What we learned today, Tuesday 21 March
We’re going to wrap up the live blog now. Here’s what made the news today:
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has condemned people using Nazi salutes at an anti-trans protest in Melbourne on Saturday.
Tasmania announced plans to follow Victoria in banning the salute.
After a two-hour partyroom meeting, the Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto, said he believes his Liberal colleagues understand his bid to expel first-term MP Moira Deeming from the parliamentary party room ahead of the vote on Monday.
The anti-trans activist Kellie Jay Keen was drowned out by counter-protesters at an event in Hobart.
The Coalition appears on the verge of backflipping on its opposition to the Referendum Machinery Act changes, with senior members including the leader, Peter Dutton, now favouring doing a deal with the government and supporting the amendments.
Senator Jacqui Lambie says she thinks the government could deal with a “broken promise” on the stage-three tax cuts by playing the public straight.
The Reserve Bank of Australia board meeting minutes from 7 March reveal the board will consider whether to pause rate hikes at the next meeting early next month.
ABC members of the media union have called off a planned strike for tomorrow after management returned with a better offer on long-negotiated agreements.
Amy Remeikis will be back with you again in the morning for the third sitting day of this week. Until then, enjoy your evening.
Updated
Health experts criticise National party’s views on vaping
Public health experts and doctors have roundly criticised the Nationals’ proposed vaping reforms, after the party’s leader, David Littleproud, said retailers should be allowed to dispense nicotine vaping products, but that sales should be limited to people 18 and over, and attractive packaging marketed to children should be banned.
The Public Health Association of Australia CEO, Adj Prof Terry Slevin, said by being the only major political party in Australia that takes tobacco industry money – “at least $276,062 between 2015-16 and 2021-22 from Philip Morris Ltd, the Nationals have ensured its views on vaping are worse than irrelevant”.
“It invites the community, and any serious policymakers, to see its pronouncements on tobacco and vaping to be likely to be influenced by the industry which seeks to continue to profit from ill health and nicotine addiction,” he said.
Asked by Guardian Australia if he had met with tobacco and vaping industry representatives and lobbyists recently, Littleproud said: “We’ve met with everybody.”
Asked if he had met with Australia’s leading tobacco control experts and public health experts, Littleproud said: “There’s a doctor, I can’t remember his name, that’s made representation to us.
“But this isn’t about medicine,” he said. “This is about regulation.”
Asked if big tobacco and the retailers they represent are experts in regulation, Littleproud responded: “I think they are.”
In response to allegations tobacco companies are influencing Nationals policy and big tobacco donations are part of that influence, Littleproud said: “That’s a pure, petty political statement.
“If they [public health experts] don’t want to engage in a constructive way, in an adult way about protecting children, then unfortunately, they’ve talked themselves out of the debate,” he said.
He added that he was not aware of the situation in New Zealand where vaping laws that allow retailers to sell to people age 18 and above had led to an increase in youth vaping rates.
“I’m not going to get caught up in what other countries do; the psychology and culture are different,” he said. “Each country is different.”
Updated
Varroa mite cases on NSW Central Coast prompt mandatory monitoring of beehives in Sydney
Fresh cases of Varroa mite infestation in eastern NSW have prompted mandatory monitoring of beehives in Sydney for the first time since the outbreak began, AAP reports.
The potentially devastating mite was detected in six new hives across four locations including Mooney Mooney on the Central Coast, directly north of Sydney, authorities revealed on Tuesday.
It takes the total number of infested premises to 137.
An eradication zone, within which all beehives must be destroyed, now applies to Sydney’s northernmost tip of Palm Beach, according to a map on the Department of Primary Industries website.
New rules also apply to any hives within a broadened surveillance zone, where officials will monitor and conduct inspections to reduce spread.
The new surveillance zone reaches as far south as Hornsby in Sydney’s north, and extends to Long Reef on the coast.
Other infestations were detected in Clarence Town, Mitchells Flat and Booral, which are all in the vicinity of Newcastle where the original outbreak was detected in June last year.
The department’s Varroa mite response state coordinator, Chris Anderson, said the new sites have low mite loads, suggesting they are very recent infestations.
The recent detection on the Central Coast, however, has meant DPI is now concentrating its Varroa response surveillance activities into the northern suburbs of Sydney, to ensure the infestation is localised and that there is no mite population in the area.
DPI has also had to extend the eradication (red) zone west of Stanhope, and west of Bulahdelah, following the new detections on the mid-north coast.
Updated
Republican movement to have male and female co-chairs to better reflect values
The Australian Republican Movement has announced after a special general meeting that the organisation’s constitution has been changed to adopt male and female co-chairs.
The co-chairs will be the Olympic gold medalist and former senator Nova Peris along side the former chair, Craig Foster.
Meredith Doig was elected deputy chair.
Peris said the change “reflects the value system of the ARM and the movement, one calling for access, inclusion and equality for all Australians in our constitution”.
The ARM believes deeply in reflecting both the cultural diversity of contemporary Australia along with deep respect for its First Nations in our institutions as part of the unifying vision of a truly inclusive, reconciled and multicultural Australia.
Updated
Queensland roadmap to low emissions ‘inadequate’, conservationists say
A Queensland conservationist has slammed the state government’s so-called “low emissions agriculture roadmap”, describing it as “a terrible disappointment”.
The roadmap reiterates the state government’s existing commitment to a 30% reduction on 2005 levels by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050 - a benchmark that critics say lags far behind other states.
The director of the Queensland Conservation Council, Dave Copeman, said the roadmap was “inadequate”, considering the significant proportion of emissions produced by the agriculture and land use sector.
This roadmap has no targets for emissions reductions for a fifth of Queensland’s emissions.
The fact that it came out on the same day as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a synthesis report detailing ‘a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all’ shows that when it comes to agriculture, the Queensland government is actively avoiding taking climate action seriously.
Copeman also pointed out that Meat and Livestock Australia had committed to reaching carbon neutrality for the entire industry for 2030 about three years ago.
“Minister [Mark] Furner is actively avoiding reiterating these targets and instead condemning Queensland to a future of increased extreme weather, which will be felt by farmers the most,” he said.
The minister for agricultural industry development, Mark Furner, said the roadmap “will help Queensland agribusinesses thrive while they reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Furner said the aim of the roadmap was to provide a “smooth” and “structured” transition “while minimising dramatic changes”.
“But this is not a set and forget approach – we will keep refining the roadmap as over time we develop even more emissions reductions solutions,” he said.
Updated
Libby Coker says she supports Aukus after raising questions in caucus
The Labor backbencher Libby Coker has clarified she supports Aukus, after raising questions about the program during this morning’s caucus meeting.
Coker said:
The Aukus plan is important for our security, it responds to the challenging times we face and it will create thousands of jobs for Australian workers. It has my support.
Updated
Victorian government raises trans flag following weekend protest
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has unveiled the trans flag flying above the offices of the Victorian government following the anti-trans protest that took place on the steps of parliament on Saturday.
There's a new flag flying outside the offices of the Victorian Government.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) March 21, 2023
Because we'll always respect you.
And we'll always have your back. pic.twitter.com/Mw6hOuq10b
Updated
ABC members of media union call off strike planned for tomorrow
ABC members of the media union have called off a strike planned for Wednesday but members of the Community and Public Sector Union will still walk off the job for two hours.
Journalists who belong to the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance called off industrial action after management agreed to address their concerns about career progression and gender and diversity issues.
MEAA and CPSU members were planning to strike for two hours on Wednesday. This is the second time in recent weeks a strike has been averted.
However, members of the CPSU, which represents ABC staff including editorial staff in the content-making divisions, will go ahead.
The MEAA media director, Cassie Derrick, said the prospect of a strike had focused the minds of management.
The new offer provides pay rises totalling 11% over three years, backdated to October 1 last year, plus a $1,500 sign-on bonus.
Management has also agreed to conduct a transparent audit of the gender and [culturally and linguistically diverse] pay gap, to fix the broken buyout system, and to put in place a new pathway for career progression for early and mid-career journalists.
Updated
Australia’s freedom of information backlog revealed
Evidence given to the federal court by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner shows that, as of last week, it was yet to resolve 587 FOI review requests submitted in 2020 or earlier.
Forty-two of those reviews were lodged in 2018, half a decade ago.
Another 220 were lodged in 2019.
The remainder, 325, were submitted in 2020. Of the 325 lodged in 2020, about 80% have still not even been allocated to a reviewer within the OAIC.
Updated
PM condemns Nazi salutes at anti-trans rally
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has condemned the presence of people doing Nazi salutes at the anti-trans rally in Melbourne on Saturday.
Albanese told Nova 100 Radio:
People should be able to disagree without having really hostile, nasty relations. In Melbourne on the weekend we saw an anti-trans rally, which is really disrespectful of who people are, and then it was joined by a bunch of people who were essentially doing Nazi salutes and slogans ... That of course should be condemned by all Australians.
There is no place in Australia for Nazi salutes, and people basically paying tribute to Nazis, who were responsible for the Holocaust. I sometimes think that politics needs to be civil and we need to learn from history. That’s why I condemn the actions there.
[I don’t know] why people would attend an anti-trans rally in order to promote division – we saw from the whole Pride festival in Sydney, I think Sydney was enriched by that, it was celebrating diversity in Australia. That’s a good thing.
Updated
Here’s our full report on the machinations of the Victorian Liberals over what to do about Moira Deeming.
South Australian health authorities say six people have used the state’s new assisted dying laws to end their lives
AAP reports six people have ended their lives using South Australia’s new voluntary assisted dying laws, authorities have confirmed
The new laws came into operation six weeks ago after 17 attempts over more than 25 years to get legislation through state parliament.
SA Health reported on Tuesday that 32 people had since made an initial request as part of the process.
Among those, 11 permits had been issued allowing people to access the necessary medication.
SA Health said at least six people had died after being administered or self-administering the medication.
The assisted dying system includes a provision that people wishing to die must be a South Australian resident for at least 12 months.
A terminal diagnosis and a life expectancy of less than six months, or 12 months for a person with a neurodegenerative disease, must be confirmed for a patient to access the procedure.
The laws also require patients to show they have decision-making capacity and are capable of informed consent, and to undergo an assessment by two independent medical practitioners.
They must have their request verified by independent witnesses and be experiencing intolerable suffering that cannot be relieved.
A patient will be required to make three separate requests, including one in writing.
SA Health also confirmed that 44 doctors had so far completed the mandatory voluntary assisted dying training, while a further 54 had registered to do so.
Updated
The in-flight food wars
Australians taking to the skies are still being slugged with stubbornly high airfares, but rather than dramatically lowering prices to attract customers, carriers are jostling for positions in the latest battleground in the aviation wars – the best inflight meal service.
Qantas, which is still riding the wave of its record half-yearly profit last month, appears to be keeping the party going with Italian caviar. On Tuesday it unveiled its plans for “new dishes and larger portions across cabins”, and lots of seafood, even for those in economy.
Celeb chef Neil Perry is still directing Qantas’ menus, which on international routes features Calvisius caviar, Queensland spanner crab and seared Glacier 51 toothfish for those in first class, “more substantial second” meals on long-haul Asia flights for business customers, and Cajun prawns for economy passengers. On domestic routes, Qantas has vowed to keep vegetarian options across its network even for economy passengers, following the uproar it caused when it reduced its offerings last year.
The flying kangaroo’s appeal to hungry travellers follows the intervention of Rex’s (formerly Regional Express) deputy chairman, John Sharp, in the carrier’s menu. Sharp, a former Nationals MP, reportedly directed the airline to reintroduce scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream modelled on a Country Women’s Association recipe to the business class morning tea service.
Pork schnitzel will also return to the business class menu, at Sharp’s request. “If you go to the pub or the RSL, these are very popular things. Nice comfort food,” Sharp told the Financial Review. “Whereas Qantas will have celebrity chefs, at huge cost, behind its catering, we don’t have anything like that. We’ll provide food that we know people like. It doesn’t read as well as the fancy words that are on the Qantas menu, but it’s really good, popular food and people like it.”
Appealing to another demographic entirely is Bonza. When the budget carrier launched in January, its menu lived up to the “bogan airline” branding it is trying to project, with its trademark $5.50 “snag in a bag” selling out on early flights.
