The day that was, Wednesday 14 September
OK, with that we are going to put the blog to bed. Thank you so much for spending the day with us.
The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, says there are no plans for NSW cabinet reshuffle after the former deputy Liberal leader, Stuart Ayres, was cleared of breaching the ministerial code in relation to the appointment of former NSW trade minister John Barilaro to a New York job.
The ASX fell 2.6% after a Wall Street sell-off following higher-than-expected inflation figures out of the US.
The National Cabinet has announced pandemic leave payments will continue while mandatory isolation remains. However, pandemic leave payments will be capped at three claims per six months. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has cited a global shift towards “treating Covid like other health issues”.
Albanese says the Nationals are “committed to porkbarrelling” after criticism of Labor’s commitment to regions
Payphone calls to Triple Zero and Lifeline have doubled since being made free, according to Telstra.
Opal machines (ticket gates) will be turned off across NSW train stations amid continued industrial action by the rail worker’s union.
In Queensland, a missing hiker has been found after five days of searching.
We will see you all again tomorrow - until then, stay safe.
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The company motto is “Be Human, Be Well, and Be Planet”, a harmonious ideal in line with the yoga world where sports clothing mega-brand lululemon got its start.
“We are deeply connected to ourselves, each other and our planet; each part elevating one another,” the Canada-based company says on its sustainability website.
But now a climate change campaign is targeting lululemon, saying its reliance on coal-powered factories in Asia is inconsistent with its public branding.
ASX drops after worse-than-expected US inflation report
From AAP:
The local stock exchange has dropped sharply, tumbling along with markets around the world after a worse-than-expected US inflation report raised the prospect of even more aggressive rate hikes in the world’s largest economy.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 dropped 184 points in the first 10 minutes of trading on Wednesday and more or less treaded water since. It eventually closed down 181.1 points, or 2.58%, to a one-week low of 2828.6.
The broader All Ordinaries finished down 181.9 points, or 2.51%, to 7071.8.
The global sell-off came as economists debated the odds of the Federal Reserve hiking rates by a supersized 100 basis points next week, rather than moderate its hawkish stance. Global markets had been gaining since late July based on optimism that inflation had peaked and central banks would pivot away from aggressive rate hikes.
“The market got a little bit too optimistic and read the room wrong. And now when the data comes in, the truth comes out,” said Jessica Amir, a market strategist at Saxo Markets Australia.
“So it’s not a good day – and it signifies that we could be retesting the June lows as [the US Federal Reserve] gets aggressive.”
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Victorian education minister apologises for ‘uncaring’ comment about cancer patient
From AAP:
The Victorian education minister has apologised after making an “uncaring” comment about a cancer patient who drove to South Australia for an urgent scan.
Kylie Hennessy said she was forced to make the 1,600km round trip from Melbourne to Adelaide last week for a preparatory scan on a brain tumour. The 50-year-old mother needed a functional MRI (fMRI) scan – Melbourne has four of them, but at the time two of the specialist machines were offline at the Alfred and Royal Melbourne hospitals.
The Victorian health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, said Hennessy was not informed other machines were available due to a “miscommunication” before she made arrangements to travel interstate.
“The work that was being done to ensure that Ms Hennessy could receive the fMRI at the Florey Institute was not communicated to her in a timely way,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
Earlier, the Victorian education minister, Natalie Hutchins, said medical equipment is unavailable from time to time.
“I do know, from my experience in the health system, that sometimes you’ve just got to roll with the punches,” she said.
Hutchins later apologised to Hennessy while recounting her own cancer experience after caring for her late husband, the former Labor senator Steve Hutchins, before his death in 2017 aged 61.
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Medicines regulator to examine accessibility of paracetamol
From AAP:
The days of buying bulk packs of paracetamol could soon be over after a new report found misuse of the medication is on the rise.
About 50 Australians die from a paracetamol overdose each year and the medicines regulator is examining whether current accessibility is appropriate.
An independent report commissioned by the Therapeutic Goods Administration found teenagers and young adults had the highest rates of intentional overdose with the pain killers. The rates were higher among females in those age groups.
The report found while hospitalisation and death rates have not increased in recent years, there had been a “concerning increase” of misuse.
Several recommendations from the report are now being considered by the regulator, including reducing the size of packs of paracetamol sold and limiting the number of packs people can buy in one shop.
Restricting people under the age of 18 from buying paracetamol without a prescription is also being recommended.
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Five-week review of regional public transport in Victoria to begin
From AAP:
Public transport options in regional areas can be few and far between and in the Victorian city of Mildura they rarely go where needed, prompting the first review of the network in decades.
The Victorian government’s examination over the next five weeks will include face-to-face and online consultation with the community.
Last year’s Census found more than a third of Australians live outside of greater capital cities. Access to transport networks and services was uneven across the nation and regional infrastructure tends to be poorly maintained, according to the latest Australian Infrastructure Audit.
The independent MP Ali Cupper said she had been working on securing the bus service review with Mildura Rural City Council since shortly after the 2018 state election.
“It has been more than 20 years since our bus service was last reviewed and our community has grown and changed a lot since then,” Cupper said.
“It’s bad enough that we don’t have a passenger train connection to our capital city, but to have such an outdated bus network within Mildura was unacceptable.”
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US data treaty would give Australian police rapid access to American data
From AAP:
Serious crime will no longer be able to hide behind messaging apps or in the cloud under an electronic data treaty between Australia and the United States.
Giving evidence at the parliamentary inquiry into the Australia-US Cloud Act Agreement, senior official Andrew Warnes said the change would enable more cases to get to court.
As it stands, only the “absolute top, top end” most serious cases were going ahead, he said on Wednesday.
The agreement will give intelligence and law enforcement officers rapid access to US-hosted data to fight terrorism, child exploitation and human trafficking, ending delays of more than a year in seeking evidence.
The treaty must be reviewed by the Australian parliament and the US Congress before it enters into force, which is expected by the end of 2022.
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First Nations safety advocates urge federal government to address high rates of violence facing Indigenous women and girls
150 delegates and women’s safety advocates and experts from around the country attended a closed online summit on Monday calling for targeted measures and policies to prevent family violence and combat violence against Indigenous women and girls.
The Australian Human Right’s Commission Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner, June Oscar, joined senior leading voices from urban, regional and remote Australia calling for urgent action.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 11 times more likely to die because of an assault and are 32 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence than other women.
The Albanese government has committed to a standalone national action plan aimed at eliminating and preventing violence against Indigenous women and children, as well as the ten-year national plan expected to be released by the end of the year.
Dr Hannah McGlade was one of the delegates and signatories urging the government to work with First Nations women to address the “appalling” rates of violence against women and girls.
McGlade, a Noongar woman and an expert member of the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues, said a standalone plan is vital to ensure violence prevention services and policies are culturally appropriate and that urgent action is needed to prevent the shortfall.
Ashlee Donahue, the former CEO of women’s support service Mudgin-Gal and a safety advocate for women, attended the summit and said it is vital the new government hears and listens to Indigenous women when designing policy changes.
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Productivity Commission reports disappointing progress on education standards across Australia
States and territories will need to improve student wellbeing, equity and the quality of teaching to boost educational outcomes and reflect high levels of funding, according to a new report from the Productivity Commission.
The commission has released its interim report on the national school reform agreement signed by federal, state and territory governments in 2018 following a $319bn funding deal over 11 years, AAP reports.
The agreement proposed eight national policy initiatives to lift education standards across Australia. But the report found progress on some of the initiatives that would make the most difference has been disappointing.
Despite governments agreeing to address needs of Indigenous students, those with a disability and from regional, rural and remote areas, there have yet to be any results to demonstrate equity improvements.
Every year between 5-9% of Australian students do not meet year-level expectations in either literacy or numeracy.
The commissioner, Natalie Siegel-Brown, said while the national agreement was a promising start, more action was needed to deliver on the initiatives.
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The transcript of Victoria’s parliamentary condolence motions for Queen Elizabeth has been amended after the state’s opposition leader, Matthew Guy, erroneously referred to King Arthur as an example of the British monarchy’s proud history.
