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The Guardian - AU
National
Cait Kelly (now) and Mostafa Rachwani (earlier)

Australia joins Quad countries to launch new counter-terror talks – as it happened

Penny Wong China United States Russia Australia National Security G20 Qin Gang Ukraine United Nations
Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong attending the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in New Delhi, India
Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong met today with her counterparts for a Quad foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, India. Photograph: Indian Ministry Of External Affairs Handout/EPA

The day that was: Friday 3 March

And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Thank you so much for spending part of your day with us. Before we go, let’s recap the big headlines:

Updated

Residential NBN services decline in number for first time

From AAP:

The number of residential NBN services has declined for the first time, according to figures showing connections between NBN Co and retailers.

Services in operation fell by 9,000, or 0.1%, to 8.73m in the December 2022 quarter, the ACCC’s NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report said on Friday.

A spokesperson for the NBN said:

About 20 million Australians use the NBN network each day which means there is a smaller pool of potential new users of the network.

Combine that with the completion of the build (and) you see more modest new connections.

The top three providers – Telstra, TPG and Optus – lost a total of 95,000 services to shave their market share to 77.9%.

But Vocus and other smaller providers gained about 86,000 services, to 1.9m. They now have 22.1% of the market, up from 14.6% two years earlier.

About half of all services are for 50 megabits a second while 20%, or 1.8m homes, are getting 100Mbps or more.

Updated

The federal court has released new details of Sally Rugg’s case against independent MP Monique Ryan and the commonwealth, including witness statements from Ryan and her chief of staff.

Rugg has sued the commonwealth and Ryan for alleged adverse action after the MP purportedly dismissed her chief of staff from her employment for refusing to work unreasonable additional hours.

Updated

Australian share market recoups some losses but stays in the red

The local share market has managed to claw back some of its losses but still finished in the red for the fourth straight week, AAP has reported.

The S&P/ASX200 on Friday finished up 28.2 points, or 0.39%, to 7,283.6, leaving the benchmark index down 0.3 points since last Friday’s close and down 3.6% from its 3 February finish.

The broader All Ordinaries on Friday gained 24 points, or 0.32%, to 7,484.

The day’s gains came after a solid session on Wall Street, where the S&P500 lifted three-quarters of a per cent after some dovish FedSpeak from a non-voting member of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.

Fed Bank of Atlanta president Raphael Bostic said overnight the US central bank “could be in a position to pause” rate hikes by the northern hemisphere summer.

Updated

Speaking in New Delhi, Penny Wong played down G20 foreign ministers’ meeting’s failure to issue a joint statement.

The foreign affairs minister said everybody knew there were “differences of views between great powers” over the war in Ukraine (at least two G20 members – China and Russia – have objected to including strong language denouncing Russia’s invasion of the country).

But Wong said whatever the difficulties on those issues, the G20 “must continue to cooperate” on other issues, including climate and development:

These can only be dealt with together - I think humanity learned that through the pandemic.

Updated

Australian government to send rapid assessment team to Vanuatu in wake of Tropical Cyclones Judy and Kevin

The Australian government has announced it will deploy a rapid assessment team to survey cyclone damage at the request of the government of Vanuatu.

In statement issued a short time ago, the federal government said:

The 12-person team and an initial assistance package will be transported to Vanuatu on a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) aircraft as soon as weather conditions allow.

The team includes officers from federal, state and territory partners with a range of disaster, health, infrastructure, power and humanitarian assessment capabilities.

The rapid assessment team will survey the impact of Tropical Cyclone Judy, and Tropical Cyclone Kevin.

RAAF aircraft will also assist the Government of Vanuatu with aerial damage assessments.

Australia’s initial package of assistance includes shelters, water purification supplies and other essential items for impacted communities.

The Australian Government is working closely with partners such as France and New Zealand to support the Government of Vanuatu’s response.

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said the Australian defence force was coordinating closely with the Pacific family to provide the best support possible.

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, added:

We are providing rapid assistance to support those who have been affected by this disaster.

We are committed to working with the government and people of Vanuatu to support the recovery.

Updated

Australia joins Quad countries to launch new counter-terror talks

Australia, the US, India and Japan have announced a new Quad working group on counter-terrorism to “counter new and emerging forms of terrorism, radicalisation to violence and violent extremism”.

The announcement comes after the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, met today with her counterparts for a Quad foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, India. She is expected to hold a press conference shortly.

But the joint statement issued by the four countries outlines concerns about the changing nature of terrorism:

We note with deep concern that terrorism has become increasingly diffuse, aided by terrorists’ adaptation to, and the use of emerging and evolving technologies such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and the internet, including social media platforms for recruitment and incitement to commit terrorist acts, as well as for the financing, planning, and preparation of terrorist activities. We welcome the focused discussions on these themes at the Quad Counter-Terrorism Policy Meeting and tabletop exercise hosted by Australia in October 2022.

We are pleased to announce the establishment of the Quad Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, which will explore cooperation amongst the Quad, and with Indo-Pacific partners, to counter new and emerging forms of terrorism, radicalization to violence and violent extremism. We look forward to its first meeting in the United States in 2023 to continue our discussions on this global issue.

More broadly, the Quad countries said they were determined to deepen engagement with regional partners to strengthen maritime domain awareness – including countering illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight. There is expected to be a Quad Maritime Security Working Group meeting hosted by the United States in Washington DC later this month. The Quad statement includes the following concerns alluding to China:

We recognize that peace and security in the maritime domain underpins the development and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific, and reiterate the importance of respect for sovereignty, consistent with international law. We reiterate the importance of adherence to international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China Seas. We strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the area.

We express serious concern at the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities.

Australia, the US, India and Japan also agreed on a form of wording about “the conflict in Ukraine and the immense human suffering it is causing”. (India has tended to be reluctant to be as strong in explicitly condemning Russia.) The Quad countries agreed “that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible” and “underscored the need for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter”.

Updated

NSW government “buck-passing” on fast rail

The Perrottet government has been accused of “one of the greatest examples of buck-passing in recent memory” for quietly abandoning its vision to build its own dedicated fast rail line between Sydney and Newcastle.

On Friday, Guardian Australia revealed that after four years and roughly $100m spent on feasibility studies on the fast rail line, work on a final business case was abruptly halted in mid-December.

Confidential documents seen by Guardian Australia show the New South Wales government now considers further planning for a dedicated fast rail line on the corridor to be a task for the commonwealth and its yet-to-be operations high speed rail authority, which will itself restart feasibility studies.

Responding to the revelations, Committee for the Hunter chief executive, Alice Thompson, told the Newcastle Herald “if the Liberal National NSW government has handed over responsibility for a project that doesn’t even cross borders to the feds, this will be one of the greatest examples of buck passing in recent memory”.

A Transport for NSW spokesperson confirmed the scaled back vision, saying the department is only “progressing business cases for in-corridor faster rail improvements to existing lines while planning progresses with the Australian government for a national high speed rail network”.

However on Friday, the NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, insisted his government’s long-term vision still includes a fast rail network in the state. “What you do as a government during the budget period is you make investment decisions based on the plans that you’ve set out.” Perrottet added:

As you move forward, you prioritise your projects in a way that is affordable and sustainable, that sets out the future vision … That’s what we’ve done as a government.

Deputy opposition leader, Prue Car, criticised Perrottet for having taken a taxpayer funded trip to Japan where he rode a bullet train and talked up NSW’s high speed rail vision. “Now he actually needs to comment and give assurance to the people of NSW whether this is happening or not. If not, this is just another Liberal broken promise.”

Read more:

Updated

Sodden summer was pretty average, temperature-wise

Technically summer’s behind us, but it’s always worth a check on how the season turned out.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, summer was about 27% wetter than average, which was probably not surprising since it contained the tail end of a third consecutive La Niña event in the Pacific:

As the chart suggests, the north was wetter than usual, with the Northern Territory having its seventh-wettest summer on record.

