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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Nino Bucci, Tory Shepherd and Calla Wahlquist

Ukraine president addresses parliament; Putin a ‘war criminal’, PM says – as it happened

Scott Morrison Anthony Albanese Australia David Irvine Mike Burgess Asio Russia Ukraine Simon Birmingham David Speers
Scott Morrison and Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Prime minister Scott Morrison welcomes Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy as he prepares to address federal parliament in Canberra. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

What we learned today, Thursday 31 March

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here’s a recap of the day’s main stories:

We will see you all back here tomorrow.

Updated

We’ll be closing this up shortly, but a full story on Labor’s budget reply will be up on the site in the next hour or so.

Just a reminder that we’re expecting to hear the budget reply speech of opposition leader Anthony Albanese in the next five minutes or so.

AAP have filed a full report on the address of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to a joint sitting of Australian parliament:

Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has told Australia’s parliament the essence of the country’s dream is still alive as he asked for more military aid.

To a standing ovation from parliamentarians and the viewing gallery, the defiant president appeared via videolink and proclaimed Russia’s aggression as a real threat to Australia.

“That is the nature of evil - it can instantly cross any distance, any barriers, destroy lives,” he said.

“Unpunished evil comes back with inspiration and a feeling of almightiness.”

Zelenskiy said the invasion of his country wouldn’t have happened if Russia was held accountable for the shooting down of MH-17 in 2014.

“We have to correct some horrible mistakes and correct them now,” he said.

“We need new sanctions against Russia until they stop blackmailing other countries with their nuclear missiles. They have to pay the highest price.”

The Ukrainian president asked for access to Australian military vehicles such as the Bushmaster.

“That could help Ukraine significantly - we would be very grateful if you could share those with us,” he said.

Zelenskiy also invited Australia to help with the restoration of the country’s coastal cities.

“The geographical distance between us is huge, but what does this distance mean for those who have a common understanding?

“Geography doesn’t matter.”

Prime minister, Scott Morrison, used his opening remarks to announce a further $25m of defensive military equipment for Ukraine and to brand Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as the “war criminal of Moscow”.

The package includes tactical decoys, unmanned aerial and ground systems, rations and medical supplies.

“Ukraine and Australia are separated by half the earth. Our languages, accents, histories and cultures are different but we share an affinity for democracy or freedom,” Morrison said.

“Mr President, you have our praise. But you also have our weapons, our humanitarian aid, our sanctions against those who seek to deny your freedom.”

Morrison also pledged to help Ukraine rebuild following the war, praising the “strong people of an indomitable country”.

Opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, likened Russia’s invasion to the devastation wrought by Hitler in the second world war, saying Putin’s aggression was prefaced by a “poisonous, nationalistic lie”.

“As you stand up to this latest tyrant, you are showing us what true courage is,” Albanese said.

“It is the courage that is embodied by you (President Zelenskiy). You are fighting for your country and your people.”

The government’s aid package was announced alongside an additional 35% tariff for all imports coming from Russia and Belarus on top of general duties that already apply.

Australia has also granted almost 5600 visas for people in Ukraine, more than 1400 of whom have since arrived.

Australia is providing $91m in military assistance, $65m in humanitarian assistance and 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal to meet Ukraine’s energy needs, as well as temporary protection visas and support for Ukrainian community groups in Australia.

There are also targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, the prohibition of energy, oil and gas products from Russia, and a ban on exports of alumina and bauxite to Russia.

with Reuters

Updated

It must be said that Brighton is hardly the most exciting suburb in Melbourne, but I guess this still would have been something of a thrill.

Here is our full story on the failed bid to take the Liberal pre-selection stoush to the high court.

Updated

Still waiting on offical word on this helicopter crash, but the signs aren’t good.

Missed this among the more incendiary valedictory speeches...

This at first glance does not particularly sound like what you’d want to hear if your house had been flooded for the second time in a month. Story via AAP:

Australia’s disaster relief agency boss says crisis-affected people now expect governments will “just step up and pick up the pieces”.

Shane Stone, Coordinator-General of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency, told a Senate estimates committee on Thursday he “continuously” found Australians now recovering from disasters expected the “taxpayer will step up”.

“We’ve probably lifted the bar so high, that there is now an expectation that state and federal government will just step up and pick up the pieces,” he said.

“Now, that’s not a criticism, that’s a fact. That’s where we are in Australia at the present time.”

He cited a flood in the North Queensland town of Charters Towers in the 1970s, where people “just got on with it”.

Stone, a former Northern Territory chief minister and Liberal party president, was appointed to the position by the federal government in 2019.

Earlier, the hearing was told government officials discussed a national emergency declaration as NSW flooded, 10 days before Scott Morrison made the announcement.

A senior official from the department of prime minister and cabinet told senators members of the government’s crisis and recovery committee considered a declaration at three meetings in the lead-up to the prime minister’s announcement.

The first meeting discussing the possibility was on 27 February. Lismore’s flood levee was breached a day later.

Two other meetings followed, with the final held a day before the declaration.

“As we watched the persistent nature of the weather event unfold, we realised we were watching something that might lead us down that path,” the official told the hearing.

Morrison visited Lismore on 9 March, after his Covid-19 isolation, and declared a national emergency the same day.

He defended the delay, telling parliament the state of emergency assists with recovery efforts after the flood.

“It does not trigger payments or ADF involvement,” he said in question time on Thursday.

“Those two things are the things we did immediately.”

An emergency declaration gives the federal government the ability to quickly send resources and respond to disasters by streamlining processes.

The hearing was told the decision to make the declaration rested with the prime minister, who had to be satisfied the crisis could cause “nationally significant harm”.

The prime minister told parliament he consulted with the premiers of Queensland and NSW before making the declaration.

“The premier of Queensland did not wish us to declare a state of emergency in Queensland, I listened to her and I took her advice. The premier of NSW was happy (for us) to do so,” he said.

Labor senator Murray Watt asked if Morrison had waited to make the announcement once he had come out of isolation for the publicity and media attention.

“This is a prime minister who is well known for his addiction to marketing and making announcements,” Watt said.

“You’re telling me it’s just a coincidence that he waited until the day he came out of isolation when he could be in Lismore surrounded by TV cameras, before he declared a national emergency.”

Finance minister, Simon Birmingham, hit back at the accusation and said Watt “enjoyed a cheap shot”, as the declaration was made following the latest meeting by officials providing information.

Updated

Some reaction coming through on the address of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy:

Let’s reiterate some of Zelenskiy’s main points:

  • He wants access to Australian armoured vehicles, including the Bushmaster;
  • Called for tougher sanctions, including banning Russian ships at international ports;
  • Pointed to the failure to hold Russia to account for the downing of flight MH-17, saying that had emboldened them to invade Ukraine; and
  • Warned that despite the distance between the countries the threat of nuclear warfare raised by Russia meant the whole world could be in peril.

Updated

Speaker Andrew Wallace again thanks Zelenskiy and gives him and the Ukrainians our prayers, and the screen goes black.

Updated

Zelenskiy has finished his address with “Slava Ukraini”, and is met with a standing ovation.

Just reiterating that Zelenskiy is speaking via a translator, so this is a little hard to follow in places, but the thrust of it is that there’s much to be done, he is grateful for our support so far, but more is needed, and more will be needed once the conflict is over.

He said:

We invite prominent countries of the world, leading countries, and the best experts, to join the project and restoration of Ukraine.

Zelenskiy calls for Australia to share its Bushmaster vehicles and other military equipment.

Updated

Zelenskiy says Russian ships should be banned from all international ports, and that sanctions must be strictly enforced.

Zelenskiy says the solidarity of the whole world will also be needed to prosecute those responsible for war crimes in the conflict. He then refers to the MH-17 tragedy, and passes on his condolences to the families of all who perished.

But he says those responsible have not been held accountable, and remain hiding in Russia denying their involvement in the incident. He said:

The unpunished evil comes back, and I would say ... with inspiration. With the feeling of all-mightiness.

If we punished Russia for what they did ... there would be no invasion.

Updated

Zelenskiy says “the most terrible thing is that if we don’t stop Russia now” then other countries may also consider invading a neighbour.

“The threat to global security is decided now,” he says.

