We saw a lot of prime minister Scott Morrison today. He hit the airwaves in the morning, and then did the photo op rounds. It was later in the day that we saw more of Labor leader Anthony Albanese, beaming out from home isolation in Sydney. In the news today:
- Labor’s hopes that Albanese’s Covid diagnosis turns the spotlight onto Morrison, while he says he’s “feeling fine so far”.
- Morrison has dodged questions on what the government knew about the Solomon Islands/China deal, and when.
- More details about Hillsong’s Brian Houston and his “behaviours” have emerged.
- Experts rubbish Morrison’s claims about corruption commissions being “kangaroo courts”.
- And the stories about Liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves, just won’t quit.
- Need a catchup? A briefing? An ode to flying? It’s all right here.
You can keep up to date over the weekend, as well – and it’s the Anzac Day long weekend, too.
Then we’re into the third of six weeks, heading for halftime, and Amy Remeikis and the rest of the Guardian team are here for the cut oranges and beyond. See you then!
Updated
He’s up again! Labor leader Anthony Albanese is now on Nine’s A Current Affair.
He’s asked if he regrets going to Bluesfest (there’s been speculation that there was quite the maskless crowd pressing in).
“The thing about a campaign is that you’re out and about,” he says. He says he’s followed advice and worn a mask as much as possible, but, you know.
“Members of the media went down before me,” he says, adding that his team has had very strict procedures (those on the bus have to be vaccinated, boosted, and get regular tests).
He’s asked again if the break is a curse or a blessing. “I will get more sleep,” he says. “But I’d much rather be out there campaigning.”
“I’m hoping for more than just a recovery from Covid for the country. I’m hoping for a better future.”
Updated
Fiery scenes at Katherine Deves event – report
Samantha Maiden, from news.com.au, reports that the Liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves, has faced “fiery scenes” at a Politics in the Pub event. Media were barred, and there was some sort of commotion.
BREAKING: Liberal candidate Katherine Deves emerges at northern beaches pub and BANS media from covering the event as she is confronted by angry voters https://t.co/IcFCL6Zvcx
— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) April 22, 2022
Updated
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has popped up on Channel 10’s The Project from isolation at home in Sydney.
It’s a “bummer”, he says, that he got the lurgy, “but it’s better to happen now than in a couple of weeks’ time”.
It is nice to have a step back and catch your breath? He sidesteps that neatly and says he’s been reminded about how generous Australians are by the warm messages they’ve sent. “It’s not like I’m taken out of the campaign completely,” he says, adding that he hopes his health stays okay.
On the deal between Solomon Islands and China, he repeat his earlier point that the government shouldn’t have let the relationship decay in the first place, and accuses the government of doing “too little, too late”. He says he’d build the relationships, and that foreign aid isn’t just about them, it’s about us.
Labor will make announcements about the aid budget during the campaign, he says, and there’ll be an increase.
He makes a good point about spending on the NDIS – it’s not meant to be seen as just expenditure, but rather that it should help people with disabilities with whatever they need to live their lives, and contribute to society.
He also confirms that he didn’t bring any hi-vis into home isolation.
Some more Friday fun from the Australian Electoral Commission:
If I do a postal vote, do you send out the sausage by return mail?
— PK (@paulkidd) April 22, 2022
For the last time, we are not mailing you a sausage Paul.
— AEC ✏️ (@AusElectoralCom) April 22, 2022
Staying in South Australia for a minute – the Advertiser reports that former Family First senator Bob Day is going to have another crack at politics.
Day resigned in 2016 after his building companies went into liquidation, and he was later declared ineligible to be a senator because of an “indirect pecuniary interest” in a contract with the commonwealth.
That vacancy was filled by Lucy Gichuhi, who quit Family First to become an independent, then joined the Liberal Party, whom she is now rather critical of. Anyway, there’s a lot more to the story here, but it’s Friday night so we’ll keep it short.
Day says he will run as an independent candidate for the senate, with the Democratic Labour party’s Pat Amadio as his number two.
Updated
Newly minted Labor premier Peter Malinauskas has been talking about a more nationally consistent set of guidelines around isolation, and here he is:
Close contacts in South Australia will no longer need to isolate from 12:01am April 30.
— Peter Malinauskas (@PMalinauskasMP) April 22, 2022
Close contacts will need to undertake five RATs in seven days, wear a mask when leaving home and not attend high-risk settings.
I don’t know where to start with today’s election briefing, brought to you by Josh Butler. Tensions over the Solomon Islands/China deal. Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s campaign temporarily derailed by Covid. Or Jacqui Lambie’s cover of Milkshake:
Can you help?
One Nation’s Pauline Hanson needs a “please explain” on the science of vaccines and immunisation. From her latest newsletter:
Well, I called it. Despite two jabs and a booster Anthony Albanese has caught Covid.
Updated
Ain’t nothing gonna slow him down (for now):
Day 1 of iso = TV interviews. @abctv this arvo, and I'll be on @7NewsAustralia @ACurrentAffair9 and @theprojecttv tonight. pic.twitter.com/EvZGMmZboA
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 22, 2022
The Prime Minister has asked @AusGovFinance & @Treasury_AU for 4 election commitment costings today - see https://t.co/IogBJMeLiX pic.twitter.com/R0wH0YX1sa
— Dept of Finance (@AusGovFinance) April 22, 2022
First they came for the cows, now they’ve come for the goats. AAP reports NSW police have recovered about 700 stolen goats along with drugs and stolen goods.
Eight people have been charged.
Police said the animals, which included domestically bred Boer goats, will be returned to their owners if they can be identified.
Earlier today AAP reported a man had been charged after the theft of 1,200 cattle.
Updated
Obviously it was more than tricky to get pictures of Labor leader Anthony Albanese from today, so let’s call this Albanese and friends:
Updated
Here are some excellent pictures from Scott Morrison’s campaign trail today, thanks to AAP:
• This post was amended on 23 April 2022. Ipswich is west of Brisbane, not east as the original agency captions stated.
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And his reasons for not putting a bill to the house are “fatuous nonsense”. Paul Karp reports:
Here it is, new, improved, better than ever:
Campaign catchup is almost in... it went up with a little glitch, sorry for the hitch, it’ll be back up shortly!
Updated
Rod Culleton has responded to the AEC statement revealing it has referred him to the police for his statement that he is eligible to stand for the election.
Culleton told Guardian Australia:
I have never been a bankrupt at law. This matter was referred by the AEC in 2019 and was dismissed through lack of evidence ... I am not in contravention [of section] 44 [of the] Constitution ... and [am] simply going back to address unfinished business to overcome the injustice that has occurred.
Culleton was declared bankrupt in 2016, and appealed to the WA supreme court, but the conviction was upheld.
Updated
The Australian Electoral Commission just released a curious statement on former One Nation senator Rod Culleton, with the elections regulator saying he’ll appear on the Senate ballot in Western Australia but that it has simultaneously referred him to federal police.
Culleton, elected in 2016 under One Nation’s banner but later defecting from the party over a dispute with Pauline Hanson, was booted from the Senate after the federal court ruled he was bankrupt – grounds for disqualification. His appeal was dismissed. Culleton later started his own Great Australia Party, describing himself as a “senator in exile”.
The AEC said Culleton had nominated for the Senate in WA for the coming election, and that he had lodged “a fully completed nomination form and mandatory qualification checklist”.
The AEC has issued a statement regarding the nomination of Mr Rodney Culleton for the WA Senate. https://t.co/9kDuUwHNa6
— AEC ✏️ (@AusElectoralCom) April 22, 2022
“Mr Culleton’s nomination declared that he was not an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent,” the AEC said in a statement:
The AEC notes Mr Culleton is listed on the National Personal Insolvency Index as an undischarged bankrupt. It appears therefore that he may have made a false declaration as part of his nomination process. The AEC has referred this matter to the Australian Federal Police for their consideration.
The AEC said it doesn’t have the power to reject a completed candidate nomination:
This means the AEC cannot reject a nomination even if it contains a false declaration as to the eligibility of that person to stand for election.
Guardian Australia has contacted Culleton for comment.
Updated
Any poll dips are “for commentators to comment on”, Albanese says, when Kelly asks him if a week out of action will help or hinder the Labor campaign.
He’s focused on the opposition’s plans for the future, he says.
Updated
Albanese rejects the idea he’s attacking prime minister Scott Morrison’s character – more accurately, he says Morrison’s side is doing an effective job of that themselves.
On Medicare, he’s talking about changes to the schedule (there were about 900 changes), about out-of-pocket charges going up, and he’s brought up the putative health minister Anne Ruston’s 2015 comments about Medicare being “unsustainable”.
Asked what a Labor government would do if elected, Albanese says he wouldn’t do anything as insensitive as crack jokes about our Pacific neighbours under a boom mike (as Peter Dutton did). He says:
I would engage with them and it’s not just one step. The first step is that you need to have deeper relationships with your senior ministers, with the leadership in our region.
We also need to engage with them on issues which are their concern and we know that the number one concern for the Pacific is, of course, climate change and we would have a positive response on climate change. We want to host a conference of the parties of the UN together with our Pacific Island neighbours, for example.
Foreign affairs has been gutted, he says, adding Labor will have more to say about that.
Albanese uses the line he coined during the leaders’ debate, saying it’s not a “Pacific step-up - this is a Pacific stuff-up”.
He adds another, borrowed from Campbell, that we should have “competition without catastrophe” in the region.
Updated
On Solomon Islands and the deal with China, Kelly asks why he’s blaming the government, when it’s China’s doing. Albanese says:
Well it’s absolutely right that China is more forward-leaning in the Pacific - that’s the whole point. What was Australia doing in response to China’s changed posture in our region? Australia has been the security partner of choice in the Pacific since the second world war.
The prime minister said just yesterday that they had known about the potential of this issue for a long period of time. We know they knew at least so far back as August. Where is the foreign minister [Marise Payne]? Where is she during this period? She appeared on the Insiders program and said it was all under control. The government only sent a junior representative in Mr [Zed] Seselja to Solomons in the last week. The United States have sent their senior representative in the region, Kurt Campbell, and have responded.
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Albanese tells Fran Kelly the party had “war-gamed” the possibility of him catching Covid:
It is not surprising. We’ve had during the campaign already ... we’ve had Jason Clare and Tony Burke and Kristina Keneally and a range of people go down with Covid and I think the same thing has happened on the other side, as well. So we had war gamed the process.
We set it up so that people will come in and fill the appointments that I’d made. Richard Marles will be representing me at Anzac Day in Darwin.
And he’s confident he’ll be at Labor’s campaign launch in Perth in just over a week.
Updated
Albanese interviewed from isolation
Labor leader Anthony Albanese is on ABC television, looking relatively chipper. He says:
I’ve had better days but a lot of people have had it a lot worse.
Updated
This is what having 17.2 million Australian voters on your desk looks like. The certification of the official electoral roll for #ausvotes took place today. #auspol pic.twitter.com/2ugeG0WtMC
— AEC ✏️ (@AusElectoralCom) April 22, 2022
AEC refers former One Nation senator's candidacy for election to police
Former One Nation senator Rodney Culleton’s candidacy for this election has been referred to the police.