Guy’s office on Wednesday said he had misspoken during a special sitting of parliament on Tuesday for MPs to swear allegiance to King Charles III and pay tribute to the Queen after her death last week.
Shorten says the key issue is a lack of accommodation:
I can’t say if we will get everyone who’s medically fit for discharge out by Christmas or by the middle of next year. I can promise Australians … that I am going to try to do as well as we can.
The reasons why people can’t move from hospital [is that] in some states or jurisdictions or towns, there isn’t appropriate accommodation [and] to build appropriate accommodation takes a long time sometimes.
But there is other people who I think their discharge could be sped up, by training the National Disability Insurance Agency staff who deal with the potential dischargee [and] by providing greater delegated decision-making.
I am aware of examples where the house has approved, the care team has approved but there is an argument over the cost of the cushion on the wheelchair. We have got to trust the people at the coalface, working at the hospital, [the] skilled planners at the National Disability Insurance Scheme and give them the power to make decisions on the spot.
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Shorten: Around 1,500 people in hospital who are disabled are medically fit to be discharged into appropriate long-term accomodation
Every night about 1,500 people who are disabled are being forced to spend the evening in hospital despite being medically fit to be discharged. The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, has been speaking on the ABC about it:
About 1,500 people, who are profoundly and severely impaired, go to sleep in a hospital bed but they are actually medically fit to be discharged into appropriate long-term accommodation, which is much better for the welfare of the person with a disability and also, it frees up hospital beds for other people who need immediate medical treatment.
He says part of the issue is about needing more hospital staff to help manage the backlog of patients.
… there are people with disabilities eligible for NDIS, National Disability Insurance Scheme support, to live in their own home or appropriate accommodation. What we have to do is bring in wranglers, to use a colloquial term.
There are good clinicians in the hospitals, allied health professionals, social workers, and disability insurance agency staff, get them working together in a more speedy fashion to put together packages of care. What’s involved is you might have to have your home modified, ramps put in, your bathroom varied, modified, or you might need to find appropriate accommodation.
You have got to find a house which may have one or two other people with disabilities, but they are people that you could share a house with and then you have to sometimes get seven day a week, 24-hour rosters of carers. This all takes time but the system is taking far too long now and it has been put in the too-hard basket for too many years by too many people at the top.
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Russia to pursue legal action over expulsion from site of Canberra embassy
The Russian embassy has confirmed it will push ahead with legal action over a decision to expel it from the site of its new Canberra embassy.
Last month, the National Capital Authority publicly announced a decision to terminate the Russian government’s lease over a block of land in Yarralumla, a wealthy lakeside suburb where it was building its new embassy. The Russian government was ordered to clear the site within 20 days.
In response, the Russian embassy signalled it was considering legal action against the NCA, describing its decision as “unprecedented and highly unwelcome”. The threat of legal action forced the NCA to delay enforcing its decision.
On Wednesday, the Russian embassy confirmed it was proceeding with legal action, though did not provide further detail. A spokesperson told the Guardian:
We can confirm that the embassy is taking legal action. We would like to refrain from further comments for the time being.
The Russian government bought the site in 2008 and had plans approved in 2011, but the NCA, which oversees planning and development in Canberra’s parliamentary zone, said construction had failed to progress the works. This detracted “from the overall aesthetic, importance and dignity of the area reserved for diplomatic missions and foreign representation in the national capital”, the NCA said.
The NCA said diplomatic blocks were limited in supply, forcing it to take a “use it or lose it” approach to their development.
News Corp reported that there were concerns about the potential for Russia’s new embassy to enhance its intelligence capabilities.
The Russian embassy told the Guardian that the Australian government had sought to frustrate its efforts to protect its embassy from espionage. The spokesperson said:
In today’s world embassies are built to certain standards of security, including protection against espionage by the receiving country. Without going into details and to put it mildly, the Australian side was not eager at all to ensure that in respect of the new building of the Russian embassy in Canberra.
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Missing hiker found after five days
A 36-year-old Colombian woman missing in the remote rainforests of north Queensland for five days has been found.
Juliana Castrillon was last seen setting off alone on a 14km, eight-hour hike after leaving a remote and unofficial rainforest party south of Cooktown on Saturday morning.
She had spent several days in Cedar Bay with a gathering of dozens of backpackers, locals and others who had attended the spiritual electronic music festival Orin Aya the previous weekend.
Family and friends held grave fears for Castrillon when she didn’t arrive at her destination that evening, saying she was reliable, responsible and determined to return to Bryon Bay by Monday to open her shop Byron Bay Traders on Monday.
After two days of aerial searching failed to locate Castrillon, police and SES began a ground search on Wednesday, saying crocodiles, venomous snakes, deep ravines, treacherous waterways were all “concerns in relations to survivalbility”.
But those fears were put to bed on Wednesday afternoon when SES volunteers found Castrillon alive.
She will now undergo medical assessments.
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Indigenous group to hold protest in Brisbane on national day of mourning for Queen Elizabeth
A protest for Indigenous people will be held on the National Day of Mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, AAP is reporting.
Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, which has more than 60,000 Facebook followers, will take to Brisbane streets on 22 September to decry past atrocities and the impact of British colonisation in Australia.
“This is a stance against the continued crimes committed against marginalised First Nations, black, brown and Asian communities. We do not support benefactors or Stolenwealth (sic) and demand justice, truth and accountability for all. Justice for all,” the group wrote.
Queen Elizabeth died aged 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8.
While supporters have hailed her 70-year reign, some Indigenous leaders say the British monarchy represents a violent history.
Macquarie University academic and Wiradjuri woman Sandy O’Sullivan said they were subjected to racism for refusing to celebrate the Queen’s reign.
“Along with many other Aboriginal people, I experienced a lot of racism and derision around raising the fact that we weren’t celebrating the reign of the previous monarch, Queen Elizabeth II,” they said.
“For many it’s because during that reign there was little that she did to reset that relationship, to make reparations and to speak out.”
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Ryan: Australia has the highest mortality per capita from Covid at the moment
Ryan was also asked what areas she thought had fallen away in our response to Covid in the last few months. This is what she said:
We have removed the mitigation strategies, stress, test, trace, isolate and quarantine. We have removed mask mandates, isolation guidelines and quarantine guidelines. We are shutting up shop and packing up the chairs and heading home, pretending that Covid is no longer here.
The reality is that we have the highest mortality per capita from Covid in Australia of any country in the world at the moment.
More than 3,000 Australians have died of Covid in aged care this year. That is more than the previous two years combined.
Even though we would love it to go away … it hasn’t gone and it is not going away. We need to be cognisant of that and we need to be responsive to it and give people a sense of how we are going to deal with this over the [next] 6-12 months.
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Ryan says she wants a national summit on Covid:
What the government needs to do – and I hope that a summit would achieve this – is to rejig things.
Get everyone into the same room – the economists, the people from industry, the health care workers, people from secondary and tertiary education, child care, disability care, aged care – and say we can’t get rid of this, [Covid] is with us. We have to deal with it and we will do it together.
How are we going to do that? This is what happens if we get something moderately nasty coming towards us and this is the plan if it all goes to hell over summer.
Everyone understands what the future looks like then and on what basis those decisions are being made.
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Monique Ryan concerned government will remove Covid isolation requirements
Independent “teal” MP Monique Ryan is on the ABC right now talking about the government’s earlier announcement pandemic leave payments will be extended. Ryan said she supports the extension but said she is concerned the government is about to remove all isolation requirements.
I think I and many other people who are concerned about this space would really like some greater clarity about for how long the government is going to continue isolation requirements.
We know that they decreased the mandatory isolation requirement from seven days to five days recently without telling us on what basis that decision was made. We have reason for concern that they might remove isolation requirements altogether in the near future.
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Ok, today’s First Dog is very good, and I have it here for you below. Spoiler – a certain fountain pen gets a mention:
Victoria Chamber of Commerce recommends land tax replace stamp duty
From AAP: Victoria’s major parties are being urged to follow NSW and swap stamp duty for a land tax system.
The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry released its 2022 state election policy platform on Wednesday, 73 days before voters head to the polls.
