What we learned today, Wednesday 29 May
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s a small sample of what we learned today:
Labor MPs, including the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, defended the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, over visa cancellations, saying the government was “deeply concerned” by some of the AAT’s decisions to reinstate some visas under ministerial direction 99.
Peter Dutton and the opposition continued to attack Giles over the ministerial direction.
Adam Bandt moved to suspend standing orders to debate his motion that the House recognise the state of Palestine, which lost in an 80-5 vote.
Home affairs department officials revealed that 4,614 Palestinians have been denied visitor visas to Australia.
Annual inflation in April rose to 3.6%, up from 3.5% in March.
Legislation establishing a new national Environment Protection Authority was introduced into federal parliament.
Environment groups called the government’s new Environment Protection Australia bill “a waste of time” and “not good enough”.
The Greens said Labor “sold out the environment” in the new bill.
Eleven public servants who are paid an average salary of $400,000 charged taxpayers almost $2,000 for dinner and alcohol at a Canberra restaurant in February.
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, backed an investigation into the claims made by Ariel Bombara that WA police ignored her warnings about the danger her father posed to her family.
The head of the Office of National Intelligence told Senate estimates that the agency “first wrote on fossil fuels and the greenhouse effect in 1981”.
Thanks so much for your company today. Politics Live will be back again early tomorrow morning for another day of fun. Until then, look after yourselves.
Updated
About 40% of Asio caseload is violent extremists, estimates hears
The Greens senator David Shoebridge is back in the chair and is asking Asio about whether its violent extremism caseload has changed in recent months.
At its peak, the broad group of extremists, which includes neo-Nazis, took up half of Asio’s counter-terrorism caseload, the director general, Mike Burgess, said:
It’s less than that today, but it’s still a significant issue. They’re active. They’re actively trying to recruit new members to the fold … we have a handle on the people we know about and we’re interested in discovering those other people that such an ideology and violence is the answer.
Burgess said about 40% of the agency’s caseload was taken up by violent extremists while 60% focused on religiously motivated extremism.
You can get some background on this issue here:
Updated
Woman charged with murder after man stabbed in Sydney home
A woman will face court charged with murder after an alleged stabbing in the Sydney suburb of Matraville yesterday.
According to a statement from NSW police, emergency services responded to a report of a domestic incident at a Matraville residence at about 6.15pm on Tuesday.
Paramedics treated a 37-year-old man but he died at the scene.
Police commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
A 31-year-old woman was arrested nearby and taken to hospital. After inquiries, she was taken to Maroubra police station and charged with murder.
She was refused bail and will appear in court tomorrow.
Updated
Most terms for the role of Asio director general are for five years and Mike Burgess has been in the role for around four-and-a-half years.
So naturally, the Liberal senator James Paterson asks whether he’s keen to be reappointed for another term as the top spy.
Paterson says:
I just want to know whether or not you are open to and willing to serve in this role for another five years?
Burgess, along with others in the committee, chuckle at the question. He then answers:
Senator, the next director general is a matter for government and me telling you what I would or would not like to do is not appropriate and it’s something we would only share with the government of the day.
Paterson replies:
I thought I’d try.
Updated
Greens senator questions Asio boss about ‘nest of spies’
The Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (Asio) is now up at Senate estimates and the Greens senator David Shoebridge is questioning the top spy about his “nest of spies” comments from years earlier.
In May, the Washington Post reported two officers from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s foreign intelligence service, had been expelled from Australia in 2020 for spying.
The report said the expulsion of RAW agents had been the subject of warnings from the Asio director general, Mike Burgess, of a “nest of spies” in a 2021 speech.
At the time, Burgess had said the spies came from a “foreign intelligence service” but did not name their origin, saying Australia was facing espionage and foreign interference attempts “from multiple countries”. Burgess added, “and before you jump to conclusions … I want to point out that the foreign intelligence service was not from a country in our region”.
On Wednesday evening, Shoebridge accused Burgess of giving an “active misdirect” in that speech, accusing him of lying because India was in the region.
Burgess said he would not comment on media reporting to confirm whether his “nest of spies” example was indeed based on Indian espionage.
Shoebridge suggested he was not telling the truth when he said the country responsible for the “nest of spies” wasn’t from the Indo-Pacific region.
Burgess said:
I told you the intent of saying that statement. I think I’ve got nothing more to say about it.
Shoebridge continues to press so things get a bit tense and the committee chair, Labor senator Nita Green, chimes in to say:
You cannot continue to put … accusations like that in repetitive questions and expect a different answer.
The committee moves on.
Updated
Ryan urges fellow MPs not to use Gaza conflict as ‘opportunity to gain votes’
The independent member for Kooyong, Monique Ryan, has urged her parliamentary colleagues not to use the conflict in Gaza as an “opportunity to gain votes”.
Earlier today, right after opening prayers, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, moved to suspend the standing orders in order to debate a motion to recognise the state of Palestine.
Other countries around the world have made steps to officially recognise Palestine, including Spain and Norway.
The motion went down, 80 noes to 5 ayes, but not without criticism from the major parties.
The Liberal MP Julian Leeser said the motion ran “contrary to the traditions of Australian foreign policy” while the assistant foreign affairs minister, Tim Watts, said “simplistic wedge motions in the house do nothing to advance the cause of peace”.
Ryan, who is seeking re-election in the Melbourne seat once held by the former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg, released a statement on Wednesday describing the motion as “divisive”.
Ryan said:
When Australia has announced recognition of a new state in the past, this has been by means of a statement by the foreign minister. Australian standing on the international stage requires a high degree of unity. We have always respected the government of the day’s right to recognise foreign powers.
A resolution to this effect by the House cuts across that practice …
All around the world, people are looking to their leaders in good conscience, to do what they can to work for peace and end this senseless and tragic conflict. I urge all members of the house to stop seeing this unspeakable situation as an opportunity to gain votes.
Instead of divisive motions, we should all stand in unity against antisemitism and Islamophobia. Instead of rhetoric that raises the temperature of our discourse and exacerbates tensions in our communities, we should focus on alleviating the extreme distress, sadness, anxiety and loss experienced by Jewish and Muslim Australians. These debates and motions do not help them, any more than they help the people of Gaza or of Israel.
The international community must do what it can to end the tragedy in Gaza. I ask my colleagues to work towards that aim together – with empathy and clear mindedness – instead of stoking social division and tension.
Updated
Inquiry says NSW government should set up ‘in-house’ consulting service
The New South Wales government has been urged to set up an “in-house” consulting service and ban bureaucrats from taking on relevant consulting jobs for six months after they leave the public service.
A parliamentary inquiry into the use of private consulting services by government made the recommendations after it found the former Coalition government was too reliant on consultants and paid for work normally designed for the public service when it was in power.
The inquiry, which was led by a committee dominated by Labor MPs, was launched after a report by the NSW auditor general found the Coalition had spent more than $1bn on consultants between 2017 and 2022.
It was also revealed that more than 25% of consultancy fees were concentrated with the “big four” firms, including the scandal-hit PwC.
In a scathing report released on Wednesday, the inquiry found the Coalition had been overly reliant on PwC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Environment groups say EPA bill falls short
Earlier today we brought you some debate on the government’s Environment Protection Australia bill, which was tabled in parliament.
In a joint statement, the Wilderness Society, Environmental Justice Australia, and the Conservation Council of WA have said the proposed bill “lacks accountability” and “will be vulnerable to continued interference from vested interests” if it does not have an independent board.
The groups want the bill to include an independent board, which would appoint the EPA’s chief executive; clear duties and objectives; provisions for public participation in decision-making and strong civil enforcement provisions; and adequate funding.
Victoria Jack, a campaigner for the Wilderness Society, said:
The Albanese government promised its reforms will improve trust and confidence in decisions about developments and the environment. But the trees are still being bulldozed, and the community’s demands that forests are protected are continuously ignored, including some First Nations’ requests that forest Country is protected from logging.
At a minimum, the EPA must be unambiguously charged with ensuring the integrity of consultation.
The public must be able to have a fair say about environmental decisions that will affect them. Transparency, genuine consultation, and the ability to challenge bad decisions are not only internationally recognised rights, but are also integral to the protection of nature for the benefit of all – not just for the benefit of vested interests.
Updated
Time for some First Dog on the Moon, I reckon.
Half of students in years 6 and 10 are falling behind in science, survey finds
Almost half of year 6 and 10 students are falling behind in science, rising to six in 10 Indigenous students, a new Acara report shows.
The National Assessment Program Science Literary Report, released on Wednesday, surveyed students’ general science literacy skills and knowledge across a sample of schools in 2023.
It found there had been little national improvement in outcomes since the tests began in the early 2000s, while significant gaps among disadvantaged cohorts had also remained stubbornly high.
Some 57% of year 6 students attained the proficient standard in 2023, compared with 58% when the last test was completed in 2018. Some 54% of year 10 students reached the standard, compared with 50% in the previous round.
Among Indigenous students, 34% in year 6 and just 28% in year 10 attained the proficient standard. There were also significant differences between students with parents from the highest and the lowest occupational and educational groups.
Acara’s acting CEO, Stephen Gniel, said science was “one of the cornerstones” of 21st century society:
It’s critical we are arming Australian students with the science literacy necessary not only to be able to participate as active citizens in our ever-advancing technological society, but also to help overcome its challenges, minimise its risks and contribute to its development.
Engagement with science inside and outside the classroom also had a link to outcomes. Less than half of students surveyed said they had “in-depth discussions about science ideas” in their lessons, while in year 6 just two in 10 (22%) students learned science more than once a week.
Updated
The House business is starting to wind down (although estimates is continuing and we will continue, of course, bring you those updates), so I will hand the blog over to Steph Convery, who will guide you through the evening.
Keep checking back for regular updates, as well as news on the site. Politics Live (and me) will be back with you from early tomorrow morning for the last House sitting day this week (but don’t worry, there is another session next week), so until then, take care of you. Ax
Updated
Victorian government donates $125,000 to help Palestinian arrivals
You may remember the Victorian government’s annual Iftar dinner was cancelled after the Muslim community rejected invitations to attend, over the government’s response to what was happening in Gaza.
The Allan government has just announced it will be donating $125,000 to Palestine Australia Relief and Action (Para) to “support people who have arrived in Victorian since October 2023”.
Para provides tailored support to Palestinians who are granted visas to Australia, helping with access to culturally appropriate legal and accommodation support and access to finance and education programs.
The state’s multicultural affairs minister, Ingrid Stitt, said:
The conflict in Israel-Gaza continues to have a devastating humanitarian impact and Palestinians fleeing the conflict are arriving in Victoria to be supported by their families.
Many of these people have experienced the trauma of war – it’s only right that we provide them with culturally appropriate support and services to help them feel welcomed, safe and connected in Victoria.
Updated
Questions raised over independence of proposed EPA ‘independent CEO’
Back to the legislation issues today, and the Centre for Public Integrity has weighed in on the EPA bill.
Board member Michael Barker KC says:
If the Albanese Government’s intention in introducing the EPA legislation is to create an independent CEO to advise the minister on a range of Commonwealth environmental functions and to exercise a number of regulatory functions, the question must be asked how independent the new CEO will be.
Under the bill the CEO will be a ministerial appointment without any required candidate assessment processes or transparency in respect of how the appointment is made.
Furthermore, once appointed, the minister may give the CEO Statements of Expectation as to the performance of functions that are not obviously distinguishable from ministerial directions. These are not features compatible with independence.
Updated
Does Andrew Giles believe that he owes anyone an apology?
Giles:
[What I owe the Australian community] is to work day and night to keep the community safe, to do everything I can do with strong laws and resources, including more than a quarter of a billion dollars invested in supporting the cohort required to be released by the high court in NZYQ.
On these issues, I owe the Australian community and my colleagues my absolute focus on continuing to do my job, which of course involves fixing the mess left with by Mr Dutton.
Updated
Did Andrew Giles consider stepping down as minister?
Giles:
My focus has been and will continue to be focusing on fixing the mess that was left by Peter Dutton. A mess that has been revealed in three damning reviews: Nixon, Parkinson and Richardson.
As we have seen, particularly today, in many reports, in the Sydney Morning Herald and parliament, today, we’ve seen so many examples of decisions made by delegates of Mr Dutton when he was minister to release people in these circumstances.
Decisions not by a court, not by a tribunal. Decisions made by delegates of the minister. This is something that is absolutely shocking … he is yet to account for his actions there.
Updated
Is there a timeline on those six cases?
Andrew Giles:
The six are with the experts at the moment and we hope to get advice from those experts, the psychiatrists, as soon as possible to progress these matters at the earliest possible time and making sure, as we are required, that these are high-quality applications.
Rushed applications won’t keep anyone safe.
We recognise also that there is a high threshold to be met here because, of course, is the very essence of preventive detention. Because we are in uncharted waters with community safety orders, what is the nature of the psychiatric advice that is sought in this review? The experts are there to provide advice around the propensity for reoffending and community safety.
Updated
When it comes to the cohort of people who were released by the high court decision which made indefinite detention illegal, Andrew Giles says “that six cases have been referred for expert review”.
I can also say 26 cases, a further 26, in an advanced stage of preparation. This is a process that is extremely resource-intensive.
The former government’s high-risk terrorism scheme, upon which this was modelled, took three years for the first matter to proceed, so we are moving much more quickly because this is an absolute focus for me and for my department.
Putting together one of these cases for expert review requires the consideration of thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of pages of documents and engaging with many state as well as commonwealth authorities, so I’m very pleased to see this progress already under way.
Updated
Does the revised ministerial directive 99 mean that Australia is walking back its commitment to the New Zealand government over the deportation issue that led to the creation of the directive in the first place?
(The directive was created to try to have tribunals consider ties to the Australian community in making visa decisions, along with community safety, after New Zealand-born citizens who had spent most of their life in Australia were being deported back to NZ, despite having little connection with the country.)