The Australian Electoral Office for Western Australia says it declared Culleton as a candidate, that his nomination declared he was “not an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent”.
The officer goes on to say the AEC does not have the power to reject the nomination regardless of any “incorrect, false or inadequate answers”. In a statement, the AEC said:
However, the AEC notes Mr Culleton is listed on the National Personal Insolvency Index as an undischarged bankrupt. This is a basis for disqualification under section 44(iii) of the Constitution. As such, the AEC has referred Mr Culleton’s candidate nomination form to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to ascertain if a false declaration has been made under the Criminal Code Act 1995.
The AEO WA will proceed with the election of Senators for Western Australia, as declared, and Mr Culleton’s name will appear on the WA Senate ballot paper in the 2022 federal election.
The outcome of the AFP’s examination of this matter will be a matter for the AFP to advise in due course.
If the AEC is presented with compelling evidence that other candidates in the 2022 federal election may have also signed a false declaration we will consider whether similar referrals to the AFP are warranted to ascertain if the candidate has committed an offence.
Updated
We’ll hear from Labor leader Anthony Albanese in a bit – he’s talked to the ABC’s Fran Kelly from isolation. While we’re waiting, though, what you really need is the video of these giant, sad, dancing kiwifruit:
Foreign affairs minister Marise Payne says the government “again reiterates our strongest support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and for the people of Ukraine”:
We again call upon Russia to withdraw its military forces immediately from Ukraine.
Australia has added Russian President Vladimir Putin's two daughters and one daughter of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the sanctions list, over Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Now nearly 750 people are sanctioned.
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) April 22, 2022
The parliamentary library has a very informative publication on preferential voting. You can read it here. Or, you can enjoy Matilda Boseley’s much snappier explanation:
The plot is straight out of a reality television show: Rhino swap.
AAP reports that two 2,000kg southern white rhino bulls – one in South Australia, one in New South Wales – have swapped homes to “bolster breeding efforts”.
Satara, a 29-year-old from SA’s Monarto Safari Park, is switching places with 27-year-old Umfana, from Taronga Western Plains Zoo.
Southern white rhinos are classified as “near threatened”.
Monarto’s senior zookeeper, Mark Mills, said Umfana would “broaden the gene pool”. He said:
He has settled in really well and is very happy and healthy.
Satara is also enjoying his new home.
Updated
Many objects are “inspected” on campaign trails. The inspection usually comprises some interested nodding, perhaps a pertinent question, and much posing for photographs:
The PM has arrived at RAAF base Amberley SW of Brisbane to talk about airfield upgrades and inspect a drone @FinancialReview #auspol pic.twitter.com/DlZYAE5ELJ
— Michael Read (@michael_read_) April 22, 2022
Every day, the Australian Electoral Commission informs and entertains. This was in answer to a question about where they source the pencils for the ballot boxes:
We harvest our pencils from democracy trees, from which they flower and every time a writ is issued for a Federal Election.
— AEC ✏️ (@AusElectoralCom) April 22, 2022
The weekly beast is out – Amanda Meade’s column is always a highlight of the week, a delight to read, and a sign that the weekend is almost upon us:
An udder disgrace:
HOLY COW: A 71yo man has been charged over the Territory’s most significant livestock theft in at least a decade. It’s alleged he stole around 1200 cattle, worth an estimated $1.47mill, from his neighbour. The cattle is in the process of being recovered. @9NewsAUS @9NewsDarwin pic.twitter.com/zUoAmxLjNc
— Tahlia Sarv (@tahliasarv) April 22, 2022
This is some brutal stuff – Royce Kurmelovs on Google doodles (which is, strangely, a pleasant phrase to say out loud):
The ABC’s Stephen Dziedzic making the point that this isn’t just about Australia, Solomon Islands, and China:
Jesus Christ that parking lot outside the Prime Minister’s office in Honiara is getting mighty crowded https://t.co/frMTHhFsCE
— Stephen Dziedzic (@stephendziedzic) April 22, 2022
Thank you, Amy Remeikis, not least for the news that before too long we’ll be halfway through!
Imagine, we might even be talking about entirely different topics in a week’s time...
Maybe even in a few hours’ time... (that’s not a hint, just trying to embrace unpredictability here).
With the campaigns beginning to wind down in preparation for the weekend, I’ll duck off to work on another project and leave you in the very hard working hands of Tory Shepherd.
Monday is Anzac Day, which traditionally is a low-key campaign affair – with the leaders aware of the risk of offending people if they politicise what is suppose to be a solemn day of reflection.
But come 26 April? It is game on. Next week marks the halfway point of the campaign and is usually when people begin to start paying actual attention. So brace yourself. It’s going to get messy.
Thank you to everyone who has joined me this week. I’ll be back early next week and I hope you can take a few moments to stare at a wall over the next couple of days. In the meantime, take care of you.
Updated
Why does the ballot draw matter?
Well, for the candidates up the top it can mean extra votes, because of those who just number 1 to whatever in order down their ballot.
Some pics from ballots draws held around the country today to determine the order of candidates on ballot papers.@AntonyGreenElec even got in on the action, turning the barrel in NSW.
— AEC ✏️ (@AusElectoralCom) April 22, 2022
Like the paper & pencil voters use, this is a manual process we conduct. #auspol pic.twitter.com/UobeSbMs13
A day is a very long time in a campaign
Here was Scott Morrison yesterday:
Q: On Solomon Islands, you said that in your experience with NSC, you know a bit about national security. Earlier this year when you and other ministers made similar comments about China, the head of Asio said politicising national security is quote “not helpful”. So why did you repeat that comment when our national security agencies were saying it is not helpful? It’s doing Australia a disservice.
Morrison:
Well see, when you’re prime minister, you’re running the government. Public servants don’t run the government. Prime ministers and their ministers run government.
And today? Well, questions on when he last spoke to the Solomon Islands prime minister and the like can’t be answered because of security advice.
Minor curiosity of the day. When it was put to the PM earlier this week that intelligence chiefs had publicly counselled him against weaponising China as a partisan issue, he declared he and his ministers ran the government.
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) April 22, 2022
Not public servants.
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) April 22, 2022
Now those same public servants have rebounded in importance. Labor hasn't been briefed by them on the Pacific (problem) & the PM says he needs to follow their advice very closely, meaning basic questions about contacts with the Solomons can't get answered.
Updated
National Covid-19 update
Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 46 deaths from Covid-19:
ACT
- Deaths: 1
- Cases: 1,041
- In hospital: 57 (with 2 people in ICU)
NSW
- Deaths: 13
- Cases: 15,283
- In hospital: 1,632 (with 63 people in ICU)
Northern Territory
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 543
- In hospital: 46 (with 1 person in ICU)
Queensland
- Deaths: 5
- Cases: 8,080
- In hospital: 528 (with 18 people in ICU)
South Australia
- Deaths: 4
- Cases: 4,500
- In hospital: 246 (with 10 people in ICU)
Tasmania
- Deaths: 2
- Cases: 1,265
- In hospital: 41 (with 1 person in ICU)
Victoria
- Deaths: 16
- Cases: 9,439
- In hospital: 428 (with 30 people in ICU)
Western Australia
- Deaths: 5 (historical)
- Cases: 8,777
- In hospital: 258 (with 9 people in ICU)
Updated
*Sonny and Cher voice*
And the campaign goes on
Day 1 of the Labor campaign minus Leader @AlboMP. Shadow frontbenchers @JasonClareMP and @SenKatyG are in the ultra marginal Labor seat of Macquarie #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/eUOzHhDQPH
— Nour Haydar (@NourHaydar) April 22, 2022
Here is a bit more detail on the Queensland Covid restriction changes.
Queensland will ease Covid-19 quarantine rules for household contacts and scrap it entirely for unvaccinated international arrivals next week.Household contacts won’t need to quarantine at home for seven days, but they must return a negative rapid antigen test every two days.
They must also wear face masks indoors and outdoors when they can’t socially distance.
Household contacts should still work from home and avoid high-risk settings such as hospitals and aged care homes.
Read more here:
Updated
Many economists are expecting Australia’s consumer price inflation to rise again in the March quarter but not enough to nudge the Reserve Bank into action at its 3 May meeting.
We will see how much prices have spiked from the ABS on 27 April, with major banks predicting the headline figure will be around 4.5 to 5%, or much higher than the 3.5% recorded for 2021.
Westpac today put their neck out a bit further. They reckon the RBA will sit tight at the May board meeting but will lift the cash rate target from its record low 0.1% at its 7 June meeting straight to 0.5%.
Forget about a stepping-stone move to, say, 0.25% along the way.
Westpac now expects RBA will raise the cash rate target by 40bpts to 0.50% in June, prompted by a CPI spike. That makes them more 'hawkish' than the market. Morrison, though, will only be worried about a rate move this side of 21 May election. #auspol #ausvotes #AusVotes2022 pic.twitter.com/5peuORjfS1
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) April 22, 2022
Their reasoning is based in part on how the central bank has moved in the past, as well as Westpac’s recent predictions being realised.
“Our “golden rule” for tracking central banks is that their guidance beyond three months is dependent on their forecasts,” Westpac said.
“If you have a different set of forecasts to the central bank then when your forecasts prove to be correct the central bank will have to respond in a way that will be consistent with the conditions and contrary to their current guidance,” it said.
“It was that thinking that prompted us to be ‘very early leavers’ from the “no hike till 2024’ club in June last year; and the ‘no hike till 2023’ club in January this year,” the bank said.
We’ll have to see whether the “we-told-you-so” is borne out in June.
If Westpac is right, though, it would imply the RBA held off on the start of “normalising” its cash rate until after the election. The obvious first move would be to 0.25% to ease the adjustment, rather than a five-fold rise.
Pundits will then no doubt question the RBA’s independence from the government, and have cause to do so.
Updated
AAP has an update on Jacinda Ardern’s visit to Japan:
Jacinda Ardern has denied that a new security tie-up with Japan, announced on a visit to Tokyo, is a response to China’s bold expansion in the Pacific.
Ardern met with counterpart Fumio Kishida as she wraps up a six-day visit to Singapore and Japan, her first trip overseas in two years.
She described the meeting, which ran an hour longer than scheduled, as warm and substantive.
“This partnership matters,” Ardern said.
“Japan and New Zealand must cooperate in what is a deeply uncertain global environment.”
The information-sharing deal is light on detail as it is yet to be fully negotiated between the two countries.
However, Ardern said the deal should not be seen as a tit-for-tat response for a new pact negotiated between China and the Solomon Islands.
“New Zealand has a number of these arrangements ... they’re not just about security and intelligence,” she said.
“[The recent volcanic eruption in] Tonga is a really good example. New Zealand’s proximity to the region was really helpful for Japan which wanted to be involved in the humanitarian response.”
Signing a deal with Japan, a geopolitical counterweight to China, suggests New Zealand is solidifying its position within the western orbit that includes the United States and Australia.
While on her Asian trip, Ardern rebuked the Solomon Islands for agreeing to the China deal which will see Chinese police and, possibly, military assets deployed to Honiara.
