What we learned today, Tuesday 26 November
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here are the main stories:
TikTok warned the bill to ban under 16s from social media is tantamount to requiring every Australian to have a “licence to be online” because every person using social media in Australia will need to have their age assured.
The Human Rights Commission said the social media ban should not pass in current form.
At least three Nationals publicly voiced their concerns over the social media ban bill, including Keith Pitt, Matt Canavan and Bridget McKenzie – as well as Liberal MP Garth Hamilton. Opposition communications spokesperson, David Coleman, later said the government has agreed to several amendments which will be seen in the Senate.
Australia-China relationship are in “very good shape after “immense improvement”, Chines ambassador Xiao Qian said.
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, said findings of missing and murdered Indigenous women inquiry are “horrific”.
The sports minister, Anika Wells, said changes to gamblings advertising could affect Australian sport on world stage.
An anti-abortion bill sponsored by two Coalition senators will stay on the Senate notice paper after seven crossbenchers sided with the Coalition and voted down a Greens motion to dump it.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, announced new anti-vilification and social cohesion laws that were introduced to parliament today.
Labor’s housing bill passed the senate this afternoon, coming after the Greens’ housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather ,said his party had “pushed as hard as we can” on housing.
The NSW government will refund $5.5m in fines that were issued under Covid-19 health measures and which disproportionately penalised people living in western and south-western Sydney.
Queenslanders gathered outside parliament to protest LNP’s treaty stance.
Sydney and Melbourne house prices to keep falling but rate cut will cause bounce, report predicts.
The Victorian Nationals have a new leader in Gippsland South MP Danny O’Brien, after Peter Walsh stepped down overnight.
Leading economists have predicted a $33.5bn budget deficit for this financial year.
Updated
Christian lobby welcomes anti-abortion bill stay
The Australian Christian Lobby has hailed the failure of a Greens motion aimed at discharging a private senators’ anti-abortion bill as “a victory for the democratic process”.
The Greens Senate leader, Larissa Water, wanted the Senate to discharge the human rights (children born alive protection) bill, which has been on the notice paper for two years and is co-sponsored by Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan and South Australian Liberal senator Alex Antic. If passed, the bill would force medical practitioners to provide medical care to a baby born alive after a termination procedure.
The ACL CEO, Michelle Pearse, welcomed the Coalition and seven crossbenchers voting down the bill:
“The ACL was pleased to see senators afford this Bill an opportunity for proper consideration and debate rather than shutting down the democratic process. We must allow this Bill to go to a proper vote.”
The Greens motion to discharge the bill followed the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, telling Coalition MPs recently that they should not seek to restart public debate on abortion ahead of next year’s federal election.
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NSW avoids power supply issues but still faces ‘tight’ days
Without jinxing things, NSW has so far avoided any blackouts as temperatures climb in eastern Australia.
Sydney’s top temperature was kept to a bearable 28.2C while about 50km to the west, Penrith reached 39.7C to mark the Sydney basin’s warmest maximum for Tuesday.
Penrith and a few other outer suburbs can expect a similar top on Wednesday at 39C, the Bureau of Meteorology predicts. The CBD, though, will be a bit hotter than today, heading form 34C – which would be the hottest there since late February.
According to the Australian Energy Market Operator, wholesale power prices may yet hit their ceiling of $17,500 a megawatt-hour (compared to more typical prices of $125/MWh) later on Tuesday as an indication of a “tight” or strained market. And tomorrow evening there will be more of the same, with a sign that an administered price cap of $600/MWh may kick in too:
Aemo has been busy issuing its so-called lack of reserve alerts for NSW and Queensland in the past couple of days. They are intended to highlight when it wants more capacity brought on to ensure “the lights stay on”.
The market does tend to respond (hence the absence of blackouts) but the fact Aemo is issuing them from lengthy periods for NSW for parts of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (before they get cancelled) point to the lingering impacts of the heatwave on the grid.
And there are storms to look forward to, too.
Updated
Bubble tea franchise Chatime fined $132,840 for underpaying workers
The Fair Work Ombudsman has fined bubble tea franchise Chatime and its managing director $132,840 for the underpayments of more than $160,000 to vulnerable employees at 19 stores across Sydney and Melbourne.
Earlier today, the federal circuit and family court imposed a $120,960 penalty against Chatime Australia, and a fine of $11,880 against Chatime Australia managing director, Chen “Charlley” Zhao, for his involvement in some of the underpayments.
The court found that between August and December 2016, Chatime Australia paid employees at stores it directly operated flat rates as low as $7.59 to $24.30 an hour and adopted a practice of not paying Fast Food Industry Award entitlements such as loadings and penalty rates.
As a result, 152 employees, including 41 junior workers aged below 21 and 95 visa holders, were underpaid a total amount of $162,533. Many of the visa holders were international students.
The underpaid staff worked at 10 Chatime outlets across Sydney in Bondi Junction, Chatswood, Wetherill Park and the CBD; and nine Chatime outlets across Melbourne, in Dandenong, Doncaster, Glen Waverley, Cheltenham and the CBD.
In his judgment, Judge Nicholas Manousaridis rejected Chatime Australia’s submission that the contraventions should not fall into the category of being either “serious” or “substantial”, and found that the matter involved a large number of employees who were underpaid basic Award entitlements.
“Penalties should be set to signal to persons who manage companies that they will be met with substantial penalties if, through their neglect, they permit companies they manage to contravene terms of an award or any other industrial laws or instruments that might apply.”
Updated
Crossbenchers side with Coalition to keep anti-abortion bill alive
An anti-abortion bill sponsored by two Coalition senators will stay on the Senate notice paper after seven crossbenchers sided with the Coalition and voted down a Greens motion to dump it.
The Greens indicated earlier on Tuesday that the motion would be deferred until February but the party’s Senate leader, Larissa Waters, suddenly brought on the vote on Tuesday afternoon.
Waters was asking the Senate to discharge the human rights (children born alive protection) bill, which has been on the notice paper for two years and is co-sponsored by Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan and South Australian Liberal senator Alex Antic. If passed, the bill would force medical practitioners to provide medical care to a baby born alive after a termination procedure.
The Greens decided to ask the Senate to discharge the bill after the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, urged federal Coalition members recently not to raise the sensitive issue of abortion or encourage public debate ahead of the next federal election.
The Greens had hoped to secure the numbers to remove the bill and put pressure on the Coalition on a sensitive issue which the major parties usually consider a matter of conscience.
But the opposition leadership pushed back, arguing it would set a bad precedent to use a majority vote to discharge a private senators’ bill – and implying it could happen to others.
The opposition Senate leader, Simon Birmingham, said he “would not and will not ever vote for this bill or any measures that restrict women’s reproductive rights”. But he said removing it would impede private senators’ rights and was a precedent that could be used against other bills.
“Senators in particular should reflect on the precedent this motion sets that could see other bills discharged just because a majority opposed them,” Birmingham said. “Given this bill has been on the notice paper for almost two years, the decision of the Greens to pursue this at this time is clearly about politics, not the substantive issue.”
The motion was lost, 30 votes to 28, with 18 senators not present.
ACT independent senator David Pocock, two One Nation senators, former Liberal turned independent Gerard Rennick, United Australia party senator Ralph Babet and Tasmanian independents Jacqui Lambie and Tammy Tyrrell joined the Coalition in opposing the motion. Pocock and Tyrrell both spoke in the chamber, saying they opposed the bill itself but supported the principle of allowing a private senators’ bill to remain and be debated.
Larissa Waters suggested the Coalition’s move in defeating the motion contradicted Dutton’s edict to his partyroom.
“By threatening crossbenchers with retaliation if they supported a Greens move to protect women’s rights, the Liberals … kept an anti-abortion bill on the Senate notice paper,” Waters told Guardian Australia. “The Liberal game-playing has confirmed that Mr Dutton does not want to talk about abortion because it would reveal that his party wants to restrict women’s rights to make decisions about their own bodies.”
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NSW to refund $5.5m in Covid fines
The NSW government will refund $5.5m worth of fines that were issued under Covid-19 health measures and which disproportionately penalised people living in western and south-western Sydney.
More than 23,000 penalty notices will be withdrawn and the refunds will include any total or partial payments on the fines.
The government committed to withdraw and refund the fines after a legal campaign by the Redfern Legal Centre (RLC) and Maurice Blackburn who asserted that the fines were improperly issued and invalid. Maurice Blackburn valued the more than 23,000 fines, some of which had not been repaid, at approximately $15m.
In a statement, from RLC and Maurice Blackburn, they said the announcement came after Maurice Blakcburn notified the government it would file a class action if Revenue NSW did not withdraw and refund the fines.
The RLC said the fines, which were typically worth $1,000 to $5,000, were disproportionately issued to socioeconomically disadvantaged people living in western and south-western Sydney. RLC found that among those fined were Indigenous children, children with cognitive impairments, and children experiencing homelessness.
In 2022, the NSW government withdrew 33,000 fines related to Covid-19 health measures after it lost a legal challenge by RLC. The court found the fines were invalid because they did not include sufficient information about the offence.
On Tuesday, the department of customer service said the remaining 23,000 fines also lacked details “which may render them technically deficient and place their validity in doubt”.
Samantha Lee, supervising solicitor at Redfern Legal Centre, said:
This outcome is the result of a significant and lengthy effort by Redfern Legal Centre, a team of dedicated counsel and Maurice Blackburn.
The impact of Covid fines on marginalised communities and on children – was disproportionate, unreasonable, and unjust.
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‘Nitazenes are extremely potent’: two opioid overdoses in NSW
Two people in NSW have been hospitalised with severe opioid overdoses, prompting health authorities to warn about the dangers of synthetic opioids in fake oxycodone.
The two people suffered overdoses after taking what they believed to be oxycodone tablets described as yellow unmarked round tablets, sold as OxyContin 40 mg.
However, NSW health says they contained nitazenes – extremely potent synthetic opioids which are more likely to stop breathing than other opioids.
NSW Poisons Information Centre medical director, Dr Darren Roberts, said these drugs can be hundreds of times more potent than oxycodone and can cause severe overdose or death. He said:
“Nitazenes are extremely potent and can vary widely in their strength.”
“As they are illicit and unregulated, there is no way of knowing what type of nitazene is present or what dosage is being taken. The strength and contents can vary widely, even within the same batch.”
NSW Health said nitazenes have been detected in vapes and in fake tablets, such as benzodiazepines, and in drugs thought to be heroin or MDMA.
Roberts said it was strongly recommended that anyone who uses illicit drugs carry naloxone. Nitazenes can last longer in the body than oxycodone, heroin and naloxone, meaning higher and repeated doses of naloxone may be required as well as hospital treatment.
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Teens need better protection from sex offenders: report
Teenagers working alongside adults in Australia need to be better protected from sex offenders, a report says.
The report into retailers has outlined a plan it hopes will ensure teens are not exposed to workplace predators across the country, AAP reports.