He also warns that no country would be untouched should Russia use nuclear weapons.

He says that Australian assistance will become even more important as the conflict drags on.

Vladimir Putin a 'war criminal': PM

Just circling back, while Zelinskiy speaks, that Morrison also called Putin a war criminal during his address.

Updated

Zelenskiy says Russia holds completely different values to our country and his country.

His address is being translated. He thanks the Australian parliament for the honour of speaking.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses federal parliament

Zelenskiy appears on a television screen to the left of the speaker, and on other screens dotted around the house of representatives. He nodded on seemingly impressed by Morrison’s remarks.

He has started to speak.

Updated

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese is now speaking.

He says Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian people are “pushing back the tide of tyranny”.

Morrison says the Ukrainians have our prayers, weapons and even our coal.

“We welcome you here as a lion of democracy,” Morrison says.

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking ahead of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressing the parliament.

Australia will send $25m for additional military assistance to Ukraine, the Coalition has announced, as president Volodymyr Zelenskiy was due to address federal parliament tonight via video link.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced the extra military funding just moments before Zelenskiy was scheduled to speak to a rare joint sitting of parliament in Canberra.

Australia’s new support will fund unmanned aerial and ground systems, rations and medical supplies – and take Australia’s military contributions to $116m.

“The Australian government will continue to identify opportunities for further military assistance where it is able to provide a required capability to the Ukraine armed forces expeditiously,” the government said.

No further details of the military spend were shared - with the government saying this was “at the direct request of Ukrainian officials and our other partners”.

The announcement came hours after Australia vowed to hit all imports from Russia and Belarus with an extra 35% tariff due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Just a reminder that we’re expecting the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to address a joint sitting of the Australian parliament in the next five minutes or so.

Updated

A tsunami threat has been issued after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake was recorded off the coast of New Caledonia.

The US Tsunami Warning System issued an alert about 4.45pm, saying there was also a potential threat to Vanuatu.

This is a really wonderful story from Kelly Burke.

Sydney records wettest start to year on record

Sydney has had a record wet start to the year, according to data provided by Weatherzone’s Ben Domensino. The rainfall total recorded at Observatory Hill from January to March is 45mm more than recorded in any other year.

The top five wettest starts to the year at that station are:

  • 2022 with 1076.2 mm rainfall.
  • 1956 with 1031.2 mm.
  • 1890 with 993.3 mm.
  • 1990 with 876.2 mm.
  • 1958 with 835.4 mm.
Rain falls at the SCG at half time during the round two NRL match between the Sydney Roosters and the Manly Sea Eagles
Rain falls at the SCG at half time during the round two NRL match between the Sydney Roosters and the Manly Sea Eagles. Photograph: Mark Evans/Getty Images

Updated

Solomon Islands pushes ahead on new security deal with China

In breaking news, the government of Solomon Islands has signalled that it is pushing ahead with plans for a new security agreement with China. That comes despite concerns raised by Australia, New Zealand and the US.

The government said officials from Solomon Islands and China had “initialled” elements of the proposed agreement today, adding:

The draft framework agreement will be cleaned up and await signatures of the two countries’ foreign ministers.

The government of Solomon Islands said the planned framework for cooperation with China was “to respond to Solomon Islands soft and hard domestic threats”. It said in the statement:

Solomon Islands continue to roll out the implementation of its national security strategy and uphold its foreign policy of ‘friends to all and enemies to none’. The country will work with all partners in providing a safe and secure nation where all people are able to coexist peacefully.

Solomon Islands seeks greater security partnership with other partners and neighbours and once again express its deep gratitude and sincere appreciation to Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Fiji for the presence of their Security Personnel in Solomon Islands.

We thank their respective governments and peoples for the service of their professionals whom we welcome and acknowledge with a thankful heart.

China police liason team officers training local Solomon Islands police
China police liason team officers training local Solomon Islands police. Photograph: RSIPF/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

A spokesperson for the attorney general, Michaelia Cash, has responded to Labor’s complaints that she had used Australia’s top lawyer at taxpayer expense to get involved in a Liberal internal dispute. The spokesperon said:

The attorney general has not intervened in the relevant proceedings. No view on the merits of either case has been expressed. The application for removal to the high court was merely in recognition of the fact that a serious constitutional issue has been raised that needs to be determined. It is not uncommon for the attorney general to be involved in section 78(b) notices.

This is technically true – but only because “intervened” has a technical legal meaning about becoming a party to a case.

Cash made an application for the NSW Liberal preselection challenge to be removed to the high court. In effect, this supported a similar request by Scott Morrison and Dominic Perrottet.

The solicitor general, Stephen Donaghue, did represent the attorney general at taxpayer expense at a hearing today about an internal Liberal matter – in order to make a constitutional argument the chief justice labelled “very tenuous”.

Updated

Solomon Islands are standing firm on the country’s controversial security pact with China, according to a statement that has just been released.

The draft framework agreement has been initialed and will now be “cleaned up”, according to the statement reported by the ABC. The statement says:

Solomon Islands seeks greater security partnership with other partners and neighbours and once again express its deep gratitude and sincere appreciation to Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Fiji for the presence of their security personnel in Solomon Islands.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) has released a statement about the death of former director-general David Irvine. The current head of Asio, Mike Burgess, said:

David Irvine will be deeply missed.

As a director-general, diplomat and the chair of the foreign investment review board, David made an enormous contribution to the security and safety of Australia over many decades.

David served as director-general of Asio from March 2009 until September 2014. He was an exceptional, wise and humble leader.

Prior to his appointment to Asio, David served as director-general of ASIS from 2003 to 2009. He is the only person to have led both Australia’s foreign intelligence collection agency and its domestic security service.

David mentored many intelligence professionals over the course of his career and he leaves a rich and meaningful legacy.

The Asio family is mourning his passing.

Our thoughts are with David’s wife, Robin, and his family as well as his close friends, including here in Asio.

Vale David.

Updated

Onya Tory, godspeed.

Updated

There is still a lot to get through today, folks, but I’m leaving you with Nino Bucci. I’m leaving Canberra on a jet plane, but will surely be back at some point during the election campaign. Till then!

Northern Territory records 526 Covid cases and one death

A man from a remote community has died with Covid in the Northern Territory. The NT recorded 526 new cases and there are 22 patients are in hospital, with two in intensive care.

Updated

National Covid update

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records 32 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

  • Deaths: 2
  • Cases: 1,194
  • In hospital: 47 (with 3 people in ICU)

NSW

  • Deaths: 17
  • Cases: 22,107
  • In hospital: 1,326 (with 39 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

  • Deaths: 1
  • Cases: 526
  • In hospital: 22 (with 2 people in ICU)

Queensland

  • Deaths: 5
  • Cases: 7,289
  • In hospital: 362 (with 16 people in ICU)

South Australia

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 5,061
  • In hospital: 175 (with 8 people in ICU)

Tasmania

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 2,478
  • In hospital: 29

Victoria

  • Deaths: 4
  • Cases: 11,292
  • In hospital: 312 (with 14 people in ICU)

Western Australia

  • Deaths: 3
  • Cases: 9,727
  • In hospital: 219 (with 7 people in ICU)

Updated

Victoria police have released a statement on the helicopter crash near Mount Disappointment:

Police Air Wing located the wreckage in the vicinity of Blair’s Hut about 11.45am on 31 March.

It’s believed the pilot and four occupants were on board at the time.

A ground search of the area will commence shortly.

Sue Higginson, a Lismore resident and incoming NSW upper house member for the Greens, has requested caution from those urging authorities to simply “move Lismore” after two major floods in as many months.

Higginson said she accepted that some flood-impacted people would need to relocate, and should be supported to do so through land swaps, others would be determined to come home even after two unprecedented flooding events.

Sue Higginson is an incoming NSW upper house member for the Greens and a Lismore resident. NSW. Australia.
Sue Higginson is an incoming NSW upper house member for the Greens and a Lismore resident. Photograph: Tree Faerie

She said:

It’s their sense of place. It’s their sense of wellness and it’s their sense of identity. It’s all they know,” she said. “The response has to be multipronged. There is no one simple answer to climate change.

