What we learned today, Tuesday 28 November
And that’s where we’ll leave you today – it’s been a busy one. Here are the top-top lines from everything that happened:
The high court revealed its reasons for unanimously ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful where there is no real prospect of deporting the non-citizen. The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, confirmed that following the high court’s reasons in the indefinite detention case, Labor will enact a preventive detention regime this week.
Asylum seekers and refugee advocates are meanwhile demanding the Albanese government establish a royal commission into immigration detention.
Stephanie Foster has been appointed the new secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, the prime minister announced. She replaces Michael Pezzullo, who was removed from the job after an independent inquiry found he had breached the government’s code of conduct at least 14 times.
The minister for defence industry, Pat Conroy, criticised the former Labor prime minister Paul Keating along with several Liberal party figures in a speech to the press club as he complained that “Aukus attracts myths like a hull attracts barnacles”.
Labor’s Patrick Dodson will resign as a senator due to recent treatment for cancer leaving him “physically unable to fulfil satisfactorily my duties”.
Relatives of some of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza held an emotional press conference on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra to call for the immediate release of their loved ones. They also met with the PM, deputy PM and foreign minister.
The Victorian Labor government issued an ultimatum to the opposition: help pass our WorkCover reforms or premiums for businesses will go up.
Amy Remeikis will be back with you in the AM and I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon for the wash up. Look after yourselves.
Updated
Queensland freight route to retain $800m federal funding
The Albanese government will retain its $800m funding of a Queensland freight route after the state government pleaded with its federal counterparts not to can their commitment.
The deputy premier, Steven Miles, announced he would head to Canberra on Tuesday with a Queensland delegation after the federal government scrapped nine infrastructure projects in the state, worth up to $363m, earlier this month.
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, urged the Albanese government on Tuesday not to renege on its funding of the “nationally significant” Inland Freight Route.
The $1bn route from Mungindi to Charters Towers was slated for 80:20 funding to be shared by the federal and state governments.
The federal transport minister, Catherine King, said the Inland Freight Route upgrades “will proceed through planning with the remaining funding reserved for construction”:
The Albanese government’s commitment remains at $800m.
Updated
PM meets with family of Israeli hostages in Canberra
Anthony Albanese, Richard Marles and Penny Wong met with family and friends of Israeli hostages in Parliament House this afternoon.
The PM opened with comments condemning the Hamas attack on 7 October, saying “this has no place in the world in 2023”, and calling for the unconditional release of hostages.
He continued:
I just express on behalf of the government and on behalf of the Australian people our sincere sympathy and condolences for your loss of loved ones, friends and family.
And our commitment to continue to call consistently, unequivocally for the release of all the hostages that have now been taken for a long period of time. We welcome the fact that some have been released. But this should be not the subject of negotiation, it should be the subject of decency – the idea that people will be held [as] hostage.
So, I’m sorry about the circumstances for your visit here to Australia. But you are very, very welcome here. And I think your raising of these issues will once again make sure that it is front of mind for the Australian people, the ongoing suffering and trauma which is occuring.
Albanese said he and the government were concerned about the rise in antisemitism globally:
And unfortunately, there has been some reflection of that here in Australia.
I was last week in Melbourne at the opening of the quite remarkable Holocaust Museum. And that was a reminder, a constant reminder, schoolchildren coming through there being reminded of where hatred can end.
And it was important that the community are involved with but also that the broader Australian community are involved with [that]. So, you are very welcome here. Thank you.
Updated
NSW opposition pushes to reduce migration
The New South Wales opposition leader, Mark Speakman, is calling on the premier, Chris Minns, to work with him on a proposal to take to the federal government about reducing migration.
Speakman said there needed to be “an easing back” so the state could catch up with infrastructure and housing to accommodate more people.
Speakman said he did not want migration to stop entirely but instead slowed down:
I’d like to sit down with Chris Minns and work out a bipartisan approach to take to Canberra and advocate to Anthony Albanese. The cut would be at least back to the level that was pre-Covid.
Updated
Business Council joins calls for government to delay ‘rushed’ IR bill changes
Further to the previous post, the Business Council of Australia is not happy about the IR bill changes either.
They describe the amendments as “rushed”, accusing the government of making “a bad bill worse by seemingly adding new union demands while not fixing measures which cost Australian families.”
The BCA is also joining calls to delay the bill’s passage through the lower house this week, backing concerns raised by some cross-benchers in the House of Reps.
CEO Bran Black said:
This legislation is some of the most complex workplace relations change we’ve seen in many years and it deserves proper scrutiny and debate and we echo the cross-bench calls not to rush this through.
We call on the government to listen to cross-bench MPs and senators who are asking them not to override proper process. MPs are now expected to get across mountains of legislation now totalling more than 900 pages of legalisation in a matter of days.
Updated
Business groups say Labor ‘blind-sided’ them on IR amendments
The business community is not happy with the latest changes to the government’s industrial relations bill, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry accusing Labor of having “blind-sided” them with amendments that are a “complete surprise”.
The government introduced dozens of amendments to the already sprawling bill on Tuesday. Labor sources had said previously that the changes would be mostly about giving effect to the changes the industrial relations minister, Tony Burke, had canvassed publicly – but the ACCI begs to differ.
The peak body said in a release just now:
The government has blind-sided business with 81 amendments to its industrial relations legislation, most of which are a complete surprise.
The ACCI CEO, Andrew McKellar, also voiced concerns about the time given to analyse the changes:
The House of Representatives will have no time to properly consider the changes before the government rams the bill through.
The legislation is a complex, productivity-sapping imposition that will drive up costs for businesses and consumers. The government should delay further consideration of this bill in the House of Representatives until the Senate committee has reported in February.
The ACCI wants the government to split the bill and let the non-contentious changes pass, as Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock have suggested.
Updated
Labor to enact 'preventive detention' regime
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, has just told the lower house that following the high court’s reasons in the indefinite detention case, Labor will enact a preventive detention regime this week.
In the reasons all seven justices of the high court appeared to endorse the legality of such a move:
Nor would grant of that relief [release] prevent detention of the plaintiff on some other applicable statutory basis, such as under a law providing for preventive detention of a child sex offender who presents an unacceptable risk of reoffending if released from custody.
O’Neil said:
We are moving quickly to finalise a tough preventive detention regime before parliament rises. Yesterday the opposition voted against measures that would have criminalised sex offenders going near schools and childcare centres. Speaker, we urge the parliament to support the government in protecting the Australian community.
Updated
Contaminated saline products pulled from hospitals as TGA issues alert over bacterial outbreak
A bacterial outbreak in hospitals around the nation has been linked to almost 50 people, including an elderly patient who died in Queensland.
Australia’s medical watchdog has issued a quarantine notice for saline products which appear to be contaminated with Ralstonia – a form of bacteria normally found in soil and water.
Some saline products used at hospitals are being pulled immediately after the Therapeutic Goods Administration issued an alert, following a bacterial outbreak in NSW.
Scientists in the ACT have identified products from India and Greece as a possible source of contamination, Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said on Tuesday.
There are 43 suspected cases across the country.
Fentiman expressed her condolences to the family of an elderly patient in Queensland who died after the bacteria was found in their blood at a private hospital.
An announcement from Queensland Health told hospitals and clinics across the state to refrain from using two sodium chloride products from InterPharma, following the bacterial outbreak first identified in NSW.
The type of bacteria is of particular concern for patients with underlying health conditions and those with implanted medical devices.
InterPharma has declined to comment, ABC reported.
Queensland’s chief health officer will provide an update on Tuesday.
- With reporting by AAP.
Updated
New secretary of the Department of Home Affairs appointed
Stephanie Foster has been appointed the new secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, the prime minister has announced.
She replaces Michael Pezzullo, who was removed from the job after an independent inquiry found he had breached the government’s code of conduct at least 14 times, including for using his power for personal benefit.
In a statement just now, Anthony Albanese said:
Ms Foster has had an extensive career in the Australian Public Service, including as acting Secretary and Associate Secretary of Home Affairs, and Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Ms Foster has held other senior positions in the APS, including at the Australian Public Service Commission, the Department of Infrastructure and the Department of Defence.
Ms Foster has well-established relationships across the APS and significant policy experience, which make her eminently suitable to the role of Secretary.
Foster has been appointed to the role for five years, starting today.
Updated
On that note, I am going to hand you over to the lovely Steph Convery who will guide you through the evening. Politics Live will be back at sparrow’s tomorrow morning – until then – take care of you.
Things are beginning to calm down in parliament
But don’t be fooled! There are still two more days for last-minute shenanigans to happen. And if the last few years have been any indication, shenanigans will happen.
Updated
Cap on international students a ‘thought-bubble’ on housing crisis
Education bodies say calls for a tax or cap on international students will do little to slow the housing crisis hitting the nation.
The reforms have been proposed by the Coalition and some economists as a means to ease pressure on Australia’s rental market.
But Labor insiders have told Guardian Australia a cap is unlikely to appear in home affairs minister Clare O’Neil’s upcoming migration review, citing the financial benefit of international students and illogicality of implementation.
The Student Accommodation Council said “short-term thought-bubbles” like a proposed tax would do little to overcome a “multi-decade housing supply deficit”.
Universities Australia Ceo Catriona Jackson said Australia’s long-running housing problems were “not a new issue” and due to “decades of poor planning, workforce shortages and supply issues”.
Any changes must be weighed carefully against the significant contribution international students make.”
Group of Eight deputy chief executive Dr Matthew Brown said international education was “central” to Australia’s future prosperity, while ATN Universities executive director Luke Sheehy said blaming international students on the housing crisis would be “short sighted”.
It’s clear there is a housing shortage in Australia post-pandemic, just as there is in many other countries. But it would be short-sighted to pass the blame onto international students who call Australia home and are such an important part of our communities, while they study here.”
Updated
Rod Sims calls for greenhouse gas monitoring infrastructure
The former consumer watchdog chair has launched a proposal in Parliament House today calling for Australia to establish a network of monitoring stations on land, in the air and from satellites to better measure the release of greenhouse gases.
Sims’ The Superpower Institute published its National Emissions Monitoring Roadmap “to ensure Australia is on track to deliver its obligations under the Paris Agreement.” Sims said:
We are effectively poking around in the dark, guessing what our emissions are and
whether our actions are in fact reducing emissions.The importance of measurement cannot be overstated. At the moment, Australia is lacking the core scientific infrastructure to accurately measure its greenhouse gas emissions.”
Emissions of methane from coalmines, for example, are widely considered to be grossly underestimated, with some analysts suggesting they are double what Australia actually declares under the UN climate convention. Sims added:
Australia does not have an accurate measure of its greenhouse gas emissions. We also do not know what is being emitted on a gas-by-gas basis - with some 30 gases which contribute to global warming.”
The roadmap has been published on The Superpower Institute website.
Updated
Greens senator calls for sober reflection on indefinite detention ruling
Nick McKim has also responded to the high court’s reasons for the indefinite detention decision and has urged “the government, opposition and media to take a deep breath, calm down and soberly reflect on them”.
(That’s because there has been a lot of uncritical coverage of some of the most hysterical comments about this decision, without context or in some case, just plain facts)
McKim:
We welcome the publication of the full reasons for judgment as well as the thorough explanation of the unlawfulness of indefinite immigration detention.
The Parliament as a whole needs to stop panicking, reflect on these reasons in detail, and reject the base politics of fear and division.
Labor in particular needs to end its panicked and xenophobic response, and stop letting Peter Dutton backseat drive its response.
Parliament needs to calmly consider the ramifications of this decision, stop trying to undermine the court, and respect the rule of law.
The Greens will take the necessary time to read the reasons in full before making more detailed comment.”
We urge Labor, the Liberal party and the media to do the same.
Updated
And then there is round three:
In the early part of next year, the government will also introduce legislation into the Commonwealth Parliament to prohibit the domestic manufacture and supply of vapes that do not comply with those conditions.
Currently this is a market largely supplied from overseas through imports.
We’re determined that if we stopped those imports at the border, we don’t see a squeezed balloon effect through a domestic manufacturing industry sprouting up as well. This will be a single piece of legislation through the commonwealth parliament that will cover all state jurisdictions.
