Here's what happened today, 15 February 2021
We’ll leave it there for today. Thanks for tuning in.
Here are today’s main developments:
- The first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine landed in Australia. It is expected about 60,000 doses will be administered by the end of February.
- Victoria, which is under lockdown, recorded one new case. The premier, Daniel Andrews, said it was too early to say if the lockdown would end on Wednesday as hoped.
- WA extended its hard border closure with Victoria to Wednesday, but relaxed restrictions on NSW.
- Moving away from Covid news, news.com.au reported that a young government staffer, Brittany Higgins, alleges she was raped by a colleague in the office of the defence minister, Linda Reynolds, in March 2019.
- Crown Resorts CEO, Ken Barton, quit his post, becoming the latest casualty following a scathing NSW report handed down in parliament last week.
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Josh Frydenberg said the government was close to reaching a deal over the media bargaining code.
- Federal parliament also marked the 13th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations
Updated
Prof Tony Blakely, a top epidemiologist at the University of Melbourne, says the federal government should set up an independent agency to accredit and audit Covid quarantine hotels.
Blakely also says some federal politicians have politicised the most recent Victorian outbreak by talking about the state’s contact tracing regime in a “diversionary tactic to take the discussion off the federal government providing better quarantine facilities and support”.
He made the comments in an interview the ABC’s PM program.
Tasmania’s economy is on track for a quicker-than-expected recovery from coronavirus, according to the latest budget forecasts.
AAP reports that the island state’s net operating deficit this financial year has improved from $1.1bn, forecast in November’s budget, to $970.7m.
“The release of the Revised Estimates Report 2020-21 confirms our economic recovery is well underway,” premier Peter Gutwein said in a statement on Monday.
About 80 per cent of Tasmanians have returned to work since the height of the pandemic in May, while the participation rate has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
The state’s employment rate is expected to stay at 7% this year, down from the 8.5% predicted in the budget
Tasmania’s net debt was revised down by $151.9m from the budget figure of $1.8bn.
Growth of 0.75% is now expected in 2020/21, an improvement from the 1.5% forecast contraction.
Updated
WA extends hard border with Victoria
Western Australia has removed a requirement for NSW travellers to quarantine upon arrival but Victorians are set to remain locked out, AAP reports.
The premier, Mark McGowan, says WA will extend its hard border with Victoria until at least midnight on Wednesday.
It comes as Victoria continues its snap, five-day lockdown to combat a Covid-19 outbreak stemming from a cluster of cases in hotel quarantine.
“The chief health officer’s advice is that it’s the correct approach to, at least at this point in time, mirror that lockdown,” McGowan told reporters.
“We’ll make a further decision on Wednesday as to whether to extend it (further).”
Under the hard border, no one is allowed to enter WA unless they can secure an exemption.
McGowan confirmed NSW would move to the “very low risk” category, meaning its residents will no longer need to quarantine on arrival in WA.
NSW has now gone 29 consecutive days with no new locally acquired cases.
Travellers must still complete a G2G travel pass and undergo health screening and a temperature check on arrival.
WA returned to pre-lockdown life over the weekend with residents no longer required to wear face masks, and capacity limits removed from venues.
Metropolitan Perth and nearby regions went into a five-day lockdown on January 31, followed by an additional week of precautionary restrictions.
No community cases have been detected since a hotel quarantine worker inadvertently roamed the streets of Perth while infectious.
The premier, whose handling of the pandemic has earned him record approval ratings, on Monday insisted he hadn’t been briefed on polling his government commissioned last year on topics including support for the hard border.
He said the polling was conducted as part of a broad public information campaign at the height of the pandemic.
The opposition leader, Zak Kirkup, has accused the government of basing its decisions on polling rather than health advice.
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The senate has just supported my motion calling on the Government to urgently commit to a permanent and ongoing increase to #Jobseeker and #YouthAllowance before the Coronavirus Supplement ends on 31 March 2021 to ensure all Australians can live in dignity and not in poverty.
— Rachel Siewert (@SenatorSiewert) February 15, 2021
The Australian union movement says it is extremely concerned about the detention of Dr Sean Turnell in Myanmar. The ACTU says Turnell is an active member of the National Tertiary Education Union and a well-respected academic at Macquarie University.
NTEU national president, Alison Barnes, says:
“Sean is a much-loved member of his university and union, and on behalf of his colleagues and fellow union members, the NTEU calls for his immediate and unconditional release.”
ACTU president, Michele O’Neil, says:
“The Australian union movement stands with Dr Sean Turnell in solidarity and our thoughts are with him and his family. We join his union, the NTEU, in calling for his immediate release.”
Updated
Another caller says to Albanese: “It’s nice to hear from you. Where have you been?”
Caller Anna says there are a range issues – tax cuts for the rich, “scandals in the government like Angus Taylor”, bushfire funding – that she hasn’t heard much about from Labor and Albanese.
The Labor leader says the fact the caller is aware of these issues shows Labor has been speaking out. He notes he was on the ground for the bushfires, and that Labor was the first to suggest wage subsidies (ie jobkeeper), along with the union movement, and that Scott Morrison initially called them “dangerous” before adopting the policy.
More broadly though, he says Labor has sought to be constructive, and avoided “outrageous statements”. Albanese agrees this has undoubtedly cost him air time in the media.
Albanese compares that to a certain state Liberal MP, who he doesn’t want to name (but who is presumably called Tim Smith). Albanese says this person says “over the top stuff all the time” and “he gets a bit of a run”.
Now I could have done that. I could have criticised everything. We voted for each of the stimulus packages in parliament. I make no apologies for that. This is a time when partisan politics needed to be put well behind the national interest, and I did that.”
Updated
Albanese is asked by a talkback caller if Labor would accept donations from Crown.
“That would be a matter for the organisational wing,” he says.
He notes Labor supports a “real national integrity commission with teeth” and declares all donations above $1,000, which is lower than the threshold required by current laws.
Updated
The federal Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, is also on ABC radio in Melbourne this afternoon.
Raf Epstein asks if NSW is doing a better job handling the pandemic than Victoria. Albanese says there is no use “trying to pit state against state”.
He says all state governments are handling the pandemic as best they can.
Though he says there is nothing wrong with making “best-practice” comparisons. He notes other states have also had issues, such as the Ruby Princess and hotel quarantine in NSW, and lockdowns in Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane.
Updated
Emirates has cancelled all international passenger flights to Melbourne until almost the end of March amid uncertainty about how long Victoria’s international arrivals pause will last.
All international flights to Melbourne were suspended as part of Victoria’s five-day circuit breaker lockdown. The Andrews government has not said when those services will resume.
As a result, Emirates has announced it will suspend all services to the city until 26 March.
A spokeswoman for the airline told Guardian Australia it would continue to operate its flights to Melbourne as cargo-only services.
“Given passenger allocation restrictions on flights to Australia, the suspension will remain in place until 26 March, 2021,” she said.
The suspension will make it more complicated for roughly 40,000 Australians stranded overseas to return home. Dubai has served as a major transit hub for those in Europe trying to negotiate routes to Australia.
Last week, as Melbourne’s Holiday Inn outbreak worsened, Victoria’s premier, Dan Andrews, announced the state would not be increasing its flight cap intake from the current rate of 1,120 each week.
International passenger arrivals into Melbourne are now paused.
Updated
Sutton was also asked if Victorians could expect to step back to the old laws if the state moves out of lockdown on Wednesday night. Or could some tougher restrictions, such as masks outdoors, remain?
Essentially, it’s too early to say:
It will all be assessed based on the data that we’ve got and are looking through tomorrow. We don’t know what that’s going to look like, but all of those things will come into consideration: our exposure sites, how we’re tracing down all our contacts. And we’ll make judgments about the settings we should go to after that.
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Sutton extols benefits of 'open-air' hotel quarantine akin to Howard Springs
Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, has just been on ABC Melbourne with Raf Epstein.
Asked if hotel quarantine might transition to more “open-air” facilities, Sutton said:
I wish, we all wish, there was a Howard Springs equivalent in Victoria. They’ve got open-air cabins. They’re single rooms so they can’t hold families together as I understand it, but with an open-air space, which is great for welfare issues, and a real distance between cabins. If we had that, wouldn’t that be fantastic. But we’ve got the infrastructure we’ve got. That’s being investigated, that’s being improved, and all of the measures in place to minimise transmission. But there’s no question that an open-air setting with real distance between is infrastructurally what we’d all love to see.
Updated
AAP has this interesting story.
Leading institutions in Tasmania have formally apologised to the island’s Aboriginal community for the exploitation, misuse and theft of remains and significant artworks.
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and Royal Society of Tasmania on Monday held a ceremony to acknowledge “200 years of morally wrong practices”.
“We acknowledge the Royal Society exhumed and purchased remains of Aboriginal people for scientific study, some of which were sent out of the country,” Royal Society president Mary Koolhof said.
“There was a lack of regard for (their) deep cultural and spiritual significance. For this we are sorry”.
The apology comes amid the museum’s impending return of 14,000-year-old Indigenous petroglyphs to their home at Preminghana in the state’s far northwest.
The rock carvings and artwork, which document major cultural events and great warriors, were cut from cliffs in the 1960s without consultation.
The state government late last year approved the return of the petroglyphs after a decades-long fight from members of the Indigenous community.
“Generations carved events that occurred. (They) were not intended to be cut away and taken to white peoples’ museums,” Aboriginal Land Council chairman Michael Mansell said.