Higginson said it had been sobering for residents to realise the state was unable to protect them from both recent unfolding climate catastrophes:

The inability of the state to respond appropriately, reasonably and safely were exposed. We saw that, two nights ago here in Lismore where at 4.30pm the public authorities were telling us it was safe to return to the CBD of Lismore and then hours later we were getting the catastrophe warning that all needed to evacuate.

We need to understand that our systems are not able right now in their current form to safely navigate what we’re facing. And that’s the first stage of response. We need to acknowledge that the state is failing in its capacities to keep its community safe.

Updated

Prime minister Scott Morrison now pays tribute to spy chief David Irvine as a “great patriot”. (See his statement below).

Labor leader Anthony Albanese also expresses his condolences. He was “a giant of the Australian public service,” he says.

There’s a minute of silence.

And that is that, for now. Question time is over, and the election campaign is about to begin.

Prime minister Scott Morrison earlier said he never said something that it looked like he said. (See post below on struggling renters and original story here). Now he says in answer to Albanese:

Once again, the leader of the opposition has come forward ... and outlined things not as they were ... and seem to misrepresent ... the remarks I met on this matter.

In response to this matter, I said specifically that the budget provides parental assistance to the commonwealth assistance program, Mr Speaker.

Scott Morrison during question time on Thursday.
Scott Morrison during question time on Thursday. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Health minister Greg Hunt spoke about Maeve’s law, which earned a rare bipartisan (if slightly cheeky) response from Labor’s Mark Butler:

Can I join the minister in welcoming the passage of Maeve’s law in the Senate and thank him particularly for the work that he’s done to make that law a reality. And for reaching across the aisle, particularly with my predecessors, the member for McMahon and the member for Ballarat, ensuring this is a cross-aisle effort in both houses.

Can I also, on indulgence, thank the minister in what I imagine was just his last answer for a long and successful career in this place, and look forward to the prime minister telling the Australian people in the middle of a pandemic, who he proposes as the next health minister, if he’s successful.

While rain has eased in northern NSW, the Bureau of Meteorology has maintained flood and hazardous surf warnings across the state.

Major flooding continues in Lismore. The Wilsons River peaked at 11.40pm last night, and water levels are expected to remain above the levee throughout the rest of the day.

Major flooding also continues at Coraki and Bungawalbin in northern NSW, and could potentially hit Woodburn later today, but flood levels are expected to remain below the major flood event earlier this month.

Flooding at Grafton is reaching its peak, but warnings have been reduced at Ulmarra and Maclean.

The severe weather warning for the northern rivers and northern mid north coast has been cancelled, but there is still the risk of severe thunderstorms along the northern Hunter and lower mid north coast today.

The Bureau also expected hazardous, large and powerful waves along the mid north coast down to the Victorian border, with coastal erosion likely in vulnerable areas.

A father and daughter inspect a flooded street in Lismore on Thursday.
A father and daughter inspect a flooded street in Lismore on Thursday. Photograph: Dan Peled/Getty Images

Updated

Australia to slap extra 35% tariff on imports from Russia and Belarus

All imports from Russia and Belarus will be slugged with an extra 35% tariff, under a move announced by the Australian government just hours before Ukraine’s president addresses parliament.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said the government was “taking further action to increase the economic costs to Russia following its illegal invasion of Ukraine, supported by Belarus, by applying an additional tariff of 35% for all imports from Russia and Belarus”.

Australia doesn’t have a huge trading relationship with Russia: In 2019-20, Australia imported $250m in goods from Russia, such as fertilisers ($71m) and crude petroleum ($59m). By contrast, Australia exported $723m in goods to Russia in 2019-20, including live animals, specialised machinery and meat, according to data compiled by Dfat.

Dfat listed Australia as a lowly 94th on the list of Russia’s main export destinations before the pandemic upended the world.

In any case, the Australian government is moving in line with its allies and partners to keep increasing the cost on Russia.

Here’s how the move was explained in a joint release by Morrison and senior ministers Marise Payne and Dan Tehan:

On 1 April 2022, Australia will issue a formal notification withdrawing entitlement to the Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) tariff treatment and applying an additional tariff of 35 per cent to all imports from Russia and Belarus. This will take effect from 25 April 2022 and will be in addition to general duty rates that currently apply.

This action follows Australia’s joint statement, with other like-minded members of the World Trade Organization, strongly condemning Russia’s actions and committing to take all actions we consider necessary, as WTO members, to protect our essential security interests ...A prohibition on imports of oil and other energy products will also commence on 25 April.

Updated

Labor’s Clare O’Neil asks:

In a recent survey of more than 1,000 aged care workers, 97% said they were yet to receive the bonus payment the prime minister promised them, despite it being available from 1 March. If the prime minister hasn’t delivered on this one-off payment to the heroes of the pandemic, why should Australians believe anything he announced in this budget?

Health minister Greg Hunt takes it. He says the payments have been made available and are made when applications are received. Aged care workers “have been fantastic”, he says.

The payments are made as and when the applications are received. In relation to the first three payments, I’m advised that 100% of applications received have been paid out.

Now he’s listing all sorts of other payments made.

South Australia records 5,061 new Covid cases

In South Australia, 175 people are in hospital with Covid – eight of them in intensive care. The state recorded 5,061 cases.

(SA once locked down over five cases in a “cluster”. Life moves pretty fast).

Updated

Labor leader Anthony Albanese says the only way to end rorts, waste, corruption (he’s talking about the courts again) is to “end this government”. (Of course, it’s phrased as a question.)

TheSpeaker, Andrew Wallace, gives a slightly ponderous lecture, then prime minister Scott Morrison stands up.

“I don’t agree with the assertions and allegations made by the opposition,” he says, then swiftly returns to theme of “tired, old opposition” and their economic plan.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese during question time.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese during question time. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Butler’s up again on the legal dispute. I would have thought Labor would focus on cost of living, the floods, the budget, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells’ accusation. But then, I’ve never been on a tactics committee.

Fletcher: “I repeat the answer ... ”. (Well-established protocols, etc.)

Labor’s really ornery today. Maybe they all want to get kicked out so they can get on with their days.

Updated

Labor’s Mark Butler returns to the court dispute, asking:

How on earth is it appropriate for the government’s most senior legal adviser, the solicitor general, to appear in an internal dispute within the NSW branch of the Liberal party and whose side has the solicitor general been instructed to support in this ongoing faction fight?

I answered that already, Fletcher says.

(If you’re not right in the weeds on this story ... it’s complicated. Again, Paul Karp has been following it.)

Updated

Fletcher returns, and refuses to change the direction of his answer (he’s using the time to sarcastically call Dreyfus a “man of the people”).

Then he gets to the question and gives a suitably legalistic answer:

There’s well-established protocols under which commonwealth representation in matters of this kind occurs. These decisions have been taken in accordance with those protocols.

Updated

Shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus is asking about the high court shenanigans Paul Karp has been writing about today (see multiple posts below).

Paul Fletcher (for the AG) thanks Dreyfus for his service (?).

And a point of order is called.

Updated

David Gillespie, the regional health minister, says to Haines that they’re making “massive investments” in rural health, including 5,000 new health professionals.

Updated

Helen Haines (the independent member for Indi) asks why the Coalition can always find money for the marginals but never enough to “fix the regional health crisis”.

Joyce says the dams they want to build are the same ones Labor wanted to build (dig?). He says (before using the red or green line again):

Even when we put all the money on the table, we don’t know if they’ll build that. That’s the issue. We’ll find out tonight. They haven’t said yes.

Independent MP Helen Haines.
Independent MP Helen Haines. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

The high court has foiled an attempt by Scott Morrison, NSW premier Dominic Perrottet and attorney general, Michaelia Cash, to have the NSW Liberal preselection dispute heard in the high court.

After reading the application, Chief Justice Susan Kiefel asked Matthew Camenzuli’s counsel for submissions. Scott Robertson suggested that the high court could grant an application to remove the case from the NSW court of appeal, but then remit the matter back to the same court to decide.

Why would they do that?! Robertson argued although there might be a constitutional argument in the case it is a “very weak one and unlikely to arise”. Robertson said the case was “extraordinarily urgent” because the election could be called as early as the weekend, and the court of appeal is ready to hear it.