Updated
Crikey editor-in-chief ‘made redundant’
The managing editor of Private Media and editor-in-chief of Crikey, Peter Fray, has been made redundant but will continue to assist the media company in its defence of the Lachlan Murdoch matter.
Murdoch is suing Crikey for defamation and the trial is set down for October.
Private Media’s CEO, Will Hayward, said Fray, a former editor-in-chief of the Sydney Morning Herald, had made a “huge and positive” contribution to the company in his three-year tenure.
Fray said it had been an honour to work with and for the staff at Private Media and its contributors. “I have every expectation that Private Media will build on the hard work of recent years,” he said. “I wish everyone great success.”
In November Fray apologised after he heckled the Gold Walkley winners during their acceptance speech at the gala journalism awards ceremony. He was stood down from Private Media following the incident and has been on extended leave.
Updated
As the afternoon winds down, I will hand you over to Josh Taylor to take in the remainder of the day’s news. I will be back early tomorrow morning for more fun and games as this last parliament fortnight before the budget descends into what looks like organised chaos. Labor is still trying to get its legislation through the Senate, but so far no one is budging. But as we have said, these negotiations are slow – nothing happens and then everything does.
Take care of you.
Updated
Labor quiet on ominous IPCC climate report
There has not been the sense of urgency from the Labor government that you would expect in response to this report.
However, if it was the Labor opposition, you could just imagine how many words would have already been said on it. Chris Bowen has acknowledged it – as an opportunity to discuss the safeguards legislation.
Here is a former Labor minister on the IPCC report:
Australia doesn't need ludicrously expensive nuke subs, nor more coal & gas. We do need to get really serious about the #ClimateEmergency. 'World can still avoid worst of climate collapse with genuine change, IPCC says https://t.co/zBNiLuLVhZ
— Peter Garrett (@pgarrett) March 21, 2023
Updated
Dutton: Dreyfus’ attack is egregious breach of standards of decency
Following QT, Peter Dutton claimed to have been misrepresented and gave a personal explanation against Mark Dreyfus’s accusations during question time:
During question time today, the attorney general launched what in my judgment is an unprecedented and completely unfounded attack.
And on a topic … with the highest sensitivity. I mean, if there was some foundation to his claim, if there was some shred of truth or credibility to what he had said then I would be happy to take the criticism, but it is the complete opposite … of what I believe in, of what I’ve practiced my entire life.
I’ve been to many Holocaust museums and I find it one of the most emotionally difficult issues to deal with. When you read through the history and see the consequence even on people have Jewish faith today, and that somebody of the attorney general’s standing would seek to use this issue to his political advantage, I think reflects very poorly on him.
And I bring that to your attention because I find it the most egregious breach of the standing orders, and the standards of decency in this parliament.
Dan Tehan then tries to make a personal explanation on behalf of the entire Coalition, which he is given some time for, but not a lot, because personal explanations are for when you have been personally misrepresented, not for defending entire party rooms.
Updated
Victorian Liberals leader says ‘vital’ party expel Moira Deeming
Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto says he believes his Liberal colleagues understand his bid to expel first-term MP Moira Deeming from the parliamentary party room.
On Tuesday morning, a bid to delay the vote over her future failed. Liberal MPs will on Monday decide whether Deeming should be expelled from the parliamentary party, after she attended a rally headlined by the British anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen where neo-Nazis were photographed performing the Nazi salute.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday afternoon, Pesuttto said it was vital the party dealt with the matter:
I can say that they [colleagues] can understand why I feel it necessary to take these steps.
Pesutto refused to be drawn on the future of his leadership if the bid to expel Deeming from the party room was unsuccessful.
Deeming has vowed to fight the bid to expel her and says she has done nothing wrong.
Updated
Both the shadow defence minister, Andrew Hastie, and the Victorian Liberal senator Sarah Henderson have demanded immediate fealty to Aukus after reports three Labor MPs had raised questions about the deal.
Apparently, everyone is supposed to just accept a world-changing security and defence pact and the $386bn-over-30-years price tag, no questions asked, because … reasons.
Updated
Today’s matter of public importance: Coalition attack lines
The chamber moved on to the matter of public importance (a debate topic chosen by non-government members which is usually along the lines of “why is this government so terrible at being a government”)
Today’s topic chosen by the Coalition: “The prime minister’s broken promise to cut energy bills by $275”.
(They are missing the “by 2025” there.)
But it seems dates might be a little troubling today – the motion has the date of 9 March. You know, a couple of weeks ago. I was a whole different person then.
Paul Fletcher owns up to the error and the chamber moves on, but not before a few Coalition MPs send little grumbling messages to us in blog land about the mistake. Seems not all is happy in opposition land.
Updated
PM and opposition leader pay tribute to Rabbitohs great John Sattler
Anthony Albanese ends question time.
He then takes a moment of indulgence to offer condolences over the death of South Sydney legend John Sattler.
Albanese does not need a speechwriter for this one:
One of my deeply cherished momentoes is, and I found when I was moving house after last May, was my autographed book with a signature from John Sattler [from] 1970.
When he went – as many sportspeople do – went to the local schools, St Joseph’s Camperdown, to present trophies, as those people do – you’ve got to remember, Mr Speaker, these people were paid almost nothing. They worked full-time, they had to work so hard. But he was greatly respected.
He was deeply loved and he will be long remembered. I pay my sympathy as well to his family, including Scott Sattler, who followed in his footsteps and took a memorable tackle of course in the grand final for Penrith those years ago. I pay tribute to him today. And to a legend who bled red and green, or more accurately, cardinal and myrtle.
Peter Dutton also pays his respects.
Updated
Day of apology on forced adoptions ‘was a proud day for this parliament’: Dutton
Peter Dutton speaks on indulgence:
I want to associate the Coalition with the fine words of the prime minister. It was a proud day for this parliament that we were able to stop, to pause, to apologise and recognise and reflect on the history, the impact it had on generations of Australians, many of whom will still suffer today with those scars.
The impacts on their own relationships, their own children, and their psychological impact just can’t be underestimated, and the work, as the prime minister points out, of many people in this parliament, but including prime minister Gillard as well as minister Macklin and Steve Irons … the then Scott Morrison, later to be prime minister – and many others who were involved in making sure the parliament dealt with this in a respectful way.
There’s many who are still involved in that fight. And still seeking to make a connection and it is – it was a torture for them ongoing. We really respect those and we’ll have more to say on the topic in the parliament tomorrow.
Updated
PM recognises 10-year anniversary of apology to those affected by forced adoptions
Question time ends with a dixer on the 10th anniversary of the apology to those affected by forced adoptions.
Anthony Albanese:
Well, 10 years ago today on behalf of the government and the people of Australia, prime minister Julia Gillard said sorry to all those affected by forced adoptions.
Tonight there will be a commemorative dinner at the National Portrait Gallery for those affected by these experiences. And tomorrow, the Minister for Social Services will deliver a statement in the chamber.
Mr Speaker, the national apology offered on 21 March 2013 was an honest, humble, and long overdue acknowledgment of the harm and loss and grief and trauma inflicted on mothers separated from their children and children separated from their mothers. It hailed as we do today those affected, who fought so hard for the justice they were due.
And it recognised as we do today those who did not live to see the truth told. Mr Speaker, prime minister Gillard’s speech also dealt with what drove and allowed that separation. In Julia’s words, holding the mirror to ourselves.
Reflecting on the imagined moral superiority, that inflicted its judgment and cruelty on vulnerable people. Today, again, we remember their suffering and loss.
We reflect on a culture that enabled and facilitated the practice of denying mothers even a single moment with the baby they had brought into the world.
As prime minister Gillard said, they did not see their baby’s face, they couldn’t hear his or her first cries.
They could not give their own baby a name. And this is not ancient history. Not some distant tower from the vanished past. The Australians affected are with us still, from two generations: mothers who, through the years, paused in quiet moments to think of a child who will be taking her first steps, or waving at the gate for his first day of school, or beaming proudly on graduation day; and children who were left uncertain as to how their path on life’s journey began.
Mr Speaker, today, a decade on, we pay tribute to all those who, in the face of decades of callous indifference, demanded that the people of Australia apologise for the harm done in their name. We remember those whose lives were cut short, who did not live to witness that moment of healing.
We salute the leadership of Julia Gillard and the advocacy of Jenny Macklin and those such as Steve Irons, who played such an important role in those events of 10 years ago. And we vow to heed the lessons of this chapter, in our nation’s history, to reach for empathy, humility, and humanity, before we leap to judgment. And to remember that strength in leadership is not defined simply by the exercise of power, strength is about accountability and telling the truth, even when that truth isn’t comfortable or hard to bear.
Long may Australia remember this anniversary, that will be commemorated this evening with the dinner, and then we in the parliament tomorrow will commemorate it across both sides of this chamber. But long may we honour those who, even though it was so difficult for them, gave us one of the finest moments in this parliament’s history.
Updated
Michelle Rowland says new funding opened to fix regional and rural mobile black spots
Helen Haines has the next question and Milton Dick is still trying to settle down the chamber after the blowup over the last one. He says the next person to interject will be booted. The MPs settle down, but not happily.
Haines:
My constituents battle with poor phone reception every day. Last weekend, people attended the motor festival and struggled to get access. An emergency coordinator said if there was an emergency, what would we have done? Can you guarantee that with the mobile black spot program that opened yesterday, critical black spots in regional and rural Australia like this will be fixed?
Michelle Rowland:
I thank the member for Indi for her question and she of course is a very strong advocate in terms of ensuring that her constituents have equitable levels of communications as compared to their metropolitan cousins. And the member raises two very critical issues – the first is in terms of public health and safety, when it comes to communications. And that of course is paramount, as more and more people rely on mobile communications, it’s never been more important.
Secondly, in terms of the tourism and other small and microbusiness opportunities that the best mobile services and also broadband services of course can provide. And I’m aware she is acutely interested in these issues. I’m very pleased to inform her, as she rightly points out, yesterday applications opened for two new funding programs of $150 million of federal co-investments, that includes for mobile black spots.
Irrespective of where you live … everyone deserves the best accesses to communication services. So in particular, in relation to the member’s question, the mobile black spot and regional connectivity grants unleash new opportunities for mobile infrastructure in remote and very remote parts of Australia, particularly – as I’m sure many other members will be interested in – First Nations communities, because they offer additional financial solutions targeting these very underserved areas.
This is in response to feedback that previous schemes did not provide enough incentive for this. So the guidelines that we consulted on from December last year to February this year really sought to improve a number of those elements that had been lacking in previous rounds.
Applications are open until 31 May, and I encourage mobile network operators, communities, and other interested parties, including all members of this place, with rural and regional representation, to work together during what we call the application development period, to devise multi carrier solutions.
One of the real frustrations in regional Australia is the patchwork of coverage depending on carrier. Under the previous rounds, under the former government, only 8% of the mobile black spot program towers actually provided support to more than one carrier. We have changed the incentives in the guidelines, so that this is substantially improved.
The guidelines in this round emphasise that support for multi-carrier outcomes to ensure that communities receive the maximum benefit from that public funding. And these programs of course provide part of the most significant regional telecommunications investment packages since the inception of the NBN, and the Albanese government’s better connectivity plan for regional and rural Australia providing more than $1.1 billion to regional communities and I look forward to the member’s full participation in this program.
Updated
Anti-trans event in Hobart drowned out by peaceful protesters
Kellie Jay Keen has not had a great time in Hobart, where peaceful protesters drowned out her messages.
The “national tour” is continuing and is meant to hit out the front of the Canberra parliament on Thursday, putting the onus on MPs to speak up right on their doorstop.
There are fears within the moderate wings of the Coalition that some of the usual suspects (they mean the Senate mostly) will try to make a point by attending the rally.
It’s all a bit of a mess, really.
Updated
Peter Dutton accuses attorney general of using Victoria neo-Nazi salutes for ‘political purposes’
Ooft. Peter Dutton is furious as he takes to his feet.
He has asked to speak on indulgence, but you can almost taste how angry he is.
Dutton:
I want to join with the attorney general in the remarks that he’s made so far as they go to condemnation of any use of Nazi symbols of the salute, of any glorification of that period of history. I would support any legislation in this parliament that you choose to move, noting you have not chosen to move any legislation … to make illegal in our country the display of any aspect of Nazi glorification.
