What we learned – Wednesday 14 June
With that, we’ll wrap up our live coverage of the day’s news.
Here’s a summary of the key developments:
Lidia Thorpe has accused Senate colleague David Van of harassment and sexual assault during a heated exchange in parliament, an allegation the Liberal politician vehemently denied.
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, visited the town of Singleton to pledge $100,000 in support to victims of the bus crash that killed 10 locals on Sunday night.
Decommissioned gas wells from a Santos project off the coast of Western Australia have been leaking from the seabed for a decade, according to documents published by the national petroleum regulator.
The leader of the opposition, Peter Dutton, has claimed it is “absolutely reasonable” for the Coalition to question whether Labor “conspired to seek political advantage out of an alleged sexual assault” after the release of Brittany Higgins’s text messages.
The Australian government is expected to move all remaining refugees and asylum seekers off Nauru by the end of the month, more than a decade after offshore processing restarted on the Pacific Island nation.
A former Coles executive has admitted stealing $1.9m from the national supermarket giant but a judge said his offending was so inexplicable and unsophisticated he must undergo psychiatric testing.
Sydney’s patchwork toll road network could be split into geographic zones under one idea being explored by the state government’s toll road review that could see it pay compensation to a corporate tollway giant.
Thanks for following along, we’ll be back tomorrow.
Have a pleasant evening.
Updated
‘This is about respect’: Queensland parliament holds tense debate on gender
Back to Queensland politics.
There has been tense debate in state parliament today over laws that would allow Queenslanders to change the sex on their identification documents without having to undergo sex reassignment surgery.
The legislation is expected to pass on Wednesday night, supported by Labor and the Greens, and opposed by the Liberal National party and Katter’s Australian party.
During the Labor MP Chris Whiting’s speech, the deputy leader of the LNP, Jarrod Bleijie, interjected, saying: “Feminine identity? It’s blokes in a dress.”
Bleijie later contributed to the debate, labelling the bill “an attack on women”.
The LNP MP Amanda Camm, also opposed the laws, claiming “a transwoman is … not a woman” and that “a female, by definition, is an adult female human being”.
The minister for women, Shannon Fentiman, said the Queensland government defines a woman as “someone who identifies as a woman”.
The youth justice minister, Di Farmer, apologised to the LGBTIQ+ people sitting in the gallery for the nature of the debate. “I am sorry you had to hear that … This is about respect,” she said.
The Greens MP for Maiwar, Michael Berkman, spoke in support of the bill. He said a lack of accurate documentation “prevents people from enrolling in school, getting a driver’s licence, getting a job, opening a bank account, and applying for housing”.
Updated
Senator David Van issues statement on Thorpe claims
David Van has just released a statement.
He said: “In the Chamber today Senator Thorpe made unfounded and completely untrue allegations against me that I immediately and unequivocally denied and continue to deny.”
Van noted Lidia Thorpe delivered what he said were “outrageous and reprehensible comments” in the Senate chamber using parliamentary privilege.
“My lawyers have written to her already making my position clear in the strongest possible terms,” Van’s statement said.
Updated
'No recollection' of sexual assault allegation: Scott Morrison's office
In a statement, the former prime minister Scott Morrison’s office says he doesn’t remember any such allegation from Lidia Thorpe nor being involved in David Van moving offices.
Morrison provided the statement after Thorpe’s claim in the Senate that he removed Van from his office.
In making her allegation of sexual assault against Van, which he vehemently denied and called a “lie”, Thorpe claimed “the prime minister had to remove him from his office”.
In a response to Guardian Australia, a spokesperson for Morrison said: “Mr Morrison has no recollection of Lidia Thorpe ever making such an allegation to him personally or of any involvement in Senator Van moving offices.”
Updated
Queensland to pass laws to make it easier to change sex on identification documents
Queenslanders will be able to change the sex on their identification documents without having to undergo sex reassignment surgery under new laws expected to pass in the state parliament on Wednesday.
The bill will also allow two parents to register as either ‘mother’ or ‘father’ on a child’s birth certificate.
The attorney general, Yvette D’Ath, said the laws were a win for the LGBTIQ+ community and would strengthen the legal recognition of transgender and gender-diverse people.
“This bill will help reduce the distress, fear, discrimination and privacy violations that many people in our communities face on an all too frequent basis,” she told parliament on Tuesday.
The Liberal National party opposition along with Katter’s Australian party and the independent MP Sandy Bolton will vote against the bill while Labor and the Greens will support it. The One Nation MP, Stephen Andrew, will be absent from parliament during the vote.
Updated
Back to Lidia Thorpe’s explosive claims in the Senate, we’ve reached out to Thorpe, the Liberal senator David Van, former prime minister Scott Morrison and the Senate president, Sue Lines, for comment.
Thorpe’s office would not provide further detail on her claims, including when or where the alleged incident occurred; Van’s office has said there will be a further statement imminently; we are waiting for a statement from Lines; and Morrison’s office did not immediately reply.
Van flatly and vehemently denied Thorpe’s claims, which were made under parliamentary privilege.
Updated
Lidia Thorpe’s claims came during a Senate debate after question time, in a section called “Motions to take note of answers” – basically where senators discuss what happened in QT. That section, of course, saw the Coalition focus questions on Katy Gallagher about the Brittany Higgins matter.
Several senators, including Anne Urquhart, Jana Stewart and David Van spoke afterward. Van was critical of Labor’s prior questioning of Coalition members about the Higgins matter, critical of “muck” he claimed Labor had “thrown” against Michaelia Cash and Linda Reynolds.
Van spoke about parliamentarians “setting the standard” for Australia. Parliamentary microphones in the chamber did not pick up the detail of her words, but Thorpe can be heard interjecting on taped video of Van’s speech.
The acting Senate president, Andrew McLachlan, who was speaking to another senator at the time, asked Thorpe to stop interjecting and called for a “respectful debate”. Van then said “disgraceful, when I’m trying to say these things”, before going on to talk about sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins’ report.
Thorpe continued interjecting, but her comments could not be heard clearly. Van called for a better “discourse” in the chamber – before Thorpe stood to make the explosive claims.
McLachlan said he would refer the matter to the Senate president, Sue Lines, who was not in the chamber at the time. Van continued his contribution, saying he would “utterly reject that disgusting statement outright. It is just a lie.”
McLachlan appeared to begin to ask Van to withdraw the term “lie”, which is usually not accepted as parliamentary language. Van then withdrew the word “lie”, adding “it is just not true”.
Updated
David Van rejects Lidia Thorpe accusation in parliament he sexually assaulted her
Senator Lidia Thorpe has accused the Liberal senator David Van of sexual assault in the Senate.
Van was speaking about the setting the standard report, when Thorpe made repeated interjections.
Thorpe said:
I’m feeling really uncomfortable when a perpetrator is speaking about violence. I can’t [withdraw], because this person harassed me, sexually assaulted me. And the prime minister had to remove him from his office. To have him talk about this today is an absolute disgrace.
Van then stood to say:
I utterly reject that statement, that disgusting statement outright. It is just a lie. And I reject it … it’s just not true.
The matter was referred to the Senate president.
Updated
New Zealand and Fiji strike defence deal amid rising Pacific tensions
New Zealand and Fiji have signed a defence agreement to strengthen military training and maritime security, that comes amid rising tensions over security in the region.
The agreement, signed by New Zealand’s defence minister, Andrew Little, and Fijian minister for home affairs and immigration, Pio Tikoduadua, in Suva on Wednesday, sets a legal framework for military cooperation between the two countries in each other’s territories. The agreement will also address disaster and humanitarian response coordination, and the challenges of climate change.
Little said the deal “reflects the value New Zealand places on our relationship with Fiji” adding it was important for the two militaries to work together more effectively.
It comes as the US, New Zealand and Australia push to build stronger security ties with Pacific nations, as they attempt to offer an alternative to China’s growing influence in the region. Last month the US and Papua New Guinea signed a defence and maritime cooperation agreement.
Read more:
Updated
Judge orders former Coles executive to undergo psychiatric testing after admission of ‘brazen’ $1.9m fraud
A former Coles executive has admitted stealing $1.9m from the national supermarket giant but a judge said his offending was so inexplicable and unsophisticated he must undergo psychiatric testing.
The county court judge Duncan Allen expressed shock that Aaron Baslangic never tried to cover his tracks, had no grand plans about what to do with the funds and most of it was left languishing in a bank account until he was caught.
As a finance executive at Coles Online, Baslangic could authorise payments up to $75,000 and in early 2019 orchestrated 14 illegal payments.
Read more:
Updated
Childcares forced to cap enrolments as staff shortages continue
More than half of childcare centres across Australia have been forced to cap enrolments, new research shows, as severe workforce shortages continue to hit the sector.
That’s according to a new Australian Childcare Alliance national survey released on Tuesday, which found the majority of providers were being forced to cap enrolments this year as they didn’t have enough staff to meet the legal ratio of educators to children.
Across a single week in February 2023, more than two-thirds of the 627 centres surveyed confirmed enrolments that week had been capped, equating to 16,300 places. A second survey of 442 centres in May found more than half capped enrolments for the same reasons.
