What we learned today, Wednesday 18 October
We’re going to close the blog now, but let’s recap the big headlines before we call it quits and pick it up tomorrow:
Millions of Australians inspired by the yes campaign for an Indigenous voice “will not let go”, the Labor senator Jana Stewart says, as the Albanese government faces increasing pressure to outline a plan B.
The spy agency Asio says it has disrupted a plot by China’s intelligence services to “infiltrate a prestigious Australian research institution” with officials forcing an academic to leave the country before any harm was done.
Climate and transport advocates say the Albanese government’s showpiece electric vehicle strategy has achieved little and remains “hamstrung” six months after its release.
The former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce will not be forced to appear before a Senate inquiry after a Coalition proposal to extend the probe was knocked back by the Greens and David Pocock.
A potential revenue hit worth “billions” has been flagged by the New South Wales government as a result of the high court ruling striking down Victoria’s electric vehicle tax.
Farming groups are warning of a wave of job losses in rural Australia if the federal government proceeds with its plan to buy back more water in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Amy Remeikis will be back with you early tomorrow morning. Until then, look after yourselves and have a wonderful night.
Updated
Pocock welcomes return of flight monitoring by ACCC
The ACT independent senator David Pocock has welcomed the return of flight monitoring by the consumer watchdog.
The ACCC monitored flights between 2020 and 2023 and found the aviation sector was “one of the most highly concentrated industries” in Australia, resulting in “underwhelming outcomes for consumers in terms of airfares, reliability of services and customer service”.
Here’s a statement issued by Pocock a short time ago:
We have a dire lack of competition in Australia’s airline industry but also more broadly across the economy. I welcome all measures that will enhance transparency and competition and thank the government for agreeing to reinstate this monitoring.
Australians should not have to pay high prices for airfares because of a lack of competition in the market. I look forward to further reforms as part of the Aviation White Paper and broader Competition Review that is currently underway.
Updated
Greens warn of humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza
As Daniel Hurst mentioned a short time ago, the Greens’ attempt to move an urgency motion “that the Senate opposes Israel’s invasion of Gaza” was voted down. There were 11 votes in favour with 41 opposed.
Earlier in question time, there was an exchange between the foreign minster, Penny Wong, and Greens senator Larissa Waters.
Here’s Waters:
Almost half the people in Gaza are children. Israel’s siege and bombing of Gaza, halting all water, fuel and food to people is causing humanitarian catastrophe.
In response, Wong said:
We believe that Israel has a right to defend itself. However, we have always called, from the beginning of this, for protection of human life and restraint.
You can watch more in the video below.
Almost half of the people in Gaza are children, and Israel’s siege and bombing of Gaza, the halting of all water, fuel and food to the people, is creating a humanitarian catastrophe.
— Larissa Waters (@larissawaters) October 18, 2023
No atrocity justifies another. pic.twitter.com/WLW4GJqa57
Updated
Dessert maker Sara Lee goes into voluntary administration
Just leaving politics and war for a moment.
Sara Lee, the company best known for producing (in my view delicious) frozen desserts, has gone into voluntary administration.
FTI Consulting has been appointed as administrator with the aim of restructuring the organisation with a view to selling it. Operations are continuing for now, which means 200 staff remain in their jobs.
Here’s the statement from the administrator, Vaughan Strawbridge:
Sara Lee is an iconic brand which produces quality Australian made products from its manufacturing facility in Lisarow NSW, where it employs some 200 staff.
We are working with Sara Lee’s management team and staff to continue operations while we secure the future of the business. We are immediately commencing a process to sell or restructure the business and continue its long history of manufacturing in Australia.
We expect a lot of interest in the business and will work with those parties and stakeholders to achieve an outcome as soon as possible to secure the ongoing business and provide clarity to its loyal and committed staff and customers.
Updated
Senate votes down Greens motion to oppose Gaza invasion
The Greens senator Nick McKim tried to move an urgency motion in the Senate “that the Senate opposes Israel’s invasion of Gaza” but it was voted down.
The urgency motion garnered just 11 votes while 41 opposed the motion.
Updated
Greens pressure Labor over fossil fuels after ‘groundbreaking’ Antarctic report
More than 200 scientists from 19 countries have today raised concerns about record low sea ice levels in Antarctica in a report that is being referred to as “an IPCC report for the Southern Ocean”.
The Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, who recently led a Senate inquiry into Australia’s Antarctic program along with Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam, says the report must be taken seriously by the government:
Australia has a 40% claim to Antarctica territory, so it’s in the Australian government’s best interest to take this report’s advice seriously.
Yet as one of the world’s largest consumers and producers of coal that is still approving new coal and gas projects in 2023, Australia still has a devastatingly long way to go before being considered a global leader in tackling climate change.
Updated
‘Real-world’ car testing to probe fuel economy promises
The “real-world” emissions of up to 200 popular vehicles will be tested and compared to promises from automakers in a $14m scheme designed to ensure consumers are not being misled, AAP reports.
The Real-World Testing Program, announced on Wednesday, will be run by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) over four years and funded by the federal government. The first results of vehicle testing are expected to be released next month.
The scheme follows an AAA investigation into 30 vehicles that found tailpipe emissions often exceeded estimates, and after Volkswagen was caught using software to evade pollution tests for some of its vehicles.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, announced the program, along with the transport minister, Catherine King, and energy minister, Chris Bowen, after committing funds in the 2022 budget. Here’s King:
The vehicle models currently being tested include small and medium SUVs, which account for around one quarter of new car sales in Australia, so I look forward to seeing these first testing results being released in coming weeks.
Updated
Visiting professor used PhD students to gather intelligence for China, Asio boss alleges
The spy agency Asio says it has disrupted a plot by China’s intelligence services to “infiltrate a prestigious Australian research institution” with officials forcing an academic to leave the country before any harm was done.
The Asio chief, Mike Burgess, provided broad details of the alleged plot while also accusing China of engaging in “the most sustained, scaled and sophisticated theft of intellectual property and expertise in human history”.
“It is unprecedented and unacceptable,” Burgess said during a press conference in California on Wednesday alongside counterparts from the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand.
Burgess acknowledged that “all nations spy” and “all nations seek strategic advantage” but he said China’s behaviour went “well beyond traditional espionage” and became “a ruthless business model aimed at seizing commercial advantage”.
Updated
Victorian parliament votes against a gender-affirming care inquiry
A bid by Moira Deeming to set up a parliamentary inquiry into gender-affirming care for children has failed to pass Victoria’s upper house but garnered the support of the opposition.
All the Coalition MPs in the chamber on Wednesday voted in support of the motion, along with One Nation’s Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, Libertarian party’s David Limbrick, Jeff Bourman from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party and Adem Somyurek.
But with Labor and the progressive bloc on the crossbench – the Greens, the Legalise Cannabis party and Animal Justice party – voting it down, Deeming’s motion failed 21-16.
Updated
Henry Belot is going to take you through the next little bit as the day slides towards evening.
I will be back for the last sitting day of the week (next week is estimates), so until tomorrow morning – take care of you.
Updated
The Senate is dealing with its own version of that, with the Liberal senator Alex Antic introducing a private member’s bill to ban gender-affirming care for people under 16.
It doesn’t have anywhere near enough support to pass and, frankly, trans kids go through enough without needing to have the senator’s words added to the pile.
We mention it to note that the culture war is ticking away in a sub-section of the Senate as well – keep an eye on it, as it is not going anywhere.
Updated
Victorian Greens pledge trans support as Deeming calls for gender-affirming care inquiry
The progressive bloc on the Victorian crossbench – the Greens, the Legalise Cannabis party and Animal Justice party – are also opposing Moira Deeming’s motion to hold an inquiry into gender-affirming care.
The Greens equality spokesperson, Aiv Puglielli, has just wrapped up an emotional contribution:
I was speaking earlier with a non-binary member of my staff about this motion. During their time here in this place, they have experienced distress. They have broken down crying in the hallways of this building because of the hate they have witnessed in this place towards their community. But they wanted the people in this place to know that trans people are resilient.
They are a wonderful, inclusive community who are not going anywhere ... I am glad that I get to stand up today and say that the Greens unequivocally support trans and gender-diverse people and I say to them, you are not alone. We will fight for you. We will fight for your medical care, your safety, your right to exist. I promise you that we will not be supporting this motion.
Updated
Speaking of the Senate, it seems that the Greens senator Dorinda Cox was dropping some major tea to her colleagues, as captured by Mike Bowers:
Updated
Greens to move Senate motion to oppose Gaza invasion
In the Senate, the Greens are going to move for a vote on a pretty simple motion (as motions go): “That the Senate opposes Israel’s invasion of Gaza.”
We will let you know how that goes and who votes where.
Updated
Bandt says Greens will continue to push government to oppose Gaza invasion
Q: But there is a distinction to be drawn here, isn’t there, between the wording that the parliament has adopted – that is of the Senate or the other place, the house, stand with Israel and recognise its inherent right to defend itself. That is a statement of principle, not the backing of a ground invasion?
Adam Bandt:
There were many other parts of the motion that we supported, for example, condemning the Hamas atrocity – they constitute war crimes and of course we condemn those. But then, when it came to a looming invasion, over the massive military assault on 2.2 million people in what is effectively a walled-in primary school because 40% of the population is under the age of 15, the government instead of condemning that, or calling for the invasion not to proceed, [didn’t].
They said that instead they stood with the military that was going to carry out this invasion. That is not the approach that Australia should take.
That is why we moved the amendment, we were unsuccessful in that, we will try again in parliament to get the government to agree to oppose the invasion. Because the point we were making has now tragically been borne out – when you sanction a full-scale military assault on people who are walled in with nowhere to go, you are going to see civilian casualties. It’s what the United Nations has been warning about and, tragically, it’s what we’re seeing now.
Updated
Bandt defends the Greens’ Gaza comments
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, is speaking to the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, where he is asked whether some of what the Greens have been saying about Palestine may run the risk of “inflamed language”, which the Asio director, Mike Burgess, warned against.
Asked whether he thinks that could be the case, Bandt says:
No, I don’t think so.
This is obviously a matter that is occupying parliament’s time and occupying significant debate.
Earlier this week, the Greens voted against the invasion of Gaza, Labor and the Coalition voted to support it and this was at a time when the United Nations on the ground was saying that people who are starving, who are dehydrating that some of the orders that would been given, for example, to evacuate were illegal and in breach of international war [rules] and we’ve got 2.2 million people walled in in an area half the size of Canberra.
We say very clearly that the invasion of Gaza should not take place and the government should be pulling out all stops to ensure that there is not only a ceasefire, but a ceasefire and stop the invasion and push for peace, especially after the horrific scenes we have seen, the bombing of a hospital, it is important now more than ever.
Updated
Third man charged over alleged assault near Sydney Opera House
NSW police have announced they have charged a third man over an alleged assault near the Sydney Opera House last Monday.
A 45-year-old man allegedly became involved in an argument with a group of men –police allege he was assaulted and spat on during the incident.
A 19-year-old man has since been charged with two counts of common assault and will appear at the Downing Centre local court on 8 November.
Two other men – both aged 31 – were also charged over the incident and remain before court.
Inquiries are continuing.
Updated
Parliament votes not to extend Coalition-led Qantas inquiry
The Coalition-led Qantas inquiry will not be extended after the Greens and David Pocock sided with the federal government to knock it down.
It was a swift defeat, all finishing up in only a few minutes. There were 31 ayes in favour of extending the inquiry and 34 noes against it.
While the opposition managed to get the support of Jacqui Lambie, Tammy Tyrell, Ralph Babet, Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts, it wasn’t enough to claw the victory.
A subsequent motion to call on the transport minister, Catherine King, to front the committee lapsed now that the inquiry won’t be extended.
This means the former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is in the clear for now.
Updated
Coalition pushes to extend Qantas inquiry to hear from Alan Joyce
Senator Bridget McKenzie has put forward her motion to extend the Qantas inquiry so that former Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce, can appear.
It’s hard to see who is siding with the opposition at this stage but the Greens and David Pocock look to be sitting with the federal government, which would mean it will not succeed.
Stay tuned.
Updated
Australia reimposes sanctions on Iran over nuclear and missile programs
Penny Wong has released a statement on sanctions in response to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
Australia has reimposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on 19 Iranian individuals and 57 entities for their role in Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
These sanctions were previously imposed under United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2231 and will now be listed under Australia’s autonomous sanctions framework. This is consistent with the approach taken by international partners.
In addition, a further three individuals and 11 entities were listed, due to their association with persons or entities sanctioned under UNSC Resolution 2231.
The Albanese government is working deliberately and strategically to apply pressure on the Iranian regime for failing to uphold its international obligations, including its nuclear-related commitments.
Updated
Victorian parliament debates Deeming’s call for gender-affirming care inquiry
Victoria’s upper house is debating a motion put forward by Moira Deeming to hold an inquiry into gender-affirming care.
Deeming was suspended from the Liberal party room earlier this year after attending an anti-trans rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis, but then expelled after threatening legal action against the opposition leader, John Pesutto.
The government’s equality minister, Harriet Shing, said it would not be supporting Deeming’s motion. She told the upper house:
We have an obligation as a parliament to understand the impact of the work that we do.