When we were initially advised about how to enforce and put in place our comprehensive regulation against these e-cigarettes, we were dealing with the possibility that we would have to see legislation passed through every single parliament in Australia, which will obviously take time, and maximise the lobbying opportunities for the tobacco industry.
I’m pleased to be able to say that all states have agreed that we will pass a single piece of legislation through the Australian parliament, which state authorities will be able to enforce at a state level.
Border force will also be getting some money to tackle the import of vapes.
The press conference went on for seemingly ever (almost long enough for a vape to run out of charge) but that is the main take away.
Updated
Mark Butler then moved on to round two:
From the 1st of March further regulations will take effect that will prohibit the import of any vape, in particular non-disposable or refillable vapes, unless a permit has been obtained from the Office of Drug Protection on approval with conditions set by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Those conditions will include things like: they must be plain pharmaceutical packaging, not with pink unicorns on them and a whole range of other devices to attract young people. There must be no flavourings, they must be plain flavoured.
They must have prescribed levels of nicotine in them rather than the broad range of often dangerous levels of nicotine that our state laboratories and TGA detect in vapes as they are seized around the country. Those will take effect from the 1st of March.
Updated
In a marathon press conference, Mark Butler has laid out the next steps for reforms to vape laws
Vapes are basically a USB stick that contain insane amounts of nicotine and other things which users suck on, producing clouds of vapour, which usually smells like mango or fairyfloss.
(Death comes in all sorts of scents).
One of Butler’s aims since coming in to the health portfolio has been to try and limit the supply of vapes in Australia, given the number of young people, including children, who have been taken in and are now suffering serious health consequences.
Greg Hunt tried, but couldn’t manage it in the time he had left as health minister, so Butler has made it a priority.
So here is round one:
Next month, the government will be presenting to the governor general a regulation for his signature to prohibit the import of all disposable vapes from the 1st of January next year, on New Year’s Day.
These are the vapes that are deliberately sold to our kids. These are the vapes that have pink unicorns on them and bubblegum flavouring, disguised in order for them to hide them in their pencil cases.
This is not a therapeutic good to help hardened smokers kick the habit. This is a good that is deliberately targeted at our kids to recruit them to nicotine addiction and then to cigarette smoking.
Still the biggest preventable cause of death in Australia and we are determined to stamp it out. Also, on the 1st of January we are going to expand the prescribing rights for genuinely therapeutic uses of vapes or e-cigarettes to all doctors and all nurse practitioners so that those hardened smokers who do have a therapeutic need for a vape are able to get it on prescription through their doctor.
Updated
The Albanese government will make further amendments to its Murray Darling Basin legislation as part of a deal that will see the Victorian senator David Van support the bill.
In a joint press conference, the environment minister Tanya Plibersek and the independent senator said they had reached an agreement that would make water leasing an option alongside buybacks.
Plibersek said she had “said all along that water purchase is not the only tool in the box”:
We are looking at on farm and off farm efficiency measures and a range of other options. And with this clarification about leasing that puts another option on the table.
Under the proposal, irrigators would have the option of leasing their water entitlements to the government for a defined period of time, instead of selling their water licence outright.
Plibersek has also agreed to consider the social and economic impacts when making decisions about voluntary water purchases and would make an annual report to parliament about the ways in which she has considered these impacts.
Van said leasing would allow for more “flexibility” in managing how flows were returned to the river system:
By leasing, it takes away some of the damaging impacts that buybacks had.
By losing that in perpetuity part that goes with buybacks, farmers are more likely to want to lease the water back to the Commonwealth holder of environmental water and it gives them flexibility in their business.”
The deal follows a government announcement with the Greens yesterday that included an amendment to ensure an additional 450GL is delivered to the southern basin by 2027.
Environment groups broadly welcomed Monday’s announcement with the Greens as a chance to return the river system to health after years of delays. Some irrigators have objected to a lifting of caps on buybacks due to fears about their potential impacts on regional communities, agriculture and food production.
High court comments appear to clear preventive detention for specific cases of released immigration detainees
In the reasons [for the indefinite detention decision] published on Tuesday, the judges stated that was when “the constitutionally permissible period of executive detention of an alien who has failed to obtain permission to remain in Australia” comes to an end.
But the judges warned that “release from unlawful detention is not to be equated with a grant of a right to remain in Australia”.
“Unless the plaintiff is granted such a right under the Migration Act the plaintiff remains vulnerable to removal under s 198,” they said.
“Nor would grant of that relief prevent detention of the plaintiff on some other applicable statutory basis, such as under a law providing for preventive detention of a child sex offender who presents an unacceptable risk of reoffending if released from custody.”
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has pressed the Albanese government to implement a preventive detention regime of that nature. The court’s comments appear to give that a judicial tick of approval.
The Albanese government has said it agrees in principle with such a move and the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, has said she would re-detain the people released as a result of the NZYQ decision if she could.
Updated
Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to Pat Dodson in the house of representatives, followed by Peter Dutton.
Updated
Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles have released a joint statement:
The Australian Government notes the High Court’s reasons provided this afternoon in relation to its decision on November 8 2023 in NZYQ v. Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs & Anor, a case which the Commonwealth strongly opposed.
Community safety remains the utmost priority of the Government, which will continue to work with authorities to carefully consider the implications of these reasons and finalise rigorous and robust legislation.
Updated
Monique Ryan urges convenience store owners to leave industry group
The independent MP has written to members of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores [AACS] urging them to withdraw their membership due to tobacco industry links.
“We are very concerned that tobacco companies may be using the AACS, and your membership fees, to undermine public health law-making and increase the uptake of tobacco products in Australia,” the letter states.
It was also signed by Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John, a number of Independent MPs including Sophie Scamps and Zoe Daniel, the Public Health Association of Australia, and the Lung Foundation Australia.
The AACS is a lobby group that represents corporate retail brands, small retailers and petrol stations. The letter was sent as a result of the AACS’s refusal to disclose before a Senate hearing whether it had received funding from tobacco or e-cigarette companies in the last five years, as reported by Guardian Australia.
The AACS refused to answer those questions, stating that that information was commercially sensitive. The letter continues;
“This response defies reason, because the AACS had a practice of publishing on its website that it was funded in part by tobacco companies... We know from this publicly-available information that tobacco companies have contributed at least $400,000 to the AACS since 2018; possibly significantly more.
“The refusal to answer questions from Senators is a serious concern. It disregards essential democratic principles. The behaviour may be treated by the Senate as contempt.”
The letter urges AACS members not to be “on the wrong side of history” and to withdraw their membership from the AACS “until we know with certainty
that it does not accept tobacco funding”.
“The mistakes our country has made on tobacco regulation have cost innumerable lives. It will take action from all of us to avoid these mistakes again.”
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Question time ends
If it seemed shorter than usual, it was – there was just under 40 minutes of condolence motions at the beginning.
Updated
Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown asks a question:
Ahead of the global climate summit, thousands have blockaded the world’s biggest coal port in Newcastle, some coal exports were stopped and over 100 people were arrested.
This growing Rising Tide movement says if Labor won’t stop more coal and gas, they will, they’re planning even bigger actions next year, Prime Minister, do you agree … these people are heroes and should be congratulated?
Albanese gives the question to Chris Bowen, which means there will be yelling.
And yes, there is yelling.
Updated
Angus Taylor then steals some more seconds from our lives by asking pretty much the same question about the economy and inflation he asked yesterday, meaning Anthony Albanese gives pretty much the same answer.
Call in Senate to recognise abhorrence of antisemitism and Islamophobia
Back in Senate question time - and a minister, Murray Watt, has urged all Australian politicians to recognise that antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise and are “abhorrent”.
The Coalition’s education spokesperson, Sarah Henderson, asked a series of questions about last Friday’s pro-Palestine protests by students. She raised the concerns of Jewish community leaders and asked:
“What action did the Albanese government take prior to these protests to discourage attendance and encouraging children to remain in school?”
Watt, representing the education minister Jason Clare, said he had heard Clare make a very clear statement publicly that his expectation was that students should be in school.
Watt said ultimately decisions about the operation of schools were matters for state and territory governments and the non-government sector, but Clare’s position on the issue was “utterly clear”. Watt added:
More broadly … we think it’s important that all of these matters be put in a non-partisan, non-inflammatory manner and I’d encourage all senators in approaching and discussing these issues to recognise that there are members in all parts of our community who are extremely upset about the events that are going on at the moment.
Of course we recognise that the Jewish community is going through great pain in our community at the moment as the result of the events in the Middle East and equally members of our Islamic communities are going through great pain as well, so I would encourage all senators again to consider that in terms of their public contributions on this topic.
Henderson, in a follow-up question, pointed to reports of antisemitism rising across the world, including in Australia, and asked what steps the Albanese government was taking to counter antisemitic material that targeted young people.
Watt responded that antisemitism was on the rise in Australia, as was Islamophobia:
I think it is important that all Australian politicians recognise that both of these things are occurring, that both are wrong, and that both need to be condemned.
Updated
Andrew Giles continues:
The Australian community should be assured that all efforts, coordinated under operation Aegis are being made to track down this individual. I commend the work of the Australian Border Force and the Australian Federal Police, working with state and territory law enforcement issues, to ensure community safety.
And I might say two other things, speaker, if I may, on this.
Firstly, the High Court has just handed down its reasons for the decision in the matter that led to this, which the matter of course the Commonwealth vigorously opposed the case brought by the plaintiff. I made that very clear.
We’ll be considering those reasons for decisions and I hope working with all members and indeed, all senators, to put in place a strong legal framework, an enduring legal framework for community safety.
But on that note, I remind shadow minister and all members, a bill passed through the House yesterday, a bill passed through the house to strengthen the regime for community safety.
There is then a bunch of interjections, point of orders which are not point of orders and more yelling, before Giles is allowed to finish:
I think the issue here is the shadow minister knows I have directly dealt with his question but he doesn’t like being reminded that twice yesterday, twice yesterday, he voted against offence provisions, offence provisions that go to visa conditions that he proposed to keep people safe. He voted also against the arrangements to improve electronic monitoring.
He, like the Leader of the Opposition, likes to talk tough, he likes to talk about strength, but his voting record is exactly the opposite. Tough talk does not keep communities safe. Strong laws do. Why won’t they vote for them?
Updated
Oh goody. It’s Dan Tehan time
When was the minister first made aware that after he released 141 hardcore criminals*, one of those criminals absconded? Can the minister inform the House the nature of this individual’s crimes, and does the minister know where this individual is now?
*They are not all ‘hardcore’ criminals and it was the high court which ordered the release, not the minister. And in Australia, if you are an Australian and you have completed your custodial sentence, you get released into the community. That’s how it works. Politicians do not get to lock you up again, because they want to. And now the high court has ruled that indefinite detention is unconstitutional.
Andrew Giles:
Of course, it was the high court that required the release of the detainees. And this government, like all governments, is required to abide by the decisions of the high court. Now, in respect of the issue he raises, I should be very, very clear about a couple of things. The first one is he would be well aware, as all members would be well aware, this government does not comment on operational or individual matters.
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Sussan Ley rephrases the question to Julie Collins so it ends up:
I refer to her unfortunate interview this morning on ABC News Breakfast. The Liberal and National parties categorically, categorically rule out ever taxing the family home. Will the minister join us and rule out categorically ever taxing the family home?
Again, because Dolly forbid leaders ever examine options which might address inequality and look at I don’t know, doing things differently when the times demand it. No, we must just rule out changing anything ever, because that is how elections are won.
Julie Collins:
As I said in the interview, we absolutely are not doing anything for the family home that the member is indicating that we are.
Which is almost a sentence.
Updated
It is unclear what Anthony Albanese was referring to earlier when implying that the Coalition might not have always raised dangerous incidents with China.
However, in the lead-up to the 2022 election the then Coalition government did accuse a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA-N) warship of undertaking a “dangerous, unprofessional and reckless” incident when it used a laser to illuminate an Australian P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft.
Experts said at the time that the incident represented an escalation from a previous incident in the South China Sea in 2019 when Australian helicopter pilots were forced to land as a precaution.