The ACA president, Paul Mondo, said staff shortages were the single most pressing issue facing Australia’s early learning sector.
Right now, we urgently need at least 10,000 well-trained, competent early childhood educators and teachers to fill vacancies.
We simply do not have enough people to meet the demand for early learning and care, whilst also remaining compliant with the educator-ratios put in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and staff alike.
Mondo called on the federal government to increase wages in the sector in order to attract workers, which Labor did for aged care in the latest budget. The move has been backed by unions, who are calling for a 25% pay jump.
Updated
Elias Visontay is going to take you through the rest of the afternoon while I work on a couple of other projects.
Thank you to everyone who joined in another rough day. We have one more day of the full sitting (the Senate is sitting on Friday) and then another week before the winter break, so let’s hope that things improve a little. For all our sakes.
Stay tuned for the news that comes through the afternoon and I will be back tomorrow morning for day three.
As always – please, take care of you.
Updated
Young Australians join crossbench MPs in renewed push to lower voting age to 16
Young Australians have joined crossbench MPs in calling for the voting age to be lowered to 16.
On Tuesday, members of the Make It 16 group met with Greens MP Stephen Bates, Independent MP for Kooyong Dr Monique Ryan and Independent MP for Clark Andrew Wilkie at Parliament House to launch the first youth-led national campaign to lower the voting age.
Co-founder and year 11 student Archie Coppola said 16 and 17-year-olds could already drive, move out of home and work, and wanted a say in “government decisions that affect our lives and futures”.
We want politicians to stop ignoring us simply because we are excluded from voting in federal elections. Lowering the voting age and including more engaged, young voices in elections will only strengthen our democracy, and help our elected representatives to make better decisions.
The ABS estimates there are about 610,000 16 and 17-year-olds living in Australia. Countries including Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Malta, Scotland and Wales have already lowered the voting age to 16, with New Zealand, Canada and Germany poised follow.
The Make It 16 campaign, led by 16 young people across Australia aged between 14 and 19, follows a commitment from Ryan and the Greens to renew a push for the age to be lowered.
Updated
A little earlier in the senate, Labor senator Anne Urquhart gave a short statement about the “long term” impacts of the political attacks from the opposition.
She becomes emotional as she says that women are telling advocates they are less likely to come forward because of the on-going treatment of Brittany Higgins.
Urquhart says Higgins has the right to not have her name “drawn through the mud here, every single day”.
She knew that when she came forward that she would become a political target, but she did it in any way because she was determined to change the culture in this building.
And Senator Gallagher, as the Minister for Women has done more than any other Minister for Women in the last 10 years to make sure that people are protected in this building and to make it a healthier and a safer place for women.
So let’s think about that.
And we we should be concerned about the long term impacts that these actions your actions are taking.
Senator Gallagher – over and over and over has said she has been contacted by women’s organisations about the effect on those women to now have the courage to stand up and to speak out.
That is not what this country is about. This is not what this government is about.
We want those women to stand up. We want them to speak out, and we want them to get help.
What this says is how they will be treated in this country if they do.
So I would say be responsible and consider your actions.
Because those bare huge responsibilities.
And we don’t want women to hide in the corner and not speak out about these issues. For too many years, that has happened
And it’s time it’s stopped.
And the actions of what is happening from that side every single day is not going to help that.
We want those women to stand up and feel safe.
Senator Gallagher is one of the best minister for Women and is helping women to stand up and speak out.
And what you’re doing is continually putting a lid on them and telling them to shut up.
Negotiations on the housing fund seem to be going really, really well.
Imagine you’re the PM.
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) June 14, 2023
You could co-ordinate a rent freeze at National Cabinet.
Or you could say too hard, not our problem, can’t be bothered.
What would you choose? https://t.co/3TdwDTrwRa
If you are looking for a distraction from the news of the day, while wanting to understand what’s going on with inflation, this piece from John Quiggin can help:
Updated
Question time ends
Anthony Albanese ends question time and Milton Dick acknowledges some more mayors and councillors in the gallery. He adds in that LNP MP Phil Thompson’s mother is in the gallery too, and there is a cheer.
The house moves on to the matter of public importance, which Angus Taylor is leading.
“Go get them, chicken wing,” his colleague Andrew Hastie says as he steps up to the dispatch box.
MPs. They are just like you.
Updated
Government continuing to work on whistleblower reforms, says Dreyfus
Helen Haines asks Mark Dreyfus:
The national anti-corruption commission will commence in less than three weeks’ time.
In November you said that the Public Interest Disclosure Act would ensure stronger whistleblower protections are in place, before the Nacc opens its doors. [It has not been put in place.] Why not?
The attorney general:
I thank the Member for Indi for her question and her longstanding interest in whistleblower and integrity reforms.
The Albanese government is committed to strengthening Australia’s whistleblower framework and that is why we introduced, last year, the Public Interest Disclosure Act review bill 2022 into the parliament.
This bill will improve protections for public sector whistleblowers, and will enhance the oversight of the scheme by the ombudsman and inspector general of intelligence and security.
Regrettably, the Greens party delayed these vital whistleblower reforms in previous sittings, ensuring that the bill did not become law a month ago [and was] stranded in the Senate as a result of days of filibustering [by] the Greens part. Despite this, the government is continuing to work on delivering long overdue reforms to the Public Interest Disclosure Act to improve Australia’s framework for the public sector which is the member’s question indicates, will of the national anti-corruption commission.
Dreyfus adds that the anti-corruption commission will start work soon, and then says:
I will just add this: that following passage for these amendments, the government will commence consultations on a second stage of whistleblower reforms, and this will involve drafting the Public Interest Disclosure Act [to show] the underlying complicity of the scheme and give accessible teachings to public sector whistleblowers.
Updated
PM accuses opposition of ‘lack of transparency’
Anthony Albanese continues:
I am asked about transparency.
Senator [Linda] Reynolds said this that evening: ‘Senators [Penny] Wong, [Katy] Gallagher and I had a respectful discussion during dinner break, and assured me that they were not [involved] in that matter becoming public. I accept their assurance, thank you.’
… Clearly, at the time … Senator Gallagher had a clear discussion, a clear discussion with Senator Reynolds and told Senator Reynolds exactly what she knew … and you can’t be clearer.
And compare that with the lack of transparency opposite.
With the former PM, he could have asked his staff at any time. Instead he asked his former chief of staff and then secretary, the review was suspended twice on the 25 May 2021, they told estimates this report will be completed as soon as possible, I think it will be weeks not days but not months.
It was three months passed. Until then, the [Gaetjens] review was suspended.
He runs out of time.
Paul Karp hears Sussan Ley say:
So has the senator been transparent or not? Put your [cheat] sheet to one side, has she been transparent or not?
(Because Albanese was reading from a piece of paper.)
Updated
Sussan Ley presses PM on Katy Gallagher
Sussan Ley, (wearing white, the colour associated with suffragettes and the colour Brittany Higgins wore when she addressed the Women’s March for Justice) asks Anthony Albanese:
On Saturday, Senator Katy Gallagher stated to serious allegations that she was not aware of the following allegations that were made public when the interviews went to air. This is not true. She had in fact received a copy of the interview four days before it went to air. How is this consistent with the prime minister’s statement yesterday that Katy Gallagher has been transparent in relation this matter?
Albanese:
On cue. What is suggested by those opposite is that Labor is to blame for what is a serious sexual assault allegation. By a Liberal staffer. About another Liberal staffer, in a Liberal minister’s office, metres away from the Liberal prime minister’s office.
… Mr Speaker, Senator [Linda] Reynolds said on the night referred to in 2021, said this. ‘I was told by one of your senators two weeks before about what you are intending to do with the story in my office’. Two weeks before.
[The] senator was accused of having information weeks in advance and setting up the story. They did not. That is how they responded.
Ley has gotten to her feet to make a point of order on relevance. Milton Dick says the prime minister is being relevant.
Updated
Chris Bowen is taking a dixer and someone – I think it is Ted O’Brien, his shadow minister – is yelling SO LOUD it is coming up on the TV broadcast.
Bowen makes reference to “interjections from the peanut gallery”, which he is made to withdraw as unparliamentary.
O’Brien is warned.
Updated
Milton Dick rules this question from Sussan Ley out of order:
My question is to the minister for the environment and I refer to the minister’s answers yesterday in question time when she said “I 100% stand by what I said on Monday and 100% stand by what I have done at every stage with respect to allegations aired on The Project.” When did the minister first become aware of these allegations?
There was a long back and forth about that and what was allowed and what wasn’t. The end of the question is not in order because it relates to a previous parliament is the general gist.
Paul Karp hears the opposition heckling:
Garth Hamilton, the LNP MP for Groom, says “what are you hiding”, while the Liberal MP Tony Pasin yells “I reckon Sharri [presumably he means Markson] might know”.
Updated
Labor asks if Coalition targeting Gallagher over Sharaz links is ‘ethical’
In the Senate, the Coalition is now asking about Katy Gallagher’s links to Brittany Higgins’s partner, David Sharaz. Labor senators are shaking their heads, clearly upset and angry at this line of questioning.