Other parts started to dry out a bit, with rainfall in NSW about 35% below average for the season, and the Murray-Darling Basin as a whole down 37%. Victoria was off 22% too.

Temperature-wise, it could hardly have been closer to the averages. For mean temperatures, summer was just 0.07 degrees above the 1961-90 benchmark used by the bureau.

The pattern was surprisingly similar for both daytime and overnight readings. The area-averaged national mean maximum temperature was 0.04 degrees above average, while the national mean minimum temperature was 0.09 above that norm.

There are always quirky numbers, such as Sydney’s December being the coolest for minimums since 1967. Most sites in Brisbane had less than 70% of their typical summer rainfall.

Perth, too, was dry with the metro area recording just 1.4mm for the summer, and the driest since the summer of 2009-2010 when just 0.2mm fell (that was the record driest).

Oddly enough, given how dry conditions were, the WA capital notched up only its fourth summer without a 40C day (the first since 2017-18). Given the background warming from climate change is about 1.5C for Australia since 1910, the odds are banking up for relatively hot weather over time.

Speaking of hot matters, some excitable scribes (hello, Daily Telegraph) have been talking up the prospect of “monster heatwave” early next week for parts of eastern Australia.

Yes, it will feel warm with 36-38C predicted for parts of Sydney, and even 35C for Brisbane by Wednesday. But as far as heatwaves go, it barely registers, according to the bureau’s heatwave monitor:

Perhaps those mild La Niña-like summers have softened a few of us up.

Updated

The National Farmers’ Federation has released a statement responding to the agriculture minister Murray Watt’s earlier announcement the government has set up a panel to consult on the phase-out of live sheep exports.

Tony Mahar, chief executive officer, said:

The NFF stands with 24 other peak agricultural bodies and farmers across Australia in opposing the ban on live sheep export, and does not support any process which aims to phase out the trade.

Cancelling an entire industry based on activist demands sets a dangerous precedent. What industry will be next?

To wrench a key export market out from the Australian economy will have far reaching impacts on jobs and livelihoods in Western Australia, as well as our economy, agricultural systems and trade relationships.

Our customers in the Middle East rely on the live sheep trade – and a range of other products – to put food on the table. We saw in 2011 the damage it can do to a bilateral relationship when you pull the pin on a country’s food supply. It risks compromising Australia’s reputation as a reliable supplier of high quality food and fibre.

We are an export orientated industry – if Government starts cancelling export markets this send a seriously bad message to farmers.

The policy is based on an outdated campaign by welfare activists that ignores the significant animal welfare improvements made through heavy investment in new infrastructure and practices. The industry has been open and transparent about the reforms it has made.

Updated

University of Adelaide receives $1.8m to study Indian agriculture sector

The University of Adelaide has received $1.8m in federal government funding to undertake a year-long project into India’s agricultural sector.

The project will seek to identify “critical and emerging jobs” to meet India’s emerging agricultural skills needs, employing stakeholders from vocational training and agricultural sectors in both countries.

Dr Tamara Jackson, a senior research fellow with the University of Adelaide’s school of agriculture, food and wine, is the lead researcher on the project.

This project will research, design and deliver pilot training products, in partnership with stakeholders from the Australian international education sector and Australian and Indian agriculture sectors.

We will explore partnerships between industry and education providers of both countries through the co-development of occupational standards for critical and emerging job roles across India’s key agriculture sub-sectors.

The project will run until 2024.

It’s the latest in a string of announcements made by Australian universities during a delegation to India with the education minister, Jason Clare, as the sector aims to capitalise on the nation’s sweeping new education plan.

Updated

NT deputy commissioner acknowledges ‘military-like’ police unit at Walker inquest

From AAP:

NT’s deputy police commissioner, Murray Smalpage, has returned to the stand for a fifth day to give evidence at a coronial inquest into the death of Indigenous teen Kumanjayi Walker.

Smalpage defended the “militarisation” of the NT police force and its heavy reliance on guns on Thursday. He said he could see how people perceived a unit like Rolfe’s as military-like.

He also said he knew communities “would much prefer we didn’t carry firearms,” but guns were essential to the police force.

The inquest also heard admissions by a police officer that controversial text messages that may have influenced Constable Zachary Rolfe’s defence to a murder charge were not meant for him.

Rolfe fatally shot Walker, 19, three times as he resisted arrest in Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, on 9 November, 2019.

Afterwards, Rolfe received text messages telling him to justify his intent as self-defence against “the s*** c*** (who) was telling him that he was going to stab the police”.

But Sgt Ian Nankivell, who wrote the messages, told the inquest into the fatal shooting he “emphatically denied” that the messages were for Rolfe.

Updated

The minister for housing, Julie Collins, has rejected an assertion from the Greens today that the housing Australia future fund won’t go far enough to assist renters.

She said the $10bn plan was the “single biggest investment” from the federal government in social and affordable housing in more than a decade:

Standing in the way of legislation to create the fund will risk every single dollar of returns from this $10bn investment.

It will also risk the 30,000 social and affordable houses that the fund will support in its first five years, including 4,000 homes for women and children impacted by family and domestic violence or older women at risk of homelessness.

I am continuing to have constructive conversations with representatives from right across the parliament about this critical legislation.

The Coalition will oppose the legislation in the House, while the Greens are calling for a set of “negotiating aims”, including a minimum of $5bn invested in social and affordable housing every year and removing the $500m cap.

They are also urging the government to adopt a national freeze on rent increases and an immediate doubling of commonwealth rent assistance in the budget.

Updated

20 red-tailed phascogales to be released in NSW national park to mark World Wildlife Day

A red-tailed phascogales
A red-tailed phascogales. Photograph: Brad Leue/Adelaide Zoo

From AAP:

More than 20 red-tailed phascogales – a near-threatened carnivorous marsupial – are set to be released in a national park in NSW after a 450km journey from a breeding program at Adelaide zoo.

To mark World Wildlife Day, the 11 females and 10 males will be released on Friday night into a fenced area of the Mallee Cliffs national park in the NSW Sunraysia region.

They will add to the population of 93 released into the national park over the past two years, with the tiny mammals previously considered locally extinct.

Zoos SA’s conservation coordinator, Lisa West, said each animal had been fitted with a collar to allow their transition to their new environment to be monitored.

“That will give us vital information into their movements and behaviour,” West said.

The collars are designed to break off in four to six weeks.

The red-tailed phascogale was once found across most of arid and semi-arid Australia, but they now occupy just 1% of their former habitat.

Updated

Calls for royal commission on Indigenous child deaths

An Aboriginal justice leader has called for a royal commission over mounting Indigenous child deaths, suggesting it could lead to another stolen generation, AAP has reported.

The number of Aboriginal kids dying who are known to Victoria’s child protection services has risen crazily in recent years, the Aboriginal Justice Caucus’ co-chair, Chris Harrison, said.

“More children have passed that have been linked to child protection ... than that have died in the justice system,” the Wotjobaluk man told the Yoorrook justice commission on Friday.

The commission for children and young people’s 2021/22 annual report found Aboriginal children and young people were over-represented in its inquiries into kids who died within 12 months of their last involvement with child protection.

Two Aboriginal children and young people were among the 37 notified child deaths last financial year and made up seven of its 41 completed child death inquiries.

Thirteen of the 45 kids known to Victoria’s child protection services who died over the 2020/21 financial year were Aboriginal.

Harrison said the revelations in the most recent report should have been front page news, but were hidden in the data and among of a raft of 265 government documents tabled on December 20.

Updated

SA reforms government contract spending rules to focus on local jobs

From AAP:

Interstate companies and contractors may find it more difficult to secure South Australian government contracts under changes to the state’s spending rules.

The government spends $8.5bn a year on goods and services across areas such as hospitals, schools and various departments and agencies. Under the procurement reforms, it will lift the spend allocated to SA businesses by 5%, or about $425m.

In other changes, local workers must deliver at least 90% of labour hours on major infrastructure projects and any contracts worth more than $55,000 awarded to interstate or overseas suppliers must be approved by a departmental chief executive.