Its 61 recommendations include that Victoria replaces stamp duty with a broad-based land tax system, ahead of a planned tweak in NSW from next year. From January, first home buyers in NSW will be able to choose between paying stamp duty once or opting into an annual tax on properties up to $1.5m.
The properties would not be locked into the tax if sold.
It was a good first step and Victoria should watch the NSW system and move to adopt a similar model, VCCI’s chief executive, Paul Guerra said.
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Authorities are preparing to ramp up the search for a woman missing in far north Queensland since the weekend when she tried to complete an eight-hour hike on a rough rainforest track.
Friends of Colombian national Juliana Castrillon hold grave concerns for the 36-year-old who was reportedly walking alone after attending a remote jungle party the previous weekend south of Cooktown.
Hello everyone, this is Cait Kelly – first up, a big thank you to Amy Remeikis for taking us through the morning!
Tasmanian premier says discussions for state to enter AFL ongoing
Let’s just jump down to Tasmania first up – where there is an update on the delay for the state to get its own AFL team. From AAP:
Tasmania’s premier isn’t fazed by delays around the decision on a 19th AFL licence, indicating grassroots funding remains a sticking point between the league and the state government.
A vote by the 18 club presidents on whether to grant Tasmania entry to the competition was originally slated to occur by the end of August.
The premier, Jeremy Rockliff, said discussions with the AFL were ongoing in relation to several matters, but said a decision was expected in the “not-too-distant future”.
“We’ve been waiting 30 years for this. It’s important we do due diligence [and] ensure we get value for money,” he said on Wednesday.
Rockliff wouldn’t be drawn on whether the state government was open to increasing their $150m funding offer, made up of $10m a year over 10 years and $50m for start-up costs.
He said talks were continuing with the AFL to ensure grassroots footy in Tasmania received adequate support.
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Things are getting a little quiet at the moment. Anthony Albanese is preparing for his trip to the UK – he leaves tomorrow, along with the governor general and the 10 “everyday Aussies” who have been chosen to represent the nation.
So we will have more on that – and the planned meetings with world leaders, if they can be worked out, tomorrow.
Cait Kelly will be guiding you through the afternoon, so make sure you stick around. I’ll be back early tomorrow morning. Thanks for joining me and take care of you.
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Tesla chair says vehicle emissions standards will increase electric vehicle uptake
Want more electric cars? Set emission standards for vehicles, the chair of directors for Tesla, Robyn Denholm, argued in her press club address today.
Denholm held New Zealand up as an example of successfully lifting the number of new electric car sales from 2.5% to 11% in the past year. As AAP reports, electric cars only make up 2% of new car sales in Australia.
I once worked at Toyota, when cars were still being made in Australia, and I believe Australia can have an even bigger car industry in the electric age.
Where tech skills converge with manufacturing skills to create advanced manufacturing industries ... we have the know-how, we have the skill and an abundance of mineral resources.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, last month introduced incentives for car buyers to purchase electric vehicles by reducing upfront costs. Proposed reforms include changes to the fringe benefits tax and removing the import tariff on electric vehicles to make the cars cheaper for more people.
But Denholm said the single biggest policy change Australia could make would be to introduce vehicle emissions standards.
“It signals to the market that they have to start reducing emissions even from their internal combustion engine vehicles ... if I had a magic wand, we would do that tomorrow,” she said.
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Caitlin Cassidy has looked at a new Victorian taskforce looking at underquoting in the real estate industry:
The Victorian government has announced a dedicated taskforce to crack down on underquoting in the real estate industry, but buyers’ advocates say tougher penalties are needed to stamp out the practice.
The $3.8m taskforce will investigate allegations of deceptive property prices across the state, building on Consumer Affairs Victoria’s (CAV) auction monitoring, inspections and investigations.
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Second Indigenous death in custody in a Victorian facility in five weeks
The Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) ) has released a statement expressing their ‘deep sadness’ by the news an Aboriginal man has died at Loddon Prison in Castlemaine.
VACCHO extend their most sincere condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of the deceased.
This latest tragedy is the second Aboriginal death in custody in the state in five weeks.It is now over thirty years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Sadly, the 1991 report that was heralded as “groundbreaking” appears to have delivered very little in the way of results. If anything, the situation appears to be further deteriorating.
Over 500 Aboriginal people have died in custody since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991.
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Former chief scientist feels optimistic about Australia’s future – if it takes advantage of the moment
(via AAP):
Australia could become a powerful “electro state” as the oil powerhouses of the past are displaced. The nation’s former chief scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, said the longstanding imperative to change Australia’s “dig and ship” economy has intensified.
“We need to think big, we need to think very big,” he said on Wednesday in an oration to scientists.
The geopolitics were changing with very powerful “petro states” to be displaced by equally powerful “electro states” such as Australia, Finkel said. But the world needs a ten-fold increase in the money being spent to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, with global progress “very, very slow”, he warned.
The International Monetary Fund estimates up to $US6tn is needed every year until 2050 to get to net zero emissions but the current global spend is $US630bn per year.
“The expansion of mining resources will be very, very significant,” Finkel said. “We don’t know for certain whether there are enough reserves for everything that will be required to get to net zero.”
He said it makes sense to build solar, wind, and hydrogen facilities for more processing and refining here. “We need to expand the renewables and actually eliminate fossil fuel energy. If we do it, we can achieve this grand transformation,” he said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if future historians and anthropologists will look at this as being the shift from the industrial age to the electric age.”
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Pacific Elders welcome Australia’s ‘more proactive stance’ on climate change but believe it can be more ambitious
The former president of Kiribati, Anote Tong, and the former Palau president, Tommy Remengesau Jr, have spoken in Canberra on the government’s climate change policy as part of their visit representing the group Pacific Elders’ Voice.
Tong said that while the region welcomed the Albanese government’s “much more proactive stance on climate change”, it believed the government’s climate policies could be made more ambitious before they were set in stone.
“There is still some way between [the current situation] and the science and what the science indicates is needed in order to be able to avert this impending disaster,” Tong said.
“For countries like ours, our future is really at stake.
“Unless we can do more on climate change, our future, the future of my grandchildren, our grandchildren will be at stake. And so hopefully, Australia, having made that commitment, will be able to make deeper cuts into the future.”
Remengesau Jr said that Pacific island nations were facing a “very delicate, very perilous moment” in our history and called on Australia to take a leadership role.
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Assistant trade minister travelling to Cambodia for Asean economic ministers’ meeting
The assistant trade minister, Tim Ayres, is off to Cambodia for the Asean economic ministers’ meeting:
I look forward to working with my counterparts to accelerate negotiations to upgrade the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA), which is the central pillar of Australia’s trade and investment relationship with Asean nations. Asean as a bloc is Australia’s second-largest two-way trading partner.
I will also attend the inaugural Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) ministers’ meeting. RCEP provides a platform for economic cooperation and sends a strong signal of regional support for trade liberalisation and the rules-based order. We welcome passage of legislation recently in Indonesia as an important step towards ratification.
As our countries and communities recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, I will use the East Asia Summit economic ministers’ meeting to emphasise Australia’s support for an open, inclusive and resilient region.
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In a legal first, the Gomeroi Nation is using the public interest test – commonly used by fossil fuel companies to fight native title cases – to try and stop a planned gas project by Santos in the NSW Pilliga forest.
If successful, it would set a legal precedent.
The Greens spokesperson for Resources, Yamatji-Noongar woman Senator Dorinda Cox, has given her support to the move:
The Gomeroi people are co-opting the public interest test – using the fossil fuel industry’s tricks against them. Hopefully this sets a precedent for future native title cases.
The Gomeroi people are spiritually linked to the Pilliga forest. It is their lungs, and one of the most spiritually significant elements of their culture. They shouldn’t have to take an energy giant to court to have their heritage and culture protected.
This is a classic example of a fossil fuel company ignoring the wishes of Traditional Owners in favour of profits.
The Gomeroi people have chosen Country over profits, declining substantial financial compensation from Santos, proving you can’t put a price on culture.
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Opal machines to be turned off at NSW train stations amid industrial action
Industrial action continues in NSW:
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT
— Unions NSW (@unionsnsw) September 14, 2022
All opal machines at train stations in Sydney and NSW will be turned off indefinitely, from Wednesday next week.