And whilst I respect Mrs Deeming’s right to bring a motion to this place, I can’t accept the way in which it has been framed. I can’t accept not just the what, but the why. And I will, in the course of my opportunity to talk today, underscore further my support, my love for and my ongoing respect for members of our trans and gender-diverse communities. The idea of support for these communities, for our communities, is why government opposes this motion, and looks forward to resolution in those terms.
The motion is not expected to pass but members of the Liberal party are expected to support it.
Updated
Coalition says Labor minister should correct ‘rusty aluminium’ comment
Always one to read a room perfectly, Dan Tehan then stands up to ask Pat Conroy to come back to the chamber and correct the record after the acting defence minister referred to “rusty aluminium” in an answer to a question.
He’s an empath that one.
Conroy had said:
We are repairing the patrol boats after the opposition leader allowed the use of imported rusty aluminium. The [former] defence minister allowing rusty aluminium to be imported we are also now and fixing a significant issue in our navy supply vessels.
Tehan is correct in saying that aluminium doesn’t rust – pure aluminium that is. Aluminium that may not be so pure, and is mixed with other elements, can corrode.
Updated
Anthony Albanese was referring to Indigenous leaders in Arnhem Land who were upset with Peter Dutton referencing Yunupingu, given his support for the voice and Dutton’s campaign against the voice.
As reported by the Australian newspaper:
Yunupingu’s younger brother Djawa Yunupingu, who has succeeded him as chair of the Yothu Yindi Foundation, told The Australian:
It saddens our family to see my brother’s name and legacy twisted like this”.
Updated
Dutton accuses Albanese of misrepresenting Yunupingu comments
Peter Dutton then stands up to say he was misrepresented by Anthony Albanese during question time.
During the course of question time today, there are many and varied misrepresentations have been made by the government, and the prime minister in particular, but that’s part of the hustle and bustle of this chamber. But there’s nothing more egregious that the prime minister said during question time than to cast aspersions on comments I made in relation to a great Australian, Yunupingu, last Tuesday in Adelaide.
I said the following – and these are the remarks that the prime minister made reference to: ‘I think there’s also an important point to make that in many Indigenous communities, East Arnhem Land, for example, they’ve got a 90% attendance rate at school, they’ve got a logging company, they’ve got a building company, they’ve got housing, they’ve got a functioning society, and in that instance, it’s because of the leadership demonstrated by Yunupingu and others around him over the course of a long period. And that’s what we want to see replicated elsewhere.’
That was the extent of my comment in relation to Mr Yunupingu, and for the prime minister to misrepresent that in a way today to suggest that I had dishonoured Mr Yunupingu or said something in a derogatory way in relation to Mr Yunupingu, reflects more on the prime minister, frankly, than it does myself.
Updated
Dutton pays tribute to firefighters after death in Kempsey
Peter Dutton then makes his own statement:
On behalf of the Coalition that we send our condolences to Mr Mainey’s family and to his community. As the prime minister rightly points out, each bushfire season brings with it a new threat and the effort of individuals to protect their own property, driving machinery, whether it’s being a part of local rural fire brigades, part of local RFS, there is an inherent danger, the adverse conditions, particularly given the urgency of the task undertaken, and the threat level elevates.
In this terrible circumstance, a brave man has lost his life and we send our condolences to the community, as I say, and also our best wishes to those who were seeking to contain the fires, those who are responding, the first responders otherwise who have the task, because we quite often remind ourselves in this chamber of rushing toward danger when most other Australians are rushing the other way from it.
And that is a particular skill that we should recognise, but a level of bravery and decency that makes us the greatest country in the world, and we should stop, pause and remember that in the run up to bushfire season this year and those who are facing a threat as we speak this very moment.
Updated
PM pays tribute to man who died in Kempsey bushfires
Question time ends.
Anthony Albanese then rises to speak on the death of Richard Mainey, who died while trying to save his family farm from bushfires in Kempsey. Albanese says the parliament is thinking of Mainey’s family, then adds:
We know that this spring and summer is going to be incredibly difficult for a number of our communities and may bring back memories of the awful black summer bushfires. That is why we posted recently the Australia’s first ever national disaster preparedness summit to prepare for the coming higher risk weather season.
We are concerned about what is approaching and the National Emergency Management Agency is working with state and territory counterparts and local communities.
Again, I urge all residents to listen to authorities and seek help if needed. The federal government will continue to work with all jurisdictions as well. And I pay tribute as well to the extraordinary … formal personnel whose job it is, but also all those volunteers who just do extraordinary work at this time.
To Mr Mainey’s family, friends and community, our deepest respects and our condolences at this very sad loss.
Updated
‘This is not an ordinary political debate’: Wong dodges question on Israel’s siege of Gaza
Earlier in Senate question time, Penny Wong was asked by the Greens whether she supported Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip.
Senator Larissa Waters asked whether Wong would call on Israel to stop its imminent ground invasion of Gaza and whether the federal government supports the blockade.
Wong did not directly answer the question, but said she recognised Israel’s right to defend itself but urged for “the protection of human life” and “restraint”.
The government leader in the senate pointed to a recent statement from Asio boss Mike Burgess, warning against using wording that further inflames community tensions.
Wong said:
This is not an ordinary political debate. This is a debate where all of us, we have different views … every civilian life matters, whether Palestinian or Israeli.
Updated
Opposition are ‘against all of’ Labor’s cost-of-living relief measures: PM
Anthony Albanese finishes with:
I am talking about the part of the question [where you] said: what is it that we are concentrating our efforts on?
We have been working on cost-of-living measures, including, I am pleased to say, an urgent Medicare clinic heading to Bunbury, your way. One of the ones. One of the ones. It is coming.
No doubt when we go and open it, you can organise a demo or something.
The member opposite voted against the measures that have put downward pressure when it comes to gas. They voted against it. They voted against it.
They voted against cheaper childcare, increased rent assistance, more cheaper medicines, boosting income support payments, fee-free Tafe – they are against all of it.
The concentration on issues – they have asked this year, one question about Aukus or international security.
We are in a situation whereby we are in a globally uncertain world. They have asked zero questions about resources or critical minerals. Nothing, nothing ever in the entire term about skills … not a single question about education. Not one. The entire term.
One question about wages and nine questions about health.
But 93 questions about the voice or other matters [related to it, and you say I am obsessed by it].
Updated
PM: opposition asked ‘every question every day’ about the voice, then said ‘why are you obsessed with it?’
Anthony Albanese is asked another question which is basically “why did you ignore XX while you were obsessed with the voice”, this time from Nola Marino, who asks:
Many families in Western Australia are bracing for a price hike of 12% for gas as WA’s Bay distributor is looking to increase charges by 39% from early 2025. Why did the prime minister choose to focus on his divisive Canberra voice proposal and not on addressing Western Australians’ already crippling gas prices?
A reminder, for whatever it is worth, that the Coalition voted against the energy market intervention for the east coast.
Albanese:
If I can understand the question from the member for Forrest, they just actually asked me [about being obsessed with the voice] but had the voice in the question.
Having asked us every question every day for not just before the referendum but afterwards about it, they then come and ask another question which is: ‘why are you obsessed with it?’
They asked nothing about cost-of-living. They have a shadow treasurer who does not know, I don’t think, that this bloke here is the treasurer. He does not recognise confidence and skills when he sees it.
The opposition …
There are a bunch of interjections and a point of order and really, who can even pretend to be interested in the theatre with everything that is going on.
Updated
Dutton expresses support for government’s securing faith-based places program
Peter Dutton rises to join with the prime minister’s words:
I join with the prime minister’s remarks, and we spoke on Monday in relation to these matters included in the conversation was a conversation about the support for communities to increase safety and we very much support the announcement.
Obviously when we were in government, there was significant effort undertaken to provide support to faith-based organisations and others in the community that [feel that] vulnerability …
Obviously that is heightened at this point in time [by] the tragic circumstances that we see, as he commented on at the beginning of the week, and to the great credit of this chamber, there was a bipartisan position in condemning the actions of the terrorist group Hamas [and no one wants to see the] loss of any civilian life.
The conduct of Hamas in telling people to stay in harm’s way is a deplorable act, but not the first and not the last, we are sure of that.
To the Islamic communities here in our country, people of Jewish faith, to people of any faith, they deserve to live in a country unencumbered by racism, prejudice or by attacks otherwise, and this parliament has and always will stand for those principles and we support the government in these endeavours.
A reminder that the borders around Gaza are shut. There is nowhere for people to go.
Updated
‘We cannot take it for granted’, says PM of Australia’s ‘harmony’ and ‘diversity’
Anthony Albanese continues:
Can I say as well that we have seen a devastating loss of innocent life [in] the heinous attacks on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas.
The scenes that we have seen today from the explosion of the Gaza City hospital are deeply distressing.
It is clear there has been a devastating loss of life and our thoughts are with those killed, those injured and their loved ones.
The [salvation] of civilian lives must come first and respect for international humanitarian law is absolutely paramount.
We condemn as a government any indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure including hospitals.
Australia joins with others in calling for international law to always be upheld. Every innocent life matters.
Whether Israeli or Palestinian, every innocent life matters. Here in Australia, where we can be a microcosm for the world, where people overwhelmingly live in harmony next to each other enriched by the diversity of communities like the member for Goldstein’s and my own, I see our diversity as a strength.
We need to cherish it and we cannot take it for granted.
That is why we need to work as well, and follow the advice of the director general of Asean as well, and work with all community leaders to make sure that harmony is maintained in this nation.
Updated
PM says $50m committed to securing faith-based places program in Australia amid Israel-Hamas conflict
The independent MP Zoe Daniel asks Anthony Albanese:
Considering the situation in Israel and Gaza, many members of the Jewish community and other diverse communities are feeling anxious insecure and unsafe.
When can vulnerable institutions in our communities including synagogues and schools in Goldstein and surrounds expect to get access to fast-tracked grants promised by the government, or other support?
Albanese:
We had a meeting along with some others yesterday, discussing this issue. Early on this week, I announced the additional $10m … to add to the $40m that we committed to securing faith-based places program.
I can indicate to the member for Goldstein that today the government is awarding the $50m program in full to help keep Australians across the country being able to practise their religion in a safe way.
The Albanese government is committed to ensuring that people of all faith can live in Australia fever and violence and discrimination.
The $50m securing faith-based places program grants will improve security [in our] religious schools and preschools, places of worship and faith-based community centres.
Grants have been approved in every state and territory across different faith communities including, of course, the Jewish community and the Islamic community, who are both feeling particularly vulnerable at the moment.
The securing faith-based places program helps protect Australians from crime and violence motivated by religious or racial intolerance by finding security infrastructure and that is why it is an important program.
Updated
Albanese continues:
I note as well that the leader of the opposition and others in the other place had this to say – that “conceptions of intolerance created by some has not just cost … those who feel judged but has hurt the Liberal party among all people who reject nastiness or divisiveness”.
They are the words of Senator Simon Birmingham, the leader of the Liberal party in the Senate.
… We had a referendum in accordance with the commitment that I gave to the Australian people. We had … 18 months in, which was similar to what John Howard promised in 2007 he would do.
… We outlined [it] last year post my state speech to Garma where I outlined the draft; we changed that, of course, in accordance with the advice that we got, but we also outlined a timetable of when the referendum would be held.
Updated
First Nations leaders ‘terribly offended’ by Dutton’s comments on Yunupingu, PM says
The National MP Sam Birrell asks Anthony Albanese:
Did the prime minister ever receive advice from a member or members from the referendum working group suggesting the referendum be delayed to a [time] later than 14 October?
Albanese:
No is the answer to the question.
Indeed Yunupingu had this to say; when talking about the Uluru statement from the heart and about what needed to happen, he said this: ‘The task remains to reconcile with the truth and find the unity and achieve the settlement. The prime minister must lead it and complete it. The leader of the nation should accept his or her commission and simply say what he or she thinks is right and put that forward for the nation to correct or to accept or to reject. Let us have an honest answer from the Australian people to an honest question.’
We did that, and I note that very insensitively, last week the leader of the opposition raised it – something that I know from speaking to the leaders of the people there in Arnhem Land, they were terribly offended by, given the role that [Yunupingu] played in the Uluru statement from the heart.
That is something for the leader of the opposition to consider.
Updated
King quizzed on Qantas and Qatar Airways
The opposition has asked further questions about transport minister Catherine King‘s meetings with former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.
To catch you up to speed, King blocked a Qatar Airways bid to run extra flights to Australia. The decision benefits Qantas, a competitor of Qatar’s partner carrier, Virgin.
The Coalition has responded by running a political attack that King did so because of a “cosy relationship” between Labor and Qantas and is demanding more transparency over her decisions.
Now you’re up to speed, Liberal senator Clare Chandler has used senate question time to raise a stink.
Chandler asked whether King could confirm that Joyce was the only person she met with before allegedly “changing her mind” and rejecting department advice to approve the Qatari bid.
The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, who’s representing King in the senate, said the claims were based on a “complete lack of evidence”.
Watt added King had already said she met regularly with airline CEOs and knew exactly what their positions were on the issue.
I’m afraid that you don’t get to make a case by simply asking questions that don’t have a factual basis [for], in this desperate search for evidence to back up the assertions that you’ve been making for the last three months.”