Morrison and Cash’s lawyers did not like this. They argued that it would be better for the high court to finally deal with the question of whether internal party disputes can be determined by courts, and sending it back risked a further appeal to the high court, at even later notice.

“You’re not scaring me,” Kiefel replied drily. “Urgency is a matter we deal with all the time. And you shouldn’t assume special leave would be granted.”

Kiefel ordered the case be removed to the high court, but then immediately remitted back down to the court of appeal of the NSW supreme court for reasons of “urgency, efficiency and utility”.

Updated

“We will see if their blood runs red or green tonight,” deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce says of the budget reply, in a typically colourful fashion.

Labor’s Richard Marles asks how the government justifies a delay in declaring an emergency declaration during the floods (see Paul Karp’s post below for context).

The opposition doesn’t know how to put a budget together, Morrison responds.

That’s not relevant, Albanese says.

Sure it is, the Speaker says.

(And there was some shouting from Albanese about Labor meeting with victims, saying Morrison didn’t.)

Morrison responds:

I was in the dairy farms, I was in people’s homes, I was in their businesses and I was there with the leadership of the councils and their officers to ensure the support we provided has been timely and targeted and welcomed by the mayor of Lismore again today.

And on the delay, he says he got the ADF on the ground, and:

The state of emergency assists with the recovery works and the facilitation of the processing of recovery efforts after the flood event.

Army vehicles drive through flood water in Lismore on Thursday.
Army vehicles drive through flood water in Lismore on Thursday. Photograph: Dan Peled/Getty Images

Updated

The parliament pauses briefly before the last question time of this parliament for a class of 2022 group photograph in the house of representatives.
The parliament pauses briefly before the last question time of this parliament for a class of 2022 group photograph in the House of Representatives. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Western Australia records three Covid deaths and 9,727 cases

Three people have died of Covid in Western Australia. There are 9,727 new cases, 219 people are in hospital and seven are in intensive care.

Updated

Labor’s Catherine King is asking about the devastating floods:

How did the government failed to list Lismore as a priority area for mitigation funding through its Repairing Australian Communities program?

Morrison talks about the troops committed to the area, the government’s financial support, and so on. Nationals MP David Littleproud jumps in and says:

The program the member asked about is a competitive grants program and is right across the country.

It’s part of a comprehensive package, not just $50m a year but also in terms of $400m a year in our package for mitigation works and it’s important for those opposite to understand that natural disasters are indiscriminate and where they make it across the country and while our hearts go out to people in Lismore, there is nothing to say that a natural disaster may not hit in another part of this country and it’s important to understand this is a partnership with states, this comes down to appropriate planning at a local and state level and making sure we work in partnership not just in the federal government with competitive grants but working with state governments to get value for money.

Flood waters inundate Lismore in northern NSW on Thursday.
Flood waters inundate Lismore in northern NSW on Thursday. Photograph: NSW Sate Emergency/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

It’s the habit of this blog (sorry to anthropomorphise it) to ignore Dorothy Dixers – because what’s the point of repeating the government’s talking points?

But sometimes it feels very much as though, no matter the opposition’s question, the response is the same as it would be to a Dixer. I’m trying to work out if it was always thus or has got worse.

Question time begins

Anthony Albanese is on his feet for the first question. He calls the government tired and old, and Morrison says the opposition is tired and old.

Edifying.

“A tired opposition with no economic plan,” Morrison says (ahead of the budget reply, which will be more of a speech than an alternative budget).

Morrison’s now listing all the federal government’s achievements. Defence spending, lower taxes, investment in health, etc.

The question was actually:

Why does this prime minister always go missing, why does he never take responsibility, and why does he always try to divide the country instead of uniting it?

The answer, apparently, was that Labor has no economic plan.

Updated

Over in environment estimates, the government is being asked why the State of the Environment report has not been tabled.

The State of the Environment report is a major assessment of the condition of Australia’s environment that is produced by experts every five years.

The last one in 2016 (along with every other official report on the environment produced since) found Australia’s environment was in a state of serious decline.

The environment minister, Sussan Ley, received the report late last year and the law requires her to table it within 15 sitting days of the date she receives it.

That means that we will not reach day 15 before the federal election. Officials have told the committee that the due date for tabling, based on the current parliamentary calendar, is 5 May.

The minister can of course decide to table it before the 15th sitting day and senators want to know if she plans to do this to ensure it is released before the election.

Labor senator Jenny McAllister asks government senator Jane Hume if she thinks “it’s appropriate that this be withheld from voters prior to the election”:

There is a view that it is being withheld. That the clock is being deliberately run down.

Hume says that might be McAllister’s view but she doesn’t think it’s the truth and that Ley will comply with her statutory requirements.

McAllister:

Well thank god she’ll comply with the law, really that’s the least we can expect.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese says:

As shocking and premature as Shane’s death was, there was a common theme – that he made every second on this Earth count.

He was a phenomenal sportsman and actual game-changer when he had the ball in his hand, he was a magician. When that ball left his hand, it could feel like he was slowing down time and bending space. He was a larrikin and an artist. To watch him in action was one of the purest joys that sport had to offer.

Updated

Morrison says:

Shane Warne didn’t just play the game of cricket, he was the game of cricket. And he changed it forever, as only the greats of the game can.

But Australians didn’t just not know him, and love him, for his tremendous sporting success. For his wizardry with the ball in hand. Australians, I think, really identified with Warnie. With his successes, but also with his great vulnerabilities.

As he once said, “I’m not a very complicated person. I have never pretended to be someone I’m not.”

Scott Morrison waves as he leave after the state memorial service for the former Australian cricketer Shane Warne at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday night.
Scott Morrison waves as he leave after the state memorial service for the former Australian cricketer Shane Warne at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday evening. Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Next time we watch question time it could look very different. Here goes – the last one before the election.

Expect the Coalition to flip every answer into an attack on Labor, accusations they want higher taxes and have no detailed plan to govern. Labor will likely zero in on who missed out in the budget, whether the numbers add up, and possibly those bullying claims.

Before it kicks off, prime minister Scott Morrison is paying tribute to cricket legend Shane Warne.

Just before question time...

ACT records two Covid deaths and 1,194 new cases

Two people have died in the Australian Capital Territory. The ACT has recorded 1,194 new cases. 47 people are in hospital, three in intensive care.

Updated

It’s a surprise double header at the high court this afternoon.

Just seconds after the chief justice Susan Kiefel announced that Diana Asmar would not get special leave to challenge the takeover of Victorian Labor, the court moved on to consider the NSW Liberal preselection mess.

Prime minister Scott Morrison and premier Dominic Perrottet have asked that a challenge to NSW Liberal preselections be sent straight to the high court, not the NSW court of appeal, which is due to hear it tomorrow.

Their counsel, Guy Reynolds, announced that the solicitor general, Stephen Donaghue, would like to make an application on behalf of attorney general, Michaelia Cash, supporting removal to the high court.

Donaghue argued there is a dispute about whether courts can hear internal party disputes, and this relates to federal law because parties are governed by the Commonwealth Electoral Act. Once the case is in federal jurisdiction for that reason, the court will need to consider whether there is a “matter” for a court to decide, and that is a constitutional question for ... the high court.

Kiefel described this argument as “very tenuous” and warned that the effect of the high court taking the case would be to further delay it.

Donaghue responded that only the high court can resolve the different strands of cases in the federal court and courts of appeal – which disagree on whether they can hear internal party disputes.

Matthew Camenzuli, who is challenging the preselection, wants the case heard in the court of appeal. His counsel, Scott Robertson, rejected the claim there is a constitutional question.

Kiefel said she’d give the application a read and come back at 2pm.

Updated

The worst of the rainfall has left the NSW northern rivers area, thankfully, with locals now assessing the damage in many communities.

Some areas, such as Cape Byron, collected almost 300mm in two days, while not far away Ballina got about 440mm. (Alstonville collected almost double that, at 870mm over four days, according to Weatherzone.)

The Bureau of Meteorology’s daily chart shows the event over three days (though they perhaps need other colours for 200mm, and so on. 100mm is pretty meh these days.)