The Kiwi prime minister said she “saw no need” for it, urging the Solomons to abide by regional agreements to seek security arrangements within the Pacific family.
Ardern and Kishida issued a joint communique, both explicitly and implicitly rebuking China for its regional assertiveness and human rights breaches.
The two leaders expressed “serious concern” about the situation in the South China Sea – without naming China.
They were more targeted in criticism of China over its human rights breaches, saying they held “grave concerns” regarding Xinjiang, where China is accused of targeting and enslaving the Uighur minority, and in Hong Kong due to the erosion of democratic institutions.
Kishida and Ardern also issued “unequivocal condemnation” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, condemning Russian war crimes.
Updated
Given the “Anthony Albanese has Covid” dominated the morning news, here is Murph’s take on what it all means.
Updated
Queensland to ease Covid restrictions
Queensland will scrap hotel quarantine for unvaccinated travellers from 28 April.
Among other changes:
NEW: Queensland will ease covid quarantine for asymptomatic household close contacts from 6pm on April 28
— @MartySilk (@MartySilkHack) April 22, 2022
They will have to wear face masks indoors, and where they can't socially-distance.
They will need to get tested every two days,
and before go out into the community.
Updated
In this same interview (which did cover serious topics like worker shortages and aged care), Scott Morrison opined that the ABC has “a lot more commentary than necessarily their [news] sometimes”.
And then there was this moment:
Q: PM, I hope you’ll be back in Brisbane because my listeners also want to hear from you on big issues like climate change, the Uluru Statement, more cost-of-living issues. The final note that I’ll make that I noticed is the 13th of May – prime minister Scott Morrison, it’s your birthday.
Morrison: It is, it is.
Q: A campaign birthday.
Morrison: I had one last time too. (He called both elections and set the length of the campaign.)
Q: How will you celebrate? Will you try and be with your family that day?
Morrison: I’d like to be, but that doesn’t always happen that way. And my birthday usually falls around the budget. And that’s been the case for, obviously I’ve been in politics for a long time, so my family’s quite used to us not being together on that day, and we always make up for it in a quiet way a little later.
Q: What’s your favourite cake?
Morrison: My favourite cake is Jenny’s chocolate cake. She learned, she got that one from her mum, and I have to do a lot of laps in the pool to make up for a slice of Jenny’s birthday cake.
The other Morrison election campaign constant? It is where we hear about him swimming.
The last time the PM posted about how much he loved swimming was just before the last election campaign. It’s not just the same lines getting a run pic.twitter.com/98yArS36R9
— Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) April 20, 2022
Updated
Brendan Nelson has been appointed chair of the council of the Australian War Memorial:
Memorial director Matt Anderson said:
We warmly welcome today’s appointment of Dr Brendan Nelson as chair of the council of the Australian War Memorial.
Dr Nelson demonstrated his outstanding commitment to the purpose of the Australian War Memorial and his support of veterans and their families during his seven years as director.
We look forward to working with Dr Nelson as our chair. He will bring his passion, commitment and knowledge to serve the memorial in this strategic capacity.
Updated
And that press conference ends as well.
Updated
And continues:
And on the other point, I wish Anthony well with his recovery. Having had Covid, Peter has had it as well, it can be an unpleasant experience for some, it can be a terribly dangerous experience for others. My hope is he has very mild symptoms and I’m sure he will continue to work on in the same way that I did when I was also in isolation, putting the budget together, dealing with the response to Ukraine as a government, chairing cabinet and national security meetings, including dealing with the sorts of issues we have been discussing today.
So I assume he will continue to do that and I wish him well for recovery.
For us, it means, apart from wishing him well, the government, the Liberals and nationals here in Queensland will just continue to make the points we have made. We have been strong economic managements and we have a strong economic plan going forward that enables us to guarantee the essential services Australians rely on, Medicare, to ensure we are able to deliver real cost-of-living relief right now, whether it is at the fuel pumps, the $250 going to pensioners and others receiving those payments. That is a product of our strong economic and financial management that has seen the budget turnaround by over $100 billion in the last 12 months.
Updated
That answer continues:
Just back in January, you will remember when the new Chinese ambassador came to Australia, and he said that Australia should respond to an olive branch, it was called. An olive branch.
An olive branch at a time when trade sanctions were continually imposed on Australia, and Australia’s interests were being spoken against in the region by the Chinese government.
Now, Anthony Albanese’s response to that invitation was, he said, some of the actions, he said, to Beijing, some of the actions that have been taken to stop Australian products going to China should be withdrawn. Some. Not all. Some.
Now, this is really important. You cannot compromise when you’re standing up to an authoritarian government that is seeking to impose its will on the region.
You can’t take a bet each way on what sanctions you’re going to cop, and what sanctions you are not going to cop. So which is it? Is he going to say the bans on our wine, they’re OK, or they should go? Our barley, they should come or go? To the crayfishers down in Tasmania, are they the ones put on the altar of compromise by Anthony Albanese? You can’t have an each way bet on these things.
I have been resolute, year after year after year, I have called this out, before other nations around the world. You will remember the 14 points from the Chinese embassy which attacked Australia over our freedom of our press, of our parliament, of calling out the origins of the pandemic and wanting to have an independent investigation. And we were attacked for that.
And the Labor party actually attacked us for these types of actions as well. We called that out, I took it to the G7 conference and I tabled it, and I said: as liberal democracies, we have to be aware of this, and we should be taking action.
Updated
Q: How concerned are you that Beijing is preparing to do a deal with any other Pacific Island nations? And Anthony Albanese obviously now has Covid-19 – what implications do you think that will have on your campaign, given his absence?
Scott Morrison:
I remain concerned, as I have for years and years and years, about the Chinese government’s intentions within our region.
And that is why we have provided the policy response that we have over many years: increasing our investment, particularly on development assistance in the region, up to over $1.8 billion a year; by being proactive and going to the region as a prime minister and engaging directly with Pacific leaders, and speaking with them regularly as well, about the security issues in our region, but particularly with the New Zealand government, because Australia and New Zealand do work closely on these issues.
And then we work with other partners, particularly like Japan and the United States. So yes, I do remain concerned about – there’s constant pressure on these issues, just as there is in other parts of the region. And Peter ran through them. In Africa, other parts, one of the other countries that isn’t at fault in what is happening in the South China Sea is Vietnam. They’re a Communist party with a Communist party leadership. They’re not at fault when it comes to their fishing boats and their deep sea exploration being threatened by coast guard vessels or others.
This is the role of an assertive Chinese government within the region, which we know firsthand has sought to coerce, whether it be through trade sanctions on Australia, for our barley, wine, any of those issues, or seeking to work against Australia’s interests more broadly around the world.
Updated
Q: In March you said your weekly conversations with Pacific Island would ensure there would be no incursion by Beijing. You were willing to take credit then. Are you willing to claim any responsibility now for China’s new access to the Solomons?
Scott Morrison:
You always want to achieve the prevention of these arrangements. And everything we were doing was seeking to achieve that. But there will be occasions where you aren’t able to for that to be the outcome. But I think Peter makes a very important point, a very important point.
The reason there is a Chinese government secret deal with Solomon Islands government, a deal that we know, where the Chinese government does not play by the same rules of transparency, that liberal democracies do in the region, and we don’t engage in the same way they do in the region, that is a result of what the Chinese government has done.
Not a result of what the Australian government has done.
So the suggestion that the Australian government is in any way contributed to this arrangement being put in place I think is absolutely false. And I know it not to be the case. Australia continues to be the priority preferred first security partner of Solomon Islands. And we have Australian Federal Police on the ground in Honiara right now, securing peace and stability for the people of the Solomon Islands.
And our people to people relations between Australia and the people of the Solomon Islands is very, very strong. Because as I keep stressing, these events only highlight the vulnerabilities, the risks, and security threats that exist within our region. And there’s a choice. What would Labor have done differently? If they think it’s just a matter of making a phone call, that highlights how little they understand about the complexity and seriousness of these issues.
Q: Jason Clare has delivered a very impressive press conference, talking up team Albo. Are you concerned that his absence will open you up to more scrutiny from other members of the Labor party?
Morrison:
I welcome the comparison between my team and the Labor team. I welcome the comparison between Peter Dutton, whether it’s Richard Marles or Brendan O’Connor. Here’s the choices you’ve got for a defence minister in the Labor party – someone who thinks it’s a good idea for Pacific Island nations to sign up to security agreements with the Chinese government, that’s Richard Marles. Option number one.
Option number two, Brendan O’Connor, who, in a very competitive field of failed Labor immigration and border protection ministers, was terribly responsible for the border protection failings under the former Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government. If he can’t control the borders, how on earth could he be a worth while choice as a defence minister? My defence minister not only protected the borders but is overseeing the biggest recapitalisation of our defence forces we’ve seen since the second world war.
He’s been an integral part of the process of us pulling the Aukus agreement together, and working with our partners in the Quad. So I think what people can see in our team on national security, on defence, is a well seasoned and experienced team. I mean, Peter and I have both expect about eight years on the national security committee, and all of that time together, we can pretty much finish each other’s sentences in understanding the risks that Australia faces, the capabilities we require and how we respond to issues.
Now, the other issue is that the minister for home affairs, and Karen Andrews, who carries on the very important work Peter has done in that portfolio, and I began when we were first elected, and Karen has continued that very strong position. In the Labor party, no one wants to even own up to being who their home affairs minister would be. Kristina Keneally seems to be the one that Anthony Albanese wants to do the job, but she doesn’t seem to be that interested or keen to take it on.
I think there’s a very clear choice, not just on the economy but the teams that press forward in terms of guaranteeing our national security, keeping our borders secure, and our national defence.
Updated
Pacific leaders under 'enormous pressure and influence' - PM
Q: On the Solomon Islands, is it correct that an Australian intelligence agency had a direct or indirect role in leaking the draft security agreement?
Scott Morrison:
I would never comment on intelligence matters of that nature. You would be surprised if I were to speak one way or the other about those issues. And no one should take from that any meaning whatsoever. I mean, these are highly sensitive matters.
Q: Prime minister ... putting the politics to one side, in terms of these attacks on Labor and Richard Marles’s comments, if you’re re-elected as prime minister what will you do to prevent China getting a stranglehold in our region?
Morrison:
I’m going to keep doing what we are doing. Over 100 occasions, we’ve had direct engagements with Pacific leaders over the last few years. I’ve gone to those islands. I’ve been a very active participant within the Pacific Islands Forum.
What this highlights is these are not simple issues. I mean, if it was just as easy as picking up the phone or sending a foreign minister, then these issues wouldn’t occur. It’s not that easy. I think that analysis which would suggest that’s all that was required was simplistic and doesn’t understand the complex nature of the forces at play here, or the way the Chinese government operates within our region, and the risks that have attached to various approaches that are made. This is a highly complex situation. Our partners understand that.
Our partners trust us and we work closely with them. But we can’t kid ourselves, there’s enormous pressure and influence which is placed on Pacific Island leaders across the region, which the Chinese government have been engaged in for some time. And as Peter rightly said, we have seen that play out in other parts of the world. So as a government we have invested in those intelligence networks. We have invested in our defence capability. We have invested in our humanitarian support. And we have worked on all of our relationships, frankly, to try to restore a position where Australia had previously been seen as throwing its weight around in the region. Which was never welcome.