Penny Wong is asking the opposition to reflect on whether this is an “ethical” line of questioning.
The Liberal senator Sarah Henderson refers to some of the leaked texts between Higgins and Sharaz, where he described Gallagher as a “friend”. She asks several questions about the texts, and reports that Gallagher was invited to Sharaz’s first wedding.
Gallagher says she was invited to a lot of events, and in this case, she did not recall being invited until it was reported – but said that, after checking, she had declined that invitation. She also says:
I’m not responsible for how people describe their relationship with me.
The government and opposition Senate leaders, Wong and Simon Birmingham, debate about whether the questions should even be allowed.
Wong refers to the fact the texts were private, from “an alleged survivor”, and asks the opposition to reflect on if this is an ethical line of questioning.
Labor senator Murray Watt could be heard asking:
Do you think this is a good idea?
Gallagher goes on to answer that she hadn’t ever invited Sharaz to a personal event or celebration.
Updated
Clare O’Neil accuses Peter Dutton of leaving cybersecurity ‘in a mess’
Clare O’Neil takes a swipe at Peter Dutton in her answer:
I can understand why those opposite don’t want to have their record questioned. I can particularly say, for the opposition leader, he has represented himself as a tough guy. We have had no cybersecurity minister under the previous government.
The opposition leader was home affairs minister for much of the time in government. This national security matter is in a mess and there is nobody more responsible for that mess than the opposition leader.
This has had consequences for our country.
Peter Dutton then says the parliament is in agreement on the importance of cybersecurity and needs a grown-up response.
Once he sits down he calls out to O’Neil “you’re an amateur” (Paul Karp is in the chamber and hears him).
Milton Dick is over it.
The leader of the opposition just cannot be slamming people across the chamber.
He says question time is meant to be a time of decorum.
No one says ‘since when’ but you know they are thinking it.
Updated
More precious minutes of our lives are wasted as Paul Fletcher objects to a government dixer question. Not because dixers are a time waster (which they are) but because the question includes:
How is the Albanese Labor government fixing the patchwork of policies and poorly implemented cybersecurity measures left behind by the previous government?
Fletcher thinks that goes against Milton Dick’s ruling that questions can only be about current government issues from yesterday. Tony Burke fails to hold back his exasperation as he points out that the question is what the government is doing now, and that some reflection on why it has to do that is allowed and normal.
Fletcher disagrees.
Burke disagrees with Fletcher’s disagreement.
Dick says he will listen to the answer, but some reflection is fine.
Clare O’Neil is allowed to answer the question.
Updated
Peter Dutton asks Anthony Albanese:
Yesterday the minister for finance stated that she did not communicate to the member for Grayndler or anyone his office any aspect of information she had received concerning an alleged sexual assault prior to 15 February 2021. Prime minister, did the minister for finance mislead the Senate?
There are some immediate interjections and heckles from the opposition benches as Albanese gets to his feet, and Speaker Milton Dick shuts it down.
Albanese then answers:
No.
(That is the whole answer.)
Updated
Barnaby Joyce makes what Tony Burke says is an unparliamentary comment during an answer Tanya Plibersek is delivering, and asks him to withdraw it.
Joyce does, although it seems reluctantly.
We did not hear the comment.
Updated
Mark Butler takes another question on the dispensing changes to 300 medicines, which will see pharmacists lose handling and dispensing fees (the government has promised to reinvest the money into community pharmacies but will not back away from the cost-saving measure for patients), and David Littleproud gets so worked up he gets booted from the chamber.
Updated
Liberal Marise Payne is next, asking about Gallagher’s statements yesterday that she wouldn’t talk about the information she may have received from Brittany Higgins and partner David Sharaz because it was received with the understanding it would remain confidential.
Gallagher says:
It wasn’t my story. It was Ms Higgins’s story.
I don’t intend to breach that confidence now, and I didn’t then.
Gallagher says she has been contacted by multiple women in the last day who are “extremely concerned with how this discussion is occurring”.
Gallagher goes on to say that she only received information from Higgins and Sharaz, denying she ever heard anything from The Project or representatives.
The Senate president, Labor’s Sue Lines, has at several points called for order and demanded senators stop interrupting. Several Coalition senators could be heard calling out across the chamber to Gallagher, yelling “hypocrite”.
“What about the consideration you had for Senator Reynolds. None,” yells one Coalition senator we couldn’t identify.
Updated
Coalition scrutiny on Katy Gallagher continues in Senate
The Coalition’s scrutiny on Katy Gallagher continues in the Senate, as several opposition senators yell “hypocrite” across the chamber. The chamber is quite unruly and tense.
Before her time runs out in one answer, Gallagher says:
This chamber should think about how this debate and the ongoing coverage of it is impacting on all the women out there, who we are with one mouth saying ‘stand up and we will support you’, and with the other tongue, if you dare to do it ...
The shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, begins by asking Gallagher about the settlement payment given to Brittany Higgins (she has long said she had no involvement in the process, which was commenced under the former Coalition government).
Gallagher responds that “it never came to me ... it never crossed my desk, I never got a brief”, saying she would have listed a conflict of interest if it had.
Gallagher then takes a dixer from a Labor colleague on the budget and the government’s economic management.
Updated
Anthony Albanese speaks on Labor’s housing fund and then, as it so often has in this debate, turns personal with Max Chandler-Mather.
The member has never seen a housing development that he wants to support, that he wants to support.
If you look at the member’s website, it currently hosts at least three separate petitions against housing! Against housing supply! He opposes 855 new homes including apartments, townhouses and detached townhouses on a 20-hectare site for over 2,000 extra residents.
This is what he has to say. ‘I also have significant concerns over what 2,000 extra residents will do for traffic.’
He opposes new homes for another 960 residents. In another petition, he is opposing turning a vacant block of land into a retirement village … So do not come in here and say you support housing when you will not support any in your own electorate and when you are opposing 30,000 new, additional, social and audible housing units including 4,000 designated for women and children escaping domestic violence.
Updated
No rent freeze, PM tells Greens MP
Max Chandler-Mather has the first of the crossbench questions and it looks like the gloves are off when it comes to the Greens as well.
Chandler-Mather makes note of Anthony Albanese’s comments that rent freezes would be ‘absurd’ and asks the prime minister was it absurd when he coordinated with the states to lower energy prices – as well as when the ACT Labor-Greens government put in rent controls.
When will he finally act on rent increases and freeze rent increases in the states?
Albanese jumps right in on this:
I say to the member for Griffith that he is a member of the House of Representatives and in our federated structure, there is commonwealth government, state government and local government, and state governments have controls over housing issues. The matter that he refers to once again is disingenuous. There is no rent freeze in the ACT, none. There is no rent freeze in the ACT. There is no rent freeze in the ACT. There is not a jurisdiction in the ACT that has done that.
Chandler-Mather yells out: “I said rent controls.”
PM: There is no rent freeze in the ACT.
Chandler-Mather: “I said rent controls!”
Updated
Ahhh yes – Scott Morrison is very likely in the UK or on his way to the UK.
He announced he was headed to the UK to ‘promote Aukus bipartisanship’. How lovely that it coincides with Boris Johnson’s latest woes – always nice to have friends around when you’re feeling low.
Morrison announced:
The trip to the UK is privately funded with flights and accommodation provided by the International Democratic Union. Mr Morrison is an honorary member of the IDU strategic advisory board. Declarations regarding these arrangements will be made, as usual, on Mr Morrison’s Register of Interest in due course, as required by the Parliament.
Due to these commitments in the UK, Mr Morrison will be absent from the Parliament from June 15-22. Following his formal visit to the UK, Mr Morrison will be taking some time to spend with his family, who will accompany him to the UK, on a private vacation overseas, during the parliamentary break and school holiday period.
Updated
Anthony Albanese continues:
He went on to say, maybe Angus does not go shopping much because we know inflation is bad and grocery prices are up but he should have seen that question prepared by his staff.
He went on about the figures. And questioned it. We know before, what he said about his staff. Remember the Clover Moore incident? Always the staff.
And so, clearly, the thing is after speaking to the shadow cabinet, bringing out the shadow treasurer. The thing is, this is one of a number of gaffes, Mr Speaker.
How can you tell there is a gaffe coming? Because he opens his mouth.
This answer is a little bit of a surprise because in the last parliament sitting, Labor had decided not to go there with Angus Taylor, and not just because he was on leave because of a family issue, but because of the attempt at a ‘gentler parliament’.
But given the opposition’s attacks it seems like that has now gone out the window. And it is once again open slather.
Updated
Taylor slings interest rate question at PM
Angus Taylor and his sling asks Anthony Albanese:
The budget highlighted the expectation that interest rates would stay at 3.8% until early 2024 and then fall. Following an 11th rate rise under this government, rates are now at 4.1%. Prime minister, why did the budget fail within a month?
Jim Chalmers and Taylor then start debating each other across the chamber:
Chalmers: “It was the average of the market” (expectations of interest rates).
Taylor: “But why did you highlight it? You knew it was in the budget” (references page number).
