, medicines, the jobseeker base rate increase, rent assistance, energy rebates and single parent payments
Chalmers said:
Australians have every right to be proud of what we have achieved together over the past year.
Unemployment remains near a 50-year low, wages have started moving again, and our economy is forecast to grow faster than any of the G7 major economies this year. We have begun the hard yards of getting the nation’s finances back on track, cutting debt and deficits as well as our interest bills.
At the same time, we’re delivering meaningful cost-of-living relief, investing in health, aged care and better government services, and laying the foundations for a stronger, more secure and resilient economy.
While many challenges remain, what we have managed to accomplish in these past 12 months only makes me more optimistic and ambitious for our economy, our country and our people.
The Albanese government will continue its work to improve the strength and sustainability of the nation’s finances and build a stronger and fairer economy that delivers more opportunities for more Australians.
Updated
Good morning!
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is on his way to Hiroshima for the G7 summit where Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine and China’s economic coercion are expected to be on the agenda.
If you’re thinking – hang on a second, Australia is not part of the G7 – you are correct. Albanese is going as one of a number of “outreach partners” expanding the Eurocentric group.
Albanese will for the first time meet with Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as well as South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, after a visit to Hiroshima’s Peace Park and the Atomic Dome with the city’s mayor today.
There will also be a last-minute scramble to assemble the Quad leaders to meet on the sidelines after US President Jo Biden called off his visit to Sydney, triggering the event’s cancellation.
Back home, the government has been told to draft laws to ban Nazi symbols after concerns were identified about the opposition’s legislation.
The Labor-chaired committee questioned how shadow attorney general Michaelia Cash’s draft bill would be enforced, whether it would stand up to a constitutional challenge and unintended consequences, included making martyrs out of Nazis.
In NSW the state government is moving to honour its election promises on gambling with related signage to be removed from outside pubs and clubs.
Staying in the state, you may have read this horrifying story yesterday that police allegedly used a stun gun on a 95-year-old woman with dementia, leaving her with a fractured skull. NSW police commissioner Karen Webb says she understands community concerns.
At sea, the search for 39 Chinese, Indonesian and Phippine nationals whose fishing boat capsized in the Indian Ocean is entering its third day.
Let’s get into it.
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