I have taken a very different approach. I have had a long association with Pacific countries going back to before I went into parliament. This is an area of keen interest for me, and an area of great passion. But it’s very complex, it’s very risky. And our national interest always comes first in our dealings.
Q: Can you just clarify your comments as to why you haven’t spoken with the Solomon Islands prime minister. You said you got advice – what kind of advice?
Morrison:
I can’t go into the details of that. That would not be appropriate. I cannot –
Q: You have been told not to call him, is that right?
Morrison:
You can’t take from that any implication one way or the other. The reason for that is these are highly sensitive complex national security issues.
And I know people would like to know all these things. But it’s not in the national interest for prime ministers to just give a running commentary about how decisions are made about these things. That would be not in Australia’s interest to do that. And so you – I would simply give you this assurance that in the decisions that we make, about how approaches are made and when approaches are made, and the points that are made, that is done as part of a very careful process and we take very seriously the informed advice that we get from our intelligence and security agencies.
Updated
On when he last spoke to the Solomon Islands’ prime minister, Scott Morrison says:
I have spoken to prime minister Sogavare on several occasions this year, and about this issue. And on many occasions last year as well. Our conversations have dealt with the matters that are currently before us.
They have also dealt with the serious civil unrest that was occurring back in December of last year, when we committed Australian defence forces and federal police onto those matters.
They have also involved discussions about Covid and the significance support we have provided to the Solomon Islands. And on this very sensitive matter, as we became obviously aware, which we have been, of the risk for some time now, we have followed very careful advice about the interactions that we’ve had, particularly direct interactions. I can’t go into any more details about that.
But I can assure you these are complex issues and they have to be dealt with in a calibrated way and we have been very careful to listen to those within our agencies about how is the best way to get Australia’s message across.
I have spoken to many other Pacific Island leaders as well, at the same time, as well as to prime minister Ardern. To ensure that there is a collective view that is being communicated to prime minister Sogavare. So not just a view of Australia, but a view of Papua New Guinean government, of the Samoan government, of the Vanuatu government.
Asked again when he last spoke to prime minister Sogavare, Morrison says “within the last month or so”.
Updated
Q: The government’s talked a lot about the importance of the relationships with the Pacific nations. Do you regret making those comments and joking about sea water rising and water lapping at the doors of some of our most important neighbours? And to the prime minister, when did you last chat on the phone to the Solomon Islands prime minister?
Peter Dutton:
So, to answer your question, I mean, I made comments at the time which were, you know, off the cuff, flippant. I apologised for them. It’s never been raised.
If you want to take Richard Marles’s word or Anthony Albanese’s word, somehow what is happening in the Indo-Pacific at the moment is the fault of Australia, then, they don’t have any comprehension – they haven’t had the security or intelligence briefings.
Richard Marles went to Beijing*. I don’t know who paid for his trip, who he kept in contact with since that time, but he came back with some certain views and he’s expressed those.
As I said, they’re very similar to Adam Bandt and the Greens. And if you doubt that Labor and the Greens are in lockstep, then, look at these comments. And compare and contrast them. They’re remarkably similar. What has changed is China under president Xi. If you look at what happened on the India-China land border, there’s been Indian troops who have died there in the last three years at the hands of Chinese troops. Now, India hasn’t changed.
India isn’t the aggressor. If you look at what happened in the east China Sea, the Chinese militia are bumping up against the Japanese coast guard in a provocative action on a regular basis. Japan is not the aggressor there, China is.
If you look at what is happening and the acts of interference in our own region, the corrupt payments in parts of Africa, the situation in Sri Lanka with the port, it’s not those countries who have changed, it’s China under president Xi.
If Labor wants you to believe somehow that what has happened in the Indo-Pacific, with the Solomon Islands or elsewhere, is the fault of the Australian government, it just goes against all of the facts that are on the table. I think that Penny Wong has demonstrated as much as Anthony Albanese has in the last 48 hours they don’t understand these issues. They have jumped from one position to the next on border protection. And frankly, they have done the same in relation to this issue.
*Stuart Robert was sacked from the cabinet by Malcom Turnbull for a visit to Beijing to oversee a mining deal for a Liberal donor and meet with a Chinese vice-minister. Scott Morrison returned him to the cabinet.
Updated
Peter Dutton on Richard Marles:
Look, I think most Australians were pretty shocked when Adam Bandt spoke about there being no problem in our region, stripping money from the defence force. But it seems when you look now at what Richard Marles has written just in the last year or so, there’s not much difference, it seems, between the Greens and the Labor party when it comes to the decisions about how to defend our country and what position you should be taking in relation to what is happening in the Indo-Pacific.
I find it quite startling that Richard Marles, as the deputy leader of the Labor party, could have made these statements. They weren’t made in 1999 or 2010, these were statements a matter of months ago.
And it’s no wonder that when Richard Marles and Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong and others were sitting around the cabinet with Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, they stripped money out of defence and they lost control of our borders. And they don’t have the strength, frankly, to deal with the issues that our country will face into the future.
We do know there’s a period of uncertainty. And we do know our country needs to stand up for our values. We need to invest in the defences of our country and Richard Marles has essentially abandoned that principle. He wants to be the defence minister because Brendan O’Connor is not up to that. We know that already. No one else within the caucus wants to be the home affairs minister. Who would their national security team be?
As I say, they’ve always got something else to do, another priority to meet, apart from the defence of our country. And the prime minister and I are rock solid with the national security committee and the decisions we’re making to keep our country safe in an uncertain period, and that’s a big part of what this election is about.
Updated
On the question about what is there issue with Richard Marles’ comments, Scott Morrison says:
When it comes to what Richard Marles wrote last year in August that Australia should not be resisting Pacific island nations entering into these type of agreements with the Chinese government* – I mean, it doesn’t get more blunt than that. And I’m going to ask Peter to make a few comments. This election is not just a choice about who is going to be prime minister, it’s a choice about who will be the defence minister, who will be the home affairs minister. Who is going to be the treasurer?
Now, I have a strong and experienced team. Richard Marles is the deputy leader of the Labor party. He would be deputy prime minister in an Albanese government. I don’t know where he is today. They have gone to others today for comment on these things, with their travelling media pack, in terms of this campaign, but Richard Marles seeks to be, as we understand it, the defence minister in an Albanese government. Now, I think it’s fair for people to understand the difference in the views between the two alternatives. So I’m going to ask Peter to make some remarks on this as well.
*Let’s look at what Marles actually said.
In relation to development assistance (not bases!):
Let me be crystal clear: that was and has been a good thing. The Pacific needs help and Australia needs to welcome any country willing to provide it. Certainly the Pacific Island countries themselves do.
On attempting to block China:
Basing our actions in the Pacific on an attempt to strategically deny China would be a historic mistake ... Not only would this be detrimental to our regional relationships, it would be a failed course of action. Australia has no right to expect a set of exclusive relationships with the Pacific nations. They are perfectly free to engage on whatever terms they choose with China or, for that matter, any other country. Disputing this would be resented, as the recent past has shown.
The first thing to note is this is not that different from the Morrison government’s recognition that Solomon Islands has the right to sign a security deal with China. Acknowledging the Solomon Islands’ right to do so is not the same as welcoming a deal with China.
Updated
Q: Have you been in touch with the US delegation, Kurt Campbell, ahead of their meeting with prime minister Sogavare, and this morning, on another note, you described Richard Marles’ comments on China as chilling. What are you specifically accusing Labor of in relation to China and the Solomon Islands, and are you seriously saying that Labor has been disloyal to Australia?
Scott Morrison:
As a government, we’re in regular contact with the United States on these issues and been over a very long time. Over the last three and a half years as prime minister, on more than 100 occasions, I had direct discussions with Pacific leaders. I was the first prime minister in a very long time to go to Fiji, for example, and recognise prime minister Bainimarama, have a direct bilateral meeting with him, a purpose visit just to go to Fiji, to stand with prime minister Bainimarama.
That was very important for Australia. Fiji is an important leader in the Pacific. Same reason why I enjoy those strong relationships with the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea.
This is a constant process. It’s not just this day or that day. It’s all the time that we’re engaging with our Pacific family. And we do for the obvious reasons of what has been highlighted in the Solomon Islands. There are frailties and vulnerabilities. As I said many times today, and Peter made similar remarks, the Chinese government does not play by the same rules.
We have seen what they have done in other parts of the world. These pressures are constant and have been there for years. That’s why I made the visits to the region as I have. Not just to the Solomon Islands, to Vanuatu, Fiji, I’ve been very active in the region and in the participation in the Pacific Island forum.
We’re looking forward for the opportunity to come through to talk about what has recently occurred in the Solomon Islands. Because that’s the way we have approached and will continue to approach our relationship in the Pacific. And we’re not some colonial power running around throwing our weight around, telling people what to do.
That was the approach of previous administrations. That was not well received in the Pacific. We have taken a different approach, through our Pacific step-up, that treats all of them with great respect, and understanding their needs and issues and ensuring our increased investment in development assistance, investing in their critical infrastructure, climate adaptation, all of these things we have done over a long period of time.
We do that with our partners, we do it with Japan as well. We have a close dialogue with Japan. They’re also an important development partner for Pacific nations. As is the United States. But we’re getting feedback from the meetings they were having and we’ll continue to work together on ensuring a secure and stable Pacific, south-west Pacific, with other important partners like New Zealand, and I am in regular contact with prime minister Ardern on those issues.
Updated
Scott Morrison press conference
The Liberal leader opens up with a very big welcome and thank you to Peter Dutton, as he launches into a defence spend spiel.
He’s in Ipswich, just outside of Brisbane.
Updated
It is election ballot draw day:
Standing by for the @AusElectoralCom doing the ballot draws for the ACT Senate pic.twitter.com/8qHbmsxvFQ
— Andrew Brown (@AndrewBrownAU) April 22, 2022
It’s a small sample, but advocacy group Raise Our Voices has surveyed 500 young women about what they are looking at this election and the key findings include:
- 94% of respondents agree it’s important for the government to be diverse
- However, only 13% of respondents feel that people like them are represented in politics
- This dropped to 6% among culturally and linguistically diverse respondents
- 11% among LGBTQIA+
- 35% of respondents would consider a career in politics
- This rose to 45% among those aged 20 or under (with 30% of those aged 21-30)
- 87% of respondents felt that representations of women in politics by the media are mostly negative
- There was a high level of familiarity with recent media stories, including:
- Brittany Higgins’ allegations of assault in parliament (96% familiarity)
- Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame’s National Press Club address (93% familiarity)
- The release of Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (2021), known as the Jenkins report (88% familiarity)
- Allegations against Christian Porter (57% familiarity)
- Given the salience of these events and conversations:
- 83% were more likely to make an informed vote
- 79% were more likely to sign petitions
- 70% were more likely to attend protests or political rallies
- There were two instances where the impact was more likely to be negative than positive:
- 44% are less likely to pursue a career in politics (v 23% who would be more likely)
- This was more pronounced among those living with a disability (57% were less likely)
- And for those in their 20s (49%)
- 37% are less likely to become a member of a political party (v 21% who would be more likely)
What doesRaise Our Voices want?