If there is no way to tap on or off, you cannot be fined. Please remain vigilant as the NSW Premier may try various tactics to turn machines on.
🧵
— Unions NSW (@unionsnsw) September 14, 2022
1) This decision was made by rail workers as part of their industrial action.
It follows a coordinated media campaign by the NSW Government to deliberately spread lies and misinformation about rail workers and this dispute.
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NDIA to boost staff and streamline processes to get people out of hospital faster
The NDIA is implementing a new operational plan. It is to address issues with NDIS participants who are medically fit to be discharged from hospital after treatment but can’t leave because of a lack of suitable accomodation.
Bill Shorten says the operational plan includes:
Increasing the number of dedicated Hospital Discharge staff supporting each state and territory, including additional Hospital Liaison Officers (HLOs) and NDIS hospital discharge planners.
Increasing the delegation of those staff and streamlining processes to facilitate quicker decision-making.
A commitment from the NDIA to contact every NDIS participant (or their authorised representative or nominee) within four days of being notified of their admission.
A commitment from the NDIA that an NDIS discharge plan will be approved within 30 days.
Enhanced data collection and reporting to measure progress against these commitments and identify reasons for any delay.
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WA government forced into fresh pay offer to public servants
Western Australia’s government, which reported a surplus in its last budget, has been locked in a wage negotiation with public servants, as AAP reports:
The WA government has been forced to again lift its public sector pay offer after health workers threatened further industrial action.
Workers who earn less than $104,000 would receive an additional $3120 in each of the next two years, as well as an immediate $3000 bonus payment.
The offer represents an increase of between three and six per cent for those workers.
Public sector workers on more than $104,000 would also receive the bonus in addition to a three per cent increase across each year.
Unions WA secretary Owen Whittle said the improved offer is welcome but the process that led to it was “severely flawed”.
“Workers in schools, hospitals, transport, child protection, health, and emergency services have taken a stand for themselves and the services they deliver,” he said on Wednesday.
“The government has been forced to listen.”
WA’s Labor government had initially offered a 2.75 per cent increase but in July raised the offer to three, along with an additional $2500 sign-on bonus.
That offer was rejected this week by the Health Services Union and United Workers Union, who form part of a public sector alliance which has sought a five per cent increase to combat rising inflation and cost of living pressures.
Thousands of public sector workers rallied outside parliament last month in an escalation of the stand-off.
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For those who missed the earlier post, here you go:
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Savers finally seeing interest rates rise after years of ‘lousy returns’
The flip side to rising interest rates is that the interest rates for savings accounts also go up. But banks tend to be a little slower in passing on those rates compared with rising home loan rates.
AAP reports:
Savers are finally getting decent interest rates as the banks look to cover the rising cost of funding mortgages.
When the Reserve Bank of Australia first started hiking interest rates in May, banks were typically quick to pass on higher interest rates to mortgage holders but more reluctant to do the same for savers.
However, RateCity research director Sally Tindall said some banks were now actively chasing savers.
With mortgage funding costs growing due to the rising official cash rate, Tindall said deposits by savers were becoming an increasingly important part of the funding mix.
“That’s why the lowest rate home loan providers are now primarily banks, rather than the non-bank lenders we’ve grown used to,” she said.
“The good news is savers are back to being a sought-after commodity after years of lousy returns, but they’ll still need to shop around if they want to get the best deals.”
Market leaders are now offering interest rates as high as 3.60% for savers.
But Tindall said some banks were still picking and choosing which savings accounts to apply higher interest rates to, or were not lifting rates at all.
All of the big four banks lifted rates by the full 0.50% for variable mortgage customers following the September cash rate decision, but National Australia Bank and ANZ are yet to announce higher interest rates across any of their savings accounts.
Commonwealth Bank and Westpac have so far passed on a higher interest rate to some savings accounts, but not others.
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Pandemic leave payments capped at three claims per six months
Here is the official statement on the pandemic leave pay from national cabinet – it is now limited to three payments in a six month period:
First Ministers agreed to extend the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment (PLDP) at current rates beyond 30 September 2022.
The payment will remain available for as long as mandatory isolation periods are applied by all States and Territories.
First Ministers agreed to cap the maximum number of PLDP claims an individual can make in a six month period to three.
National Cabinet agreed the Commonwealth and States and Territories would continue 50:50 cost-sharing arrangements for the payment.
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Job vacancies continue to rise
The ABS has released its June quarter jobs data:
In seasonally adjusted terms for the June quarter 2022:
Filled jobs increased by 2.2% following a 0.5% rise in the March quarter 2022. Filled jobs grew by 3.8% through the year.
The number of main jobs increased by 269,100 (or 2.0%).
The number of multiple job holders increased by 4.3%.
The proportion of vacant jobs increased to 3.1% from the 2.8% recorded in the March quarter 2022.
The number of public sector jobs decreased by 2.0%, while the number of private sector jobs increased by 2.7%.
There are now more job vacancies than officially "unemployed" people, according to the ABS.
— Gareth Hutchens (@grhutchens) September 14, 2022
Where's the wage growth to match it? It should be a workers paradise right now pic.twitter.com/NpFjyUveM8
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Leaders encourage Australians to ‘pause and reflect’ on Queen during day of mourning
The national cabinet has released a statement on the national day of mourning:
The National Cabinet has agreed to hold a National Day of Mourning on Thursday 22 September 2022 in honour of the life and service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The National Day of Mourning will be a one-off national public holiday and an opportunity for all Australians to pay tribute to the life of The Queen, outside of a work and study setting.
The Queen was the only reigning monarch most Australians have known and the only reigning monarch to ever visit Australia. On her first visit in 1954, The Queen travelled around the country, to almost 60 cities and towns, in every state and territory. It was clear from her first trip that she had a special place in the hearts of Australians. The National Day of Mourning will provide time to grieve this collective loss and commemorate our late Queen’s extraordinary life of service, devotion and loyalty.
On the day, a National Memorial Service will be held at Parliament House in Canberra with all state and territory leaders in attendance. The Service will be broadcast live across the nation at 11.00am (AEST) and begin with a minute’s silence. National Cabinet encourages all Australians, wherever you may be, to take time to pause and reflect on The Queen’s faithful service, that will be remembered for centuries to come.
Over the next few weeks, all Australians can also send condolences to the Royal Family and His Majesty King Charles III. Condolence books are available at Parliament House and Government House in Canberra and in various locations around Australia (refer to Government House in your state or territory for further information). An online condolence form has also been established on the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet website: Condolence form.
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Albanese and Perrottet skirt around train strikes skirmish
At the press conference in Sydney, both Anthony Albanese and the NSW premier Dominic Perrottet had to skirt around the last skirmish between their two industrial relations ministers over the Sydney train strikes:
Q: Prime minister, an industrial dispute is still raging on here in New South Wales. What did you make of your employee relations minister weighing into that debate? Did he overstep the mark by writing to the Fair Work Commission?
PM: He didn’t. Minister Burke wrote to the Fair Work Commission, as he has on four separate occasions, to indicate what will likely be policy changes. That’s appropriate. There’s been no intervention. It’s a dispute between New South Wales government and the RTBU. I would certainly encourage all parties to come to a resolution
Q: Prime minister, where do you come down on it though? The local business chamber says that the current industrial action we’re seeing is entrenching work from home culture.
PM: I’ve got a big job, and I’ll do my job. That is what I’m focused on.
Q: Premier, your industrial relations minister… [inaudible]
Perrottet: The Fair Work Commission should be independent to do its job. The concerns that I have particularly raised have been in relation to donations and public sector unions. Now, the actions today by the RTBU – I want to say, firstly, I’m happy in the sense that my concern is the public and I want people to be able to get to work, kids to be able to get to school, and the industrial action which is has hurt that is not acceptable. I’ve made that very clear.
Now, today they’ve come out and said they’re going to turn off the Opal machines. That they are turning them off – and I want to thank the people of New South Wales, because they opened them up and 90% of commuters were still tapping on and off. And that just shows that the people of New South Wales just want to get on with it, and that’s what I expect of the union.