Albanese:
You can’t trust anything [the member says]. When you look at what the budget papers actually say, the budget papers actually say that in the question that is reflected by the shadow treasurer it refers to what expectations are by economists. It is not a Treasury document … Because we know that this is something that just doesn’t exist. It just doesn’t exist.
But the last time I got a question, of course, from the shadow treasurer, he stood up here and he said: I question the prime minister. UBS data shows in the last month alone the price of Vegemite has increased by 8%. Peanut butter by 9%. And yoghurt has increased by 12%. He went on about all this. And then he went on; Australians love Vegemite, it is up 8%. Not in a year, in a month. He doubled down.
Of course, Andrew Clennell of Sky News, and I always watch Sky News – those opposite would have seen this for sure. For sure. He went on to say that I have got a shadow cabinet leak. And that is Angus Taylor yesterday was castigating his shadow cabinet ministers.
(There are so many interjections there is a general warning for the house.)
Taylor tries to bring a point of order on relevance, but Speaker Milton Dick says Albanese is being relevant, so Albanese continues:
I am certainly speaking about – they are not happy little Vegemites over there, Mr Speaker. They are not happy little Vegemites.
Updated
I can’t see Scott Morrison in the chamber, so it seems like the former prime minister is missing this question time.
Angus Taylor is back though, with his arm in a sling.
Cost of living in focus as question time begins
We are straight into question time today and Queenslanders are once again the flavour of the day with the Herbert MP, Phil Thompson, getting the first question.
It’s almost like there is a byelection in Queensland coming up?
Thompson wants to know:
Despite the promise to cut power bills, the Albanese government has had 12 months and two budgets to fulfil this promise but has failed to do so. With small businesses struggling and Australian families having to find an extra $22,000 each year to service their mortgage let alone pay electricity bills, when will the prime minister take responsibility for the growing cost-of-living crisis?
(Insert line about the promise being for 2025.)
Anthony Albanese switches up his answer (after including the line that Thompson voted against the energy price relief) to include a little Queensland flavour:
I can imagine people in Queensland today, giving a big shoutout to the Palaszczuk government.
He goes on to talk about the energy rebates the Queensland government announced which will see some pensioners’ electricity bills reduced to zero (there is a $550 rebate – Queensland still owns the poles and wires).
Albanese:
I am sure that when the member for Herbert returns to Townsville on the weekend, what he will see, he will be able to talk about it. He will be able to say, sorry constituents that I voted against energy price relief.
Albanese then goes on about surpluses.
Updated
Moving to the chamber and the Labor MP Graham Perrett is using his 90-second statement to pay tribute to one of his favourite authors – Cormac McCarthy.
He recommends those who have not yet read him to find a sunny spot and wait until they are feeling ready – and then dive in.
Updated
We are now in the downhill slide into question time.
Don’t expect the opposition to stray too much from what we saw yesterday.
RBA to pay 1,173 current and former staff $1.15m for underpayments after PwC probe
The Reserve Bank hasn’t had the best couple of years – not least because of mistakes like forecasting in late 2021 that the official interest rate wouldn’t rise until 2024.
And, of course, there was the fairly critical RBA Review which recommended splitting its roles, plus an unnerving habit of regularly surprising most pundits and investors by hiking those rates.
Now there’s another straw to add to that overloaded dromedary.
After a probe of its “more complex remuneration arrangements” launched by the central bank and later reviewed by PwC (a firm not in Governor Philip Lowe’s – or anyone’s – good books), the RBA has concluded 1,173 current and former impacted employees were short-changed “around $1.15m”.
“Most of the payments relate to the calculation of termination benefits payable to former employees,” the bank said, adding all affected people had been notified and monies were flowing.
On the scale of recent underpayment announcements – eg BHP’s $430m – the amount is not huge. It’s also only a tad more than Lowe’s annual compensation of about $1.04m (at least in 2022).
Still, with many mortgage holders slashing spending to meet soaring debt repayments, penny-pinching (literally) by the central bank is not a great look.
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The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, says the Coalition’s position on the nature repair bills is at odds with groups like the National Farmers Federation, the Northern Land Council, Farmers for Climate Action and Landcare.
She says the bill has broad support from land owners and she hopes common ground can be found once the Senate committee concludes its review:
The Nationals claim to support people who live on the land. By changing their mind and withdrawing support, they’re preventing farmers from getting rewarded for looking after their land.
The legislation is also opposed by the Greens who want the government to focus on improving environmental protections, ending habitat clearing and boosting government funding for the environment.
Environment groups who have made submissions to the inquiry have raised their concerns about the government’s plan to allow certificates in the proposed market to be traded as offsets for other habitat destruction.
Tim Beshara of the Wilderness Society says the legislation appears to have “hit a brick wall”.
Given this, the Albanese government should return their focus to what we know works … Repairing nature is primarily the responsibility of the government. It should not, and cannot, ever be effectively outsourced to the private sector.
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Coalition backs away from supporting Labor’s nature repair market
The Albanese government’s legislation to establish a nature repair market appears to be facing hurdles, with the Coalition signalling it has reversed its earlier support for the bills.
The government wants to establish a market that would allow for the trade of certificates attached to projects that protect and restore nature.
A similar scheme was proposed by the previous government but focused on rewarding farmers who undertook improvements for biodiversity on their properties.
It has previously been reported the Coalition would back Labor’s scheme, which is broader and would apply to all land tenure types, as well as to coastal and marine areas.
But Liberal and National party MPs told a debate in the lower house on Tuesday night they have concerns about the legislation.
The National party leader, David Littleproud, said the Nationals were “unable to support the Nature Repair Market Bill 2023 and the associated legislation”. He said while the party still believed there was a place for a biodiversity market, the bill had “diverged far too far” from the earlier Coalition proposal:
Disappointingly, this government has let their ideology take away the practical reality and the safeguards that are required for Australian agriculture and farming families in regional communities.
The Liberal MP and opposition climate and energy spokesman, Ted O’Brien, told the parliament the Coalition would reserve its position until a Senate inquiry examining the bills had concluded.
In principle, at this point, and in keeping with all the work we have previously done in this area, the Coalition cannot support the passage of either of these bills. There are too many gaps. There is too much missing detail.
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What needs to be done to attract more GPs to the job?
The AMA president says it needs to be a holistic approach:
We have to say we value it and I think one of the messages that successive governments have delivered to GPs is: ‘We don’t value you.’ I think people want to be part of a team that’s valued.
That includes a funding model that isn’t about churn – but one where people can make a living while also spending time with patients.
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AMA chief recalls his worries about bringing Covid home
Is there a trauma element to what healthcare workers have been through, particularly from before there were Covid vaccines and they were worried about bringing the virus to their homes and families?
Prof Steve Robson says:
Many people in healthcare experienced this moral injury from the peak of the pandemic and I had exactly the same thing. I have young children here, and I probably remember we had discussions at home. If I came home from working should I actually stay downstairs? We’ve got bit of a granny flat area, dump my clothes at the door, stay there, and keep away from the family before vaccines when we were seeing images – I’m sure the kids were happy not snooping around, so it was not all downside for them, but it was a big thing for the family.
I think that’s a thing that people – at nursing school, medical school or whatever – never envisioned having to deal with and I think it affects how you see your profession, what you want to do and whether you want to work part-time. It’s really big issues and it’s great to hear someone acknowledge that from the workforce perspective.
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Dutton says Higgins questions only seek to hold government to account
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has been grilled about the Coalition’s handling of Brittany Higgins’s allegation in parliament this week at a Local Government Association conference.
Dutton said:
I’m sure it’s a view you expressed last year when the government asked something like 45 questions in parliament in relation to the same issue. We have a system of legal practice in our country, that is a very important principle in relation to the way in which courts operate. I share the view in relation to leaking of the information published in the papers, the matter, as the attorney general pointed out yesterday, has been referred to AFP for investigation.
Dutton said he takes sexual assault “very seriously” and that someone accused of the crime should be tried by judge and jury with “guilt found according to our system of law” which “shouldn’t be subverted by any process”.
He said:
In terms of our questioning of the government, a key democratic element of our system of government in a Westminster system is to hold the government to account. The questions we’re asking at the moment in relation to whether the government conspired to seek political advantage out of an alleged sexual assault is absolutely reasonable for us to ask in QT. It doesn’t demean the allegation of sexual assault, doesn’t seek to second-guess the court process that has taken place in ACT. It doesn’t seek [to prove] innocence or guilt of any party in this matter, it seeks to hold the government to account for their [handling].
Bruce Lehrmann was charged with the alleged sexual assault of Higgins but vehemently denied the allegations and maintained his innocence.
An initial trial was aborted last year due to jury misconduct and prosecutors dropped the charges against Lehrmann amid concerns about the impact a second trial could have on Higgins’s mental health.
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Covid has led to burnout and stress in health workforce, AMA chief says
What is the state of Australia’s hospital wards, given what healthcare workers have gone through during the pandemic?