At least 20% of labour hours on major projects will be required to be delivered by apprentices, trainees, Indigenous workers and the long-term unemployed.

The state’s treasurer, Stephen Mullighan, said the government should support local suppliers and local jobs wherever possible when spending taxpayers’ money.

“These changes are designed to get more public spending into the pockets of local businesses and workers,” he said.

Updated

Universities Australia welcomes Indian mutual recognition agreement

Universities Australia - the peak body for the tertiary education sector - has welcomed Clare’s adoption of the new mutual recognition agreement for qualifications.

Universities Australia CEO, Catriona Jackson, said it marked another “huge step forward” in Australia’s education partnership with India:

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and a very important strategic partner. We have huge opportunities in front of us to support India’s education reform ambitions and to diversify our education offerings to reach new cohorts of students – for the benefit of both our nations.

Under the rules, students can use their qualifications where they wish to work. This will help with skill shortages and drive deeper connections in the important areas of research and development. Since the pandemic, interest from Indian students in our world-class universities has soared to new heights as the country sets about educating 500 million students by 2035. Our unis are here to help.

This is a golden period in our education relationship with India. We must grasp it with both hands.

India is currently Australia’s second largest and fasting growing source of international students with 128,979 Indian students enrolled with Australian providers as of December, behind only China.

Updated

Australia signs qualifications mutual recognition agreement with India

The education minister, Jason Clare, has signed a sweeping new mutual recognition agreement of qualifications between India and Australia, the cornerstone of his trip with university delegates this week.

Clare and India’s minister of education and minister of skill development and entrepreneurship, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, signed the mechanism – the most comprehensive education agreement of its kind in India – during a meeting in New Delhi.

It means an Indian student will have any degree obtained from an Australian university recognised if they want to continue higher education in India.

Pradhan and Clare also reaffirmed their intention to establish an Australia India working group on transnational partnerships - expected to report to ministers at the next Australia India Education and Skills Council (AIESC) meeting later this year.

Clare and Pradhan next meet later this year when they co-chair the AIESC meeting with Brendan O’Connor, skills and training minister.

Clare:

This week’s signing reflects the strong and mutually beneficial relationship between India and Australia. Australia’s universities are well placed to contribute to India achieving its domestic education goals and to supporting the skills and employment needs of key Indian industries.

Australian universities have publicly cited their commitment to deepening partnerships with Indian universities – including the possibility of setting up campuses – to capitalise on the nation’s sweeping new education plan.

Also today, a further 11 memoranda of understandings were signed between Australian and Indian education counterparts.

Some academics have raised concerns over establishing campuses in India, citing the potential for compromised academic freedom and a heavily bureaucratic system.

Updated

Earlier today school kids once again hit the streets for School Strike 4 Climate – and some of these signs are spciey!

I’ve saved the best till last – so scroll down.

Protesters hold placards during a Global Climate Strike protest at Sydney Town Hall in Sydney.
Protesters hold placards during a Global Climate Strike protest at Sydney Town Hall in Sydney. Photograph: Bianca de March/EPA
Students hold a ‘missing skool 2 teach you a lesson’ sign.
The spelling errors are deliberate … probably. Photograph: Bianca de March/EPA
‘Touch my trees and I’ll break your knees’
The kids are alright. Photograph: Bianca de March/EPA
A student holds a sign: ‘Leonardo Dicaprio’s girlfriend Deserves a Future’
A student holds a sign: ‘Leonardo Dicaprio’s girlfriend Deserves a Future’. Photograph: Bianca de March/AAP

Updated

Agriculture minister: ‘everyone can have their say’

Watt says while this will just involve WA farmers, it’s a national issue:

I think we do need to recognise that, while Western Australia is now the only state that is exporting live sheep, this is an issue that has nationwide interest.

There are people in the west, the centre and the east of our country who have strong views about this issue, and we think that we have put together a balanced panel that represents the diversity of views, the diversity of interests – and that way, everyone can have their say.

Updated

Watt: ‘really big opportunities’ even after live export ban

Watt is back up – he says banning live export won’t put farmers out of business:

I’m not sure that we necessarily are facing a situation where farmers will lose their business or go out of business. I mean, as a result of this phase-out, obviously the export of live sheep would end but, as I say, we think there are some really big opportunities, particularly when it comes to onshore processing.

And we want to see more value-adding in Australia. And I think that’s got a lot of potential here.

But any issues around compensation and structural adjustment and those kind of things are exactly the kind of things we’re going to be asking the panel to give us advice on, and we’ll consider their recommendations when we receive them.

Updated

Phillip Glyd is up:

We’re very keen to engage with all stakeholders that are involved in this, whether it be the people who do the producing on-farm, the people who do the transporting, feedlotters, people who are involved in the overseas trade, the overseas destination markets – we need to talk to all of them.

What we’re planning to do is, first of all, hold a lot of meetings with people face-to-face and virtually to try and cover all of those issues. We also have a process for receiving written submissions for people who can’t make those sort of meetings. We’re trying to get around to cover everybody.

Updated

Agriculture minister: Labor still committed to supporting livestock industry

Watt says that in the meantime the government is committed to supporting the ag industry:

For instance, by continuing to invest about $160m in upgrades for rail networks to support the WA grains industry. By investing $5m to improve biosecurity for northern Australia – something that’s really vital for the cattle industry in WA.

And of course, we’ve recently agreed with the Western Australian government to repair the Fitzroy Crossing bridge and there’ll obviously be a lot of jointly funded roadworks that are really critical for WA’s agriculture sector as well.

Updated

Watt: around 12% of sheep raised in WA are sent for live export

It’s 12% of the overall industry are sent for live export. We know that the live exports constitute … less than 1% of Western Australians’ overall agriculture exports. But we intend to work with that part of the industry that is involved in this trade to make sure that they do continue to have opportunities into the future.

And in particular, one of the things that we’ve asked the panel to look at is what opportunities there might be to expand onshore processing of sheep meat.

Australia already exports 50 times as much sheep meat by value, compared to what we export in live sheep. And we think there are real opportunities to expand that trade over the coming years, with new markets being opened up in the UK, in India and, all going well, in the EU as well.

Updated

Watt: live export phase out to be done in a ‘orderly, considered way’

Watt says the panel will report back to him by September 30 this year with recommendations.

I‘ve said on a number of occasions that we want to do this in an orderly, considered way. The Albanese government understands that this is a big adjustment for many people here, particularly in Western Australia. We want to do it in an inclusive way through good consultation with people.

We’re not going to rush it. Both the prime minister and I have said publicly that this phase-out will not be implemented in this term of parliament because we do want to take the time to get it right and help industry transition to a new and different future compared to what it’s been doing.

Updated

Murray Watt announces panel on phasing out live sheep exports

He is announcing a group of four Australians to lead a consultation process around phasing out live sheep exports.

Four eminent Australians, very well-qualified, geographically spread, with the right mix of skills needed to take on what will be a complex task in consulting the community and coming up with recommendations to the government about how and when we should implement this commitment.

The former CEO of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Phillip Glyd, will chair the panel and he will be joined by WA farmer Sue Middleton, the former CEO of the RSPCA Heather Neil and the former Labor minister for agriculture Warren Snowdon.

Phasing out live exports has been in the works for a while, but not within this term of government:

Updated

The agricultural minister, Murray Watt, is speaking now in WA about the live sheep export trade.

Updated

And with that, I leave you in the hands of Cait Kelly. Thanks for reading.

Updated

$800,000 suite built for Richard Marles’ office was part of refurbishments that started before election

Some more details on the curious case of the $800,000 ministerial suite that was built for Richard Marles without anyone telling him or his team:

Freedom of information documents - first reported by News Corp - have now been released on the Department of Defence’s disclosure log.

They show bureaucrats and an external contractor having a email exchange on 7 October 2022 that included plans for the relocation of the deputy prime minister’s personal items from one level of the Defence building in the Canberra suburb of Russell to the higher-level new office:

Your team will commence packing the DPM’s office early next week and advise if there’s any furniture to be relocated …

Please let me know if there’s anything I’ve missed.