I have been in this place for 22 years, you can look at my history in any comment I made in making sure we never repeat the mistakes of history, especially during that period.
And the slaughter – the slaughter of Jews and the treatment by the Nazis of people during the second world war, the treatment today of people of the Jewish faith is an abomination.
It is equally condemned that it would be used for political purposes in this place, it is a very poor reflection on you, if I might say.
As minister for home affairs and as the minister for defence, as a member of the national security committee, I supported every decision – in fact, encouraged, to the nth degree – the director general of Asio to use every resource at his disposal to make sure that those who seek to propagate this to be prosecuted under the law. And I won’t take a morals lecture from that man [Dreyfus] or indeed, that one [Anthony Albanese]
He should get up and make a statement himself.
Updated
Dreyfus accuses Dutton of ‘complete silence’ over Nazi rally and Moira Deeming
If the prime minister has made a statement on the neo-Nazi salutes on the stairs of the Victorian parliament, during anti-trans rights activist Kellie Jay Keen’s “rally” I have missed it.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, makes a statement though, through a dixer.
Josh Burns asks:
My question is to the attorney general. Why is it important to condemn public displays of right-wing extremism and Nazi symbolism?
Dreyfus:
I thank the member for Macnamara for his question. I acknowledge his recent statements on this matter. What we saw on the steps of the Victorian parliament, on the weekend, was abhorrent. There is no place in Australian society for public displays of Nazi symbols or the Nazi salute.
These are markers of some of the darkest days in world history, of ghettos, of deportations, and mass murder that touched my own family. Six million Jews perished in the Holocaust. We must never ever forget. And thousands of Australian service men and women died fighting the Nazi regime.
Sadly, the sort of behaviour we saw on the weekend and its accompanying antisemitism is on the rise in Australia, and around the world. The Victorian government was swift in its response, the Premier condemned the behaviour of a group of cowardly black-clad men who travelled to Melbourne’s CBD seeking notoriety.
The Victorian Attorney-General pledged to reform Victorian law to ban displays of the Nazi salute. And when it was revealed that Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming had attended the protest, the Victorian opposition leader announced he would move to expel Moira Deeming from the Liberal Party.
What did we have from those opposite? In particular, their leader? Complete silence, Mr Speaker. We all know that bigotry and hatred breed in silence.
There are interjections from the opposition. Paul Karp hears Melissa Price say “what for” when Dreyfus speaks of expelling Deeming and “what did she do wrong?”
Dan Tehan has a point of order:
Point of order. What the attorneygeneral has said is absolutely false.
It is not a point of order.
Dreyfus continues:
The leader of the opposition has failed to join his Victorian counterpart and [taken] action to expel Moira Deeming from the party. He failed to condemn the display of the Nazi salute. Why?
What is so hard about this? Who is the opposition leader afraid of offending here? Maybe it’s Senator Antic, who said in the Senate yesterday that Moira Deeming did nothing wrong. For the leader of a party of government to not even condemn the public use of the Nazi salute is astonishing and it’s shameful.
The leader of the opposition is the most senior Liberal in Australia. Moira Deeming is one of his own and he’s been silent and done nothing. This speaks volumes about the leadership qualities of the leader of the opposition. And Australians will take note.
Updated
Independent MP Zali Steggall gets the next crossbench question:
Methane is 80 times more potent in capturing heat CO2 in the first 20 years. Yet Australia doesn’t enforce international best practice when it comes to measure of capture. Will you support international best practice as I have proposed in the safeguard mechanism. In the light of the dire and clear warning in the latest IPCC report we’re on track to catastrophic warming?
Chris Bowen:
I thank the honourable member for her question. And indeed, the IPCC report today does call for urgent, substantial and sustained emissions reduction, methane and all the carbon gases, all of them. That’s exactly what the government intends to do. To lock in...(the opposition interjects)
Honourable members opposite may not like reducing emissions, but that’s what the Australian people have voted for and that’s what the world demands, Mr Speaker.
That’s what the world demands and what future generations demand and that’s exactly what we’ll do. Because, Mr Speaker, what the IPCC report today reminds us is there’s agency and urgency.
There’s still time to hold the world as close as possible to 1.5 degrees, but we don’t have long, we must act. And this week the Parliament can act.
Because in 100 days the safeguard mechanism reforms can be in place if the Parliament approves it. This is the most important opportunity we have, 205 million tonnes of emissions removed from the atmosphere.
I know the honourable members have raised fossil fuels and resource. Today as we speak, emissions from fossil fuel facilities are 73 million tonnes a year. Business as usual with no reforms, they’re projected to grow to 83 million tonnes a year. But if the reforms pass, it will be net 52 million tonnes, Mr Speaker. That’s the choice the Parliament has. 83 million or 52 million.
That’s the choice the Parliament has this week and next week. I will say this, last year the Parliament passed the government’s climate change act. And I thank members of the cross bench, all of them who supported it. And in the other place. This was important. Someone honourable members opposite say 43 is not enough. I understand that and respect that. I respect their point of view. I thank them for coming together in goodwill to pass that. But know this - our projections are very clear.
If the safeguard mechanism reforms are not passed, 43% will not be met. Our projections show it will be 35%, Mr Speaker. So if honourable members are going to call for higher targets, they are obliged to vote for action to get those targets achieved, Mr Speaker. That’s the obligation on the members, you can’t call for higher targets and then...
Milton Dick tells him to get back to the question
Bowen:
I want to see all carbon emissions reduced. I want to see the safeguards mechanism passed. There won’t be any constraints on methane if it doesn’t pass. The honourable member is correct, methane is a very important gas for us to measure and work with industry to see emissions reduced. That’s very important. If there’s good faith suggestions I have and will continue to listen to them. But the most important thing is that these reforms pass or it will be business as usual and business as usual is not acceptable.
Albanese quotes Dutton in response to cost of living question
Karen INCENSED Andrews has the next question. The former home affairs minister (or at least one of them) is slowly perfecting the art of being VERY incensed every time she steps up to the microphone. The character development has been subtle, but real ones know.
I refer to a constituent who had to take a second job and cancel his children’s swimming lessons as his mortgage repayments are expected to almost double. He says that rising grocery, energy and other price increases are a massive stress on top of the anticipated rate rise. Where is the government’s promised plan to ease cost of living?
Anthony Albanese, who seems to have gotten a full night’s sleep given that every opposition MP gets the little treat of a personal sledge, says:
Thanks very much, Mr Speaker. I thank the member for her question. And I thank her for her interview on Sky, I think it was – it usually is … where the member blamed me for the fact that two people were appointed in her portfolio without letting her know while she was the Minister for Home Affairs. While she was the Minister for Home Affairs. I say to the member, hang in there. You never know what might happen.
I say in terms of interest rates, that – and the cost of living, that the member asked for – I know she’s very loyal to the leader of the opposition*, I will quote him: ‘Nobody wants to see interest rates go up but it’s a reality of a world where there’s inflation. I think Australians understand that. There’s a lot of pressure, upward pressure.’
That’s what the leader of the opposition said at that point in time. So, obviously he had the confidence of the prime minister at that point in time.
On the occasion, he was right in a moment of honest reflection as to what was happening in the economy. We understand there’s pressures on … cost of living. We understand that.
That’s why the member for McPherson should have voted for the energy price relief, should have supported the fee-free Tafe plan, should have supported the cut to pharmaceutical costs, should have supported the measures this government is doing to take pressure off the cost of living.
*I think this is a small dig to Queensland politics from 2009 when Dutton tried to switch to the seat of McPherson after the sitting member retired, but was beaten for preselection by Andrews.
Updated
Catherine King highlights history of ‘rorting’ in reply to question over wait for regions fund guidelines
Former, former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack gets a question – what a day!
My question is to the [minister] for regional development, local government and territories. It’s been 10 months since the federal election and five months since the budget. Why haven’t local councils be given the eligibility criteria for Labor’s growing regions fund? Is this another broken promise to Australians?
Catherine King:
Thanks very much to the shadow minister for his question. I know, like all regional Australians, we are very keen to represent our regions. As you know, the growing regions program is part of this government’s measures of integrity and bringing integrity back into the grants program after years and years of pork barrelling and rorting on the part of the former government.
So, we’re taking our time to make sure that the guidelines are the best they can possibly be. We’re undertaking consultation currently with the regional development sector and I will have more to say about the announcement and opening of the program shortly.
Updated
This is why staff usually phonetically sound out names and places:
Anthony Albanese just mispronounced kiribati wrong, again.
— courtney gould (@heyycourtt) March 21, 2023
"how good is our relationship when you can't say the country's name," a Lib backbencher said, looking back at Alex Hawke and Scott Morrison
PM refers to Paul Fletcher as ‘wambulance’
In a dixer about the safeguard mechanism, Anthony Albanese says:
Business wants certainty. And that’s why they want the safeguard mechanism to be carried. How do we do that? We need the mechanism that was in fact put in place originally by the former government. But not only are they so committed to saying no to everything and becoming a no-alition, they’re saying no to their own policies.
Paul Fletcher steps up to have that addressed, but Milton Dick is already on it:
I will ask the prime minister to refer to the Coalition as the Coalition.
Albanese points to Fletcher:
The wambulance raced up there.
Updated
Milton Dick threatens to eject Angus Taylor after pressing on inflation question
And now we get to Angus Taylor who asks the prime minister (there is one last dramatic groan from a committed member of the Labor backbench, but the caucus seems to have abandoned this little bit of performance art. It has been 10 months today. It’s enough.)
Taylor:
Can the prime minister confirm around half of fixed-rate mortgages will end this year? With these interest rate rises, an Australian family with a $500,000 mortgage will need to find an extra $920 every month just to keep up with repayments. Why do Australian families always pay more under Labor?
Anthony Albanese:
I thank the member for Hume for his question. Question four. As predicted. [He is referencing that the Coalition does its questions in the same order of MPs nearly every QT.]
The member asks about interest rates. And a number – and a number of questions today and yesterday, and previous sitting weeks, I’m asked about what happened … – as if the circumstances changed completely before the election and after the election.
But this is what his leader, his leader said before the election: ‘We know where these pressures are coming on. We know the pressures of rising cost of living, the pressures on interest rates are coming from not just the war in Ukraine, that’s caused an energy price shock, the likes of which we have not seen for many decades. But secondly, the disruptions to supply chains, now that’s coming from the pandemic. We’re still feeling the effects of the rather extraordinary economic times that we’re living in.’ That was the member for Cook, just before the election, less than a month before the election.
But the member would have Australians believe, watching this, that it was all hunky dory, there was no inflation, there was no supply chain issues, until there was a change of government. But it’s just not true.
It’s just not true, as he himself said as recently as last September. Where he spoke about interest rates bucking decades of downward trends, and spoke about the inflationary environment. But he says one thing in here and a different thing …
Taylor gets up and Dick says the PM’s answer is in order before Taylor starts:
Yeah, relevance. The question was very specific, why do Australians pay more under Labor?
Tony Burke is up on his feet almost before Taylor finishes speaking:
Mr Speaker, just a point of order, it’s a deliberate abuse. An absolute deliberate abuse …
If you want to specify where you think something is not being relevant, you specify where you think … Simply running a slogan for a second time …
Taylor is told he’ll be booted if it happens again.
Albanese:
Thanks, Mr Speaker. And yesterday the member for Hume said that, said that half of mortgages would - would change. Today, he’s just all over the shop. And the truth … is that the changes to interest rates began on their watch. The inflationary …
The inflationary pressures had been there in the economy for a period of time, building up, due to, as the former prime minister said, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and also - and also the supply chain issues that emerged from the pandemic. They just want to wish those away. But you can’t just wish these things away. You need to act on them. And that’s why my government is acting on them.
Updated
Michelle Rowland: Labor considering options for online gambling changes
We go back to rah-rah Aukus (20,000 jobs really doesn’t seem like much, does it?) and then it is to the crossbench where Rebekha Sharkie asks Michelle Rowland:
Australians lose more than $25 billion a year to gambling. This harm is exacerbated by the use of credit cards for online gambling, meaning that Australians are gambling with borrowed money. When will you ban credit card use in online gambling?