At least the river flood levels at places such as Grafton and Lismore are peaking and now falling:

The bureau is going to have to update March records for a lot of sites, including Sydney. The Harbour City has been under a cloud, it seems, for most of March, with record rainfall counted at its Observatory Hill location:

The records at Obs Hill go back to 1858, one of the country’s longest series.

And if you’re wondering, the monthly rainfall data ends at 9am on the last day of the month. The current bucketing, in other words, will count towards the April tally – which we hope won’t set another range of records.

Updated

Finance minister Simon Birmingham is getting some practise in as election spokesman for the Coalition (not that he needs it). He’s up with financial services minister, Jane Hume (a contender to be election spokeswoman).

Their message is to Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Both are calling for detail in the plan he will reveal tonight (I suspect there’s a set-up here to cry “no detail!” as soon as that plan is revealed, no matter what it says). Birmingham says:

He needs to front up, front up with some detail in the blank piece of paper, stop being a small target and actually demonstrate to Australians what it is he would do differently to plan the government as outlined, that is delivering from Australia and keeping safe and secure in creating jobs.

And, on another note, Hume is asked about Concetta Fierravanti-Wells’ allegations prime minister Scott Morrison is a bully:

Certainly I ... can say that I’ve never experienced bullying in the party is certainly not from this prime minister, I would look at who is levelling the allegations, what the motives might be.

I can understand why people in other parts of other parties in other parts of parliament ... might want to have allegations that would want to damage the government. I’ve never seen bullying within my party.

MP Jane Hume.
MP Jane Hume. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Christopher Knaus takes a look at funding for an anti-corruption commission, and the other OTHER integrity bodies:

NSW parliament votes to go virtual during emergencies

Some interesting movements in the New South Wales parliament this morning, where the government has avoided losing a vote in the lower house by abstaining from voting on a bill it did not support.

The Greens virtual attendance bill makes NSW the first state in Australia to be able to meet virtually during emergencies, and is a response to the long Covid-19 lockdowns which saw parliament unable to meet for months during the pandemic.

The bill amends the constitution to allow MPs to meet and vote virtually if the Speaker of the house declares a public emergency such as a health crisis, a natural disaster or an act of terrorism means it is “not safe or practical” for the parliament to meet physically.

The bill passed through the upper house last year despite the government voting against it. This morning when it came to the lower house the government again spoke against the bill.

But when it came time to vote, the government realised it didn’t have the numbers to defeat it. So rather than lose a vote, it let the bill be carried on the voices, meaning there was no division and it sailed through unopposed.

It’s a neat demonstration of the new reality for the NSW government, which is now governing in minority. I’ve written recently about its precarious numbers and what that means for its ability to pass legislation.

The Greens MP Jamie Parker introduced the bill into the house. He said the legislation would allow the government to be scrutinised even during emergencies:

During the lockdowns parliament was suspended at a time when the government had given themselves very extraordinary powers. In times of crisis we need more oversight from parliament, not less.

The functioning of parliament is essential to democracy and there is no reason why parliament shouldn’t sit. We have the technology, this reform will allow us to use it.

Just because we’ve being doing things one way for 200 years doesn’t mean they shouldn’t change.

Greens MP Jamie Parker.
Greens MP Jamie Parker. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Updated

The high court has rejected Health Workers Union secretary Diana Asmar’s application for special leave to challenge the federal Labor intervention in the Victorian branch.

The national executive’s takeover, triggered by allegations of branch-stacking, has twice been upheld by the Victorian supreme court and Victorian court of appeal.

The decision to refuse special leave to appeal on Thursday is the end of the line for Asmar and allies of Kimberley Kitching who sought to challenge the takeover on the basis it disenfranchised Victorian members voting in preselections.

This is a win for Anthony Albanese and national secretary, Paul Erickson, guaranteeing no disruption to preselections before the election.

Updated

That all led to this intriguing exchange at Senate estimates between Labor’s Kristina Keneally and the Asio chief, Mike Burgess.

Keneally said she wanted to make clear that her question “isn’t referencing any particular individual”.

Keneally told the Senate committee:

It’s more an observation. We are seeing the spread of conspiracy theories, and the use of certain social media platforms, such as Telegram, where we are also seeing people who have political roles in our society, engaging with that, which is if I can be so blunt as to say, a new development in my judgment, about the role that some people in political positions of responsibility, even elected members of parliament, are engaging in spaces that we have not seen previously.

Keneally said the Asio boss had previously indicated that if there was risk of foreign interference to a member of parliament, he would seek to speak to the leader of the political party to raise that. She asked:

Do you take a similar approach where in providing advice to political leaders where there are potential security consequences of a person facilitating or endorsing the spread of conspiracy theories?

Burgess replied to the Senate committee:

Yes, I would. It does actually depend – and whether I’d go straight to the leader of the party or the politician themselves, and I may well go straight to the politician themselves, just because they’re engaging in certain things doesn’t mean to say they actually believe in violence. Because obviously, we look for the violence, we also look around things that may well give permission to others for violence.

And obviously, whilst that’s not entirely my role, if I saw something that we judged was unhelpful, I may well go directly to the politician and explain my concerns, to allow them to freely do whatever they need to do in that role.

But just share with them a perspective, not in a heavy-handed kind of way, but just to maybe in a helpful kind of way. If it was more problematic, I think, yes, I would go straight to the leader of the party, and just suggest I think that’s unhelpful, but again, that’s a matter for the party and in our system, the individual themselves.

Updated

Let’s return briefly to the evidence given by the head of spy agency Asio, Mike Burgess, about security risks ahead of the election due in May. I can now bring you the full quote of what he told the Senate estimates hearing today:

We’re also seeing a rise in specific issue-motivated violence, driven by a wide range of grievances, including anti-government sentiments, conspiracy theories and opposition to Covid restrictions and vaccinations. This again highlights the complex, challenging and changing security environment. As you would expect, I’m conscious of the threats as we head towards a federal election.

Asio’s assessment is that it’s highly unlikely the election will attract planned violent protest. Having said that, the opposition to Covid measures, belief in conspiracy theories and other emotive specific [indistinct] are likely to persist and there is a risk of spontaneous or opportunist acts of violence at otherwise peaceful protests. Provocative or disruptive activity is also possible. Asio will continue to work with our law enforcement agencies and other partners to ensure security threats are identified and mitigated.

Labor’s Kristina Keneally asked Burgess if he had identified any trends in “the Australian anti-mandate conspiracy space”.

The Asio chief reiterated that “there is a small number of individuals who think that violence is an appropriate vector or thing in their cause, but it is a small number”.

Keneally asked whether Asio had noticed “an increasing overlap between the QAnon conspiracy theories and the types of protests that we’ve seen in Australia”.

Burgess said the agency was focused on people “who are indicating that violence is appropriate” and “at this point in time, I would say QAnon is not high in our focus there”.

Burgess also said Covid had seen more people spending time online and some were “dragged down a rabbit hole that can be very unhelpful”.

Mike Burgess, who leads Asio.
Head of Asio Mike Burgess. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

David Irvine remembered by PM as 'exceptional Australian and public servant'

One of Australia’s top diplomats and spy chiefs, David Irvine, has died. Prime minister Scott Morrison said Irvine “was an exceptional Australian and public servant in every sense of the word”.

Morrison said in a statement:

[He was] a gifted diplomat, security chief, and chair of the Foreign Investment Review Board, David Irvine was a wise counsel to successive governments.

This is a very sad day because David’s curiosity, wisdom and judgment strengthened our democracy and security over many decades.

He served Australia for over 50 years and held senior diplomatic and leadership roles for the past quarter of a century. Those roles included high commissioner to Papua New Guinea, ambassador to China, director general of Asio, director general of Asis, and chair of the Foreign Investment Review Board.

More recently, he also devoted himself in various ways to training the next generation of defence, security and intelligence professionals.

David had a deep understanding of Australia and the region and the interconnection of diplomacy, security and economics. He also had a deep love of Indonesian culture, expressed through the publication of two books.

He understood the work in democracies of maximising freedom and security. As he said in a 2014 speech, “I believe the threat of terrorism will be with us into the future, but that it should not be allowed to panic us or dominate our lives.”