The ‘‘Safety Not Guaranteed’ report by the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association and non-for-profit McKell Institute has recommended law changes to better protect children.
The report found more than 500,000 children aged 17 and under were working across Australia mostly in retail but the majority were not adequately protected by law.
It said only South Australia provided proper safeguards, after the state government passed laws in March banning child sex offenders from working with kids.
The report has recommended other states and territories follow suit.
It has called for legislation to be amended to ban accused and convicted sex offenders from working alongside children.
The report also called for bail conditions to be tightened for convicted or accused sex offenders and reforms made to offender registries.
The report said requirements for adults working alongside children were not strict in Australia.
“Most Australians would be surprised to learn that there are few requirements for adults working alongside children to get ‘working with children’ checks,” it said.
“This has led to incidences where adults charged, or even convicted, with child sex offences are working alongside children in retail, fast food and hospitality settings.”
The report recommended that adults across the nation working alongside children be required to access the checks, in which they are screened for suitability.
All states and territories should also ensure eligibility for “working with children” checks be expanded so that businesses voluntarily seeking them do so without a cost increase to workers.
Updated
Good afternoon, Mostafa Rachwani with you for the rest of the day’s news.
Many thanks for joining me on today’s blog – we’re nearly at the halfway point of this final sitting week, with two more jam-packed days ahead.
But there’s still more to come this evening, so I’ll handover to Mostafa Rachwani to continue bringing you the latest. Take care.
Explainer on Victorian government’s overhauled anti-vilification laws
Earlier today, Benita Kolovos brought us news the Victorian government had unveiled long-awaited legislation to overhaul the state’s anti-vilification laws.
How will they change, and who will they protect? You can read her full explainer below:
Gormon says Deloitte outlook ‘not government’s numbers’
Patrick Gorman was also asked to weigh in on the latest economic outlook from Deloitte – predicting a $33.5bn budget deficit for this financial year (see our earlier post).
He answered that it’s “not the government’s numbers”:
We understand that people will try and get the jump or guess what the numbers might be or in Deloitte’s case, modelling, but they are not our numbers.
Gorman was asked whether the government has given up on increasing the tax rate on higher balanced superannuation accounts – as was promised a couple of budgets ago?
Gorman said he couldn’t “tell you what decision the Senate will make over the next couple of days”.
I wish I could. I wish we did not have a system where the opposition parties try to run things down until the last minute or the last hours of the Senate, but that is the system we have and we will see that play out on Wednesday and Thursday.
But would you make it a number one item of debate on Wednesday morning? Gorman said “it remains part of our budget plan” but “we recognise the Australian people have given us a Senate that sometimes uses to prioritise things in different ways, and we have to work within that democratic system”.
Updated
Labor MP welcomes passage of Help to Buy bill through senate
The assistant minister to the PM, Patrick Gorman, is speaking with the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing about the Greens’ concession to help Labor pass its housing bill.
Asked if there were more deals to be cut, with a raft of legislation yet to make it through the Senate, he argued that these bills “stand on their own merits”.
Of course people are frustrated that it took the Greens in particular so long, so much political gameplay, so many interviews with yourself and others about how they were here and in there and all over the place, finally it is done.
As Paul Karp reports, the Help to Buy scheme – which passed the senate this afternoon – allows the government to contribute 30% of the purchase price of a home or 40% for a new build for those who earn under the income thresholds of $90,000 for a single applicant, or $120,000 for a couple. The government share reduces the cost for the homebuyer, although it must be paid back upon sale.
Temperatures climb towards 40C in parts of Sydney as power supplies remain tight
Parts of Sydney have touched the 39C level forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology while sea breezes are so far keeping the CBD and other parts of the city’s east about 10C cooler.
Daniel Westerman, head of the Australian Energy Market Operator, chose to give a media conference at Canberra airport just before 2pm (AEST), to reassure the public that electricity suppliers were sufficient.
Aemo had acted early to bring on generation capacity that was “potentially available” and to restore transmission lines, he said. (The latter was mostly to ensure NSW can import a lot of electricity.)
Authorities were working to ensure generation remained adequate over the coming days, he said.
As it happened, Aemo had issued another lack of reserve level 3 forecast at about noon (AEDT), implying that there was the possibility of “interruptible loads” now for Thursday at about 3.30pm (AEDT).
As with previous LOR3 alerts, the market answered Aemo’s call, and the alert was cancelled at 1.54pm (AEDT) just as Westerman was wrapping up his slightly chaotic media conference (as some questioners phoned in questions he struggled to hear).
Still, expect conditions to remain “tight” and hopefully no more of those ageing power units will conk out over the next couple of days.
Updated
Nationals MP continues to voice concern over social media age ban
Nationals MP Keith Pitt has been speaking to Sky News about his concerns regarding Labor’s under-16 social media ban bill.
Yesterday, he became the latest to voice hesitation about the bill, joining his colleague Matt Canavan, the Greens and other Senate crossbenchers in alarm at the speed by which the bill is likely to be passed this week.
Speaking just now, Pitt told the program:
If you can’t actually fine anyone for not taking action [until 2026], then what difference will it make to take a few weeks to look at this in detail – this is one of the rare occasions I agree with my colleagues in the Senate where this is something that should be looked at more …
My job as a backbencher is to make sure that people are doing this right. It’s not simply to trundle along and agree with everything that’s put before me.
His main argument was that teenagers will be able to work around the ban – along with wanting more time to scrutinise the legislation.
Analysis on government’s under-16s social media ban bill
In case you missed it amid question time this afternoon, Josh Taylor has written a fantastic piece of analysis on the under-16s social media ban bill – asking why Labor is so intent on rushing it through?
You can have a read of that below:
Watch: China’s ambassador to Australia urges closer military ties
Earlier today, China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian spoke to reporters in Canberra and suggested Australia should do more to improve military ties with the People’s Liberation Army.
We covered his remarks earlier in the blog, and you can now watch some of his remarks below, thanks to our video team:
Government agreed to 'several amendments' on social media bill: Coleman
Going back to the under-16s social media ban, opposition communications spokesperson, David Coleman, says the government has agreed to several amendments which will be seen in the Senate.
We’ve asked Michelle Rowland’s office for comment but haven’t heard back yet.
Coleman told the House of Representatives that the changes would be “significant improvements” to the bill.
Firstly, the legislation will include a specific provision that nothing allows a social media to compel the provision of digital ID or government issued identity documents, such as passports, or drivers licenses. This is an important addition and further strengthens the privacy provisions in the legislation.
Coleman said the second amendment was a clear power for the minister to specify steps which are not needed to be taken by social media companies to comply with the legislation – that is, the minister would be able to tell big tech what not to do in enforcing the age limit.
With the use of identification documents now ruled out, supporters of the bill say platforms may look to biometric forms of age assurance, such as facial scanning, to fulfil the requirements of the legislation. Coleman said:
While the eSafety Commissioner will be responsible for formulating guidelines on what constitutes reasonable steps under the bill, the minister may direct that specific actions are not required in order for the platform to satisfy that reasonable steps test.
This is also an important addition, as it allows the Minister to ensure that enforcement of the legislation is always appropriate and proportionate.
Updated
With that, question time has wrapped up in the House of Representatives.
Domestic violence payments
The independent MP for Curtin, Kate Chaney, is asking about the crisis payment for women leaving domestic violence – she said conditions exclude half the women who apply, and the payment is only available if a woman can show she fits the “narrow criteria” within seven days of leaving.
Will the government review the conditions? The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, responded:
While legislation requires that that person has seven days from the traumatic event to lodge a claim for crisis payment, there’s flexibility to support people in this circumstance. Services Australia provides an additional 14 days after contact to lodge a claim if they have experienced family and domestic violence.
Notwithstanding that, we know as a government too often perpetrators of family domestic violence can exploit and manipulate government systems to control, harass, or threaten a current or former partner.
Rishworth said the government would continue to look at the systems “across the board” on this.
Updated
Can Australians afford another three years of Labor?
Liberal MP Henry Pike has asked another question along the lines of – how can Australians afford another three years of Labor?
(The opposition has been finishing most of their questions with this line today).
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, responded like he did with previous questions – by listing cost-of-living measures the government is taking, and criticising the opposition for voting against them.
Because if things are free, apparently – according to the Liberal party philosophy – they’re not valued, which explains why you don’t support Medicare, and never have, why you don’t support public schools, and why you continue to just say what your against and not put anything forward constructively that will help.
Updated
Just after Jim Chalmers wrapped up answering a dixer, the MP for Herbert Phillip Thompson was sent out under 94a.
What is standing order 94a? You can have a read of this explainer for more information.
Updated
Private health system accountability
Independent MP Sophie Scamps has asked whether the government will support the call from the AMA for a private health system authority?
She said her community is served by the only public-private partnership hospital in NSW, which recently terminated the contracts of private health insurers they believe are failing to adequately reimburse patients.
The health minister, Mark Butler, said the sector had “suffered a price shock from Covid” amid other factors, “which impacts the business model of many hospitals and other things as well”.
As a result, I asked the secretary of the department to conduct a health check on this sector – insurers, private hospital operators, [and] the AMA and patient groups were part of that. It was very constructive.
I’ve published a version of that health check and asked the secretary to keep that forum going. It [will] discuss short-term options for reform of this sector soon, as well as long-term ideas that include the AMA idea, which they’ve been touting really for some time now, a different regulatory system.
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Question on food insecurity
Nationals MP Anne Webster has asked the PM about growing rates of food insecurity.
The minister for social services, Amanda Rishworth, answered by listing measures the government has taken, and said:
We will keep looking at all the ways that we can support people with cost of living, whether there’s that’s through emergency relief, food relief but importantly, through the cost-of-living measures, including tax cuts to every single taxpayer – something those opposite were never going to do.
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PM says opposition’s figures on insolvency are wrong
The deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has asked about the rate of business insolvencies.
Anthony Albanese said the figures put forward by Ley – that more than 25,000 businesses have gone bust since Labor took office – are wrong.
The minutes of the RBA’s monetary policy meeting [on] 24 September, said this – “The cumulative level of insolvencies was still below the pre-pandemic trend”. Who was in government pre-pandemic? … Those opposite.
Updated
Labor ‘looking more like Whitlam government every day’: Dutton
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, was up next to ask how Australian families and businesses “can possibly afford another three years of Labor”.
He pointed to changes to the Future Fund, and said the Albanese government is “looking more like the Whitlam government every day”.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, responded echoed earlier sentiments about the state of the economy when his government came to office, and the measures they have taken since.
The fact is that the measures that we have introduced have all been opposed by those opposite … The difference between us and them is that they acknowledge people are under pressure, but want it to be worse.
Albanese posed another question: how would any Australian have been better off under those opposite?
They have no positive plans whatsoever, just reckless arrogance in their approach to the pressures that Australians are under.
Updated
‘They’re not’: Chris Bowen on why climate emissions are higher
Greens MP Stephen Bates was next up to ask a question, asking the PM why climate emissions are higher under his government than when Scott Morrison went to office?