Updated
Zali Steggall is in the chamber and not impressed with what she is hearing:
I am absolutely disgusted with Dutton, Ley & co as they continue to insult First Nations people with demeaning questions on possible next steps in reconciliation in #QT Continuing to use our most disadvantaged to look for political points is just morally bankrupt. #auspol
— 🌏 Zali Steggall MP (@zalisteggall) October 18, 2023
Mike Bowers is in the Senate and says Penny Wong appears to be getting very frustrated with Greens senators asking about “Israel’s occupation and the bombing of Gaza”.
There are a lot of interjections as Wong speaks, which may explain some of the frustration. Wong points to the warning from Mike Burgess for people to watch their language, as ‘words matter’.
Updated
PM labels Angus Taylor a ‘joke’ after being made to withdraw comment on Dutton
Angus Taylor has a question for Anthony Albanese, which means there is the usual theatrical groans that the question isn’t for Jim Chalmers:
The prime minister promised on 97 occasions to reduce power bills by $275. The prime minister has also promised on 34 occasions to implement the Uluru statement from the heart in full. How can Australians believe anything this weak prime minister says?
(If there ever was a time for the old Kourtney Kardashian meme, “Kim, people are dying”, this is it.)
Albanese goes through what the government has done, what the opposition has opposed. There are interjections back and forth and then Albanese is made to withdraw something I didn’t hear that he said about Dutton. There are points of order. But there is no point to any of this.
Albanese:
The shadow treasurer is incapable of asking a question of the treasurer about the economy. He puts in every now and again a MPI [matter of public importance] hoping no one will be here to listen. Every day.
He is a joke.
Updated
PM tells question time Dutton ‘dragging the Liberal party to the right’
Anthony Albanese, keen to reset after the referendum loss, takes a rah-rah dixer on how much the government has done on the cost of living, so he can give a rah-rah speech on all the things the government has done. It should be a press release, and often is, but he is also asked “is there any opposition to these actions?” which gives him two minutes to talk about the opposition.
[Peter Dutton] is such a development-free zone, I am worried the Greens will start warming to him.
If you want nothing to happen, he is your guy. He is your guy. No developments, just saying in the same old reactionary position. Dragging the Liberal Party to the right.
We talk about going forward. He has no plan, just sitting there saying what he is against.
They voted against secure jobs and better pay and ran up the biggest budget deficit in Australian history but we, on this side, are cleaning up the mess.
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The Liberal MP Michael Sukkar was kicked out of the chamber for interjection during that.
Now the Labor MP for Hunter, Dan Repacholi, is getting booted.
Speaker Milton Dick is feeling some sort of way today, it seems.
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Dutton ignored multiple reports on exploitation of foreign workers, Clare O’Neil claims
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, is back with another episode of “Peter Dutton was a terrible home affairs minister” which has been her question time focus since the Nixon review into visas was handed down:
The opposition leader cannot claim to have not known about these problems because while he was minister he received repeated reports that told him some variation on the subject.
In 2016 the Senate Education and Employment References Committee published a report simply called ‘A national disgrace’.
[On] the exploitation of temporary work visa holders, the opposition leader did nothing. In 2017 a study from the University of New South Wales exposed exploitation of temporary migrants and the opposition leader did nothing.
In 2018, the Fair Work Ombudsman released findings of a four-week inquiry showing widespread non-compliance amongst employers and the opposition leader did nothing.
In 2019, the former assistant minister in the Home Affairs portfolio, the member for La Trobe, oversaw a report [and] said himself [that] organised crime and illegitimate labour hire companies are using immigration loopholes to bring out illegal workers who are often vulnerable and open to exploitation. It represents an orchestrated scam that enables [these] criminal elements to [exploit] foreign workers in Australia. The opposition leader did nothing.
Five reports in six years, all of them ignored by the opposition leader who refused to do the hard work to fix the system.
Instead, he focused his energy and attention on building a completely hypocritical public reputation of being a tough guy on our borders when he was absolutely the opposite.
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Transport minister says fuel efficiency standard will aim to save consumers money and reduce emissions
The independent MP for Kooyong, Dr Monique Ryan, asks the transport minister, Catherine King:
The ABC recently reported that major car companies are lobbying for multiple loopholes in the government fuel efficiency standards. This would distort the reporting as it would look like they are selling more EVs than they actually are.
Will the minister actually formally commit to avoiding … multiple loopholes in the government[’s] forthcoming fuel efficiency standards?
King:
I know this is an issue very important to [Ryan] and her electorate but also to the whole country. We know that the Albanese government wants Australian households and businesses to [reap] the benefit of modern, cheaper and low emission cars.
Australia, alongside Russia – we are one of the two countries that do not have fuel efficiency standards and we have, frankly, the previous government to thank for that legacy.
The Australian government has committed to, as you are aware, introducing the fuel efficiency standard. Designing the fuel efficiency standard is quite a complicated process and it is why I have been meeting with a range of stakeholders on this issue.
Yesterday I just met with [the Australian Council of Social Service] to talk about how important it is that people on low incomes benefit from electric vehicles and how we might together do that.
King then gets to:
There are fuel efficiency standards globally that click the use of multiplying credit which some have described, as you’ve done, as loopholes … In our consultation, we examine the range of fuel efficiency standard models that are across the world but so far have not committed to one particular model. There will be opportunity for stakeholders to review and discuss the options further when the government releases its impact analysis.
But what I will say is, I am very determined that we will have a fuel efficiency standard that improves consumer access to cleaner, cheaper to run cars that do save consumers money. It is incredibly important that they do that, and particularly at the bowser while assisting Australia to reduce its carbon emissions.
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Albanese not expected to visit Israel, with focus on ‘what … we can do from afar’, says Wong
Anthony Albanese has yet to speak with the Israeli prime minister following the attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on 7 October.
Penny Wong revealed in Senate question time on Wednesday a call had been sought formally on Sunday “which was obviously very soon after the attack”.
The government later confirmed that this meant Sunday 8 October, the day after the attacks by Hamas.
Wong said:
We are yet to receive a confirmed time for a call from the Israeli government, which is perfectly understandable given the circumstances.
The Liberal senator Simon Birmingham asked whether Albanese would visit Israel as leaders, including the US and France, have said they will.
Wong said permanent members of the UN security council had more direct engagement in the region.
We will want to support very much [the five permanent UN security council members’] engagement and their work for the reasons I outlined. Our focus here is … what is it we can do from afar?
This post was updated after confirmation the phone call was requested on 8 October.
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Burney points to ‘remarkable outcomes’ at referendum polling booths with high Indigenous populations
Sussan Ley to Linda Burney:
The minister has previously stated the Makarrata commission is, quote: ‘really code for treaty without saying it’. Is the minister still committed to treaty and truth telling?
There are interjections before Linda Burney gets up.
You can hear Anthony Albanese speaking to Peter Dutton and the opposition as Burney starts up, saying, “You must be so proud of yourself. You must be so proud.”
Burney:
The request for a voice to parliament came from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. That is why we took into a referendum.
It was supported by so many Indigenous people [Burney reads out some of the booth results, but I miss the details].
These are remarkable outcomes and tell a very important story in terms of this referendum. Of course, we respect the results and accept that decision of the Australian people. Our focus has always been on getting better results for Indigenous Australians. I think that is something that we all agree on.
You can read more about how booths with high Indigenous populations voted here:
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Dutton ‘has nothing positive to offer the country’, PM says
Albanese continues:
Because once again, what we see from the nature of his question is that it suggests that opinion should happen in a vacuum. What we have campaigned for, I said very clearly, was to listen to First Australians about matters that affect them.
If those opposite think that we should not listen to Indigenous Australians about matters that affect them at all, then they should say so. They should say so. Of course, we know that is the case.
This is an absolute demonstration once again that the leader of the opposition has nothing positive to offer the country. He is all about saying no and opposing change.
Yesterday, of course, we saw him change his position between Sunrise and The Today Show. Sunrise and Today. It has been on and off again.
Of course, the leader of the opposition, when it comes to the issue of Indigenous affairs – which is certainly relevant – we know that he found the apology [to] the Stolen Generations so objectionable that he walked out. He could not even stay seated.
Of all the 151 members in this house, there is only one person who was out.
He sits in the leader of the opposition’s Chair.
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Anthony Albanese:
I do know that in the lead-up to the referendum that was held on Saturday – in which Australians, as under our system, determined what their view was on the referendum question that was put for a constitutional recognition of first Australians through a voice to parliament as a result of the invitation that was expressed in the Uluru statement from the heart in 2017 – in the lead-up to that, [the opposition] said that the government was distracted.
I pointed out in the lead-up to that that they had asked every question …
Peter Dutton has a point of order on relevance (which is just an excuse to re-ask the question in the form of a grab for the 6pm news).
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Question time begins
After a lot of jokes about Fiji being better at rugby than Australia in the tribute to the Fijian prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka (insert upside down face emoji), parliament moves on to question time.
Peter Dutton:
Is it true the prime minister … does not know if he personally supports Makarrata treaty and truth telling until he speaks with the referendum working group?
Yup. We are there.
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Agriculture employers fined $316,860 nationally over worker exploitation
Many farmers are continuing to defy workplace laws designed to protect vulnerable workers, with the Fair Work Ombudsman naming and shaming the nation’s hotspots for exploitation.
The crackdown across the nation has resulted in employers being fined $316,860 nationally and $72,301 being recovered for 184 underpaid workers. Of the notices, 26 were issued to labour hire entities and 22 were to growers.
Fair Work inspectors have issued 48 compliance notices to growers in “stubbornly non-compliant” regions (Riverland, Mildura and Coffs Harbour) while finding improved conditions in places like Wide Bay, Moreton Bay, Stanthorpe and Manjimup.
The Fair Work Ombudsman, Anna Booth, said the regulator would continue to prioritise the agriculture sector across the next year because of its reliance on vulnerable workers.
Booth:
With very high numbers of visa holders in the workforce, too many agriculture employers are breaching record-keeping and payslips laws, which are the bedrock of workplace compliance.
It’s a red flag if workers are not issued payslips, can’t identify their employer and are paid cash-in-hand by individuals seemingly unrelated to the apparent employing entity. We see this all too often in multi-level supply chains.
Breaches of record-keeping and payslips laws often indicate increased risks of underpaying workers as well as non-compliance with other commonwealth laws. Employers should access our free resources and get it right, or they will continue to face fines, backpayments and legal proceedings.
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Federal government wants to be the ones charging EV tax despite the fact they ‘don’t own the road network’: Pallas
Just ending the Tim Pallas press conference – Pallas said his government considered the legal ramifications when introducing the levy, citing a 1973 decision to broaden the definition of consumption tax:
On the back of the existing laws, it stood. We basically had every confidence that it would stand. The court in its wisdom has now taken a different view of what constitutes an excise.
Asked about the federal government’s position – to back the electric vehicle driver’s case – Pallas said:
Make no mistake, the federal government was not arguing against the charge, they were just arguing that they should be able to charge it. So people who don’t own the road network want to be able to get a revenue stream.
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Kumanjayi Walker’s family angry as inquest is again postponed
The family of Kumanjayi Walker say they are upset by further delays to his inquest, which has already taken nine months longer than was expected.
A spokesperson for the NT coroner’s court confirmed earlier today that next week’s hearings would be postponed after an application was filed by Zachary Rolfe for the coroner in the case, Elisabeth Armitage, to recuse herself.
Rolfe shot Walker dead during a bungled arrest in the remote community of Yuendumu in November 2019. He was later charged with murder but found not guilty.
Rolfe was due to give evidence at the inquest from next week.
Samara Fernandez, Walker’s cousin, said in a statement:
Every delay … makes work for us; it is the undoing of months of planning, months of conversations, of building up the strength to be present, only to have to start over again.
We have tried to be patient, we have tried to be understanding of the process, but we are frustrated and we are angry.
A statement attributed to other relatives of Walker, the Robertson family, said:
We are the Warlpiri people, we don’t let things go. We want what is right for us and to fight for justice for Kumanjayi.
Steven Marshall, Walker’s grandfather, also expressed his anger at the delays.
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PM and Dutton welcome Fijian leader ahead of question time
Question time is about to begin – but ahead of the questions, Anthony Albanese (and later Peter Dutton) are welcoming the Fijian prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka.
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‘Rich elites’ evading fuel tax by buying electric vehicles, says Bridget McKenzie
Bridget McKenzie wants the government to “immediately convene a meeting of state and territory governments to discuss the future of petrol tax and road user charges in the wake of the high court ruling state taxes on electric vehicles invalid”.
With each passing day the existing fuel tax system becomes less and less equitable as the rich in our inner cities are able to opt out of paying for roads by purchasing electric vehicles.
Despite the Intergenerational Report highlighting the demise of petrol excise, the minister has explicitly refused to consider ensuring all road users contribute fairly to the upkeep of our roads.
In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, Australians will ask why the prime minister is subsidising the rich elites with a reverse Robin Hood fuel tax system.
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High court’s 4-3 split on EV tax decision shows it was ‘very contentious’: Pallas
The Victorian treasurer, Tim Pallas, says he will seek legal advice as to whether electric vehicle users will be entitled to a refund:
We need legal advice on and I see that the lawyer for the plaintiff has indicated that that’s unclear and needs to be worked through.
Asked if this decision was embarrassing for the government, Pallas said:
It was a 4-3 decision. I think you’d have to say it’s clearly a very contentious matter … I’m disappointed by it. And to the extent that this tax, this charge, was being put in place, I have no doubt that it was ultimately in the long term interests of all road users.