We are working through those issues with the Fair Work Commission. We have worked with them for a number of years in respect to the resolution of these disputes. And when it comes to issues of pay, we also appreciate that [it’s a] difficult time for everybody across the state, everybody across the country, with higher interest rates and higher inflation.
But here in New South Wales, when it comes to public sector pay, we lead the nation. We have always paid above private sector wages. That is a strong track record, and I’d ask the unions to work constructively with the government, appreciate the pressures that we’re all under, not just the government, but people across our state.
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Ask Guardian Australia's Auspol team anything
We’re doing another ask us anything episode of our Australian politics podcast. If you have anything you want answered then please email a question here by 11am Thursday: australia.podcasts@theguardian.com
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Key event
Payphone calls to Triple Zero and Lifeline double since being made free, Telstra says
Telstra says calls to Triple Zero and Lifeline on its payphones nearly doubled in the period since calls from payphones became free.
The company’s commercial manager, Michael Meeve, told the ACCANect conference that since the Telstra made calls at payphones free in August last year, there had been over 250,000 calls to Triple Zero or Lifeline, almost a doubling of calls in the previous 12 months.
As part of its push to improve internet access, the company has also begun trialling switching on a free upgrade to around 100,000 NBN customers on a voice-only landline service, so they can use the internet on the service if they so choose.
Meeve said:
We just turned it on for them. They’re running on the network. It was there. And we said, great news, it’s here if you want it.
And that may mean if you’ve got a mobile in your home that you can do Wifi calling, it means you’ve got enhanced coverage in your home.
Before the election, Labor promised to trial free internet for 30,000 disadvantaged families with school-aged children.
NBN Co’s general manager of stakeholder relations, Sam Dimarco, said the company was working to implement the policy. He said it would inform further work on providing affordable services to disadvantaged communities.
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Albanese says Nationals ‘committed to porkbarrelling’ after criticism of Labor’s commitment to regions
Anthony Albanese also responded to the Nationals who questioned Labor’s commitment to regional Australia as infrastructure programs face funding cuts.
Albanese:
Can I say this – that the National party are committed to porkbarrelling. They are not necessarily committed to good infrastructure projects. And where projects are good, we are very positive about them.
… The National party in terms of the way that they view taxpayer funds as being the same as Liberal and National party funds is not the moral that the Labor government will follow.
We will find projects including in regional Australia that stack up, that represent good investment for taxpayers. The Nats were obsessed with looking after their mates.
Sometimes looking private interest and is not a model for every government to follow. I just answered the question, I can’t be more clear than that.
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Albanese hopes Xi Jinping reminds Putin of obligation to uphold international laws
On Xi Jinping’s meeting with Vladimir Putin, Anthony Albanese says:
When it comes to Russia, what I would like to see is that anyone who meets with Vladimir Putin remind them of the obligation that international leaders have to uphold the international rules of law.
And what we’ve seen with the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a breach of that. It’s the invasion of a sovereign state in contravention of international laws and in contravention of something that we have regarded – the idea that there would be a land war in Europe of the type that we are seeing is something that we had hoped we had consigned to the past.
[We] reiterate our support for the sovereign state of Ukraine, reiterate my praise for president Zelenskiy and the people of Ukraine in a courageous struggle against Russia.
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Albanese implores dairy giant Norco to ‘look after’ staff, citing $30m grant
On Norco’s announcement it will be laying off 170 staff, Anthony Albanese says:
They have received in excess of $30 million of taxpayers money shared between the commonwealth and the state. And I would hope that Norco look after their employees, are continue to work with premier Dominic Perrottet on these issues.
I realise that the northern rivers has suffered greatly including businesses but we have provided substantial support.
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Pacific leaders accept Australia’s help with transport to Queen’s funeral
The leaders of Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Samoa and PNG have accepted Australia’s offer of help with transportation to the Queen’s funeral.
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Anthony Albanese still has no time for currency discussions:
My view is that Queen Elizabeth’s funeral is next Monday – my focus isn’t on who is on the $5.
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Should there be a federal casino regulator?
Anthony Albanese:
It’s pretty obvious that the state regulators are doing it pretty good job of holding the casino operators to account, that’s my observations. I’m not in favour of regulation for the sake of it. And I think it’s pretty hard for anyone to argue that either Crown or Star are not been held to account at the moment.
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Albanese asked about scrutiny on Sophie Scamps over electric vehicle support
The Independent MP Sophie Scamps has come under the News Corp lens for speaking in favour of electric vehicles, while her family has declared shares in Tesla.
Anthony Albanese is asked whether or not Scamps should be able to speak on electric vehicles:
Well for all those who drive a petrol car, they are allowed to vote on those issues as well. I think we need a bit of serious analysis in my view.
There is a financial interest in people who have a petrol car or what have you, as long as these issues are declared – that’s the issue … transparency.
But, you know, it’s a matter for her. She is not a member of my government, she has a responsibility to declare any interest that she has and people will make their own judgement. But from my perspective, the idea that people only support electric vehicles because of a financial interest is, in my view, a misread of what is actually happening globally.
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Albanese cites global shift towards ‘treating Covid like other health issues’
Next month, the national cabinet will start talking about whether or not there needs to be a “reduction” in the isolation period for Covid-positive people.
Albanese:
We will have a discussion about future arrangements on the 30 September when the national cabinet will meet in person.
We will take advice at that time because there are different arrangements in place in countries, but what we are seeing is gradually a move towards Covid being treated like other health issues.
And clearly we saw with the reduction that we made last time from seven days to five days, we are making some preparations as well over a potential outbreak during the northern winter … and how will respond.
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There have been 130 cases of monkeypox in Australia, and infections globally are starting to drop, Albanese says.
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About 2.6% of pandemic payment claims since July triggered fraud checks
The pandemic leave payment will continue to be a split between the federal government and the states and territories.
Albanese also gave an update on fraudulent claims of the payment:
There is some evidence that Services Australia identified that since the 20 July 2022, 2.6% of all claims received triggered real-time fraud checks in the system, and of those, more than 50% were subsequently rejected and some 15% were subsequently withdrawn by the claimant.
Services Australia data indicates also that over the six months to the June 2022, [for] claims made by individuals who claimed more than once, of these, about 13% were claimed four or more times – that is a claim every 6.5 weeks or more.
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Pandemic leave payments to continue while mandatory isolation remains
Anthony Albanese is giving the national cabinet update:
First ministers agreed to extend the pandemic leave disaster payment at current rates beyond 30 September. The payment will remain available for as long as mandatory isolation periods are applied by all states and territories*.
The principle essentially agreed to by all first ministers is that while the government requires mandated isolation, the government has a responsibility to provide support during that period – for the appropriate period which is designated currently, of course, at five days, except for people in aged care, disability care, etc, which remains at seven days.
We remain obviously of the view that if people are sick, whether from Covid or from other health issues, they should not be at work and that is important.
* This is interesting wording – if a state breaks the consensus ranks, is it cancelled?
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Infrastructure promises escalate as Victorian election looms
Brace yourself: it is almost time for the Victorian election, which means non-stop infrastructure announcements, or, as it’s known, “ROADS AND BRIDGES FOR EVERYONE”.
This story via AAP:
Victoria’s opposition leader Matthew Guy has promised $60m for the next stage of a road link in a rapidly growing regional centre.
The road would create a north-south link in Ballarat’s biggest urban growth area, connecting the city centre with major regional highways.
Regional Development Victoria has projected Ballarat’s population to grow by almost 25% over the next eight years, with the Liberals and Nationals saying the city’s traffic had increased by 60% over the past five years.
The Victorian Liberal leader said fixing and rebuilding regional roads would be a major priority if he was elected in November.
“Instead of dropping the speed limit and putting up safety signs, a government I lead will actually build the roads that are needed,” Guy said.“The need for the Ballarat Link Road has been clear for some time, and we’ll get on and deliver it.”
The first stage of the road was completed in 2018.
However, Labor’s roads minister Ben Carroll said additional work was not urgent.
“We’ve listened to the local community and we’ve heard loud and clear that Ballarat Link Road Stage 2 is not a priority,” Carroll said.
