What we learned, Wednesday 8 February
With that, we will wrap up the blog for the evening. Amy Remeikis will be back with you first thing tomorrow to do it all again.
Here are the major developments of the day:
Four Australians are unaccounted for following the devastating earthquake in Turkey. Australia will deploy an urban search and rescue team of up to 27 personnel to the country to assist local authorities.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has confirmed the move she flagged last year – that she has blocked a coalmine proposal backed by the mining magnate and former MP Clive Palmer.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has assured her visiting Indonesian counterpart that Australia will push for “open communications, transparency and predictability” at a time of increasing tensions between China and the US.
A man and a woman have died after being pulled from the water unconscious on the New South Wales Central Coast.
Nine has secured exclusive rights for the next decade of Olympic Games, receiving the baton from Seven West Media for the first time since 2014.
Updated
Two people drown on NSW Central Coast
A man and a woman have died after being pulled from the water unconscious on the New South Wales Central Coast.
Police say just before 4.20pm today, emergency services were called to Frazer Beach on the Central Coast, following reports two people had been pulled from the water unresponsive.
Witnesses began CPR before NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived but they couldn’t be revived.
The two people are yet to be formally identified but are believed to be in their 40s, police say.
Police have started inquiries into the incident, with a report to be prepared for the coroner.
Updated
AMA: thousands forced to stay in hospital due to lack of aged care beds
Also today, the Australian Medical Association released a separate study on “hospital exit block”, claiming thousands of people were forced to stay in hospital beds who didn’t necessarily need to because they didn’t have a suitable place in aged care or disability care to go into.
The AMA said in 2020-21, there were 286,050 “patient days” – days where a bed was occupied – by people waiting in hospital for a place in residential aged care.
At a breakfast event in Parliament House for UN Women Australia International Women’s Day, Anthony Albanese spruiked the government’s commitment to fund pay rises for aged care workers.
The PM said in his speech:
Why is it that in 2022, those people who clearly are the most underpaid, are the same people who got us through the pandemic?
Cleaners, aged care workers, child care workers, what do they have in common? They’re primarily feminised industries.
The government will introduce legislation to require companies with more than 100 staff to publicly report their gender pay gap, with Albanese saying heightened transparency would “bring us a step closer to pay equity for women”.
Updated
‘Just won’t cut it’: union warns of mass resignations over aged care pay rises
The government is sticking by its decision to phase in long-awaited aged care pay rises over two years instead of one, as a key health union has warned of mass resignations because staff can earn more money working at KFC.
Health minister Mark Butler believes the government has struck “the right balance” in splitting the 15% pay rise into two increases in July 2023 and 2024, saying aged care workers were receiving a substantial wage bump.
But Gerard Hayes, the national president of the Health Services Union, challenged the Labor government to reconsider its decision and fund greater pay rises to stem the exit of employees from the sector:
If the government can keep its commitment to stage three tax cuts, which deliver billions to people who don’t need them, surely it can look after a workforce of insecurely employed, underpaid women who won a decent pay rise.
The Fair Work Commission last November announced an interim decision to increase aged care pay by 15%, accepting the workforce “has been historically undervalued” because of gender-based reasons.
Unions sought a 25% increase, following recommendations from the aged care royal commission, which found low pay was contributing to staff shortages.
Hayes at the time called the interim decision “a downpayment” that wouldn’t fix a staffing “crisis”. But in December, the government was accused of breaking promises by deciding to split the 15% rise over two years; 10% in 2023, 5% more in 2024.
Aged care minister Anika Wells blamed the decision on the government facing “significant fiscal challenges”. She said at the time it was a historic pay rise, but that the government had to run the process in an “accountable” way.
Major unions that had been hugely supportive of Labor at the 2022 election were left furious at the decision and planned protests. Coalition health spokesperson Anne Ruston accused the government of “prioritising their budget bottom line” over aged care.
A day after the Reserve Bank again raised interest rates, Hayes and the HSU came to parliament to demand the pay rise be delivered faster.
Hayes said the 10% pay rise coming in July, representing $2 for a worker earning $22 an hour, would be swallowed up by rises in energy, food and rent prices.
An extra $2 in hour by July just won’t cut it. This sector is crumbling before our eyes. An aged care worker can walk across the road and earn more at KFC, Bunnings or in disability care in a flash.
Responding to the criticisms, Butler said the government wasn’t planning to budge on its intent. He said the national wage case through the Fair Work Commission may make a further determination to again increase wages this year.
Updated
Nine secures rights to Olympics for next decade
Nine has secured exclusive rights for the next decade of Olympic Games, receiving the baton from Seven West Media for the first time since 2014.
The International Olympic Committee announced the deal with Nine Entertainment Co today, giving it exclusive rights to the summer and winter Olympic Games from 2024 to 2032.
Starting in July 2024 with Paris, Nine will display the next five Olympic Games, including Milan (2026), Los Angeles (2028) and the yet to be announced 2030 Winter Games, all leading up to Brisbane in 2032.
The IOC president Thomas Bach:
Australia is a great sporting nation with a long Olympic history, which will be taken to new heights with the hosting of the Olympic Games [in] Brisbane [in] 2032.
Our new partnership with Nine will ensure Olympic fans across Australia have unparalleled coverage of the Olympic Games on their platform of choice.
Mike Sneesby, the CEO of Nine, said the partnership was an “important part” of the company’s strategy.
Nine last held the Olympic rights from Vancouver 2010 to Sochi 2014 in a joint deal with Ten and Foxtel. The deal awarded to Seven West Media in 2014 was believed to be in the region of $200m.
Sneesby:
These rights complement our recently renewed partnerships with the NRL and Tennis Australia at a time when live sport continues to demonstrate its ability to drive strong growth in streaming audiences and strength in free-to-air TV consumption.
Updated
Palmer mine unsuitable because of proximity to Great Barrier Reef
Back on Afternoon Briefing, Labor senator Nita Green and Greens senator Barbara Pocock were on to discuss the blocking of Clive Palmer’s proposed coalmine announced by Labor today.
Green said the decision was due to the mine posing “accepted risks” to the Great Barrier Reef.
What we know about this mine is that it is about 10km from the Great Barrier Reef, which is the short distance … So this is a decision that is required to be made under the law and that decision has been made now. I think it is very clear that this is something that took some time. A lot of expert advice was sought. The decision now I think a lot of people will be welcoming.
From 9,000 public comments, more than 98% were in support of rejecting the mine. Asked if that was a key determination in Labor’s decision, Green said:
The minister is required to take into consideration all of the expert advice that she has in hand. There was also a report from the Queensland government that felt the project was unsuitable because of its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef, and we’re talking about the protection of inner reefs. They are very close to the shore.
They are under a lot of stress already from water quality issues, which we are working on, but I think the location of this mine was key and the community campaign that we saw out there, a lot of those people would be happy about the decision and welcome it.
Pocock said it was a “significant” and “very welcome decision”.
The Greens policy is based on the science, which is we cannot meet our carbon budget if we keep opening large mines. It’s a very good and welcome position.
Updated
In Melbourne:
Melbourne landmarks will light up in red, white and green from Friday in solidarity with Türkiye and Syria following its devastating earthquakes, the Victorian government says.
— Callum Godde (@calgodde) February 8, 2023
Four Australians missing after Turkey earthquake
Four Australians are unaccounted for following the devastating earthquake in Turkey as the federal government sends a search and rescue team to assist recovery efforts.
The foreign affairs department is providing consular assistance to the families of the nationals who were in the area where the catastrophe struck and to about 40 other Australians and their families who were also in the area.
Foreign minister Penny Wong told the Senate today:
We’ve all seen the scenes of devastation, and the stories of human tragedy that we are witnessing. So, if we are able to assist, notwithstanding we are a long way away, I’m sure all of us would want the government to support our personnel to engage in such assistance.
On Tuesday, Anthony Albanese announced Australia would provide $10m in humanitarian assistance to help response efforts. The death toll from Monday’s quake has risen to nearly 8,000.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton supported the move and said the scenes following the earthquake were confronting.
Many Australians with ties to the region are glued to their televisions and feel helpless watching recovery efforts unfold from the other side of the world, according to Brisbane Turkish Islamic Society board member Sadullah Karatas.
These are essentially our brothers and sisters who are left under this rubble and because we’re not there we almost feel desperate. We wish we [could] just go and physically take the rubble out ourselves.
- From AAP
Updated
Greens: no reconstruction fund support without agreement on its mandate
The Greens say the passage of the government’s $15bn national reconstruction fund won’t be secured until an agreement has been reached about its mandate – including prohibiting coal and gas investments.
Amendments to the bill will prohibit investments in any project that involves the extraction of coal and gas or the construction of infrastructure for coal and gas use, as well as the destruction of native forests. It would also require that investments align with the government’s own legislated climate targets.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said he was “deeply concerned” about the lack of detail for the fund.
It could take us backwards on the climate emergency.
There is an unacceptable level of risk with this legislation that this government, or subsequent governments, have almost unlimited discretion to declare ‘priority areas’ for a gas-fired recovery or a coalmine renaissance.
There is a serious possibility that this $15bn fund could be turned into a ministerial vessel for fossil fuel finance.
Updated
Plibersek’s block of Palmer coalmine ‘historic action’: conservation council
The Queensland Conservation Council has welcomed the environment minister Tanya Plibersek’s blocking of a metallurgical coalmine development near Rockhampton backed by Clive Palmer.
The council’s energy strategist Clare Silcock called it a “historic action” to reject a coalmine in Queensland under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Minister Plibersek has acted to protect the Great Barrier Reef, our children’s future and deserves congratulations.
We are calling on the Queensland and federal governments to abide by climate science, the International Energy Agency and the UN, and stop all new fossil fuel projects in Australia.
The safeguard mechanism has the opportunity to limit total carbon emissions from coalmines in Australia, so that approval of new coal and gas increases the emissions reduction pressure on existing industries.
Updated
Australian rescue personnel to arrive in Turkey ‘by the end of the week’
Foreign minister Penny Wong has released a statement regarding Australia’s disaster assistance response team’s efforts to assist with search and rescue in Turkey.
A team of up to 72 personnel will assist local authorities – to arrive by the end of the week.
Wong:
Our National Emergency Management Agency is working closely with Fire and Rescue NSW, Dfat and the ADF to coordinate the deployment as soon as possible, with an aim to have boots on the ground by the end of the week.
These urban search and rescue specialists are highly trained to locate, deliver medical assistance to and remove victims who have been trapped or impacted by a structural collapse.
The Australian government will continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds and assess further needs and where Australia can best assist.
We extend Australia’s condolences to families and communities that have lost loved ones and those whose lives and livelihoods have been affected.
Updated
Safeguard mechanism will ‘deter investment in Australian industry’: Taylor
Taylor is asked about reports in our publication today that there has been pushback from Liberal moderates Paul Fletcher and Simon Birmingham regarding a decision to oppose Labor’s planned overhaul of the safeguard mechanism.
Is everyone on the same page?
Taylor says “we are against taxes” and “we are for technology” as the means to reduce emissions.
This will become an increase in cost for industry and potentially over time a very significant increase for industry, which will have three effects. One is to deter investment in Australian industry; second, push Australian industry offshore, and we have seen this before in the past under Labor; and thirdly, raise costs for consumers … Our focus has always been on making and providing incentives for business to reduce emissions, use carrots not sticks. The government has taken the opposite approach.
Updated
Taylor criticises assistant treasurer for RBA comments
Back to Afternoon Briefing, Taylor is asked about comments made by the assistant treasurer Stephen Jones today hoping Australia may be nearing the last interest rate increase and that what’s already been put in place “should do the job”.
Is he jawboning the Reserve Bank of Australia?
Taylor says he is “completely confused” by the comments.
It should be an independent decision from Stephen Jones today [but] we hear jawboning of the Reserve Bank governor.
Unlike the treasurer and the assistant treasurer, I do not spend all my time commentating and forecasting. What I focus on is what the government can do and what it can control that can make a difference here … This is a real pain and [the] government can create an environment that takes pressure off and that is what we are not seeing the focus on from the treasurer.
He also says “heavy-handed” interventions in energy markets aren’t solving the problem.
Updated
Many thanks to Amy Remeikis as ever for guiding us through another busy day in the ACT. I’ll be with you for the rest of the evening.
Caitlin Cassidy will take you through the rest of the afternoon and this interview with Angus Taylor, as I need to stare at a wall for a few moments.
But we have almost made it through Wednesday, parliament Thursday and are in the home stretch of the parliament week.