It was a fair charge. It was a charge that meant that everybody paid their share of the cost to the road network. It would appear now that because they don’t pay fuel excise, … electric vehicle users will be exempt from that charge.
Pallas wouldn’t speculate on the further ramifications of the decision. He said:
I know there is a fair bit of speculation out there at the moment. I’m not going to play that game. Obviously we have a responsibility to the community to make sure that we absorb the decision.
We, of course, comply and accept the decision of the high court, and then go about making sure that we protect the interests of the taxpayer and make sure … that the revenue base in the state assures Victoria’s [services] are preserved.
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Question time will be in about 15 minutes – take the time to grab yourself something to get through it.
Victorian treasurer ‘disappointed’ after high court strikes down EV tax
The Victorian treasurer, Tim Pallas, says he needs time to absorb the impact of the high court’s decision to declare his electric vehicle tax unconstitutional.
The decision could pave the way for challenges to other state government excise taxes.
Pallas told reporters outside parliament:
I have to admit, I’m disappointed with the decision. Secondly, the decision means that the law is invalid. It’s a very substantial decision. There are some 400 pages.
It’s a four-three majority, so you can see the court was very much in two minds around the direction that they ultimately took. But I think the simple proposition is at 400 pages, we’re going to need to read through and absorb exactly what this decision means.
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The Medical Association for Prevention of War has called on the government “to express in the strongest possible terms that Australia supports the application of the rule of law impartially and in all circumstances, and explicitly condemns violations of it not only by Hamas but also by Israel in the horrific war unfolding in the Middle East”
From the statement:
The destruction of the al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City, killing hundreds of sick and wounded people as well as healthcare workers and others sheltering there, and the loss of yet more critical medical infrastructure, is unconscionable and must be condemned as a war crime.
MAPW President Dr Sue Wareham said,
While MAPW welcomes the government’s call for Israel to follow the rules of war, we deeply regret that the government’s words carry no message of shock or outrage at the suffering and terror being inflicted on Palestinian civilians, including the families and friends in Gaza of many Australians.
Are Israeli attacks on health care, food, water and fuel not atrocities that should be named as such, just as we all recoil in horror at the atrocities committed by Hamas against young
Israeli civilians?MAPW urges condemnation of Israeli crimes with language
and demands that fit the scale of what is unfolding in Gaza.
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Bushfire smoke from east coast visible at 36,000km above Australia, BoM says
Dipping out of politics for a moment –according to the Bureau of Meteorology, bushfire smoke was visible from 36,000km above Australia this morning as firefighters continued to battle bushfires along the east coast.
(Nick Miller has an explanation on why the smoke has been spotted at 36,000km above Australia – it’s the geostationary orbit altitude, where you put satellites if you want them to stay put above a certain point on the Earth – ie a good place to put weather satellites.)
#Bushfire smoke was visible from 36,000km above Australia this morning. Dozens of fires are burning around the country, creating smoky conditions & low air quality. @BOM_au is working with emergency services to provide constant weather info.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) October 18, 2023
More: https://t.co/8tErwjQ3Ux pic.twitter.com/OmanSqgfRf
In New South Wales, the Willi Willi road fire (which has burnt more than 22,300 hectares) is yet to be contained, with residents being urged to monitor conditions. The evacuation centre for affected residents has been reopened at the Kempsey Showground.
The Springwood Park Road fire at Cope, in far north-west NSW, has burnt 866 hectares and is being controlled. The RFS said firefighters conducted backburning across the fireground overnight, and will continue this today.
Meanwhile, the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service said its firefighters have responded to about 60 fires across the state this week alone.
Queenslanders have been doing a great job by reporting fires early, allowing our crews the greatest opportunity to bring them under control.
We still have a number of active incidents and people should continue to maintain awareness of their local situation.
Residents of Deepwater, in the Gladstone Region, are being warned it is not safe to return if they previously left.
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China GDP growth in September quarter outdoes predictions
China’s September quarter GDP numbers have just landed (just 18 days after the quarter ended*) and they have landed better than economists had expected.
The world’s second-largest economy expanded 4.9% compared with the September quarter last year, more than the 4.5% rate predicted by analysts. The quarter-on-quarter increase was 1.3%, topping the 0.9% market consensus.
China had been identified as the top “downside” risk to the global economy in the most recent outlook report by the International Monetary Fund.
Australia’s government will be among those relieved by signs that the country’s biggest trading partner may be stabilising. Royalties streams from iron ore and other commodities, after all, helped deliver the $22bn surplus for 2022-23, and might bring the current year’s budget close to breakeven.
Higher retail spending but also industrial output helped deliver the quicker-than-tipped overall growth expansion.
Still, there are lingering issues, not least in the struggling property sector.
Sales by floor area fell at an accelerating pace in September to be 7.5% lower than a year ago for the first nine months of 2023, versus the 7.1% slide reported for the January-August period, Reuters said.
Investment was off 9.1% for the January-September period from a year earlier, compared with 8.8% lower for the first eight months. New starts were down 23.4% for the first nine months of 2023, slightly less than the eye-watering 24.4% drop for the January-August period. Grim, but not quite so grim.
*Australia’s national accounts for the September quarter won’t land until 6 December.
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PM to meet Lithuania president on Friday
Anthony Albanese will meet the Lithuanian president, Gitanas Nausėda, this Friday.
Nausėda is here with a business delegation to discuss the Australian-Lithuanian relationship. It is the second time the leaders have met this year – Albanese travelled to Lithuania for the Nato summit in July.
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Kiis FM owner ARN Media launches takeover bid for rival Southern Cross Media
ARN Media and a private equity firm have launched a takeover bid for Southern Cross Media, which operates 99 radio stations and multiple free-to-air television stations across the country.
ARN is the owner of the hit FM station Kiis FM which broadcasts the Kyle and Jackie O show, while Southern Cross has the rival Hit and Triple M networks.
ARN and Anchorage Capital Partners announced the non-binding indicative offer to acquire 100% of Southern Cross to the Australian Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
ARN chairman, Hamish McLennan, said the board believes the transaction would be transformative for both sets of shareholders:
ARN’s regional radio footprint would be almost doubled while we would maintain a focused metro radio network, underpinned by the recognised Kiis and Triple M brands in metro areas.
The increased scale supports the potential for future index inclusion and liquidity once the transaction is complete.
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Tammy Tyrrell joins calls urging transport minister to front Qatar Airways Senate inquiry
The Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell has joined calls urging the transport minister, Catherine King, to “front up” to a Senate inquiry into the decision to block additional flights from Qatar Airways to Australia.
King ruled in July against granting approval for the Qatari carrier to run an extra 28 flights to major cities, saying it was in the “national interest”.
An opposition-led Senate inquiry is trying to dig further into the decision to determine whether it was influenced by Qantas’ lobbying efforts. King has dismissed the inquiry as a “political stunt”.
The committee’s report, handed down earlier this month, recommended extending the inquiry until the end of November so that it can hear from former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, who was overseas during its hearings.
A vote on its extension will be held this afternoon in the Senate.
Crossbenchers will ultimately have the deciding vote on whether the probe is extended but the Greens have yet to confirm what their position is.
If the Greens do not vote with the opposition, support from the rest of the crossbench is critical for the vote to succeed.
Tyrrell, along with her colleague Jacqui Lambie, confirmed with Guardian Australia they intend to vote with the opposition this afternoon.
Minister King needs to front up to the Senate airline inquiry. She made the call about Qatar, and it’s on her to explain why.
Jacqui and I consistently hear from everyday Aussies that they want politicians to stand up and own their decisions. It’s about accountability.
The Coalition will also need the support of Ralph Babet, One Nation senators, David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe if the Greens don’t vote with the opposition.
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Tamil and Iranian refugee women complete 640km walk to Parliament House to highlight ‘impact of visa uncertainty’
Twenty-two Tamil and Iranian refugee women have walked from Melbourne to Australian Parliament House to highlight “the impact of visa uncertainty” for 10,000 refugees who don’t have a clear path to permanent residency.
The 640km walk was an effort to draw attention to what it is like to live outside citizenship in Australia, with no where else to go, after a decade of uncertainty.
Included in the group was Rathi Barthlote, a mother of three from Sri Lanka who co-founded Refugee Women Action for Visa Equality. Barthlote lost her first child because of the civil war and hasn’t seen her mother for 18 years.
Geetha Ramachandran, another co-founder of Refugee Women Action for Visa Equality, also attended, as did Samira Zadeh, whose three daughters were born in Australia but do not have access to Medicare or childcare; Piume Kaneshan, the youngest walker at 19, who has been able to attend university with the support of local Canberra refugee support group; and Harini Rathnakumar, a 21-year-old Tamil woman who has been unable to see her mother and sister for 10 years and wants to be a nurse to give back to Australia.
Read Rathi Barthlote and Geetha Ramachandran’s story here.
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High court decision on EV taxes puts ‘billions of dollars’ of revenue at risk for NSW treasury, Minns says
New South Wales will be among the jurisdictions studying today’s high court decision to reject electric vehicle imposts, as reported here by Paul Karp and Benita Kolovos here:
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, told that state’s parliament the ruling “has caught everyone by surprise”. He noted that the previous Perrottet government had flagged the pending high court decision as “a key risk” to revenues ahead of last March’s elections.
State-imposed revenues, particularly related to road-user charges, could be at risk. Minns said such charges “generated not just hundreds of millions of dollars but billions of dollars” for NSW treasury. It was an “extremely complex ruling”, but at this early stage there were “different readings” of its impacts. Minns said:
We’ll have to examine the ruling and then have to speak to the commonwealth about how we fund future road projects across NSW.
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‘We want to work’ with states and territories on EV policy, federal government says
The federal government has responded to the high court’s decision to strike down Victoria’s EV tax, which is a big win for the commonwealth because it severely limits (if not extinguishes) states’ ability to impose consumption taxes.
A spokesperson for the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said:
The government acknowledges the decision of the high court. These issues are complex so we’ll take time to consider and seek advice, and we’ll have more to say in due course.
We’re focused on getting more electric vehicles into the fleet and we have a plan to deliver that, including incentivising the purchase of electric vehicles through exemptions from fringe benefits tax (FBT) and import tariffs. The government has also committed to implement the fuel efficiency standard. We want to work with Victoria and with other states and territories on policy relating to electric vehicles.
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Prof Richard Holden is speaking about some of the opportunities in decarbonisation, AI and other future industries.
We’ll listen in to the Q&A to see what else comes up.
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Inability to enact economic reform puts Australia at risk of recession: Holden
Richard Holden continues:
Since our last major reforms, our tax system has become dated, bordering on obsolete.
Our company tax rate has gone from among the lowest in the OECD to among the highest.
Our comparatively low GST rate and coverage puts more pressure on personal income tax to deliver revenues, yet this acts as a handbrake on work and on workers.
At the same time, our political processes and culture make major reforms challenging to pull off. Several governments have dipped their toe in the water with significant ideas, only to find that political water pretty icy.
Our inability to make major reforms is a significant risk. Every year that we are unable to enact important reforms increases the chance of a recession if we are hit by a global or domestic shock.
Now, one of the great lessons of economics in recent decades has been that to understand the relationship between politics and economics is absolutely crucial.
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‘It has been two decades since our last major economic reform’: Prof Richard Holden
Prof Richard Holden, professor of economics at the University of NSW business school, is addressing the National Press Club.
Holden is speaking on the challenges for the Australian community moving forward:
Australia’s economic performance from 1991 until the pandemic was exceptional. Sure, there was an element of luck involved – the remarkable rise of China’s economy drove a huge export boom for Australia – but there was a lot more good design than there was good luck. The modernisation of Australia’s economy that began in 1983 made the economy more open, dynamic, and resilient.
The advent of inflation targeting by the Reserve Bank in 1983 allowed for more effective monetary policy and the introduction of the GST in 2000 improved the efficiency of our tax system.
But, as has been pointed out by numerous commentators, it has been two decades since our last major economic reform.
Good management isn’t just set and forget. The reform process doesn’t have to be constant, but it also can’t be absent.
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Australian terror threat level has not changed, home affairs minister says
Asked about the domestic threat level, Clare O’Neil said:
[The Asio director general] Mike Burgess and I, and the person who’s filling in for him while he’s overseas, are in constant contact about the domestic security situation. This is something that I’m working very hard on.
What I can report back to people is that the terror threat level in Australia has not changed. So the terror threat before the crisis was possible. It remains that today. And when we look at different groups in the community, for example our Jewish Australian brothers and sisters, even for them the terror threat level remains possible.
Now what has changed is the vigilance and focus of Australian government security officials on the problem of domestic security. That is because there are increased levels of anxiety and tension in the Australian community at the moment. I think anyone who is watching the news can see that.
I want Australians to think about their duties to each other as citizens at a time like this. We’ve got a beautiful multicultural country here because people think and care for one another as neighbours, and we just need to take that attitude with us as we go forward.
I’m confident that we can get through this in the peaceful manner in which we resolve things as Australian citizens, but please know that we are watching very, very closely and carefully.
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Forty-six Australians known to be trapped in Gaza, says home affairs minister
Earlier this morning, the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, spoke to the Seven network about how many Australian citizens were known to be in Gaza:
We’re in contact with 46 Australians who are trapped in Gaza and the Australian government is working furiously to do everything we can to get people out.