The minister for climate change, Chris Bowen, responded that “they’re not”.
That will be evident this week when we release the annual climate change statement, which is world’s best practice when it comes to accountability.
Bowen also took aim at the opposition, saying:
A government actually setting a clear policy agenda from the beginning, set by the Climate Change Act, supported by the safeguards reforms, supported by the new vehicle efficiency standards, supported by our capacity investment scheme, all of which has been done by this government – all of which has been opposed by the opposition, who want to stop all that while they wait for their nuclear fantasy to become a reality.
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Shadow treasurer asks question on latest Deloitte outlook
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, has asked another question on the economy, pointing to the latest Deloitte outlook and changes to the Future Fund.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, responded by criticising the opposition’s economic track record:
We have a plan for getting wages up. Increases, three of them, for people on the minimum wage. Remember back to the election campaign, Mr Speaker, when I took out that $1 coin and argued that a $1 coin, a $1 increase per hour … was something that we would support if the Fair Work Commission chose to do so. And those opposite said it would wreck the economy, the sky would fall in if that occurred.
Updated
O’Neil says Coalition did not respond to requests for housing briefing
While taking a dixer on housing, the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, noted that Labor’s Help to Buy legislation had passed the Senate this afternoon.
She said the government appreciates the support of those who voted in favour of the bill, “including the Australian Greens”.
I’ve had a little bit of constructive criticism to offer the Greens in recent days, speaker, but let’s all agree, speaker, that at least the Greens are showing a modicum of interest in housing policy in this country.
O’Neil said she had made “a number of attempts” to brief the shadow housing minister on “the policy offerings we’ve brought before this parliament”.
It’s not that he can’t find the time to come to the briefings, speaker. He won’t even respond to our requests for a discussion.
Updated
Question time begins
After a condolence motion for former Liberal minister John Hodges, question time has begun in the House of Representatives.
First up is the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, asking about the latest financial outlook (from a Deloitte report, see earlier post).
The prime minister said the government came to office “with a number of challenges that we were facing” – economic uncertainty, inflation and energy prices.
He then listed a number of measures the government is taking, saying “they were all opposed by those opposite”.
So certainly things, if they had’ve had their way, this reckless and arrogant opposition, things would have been worse.
Updated
Sukkar backs repealing Labor housing legislation
Just circling back to some comments Michael Sukkar made at the National Press Club, when asked if the Coalition would repeal Help to Buy if elected to government – noting this has just passed the senate.
Sukkar backed repeal, and said:
They’re terrible policies which is why we are in many respects, we’re unsurprised but dismayed that the Greens are now supporting it. On Build to Rent - the Greens have sold out ... they’ll vote with Labor to give preferential tax treatment to foreign corporates to own housing stock in this country for build to rent developments.
We don’t think that the most beneficial tax arrangements for housing in this country should be the province of foreign fund managers ...As for the shared equity scheme, the fiddling while Rome burns, quite frankly, these schemes have been rejected by Australians and at a cost of $5.5bn - I assure you we can find many better things to do with that money to help Australians get into their own home rather than a shared equity scheme, which is not new thinking or innovative.
Greens defer bid to dump Senate anti-abortion bill
A Greens motion urging the Senate to discharge a controversial anti-abortion bill is being deferred until February, as the party focuses on negotiations with the government on a raft of stalled legislation in the final parliamentary week.
Last week, Greens Senate leader Larissa Waters notified the Senate that she would move a motion today seeking to have the bill discharged.
But Guardian Australia has been told the Greens have now opted to defer the motion until the parliament’s next sitting.
The Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill is co-sponsored by Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan and South Australian Liberal senator Alex Antic that would force medical practitioners to provide medical care to a baby born alive after a termination procedure.
It has been on the Senate notice paper for two years. But after the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, urged federal Coalition members recently not to raise the sensitive issue of abortion or encourage public debate ahead of the next federal election, the Greens want the Senate to formally vote to remove the bill – something that would probably expose a split in the Coalition and possibly also Labor senators on what has traditionally been a conscience issue in the major parties.
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Labor’s housing bill passes Senate
As expected, Labor’s housing bill has passed the Senate this afternoon, about 20 minutes ago.
This comes after the Greens backed down on its concessions yesterday, and said it would help pass the legislation:
Updated
Question time about to begin
Question time is beginning in the House of Representatives in about five minutes. Grab a coffee, and get ready – we’ll bring you all the key moments here on the blog.
Cash says Dreyfus’ actions raise questions about independence of INSLM office
Continuing from our last post, the shadow attorney general Michaelia Cash has told Guardian Australia that Mark Dreyfus’ actions raised questions about the independence of the INSLM office:
The Attorney-General has extremely serious questions to answer. Mr Blight has confirmed that this alleged “ambiguity” was raised by the attorney’s office, and at one point was raised by the Attorney himself.
To be clear, the “ambiguity” in question was a direct criticism of Mr Dreyfus. What did the Attorney think would happen? Does he seriously expect Australians to believe that he spoke to Mr Blight, pointed out the ambiguity, but expected nothing to happen?
The Attorney needs to explain how this is a proper use of his power as Attorney-General. Mr Blight’s predecessor, Grant Donaldson SC, who wrote the report, has been crystal clear that his report didn’t need “clarification”.
What Attorney Dreyfus has done through his conduct is call into question whether our independent national security legislation monitor is truly independent. He needs to explain himself immediately.
Opposition demands attorney general explain private talks with security watchdog
The opposition is demanding the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, explain a private discussion he had with Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM) Jake Blight before Blight published a clarification to an old annual report that had criticised Dreyfus.
As reported by Guardian Australia, Blight has confirmed that Dreyfus and one of his advisers separately raised concerns with him about what they argued was “ambiguity” in the watchdog agency’s 2022-23 annual report, which was produced by Blight’s predecessor, Grant Donaldson SC.
Blight has said he was neither asked nor directed to publish a clarification but that he decided to do so of his own accord. The clarification appeared in the 2023-24 annual report, published last month.
Donaldson’s annual report contained criticisms of the federal government for failing to produce evidence in 2020 that was material to a court application by convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika opposing being subjected to a continuing detention order after his 20-year jail term ended in 2020.
Donaldson discovered the evidence and made its existence public in 2022, prompting Benbrika to make another application – which ultimately succeeded.
Donaldson’s annual report criticised the Department of Home Affairs for not providing the evidence to either Benbrika or the court in 2020 and the current attorney general, who inherited responsibility for the case after the 2022 federal election, for the fact that it was then only provided in full after a court order.
It did not specifically mention the minister who had been responsible for home affairs at the time the evidence was first withheld, Peter Dutton. Donaldson said Dreyfus’s staff had raised “ambiguity” concerns with him before he finished his term as INSLM last year and that he had refused to change the report.
We’ll bring you more on this in a moment.
Updated
Greens won’t join race to ‘demonise migrants’
At the National Press Club, Max Chandler-Mather said the Greens wouldn’t participate in a “race to the bottom on who can demonise migrants more”, between the Liberals and Labor.
Why is it every time there’s a crisis, that the rich and powerful in the major parties – backed by their big corporate donors – facilitate a debate in a race to the bottom in going after migrants? The Greens will not participate in that. We just won’t.
The real solution to this is taking on those big corporations who are getting away with paying no tax, taking on those property investors and phasing out those tax handouts and getting back to a more fair and equitable system…
He and Michael Sukkar just made their closing remarks, and the debate has wrapped up.
Updated
Guardian asks Greens about their track record on housing supply
Our own Paul Karp has asked about the Greens and Liberals track record on supply, and what commitment could they both give that at every level – federal, state and local – that their parties will be part of the solution and break their addiction to nimby votes?
Max Chandler-Mather answered first, and said:
I have been asked personally one time about what I thought about a social housing development in my electorate, and I wrote a letter supporting it. When we have written submissions on developments, our primary criticism is that a portion of that development is not being provided as social or affordable housing.
Michael Sukkar responded next, and turned the lens on Labor instead:
I would challenge you in one aspect – don’t give Labor state governments a leave pass for belatedly now trying to come up with solutions to a problem they created.
He said many Australians living in the suburbs are very happy with some form of density, but “they shouldn’t be demonised for wanting to retain the essential character of the communities that they live in.”
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Why isn’t Chandler-Mather a homeowner?
Max Chandler-Mather was asked why he hasn’t bought a home yet, and is still a renter, despite his earnings as an MP?
He said he had a small, single-income family and gives up about $50,000 from his annual salary to fund a free meal program in his electorate:
Because of that, giving up that money, and being on a single income and in an inner-city electorate with a very, very high median house price, it is actually sort of difficult at the moment to buy a house there. I want to be clear, though, I am not the one doing it tough – but I’m answering your question.
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Chandler-Mather says he doesn’t want to be a minister, prefers the crossbench
Back at the National Press Club, the Greens’ housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, said he wouldn’t be defending Labor’s housing legislation – “and it is disappointing that the Labor housing minister isn’t here to defend them”.
We’re not like the Liberals. We’re not just going to destroy, cut and block, and destroy any hope of actually fixing this housing crisis. We are trying to build public consensus for a large-scale action on this housing crisis. It has been our goal for the last few years, and indeed, for the entirety of the existence of the Greens. And I think that we’ve got some of the way there.
Chandler-Mather was asked whether he would want to be a minister in a future minority government – noting Nick McKim was a minister in a Labor-Greens agreement in Tasmania. He responded:
I think that personally, I would prefer to be on the crossbench and deciding on good pieces of legislation and pushing further after the next election.
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Dutton boosts Coalition MPs in final partyroom address
Peter Dutton has told Coalition MPs that the Liberal and National parties are finishing the political year strongly, using his address to the final joint parties meeting for 2024 to rev them up ahead of an election year.
Reminding them to focus on their electorates – citing the work of long-serving retiring MPs as an example – Dutton criticised the government’s priorities.
The government is faltering and taking decisions that are making it even, even harder for families people believe that the country is heading in the wrong direction, but they also understand that if you get the economics right, you support families, and if you focus on what matters, that the country can get back on track. But you can only imagine what would happen under the chaos of a Greens Labor coalition.
His deputy, Sussan Ley, urged MPs to maintain the “unity and discipline” over the summer, and determination to get things done, that they had shown in the past.
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, declared that the next few days “indeed, the next few months” would determine the election result and when people’s credit card bills came rolling in around February, they should be reminded the pressure they felt was homegrown and “it wasn’t Vladimir Putin who created that problem”.
The meeting was dominated by a lengthy debate on the government’s legislation to introduce a minimum age for social media use. The electoral reform bill, which the Coalition is supporting, was not discussed.
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Shadow housing minister says Liberals ‘unashamedly oppose’ Labor’s housing measures
A reporter asked Michael Sukkar if the Coalition would repeal the Help to Buy and Help to Rent bills? He argued “these schemes have been rejected by Australians”, and said:
I assure you we can find many better things to do with that money to help Australians get into their own home rather than a shared equity scheme, which is not new thinking or innovative.
