The day that was, Wednesday 15 November
And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the headlines:
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has been accused of “weaponising antisemitism” during a fiery debate in question time.
Clare O’Neil says strict visa conditions have been imposed on immigration detainees who were released following a high court decision. Meanwhile, here’s our analysis of the opposition’s emotive (and effective) attack over their release as Labor moves to rush through emergency legislation over the matter.
Scott Morrison has defended Aukus and denies lying to Emmanuel Macron.
Anthony Albanese is on his way to the Apec summit, hosted by President Biden, in San Francisco.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, says Israel has a “right to act against Hamas” and any prospective ceasefire can’t be one-sided.
The trade minister, Don Farrell, is “very confident” that the final Chinese trade restrictions will be removed by Christmas.
Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, has failed to pay a $610,500 fine.
And Optus has confirmed its parent company Singtel was responsible for last week’s massive outage.
Thank you for spending part of your day with us – we will be back tomorrow to do it all again.
Updated
Tiwi Traditional Owners secure injunction ahead of Santos pipeline challenge
Tiwi Traditional Owners have secured an injunction to prevent Santos starting work near the Tiwi Islands on its Barossa gas export pipeline while their case is underway.
The court has imposed an injunction until mid-January to restrain all works on the pipeline, except for in an area about 75km north of the Tiwi Islands and further.
Jikilaruwu man Simon Munkara lodged civil enforcement proceedings late last month asking the court for an injunction to prevent work going ahead on the pipeline.
He argued the pipeline poses a significant new impact or risk to Tiwi underwater cultural heritage that was not assessed in the original environment plan for the pipeline that was approved by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority.
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Victorian dragtime story event called off after far-right threats
Another dragtime story event has been cancelled in Victoria after weeks of threats and protests.
Shepparton library has announced Rainbow Storytime, which was meant to go ahead Thursday night has been called off. It is the first regional LGBTIA event to be cancelled since Wangarrata’s Rainbow Ball in June.
Dozens of events were called off earlier this year due to far-right threats. In a statement, the library said:
Our decision not to proceed with the event in no way legitimises the statements made by the protest groups. Our primary focus is on the safety of our families and their right to be able to gather, connect and celebrate in a welcoming and inclusive environment. We fully support our LGBTIQA+ community and are committed to a culture of child safety.
Community group the Rainbow Angels, which protected a storytime event in Eltham in May, said they would hold a “POP UP RAINBOW STORYTIME” outside the library at 11am tomorrow.
We stand resolute in the face of the awful extreme homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate and vilification experience by the library staff, council workers and the performer over the past three weeks.
We will be out, loud, proud and visible – plus having heaps of fun with rainbows and bubbles!
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More from the Arias in Sydney
21-year-old singer-songwriter Budjerah is nominated for five Aria awards tonight.
“I didn’t think I was going to get any nominations,” he said. “My family and I watched the nominations and we were like, where did this come from? I’m really happy”.
The Coodjinburra musician has won two Arias previously, taking home breakthrough artist of the year in 2021 and most performed R&B/soul work of the year in 2022. This year he is performing and says “I’m feeling really excited, and a little bit nervous”.
“I’m trying to keep myself focused, to do my warmups and remember all my steps and the notes I’ve got to sing,” he said. “You know, I got my cousins in my band with me, my brothers. We pray before we go on, and usually, it is a good method to get on stage.”
Former Wiggle Emma Watkins is nominated for best children’s album under her own name, Emma Memma.
“This is our first year as Emma,” she said. “This is our first time to share our music, so the fact that we have had so many Australian families come to our show and our tour in the last year has been just a blessing.”
For some pleasant distraction from the world, you can check out the fashion at this year’s Arias here:
Updated
Optus confirms parent company Singtel responsible for massive outage
Optus has finally confirmed that its parent company, Singtel, was the “third party” international peering partner that sent routing information to the company’s network that brought the company offline for 14 hours last Wednesday.
The routing information, following a routine software upgrade, disconnected routers from Optus’s IP core network as a safety precaution which resulted in the network going offline.
Nine Entertainment had reported that the Singtel Internet Exchange (STiX) was thought to be behind it yesterday, but Optus did not confirm this to be true until Wednesday evening. A spokesperson said:
We can confirm STiX was the international peering partner which sent changes to routing information. As a rule, we don’t usually name third parties in media responses
Singtel has not responded to a request for comment.
It comes ahead of the company’s embattled CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, appearing before a Senate committee on the outage on Friday morning.
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NSW fire crews battling blaze in Narran Lake nature reserve
From AAP: Fire crews are battling an immense blaze that took hold in a nature reserve in northern NSW.
The uncontrolled fire is burning in the Narran Lake nature reserve, about 70km north west of Walgett and 50km south-west of Lightning Ridge.
An emergency warning was issued on Wednesday afternoon after the fire breached a containment line to the southwest of the Glengarry Village. At 4.30pm, those in the Glengarry and Grawin areas who were planning on leaving were told to do so in the direction of Lightning Ridge.
Properties in both those areas may be impacted by the fire, the NSW Rural Fire Service warned.
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Aria Awards kick off in Sydney
The 2023 Aria Awards are underway in Sydney and Rafqa Touma is on the red carpet.
For the first time in years, the Arias has reinstated indoor table seating and is serving food as well as booze - a decision that prompted a round of applause at the start of the ceremony.
On the red carpet, musician Barkaa did not hide her excitement. She said:
I like the fact that we are sitting down inside, and Red Rooster is back, my babies!
The artist, who in 2020 was dubbed GQ’s “new matriarch of Australian rap”, will be performing at this year’s Arias - but she is most excited to celebrate a diversity of music tonight.
I just came to sit down, watch everybody, dance and celebrate music. We’re in a time where we’re celebrating music in its entirety. It’s exciting and new and we’re seeing so much diversity so I’m keen to just celebrate that.
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Zoe Daniel condemns Coalition for ‘promoting social division’
The independent MP Zoe Daniel has joined others condemning the Coalition’s question time tactics of attempting to suspend standing orders to accuse the government of an equivocal response on the Israel-Gaza conflict. Daniel said:
The opposition is promoting social division not social cohesion with its outrageous games. This is extremely dangerous. Antisemitism must be condemned, so must playing games with an actual life-and-death situation. Stop it.
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Hello everyone – Cait Kelly here, to take you through the rest of the day’s news. A big thank you to Amy Remeikis for her great work, as always.
Let’s get into it!
Updated
Cait Kelly is going to take you through what is left of the day, although keep checking back for updates from the team.
We’ll be back with Politics Live from early tomorrow morning. Until then – take care of you.
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Angus Taylor says opposition concerned with ‘community safety’ issues
Q: By conflating the highly sensitive matter internationally, of the war in the Middle East, with a politically charged, purely domestic matter of immigration detention, don’t you risk denigrating or diminishing the [weight] of the Middle East war?
Angus Taylor:
Not at all. These are community safety issues, they are different communities but both matter. The point is that community safety has got to be a top priority for government, I think that is well accepted across the Australian community.
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Angus Taylor defends opposition conflating Israel and Gaza with high court decision on indefinite detention
Why did the opposition conflate what is happening in Israel and Gaza with the high court decision on indefinite detention in Australia? Angus Taylor, the shadow treasurer, tells the ABC:
Our point was very simple, which is that social cohesion, community safety is incredibly important and we have several things going on. We did not cover all those things up but they are all affecting community safety.
One is that we do not want to see some of the conflict in the Middle East being transported to Australia* and I think Australians feel very strongly about that. A lot of Australians left behind and do not want to see it here.
The second point is that we have a government that has released over 80 people from detention** and amongst them, rapists, murderers, these are tough issues are.
Frankly, they have absolutely no answers as to how we are going to keep the community safe having done that. This is a very significant issue.
There is no legislation we have seen and frankly, Anthony Albanese should be sorting that out and then going out to Apec once he had sorted that out. We have said we will work closely with them on this and we will be back. We are awaiting legislation.
*This was not part of Peter Dutton’s speech.
**After a high court decision, which the government can not overturn.
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Organisations call for NT government to declare buffel grass a weed
Organisations across central Australia are calling for the Northern Territory government to declare buffel grass a weed and acknowledge the devastating effects the fire-prone grass is having on landscapes, the economy, health and culture.
A letter, signed by 39 organisations across a range of sectors, calls buffel grass “the greatest invasive species threat to environment and cultures across arid lands”:
Buffel-fuelled wildfires are an existential threat to public safety, tourism, the arts and the physical and mental health of Territorians. Climate change is compounding the impacts of buffel grass.
It will be tabled at the final meeting of a working group that has been considering the impact of buffel grass and how to manage it.
Buffel grass, in addition to altering a landscape, exacerbates fire danger because it burns hotter and causes more frequent fires. In a statement on Wednesday, the Central Land Council said buffel grass was helping fuel large fires that had blanketed Alice Springs in smoke over the past two weeks.
The land council is also calling on the NT government to take the “overdue step” of declaring it a weed. Its general manager, Josie Douglas, said:
The resolution shows how strongly our elected members feel about the extremely destructive cultural, health and environmental impacts of this introduced species.
On some days last week the air quality in Alice Springs was on par with some of the most polluted cities in the world.
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Through the shutters
Here is some of how the Guardian’s photographer at large, Mike Bowers, saw QT:
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Allegra Spender condemns Dutton’s ‘attempt to weaponise’ antisemitism
The Independent MP for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, has released a statement over what happened in question time after Peter Dutton’s motion:
Parliament should be united. All the MPs I speak to are genuinely concerned about antisemitism, Islamophobia and the damage racism is causing in our community.
Turning antisemitism into a political football is damaging for the Jewish community and to national cohesion.
Antisemitism is a very serious issue. Every day I have people contact my office, scared about what is happening in our country.
To watch the opposition deliberately try and politicise this issue and conflate it with the prime minister’s travel schedule, in order to score political points, is disgraceful.
I sought to amend the motion to focus purely on antisemitism, which would have been wholly appropriate.
We need to come together as a country and take urgent action against antisemitism and all forms of hate speech.
This is a time when Australia’s national unity has never been more important. Peter Dutton’s attempt to weaponise and politicise antisemitism for political gain is unconscionable.
