What we learned; Tuesday 5 March
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s your run down of what we learned today:
Anthony Albanese has dismissed a letter to the international criminal court by a Sydney law firm asking the court’s prosecutor to investigate whether individual ministers within the Australian government may have culpability in relation to Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The prime minister also met the secretary general of Asean, Dr Kao Kim Hourn, and discussed the bloc’s “efforts to find a resolution on Myanmar”.
The current PM flatly rejected Paul Keating’s criticism of Asio, which the former PM alleges is destabilising Australia’s relationship with China.
Former political staffer Brittany Higgins and her fiance, David Sharaz, have attended mediation in Perth in an attempt to settle the ongoing defamation dispute brought against them by Liberal senator Linda Reynolds.
Health minister Mark Butler announced a private health premium increase of 3.03%.
More than 40 of Australia’s health organisations have endorsed a call for the government to fund its national health and climate strategy.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, announced changes to the Coalition’s shadow ministry, along with the Coalition’s pre-election energy policy, which would include large-scale nuclear power plants and small modular reactors.
Three people were arrested after a climate protest on Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge during peak hour traffic this morning.
Fire and Rescue NSW is urging caution after what appear to be the state’s first deaths in a lithium-ion battery-related fire last week.
Battery electric vehicles accounted for 9.6% of car sales in Australia in February, according to the federal chamber of automative industries.
NBN has launched a proposal to provide five times faster download speeds for customers connected to the NBN, via fibre to the premises (FTTP) and hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) technologies.
Western Australia will become the first jurisdiction in Australia to offer free immunisation against RSV for infants.
Thanks so much for your company this Tuesday. Emily will be back with you bright and early tomorrow morning. Until then, take care.
Updated
Committee rejects Greens proposed laws on donations to political parties
The Greens have described Australia’s political system as one of “legalised bribery” after a government-chaired committee knocked back its attempts to introduce laws that would ban corporate donors from donating for 12 months while they apply for government contracts.
Greens senator, Larissa Waters, introduced the bill last September, saying it sought “to prevent donors from swaying donations in their favour”.
But the committee recommended the bill not pass, noting that witnesses, including respected academic Anne Twomey, said the bill makes the “unjustified assumption that every donation is made for corrupt purposes and corrupt advantage”.
The committee chair, Labor senator Louise Pratt, described the bill’s proposed tweaks as “overreach”:
The committee views the bill’s approach to preventing donations to a governing party as overreach without demonstrating that those donations are intended to improperly influence a government decision, while simultaneously disregarding the potential for corrupt influence in donations made to other non-governing parties and independents.
Waters responded she was “incredulous but perhaps not shocked” that the “big political party duopoly” would reject her proposal to stop “political access and political influence” being bought by big donors in the Greens’ dissenting report.
The Queensland Greens senator pointed to donations made by consulting firms and mining companies as examples of corporations gaining advantage after handing money to political parties:
This bill is one small step towards getting big money out of politics and restoring public confidence in our democracy. This reform, among a suite of others, are sorely needed.
Updated