Just so your viewers understand why this is so difficult, this is a very small plot of land, about half the size of Canberra, and there are two million people living in it, and there is effectively one entry and exit point, and the governments that control that exit point have shut it off.
So it’s not just Australia – it’s UK citizens, it’s US citizens who are in the same position – and we are working across the countries that are affected to try to get that border crossing open so we can get those 46 Australians out.
It’s really concerning and of course your viewers are seeing what’s unfolding in Gaza due to Hamas’s horrendous terrorist attack.
There is going to be more violence in Gaza, and we are doing everything possible to get people out. We’ve had a lot of good results getting people out of Israel, but that Gaza situation is much more difficult and we’re working very hard on it at the moment.
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Nicolette Maury and Louise McElvogue appointed to ABC board
The government has appointed two women with a background in business and technology as non-executive members of the ABC board.
Nicolette Maury is the CEO of Avani Solutions and has worked in digital organisations in Australia and overseas.
Louise McElvogue has experience in board governance and helped build the UK’s first video streaming services for the BBC and Channel 4.
Both women were nominated for appointment by the independent nomination panel as part of the merit-based appointment process for the ABC and SBS boards.
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said media organisations face significant challenges:
The appointment of these two highly accomplished women to the board will bolster the public broadcaster’s digital transformation, media and governance acumen as the ABC implements its five year plan.
The government has said it is committed to abiding by the process after it was largely ignored by the Coalition government in favour of hand-picked candidates.
The new members replace outgoing members Fiona Balfour and Joseph Gersh.
The department of communications is using an executive search company to find a new ABC chair to replace the outgoing chair, Ita Buttrose, who steps down in March.
Buttrose was the captain’s pick of former prime minister Scott Morrison in 2019.
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NT coroner confirms Kumanjayi Walker inquest postponement amid Rolfe recusal application
The NT coroner has confirmed that an inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker will have to be postponed as she rules on an application from former police officer Zachary Rolfe for her to recuse herself from the case.
Rolfe applied earlier this month for the coroner, Elisabeth Armitage, to recuse herself from the hearing because of how she and the counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer, conducted themselves during a meeting with community members in Yuendumu, and because of a decision to revoke a non-publication order without consulting other parties.
Rolfe shot Walker dead during a bungled arrest in the remote community of Yuendumu in November 2019. He was later charged with murder but found not guilty.
Rolfe was due to give evidence at the inquest from next week.
But a spokesperson for the court confirmed on Wednesday morning that the recusal application had resulted in the inquest being delayed.
The spokesperson said:
Coroner Armitage will need to take time to carefully consider the matters raised in the many submissions received before ruling on the application, in circumstances where she has other court obligations this week.
Accordingly, her Honour has indicated that she will not be in a position to deliver her ruling before the Inquest is due to resume on 23 October.
As a result, Armitage has directed that next week’s scheduled sitting in this inquest be vacated. The further delay to these proceedings is extremely regrettable, but necessary to address the application made.
Armitage had been expected to rule on the recusal application as early as Thursday, but it is now unclear when her decision will be handed down. Guardian Australia reported on Tuesday that if Armitage declined Rolfe’s application he was expected to appeal to the NT supreme court.
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Kathryn Campbell’s pay package details released after resignation following robodebt inquiry
The details of former senior bureaucrat Kathryn Campbell’s last annual pay package have been released.
The Department of Defence’s latest annual report, released Tuesday, shows Campbell was the third-highest paid public servant in the department for her role as senior adviser on the Aukus project.
It shows she received a total of $835,970 for the 2022-23 financial year with a base salary of $698,644.
The package put her just under defence secretary Greg Moriarty and defence force chief Angus Campbell. Curiously, she was paid more than Jonathan Mead, the chief of the nuclear powered submarine taskforce, who she reported to, according to an organisation chart in the department’s budget papers.
Mead received a total package of $707,822 with a base salary of $526,670.
Campbell, who has since resigned from the public service, has been in the spotlight for her role in the robodebt saga.
The former secretary of the social services and human services departments had been suspended without pay three days after the royal commission handed down its report into the illegal debt recovery scheme.
Campbell has not publicly responded to the findings.
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Victorian Labor chooses to ‘tax first and ask questions later’, says shadow treasurer after EV tax struck down
Victoria’s shadow treasurer, Brad Roswell, has just spoken to reporters after the high court decision to strike down Victoria’s electric vehicle tax.
While doubtful it could lead to constitutional challenges to gaming taxes, car registration and waste levies, he said the government’s proposed Airbnb levy could end up before the high court:
The actions of the Labor government of this state is to tax first and ask questions later. When they tax first without considering the implications, [they] stuff up. They’ve done that today. There are warnings about the introduction of this Airbnb levy could be subjected to high court challenge in the future. The warnings are there. Listen to the warnings. Don’t stuff Victorians around.
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Australia’s child abuse redress scheme case backlog almost doubles in 10 months
The backlog of active cases before the child abuse redress scheme has almost doubled in less than 10 months, increasing delays in processing survivors’ claims and prompting renewed calls for greater resourcing.
Data released by the scheme this week shows it is processing 7,823 claims from survivors, a sharp increase on the 4,196 as of 27 January.
The average processing time for an application – not counting delays caused by factors outside of the scheme’s control – is now 8.2 months. That is an increase from an average of 7.6 months in January.
The increase in cases is largely due to reforms simplifying applications for redress earlier this year, and the government injected $142m, including funding for seven new decision-maker roles, to help it cope. But advocates are concerned the funding does not go far enough.
Dr Cathy Kezelman, president of Blue Knot Foundation, said it was encouraging to see a continued increase in applications but that:
This will unfortunately mean additional delays for survivors seeking redress,” she said. “This can be especially challenging for people who’ve often waited countless decades already just to be heard and believed at all.
It is critical that the government commits additional funds without delay to secure the additional staff and systems’ refinements needed to minimise delays and provide redress to those harmed in Australian institutions.
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Glencore should ‘get the hell out’ of north-west Queensland after ‘treating us like pawns’: Bob Katter
Kennedy MP Bob Katter has also responded to the news that the Glencore copper mine will close in the second half of 2025:
Mr Katter said it was time to immediately move forward with a “brutal” and “forceful” action plan.
He said governments needed to show some “backbone” and move Glencore on immediately, and not allow it to slowly drain the town and North West region over the next two years.
They’ve had one foot out the door for years, they’re not interested in hanging around and would prefer to be mining copper in the Congo, so get the hell out.
It’s about time a government in Australia grew a backbone and threw out these people that are raping our resources for their own wealth and treating us like pawns.
The government has explain what it is going to do now about maintaining its sovereign capability to produce copper. And make sure the processing plant is sold by law to an Australian company that will remain an Australian asset.
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Truck circling parliament calls for cases against whistleblowers David McBride and Richard Boyle to be dropped
A truck calling on the federal government to drop the cases against whistleblowers David McBride and Richard Boyle is circling Parliament House today.
The truck is part of former senator Rex Patrick’s campaign to put pressure on the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, to intervene and stop proceedings against the two.
Both whistleblowers face jail time, with McBride set to front court next month for his role in leaking documents to the media relating to alleged war crimes by defence force personnel in Afghanistan.
Patrick told Guardian Australia last month the prosecutions sent a “chilling message” to would-be whistleblowers.
Who’s going to blow the whistle if that occurs?
We need to make sure that the public is fully informed about what’s happening here and the government needs to understand that its reputation will ride on how this is handled by them.
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Queensland to put $50m into supporting Glencore workers as copper mine closes
The Queensland government will invest $50m to support workers affected by the Glencore copper mine closure in the state’s north-west.
The treasurer, Cameron Dick, confirmed on Wednesday that 1,200 jobs would be affected as a result of the mine ceasing operations in Mount Isa by the end of 2025.
It will be unsettling for those families but I want them to know this: the government’s got their back and will continue to support them and the Mount Isa community in the years to come.
Up to $30m will go towards developing resource projects in the north-west over the next five years.
The government will also provide $20m, which will be matched by Glencore, to support future job opportunities in the region.
Dick dismissed the suggestion that the mine’s closure was due to the state’s progressive coal royalties scheme.
There’s no evidence that this has anything to do with this decision by Glencore. Anybody who says that will be misleading Queenslanders or seeking to wind back our progressive coal royalties.
It’s been anticipated that it will be closed for some years … it’s now reached near the end of its life.
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‘A wake-up call’: Zoe Daniel welcomes high court decision to strike down Victorian EV tax
The independent MP for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, has also responded to the high court decision which has struck down the Victorian government’s electric vehicle tax:
Brilliant news. I welcome the high court’s decision.
This was a bad tax which only deterred motorists from buying electric vehicles.
It is also a wake up call for the Albanese government.
Transport minister Catherine King needs to get her skates on and introduce fuel standards designed to encourage the sale of fuel efficient vehicles and EVs and in line with comparable countries.
At the moment, the government cannot even tell us the level of carbon emissions from internal combustion engines. We do not have the data.
We need the government to initiate an equitable plan for a national road user charge so that all road users pay their fair share for using our highways.
As Paul Karp reported, the decision exposes a range of other state levies to challenge from car registration to gaming taxes to waste levies.
Things could start to get a little wild.
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Fiji PM on new Australian fossil fuel projects: ‘We are realistic about our demands … You don’t just stop everything’
There is a question for the Fijian prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka:
Q: You spoke yesterday [at] the Lowy Institute about how Pacific countries are bearing the brunt of the climate crises that they didn’t cause. You will be at the Pacific Islands Forum at the Cook Islands next month alongside prime minister Albanese.
Are Australia’s emissions targets enough, or should we be curbing new fossil fuel developments? Do you expect the Pacific leaders [to] use next month’s meeting to put pressure on Australia to shut down its fossil fuel industry?
Rabuka:
We are realistic about our demands as they slow down on some of the things that are making them tick at this time, that have contributed to the progress this far, and we have benefited from those, through aid and assistance and grants in the past.
We do not want them to stop doing what they are doing. We want them to tone down – the word is “sustainable”.
We all forget that we are all going for “sustainable”. It has to be sustainable. You don’t just stop everything.
It’s got to be sustainable in the, from the, from a sovereign point of view.
For us in the Pacific, we will have to contribute, to counter what has not been able to achieved quickly here, we in the Pacific, can contribute towards through assistance for our mitigation and other programs that we carry out and … lessen the effects of climate change.
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PM echoes Wong’s condemnation of ‘indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure’ in Gaza
Anthony Albanese is asked about the deadly missile strike on the Palestinian hospital, which has left at least 500 people dead, two-thirds believed to be children. The death toll is expected to double. Many Palestinians had been sheltering in the hospital after being told to leave southern Gaza by Israel. Israel has denied involvement in the missile strike and blamed a Palestinian group. Palestinian authorities have blamed Israel for the strike.
Albanese says:
We have seen a devastating loss of innocent life since the attacks on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas.
The scenes from the explosion at a Gaza City hospital are deeply distressing and it is clear that there has been a devastating loss of life. Every innocent life matters.
That’s whether it is Israeli or Palestinian.
Our thoughts are with those killed, those injured, and their loved ones.
The protection of civilian lives must come first, as the parliament said in its resolution that we carried on Monday.
And respect for international humanitarian law is paramount.
We condemn any indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals. Australia joins with others in calling for international law to always be upheld.
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When Australia hosts an official guest, the press conference is not an all in – the press gallery works out who to send, and the questions are workshopped (there is only a couple of questions allowed).
It’s the same when Australian leaders travel as official guests of other countries.
Albanese signs agreement with Fiji prime minister
Anthony Albanese is holding a press conference now, after signing an agreement with the prime minister of Fiji, Sitiveni Rabuka.
The discussion ranged from economies to climate change and from cybersecurity to the region’s security and sport.
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NSW and Western Australia plans for EV road user tax likely invalid after Vic high court decision
We’ve been digging further into the high court’s 4-3 ruling that Victoria’s electric vehicle charge is invalid. Not only does this mean that Western Australia and New South Wales’ plans for road user charging are likely invalid, the decision exposes a range of other state levies to challenge from car registration, to gaming taxes to waste levies.
In a joint judgment then chief Justice Susan Kiefel, Stephen Gageler and Jacqueline Gleeson said the case was the “first time this century” the court had considered the constitutional section stating that the power “to impose duties of customs and of excise” is exclusive to the commonwealth.
In a move that could cause wider ramifications beyond road user charging, the court reopened and overruled a precedent case from 1974, for the “anomalous and unsustainable” conclusion that a tax on the consumption of goods is not an excise.
The court concluded a prohibited state excise is a tax that is closely related to the production or manufacture, sale, distribution, or consumption of goods, that could affect its manufacture or production.
In separate judgments justices Michelle Gordon, James Edelman and Simon Steward dissented.
Gordon accused the majority of an “abandonment of past authority”, citing cases “which held that particular taxes on goods were not a duty of excise” that “must now be wrong”.
Gordon noted that Victoria had argued other charges that could be challenged on the same basis include “duties on the transfer or conveyance of goods … motor vehicle duties and vehicle registration charges, commercial passenger vehicle levies, gaming machine levies and ‘point of consumption’ betting taxes, and waste disposal levies”.