I will be back early tomorrow morning for the last sitting day in this week (we are back with parliament on Monday again) and the team are working up stories on all that has happened today, so make sure you check back. Thank you to everyone for today. You really helped drag me through it. Until tomorrow – take care of you.
Updated
Public funding for referendum campaigns ‘right and proper’: Angus Taylor
Angus Taylor is next up on Afternoon Briefing and is making the case for why there should be public funding for both the yes and no campaigns on the voice.
Asked why the campaigns can’t fundraise, Taylor says:
The convention is that there has been public funding to make the case of both sides for a referendum like this one. I think that is right and proper. As Australians, we have to trust Australians that they are quite capable of making sensible decisions but have every right to, this is my view, to inform people and allow them to go make decisions as consumers or as voters and it is right and proper that the government play that role.
Updated
Referendum legislation being modernised, Katy Gallagher says
Katy Gallagher has had a chat to the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing about the decision to send out education pamphlets on both the yes and the no campaign ahead of the voice referendum.
That was one part of the opposition’s demands ahead of the machinery bill vote, which is one of the steps needed to pass the parliament before the referendum is held.
Gallagher:
We have been negotiating across the parliament on the machinery legislation ... modernising it, essentially. As part of those negotiations things have been put on the table and I think it is an indication the prime minister has the call always and he said he wants to reach out and work with the opposition on this. This is a sign of that. There was representations made about the no pamphlets. The current legislation is that you would have no pamphlet mailed out, and in terms of getting that legislation through we will make that change.
Updated
From the Mike Bowers lens to your eyeballs: question time edition
Updated
Coalmine near Great Barrier Reef could’ve caused ‘irreversible damage’ to ecosystems: Plibersek
Tanya Plibersek’s reasons for blocking the Clive Palmer-backed coalmine included:
Mine-affected water causing irreversible damage to internationally valued estuarine and near-shore ecosystems.
The potential for increased sediment being released into the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
Groundwater drawdown reducing flow in nearby creeks and resulting in the dieback and loss of up to 165ha of vegetation.
The minister said the risks to the reef, freshwater creeks and groundwater were too great.
Freshwater creeks run into the Great Barrier Reef and on to seagrass meadows that feed dugongs and provide breeding grounds for fish.
Updated
Victorian lawyers call for answers after email accounts accessed in homophobia investigation
Victorian lawyers are calling for urgent clarification about how confidential communications can be accessed after the Guardian revealed the email accounts of barristers were searched as part of a workplace investigation.
The Australian Lawyers Alliance said in a statement that they were seeking clarity about the rules that allowed the Bar Council to access barristers’ private emails, which they said could put client confidentiality at risk.
They said revelations about the accounts being accessed had seriously concerned solicitors and barristers across the state.
Solicitors brief barristers about clients, meaning their emails could also have been compromised as part of the investigation.
The alliance’s spokesperson Jeremy King said that while the Bar Council’s motivation was well-meaning and the alliance supported their investigation into the production of a homophobic poster, their concern was ensuring the protection of our clients privacy and privilege.
King said:
Most of us were completely unaware that the Bar Council has the right and the ability to search lawyers’ emails. Our emails contain confidential and sensitive client information and we are seriously troubled about this potential risk to our client’s privacy.
All lawyers have a legal obligation to keep their client’s information safe and confidential. This type of secret search could put lawyers at risk of breaching commonwealth and state privacy laws. Anyone holding health information is now potentially in breach of state FOI and Health Records Act.We are calling for urgent clarification of the parameters around searching emails and other data, and an explanation of how this could be allowed to happen. If this type of search is allowable, then we need an urgent discussion around how, why and when a search of this nature is permissible and how we can ensure our client’s information is not put at risk.
The bar council said in its email to members yesterday that it was reviewing the rules relating to email. Its president Sam Hay KC said in the email:
There is now a very clear and shared understanding between [the bar council] and the Victorian Bar that the electronic environments used by members are to be maintained in the strictest confidence and will only be interrogated under the compulsion or authorisation of law (as would be the case for any third-party internet service provider).
All terms and conditions concerning the use of email and privacy are being reviewed and updated to reflect this shared understanding.
Updated
Further to Adam’s update is this from the minister herself:
An update on the proposed Central Queensland Coal project. pic.twitter.com/byAXTPLRB4
— Tanya Plibersek (@tanya_plibersek) February 8, 2023
Updated
Tanya Plibersek blocks coalmine proposed by Clive Palmer near Great Barrier Reef
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has confirmed a step she flagged last year - that she has blocked a coalmine proposal backed by the mining magnate and former MP Clive Palmer.
The metallurgical coalmine near Rockhampton would have been less than 10km from the Great Barrier Reef coastline, and could have mined up to 18m tonnes a year from two open-cut pits.
Plibersek said it was the first time a coalmine had been refused using the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, which was introduced in 1999.
Her decision is not a surprise. As Graham Readfearn and Katharine Murphy reported last year, a Queensland state government assessment in 2021 found the Central Queensland Coal project was “not suitable” and would risk damaging the reef as well as wetlands, fish habitat and ecosystems that depended on groundwater.
Plibersek announced in August last year she was proposing to refuse the mine and invited public comment on her draft decision. She received about 9,000 public comments. The overwhelming majority supported the decision.
The Greens have called on the Albanese government to ban all new coal and gas mining developments, consistent with the global goal of trying to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
The government has rejected the call, saying proposals needed to pass environment assessments and would be required to cut emissions each year under changes to the safeguard mechanism, but that investment decisions should be left to investors.
Updated
And question time ends
Time for the matter of public importance, which is being led by Angus Taylor and it is on why does everything cost more under Labor. I assume.
Updated
O’Neil responds to question on Nauru: ‘We didn’t deal with this yesterday’
Ahhhh, there we go.
Karen Andrews asks Anthony Albanese that if his office was advised on 15 December that the designation of Nauru as a detention centre had expired, why was it not dealth with at the time given parliament was sitting then?
Once again Claire O’Neil takes it:
Thank you. As the shadow minister for home affairs well knows, there is quite a process to redesignating Nauru. And quite a lot of documentation will have needed to occur, which did occur. I respect the questions the shadow Minister for home affairs but also point out that we didn’t deal with this yesterday and Nauru has been redesignated.
Updated
Albanese asked about Nauru designation lapsing; hands question to O’Neil
Karen Andrews gets the next question:
Prime minister, when was your office made aware that the minister for home affairs had allowed the designation of Nauru for a regional processing country to lapse last October?
Anthony Albanese gives the question to home affairs minister, Claire O’Neil and in the pursing interjections, Labor MP Rob Mitchell gets thrown out of the chamber by Milton Dick.
Peter Dutton tries to have Albanese answer the question, but under practice, the PM can send questions anywhere he wants.
I was informed of this on the 15th of December and the Prime Minister’s Office was informed immediately after that.
Parliament was sitting that day, so I think there will be a follow up here.
Updated
Labor’s Julie Collins to introduce bill on $10bn social housing fund tomorrow
Helen Haines has the next crossbench question:
The previous government’s national housing infrastructure facility spent only 20% of allocated funding, with none directed to regional and rural Australia. Under your Housing fund, can you guarantee that funding for social and affordable housing will actually be directed to regional and rural Australia?
Julie Collins takes this one:
Thank you, Mr Speaker. And want to thank the Member for Indi for her question and also for the great conversation and advocacy she has had to regional Australia, particularly in her electorate when it comes to affordable housing and making sure more of her constituents have a safe and affordable place to call home because we do understand what Australians need to have a place to call home because it’s central to the security and dignity for all Australians.
What we had with a dedicated very little action by the former Liberal National government and left us with significant challenges right across the country.
Whether it be in Wangaratta in your electorate or in Burnie in my electorate, people are struggling to find a home that suits both need and one that they can afford. I hear it all the time.
Strong employment growth has not been matched with housing supply. We have businesses and governments that have jobs to fill but attracting workers is frustrating because there is nowhere to live.
It is actually a very serious issue. Tomorrow I will be introducing legislation the member asked about which is the single largest investment in new, affordable and social affordable homes in more than a decade, the $10bn housing future fund.
The returns from this fund will be there in perpetuity to invest in social and affordable housing right across the country.
We anticipate there will be 30,000 social and affordable homes in the first five years of the fund. Importantly, for the Member for Indi, housing Australia, the new entity created by legislation we introduced tomorrow, will ensure this funding stream is equitably and fairly distributed across all states and territories but also in inner-city, outer suburban and regional and Urban Australia.
We need to make sure the funding go for it is most needed but we also need to make sure that they are the right homes in the right places. The legislation I introduce will also have a national housing supply and affordability Council to be independent and provide independent advice to all spheres of government on options to increase housing supply right across the country.
We want to make sure that advice is independent because we need to make sure we have the right policies and the right leaders on all levels of government to get more homes on the ground much quickly and remember to raise the housing fracture facility and we are locked up to $575m that was not being utilised and just last week I was in Burnie to see an example of how the commonwealth funding with a state funding in the community housing provider will provide 180 homes just in north-west Tasmania.
We have brought forward the first-time buyer guarantee also and we have over 1,700 Australians and have their own home because he bought it for them. I want to assure the member we will be making sure that homes are in the right places right across the country making sure more Australians have a safe place to call home.
Updated
Albanese asked about CFMEU donations to Labor
Paul Fletcher to Anthony Albanese:
My question is to the prime minister. Yhe prime minister expelled CFMEU boss John Setka from the Labor party after he was convicted of harassing his wife, saying his values are not the same as him. … Labor has accepted a $4.3m donation from the CFMMEU at the election. What values does this Labor government share with the CFMMEU?
Milton Dick rules that the prime minister can answer the question at the end (meaning he is ruling the rest of the question out of order).
Anthony Albanese:
Thank you, Mr Speaker, I did take action to make sure that John Setka was expelled from the Labor party. That is called leadership.
Updated
Chris Bowen takes aim at ‘No-alition’ and LNP’s Angie Bell is thrown out
Chris Bowen takes a dixer and refers to the Coalition as the “No-alition” and that upsets Paul Fletcher who asks for the correct name to be used (as the standing orders say).
Milton Dick agrees, and gives the order.
But then the LNP MP for Moncrieff, Angie Bell gets thrown out under 94A and as she leaves says something which is a very big no no under the standing orders.
I don’t hear what she says, but Milton Dick orders her to the dispatch box to apologise.
Bell comes to the dispatch box and withdraws. Dick looks at her and she apologises.
Bell leaves the chamber, and Dick doesn’t name her (which is another parliamentary punishment) and we move on.
Updated
Will the government push to electrify homes and tame inflation like the US?
Zali Steggall has the next crossbench question:
The government can act on inflation and reduce emissions. In the US, the government passed the Inflation Reduction Act, where over 80% of the measures in that act went towards supporting household electrification and energy efficiencies, which will result in huge cost-of-living savings. Will you implement a similar program to accelerate household electrification and reduce cost of living for Australians?
Anthony Albanese:
I thank the member for her question and, of course, there are examples of where electrification can lead to a decrease in the costs of energy production and where that is combined with renewables - particularly where you have renewables and battery storage.
But I want to make this clear to the member for Warringah as well, which is this government won’t be mandating what can be used in a household by individual Australians. I want to make that very clear. So, if people want to fire up a barbie or for restaurants, if they want to be using gas to produce their product, then that - that - will be fine by us too. Fine by us too.
What we want to do is to be able to facilitate choice so that, for many, if they receive support in terms of programs that have been done in the past, whereby people can get - either be it interest-free loans or some sort of support in order to transform their existing use of energy that can then be paid back, if you like, over a period of time - then that can make sense as well.
We understand that the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States is a major breakthrough, and we also understand that, around the world, all governments are acting. The difference between the Australian government of 2023 and the Australian government of 21 -- 2021 and early 2022 is that we are joining with the world looking at best practice, looking at ways in which we can be part of the global solution to climate change.
Because we know that increased use of renewables will reduce the cost of energy production, whether it be for households or for businesses - which is why it is tragic that we fell behind. Business was so far ahead of where the Australian government was, which is why businesses - including peak organisations like the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and small business - all backed our plan for a 43% reduction in emissions by 2030, was only opposed by those opposite.
Updated
Albanese: ‘I thank the member for his question. But I don’t thank him for voting against energy price relief.’
The LNP MP for Dawson Andrew Wilcox is up (I had to look up his name, and it is not just me, because if you ask Google who is the member for Dawson, it says ‘George Christensen’)
Already, regional Australians with a $500,000 mortgage are paying more than $12,000 a year as a result of recent rate hikes. Why do Australians always pay more under Labor?
