What we learned today, Wednesday 14 April
I wouldn’t go so far as to say today went off the rails ... but it was definitely less scripted than many days in the campaign-rinse-repeat cycle. Here’s some of what happened:
- Labor leader Anthony Albanese announced a range of health policies including $135m for a trial of 50 new urgent care clinics.
- Former LNP MP George Christensen, who was formerly retiring, is now formally joining One Nation.
- Prime minister Scott Morrison’s support for a trans sport ban has faded somewhat after a Liberal candidate’s tweets were unearthed.
- In a week with a disproportionate focus on testing politicians’ memories for figures, Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt hit back – “Google it, mate”, he said.
- Both Morrison and Albanese abruptedly ended their press conferences today. And both copped a hit to the head. Coincidence?
- Airport chaos worsened as Easter approaches, but on the bright side of travel there were happy reunions as flights from Australia landed in New Zealand.
Let us hope that tomorrow is just as unpredictable. See you then!
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Mr Christensen conceded it would be difficult for him to win a Senate seat "but... if the job that I do is to ensure that Pauline gets across the line... that's the job done"https://t.co/4qiVWq6JaJ #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/aTi1khc1Qq
— David Pope (@davpope) April 13, 2022
Walk backs, backflips, back pedalling... there is so much background to this story from Paul Karp:
Veteran political journalist Mal Farr tells Amanda Meade it will be ... interesting to watch:
Josh Butler has today’s election briefing for you:
Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s day in pictures, again, many thanks to AAP:
Prime minister Scott Morrison’s day in pictures, thanks to AAP:
I had not seen this earlier – Labor leader Anthony Albanese had his own mishap:
Cue jokes about a hostile media pack - the Opposition leader is hit by a boom mic during today's rally. #Ausvotes @SBSNews pic.twitter.com/QzLvN0nI7e
— Naveen Razik (@naveenjrazik) April 13, 2022
The head of the Australian Medical Association, Omar Khorshid, has criticised Labor’s health policy to set up 50 new urgent care clinics, saying they may seem “superficially attractive” but are similar to the “failed” GP super clinics that had been pursued by the former Labor prime minister, Kevin Rudd, in government. In Perth today, he said:
In fact, when you scratch the surface, you see a model that is piecemeal, that fragments care even more, and does nothing to improve the average patient’s experience in primary care ...
There are around 8,000 general practices around the country, and a measure that allows 50 of them to open after hours is one that’s going to make very little difference to the average Australian. 50 out of 8,000 practices will be supported under this model, and it really is just another experiment, and it’s an excuse to not look at these deeper reforms.
He said that substantial reform was instead needed for Medicare and also criticised the Coalition for not funding a ten-year primary health care plan that had been released in the last budget:
So right now we’ve got both parties that are failing the needs of Australians when it comes to health care. The Liberal party and the Coalition government have got a plan, they’ve got the Ten Year Primary Health Care Plan, but they’ve failed to fund it, and that plan will sit on the shelf unless the Coalition, during this election campaign, commits to actually funding this reform that they have worked so hard along with all the stakeholders to develop.
And what we need from Labor is not piecemeal, ill-thought out ideas where they haven’t consulted with general practitioners and emergency doctors. What they need is to address the deeper issues in our health system, such as the need for Medicare reform, to commit to the Ten Year Primary Health Care Plan, and of course, to address the urgent need for extra funding in our public hospital system.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners welcomed the focus on community-based health and said the organisation was “happy to explore a model that builds on existing clinics and infrastructure.”
“While we need to work through the detail of this proposal, a model that seeks to reduce duplication of primary care services and build on existing general practice clinics and infrastructure is something we would be happy to explore,” the college’s Karen Price said.
“I also want to stress that a pilot must not end there, and if it is successful, it should be rolled out to general practices around the country.”
Labor’s shadow health minister, Mark Butler, said that this announcement was just one of the party’s health policies, and there would be more to be unveiled during the campaign.
He also defended the policy against criticism, telling Sky News:
We want to work with existing GP practices ... to enhance the service that they already provide to their community, rather than setting up a new clinic that might compete with them.
Our GPs want to do this, they want to be able to provide this service but the existing funding arrangements under Medicare simply don’t allow it, which is why we are providing an additional strand of funding to ensure that this service is available to them.
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Geez, prime minister Scott Morrison promised the Torquay stadium half a million dollars for new seats and a scoreboard, and this is how they repay him! A knock on the noggin with a ball, but he took it on the chin. Well, forehead.
#auspol #AusVotes2022 pic.twitter.com/6jpimmthA0
— Nick Haggarty (@NickHaggarty) April 13, 2022
BALL SPORTS ARE DANGEROUS. The PM gets hit in the head by a rogue basketball pic.twitter.com/iKAcyYmmLm
— Michael Read (@michael_read_) April 13, 2022
The press conferences from both leaders today ended with a little drama. Here’s the video:
Politicians playing with balls can be fraught. Remember former prime minister John Howard’s bowling on the cricket pitch?
Scott Morrison has visited basketball stadium in Torquay. 🏄♂️🏀 pic.twitter.com/iuGskMGAUm
— Gerard Cockburn (@gerard_cockburn) April 13, 2022
Did you have something to do today other than obsessing over the election campaign? Katharine Murphy and Jane Lee are here for you! Today’s Campaign catchup has just dropped:
The Australian government says it has “asked Solomon Islands respectfully” to consider not signing the proposed security agreement with China.
The minister for international development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, visited Honiara yesterday and today and met with the prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare. Seselja urged Solomon Islands “to consult the Pacific family in the spirit of regional openness and transparency, consistent with our region’s security frameworks”.
Seselja’s trip is a sign of the Australian government’s increasing concern about the draft security agreement, which could pave the way for regular Chinese military visits to Solomon Islands.
The US has also been engaged in intense diplomatic efforts, with president Joe Biden’s top Indo-Pacific adviser, Kurt Campbell, expected to visit Honiara soon.
In a statement issued a short time ago, Seselja said Australia had “stood strongly as a partner and a friend of Solomon Islands” for many years. He said Australia was providing $160m in development assistance this financial year and that while Australia “respects Solomon Islands’ right to make sovereign decisions about its national security”, Australia’s view “remains firmly that the Pacific family will always meet the security needs of our region”.
He said he had also met with police and defence personnel from Australia, Fiji and New Zealand, deployed to Solomon Islands under the Solomons International Assistance Force (SIAF). He said that presence “reflects both the deep capacity and willingness of the Pacific family to respond to Solomon Islands’ security needs”.
Here is the key section of the statement:
We have asked Solomon Islands respectfully to consider not signing the agreement and to consult the Pacific family in the spirit of regional openness and transparency, consistent with our region’s security frameworks.
We welcome recent statements from prime minister Sogavare that Australia remains Solomon Islands security partner of choice, and his commitment that Solomon Islands will never be used for military bases or other military institutions of foreign powers.
We look forward to ongoing engagement with the Solomon Islands Government, and with our Pacific family members, on these very important issues.
Australia’s commitment to working with Solomon Islands on its security needs is to do so swiftly, transparently and with full respect for its sovereignty.
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Spender is responding to accusations she and other candidates bankrolled by Climate 200 are “fake independents”. Tell the hundreds of volunteers and supporters in the community that, she says. “This is about a community movement.”
Independent Wentworth candidate Allegra Spender is up now, saying she’s open to negotiating with either side if there’s a hung parliament. A federal integrity commission is a “starting point”, she says – which is interesting considering prime minister Scott Morrison said today he still wouldn’t introduce integrity legislation unless Labor gets on board with the Coalition exposure draft.
And it sounds like she’s had some good polling:
We are encouraged ... [we] have a great chance and I think it’s going to be a tough race and we are ready for it.
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Fran Kelly and Greg Jennett are discussing George Christensen’s decision to join One Nation on the ABC. Kelly says it’s not the cash per vote that’s the likely motivation (see below), but probably because it gives Pauline Hanson’s party a visibility boost and gives Christensen a payout of about $105,000 for losing, rather than quitting.
Labor’s Jason Clare is up now. Jennett asks him why Labor leader Anthony Albanese had such a short press conference today. (Albanese tends towards loquaciousness, and has said he’ll answer all questions, but today he only took a handful).
Clare says:
You will answer a lot of questions one day, you might answer a few less the next, I will bet 10 bucks that Anthony Albanese will answer more questions from journalists over the course of this campaign then Scott Morrison will.
What we will talk about today is the same thing we have been talking about over the last few days. That is Medicare.
He’s not rattled after the opening day gaffe? “No, not at all,” Clare says.
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One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts is talking to the ABC about George Christensen’s decision to join to his party (after leaving the LNP, retiring, and now un-retiring).
Roberts reels off the things they have in common. No Covid mandates and no net zero emissions ambitions. Greg Jennett asks the obvious question – is it about the money? (ABC election guru Antony Green says it’s nigh impossible Christensen will be elected).
Jennett: At last count, public funding component per vote that parties get from the electoral commission is about $2.83. Would it have been your calculation that he is good financially for One Nation?
Roberts: You are sounding like the ABC again.
Jennett: I am the ABC.