Edelman said that “without any empirical or economic evidence” the majority had concluded that a tax of around $300 “is reasonably anticipated to have a real and substantial economic effect in the market for the sale of goods worth up to $300,000 each”.
Steward accused the commonwealth of a “remarkable and entirely unprecedented” power grab by arguing that it “had exclusive power to impose consumption taxes”.
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Labor should refund tax ‘paid by electric vehicle users’, Victorian Greens say
The Victorian Greens are calling on the state government to refund all electric vehicle drivers who were slugged with a tax the high court has found was unconstitutional.
Upper house MP Katherine Copsey told reporters outside parliament:
The ruling from the High Court today is a win for the climate and for Victorians who want to bring down their transport emissions. Labor’s electric vehicle tax was always a ridiculous idea.
The Greens fought it tooth and nail when it was first introduced and it’s great to see that the community has had this win today.
Transport is Victoria’s fastest growing source of emissions and we need to see a change in direction.
Labor now needs to refund the tax that’s been paid by electric vehicle users, they need to repeal it in parliament and they should go further to correct course.
We should see subsidies and incentives for the uptake of electric vehicles and switching to climate-friendly forms of transport.
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‘Shock after shock’: RBA’s governor speaks on Middle East conflict affecting inflation
The RBA’s Michele Bullock was also asked about how the Middle East conflict might affect inflation in Australia.
At the Australian Financial Security Authority summit in Sydney, according to AAP, Bullock said:
Typically, when we think about shocks to supply that increased prices, you think, well, that’s probably ‘OK, it’ll wash out’.
But the problem is that we’ve just got shock after shock after shock.
And the more that that keeps inflation elevated, even if it’s from supply shocks, the more people adjust their thinking, and the more people adjust their inflation expectations, the more entrenched inflation is likely to become.
Asked why the RBA might not have been prepared for Hamas’s attack on Israel and the still unfolding subsequent response, Bullock said the tensions were “not unknown” even if the timing of the attacks were a surprise.
Some shocks are things that come completely out of the blue.
I think the Russian invasion of Ukraine, possibly, and the pandemic definitely.
Oil prices have lifted overnight in the wake of the horrific bombing of a hospital in Gaza, with oil futures rising about 1.5% to just under $US88 for a barrel, according to Bloomberg.
As it happens, average petrol prices eased in the past week to about $2.04 for a standard unleaded litre, compared with 208.5 cents a week earlier, the Australian Institute of Petroleum said.
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Five Eyes partnership to ‘defeat’ intelligence threats, Burgess says
Mike Burgess then moves to the reason for the summit between the Five Eyes partners.
(For those who don’t know, Five Eyes is an intelligence sharing partnership between Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States).
Burgess:
We will meet and defeat this threat because we have a weapon that others do not.
The power of partnerships.
The power of the Five Eyes which is underpinned by shared values and common resolve.
…[For] the private sector, academic sectors, security is a shared responsibility and we want to work with you to raise awareness of these threats, stricken defences, build resilience and secure your success, this summer partnership, the summits will advance this partnership and this summit will protect these partnerships.
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Chinese intelligence tried to infiltrate prestigious Australian institution, Asio boss tells summit
Mike Burgess:
Just last month, Asio detected and disrupted a plot to infiltrate a prestigious Australian institution.
The plot involved a visiting professor, a genuine academic who had also been recruited by Chinese intelligence.
Their spymaster had given them money and a shopping list of intelligence requirements and sent them to Australia.
The academic even set his Australian PhD students research assignments in line with his intelligence requirements.
I took a personal interest in this case as an engineer, I was flattered, somewhat, that one of the topic researched was me but if they were looking for the next Mark Zuckerberg, they picked the wrong gig.
Working with the research institution, Asio intervened and removed that academic from the country before that harm could be done.
This sort of thing is happening every day in Australia as it is in the country here (the summit is happening in California, US).
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Threats on IP sector ‘are serious but not insurmountable’, Burgess says
Mike Burgess:
China has developed a ruthless business model aimed at seizing commercial advantage.
Stealing intellectual property is the first step in the … talent programs, joint ventures and acquisitions to harvest the expertise to exploit the intellectual property.
Sometimes that technology is put to military use, often it is given to companies and mass-produce undermining the innovator. Our discussions here will raise awareness of the rates and improved defences.
Simple steps can make a difference.
We cannot think we are helpless and that resistance is futile. The threats facing the [IP] sectors are serious but not insurmountable. Our adversaries, are sophisticated but not unstoppable.
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Chinese government engaged in most ‘sophisticated theft of intellectual property’ in human history, Asio boss says
Asio boss Mike Burgess is speaking at a Five Eyes press conference which is focussed on Chinese hacking.
Burgess says:
It’s no surprise nations want to steal Australian innovation, from the electric drill to Wi-Fi to penicillin to Google Maps, the black box recorder to the refrigerator. Australia is a nation of innovation.
I mention this not to boast but to remind us that innovation can be lifesaving and world changing.
Which is what makes it so valuable.
Each of the countries here can make a similar claim - in fact, innovation is a global endeavour and no nation alone can claim leadership. Unless of course you cheat.
All nations by, all nations are ceased due to advantage but this summit is focused on behaviour that goes well beyond traditional espionage.
The Chinese government is engaged in the most sustained scale [of] sophisticated theft of intellectual property and expertise in human history.
It is unprecedented and unacceptable.
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Up to police to allow another pro-Palestine march, Minns says
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, says he will leave it up to the police to decide whether another pro-Palestine march through Sydney’s CBD should go ahead on Saturday.
Organisers have submitted an application to the police to hold the march after staging a largely peaceful static gathering in Hyde Park on Sunday following a more chaotic march held last Monday, at which some people chanted antisemitic slurs.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Minns said:
The right to protest is legal in NSW, but we’ll have no tolerance for hate speech. And if there’s any incitement to violence or racial vilification, the police are going to ... show no tolerance.
After coming down hard on the pro-Palestinian rally organisers last week, Minns softened his rhetoric when he was asked about the bombing of a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday night which killed hundreds of civilians.
He said:
Obviously, I’m really concerned about the loss of innocent Palestinian civilian lives, particularly children.
We’re in the midst of an international crisis, that may well get worse before it gets better and that’s having consequences right here in NSW.
While it might be the case that it’s too much to expect for the community to pull together right at this moment, we can’t let international events pull us apart either.
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Independent MPs call for case against war crimes whistleblower David McBride to be dropped
A group of independent MPs and senators are again calling on Mark Dreyfus to discontinue the case against war crimes whistleblower David McBride, who is due to face court next month.
The crossbenchers, which included Helen Haines, Andrew Wikie, Kate Chaney, Sophie Scamps and Rebekha Sharkie, were joined by whistleblower advocates in urging the attorney-general to intervene and stop the case, as he did last year with lawyer Bernard Collaery.
McBride will face court in November nearly five years after being charged for his role in leaking documents to ABC journalists relating to alleged war crimes by defence force personnel in Afghanistan.
Wilkie described the federal government’s commitment to strengthening whistleblower protection laws “hollow” while the case against McBride was being pursued.
The fact that we have the whistleblower about alleged war crimes in Afghanistan as the first person to front a court in Australia about the alleged war crimes in Afghanistan just beggars belief.
Wilkie went on to say he had spoken with Dreyfus, who had told Wilkie he would not intervene as the cases against McBride and tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle were not “exceptional circumstances”.
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Immigration minister Andrew Giles has given an update on the number of New Zealanders who have taken up the fast track to Australian citizenship offer which opened in July.
More than 30,000 New Zealanders have applied for citizenship in the first 100 days – New Zealanders living in Queensland take up more than one-third of applicants, with Victoria coming in second, and New South Wales, third.
For some context on what Penny Wong was responding to, there is this story from our correspondent in Jerusalem;
‘The Israeli military reportedly said an initial investigation suggested the explosion was caused by a failed Hamas rocket launch, before saying it was the result of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket barrage. Islamic Jihad denied the Israeli allegation, and the scale of the blast appeared to be outside the militant groups’ capabilities.’
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‘We condemn any indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure,’ Wong says on Gaza hospital blast
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has responded to the strike on a Palestinian hospital, which has left at least 500 people, many of them women and children, dead.
Palestinian authorities fear the death toll could rise to over 1000. Palestine has blamed the IDF for the missile strike. The IDF has blamed a ‘misguided’ Palestinian rocket. Israel had earlier in the week ordered the evacuation of hospitals, which the World Health Organisation condemned.
Wong:
The scenes from the explosion at a Gaza City hospital are deeply distressing. It is clear there has been a devastating loss of life. Our thoughts are with those killed, those injured and their loved ones.
The protection of civilian lives must come first and respect for international humanitarian law is paramount. We condemn any indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.
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Housing market surprises RBA’s new governor, who also wants media to help with messaging
RBA’s Bullock is asked about what surprised her, and housing prices top her list.
The housing market has surprised me a bit,” she tells the AFSA summit.
We noted yesterday house prices not falling but in fact picking up for most of this year is not what the RBA (or many analysts) had forecast at the start of 2023 given interest rates were on the climb.
Bullock also talked about the importance that the public’s expectations about inflation “don’t get de-anchored”. Yes, markets are still expecting inflation to be well outside the RBA’s 2%-3% target range one year out but further into the future they are pencilling in 2.5%.
(The RBA’s current projections, to be updated on 10 November, have CPI dropping to 3% by June 2025.)
Should inflation expectations lift, “it will be hard” to bring inflation back down in the future, Bullock said.
We’ll get September quarter inflation numbers on 25 October, which will no doubt generate a lot of media and public attention.
Bullock has just wrapped up. To this ear, she sounded fully at ease (with few pointed questions, it should be said) and cracked the odd joke. She noted her predecessor, Philip Lowe, had been at the end of a lot of flak.
We can take difficult decisions and yes, [Lowe] did cop a lot but I think he got knocked off, though, by Alan Joyce,” Bullock said, referring to the now ex-chief executive of Qantas.
As to her approach to journalists, she said they could help the RBA get its message out.
[W]hat we want to do is communicate with the Australian people and the media can help us to do that, but I wouldn’t say we are aiming at the media.
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Repatriation flight from Israel due to land in Sydney today
An update on the repatriation flights from Israel to Australia:
Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong said a government assisted-departure flight is due to land in Sydney from London today.
A further repatriation flight from Tel Aviv to Dubai is also being planned for today, subject to security conditions.
Wong wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
We strongly encourage Australians who want to leave to take this opportunity.
As we have made clear, the situation is highly challenging and rapidly changing.
More than 1,500 previously registered Australians have now left Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, she wrote.
Wong also shared some images of last night’s repatriation arrival at Sydney Airport:
An Australian Government assisted-departure flight landed in Sydney from Dubai last night carrying 222 passengers - including 164 Australians.
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) October 17, 2023
Wonderful to see many of them reunited with their families in Australia. pic.twitter.com/NFgRHh8HCG
You can read more about this below from my colleague Daisy Dumas:
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As Daniel Hurst has reported, the prime minister is meeting with the Fijian prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka at the moment.
We will bring you the outcome of that very soon.
‘Reddest of red flag’: Vic’s attorney-general urges victims of non-fatal strangulation to seek help
Victoria’s attorney-general, Jaclyn Symes, has spoken to reporters outside parliament about the government’s new laws to make non-fatal strangulation an offence.
She said:
We know that this is a particularly damaging heinous crime that often leads to catastrophic outcomes. When non-fatal strangulation occurs, it is the reddest of red flags. A survivor of non-fatal strangulation is seven times more likely to be the victim of a serious assault or indeed murder.
Symes paid tribute to the family of Joy Rowley, who was choked unconscious eight months before she was smothered to death in her home in Rye in 2011:
The precursor to her murder was at least one incident of non-fatal strangulation and her family and children have spoken to me about the impact of not having that offense in the situation of their mother and they want to ensure that other victims have an avenue to go to police to make a complaint about this.
She said the legislation would also “start a conversation” about family violence:
If you are a victim of non-fatal strangulation, you are in extreme danger and you should seek help.
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Murray-Darling basin plan bill before parliament
The house is making its way through the Murray-Darling basin plan bill ‘restoring our rivers’.
Given the government has the numbers in the house, it won’t be a problem passing it. The issue will be in the Senate, where the government will need to negotiate with the Greens who do not believe the bill goes far enough.
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Victoria’s electric vehicle tax struck down by landmark high court case decision
Victoria’s electric vehicle tax has been struck down by the high court, in a landmark case likely to bar all state-level road user charges.
On Wednesday a majority of the high court ruled in favour of two electric car drivers who argued the imposition of a tax by the Victorian government per kilometre driven was unconstitutional because the states do not have the power to impose such fees.
The decision will likely prevent New South Wales and Western Australia from proceeding with plans to introduce road user charging from 2027.
The plaintiffs were supported by the commonwealth, which argued that taxes on the use or consumption of goods are not exempt from the constitution’s ban on the states imposing customs, duties and excise taxes.
Victorian drivers Chris Vanderstock and Kath Davies launched the lawsuit shortly after Victorian state government introduced its zero- and low-emission vehicle road user charge.
The law charges electric and hydrogen vehicle owners 2.8c for each kilometre they travel during the year and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners 2.3c for each kilometre. Hybrid vehicles are exempt.