Andrew Giles says:
I don’t agree with your characterisation. We make all our decisions in Australia’s national interest and what we are seeing here is something that has not been producing the commonsense and community safety focused results the Australian government and the Australian community expects. That is my focus, what I am intending to pursue.
Was the directive a mistake to begin with?
It has not produced in the administrative appeals tribunal decisions the outcomes we expected, nor produced the intended all the matters we were advised would flow from the direction, which is why we are pursuing a new revised direction.
Updated
Does Andrew Giles feel “let down” by the AAT decisions?
I am deeply concerned that these cases are very serious offenders having their visas granted back to them by the administrative appeals tribunal were not brought to my attention and the fact is some of these cases had been decided some time ago.
That is unacceptable.
My focus is now on ensuring I can consider the cancellation of any of these cases straightaway.
My focus is on community safety but we need to have the protocol I put in place more than a year ago around, as minister, being alerted to any such decisions, for that to be in place, and I have instructed my department to advise me and my office within 24 hours now of any such decision of the administrative appeals tribunal.
Updated
Community safety outweighs all factors in new visa directive: Andrew Giles
When did he make the decision to revise the ministerial direction 99?
Andrew Giles:
I sought urgent advice when these matters came to light late last week and I have met with my senior officials today to go through the approach I have outlined in the House.
Q: Can you say when rewritten, there will be zero possibility of any tribunal member granting or restoring a visa that you have cancelled?
Giles:
What I can say is the direction, the new, revised direction, will make it abundantly clear community safety is a consideration that outweighs all other considerations. And beyond that, as I said, we will introduce further mechanisms to enable the perspective of victims and their families to be more clearly brought to bear and also to deal more effectively with the scourge that is family violence - and making sure that is effective is obviously something I am approaching with a laser-like focus.
Pressed on whether that means he is confident there is “zero possibility”, Giles says:
I am focused in the first instance in ensuring a person who does not meet the requirements of the character test and is in Australia has their visa cancelled, something I have been focused on doing as minister. In terms of decisions of the tribunal, and you would be well aware yesterday we abolished the administrative appeals tribunal and putting in place an independent administrative tribunal, an independent body. We have to give it the clearest possible guidance to ensure its members’ decisions meet the expectations of the Australian community.
To be fair, it is very hard for a minister to guarantee that an independent process won’t act in any particular way.
Updated
The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, is appearing on ABC TV (from his dimly lit office in Parliament House, not the ABC parliamentary studio) and he is being asked about the “revised” ministerial direction 99:
What we have seen in the administrative appeals tribunal decisions is the original intent of ministerial direction 99 was not being followed. We have seen that. We have not seen the commonsense approach Australians should expect, nor are we seeing the focus on community safety, and this was made clear in question time today.
This was clearly a problem under previous directions under the former government too with many examples illustrated there.
We are focused on a new, revised direction that will put a high weight on community safety, but also deal specifically with additional concerns we see around victims and their families being heard and, of course, around redoubling our focus on family violence prevention.
Giles continued:
Some of the administrative appeals tribunal decisions are very hard to reconcile with any sense of the expectations of the Australian community, no, frankly, commonsense. These are very concerning, which is why I have also rushed to consider cancellation submissions in respect of some cases brought to light, and already cancelled six visas having done so.
Updated
Growth in funding for public schools lagging behind private schools in last decade, data shows
Government funding for private schools grew at a faster rate than the public system in the past decade, new data reveals, despite 98% of public schools continuing to be underfunded to the minimum standard.
The Productivity Commission’s latest report on government services, released today, shows real per-student government spending on private schools grew by 3.7% a year in the decade to 2022 – a growth rate 60% higher than public schools, which only increased by 2.3%.
The Greens say Australian governments have continued to fail public school students by topping up fee-charging private schools to the expense of the underfunded sector.
The report also showed one in three (31.4%) public school students had low socio-educational advantage status, compared to 13.2% of private school students.
The Greens spokesperson on primary and secondary education, senator Penny Allman-Payne said the school funding model was “catastrophically broken”.
The private sector is favoured above the public system, and poorer, regional and remote and First Nations kids are the ones who suffer. It is now beyond debate that public schools need to be funded to 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) as a matter of urgency.
Updated
Greens ask Labor to negotiate with them on religious discrimination bill
The Greens senator David Shoebridge and the Brisbane MP Stephen Bates have written to the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, asking for the government to negotiate with the Greens on religious discrimination legislation.
The legislation is stalled because the government wants bipartisanship support, but Labor and the Coalition cannot agree on what the legislation should contain.
The Greens say they are willing to work with the government to pass legislation in the senate, given that pathway to reform with the Coalition is, in their words “untenable”:
As we made clear in our meeting with you in March this year, the Australian Greens are ready, willing and able to work with the Government to urgently implement the recommendations of the ALRC report into religious discrimination.
In that meeting we also requested a copy of the government’s draft bill to enable us to actively progress the reforms. To our continuing frustration, and that of many engaged stakeholders, you have instead chosen to only provide the draft bill to the Coalition. We reiterate our request for a copy of the bill to allow this matter [to] progress.
This reform is critically important and urgent. It is surely a matter where we can work across party lines to deliver a reform that is desperately needed to protect LGBTIQA+ students and their teachers and support staff, from active discrimination.
Updated
Murray Watt says Dutton has had issue of released immigration detainees ‘completely blow up in his face’
The Labor senator Varun Ghosh at 2.35pm in Senate estimates asked a series of questions about criminal offenders released from immigration detention from 2014 to 2022, under the Coalition government.
Strangely, a backbench senator already had the statistics his questions were seeking, while the Home Affairs and Australian Border Force officials did not and had to take the questions on notice.
About 45 minutes later, officials were able to give answers that, yes: four murderers, alleged murderers or accessories to murder were released from immigration detention under the Coalition; 64 child sex offenders; and 40 domestic violence offenders.
Officials confirmed that none of these were subject to electronic monitoring or curfews, as these conditions only passed parliament after the NZYQ high court decision in November 2023.
Labor’s Murray Watt, representing the immigration minister, said:
This is a really extraordinary development in this entire story. What we’ve seen today is Mr Dutton’s political campaign on this issue completely blow up in his face. Mr Dutton and others in the Coalition have waged a political campaign demanding ministers resign, demanding all sorts of standards we now learn they have never complied with themselves.
Watt said this had happened on Dutton’s watch as home affairs minister, and not as a result of a high court decision.
Updated
For about 15 minutes the website legislation.gov.au went down (it is back now).
People trying to access it (including our own Elias Visontay) received a “This service is unavailable” message.
So either everyone is quite desperate to look up legislation, or gremlins are afoot.
We’ll let you know if there is something to know.
Updated
Dutton hits back on social media
Peter Dutton (or a staffer using Dutton’s X account) has responded to some of the things Andrew Giles raised in QT (Giles cited SMH reporting) on social media:
These are the full quotes provided to
[David Crowe]
I cancelled more than 6,300 visas – more than any Minister since Federation. The cancellation power was exercised within the limits of the Constitution. Mr Albanese watered down the law under Direction 99 and that’s why you are seeing the complete failure by this Government and the hapless Andrew Giles.
(He also then includes a personal attack against Crowe and a senior journalist not at all involved in any of this, because … Dutton.)
Updated
No progress on improving speed of Canberra-Sydney rail despite priority listing
Senior infrastructure public servants have revealed there has been no progress on improving the speed of the snail-like Canberra-Sydney train line, despite the proposal being identified as a priority project for the past four years.
Speeds on the Canberra-Sydney train line have not progressed in decades, with the more than four-hour trip comfortably outpaced by cars, buses and planes, to the ire of the ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, who has repeatedly pleaded for either the commonwealth or New South Wales government to invest in modest upgrades that could significantly hasten the service.
During Senate estimates on Wednesday, the independent senator David Pocock asked Adam Copp, the CEO of Infrastructure Australia – a commonwealth body that provides independent research and advice to governments on projects – about the status of the proposed upgrade, which had received submissions from the ACT and NSW governments.
Copp said there had been “no particular progress on that proposal”, despite it being listed as a national significant “opportunity” on Infrastructure Australia’s priority list – described as a menu of options for governments to invest in – that could be delivered within 0-5 years. Copp, referring to either the NSW or federal government, said:
It would need a proponent to take it forward.
Barr has long pushed for either the NSW or the commonwealth to upgrade the list, given that just a handful of kilometres of the track lie within the ACT’s borders, as well as the territory’s comparatively smaller budget.
Barr has been discussing cheaper, modest upgrades to the track to make it similar or slightly faster than the drive, as opposed to the high speed rail plan outlined by the Albanese government, a decades-long project for which Labor has chosen Sydney-Newcastle as the starting stretch.
Updated
Sussan Ley wants Clare O’Neil kicked out for interjections:
She has repeatedly interjected since being warned. The standing orders should apply equally to both sides of the house and with respect, opposition members have been ejected. I ask that you similarly treat the minister for home affairs.
Milton Dick moves on.
And question time ends.
Updated
Another question for Andrew Giles on visas and direction 99
There is another question around direction 99 being used by the AAT to reinstate a visa and Andrew Giles says:
As I’ve previously said in question time today, I will be issuing a new revised ministerial direction. And part of that is to ensure that visa decisions are guided by those two principles: protection of the community and common sense.
And as I said in an answer to an earlier question, there will be a higher focus on these than has been the case in the past. And I’m sure the leader of the opposition, when he was listening to the examples that the prime minister put to him, was reflecting on how previous ministerial directions might, under him, might have been improved too.
These are changes that will improve decision making. Now, on the specific question, I can say that I have already briefed senior officials of my department. So that these changes can progress expeditiously.
Dan Tehan goes to make a point of order, but Milton Dick pre-empts him by saying that Giles is being directly relevant and it would be a very long bow to say he is not and Tehan sits back down. “Smart move,” says Dick.
Giles:
… And I note again a report in today’s Sydney Morning Herald, which begins: ‘Two men convicted of accessory to murder were released from federal detention when opposition leader Peter Dutton was the minister in charge of immigration and home affairs.’
Released by him – not by the AAT, by his delegate when he was responsible.
Updated
Wilkie asks PM whether government is ‘kicking the can down the road’ on gambling reforms
Andrew Wilkie asks Anthony Albanese:
Prime minister, it’s almost a year since the standing committee on social policy and legal affairs released its report on online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm.
So why hasn’t the government implemented the committee’s recommendations including a gambling advertising ban? And when will the government implement the recommendations? Or are you just kicking the can down the road until after the next election?
Albanese:
The government has done more in our two years than those opposite did in their almost decade in office. This is what we have done. We’ve launched Betstop, the national self-exclusion register. We’ve mandated customer verification for all new online wagering accounts to prevent children from gambling and strengthen protections for Australians who have registered for bet stop.
We’ve agreed with the states and territories for new minimum classifications for video games with gambling like content.
We’ve implemented new evidence-based taglines to replace the gambling taglines that were previously there that were ineffective. And we’ve introduced nationally consistent staff training. We’ve required online wagering companies to send their customers monthly activity statements outlining wins and losses. We’ve legislated a ban on the use of credit cards for gambling.
What we know, though, is that there is more to do, and the minister for communications and the minister for social services are working diligently through all of the recommendations that were contained in the report.
… I think of our dear friend, I think we can say in this chamber, Peta Murphy, the report that she did; we’re working through it in an orderly way.
We’re consulting all the appropriate groups, including gambling groups. I’ve met with a range of stakeholders, including people like Tim Costello and others about these issues. We want to make sure there’s a comprehensive approach to tackling gambling harm.
Updated
Australia has raised with Japan targeting of large fin whales in future hunting, official says
The Australian government has raised directly with the Japanese government that country’s recent widening of its whale hunting programs.
In a Senate estimates hearing, the Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson asked an official from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water if the government was aware of Japan’s recent decision to add large fin whales to its list of whale species it would target in future hunts. An official said:
We are aware and have raised it directly with the Japanese government.
They added that a secretary from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had raised the issue verbally with the Japanese government.
The issue had been raised verbally, the official said.
Updated
TikTok’s use of tracking pixel not a breach of law and ‘sadly not unique’ to platform: privacy commissioner
The Australian privacy commissioner has decided against investigating TikTok for using a tracking pixel that collects information about its users on pages across the internet, noting that while invasive, it is not a breach of the law or unique to TikTok.
The pixel collects information about users based on the websites they visit where the pixel is embedded, sending it back to the companies that use the pixel information about what they were doing on those sites.
It is a tool used by a number of organisations, but the focus on TikTok’s use comes amid moves both here and abroad to ban the app due to its Chinese parent company. The Nine newspapers reported on the matter in December last year, prompting the initial inquiries from the OAIC, and for the shadow cybersecurity minister, James Paterson, to claim it was a potentially mass breach of privacy.
The privacy commissioner, Carly Kind, said in a statement on Wednesday that there was “no clear and obvious breach of Australian privacy law that would warrant opening an investigation and the issues “are sadly not unique to TikTok”:
Pixels are one of many tracking tools, including cookies, that permit granular user surveillance across the internet and social media platforms. Many of these tracking tools are harmful, invasive and corrosive of online privacy.
We urgently need reform of the Privacy Act. It is the best way to tackle the most harmful aspects of the digital ecosystem.
Kind said the OAIC was considering how to address issues raised by the proliferation of online tracking tools, including better disclosure by sites using them.
Updated
Giles points to reports of offenders released into community while opposition was in government
Dan Tehan is back again!
Didn’t the minister mislead the parliament when he said each of the 153 hardened criminals would be continually monitored, given that evidence in Senate estimates advises that 26 sex offenders, including child sex offenders, no longer have electronic monitoring order?
Andrew Giles:
This is a question I’ve answered previously, relying on the evidence given to Senate estimates that the detainees who were required to be released are being continuously monitored.
