What we learned today, Thursday 30 November
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here are the main stories of the day:
The federal court has ordered the government to free Iranian asylum seeker Ned Kelly Emeralds, who spent a decade in immigration detention – the first release ordered since the new high court precedent on indefinite detention.
Family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza sought protection in a Melbourne police station on Wednesday night when pro-Palestinian protesters entered the lobby of their hotel to protest with a megaphone and signs. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said in parliamentary question time the protest was “beyond contempt”.
Brittany Higgins has passionately defended herself during a defamation trial from accusations that she was inconsistent about whether she was naked or her dress was around her waist on the night she claimed she was raped in Parliament House.
Seven West Media’s chairman, Kerry Stokes, has failed in a bid to overturn a court ruling that he hand over thousands of emails exchanged with Ben Roberts-Smith’s legal team and other documents relating to the soldier’s failed defamation action.
The Victorian treasurer, Tim Pallas, says he supports moving to a health-based response to cannabis, telling reporters: “I don’t think a criminal approach to this is best.”
Tanya Plibersek announced she will reconsider the future of contentious salmon farms in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast.
The independent MP Monique Ryan has backed in calls for changes to the “inflationary, expensive and unfair” stage-three tax cuts. It came after Jim Chalmers met with backbenchers today who have concerns over the stage-three tax cuts.
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System in decay: inquiry seeks action on dental care
A challenge to chart a path to universal access to dental and oral health care has been laid at the feet of the federal government.
A Senate inquiry into dental services which reported on Thursday described the sector as a “system in decay”.
The report called on the government to work with the states and territories to achieve universal access to dental and oral health care through Medicare or a similar scheme.
The committee implored the government to consider a seniors dental benefit scheme and a plan to expand access to the child dental benefits schedule to all children.
Committee chair and Greens senator Jordon Steele-John said:
The community has shared clearly that dental care is too expensive, people are waiting too long to access public dental care, if they’re eligible at all, and we must do more to support our oral healthcare workforce.
Minister for infrastructure claims public interest immunity over Senate order to release full infrastructure review
The minister for infrastructure, Catherine King, has claimed public interest immunity over a Senate order to release the full infrastructure review, which resulted in 50 projects being defunded earlier this month.
An executive summary of the full review was published but the full review, including which projects it recommended axing, will remain a secret protected by cabinet confidentiality.
King’s letter on Thursday said:
I provided assurance to state and territory infrastructure ministers that any information provided for the review would only be accessible to the members of the departmental review secretariat, and would be protected by cabinet confidentiality. As such, to release the report in full would adversely affect commonwealth-state relations and I claim public interest immunity over documents subject to the order.
The independent review, announced in May and delivered to the federal government in August, recommended 100 yet to be constructed projects proceed, while 82 projects should be axed. A further 56 projects identified as risky were expected to proceed, but should be assessed prior to delivery, the review said.
The infrastructure minister, however, only slashed 50 projects after negotiations with the states.
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Tammy Tyrrell welcomes employment services reforms pilot in Tasmania but says ‘devil is always in the details’
Jacqui Lambie Network senator for Tasmania, Tammy Tyrrell, has also responded to the inquiry into Workforce Australia, saying she had experienced it as a worker, and a jobseeker:
I’ve spent years working in employment services – I might be the only person in parliament who has. I’ve even been on the other side of the fence and been a client too.
And I can tell you that for far too long, the system has been about money and shoving people into jobs to get them off the books. It’s not actually about getting people into suitable jobs or courses. It’s about the profit-makers KPI’s.
The idea of going back to a Commonwealth Employment Services system is an interesting one, and a step in the right direction. But the devil is always in the detail. I’m open to discussing this further and how it can be done.
She said she was pleased to see Tasmania has been recommended for a pilot program, which will look at building on an existing program that connects regional jobseekers with employers near them in areas of high disadvantage.
I think Tassie is the right place for a program like this. We have the second-highest number of people on jobseeker in the country.
The report says this pilot should be done as soon as possible. I’ll certainly be talking to the minister and making sure there’s a commitment to get this happening.
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Labor backbenchers conclude ‘very productive’ meeting with Treasurer over cost-of-living concerns
Labor MP Jerome Laxale says fellow backbenchers had a “very productive” meeting with the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, over more cost of living relief for households – and that one idea put forward to the meeting was “widening the eligibility” of existing programs.
Earlier in the week it was announced that backbenchers had asked the treasurer for a meeting to push for more cost-of-living help. There has since been talk of Labor MPs concerned at backlash in their communities as inflation and rising prices keep biting, with Laxale himself saying that the government’s existing programs must be “responsive to the needs of the time.”
The meeting happened today, with Chalmers, the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, and their assistant ministers. In a statement posted to Instagram, Laxale said he’d asked Chalmers “to consider widening the eligibility of some of these effective programs through the budget process”.
“As the impacts of interest rates linger, I believe more Australians will require access to targeted, measured and effective cost of living relief,” the post continued.
Laxale said constituents “have been telling me that you’re struggling. Today’s meeting shows that ministers and backbenchers are taking this issue very seriously”.
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Agencies warn against impersionation scams as Scam Awareness Week draws to a close
While we are on scams, it is almost the end of Scam Awareness Week – which the National Anti-Scam Centre has used to talk about impersonation scams. Between 1 January and 30 September, this year, impersonation scams accounted for more than 70% of the 234,672 reports to Scamwatch.
The most reported impersonation scams were road toll scams (19,141 reports), Australian government impersonation scams (17,770 reports) and “Hi Mum” family impersonation scams (9,307 reports).
This morning, ACCC’s deputy chair, Catriona Lowe, said:
Scammers are criminals, who use sophisticated tactics to convince their victims they are from their bank, a government agency or even a high-profile recruitment firm offering what may seem like an amazing job opportunity.
That’s why we are urging consumers to take a minute and ask themselves if the person they are communicating with – whether it be online or by text, phone or email – is really who they say they are. Could it be a scammer?
Scammers deliberately put their victims under pressure and make them feel like they need to act quickly, such as making claims there has been suspicious activity on their bank account. Don’t rush to act. Take a moment to consider if it could be a scam.
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NAB says more ‘friction’ required between payments to combat scams
Earlier this morning NAB’s group executive for personal banking, Rachel Slade, was speaking about scams at the Trans-Tasman Business Circle. She said more “friction” was needed between payments – so they were slowed down to combat scams:
Banks have introduced measures to protect customers from scammers but more needs to be done. This may mean slowing down in a world where everything is speeding up.
NAB is now processing more than 1bn online payments annually. And 99.99% of these are legitimate transactions. Last bank year, of those, we saw around 1,500 scam events each month. What we’re grappling with is this: how do we balance the needs and demands of customers who want to transact quickly and simply with the growing plague of scams?
Helpful friction needs to be targeted and appropriate, it needs to protect customers while allowing them to transact how they want, and it needs to identify the right transactions that need extra scrutiny – giving customers a prompt to pause.
We’ve invested more than $260m directly to help tackle scams and fraud over the last 3 years and we’ve already completed 33 bank-wide initiatives this year to help address the global scam epidemic. Many of these have involved bringing some friction back into the process in a helpful way using NAB’s sophisticated fraud prevention technologies.
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If you’re just catching up on what has happened in the news today, my colleague Antoun Issa has collated the top stories in our Afternoon Update:
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Youth block of adult prison to shut after teen’s death
The death of an Indigenous teenager from a self-inflicted injury has prompted Western Australia’s government to close a youth detention facility.
The premier, Roger Cook, says a new facility to replace Unit 18 at Casuarina Prison will be built alongside Perth’s Banksia Hill juvenile detention centre.
He told reporters on Thursday:
Unit 18 will eventually close in a safe and sensible manner, which is what I’ve long been saying I want to see happen.
The new facility will be specifically designed to meet high security and therapeutic needs of detainees who are complex, challenging and often dangerous.
A plan and business case is yet to be developed for the new facility and there is no scheduled opening date.
The Justice Reform Initiative said the youth justice system needed an overhaul and urged the government to review its intervention strategies for children and young people before building the new facility.
“A new building is not the same as a new approach,” the executive director, Mindy Sotiri, said.
The problems at Banksia Hill have been clear for decades, she said, and the pledge for a new maximum security facility next door “does not address the over-use of harmful incarceration” of children there.
- AAP
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Thank you to Amy Remeikis for guiding us through another busy day in parliament. I’ll now be with you until this evening.
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The house is getting ready to adjourn – but it is not the last time it will sit, with a clean-up day scheduled for next week. And so far, it looks like there will be a bit of mess around the preventive detention bill the government wants passed before Christmas.
We will cover all of that – and the in-betweens, so make sure you check back in to find out what you need to know. A very big thank you to the best team in the business – Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp, Josh Butler, Sarah Basford Canales, Daniel Hurst and of course, Mike Bowers. And to everyone who stopped by to join Politics Live – thank you so much. It is a lot, all of the time, but you do make it better.
Jordyn Beazley will guide you through the evening. I’ll see you again very soon – but until then – take care of you.
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Queensland police service falling behind on recruitment targets
AAP has reported on the Queensland police service recruitment targets:
The Queensland Police Service is not on track to meet recruitment targets and lacks a strategic approach to workforce planning, the state’s auditor-general has found.
Brendan Worrall’s audit, handed down on Thursday, said a model used to assess the demand on police resources collected information mainly about on-call operations.
The auditor-general said it did not capture time spent by officers on proactive policing, administrative tasks, and non-frontline work, limiting the service’s ability to forecast and plan.
Despite a large recruitment campaign in September aimed at both domestic and international applicants, the auditor-general said the force was not on track to meet its 2025 targets.
Higher-than-expected attrition rates, a change in society’s perceptions of policing as a career, and recent shortages of labour resources have all contributed.
The report said while police responded to nearly 90% of all calls requiring action in 2021/22, they did not respond to 86,594 of which 369 were very urgent or urgent.
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Shorten: ‘Dutton has got words but his action is not tough’
So does Bill Shorten think that his parliamentary colleagues overreacted?
Shorten:
I think that the opposition has been opportunistic and unprincipled, I think they have scared a lot of people unnecessarily.
I understand my fellow minister was making the point that rather than cooperate with the legislation we have put in to fix up the poor laws that they administered, struck down by the court, instead they were very opportunistic, voting against measures which frankly would have been stronger can measures against convicted paedophile.
Let’s go to the heart of the matter – the government is fixing the problem which the High Court exposed based on the poor laws and as all of my colleagues have been saying, Mr Dutton has got tough words but his action is not tough and the real point here is that I just wish that when Mr Dutton was to settle immigration he had not reviewed this person is in a slow, we would not be in this mess we are now.
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Coalition stance on released detainees ‘unprincipled’ given Dutton renewed visa of ‘convicted paedophile’: Bill Shorten
Over on the ABC, Bill Shorten is asked whether he will repeat what Clare O’Neil said in question time about Peter Dutton (scroll down and you’ll find the post).
Shorten:
They are not my words. The issue that has been going on is that Mr Dutton and the opposition have launched a very opportunistic and unprincipled attack on the government in the wake of the high court case.
What has happened is that a detainee who was a convicted paedophile ran a case all the way to the high court and it has struck down, the high court has struck down detention of this person and people in similar circumstances.
Back in the day, when Mr Dutton was immigration minister, he apparently renewed this convicted paedophile’s visa to stay in Australia and as a result we have now had this train of event which has led to the government having to fix up the mess after the high court decision.
I do wonder if Mr Dutton – these are my words – if Mr Dutton had his time again, would he now have done the same thing he did then now knowing what challenge that has now given to our system?
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David Van says being an independent senator ‘incredibly liberating’
Former Liberal turned independent senator David Van seems to be enjoying his moment in the sun, releasing a three-page media release, which includes a sub-head and photo, following the passage of the Murray-Darling bill through the senate.
Van was one of the senators who negotiated with Tanya Plibersek, and helped give the government the numbers needed to pass the bill – and it seems he found being relevant quite refreshing.
The ability that I now have as an independent senator to focus on improving legislation and to look at policy and improve it, rather than simply focus on the politics, is an incredibly liberating path to take and one I am enjoying thoroughly. I’m also enjoying the intellectual rigour that I get to bring to policy.
Rather than being hamstrung by the politics of the party room agenda and by those words only given to you by leadership. I can now take legislation and policy to debate and improve it as well as I am able for the people of Victoria and, indeed, for all Australians. Hopefully, that is what I have been able to do with this bill.
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NSW government’s ‘clear advice’ on consultancy firms affecting new contracts
Some government departments in New South Wales are refusing to sign new contracts with consultancy firms due to strict budget measures, which require them to contribute to $35m in savings.
The measure, announced in the state’s mid-year budget, is now influencing the decision making of some departments that have previously outsourced large portions of their workload.
An auditor general report released earlier this year found the NSW bureaucracy was outsourcing more than $200m a year to consultants. Between 2017–18 and 2021–22, the state spent around $1bn on external advice.
While there is no moratorium on new consultancy contracts, a spokesperson for the state’s finance minister, Courtney Houssos, said the government’s expectations had been made clear and were influencing procurement decisions.
Consultant spending under the previous Liberal-National government was out of control.
The 2023-24 NSW budget cut spending on external consultants and implemented processes to make sure departments stick to their budgets.
During the budget process, the need to trim spend on consultants was made clear to government agencies.
The government has begun to rebuild the core capacities of the public service, making sure it’s well equipped to provide robust advice to government.
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Here is what QT looked like, as seen through Mike Bowers’ lens:
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Tech giants could be forced to play by Australian rules if inquiry recommendationd adopted
Tech giants could soon be subject to tougher laws, including the introduction of a big tech watchdog and individuals’ rights to delete data, if recommendations by a Senate committee forcing them to play by Australia’s rules are adopted.