Anthony Albanese:
I thank the member for his question. But I don’t thank him for voting against energy price relief. I don’t thank him for not acknowledging the fact that pharmacies went down for people in his electorate from $42.50 to $30. I don’t thank him for his carping and complaining about our childcare plans which will provide childcare relief on 1 July.
(David Littleproud is warned)
Albanese:
I don’t thank him for refusing to support our fee-free TAFE plan, which will provide 180,000 fee-free TAFE places...
Paul Fletcher has a point of order:
Mr Speaker, on relevance. A very tight question about mortgages and recent rate hikes - not, “Give us a range of excuses,” which is what the prime minister is doing.
(There is no point of order, but Milton Dick’s voice gets so low and slow here, I almost expected someone to be sent to the parliamentary basement for a time out)
Dick:
The prime minister has had almost one minute of a preamble. The question was about mortgages and interest rates and costs. I’m asking him to be relevant to the question and ask him to return to the question.
Albanese:
Thanks, Mr Speaker. I was listening carefully to the tag there. And it said what was occurring “under Labor”. And I’m informing the member of what is happening under Labor.
Cheaper medicine. Cheaper childcare. Expanding Paid Parental Leave. Getting wages moving. More affordable housing. Energy price relief. Fee-free TAFE.
Every one of those - every one of those positive plans - supported by those here. Every one of those measures opposed by those opposite. Opposed by those opposite. Just like they’re going to oppose the regional jobs created by our National Reconstruction Fund.
Just like they’re opposing manufacturing jobs in our region, and the opportunity that businesses will have to renew by investing in newer equipment and transforming themselves getting access to cleaner and cheaper energy, or new industries developing such as the ones that my friend, the Minister for Resources, indicated in her answer earlier on today. I say to the member up a that the Australian people sent a message on 21 May. And that message was this - they had conflict fatigue. They were sick of a government that just said what it was against and sought division. They wanted positive plans.
And that’s what we’re delivering.
Updated
LNP MP Michelle Landry has the next question and it is to the prime minister:
My question is to the Prime Minister: The fuel tax credit scheme reduces costs on local businesses and keeps grocery bills lower for families. Will the Prime Minister rule out any change to the fuel tax credit scheme, or is this just another way Australian families will pay more under Labor?
Anthony Albanese:
Yes.
Landry is talking about a proposal floated by the Grattan Institute, which everyone who has ever seen a truck appeared to be against.
And Albanese’s short answer was I think because a) there is nothing more to say and b) you may remember the last time Landry asked a question of the prime minister, Albanese got a bit excited answering Peter Dutton’s heckling and Landry thought it was aimed at her, and then there was a group of Coalition women in one of the parliament courtyards “calling out” the ‘disrespectful’ behaviour of the prime minister, who had already spoken to Landry to explain he was responding to something Dutton had said.
And so – “yes”
Hoo boy. They’re like seagulls squawking over chips
Here is another messy one because if there is one thing that is true about the parliament it is that question time is a mess and no one can stop (mostly) men sitting a bench wanting to have their voices heard.
Have you ever seen a group of seagulls start squawking at each other after someone throws a chip, even if they are no where near the chip? That’s QT.
Angus Taylor:
My question is to the prime minister: On Monday, the prime minister needed help from the treasurer before he could tell the House that 800,000 households would be facing higher mortgage payments when they moved from low fixed rates to higher variable rates this year. Prime minister …
(The member for Macnamara interrupts)
Taylor continues:
How many small businesses will be moved to variable rate loans this year? Why do Australian families and small businesses always pay more under Labor?
Albanese:
I think the question is – why does the shadow treasurer exist if he’s incapable of asking a question to the treasurer?
(INTERJECTIONS)
Why is that the case?
(David Littleproud has a lot to say)
Albanese:
This is a bloke – this is a bloke – this is a bloke …
The noise gets so loud that headmaster Milton Dick can’t even pretend he is not properly annoyed.
Order! Members on my left, I simply cannot hear the prime minister. If this continues, people will... The member for Herbert is warned. When I am speaking, that is also not the time to interrupt. The prime minister has the call and will be heard in silence. If this continues, people will leave the chamber. It’s that simple.
The prime minister has the call. The Deputy Leader of the opposition is warned as well. The prime minister has the call.
Albanese:
Thanks, Mr Speaker. The question is about interest rates from the Shadow Treasurer, who’s incapable – who’s incapable – incapable of – of asking a question …
Dick: Order!
Albanese:
… of the treasurer on a week in which, yesterday, we thought there’d be a question to the Treasurer, and there wasn’t. Today, when we were talking earlier, I said to the Treasurer, “I think today’s the day, mate.”
(INTERJECTIONS)
Albanese:
“I think today, you are going to get a question from the shadow.” “So you’d better be ready!”
(INTERJECTIONS)
Albanese:
And he said, “I’m up for it. I’m up for it.” And he waited. And he waited. And he waited. And nothing happened. But of course, the shadow treasurer did have something to say about interest rates when he was a part of the government. We’re facing circumstances here where what’s happening in the Ukraine and Russia that were not expected and very hard to predict. These pressures are driven by extenuating circumstances. Well, what we’re doing – through the good work of this treasurer - is making sure …
(INTERJECTIONS)
Angus Taylor has a point of order on relevance, which is fair, but also Albanese actually just got to sort of answering part of the question so it is also just dragging this all out.
Taylor:
Relevance, Mr Speaker. He doesn’t know how many small businesses are facing higher …
Dick says no point of order. He then warns Chris Bowen
Albanese:
Thanks very much, Mr Speaker. The mob who came in here and voted against energy price relief..for small businesses had the hide to stand up - had the hide to stand up here - had the hide to stand up here and speak about the cost when it comes to small business. But of course, we know from the Leader of the opposition - who had this to say... “I’m the opposition leader, and the joy of being the opposition Leader is that I’m not in government.”
(INTERJECTIONS)
Albanese:
That’s what he had to say. I’m not paraphrasing. That’s exactly what he had to say. Well, I’ll tell you this. We were in opposition for some time. And we had no joy in it. They have joy in it because, whether they’re in opposition or in opposition-in-exile sitting on the opposition bench, they’re never for anything - only against it.
And then thank Dolly we are out of time.
Updated
Amanda Rishworth questioned over redress process for victims of child sexual abuse
The independent MP Rebekha Sharkie has a question for Amanda Rishworth, the minister for social services.
The national redress scheme was designed to provide financial competition to victims of child sexual abuse as recommended by the royal commission. Applicants have been told it will take a further 18 months to process and they will not receive a gold card despite the royal commission recommendation. Will the minister advise how the claim process can be improved to reduce the trauma of time and whether this provision of a gold card will be introduced into the scheme’s compensation package?
Rishworth:
Since becoming the minister for social services, I have taken particular interest in the redress scheme and I have had a number of important meetings where I’ve been opt to discuss progress, firstly with my ministerial colleagues, state and territory colleagues, where we look to address the outstanding recommendations of the second-year review.
The gold card was not one of those recommendations of the second-year review, but we are working through those issues and hopefully we will be reporting early next year when it comes to finalising that important work.
I also held a round table, a significant forum with victim survivors as well, with those delivering the redress scheme. We talked about some of the challenges around applications.
Of course, dealing with applications in a timely manner is critically important.
Although it was noted that, in July last year, the scheme had gone online and there hadn’t been appropriate resources allocated by the former government to deal with the influx of applications. In the October budget, I allocated an extra $15m to deal with the application backlog.
In saying that, I would like to note that the time it does take a participant to go through redress is not always the processing time.
Sometimes it can be at the participant’s request, they would like to pause because it becomes emotionally incredibly distressing. Sometimes, it’s directed by those being part of the scheme wanting to pause that.
Also, gathering information from institutions – sometimes those institutions are defunct and not able to provide it, and that does delay.
In terms of application delay, that it something I am very mindful of.
As I said, we’ve allocated extra resources in the most recent budget, and I look forward to continuing to work on how we best support people through that process, particularly making sure that those services that are funded to help them through in a trauma-informed way are done, and the application process within my department is also operating at its
Updated
Ed Husic says some things he has been saying for some time (previous government didn’t support manufacturing, dared the car industry to leave etc, etc) but there is a place for dixer answers and that is a press release.
Moving on.
It’s heating up over housing affordability
Sussan Ley is up and she has a question for Anthony Albanese:
I refer to his promise to always fess up and correct the record when he gets it wrong. Last year, the RBA governor apologised to any Australian affected by his advice that interest rates would stay low. Prior to the election, the prime minister went even further than governor Lowe and actually promised cheaper mortgages. Why has the prime minister failed to offer the same apology? Why do Australian families always pay more under Labor?
Albanese:
Thanks for the question. Well, I’m going to - the member for Cook [Scott Morrison] has had a bit to have say in their party room so I’m going to add to his public statements now with what he said about shared equity schemes and what it would do, which is the question that I’m asked about.
What the member for Cook said was this. “We suggested that the government...”
(Morrison does not look happy at being used in this way)
There are so many interjections from the opposition benches it is hard to keep up.
Albanese:
I’m asked about shared equity schemes. I’m quoting...I’m quoting the member for Cook. Because shared equity mortgages are a really great opportunity. That’s what they had to say. And you know what he said? Why he said it was a great opportunity? He said this, “And that you can reduce your payments.” That heels what he had to say about shared equity. “We need some more options for people to say in their homes...”
(Morrison did say these things, on a Sky interview I believe, but it was quite a few years ago and years before he was prime minister)
Ley has a point of order which is not a point of order according to Milton Dick who once again has his headmaster voice deployed and we move on.
Albanese:
And the deputy leader of the opposition has asked a question about our election campaign launch which is about our shared equity scheme and our …
Launched in Perth. You remember Perth? You remember Perth? I’ll give you a reminder. Swan. Pearce. Tangney. Hasluck.
You remember Perth?
This is too much even for headmaster speaker Dick who calls Albanese back to the question.
Albanese:
When we announced the shared equity scheme, we did so because in WA it has existed for some time. In Victoria, there’s now a scheme and, of course, the Liberal government in New South Wales has announced a scheme as well.
I’m also asked about the context of helping out cost of living.
Those opposite from the leader of the opposition had an idea when he was the minister for lowering the cost of living. The first chance he got he wanted to raise the cost of seeing a GP by $7.
By $7. His other big idea was to raise the cost of prescriptions by $5. We’ve gone down by $12.50. They went up by$5. But of course there’s a link between primary healthcare and emergency departments so let’s not think that this wasn’t a comprehensive plan. Because he also wanted to - here’s his idea, “The government will remove the restrictions on state and territory governments of that prevent hospital emergency departments charging a fee for presentation.”
He wanted to charge people for fronting up to emergency departments. He wanted to charge feel for going to their GP and he wanted to lift the price of medicines.
That was his plan.
We are out of time. Praise be.
Updated
Defence minister reassures SA that Adelaide will be able to make nuclear subs
Richard Marles just took another dixer on the submarines and there was not a lot new in it, but he did give South Australians an assurance:
In the very near future we will be announcing the optimal pathway to build Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines, and at the heart of that will be developing the capacity as soon as possible to see nuclear-powered submarines built in Adelaide.
The very near future for the announcement is thought to be March.
Updated
Albanese bites back at Dutton attacks over cost of living
And then, it is back to politics…
Peter Dutton:
Now changing pace slightly, I’m sorry. My question is to the prime minister. Before the election this prime minister promised that families will be better off under a Labor government. Yet there is no relief in sight and under Labor families are worse off day by day. There have been eight successive rate rises under this prime minister, mortgage repayments have increased by $1,400 for a typical Australian family since Labor was elected and the prime minister has not outlined a plan to deal with rising inflation. I ask the prime minister, when will he prioritise Australian families and small businesses and help them with the cost-of-living crisis they are facing?
Anthony Albanese has obviously received the message that he needs to start coming out and combating this line, which has been running all week. So far the responses have been low energy. Today is a marked difference.
Albanese:
We prioritised supporting families and small business every day. Those opposite come in here and vote against relief for families and small business every day.
Last December, they came in here and voted against a $1.5bn package. They voted against it. They raised well, here’s what the bloke opposite had to say. “Nobody wants to see interest rates go up but it’s a reality of a world where there’s inflation. I think Australians understand that.
“There’s a lot of pressure, upward pressure, on interest rates at the moment. That’s democracy …”
That was what he [Dutton] has said and had to say as a minister in the Morrison government, as a minister in the Morrison government when interest rates started going up.