You don’t give any credit to the Labor party for coming up with new ideas – just like the housing minister couldn’t show up today to explain herself and the Labor party position.
They have no ideas, no new policies … and that’s why we unashamedly oppose both of those measures, and will not do what the Greens have done, which is go back on all of the arguments and critiques [they made].
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Sukkar and Chandler-Mather on how they would address labour shortage
A reporter asked both Michael Sukkar and Max Chandler-Mather how they plan to address the labour shortage – with the former wanting to slash migration, and the latter wanting to build a large amount of public housing.
Chandler-Mather pointed to the Greens’ push for a government-owned developer, which he said would signal to the construction industry how many homes need to be built.
You can plan how many construction workers we need in that area and that area. The federal government used to employ architects and town planners and project managers in a genuine federal Housing Department, which is what we’re planning to establish.
And Sukkar, responding to the question, said “the truth is that we need to rebalance our migration program”.
Yes, we need less migrants, fewer migration from the rorted levels we’re at. By no means is the Coalition suggesting that we won’t have a healthy migration program, but it won’t be the reckless migration we’ve seen in recent years.
Sukkar said “you don’t improve housing in this country by bringing in more yoga or fitness instructors” and argued that in this financial year alone only nine bricklayers were brought in.
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Shadow housing minister: ‘We’ll build more homes than Labor’
Labor has said that it has a target to build 1.2m new homes by the end of the decade – will the Coalition recommit to this goal if re-elected?
At the National Press Club, shadow housing minister Michael Sukkar said that “we’ll build more homes than Labor”.
It’s almost industry consensus now that not only will Labor not meet their 1.2m homes … they won’t get close, they’ll miss it by more than 400,000 homes. Around 800,000 homes is what the industry expects will be built based on the current trajectory, and may I add, that trajectory is still getting worse. So it could even be worse than 800,000.
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Some Coalition members expected to vote against under-16s social media ban
Some Coalition members may vote against the under-16s social media ban when it is voted on in parliament, with some 20 opposition members debating the online legislation in a marathon partyroom meeting this morning.
The opposition “overwhelmingly” backed the bill, according to a party room spokesperson, but it’s understood a small handful spoke against it. Guardian Australia revealed recently that Matt Canavan and Keith Pitt, the Queensland Nationals members, had strong reservations about privacy elements of the bill.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, spoke strongly for the bill, praising the campaigning of communications spokesperson David Coleman for pushing the issue as far as it has gone.
The party room spokesperson said Dutton had negotiated “concessions” on the legislation, including an amendment to the legislation that would ensure there is no compulsion for people to hand over any form of government ID to social media platforms to verify their age.
That’s understood to include drivers licenses and passports.
About 19 Coalition members spoke in favour of the bill, but “two or three” spoke against it. At least one told the meeting they would vote against the legislation, while two others reserved their right to potentially vote against it.
Updated
Chandler-Mather criticises Liberals for focus on migration amid housing debate
Max Chandler-Mather has accused the Liberals of bringing up migration in the housing debate to “distract” from the fact the “real winners” are large property investors and the banks.
He told the National Press Club:
Of course the Liberals bring up migrants. Of course they do, because it is such a useful tool for them to distract from the fact that the real winners out of the housing crisis – the ones really hurting people right now – are the large property investors and the bank, and the property industry who benefit to the tune of billions and billions of dollars.
The Liberals were in power for nine years. What did they do? Give tax handouts to property investors, build less public housing than any government in Australian history since World War II, help to screw over renters.
It is genuinely remarkable that the Liberals won’t take any responsibility for this housing crisis. It hardly gives me any confidence that they are going to be able to fix it.
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Shadow housing minister accuses Labor and Greens of being in a coalition
The shadow housing minister, Michael Sukkar, has weighed in on the Greens’ capitulation to help pass Labor’s Help to Buy legislation, and said:
The theatre of the Greens and Labor fighting in the parliament really betrays the truth, which is Labor and the Greens are in an unholy alliance – a Coalition.
On housing, the government has repeatedly accused the Greens of working with the Coalition and Peter Dutton.
Updated
Max Chandler-Mather addresses housing debate at National Press Club
The shadow housing minister, Michael Sukkar, has wrapped up his opening remarks, and now the Greens’ Max Chandler-Mather is up.
He has told the National Press Club that “the barrier to fixing this housing crisis is not economic, it’s not technical – it’s political”.
He argued Australia’s political system “has been corrupted by the power of the banking and property industry”, and said Labor and the Liberals “pursue policies that either push up house prices or give more money to property developers.”
Chandler-Mather said today’s housing crisis can be linked to two changes in the 1990s – cuts to funding for public housing, and the introduction of capital gains tax by John Howard.
Over the next 10 years, the Australian government will give property investors $176bn in tax handouts in the form of negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount. The housing crisis we find ourselves in right now is enormous but we can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
He is outlining measures the Greens would push for, including:
Phasing out tax handouts such as negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, and using the money to create a government-owned property developer
Develop new national tenancy standards, including long-term caps on rent increases
A national renter’s protection authority to enforce the tenancy standards and issue fines to those who break the law
Updated
Housing debate begins at National Press Club
At the National Press Club in Canberra, the shadow housing minister, Michael Sukkar, and the Greens’ housing and homelessness spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, are about to begin a debate.
Club director Andrew Probyn told the crowd that the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, was also asked to appear but declined.
Paul Karp flagged some details of what Sukkar will say, which you can read earlier in the blog here. We’ll bring you the key takeaways as the debate gets under way.
Updated
Electricity strains ‘manageable’ but risks remain as mercury soars, Aemo says
As we flagged last week, the arrival of sustained days of heat for eastern Australia (especially around Sydney) had authorities scrambling to make sure electricity supplies would suffice.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has followed its usual procedure of sending out alerts and seeking a market response. What was unusual was the series of so-called level 3 lack of reserve notes for NSW, which implied the potential for blackouts if generators didn’t respond. (Cue some scary headlines.)
Anyway, Aemo has issued a statement lately stating that “based on current forecast conditions”, they reckon reserves “are manageable” in NSW today despite the mercury climbing. (Parts of western Sydney are nudging 35C just now.)
Still, Aemo doesn’t want to imply complacency:
[Ongoing] heatwave conditions combined with significant generation outages in NSW tomorrow and Thursday remain a risk. Additional measures may be necessary if supply forecasts worsen due to unexpected generation or transmission outages, or if demand rises beyond current expectations.
Nobody is being asked to reduce consumption – but for the sake of the planet (and our pockets) – why waste energy?
Meanwhile, for Queensland “currently reserves are forecast to be manageable for tomorrow and Thursday”.
Updated
Shorten said he thinks federal election is ‘winnable’ for Labor
Bill Shorten also spoke about this morning’s caucus meeting, which will be his last – as he retired from politics next year to take up the role of vice chancellor at the University of Canberra.
He told Sky News he has attended about 400 in his 17 years in politics.
You know, they have on the wall pictures of all the former leaders. And I said, the only way that someone gets to have their picture on the wall is because of the faces in the room.
And the Labor party, what it has, when … all the chips are down, is we have to learn to stick together.
Shorten said he thinks the election is “winnable” but “it’s a contest.”
What we think about when we get up in the morning as the government is ‘how do we help everyday Aussies?’. I think the opposition hasn’t done enough homework on their policy other than that sort of bizarre Soviet Union nuclear policy.
Updated
Shorten lashes Greens over housing debacle
Bill Shorten was also asked about the Greens’ backdown on its housing concessions – a rent freeze and negative gearing changes – to help pass Labor’s Help to Buy bill.
The Greens’ leader, Adam Bandt, said earlier (see post) the party would wave Labor’s housing bills through and return to its fight at the next election.
Speaking to Sky News, Shorten said he was pleased the bill was passed with a bit of “momentum” during the last week of parliament this year.
The Greens have really, in my opinion, lost the plot. They have just been oppositionalist, and they’ve made the perfect the enemy of the good.
I think the Greens think that, if they can sabotage Labor, then they can harvest our vote and say, ‘we should be the only really fair dinkum people because we’re so pure’.
He argued the Greens’ “opposition mentality” was “turning people off”.
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Shorten says path to make NDIS long-term is ‘making sure we’re paying for outcomes’
The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, has been speaking to Sky News about the NDIS.
Speaking about art and music therapy funded through the scheme, he said “we are asking for some outcome for the dollars”.
The path to making the scheme long term is to make sure that we’re paying for outcomes … What we want to do is focus on the participant. So this is a classic example.
I like music therapy, I’ve seen it work where it demonstrates … it’s maintaining or improving highly disabled people’s functional capability. Great, keep charging. But if it’s something more as an activity, you can still charge at $68 bucks an hour, and if you’re getting four people in your class doing music or doing painting, $193 bucks, which is, I think, reasonable.
Updated
Queensland opposition leader makes impassioned plea to government over truth-telling inquiry
The Queensland opposition leader, Steven Miles, has made an impassioned plea to the government not to cancel the state’s Indigenous truth-telling inquiry.
Most of the Labor frontbench attended a rally outside parliament, for the first sitting day of the new government. Miles said the government was “refusing to listen” by ending the inquiry.
I think that is a real shame. But the commitment I make to you, though, is that if you succeed, if you get your meeting, if you change his mind, if the truth-telling inquiry continues, then there will be nothing but praise from us. We will not criticise him [Crisafulli].
In fact, we will welcome it, because the truth is more important than politics and more important than point-scoring.
The shadow minister for Closing the Gap and reconciliation, Leanne Enoch, also spoke at the rally and said:
There is nothing to be afraid of in telling the truth. What is there to be afraid of? The data, the history, the evidence? There’s nothing to be afraid of. Truth-telling has happened all over the world, all over the world. Why can’t it happen here? Why can’t it happen here?
The deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, dismissed the protests this morning:
There might be 150 protesters, but 5 million Queenslanders passed a vote on the 26th of October for the government to scrap [the path to a] treaty, and we have a mandate, and that’s what we’re going to do.
He said the government could introduce repeal legislation as early as this week.
Updated
LinkedIn tells parliamentary committee it is not interesting enough for teenagers to want to use it
If you’re a social media platform trying to avoid having to verify the ages of your users, you might consider trying what LinkedIn has told a parliamentary committee: we’re not interesting enough for teenagers to want to use us.
A few people on social media noticed a couple of months ago that one of the campaigns calling for the ban for under-16s had included the LinkedIn logo among the usual suspects of social media sites as an odd addition. LinkedIn has now told the parliament that it is definitely not a site teenagers want to use as it is “entirely professional” and “not popular with minors”.
Additionally, LinkedIn simply does not have content interesting and appealing to minors. As noted above, it is entirely professionally focused, providing members the ability to connect and engage on topics relevant to the world of work.
Unsurprisingly, therefore, LinkedIn does not direct or market any of its products or features toward minors – including the 16 and 17-year-olds that are technically permitted on the platform – through content, design, marketing, or advertising.