Rowland:
I thank the member for her question and acknowledge her ongoing advocacy in this area. The focus of the Albanese government, as with all kinds of harms in this area, is harm minimisation. That’s why we are taking an evidence-based approach to by the most reliable evidence as it arises through the current House of Representatives standing committee inquiry into these very issues.
I would point out to the member that in addition to the issue of credit cards which has been considered widely, and also has been the subject of several inquiries, we are currently considering the options that are available.
We have long engaged with the banking sector, with various advocates and including our regulators, in terms of what measures can be taken for amendments in this area, which will provide the necessary levels of harm minimisation. I expect to say more on that very soon.
But I wish to assure the member not only are we are very alive to this, we’re implementing the recommendations and that framework that is currently there in relation to consumer protections.
… We’ve consistently revised advertising measures come into place. I’m working very closely, including with my colleagues and the minister for social services, who has shared responsibility in this area, including my colleagues in relation to Treasury matters as they relate to banks, to bring about meaningful change in this area to ensure the harm minimisation objects are well realised. We’ll have more to say on this very soon and I look forward to engaging with her as we take this forward.
Updated
Sussan Ley ejected from question time after pressing PM on interest rates
After some more rah-rah Aukus, we get to Sussan Ley:
Can the prime minister advise the house of the following, what the interest rate was 10 months ago, compared to today, how much the average household electricity bill was...
Mr Speaker, the member for Sydney is shrieking so loudly I cannot hear.
Milton Dick has had enough and borrows some of Karen Andrews’ incensed energy to tell the chamber to shut it.
Ley starts again:
My question is to the prime minister. Can the prime minister advise the House of the following: what the interest rate was 10 months ago, compared to today, how much the average household electricity bill was, 10 months ago, compared to today. And, what the rate of inflation was, 10 months ago, compared to today. Why do Australian families always pay more under Labor?
Anthony Albanese:
Well, I almost feel like channelling the member for Melbourne at this point in time*. It’s got to be said, Mr Speaker. Because, the childishness of those opposite just show day after day their incapacity to be a genuine alternative government for the country. Because, the fact is, the fact is – that inflation is a global phenomenon.
That has led to an increase in costs, including – which began on their watch. Began on their watch. With the first of the interest rate increases. And, since then, of course, we continue to have the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we continue to have inflationary pressure on the economy. But those opposite, those opposite have voted against every single measure that has been aimed at providing assistance.
*It’s a reference to “Google it”.
They voted against the $1.5 billion in direct bill relief that we put in.
Ley has a point of order, but Dick warns her it better be serious because the PM is on topic.
Ley:
Mr Speaker, I know numbers aren’t the prime minister’s strong suit …
And she’s gone! Faster than my grandmother could throw her slipper at my father when he took his cheekiness too far, Dick sends Ley out of the chamber.
The deputy leader of the opposition has abused standing orders in a most grievous way and she will leave the chamber under 94(a). The prime minister will be heard in silence.
Albanese:
It would be a wasted one hour for the deputy leader because she can’t call caucus members against this bloke while they’re all in here.
Dick has his metaphorical slipper in his hand as he tells the PM to get back to the question.
Albanese:
What this government have been doing is taking measures to put downward pressure on inflation.
And the member asked a question about inflation some months ago, when they were in office. And I would ask them to give consideration as to whether the March budget they handed down was inflationary or deflationary.
Did it contribute more cash into the economy, or less cash into the economy? Did it facilitate higher interest rates, or lower interest rates? Because what they did – what they did in the lead-up to an election – when they were so desperate, when they were so desperate, is promise a whole range of measures that all ended in May. Many of them – many of the measures they put in place, many of the measures they put in place ended on June 30 or next year on June 30.
Ahh, he is out of time.
Updated
Question time begins
The chamber seems very rowdy today, so hold on.
Peter Dutton opens proceedings:
My question is to the prime minister. The prime minister stated before the last election, and I quote, ‘If I’m given the great honour of holding high office as prime minister, I won’t seek to blame anyone else.’
Will the prime minister accept responsibility and admit he has broken his promise to provide cheaper mortgages and cut power bills by $275 per year, a promise he made on 97 occasions?
Anthony Albanese:
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Those opposite won’t take responsibility for anything they did when they were in government. Nothing.
The fact is there was … there was a price increase for energy scheduled – scheduled – by those opposite; not only did they not take responsibility for it, they hid it.
They hid it through a special regulation to make sure that Australian people can’t find out. Couldn’t find out.
What others have said about energy … is this: the business council of Australia …
(Dutton interjects)
… Mr Speaker, he’s at it again. He’s at it again.
He was supposed to be nice Peter. But he can’t survive ‘til five past two without resorting to the old boofhead.
Ahhh, we are back to “boofhead”. Good times.
Dutton:
All I interjected was that can anyone trust a word this man says?
Albanese:
In between the interjections, the interjections from the leader of the opposition, he then stands up and asks a different question. A different question. Whilst speaking about integrity and responsibility and taking into account what people say. He can’t keep his word from one minute past two to two minutes past two.
That’s what we just saw. That’s what we just saw from the leader of the opposition. But I’m asked about responsibility.
The shadow minister opposite for home affairs had something to say about responsibility during the week. She was asked about the fact that they not only had one minister sworn in to her portfolio, she had another as well, because the member for Cook put in extra. She said this: … it’s not OK to behave in the way that a former prime minister and others have been, in relation to keeping information a secret. So far, so good.
Karen Andrews is back to being incensed:
Maybe he can move on and answer the question.
That is not a point of order. Milton Dick is in a mood. He has no time for this today.
The member for McPherson is a long term member of parliament. It’s the first question. The prime minister is in order. This behaviour continues, people will be asked to leave the chamber immediately without warning.
Albanese:
[She then said] ‘I think it’s just extraordinary.’ And it’s all stacking up so far – the shadow minister is pretty right – then she said, ‘However, I think it’s very disappointing that this information is coming to light now.’ That’s what she had to say.
Then it comes to the responsibility bit: ‘And it does reflect very poorly on prime minister Albanese.’
So, [the former] prime minister appoints not one but two people in her portfolio, and it reflects badly on me. That says everything. That says everything about your incapacity to take responsibility for anything.
He is out of time.
Updated
Coalition on brink of pursuing deal with Labor on referendum changes as majority of partyroom in favour of bill
The Coalition appears on the verge of backflipping on its opposition to the Referendum Machinery Act changes, with senior members including the leader, Peter Dutton, now favouring doing a deal with the government and supporting the amendments.
Dutton and shadow special minister of state, Jane Hume, who have been meeting with SMOS Don Farrell, told the Coalition partyroom today that they were still in negotiations. But it’s understood the Coalition’s starting position in those negotiations is now in favour of an agreement.
Several members spoke for and against the bill today in the meeting. Guardian Australia has been told that the majority were in favour. A partyroom spokesperson said a conclusion wasn’t reached, but that the leadership would take the discussions into consideration – and the partyroom might meet again on the matter.
It’s understood that the partyroom noted that, if the Coalition doesn’t achieve an outcome with the government on the bill, that the opposition might get none of their preferred outcomes because Labor can deal with the Greens instead.
One suggestion, potentially to be canvassed in coming amendments, would be a parliamentary committee to design the official information pamphlet. The negotiations continue and the bill - which was earlier expected to pass sometime today - might drag on into the night or tomorrow.
Elsewhere in the meeting, Dutton signalled the Coalition would keep talking up about cost of living pressures, claiming these issues would get worse before they get better. Dutton accused the government of “knowingly deceiving” Australians before the election.
Nationals leader David Littleproud talked about his party’s calls to change laws around vaping, making it easier for adults to obtain the products (as a tool to quit smoking) and harder for children.
Updated
Andrew Charlton questions Dutton’s absence from NSW election campaigning
The final 90-second statement before question time was Labor’s Andrew Charlton doing a bit on Peter Dutton and the opposition frontbench not campaigning for the NSW Liberals in Sydney, ahead of the state election this weekend. Charlton was speaking about the changes of “seasons” and watching regions turn “a lovely shade of red”.
Labor was in hysterics (but honestly, this is a group of people who get excited over the word “boofhead” so not sure how much of a measure that is) and Charlton looked very proud of himself.
But I am begging every politician who can remember the 90s to please update your pop culture references. Charlton finishes with a joke that he hears NSW Tourism is about to hire Lara Bingle to ask “Where the bloody hell are you?” of Dutton.
It’s Lara Worthington now, and that ad campaign was released in 2006.
In one more year, it could vote. Let it go.
Updated
Liberal backbencher gives statement on being kicked off YouTube
Over in the house, Liberal backbencher Russell Broadbent has given a 90-second statement on being booted off YouTube.
Broadbent said he was quoting ABS mortality figures but that was enough to have him turfed off the platform.
So I say to YouTube – why are you censoring an Australian parliamentarian for just reasonable remarks about ABS figures in this country?
I mean, it’s totally unacceptable that an international company comes in here, you’ve genuinely upload a three minute speech on deaths in Australia, on mortality rates in Australia and you get kicked off. It’s unbelievable.
Updated
Royal commission into Murdoch media influence would ‘stand up for truth and decency’, says Sarah Hanson-Young
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young is calling for more political support for a royal commission into the Murdoch family’s media influence.
Hanson-Young will give notice in the Senate of the introduction of a Greens bill to establish a royal commission into the Murdoch media empire and the control and influence they have over Australian democracy.
No one in politics is safe from the wrath of the Murdoch machine – that’s why this must be a multiparty effort to stand up for truth and decency in our democracy.
Only an inquiry with the powers of a royal commission can get to the bottom of the issues in the Murdoch empire and media concentration in Australia. In the last few weeks, we have seen the power of legal proceedings in the US to help bring the truth about the culture and values of Fox News to light.
But both the Labor government and the Coalition have said no to any sort of royal commission, so it is unlikely to get anywhere
Updated
Coalition mulling support for changes to rules governing referendum
The Coalition is reconsidering its position to oppose the Referendum Machinery amendments, with negotiations still ongoing with the government as some opposition members say they’d rather that Labor get their support than the Greens.
The opposition partyroom met today, and a big focus of the meeting was about the machinery act, or the rules governing the referendum. The Coalition opposed the changes in the lower house this month, but a backbench push could see that position changed in the Senate.
It’s understood that several members spoke both for and against supporting the bill. The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, gave an update on the negotiations with the government, and said he wanted to see a resolution that was the best outcome for a fair campaign.
It’s understood some speakers encouraged the Coalition to support the changes with their own amendments, noting that the government could instead negotiate with the Greens if the opposition refused to play ball.
Negotiations with special minister of state, Don Farrell, went long into the night yesterday. The government, which was confident that the bill would be passed by the Senate today, are a little less hopeful right now – don’t forget that any major amendments in the Senate will have to go back to the House for a second vote before the bill is completed.
It’s still short of Coalition support for the machinery bill, and we’re told there wasn’t any major debate on the referendum question itself today – but stay tuned.
Updated
We are sliding towards question time so make sure you grab yourself something nice to get through it.
Updated
Carbon markets have important role to play in decarbonisation, says Kerry Schott
Over at the National Press Club, chair of the Carbon Market Institute, Dr Kerry Schott is speaking. Which should make the government happy, given they are still in negotiations for the safeguard mechanism, which will rely on carbon credits.
That’s another nice little circle there.
Schott finishes with:
A safeguard mechanism isn’t going to fix everything. It is one piece of legislation, it is a relatively slender bill; it just simply introduces the safeguard mechanism and credits, mechanisms that are already there, but not without any credits for doing better than an emissions intensity target, and no real ability to trade and nothing to encourage people who are below it to get cracking.
So it is very important that this relatively slender bill gets through. And I think rather than try and second-guess everything at the moment, which in a sort of policy move, you don’t know very much about, is the sort of path filled with dead ends.
Please wait until 2026/27 and wait a little bit earlier, have a look at the tracking and see how it is going, make any adjustments that are needed, but at least we will have the policy in place and we can be moving forward, and industry can have some certainty about what is going to happen.
And finally, I should say, as the chair of the Carbon Market Institute, carbon markets are really important, they have an important role to play they have an important role to play in the transition, and they will continue to have an important role to play for those hard to abate missions in the future.