Then a week before the 2022 election, Peter Dutton publicised the presence of a Chinese spy ship in Australia’s exclusive economic zone off the coast of Western Australia - something that Dutton branded an “aggressive act” but international law experts said appeared to be lawful.
Deputy opposition leader tries to derail housing minister
Sussan Ley is back and she is asking Julie Collins about her “trainwreck interview” on ABC News Breakfast. So if that was a trainwreck then I am not sure what Dan Tehan’s interview on RN Breakfast was.
Updated
Penny Wong questioned in Senate on UN nuclear weapon vote
Over in Senate question time, the foreign affairs minister has defended Australia’s decision to abstain in a UN vote on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.
Under questioning from the independent senator David Pocock, Wong said Australia had made legally binding commitments not to seek nuclear weapons, and shared the ambition of a world free of nuclear weapons - but said any progress must involve nuclear-armed countries.
Pocock’s question was referring to the UN General Assembly’s First Committee late last month and why Australia had abstained on a resolution that stressed “that it is in the interest of the very survival of humanity that nuclear weapons never be used again, under any circumstances”.
(Australia, while not having any of its own nuclear weapons, relies on the US “nuclear umbrella” to deter such attacks against Australia. The Aukus plan is for nuclear-powered submarines, not nuclear-armed ones.)
Wong replied that Australia recognised “the devastating consequences for humanity of any use of nuclear weapons” and was taking a “considered approach” to the relatively new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which does not currently have any nuclear-armed states on board:
We all know that nuclear-armed states must be part of any nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime.
Wong said Australia was committed to the longstanding Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and also the Treaty of Rarotonga - the treaty setting up the South Pacific as a nuclear weapons-free zone. More on the latter treaty here:
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Allegra Spender has the first of the crossbench questions today
She asks Anthony Albanese:
In August, national cabinet committed to strengthening renters rights by ending no grounds evictions, limiting rent increases to once a year, and phasing in rental standards. But three months on, not enough has changed. Renters have facing the highest rent increases since 2009, rising power bills because of poor home energy performance. When will the commitments made by national cabinet be implemented across all states and territories? And will this include ending no cause evictions at the end of a fixed term?
Anthony Albanese goes through what the states have done in this space, but no cause evictions at the end of a fixed term remain in most case
We know that a lot of people across Australia are finding it tough to find an affordable place to rent. More than 30% of Australians were renting a home at the last census, we hear renters’ concerns and we’re acting to address them. That’s why national cabinet in August, the Commonwealth, state and territory governments committed to a better deal for renters. To harmonise and strengthen renters’ rights across Australia. I’m asked about what has happened since then. Because, obviously state and territory governments are responsible for the implementation of that. And I can indicate to the member for Wentworth that national cabinet next Wednesday, where of course will hear a report from states and territories as well about the actions that they are taking.
Meanwhile, a new report out today has found that in some cities, mortgage repayments are cheaper than rent.
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Anthony Albanese then finishes with this:
I make this point to someone who sat on the NSC [National Security Council] for a period of time and all of that.
That every - every incident with China on this government’s watch, every incident that has impacted every Australian defence force personnel, has been revealed publicly, has been gone directly to China as well, to make our position clear.
On this government’s watch...on this government’s watch, that has always happened. And that’s something I’ll be interested in whether that can be said across the board.
Albanese runs out of time, but appears to be implying that the Coalition did not make everything public or did not approach China after an incident.
Updated
Question time resumes normal service
It’s cool though, because the next question from Peter Dutton cements everything back in place:
“Prime minister, Australian sailors were injured by the reckless actions of the PLA Navy. Why didn’t the prime minister raise the issue in his meeting with President Xi?”
Anthony Albanese:
The premise of the comments by the leader of the opposition are wrong. Are wrong. What we do when we organise these things, people who have actually, I raised yesterday the quote of the leader of the opposition himself, when asked about his dealings, he said, “there was engagement with Fiji and as to private conversations, detailed briefings that were conducted by DFAT and others, that’s not something we will publicly comment on.” Look, in relation to what I said, or what my office said on briefings, I’m not going to comment on that.
You said yesterday, I quoted as well, just to keep both sides of this dysfunctional political organisation on that side, I quoted both Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott
Albanese goes through previous Coalition leaders who have not spoken about their private chats with the leaders of other nations.
I know it might seem a little strange, because text messages between Scott Morrison and the French president literally appeared in a newspaper, but for the most part, conversations are kept private.
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After almost 38 minutes of condolence motions, we all then get whiplash with the first dixer which is on the capacity mechanism.
Peter Dutton then breaks down as he reads the last few lines of the letter:
101 is Charles Hinchcliffe Stevens. Charlie boy, Chaz, Links, Steve... You loved life and gave so much to so many. You’re a force of nature and we’ll never forget your beautiful cheeky disarming smile. Son, brother, grandson, uncle, nephew, cousin, friend, workmate, teammate, so much more than just a number on a tragic tally.
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Minister for defence industry says Aukus pact can survive political turmoil
Pat Conroy, has insisted that the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine plan “can survive any changes of administration in the United States” including a potential Donald Trump return to the White House.
After his National Press Club address today, Conroy was asked by several reporters about the plan’s durability, given it must survive multiple changes of president and congress in the decades ahead.
Two reports by congressional researchers - including the Congressional Budget Office - have highlighted the Australian government’s insistence that it is not pre-committing to join the US in a potential war against China. Researchers in Washington DC have pointed to this as a cause for concern about implications of the plan for deterring China, given that the US is planning to sell Australia at least three and as many as five Virginia class submarines in the 2030s.
When asked whether Australia had a plan B if the US ends up not selling the Virginia class submarines to Australia, Conroy said he was “very confident that we will continue to get strong support from the US government and the US political system for the optimal pathway”. He said:
In all the conversations I’ve had with senators and representatives, both Republican and Democrat, there has been overwhelming support for this because it’s something that assists the alliance, something that increases the industrial base of all three countries [including the UK] and I am confident that the US system will continue to support it.
Conroy was then asked specifically: “Do you think Aukus can survive Donald Trump as president or a Donald Trump-like president?”
The minister replied:
I am very confident that the Aukus arrangements can survive any changes of administration in the United States because it has strong bipartisan support over the long-term ... and the US representatives made it very clear to me that they are supporting this not out of charity but ... they support it because it’s in the interests of the United States.
So I am very confident about the normal democratic processes that, whatever future administrations there are in the hypothetical future - and I have to be very careful, I am not commenting on the US political system, the people of America will make that choice - but there is strong bipartisan support for Aukus across both parties of government.
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Peter Dutton then reads the letter in its entirety.
He is overcome with emotion at parts of it.
Anthony Albanese continues:
It is where 101 lived. Charlie was the 101st life lost on South Australia and roads this year. The letter comes to this. 101 is Charles Stevens, Charlie, Charlie boy, he lived life and gave so much to so many.
You were a force of nature and we will never forget your beautiful, cheeky smile.
It’s little wonder that journalist who asked to read a letter on air broke down in tears. It is so deeply personal, so perfectly true to the life of one young man in one loving family. And yet it is somehow so universal.
So faithful to the joyful chaos of perfect mess, the vibrancy of our children as they grow into young adults. And so achingly powerful as it deals with every parent’s very worst fear.
Yet even knowing that what prompted the letter is a cruel injustice of a young man snatched away from all who loved him and all he loved, should watch on not in anger or despair, it’s an enduring and eternal love. That this letter was not written in this social sympathy, it was published to make us think, to ask us to reflect on the true nature of the road toll.
Not a number, but the bright and beloved part of the universe. And a toll that has taken on all of those who are left with me with memories. Our hearts go out to Charlie’s family and to every family that has ever been left to pick up the pieces.
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Question time begins, but the first question is not the usual type of QT question. Peter Dutton asks:
As the prime minster is aware, earlier this month Charlie Stevens, the son of the South Australian Police commissioner tragically passed away as the result of an alleged hit-and-run, can the prime ministership of the house’s response to the tragedy?
Anthony Albanese:
I thank the leader of the opposition for his question that we discussed him asking today.
Last week a great many Australians read the extraordinary open letter from the South Australia Police Commissioner Grant Stevens and his wife Emma. About their youngest son Charlie. In their words a loveable ratbag from the moment he could talk. Tragically it was his parents that way the broken hearts, just hours after Commissioner Stevens addressed the state about the tragic shooting death of police officer Jason Doig, he received the news no parents ever want to get.
Charlie was the victim of an alleged hit-and-run incident. The letter begins “I’m writing to sitting in a bedroom with dirty clothes on the floor and unmade bed, six drinking glasses lined up on the bedside table, an empty care see box next to the glasses, wardrobe doors left open and a row of skateboards winning on the wall. It is a mess and it’s perfect.”
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High court reveals reasons for immigration detention ruling
The high court has revealed its reasons for unanimously ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful where there is no real prospect of deporting the non-citizen.
On Tuesday the court published its reasons, revealing that all seven justices decided to overturn the precedent case of Al-Kateb, which has underpinned Australia’s system of mandatory immigration detention since 2004.
In joint reasons, the seven judges said reasoning in Al-Kateb was “incomplete and, accordingly, inaccurate” in finding that detention is not punitive as long as its purpose is to make the non-citizen available for deportation.
On 8 November the court ordered that the plaintiff NZYQ, a 28 to 30-year-old stateless Rohingyan man, be released because there was “no real prospect of his removal from Australia becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future”.
The Australian government had asked six countries to resettle NZYQ, who pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse with a 10-year old and served a non-parole period of three years and four months before entering immigration detention. All but the US said no; it promised to take a “hard look” at the case.
The decision caught the Albanese government by surprise, with internal advice and public statements by the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, indicating it had expected a result in early 2024.
That NZYQ decision resulted in the release of 141 people from immigration detention so far, and a package of emergency legislation to impose electronic monitoring and curfews on people released.
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Independents unhappy with speed of IR bill
While the Greens have backed the IR bill in the House, their lower house colleagues on the crossbench are not as enthusiastic - instead very unhappy that the government is, in their words, seeking to “shove” this reform through the House of Reps before Christmas.
Helen Haines has accused the government of being “silly” and now exhibiting a “pattern” of rushing legislation, running roughshod over concerns raised by the House crossbenchers - a significant cooling of previously warm relations between Labor and the “teal” movements and independents.
The independent crossbenchers Allegra Spender, Rebekha Sharkie, Helen Haines, Kylea Tink, Kate Chaney and Sophie Scamps held a very large press conference earlier, voicing their concern at the hundred amendments to the bill that have lobbed today, and calling again on the government to delay the bill until 2024.
The fact that even if the bill passed the House today, it wouldn’t be voted on in the upper house until a Senate inquiry reports in February, has added weight to the independents’ call for delay.
Spender accused the government of a “bad way of doing legislation”, saying her fellow crossbenchers would introduce their own amendments tomorrow. She pleaded with the government to “slow down” and “let’s get it right”.
Tink said the government “don’t need to shove legislative reform through”. Sharkie urged them to “do it once and do it right”.
Haines accused the government of a “pattern now of rushing legislation”. She said Christmas deadlines to pass legislation were “silly”, noting that the impacts of the IR bill wouldn’t be felt until 1 July 2024 anyway - saying there was no rush. Haines said the crossbench would have to “magically speed read” the massive swathe of amendments before voting on them, saying the last few weeks had seen the government rush through a few pieces of legislation.
Sharkie suggested the government could add an extra House sitting week next week, noting there had been a week deleted from the sitting calendar - as well as claiming there had been “very few sitting weeks” anyway.
Sharkie said the truncated sitting calendar had seen the “temperature” of parliament rise, leading to rushed legislation.
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Robbie Katter wants action on Queensland rats
Katter’s Australian party has demanded more support from the state government to manage a plague of rats that have caused “havoc” in parts of north Queensland.
A rat infestation sparked by a heavy wet season has affected a multitude of towns in outback Queensland including Richmond, Cloncurry and Julia Creek.
A sea of long-haired rats have washed up dead in Karumba, with others scurrying into homes and garden sheds.
The leader of the KAP, Robbie Katter, said the lack of support from the state government was “disappointing”.
I mean, we’re not expecting the Pied Piper of Hamelin to come through... but it would be nice if there’s a biosecurity officer to go up there and talk to people to say what measures can we do?” he said.