Updated
Human Rights Law Centre says under-16 social media ban bill raises constitutional concerns
The Australian Human Rights Law Centre has said the bill to ban social media for under-16s raises constitutional concerns.
In a submission, the centre says while not having sufficient time to fully consider the potential constitutional implications, “on its face, the bill burdens the implied freedom of political communication protected by the Australian constitution.”
It imposes a blanket prohibition on those under 16 from accessing various social media platforms. In the modern era, social media platforms are one of the primary tools for political communication.
It is likely to also burden the ability of all people in Australia to communicate, by potentially requiring any user of a social media platform to undertake age verification.
Those over 16 may have legitimate reasons for being concerned about consenting to age verification.
There are real questions about whether such a burden is proportionate to the purpose of protecting children from online harm. We would encourage the committee to seek further input regarding the constitutional validity of the Bill.
The centre is one of many of the submissions to the inquiry recommending against the bill being passed in its current form.
Elon Musk’s X also yesterday said there were questions around the lawfulness of the bill.
More information on Victorian anti-vilification bill
Just circling back to the earlier news that Victorian Labor would introduce an anti-vilification bill to the state parliament today:
The state attorney general Jaclyn Symes says the bill retains current exceptions in the law that protect activities done for genuine religious, academic, artistic, public interest or scientific reasons.
It also protects people “genuine and legitimate religious activities, such as worshipping, practising, proselytising and teaching religion”. She said:
We want to make it clear that what you believe … what you what your religion stands for, is unaffected by this bill. It can’t be used as a cloak for unabated abuse. But in relation to what people believe, what they talk about, what they teach. Religion is important. Your ability to practice your religion free of hate is protected in this bill.
The bill also introduces a new “political expression” defence for the criminal incitement offence, to protect political communication.
Updated
Greens still negotiating with government over Nature Positive environmental legislation
On the issue of legislation still stalled in the Senate, and as the clock is ticking on the end of the parliamentary year, the Greens are still negotiating with the government over its Nature Positive environmental legislation after dropping their demand that climate impact be included among the assessments for development projects.
The Greens’ environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, had talks with minister Tanya Plibersek yesterday but they have not yet reached a compromise.
It is likely there will be further talks today as the government seeks to clear its legislative logjam.
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Australia and China have ‘interdependent’ economies: Chinese ambassador
Back at his press conference, the Chinese ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian has described the economies of each country as “interdependent”. He said:
We are two big economies. We are so much – let me use the word – interdependent. I don’t think it’s a negative word. The Chinese and Australian economies are strongly connected with each other. Our two economies are interwoven with each other.
In a certain sense … we are interdependent with each other. China is the major importer from Australia, and Australia relies on China as its biggest market. And no other country can single-handedly take the place of China in this respect. And we do not see any other country can take the place of Australia.
So we have confidence that, as we manage our relationship, we can have a mutually beneficial relationship.
Updated
Labor holds last caucus meeting for parliamentary year
Labor has held its last caucus meeting for the parliamentary year.
Anthony Albanese thanked a number of MPs and senators: Michelle Ananda-Rajah, whose seat of Higgins is being abolished but is contesting the Senate at the number 3 spot; senator Anne Urquhart, who is contesting the lower house seat of Braddon; Brian Mitchell, who stood aside to let former Tasmanian opposition leader Rebecca White run in Lyons; and Catryna Bilyk, who is retiring.
Albanese noted the Greens had changed their position on Labor’s housing bills, saying their party had “folded in on itself” and this is “hopefully the first of many” bills to be passed this week. He took aim at Peter Dutton, for opposing government bills to prevent privatisation of the NBN, introduce a power to cap student numbers, and extend free Tafe.
The prime minister said he would leave “nothing on the field” when it came to ensuring Labor stayed in majority government after the next election.
On the social media age ban, communications minister Michelle Rowland said it was important to know that social media companies cannot compel people to hand over their ID. She noted while it is good that opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is on board it was concerning that their party room was split.
A long list of legislation was approved: on authorising surcharges charged by commonwealth entities; the Future Made in Australia production tax credits; and the migration prohibited items bill.
Updated
Chinese ambassador: ‘No reason for us to compromise our respective national interests’
Does Xiao Qian have any concerns that Donald Trump’s election in the US will alter or undermine the stabilised Australia-China relationship?
He responded that “there is no reason for us to compromise our respective national interests for the sake of a third party.”
We are responsible for our own people, the Australian government is responsible for Australian people. We have common ground and this has been the foundation for a good relationship over the decades, bringing so many benefits to our two countries and peoples and there are reasons to responsibly manage our relationship bilaterally so our people can benefit.
On the US, as he mentioned a moment ago, the ambassador said “we are still in a transition period … so perhaps we need to be a little patient until the new administration comes into office … to see what bilaterally we can do between China and the US”.
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Ambassador says China respects ‘the choice of the American people’
Xiao Qian was asked about the incoming Donald Trump administration, and how this may impact trade.
He said China “respect[s] the choice of the American people”, and the relationship between China and the US “is now in transition”, with Biden and Xi meting on the sidelines of Apec.
Bilaterally, as ambassador in Australia, what I can say at this moment is I expect China and the United States to engage with each other to talk about each other’s policies on how to manage our relationship … at the proper time for them when the new administration comes into office in January.
Updated
Australia-China relationship in ‘very good shape’ after ‘immense improvement’, ambassador says
Asked about the Australia-China relationship, Xiao Qian said “we are in a very good shape – also at a very critical period of time”.
We experienced a difficult time for several years until two years ago and since then we have been successfully changing that situation.
The year of 2022 was a year of stabilisation. President Xi [Jinping] met with prime minister Anthony Albanese, they agreed to define the relationship … And the year of 2023 was a year of immense improvement, a lot of bilateral meetings … dialogues and consultations. That year was highlighted by prime minister Albanese’s visit to China.
He said that 2024 has been a year of “consolidation” and “symbolised a complete turnaround of the relationship”.
With efforts from both sides we have successfully turned around the relationship through the two years … Looking forward into the future, we are expecting – at least I am expecting – a move beyond stabilisation, moving further into development because we have so many areas that we share, contributing to the fundamental interests of our two countries.
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Chinese ambassador calls for Australia to support ‘One China’ policy
The Chinese ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, has been speaking to reporters at the Chinese embassy in Canberra.
There is only one China, and Taiwan is a province of China … I hope the Australian side would respect China’s sovereignty and practice its commitment of the One China policy in words and deeds, and to support openly the peaceful reunification of China.
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Rabbi welcomes new anti-vilification laws in Victoria
Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann has welcomed the laws, describing today as a “great day for all Victorians”.
It doesn’t matter whether you wear a kippa or a hijab, if someone vilifies you, if someone wants to go after you, your faith, your background, your belief, your sexuality, the chances are that they will be charged and go to jail or be heavily fined. We all become safer.
Sadly, what we have seen on the streets the CBD and around Victoria is people feeling emboldened lately to go after minority groups to go after Jews, to go after people from the Islamic community, members of the LGBTQI+ community, people with a disability – they feel that they can get away with vilifying bigotry, racism, all types of phobias. Today the Allan government says enough is enough.
He is urging other religious leaders to support the reforms, and said:
There’s been a little bit of chatter about the religious community. I’m an orthodox rabbi. I teach the Hebrew Bible scripture. I know the different nuances within it, but I also know that as a religious person, someone with fundamental beliefs, that we are all equal in the eyes of God. We all created in the image of God, and that means honouring, respecting people, of people, religion, beliefs, sexualities and the like.
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Victorian anti-vilification bill to protect Muslim women and Jewish kids: attorney general
The Victorian attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, says the bill has been years in the making, and that she’s undergone significant consultation with the community over two years:
These laws are for the Muslim woman who told me she was scared to get on public transport because she was wearing hijab … These laws are for the parents of Jewish kids, who are not allowed to come into the CBD anymore because they are scared that when they wearing their uniform or they have a Star of David necklace or a kippa on, because their parents are scared they attacked because of the rising antisemitism.
These laws for the young man who told me, because he’s queer, he has to take time out from school because he’s viciously bullied because of who he is and what he looks like.
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Anti-vilification and social cohesion laws to be introduced to Victorian parliament
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is announcing new anti-vilification and social cohesion laws that will be introduced to parliament today.
There are plenty of details in the bill, but the main element will be to expand the state’s existing legal protections against vilification – which currently only cover race and religion – to cover disability, gender identity, sex and sexual orientation.
It also protects people with a personal association with a person who has a protected attribute, such as being the parent of a disabled child.
The bill will also create two criminal offences to be contained in the Crimes Act, to respond to serious vilification:
It will be an offence to incite hatred, serious contempt, revulsion or severe ridicule against another person or group based on their protected attribute.
It will be an offence to threaten physical harm or property damage against a person or a group based on their protected attribute.
They will apply when incitement or threats occur in Victoria in any context – private, public or online.
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Party room meetings taking place
Party room meetings have been taking place this morning in Parliament House.
They are held every Tuesday during sitting weeks, and with so much legislation left to address and only three sitting days left, they could prove quite important.
There’s an off-the-record briefing after each party room meeting, and my colleagues here in Canberra will bring us the key takeaways as we learn more.
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New Victorian Nationals leader promises ‘laser-like focus’ on rural and regional areas
Circling back to news that the Victorian Nationals have a new leader in Gippsland South MP Danny O’Brien, after Peter Walsh stepped down overnight:
O’Brien is holding a press conference at state parliament after being selected as Victoria Nationals leader, saying the party would retain “our laser-like focus on the interests of rural and regional Victoria going forward.”
Particularly at the moment when we’ve got a terrible government that is very city centric and focused on the urban areas, at the expense of rural and regional Victoria.
After the 2022 election, O’Brien said his party should review its agreement with the Liberals. But today, he said the Coalition was strong:
The Coalition remains very strong and will continue to remain very strong under my leadership. John Pesutto is doing a fantastic job in turning around the fortunes of the opposition and making sure that come 2026 that Victorians will have a strong alternative to the current terrible Labor government. And I’m very pleased and very strongly committed to ensuring that that Coalition continues to ensure that we get rid of this very bad Labor government.
Asked what would happen to the agreement if the Liberals decide to dump Pesutto as Liberal leader, O’Brien dismissed the question as a hypothetical.
He confirmed his predecessor, Peter Walsh, will step down from his shadow portfolio of Indigenous affairs but said the party’s position on treaty wouldn’t change.
O’Brien said there would be a shuffle of portfolios shortly, with upper house MP Melina Bath to be elevated to shadow cabinet.
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Queenslanders gather outside parliament to protest LNP’s treaty stance
It’s just the first sitting day of Queensland’s new Liberal National government. But as new MPs are sworn in inside the parliament building, hundreds of protestors have rallied outside.
Signs demand the government abandon its plans to repeal a plan to negotiate a treaty with Indigenous Queenslanders and end an inquiry into colonialism. One sign reads:
What are you afraid of? The truth?