So Chris Bowen should be happy with that. But this is all happening in the shadow of the IPCC report which is sounding the absolute final alarm on the need to cut actual emissions, which carbon credits don’t do. They just offset emissions.
Updated
Meanwhile, in Tasmania:
Around 300-400 people have turned up to a counter rally supporting trans people on parliament lawns - an anti trans rally nearby with Kelly-Jay Keen Minshull has attracted around 15 people #politas pic.twitter.com/tY8Y1zWRAo
— Josh Duggan (@thedugganaut_) March 21, 2023
Updated
Albanese says he can’t understand ‘why anyone would vote against’ housing plan
The Housing Australia Future Fund was also discussed in the Labor caucus meeting.
Anthony Albanese told the meeting that it was “beyond comprehension why anyone would vote against” the bill – a reference to ructions from the Greens that they might oppose it.
The Greens position has some support from the rest of the crossbench who believe it doesn’t go far enough, and from the construction union, but Jacqui Lambie has indicated her party will not oppose the bill.
Guardian Australia understands the Greens party room didn’t discuss the bill today, and will instead discuss it on Thursday after further meetings between Max Chandler-Mather and the housing minister, Julie Collins.
Collins was asked whether delay could harm support for veterans’ housing. She responded the future fund bill is not the only thing the government is doing for them, but “any delays will delay additional housing” for that group.
Updated
Government ‘will not stand’ for marketing vaping to children
In Labor caucus the health minister, Mark Butler, was asked about the Nationals’ attempt to soften the laws on vaping.
Butler said that vaping had exploded in the last five years, and the government needs to push back against the view it is benign. “It is not, it is directly marketed to kids,” he said.
Butler acknowledged that there is a major black market developing. He noted the Nationals’ proposal is along the same lines as has been sought by the tobacco industry. The government is working on a suite of measures with state and territory governments.
He said:
The industry has found a new way to develop a generation of nicotine addicts and we will not stand for it.
Updated
Michelle Ananda-Rajah rejects suggestions she is opposed to Aukus pact
Further to questions raised about Aukus in the Labor caucus today, one MP – new member Michelle Ananda-Rajah – has pushed back at suggestions she raised opposition to the submarine pact.
Ananda-Rajah, the new MP for Higgins, told Guardian Australia: “I fully support the government’s announced Aukus plan.”
We understand she asked a question and was satisfied with the answer. As Paul reported earlier, there were questions raised in the party room meeting about how the $348bn deal will be funded, Australia’s relationship with the US and how to respond to questions about sovereignty, and about human capital and workforce.
Ananda-Rajah’s office wouldn’t confirm which question she asked.
Updated
PM responds to questions about Aukus submarine acquisition
Anthony Albanese also fielded three questions from Labor MPs about the Aukus submarine acquisition, including from Michelle Ananda-Rajah and Libby Coker:
1. How the nuclear submarine purchase will be funded.
2. Relationship with the United States, and how to respond to people questioning whether Australia will have sovereignty over the submarines.
3. The third, from a supporter of Aukus, related to human capital and whether workforce could be taken away from the rest of the economy
Albanese said that the $9bn over the next four years is fully offset (Karp: this is because it includes $3bn of cuts to be outlined after the defence strategic review), and that defence spending is need to be above 2% of GDP, and that Aukus will be less than 10% of the defence budget. He cited secondary benefits for manufacturing and jobs.
Albanese said when an Australian flag is on the piece of equipment “Australia is in control”. He said that Australia has had an alliance with the US since John Curtin, and there are “very few” pieces of equipment that are entirely designed and built in Australia – but that has no impact on our sovereignty.
On workforce, Albanese said that governments needed to defend the country, but would also deal with all Australia’s national priorities.
*A previous version of this post listed Josh Wilson as raising one of the questions in the caucus meeting. Wilson was not one of the MPs asking questions this morning.
Updated
The motion to suspend standing orders vote has been delayed until later in the day.
The chamber moves on with its business.
Parliament has moral responsibility to vote for emission reduction policies ‘even if they aren’t perfect’, Bowen says
Back in the chamber, Chris Bowen says if parliamentarians want emissions reduction, they have a moral responsibility to vote for policies for emissions reduction “even if they aren’t perfect”.
He says parliamentarians can not criticise the government for not lowering emissions if they vote against emission reduction policies.
“That’s the choice before the parliament,” he says.
“ … I feel some confidence the parliament won’t squander that opportunity”.
Updated
‘The government’s housing plan will see the crisis get worse,’ Greens say
Meanwhile, on Labor’s housing future fund, the Greens’ Max Chandler-Mather says there are still massive concerns it will do what it’s supposed to do:
It’s not just the Greens and the Senate crossbench who think the government’s housing plan will see the crisis get worse. Last weekend the Greens went out knocking on thousands of doors around the country to chat with people who are copping massive rent and mortgage hikes, asking them what they think about the fact Labor wants to spend $368 billion on nuclear subs, but can’t find an extra cent for renters or invest even $5 billion in public and affordable housing.
The feedback from over 80% of the conversations we had across the country was crystal clear: The Greens should not support Labor’s plan that does nothing for renters, and will make the crisis worse, until Labor is willing to make substantial changes that include direct investment in more public housing and a national plan for renters.
The vast majority of people don’t want Labor to gamble $10 billion of public money on the stock market, what they want is billions of dollars invested directly in building public and affordable housing, and a national plan for renters that includes caps on rents.
We spoke to lifelong Labor voters willing to sign our petition calling on Labor to accept the Greens demands to invest $5 billion in public and affordable housing every year, we spoke to single mums already contemplating homelessness because they couldn’t afford any more rent increases, we spoke to thousands of people all insisting that the Greens refuse to pass Labor’s bill until they agree to the Greens demands.
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PM speaks on Indigenous voice in Labor caucus
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, spoke about the preparations for the voice referendum in Labor caucus today.
Albanese illustrated the difficulties, citing three pieces of history:
1. There has been no successful referendum in 50 years.
2. Only 20% of proposals put by Labor to referenda had been carried.
3. Historically, there has been no successful referendum without bipartisanship.
As part of making sure Labor can get the referendum over the line, it needs to “minimise scare campaigns”, he said.
Albanese didn’t elaborate what that was a reference to – but it is highly significant in the context of a government decision on whether to add words to its proposed change specifying that parliament can determine the legal effect of the voice’s representations.
Albanese is meeting the working group today, ahead of the referendum bill being introduced to parliament next week.
The comment tends to indicate that even if making that change cannot win bipartisan support from the Coalition it could help allay some people’s concerns that the voice will result in excessive constitutional litigation or a feter on executive decision-making.
Updated
Government refuses to support suspending standing orders to debate the IPCC report
Chris Bowen is now speaking on why the government is not supporting the motion to suspend standing orders to debate the IPCC report.
It seems to be because of the safeguards mechanism – he is saying that is in front of the parliament and that is where the parliament can act.
Updated
Bob Katter is against the motion to suspend standing orders, but for the planet. He’s talking about crushing up silicon because it has something to do with solar power.
He wants to see emissions reduced (I think) but doesn’t want to see the coal industry closed down. And now he’s angry about gas being given away.
It’s giving “uncle by marriage is invited to Christmas” vibes.
Updated
Larissa Waters has moved the same motion in the Senate.
It doesn’t have the government’s support there, so it won’t pass in the House either.
Updated
Greens react to IPCC report
The motion Adam Bandt has moved:
That the House:
(1)notes the release of the sixth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change synthesis report on the escalating climate emergency;
(2)notes the statement by the UN Secretary-General that there can be no new coal, oil and gas projects and Australia and other developed countries must phase out coal by 2030; and
(3)calls on the Government to heed the call of the IPCC and the UN Secretary-General and stop approving new coal and gas projects.
Updated
The Greens are moving to suspend standing orders in both chambers to discuss the IPCC report.
Adam Bandt in the House says the first step in fixing the problem is to “stop making the problem worse”.
Updated
Nasa ‘should fly an Australian astronaut’
Nasa’s head, Bill Nelson, says the US space agency “should fly an Australian astronaut”.
“I’ll be going to Canberra this afternoon, and Pam and I will be meeting with the deputy prime minister (Richard Marles) and I hope if he’s back from the US, the prime minister (Anthony Albanese), to advocate exactly that,” he said.
Nelson and deputy administrator, Pam Melroy, are in Australia for meetings about the US and Australia’s cooperation on space missions.
This morning in Adelaide, they joined Australian Space Agency head, Enrico Palermo, to announce a new national Indigenous space academy. First Nations students will be able to apply for postings to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California as part of a joint program with Monash University.
Monash professor, Chris Lawrence, said he encouraged young Indigenous women to get involved. He said:
I certainly want to see an Indigenous Australian female astronaut. That’s really what this program is about, and that’s what my ambition is, is to help find those people.
He said First Nations people used the stars to navigate the landscape, engineering to create boomerangs, and data science in their storytelling. “Indigenous Australians are the first scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians,” he said.
Melroy said:
It’s particularly important that as we go out into the solar system, that we go as humanity. It’s critically important to us that we have the lens, the viewpoint and the stories in the history of all of humanity.
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Also discussed in the Labor caucus meeting:
There were 3 questions about AUKUS
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) March 21, 2023
* how it will be funded
* relationship with US and how to respond to questions about sovereignty; and
* third from a supporter questioning where human capital will come from will it take workforce away from rest of economy@AmyRemeikis #auspol
Government needs to ‘minimise scare campaigns’ on Indigenous voice, PM tells Labor caucus
The Labor caucus meeting has ended – Paul Karp is at the briefing:
#breaking Anthony Albanese told Labor caucus the govt needs to "minimise scare campaigns" on the Voice.
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) March 21, 2023
He cited no successful referenda in 50 years, none without bipartisan support and only 20% proposed by Labor have won. @AmyRemeikis
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RBA to consider rate rise pause
The Reserve Bank minutes for the 7 March meeting have been released this morning, and while they provide insights into the board’s decision to raise its key interest rate for a 10th consecutive meeting, they are a bit dated.
For one thing, we already had governor Philip Lowe’s debriefing the day after that rate hike, telling us a pause in rate hikes was getting closer.
And of course, we’ve had three banks fail in the US since, including the Silicon Valley Bank, and this weekend’s forced absorption of failing Credit Suisse bank by its larger Swiss rival UBS. Markets may have steadied in the past day or so – pending something else surprising turning up.
Investors, in fact, reckon there’s a one-in-three chance that the RBA will cut its cash rate 25 basis points on 4 April to 3.35%.
Ahead of today's release of minutes from the RBA's 7 March rates meeting, investors were viewing the prospect of a rate CUT on April 4th as a one-in-three chance. Beyond that they foresee further cuts. (Economists and the RBA not yet convinced.) pic.twitter.com/jiiYfl6IlG
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) March 20, 2023
Even so, the RBA minutes are worth noting, including the board members’ anticipation that the March rise was not the last one.
[M]embers observed that further tightening of monetary policy would likely be required to ensure that inflation returns to target and that the current period of high inflation is only temporary,” the minutes show.
Notably, they viewed the jobless rate remained around a 50-year low (and fell again in February), and that firms were operating close to full capacity amid strong business conditions. Productivity, meanwhile, had been stagnant for three years.
The word “pause” didn’t appear in the commentary accompanying the 7 March decision but it does make a debut in the minutes.
Members agreed to reconsider the case for a pause at the following meeting, recognising that pausing would allow additional time to reassess the outlook for the economy,” the minutes show. However, “at what point it will be appropriate to pause will be determined by the data and the Board’s assessment of the outlook”, so don’t bank on it just yet.
Interestingly, the board took time out to address the issue of whether firms were using their market power to push up prices, as the Guardian reported here.
Recent trends in company profits had attracted some public attention as a potential driver of high prices domestically,” it said. “Members noted that the national accounts showed that the mining sector accounted for most of the increase in company profits over the preceding few years, with profits in the non-mining sector being little changed as a share of total income.”
The European Central Bank has lately raised its own concerns about inflation derived from excessive profits, so the issue is probably one to keep a beady eye on.