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Anthony Albanese was shaking with what can only be described as rage as he responded to Peter Dutton’s motion. Here is what he looked like as it was happening
And then they had to pass each other
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Sydney airport boss says outdated rules causing unnecessary plane emissions and noise
Planes are unnecessarily circling above NSW residents, causing polluting noise and emissions, purely to kill time because of an overly cautious approach to the strict laws limiting Sydney airport to 80 take-offs and landings an hour, its CEO has said.
Geoff Culbert, Sydney airport’s outgoing CEO, told the Australian Airports Association national conference on Wednesday the legislation governing his facility was outdated to the point it was limiting competition and the economic benefits of tourism.
In addition to calling for a crackdown on rules allowing “slot hoarding” and incentivising high cancellations, Culbert called to modernise laws that limit the airport’s operations to 80 take movements per hour to minimise noise.
Culbert points out this limit is never reached because of several reasons such as weather, but crucially, an artificial limit of 78 movements per hour imposed by government-run air traffic controllers – Airservices Australia – as a buffer.
Culbert said:
They employ two people at taxpayers’ expense who sit in a tower with a clipboard and clicker and they count the flights ... And when they get to 70, they go ‘slow down’. So you’re coming in doing laps over Dubbo or Botany Bay, you’re being delayed in Sydney airport, putting emissions into the air and noise to people who have you circling over their head.
You can read more of Culbert’s speech here:
Updated
Police investigate after effigies left outside Labor MPs’ offices
Victorian police have confirmed they are investigating after effigies the size of children were placed outside electorate offices of six federal Labor MPs.
In a statement to Guardian Australia, police confirmed they were investigating several incidents they believed to be linked, after posters and effigies were left outside offices of MPs in Melbourne and a Geelong location on Wednesday.
They said “several mannequins wrapped in white fabric and covered in red paint and posters were located outside” six electorate offices:
Hall Street, Moonee Ponds
Burgundy Street, Heidelberg
Brougham Street, Geelong
High Street, Preston
High Street, Thomastown
Sydney Road, Coburg
They are the offices of Bill Shorten, Kate Thwaties, deputy prime minister Richard Marles, Ged Kearney, Andrew Giles and Peter Khalil, respectively.
A group called No More Bodies in Gaza claimed responsibility for the actions on their Instagram account, which in a post said:
As of the 15th of November, the death toll since October 7th stands at 11,008 innocent people, 4,506 of these innocents being children. More children were slaughtered in Gaza in a month than in all world conflicts for the past three years combined.
The Labor government has many members in parliament who in the past professed support for the Palestinian cause. Now, in the face of the mounting atrocities, they are silent.
The bodies we have laid at the offices of the parliamentarians are equal to the number of Palestinian deaths per hour in Gaza.
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Greens renew call for rent freeze
Staying with the Greens’ presser, economic spokesperson Nick McKim raised concerns about the latest wage data showing incomes were growing only half as quickly as housing rental prices.
Any wages growth is good news. Wages are up 1.3% but in the same period rents are up 2.2%. Wages aren’t keeping up with rent increases. Labor’s rental crisis keeps getting worse and that’s why we need a rent freeze in this country.
It’s getting harder and harder every week, every month, every quarter, for people to afford rentals.
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Adam Bandt denies Greens ‘vote harvesting’ over Israel-Hamas war
Greens leader Adam Bandt has denied his party is “vote harvesting” over the Gaza conflict, a claim levelled by a Labor MP yesterday.
Bandt held a press conference just before question time with Greens colleagues, where he said prime minister Anthony Albanese should use his visit to the Apec meeting to push global leaders to support a ceasefire in Gaza. Bandt also hoped Albanese would use the visit to San Francisco to keep pushing for the freedom of Julian Assange.
In Labor’s party room yesterday, one unnamed MP asked Albanese about the Greens’ rhetoric around the conflict, according to a party spokesperson, and asked what government MPs should do about what they referred to as “vote harvesting” by the Greens.
Guardian Australia has reported that Labor MPs and members are concerned about the electoral consequences of the party’s rhetoric on Gaza, and are worried about multicultural communities turning against Labor.
We asked Bandt about the “vote harvesting” allegation. He didn’t directly respond, but said the Greens were “making a principled push for peace”.
We’ve got huge numbers of people in this country and around the world backing the push for a ceasefire ... that’s been our consistent position all the way through.
People want their politicians to listen and call for peace. This is a humanitarian catastrophe, people in ever greater numbers want the invasion to end and there to be a ceasefire.
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Covid waves likely getting ‘less severe’, Queensland health chief says
In a bit of a blast from the past, Queensland chief health officer John Gerrard has held a press conference on the latest Omicron wave of Covid-19.
The government was taking no action on the wave and wasn’t requiring the wearing of masks in public health settings, he said.
Gerrard said there were just 221 people in hospital, two of them in intensive care, and most of them were over 65 and unvaccinated. Nobody had died with the virus in months, he said.
It appears pretty clear that these waves of Covid-19 are getting less severe.
Covid-19 is not going away. It’s now one of a number of respiratory viruses that we’re going to have to deal with in an ongoing fashion, including influenza ...
The public health emergency declared by the World Health Organisation ended on May the fifth of this year. So the public health emergency is long over.
The approach to any public health concern like this must be consistent with the risk. So that our approach must be consistent with the risk. It is important that I do not overstate the risk.
Gerrard said people over the age of 65 or who were severely immunocompromised who hadn’t received a booster this year should get one immediately.
The updated advice comes after AMA Queensland president Maria Boulton called for Gerrard to more strongly encourage mask wearing amid the ninth wave of the virus.
She told the Courier Mail:
The health workforce is stretched to breaking point and cannot cope with another overload of patients over the holidays.
Gerrard said the wave wasn’t creating a “huge burden” and there wouldn’t be a need for the use of overflow beds.
Updated
Question time ends
The division ends in the government’s favour and Anthony Albanese immediately calls an end to question time.
The matter of public importance begins – it’s on the high court decision.
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Israeli raid at Gaza hospital must be ‘utterly condemned’, medical group tells Wong
Foreign minister Penny Wong has been sent this letter by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War in Australia:
The Medical Association for Prevention of War is outraged to see reports in the past hour of the storming of Gaza’s main hospital, the al-Shifa Hospital.
Coming after weeks of relentless bombardment of Gaza’s healthcare system, with the deaths of over 4,000 children, many more adults, the injuring of a far higher number, the terrorising of innocent people trapped in a war zone with no escape, the deprivation of food, water, medical supplies, fuel and other necessities, the immorality of what we are seeing is intolerable.
Israel’s claims of the al-Shifa Hospital harbouring Hamas terrorists remain unproven to independent observers ...
Even if the claims are true, this does not erase the rights of civilians to be protected. The human carnage from a military assault on a hospital, including one that has already been subject to aerial bombardment, cannot be imagined.
Australians are practically begging you to speak up in strong unequivocal language that explicitly condemns Israeli crimes, using the same standards by which you rightly judge Hamas’ crimes. How many more Palestinian lives will be sufficient to prompt this?
We implore you to speak up now. The storming of the al-Shifa Hospital must be utterly condemned.
Australian military and political support for the nation committing such crimes must cease.
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Labor to rush through emergency bill after immigration detention ruling
Penny Wong has confirmed emergency legislation will be introduced “shortly” in response to the high court ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful where there is “no real prospect” a person’s removal is “reasonably practicable in the foreseeable future”.
As reported by Guardian Australia today, sources have said the Labor government is working to approve a bill for urgent introduction to parliament after the release of 83 people held in indefinite detention, some of whom are convicted criminals.
Wong told Senate question time the existing legislation, which the former Coalition government operated under for years, “did not contemplate a constitutional view of detention that has been found by the high court”.
The government is working through that and, as I said, the government intends to introduce legislation shortly to further respond to the decision of the high court and we look forward to the opposition assisting with passage of that legislation as soon as possible.
Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil said earlier on Wednesday it was “garbage” and “categorically false” that the government could legislate to completely counteract the decision and take people released back into immigration detention.
Updated
The house goes to a division on the motion, which the government will win.
Anthony Albanese then turns to how Peter Dutton included the high court motion with antisemitism in his motion.
This is all happening while Israel launches a military operation inside Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, which is sheltering displaced Palestinians and critically ill patients.
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Anthony Albanese:
We have responsibilities as a democratic nation to say that democratic nations must stand up consistent with the international rule of law.
That is something that I have done and will consistently do. That’s something that I will have meetings on. In Apec, at San Francisco, I stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself. I have done that consistently. I also say how it matters [how it defends itself] – we need to care for all civilians.
Paul Karp hears Scott Morrison interject with: “What are you alleging of Israel?”
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Anthony Albanese:
To try to look for unity or look for opportunism … Now, Jewish Australians are fearful at the moment. The sort of activity that is occurring is scaring them and I stand with them.
No one – no one – should threaten people because of their religion or their race in this country.
But it is also the case that Arab Australians and Islamic Australians and women wearing hijabs in the streets of Sydney and Melbourne are being threatened, and I stand against that as well.
The idea – the idea – of selective human rights is one that I stand against. So I’m opposed to any innocent life being lost. Whether it be as a result of the terrorism of Hamas in Israel, those dreadful occasions ... dreadful occasions or innocent babies in Gaza, I’m against being killed.
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Anthony Albanese:
I make no apologies for standing up against antisemitism and I will do it unequivocally, as I have, as someone who led a campaign against the council against my electorate, against the BDS [boycott, divestment, sanctions] campaign. Two decades ago. I have a track record on this and I’m proud of it. But I also have a track record of standing up for the rights and for justice of Palestinian people.
And I make no apologies for being a consistent supporter of a two-state solution.
And I make no apologies for trying to bring communities together, not divide them. Because that’s the role of political leaders.
And at a time when there is there is social division, leaders have a choice – they have to either bring people together or divide them.
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Anthony Albanese:
This is the same political party that tried to repeal section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
And I stood with Peter Wertheim and other members of the Jewish community at that time. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said this: “That would be the worst possible message to send at a time of increasing fear, insecurity and polarisation. It would be a serious abrogation of principled leadership by government.” And indeed it was, which is why it was defeated.
They failed to deliver the religious discrimination bill, they moved in here and when an amendment was passed to carry anti-vilification provisions, they voted against it and trashed their own legislation.
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PM accuses Dutton of trying to ‘weaponise’ antisemitism
Anthony Albanese:
And the weaponisation or attempt to weaponise antisemitism in this chamber and make it a partisan issue is, frankly, beyond contempt. Frankly beyond contempt.