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Geez, if defence minister Peter Dutton didn’t want to answer the question, he could have just said so. Or answered the question he wished he was asked, as politicians so often do:
"To be frank, if the @SBSNews can't work that out then we've got some serious problems with one of our great national broadcasters."#Defence minister Dutton on why #Pacific minister Seselja is in #SolomonIslands during #AusVotes2022 caretaker mode. Just asking.#auspol#China pic.twitter.com/WUIgFwPmQJ
— Stefan Armbruster (@StefArmbruster) April 13, 2022
Labor’s plans to review jobseeker may be gone, but the issue will not be forgotten. Luke Henriques-Gomes has canvassed the view from the independents:
The Labor campaign roadshow has rolled into rainy Sydney #auspol @9NewsAUS @9NewsSyd #AusVotes2022 pic.twitter.com/alMUwnceoj
— Fiona Willan (@Fi_Willan) April 13, 2022
The view from Murph
Hi folks. Things ran later today.
Prime minister Scott Morrison didn’t hold his press conference until the early afternoon. Labor leader Anthony Albanese was up early in Melbourne, but not minded to indulge thirty questions. He took a handful, then moved on.
The prime minister threw two newslines in his press conference. The first was the government won’t bring its proposed integrity commission back to parliament unless Labor is prepared to support it in its current form. That makes it dead.
The second newsline related to the trans issue that has been bubbling for days.
Morrison made it clear that Tasmanian Liberal senator Claire Chandler’s private member’s bill will not be a government bill (by that, read government policy). He said there were “no plans” to proceed down that path. This signal follows Liberal moderates making it clear they were deeply unhappy.
Albanese’s outing today was about a reset. He’s been battling his pop quiz fail on the unemployment rate and the cash rate for 48 hours.
Clearly he’s reached the end of his tolerance for taking every question from every journalist and engaging in a spirit of self reflection.
Adam Bandt, the Greens leader, meanwhile performed a more explicit smackdown of pop quiz questions at the National Press Club today, telling a reporter to “Google it” when asked what the current rate of wage growth was. I suspect “Google it” will become something of a campaign catchphrase.
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In the meantime, please enjoy this (while simultaneously feeling a little sick in case it was a young staffer or intern who made the mistake):
🙊 OOPS: Liberal candidate Allison Bluck has been caught out in a bizarre false claim, telling Mayo voters she is “manager of the KI Nature Trail” – when the real manager is named Alison Buck. https://t.co/onCzEJkFlf
— Adelaide Hills News (@ADLHillsNews) April 13, 2022
Thanks, Amy Remeikis. Fast and furious again today – let’s hope there are no fumbles now I’m picking up the blog (no promises). We’ll hear from Katharine Murphy in a bit, stay tuned!
I’ll now hand you over to the lovely Tory Shepherd who will guide you through the afternoon happenings.
Tomorrow will be the last campaign day before Easter – it is doubtful either leader of the major parties will campaign on Good Friday, but they’ll be sure to try to pick it all back up again on Saturday.
I’ll be back early tomorrow morning, but in the meantime, I will leave you in the capable hands of Tory.
Thanks for hanging out with me today – take care of you.
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Airport chaos expected to peak on Thursday across Australia ahead of Easter break
Moving away from politics for a second, the chaos at airports around the country is expected to peak tomorrow as Australians travel over the Easter break.
Sydney airport is expecting 82,000 passengers to pass through its domestic terminals on Thursday – its busiest day since the pandemic began – at a time when its security staff numbers are at 30% of their pre-Covid levels. Covid infections, isolations and a structurally depleted workforce are contributing to the issues.
The airport’s desperation for staff has reached new heights, with senior executives now being told to leave their offices and help out in the departure halls to help manage the queues that have at times snaked outside the building.
Sydney airport CEO Geoff Culbert said:
I know it’s a difficult message to hear but Thursday is going to be another tough day for travellers, and I want to apologise in advance to anyone who is inconvenienced.
Tomorrow and right through the school holidays we are pulling every lever available to us to get people on their way safely, including deploying senior executives and staff into our terminals to manage queues and ensure people make their flights.
We’re also working with our security contractor, airlines, ground handlers and other operational agencies to make sure we have as many staff on the ground as possible for the morning and afternoon peaks.
Delays are occurring not just at the security checkpoints in departure terminals. A shortage of ground handlers has seen wait times for baggage to arrive on carousels balloon up to an hour after flights land. Melbourne airport is also experiencing delays, as is Brisbane, which is expecting 50,000 domestic passengers on Thursday. Domestic passengers have been asked to arrive at the airport two hours before their flight’s departure.
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Now that Scott Morrison has finished his press conference, Murph will be giving you her quick take on the day very shortly.
There’s a question about the Australian Conservation Foundation’s criticism of the fuel investment given *gestures to planet on fire* and we get a “technology not taxes” answer.
Scott Morrison then ends the press conference, despite there being more questions (as Anthony Albanese had done earlier in the day) and who I think is Nine reporter Jonathan Kearsley tries to get in one more question:
“What are you afraid of prime minister? You don’t want to talk about fuel security?”
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Q: The Americans are privately saying that Australia has dropped the ball when it comes to the Solomon Islands. Why hasn’t the foreign minister visited to discuss the situation with China, and doesn’t this situation put questions over the Coalition’s claim that they are stronger on national security?
(That follows reports the Americans were privately saying Australia had dropped the ball on managing the submarine announcement.)
Scott Morrison:
Well, no. No concerns have been raised with us, as you have outlined there, and we have a very close relationship with the United States, and that has not been their view and I reject that absolutely.
We have worked closely with our entire Pacific family, and even just this week I have been in regular contact with the prime minister, following up these matters at the chair of the Pacific Island Forum and we will continue to work through these sensitive issues as a Pacific Island family.
The suggestion that Australia should be heavy handed on these matters, I think, is wrongheaded, and I think it completely misunderstands how these matters should be handled. We strongly support the role of the United States and the team that will be visiting the Solomon Islands, as you know.
The minister for the Pacific has also been sent there to discuss, politely, and, of course, as a friend of Solomon Islands, we remain at their first call for security. We remain at the first call when it comes to the issues that concern them right across their development aid.
That is why I have a minister for the Pacific. But the way we engage with the Pacific is in a respectable way and a direct way.
The minister for foreign affairs has had conversations and we believe this is the appropriate way, the respectful way [given] the sovereignty of Solomon Islands.
The suggestion some seem to be making that Solomon Islands is somehow under the control of Australia, I think, is offensive to the Solomon Islands.
They are a sovereign nation. I respect their independence, and they will make their own decisions about their own sovereignty. What we have been doing is ensuring that they are fully aware of the risks and the security matters that are not only of concern to Australia, but islands, nations across the Pacific and we have been respectfully raising those matters with the prime minister and his senior cabinet ministers and officials within his government which is the appropriate way to handle [things].
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Q: Joe Biden has accused Vladimir Putin of genocide. Do you agree, and also on Ukraine, we are hearing reports that Ukrainians in Australia are facing delays in humanitarian visas in that transition, and therefore, unable to get government support or unable to work. Is there a reason for the delay?
Scott Morrison:
I am not aware of those issues being raised and I would be pleased to follow those matters up with the minister for immigration if, in fact that is the case. As you know, we are very keen to ensure that humanitarian support flows. It is around about 7,000 visas.
It might be a little less than that we have already processed and that is across the full visa stream for those that are coming from Ukraine.
So, they are coming students, visitor visas and so on and as I announced some weeks ago, when they arrive they can get the humanitarian visa which gives them access to all of the things you are mentioning.
So, I am very keen to ensure that is occurring and straight after this I will be keen to speak to the minister for immigration and I will be happy to receive information on that because we want to make sure they get support. I know the Ukrainian community is very appreciative of the way we have worked very closely with them to ensure that we can deliver that support.
We have, indeed, funded at the Ukrainian Association in Australia to ensure that they have more resources to assist us in our engagements with the Ukrainian community in Australia to make sure that they are getting that support, but those matters have not been raised with me by the Ukrainian Association at this time, and if indeed that is the case you can expect us to follow up.
On the other matter that you have raised, there is doubt in my view that all crimes and atrocities are being committed in Ukraine by Russia.
There is no doubt that is occurring and Vladimir Putin must be held to account for those crimes and atrocities and he should be, believe the wealth will seek to hold him to account for that. We are directly involved with putting people into the inquiry that is being undertaken internationally. We have put our own lawyers in there to assist in their investigations.
We have actually got quite a lot of experience in investigating the Russians, when they shot down MH17 or supported that action, and so they know their way around, and they are actually also assisting, now, in investigating these atrocities and war crimes we believe are occurring in Ukraine right now.
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Scott Morrison blames Anthony Albanese for 'equivalent of pitch invasion'
Q: There has now been at least three times in the past week where angry punters have ambushed or tricked you into believing that they are supporters, and clearly, they are very angry with your leadership, and also, so far on the campaign trail, it has been heavily controlled, there has been straight walks to meet everyday Australians. Are you concerned for your safety? Are you worried about the reaction of these punters, and do you think you might lose the election?