- A timeline for implementation and funding of the recommendations contained in the Jenkins review
- Political parties to create specific youth engagement strategies for their party membership
- Implement media reporting standards for reporting on women, political figures, and people from marginalised backgrounds
- Social media companies to agree to, and meaningfully implement, standards for content on their platforms
- Political parties should create affirmative action measures around diverse participation
- Media companies should set targets around elevating diverse voices and seeking opinions from diverse individuals
Updated
Scott Morrison will be making a defence election announcement in Brisbane today. We are expecting to hear from him soon.
Queensland LNP senator Amanda Stoker, who has been placed at number three on the Queensland LNP Senate ticket, and so is facing off against the Greens, Campbell Newman and Clive Palmer for the last Queensland Senate spot, is asking Liberal party supporters to contribute to a $100,000 “war chest” to keep a “Labor-Greens government” out of power.
Updated
AAP has put together Richard Marles’ comments on China and Scott Morrison’s comments on China as the Coalition continues in its attempts to stir up a national security debate:
Marles:
“Basing our actions in the Pacific on an attempt to strategically deny China would be a historic mistake.”
“Australia has no right to expect a set of exclusive relationships with the Pacific nations. They are perfectly free to engage on whatever terms they choose with China or, for that matter, any other country.”
“An attempt to engage in a calculated denial of China will only create a geo-strategic contest that Pacific Island countries will register with bewilderment, if not mirth.”
– Quotes from Tides that Bind: Australia in the Pacific by Richard Marles. Published August 2021
“Australia needs to earn the right to be the natural partner of choice. We are in a strategic contest with China.”
“We all get the threat that China represents to Australia. There is no disagreement about that. The question is what is Australia going to do about it, that’s what is criticised here.”
– Interview on the Nine Network, April 22 2022
Morrison:
“China provides a real stability to the region and frankly the world economy and stable growth from China is good news for Australia and the global economy.
– Press conference on strategic economic dialogue with China, September 18 2017
“We welcome Chinese investment. We have welcomed it for decades. The stock of Chinese investment in Australia in 2018 was more than eight times larger than a decade ago.”
“The infrastructure needs of the region are enormous and Australia welcomes the contribution that the Belt and Road Initiative can make to regional investment and to regional development.”
Address to the University of Melbourne, June 26 2019
“I find it outrageous that Labor would criticise us when their own deputy leader was actually advocating what the Chinese government has been seeking to do in our region.”
– Interview on the Nine Network, April 22 2022
Updated
Mark McGowan tests positive for Covid
It had to happen.
Via AAP:
Western Australian premier Mark McGowan has tested positive to Covid-19 while isolating at home with his family.
McGowan had initially returned a negative test after a family member contracted the virus, rendering him a close contact.
In a statement on Friday, the premier said he had taken another PCR test on Thursday and it had come back positive.
He said:
It is not surprising considering one of my family members is positive.
In accordance with the protocols, this will extend my quarantine period until I am hopefully cleared to leave home next Thursday afternoon, at the earliest.
I will continue to quarantine and work from home over this period.
The premier is scheduled to attend federal Labor’s election campaign launch in Perth on 1 May.
The federal Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, also tested positive to the virus this week.
McGowan did not provide any details on his condition but thanked staff at testing clinics.
I would also like to acknowledge the vital contribution of our committed health workers who have not only cared for my family, but also the many Western Australians who have been affected by this virus.
WA last week moved to the national definition for close contacts, requiring only household members and intimate partners to isolate.
Strict proof of vaccination and mask-wearing requirements remain in place.
Updated
Jacqui Lambie has released her first TV election ad:
NSW Health has announced it won’t be releasing daily press releases from Monday:
From Monday 25 April, NSW Health will no longer issue a routine daily Covid-19 media release. Covid-19 information will continue to be reported through NSW Health’s social media accounts and website each morning, with more detailed information and analysis contained in the weekly Covid-19 surveillance reports. A wide range of Covid-19 information and advice is also available on the NSW government website.
Updated
PM: 'Australians can't be themselves, are walking on eggshells'
That exchange continues and gets to the real nub of why Scott Morrison is standing so strongly behind Katherine Deves – because he wants to talk about “cancel culture” and appeal to Australians who feel they “can’t say anything any more”.
(Cancel culture doesn’t really exist, and in any case Deves has not been cancelled, but may have been silenced by the Liberal campaign, and the comments she has made were not from a decade ago, but as recent as early this year.)
Q: Yeah, exactly. Look, we all make mistakes. We all say the odd thing that’s wrong, that we regret. I’m not denying that, but there were a lot of really vicious comments in her past and to just sort of say a blanket, ‘oh well, I’m sorry for that’, doesn’t that go to her beliefs, though? Is this not different?
Morrison:
I think people do learn about these things over time, and I think they do learn, that they need to be more careful and more sensitive about the way they approach what are very sensitive issues. And this should be an adult, sensitive, mature debate showing respect for each other and it not being taken off into other issues around broader debates on sexuality. This is a practical issue of women and girls in sport and trying to get some common sense arrangements so girls and women get a fair go. That’s what it’s actually about at the end of the day. Now, those who disagree with her on that, I suspect they’re the ones who’ve been travelling over all her old comments and all of that for one simple purpose, so that they could take her out of the debate. Now, I’m not going to allow that to happen.
I think a lot of Australians feel sometimes that they haven’t expressed things well in the past. And so they walk around on eggshells in the office, they walk around on eggshells in their community and feel that they just can’t, you know, be themselves. And we all have to be sensitive about these things. But at the end of the day, this election is not about any of those issues.
Updated
There was then this exchange about the Liberal Warringah candidate, who Scott Morrison handpicked, Katherine Deves.
Q: OK. One of your candidates, Katherine Deves, has come under fire for her social media posts linking cross-dressing men, trans women to sexual predators, saying they are more like serial killers. Why haven’t you disendorsed her?
Morrison:
Katherine Deves is raising three girls of her own. She lives in Manly. She put herself through the Solicitors Administration Board course to become a lawyer, and she has been an advocate for standing up for women and girls in sport. And there are comments she’s made in the past, which she’s been very clear about were insensitive, and that’s not how she would seek to continue to pursue those issues to stand up for women and girls in sport. And lots of people have trolled over her old posts and all of those things. She’s made it very clear that she believes that they were insensitive. And so I think she should be given the opportunity to be heard on her own merits now as she’s putting herself forward as a Liberal candidate there in Warringah.
But I think it goes to another issue now, and that is where people have said things in the past, as she clearly has, and now she’s standing for public office, she knows she needs to be more sensitive about those issues. For what particular purpose mostly? So it doesn’t detract from the big point that she’s making, which is about having common sense when it comes to women and girls playing sport in this country and getting a fair go. And, you know, we can’t be running around all the time walking on eggshells, on everything.
... And there’s been quite a pile on, as you would’ve seen ... and I’m not joining that pile on. And she has said that that’s not how she wants to pursue it. She believes those comments were insensitive and she’s moving forward. And I think people should give her a go on that basis.
Updated
China doesn't 'play by same rules' as Australia – Morrison
It then comes to this exchange where Scott Morrison doesn’t rule out Solomon Island government officials were bribed by China:
Q: When you say China doesn’t play by our rules, are you saying that that China has bribed ministers, people in the Solomon Islands government?
Morrison:
We are very well aware of what China has done in many other countries around the world, and we have a very good understanding about how they operate in the Pacific. As prime minister, I think what is the best thing for me to say is they don’t play by the same rules as transparent liberal democracies.
Q: That sounds pretty loaded, it sounds like a yes.
Morrison:
What it sounds like [is] that they don’t play by the same rules as transparent liberal democracies.
Previously, Morrison and Peter Dutton, when addressing that question, have been careful to say “leaving Solomon Islands to the side” before speaking of “bribes”.
Updated
Back to Scott Morrison’s media blitz this morning. He was asked on the Seven network why Australia didn’t send a more senior minister to Solomon Islands.
Here is the exchange (as per the official transcript):
Q: So why isn’t our ... foreign minister there? Why did we send junior people? The US is sending a delegation. It doesn’t feel like we’re taking this as seriously as you say.
Morrison:
Well, I disagree with you on that. We not only, I mean, they have made their decision. And so the foreign minister was not the right person to send at that time. We communicated a very clear message to the prime minister through the minister of Pacific that no one was going to convince anybody at that point, they had made their decision. And so we communicated a very clear message to the prime minister.
I’ve spoken to the prime minister on many occasions about these types of issues going back to my face-to-face meeting with him, both there in the Solomon Islands, at various other Pacific Islands Forum meetings. And we’ve been talking over a long period of time. And so these issues are far more complex than just sending a foreign minister and apparently that’s going to solve it all. That is a very simplistic understanding of the issue. This is very complex. In the Pacific islands, you don’t throw your weight around. That’s what I used to see from old colonial powers.
They don’t want to see that. They want to see family working together, supporting each other, which has been our approach. Now, as you’ve seen, the person who would be deputy prime minister of Australia, if the Labor party were elected, actually advocated exactly what China is doing in the region.
And I think that makes an absolute mockery of the shrill criticism of the government – that if the Labor party advanced over the course of these past few days, when the very person they claim to be their Pacific expert, Richard Marles, actually in August or thereabouts of last year, was writing to say that what China is doing right now is something they should be doing.
And I just think that that is what is incredibly concerning, that if Labor were elected, their deputy prime minister, the person who wants to be their defence minister, actually believes that this is what they should have done.
Updated
Federal court overturns AI ruling
The full bench of the federal court has overturned a lower court ruling that artificial intelligence systems can be considered “inventors” under Australian patent law.
The July 2021 ruling had found Dr Stephen Thaler’s Dabus system could be considered the inventor of an emergency warning light and a type of food container, after the commissioner of patents had previously rejected the patent application.
The full federal court, however, found naming Dabus as the inventor did not comply with existing patent law, in a ruling earlier this month.
However, the court left open the door to whether AI could, in future, be considered inventors:
In filing the application, Dr Thaler no doubt intended to provoke debate as to the role that artificial intelligence may take within the scheme of the Patents Act and Regulations. Such debate is important and worthwhile. However, in the present case it clouded consideration of the prosaic question before the primary judge ... In our view, there are many propositions that arise for consideration in the context of artificial intelligence and inventions.
The court said that includes whether a person who is an inventor should be redefined to include artificial intelligence, and how that would be defined in working with the person who invented the AI system.
The court said that would “require more consideration” but indicated it would lean more into being a policy and legislation decision – that is, something parliament would have to consider – and then up to the courts to interpret.
Updated
Members of Australia’s Afghan Hazara diaspora will hold a candlelight vigil on Friday night in Sydney to commemorate the victims of the high school terrorist attacks in Afghanistan this week.