Museum chair Brett Torossi said Aboriginal history had too often been “hidden, forgotten or denied”.
The remains of famous Indigenous woman Truganini were displayed at the museum from 1904-47 after being exhumed despite her wish to be buried in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel.
Her remains were returned to the Aboriginal community in 1976, one hundred years after she died.
“All of these actions have been damaging. We understand Tasmanian Aboriginal people may not wish to accept our apology,” Torossi said.
Hello everyone. Luke Henriques-Gomes here. Thanks to Amy for her efforts. I’ll be with you into the evening. If you want to get in touch, I’m at luke.henriques-gomes@theguardian.com or @lukehgomes on Twitter.
Well that has been quite the day – and it is not over yet.
Luke Henriques-Gomes will take you through the evening. A massive thank you to everyone who joined us today so far – we will be back tomorrow morning with more Politics Live and we hope you’ll be back.
It’s been a very tough day for a lot of people. Memories you’d rather forget can pounce when you’re least expecting it at the best of times.
If there has been anything today which has caused a flurry of anxiety or stirred events, I am sorry and I am thinking of you. You can access 24/7 counselling services at 1800 Respect, if needed.
But I hope all our readers take a moment to take a breath today. Take care of you – and those around you. You never know who might need some more kindness.
Updated
Pauline Hanson has used the anniversary of the national apology to try and make herself relevant again, delivering a speech in the Senate designed to provoke and grab headlines.
Moving on.
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'Unthinkable that our ancestors are in cardboard boxes,' Linda Burney says
Ken Wyatt and Linda Burney both appeared (at separate times) on Afternoon Briefing with Patricia Karvelas, where they were asked about two Tasmanian institutions, the Royal Society of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) apologising for “nearly 200 years of practices that were morally wrong” following a very long and protracted battle by traditional owners for the return of 14,000-year-old rock art* to Preminghana in Tasmania’s far north-west.
Wyatt said he wants to see more institutions follow suit:
I will continue working on this issue with the relevant institutions and within each state and territory government where ministers who have serious responsibility would give serious consideration to the cultural obligations that Aboriginal people and communities have towards their artefacts, but in particular, the human remains that are part of the collections.
Burney said she was working with him:
It is something I have had discussions with the minister about. I think the point that he makes is a really important point, as is the point you are making.
The focus has to be on the institutions within Australia as well as institutions repatriating items and body parts from overseas.
It is almost unthinkable that some of our ancestors are in cardboard boxes, shoved away in the vaults of museums, both in the museum in Australia and overseas. I say to those institutions that you have no need for those pieces of our people. You have no need for the artefacts. They are not on display.
There is no more value that you can get out of them, and they should be returned to communities, and we should have a national resting place, which Labor is very much advocating for in the nations capital port remains that do not have a providence.
*Which makes Elgins marbles seem like yesterday, comparatively.
Updated
This looks like almost being done and dusted.
Josh Frydenberg says the changes are minor, but will provide "comfort" to tech players that the code is workable. https://t.co/52PGGIzVRQ
— Eliza Edwards (@ElizaEdNews) February 15, 2021
Updated
The Gold Coast’s World Surfing League event which is usually held at Snapper Rocks is heading elsewhere, after the WSL and Queensland CHO Dr Jeannette Young couldn’t come to an agreement about quarantining.
Josh Frydenberg again confirms the federal government is not considering additional support for Victoria, despite the five day lockdown, while on Sky News.
Updated
Labor MP for Dunkley, Peta Murphy, used her 90-second statement in parliament ahead of question time today to talk about sexual harassment:
How many times do we have to hear about sexual harassment, discrimination and even assault occurring in the corridors of this parliament, or the bars and boardrooms surrounding it, before something is done to change it?
Why is it that time and time again it takes a brave, often young woman to be strong enough to tell her story, to make herself vulnerable and exposed in public, before the gendered cultural and systemic failings of political culture are even discussed? How many scandals can this government ignore before it does anything real to address the cultural and systemic failings that are obvious for all to see?
Every single person who comes into this building has the right to a safe and positive culture. It is unacceptable that the Australian parliament continues to leave unaddressed systemic biases which mean women’s experience of working in this building is too often fundamentally different to men’s. We can’t continue to tolerate a workplace which too often allows gendered misuse of power to seemingly go unpunished and, worse, in which the victim is the one who experiences damage to their careers, their reputations and their health.
It’s time for this parliament to do two things: firstly, establish an independent review to see how wide and deep the problem is; and, secondly, work to establish an independent office to provide truly independent advice, counselling and support. Victoria, the UK and New Zealand are doing it. We should be doing it too.
Updated
Mike Bowers was out and about today, catching all the chats:
Updated
Further to Ben’s post earlier today, Ben Butler and Anne Davies have looked at what Ken Barton will receive having stepped down from Crown:
Crown Resorts chief executive Ken Barton has stepped down and will probably walk away with at least a $3m payout as the beleaguered casino giant takes urgent steps to restore its suitability in the wake of the Bergin report.
But Barton’s departure has forced Crown to return to having an executive chairman for the time being, an arrangement that has been criticised in the past as compromising the independence of the board.
Helen Coonan, the chair of the board, will take on the dual role of chief executive while the casino giant hunts for a new CEO.
Labor’s Penny Wong has come back to the defence minister Linda Reynolds. Can the defence minister confirm that the meeting she had with Brittany Higgins after the alleged assault – the meeting in her office – was the only meeting the minister was “personally engaged in” in relation to the alleged assault.
Reynolds says she will have to take that question on notice because the issue is the subject of an “open AFP inquiry”.
(For further information on what the police are or are not doing in relation to this issue – please look at my post from a few minutes ago).
Wong persists with the question.
She says Reynolds told question time earlier today that the meeting with Higgins happened in her ministerial office (the location of the alleged assault) because at that point she was unaware of the alleged assault.
Wong: “Can the minister explain how she can claim she was unaware of the alleged assault at the time of that meeting, given the meeting took place after Ms Higgins had reported the alleged assault to the minister’s chief of staff?”
(This particular discontinuity is another genuine head scratcher of today. Strange if the chief of staff knew what the meeting was about that the minister didn’t.)
Reynolds says she will take that question on notice because of the “open AFP inquiry”. She says she will seek “legal advice” in terms of the detail of how much she can communicate publicly.
An “ongoing” AFP investigation cannot be prejudiced, she says.
Updated
ACT policing: Brittany Higgins investigation did not progress at the time but remains open
Back to Brittany Higgins and the genuine head scratcher I mentioned in my last post about the police investigation. Senior ministers throughout today have said they won’t comment beyond a basic set of propositions because the alleged sexual assault in March 2019 is “under consideration” by the AFP (that language is from the government statement).
But according to an email from Higgins to the AFP on April 13 2019 (so that’s about a month after the alleged assault) that I have seen – the then Liberal staffer told the police that after “careful consideration” she had decided “not to proceed any further” with the complaint. “It’s just not the right decision for me, personally, especially in light of my current workplace demands,” Higgins said in the email.
Amy contacted ACT policing earlier today to get a statement from them about the sexual assault allegation and to clarify the status of the investigation.
That statement from the police reads:
“ACT policing received a report in April 2019 in relation to an alleged assault at Parliament House.
ACT policing investigators subsequently spoke to the complainant who chose not to proceed with making a formal complaint”.
ACT policing goes on to say the “investigation remains open but did not progress at that time as a result”.
Furthermore, the statement reads: “Victims always have a say in how far a police investigation goes, can determine that a matter not proceed to prosecution, and can withdraw from the process at any time. It is not uncommon for an investigation to halt, not proceed to prosecution, or to be recommenced at a later time, at the request of a victim.”
It’s worth posting the rest in full, and please note the sentence I have bolded towards the bottom of the statement:
ACT Policing follows the governing principles set out in the Victims of Crime Act 1994 (Australian Capital Territory) when investigating sexual assault and acts of indecency allegations. The principles provide that a victim should be dealt with at all times in a sympathetic, constructive and reassuring manner, and with due regard to his or her personal situation, rights and dignity. It can often be a traumatic experience being a victim of crime. ACT Policing understands that sexual assaults or acts of indecency disempower victims, taking control way from them. How an allegation is reported and how police investigate can have an impact on a victims recovery, and potentially cause further trauma by taking away a victim’s power and their sense of self. ACT Policing does not want to compound existing impacts of trauma on individuals.
ACT Policing respects a victim’s right to privacy and empowers them to report, by providing them with opportunities to report an allegation should they wish to.
ACT Policing has continued to engage with the complainant throughout the investigation and also provided details of support services such as Canberra Rape Crisis Centre.
If the complainant wishes to proceed, ACT Policing will assess the case and make a decision about whether there is sufficient evidence. This is done in accordance with the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions guidelines and often in consultation with the Office of the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions.
* So according to this statement, we appear to have an open, but not active police “consideration”.
Updated
Question time ends.
The motion to suspend standing orders is defeated.
We move to the last dixer, which is on the anniversary of the National Apology.
The final vote is being held on gagging Pat Conroy’s motion.
The bells are ringing for the division.
It’s a little jarring hearing the laughter and the chatter coming from the chamber, given what is making news today.
So yup, just really normal discourse in a pretty awful day in the parliament.