Scott Morrison:
No. I was very pleased to be able to spend time with Ray up in the Hunter the other day. I listened very carefully to Ray, patiently and respectfully, and listened to the challenges that he was facing in his own life. It was a very complex set of issues that Ray had been dealing with, going back to when he first wrote to Tanya Plibersek when she was the minister responsible.
That is when he first started raising those issues, so, they have a long history.
Throughout my parliamentary career, I have always been pleased to sit down and listen to people, understand what their problems are, and where I can, seek to solve them.
On the other cases, the Labor party have effectively apologised for what we saw last night. It was the equivalent of a pitch invasion by a Labor apparatus and when Anthony Albanese sets the tone for the last three years, where he basically says it is OK to sledge and attack and engage in personal for three years, you may think that is a substitute for having an economic plan, but it is not. He can’t be surprised when people come and behave in that sort of way. I am not referring to Ray. Ray was a separate case, but as Shane Warne told his kids, manners cost nothing.
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Q: Your candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves said she is right on the money and she is just talking common sense. She also said this week that you share her views. In a deleted social media post she described transgendered children as mutilated and sterilised. She said she was triggered by the Rainbow pride flag.
Scott Morrison:
She has apologised and withdrawn.
Reporter: She has apologised after [we asked them about it] after previously deleting them quietly.
Morrison:
I was referring to the bill that is being brought forward by senator Chandler. It is a private members bill. The government does not have any plans for that to be a government bill. It is a private members bill, and I have told you very clearly my views on that bill, I have been upfront.
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Q: Prime minister, the factory that was the backdrop for your big job announcement yesterday has since conceded it is actually sacking workers, Australian workers at that factory and sending their jobs overseas to Vietnam. Doesn’t that stand in direct contradiction to the message that you were delivering yesterday, and why did you select that company?
Scott Morrison:
Well, it is for Rheem to outline their future plans. They are also investing in their future and what you refer to are voluntary redundancies. That is what they advised us. I can refer to their future employment plans for what I can point very clearly to is that companies like Rheem are investing in Australia.
He then moves on to the manufacturing jobs line, and then accuses Labor of having no economic plan.
Rheem confirmed to the Canberra Times jobs will be going overseas.
Updated
Scott Morrison again blames the opposition for his government not meeting its commitment to introduce a federal integrity commission.
When the Labor party is prepared to support that legislation in that form, then we will proceed with it.
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Q: Economic indicators in the last 24 hours, US inflation is at 8.5%. New Zealand cash rate is 1.5%. What are the potential flow-on effects you can see for Australia and does this put extra pressure on your government if you are re-elected to cut spending to bring the budget under control?
Scott Morrison:
Well, what you know and what your question highlights is that we are in a very uncertain world. The economy has many more moving parts now, and the global pressures that we are facing make it very real and that only reinforces how you engage in a financial management is very important to your future for those who are watching on. That is why we have been able to maintain a AAA credit rating, one of only nine countries to do so through the course of this pandemic. It is incredibly important because if you can’t manage money then that means the pressures that you face from overseas only become worse.
That is what good financial management looks like. That is why Australia’s financial management situation is not experiencing the same things they are overseas, and as a country, Australia has outperformed those countries, not just in terms of economic growth, not just in terms of having more jobs, but also in terms of having those key issues. Well, yes, there are inflationary issues in our economy, that is very true and so, who you choose to manage the country’s finances, at a time like this, they need to know what they are talking about and they need to know what they are doing.
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It is very windy at this Victorian fuel refinery where Scott Morrison is holding this press conference, so he is having to yell.
Scott Morrison press conference
Angus Taylor is there too for the fuel security announcement.
“The finalisation of the arrangements” is how Taylor describes this announcement.
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Oh look at that – here is Scott Morrison now.
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You will be getting the “view from Murph” today (a quick snapshot of the day which follows the leaders’ press conferences) but because we are still waiting on Scott Morrison’s press conference it will be a little bit later today.
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Which reminds me of this other “Google it” moment – in this case, it was then Queensland premier Campbell Newman alleging Labor had accepted donations from outlaw motorcycle gang members during the 2015 Queensland election. When asked for evidence, he answered “Google it”.
(Newman, who is now running for a federal Senate seat with the Liberal Democrats, went on to lose that election.)
Updated
For those saying they missed it, here was Adam Bandt’s “Google it” moment at the National Press Club.
Updated
National Covid summary
Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 39 deaths from Covid-19:
ACT
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 1,073
- In hospital: 61 (with two people in ICU)
NSW
- Deaths: eight
- Cases: 18,265
- In hospital: 1,583 (with 71 people in ICU)
Northern Territory
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 513
- In hospital: 32 (with two people in ICU)
Queensland
- Deaths: 10
- Cases: 9,176
- In hospital: 597 (with 16 people in ICU)
South Australia
- Deaths: two
- Cases: 4,986
- In hospital: 220 (with 11 people in ICU)
Tasmania
- Deaths: three
- Cases: 1,839
- In hospital: 48 (with one person in ICU)
Victoria
- Deaths: 14
- Cases: 10,907
- In hospital: 391 (with 19 people in ICU)
Western Australia
- Deaths: two
- Cases: 7,426
- In hospital: 215 (with four people in ICU)
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Crossbencher Rebekha Sharkie is expected to comfortably hold on to the seat of Mayo.
That is one of the things which scare the major parties about independent/minor party candidates – once in, they usually hold on.
This is a very strange story.
From the Advertiser:
The Liberal candidate for the battleground seat of Mayo has been caught out claiming credit for the environmental work of a stranger with a similar name.
Allison Bluck sent a letter to thousands of households in Mayo claiming she was the manager of the “Kangaroo Island Nature Trail”. However, the manager of the KI Wilderness Trail is actually Alison Buck – who says she has never heard of Bluck.
“As the manager of the Kangaroo Island Nature Trail, I am passionate about the environment,” Bluck says in the letter, which spruiks Liberal spending on “improving bushfire resilience on Kangaroo Island”.
The Liberal campaign says “the letter was an early draft that was incorrectly sent to the printer by central headquarters”.
There is no public record of Bluck having any involvement in KI conservation projects, nor of the existence of a “Kangaroo Island Nature Trail”.
🙊 OOPS: Liberal candidate Allison Bluck has been caught out in a bizarre false claim, telling Mayo voters she is “manager of the KI Nature Trail” – when the real manager is named Alison Buck. https://t.co/onCzEJkFlf
— Adelaide Hills News (@ADLHillsNews) April 13, 2022
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The Liberal campaign and Scott Morrison are in Victoria.
Scott Morrison has arrived at Viva Energy’s Oil Refinery in Victoria, as he rehashes a $125m investment in the facility. It is near the marginal Victorian seat of Corangamite, held by Labor MP Libby Coker on a margin of 1 per cent. #auspol @australian
— Greg Brown (@gregbrown_TheOz) April 13, 2022
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AAP reports:
Ultra-orthodox school principal and accused child abuser Malka Leifer is set to go on trial in Melbourne in August.
The 55-year-old was ordered to stand trial after pleading not guilty to 90 charges of child sexual abuse in October 2021.
A five-week trial was expected to begin late this year but on Wednesday prosecutors and the defence team agreed to bring the hearing forward.
The trial is now expected to begin before Victoria county court judge Mark Gamble on 1 August.
It had been thought the trial could not begin until at least late October because of a number of Jewish holidays in September and October.
Defence lawyers previously told the court Leifer was considering a judge-alone hearing of her case.
She will instead have the case heard by a jury, barrister Ian Hill QC said on Wednesday.
Leifer is accused of abusing sisters Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper during her time at the Adass Israel School in Melbourne’s inner eastern suburbs between 2004 and 2008.
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South Australia and Western Australia have also reported Covid deaths in the last 24 hours.
South Australian COVID-19 update 13/04/22. For more information, go to https://t.co/XkVcAmeZ6V or contact the South Australia COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/SnyVgLwF8V
— SA Health (@SAHealth) April 13, 2022
This is our WA COVID-19 update for Wednesday, 13 April 2022.
— Mark McGowan (@MarkMcGowanMP) April 13, 2022
For official information on COVID-19 in WA, visit https://t.co/gIGAhoXMnm https://t.co/vU4wAgLm5d pic.twitter.com/1N5KNdjHpp
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So that just leaves Scott Morrison as the only leader we haven’t heard from today.
Adam Bandt’s address certainly had some moments in there.
He was very careful not to speak for the Labor party, presented his message succinctly, and made the Greens main policy messages stand out.
A pretty successful speech, I’d say.
AFR: what's the wage price index?
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) April 13, 2022
Adam Bandt: Google it mate. The election shouldn't be a basic fact checking exercise. #auspol
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The St Vincent de Paul Society has also criticised Labor for not committing to raising the jobseeker rate. National president Claire Victory said the decision was both cruel and unnecessary:
It is crushingly disappointing that voters at this election will not be able to choose a party of government that wants to lift Australia’s brutally low jobseeker rate.
It is simply immoral for a nation as wealthy as Australia to allow millions of people to languish beneath the poverty line.
We’re constantly told that lifting the jobseeker rate would act as a disincentive to work, but the research doesn’t bear that out and in my decades of engaging with people experiencing poverty, I’m yet to find anyone who’s able to work but chooses to remain on jobseeker. It’s clear that the current jobSeeker rate is actually designed to punish people.