But in relation to the last aspect of this question, I am deeply concerned by reports just in, in the Sydney Morning Herald, that refer to 102 convicted sex offenders released into the community when the leader of the opposition was responsible, and 64 child sex offenders not brought by order of the court or tribunal members released by his [ministerial orders].
Tehan tries to raise a point of order but Giles has finished his answer, so no point of order!
Updated
Milton Dick issues a Barnaby Joyce-specific warning, that anyone who is the member for New England should shut it, or be kicked out.
He’s been here in the parliament for almost 20 years and will cease interjecting for the remainder of question time and … is now on a warning.
I know he’s never been thrown out of parliament before.
It is not a competition. The member for New England will remain silent for the remainder of question time.
Imagine having that power for just general life.
Updated
‘The location of every individual is known’, says Giles after question on released immigration detainees
Dan Tehan is back (hashtag blessed) with another question which has similar vibes to the previous questions, but is in relation to a different cohort.
(Every time a Coalition MP says “hardened criminals”, they mean the cohort who were released after the high court ruled that indefinite detention was illegal. The cohort does include people who served sentences for crimes, but it also includes people who were not convicted of crimes, or not charged. It is also worth remembering that Australian citizens who commit crimes are released into the community once they have served any custodial sentence ordered by a court.)
Tehan:
Can the minister for immigration confirm, of the 153 hardened criminals that were released into the community, at least two of the murderers [are] in the community without electronic monitoring, and if we know it is at least two, what is the number of murderers out in the community without electronic monitoring?
Andrew Giles:
I thank the shadow minister for his question and I do say that it was the leader of the opposition sitting there who let someone out of immigration detention, his [direction] that [got] that person a visa with no monitoring and no reporting obligations, and that person than went on to allegedly commit a crime, and he doesn’t seem interested in talking about it.
Because he and the shadow minister always play politics. This group of people are constantly being monitored. As the ABF have advised, the location of every individual is known. The decisions made by delegates are informed by the work of the community protection board which is comprised of a range of expert people with deep experience in these areas who consider each case on its merits as the law requires.
As Paul Karp reported earlier, this was also ranged in estimates and the ABF commissioner, Michael Outram, said that the delegates’ decisions on curfews and ankle bracelets are made “judiciously and studiously” and consider a range of information, disputing the approach of looking at a criminal conviction and assuming they’re “all the same”.
Each case revolves on its own merits.
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Milton Dick deals with the points of order:
He takes Monique Ryan’s point, but says no one is identified and it is up to the member to make sure the details are accurate.
He wants silence when people raise their points of order. No matter who it is.
Andrew Giles then gets to answer:
The government continues to cancel visas on character grounds as it appears to have been the case here. I continue to cancel visas from set-asides [tribunal decisions] where appropriate. As I outlined an in the prime minister outlined, we are issuing a new direction that is revised and we will be focused on …
Dan Tehan has a point of order. Milton Dick points out Giles has been speaking for just 15 seconds and it would be virtually impossible to have a point of order on relevance at this point of the answer.
Tehan, though, has always seemed to believe that “fools rush in where angels fear to tread” is political career advice, and says:
The question is, when will they revoke ministerial order 99?
Dick points out that members need to say what their point of order is actually on, but is assuming it is relevance and therefore, there will be no more points of order on relevance with this answer.
Giles:
As I was saying, the new revised direction will ensure the two principles that have always been at the heart of these ministerial directions in commonsense decision making will take place at the … new ART.
It will make sure that community protection outweighs other considerations and, particularly going to the case that the member referred to, we will strengthen the principles of community safety including the impact [on] victims and their families, and strengthen the family violence provisions.
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Monique Ryan accuses opposition of ‘dog whistling’ in questions
Kooyong independent Monique Ryan has had enough and raises a point of order on one of the standing orders which says “questions must not contain statements of fact unless they are strictly necessary to make the question is intelligible”.
The opposition all week has provided us with unnecessary country of origin and the alleged crimes …
There are a lot of interjections from the Coalition and Milton Dick has to call for order.
Ryan continues:
The parliament does not need to hear the details of the alleged or prosecuted crimes of these individuals imposing these questions. It is unparliamentary and it is dog whistling.
Tony Burke also has a point of order about the interjections during Ryan’s point of order:
Particularly when members of the crossbench raise points of order, there is a level of aggression and shouting led by the leader of the opposition that is quite different to what I just got [when raising a point of order].
… The level of direct anger and aggression from the leader of the opposition is just out of control, every time there is a point of order from the cross bench. They have a right to raise these points of order.
Paul Fletcher is very cranky as he makes his OWN point of order, which is that the details in the questions are VERY relevant.
Firstly, everyone in this situation, certainly can be authenticated because they can be taken from decisions of the administrative appeals tribunal and are they necessary to make the question intelligible? Absolutely they are, in each case we have seen appalling acts of violence and it is going to the public policy question which needs to be determined.
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Dan Tehan is the latest on the direction 99 carousel and he again gives details (country of origin, crime etc) before ending with the same kicker we have heard for the past two days:
The Albanese Labor government is watering down the law and allowing criminals to stay in Australia making the country less safe. When will the Labor government apologise for this catastrophic mistake and revoke direction 99?
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Giles: ‘We have not been seeing common sense’ at AAT on visa decisions
There is another question about someone whose visa had been cancelled by Andrew Giles, who had it reinstated by the administrative appeals tribunal (AAT) and who had committed or was alleged to have committed crimes (the crimes or alleged crimes being focused on here are violence against women and children).
Andrew Giles says:
All of us here are concerned for the victims in these circumstances. That is why as the prime minister has said, and I have just outlined at some length, that we are introducing a new revised ministerial direction to ensure clear principles we have held for some time, protection of the community and common sense, will make decisions consistently at the AAT where we have not been seeing common sense.
Yesterday, members opposite had a say about that. They chose to vote to keep the AAT.
You may have noticed there is a sharpening of the messages when it comes to the AAT’s role in this. It started this morning with Clare O’Neil saying the tribunal’s decisions went against the government and community’s expectations, and now Giles have said those decisions did not contain “common sense”.
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Each one of the dixers are around veteran affairs and what has been done for veterans since the Albanese government came to power, in case you were wondering.
And it is across portfolios – even the PM has got in on the dixer action.
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Plibersek fields question from Katter on air quality and reduced carbon-based fuels
Bob Katter has just asked a question, and truly, I am at a complete loss as to what it was about.
There was some sort of walking stick involved, I think? Brazil was mentioned, I know that much.
Tanya Plibersek, match-fit from her regular “debate” with Barnaby Joyce on breakfast television, is a little more across what the member for Kennedy was asking about.
I understand the member for Kennedy is asking about air quality [and] the better air quality we would get with reduced carbon-based fuels.
The first thing I would say to him is, of course, that is exactly why [we] have introduced the vehicle emission [standards] … It is about cheap and efficient fuel use in vehicles, but also about air quality.
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Sussan Ley hasn’t had too many opportunities to Sussan Ley lately, but she takes one here:
I move an extension of time to give the minister time to apologise for the horrific abuses that have been described by the individual that he has let out on the streets.
Andrew Giles does not take up the offer.
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Giles targeted again with questions on visa cancellations
We are back to the non-government questions and it’s about … you guessed it, direction 99.
Andrew Giles is asked much the same question he was asked yesterday.
(The Australian newspaper ran each of the questions from the opposition and the response from Giles (it was the same response said in slightly different way), in a snazzy infographic if you need a catchup.)
Giles seems a little over all of it today:
Time after time [I] get questions from those opposite; one remains unanswered. The leader of the opposition is still yet to tell us why he, here, not a court or a tribunal, he released a detainee from detention who went on to allegedly commit a violent crime. When will he answer that question? The government continues to refuse and cancel visas on character grounds. I continue to cancel AAT set-asides, section 501 has not changed. The Albanese government has always said that visa decisions need to be guided by two clear principles.
Firstly the protection of the Australian community.
Secondly, common sense.
A number of recent AAT … decisions have not shown common sense. Yesterday, the parliament passed legislation to abolish the AAT and replace it with a new Administrative Review Tribunal.
… I will be updating ministerial direction 99, as the prime minister has just said. The new direction will ensure that all members of the ART will adopt a commonsense approach to visa decisions, consistent with the intent of ministerial direction 99.
First and foremost, this means ensuring that the protection of the community outweighs other considerations. This is always been the Albanese government’s highest priority. Consistent with this, Mr Speaker, and I hope members opposite will be interested in this, the revised direction will also strengthen the principles of community safety in the making of decisions. Including the impact that the decisions on the victim of crime and their family members. And it also strengthen the family violence provisions to reflect the government’s and Australians more broadly commitment to end violence against women and children.
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Veteran affairs minister defends budget’s increase to number of public servants
One of the criticisms from the opposition about the budget is that it set out an increase to the number of public servants.
The minister for veteran affairs, Matt Keogh, is running a defence on that in this dixer, where he explains how the veterans’ affairs department did not have enough staff to help veterans.
He said when Labor came to government, there was a backlog of claims stretching to more than 42,000 former ADF personnel.
It’s the processing of these backlog of claims that we inherited that means we are spending an additional $6.5bn over five years to give veterans the benefits that they deserve.
It’s why it is so concerning that some say the government should be cutting back on the staff it has, which would result in veterans getting benefits. This is not about politics. It’s about doing the right thing.
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ABF tells Senate at least two non-citizens convicted of murder or attempted murder do not have ankle bracelets
In Senate estimates, Australian Border Force officials have revealed that at least two people convicted of murder or attempted murder from the 153 non-citizens released by the high court ruling are not required to wear electronic monitoring ankle bracelets.
In February, it was revealed seven of the non-citizens in the NZYQ cohort had been convicted of murder or attempted murder. The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, asked how many of these seven were subject to electronic monitoring.
Vanessa Holben, the deputy commissioner regional operations, replied “less than five”. Paterson said it was “extraordinary” that this meant at least two people convicted of murder or attempted murder didn’t have electronic monitoring. Holben noted there were “a range” of other conditions to monitor them.
ABF commissioner, Michael Outram, said that the delegates’ decisions on curfews and ankle bracelets are made “judiciously and studiously” and consider a range of information, disputing the approach of looking at a criminal conviction and assuming they’re “all the same”. “Each case revolves on its own merits.”
Outram said ankle bracelets and curfews are not “a panacea” and the law does not require everyone with a particular type of offence must be subject to those conditions.
Paterson said “a murder is a murder” and demanded to know what possible extenuating circumstances could justify them not having ankle bracelets.
Outram said the offences “could be years ago”, and there was a “big difference between some murders and other murders”, differences in the “rehabilitation” or prospects of rehabilitation of the person, and the potential risk of reoffending.
Outram said he worried about the independence of decision-making, warning against putting decision-makers under such “external scrutiny that they cannot make decisions”, rejecting a “straw poll” of public input.
Earlier, Murray Watt said that it “might be easy” to quibble with the fact that less than half of the 153 now have curfews and electronic monitoring:
The way we have designed this regime is to ensure the best possible chance of [the regime] not being overturned by further high court challenge.
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Coalition continues question time attacks on Andrew Giles
We are straight into the questions and the theme of the opposition’s pursuit today is immediately clear with Peter Dutton’s first question: does Anthony Albanese have confidence in his immigration minister, Andrew Giles?
I do [is Albanese’s short answer].
Albanese:
The government continues to refuse and cancel visas on character grounds. Section 501 has not changed and I make this point: since coming to government we [have] deported over 4,200 individuals from immigration detention. In our first year of government the number of individuals we deported from immigration detention was almost double the number the previous government deported the year prior.
The AAT made a decision independently of government to overturn visa cancellations. As the minister has said he will be reviewing the recent AAT decisions.
Parliament yesterday passed legislation abolishing the AAT and replacing it with a new administrative review tribunal. The only effective way of ensuring the tribunal members are making better decisions is to issue a new revised direction which the minister will be doing. The new directive will ensure that the protection [of the community] outweighs any other consideration.
There are heaps of interjections and then Anthony Albanese moves on to Peter Dutton’s history and everyone gets even louder.
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ONI ‘stretched’ by scale of security threats
The Office of National Intelligence was ordered by the Albanese government to conduct a climate threat assessment shortly after the election, but the government has refused to release a declassified version of that report.
At the estimates hearing, David Shoebridge asked a series of questions about a recent report by the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group, called Too hot to handle: the scorching reality of Australia’s climate-security failure.
He asked whether rapid climate change would have an impact on how northern bases operate as extreme heat and weather made itself felt across the region.
ONI boss, Andrew Shearer, said he accepted it was “potentially a significant issue”, adding:
The impact of climate on our northern bases is a matter for Defence, senator. We are monitoring the climate change issue in its complexity. It’s a priority for us, as I said, and it has many implications for national security and extending beyond national security.
Shearer said he had a team of analysts who worked on climate and energy issues, but he declined to reveal the size of that team.
Asked about ONI’s resources, Shearer said his agency – like other agencies in the national intelligence community – was “stretched by the number and the complexity of the threats and challenges we’re facing, including climate change”.
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Australian intelligence agency first advised government on fossil fuel threat in 1981
The head of the Office of National Intelligence, Andrew Shearer, has been questioned at Senate estimates about the security threats posed by the climate crisis.
Shearer made mention of ONI’s predecessor agency, the Office of National Assessments. He said he was “quite proud of our track record on the climate issue”, saying that the agency first “first wrote on fossil fuels and the greenhouse effect in 1981”.
That prompted the Greens senator David Shoebridge to observe “if only people had listened – the government had listened” to that advice.
Shearer said:
I can’t comment on how our product is received.
Update: My colleague, Graham Readfearn, wrote the following piece about this 1981 work:
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The 90-second statements (airing of the grievances/“aren’t community groups great?” statements) are under way in the house, which means QT is just about to begin. We’ll head into the chamber.