A Senate committee’s inquiry into big tech revealed concerns the powerful companies had too high a concentration over the market, resulting in anti-competitive practices, in its findings handed down on Thursday.
It delivered eight recommendations, including legislating the right for individuals to delete their data, improved competition laws to stop big tech’s reign on the market, mandatory reporting on algorithm transparency and a proposal to create a new big tech watchdog to plug regulatory gaps.
Liberal senator and committee chair, Andrew Bragg, said big tech was here to stay and, as a result, it was important to strike the right balance on regulation to protect Australians.
They live under our roof, they must play by our rules.
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Party leaders thank Luzia Borges, parliament cleaner since Bob Hawke’s prime ministership
Question time ends, and then Anthony Albanese gives a speech about Luzia Borges, one of the longtime cleaning staff in the building. Luzia is retiring and is sitting with her family in the gallery as first Albanese and then Peter Dutton thank her for her friendship and service.
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Funding cuts force Victorian information commissioner to slash 10 jobs
The Victorian government agency tasked with overseeing freedom of information requests has slashed 10 jobs, making it even harder to get on top of growing delays, a state parliamentary inquiry has found.
The integrity and oversight committee review of the performance of the state’s integrity agencies, tabled in parliament today, found Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (Ovic) base funding for 2023/24 had been cut by $500,000 and will be further reduced by $460,000 in 2024/25.
The cuts have resulted in the loss of 10 staff, with the committee expressing concern it will reduce Ovic’s ability to meet performance targets and perform its statutory functions. Chair, Greens MP Tim Read, wrote:
Further, the reduction in base funding is of such magnitude that the committee understands it will lead to a net loss of ten staff positions which will inevitably reduce its ability to meet targets and carry out all its functions. The committee is very concerned by this development and recommends that sufficient funding be restored to Ovic …
The committee said some of the FoI delays at Ovic could also be blamed on the fact it has “no power to direct agencies or ministers to decide FoI requests by a certain date”. It has urged the government to bolster its powers.
Another interesting titbit from the report – the committee says it has concerns about the state’s anti-corruption watchdog giving its reports to media under embargo, before they are tabled in parliament.
The committee has concerns it breaches parliamentary privilege and is not guided by any formal policy. It has recommended Independent
Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission seek legal advice, and if given the all-clear, to “develop a rigorous and transparent policy identifying the basis upon which embargoed copies of special reports are provided to media outlets (and to which journalists) in advance of tabling, to guide its decision-making”.
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Peter Dutton also spoke in response to that question from Josh Burns. Unlike the prime minister, he did not mention Palestinians.
I want to start by thanking the Member for Macnamara for not just the question but also his actions and I saw him recently at the opening of the Holocaust Museum in Melbourne and like many members of the Jewish community he has been astounded and really in disbelief as to some of the scenes the prime minister has detailed and latest episode of that, so I pay credit to him for the leadership he shows in his local community and many others.
It is an act of depravity and it is an act that rightly is condemned and I hope that these organisers and those who are responsible and others who are like-minded here, a very definite voice from this parliament from the prime minister, from myself, from all members, that we condemn those actions.
The factors that people were slaughtered, people have been held captive, people have been tortured, raped, murdered, and somehow people have seen fit to occupy a hotel lobby or to maintain a presence where they think they can intimidate the families of those victims. The prime minister … is exactly right to say that it has no place in our country whatsoever.
… The concentration now should be getting those who remain in captivity, who are still held hostage, for them to be released and to return back to their families so that peace and stability can be restored to the region. The reality is that these are acts of depraved terrorist organisations, listed, prescribed as such in this country. And from day one on 7 October, the actions of those individuals and their supporters including, unfortunately, in our country as we have just evidenced*, stand to be condemned by all Australians.
*The protesters’ signs as seen on social media were calling for an end of arms shipments to Israel.
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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, also told parliament:
I’ve also had discussions with Palestinians who have lost their family members during this conflict. It’s awful.
People need to really think about where we are as a nation. We are a successful multicultural nation - there is no place in this county to try to bring conflict, in that sort of way through that sort of action here in Australia, regardless of what views people might have about international politics. We should be respectful, we should have compassion we should understand that people are hurting.
And Australians of different backgrounds and different faiths are hurting at the moment. And I just say, that we just need to bear that in mind. I spoke on the day I was elected on the evening about kindness. This country could do with a bit more kindness and a complete rejection of any action, any action that targets people who are going through such a difficult time.
Albanese says Israel-Hamas war protest at Melbourne hotel ‘beyond contempt’
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said in parliamentary question time that humanity must not be “cast aside” in response to the Hamas-Israel war, saying the protest at a hotel in Melbourne last night was “beyond contempt”.
The Labor MP Josh Burns asked Albanese about what the government was doing to support the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Albanese noted that he and senior ministers Richard Marles and Penny Wong had met a delegation of relatives and friends in Canberra on Tuesday.
Albanese told parliament:
These are people who are doing it incredibly tough but were here having lost loved ones either through being murdered or by having them kidnapped …
We have been very consistent about our concern about the loss of innocent lives – Israelis and Palestinians. Every innocent life matters. But what we saw last night in Melbourne at a hotel in Docklands goes beyond the right of people to peacefully protest in our democratic country. Why people would make a conscious decision to hold a protest where families [of Hamas victims were staying] is beyond my comprehension, and beyond contempt.
I’m appalled by the actions of these protesters and I condemn them. This does nothing to advance the cause of the Palestinian people, it does nothing to advance justice for Palestinians or peace in the region. My government supports a two-state solution in the region, in the interests of Palestinians and Israelis.
But at the moment is what we are seeing is humanity just cast aside. There are no circumstances where people should organise a demonstration against grieving families – none – I call it out and I express on behalf of the Australian government our regret to those families we met with – this is not the Australian way.
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Bob Katter is on his feet. Let a thousand blossoms bloom.
But I ain’t gonna spend any more time on it.
Sussan Ley asks:
The government put forward legislation which would impact the high court decision. Why did the legislation fail to include a prohibition on paedophiles released by the government being allowed to go near School or childcare centre? Why did the legislation failed to include a prohibition on violent criminals being allowed to have contact with and threaten their victims? Why was the legislation so weak?
Andrew Giles takes this one:
Perhaps it’s a question she could have addressed to herself as someone who voted for the legislation.
While she is answering that, she could also ask yourself this question. Why did she not once but twice [vote] against a bill which passed the house this week which did exactly that?
What a joke.
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Wong says right to protest does not extend to ‘violence or intimidation’ amid Melbourne hotel demonstrations
Over in the Senate, Penny Wong has urged Australians protesting about the Israel-Hamas war to “have some decency” and to respect the humanity of everyone.
During Senate question time, the independent Victorian senator David Van asked about the presence last night of pro-Palestinian protesters at Crowne Plaza Melbourne, where a delegation of families and friends of hostage victims of Hamas reported feeling unsafe and then sought help at a local police station.
Wong, the leader of the government in the Senate, told the upper house:
My first response to those who engage in those protests is to have some decency – have some decency. I had the privilege, as did many people, of meeting with the loved ones of those killed or taken hostage and I know that members of parliament met them, and the prime minister and the deputy prime minister and I met with the delegation. They’re dealing with a horrific situation. They have people who have lost children, siblings whose brother was taken hostage and … For protesters to go out of their way to their hotel to engage in what was, I think, intimidating behaviour, I think is really beyond contempt.
And what I would say to people in this country is: we all have our beliefs, and some people in this country have very different beliefs on this issue. As I have said many times in this place, the strength of your conviction about your view should not override your fundamental decency and recognising the humanity of the other.
I think it is disturbing, distressing, and it does nothing to advance the cause for peace in the region. We will always denounce antisemitism and reject it utterly and we all should. We should denounce all forms of prejudice in this country.
In a follow-up question, Van asked:
How does the government propose to balance the right to free speech and peaceful protest with the imperative to maintain public order and protect international visitors? And additionally, what specific guidelines or protocols are in place to manage situations where rights, protests and the safety individuals may come into conflict?
Wong told the Senate:
I think in your question, Senator Van, you actually go to the very issue, which is all of our rights are not absolute – or very few. And the right to freedom of speech needs to be balanced by the right for people to feel safe and to be safe. That’s the balance we seek to have, for example in the Racial Discrimination Act and section 18 C – it’s the balance we should exercise and observe as leaders in this place.
People have a right to peaceful protest in this country, but that should not extend to violence or intimidation. Again, I go back to this point – no matter how fervently anyone of us believes that we are right, that does not give us the right to disregard the experience of others or to behave in a way that is not decent.
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Wong heckled with calls of ‘in government but not in power’ during Senate question time
Back to Senate question time, where the shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, asked why the home affairs minister “failed to prepare for an expected high court loss and then falsely claimed she was advised the government would win?”
Penny Wong responded she didn’t “accept the propositions in the question”. Cash interjected, but Wong continued:
“She puts things to me, I am allowed to say no. That is how it goes. That is what we do.”
Either James McGrath or Paul Scarr – they sit next to each and are both known to heckle – then yelled “in government but not in power”.
After some more supplementary questions, Wong again pointed to Dutton’s role in overseeing the laws while he was immigration minister.
The Coalition erupted into a chorus of angry shouting but I could only make out what McGrath was saying: “You called Peter Dutton a protector of paedophiles. Disgraceful people”.
Senate question time ended on that note.
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Israeli hostages’ family members shelter in Melbourne police station after protesters enter their hotel
Emily Wind has reported on a protest in a Melbourne hotel lobby where a delegation of family members of Israeli hostages were staying:
Family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza sought protection in a Melbourne police station on Wednesday night when pro-Palestinian protesters entered the lobby of their hotel.
Victoria police confirmed they attended a protest in Docklands, where about 20 people walked into a hotel lobby on Spencer Street “with flags and signs” about 10pm.
“The group were moved on by police,” they said in a statement. “No one was injured during the incident.”
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O’Neil says opposition voted against bill to ‘stop paedophiles standing in front of schools’ after withdrawing comment
The back and forth continues and tempers continue to rise. Milton Dick asks Clare O’Neil to withdraw the comment “to assist the house”, which she does, and then says:
It’s important that all of us in this chamber are accountable for our actions and [whether the opposition likes it or not], the facts show the record and the record is that we put forward a bill that would stop paedophiles standing in front of schools and the leader of the opposition and his team voted against. And you cannot hide from that, you cannot hide from that.
And it’s not the only example of this type of conduct, Mr Speaker. We have had a deafening silence for the leader of the opposition about the behaviour of the hand-picked member on his frontbench, Senator Dean Smith, who chose to use his power to argue that a paedophile get release from immigration detention.
And I will say to the leader of the opposition, he likes to get up and speak emotionally about sexual abuse, he’s got an opportunity to make a stand, I want him to do it.
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Liberal MP says Clare O’Neil should withdraw ‘disgusting slur’
Clare O’Neil is back with a dixer and it is back on the “Peter Dutton is not very good” track listing.
It includes this:
The work that the government was doing with that bill was not just about protecting children from paedophiles, it was also doing things like criminalising people who are violent and abusers from contacting their victims. How could the opposition not support that? And for politics and politics only, they came into the chamber and voted against it.
That was not it. It was not it – we saw the opposition come in and tried to support paedophiles over children, and support abusers over their victims. We have also seen a unspeakable lack of leadership from the leader of the opposition in calling to attention the behaviour of one of his frontbench.
Michael Sukkar raises a very incensed point of order:
I request you demand the minister withdraw that disgusting slur that she has repeated on a number of occasions. It is below contempt at the Minister in an attempt to protect herself uses disgusting slurs like that.
Tony Burke is back on his feet:
There’s a precedent as to why this should be in order. When Speaker Smith was Speaker, a member referring to the then shadow attorney general said this quote: “He stands up instead for the criminal.”
It was considered in order, the person who made that statement is the leader of the opposition.
Sukkar:
It is a clear reflection on members protecting paedophiles is something that should not come out of any Minister’s mouth.
Burke:
It is extraordinary we are having this discussion after the motion that was just moved.
And beyond that, what the minister referred to was the impact of a vote that members talk. She has precisely described the impact of that vote.
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Greens select Steph Hodgkins-May as new Victorian Greens senator
Steph Hodgins-May will be the new Greens senator for Victoria, winning a preselection today to replace the retiring Janet Rice.
The Victorian Greens chose Hodgins-May – an environmental lawyer and former Greenpeace executive – to fill the casual vacancy upon Rice’s retirement, which is pencilled for early 2024.
I’m ready to continue the fight for climate action, freezing rents and cost of living relief,” she said in a statement today, after her pre-selection win.
Our movement is indebted to the formidable Senator Janet Rice and her unwavering commitment to our party and planet. Hers are enormous shoes to fill.
The party leader, Adam Bandt, described Hodgins-May as a “courageous champion”.
I’d also like to thank my good friend Senator Janet Rice for her tireless work towards ending native forest logging, ending poverty in Australia and fighting for a safe climate. Our movement is stronger thanks to her commitment and activism,” he said.
If Hodgins-May is a familiar name, it might be from her close-run bid to wrest the Victorian seat of Macnamara from Labor’s Josh Burns. Burns, a rising star in Labor circles, held the seat in 2022 but the Greens have identified it as one of their next targets.
Bandt said Hodgins-May and other Victorian candidates would be “campaigning hard to not only retain balance of power in the Senate, but help us turn seats like Macnamara, Wills, Higgins and Cooper Green.”