In his role as chair of the Foreign Investment Review Board, which I appointed him to as Treasurer, he played a seminal role in bringing new perspectives to bear in the face of changing geostrategic dynamics in our region.

To the Irvine family and all who loved him, I extend the condolences of the nation.

David Irvine AO will be missed.

David Irvine, pictured here in 2014.
David Irvine, pictured here in 2014. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

Striking NSW nurses and midwives rally in Sydney

NSW nurses and midwives have gone on strike for the second time in two months today, saying the government has not addressed a staffing crisis that is affecting patient health.

Twenty public rallies are being held, including one outside Parliament House, with attendees calling for nurse-to-patient ratios and improved maternity staffing on every shift.

Nicole, a midwife at Campbeltown hospital, told the rally on Macquarie street that the situation in hospitals has become desperate:

This is the most disheartened I have ever been. To continue as we are is just impossible. We desperately need staff to patient ratios, we desperately need babies counted in our numbers.

I’ve worked across three sites in south-western Sydney with the current working conditions and the extra pressures on nurses and midwives that is just unsustainable.

Audrey, a nurse at Auburn hospital, asked why other states have been able to introduce patient ratios, while NSW lags behind:

Why do nurses and midwives in NSW need to suffer the substandard and inferior support from the NSW government?

We are doing this for all our patients, we are trying to advocate for safe patient care. We would not be here if we are not desperate for help. We are not coping.

The Nurses and Midwives Association said in a statement the government had not tabled an offer since they last met with the premier on 21 February.

More than 180 branches voted in favour of the statewide strike, with 160 of those participating, with the union saying growing staffing gaps had left nurses and midwives “extremely fatigued.”

They say the 24-hour strike will not affect life-preserving services, while members service in flood affected areas will be focusing their efforts on the local crises.

Nurses and midwives hold placards during a nurses’ strike rally at NSW Parliament House in Sydney on Thursday.
Nurses and midwives hold placards during a nurses’ strike rally at NSW Parliament House in Sydney on Thursday. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Updated

Queensland records five Covid deaths and 7,289 new cases

Five people have died of Covid in Queensland. 362 people have been hospitalised and 16 are in intensive care. The state has recorded 7,289 new cases.

Updated

Josh Butler started today thinking he’d be writing about prime minister Scott Morrison and other pollies. He probably didn’t expect he’d also be writing about Will Smith and Chris Rock:

The head of Asio, Mike Burgess, told a Senate estimates hearing Australia’s decision in 2018 to ban high-risk vendors including Huawei from the 5G network “is still very sound”.

Burgess, who previously led the Australian Signals Directorate and was a key source of advice ahead of the Turnbull government’s decision, notes other countries have made similar decisions. He cites the importance of critical infrastructure protection.

During a Senate estimates committee hearing, Liberal senator James Paterson asks Burgess what he makes about a number of comments that have been made about that decision, including that Huawei was excluded because of “the ethnic origin of the company” and that there was a lack of evidence.

Burgess says he would never look at an ethnicity in that context. He says it’s the behaviour of a government “not the people of that country” that would be relevant, adding:

Therefore, I would disagree with that view.

Paterson goes on to say the comments were from an article published by Michael West Media in 2020, co-written by Nick Xenophon and Mark Davis. The article at the time included the disclosure that Xenophon and Davis were partners in law firm Xenophon Davis, which acted for Huawei Australia.

Xenophon is now running again for a South Australian Senate seat and said this week he had not worked for Huawei for more than 18 months. He yesterday hit back at criticism from South Australian senator Rex Patrick.

Burgess says transparency is important but doesn’t buy in on individuals:

I won’t comment on particular individual cases – I don’t think it’s right for me to do so.

Updated

Helicopter missing at Mt Disappointment, north of Melbourne

Emergency services are searching for a helicopter that went missing over Mount Disappointment, 50km north of Melbourne, this morning.

In a statement, Victoria Police said:

It’s understood two helicopters were travelling north in convoy from Melbourne’s CBD over Mount Disappointment when one aircraft disappeared just after 9.30am.

At this stage the second helicopter is yet to be located.

Emergency services are in the area searching.

Updated

In Senate estimates Labor’s Murray Watt has been asking about when Scott Morrison was advised about the possibility of declaring a national emergency in response to the NSW and Queensland floods.

PMC assistant secretary, Trevor Jones, revealed the Australian Government Crisis and Recovery Committee first formally considered a national emergency declaration on 28 February, the day the flood levees were breached in Lismore, then again at meetings on 2 March and 8 March.

The national emergency was declared on 9 March – which Watt noted was the day after Morrison came out of Covid quarantine.

Jones said the decision to declare a national emergency is a “personal and subjective” power of the PM, so it may have been informed by his visit to Lismore. Jones rejected the claim the declaration was needed urgently, arguing it has its greatest effect during the recovery phase.

Watt asked if the PM delayed so that TV cameras could be present.

Simon Birmingham replied “no, I don’t accept the way you’re characterising it”. Birmingham said although the PM was in Covid isolation, he was receiving briefings, discussing deployment of the ADF and ensuring disaster payments.

Birmingham: “Not everyone is as cynical as you.”

Watt: “Scotty from marketing likes a bit of TV action.”

Birmingham: “And you like a cheap shot.”

Watt: “It’s not a cheap shot, these people really needed help.”

Updated

Did you clock it when Nationals senator Matt Canavan shared a picture of a diamond mine, claiming it was a mine for electric vehicle batteries? Graham Readfearn’s latest Temperature Check is in:

Updated

Tasmania records 2,478 new Covid cases

Tasmania has 2,478 new Covid cases, and 29 people are in hospital with Covid (17 of them for unrelated conditions).

Updated

Global investment bank UBS has looked at the impact of geopolitical shocks on Australian stocks and it is ... good news?

From the perspective of the stock market, at least. Not from the perspective of, er, the safety and security of the world.

And, as economics correspondent Peter Hannam remarked, this trend relies on those geopolitical shocks being some distance from Australia.

Updated

Mike Burgess, the head of Asio, is up at Senate estimates now. He reaffirms the terrorism threat level remains at “probable”. The number of domestic terror attacks since 2014 have been revised up from 9 to 11. There were two incidents last year – one religiously motivated and one ideologically motivated.

He says the security environment is “complex, challenging and changing”. He says Asio’s assessment is that it is highly unlikely that the upcoming federal election will attract planned violent attacks, but adds there is a risk of opportunistic violence.

More broadly, Burgess says he will protect sources and methods but a “vibrant liberal democracy” requires Asio to be a transparent and trusted security service.

Updated

Volodymyr Zelenskiy to address Australian parliament at 5.30pm

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is due to address the Australian parliament at 5.30pm AEDT, with screens set up in the House of Representatives for the virtual speech.

It will have the status of a joint meeting of the House and Senate, with senators formally invited as guests of the House to attend the address. Key Senate leaders will be allocated seats on the floor while other senators will go to a gallery position due to Covid restrictions.

Although Senate estimates is scheduled for the whole day, we’re told that all government committee chairs have been requested to suspend committees during the address so senators can attend.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, are expected to each make brief welcoming remarks (about two minutes each) from 5.30pm, before Zelenskiy begins his address. The president of Ukraine is expected to speak for about 15 to 20 minutes. There will be simultaneous interpretation between Ukrainian and English. Diplomats and Ukrainian community members are expected to be in attendance.

Updated

Authorities in NSW have again defended the decision to rescind, then re-state, the evacuation order for Lismore this week.

As our NSW state team reported, the acting NSW premier, Paul Toole, said “no one could have predicted” the amount of rain that fell in the northern rivers area, which caused the levee at Lismore to overtop again.

SES acting commissioner Daniel Austin told reporters:

The evacuation order that was issued for the CBD of Lismore was issued in relation to the riverine flooding that was likely to occur on the Wilsons River, which was likely to lead to overtopping of the levy. That risk failed to eventuate and as the day went on, the river system came back and lowered. As a result, that risk no longer being present, we decided, in consultation with a number of people, including people locally, to remove the evacuation order and allow people to return to try and get on with the recovery effort.

That risk that was presented by the Wilsons River rising was no longer there.