As it turns out, the thing that was missed was to inform Marles’ staff that this was even in prospect.

The issue came to light when the Department of Defence’s draft answers to Senate questions on notice (QON) were sent to Marles’ office for approval.

Marles’ chief of staff, Jo Tarnawsky, wrote to the head of the Department of Defence on 25 October to complain:

Alarmingly, the QON responses identify for the first time that a new office has been constructed for the deputy prime minister and at significant cost ...

The deputy prime minister does not need nor did he request an office be purpose built for him or any other minister. He was at no time briefed about Defence’s decision to create an executive suite nor the relocation of ministerial signage identifying the suite as his.

The deputy prime minister will not be taking occupancy of the newly constructed executive suite on level 5. Any signage that has been relocated from his current office on level 2 to level 5 should be relocated to its original location as a matter of urgency.

Tarnawsky ended the email with this request for nothing like this to be repeated in future:

Effective economic management and appropriate allocation of commonwealth resources is the cornerstone of this Government’s policy mandate. I look forward to more open communication and consultation in the future.

The secretary of the Department of Defence, Greg Moriarty, replied to say he had made some checks and could “confirm that neither the deputy prime minister nor his office were engaged on the topic of departmental works to develop additional executive office accommodation in Russell”:

The additional executive suite is being delivered as part of an approved series of refurbishments of executive offices and workspaces in Russell. The project, which started in April 2022, will increase density, accommodate an expanded workforce, and deliver safety and security upgrades.

(The election was in May 2022.)

Updated

NT education union says state uni sector review is ‘mistimed, misdirected and lacks transparency’

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has raised “serious concerns” over a review into Western Australia’s university sector, announced by the premier Mark McGowan and education minister Dr Tony Buti last week.

The union said the review was “mistimed, misdirected and lacks transparency”, warning against the possible push to merge or amalgamate the state’s four public universities.

NTEU WA’s division secretary, Dr Catherine Moore, said the review “inexplicably” favoured closed-door consultations over public submissions and didn’t make sense amid the ongoing university accord process.

It is being led by four independent experts, including former vice-chancellors and deans of universities.

Moore:

Purpose needs to be the foundation of any review - but even that isn’t clear. It doesn’t make sense to have a state review when the federal government is canvassing the biggest changes to the sector in more than a decade through the so-called accord process.

We’re calling on the WA government to rule out examining merging the state’s universities as a result of the review. It’s hard to see how any merger or amalgamation proposal could exist without mass job losses.

Public universities are a public good. Their mission to provide quality teaching, research, infrastructure and expertise to communities must be at the core of any review. It beggars belief that consultation is limited to vice-chancellors and ‘relevant stakeholders’ when staff, students and the public must be at the heart of the process.

In a statement, McGowan and Buti said the review would investigate changes that may help support the “performance and financial sustainability” of the state’s four public universities, a sector that had become “increasingly constrained”.

Between 2010 and 2019, WA had the smallest percentage growth in university enrolments in Australia (13.6% in WA, compared to 32.3% across Australia). In 2020, WA attracted only 5.5% of Australia’s international student revenue.

A final report is expected in the second half of 2023.

Updated

Erin Molan and Daily Mail to enter mediation after appeal

Sky News broadcaster Erin Molan and the Daily Mail will enter mediation and potentially go to a new trial.

Last year, Erin Molan was awarded $150,000 in damages after suing the Daily Mail for defamation. She said an article had accused her of appearing to mock Polynesian names after she used the phrase “hooka looka mooka hooka fooka” in a discussion about the pronunciation of rugby league players’ names on radio station 2GB in 2020.

Justice Robert Bromwich found rather than mocking those names, she was imitating a colleague, Ray Warren, who had himself struggled to properly say the names.

The Daily Mail appealed the finding, and on Thursday played a series of clips of Molan and her colleagues putting on a range of accents to give context to the “hooka looka mooka hooka fooka” statement.

Federal appeals court judges said today there had been an “error” in the initial judgement and that Bromwich may not have paid attention to the evidence in the broadcasts. They decided the matter would go back to a new trial, but the court also referred Molan and the Daily Mail to mediation before that trial.

Updated

Malcolm Turnbull to appear before robodebt inquiry next week

The former prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, will front a royal commission into the robodebt scheme next week.

Turnbull, who was prime minister when the scheme exploded in controversy in early 2017, is scheduled to appear on Monday, according to a schedule released by the inquiry this morning.

The inquiry has heard Turnbull had raised concerns about the program with the then minister, Alan Tudge, following an article by the Sydney Morning Herald’s Peter Martin that suggested the program could be illegal.

Turnbull is also said to have proposed that the CSIRO’s data specialty team, Data61, look into the program in early 2017.

He was still prime minister when the scheme was switched back on in August 2017.

The secretary of the department of human services at the time, Kathryn Campbell, will also front the commission for a third time.

The former Commonwealth ombudsman, Michael Manthorpe, whose office has faced scrutiny during the inquiry, will also appear, as will a key former official from his office, Louise Macleod.

The ombudsman’s appearance is significant because it cannot be compelled to appear.

Updated

Sally Rugg’s counsel says there is evidence that Monique Ryan has a new acting chief of staff ‘from Climate 200’

Sally Rugg’s counsel, Angel Aleksov, has revealed that there is evidence from a work Slack channel that Monique Ryan has a new acting chief of staff.

He said:

There is evidence a new chief of staff is seconded from a private organisation and paid on a private basis ... someone from Climate 200 ... paid for, it seems, outside the [Member of Parliamentary Staff] Act.

Aleksov is arguing that because the alleged replacement is privately funded, there is still a MOPs Act-funded position for Rugg to go back to.

Aleksov said the alleged new chief of staff also rebutts evidence from Ryan that if she reinstates Rugg to a different role she will be without a chief of staff.

Simon Holmes à Court told Guardian Australia that Climate 200 had not provided a chief of staff to Ryan. Rather, “a staff member of Climate 200 approached their manager asking for leave without pay in order to fill the gap in Ryan’s office”.

There was no communication between Climate 200 and Ryan on this staffing issue. [This was done] completely at arm’s length, with no initiation from Climate 200.

Updated

Interest rate hikes flowing through to depress housing loan demand, ABS says

Higher interest rates are continuing to pound demand for loans in the property sector, with new commitments falling 5.3% in value in January, seasonally adjusted, the ABS says.

That’s a tad faster than the 4.3% pace of decline in December alone, and more than 3% clip CBA (the biggest issuer of mortgages) had predicted.

The value of new loan commitments for housing was $22.1bn in January 2023, with new owner-occupiers borrowing $14.7bn of that (down 4.9%). New investor loan commitments fell 6% to $7.4bn.

From a year earlier, the overall drop was 35%, hinting at the drop of turnover in the market (rather than prices, which are about 9% off their highs of about a year ago, ANZ estimates).

First-home buyers get a bit of attention and the outlook was not promising here either, with the number of loans for such borrowers sinking 8.1% in January.

“Owner-occupier first-home buyer lending continued to decline from the high reached in January 2021,” said Mish Tan, ABS’s head of finance and wealth statistics. “The decline coincided with the winding down of Covid-19 pandemic stimulus measures.”

(Good use of correlation rather than causation, it should be noted.)

First-home buyers’ loans are now 57.5% lower than that peak just over two years ago, and are 27.5% less than the pre-pandemic level seen in February 2020, the ABS said.

By some quirk, the ACT and the NT saw a bounce in January of about a fifth for first-home buyer loans. All the rest of the country went backwards, led by 12.7% in NSW and 11.5% for Victoria.

“Anecdotal feedback from lenders suggested that reduced borrowing capacity due to rising interest rates further dampened overall demand for new housing loans in recent months,” Tan said.

That point about reduced borrowing capacity because of those rising rates was cited as a reason rents are going up so much in this well-commented on article from the start of this week:

Of course, the RBA is set to add to reduce that capacity to borrow even more. As of yesterday, investors were betting the central bank would lift its key interest rate another 25 basis points next Tuesday to 3.6% as a three-in-four chance. Something not really to look forward to.