Rice announced her intent to retire some time ago. She said in a statement that she was pleased Hodgins-May would succeed her.
Until my very last moment in the Senate, I will keep working passionately in parliament for my constituents, for our climate and environment, real action for renters, a human rights based approach to aged care, and building a strong social safety net for everyone who needs it,” Rice said.
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Dutton’s claim that government only needed to release NZYQ is misinformation
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is attempting to suspend standing orders about the government’s handling of the NZYQ high court decision. It has good points and bad.
Let’s start with the bad. To claim that the government was only required to release one person, the plaintiff NZYQ, is misinformation. The court only ordered the release of the plaintiff, but by setting a new constitutional limit it was clear that all people in the same position (no real prospect of removal being practical in the reasonably foreseeable future) would have to be released. The alternative was the government getting the pants sued off them for false imprisonment.
The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, made a better version of this argument in the mural hall. Paterson said that not all the detainees were in the same position: some may have had lesser offences; some may have been able to be deported.
Dutton does have a point though, that the government conceded on 30 May there was “no real prospect” of deporting NZYQ “before all resettlement options exhausted”.
As I wrote at the hearing earlier in November, approaches to six countries came only after that concession in the case. Clare O’Neil has claimed she had advice it was “likely” NZYQ could have been deported, but almost every fact in the case contradicted that.
We’ve asked O’Neil and Giles at press conferences in the last fortnight why the deportation efforts came after the concession it was impossible to deport him. They have never answered that question.
So Dutton’s suspension is a mixture of misinformation, and a reasonable point about lack of transparency on the way the government had handled the case.
Updated
The whole thing gets deferred to outside question time because Tony Burke is in no mood today.
Updated
Because the fun around here just never stops, Peter Dutton is now trying to suspend standing orders to speak about how terrible the government’s reaction to the high court decision has been and to call for Andrew Giles to be “SACKED!”
Giles seems unbothered and is just sipping water like he is waiting for a bread basket to arrive.
Anthony Albanese is laughing.
Tony Burke is not giving leave because Dutton “has the MPI and he can make the exact same speech then”.
My migraine is threatening to crawl out of my head and bleed into the walls.
So we’re all having a great time.
Updated
Giles quotes Brandis in defence of ‘rule of law’ after saying government had to comply with high court ruling on detention
Dan Tehan, who is the human equivalent of a Dan Brown novel, is back and asks:
The minister has told the parliament that the high court’s decision meant that, quote: ‘every person required to be released by order of the high court and was so released’. In fact the high court only directed the release of NZYQ in that case, the decision to release the others was a decision made by the government in advance.
Andrew Giles is cranky now and responds:
Let me be very, very, very, very clear. The high court in its decision required the release of individuals in similar circumstances to the plaintiff NZYQ, the government had to comply with this as any government would, as any government would.
And the opposition’s claims to the contrary including those of the shadow attorney general, a former first law officer of this country are baseless, wrong and frankly unworthy.
A former attorney general, not from the side of politics had this to say and I think his comments are worth listening to. Former senator [George] Brandis: ‘I’ve not disguised my concern at attacks upon the institutions of the law, the courts and those who practice in them. To attack those institutions is to attack the rule of law itself.’
He went on to say in his remarks and valedictory: ‘It’s for the attorney general to always defend the rule of law, sometimes from political colleagues who fail to understand it or are impatient of the limitation in may impose on executive power.’
That is a very active, now and members opposite should have regard and should be ashamed.
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Immigration minister says government argued detention was valid in court
Huzzah. Dan Tehan is on his feet. Just what we needed.
He has his serious hat on, which the transcription interprets as a drone, and so I’ll have to whoosh-whoosh the question but it relates to the high court indefinite detention decision (what else) and Paul’s reporting about when the government started looking to see if it could deport NZYQ to the US.
Isn’t it the case that if the government was doing its job and had not made this error, the now 142 hardened criminals will not have been released into the Australian community?
(Your regular reminder that they are not all “hardened” or “hardcore” criminals and we release criminals who have completed their sentence into the Australian community every single day. Every day.)
Andrew Giles:
The government vigorously argued that the previous immigration detention settings were compositionally valid and that those settings authorised the continued detention of the plaintiff.
Giles sits down.
Updated
Dutton says ‘protector of paedophiles’ comments by Labor were hurtful
Earlier today, Peter Dutton appeared on his weekly 2GB radio spot where he said the personal attacks on him as a “protector of paedophiles” by Labor had been hurtful.
Dutton, while he was immigration minister, used a discretionary power allowing NZYQ, the plaintiff whose case overturned indefinite immigration detention, to reapply for a visa after he was convicted of raping a 10-year-old.
The Labor government revealed the information in question time on Wednesday, with some ministers accusing him of “protecting paedophiles”.
The sports minister, Anika Wells, this morning doubled down on the comments, pointing to his last-minute backflip on supporting Labor’s patch-up laws.
Dutton told 2GB on Thursday the personal attacks hurt him “but they don’t mean anything to me because it’s the complete opposite of who I am or what I believe”.
I think I’m owed an apology from Anika Wells and the prime minister, but we’ll see if they’re big enough to make that apology.”
The opposition leader then used the interview to take a whack at Wells after 2GB host, Ray Hadley, said she didn’t understand how the high court process worked “which is understandable, she’s a sports minister”.
Dutton said:
Well, the other thing, look, she’s just been sent out there with a script to read and unfortunately, she couldn’t follow it. So, that’s probably a bit embarrassing, but not surprising.
Updated
Wong says new coal and gas projects being approved as part of energy transition
Over in Senate question time, Penny Wong has answered questions from the Greens over today’s annual climate statement.
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, told parliament of the threats to national security climate change will present in the coming decades.
It follows a recent snapshot released last weekend showing Australia will likely cut its CO2 pollution to 42% below 2005 levels by 2030 – slightly below the government’s 43% reduction target.
The Greens senator Larissa Waters asked Wong why the federal government was still approving new coal and gas projects.
Wong said:
We recognise this is a transition that is going to take time and we don’t believe that the way in which we either reach our own domestic emissions [target], nor contribute to global emissions producing over the trajectory that has to occur, is simply shutting down parts of our economy, we don’t believe that …
Climate change is a national security issue. It is an economic issue as well as an environmental issue.
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‘Paddling around Newcastle harbour does not get emissions down’: Bowen
The leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, asks the prime minister:
The first job of government is to keep people safe, and today’s climate statement reinforces the enormous threat of the climate crisis to Australia’s national security.
So why is Labor backing the massive Beetaloo, Barossa, Scarborough, Browse and Narrabri gas projects that will fast-track climate collapse? With today’s figures showing emissions rising this year under Labor, rising, why is Labor opening new coal and gas projects and making Australia’s people less safe?
Albanese passes it to Chris Bowen to answer.
Bowen talks about the climate statement he made today (which Murph and Adam Morton have covered off) and then says:
I make this point, we also released the Climate Change Authority advice today, one of the recommendations of the advice was to ensure adequate gas supply to gas-fired power stations as part of the transmission. [A] recommendation we accept and [are] implementing.
That is why we brought down the gas code, the gas code to ensure new gas is enabled for domestic supply, not international exports. This is the code the Greens sought to disallow.
Their campaign died when they disallowed that gas code, it died that moment, because the credibility went down at that point.
Bowen continues:
Transmission towers cannot be billed by papier-mache, it cannot be done, we need more still across the world including Australia and that requires coking coal while we wait for that.
This is part of the important economic transformation. We’ll continue to manage getting emissions down and jobs up. Slogans do not get emissions down, they do not get jobs up, paddling around Newcastle harbour does not get emissions down and does not get jobs up. Good policy get emissions down and jobs up, and that’s what the Albanese government will continue to deliver.
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PM says Coalition sent 15 people to London conference ‘to bag multiculturalism and to bag climate change’
Anthony Albanese continues:
Almost as many people as they have in the shadow cabinet were at this fest in London. And what was it about? The alliance for responsible citizenship. Paid for by billionaires and global hedge funds.
A conference about the future with guest speakers like John Howard, who had a lot to say, including ‘multiculturalism is a concept that I have always had trouble with’.
And Tony Abbott, saying that climate change was both ahistorical and utterly implausible, peddled by a climate cult. That is what they have seen as the future. They went all that way to bag multiculturalism and to bag climate change.
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PM says Littleproud’s question an ‘attack on the existence of politicians’
Anthony Albanese answers that question from David Littleproud:
I thank the leader of the National party for his question. Which goes to an attack on the existence of politicians.
And the suggestion … Let me say this. The suggestion that some politicians are a waste of money – I think he is right. I think he is right.
Because what you can have over there … What you can have over there is one of those buttons that you can have, you get these buttons and you press them and they just say no in different ways. No, no, no, no. You set them all up there and the matter what the legislation was, you press the button without a bit. No, no, no! Mr Speaker.
You know that you have really hit the bottom of the barrel when it comes to desperation when you have a politician who is the leader of a political party thinking that it is OK to just say we want less politicians. We want less politicians. Less politicians.
This is a mob who across the Liberal and National Party, they recently had the largest international parliamentary delegation since federation. Fifteen of them! Fifteen of them went to a conference in London: the Member for Cook [Morrison], for Hume [Taylor], New England [Joyce], Fairfax [T O’Brien]Mallee [Webster], Bowman [Pike], Berowra [Leeser], Canning [Hastie], Broome [Price].
That’s before you get to the senators.
At this point, David Littleproud tries to pretend the question was “tight”, which makes Milton Dick almost start to laugh.
Updated
Littleproud asks PM if he will ‘waste more taxpayer money’ on creating new politicians
David Littleproud has a question:
Australians are facing a cost of living crisis. The Government has wasted $450 million on the voice referendum*, $250 million of money releasing hardcore criminals who did not need to be released**, will the prime minister rule out wasting more taxpayer money on creating up to 53 new politicians or more staff that will come with them***?
*This seems to be implying that Australians should never have the choice of changing their constitution? So we should just never ask the question?
**The court said they did need to be released. And if they weren’t released, you can bet Barnaby Joyce’s hat that there would have been some successful compensation cases for the government wilfully ignoring a ruling from the high court. And they are not all “hardcore” criminals.
***This is implying that David Littleproud thinks politicians are a waste of money? So it seems to be a bit of an own goal.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce skips parliament sitting to protest windfarm
It seems that Barnaby Joyce has chosen to skip one of the last sitting days of the year – so he could attend a protest in Sydney.
He’s not in the chamber, and has posted this to his social media
The protest seems to be against the Burrendong windfarm, and Joyce has had someone film him walking up to join it. (He is, of course, wearing his country digs.)
So apparently, skipping your responsibilities to go and protest for something you believe in is completely and totally fine. This will be great news for all the school students who have engaged in their democratic right to protest and have been told to get back to school.
Joyce seems to share the passion, if not the cause.
Updated
Albanese says issue of Australian divers injured by Chinese sonar was raised with Chinese official
The condolence motion for the former Labor MP Gerry Hand has completed and we move on to questions.
Peter Dutton asks:
Yesterday, I met with the Chinese Communist party top diplomat who was here in Australia, and I commented and made clear my remarks in relation to China’s attack on Australian navy divers and expressed a very strong view that was totally unacceptable and unprovoked. Why didn’t the prime minister raise the attack on the Australian Navy divers when he met with President Xi [Jinping]?
Anthony Albanese:
The premise of the question is wrong. Completely wrong.
(Which is basically confirmation that he did raise it with Xi.)
Albanese goes on:
And yesterday indeed, this official also meant with the foreign minister, Penny Wong, [in a] formal meeting and it was raised again by her. As was appropriate.
Well, can I make this point as well, Mr Speaker? I put on the record a number of times the difference between private discussions which the leader of the opposition has said would not – should not – be disclosed himself, as has former prime ministers Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison and I have been consistent with that but we’ve been very clear about the government expressing our concerns about the HMAS Toowoomba, the event was unsafe and unprofessional.
And we communicated that very directly in a calm and consistent way. And the comment that is pretty important, I think, that was made on Tuesday, was from the navy chief Vice Admiral. And I know that the leader of the opposition, I would hope, has respect for the chief of navy in Australia. And this is what he said: ‘The government has raised it very effectively, I’m very comfortable with the way the government has dealt with it.’
Updated
Court orders release of Iranian asylum seeker after ten years of immigration detention
The federal court has ordered the government to free Iranian asylum seeker Ned Kelly Emeralds, who spent a decade in immigration detention, the first release ordered since the new high court precedent on indefinite detention.
In what he had earlier called a “particularly disturbing case”, justice Geoffrey Kennett found that Emeralds’ detention was unlawful because there is “no real prospect” of his deportation “becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future”.
On Thursday, Kennett issued a writ of habeas corpus requiring the department of home affairs to release Emeralds immediately.
The ruling brings to at least 142 the number of people released as a result of the high court’s landmark NZYQ decision handed down earlier in November.
The result suggests that others in detention may now bring applications forcing the commonwealth to prove their deportation is practical and, if it fails, win their liberty.
It could also prompt re-evaluation of the lawfulness of detaining difficult cases where deportation is not possible, but the government believes a lack of cooperation with authorities by the detained non-citizen is to blame.
Ned Kelly Emeralds arrived in Australia by boat in 2013 and has been detained since that time. According to the Human Rights Law Centre, which represents him, Emeralds was detained while his protection visa application was processed; he has not had a visa cancelled, nor been convicted of a crime.
In 2016, Emeralds was found to be owed protection by one officer of the Department of Home Affairs. A second officer refused his application for a protection visa in 2018 on the basis he did not have a well-founded fear of return to Iran.