I spoke in this chamber on Monday about the events in Caulfield and about the events in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. There was no qualification, no qualification whatsoever, in my condemnation.
… So to come in here and move this resolution and link antisemitism with the decision of the high court is beyond contempt.
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Dan Tehan does his best impression of Temu Peter Dutton and then Anthony Albanese, who seems probably angry, responds.
Albanese:
When people look for a definition of overreach, they will search for this motion moved by the leader of the opposition. There is no issue too big for him to show how small he is.
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Peter Dutton:
The prime minister should not leave this country until the national cabinet has been convened to provide assurances and support and comfort and safety to people of the Jewish community.
That is the first priority for this prime minister. Not to get on another – yet another –plane and head overseas.
Prime minister, don’t leave Canberra and don’t leave this parliament until legislation has been passed which will give effect to providing safety to the Australian people. Because what is happening is these people with significant criminal records having committed significant rapes and assaults and murders against Australian citizens are being released into the community and you stand condemned.
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Peter Dutton:
Don’t hop on the plane again to the United States, you just met with President Biden, an incredibly important relationship, but you have just met with the president. The first responsibility for you, prime minister, is to be here and take care of the Australian public.
Don’t continue to abrogate your responsibilities.
How can the government release 83 of the people who have criminal records, significant criminal records, and keep in detention nine when they are all subject to the same finding from the high court? How can that be the case?
How can you not have legal capacity or legal capability to keep the 83 in but you do to keep the nine in?
I mean, is this been explained by the prime minister? No, it has not.
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Peter Dutton:
Did the prime minister pull him into line? Not a chance, Mr Speaker. Not a chance because this prime minister is as weak as water and the Australian public are working out what a fake and a fraud he and his government have turned out to be.
Now, the Australian public at the moment know that they have got a government who has made every situation in their lives more difficult.
We know that the cost-of-living pressures are putting enormous pressure on families because the government has made incompetent decisions in two budgets.
We now know that in many parts of the country, Australians are suffering because of a crime crisis in their communities.
We know that. How does this prime minister respond? He goes off overseas again. Prime minister, don’t leave this country until you have dealt with these issues.
This is extraordinary, given the bipartisan nature of foreign affairs, and that the opposition supports Aukus.
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Peter Dutton:
The minister refuses to answer that question. It turns out that this minister has released these dangerous criminals into the community without a visa. Some of those have been left out and you saw his evasive tricky and incompetent responses today.
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Peter Dutton:
One charge … for this prime minister, one primary charge: to keep the Australian public safe, to keep them safe.
There is legislation now being drafted, we saw in a train wreck interview by the defence minister, the deputy prime minister, this morning, that there is legislation being drafted to address this issue.
We hear from Senator Wong in the Senate today that there will be legislation introduced into the parliament.
So we know now that when the government’s been called out and they’re under pressure, there is actually is a legislative response available. We now know that.
Why is it available now, but it wasn’t available before the 83 were released into the community?
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Peter Dutton:
The government knew that this case was being decided in the high court. They have the benefit of the advice of the first law officer of this country, the solicitor general, and countless KCs at their disposal.
The high court had given indications in relation to this matter. A competent minister would have dealt with this matter by way of legislation at the first available opportunity and he would have rushed that legislation through this parliament so as to prevent the 83 from going out into the community with the significant potential of committing more offences against the Australian community.
Not all of the 83 people are criminals. And Australia does not lock up criminals forever as a matter of course.
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Peter Dutton then pivots from that to the high court decision, which he blames the government for, Apec, inflation and Dolly knows what else as we enter fully into the post-truth Trump zone of politics.
Dutton:
Now, what compounds it, Mr Speaker, is the fact that in the last 48 hours, we learn that the hapless minister for immigration has taken a decision ... to release 83 hardened criminals, rapists, paedophiles, murderers – the rest of the detail he won’t disclose – released those 83 people to live at large in the community with the Australian public and he’s done nothing about it, Mr Speaker.
It was a high court decision. The government has no power to overturn a high court decision.
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Peter Dutton:
I never thought that I would see in my lifetime a repeat of the horrific scenes that we saw and that we have read about during the course of the second world war repeated in our lifetimes, but to see people of Jewish faith cowering in their homes, being dragged from cupboards out into the street, when children are still abducted and still held hostage, this prime minister needs to stand up and to be united with the community – and he’s not.
The words have been qualified, the message divided, and the Australian public has looked to the prime minister and not identified this man compared to the man they voted for in May 22, less than 18 months ago.
There was no mention of the 12,000 civilians killed in Gaza, no mention of Islamophobia and no mention of how Palestinian Australians are feeling.
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Peter Dutton:
This prime minister is flying off overseas again when he should be staying in this country to deal with the issue. What could he do, he says, what could he possibly do about it?
Well, prime minister, I have written to you and what you should do is consult with the premiers and the chief ministers and immediately convene a meeting of the national cabinet to get a better understanding of the police response, to understand what the security and intelligence agencies are providing, to collate that information, and to have a coherent response which provides support and underpinning a security for people of Jewish faith in this country when they need it most – in their hour of need.
This prime minister has gone missing.
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Peter Dutton continues:
And what the Australian public has seen and what a shock the Jewish community in recent weeks since 7 October is that this government is speaking out of both sides of its mouth.
Let’s call it out for what it is - you’ve got Senator Wong in the other place, the foreign minister of this country, who is at odds with her prime minister.
The caucus is split right down the middle.
And the Australian public sees this as a government where the wheels are quickly falling off. It’s given rise to social disharmony in this country.
There are Jewish kids who are afraid to go to school. We’ve got groups, Mr Speaker, who are going into predominantly Jewish communities in our country to try to provoke them into a response
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Peter Dutton:
The dreadful attacks that we saw on October 7 in Israel resulted in a terrorist – a listed terrorist organisation here in our country and in other countries in the west and other parts of the developed world – that saw Hamas go in and massacre people of Jewish faith.
It was a disgraceful act and rightly condemned by both sides of politics. It has given rise to a discussion here in this country, in the United States, elsewhere in the world, and it has seen a significant rise in antisemitic behaviour.
And I commend those members, one of them that I can identify on the opposite side for having the guts to stand up and to speak in strongly in favour of the Jewish community against those who perform provocative acts calling Jews names that shouldn’t be repeated anywhere – ‘F the Jews’ and ‘gas the Jews’.
This prime minister had a solemn duty, Mr Speaker, to stand up and to make sure that his government spoke with one voice. But did they do that? No.
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This speech from Peter Dutton, which started about the low standards of social cohesion, shows you where Australian politics is at the moment.
Rock bottom.
Absolute rock bottom.
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The opposition has spent several questions to the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, asking if all 81 people released had visas, or whether some were released as “unlawful non-citizens”.
Giles has replied that all 83 (as it now is) have been granted visas, with appropriate conditions.
Advocates reported to Guardian Australia over the weekend that not all released had visas, but their status would be “regularised”. By Monday, Giles told Radio National and Guardian Australia that all had visas.
It may be that for a period of one or two days some people were released without visas, because it was already clear the high court judgment applied to them, but conditions were applied later.
There has been a bunch of argy bargy in the house.
Peter Dutton doesn’t have a copy of the motion to give to the government to read, so a poor clerk has been despatched to go find a photocopier.
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Right. So that goes places.
It starts off talking about the lack of social cohesion and antisemitism and then goes to the high court decision, blaming the government for the release of people under indefinite detention, which has been ruled unconstitutional, and then demands the prime minister abandon Apec, for which there is no precedent (other than when Julia Gillard’s father died)
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(Continued from previous post)
Six, condemns the government for catastrophically failing to prepare contingencies for high court proceedings where it was fully aware of the risks.
Seven, condemns the minister for immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs for consequently undertaking an unprecedented and shocking mass release of dangerous criminal noncitizens into the Australian community.
Therefore, calls on the prime minister to:
One, understand that this priority, that his priority must be the protection of the Australian community at home.
Two, cancel his plans to travel to the United States.
Three, urgently convene a national cabinet meeting to formulate a strong and coherent response to combat the rise of antisemitism, repair social cohesion and protect community safety.
Four, urgently bring forward any legislation necessary to neutralise the threat posed by the hardcore criminals his government has released into the Australian community.
Five, amend the days and hours of sitting to facilitate the passage of such legislation prior to the rise of parliament this week.
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Dutton steps up attacks on Labor over release of 'criminals'
Peter Dutton is now moving to suspend standing orders to debate this motion, which will be going over a couple of posts, because it goes places.
One, expresses its grave concern of the vicious rise of antisemitic vilification in our country and the break down in social cohesion occurring in our communities.
Two, expresses grave concern that social disharmony has reached dangerous levels and community safety is at significant risk.
Three, condemns the prime minister’s value to show the strong leadership required to overcome divisions within his own caucus, to stamp out antisemitism and bring our country together.
Four, expresses its concerns that community safety in the country has been further threatened by the release of more than 80 hardcore criminals from immigration detention into the Australian community.
Five, expresses its deep concern that this cohort includes individuals who have been convicted of acts of child rape, of murder, sexual assault and other violent crimes.
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Dan Tehan again (I do not have the energy for dixers today):
How many hardcore criminals released from detention got a letter from the Department of Home Affairs that said they were being released as an unlawful noncitizen?
(The use of the term “hardcore” is so it slips into media reporting – as it already has.)
Andrew Giles:
I thank the shadow minister for asking a question of me. It is a similar one and the answer will be similar.
I say again that complying with the orders of the court is not optional. We have to give effect to the decision that was made and all of those – all of the 83 releases required by the decision of the court – are people who are on bridging visas, with appropriate conditions.
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Dan Tehan then asks Andrew Giles:
The ABC has just reported that following the high court decision the government released some of the 80 hardened criminals* – which include murderers, rapists and child sex offenders – into the community without a visa. Is this true?
They are not all criminals. I know I sound like a broken record here, but they aren’t.
Andrew Giles:
I say, again, complying with the orders of the high court is not optional, it is incumbent on this government and on any government
All those who have been required by the decision of the court to be released have been placed on appropriate visas, with appropriate conditions. And, as I have outlined at some length in the chamber, there has been quite an extensive process of engagement with relevant law enforcement authorities.