This was Pat Conroy’s question to Peter Dutton just before he moved to suspend standing orders:
Why did the minister reject merit-based recommendations from his own community safety experts for the safer communities fund and redirect funding to government-held and marginal seats? What’s the point of having community safety experts if the minister just ignores them?
And here is Dutton’s answer:
I thank the honourable member for his question. Under this program, the safer communities program, we have committed over $180m to local councils, places of worship, not-for-profit organisations, organisations working with at-risk young people, leading to greater community reliance and – sorry, resilience and wellbeing.
Mr Speaker, the split between Coalition and Labor seats under that program – wait for the startling number is 51.45% to Coalition, and 48.55% to Labor seats.
Now, you would expect there to be a variation in the number, because we have more seats ... We have more seats in this place than you do.
When you ask what is this issue about? Why are they throwing mud? I have been in this place long enough to watch a Labor leader under pressure. When they are under pressure ... they look to distract, they throw mud, and they look to distract.
You are in your dying days, brother!
Updated
Pat Conroy is trying to suspend standing orders to try and have Peter Dutton deliver an explanation to the chamber about the safer communities grants.
It is denied.
Brian Mitchell to ... Peter Dutton:
Why did the minister announce two Safer Communities Fund grants during the Braddon byelection before the grant guidelines were given, before grant applications were written, and before his department had provided him with advice, which was that the projects were both unsuitable and ineligible?
Dutton:
I want to quote the mayor, Robbie Walsh, who said with regard to the CCTV camera funding, “I think it is a great, positive move that will assist with both Somerset and Wynyard in curtailing vandalism and detecting incidents.”
So, why have we provided funding to local communities? Because we want to keep people safe.
We want to keep people safe. The decision ...
He decides he has concluded his answer.
Updated
Still in the Senate, Labor’s leader in the chamber, Penny Wong, is continuing to pursue the defence minister, Linda Reynolds: What steps did she take to convey to Brittany Higgins that her career with the Liberal party would not be impacted if she made a police complaint after the alleged sexual assault?
Reynolds says she facilitated Higgins’s first meeting with the AFP. She repeats the same formulation.
Her “only concern” was the welfare of her staffer.
“I made it clear that, whatever decision she took, it had to be her decision ... there was no indication from me at all that her job was at risk”.
Reynolds says it was her suggestion to go to the AFP, and she says when Higgins left her office, she went to work for Michaelia Cash “on a promotion”.
Updated
Pat Conroy is back.
Is the prime minister aware that the $880,000 grant to National Retail Association was a completely different program to the Safer Communities Fund and the minister for home affairs instructed his department to design it purely to provide a grant to the National Retail Association?
Scott Morrison:
I am advised the guidelines have been followed in relation to all these matters; the government has been focused on ensuring our communities are safer*.
That is what these programs do.
I was up around the member for Shortland’s electorate ... just the other week. I suggest the member for Shortland spend a bit more time focusing on his constituents and their jobs, Mr Speaker, who he’s acting against the interests of in this place, rather than coming here and throwing muck around.
*The question was on the National Retail Association grant
Updated
Back to the Senate. The Greens senator Larissa Waters is continuing to pursue the issue of Brittany Higgins and the alleged sexual assault with the government’s Senate leader, Simon Birmingham.
Waters asks: “When will the safety of women be put ahead of political interests?”
Echoing Greg Hunt’s language from earlier today, Birmingham says the reports are “deeply distressing”. He says his understanding is the matter has been “put under consideration by the Australian Federal Police”.
(Just a quick interjection from me here: I’m really not sure why the government keeps saying this, because it is my understanding that Higgins went to the police, but later – in April 2019 – told the police she wouldn’t proceed with the complaint. People tell me she paused the complaint because she was concerned about the potential impact on her job security).
Birmingham says the government will await the outcome of AFP investigations. He repeats the statement that Reynolds gave to the chamber earlier in question time.
Waters persists.
She wants to know what policies the Liberal party has in place to manage these alleged incidents, given other women have also made allegations in the past.
Birmingham says support services are available through the employment assistance program.
Waters seeks a point of order: what are the Liberal party’s processes?
Birmingham persists with highlighting the employment assistance program (available to all employees regardless of party affiliation) and says the Liberal party has updated its codes.
Waters asks: would the government support a review by the sex discrimination commissioner to ensure women are safe in Parliament House, a “high risk workplace”?
Birmingham says he will work with the department of finance.
Updated
Pat Conroy to Scott Morrison:
How is the decision by the minister for home affairs to provide the National Retail Association an $880,000 grant from the proceeds of crime after they had donated to his election campaign consistent with the prime minister’s ministerial standards?
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, on this matter, decisions relating to funding of local projects to improve community safety under the safer communities funds were made consistent with the relevant rules and guidelines.
They were ...
Labor MPs: They were not!
Morrison:
They were made consistent with those matters.
And I think that settles the issue.
Updated
Ed Husic has a question about “food delivery rider Rosia” who was injured on the job, was forced to return to work before she was ready, and then was fired for being unable to do the same duties as before her work injury (she couldn’t ride as far or as fast).
What’s complicated about workers who are injured on the job having time to recover before returning to work?
It’s to Scott Morrison and he takes it, but says he will have Christian Porter add to it.
Morrison begins speaking about casual workers (gig economy workers are different):
That is why, in the changes we are bringing forward into this place, we are creating the pathway from non-permanent work, casual work and other forms of work, into permanent employment. Mr Speaker, this is why ... This is why we’re seeking to do exactly that. If someone is in a temporary form of employment, Mr Speaker, in a casual form of employment ....
He’s pulled up on relevance - given the question was about gig economy workers, not casual workers.
Apparently Morrison is completely unfamiliar with the work classification of food delivery riders, as he maintains “the question made no mention of the nature of the employment contract that the individual was involved in”.
He finishes with:
The issue that is highlighted by the member is, of course, concerning. It is very concerning, Mr Speaker.
And we want to provide more opportunities for the type of employment that provides that security. And I know, Mr Speaker, I’m aware of no other alternative than has been put forward by any other member of this place that would address the situation that has been highlighted by the member, including the policy outlined by the leader of the opposition, which does not achieve the outcome that the member has referred to.
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Tony Burke to Christian Porter:
Could the minister outline to the House which workers the government believes should be paid less than the minimum wage?
Porter:
Well, it was this government who ensured that the laws that required that people be properly characterising their employment are as strong and well enforced as is possible and has ever been the case.
So, the Coalition made it unlawful to misrepresent an employment relationship by treating someone as a contractor rather than as an employee, and in the 2019-20 budget we took further action in that space, action that was never taken by members opposite*, by providing $9.2 million in additional funding to the Fair Work Ombudsman to establish a dedicated unit to crack down on sham contracting.
People should be properly classified in their employment and where they are subject to minimum wages, that wage must be paid.
And, indeed, part of the legislation before the House is to ensure for the first time criminal penalties would apply to wage theft and members opposite will vote against that!
For the first time ever, there will be sufficiently strong penalties to ensure that people are not underpaid, including a quantum of benefits obtained, which means that the financial penalty will actually for the first time ever provide a disincentive to underpayment, and members opposite want to vote against that measure.
For the first time ever, people who are in casual employment will have a strong, secure consistent pathway to move from casual employment to permanent employment. Members opposite want to vote against that as well.
*The Coalition has been in power since 2013
Updated
Scott Morrison has spoken with Papua New Guinea’s prime minister about speculative announcements of possible Chinese-funded development on the PNG island of Daru, parliament has been told.
The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, was responding to a wide-ranging question from Bob Katter, which included mention of Daru island proposals. The PNG government has said it is not formally considering a Chinese-built multibillion-dollar city.
Dutton said the Australian government had an “incredibly important and valuable relationship with the government of Papua New Guinea” and he described the press reporting as “highly speculative”:
“But only this week the prime minister’s raised that with Prime Minister [James] Marape, and we’ll continue to work with our Papua New Guinea counterparts.”
Updated
Tony Burke to Christian Porter:
The minister says that paying at least the minimum wage to every worker is complicated. What exactly is complicated by workers being paid at least the minimum wage?
Porter:
Minimum wage applies, there should never be any excuse. It is unlawful to not pay the minimum wage. That is a very well-known principle.
If the member is asking questions about people to whom the minimum wage doesn’t apply, then I’m sure he would be able to clarify that in a further question.
Josh Frydenberg continues to read out each government member’s LinkedIn profile before answering their dixer.
Could someone tell him there is already a website for that.
Updated
Anthony Albanese has a question about workers in the Bowen Basin - Simon and Ron - who do the same job but receive different pay because Ron is employed through labour hire and receives 20% less than Simon, and no entitlements.
The question is directed to Scott Morrison but he sends this one Christian Porter’s way.
Porter:
It’s a serious question.
It goes to the issue of - it goes to the issue of the use of labour hire.
The earlier formulation of the question was whether or not it was agreed the two workers doing the same job at the same place in the same workplace should get the same pay.
That is not even the Labor policy.
When you read their speech, they say that a labour hire firm ... who employs someone at the same job, the same pay, should get no less. It isn’t even their policy.
... They have had difficulties in working out what their own policy is.
The difficulties with labour hire, for the benefit of the House, is the ABS notes labour hire as a proportion of all employees has been stable at about 2% over the last decade.
What is very important and what the government absolutely ensures occurs is that under labour hire agreements, people should have exactly the same rights as other employees, including of course unfair dismissal rights, award entitlements, bargaining right, general protections and work, health and safety protections, to name but a few.