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Eastern and northern suburbs of Sydney to account for 41% of new homes by 2029, Minns announces
Councils in Sydney’s eastern and northern suburbs will be responsible for delivering 41% of new homes in the city over the next five years under “fairer” housing targets announced by the Minns government.
The government needs to build 377,000 new homes across the state by 2029 in order to meet its obligations under the national housing accord.
The premier, Chris Minns, is speaking at an event in Sydney hosted by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, where he released each council’s share of the new homes and a “roadmap” towards meeting the targets.
Minns said:
They’re going to be hard to meet. The map is an important exercise because it starts to rebalance Sydney from greenfield to almost exclusively brownfield development.
For a long time, western Sydney has accepted the overwhelming burden of new growth and as a result social infrastructure has had to stretch.
Under the targets, 82% of new homes would be built in established infill areas and 18% would be built in undeveloped greenfield locations.
Under the targets, 107,100 new homes would be built in Sydney’s east and north, 97,200 homes built in the city’s “central” local government areas such as Parramatta and 59,100 homes built in western suburbs LGAs such as Penrith.
On the Central Coast, 9,400 new homes would be built, while there would be 18,880 homes built in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven, 30,400 homes in Greater Newcastle and 55,000 across the rest of regional NSW.
Minns has also announced a $200m incentive scheme for councils that meet and beat the new housing targets.
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Australia faces ‘serious and sustained threat’ from foreign spies, intelligence boss says
The head of the Office of National Intelligence, Andrew Shearer, has told a Senate estimates hearing that Australia faces “a serious and sustained threat” from foreign spies, including but not exclusively from China’s intelligence services.
Shearer was asked about a claim made by one speaker at a defence conference organised by the Australian newspaper yesterday about the number of spies from China potentially operating in Australia.
Shearer – a former adviser to conservative prime ministers who retained his role at the head of the intelligence community when Labor took office – said the question was better directed to the domestic spy agency Asio and he couldn’t get into “classified details”. But Shearer told the Senate committee:
It is clear that there is a serious and sustained threat to us from foreign intelligence services including China’s – but not only China’s, but a number of others – as outlined in the director general for security’s annual threat assessment.
Asked by the Coalition’s Simon Birmingham to describe the tempo of military activity across the Indo-Pacific region by China’s People’s Liberation Army, Shearer said:
PLA military activity continues across the Indo-Pacific region at a high tempo.
We certainly see a significant PLA military and paramilitary presence around Taiwan as part of Beijing’s pressure campaign to cow Taiwan into compliance, and we also see a concerning range of interception activities both at sea and in the air of Australian and other ships and aircraft.
And finally we see a continuing heavy military and paramilitary presence by the PLA, both naval and air forces, in the South China Sea, for sample at Second Thomas Shoal, where they have been interfering with the Philippines’ legitimate resupply operations.
Shearer said the PLA was bringing more and more military platforms into service, and also coastguard and other paramilitary vessels, “and there are more of them, operating in our region, on a more sustained basis”.
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There is less than 30 minutes until question time, so get what you need to be comfortable.
Or whatever it is you need to endure it. Same thing, really.
Taxpayers foot $1,889 restaurant bill for Airservices Australia executives’ dinner
Eleven public servants who are paid an average salary of $400,000 charged taxpayers almost $2,000 for dinner and alcohol at a Canberra restaurant in February.
The $1,889 restaurant bill claimed by executives of Airservices Australia – the government agency charged with air traffic control in Australia and which has come under intense scrutiny in recent years for workplace bullying, staff shortages and related delays and cancellations to flights – was revealed during Senate estimates on Wednesday.
CEO Jason Harfield, who endured hours of grilling on Wednesday in what are his final days in the role after the government decided not to renew his term, responded to questions from Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie about the dinner.
Harfield said that while the dinner on 7 February was to farewell one of the agency’s managers, it was standard practice in that the executives routinely held a dinner at a restaurant after their monthly meetings where managers meet in Canberra, and that claiming alcohol at these dinners was also standard.
McKenzie noted that the average spend per head at the dinner was about $171, and asked Harfield – who has previously told estimates his salary has been about $950,000 – what the average salary of his fellow diners would have been. He replied: “Let’s just say an average of $400,000.”
McKenzie replied: “On average, 11 people earning over $400,000 a year having a free dinner thanks to the taxpayer, thank you.”
Earlier on in the estimates appearance, Harfield conceded that staffing shortages at Airservices Australia had been responsible for “a major portion” of cancellations that airlines had been forced to make, but that the agency had been improving so far in 2024.
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EU invites Australia to attend peace summit on Russia-Ukraine conflict
AAP has reported that the European Union wants Australia to attend a peace summit in Switzerland to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ambassadors from the EU and member states issued the call to Australia’s foreign affairs department on Tuesday, a European official confirmed.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is yet to decide on attending the mid-June summit, his department’s deputy secretary Graham Fletcher told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday.
“The invitation has been received and it’s under consideration,” Fletcher said.
“An announcement will be made in due course.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs has been contacted for comment.
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Ups and downs of parliamentary life revealed
For a little bit of light relief, we will take you to the Parliament House foyer, where former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack is speaking to schoolchildren who are touring the building.
Paul Karp stopped to listen and heard McCormack impart the sort of knowledge you can only learn from someone who has spent 14 years in the parliament, learning its secrets intimately.
Elevators generally go to the next floor or, dare I say, down to the basement and car park.
There is just something about the tours former National leaders give to school children visiting Parliament House – I remember Daniel Hurst reporting Barnaby Joyce asking a group of tiny children in December 2022:
Who used to be the deputy prime minister of Australia? Me!
They looked as impressed as you could imagine, from memory.
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Pocock says new environment bill ‘bureaucracy for bureaucracy’s sake’
Back to the government’s coming battle over its environment legislation (and a little inception blog moment), key Senate crossbencher David Pocock has also announced his reservations, agreeing with the Climate Council’s assessment of the bill.
Without first fixing our broken environmental laws, the new EPA will just be bureaucracy for bureaucracy’s sake with no added protection for nature.
Hard agree with @JR_Rayner from @climatecouncil's assessment here.
— David Pocock (@DavidPocock) May 29, 2024
Without first fixing our broken environmental laws, the new EPA will just be bureaucracy for bureaucracy's sake with no added protection for Nature. pic.twitter.com/sdeO0cdhIe
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Angus Taylor expresses himself on inflation
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has responded to the inflation numbers, and he also has thoughts, feelings, emotions:
This is the consequence of the Albanese Labor government’s confused economic priorities.
Under Labor, we’ve seen a collapse in Australians’ standard of living and productivity. Australian households are in a recession.
But instead of reining in spending and getting government out of the way, the Albanese Labor government has been doing the opposite.
Our economy is suffering from a weak prime minister and weak treasurer who have no vision for Australia’s future.
(It is worth pointing out that the ABS noted that without some of that spending (the energy rebate) energy prices would have been even higher. It is also worth keeping an eye on the sluggish economy and what further spending cuts could mean for the spending habits of an already under pressure working population.)
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The CSIRO has no doubts that its numbers on nuclear power are correct.
As Graham Readfearn reports:
The CSIRO says it stands by its analysis on the costs of future nuclear power plants in Australia after the Coalition attacked the work, which contradicted its claims reactors would provide cheap electricity and be available within a decade.
This will no doubt create lots of thoughts for the Coalition’s nuclear spokesperson, Ted O’Brien, whose feelings for nuclear could power this nation into 2050 and beyond, if only they could be harnessed as an energy source.
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Just in light of some of the debate in the House of Representatives today, with Spain, Norway and Ireland recognising Palestinian statehood overnight that makes 145 of the 195 UN member states that have recognised Palestine.
Here is German new outlet DW News showing what that looks like on a map:
Spain, Norway, and Ireland became the most recent countries to recognize Palestinian statehood, drawing anger from Israel. https://t.co/aTasoEhklR pic.twitter.com/NW0tfZ1u0N
— DW News (@dwnews) May 29, 2024
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Greens say Labor has ‘sold out the environment’ in new bill
The Greens have officially responded to Labor’s latest environment legislation and as expected, the party is not impressed. If the Coalition say no to negotiations on this (which looks like happening), Labor will have to convince the Greens and the crossbench to come to the Senate voting party with them, and so far that is also not looking like happening.
Sarah Hanson-Young:
It’s a terrible day for nature as the Labor government has sold out the environment in favour of the bulldozers, the chainsaws and the fossil fuel polluters.
Today the Albanese government confirmed that from now until the election they will continue to approve the destruction and pollution that threatens koalas and puts our kids’ future of a safe climate at risk.
What’s been put on the table won’t save our wildlife, won’t stop native forest logging and won’t stop the expansion of climate-wrecking coal and gas mines.
The reason mining corporations are crowing and environment groups are furious today is because Labor has caved-in to the logging and mining lobby who want faster and easier approvals for their destructive projects. Our environment will pay the price.
The Greens are now also running a tally on fossil fuel approvals and say:
Since coming into office the Albanese government has approved five new coal mines. Eight gas mines have also been approved on their watch.
There are currently 148 proposals to destroy koala habitat in the pipeline.
There are about 117 fossil fuel mines in the pipeline.
740 fossil fuel projects have been approved under the current laws
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GetUp has created what it is calling a “cost of living map” with the aim of highlighting what the inflation figures actually mean to people’s lives.
The group’s chief campaigns officer, Amy Gordon, said CPI wasn’t just numbers.
Every day, Australians are making heartbreaking decisions about whether to pay the rent, buy groceries or keep the lights on. These aren’t just statistics – they are real stories of hardship and resilience.
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Dozens of detainees released after high court ruling charged, ABF says
At Senate estimates the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, has confirmed with Australian Border Force (ABF) officials that 10 people charged with visa breaches before a fault in Bridging Visa Rs was discovered on 12 March have had charges against them dropped.
Since then, the ABF reveals that five people in the NZYQ cohort (non-citizens released as a result of the high court’s ruling on indefinite detention) have been charged with breaches of harsh new visa conditions (curfews and electronic monitoring).
Vanessa Holben, the deputy commissioner regional operations, revealed that 29 individuals in the NZYQ cohort had been charged with alleged breaches of state and territory offences.
Holben said the offences included:
19 alleged thefts
11 alleged assaults
Nine alleged drug possession offences
Seven alleged breaches of bail conditions
Five alleged breach of child protection orders
Categories with fewer than five charges included alleged: act of indecency, blackmail, breach of domestic violence order, breach of police order, breach of state monitoring, criminal damage, driving while unlicensed, drug driving, impersonating a police officer, kidnapping, outstanding warrant, resist arrest, robbery, stalking, threat to kill, threat to sexual offence, trespass and weapon possession.
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Education minister quizzed on Giles
Jason Clare had an earlier press conference which was meant to be about the commonwealth prac payment (where students in nursing and education will receive pay while completing the practical elements of their degrees) but all the questions were about Andrew Giles.
Q: Why shouldn’t Andrew Giles be fired?
Clare: The minister has made it clear that the decision of the AAT doesn’t meet community expectations. Serious criminals to be deported. And it’s worth making the point that ministers in this government, in the first two years of this government, have cancelled the visas of more serious offenders than the previous government did in their last two years. The AAT made the decision to overturn the cancellation of visas. I can’t speak to individual cases here but do want to underline the point that the minister’s made, that he’s asked the department to quickly review those decisions.
Q: The department has admitted responsibility, but doesn’t the buck stop with the minister?
Clare: The department recognised they didn’t brief the minister properly and that they will correct that. That’s the right thing to do.
Q: The case of the foreign criminal stating this is a direct result of minister Giles’ Direction 99. Does that direction meet community standards? And wouldn’t you think it’s time for minister Giles to stand aside?
Clare: That direction sets out a number of things that the tribunal needs to consider, including the seriousness of the offence. The minister has made the point. Let me make the point again that the decision of the tribunal does not meet community expectations. If you’re a serious offender, you’d want them deported out of Australia. The minister’s made that point. I make that point as well.
Q: So why not revoke that direction? Don’t you think he should?
Clare: The minister has said that the decision of the tribunal doesn’t meet community expectations. He’s now working with his department on reviewing those decisions.
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Ayres jousts with Birmingham at hearing
A heated encounter in Senate estimates just now, as assistant minister Tim Ayres and opposition senate leader Simon Birmingham square off over migration – with the government claiming the opposition was seeking “controversy” as its tactic.
The prime minister’s department is currently appearing before the finance and public admin committee. Birmingham asked whether PM Albanese had been briefed, or sought briefings, on the controversial “ministerial decision 99” made by immigration minister Andrew Giles, which is at the centre of visa cases where serious criminals got their visas back.
Ayres was unhappy at the line of questioning from Birmingham, who questioned why the PM hadn’t sought such briefings on the matter currently engulfing the government in controversy. Ayres pointed to the Labor government’s record and statistics on deportations, saying:
I understand the political, partisan, relentlessly partisan approach, as you just indicated. Controversy is a victory for this opposition.
It all comes undone when you’re subject to any level of scrutiny, Mr Dutton’s…”
Birmingham then cut across, sternly advising: “If you want the day to blow out, you’ll conduct yourself like you’re conducting yourself now. Will we have this kind of answer every time?”
Ayres:
My mother used to say, ‘Tim, I can read you like a book, and a bloody boring book it is too.’ You could see yesterday, the behaviour of this group dragging proceedings out. You could see it all through the day. If it’s going to happen again, we’ll deal with it the same way.
Birmingham:
Can I seek an answer to the question I asked? Which through the many minutes of Labor talking points you completely dodged around.
Ayres answered that the government would “continue to work through the issues” on migration.
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For those who didn’t have the chamber on this morning, here is what Adam Bandt said in the Greens’ bid to have the house recognise the state of Palestine. (Along with some of Tim Watts’ response.)