Updated

Deputy PM gives update on internal Tiktok review

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, gave an update on the ongoing government review into whether platforms like TikTok should be allowed on government phones (some departments, like Defence, have already said no to TikTok).

There has been a clampdown in the United States and Canada. Marles told reporters today:

Home affairs is going through a process right now of reviewing social media platforms and their place on government phones and government equipment, and we will take advice from the relevant intelligence agencies about that in terms of the appropriateness of any given social media platform in respect of any device that is used throughout the Australian government.

But obviously, there are differing levels of security which apply to different devices in different places. A Defence phone needs to be more secure than a phone for the parliament. But we’ll take the advice from our relevant security agencies and intelligence agencies about how best to deal with.

Updated

Minns calls for suspension of Hill Shire council

New South Wales opposition leader Chris Minns has called for the suspension of a Sydney council at the centre of a parliamentary inquiry examining allegations of “impropriety” by property developers and councillors.

On Friday, Minns told radio station 2GB the allegations surrounding the Hill Shire council in north-west Sydney - which have been referred to the state’s independent commission against corruption - warranted its suspension.

My view is clearly the council has to be suspended pending a full investigation. I mean, the government is proposing an additional 100,000 people move into the Hills Shire over the next 15 to 20 years. We have to have confidence in the public administration of this council.

That’s a matter for the minister for local government if we’re elected. But my view is very clear, there’s got to be some integrity here. There needs to be measures in place so that everybody in that community – the council officers, the voters, the community, even the members of the Liberal party who were expelled – have got confidence that this thing is on the level.

The parliamentary report handed down on Thursday followed weeks of attempts to call a series of witnesses to give evidence over allegations senior members of the Liberal party received payments from property developers in order to install councillors favourable to their development applications.

Updated

Government response to strategic review to be released in April, Marles says

Richard Marles’ press conference was called to announce “that Nine Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force is being re-formed after a break of 34 years”.

But it quickly turned to other matters. The defence minister cited Australia’s supply of rapidly assembled cardboard drones to Ukraine as “an example of Australian ingenuity”. He added:

In respect of the cardboard drones, that is a very cool technology, which is seeing service in Ukraine right now, it has been developed with the assistance of the government, and we’ll continue to work with the government of Ukraine to see about its ongoing usefulness - and they certainly are very excited about it.

Marles reiterated that an unclassified version of the defence strategic review - and the government’s response to it - would be released in April (as he announced earlier this week). This is separate from the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine announcement, which is expected in coming weeks. On the submarines, he said:

And it does involve a really significant hardening of security in a physical sense with buildings and fences and the like, but also in an IT-sense around the information which goes with that. And we’re very cognisant of the challenge that’s involved in that. The announcement that we will make will talk about the way in which we intend to meet that challenge. And I think there is a high degree of confidence within both United States and United Kingdom about Australia’s ability to do that.

Guardian Australia revealed last week that the Australian government had imposed strict new security rules at the Adelaide site where nuclear-powered submarines will be built, as part of the latest moves to reassure allies that sensitive military secrets will be protected.

At today’s press conference, Marles also said decisions on the infantry fighting vehicle project - known as Land 400 Phase Three - were being handled by the defence ministry minister, Pat Conroy. Marles said he did not have any personal conflict of interest, but because one of the tenderers is based in his electorate it was “it is the right thing to do to have minister Conroy bring that program forward - and it’s very much in his hands”.

Richard Marles inspects RAAF aircraft and artillery at the Australian International Airshow and Aerospace and Defence Expo in Avalon today.
Richard Marles inspects RAAF aircraft and artillery at the Australian International Airshow and Aerospace and Defence Expo in Avalon today. Photograph: Getty Images

Updated

Sally Rugg’s counsel, Angel Aleksov, has revealed that one of the reasons that Monique Ryan lost confidence in her chief of staff was because Rugg travelled on an aeroplane with Covid.

Aleksov said that Rugg received a “formal warning about travel with Covid” and Rugg’s affidavit explained that the reason was that it was “on doctor’s advice”.

Justice Debra Mortimer said this is “going into submissions about why Ms Rugg, when she had Covid, travelled on an aeroplane”.

Aleksov said he is trying to show why travelling with Covid was not a “major factor” in loss of trust between the pair. Justice Mortimer said that Ryan’s position was “not irrational”.

This back and forth is Aleksov trying to show that Rugg and Ryan could still work together, which is airing fresh details about the breakdown in their working relationship.

Updated

Marles ‘not comfortable’ with new office

The defence minister, Richard Marles, says he is “not comfortable” with his department’s decision to spend $800,000 on an upgrade to build a new office for him at Defence headquarters in Canberra - and he won’t occupy it.

Today is not the first time we’ve heard about this issue - or the fact that Marles did not plan to occupy it - but Marles was questioned about it at a press conference in Avalon, Victoria, after the release of new documents under freedom of information laws.

It surrounds the creation of an executive suite on level 5 of Defence headquarters in the Canberra suburb of Russell - to replace his existing office on level two.

News Corp reported that the work had been done, complete with Marles’ embossed name on the door. It also reported that FOI documents showed Marles’ chief of staff wanted to know how the expensive work could have happened without “any knowledge or consultation with our office” and wrote:

The deputy prime minister does not need nor did he request an office be purpose built for him or any other minister.

Marles told reporters today he “wasn’t told that this was happening before it happened”. Marles said he did believe it was important for him to have an office to use when at the Department of Defence, but he was happy with the existing one rather than the new ministerial suite:

The office that I occupied had a couple of thousand dollars spent on it to refurbish it to allow me to occupy it and I’m really comfortable with that. I’m definitely not comfortable with what was being proposed, and so that’s not an office that I intend to or have occupied ...

I didn’t ask for that [expensive] office. I wasn’t advised that that was what was going to happen. I’m not going to occupy it. I’m really happy to occupy the office that I do, which was refurbished at the expense of a couple of thousand dollars on one of the lower floors of Russell.

Deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, at Avalon International Airshow and Aerospace and Defence Expo today.
Deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, at Avalon International Airshow and Aerospace and Defence Expo today. Photograph: Getty Images

Updated

Justice Debra Mortimer has cast doubt on whether it would be convenient to order that Sally Rugg keep her job pending the final trial.

Mortimer said Rugg is “inviting the court to supervise” her working relationship with Monique Ryan or else letting her keep her job is “simply unworkable”.

Mortimer questioned how “two people who have different views” about what reasonable hours are can be “ordered to continue to work together”.

Rugg’s counsel, Angel Aleksov, said that Rugg was not “work-shy” and had offered to do community engagement work requested by Ryan, provided that tasks are reprioritised and some of her other duties are given to other staff.

Updated

NSW bans no-grounds evictions

No-grounds evictions are set to be banned in NSW, along with a host of other initiatives intended to support struggling renters.

At a press conference this morning, NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, confirmed that his party would push through changes that would roughly align with proposals from Labour and the Greens, cementing changes as the election looms.

The Coalition has proposed a “reasonable-grounds” model for evictions for periodic leases, as well as extending notice periods for the end of fixed-term leases from 30 days to 45 days, introducing optional longer lease agreements of three or five years, a portable bond scheme and regulating data-collection from renters.

Perrottet told reporters the measures would offer protections to renters across the state, amidst a stinging rental crisis:

These new measures will provide even greater certainty and flexibility for nearly a million renters across NSW.

We are supporting renters to get into housing in a fairer way, without stressful bidding wars where people get pushed beyond their comfort levels.

Our ban on solicited rent-bidding is already improving affordability for those looking for rentals.

For background on this story, from Guardian journalist Stephanie Convery:

Updated

Rugg’s wage didn’t justify 70-hour weeks, counsel argues

In the federal court, Sally Rugg’s counsel, Angel Aleksov, is going through her terms and conditions of employment.