KAP member for Hinchinbrook, Nick Dametto, said an infestation of climbing rats had hit farmers hard.
The rats in the Herbert district have absolutely been causing havoc.
We’re requesting that the [agriculture] minister come up. Get up there, get those R.M. Williams dirty and make sure that you’re understanding the problem.”
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The amendments, as outlined by the Greens, include:
Placing “the theft of superannuation in a similar legal category as wage theft, ensuring that workers are protected against bosses failing to pay.”
“Ensures that teachers and lecturers can’t be considered to be undertaking seasonal work. A loophole was seeing teachers fired after their teaching terms expired, only to be rehired in the new year. This will ensure that teachers’ work across the year is appropriately recognised as full time work, even in holidays.”
“Intractable bargaining: Undoes an existing unintended loophole by making sure employers can’t stonewall and delay enterprise agreement negotiations in hopes of pushing it off to arbitration where they can seek to remove hard-won conditions.”
Bandt said the amendments would “help fix problems that have seen workers’ superannuation stolen, left teachers unprotected from being pushed into casual work, and given big employers the upper hand in enterprise bargaining negotiations.”
The Greens haven’t agreed to back it in the Senate though (which is where the real battle will be), and have set their support for the price of “a right to disconnect” - that is, for workers to switch off from emails and calls after hours.
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Greens secure IR bill amendments
We’ve got more details on the industrial relations amendments the Greens have negotiated in exchange for their support on the Closing Loopholes bill - with the headline one being around criminalising superannuation theft.
As we brought you earlier, the Greens will back the bill in the lower house (the Senate is a different story) in exchange for three amendments: on super theft, to break “intractable bargaining” with bosses and a relatively technical protection that certain teachers and uni lecturers won’t be classed as casuals and can’t be fired after undertaking seasonal work.
Adam Bandt and Barbara Pocock said in a statement:
The Greens have secured important amendments to the Closing Loopholes Bill that will improve the government’s proposed changes to our industrial relations system.
With these amendments secured, the Greens will support the Closing Loopholes Bill in the House of Representatives, while Greens Senator Barbara Pocock continues to fight for further concessions, including the Right to Disconnect, in the Senate. The Greens are reserving their position in the Senate.”
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David Van addresses sexual misconduct allegations
David Van has made his first public remarks in response to a parliamentary workplace inquiry into sexual misconduct allegations made against him, sparked by a referral from his former leader, Peter Dutton.
The Liberal-turned-independent senator in June denied all wrongdoing and said he had been denied a presumption of innocence after multiple inappropriate touching allegations were made against him.
In a press conference alongside environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, on Tuesday afternoon, Van declined to respond whether there had been an outcome to the inquiry conducted by the parliamentary workplace support service.
I’m not going to talk to you - that’s an ongoing confidential process so, [reporter], I’m not going to talk about that at all.”
The independent senator Lidia Thorpe had alleged Van had acted inappropriately against her in June – a claim he has denied.
Dutton confirmed he had stood Van down from the Liberal party room and referred the claims to the PWSS after “further allegations” had been brought to his attention.
The PWSS was made permanent support service for politicians and staff in October, offering advice and support on dealing with sexual assault and misconduct allegations within the building.
While it has no power to sanction MPs or senators found to have engaged in any wrongdoing, it has interim powers to review complaints and make recommendations.
Discussions are underway to establish an independent parliamentary standards commission before mid-next year, which will have the power to issue potential sanctions.
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Question time will start very soon, but first there will be a condolence motion for the former governor general, Bill Hayden.
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Israeli ambassador’s message of appreciation to Coalition partyroom
One Coalition member passed on comments by the Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon, who was not in the party room, who reportedly said the “most important message” he wanted to pass on to the party was an appreciation of the moral clarity between Israel, as a Liberal democratic state, and Hamas, as a terrorist organisation.
The message reportedly passed on was that the Coalition not give in to pressure for moral equivalence.
Beyond the conflict in Gaza, the shadow communications minister, David Coleman, is on a campaign pushing for the federal government to trial age verification for pornography and gambling sites.
Coleman suspended the standing orders to try to force debate on his private member’s bill that would address the issue but it will be deferred to later this afternoon.
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Dutton tells Coalition partyroom it will return to government after just one term
The Coalition held its party room meeting earlier today where Peter Dutton delivered a strikingly positive message to his colleagues.
The opposition leader told Liberal and National party members it was charting a course to return to government after just one term, flagging “significant policy announcements” in the new year.
Dutton also welcomed Dave Sharma to the party room, who has returned as a senator after being ousted by teal MP Allegra Spender at the last federal election.
The Nationals leader David Littleproud used his address to thank Dutton for “starting” the national discussion on nuclear energy.
On bills, the opposition said it would oppose the federal government’s attempts to legislate a Respect@Work report recommendation that would lessen financial barriers for those wanting to take sexual harassment claims to court.
There were “big discussions” around the Queensland government’s ban on gill net fishing, which members said would shut down fishing and hospitality businesses.
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Dodson: ‘We cannot do anything without people in this place collaborating together’
Patrick Dodson finishes that press conference with these words:
If you are about justice and dignity and about honour, and if you are about integrity [in] this country, then you work towards the achievement of those things and you work towards assisting the population to understand the necessity of those things and the celebration of those matters when you achieve the outcomes.
They are all in front of us.
Wouldn’t we as Australians want to embrace that and work in a positive way towards those positive outcomes, instead of wallowing in disagreement and division and discord and hatred and delivering nothing?
… We cannot do anything without people in this place collaborating together in a positive way, with the same objectives, or with similar objectives, because if you do not have that, you will continue to have this division and discord … where we are all diminished as a consequence because this rubs off on to all of us as Australians.
It is not just the politicians. It rubs off on all of us as Australians and we will wear the cost of this if we do not come to grips with this.
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‘We love him’: Linda Burney speaks of Dodson’s contribution to ‘life of this nation’
Linda Burney then spoke on Patrick Dodson:
As you can see, there is great love for Patrick, and in the caucus this morning, a standing ovation – I think I can say that – after Patrick spoke.
I have known Patrick since 1995, so it is a very long time, and he has been part of all our lives, part of the life of this parliament, but importantly, part of the life of this nation, and his contribution – what he has allowed us to see, what his entire life has been about – is the rights of First Nations people, but as you can hear from his wisdom, also the role of non-Indigenous Australia.
We love him.
We will not miss him because we are going to hassle the hell out of him.
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Patrick Dodson:
I am concerned that the nation has to now reconsider its integrity and its honour.
Dodson: UN human rights declaration on Indigenous people’s rights needs to be considered
Does Pat Dodson have any thoughts on how Australia moves forward?
Dodson:
One is obviously going to be something about the social redress, closing the gaps in those sorts of social inequities that first peoples experience as citizens of the country.
…We need to go back and seriously look at the human rights declaration on Indigenous peoples rights. We need to go back to look at the importance of the significance of United Nations declarations and covenants to give us standards and guidance on measures.
Dodson said economic independence for Indigenous people also needs to be high on the agenda.
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Dodson has courage in Labor ‘not to capitulate’ to naysayers
Pat Dodson continues:
I have great faith in the Labor party to take on these challenges with courage and not to capitulate against the naysayers on the other side or in the public space, who seek to intimidate us from upholding the better standards that we are capable of as Australians.
They are my opening comments. My formal retirement from the Senate will be on the 26 January. It’s three days before my 76th birthday and it’s a Friday. It will be a good day to retire.
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Dodson: ‘serious challenges to the underpinning social fabric’ after referendum no vote
The Labor senator Patrick Dodson, known as the “father of reconciliation”, is holding a press conference after announcing his retirement from the senate, due to ill health.
Dodson is asked about the legacy of the no vote in the referendum and says:
The 60/40 split of that vote makes it an Australian problem. Not an Aboriginal problem.
We need to seriously think. This concerns me leaving this place.We need to seriously think of the way in which our civil society [comes] together with diverse differences.
We can’t take that for granted and it is not just First Nations peoples and not Indigenous peoples, this is a Australian problem we now have and it’s the legacy of the success of the no voters. It’s the legacy of the no voters.
In my sense of analysis of that vote, the jury is still out. Many Australians have goodwill, possibly didn’t know the implications and the complexity of what the provision was about.
That requires … consultation and I accept that. And as a nation not only do we still have the ongoing problem and challenges of colonisation and settlements of its impact for the first peoples, we now have, if we’re not careful, serious challenges to the underpinning social fabric of our society from these successful nature of our multicultural integration and achievements.
So they are the challenges for us as a nation as I see them.
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Refugee council of Australia backs calls for inquiry into immigration detention
The refugee council of Australia has welcomed the push for a royal commission into Australia’s detention regime.
RCOA CEO, Paul Power, says legislation introduced by Kylea Tink provided “a clear path forward in ensuring that detention is only used when necessary and for the shortest time possible”.
Australia holds people in immigration detention far longer than any comparable country – 708 days as of August 2023.
For years RCOA has put forward a series of submissions and reports strongly recommending the end of arbitrary detention, noting that, in the words of 2010 Australian of the Year Prof Patrick McGorry, detention centres are ‘factories for producing mental illness and mental disorder’.
Sadly, these recommendations have not been implemented by successive governments.
A royal commission into the use of immigration detention is urgently needed to highlight the harm that detention has caused and show a clear way forward.
Many billions of dollars have been spent in the name of the Australian people on harsh detention policies which have caused great distress and done little or nothing to resolve people’s migration status.
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Gambling ad ban among measures recommended by Victorian parliamentary inquiry
A Labor-led Victorian parliamentary inquiry has recommended banning gambling advertising in public places and political donations from the industry, as well as a review of a tax minimisation scheme for poker-machine venues.
The public accounts and estimates committee report, tabled in parliament on Tuesday, urges the government to “ban gambling advertising in areas that come under state jurisdiction, such as public places”.
It also calls for the state to follow South Australia and introduce stricter rules around gaming advertising during TV prime time.
And as we reported last week, the inquiry also recommended changes to the so-called “community benefit” scheme for pokies venues.
The scheme allows gaming machine revenue to be taxed at a lower rate, provided 8.33% of gambling revenue was invested back into the community but the money has largely been reinvested into the clubs’ own operating costs and upgrades, rather than going to charities.
The inquiry calls on the government to “review the purpose of the community benefits arrangements and what percentage of gaming revenue is being redirected into the community, as opposed to being spent on operational expenses and expenditure aimed at increasing clientele”.
It also suggests replacing the scheme with a “publicly-managed fund targeted towards reducing and preventing gambling harm”.
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RBA has to be ‘a little bit careful’ and not impose on economy too much: governor
On cue, the RBA governor, Michele Bullock, has chimed in as part of a “high level conference” panel she is attending in Hong Kong. (So too is her predecessor, Philip Lowe, by the looks.)
Bullock talked a bit about the increase in interest rate creating “a lot of political noise” in the wider community. But “despite that noise” the balance sheets of households and businesses were in “a pretty good position”.
She noted the “political economy challenges” of the “distributional issues” of raising rates that hit some people a lot harder than others. Employment, though, will be key to how the economy absorbs the higher borrowing costs.
We’re at a period where we have to be a little bit careful.
We want to make sure we keep inflation under control and we bring it back down to our [2%-3%] band.
But we also need to make sure we do that in a context of not imposing on the economy too much, and raising the unemployment rate so much.
Those comments will probably reinforce the view that the RBA won’t be lifting its cash rate for a 14th time in this cycle when the RBA board meets again next Tuesday. After that, there’s not another meeting until 6 February.
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Pocock and Lambie hoping to pass IR bills before Christmas via ‘conference’
Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock want to hold a conference between the two Houses of Parliament to discuss passing their four private senator bills.
The conference (which I don’t think is going to happen, and yet I cannot stop talking about it) would be Lambie and Pocock, with four government senators and four Coalition senators and two Green senators talking to counterparts in the house.
Lambie and Pocock want their bills passed before Christmas (you can see more details on those bills here).
Lambie:
Senator Pocock and I want these protections in place by Christmas, and Minister Burke can give these vulnerable Australians the support they need right now. All he has to do is put his big boy pants on and vote for his own legislation. It was a mistake putting these protections into a bill the government knew would be controversial and would therefore take time.