Victory said while it was understandable that both parties were cautious about increasing national debt, there were ways to boost jobseeker without impacting the budget bottom line.
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And that concludes Adam Bandt’s address.
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And on the NDIS, Adam Bandt says:
It’s something that we’re fighting for and it is really close to our heart and we have Jordon Steele-John, the senator from Western Australia, who is fighting for the rights of people with a disability.
The changes that have been brought about within the NDIS, we’ve strongly opposed. Especially around independent assessment of plans, is something that needs to be rejected. We need to make sure that the NDIS is fully funded. We need to make sure that people have access to access to the draft plans.
We want to change the IT infrastructure and the systems for their involvement in the NDIS so that they’re more accessible to people who have disabilities. But on the broader question about accessibility, we push for a $3bn accessible Australia fund to allow local councils and state governments to bid in to ensure that it is accessible for everyone.
I’m especially fond of an accessible nature fund. So that the outdoor activities that can often be barriers to people if they have mobility related disabilities is something that everyone can enjoy.
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Q: So I’ll take that as a no. But on the profits tax question...
Bandt:
I answered your question about the wages. On the profits – when you have big corporations with turnover over $100m, and they’re making excessive profits which we design as allowing 5% to be an acceptable profit level, and we’re saying take 5%, add it to the long-term bond rate which is currently around 1% or 2% on the excessive profits above that, you tax the profits at 40%. Again, it’s in our policy. Just go and Google it and have a look at it!
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Election should be 'contest of ideas' and not a 'factchecking exercise', says Bandt
Back to Adam Bandt:
Q: One of the lines that caught my eye in your speech was the corporate profits tax and you said here, forcing companies to hand over their excessive profits for anything that they make over $100m. Looking at your policy document, it says that the tax would apply for non-mining corporations to those with $100m in turnover. Are you applying the 40% rate to those who are making profits over $100m? Or those with a turnover of $100m? And quickly, talking about factchecking. You said in the speech that wages growth wasn’t going particularly well. What’s the current WPI?
Bandt:
Google it, mate!
If you want to know ... If you want to know why people are turning off politics, it’s because...
Reporter:
This is about wages!
Bandt:
It’s about what happens when you have an election that increasingly becomes this basic factchecking exercise between a government that deserves to be turfed out and an opposition that’s got no vision. This is what happens. Like, elections should be about a contest of ideas. Politics should be about reaching for the stars and offering a better society.
And instead, there’s these questions that are asked about – can you tell us this particular stat or can you tell us that particular stat? And those questions are designed to show that politicians are somehow out of touch and not representative of every day people.
News flash! Most of the people in Canberra are on six-figure salaries just passing time until they go out and work for the coal and gas corporations and get a six or seven-figure lobbying job.
You know what would be a better way of showing that politicians are in touch with the need of everyday people? It would be passing laws that lift the minimum wage. It would be making dental and mental into Medicare. It would be making sure that we wipe student debt and build affordable houses.
And when you’ve got wages growing at about 2% and inflation at three and a bit per cent, that is the problem. And I hope that at this election, we can lift the standard and turn it into a genuine contest of ideas.
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Daniel Hurst has Mathias Cormann news:
Mathias Cormann has called on developed countries such as Australia to increase foreign aid funding, despite his previous role in a government that shaved billions of dollars from such assistance.
Cormann, the former Australian finance minister who now leads the Paris-based OECD, said he wanted to deliver a “very strong message” to donor countries to increase official development assistance “and certainly not cut it”.
The aid sector welcomed the comments on Wednesday and called on Australia’s major political parties to commit during the federal election campaign to increasing the aid budget.
Adam Bandt on Anthony Albanese saying he didn’t want to talk with the Greens:
One of the things that I’ve learnt from being in this gig for a while now is that there’s no monopoly on good ideas, and you put a good idea on the table. Like, I was the first one in the House of Representatives to introduce an anti-corruption commission bill for a federal integrity commission.
We were the first ones to say that we need marriage equality in this country. And they spent years and years telling you you’re wrong and howling you down. And then they turnaround at the last minute and pretend that the idea was theirs all along!
And that is what is happening in this election. We are the ones putting the ideas on the table. The ideas that are backed by the people of this country. And I think that the next government, if we find ourselves in that situation where we can get some of our ideas up because we’re in a strong position in the Senate or in the House, it’s only going to increase the next government’s vote, because people like dental and mental health going into Medicare and people don’t want new coal and gas mines opening.
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He continues that answer:
And on jobs – I would say, you know, what about the tens of thousands of jobs in Western Australia in farming, in wine, in tourism, that are dependant on a healthy environment?
We have to defend jobs. And the way to defend jobs and set all industries, including mining up the future, is to make the switch and look after workers. But it starts by telling the truth.
And at the moment, Liberal and Labor are refusing to do that. And as a result, what we’re seeing in New South Wales is corporations saying – we’re going to close this coal fired power station earlier than expected, and there’s no plan to support the workers and their communities. So I accept, I agree, it’s no wonder that people are feeling anxious. It’s because Liberal and Labor aren’t telling them the truth. And they can see it. They can see that the change is coming and people are looking for governments to step in and provide support.
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On mining Adam Bandt says:
I’ve been to Western Australia, to Queensland, to New South Wales, with a simple message – we need to support coal and gas workers through the transition. But just because we stop mining coal and gas doesn’t mean we’re going to stop mining. The best job in many places for a coal worker is another mining job.
Because we are blessed in Western Australia and in Queensland with so many of the minerals and metals that we’re going to need – battery, electric cars, wind turbines.
All of the things that we need in a zero pollution society. So, we can grow jobs in mining, in processing, in minerals. But it’s coal and gas that we need to get out of.
Our message to those workers, especially this time around, has been – we have got a plan to make sure that workers in the coal sector don’t lose incomes, have their wages guaranteed for the next ten years, as we make the transition, and we’ll support the businesses that will grow in these places to move people over. And that might include someone in Western Australia going and working on lithium rather than gas. Like, these opportunities are there.
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Adam Bandt on the jobseeker rate:
In a wealthy country like ours, no one should be living in poverty. We need to lift income support payments above the poverty line so that people who have lost their job or single parents or pensioners can lead a decent life above the poverty line.
During the course of the pandemic, all of a sudden, Scott Morrison realised that the rest of the country was about to find out just how terribly the government had been treating unemployed people.
And so, for a period of time, they lifted income assistance above the poverty line. And for people who had been looking for jobs and just struggling to survive, it meant that they could afford to go and buy medicines and get that haircut that might help them to get that new job. Do a bit of training. Like, it meant that people could live a life where you didn’t have to skip essentials.
You cannot live on the current rate of jobseeker without missing out on essentials like food and medicine. And for too many people who have been plunged into poverty, it is making not only their lives worse, but their health worse and it is affecting their families and their children. We need to lift income support payments to $88 a day. We can afford it. And that is a key part of the Greens’ platform.
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Q: In 2016, you wrote a chapter in an edited book titled Making Progressive Government Happen, in which you argued, “If Labor won’t deal with the Greens in a hung parliament, then all bets are off and the Greens should be unafraid of sending voters back to the polls.” Could I please ask – does your “ScoMo has got to go” line mean that you’re no longer prepared to send Australians back to the polls? And if so, what leverage will you have over a Labor party that has ruled out any deal with the Greens?
Adam Bandt:
We won’t be sending people back to a second election. We would urge everyone, if there’s a parliament where power is shared, to respect the views of the Australian people.
If the Australian people deliver a parliament where multiple voices are represented, and I think that that is the case, we have got no interest in sending people back to a second election and we wouldn’t do it. As to what Labor’s approach is, if Labor says that they will or they won’t talk, that’s a matter for them. I understand what they’re saying. I hear what they’re saying.
But at the end of the day, if we have that, then we don’t want to go back to a second election and that will involve parties talking to each other. And I think that’s what people want and I think that people would accept that.
And one thing that is crystal clear and this is part of the reason that I’ve been outlining our plan, is that to get laws passed in this country, unless Labor and the Liberals agree, then the Greens will be critical. Because the Greens will be in balance of power in the Senate. So we’re just laying out very clearly for people to see beforehand – here are the things that we’re going to put on the table if we find ourselves in that situation. I would hope that after the election, if we do find ourselves in that situation, that the will of the Australian people is respected. I done want to see us go back to a second election.
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Adam Bandt on the Greens position on the voice to parliament:
We support the Statement from the Heart, the components are truth, treaty and voice. The statement itself, it’s a good statement and it’s worth reading the statement because it lays out all of those and says that those need to be key elements that are incorporated. Our view is that we need to tell the truth first.
Like, we need a process of truth telling in this country. Because otherwise, we’re going to continue to repeat the mistake and the violence of the past. That’s why we’re taking to the election, a platform for a truth and justice commission at a national level, similar to what is happening in Victoria, to allow that process of truth telling to begin. Then, next in line, is need to strike a treaty with our First Nations people.
A treaty of equals. Once we’ve done that, that will give the best chance of success for changes, including voice, to pass.
We don’t want to see a change put up that is designed to increase First Nations rights fail, and we need to do the groundwork. We need to do the groundwork and the groundwork starts by telling the truth and then having that truth and justice process.