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Greens MP Stephen Bates asks education minister Jason Clare:
Most high school students can’t vote yet the decision of your government to push more coal and gas is harming their future. That is a big reason this Friday students will hold a school strike for climate gathering in their thousands in cities and towns across the country. Do you support the students being able to strike this Friday and to leave school to protest for climate action and against more coal and gas, minister?
Clare:
My view is, I hope, uncontroversial – that school students should be at school during school hours.
I want our kids to be passionate, I want our kids to care about democracy and I want our kids to care about the future, but I also want our kids at school
“Good answer,” says someone from the Labor caucus, who I assume is a boomer.
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Jim Chalmers took a dixer on wage growth just so he could say this about Angus Taylor’s attendance at the HR Nicholls society event in the UK:
That is because on this side of the house, we see decent wages growth as part of the solution to cost of living pressures, not part of the problem, which is what those opposite think.
The sort of rubbish that we hear about wages from those opposite, and particularly the shadow treasurer, might get him a polite golfer’s clap over a sherry at that cookers’ convention he went to in London, or at the HR Nicholls Society on Friday. We take a completely different approach to those opposite, getting wages moving again – it is a key part of our economic plan and we are pleased to see today for the second consecutive quarter that real wages are growing again.
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Complying with high court ruling ‘not optional’, Labor tells opposition
Peter Dutton:
Can the minister advise the house whether any of the 81 hardcore criminals* released into the community following the high court’s decision last week were released into the community without a visa?
*Again, they are not all criminals.
Andrew Giles:
I should confirm that there have now been 83 releases from detention and all of those who have been released from detention have been granted and are on visas with appropriate conditions. And I say again, complying with the orders of the high court is not something that is optional.
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Department publishes less than half of misinformation bill submissions
Despite the government announcing an overhaul of its controversial misinformation and disinformation bill this week, the communications department has still only published less than half of the submissions it received.
Off the back of several campaigns against it, the draft bill received slightly over 3,000 submissions and 20,000 comments. The government intends to publish around 2,500 submissions (others requested to be private and the comments weren’t to be published).
So far, just 1,265 of those submissions have been published on the department’s website.
The department states on the site it has taken so long in part because of the need to consider defamatory material and remove offensive of abhorrent material.
The most recent batch published this week includes submissions from Reddit and Communications Alliance, both expressing concern over the bill.
Reddit warns the bill would not limit the spread of misinformation and disinformation but “will require platforms to adhere to unworkable requirements under threat of heavy penalties, and divert resources away from addressing real harm”.
After the delay, the legislation will not be introduced into parliament until early next year.
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Question time begins
Peter Dutton kicks things off exactly as you would expect:
Can minister advise the house whether any of the 81 criminals* released into the community following the high court’s decision last week were released into the community without a visa?
*They are not all criminals.
Andrew Giles:
I can confirm that all of those individuals required to be released as a result of the decision of the high court are on bridging visa with appropriate conditions.
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All Australian politicians should condemn Gaza ‘death and misery’, Nationals MP says
Nationals MP Mark Coulton has called on all sides of politics to condemn the “death, destruction and misery” occurring in Gaza.
The member for Parkes, and co-convenor for Parliamentary Friends of Palestine, spoke at the conclusion of a solidarity event for Palestinians at Parliament House on Wednesday, noting he was the only conservative politician in attendance.
The reason I’m here is that I don’t want this to be some sort of a team sport, where people with very little information of what’s going on choose the side and cheer on ... I’m here because the [condemnation of the] death and destruction, the misery that we see at the moment should be universal. It should be condemned by everyone.
Coulton, who visited the West Bank – a Palestinian territory bordering Jordan – seven years ago, said he expected the poor conditions he witnessed then to have deteriorated even further.
Guest speakers Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for Palestine, and Chris Sidoti, a human rights lawyer, both used their speeches to condemn Israeli leaders for their continued bombardment of Gaza following attacks by Hamas but also referred to the decades-long treatment of the Palestinian people.
Coulton said the young Palestinians he had met years earlier “didn’t have a future to look forward to” and that it needed to stop.
If one thing comes out of what’s happening in the moment, maybe open up the eyes of the rest of the world that there needs to be a solution that’s fair, that’s equitable, and the young people in Palestine can look to a future.
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Gregory Andrews is on day 14 of his hunger strike:
I remember this fella when he first started stirring things up as an Independent in 2010. @WilkieMP told me that pretty much the all of the cross-bench are behind me on what I’m calling for. I wish @AlboMP and @PeterDutton_MP did too.Sign my petition.👇🏽https://t.co/ZsUEhb9T58 pic.twitter.com/UsO5ib4Sro
— Gregory Andrews (@LyrebirdDream) November 15, 2023
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Because of course mapping out a plan for a river system which crosses into a couple of different jurisdictions and is primarily about how to keep the river healthy while different competing commercial players fight for priority is absolutely the same thing as “peace in the Middle East”.
David Littleproud suggested that the original Murray Darling Basin plan was akin to "getting peace in the Middle East".
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 15, 2023
Would've thought a comparison like that is a bit on the nose given recent developments.
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Question time will be held in just over 20 minutes.
You know what is coming, so make sure you grab whatever it is you need to get through it.
A note on press conferences
Anthony Albanese will be leaving for the US and Apec a little later this afternoon. He’ll be doing so without having held a press conference with the Canberra gallery this week.
Albanese does hold press conferences with travelling reporters (and local press) while overseas and he did so in China and the Pacific Island Forum. But he has set a rule that he won’t discuss domestic issues while overseas on official trips.
Albanese has held press conferences in Canberra more regularly than opposition leader Peter Dutton, whose presser this morning was the first since 31 July, despite there having been several parliamentary sitting weeks.
Just making a note.
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Greens’ Nick McKim presses Labor over immigration detention ruling response
Greens senator Nick McKim has issued a warning to Labor to “not let Peter Dutton dictate its response to the high court ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unconstitutional”.
Dutton has been out this morning “demanding” Labor legislate a “fix” after the court ruled indefinite detention was unconstitutional. The government has been looking at options from before the high court made its decision, but needed to know what it was “fixing” before moving forward.
McKim said Labor should not let Dutton determine its response to a “mess that Peter Dutton helped create” and to do so would be “disgraceful in the extreme”.
The government must not let Mr Dutton write their immigration laws for them and pressure them into a draconian, knee-jerk response.
McKim said the government had a duty to respect “the law, respects human rights, respects refugees and respects the Australian constitution”.
We need to reaffirm the rule of law, and that means courts deciding punishments, not politicians. Anything less is a step towards tyranny.
We are hearing a lot about threats to the community but the biggest threats to the Australian people are draconian laws which seek to unnecessarily curtail liberty or detain people indefinitely.
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(Further to Daniel Hurst’s earlier post on national cyber security coordinator Darren Goldie’s recall to defence):
The office of the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, also issued a separate statement saying she had “been informed that Air Marshal Darren Goldie has been recalled to Defence”.
The statement added:
Department of Home Affairs deputy secretary of cyber and infrastructure security Hamish Hansford will act as national cyber security coordinator in the interim.
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The president of the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, is at the address the UN special rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese, is giving to the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group.
The group was originally founded by Anthony Albanese and Liberal MP Sussan Ley.
Federal Parliamentary friends of Palestine. @ParlHouseCBR
— Nasser Mashni (@iamthenas) November 15, 2023
International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Ceasefire End the occupation
Let the refugees return
Apply International Law equally to all@FranceskAlbs @MariaVamvakinou @janet_rice @MarkCoultonMP pic.twitter.com/sYQRYhifgA
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Defence department recalls cyber security coordinator over 'workplace matter'
The Department of Defence has issued a statement about the national cyber security coordinator. The statement reads in full:
National cyber security coordinator, Air Marshal Darren Goldie, AM, CSC, has been recalled to Defence to deal with a workplace matter related to his time in Defence. He is currently on leave. While the matter is under consideration it would be inappropriate to comment further.
The welfare of our people remains our priority and it is requested that Air Marshal Goldie’s privacy is respected at this time.
No further details have been provided.
The government announced in June that Goldie would be appointed to the new role of national cyber security coordinator. His responsibilities included to “lead national cyber security policy, the coordination of responses to major cyber incidents, whole of government cyber incident preparedness efforts and strengthening of commonwealth cyber security capability”.
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Commonwealth Games body keeps fingers crossed for Australian event
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) is holding on to hope it can still hold the 2026 Games in Australia, despite Victoria exiting stage left.
The Gold Coast is a possibility, at least according to the mayor Tom Tate, but the Queensland government is not as excited.
Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips is meeting with the other members of the federation in Singapore for the CGF general assembly. AAP reports Philips is waiting on a bit more information:
We are waiting on something more formal from the Gold Coast, we haven’t had those discussions.
Tom [Tate] is a great enthusiast for the Games so we appreciate his interest.
They have still got to work through internally what that could look like and also any ongoing conversations with the Queensland government in terms of their support.
Clearly a Games anywhere in Australia needs a lot of state government support.
Realistically when Games are held in Australia, state governments do much of the heavy lifting ... you absolutely do need their support and involvement.
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Group launches campaign for affordable early learning
Thrive by Five, an advocacy group for early childhood education funded by the Mindaroo Foundation, has launched a new “Make it Law” campaign as they push for the government to legislate access for all Australian children to three days of early learning a week, capped at $10 a day.
Former SA premier Jay Weatherill is the director of the group, which met with Labor’s Mary Doyle, Jess Wash and Karen Grogan. Jessica Rudd, who is serving as interim CEO of partner organisation the Parenthood, was also there as part of a united front.
Some states have gone down the free kindy route, but Weatherill and Rudd want it legislated at a federal level so all children can receive affordable early learning, which they say also has productivity benefits, as it means more parents could return to the workforce if they choose.
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The Senate will sit on Friday – why?
Well, senate reasons. But also it seems to pass legislation to deal with the high court indefinite detention decision. As Paul Karp (who has been all over this story from the beginning) reports:
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Greens senator Larissa Waters counts gender-equality bill change as a win
In the midst of *everything*, you may have missed that Larissa Waters has been working with the government to change one of the Respect at Work legislation provisions that would have made taking legal action against harassment at work too expensive for many people.
The original legislation included costs provisions, which would have meant people wanting to take legal action against harassment or abuse in their work at parliament, would have had to cover costs themselves.
The government has now put through a revised bill, that includes equal-access provisions. Waters has taken that as a win.