I am sure that like Senator Pocock and I, Minister Burke wants what is best for the Australian people, sometimes that means admitting your mistakes and fixing them.
Pocock:
I am asking Minister Burke to please, put first responders first, put survivors of family and domestic violence first, and pass these elements which have the capacity to literally save lives.
We saw amendments introduced into the house with more still to come which highlights the exact point Senator Lambie and I have been making – this big bill needs more time to get it right.”
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Last conference between Houses of Parliament was in 1931
Thank you to the secret squirrel staffer who looked into Odgers (the Senate bible for those who have a life) who confirmed that yes, a “conference” between the house and the senate was held in 1931. The senate sitting was suspended until the conference between the two Houses of Parliament was concluded.
When the two houses finished their conference, the bells were rung and the Senate went back to sitting.
I will point out that in 1931 they didn’t have email and that maybe there are other ways to speak among MPs now.
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There are three separate press conferences happening at the same time in the mural hall right now.
(Crossbenchers, David Van and Tanya Plibersek and I don’t know, maybe aliens have been discovered.)
Following that, Pat Dodson will stand up at 1.30pm. (Not with the PM, I read the alert wrong, but thankfully PMO reads the blog – *waves*.)
And then we will go into QT.
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House unlikely to agree to conference with Senate
So I think when it comes to this “conference” between the Senate and the House of Representatives, the house also has to agree. Sort of like when you try to bring your divorced parents together for Christmas.
So the Senate may have said yes, but the house still gets a say about whether it agrees or not.
I do not know whether there is some sort of tribal council bonfire, or whether people put names in a hat to vote someone off Parliament Island, or if it is more of a Real Housewives reunion vibe, but I am going to guess we won’t find out because the house is not going to agree to this.
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Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock request ‘conference’ between houses for first time since 1950
OK. As a nice little gift before Christmas, Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock have a moved a motion in the senate requesting a “conference” between the two Houses of Parliament.
A what, you may ask?
A conference.
Between the Senate and the house.
Is this a thing?
Excellent question.
It has not been asked for since 1950.
And it has not been successfully held since 1932.
Now, this place may have aged me beyond all recognition of my years, but not even I have any inkling of this “conference”, so well done to the staffer who hit the library books and found that one.
Conferences between the Senate and the House of Representatives are a means of seeking agreement on a bill when the usual procedure of exchanging messages fails or is inadequate to promote a full understanding and agreement on the issues involved.
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Retail turnover data released ahead of RBA meeting next week
There aren’t many batches of data to come before the Reserve Bank meets again this time next week to consider interest rates. (How time flies …)
One of the batches was retail turnover in October that landed a little while ago from the ABS. Sales sank 0.2% for the month, versus expectations of a (tiny) 0.1% rise.
October's retail sales disappointed, dropping 0.2% (vs market forecasts of a 0.1% rise). (Source: @ABSStats ) pic.twitter.com/ffa4yegi8V
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) November 28, 2023
It was the first monthly decline since June. The 1.2% year on year increase was also the lowest since August 2020 (when it was a negative).
Last month, most sectors saw a reduction in sales for most categories (and most parts of the country).
Most retail sales categories saw a drop last month. (And most states saw a drop too, led by Victoria's 0.8% decline, with NSW off 0.5%, while WA saw sales pick up 0.8%.) pic.twitter.com/wCxhCfFbXt
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) November 28, 2023
We’ll get October CPI numbers tomorrow, which may nudge the RBA to end the year with another rate rise but that’s still only about a one-in-10 chance, according to the ASX tracker.
RBA governor Michele Bullock is currently on a panel speaking in Hong Kong. We’ll keep an ear out but it’s likely she’ll stay pretty stumm.
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The independent senator David Van will be holding a press conference with Labor’s Tanya Plibersek in just a few short minutes.
Given Plibersek’s focus, looks like Van is another vote in the senate for the Murray-Darling basin plan.
There haven’t been many public appearances from Van since June.
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Conroy accuses Aukus critics of ‘turning a blind eye to our security challenges’
Pat Conroy said he was reaching back to the 1930s “not to make simplistic historic parallels” but “because today, as in the 1930s, there are some who are turning a blind eye to our security challenges”.
He did not directly name the people he contended were doing so. But later in the speech, Conroy said while he had great respect for Keating, the former prime minister had made “incorrect” assertions.
Conroy also took aim at the Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, and the former Liberal foreign minister, Alexander Downer, for suggesting “that we should buy [submarines] from some mythical show room in the United States”.
And Conroy said that Turnbull’s suggestion of building the French Barracuda submarine using low-enriched uranium “would require refuelling the nuclear reactor on each submarine every 10 years in another country”.
“This would raise difficult issues around access to another nation’s facilities in times of conflict or possibly in competition with their domestic priorities,” Conroy said.
The US Congressional Budget Office last month raised fresh concerns about Aukus, just one day after the US president, Joe Biden, assured the visiting prime minister, Anthony Albanese, that the deal would ultimately be approved by congress.
The US plans to sell Virginia class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia in the 2030s before Adelaide-built submarines start to enter service from the 2040s.
But the CBO published a report warning the planned sale of between three and five Virginia-class boats to Australia in the 2030s “would reduce the number of attack submarines available to the [US] Navy”.
The report – which said US shipyards were already “struggling” to meet existing demand – may embolden the Republican senator Roger Wicker and other Aukus sceptics who are worried about the impact on the US’s own submarine needs.
Conroy insisted on Tuesday that the Aukus plan was “underpinned by very strong US congressional support”.
He said Albanese and senior Australian ministers had been “met with a very strong commitment by congressional leaders, Democrats and Republicans, Senators and Representatives, to get this done”.
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Defence industry minister says Aukus criticisms ‘egregiously unfair and unrealistic’
The Albanese government has taken aim at “egregiously unfair” criticisms of the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine plan, while accusing some critics of “turning a blind eye to our security challenges” akin to the 1930s.
The minister for defence industry, Pat Conroy, criticised the former Labor prime minister Paul Keating along with several Liberal party figures in a speech to the press club on Tuesday as he complained that “Aukus attracts myths like a hull attracts barnacles”.
The nuclear-powered submarine plan is forecast to cost $268bn to $368bn between now and the mid-2050s, but Conroy said the criticism of the expense was “one of the most egregiously unfair and unrealistic criticisms” of Aukus “unless you are arguing for unilateral disarmament”.
Conroy said the federal government’s health spending will be more than $8tn to 2055 – “more than 20 times the projected cost of the nuclear-powered submarine program over that same time period”.
He also took aim at “the stickiest barnacle of them all”, that Australia loses sovereignty by acquiring this capability, an argument made by both Keating and Malcolm Turnbull.
He insisted that “the reverse is true” because the submarines would be under Australian command and would give Australia access to a “high end capability” without need for refuelling.
Conroy said Australia was facing its most challenging strategic environment since the end of the second world war, but he said that era provided “important lessons about the need to invest in defence”.
A month before Hitler invaded Poland, with imperial Japan entering the third year of war with China, the Menzies government rejected a proposal to increase [Australia’s] tiny force to 7,500 permanent soldiers – because it would cost too much.
Such were the mistakes of appeasement in foreign policy and the fiscal orthodoxies of the day.
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The Liberal party’s newest senator-elect, Dave Sharma, is in the building today.
He won’t be signed into the Senate until later in the week – that is dependent on the NSW parliament getting around to confirming his appointment making it official-official.
I could make a joke here about how NSW Labor has the opportunity to do the funniest thing here … but it has been done. It won’t shock you to know Joh Bjelke-Petersen was involved, in what became known as the “night of the long prawns” and some believe was the first domino in the downfall of the Whitlam government.
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(Continued from previous post)
Linda Burney continued her tribute to Pat Dodson:
That he returned to work after serious health challenges, to be part of the Yes campaign, is a great testament to his strength and dedication.
Patrick has a long history of advocating for justice for First Nations peoples, including as a Commissioner for the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1989.
He has carried the stories of those who died in custody with him into Federal Parliament, where he has been a staunch advocate for justice - seeking to turn around the rates of Indigenous incarceration and deaths in custody that remain a national shame.
Known as the Father of Reconciliation, Senator Dodson has spent many years advancing reconciliation. I worked with him during his term as the inaugural chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
Since he was sworn in to the Senate in May 2016, Patrick Dodson has been a tireless advocate for the people of Western Australia.
As the Prime Minister has said, the moment Patrick entered Parliament, he made this place a better one.
As he leaves the nation’s capital and returns to Yawuru country, I wish him all the very best. He leaves a remarkable legacy which we all have a responsibility to continue.
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Burney pays tribute to ‘dear friend’ Dodson amid retirement news
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, has also released a statement in response to Pat Dodson’s news he will be retiring from the Senate for health reasons:
I pay tribute to my dear friend and Yawuru man Senator Patrick Dodson, who has today announced his retirement from the Federal Parliament.
Patrick has dedicated his life to improving the lives of Indigenous Australians, and deserves our deepest respect and gratitude.
I first met Patrick in 1995, when we worked together on the Recognition, Rights and Reform report for the Keating government.
Over many years, his courage and wisdom has been a powerful source of support.
His work on constitutional recognition spans many years. He was Co-Chair of the Expert Panel for Constitutional Recognition and the Co-Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition.
It was an immense privilege to work with him as the Special Envoy for Reconciliation and Implementation of the Uluru Statement.
(Continued in next post)
Updated
Labor partyroom thanks Dodson for ‘life of courage and service’
Pat Dodson received an extended standing ovation from his Labor colleagues in the government partyroom this morning, after announcing his plan to retire in January next year.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, as he did in a written statement earlier, described Dodson in the meeting as having brought “honour, decency and respect” to federal politics.
Albanese told colleagues that “the day Pat walked into our caucus was a great day”.
Dodson addressed the room, thanking colleagues for their support through his illness, and paying tribute to staff at the Canberra and Fiona Stanley hospitals for the treatment he’d received in his cancer fight.
Malarndirri McCarthy, the assistant minister for Indigenous Australians, paid tribute to Dodson on behalf of Labor’s First Nations caucus, speaking of his leadership and life of courage and service.
Dodson will officially retire on 26 January 2024, just a few days short of his 76th birthday. A Labor source said Dodson hadn’t outlined any special significance to his decision to retire on 26 January, beyond the fact it was a Friday.
Dodson also received what was described as an “extensive standing ovation” from colleagues at the end of the address.
Updated
Sarah Basford Canales also reports from the caucus briefing that Labor will not be supporting independent senator Lidia Thorpe’s private member’s bill which would have folded in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into domestic law.
Thorpe first introduced the bill in March 2022 under the Coalition government and it was read for a second time shortly after Labor won the federal election.
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Albanese, Marles and Wong to meet relatives of Israeli hostages in Canberra
Anthony Albanese, Richard Marles and Penny Wong are all expected to meet with relatives of some of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza today.
The relatives gathered on the lawns of Parliament House on Tuesday morning, delivering an emotional plea for the release of their loved ones.
It’s expected the families will discuss their requests with the prime minister and ministers to see what can be done to assist with their release.
As mentioned earlier, the Albanese government also plans to pass amendments to make public displays of the Nazi salute a criminal offence.
The caucus was told the changes would also remove the inclusion of the Islamic State flag following a recommendation from the parliamentary joint committee of intelligence and security.
Instead, it will be replaced with a more general offence prohibiting the public display and trade of symbols associated with proscribed terrorist groups.
Updated
Amanda Meade is reporting on the defamation case Bruce Lehrmann has brought against the Ten network and journalist Lisa Wilkinson. You can follow the updates here:
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Pesutto dismisses claims he is blocking lower WorkCover premiums and says bill will not fix issues
The Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto, has rubbished suggestions by the government that he is standing in the way of lower WorkCover premiums for businesses.
The government on Tuesday released advice that warned if its WorkCover bill doesn’t pass parliament this week, premiums for businesses will have to rise from an average of 1.8% to between 2.4-2.5%. This would be the highest in the country.