The [shadow] treasurer barks across the chamber but he had to say - at the same time, “We’re facing circumstances in what’s happening in the Ukraine and Russia that were not expected and very hard to predict. These pressures are liven by extenuating circumstances.”
Mr Speaker, their hypocrisy...Their hypocrisy knows no bounds. They come in here and they have no absolute constructive plans to put forward.
They come in here and they vote against our energy price relief.
They voted against electric vehicle [legislation]. They vote against wages going up. They went up there - the people who speak about it, people under pressure, when we went up - remember during the election campaign. The idea of a $1 a hour increase was going to wreck the economy! It was reckless. It was irresponsible.
Those opposite say no to price caps from big energy companies.
They say no to price caps. They say no to $1.5bn in direct price relief. Bill relief. And, of course, they won’t ever take serious action when it comes to dealing with these issues. But I just say to them f you just get out of the way, get out of the way, when people do have positive suggestions and plans, such as we are already implementing, to address the cost of living pressures which are out there.
Updated
Peter Dutton adds his own words of support for Turkey and Syria:
On indulgence I want to say thank you very much to the prime minister, to the minister for foreign Affairs, the minister fordDefence and others within the National Security Committee of cabinet who have contemplated these images and taken the advice from our authorities.
Australians can see in their government and in their Opposition an absolute bipartisan position in providing support where it’s needed to friends in their hour of need.
It’s been the history of our country, a very proud history, where we’ve been able to step up through the systems and the training and the expertise that we have developed over a long period of time to lend a helpful hand, to people in efforts to recover from devastation.
We especially think at the moment of Australians who may have been caught up in this disaster and, of course, as the prime minister points out, families of Australians has and friends of Australians who have been affected, thousands have been killed.
The prime minister mentioned a figure before.
I read online earlier perhaps more than 7,000 people, we just don’t know. But an unimaginable number of people, their homes and essential infrastructure in ruins, ancient historical sites have been damaged or destroyed and, as is the case with such disaster, only in the coming days and weeks and months will a clearer picture emerge of the number of people who have lost their lives.
I saw a very confronting image online earlier of a man who was holding the hand of his 15-year-old daughter, still laying in her bed but crushed by a slab of concrete.
Mesut Hancer is his name. His 15-year-old daughter, Irmak, she lay there deceased, he not flinching, nor prepared to leave the scene until she could be recovered.
Another confronting scene of a man standing up against a wall of rubble. Within his hands, simply a sledgehammer, a task that would of take an excavator or machinery weeks to deal with and yet he wanted to do what he could by his family.
Those scenes and those names, whilst they’re far distance from our shore should not be forgotten and should not drift from our minds.
If there is more that the Australian government is called upon to do and sees fit to do, then the Coalition will provide that support, prime minister, and the pace at which the government’s responded is to be acknowledged and recognised, and when you talk about an earthquake of this magnitude, of 7.8, and the circumstances that we have outlined, it is phenomenal.
We have an obligation to support our friends around the world, and the work that Dfat does in keeping Australians here informed of their loved ones overseas so it shouldn’t be underestimated hat a time when there’s great anxiety for many, many Australians, and we stand in line with the government in providing that support.
Updated
Question time begins with Albanese extending condolences to earthquake victims
And it starts off with a much-needed piece of bipartisanship on something that transcends politics – Turkey and Syria in the wake of those absolutely despairing earthquakes.
Peter Dutton:
My question is to the prime minister. Can the prime minister please update the House on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria and what the Australian government is doing in response.
Anthony Albanese:
I thank the leader of the opposition for his question and for his support for the government action up to this point, and I welcome the Turkish ambassador, his excellency Ufuk Gezer, here in the gallery this afternoon.
On behalf of the parliament, the government, and the people of Australia, I extend my deepest condolences to all those affected by the devastating earthquakes and aftershocks in Turkey, Syria and neighbouring countries.
Our hearts are heavy.
It is impossible to look array and way from the terrible and heartbreaking scenes of loss. There’s a terrible scale of the devastation, whole blocks levelled and buried. But the real devastation, of course, is for people. There are the small images of unimaginable pain.
A parent searching desperately for a child, a newborn girl rescued from the rubble, whose mother will never hold her in her arms.
This is a disaster that at first seems so vast as to almost be beyond comprehension. But every tragedy is happening on a very human scale.
Every loss, every moment of grief, fear and desperation. We know that at least if 4,500 lives have been lost.
We know those figures will continue to rise. Many more than that have been injured. So many Australians have families in Turkey and Syria and the region, and I can only imagine the depth of their anxiety as they await news.
Our immediate priorities is the safety of Australian citizens and permit innocent residents affected by the earthquakes.
Our embassy, in Ankara, Istanbul and Beirut are assisting Australians in these areas I’m pleased to confirm that Australia will deploy an urban search and rescue team of up to 27 personnel to Turkey to assist local authorities.
These urban search and rescue specialists are highly trained to locate, deliver medical assistance to and remove victims who have been trapped or impacted by a structural collapse.
Our national emergency management agency or Nima is working closely with fire and rescue New South Wales, DFAT and the ADF to coordinate the deployment as soon as possible with an aim to have people on the ground by the end of this week.
I want to thank the personnel and their families in advance.
Once again, their willingness to support people wherever support is needed. I’m sure I speak for all Australians when I wish them all a safe journey. We’re also providing an initial $10m in humanitarian assistance to trusted partners in the region, and I thank the parliament for its bipartisan support for that commitment. This will support the delivery of food, shell other essential supplies. I know many Australians will want to help, too. The most effective way a to donate to one of the Australian non-government organisations such as the Red Cross, who are appealing for support.
Updated
In case you missed it in the news, the dob-in-a-jobseeker hotline has been scrapped.
Another low point in how governments treat jobseekers, the hotline, set up under the previous government, was designed for employers to ring up and dob in anyone who turned down a job. Anonymously. With real world impacts on job seekers, who would then have to jump through more hoops to explain what they never should have to explain in order to keep their $44 a day.
Yup.
Anglicare Executive Director Kasy Chambers responded:
The JobDobber hotline allowed anyone to make anonymous complaints against people applying for jobs.
Many of those reports were made against people who were just trying to comply with the rules and apply for as many jobs as they could find.
The hotline didn’t help people find work, create new job opportunities, or even save the Government money. It was simply a low-blow aimed at people already doing it tough.
It was designed to send the message that people out of work are cheats. When you send that message, even people doing their best to follow the rules become suspect.
This move is a show of compassion and respect to people out of work – and a welcome change in the narrative.
We’re pleased the Government has been listening to people’s experiences, and we hope they will keep working us to build a better system.
Updated
Timor-Leste PM welcomed as question time begins
Before we get to the questions, there is a welcome to Taur Matan Ruak, the prime minister of Timor-Leste, who is being honoured with a seat on the floor of the House of Representatives (on the edge).
Again, it is questionable how much of an honour it is to have such a close seat to our parliamentarians yell at each other, but it’s all we have.
Updated
OK, we are almost at question time. Huzzah.
Cost of living, safeguard mechanism, voice – who knows what is coming.
That is always the wonder of QT.
Updated
And to stay up to date with the latest on the devastating Turkey and Syria earthquakes, we have this rolling coverage. Be warned – it is a lot.
Updated
The US president Joe Biden is giving his first State of the Union address since the Democrats lost control of the Congress – you can follow along with that here:
Updated
Wong overruled department by sending observer to anti-nuclear treaty meeting
If you didn’t see this story from Daniel Hurst this morning, it is worth your time:
Penny Wong overruled her department and insisted on sending an observer to the first meeting of countries that support a landmark United Nations treaty banning nuclear weapons, new documents reveal.
A trove of documents obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws shows nervous officials warned the foreign minister of “significant” risks if Australia went to the gathering in Vienna shortly after last year’s election.
Those risks included that “Australia’s attendance could be misinterpreted as a first step” in actually joining the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which is opposed by the United States and other nuclear weapons states.
Updated
Unions welcome gender pay gap transparency laws
The ACTU president Michelle O’Neil is pretty happy with the move to make companies with more than 100 employees report their gender pay gaps publicly.
O’Neil:
After nearly a decade of no government leadership on this critical issue, the ACTU welcomes this legislation as a positive step to ensure greater transparency and accountability by businesses regarding their gender pay gaps.
Equal pay is a right enshrined in law yet in reality there are persistent structural and cultural issues across our workplaces that have contributed to a gender pay gap in favour of men in every single industry across our economy – including female-dominated industries such as education and health care.
Women continue to earn much less than men and that is why this legislation to provide greater transparency is so important.
Updated
Katharine Murphy: Peter Dutton is like a microwaved Tony Abbott
Good afternoon folks, I’ll just dive in quickly with some context after Peter Dutton’s comment to reporters this afternoon that the safeguard mechanism is a tax that will drive up the cost of living.
If the safeguard mechanism is a tax that will drive up the cost of living, one has to ask why Tony Abbott legislated the safeguard mechanism to replace Julia GIllard’s carbon “tax” (that wasn’t a tax either just for the record.) The safeguard mechanism wasn’t a tax when Abbott introduced it and it isn’t a tax now either. These are just facts.
It’s also useful to be clear about what the legislation before the parliament does. The clearest explanation for it was actually shared by the shadow foreign affairs minister Simon Birmingham during a shadow cabinet deliberation earlier this week. Birmingham (I understand) told his colleagues that the Coalition opposing Labor’s safeguard crediting legislation would make it harder for businesses to comply with more ambitious reduction targets. I’ve bolded that point so people don’t miss it because it’s a really important insight.
So Dutton’s position: we must block this legislation, because it’s a tax, is not only wrong in fact, it also omits a central point. If heavy polluters have less access to carbon credits, that means they have to take more expensive steps to reduce their own emissions in their own premises rather than buying cheaper abatement on the carbon market. Sorry for all the underlining here – it’s just an attempt to make sure we grasp the central issues.
Business has been pressuring the Coalition to support the government’s legislation because heavy emitters fear that if Labor’s only parliamentary dancing partner is the Greens, the Greens will then negotiate amendments forcing more actual emissions reduction on premises and less access to cheaper abatement bought on the carbon market.
The other problem Dutton has in trying to sell Australians this shop soiled bill of goods is the Morrison government was actually walking down this path and moving towards below baseline crediting before the Coalition lost the election in May. Weird, then, that this is so terrible now. The people who opened the conversation are now apparently aghast there’s an outcome.
What’s all this nonsense about then? One word. Politics. The golden rule. Every time climate action becomes a hip pocket issue, the climate loses. Dutton wants to make climate action a hip-pocket issue.
He’s like a microwaved Tony Abbott.
Updated
Duckett on Medicare: ‘Pouring money into a system which needs structural reform is not the way to go’
He continues:
GPs are contractors to the corporates, generally paid through fee sharing arrangements.
The rebate freeze and recent escalating inflation has contributed to the decline in the rate of bulk billing, about 90% of all attendances in the September quarter 2021 to 84% in the September quarter 2022 with probable further declines since then.
Health Minister Butler has described Medicare as being in its worst shape in 40 years.
More money needs to be invested in primary care. Significantly more than the 250 million per annum that the government put on the table at the last election.
The critical questions are, how is the extra money to be invested, and what will the Australian public get for that investment? Pouring money into a system which needs structural reform is not the way to go.
Simply increasing rebates may not end up with increased bulk billing rates and does not progress the structural form necessary contemporary primary care.
The decline in bulk billing has inevitably meant that the public and governments have adopted or are considering alternatives to traditional primary medical care such as autonomous pharmacist describing.
In my view, that is unfortunate as I prefer an integrated primary care system. Telehealth disruptors have also been an innovative response, again unfortunately in my view. But the course has altered on both changes.
But they both fill a niche being vacated by general medical practice and they will grow. How these changes play out depends on how the government response and how general practice positions itself.
Updated
It was a ‘different world’ when Medicare was designed: health economist Stephen Duckett
The University of Melbourne’s Stephen Duckett has taken the National Press Club through what he thinks some of the issues with Medicare are. The health economist says:
Medicare was designed in the 1960s, it was a different world back then. The only health professionals with university degrees were doctors and dentists, primary care was provided by solo practitioners or small group practices with partners who owned the practice, GPs managed a range of conditions, mostly acute, but then often performed minor procedures, including on my arm when I got a big cut in it.
Primary care is different today on each of these tensions.