Updated
Question time has started – but first there will be a condolence motion. So questions will be delayed for at least 20 minutes.
Queensland introduces new patient ratios for midwives
AAP reports:
Midwives working in Queensland public hospitals will soon operate under patient ratios after the state’s health minister tabled reforms to parliament.
A long-running campaign by midwives battling heavy workloads has led to legislation aimed at making maternity wards safer in Queensland.
Minimum midwife-to-patient ratios of one to six, including babies, will be established in public maternity wards under reforms proposed by health minister, Shannon Fentiman.
It marks the first time in Australia newborn babies will be counted as patients in such provisions.
Fentiman said under the new laws midwives would be able to provide safer, more compassionate and comprehensive care.
I am pleased to announce we will be introducing a bill to create midwife-to-patient ratios in our public maternity wards, and in an Australian first we will count the babies,” she told parliament on Thursday.
This will mean that mums and dads receive higher quality care and midwives will not be tasked with unmanageable workloads.”
The changes follow a long running campaign by the state’s nurses and midwives over burnout. A recent survey found midwives were caring for up to 20 people on each shift.
Updated
While we are acknowledging the international day for the elimination of violence against women, we should also point out that Labor MP Sharon Claydon reads the names of women who have died in Australia aloud in parliament each year as well, so they will be recorded in the Hansard.
That at times means updating with new names, even when it has only been a week between speeches.
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Advocates welcome anti-slavery move by Labor
International Justice Mission (IJM) Australia chief advocacy officer Grace Wong has welcomed the news from Mark Dreyfus:
We are very pleased to see the Albanese government progressing their election commitment by taking this step to enshrine the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner in law.
As IJM has long advocated, Australia has a significant role to play in fighting modern slavery both at home and overseas, and a robust and powerful Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner is key to this.
Independence is important to maintaining objectivity, and we are particularly pleased to see the Attorney-General today confirm the Commissioner will have the discretion to work as they need to.
Updated
Mark Dreyfus introduces legislation to create anti-slavery commissioner
Dreyfus says:
The Modern Slavery Amendment (Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner) Bill 2023 is a landmark reform which delivers on our election commitment to add a new, independent pillar to Australia’s comprehensive response to modern slavery.
The Bill amends the Modern Slavery Act 2018 to establish the core functions of the Anti-Slavery Commissioner, including engaging and supporting victims and survivors of modern slavery and supporting business to address risks of modern slavery practices in their operations and supply chains.
The Commissioner’s role and functions will complement the work undertaken across Government, business and civil society to prevent and respond to modern slavery.
The Commissioner will play a key role in helping to shape implementation of future modern slavery reforms, including those which may arise from the recent statutory review of the Modern Slavery Act 2018, which the Government is currently considering.
The Government has committed $8 million over four years to support the Commissioner’s establishment and operations.
Modern slavery encompasses a range of serious exploitative practices, such as trafficking in persons, deceptive recruiting, debt bondage, forced labour and forced marriage.
Updated
There is just over 20 minutes until one of the last house question times of the year.
It is going to be more chaotic than a Jersey Shore reunion.
So get what you need now.
Allegra Spender ‘deeply disappointed Labor lacks courage’ to end gas connections to new homes
Independent Wentworth MP Allegra Spender has responded to Chris Bowen’s climate update. The short version – it is a good start but heaps more needs to be done:
It’s clear that we’ve turned the ship around, and today’s statement highlights crucial reforms to the Safeguard Mechanism, to Rewiring the Nation and to helping households access cheaper and cleaner renewable energy. These achievements should not be underestimated.
We are making important progress but we are not going fast enough. Our current actions are still not enough to meet even Labor’s modest 43% target for 2030 – and they fall well short of the minimum 50% we need to align with the climate science.
The Albanese government’s continued approval of new coalmines continues to make our emissions reduction task even harder.
Whilst I’m pleased the government has accepted many of Climate Change Authority’s recommendations, I’m deeply disappointed they lack the courage to end gas connections to new homes – despite the CCA’s advice.
Our dependence on expensive gas has been a major driver of our energy bill challenges, and ending gas connections to new homes is a commonsense and widely supported measure to reduce the cost-of-living pressure facing Australian households.
Next year, the government also needs to step-up it’s support for households, with a People Power plan to lower energy bills.
Updated
Sorry for the short break in posts – seems my computer had had enough of me.
We have come to an agreement that if I have to work, so too does it.
Updated
Coalition proposes amendments to Labor bill to give courts power to strip dual citizens of Australian citizenship
The shadow attorney-general, Michaelia Cash, and shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, have been out playing hardball about Labor’s bill to give courts the power to strip dual citizens of their Australian citizenship if they repudiate it by being convicted of serious offences such as terrorism, espionage and foreign interference.
Cash revealed that Peter Dutton has written to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, proposing amendments adding to the list of offences including: murder of Australians overseas; inciting terrorism; and child sex offences overseas.
Paterson said the Coalition supports the bill in principle but the bill also doesn’t address “historical offences”, like Benbrika’s conviction for planning to bomb the MCG on grand-final day.
Both were coy about whether the Coalition would support the bill in the absence of changes.
“We want to facilitate the passage of this bill today, but it requires the government to come to the table,” Paterson said. The ball is in Albanese’s court, they said.
Updated
Two Queensland Labor MPs call for ceasefire in Gaza
Two backbench state Labor MPs have condemned Israel’s war on Gaza in late night speeches in Queensland parliament, calling for a ceasefire.
Member for Toohey Peter Russo said the war had eroded the “most basic of human rights across Gaza and the West Bank, the right to life, food, safety and shelter”.
He said the death of thousands of young people as a result of the bombing and blockades is “unacceptable”.
Today, on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, I stand beside Palestinians the world over to call for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories.
Russo worked as a high-profile human rights lawyer for 25 years before standing for parliament. His own electorate includes a number of diverse suburbs like Sunnybank and Moorooka, and Russo has commemorated Nakba, the term used in Palestine for the expulsion of 700,000 Arabs from Israel during Israel’s war of independence in 1947.
He said:
Over half of Gaza’s homes have been destroyed and families have been displaced from their home.
Nearly 884,000 displaced people are seeking refuge in UN shelters, schools and hospitals. Those buildings themselves are often the target of bombings. Nowhere is safe for the people of Gaza. Food, water, electricity and fuel have been restricted to a trickle, depriving people of what they need to survive. It is unacceptable to think that not even the youngest and most vulnerable have been spared.
Minutes later, first-term member for Stretton James Martin rose in parliament to also call for a “permanent ceasefire”.
Martin said his diverse, multicultural community was also suffering as a result of the war, with many having family and friends living in Palestine.
I am extremely distressed by the daily destruction and escalating loss of life of innocent civilians occurring in Palestine. I cannot even begin to describe the hurt being felt by so many people in our community. Even though these events are occurring on the other side of the world, the feelings of devastation and grief are felt very acutely in my local community ...
I continue to advocate that the ongoing peace and security of Palestinians and Israelis rests in a two-state solution, for self-determination and for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories.
Updated
Digital ID legislation introduced to Senate
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, has introduced legislation to the Senate to enable digital ID from next year.
The bill will set up a system so people can have a digital ID, either through MygovID or through various state providers or eventually certified private companies once the laws are in effect, that they will be able to present as proof of who they are.
The idea is that it will ultimately lead to people not needing to provide all their ID documents to every business to show who they are, and will therefore reduce the risk of data breaches on all those companies and make it easier for people to prove who they are.
It will be voluntary for people to use, so people who don’t want to be part of it will not need to be.
The government has allocated nearly $800m for the development of the ID, including $145.5m in new funding announced today, which includes $67m for the ACCC to act as the interim regulator of the digital ID from July next year and $56m for the attorney general’s department to operate the ID matching services.
The bill is also dependent on the document ID and facial ID verification bill also passing.
The legislation has been referred to committee to report in February next year. One Nation, which seems to be gearing up to oppose it, tried to delay the reporting to May next year, which gained support from Coalition senators, but was ultimately rejected by the Senate.
Updated
Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union: ‘pain and punishment’ of mutual obligations has to stop
Continuing on that, Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union officer Jeremy Poxon said:
Over the last 18 months, the Labor government has chosen to continue a system that harms welfare recipients, their families and their communities every single day.
Today, they had every opportunity to end the misery inflicted on us by private providers, and once again they’ve refused. We renew our demand for this government to immediately suspend all ‘mutual obligations’ – the pain and punishment has to stop.
Updated
Tony Burke urged to immediately pause payment suspensions for welfare recipients
In the wake of the inquiry into Workforce Australia releasing its final report, more welfare advocates have said “reforming the system will not stop the rot” and called for the end of mutual obligations and payment suspensions.
The Antipoverty Centre and Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union are calling on employment minister Tony Burke to immediately pause payment suspensions for welfare recipients following the release of the report for the government’s inquiry into Workforce Australia.
A recent Antipoverty Centre survey of 600 welfare recipients found that 85% had a problem with their payment caused by an employment services provider and 93% said “mutual” obligations harmed their mental or physical health.
Antipoverty Centre spokesperson and jobseeker recipient Jay Coonan said as long as mutual obligations were in place, the system will continue to be ineffective.
Although today’s report outlines major changes, reforming (un)employment services will not stop the rot at the heart of Workforce Australia – the cruel system of ‘mutual’ obligations.
The Workforce Australia inquiry has shown again that ‘mutual’ obligations are being incorrectly applied and causing mass harm to those of us who are battling to survive on half the poverty line. Every payment suspension wreaks havoc for people trying to navigate the system.
The government makes excuses about not being able to stop suspensions, but we know the real reason they haven’t is because the private organisations who cut us off have told them not to. While we waited for this inquiry to tell us what we already know, 2 million suspension notices were issued.
The inquiry report clearly recognises that employment services must be overhauled. We call on Tony Burke to immediately stop the harm and protect welfare recipients while Labor pursues its reforms – pause payment suspensions now to protect welfare recipients, just like he did following the ParentsNext report.
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Nationals deputy says Murray-Darling deal will leave river communities ‘shafted’
The Nationals have come out swinging in anger over the Murray-Darling Basin agreement reached by the government and Greens. Deputy leader Perin Davey claims the deal leaves river communities “shafted”.
As Amy brought to you earlier, the Nats immediately hit back with claims that the Murray deal would see grocery prices go up. That was the tone of much of the press conference just now with senior Nats (and a few South Australian Liberals).
Party leader David Littleproud claimed it was “a dark day for basin communities”. He led the charge in the presser, claiming the plan - putting more water back into the river - would see prices for agricultural products like food and fibre go up, because farmers would have less water to work their lands with.
Of course, the Coalition opposition is framing every single government decision around cost of living at the moment, so this isn’t unexpected.
Tony Pasin, a Liberal backbencher from SA, went further - saying the plan meant the government was “turning our back” on defence force personnel.
Stay with us for a second.
Pasin said the riverlands were “established effectively as soldier settlement offerings”, and that returned troops had tended that land - which he claimed would be degraded by the Murray plan.
So I’m standing here thinking these soldiers we sent away to war came back to this community and helped build our nation on the back of irrigated agriculture. Today in this place, we’re turning our back on those men and women who built those communities,” Pasin claimed.
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Emissions increased 0.8% in Labor’s first full year in office, data shows
The dump of climate change reports and data today includes the latest quarterly data on greenhouse gas emissions, and illustrates the challenge the country and the government faces.
It shows emissions increased in Labor’s first full year in office, rising 0.8% in the year to June.
To some extent this was already built in as pollution was rebounding after falling during Covid-19 lockdowns.
Emissions from transport - cars, trucks and places - increased by 7.8% last financial year, reflecting the recovery from travel restrictions. Agriculture emissions were up 3.8%, mostly because it was wet and production returned to pre-drought levels.
These increases were greater than the 3.5% fall in emissions from electricity generation and a smaller drop in fugitive emissions from coalmines.
While the rises in transport and agriculture were expected, both will need to be addressed. Australia does not yet have significant national policies to cut transport or agriculture emissions.
The emissions report says national emissions are down 24.5% since 2005. But the overwhelming majority of this is due to changes in land use - agricultural land-clearing and logging - mostly unrelated to climate policy.
Emissions from the rest of the economy - including fossil fuel industries - have fallen only slightly.
Updated
Australia is not yet on track to meet its 2030 emissions target
One last post from me on the climate statement. I mentioned earlier the government has tabled independent advice from the Climate Change Authority.
The crux of that advice is this quote:
Time is running out for Australia to make a just transition to a prosperous, net zero economy on our own terms. Australia still has time to make a just transition to a prosperous, net zero economy, a transition made on Australia’s own terms and that positions us to take advantage of the opportunities a net zero world presents. The longer we delay, the greater the risk that the transition will be dictated to us by the actions of others around the world.”
Here’s a quick summary post of the CCA’s specific observations. It’s several versions of HURRY UP GUYS.
· Australia is not yet on track to meet its 2030 targets. Ambition and momentum in the form of targets and policies must translate quickly into action and emissions reductions.
· Achieving Australia’s 2030-point target relies heavily on meeting the government’s 82% renewable energy target. The risks of falling short should be addressed by further action to support renewables and stronger pursuit of emissions reductions elsewhere in the economy.
· Beyond the safeguard mechanism (this is the policy mechanism to reduce emissions from heavy industrial polluters) the government should continue to explore opportunities to accelerate emission reductions at industrial facilities, including with a view to increasing the contribution of the sector to the achievement of Australia’s 2030 target.
· A fuel efficiency standard should be introduced as soon as possible, with the aim of achieving zero tailpipe emissions no later than 2040.