“We’ve invested over $4.7bn on building and upgrading regional roads since 2015 - and will continue to work with local communities to ease congestion and deliver safer journeys.”
If elected, Guy said his government would allocate $60m over the next four years to the project.
Labor said it was investing in Ballarat’s road network, including $60.8m to upgrade key intersections across the city.
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Hastie pays tribute to Australian peacekeepers on 75th anniversary
The shadow minister for defence, Andrew Hastie, has released a statement on the 75th anniversary of Australia’s first peacekeeping mission:
Four Australian military observers formed part of the United Nations Consular Commission which in 1947 observed the ceasefire between the Dutch government and Indonesian nationalist forces in what was then known as the Netherlands East Indies – now Indonesia.
Since 1947, Australian Peacekeepers have contributed to over sixty peacekeeping operations all over the world. From East Timor and the Solomon Islands in the Pacific to Mozambique and Rwanda in Africa. Our Peacekeepers have also served in the former Yugoslavia, Haiti, Cyprus, Afghanistan, Iraq, and across the Middle East.
Australia has been involved in a peacekeeping operation somewhere in the world every year since the first U.N. mission in 1947.
More than 66,000 Australians have served on peacekeeping operations in the past 75 years.
16 Australians have lost their lives on peacekeeping operations, and we remember them and their families today, as we honour the service of all Australian Peacekeepers.
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Peacekeeping is ‘no small thing’, minister says
The veterans’ affairs minister, Matt Keogh, on the peacekeeping commemoration:
From whichever service of the Australian defence forces they come, from whichever branch of the police, the public service or elsewhere, Australians have earned their reputation as good peacekeepers – well-trained, disciplined and effective.
Many outside the immediate defence and police community hear of peacekeeping but know little of it.
Those who have returned and served know peacekeeping missions can be perilous, dangerous and uncertain. But peacekeeping operations are not an end in and of themselves.
Peacekeeping is important. Both in each individual mission and for the particular region.
That nations of the globe will act together to protect peace locally in the interests of world peace and protect the dignity of our fellow human beings is no small thing.
It is a unique and modern concept only existing in these last 75 years of human civilisation.
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Albanese to hold press conference at 11.30am, after national cabinet
Anthony Albanese is holding another press conference – this one at 11.30am, which will be on the national cabinet decisions.
The main issues – the new vaccine booster, which is designed for new variants of Covid, the extension of Covid sick leave payments and isolation periods.
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Canberra service commemorates 75 years of peacekeeping
A service commemorating the 75th anniversary of Australia’s involvement in peacekeeping missions is under way in Canberra. It is being held at the memorial for peacekeeping.
More than 66,000 Australians have served in more than 50 international peacekeeping operations since 1947.
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ASX falls 2.6% after Wall Street sell-off
The ASX 200 has fallen by 2.66% following a Wall Street sell-off overnight. The All Ordinaries Index is also down by 2.65% this morning.
The drop comes as new US inflation figures showed prices remained stubbornly high in August even as the overall pace of inflation slowed for the second consecutive month.
The news sent US stock markets into a tailspin, with the Dow Jones index losing nearly 1,300 points, closing nearly 4% lower, at 31,104.97.
The S&P fell 4.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped over 5% as investors in the US sold companies across the board from airlines and construction to retail and technology.
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UniSuper fund allows itself to invest in more fossil fuels
UniSuper, the $110bn fund that primarily looks after the retirement savings of higher education workers, has given itself permission to increase its exposure to fossil fuels by as much as two and a half times.
In its annual climate risk report, out today, the fund said it remained committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and supported the international Paris agreement to limit warming to below 2C.
However, the report shows the exposure of its portfolio to fossil fuels has risen from 2.55% in 2021 to 2.8% this year, primarily because energy stocks have soared along with fuel prices because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
And the fund has given itself room to further increase its fossil fuel exposure, to a maximum of 7% of the investment portfolio.
Chief investment officer John Pearce also downplayed the possibility of divestment from fossil fuel companies, something that activist members of the fund have demanded.
The fund owns shares in companies including oil and gas producers Woodside and Santos.
Pearce said in the report:
Ownership provides us with the opportunity to directly influence companies through engagement or exercising our voting rights.
Divestment of ownership, while always an option, simply eliminates the influence we have over companies without affecting real world emission reductions.
The fund said it may divest where there is “a lack of action is of concern to us and there is no viable decarbonisation pathway”.
Will van de Pol, asset management campaigner at activist group Market Forces, said it was “clear UniSuper sees no viable decarbonisation pathway for Woodside, and may be starting to think the same of Santos” but progress was “too slow and too quiet”. He said:
The most concerning aspect of UniSuper’s latest climate report is a newly-announced fossil fuel exposure limit that would allow the fund to increase investment exposure to the sector to two and a half times its current level.
For UniSuper to give itself leeway to massively increase fossil fuel investments is inexplicable, given the fund’s continued sell-down of companies like Woodside and Santos, and a public statement last year that the fund was ‘unlikely’ to actively make new investments in oil and gas.
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Covid isolation period to be discussed at national cabinet, Albanese says
Anthony Albanese says consistency is needed across the nation:
We do need, in my view, national consistency. Some decisions are, of course, down to the states and territories, but my job I see it as about facilitating that discussion. And can I say that it has been very positive over the last three months and I think it was the right decision to go from seven days to five days, but we’ll have another discussion this morning.
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Perrottet again pushes for mandatory Covid isolation period to be scrapped
Dominic Perrottet is still pushing for an end to forced Covid isolation periods altogether:
What we need to do is move to a system where if you’re sick, you stay at home, and if you’re not you go to school and work and go about your life.
It doesn’t make any sense that for one area that we have public health orders in place but for other areas where you are sick there are no public health orders and you can go to work. We’ve moved through this period of time for two years. There has always been changes.
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Perrottet says no plans for NSW cabinet reshuffle after Ayres cleared
The New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet says he has no plans for a cabinet reshuffle even after his former deputy, Stuart Ayres, was cleared of breaching the ministerial code of conduct.
Ayres quit as deputy leader and stood aside from cabinet in August amid concerns about his involvement in the overseas trade commissioner saga in which former deputy premier John Barilaro was appointed to a plum New York trade job.
It came after a report by former NSW public service commissioner Graeme Head raised concerns about a series of “interactions” between Ayres and the then head of Investment NSW, Amy Brown, during the hiring process.
After Ayres stood aside, Perrottet commissioned a separate report, by prominent Sydney barrister Bruce McClintock SC, to probe whether Ayres had breached the code. That report, released this week, cleared Ayres of any wrongdoing.
But on Wednesday, Perrottet told media he had no plans to return Ayres to cabinet.
The cabinet that is in place is the cabinet that is in place.
I have no plans [for a reshuffle] at this stage. The cabinet that is in place is the cabinet serving the people of NSW.
Perrottet said he had not made “any decisions” about whether there would be a reshuffle prior to the election, saying it was “not my focus”.
In his statement released following the report, Ayres took the unusual step of quoting words he attributed to Perrottet during a private conversation after he was given the McClintock report. Ayres said the premier told him it was “an emphatic exoneration”.
Asked on Wednesday whether he used those words, Perrottet said the report “speaks for itself”.
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Shiny happy people.
Queen Elizabeth II Park in Sydney will be a place for people to come together. Today NSW Premier @Dom_Perrottet and I announced plans to create a new open space off Macquarie Street commemorating the Queen – a public plaza to be enjoyed by Australians for many years to come. pic.twitter.com/GP6qUV4dgL
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) September 13, 2022
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LNP call for Brisbane’s cross-river rail project to be named after Queen
The Queensland LNP opposition are calling for the cross-river rail, a major infrastructure project Brisbane has waited more than 10 years for, to be named the Elizabeth Line honour of the Queen (it’s finally being built).
They’ve set up a petition. But not one that goes through the Parliament site.
Sign the petition here ✍🏼https://t.co/wwaj9TI8uq
— David Crisafulli (@DavidCrisafulli) September 13, 2022
Which prompted this response from the Labor transport minister
Everyone who signs this ‘petition’ should know their data is secretly being harvested directly to the @LNPQLD database, not to the Parliament.