We are pleased that the revised government bill introduced today heeds the calls of advocates, victim-survivors, legal experts and unions, the Greens and the crossbench, for equal access costs protections.
The Greens pressured the government a year ago to dump their original costs provisions and to review and reconsider them. We are so pleased to see that after this reflection, the government has now proposed the costs model the Greens were advocating for, which removes costs risks for people standing up for their rights at work.
Waters said the provision was an important one:
Without an equal-access cost model in place, many workers, particularly women, weigh up the trauma and financial risk and decide to stay silent. Providing more options for victims of sexual harassment to make complaints doesn’t change things if women cannot afford to make complaints.
Equal access costs protections, where workers can take action without fear of paying the other side’s costs if they lose, already exist for whistleblowers. The Greens are happy to support changes that will see these same protections applied to workplace harassment.
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UN expert set to speak at pro-Palestinian forum in Parliament House
The Parliamentary Friends of Palestine is hosting an event in Parliament House where UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese is expected to speak.
The group, which is co-convened by Labor’s Maria Vamvikinou, Greens senator Janet Rice and Nationals MP Mark Coulton, has organised the event for international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In the audience, we’ve already spotted four members of the Greens and six Labor backbenchers, including Graham Perrett, Sally Sitou and Alicia Payne.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network spokesperson Nasser Mashni is also in attendance, along with the Russian ambassador to Australia, Alexey Pavlovsky.
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Angus Taylor will hold a press conference on the wage price index very soon.
The results are better than what was expected, and the ABS has reported the rises have been led by deliberate intervention, but we know what Taylor will say, because he has already said it this morning – that in real terms, wages are going backwards. Which they are, because of inflation.
But also worth mentioning, wages went backwards in real terms under the Coalition’s almost decade-long rule as well. Wages don’t keep up with inflation, because economists say that will lead to inflation (we can have that argument later).
But you often see the same MPs arguing the different side of the issue depending on what side of the chamber you sit in.
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Wage growth in private sector eclipses public
Both private and public sector wages went up last quarter but a lot more in the former than the latter.
Private firms lifted wages 1.4% compared with only 0.9% on average for those working for public entities. Given the inflation rate was 1.2% for the quarter, some of the public sector unions still in wage negotiations might be digging their heels in.
On an annual basis, private firms were paying 4.2% more than in the September quarter a year ago, while the public sector was paying 3.5%. (That 0.7 percentage point gap was unchanged from the June quarter.) Given the annual inflation rate was 5.4%, those in public jobs saw their real wages shrinking at a 1.7% clip.
The Wage Price Index doesn’t track bonuses. If it did, perhaps the gap between private and public employers might be wider yet given government firms aren’t known for doling out bonuses – unless I’ve missed something.
The ABS said:
Continuing labour market pressures and the need to retain workers with skills in demand also influenced the size of increases.
While not the main driver, wages for jobs covered by awards and enterprise agreements also increased strongly and had higher percentage point contributions to wage growth than historically recorded for a September quarter.
So those awards and EBAs make a difference.
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Protests continue outside Australian MPs’ offices:
Richard Marles, among other MPs, is targeted again for his and the government’s role in supporting the genocide of Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/hVPYrrNKqH
— Matt (@MattH093) November 14, 2023
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For those who missed Francesca Albanese’s explanation on what “self-defence” means under international law, here is the UN expert on Palestine giving the definition:
Does Israel have a "right of self-defence" under international law? No.
— Ajit Singh (@ajitxsingh) November 14, 2023
As UN Special Rapporteur @FranceskAlbs explains: "Israel cannot claim the right of self-defence against a threat that emanates from the territory that it occupies, that is kept under belligerent occupation." pic.twitter.com/BpCkpfIBKF
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Wages grow amid tight labour market
The 1.3% increase in the Wage Price Index for the September quarter was the highest quarterly increase in the data series that goes back to 1997, the ABS says.
The annual pace, at 4%, was the highest since the March quarter of 2009.
Some solid numbers but on an annual basis at least, wages were still retreating at about 1.4% once you consider headline consumer inflation was 5.4% for the September quarter.
Markets aren’t too fussed, with the dollar initially steady against the US dollar as we all digest the figures.
Follow the story here:
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Government action pushed wages rise, ABS says
Peter Hannam will have more on the wage decision soon, but the ABS release contains this tidbit – the increase in wages has been because of deliberate action by the government.
Michelle Marquardt, the ABS head of prices statistics, said:
A combination of factors led to widespread increases in average hourly wages this quarter.
In the private sector, higher growth was mainly driven by the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review decision, the application of the Aged Care Work Value case, labour market pressure, and CPI rises being factored into wage and salary review decisions.
The public sector was affected by the removal of state wage caps and new enterprise agreements coming into effect following the finalisation of various bargaining rounds.
Wage growth increased this quarter across each of the different methods that set pay. Jobs paid by individual arrangements were the main driver of wage growth, with award and enterprise agreement jobs also contributing more to wages growth than historically seen in a September quarter.
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Wages rose 1.3% in the September quarter from the previous three months, and 4% from a year ago, the ABS has just reported. That compared with the 1.3% and 3.9% respective increases tipped by economists.
Has an Australian PM ever missed an Apec summit?
Given Peter Dutton thinks Anthony Albanese should skip Apec to focus on indefinite detention, we’ve checked whether an Australian prime minister has ever missed attending an Apec meeting since 1989 (when it was founded) and the answer is – just once.
In 2012, Julia Gillard didn’t attend Apec because her father had just passed away.
Dutton’s calls for Albanese to miss attending Apec and instead focus on a legislative fix following the high court decision ending indefinite detention ignore that: a) ministers introduce legislation for their own portfolios; b) legislation can be passed without the prime minister being in the country, especially when they are out of the country for official business; c) the Coalition would turn missing Apec, where Aukus will be a main topic of conversation, along with economic woes, into another political attack given that no prime minister has missed it (outside of Gillard).
That is before you get to the facts that not all of the detainees covered by the high court decision are criminals and Australia does not have indefinite detention for Australians who have been found guilty of a crime.
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Greens to seek minute’s silence in Senate for Middle East civilians killed
With the news Israel is carrying out an “operation” inside the Gazan al-Shifa hospital …
… the Greens have announced senator Jordon Steele-John will move a motion in the Senate asking for a minute’s silence for the civilians lives which have been lost in Gaza later today:
I give notice that on the next day of sitting, I shall move that, at the conclusion of formal motions today, the Senate observe a minute of silence in memory of the civilian lives lost in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.
Steele-John:
Children and families have faced horrific death, injury and suffering. People in Gaza are experiencing relentless bombing. Those that survive the bombing have increasingly limited access to electricity, food or water. This cannot go on.
Today’s civilian victims could have been saved by a ceasefire. Australia must join with countries around the world in calling for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation.
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Gaza deaths on ‘unfathomable’ scale, Labor’s Payne says
A search of the Hansard from yesterday (on the house) shows Alicia Payne was the only house MP to utter the word “Gaza”:
While Israel has a right to defend itself, as our foreign minister has said: the way that they defend themselves matters. We have called for the protection of civilian lives.
The scale of the death and destruction in Gaza at the moment is unfathomable.
Babies in neonatal intensive care are dying due to a lack of fuel to power hospital generators.
Families are being wiped out in their entirety.
Payne also said she had met with members of the Canberra Palestinian community:
… Including this afternoon, when I met with a group of women who wanted to tell me about what their community is going through. One woman said that 30 members of her family had been killed. I met with another Palestinian woman yesterday who said that 42 members of her family had been killed, but because many were under the rubble, and people are removing the rubble by hand because there is no other way, that number is actually far greater.
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MP Alicia Payne holds Labor line as constituents urge Gaza ceasefire
In a speech to the federation chamber (the spillover chamber for the House of Representatives), Canberra Labor MP Alicia Payne said “hundreds” of constituents had written to her asking for a ceasefire in Gaza.
In response, Payne stuck to the government line:
I thank you for your concern about this situation and for writing to me about this, and I want you to know that I hear you. As our foreign minister has said, we all want to see the next steps towards a ceasefire and a political process for a just and enduring peace. We have reiterated our commitment to a two-state solution. Without an end to violence, that can never be achieved.
Of course, this cannot be one-sided. Hamas is still attacking Israel, using human shields and holding more than 200 hostages.
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To quote a UN expert …
Just on Scott Morrison’s commentary there, the man who wanted to move Australia’s Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem referred to Israel’s “just defence”.
Here is what Francesca Albanese, an actual UN expert and human rights lawyer, had to say about the international legal definition of defence:
Pressed on Israel’s right to respond to the Hamas attacks in which more than 1,200 people were killed, she said that “in common language self-defence might be understood as the right to protect oneself, which Israel clearly has”.
But she said that article 51 of the UN charter was “not just the right to protect itself, it is self-defence under international law – it is a legal term of art”.
She said Israel was not threatened by another state, but by “an armed group within the occupied territory”. Israel disputes that Gaza has been occupied since it withdrew its troops and evicted 9,000 settlers in 2005. Critics argue Israel’s control of Gaza’s borders and other government functions amount to continued occupation.
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Israeli response to Hamas attack has been ‘just’, Scott Morrison says
Scott Morrison has said there’s no “moral equivalency” between the attacks by Hamas against Israelis on 7 October and the Israeli government’s “just defence” against civilians in Gaza as it hunts for the Palestinian militant group.
The former prime minister appeared on Sky News on Tuesday night saying a ceasefire would not be in Israel’s best interests, as the United Nations urges for a stop to the war in Gaza, which secretary general António Guterres described as “becoming a graveyard for children”.
So far, more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of the Israeli government’s response to the 7 October attacks, with at least 4,000 children believed to be a part of that figure.
The latest outbreak of conflict follows Hamas’ attack on southern Israeli settlements, where 1,200 civilians were killed and more than 200 taken hostage by the group.
Morrison, who recently returned from a trip to Israel with former UK prime minister Boris Johnson, said Israel’s response had been “just” and that it would be “simply unacceptable” to not destroy Hamas.
There would be no possibility of Israel being able to – Israelis being able to live in that part of their country and so, of course, they need to pursue this.
The member for Cook added it was also “very concerning” that Australian politicians appeared to be “speaking out both sides of the mouth” when it came to supporting the Israeli government.