Motorists are required to submit photographs of their vehicle odometer to the state government each year and, if they fail to, can be charged for driving 13,500km or have their registration suspended or cancelled.
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RBA expects consumption to decline further, new governor says
Michelle Bullock, the new governor of the Reserve Bank, has been holding a “fireside chat” at the annual summit of the Australian Financial Security Authority in Sydney this morning.
This event follows yesterday’s release of minutes from the October board meeting, which warned of “low tolerance” for inflation not falling as currently expected. (Decoded: another interest rate rise is possible, perhaps as soon as 7 November, Melbourne Cup Day.)
Bullock is, as you can expect, fairly cautious in her comments. Still, she notes the RBA expects consumption to decline further, and that “a small group ... really are hurting” because of the 400 basis-point increase in lending rates since May 2022.
That group would be larger if not for the savings “buffers” gathered by many households during the Covid lockdowns.
There’s a bit of discussion about the surprise that insolvencies haven’t been higher at this point. “We are seeing them tick up,” Bullock says, but notes they are not yet to pre-Covid levels.
An EY restructuring fellow confirms, perhaps with a sense of disappointment, that he’s less busy than he would have expected.
We’ll get more of a view of that resilience - or otherwise - tomorrow when the ABS releases labour market numbers for September. Economists aren’t expecting the jobless rate to budge from August’s 3.7% level, but we know this number can surprise so check in with us here at 11.30am tomorrow aedt.
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Mining affected community needs ‘direct support’ from government, Queensland workers’ union says
AWU Queensland secretary, Stacey Schinnerl has responded to the announcement that Glencore will be closing it’s Mt Isa copper mines in the second half of 2025.
Schinnerl said the Queensland government and Glencore need to “provide our members the support that they have always provided them”.
I have been in contact with [Qld] treasurer [Cameron] Dick and I have made it clear that our members expect the government to leave no stone unturned when it comes to providing direct support to the Mount Isa community and affected workers.
Now is the time for the government to cut through the green tape and fast track approvals for new mines in the region to provide a suitable transition for affected workers. We are also calling on Glencore to provide redeployment opportunities to local workers who will be affected by these closures.
Glencore have been using foreign labour and FIFO labour hire on their other operations in the region. It is our expectation that local workers who are affected by these closures are given priority access to these roles.
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Victoria’s ban on Nazi salute ‘sends very clear message’, premier says
Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, says the ban on the Nazi salute “sends a very very clear message that this sort of hateful antisemitic behaviour has no place” in the state.
She told reporters as she arrived at parliament:
Those laws [will be] in place by the end of this week and whilst I’m pleased to see that the laws passed through the parliament yesterday evening, it is incredibly disappointing that we need these rules. But it also demonstrates that Victoria is a place where this sort of hateful behaviour, the use of symbols and signs and gestures, have no place here in Victoria.
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Glencore’s Mount Isa copper mines to close by 2025
Mining giant Glencore has announced it will close its Mount Isa copper mines in the second half of 2025.
The company announced the closure in a media statement late last night, also announcing it would keep its smelting and refinery operations open in North Queensland.
The mine is reaching the end of its natural life, the copper grade is deteriorating and infrastructure is ageing, the statement explains.
Chief operating officer of Glencore’s zinc assets in Australia, Sam Strohmayr, said the mine employs around 1200 people but it’s “too early to put a figure on how many people may receive redundancies”.
Redundancies are the last resort and will be offered only when other options have been exhausted.
Glencore’s zinc mine, 140km north-west of Mount Isa, will also close in 2025.
Updated
The parliament sitting has begun.
Members of the crossbench call for ‘urgent whistleblower protection reform’
Independent MP Helen Haines and members of the crossbench including Andrew Wilkie, Zoe Daniel and Greens senator David Shoebridge are demanding an “end to the prosecution of whistleblowers and for urgent whistleblower protection reform”.
Haines, Wilkie, Daniel and Shoebridge will be joined by:
Russell Wilson - director, Transparency International Australia
Peter Greste - executive director, Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom
Rawan Arraf - executive director, Australian Centre for International Justice
Hadi Marifat - director, Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization
Kieran Pender - senior lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre
In their call.
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Goanna frontman Shane Howard returns Order of Australia medal after voice referendum
Shane Howard, the frontman of Australian band Goanna, who wrote the 1982 hit Solid Rock, Sacred Ground has returned his Order of Australia medal following the referendum result.
Howard wrote to the governor general to say he “no longer [has] faith that our nation will achieve meaningful truth-telling and justice with our First Peoples”.
I respect the democratic result but fear that Australians have missed an important historical moment of destiny.
At this point in history, I can’t be proud of my nation and I feel honour bound to return my Order of Australia Medal.
Howard said that when he wrote the song, “I wanted us to address the fundamental lie at the heart of our national story. I dreamt of a country respectful of our ancient history and honest about our modern history. I wanted to be proud of my country.”
He said he was troubled over the rise of misinformation:
I’m also deeply troubled by the way our First Peoples, our brothers and sisters, our friends, have been so belittled, with such pernicious vilification, in the interests of political power. It’s neither generous nor decent.
… I love my birth country deeply but until we loose(sic) our colonial shackles, engage in Treaty-making with our First Peoples, commit to truth-telling about our history and embrace a post-colonial Republic, I cannot be proud of my nation.
Updated
In other EV news, there is this from Elias Visontay:
Vic government to introduce bill to make non-fatal strangulation an offence
The Victorian government is set to introduce a bill to parliament today that would make non-fatal strangulation an offence.
The Crimes Amendment (Non-fatal Strangulation) Bill 2023, to be introduced to the lower house on Wednesday, follows research that found someone who survives non-fatal strangulation by a current or former partner is seven times more likely to be seriously injured or murdered by that partner.
The reforms will create two offences. The first is an offence of intentional non-fatal strangulation, which does not require proof of injury will carry a maximum five-year prison term.
A second more serious offence of non-fatal strangulation where a perpetrator intentionally causes injury, will be created with a maximum penalty of 10 years.
A consent defence will be available for the first offence for people who provide affirmative consent to non-fatal strangulation during sexual activity and no intentional injury has occurred.
Attorney-general, Jaclyn Symes, said the reforms have been developed to better protect victim-survivors, including those who may not sustain any visible injuries, and to hold perpetrators to account who use strangulation to exert power and control over their family member.
She said:
Non-fatal strangulation is rarely an isolated event. Instead it often reveals an ongoing and escalating pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour – especially when it occurs in family violence circumstances. We’ve listened to the concerns of those families affected by these acts of violence and the bill will make this behaviour clear for what it is – controlling, dangerous and unacceptable.
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High court decision today on EV driver tax
Electric and hybrid vehicle drivers will learn from the high court today how they could be taxed –whether the states can do it, or whether it is just the domain of the federal government.
Two Victorian EV drivers took the case to the courts after the Victorian government imposed its zero and low-emission vehicles road user charge.
It’s all over who can use the road user charge – and it has wider implications than just Victoria, given other states have indicated they will be introducing a similar charge. If the high court rules it is the federal government’s responsibility, then that makes things a little more complicated.
Paul Karp will have you covered on that.
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More than 22,300 hectares burnt due to bushfire near Kempsey
Let’s take a look at some of the bushfire warnings across the state currently:
In New South Wales, the Willi Willi Road bushfire near Kempsey is at advice level, downgraded from watch and act yesterday. It has burnt more than 22,300 hectares and is yet to be contained.
A local property owner died on Monday night amid the bushfire, with police believing he had been attempting to create a fire break. There are also unconfirmed reports of multiple properties being lost:
Three other bushfires across the state remain at alert level.
In Queensland there are multiple warnings in place for Deepwater in the Gladstone Region, with locals being warned it is not safe to return if they left.
Last night around 9.30pm, residents were warned by the QFES to leave immediately.
According to the latest update firefighters are working to contain the fire, with firefighting aircraft helping ground crews.
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Daniel maintains Israel’s right to respond in a very ‘carefully calibrated way’
Q: Is your position based on reflecting your community’s view?
Zoe Daniel:
In part, but really, I mean, I’m a humanitarian.
But I’m also a realist.
And my position from the beginning of this has been that Israel would respond and did have the right to respond.
And if what Hamas did in Israel happened in Australia, Australia would feel the right and the need to respond.
But that has to be done in a very carefully calibrated way. And again, I’ll come back to that a first example, bombing hospitals if that’s what’s happened, killing civilians and indeed from the Hamas perspective, using civilians as human shields, Israeli or Palestinian, is outside the international rules of war and must stop.
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Was Zoe Daniel surprised that Kylea Tink and Sophie Scamps took the position they did in supporting the Greens amendment?
I hadn’t spoken to Sophie about it. I had spoken to Kylea quite a bit about it ahead of that amendment. We sit next to each other in the chamber. And I have a large Jewish community in my electorate, and you know, I’ve been talking to and interacting with my community a lot, understandably, over the last couple of weeks.
Kylea has a different community and therefore she took a different position, and that’s what independents do.
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‘There’s no rift among the teals’ on Israel and Palestine, Daniel says
Why did Zoe Daniel not support the Greens amendment?
Because the amendment that was put forward by the Greens was going to cancel out the section of the bipartisan motion that was put forward by the government and the opposition, saying that Israel had an inherent right to defend itself.
And, you know, I mean, I’ve said repeatedly in this interview that I think Israel does have the right to defend itself within the parameters that I’ve mentioned.
So it would have been therefore very inconsistent of me to to vote for that motion.
I would say to that, you know, the media loves to talk about rifts and conflict and so to see opposition, I note Peter Dutton was running around yesterday suggesting that, you know, all the teals voted for this amendment, which wasn’t true.
But also, there’s no rift among the teals and indeed, there can be a rift in a party that’s not a party. We’re independents. We vote according to the needs of our communities and our conscience.
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Zoe Daniel continues:
I was a foreign correspondent for almost 30 years, you know, I’ve seen the aftermath of conflict. I’ve been there. I’ve seen those bodies, have seen those refugee camps, I have seen the years of recovery and in communities that have been hit by conflict.
There has to be a very careful stepping through of this within the rules of war and the the international order.
‘Cool heads should prevail,’ Daniel says on Israel-Hamas war
Q: A former Israeli peace negotiator this morning was on our program and told us the Middle East was ‘on the brink of Hell’. Is Australia a true friend of Israel if we don’t urge restraint?
Zoe Daniel:
We had the foreign minister urge restraint, I think in the first 24 hours and she had to wind that back because of accusations of wanting to restrict Israel’s right to self defence.
I think cool heads should prevail.
And I say that with sensitivity to people in my community, and particularly the people of Israel, who would argue that there has to be retaliation for what Hamas did.
And that’s why I’ve always said that Israel has a right to self defence but again, not if that means indiscriminate killing of civilians.
And the thing is that this will spill over back into Israel. So the security of the Israelis and the Palestinians is intertwined. And indeed, the entire region could blow up.
The official death toll in Palestine is almost at 3000 people.
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Zoe Daniel continues:
I feel deeply for the people in my community, the Jewish people who’ve been directly affected by the Hamas attacks on Israel.
But also there are more than 2 million civilians in Gaza, and Palestinian civilians are not Hamas.
This is a really challenging needle to thread for the Israeli government. And I very much hope that they’re considering that very carefully as they move forward.
Bombing hospitals is not ‘within the rules of war’, independent MP Zoe Daniel says
Goldstein independent MP Zoe Daniel is speaking to ABC radio RN Breakfast this morning, where she has been asked about her position on Israel and Palestine.
Daniel was a longtime foreign correspondent for the ABC, including in the Middle East. Daniel did not join with the Greens or her fellow teal independents Kylea Tink or Dr Sophie Scamps and independent MP Andrew Wilkie in attempting to amend a motion condemning Hamas’ attack on Israeli citizens to also denounce “war crimes perpetrated by the State of Israel”.
Asked about the hospital strike in Palestine, where at least 500 people are believed dead, but authorities warn the death toll could rise to over 1000, Daniel says:
I know there’s conjecture about who’s to blame for this. I would say that if this is a deliberate bombing of a hospital, that’s a war crime.
I’ve been very clear in my position in regard to the response from the Israeli government to what was a terrorist attack by Hamas, which is a terrorist organisation.
And that is that Israel has a right to self defense within the parameters of the international rules of war.
Bombing hospitals, bombing civilians, withholding humanitarian supplies are not within the rules of war.
So we will wait for the evidence to stack up on this particular incident but I think if nothing else, it proves that the situation will spiral out of control without some very calibrated thinking.
And that has the potential to undermine security not only across the region, but also across the world with five eyes partners overnight warning of potential higher risk of terrorist attacks in all countries as a result of these tensions, so actions and language has to be very carefully framed.
The IDF has blamed a failed Palestinian rocket for the strike. Palestinian officials have continued to blame the IDF.
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Marion Scrymgour said she will continue to work for her community, to address their concerns.
I am looking forward to going back out and saying we have to build this country into a better country. I look forward to making sure that Aboriginal people take their rightful place in this country.
Scrymgour says she is aggrieved by Senator Price and Senator Thorpe’s actions on voice
And then Marion Scrymgour moved to some other people in the parliament:
I do feel aggrieved and disappointed about a couple of things. I feel aggrieved that Senator Price and Senator Thorpe have each purported to speak on behalf of First Peoples communities in Lingiari, when the overwhelming yes result shows that their views have been totally rejected in those communities.