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National parks chief to plead guilty over Kakadu sacred site damage
The director of National Parks has confirmed he will plead guilty to criminal proceedings before the Northern Territory’s local court on behalf of the organisation over damage caused to a sacred site in Kakadu national park in 2019.
It comes after the high court ruled that the commonwealth government can be held criminally liable for damages to Indigenous sacred sites.
Ricky Archer, the first First Nations man to take the role of director of National Parks, wrote in a statement announcing that he would plead guilty that since taking the role in November last year he had been committed to resolving the matter and repairing relationships with Traditional Owners.
The case centres on damage to Gunlom Falls in Kakadu national park after a walkway was built too close to a sacred men’s site. The damage occurred in 2019, before Archer took on the role.
Archer said he was deeply sorry for the wrongs of the past, adding Parks Australia’s focus now was to work with Traditional Owners, the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA), and the Northern Land Council (NLC) on next steps for the site. He said work had been done over the past two years to realign the walking track..
Archer said in a statement:
Again, I regret and am sorry for the upset caused to Traditional Owners. I would like to reassure all of Kakadu’s Traditional Owners, the Gunlom Aboriginal Land Trust, and the Kakadu National Park Board of Management, that the lessons learned from this situation will improve how Parks Australia plans and executes projects. This includes how Parks Australia works with the NLC and AAPA to facilitate consultation around projects, to ensure something like this never happens again.
More on the high courts decision here:
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Food, housing, power prices on the rise
You may have read some of the economists’ predictions on inflation going down and thought – well that doesn’t feel right, because it still feels like everything in the essentials basket is going up.
If you did have those thoughts, it is not in your head.
The ABS also reports:
Housing rose 4.9% in the 12 months to April, down from 5.2% in March. Rents increased 7.5% for the year, reflecting a tight rental market and low vacancy rates across the country.
New dwelling prices rose 4.9% over the year, with builders passing higher costs for labour and materials on to the consumer. Annual price growth for new dwellings has been around 5% since August 2023.
Electricity prices rose 4.2% in the 12 months to April. The introduction of the energy bill relief fund rebates from July last year has mostly offset electricity price rises from annual price reviews in July 2023 due to higher wholesale prices (although without the rebates from the government, that increase would have been 13.9%).
Annual inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages rose to 3.8% in April, up from 3.5% in March. All food categories except meat and seafood contributed to the annual rise.
Fruit and vegetable prices have recorded their largest annual rise since April last year. This reflects unfavourable weather conditions leading to a reduced supply of berries, bananas and vegetables, such as lettuce and broccoli.
Updated
Inflation rise defies expectations
Annual inflation had been at 3.5% in March, but in April it rose to 3.6%.
Michelle Marquardt, the head of ABS head of prices statistics, said it was the second month in a row where there had been a slight increase. (Economists had expected a slight decrease.)
Marquardt said:
CPI inflation is often impacted by items with volatile price changes like automotive fuel, fruit and vegetables, and holiday travel. It can be helpful to exclude these items from the headline CPI to provide a view of underlying inflation.
When excluding these volatile items from the monthly CPI indicator, the annual rise to April was steady at 4.1%. Annual inflation excluding volatile items remains higher than for the monthly CPI indicator.
Updated
The ABS has reported on the monthly inflation figures – inflation increased by 0.1%
The monthly CPI indicator rose 3.6% in the 12 months to April.
The most significant price rises were housing (up 4.9%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (3.8%), alcohol and tobacco (6.5%) and transport (4.2%).
Updated
Norway parallels in house debate on Palestinian state
Back to the parliament and revisiting this morning’s issue of Palestinian recognition - in responding to the government’s claim the attempt to suspend standing orders was a “stunt” - the Greens argue the motion would have sent an important signal and build momentum. The Greens point out that Norway’s formal recognition of Palestine yesterday followed a parliamentary vote to that effect last November.
In that case, the Norwegian parliament’s motion was framed in a way that left it in the hands of the government. It asked the Norwegian government “to be ready to recognise Palestine as an independent state when recognition could have a positive impact on the peace process, without making a final peace accord a condition”. It was reported at the time that this motion was drafted by the ruling coalition to counteract a proposal by smaller parties to call for immediate recognition.
The Greens’ attempted motion today was definitive: “That this House [of Representatives] recognise the State of Palestine.”
The Greens argue that the government’s stalling on the issue is contrary to the Labor party platform line that recognising Palestine would be “an important priority” for a Labor government.
Updated
WA Labor moves to tighten gun laws
In Western Australia, the police minister, Paul Papalia, says the legislation before the WA parliament to change the state’s gun laws will have immediate impacts:
When that law becomes effective, we will remove 1,000 firearms licences from people who currently have them. We would take them off them.
It is part of what we are doing.
It would not have impacted [Mark Bombara] on Thursday because he had not at that point done anything to allow us to apply the law. But it would allow us to apply to [take guns from] around 100 [family and domestic violence] offenders.
They still have their guns under the current laws.
The gun laws passing through parliament right now will make the community safer. They will not necessarily stop every incident, will not necessarily have stopped that [Bombara’s] incident, but we were not writing this law for Friday.
This law began to be written two years ago. If you consider what has happened in just the last seven years since we have been in government … there have been, on average – this is on average – four people a year shot dead, murdered with a gun in WA over the last seven years. A number of those murders are committed by licensed firearms owners.
Updated
Australian aid team lands in PNG after deadly landslide
AAP has an update on the Australian disaster assistance team which has been sent to Papua New Guinea to help in the aftermath of the devastating landslide that may have killed up to 2,000 people in the country’s remote north.
An Australian disaster assistance team has landed in Papua New Guinea after a devastating landslide believed to have killed thousands.
An RAAF Hercules plane transported the Australian team, which specialises in incident control and logistics, Pacific Minister Pat Conroy said.
I’m afraid to say we’re mainly in the territory of retrieving bodies rather than saving people,” he told Sky News on Wednesday.
What we’ve got is 160 buildings across a few villages are wiped out under a landslide that’s buried them six to eight metres deep.
The site is still very unstable with more landslides occurring.”
Around 8000 people have been displaced due to the landslide, Mr Conroy said, as he confirmed 750 large family shelters had been transported up to the province along with food, water and sanitation.
We’ve got 77 pallets going on RAAF aircraft that we’ve transported from our emergency warehouse in Port Moresby up to Mount Hagen today as well,” he said.
So we are pouring huge resources into this to support what is a very grim situation.”
Updated
The WA police minister says he was not aware of everything which Ariel Bombara had raised in her statement yesterday:
We had not heard some of the things in the statement. He [the police commissioner] has directed an investigation, which is the right thing to do. What we saw on Friday was a horrific double homicide and suicide. The immediate response of police and the focus [following that] was to make it safe, secure the crime scene and commence an investigation. They did that.
What happened prior to the event and seven weeks in advance of the event will be subject to further inquiries now, an investigation, and that is right, the normal process. but in light of what the statement says, the commissioner has directed a specific investigation into contact between the police and Ariel Bombara and her mother, but we should wait and see what that finds.
Updated
The WA police minister, Paul Papalia, is speaking to media about the review into the police response to Ariel Bombara’s and her mother’s warnings over Mark Bombara, ahead of a double murder in Perth last week.
Papalia says:
As I understand it, the police were approached by Ariel Bombara and her mother and what they reported did not meet the threshold for application of a police order.
I have said, and as a consequence, as I said on Monday, the premier has asked the police commissioner and me to look at that.
My personal view is there is a need to lower the threshold and move into the space of where there is an acrimonious breakup and there are known to be guns involved, move very quickly to remove those guns.
We need to change the law because the current low is what dictates the process. That is what dictated what happened here and it is inadequate. I have acknowledged and why we have new laws but in this particular case, with respect to removal of firearms in an acrimonious breakup, I think we need to move earlier. I’ve asked the police to provide us with a submission to potentially move amendments to the current going through the parliament, so while in the parliament we can amend it to specifically target that challenge.
It will upset some people because we will be moving very early, at the very first contact potentially by someone in an acrimonious breakup where there are firearms involved …that will remove any discretion or concern around subjectivity around the process from the police.
Updated
Given the swift condemnation of the latest environmental protection bills the Labor government has introduced into the parliament, it’s worth having a re-read of Adam Morton’s recent column on what is happening in Australia at the moment when it comes to climate and environment.
Updated
Labor’s environment bill prompts fierce debate at hearing
As the government introduces legislation to create Environment Protection Australia - a national EPA - there have been fiery exchanges in a Senate estimates committee over Labor repeatedly delaying the introduction of new environment laws.
The Coalition’s Jonno Duniam and the Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young criticised the government for failing to deliver on a commitment by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, that new laws would be introduced last year.
The overhaul of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act has since been delayed indefinitely, with no guarantee it will happen before the election.
Officials told the environment estimates hearing the law reform that everyone involved - politicians, conservationists, business, scientists - agree is needed would happen “as soon as possible”.
Duniam quoted Plibersek at the National Press Club in July 2022, when she said the country couldn’t “waste another minute” in improving failing environmental laws. He said this was an admirable goal but the commitment had “proven to be utterly worthless”.
Hanson-Young said “as soon as possible” was not a timeframe, and that the government had effectively “dumped” its commitment to rewrite the laws and re-branded part of the environment department as an EPA.
Labor’s Jenny McAllister, representing Plibersek, said environmental law reform had been broken into three stages. The first stage - including strengthening a water trigger applied to fossil fuel proposals - was introduced last year. The second stage - creating an EPA - was introduced today.
McAllister said timing of the third stage - re-writing the laws - would depend on “some level of agreement” between business and environment organisations during ongoing consultation.
Updated
Snap analysis: why Labor isn't ready to recognise a Palestinian state yet
Let’s briefly analyse what happened in the House of Representatives this morning, from a procedural perspective.
The vote was not directly about whether Australia, in principle, will recognise the state of Palestine (the Australian Labor government’s position is that it is prepared to do so when it judges it will best contribute to peace and give momentum to a two-state solution; the government no longer views recognition of Palestinian statehood as something that can only be done at the very end of a peace process).
The 80-5 vote was about whether to suspend standing orders, in other words interrupt the normal business of parliament, in order to debate the Greens’ motion on the topic. The motion that the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, wanted to move was very tightly worded: “That this house recognise the State of Palestine.”
Apart from anything else, it’s worth noting that it is normally the government of Australia that would be responsible for deciding on diplomatic relations with other countries, not something for one chamber of parliament to declare.
Earlier this month, Australia voted in favour of a motion at the UN general assembly to extend observer rights to the Palestinian mission and in principle for it to be given full UN membership status (although this can only occur with the UN security council’s approval, where it faces a US veto). The Australian government said one reason it took this step was because the UN general assembly resolution reaffirmed the international community’s unwavering support for a two-state solution of Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security within recognised borders.
But the Australian government does not appear to be in a rush to follow Ireland, Spain and Norway, which formally recognised Palestine yesterday, as it is holding out for further reforms of the Palestinian Authority (which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and is dominated by Fatah, a rival to Hamas). Labor also says more immediate priorities are the release of hostages held in Gaza and achieving a ceasefire.
Nonetheless, Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration in January that he would not compromise on full Israeli security control west of the Jordan River has been a trigger for western countries including Australia to consider new approaches to try to kickstart momentum for a two-state solution.
At the very end of his speech to the lower house this morning, assistant foreign minister Tim Watts had a message for two audiences. In addition to saying the Palestinian Authority must reform and show a commitment to peace, Watts warned that “Israel cannot continue to take unilateral actions to entrench the occupation and to prevent a viable Palestinian state”.
Updated
Australia rejects 4,614 visitor visa applications by Palestinians
Home affairs department officials have revealed that 4,614 Palestinians have been denied visitor visas to Australia.
David Shoebridge notes this is a significant increase on statistics in March, which officials explained is because they prioritised those with family in Australia, and the more recent applications being processed are therefore from those with no significant links to Australia.
Shoebridge suggests people are seeking temporary refuge from an alleged genocide and are being denied it.
Officials note requirements include that they must be satisfied the stay is genuinely temporary, which we reported in April is the main reason for these refusals.
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president, Nasser Mashni, said at that time it “beggars belief” that the Australian government was rejecting some visa applications “while implying that it believes people won’t leave Australia because of how unbearably oppressive and dangerous the Israeli government has made life for Palestinians”.
Home Affairs confirmed this morning that ZERO humanitarian visas have been granted to ppl fleeing Gaza.
— David Pocock (@DavidPocock) May 29, 2024
Only tourist visas are being offered.
Of the 2,191 ppl here on a tourist visa, only SIX have been granted a bridging visa with work & medicare rights. pic.twitter.com/2wdfhDbLa5
Murray Watt said the government was obliged to do health and security checks and apply the usual probity around them being genuinely temporary visitors.
Shoebridge said visitors shouldn’t have to “falsely assert they are a tourist” to seek refuge in Australia, calling for a “genuine humanitarian visa option for Palestinians fleeing the genocide in Gaza”. He called for the same deal for Gazans as Ukrainians.
Correction: a previous version of this post said 14,614 visas had been rejected. There was a typo which added an additional digit. It is 4,614 visas. We apologise for the confusion.
Updated
Community groups pan Labor’s environment bill
Community groups, including Lock the Gate, 350.org and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, are also less than impressed with the government’s new environmental protection bills.
A joint statement said the new EPA would “do nothing to prevent coal and gas expansions and is a cynical distraction from Labor’s reneging on a promised overhaul of Australia’s John Howard-era environment laws”.
The groups don’t like what they describe as the EPA’s limited powers, lack of influence over decision making and what they call “worrying provisions” where project proponents could prevent the government “stopping the clock” on decisions even when not enough information has been provided.
Australian Youth Climate Coalition spokesperson Grace Vegesana said
Most of our members weren’t even born when Australia’s current environment laws were drafted. Ironically, it’s our generation that is going to have to clean up the mess that the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis already has in store for us.