— Mark Bailey MP (@MarkBaileyMP) September 13, 2022
You didn’t tell Queenslanders that did you @DavidCrisafulli?
With the funeral 5 days away, this mining of people’s data is just wrong
Apparently it’s the timing of the data gathering which is the problem.
Just another very normal day in Qldpol.
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Dairy giant Norco to sack 170 staff after Lismore ice-cream factory flooded – report
The ABC reports dairy giant and one of Lismore’s major employers, Norco, is laying off 170 staff, another consequence of the Lismore floods.
The government has offered a $35m grant to support Norco – but the co-op says it isn’t enough and will proceed with the sackings.
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Scott Morrison wouldn’t confirm how much he was paid for a speaking engagement in South Korea when asked at a press conference, because he said there were “processes” for that.
The process:
Former PM Scott Morrison has updated his register of interests to declare that he received an honorarium from Chosun Ilbo (the Korean newspaper that sponsored the Asian Leadership Conference) + joined the advisory board of the centre-right alliance International Democrat Union pic.twitter.com/2xk02jz8i1
— cammyboo KC (@cameronwilson) September 13, 2022
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Labor overhauls Climate Change Authority
Chris Bowen has announced three new members of the Climate Change Authority: Dr Virginia Marshall, Prof Lesley Hughes and Sam Mostyn.
Bowen said:
The Climate Change Authority has a crucial role to play and these three additional members will bring vital skills and experience.
With this expanded membership, the Authority is better placed to oversee emissions reduction efforts and provide government with expert advice.
Marshall is known for her work on Indigenous water rights, which includes national water policy and law reform, climate change, human rights and Indigenous perspectives on the rights to nature/legal personhood.
Hughes has had a distinguished academic career and has provided independent expert advice to government on a range of scientific and policy issues, including at the federal climate commission.
Mostyn is a businesswoman and sustainability adviser with a long history of executive and governance roles, and has served on boards for the Climate Council and the Centre for Policy Development.
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Former Pacific leaders call on Australia to take climate change more seriously
Two former Pacific leaders, Anote Tong (former president of Kiribati) and Thomas Esang Remengesau Jr (former president of Palau) are holding a press conference at parliament house in Canberra today, asking for more action on climate change.
The pair, who are members of the leaders group Pacific Elders Voice, will meet with MPs from across the political divide, but will be joined at the press conference by ACT independent senator David Pocock.
From their statement:
Their message for the Australian Government is that climate change is an existential crisis for the Pacific and is already having impacts on their people and environment.
They will be making comment on the Australian Government’s policy positions on climate action, including no new coal and gas, emissions reduction targets, continued development and export of fossil fuels (including with taxpayer subsidies), climate finance, loss and damage and global climate talks (including Australia’s proposal for a joint COP with the Pacific).
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Markets tumble in US overnight
So much for the blithe confidence that inflation was ebbing and our many asset bubbles could start reflating.
Well, the overnight inflation news from the US was disappointing but the markets decided it was horrific.
On the face of it, US CPI coming in at 8.3% in August compared with a median forecast of 8.1% doesn’t seem like a big miss. But most market guesses were exceeded, and so the reaction was swift and brutal.
A total of 1,300 points was wiped off the Dow, or more than 4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq became 5% lighter. The ASX is no doubt going to point sharply lower when trading starts here at 10am AEST as investors wonder if the inflation here might be less contained than previously thought.
The dismay is focused on the likelihood now that the Federal Reserve will have to lift US interest rates higher and for longer than expected.
Talk of a “jumbo” rate rise of 1 percentage point next time may prove excessive but increases of 75 basis points at its next two meetings, with a peak rate of 4.3% in early 2023, are now being “fully priced in” by traders, Bloomberg said.
As of yesterday, investors were starting to reduce their predictions of how high the RBA would need to go.
Rather than a 4% peak, they were now looking at more like 3.5% – although still higher than the major commercial banks are expecting something more like 2.6% to 3.35%.
Ahead of today's expected ASX swoon, investors had been paring their expectations of how far the RBA would raise the cash rate. The 3.5% or so peak by mid-next year is down from 4% expected a week ago. Still, they reckon there's a 55% chance the rate will go to 2.85% on Oct 4th. pic.twitter.com/P2l7g8oPRb
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 13, 2022
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New Sydney square to be named for Queen Elizabeth II
Michael McGowan is at Anthony Albanese and Dominic Perrottet’s announcement in Sydney; a public square will be named for the Queen in the heart of Macquarie Street.
Queen Elizabeth II Place will be a new public square which will be created as part of the Macquarie Street East precinct revitalisation plans.
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“You can let it rip all you like, but we will all deal with the consequences”
Monique Ryan said she was very concerned with the decision to lower the Covid isolation period from seven days to five days because it was against the medical advice, and she is worried the national cabinet will agree to get rid of the isolation period altogether.
We’ve got 287 childcare facilities in Australia dealing with with Covid at the moment, if we just let it rip, it will rip, and more lives will be lost. We’ve got hundreds and hundreds of childcare workers out with Covid at the moment that will increase, we’ve got 60,000 job vacancies in the aged care sector at the moment, that will increase – you can let it rip all you like, but we will all deal with the consequences of that.
Ryan wants a Covid summit to deal with all of these issues, and while she is on the parliamentary committee looking at long Covid, she thinks what it finds could roll into a national response.
Increasingly, it looks just like people affected by long Covid have what is effectively a physical disability. They have persisting symptoms which prevent them from returning to the workplace and from functioning normally in their daily life and the model of care for long Covid in the absence of any proven treatments to date is one of disability care.
So it may very well be that we end up with an increasingly large number of people in our community who have a newly acquired disability that we have to support.
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Long Covid stress on economy will increase over time, says Ryan
The Kooyong MP says we “can’t wish” Covid away, and while we are living with it, we just need a new plan, including with how we deal with long Covid:
We need to have a vision and a shared vision for how we’re going to respond to this ongoing stress for our population and for our economy.
We know that it’s going to be with us for a period of time – people are tired, they’re exhausted, they’re sick of Covid and they want it to go away but we can’t just wish it away.
We need to acknowledge that it’s there and formulate a plan for us all to go forward with it.
The reality is that long Covid at the moment is significant and it’s going to be an increasing stress on our economy.
There’s a significant number of people away with long Covid and that will accumulate over time. We don’t have a plan for what to do with those people, or with the ongoing absenteeism just related to acute covid infections
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New Covid variant is probably inevitable in northern winter, says Monique Ryan
The independent MP for Kooyong, Dr Monique Ryan, says we need to “rejig” how we are dealing with Covid.
She told ABC radio RN Breakfast:
I think we need greater transparency about the federal and state government’s approach to Covid and their plans for what is probably an inevitable new variant emerging over the northern winter.
I think workplaces and schools and aged care childcare facilities lack clarity about what the plan is for the inevitable next outbreaks of Covid and there’s a lot of uncertainty and anxiety about the fact that the government seems to have been winding back the mitigation strategies, whether we’re talking about mask-wearing, social isolation, quarantine, without really a plan for how this is going to affect people going forward.
The reality is Covid is still with us. We’ve had more people die in aged care facilities from Covid this year than in the two previous years of Covid combined and pretending that it’s going away or that it has gone away, it’s just not working for people.
Updated
Very relatable.
Eritrean Australian Saba Abraham, Queensland's 2021 Local Hero, ignored three calls from a private number before picking up to the PM's office to be invited to the Queen's funeral in London.
— @MartySilk (@MartySilkHack) September 13, 2022
"Actually I had to ask again, is it a real thing," she tells .@abcbrisbane
Productivity Commission reports on school reform
The Productivity Commission has released its interim report on the national school reform agreement, as AAP reports:
States and territories will need to improve student wellbeing, equity and the quality of teaching to boost educational outcomes and reflect high levels of funding.
The Productivity Commission has released its interim report on the national school reform agreement signed by federal, state and territory governments in 2018 following a $319 billion funding deal over 11 years.
The agreement proposed eight national policy initiatives to lift education standards across Australia.
But the report has found progress on some of the initiatives that would make the most difference has been disappointing.