Prof Steve Robson talks about hearing a piece on ABC Classic that a composer created, about health workers going home after a shift on a Covid ward during the pandemic. And he says it made him very emotional:
It was a beautiful guitar piece and it actually made me emotional because I remember what things were like at the peak of the pandemic.
Now, I’m a pretty resilient person. I can only imagine what all of my colleagues, whether they are nurses, whether they’re doctors, whoever it is working in our public hospitals, the fact that you cannot have been through that and not have both had a sense of exhaustion, that to me makes me emotional, down the track listening to a piece of guitar music because that’s what it’s about.
But it made many, many of my colleagues question, “Is this really the right thing for me?”
I don’t think anyone when they trained really knew they’d be training into a pandemic and what that would mean. In many cases the resource sacrifices that they’d need to make and I think we have seen this reflected in the health workforce. A lot of people have moved out of health.
We have seen high levels of burnout and stress in the health workforce, so I think it has ongoing implications moving forward.
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Surge in private health insurance a ‘mirage’, says AMA president
The AMA president said private health insurance is not the answer to the country’s health funding woes:
A couple of years ago we were very fearful that the uptake of health insurance was in a death spiral, but as our public hospitals have continued to struggle with an unprecedented backlog, many Australians have begun to take out private health insurance again as they face years of waiting for care in our public hospitals.
I believe the apparent surge in private health insurance uptake is going to prove to be a mirage.
I think many, many people will fulfil their waiting times, have their procedures and then relinquish their private insurance again.
If you look at the drivers of uptake, many young Australians take up private health insurance for two main reasons. Mental health and maternity care.
But we are seeing private psychiatric and maternity hospitals closing around the country, so for people who took out health insurance for these reasons it is going to look like fool’s gold.
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AMA president spruiks benefits of health investment
Back to the press club for a moment, AMA president Prof Stephen Robson says health investment has wider impacts than just looking after people’s health – it looks after societies”.
The impact that health has on people’s lives is the essence of what I’m talking about here today with you.
That investing in health is not only good economic policy but investments in health can make a huge difference to the wellbeing of Australians.
We’re now in the fourth year of a global pandemic, Covid-19 is the third most common reason that Australians die. 20,000 more Australians died in 2022 than we’d expect to have died had there not been a pandemic.
And the pandemic has also shown us just how important health is to our economy, both here and overseas. Covid has had an extraordinary impact on our communities and our healthcare system and particularly our healthcare workforce.
And the pandemic has also demonstrated something quite remarkable. That with the collective will of government, the community and healthcare professions, quick and innovative solutions backed by investment, are actually possible.
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Home affairs minister considering 'implications' of ruling on people smuggler's visa
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, has responded to the high court quashing her decision to refuse a convicted people smuggler a visa.
O’Neil said:
I am aware of today’s decision by the High Court and I am considering its implications. I can confirm I refused an application for a Safe Haven Enterprise visa on national interest grounds. The visa applicant has previously been convicted of a people smuggling offence. I will not be commenting further on the circumstances of the matter.”
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The national press club address today will be given by AMA president, Prof Steve Robson.
You’ll be hearing a lot about Medicare. And also what needs to be done given a health system in crisis, including GPs.
We’ll bring you bits and pieces from the speech and the Q&A.
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South Australian budget goes into the red
For those wondering how the South Australian budget is going, AAP has an update:
The South Australian government has rolled out more budget spending on health despite a significant deterioration in the state’s finances during the past six months.
Thursday’s financial blueprint will reveal a plunge into the red of $249 million for 2022-23 after the government predicted a $203m surplus in the December mid-year budget review.
The reversal of fortune follows increased spending on health, the impact of summer’s flooding down the Murray and lower-than-expected GST returns.
Treasurer Stephen Mullighan says he still expects a budget surplus in 2023-24 with the details to be outlined with the release of the budget papers.
He says the government will continue to focus on health spending as well as helping combat the housing crisis and relieve cost-of-living pressures.
The treasurer has also pledged to honour Labor’s promise of no new or increased taxes:
The last thing we want to see is what Victoria has done and that is embark on really significant increases in expenditure and then eight years later realise they’ve got to start rapidly increasing the tax burden on their community.
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The Local Government Association is in town, which means there are a lot of mayors and councillors in Canberra. Peter Dutton addressed the conference today, and was asked this question by a member of the crowd:
A Cr asked Dutton to lay off Brittany Higgins - here is his response, which actually sparked some applause. pic.twitter.com/BOtWMASOwh
— Stephen Mayne (@MayneReport) June 14, 2023
Economic conditions worsening, index finds
Following on the heels of yesterday’s surveys showing consumer and business confidence was falling, here is another index showing much the same thing. As AAP reports:
Consumer confidence has sunk to another post-pandemic low following the 12th interest rate rise in 13 months.
Morale has been low for several months in response to cost of living pressures and interest rate hikes and has now fallen to its lowest level since the Covid-19 lockdowns sent confidence levels plummeting in April 2020.
The ANZ and Roy Morgan’s weekly index fell 3.1 points over the week, led by solid falls in current and future economic conditions.
The “current economic conditions” indicator fell 3.5 points and “future economic conditions” sunk 3.1 points.
ANZ senior economist Adelaide Timbrell said:
Confidence fell among renters, outright owners and those paying off their homes, though those paying off their homes fell to a record low
The poor result follows another interest rate rise in June and posturing from the Reserve Bank suggesting there is more tightening to come. The 25 basis point hike in June brought the official cash rate to 4.1%.
Updated
Government loses bid to deny convicted people smuggler protection visa
Also in the high court this morning, the commonwealth lost a case defending the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil’s, decision to refuse a convicted people smuggler a protection visa.
The plaintiff is an Iranian Christian man to whom Australia owes protection obligations due to his fear of religious persecution but both Peter Dutton and O’Neil denied him a visa on the grounds that granting one would be against the national interest.
The man arrived by boat without a visa in December 2013. He was charged and pleaded guilty to aggravated people smuggling, and was sentenced to eight years in prison (four without parole) in October 2017.
The New South Wales district court judge had found the man was motivated by desperation to be reunited with his family, who had arrived in Australia in 2012 and received protection visas, not by a financial motive, and was unlikely to reoffend.
In June, O’Neil rejected his application for a safe haven enterprise visa, finding “the importance of protecting and safeguarding Australia’s territorial and border integrity” meant it was not in the national interest. All other criteria for the visa were satisfied.
On Wednesday a majority of four justices of the high court quashed the decision to refuse the man’s visa application. Their reasoning was that “national interest” considerations are “not intended to be a trump card for the minister” where the applicant otherwise meets requirements.
They said the government’s interpretation would “leave the assessment of whether it is in the national interest for a person who is found to be a refugee to be refused a protection visa to the subjective evaluation of the minister or a delegate on a case‑by-case basis, unconstrained by any of the other provisions that govern the decision to grant or refuse a protection visa”.
O’Neil now has 14 days to determine the application in accordance with the law.
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Dutton to give speech at IPA
The IPA has announced that Peter Dutton will deliver a keynote address to members at the Institute of Public Affairs on 7 July.
IPA deputy executive director Daniel Wild said Dutton was providing the nation leadership:
Over recent months, Peter Dutton has drawn a sharper distinction between the opposition and the government on key policy issues facing mainstream Australia, such as the Voice, energy, education, and migration, which has kickstarted debates Australia needs to have.
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Inquiry into unpaid care work announced
The house has set up an inquiry into the recognition of unpaid care work.
Labor MP Peta Murphyis chairing the committee and said:
This inquiry will examine the effectiveness of the Act in acknowledging and raising awareness of the important role of unpaid carers in Australian society, and will consider if legislative reform is needed.
The committee wants to hear from individual unpaid carers, carers’ representatives and advocacy organisations so it can make meaningful recommendations to government.
The committee is seeking written submissions, ideally of no more than 10 pages, on the inquiry terms of reference by Friday, 11 August 2023.
The inquiry is not considering the adequacy of payments for carers.
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Paul Karp has reported that Bridget Archer has joined Andrew Bragg’s call for an inquiry into how Brittany Higgins’ text messages were leaked:
Liberals Andrew Bragg and Bridget Archer have broken ranks to call for an inquiry into how Brittany Higgins’ text messages were leaked, with Bragg labelling debate in the Senate where the Coalition is pursuing Katy Gallagher “very ugly”.
The pair made the call after the finance minister denied misleading the Senate about her knowledge of Higgins’ allegation before it aired and Network Ten asked the Australian federal police to investigate how Higgins’ texts became public.
Gallagher told Senate estimates in June 2021 that “no one had any knowledge” of Higgins’ allegation before it was aired. That comment has been called into question by text exchanges between Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, published by the Australian newspaper.
Albanese, Nathan, Nat and Shaun at the Lodge
Anthony Albanese has spoken to Perth radio Nova Breakfast hosts Nathan, Nat and Shaun this morning – because he invited the trio over to the Lodge for dinner, and then carried out the stunt.
Apparently they found some “real humanity” at the Lodge, but there is a “real uncomfortable” couch in the sitting room that has been there since the 1950s.
That’s pretty much the whole point of the interview – talking about their dinner at the Lodge.