This EPA bill is yet another distraction the Albanese government is using to delay real action on climate change.
Updated
For those who missed it yesterday, this is what Penny Wong had to say in estimates about the Israeli assault on the Rafah refugee tent camp:
Updated
Climate Council calls Plibersek’s new bill ‘a waste of time’
And right on cue – the Climate Council has responded to Tanya Plibersek’s new legislation – and it is not a fan either.
The council’s head of policy and advocacy, Dr Jennifer Rayner, said:
Establishing the new Environment Protection Agency without fixing our broken national environment law is like planting seeds in barren soil – a waste of time.
The EPA will be administering the same broken law that has waved through at least 740 fossil fuel projects to date; the same law that has overseen the clearing of millions of hectares of precious habitat. If our national environment law isn’t fixed, we’ll just see the same bad decisions announced on a different letterhead.
Rayner said Plibersek’s announcement of “yet more consultation” means the reform is “treading water”.
To make consultation constructive and meaningful, the government needs to be clear about where it is heading - will they finally put climate in this law?
NSW and Queensland are showing how it’s done by putting climate pollution front and centre in their project assessments, and making companies explain how they’re dealing with their harmful climate pollution. The Albanese government can and must do this too.
To protect our environment and a safe future for our kids, we need a stronger national environment law – not a better rubber stamp for more coal and gas.
Updated
Here is the official statement on the legislation Tanya Plibersek has just introduced in the house which will establish an environment protection agency:
Delivering on our election commitment, Environment Protection Australia will be a tough cop on the beat. It will be able to issue stop-work orders to prevent serious environmental damage and proactively audit business to ensure they’re doing the right thing.
The Nature Positive (Environment Protection Australia) Bill 2024 is the heart of the second stage of our Nature Positive plan – delivering reforms that benefit both nature and business.
Environment and water minister Tanya Plibersek will ask the new EPA to examine illegal land clearing and offset conditions as a priority, after a recent audit found one in seven developments could be in breach of their offset conditions.
Penalties will be increased to align maximum fines with punishments for serious financial offences. Courts would also be able to impose fines of up to $780 million or send people to prison for up to seven years for extremely serious intentional breaches of federal environment law.
Getting this through the parliament is not going to be smooth. The Coalition are not fans, and the Greens don’t think it goes far enough, meaning negotiations are going to be a little tense when it comes to the Senate. And as always, the Senate is where all the action is on bills like this.
The Greens have already signalled they will be getting very serious about things like the gas strategy when it comes to talking to the government about legislation, as the party sees it all as one big package – meaning the Greens believe the government can not seperate environmental protection measures from support for fossil fuel projects.
Updated
Incoming GG to meet King Charles at Buckingham Palace today
Incoming governor general Sam Mostyn is meeting King Charles today in London, the GG’s office has told Senate estimates.
Liberal senator Dean Smith is asking the GG’s official secretary, Paul Singer, about the governor general-designate. Mostyn, the respected business leader and gender equality advocate, will begin in the role on 1 July. Singer said Mostyn was meeting Charles at Buckingham Palace today, and that outgoing GG David Hurley would meet the King in July after he leaves office.
Smith joked that Mostyn should discuss the official photo of King Charles in their meeting.
Singer said “planning continues for a possible royal visit” later this year, but could not reveal any specific details and referred more questions to the prime minister’s department. He said issues around Charles’ health were a factor in planning and there should be no “expectations” placed on any forthcoming visit.
Singer praised the David Hurley as providing a “calm, reassuring and compassionate presence” over his five years as governor general. Hurley has conducted more than 3,600 official engagement, delivered 762 speeches and welcomed 133,000 visitors to Government House and Admiralty House.
Singer said Hurley had also experienced “countless quiet moments with Australians in time of need”, noting his visits to communities such as Kangaroo Island and Lismore after natural disasters.
Updated
That discussion went a little bit further there:
Paterson:
Process broke down in 2023 was due to a policy change in
2014. Why for many years was it able to notify in usual way, but in 2023 it broke down?
Foster:
That was not my evidence. My evidence was about the pressures that were in that area and it was not specific to this particular process. It was a team that had been under significant pressure for a long time, because it had been operating with a budget not suited to functions it needed to fulfil.
Updated
Home affairs chief suggests Coalition policy shift strained department
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson has asked how the home affairs department prioritised its resources after departmental secretary Stephanie Foster explained that when she joined the department in 2022, it didn’t have enough money to fulfil what was being asked of it.
Foster says when she joined the department in late 2022, she found there was “a quite significant mismatch between allocated budgets, people actually working in the areas and the overall budget that we had to work within”.
Paterson presses her to explain what was more important than notifying the minister of cases of people whose visas were about to be cancelled by the AAT.
Foster then suggests a policy change of the then Coalition government was what put the department under so much strain.
One of the issues which put this team under significant pressure was the policy change in 2014 towards mandatory cancellations, which I understand was done at the time.
Paterson doesn’t like this response.
What, nine years prior is the cause of this problem in 2023? Surely not, secretary?
Foster asks him to please let her finish, and says:
The pressure that this area was under in a resource sense actually stemmed from that time when that policy change was made, as I understand it, without additional resources allocated either at a government or a departmental level.
Paterson is not satisfied with her answer and says the department had managed to prioritise cases for eight years and asks what changed in 2023 to prompt the new protocol about triaging cases to the minister.
But committee chair and Labor senator Nita Green pulls him up. She’s been trying to tell him his time is up but he asked another question, so he gets a reprimand.
Do not speak over me today,” Green says.
And she says his allocated time is up for now, and begins asking her own questions.
Updated
Watt confirms Labor may amend visa cancellation order
Labor’s Murray Watt, representing the immigration and home affairs minister, has confirmed the government is considering amending ministerial direction 99 on visa cancellation.
Watt told Senate estimates that cases where non-citizens with serious criminal convictions got their visas back were “not in line with the government’s intention”.
Watt noted the government was advised it “would be unlikely that this change to the direction would result in people committing serious offences being able to have their visa cancellation overturned”.
That’s what has happened – it’s not in line with government policy, and not in line with community expectations either.
The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, grilled him about whether the government would amend direction 99.
Watt said he was confident that ministers “are giving it active consideration”.
I’m confident ministers will be considering these issues now that they’ve come to light. I know they’ve been considering it over the last couple of days, now that they know what the situation is.
Updated
Australia still waiting for official portrait of King Charles
Alas, it seems the Palace hasn’t issued the official portrait of the regent, so no one has received their free King Charles portrait as yet.
for all the royal heads - Governor-General's office tells Senate estimates Australia is still waiting for an official portrait of King Charles, so it can be distributed to citizens through the free "nationhood material program"
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) May 28, 2024
hoping for a photo "ASAP"https://t.co/VaX24yEZi6
Australia is still waiting for an official portrait of King Charles, Senate estimates has heard, further delaying a little-known federal program which distributes free photos of the monarch to interested citizens.
The governor general’s office is before the finance and public administration committee this morning. Straight off the top, LNP senator James McGrath asked the GG’s official secretary, Paul Singer, about whether Australia has yet received its official portrait of King Charles.
Earlier this year we reported that the photo hadn’t yet come through. There had been an interim portrait provided, which could be used at public events as needed, but the government was still waiting for the official one to arrive. Constituents can request “approved official portraits” of the monarch, which they can get from their local MP – but the absence of the official photo means that program has been backed up.
McGrath, the Queensland senator, said he was “getting a number of requests for the portrait” from his constituents. Singer said there had been engagements with Buckingham Palace “in very recent times” about getting the new Charles photo taken. It’s unclear why the process has taken so long.
Its been pressed upon the palace the importance of the nationhood material program and the interest of having a photo of his and her majesty being available to the public for that purpose.
Singer believed the photos would be scheduled “as soon as possible”, expecting it to be “imminent”.
Updated
House votes down debate on recognising Palestinian state
The vote went as predicted – 80 noes to five ayes.
Andrew Wilkie voted with the Greens.
The chamber has moved on to Tanya Plibersek introducing the nature positive legislation, which will set up an environmental protection agency.
Updated
Bob Katter wants to have his say. But under the standing orders, the time for the suspension of standing order debate is up and the division must be held.
The chamber divides.
‘This motion runs contrary to the traditions of Australian foreign policy’ – Leeser
Liberal MP Julian Leeser says the Coalition is also against the motion and launches into the Greens:
The member for Melbourne’s motion undermines the work of peacemakers on the ground and rewards those who choose violence over negotiation.
The motion comes at a time that sends a message that Hamas violent terrorist attacks, it’s murderers, it’s abductions, it’s gang rapes, it’s dismemberment of innocent children, it’s torture of people should somehow be rewarded. This motion means recognising a Palestinian state and Palestinian leaders continue to refuse the right to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
This motion means recognising a Palestinian state when Hamas still has not released 130 Israeli hostages. This motion runs contrary to the traditions of Australian foreign policy.
Australia just simply doesn’t recognise countries that have yet to come into existence.
In some respects, this Greens motion shouldn’t amaze me, but it does – why is a party that spends so much time talking about the rights of women and LGBTI people so keen to advocate for the cause of organisations like Hamas which are among the greatest abusers of women and LGBTI people in the world? But the Greens are content to ignore these inconvenient facts.
Updated
Paterson grills home affairs over direction 99
Heading into a Senate estimates committee room now, and the home affairs secretary, Stephanie Foster, is back in the hot seat in the legal and constitutional affairs estimates committee this morning and they’ve gone straight to questions.
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson inquires whether any answers have been produced overnight to the questions he lodged yesterday. But Foster says no, not yet.
Paterson is continuing with questions about immigration minister Andrew Giles’ direction 99, which is the direction that people challenging the cancellation of their visas can have their extent of their ties to Australia considered.
Paterson asks about the departmental protocol introduced early last year that the minister be notified of priority cases.
The departmental officer, Jacob McMahon, has clarified that it wasn’t a formal protocol but a proposal the department put to the minister.
It was our way of trying to manage the backlog,” he says.
Paterson presses him on whether the minister asked for the triaging process to be set up because he was being swamped.
McMahon says the department is always looking for ways to be more efficient.
Paterson asks:
I don’t want a hypothetical of what it could’ve been. What was it?
And we’re off.
Updated
The vote will be held, but the government will not support the motion, and so it will fail.
Labor sees ‘no role’ for Hamas in a Palestinian state – Watts
Tim Watts goes through the official government position on recognition of the Palestinian state:
On the question of recognition, we have made clear that we will be guided by whether recognition will advance the cause for peace.
Like many countries, Australia has been frustrated by the lack of progress in this regard. Like Germany and the UK, staunch friends of Israel, Australia no longer sees recognition as only occurring at the end of the process, it could occur as part of a peace process. And only once there’s progress on serious governance reforms and security concerns.
Hamas is a terrorist organisation. We see no role for them in this. A Palestinian state cannot be in a position to threaten Israel’s security. We want to see a reformed Palestinian governing authority that is committed to peace, that disavows violence and is ready to engage in a meaningful peace process.
We want to see a commitment to peace and how the Palestinian Authority leads its people. The final status of core issues such as Jerusalem, and the borders of a future Palestinian state, should be defined through direct negotiations.
Updated
The assistant minister for foreign affairs, Tim Watts, is officially announcing that the government will not be supporting the motion to suspend standing orders.
The member for Melbourne knows pretty well that he is not moving the motion today to recognise Palestine, he is moving a procedural question about dealing with the parliaments agenda.
The member from Melbourne knows full well that procedural motions like this are always opposed. Why? Why would he be deliberately setting up a vote on Palestinian recognition to fail? It’s something that only he can answer.
The Greens party had an opportunity to select this motion for debate and an allocated time on Monday, but they chose not to. The reason, only the Greens leader could explain.
The prime minister and Penny Wong has made clear statements in the last month about the government’s approach to Palestinian recognition. This is the same approach that the Greens are trying to exploit the war of votes.
Simplistic, wedge motions in the house do nothing to advance the cause of peace.
Wedge politics only divides the community. We gain nothing from the Greens seeking to reproduce this conflict in our own community.
Updated
Palestinians have endured ‘displacement and suffering for far too long’ – Bandt
Adam Bandt is continuing his plea for the house to support his motion to suspend standing orders to debate his motion for the house to recognise Palestine.
What this motion is about is about recognition and recognition only. And this isn’t just a political question, it is a deeply moral question as well.
Because the people of Palestine have endured displacement and suffering for far too long.
This motion is about saying the values that we hold dear, the right to live in freedom and exercise self-determination, and to wake up every day thinking about how am I going to make my life better, rather than how am I going to avoid another bomb that is going to fall on me – those simple values about wanting to live in peace and security.
This is about saying those values should be enjoyed equally by everyone around the world. Those values of peace and security and self-determination should be enjoyed equally by Palestinians and Israelis alike.
And this is about saying, as a matter of morality, we will not stand by as others rights to self-determination and to live in peace and security and freedom destroyed.
Bandt says “hand-wringing tweets” from the Labor government are no longer good enough.
His colleague Max Chandler-Mather is seconding the motion. Bob Katter can be herd interjecting once again.
Updated
The government will not support this, on the ground it does not (unless there is prior agreement) support motions to change up the business of the day.
Bandt moves for parliament to recognise Palestinian state
Greens leader Adam Bandt has taken the floor after the prayers and acknowledgements to move to suspend standing orders to debate his motion that the house recognise the state of Palestine.
“This is not just a symbolic move,” he says. “It is a critical step towards peace and towards ending the slaughter that we are seeing with the invasion of Gaza right now.
It is a concrete step towards peace and as the prime minister of Norway said last week, there cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition.
It is critical that we debate this now, just as other countries have interrupted what they were doing to recognise Palestine now because of the scale … and the genocide that we are witnessing is now topping 36,000 people, or 36,000 civilians, who have been slaughtered.