Most of the frontbench of the Labor opposition is attending, including opposition leader Steven Miles.
Updated
Michael Sukkar and Max Chandler-Green to debate housing at National Press Club
The shadow housing minister, Michael Sukkar, and the Greens spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, will debate at the National Press Club today. And it might actually be a debate now the Greens have decided to pass Labor’s housing bills (which the Coalition oppose).
In an advance copy of Sukkar’s speech, the shadow minister is long on the problems in the housing market but a bit shorter on the solutions. On the problems, he says:
First home buyer loans have plummeted from 171,218 in 2020–21 under the Coalition to just 108,599 in 2022–23.
Home completions dropped to 177,185 last year—40,000 fewer than the 216,707 under the Coalition in 2016–17.
Approvals for new homes have also crashed, falling to 167,287 over the past year, compared to 233,247 when the Coalition was in government.
Meanwhile, national median rents have skyrocketed by 23%, reaching $632 per week from $512 in May 2022.
Labor’s promise to build 1.2m homes over five years will never see the light of day, with industry experts predicting a shortfall of over 400,000 homes.
On solutions, Sukkar promises: a “a comprehensive package” to tackle barriers to getting a loan to “make homeownership more achievable for all Australians”; a $5bn fund for enabling infrastructure; and a freeze on changes to the national construction code. He will conclude:
Australians can continue to expect a Coalition government will be singularly focussed on home ownership. We are the only party that still believes in the Australian Dream, which is why the individual, not the institution, is the centre of our focus. We are the only party fighting for the Dream because home ownership has always been a Liberal value and something Labor has never signed up to. Australians deserve action, not spin, and housing - without a doubt - will be a defining issue at the next election.
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‘Silent majority’ of Australian farmers found to support renewable energy transition
Seventy per cent of regional Australians in renewable energy zones support the development of renewable energy projects on local farmland, a new survey has found.
The survey, conducted for lobby group Farmers for Climate Action, found that support for renewable energy developments increased to 73% for people connected to the farming industry, but was conditional on concerns around consultation, project design and decommissioning being met.
Just 17% of respondents said they opposed renewable energy developments, with 8% strongly opposed. For more details on the survey, you can read our full report below:
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Human Rights Commission to launch its anti-racism framework today
This evening, the Australian Human Rights Commission will launch what it’s calling “the most comprehensive plan ever for addressing racism” in Australia.
The anti-racism framework will “provide a roadmap for governments, business and community organisations to eliminate racism in Australia in all its forms”, it said in a statement.
The framework has been developed with funding from the Australian government, and will be launched by Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman in Western Sydney this evening.
University vice-chancellors face pay scrutiny
The Australian is reporting that university vice-chancellors could have their pay pegged to other public servants’. That would no doubt be music to the ears of struggling students and the National Tertiary Education Union, but sadly the effect of upcoming governance reforms might have been slightly overstated.
In April, education ministers agreed to set up an expert governance council for universities. One of its 10 priorities is to:
Demonstrate and maintain a rigorous and transparent process for developing remuneration policies and settings for senior university staff, with consideration given to comparable scale and complexity public sector entities, and ensure remuneration policies and packages are publicly reported.
As far as we can tell this might mean that there is more scrutiny on pay, but as long as universities have policies, consider the relativity of pay and are transparent in the way pay is set, they are largely free to continue giving generous remuneration.
Nevertheless, perhaps modest pay could catch on. After all, the Western Sydney University vice-chancellor George Williams took a 20-25% pay cut relative to his predecessor and government services minister, Bill Shorten, has asked to be paid less than $1m when he starts his new gig at the University of Canberra.
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Victorian gaming minister outlines changes to state’s poker machine rules
The Victorian gaming minister, Melissa Horne, has just run through the changes she will be introducing to parliament today to set up mandatory carded play on poker machines.
Speaking outside parliament, she said $3bn was lost by Victorians every year through poker machines:
But at the same time, we’ve got less than 10% of the population playing poker machines. This is less people than ever before but they’re losing more than ever before. And where people are losing the most money is in our lowest socio economic areas. So there’s something wrong.
Horne said carded play will begin with a pilot at 40 pubs and clubs across the state in the middle of next year, before it is rolled out in 2026. She says it will become mandatory across all venues by 2027.
So next year, it’s about doing the pilot and then evaluating the technology. Because unlike Crown casino, which is a single venue that’s got the same technology, we’ve got more than 500 different venues across the state, and the technology varies from machine to machine.
We’re making sure that we get that technology piece right so that it’s easy for people to sign up to – that’s really important. But it’s the pilot next year then over 2026 is rolling out the card at play then this mandatory by 2027 which lines up with the new monitoring licence.
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Human Rights Commission says social media ban should not pass in current form
The Australian Human Rights Commission has said the bill to ban under-16s from social media should not pass in its current form.
The commission said while there are online harms and social media can have a negative impact, it provides opportunities for children and young people to access criticall potentially life-saving information and to share ideas and opinions.
Social media also offers children and young people opportunities for inclusion and participation that are particularly important for children and young people from marginalised, vulnerable or remote communities, including children with complex needs and disability.
The ban would have unintended consequences and negative human rights impacts, the commission said, not just for children and young people but the broader Australian community.
Given the importance of this issue, the risks around negatively impacting children and young people’s rights and the unreasonable timeframes for analysing and commenting on the bill, the bill should not be passed in its current form.
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Sydney and Melbourne house prices to keep falling but rate cut will cause bounce, report predicts
SQM Research has released its annual housing update that says Sydney and Melbourne housing prices are likely to continue to record moderate price falls of between -1% and -5%.
The base forecast for average national dwelling prices is expected to rise between +1% to +4%.
Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Darwin are expected to outperform the national housing market, it found, with Perth forecast to record the fastest dwelling price rises of between 14% to 19%. Meanwhile, Canberra is due to record the largest falls in dwelling prices of between -6% to -2%.
SQM Research is also forecasting an interest rate cut between 0.25% and 0.50% over mid 2025 – which it says would “immediately stimulate homebuyer demand across the country [and] limit the year-on-year dwelling prices falls recorded for our two largest capital cities.”
Louis Christopher, the managing director of SQM Research, said:
To be sure, our two largest capital cities, along with Canberra and Hobart will start 2025 off in the red. Indeed, we are currently recording dwelling price falls in each of these cities …
However, once interest rate cuts do occur, we are expecting a speedy bounce in demand for Sydney and Melbourne in particular, which both are still experiencing underlying housing shortage relative to the strong population growth rates …
However, if I am wrong and rate cuts do not occur in 2025, it is unlikely a recovery will occur in Sydney and Melbourne at any time next year.
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Previous coverage on the Senate inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women
There’s been a fair bit of talk this morning about the government’s response to the Senate inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Our Indigenous affairs editor, Lorena Allam, has covered this inquiry extensively over the past three years.
In August, when the inquiry’s report was handed down, she spoke with the Full Story podcast about the need for reform:
And you can have a read of all our previous articles on this topic here.
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Changes to gamblings advertising could affect Australian sport on world stage, minister says
The sports minister, Anika Wells, also spoke with ABC News Breakfast this morning about gambling reform.
(You can read her earlier comments to ABC RN about this, here).
Wells was asked why the government has acted so quickly on the under-16 social media ban, but not on gambling reform? She responded:
The social media ban is about trying to protect kids as quickly as we can, and also to give parents the tools to empower them in conversations. It’s a lot easier to say to your kids, ‘The government has said that they can’t guarantee you’re safe online, that’s why you and your friends are not allowed to go on the platforms anymore.’
Gambling advertising has financial impacts for professional codes, national sporting organisations, impacts to us with respect to sporting integrity on the world stage and what we do on the world stage.
She was asked: doesn’t gambling have just as many consequences for young people and their mental health when they get caught up in these addictions? Wells responded by pointing to action the government has already taken.
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NT authorities need to take domestic violence ‘more seriously’, Nampijinpa Price says
The shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, spoke with ABC News Breakfast earlier about the NT coroner’s inquest findings into the deaths of four Aboriginal women.
Asked for her reflections on what the coroner found, Price told the program:
There has been a desensitisation from the coroner towards the rates of domestic and family violence that we certainly experience in the Northern Territory, and this has occurred over some time now.
I also feel as though there is an attitude in … dealing with family violence and interpersonal violence in Indigenous communities that it is in some way, you know, taboo to have an open and honest conversation about the fact that we experience the high rates, so as not to demonise our men.
Price argued there was a “need for our authorities and police force to tackle it more seriously”, and that calls to remove police from communities wasn’t helpful.
I have faith in the Country Liberal party government to be able to deliver on those recommendations, and with that funding that’s available.
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Victorian Nationals select Danny O’Brien as new leader
The Victorian Nationals have a new leader in Gippsland South MP Danny O’Brien, after Peter Walsh stepped down overnight.
The party met this morning to vote O’Brien in as leader, with Lowan MP Emma Kealy to remain deputy leader. O’Brien said in a statement following the vote:
It is the greatest honour to have been elected as leader of The Nationals. For over 100 years, The Nationals have served the interests of rural and regional Victoria. That will not change. It remains our singular focus as the only party solely dedicated to serving the interests of the 25% of the population who live outside the metropolitan area.
Walsh had been in the leadership role for a decade and it remains unclear whether he will stick around on the backbench.
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Max Chandler-Mather says Greens ‘pushed as hard as we can’ on housing
The Greens’ housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather spoke with ABC RN earlier, about the party’s backdown on its concessions on the Help to Buy legislation.
He argued the Greens were “really close” to achieving its concessions around a rent freeze and negative gearing changes, and that the government “were actively considering it”.
It is bitterly disappointing that Labor, in the end, blinked and didn’t decide to come to that policy. But I haven’t lost hope, because I think we can go to the next election with those policies, and I think we can push Labor after that next election.
Is this an act of electoral self-preservation? Chandler-Mather disagreed, and echoed comments from party leader Adam Bandt earlier that “it comes a point where you realise you’ve pushed as hard as you can.”
I would point out that we have now passed every single bit of Labor’s housing legislation this term of parliament. We have tried to negotiate and secure good outcomes.
Chandler-Mather is due to speak at the National Press Club in Canberra today, alongside shadow housing minister Michael Sukkar.
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TikTok says social media ban could effectively require every Australian to have a ‘licence to be online’
TikTok has warned the bill to ban under 16s from social media is tantamount to requiring every Australian to have a “licence to be online” because every person using social media in Australia will need to have their age assured.
The company’s director of public policy in Australia, Ella Woods-Joyce, pointed to comments made by the communications department in Senate estimates earlier this month confirming that “everybody will have to go through an age verification process”.
As the government’s admissions in Budget Estimates make clear, age-restricted social media platforms will need to undertake age assurance for each and every Australian user in order to remove age-restricted users from their services. This effectively creates a mechanism whereby Australians need a ‘licence to be online’.