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'Trans rights are non-negotiable for the Greens,' says Adam Bandt
Here is what Adam Bandt has to say about the prime minister backing “brave” Liberal women attempting to ban trans women from women’s sport.
Look, Scott Morrison said he was proposing those, or backing those changes because he was concerned about women. I mean – give me a break!
Scott Morrison, who has routinely turned his back on women who have come forward with some of the most serious allegations, and he’s refused to investigate and then refused to tell the parliament what is going on.
And he’s turned a blind eye to activities by his ministers and refused to lift the minimum wage in a way that would help women and left domestic violence services struggling to meet their funding, now says that he pretends to care about women.
I will not be joining the prime minister in trying to prosecute a culture war when lives are at stake. Amongst young transgender people, nearly half of them have reported attempted suicide.
Trans rights are non-negotiable for the Greens, and that is crystal clear.
There is a need in this country to include gender affirming surgery in Medicare. That is one thing that would make a big difference.
People’s right to exist should not be the fodder the political election campaigns.
Trans people deserve our support.
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On defence, Adam Bandt says:
We need a defence policy that keeps Australia safe, but is based on Australia’s interests. And what concerns us is that successive governments, including under Peter Dutton, are contracting out Australia’s defence policy to other countries, and in this case, the United States.
You mentioned the submarines. I mean, the purchase of these floating Chernobyls, which will come in a couple of decades, if at all, is designed to have submarines that can travel much further outside of Australian waters than the current submarines can. Now, why is that? Other than a switch from being about Australia’s self defence to being offence and being an arm of another country – the United States’ offensive capabilities.
So what we are really concerned about is that Australia, instead of trying to de-escalate tensions in the region, is actively taking steps to escalate them. Australia as a country, with relationships with both the United States and China, is in a really good position in the region to be playing a role, to de-escalate tensions, because a conflict between the United States and China would be devastating for Australia, especially if it’s a nuclear-fuelled conflict.
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On preferences, Adam Bandt says put the Greens first and then “put your preferences so that we kick the government out”.
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What are the Greens priorities if the party has the balance of power?
Adam Bandt:
Firstly, we want the Liberals out. So Scott Morrison has got to go. If we’re in, that position, and we’re certainly going to be in balance of power in the Senate, we do have a comprehensive plan and a comprehensive policy platform that includes those issues that I’ve just mentioned.
But what we’ve been clear during the course of the election campaign so people have a clear understanding of what our priorities are. Our priorities are stop opening goal and gas mines, dental and mental health into Medicare, fix the housing affordability crisis and wipe student debt. They’re the things that would be at the top of the list.
Adam Bandt on the Greens climate policy message:
One of the things that concerns us at this election is that the other parties all say – oh, yeah, they take climate change seriously. But what they’re not telling the Australian people is that all of the targets ... None of their targets factor in the fact that they’re going to open up the Beetaloo basin. That’s not in the plans. They’re not telling people that at the same time on one hand as saying that we want to tackle the climate crisis, that they now want to open up 114 new coal and gas projects.
And that, for us, one of the biggest differences that Australia could make to the global fight against the climate as the world’s third largest exporter of fossil fuel pollution and the world’s biggest exporter of coal. One of the biggest differences that we could make is to stop opening new coal and gas mines. So we’re putting it on the table because we think that it will be a big boost to tackling climate action. It’s achievable. It’s popular amongst the Australian people.
And the rest of the world would thank us for it because it would give amazing momentum to the next climate summit if Australia went to the next climate summit and said we’re not opening new coal and gas mines.
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The head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has spoken with a senior US official to coordinate their latest responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Dfat’s secretary, Kathryn Campbell, and the US deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman, also talked about progress on the Aukus security agreement, and spoke about recent developments in the Indo-Pacific (almost certain to include the deepening security cooperation between China and Solomon Islands).
The US State Department said the pair had discussed “actions allies and partners are taking to hold Russian president Vladimir Putin and his enablers to account for the unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine, as well as ongoing efforts to provide support to Ukraine.”
The readout from the US said:
They condemned the horrific atrocities committed by members of Russia’s forces and expressed resolve to ensure those responsible are held accountable. Both welcomed the recent Aukus leaders’ statement and the continued close cooperation the partnership represents. The deputy secretary highlighted her concern about recent developments in the Indo-Pacific and discussed opportunities to continue collaborating with partners and allies to advance peace and stability in the region, including in the Taiwan Strait.
The statement did not directly mention Solomon Islands, but it is clearly a huge US concern at present. Sherman had separate call with the foreign minister of Solomon Islands, Jeremiah Manele.
The US readout of that call said the pair had spoken about “plans to open the US embassy in Honiara and our joint efforts to broaden and deepen engagement between our countries in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”
(A reminder that the Australian government is seriously concerned about the prospect of regular Chinese naval visits to Solomon Islands, as part of a yet-to-be-signed security agreement. The minister for international development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, arrived in the capital, Honiara, late yesterday for talks “to further strengthen Australia’s relationship with Solomon Islands”.)
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Not that it matters, because if it came down to it, the major political parties would negotiate with the entire crossbench if it meant becoming government, but here is what Anthony Albanese said today on an alliance with the Greens in a hung parliament:
There will be no arrangements with the Greens. I am the only person standing in this election who can be prime minister in their own right.
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Adam Bandt:
Over the next two weeks, you will hear from us over and over a simple message – in balance of power, the Greens will kick the Liberals out and take climate action by stopping new coal and gas mines, and tackle the cost of living by getting dental and mental health into Medicare, fixing the housing affordability crisis and wiping student the election is still weeks away, but it can’t come soon enough.
People are sick of this prime minister. He promised to manage the economy and keep people safe, but he failed. It’s just been one stuff-up after another. But while people want to get rid of this government, the Greens included, Labor is, sadly, agreeing with the Liberals on too many issues that matter, like tax cuts for the wealthy and opening more coal and gas mines.
I am sure Anthony Albanese will be better than the current prime minister. But what people need is someone to keep Labor on track.
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'Greens will make Clive Palmer pay more tax so you can fix your teeth': Bandt
Adam Bandt:
The money is there to pay for these big plans if we have the guts to take on the billionaires and the big corporations.
Labor agrees with the Liberals that workers on low incomes should get one-off payment of $420, but billionaires should get a tax cut of $9,000 per year every year, forever.
The Greens want something different. The Greens will introduce a billionaire’s tax which will tax the growing list of 131 billionaires in Australia 6% of their wealth every year.
We will introduce a tycoon tax to get the one in three corporations that currently don’t pay any tax at all and force them to hand over their excessive profits on anything that they make over $100m. And we will crack down on multinational tax avoidance. We will also end the billions in subsidies to fossil fuel industries which are not only trying to kill us, but they’re sending us an invoice.
The Greens will make Clive Palmer pay more tax so that you can fix your teeth!
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Adam Bandt is delivering his press club address.
“The Greens want you to be able to go to the dentist, using your Medicare card.”
Sarah Martin has previewed the speech here:
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George Christensen is extremely unlikely to get a Senate seat.
But as a sitting MP, who runs in the election and loses, he is, I believe, entitled to the $105,600 “resettlement” allowance. (You may remember there was a bit of argy bargy between Christensen and the LNP over him wanting the allowance by being dis-endorsed, and them not playing ball. Retiring MPs don’t usually get it – but MPs who lose an election, or are dis-endorsed by their party, do.)
Christensen told the Courier Mail he was most likely getting that anyway, as the Dawson branch weren’t going to proceed with his nomination.
But now it looks certain.
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My colleague Ben Smee and I have just returned from a One Nation press conference in Brisbane, which was anticlimactic to say the least.
The press pack arrived expecting big news from former Liberal Nations MP George Christensen after he backflipped on his decision to leave politics by announcing he’d be joining One Nation in the upcoming election.
But these expectations fell short when Christensen said he would not be running for the seat of Dawson, nor would he be listed first or second on One Nation’s Senate ticket.
Instead, he nabbed third place on the party’s senate ticket - a spot he’s unlikely to win.
He’ll be positioned behind One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and little-known former Adani executive, Raj Guruswamy.
Confusion was rife among reporters as to why One Nation wouldn’t ask Christensen to run in the electorate of Dawson, where he stands a greater chance of re-election. They also asked why Christensen, who is extremely popular in Queensland, wouldn’t be given the second spot over Guruswamy.
But Hanson appeared triumphant, claiming she didn’t want to sideline other candidates who’d already been selected by the party. She also announced One Nation had fielded candidates for all 151 seats in the House of Representatives for the upcoming election.
Hanson spoke for most of the press conference, steering the conversation to a couple of key themes: coal, Covid-19 mandates, the family court and One Nation’s desire to reduce international migration. She also shut down reporter’s questions on whether she’d done her due diligence on Christensen – who was previously probed by the Australian Federal Police regarding his frequent travel to the Philippines.
Christensen was the sole reason most reporters had raced down to the press conference but he only spoke for a short time, addressing how his views on Covid mandates had become irreconcilable from his former party and praising One Nation’s pro-life stance on abortion and their support for the coal industry.