On Tuesday, the Abdul Rahim Shahid high school and the Mumtaz Educational Centre in western Kabul were hit by coordinated bombing attacks that are believed to have killed dozens and injured more than 100. Accurate figures are difficult to ascertain: witnesses reported Taliban authorities kept them from reaching the wounded victims or prevented them from being taken to hospitals.
The schools were in Dasht-e-Barchi, a predominantly Hazara ethnic neighbourhood in the west of the capital.
Friends in Sydney please join us tomorrow for a candlelight vigil to commemorate and mourn the recent cowardly attack on Hazara school students in Kabul by the T.ban pic.twitter.com/v1rc5LAnws
— Zaki Haidari (@ZakiHaidariAU) April 21, 2022
Zaki Haidari of the Saba group said:
Abdul Rahim Shahid high school was the largest high school in the country – it housed 30,000 students and over 400 teachers in three daily shifts. It was also one of the most successful high schools because its graduates passed the university entry examinations with very high success rates.
The impact of this horrible incident has been immense on the Hazara community in Australia, including the prominent Hazara communities living in the Cumberland council area as well as across Sydney, whose families and close relatives reside in the same area of Kabul where the continuous attacks on the Hazaras have been taking place.
Through this event we hope to raise awareness about the injustice and severity of Hazara genocide in Afghanistan and demand that the Australian and international community take accountability for this outrageous human rights violation.
The candlelight vigil begins at 6pm at Granville Town Hall, 10 Carlton Street, Granville, in Sydney.
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That’s where the press conference ends.
Q: The latests polling is showing that Scott Morrison is unpopular and Anthony Albanese is equally unpopular. You came in today and have been comfortable – are you the leader people have been looking for?
Jason Clare:
A few laughs in the room there ... Albanese is the leader this country needs ... The answer is clear, and I think Australians will see that of the course of the last four weeks of the campaign ... it is time to give him a go.
They have a choice here, between honest Albo and smirking Scott. Australians will make that choice very clear. Australians will vote for hope, change, a better future.
If Scott Morrison is saying that it is as good as it gets, [that’s] so out of touch. It is time to get out of the Lodge and into the real world.
We have real plans here, the can build a real future and relieve the childcare pressures of mums and dads who want to work more. We can fix that.
Australian who cannot find a doctor in the bush and cannot afford one in the city. We can fix that. There are too many young people, let alone older people, who cannot afford to buy a home. We need to make it easier for them. If the Liberal party doesn’t think this is true, there are lots of Australians that have had enough of the rorts, enough of the lies, and they want a government they will do something about it.
That is what we will do if we are honoured to be elected on May 21.
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Q: Back to the testing regime and so on required to the diagnosis. [Was] Anthony Albanese doing daily testing?
Jason Clare:
... He was doing daily rats.
Q: Did you take extra precautions now to make sure that those senior members of the shadow cabinet that haven’t got Covid are protected.
Clare:
I think it’ll be the same with the Liberals – make every practical precaution you can, wear a mask when appropriate All practical precautions. But let’s not ... think that you can stop Covid from coming to you; 40- or 50,000 Australians are getting it.
We have another advantage in this campaign, because we [have a strong team] here and we will showcase that over the next few days.
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Q: Twenty-five per cent of people in the crowd remain undecided about either leader. Doesn’t that show that Anthony Albanese cannot afford to lose any time away from the public view?
Jason Clare:
I think of what it shows is that the election will be tight. It will go down to the wire, every vote will count. We have to fight for every vote, convince people that we have the plan to build a better country, strengthen the economy, make Australia a fairer, better place. And we can do that, we are not a one-man band. We are a strong united team and we can show that over the course of the next few days.
Q: Obviously Anthony Albanese spent some time in Brisbane and was preparing for the debate. Members of the Labor inner sanctum, are they close contacts?
Clare:
To the best of my knowledge they are not classified as close contacts. Nor do I think anybody in this room is, is that right? They’re doing the normal things that you have been doing, the daily tests to make sure that they are monitoring the systems and checking themselves to make sure they are OK.
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Q: Australians are going to see a lot more of Scott Morrison on the stump in marginal seats. Making announcements over the next seven days, and very little of Anthony Albanese outside of isolation when he’s well. Does the Labor campaign consider that a positive or a negative?
Jason Clare:
It’s just the reality. It’s the reality. You get COVID you’re in iso. There’s no alternative to that. We planned for this for months. It’s inevitable that people will get COVID if they’re out and about. I see this an opportunity, I got to say. Not only do we have a better plan, we have a better team.
Q: Australians seeing more of the Prime Minister. Is that a positive or a negative for your campaign?
Clare:
Well, I think it’s a positive for our campaign. The more they see of Scott Morrison, the more they will realise this government has run out of puff. Let me take you back, Mark, to the debate again. Think about the questions that were asked at that debate. Right off the bat, the first question was about housing affordability. People were saying, we’re finding it harder for our kids to be able to buy a home. Next question was about aged care.
People terrified about putting their parents into aged care. Then there was a question about the NDIS. People worried about the cuts to funding for their autistic child. And then there was a question about corruption. It shows people care about corruption. Scott Morrison didn’t have any answers to any of that. Just excuses. Albo had real practical plans to help all of those people. What those people were saying at that debate wasn’t gotcha. It was help me. And Labor’s got plans to help them.
Scott Morrison didn’t have anything there other than excuses. That’s why I said yesterday voting for this government again, after they’ve been in power now for almost a decade - would be like staying in a taxi that’s run out of petrol. It won’t take you where you need to go. They have run out ideas, run out of things they want to do. It’s all short-term fixes, no long-term plans.
I think Australians looking at this government, and they’ll look harder at Scott Morrison over the course of the next weeks and the weeks after that, will say to themselves, this government doesn’t deserve to be rewarded with your vote. And after all of the fighting that’s going on, inside the Liberal Party, fighting amongst themselves, attacking the Prime Minister, this government needs time in opposition to fix themselves.
Q: Are you trying to get Australians to elect Anthony Albanese as opposed to kick out Scott Morrison?
Jason Clare:
Well, we’re saying two things: one, this government doesn’t deserve to be re-elected. They don’t deserve to be rewarded with your vote after all of the failures of the last decade. As Albo said the other day, Australia is the best country in the world, but we deserve a better government. Australians don’t kick out governments lightly or often, but they kick them out when they are failing them, when they’re incompetent – instead of focusing on you, they’re just fighting among themselves. I’ve got to tell you, this government is the trifecta. It ticks all three of those boxes.
Q: One of the arguments is when it comes to Labor’s attack over what happens in the Solomon Islands – Mr Albanese said that Labor would engage better in the region. There’s no substantive policy about what you would do differently. What would Labor do? Do we need better fuel reserves, do we need increased funding to the region? Was would you do differently, other than saying you wouldn’t have this problem?
Clare:
We’ll talk more about that during the campaign. I hear your question.
Q: It’s the big issue.
Clare:
And where does it start? Picking up the phone. Talking to people. You know, the prime minister makes a lot about his relationships with the Pacific. And talks a step-up. As Albo said the other night, it’s a stuff-up. That starts with engagement. It’s people to people, talking to people. It’s on the phone and also face to face. That’s where this government stuffed this up. Everyone has said the foreign minister should’ve been there. We’ve got Marise Payne even refusing to have a debate about Penny Wong. She won’t debate Penny Wong in Australia and she won’t go to the Solomon Islands.
If you’re serious about Australia’s national security ... [and] you want to engage, get on a plane. What happened instead? The foreign minister went to a business function and some bloke called Zed got sent there.
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Q: There’s a situation where you could have the smartest economic mind in the Labor caucus seeing fundamental flaws in this policy, the NDIS. How is that not problematic? And secondly, just on the implications of Mr Albanese having Covid, one of the challenges he faces in and you face is he’s largely unknown with voters. We see that in poll after poll. How damaging is it, therefore, he’s going to spend the next week in his home in Sydney and unable to crisscross the country interacting with voters?
Jason Clare:
I think real problem is the Australians know Scott Morrison too well. They know he abandoned them during the bushfires. He failed them by not buying enough vaccines when we were stuck at home, when half the country was stuck at home. They know he failed them during the floods when people were stuck on their own roofs waiting for helicopters. They know this government has deliberately kept their wages low for a decade. They know this government has rorted taxpayers money for their own benefit. They know that Scott Morrison’s own party call him a liar. And know this government has no real plans for the future other than trying to drag themselves across the line on May 21. That is Scott Morrison’s problem.
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Q: Can I ask about Andrew Charlton, the Labor candidate in Parramatta, his comments about the national disability insurance scheme. Anthony Albanese said it was a great Labor reform. He wrote in an ... op-ed. This is the quote: “This is becoming most of the serious design flaws.” He’s been recruited for his economic expertise.
Jason Clare:
This is a great Labor legacy. I agree with him on many things, but not this. I think more problematic is the things he’s done to the NDIS. Let’s be real about this. There’s two types of people on the NDIS at the moment, there’s people who had their funding cut and there’s people who are terrified about getting their funding cut.
Just give you one example: his name is Jacob. He lives in my electorate. He’s a teenager now. He has autism and he’s looked after by his dad. His mum is not there because she died of a brain tumour. His dad has been to my office three times because the funding has been cut three times.
Every time we’ve had to go back in and try to get more funding for him. The last time all his dad wanted was a carer so he can get respite on the weekend. You can’t understand how hard it is for Jacob’s dad until you spend time in his house.
Let me give you one more – this is important, you raised it. I met Stella at Bankstown hospital about four or five years ago. Stella was in the hospital for three years. Why? Because the NDIS hadn’t got around to putting the changes into her house so she could get out. That’s the reality. That’s the real world.
That’s what is happening here and there’s thousands of stories like that. The NDIS – your question in essence is about can you make it better? You bet we can.
Q: It’s about the design and the problem of sustainability, given the huge trajectory of the cost. No one is saying it’s not important. It’s so important.
Clare:
My answer so to you is the NDIS is a great Labor legacy. But we need to continue to make it better. Have a look at what Bill [Shorten] said the other day, talking about the sort of fundamental reforms needed to it. One of them is more staff. One of the problems Jacob’s dad has is getting to even talk to anyone.
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Q: Back to the Solomon Islands, you talk about being proactive against China – they were aware of the threats. How are you able to counter Chinese influence, given the practice of them bribing some politicians? There has been suggestions this is what happened in the Solomon Islands. And then just if I might, on aged care, the government has said that they will adopt the royal commission’s recommendations and they will implement 24-7 nurses. Are you guys trying to factor a difference in policy just as they say they’re trying to do with national security?
Jason Clare:
I like to go back and see the evidence they’re committed to that. The royal commission said it needed to be done by 2024. Scott at the debate said by 2025. Anne Ruston said 2024. We’ve said do it as fast as you can. Aged care is a nightmare. You saw it in the debate up in Brisbane. People asking questions about this. There’s a reason why. Aged care is a nightmare at the moment.
Lots of mums and dads are worried about putting their mums and dads into aged care. I see the nods in the room. You know it’s true. If you’ve got people that have maggots in their wounds, left to sit in their own soiled clothes, not fed properly, we’ve got a problem here.