Aleksov said that despite the “day-to-day” description of Rugg’s role as Monique Ryan’s chief of staff, she was paid in the mid $130,000-$140,000 range, which the enterprise agreement “treats as a non-senior role”, less than half what some staffers earn ($270,000).

Aleksov notes there was also a payment for additional hours, but argues these still had to be reasonable. As an example, he said five additional hours a week might be reasonable for a staffer who didn’t take the payment, while 15 may be reasonable for someone who did.

That payment could be worth $32,000, which Aleksov says is in the range worth eight to 10 hours extra work a week, as a proportion of staffer salaries.

Rugg’s case is essentially that, even if staff take the payment, there is not an unlimited number of additional hours they can be asked or required to work.

Aleksov said that Rugg worked 70-hour weeks, exercised a right to refuse unreasonable additional hours, and was the subject of “retaliation”.

He said:

“Ordinary human experience tells us that payment of $130,000-ish with a $30,000-ish top up doesn’t justify working 70 hours a week, week-in week-out.”

Updated

Derryn Hinch winds up Justice party, urges supporters to ‘maintain the rage’

Former senator Derryn Hinch has announced the end of his political party after it was wiped out of the Victorian parliament at the November state election.

Hinch first entered federal parliament under the banner of Derryn Hinch’s Justice party in 2016, with three MPs following him in the Victorian parliament at the 2018 election, though Catherine Cumming quickly defected to sit in the upper house as an independent.

Hinch lost his Senate seat in 2019. At the 2022 state election, he made a failed attempt to enter Victorian parliament, while MPs Stuart Grimley and Tania Maxwell were not re-elected.

In a Facebook post earlier this week, he announced he would be formally deregistering the party:

This is one of the saddest moments of my life. I am announcing the end of the Derryn Hinch’s Justice party. We aspired to much and achieved a lot. One seat in the federal Senate and then three seats in the Victorian upper house. All have now gone. To be blunt, there is no point in the party continuing to exist. Our (and your) commitment has cost a lot in time and money since I launched the DHJP in September, 2015.

Hinch thanked Grimley and Maxwell, as well as their staff, saying they should be proud of what they achieved.

Personally, even though the Justice party will no longer exist, I shall publicly (and privately) keep fighting over perceived wrongs and real injustices. You never give up. Thanks to all our supporters over more than seven years. Maintain the rage.

Derryn Hinch: ‘We aspired to much and achieved a lot.’
Derryn Hinch: ‘We aspired to much and achieved a lot.’ Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Data reveals discrepancy in student-teacher ratios

Public schools teachers are under pressure, with higher student-teacher ratios than private schools across Australia, new data shows.

The data, released by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (Acara) found the full-time equivalent student-teacher ratio is 12.8 for private schools - including Catholic and independent - and 13.6 for government schools nationally.

The split is most striking in secondary schools, where the student-teacher ratio is 12.4 at public schools compared with 10.5 at independent providers.

The Greens said the results were due to decades of underfunding of public schools that has led to a widening gap between private and public schools.

Greens spokesperson for schools, senator Penny Allman-Payne:

To attract more teachers to public schools and provide a world-class education for our kids, governments must properly fund all public schools and pay all public school teachers more.

Right now, nearly every public school in the country is receiving less than 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS), which is the minimum funding level required for students to achieve the minimum standard.

“The government wants to roll out a PR campaign to raise the status of teaching, and that’s great. But if there’s anybody that can see through being given a gold star, it’s teachers - we invented it.

Education minister Jason Clare has committed to ensuring every school reaches 100% of its funding under the SRS.

Allman-Payne said funding to private schools had increased at five times the rate of funding to public schools.

Australia has one of the greatest education funding inequality gaps in the OECD. This needs to be reversed.

There’s no point in trying to cajole more teachers into the profession when public schools are underfunded, pay and conditions are going backwards and morale is low.

Updated

Rugg case against Ryan returns to federal court

Sally Rugg’s case against MP Monique Ryan and the commonwealth has returned to the federal court. Rugg is seeking an injunction to keep her job, pending a final hearing.

Rugg’s counsel, Angel Aleksov, told the court on Friday that Rugg was “pushed or jostled” into resigning on 23 December.

Aleksov said that Rugg’s letter of resignation “did not” terminate her employment, because Ryan “did not accept its immediate effect”, but purported to give it effect on 31 January.

He said:

We say that combination of those circumstances is that termination of employment didn’t occur on 23 December when the letter was furnished. It only occurred when given effect to, which we say was a constructive dismissal, on 31 January. That date was extended by undertakings to 5pm today.

So, Rugg’s counsel is arguing that she is still employed, in order to support getting an injunction to keep her in the job.

Sally Rugg is seeking an injunction to keep her job.
Sally Rugg is seeking an injunction to keep her job. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Updated

NSW government enters caretaker mode ahead of state election

Get excited, New South Wales – there’s a state election coming!

From today, the NSW government has entered the caretaker period, which basically means no major decisions, appointments or contracts will be entered into as the campaign ramps up – and no political material will be posted across the state government’s socials.

The period runs from the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly until the election result is clear and we have a winner.

Updated

Defence minister Richard Marles is at the Avalon Air Show this morning.

He says the government’s formal response to the Defence Strategic Review – set to foster the biggest defence shake-up in nearly four decades – will not be released to the public this month.

Read more on the review from Daniel Hurst:

Committee scathing on Perrottet brothers’ failure to appear before inquiry

The NSW parliament has officially entered caretaker mode ahead of the general state election on 25 March, during which government activity will slow to a minimum, AAP reports.

While routine government business will continue as usual, as a general rule, no significant new decisions, initiatives, appointments, or contractual undertakings are made during the period.

It comes after the government prematurely adjourned parliament from the start of the week, sparking questions over whether an upper house committee into alleged corruption in the Hills Shire council would continue to sit.

The committee delivered its report as one of the final acts of the 57th NSW parliament on Thursday evening, with a scathing assessment of key witnesses who avoided providing evidence.

Committee chair Sue Higginson said the deliberate failure of witnesses, including two of premier Dominic Perrottet’s brothers, to appear before the inquiry was unprecedented.

Charles and Jean-Claude Perrottet, property developer Jean Nassif, Liberal party operative Christian Ellis and his mother, Hills councillor Virginia Ellis, were all found to have deliberately avoided the inquiry.

Higginson said in the report the contempt shown for the committee’s role raised serious questions about the operation of the Liberal party in NSW.

The only way this committee could shed some light on these allegations is for those involved to come forward and give their account.

Their coordinated, deliberate and serious efforts to evade scrutiny inevitably leave the perception that there is something to hide.

The report recommended the influence of property developers on the council be probed by the state’s independent commission against corruption.

It also recommended a further inquiry be established by the next parliament with a view to the involvement of both Perrottet brothers as well as Ellis and Nassif.

“This inquiry has raised questions that are too serious to leave unanswered simply because this parliament has run its course,” Higginson said.

For this reason, the committee has recommended that a new inquiry into these matters be established in the next parliament.

Updated

NSW energy minister announces funding for hydrogen hubs

NSW’s energy minister and treasurer Matt Kean will use his final morning as caretaker rules kick in to provide as much as $64m to support two green hydrogen hubs while opening applications for $1.5bn in concessions for large-scale green hydrogen producers.

As we saw last month, there’s a hydrogen race that’s underway globally thanks to the open-ended US Inflation Reduction Act (which is mostly about decarbonisation).

Anyway, NSW’s spending will go to hubs in the Illawarra near Wollongong and Moree all the way up near the Queensland border.

Kean said that the world-class incentives were part of the NSW hydrogen strategy to expand the state’s economy by an estimated $600m each year from 2030 and attract an estimated $80bn in private investment by 2050.

Big bickies if it can be pulled off – but, as mentioned above, the challenge for Australia is to get to scale fast enough to be competitive given our relatively meagre funds and talent pool. In our favour, we have some of the best renewable energy resources in the world.

“These globally competitive incentives will attract investors and industry to establish their operations in NSW, driving decarbonisation in heavy industry and pushing down green hydrogen costs to reach our target of under $2.80 per kilo by 2030,” Kean said.