As you heard, it took until yesterday morning before the levy actually overtopped due to the severe weather and the exceptional new rainfall that was not predicted at that point in time. As I said yesterday, we do not have the joy of hindsight when predicting whether or not to lift those warnings. At that point in time, it is my belief that that call was the right call to make.

An aerial drone view of houses surrounded by floodwater on 31 March, 2022 in Lismore.
An aerial drone view of houses surrounded by floodwater on 31 March, 2022 in Lismore. Photograph: Dan Peled/Getty Images

Updated

The federal budget papers appear to show another $494m is allocated for the now-scrapped French submarines – but the story isn’t as simple as that being another blowout from unwinding the contract.

According to the defence section of the budget papers, the estimated total spending on Future Submarine Mobilisation and Design up to 30 June 2022 is $3.2bn. It then shows a budget estimate of a further $494m in the 2022-23 financial year.

The budget points out that the government announced in mid-September that it would not continue with the Attack Class Submarine program due to changes in Australia’s strategic circumstances, and intends to pursue the acquisition of a nuclear-powered submarine capability under Aukus.

The document makes the point that the submarine budget “has remained as programmed” until the end-of-contract negotiations with Naval Group are actually finished. (In other words, we don’t actually know the true final cost of scrapping the contract yet, and the government doesn’t want to tip its hand before the talks with Naval Group are done.)

It says:

During 2022-23, Defence is transitioning out of arrangements for the Attack Class Submarine Program in accordance with relevant contractual obligations. Budget has remained as programmed with a variation associated with foreign exchange movements until costs associated with termination and transition out of contractual arrangements are identified.

By the way, we also don’t know the cost of the new nuclear-propelled submarines yet – that’s still subject to the ongoing talks with the US and the UK. As we reported on Tuesday night, Aukus is mentioned as a “fiscal risk” in the budget papers, because the costs of the acquisition are yet to be assessed.

Updated

Australian officials address security deal between Solomon Islands and China

In Senate estimates, officials from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet have been asked about the draft security deal between Solomon Islands and China.

The first assistant secretary, Roderick Brazier, said the draft – if signed in its current form – would allow security cooperation including Solomon Islands requesting assistance from China.

Officials said they were aware of discussions “for some time” but would not be more specific about when they first learned of the draft deal.

The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, set out Australia’s efforts to help with infrastructure and development assistance as part of the Pacific “step-up”, and engagement in multilateral forums like the Pacific Islands Forum.

Asked if it was a failure that Australia should have done more to avoid, he replied:

I do not accept that. Are you suggesting that a better form of diplomacy would be to hector and lecture [Solomon Islands not to take the deal]?

Officials confirmed that Scott Morrison has had “direct contact” with Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare, but this was not in the form of a telephone conversation.

Updated

One thousand hectares of Yamatji country in the Midwest region of Western Australia, containing ancient banded iron formations, has been protected as a national park.

The Mungada Ridge National Park will be jointly managed between the state government and the native title holders, the Bundi Yamatji Aboriginal Corporation. It follows the signing of the Yamatji Nation Indigenous land use agreement in 2020, and is the eighth national park created by the McGowan government since it took office in 2017.

It is home to threatened species including Woodman’s wattle, Acacia woodmaniorum and the Maleefowl, Leipoa ocellata, which is nationally listed as vulnerable under the EPBC Act and listed as “fauna that is rare or is likely to become extinct” in WA.

Bundi Yamatji Aboriginal Corporation chairman, Leedham Papertalk, said:

Today’s announcement represents the culmination of a decade of work to protect and manage this unique area and delivers on the promise to have Yamatji Nation people working alongside (the state environment department) in the ongoing management of Mungada Ridge.

The Australian Federal Police are up before Senate estimates this morning, where they’re being grilled on revelations in the Guardian this morning that an “administrative oversight” caused massive delays in reviewing war crimes allegations against a retired Sri Lankan general, Jagath Jayasuriya, made by human rights groups.

Human rights groups warned the AFP in 2019 that Jayasuriya was in Australia and urged them to investigate the allegations against him.

But an “administrative oversight” delayed the AFP from assigning the matter to an investigative team for almost two years. During that time, the Senate heard, Jayasuriya travelled in and out of Australia. It ultimately decided not to proceed with an investigation.

Deputy commissioner Ian McCartney tells senator Nick McKim that the AFP is “not going to shy away from” the issue. He says the AFP member who had carriage of the matter had gone on “long term personal leave” and that the complaint was not properly recorded in AFP systems. But McCartney says, even without the error, the AFP would have decided not to investigate. He says:

It’s an issue that we’re not going to shy away from. There was an administrative oversight in terms of how that matter was handled that terms the delay in terms of the assessment and the response to the complainant.

I think it’s important to note and it’s important to be clear that whilst there was a delay and whilst there was an administrative oversight, this wouldn’t have changed the decision that in our view the Sri Lankan domestic inquiry into war crimes is the most appropriate body to assess this sort of allegation. And I think we’ve explained at length the practices that we put in place, this goes back to 2019 ... of the establishment of a sensitive investigations oversight board to ensure we are appropriately addressing these sorts of matters, senator.

The United Nations office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has previously warned that Sri Lanka is helping provide “systemic impunity” to war crimes suspects.

Jayasuriya is accused in multiple civil lawsuits filed by rights groups in South America of overseeing war crimes against separatist Tamils in the last stages of the country’s bloody civil war in 2009 – allegations which the Sri Lankan military rejects.

Speaking after the lawsuits, brigadier Roshan Seneviratne, a military spokesperson, said the accusations against Jayasuriya were false:

We maintain that these allegations are false. The LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] was defeated by the military, their ideology is still alive and that is what we see in these allegations.

Updated

Estimates in both senses of the word. At Senate estimates, Liberal senator Gerard Rennick is asking AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw about crowd estimates for anti-vaccine mandate protests in Canberra.

Rennick: “It was chockers.”

Rennick is getting down to people and square metre calculations.

Kershaw: “I”m going to stick to my figure – I’m not changing that.”

Rennick goes to historical crowd size calculations, asking: “Are you saying the Sydney Morning Herald was wrong back in 1985 as well?”

Moving right along …

Updated

George Christensen gives valedictory speech

Coalition backbencher George Christensen is giving his valedictory speech in parliament today, as he leaves politics ahead of the election.

His address touched on a grab-bag of his pet issues, including criticising Covid mandates, calling for a crackdown on banking institutions, and complaining “corporate Australia has gone woke”.

“Taxation is theft,” he added.

Christensen spoke about his family, saying he was prevented from being present at the birth of his daughter in 2020 due to Covid border restrictions. He spoke emotionally about serious complications his wife experienced during the birth, including having to undergo emergency surgery, and thanked foreign minister Marise Payne for her help in obtaining information about his wife’s condition overseas.

George Christensen gives his valedictory speech in the House of Representatives at Parliament House, 31 March, 2022.
George Christensen gives his valedictory speech in the House of Representatives at Parliament House, 31 March, 2022. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The outgoing member for Dawson also belted parliament itself, saying he doesn’t like coming to Canberra and claiming question time was “a farce”. He said:

Backbenchers ask pointless questions written by someone else, the opposition asks pointless gotcha questions that never get answers.


Christensen said the “public hate the vitriol” of politics, and claimed parliament is at risk of turning into “a sheltered workshop for people who can’t think for themselves”

Updated

'I didn't say that, actually,' Morrison says of comments about renters

Prime minister Scott Morrison says he didn’t say that helping people buy a house was the best way to help struggling renters.

Here’s what he said after the budget, when he was asked what help there was for renters:

“This is about Australians getting into homes,” Morrison said. “The best way to support people renting a house is to help them buy a house.”

On Tasmanian radio the host said he was “copping a bit of flak” for his comments, and Morrison said:

“No I didn’t say that, actually. I was asked about these issues, I was talking about how we’re helping people buy their own home ...”.

And he went on to list the ways the government is supporting renters, including the first home buyers’ grant, tax offsets for low and middle income earners, and the one-off $250 payments for people on welfare.

Updated

So, look. Prime minister Scott Morrison is still on radio, but to be honest it’s the same talking points we’ve heard before, with a bit of a Tassie flavour.