I feel aggrieved that Senator Price suggested, most insulting at all, that Aboriginal voters in the bush should not have been given how-to-vote cards when approaching a polling booth, while triumphantly embracing the no vote cast by untold thousands throughout the country who were assailed by no campaigners outside the polling booths, through social media and text messages with claims that a vote for the voice was a vote for reparations; or that the UN would be taking over; or that they would lose their backyards.
I was even told a young man was voting no because black men rape their child every night.
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No vote came from 'grievance camp', Labor MP says
Marion Scrymgour:
With the failure of the referendum, we are stuck with a Constitution built on a deliberate plan for exclusion and discrimination by way of race, which still retains a race power rather than a mechanism for recognising the special relationship the commonwealth government must have with its First People as a result of the way this continent was colonised.
That is something which we are all going to have to accept and do our best to work around going forward. Returning to where I started, although this is called a grievance debate speech, and although others have claimed that the yes case agenda was all about grievance, grievance is not what motivates me in trying to advance recognition to make this a better and more united country.
The same goes for millions of Australians, including Indigenous Australians, who voted yes.
The grievance camp were in fact the ones who were directed to vote no. And many of them did.
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Marion Scrymgour:
I said I would mention what led us to the referendum, and I think it is important to say a few words on that before the caravan moves on.
Before he became a senator, my friend Patrick Dodson, a great Australian, worked with other advocates for constitutional reform and developed a proposal to remove section 51(xxvi), the race power, from the Constitution and replace it with a provision that would enable the commonwealth government to make laws for the benefit of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander First Peoples.
This would shift us from the colonial preoccupation with race to an acknowledgement of the need for recognition of the special place in our country of our First People.
That proposal was rejected by the so-called constitutional conservatives, who said they were concerned that it would be a trojan horse for a bill of rights.
At the dialogues leading up to Uluru, all our First Nations delegates discussed and finally settled on the alternative option of recognition through a voice.
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Bush voted for recognition and ‘I’m committed to making it mean something’, Labor MP says
The MP continued:
The bush voted for that recognition to be confirmed and advanced through a voice which would be drawn from and feed back to those many First People communities.
This is what we call substantive recognition.
I’m committed to making the vote for substantive recognition in the bush count, for it to mean something.
That won’t be by way of the Australian Constitution; I’ve heard the voice of many non-Aboriginal voters in my electorate as well, and I must also represent them in relation to this matter.
But there are other possible pathways and options, which will be the subject of discussion when I go back out bush to talk to my people and their communities in coming weeks and months.
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First Peoples in Lingiari ‘overwhelmingly voted yes’, Scrymgour says
Marion Scrymgour:
In my part of Australia, in Lingiari, I believe we have moved beyond the terra nullius view.
I’m not just talking about my Aboriginal constituents when I say that, but it is primarily my Aboriginal constituents I am thinking of now as we consider the way forward from here, because these things primarily concern them.
First Peoples who have survived the relatively recent history of colonisation in Lingiari include the Tiwi—my people—Yolngu, Mirarr and Jawoyn at the top; the Arrernte, Luritja, Warlpiri and Pitjantjatjara down the bottom; and so very many in between.
They overwhelmingly voted yes to the proposition of recognition.
In the context of Lingiari, the proposition of recognition is the proposition that the various Lingiari First Peoples were here before the sometimes desultory and sometimes brutal attempts to progress white settlement and control of the northern frontier; that they are still here now trying to exercise self-determination on their traditional country; and that respect is due to them as custodians of the land and culture which they look after not just on their behalf but also, in the way they see it, on behalf of all Australians.
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‘The terra nullius view … is alive and well’, Labor MP says on referendum failure
Marion Scrymgour:
In contrast to that, over recent weeks throughout this country there has been, at times, a belligerent chorus of ridicule and derision from a surprisingly large number of people directed at Welcome to Country ceremonies.
That chorus has included people elected to work in this building. Underlying the ridicule and derision has been a view about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their place in this nation.
The views of ‘Let’s pour scorn on Welcome to Country’ is in effect saying that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders may well have been here before colonisation, but that shouldn’t give them any ongoing or contemporary rights and status as first peoples—whether in relation to their traditional lands or anything else.
‘We’re all the same now,’ they say. ‘We’re all Australians, and I’m buggered if I’m going to ask permission or be treated as a visitor in any corner of Australia. I belong here just as much as them.’
That is basically the terra nullius view, and it is alive and well. This referendum has revealed some fault lines, and we are going to have to address them.
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Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour speaks on the referendum
Just before the house adjourned for the evening on Tuesday, Labor Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour gave a speech about the referendum which is very much worth your time:
I want to say a few things about what led us to the recent referendum and what it means for those first peoples Australians most affected by the outcome, particularly the first peoples Australians in my electorate of Lingiari.
Because of some arcane parliamentary tradition, which I understand derives from English House of Commons, we are obliged to call the making of a speech at this time and in this place a ‘grievance debate’.
We are told that we should follow such traditions and treat them with respect, no matter how arcane they may seem.
No matter that for someone of my background they represent a distant pantomime from a pompous colonial past. So I follow the protocol and accept the rules and customs which apply here.
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‘We must condemn it’: Senator Fatima Payman calls out Israel’s missile strikes
In case you missed it yesterday, Labor senator Fatima Payman spoke about the civilians in Gaza, and how the world was watching the state of Israel deprive them of “the basic necessities of life – food, water, electricity, gas and medicines. We must condemn it”.
Payman spoke of the Israel missile strikes and the targeting of civilian infrastructure and how that needed to be condemned.
The price tag of Israel’s right to defend itself cannot be the destruction of Palestine.
Israel’s right to defend its civilians cannot equate to the annihilation of Palestinian civilians. I hereby call for an immediate ceasefire to come into effect, alongside many world leaders and experts.
Food, water, medicine and humanitarian aid need to be allowed to get through and reach the victims. Mediation and talks need to start, as obviously violence has not solved anything for the past 75 years, and a just and long-lasting solution needs to be sorted out.
The first term senator has given the strongest condemnation of the actions of the Israeli state among government MPs. Payman began her short speech by also condemning the loss of innocent life in Israel.
I am feeling the pain of all those in Gaza without water, food, electricity or safety and all those families who have lost loved ones including children. pic.twitter.com/Ai47wtrHUu
— Fatima Payman (@SenatorPayman) October 17, 2023
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A reminder that the one border crossing where at least 45 Australian citizens in Gaza may be able to leave – the Rafah crossing with Egypt, remains closed.
Humanitarian aid can not get in, and dual nationals can not get out.
The first repatriation flights from Israel have landed in Australia.
Qantas and Qatar airways assisted the government in evacuating citizens, while Virgin will fly people who don’t live in Sydney, home domestically.
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Good morning
Thank you to Martin for starting us off this morning.
You have Amy Remeikis with you for the parliament sitting day. Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp, Josh Butler, Daniel Hurst and Sarah Basford Canales are in Canberra with all the info you need, and Mike Bowers will take you there through his lens.
Ready?
It’s a four coffee day.
Let’s get into it.
Two Aussie mobile companies warned over SMS scams
Two Australian mobile operators have received a slap on the wrist from the communications regulator for allowing SMS scammers to impersonate Commonwealth Bank, Apple and Australia Post in thousands of text messages.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) issued formal directions to Vonage Business Inc and Twilio Inc to comply with Australia’s scam SMS code after being found in breach, allowing more than 11,780 non-compliant SMS to be sent, including 3,387 scam texts appearing to come from businesses including Apple, CBA and Australia Post.
In Twilio’s case, the regulator found the company had no systems in place to comply with the rules.
Since the new scam rules came into effect in July 2022, telcos have blocked almost 257m SMS scams, but ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said scammers target the weakest links, so every telco needed to have processes in place.
She said:
As the rules have been in place for over a year now it’s unacceptable that we continue to find telcos allowing scammers to send SMS impersonating businesses domestically.
We know these types of SMS impersonation scams are hard for people to spot and can be particularly devastating for victims.
Telcos can be fined up to $250,000 for breaching the directions to comply with the code.
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Fiji's PM to suggest Pacific as 'ocean of peace' at Albanese meeting
The prime minister of Fiji will seek Australia’s support to designate the Pacific as an “ocean of peace” when he meets Anthony Albanese in Canberra this morning.
Sitiveni Rabuka explained the Pacific peace zone idea at a Lowy Institute event at Old Parliament House last night. Rabuka said countries in the region should agree to refrain from actions that may jeopardise regional order and stability, and maintain respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Rabuka, a former senior military commander who led two coups in Fiji in 1987, touched on his own controversial history in his Lowy speech:
I sense some questions already arising … about why would a coup-maker, like the one you’re listening to now, who gained notoriety 36 years ago as a “Rambo” figure, why should he be engaging in such thoughts?
Rabuka said that he had re-read the Bible and noticed that Jesus “blessed are the peacemakers”. Rabuka said:
I repented; I am reborn. My past cannot be removed, but I can compensate to some extent for what I had done.
Many years ago I became a convinced democrat. I saw democracy with all its faults and awkwardness … as the best way of governance. It is of the people and for the people.
And now this democratic politician will do whatever he can to be an apostle for peace.
Rabuka said he hoped to introduce a formal motion regarding the proposed peace zone at next month’s Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting in the Cook Islands.
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Trade minister to urge China to review wine tariffs
The trade minister, Don Farrell, is urging China to review its tariffs on Australian wine in the same type of deal that led to the scrapping of barley imposts.
In a speech in Canberra today, Farrell will signal that the Albanese government is prepared to pause the wine dispute at the World Trade Organization if Beijing agrees to a fast-tracked review of the tariffs.
A WTO ruling in the wine case is expected very soon and Australian officials have always expressed confidence about the likely outcome. Suspending the WTO case doesn’t mean abandoning it altogether but just hitting pause to give Beijing space to scrap the tariffs prior to a ruling.
Addressing the Australia-China Business Council networking day, Farrell will reiterate that the government “would prefer to resolve all of our trade issues with China through discussion and dialogue rather than through the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement system”. He will say:
We have been very clear that the approach used for the lifting of tariffs on barley is the pathway we’d like to use for dealing with the wine dispute.
In the meantime, we will continue to press our case for wine through the WTO.
Speaking about other trade obstacles that are not before the WTO, Farrell will say he is “optimistic that the technical issues affecting live lobster and red meat exports can be resolved soon”.
While the government has been seeking to stablise the relationship with China, Farrell will urge Australian businesses to continue to diversify their trade links because “overreliance on any single customer comes with significant risks”.
He will say Australia should “should not put all our trade eggs in one basket”. That doesn’t mean turning away from doing business with China, but managing risk and exploring other market opportunities, too.
Ruling expected on Victoria's tax on EVs
Australian motorists will find out how they could be taxed for driving electric and hybrid vehicles when the High Court rules on a case involving Victoria’s road user tax on low-emission vehicles, Australian Associated Press reports.
A judgment in the case against the Victorian government, launched by two electric vehicle drivers in 2021, is due to be handed down on Wednesday morning.
The case will determine whether the Victorian government can charge electric, hydrogen and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners a fee for each kilometre they travel, or whether the road user charge is a tax that can only be imposed by the federal government.
The outcome is expected to affect more than just Victorian drivers as attorneys-general for all states and territories intervened to argue for the right to tax road users and two states have announced plans to do so in 2027.
Victorian drivers Chris Vanderstock and Kath Davies launched the lawsuit shortly after the state government introduced its zero- and low-emission vehicle road user charge.
The law charges electric and hydrogen vehicle owners 2.8c for each kilometre they travel during the year and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners 2.3c for each kilometre.
Hybrid vehicles are exempt.
Motorists are required to submit photographs of their vehicle odometer to the state government each year and, if they fail to, can be charged for driving 13,500km or have their registration suspended or cancelled.
But lawyers for Vanderstock and Davies argued the road user charge was a consumption tax that replaced the federal fuel excise tax and, according to the Constitution, could not be collected by state governments.
Equity Generation Lawyers senior associate David Hertzberg said the plaintiffs hoped the lawsuit would prompt a new approach to road user charges.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling political coverage. We’ll also be looking at all the other news, first with me, Martin Farrer, before my colleague Amy Remeikis comes along.
As Australian lawmakers consider whether to ban gambling ads, our top story today reveals that between May 2022 and April 2023 there were more than 1m gambling ads aired on free-to-air television and radio at the staggering cost of $238m. The clear majority were from online wagering companies.
The Australian journalist Cheng Lei has revealed how she was jailed in China for breaking an embargo by a few minutes and how she survived months in solitary confinement. In her first interview after being released, Cheng talks about the bizarre circumstances of how she discovered she had transgressed, but then the shocking reality of her time in prison which she describes as like being “buried alive”.
The Albanese government’s showpiece electric vehicle strategy has achieved little and remains “hamstrung” six months after its release, experts say, as the industry continues to wait for details of a fuel efficiency standard. There were high hopes after the government unveiled what was Australia’s first national electric vehicle strategy. But strategy did not include targets for EV uptake or details of a fuel efficiency standard needed to progress.
It’s also a big day in the courts for electric vehicles with motorists set to find out today if they will be taxed for driving electric and hybrid vehicles when the High Court rules on a case involving Victoria’s road user tax on low-emission vehicles. More coming up on that story.