A Deloitte study released about a week ago put the competitive gap between green hydrogen (from renewables) and grey/blue hydrogen (from fossil fuels ... and should really be ‘black hydrogen’) at about $5 a kg v $3 a kg. Hence there’s some challenge to get down to $2.80.

“This funding will see the first green hydrogen produced in the Illawarra, with at least four refuelling stations set to be developed in and around the Illawarra which can power up to 40 trucks and buses in the region,” Kean said, hinting at the small initial size (but you have to start somewhere).

The Moree plant would convert green hydrogen into green ammonia used to fertilise cotton and other farms across the region, which is an interesting twist.

“At the same time, green hydrogen producers across NSW are now able to access $1.5bn in concessions to reduce costs for large scale investment, including up to a 90% reduction in their electricity network charges if they connect to parts of the grid with spare network capacity,” Kean said, detailing how those concessions are supposed to work.

“These incentives will set us up for success as we compete with the high-profile US Inflation Reduction Act hydrogen incentives, because the NSW concessions can apply to projects finishing well beyond 2030, while the US program finishes in 2032,” he says. (The IRA may, of course, be extended and some commentators have noted it is so far not capped in funds.)

Still, hydrogen will need to play a role including replacing fossil fuels in the hard to electrify parts of the economy in industry and heavy transport.

Guardian Australia will have more on the state’s decarbonisation efforts soon. Stay tuned for that.

Updated

Qantas to boost workforce after posting record profit

Qantas will increase its workforce by 8,500 over the next decade, as it announces a new engineering training facility.

Hot on the heels of announcing its record $1.43bn half-year profit last week, Qantas Group has revealed plans to grow its employee numbers from 23,500 to 32,000 by 2033, with the additional roles including pilots, engineers, cabin crew and airport staff across Qantas, Jetstar, Qantas Link and Qantas Freight.

The recruitment drive comes after the airline shed just under 10,000 jobs during the pandemic and, notably, outsourced 1700 ground-handling jobs in a move that was ruled illegal – a decision Qantas is now challenging in the high court.

Staffing shortages remain chronic across global aviation, with many skilled workers who left during the pandemic opting not to return to the sector. Last year, shortages compounded issues stemming from rising absenteeism as well as the soaring appetite for travel that saw airlines struggle with on-time performances, delays, mishandled baggage and customer service backlogs.

“Aviation jobs typically require specific skills, and so underpinning the recruitment drive is a massive commitment in training that will create a long-term pipeline of talent for the Qantas Group and Australian aviation more broadly,” the Qantas statement said.

As part of its recruitment mission, Qantas will establish its own engineering academy with capacity to train up to 300 engineers a year. The airline has announced a multi-million commitment to create the academy, which is expected to open its doors to the first students in 2025, but has not yet selected a location – something that will be announced by the end of the year.

Qantas Group chief executive, Alan Joyce – who will leave the airline by the end of this year – said the recruitment drive would also account for natural attrition. “If you’ve ever wanted to work in aviation or at the national carrier, now’s a great time to join,” he said.

Minister for skills and training, Brendan O’Connor, said:

Australia needs thousands of new workers and engineers to enter the aviation industry to ensure secure jobs and a thriving sector and we welcome this investment by Qantas to help develop these future skills needs.

Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce (centre) with trainees and pilots at the opening of a new Qantas flight training centre in Brisbane last year.
Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce (centre) with trainees and pilots at the opening of a new Qantas flight training centre in Brisbane last year. Photograph: AAP

Updated

NSW records 7,163 Covid cases and 29 deaths, Victoria records 3,016 cases and 23 deaths

Covid data has just dropped from NSW and Victoria, with NSW reporting 7,163 new cases, with 29 deaths over the past seven days.

It’s a bit of a jump in cases, with NSW cases climbing to their highest levels since January, although there is a drop in deaths since last week.

In Victoria, 23 people died in the past week, with 3,016 new cases reported.

Case numbers are very similar to last week, although Victoria has also reported a drop in deaths week-on-week.

Updated

Government investigates ending live sheep exports

AAP is reporting that Australia is on the way to phasing out live sheep exports by sea.

The federal government has appointed an independent panel chaired by the former CEO of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and senior public servant, Phillip Glyde, to lead a six-month consultation process to map out the steps to the shutdown.

The panel also includes Western Australian agriculture expert Sue Middleton, former federal Labor Northern Territory MP Warren Snowdon and former RSCPA CEO Heather Neil.

“Phasing out live sheep exports by sea is a complex issue that will impact farmers, businesses, our trading partners, and the communities that participate in the trade,” agriculture minister Murray Watt said on Friday.

I am also conscious that the wider Australian community is interested in the phase-out, including those that want to see animal welfare maintained and improved.

Watt said he wanted to ensure the phase-out was orderly, adding it wouldn’t take effect in this term of the Labor government.

The live sheep export trade is worth about $85 million a year.

The panel will provide its report to the government by September 30.

Updated

Shorten takes aim at those rorting NDIS

Bill Shorten is making the rounds this morning, telling people who are rorting the national disability insurance scheme to “rack off.”

The minister for the national disability insurance scheme was on 2GB earlier, where he said the “good times” for those who exploit the scheme are over, saying he was determined to clean it up:

The scheme is delivering life changing positive outcomes for a lot of power but there is a lot of … undesirable conduct happening.

We need to make sure every dollar gets through to the people for whom the scheme was designed. There’s issues with fraud and crime but also with overservicing and overcharging.

Just rack off, you’re not welcome, get off my scheme.

Updated

Five major events taking place in Sydney this weekend

Sydney is facing one its busiest weekend since the 2000 Olympics, with the New South Wales transport chief operations officer Howard Collins counting at least five major events across Saturday and Sunday.

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, he said it would be the biggest weekend in 23 years as Harry Styles concerts coincide with the end of WorldPride in Sydney, the return of the NRL, and the Sydney Kings playing in Homebush.

He warned that motorists should be aware that some major roads, including the Harbour Bridge, will be closed:

What we are seeing now is a return to big concerts. Ed Sheeran last weekend, 85,000 and we shifted a good proportion of that and it went smoothly.

We are reminding people, get there early. Olympic Park opens the doors to your seats at 5pm. There is plenty of events going on and get there early for the Harbour Bridge closure.

Motorists, it will be shut at 4am [on Sunday] and open at 11.30. We are asking people to retime your journey if you don’t need to be in the area.

Enjoy, the weather will be great. It will be a great event. Have some patience, there will be queues but we want to get most people to and from the events safely by public transport.

Updated

NAB boss backs Labor's super changes

NAB chief executive Ross McEwan has just wrapped up an interesting interview on RN Breakfast, in which he came out and supported the government’s proposed superannuation changes.

McEwan said “$3m is a lot of money” as he explained that he believed it was a move that “probably needed to be made”:

$3m is a lot of money to have in a super fund and I’m sure I’ll put myself out there and people will say, ‘He should never have said that’.

But I think $3m is a lot of money. And that 4% return on that. I’m pretty sure after tax somebody could live on $120,000, it’s not a bad sum of money. So I think it’s a move that probably needed to be made.

Let’s consider it won’t affect 99.5% of Australians. It will affect a small group of people who had a huge amount of money in those funds, I’m sure they’ll find other things to do with it. So that’s just a reality of where we are. We’re all going to have to play our part to get this economy back into shape, (and) get the debt down.

For some background on this story from senior business reporter, Jonathan Barrett:

Updated

‘A broken promise writ large’

Opposition leader Peter Dutton was also on the Today show (which has clearly been busy this morning).

He, predictably, said the government had gone from “disaster to disaster”:

They want to tax you on the profit before you actually sell the shares, which is unbelievable. And I think it continues to go from disaster to disaster for the government.

You can’t as a prime minister look people in the eye and tell them one thing and do the complete opposite, a broken promise writ large.