I think there’s this tone which indicates that ‘oh, we have to tell Israel to play by the rules’. Well, who’s saying they’re not? And why has it been raised in such a way to imply that it’s not? I mean, they are a great friend of Australia and if you can’t stand with Israel in its darkest hour, over an atrocity, which was the single worst day for Israel and the Jewish people since the Holocaust, then when can you?
Over the weekend, Penny Wong called for steps toward a ceasefire in Gaza but added it could not be one-sided.
The federal government has continued to support Israel’s right to self-defence but has urged it to show restraint when it comes to civilian deaths.
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Wage Price Index out today
We’ll shortly get the Wage Price Index figures for the September quarter from the ABS.
As always, there’ll be a flurry of quarterly and yearly numbers to assess, but it seems the much-feared price-wages or wages-price inflation will remain not much of a thing.
So the market is expecting the quarterly WPI to come in at 1.3%, which if it turns out that way, would be above the quarterly inflation figure of 1.2%. An increase, in other words, after inflation but you’ll need a magnifying glass to spy it.
On an annual basis, wages are predicted to have clocked up a 3.9% rise, which would be trailing the CPI figure of 5.4% by some measure. (Still, it’ll be less of a gap than the painful 4.5% gap for the December quarter of last year, which marked a record erosion in real terms.)
A consolation for borrowers if the WPI turns out to be on the weak side will be that the Reserve Bank will have less cause to lift interest rates again.
As of yesterday, the odds of another 25 basis-point rise in the cash rate to 4.6% at the RBA’s December meeting were only about 7%, according to the ASX. (Something else the magnifying glass will be handy for.)
Anyway, stay tuned for the data release at 11.30 AEDT.
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The parliament has approved a new fit-out for leased premises for the ATO in Barton.
The Department of Defence is also getting a refresh, as is some infrastructure around Canberra which the National Capital Authority controls.
Updated
Well, that makes two Greens MPs suspended from different Labor state parliaments in the last 24 hours.
Greens’ Amy MacMahon suspended from Queensland parliament
Queensland Greens MP Amy MacMahon has been booted out of the state’s parliament for 36 hours after it found she had breached ethics rules.
Parliamentary security escorted the South Brisbane MP out of the building last night.
Leader of the house Yvette D’Ath introduced the motion at 6.30 last night, during ordinary government business, with little notice.
Despite a finding by the ethics committee, MacMahon has consistently refused to apologise for introducing bills to parliament without an accompanying message from the governor.
She said last night:
I will not be apologising for fighting for Queenslanders. I will not be apologising for fighting to put more money in the pockets of Queenslanders than in the pockets of the gas corporations, the property developers and the big banks.
D’Ath also moved that Greens leader Michael Berkman also be found in contempt of parliament for refusing to apologise for accusing the government of “proudly locking up children” during debate over a bill which overruled the state’s human rights act.
Instead he was again referred to the ethics committee to determine a penalty.
MacMahon appears to be the first MP excluded from parliament since Annastacia Paluszczuk took over as premier in 2015.
She plans to spend the day volunteering with the local food bank and holding a community barbecue, before returning on Thursday.
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Victorian opposition pushes to reinstate police move-on powers
Victoria’s shadow attorney general, Michael O’Brien, says he will continue his push to reinstate move-on powers for police to tackle protestors, after his attempt to debate his bill on the issue failed.
O’Brien had attempted to introduce a bill to the lower house that would reinstate to Victoria police the full range of move-on powers they previously had before they were stripped away by Labor in 2015. But the government voted against holding a debate.
O’Brien said move-on powers would have prevented several recent incidents, including last Friday’s protest outside a synagogue in Caulfield, and a group of neo-Nazis who marched through train carriages demanding to know if passengers were Jewish.
O’Brien told reporters:
The Liberals and Nationals very keen to make sure that we turn the temperature down on the streets of Melbourne. I’ve never seen the social fabric of this state be under as much pressure as it is right now.
The fact is our police do a great job but they’re fighting with one arm tied behind their back. They need to have move-on powers so they can deal with problems before they escalate. At the moment, police have to wait until somebody throws a punch before they can step in. But by that time, it’s too late.
We need to get police move-on powers so that the sort of scenes we saw last Friday night in Caulfield won’t be repeated.
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Elon Musk's X fails to pay $610,500 Australian fine
Social media platform X has failed to pay a $610,500 fine issued by Australia’s e-safety commissioner last month over the company’s communications around its handling of child abuse material.
Elon Musk’s company was given 28 days last month by the e-safety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, to pay the fine or provide responses to questions raised under the Online Safety Act about how the company was tackling child abuse material on its platform.
Experts had suggested that it was unlikely X would respond to the fine.
A spokesperson for the e-safety commissioner told Guardian Australia that the deadline had passed without a payment from X.
Twitter/X has not paid the infringement notice within the allotted timeframe and eSafety is now considering further steps.
If X does not pay the fine or does not comply with the request for information, the e-safety commissioner could seek a civil penalty from the federal court, which could lead to daily fines of up to $782,000, backdated to February 2023, when the first notice was issued. It could add up to millions of dollars.
Guardian Australia received the standard auto-reply from X to emailed questions about the matter.
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And here is what the chamber looks like – LNP MP Keith Pitt with all his friends.
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Here is how Mike Bowers has seen some of the morning:
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Dutton labels Wong’s Gaza ceasefire call ‘reckless’
Peter Dutton says Penny Wong’s calls for steps toward a ceasefire in Gaza are “reckless”, adding that unnamed Jewish community leaders have been left “absolutely horrified” by the federal government’s response to the conflict so far.
The opposition leader said the comments at a rare press conference at Parliament House on Wednesday – the first since 31 July.
It comes as the death toll from Israeli bombardments on Gaza has risen to more than 11,000 in the besieged strip, with at least 4,000 children a part of that figure.
Wong on Sunday said that “we all want to take the next steps towards a ceasefire, but it cannot be one-sided”, in reference to the 200 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas after the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack.
Dutton was asked what the federal government should be doing to ease tensions against the Jewish community within Australia. He said:
I think the government should be speaking with one voice and they’re not. You’ve got a foreign minister [Wong], who’s been reined in by the prime minister and he’s walked back some of the reckless comments that she’s made, but that has given rise to a lot of uncertainty within the Jewish community ...
This is a time for the government to show resolve and to speak with one united voice against the anti-semitism, and that has not been the approach of the government, I’m sorry to say. And that’s the view not just of the opposition but of many Jewish leaders within this country.
Dutton made no reference to the quickly rising civilian death toll in Gaza.
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Suspended Victorian Greens MP stands by her support of climate strike
Victorian Greens MP Gabrielle de Vietri is now speaking to reporters outside parliament after she was suspended. She says the speaker has asked her to apologise for taking the photo but she refused to:
My understanding was that I had not done anything wrong and I stand by my support of the school students who are striking for a climate safe future.
She said her suspension was an attempt by the government and opposition to distract from the message of the protestors:
Labor and the Liberals would rather focus on me taking a selfie in the chamber than they would focus on the fact that there are going to be thousands of kids out there on the streets demanding that they stop opening up coal and gas projects … [They] would rather focus on me taking a selfie in the chamber than they would listen to the climate experts saying that we cannot open up new coal and gas projects in the middle of a climate crisis.
That’s what that was about – it was about them finding a scapegoat for their inaction, changing the focus away from climate inaction that they’re taking and on to me taking a selfie.
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Sydney jumping castle business refuses to take ‘Zionist booking’ from Jewish school
A Sydney jumping castle business has allegedly boasted on social media about denying its services to an independent Jewish high school.
According to screenshots shared by the Australian Jewish Association (AJA), the business owner had received an email from St Ives’ Masada College, requesting a quote to lease a jumping castle.
The business owner allegedly denied the request and replied to the school, “There’s no way I’m taking a Zionist booking.
“I don’t want your blood money. Free Palestine,” the reply read.
The business owner shared a screenshot of their reply on social media and wrote, “I have owned my business for 10 years. I have the right to decline any booking at any time.”
The business’ Instagram page appears to have been taken down. The NSW premier, Chris Minns, told the Daily Telegraph the alleged situation was “outrageous”:
“It’s not in keeping with any part of our multicultural community. I condemn it completely. This must be investigated by federal and state authorities.”
A NSW police spokesperson told Guardian Australia police had not received any reports from the school, but officers were currently at the school making some enquiries: “There’s no investigation at this point in time, we haven’t received a report of anything. Police are just making enquiries at this point.”
The jumping castle business has been contacted for comment. The school was contacted for comment and referred us to the Jewish Board of Deputies, who has also been contacted.
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Victorian parliament votes to suspend Greens MP Gabrielle de Vietri
The Victorian parliament has voted to suspend Greens MP Gabrielle de Vietri after she posed for a selfie during a climate protest in question time.
MPs voted on Wednesday morning to suspend her for taking the photo in the chamber, which is a breach of parliament’s rules. Only the four Greens MPs sitting in the lower house voted against the suspension.
She will have to sit out the remainder of the sitting week with no pay.
Question time was briefly paused on Tuesday afternoon after three students unfurled banners from the public gallery, which promoted Friday’s upcoming Schools Strike 4 Climate rally, when schoolchildren in Australia have organised to strike from class to urge stronger action on climate change.
Here’s more on the protest:
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Again, the government needs to know what it is fixing, to ensure it is actually fixed. And not all of the people included in the decision “belong” in custody, because they are not all criminals. Character is a very broad term and being rejected on character grounds doesn’t immediate mean you have committed a crime.
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Dutton says Albanese must not leave country until detainees 'back in custody where they belong'
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has called on Anthony Albanese to skip his scheduled trip to Apec to deal with the fallout of the high court’s decision that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.
In a rare Canberra press conference, Dutton told reporters Albanese “should not go to Apec until this is dealt with”.
The parliament this week should not rise until the government comes forward with legislation.
We will sit down with the government. We will sit additional hours through the night, whatever it takes to get these people back into custody, which is where they belong.
The shadow immigration minister, Dan Tehan, said parliament “should not rise” until a response is legislated, as this is the “number one priority”.
Both houses are sitting on Thursday and the Senate is sitting on Friday, so there is time for emergency legislation this week. The government is yet to brief the opposition on its proposed response to the decision, which has resulted in the release of 81 people who cannot be deported.