Just another day in Australian politics where FM radio hosts get to invite themselves over for dinner at the prime minister’s taxpayer funded Canberra residence and then have a good laugh about it the next day on radio.
(This is on the back of Albanese also attending FM radio host Kyle Sandilands’ wedding because he had told him he would. On his FM radio show)
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Crossbench wants citizens’ assembly on housing
Crossbench MPs are coming together to ask for “a new way of dealing with housing”, proposing a citizens’ assembly of housing affordability.
The joint statement explains:
The Citizens’ Assembly of Housing Affordability would bring together 100 randomly selected but carefully balanced ordinary Australians including renters, buyers, owners, mortgage holders, investors, rural, urban, regional, young, old, men and women, to examine the evidence, question experts, and develop a consensus for future policy that reflects the needs of everyone.
Housing affordability has proved to be an intractable problem for our party-political system but it’s exactly the sort of impasse that the deliberative democracy process of Citizens’ Assembly can break through.
The Citizens’ Assembly model has been used around the world on difficult issues. It was used by the French government on climate policy, and in Ireland to provide a path to law reform on marriage equality and abortion. In Australia it been used constructively at state and local government levels, but, it has never been applied at the federal government level.
The crossbench has written to the treasurer and housing minister with the proposal, which they believe can be established “for less than the price of two average houses”.
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GetUp unhappy with Labor over Middle Arm gas development
You may have seen this in the blog late yesterday – the government blocked an attempt to establish an inquiry into the Middle Arm gas development hub in Darwin.
As Anne Davies reported yesterday:
The Labor government has blocked a Senate inquiry into the proposed Middle Arm development in the Northern Territory, despite an earlier Senate inquiry into development of the Beetaloo basin recommending a follow up inquiry.
Although Labor had indicated it would support the recommendations from the earlier Beetaloo inquiry, Labor joined the Coalition to vote down a Greens motion to set up the further inquiry.
The Federal government has committed $1.5bn toward the maritime infrastructure for the huge Middle Arm development in Darwin Harbour, which is being promoted by the NT government as a “sustainable precinct” that will run on renewables and be a hub for new decarbonising industries such as green hydrogen and mineral processing for batteries.
But environmentalists fear that the huge investment in Middle Arm will inevitably lead to an expansion of gas in the Northern Territory and make Beetaloo a foregone conclusion and result in “a carbon bomb” that will make it impossible for Australia to reach its pledge to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Labor said it was opposing a review by the senate as the project was at an early stage and would go through other reviews including a strategic environmental assessment.
There are a lot of people angry at that development – including GetUp chief executive and Widjabul Wia-bal woman Larissa Baldwin-Roberts.
Yesterday, the Albanese government broke a massive promise. They continue to let down traditional owners.
It seems Labor has forgotten the mandate on which they were elected just over a year ago. They supported the Beetaloo inquiry and the recommendation that the Middle Arm gas hub undergo additional scrutiny just two months ago.
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High court sides with commonwealth in GST council case
In January, Guardian Australia revealed that Hornsby Shire Council, of which former Howard government minister Philip Ruddock is mayor, was spearheading a high court case arguing that GST levied on local councils is unconstitutional.
The council argued that local governments are in effect forced to pay GST through an agreement between the commonwealth, states and territories in 1999 that councils either account for and pay “notional GST” or equivalent amounts will be withheld from their grants if they refuse.
On Wednesday the high court unanimously ruled that the inclusion by the council of notional GST in its business activity statement was a voluntary act made in accordance with an intergovernmental agreement entered into by the commonwealth and each state and territory, initially in 1999 and again in 2009. No federal law legally or practically compelled the council to include that notional GST in its BAS, so there was no unlawful imposition of a tax in breach of the constitution.
Given Hornsby paid $144,479 notional GST in just the last year of the two decades of the tax’s operation, the claim could have been worth several million to the council and tens or hundreds of millions across the 537 councils that make up the third tier of government in Australia.
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As expected, the motion to suspend standing orders was not carried and the house moves on.
But as we saw there, Tony Burke essentially said to the crossbench ‘watch this space’. And they will. CLOSELY.
Solar energy gathering momentum
With the Albanese government anointing Greg Combet to chair the Net Zero Economy Agency (as had been expected for months), it’s worth a quick look at what the prospects are for reaching such a goal.
Overnight, the Climate Energy Finance group has released an interesting report about the gathering momentum in the solar energy field. And frankly, the revolution looks like it’s only just getting started:
The scale of some of the solar panel production that is coming, particularly from China, is remarkable, and a cause for optimism, says Renate Egan, who heads the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics at UNSW.
The world installed a record 268 gigawatts of solar panels last year and that tally is heading to 1000GW by 2030. “This would have profound implications for electricity and energy markets globally,” the report said.
A couple of interesting facts include tiny Netherlands vies with Australia as among the top 10 for annual installations at 3.9GW of solar. (The Dutch occupy 1/186 our land area, so one of us is exceptional).
Another is that Australia has about 30GW of solar PV all up, which sounds a lot. However, one single Chinese company, JinkoSolar, last month announced plans for a US$7.9bn (A$11.7bn) wafer-to-module solar factory in the coal-rich Chinese province of Shanxi that alone will churn out as much as 56GW solar energy capacity a year.
The biggest US plant - now being built with support from the Biden administration - by contrast is only about 3GW a year.
Anyway, the race is on, and we should encourage even more speed and ambition if net zero is to be a realistic possibility.
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Labor blocks debate on gambling ads bill, but promises 'comprehensive' plan
The leader of the house, Tony Burke, has explained although the government won’t allow Zoe Daniel’s private member’s bill to ban gambling ads to be debated, this is not to be taken as opposing the principle behind the bill.
Burke said:
I assure the house, the government is committed to ensuring online gambling takes place within a robust framework with strong consumer protections. Like many Australians we too as the government are concerned about gambling ads and their impact.”
Burke noted there is an inquiry into gambling advertising reporting within weeks. He said the government wants a “comprehensive” response, considering ads across multiple channels including TV, radio, outdoor, branding, and social media. So the government will await the report.
Updated
Tony Burke says the government is not in support of the suspension of standing orders, but says that is not to be taken as not being in support of the principle of the suspension.
Burke says the government will await the house of reps inquiry into online gambling before moving forward.
But the government is allowing more speakers on it – so supporting the debate, but won’t support the suspension, if that makes sense.
Monique Ryan lends support to gambling ad bill
The Greens and independent MP Dr Monique Ryan are also in support of the suspension for standing orders to debate Zoe Daniel’s bill.
Ryan:
Independents have a strong proud history of taking new ideas to the table and debating them in a sensible and responsible way. This is politics done differently and that’s what we’re doing today. I really urge the major parties to join with this important proposition developed by my colleague the member for Goldstein.
This is an important idea which is already gaining a lot of traction with Australian people. It should gain traction with Australian parties.
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Fellow independent MP Allegra Spender is seconding Zoe Daniel’s motion to suspend standing orders.
One of my community members told me that their seven year old daughter had asked them what a same day multi was.
A seven year old should be discovering the joys of playing team sports, of watching sports with their friends and family not being educated about the odds and the payoffs.
But this is what is happening with our current advertising regime.
Zali Steggall is also supporting the motion.
I think as a parent, it’s incredibly distressing to see the prevalence of gambling advertising.
But it’s incredibly urgent that we debate this bill today because we owe the Australian people leadership that is what the purpose of this place is.
We must step in the government must step in and enact regulation and ensure there are protections in place when we have rampant, rampant harm occurring. And that is what the gambling industry is. let’s call it out for what it actually is.
Steggall says “gambling is the modern day drug of sport” and needs to be addressed.
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Coalition’s gambling ads plan does not go far enough, says Daniel
Peter Dutton mentioned banning gambling ads in his budget reply speech, and said the opposition was planning on putting in its own legislation on the issue.
Zoe Daniel said:
I welcome the recent steps taken by the opposition to recognise the extent of the problems created by gambling, advertising and public concern about its ubiquity.
But the evidence indicates that further ring fencing of gambling advertising and merely banning it during and before and after sports broadcasts will not work.
The opposition’s intent is to present its own bill in the other place [the Senate].
Diluting much needed action with very limited bans is another reason debating the bill I have presented is urgent. The last time further restrictions were introduced by the previous government back in 2017.
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Australians want gambling ads banned: Zoe Daniel
Zoe Daniel says gambling ads are “grooming” children to think that watching sport and gambling are intrinsically linked.
That instead of sport being fun, health, participation and people, you’re not one of the game unless you know as much about the intricacies of [gambling] as you do about the finer points of the game you’re watching.
Daniel says people want gambling advertised banned:
Polling last year showed that 71% of those polled want gambling advertising banned.
Recent research commissioned by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation found that 78% of respondents believe they should be able to watch sports free of gambling ads.
The need for this legislation is urgent because the social costs of gambling and gambling addiction are significant and growing. In 2017, the VRGF estimated that the total social cost of gambling in Victoria was no less than $7 billion and the figure is certainly higher now.