So what exactly are Christensen’s chances of getting elected in the senate? Well, if history’s anything to go by, they appear slim.
One Nation received around 10.27% of the first preference vote in Queensland during the 2019 election. For Christensen to get elected, he would need a huge 30-40% of the vote in Queensland, something One Nation has never achieved in the Senate before.
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Barnaby Joyce has called his press conference for 1.15pm (EST) today.
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Human remains found in Melbourne
Human remains were found in a park in Melbourne on Tuesday night. A spokeswoman from Victoria police said police were called to Greenvale Reservoir, a water storage dam in Melbourne’s outer northern suburbs, about 6.30pm. The remains were found “in secluded parkland”.
Police are yet to establish exact circumstances and a crime scene guard is in place so the area can be further examined.
Greendale Reservoir is managed by Melbourne Water, and is surrounded by a narrow strip of parkland.
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Queensland reports 10 Covid deaths
These numbers never get any easier to see.
Sending love to anyone impacted by Covid. It’s a lot.
Today we have recorded 9,176 new COVID-19 cases.
— Queensland Health (@qldhealth) April 13, 2022
Sadly, we have reported 10 deaths in the past 24 hours.
Full details➡️ https://t.co/2vvTmli7qN pic.twitter.com/JruFIL86AM
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On 6 April, Melissa McIntosh released a statement praising the prime minister, saying she was prompted to speak up in his defence following the attacks on his character (most of which, at the time, were coming from his own side of politics)
From McIntosh’s statement:
He is a strong leader yes, but he is also a good man, and has helped a lot of people.
I have always remained extremely focussed on serving my community, but I can’t ignore the nonsense going on right now. For aggrieved people, all of whom are the factional players who started all of this, to now be attacking the prime minister in public with what are false claims is wrong and needs calling out.
I am speaking out to call out these unfair attacks on the prime minister. He has only ever done the right thing by me and our party, and he has done nothing but stand up for me as a first-term female MP. I couldn’t ask for more than that from a leader.
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The Australian newspaper is reporting a Liberal staffer working for Melissa McIntosh has quit after a Facebook post on McIntosh’s page, asking women to share their stories reportedly drew the ire of the prime minister’s office.
From the story:
“Your voice deserves to be heard,” McIntosh posted to members of her Facebook page last April, with a link to a survey.
“I want you to share your ideas on how we can take action to improve the lives of women in our community.”
A Liberal staffer quit after the prime minister's office demanded an explanation for "going off script" with the government’s messaging ... by asking women to share their stories pic.twitter.com/vmMwCCOqyw
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) April 13, 2022
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It should be noted that voter fraud in Australia is not considered to be occurring in numbers which would cause any concern over the electoral outcome.
In 2016, just over 18,000 people were asked to explain why they appeared to have been crossed off the voting roll more than once. Of that 178 people were in the NT.
There are about 17 million enrolled voters in Australia.
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Jacinta Price, the Country Liberal Senate candidate for the Northern Territory, has refuted claims the Coalition’s voter identification law is racist.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Price said “anything Labor doesn’t like that doesn’t favour them, or the fact that vulnerable Indigenous people can be taken advantage of at the polls they will call racist”.
She said:
As far as I’m concerned this will strengthen the vote for Indigenous Australians, if they can legitimately vote at the polls they don’t have the opportunity for someone to vote twice, three times on their behalf or someone else voting for them ... The voter ID laws will actually strengthen the opportunity for Indigenous Australians ... It will have detrimental effects for Labor, no doubt, because there are vulnerable people in remote booths who are taken advantage of during voting time. That is a serious issue I would urge the mainstream media to go and take a look at during the pre-polling two weeks in the leadup to the election ... The way voting is conducted in remote communities, and the tactics used to influence the vote of vulnerable remote Indigenous people.”
The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, said the government wants to “keep the franchise for Indigenous Australians” and ensure everyone of the right age not in jail “gets the right to vote”.
“But we want to make sure they get the right to vote only once.”
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Meanwhile with the Nationals
Barnaby Joyce has been asked what he thinks of George Christensen running for PHON in the Senate. He says he's thinking of Shepparton, not soap operas. David Littleproud says it's disappointing but most people won't give a rats #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) April 13, 2022
Luke covers social affairs and knows what he is talking about:
Bold for Labor to suggest its pressure was a key part in the increase to jobseeker. I have seen it vigorously campaign on issues in my reporting area like NDIS assessments and robodebt. Same can't be said for jobseeker https://t.co/M4s516bgfU pic.twitter.com/3zQPxqsLkL
— Luke Henriques-Gomes (@lukehgomes) April 13, 2022
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Daily airport chaos has become part of our life again:
Can confirm the international terminal in Sydney is a shambles. If you have a flight leaving Sydney in the next 72 hours, head to the airport now. Pictured is the 3rd queue this size you must negotiate to get to your flight. pic.twitter.com/RmQCeUwCgZ
— Scott Dooley (@scottdools) April 12, 2022
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GPs are happy with the urgent care plan Labor has put forward:
The @RACGP welcomes the federal Opposition's plan to ease pressure on emergency rooms by rolling out urgent care clinics based in general practices. While we need to work through the details, a model that builds on existing GP clinics makes perfect sense.https://t.co/vSLTKLZKwq
— Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) President (@RACGPPresident) April 13, 2022
I’ve just come from the high court, where the federal government was trying to stymie the release of a key judgement in the Bernard Collaery trial.
Collaery is facing trial for allegedly disclosing protected intelligence information, along with his client intelligence officer Witness K, concerning a covert Australian mission to spy on the Timor-Leste government during negotiations to carve up oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.
Significant parts of his trial were to be cloaked in secrecy, due to the attorney general’s use of the National Security Information Act – powers allowing criminal proceedings to be closed from public view on national security grounds. But in a major win last year, Collaery persuaded the ACT court of appeal to hear his trial largely in public.
The court of appeal’s judgment overturning the secrecy orders, however, still has not been published. That’s because the government sought to suppress parts of the court’s reasons, saying the judgment itself contained sensitive information and would compromise national security. The battle over whether to publish the judgment was taken to the high court, which heard an application for special leave to appeal this morning.
The high court deferred dealing with the matter. It did so to allow the ACT courts time to again consider whether parts of Collaery’s trial should be held in secret. On its second attempt to convince the courts to hide parts of the trial, the government has presented new “super secret” evidence from intelligence, foreign affairs, and home affairs officials about the potential risks of hearing parts of the case publicly. Colleary has not been permitted to see that evidence.The ACT supreme court will make its second ruling on which parts of the trial, if any, should be held behind closed doors later this year.
After the high court concluded on Wednesday, Human Rights Law Centre senior lawyer Kieran Pender said there was “no public interest in prosecuting whistleblowers” like Collaery. He also called for reforms to federal whistleblowing laws.
It is now six years since the federal government was told that federal whistleblowing law needed to be fixed. In that time they have approved the prosecution of Bernard Collaery and overseen the prosecution of fellow whistleblowers David McBride and Richard Boyle. They have sought to apply secrecy to almost every element of the Collaery case, even taking the level of redactions of a judgment to the high court. But they still haven’t reformed the Public Interest Disclosure Act. Whoever wins the forthcoming election must immediately reform federal whistleblowing law and drop the prosecutions of Collaery, McBride and Boyle. Whistleblowers play a vital role in our democracy. They should be protected, not punished.
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And then he is off – that has been the shortest press conference he has held so far.
Seems like he/the campaign may be rethinking the “answer every question” approach which had been adopted, with that presser resembling ones the PM tends to hold.
Scott Morrison calls it quits when he wants, regardless of how many more questions there are being asked.
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On to protesters:
Q:
Last week you said that the protester – the bloke trying to ask you a question in Perth was associated with that Chinese Communist party sign truck. This guy, Norm Bedford, says he wasn’t at all. If that is the case, would you apologise to him and who told you that? Who made you believe that was the case?
Albanese:
Of course, if that is the case, there were security concerns raised during that period, that truck has appeared outside Mark McGowan’s office and that was a concern that was raised. If there was any error made, I of course, would apologise.
Q: The PM was confronted by a young Labor supporter at a private event last night. Do you condemn his actions and what is your message to other Labor supporters who are thinking of doing the same thing?
Albanese:
I condemn any action that is inappropriate. I have seen footage of it and I think that gentleman – I don’t know who he was – his actions were entirely inappropriate. We need to have civil discourse. Similar to refer to the previous question, when people jump in in circumstances whereby you don’t know where they are from, there are security concerns.
You will note that I have substantial security at the moment and there’s a reason for that. People should behave civilly. Our democratic processes can be robust but people can be polite and people can engage in appropriate forums in appropriate ways. We should make sure that we do that.
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Anthony Albanese says today’s urgent care clinic announcement is different to what was put forward by Kevin Rudd and different to the announcement at the last election.
Pushed on cost, he says the policy has been costed by the PBO (Parliamentary Budgetary Office).
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Q: The jobseeker rate is $46 a day. Why has Labor dumped its policy to review the jobseeker rate?
Anthony Albanese:
We haven’t dumped anything. What we have said is we don’t have a plan to increase the jobseeker allowance in our first budget. What you would do, and I have said this on a number of occasions consistently that I have been asked. Every time governments do a budget, they should look at what is responsible and do what they can to help those in need. Jobseeker is $45 a day.