The Labor party say they have a policy for perfect equality between those two forms, but when you read the policy they acknowledge that is incredibly difficult and in their policy say that someone with the labour hire with the same position at the same type of work should get at least as much but could get more. Not exact parity as they pretended in their earlier question.
He’s pulled up on relevance and told there is no room in the question for alternative policies, and continues, but it’s more ‘I’M THE RUBBER AND YOU’RE THE GLUE” defence and then we are out of time.
Updated
Breaking: Australia is a big country.
Michael McCormack - continuing to display the amazing intellect which led to him becoming the deputy prime minister of this country.
Such insight.
Over in the Senate, the defence minister, Linda Reynolds, has faced the first questions about her conduct during the alleged sexual assault of her then staffer Brittany Higgins.
In response to questions from the Labor senator Katy Gallagher, Reynolds says she is aware of today’s media reporting concerning the wellbeing of her former staff member.
“Women should be safe and they should feel safe in the workplace at all times,” the defence minister said.
Reynolds said her only priority during “this matter” was the welfare of Brittany Higgins.
She said she made Higgins aware during their conversation after the alleged incident that she had the right to make a complaint to the police “should she choose to do so”.
Reynolds said she and her then chief of staff also sought advice about what support was available to members of staff in these circumstances.
Reynolds said when she met with Higgins to hear her account of the alleged events in March 2019 she wasn’t aware of the details.
Reynolds said if she had been aware of the details, the meeting would not have happened in her office (where the alleged assault is said to have taken place). Reynolds said she did not intend to comment further “given the sensitivities”.
Labor’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, said Reynolds needs to answer the question about whether or not Higgins understood that her job was safe regardless of whether or not she made a complaint to the police.
Reynolds said Higgins had all the options presented to her, and she doesn’t intend to comment further.
Updated
Michael McCormack gets his dixer, which is an excellent time to go get a cup of tea/investigate that rogue hair wherever it may be growing/stare directly into the sun.
Updated
Tony Burke to Scott Morrison:
Will the prime minister now tell the House whether he agrees that two workers doing the same job at the same workplace should get the same pay?
Morrison:
Well, Mr Speaker, the opposition seeks to take a matter that is actually far more complicated than they suggest, because there are many other issues ... that go with what is happening in any one workplace.
And what is important is that in that workplace, in that workplace there should be the opportunities for Australians to be able to get the hours they are looking for, to be able to extend their hours, to be able to earn more in their place of work, and the best way for them to achieve that is if they are working for businesses, Mr Speaker, that are actually making profits and are actually going forward.
In the absence of a growing economy, Mr Speaker, in the absence of a growing economy, in the absence of a government policy that is actually encouraging businesses to get back on their feet, workers are worse off, Mr Speaker.
... As an alternative policy setting, that would see higher taxes under the Labor party, the ...
He is pulled up on relevance and told he can’t go to alternative policies.
Morrison:
The government will continue to ensure that businesses in this country pay lower taxes, as our policies deliver, to continue to operate together with employees to ensure they have the best possible set of arrangements to ensure that Australians can get back into the work as a result of what we’re doing post this Covid-19 recession, Mr Speaker. To get Australians back to work, so they can earn more, so they can get more hours, and they can support those enterprises that go forward with confidence.
We’re seeing confidence lift in our economy. We’re seeing the comeback well under way. And under those policies Australian workers are better off.
Updated
You might notice Scott Morrison took that question on IR, when previously, he had mostly given them to Christian Porter to answer.
Tony Burke to Scott Morrison:
Does the prime minister agree that two workers doing the same job at the same workplace should get the same pay?
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, all of our policies seek to achieve the objectives of ensuring that Australians get into jobs and they get treated fairly in the workplace, Mr Speaker, and that they are treated safely in the workplace, and all of the industrial arrangements that sit around those matters, Mr Speaker, are appropriately in place to protect those workers.
That is what our policies do. That is what the policies that are before the House in our legislation seek to do ... we would seek the help of the opposition to help us get more people into jobs.
Updated
The Sydney Liberal MP Fiona Martin has shared her support for government staffer Brittany Higgins on social media this morning.
Martin is a psychologist by training. Martin told Guardian Australia:
“I think it is very important to reinforce people who have experienced sexual assault.”
The Liberal MP said when people report incidents like the alleged incident in March 2019, then it encourages others to come forward. Martin says reporting is “very important, so we know how frequently these events happen”.
The health minister, Greg Hunt, was just asked about the allegations at a press conference.
Hunt said the incident would be the subject of an investigation, if it wasn’t currently.
He said Higgins had “absolute sympathy and total support”.
He declined to comment further.
Updated
Question time begins
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
Can the prime minister advise the House on how the government responded to the allegation that a woman was sexually assaulted in [a] minister’s office in March 2019. Has an appropriate duty of care for the woman been exercised?
Morrison:
My government takes all such matters - all matters of workplace safety –very, very seriously.
Everyone should feel safe in their workplace, wherever that is.
Reports today are deeply distressing.
This matter is under consideration by police.
At all times, guidance was sought from Ms Higgins as to how she wished to proceed. And to support and respect her decisions.
This important best practice principle of empowering Miss Higgins is something the government always sought to follow in relation to this matter.
The government has aimed to provide Miss Higgins with her agency, to provide support to make decisions in her interests and to respect her privacy.
This offer of support and assistance continues.
It is important that Ms Higgins’s views are listened to and respected and I table for the purposes of the House a statement issued by a government spokesperson today on these matters.
Updated
Labor MP Matt Keogh was speaking about the vaccine on the ABC:
The key thing is that obviously we want to make sure that the vaccines get the TGA approval but then we should be ready to go to roll out the vaccines.
What we’ve seen in other countries where they’ve waited for the approvals, appropriately, they’ve been able to roll it out. For the Pfizer vaccine, the approval was out for a long while and we’ve had to wait for this.
Prime minister Scott Morrison promised that Australia was at the front of the queue and now we’re waiting and we’ll get the vaccinations rolling out next week.
While we understand what the phases are, we don’t know what the plan is. When will each phase start?
In the UK, you can type in your parameters and you can get an estimate as to when you’ll be receiving the vaccine.
People can find out and it gives them security and certainty about how the system is going to roll out.
We don’t have that in Australia.
And the reality is that if we’ed been closer to the front of the queue, and we’d been able to get phase 1 started, vaccinating quarantine workers, vaccinating border workers, the recent outbreaks we’ve had across multiple states in Australia wouldn’t have occurred because those workers would have been vaccinated.
Updated
Question time will be held in the next five minutes.
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Mark Butler spoke on the vaccines are little earlier:
Australians remember that, back in August, Scott Morrison promised that, to use his words, ‘Australians will be among the first in the world to receive a Covid-19 vaccine’.
And in November he promised again that Australia was at the front of the queue.
Well, we’re now into the second-half of February, and still not a single Australian has received a single dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
Around the world, figures indicate that more than 170 million people have already received their vaccine.
In America, it’s more than 52 million Americans have received their vaccine. And in the UK, more than a quarter of the adult population has been vaccinated.
Updated
Greg Hunt on when politicians and health experts will get the vaccine:
I’ll give you a simple answer in terms of the prime minister and myself.
We’ve got the first two vaccines.
We agreed earlier on that the prime minister would be part of the group to be vaccinated with the first vaccine.
That will be Pfizer.
I’ll be part of the first group to be vaccinated with the second vaccine, along with Professor Murphy, and he particularly wanted to make sure that he wasn’t being seen to jump the queue.
He’s a very good man, as is Professor Kelly.
So what we’ll see is that the leaders will take a mix to demonstrate the confidence. And if the TGA approves a vaccine, whether it’s flu, whether it’s Covid, then we have complete confidence in their judgement.
And we’ve also seen the World Health Organisation, the European medicines agency, the UK regulators, make very strong statements about the efficacy about a range of different vaccines.
Updated
That is a favourite tactic of Greg Hunt - he starts answering a question and, after about a line, moves the answer to a question which has not been asked.
Updated
Why isn’t the prime minister at this press conference, given Greg Hunt used the same words as when man landed on the moon to open this announcement?
Hunt:
Today was announcement of an arrival.
I think that you’ll hear plenty from the prime minister this week. There will be no shortage of prime ministerial opportunities in all sorts of forums.
And throughout this, he’s just been incredibly important.
And I did use that phrase because the last year has been a global moon shot. And in a world of great challenges, geopolitical and other, we can be cynical about how the world is. But the world came together to produce these vaccines.
And that’s what global cooperation has done – our researchers, our administrators, our medical regulator and our health officials.
Governments have cooperated. So this has been a global project, a global moon shot. And today marks another important milestone.
Next week, with the first vaccines, marks an even more important milestone, if that might give you a hint. And with those milestones, we give Australians hope and protection.
Updated
Greg Hunt says the government won’t say until later in the week what the allocations of this first shipment of vaccines will be for each jurisdiction.
Given the seriousness of the story about the government staffer Brittany Higgins and the alleged sexual assault by her colleague in March 2019 – and in the context of a broader debate about workplace culture in Parliament House – a number of people are expressing views.
Labor’s deputy Senate leader, Kristina Keneally, told reporters this morning she believed “we still have a long way to go to ensure women feel safe to bring forward allegations and report assault when it happens to them ... and you know, I say that with sorrow”.