But Pesutto said the bill did little to address the structural issues with the state’s worker’s compensation scheme – meaning premiums would inevitably rise. He told reporters outside parliament:
The only people standing in the way of lower premiums, the only people standing in the way of a more sustainable WorkCover, are [premier] Jacinta Allan and [Worksafe minister] Danny Pearson … We have to see Workcover put on a sustainable and financially stable basis. This bill won’t do that. I want all Victorians to be clear on this – this bill won’t fix won’t fix WorkCover.
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The LNP MP Andrew Wallace, who interjected after Zoe Daniel asked a question about gender and intimate partner violence yesterday with “what about age verification” – a completely separate issue which also came at a time when the parliament was meant to be coming together to speak on gender and family violence, is now speaking to Sky news about the Coalition’s promise to trial age verification.
That’s for porn websites. See how it’s a different issue? But Wallace, who was booted out of the parliament under 94A for the interjection, has learned there is a time and place for everything it seems. Baby steps.
Updated
Nazi salute to be made a criminal offence
In legislation most of the parliament can agree on, the government will be moving to ban the public display of the Nazi salute “making clear there is no place in Australia for those who seek to glorify hatred”.
Mark Dreyfus says:
In June, we introduced legislation to criminalise the public display of, and trade in, Nazi hate symbols.
The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Prohibited Hate Symbols and Other Measures) Bill sends a clear message that there is no place in Australia for acts and symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust and terrorist acts.
Amendments to be introduced tomorrow will strengthen our legislation by making the Nazi salute a criminal offence under Commonwealth law.
The amendments will ensure that no one will be allowed to glorify or profit from acts and symbols which celebrate the Nazis and their evil ideology.
There is absolutely no place in Australia for hatred, violence and anti-Semitism.
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Palaszczuk urges federal government not to can $800 freight route
Queensland’s premier has urged the federal government not to scrap the $800m funding slated for a “nationally significant” freight route in the state.
The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, told parliament on Tuesday the “Second Bruce Highway” from Mungindi to Charters Towers could reduce travel time for truck drivers from Far North Queensland to Melbourne by up to five hours.
The $1bn “Inland Freight” project could also reduce congestion by taking almost 50% of trucks off the Bruce Highway, Palaszczuk said.
“We want the federal government to retain the $800m they have committed to the Second Bruce, and maintain their commitment to 80:20 funding.”
“This is a nationally significant freight route that could deliver a 23% gain in productivity.”
The Queensland government will invest $107m towards an early works package, with a total $200m allocated for the project.
Updated
Labor to back Greens amendments to IR bill
In the Labor partyroom now, the government caucus will back the Greens’ amendments to the IR bill about criminalising superannuation theft.
We’ll have more for you as soon as possible, but as canvassed earlier, the Greens say they would back the bill in the lower house this week if they get their amendments.
Also breaking from the meeting, the government has backed changes to the proposed legislation around Nazi symbols to also outlaw the Nazi salute – which was not included in the original laws.
More soon.
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Greens to oppose any change to immigration detention put forward by Labor
Elsewhere, in the Greens partyroom, the minor party says they will oppose the changes to immigration detention after the high court ruling, and further, won’t do anything to help the government facilitate its passage – that includes not backing any possible government changes to extended hours, or gag motions.
The Greens are suggesting the government may even need to amend the bill again, once the high court hands down its legal reasons at 2.15pm.
The party will also call for a national ban on stone products linked to silicosis products. The Greens say the federal government could easily legislate a national import ban, with much of those products brought in from overseas.
The Greens are suggesting that the Senate’s legislative workload will require House of Reps members to return next week. Currently, the sitting schedule only has the Senate sitting next week, with this week slated to be the last house week – but the minor party suggests that their lower house colleagues should plan on either staying in Canberra or returning sometime next week.
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Senator Pat Dodson has also announced his resignation on his social media:
This morning I announced my resignation as Senator for Western Australia, effective from 26 January 2024.
— Patrick Dodson (@SenatorDodson) November 27, 2023
Regrettably, my recent treatment for cancer means that my health, although slowly improving, has left me physically unable to continue as a Senator.
It has been an honour.
Updated
CFMEU joins chorus of calls for permanent Gaza ceasefire
Over in Parliament’s Mural Hall, aid agencies gathered to push the Albanese government to lobby harder for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
As we mentioned earlier, Oxfam Australia, Islamic Relief Australia, ActionAid Australia, Union Aid Abroad and Plan International Australia have joined in urging Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong to step up and do more.
Oxfam Australia CEO Lyn Morgain said:
“What we’re asking is that the politics not distract us from the reality that we are dealing with 1.7 million displaced people, presumably without any real means of support. That has to be a matter for international concern and our government has to be an active player in ensuring that it is“.
Standing alongside them was CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith, who told Guardian Australia the construction union wants “to see the federal government join the chorus of people that are calling for a permanent ceasefire, but also full humanitarian access”.
Smith said:
“War disproportionately affects the workers and the most vulnerable in our society and it’s not the wealthy, or the powerful that bear the burden of war. So, we’ve always been proud to stand on the side of peace.”
Updated
Greens say they will pass IR bill if they get their way on amendments
The Greens will be happy to pass the government’s IR bill this week through the House of Representatives if they get a couple of amendments, including on criminalising superannuation theft.
The Greens party room met this morning and resolved to back the Closing Loopholes bill in the lower house (the Senate is a different matter) if they get their way on amendments. It’s understood the Greens are hopeful the government will back those changes, which also include other minor changes around clarifying the definition of casual workers, which the Greens have concerns over how casual teachers could be affected.
Much of the house crossbench has concerns about backing the bill this week, with issues raised over a large amount of amendments to be tabled today and criticisms about a lack of time to assess them. But the Greens say they will agree to pass the bill in the lower house with their amendments – saying that criticisms about the lack of time could be ventilated in the Senate, where the bill won’t pass until at least February next year.
The Greens will keep pushing for other amendments in the upper house, including the “right to disconnect”. I’ll have more for you from the partyroom shortly, where the Greens also agreed to oppose the immigration detention bill.
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‘Unprecedented’ number of Islamophobia reports to register in past seven weeks
The Islamophobia Register, which keeps track of Islamophobia abuse in Australia, says it has received 230 reports of Islamophobia since 7 October, which it describes as an “unprecedented” number of reports in a seven week period.
“At no time in the register’s 9-year history of operations, has the register received such a large number of incident reports within such a short period of time, including during ‘peak’ reporting periods such as the aftermath of the Christchurch terror attacks which saw the register receive a four-fold increase of reports,” the group reports.
The register’s executive director Sharara Attai said some of the reports included arson at mosques and death threats, as well as videos inciting violence and intimidation on the road.
Attai:
We are seeing an alarming level of Islamophobia at the moment and many members of the Australian Muslim community are feeling very scared and anxious for their safety.
It is devastating that at a time when many members of the Australian Muslim community are already deeply affected by the horrors of what is occuring in Gaza, they are also having to deal with increasing hostility here at home.”
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Albanese thanks Dodson for his courage, conviction, wisdom and ‘eternal good humour’
Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to Pat Dodson’s career in a statement that ends with:
It has been my great fortune to be able to count Senator Dodson as a colleague, and my enduring happiness to be able to count him as a friend.
I have benefited time and time again from his wise counsel, and he has taught me so much over the years.
Patrick is such a generous man. Through seven years he has gifted every member of our Caucus his wisdom, his courage, his fearless conviction and his eternal good humour.
Through the powerful example of his own life, he has given so many of us the gift of a greater sense of perspective.
There are few more reassuring sights in Parliament House than seeing Patrick and his hat coming down a corridor towards you.
When you’re in Pat’s presence you often laugh, you always learn and you feel yourself stand taller.
On behalf of the Labor family he gained when he became a Senator for Western Australia, I wish Pat nothing but the very best as he focuses on his own health.
He leaves Parliament with our thanks, and with our love.
Updated
Labor senator Pat Dodson announces resignation
Labor’s Patrick Dodson has resigned as a senator.
His statement has just been released:
This morning I informed the Labor Party parliamentary caucus of my intention to resign as Senator for Western Australia, with effect from 26 January 2024.
I recently informed the President of the Senate, as well as the Prime Minister and the Premier of Western Australia of my decision.
It has been an honour to serve as Senator for Western Australia.
I thank Prime Minister Albanese for his support and for his appointment of me as Special Envoy for Reconciliation and Implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. I also place on the record my high regard for his decision to proceed with the recent referendum.
I also thank Mr Bill Shorten MP for his decision, when he was Leader of the Opposition, to nominate me in March 2016 when a casual Senate vacancy arose.
Regrettably, my recent treatment for cancer means that my health, although slowly improving, has left me physically unable to fulfill satisfactorily my duties as a Senator.
I am grateful for the professional and kindly attention of many medical staff over the past few months, and I wish to thank all those people who sent their best wishes during my absence from Parliament.
Updated
Victorian Labor issues WorkCover ultimatum to opposition
The Victorian Labor government has issued an ultimatum to the opposition: help pass our WorkCover reforms or premiums for businesses will go up.
Speaking ahead of the final parliamentary sitting week of the year, the premier, Jacinta Allan, and the minister for WorkSafe, Danny Pearson, both urged the Coalition to support their Workcover bill, which if passed, would restrict compensation claims for stress and burnout in an effort to keep the scheme afloat.
The bill has passed the lower house but has stalled in the upper house, where the government needs either the support of the Greens and two other crossbenchers or the opposition.
Pearson said advice provided to the government has warned that if the bill does not get through and changes are delayed, premiums for businesses will have to rise from an average of 1.8% to between 2.4-2.5%. This would be the highest in the country.
He told reporters outside parliament:
“This is unacceptable. It’s not fair that business should foot the bill for [opposition leader] John Pesutto’s lack of leadership.
At a seperate press conference, Allan said:
Let’s not have businesses have this hanging over their head at Christmas time, when they’re wanting to spend time with their family or loved ones … Let’s give businesses the respect and certainty they deserve by taking this issue, the risk of premium rises, off the table.
Updated
Oxfam urge Australia to push for permanent Gaza ceasefire
Aid agencies are urging the Labor government to push for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza as the temporary four-day pause in conflict between Israel and Hamas is extended a further two days.
Oxfam Australia, Islamic Relief Australia, ActionAid Australia, Union Aid Abroad and Plan International Australia are calling on the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, to “step up” and argue for the “swift and lasting ceasefire”.
Oxfam Australia CEO, Lyn Morgain, said the four-day pause allowed the group to “deliver a drop of aid into an ocean of need” and that the extra two days were not enough.
For seven weeks, Gazans, including 33 Oxfam staff, have been living under constant bombardment and the amount of aid supplies reaching them has been significantly lower than requirements for survival.”
Samir Bennegadi, chief executive at Islamic Relief Australia, urged Albanese and Wong to do all they can to push for a permanent ceasefire and ensure unhindered humanitarian access via both Egypt and Israel.
Both Albanese and Wong have continued to call for a humanitarian pause and a “long-term and enduring peace” through a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.
Updated
Here is what the rally in support of Israeli kidnap victims outside parliament looked like this morning:
Updated
The Greens are the first to announce their party room briefing – that will be held in around 30 minutes time.
Rosemary Kayess named as Disability Discrimination Commissioner
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has announced human rights lawyer and researcher Rosemary Kayess as the next Disability Discrimination Commissioner.
The Disability Discrimination Commissioner protects the rights of people with disability in Australia and promotes the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Keyess will begin her five-year term from 29 January. The former commissioner Dr Ben Gauntlett was appointed to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
Updated
Muted retail figures expected as cost pressures mount
These retail figures will of course predate the Black Friday sales we just lived through (thoughts and prayers for everyone who got unsolicited text messages from brands they haven’t bought in years).
Via AAP:
Retail trade figures are likely to highlight muted spending as the high cost of living, interest rate hikes and personal income tax growth ate into bank balances.
The October retail trade data, scheduled for Tuesday from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, follow a strong month for September.
While the 0.9% lift in September was much higher than anticipated, it was largely driven by one-off influences such as the release of a new iPhone model, government policies and unseasonably warm weather.
St George senior economist Pat Bustamante said retail turnover was likely to slow to 0.2 per cent in October to reflect ongoing financial pressures.