There are now a range of highly skilled professionals ready to step up and care provision, but the funding framework inhibits that. More practices are owned by corporates who want the same rate of return on their primary-care investment that they get from a road a shopping centre.
The epidemiology of a population has changed, with more patients, with multiple chronic conditions.
Medicare, the funding system we have had since 1984, addressed the inequitable-ness of the 1960s.
It underwrote the existing fee-for-service system with an efficient national approach. Initially, rebates under Medicare were set by an independent tribunal.
Fast forward to 2023, the independent rebate tribunal has gone, replaced by rebates are set on political whim and a six year rebate freeze.
However, even so, over the long haul, since 1984, rebates have still gone up with inflation, but not with average weekly earnings. So that diverged from the cost of care provision.
Updated
‘Peace and stability’ on agenda during Indonesian foreign minister’s Australia visit
Further to the earlier post, Indonesia’s foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, told Penny Wong in Canberra:
Thank you very much for hosting this bilateral meeting. And for me personally, I’m always so glad to be back to Canberra, the city where I served my first posting as a diplomat back in the year 1990 to 1994. And thank you very much also on your support during Indonesian presidency in the G20.
She said Indonesia saw Australia as one of its most important partners, and called for further expansion of trade and investment between the two countries:
We have to work further still, not only for strengthening the economic ties, but also to strengthen the people-to-people contact as well as other strategic issues. And as stated by my president [Joko Widodo] during the visit [to Australia] in 2018 – he said that Indonesia and Australia should become enablers of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. So therefore, I will use my visit to Australia not only to strengthen bilateral relations, but also discuss various regional and international issues.
Updated
Dutton claims credit for government’s ‘backflip’ on referendum pamphlets
Peter Dutton has also been quick to claim credit for reports that the government may backflip on its decision to scrap the official referendum information pamphlet – but says the Coalition still wants funding for the yes and no sides of the campaign.
The Australian Financial Review reported that “Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has asked Special Minister of State Don Farrell to... prepare an education pamphlet to be mailed out in the lead-up to the vote”.
The government had proposed to not prepare and distribute the pamphlet, which has traditionally included summaries from the yes and no sides, because of claims it was outdated in the internet age.
But campaigners on both the yes and no sides told a parliamentary inquiry that they wanted the pamphlet retained, in a bid to stamp out misinformation and to allow the campaigns to present their official position on the change.
Dutton gave a snap press conference just 30 minutes after that story was published, calling it a “backflip” on a policy that was “never sustainable”. He said many Australians wanted to read such an informative document before the vote.
The Coalition set their price for supporting the referendum machinery changes – one of the bills needed to advance the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum – as the government backing down on the pamphlet and also providing public funding for the campaigns. Dutton wouldn’t put an exact figure on how much the Coalition wanted to be given to the campaigns, but noted the 1999 referendum gave around $7m to each campaign, and suggested that could be retained in line with inflation changes.
But while Dutton said he hadn’t gotten any official confirmation on the pamphlet changes, he said he believed the AFR reporting.
The government hasn’t provided any official response to the reporting yet. Guardian Australia has contacted the offices of special minister of state Don Farrell and minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney for comment.
It’s understood negotiations between the government and opposition are continuing. Albanese has said he was willing to engage constructively on the referendum with political rivals.
Updated
Wong reassures Indonesian counterpart of shared interest in peace amid China-US tensions
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has assured her visiting Indonesian counterpart that Australia will push for “open communications, transparency and predictability” at a time of increasing tensions between China and the United States.
At the beginning of a bilateral meeting in Canberra today, Wong said Indonesia and Australia were “linked by geography and also by choice”. She told Indonesia’s foreign minister, Retno Marsudi:
I am glad to have you here. I value deeply the trust, respect and friendship we have established through our many engagements, and I think you know how important our relationship is to me personally, and to our country.
Countries in south-east Asia have repeatedly made clear that they don’t want to be forced to pick a side amid growing great power competition in the Indo-Pacific.
Wong alluded to those tensions in her opening remarks. She said Australia and Indonesia “share a deep interest in a region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous, where sovereignty is respected, and countries are free to make their own sovereign choices”. Wong added that there was a need for the US and China to responsibly manage their competition:
Australia and Indonesia also share an interest in ensuring that competition between great powers is managed responsibly. And I think we both have a role in encouraging the responsible management of competition – for ‘guardrails’ to minimise the risk of conflict, and ensure that the sovereignty of all nations, large and small, is preserved.
To this end, Australia will continue to advocate open communications, transparency and predictability, and will continue to engage with our partners in the region to support a strategic equilibrium.
Wong said there was “no country more critical for our region’s stability and prosperity than Indonesia”. She congratulated Indonesia on its leadership of the G20 last year and said Australia looked forward to supporting Indonesia’s priorities as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2023.
Indonesia was one of Australia’s closest and most vital partners, Wong said, and the Australia-Indonesia relationship was “now as strong as it has ever been”:
As a significant player, Indonesia’s voice matters.
Updated
Katharine Murphy, who has covered energy longer than almost anyone in the parliament, will have a few things to say about the safeguard mechanism being called a tax, don’t you worry about that.
Dutton claims safeguard mechanism reform is a ‘tax’ that will ‘drive up the cost of living’
On Tuesday the Coalition resolved to oppose Labor’s safeguard mechanism bill despite moderates Simon Birmingham and Paul Fletcher expressing concern about that in shadow cabinet.
Now the Liberal MP Bridget Archer has told our political editor Katharine Murphy she has an open mind about supporting the bill.
Asked about Archer’s comment and whether he expected all MPs and senators to toe the party line, Peter Dutton told reporters:
Yes, and our position’s been clear. This is a tax that’s being imposed. It’s three times the tax that Julia Gillard proposed, it’s going to drive up the cost of living. And Australians at the moment are sitting there doing their budgets … working out how they’re going to pay for everything that they’ve got stacking up on their kitchen table.
And if you’ve got a situation where the government is presiding over policies where big business is not going to wear this to their bottom line. They’re going to pass the cost on to the consumers. So when you go to Bunnings, or when you go to Coles, or you go to Woolworths, or when you go and purchase a motor vehicle, all of those costs are going to be met by consumers.
So, it’s inflationary. It’s going to make it more difficult for families, not easier for families. I don’t think we realise in Canberra at the moment, how difficult it is for families in the suburbs. They are really struggling. And they don’t need extra costs.
Of course, a requirement that big industrial emitters reduce their emissions is not a tax, it is not paid to the government. There is a cost to the environment (pollution) which the government is trying to reduce.
Reporters interjected – one noting that isn’t a tax, another noting the Coalition’s Greg Hunt had proposed the same in government.
Dutton said:
[It is] because it’s compulsory. That’s the key difference and when you tell people to purchase credits or to opt into that system in a compulsory way, that is the key.
Updated
Today’s National Press Club address is all about health.
Which is timely and also beyond time, because it is all a bit of a mess at the moment.
Health economist Stephen Duckett, general practitioner Dr Kerrie Aust and GP Supervision Australia chair Dr Nicole Higgins are sharing the address, which comes after the Strengthening Medicare report.
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Bridget Archer ‘open-minded’ on Labor’s push to overhaul safeguard mechanism
Meanwhile, in more moderate Liberal news, Murph has this story:
The Liberal MP Bridget Archer says she has an open mind on supporting the Albanese government’s planned overhaul of the safeguard mechanism if Labor can satisfy her concerns that a stronger climate policy won’t see heavy industry quit the country.
“I’m open-minded in relation to it,” Archer told Guardian Australia on Wednesday. “Of course I can see what the government is trying to do.”
Archer’s comments follows the Coalition party room on Tuesday rubber-stamping a decision by the shadow cabinet to oppose the government’s new legislation facilitating below-baseline crediting in the safeguard mechanism – even though the Morrison government had supported that principle before the May election defeat.
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Mike Bowers was in the House of Representatives when the Set the Standard report was passed by the chamber, endorsing a new code of conduct on workplace behaviour in parliament:
Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
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NZ police intercept enough cocaine to supply Australian market for a year
Meanwhile, dipping out of politics for a moment and dipping into the ocean:
New Zealand’s authorities say they’ve seized half a billion dollars worth of cocaine that was found floating in international waters, which they believe transnational crime groups intended to transport to Australia.
The 3.2t seizure was the largest interception of any substance made by New Zealand’s authorities in its history.
It would have been enough of the drug to supply the Australian market for a year, according to New Zealand’s police commissioner Andrew Coster, who is speaking to a news conference about the bust in Wellington along with customs and defence officials.
Greg Williams, director of the New Zealand police’s national organised crime group, said it was clear the drug was not destined for that country because, “New Zealand is not a cocaine market.”
The half a billion dollars of cocaine seized represented about 30 years worth of supply for New Zealand -- but about a year’s supply for Australia.
Said Williams: “We are tiny compared to Australia. There is no way that 3.2 tonnes is coming here. we do not stockpile here.”
The drugs – 81 bales of cocaine – were left in nets at a “floating transit point,” authorities said. It was picked up by New Zealand law enforcement last week, and arrived in Auckland by ship yesterday, where it will be destroyed.
No arrests have been made.
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Meanwhile, in PR land:
I've cheered on Jordan Mailata when he was wearing a @SSFCRABBITOHS jersey, but next week he'll be playing for the @Eagles in the NFL Super Bowl.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) February 7, 2023
U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy came by to help me wish him good luck. pic.twitter.com/yPZrfoacvc
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Paul Karp is in the Senate. Labor’s bill to reinstate automatic visa cancellation for aggregate sentences is in its second reading stage:
Labor's bill to reinstate automatic visa cancellation for aggregate sentences (after loss in full federal court) passes Senate 39 votes (Labor, Coalition, Lambie Network, UAP) to 11 (Greens).#auspol @AmyRemeikis
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) February 8, 2023
Background from yesterday: https://t.co/4eFhH1oHZF
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Dorinda Cox calls for systemic change to address Indigenous trauma, not ‘Band-Aid solutions’
Dorinda Cox said part of the solution was to build more public and affordable housing, pointing out the state of housing across the country is “disastrous”, while also listing a range of other needs including addressing the cost of living crisis, raising income support above the poverty line, raising the age of criminal responsibility and to “stop incarcerating our babies”.
Cox also raised the issue of the recommendations of the deaths in custody royal commission still not being implemented, something senator Lidia Thorpe has also spoken extensively on.
Cox:
Improve access to education and make it culturally appropriate. Make it bilingual, for God’s sake, in some of the places where English is the third and fourth language. Improve mental health care and put it into Medicare.
Fix the Medicare system more broadly so that we have access to health services. Invest in justice reinvestment initiatives, and I’m talking about stop funding prisons … stop funding the industry that is incarcerating people in this country.
Progress on the standalone First Nations plan to end violence against women – that is designed and implemented by our women. Not under a gender equality assignment; under our view, and by our women.
Fund First Nations and those organisations that are on the ground … basically, this just means ensuring that people have their basic needs met and that their human rights are upheld in this country.
The solutions are right here in front of you. It’s changing the legislation and the regime that my people has lived under this country.
Whilst I hear members of this [chamber] talk about how bad the crisis is … we need to stop talking about the need for bans and interventions. I’m hearing crickets … about long-term solutions to address the real cause behind this crisis.
Banning alcohol is merely a Band-Aid solution. It might work in the short time, but you can’t have these Band-Aids in place for ever. That will not actually address the underlying causes that will continue to not see primary prevention, will not cease.
The intergenerational trauma and this look at intervention 2.0 will not solve these issues in the long term. So stop doing that. This is a humanitarian crisis that began over 200 years ago.
This is a crisis that stems from our denial of basic human rights in this country: housing, employment, education, healthcare, lands, country and our self-determination, our connection to our country, our culture … our kinship.
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Cox: First Nations senators carry the weight of how our people are treated every day
Dorinda Cox continued:
It is the pain and it is the heartache you see on the faces of First Nation senators in fact in this chamber, all of us, because let me tell you, that weight gets enormously heavy.
And seeing the way our people are treated in this country gets even heavier. And we carry that weight every day.
We are constantly dealing with family members, friends, cousins. Uncles find themselves vicious and oppressive cycles of incarceration as the end result of that. And let me tell you, that gets enormously heavy ...
So if you want to talk about how we solve the issue in the long term – because that’s what we’re here for – we’re here for the long game – progress with all three elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
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Greens senator Dorinda Cox: intervention does not work
The Senate sat in absolute silence as the Greens WA senator Dorinda Cox delivered a speech on the Northern Territory safe measures bill.
Cox said intervention has been shown not to work, and it is time for reckoning.