Reporter:
It is $46.
Albanese:
$45 point something. $642.70 a fortnight, to be precise. That $642.70 a fortnight is a lot less than I earn and a lot less than any of you earn. It is disingenuous for people to say, who are politicians, “I can live on that”. I know what it is like to live on a fixed income. I grew up in a household that did just that, with a mum on what was then called an invalid pension. If we are fortunate enough to form government, we will form government at a time where debt is heading towards a trillion dollars. You can’t repair all of the damage or do everything that you want to do immediately. You will be fiscally responsible and one of the things I am being careful to do is all of the policies that we put out are fully costed.
Q: To make this announcement yesterday, what about people who are expecting or hoping that perhaps Labor might do better for people on jobseeker, they are feeling let down today, aren’t they?
Albanese:
As I said, I refer to my previous answer. We can’t do everything given the circumstances in which we are in. Yesterday, there was no policy announcement yesterday. I have said consistently that there would be – you will consider these things in every budget and that is what every government should do.
Q: You will review the amount each budget?
Albanese:
Every payment should be reviewed each budget. Every payment should be reviewed each budget.
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Q: We are in the seat of Melbourne, which is held by Greens leader Adam Bandt. All experts in the polls are saying this election will be tight and we could have a hung parliament result. You have ruled out doing a deal with the Greens in the eventuation of that, who will you do a deal with and what won’t you compromise on?
Anthony Albanese:
I am the person who is standing to be prime minister in my own right. Last time around I was in a position of negotiating as deputy prime minister, we made it clear at that time in 2013 that the crossbenchers could make their decision, they had a decision to make over whether they continued to support a Labor government which was then led by Kevin Rudd or they could have, that day, put in Tony Abbott as prime minister. We didn’t do any deals, so there were no arrangements and there will be no arrangements with the Greens. I am the only person standing in this election who can be prime minister in their own right.
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The first question is on Sharri Markson’s story on whether or not Anthony Albanese is right to call himself an economic adviser to the Hawke government.
Q: Do you think that your role as a research officer for Tom Uren really constitutes an economic advisor to the Hawke government and how do you reconcile your opposition to make economic reforms at the time with your attempts to align yourself with them now?
Albanese:
I was employed as an economic policy adviser to a minister in the Hawke government. That is not a surprise. That is just a fact.
Q: That is disingenuous when he was known as very much on left, a socialist. He would have been against a lot of the Hawke/Keating tax reforms?
Albanese:
If you look at the relationship between Paul and Tom, they had seats next to each other and they had a fantastic relationship.
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Anthony Albanese press conference
We need to look at ways in which we can keep people in the sector and the feedback that I have had, as I have gone around the country, is the pressure that they are under. A practical measure as well, some $23m. Medicare is something that Labor will always strengthen. It is no accident that on the first three days of this campaign, I have had three health announcements. There will be more to come.
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To be fair, there are a lot of names to remember – but still a small lol.
"Don't forget Stephanie Asher, she'll make a great Member for Corio!" Mr Morrison said.
— Stephen Spencer (@sspencer_63) April 13, 2022
Ms Asher is contesting the seat of Corangamite. https://t.co/334FROZY8s
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Looks like Anthony Albanese will be going first in today’s press conferences.
We will bring you that shortly.
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On budget night we asked the Australian Medical Association president, Omar Khorshid, whether parties needed to commit to increase hospital funding.
He told Guardian Australia:
Absolutely. The Labor party, like the government, needs to come up with a solution to the actual problems facing Australians. Whilst cost of living pressures are significant ... Australians have said very clearly during the pandemic, and continue to say if they’re asked, that healthcare is one of their one, two or three highest considerations. When Australians have to access their public hospital systems they face very significant problems getting in the front door at the emergency department, or accessing things like elective surgery. So a party that doesn’t have a vision for how to address these major issues around primary care, around aged care, around hospital funding is going to struggle, we believe, at election time. We will make sure any government that gets up has a reasonable plan.
And on the argument that primary care can relieve pressure on public hospitals, Khorshid said that “takes time”:
We would absolutely support reform ideas that improve the quality of care [in primary care and aged care]. But the crisis in hospitals is right now. It’s going to be this winter coming and the next one after that, there’s just no time to implement those kinds of changes and expect those benefits to flow through to the public hospital system. So we’ve got to do both ... walk and chew gum at the same time.
Khorshid noted the AMA’s budget submission to fund hospitals 50-50, no longer blame the states and change the funding model so “hospitals that give better health outcomes” are rewarded rather than just those with greater activity.
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Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts keep jumping in at this presser to answer questions.
George Christensen is now being asked about his trips to Manila.
“As Pauline said, that has been answered. That is old news. It is really old news,” he says.
Roberts wants to know when the media will ask questions of other candidates (who are not at this presser, as it is a One Nation press conference).
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Pauline Hanson is pretending that One Nation could win three Senate seats in Queensland at the George Christensen presser.
On George Christensen being #3 on the ONP QLD Senate ticket. Barring a massive BTL vote, he cannot possibly be elected unless One Nation polls a minimum 28.6%, and more likely the party would need 35%. One Nation's previous highest QLD vote was 14.8% in 1998. #auspol #ausvotes
— Antony Green - elections (@AntonyGreenElec) April 13, 2022
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Four deaths after aged care Covid outbreak in Broken Hill:
Devastating news from Broken Hill this morning.
Tragic news out of #BrokenHill this morning. Southern Cross Care has confirmed four deaths at their St Anne’s aged care facility after a COVID-19 outbreak. Thoughts are with all the family, friends, & staff at this sad time 🙁 #covid19nsw @NSWHealth
— Sarah McConnell (@SarahJMcConnell) April 13, 2022
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George Christensen is still very upset his former political party, the LNP, “signed up to net zero”.
At No 3 (presumably) on the Senate ticket, there is no chance Christensen will be returning to the parliament.
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Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese is speaking to the Labor faithful at a “strengthening Medicare” rally in Melbourne.
Strengthening Medicare Rally – #LIVE from Melbournehttps://t.co/gAevVRYwhH
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 13, 2022
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So it looks like George Christensen will be No 3 on the Senate ticket?
Assuming Pauline Hanson is at No 1.
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Pauline Hanson has also labelled the Greens a “major party”.
She says a lot of the issues that One Nation are fighting are “Covid mandates”.
Which are being wound back. Already.
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One Nation George Christensen announcement
Pauline Hanson is announcing George Christensen will run in ...
the Senate.
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Victoria records 14 Covid-related deaths
Sorry about earlier – I was on auto pilot and posted yesterday’s Victorian Covid numbers.
Here are today’s: 14 lives were lost and there were 10,907 new cases.
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) April 13, 2022
Our thoughts are with those in hospital and the families of people who lost their lives.
More data soon: https://t.co/eUcG50Y3T0 pic.twitter.com/UVcp9e5yXV
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We haven’t heard when the press conferences will be for the major campaigns today as yet.
Scott Morrison will no doubt be asked questions about George Christensen’s defection. And possibly what is now the second “bailed up at a pub” moment.
Last campaign, Morrison made a point of doing a lot of street walks and popping into businesses like cafes and pubs – which was all part of his “daggy dad” campaign schtick. This time round, we haven’t seen the same approach because, well, people have had three years to make up their minds about him and running into someone who is angry over something the government or he has done is a high risk.
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The Australian Association of Social Workers has released its policy wishlist:
The AASW policy platform is informed by robust research and the experiences of our 16,000 members who work across the whole of the health and community service system. Registration of the profession is not the only area that requires action.
CEO Cindy Smith said: “We are calling for a social security system that enables people to obtain a minimum standard of health and dignity. We would like to see children given support at school through one social worker to every 500 students, and we would like to see full implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.”
Importantly, the AASW is seeking rightful constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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Why does it matter if George Christensen (who quit the LNP recently) has joined One Nation?
Because if he runs in the lower house, there is a risk he takes a number from the government which needs to hold all its Queensland seats, given it could lose one or two in Western Australia, and one in Victoria fairly easily.
Christensen is wildly popular in central Queensland, and his margin, which he increased at the last election, was largely put down to him, not the anti-Labor wave which swept through Queensland.
Christensen wouldn’t support a Labor government. But if he held part of the balance of power in a Coalition government (doubtful, but it could happen) then that could get very wild indeed.
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One Nation to contest every seat in federal election for first time
Pauline Hanson has announced her party will contest every seat in the federal election, which she says is a first:
We just marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of One Nation.
We’ve been part of Australia’s political landscape for a whole generation now and we’re ready to offer every Australian voter the chance to elect a One Nation candidate.
It’s taken almost 12 months to bed down the team we’re taking to voters at this election. It’s a significant step up from the 2019 election, when we fielded candidates in about a third of Australian electorates.
It’s been made possible only with enormous support from One Nation’s membership, which has grown exponentially during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns forced on to Australian communities the past two years.
Hanson said she will announce the One Nation Senate ticket, which is where you could find George Christensen’s name. I think Hanson is up for election this time round – there have been unconfirmed rumours Hanson was looking to step away from the Senate, so could we see Christensen’s name in her place at the top of the ticket? Doubtful, but we’ll know all very soon.