· The government should offer direct support to farmers to pursue emissions reduction opportunities … in addition, the government should fund a program to help farmers measure and report on their on-farm emissions, de-risk carbon farming and provide the information investors and lenders are calling for to help decarbonise their portfolios.
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Adam Bandt says Labor’s ‘Help to Buy’ shared equity scheme is ‘hard to get’
The “Help to Buy” legislation (the shared equity scheme) Julie Collins has introduced looks to be the new battleground between Labor and the Greens over housing.
Adam Bandt said the Greens are “considering their position” on the legislation. Given how much the Coalition tore it apart during the election campaign (even though there are state schemes already in place and at one point Scott Morrison was in support of them) it doesn’t look like the Coalition will give the government the Senate votes, meaning it is back to the Greens and crossbench for Collins and Labor.
Bandt has called it “hard to get” because of the limits on the scheme, and then there is still the issue of renters rights, so strap in for another big fight on this one.
Bandt:
Labor is tinkering around the edges of the housing crisis instead of stopping unlimited rent increases and ending unfair tax breaks for rich property moguls,.
We will look at this legislation, but are concerned about approaches that allow a tiny proportion of applicants to buy a house while potentially pushing up prices for everyone else.
It’s Labor’s “hard to get” scheme. Getting a spot in this scheme will be like finding a Willy Wonka golden ticket. You shouldn’t have to win a lottery to be able to have a home.
Housing is an essential service and in a country as wealthy as Australia, the government has an obligation to ensure everyone has an affordable, quality home.
Updated
For those looking for the full report in to the workforce employment services, you can find it here
James Paterson has reacted to the Senate voting down an inquiry into the indefinite detention reaction:
Labor and the Greens just voted against an inquiry into the government’s response to the High Court’s ruling on indefinite detention. What do they have to hide?
— James Paterson (@SenPaterson) November 30, 2023
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Bowen: Australia will argue at Cop28 for funding contributions ‘from all major economies’
Climate change minister Chris Bowen ends his speech by looking forward to the United Nations-led climate talks in the United Arab Emirates. Cop28 is kicking off as we speak.
Bowen says Australia is out of the naughty corner when it comes to climate action. He says he will be arguing at Cop for countries to deliver strong, practical outcomes and Australia will support stronger mitigation language.
Bowen:
We will be supporting a tripling of global renewables capacity and doubling of global energy efficiency efforts. And we will be backing in funding arrangements that deliver for the Pacific and the other most climate vulnerable countries, while advocating for contributions from all major economies – not a list set in 1992.
Quick translation: this means Australia thinks the gulf states and China need to do more of the heavy lifting. As you can imagine, not everyone agrees with that proposition. And around things go.
Bowen says all elements of the plan need to come together. The global dimension and the domestic one.
Bowen:
We recognise the positive role that we can play on the international stage and as a good regional partner. But this needs to be coupled with a domestic transformation, with working towards our targets and ensuring Australia is positioned to take advantage of the jobs, investment and cleaner, cheaper energy which will come with growing renewables.
He ends back where he started.
We’ve done much – but there’s more to do.
Updated
Bowen: Supply chain sovereignty for Australia's energy transition 'won’t happen overnight'
Picking up from our last post on the climate statement, with Chris Bowen pointing to the global race for capital, the minister says Australia remains in the race because it has a “clearly articulated, ambitious plan to become a renewable energy superpower, with a transformational scale of renewable build, leveraging our trading and investment relationships abroad, and backing our innovative clean energy businesses, exporters and manufacturers.”
(Just a note: Not everyone agrees Australia remains in the race, to be clear. On the field yes, but not winning the race).
Bowen tells parliament these elements “form our signal to the world that Australia is open for business”. But again, he notes more is required – “clear and ambitious targets – and more detail to come on 2035 and the path to 2050.”
(Just a note: We know the government’s emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2050. The missing piece is the 2035 target.)
Bowen says the race for capital is accompanied by a “global fight for supply chains”. Attempting to manage public expectations, Bowen says “we are competing for finite resources– whether it’s wind turbine components or electrolysers.”
He says the government would like to make things in Australia and safeguard a reliable supply chain of the materials required for the transmission, “but this sovereignty won’t happen overnight, and it won’t happen across every element of the supply chain.”
While Australia has significant advantages in critical minerals, we remain reliant on international supply chains for critical components in building our transformation,” Bowen says.
Updated
Senate votes against inquiry into handling of indefinite detention decision
The Senate has voted 33 to 25 against a Coalition proposal for a Senate inquiry into the government’s handling of the indefinite detention high court decision.
In my Monday column the Agenda I foreshadowed the possibility of an inquiry but Greens senator Nick McKim appeared to rule it out on Monday by saying his party wouldn’t vote for anything that demonised refugees.
This is what shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, proposed for terms of reference:
Commonwealth Government’s planning and preparedness for a ruling against the Commonwealth Government in this case;
Commonwealth Government’s preparation of legislation to address the implications of the High Court ruling;
Risks to the community associated with the release of individuals from immigration detention following the High Court ruling;
-
Actions taken by the Commonwealth Government in the days following the High Court ruling, including:
the decision to release individuals from immigration detention, and to subsequently grant visas including conditions,
the enforceability of visa conditions;
the steps the Government took to manage risks to the community associated with the release of the cohort of individuals impacted by the High Court decision,
other interventions or options the Government considered but did not pursue to manage risks to the community associated with the release of the cohort of individuals impacted by the High Court decision,
communication with individuals in immigration detention impacted by the High Court ruling,
efforts made to inform victims and victims’ families about the release of individuals convicted of serious crimes, and
communication with impacted communities where individuals released from detention will reside;
any expenditure of taxpayer money associated with the High Court case and subsequent actions taken by the Commonwealth Government; and
any other related matters
Updated
Workforce Australia inquiry confirms service ‘fundamentally broken’, advocates say
Earlier, Labor MP Julian Hill tabled the final report into Workforce Australia Employment Services, which declared the decades-long full privatisation of Australia’s employment services system has failed.
In response, The Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Centre for Policy Development have welcomed the inquiry into Workforce Australia, saying it confirms “the service system is fundamentally broken” and supports the reform.
Annabel Brown, Deputy CEO, Centre for Policy Development:
This inquiry has shown in greater detail than ever before that for decades Australia’s employment services system hasn’t been fit for purpose. Instead of providing support and training, leveraging local opportunities, it has left people frustrated and neglected.
The inquiry revealed a totally outsourced system that left people doing it tough out of sight and out of mind. Instead of bringing business, community and government together, it drove them apart, with only four percent of employers even connected to the system. Instead of focusing on learning and development it fixated on bureaucracy and administration.
It’s time to listen to the evidence, embrace good sense and change course so that people and business are at the centre of a new system.
Read more here:
Updated
Bowen: 'We need to remain competitive' in net zero race for capital
Chris Bowen confirms in his speech that the government will continue to develop a transition plan for transport but the results will not be known instantly. This element of the government’s climate policy response has lagged other policies.
Bowen:
One measure which will be included in the transport plan is the implementation of a fuel efficiency standard. As I’ve said, the government is committed to an ambitious standard that delivers cleaner, cheaper-to-run cars for Australians and real emissions outcomes.
But we also recognise that this is important work, and can’t be rushed.
The minister also notes that the net zero transition is a global race for capital. Lots of interest groups have been lining up to urge the government to develop policy incentives that keep capital in the country.
Bowen maps out the challenge here:
According to the International Energy Agency, more than 500 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity are set to be added in 2023 – a new record. And more than one billion US dollars a day is being spent on solar deployment. Between the US’s Inflation Reduction Act, the European Green Deal Industrial Plan, Canadian investment tax credits for batteries and clean hydrogen, and the Green Transformation Act which passed the Japanese Diet earlier this year – there is a global race for capital.
And while Australia has world-leading resources in solar, wind and critical minerals, as well as a skilled workforce and established manufacturing base, we need to remain competitive to both achieve our domestic goals and establish ourselves as a renewable energy superpower.
Updated
Chris Bowen on energy transition: 'I am not yet satisfied'
The climate change minister Chris Bowen is on his feet in the House of Representatives giving the annual statement to parliament about progress under the government’s emissions reduction target. Accompanying this speech to parliament is a bunch of materials: a report prepared by his department, an independent assessment by the Climate Change Authority, and emissions data.
Let’s start with Bowen’s speech, with some key quotes and observations.
Obviously, this is an opportunity for Bowen to list the many things the government is doing on climate policy, and he’s certainly doing that. But in doing that, the minister is making it clear that the transition is not mission accomplished.
Bowen:
While I am pleased with our progress, I am not yet satisfied. The job is far from done.
Bowen references the independent assessment from the Climate Change Authority that has just been tabled, and he notes: “The authority broadly agrees with the government that our emissions targets are ambitious but achievable.”
This (as Bowen notes) is broadly is right, but the CCA also notes in its report: “The Australian government does not currently have an active policy mechanism in place that ensures the necessary investment in renewables generation will be forthcoming. The states and territories own renewables targets collectively fall short of delivering 82% nationally.”
The advice from the CCA predates a major policy announcement Bowen made last week – that taxpayers would under-write a bunch of renewable energy generation and storage through a radically expanded capacity investment scheme. It’s pretty obvious that policy announcement was made (not only to execute the transition substantively) but also to get ahead of the independent assessment by the CCA today.
Updated
Queensland deputy premier: ‘there will be no reduction in Australian government funding to Queensland over time’
Earlier this month the Queensland premier Annastacia Paluszczuk declared she would “stand up to the prime minister” over infrastructure funding cuts.
The state Labor government claimed the shift away from the 80/20 funding split between the federal and state governments announced by federal infrastructure minister Catherine King would cost Queensland billions.
But all seems to be forgiven, after the deputy premier Steven Miles’s “convoy to Canberra”, a delegation of mayors and industry groups leaders.
He told parliament on Thursday that there were still issues outstanding but they had made “good, important progress” in negotiations.
“The Australian government have confirmed there will be no reduction in Australian government funding to Queensland over time,” he said.
“The Australian government’s commitment to fund new projects on a 50/50 basis will not result in less funding being provided to Queensland overall, where the Australian government has committed to fund existing projects on an 80/20 basis that funding split will not change.”
The commonwealth has also reserved $1.44 billion for an upgraded rail line to the Sunshine Coast, which will be used for the Olympics.
The federal government is also committed to help fund a new inland freight route in rural Queensland.
Nine projects valued at $363 million were axed in Queensland, as part of the federal infrastructure review.
Updated
Senate dealing with referral of bills to committee inquiries
The government had wanted a reporting date of 22 February for inquiries into the Help to Buy scheme and the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Accountability and Fairness) bill, which limits the proportion of petroleum resource rent tax assessable income that can be offset by deductions to 90%.
The Greens and the Coalition just voted together to delay these to 16 and 18 April respectively.
That is only a procedural vote, but it gives a sense of how difficult it is for the government to control the pace of its own agenda when the opposition parties team up - as we saw in multiple delays of the Housing Australia Future Fund.
Updated
Labor MP Julian Hill has tabled the committee’s findings into the Australia’s workforce employment services into the parliament.
We’ll have a link to that report for you very soon.
Chris Bowen will make his annual climate statement to the House – Murph will be writing something up for you on that (always best to get it straight from the experts).
That will be coming just after midday.
Updated
Shared equity legislation ‘Help to buy’ introduced
Housing minister Julie Collins has officially introduced Labor’s “help to buy” legislation into the House (the shared equity scheme, where the government helps purchase your home by owning a percentage stake in it, which you either eventually pay back, or return to the government when you sell).
Collins has gone for emotion in commending the bill to the House:
Sold. It’s just a four-letter word, but for so many Australians it means much more.
Whether it’s said at an auction or a sticker stuck on a real estate sign, sold and the purchase of a home is life changing. Sold means the start of new beginnings. And new memories.
Sold means new neighbours. It means the start of a new community. And of course, for so many sold is about family. A family home.
Even as our society has changed so rapidly, the family home has remained the backdrop to the best days of so many Australians. Summers spent crowded around the outdoor barbie. Late nights playing backyard cricket in the fading light. Pencilled walls where siblings jostle to mark growing height.
The messy kitchen table which becomes a makeshift study for homework and school projects. The family home is in the books we read. The shows we watch. And the songs we love.
And while the dream lives on in our culture, the reality is home ownership has slipped out of reach for too many Australians. But we want to help change that.
Updated
Queensland seeks Indigenous members to join truth-telling inquiry and treaty institute
Queensland is seeking more than a dozen members to join its truth-telling and healing inquiry and treaty institute in the state’s latest move towards a path to treaty.
Expressions of interest opened on Thursday and will close on December 21, with the state looking to fill five roles on the inquiry and 10 positions on the treaty institute.
All members of the institute, as well as the chairperson of the inquiry, must be Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. The majority of inquiry members will be First Nations people. At least one member must be a lawyer of over five years’ standing and with inquiry-related experience.
The inquiry is expected to be established in 2024 and run for at least three years. It will confront the state’s past and the impact of colonisation on First Nations people, including forced removals and the stolen generation.
Minister for treaty, Leeanne Enoch, said the government “remains committed” to the truth-telling inquiry. The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has previously said a treaty with the state’s First Nations people was “a long way off” and would require “bipartisan support”.
Palaszczuk’s comments came after the state’s opposition, the Liberal National party, announced in October it would no longer pursue a treaty if elected in 2024.
The major backflip came after all 34 LNP MPs supported legislation for a path to treaty in May, which included a truth-telling inquiry.
Updated
Tanya Plibersek commits to range of measures to strengthen Murray-Darling legislation
An audit of the Murray Darling Basin Plan found it would fall about 750 gigalitres short of its total of 3,200GL by the deadline of June 2024.