Despite governments agreeing to address needs of Indigenous students, those with a disability and from regional, rural and remote areas, there have yet to be any results to demonstrate equity improvements.
Every year between 5% and 9% of Australian students do not meet year-level expectations in either literacy or numeracy.
Commissioner Natalie Siegel-Brown said while the national agreement was a promising start, more action was needed to deliver on the initiatives.
“We must do more to prevent students from falling behind and help those who are struggling to catch up with their peers,” Siegel-Brown said.
“Unfortunately, we persistently fall short of the ideal of an equitable education for all students … low educational performance needs a different approach.”
The commission recommends all states and territories find ways to assist students struggling to meet minimum standards.
Improving student wellbeing, equity and the quality of teaching should be the main focus of the new agreement when current arrangements finish in late 2023.
The commission recommended a new agreement also take into account the effects Covid-19 had on the education system.
It must address policy challenges arising from education workforce shortages, lack of career pathways for mid-ranking teachers and principals, and high workloads.
The commission is seeking input to inform its final report. Submissions close on October 21.
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LNP wants Brisbane Cross River Rail renamed the Elizabeth Line
It’s apparently not the right time to talk about Australia’s future under the monarchy, but it is the right time to talk about what else we can do to entrench Australia’s links to the monarchy.
The LNP in Queensland want some changes, as AAP reports:
Queensland’s opposition has launched a petition to rename Brisbane’s Cross River Rail project the Elizabeth Line in honour of the late Queen.
Liberal National Party Leader David Crisafulli is leading the charge to rename the 10.2km rail line, which will run through the inner city from Dutton Park in the south to Exhibition Station in the north.
Crisafulli says renaming the $5.4bn project the Elizabeth Line – following the example of the London Underground’s newest line – would be a fitting tribute to the former monarch’s seven-decade reign.
“Renaming Cross River Rail to The Elizabeth Line is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Queensland to forever honour her life and legacy,” he said in a statement.
“Her Majesty’s 70-year reign was defined by her dedication to duty and service and this plan would see her name continue to service our state.
“Queenslanders have shown great respect for the Queen and I am sure they will get onboard and sign the petition so we can make this happen.”
Deputy opposition leader Jarrod Bleijie, the state’s most prominent monarchist, said the change would remember Elizabeth II’s eight visits to Queensland - in 1954, 1963, 1970, 1977, 1982, 1988, 2002 and 2011.
“Renaming the project is a magnificent way to remember Queen Elizabeth II,” Bleijie said.
“It would also be a fantastic opportunity for the royal family to come to Queensland and officially open the Elizabeth Line just like the Queen did earlier this year in London.”
Comment has been sought from Queensland’s transport minister, Mark Bailey.
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The ABC will televise a service for this a little later this morning
Today is the 75th anniversary of Australia’s involvement in peacekeeping operations. Since 1947, more than 66,000 Australian peacekeepers have served in more than 50 international peacekeeping operations. Tragically 16 have lost their lives. We honour their service & sacrifice. pic.twitter.com/9DST9guH5L
— General Angus Campbell (@CDF_Aust) September 13, 2022
No bus for Biden
Looks like Joe Biden has been given an exception from the UK park-and-ride plan to get world leaders to the Queen’s funeral.
The US president will be able to travel in “the beast”, the reinforced car that travels with the president whenever they are on the road. That’s according to the Times of London.
There are a couple of other exceptions too.
But Anthony Albanese is unlikely to be one of them, and will join other world leaders in being bussed to the funeral.
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“It’s akin to them being audited every fortnight”
(Continued from previous post)
The Coalition has proposed doubling the threshold pensioners can earn before their pension is reduced, from $300 to $600 a fortnight, in a private senator’s bill introduced in August by Liberal Dean Smith.
In a submission to an inquiry examining Smith’s bill, National Seniors Australia proposed that pensioners should be able to opt in to an exemption from the income test for “income earned from personal exertion” (as opposed to rent, dividends and other income on capital), or be reimbursed at the end of the tax year for the amount of the pension they lost.
The NFF said it was “highly supportive” of that proposal, particularly because it could help boost the number of “grey nomads” in harvest roles.
Even doubling the income threshold would be “unlikely to yield a significant number of workers hours”, the NFF submitted.
In a statement after the summit the NSA said it would continue to push for a New Zealand style model where pensioners can work as much as they want without losing their pension.
“This new ‘income credit’ still puts the onus on aged pensioners to report their income to Centrelink which is a major disincentive for pensioners to return to work,” NSA chief advocate Ian Henschke said.
“It’s akin to them being audited every fortnight.”
Under Labor’s changes pensioners will also not be “thrown off” the pension and made to reapply or lose their pensioner concession card if their income returns unless their income is above the threshold for two years.
After the summit the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said Labor hopes the measures “spur some additional workforce participation among older Australian workers … so that people can work a bit more if they want to”.
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Gina Rinehart accuses politicians of being 'removed from the lives' of pensioners
Billionaire Gina Rinehart has accused the government of being out of touch with pensioners after changes to encourage seniors to work she says don’t go far enough.
Rinehart adds her voice to groups including National Seniors Australia and the National Farmers Federation which have called for pensioners’ pay from labour to be subject only to regular income tax, rather than reducing their pension.
At September’s jobs and skills summit, the Albanese government announced a $55m “time-limited” measure to give pensioners a $4,000 income tax credit, about $80 a week, on top of the $7,800 a year they can currently earn before pension payments are reduced.
In a statement Rinehart said the measure would be in place “only for nine months” – the remainder of this tax year – and amounts “to less than half a day of additional work on the basic wage before they are hit with a 50c per $1 penalty (tax) in addition to paying income tax”.
“We are an ageing nation that has a participation rate of mature age workers less than the OECD average,” she said, urging the government to encourage pensioners and veterans to continue working during “an acute worker shortage”.
“Work income should be exempt from assessment with pensioners simply paying income tax like everyone else.
“The extra income tax from their work should be considered as repayment of pension.”
The changes would see pensioners retain the full pension while paying no tax on earnings up to $18,200, and a marginal rate of 19c every $1 for income after that threshold up to $45,000.
Rinehart said it was “very sad to see our politicians so removed from the lives of our pensioners and vets [veterans], when pensioners and too many vets are currently struggling with and facing more rising living costs, including but not only, rising costs of power as coal fired power stations are reduced”.
Following the jobs and skills summit the National Farmers Federation chief executive, Fiona Simson, recognised the “improved flexibility for pensioners wishing to access the workforce” but noted Labor’s proposal “still falls short of calls by the NFF, National Seniors Australia and other business groups”.
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Monique Ryan calls for long Covid plan
Kooyong MP Monique Ryan has been pushing for a national action plan for long Covid – the independent MP says there should be a Covid summit to work out a plan.
Nearly 14,500 people have died of Covid in Australia. Aged care deaths are rising, and long Covid is increasingly hitting people who had “mild” cases of the virus.
Ryan says we need to have a look at what is going on and work out a way to address it, in this new world we are all living in.
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Good morning
We’ve made it to the halfway point. On this Wednesday, 14 September, the national cabinet will meet – virtually – and decide on whether or not to continue pandemic pay.
With the states and territories on a unity ticket and a five-day isolation period still in place it looks like, yes, the national cabinet will agree to keep the payments going.
Given how many people don’t have sick leave entitlements, it makes sense. Covid absences are already having a pretty big effect on the economy according to the ABS, contributing to the labour force issues. Taking away much needed income from vulnerable workers who get sick, given how much Covid is in the community, would have further ongoing effects.
Anthony Albanese is in Sydney today with the NSW premier and has flagged he’ll be making an announcement at 8.30am AEST. That’s about a CBD project apparently but it points to everyone getting along rather well at this point.
Meanwhile, year 1 students in Victoria will have their reading skills tested through a new phonics test, which will use real and fake words from next year.
It’s designed to find children having issues before the problems take hold for the rest of their schooling. NSW and South Australia already do it. Using fake words is designed to catch students who have memorised words to mask some of the issues they are having.
We’ll cover all the days news as it happens. I hope you have your coffee (or whatever it is you need to get through the day). Ready? Let’s get into it.
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