Keneally said her first acknowledgement was to Higgins, who had shown “courage” in sharing her story.
She also acknowledged “women right across Australia who have been the victim of unwanted sexual assault in life. It’s terrible. It’s tragic”.
Keneally said Linda Reynolds, the defence minister, and Higgins’s boss at the time of the alleged incident, needed to furnish her account of events.
This is an alleged assault that occurred in her office. There are security issues around the defence minister’s office, there are issues as to whether or not this has been properly referred and investigated, not just by officials in this building, but also by the police.
There are questions about whether or not this young woman was pressured to choose between her job and reporting the matter to police.
So I think it’s time that we hear today, from the minister, Linda Reynolds, because all allegations of sexual assault and rape, wherever they are but particularly when they occur in the workplace, and particularly when they occur in the parliament.
I don’t care what side of politics you are on. There is no place for that kind of assault in a workplace or in this parliament.
Guardian Australia has contacted Reynolds’ office for comment.
We covered the government’s initial response in a statement issued by the prime minister’s office in a post earlier today.
Question time is at 2pm.
Updated
Here is the main part you need to know from the release (knowing Greg Hunt there will be a lot more words than necessary to get to this information):
Approximately 80,000 doses will be released of the Pfizer vaccine in the first week.
Approximately 50,000 vaccines will be made available for the states and territories for hotel quarantine and border workers and frontline healthcare workers.
Approximately 30,000 vaccines will be made available for the commonwealth vaccine in-reach workforce to aged care and disability care residents.
It is expected that, of these, at least 60,000 will be administered by the end of February, with others to be continually administered thereafter.
Subject to TGA approval and shipping confirmation of the international AstraZeneca vaccine, it is expected these numbers will double from early March. Phase 1a remains on track for first round doses to be delivered within a six-week period.
In lessons learnt in rollouts around the world and on the advice of experts, approximately 60,000 vaccines will be provisioned to ensure consistent supply and sufficient stock for second doses. The second dose of the vaccine will be administered at 21 days after the first dose.
The Phase 1a priority groups will ensure our quarantine and border workers, frontline healthcare workers and aged care and disability care residents and staff that the most vulnerable will receive priority access to the vaccine.
Updated
First shipment of Pfizer vaccine has landed in Australia
Greg Hunt starts his press conference with “the Eagle has landed” because there is no limit to the cringe.
142,000 doses arrived in the first flight just after midday.
Batch testing will be undertaken by the TGA
60% of the first doses - 50,000 units - will be allocated to the states.
Updated
Andrew Wilkie seconded Adam Bandt’s motion, but only got as far as one line – “the major parties are running a protection racket” for the gambling industry – before he too was shut down.
The government won the motion to gag the debate
Updated
How good is merit?
The Australian Financial Review is reporting the Coalition “has failed to appoint any women to the Victorian registry of the federal court since coming to power in 2013, building on its poor track record of female appointments to the bench that has worsened under attorney general Christian Porter.”
Updated
Meanwhile, the government lost a vote in the Senate.
Jordon Steele-John moved the Royal Commissions Amendment (Confidentiality Protections) bill 2020 which strengthens protections for witnesses in the disability royal commission.
The government voted against the bill in the Senate, but it passed with Labor and the crossbench - but that doesn’t bode well for its passage in the House.
#BREAKING my bill to strengthen the privacy protections for people giving evidence to the @DRC_AU just passed the @AuSenate
— Senator Jordon Steele-John 🌏🔥 (@Jordonsteele) February 15, 2021
The government voted against it but it passed anyway - an historic loss
The HoR should now pass it too. It's time to get this done #AusPol
Updated
The other major political story of today comes from Samantha Maiden at news.com.au.
Maiden reports that a young government staffer, Brittany Higgins, has alleged she was raped by a colleague in the office of the defence minister Linda Reynolds in March 2019.
A government spokesman has this morning issued a detailed statement in response to issues raised in Maiden’s report.
Today’s news story follows a separate Four Corners investigation last year into the workplace culture of Parliament House.
Some key excerpts from today’s statement:
On Tuesday, March 26, 2019, senior staff in minister Reynolds’ office became aware the office was accessed after hours and that an incident had occurred. This incident involved two staff. It was initially treated as a breach of the statement of standards for ministerial staff. After further consultation with Ms Higgins over the following days, it became clear to senior staff that there were previously unknown elements of the incident that may be of a more serious nature.
Ms Higgins was notified that should she choose to, she should pursue a complaint, including a complaint made to the police, and that to do so was within her rights. She was informed that she would be assisted and supported through that process. Ms Higgins was told that if she did choose to pursue a complaint, she would have the full and ongoing support of the office and the minister. This offer of support and assistance remains.
The government statement says the alleged sexual assault is “under consideration by the police” – a development characterised as “an important step that the government has consistently supported from the outset and we will await the outcome of this process”.
The spokesman acknowledges that after the alleged assault in March 2019, Reynolds, accompanied by a senior staff member, met with Higgins in the ministerial office – the same location where the rape is said to have occurred.
The statement characterises meeting in that location as an “oversight” that is now “regretted” given “the seriousness of the incident”.
The statement says Reynolds during their conversation reiterated to Higgins that “whatever she chose to do, she would be supported”. It says Reynolds had told the staffer “her only concern was for her welfare and stated there would be no impact on her career”. The statement acknowledges that Higgins indicated during that conversation she “would like to speak to the Australian Federal Police, which minister Reynolds supported and her office facilitated”.
Maiden’s report quotes Higgins expressing concern about how her experience was handled. Higgins says she felt like she’d become a “problem” and that the government was “ticking a box”.
The statement addresses that point by noting: “It is important that Ms Higgins views are listened to and respected” and expressing “regret” if Higgins felt “unsupported through this process”. The statement describes the report of the alleged incident as “deeply distressing”.
Guardian Australia has attempted to make contact with Higgins.
For clarity, the statement from a government spokesman was issued by the prime minister’s office.
Updated
Adam Bandt was able to speak for quite some time on his motion - he wasn’t shut down until he mentioned that the established parties were taking money from the casino industry.
That’s when Christian Porter jumped up to move he no longer be heard.
Adam Bandt is now moving to suspend standing orders over the Crown situation.
I was told by a friend of the blog this was yelled out in the chamber - looks like Julian Hill is claiming credit:
VolderRort.#auspol pic.twitter.com/ECDUMLL91B
— Julian Hill MP (@JulianHillMP) February 15, 2021
Christian Porter is now moving to close the motion.
Which will go through on the government’s numbers.
You’ll notice some notable absences in this photo acknowledging the national apology.
The frontbench, including Peter Dutton, has made it into the chamber to vote down this motion.
Updated
The first gag motion has passed - 63 to 60.
Mark Dreyfus manages to get out “rorts, rorts and more rorts and Peter Dutton is up to his neck in it” before he too is shut down by Christian Porter.
The House divides again.
I didn’t mention that Leigh Sales was at the Daniel Andrews presser, because she is a journalist and it is not unusual for journalists to attend press conferences.
But it seems that there has been some conspiracy theories doing the rounds. I’m not going into them, because they are offensive. But here is Sales in her own words:
A few people on here noticed I was at Dan Andrews' presser. FYI I'm only in Melbourne because I came for a friend's bday & got caught in lockdown. I didn't come here just for DA presser. @abc730 had an interview bid in for today he said no - attending presser next best option.
— Leigh Sales (@leighsales) February 15, 2021
Labor attempts to suspend standing orders to get explanation from Peter Dutton
This is happening right now - it will be defeated, as the government will use its numbers to shut down the debate
BREAKING: Labor is calling on @PeterDutton_MP to come to the House of Reps immediately to explain his role in #safeseatsrorts.
— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) February 15, 2021
Cherry picking grants, using tax-payer VIP luxury planes to jet set and announce them.
It is time for a National Integrity Commission now! pic.twitter.com/Xz8zjhk7By
Greg Hunt has called a press conference for 1.15pm.
It is in the Blue Room (the second most fancy press conference location).
Updated
Here is how the chamber looked as those speeches were delivered.
Linda Burney finishes with this:
The healing power of telling the truth did not end with the apology, it began.
Mr Speaker, a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament is within the nation’s grasp, if this government wants it.
As the Labor leader has said – we want to work with you, in the spirit of bi-partisanship – to make this a reality in this term of parliament.
I don’t care who gets the credit, I just want to see it done.
If political parties offer their full-throated endorsement of an enshrined Voice to Parliament –
And a model is settled with the broad support of the First Nations community –
I have no doubt that a referendum would succeed.
There is time to get this done if we work together – and with the community.
The government started out this term speaking with real ambition. And now is the time for action.
An enshrined Voice to Parliament would mark the beginning of a pragmatic new way of doing business for us all.
A new way of listening. Of being heard. Of being accountable.
And of making sure the laws, programs and policies of the government were actually working to achieve what we, on this day each year, profess is our national duty –
To finally Close the Gap.
Updated
Linda Burney is now speaking on the motion to mark the apology:
I want to tell a very personal story of a remarkable day on the 13th of February 2008.
The story started many years before that date.
It began with the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families – the Bringing Them Home report – some 11 years earlier.
It followed a decade of a stubborn refusal by a prime minister and a government – for reasons I never understood – for whom an apology would require so little – yet mean so much to so many.