$2.2 billion of that cost emerged from family and relationship problems $1.6 billion from emotional and psychological issues, including suicide and violence. $1.3 billion from financial losses.
What could be more urgent than acting to curtail these costs, especially amid a national cost of living crisis that worst effects are most vulnerable, who are also the target of gambling ads.
Updated
Zoe Daniel is now moving to suspend standing orders in the house to bring on debate for her private members bill to ban gambling advertising.
Nazi symbols bill also covers online sharing of extremist material
Mark Dreyfus has introduced the counter-terrorism legislation amendment (prohibited hate symbols and other measures) bill 2023 and yes, it does have more in it than just banning Nazi hate symbols.
It also creates new offences for accessing and sharing violent extremist material online.
As Dreyfus says:
These symbols – the Nazi hakenkreuz (or hooked cross), the Nazi double sig rune (or ‘SS’ bolts) and the Islamic State flag – are widely recognised as symbols of hatred, violence and racism which are incompatible with Australia’s multicultural and democratic society.
There is no place in Australia for symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust or human rights atrocities.
This ban will not apply to the display and use of the sacred swastika which is of spiritual significance to religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
The bill also creates new offences for accessing and sharing violent extremist material online. These new offences will allow law enforcement to intervene earlier and disrupt violent extremists before their actions place the community in danger and inspire others to follow this dangerous path of radicalisation.
The bill also amends the terrorist organisation listing framework. The Bill provides that the listing of a terrorist organisation will apply indefinitely unless revoked. The current sunsetting date of three years is unnecessarily short and does not reflect the longevity of terrorist organisations.
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Ley quizzed on Gaetjens review
Sussan Ley was then asked why the Phil Gaetjens review (which was looking into who knew what, when in Scott Morrison’s office) was never completed.
Ley:
Because the Australian federal police asked for it to be paused while they conducted their investigations.
Q: Should it be revisited now and completed?
Ley:
It was paused on advice from the Australian federal police, there is still the Sofronoff Inquiry. So there are still investigations that are happening at that legal level.
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Ley non-committal on call for inquiry into leaked messages
Sussan Ley then held a doorstop on that issue, where she did not address her colleague Andrew Bragg’s call for an inquiry into how Brittany Higgins’ text messages were leaked, while simultaneously calling for Labor to answer questions.
Q: Do you think there should be an inquiry into how Brittany Higgins’ text messages were leaked to the media?
Ley:
There’s been a lot of inquiries, there’s been a lot of conjecture. There have been questions asked, we need answers to those questions. That’s the number one thing that we need at the moment.
Q: On this issue of text messages, on the issue of the text messages an inquiry into that?
Ley:
The prime minister’s office should be conducting the investigations and inquiries they need to reassure the prime minister, that ministers did not mislead the Senate…[interrupted]
…This started with an apparent and clearly now an obvious misleading of the Senate now, to the extent that you’re talking about an investigation, where is the prime minister’s investigation that would demonstrate an understanding that his own ministers have not misled the parliament, unless he was aware of these issues all along.
Q: One of your own senators this morning did call for an inquiry into this matter. What message is it sending to people around this country who may be victim survivors of alleged sexual assault? What message is that sending to them that private text messages admitted into a judicial system can wind up in the media?
Ley:
I understand it’s a sensitive issue and for those who are experiencing sexual assault, they should get help and help is available. We’ve had extensive commentary this morning from the people who are there to provide that support and help both within and associated with the legal system. So that’s the most important point to make. But if you are in this position, the help that you need both legal and around the legal system is there for you.
The questions that we want answered, are simple questions that relate to recent information that has come to light.
Now I’m standing here answering questions, but where are senior ministers of this Labor government who are running a mile from the questions that the Australian people have a right to get answers to?
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Ley: ‘I stand by’ statements from Cash, Reynolds
That questioning continued:
Host:
Just one more on Michaelia Cash’s Office, they insist the first she ever heard the word rape was used in a media inquiry on February 2021. Have you got any reason to think that that’s not true?
Sussan Ley:
I stand by the statements and all of the explanations that have been given by both minister Cash and minister Reynolds and this has been an awful experience for those involved, including those who offered support, like my colleagues.
Now what we want to know now, and what we are calling into question is the credibility of senior Labor members. And it’s very simple for them to answer these very simple questions, and they’re not, they’re not going anywhere near them.
Now, if they knew about all of this before the Project went to air, days before, Tanya Plibersek asked 16 questions in Question Time on it, and I asked her did she have any engagement with anyone else about the content of those questions? That’s a simple question to Pete that remains unanswered.
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Higgins tweets, Ley defends Cash
Brittany Higgins has not commented on what has been happening in parliament. Overnight, Higgins published several tweets on Tuesday night to again claim that the office of Michaelia Cash, her one-time employer and now shadow attorney general, knew about her allegations well before they became public.
Responding to a tweet about Cash’s knowledge of the allegations, Higgins wrote: “October 2019.”
Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley defended Cash and her office on Sky News this morning, saying it was about what Labor, who was then in opposition, knew and when.
Our former ministers have given extensive and detailed accounts of their actions. The questions that need to be answered are for Labor ministers. Now I haven’t seen the tweets and I don’t want to comment directly on the individuals involved, and I do hope that they’re getting the support that they need, that everyone involved in this case is getting the support that they need.
But I come back to our central premise, something we’ve been saying now for some days. We need Labor to demonstrate the answer to our main question. Were they aware of these allegations before they went to air and did they use them to profit politically? If they did, that’s morally bankrupt, to politically profit from a rape allegation. These are the questions that need to be answered.
Anyone who sat through Senate, or the House of Reps Question Time yesterday would probably have thought, why aren’t they just answering these simple questions? Questions like how long before The Project went to air were you aware of the allegations? That was a question I asked Tanya Plibersek yesterday, and I didn’t get an answer. Simple questions were asked, a simple question was asked of the prime minister, who gave a very tricky answer that completely ignored the question.
We need the answers, the Australian people need the answers.
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What is on the government agenda today?
Mark Dreyfus will introduce the Nazi Hate Symbols bill sometime this morning. It’s not just about Nazi symbols, so we will look through that bill when it is tabled.
The whistleblower bill (public interest disclosure bill) will make its way through the senate (although there remains calls for Dreyfus to drop whistleblower prosecutions currently in front of the court).
And the referendum legislation bill will be on the Senate agenda but not until this evening. The Senate will be sitting on Friday to get through its workload, but will also sit late tonight. So far, only five of the 52 listed speakers have given their speech on it.
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Where are the opposition planning on going with the attacks on Katy Gallagher?
There isn’t a straight answer to that one, because no one can really figure out what the upside is here.
Gallagher made the comments that the Coalition are using as the basis for the “misled parliament” attacks while in opposition, in a different parliament.
She was not a minister at the time. So she didn’t make the comments as a minister and therefore did not breach the ministerial code.
Anthony Albanese has backed Gallagher in, so there is no movement there. And the Greens have already denounced the tactics and said they will not facilitate it in the Senate. Which means if the Coalition attempted to refer Gallagher to the privileges committee, they would not have enough support in the Senate.
So there is no movement there.
Which means that this is being played out for the cameras with no real goal in sight. And at the moment, no end in sight either.
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The bells are ringing – the parliament session is about to begin. It looks like being another messy day – so take care of you.
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Daniel targets gambling ads
Parliament will sit from 9am and Zoe Daniel is hoping to start the house session with a policy debate on gambling ads.
The independent MP will attempt to suspend standing orders to bring on debate on her private member’s bill to ban gambling ads.
Daniel notes:
The evidence is that extensions to restrictions on gambling advertising around sports broadcasts are not effective.
Enhanced restrictions on gambling advertising introduced in 2017 have proved counter-productive, with promotion shifting from sports broadcasts to general programming.
Research commissioned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority found that the total volume of gambling advertisements on radio and television increased by 50% after the new restrictions were introduced.
A survey for the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation found that 78% of respondents believe they should be able to watch sport free of gambling advertising.
The government is unlikely to support this – so far it has pointed to its inquiry looking at online gambling (mostly) and says it will wait for the recommendations from that.
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NSW donates $100,000 to fund for bus crash victims
The New South Wales government will donate $100,000 to support the victims of the Hunter Valley bus crash.
The money will go into a fund co-managed by the government and Rotary Australia to provide relief and support to survivors, victims and their immediate families.
Premier Chris Minns announced the donation would come from his discretionary fund before heading back to the region later this morning:
This is understandably a tragedy that has been felt right across the state. When tragic events like this occur, it’s the Australian way to reach out and support one another.
Singleton mayor Sue Moore said:
This accident has rocked our close-knit community – the ripples are being felt across Singleton as people come to terms with the scale of the loss and impact. I know the people of Singleton are big-hearted and generous, and this fund is a straightforward way that people can show their support and know that the help will go directly to those that need it.
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‘A sackable offence’
Here is how that “conversation” played out.
Jane Hume:
What we want understand now is whether this Labor minister was in fact complicit in politicising this event. That is unforgivable.
Not only that, misleading parliament is a serious offence, a sackable offence and standing by this minister, if she has misled parliament, has consequences.