Dutton said that immigration minister Andrew Giles is “out of his depth” and there should have been legislation ready in case the government lost the case.
He was unable to say what the response should be, nor whether he had had advice as minister about what the alternatives are.
Asked if the Coalition would guarantee bipartisan support for whatever response Labor offers or could amend it, Dutton said he would “support whatever legislation is lawful”. He rejected a reporter’s suggestion it might be “reckless” to legislate before the high court has released its full reasons – which may not come until 2024.
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The Dutton press conference was cut off, but we will have more on it soon from Paul Karp and Sarah Basford Canales who attended.
But you may have noticed a term which the opposition used in question time yesterday “hardcore criminals” creeping into news reports and commentary, without quotation marks. Reporters are now referring to the detainees as “hardcore criminals” themselves. But not all of the people in the cohort covered by the high court decision are criminals.
The 92 people covered by the high court decision include criminals and people rejected on character grounds. They arrived in Australia while the Coalition was in government and were sent to indefinite detention as they were denied visas, but were unable to be sent back to their country of origin for a variety of reasons (statelessness, facing the death penalty, etc) and Australia has obligations (and you don’t get to pick and choose who meets those obligations in a civil society).
The high court overturned a 20-year precedent which enabled indefinite detention to be used. In order for a legislative fix to be made, the government needs to know what it is fixing and how it can meet the court’s demands.
In the mean time, the government has obligations to house and provide for people released from detention. Just as they have obligations to house and provide for people living in detention. That remains true no matter who is in government.
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Dan Tehan says the parliament should not rise until the government puts forward legislation for a fix to the high court decision. The government says it is waiting for the full court decision to be released, so they can see what work exactly needs to be done.
Tehan also says there hasn’t been detail released about the detainees. Paul Karp published this last week:
Dutton says Albanese showing ‘weak leadership’ amid community tensions over Israel-Palestine
And then Peter Dutton moves to this:
You’ve also got a government that has created a very difficult situation here in Australia, where we see a rise of the antisemitism as we’re seeing in other parts of developed countries.
And we don’t believe that our national interest is served when you’ve got a prime minister who should be showing strength of leadership. It is in fact showing a very weak leadership model because he’s got a divided party room, divided caucus in relation to the Israel issue.
And that is giving rise to all sorts of community concerns and angst at the moment within the Jewish community.
That is unacceptable.
I’ve written to the prime minister, and we’ll release that letter shortly, which calls on the prime minister to convene a national cabinet to speak to the premiers and to the chief ministers about what the joined up response should be, because I fear that there will be a significant act within our country that will cause harm to people in the Jewish community, or in the community more broadly, at a time when temperatures are rising, and the prime minister should be showing strong leadership to lower those temperatures and he’s completely failed that test.
The government has held firm on its line on Israel. There have been concerns raised in the party room about the number of civilian deaths in Palestine, with at least 12,000 people killed in Gaza. At least 40% of those deaths are children.
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Dutton says ‘hardcore criminals’ released into community at time of law and order issues
Peter Dutton is also holding firm to the line that the government “has allowed 81 hardcore criminals out into the community at a time when there is already, in many parts of the country, very significant law and order issues, where victims as we’ve seen on the news every night, are suffering because the justice system is failing”.
He said that without the very important caveat that it was a high court decision that no government can ignore.
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Peter Dutton has held his first press conference in Canberra since July 31.
Anthony Albanese is headed to the Apec summit, which is being held in San Francisco. Aukus, which the opposition is wholeheartedly in support of, will be one of the main topics of discussion.
Dutton says Albanese should be focussed on “domestic issues”.
There is disaster after disaster. And the Prime Minister has been absent as we know, for much of his prime ministership, and there are domestic issues here which really demand the Prime Minister’s attention.
The health system is still under extreme pressure, including at the GP level, as Melissa Davey reports:
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Victorian government moves to enshrine State Electricity Commission in state’s constitution
The Victorian energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, is announcing she will be introducing a bill to parliament to enshrine the revived State Electricity Commission in the state’s constitution.
The move was a key promise at last year’s state election and D’Ambrosio says it will protect public ownership of the SEC – which was sold off in the 1990s. She told reporters:
It is about putting Victorians interests ahead of those profits that Liberal governments always seem to be interested in delivering to big corporations ahead of and at the expense of Victorians. That is why we are going to make it as hard as we can for any future Liberal government to be able to sell off or destroy the SEC.
She said legislation will also make it clear the SEC can only invest in renewable energy.
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Explained: the opposition’s emotive (and effective) attack on release of immigration detainees
Yesterday in question time, the opposition laid the groundwork for the political attack that the detainees who have been released get housing, healthcare and welfare from the government.
They used the very emotive term “taxpayer funded”.
But that has always been the case. It was the case when the detainees were in detention, because guess who pays for detention centres? It’s funded by taxpayers.
And it is longstanding practice, under governments of all political stripes that people released from detention receive housing, healthcare and welfare.
One, because we have obligations as a humane society. Two, because what is the alternative? Sending people we have rejected visas on character concerns, or criminality back into the community to fend for themselves and just hope for the best?
But the political attack has worked, given that “debate” segment ended with the host saying:
In the meantime they get healthcare, welfare. It is a travesty. No one in the country can believe this today.
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O’Neil accuses Hume of spreading ‘garbage’ about release of immigration detainees
Clare O’Neil was not impressed:
Everything that Jane has just said there is absolutely categorically false. It is garbage and she absolutely knows it.
The idea that it is open to the Australian government to simply legislate away a high court decision is not the way our constitution works and I hope to God Jane understands that.
The high court has made a decision, the commonwealth government argued that these people continue to be kept in detention.
I wish that they could be kept in detention. If it was up to me, I would keep them in detention. I can’t do that.
The high court has made a call, they have told the overnment what to do.
They issued a writ to tell the government to release these people from detention last week.
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Hume claims government should have had legislative response ‘ready to go’ on high court ruling
So what does Jane Hume, noted constitutional expert (sarcasm) think the government should have done?
(Under the decision, the government had to release the detainees, as the court had ruled their detention was not constitutional, and keeping them in detention could lead to further adverse outcomes).
Hume:
First of all, those 80 people were released before there was a high court explanation of their ruling. That means it makes it so much harder to control particularly with a legislative or regulatory response.
Do you know, courts make decisions all the time that overturn or override a decision of government. The response of government has to be legislative or regulatory. In fact, there’s two pieces of legislation before the parliament this week that do exactly that.
Where the opposition has gone to the government and said, “We will support you because this is an emergency”. I think that Clare and, potentially, her immigration minister, who had a lacklustre performance in question time yesterday, have taken their eye off the ball because they knew that a high court decision was coming and yet there is no legislative or regulatory response ready to go.
The opposition would be ready to step up the moment that is the case. But why wasn’t it done before the high court made this decision? Now we have 80 very dangerous, potentially, offenders out in the community.
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Clare O'Neil says strict visa conditions imposed on released immigration detainees
Clare O’Neil continued:
I’m doing everything I can within the law to keep Australians safe. That includes setting the strictest possible visa conditions on this cohort of people.
Conditions available to us are things like the reporting I’ve spoken to you about. We’ve set up this response.
The Australian federal police has literally briefed in-person each federal and state commissioner and they’re working across the states and territories and the communities.
Let me be really clear, this was not a decision of the Australian government. If I had any power to keep these people detained I would do so. I don’t have that power. We are managing the mandatory decision of the high court in the interests of the Australian people within the law.
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‘If there was anything in my power to keep these people in detention, I would’
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, appeared on the Seven network for the standard “debate” with Liberal senator Jane Hume a little earlier this morning.
O’Neil was asked if the government knew where the detainees released by the high court decision ending indefinite detention were, and said:
Can I say before I answer your question, those crimes and those people are absolutely despicable. I’m raising three children in this country and I can tell you that if there was anything in my power to keep these people in detention, I would absolutely do it.
The high court last week made a ruling, made effectively a new law for Australia that these people cannot be detained in immigration detention and our single focus in managing the mandatory impact of the high court’s decision is community safety.
The short answer to your question is, yes, we do know where those people are.
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Looks like Peter Dutton will be holding his first press conference in Canberra in months today. The last one I can see held was at the end of July.
Presumably, it will be on the high court decision overturning indefinite immigration detention.
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Josh Butler reported yesterday that Anthony Albanese’s local branch passed a motion in support of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Paul Karp reported earlier this week that Australians want to see more assistance to Palestine.
But you don’t need to just see what the polls and branches are saying. Albanese’s social media is full of direct input. The comment section of recent photo of the prime minister with a lifesize Bluey and Bingo from the ABC cartoon is filled with pleas for Palestinian children.
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Angus Taylor: ‘Australians don’t have a AAA credit rating in their household situation’
Angus Taylor has spoken to Sky News this morning and the shadow treasurer had some things to say about the decrease in real wages and it’s amazing what being in opposition can do to your previously held opinions.
The same can absolutely be said of being in government. Here is a perfect example – in government, Taylor would often talk about the importance of the AAA credit rating (which signals that the federal government finances are under control and can lower the interest rate governments can borrow at).
But now he is in opposition? Well it doesn’t seem to matter as much.
While Australia still holds the AAA credit rating, Taylor says:
Wonderful. But you know what? Australians don’t have a AAA credit rating in their household situation.
They’re really struggling.
And this is the point you’ve got, you know, if you want to beat inflation, you’ve got to make it your first second and third priority.
We know that from past episodes of inflation around the world and over the years, this has not been the government’s first priority. It hasn’t been the treasurer or the prime minister’s first priority.
We’ve got a prime minister who’s interested in everything else. He doesn’t like talking about it.
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In most of the reporting on this issue this morning, there has been a big focus on the warning of potential blackouts this summer, and not on the fact that the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) is confident that renewable energy coming on to the grid will help avoid them.
As Peter Hannam reports:
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Don Farrell ‘very confident’ final China trade restrictions will be removed by Christmas
Trade minister Don Farrell has told ABC radio RN Breakfast that he thinks all the remaining trade impediments with China will be resolved by next month. He has another meeting today to discuss lobster and beef:
I remain very confident based on my meeting last week and hopefully my meeting today that by Christmas all of these trade impediments will be removed.
And we will have restored that stable relationship that we want with our largest trading partner.
You need to remember that last year we sold almost $300bn worth of goods into China in two way trade. So they continue to be by far our largest trading partner.