I will never forget the 27th of May, 1997 - Mick Dodson and the late Sir Ronald Wilson launching the Bringing Them Home report in the Convention Centre in Melbourne at the 1997 Reconciliation Convention.
Senator [Pat] Dodson was our chair. His bravery was extraordinary - declaring in front of the world “there cannot be reconciliation without social justice”.
A moment that had held such power, such truth - and in my mind always will.
Mr Speaker, 13 years ago, after the election of the Rudd government, the apology allowed this country to breath again.
We had been holding our collective breath for so long, like suffocating.
The power of words must never be underestimated. They can hurt, but they can also heal.
Updated
Ken Wyatt:
I ask that we all look at the role that we can play in empowering Indigenous Australians, our elders and traditional owners, and work to continue to improve the lives and futures of the next generation of Indigenous people.
As we continue to walk side-by-side as one to reflect, respect and celebrate, that which makes us all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous.
... And to all of the stolen generations members, what we want to do is honour what they achieved, acknowledge what happened and ensure that it does not happen to future generations.
And that is a challenge for every of us in here. Because when we are one, we are strong. And when we walk together, we have limitless potential.
So I acknowledge, in closing, all of those who are still with us from the stolen generations and to all Indigenous Australians who aspire to a better future, better opportunities and their rightful place in every facet of Australian life.
Updated
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, is now speaking.
Today, I stand in our national parliament as a son of the stolen generations survivor, I stand here as the first Aboriginal person elected to the House of Reps.
And a first on many other fronts. But I know that my mother would have been proud.
To have seen me stand in this chamber.
I see all too often the disadvantage in our communities, the struggles of our people to be heard.
I’ve spent many hours over many years listening to the men and women of the stolen generations, whose experiences left them with indelible memories of the things done to them because of government policy.
Even well-intentioned.
My mother’s own story and that of her brothers and sisters has affected my approach to life and what I fight for.
I have read my grandparents’ and mother’s native welfare files that outlined the way in which they were controlled and managed by government and the institutions of the day.
On 13 February, 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stood at the despatch box and delivered a formal apology to Australia’s Indigenous people, particularly to the stolen generations.
Victims of past government policies that forced removal and cultural assimilation. On that day, on behalf of all Australians, he said “I am sorry.”
Updated
Anthony Albanese:
In the 13 years since it was delivered by Kevin Rudd, the Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples has in retrospect taken on a sense of inevitability, but it was anything but inevitable.
It was resisted for years.
It was resisted on the day itself by some members who went out rather than be part of this moment of national significance and attainment.
When history was made in this room, they chose to be in another.
It is almost unimaginable now, but at the time it was dressed up as an expression of principle, courage. The real courage was of those members of the stolen generations who came here to this place, which had long stood as a pinnacle of an entire system that had failed them as governments of all persuasions had.
Of the Coalition MPs who walked out, there is one remaining - and he is on the front bench. Peter Dutton.
Updated
Scott Morrison:
In past years we have on this anniversary reported on our efforts to improve the outcomes for Indigenous Australians but, as with so much that has been tried before, our efforts were based more on telling than listening, more on grand aspirations than the experience of Indigenous peoples. So while there was no lack of money, will or work, our targets were not met and while there was some progress, our ambitions were unfulfilled.
Mostly it was because we were perpetuating the very idea that has plagued our country for so long, that we knew better.
We had to move and so in July we signed a new national agreement on Closing the Gap, an agreement reached through historic partnership between Australian government and Indigenous peak organisations.
A new chapter in our efforts, built on mutual trust, respect and dignity. It not only sets new targets, it changes how we achieve them and who is driving them.
Following this momentous achievement, all governments and coalition peaks will deliver in the middle of this year, 12 months on from the national agreement. From here on, reporting on our national progress will occur at mid-year but my hope is that this anniversary will remain appointment reminder in our national life and parliamentary calendar as it should.
Updated
Daniel Hurst reported Kevin Rudd’s comments about the anniversary on Friday.
Rudd said:
I can tell you that, without the deep change that comes with a referendum which enjoys bipartisan support, the far right of Australia will always seize every opportunity to trash a limited legislated national Voice as somehow illegitimate.
If you doubt me on this, I only point out the examples of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, or the Australian Human Rights Commission. Both of these institutions exist under legislation. Both are subjected to rolling campaigns of delegitimisation, the withdrawal of funding and threats of abolition. A Voice to parliament that lacks constitutional protection will be no more permanent than the dozens of quasi-autonomous government agencies that are created and abolished by governments every year.”
But Rudd said he feared the debate about legislation versus a referendum may be designed to distract from the Uluru statement’s call for a Makarrata Commission leading to a treaty with our First Nations.
The uncomfortable truth in this debate about Uluru is not really about substance. It’s all about symbols of the white identity politics of the far right. Just another battle in the seemingly endless culture wars in which any advancement – no matter how modest – in the cause of reconciliation must somehow be opposed in order to throw more raw meat to the extreme right, thereby sustaining the wider coalition of interests that makes up the fragile fabric of Australian conservative politics.”
Parliament marks anniversary of Stolen Generations National Apology
Scott Morrison is speaking.
Anthony Albanese, Ken Wyatt and Linda Burney will also give a speech.
There is no Closing the Gap report update today.
Updated
The parliament is about to acknowledge the 13th anniversary of the National Apology.
We’ll bring that to you live
Daniel Andrews says the Victorian government is still working through what further support may be needed as the state works through the impacts of this latest lockdown.
Daniel Andrews on the issue of infection control in Victoria’s hotel quarantine hotels with this new(er) variant:
People are entitled to their views and opinions. I don’t determine the standards in these hotels, they are determined by panels of medical experts, and there will often be differences of opinion and views but as I think Emma Cassar has made very clear, as others have made clear, the deputy chief health officer who is assigned with one responsibility only, and that is all of these public health matters together with an expert panel that only deal with hotel quarantine, every effort made the highest standards.
That doesn’t mean everybody will necessarily agree with that, there will not be a difference of view and opinion.
Every day, there are questions asked. Every thing is under review every single day, not just today but every day, because you learn from every issue and incident, everything that happens. It is alive program and it’s a live virus in that it is changing. It’s not static.
Updated
Daniel Andrews is then asked about his proposal to talk about cutting the number of people allowed back into Australia:
We are looking at a number of different settings and I just want to stress, I don’t think there is any short of having no one come here that will get the risk to zero.
But it may be that the risk can be reduced from a low level to an even lower level if we were to be out of the city in a purpose-built facility with more fresh air, with some workers who perhaps, those who have the greatest contact with one another in the greatest risk [area], spend the largest amount of time in the red zone, living on site, stop all those sorts of things, we are working through that, and I talked about national cabinet needing to have a discussion about this, I’m talking to some first minister colleagues about this.
We are doing some work on a number of different sites. It may not be something other colleagues are prepared to support.
Updated
Jeroen Weimer is also pushing back:
This is not a single trick response.
The Victorian approach to how we deal with these cases based on the hard experience of the last year as we take all of the information available to us, look at every single thing we can possibly do and put the best possible policy response together.
Are we always cautious and conservative?
Yes because as it was said yesterday, this is not a gamble we can take with all Victorians.
We strongly believe that we need to put every single measure in place because we are dealing with a variant we have not yet seen outside of hotel quarantine.
We now have 17 cases, 14 outside of that hotel quarantine environment with significant community exposure.
Absolutely we want to, I am very, very confident we have got the testing machinery, the pathology, the contact tracing in place to all of this but when need the support of the wider Victorian community which is why those policy measures are in place.
Updated
Victoria’s CHO Prof Brett Sutton says there was more than one justification [the UK variant] for the five-day lockdown:
You weren’t there with the discussions with cabinet. There were a number of elements we spoke through that related to the risk of this being a significant event and requiring additional public health measures and that was one element.
Updated
NSW reports no new cases
NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases – or any cases in hotel quarantine.
So another zero day for NSW.
Updated
Daniel Andrews:
Again, the types of cases, this UK strain, the fact that despite the amazing efforts of all of our contact traces and testers and lab workers and the work of so many genuine hard-working Victorians, we had a situation where at the same time as we are becoming aware of the primary case, they have already infected their close contacts, that is not something we’ve seen before.
The speed at which this has moved saw our public health team make the very difficult decisions based on the best of science and the best understanding you can possibly have on any outbreak, that this was a difficult but proportionate and necessary thing to do.
And, look, if at the end of this, the view of you or others was that this was too much, well, you’re to form those views.
What I am not free to do is to ever ignore advice and have a situation where I shop around for whatever will be most popular, only then to be proven wrong and to have not one or two cases, but something much worse than that, and particularly on the cusp of the vaccine being rolled out.
I know and appreciate very well what Victorians have been able to achieve.
There is no other jurisdiction in the world that has been able to achieve what we achieved, it is a credit to the character, compassion and the absolute determination of the Victorian community.
We know what to do and I’m grateful that we know that that is exactly what Victorians are doing, coming forward to getting tested, coming forward and listening to the advice and following the rules, and also when they are asked to make that incredibly difficult, the challenging thing to do, to stay at home for 14 days on the chance that you may have it, to do that at such high levels, it is a credit to every single Victorian.
Updated
Daniel Andrews says the lockdown does not imply that he doesn’t have faith in the Victorian contact tracing system.
What it implies and what it states is that this thing is moving really fast.
They shouldn’t be taken as a criticism of thousands of people working night and day …
If you want me to ignore the advice provided by the chief health officer, well, I will not do that.