Clare O’Neil:
You were in the Senate yesterday when Katy went through what happened and what I’d like to understand from you is how is it the two years after this event you are trying to make this somehow the problem of the current government when we were not even in government, not four years after this event occurred.
The real issue is the fact that a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted in our workplace and I would really like to focus on that is the main issue here because that is the main issue here, because that is the subject that matters.
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Hume and O’Neil clash over Coalition’s continued attacks on Gallagher
Over on the Seven network, Liberal senator Jane Hume and Labor senator Clare O’Neil clashed over the Coalition’s continued attacks on Katy Gallagher and what they claim was her “politicising” Brittany Higgins’ allegations.
Hume started by trying to walk both sides of the issue:
What we are finding out now is what the minister knew and why her testimony to the Senate as different from that. There’s a lot of considerations here, I know people are talking about how this information came into the media and certainly the media has a lot of considerations to make.
There has to be respect for the parliament and the court and the law but that information is now out there and journalists need to make decisions about whether it is in the public interest.
Now that that is out there, the onus is on us to make sure the evidence the minister gave the parliament is consistent with the new evidence out there.
Gallagher gave a statement to the Senate yesterday outlining the timeline as she knew it – she found out about the allegations four days before they were made public, but says she kept them confidential and did not act on them, or have anything to do with the stories themselves.
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Liberal senator calls for police inquiry into texts leak after 'ugly' scenes in Senate
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg says watching what unfolded in the Senate yesterday was “very ugly”.
He is referring to the Coalition questioning Labor senator Katy Gallagher over what she knew about Brittany Higgins’ allegations before they were made public.
That emerged because Higgins’ phone messages with her fiance David Sharaz were leaked to News Corp, Network Seven and the Daily Mail.
You can read more about that here:
But Bragg seems to have no time for what he saw in the Senate yesterday – which was led by his side of politics.
Host: You were in the Senate yesterday, finance minister Katy Gallagher made her statement in relation to what she’d said previously. I note your colleague Jane Hume has also said that Brittany Higgins’ private messages should never have been made public. Do you agree with Jane Hume?
Bragg:
Look, I think his whole thing has been a tawdry affair and it is hugely regrettable how it’s played out publicly. I don’t know how these messages have been put into the public domain. I expect that there will be a proper investigation into that. Because I mean, why would anyone come forward with allegations of assault if this is the result?
Host: So you believe there should be a formal police investigation?
Bragg:
Well, there needs to be an inquiry to how this has happened. I mean, this can’t happen again. This is supposed to be a country which values the rule of law and proper process.
Host: And watching this all unfold in the Senate. What’s it what’s it like, briefly?
Bragg:
Very ugly, very ugly.
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Questions surround Higgins investigation
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg believes there needs to be an inquiry into how things like Brittany Higgins’ phone messages from two years ago, which were downloaded as part of the police investigation into her allegations, have made their way to the media.
Labor senator Jenny McAllister tells ABC radio RN she doesn’t believe there needs to be an inquiry into that but she is worried about the “tone” of the debate.
McAllister also believes it is for the former government to answer questions about the Gaetjens review – which was looking into who knew what, and when in Scott Morrison’s office (the review was dropped so as not to interfere with the AFP investigation, and reports like that under previous governments are not privy to FOI laws):
I think it is appropriate that the former government answer questions about the way that that review was conducted and why its findings were never released.
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Greg Combet to chair Net Zero Agency
The Albanese government has announced the chair and advisory board for the Net Zero Agency. Former Labor minister and trade unionist Greg Combet has the big job.
Members appointed to the advisory board:
Prof Ross Garnaut AC – professor emeritus in economics at the University of Melbourne and professor emeritus, college of Asia & the Pacific at ANU
Prof Paul Simshauser AM – chief executive of Powerlink Queensland and professor of economics at Griffith University
Anthea Harris – chief executive of the Australian Energy Regulator
Nicole Lockwood – chair of Infrastructure WA, board member of NBN and former shire president of Roebourne
Kellie Parker – chief executive of Rio Tinto Australia
Michele O’Neil – president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions
Prof Robynne Quiggin – pro-vice chancellor of UTS and part of steering committee for the First Nations Clean Energy Network
Anna Skarbek – chief executive of ClimateWorks, director of the Green Building Council of Australia, the Centre for New Energy Technologies, the Sustainable Australia Fund, Impact Investment Group, and Sentient Impact Group
Tony Maher – general president of the Mining and Energy Union
Laura Tyler – chief technical officer, BHP
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Expect to see this enter the debate again – especially given the pushback against the minimum wage increase.
So the very same big business bosses who say workers don’t deserve a pay rise that keeps up with inflation got an average of 15% increase in their own pay. https://t.co/yfYENXL9Cf
— Michele O'Neil (@MicheleONeilAU) June 13, 2023
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Good morning
Welcome to day two of the parliamentary sitting. Thank you to Martin for kicking us off – you have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day now as we navigate parliament.
The Senate will keep itself busy with the referendum legislation, while negotiations over the housing fund continue in the background. In the house, Tony Burke will continue to press the case for the same-job, same-pay legislation.
Outside of policy, the Coalition will continue to pursue Katy Gallagher in a pretty similar vein as what we saw yesterday. The Liberal party national conference is being held this weekend in Canberra and it’s hoping to end the week on a high.
We’ll keep you up to date.
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Push to improve gender equality in workplace
Skills minister Brendan O’Connor says the government is keenly focused on getting more women into male-dominated industries, telling an International Labour Organisation meeting in Switzerland that Australia wants to improve gender equality in the workplace.
Giving a plenary address to the ILO overnight, O’Connor also said the Indigenous voice would play a role in workforce participation:
We want to increase the representation of women in historically male-dominated industries, while strengthening wages and conditions for workers in professions dominated by women.
These industries are historically some of the lowest paid, yet their place in our communities are among the most important.
O’Connor reeled off a list of the government’s achievements in this area, from a payr ise for aged care workers and boosts to government-funded paid parental leave to childcare cost reductions and increases to domestic violence leave.
He also talked of leading a “tripartite group”, including workers and businesses, to move forward in key areas in skills and training:
The Australian government is prioritising a labour market that is fair for all. It’s vital that everyone can participate on an equal footing, in safe, secure and well-paid work – while being given the opportunity to access the right skills and training to adapt to a changing economy.
NSW government reveals Coalition looked at new tolls for Sydney's roads
Introducing tolls to landmark Sydney motorways including the Anzac Bridge and Warringah Freeway were among options being investigated by the previous Coalition government, the new Labor administration reveals today.
Before releasing a discussion paper of its review into Sydney’s toll road network, the Minns Labor government has released information about tolling options investigated by the previous government.
An excerpt of the review of previous tolling options said:
A new motorway network pricing structure could apply to the existing tolled network, or to all motorways (the continuous motorway network (CMN)). A CMN option could involve tolling some previously untolled roads, but could create a more efficient continuous motorway network.
The excerpt listed the following untolled roads as potential motorways that could have tolls introduced: Anzac Bridge, General Holmes Drive, Gore Hill Freeway, M4 West (M7 to WestConnex M4), Southern Cross Drive, Warringah Freeway and the Western Distributor.
Introducing a CBD congestion charge – an idea that has been around for a while in Sydney – was another option prepared by the transport department to be considered by the previous Coalition government, according to information released by the Labor government on Wednesday. The excerpt said:
The creation of a CBD zone was considered, charging an access fee on entry – by motorway and/or arterial road – into the CBD.
This option was considered to have the potential to deliver a multitude of benefits, including: potentially reducing the numbers of cars entering the CBD (for example, during the morning peak by up to 40%); potentially increasing average speed on CBD; supporting mode shift to public transport; a more pedestrian friendly CBD.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of all the Australian news that’s fit to read about. I’m Martin Farrer bringing you the best overnight lines before Amy Remeikis takes charge.
New South Wales premier Chris Minns will travel to the site of Sunday’s bus tragedy today amid questions about whether the law needs to change to make wearing seatbelts compulsory for such transport. He told the ABC yesterday:
[If] there’s a recommendation made to us about law changes in relation to safety on buses or coaches or in cars and vans in NSW, we’ll of course take action.
We’ll be following his visit and he is expected to give a media conference later.
The Australian defence force cannot continue to help with natural disasters and defend Australia at the same time, a senior defence chief has told MPs. Air Vice Marshal Stephen Chappell said the “unrelenting tempo” of bushfires, floods, and the pandemic had strained resources, damaged morale and interrupted training, making such duties “unsustainable”.
Debate will continue on the voice referendum. Yesterday the Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, accused the no campaign of importing “American-style Trump politics” into the debate. But prominent yes campaigners say their job is to “keep the faith”.
There may also be reaction today to the news last night that the Liberal senator Linda Reynolds is planning to sue Labor’s Tanya Plibersek over a television interview regarding Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation. Plibersek, the environment minister, confirmed she had received a concerns notice from Reynolds – but also appeared to hint she was considering legal action of her own. A concerns notice is the first step in beginning defamation proceedings.
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