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Pesutto likely to succeed in his push to expel Deeming from the party room, Victorian Liberal sources say
Just got confirmation from two MPs that at that lengthy Liberal party room meeting this morning there was a vote to put off next Monday’s Moira Deeming expulsion motion indefinitely. It was moved by MPs Brad Battin and Richard Riordan and defeated, 18 votes to 11.
Liberal sources close to opposition leader John Pesutto have suggested the vote indicates he will succeed in his push to expel Deeming from the party room next week. Others are a bit more sceptical, arguing there are some conservative MPs who want the vote to go ahead only to vote it down.
In any event, it’s interesting given Pesutto won the leadership against Battin by just one vote.
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The bells are ringing and the parliament sitting is about to begin.
Here we go.
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Victorian Liberal leader under pressure over Deeming expulsion
Victorian Liberal leader, John Pesutto, has just emerged after a lengthy party room meeting following his decision to move a motion to expel Moira Deeming:
I will say that the discussions we have inside are always robust, but they’re civil, they’re passionate.
He’s asked about Liberal MP Ryan Smith, who told ABC Radio Melbourne earlier this morning he was not convinced that the 15 pages of evidence Pesutto has compiled has proven the allegations Pesutto has levelled at Deeming in relation to her attendance at an anti-trans rally at which neo-Nazi activists were present.
On Ryan’s comments, Pesutto said:
The main thing is that the party room deals with it. Ryan is a member of the party room, he’s entitled to have a view.
Asked if the if will step down as leader if he loses Monday’s vote to expel Deeming, he replies: “This is an important issue to deal with. I’m confident that the party that understands why I’ve done this and that I have not taken the action lightly. But I do respect the process and Ryan is entitled to review like every member of the party. I’m going to let him have that. I’ll speak to you a bit more later on.”
Deeming left the party room before Pesutto and did not respond to questions.
Moira Deeming has refused to answer questions after leaving the Opposition party room. #springst pic.twitter.com/m5tWpQe89V
— Mitch Clarke (@96mitchclarke) March 20, 2023
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Tasmania follows Victoria in pushing to ban Nazi salute
Tasmania plans on following Victoria’s lead in banning the Nazi salute. AAP reports:
The state government was coincidentally planning to table legislation this week that would ban the display of Nazi symbols in public.
Attorney general Elise Archer said immediate action would be taken to amend the bill and incorporate the changes.
It was deeply concerning to see the abhorrent actions of a group of protesters in Melbourne over the weekend and we do not want that in Tasmania,” she said.
The use of the Nazi salute is offensive, distressing and a breach of our community and moral standards.
I want everyone in our community to feel safe from these disturbing displays whether it be Nazi symbols or saluting, as they can cause hate and fear.
I believe these reforms will be nation-leading and will build on our commitment to create a more caring community for all Tasmanians.”
UK anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s “tour” of Australia continues with plans to speak outside the Tasmanian parliament in Hobart. Equality Tasmania has planned a concurrent sit-in outside Parliament House, with hundreds of people registering their attendance on Facebook.
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80% of Labor voters want legislation that makes big corporations cut their pollution
GetUp has commissioned polling on the safeguards mechanism and found that 80% of Labor voters want the legislation to require big corporations to actually cut their pollution (not just offset it through carbon credits).
Key polling results:
61.6% of Australians think the Albanese government should work with the Greens and independents to make sure the laws require corporations to make genuine cuts to pollution.
80.3% of Labor voters agree.
65.5% of Australians think the Albanese government should not subsidise fracking in the NT with public funds, and should review all fossil fuel subsidies in the next federal budget.
Labor leads the two-party-preferred vote with 53%
The CEO of GetUp, Larissa Baldwin-Roberts, says the government needs to work with the crossbench to improve the legislation so Australians have faith in it.
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Parliamentary Friends of Clean Investment to hold launch event tonight
Parliamentary friends groups are springing up all over the place – David Pocock, Karen Grogan and Andrew Bragg are coming together for a Parliamentary Friends of Clean Investment.
The new Friendship group will provide a non-partisan forum for MPs and Senators to engage with institutional investors and companies that are accelerating the transition to net zero, identify legislative and regulatory opportunities to accelerate investment in cleaner technology and infrastructure, develop a greater understanding of the role of capital in accelerating the energy transition, and host events that showcase net zero investment opportunities.
Supported by Investor Group of Climate Change (IGCC) and the Financial Services Council (FSC), the launch event tonight will include conversations with six super fund Chief Investment Officers, who are custodians of $1 trillion on behalf of 5 million Australians.
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‘Labor must be more ambitious on social housing,’ says CFMEU
The CFMEU also thinks the government could go further in its housing fund ambitions.
Jacqui Lambie is in favour of the legislation, but she is concerned it doesn’t go far enough or will lead to enough social housing being built and so is negotiating for more.
The CFMEU has similar concerns. Incoming CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith said the Labor government needed to go further in its ambition or risk the fund failing:
Australia is in the grips of one of the most serious housing crises in our history so what’s on the table simply doesn’t cut it.
Labor must be more ambitious on social housing. The future fund proposal needs its funding to be dramatically increased if we’re going to go anywhere near meeting the skyrocketing need for housing.
This is a golden nation-building opportunity. We need to ensure this fund has strict requirements to train Australian apprentices and use high-quality locally manufactured materials.
A more ambitious investment is a massive long-term opportunity for Australian jobs and industry but it needs to come with a commitment on local procurement and training.
It’s absolutely crucial these houses are built by fairly paid workers who are protected by the very best safety standards.
A housing future fund is a massive chance to build a stronger construction industry through top-notch jobs, skills, safety and local procurement.
The government should be listening to the Senate crossbench – David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie are two of the most sensible voices in this debate.
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Meeting of Victorian Liberal party room takes more than two hours
Liberal leader John Pesutto has just emerged after a lengthy party room meeting following his decision to move a motion to expel Moira Deeming: “I will say that the discussions we have inside are always robust, but they’re civil, they’re passionate”. pic.twitter.com/9Vpk4cZJe2
— Benita Kolovos (@benitakolovos) March 21, 2023
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Antipoverty Centre questions need for cross-party group examining poverty
There are a lot of “parliamentary friends” groups – which are research or study groups featuring politicians from across different political parties coming together to learn more about particular issues.
A new one has been established to look at poverty.
The Antipoverty Centre, which advocates for those living in poverty through the lens of people experiencing poverty, fear it being “yet another group that will do more to serve people who don’t understand our lives than us”.
The group says it is time that people living in poverty were given the space to lead the conversations:
We do not need more lip service to so-called lived experience, or organisations that profit from poverty selecting who gets to speak to politicians on our behalf.
As the only social policy group led by unemployed people, it is frustrating that we have again been excluded in favour of wealthy people who do not understand our lives. It is the responsibility of all MPs who join this group to ensure that we and other organisations led by people in poverty have our voices prioritised in its work.
People in poverty are experts and we are best placed to know what we need, and what you can do to support us.
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Greens senator David Shoebridge, along with Bridget Archer, Andrew Wilkie and Helen Haines, are co-hosting an event in parliament in about 30 minutes looking at the ramifications of the Iraq invasion, 20 years on from when the “Coalition of the willing” defied the UN and declared war on Iraq.
The event will also look at current circumstances and whether or not we have learned anything from Iraq.
The speakers include Abeer Abdulazeez, an independent Iraqi Australian journalist, and Dean Yates, a former Reuters Baghdad bureau chief whose Iraqi colleagues were killed in an attack by a US Apache helicopter, which was captured in the Collateral Murder video leaked by whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
Details on how to zoom in, are here.
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Effective regulation needed to avoid domestic gas shortfall – Brakey
And what does Brakey suggest governments do? Hit the gas trigger when it has to.
One tool the Australian government has available to address the potential of a shortfall in the near term is the Australian domestic gas security mechanism [ADGSM]. As you know, the government has recently been consulting on changes to the ADGSM, providing the minister for resources greater flexibility in when and for how long to enact the mechanism.
Effective regulatory tools, such as the ADGSM, as well as the heads of agreement and industry code of conduct, are needed to improve the way the market works and avoid a domestic shortfall. This is partly due to the commercial incentives at play; while LNG producers have capacity to supply more gas domestically, they also have the ability to divert that gas into the export markets as additional or spot sales. This has seen high prices in recent years that, at times, have substantially exceeded the cost of production.
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‘Australia relies on producers making the required gas available’ – Brakey
ACCC commissioner, Anna Brakey, continued:
In times of tight global supply of gas, the security of supply has been impacted in a range of countries. Ahead of Europe’s last winter we saw calls for residents to reduce their electricity usage and discussions of the potential consequences of electricity outages due to a shortage of gas-powered generation. While Australia does not suffer the same harsh winters as much of Europe, this is clearly a situation we must aim to avoid.
As you are no doubt aware, the ACCC collects data under notice from industry on their forecast supply and export demand and combines this with the AEMO demand forecast. These numbers change as we get closer to the period in question and there is more certainty. When we release our next report in coming weeks we will include updated supply and demand data.
Over recent years, producers have committed additional gas to the domestic market over time to avoid the predicted shortfall. The options available to meet demand in the short term are otherwise limited. Australia relies on producers making the required gas available.
Since mid last year, LNG producers have told us they collectively expect to export 88PJ of their 146PJ of uncontracted gas. This leaves 58PJ of uncontracted gas without the expectation of export, which, if it is produced and brought to market, would leave sufficient gas to address the risk of a shortfall.
But it is not just for producers to prevent the shortfall. Governments also have a role in ensuring sufficient gas supply both immediately and over the longer term.
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LNG producers need to sell more gas domestically to ensure supply, ACCC boss says
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) commissioner, Anna Brakey, has given a speech about the domestic gas outlook for 2023 which I am going to include, in part, here.
Brakey was talking about the issues with supply. The main takeaway is that the supply is there, but it is not being quarantined for the domestic market:
Our last gas inquiry report, published in January 2023, found that the east coast gas market had sufficient supply if LNG producers were to contract an additional 30PJ of their uncontracted gas this year. However, if the Queensland LNG producers exported all of their uncontracted gas the domestic market would be 30PJ short.
We were pleased that this figure was an improvement in the outlook since our report of July last year, which had predicted a shortfall of 56PJ if the LNG producers exported all their uncontracted gas. Yet at the time of our January report, the domestic market still required gas contracts for 2023 and beyond.
There was also great uncertainty about the level of demand and production, representing a key risk that there would not be adequate supply of gas in 2023.
The uncertainty around the level of demand in 2023 largely relates to the demand for gas-powered generation, which is critically dependent on the prevailing weather, and on the conditions in the electricity market, making it difficult to forecast.
If the gas demand in the electricity sector increases above average or expected levels, the risks of a domestic gas shortfall across the board obviously increases. The variability in gas required for electricity is likely to increase as it takes on a greater role in firming generation during the transition to renewable energy.
The variance and uncertainty of these predictions is evident when you look at AEMO’s [Australian Energy Market Operator] predictions from July last year. It highlighted that higher than-average demand for gas-powered generation could result in a domestic gas shortfall as high as 109PJ in 2023. This gas would likely be required from LNG producers.
AEMO’s latest projections from March this year are slightly improved. They identified that there could be a supply shortfall of 33PJ in 2023, if the upper bound of expected gas-powered generation is required. This will still need LNG producers to sell more domestic gas.
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Party room Tuesday!
Being a Tuesday, it is party room meeting day – so all the MPs are contained in their various party rooms discussing where they will take/vote upcoming legislation.
We will bring you the outcomes of those meetings very soon. The parliament doesn’t start sitting until midday to allow for the meetings, so there is a few hours before things start getting down to business.
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‘It’s just wrong’: Andrews on people protesting against trans rights
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, says an anti-transgender rally held over the weekend was a “hateful event long before” neo-Nazis performed the salute at the demonstration.
Liberal MP Moira Deeming has vowed to fight an attempt by the opposition leader, John Pesutto, to expel her from the parliamentary party room after she attended a rally on Saturday which she claimed was crashed by neo-Nazis. Deeming, who attended the rally in support of British anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen, said on Monday she had done nothing wrong.