Just like I am sure each and every other premier who across the state has had to go to these short, sharp measures.
They ... didn’t ignore the advice of their public health team, nor has prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
For the sake of having the real challenges that are faced by making these decisions, you ignore that advice, only to be back here in a fortnight answering a whole lot of different questions about why I ignored advice.
I just don’t do that.
Updated
It’s an all-for-one lockdown, and not just a Melbourne one, Daniel Andrews says, because there was no time to set up the “ring of steel”:
People in regional Victoria and every single Victorian, no one is enjoying this.
This is not in any way easy, but the last thing you want is – you do just Melbourne, you pretend you got a ring of steel up, you have softer rules in regional Victoria, large numbers of people go to regional Victoria.
We get Melbourne all under control after five days, everything is great, and a week later, we got sewerage going off all the way across regional Victoria potentially because just as people travel to regional Victoria, the virus travels to regional Victoria.
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Daniel Andrews says authorities “needs to let this unfold” in terms of the lockdown and there is no desired number of cases which will make the decision over whether or not to extend the lockdown – it is about how much virus is within the community:
This is never just about the sheer number of cases, it’s about if they are contained in their primary close contacts, casual and secondary contact are locked down.
The individual circumstances of each case have always been very important to us and they become even more important in circumstances like this.
It’s difficult to put a raw number on it and try and characterise it in that way. Every case on its merits, the individual circumstances, particularly the number of exposure days.
The status of their primary and secondary close contacts, all those things which have been ritual the way through.
They become even more important now. I would say, I know everyone would love to have that metric and I love to be able to be absolutely definitive on Monday morning about what will happen on Wednesday night, but that wouldn’t be honest.
We have to let this unfold. I know it’s painful and challenging but you want the most contemporary picture.
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Jeroen Weimer:
Please do not regard this as just a localised outbreak, this is a significant outbreak. The two days is a critical time for us, so it’s [crucial] everyone can come forward and get tested.
We can confirm that over 99% of test results are still occurring by the next day, so if you get tested today, you will have your results tomorrow.
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The man in charge of Victoria’s contact tracing – Jeroen Weimar – is giving an update on who some of the cases are, and how they are linked.
All have been linked back to the Holiday Inn cases, and close contacts of those linked cases are being put into isolation.
The Sydney Road Coburg function led to it spreading a little further – but again, people have been contacted and placed into isolation.
Of the 1,100 people who have been identified as close contacts, 130 are immediate close contacts and 129 have been tested and returned negative results. There is one outstanding result, but that person received a home visit yesterday.
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'Too early' to determine if lockdown will end in two days
There is still no word on whether or not the lockdown will be extending, but Daniel Andrews says the numbers so far are “pleasing”:
We are well-placed right now, but right now is too early to be definitive about Wednesday evening.
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People who have travelled to Victoria from New Zealand are being asked to get tested and isolate until they receive their result.
There have now been 1,100 close contacts identified and linked to the Holiday Inn outbreak.
Daniel Andrews says contact tracers are meeting the gold standard:
The most recent dataset of 933 close contacts identified on the 11 February – 931 of those 933 were contacted within the 48-hour period.
It is the guideline, that is the standard, that is 99.8%, so that is a very strong result result.
SA’s result on the same measure was 98.7%, and that is a testament to the hard work so many are doing in partnership with us.
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Daniel Andrews says there are 17 cases linked to the Holiday Inn hotel quarantine outbreak, following the latest confirmed case.
The woman is being considered a positive case, despite returning both negative and weak positive results - she is asymptomatic.
Andrews:
It is also linked to the function at 426 Sydney Road Coburg on the night of February six.
She is asymptomatic - she was swabbed four times over the 13th and 14th of February, returning both negative and weak positive results.
Given her exposure and the variability of those results, a public health team have taken the most conservative approach and have deemed her a positive case.
That, I think, is the appropriate way to go, to be as conservative as possible so that we can isolate her close contact, the secondary contacts, and test them.
To that end, she had worked in a psychiatric unit at the Alfred and on psychiatric wards at the northern hospital in Broadmeadows which is run by the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
(Those wards have been locked down)
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Daniel Andrews press conference
The Victorian premier is giving an update on day three of the state’s lockdown.
There has been one case of community transmission today – which was someone they knew about.
Let’s hope there is some more good news.
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Those Victorian MPs who didn’t come to Canberra have the official permissions to attend remotely.
Agreement for Members to contribute remotely to parliamentary proceedings @AboutTheHouse #CovidVic #auspol pic.twitter.com/G70q3fNGhY
— Political Alert (@political_alert) February 14, 2021
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For those interested:
Update. pic.twitter.com/k9pbJS7hQh
— Melbourne Storm 🏆 (@storm) February 14, 2021
For those asking about what happens with people who arrived on flights from New Zealand before the Auckland lockdown, that is up to the states.
From Prof Paul Kelly’s statement:
States will determine how to manage people who have already arrived in Australia from New Zealand and who may pose a risk of transmitting the COVID-19 virus.
The National Incident Room will assist states and territories by seeking relevant flight manifests.
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee will consider further updates from New Zealand tomorrow and provide advice to the Chief Medical Officer regarding the management of travel arrangements between New Zealand and Australia.
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Parliament will sit from 10am today.
The speeches acknowledging the 13th anniversary of the National Apology to Indigenous and First Nations Australians for the Stolen Generation will be held at midday.
Greg Hunt will hold a photo opportunity at 10.30.
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Seven West Media strikes deal with Google
There is not a lot of detail, but Seven West Media has reported to the ASX it has struck a deal with Google for payment for news content:
Seven West Media (ASX: SWM) today announced it has entered into a LOU to form a longterm partnership with Google to provide news content to the Google Showcase product which launched in Australia in early February.
The agreement will be subject to executing a long form agreement within the next 30 days.
Seven West Media Chairman Kerry Stokes AC said:
This is a great outcome for Seven West Media and for Google. Our new partnership recognises the value, credibility and trust of our leading news brands and entertainment content across Seven and West Australian Newspapers.
I’d like to thank Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims, with particular recognition of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who has been instrumental in the outcome of this ground-breaking agreement.
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There have been no mystery cases in this Victorian outbreak, which is excellent news.
So far, all the transmissions have occurred within close contacts who were known to authorities.
Daniel Andrews and Martin Foley will be talking about Victoria’s latest numbers at 10am.
The new locally-acquired case today is the mother of the 3yo, flagged yesterday and connected to the Coburg dinner.
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) February 14, 2021
Daniel Andrews and Martin Foley will speak at 10am. https://t.co/rciC8jG4G5
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Victoria records one new local case of Covid
This is good news.
Yesterday there were 2 new cases reported – 1 local, 1 in hotel quarantine. 25,144 test results were received. Got symptoms? Get tested, #EveryTestHelps.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 14, 2021
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/GNopfTA24a
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You’ll be hearing a lot about jobkeeper today.
As AAP reports:
The number of businesses and people relying on JobKeeper wage subsidies continues to decline sharply as Australia’s economy emerges from recession.
But Treasurer Josh Frydenberg concedes sectors like tourism, aviation and international education are still struggling and will need support once the pandemic-inspired scheme ends in March.
Mr Frydenberg has released tax office figures showing around 520,000 firms and 2.13 million employees have left JobKeeper since the end of September.
As of December, 1.54 million people were supported by the program, down from 3.6 million recorded in the month of September.
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It’s apparently the “politics of envy” to ask about this, but Andrew Leigh and Susan Templeman want the House to debate firms who used jobkeeper for bonuses:
Today the House will debate a motion from @stemplemanmp and me, calling on the Morrison Govt to reveal how much JobKeeper was paid to firms whose profits rose & how much went to firms that paid executive bonuses.
— Andrew Leigh (@ALeighMP) February 14, 2021
It's taxpayer money. Taxpayers have a right to know. #auspol pic.twitter.com/zqUCjsScD1
I needed a laugh today – and then here comes this from Angus Taylor’s office:
The Morrison government has launched the first round of the Future Fuels Fund to expand the number of public fast-charging stations for electric vehicles to drive uptake and improve motorist confidence.
This opening round will provide $16.5 million in grants to support battery electric vehicle fast-charging stations across capital cities and key regional centres. The fund is being administered by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena).
Target sites in regional areas include the New South Wales Central Coast, Wollongong, Geelong, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast. Each regional location is expected to receive a minimum of four fast charging stations each.
Minister for energy and emissions reduction Angus Taylor said the first round of the Future Fuels Fund would support EV uptake and give motorists more confidence when choosing new technologies.
If you want to know why that is so (depressingly) funny, read this from last week:
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We should have the Victorian numbers for you soon.
There is currently a delay on the morning numbers. We will share the update as soon as possible.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 14, 2021
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Linda Burney stopped by doors this morning. The Labor MP will deliver a speech today, along with Scott Morrison, Ken Wyatt and Anthony Albanese, acknowledging the 13th anniversary of the stolen generations apology.
Burney says there is so much more to be done:
In the speeches today Labor will reaffirm its commitment to the three elements of the Uluru statement, something the government seems to be able to keep refusing and refusing and refusing to do. The three elements of the Uluru statement is a constitutionally enshrined voice to the parliament; it is also a referendum to enshrine that voice; as well as the national process for truth telling, and treaty and agreement making. Aboriginal people must be at the table.