In a deal with the Greens, announced Monday, the environment minister Tanya Plibersek agreed to ensure that 450GL for the southern basin would be recovered by 2027.
About 315GL, to be recovered from water saving projects, has a new deadline of 2026 and the government has committed to scrap infrastructure projects that are deemed unviable.
Separate deals were reached with senators David Van and David Pocock.
In a final deal announced with Lidia Thorpe on Thursday morning, Plibersek committed to a range of measures to strengthen the legislation including $20m for basin First Nations communities to undertake cultural flows planing and a mandate for a review of the federal Water Act to consider whether the act is consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance, which represents close to half a million people across all basin states, today said the strengthened legislation delivered for the environment, “providing a crucial lifeline for the river system on the brink of the next drought”.
Craig Wilkins, the chief executive of the Conservation Council of South Australia, said the state would benefit:
For the last decade it’s been incredibly frustrating having to justify and defend the inclusion of the 450 gigalitre component of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
We always knew it was essential, and it’s exciting to see this bill finally guarantee its delivery.
Updated
Ed Husic: ‘We don’t need to be holding protests in front of synagogues or in front of mosques’
Science minister Ed Husic is doing the media rounds this morning about the release of the national reconstruction fund’s investment mandate but other issues, such as the conflict in Gaza, are taking some of the spotlight.
On Sky News this morning, the science minister was asked again about social cohesion in the country as a result of the war between the Israel government and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
Overnight, the families of Israeli hostages, who are in Australia as part of efforts to keep the focus on the remaining hostages held by Hamas, were confronted by pro-Palestinian protesters.
The protesters, according to pictures shared on social media, held signs, saying “stop arming Israel” and “Zionism is fascism”.
Husic said it was important Australia maintained freedom of expression but noted it was also important to “respect people’s space”.
We don’t need to be holding protests in front of synagogues or in front of mosques.
The western Sydney MP added it was important to focus on longer term peace through a two-state solution:
There’s a broader issue that Palestinians want their own country, they want their own place. They are under pressure in the settlement activity that is encroaching on lands where people, Palestinians, are currently living, and if someone was coming in and forcing you out of your home, that’s really something people will be upset about and want to talk about.
A temporary ceasefire of six days has been in place but is expected to expire soon unless talks in Qatar between the sides can achieve another extension.
The United Nations estimates more than 1.3m are internally displaced within Gazan territory while Gaza’s health ministry says more than 14,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict.
Updated
The Nationals are not happy. They are also doing river talk today, but it is more of the “just you watch, everything is going to get so much more expensive, mark our words” variety, of which there is not a huge amount of evidence, but there is a lot of emotion.
And in politics, that is often mistaken for the same thing.
Updated
Plibersek takes victory lap on Murray Darling Basin plan
Tanya Plibersek is claiming victory after the Albanese government and Greens reached a deal on legislation to amend the Murray Darling Basin plan and ensure an additional 450 gigalitres of environmental flows.
With the Greens, David Pocock and Victorian independent David Van (which created some controversy) Plibersek got the legislation through the Senate.
She is now taking her victory lap:
This is one the biggest things any government has done for the environment in a decade.
I said from day one that I was determined to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full, including the 450GL of water for the environment. That’s what I’ve done.
The Liberals and Nationals spent a decade waging a guerrilla war against the Plan. They never intended to deliver the plan, in fact they actively undermined it at every turn, and they lied to communities about it.
In contrast, we’ve worked with people across the parliament to strengthen this legislation and make it law. This is what good government does – it works collaboratively in the national interest.
For too long, Basin communities have been let down. Delivering this water is one of the most significant things we can do to protect the environment in this country.
Updated
Victorian premier says she has tried cannabis as parliament considers bill
Asked if she had ever tried cannabis, Victorian premier Jacinta Allan said she had:
This is something that I think it’s important that we come to these questions with an honest answer and not obfuscate.
It was a long time ago – a long, long, long time ago.
And I think it’s important that we inject a sense of honesty into our contributions on this, because this is a real issue for many in our community, and it’s best that we take a harm minimisation approach. It’s best that we provide support.
Let’s not sensationalise this issue, as some want to. For some people, alcohol and drug abuse is a very big personal challenge that they confront every single day.
That is why a harm minimisation approach, whether it’s supporting people who need a sobering up centre, for example, people who need assistance with their drug addiction, they deserve respect. They don’t deserve a sensationalist response.
Updated
Victorian treasurer says he has used cannabis as MPs share views on drug
It’s been an interesting morning at Victorian parliament, with MPs being asked their personal views on cannabis after the government yesterday committed to discussions on reform.
The commitment came off the back of a Legalise Cannabis party bill that would allow adults to legally possess small quantities for personal use and grow up to six plants.
Victorian treasurer Tim Pallas told reporters it was important to treat the Legalise Cannabis party’s proposal with respect:
I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself about what revenue might be available, or indeed whether there is a change in policy at all. But what I would say is that it is important to deal with the crossbench in the other house with some respect. They’ve sought dialogue around these matters and they’ll get it.
Asked about his personal view on cannabis, Pallas replied:
I suppose I should declare I have used it, and yeah, I don’t think a criminal approach to this is best. A health approach would be best.
I’m interested in what the best way to effectively regulate cannabis is and whether, in fact, a health-based approach would be superior.
Updated
Origin Energy rejects $20bn takeover bid
Origin Energy has rejected the proposed “Plan B” takeover offer put up by overseas-based suitors Brookfield and EIG just days before a delayed shareholders’ vote on what was about a $20bn takeover offer takes place on 4 December.
Origin this morning has told the ASX the revised offer was “incomplete, complex, highly conditional and does not provide sufficient certainty for shareholders”, and the board doesn’t support it.
The board’s comments follows former PM Paul Keating‘s call for the foreign investment board to reject this “get rich quick” scheme, according to the AFR today.
Consumers have an interest, of course, since all of us use electricity (and few of us are off the grid).
According to the Australian Energy Regulator‘s annual report on the retail market out today, power prices for residential electricity increased by between 12% and 28% in the year to June for those in the ACT, NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. Victorians did a bit better, with prices up between 5% and 11%.
Those residentials in debt to providers rose from 2.5% to 2.9%, while the proportion on hardship programs increased from 1.1% to 1.4% – both at five-year highs.
With electricity prices still rising - eg 10.1% in October from a year ago - those gauges of energy debt and hardship customers are only likely to rise by the looks.
Updated
Brace for river talk
Everyone is about to hold press conferences on the Murray-Darling Basin plan.
Just be warned. A lot of river talk is incoming.
Updated
NSW’s emissions targets enshrined in law
The New South Wales government’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets have been passed into law after the Greens and Coalition joined forces to strengthen the legislation to include interim targets.
The state’s target of cutting emissions by 70% by 2035 compared with 2005 levels and reaching net zero emissions by 2050 are now enshrined in law, and an independent advisory panel to monitor progress will be established.
After a raft of amendments, the targets will be able to be reviewed and increased over time, and the Net Zero Commission will be able to provide independent advice on projects and policies, including approvals of any new coal and gas projects.
The NSW environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said:
This bill provides the framework for NSW to embark on the essential journey to net zero emissions and resilience to climate change.
It shows business and industry they are not alone in responding to this challenge.
Updated
Plibersek to reconsider future of salmon farms on Tasmania's west coast
Tanya Plibersek has announced she will reconsider the future of contentious salmon farms in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast.
The environment minister’s department found that three organisations – the Australia Institute, the Bob Brown Foundation and the Environmental Defenders’ Office – had made a valid request for a reconsideration of whether the salmon industry had the environmental approvals it needed to operate in the harbour.
The requests followed scientific warnings that the salmon industry was having a “catastrophic” impact on the Maugean skate, a critically endangered species found only in the harbour on Tasmania’s west coast.
The federal threatened species scientific committee found “substantial recent evidence indicates a high risk of extinction for the species in the near future” and recommended urgent action including reducing the amount of salmon to improve dissolved oxygen levels before this summer.
Plibersek said the department would kick off a two-month consultation with the Tasmanian government, the salmon industry, its workers, their union, conservationists and the community.
She said salmon farms could continue to operate during the consultation period.
The decision is likely to be opposed by the state government and the salmon industry, which has declared it would “not concede one single fish or one single job” and urged Plibersek not to be “captive to loud green groups”.
Updated
Federal court rules telehealth appointments about voluntary assisted dying are illegal
Appointments with doctors about voluntary assisted dying via telehealth are illegal, a federal court has ruled, clarifying an area of the law long considered a grey area.
Sections of the Commonwealth Criminal Code make it an offence to use a carriage service such as a telephone, videoconference call or email to counsel or incite someone to suicide.
As states have passed voluntary assisted dying legislation, these federal laws have led to confusion about whether patients seeking permission to access euthanasia, or granted access to it, can hold some of their medical appointments via Telehealth.
Doctors and advocates for voluntary assisted dying have long been calling for changes to the law to make it clearer, saying it affects patients who live in rural and remote areas, and those whose conditions limit their movement or make travel painful, to attend appointments.
It prompted Melbourne doctor Nicholas Carr, one of the first GPs to provide voluntary assisted dying care, to pursue legal action in the federal court to clarify the definition of suicide in the Commonwealth Criminal Code, and whether it applies to state legislation.
On Thursday, Justice Wendy Abraham found the term “suicide” as used in the Criminal Code does apply to the ending of a person’s life through voluntary assisted dying.
Carr told Guardian Australia he is “devastated” by the decision.
He will now turn his efforts to supporting Independent MP Kate Chaney’s proposed private member’s bill to change the wording of the legislation.
Updated
Stage-three tax cuts are unfair and will leave vulnerable people behind, Anglicare Australia says
The stage three-tax cuts will go to the country’s highest income earners and leave behind people who need cost-of-living relief, according to a new paper from Anglicare Australia called Trickle Up.
Australia’s top 5% of income earners are earning more than $180,000 a year before tax. They will receive an estimated annual benefit of $6,075 a year, which equates to $233.65 a fortnight.
Those earning between $60,000 and $70,000 will only receive an extra $14.42 a fortnight.
Anglicare Australia Executive Director Kasy Chambers said:
A person on an average income will receive just $14 a fortnight. Someone on a low income will get no benefit at all.
At the same time, people on the highest incomes will gain almost $350 per fortnight. We found that amount could buy a tank of petrol and groceries. On top of that, it also covers a fortnight’s worth of car insurance, electricity, and mobile phone use.
Australians understand that these tax cuts are unfair. That’s why poll after poll shows that people want them scrapped. Even those who are set to benefit the most say they don’t want them.
Updated
Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial under way – follow our live coverage
If you’d like to follow the federal court defamation case Bruce Lehrmann has brought against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, Amanda Meade is heading the live coverage over here:
Updated
Antisemitism and Islamophobia are ‘corrosive to our social fabric’, Husic says
Ed Husic says Australians need to stand up to both Islamophobia and antisemitism amid the conflict in Gaza, describing both forms of hate as “absolutely corrosive” to social fabric.
The science minister was asked about the tone of debate in Australia amid the temporary ceasefire in Gaza during a press conference in parliament on Thursday morning.
It comes as the families of Israeli hostages, who are visiting Australia in an effort to ramp up international pressure for their release, were confronted by pro-Palestine protesters in a Melbourne hotel on Wednesday night.
Husic said his personal experience as the son of parents who came from “a part of the world that tore itself apart in terms of ethnic and religious hate” meant he wanted to bring people together, rather than stoking further division.
I’ve also said over the years, we can’t be standing up and speaking up against Islamophobia and ignoring antisemitism, or promoting it. Both antisemitism and Islamophobia are corrosive, absolutely corrosive to our social fabric.
The Labor minister has been outspoken on his concerns for Palestinians in Gaza as the Israeli military continues its campaign to eliminate Palestinian militant group Hamas from the besieged territory.
In an interview with ABC last week, Husic said:
I’ve spoken up because I’ve felt, importantly, that particularly Australian Palestinians they had an element to this that needed to be heard, and I’ve spoken with respect to that in times past, and I think like a lot of Australians share the concern that Australian Palestinians have that Palestinians in Gaza have paid a very high price, a disproportionately high price, and I’ve been very concerned.
Updated
Monique Ryan says stage-three tax cuts would ‘light a match under inflation’ as she calls for changes
The independent MP Monique Ryan has backed in calls for changes to the “inflationary, expensive and unfair” stage-three tax cuts.
In a statement Ryan says the government should listen to economists and retain the 37% tax threshold, which the Morrison government abolished (with Labor’s support), and that the money gained from that change (about $8bn) should be reinvested into housing.
We should spend an additional $3bn per year building 100,000 social and affordable homes over the next decade. With the remaining $5bn we can double Commonwealth Rent Assistance to help Australians through this vicious cost of living crisis.
We must listen to the nation’s economists and modify the inflationary, expensive and unfair Stage 3 tax cuts.
Ryan says stage three would “light a match under inflation” and increase rents, the cost of groceries and power bills at a time when Australia is “facing the worst cost of living crisis in a generation”.
If we’re going to spend that much money in an inflationary environment, we should spend it on immediate relief for families and small businesses across the country.
We certainly should not be rolling out tax cuts that mostly go to our highest-income earners.
Updated
Kerry Stokes must hand over Ben Roberts-Smith emails after losing court appeal
Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes has failed in a bid to overturn a court ruling that he hand over thousands of emails exchanged with Ben Roberts-Smith’s legal team and other documents relating to the soldier’s failed defamation action.