Andrews said the anti-transgender protest, held on the steps of state parliament, was not aligned with the views of mainstream Victorians:
That rally was a nasty, hateful event, long before anyone did the Nazi salute.
Why would you make it harder for trans Victorians? … It’s just wrong.”
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Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming accused of 'bringing discredit' on parliament
The Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto, has accused Liberal MP Moira Deeming of “conducting activities in a manner likely to bring discredit on the parliament or the parliamentary party” in a letter warning her of his move to expel her from the party room.
In the letter of motion, provided to Guardian Australia on Tuesday, Pesutto informed Deeming he would be calling a special meeting of the Victorian Liberal party room to hold a vote next Monday to expel her. He points to two key claims:
(a) on 19 March 2023 and on days prior organising, promoting and attending a rally where Kellie-Jay Keen (also known as Posie Parker), was the principal speaker in circumstances where Ms Keen was known to be publicly associated with far right-wing extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists …
(b) on 19 March 2023, meeting with and publishing a video with Kellie-Jay Keen, Katherine Deeves and Angie Jones, and that Angie Jones, on that day posted on Twitter words that, in the mind of any reasonable and lay observer, made association with Nazis including on 4.41pm by posting the words ‘Nazis and women want to get rid of paedo filth. Why don’t you.’
Attached to the letter, which is co-signed by deputy Liberal leader, David Southwick, and the leader and deputy leaders in the upper house, Georgie Crozier and Matthew Bach, is a dossier of “evidence” supporting the allegation.
Pesutto writes that Deeming will be “given an opportunity to explain your conduct” before the vote.
Deeming has vowed to fight the expulsion and says she’s done nothing wrong.
She arrived at Tuesday’s party room meeting flanked by MPs Chris Crewther, David Hodgett, Ann-Marie Hermans, Bill Tilley and former opposition leader Matthew Guy.
Deeming has been asked for comment.
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What is behind the latest fish kill event?
This is absolutely heartbreaking for these communities, to see this happen once again. Graham Readfearn examines why fish are dying in their millions along the lower part of the Darling-Baaka River, and its impact on the people around Menindee:
For tens of kilometres, millions of dead fish are floating in slicks along parts of the lower Darling-Baaka River, turning the water green and leaving a putrid smell around the small New South Wales town of Menindee.
The scenes come just four years after the area witnessed a series of mass fish kills with millions of native fish perishing, prompting an independent inquiry.
So what’s behind this current event? How and why did it happen, and could anything be done to stop it happening again?
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Other high-emitting countries need to ‘undertake more action’ – Simon Birmingham
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham has responded to the IPCC report – he says it is important that all countries work to change the dial, and one country alone can’t do much to change the outcome.
Australia is an advanced developed economy and so we have a leading role to play, setting an example and helping to drive technological changes in helping to ensure that we are providing the type of example to the rest of the world, but doing it realistically as well, understanding the limitations of what can be achieved, the implications for our economy and actually what other countries are doing. Of course, we have roles to play diplomatically too, but we also live in a highly contested world with enormous geopolitical challenges. And so, the reality, though, is that we need all countries, whatever their differences, to recognise the messages from the IPCC report and to be willing to engage and respond to them. But we should speak honestly in this country about the challenges in other high emitting, high growth countries and the need to get them to undertake more action, just as we have the debates about the domestic landscape and what we do here.
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Kevin Rudd is now Australia’s ambassador to the US, so he had to step back from his role at the Australians for a Murdoch Royal Commission – Malcolm Turnbull has taken his place.
“Our democracy is still one of competing parties but, unless action is taken to stop the rot, it risks becoming one of competing realities.” https://t.co/8a5AmrYQOQ
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) March 20, 2023
Greenpeace urges government to ‘follow the light’ of Pacific islands on climate action
Greenpeace Australia has responded to the IPCC report – as you would expect they are urging in the strongest terms possible that the government respond.
The group’s Pacific adviser, Shiva Gounden, said the Australian government could find inspiration in how the Pacific islands responded:
1.5C is still alive – but our last possible path to reach it is lit by those on the frontlines of the climate crisis. We must follow their light to survive.
Pacific island nations suffer the worst impacts of the climate crisis, such as the recent devastation wreaked by twin Category 4 cyclones Judy and Kevin, but have historically contributed the least. This final report is resoundingly clear on the scale of the crisis facing the Pacific and the urgency needed, with low-lying coastal areas already reaching the limits of adaptation.
The peoples of the Pacific continue to confront the devastating reality of the climate crisis with hope, determination and courage. But we do more than deal with the consequences. These proud people know that our lands and ways of living are worth saving – and have the conviction and plan to do so.
Pacific island nations demonstrate global climate leadership from the frontline. The world must stand with them, starting with voting yes at the UN general assembly next week on Vanuatu’s landmark bid to prevent climate harm through the world’s highest court.
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Safeguard mechanism will ‘make biggest sizeable bite into carbon emissions’ in over a decade – Shorten
So will the government adopt the recommendation from the UN to become net zero by 2040 or indeed 2035 – 10 to 15 years earlier than the 2050 goal?
Bill Shorten says probably not:
Well, we’ve got our policy settings. I’m not going to change them here. But what I do know is that if we can pass the safeguards mechanism legislation, we can make sure that industry has certainty to invest going forward. But we can make the biggest sizeable bite into our carbon emissions that the country has seen in over a decade. The Australian people don’t want us, you know, the Greens and Labor and the Liberals all finger pointing. They just want us to get on with business. They just want to get us on with the process of modifying our operations so that we can take real action on climate. I think this week could be very exciting and I think that the IPCC report just reminds us that we have an opportunity to not make the mistakes that happened in 2009 and not to squander the future.
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IPCC report shows ‘why we need to pass the important laws in parliament this week’ – Shorten
Bill Shorten was on Sky News responding to the IPCC report:
Well, the IPCC report is important, but I’m not sure it’s telling us anything that the government hasn’t already been thinking about for a while. I think there is a good challenge in it, though. It says that it is possible to keep global temperatures within an increase of 1.5C. And you know, this week what it shows is that the parliament of Australia, after 14 years of wasted opportunity, has got the chance to take out 205 cubic million tonnes of carbon emissions. So, the challenge is there, I think the IPCC is a reminder of why we need to pass the important laws we’ve got in parliament this week because together we can actually give a better, hand on a better future to our kids than the one we’ve currently got.
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David Pocock says Australia has ‘moral duty’ to act on climate for future generations
The IPCC report makes for some very grim reading. These aren’t the conclusion of advocates, but scientists, who have determined we are on our last chance.
ACT independent senator David Pocock told ABC RN Breakfast that there could not be “a more stark warning” and that we have a “moral duty” to act, particularly for Pacific nations and future generations.
He also doesn’t think the Greens are being unreasonable when it comes to their “no new coal or gas” demand as part of the safeguard’s legislation.
He says that yes, Australia needs climate policy, but it needs “climate policy that works”.
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Greens introduce ‘right to disconnect’ bill to amend Fair Work Act
When was the last time you were able to disconnect completely from work? As in, no emails, no phone calls, no last minute “can you check this” or calls to jump in an online meeting after hours?
The Greens have introduced the “right to disconnect” bill which would amend the Fair Work Act to legislate the right for workers to not answer emails, calls or other messages after contracted hours unless they are paid to do so (availability allowance etc) or its an emergency.
That’s after the senate work and care inquiry chaired by Greens senator Barbara Pocock recommended ways to modernise Australia’s working conditions.
Adam Bandt, who introduced the private member’s bill, said workers had the right to switch off:
Technology has seen work creep into personal time. If you’re not getting paid for it, you should be able to ignore the work texts and emails that arrive after hours. Switching off and disconnecting from work is vital for your health and work-life balance.
Pocock, the Greens employment spokesperson, said Australian work conditions had not kept pace with the changing environment.
Most of our working arrangements were put in place when households typically consisted of a male breadwinner with a female working to maintain a home and provide care for the family.
Those arrangements are clearly out of date and we need to recognise that households are now run with at least two working adults who are increasingly sharing household and caring duties in addition to their working lives.
… Availability creep, where workers feel they have to be available to answer emails all the time is harming their physical and mental health.
Poor sleep, stress, burnout, degraded relationships and distracted carers are some of the consequences of workers feeling they should be available at all hours.
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Peter Dutton should ‘condemn’ Nazi protests – Peter Khalil
Peter Khalil continued:
We’ve also had a lot of commentary and different accounts of the event, I reckon with any political demonstration or protests, it’s important to go back to the first principles, why are you there?
And if you’re there for a vision for a fairer and more just society, if you’re you’re an activist in that respect, great.
But if you’re there for the opposite, there’s a big question mark, and if your attempt at civil dialogue is attracting neo-Nazis, to your protest, there certainly needs to be a reassessment of the approach.
Now I know John Pesutto, the Victorian Liberal leader is taking a leadership position here and seeking to ban the MP that was involved in that rally. And that’s something that he’s doing. I would hope that the federal Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, also shows the same level of leadership and condemns that type of behaviour condemns the Nazis.
Remember, you know, he’s a former defence minister, there were 40,000 Australians who died in world war two fighting fascism and fighting the Nazis. People died to actually give us the country that we’re living in today effectively, that generation which not many of them left, so I would hope that he comes down and condemns this unequivocally and supports his colleague in the Victorian Liberal party.
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Addressing far-right extremism starts with education, Labor MP Peter Khalil says
The chair of parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, Labor MP Peter Khalil, also had a chat to Patricia Karvelas about the far right after what happened in Melbourne over the weekend:
Often, the rise of the far right occurs when there … might be issues around inequality or socioeconomic issues. People are manipulated in the community. Let’s not forget what they are trying to do here. They are picking in this case, that was targeting the trans community.
They pick out minorities to attack, they try and sow division and hatred and fear of the other. That is their ideological playbook.
We should be aware of that and the way that they try and manipulate and get oxygen in their actions and trying to manipulate the community. We need to address that now.
The security intelligence agencies play a role in that but more broadly, as a society, we have to address some of those underlying issues and it starts with education. Of course, it starts with people at a younger age, not being captured by or radicalised by these types of groups.
There’s a lot of work being done by the federal government across not just a security intelligence agency, but I know across the entire government, because this is actually fundamental to our social cohesion. As a nation.
We talk a lot Patricia about, you know, multiculturalism and the diversity of our nation as a strength and that’s all very, very true. But there are those who would seek to divide us based on our ethnicity, based on our identity, based on our sexual orientation. And that is the contest that is going on now and unfortunately, there has been a rise of these groups, particularly over the last 5 to 10 years.
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Lambie wants more action now to improve lives of First Nations people
On the referendum machinery act, Jacqui Lambie says she hopes the bill can pass without too much more argument because she thinks there is already too much division out there.
But she also thinks that there are things which can be done now to improve the lives of Indigenous people now.
My point is right now you could be putting in things now that could be making a difference. That’s what you’ll hear in my speech. And there is no reason for you to wait and not to do what we’ve seen to be very successful in the past in these Indigenous communities that’s worked.
And there was some really good opportunities that have been working over the years in those communities that could have been put back into place today. And that would show me that you’re actually serious about not just listening to the voice, of making the voice work, but you could show start showing that today.
So that is what you’re going to hear in my speech today.
… Just because we’ve had one government to another and said this is not working or whatever. The other my other problem is simply this – there is a lot of money there are billions and billions of dollars going out there to these Indigenous communities, there is too many shopfronts out there.
I’ve seen this the whole time I’ve been running around over the last six or seven years of seeing the shopfronts, seriously, it’s not money that they need, you need to get this sorted out, because what you’re doing is you’re putting out money and it’s not presenting positive results.
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‘It will be the Greens’ fault’ if safeguard mechanism falls over – Lambie
The Tasmanian senator is also very sick of the fight over the safeguard mechanism. She thinks it is a start and it is a “perfect opportunity” for a start and if it falls over “it will be the Greens fault”.
When it comes to the safeguards, I simply think there’s we need to starting point and the Greens I’m sick and tired of them getting your starting point – you have that big balance of power for the next two years.
This is your starting point and you keep working on it, on decreasing those emissions, keep putting up bills, keep doing deals with the Labor government and keep reducing it that way.
But if you don’t have a starting point here, we haven’t got the magic starter. We’re not going anywhere.