“Looking further ahead, we are also expecting a strong November outcome as households bring forward end-of-year spending to take full advantage of Black Friday sales,” he said.
_______________________
Why does this matter? Because the RBA will be looking at these figures when it makes its next interest rate decision.
Updated
Optus says it has paid outage compensation in cash and credit
Optus has told the Senate it has paid compensation to customers in the form of both cash and account credit in response the outage on 8 November.
In answers to questions on notice to the Optus outage inquiry, the company did not say how much it had paid out, but during the hearing the then chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said there were 8,500 customers at the time seeking compensation for about $430,000 in total, of which Optus had paid out $36,000.
Optus also moved to hose down senator questions about whether its parent company Singtel was ultimately responsible, stating:
The cause of the outage was that Optus’ Cisco routers hit a fail-safe mechanism which “meant that each one of them independently shut down”.
The company said it is “fully confident that this type of failure cannot occur again”.
Updated
Relatives of Israeli hostages hold emotional press conference at Parliament House
Relatives of some of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have held an emotional press conference on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra to call for the immediate release of their loved ones.
Iris Haim, the mother of Yotam Haim, 28, who was kidnapped from kibbutz Kfar Aza, says her son is a heavy metal drummer with a “big heart”.
She says he has a medical issue and needs his medicine. “He doesn’t have his medicine … we want him back soon.”
They were speaking after the truce between Hamas and Israel was extended by two days to allow for the release of more hostages held by Hamas and prisoners held in Israeli jails.
A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy said the kidnapping by Hamas of 240 people including infants “is a war crime and a crime against humanity”.
A number of politicians attended the event, including the Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham.
Updated
This year’s hottest Christmas event: Crossbench Actually
As it is nearly the end of year, politicians also hold their seasonal festivities, which for the prime minister means a short event at the Lodge, while for the opposition it is a short event in the opposition leader’s parliamentary courtyard. The crossbench has a short event in a hallway near their offices and the Greens hold a short event at a Canberra “spot”.
It’s up to individual journalists whether they attend or not.
You may have seen the crossbench invitation floating around on social media (it was canvased up to look like the Love Actually movie poster (Crossbench Actually). The MPs bring along food and drink from their regions, which for Bob Katter usually involves a beer can with his face on it.
Updated
The last party room meetings for the year are under way.
Each party meets to discuss concerns, legislation, what they plan on targeting, as well as hear the rah-rah message from the leaders. (The Liberals and Nationals meet separately and then hold a joint meeting.)
Then each hold a background briefing which tells you a little of what went on (MPs who spoke are not identified, so that is for the journalists to work out if necessary) which is often where you get “party room sources” from.
The briefings can be anytime from 10.30am to 1pm, depending on the parliament business, so we will let you know what happened there as soon as we can
Updated
What will the inquiry into Optus outage look at?
Josh Taylor has had a look at what the inquiry into the Optus outage will look at:
A government-ordered investigation of the 14-hour nationwide Optus outage will examine its impact on the triple zero system and whether rival telcos can offer access to their services during network shutdowns.
But the cause of the 8 November outage and the adequacy of the company’s compensation to millions of affected customers will not be examined.
On Monday the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, announced the terms of reference for the review into the outage, which took down mobile and internet services for close to one-third of the country and led to disrupted train services, payments problems and forced some businesses to close.
The review will examine how the triple zero system functioned during the outage and what changes might be needed to ensure it continues to operate. Optus had said 228 people were unable to connect to triple-zero services during the outage but a later welfare check found they were all OK.
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Albanese pays tribute as John Laws notches up 70 years on radio
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has called into 2SM (the Super Radio Network) to congratulate John Laws on his 70th anniversary on radio.
He said:
You’ve been a constant in a world of change which is often too fast – we all want the world to slow down.
Albanese clearly knows his audience: talkback, regional radio, and Laws listeners are likely to be conservative.
Albanese and Laws then counted how many prime ministers there have been (16!) in Laws’ 70 years on radio.
Laws thanked Albanese:
It makes me feel good and makes the listeners feel good.
Albanese did a Christmas shoutout and wished for a good summer and that we don’t suffer any bushfires. And that was it – just chit chat. Thanks all.
Updated
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan has spoken more about the legislation designed to protect people constructing or renovating their home:
Whether you’re building your first home or renovating … it’s an exciting time.
It’s also complex. It’s not something that we people do all the time. It’s something you do once or twice in your life and that’s why we have to make sure that the framework that supports Victorians when they’re making these big and important life choices is in place to support and protect consumers.
She said about 500 Porter Davis customers had lost their deposits due to the failure of the company to take out insurance cover on their behalf.
Expect the usual round of “I don’t pay attention to the polls” and “only one poll matters” responses for a while:
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Big vape ‘using every trick in the book to hook a new generation’, expert says
The government has finally announced a timeline for the vaping reforms, announcing that imports of disposable single use vapes will be banned from 1 January next year. From March the personal importation of vapes will be banned, and there will also be a ban on the importation of non-therapeutic vapes.
The Australian Medical Association [AMA] president, Dr Steve Robson, said the reforms will help prevent a new generation of people becoming addicted to nicotine.
The AMA has advocated for years for the introduction of stronger, strictly enforced regulation of vapes, and we applaud the measures announced by health minister Mark Butler today.
Younger people and children are increasingly becoming addicted to vaping because vapes are easily accessible and many that are marketed as nicotine free, in fact contain nicotine.
The VicHealth CEO, Dr Sandro Demaio, said “it’s no accident that e-cigarette use, and smoking are rising among young people”.
Big Vape and Big Tobacco are using every trick in the book to hook a new generation of young people on nicotine.
This ban, along with other crucial vaping reforms to roll out in 2024, will help protect young Australians from the dangers of vaping, and once again place Australia as a global leader in tobacco control.
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Gloves off for Queensland Labor as mayors descend on Canberra over infrastructure funding
Meanwhile, “Team Queensland” is getting ready to mobilise.
A group of Queensland mayors and deputy premier Steven Miles are descending on Canberra this week to lobby for the reinstatement of infrastructure project funding, following Catherine King’s response to the review.
Queensland Labor is fighting for its political life, with an election to be held in October and so far, all polls point to a white wash and LNP leader David Crisafulli becoming the next premier. So it is gloves off as far as the Palaszczuk government is concerned.
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Stronger protections on the cards for Victorians building a home
The Victorian government is set to introduce legislation to parliament today to provide stronger protections to people building or renovating their homes.
The building legislation amendment (domestic building insurance new offences) bill 2023 will ensure consumers are covered by insurance when they sign a contract for domestic building work costing more than $16,000.
Builders who don’t take out the required domestic builders insurance will face fines of up to $96,000 for individuals and $480,000 for companies.
It follows the collapse of Porter Davis Homes in April, which left some 1,700 homes in Victoria and Queensland unfinished.
In Victoria, the building watchdog is now investigating whether the company broke the law by not taking out domestic building policy insurance for customers when they received their deposits. These homes had not started at the time the company entered liquidation.
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The parliament sitting will begin at noon today – that is because it is party room meeting day.
We’ll bring you all the info as it comes to hand
Collins pressed on whether Labor can rule out changing tax treatment of family home
Q: Will you rule it out (taxing the family home)? He turned it back on the opposition. There’s not going to be any changes, whether it’s the aged care pension asset test, or taxes on the family home? Can he rule it out to make it simple?
Julie Collins:
We’re not looking at those things. What we’re focused is getting Australians into their own home. We want more Australians to have a safe and affordable place to call home. This is the great Australian dream. We’re trying to bring it back for Australians who have been locked out.
We’re trying to turn this around. As I said, it’s not easy to turn around quickly. It’ll take some time and we’re working at every avenue.
Except, it seems, changing any tax arrangements around the family home.
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Dolly forbid we address the generational housing problem
For *reasons* we are once again talking about whether or not the government will make tax changes that affect the family home. Not investment properties, but the family home, which as we all know, is the untouchable unicorn of Australian wealth.
Seen not just as shelter for families and something to be cared for and then passed on, but also as a wealth generating asset that people have a right to sell for 10 times what they bought it for, no matter the damage it does to future generations. But Dolly forbid anyone try to address that, because people worked hard to be born at a time where they could buy that property for an acceptable price of 2-3 times their income, and if today’s young people just stopped buying coffees they could crack the space-time continuum and buy property in the 1980s.
Anthony Albanese was asked in question time yesterday whether or not he could rule out any tax changes to the family home.
And now on the ABC, Julie Collins is being asked if she can rule out any tax changes to the family home because Albanese mocked the question and didn’t rule it out.
Collins:
Well, we’ve been pretty clear prior to the election, we’re not making any changes in terms of negative gearing or anything like that. We ruled that out.
Q: What about on the family home? That’s different.
Collins:
I don’t know what scaremongering the Liberal party is up to. What I’m up to is focusing on getting more Australians into a home, which is what we’re doing with the help to buy, the home guarantee scheme. We’re clearly focused on making sure more Australians have a safe and affordable place to call home. I don’t want the target of the Liberal party scare campaign is all about. I’m focused on …
Updated
Labor wants to get help-to-buy scheme going ‘as fast as we can’, Collins says
As Josh Butler reported a little earlier, the government will introduce its help-to-buy legislation to parliament this week.
Housing minister Julie Collins has told the ABC it has taken a little bit longer to get the legislation together than the government would have liked because it needed the states and territories to put together its own legislation, but things are now motoring away:
We’ve been working with the states and territories and the lending institutions across the country to make sure we get this right. It’s taken us more time than we hoped. But we think we got all the parameters right.
We need each state to pass legislation. They have indicated they’ll do that as soon as possible early next year. We want to get the scheme up and running as fast as we can.
We look forward to supporting more Australians into home ownership. We have done that with our regional homebuyer guarantee and the home guarantee scheme.
… We look forward to this scheme being successful and getting it up off the ground. It will be life changing.
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Writer and former refugee Behrouz Boochani to launch campaign for immigration detention inquiry
Behrouz Boochani, a writer, journalist and former refugee who was held on Manus Island and has spent years campaigning for an end to detention and the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, will launch the official campaign for a royal commission into immigration detention at Parliament House today.
Boochani, who Peter Dutton once said would never step foot in Australia, was welcomed to New Zealand as a free man in 2019. He has continued his advocacy in the intervening years and will be joined by Greens senator Nick MicKim, independent MP Kylea Tink, and human rights activists Betlehem Tebubu and Thanush Selvarasa as well as the campaign lead Julie Macken in launching the royal commission campaign.
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Coalition does not support royal commission into immigration detention, Tehan says
Dan Tehan was also asked whether the Coalition supported the calls for a royal commission into Australia’s immigration detention system.
The answer is “no”.
I think what the government needs to be focused on is keeping the Australian people safe.
Updated
After two weeks of demanding that Labor act, which at one point included Peter Dutton floating the idea of “migration zones” or the imaginary idea that the government can create islands that are free from the influence of the Australian constitution, in order to keep people in detention, indefinitely ….
… the Coalition voted against Labor’s latest legislation that would have criminalised the breach of conditions including approaching schools, childcare or daycare centres, working with minors or contacting victims or their families.
Which is what the Coalition had been screaming for.
UPDATED: the Coalition has voted against what it's called a "patch-up" bill, and is using the new legislation to play hard-ball calling for a preventative detention regime https://t.co/7r6KWkE2Yg
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 27, 2023
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Dan Tehan is treating this interview like a year 12 oral presentation he isn’t totally prepared for – he has the lines drilled into his head, but anything off script is a bit dicey.
What we’ve said to the government is, once we’ve got those reasons, let’s look at them. Let’s extend the sitting days of the parliament, if necessary, to put in place a regime which would enable us to put the worst of these hardened criminals back into detention. That is what we want to see happen. And we can understand why the government doesn’t want to see is happening.
Again, Australians who commit crimes, even the most heinous you can imagine, are released once they have completed their custodial sentences.
Updated
Tehan explains why Coalition did not back Labor’s conditions for released detainees
Dan Tehan, the shadow minister for immigration, is explaining on ABC’s RN Breakfast why the Coalition voted against Labor’s latest legislation to strengthen the monitoring conditions and restrictions for refugees and migrants released after the high court decision to end indefinite detention.