Stokes and his commercial director Bruce McWilliam had appealed July’s federal court ruling, but the full federal court ruled on Thursday morning that the appeal should be dismissed, with costs paid by Seven.
Reasons for the judgment are yet to be published.
In June, Roberts-Smith, a recipient of the Victoria Cross, failed in his defamation case against three Australian newspapers he alleged had defamed him as a war criminal.
Justice Anthony Besanko found the newspapers successfully proved – to the civil standard of balance of probabilities – that Roberts-Smith was complicit in the murder of four unarmed civilians while serving in the SAS in Afghanistan, as well as bullying and threatening colleagues, and intimidating a woman with whom he was having an affair.
Roberts-Smith has appealed that decision.
The newspapers had subpoenaed documents and correspondence sent between Stokes, McWilliam, law firms representing Seven, and lawyers for Roberts-Smith. The newspapers are arguing Seven exerted a measure of control over the defamation proceedings and should therefore be liable for costs.
Updated
The names continue:
Aleksandra Vergulis.
Gypsy Satterley.
Jessica Townley.
Linda Kerr.
Georgia Lyall.
Joan Hobbs.
Jean Morley.
A 40-year-old unnamed woman from Victoria.
Tiffany Woodley.
Maree Vermont.
11-week old Murphy Margaret Cox and her mother Tayla.
Drew Douglas.
Lise Muliaga.
An 87-year old unnamed women from Victoria.
Katherine Safranko.
Rebecca Collard.
Heather Dean.
Yu (Grace) Zhu.
Krystal Marshall.
Thi Thuy Huong Nguyen.
Lilie James.
Logee Osias.
Alice Rose McShera.
Deidre (Dee) Folpp.
A 44-year-old unnamed woman from South Australia.
A 45-year-old unnamed woman from South Australia.
Julianne Egan.
A 39-year-old unnamed woman from South Australia.
Jodie Jewell.
Catiuscia Machado.
Updated
I had to wait for the official transcript, as I did not want to spell any of the names incorrectly.
But here is the list of women killed so far in Australia, which Sussan Ley read into the hansard.
Lindy (Kimmy) Lucena.
Dayna Isaac.
Maria Williams.
Wendy Sleeman.
Rebekah Clewer.
A 37-year-old unnamed woman in the Northern Territory.
Anastasia Slastion.
Krystle Monks.
Trish Lambourne.
Janet Guthrie.
Margarette (Marz) Smetheram.
Jacqueline (Jacqui) Lee Purton.
Hannah Pringle.
Lisa Fenwick.
Erin Mullavey.
Elaine Naroldol.
Emmerich Lasakar.
Kerry Bodney.
Lynne Wright.
Heather Ball.
Tatiana (Tania) Dokhotaru.
Monique Lezsak.
A 34-year-old unnamed woman in Western Australia.
Marija Ivankovic.
Kristy Armstrong.
Amira Moghnieh.
Kumanjayi Skeen.
Christine Formosa Rakic.
A 47-year-old unnamed woman from the Northern Territory.
An unnamed woman in her 30s from Western Australia.
(continued in next post)
Mike Bowers was in the chamber for those statements and captured some photographs.
Justine Elliot, as the assistant minister, also made a statement, recommitting the government to efforts to eliminate the violence.
Updated
Sussan Ley: ‘We need men to hear these names … to hear our voices’
I also do not doubt the prime minister’s commitment either. We have heard about his own lived experience this week.
Yet, we need more, we need more. We need men to hear these names. And we need men to hear our voices.
Because in the face of this challenge, we can come together and we can eliminate this violence but that starts with being brutally honest with ourselves.
In recent weeks, we have seen the sort of swift action we can take when confronted with a threat to the community and its safety.
And yet women are being killed almost daily and we’re not seeing enough urgency and we’re not seeing enough coverage.
The names I have listed in this speech have been updated more than three times since it was drafted.
This tells us everything we need to know. So today we recommit ourselves to this task.
And today that list grows longer, and we’re not doing enough.
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Sussan Ley:
I note the minister is resolutely committed to this task. I note this entire building is committed to this task. We stand here as women in positions of leadership. And we appreciate the men who step up and take on this issue with us too.
I know the complete commitment of my leader Peter Dutton on this issue, as someone who has him stepped himself stood as part of a thin blue line that all too often is the only thing that separates women and children and the monsters that would seek to harm or kill them.
And I know the toll this has taken on my colleague and my friend.
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Australia must reckon with violence against women and ‘drag it out of the shadows’, Ley says
Sussan Ley:
This is uncomfortable for us to face. But we have to reckon with this issue. We have to drag it out of the shadows and we have to confront it.
Because what I can say without any hesitation is that too many women have been killed already this year.
What I can say is this is a national crisis and not enough is being done about it.
This is not a political statement. It is a social commentary.
I make it as a woman as a mother, as a leader, and as an Australian.
So I say again, this is a national crisis and not enough is being done about it.
Today as we reflect on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we have to be honest with ourselves and honest with the community.
The violence is not being eliminated.
Violence is not slowing down. Women are still being killed.
You can watch a video of Ley’s statement here:
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Sussan Ley reads names of 60 women killed in Australia this year
There is silence in the chamber as Sussan Ley reads the names.
You can feel the weight when she says “unnamed woman” and in the beat before she names an 11-week old baby and her mother.
I have been reading out names for over two minutes and I have done this because I want the names of these women to be etched into our national record.
I want these names to echo across this space and to be broadcast across our nation. because these are the names of women killed in Australia this year.
These are the names of the women that have been murdered in our suburbs in our schools and in our workplaces, found in bathtubs in change rooms can bins and carparks, these are the names of women, taken too soon.
These are the names of sisters, daughters, mothers and dear friends. We have these names thanks to the good work being done by the Red Heart campaign, various police reports and social media pages like destroy the joint and counting dead women.
But sadly, speaker, as you would also have heard there are too many nameless women on this list and the reality is we know there are others, other women other names, others who have silently disappeared.
They may be counted currently as missing persons or they may have just slipped through the cracks.
So I did hesitate in compiling this list. In listing these names I want us to recognise among this list. And along with this list are the forgotten women. These forgotten women have disappeared. They’ve been taken away from us. These the women yet to be found. These are the countless forgotten women dumped in bins buried in bushland, hidden from view, their hopes and dreams snatched away.
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Sussan Ley is making a statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
It is the names of the 60 women who have been killed in Australia so far this year.
The house sitting has opened with statements on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
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Parents urged to protect kids from sun as NSW launches skin cancer prevention strategy
In the last 10 years (July 2013 to June 2023), close to 5,000 people have presented to an emergency department in NSW for treatment of sunburn, with the highest rates seen in children and young people aged 5-24.
In the 2022-2023 financial year, 818 people required care in a NSW emergency department for sunburn. The statistics, published by NSW health minister Ryan Park on Thursday, prompted him to urge parents and carers to protect their children from the sun.
The high rates in children and young people are concerning, as high sun exposure in the first 10 years of life more than doubles their risk of developing melanoma skin cancer.
Park said:
Sun damage and skin cancers are highly preventable, and we’re encouraging the community to do really simple things like seeking shade when outdoors, wearing sunscreen, putting on a hat, sunglasses and protective clothing to safeguard themselves.
He will launch the NSW skin cancer prevention strategy 2023-2030 at the Prince of Wales hospital today.
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The parliament sitting is about to start.
It’s the last of the week, but there should be at least one more joint sitting day on 7 December.
But all of this is dependant on the preventive detention bill – if that gets messy, there could be more sitting days. Just what we all want.
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OK, but what about the states’ demands when it comes to GST?
Taylor:
Well, throwing more money around right now is not the answer. Whether Anthony Albanese has the strength to be able to deal with that, you know, there’s no state premier who doesn’t want more money, of course.
Q: Do you think the federal government should say no?
Taylor:
It’s a real test for him. We haven’t seen a specific proposal, so it’s hard for me to comment without seeing any specifics. But what I will say is throwing money around is not the answer right now, which is what I’ve just been saying.
But the stage-three tax cuts are different. Got it.
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Angus Taylor’s view on inflation and the economy? ‘We need lower taxes’
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, thinks the government needs to “get their act together” and deal with inflation better and more taxes and “throwing more money around” is not the answer.
That is, when it comes to the state’s GST deal. But when it comes to the stage-three tax cuts, that is a completely different thing, apparently, even though it would benefit Australia’s biggest earners most while costing the budget more than $300bn in lost revenue.
Taylor told ABC radio this morning:
We know from past bouts of inflation, the best way to deal with this is to control the growth in government spending.
The problem with using taxation as the lever to try to control inflation is it slows the economy, it slows the supply side of the economy, and you need a strong supply side of the economy to take pressure off inflation.
We’ve got productivity in this country which has gone backwards sharply. Labour productivity, we’ve never seen this before, the level of collapse in labour productivity.
Putting extra taxes on income, personal income, is not the way to deal with that problem. And can I add to it by saying this; we’ve seen a 15% increase in taxes paid by Australians on average over the last 12 months.
This is an enormous increase in the amount they’re paying in tax. A big part of that is because of the impact of bracket creep, where people’s incomes push up into more of their income pushes up into higher tax brackets. And this is a big part of the pain that’s being felt. So we don’t think taxes are the right lever to pull here. We need lower taxes in this country to have a more productive economy …
But could they be inflationary?
Taylor:
No. I mean, if Labor gets their act together, and deals with the source of the inflation problem here and not just deal with the symptoms, then this is perfect timing. The reality is Labor’s not dealing with those issues. And I think the broader question here is how they get on with the job and sort this out because it’s not happening right now.
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Chalmers on meeting with states: ‘I’m asking them to understand the pressures on the commonwealth budget as well’
Asked if he is prepared to give state treasurers a guarantee that the commonwealth will compensate states for any lost excise tax as a result of the Vanderstock high court decision that found Victoria’s EV tax invalid, Jim Chalmers said he does want to work with the states to ensure they can “raise the revenue that they need to fund the services that our people rely on”.
“I don’t think that’s a matter of compensation,” Chalmers told reporters in Canberra.
I think it’s a matter of ensuring that they have the appropriate assurances about the tax bases that they rely on.
This is going to be a really important part of the discussions that I’ll have with my state and territory counterparts tomorrow in Brisbane: making sure that they can raise the revenue that they need and we can continue to raise the revenue that we need to serve the people that we both represent.
Chalmers said he was also aware that “part of the conversation is about the GST carve-up as well”.
He said:
It is neither unprecedented, nor especially surprising that state governments would like more money from the commonwealth. That’s a story as old as federation itself. The state governments have done quite well out of the Albanese government in ways that we are proud of, because it means better funding for the people that we represent.
We’ve seen that in billions of extra dollars for housing, for example, or skills. Or in other areas. Now, as we have this important discussion about the GST carve-up, we need to recognise the pressures on both sense of budgets: commonwealth, and state, and territory. And not just the pressures on state budgets. That’s a really important thing.
And we need to recognise and remember that the GST deal, that was struck by Scott Morrison a few years ago, has blown out in costs by $27bn and so that’s not irrelevant to the conversation either. So I genuinely want to work closely with my state and territory counterparts.
I understand the pressures on their budgets, I’m asking them to understand the pressures on the commonwealth budget as well.
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Labor senator Fatima Payman’s plea for a ceasefire: ‘Winter is about to come to Gaza’
Yesterday in the Senate, WA Labor senator Fatima Payman made a statement which ended with her again calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Payman was one of the first Labor MPs to call for a ceasefire, and the first term senator has not backed away from her views:
On 25 November we mark the start of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
This is an opportunity for all of us to stand against violence, but we need to remain committed to ending gender based violence every single day.
Violence against women continues here and abroad. Many women still live in fear within the confines of their homes, workplaces and communities.
In Australia, one in six women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a current or previous partner since the age of 15. I stand in solidarity with activists who are campaigning to end violence against women and children here in Australia and abroad.
In Afghanistan, my country of birth, girls are being denied education, in contradiction of Islamic and international laws and practices.
In Gaza, the cruel, relentless, and indiscriminate violence continues against women and children, in contradiction of human values. Our duty extends beyond borders, it transcends political divides and it demands a united front against the injustice suffered by all women around the world.
I call on the Taliban in Afghanistan to allow girls access to education.
I call on Israel and its government to end the indiscriminate killing of women in Gaza.
Winter is about to come to Gaza. A humanitarian catastrophe stares at the conscience of every one of us. We must act. I call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. I call for unimpeded access to humanitarian aid without restrictions. As Australians, let us condemn violence in all its forms and work tirelessly towards the safety and security of all women.
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McCormack’s unusual dig at Queensland deputy premier for Canberra visit
Late last night as a Treasury amendment was being debated, the former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack had some thoughts about the delegation from Queensland who travelled to Canberra yesterday to argue for more infrastructure funding.
McCormack’s thoughts strayed to the deputy premier, Steven Miles, who led the delegation.
Seems he is a fan?
Today we had the unedifying spectacle of Steven Miles – handsome fellow that he is. He’s not an unedifying spectacle as far as looks and image are concerned. But he shouldn’t have needed to be in the federal parliament today. He should be in Queensland doing his job, but the Deputy Premier of Queensland has had to come to Canberra with at least four mayors of regional councils—Western Downs, Ipswich, Toowoomba and Isaac Regional—to argue the case for infrastructure for Queensland. It’s one of our powerhouse states—a state which should be helping to lead the economic recovery, but, no, he’s here arguing the toss about infrastructure with the member for Ballarat.
When your own Labor premiers, deputy premiers, treasurers, roads ministers and transport ministers are condemning their federal Labor colleague, you know things are crook in Tallarook. You really do. But not just Tallarook—everywhere around the nation.