We do have these last two issues.
But I remain confident that based on my conversations, that they will be removed OK.
And today’s a crucial meeting.
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Ed Husic says we need to ‘acknowledge humanity on both sides’ of Gaza conflict
In Labor’s party room meeting yesterday, Anthony Albanese told MPs that that many Muslim communities would be feeling hurt because there’s been less emphasis on the loss of Palestinian lives. Tony Burke raised that a couple of weeks ago.
Ed Husic is asked about it and says:
I think a lot of people have connections with people in Gaza. And they feel – they have felt the hurt, the impact in particular of loss of life.
This is weighing on them.
From the outset, I’ve been emphasising the need for us to acknowledge humanity on both sides.
The Israelis who lost their lives on October 7 and now the Palestinians are paying a very high price, shouldering a very big burden for the actions we’ve seen taken in Gaza.
I think the biggest thing that we can do in acknowledging humanity on either side is think before we act, or think before we speak. And I think that, at this point in time, this would mean a great deal.
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‘Too many Palestinians have paid a price’: Ed Husic
On ABC Breakfast TV, the Labor minister Ed Husic says too many Palestinians have lost their lives.
I think the numbers are causing people deep concern. I’ve been worried for quite some time that Palestinians would shoulder the burden.
You can see what’s happening in Gaza.I’m sorry, 12,000, you have quoted 11,000 – the figures are so huge, 11,000, 12,000, either way, too many Palestinians have paid a price.
I have said we needed to see afternoon more strategic and precise way to deal with this.
And the Israeli government in terms of the actions we’ve seen so far and in particular, I think it’s been called out, the way in which hospitals have been affected, which has raised concerns about the observation of international humanitarian law, this is undermining the legitimacy of what Israel is doing in terms of pursuing Hamas.
Hamas should be held to account.
But I;ve got to say, 4,000 children losing their lives, they’re not Hamas. And this is a real concern. And I don’t think it’s just a concern for me as an MP of the Muslim faith. I think everyone who sees images of what is happening to kids will go, that’s a line too far.
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And here is the standard of some of the “debate” among senior parliamentarians.
Jim Chalmers is using YOUR hard earned money to pay for HIS bad policies pic.twitter.com/65RpjeQxFJ
— Angus Taylor MP (@AngusTaylorMP) November 14, 2023
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Meanwhile, Australia’s sense of social cohesion is at its lowest recorded ebb.
Katharine Murphy reports:
Richard Marles says Israel has a 'right to act against Hamas’ and ceasefire can't be one-sided
Does Richard Marles want to see a ceasefire in Gaza?
He told ABC radio:
I think the whole world would love to see this stop. And the humanitarian pauses that have been put in place are certainly very welcome.
But in moving to a ceasefire, it cannot be one sided.
You know, October 7 happened. Hamas is still launching attacks against Israel, and they’ve not resiled from the attacks which occurred on the seventh of October.
And obviously Israel have hostages who are still being held by Hamas. Israel does have a right to act against Hamas.
And that’s something that we have acknowledged from the very start. In doing so we have called for Israel and every participant to be engaging on the basis of the rules of war.
And we need to be thinking about in all what’s happening, minimising the loss of innocent Palestinian lives, obviously, the innocent Israeli lives that were lost back on October 7, and that is very much our focus in terms of the way in which we are engaging in our diplomacy.
Gaza’s death toll is at least 12,000.
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Marles on release of detainees: ‘We argued against this in the high court. This is not our decision’
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, is doing the breakfast media rounds this morning.
His main aim is to talk Aukus, with Anthony Albanese heading to San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.
But domestically the focus is on the high court decision that ended indefinite immigration detention, and the detainees who have been released.
Marles told Nine:
We’re obviously focused on this and to keep Australians safe. I remind Australians that we argued against this in this high court. This is not our decision. But in the decision having been made by the high court, these people have been released. They’ve been put on bridging visas with the strictest possible conditions.
That was something that the government did straight away. We are continuing to assess what option we have here, which include potential legislative responses and we’ll be working on that very quickly. Obviously, and the other point is, the high court has actually not released its full judgment yet which makes the situation more difficult but our primary focus here is on keeping the community safe and we will continue to do that.
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Good morning
Thank you to Martin for this morning – it gave me some time to get in an extra coffee.
And we are going to need it if yesterday was any indication. You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day –ready?
Let’s get into it.
Albanese heads for Apec summit hosted by Biden in San Francisco
Trade, climate and the digital economy are expected to be key topics for Anthony Albanese as he heads to the Apec summit in San Francisco today.
Hosted by US president Joe Biden, the theme of the summit is “Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All”. One of the most closely watched aspects of the summit will be Biden’s meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, their second in-person since the US president took office in January 2021.
The two leaders are expected to discuss what the White House described as “advancing the ball” on military-to-military communications with China, as well as the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
They will also agree a deal to limit the Chinese export of fentanyl, the prime product in America’s opioid crisis.
Albanese recently noted the Chinese president’s participation in Apec and said talks with Biden would be important.
“What we need to do is to have more dialogue and discussion because out of that comes greater understanding and it can also avoid mistakes.”
This year marks 30 years since US president Bill Clinton hosted the first Apec leaders’ meeting, at Blake Island, Washington.
Clinton also began the colourful tradition of providing the leaders with themed clothing, handing out bomber jackets to his colleagues.
The leaders are expected to discuss trade and investment, the digital economy, health, gender equity and equality, clean energy and climate, anti-corruption and food security.
The US is pressing for Apec-wide action on mitigating emissions in the transport sector, including cleaner fuels in the aviation and maritime industries, and leading the world on adopting zero-emissions vehicles.
Leaders are also expected to discuss progress on the 14-nation Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which involves Australia.
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Aukus a ‘likely a target’ for foreign hacking
In other findings from the Australian Signals Directorate report, the number of cybersecurity incidents affecting critical infrastructure operators increased from 95 to 143, although “the vast majority of these incidents were low-level malicious attacks or isolated compromises”.
The report said state actors (meaning other countries and their intelligence agencies or proxies) were focused on critical infrastructure, including data theft and disruption of business:
The Aukus partnership, with its focus on nuclear submarines and other advanced military capabilities, is likely a target for state actors looking to steal intellectual property for their own military programs. Cyber operations are increasingly the preferred vector for state actors to conduct espionage and foreign interference.
Referring to previously published cyber threat advisories, the ASD director general, Rachel Noble, said:
We provide case studies of Russia and China using their tools and techniques to target government and critical infrastructure, as well as supply chains as part of their ongoing cyber espionage and information-gathering campaigns.
Some state actors are willing to use cyber capabilities to destabilise and disrupt systems and infrastructure. They may preposition on networks of strategic value for future malicious activities.
Noble said ASD was would “use our offensive cyber capabilities to deny degrade, disrupt and destroy cyber criminals”.
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Data breaches skyrocket, cyber threat report shows
Australians have experienced a doubling in the number of data breaches in the past year, while attacks on critical infrastructure networks have also risen rapidly, the Australian Signals Directorate says in a new report.
ASD’s annual cyber threat report, released today, says law enforcement agencies received nearly 94,000 reports of cybercrime last financial year, or a rise of 23% on the previous year.
The average cost of each cybercrime incident was $71,600 for a large business, $97,200 for a medium business and $46,000 for a small business. The average cost per incident was up 14% on the previous year.
In the wake of high-profile incidents such as the Optus and Medibank compromises, ASD says it recorded 150 separate cases of data breaches in 2022-23, up from 81 the previous year. It says many data breaches reported to ASD “involved cybercriminals stealing customer personal information from organisations to support extortion activities”.
ASD decided to conduct a detailed analysis of data breach incidents between 1 November 2021 and 30 October 2022, and found the leading type of information exposed was contact information (32%), followed by identity information (18%) and financial details (14%). It found that the average amount of data reported to have been taken during a breach was around 120 gigabytes, with the highest reported amount being around 870 gigabytes.
Morrison defends Aukus and denies lying to Emmanuel Macron
The former prime minister Scott Morrison has again defended his handling of securing the Aukus deal for nuclear submarines, one of the most enduring controversies of his premiership.
The Australian government had a $90bn contract with French firm Naval to build a new generation of conventionally powered submarines. But this was abandoned in favour of a complex deal involving the US and UK to secure American-built nuclear submarines.
In a two-part documentary on Sky News – Liberals in Power – which finished last night, Morrison defended his handling of the negotiations, and rejected the now notorious quote from French President Emmanual Macron that he had been dishonest with Australia’s ally.
When Macron was asked if he thought Morrison had lied to him over the submarine deal, the French president replied: “I don’t think, I know.”
In an interview for the documentary, Morrison was asked directly if he lied to Macron: “No absolutely not.”
“I made it very clear that we were looking at other options. I think he [Macron] has his take on it, and that was convenient to his position. The ultimate difference that we had is that they wanted a contract, we wanted to defend our national security. Those two things were no longer aligned.
“Did that cause some problems? Yes.”
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you the best of our overnight and breaking news before Amy Remeikis takes the helm for a day of politics.
The rising cost of living is eating away at Australians’ treasured way of life, but it’s also costing the country in togetherness. According to our top story this morning, a running index of social cohesion is at its lowest ebb since it began to be tracked 16 years ago. At the same time, banks are making massive profits and our Full Story podcast asks how they’re doing it.
Australians have experienced a doubling in the number of data breaches in the past year, while attacks on critical infrastructure networks have also risen rapidly, the Australian Signals Directorate says in a new report. More on that soon.
Russian oligarchs were able to move assets to Cyprus after the Ukraine invasion in contravention of European Union sanctions, according to a special investigation into a data leak from the island nation. Specifically, the investigation also shows how PwC Cyprus helped Russia’s “richest” oligarch Alexei Mordashov attempt to transfer £1bn in a public company on the day he was placed under EU sanctions. And it also reveals that a leading German journalist received nearly A$1m from companies linked to an oligarch close to Vladimir Putin.
Trade, climate and the digital economy are expected to be key topics for Anthony Albanese as he heads to the Apec summit in San Francisco today. The key sidelines meeting will be between US president Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who are expected to try to “advance the ball” on military-to-military communications, as well as on the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It comes as former Australian leader Scott Morrison defended his handling of the controversial Aukus submarine deal with the US and UK, a pact which reset Australia’s strategic and military position with China. More coming up on both these lines.