A health system has been destroyed. There are mass graves in hospitals. Aid has been blocked. Children are now dying because they did not have enough to eat or drink.
We are seeing right now a human engineered famine that is taking a toll on a civilian population that amounts to collective punishment of these people.
And it is time for countries including Australia to step in and do something and just as other countries have made it a priority to recognise the state of Palestine.
So should this government today, right now, by backing this motion now.
Bob Katter can be heard shouting something at Adam Bandt and is told to stop interjecting by speaker Milton Dick.
Updated
The bells have rung and the House of Representatives sitting is about to begin (the Senate isn’t sitting this fortnight, and instead is holding budget estimates hearings).
First up in government business – the “nature positive” legislation Tanya Plibersek has announced.
Updated
Australia Institute calls for fast fashion tax and garment levy hike
The government should implement a fast fashion tax and increase the proposed garment levy from 4c to 50c, the Australia Institute says.
Nina Gbor, the circular economy and waste program director at the Australia Institute, said new research showed Australia had surpassed the US as the world’s biggest consumer of textiles per capita.
Australians buy an average of 56 new clothing items a year, more than the US (53), UK (33 items) and China (30). According to the report, Australians are also buying the cheapest, spending on average $13, compared to $40 in the UK, $24 in the US and $30 in Japan.
Gbor:
Australians are the world’s biggest consumer of clothes, shoes and bags per capita. We’re addicted to stuff that is harming our health and the environment.
We need to drastically reduce waste at the source by penalising brands for mass-producing incredibly cheap and poor-quality clothing that is often worn just a handful of times or never sells and goes straight to the tip.
The Seamless scheme, run by the Australian Fashion Council (AFC), has proposed a levy of 4c on signatory retailers, with big brands such as Big W, Cotton On Group, the Iconic and David Jones already signing up. The AFC has said the money will go to sustainability projects, with the levy starting between 2024-25. It has federal government backing.
Gbor said it needed to be 50c for it to be meaningful change. She also called for a French-style tax on fast-fashion garments, and a ban on fast-fashion advertising.
The French government is set to bring in a new tax that will trace the eco-footprint of a garment and tax companies if it is rated poorly.
Gbor:
We’re walking around in plastic clothes made from petroleum. Many of these items end up in landfill or are dumped in countries in the global south, where they fill up their landfills, pollute beaches and oceans and contribute to more emissions.
Shein and Temu are expected to make more than $2 billion in sales this year combined. The federal government could redirect some of their profits to cut clothing waste and fund a domestic recycling and a circular textiles industry.
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Greens push for Palestinian state recognition in parliament
The House of Representatives will sit from 9am and as we reported yesterday, the Greens will be moving a motion that “this House recognise the state of Palestine”.
Today the Greens will move in Parliament to recognise the state of Palestine. pic.twitter.com/xEfTpAshux
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) May 28, 2024
As Daniel Hurst reported yesterday, Greens leader Adam Bandt wants Labor to make good on “an election promise to support Palestinian statehood”.
(Quick analysis: The party platform certainly called on Labor in government “to recognise Palestine as a state” and said this should be “an important priority” - but it did give cabinet ministers a level of flexibility because it did not set an actual deadline for that step to be taken.)
Bandt said the Labor government should go beyond “hand-wringing statements” and take meaningful steps:
Recognition alone won’t stop the invasion or end the occupation, but it will be a big step towards ensuring that Palestinians have the same rights as Israelis to live in peace and security with full rights under international law.
The government has already jumped ahead on this one, with a spokesperson saying Bandt is actually moving a procedural motion “about not dealing with the Parliament’s agenda”.
(That is standard – in order to move a motion in the parliament, you must first move a motion to suspend standing orders to change the house agenda (which is set by the government) so this is a bit of a technicality the government is arguing on here).
But procedural motions to switch up the agenda are always opposed by the government (unless agreed upon in advance), so the government will be saying no to the Greens motion. Although it says it is saying no to changing up the agenda, not the substantial motion the Greens have telegraphed.
A government spokesperson said:
The foreign minister Penny Wong has made clear statements in the last month about the government’s approach to Palestinian recognition.
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OK, well that has been quite the morning!
The Senate estimates hearings are about to get under way and on today’s agenda is:
Environment and communications committee – where it is all about the environment department today (expect the nature repair market bill to feature in this, as well as the Environmental Protection Authority legislation Tanya Plibersek has announced this morning)
Finance and Public Administration committee – the prime minister and cabinet department is under the microscope here, and it will essentially be Penny Wong v Simon Birmingham in a committee room, rather than the Senate.
Legal and constitutional affairs committee – that will be a continuation of home affairs and immigration and direction 99 and the response to the high court decision which made indefinite detention illegal.
Rural and regional affairs and transport committee – planes, trains and automobiles.
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Q: But are you not concerned that Palestinians are living in a war zone at the moment, that many of them are fleeing for their lives?
James Paterson:
Absolutely. There are no doubt genuine, innocent people in Gaza, who want to flee, and Australia has a role to play. But we have to do it carefully, by protecting our own national interests and our own national security.
The safety of the Australian people must come first. And we must do adequate checks. We know adequate checks weren’t done because, after many of these visas were granted, they were subsequently cancelled.
So why would you cancel a visa that you initially granted if all the adequate checks were done in the first place? It’s very clear this was a rushed process and as a result things were missed and visas had to be subsequently cancelled.
Australia’s security agencies are involved in background checks when these visas are approved and more is often known about Palestinians than people in similar situations (such as when Ukrainians applied in the wake of Russia’s invasion of their country) because of the occupation. Previously, when the visa cancellation issue was examined, it was for a range of reasons, including concerns they would not stay in Australia “temporarily”, not that security checks were not carried out.
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The interview moves on:
Q: Senator Paterson, we also heard in a Senate estimates last night that a fifth of almost 10,000 Palestinians who have sought a temporary Australian visa since October 7 have had their applications rejected. So that’s just over 2,300 approved. At the same time, more than 3,300 visas have been approved for Israelis. Is there an imbalance here?
James Paterson:
I am concerned that 2,300 visas have been granted to Palestinian document holders in a very quick period of time after 7 October.
Let’s remember that this is a war zone controlled by a terrorist organisation and on average these visas were granted in 24 hours. In some instances, they were granted in as little as a few hours. I don’t know how you can do an adequate identity check, let alone a proper background check, on people like that.
We have a serious enough problem with antisemitism in this country, with social cohesion, before we go in bringing people with attitudes that are problematic.
I’m very concerned the department and the government has rushed this process unnecessarily.
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On the departmental secretary Stephanie Foster taking responsibility for the department not raising the issue with minister Andrew Giles, James Paterson says:
It’s very hard to understand how this happened, and the department had no good answers about how this occurred. I’ll be re-prosecuting that issue with them today.
Frankly, the minister and the minister’s office should have noticed they were no longer being notified about these cases. It’s utterly routine to be notified about this. If all of a sudden you stopped being notified, wouldn’t you ask questions?
What happened to the referrals? What happened to the notifications? Something a minister for immigration does on a daily basis, if not weekly basis. When it didn’t happen, it appears Andrew Giles asked no questions at all.
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James Paterson said a future Coalition government would scrap the direction entirely:
[Former NZ prime minister] Jacinda Ardern lobbied Anthony Albanese and he gave in. Instead of standing up for Australia, instead of protecting Australia, he gave in to Jacinda Ardern. My view is, if you are a guest in our country, if you are a non-citizen, regardless of how long you have been here, if you commit a serious, horrific crime, you have broken all the principles of your stay in this country and you should be deported – no ifs, no buts.
I don’t care if you came here when you were five. In some cases, these are people who came to Australia in their late teens, in their 20s, and even their 30s. So the idea these people should not be deported from our country I think is completely wrong. And a future Liberal government, if we’re elected at the next election, will begin deporting these dangerous criminals again.
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The direction was brought in because of issues with deporting people who had been born in New Zealand but had spent almost their entire lives in Australia. At the time, Anthony Albanese said it was a “common sense” change, which meant that tribunals needed to consider someone’s ties to Australia (along with other things, including community protection). But the direction was meant to address the issue of New Zealand-born but Australia-raised people who had not applied for citizenship being deported to a country where they had no links (it was a diplomatic bugbear between Australia and New Zealand under the Coalition government).
Asked if the tribunals were to blame, given how they are interpreting the direction, James Paterson said:
If it was just one rogue tribunal member or one decision, maybe you could blame the AAT. But now we have dozens – in fact, more than 30 cases that the media has uncovered – of serious violent criminals who have been allowed to stay in our country.
And what those decisions have in common is they all point to this ministerial direction and the new primary consideration that Andrew Giles inserted into that direction, that considerable weight should be given to a person’s ties to Australia regardless of their level of offending if they have been here for a long time.
And so, really, the only person who can take responsibility for this is ultimately Andrew Giles, and if he refuses to do so, then the prime minister should do so. We think Andrew Giles should be sacked and we think Direction 99 should be immediately repealed and replaced with the previous direction to the department and the AAT, which required other factors to be weighted much more highly than someone’s ties to Australia.
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James Paterson fires at Giles over directive 99
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson spoke to ABC News Breakfast where he was making the opposite argument to Clare O’Neil about the review into directive 99 and some of the visas in question:
Well, it’s the logical thing to do but, frankly, is too little too late. It was over a year ago now - in January 2023 - that the minister issued a new ministerial direction, which had the effect of requiring decision-makers, including the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, to put greater weight on someone’s ties to Australia. And the result of that, as the department warned him at the time, is that fewer people who committed serious crimes who are non-citizens would be deported. And we’ve seen that in the most horrific detail over the last few days, including a new case uncovered this morning by The Australian newspaper of a man who offended, in terms of rapes and sexual assaults against 26 women and girls, who came from Scotland, who is not an Australian citizen, who has been allowed to just stay in our country as a result of this direction.
The directive does ask that ties to Australia be considered, along with four other “primary considerations”, including protecting the community and “whether the conduct engaged in constituted family violence”.
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Clare O’Neil continued:
what minister Giles did was create a new ministerial direction how cancellation decisions should be considered.
… What he did not do is reduce the importance of community safety in that direction. As I said to you, there are decisions that are made by this independent tribunal that I find very disconcerting and that I do not think meet community expectations, or at least [don’t] at face value.
Minister Giles now has the opportunity to review some of those decisions. As I understand it, some of those visas has been cancelled as a result of him stepping in and recalling those decisions.
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O’Neil defends Giles amid talk of ministry reshuffle
There is a lot of commentary around how much longer Andrew Giles will remain in his position as immigration minister. It started with the high court decision to end indefinite detention and claims Giles and the immigration department did not act quickly enough or anticipate the court’s ruling, and subsequent release of people, under the decision.
The latest issues around the ministerial directive 99, which has been cited in some AAT tribunal decisions to reinstate visas cancelled by Giles, despite some having committed serious crimes, has elevated the ministry reshuffle chatter.
Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil defended Giles on the Seven network this morning that the government was “deeply concerned” by some of the tribunal’s decisions to reinstate some visas:
It does appear that the decisions made by this independent tribunal are not meeting community expectations and not putting proper stead on the importance that we place on community safety.
So actually minister Giles has stepped in here. He’s taking action as a good minister would do. He’s demanded answers from the department about why these visas were not bought to his attention.
He’s actively reviewing about 30 cases that we’re concerned about indeed he’s already cancelled some of those visas. So he’s doing the right thing. He stepped in at the right moment. It’s important that this action is taken.
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Peter Malinauskus continued:
We’ve been having migration in this country for a long period of time, and we haven’t seen thoughtful policy effort applied to how we extend our housing stock, how we get more green fields, pastures and lands online, how we get the trunk infrastructure that is required.
I mean, let’s be clear about this. I mean, Stefanovic, Albo, Malinauskas, these aren’t names that came out on the First Fleet.
Migration is part of who we are as a country. And I’m saying rather than focusing on a debate that is driven by politics, let’s have a considered discussion, particularly when it comes to the housing crisis, which I think is the main concern on people’s minds at the moment.
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Dial down migration debate, SA premier says
Peter Malinauskas wants the temperature turned down over the political migration “debate”.
The South Australian premier told the Nine network breakfast program that politics shouldn’t decide migration levels – need should.
We believe that the commonwealth, whoever’s in charge, Liberal or Labor, has the right and should be able to control levels of migration. I’m just simply arguing that we shouldn’t have a politically driven debate around migration in levels at the very same time that we necessarily know as a country we need more skilled migrants, particularly given the size of the challenge we’ve got before us in undertaking the Aukus program, which is a truly national endeavour.
It is the single biggest industrial undertaking in the history of our federation, so we’re just going to make sure we think it through very carefully.
But but more than that, I mean, one of the reasons why I think we’re having a debate around migration in our country at the moment is because we’ve got a housing supply crisis. And my assertion is that if we have a housing supply crisis, well, let’s focus on building more homes rather than having, you know, what can be an insidious debate around migration numbers.
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Trump would give Assange pardon ‘serious consideration’
Overnight a podcast interview that former US president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump did with Tim Pool was released – and its an answer he gave about whether or not he would pardon Wikileaks founder Julian Assange which has created a few headlines.
Trump said:
Well, I’m going to talk about that today [at a later speech], and we’re gonna give it very serious consideration. And we’re gonna have a couple of other things to say in this speech that I think you’re gonna love.
(It does not seem he did speak about Assange in his later speech, though.)
Current US president Joe Biden had previously been asked much the same thing last month and said he was also “considering” it.
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Amanda Rishworth was also asked about the Pope apologising over reports he used a homophobic slur.