People carry deep, unresolved generational trauma. It’s multilayered, multidimensional, and it’s complex in its manifestation.
And alcohol is merely a coping mechanism [for] police trauma. It’s about self-medicating. It’s about coping, which many First Nations people have turned to because they in fact had no other option. They either live remotely, [with] no services or lack of services that are available to them. And it’s very long wait lists, even then.
If there is a service, [then] maybe like many in this country, they simply do not have the money to see a professional to discuss what trauma is. And the trauma that has been passed down to us specifically, through generations since colonisation in this country.
And it’s the truth telling that I spoke about in this very chamber yesterday. And it’s in fact scientifically proven. It’s called epigenetics. People need to be informed that this trauma comes and spans over many generations in our communities.
Because that is exactly what is happening in our springs territory. It’s the impact of colonisation that First Nations people carry with them, every single day.
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AEC sending potential voters direct messages to get enrolments above 97%
If you are not enrolled to vote and are eligible to vote, you may be hearing from the AEC in the very near future. The AEC says it is working to update the roll where voters are potentially missing as it works towards the “dream” of 100 % enrolment.
From its statement:
The AEC is sending approximately 400,000 potentially unenrolled Australians email and SMS messages letting them know that enrolling to vote is required by law.
We’ve worked incredibly hard to get the electoral roll to 97% complete, and it truly is a modern democratic miracle, but we want it even higher.
It’s been nearly a quarter of a century since Australians have been able to have their say on an issue at a referendum. You can’t vote if you’re not enrolled.
Of the approximately 400,000 people receiving the enrolment reminder, it’s estimated that 65,000 identify as Indigenous and more than 85,000 are aged 18-24.
It’s no secret there is a referendum coming up and NSW will be heading to the polls in March, therefore now is a great time to make sure that you are enrolled to vote.
We understand that Australians may be wary of scam emails and text messages, however we are reassuring those who receive communication from the AEC that is it legitimate and to enrol to vote via the AEC website – aec.gov.au.
Many people say 100% enrolment is a fanciful dream. They’re probably right, but we’ll keep striving to increase the number of people on the roll as much as we can by identifying people who are eligible to enrol and either enrolling them directly or communicating with them about their electoral rights and responsibilities.
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Work hire firm Employsure fined $3m for misleading ads that associated it with Fair Work
Workplace advisory firm Employsure has had a penalty for misleading Google ads that might have led people to believe it was associated with the Fair Work Ombudsman upped from $1m to $3m, after a successful federal court appeal from the consumer watchdog.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took the company to court in 2018 over six ads published between August 2016 and August 2018, which appeared in response to Google searches for terms like “fair work ombudsman” and “fair work commission”.
The ads did not mention Employsure, but if an employer seeking information clicked through to the link it went to an Employsure page, and if they called the number it was an Employsure representative they spoke to.
The ACCC was concerned at the time that the ads could potentially mislead businesses into contacting Employsure thinking it was a government agency or affiliated with the government.
The court sided with the ACCC in January last year but awarded an appeal of $1m - much lower than the $5m sought by the ACCC. The ACCC appealed arguing the fine was “manifestly inadequate”, and in a full federal court ruling on Wednesday, the fine was upgraded to $3m.
The full court said in its judgment that Australians are entitled to rely on the belief that commonwealth government organisations “exist to serve the public good; not to make a profit as was the case with Employsure, which made the representations that its services had government sponsorship or approval.”
“We consider this conduct to be very serious and consider there to be a great need for general deterrence in the circumstances.”
The $3m fine “reflects the seriousness of the contraventions, satisfies the element of deterrence required, and contains a sufficient sting to ensure that the penalty amount is not such as to be regarded by Employsure or others as an acceptable cost of doing business”.
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Government to send explanatory pamphlet to voters on Indigenous voice: AFR
The Australian Financial Review is reporting the government has agreed to one of the opposition’s demands about the voice and will have the AEC send out an education pamphlet to voters about the voice.
Breaking: Albanese relents on Voice pamphlet https://t.co/a61xpXK43b @PhillipCoorey
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) February 7, 2023
This comes as the Coalition negotiates on the machinery bill, which is one of the pieces of legislation which needs to be put in place before the referendum can be held.
The Fin also reports, though, that the government is holding firm against the demand to have the yes and no campaigns publicly funded.
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Senators speak on new Northern Territory intervention bill
In the Senate this morning, Indigenous senators have been speaking very strongly and with heartfelt emotion about the Northern Territory.
The senate is discussing the Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s Northern Territory safe measures bill.
There may not be agreement on the bill. But there is agreement on the need for healing, for listening and investment.
Greens WA Senator Dorinda Cox supports the Uluṟu Statement, says it will “progress healing”
— Sarah Collard (@Sarah_Collard_) February 7, 2023
“We can't continue to hurt people. In developing legislation in this place you feel does nothing except provide a band aid solution that won't address 200 plus years of trauma.”
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Butler: Australia has more than enough vaccine to supply latest round
So, the message is, if you are over 18 and you haven’t had a vaccination in the last six months, or a case of Covid in that same time period, consider very strongly getting another vaccination from February 20.
If you are aged over 65 or in a health-vulnerable group, then you should really, really consider getting the vaccination.
Mark Butler:
Now, our best advice is that there are about 14 million Australian adults who have gone more than six months since the last dose of vaccine. So the pool of Australians now eligible for the next dose of vaccine is, at most, 14 million.
But we know that many of them will have been infected by Covid in the past six months. So they are expected to wait for at least six months since they had Covid to access that additional dose if that is their decision to do.
I want to assure Australians and the hard-working vaccine providers, general practices, community pharmacies, community health centres, that Australia has more than enough vaccine doses, Omicron specific vaccine doses, to supply this latest round of vaccines in the Australian Covid vaccine program.
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Kelly: summer Covid wave was ‘low and slow’, but deaths always a tragedy
And on the summer wave of Covid, Dr Paul Kelly says:
In terms of the summer wave, this ended up being the lowest number of cases in all of the other indicators that the minister mentioned, of all the Omicron waves so far – recognising that, as the minister also mentioned, we don’t know the full extent of the number of cases, but we do know the number of ICU admissions. That was the lowest of all the Omicron waves and hospitalisations [were] similarly lower.
The flattened curve that we had in this wave demonstrates to me that … there is a large amount of protection right now in the community in terms of hybrid immunity.
We have talked about that before, the combination of the boost you get from having a dose of vaccine as well as the boost you get from having an episode of Covid. So without any public health and social measures, essentially, this was a low and slow wave, which was lower and slower than we thought would be the case.
But there were deaths, as the minister said, and that is always a tragedy.
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UK modelling shows 800 people over 70 years of age must be vaccinated to stop one hospitalisation, Kelly says
Dr Paul Kelly continues:
The UK modelling, for example, shows that for anyone over the age of 70, you need to vaccinate 800 people to stop one hospitalisation.
That might sound like a lot, but that is a very important number and shows that that is the most important group that should be getting vaccinated. On comparison, [for] ages 40-49, you need to vaccinate 92,000 people.
If you … are younger than that, you need to vaccinate more to get that effect. It really demonstrates that the people that are at most risk of severe disease and death now are older people and those other risk groups the minister has talked about. That is why we are concentrating specifically on [the] recommendation, based on Atagi advice, on those groups. But everyone is eligible.
You should consider your own risk and then talk to your normal provider.
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Paul Kelly: all adults who have not had a vaccine dose or Covid in the last six months advised to consider getting a booster
Dr Paul Kelly:
To reinforce the main message for today, the revised Atagi advice is different to previous advice we have had from them in terms of … time since the last boost, whether that is due to a vaccine from the last vaccine, or the last episode of Covid-19. And it is based, as always, from Atagi advice and the best evidence [and] comparison[s] with international experience and that’s what we have right now.
It’s much simpler than previously: All adults now are advised to consider getting a booster on the basis of not having had a previous vaccine in the past six months or a dose of Covid in the past six months.
We are particularly focusing on those high-risk groups. The minister has talked to our experience, not only in … previous waves: who develops severe disease? Remembering that … the primary purpose of our policy right now is to protect those [people], and vaccination remains a key plank of that.
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New fifth vaccine dose available for Australians who have not had a vaccine or Covid in the last six months
The health minister, Mark Butler, and the chief medical officer, Dr Paul Kelly, are giving updates on the news this morning that Australians who have not had Covid or a recent Covid vaccination in the last six months are now eligible for another dose of vaccination.
Butler:
Now if you haven’t had a Covid vaccine dose in the last six months, adults can get the next dose of Covid vaccine to top-up your protection from 20 February this year.
Atagi has been particularly clear about its [target] for those Australians most at risk of severe disease, which they identify as Australian 65 years and older, and Australians under that age who have various health conditions or are immunocompromised that makes them vulnerable to severe disease.
For those Australians the very strong recommendation from Atagi is it is now time for your next dose of Covid vaccine, provided you have not had a dose in the past six months or been infected with Covid in the past six months.
The vaccine advisory group have said that otherwise healthy children or teenagers do not need an additional dose. And so the additional vaccine dose [is] not provided to children and teenagers under the age of 18, except where they have health conditions that have been identified as placing them at risk of severe illness.
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Sally Sitou responds to Dutton on online trolling
Labor MP Sally Sitou has responded to Peter Dutton’s speech through her social media:
Today marks one year since the ‘Set the Standard’ report was delivered to drive positive cultural change in parliament. It was an opportunity for leaders from all political parties to step up and show bipartisan support for everyone who works in this place, particularly women.
Instead the leader of the opposition, Peter Dutton, decided to use his speech to pit the experiences of progressive female parliamentarians against those in the centre-right. Suggesting that women in the Coalition experience more online trolling.
I can assure him that I too get trolled online, in a way that is both gendered and race based. But that’s not the point of today. The point of the Set the Standard report is to ask us all to do better.
There is a role for all men and women – across all parties and independents – to help make this place a safe and inclusive workplace. In order to lift the standard of debate in this country and make it more respectful – we need all our leaders to work together.
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Dutton champions ‘diversity of opinion’ and calls for online reform of social media ‘dominated by the extreme and insidious left’
As these Set the Standard speeches are given in the chamber, the mood is getting more and more unsettled. Not the tone I think many were hoping for.
There is quite a bit of defensiveness and also score settling happening. Like this from Peter Dutton:
Today we have 10 women in the shadow cabinet, the same number as the government has for its cabinet, and 17 women altogether in [the] outer and assistant shadow ministry.
Women are there because of their experience, their skills, and their work ethic and as the leader of the Liberal Party I want to see more women and more people from diverse backgrounds, especially those with a migrant or Indigenous heritage, join our party and our parliament.
Unquestionably a factor which can discourage women from pursuing political office is the reprehensible treatment that several female politicians have received online in recent times, and obviously such behaviour is not limited to Liberal women, but women of centre-right views are subjected to some of the most disgusting vitriol online and [on] social media dominated by the extreme and insidious left.
When women have a centre-right persuasion [they are] harassed by people. Like [the] former MP Nicole Flint and senator Jacinta Price, they’ve been subjected to [this] even [to] this very day. No wonder they’re hesitant to pursue a political career.
If we want to have the best Australians to serve in this place, regardless of their politics, online reform is a societal issue the parliament needs to address as a matter of urgency.
It’s well and good to provide greater diversity in our parliament and so we should, but if women, particularly [those of] a centre-right political persuasion are deterred from pursuing a political career, then we will damage our democracy.
And the sanctimony is obvious from many in this debate, because the most important diversity of all, the diversity of opinion will otherwise simply not exist.
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Dutton lists Liberal firsts
To be entirely fair, because this seems to be bothering some people in the opposition, Peter Dutton says Trent Zimmerman was the first openly gay member of parliament. Now, when I hear parliament, I think both chambers. The opposition leader meant it in the technical sense, of Member of Parliament as in MP. I heard member of parliament, as in both chambers – of which the senate is one, and has had many openly gay members before 2016 when Zimmerman was elected.
So this post has been altered from the original, because we all have better things to be doing.
Speaking on the Set the Standard motion, Dutton was mentioning the various firsts the Liberal party can claim.
Enid Lyons – the first female member of parliament (Lyons joined the Liberal party upon its creation) and was the first woman in cabinet)
Neville Bonner – the first Indigenous parliamentarian.
Ken Wyatt – the first Indigenous cabinet minister.
And then Trent Zimmerman – “the first openly gay member of parliament”.*
Bob Brown, the former leader of the Greens, was elected in 1996. And was openly gay. Both while sitting in the federal parliament and the Tasmanian parliament before that.