And for the first time today, in 13 years, there will not be a report on the Closing the Gap targets. The prime minister will be doing that later in the year. And I think the government is going to be talking about that. But let’s be clear, the seven targets that were in place last year, now replaced by 16, only two were on track. It makes dismal reading. Those two those two were, safer 10 years. This new process is another 10 years, that makes a generation of governments striving to close the gap. The gap is widening in some areas. And Labor is particularly concerned about the removal of children into statutory care, and also the prison population, both at that adult and at the juvenile level, which is higher now than what it was when the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths took place.
Can I finish up by saying that Aboriginal people must be at the middle of decision-making or this gap, these gaps will never ever be closed? It is eye-rolling for some people to hear the statistics. But let me be clear about this. The statistics of early death. The statistics of unnecessary death are real people. They are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, cousins and friends. It is not just statistics. It is real people that are dying before they ought to. And one of the most outlandish things is the seven- or eight-year gap in life expectancy in this country being between First Nations people and the rest of Australia.
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The Nationals will hold their usual party room meeting today (the joint party room meeting is on Tuesday) where they will talk climate, which includes the ridiculous notion several of their MPs have put forward that agriculture (and other regional industries) be “carved out” of the nonexistent mechanism to reach a net zero 2050 target.
Australia doesn’t have a formal commitment to reach net zero by 2050.
Australia doesn’t have a mechanism to reach the non-commitment.
And yet, some Nationals are threatening to “cross the floor” over something that doesn’t exist.
Yup.
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Ken Barton, the chief executive of embattled casino group Crown Resorts, has resigned.
The company said chair Helen Coonan would act as executive chair while it looks for a new CEO.
Barton was one of several directors and executives criticised in a report tabled in NSW parliament last week that found Crown facilitated money laundering and junket operators who brought high-rolling customers to its casinos were linked to organised crime.
One of those other heavily criticised directors, Andrew Demetriou, resigned last week, as did two other directors who served on the board as nominees of major shareholder James Packer.
In the report, former judge Patricia Bergin said Barton’s failure to properly answer a question at the 2019 AGM about whether Packer was getting special briefings was “quite improper” and his response to the money laundering allegations was in part ‘inexplicable”.
Coonan said:
I would like to thank Ken for his dedication and commitment to Crown. Ken joined Crown more than a decade ago and has played an invaluable role with the business, initially as CFO and in the past year as CEO. Ken has always put the interests of Crown first.
Assuming the role of executive chairman is a decision I have not taken lightly but the board feels it provides leadership stability and certainty at this important time for the business. The board is determined to maintain the momentum as Crown takes significant steps to improve our governance, compliance and culture. Working closely with the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority and regulators in Victoria and Western Australia, I will continue to lead on implementation of Crown’s ambitious reform program.
Barton said:
I would like to thank the Crown directors for the opportunity to work with them on implementing Crown’s strategy. Over the past 10 years, Crown has established itself as a great Australian company with world-class assets and I am absolutely certain the business is now on the right path as it works to restore confidence in its operations. I am committed to assisting with the transition to new leadership.
He’ll receive his entitlements under his contract (we’ll dig them up for you).
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Crown Resorts CEO Ken Barton quits
Ben Butler will have more for you very soon, but Crown’s chief executive Ken Barton has resigned.
Helen Coonan will step into interim leadership.
Barton is the third director to resign.
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Asked the same question about returned Australians and hotel quarantine on Sunday, this is what Greg Hunt said:
That would be a matter for national cabinet and a discussion with them. Look, our job is to work with all of the states to help them ensure that their hotel quarantine and their tracing standards are to the highest levels.
The Halton review, the Finkel review, the ongoing work of AHPPC throughout the week and every week they’re assessing these questions.
They met yesterday and today is about making sure that we have systems that are safe and we do.
You know, the UK looked to Australia for advice. Our Ausmat team is providing advice to the UK. I spoke with the UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, at his request to outline how the Australian system would be.
And we both understood that no system is impermeable. But their view was that the Australian system was as good as any in the world.
And when you think of 220,000 people, that’s immensely important. And what does that mean going forward? Bringing those people home is a task for all of us. It’s something we work on together.
And when there are discussions, it has to be boiled down to the human – mums and dads coming home to see their sons and daughters, children who’ve been studying overseas, families that have been separated, people coming home to say goodbye to loved ones, some themselves who may have terminal conditions.
That’s our deep, profound human duty and we’ll continue to do that and we’ll encourage all states and territories to do that. And we’re following the advice as to the safest way to do that going forward.
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This is not what health minister Greg Hunt was saying yesterday:
Deputy PM @M_McCormackMP says there is room for a discussion on drastically lowering the number of Australians allowed back into the country.
— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) February 14, 2021
It comes after Victorian Premier @DanielAndrewsMP suggested it could be limited to compassionate grounds. pic.twitter.com/rgmKnLLCZQ
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Also bubbling along today – this story from Chris Knaus:
Almost 40% of the money injected into Coalition parties in the past 20 years came from unidentified sources, new analysis shows.
The Australian Electoral Commission’s recent release of donations data has reignited a debate about the country’s weak and opaque donation laws. An enduring problem is the presence of so-called “dark money” – or party income with an unidentified source.
Analyses by both the Guardian and Centre for Public Integrity have found between $44m and $49m in party income was hidden from public view in 2019-20. That’s almost 30% of the total income received by all parties.
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The parliament will acknowledge the 13th anniversary of then-prime minister Kevin Rudd apologising to Indigenous and First Nations Australians for the stolen generations.
Peter Dutton remains the only MP still in the parliament who abstained from the apology.
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In case you missed it yesterday, here are the latest Covid exposure sites Victoria health has released:
The following exposure site were added on 14 February
- Oak Park Sports and Aquatic Centre, Pascoe Vale
- Elite Swimming Pascoe Vale, Pascoe Vale
- Woolworths Broadmeadows Central, Broadmeadows
- Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses, Broadmeadows
- Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne
- Yarra Trams – No 11 and No 58, Melbourne
You can see the full list here and exposure times:
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There has been some good news on the Covid front in Australia (and Victoria, we are thinking of you and keeping everything crossed that you’ll be out of lockdown, on schedule) – yesterday NSW chalked up 28 days with no community transmission.
It is the first time NSW has gone 28 days (considered elimination within the community) since the pandemic began. That’s been a lot of work by a lot of people – well done.
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Frydenberg says Australia close to deals with digital media giants over bargaining code
Ticking along in the background is the government’s ongoing negotiations with Google and Facebook over the media bargaining code.
The treasurer told ABC radio this morning he had spoken to Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai during the course of the weekend and “made great progress”.
That’s about setting up a framework with the tech giants to negotiate with media companies for use of their content on platforms like Google and Facebook.
Josh Frydenberg said he believes “we’re very close to some very significant commercial deals”, which he says will “transform the domestic media landscape”:
Both the media proprietors and the digital giants recognise we have something that is workable here in Australia, something we can take forward, something that can ensure a sustainable media landscape, and something that will see journalism continue and journalists rewarded for generating original content.
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Australia closes quarantine-free border to New Zealand after outbreak of UK Covid variant
Speaking of New Zealand, its ministry of health announced late last night that the genomic sequencing was back for the first two Covid cases it diagnosed in Auckland in February – and it is the more contagious UK variant.
That is also what Victoria is dealing with. There is no link to any other positive cases found in NZ to date, so authorities there are trying to find the link.
Just a reminder: Australia closed its borders to NZ overnight; anyone arriving on a plane since that order went through will go into hotel quarantine.
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Good morning
Welcome back to Politics Live – and parliament, as we enter the second sitting of the year.
We’re minus a couple of Victorian MPs – the snap lockdown meant most had to arrive in the ACT before the weekend. Some have elected to stay at home and will attend virtually.
We enter this sitting pretty much the same as we left the last one – still in the dark over what the final jobseeker rate will be come the end of March (spoiler: it won’t be enough) and talking industrial relations as both Labor and the government relish the chance to draw distinctions between their two platforms.
Labor launched a national ad campaign against the government’s proposed changes on Sunday night, setting the new battle lines. The government is trying to tell people Labor’s plan is a “$20bn tax on businesses” – but hasn’t quantified the cost of its own policies on workers (Labor has not released its costings but strongly disputes the government’s figure).
Meanwhile, the situation in Victoria and New Zealand has reminded everyone of just how quickly Covid can turn everything back around. Flights arriving from New Zealand, which put Auckland into a snap lockdown late yesterday, are now considered to be arriving from a “red” zone, meaning anyone on the flight will have to go into hotel quarantine.
The first vaccine shipment to Australia is due to arrive very soon (it has 80,000 doses), with the first vaccinations to be rolled out at the end of the month. Still, we’re not getting to 3m doses until the quarter ending in June, and it’s not going to immediately change things – we’re living like this for some time to come.
And of course, there are still questions over how Peter Dutton used a community grants program. Scott Morrison has said he hasn’t broken any rules, so all is fine and dandy, but Labor has asked the auditor general to take a look. We’re waiting on that response.
We’ll cover all of that and more as the sitting rolls on. You have Mike Bowers, Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst with you to take you through the day’s Canberra news. It being a sitting week, you have Amy Remeikis on the blog. I’ve had three coffees so far and am just thrilled to be back (you can choose if that’s sarcasm or not).
OK, ready?
Let’s get into it.
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