Woods-Joyce said there are many questions about the trial of the age assurance technology, which won’t be completed before the government pushes to pass the bill.
Given the impact of mandating that all Australians who wish to use social media platforms be subject to such an age assurance system, we urge Parliament to consider the broader implications of legislating such an outcome without knowing any details of the system itself.
We’re getting more submissions to the one-day inquiry on the bill, up to 93 out of the more than 15,000 submissions now public. You can read more of the submissions below.
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Rishworth says Coalition opposition to social media ban ‘all about politics’
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, has taken aim at those in the opposition speaking against the under-16s social media ban.
Earlier in the blog, we brought you her comments that this was a leadership test for Peter Dutton, as people in the party ‘defy’ him.
Speaking at a doorstop at Parliament House, Rishworth was asked whether the government will allow amendments if the Coalition moves that passports and licenses can’t be requested for ID. She responded:
Of course, we want to work across the board to make sure that there is strong privacy protections in place. But quite frankly, this seems to me like this is all about politics and about negativity.
Now I shouldn’t have been surprised. This is not the first time that Peter Dutton has said he supports something and then has decided to destroy. The Labor party is trying to build, while he has become a blocker.
So I shouldn’t be surprised that he says he 100% supports something, wants to see it delivered, and then decides to block it and play politics with it.
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‘We got close’: Greens to wave housing bills through and return to fight at next election
The leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, spoke to ABC News Breakfast earlier about Labor’s housing legislation and said “there comes a point where you’ve pushed as hard as you can”.
He was asked whether the Greens’ backdown on its concessions around rent freezes and negative gearing was “humiliating”, and responded:
We tried really hard to get Labor to act on soaring rent increases and unfair tax handouts that are tilting the playing field against first-home buyers, but we couldn’t get there this time.
Bandt argued that the Greens “led the charge” on the stage-three tax cuts and were “hopeful” they could get the government to shift on key housing measures:
We got close. The government was costing changes to negative gearing and they decided to back down at the last minute, and that’s disappointing. But, look, there comes a point where you realise you’ve pushed as hard as you can. The government’s made its decision about defending the status quo. What we’ll now do is wave the bills through, and take this challenge up to the next election …
I’m hopeful that, in the next parliament, if we keep Peter Dutton out, we can push the government to make some much-needed reforms.
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Albanese government announces panel members for review of national electricity market
As noted in an earlier post, the electricity grid faces a couple of days of strains in New South Wales and Queensland as power demand picks up along with temperatures. (About 6 gigawatts of coal-fired power plant capacity is offline for maintenance too, which isn’t helping.)
Anyway, the Albanese government is looking a bit over the horizon, announcing the panel members for a post-2030 review of the national electricity market (basically all of Australia save the NT and WA grids).
The review will be chaired by Tim Nelson, a former AGL Energy expert. He’ll be joined by Paula Conboy, a former chair of the Australian Energy Regulator, Ava Hancock, who helped designs NSW’s renewable energy roadmap, and Phil Hirschhorn, who was a senior partner at Boston Consulting Group.
The terms of reference of the review will be key but the details are apparently scant on that front.
The federal and state energy ministers may fill in some of the blanks when they meet (some in person, some virtually) for their final gathering of 2024 at the end of next week.
The panel will examine the wholesale market settings “to ensure the market promotes investment in firmed renewable energy generation and storage capacity into the 2030s and beyond”, the office of energy minister Chris Bowen said.
This is vital as electricity demand grows and ageing coal fired power stations exit the system.
The results of the review are likely to land after next year’s federal election – let’s see if Bowen will lead the charge of implementing its recommendations.
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McCarthy calls for change in how media reports on First Nation deaths
On the media’s role in covering the deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, Malarndirri McCarthy said the Senate inquiry heard that “First Nations families felt they weren’t believed, felt they weren’t heard, and felt that they were completely ignored”.
This must change. I’ve certainly written to the Australian Press Council. I’ll be calling on fellow senators to assist me with media across the country. There has to be a change in the culture of the media, in the reporting, in the way it’s reported.
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Government notes ‘large number’ of recommendations from inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women
Going back to the Senate inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women – which the government responded to late last night – Malarndirri McCarthy told the program the government had “noted a large number of the recommendations”.
What I’ll continue to do is meet with those Indigenous affairs ministers, as I’ve done recently, to ensure that we continue to keep working in this space.
McCarthy said they had advertised for a Children’s Commissioner for First Nations youth and children, and “we hope to have that up and running in January.”
Host Bridget Brennan said she had heard responses on two recommendations, but the government had “noted” eight others – what does it mean, will the government be looking at enacting them?
McCarthy responded:
For example, when we look at the jurisdictions around police – well, of course that will be up to the attorney general to work at the state level with the police jurisdictions. It will be up to each of those jurisdictions to then follow through. We can’t enforce it. But we can make sure we have those conversations. So it doesn’t mean we don’t agree, is what I’m saying.
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McCarthy urges NT government to act after inquest into four Indigenous deaths
Yesterday, the Northern Territory government has been told it must overhaul its response to family violence to stop women and children being killed.
As Nino Bucci reported, the NT coroner yesterday handed down inquest findings into the deaths of four Aboriginal women, making 35 recommendations:
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, was also on ABC News Breakfast earlier to discuss this, and said it was an “important moment” for the NT and Australia to “realise that this is a national scourge that we have across our country.”
She called on the NT government to “immediately” release funding to address the recommendations.
This is too critical. We know that, from a federal perspective, that there was a requirement to assist the family and domestic violence sector in the Northern Territory. And I urge the Northern Territory government to do that immediately.
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Findings of missing and murdered Indigenous women inquiry are ‘horrific’, McCarthy says
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, was on ABC RN earlier to discuss the rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women – after the government handed down its response to the Senate inquiry yesterday.
McCarthy labelled the findings “horrific” – with Indigenous women making up 16% of Australia’s murder victims, while being just 2-3% of the adult population.
There is something in the system in Australia that seems to just go, ‘that’s OK’, you know, but it’s not OK. It’s not OK …
People who work in the family and domestic violence sector … break down because they feel that the system isn’t changing. And I do believe that the work of this Senate inquiry has certainly brought it to the forefront for the Australian parliament, to the point where the Australian prime minister brought all the premiers and chief ministers together to say enough … at the national level.
McCarthy said there would “always be an expectation for more to be done”, and that state and territory’s will be tasked to take things back to their cabinets to work on.
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Sports minister on gambling ad reform: government ‘remains committed’ to all 31 recommendations
Labor’s plans for gambling ad reform has been delayed until next year – despite commitments made from the minister there would be a response by Christmas.
Josh Butler had more on the timeline of this in yesterday’s blog, here.
The aged care and sports minister, Anika Wells, was asked about this on ABC RN earlier, and said the government “remain[ed] committed” to working through the 31 recommendations of the inquiry.
Right now, we’re working through 31 recommendations with all of the different stakeholders in this space …
As a sport minister who always tries to be athlete-led, there are athletes who are being targeted by the rise of gambling and the proliferation of gambling advertising, not just in professional clothes now, but in the junior leagues we’ve seen those stories come out. So it is something that we’re working through … These are complex but important reforms, and I look forward to continuing to work on them.
Wells was asked about the role lobbyists are playing in trying to stop reform – but she said “I wouldn’t characterise it that way at all.”
I think, and if you look at the public remarks that codes have made along this journey, they agree that something needs to be done. It’s about finding something that’s workable, that everybody can live with, and that won’t impact the financial models … Peter V’landys absolutely is one of the players in this area, but there’s lots more, and we’ve got to work through the nuances and concerns of all of them, and that’s why we’re going to continue to do that.
At least three Nationals publicly voice concerns over social media ban bill
On the under-16s social media ban, we’ve now got at least three Nationals – Keith Pitt, Matt Canavan and now Bridget McKenzie – and Liberal MP Garth Hamilton publicly voicing concerns over the rushed nature of the bill and potential privacy or access issues for all Australians.
The Coalition partyroom is meeting this morning, where the ban is expected to be a hot topic of conversation. But Liberal senator Andrew Bragg said at a brief press gallery doorstop that he was in favour of the ban broadly, and indicated most of the Coalition still backed it:
I think the process is troubling, and there are issues here, but ultimately, we think that this is a proportionate approach to what is a very serious issue in the community.
This is something that Peter [Dutton] has given very lengthy comments on the record about, and that is our position.
The report of the lightning-quick inquiry, which only held a short three-hour hearing, will be released this afternoon. We hear there may be more than a few amendments to the bill proposed. However even critics of the bill are expecting the Coalition will ultimately back the ban.
Watch this space.
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Hot days to strain eastern Australia’s power grid for next few days
The slow-moving heatwave across southern and south-eastern Australia will nudge temperatures in Sydney’s west towards 40C today and tomorrow.
Sydney’s eastern suburbs will be spared the worst, though, with sea breezes keeping the mercury to temperatures in the low 30s for the next three days. Most of eastern New South Wales will endure low- to severe-intensity heatwave conditions today.
NSW’s power grid faces the most strain, although Queensland too will have periods when reserves will be relatively tight. (That is, better not have any unplanned outages at the ageing coal-fired power plants ... or any generators for that matter.)
The Australian Energy Market Operator this morning cancelled the latest of its so-called lack of reserve level 3 alerts (this one for Wednesday), which imply blackouts unless the market responds. (The market usually responds.)
Still, wholesale power prices will near their maximum levels in NSW later today on present Aemo forecasts:
Power prices have been elevated - along with demand - in NSW as the mercury rises. With parts of Sydney nudging 40C today and tomorrow, the grid will face strains. (Via @AEMO_Energy ) pic.twitter.com/plh06elCxo
— @phannam.bsky.social (@p_hannam) November 25, 2024
A couple of nervous days ahead for our power authorities. And if you’re feeling the heat, drink lots of water, find a cool place and look out for your neighbours to ensure they’re doing OK too.
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Canavan says he is drafting amendments to under-16 social media bill
Despite his pushback to the under-16s social media ban bill, Matt Canavan told ABC RN he hadn’t made his mind up yet on whether he would support the legislation.
I’m going to obviously talk to my colleagues in the party room this morning. I am in the process of drafting a number of amendments to the bill, and I’ll have more to say about that in the committee’s report, which will be tabled today.
I’ll just keep watching and listening to the debate, but I certainly think the bill needs major changes, and regardless of the changes, I remain unimpressed with this condensed timeframe to analyse the bill.
Canavan said there was “widespread support” for legislation like this, and “I don’t think that support is going to somehow disappear over the summer break”.
We can I think just pause here, come back and do this properly.
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Canavan concerned about digital ID for age assurance: ‘All we’ve got is the minister’s word’
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, has said a digital ID framework would not be used for age assurance – does this response alleviate Matt Canavan’s privacy concerns?
Canavan argued there was nothing to stop the future use of digital identity to maintain social media accounts:
So all we’ve got is the minister’s word, which, as I say, doesn’t mean anything. She might not be the minister within a year – who knows? So why not, if the minister is is being legitimate here … why not just change the act, change the bill to rule it out?