Labor’s Penny Wong came out soon after winning her Senate seat in 2002.
*Now it has been put that Dutton said member of parliament in the “factual” sense, meaning the House of Representatives, and Zimmerman, who won a byelection in 2016, was the first openly gay person to sit in the House of reps. Perhaps it is I who needs to brush up on history, as I have never heard of the lower house being called parliament, given that parliament is two chambers – with the Senate claiming openly gay members, including the Liberal’s Dean Smith, as well as Brown and Wong.
• This post was edited on February 8 2023, to clarify that Peter Dutton said Trent Zimmerman was “the first openly gay member of parliament” on the basis that he was referring to the house of representatives alone.
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Paterson: Extent of Chinese-made camera usage in government is not a partisan issue
So what answers have James Paterson’s questions yielded so far?
Well, a number of government departments have identified [Chinese-made cameras]. In the first instance, the Department of Home Affairs, I approached and asked them whether they had it on their sites and whether they had visibility of these cameras on any other sites throughout the government.
They identified a couple of cameras at two sites in buildings they occupied, which is obviously concerning because the Department of Home Affairs is our principal policy agency for national security, and there is no business having Chinese government-linked surveillance companies having their cameras installed in those sites.
But equally concerning for me was that Home Affairs did not know and was not able to tell me whether or not there were any other of these cameras in the Australian public service. And so that’s why I launched this audit, which I hope we’ll have the results of soon.
Q: So why … do they get through the tender process and the like in the first place?
Paterson:
That’s an excellent question and I suspect the answer to that is that it is because they offer value for money, in a very superficial sense. It is often the case that they undercut their commercial rivals.
They are closely linked to the Chinese government. And like many other leading Chinese technology firms, they have assistance from the Chinese government, including concessional loans and subsidies, and that does allow them sometimes to outcompete their Western competitors and make them look like a more attractive offering.
But of course, the discount that you get upfront is not worth the long-term national security risks you expose yourself to.
Q: Okay. So, an issue for both sides of parliament. Unless these cameras were installed in the last nine months, they could very well have been approved under the Morrison and Turnbull governments.
Paterson:
I’m not seeking to make this a partisan political issue at all. I’m not attacking the Labor party over this. It’s a problem which I’ve now identified which has to be fixed and they’re the government, so I hope that they will fix it.
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War Memorial removing Chinese-made surveillance cameras amid spying fears
The Canberra Times broke the story the Australian War Memorial is removing surveillance cameras made in China amid fears they could be used for spying.
The Liberal senator James Paterson, who is quite hawkish on these matters, wants an audit of all the cameras in government agencies and departments to remove any Chinese-made devices.
He told ABC News Breakfast:
I’ve asked every government, department and agency to come back to me through questions on notice, through the Senate, to answer that question. And I hope to have the results of that very soon.
The War Memorial is to be commended in a sense that they recognise that they have these devices and that they should be removed. In their response to me, they said the devices that they have at their site here in Canberra will be removed and that is appropriate recognition of the national security risks that they pose.
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Report finds 81% of Australians think property is unaffordable
The Property Council has launched its report A Stark Reality and surprise, surprise – 81% of Australians think that property in this country is unaffordable.
Wonder what gave them that idea?
You can find the report here, but it makes for some depressing reading.
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Andrew Bragg outlines Liberal case for supporting the Indigenous voice
The Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has started how he means to go on regarding the voice, releasing this statement this morning:
There is a strong case for constitutionally enshrining an Indigenous voice to parliament, but we must ensure that any change is safe for our system of government.
Legitimate concerns have been raised, particularly the risk of a transfer of power from parliament and the executive to the high court.
To address these concerns, a new paper sets out the remaining issues which I hope will encourage a proper inquiry into the proposed voice amendment.
A copy of the paper can be found here.
Indigenous people are the only group of people in Australia who face a slew of “race”-based laws. It is illiberal that Parliament makes these laws without engaging Indigenous people.
The voice will empower Indigenous communities to work collaboratively with government to make their own decisions. Giving these communities a voice should drive community-level decision making, ensuring that people are not locked into poor, paternalistic policies.
A parliamentary inquiry remains the best mechanism for resolving these issues, it can assess legal concerns and ensure that the voice is safe for our system of government. The inquiry should commence before the constitutional amendment bill is presented.
This is the best way to maximise crucial bipartisanship.
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Albanese ‘hopeful’ inflation has peaked, rejects calls to sack RBA governor
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said he was hopeful inflation had peaked in Australia, but accepted financial pressures were having an impact on people.
In a quick doorstop interview after the UN Women Australia International Women’s Day breakfast in Parliament House this morning, the PM noted that his government had extended paid parental leave and reduced costs of early education in a bid to boost women’s economic participation, as well as extending paid domestic violence leave.
In an earlier speech, he also noted the pay rise the government had committed to deliver to aged care workers and nurses. The Health Services Union will hold a Parliament House event later today, complaining that the government is planning to phase in that pay rise over two years instead of all at once.
The HSU president, Gerard Hayes, said the government’s planned pay rise this year “just won’t cut it. That pay rise will be swallowed whole by rents, energy and other price hikes.”
This sector is crumbling before our eyes. An aged care worker can walk across the road and earn more at KFC, Bunnings or in disability care in a flash.
If the government can keep its commitment to stage three tax cuts, which deliver billions to people who don’t need them, surely it can look after a workforce of insecurely employed, underpaid women who won a decent pay rise, fair and square.
Albanese shared his alarm that Australia ranked 43rd on a global index for economic equality: “there’s clearly more to be done”.
Asked about yesterday’s interest rate rise, Albanese hoped the RBA was correct in predicting inflation had peaked, and said he was hopeful that Australia would see a downward trend in that indicator.
In some of the advanced economies [inflation] has reached double digits, so it hasn’t reached that here but it clearly is having an impact.
The PM rejected calls from the Greens to sack the RBA governor, Phil Lowe, or to reverse the interest rate rise, claiming the minor party “sometimes don’t understand the way the economy works”.
We have an independent Reserve Bank, that is a very important principle, one that we maintain.
Asked about the drama yesterday in parliament where the government had to ram through a determination to declare Nauru a regional processing country, after such a notice lapsed in October without action being taken, Albanese claimed there was “no impact ... it was dealt with yesterday clearly by the parliament”.
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Andrews predicts defaults on some mortgages as interest rates spike
Karen Andrews did make the point, though, that there will soon be loan defaults for those people on the mortgage bubble.
I think it’s a real possibility because many people are very heavily mortgaged, and they were heavily mortgaged with interest rates were very low, but they were paying now about 1.8%. So now that they’re probably paying upwards of 5.8% or they’re about to be in the very near future, when their loan moves from fixed to variable, they’re going to have to look at what they’re going to do, whether or not they’re going to sell to recover some of the costs that they’ve sent to pay their mortgage.
Now, that would be very concerning. We have seen markets around the country starting to drop for real estate. So prices are starting to come down.
That means that people can no longer afford or [be] prepared to inject as much money as they had previously into real estate, whether that’s for a home to live in or whether it’s for investment purposes.
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Investors eye RBA cash rate nudging 4%
There’s ongoing fallout today from yesterday’s RBA interest rate rise, but particularly over the central bank’s confidence that further increases are to come.
Investors, who were predicting a peak cash rate of about 3.6% prior to the rates decision and commentary, are now pencilling in a topping-out just shy of 4%.
After the RBA signalled further rate rises are to come, investors have lifted their expectations of how high the central bank will go. They're now betting there's a two-in-three chance of another 25bp rise in March on the way to a peak rate approaching 4%. pic.twitter.com/wY1AAm3cf1
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) February 7, 2023
Another 25 basis-point increase to 3.6% in March - which investors assess as a 65% chance - would make it 10 rate hikes in a row, should it come to pass.
The Aussie dollar, meanwhile, is hovering about 69.5 US cents, about a third of a US cent higher than prior to the rate rise.
Among the things to watch is how much of a lag there is between commercial banks announcing a lifting of their lending rates (usually fairly immediately) and those for deposits (don’t hold your breath).
Exhibit A: NAB last night said it would pass on the fall quarter-point to borrowers from 17 February, taking the lowest variable rate to 5.24%. But as RateCity notes, “at this stage, NAB is not passing on a single rate increase to its savings customers”.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, last month asked the competition watchdog (the Australian Competition and Consumer Commision) to monitor banks’ deposit offerings. Looks like there’s some watching to be done.
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Andrews: Labor is continuing on ‘like the modern-day Boudicca’
Karen Andrews was in such a good mood, she got a little creative in her answers.
Andrews:
The Reserve Bank is saying that there’s 800,000 people that will move from a fixed loan into a variable loan. That is going to have an enormous impact on people’s ability to spend some money. Now, whilst we need to have restraint to bring the budget back under control, anecdotally, many of the shop owners pre-Christmas were saying that people were still splurging before Christmas, because they knew post-Christmas there would not be any money available for them to really cover the basic necessities that they needed. But the government seems to be particularly silent on the fact that people are hurting.
There’s no acknowledgement that people are suffering at the moment that there is pain and it is only going to get worse. It’s like when the minister for home affairs went into parliament … yesterday and spoke about the legislation that was needed to designate Nauru as a regional processing centre.
There was no mea culpa for her mistake, and it was clearly her mistake. There was absolutely no recognition of anything that had gone wrong.
This is the government that doesn’t know how to look after the people who were hurting here in Australia, and they are just continuing on like the modern-day Boudicca.
Now, my understanding of the warrior queen Boudicca was that she led a rebellion against Rome after her husband was killed, she was publicly beaten and her daughters raped. She then led an army and sacked two Roman cities, bringing much shame to the Roman empire, because they had been beaten by a woman. Her army was eventually defeated, but we still speak of the warrior queen for a reason.
So not sure it is the best analogy here, but points for trying.
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Opposition says Labor’s need to rush Nauru legislation “unforgiveable”
The shadow home affairs minister Karen Andrews has been out and about today after yesterday’s parliament shenanigans, when the government gagged debate to quickly pass a motion to re-designate Nauru as a regional processing centre. The legislation lapsed in October, noone seemed to notice, and then suddenly it was a huge deal that the government placed an urgent motion on.
The opposition supported it, the Greens and the crossbench were outraged, and all in all, it was definitely NOT “politics done differently”. Andrews though, seemed in a good mood this morning:
It is unforgivable that the Labor government could do absolutely nothing in a four-month period of time to ensure that there was a regional processing centre designated.
Now, it is important, and that was demonstrated by the fact that Labor suspended standing orders yesterday to try and rush through this legislation … if they’d handled this in a timely manner, firstly, it would not have led to the issues that we had to deal with yesterday. Secondly, it would not have left the hole in our border protection, but thirdly, it would not have enlivened the debate that ensued yesterday.
Now, many were quite concerned at the actions – or the inactions, quite frankly – of the Labor government.
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Shorten: mortgage holders are ‘the meat in the sandwich’ between interest rate rises and inflation
Bill Shorten has also been asked about interest rate rises and told the ABC:
You understand the RBA is independent. The government … doesn’t make the decisions on interest rates. There’s no doubt, though, that millions of people are feeling pain here by these decisions.
The reason why the RBA says it increases the rates is to put the inflation genie back in the bottle. The federal Labor government’s tackling inflation in a range of ways. We want to get wages moving, cost of living measures to support people with energy prices, child care.
We want to take some of the speed limits off the economy, bring back more … skilled labour into the economy itself. Unblock some of the supply chain issues with energy and of course we will at the next budget demonstrate … increased fiscal responsibility, but with the Reserve Bank increasing the rates … the issue for mortgage holders is: are they the meat in the sandwich here?
And I think they are. The reality is that hopefully inflation is coming down anyway, so for some of the commentators out there who are pushing for more interest rate rises, [these are] real people who are getting affected very painfully by increased mortgages.
But that would also include the RBA board, which has warned there will be more interest rate rises coming. The RBA doesn’t just want inflation to come down, it wants it to come down to its target range for core inflation – which is 2 to 3%. And we are a long way off from that at the moment.
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Liberals say government ‘needs an economic plan’
Now quite a few opposition MPs have been asked, repeatedly, what they would do differently if they were in government in these economic circumstances.
The answer? The government needs an economic plan.
I am not sure if it is in the talking points or not, but it is something we are hearing A LOT in response to the question “what would you do”. Case in point:
Sky News host: The Greens made a bold claim yesterday to override the RBA decision using the RBA Act. Would you support that at all?