We don’t even have a starting point and I think that’s really, really disappointing.
My other issue obviously, is that we have manufacturing out there that just at this point in time cannot reduce its emissions by 4.9%.
They cannot do that because the technology has not been invented. So we really need to make sure that if we want manufacturing to continue in this country we want to grow on that we have to accommodate for that.
There’s no doubt about that. Look, they can continue their fight over coal and gas, but can the Greens please for goodness sakes, if you know if that’s what you’re standing on and you don’t get anything through it all then we’re back to where we started. We’ve got nothing, not even a starter point. We’ve got to have a starting point, we’ve got to look serious.
I am worried that it’s gonna fall over it’ll be the Greens fault. You need to starting point this is your opportunity to get a starting point so we can keep working on reducing those emissions as we’re going along. That’s how it works up here.
We just keep chipping away at them. But we need to start a point and I think this is a good start point.
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Lambie says public won't worry too much if Labor cans stage-three tax cuts
Jacqui Lambie says she thinks the government could deal with a “broken promise” on the stage-three tax cuts by playing the public straight.
I think when people know that there’s people out there on enough money like me, and we’re getting a tax cut and don’t get one I don’t think the public’s really going to worry about it too much.
That’s what I think. And I think they’ll be saying ‘good on you.’ It’s about time we started paying out and helping others less fortunate.
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Lambie on stage-three tax cuts: high income earners ‘shouldn’t be so greedy’
Also Jacqui Lambie doesn’t want the stage-three tax cuts – as a senator, her six figure wage would be one of those that benefits and she is saying “no thank you”.
And she thinks most other people should say no thank you too, for the betterment of the country.
People like me, people like me, do not need a tax cut, I can assure you, so please don’t give me one because I don’t want one and anybody else that’s in the situation that I am shouldn’t be so greedy. And now we’ve got to pass it on to those blokes [earning under $120,000] We’ve got to pay it forward. That’s what we need to be doing. And that’s that’s where Australia should be.
And if it means that some of that money is redirected into those submarines or into anything else that we need for the future. I just think we need to cut those tax cuts right back.
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Jacqui Lambie expresses concerns over housing fund costing
Over on ABC RN Breakfast, Jacqui Lambie is speaking about what it would take for her and Tammy Tyrrell to vote for the housing fund.
Lambie says she supports the bill, but thinks it can be better – because she has concerns over whether houses would actually be built in how it stands now.
We are worried about the $500m annual cap on disbursements to the fund because the way that we’re working out if you look at the next five years is that that that is only going to build it the amount of houses that you need to and I’m sorry, the house that you need to build is only is gonna end up about $80,000 per house. That’s the first problem that they have right now.
We are worried also with the inflation on what that $500m looks like in the next nine or 10 years. That’s your other issue. So we are concerned about that.
We’ve also asked for upgrades, upgrades and repairs in remote Indigenous communities …
So we actually haven’t asked for a lot but we do want them to explain to us out of the money. How come we’re working it out that something’s going to end up about $80,000 a house and where’s the rest of money coming from, so that is a real worry for us.
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Nationals should follow security advice on social media – Littleproud
And following Daniel Hurst’s update on Clare O’Neil accepting a report from security agencies on TikTok on government phones, David Littleproud has found a unity ticket.
Yeah, I think obviously we’ve got to take the advice of our intelligence agencies. And that advice is becoming stronger and stronger. I think it’s unwise to have a TikTok account on your government held phone. We’ve got to understand the world we live in and the risk of having these phones as members of parliament, the privileged position we have, does pose to our national security. So I think it is important that the government takes that advice and if that’s the advice we should act swiftly on it. I would be very disappointed if any members of my National party didn’t adhere to any advice given by a security agency on social media, particularly TikTok.
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Littleproud says safeguard mechanism will force companies to buy offsets
And here is David Littleproud on why they are voting no on the safeguard legislation:
We need to find a pathway. There’s no linear pathway to net zero by 2050. The safeguards mechanism, this is about companies adopting technology to reduce their emissions. And so, the technology at the moment hasn’t been created. So what they’re saying, forcing companies to do, to go and buy offsets they’re going to pass on to you, the Australian consumer. Technology will solve this. We’re confident in that. The Nationals have been at the forefront of this, whether it be their biodiversity stewardship program, to … have sensible solutions that don’t mean we have to build 28,000km of new transmission lines. I think people on the land will participate. That’s what the National party want them to do, because they’re the stewards of the land.
(The business community is actually in favour of the safeguards legislation, which was originally Coalition policy. Make of that what you will.)
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Littleproud says Labor’s housing fund ‘is costly and doesn’t go to heart of issue’
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, was on ABC TV Breakfast explaining why the Coalition was voting no on so much legislation.
On the housing fund:
Well, just so Australians appreciate, this isn’t $10bn going to housing. This is the Australian taxpayer borrowing $10bn, paying an interest rate on that and hoping … they’ll reinvest back into social housing. I commend the government for trying to tackle this. Let’s look at this. This is a failure of state governments in particular. This is their bailiwick. The fact we tried to put in 3,000 homes when we’re in government, not commenting the government for trying, it’s just the mechanism they’re putting in place is costly and doesn’t go to the heart of the issue.
And what it is also go is incentivise the states the walk away from their responsibilities they failed to undertake. And also with respect to planning. So also about supply. The state and local governments have the planning pen. Let’s have some commonsense solutions about lifting supply. In some cities it’s about going up, not necessarily out, if you want to live in the city that comes at the cost of density but you’re more than welcome to join us in the regions.
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Indigenous space academy, space salads and lunar rovers on show for Nasa
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) administrator, Bill Nelson, and the deputy administrator, Pamela Melroy, are in Adelaide today and Canberra later this week.
The Australian Space Agency head, Enrico Palermo, said it was a “jam packed agenda … an important moment to show the nation the strength of the partnership between our two agencies”.
He said the new academy will see five undergraduate or postgraduate students travel to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
“We’re proud to have a brand and DNA that is built on the tens of thousands of years of First Nations astronomy and science,” Palermo said.
The Nasa visit, the first from an administrator since 2014, included a visit to the international team creating space food and medicine at the University of Adelaide. The team has picked plants that can be grown on Mars to provide a complete, nutritional plant-based diet for astronauts.
They have created a “space salad” of soya beans, poppy seeds, barley, ale, peanuts, sunflower seeds and sweet potatoes.
The industry and science minister, Ed Husic, announced grants for two programs to design semi-autonomous rovers, using knowledge drawn from remote mining. The rovers will be part of Nasa’s Moon to Mars mission, and will be designed by two separate consortiums.
“The rover will collect lunar soil known as regolith from the moon and deliver it o a Nasa payload, which will attempt to extract oxygen from the sample,” Husic said.
Nelson said he was excited to work with Australia on the mission.
“It’s cooperation like this that will enable Nasa and our international partners to uncover more discoveries. In this new era of space exploration, every advancement is not an achievement for one country – but for all of humanity,” he said.
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Good morning
A very big thank you to Martin for starting us off this morning.
We’ll switch to politics now with the safeguards mechanism, referendum machinery and housing future fund all taking centre stage from a legislation point of view, while Aukus continues to bubble away – and all of it under the shadow of the “final warning” from the IPCC report.
Good times.
You’ve got Amy Remeikis and the Canberra team with you.
Ready?
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Government receives review of social media apps such as TikTok – Clare O’Neil
The federal government has confirmed it has received a review into the use of social media apps – including TikTok – on government devices.
Last year the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, asked her department to review the cybersecurity implications of all forms of social media on government devices. This includes but is not limited to TikTok, whose parent company is the Chinese firm ByteDance.
To date, some government departments or agencies have banned their employees from using TikTok on their work devices, but there is not a uniform policy – and the Coalition has recently stepped up its calls for clarity.
Last night a spokesperson for O’Neil said in a brief statement:
The government has received the review and is considering its recommendations. We are working to undo the years of inaction under the previous government, who failed to act or even provide advice about these issues as they developed.
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Labor MP ‘not convinced we can adequately deal with the non-proliferation risks’ of Aukus
Daniel continues:
Let’s bring you some more details about the Labor MP Josh Wilson’s concerns about Aukus. He also used his speech to parliament last night to raise fears about the precedent set by Australia relying on the US and the UK to acquire nuclear-powered submarines:
I’m not yet convinced that we can adequately deal with the non-proliferation risks involved in what is a novel arrangement by which a non nuclear weapons state under the [non-proliferation treaty] comes to acquire weapons-grade material … There is no particular reason to expect the Aukus arrangement will be the only one of its kind.
Wilson – while expressing his concerns about in the present tense – also took aim at the former defence minister Peter Dutton. Wilson had previously asked questions about some of these issues in a treaties committee hearing in 2021. Wilson said:
For having the temerity to ask legitimate questions about those non-proliferation issues the now opposition leader referred to me in this place as ‘Comrade Wilson’. It’s an irony that the opposition leader, for all his self-styled tough guy patriotism, appears to not understand the fundamental difference between a liberal democracy and other systems in which asking perfectly reasonable questions is not only forbidden but has dire consequences.
Wilson said the quality assurance mechanism in Australia’s system of government was contestability. He said it was important to always have a “rigorous and challenging conversation” about defence and security matters:
The Aukus agreement, arrived at with some characteristically questionable secrecy by the former government and some strange ministerial arrangements, is not a sports team of which we have all suddenly become life members. It is a significant partnership with two of our most important and closest allies – but it will only be effective if we do our job as parliamentarians which is to look closely and to ask questions in order to guard against risk.
I could be proved wrong about some of my concerns – perhaps they’re ill-founded in a way that I don’t perceive – and I can live with that. But I would be wrong already if I wasn’t prepared to identify and voice those concerns, which are based on work I’ve done consistently on some of these issues in this place since I was first elected.
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Federal Labor MP breaks ranks on Aukus
As promised, here’s our defence correspondent Daniel Hurst on those comments by Labor MP Josh Wilson.
A federal Labor MP has broken ranks over Aukus, saying he is not convinced Australia should pursue nuclear-powered submarines.
Wilson, the member for Fremantle, also said the cost and timeframes were likely to blow out. Wilson said he was “concerned about the question of nuclear waste” given that “we haven’t yet managed a storage solution for low-level waste after 40 years and more than $50m”.
Wilson is the first member of the federal Labor caucus to go public with concerns since the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, announced the more detailed plans in San Diego last week.
To date, the Labor caucus has been pretty disciplined, leaving it to some union leaders and former ministers – along with the former PM Paul Keating – to raise concerns. The Greens have strongly opposed Aukus.
Wilson, while careful to avoid direct attacks on the government, told parliament last night it was “the plain hard reality” that “with an undertaking of this scale, complexity, cost and duration, there remain considerable risks and uncertainty”.
He said Australia would be buying Virginia class submarines from the US in the 2030s “at a time when their own production schedule has been under pressure” before the Australian-built “SSN Aukus” submarines would be ready:
But we know from both Collins and the French project, building submarines inevitably takes longer and costs more than anticipated. While I support the work of the government, I’m not completely convinced that nuclear-propelled submarines are the only or best answer to our strategic needs.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to the politics live blog. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you the main overnight breaking stories before Amy gets fired up shortly.
Climate is one of the topics dominating the news this morning after scientists have delivered a “final warning” on the climate crisis, as rising greenhouse gas emissions push the world to the brink of irrevocable damage that only swift action can avert. At home, a poll conducted in four inner-city seats shows a majority of voters support a ban on new fossil fuel projects and don’t think big polluters should be able to use offsets for greenhouse emissions.
Defence is another big focus with public support for the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine deal declining, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. Only a quarter think the subs are good value, while 40% of respondents said the submarine partnership would make Australia more secure, down four points since November. Only one in five voters said China was a “threat to be confronted”, which is interesting in light of Xi Jinping’s arrival in Moscow overnight where he pledged that Russia and China would “stand guard” to protect the world order.
Speaking of submarines, federal Labor MP Josh Wilson has become the first to break ranks with the leadership by expressing doubts about the $368bn project. The member for Fremantle said he was not convinced Australia should pursue nuclear-powered submarines and also warned that the cost and timeframes were likely to blow out. We’ve got full details about what he said coming up.
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