He again took aim at the rushed process, saying senators hadn’t “been able to get across some important submissions” and that it would have been good to have social media companies themselves front the inquiry:
We only had time yesterday to hear from their industry representative body but many colleagues of mine – including those who support the bill – are frustrated that the industry group could not answer their questions because their questions went to the particular behaviours of the likes of X or Meta …
The bill doesn’t even come into effect until 2026, next year. So why not take a breath, extend the inquiry [and] allow us to get across these 15,000 submissions.
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Nationals senator says rushed social media ban ‘just not acceptable’
The Nationals senator Matt Canavan is speaking with ABC RN about the government’s under-16 social media ban. He’s been an outspoken critic against the bill, and told the program “it’s just not acceptable” how rushed it has been.
I completely understand the need [to address] significant harms done to young children from the overuse and abuse of social media, but given [that a bill of this kind is] unprecedented it’s just not acceptable to the public.
He said the hurried inquiry into the bill received 15,000 submissions and the committee would report today.
It’s very important to let people know this … won’t just affect the use of social media for people under 16, because once you have to try and verify someone’s age under 16 you’re going to have to verify everyone’s age to check their age. And so there’s huge privacy, free speech implications of this legislation.
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O’Neil says government doing ‘everything we can’ to ease economic pressures
Asked about the latest economic outlook, Clare O’Neil said she wasn’t denying how tough it is for Australians, and said:
You’re seeing the same problems with the economies in the US and all over the world.
She pointed to tax cuts and energy bill relief:
I’m not saying any of these things completely take the pain away, but I want people to know that government is on your side. We’re doing everything we can to try to relieve those [real] pressures that you’re feeling.
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Rent freeze and negative gearing changes ‘dead in the water’, O’Neil says
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, just spoke with the Today show about Labor’s housing bills – and the Greens’ decision to back its Help to Buy bill after failing to win its concessions.
O’Neil said that the Greens’ calls for a rent freeze and negative gearing changes are “absolutely dead in the water, because they were never good ideas to begin with”.
We have sought to be really constructive in this parliament, but it turns out you’ve got to push pretty hard to get your housing initiatives through.
O’Neil said the bill was “not a silver bullet” but it was “never meant to be”, but warned people against “the snake oil salesmen in this housing debate who are pretending that there’s one thing we can do to fix the whole problem”.
The truth is, we’ve had a generations-in-the-making housing crisis in our country that’s been building for more than 30 years, and it requires our government to do lots of things differently.
We’re trying to build many more homes in our country, we’re trying to get a better deal for renters, and we’re trying to get more Australians into homeownership. It’s a big, complex program and it’s going to take some time. But I really want your viewers at home to know that we understand that Australians are in real housing distress at the moment, and our government is stepping up and taking action.
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‘We can do better than that’: Zoe Daniel on Labor’s social media ban bill
Zoe Daniel argued that the problem with Labor’s social media is that “you’re basically letting the platforms off the hook”.
[We need to] get the platforms to take responsibility for what is in their environment – and actually, it would make an age ban redundant if we were to put in this kind of safety by design, and a duty of care and hold the platforms accountable for what’s happening in their spaces. You wouldn’t actually need an age ban.
Daniel said she had spoken with communications minister Michelle Rowland about the issue, and the government has flagged it would “go down the track of a duty of care eventually”.
The independent MP said she “understood” why the government was pursuing the age ban “because it is a lever to pull now and it makes parents feel better”, but argued it “actually makes zero difference to what is happening on the platforms”.
The onus and the responsibility remains on the parents and the kids, and I think that we can do better than that.
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'Safety by design': teal MP touts alternative to government’s social media ban
The independent MP Zoe Daniel was on ABC News Breakfast earlier to discuss her alternative to the under-16 social media ban, which she introduced as a private member’s bill yesterday.
Daniel said her bill would implement an overarching statutory duty of care on social media companies “that goes to safety by design – but that in and of itself is not enough”.
What you need to make that work is the companies to assess the risks, mitigate the risks, be transparent about how they’re doing that.
The bill builds in penalties so if the companies do not comply, they could be fined up to 10% of global revenue. Also, their onshore executives could be held accountable for that … and the bill also has a provision to enable users to have control over the algorithm, as exists overseas, particularly in the EU …
The final provision is that when you enter a social media platform for the first time, your default privacy position is defaulted to the strongest possible settings.
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McKenzie cites privacy concerns over under-16s social media age ban bill
Also on the program, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie weighed in on the under-16s social media ban and said “we are very concerned about digital ID laws”.
[There are] obviously privacy concerns, and given the government’s had to pull their misinformation [and] disinformation – or their censoring the Australian public – bill from the Senate this week, we want to make sure we get strong, robust laws that don’t damage the [right to] privacy and make compulsory Australians having to have digital IDs.
Nationals senator Matt Canavan has also spoken out against the bill, citing privacy concerns.
But yesterday, Nationals leader David Littleproud said there was “conflation and confusion” about the bill, and that it was “dangerous to conflate” it with digital ID. You can read his full comments in yesterday’s blog.
Rishworth says social media age ban a ‘test’ for Dutton’s leadership, as conservative opposition grows
Amanda Rishworth was also asked about Labor’s under-16 social media age ban and whether the government was rushing this.
The social services minister denied this and said the government has bipartisan support – or so they thought:
Well, I thought there was bipartisan support … I mean, just a couple of weeks ago, Peter Dutton said he would facilitate this important piece of legislation and support the government. And now we see our senators defying him, I guess. So this is a test for Peter Dutton about his leadership.
Labor’s social media age ban is likely to pass, following a rapid three-day inquiry with just one day to make submissions, and the Coalition claiming credit for having suggested it first. However, conservative opposition to the bill has been growing in the lead up to the lower house vote:
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Rishworth defends government economic decisions amid latest outlook
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, just spoke with the Today show where she defended the government’s handling of the economy amid the latest outlook:
We inherited a pretty big economic mess from the Liberal and National party when we came to government, we had inflation with a six in front of it. We inherited a policy from the Liberal party that was deliberately keeping wages low.
Listing measures the government has taken, Rishworth pointed to lowering inflation, wages growth, cost of living measures and the stage three tax cuts. She went on to say:
The alternative would have been if Peter Dutton was in in the prime minister chair. He’s opposed every single one of these measures and we would be in a real recession right now if he had got his way on so many policy issues.
The Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie was also on the program and argued “Australians are feeling poorer because they actually are poorer under Albanese”. She took aim at government spending, and said this was why “in comparable nations, our numbers are in the toilet comparatively”.
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Queensland premier David Crisafulli begins first sitting week as premier
Queensland’s new premier, David Crisafulli, will be only the second member of the modern Menzies Liberal party to sit in the top chair when he begins his first sitting week today.
The “conservative, uniquely agrarian state” has been governed by Labor or Country National premiers for all but 1,000 days since 1860 but now it’s Crisafulli’s turn to show he can deliver on his promises to slash crime.
Read our analysis of what lies in store:
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Good morning
Emily Wind here, signing on for blogging duties. Thanks to Martin for kicking things off for us.
We’re in the home stretch, with just three days left in the final sitting week of the year. You’ll have the whole Canberra team bringing you the latest – Karen Middleton, Paul Karp, Josh Butler, Sarah Basford Canales and Mike Bowers, capturing all the action.
Let’s get into it.
More on that Deloitte report from AAP: ‘The time will come for changes to tax’
The economists were hopeful inflation would keep a lid on election spending sprees, as cost-of-living support eases pain but injects money into the economy – adding to the problem it’s trying to solve.
The treasurer has already been managing expectations before the midyear budget update next month. In a speech, Jim Chalmers warned windfalls would be nought but a “sliver” of upgrades clocked in the past few years.
Higher commodity prices and a higher tax take from migration and bracket creep have helped the federal government deliver the first two back-to-back surpluses in almost two decades.
DAE partner and report co-author Cathryn Lee said the government still deserved credit for banking most of the revenue rather than spending it, especially during a cost-of-living crunch when the community has been calling for support.
Yet she said both major political parties had broadly failed to embark on the structural budget repair needed over the past two decades.
The time will come for changes to tax. It must.
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Leading economists predict $33.5bn budget deficit for this financial year
Australia is waving goodbye to budget surpluses and returning abruptly to deficit, facing a $49bn deterioration in the bottom line in forecasts from leading economists, AAP reports.
The $15.8bn surplus logged in the last financial year to Deloitte Access Economics’ prediction of a $33.5bn deficit in 2024/25 would amount to largest nominal contraction in the underlying cash balance on record, outside the pandemic.
The forecast would also represent a $5.2bn mark down from Treasury predictions made in the May budget. DAE partner and report co-author Stephen Smith said:
Worryingly, there is little to suggest that the situation will right itself in the years to come.
As well as the well-documented pressures on the public purse from an ageing population, Smith warned global developments – including China’s economic slowdown and Donald Trump’s return to the White House – did not bode well for Australia’s budget position.
Should substantial tariffs be slapped on imports into the United States, including at rates of up to 60% of goods from China, Australia’s budget will not be immune given its reliance on commodity prices via company tax receipts.
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Tensions high outside Melbourne synagogue
Tensions ran high outside a synagogue in Melbourne last night as pro-Israel supporters gathered to counter a pro-Palestine protest despite the rally being cancelled, AAP reports.
A number of pro-Israel demonstrators rallied outside a popular synagogue even after the planned pro-Palestine protest was formally called off at the 11th hour as organisers cited safety concerns.
Despite the cancellation, there was a visible police presence near the synagogue in Caulfield North, in Melbourne’s south-east, where a sea of Israeli flags far outnumbered the Palestinian flags.
Specialist police encircled a small group of pro-Palestine supporters in an attempt to keep them from the larger pro-Israel group.
The planned demonstration was in response to a planned talk organised by the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council that includes former Israeli justice minister Ayelet Shaked, whose visa into Australia was reportedly rejected.
It also comes as Australia’s Palestinian community demands answers after a dentistry student was struck by shrapnel in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Here’s our story:
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be my colleague Emily Wind to take you through the bulk of the day in Canberra and beyond.
Our top story this morning surrounds Labor’s resolve to force the big tech companies to enforce its proposed ban on under-16s’ use of social media after the Silicon Valley heavyweights pushed back against the legislation. Meta said the bill is “inconsistent and ineffective” and that it should be delayed until there is more time to develop age verification technology.
The big moment yesterday was the Greens’ acquiescence to the government’s housing bill – a harsh lesson in realpolitik handed to Adam Bandt and Max Chandler-Mather by the prime minister.
Tensions were running high on the streets of a Melbourne suburb last night as pro-Israel demonstrators rallied after the threat of a pro-Palestine protest outside a synagogue. More on that soon.
And more soon on a report from Deloitte that forecasts the government faces a huge budget deficit, running into the tens of billions.