Christensen has joined One Nation, surprising pretty much no one, but it is yet to be determined if he will run in the seat he holds for the LNP, Dawson, or elsewhere.
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Just in case there are any questions on this today, the jobseeker rate for a single person is $642.70 a fortnight, or about $46 a day, which is well below the relative or Henderson poverty lines.
The stage-three tax cuts, which have been legislated and are due to come into effect in the 2024/25 financial year are expected to cost $17bn a year (revised down from $19bn a year because of low wage growth).
Research by the APH library, based on March 2020 figures, found a $95 a week increase to jobseeker would cost about $5bn a year.
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Labor’s Mark Butler told the ABC Labor couldn’t bring all its 2019 policy commitments into 2022 as he attempted to explain why Labor wouldn’t commit to raising the jobseeker rate:
We will not be able to take every single one of the commitments that we took to the election in 2019 ... We did argue though very strongly over the course of the pandemic for the temporary increase that the government made to the jobseeker rates to be made permanent.
The government was intending to cut that back to the original $40 per day rate and Labor’s pressure was a big part of the reason why over the course of this term of parliament, and we take some pride in that, but we will be taking policies to the next election, that has just started.
[Relieving] pressure for low and fixed income households and things like housing, expanding social housing which the government does not have a plan. Making it cheaper and easier to see a doctor, cheaper childcare, free Tafe to allow people to expand their vocational qualifications.
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NSW records eight Covid-related deaths
The Covid statistics are starting to be released. In NSW, there have been eight deaths and 18,265 new infections.
COVID-19 update – Wednesday 13 April 2022
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) April 12, 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 4pm yesterday:
- 96.1% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 94.6% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/55ySSdkQZ0
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Peter Dutton’s announcement was about increasing the “lethality” of the ADF:
Australia’s soldiers, sailors and aviators will have access to enhanced weapons systems, improving the lethality of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) following a $527.2m investment by the Morrison government.
Minister for Defence the Hon Peter Dutton MP said ADF personnel would have access to enhanced equipment including sniper systems, assault breaching systems, shotguns, personal defence weapons, pistols, optical and laser sighting systems and torches as part of the first tranche of the Lethality Systems Project (LAND 159).
“This investment will improve the lethality, situational awareness and survivability of men and women in uniform so they can successfully achieve their mission on operations both here and overseas,” Minister Dutton said.
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The Australian Conservation Foundation is not impressed with the announcement from the Liberals today that it wants to spend $250m on oil refineries.
That’s part of the fuel security announcement coming today.
“This is another short-sighted move to prop up fossil fuels when the climate crisis demands a completely different approach,” said ACF’s economy and democracy program manager, Matt Rose, in a statement.
“Australia has a golden opportunity to become an energy independent country by using our vast renewable energy resources to power our cars and trucks.
“If the government was serious about reducing our reliance on imported fuel it would encourage the uptake of electric vehicles and boost investment in public transport.
“Burning petrol for transport contributes significantly to Australia’s climate problem.”
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If you want to know more about who Fireproof Australia are, our colleague Royce Kurmelovs has you covered:
Adam Bandt, the Greens leader, will also be talking about the Greens’ tax and Medicare plans at the National Press Club today, as Sarah Martin reports:
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The Fireproof protests continue in Sydney:
Protestors are at it again, this time blocking the Cahill Expressway, near the southern pylon on the Harbour Bridge. Fireproof Australia had vowed to continue demonstrating after a member of the group was jailed for setting off a flare on the ground during an NRL game. @9NewsSyd pic.twitter.com/W4wJNl8RKK
— Tiffiny Genders (@tiffgenders) April 12, 2022
Fireproof have put out a statement from “Alan” who took part in the protest:
As a firefighter of 40 years, I have to say there is an emergency and that we need to act as community to protect ourselves ... We are asking for: large aerial tankers to fight the fires; to house the people whose homes have been burnt and to protect our vulnerable children, aged people and disabled people from the smoke that comes from those bushfires.
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The Wombat (Nationals campaign) trail continues in the Northern Territory.
Yesterday, Barnaby Joyce made his own stumble, claiming something had been legislated when it had not, as Sarah Martin and Daniel Hurst caught here:
Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has wrongly claimed that an infrastructure package that includes funding for a second port in Darwin has already been legislated, despite the budget bills lapsing when parliament was dissolved on Monday.
Speaking in the Northern Territory on Tuesday, where the Coalition is targeting two Labor-held seats, Joyce was talking up the government’s regional funding commitments, including $2.6bn allocated to the NT through a regional development plan announced on budget night.
While the budget supply bill and legislation to enact the cost of living measures passed parliament in the final sitting week, the appropriations bill which includes the infrastructure funding lapsed at the second reading stage, meaning it is yet to pass the House of Representatives.
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If you haven’t seen the Canberra Times, it has a story about the Rheem factory Scott Morrison visited yesterday to talk job creation – the factory is about to cut jobs.
But while Mr Morrison used the hot water heater manufacturer to promote his government’s record on job creation, ACM can reveal a cloud hangs over the more than 500-strong workforce at the Rydalmere site.
The union which represents manufacturing workers claims a third of the work undertaken at the Western Sydney factory is set to be shifted to Rheem’s site in Vietnam, putting more than 100 local jobs on the line.
Rheem Australia’s managing director in Australia and New Zealand, Chris Taylor, confirmed jobs would be lost at Rydalmere as part of a restructure designed to ensure the wider business remains competitive and viable.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar was on ABC News Breakfast this morning talking about the ACCI’s wish list for the election.
He had this to say about the PM’s “1.3m jobs over five years” pledge, (most of which will occur naturally because of population growth):
Look, I think it was a press release. It was a wish, if you like, a promise. There’s not a lot of detail behind it, so I think what we would say is if you’re going to achieve this sort of goal, then you do need to have these things that we’re talking about. You do need to be investing in skills, you do need to be encouraging more people into the labour force and the third part of the equation is we do need to have stronger migration again. We have had the border shut for two years. We need to make sure that we’re now getting back to a more ambitious level of migration.
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Activist films confrontation with Scott Morrison
For those wondering, here is the TikTok which was uploaded last night and quickly began doing the rounds on social media.
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Our wonderful colleague Christopher Knaus has had a look at Liberal NSW senator Hollie Hughes’s travel claims:
New South Wales Liberal senator Hollie Hughes justified claiming a taxpayer-funded travel allowance for Melbourne Cup day by saying the alcohol company that gave her a spot in its marquee had employees in her home state, making her attendance parliamentary business.
Hughes billed taxpayers for a short trip to Melbourne in 2019, during which Victorian brewery Furphy, owned by alcohol giant Lion, treated her to an $800 spot in its Flemington marquee on Melbourne Cup day.
The NSW senator had no other official engagements that day in Melbourne, but did have meetings and media engagements in Melbourne either side of race day, which justified the trip and her expense claim as predominantly for parliamentary business.
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Greens leader Adam Bandt will give the National Press Club address today, as part of the invitation to the leaders.
He’ll be talking about the balance of power.
Peter Dutton has announced he may have an announcement today (it is that sort of day).
He’ll be in Brisbane, where he will talk about the “delivery of enhanced weapons for ADF soldiers, sailors and aviators”.
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Good morning
Hello and welcome to what is only day three (full campaign day) of the federal election campaign.
Hard to believe it is only Wednesday given what a year we have already had, but here we are.
Making news this morning – NewsCorp is reporting George Christensen is set to be announced as a One Nation candidate later today. Turns out he is not retiring, just moving further to the right.
Anthony Albanese and the Labor campaign are still in Melbourne, while Scott Morrison and the Liberal campaign is in western Sydney.
Morrison ran into more trouble at the pub, when a man (whose social media shows he supports Labor) filmed himself gatecrashing what Morrison can be heard describing as him “hosting drinks for the media”. The man, who uploaded his video to TikTok said he was detained, but was later freed.
It is not unusual for campaigns to host events for the travelling media – all sides of politics does it. But the optics of hearing the prime minister say “I’m hosting drinks for the media” is not going to go down great with an already skeptical public. Most of the time it is required as part of ‘work’. But I think there is a change slowly coming through parts of the media, where attending these events is not encouraged. No doubt last night’s event will spark wider conversation.
Meanwhile, after revealing it has no plans to raise the Jobseeker rate yesterday, Labor is sticking to health today, with an announcement it plans to spend $135 million on a trial which would see 50 urgent care clinics opened across Australia.
After not really having an announcement yesterday (the 1.3m jobs promise is baked into existing and already announced measures) we’re waiting to hear what the Liberal campaign comes up with today – it’s around fuel security. Last time we heard a fuel security announcement from the Liberals, it was that the government spent $94m when fuel was cheap to buy up some barrels for the strategic fuel reserve – which is being stored offshore. In America.
You’ll have Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin, Daniel Hurst, Paul Karp and Josh Butler watching, as well as me, Amy Remeikis on the blog for most of the day. Gabrielle Chan and Mike Bowers are looking at what is happening in the regions and the entire Guardian brains trust is looking at what is happening in each state.
I’ve already had three coffees and an easter egg.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.
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