Labor will come to the argument and say, ‘Yes, but they pork barrelled, and they had colour coded spreadsheets.’ Unfortunately, this mob has colour coded spreadsheets, but they’re all red. They’re all red for Labor, and so many projects out of envy, jealousy—I don’t know what you’d call it.
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Stage-three tax cuts ‘baked in’ to inflation forecasts, Chalmers says
And on the stage-three tax cuts? No changes there, says Jim Chalmers.
They are due to start rolling out next year – are they inflationary?
Chalmers:
The impact of these tax cuts, because they were legislated so long ago they have been factored into the baseline of the Reserve Bank’s inflation forecasts, indeed the Treasury’s inflation forecast as well, so they are baked in because they were legislated some time ago, when it comes to the Reserve Bank or the Treasury’s assessment of inflation.
As you heard the PM say yesterday, as I have said to you, probably countless times by now, we haven’t changed our position on stage three.
We do understand that people would like us to do that.
One of the reasons they’d like us to do that is because they want to make sure that we’re helping people on lower middle incomes as well and we are.
People on lower middle incomes are the primary focus of our tens of billions of dollars in cost of living help – we have found better and sooner ways to help people who are doing it toughest.
Q: So no change to this tax that’s going to be delivered next year?
Chalmers:
We haven’t changed our position. We found a better way and a sooner way to deliver cost-of-living help for people on low and middle incomes.
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Chalmers says states have ‘done really well out of’ commonwealth ahead of treasurers meeting
The states shouldn’t count on the “no state will be worse off” GST agreement Scott Morrison struck continuing for ever. That will be one of the discussions the nation’s treasurers will have in Brisbane tomorrow when they meet with Jim Chalmers.
But you know, the states wanting more money from the commonwealth isn’t exactly breaking news. Neither is the commonwealth saying it has it’s own pressures. Such is the tension at the heart of our constitution.
Chalmers:
I will always work with them (the states and territories) to do the best we can for the people that we represent. But that means recognising that there’s not just pressure on state budgets, there’s pressure on the commonwealth budget as well.
And we also need to recognise that the share of state revenue coming from the commonwealth has gone up, not down. Payments have gone up not down, there are other GST top ups being paid.
We’ve paid billions of extra dollars for housing and skills. And the states have done really well out of us. And that’s a good thing if it means better services for the people that we represent.
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Chalmers warns of bumpy waters: ‘There is still a lot of uncertainty’
The treasurer is still warning of some bumpy waters ahead when it comes to the economy (or headwinds, as eco-types like to call them).
I heard Mathias Cormann on AM a moment ago talking about a soft landing in the global economy that is now assumed but it’s not assured.
There’s a lot of uncertainty in China. Around the world. We’ve got two conflicts, one in the Middle East, one in Europe.
We’ve got uncertainty at home when it comes to the way that these interest rate rises are biting in our economy.
So there’s still a lot of uncertainty. The assurance I give to all of your listeners, is that we will always carefully calibrate our economic policy and our budget strategy to make sure that we can deliver for people in a way that recognises that inflation is still the defining challenge in our economy, and that’s why it’s pleasing and encouraging to see the ABS and Deloitte and the OECD and others saying that our policies are helping
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Chalmers to meet with backbenchers over stage three tax-cut concerns
Jim Chalmers is also meeting with backbenchers today who have concerns over the stage-three tax cuts, after “input” from their communities. There are also concerns that not enough is being done for cost-of-living relief.
Chalmers says he is happy to meet with them:
Well, first of all the colleagues know that we are delivering relief already, you know, tens of billions of dollars in cost of living relief, to take some of the edge off these cost of living pressures without adding to inflation.
But it’s not unusual for me to confer with my parliamentary colleagues about our economic policies.
I do that in all kinds of different ways, small groups, individually, bigger groups. I do that all the time. And I think it’d be strange if I didn’t do that, frankly. And I respect my colleagues, I value their input. I look forward to catching up with them today.
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Chalmers not getting ‘carried away’ but fall in inflation ‘very welcome’
Jim Chalmers says the government isn’t getting too excited by the October inflation figure that showed the annual inflation rate fell from 5.4% to 4.9%. He said people are still struggling and the inflation dragon still hasn’t been completely tamed.
But there are good indications it’s on the right path:
We don’t get too carried away by the monthly figures. Because we understand that inflation is still too high and those numbers bounce around a bit. But it remains the case that what we saw yesterday was a very substantial and a very welcome moderation in inflation. And one of the encouraging parts of that is that the ABS has made it very clear as have Westpac as have others who commented on this in the last 24 hours is that the government’s policies are putting downward pressure on inflation.
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Don’t expect a surplus in mid-year budget update, Chalmers says
The treasurer is asked about whether there will be a second budget surplus forecast – the Commonwealth bank’s analysts have predicted there would be, because of strong tax collections (more people working means more income tax, for instance).
Jim Chalmers says hmmmmm, maybe.
People shouldn’t anticipate in the mid year update that I release at this stage the week after next, people shouldn’t anticipate that we will print a second surplus in that mid year budget update.
They should expect to see a really substantial improvement in the bottom line. But we’re not yet forecasting that second surplus.
(A reminder that a budget surplus is just money the government isn’t spending on you)
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Chalmers: ‘We are making some welcome progress in the fight against inflation’
Is Jim Chalmers confident that interest rates could fall from next year?
He tells ABC radio RN Breakfast he doesn’t make interest rate predictions.
My job is to focus on this fight against inflation. And we saw overnight from the OECD, we saw from Deloitte Access Economics, we saw in the Bureau of Statistics data which came out yesterday, that we are making some welcome progress in the fight against inflation and that will determine the future directory trajectory of interest rates
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There is some irony in it being former Coalition finance minister Mathias Cormann, now head of the OECD, delivering the news that the think tank believes inflation has peaked and there will need to be interest rate cuts in order to head off a sluggish economy.
If interest rates are cut from mid-next year, that is in line with where treasurer Jim Chalmers had first predicted. More recent predictions had inflation sticking around until 2025, with no interest rate relief and potentially more raises.
That is still on the cards because no one knows what is actually going to happen. The RBA is still warning of future interest rate increases and Chalmers is telling people to strap in.
But still, today’s news from the OECD is going to give the government a bit of a lift on the inflation front.
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Large parts of Australia facing an increased bushfire risk
Despite widespread heavy rain and floods, large areas of all states have been placed on heightened alert, with the release of the Seasonal Bushfire Outlook for Summer 2023.
Significant rain over the past few years has in fact led to more vegetation growth and difficult conditions to complete hazard reduction burns, according to the National Council for fire and emergency services.
The conditions will continue to dry out fuel loads in areas across Australia, including some affected during the 2019-20 Black Summer season, increasing the risk of large bush and grassfires.
Emergency management minister Murray Watt says the outlook is a clear reminder all Australians need to be prepared.
Compared with the spring outlook, more capital cities are facing increased risk and of course a lot of Aussies moved to new areas post-COVID, which means larger populations that may be less familiar with bushfire and heatwave preparation.
I urge people to be aware of the local risk, update their bushfire plans and pack emergency and evacuation kits.
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There have been concerns raised about Australia’s privacy act for some time – and this story from Josh Taylor points to why some people want it reformed.
Good morning
A very big thank you to Martin for starting us off this morning – one of the last sitting days of the year.
The Senate has another week by itself and the house has at least one more day scheduled. We sat at least because there is every chance shenanigans are played and we all end up here longer than any of us want.
But for now, we have made it to the end of the last joint sitting week. That’s an achievement. Kind of.
It’s a four coffee morning. You have Amy Remeikis with you. Ready? Let’s get into it.
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Doctors call on attorney generals to raise the age of criminal responsibility
The peak body for Australian physicians is calling for a national agreement to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians is urging the first law officers from all governments to agree to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility when they meet tomorrow, to protect the health and wellbeing of young Australians.
The standing council of attorneys general meeting, to take place on Friday, is scheduled to include an update from all commonwealth, state, and territory attorneys general on the minimum age of criminal responsibility in their jurisdiction.
Paediatrician and president of the RACP, Dr Jacqueline Small, said the meeting was a “historic opportunity” to modernise Australia’s criminal justice system and improve health outcomes of Australian children and young people”:
Some jurisdictions have made a step in the right direction. We praise the NT and the ACT especially, noting they have more to do, and the leadership from the Commonwealth.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system, reflecting the ongoing health inequities they experience and reinforcing cycles of intergenerational trauma.
This is a moment for optimism. Now is the time for governments across Australia to work together and show that they value the health and wellbeing of young Australians.
Wrap-around social supports and community-supported alternatives can lead to better outcomes than putting our children in the criminal justice system.
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Aukus export controls bill to be introduced to parliament
The federal government will overhaul Australia’s export control laws, introducing a bill to parliament today to smooth the way for the Aukus pact.
Under existing laws, Australia regulates the supply of military and dual-use goods and technologies to foreign nationals or entities overseas.
The proposed new bill is expected to extend the existing controls to include the supply of these items to foreign persons or entities within Australia, and between entities overseas. This is believed to be part of an attempt to reassure the US and the UK about Australia’s commitment to protecting defence technology.
The bill is expected to regulate the provision of services related to military items (such as training in the use of munitions) to foreign nationals and entities.
But the government says the bill will also provide a national exemption from the licence requirements for the trade of defence goods or technologies with the US and the UK – the two countries that together with Australia have formed the Aukus partnership to collaborate on advanced defence capabilities.
Government sources said export applications to the US and UK accounted for 900 of the 3,000 applications assessed each year, so the national exemptions would mean almost a third of these applications were no longer required.
By value, about $5bn worth of exports each year are set to gain this country-level exemption.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, said the legislation would “provide defence industry, science and research sectors with greater opportunities for collaboration and trade with our Aukus partners without the burdensome red tape”:
Earlier this week we announced the allocation of Commonwealth supported places for graduates in STEM courses, today we are announcing additional legislation which will remove red tape for defence industry. As we continue to deliver on the pathway to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, the Albanese government is working for Australians by delivering in practical ways for jobs and industry.
Later today Marles is due to fly out of Australia bound for California where the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, will host a meeting of the Aukus defence ministers. The UK’s defence secretary, Grant Shapps, is also due to attend the talks on Friday.
OECD suggestions for managing finances cite ageing population and climate transition
The OECD also revisited its suggestions for improving the nation’s finances as it manages an ageing population and a climate transition, as outlined in a survey last month.
Both spending savings were suggested, such as more patient care in primary care settings and preventive health policies, as well as tax reform.
Squeezing more out of the goods and services tax and further limiting concessions on superannuation were highlighted as suitable revenue raising options.
The role of immigration in the labour market was also mentioned, with Australia urged to consider making its skilled migrant intake more responsive to the changing needs of industry.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said Australia was facing challenging global circumstances from a position of strength, with a resilient labour market and good prices for its exports:
The Albanese government’s economic agenda aligns with key OECD recommendations for advanced economies, including investing in our people and their skills, broadening and deepening our industrial base, and embracing the opportunities of the net zero transformation and digitalisation.
The report also says the federal government’s budget policy will have a “slightly contractionary influence on economic growth” during the next two years.
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Australia’s economy heading for sluggish year, OECD says
Australia is heading into a sluggish year for economic growth that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warns could be even more muted if inflation proves stubborn or China’s economy slumps, Australian Associated Press reports.
The OECD’s most up-to-date projections for Australia’s economic activity are largely unchanged from earlier forecasts, with GDP growth tipped to slow from 1.9% in 2023 to 1.4% in 2024.
In 2025 the economy is expected to recover and expand 2.1%.
The OECD also notes that interest rates are projected to hold at 4.35% and stay at that restrictive level until inflation starts coming down convincingly, with cuts expected in the third quarter of 2024.
The thinktank expects higher interest rates and inflation to weigh on housing investment as well as on spending for households without big savings buffers:
Continued strong working-age population growth and higher exports as foreign student arrivals further recover will partly offset these headwinds.
Inflation has already been moderating and the OECD expects it to return to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s two-three target band by early 2025, a little earlier than the central bank’s own late-2025 forecast:
More persistent inflationary pressures or a sharper slowdown in China than expected pose downside risks to GDP growth.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of the day in politics – and more besides. I’m Martin Farrer, kicking things off with our top overnight stories before my colleague Amy Remeikis picks up the ball shortly.
As delegates gather in Dubai for the start of the Cop28 climate summit today, the Albanese government will attempt to get on to the front foot in the debate after years of Coalition denial. Chris Bowen will tell MPs today that global heating threatens political instability in the Pacific region and is a threat to national security, as well as posing an existential danger to island nations. We’ll have all the main news from Dubai as it happens.
The Albanese government is coming under increasing pressure from Labor members to take a stronger line on Gaza with about 40 party branches in New South Wales passing motions demanding a full ceasefire. Ministers indicated yesterday that they would support further extensions to the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas to allow the release of hostages and delivery of “much-needed” aid to Gaza. But a party insider says the feeling among grassroots supporters is for a more emphatic position. It comes as the Sydney Theatre Company has apologised after a Jewish board member resigned over an on-stage pro-Palestinian protest by three of its actors.
Minister might also be grappling with a slowing economy judging by the overnight verdict of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development which the country is facing uncertain growth. And it says it could get worse if inflation proves stubborn or China’s economy slumps. The thinktank’s most up-to-date projections for Australia tip GDP growth to slow from 1.9% in 2023 to 1.4% in 2024, notwithstanding those downside risks.
More coming up soon on that – and on legislation to be introduced today that will change export controls on defence technology in order to smooth the way for Aukus.