Updated

Super changes ‘modest’, Richard Marles says

Deputy PM Richard Marles has come out and defended the government’s proposed changes to superannuation, echoing Wayne Swan’s description of them as “modest”.

Speaking to Nine’s Today show, Marles said the government had also inherited a budget in heavy debt and it needed to be “responsible”:

It is a modest change ... It only affects people if you have $3m in your superannuation fund. That’s about 0.5% of superannuants.

We inherited a budget from Peter [Dutton] and his crew which was a trillion dollars in debt. There’s nothing to show for it. We need to be responsible. That’s what we’re trying to do.

Updated

‘Melbourne is back’

Melbourne’s deputy lord mayor, Nicholas Reece, has claimed “Melbourne is back” after sharing that pedestrian traffic in February 2023 was higher than February 2019.

It’s the first time that Melbourne has had a month that was higher than pre-pandemic levels and, with a series of events being held at major cities around the country, it might not be exclusive to Melbourne:

Updated

Media attacks on proposed super changes ‘hyper-stupidity’, Wayne Swan says

Former Labour treasurer Wayne Swan has called media criticism of Labor’s proposed superannuation changes “hyper-stupidity”, adding that the changes were only “modest”.

Speaking on Nine’s Today show he said that while the government had faced some criticism for the proposed changes, it was “just doing what every Treasury has ever done”:

Jim Chalmers is the 41st treasurer of Australia. Every other treasurer of Australia before him would have handled the announcements the way he has.

The difference here is hyper-stupidity in the media and some of the stories that have beaten it up to the point it’s not even recognisable as the original proposal.

Swan defended the government, saying it was attempting to “legislate the purpose of super, which is for retirement, and to make sure that most Australians have a decent retirement with a decent accumulation in their super scheme”:

You can’t achieve that objective if there are parts of the system where there is a large amount of public money going to people on very huge incomes. Superannuation is about a decent retirement for average Australians.

Updated

Bill Shorten calls Stuart Robert's cabinet solidarity defence ‘peak bizarre’

We begin with government services minister Bill Shorten, who was on RN breakfast this morning criticising the idea that cabinet solidarity would result in ministers misleading the public.

This comes after former minister Stuart Robert yesterday admitted to the Robodebt royal commission that he had said things he believed were “false” because of “cabinet solidarity”:

Here’s Shorten’s take:

I think it’s peak bizarre that you can say that cabinet solidarity allows you to give false statements. Cabinet solidarity means you’ve got to support a policy but I don’t think it means that you’re allowed to make up facts to support the policy

Cabinet solidarity, in essence, is a doctrine which says that cabinet ministers can talk through policies in the sanctity of cabinet. But once a decision is made they all have to support it. That’s fine.

But I do not believe that the doctrine of cabinet solidarity extends to giving permission for people, for ministers, to give false statements about the lawfulness of their actions or to misrepresent facts.

Shorten was then asked if there could be any “consequences” to misleading the public:

This is new ground, I think in terms of someone just saying what they said the royal commission still has to make a determination. So if listeners can hear some hesitation on my voice, I don’t want to get ahead of the royal commission.

You’re meant to resign if you don’t agree with the policy and you can’t support it. Mr Roberts evidences that they had massive personal misgivings but clearly not enough to make him resign.

Robert’s extraordinary admission is analysed in an excellent piece this morning by Luke Henriques-Gomes:

Updated

Good morning, Mostafa Rachwani with you today, to take you through the day’s news.

Kumanjayi Walker inquest continues

More Northern Territory police force members are due to give evidence at a coronial inquest into the death of the Indigenous teenager Kumanjayi Walker.

The inquest continues on Friday after hearing on Thursday about a series of controversial text messages sent by a NT police sergeant and forwarded to Constable Zachary Rolfe after Walker’s death.

At the inquest, the sergeant called the messages a “horrible mistake” which he hoped would not mean Aboriginal people in the NT lost faith or confidence in the police.

Rolfe fatally shot Walker, 19, three times as he resisted arrest in Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, on 9 November 2019. He was found not guilty by a supreme court jury of Walker’s murder.

Read Guardian Australia’s coverage of yesterday’s inquest hearing here:

Updated

Politicising national security ‘dangerous’, Clare O’Neil warns

The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, says the government is working to restore trust with the community on national security threats, warning that the public will stop listening if the issue becomes a matter of partisan politics.

In an interview with the Australian National University’s national security podcast, O’Neil said she felt “really troubled” that the previous government’s approach involved a “reflex willingness to politicise national security issues, and particularly to talk about China in a way that I felt was highly politicised”.

She expanded on some of the points about foreign interference and democratic resilience she made in her National Press Club speech in December and in an earlier podcast interview with Guardian Australia’s Katharine Murphy.

O’Neil told the ANU’s Prof Rory Medcalf:

I really want people to understand politicisation of these issues is dangerous, it reduces the government’s ability to help protect Australians. And if I can pick one thing that will change under the new government in Australia, it is that we’re here for the national interest. And these things are too important to be toyed with, we can’t do anything that reduces government’s power to solve these problems with the population.

O’Neil said Australians “are really smart, and they know when politicians are politicising matters”. That meant people had “stopped listening – and we can’t afford to have that happen”.

She also vowed to push for more “transparency and openness” about national security threats, saying she read vast amounts of intelligence reporting “and you can’t read these reports and think anything other than the Australian people have to know more” about the ways in which “people are trying to interfere without our politics and our security”. The government had “tried to open up the doors a little bit”.

Updated

Wong urges China not to supply weapons to Russia after talks in India

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has urged China not to supply weapons to Russia after she met with her Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in India yesterday. She said she had also raised trade issues, human rights and consular cases.

Wong’s meeting was with Qin Gang, who has been serving as China’s foreign minister since late 2022. Wong previously held talks with then-minister Wang Yi in Beijing in December, after earlier meetings on the sidelines of last year’s G20 and UN general assembly events. Wong told reporters in New Delhi after the latest meeting:

I will continue to assert that both parties [Australia and China] can grow our bilateral relationship while safeguarding our national interests if we both navigate our differences wisely. I was grateful for the opportunity to engage on important matters including trade, human rights and consular matters as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Wong repeated the argument that “it would be in both countries’ interests for those trade impediments to be removed” – referring to China’s tariffs and other restrictions on a range of Australian export sectors including barley and wine.

Asked about China’s proposed peace plan in relation to Ukraine, Wong began by saying the responsibility for the war in Ukraine and the flow-on impacts on global energy and food insecurity – as well as the suffering of the Ukrainian people – “lies at the feet of Russia and we must never forget that and never resile from that”.

She said China was one of the five permanent members of the UN security council:

I’ve previously said that the world does look to China for its responsible leadership when it comes to Ukraine, particularly given its closely relationship with Russia. I would note that President Zelenskiy himself has said he wants to believe that China will do the right thing and not supply weapons to Russia – and that is not only Australia’s call but the call of all countries.

Updated

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to the Guardian Australia live blog. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be trying to bring you up to date with the overnight breaking news before Mostafa Rachwani comes along.

Our top story this morning is about a legal challenge by an Afghan man who argues that Karen Andrews’ decision to cancel his visa in 2021 is void because Scott Morrison’s multiple ministerial appointments displaced her as home affairs minister and meant that she didn’t have the authority. It could lead to all decisions made between April 2021 and the 2022 election being challenged.

From one home affairs minister to another – and more backwash from the former Coalition government – come in comments from Clare O’Neil, who says her predecessors had a dangerous tendency to politicise national security issues. She tells a podcast that she felt “really troubled” that the previous government had a “reflex willingness to politicise national security issues, and particularly to talk about China in a way that I felt was highly politicised”. More coming on this interview very soon.

The big foreign news overnight is that US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had a stormy meeting on the sidelines of the G20 in India, after which the latter accused the west of blackmail. Australia, meanwhile, has joined other western nations to urge China not to supply arms to Russia to help its war against Ukraine. Penny Wong said the world looked to China “for its responsible leadership when it comes to Ukraine”. More coming on that, too.

Updated

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