I mean, compared with some comments he made on a different radio station this morning, it’s a little vanilla ... (more to come!)

Updated

Prime minister Scott Morrison has told a Tasmanian radio station that he appreciates former PM John Howard backing him in the brouhaha over Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells’s criticism of him.

He says (and I’m sure you’ve heard this before) that 500 members voted not to put her in a winnable spot on the Senate ticket. He says:

From time to time in politics you have disagreements and disappointments ... there are disappointments in politics from time to time. As a PM you have to be prepared to make [decisions people won’t like].

On a federal anti-corruption commission:

We developed the legislation, I tabled it in the parliament ... it was a comprehensive program ... the Labor party wouldn’t support it.”

On whether he’s an honest and trustworthy PM:

Yeah, absolutely.

Updated

In Senate estimates, Labor has started its questioning with the mysterious $3bn reduction in “decisions taken but not yet announced”- which it is calling a “secret cut”.

The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, said:

Essentially the government reversed out the decision taken but not announced and provided the additional funding in the package itself, which you’ll find elsewhere in the budget ... There are no cuts, as you put it.

There is simply publication of final decisions. They’re not cuts. The budget line for decisions taken but not yet announced comes down, because the decisions have been announced. It shows negative because elsewhere in the budget there are positives against a specific program item.

But as we explained yesterday, the fact the line item is negative does tend to suggest that the government made a greater provision in the mid-year economic and fiscal update for the programs than it ended up giving.

Labor’s Tim Ayres put this to Birmingham – is it spending that is not proceeding?

He replied:

It’s a shift from the aggregate of the contingency reserve to specific program spending ... Even if I took that alternate scenario, an internal decision for something never announced and never provided is hardly a cut.

Updated

“Australia stands with Ukraine against Russia’s aggression,” prime minister Scott Morrison says in advance of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s speech tonight. He says Australia’s sanctions are “undermining Russia’s ability to continue financing president Putin’s war”:

This includes listing more than 500 individuals and entities to date. This is the largest ever imposition of sanctions by Australia against a single country.

Our sanctions target President Putin and his circle of oligarchs and propagandists, military commanders and members of parliament, as well as those who facilitated the invasion from outside Russia, including the leadership of neighbouring Belarus.

Our listings include 80% of Russia’s banking sector and all government entities that handle Russia’s sovereign debt.

Updated

There’s a press conference on at the moment with flood authorities – I’m sorry, I didn’t catch their names.

The upshot is that they’ve confirmed the Wilsons River has peaked but there are evacuation orders still affecting about 30,000 people. You can get all the latest here.

There is still a danger from flash flooding in many areas.

More to come!

Updated

Victoria reports four Covid deaths and 11,292 new cases

Four people with Covid have died in Victoria, and 312 people are in hospital; 14 of them are in intensive care. The state recorded 11,292 new cases.

Updated

NSW reports 17 Covid deaths and 22,107 new cases

There were 17 Covid deaths in New South Wales today, 1,326 people have been hospitalised and 39 are in intensive care. The state recorded 22,107 new cases.

Updated

UK spy chief Jeremy Fleming is set to give a very interesting speech at the Australian National University:

“Vladimir Putin has made a strategic miscalculation in launching the invasion of Ukraine and his advisers are ‘afraid to tell him the truth’ about the extent of his error, the boss of British spy agency GCHQ will say in a speech on Thursday.”

Updated

Just in case there was any doubt:

Nurses in NSW are set to strike today, AAP reports.

The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association voted in favour of taking industrial action. It wants better staff-to-patient ratios and better pay. Today nurses will rally around the state, while maintaining “life-preserving services”.

Updated

“Many residents of Lismore had nothing left to lose in Wednesday’s flood,” Susan Chenery writes. “The sound of rain on the roof will never be pleasant again.”

Updated

Parliament has passed legislation that can stop deadly mitochondrial disease in babies, using a partial DNA donation. It passed in the Senate scramble last night. Here’s the background:

Northern NSW weather update

Communities in the northern rivers region of NSW are going to get some reprieve from the rain today as the east coast low drifts away from the coast.

The State Emergency Service has 20 evacuation orders in place, reportedly affecting 27,000 people, with a further 11 evacuation warnings issued.

Some of the focus will be on the Clarence River, where the Bureau of Meteorology has issued a warning for major flooding, including at Grafton.

Meanwhile, in Lismore, the Wilsons River peaked at 11.4 metres and it is not expected to drop below the CBD’s levee height of about 10.6 metre until later this morning.

Towns like Bellingen on the (confusingly named) Bellinger River, though, look to be out of danger.

People living along most of the NSW coast can expect damaging surf and high tides for the next day or so, the bureau warns. There’s going to be some beach erosion and perhaps worse.

While it’s worth remembering that climate change is affecting every weather event, rising sea levels also make high tides and storm surges more dangerous.

Updated

Adeshola Ore on the farewell to “the starry-eyed boy from suburban Melbourne who became the king of spin” as Shane Warne is remembered.

I mean, why would you want a body to scrutinise major water projects when everything is going so ... swimmingly? From Ben Smee and Lisa Cox:

Updated

One of the joys of the media blitz after a budget (and during an election campaign) is trying to find out how to listen to radio stations you’ve never heard of and that are not on your normal apps. All of which is to say, we’ll hear from Scott Morrison at 9.30am when he appears on Tasmania Talks.

Updated

The latest from the NSW SES on those evacuation orders:

The ABC’s David Speers is reporting that Darwin will get a new port. He says there was $2bn in Tuesday’s budget for the northern Australia infrastructure facility, and buried in a press release was a pledge to spend $1.5bn of it on port infrastructure. The federal government won’t spend it on the existing port, controversially leased to a Chinese company, Speers says, but will announce a new facility for the Northern Territory.

Updated

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers has promised that Anthony Albanese’s speech tonight will be a “plan for the future”. He’s been on ABC television this morning ahead of that budget reply.

He said the cuts to the petrol excise will be reversed in September, because that’s how the government designed the legislation. That means a potential Labor government will preside over what many will see as a sudden jump in prices at the bowser.

He has repeated Labor’s position that while the opposition waved through the government’s cost of living package, it’s unhappy with what it says is a short-term fix.

He also said he wants a pay rise for minimum wage workers but didn’t nominate a figure.

And, on the accusations about bullies in both major parties, he took the opportunity to have a crack at Scott Morrison:

[Our] commitment is to try to lift the standards in this place. I think we’ve been saying for some time that we recognise that the standards of this place need to improve.

I think when it comes to this avalanche of criticism of the prime minister in particular, it seems that there’s a pattern in the sense that the people who work most closely with the prime minister and know him best seem to trust him the least. That’s the pattern of the commentary of the last few days. Beyond that, we’ve said if there’s more that can be done to lift the standards of this place, it will be done.

Updated

Good morning

Lismore’s waters may have peaked but the flood disaster is not over yet. Authorities are still searching for a missing woman.

The weather system is tracking south, tens of thousands of people have or will evacuate and major flood warnings are in place. Guardian Australia journalists are there, and we’ll bring you the latest.

Meanwhile, in Canberra ...

Next stop: the governor general.

The budget’s done, parliament is about to wrap up – and prime minister Scott Morrison is expected to shortly make that trip to the GG. Then it’ll be on.

This final sitting week has been scratchy and shouty. They usually are but the mood does not bode well for the imminent election campaign.

Morrison’s woes will continue after one of his own, Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, had her mic drop moment after the budget was delivered. And she’s not alone in her personal criticisms of the PM. Labor leader Anthony Albanese may be relieved at how those tables have turned.

The government has been sharpening its attacks on the opposition for not having a “plan” for the budget, which is a little odd when they’ll deliver the usual budget reply tonight (although Albanese has indicated it’ll be more of a pre-election speech than an alternative economic plan).

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy will bring a bit of rockstar pizzazz to parliament tonight. He’ll speak just before Albanese. (PS: Am working on a little explainer about the spelling of Zelenskiy).

By all reports, Shane Warne’s sendoff at the MCG last night was brilliant – an emotional tribute to the larger-than-life legend.

Ходімо!

Updated

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