The other question you raised was about corruption, right? What we’re saying here is, you got to take action. You can’t just sit back and let things happen to you. Albo talked the other day about shaping the future. Not just here in our own country, not just making sure that people get paid more, and that people have better services – it’s about shaping our region too, to keep Aussies secure here. Now, it doesn’t guarantee you can fix everything.
But it means you shouldn’t sit back and let it happen. And that’s what has happened here. We should have sent the foreign minister. It’s a pretty straightforward thing to do.
Q: Sorry, how does the foreign minister counter corruption? You said we couldn’t sit back, we need to take a more proactive role? What proactive role counters corruption?
Clare:
What I’m saying is you can’t guarantee every outcome, but you can try. But sitting back and doing nothing, you’re just going to let this happen to you.
Updated
Q: Are you going to have a leading point person over the course of this next week? I know you said you’ll see more of the team, but one person that is effectively, you know, de facto opposition leader, and would that person be Richard Marles, given that, you know, he’s deputy leader and would be acting Prime Minister in a Labor government?
Jason Clare:
The short answer is no, you’re going to see a lot of our team.
Q: Was it a good idea to have Mr Albanese going to aged care homes, not because he personally would have given them Covid, but because of the travelling press pack might not all have had it? Was it the best strategy? (There is also a question about Albanese appearing virtually.)
Jason Clare:
I’m visiting aged care centres, I’m sure that Scott Morrison has visited aged care centres over the last few months. [He visited one yesterday.] I know that Scott has previously had Covid, but not sure of all the team travelling with him. To the best of my knowledge, all the precautions necessary were taken from that visit. Masks were optional but Albo wore a mask.
How does the campaign change? We live in the age of the iPad and more. It depends on Albo’s health. When I got Covid, I felt pretty good for the first couple of days, then I felt pretty awful for the next couple of days, I couldn’t speak for a couple of days.
Burkey got Covid recently and he lost his voice for a bunch of days as well. Health comes first. I told him rest up. This is a long campaign. The prime minister deliberately set this as a long campaign, six weeks. Albo is out of for one of those weeks. He’ll be back at the halfway mark. He’ll be back when the second half starts in a week’s time. Just on that point, the launch of that campaign will still be in Perth, and Albo will be back for that.
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Q: With Albo getting Covid, do you think - the timing seems to work out he was at the Bluesfest. Do you think that was a massive risk to the huge tents, high-flying people, especially when there’s a lot of anti-vaxxers?
Jason Clare:
With Bluesfest, people came from everywhere. People came from all across the country. I just make the point that - at a time when you have 40- or 50,000 people getting Covid every day, it’s inevitable you’re going to get Covid. I caught it the other day. I missed out on the last week of parliament because I had Covid. It’s going to happen. You need to prepare for it. It means the campaign will be a bit different over the course of the next few days.
Elections are usually pretty presidential – you know, you see one candidate against the other. Over the course of the next week, you’ll see something different. You’ll see our team.
Updated
Labor press conference
Jason Clare is taking this press conference.
Q: Can I start with Richard Marles. There’s been some reporting about some comments he made in a book only recently, that, you know, nations like the Solomon Islands should be able to hook up with whatever countries they want. China included. Is that a concern? Is that something that undermines, you know, Labor’s message on national security? This is coming from someone very senior in your team.
Clare:
[Let me give you another quote]
“China provides a real stability to the region and frankly, the world economy, and stable growth from China is good news for Australia and the global economy” - who said that? Scott Morrison.
This has happened on Scott Morrison’s watch. This is an epic fail when it comes to foreign policy. Scott Morrison will do everything he can today and expect for the next few weeks to try to blame someone else for this. Because what he does. Whether it’s the Premier, or the opposition, or whether it’s the president of another country, he’ll always try to blame someone else. But the fact is, they had the Intel and they didn’t act. They had the Intel and they didn’t act. What Richard said quite plainly here is there’s a competition happening. China’s changed. They have become more assertive, there’s a competition here in the Pacific. The challenge for us, we’ve got to win this competition. We’ve got to make sure we’re the partner of choice for Pacific island countries, when they need help.
Q: Would you deal exclusively with the deputy’s comments. He said the federal government had no right to expect a set of exclusive relationships. Your opposition is basically criticised for the government for what’s happened in the Solomon Islands, the deputy said the... Even though it may seen like a failure? Isn’t it not Labor’s position?
Clare:
I think - I take the opposite view. Understand what China is up to. Expect they’re going to be in there trying to assert influence and make sure that we respond. We knew about this in August. And what did we do? It seems two-thirds of bugger all. As a result, this security agreement has now been signed between China and the Solomon Islands. There’s a - there’s a pattern...
Q: It seems like he’s [Richard Marles] OK with that.
Clare:
I’d say it’s the reverse. The reverse. He’s making the point, China is in there, taking action, so do we. You can’t sit back on the deck chair in the Pacific and assume it’s OK. If China is helping with aid, so do we. You can’t pull billions of dollars of aid out. If China is there trying to set up a security agreement, you expect Canberra will do something about it. We get told they had the inIntel on this since August. The Prime Minister said to journalists only two days ago this wasn’t a surprise. Now, if this wasn’t a surprise, it just makes it worse. It means he knew about it. And he didn’t do anything about it. It’s a pattern of behaviour here. On bushfires. He was too slow to act. On vaccines, when we were locked down, waiting for a vaccine. Too slow to act. When it came to the floods, when people were on their roofs having to hire their own helicopters, he was too slow to act. Here again, it looks obvious the Prime Minister was too slow to act.
Q: Isn’t the salient point that Richard Marles directly dismissed any concerns about China establishing military bases in the Solomons or anything else in the Pacific, and now, Labor says the government should have been alive to that. He said it wasn’t a concern and that the focus should be elsewhere.
Clare:
Have a look at what Scott Morrison said only two days ago. He said there won’t be any military bases here. On to other side, Barnaby Joyce saying this is the Cuban missile crisis mark II. You have one position from Scott Morrison, a totally different position from the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia here. You have the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying this is the failure of foreign policy. You have the former CDF Chris Barrie saying it’s a failure. Julie Bishop said the foreign minister should’ve been sent there. They’re the facts. There’s a competition here. You got to get on the field. You can’t sit in the sheds. That’s what this Prime Minister has done here.
MP Alex Greenwich threatens to withdraw supply from NSW government
New South Wales independent MP Alex Greenwich has threatened to no longer guarantee supply and confidence to the state government following comments made by premier Dominic Perrottet about transgender athletes in women’s sport.
The premier made multiple comments this week after the issue gained attention following comments made by the Liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves.
Greenwhich is one of a handful of MPs the government needs to keep on side to be able to govern in minority.
Speaking on ABC radio, Greenwich said:
I’ve always been transparent with the government and that is, any attacks on the LGBTI community, and I could no longer have a cooperative relationship with them. What I had been dealing with in the past two days is trans kids asking their parents can they still play sport or does the premier not want them to.
The Sydney MP has called on the premier to meet with trans people and with sporting codes to better understand the issues.
Earlier this week Perrottet said that “girls should play sport against girls” and wanted people to be able to discuss the issues “without being cancelled”. He then doubled down on his comments during a hearing during budget estimates.
Updated
Chris Knaus has been looking at the home care aged care packages the government often points to when asked about its aged care response.
Here is today’s story:
More than 50,000 older Australians have died while on the waiting list for home care in recent years, data which Labor says shows the system is still in crisis.
The federal government last year announced a major package to alleviate the pressure on home care and cut the number of people who have been approved for a home care package but are still waiting to receive it.
Government data shows the time people spend on the waiting list, known as the national priority system, is still significantly high despite substantial improvements in recent years. Those funded for the highest level of support are still waiting on average six to nine months for their approved package, down from 12 months or more in 2020.
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Anthony Albanese has published an opinion piece on the aged care response in the Herald Sun today: it is extraordinary that more than two years later, Scott Morrison has acted on fewer than half of the 146 recommendations of his own royal commission into aged care.
We’ll require every nursing home in the country to have a registered nurse on the premises at all times.
This is already in place in Tasmania, which proves it is possible.
This will give residents and their families greater confidence that if their loved ones fall ill, qualified care will be readily at hand.
It will also reduce unnecessary emergency department visits for aged care facility residents, taking pressure off our overstretched hospitals.
We’ll lift standards to require that every aged-care facility resident receive a minimum of 215 minutes of care a day, as per the recommendation of the royal commission.
Labor is promising fee-free Tafe for aged care workers to address the workforce shortage and a pay rise submission to the Fair Work Commission for workers to incentivise people to stay in the sector.
Updated
On ABC radio Brisbane, Scott Morrison was also asked about what he plans to do in aged care.
He repeated that the government supports the aged care royal commission’s recommendation for 24/7 registered nurses in aged care homes, and was working towards having it in place by 2025.
This is something Anne Ruston has also been talking about.
But while (outgoing) health minister Greg Hunt has always said the government supports the recommendation, the government’s official response to the royal commission didn’t include it.
The royal commission wanted an RN on-site for at least 16 hours a day from July this year, and recommended a RN be on-site at all times in every aged care home from mid-2024.
The government is now saying it has “a target” of having 24/7 nurses by “the back end of 2025” – but that has not been part of its official response.
It has said it will instigate the minimum care and 16-hour RN shift from October 2023.
On Australia’s aged care system, Morrison said:
I’d start off by saying that the rest of the world looks at our system and actually sees it as a standard. But what I like about Australia, what I love about Australia is we don’t settle for that. It’s not a perfect system and it needs to be a lot better. And that’s why I called the royal commission.
Updated
NSW reports 13 new Covid deaths and Victoria report 16
NSW and Victoria have reported the Covid statistics for the past 24 hours.
COVID-19 update – Friday 22 April 2022
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) April 21, 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 4pm yesterday:
- 96.1% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 94.7% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/DB1DUOi00J
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) April 21, 2022
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives.
More data soon: https://t.co/OCCFTAtS1P#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/Jxm6kfFs5s
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Speaking to ABC Brisbane this morning, (he truly has been everywhere this morning) Scott Morrison was asked his thoughts on the ABC:
We continue to fund the ABC, we continue to keep up the pace on ensuring that it is a competent and professional broadcaster and particularly to support the work that the ABC does in regional areas.
I think the recent floods once again highlighted, I think the ABC at its best, and that’s when it’s providing important information in the middle of natural disasters and things of that nature.
Now, you know, I’m not necessarily going to get into a commentary about the ABCs political coverage.
I mean, I think people know there’s a wide range of views on that topic.
...Actually, I think people don’t my views about that.
...It’s a democracy and people will say what they will say – there’s a lot more commentary than necessarily there is news sometimes and what is important though, is that information can get to people particularly on issues, disasters, and things like that.
Just on Scott Morrison’s criticism of Icac a little earlier, here is Murph on the last time Morrison went Icac, at the end of last year:
At the start of this week [December 2021], the prime minister told reporters: “Gladys was put in a position of actually having to stand down and there was no findings of anything.”
Fact: Berejiklan resigned as premier in September, voluntarily.