Sussan Ley:
Not at all, and we often see some extreme claims from the Greens and I think we’ll just leave that one exactly where it is.
Host: Okay, you mentioned that the government should be doing more because ultimately Australian households are the ones who get punished for all of this. So what is your answer to this? How do you fix it? How do you make life easier?
Ley:
Well, the most important thing is for the government is to have an economic plan.
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Opposition attacks over cost-of-living continue
Over on Sky News, the deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, continues the attack the opposition ramped up this week: “you will always pay more under Labor”.
The opposition have wholeheartedly embraced this line and are really hoping people will link the rising cost of living with the Labor government and reinforce the historical misnomer that Labor are worse economic managers.
Again, an old playbook, but an effective one. It really will depend on what you guys think about whether or not it will work.
Asked about the interest rate rises, Ley says:
As you say, this is really sobering news for Australians, particularly those with mortgages. It just goes to show you will always pay more under Labor. The ninth consecutive rate rise, with Philip Lowe warning that there will be more … families are now having to make tough decisions, even families with second jobs. You know, what do we not spend money on? Do we not take a holiday? Do we not undertake that expenditure for our family for our future? It’s all going on the mortgage.
With 800,000 Australians coming off fixed rates, there could be a jump of several percentage rate in their mortgage payments, which adds up to $10,000, $12,000, or $15,000 a year are some of the figures I’m hearing. So, as I said, it’s really sobering news.
For the record, there have been many people with second, or even third jobs for quite some time. During the pandemic, there was a record number of people with second jobs. That was when the Coalition was in power.
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Telstra gives undertaking to comply with ‘priority assistance’ obligations after regulator finds numerous breaches
Telstra has given an undertaking to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) that it will comply with its “priority assistance” obligations after the watchdog found some customers with significant medical issues were not given urgent help when their phone lines were not operational.
Telstra is required to provide priority assistance to customers who have a life-threatening medical condition, and once identified, must have systems in place to provide those customers with additional levels of service.
Acma found that the company had failed to send application forms to 260 customers who enquired about priority assistance and had failed to initiate emergency medical request procedures five times for two customers, including making sure to fix phones quickly.
Acma’s chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, said Telstra needed to have adequate systems in place. The authority can take Telstra to court if the company fails to meet its undertaking.
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Complaints about telcos jumps 9.9% in last quarter of 2022
The number of complaints about telecommunications companies in the last three months of 2022 rose by 9.9% off the back of the Optus data breach.
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (Tio) reported 17,903 complaints between October and December, largely off the back of people complaining about the unauthorised disclosure of personal information arising from the Optus data breach.
But the ombudsman, Cynthia Gebert, noted some complaints also related to termination fees and mobile service.
She said:
We began to see the impact of the Optus data breach on our mobile complaint issues at the end of the previous quarter, but the complaints from this period of October to December really highlight the problems people are experiencing because of the breach.
Privacy and the unauthorised disclosure of personal information are not the only issues for consumers. We’re also handling an increased number of complaints from Optus customers about disputed termination fees, customer service problems, and failing to cancel a mobile service.
We’re continuing to work closely with Optus to ensure consistent approaches are being taken to resolving complaints so that people can get a fair and reasonable outcome, and we have adapted how we work to handle the higher volume of complaints we received.
Optus accounted for 36% of all complaints for the quarter and complaints about the telco were up 39.3% overall. Optus was still behind Telstra in overall complaints on 38%, but Telstra has a much larger customer base.
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For the record, Kevin Rudd also wrote an essay for The Monthly on the global financial crisis and faced pretty much the same attacks in 2009, so it is not a new playbook.
The lesson? Never write.
Chalmers: Angus Taylor’s ‘petty little observations’ over essay are ‘ridiculous’
And on Angus Taylor’s repeated line that Jim Chalmers was distracted by writing his essay for The Monthly when he should have spent every moment of every day contemplating the cost of living (Taylor is particularly stuck on the fact it was 6,000 words)
Chalmers seems properly annoyed by this and tells Patricia Karvelas:
I mean, these are the sorts of petty little observations that Angus Taylor makes from time to time. This is the sort of unthinking rubbish that people rejected last May at the election.
I think people understand that my firm, overwhelming major focus is on the inflation challenge in the economy. The idea that writing an essay after I put the kids to bed over the Christmas break somehow conflicts with that is frankly, ridiculous.
And Angus Taylor’s a big reason why we’ve got this inflation challenge in our economy, [he'] stuffed up the energy market, made us vulnerable to these international shocks. And if he cared about it, he would have voted for the household assistance for energy bills that we want to put in the budget.
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Energy relief plan has encountered state-based ‘implementation issues’
The original plan was that the energy relief plan would have been signed off on at the next national cabinet meeting. That plan … has not gone to plan.
Jim Chalmers says:
Well, it’s become clear in the conversations with the states that governments want it to flow closer to the middle of the year. And there are a series of implementation issues because the eligibility is different in each state because we want to we’ve got all got our priorities about who should get it and when … the best way to do that is, to land it with the states, [is] to make it a central feature of the May budget and to have it flow soon after that.
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Chalmers: energy relief plan to be detailed in May budget
So on to the other parts of the cost of living – like energy. When will people see the energy relief plan?
As with all things, you will have to wait for the budget in May. Chalmers:
Well, the main focus on in that regard is for assistance with electricity bills, and I’m working with the states and territories to deliver that, [and] it’ll be a different way to deliver that depending on the state and territory where you live. I worked over the summer on this and we’re continuing to work on it. I’m meeting with my state and territory colleagues on Friday about it.
And that’ll make … a meaningful difference to people, about $1.5bn dollars in cost-of-living relief in the May budget for people. This is the household assistance that the opposition voted against, but we think people need, and when you combine that with cheaper medicines, which came in from January, cheaper early childhood education from July, that’s what responsible cost-of-living relief looks like without adding to inflation.
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Treasurer initiated Reserve Bank review to be ‘world’s best’
The RBA Governor Dr Phil Lowe’s term is up this year and the cabinet has to decide whether or not to extend it. That decision will be made sometime before September.
Dr Jim Chalmers won’t go into whether or not he thinks Lowe deserves another term. (There is that whole pesky RBA is independent of government thing, so the treasurer can’t really say.)
[In] the normal course of events the government would consider that … closer to the middle of the year. I would consult with my colleagues, including my cabinet colleagues.
There is of course, the RBA review, which is currently underway.
Chalmers says:
I thought before yesterday’s statement that there was a case to have a look at the Reserve Bank, and that’s why I initiated the review for all the reasons that we’ve talked about … not because I want to take shots at the bank, not because I want to second-guess one decision or another, but because I want to be [the] world’s best and I want it to have the right structures of advice and decision-making.
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Chalmers: inflation and interest rates are the ‘defining challenge’ in the economy
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is the guest on ABC Radio RN, where he is being asked about the cost of living. The political panic button has been hit because of a line in the RBA’s statement on its interest rate decision yesterday – that it would not be the last interest rate rise:
The board expects that further increases in interest rates will be needed over the months ahead to ensure that inflation returns to target and that this period of high inflation is only temporary.
So with people already paying at least $1,000 more on their mortgage in interest than they were in April last year, and the cost of everything still higher than it was (including toll roads, which I just learnt are tied to CPI) and renters (who are seeing giant rent increases with each interest rate increase), Chalmers told Patricia Karvelas:
I genuinely understand that when rates go up, it puts extra pressure on people and it puts extra pressure on our economy. I think that is self- evident. And the inflation challenge in our economy, which is making some of these interest rate rises necessary, is the government’s major focus.
And that’s why, you know, we’re showing spending restraint, we’re providing cost-of-living relief, we’re dealing with these issues in the supply chain, including in the workforce, because ... high inflation and rising interest rates [are] the defining challenge in the economy right now. We need to get on top of inflation. And that’s why the government’s economic plan is as it is.
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Liberal moderates push back against party decision to oppose emissions safeguard mechanism
Seems like the Liberal moderates are mobilising all over the place.
In case you haven’t seen it, Murph had this report today:
Liberal moderates Paul Fletcher and Simon Birmingham pushed back against a decision to oppose the Albanese government’s planned overhaul of the safeguard mechanism during shadow cabinet deliberations over the past fortnight.
Labor is pursuing reforms to the safeguard mechanism, introduced first by Tony Abbott, to help drive down pollution from Australia’s heavy emitters in a trajectory consistent with the government’s national climate targets for 2030 and 2050.
After a majority in shadow cabinet favoured opposing the Albanese government’s new legislation facilitating below-baseline crediting in the safeguard mechanism, the Coalition party room rubber stamped the decision on Tuesday morning.
But Guardian Australian understands two shadow frontbenchers, Birmingham and Fletcher, expressed concern about the consequences of opposing Labor’s overhaul during the opposition’s internal deliberations last week and this week.
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Parliament to endorse a new code regulating behaviour and standards
Twelve months after Scott Morrison apologised to political staff for enduring difficult experiences while working for political parties, the two chambers of parliament will pass motions codifying new standards of behaviour expected in parliamentary workplaces.
If you work in the universe beyond politics, having formalised expectations of professional conduct will seem like no big deal. But in this ecosystem, today is a minor landmark.
The new codes require people in the commonwealth parliamentary workplace to:
Act respectfully, professionally and with integrity.
Encourage and value diverse perspectives and recognise the importance of a free exchange of ideas.
Recognise your power, influence or authority and do not abuse them.
Uphold laws that support safe and respectful workplaces, including anti discrimination, employment, work health and safety and criminal laws.
Bullying, harassment, sexual harassment or assault, or discrimination in any form, including on the grounds of race, age, sex, sexuality, gender identity, disability, or religion will not be tolerated, condoned or ignored.
This is progress, and progress should be acknowledged, because getting to this point has been difficult. But challenges remain. The first one is the parliament agreeing on how these new standards will be enforced and what sanctions will apply in the event of transgressions. That element of the reform hasn’t landed yet.
The second challenge relates to the long tail of trauma. There are a lot of people inside and outside the system still struggling to recover after terrible experiences, and the support isn’t always there to allow people to seek redress and move on with their lives.
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Good morning
We have made it to the Wednesday of the parliament week, which is technically the parliament Thursday, which means it is almost parliament Friday.
If you could follow that, then you still have a life. Congratulations.
Things have already kicked off within the parliament walls, where the UN Women’s parliamentary breakfast is being held. It was at that breakfast that Scott Morrison used to always create some sort of news story – he once said he wanted to see women rise, but not at the expense of men. Another year, his wife Jenny needed to “clarify” some things for him.
So it hasn’t had quite the designed impact in recent years.
(International women’s day is not until next month, but the parliament usually holds its event in February. I don’t know why. Also, yes, there is an international men’s day. It is in November).
This year, the event is being used as a launch pad to announce it will introduce its workplace gender equality amendment (closing the gender pay gap) bill 2023, which was an election commitment. The legislation will mean employers with more than 100 employees will have to publish their gender pay gap. The idea is that transparency will lead to action.
On average, women in Australia who work full time can expect to earn 14.1% less than men each week. Huzzah!
Katy Gallagher says on current projections, it will take 26 years to close the pay gap. (Luckily, I will still be working then. But it would be nice for it not to take that long.) Reporting is due to commence in 2024, drawing on data already provided by employers, and will be published on the Workplace Gender Equality Agency website.
Soon after that, the parliament will vote on the code of conduct for MPs and how they treat staff. That is part of the Kate Jenkins review. As we will learn a little later, there is still some work to be done on what the consequences are for bad behaviour.
One of the sticking points? Only you, the voters, get to decide when it is time for someone to leave parliament (outside of the few constitutional reasons). So you can’t just sack someone from the parliament.
The Liberal senator Andrew Bragg is going on the offence, waving the flag for the Liberal moderates and announcing he will be publicly lobbying his party to campaign for the yes vote. Peter Dutton has been running a soft no campaign in a bid to keep the less-moderate factions in his party happy and it seems like Bragg has had enough.
We will cover that, and everything else that happens, which includes the fallout from yesterday’s 9th interest rate hike (banks are already passing it on, which is nice of them). Treasurer Jim Chalmers is going on the offensive as well – trying to get the message out that the government can’t tell the RBA what to do, but also acknowledging that people are doing it really, really tough at the moment and just want someone to do something.
Katharine Murphy will be with you very soon and Josh Butler is already wandering about the parliament. Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst will also help explain the day to you and of course, our north star, Mike Bowers is out and about.
You have me, Amy Remeikis, with you for most of the day. I have already had three coffees.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.