After saying Labor’s explanation of wanting to see what the high court reasons for the decision was before it created legislation was not good enough, Tehan says the Coalition wants to see the high court’s reasons before voting on the latest round of legislation.
We think it needs to go further. We think it needs to be properly considered. We think it needs to take into account the high court findings or reasons which would be listed today.
Those reasons, which Labor said it was waiting for, and the Coalition said was not good enough, are now very important according to Tehan:
We wanted to be able to have entered a preventive detention regime. Which would enable the worst of these hardened criminals to be put back into detention. And we think that the best thing we can do is wait to see what the high court’s findings are today, and then we can look at those or the reasons for their decision. We can look at those and then we can design a bill which would put these hardened criminals back into detention. That’s what we want to see happen.
(A reminder that Australians who complete their sentences, no matter the crime, are released into the community every day. And not all of the cohort are “hardened criminals”)
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Greens and Labor find common ground on Murray-Darling Basin plan
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young and Labor’s environment minister Tanya Plibersek showed it was possible to have grown-up negotiations and discussions over legislation, compromising on the Murray-Darling Basin plan legislation without spending months criticising each other in the parliament.
Hanson-Young said she wasn’t impressed with the first piece of information, but they managed to find some common ground.
She told the ABC:
It was basically just – look, if we can get it, we’ll get it, give us a few extra years and we’ll try our best! And that’s effectively what the legislation said. We’ve really gone in hard with your negotiations with the government, and through good will and cooperation we’ve managed to really strengthen this piece of legislation.
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Mike Bowers was out and about to capture the parliament lit up in orange as part of the 16 days of activism against gender based violence.
Yesterday in the parliament, Anthony Albanese disclosed he had experienced family violence:
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Immigration detention regime is ‘unnecessarily cruel’, civil liberties group says
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) has backed the campaign for a royal commission into immigration detention – including onshore and offshore detention on Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
As mentioned earlier in the blog, the campaign will be launched in Canberra today.
NSWCCL president Lydia Shelly said mandatory immigration detention is “inconsistent with our human rights obligations” and that Australia must “face the truth about the extent of this cruelty” if we are to move forward:
Our mandatory, arbitrary immigration detention regime is unnecessarily cruel and degrading. Instead of offering refuge for those who seek the safety of our shores, we imprison people, strip them of their humanity and allow them to be demonised in our media and by our politicians. It is a system that conditions the Australian public to dehumanise others. This cruelty has persisted for decades.
Shelly argued that mandatory immigration detention is “built on secrecy”, lacks accountability and “undermines our country’s reputation”.
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'There is momentum for change': gender pay gap decreases by 1.1%
The new gender pay gap has dropped … and on average, for every $1 men in Australia earn, women earn 78c.
Congrats! We did it!
That’s actually a 1.1% drop from the gender pay gap in 2022 and the second biggest annual drop since the Workplace Gender Equality Agency began collecting employee data in 2014.
But the gender pay gap remains in double digits – it is 21.7% (that’s an average and includes part-time workers).
That means the average annual pay difference between men and women is $26,393.
It’s the largest ever employer census collected by the WGEA, covering 4.82m Australian employees. (You can find the whole Gender Equality Scorecard 2022-23 here)
Mary Wooldridge, the WGEA chief executive, said the results showed that although slow “there is momentum for change in Australian workplaces”.
Increased discussion and debate around gender equality, a tight labour market and impending legislative reform have helped drive action on workplace gender equality over the last year.
We see an increase in the proportion of women in management and at the upper pay quartiles, and we also see the proportion of women being promoted and appointed at manager level is higher than the proportion of women managers overall. As this trend continues, we can expect to see the gender pay gap continue to fall.
But there needs to be a shift in part-time work as well, Wooldridge said, given women make up so many part-time workers.
The management opportunities for part-time employees are negligible; the number of men taking paid primary carer parental leave has barely shifted; and the number of women in CEO roles and on boards has stagnated.
If we want real change, we need employers to take bold action. We need employers to look across the drivers of gender inequality and be imaginative in their solutions.
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Help-to-buy scheme legislation coming this week
Legislation for the Labor government’s help-to-buy shared equity housing scheme will be introduced this week, opening an avenue for about 40,000 households to secure a home with as little as a 2% deposit.
An election promise, help to buy will see the government contribute equity of up to 40% for new homes and 30% for existing homes. Buyers would need at least 2% deposit, and get a lower repayment as they participate in the scheme – saving people “hundreds” a month on payments.
The scheme will run nationally from next year, once states pass their own legislation to operate the program in their own jurisdictions. The housing minister, Julie Collins, says the idea would be “life changing” for many families.
It won’t just be a leg up into home ownership with savings from a smaller deposit – it will provide long-term relief to Australians who are part of the Scheme.
Our ambitious housing reform agenda is working across the board – more help for homebuyers, more help for renters and more help for Australians needing a safe place for the night.”
The legislation will hit parliament later this week.
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Government to reveal IR bill amendments
Amendments to the government’s industrial relations legislation are expected to land today, with the House of Representatives crossbench calling for more time to get across what is likely to be a lengthy list of changes.
While the Senate can’t vote on the closing loopholes bill until next year, after a Senate report being handed down in February, the government has signalled its intent to get the mammoth bill through the lower house – which it does control – this week, in the last joint sitting before Christmas.
There’s been a steady trickle of announcements from IR minister Tony Burke’s office in recent weeks, as they came to agreement with big employer groups and industry on changes to the bill, such as amendments around gig work, language around casual workers, and service contracting businesses.
It’s expected the amendments will be focused on these areas they’ve flagged in the leadup, but business groups will be poring keenly over the changes to see if any other areas are also proposed to be altered.
But the crossbench says they want and need more time to look at the bill, including what some are speculating could be 100 amendments to the legislation, before voting on it this week.
Numerous lower house crossbenchers including Dai Le, Kylea Tink, Zali Steggall and Kate Chaney have expressed concerns over the timeframe they’ll get to check out the changes before any vote.
Peak business groups are also calling for the bill to be delayed until the new year, also saying the crossbench should get more time to consider the changes.
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Good morning
Thank you to Martin for getting us started this morning. You have Amy Remeikis with you now for most of the day.
It’s another grey old day in the nation’s capital – which I guess matches the mood. So let’s get into it.
Australians disengaged with information about energy market, research shows
Households are disengaged with information provided to them by the energy market, new research shows, with consumers citing complexity and irrelevancy in messaging.
The research, released today by Energy Consumers Australia, surveyed 2,500 household energy consumers.
It found 48% didn’t recall seeing anything in the media or online in the past 12 months about how to reduce their energy costs or usage, and those who did found it complex and irrelevant.
Energy Consumers Australia boss Brendan French said the results showed the need for a centralised place for energy information and advice.
While 82% of those surveyed were concerned about rising energy bills, 43% said it was too hard to work out what to do to reduce consumption and costs.
Australians are not receiving the right information at the right time from trusted sources, and this is leaving them lacking the confidence to take action and lacking trust in the energy market. Consumers can be the heroes of net zero, but they need to know what is being asked of them in the energy transition.
The information is coming at them from so many sources, many of which they simply don’t trust, and it is so complex that they just switch off.
The body is calling for a “one stop shop” for energy advice, particularly amid rising costs of living and high energy bills.
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Prominent Australians sign letter denouncing antisemitism
Hundreds of prominent Australians including former state premiers, business leaders and media figures have signed an open letter denouncing racism with a focus on a recent rise in antisemitic incidents in Australia.
The letter, which ran as a prominent double-page advertisement in this morning’s print newspapers, links to a website and social media campaign that rejects racism in all its forms, and calls for all Australians to be treated with respect, inclusivity and dignity.
It highlights a 482% rise in antisemitic incidents in Australia over the last seven weeks, including “offensive language, vandalism and harassment occurring on our streets, university campuses and outside public Australian landmarks” and addresses Jewish Australians acknowledging the “heightened feelings of threat being felt by your community”, affirming their right to physical and psychological safety.
It affirms that racism is “deplorable and abhorrent” whether directed at Jewish, Muslim, Asian or Indigenous Australians.
The 600 signatories – plus more invited to join the pledge online – include former premiers Daniel Andrews, Gladys Berejiklian, Anna Bligh, Jeff Kennett, Steve Bracks and Mark McGowan, and former Labor leader Kim Beazley. Business leaders include Telstra chair John Mullen, Wesfarmers chair Michael Chaney, and billionaires Lindsay Fox, Anthony Pratt and Solomon Lew. And media figures include News Corporation chairman Lachlan Murdoch and wife Sarah Murdoch, and Seven owner Kerry Stokes.
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Calls for royal commission into immigration detention
Asylum seekers and refugee advocates are demanding the Albanese government establish a royal commission into immigration detention.
A campaign backed by independent politicians including Kylea Tink is calling for a comprehensive investigation of the longstanding bipartisan policy.
Kurdish artist and musician Farhad Bandesh, who came to Australia by boat after fleeing political persecution in Iran, was held for six years on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
He recounted being beaten, denied basic necessities and, for two years, bleeding continuously as detention centre staff refused him medical attention.
“This whole system is cruel and wants everybody to be silent - they tried to bury us alive,” he told AAP.
Bandesh, 41, witnessed the murder of Kurdish asylum-seeker Reza Barati at the hands of security guards after a riot in 2014.
Fourteen asylum seekers have died in offshore detention centres over the last decade, including several deaths from self harm.
Julie Macken from the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney’s Justice and Peace Office is helping coordinate the royal commission campaign.
A public event will take place at Parliament House in Canberra today.
“Almost no policy has changed Australia as much as the immigration policy settings have over the last 25 years,” Macken said.
“Australians have actually got a right to know what is being done in our name.”
For years, the Liberal and Labor parties have presented offshore immigration detention as a key plank of border protection.
Macken said a royal commission was needed in order to compel private security firms tasked with running offshore detention centres to produce documents outlining their lucrative government contracts.
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High court to publish reasons for indefinite detention ruling
The high court will this afternoon (at 2:15pm – right in the middle of question time!) deliver its reasons for its 8 November ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.
The decision led to the release of a stateless Rohingya man because there was “no real prospect of his removal from Australia becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future”.
The court gave its order without the full reasons, as it occasionally does for urgent cases such as this one involving the plaintiff, NZYQ’s, liberty. So far, we know that the court overturned the 20-year-old decision of Al-Kateb which decided indefinite detention was lawful.
The decision has resulted in 141 people so far being released from immigration detention because they, similarly, cannot be deported, and an emergency package of legislation agreed between Labor the Coalition.
The publication of the court’s reasoning will assist parliament, if they want to make any amendments to emergency laws, and lower courts which are already hearing applications from others who think they should be released as a result of the NZYQ decision.
It also might set off a new round of releases, depending how the court explains how difficult deportation has to be before there is no real prospect.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live blog of the day in politics and beyond. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you the main overnight news before my colleague Amy Remeikis takes the helm.
As a year marked by a bruising campaign for the voice to parliament nears its end, Anthony Albanese has seen his personal approval rating slip into negative territory for the first time since winning power. More voters disapprove of Albanese’s performance than approve for the first time in his prime ministership, acccording to our latest Essential poll, with 47% of respondents (up four points) disapproving of the prime minister’s performance and 42% approving (down four). Two-thirds think Labor is not doing enough to combat cost-of-living pressures and only 20% think Labor should go ahead with the Coalition’s stage-three tax cuts.
The high court will this afternoon deliver its reasons for its recent ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful. It is hoped the release of the court’s reasoning will help parliament if it wants to make any amendments to emergency laws, along with lower courts, which are already hearing applications from others who think they should be released as a result of the NZYQ decision. Today also sees the launch of campaign for a royal commission into Australia’s detention regime fronted by the independent MP Kylea Tink, former detainee Behrouz Boochani and Amnesty. More coming up.
Australia’s most disadvantaged children are achieving at a level up to five years behind their most affluent counterparts, according to analysis of Naplan results provided exclusively to Guardian Australia. It found significant achievement gaps in literacy and numeracy between rich and poor students at all year levels, to the equivalent of five years of learning by year 9.