Rishworth said:
Well, firstly, I would say that, you know, we should call out homophobic behaviour, homophobic slurs. I am pleased to see that there’s been an apology – that’s an important part of it. But my message to the LGBTQI+ community is that you are supported here in Australia, you do not deserve to be discriminate or vilified, and we back you, and back your right to live and love whoever you want.
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Family violence must be ‘front of mind’ in visa decisions – Rishworth
The interview moves on to ministerial direction 99, which has been used by the administrative appeals tribunal in making visa reinstatement decisions.
As Paul Karp reported earlier this morning, home affairs departmental secretary Stephanie Foster took responsibility for immigration minister Andrew Giles not being made aware of the AAT’s decisions so he could consider re-cancelling visas.
The directive asks the strength, nature and duration of ties someone has to Australia are considered in visa decisions, alongside four other “primary considerations” including protecting the community and “whether the conduct engaged in constituted family violence”.
The directive is now under review, after a number of people found guilty of serious crimes had their visa reinstated by independent tribunals with directive 99 cited as one of the reasons.
Amanda Rishworth is asked about the directive and says:
Well, let’s be clear – the ministerial direction says that family, domestic and sexual violence needs to be absolutely front of mind when the AAT is making these independent decisions. I am always shocked by incidents of domestic, family and sexual violence, and people that perpetrate that need to face the full force of the law, which, indeed, I understand a number of these people have.
But in terms of the elevation of family and domestic violence, it’s my understanding that that has been elevated, as well as other serious offences that must be taken into account when these decisions are being made. And minister Giles has asked for a review to ensure that that is the case.
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Asked about Ariel Bombara’s point that she was another woman and victim survivor apologising for the actions of a man and that it should be on governments to act, Amanda Rishworth said:
She’s absolutely right that victim-survivors should not shoulder the blame, and this was a very clear messages that victim-survivors sent. That the responsibility actually sits with the perpetrators, with the men that perpetrate violence.
And governments - across both state and commonwealth - have an important role to play in making sure that, firstly, that we make it clear that violence against women is not OK, make sure that the programs and the support is available, but our systems are responding.
Whether it is our police systems, whether it’s our justice systems. We all have a role to play across society, across the community.
So, it shouldn’t shoulder on victim-survivors to have to raise this response. The focus does have to be on those perpetrating violence and making sure that the programs and the systems and the investment that government make are there to support women, but importantly hold perpetrators - well, first, prevent perpetration and then hold perpetrators to account.
Social services minister backs investigation into claims over WA police after double murder
Amanda Rishworth was asked about the statement on ABC News Breakfast and said:
What Ms Bombara expressed was incredibly powerful, as you said. I think it requires an enormous bravery, particularly at a time when she would be grieving, to speak up and make these comments. And, you know, her urge for action is also very powerful. I think she has highlighted a number of areas where she didn’t get the response she needed from police, and so it is very right that the Western Australian police commissioner is investigating this, to look at where it went wrong.
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WA shooter’s daughter says police ‘ignored’ warnings
Social services minister Amanda Rishworth has been asked about the powerful statement Ariel Bombara released yesterday, claiming Western Australian police had “ignored” warnings from her and her mother that their lives were under threat.
Ariel said she spoke with WA police on three different occasions about her concerns over her father, Mark Bombara, ahead of his murder of Jenny and Gretl Petelczyc on Friday.
“We were ignored by five different male officers across three occasions of reporting,” Ariel said in her statement.
By that point we felt completely helpless and I had to focus on getting mum to safety. I did everything I could to protect my mother, and when my father couldn’t find us he murdered her best friend and her best friend’s daughter.
WA police have launched an investigation into the response.
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Affordable rental properties disappearing
Surging rents over the past year have seen the number of affordable rentals vanishing across the country, with the share of capital city rentals under $400 dropping by half in a single year, according to a new PropTrack Market Insight Report .
The report found that the national share of rental properties listed on realestate.com.au for less than $400 per week has plummeted to a record low of just 10.4%, which is a third lower than April 2023 levels.
Key findings:
Rents have surged in Australia’s capital cities, with only 5.9% of city overall rentals now costing less than $400 a week.
At the start of the pandemic, one in five house rentals in Sydney cost less than $400 a week – that figure is now one in 50.
In Melbourne, one in 25 house rentals now costs less than $400.
The national share of rentals available under $400 dropped by one third annually to just 10.4%.
ACT had the smallest share of properties listed to rent under $400 at 2.1%, followed by Sydney (3.8%) and Perth (5.6%).
Melbourne saw the largest annual decline in the share of houses listed for less than $400 a week, followed by Adelaide and Sydney.
In regional markets, only 16.3% per cent of houses were advertised for under $400 a week in April.
Regional WA (14.8%) had the smallest portion of homes listed to rent below $400 of the regions, followed by regional Queensland (15.8%) and regional NSW (21.5%).
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Labor may target offenders’ visa restorations
The home affairs department has given the government “options” to reform a ministerial direction that has resulted in some serious offenders having their visas restored by an independent tribunal.
Evidence from home affairs officials to Senate estimates on Tuesday evening is the first indication the government is preparing to reform the controversial direction that appears to have resulted in dozens of visa restorations for non-citizens with serious criminal convictions.
On Tuesday the home affairs department secretary, Stephanie Foster, took responsibility and expressed “regret” for a failure to inform the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal decisions, to allow him to consider re-cancelling their visas.
Labor’s Murray Watt, representing the immigration minister, told Senate estimates that AAT members were “interpreting this direction in a way that no minister in this government intended”.
Asked if the government had sought advice on revoking or amending the direction Emma Cassar, the associate secretary for immigration, told Senate estimates “we have given some advice on options for ministerial direction 99”.
Cassar said the options were “operational in nature”, and took the question on notice. Changes could include “policy and potentially legal changes to it”, she said.
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Bogged Snowy 2.0 machine faces another rescue delay
Experts have been working for almost two weeks to free Florence, a tunnel-boring machine wedged deep underground at Snowy 2.0, the project’s boss says (and Australian Associated Press reports).
Bogged a year ago, and the survivor of a surprise sinkhole, the latest partial collapse of a tunnel at a so-called pinch point prompted concerns at a late-night Senate estimates session about another delay.
The cost of the nation-building project may have doubled in the past six years to $12bn but its value has also increased in a changing electricity market, Snowy Hydro chief executive Dennis Barnes told the environment committee on Tuesday.
Barnes said the project’s completion was critical.
The role of Snowy 2.0 in the market is to facilitate the delivery of the lowest-cost form of energy ... solar and wind.
Defending the machine nicknamed Flo, Barnes said the rock had proved to be too soft and too hard over the years, which was not unusual for a mega project with geological risk.
Flo recently encountered very hard and abrasive rock that, when coupled with a curve in the tunnel, halted operations as the rock pinched the machine shield.
Very high-pressure water jets are being used to remove the rocks before restarting Flo can be considered, he said.
According to an updated business case, the targeted total cost of Snowy 2.0 remains $12 billion, with commercial operation of all units expected by December 2028.
“Some people would say we could do nuclear for the same price,” Nationals senator Perin Davey told the committee as the coalition puts the finishing touches on its nuclear energy plans.
Snowy 2.0 is now 57% complete and our workforce of 3000 is achieving good progress across the many construction fronts.
Tunnelling across the project was 30% complete.
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Good morning
Hello and welcome to the second house sitting and estimates hearing day of the latest parliament session.
A very big thank you, as always, to Martin for starting us off and getting us all up to date this morning. You have Amy Remeikis with you to help take you through the parliamentary day.
It’s looking set to be another big one, so I hope you have grabbed your coffee(s). (We are on number three over here.)
I hope it is at least warmer where you are.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.
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Inflation figures due at 11.30am
Yesterday’s weak retail turnover weakened the case for another Reserve Bank rate hike and today’s inflation figures will give another clue.
The inflation rate is forecast to fall from 3.5% in March to 3.4% in April – probably not enough to convince the RBA to start cutting the cost of borrowing.
The retail sales figures for April yesterday underscored what most of us knew already: inflation and higher mortgage repayments are forcing households to skimp where we can.
Last month, retail turnover eked out a 0.1% increase but not enough to erase the 0.4% decline in March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics says. According to Moody’s Analytics, retail sales have been stagnant since December.
Another weak month for retail sales up just 0.1% in April, and 1.3% from a year earlier. (That's a real decrease of more than 2% even before the population increase is taken into account.) @ABSStats pic.twitter.com/YMoG6dZ375
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) May 28, 2024
From a year earlier, turnover was 1.3% higher. However, inflation was running at an annual pace of about 3.5%, so it’s firmly negative in real terms. (We’ll get April CPI figures tomorrow, and expectations are that the figure will land close to March’s 3.5% pace.)
Anyway, discretionary spending is wilting, particularly for clothing and footwear (though presumably some of that would be non-discretionary).
If you’re a retailer in Victoria you might be doing it particularly tough just now. (NSW bounced back from worst to first on a monthly basis.)
NSW retail sales perked up last month while Victoria was the main drag. (Via @ABSStats ) pic.twitter.com/T6EHe4LH91
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) May 28, 2024
Since consumption is the largest part of the economy, such a weak retailing result will bolster the “economic doves” who want to see an RBA rate cut soon. (Today’s figures would tend to undermine the view of those wanting to see the central bank lift the cash rate from 4.35% to stymie inflation.)
The stage-three tax cuts and energy rebates will start to ease households’ squeeze from 1 July. Retailers will be hoping for some of extra spending to head their way (but presumably not too much, too soon to disturb the cultivated wa in the RBA board room).
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Emergency department visits hit record high
Ambulance call-outs and emergency department visits have reached a record high in New South Wales as people face increasingly long waits or give up and leave the state’s strained public hospitals, AAP reports.
Some 810,201 people attended NSW emergency departments from the start of January to the end of March, an increase of more than 5% compared with the same period last year.
Attendances reached the highest of any quarter since the state’s Bureau of Health Information began reporting in 2010.
The figures were revealed in a quarterly report released by the bureau on Wednesday.
Just over two-thirds of those who attended emergency departments had their treatments start on time, but only 55.9% of patients left within the targeted four-hour period – a record low.
One in 10 people spent nearly 11 hours in emergency departments, while more than 74,000 patients left either without treatment or with incomplete care, an increase of almost 17% on a year earlier.
The health minister, Ryan Park, said public hospitals were under unprecedented pressure due to past underfunding, which remained a significant challenge.
But we are undertaking the structural reforms to our health system to ensure our community receives the care they need and deserve by delivering the single largest boost to our workforce in the history of our health system, and creating more pathways to treatment and care outside the hospital.
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More from Karen on the proposed environment law:
Another new agency, Environment Protection Australia, will police development activity. It will be empowered to issue stop-work orders to prevent serious environmental damage and to audit businesses to ensure they are not breaching regulations.
The government had already foreshadowed legislation to establish the two new bodies but not the new definition.
Environment minister Tanya Plibersek says establishing the two new agencies and properly defining “nature positive” is an important step in accurately measuring the state of the environment.
“If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” Plibersek told Guardian Australia.
That’s why today we will legislate a definition of ‘nature positive’ – a world-first for any government. Without this data and reporting, managing our environment would be like going hiking without a map. Defining and measuring being ‘nature positive’ against a baseline will mean that we can be accountable for our collective efforts to halt and reverse environmental decline.
The foreshadowed legislation does not include promised measures to address Australia’s extinction crisis, including new national environmental standards for development proposals. Those measures have been delayed to an unspecified date.
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MPs to consider new ‘nature positive’ environment law
Australia will soon have an official measure of whether the nation’s environment is advancing or declining.
Legislation establishing a new national environment protection authority, to be introduced into parliament today, will include a definition of what “nature positive” looks like.
“Nature positive” will be defined as “an improvement in the diversity, abundance, resilience and integrity of ecosystems” from an established benchmark.
It will also include a reporting mechanism to ensure Australia is striving to better that baseline every year.
The office of Environment Information Australia, a new body being created under the legislation, will be responsible for determining whether Australia is going forwards or backwards under that definition.
To make that judgment, the head of the new agency will be able to consider “whether there has been an improvement in the diversity, abundance and resilience of species that form part of ecosystems”.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news blog, majoring on the political events of the day in Canberra. I’m Martin Farrer and, before my colleague Amy Remeikis comes along for the main action, I’ll get you up to speed with a few overnight and breaking stories.
Australian comedian Dan Ilic has dropped his plan to broadcast Vincent Namatjira’s contentious portrait of Gina Rinehart to thousands of tourists and New Yorkers in Times Square despite raising $30,000 for the stunt. Ilic told Guardian Australia yesterday lunchtime that, after exceeding his crowdfunding target, his stunt would go live in Times Square at 8pm on Friday night. But he abandoned the plans last night, citing lack of support for the idea from the National Gallery of Australia where the picture is on display.
For farmers like Brent Finlay, the turbines of the MacIntyre windfarm dotted across his part of Queensland’s Southern Downs are a financial lifeline. It’s the largest windfarm in the southern hemisphere and graziers can earn up to $40,000 a year for each turbine they host on their land. But, as is usual in the case of renewable power, not everyone is convinced. Our feature on the changing face of Australian energy comes as the Albanese government presents new legislation today to set up a new national environment protection authority to measure whether the nation’s environment is advancing or declining. More coming up.
Developers have yet to begin work on almost 40,000 homes across Australia despite being granted building approvals, with stubbornly high interest rates and construction costs being blamed. A report by KPMG said Sydney and Melbourne made up almost half of all “approved but not yet commenced” projects, about four-fifths of which were townhouses and apartments.
We should get another clue today about the future direction of rates when the ABS releases inflation figures for last month. A lower rate could mean a cut but, if it remains sticky, then there’s no chance. More coming up on the economy through the morning.
Plus: Florence the tunnel boring machine has now been stuck for two weeks at the Snowy 2.0 project. And new figures show a record high for ambulance call-outs and emergency department visits in NSW. More on these stories, too, soon.