Fact: she told reporters on the day she quit that an alternative scenario – one where she stood aside while Icac conducted its investigation – was “not an option”.
Fact: any findings associated with the current investigation are pending, not absent.
As well as trying to smooth the path for a reluctant Berejiklian in Warringah, we also need to be crystal clear that stoking a public backlash about the evils of prurient anti-corruption bodies also served the prime minister’s own immediate political needs. Morrison was ending the year under pressure because of his failure to legislate the federal integrity commission he promised three years ago.
During his fraught final parliamentary sitting fortnight, in between clubbing the NSW Icac (nosy buggers, who needs them?) Morrison pretended it was Labor’s fault there was no federal integrity commission. He said he couldn’t bring his proposed model to parliament because Labor wouldn’t vote for it, because Labor wanted the nasty Icac in NSW that spied on people’s boyfriends, and nobody wanted that.
Human rights legal challenge to Clive Palmer’s proposed Galilee coalmine begins
The land court will hear opening arguments in the case climate activist group Youth Verdict, with First Nations witnesses, have brought against Clive Palmer’s proposed Galilee coalmine. It is the first time a coalmine is being challenged on human rights grounds in Australia.
Represented by the Environmental Defenders Office, Youth Verdict and The Bimblebox Alliance will argue coal from the mine will impact the human rights of First Nations Peoples by contributing to dangerous climate change. They will also argue the mine would destroy the Bimblebox Nature Refuge which sits on top of the proposed mine site.
In a legal first, First Nations people in Gimuy/Cairns and the Torres Strait Islands of Erub and Poruma will give evidence to the Land Court on Country and in accordance with First Nations protocols.
The court will travel to the traditional lands of First Nations witnesses to hear first-hand how climate change is impacting their lives and what will be lost if climate change is worsened by the burning of coal from new mines, including the Galilee Coal Project.
Updated
Scott Morrison has also has a bit to say about the security pact between Solomon Islands and China.
He told the Seven Network this morning:
There is no credible information that suggests that outcome, a naval base in the Solomon Islands.
I know [a base] would be their wish and I know that would be their intent and that is why we have been very proactive over many, many years.
And he told the Nine Network:
... I sent the minister for Pacific to convey clear messages on my behalf to the prime minister, as also I sent up our senior intelligence and security officials up there to both brief him on what our concerns were about this arrangement.
He made his decision. He’d made his decision for some time.
This wasn’t – there was no opportunity, I think, for him to change his mind on this. I mean, it Chinese government doesn’t play by the same rules as other transparent liberal democracies and that means there are vulnerabilities in our region which we’re very well aware of and have been working hard to ensure we can mitigate as we are ... as we have in the Solomons but that has been difficult but also in many Pacific countries, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Vanuatu, Fiji, all of these countries I speak to very regularly.
I have probably spoken to Pacific leaders more regularly than any former prime minister.
Updated
Daniel Hurst, our foreign affairs expert, has taken a look at the Coalition’s claims about what Labor has said on China.
You can find the fact check here
Scott Morrison has gone on the attack this morning about a story in the Australian reporting comments by the deputy Labor leader Richard Marles regarding China’s outreach in the Pacific.
The report is based on a speech Marles gave to the Beijing Foreign Studies University, which the Australian has characterised as him advocating allowing China to build bases in the Pacific. Let’s look at what Marles actually said.
In relation to development assistance (not bases!):
Let me be crystal clear: that was and has been a good thing. The Pacific needs help and Australia needs to welcome any country willing to provide it. Certainly the Pacific Island countries themselves do.
On attempting to block China:
Basing our actions in the Pacific on an attempt to strategically deny China would be a historic mistake ... Not only would this be detrimental to our regional relationships, it would be a failed course of action. Australia has no right to expect a set of exclusive relationships with the Pacific nations. They are perfectly free to engage on whatever terms they choose with China or, for that matter, any other country. Disputing this would be resented, as the recent past has shown.”
The first thing to note is this is not that different from the Morrison government’s recognition that Solomon Islands has the right to sign a security deal with China.
Acknowledging the Solomon Islands right to do so is not the same as welcoming a deal with China.
But Morrison has gone on the attack, conflating Marles welcoming China’s development assistance with welcoming a military presence.
Asked by Sky News what Labor would do differently, Morrison said:
You only have to ask the would be deputy Labor prime minister Richard Marles. He set it out in quite a tome. He actually advocated for the Chinese government to be doing exactly what they are doing. And arguing Australia shouldn’t be warning against that type of activity and letting it occur. I find the deputy prime minister, alternate ... advancing that eight months ago ... and then the hypocrisy of trying to criticise the Australian government.
Morrison said the Chinese government “doesn’t play by the same rules” as liberal democracies.
Updated
Scott Morrison attacks Icac for 'sickening' treatment of former NSW premier
Then there is this exchange between the pair, where Scott Morrison once again attacks the NSW independent commission against corruption.
Andrew Clennell covered NSW state politics for years, so he is on solid ground when questioning the PM on this, but even he seems taken aback by the force of Morrison’s defence.
AC: You got a couple of questions from the People’s Forum the other night about an integrity commission and integrity in politics. If you don’t have politicians subject to public hearings, or search warrants with your model, is that a bit of a protection racket for politicians?
Morrison:
Our integrity commission model has been well designed – 367 pages of legislation $60m budgeted proactively to do its job, has very strong powers...
AC: But it protects politicians.
Morrison:
No, it doesn’t. It applies the same rules to everybody – public servants, politicians, and it focused on issues of criminal behaviour. It isn’t a process of trying people, frankly, in the media that we’ve seen through the Icac process, it doesn’t get into salacious public hearings about whose people’s boyfriends are and run out of jobs, runs people out of jobs before the commission has even finalised it’s results.
AC: She [Gladys Berejiklian] resigned and she chose to resign.
Morrison:
So are you suggesting that what happened and the way that that issue was handled by Icac didn’t contribute to the premier actually deciding to stand down and the way I think quite disgracefully matters of her own public [he means private] life were aired in public.
I mean, the same thing has been very, the same thing happened to Nick Greiner. The same thing happened to Barry O’Farrell. We’ve seen it too many times. These matters should be done in a proper legal process.
AC: Well, Barry O’Farrell ...
Morrison:
... where all rights are respected, all rights are respected. And that’s the sort of serious model that I want. I don’t want to show trial. I don’t want a kangaroo court
AC: I understand that.
Morrison:
I want a real integrity commission that’s properly funded. That is legislated. The Labor party has a two-page fact sheet about what they’re modelling, I’ve got real legislation.
AC: Daryl Maguire was taking cash from developers to lobby government officials and he was saying to Gladys Berejiklian, was talking to her about this to her on the phone and she was saying “I don’t need to know about that”. Now does that does that all look above board to you, prime minister?
Morrison:
And those serious matters of any potential criminality on the part of Mr Maguire can be dealt with under the type of model that we’re proposing under the under our integrity commission. Absolutely. Things that involve criminal behaviour.
AC: She wouldn’t be examined, under that model.
Morrison:
Well, if there was any suggestion, and no one has made that suggestion about Gladys Berejiklian. No one at all.
But what we saw in that rather ugly process is a as a strong woman’s private life paraded through in a, I thought just an appalling way.
And I think people from New South Wales, I’m from New South Wales, Gladys did an amazing job to help New South Wales through the pandemic, and the way she was treated in that I just found quite sickening and I think a lot of people did.
That’s not the sort of integrity commission that I think works.
I think the sort of integrity commission that works is the well-thought-through one which has proper rules, which protects the integrity of the process, and protects the integrity of how government is run.
Updated
Scott Morrison gets quite offended when the Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell asserts he cares about focus groups and polling.
Clennell: You’re a PM known to to rely heavily on focus groups and polling, perhaps more than any other PM.
Morrison:
Based on what, Andrew.
AC: Well on the formulation of budgets, you often test some of the ideas.
Morrison:
Well Andrew, that is an assertion I don’t share.
AC: OK, even when you took your net zero emissions to cabinet, you produced polling at the time to show what people thought about climate change.
Morrison:
Andrew, doing net zero by 2050 was the right decision for the country. [He continues with the usual climate lines]
AC: You’re big on research, you’re a former state Liberal director. I am not trying to insult you here, I’m just saying – that’s true isn’t it?
Morrison:
Your assertion is that’s what drives decisions and I reject that.
Updated
Scott Morrison is in Brisbane, where he is undertaking an absolute morning media flurry.
He is now on Sky News, where he is talking about the same thing he has been talking about all week.
Andrew Clennell: “Your narrative around China appears to be that you’re the strongest and toughest to stand up to them. Yet when it comes to them signing security pact with, the Solomon Islands, it feels like the government is sort of saying there’s nothing we can do about that.
“You are building nuclear submarines they won’t be ready for 20 years – is it a sense that there is lot more bark than bite in terms of your China approach at the moment?”
Morrison:
Well, I don’t think the Chinese government feels that way. That’s why today had been clearly activated – whether it was when we first stood up to the Chinese government in terms of foreign interference legislation, which was led by my predecessor, and supported by me as treasurer, the work we’ve done on foreign investment, the work we did to stand up the China on the pandemic and call for the independent inquiry. All of this, the Chinese the work we’ve done on the quad with with India and Japan and the United States, the Aukus agreement. All of this has been designed to ensure that we can protect Australia’s national interests in a highly dynamic region with the Chinese government, which is very assertive.
Updated
Good morning
It’s almost the end of week two of this never-ending campaign and it’s all about Anthony Albanese having to step back from the trail, after testing positive for Covid.
He was due to fly to Perth and it was the PCR he was required to do as part of entry that showed up the virus. He had visited an aged care home earlier in the day, but was masked up.
Albanese will isolate in his Sydney home but take part in the campaign virtually (as long as he doesn’t get to ill) and Labor’s frontbench has been activated to step into the physical void.
I wish Anthony Albanese all the best for his recovery after testing positive to COVID. Everyone’s experience with COVID is different and as Labor’s campaign continues, I hope he does not experience any serious symptoms.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) April 21, 2022
While this Covid positive plot twist is not a development Albanese will welcome, or would have wanted, it's hard to say tonight how this will impact the campaign and the vote in four weeks time. It's obviously a disruption, but is it catastrophic?
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) April 21, 2022
Obviously a bunch of challenges for Labor logistically. Obviously unhelpful for this to happen just as Albanese was getting his campaign legs. But this development also presents some challenges for the PM. Tone? How do you smackdown an absent opponent without that looking OTT?
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) April 21, 2022
If you are Morrison, do you just charge on like nothing's happened, having a one legged campaign? Seems likely, but what's the impact? Intriguing really. Campaigning in a cave panned out reasonably well for Joe Biden in the end. As they say in the classics, only time will tell.
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) April 21, 2022
For Scott Morrison, it is still about the security pact between Solomon Islands and China.
We’ll carry all the day’s events as they happen – and you’ll have Murph, Daniel Hurst, Sarah Martin, Paul Karp and Josh Butler to help make sense of it all. Amy Remeikis will be with you on the blog for most of the day.
Grab your coffee (or something stronger, I won’t judge) and let’s get into it.
Updated
